#ideally i would love to do starters but i always get stuck thinking what to do or write them longer than intended

[equitatus]

/ What if I hypothetically sent Kaeya to poke at your muses-

[nrrrdgrrrl2002]

So I saw a really well made analysis on why splinter and raph are similar

(Please read it btw it’s well made)

So I wanted to explain why I think two other characters are similar.

Who are they?

Yup.

Lemme explain.

For starters, personality traits they share

Determination

Both put their all into any goal they want to achieve.

For shredder, this is killing splinter

For Leo, this is being the best ninja

This determination can be a bane and a boon, making both goal driven.

Both can also be extreme when these goals aren’t met.

See

Leo becoming extremely doubtful of himself/lashing out when he believes he can’t be a good leader. Whether it’s cause his brothers don’t respect him or he’s severely injured.

For shredder, he also severely lashes out when he can’t complete his goal. To the point he was willing to mutate himself to reach this goal.

Destructive anger

While splinter and raph have more obvious anger issues, Leo’s and shredders anger, when unleashed, is far more destructive.

Using two examples that are similar.

Shredder has killed many in his rage and destroyed the lives of many others. He doesn’t handle failure well at all. Shredders whole character is based on him being so stuck in his own anger he doesn’t think about the fact that what he’s doing is horrible.

While Leo tends to get stuck in his own head when he’s angry. Doing things like trying to take out a mother ship with a scout ship when his home planet has less than an hour left before being destroyed. Why did he do this? He was angry at fugitoid for not telling them something and got so caught up in that anger he didn’t think through his actions.

Hypocrisy

Shredder

“Mutants are vile creatures”

Turns himself into a mutant

“Karai. You are my daughter and I love you”

Constantly finds ways to mentally torture Karai for his own gain

“It’s your fault Karai is a mutant!”

Was the one who cut the chain

I could go on

Leo

“Donnie you can’t kill viziozo. It’s wrong”

Beheaded shredder

“Raph you can’t be this nightwatcher vigilante going off by yourself. We’re a team”

Goes off with Karai and shini to stop shredder without telling his team despite the fact that they would want to help.

“Mikey leatherhead is dangerous. Don’t try to be friendly with him”

Is constantly trying to get a known foot clan member on their side.

Idealism

Shredder sees himself as a victim who’s trying to protect his daughter and avenge his love (ok this is probably moreso delusion)

Leo sees himself as a true hero like captain Ryan and does everything he can to be like that.

Honor

Shredder is not an honorable man, but boy does he think he is. Shredder puts a lot of emphasis on what he thinks honor is,

Just like a certain blue clad turtle.

Black and white morality

Both of their moral systems lack nuance and complexity.

“I’m the hero for taking hamato yoshi out of this world”

“I’m the hero cause I let this mugger who beat up a blind man go”

“This person is evil cause they’re against me”

Taste in women

This is gonna sound weird but

Both seem to be attracted to women they know or at least, should know they shouldn’t be with.

For shredder, it’s Shen. A married woman. A woman married to his brother. He knows this, yet still tries to pursue a romantic relationship with her.

For Leo, it’s (Blegh) Karai, a foot clan member he thought was shredders daughter for a bit (so his cousin) who he then found out was his sister. Does he stop pursuing her after finding out she’s splinters daughter? NOPE. Even in season FIVE he was trying to flirt with her. Even Donnie and Casey stopped being weird towards april by season 4.

They also seem to want women they can save.

Shen is unhappy with her marriage at the moment and wants to move to America? I’ll give her that. I’ll get her away from her awful husband and save her!

Karai is a member of the foot? I’ll redeem her! Karai is splinters daughter? I’ll do whatever it takes to save her and bring her home! (That one’s not bad) Karais trying to lead her own foot clan? I’ll save her from herself!

Now. Here’s the big question.

Could Leo become like shredder?

HELL NO!

Why?

Splinter and his brothers. They could be d••ks to Leo and put too much pressure on him, but they make it clear to Leo that they love him and appreciate him for what he does and sacrifices (eventually)

I don’t think saki had that. His father didn’t seem to love him much and then there’s the whole “genociding his biological bloodline and then lying to him his whole life”

Leo and shredder may have similar traits, but just like how, despite being similar, raph would never become splinter, Leo would never become shredder.

This probably isn’t that well explained but my brain wouldn’t leave me alone until I made this analysis.

Hope y’all enjoy!

Feel free to add any parallels y’all have noticed!

[doomshroomed]

Have to drop some ask game questions for Domi!! Ewe is so sweet i love her sm <3

1. Are they from Sandrock? If not, where were they born? 3. Which city state would they most like to visit, and why? 6. What’s their opinion on the Church of the Light? 10. What’s their house like? Is it well decorated? Do they take pride in their home or let it get messy? 19. What’s their favourite season? 24. Free space! Feel free to ramble about anything regarding them you can think of :>

HI THANK YOU SO MUCH 🥺 i love these questions

1. Are they from Sandrock? If not, where were they born? Domi was born in Highwind! She follows the builder blueprint (hehe) pretty closely so she moved to Sandrock as a builder :)

3. Which city state would they most like to visit, and why? Tallsky! It sounds beautiful for starters but also Mi-an is from there… it’d love to visit her family someday.

6. What’s their opinion on the Church of the Light? Ewe’s pretty apathetic for the most part. On one hand ewe can understand the fear it stems from and the desire to stay away from the dangerous technology that brought about the downfall of the world centuries ago, but on the other hand it might not hurt to explore it in a safe way.

10. What’s their house like? Is it well decorated? Do they take pride in their home or let it get messy? (ok ingame her house is a bit all over the place bc im lazy so im just going to answer this how it Would be in an ideal world <3) It’s fairly minimalistic and simple but with cute ornaments strewn about! She treasures any and all gifts and loves to decorate with them. Things do tend to get a little messy as she’s always busy and often forgets to take care of herself, nevermind her home, but it’s a well-loved space.

19. What’s their favourite season? Spring! It doesn’t do well in the freezing cold but summer is too hot for it (especially summer in Sandrock). Sandrock’s spring is a nice temperature :) 

24. Free space! Feel free to ramble about anything regarding them you can think of :> (typing this after i answered I kinda just rattled off some fun facts/elaborated on things i stuck on her builder sheet but >:) hehe THANK U..)

Domi frequents Fang’s clinic as ewe suffers from bad stress headaches. It’s something that ewe just has to live with and ewe refuses to let it get in the way of ewe’s job. Ewe always has ibuprofen on hand incase a headache hits while ewe’s out and about.

She has autism (bc i also have autism so all my ocs are autistic by default <3) and goes nonverbal occasionally! It’s usually brought on by dealing with too many people at once but sometimes it just happens. She tries to avoid people in order to let herself recharge but if she has to run errands she’ll bring a notepad and pen with her so she can write to talk :) Her Sandrock pals are all used to this (especially fang you cannot tell me that man does not have autism and doesnt also go nonverbal. he totally gets it) and are accommodating!

It writes poetry in the evening to wind down before it sleeps. It’s shy about sharing it with anyone but it’s written Mi-an, Nia and Heidi love letters with poetry in them so they’ve seen them :)

Speaking of women. I know we don’t have Nia in Sandrock yet but Domi’s endgame is polydating Mi-an, Nia and Heidi! Mi-an and Nia live with ewe and are also dating each other (i think they’d be cute) while Domi is dating Heidi by herself :) I also know this won’t be possible ingame but I’m quietly hoping someone makes a polymod 🤞

Domi’s Nemo is named Muffin! She also has a Palomino horse named Vanilla and a white horse named Marshmallow (i think i had to name it smth like mallow ingame bc marshmallow wouldnt fit but its meant to be called marshmallow hehe). I would really like her to have a goat as well…pwease Pathea🥺

It’s weirdly lucky and the four leaf clover necklace is one of its most treasured accessories!

Domi and Nia had a mutual crush on each other for years but never addressed it until Domi moved to Sandrock and realised just how much ewe missed her. Ewe then fell in love with Mi-an and Heidi too and things got confusing but everything was discussed and they’re cool with ewe being poly <3 Mi-an also fell in love with Nia so she got Two !!! girlfriends #lovewins

Domi looooooooooves Logan (platonically. she is a lesbian) they’re besties and really close. When he asked her to take care of Andy she practically adopted the little guy (she loves andy a lot too btw).  I don’t have anything else to add yet since he’s not in town but it felt important to mention

[accelsynchros]

ok because i HAVE to address this, let’s talk about bruno and romance

also known as “bruno didn’t cope ever” 

for starters, this all sorta starts with vanni borelli and his “yusei fanboy” vibe, because sure, the ark cradle wasn’t a thing that made yusei a hero in the original horrible future, but the dark signer thing stuck with people, and signers still existed- so vanni already had this idea of “someone who would be really ideal as a person” in at least friendship- he would’ve loved to be able to meet yusei fudo, because who doesn’t want to meet their heroes? 

fast forward to vanni in his early teen years, he decides with his friends that they’re going to do riding duels and evenutally compete in the wrgp, and that shit’s AWESOME in his head, so he, ruben, and mimi build a d-wheel, and yes, they had a very similar start to team taiyo, they only had one d wheel between the 3 of them, and they were just ... trying, maybe a little too hard at that.

and a few years later, vanni meets rory lamont. she’s super into mechanics, just like he is! and they hit it off immediately, like good god. really, it’s a hallmark movie love story which??? bless them for it. anyway, in like no time at all, vanni is in fact engaged. rory becomes team delta’s super mechanic and thanks to the fact that she also turned out to be the heiress to lamont motor co, team delta got three (3) fancy d-wheels. 

and things were great, until the machine emperor onslaught, and the tldr of that is rory heckin died but not before she told vanni to get on delta eagle and drive as fast as he could and get to safety, and really the parallels to yusei screaming for bruno and only having one item to remember him by is ... uh. wild, huh. vanni wears rory’s locket- to the day he died ( and even when he was revived, Z-ONE made sure he had it, because Z-ONE knew how much it meant to him )

smashcut, vanni meets yusei fudo, rather, he meets Z-ONE as yusei, and he ABSOLUTELY REBOUNDS. because he sees his idol in this man, and he’s so crushed by losing his first love, and he doesn’t know what else to do. it’s not healthy in that way, but he still did genuinely love Z-ONE, despite how things started. another smashcut, elian van asch joins the party, taking the name paradox, the man turns out to be a signer, and his first signer dragon was stardust. you can guess where this is going, right? shoutout to antinomy for projecting his idol ( yusei ) onto paradox, who HATED THAT with such a passion, because paradox was so jaded about the crimson dragon doing absolutely jack shit in the apocalypse. still, antinomy won him over, and the iliaster polycule became a thing. 

aporia and antinomy had the healthiest relationship between the iliaster crew- on antinomy’s side, at least. he admired aporia for surviving, not because of aporia having anything to link to yusei or to rory. aporia never knew how deep antinomy’s despair was, and really, that was for the best, considering aporia was truly a heartbreak away from dying. 

and then, antinomy dies. he tells Z-ONE to revive his soul and says he believes Z-ONE will save the future. and Z-ONE revives him, and then sends him to the past. 

antinomy meets the real yusei. he’s supposed to teach yusei accel synchro so the ark cradle will descend. he’s doing it for Z-ONE, for the future, so that maybe in the future he and rory will be happy and NONE OF THIS will have to happen in the first place, because it’s unfair to yusei. he’ll inevitably hurt yusei, and he knows this. he always knew. 

placido, who doesn’t know who antinomy is ( since aporia never knew vanni in his youth ), runs antinomy off the road. 

bruno washes up on shore. the only item he has on his person that would have any significance to who he was before is a weathered locket. the saltwater has ruined the photo inside, but it seems to be a loved one. maybe two people together. he knows it’s important, so he continues to wear it- but he doesn’t know why it means so much to him. he thinks someone out there must be waiting for him. 

bruno meets yusei, and yusei is super into mechanics, just like bruno!!! ( just like rory ), and they hit it off!!! yusei is incredible, someone that bruno can look up to, and someone he can relate to- and yusei is not aurora lamont, and he’s not Z-ONE, and he’s not paradox, and he’s not aporia for sure, but he’s so familiar, so he’s easy for bruno to latch onto. 

antinomy battles yusei as they ride on a path of light, and he knows why he wears the locket, and he knows why he wants the future to be changed and he knows he’s hurting yusei ( hurting rory, hurting Z-ONE, hurting paradox and aporia and ruben and mimi- because is this what they really wanted him to become? a martyr or murderer? ), he always knew it would happen, and he thinks oh well, love hurts. love has always hurt, and it shouldn’t but it does! 

so, tldr, bruno associates romantic love with a deep sense of loss and can’t really function properly but despite this, his love is as genuine as his agony thanks for coming to my tedtalk

[cactusspatz]

October recs

I apparently had two reading settings in October: gen family fic and (mostly polyamorous) porn. Triads were in the air? So today I have 7 Batman/Batfamily fics, 1 Batman/Leverage crossover, 1 for The Untamed, and then three miscellaneous polyamory fics for Singin' in the Rain, comics Spider-Man/Fantastic Four, and Love & Friendship (in addition to the one DCU poly fic). Mostly gen except for the ones that are VERY not, I've marked pairings where needed.

DCU (in order from shortest to longest)

Clockwork by @heartslogos

“Do you even hear yourself when you talk?” Tim wrinkles his nose. “Also stop trying to hide the coffee. I’ll always find it. You just put it out of reach or opposite the peanut butter. I am on to you.”

Charming and detail-driven fic about Bruce and Tim, that really drives home how well and closely they know each other. (Also that they’re a couple of weirdos.)

sweet child o' mine by Nokomis/ @nokomiss

Steph said cheerfully, “Bruce, from now on, consider yourself in possession of one Steph-mom.”

“Absolutely not,” Bruce said.

Steph took a bite of her cake, undeterred.

I was howling with laughter reading this. Nokomis always writes Steph and pranking and comedy so well, and this one lands perfectly. Mom notes! Playdates! Snacks! So adorable and funny.

World’s Saddest Breakfast Club by @motleyfam

Following a couple of Very Bad Weeks™ (which may or may not have involved being kidnapped and mildly tortured), Jason decides the best way to cheer himself up is to break into the Manor for a 3 a.m. snack.

Turns out he isn’t the only one awake.

Chaotic and sweet, highly recommended to anyone who has feelings about food and family.

The Rule of Three by Zoeleo (Jason/Tim/Stephanie)

“Yeah. Um. Thanks, but I don’t wanna interrupt you guys or third-wheel you or anything so I’m just going to—” Jason tries to shrug on his jacket but one of the sleeves is turned inside out and his arm gets stuck.

“Well, technically you would be a third wheel. But like a structurally integral third wheel, one that’s an intentional part of the design. Like on a Polaris Slingshot or a—” Tim rambles until Stephanie smacks him again.

Jason loses the battle with the jacket. It drops to the floor with a heavy thump from too many gadgets hidden in secret pockets. Is Tim really proposing what he thinks he’s proposing?

Jason came for the pizza and MST3K, he may just stay for the face-sitting and multiple orgasms.

Pure threesome porn on the way to a relationship, plus great banter. Fittingly in a trilogy format.

The Last Someone by FabulaRasa/ @fabula-unica (Hal Jordan/Bruce Wayne)

I decided that what the fandom really needed was yet another object of Pussygate 2021 discourse, so here is my contribution, in which Bruce gets humiliated, Hal gets curious, and they both get what they're looking for.

In case you were (blessedly) living under a rock the last few weeks and don't know what any of this is about, here is your starter kit.

The first chapter of this is hysterical - Batman is ranked last on an internet article rating superheroes by how good they are at oral, and Green Lantern first, and then MORE shenanigans ensue - and then it takes a sharp swerve into feelings and some moderate angst. So ideal, really!

best laid plans by Valkirin

Tim Drake knows that Batman needs a Robin. When Bruce and Dick aren't interested in what he has to say, Tim makes his way to the cemetery to say a few words to the boy he's trying to replace.

Tim has the chance to say far more than he expected when Jason digs himself out of his grave that night. Tim does his best to get Jason home to Bruce. The League of Assassins finds them first.

Lovely hurt/comfort-y AU where Tim gets kidnapped along with Jason, and all the complications of that.

Recollect, re-collect by Ptelea

A spell gone wrong leads to Jason hashing some things out--with himself, with Dick, and with the rest of the Batfam. Featuring: rather a lot of thoughts and conversations about memory, change, damage, love and trust, accountability, family, hurt, lies, death, Spyral, pedestals, cases, memorials, stories, and Robin.

I am a sucker for amnesia fic, and this one is a terrifying variant where a spell makes people start to forget Jason. The resolution involves a truckload of feelings about Robin and Jason's place in his family, especially his relationship with Dick.

MISCELLANEOUS

The Gotham Job by Hinn_Raven/ @secretlystephaniebrown (Batman/Leverage, gen)

Generally, thieves of their caliber avoid Gotham. There are always exceptions that prove the rule, however.

(Or: five times that a member of Leverage met a member of the Batfamily, and one time that they teamed up.)

Fantastic read, with a creative set of character intersections and friendships between the two fandoms.

Knight Hunt! Phoenix Mountain by travelingneuritis (The Untamed, Wangxian)

 "Contestants get paid by the week. The longer you stay in the running and the more you charm the fans, the bigger your paycheck after the season wraps. People compete on Knight Hunt for fame, fortune and love. In that order."

I know, getting Lan Wangji onto a reality show convincingly is a big buy, but this one manages it, AND has peak Wei Wuxian gremlin action, modern cultivation, and a lovely romance. The author tagged it ‘low stakes pining’ and it’s just that - an engaging and emotional but easy read.

The Lockwoods & Mr Brown by @onlythegeste (Singin' in the Rain, Kathy/Don/Cosmo)

The continuing adventures of Kathy, Don and Cosmo in their house on Sunset and Camden.

Involving a camera, several pianos, scheming, dancing, and a magic trick.

Adorable look at their queer household and growing family across the decades. Well-written and perfectly satisfying.

A House in the Hills by @traincat (Spider-Man comics, Peter/Mary Jane/Johnny Storm)

   “Anyway, did you ever think I might want to sleep with him?”

   Peter sat straight up in bed and turned on the bedside light. Mary Jane was still sitting up, her arms crossed defiantly over her chest, staring straight ahead at a spot on the wall, twin angry spots of color in her cheeks.

   “You want to sleep with another man?” he demanded.

   “Well, ideally you’d be there, too,” she said, scowling.

Johnny is getting married. Peter is having a problem. Mary Jane has the solution. (Or, the Watson-Parkers homewreck their way to Johnny's happiness.)

I'm normally not a fan of any form of infidelity, but I'll make an exception for this situation (read the a/n for a brief overview), absolutely. Funny, sexy, and actually terribly romantic.

A Divinely Attractive Arrangement by @fahye (Love & Friendship, Lady Susan/Sir James/Manwaring)

A selection from the Private Diary of Sir James Martin of Martindale. Concerning Peas, Friendship, the state of Blessed Matrimony, and several wonders of Modern Medicine.

I’d argue that you don't even need to have seen the movie to enjoy this fic about the absolute dumbest golden retriever of a himbo to ever marry a manipulative woman so she might have cover to carry on with her lover, except since it's Fahye so of course things go poly instead in the FUNNIEST way possible. Bless his heart, I'd say Sir James has a pea brain but he doesn't even understand how peas work.

[2jaeh]

Bibliophile | Xiaojun x Reader

Genre: fluff, smut

Word count: 2,3k

Warnings: mature themes

Author: SIN

Two literature master students decide to make their steamy romance troupe debates a reality.

——————————————————————————

Your heels clicked against the marble floors as you ran over to the university library, hoping the evening rain wouldn’t worsen when you crossed the open courtyard.

Most of the students were either heading back to their dorm rooms or messing around in the common areas, while the only thing that rang in your head was to not be late for your part-time job at the restricted section of the library.

At first you had no damn clue why they needed someone to work there, especially since some of the books were even restricted to lecturers. But thanks to your century old university and their obsession with keeping their sacred books in pristine condition, all they needed was a literature masters student to help out from time to time.

You entered the library and greeted the woman at the front desk before she buzzed you in through to the door that led upstairs to the restricted area.

You quickly jogged up the stares and swung open the door only to be greeted by the only other person working around here, Xiao Dejun.

“You’re late again” his lips curled into a smile as he pushed up his gold framed glasses and inspected a dust covered book.

“Yeah the rain was just-“

“Crazy ?” Dejun peered up and pursed his lips, knowing that every excuse you had always ended in the same word.

“Yeah crazy” you half chuckled and removed your burgundy coat, making your way over to sign in the shift card.

All you knew about Dejun was that he finished his masters and was offered a lecture position at the university but decided to take up this job instead. He was very reserved and once told you that he craved the utter peacefulness of the restricted area, where he was usually either on his own or with you.

“I’m halfway on my thesis now” you said casually as you started fixing the binding of a physics book from the 70s.

“Oh?” Dejun raised his eyebrow and pulled out a chair next to you to tend to his own book repair, “I’m sure you’re glad it’s almost over right?”

You squinted your eyes and sighed, burying your head in your hands as that familiar migraine began to set in. “I’m....stuck” you groaned and peered up at Dejun, “I decided to dissect the romance genre of literature and honestly most of it is hot garbage.”

Dejun let out a laugh and you admired how his dark eyebrows knitted together, making his face look quite animated.

“What books have you studied if you don’t mind me asking ?” Dejun asked, his curious eyes met with yours as he shifted closer in his chair.

“Everything from Shakespeare to Nicolas Sparks, I just hate them all” you pouted and slumped back in your chair, moving the half bound book aside,

“Don’t get me wrong, I chose romance because I love it you know ? I just don’t think that those ‘classics’ do it any justice.”

Dejun nodded at your words and shrugged, “I agree with you, not a fan of that forbidden romance and rich girl poor man stuff either.”

“Right ?” Your eyes lit up and Dejun grinned at your passionate attitude. He’d always found you cute. Every so often he had the chance to work with you on a shift we’re always his best days. He’d listen to you rant about your professors, the music you hated on the radio, or the fact that someone stole your favourite parking spot.

“So....” Dejun folded his arms, “how would you change it ?”

“Change it?” You quirked a brow.

“What’s your perfect romance troupe ?” Dejun smiled softly and his soft brown eyes drew you in and made you feel warm, safe.

“Well for starters I think intimacy should come first and then the characters learn how to love each other as they develop their relationship” you explained, getting up from your chair and began pacing the small room,

“I don’t mind the cliche of they grab the same book or vinyl, I just prefer that instead of 7 chapters of them thinking about that moment they just take the leap right there.”

Dejun pondered on your words for a bit and also got to his feet, leaning against the table as he watched you pace back and forth.

“Would it work for people who somewhat knew each other before hand though ? A friend ? A colleague ?” Dejun quizzed and you nodded quickly,

“Yeah if there’s no prior feelings or hookups then why not ?”

“I guess we can’t test it then since we like each other huh ?” Dejun smirked returning to his seat innocently as you stopped abruptly and quickly tried to process what he had just said.

“I....we...don’t like each other ?” You stammered while ignoring the fact that your heart was racing against your chest.

Dejun chuckled as he carefully inspected one of the pages of his book, “the funny part is that you’re practically experiencing your ideal romance troupe and contradicting yourself by not owning up to the fact that we do in fact...like each other.”

Your mind was racing on every evening that you’ve spent with Dejun up until today. First day it’s true you both did a double take on each other and you found him extremely attractive. Day seven the two of you reached for the only hard cover copy left of Pride and Prejudice and spent the whole night critiquing the book until you lost track of time. Day seventeen you were packing books on the top shelf and as you descended down the steel steps you lost your balance and fell right into his arms.

You were literally living a goddamn romance troupe without even knowing it.

“By your words y/n, we need to skip a few steps now shouldn’t we ?” Dejuns eyes were still on his book, but he knew damn well that your eyes were on him.

“You’re right Dejun” you finally said and folded your arms across your chest.

Dejun turned his head to face you and narrowed his eyes, “I’m supposed to be the one making the move ? What happened to a change of scenery ? Uh women empowerment?”

You grabbed his hand and headed to the back of the room where the roof slightly slanted and the window panels were covered with water droplets as the night sky drew in. You neatened your blue plaid skirt and leaned against the old wood of a work station desk. Dejun cocked his head as you bit down on your lip, not knowing how to proceed to the next step.

“Why here ?” Dejun raised an eyebrow, removing his glasses and tucked them in the top pocket of his white buttoned down.

“I don’t know the setting is....pretty, also when we first met you were sitting at this desk reading the last book a literature master student would be reading” you stifled a laughter.

“Hey Harry Potter is my childhood” Dejun groaned, cutely rolling his eyes, something he did quite often and you would pester him to the point of seeing that reaction.

“Dejun,” you placed your hand on his cheek and his attention was focused on you, those soft brown eyes bore into yours as he took a step closer.

You felt the butterflies in your stomach as he softly wrapped his hand around the small of your back and placed the other on the back of your head. You finally leaned in and he did the same meeting your lips, for the first time and sighed. The kiss was soft, the two you just melted in the instant connection, basking in the feeling before continuing to deepen the kiss.

You wrapped your arms around his neck and pulled him closer until your bodies were pressed against each other, fitting each other’s silhouettes perfectly. Dejun slipped his hands down to your thighs and picked you up and placed you on the desk, not breaking the kiss as he slipped in between your legs.

“I’m afraid I’m going to want more than this” you sighed into the kiss, unable to remove your hands from his toned body as you felt the closeness of him between your legs making you feel aroused.

“Come back to my place” Dejun whispered as he began attacking your neck with kisses and played with the hem of your skirt.

You can’t remember if you said yes or just nodded but you were now in Dejuns car on his way to his place. You enjoyed the passionate kiss he shared with you at the stop street and the occasional squeeze of your thigh when he would make turn into a new road.

The rain had begun pelting down and thankfully you were already pulling into his apartment lot before it became really hazy. Dejun turned to his backseat and realized he had left his umbrella back at the library and sighed,

“Running hand in hand in the pouring rain troupe ?” He held out his hand and you chuckled, “always been on my bucket list anyway.”

The two of you ran for about half a minute in the pouring rain but it was enough to completely drench you from your head down to your shoes. Dejun quickly punched in the code of his door and pulled you inside, already covering you in kisses as his blonde hair stuck to his forehead.

It was one item of clothing after another as the trail of clothes led down to his bedroom, where he had you in just your lacy nude coloured two piece set while he was slowly ridding himself of his pants.

You fell into his bed as you watched him slowly pull his leather belt from its hoops and his black slacks finally fell to the ground,

“You are the most beautiful person I’ve ever met you know that ?” Dejun groaned as his eyes scanned over your body and he hovered over you.

“I could say the same about you Xiao Dejun” you mused and pulled him in for another hot passionate kiss. His warm body settled on yours and you wrapped your legs around his waist, wanting him closer even though it wasn’t even possible at this point.

Dejun unclipped your bra and moved his lips down to your breasts, squeezing one in his hand while licking and nipping at the other. You arched your back wanting more but also not wanting to rush him.

“Really want this to last much longer but I’m at my wits end right now” you moaned and Dejun chuckled as he peppered kisses all the way back up to your mouth.

“We have tonight, tomorrow, the next day and the day after that” he smirked against your lips before tugging on your bottom lip with his teeth.

Distracted by the stinging sensation from your lip you shivered at Dejuns icy fingers that was now hooked in the waistband of your panties, slowly pulling them down.

He watched as you squirmed beneath him. Watched how your eyes closed and how you sucked in your bottom lip, awaiting his next move.

You mewled when you felt the cool air hit your arousal and Dejun rubbed slow circles on your clit before pushing two fingers inside you, making you moan his name for the first time that night.

His fingers moved slowly but roughly while his lips softly pecked your hips, abdomen and the very top of your mound.

He was so gentle with you but his movements were still dominating, the mixture was absolutely intoxicating. You pulled him up missing the taste of his lips and before pressing his mouth on yours he caressed your cheek,

“Let me know if it’s too much okay?” He whispered against your lips and you nodded not knowing what you were in for.

Dejun locked your arms above your head and used his free hand to remove his boxers before entering you, already finding a rhythm to his thrusts. You threw your head back and moaned his name yet again as he slammed in and out of you, his grunts and your whimpers filling the bedroom.

His hand stayed locked on your wrists as he used his other hand to knead your breast, giving you multiple sensations at once. You almost hated the fact that you were close to your peak and it hadn’t been more than five minutes of him inside you.

“God I really don’t wanna cum right now” you whined as he still pounded mercilessly inside you.

“Good thing I’m not gonna let you” Dejun murmured and just as you thought your orgasm had reached, he pulled out of you and rolled onto his back,

“Get on top.”

You listened to his instructions but before sitting back on his member you gave him a few pumps, finally able to see him squirm under your touch this time round. Dejun gave you a small smack on your butt, and you finally abided to his request and sat on top of him, the new position already bringing you back to where you started.

Dejun sat up to meet your thrusts as you rode him, and you found your hand tangled in his messy locks as the two of you practically screwed the hell out of each other. The kiss this time was filled with lust, filled with lip biting and exchanging of saliva as you felt your orgasm fast approaching and noticed Dejun’s pace was slowing down too,

“cum for me baby” Dejun mused as he used the last of energy to give you a few hard thrusts until you finally came undone and he followed quickly after.

It took about two minutes of trying to catch your breath before you finally rolled on the bed next to him and wiped the beads of sweat from your forehead.

“Yeah this...this was definitely missing in some of those novels” you turned to Dejun who had a smile spread across his face.

He pulled the covers over your bodies and pressed his lips to your forehead and cheek,

“Should we write our own novel then ?”

“Yeah, yeah we should” you smiled, closing your eyes feeling at peace as his warmness enveloped you.

[ginnympotter]

call it even

Chapter 2: for old times’ sake

A/N: uhhh so spoiler or whatever but this has a small amount of pretty mild smut? which i've never attempted i can't believe i'm pressing post on this thing please don't judge me lol you can also read this chapter on AO3

I’m parked between the Methodist and school.

She read the text, looked at herself in the mirror one more time, and braced herself. She took her coat off the hook and as she was zipping it up she heard her mother coming down the stairs. “Ginny, hun, are you going out?”

“Yeah, I’ll see you later,” she said, grabbing the doorknob, trying to get out as quick as she could.

But before she could walk out Molly asked, “You know Harry could have come in, right?”

She looked at her mother’s smug smile and groaned. “Goodnight, Mom,” and swung the door shut behind her.

She walked quickly two blocks down, turned right and crossed the street. It was easy to spot Harry’s old truck, not just because there were only 3 other cars parked on that road, but also because it stuck out like a sore thumb, and also was a staple in so many of their memories. She knocked on the passenger side’s window and opened the car door, hopping into the seat. She looked over at Harry to say hi, and saw him smiling. “Hey, thanks for picking me up.”

“Of course,” Harry said as she shut the door. “But why did you make me park two blocks over?”

“Because I didn’t want it to be awkward, with me staying at my parents’ house, but it didn’t even matter because my mom just knew I was going to hang out with you.”

“Molly knows all.”

“Too much.” She looked over at their old high school building, and then at the field they were parked in front of, nostalgia filling her up. “Nice parking spot.”

“It’s weird working at the school we went to. Where those bleachers are,” Harry responded. She felt a tightness in her throat, feeling both excited and uneasy that he was already bringing these types of things up. “Remember how pissed Molly was when we skipped the prom?”

“Thank God she never found us under those,” Ginny heard herself respond. She and Harry looked at one another, twin smirks on their faces. The school bleachers might not be exactly the ideal, romantic place to lose your virginity, but for them it made total sense. She collected herself before her thoughts would get her carried away. “So, um, where to? Everywhere’s closed.”

“Did you eat already?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, okay, um...maybe we could just drive around for a bit? And then head back to my place for a glass of wine?”

Memories from last year flashed in her mind. She nodded and buckled herself in silently. He started the car, the engine gave a loud and disquieting noise, and then they took off. “I cannot believe this truck is still running.”

Harry lightly tapped the dashboard. “She never lets me down.”

Ginny rolled her eyes and sniggered. She looked out the window as they drove down the roads. “Believe it or not I kind of missed this place. Has it changed at all?”

“The same as it ever was,” Harry responded. “But I know you don’t like it that way.”

His eyes were on the road but she could feel what he meant without seeing his face. “I do, sometimes,” she clarified, hoping he would hear her for what she meant. “Is Dumbledore still principal?”

“Yeah, he is,” Harry told her. “And McGonagall still teaches math.”

“You were always their favorite.”

“Dumbledore’s, maybe,” he shrugged. “But McGonagall? She still goes on about my dad. They have tea together like, once a month.”

“But McGonagall let you get away with basically everything. She was just sly about it.”

“Much to Snape’s chagrin.”

“Oh God, don’t tell me he still works there?”

“Unfortunately.” Ginny blanched, and Harry laughed in appreciation. “He was so pissed when Dumbledore hired me. I just avoid him at all costs.”

“I can’t believe you willingly accepted a job where you have to see Snape every day.”

“I know. It’s worth it, though. I really love teaching,” he said. They halted at a stop sign and he used the opportunity to look at her as he said, “You helped me realize that.”

“I was a great tutee, if I do say so myself,” she smiled. “How about the coaching bit? Did the kids ever recover from their loss?”

Harry drove them around all the backroads as he talked about coaching and working at the school. Much of the anxiety she was holding inside her had slowly melted away as they eased back into their regular rapport. Her heart felt like it doubled in size as he talked about his favorite students (though at first proclaiming, “I don’t play favorites, but…”). He asked her more about life in LA and her first year being a starter.

When they arrived at Harry’s apartment, Ginny hung up her coat and watched as Harry’s eyes not so subtly raked over her body before he turned to his cabinet and took out two wine glasses. She sat in the same spot she did the last time she was on his sofa as Harry listed off various wine options. Harry updated her on all the most recent Tupelo gossip as they drank and reminisced on the different characters they grew up with. Every time he smiled she felt a piece of her heart break, she missed seeing it so much.

Harry must’ve sensed it- or perhaps he heard the crack inside her chest- as one of those times his smile dropped to a frown as he looked at her with concern. “You alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Ginny tried, taking the last sip of her wine and placing the glass down on the coffee table. She then noticed the People Magazine cover where she was in a little square on the top right for her interview with them last month.

She picked it up and held it in front of Harry, who suddenly turned red. “Er, I, um-” he stammered, and she laughed.

“Fred and George were just making fun of me for this yesterday at their party.”

“What’s to make fun of?” Harry asked, attempting to recover. “I think you did great.”

“Just a bit corny of a profile, I guess,” she responded. “Can I ask why you have it?”

Harry sighed, giving Ginny a very pointed look.

“What?”

“I have it because I was proud of you,” he replied carefully, taking another sip of his wine. “Is that a bad thing?”

And before she could register exactly what she was saying, the words “You could’ve texted me” flew out of her mouth.

Harry raised his eyebrows. “About the People profile?”

“Sure,” she said. Her brain telling her shut up, shut up, SHUT UP, but her mouth continued. “Or any other time before that. Or after I left this apartment after my brother’s wedding.”

Just as quickly as Harry’s face reddened before, it had now drained of all color. “I, er… I don’t-” he stopped himself, clearing his throat. “You could’ve texted me too, you know.”

“Well, why didn’t you?”

“Ginny,” he said softly, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t want to do this right now. Can’t we just...enjoy our time together while you’re here? Before you leave in a few days? I don’t want to fight.”

“Why didn’t you?” she repeated, more quietly this time.

“You know why,” he said defiantly, in an equally low voice.

“I don’t, actually.”

He groaned, putting his glass down next to hers before looking at her intensely. He looked tired, sad. “Because the only thing I wanted to text you was to ask you to stay. And I couldn’t ask that; it wouldn’t be right.”

She had an inkling that this would be his answer, but it still felt nice to hear him confirm it. “No, I suppose not.”

“And I wanted to text you so many times after, but… I was too afraid of what I’d say. And then too much time passed, and- I don’t know, I’m sorry, Gin.”

“Are you seeing anyone right now?”

Harry blinked, taken aback by the abrupt question. “No,” he said.

“Neither am I,” she told him, and then moved closer to him, so close that their legs touched. “You’re right, you couldn’t ask me to stay. But… how about I stay the night, and we could call it even?”

It took Harry a moment to register her proposal. When he did, he swallowed, his adam’s apple protruding against his throat. “Are...are you sure?”

She decided then to let go of her inhibitions, to act on impulse and burning desire, and placed herself on his lap facing him, her knees tightly against his hips, her hands meeting on the back of his neck, lightly scratching the bottom of his scalp. “I’m sure.”

Harry took a deep breath. “Right, then,” he mumbled, and then his lips were crashing against hers, and his arms moved her impossibly closer to him. She opened her mouth and his tongue swept atop hers; Harry moaned as he did it, as Ginny moved her fingers through his hair and pressed her chest against his. They kissed passionately, slow and hot, then fast and urgent, then slowly again. They fell back into their rhythm seamlessly.

When Ginny pulled away to kiss his neck, Harry’s voice was raspy. “Fuck,” he exhaled. She moved her tongue lightly along his collar bone, up the side of his neck, and to his ear as she ground herself more firmly on his growing erection. He groaned, moving his hands to Ginny’s ass and cupping it. “Fuck,” he repeated. “I missed this. I missed you.”

She was too stimulated to think too much about his words for too long, but nevertheless, they still caused her heart to lurch. And hearing Harry express himself- even just the slightest showing of vulnerability from him- always turned her on even more. She blew hot air on his ear, nibbled on the lobe, and then pulled away to take off his sweater. He smiled in a daze as she got the sweater off of him and discarded it. He didn’t waste another second before throwing off his T-shirt (his glasses momentarily getting caught in the process) and then doing the same to her, so he could have the next several seconds to unhook her lacy blue bra and let it drop to the floor. He leaned back and admired the view of her chest, then glanced up at Ginny before touching her. She gave a quick nod and he let himself feel her breasts in his hands again for the first time in almost a year, massaging them gently, then with more power. Ginny felt herself grow hotter just watching how Harry responded to her. He leaned in and took her right breast in his mouth, using his fingers to play with her left nipple in the way that always drove her mad. She allowed herself to enjoy it fully, moaning as she pleased, arching into him, pulling at his hair as he switched from one to the other.

Before long it was too much, and she grabbed his face and disconnected his mouth from her chest so she could kiss him again. She felt her lips tingle with the touch of his tongue, her skin burn as his hands moved to her back, running down slowly to her waistband, reaching under her pants to touch her bare ass, squeezing and spreading her cheeks gently. God, she loved when he did that. After she kissed him thoroughly enough, and her pants felt too wet to wear anymore, she moved to undo Harry’s belt buckle, which in turn encouraged him to unzip her jeans. She removed herself from him so they could remove what was left of their clothes. Seeing how hard he was for her, full and bare, made her weak in the knees yet simultaneously at her most powerful. She pushed Harry back down on the couch, let her knees give in to the floor, and cupped his balls. “Ginny-” Harry grunted, but before anything else could come out of his mouth she took him in her own, licking up his length, sucking gently as she bobbed her head up and down.

It was only around thirty seconds later that Harry stopped her, pulling her head off of him. “Wait, wait, stop-”

Immediately, she felt embarrassed. “Was that...ok?”

“Oh, God, Ginny, of course, it was more than ok, it was fucking amazing but...but I want to help you out first. Please.”

“Harry, it’s fine-”

“No, please,” he said earnestly. “I want to. I really want to.”

She let go of him and nodded wordlessly. He helped her up, laid her down on the couch, and kissed her gently. He then whispered, “Let me make you happy.”

“You always make me happy,” she whispered back. His features changed from eager to wistful. He kissed her again, much more firmly this time, and then worked his mouth from her neck along her body, over each breast, her stomach, the inside of her thighs, before he reached his final destination. Ginny closed her eyes and let out a heavy sigh as he pressed his tongue up and down against her clit.

She didn’t have to think or speak or do anything; Harry knew exactly the way she liked it, no matter how much time in between their sexual activities passed, he never lost track of exactly what made her scream, what made her shake in ecstasy, as she did only a few minutes after he began. As she came down from her high, Harry kissed his way back up her body, until reaching her cheek, which he kissed delicately. “You feel good?” he asked hoarsely.

“Mm,” was all she could respond in the moment, panting from pleasure still.

He chuckled sweetly, kissing her cheek again, then her forehead, then her lips. Once her breathing had steadied somewhat, she heard him speak again. “What else do you want?”

“To fuck you,” she breathed out.

Harry moaned at her words as he pushed his tongue back into her mouth, the vibrations sending tingles down to her toes. “Do you want to move to the bedroom?”

“We can go to your bed for round two,” she told him, smiling widely. “But round one is happening right here, right now on this couch.”

“If you insist,” he said hoarsely, moving over her, wasting not another second. They had already lost enough time.

***

Behind her eyelids, Ginny could feel the light pouring into Harry’s bedroom. She felt a twinge of joy as she moved her arms to find Harry’s torso, but all she could find were the sheets. She opened her eyes and saw that his side of the bed was empty. Her stomach fell as she scanned the room for him. She sat up and heard a bit of clanging around in the kitchen. The bedroom door was half-open. She rose from the bed, opened the drawer where Harry kept his t-shirts, and threw his go-to blue tee over her head. She stepped out of his room and walked down the hall to find Harry, wearing only a pair of boxers and his glasses, his hair as messy as ever, pouring an omelet onto a plate with expert ease.

“Morning,” she said quietly.

He turned to look at her and grinned, looking her over. “Morning. Nice shirt.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to leave you alone in there. I just wanted to make you breakfast.”

“That’s sweet, Harry.” She went to sit at the island and he waved his hands. “No, no, not here!”

“Excuse me?”

“Breakfast in bed ,” he clarified. “I’ll bring it in, you go relax, I just am finishing up on the home fries and then I’ll bring it right in.”

“You sure?”

He waved his spatula in the direction of his room. “Go on, now!”

She shook her head and rolled her eyes at him fondly before turning around and heading back down the hall. “Fine, but I’m using your bathroom first.”

“Do what you must.”

After using the toilet and brushing her teeth, she settled back into Harry’s bed and scrolled through her phone. Only a few minutes later, Harry entered with their plates, handing one to her and planting a tender kiss on her forehead. Her insides melted at the gesture. She softly thanked him, scooted over and dug in. Harry sat on his side but at the foot of the bed, his legs folded and his plate on his lap, that way he could face her. They ate in silence, exchanging occasional grins. She felt slightly distracted by his shirtless form and the way their feet touched. When she finished she handed Harry her plate. “That was delicious, thank you. Compliments to the chef.”

“My pleasure,” he told her. “I like cooking for people.”

“Perhaps if this teaching thing doesn’t work you can go to culinary school.”

“I know you’re joking, but I’d honestly consider it,” he said as he stacked their empty plates and leaned over to put them on his bedside table. He then sat beside her and grabbed her hand, interlacing their fingers. “What would you like to do today? That is, if you don’t have any other pressing plans…”

“I do have a hot date or two lined up, but I could always reschedule them for next year,” she joked.

“How kind of you,” he replied, picking up her hand and kissing it. Ginny was finding it hard to control herself with all the seemingly small, natural affection he was showing. “But really, anything in mind?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know, I thought maybe we’d sleep in half the day- just for old times’ sake?”

Harry chuckled, glancing at the clock. “It’s already 10am. You want to go back to sleep?”

“Well, maybe not right away,” she said, lacking subtlety. “Thought we could do something to tire us out first.”

“Hmm,” Harry pretended to think. “What could that be?”

She grabbed him by the neck and kissed him, and he sighed, using his free hand to cup her face. After kissing each other sweetly for a minute or two, Harry let go of her hand to grab her and pull her onto his lap. He quickly realized that other than his shirt she wasn’t wearing anything else at all, moaning as he grabbed her ass. He deepened the kiss and Ginny became wrapped up in its intensity, returning it right to him, her hands wrapped up in his hair. Although her body was in the driver’s seat, her mind and heart were racing, thinking about how much this man meant to her, how much she felt like herself when she was with him, how much he made her feel like she could do anything. She cherished every second she could steal with him, before all she’d have is memories to replay until the next time, cementing the feel and the taste of him into her brain. She didn’t want it to ever end.

But not before long, Harry seemed to slow down, and then he pulled away altogether. When Ginny leaned back in to continue the kiss, he barely reciprocated.

“Harry?” she asked, breathing heavily. “Are you okay?”

He cleared his throat and nodded. “Yeah, I…” He looked at her and she could see the storm of emotions in his emerald eyes. He leaned his head against hers and exhaled. “I’m fine. But...can we pause this for a moment? Can we talk?”

A wave of dread washed over her as she nodded her head and removed herself from his lap. Sensing her tension, Harry grabbed her hand again, rubbing his thumb across the back of it. “What is it?” she asked reluctantly.

He inhaled deeply, his forehead creased. “When you leave later today, I… I don’t want it to be like last time.”

“Well, that’s easy then,” Ginny told him, attempting a smile. “All you have to do is text me when I land back in L.A. this time.”

“And what would that imply, exactly?” Harry questioned. “Me texting you, that is.”

“It-” but Ginny realized she didn’t really have an answer- or, at least, she couldn’t give the answer she really wanted. “It would mean that this wasn’t just some meaningless thing to you.”

Harry frowned, tilting his head to the side slightly. “Is that what you really thought? Or what you’ll think if you leave later?”

Ginny considered his question. “I suppose not.”

“Of course not,” he corrected her, speaking with conviction as he squeezed her hand. “Ginny… I still-”

“Stop,” she interrupted him. “Don’t say it.”

She wanted to hear him say it, of course she did, but she would never be able to leave if she let him continue. She felt her heart break a bit at Harry’s disappointed expression. “What do you want me to say then?” he asked, his voice quiet but his tone stabbing. “That I don’t care about you? That I don’t miss you? That I don’t think about you every time I try to date someone else? I’m sorry if that’s hard for you to hear, but I have to tell you, I can’t even fathom you thinking for even one second that anything between us could ever be meaningless to me. I’m sorry I didn’t text you. I don’t know how to do this.”

“No,” she said as she put a hand on his leg. She couldn’t take it anymore. He was right, hearing all of that was too hard for her.  Knowing the feelings are mutual “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean… The meaningless thing was an overreaction, alright? I know… we’ll always mean so much to each other.”

Harry sighed, closing his eyes, his thinking face on. Ginny knew that face too well, and she knew he was trying to work out in his mind how to phrase all his feelings. “I just don’t understand why we gave up two years ago. We did long distance from your senior year in high school through all of college and it was fine. I didn’t want to break up. But you were so insistent that this is what was best once you got a spot on the team and I didn’t want to feel like I had to persuade you to stay together and I just…”

Ginny’s heart dropped into her stomach. There was such an ache in his voice… it hurt her to hear. “I don’t know, Harry, I thought… I thought I was doing the right thing,” she settled on. How could she explain giving up on them to him? To herself? “College was one thing, but as working adults? It just felt like we’d never be in the same place, we’d never be able to actually spend time together… I didn’t want to hold you back. I didn’t realize you…that you would’ve… I thought we were on the same page, I’m sorry.”

“No, I should’ve fought harder for us,” he told her, eyes blazing. “It’s not too late, is it?”

Ginny exhaled as Harry squeezed her hand again. “Harry, I can’t stay here-“

“I’m not asking you to.”

“Well, I can’t ask you to wait for me. I don’t know what’s going to come with my career.”

“I don’t care how far apart we are,” he asserted. “I don’t want to be with anyone else- I’ve tried, and I’m sure you have too, but we always end up back here, don’t we?  I want to be with you. We can figure the rest out as we go. It’s us, you know?”

He smirked at the end of his sentence, and all the feelings she’d been holding in for two years seemed to boil over at once. God, she missed that smile. The same smile as the one she dreamed about every day when she was only 11 and he spent every summer day over at their house with Ron. The same smile that he gave her after their first kiss, and after they skipped the prom and hid out under the bleachers, and when he came home to visit from college for the first time, and when he visited her in her dorm, and when he saw her standing in her bridesmaid dress at Ron and Hermione’s wedding, and then when he took it off of her later that night, and when they bumped into each other at the airport a few months ago, and just last night as she curled up against him in his bed and kissed him goodnight.

Tears warned to spill over, and she cursed herself for blinking one free. Harry put a hand on her face and wiped it for her with his thumb. He looked deeply into her eyes, which only caused more tears to fall. He wiped another for her, and then he kissed one away, and then he kissed her lips so gently she could barely register it.

“What are you thinking?” he asked, a hint of desperation in his voice for some type of answer.

She looked away from him, staring down at their knees. “I still don’t know, Harry. I’m confused. Everything you’re saying… I want that, I do, but it just doesn’t… seem practical. And… I mean, if we did get back together, what about everything after that? Do you want to stay in Tupelo forever?”

“Not necessarily,” he responded flatly. “I love my job now but I don’t know if I’ll still want to be here in a few years… But do we need to be making those types of decisions now?”

“Well if we don’t, then what? We get back together and three years down the line we break up because we realize we’re still not on the same page? I don’t want to waste either of our time.”

Harry let out a defeated sigh, causing Ginny to look up again. The fire in his eyes was being stomped out by disappointment. “Gin, listen… all I know is that ever since I was sixteen all I’ve wanted is to be with you, whatever it took to make that happen. That hasn’t changed, not one bit, even nine years later. I know we can make it work. If it’s not what you want… I don’t want you to be with me if you aren’t fully in it. But I want to be in your life. I don’t know what that looks like for you right now, but however it does, I’ll be there. Even if that’s only as your brother’s best friend.” He offered a sad smile as he finished.

But you’re so much more than that , she wanted to say, but felt like that’d just be proving his point, and she still felt too confused and overwhelmed. Selfishly, she leaned in and kissed him, long enough to memorize the feeling for later but quickly enough to prevent any further persuasion from the magic of his mouth. She braced herself for her own heart’s self-destruction as she opened her eyes and said, “I think I should go home, now.”

Harry’s sadness lingered for a moment, before he channeled his expertise of shutting down, his features flickering to blankness. “If...if that’s what you want. Let me drive you home, at least?”

She wanted to say no, that she’d just order an Uber, but her mouth betrayed her. “Ok.”

He let go of her hand and stood up. “I’ll, er, just throw on some clothes real quick, then run and grab yours and leave you to get dressed.”

She nodded and watched him throw on a pair of jeans, an undershirt, a jumper, and socks rather haphazardly. She listened as his feet creaked across the hallway floors, and waited with bated breath as he made his way back moments later, handing her a pile of her clothes. She muttered a “thank you” and averted his eyes as she took them.

“Take your time,” he told her gently, and made his way back out.

The moment the door clicked closed, she clenched her eyes shut and pushed out all the tears she could, so none would escape for him to see when she would have to face him again. She wiped her face and felt the warmth leave her as she got up from his bed, her haven. She threw off his shirt and put on her clothes from the night before, but folded up his t-shirt and stuffed it in her purse. It was an unspoken agreement between them that she could take as many of his t-shirts as she liked; he bought extras just for her.

She looked in the mirror, quickly threw her hair back in a low ponytail, and inhaled deeply, as if the air entering her lungs would give her courage to move forward as she opened up his bedroom door and walked towards the entrance.

Harry had his sneakers on, her shoes lined up and her coat ready for her in his hands. She slipped on her shoes and against her better judgment she allowed him to slip her jacket on for her, arm by arm. She hated the electricity that crackled through their every touch. She did not want to leave, she hated herself for leaving, even.

As if he sensed her self-deprecation, he took hold of her hand after it slipped through the sleeve. “Gin, it’ll be okay.”

She didn’t believe him, of course, it was just his typical optimism in order to protect everyone he loved, Except it made Harry look out for everyone else’s comfort at his own expense.

He grabbed his keys and led them out of his flat. They got into his car quietly. Without taking the backroads, the ride was relatively short, only taking 3 songs on the classic rock station of his ancient car radio to make it back to her home, the Burrow.

He parked right outside, which was a mistake, as her mother was out in the front with their family dog, Pig. She was wise enough to just offer a wave and a smile and resume walking with him.

Harry turned to her and asked in a low rasp, “Can I see you again? Before you fly back? Will you still be at your family’s for New Year's?”

“Yeah, I will,” she told him. “I’ll...I’ll see you there.”

Harry nodded. He clicked the unlock button for the doors. “Just...just think about what I said, alright?”

Ginny swallowed, nodding back. “I will.”

He kissed her cheek, his lips burning against her cold skin, and as he pulled away he leaned over to open her door for her. She attempted a smile in thanks, hopped out of his truck, and closed the door gently behind her.

She didn’t look back as she walked through her lawn, as she heard him call out to her mother, “See you soon, Mrs. Weasley!,” as Pig barked merrily at him and Harry laughed out, “I’ll see you soon, too, Pig!” before driving away.

She was grateful that her mother didn’t pursue her as her legs worked their hardest to get her to the door, through the entrance, and up the flight of stairs to her room, into her own bed, waiting for a sense of safety or relief that never came.

[reiraland]

Eric - Happy (belated) birthday

Finally I finished the fanfic for Eric’s birthday! It took me way more time than I had expected, but better later than never, right? hehe. I planned to write a fic between 500-700 words, but ended up writing 2600+ words. my love for Eric is unquenchable  

I’m thristy for more Eric’s content. I wish Beemoov added him in the future events or release a spinoff.  Beemoov, just take my money 

I would have liked to write also an Eric’s POV, but recently my work schedule is hectic. I might try, but it’ll take a while. 

I apologize in advance for any typo or grammar mistake.

Happy Birthday, Eric! (04.26) Shaken off from my slumber by the emanating vibrations from my smartwatch, I lazily opened my eyes. The world was still dark outside. After turning off the alarm, my heart filled up with joy as soon as I laid my eyes on my beloved. By his rhythmic breath, I could tell Eric was still sound asleep. Reaching out my hand, I caressed his disheveled black hair and gently ran my fingers along his jaw as my heart beat firmly with ecstasy.

“God, he’s so attractive…” I murmured to myself. 

Nothing could bring me more bliss than staying a few more minutes in our heavenly nest, but today I had an important task. For the past two weeks, I had been mulling over the ideal way to celebrate his birthday. Although I wished we could go on a trip together, he was currently busy with a new case, plus my schedule was tight too; having several auctions planned for the next three months consumed most of my time. In the end, I made a reservation at a trendy, popular restaurant, and since neither of us could take the day off from work and I wouldn’t see him until the closing time of the café, for starters, I decided to surprise him with a special breakfast. 

“Come on. No time to waste!” 

After slipping out of the bed stealthily, I hurriedly took a shower and got dressed as quick as a flash. When my phone buzzed twice, I went outside, racing down the stairs all the way out to the street where Hyun was waiting for me with a small box in his hands.  

“Thank you very much for delivering it so early in the morning and especially for putting up with me for the last week! I am aware I have been fussy about the flavour… verging on nitpicking.” I said apologetically. 

“Please, don’t mention it. What are friends for? Also, you’re one of my favourite customers, I can’t let you down,” he responded with a smile, “and don’t concern yourself about the flavour anymore, I’m positive Eric will be delighted. I’ll be looking forward to your feedback.” He added cordially before waving goodbye. 

Back at the apartment, I heard the shower water running, and immediately got anxious. I had less time than originally planned. 

“I hope I can wrap everything up just on time,” I sighed nervously. 

I conscientiously got down to work with the breakfast preparations. While brewing a new type of coffee I had specifically ordered from one of Cosy Bear Café’s suppliers, I set the table and sliced the cake into equal pieces. I clasped both of my hands together happily after getting everything ready. The fragrance of freshly brewed coffee wafting through the air reassured me since it reminded me so much of Eric’s embrace.  

The sound of footsteps brought me back to reality. Eric was leaning against the door frame, gazing groggily at me with his golden eyes. As he covered his mouth with one hand to hide a yawn, he put his wet hair back with the other one. The mere sight of him took my breath away.

“Morning…” His voice was still low and rough.

“Good morning! Just in time! Breakfast is ready! Summoned by the coffee’s scent, right?” I asked jokingly.

Eric’s eyes twinkled with amusement. He walked over to me, leaning down on my face until his lips found mine. A pleasant feeling unfurled in my stomach as I kissed him back with adoration. 

“What can I say? A great day starts with a cup of coffee...” he trailed off suddenly, “but you know what?” He enquired conspiratorially, giving me a playful smirk.

“What?” I whispered back mischievously. 

 “A day without you is always incomplete, nothing could fill the void of your absence”. 

“Not even the finest coffee?” I attempted to wear a blank expression, but my tone gave me away. 

The corner of his mouth quirked up before shaking his head in denial, staring deeply into my eyes as he replied with more amorous words. My heart began to pound like a drum and I was certain my cheeks were blushing furiously as if to mirror his flushed face.

“Definitely, you are turning into more and more a romantic every day… a hopeless romantic like myself … I’m absolutely in love with you.” I stated softly, swallowing down the emotion that comes with my words, suppressing tears of happiness that threatened to fall down from the corner of my eye. 

A few seconds later, Eric held me in his strong arms and rested his forehead against mine, letting out a contented sigh when I hugged him back. Lost in each other's eyes, time seemed to have slowed down. The closeness between us felt so natural, like it was meant to be. However, reluctantly, I pulled myself away from his warmth, he raised an eyebrow in response.

“If we don’t hurry up, coffee will get cold and we won’t be able to have breakfast without rushing” I explained. “Today’s menu is a bit particular. Sir, I hope you find it to your liking. By the way, Happy Birthday!” I spoke teasingly. 

Eric’s eyes showed a hint of surprise for a brief moment, then he grinned from ear to ear, while squeezing my fingers gently. I summarized quickly about the coffee and the cake, he listened to me attentively as always. I watched him restlessly, as he brought the mug to his lips and tasted the pastry. Relief washed all over me after he nodded approvingly, flashing an encouraging smile. That peaceful moment was engraved in our memory, it might have been just an ordinary breakfast for others, but for us, it meant a great deal. When we finished eating, we cleared the table and as I was about to wash the dishes, he stopped me with a hand up.

“You prepared breakfast, it’s only fair I’ll do the dishes.” He said warmly, not letting me a chance to protest. 

At first, I just observed him while he was focused on the task at hand, but then, I tiptoed closer and circled my arms around him from behind, burying my head in his back. Inhaling deeply, his scent infused my soul with tranquility and comfort. 

As soon I noticed Eric was done with the chore, I took a step away from him. At the same, Eric turned around, and without a warning, lifted me up, slowly spinning me around until we reached the living room. He tenderly laid me down onto the couch as we locked eyes. He looked extremely amused, just like a child plotting mischief. The next thing I knew is he relentlessly tickled my ribs as I burst into giggles. The sound of our laughter echoed through the room.

I wanted that moment to last forever, but duty called. As his silver watch catched my eye, I furrowed my brows. 

“Eric, we need to start moving now… I don’t feel like leaving, but look at time…”, I pouted.  

“Time really flies when we are together, right? You know… we can stay a bit longer, if you will.”

“But If we don’t leave now, we’ll be stuck in a traffic jam and neither of us will be on time for work”.

“If we turn the siren on, a traffic jam won’t be an obstacle.” He pointed at, letting out  a small, low chuckle. I couldn’t refrain myself from tittering at his statement. 

“The siren is only for special occasions. If we used it regularly, you might get caught by one of your fellow police officers. And then what?” I dismissed his suggestion with a playful tone. 

“You promised to visit me in prison, wouldn’t you honor your vow?” He replied in the same way. 

“Needless to say, I would. However, I’d rather have you with me every day. I think you’ll agree with me.”

“I can’t argue with your reasoning.”

He made as if to rise up from the couch, but promptly sank himself back, showering my cheeks, my forehead, my lips and neck with light kisses. I giggled merrily.

“Just one more minute, please.” He pleaded in between kisses. 

I silently agreed, enjoying every second of the sweetness of his love. 

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

For the rest of the day I was in high spirits, despite being a busy one. I had a meeting with a supplier and had lunch with Yael to address some remaining minor issues regarding our upcoming exhibition. I also passed by Leight’s shop to pick up my outfit for that night. I had purchased it last week, but Leigh had insisted on adding a few details on the sleeves. 

Eric arrived at the café past the closing time. After greeting me with a kiss and complimented my dress, he started to carry the tables and chairs from the terrace to inside the café, while we had our usual conversations.

“How was your day? Complicated?” 

“Kind of, but now that business is successful, I refuse to complain about having a pile of work. When I remember last year … I was about to be forced to shut down the Cosy Bear.” I shuddered in cold sweat. 

Eric put a hand on my shoulder and affectionately kissed my temple as I closed my eyes, indulging myself with his display of tenderness. 

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

As soon as we stepped into the restaurant, the waiter greeted us politely and led us to our table. 

“This place is highly recommended, not only for its tasteful dishes and its amazing presentations, but also because of reasonably priced food. I must add, I find the decor magnificent.” I said, offering him a smile and he did the same in return.

“I was just flipping through a magazine when I spotted a review about this place. They’re usually overbooked, but Yael happens to know the manager, so I was able to get a reservation for tonight.” I commented joyfully. 

“This is my best birthday since I was a child. I’m grateful to you for putting so much thought and effort, I know you did.” He remarked knowingly.

“You seriously need to stop playing the mentalist card.” I sighed in defeat. “I did research trendy restaurants, it took me a while to find a few of my liking. Yael’s help did come in handy for getting a reserve here, though.”

“You are adorable. I love you.” He murmured tenderly. 

Soon enough, our meal was brought to the table. Before I knew it, Eric had already emptied his plate. He looked away sheepishly, it was so cute that I found myself smiling widely. 

“It was thoughtless of me...” he attempted to sputter an excuse.

“The way you gobbled up all that food, one would think you haven’t  eaten for days.” I remarked pretending to sound casual, then I winked at him. He let out a throaty laugh in response. 

“Today it was hectic at work. Showing the new recruits the ropes was more strenuous than usual. Moreover, the investigation about you-know-what case is no longer stuck. I wish I could give you more details... Well, the fact is we made quite considerable progress. And in the end, I barely had time for lunch.” 

“You mean you skipped lunch, don’t you?” I pointed out with concern.

“It’s not like I was on an empty stomach... I had a snack-” he stammered.

“Eric…” I cut him off in a flat tone. 

His face shadowed while he looked sideways, scratching the back of his head. 

“Eric, I need you to take care of yourself properly. Just going to the gym regularly won’t keep you healthy. Skipping meals is a bad idea, a terrible one, in fact. Don’t underestimate its negative effects. Eric, I want to stay with you until we're grey and old. So, please, promise me you will be more careful in the future.”

“Umm… sure… right… I mean, I’ll try to avoid skipping meals… umm…” He responded to me, almost stuttering. 

His face turned as red as a beetroot. It took me a moment to realize why.

“It did sound like a proposal, didn’t it?” I thought bashfully, finger tapping on the table. 

Eric reached his hand over the table to touch mine while he spoke to me, while looking into my eyes.

“I don't see myself living without you either. I swear to you I won’t lose sight of the most important.”  He swallowed, and continued, “I’ve been doing some thinking. How about going on a trip the following weekend after the last auction is planned for the last week of June? How does that sound? I bumped into Yael a few days ago and had a little chat about an opening in your schedule. I thought it’d be a good idea to set the trip for that date as you’d be less packed with work. You’ll definitely need a break, it will do you good.” 

“But what about your work? What if--?”

“I had a conversation with the chief to let him know in advance that weekend I would be out of the radar.  He was quite understandable. Well, you haven’t given me an answer yet.”

“Haven’t you already guessed it? I thought body language was your thing.” I tried to sound teasing, but I just ended up giggling.

The grip of his hand slightly tightened on mine, before he leaned over to kiss the back of my hand. I got up from my seat and ran to hug him without letting go of his hand. That drew the attention of other customers, but even if I felt sheepish, I focused on Eric. 

“I'll take that as a "yes", then”. He hummed jovially, “we just need to decide where we want to go.”

For a moment I was a little taken aback because I had just assumed he had already decided on his own, but Eric wasn’t that kind of partner. He always treasured my opinions. His thoughtfulness was like those peaceful waves on the ocean, as soothing as calming. 

“Planning the trip together will be twice the fun.” He affirmed.

I agreed with a nod, my smile didn’t leave my face for the rest of the evening.  

After having a great dinner, we headed back to our apartment.

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

[The following scene is kind of steamy. Just warning!]

The moment we reached the bedroom, we practically collapsed onto the bed. Entirely eager for one another, impatiently getting rid of our clothes as if they were on fire. We lost ourselves in waves of ecstasy, forgetting the entire world. His hands slid down my body, claiming every part of me with his touch, making their way to my most sensitive spots. I didn’t even bother trying to suppress my moans. I didn’t remain passive either, I devoured him with reverent hunger. As growls of desire escaped his lips, I felt proudly satisfied.

Breathless from the intensity poured out between our lips, still unwilling to release the other one, not even for a second.

When both of us came together, flames of heated fervor clenched inside me. Caught up in the rhythm of his body against mine, relishing that sensation while I realized every one of his movements matched mine, we were in complete sync.

“I can’t get enough of you.” His voice, ragged with lust. 

I couldn’t even manage a reply, I just dug my nails into his back, pulling him closer, feverishly urging him to continue. 

Finally, glistened with sweat and gasping for air, we collapsed into each other's arms, both exhausted but elated. Snuggled together, in no time we surrendered to the realm of dreams. 

My last thoughts before dozing off were dedicated to the wonderful man next to me. Eric had shown me such deep, earnest love that swept over me, marking a before and after in my life. What could possibly be better than that?

[mymelodyheart]

All I Want For Christmas Is You Chapter 2 ~It’s Her Cue~

Previously in Sparks Will Fly ...

A slap on his back tore his gaze away from Claire. "Easy now lad," Willie said in a low, amused voice. "Ye look like ye could use the same drink as her."

Jamie glanced back at the subject of their conversation. "Aye, but make mine a double," he whispered.

"On it," Willie replied, laughing as he walked off.

What the bloody hell?  He should be withdrawing himself away from this attraction because this mad instant bond between them was like an overloaded electrical fuse, capable of incinerating him alive. He'd already learnt his lesson from his last relationship. He'd been there and done that, but yet he didn't have the will to stop himself from finding out how their connection would play out.

Oh, Christ, this is bad. So, so bad, I'm in so much big trouble.  Taking a huge sigh, he found himself a stool nearest to the pool table and watched Claire steal the show from the best snooker player in Broch Mordha.

If you wish to read this on AO3, here is the link.

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"Just polishing my balls for the lovely lass, here." 

The people around her howled with good-natured laughter.

Claire kept her head down as she sat on the edge of the stool, chalking her stick, waiting for Hugh to stop showing off and blathering with his mates, and to finally break. She felt eyes on her, and when she looked up, she met Jamie's gaze where he sat with his brother at the high table. 

Annalise leaned in from behind her and whispered, "Ginger can't stop looking at you."

Claire drew in substantial deep breaths. She'd watched Jamie play shinty earlier, and she thought he looked impressive then. Tall, strong, lithe, covered in mud and the epitome of a Highland warrior. Not that she had any idea what a Highland warrior would have looked like. After all, she only had the movie, Braveheart to go by. But who would have thought he'd show any interest in her. Perhaps, because she'd probably looked like she was about to climb him. Who could blame her, though? The moment he'd looked into her eyes, he stirred something inside her, which no man had ever done before him. And by some feat of willpower, she wondered how she'd succeeded not breaking into song right then and there. Up close earlier and now, sat only a few feet away, Jamie looked even better. Wavy auburn hair touched the collar of his plaid flannel shirt and the way his jeans hung low on hips, it shouldn't be even allowed. 

"He probably thinks I'm easy. You know how some rural folks think city people like us have loose morals."

Annalise gasped. "Why do you think he would think that?"

"I think I came on too strong and flirty," she confided in a low voice. "He's a man, so of course, he'd respond, and it probably works a treat for him too since I'm only here for a holiday. But my God, he's one fine specimen of a man, isn't he? I'm even getting butterflies, and the last time I had them ...goodness, I can't even remember." 

"Don't be daft ...you don't even know what he's thinking. Besides, you're single, and you're allowed to show interest if you fancy someone." The ice in Annalise's vodka and tonic clinked behind her. "This is the twenty-first century, and you're welcome to it. Flirt away and get butterflies. Let yourself go a little. I don't know if it applies here, but I'll say it anyway ...what goes on in the Highlands, stay in the Highlands." 

Aww, bless her.

Claire was grateful for her friend's presence in her life. If Annalise hadn't been there to constantly coax her out of her self-consciousness and to confide in to, she'd probably still be living a secluded life, and London would have eventually eaten her whole. Now here she was, openly flirting with a handsome stranger and she'd agreed to let him take her out.

Claire smiled. "How about you? What's happening with you and Willie?"

Annalise made an exaggerated sighing sound behind her, making her laugh. What a tart! 

"Hey, by the way, Jamie asked me out. So I guess, after this game and a round of drink, we're going to split. He wants to take me on a Christmas night tour. Will you be alright with Willie?" Claire asked. She had to make sure as this was their holiday together and she didn't want Annalise feeling abandoned.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. The boys seem like decent blokes, but as a precaution, I took photos of their driving licences and sent them to Geillis. She'll have them thoroughly checked out. Really handy to know someone whose boyfriend works with the police."

Claire's eyes widened, and she turned around to face her friend. "You didn't! I told Jamie I trust him." Geillis Duncan was their mutual friend they'd met in London at a party. After hitting it off, they'd forged a tight friendship, and the three of them became close until Geillis had to move back to her home city of Glasgow when she met the love of her life. Claire and Annalise were going to visit her before flying back to London.

"Of course, I did, silly. We're both on our own. Just because we're on our holidays and having fun doesn't mean we have to be lax when it comes to precaution. Don't worry, it'll be fine." Annalise reassuringly squeezed her arm. "Speaking of protection ...do you have condoms?"

What!?!  Sex was the furthest thing from her mind. But she didn't have time to reply as she saw at the corner of her eye, Hugh finally, leaned across the pool table and broke. As Claire stood up to take her turn, their audience cheered and whooped. 

Ignoring the hoots and whistles, she watched in concentration as the colourful balls rolled, not one of them dropping into a pocket. She began to walk around the pool table, taking in each position of the balls as she tapped her chin. Alrighty Beauchamp, let's have a look, shall we? This should be easy-peasy, lemon squeezy. We'll go for stripes. 

"Ye ken how to play, hen?" Hugh teased, extracting laughter from his friends. "If not, I promise to go easy with my shaft." Another round of loud laughter ensued.

Claire ignored the innuendo, and the sally going on and focused.

First, I'll down that nine-ball hanging over the pocket and use the rail to tap out the eleven, crammed against the twelve. That'll leave open the six, thirteen, and fifteen. Once I drop the fifteen, using a little side spin, that should bring me to the other end of the table. Then I'll sink the eleven and the fourteen into the same corner pocket, gently hitting the ten off the rail in the process, so I don't get stuck later having to bank shot it. Knock in the eight, then I'm clear to finish it off. Good God, Beauchamp, you're so good.

Satisfied with her strategy, Claire leaned over the green felt and positioned herself. Although Hugh's loud wisecrack didn't rattle her, the intensity of Jamie's stare was another matter. Taking a deep breath, she redirected her concentration on her game plan and took her first shot and then another, working clinically and accurately. Unfortunately, their encounter earlier kept creeping back into her consciousness and playing in loops in her head. It didn't help that his scent stuck on to her when he'd caught her after the fall. He smelled of forest and fresh laundry. None of that heavy musky expensive perfumes London yuppies liked to bathe in. It made her want to lean in, bury her face in the crook of his neck and take a deep breath.

Bent at the waist, Claire stretched over the edge of the table and focused on the fifteen-ball and tried not to wince at the memory of openly flirting with Jamie. In her defence, it wasn't every day she was rescued by a very manly bloke who stared at her like he didn't want to let her out of his sight. She wondered if she'd appeared too eager and was totally misunderstanding the look he was giving her. There had been a hint of wariness lurking behind those beautiful translucent blue eyes when she'd agreed to go out with him. Had she said something to cause him to throw up his guard?  

Having gone to a Catholic, all-girls, boarding school, her experience with the opposite sex was limited to the ones she read in romance novels. Orphaned at a young age, her guardian uncle Lamb didn't believe, dragging her across the globe with him was an ideal way to raise a girl, especially when he worked mostly with men in archaeological sites. So he'd decided the best place for her upbringing was with the nuns, right through college.

So when it finally came for her to start adulting and dating in a big, bad city like London, she'd been like a deer caught in the headlights. But she quickly found her feet with the help of her friend and flatmate, Annalise, a Parisienne by birth and a Londoner at heart. The French girl had been a mentor to her, initiating her to the trappings of singlehood and city life. Though the dating and getting-to-know-a-guy part was also an exciting discovery, she quickly realised every date she'd been to, after having gone through a handful of them, was a recycled version of the last. Same lines, same latest fashion, exaggerated backstories and trying too hard to impress instead of being themselves. So at the ripe age of twenty-five, she still had to experience what it was like to have a boyfriend. Annalise accused her of being too picky, but Claire always reasoned she just hadn't met the right one. She'd envisioned her first boyfriend to be someone endearingly awkward, not too loud and maybe a little shy. But Jamie was the least awkward man she'd ever met. He was easy on the eyes, and he lived inside his skin like a well-worn pair of jeans. He was far from a starter boyfriend she'd envision - definitely, not a boy anything.

"Go, Claire! You can do it!" Annalise shouted at the sidelines.

As she marked her shot on the eight-ball, she glanced up at Jamie and felt her focus wobble a bit. When one of the lads emitted a low whistle as she moved her hips to settle herself at a conducive angle, he didn't have a smidgen of amusement on his face. More than anything, he looked liked he was about to knock the front teeth off of the offender.

She didn't want a pub brawl to start in her honour, even if it sounded romantic in movies or books.

Straightening up from her position, she gave Jamie what she thought was a sexy smile. "Hey, Jamie," she called to him. "You got that single malt ready for me? This shouldn't take long." She tried not to blanch for sounding overconfident and cocky. It seemed cheeky for presuming she'd finished this game in a jiffy, but the pleasure of seeing his piercing blue eyes creased at the corners was definitely worth the minor discomfort her behaviour had caused her. Oh, Lordy! There were hushed oohs, followed by a round of testosterone-laced jests, making Jamie shake his head in amusement. At least, to her relief, he stopped looking like he's about to wallop anyone. Trouble averted in the knick of time!

As Jamie turned to get the attention of the bartender, she quickly lowered herself back over the table in the same position and sunk in the remaining balls. When she finished, her opponent, Hugh looked, well …not the least bit pleased about it. It probably didn't help she'd earlier acted cocksure about winning the game and might have dented his macho ego in front of his mates. 

Claire watched Hugh purposely marched towards her as their audience clapped, cheered and teased him for losing to a lassie.

"Ye got me at a disadvantage. I must admit I went easy on you since ye're new around here," he said loud enough for everyone near the pool table to hear. 

Claire gave him a charming smile, even though she felt like throttling him for not being man enough to congratulate her. "I know. Too bad, you assumed I couldn't play because I have a pair of boobs."

Hugh's eyes dropped down to her breast, and his cheek twitched, as he openly leered at her. "I must admit, ye have a lovely pair, and it might have distracted me from playing a good game, now that I come to think about it. Ye ken what ye need? Ye need a good ..."

"Stiff drink?" Jamie interrupted as he handed Claire a glass of single malt. "That's what ye were about to say, aye?"

Jamie's words were mildly pleasant, but she detected the underlying warning in his tone. Hugh didn't look like one to back-off, but when Jamie took a small step forward, he eyed the height and breadth before him and thought better of it. Splitting a forced smile between her and Jamie, Hugh raised both his hands as a sign of truce and slowly walked back to his mates.

With a sigh, she placed her cue stick on the pool table and faced Jamie. "This is fast becoming a habit of yours, isn't it?"

"What?" he asked, taking a step inside her personal space. It was another one of his moves to add to that growing habit list of his. Her old fashion side, the side influenced by her upbringing in the boarding school, wanted her to take a step back. But the side, that suspiciously sounded like Annalise, was shouting at her to hold her ground.

So she held her ground and arched an eyebrow at him. "You coming to my rescue. Again!"

When his mouth expanded into a smile, she couldn't help noticing his full, beautiful lips. With a cleanly shaven angular jaw, they made him looked like an angel who'd spent time in hell. Her breath caught in her throat, and she quickly looked back up, hoping he hadn't noticed her wandering eyes.

His amused expression told her he had. "Ye could say, rescuing ye is one past time that's beginning to grow on me." 

She laughed out loud. It was something she did whenever she was nervous or when shyness overtook, and the most annoying part of it, it was almost always accompanied by a snort. She quickly sobered up. Acting like a loon was definitely beginning to be her nervous signature move.

As if sensing her unease, Jamie quickly changed the subject. "By the way, that was some show ye put on. Ye'll be the topic of everyone's conversation for the next few days. And Hugh the butt of jokes."

"I didn't realise I was playing with a sore loser," she said, taking a sip of her whisky. When the heat slid down her throat, she tried not to flinch. Acting cool wasn't her forte, but she was determined to work on it. "If I'd known, I would have given up my slot."

"Dinnae fash. Hugh's all mouth and no trousers, but he's harmless. So where did ye learn to play like that?" His eyes scanned her face, and he cocked his head a little like he was committing each of her features to memory.

"My uncle taught me. We'd play for hours whenever we get time to spend together."

"Ye're close to yer uncle. That's nice. I hope I'd be that type of uncle one day."

She beamed. Jamie looked like the type of uncle who would have boundless of energy playing with children. "My uncle's for the most part, both a father and mother to me when I wasn't in the boarding school. My parents died when I was young."

His face turned serious. "Sorry to hear that. My parents have always been part of my life, so I can't begin to imagine what it was like for you growing up without them."

Claire gave him a grateful smile as she pulled a vibrating phone from her pocket. "Oh, bummer," she whispered, glancing down at the screen. "I have about fifteen missed text messages. I didn't feel it going off. I must have been caught up with all the excitement of the game." 

He ran a hand along his jaw. "Some lad missing ye back home?"

She hesitated, glancing up at him. "No." She shook her head, vigorously. "It's my friend, Geillis." She skimmed through the messages wondering why there were so many of them. Annalise had sent the photos of the brothers' driving licences to Geillis, and probably something had come up.

"Is everything alright?" he asked as she continued to read the messages.

"It's fine," she squeaked, looking for any incriminating data Geillis might have found. She found none. Instead, what she was reading was making her face heat up.

"Are ye sure? Ye have a troubling frown forming on yer face. Maybe I can help."

She sighed and rolled her head. "Annalise sent the photos of your driving licences to my friend Geillis. And a selfie she took with you and your brother earlier. You know ...to have you check out and see if you're legit. Geillis' boyfriend works with the police you see."

He arched an eyebrow. "And?"

Is he upset? "Don't look at me like that. I told you I trust you."

He laughed. "Like what? Ye're the one who's giving me an odd look. I told ye I was alright with it. So what did she say? Do I get her seal of approval?"

She winced. "Yeah, Geillis says it's all good."

He picked up his whisky from the nearby table. "Geillis sounds like a verra nice friend. I think I like her already. What else did she say?"

She felt the colour drain from her face. "I swear you wouldn't want to hear the rest of it. Geillis is raving mad."

"Try me."

"I think we should leave it ..."

"Come on, Sassenach. It cannae be that bad."

"I'd rather not."

"Go on, humour me." His blue eyes danced, and she marvelled for the umpteenth time at how handsome he was.

"Well, don't say I didn't warn you." She shut her eyes for a few heartbeats and puffed out a breath. "Well, she said if you're the same bloke who competed against her boyfriend at caber toss last spring and won ..." Oh dear, God. "...I ...um ...I should let you ground my corn."

He practically choked on his whisky.

She grimaced and wondered if she should thump him on the back. "I'm sorry. Geillis has an odd sense of humour. I'm afraid it's just her way of saying that her boyfriend thinks you're ace ...well, that's if you're really the bloke who he thinks you are."

He recovered quickly and grinned. "How about ye? What do ye think of me?"

She ignored the question. "You haven't confirmed anything to me yet," she said, speaking into her whisky glass. "Did you really win the caber toss competition?"

He looked smugly amused, and the smile that spread across his face already answered her question.

"So you're a tree surgeon who plays shinty and tosses poles in your spare time ...whatever next."

He nodded at her phone when it lit up again. "What else is your friend saying?"

She put her drink down and glanced at the screen. "'She said, the men who participated in this year's caber toss, including you, posed with nothing on but their kilt for a charity calendar."

He smiled. "Aye, that's right."

"And she asked me to ask you if you're wearing anything underneath the kilt because I'm getting the calendar as a stocking filler."

His booming laughter made a few heads turn their way.

"See I told you, she's raving mad." She took another sip from her glass and realised it was empty. Ah, fiddlesticks! "I thought her boyfriend would have mellowed her down a bit, but I have a feeling, she's worse than ever."

He eyed her glass and grinned. "I definitely have to meet this friend of yours."

She felt a twinge of ache in her heart, which took her by surprise. "Annalise and I are stopping at her place in Glasgow before we fly back to London on Three Kings. So you won't be seeing her."

He leaned in closer. "I ken we've only just met. Ye think ye're going to miss me when you go back?" His eyes twinkled mischievously.

Even though she was a right bumbling mess around him, she had to admit she was having too much fun in his company. So much so, she didn't really want to think about leaving yet. Her mind was already racing and wondering if Annalise would agree to celebrate Hogmanay here instead of in Edinburgh. "Well, that depends ..."

"Depends on what?"

Her curiosity to explore the dynamic between them made it difficult to keep her guard up. It was useless trying to fight whatever this was when she was so drawn to Jamie. Surely he must be feeling this too. She swallowed hard and decided to be brave. "If I'll have a reason to miss you," she blurted out before she could change her mind. 

A tiny fraction of the playfulness displayed on his face was replaced by uncertainty ...and Claire's stomach coiled at the proof he wasn't prepared to act on the attraction between them. Whatever his reason was, she wasn't sure if she wanted to know as her guard began to scramble back into place. Oh, God, how could I be so dim? Maybe he's got a girlfriend or a wife ...

"Arbroath Smokies."

Stunned, she looked at him. "Wot?"

"Have ye eaten?"

"Uh, um ...not since midday."

"Weel, hard to fall in love with ..." He took a huge deep breath. "...Broch Mordha on an empty stomach."

"Huh?"

That playful smile was back on his face. "Have ye tried Arbroath Smokies?"

"No. I don't even know what that is."

"Ye have to try it. I know just the place." Jamie glanced over his shoulder. "Come on, let's have a quick drink with Willie and Annalise so we can get out of here." 

And then just like that, he wove his fingers through hers and tugged her towards the bar.

[avengerscompound]

Running to a Standstill - 14

Running to a Standstill: A Captain America Fanfic

Masterlist PREVIOUS //

Buy me a ☕ Character Pairing:  Bucky Barnes x Steve Rogers x F!Reader

Word Count:  3331

Rating:  E

Warnings: Smut (MM, frottage, oral sex, anal fingering)

Synopsis: While on the run from an unknown organization trying to take your son, you meet two super-soldiers.  While they try to help you get to the bottom of who is hunting you and your son, feelings come out and admissions are made that make your personal life even more tricky.

Chapter 14

Steve woke before both you and Bucky.  He would normally get up and go for a run, but there was something too inviting about staying curled up in bed with both of you to resist.

Bucky had ended up in the middle, cuddled around you while Steve spooned him.  Seeing him now, wrapped around you, reminded Steve of when they were still boys and hadn’t acknowledged how they felt.  Steve would often wake up with Bucky draped over him.  Steve had never liked feeling that small.  He wondered if Bucky had liked being able to hold someone like that.

The bedroom door opened and a bleary-eyed looking Geo cuddling his tablet.  He stuck his thumb in his mouth and just stared at the bed.

“Hey, G,” Steve said, softly.  “You wanna climb in here with us?”

Geo shook his head and point at the door before shoving his thumb back in his mouth.

Steve smiled and untangled himself from Bucky.  It wasn’t as easy as he thought, and Bucky grumbled and shifted closer to you.  It was interesting.  He’d walked in on Bucky sleeping a few times since getting him back and Bucky had always jolted awake and gone into a defensive position, prepared to be attacked.  Yet here he was, deep asleep and not waking for either someone entering the room or being shuffled around.  Steve wondered if Bucky was just more attuned to what was happening and who was with him, or he was just so relaxed that his usual expectations of being attacked had just failed to be set off.

Steve followed Geo out into the living room and the little boy went straight to the kitchen and pointed up at the cupboard where Steve kept his cereal.  “You want some breakfast, buddy?”

Geo nodded and pointed again and Steve opened the cupboard.  The array of cereal had definitely expanded since you moved in.  He used to have granola, corn flakes, and cheerios.  Now there were  Honey Bunches of Oats, Rice Krispies, and Lucky Charms in there too.  “Which one do you want, G?”

Geo still wasn’t talking.  He just pointed again and Steve started to touch the boxes in the hope that Geo might nod when he touched the one he wanted.

“Captain Rogers,” FRIDAY announced.  “Geo wanted me to tell you he wants Lucky Charms.”

Steve chuckled and got the box from the cupboards.  “Thanks, FRIDAY,” he said.  “You not ready to talk yet, Gee?”

Geo shook his head, his thumb firmly planted in his mouth.

Steve grabbed a plastic bowl and poured the cereal into it.  “That’s okay.  You don’t have to talk to anyone.”

He added milk to the cereal, grabbed a spoon, and set Geo up at the coffee table with a box of apple juice.  He turned on some cartoons and Geo just sat quietly watching Scooby-Doo as he ate.  Steve went back into the kitchen to try and figure out what he’d make for everyone else.  He wasn’t really much of a cook.  Or a cook at all.  He liked to joke he could make a peanut butter sandwich and it would end up burned.  While he considered what he could handle that was more than just toast and cereal, he put on the coffee.

You and Bucky emerged from the bedroom still looking like you were both not quite awake.  Bucky came straight to the kitchen while you went and kissed Geo good morning.

“Were you trying to make breakfast?”  Bucky asked.

“I was thinking about it,” Steve said.  “It’s the thought that counts right?”

“You tell that to my stomach, pal,” Bucky teased and started pulling things out of the fridge.

“Thanks for getting Geo his breakfast,” you said, coming into the kitchen. “What are we making?”

“I was thinking omelets,” Bucky said.  “We can put what we like in them.”

“Sounds perfect,” you agreed and grabbed a bowl and started cracking eggs into it.  “So I was thinking…”

Steve looked over at you.  There was an edge to your voice that told him you were overthinking things again.

“I’m really worried about Geo starting to see you as … well dads I guess,” you said.  You spoke quietly, clearly not wanting Geo to overhear.  “At least not until we’re all absolutely sure this is it for all of us.  And it’s far too early for that.  I was already concerned about him forming too strong bonds with everyone here.  I don’t want him to start getting separation anxiety on top of everything else.”

“So what were you thinkin’, hon?”  Bucky asked, looking up from the cutting he was doing.

“Well, I’m staying here because it’s not safe too.  But ideally, I wouldn’t be living with Steve,” you explained.  “I’m wondering if I should start sleeping in Geo’s room again.  Not always.  Just… so he doesn’t get the image of us in bed together connected with the way parents sleep in the same bed in TV shows.  You know?”

Steve nodded, though he couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.

“I think maybe you shouldn’t sleep over all the time either, Buck.  Just … you know?”  You said.

Bucky nodded too and rubbed your back.  “I get it.”

“But I think this could be good for us too, because… I think we should also spend time together as couples.  Particularly you two.  I think you have to … explore some things together without me,” you explained.  “You know what I mean?”

Steve couldn’t fault your logic.  There had been so much he and Bucky had missed out on and even though he’d enjoyed the sex he’d had with you both, there were probably things they needed to try one-on-one too.  It was good to make sure the bonds with each other were as strong as the bonds as a trio were too.  “It makes sense,” he agreed.

“Good,” you said, sounding relieved.  “So I don’t know, maybe some nights we all sleep here, some nights it’s just me and Bucky, and some night you guys sleepover in Bucky’s apartment.  And we just… take turns with this being Geo’s home.  Does that … is that okay?”

“It’s a really good idea,” Bucky agreed.  “And trust me, the last thing we want to do is hurt Geo.  So we’ll be careful.”

“Thanks, Bucky,” you said.  “I mean, I want this to work…”

“Of course you do,” Steve said.  “We all do, but you’re right to protect him.”

“So, uh…” Bucky said, getting a pan out.  “How do we decide?”

“Yeah, that’s tricky,” you said.  “Don’t want people to feel left out, so how about tonight, that is if you’re both available, you guys go on a first date.  You have a lot of time to make up.”

“You really wouldn’t mind?”  Steve asked.

You shook your head.  “Geo and I can watch a movie and have an early night.”

“Alright, Buck?  What do you think?  Want to go out for dinner with me?”   Steve asked.

Bucky smiled.  It was genuine and Steve could see the love he felt reflected back at him.  “I’d love to, Stevie.”

Steve took Bucky to a jazz club in the end.  It was dark and loud and very difficult to talk, but Steve didn’t feel like he needed to talk to Bucky.  He and Bucky had talked and talked and talked and talked.  It was time for all the other things they’d missed out on.  The holding hands on the table.  The sharing bites of each other’s food.  The cuddling.  The stolen kisses.  He needed to have the dance.  He wanted the dance he had failed to get in all his years on earth.

The jazz club was perfect because of how dark and loud it was.  He didn’t have to worry about saying the wrong thing or having people’s eyes on him.  The food was good but not outside his comfort zone, so he didn’t have to worry about the wrong choice.  Most importantly, he could dance to music that was familiar to him with the man he had been in love with since 1935.

Steve had chosen familiar foods.  It was food he’d imagined would have seemed so fancy to him back when he was a kid.  A shrimp cocktail for starters and rib-eye steak for his entree.  He even ordered a martini, like he was playing at being a spy and this was the persona he needed to fit.

Bucky was a little more daring, ordering grilled asparagus with goat’s cheese to start and mussels served in a garlic and white wine broth for his entree.

It almost didn’t matter in the end though.  They sat close to each other on their tiny table and they switched plates back and forth as they ate.  Steve got all the things he’d imagined when he was young when he thought about going out on a date with Bucky.  Only no one cared that it was two men sitting there, holding hands and stealing kisses.  The floor was always packed with people swing dancing.

They were finishing up their meals when Bucky leaned into him.  “Are you actually going to ask me to dance, pal?”

Steve smiled and his face flushed. “Will you lead?  I still don’t know how.”

“Yeah, Stevie,” Bucky said, standing and offering Steve his hand.  “I’ll lead.”

Bucky led Steve around the dance floor, spinning him and dipping him.  The more they danced the more comfortable Steve felt and the better he got.  Until they were both laughing and jiving together in the crowd of people.

The music changed from something up-tempo to something slow and sexy.  For a moment Steve considered sitting down.  It was one thing to jitterbug with Bucky, it was another completely to slow dance with him in front of all these people.  Bucky didn’t seem to question it for a second, he just pulled Steve close and put his hands on Steve’s hips.  They slowly swayed together on the dance floor, cheek-to-cheek.  The smell of Bucky’s cologne, warm and woody, mixed with the salt on his skin, seemed to cut through the smell of sweat and alcohol and cooking that otherwise dominated the room.  It was just him and Bucky, and while part of him wished you were here too to be part of this, he appreciated that it was just Bucky.  It felt right.

“I want you to take me home,” Bucky whispered against Steve’s ear.  Normally Bucky saying something like that would make Steve worry he was in the midst of a panic attack.  There was something completely different about it this time.  Something dark and sexy.

Steve took his hand and led him off the dance floor.  He settled the check as quickly as he could and the two made their way back out and flagged down a cab.

Bucky kept nosing at Steve’s cheek and trying to initiate a kiss.  Steve wasn’t ready for that yet.  Not so publicly.  It wasn’t Bucky.  He’d be the same with you too.  Public displays of affection made him feel awkward.

“Stevie,” Bucky teased, nipping at Steve’s earlobe.

“Just be patient,” Steve said, nudging Bucky.

The car pulled up at the front of the Avengers Tower and Steve paid while Bucky tried to drag him out of the back seat.

When they got into the elevator Bucky pushed him up against the wall and kissed him hungrily.  Steve couldn’t stop smiling into Bucky’s lips even as the other man fumbled at his belt and dragged him close so their hips touched.

The elevator opened and Bucky practically dragged Steve down to his apartment.  “So eager, Buck,” Steve teased as he let Bucky pull him through the door into his apartment.

Bucky’s apartment was always impossibly clean, but pretty homey.  The couch was a soft black leather but most everything else was timber.  A mixture of stained ash, cedar, and white paint.  He had art on the walls.  Mostly photography or vector art of cars or motorcycles, but there was a sketch Steve had done of the view down the street from Bucky’s fire escape.  It was a recent one and done by memory.  Something Steve had drawn in the hopes of prodding Bucky’s memory.  There was also a calendar on the wall set on the wrong month with a print of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers.

“I just -“ he looked over to the bedroom.  “-you know?”

Steve laughed and began to unbutton Bucky’s shirt. “It’s not like we did that very long ago.”

“Yeah,” Bucky said, grabbing the waistband of Steve’s pants and dragging him toward the bedroom.  “And it was good.  And now I want to do it again.”

Bucky started to kiss Steve’s neck as he unfastened his pants and Steve pushed Bucky’s shirt off.  Steve trailed his fingers along the scarring that connected Bucky’s arm to his shoulder.  Bucky flinched and took Steve’s hand and moved it down to his side.

“Sorry,” Steve whispered, kissing Bucky’s neck.  “Does it hurt?”

Bucky shook his head.  “No… well yeah, always.  But not more when you touch it.  I just hate it.  Don’t want to be reminded of it now.”

“I’m sorry,” Steve said.  He got it.  It was a constant brutal reminder of what had happened to him.  What he’d lost and how he’d been changed.  Steve got sensitive about people pointing out his looks after he had the serum when they ignored him so much before it.  The arm and the scarring would be much worse than that.

“Don’t worry,” Bucky said and brought his lips to Steve’s.  They kissed passionately.  Their lips moved against each other’s, as Bucky pulled Steve back towards the bed.  Steve unfastened Bucky’s fly and pushed his pants down.  When Bucky was down to just his boxer briefs, he pushed Steve back onto the bed and straddled his lap, kissing him hungrily as he ground his hips against Steve’s.

Steve was still fully dressed and his cock began to strain against his pants.  He could feel Bucky’s erection with each roll of the other man’s hips.  It rubbed against Steve’s and a little wet patch began to form on Bucky’s underwear.

Steve ran his hands down Bucky’s back and gripped his ass, pulling him firmer against him.  “Fuck, Steve… I want you…” Bucky groaned.

“I’m yours, Buck,” Steve whispered.

Bucky began to frantically undress Steve, fumbling with the buttons of his shirt and the buckle on his belt.  Steve lay back and tangled his hands in Bucky’s hair, letting him take the lead.  When Bucky had finally stripped Steve of his clothes, he looked down into his eyes and ran his metal hand over Steve’s chest.

Steve was achingly hard but a little unsure what to do next and it looked like Bucky might be feeling a little lost too.  Steve pushed Bucky’s boxers down and wrapped his hand around both their cocks and began to pump them in his hand as they were pressed together.

“Fuck, Stevie,” Bucky groaned.  “That feels so good.”

Steve rolled them both over so he was on top.  “I want you to feel good,” he whispered and began to kiss Bucky’s neck.  Bucky reached over to his bedside table and fumbled around as Steve began to kiss his way down Bucky’s chest.  There was a crash as the drawer fell to the ground and Steve looked up startled to see Bucky holding a tube of lubricant up almost triumphantly.

“What do you want?”  Steve asked, taking it from Bucky.

“Stretch me,” Bucky said, the hint of pleading in his voice.

Steve nodded and slicked his fingers with the thick gel.  Bucky wrapped his arms around his knees, lifting them so Steve had better access to his ass.  Steve teased his fingers over Bucky’s tight hole and very slowly began to ease one inside.  Bucky closed his eyes and his head fell back with his lips slightly parted.  A soft low moan escaped his lips and Steve couldn’t help but admire how beautiful Bucky looked when he let himself enjoy something.

Steve dropped his head down, pulling Bucky’s cock into his mouth.  He licked a salty bead of pre-come off the head of Bucky’s cock, savoring the taste of the man he’d been in love with for so long and appreciating the fact he was finally getting to have this.  He eased his finger in deeper, moving it in and out as he slowly bobbed his head up and down on Bucky’s cock, testing his own limits as he tested Bucky’s.

Bucky gave himself to his pleasure.  Relaxing into it.  He squirmed under Steve and moaned loudly.  It was happening very quickly.  Steve had only gotten his finger into one knuckle when Bucky’s cock began to throb in Steve’s mouth.  Steve kept the same steady pace.  He wanted Bucky to enjoy this.  No pain.  No shame.  Just pleasure.  He moved his finger in and out, pushing it in a little more each time but never forcing it.  If Bucky clenched, he’d pull back, when he relaxed, Steve would push in deeper.

He took Bucky’s cock deeper into his throat, gagging a little as he did.  His mouth stretched around his thick shaft but he enjoyed it.  His own cock was hard and leaking as he pleasured Bucky.  Bucky’s moans became panting and his hips started to buck up into Steve’s mouth.

“Steve,” he moaned.  “Stevie, I’m gonna come.”

Steve moved a little faster and sucked a little harder and with a loud moan, Bucky arched his back and came, his cock releasing straight down Steve’s throat.  There was so much, and Steve swallowed it all, saving the thick and salty mess.  He moaned as he pulled off and slid his fingers from Bucky’s ass.

Bucky almost jumped up pulling Steve into a passionate and frantic kiss.  “Fuck, Stevie,” he mumbled between kisses.  “I wanna do you.  Can I?”

“Yeah,” Steve laughed, Bucky’s lips still firmly on his.  “Yeah, Buck.  I’d like that.”

Bucky guided Steve onto his back and scrambled down Steve’s body.  He quickly slicked the fingers with the lube and dropped down, sucking Steve’s cock.  Steve groaned at the warm, wet pressure of Bucky’s mouth.  He kept his eyes locked on him, enjoying the view as Bucky sucked up and down his cock.  Bucky massaged Steve’s asshole as he bobbed his head up and down on his cock.  It sent a warm tingled running through Steve, and his head felt pleasantly fuzzy with it.  There was a slight burn as Bucky’s finger eased in.  Steve hadn’t been expecting how completely good that would feel, even the slight pain that happened the deeper Bucky pushed his finger was the good kind, like after a good workout.  He groaned and began to roll his hips up into Bucky’s mouth.  Bucky let him push in deeper and started adding a second finger.  The burn was more but Steve enjoyed that too.  He moaned loudly, letting himself really experience it.

As Bucky’s fingers moved deeper and faster in and out of Steve’s ass, Steve began to pant and his cock twitched and throbbed.  Bucky moaned as it began to leak precum down his throat.  Bucky’s fingers touched on this sweet spot inside Steve and Steve gasped and jerked his hips.  “Fuck!” I cursed, and he came hard and without warning.  His orgasm seemed to start in his gut, something he’d never experienced before.  The intensity of it shocked him.  Bucky choked and pulled back, spilling Steve’s come on his stomach.

Bucky pulled his finger out and collapsed down on the bed beside Steve.

“That was…”  Steve hummed.

“Mmm,” Bucky agreed.

Steve sat up and kissed Bucky’s stomach.  “Let’s take a shower.”

Bucky smiled and got up with him.  As they went into the bathroom Steve felt warm and grateful that you’d given this time alone.  You were right, you all needed that.  But still, he was looking forward to tomorrow when it would be all three of you again.

// NEXT

[imthepunchlord]

My Hopes for DPP Remakes

February is almost here, and its very, very, very likely we’ll be seeing Diamond Pearl remakes. I am very wary thanks to ORAS (Emerald is my favorite so ORAS was a disappointment) and SwSh just... doesn’t look good. Didn’t look finished and didn’t seem worth the price they’re selling for. 

So DPP, I am very wary for. 

But, my hopes and what I would want, on the off chance it will be really good: 

- Platinum incorporated. Or even, ideally, just release one game, a full on Platinum remake instead of 2 versions. With the price being 60 USD, doesn't really warrant releasing 2 anymore as that gets really pricey. And people can now keep multiple files on the Switch unlike older games. And no Platinum episode. I think I'm the odd one out but, I didn't enjoy the Delta episode at all. 

- Bring back mega evolution and primal evolution, don't bring back dynamaxing. I personally loved mega evolution, it really gave some nice boosts to pokemon who needed it, and it could be made to be more common so its not too OP and they can always tweak like, friendship is supposed to be key here, so maybe have your pokemon for a while and when it reaches a certain level of friendship, it can mega evolve. Though don't give Cynthia Mega Garchomp. There’s also a Primal Dialga that could be used! Dynamaxing I actually don't hear a lot of good things about, and its not one I really like. I do like some of the Giga designs though its weird to me that its not till the dlc that you can Gigamax your pokemon, you gotta catch that Giga form in the wild. 

- Include some Wild Areas. This is a feature I really like from SwSh, though could've been improved upon, like having some pokemon interact with each other, filling up the open world a little more, and giving some more activities to do. And include multiple Wild Areas not just one. Have them be unlockable as you continue your journey. 

- Difficulty settings at the start of the game. These games can mainly be for kids, but they really need to acknowledge that older gamers play as well. 

- Walking and riding pokemon. Particularly being allowed to ride your own pokemon. I'd even be fine if this was saved for Wild Areas exclusively. Let’s Go was fun allowing riding pokemon, but Kanto has a lot of small corridor routes so, I couldn’t really ride my Rapidash or Arcanine to the fullest. And Charizard was limited as I couldn’t fly all over Kanto, just stuck in that one area. 

- Improve on Lucas/Dawn, who were kinda bland in the old games. Improve them like how Wally was improved in ORAS, but don't improve them like how they tried with Brandon/May, they were made annoying with the instance of fRiEnDsHiP. 

- Unlockable legendary/mystical events. I want to play and discover Darkrai or hints of Darkrai and go seeking it out on my own time, whenever I want to. Ideally these discoveries could be made available after a certain badge amount but I'd be fine with it being post game.

- No more Kanto starter. It’s getting a little old seeing Kanto starters being brought in twice. If we have to bring in another set of starters as gifts, how about Jhoto starters? And they can finally get some megas alongside the Sinnoh! 

- Sinnoh regional forms. I’d be suuuper intrigued to see some Sinnoh forms, ideally not Kanto mons. 

- Include more fire types. 

- Let Dawn wear pants. Sinnoh is cold, why is bare legged in this cold region???

- Please don’t shove Lucario in my face. Thanks to XY, I got fed up with that pokemon fast. 

- Be allowed to skip cutscenes/dialogue. 

- New game + that allows nuzlocke runs and randomizers. It can be set up that you can’t trade any of the pokemon you get. Just something fun to do and bring players back to replay, cause personally, I prefer playing the game than the competitive online battling. 

- Make XP Share optional. Allow us the option to turn it off. 

- Change up idle animation. We got the same idle animation 3 generations in a row. Switch it up a little. 

- Accurate sizes. That Wailord hurts to look at, and DistantKingdom on Youtube really shows off what the proper sizes should be. Do a roaming camera cause the over the shoulder look is not working for these games. 

- Be aware that this is a 3D game, not a 2D, cause as DistantKingdom said, Pokemon plays like its still 2D, but its not. If you really want to keep that 2D animation and movement, then go back to 2D. Games like Octopath Traveler prove how pretty the pixel games can be, and they had some really amazing feats with BW and BW2 visially. 

[szivtalan]

First Line game

I was tagged by @theshinsun who should sleep more and who I’m thankful of, because I rarely get a chance to talk about my works these days asdg (I have more wips than published works tho, so I expect this to be....quite colorful)

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening line. Then tag 10 of your favorite authors!

1. "A Study In Hotch" Psychological Evaluation of Hotchner, Aaron SSA - He was barely nine at the time.

2. caged up - Kiyoshi and him were good together.

3. golden child (tell me what it’s like to burn) - There was something wrong with his aunt.

4. the good or the ugly - The air in the room was suffocating: warm, heavy with the sour stench of cigarette smoke, piss and alcohol.

5. I still love you madly with your every move - What do you do when your very best friend breaks you the news that they’re marrying the love of your life?

6. don’t hide blurry eyes (like you) - Ignoring the burn in his throat and lungs, Aomine inhaled deeply from the crooked joint offered to him. 

7. (untitled: aokuro + dusk) - If someone was to look close enough, Tetsu’s eyes had a little grey in them.

8. (untitled: aokise + lingerie) - 'I still don't know why you need me to go.'

9. orbit - Aomine’d been staring at his bleeding hand for five minutes. 

10. hey baby (i think i wanna marry you) - One of nature's many laws is that it's very likely for the weather to turn more chilly at night, even after warm days in May.

11. Beer Lemonade - They’re about to graduate, and Kise’s humming the tune of some cheesy Christmas song that’s stuck in his brain, if a little off-key. 

12. how it feels to take off - He didn’t mind the tons of traveling in his childhood.

13. mx sugar pink - They’ve been working a case in Iowa when they met this… guy.

14. Scene One, Take One - To him, Aomine has always been beautiful.

15. (untitled: aokise + hurt/comfort) - There were a few things Aomine expected from today when he woke up.

16. (untitled: bradray + the trope “ We slept in the same bed for space reasons but now we’re just waking up and there’s something about your bleary eyes and mussed hair”) - It all started when they both got the stupid invite to Fruity Rudy’s stupid wedding.

17. a little wool over the eyes - Every Californian with still some sense left to them – even though they were relatively rare in Brad’s opinion – would’ve agreed that Baltimore is not necessarily an ideal destination for a vacation.

18. (untitled: bradray + roadtrip au) - Sergeant Brad Colbert had seldom had guests over.

19. don’t need no candlelight - The first time Brad ever gets a thought about loving him, they’re in his kitchen and Ray is making pizza rolls while simultaneously bitching about modern punk bands.

20. (untitled: stripper kagami au which is....not necessarily a wip of mine but i did write rp of it, so here’s the first line of my starter) - For all it was worth, it was a safe place.

I’m tagging @geometricalien @vanilla-daydreams @hybristophilica @runn0ft @ruluxe @homiro @fancykraken @bakugoukatsuki-rising and I don’t know who else would have 20+ wips but my friend, if you write and you’re reading this Please say I tagged you!

[sope-and-shine]

My Favorite Kitty

-> SFW // Shifter!AU // fluff, angst (if you squint) // Shifter!Taehyung -> Pairing: Yoongi x Taehyung -> Word Count:  3.6k -> Summary: What else is Yoongi supposed to do when his best friend gets him a cat but accept it and take care of the fluffy creature. But Jin may not have told him everything about his new pet.  -> Warning(s): mild language, nightmares, avoiding sleep, Kim Seokjin (cause I think he should always have his own warning) 

a/n: Sooo... I’ve been working on this for almost a year... cause I’m a dummy who can’t write consistently... BUT it’s finally done and just in time for @cest-la-tae​‘s birthday. Daija boop I know you been waiting for this since I hard you read is months ago, so I hope you like it!

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Yoongi honestly doesn’t remember how he and Jin became friends. Sure he’d tell people Jin had annoyed and followed him so much that he didn’t have a choice. But neither boy could ever think of a time they didn’t know each other. Maybe they met in school before Yoongi’s parents had died in that freak accident. Yoongi remembers being so scared and alone, everything he knew was suddenly going away. And then he found himself living with his best friend and that’s how it’s been since. He’d never be able to forget how much he owed Jin’s family and the man himself.

Growing up with Jin had been an adventure. The two were polar opposites. Jin was a people person, beautiful, popular, the ideal student. Yoongi wanted nothing more than to be left alone, keep his head down and simply do what was needed to achieve his dreams.

But regardless of what he wanted, people knew him. They’d have to be living in the stone age not to know the illustrious Kim Seokjin’s broody best friend. They were nice to him because otherwise Jin would have their heads, and no one wanted to be on the King’s bad side.

Yoongi had never been a fan of two-faced bitches, so anyone who tried to make nice with him simply to get to Jin, well they were in for a rough time. Some could describe Yoongi as nasty and vicious. Once a girl even tried to tell Jin to cut Yoongi out of Jin’s life. That had not ended well.

Even now that the boys had long since become adults with their own lives, they constantly inserted themselves into each other's lives. Jin made no secret that he loves Yoongi like a brother. And, while Yoongi would never admit it outloud, he loves that brat to death. They graduated college together and Jin went off to make a name for himself as an up and coming actor. Yoongi got to live out his childhood dream, creating and producing music. He preferred staying behind the scenes, being a faceless artist but his music was out there now. They even ended up at the same entertainment company.

Jin flourished, making friends wherever he went, just like always. Yoongi kept to himself, just like always, only having two close friends besides Jin. He’d help them with their own music and they weren’t as loud and boisterous as Jin, so he didn’t mind when they stuck around. Well, actually Hoseok was quite loud but his cheerful personality and kind heart made it hard to turn him away. Yoongi’s world was small and quiet and he was perfectly fine.

Mr Kim Seokjin, however, thought that wasn’t enough. He thought his pretty Yoongi should be out there living it up. He made a decent amount of money and was more than smart enough to do great at work while cutting loose. But that wasn’t what Yoongi wanted, and Jin respected that.

He still thought the man should at least have a roommate or a pet or something! Or he should have at least accepted that date Jin had tried to set up for him and Hoseok. Well before Jin had realized he had a crush on Hoseok and went on the date himself. But still, Jin constantly pestered his small friend about expanding his circle just a little bit. He wanted to disrupt Yoongi’s peaceful little world and he wasn’t going to stop until he won.

Yoongi was perfectly fine living alone. He was happy with his handful of friends and his quiet empty apartment. He didn’t want to go out cause that meant dealing with people and people were annoying. He was fine just going to work and staying home. He was a grown ass man and what he did with his life was his own choice.

Besides, Yoongi would rather keep his problems to himself. He felt bad enough that his horrible sleeping schedule was messing with his work schedule and caused Jin to worry, even if he really didn’t need to. He’d feel worse disrupting any little animal inhabiting his small studio apartment, let alone another human. He got sleep, albeit at strange hours, and handled his workload perfectly fine. The man just had a little insomnia and some nightmares from time to time, but that didn’t make him someone who needed to be babied. Jin didn’t need to constantly worry and look after him, it was getting old.

What does it matter if his annoying friend thinks Yoongi needs a pet? He doesn’t. He is perfectly fine on his own. Who cares what Seokjin thinks? Yet he still decides to waltz into the apartment at the ass crack of dawn carrying a fucking cat.

Ok, so maybe the cat was really cute. He’s pretty blue eyes staring up at him made Yoongi’s resolve weaken. But he refused to let Jin be right. Even if this cat had the softest fluffiest cream colored fur in existence. Nope Yoongi wanted nothing to do with this adorable baby.

Jin dumps the poor cat onto Yoongi’s lap before moving about the apartment setting things up for the fluffy creature. “What’s his name?” 

“I’m not keeping him, Jin.” Yoongi grumbles, finding himself regretting giving Jin a key for the millionth time.

“Why not?” Jin doesn’t even falter in his mission, knowing this time he’ll win. “What’s the harm?”

Yoongi cautiously peers down at the cat before shooing him off the bed. Deciding that a large cup of black coffee was the only thing that could help him deal with his dearest friend at the moment, the dark haired man brushed past the tiny creature to trudge to his little kitchen. “I don’t know the first thing about caring for a cat, for starters. I don’t even have the things he would need. And I’m busy with work.”

“I bought you stuff. It’s in the living room. And I know your work schedule, you can’t pull that I’m too busy crap.” Yoongi grabbed a mug only to find Jin sliding him a large cup of coffee from his favorite cafe. He ignores Yoongi’s hard glare in favor of picking up the fluffy feline. “Just give him attention, feed him, and change the litter. Easy. He basically takes care of himself.”

It was a long, hard fought battle, but in the end he kept the cat. Actually, no it wasn’t. All it took was the little fluffy ball curling into Yoongi’s belly and his soft purrs for the small man to know Tata was never leaving his side. 

Even though he’d never tell Jin, maybe Yoongi really had needed Tata. He was the sweetest baby, alway staying nearby or tucked into his side. He was the perfect companion for his lazy ass. And a great cuddle buddy when he went to sleep at night.

Tata was such an amazing addition to his world. So Yoongi really hated it when he’d wake up, tears on his cheeks after a nightmare, only to find his little friend staring up from his place on the man’s chest. He’d say it was fine, more to himself than the cat, but the stubborn boy never listened. Yoongi found it odd. He’d alway heard cats were less caring and standoffish, he’d even been compared to a cat by several people for his blunt and, at times, harsh actions. But this little guy was anything but. He’d watch Yoongi closely until he slipped back into slumber, curled up on his chest the whole time.

Yoongi never remembered the nightmares but they kept coming, and they only got worse. He slowly slept less and less. It had been weeks and the most sleep he’d gotten was 45 minute naps here and there. 

By the time a month had passed, he knew something had to change. But the man couldn’t bring himself to do anything. So Yoongi continued on as if he’d die if he slept too long. And every time he stayed up through the night, the faithful kitten was right there with him. Always looking at his human with a sad glint in his eyes, like he wanted to help but didn’t know how.

By now his coworkers and few friends had noticed the change. Yoongi was a phenomenal producer and, even with his lack of sleep, still was, but his work wasn’t at its best. That and he had to fight to stay awake as time went on. Hoseok had accidentally woken him up after barging into the smaller’s studio to tell him about the progress he had made on his mixtape. Meanwhile, Namjoon had to continually keep him from dozing off while the two worked together on songs for their own releases. Needless to say they were concerned and if Namjoon and Hoseok knew, it was only a matter of time before Jin found out as well.

Which he had, and quickly hunted Yoongi down to yell at him. He made it very clear if the man came into work the next day, he’d get the CEO of the company to ban him for 2 weeks. And Yoongi knew Jin could pull that off, at this point his chaotic best friend owned the company in all but name. Plus Bang PD always wanted to take care of his people, so the CEO would probably ban him without Jin even asking.

So he stayed home. It was easier to stay awake doing chores around his apartment than sitting in his small studio anyway. And he could dote on his pretty kitty this way. 

Yoongi spent his new found free day organizing the kitchen. How on earth some of these things ended up where they did he had no idea. He must’ve thrown his favorite coffee mix on the top shelf while unpacking in a hurry, because otherwise he’d never put it there. Besides the fact he couldn’t reach up there without climbing on the counter, the mix always went right next to the coffee maker to fuel the man’s dependence of the dark bean juice. 

The day dragged on and still Yoongi refused to rest. At one point he thought the sleep deprivation was getting to him when he heard the toilet flush even though he was nowhere near the bathroom. When he walked in and found Tata sitting on the closed lid staring up at him, Yoongi decided it was the perfect time to make a big pot of coffee and move on to scrubbing the bathroom. Tata stayed for a moment before bolting off to the kitchen, probably on a quest for his food.

Before long Yoongi’s phone was constantly going off, vibrating harshly against the ceramic tub. Not wanting to add a headache to his ever growing list of problems, he quickly snatched the annoying contraption to see a multitude of texts from Jin, Hobi, and Namjoon, all with varying degrees of threats. Really it was only Jin making threats, Namjoon and Hobi were simply telling him to rest up and take care of himself. Yoongi rolled his eyes, looking at the time before locking his phone. 

10:33 PM, the perfect time for him to start drinking his fresh coffee and start a Marvel marathon. Grabbing his biggest mug, Yoongi fills it up to the brim, lazily running his hand through Tata’s fur. Setting up his laptop with his first movie of the night. As the intro plays, he takes a huge sip of his warm coffee and cuddles up with Tata.

As the night passed by, Yoongi found himself just getting more and more sleepy, no matter how much coffee he drank. He was tired but he wouldn’t- no, couldn’t sleep. So the small man curled up on his bed, at the point of exhaustion where he just wanted to cry. But crying meant sleep, and sleep meant dreams. So he only curled around his pillow tighter and watched the seconds slip away. 

He’s so tired that he doesn’t question the deep voice humming to him and the warm arms that wrap around his smaller frame. It soothes him in the worst way, making him lethargic instead of more aware. It feels as though a memory is seeping through in his haze and attempts to lull him. Yoongi tries to fight sleep but the second his back hits the warmth behind him he’s gone.

The next thing he knew, Yoongi was snuggling deeper into the bed trying to hide from the sun’s blinding rays. When he finally managed to force his eyes open all the exhaustion from the previous night was gone. 

He barely remembered falling asleep, just the comforting warmth. The man had felt so safe and, honestly, he’d never slept better. No dreams, just sweet beautiful darkness. He’d slept so well Yoongi didn’t even remember his alarm going off.

Maybe that’s because it hadn’t. As he fumbled for his phone and caught a glimpse of the time, the small man felt his stomach drop. 1:33 PM. The numbers glared back, mocking him. He’d already missed about half a day of work, and he wasn’t about to miss the rest.

As he started to rush around, trying to look at least somewhat alive, he failed to notice the confused looking man sitting on his kitchen counter. “What’s the fuss for, hyung? You should be resting.”

“I have to get to work. I’ve already missed enough.” The smaller threw back at the blonde.

His entrancing blue eyes light up as he proudly claims, “I already called off for you!”

Yoongi stopped in the middle of the room, “Called… off?”

“Yeah! So you can get some more rest.” The man’s boxy smile grew larger, despite the slight scowl slowly appearing on the other’s face.

“I’m not going back to sleep.” Yoongi walked past the cute but annoying man, grabbing one of his coffee cups.

“Do you need more sleeping pills?”

“I don’t…” Yoongi paused, shaking his head before continuing to pour himself a cup of coffee from the pot he made last night. He didn’t have time to start a fresh pot, he’d have to settle for warming this one up in the microwave. “I’ve never taken a sleeping pill.”

“Yes you have. Hyung said you had to ingest them but I figured you’d find them in your food. But they disappeared in the black stuff.”

Yoongi stopped and slowly turned to face the man, his happiness not at all affected by the pure stupidity that had just left his mouth. “You put sleeping pills… in my coffee.”

“Yeah in the pot.”

After a moment of dumbly staring at the man, Yoongi grabbed the coffee pot and promptly dumped it down the drain. 

The blonde cried out as he watched the dark liquid go down the drain.  “But I made that for you.” Yoongi knew the man probably had a little pout on his face just from the cute whiny voice.

“I appreciate the sentiment however if in the future you could try not to poison me that’d be great.” The shorter turned back to face the man perched on his counter, and sighed. “And can you stop sitting on the conter like a fucking cat.”

With a sheepish smile, the man slipped off the counter and walked towards Yoongi. He stopped barley an inch away and dropped his head onto the smaller man’s shoulder. He reached to hold Yoongi’s waist but paused, seemingly thinking better of it. “‘M sorry.” He whispered, his breath ghosting over Yoongi’s collarbone and sending shivers up the man’s spine. Yoongi sighed and wrapped an arm around his waist, slipping the other up to run through the soft blonde strands. The taller melted into Yoongi’s touch, bringing his hands to cling on Yoongi’s waist and nuzzle into his neck.

They simply stood there, the blonde practically trying to wrap himself around Yoongi as they cuddled. Yoongi thought they probably made quite the picture at the moment, the tall blonde man with enchanting blue eyes looked quite small now. Yoongi didn’t try to fight the small smile, knowing the only one who could see it was buried in his neck. This moment was so peaceful, Yoongi almost never wanted it to end.

Suddenly the smaller realized a very crucial detail. He had no idea who this man was and how he got into his apartment. So Yoongi decided to do what any logical person would do; shout, shove him off, and throw the rest of his cold coffee at the startled man.

“Why’d you throw that at me?! I made that for you with love!!” The blonde cried, trying to wipe the coffee off his face.

“Get the fuck out of my house weirdo!” Yoongi took his chance to run over and grab his frying pan. He may not be the best at self defense but he could wield a mean frying pan. 

However, Yoongi hadn’t been expecting the blonde to have such quick reflexes. The moment he turns to swing, he feels a large hand wrap around his wrist. Firm and strong, but gentle at the same time. Yoongi tried to use his only hand to get free, only to end up with both hands being held in the blonde’s while he gently took the frying pan and set it down on the counter. “Jin-hyung did say you were feisty but I wasn’t expecting this.”

Yoongi stopped struggling, zeroed in on one very important word. “What did that stupid asshole do now?!”

“Hyung is the reason I’m here, remember?”

Yoongi scoffed, once again regretting giving Jin a key. He really needed to get that back. “No, my loving best friend didn’t say anything about letting a stranger into my apartment.”

“But I’m not a stranger, I’m Tata.”

Yoongi paused to look at the man, finally noticing his hair and eyes match his precious cat’s exactly. That and the feline has been missing the entire time the man has been here. “I thought hyung told you.”

“No, that little shit didn’t tell me anything.” Yoongi grumbled, seemingly done with fighting. Tae hesitantly let him go, pleased when he wasn’t immediately attacked.

“I thought that’s why you called me Tata. Cause you knew.” After receiving a confused and annoyed look, he continued on. “You know, cause my name is Taehyung?”

Yoongi didn’t say a word as he grabbed his phone off the couch. Angrily jabbing at it, he made his way to the contact to call his favorite hyung. 

Jin answered after the first few rings, sounding as cheerful as ever. “Hey, Yoongi.”

“Yeah, hey. WHAT THE FUCK!” Yoongi knew starting a shouting match with Jin would break his ears, but at the moment he couldn’t find it in himself to care.

“Yah, you brat! Where’s the respect?!” came Jin’s indignant reply, so loud even Tae flinched from his spot on the couch.

“You don’t get any, you bitch. You gave me a fucking human?!” Yoongi growled out, wishing Jin were here so he could lovingly strangle him.

“Shifter.”

“You shut up.” Yoongi glared at Tae, causing the blonde to put up his hand in surrender. Pleased that one of the two idiots might behave for the moment, he went back to trying to figure out what the hell his dearest friend was thinking. “Jin I swear I’m-”

“Going to kill me? Yeah I know. But look, you like Tata and Tae is the same person.”

Yoongi flops down on the couch with a sigh, “He is a human. I had a cat yesterday and now I have a human.”

“No take backsies! Love you bye!”

“JIN!!” Yoongi shoots up again, ready to scream and curse Kim Seokjin to hell and back, but Jin had already ended the call. “I should’ve poured that coffee on his fucking head.”

Yoongi sighed, falling back onto the couch and holding his phone up “Hey Siri, add kill Kim Seokjin to my to-do list.”

There’s a moment of silence before Yoongi is reminded of Taehyung’s presence. The shifter softly placed his hand on Yoongi’s smaller one, his expression solom. “Do I have to leave now?”

“... No. I just don’t know what to do,” Yoongi sighed and opened his arms, an invitation Tae quickly accepted, curling into the elder’s side.

“Well you can throw out the cat food. It’s nasty.” Tae mumbled, his disgust causing a gummy smile to appear on Yoongi’s soft lips “And then we can get food and cuddle for the next week.”

Yoongi’s smile dims once he remembers food means money, and money means work. “I have to go back to work.” He made no effort to move from Taehyung’s comforting embrace no matter how many times he repeated that.

“Yeah after you get more rest. Please hyung?” Tae gently pulled Yoongi closer, trying to tempt him to stay, using his best puppy dog eyes and cutest pout for good measure.

“Ugh fine.” Tae’s boxy grin returned as he nuzzled into Yoongi’s side. The smaller tried to fight off the blush rising up and softly placed a kiss on Tae’s head. The shifter perked up at the action, blue eyes staring intently in dark brown ones, before tackling Yoongi and showering his face with kisses. He tried fighting back, but Yoongi has discovered when it comes to Tae, he can’t say no.

“I liked you better when you were smaller.” Yoongi whispered once Tae had stopped, his soft smile showing of his gums and making Tae’s heart melt. They affectionately stare at each other for a while longer, before uncertainty creeps into Taehyung’s gaze. 

“It’s really ok for me to stay?” His voice was so quiet, Yoongi almost missed it. But he didn’t and his face softens, his gaze warm and comforting. His hands move to gently cup Tae’s face, his thumbs running over his cheeks.

“Yes Tae. I’d be sad if my favorite kitty left.”

[queensdivas]

Peonies Chapter 2

Okay so this is a long chapter and we’re finally getting into more Chiara x Grigor. No it’s not what you think but I know you’ll be enjoying what I’ve written hopefully. Don’t worry there will be 

Also. For those who read my other stories. Those who are not aware Chapter Four of Wildest Notes (The Gardner one) has been uploaded. For those who are curious. 

Next Chapter

Masterlist 

Previous Chapter 

Life of a Duchess consists of balls, tea parties, making under the table deals for the country, and then an occasional outing. Life for me..it is..well.. Different. Obviously. I mean I dropped everything to now help Catherine stage a Coup against her own husband. But I’m still trying to manage my habits so I don’t lose them, even all the way out here. 

My morning always begins at seven a.m. Fernanda is to come into the rooms and open the curtains whether the sunshine is glaring into my room or it’s a cloudy day. Then after waking up I’m treated to a warm breakfast. Honestly I’m not quite sure what exactly is a Russian breakfast because I’ve never had it. 

Fernanda came into the bedroom as I was rubbing my eyes to adjust to the light. Doing a few neck stretches then plopping my arms and my legs as my hair fell in my face. To think only a few nights ago we were burying heads in the dirt and now we’re writing drafts on some sort of constitution. She placed the breakfast tray right in front of me then revealed breakfast. What looked like porridge that had raspberries on top of them, some bacon and dumplings? 

“What is this?” Crossing my legs as I lifted one of the dumplings to my nose. Smelled very sweet for a dumpling. 

“They call it vareniki I think. It’s a dumpling and they tasted good when we had them for dinner last night. I promise I wouldn’t let them serve you anything you wouldn’t like.” She stood next to me as I handed her one of the raspberries from on top of the porridge. 

“Is Catherine awake yet by chance?” Asking her as she finished the raspberry. 

“I’m not quite sure. I can go check for you.” 

“It's not too urgent yet. I just need to know when she’s wanting to have our meetings. If you happen to see her maid, send her my way. Oh! I need a sabre coach if you could keep an eye on Hernán. He’s coming sometime today and I would rather him see a familiar face than one of the ladies.” She nodded as I took my spoon into the porridge. Eh. It’s alright. Makes me miss the cooking of Chef Columbus. 

After breakfast I am to get dressed for the day which is usually my black pants, my brown and black boots, and my white button up shirt. Makes the life of Fernanda and I extremely simple because there’s no buttons or corsets. In addition. It’s either braided hairstyles or just flopping down due to the fact those big hairstyles hurt my head. 

“She’s awake and already has some sort of Count in her chambers.” Fernanda told me as I finished placing my hair in a braid. I then grabbed my cross necklace as I stared into the vanity mirror before me. 

The words of Catherine talking about Grigor after the funeral keep bouncing around in my head. If he’s an advisor he must have some sort of genius inside his head. But when you’re supposed to be an advisor or friends with someone like Peter, you lose sight of what your potential is. He is quite loyal for starters and he studied alongside Peter the Great from what I’ve been told. So..there was so much potential that is in Grigor..just needs to be pushed. Extremely hard. But don’t think I’ve pushed aside his little comment on my first night here. 

He is extremely attractive..I mean he’s tall, has beautiful green forest of eyes..maybe this is just sexual tension. I mean me having some sort of dream last night about him is sexual desire then I’m guilty. Even if I want to slap him across the face due to the comment from last night. Grigor is definitely one I would have molded into clay to have in my room. 

I’ll figure him out later. Getting up from the bench as I began twirling the cross for my walk towards Catherines apartment. If I knew we were going to stage a coup I would’ve brought my books and a trunk full of papers and pens. 

When I made it to the entrance of the apartment. The young man was standing at the entrance as I smiled at him. 

“Duchess Chiara to see Empress Catherine.” Smiling at him as they opened the door as I was led into her apartment. 

“Catherine! Coming in!” I yelled as she was sitting on the floor as she was talking with Count Orlov. Did she finally convince him? I’m going to assume so because the amount of pamphlets and books that were scattered around the room means they’re trying to start a draft of something.  

“Ah Count Orlov. Do you remember my cousin Duchess Chiara?” Waving to him as I noticed she was barefoot. Genius Catherine. Slipping off my boots as I tiptoed across her pamphlets to sit down across from her. 

“Does she?” He was going to ask the question but I nodded. Alright let me see what she’s got scattered across in her room. Dierdot, Kant, and even some Plato. Wow. We’re really trying to do a book club/Coup. Not that I don’t find the words of Plato interesting but...what person is wanting to listen to Plato when trying to change a country? 

“Ah yes. So I’ve written a 74 page treatise that should really get the people behind us on your ideals.” 

“74 pages?” Asking him as I was in shook. A little over stepping it wouldn’t you say? Do they not realize this is for the people and anything over at least two pages will make them lose interest. 

“I thought perhaps some Montaigne.” 

“I got stuck on Machiavelli. Read in the French translation he says the ends justify the means. But in the original Italian he merely asks..” Marial dropped the entire tray of tea cups as we all looked up at her. 

“Oh sorry. I was holding..holding that tray...and then I fell asleep listening to you both! Is this a coup or a fucking book club?” 

“She’s right Catherine. Remember what kind of environment you’re trying to rule. Most of these people don’t know how to read and write. So if we go on beginning to quote great men then why even stage a coup. We have to be original and sound like we truly care about them.” Catherine sighed as she got up from the ground to start walking back and forth. I crawled over to help Marial clean up all the broken tea cups. 

“Why do we not just kill him?” I love Marials enthusiasm of trying to get rid of Peter but killing him literally will not solve anything if we don’t have a good backbone of support and ideals. 

“Too messy. Anyways if we kill an Emperor, they will tie Catherine up by her toes and beat her with the blunt heads of pistols.” Marial sighed as she stopped picking up the cracked tea cups. 

“Next time he is on you, stab him in the face. In the back, Orlo cuts his throat, and then you are empress, and I am Lady Marial. The end.” Ah! It all makes sense now! How intelligent. They won’t kill them all in an instant. 

“But it..it is not so simple.” Sadly it isn't and Count Orlo is right. They will get shot and I’m not in the most chipperest of moods to lose my favorite cousin!

“The two most important things in any country is the main religion and the military. If you could at least get one of the two backing Catherine, you’re golden. Although they’re both extremely popular to everyone, I’d say get the military behind you Catherine. Fire scares more people than any man in the sky.” Forgive me God but I’m only trying to help. 

“We need the church to ratify her to the whole of Russia from the pulpit after, so they must support her.” Orlo pointed out as I nodded in agreement. Both are important to Governments damn it.  

“Not to mention if Ivan is alive, we need a sympathetic military for if we kill him before that is all in place, then the military and others may get behind Ivan, and run over Catherine in the process.” Whose Ivan? 

“No one even knows where Ivan is.” Again who is Ivan? 

“Who is Ivan?” Catherine and I both asked. 

“Ivan is Peter’s half-brother, bastard son to Peter the Great. His supporters tried to take the throne after Peter first came to power.” Buffa. If there’s a half son we will be royally screwed! And if they do find this Ivan we’re even more screwed! Not that I can get involved when the coup finally happens but I’m here to give it a good push. 

“I will find out where he is?” Now we’re doing a ghost hunt. What a fun time!

“How?” Count Orlo asked as we all looked upon Catherine.

“Cleverly.” 

“I suspect we need a year to get our pamphlets just right.” A year? Mamma mia at this point I’d rather watch paint dry! 

“It’s no wonder you never fuck anyone.” My eyes widened as I got up from the floor to sit on Catherine's bed. 

“You..you cannot speak to me like that!” 

“Because I am a serf?” 

“Because it’s rude.” A throat laugh began as I covered my mouth with my hand. Looking at the door as some strange man came walking into the room with a book in his hand! Oh shit! 

“How dare you! You just walk into my chambers sir!” My hand was slithering down to my left leg as I kept a dagger there. Tell me we already don’t have a spy. 

“I would have ridden, but my horse has trouble with stairs.” Smart ass. 

“Empress?” EVEN BIGGER OH SHIT! Standing up from the bed as I rapidly walked to stand next to Catherine. 

“Orlo, what are you doing here?” 

“He brought us some books. I left mine back home.” Chiming in as I waved at the Empress. 

“I...uh..thought the Duchess and Empress would be interested..”

“Oh God you’re dull. Get out!” I thought he was being somewhat helpful. 

“Sir.” 

“If you’ll excuse me Catherine.” Slipping out with Marial as we turned the corner but tried to listen in on what was going on. 

He’s giving her a lover? And is the name Leo..and has a big loch? It was either loch or cock but I sadly couldn’t hear what he said. Though he was loud sadly it was a little mumbled. He walked past us as I stared at the wall. Catherine came walking out from the bedroom as the three of us followed her. 

“Is that your lover?” Asking her as she rolled her eyes. 

“Sadly.” How can that be sadly because wow he’s a beautiful dessert.

“Catherine..he’s extremely good looking. I think I would have a sculpture molded from his face at home.” He would look quite beautiful right next to Da Vinci. Seems appropriate wouldn’t you think? Grigors sculpture would be on the left of Da Vinci if I lived in a perfect will. 

“It is disgusting that he would just give me a lover, like I am an animal to be serviced.” Looking up to Count Orlo who had no idea what to even say in this conversation. 

“You would be serviced well. He’s a Voronsky, they are well-known lovers.” I zoned out for a second till Orlo started panicking in front of us. Does he really think that Peter noticed all the pamphlets? He gives him more credit than he deserves because he doesn’t even know Catherine. He thinks of her as some dumb wife at the moment and she’s from Europe. Makes her quite the bookworm. 

“Fuck fuck fuck! The very week we start our adventure, Peter gifts you a man!” He slammed down everything on the table as the three of us watched him panic. 

“He’s well known to insert spies into situations because he’s paranoid that no one truly likes him. It’s something common he does oh fuck! Maybe he knows! And I was there and we had pamphlets about Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ!” Approaching him as I gripped his shoulders. 

“Count Orlo will you please take one second and just breath!” Yelling as he stopped panicking and took in a very deep breath in. 

“Orlo will it make you feel better if I give him back?” Catherine asked him as he slightly nodded. 

“How? He’s Peter's gift.” I mean giving back a gift is a whole new world of being a giant dick. 

“Cleverly.” A boy came into the room and got everyone to stop talking. 

“Empress, you wanted to know when the dresses for the ladies’ tea arrived.” There’s no way they came in that quickly! We’ve got some fast fingers in our midst! Catherine and I smirked at each other as we began to walk off. 

“What dresses?” Marial asked as Catherine and I smirked. 

“Just wait and see!” Telling her as we linked arms to start walking out of her apartment. 

“Do you think this plan will work?” I asked Catherine as we hurried towards The Ladies tea room. What’s the best way you can get back at a woman besides being a gossiping old lady like them? Their appearance. Women of the court need to look their best constantly and if you destroy their image by one minor miscommunication. You bring down their entire existence. 

“Oh yes. Vlad. Have some tea ready for us when we get down there.” Catherine told him as we hurried into the tea room. 

“What colors did you make the dress?” I asked her as she smirked. 

“This extremely ugly green and purple. It's all the rage in Europe.” Ah yes I forgot they are. 

The wives were already gasping and filled with excitement for the new dresses as we walked over to the small tea table for us. I’m much more of a coffee person but I will dabble in tea of course. We sat down as I poured her the tea for the show to begin. We’re supposed to keep our eye on the stripped one that should be THERE IT IS! 

Watching the dress being bounced around as I took a sip of my tea waiting for someone to take a nice hold of it. That being The Lady that has the horse's face grabbed a hold of it as she held it up against her. She was smiling like an idiot as she turned towards Catherine and I. 

“Empress, do you like it?” Oh my god if I don’t drink my tea I will die of laughter. 

“Mhm. It looks marvelous.” 

“Truly wonderful colors mixing together.” Trying to be nice to the horse is extremely harder than it looks. 

“You will stand out.” In more ways than one. The face she placed on her horse face was a fake smile and she’s wearing far too much makeup. 

“As I always do.” I might throw up because of this conversation. She took the dress with her as we both looked at each other to give ourselves a little cheer. Fernanda came into the room as she was walking straight towards me. She leaned down towards my ear as I was told that Hernán had arrived. 

“Catherine I know you’ll be greeting the Generals. But my instructor has arrived and I do need to have my lessons.” Telling her as she nodded. We stood up as she stopped me to ask questions. 

“What lesson?” Catherine asked as I smiled. 

“Fencing, sabres, and actual sword fighting. Oh is there an empty hall that I may use” Asking her as she thought for a moment. 

“I’ll arrange the music hall to be yours. For as long as you need.” Perfect. 

“Thank you Catherine. Come by if you need me.” Fernanda and I left the tea room. 

My instructor was a day behind when I left Trento due to the fact this was a last second decision. Luckily he’s made it and I can get back into the habit of training with swords and sabres. I also owe Catherine a big thank you due to the fact that she’s letting me train in the music hall. PlusI imagine no one is going to be playing Handel or Arcangelo Corelli. 

Two of the servants followed me into the music hall as I was standing in an empty room. Guess he’s getting comfortable in his room. The servants placed down the trunk as I popped it open to look at my gear. How I have surely missed this. 

“Ah Duchess Chiara!” He yelled as I raised my head up from my fencing trunk. 

“Hernán Gil! Glad that you could make it to Russia extremely last second.” Placing my foot on the stool to fix my left boot. 

“Of course. Anything to get out of Palma. Hopefully you haven’t lost your touch with a sabre Dear Duchess.” He swung his sabre sword around in front of him as I put my foot down then into my fencing trunk. 

“Have I ever lost my touch?” Pulling my sabre out to do a few little tricks before we got into our positions. Standing across from one another with my left foot back and my right foot ancy ready to go. 

“Vamos!” He came swinging as I blocked his attack then swinging it around to then smack the sabre on his arm.

“Excellent!” He cheered as I took in a deep breath as both Hernán and I got into our standing positions. 

“Vamos!” Our blades instantly met as I spun my wrist trying to knock his sabre out of his hand. But he took a step back to try to aim for my head but I held my sabre horizontally to block his attack. He took a step back then swiftly smacked the sword against my shoulder. Cursing under my breath as I shook my head. 

“Cheap shot.” I laughed as we got back into our positions. 

“Vamos!” Raising my sabre as I tried to aim for his shoulder out of the corner of my eye Grigor came into the room to watch. That was a quick meet and greet from the Generals. Thought it would last a lot longer. 

All I could pay attention to was the fact that Grigor was just waiting for one of us to win so he could do something. What does he want? Blocking his outside attack to then move my sabre right into his chest. 

“Is there something I can help you with?” Taking off my mask as I was beginning to fix my gloves. Grigor shook his head as he approached me and looked like he had something stuck up his own ass. 

“You think strolling into the palace and our first introduction being a little bitch was something adorable?” Someone’s wife just got screwed. But not by his own cock. Does he not remember how that conversation started? Because I remember him saying that I was able to make his cock hard after my introduction to the Emperor. Most women would find that flattering, I find it repulsive. 

“Not adorable. I believe they call it an honest chap who calls you out on your wrong doings. Hernán if you want to take a break go for it. You’ve had a long journey.” Turning my attention completely on Grigor as Hernán left the room. Grigor marched towards me as I stood there watching this poor excuse of a man try to act as if he was a top bitch. Poor men like him make me sigh and want to drink for them. 

“Are you trying to intimidate me?” When he got a little close for comfort I stuck out my sabre to aim it directly in the middle of his chest. 

“Trust me. You don’t want to get any closer.” 

“You think you’re flimsy little sword scares me? It’s fake.” He pushed it away as I hit him in the shoulder with it. 

“Ouch!” He grabbed his arm to then march towards me with all of his wrath showing. Smacking him on his leg which caused him to yelp in pain. 

“I should have the guards whip you!” I would love him to try and have one of the guards lay a finger on me. Oh how I would love it!

“Grigor. I warn you. IF you think Russian women are crazy, you wouldn’t last a minute back in Italy. We women use our fist and words to solve our problems. Instead of whispers and tea parties like your wife.” He reached down for one of the fencing swords as if he was going to stab me. 

“Go ahead. Do you think you scare me? Catherine told me everything about you. You let the Emperor eat fruit out of your own wife’s cunt. If you let the Emperor walk all over you like that, then why would I let you try to intimidate me. You even threatened to have guards sent after me instead of dealing it yourself.” My sabre lashed towards the fencing sword of mine to knock it out of his hands. 

“Besides. You can’t lay one finger on my body. If one scar is placed on my body from you, the guards, or Peter himself. Italy joins the Swedish and we run over your little shit hole of a palace. Then I place my own private home in St. Petersburg and have you wash the floors.” The tip of my blade was underneath his chin as he kept a straight face. 

“I don’t like making threats but when you come storming in here expecting me to bend over to kiss your ass. A position you're familiar with obviously. But when you threaten to have the guards whip me well.” Grigor began storming off as I followed him very close. 

“Tell me Grigor. Do you wish this kind of life for yourself?” He kept shaking his head as I was trying to talk to him. 

“To allow some man child rule over such a beautiful country!” Halting in front of me to turn his heel sharply. 

“He’s not a man child!” He growled as he turned towards me. 

“And you’re a dumb ass. We can be doing this all day.” 

“What do you want?” 

“You approached me Grigor! I was quite content having my fencing lessons then you came waltzing in here expecting an apology. To quote my mother when I argue with my brothers from home. Ladies are not allowed to start fights, but we are surely allowed to finish them.” Grabbing his collar to pull him closer to me. 

“For once be a man and solve your own problems instead of cowering under the fucking bed.” Grigor's eyes widened at my statement as we just kind of stared at each other. I noticed that both my and Grigors bottom lips were shaking a little bit. Biting it to stop it twitching as I let go of him. 

“Forgive me. I can be..quite..of a dick when it comes to my passions.” Taking a step back as my throat gets dry. 

“I am too. Perhaps we both got off on the wrong foot with each other.” I placed down my sabre to rub my hands together. 

“Perhaps we did. After hearing what Catherine was doing through and Peter punching her in the stomach. I was sort of mad at the world and everyone in it.” 

“And with my wife..constantly sleeping with the Emperor. I’m sort of not in the right place with myself. May I reintroduce myself.” Grigor finished as I slightly smiled at him. 

“You may.” 

“Grigor Dymov.” He bowed as I was going to play along. 

“Duchess Chiara of Trento.” Holding out my hand for him to place a kiss on it. 

A quite refreshing restart. 

Taglist

@mirkwoodshewolf​ @bonafiderocketqueen​ @filmslutt​ @leah-halliwell92​ @johndeaconshands​ @jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels​ @radio-hoo-ha​ @i-have-a-wonky-eye-too​ @deck-heart​ @arrowswithwifi​  @stardust-killer-queen​ @the-baby-bookworm​ @actuallyanita​ @sadhwstudent​ 

[razorblade180]

Twin Snowflakes pt8: It’s Tricky

Back at home, Weiss snuggles up under Jaune as he flips through tv channels. His left arm wraps around her waist to hold her closer; causing her to giggle. This is always the highlights of her days off. Good breakfast, pj’s, and alone time with Jaune that usually leads cuddling. After more explicit activities of course.

Weiss:Jaune as much as I love you, please find a channel soon? I’m falling asleep.

Jaune:That tends to happen post three rounds of sex.

Weiss:Please, you’re the only person who gets tired after three. This is just boring watching... *rubs eyes* channels flip.

Jaune:Keep telling yourself that. I’ll just put it on the news. Might as well see what’s going on in the world.

“And now Lisa Lavender with a special weather report.”

Lisa:People of Remnant, scientists around the world are still scratching their heads over the surge of different climate changes ever since appearance of the Two Brothers. Multiple areas of temperatures spiking all time numbers in their respective climate are still flowing in. While there still seems to be no life threatening injuries being caused by it, there is strong advisement from researchers and kingdom leaders. For those of you in hotter area’s it’s advised not to stray from any water source. Those in Atlas, be sure to buddle up as an extra cold winter is here.

Weiss:*frowns* Maybe Summer being outside was a mistake.

Jaune:She’s fine. Summer knows her limit better than anyone besides Penny. I bet she’s held up at some coffee shop right or theater. Not to mention her clothes.

Weiss:Still I can’t help but worry. *grabs scroll*

Jaune:Calling her?

Weiss:No, texting Winter if she could see how she’s doing. Lately I have this feeling that Summer isn’t telling me everything. She used to be so vocal and now she’s....

Jaune:A teenager?

Weiss:More than that! *nudges him* I don’t know how to explain it. Summer seems....tired.

He looked down to see a puzzled look on his wife’s face as she read Winter’s reply. Deep down he knew what Weiss meant by Summer being tired. He was like that for a long time after losing Pyrrha. Weiss was too for parts of her life; especially after giving birth. It was hard not to notice their daughter getting lost in deep thought. Thoughts nobody seemed to truly know; not even Oscar was a hundred percent certain. Jaune tilted Weiss’s head up and pressed his forehead against hers. The contact eased both of their troubled minds. Silently letting each other know things will be alright.

Jaune:You know what we should all do? Have a giant vacation.

Weiss:What? The kids just went back to school.

Jaune:I’m not talking about right now. After the tournament and everything happens. We can get Whitley, Ruby, Blake, Yang, everyone one we can to just go on a trip somewhere warm. It would be a nice victory lap for our kids.

Weiss:Victory lap? Don’t you think you’re celebrating their victory too soon hehe.

Jaune:You don’t believe our kids will kick butt?

Weiss:Oh I know they’ll kick butt. What’s that saying you taught me? Don’t count my chickens before they hatch?

Jaune:*smiles* Not sure if you noticed but your chicks have been spreading their wings for awhile.

Weiss:I hope you know chickens don’t fly.

Jaune:You get what I’m saying though. They’re coming into their own. I think that deserves a proper vacation. Blake, Yang, and their kid Veronica no doubt will be for it.

Weiss:I guess we’ll find out when they show up for the tournament. In the meantime I’ll toss the idea around to everyone else. After I enjoy my little vacation I have to day.

Jaune:And what left do you have to do today my queen?

Her arms hook around his neck and pulls him into a kiss. Jaune can’t help but smile as her fingers start combing through his hair. Weiss leans her body back in an attempt to be as close to him as possible. Finally they break the kiss and stared at each other with the same fire they had when they first kissed.

Weiss:For starters, two more rounds with you.

xxxx

Today was a slow day. Well it was for Summer anyways. School might’ve been a prison but at least it was interesting prison with things that made time go by. Those thoughts unfortunately weren’t going through her head earlier in the morning and now she finds herself walking down the pearly white streets of the kingdom. It was a bit lonely. Not to mention cold.. luckily the white winter coat, red scarf, and white ear muffs was doing what they could to keep heat close. What was really doing the jobs was the black thermals underneath; mad by top Atlas finest for military personnel and herself. A snug white shirt hugged her underneath the coat while black thermal leggings went down into her boots. The seam stitching on the side of it glowing ever so slightly with fire dust. The cold was not going to bother her.

Street’s were relatively quiet but that’s a no brainer. Kids are at school and adults are working. It was beautiful in a ghostly kinda way. The silence was a bit too much for her unfortunately. Despite her reserved nature, she did enjoy people. Talking to them was just weird most of the time. Finding the write thing to say was harder than any test, yet Nick always made it look easy. Family members and friends were easy but anybody else made her feel like she was being judged; kinda ironic considering her status. There were two people though she could always manage to speak too. If she could really call arguing speaking. Her options weren’t looking good and boredom was sinking in.

Summer:Might as well sneak in a bit of training.

She raised her left hand to pull down her scarf a bit while her right hand took of the ear muffs. The crisp air immediately hit them and gave her a chill. The color of her eyes barely getting lighter around the iris as she exhaled to see her breath appear in front of her when she walked. Anyone close enough would’ve saw the tiniest of snowflakes.

I knew you were bored but not this bored. Or maybe you actually wanna give up already?

Summer:In your dreams Shiva. I thought I’d train is all. Hearing you in my head is a sad sacrifice for that.

Keep telling yourself that..... you’re committed at least. That’s about the only thing I’ll give you props for. I guess following ideals and plans is easy when you don’t ever come up with your own. Better hope brother dearest has a good one for the tournament.

Summer:So you’re moving on to insulting my mind now? Finally tired of calling me weak?

Unlike you, I’m interesting and like to mix things up. You just do the same thing as always. Try and fail. Like that little team attack your are always attempting with Nick. I bet I’d get it right on the first try. How’s it feel to always be protected?

Summer:...

Aw I thought you wanted a talk buddy? Tired already? I bet you’re tired of a lot of things huh? Stress, disappointing everyone, yourself; especially yourself. I mean just look in the mirror.

She didn’t know why she listened but she did. Summer stopped on the sidewalk and looked at her reflection through a building window right next to her. It was impossible not to frown at the sight. The world feels like it slips away as she cloeses her eyes. Darkness surrounds her until an image of Shiva slowly becomes more visible and the room in her head takes its usual form of cold emptiness.

Shiva:Besides this cute face can you think you’re worth anything? Weiss sings better than you, your brother is stronger than you, all your friends get by just fine, and it’s not like you’re making a difference. All I’m really saying is why keep being like that when I can make them look at this body as it rises above all of their worth. No one would look down on me. You’re too afraid to even change out in P.E.

Summer:*inhales*...........*exhales* I am greater than I think. I am greater than what anyone thinks. My mind is my mine; my body is mine. You will never take it from me. Nor will anyone else.

Shiva:Just keep letting your consular feed your head with lies.

Summer:The only one who does that is you.

The room and Shiva quickly fade away the moment Summer reopens her eyes. Once again she looks at herself. Still have no joy at the sight of it. At least it’s her reflection though. That’s what matters at the end of the day. It’s all that ever mattered to her. The conversation with her not so pleasant company continued but at this point even Shiva was running low on insults. A small victory for a moment. Finally Summer reached her destination; the edge of Atlas. Her head tilted down as she followed the giant chain all the way down to Mantle with her eyes. Somehow it always seemed to get longer to her for some reason. The cold formed around her hands in the form of swirling ice until it came together and expanded into a snowboard. Summer hopped right on it with ease as the ice stuck to the soles of her boots.

Again with this crazy stunt? I was right about you not thinking wasn’t I?

Summer:*clenches fist* You’re talking a lot of shit for someone who’s gonna die if I screw this up. Maybe try encouragement for the first time in your life?

Please, the adrenaline and the panic of you falling to your death will be more than enough for me to take the reigns. If anything I’m hoping you fall immediately. Wouldn’t be the first time I saved your life. You have the nastiest habit of needing help.

Summer:We’ll just see about-

“Summer Nichole Schnee!”

That voice. That anger; Summer recognizesd those all too well. She looked to her right to see her fears confirmed. In the distance and getting closer at alarming speed was her dear aunt Winter who obviously looked like she was about to prepare to give the longest lecture possible. Whenever she gets close enough.

Summer:Aunt Winter!? What are you doing h- ugh, mom....

First she makes you go outside and then she has someone keep watch on you. Talk about no freedom. If I were you I-

Summer:*puts on ear muffs* (I’m not in the mood for one lecture, let alone two.) Hello! Fancy meeting you here.

Winter:What in the devil do you think you’re doing!?

Summer:N...Nothing!? I-

Winter:Stay right there! I need to have a talk.

Summer:Sigh, so much for.....

Her sentence got caught in her throat as she thought about it. Shiva was annoying but she had a point. Summer didn’t wanna be outside in the first place, but now she was for better or for worse because she was told to by her mother. Then this happens!? Summer looked at the chain one more time before taking the ear muffs of again; replacing them with headphones. The feeling of loneliness she had before was starting to be messed. At least back then no one was telling her what to do; trying to keep her within arms reach for better or for worse.

Oh so you can think for-

Summer:GET OFF MY BACK AND LET ME DO MY OWN THING ALREADY!!!

Winter:What did you just say to me!?

Summer:What? No no I was talking to-...screw it. I’m in trouble regardless. *jumps*

Winter:Gasp! Summer!!!

She races towards the edge to see her niece free falling with her arms spread out. Summer bends her upper body forward to make her do a midair front flip before twisting to the side and landing on the massive chain with incredible speed; making sure to do small hops over the links as rides down in an “s” formation. The wind shear is brutal and her focus remains unwavering. Unnervingly so, but necessary. Every moment on the chain grinds away at the board causes friction and that’s not the best for anything made with ice, but that was point of the training.

Summer:(That’s it Summer, you got this. Control your speed, balance, awareness and fear. Definitely control your fear. Watch how thin the board gets and right before it shatters...)

She angles her board straight to avoid a short hop; choosing to jump the length of one full link. Summer caste a glyph underneath it for more air by giving her a second jump. Her feet swing to the left to meet her left hand with the board. She couldn’t help but feel a bit bold and did a 360 just to satisfy herself. All while her hand was restoring the ice. The speed and temperature outside gradually increases just how much she was in control but it dangerous to screw up. Too slow and a number of mistakes could happen.Going too fast was the real caution warning. That board wouldn’t fair too well crashing into a chain link and definitely hurt. Worse yet, getting colder than she can tolerate before reluctantly handing over the reigns.

You’re going to falll...

Summer:*turning up music*......

Try to drown me out all you like, but at the end of the day I’m still here. I’m always here. Waiting for tiniest....littlest......most insignificant mistake. You always make you; it’s in your nature. Imperfection trying to be perfect.

Shiva’s voice was getting louder. Like a distorted whisper in her ear from a broken radio. Summer wiped the tears forming from her eyes and kept going. Her lungs were starting to feel like fire; the center of her chest feeling gripping tightly and making her movements sloppy. The next link she jumped over clipping the bottom of the board and caused an auditable yelp from the girl. The wind blowing behind her felt like fingers wrapping around her throat. She was getting too cold; Summer didn’t need a mirror to know how she looked right now. She wasn’t out of options yet though. Summer turned her body sideways and started to grind on the outermost part of the chains. It wasn’t gonna do the durability of the ice board any favors but she needed to slow down. Her new clothes was the next step. Summer made a small glyph on her pointer finger and dragged it along the fire dust stitching so the heat washed over her body more intensely for a moment. Her plan didn’t stop the cold completely but it was enough to get her out of danger.

Oooo that was a close one.

Summer:*trembling* (My mind is mine and my body is mine. My mind is mine and my body is mine. My mind is mine and my body is mine. My mind-)

Isn’t focusing on the chain...

At that moment the board had shattered right where one chain meets another. Summer didn’t even have time to scream before falling into the space between them and gets swallowed up by the clouds. What could’ve only been seconds felt like an eternity when she came through the other side greeted with the intense sight of Mantle’s lights. Snow gave way to the heated air and turned into ran that poured down as fast as she was falling. Summer couldn’t help but be terrified. Shiva wasn’t even speaking anymore and yet Summer couldn’t help but chastise herself at the entire situation. Lost focus, lost control, and about to lose her life.

Summer:(Maybe Shiva was right? I am an idiot) *closes eyes*

Shiva:*sitting* Of course I’m right. You make it too easy hehehe. Now.... *extends hand* about time I claimed my reward. Don’t worry though. I’ll make sure we never look wrong again.

Summer:.....no.

Shiva:N...no? I’m sorry, did I just hear you say no? You do know a few minutes at best you’ll- *eyes widened*

Dread came over her face as Summer smiled weakly at her. Shiva’s features slowly turned into a scowl; all appearance of having fun was replaced with pupils shaking with rage. Shiva quickly jumped at her but was blocked by a glyph. Her blood was starting to boil as she dragged her ice tipped nails down it. Nothing was going to keep her from the prize she has so diligently been waiting for. Summer felt like at rat starring at a python in a glass cage. The way their eyes met; the complete lack of hope she felt as Shiva keeps her eyes dead set on her. It was enough to scream if she could find the courage to even breathe.

Shiva:If you think I’m just gonna let your body hit the ground then you’ve got anything coming. I don’t do draws. I win and you lose. Then you keep losing, and losing, and losing; day after day as I live the life you could only dream of.

Summer:Any life you live is a nightmare I never want to have. If I can’t beat you then I’ll stop this stupid game of property dispute once and for all. Whatever it takes to keep my family safe from the likes of you!

Shiva:.....Hehehe hahahahaha HAHAHAHAHA!!

Summer:Why....why are you laughing? You’re not supposed to be laughing. You’re about to lose. You’re losing!

Shiva:You...haha you think....you think I’m the one hurting your family! Oh that is hilarious!!

Both of her hands raise up and press against the glyph. Shiva extends her arms forward before bending them quickly and head butting it. Creating a giant crack before it crumbles away right before Summer’s eyes. The scared girl can’t believe it. Even her last stitch effort has been destroyed. Summer turns halfway around to run before ice traps her legs and crawls up her body to her collarbone. Muscle and bones fail to giver the strength to free her while Shiva skips towards her. The fight was over before it truly began. Summer felt a hand grab her jaw and turn and forced her to look at Shiva once more; the playful demeanor Summer hated so much was back on Shiva’s smug face. It was enough to make her cry. The warmth of fresh tears should’ve washed over her face but got dismissed unexpectedly by her captor.

Shiva:Crying makes you look ugly. Your looks are all you have remember? Even if they’re basically a copy of dear old mommy.

Shiva:*grits teeth* What, now you’re just gonna play with me!? Get it over with alre- ah!

Shiva:*tightens grip* You’ve gotten too casual with me. Nobody orders me around. Especially a shrimp like you. Since you’re too dumb to notice, trying to take over right now would be stupid beyond belief and almost impossible. You’re not falling anymore; someone caught you. Oh well. Next time....

Summer:What are you talking ab-

Shiva snaps her fingers and everything starts to fade away including her and the ice. Summer starts to feel a strange sensation around her ribs before the blank space around her once again becomes a bird’s eye view of Mantle. Long white talons find themselves around the girl’s midsection and the face of a giant white nevermore looking at his lucky catch.

Nevermore:......

Summer:.....I’m guessing Winter is on your back huh?

He flings her forward and swoops underneath so she can land on his back. Yeah, suspicions confirmed.

Winter:I’ll give you fifteen seconds to explain yourself.

Summer:You can just yell at me.

Winter:I highly suggest you take the remaining twelve seconds. *raising right hand*

Summer:I wanted to against the cold while using diamond dust! I thought snowboarding down the chains would be perfect since I’m really good at it and you taught me so much about multitas-

Winter:Times up.

Summer:*flinches* Not my face! I’m so sorr-

Winter’s hand grabbed the girl and pulled her into a tight hug. Wind roaring the air and the sound of the summoned nevermore wings flapping was the only thing to break the silence. A minute passed before Winter’s finally spoke. Her voice slightly shaky and relieved.

Winter:I didn’t...I didn’t see the board when I first saw you. All I saw was you standing near the edge. Then you jumped....*sniffling* Do you realize how much of a heart attack you just gave me? Your mom said you were acting strange so I thought....I thought...

Summer:Auntie I would never! Honestly. Not in a million years. It was just training gone bad. Really bad. I’m sorry. *patting her back*

Winter:Thank the gods I was fast enough to save you!

Summer:......

That was right. She was saved again wasn’t she? Just like always. Summer’s arms finally hugged Winter back. Her thoughts and feelings swarming at the results of her so called challenged.

Summer:Yeah, thank goodness....

xxxx

“Funny, I’d forgotten about that day till now. The way Winter held me; cried for me. And what did I do to ease such concern? Same thing I always did to her. What I did to everyone. To myself. Damnit. I....I really was the monster here wasn’t I? Should’ve told the truth. Why in the gods didn’t I tell the damn truth? Guess I really am an idiot huh? Maybe if I wasn’t then things would’ve be different. I would’ve different. I...would still have them, but I don’t. I don’t have anything anymore; just the cold.”

Part 7

[cali-holland]

The Emmett to My Elle Woods- Tom Holland One Shot

Pairing: Tom Holland X Reader

Prompt: As your best friend, Tom loves you unconditionally and, when another relationship of yours ends, he decides to finally tell you how he feels.

Word Count: 1300

Based On: She Will be Loved by Maroon 5 and loosely based on the film Legally Blonde 

Masterlist   Tom Holland Masterlist

*Gif is not mine*

~~~

You sighed as another picture frame broke, crashing against your wood floors. It always ended up like this; it was nothing new. You were the kind of girl who was always in a relationship, and you feared the time between relationships. That in between time was when your worst insecurities of being alone forever, living an okay yet unsatisfying life.

This time was upon you now. Your most recent boyfriend had just broken up with you. It had only been four short months and you were familiar to the heart wrenching feeling of a break up, but it still hurt to hear his words: “it’s just not working out” and “I’ve met someone else”.

He was gone from your apartment, and you had broken the picture frame purposefully, furious at his sudden change. Just yesterday, everything seemed so ideal and perfect between you two. You were sweeping up your own mess as your phone rang.

“What’s up?” You answered, knowing it was your best friend calling.

“You down for a movie night?” Tom’s voice came through the phone.

“You’re back in town already?” You smiled, thinking of finally being able to see him again in person.

“I landed this morning. What do you say, you choose the movie and I bring the snacks? My place?” He asked.

“Yeah, sounds good. I’ll be over in a bit.”

“Okay sweet. See you soon.” He ended the phone call and your brain started to think of which movie you’d most like to watch right now. Your mind comes to the classic break up movies like Eat Pray Love and La La Land. You focused once more on finishing up cleaning the break up mess itself, letting your thoughts of a movie night drift away for the time being.

~~~

“Legally Blonde?” Tom questions as he looks at your choice. He stares at the preppy pink Reese Witherspoon on the cover and raises his eyebrows.

“You said I could pick.” You smiled, eating some of the snacks he supplied.

“I thought you’d pick a better movie, not just a random chick flick movie.”

“It’s not random. It’s an empowering movie.” You replied.

“I guess.” He said, popping it into the dvd player and then sitting beside you on the sofa. Tom looks over at you following the scene in which Elle gets dumped by Warner and lets out a small sigh. “He broke up with you, didn’t he?”

“How could you tell?” You asked, trying not to sound too hurt by his spot on accusation.

“Well, for starters, you’d never be free on a Friday night with him. And you also wouldn’t be eating all of my food, watching a break up movie, if you were okay.”

“You know me too well.” You let out a small laugh, thinking back to a few months ago when this same moment played out after Tom found out about the last break up with your previous boyfriend.

“I don’t feel like this movie is one that you should be watching in this state.”

“You’ve never even seen it- how would you know?”

“Because she’s trying to win her ex back.”

“It’s a good thing I’m not Elle Woods then because I surely won’t be getting into law school.”

“What’d he say?” Tom asked after a short pause.

“That he found another girl and things between us aren’t the same anymore.” You explained. Tom rolled his eyes and pulled you into a hug. You melted in his arms, despite the awkward angle from you both sitting on a couch.

“I’m sorry. You really have the worst taste.” He teased.

“I can’t help it. Class A douchebags are my type, I guess.” You replied jokingly.

“Come on, let’s do something else.” He said, standing up.

“But my movie-”

“It’ll wait.” Tom grabbed your hand, pulling you up. He grabbed a blanket and you followed him outside. You watched as he quietly unfolded the blanket and laid it down on the grass. He laid down on top of it and you followed in suit.

“This was your spontaneous, grand plan? Star gazing?” You asked, looking up at the sky full of stars.

“We’re waiting for a shooting star.” He stated, “But yes, I find it calming to look up at the stars.” You let out a laugh and shifted closer to your best friend.

“Thank you for doing this.” You smiled, “You really know how to make me feel better.”

“Anything for you, Y/N.” Tom answered.

A few minutes passed in a calm silence between the two of you. Then, for only a quick instant, there was a shooting star flying across the sky. You gasped, eye lighting up when you recognized it.

“Make a wish.” Tom said, closing his eyes. You closed your eyes and thought, “I wish for everything to turn out okay.”

“What’d you wish for?” He asked as he turned to you.

“I can’t tell you that or it won’t come true.” You replied.

“I don’t think it works like that.” He laughed. He went to speak more, but your phone began to ring. Looking down at it, your ex was calling. “What does he want?”

“Probably to get back together. I bet that girl wasn’t interested, or didn’t exist.” You said. You went to answer, but Tom hit the decline button before you could. “What did you do that for?”

“Y/N, he broke up with you just a few hours ago. You can’t just let him come back.” Tom spoke. You sat up, looking at him in disbelief.

“He was still my boyfriend and I love him.”

“But you shouldn’t. He doesn’t treat you right; you should be with someone who makes you feel beautiful.” He sat up as well, trying to level the conversation.

“I have to go. Thanks for tonight I guess.” You stood up, starting to walk off.

“Y/N, wait.” He called after you. You stopped and turned back for a moment. “You know my door’s always open for you.” You nodded and continued on your way to your car.

Tom let out a sigh and went back inside his place. He found that the movie had kept running and was now to the point in which Elle rejects Warner after the trial. He turned off the movie and removed the disc. With the pink case in hand, he got into his car and drove to your place. Upon seeing your car was gone, he didn’t bother to stop. He kept driving until he reached your favorite place. He saw from afar that you were sitting in your car, staring at the pond’s fountain in front of you. He parked beside you and got out of his car. He made his way into your car’s passenger seat.

“James Blunt?” He asked quietly as You’re Beautiful played through the speakers.

“What are you doing here?” You replied, wiping away the tears from your face.

“You left this.” Tom placed the dvd case on your center console. “I thought I better return it.”

“Thank you.” You said softly.

“So Elle ends up with the junior partner guy I assume?”

“Emmett.” You nodded, “Yeah, she becomes best friends with Warner’s ex-fiancee, who leaves Warner as well.”

“Sounds like it all worked out for Elle.”

“If only it actually worked out like that.”

“It could.” Tom said, not letting his eyes leave you. “Maybe your ex is Warner. You just need to find your Emmett.”

“I think I already have.” Your voice was quiet as you spoke.

“Why are you stuck on Warner then?”

“Because I’m scared of what will happen if Emmett doesn’t like me back.”

“I feel like Emmett likes you back.” Tom smiled softly. You leaned in and kissed Tom. Pulling back you smiled as well.

“It seems like that was overdue.” You joked.

“Long overdue.” He replied, leaning in to kiss you again.