#if she’d even tried to cover it by saying ‘oh i snuck in and used my parents’ bathroom’ or ‘i used the leisure centre bathroom’ i wouldn’t

[fingertipsmp3]

I think the weirdest lie I’ve been told by a pathological liar was when this friend I had in secondary school told us all she got kicked out of her house and was living in like a random shed and didn’t have access to a bathroom or electricity, and everyone was somehow believing her, and I was just looking at her like.. your hair is straightened, teeth brushed, you washed your face and you smell of soap

[thebibutterflyao3]

Day Twenty-Eight - Prompt: Touches @rosekiller-microfic

March Daily Series - 774 words

<<<Previous Part OR Start Here

Barty drummed his fingers against the steering wheel as he waited. He didn’t know why he was so fidgety. It wasn’t as though he’d never picked up a bird before.

When he was with Evan, he felt like a taxi service half the time since he didn’t drive. Not that he minded when it was Evan. Most of those drives ended with Evan’s head in his lap or his hand down Evan’s pants. Only giving him gentle touches to drive him mad.

He shook his head clear and reprimanded himself to focus. This wasn’t the time for his fantasies. Barty stayed up late on the phone to plan this out. Everything was prepared, he just needed to wait and keep his wits about him.

The clock on his dashboard read 10:40, ten minutes late. She’d said to wait at the kerb, exactly like a taxi service attendant. This was beginning to feel like deja vu.

Don’t you dare.

Suddenly, the passenger door flew open and her pale blonde ponytail nearly slapped him in the face as she climbed in. Barty immediately straightened up in his seat and gripped the steering wheel. His heart pounded against his chest as he waited for her to settle in.

“Alright?” he asked, shifting clumsily.

Pandora arched an eyebrow sceptically, then nodded. “You have twenty minutes to explain yourself, Crouch.”

He cleared his throat as he eased Heather into traffic. Twenty minutes to convince the one person who held the key to his happiness in her hands that he wasn’t the horrible person that he had been with Regulus. This was fine.

“Right, so Lily explained the whole—”

“Keep my future wife’s name out of your mouth, if you value your life.”

Barty swallowed hard and tried again. He and Lily had practised this speech three times, he knew it by heart.

“I meant to say…I-I apologise for how awful I was to Regulus, and to you. I let my insecurities overrule my common sense. It was absolute shite and this is not an attempt to excuse it, I swear. I…fucked up, then kept fucking up to cover up the first fuck up.”

So much for memorising the speech.

He snuck a glance at Pandora. She stared out the window and avoided looking at him. Barty wondered if she was even listening, or if she’d only agreed to this because her girlfriend coerced her into it.

“I should have been honest with Regulus. He deserved to hear the truth, instead of my shite attempt to weasel out of it.”

“What is the truth, Barty? Do you even know?” she snapped. “Why did you cheat on Reg?”

“I knew he was breaking up with me, so I gave him a reason.”

Her head snapped to the right as a deep scowl marred her pretty features. “What does that mean?”

“I heard him talking to you on the phone, Pandora. He told you that I wasn’t his type and that he should have known better than to date below his standards.”

Pandora’s eyes widened, then she looked away. “Well, he had a point.”

“He did,” Barty agreed. He forced back the bile rising in his throat and continued. “And you were both complete snobs about it. Which is why I proved him right. It hurt to hear you two ragging on me. I decided that I’d rather be dumped for fucking up than be discarded like a piece of rubbish.”

“Oh, so it’s our fault then?”

“No. I could have walked away, but I didn’t. I thought I was evening the odds and…I was wrong.”

Pandora eyed him narrowly. “You admit that you were in the wrong?”

“Yes,” Barty said, nodding calmly. “I knew that Regulus was struggling with his self-esteem and I used it to my advantage. It was manipulative and self-serving.”

“But you’re all better now?” she retorted.

Barty sighed, pulling off the road to park behind the building. “I’m better when I’m with Evan because we take care of each other. We’re even. I want to be the best version of myself for him, so I try.”

“You try? That’s it?”

“You don’t understand.” Barty turned off the car and turned to face her. He remembered Lily’s advice and breathed deeply to calm himself first.

“I think…I think I might be in love with him, Pandora. He is the most important person in my life and I would do anything for him. Do you understand how terrifying and amazing that is? I’ve never felt like that before and I’m still figuring it out, but I’m trying.”

Pandora’s jaw worked from side to side as she stared him down. He didn’t flinch, or look away this time. Barty held his ground.

“Fine. I’ll talk to Regulus…and Evan.”

[abbyromanoff]

Omg can you imagine how nervous she would be to finally ask you out after you got out. Her hands would be shaking, and she would have the biggest bouquet of flowers. This big beefy woman, scared to ask you out. You're shocked to see her but hide the giddiness of seeing her again. Thoughts of how she fucked you still plaguing your mind. How rough but gentle she was. How she had snuck in toys to mess with you. Remote control vibes, butt plugs, and anything she could use. And you just wanted more of her. You can see she was nervous as you tried to act cool, leaning against the door frame. Even though you wanted to pull her in your apartment and have her fuck you till you can't think let alone walk. But you wait for her. She finally asks, Which you say yes to before she even finishes her sentence. You can't take it when you notice the bulge in her pants pulling her in your apartment. She wore the biggest strap she had, which you had never taken yet since it was hard to hide in her tight work pants. She then proceeds to fuck you on every surface of your apartment. She absolutely loved having you wrapped around her as she fucks you up against the wall. Oh, and I know she loves to mark what's hers. She couldn't do it before but now that you're out, you are covered in marks everywhere. Oh, and Daddy kink she loves to be called Daddy.

Yesss broooo I can see nat being such a himbo outside of jail once she gets to finally ask you on a date 😋

But in jail she wouldn’t care, she’d sneak in toys, request you had private rooms as she believed you weren’t safe with the others (she just wanted to fuck you without a roommate), fuck you in the showers, even threaten to expose you if you didn’t go along with it. But even after all of this you couldn’t help but fall for her and when she showed up at your apartment one afternoon (she ended up staying the entire night and created many noise complaints) and nervously asked if you’d go on a date with her sometime before fucking your brains out everywhere possibleeee

[lovelyladyabsinthewrites]

Moon River

Pairing: Luke Castellan x Demigod!Reader

Warnings: siblingxsibling, do not read if you don’t like it

Words: 1757

Summary: Wherever Luke went, you wanted to go too. Even if that meant foresaking Olympus. You loved Luke more than you loved the gods.

“One of the Apollo girls taught me how to play it! I only know one song, but it’s one of my favorites.” You happily tell Luke amidst the chaos that was the Hermes cabin. Flipping open the metal latches of your guitar case. You didn’t have to worry about putting a lock on it. Even though notorious for being a cabin full of thieves, none of your half siblings would dare try to steal it. You were second oldest among them besides Luke, well respected and even slightly feared. When a newcomer tried to steal your ipod that you had snuck in, you were quick to beat their ass with the closest item by you.

Luke sat across from you, legs crossed as he watched you remove a beautifully crafted acoustic guitar. “Did they give you that too?”

“No. It used to be my mom’s. One other gift Hermes gave to her besides me.”

That was enough to make him grow quiet. He always felt a little jealousy at your relationship with your mom. Far different from the one he had with his own mom. “I’m not much of a music lover.”

“Oof, why are you breaking my heart?” Feigning the wounded tone, you situate the guitar in your arms like the Apollo girl had showed you. “Indulge in me. I practiced hard. Plus this is the song that my mom was playing when Hermes met her.”

“You sure you’re not secretly Apollo’s kid?” He smiles into his palm and leans forward. You knew he would rather be practicing his swordplay instead of listening to you play music. Truth be told, that was what you would be doing too on a normal day. But you were feeling nostalgic and couldn’t help yourself.

“Well, Hermes did claim me. But he could just be covering for Apollo.” You giggle and wink at him playfully. Always worth it when it made Luke’s smile grow larger. He might not have liked music, but you knew that Luke would tolerate anything for you. Perhaps you were a bit cocky in thinking this, but you were probably his favorite sibling out of everyone. And that was saying a lot considering how many kids were crammed into the Hermes cabin. Many were your siblings, the rest were poor kids who hadn’t been claimed by their godly parent. Kids who might never know. The gods were a busy bunch and couldn’t be bothered to lay claim to each and everyone. They were cruel in that way.

You settled in and began finger-picking along steel strings a soft melody that was near heartbreaking. Calmly you let your voice take control of you. “Oh, dream maker” Quickly you flick your eyes up at Luke “You heart breaker. Wherever you’re going I’m going your way.” You kept your eyes trained on Luke, highly aware of your other cabinmates watching you play guitar. It must have looked like you were serenading him which inwardly caused you to blush. It wasn’t your fault that those were the lyrics to the song. Just a coincidence.

Remembering your mother playing the exact song for you years ago made your voice tender. As she was putting you to bed, she would open up the window to let the moon filter in and pull your blankets over you. Next to your bed was a stool that your mother always used nightly to play guitar for you. She’d pull it up to the side of your bed and play until you fell asleep. Riding into sleep with a chariot filled with music. Life wasn’t always easy for you and your mom, but she made up for it with the joy of song. Apollo should have been your father in this regard. Maybe if you were Apollo’s child, then the feelings you felt for Luke would be less blasphemous. No one dated within their cabins since in each cabin everyone was half-siblings.

A spell cast upon everyone, your other siblings listened comfortably as you continued the song you had practiced for so long. You wanted it to be perfect. This was the only song you bothered to learn. It was all you needed.

“(y/n).”

You let out a whine in complaint when someone shakes your shoulder, waking you up from your pleasant slumber. Again a soft nudge jars you.

Crusted slightly with sleep, you grudgingly open your eyes to meet the darkness of Cabin 11. The victim of your deadly glare was Luke, wearing a red sleeveless shirt and black shorts. Those definitely weren’t his pajamas.

“What are you doing up?” Grumbling, you run your hands over your eyes to scrub away the crystallized gunk.

“Get up. I have something to show you.” Luke whispers.

He must be crazy. Like hell you were going to forsake the comfort of your bed to go outside in the middle of the night. Plus you didn’t want to risk the wrath of the Cleaner Harpies who lurked the grounds of Camp Half-Blood, patrolling for wayward campers who should be in bed.

“Can’t this wait until morning?”

“In your song, you sang that wherever I go, you go too.”

“It was just part of the song.”

“Yet you looked at me.”

Sighing in defeat, you lift yourself up. “Alright, fine. Give me a second to put shoes on.”

When you accomplished putting your shoes on, you grab an orange Camp Half-Blood jacket and throw it on; following Luke as he led you quietly outside while everyone else slept. You didn’t dare speak in fear of the Harpies. Obediently you went wherever Luke led you. Staring at his broad shoulders, you think about how much he had changed since the quest that Hermes sent him on not too long ago. The scar wasn’t the only thing that changed him, his eyes just seemed darker to reflect his thoughts. He spoke of the scorn he felt about the failed quest and his resentment toward Olympus. All of this he told you in secret when it was just the two of you. This worried you quite a bit. There was nothing you could say to soothe the hurt that Luke was dealing with. He felt cheated by Hermes, unacknowledged.

It didn’t take you too long to arrive at the Combat Arena, the Greek styled arena where you had trained many times throughout your summers earning scars and bruises that you took pride in. What you were doing there, you had no idea. Luke passed under the archway entrance inside. There in the center of the sand pit, Luke turned to you.

Extra cautious, you look around the stone ledges that served as seats for onlookers.

“So, why’d you drag me out of bed?” You grimace when you feel sand leak into your shoes. You weren’t exactly in proper attire and most likely will have sand particles clinging to your pajama pants.

“Did you mean it? That you would follow wherever I go?”

“Of course.” It was an easy reply. You knew if you asked the same thing of Luke, he would follow you to the Underworld if you asked him. The two of you had that ride or die bond. You were an extension of each other. “Where did you have in mind?”

Luke appeared hesitant before taking steps toward you. The moon bounced on his hair, making it look brighter. In one of his hands was a knife. He slid the sharp edge of the blade across his palm making you flinch. “I need you to make a promise that whatever I say next, you will not tell a soul.”

In the night, the small beads of blood that were beginning to rise on his skin looked black. “A bit extreme, Luke. You’re starting to freak me out.”

He hands you the handle of the knife and you reluctantly take it. Taking a deep breath, you quickly draw the blade across your palm and hold in the his that was the product of the sting. You place your slowly bleeding palm against his, weaving your fingers so that your hands were clasped. You trusted Luke.

It makes Luke smile, the scar on his face softening with relief. And that's when he told you of his dreams. More specifically, who was speaking with him in these dreams.

Your stomach dropped when you learned that it was Kronos who spoke to him. Even if it was simply a dream, it never bode well for anyone if the former King of Titans was speaking with you.

“The gods don’t deserve to be in power. Look how full Cabin 11 is. They don’t care about us. Kronos. . . Kronos has a plan to rise again.”

Fear made you feel colder. “No. . .”

Luke nods. “I’ve pledged my allegiance to him. I’m going to help him with his rise back to power.”

“Luke you can’t! There’s a reason Kronos was cast down. Why he is imprisoned in Tartarus! Whatever problem you have with the gods, Kronos is not the answer. What he represents. . . it’s nothing good.”

He held onto your hand tighter, unwilling to let you go now. “He’s offering us freedom, (y/n).” Voice soft as a feather, Luke pulls you closer and you find yourself lost in his eyes. Tentatively, his free hand lifts and cups your cheek. His hand wasn’t soft by any means. Callused and hard from hours of training each day. You wouldn’t have them any other way. “We could finally be together. Noone telling us it’s wrong. Noone stopping us.”

What he was proposing was indeed crazy. To forsake Olympus and the gods all together for Kronos- no, not for Kronos. For Luke. You couldn’t easily accept his proposition though. What he spoke of was blasphemous. You agreed with his views of the gods. They weren’t perfect. They were neglectful when it came to their demigod children. You felt sorry for the many kids in your cabin. Most of them were there because their godly parent never bothered to claim them.

A life of a demigod meant you were on your own. Expected to fend off monsters that wanted to feast on your flesh. That wasn’t a life you wanted to live.

“I want you to be by my side, (y/n).”

You close your eyes. Luke had been the one constant in your life. You loved him more than you loved the gods. “Okay. Tell me what I need to do.”

You open your eyes just in time to see Luke lean in, capturing your unsuspecting lips in a demanding kiss.

[lunarmoonanons]

The Lords, the Whites, and the Wardrobe

Chapter 1

🌕 🌖 🌗 🌘 🌑 🌒 🌓 🌔 🌕  

During a game of hide n seek, YN falls into a strange wintery world. Narnia AU. 

🌕 🌖 🌗 🌘 🌑 🌒 🌓 🌔 🌕  

Masterlist 

YN was carried by her mother to her grandfather’s home. It was an old, charming place, built in the 1920’s by her great-grandfather, filled with antiques and things that held so much magic and story. YN looked at her mother, her eyes crinkled as she smiled when her mother kissed her tawny cheek, making the girl laugh. Once inside, YN shrugged off her coat, giggling at her silly father. 

“Where is my sweet grandbaby!” Her grandfather beamed, walking down the hallway. “YN! My sweet baby!”

“Uh, hi dad.” Her dad dramatically said.

“Yes, yes, you’re here too.” The old man teased and gave YN a present. “An early christmas present for you my girl.”

YN was ready to rip it open, until her mother’s reddish-brown hand rested on her shoulder. She gave YN the “look” that said to thank her grandfather. “Thank you Paw-Paw.” YN kissed his pale cheek, making it wrinkle as he smiled. “Can I play hide and seek?”

That was a game she and her grandfather had played since she was 6. She would hide somewhere in the home and he would search around for her. Sometimes it would take him hours to get her, since she was such a good hider and found the best spots. As the 7 year old practically vibrated in place from excitement, her parents shared a look. 

“YN, wouldn’t you rather find a book to read? I don’t know how safe it is.” Her dad tried to pacify her. YN only whined in return. 

“But daddy…”

“Oh let her have fun. If she knew the trouble you got into, she’d do worse.” Paw-Paw teased, making her father’s face go almost as red as his hair. “Go on, YN. There’s nowhere I can’t find you.”

YN giggled and ran off. Her loose curls bounced as she looked for a good place. Several rooms she had already used more than once, she wasn’t allowed to hide in chests, and hiding under the bed was what babies did. Finally she reached a room that she hadn’t used before, it was completely empty save for the large covered thing at the end of the room. Once she removed the cloth, she saw the most beautiful wardrobe in her life. It had strange old carvings on its doors, and it looked like it reached the ceiling. As the sound of her from the first floor echoed, YN opened the chest and snuck inside. 

She giggled, and stepped farther and farther back. Coat’s covering her view, she wrinkled her round nose at the smell of the moth balls. She went backwards more, reaching her hand behind her. The prickle on her hand made her gasp and turn around. 

There, in the back of the wardrobe was a cold wintery place. Snow was all over the forest floor, and trees surrounded her. YN loved snow, and this magical place fulfilled her fantasies. She smiled and at the wintery surroundings, reached her hand out to catch snowflakes as she walked forward. Her palm fingers grew red from the cold, and her breath came out in puffs. She inched forth, amazed that such a large place could fit in one Wardrobe. Even if it was a large Wardrobe. She smiled at the coats in the wardrobe and went further in. This was the best hiding spot. 

Once she made her way in a couple spaces, she came across what looked like an old timey lamppost. The ones mommy would say had to be lit with real fire. When she touched it, it didn’t feel like metal. It felt oily, and like it was some smooth stone or rock. But the lamp fire burnt bright. She marked the snow that touched it with a smiley face. Then jumped when she heard rustling. 

Someone was walking toward her, It couldn’t be Paw-Paw. The steps were too heavy for that. They were getting closer and YN became frightened. Her father was right, it wasn’t safe to play hide and seek. She waited for the figure to pop out. A large man in furs holding a sword came from the thicket, making her scream as well as the man jump and hold his weapon up. She tried to hide behind the post, and the man stood shocked at the girl. 

Eventually, YN stepped back from the post and shrunk into herself. The man stared at her, his shock evident on his cold, harsh face. Slowly, she stepped toward him, and he lowered his weapon. She looked at the sword, then the man. 

“Were you trying to hunt… me?” YN sked, staring at the sword, which he quickly sheathed. 

“No. I- Of course I wasn’t hunting a child.” The man said, confusion in her voice. Her clothing did not say which house she heralded from. She wore these thick breeches, and a wool shirt; a chain of silver looped around her neck that held a shaped metal. She looked somewhat like the descriptions of the people from the Summer Isle’s. “Child. Who are you? Why are you out here in the snow without protection? What is your name?”

“What’s yours?” The little thing snarked at him. He gave her a look that reminded her of her mother. 

“What are you doing here?” He asked gently. 

“Well… I was playing Hide n Seek with my Paw-Paw. So I was hiding in the wardrobe in the spare room. And somehow in the back of the wardrobe, is this place.” YN rambled. 

“Where do you herald from?” 

“I’m from Baltimore. That’s Maryland.” YN smiled. 

“Balt- Maryland. That is no land in the north. Or even Westeros.” The man asked, confused. 

“Westeros? What’s that?” YN asked. 

“Well..” He chuckled. “Dear girl, you’re in it.” He gestured ahead of them. “Everything from the wall, to the desert of Dorne. Every stick and stone you see, every snowflake here is the North of Westeros.”

YN circled around and took in her surroundings again. “This is an awfully big Wardrobe..” She whispered. 

“My apologies. Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Ned Stark. Leader of house Stark. Warden of the North.” He bowed his head slightly. 

“It’s very nice to meet you Mr. Starl. I’m YN LN.” She smiled and held out her hand. He stared at it inquisitively. “You’re supposed to shake it.”

“Why?” 

“I… don’t know. It’s what adults do to each other when they say hello.” The two held hands and swayed them side to side, making YN giggle and the man chuckle at her round golden brown cheeks. 

“Well, then, YN LN from the shining city of BaltImore, in the wondrous land of Mary. How would it be if you came and had a hot drink with me?” He asked. 

YN smiled, ready to accept, until shouts from the distance startled her. A man ran forth, though YN could not see him, and he yelled something about wildings. Ned took out his sword again, scaring YN. She ran away from Ned back to the Wardrobe. The pumping blood in her ears drowned out Ned's worried call. Once she found the coats again, she jumped through the Wardrobe and fell onto the floor. Shutting the doors quickly. 

She was back. She had to find her family!

[banditcoyote]

Wrangled and Tangled

Sasuga stood by the sink washing the last of the dishes from tonights meal. She smiled softly to herself as her tail flicked behind her, happy about the sets of cups and plates she had picked out, feeling domesticated and settled looking over the two sets of dishes her and her lover had shared, something about them in the drying rack felt almost romantic to her. But maybe it was just the way the sunset was showing so pink and purple over the water that was making her feel that way, the cool summer breeze blowing in from the open Lanai. She hummed to herself a little as she dried her hand and reached for the first plate, ready to dry them herself, when the dish cloth was plucked out of her hands swiftly.

“Let me take care of that.” Simon said perching himself onto the counter and starting to dry one of their plates.

“All the left overs put away?” she asked leaning against the counters and bringing her wine to her lips.

“Most of them.” he said with a nod. “Except for the second helping I couldn’t resist, which is now residing in my stomach.”  

She laughed lightly, brushing her hair back behind her ear “Well I’m glad you enjoyed it.” She said with a nod, moving to cozy up to him just a little bit, her eyes full of warmth, and maybe a bit of mischief. “Maybe we can enjoy some other things when you’re done putting those dishes away.” She said with a curl to her lips.

Simon returned the smile and took a moment to lean down to kiss her easily, drawing back with a little hum. “I can think of some things for sure.” He added. “But before we get too distracted.” He placed the clean plate down on the counter and reached into his pocket, pulling out a small ring box and placing it on the counter next to her hand. “Happy Anniversary.”

Sasuga froze at the sight of the small velvet box and her large eyes went wide, slowly looking up into Simon’s face, searching for the meaning.

Simon at once realizing what she might have thought smiled and blushed. “I know we’ve talked about it, but this is just a promise ring.”  Sasuga let go of the breath she was holding with some relief. He picked the box up and opened it. “See?” inside was a thing gold band with a small rose quartz crystal cut into the shape of a heart that side horizontal to the finger. He reached for her left hand and slid it on to her ring finger kissing it into place. “I love you Sasuga, I know that this might not be perfect, but I wanted you to know how much you mean to me.” Sasuga looked to the ring on her finger, feeling tears pull at the corner of her eyes. He hopped down from the counter “Oh no….is it too much? I know we said we weren’t going to do anything, that dinner was enough but-“

She shook her head “Don’t be stupid.” She said choking back her emotions. “I love it. I love you….Thank you.” She looked at the ring again before reaching up to tug on one of his horns pulling him down into a kiss. “Forget the dishes….come on.” She said, her tail already snaking up around his waist to guide him toward their bedroom.

Coyote woke up with a start, staring up into the dark ceiling above him. He contemplated for a moment what that dream could have meant, and his jaw tightened in his face. Did Sasuga sleep with Simon while he was away, it was the only rule he had given. Or maybe that had made the whole thing more enticing for the two of them. Still, why would Sasuga end up with Simon, he had the feeling he was absent, that house not looking familiar to him in the slightest. He closed his eyes again, almost willing it to come back to him, but some of the finer details were already fading from his memory, and all he remembered was the way the pair looked longingly at each other before they kissed. He gave a little growl and pushed himself up quickly to throw on some jeans and a shirt.

“Coyote?” Shishi asked lifting his head from where he was curled up on one of the pillows. “Where are you going?” he asked rubbing one of his eyes sleepily.

“I’m heading back to the Makai” he told Shishi as he pulled his shirt down over his torso.

The imp eyed the view appreciatively before his senses snapped back to him. “Should I be worried?” he asked knowing of Coyote’s sometimes prophetic dreams, and he wondered if he had some type of vision of Sasuga’s fights. “Do you want me to come with you?”

Coyote shook his head. “No. No. It’s nothing like that it’s….” only he wasn’t entirely sure he could begin to really understand it himself. He shook his head “Sasuga’s fine. I just need to see her. I only had that one other show at the end of the week anyway, stay here, I’ll go tell Russell to pack everything up and head on home. You’ll be fine finding a flight right? I mean, stay the night, don’t leave on my account.”

Shishi laughed “Oh it was that kind of dream was it?” he grinned. “Okay, Well, tell her I said hello and get back safely.” He said as he yawned and laid back down to sleep. “I’m sure Kurama and Gatlin will be happy to have me home, if they haven’t torn each other apart yet…”

Coyote slapped on his cowboy hat and grabbed a jacket though he felt his skin burning. “And you remember what we said about this right?” he asked as he headed toward the door.

��My lips are sealed.” Shishi murmured. “Not a word to anyone”

“Especially to Sasuga.” He confirmed hand on the door.

“Especially Sasuga.” Shishi promised “She’d probably be more upset with me than you anyway” and waved him off.

Coyote found himself easily at his ring manager’s trailer, pounding on the door. He felt bad to be waking Russell up like this but he knew he couldn’t just disappear in the middle of the night and leave Shishi to explain for  him, things looked weird enough having him around. Russell answered the door, looking as if he was still blinking back sleep. “Coyote, everything alright?” he asked looking around.

“No…Um no, there was a fire back at the ranch.” He said lying on his feet. Thinking easily of the fire at Thom’s he could use as a cover even if the time line wouldn’t match up. He figured it would never get back to Russell anyways. The manager looked concerned. “It’s nothing big, a small one thank god, no one hurt, but I really should get out there, I know we only have the exhibit at the end of the week so I was just going to head home now. Would that be too much of a pain for ya’ll to handle?”

Russell cleared the sleep from his eyes with his hand “Yeah, yeah I can handle it no problem. Take care, hope it’s as small as you say.” He said and headed back to his bed.

Coyote made one more stop, saying farewell to Poncho in his trailer, before he headed towards the nearest portal in the woods, which was still pretty far, and Coyote had to be careful no one saw him as he slipped into the woods and transformed, having to sprint as fast as he could to reach the portal before daylight. He was glad he had the foresight to try and keep his motorcycle as close to him as possible, as the only other way he could have gotten there was to fly back home and then race to her, and he wasn’t sure he could stand being on a plane the way he was feeling.  All cooped up without being able to run or move, or do anything. It would have been torture, not like the past few weeks hadn’t been. The time away from Sasuga had been harder than he’d like to admit, and he already knew he would never plan on being away from her like this again. All the time away from her he had felt like pulling his skin off. He had helped Thom around her house before he left, and at the rodeo he did more of the manual work than anyone really wanted him to. He ran Poncho as often as he felt he could without causing the poor animal too much strain, and then would run laps as fast as he could as long as he could well into the night. But it was never enough, the women that tried to greet him as soon as he stepped out of the rodeo corral still enticed him to the point he had to nearly run back to his RV. All that hair, perfume, and how the hell where they making such good bras now adays? Though he was sure that some of breasts out there weren’t only held up by a bra but maybe some type of surgery, that didn’t sway him away any. Then the fact that in some of the more populous areas there were actual demon women in the crowds, and those he really had to avoid. He was sure they’d sense something about him, and he was doing his best to be incognito. Luckily his prior years of fooling around with plenty of the women at these things rarely had any of his crew spotting him being social, so now that he was hiding out on his own it went unnoticed. Coyote tried to run himself ragged, exercise, the rodeo, his variety of plants and a few sex toys paired unironically with the body pillow he had snuck on board, none of it had done the exact trick. Which had then led him to call Shishi. It had been a long shot, but it didn’t take much convincing getting him to come out to see him in secret, even if he was a bit miffed at having to mostly stay hidden at the events. Coyote let him have the pass into where the wives or girlfriend’s normally sat, and he posed in his refinery during the events when it fancied him. It had helped tire him out, but he still hadn’t been getting enoug

He thought he could remain out here for the full month, and they had gotten so close, it was almost silly to run now. But after the dream with her and Simon he just couldn’t deny the ache he felt for his mate any longer and he had to find his way back to her. Dawn was just about to break as he reached the portal and he wasted no time heading through it and heading towards where he had hidden his bike. He felt like a dog that had gotten a scent, and he wasn’t going to rest until he got to her. **** Four days later still hours from dawn, Coyote stashed the bike behind the hotel, barely taking care to hide it, and stumbled into the lobby. He had all the faith in the world that Sasuga was still in the tournament, and held the most hope that meant she was still in the hotel room that he had the key stashed for. He limped into the lobby where the clerk paled at the site of him. “Sir….” He said rushing around the desk and towards him. “Do you need a medic?” he asked looking him over.

Coyote didn’t waste the energy to speak to him and only shook his head as he stumbled forward before catching his balance again. He knew what he looked like, but wasn’t stopped as it was clear the clerk in his pristine uniform was afraid to touch him at all.

“Is there someone I can call?” he said walking along side him as Coyote shuffled to the elevator, bracing himself against the lobby wall and causing a smear of blood to press into the wall paper.

Coyote considered it for a moment, but shook his head again. If Sasuga was still in the tournament this late in the game there was a chance she was injured as well, and he wanted her to save her strength for fighting. He’d be okay. He just needed a shower, some stitches, and her.

The clerk did not follow him into the elevator, being the main hotel for the tournament he was surely not the only injured guest they received, and he retreated back to their desk, probably to call for maintenance to clean up whatever other mess Coyote had left behind him. He leaned against the wall as it started it’s ascension toward the upper floors, again leaving a smear of dirt and blood where his shoulder braced himself. A few droplets of blood dripping from somewhere onto the floor. It seemed to take forever for the elevator to reach it’s destination, the doors pausing once as a couple was about to get on, but after seeing him let him go on without a question. Coyote almost passed out, unsure if it was from blood loss or exhaustion, but the dinging and wooshing of the doors riled him, and he staggered out into the hallway. Knowing he was so close to Sasuga spurred him on, and he was relieved to find that the card key still worked. He let himself into the hotel room, finding it dark and quiet and he did his best to move with stealth into the bathroom. He passed the bed and spotted Sasuga sleeping peacefully by herself, he was grateful for this because with the rage that was still somewhat in his veins if he had found Simon with her he might have taken a regrettable action. In that moment iat took everything in him to not simply cover her with himself, though with how dirty he was he knew it would only concern her more. There was blood in his mouth and under his fingernails, matting his hair down and sticking to his hat. Better to clean himself up first, and he shut the bathroom door behind him before turning on the light.

He did his best not to look at himself in the mirror, but finding it a necessity to assess some of the damage. If he had made it this far like this it couldn’t have been too bad. Still he was in rough shape. Not only was his face cut, bruised, and swollen, but he had also lost enough weight that he appeared gaunt under the torn and dirty clothes he wore. He slowly undressed, assessing each wound, fresh bruises forming on top of old ones, some cuts that were still bleeding every time he moved, gashes that would no doubt need to be closed up. He hissed as some of the clothing stuck to him where blood had dried, let his effects fall to the floor, his gun empty and tucked back in his holster, and stepped into the shower letting the water strike at his feet until it was warm enough to step into. He braced himself against the wall, letting it flow over his hair and down his back, feeling the sense of relief start to fill him as well. He had made it, he was close to resting, and he was close to his mate, that was all he could ask for right now.

[sapphicwhxre]

books and cleverness

♥︎ pairing: hermione granger x reader x pansy parkinson

♥︎ summary: hermione’s been working herself to death lately, so you and pansy distract her. (fem!reader, house neutral)

♥︎ requested: yes | no

♥︎ warnings: hickies, f. oral, tit stuff, food, stress, threesome

♥︎ a/n: this is full on smut but a good part of it is fluff and it’s highkey giving me poly vibes ─ i love it 🥺

just another book, hermione had told herself. better to be over-prepared than not prepared enough for o.w.l.s. what would she do if she only got Acceptables? or merlin forbid, a Poor. the thought of a Dreadful was too much to even consider.

since then, three hours had passed and hermione was still in her prefect room. the overthinking had turned one more book to another pile from the library. eyebrows furrowed, hermione glanced up at a knock on her door. “yes?” she called out, wondering who’d be coming over this late.

“open up!” she recognised your voice, calling out to her. of course, it was you. the only one of hermione’s friends who felt she overworked herself and tried to stop it. you’d probably noticed she skipped dinner and come to distract relax her a bit. “i practically had to drag pansy here, but we brought sandwiches, strawberries, and eclairs.”

hermione considered telling you to go away, that she was busy. but she was exhausted and, honestly? there was no one who made her feel better than you and pansy ─ even if pansy pretended she didn’t care or that she only hung around hermione because of you. there was a special bond between all of you and she wouldn’t trade it for anything. “it’s unlocked, come in.”

looking as effortless yet breathtaking as ever, you and pansy walked into the room. like a weight taken off of her back, the air became instantly lighter for hermione. “gods granger,” pansy did a one-over on her bed, plopping herself across from hermione. “studying for some kind of nerd-lympics?” you let out a giggle, shoving at pansy for her comment.

“have you taken any breaks?” you asked, much more tenderly. the sigh that left her told you that she hadn’t. you offered her one of the strawberries you were snacking on, but she refused. pansy’s gaze turned more sympathetic and she took a hand to hermione’s hair, twirling a lock soothingly. “well now we’re here, so you can.”

immediately shaking her head, hermione pulled the book she’d been studying back to her lap. “i can’t, sorry,” she sighed. “there’s so much i need to learn that could be on the o.w.l.s and i─ oh,” your eyes widened and then your small smile did. hermione had been completely cut off by pansy’s lips leaving open-mouthed kisses on her neck. “what are ─ what are you... oh.”

she trailed off before finishing twice and then gave up, moaning again when pansy started to suck at her skin, encouraged by hermione's response. “come on, y/n,” pansy beckoned you over, her voice on hermione's skin making her visibly shudder. “i think miss books and cleverness needs a distraction from her studies, don’t you agree?”

“absolutely, pans,” you agreed, settling yourself beside the two of them. thighs clenching, you and pansy exchanged a knowing glance. “you want us to distract you ‘mione? take away your stress?” as soon as hermione nodded, pansy kicked her thick pile of books off of the bed (clearly enjoying getting to do so).

“lay down,” pansy commanded her. without any resistance, she obeyed, rose-cheeked. you pushed her hair out of her face, admiring the features that were filled with nervous excitement. the two of you hovered over the shyer girl, eagerly awaiting to be corrupted by you. this was easily the best distraction she’d ever had, and hermione despised being distracted from her work. “there you go... so much prettier when you're relaxed.”

instead of taking offense like she normally would, hermione gleamed at the praise. in this moment, she belonged to no one but y/n l/n and pansy parkinson. she watched you remove your top slowly, teasingly. every inch of skin you revealed pushed o.w.l.s farther away from her mind. “see something you like, ‘mione?” she nodded, pout eager. “tell me then, and it's yours.”

“i wanna see what’s under that bra of yours,” hermione worked up the courage to say. dark eyelashes batted up at you as she looked at you with her brown eyes. she fell back into her bliss when pansy’s fingers hooked on her shorts, pulling them down her legs just as slowly as you’d pulled your top over your head and discarding her shirt as well. “please.”

hermione’s plea was for the both of you and you complied. “of course, ‘mione,” you kissed her flushed cheek softly, reaching behind your back to unhook your bra. your breasts fell out for her to see and pansy had already discarded of her panties, giving her just what she wanted. “we’re here to make our poor pretty girl feel good, aren't we?”

a moan dripped off of hermione’s tongue when pansy touched her. pansy dragged her fingers over and through hermione’s pussy, wanting to hear the pretty noises a few more times before making her scream with pleasure. kissing hermione while pansy made her tremble, the strawberry juice from earlier mixed with the taste of the kiss. “pansy,” you gasped, given an idea from the moment. “get the strawberries we brought hermione.”

hermione looked like she was in heaven, muscles finally relaxing and eyes fluttering shut contently. pansy took the sliced strawberries from the container you’d snuck out of the great hall and placed the cold fruit on hermione’s warm skin. the red treat trailed along her thighs and up her stomach, onto her hard nipples. “take a picture with ‘mione’s muggle camera.” pansy groaned. you went through her bedside drawer, finding it and snapping a photo of what you knew pansy wanted. “you look too amazing to not capture.”

the polaroid came out perfect, making hermione look like an angel. without warning, pansy sucked a strawberry slice off of hermione’s thigh, leaving behind a wet pink mixture of fruity juice, saliva, and a purple mark. she worked her way up, biting the fruit off of the skin and even biting hermione playfully a few times.

you did the same on her chest, circling her buds and eating the treat off of her skin. her moans filled the room and your ears. coming face to face with pansy once you reached her stomach, she gave you a toothy grin and pressed her lips to yours. she gripped hermione’s shaking leg for support and danced her tongue around yours. through her bra, you squeezed her tits harshly, making her moan into your mouth.

finally disconnecting ─ and slightly breathless ─ you watched as pansy’s face buried between hermione’s legs. you grabbed a handful of her hair and guided her movements, giving hermione a sight and feeling to moan louder about. “c─c’mere, please,” hermione requested. when you let go of pansy’s hair, she kept at it, still eliciting noisy moans from hermione.

your tits were grabbed as soon as you laid down next to her, gently. traveling the skin, getting to know the feeling of you in your hands, hermione made your head fall back in pleasure. she pinched at your nipples, rolling them in her fingers until they hurt from the stimulation. “oh hermione,” you moaned. her hands pulled you closer and your thigh rested on pansy’s shoulder while she ate our hermione.

her lips wrapped around your nipple, fingers still playing skillfully with the other. she sucked eagerly, feeling pride from the small moans you were giving her. “good girl,” you whispered, hand running through her curls. with ease, hermione switched to the other one, directing her sloppy attention there. the moans vibrating against you grew harsher and she let you out of her mouth with a pop. eyes glossy and lips quivering from the noises she was making, you knew she was close to coming.

“pansy, our girl’s gonna cum all over your mouth,” you informed her, aching to see it happen. pansy took her mouth away from hermione's cunt, which left her whimpering shamelessly. leaning her head into the crook of hermione’s neck, she whispered to her directly but intended loud enough for the both of you to hear.

“y/n’s gonna finish you off while i hold you,” pansy told her, stroking her hair. not missing a beat, you took pansy’s spot and make use of your tongue on hermione's pussy. “salazar, doesn’t y/n look so stunning down there? letting you make all these pretty sounds? your cunt’s going to look so hot covered in cum and so is y/n's pretty face.”

the edge for hermione was when your tongue slipped into her entrance, dipping roughly into her. riding out her orgasm on your mouth, cum flooded your lips, white liquid glistening on them. “she tastes so good, pansy,” you hummed. “come taste.” pansy enveloped your lips once more, swiping the juice off of them and tilting her head to get a deeper taste of you.

“thank you,” hermione sighed, cuddled into your sides when she was cleaned up. it took a few minutes but she’d regained her ability to think clearly again after being ravaged by you two. “for distracting me, i mean. i haven’t felt anything but stress in ages.”

“what’re friends for?” you answered, overjoyed that you relieved some of her stress. judging by the smirk on her face, pansy was too ─ although, she was most likely feeling more pride in it. yawning, hermione sat up.

“to give me that sandwich i was told you brought me?” she smiled sweetly. the look pansy have you told you that you’d have to be the one to get up and grab it. “you two really wore me out.” standing up to get her the food she well deserved, you scoffed and figured you’d make her blush one more time tonight.

“i’ll only get it because you were such a good girl for us. speaking of which, round two once you’re fed?”

•──♥︎

[high-supernatural]

Rituals Take 2

Kai Parker x Female Reader

Request: Can you do the Rituals story but like a part 2 but the roles are reversed.

Word Count: 2517

Warnings: Kn!fe play (sorta, not really), smut, lots of smut, dom!kai, readers first time.

After the merge, Kai was having something of an existential crisis. He started feeling emotions and was thrown into a crisis of “who am I.” His whole identity was merged with the identity of his polar opposite. He was confused and desperate to find out who he really was.

Six months ago, a girl rescued him from the prison world. Since she was young, she was able to travel to other worlds in her dreams, that’s how she met Kai for the first time. When she grew older, she was able to physically travel there, and she got him out. She stayed with him through the merge, through getting magically sick, and now through what seems like a never-ending existential crisis. They were close, very close. It was almost as if they had known each other their whole lives. They knew no boundaries with each other, and constantly tested how far they would let each other go with their physical boundaries. Now things were different. He was withdrawn, stand offish, and seemed to be shutting himself out from the world.

They spent over a month with their eyes endlessly glued to occult books to find anything about merging identities but came up even more lost the more they read. Each time they came up with nothing, Kai shut down more. Over time, she started shutting down too because she didn’t know how else to help. They ignored each other and really only spoke when they were getting food, but even then, it was soft mumbles.

They sat in their hotel room like this every day until Kai found something in one of the books they had.

“I think I found something,” Kai interrupted the deafening silence in the room without taking his eyes off the book.

“What? Another theory?” She mumbled back.

“Not really a theory…” Kai trailed, “more of a method. It’s like an astral projection,” he looked up at her just to see that her eyes were still glued to the book she had.

Kai sighed dramatically, “it says it’s a ritual, all it calls for is basic things we can get at the gas station,” he kept looking at her ignoring him.

“Hm,” was all she responded with as she flipped a page, “it would probably just turn out like every other ritual we’ve tried, I wouldn’t bother,” she said bluntly.

“I don’t think so,” Kai said as if he was his normal self again, “it’s a ritual to see into the soul, you can’t get to know yourself any deeper than that.”

She closed her book and sat back in her chair in a sarcastic way, “fine, what does it call for?”

“Oh, you know, your basic magic things…” he trailed again as if to add an element of anticipation, “black candles, weird sigil, blood…” he paused again.

“And?” she asked, pretending to be annoyed with his dramatics.

“And sex,” he smiled innocently.

Her eyebrows raised for a split second as she leaned forward in her chair before standing, “oh cool, now you just have to trick somebody into having freaky ritualistic sex with you,” she said before walking behind Kai to the small kitchen they had in their hotel room.

“Would I have to trick you?” he said with his back towards her.

She paused what she was doing in the kitchen but didn’t respond. They let a few seconds of awkward pause pass them before Kai snuck up behind her, standing only centimeters from connection, and pushed her hair to the other side of her neck so he could see her face.

“Would I have to trick you?” he asked again with his hand under her chin, knowing she’d move her face away from him if he didn’t.

“Uh… no, I guess not,” she spoke with reddening cheeks.

“O.m.g… are you nervous?” Kai teased and poked her side. She never got nervous or flustered in front of him, she avoided it like hell.

“No,” she turned around to face him with her hands in her hoodie pockets, “just, why me? What if it doesn’t work?”

Kai circled his fingers around the strings on her hoodie, still standing suffocatingly close to her, “you’re a witch, you know the game, you’re probably the only person I know who won’t freak out and run when I ask if we can mix our blood and disconnect our souls from our bodies in a freaky sex romp…” he moved his eyes up her body until they met her eyes, “plus it helps that you’re hot.”

She looked down so Kai wouldn’t see her blush, but he objected by lifting her chin back up, “so, are you in?” Kai asked.

“I will platonically have a ‘freaky sex romp’ with you if there’s a chance it will snap you out of your identity crisis,” she smirked.

She stayed at the hotel to set up what she could while Kai left to get more things for the ritual. When he got back, she had already drawn the sigil on the floor and set most things up, the only thing left was the candles that Kai set up right when he got there.

She watched him lay the candles in a circle on the ground before he grabbed her hand for them to both be standing in the circle.

She starred at his serious facial expressions as he drew blood from his hand, “are you sure you want to do this?” she asked, more for herself than for him.

“I need to know who I am,” Kai responded.

“Well, what if it doesn’t work?”

Kai rolled his eyes and grabbed her hand, bringing his knife to it but stopping after he looked at her, “do you not want to do this?” he asked in an impatient tone.

“I just don’t want you to regret anything.”

He rolled his eyes and held onto her wrist, bringing the knife underneath her chin in a playful manner, “are you saying that for me or for you?”

He raised an eyebrow as she kept looking at him silently.

“Both, I guess—” she started before Kai cut her off to ask, “are you nervous?” he paused with a pondering look, “you’ve never done this before,” he chuckled through his nose, “have you?”

She shook her head ‘no’ so slightly it was almost unnoticeable.

He looked down at her hand as he brought the knife back there without drawing blood yet, “well, I’ll tell you what,” he looked back at her face, “we can either do this first and I’ll give you a real, extravagant, spectacular first time ever later, or the other way around,” he studied her expressions and bit his lip, “it’s up to you.”

“Well, we’re already here, so I guess the first option works,” she teased.

He brought her into a kiss right as he drew blood from her hand and interlocked their fingers, dropping the knife on the ground and moving his other arm up the back of her hoodie to rest around her waist, kissing her softly.

Kai unlocked their hands and pulled her body closer to him by the front waist of her shorts, “did I mention we have to be one-hundred-percent naked for this,” he teased, brushing his lips against hers before going back for a more passionate kiss and unbuttoned her shorts.

He pulled her shorts just enough for them to fall on their own. She tightened her legs from nervousness as Kai snaked one arm around her, cupping her ass to pull her even closer to him. Their bodies pressed together as his lips moved to her neck and his other hand trailed softer than a feather to rub the back of his knuckles down the front of her lace covered core resulting in her closing her legs tighter trying to ignore how weak her knees felt.

He sneaked his hands in between her tightened legs to cup her core and gently rub his thumb over her soft spot, “relax,” he whispered and pecked her lips once more before moving her to lay on the floor.

She propped herself up with her elbows and kept both ankles on either side of Kai’s legs with her knees pressed together as she watched him take his shirt off.

Kai whispered “incendia,” and the candles ignited as he spread her knees apart and ushered her to lay on her back with his lips attached to her neck, moving down her chest before lifting her hoodie up to expose her bare breasts.

He cupped one of her breasts as his lips traveled down the middle of them, looking up at her, he whispered, “you okay?”

She nodded and moved a hand to his hair, the other to where his hand rested on her hip.

His lips traveled further down until they reached her still clothed core and pulled himself up onto his knees with her hand in his, pulling her up to rest her knees underneath her.

Looking up at him, he guided her hand to feel the hardness in his pants before she removed his belt and pulled them down to expose his length, taking it in her hand as he lifted her hoodie over her head and slipped his hand under her panties.

Kai ran two fingers between her gates and softly pushed her onto her back again without removing his hand. He knelt between her legs, keeping them open by holding underneath one of her knees and slipped one finger inside.

She breathed in and swiftly moved a hand over his, the other to cover her mouth.

“It’s okay,” he whispered before inserting another finger and began pumping slowly as his thumb rubbed light circles on her clit. He leaned down to take one of her breasts into his mouth before using his free hand to hold the wrist she had placed over his hand onto her stomach before pumping faster.

He listened to the soft moans and whines she tried to muffle and couldn’t help but to tell her how perfect she was.

When she started shifting her hips into his fingers, he removed his hand and sat back on his knees, pushing her legs closed to grab both sides of her underwear and slowly pulled them off, spreading her legs for him again and rubbed his thumb down her folds once more.

He aligned himself with her entrance, pushing her knees up to her chest, “ready?” Kai whispered. She nodded and placed a hand on his stomach to control his pace. He slowly entered her with a look of pleasure and vulnerability on his face as he went deeper and began to move slowly.

As Kai picked up his pace both of their visions went dark, and they woke up in a dark world with a blue hue surrounding a forest full of leafless trees.

“Where are we?” she asked, but when she looked over at Kai, he wasn’t there. She looked around until she saw a figure in the distance – a tall figure about eight feet in height with gigantic elk shaped horns and what looked like a long robe covering its body. She didn’t even register the image of this figure in her mind before she called its name, “Kai,” she squinted, “how’d you get over there?” It was as if she knew who the figure was even though it didn’t look like the Kai she knew as a human.

The figure transported itself to stand directly in front of her, revealing its dark aura and red eyes, “this is what I am,” it spoke with a distorted voice before placing its hands on either side of her head.

She woke up back in the hotel room the second they both reached their orgasms, both a sweaty, moaning mess as Kai collapsed his face into the crook of her neck riding them both out.

“What the hell was that” she breathed, placing her hands on his shoulders to push him off her so she could stand up and quickly put her hoodie back over the hickey ridden chest Kai gave her as they were both blacked out.

Kai sat on his knees, “I know who I am,” he placed a hand between her thighs to pull them closer to his face harshly. He nibbled at the bottom of her stomach and breathed, “I finally remember who I really am.”

She attempted to push his head from moving further down and tightened her legs as Kai tightened his grip on her thigh, “Kai, you have to tell me what you saw,” she tried explaining.

He licked a stripe up her core, resulting in her legs partially buckling from the unexpected sensation, “I will,” he moved her body to the side to push her onto the bed. “But I promised you a real first time afterwards, remember?” he knelt before the bed he laid her on and moved his face between her legs.

“Kai, it can wait—” she was cut off by an unconscious gasp of air as his lips sucked on her clit roughly.

She moved a hand to grab at his hair and placed the other around the arm he rested on her stomach, arching her back and moving her hips uncontrollably at the pleasure.

Kai sucked harder and flicked his tongue around in fast, rough motions. It was as though his old self was finally back. “Kai—really—it can—” he cut her off by inserting two fingers into her, pumping as soon as he entered her causing her to moan loudly and grip his arm tighter.

She had never felt this many sensations before. The pleasure he was sending her was the loudest deafening feeling she had ever felt. She couldn’t resist giving into it as her second orgasm washed over her, leaving fingernail marks in Kai’s arm and filling the room with moans.

He snaked both arms underneath each side of her legs and held her wrists with them, pushing her through a third orgasm before he pulled himself up to her face with her arms being pushed above her head, “I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of that,” he whispered before laying his lips on hers, letting her taste herself, “don’t you taste so good?”

“Glad you’re back, Kai… Can you tell me what you saw now?”

Kai pulled her legs so that her core was fully exposed to him at the edge of the bed and pushed his length into her again slowly.

“It wasn’t really what I saw…” he started as she watched in awe that he was really having a casual conversation as he was about to fuck her again, “it was just what I felt,” he thrusted slowly. Her eyelids grew heavier as she forced them to stay open enough to concentrate on what he was saying.

“I didn’t see anything except the forest, and it was like I downloaded files about who I am again,” he breathed a silent moan and leaned into the crook of her neck again, kissing it softly.

“So, thank you for helping me,” he whispered.

​​​

[airplanned]

All the Trashy Novels Part 29

It’s a long one, because it’s the smutty climax.

Part 1...Part 28

***

Link pulled his horse to the side of the road as they were riding past the wetlands, right before the fork away from Zora's Domain.  She stopped and waited impatiently as he crouched down in the tall grass and snuck towards the water.  What was he doing?  It was impossible to tell with him.

A minute later, he shouted, "Ha!" and stood up with his hands cupped together.  He came up to her horse, lifted his hands for her to see, and uncupped them.  Inside was a dragonfly.

"Oh!"  She slipped off her horse to bow her head over the cave of his hands and peer inside.  When it launched itself upward, she meeped and jumped back, laughing and pressing a hand to her chest as it darted off.  At some point she had taken hold of Link's wrist.

He smiled at her and shifted, twisting their hands until hers was locked in his, and then pulling her off the road and towards the water.  He caught her another dragonfly, and she caught him a frog, explaining its medicinal properties and how one day she would use it to run experiments on him.

"You're already running experiments on me," he said.

"No.  You are assisting as I run experiments on myself."

"What experiments will you run first?"

"I need more data points.  Duration and intensity of the glowing.  I need a survey of the other factors that may be involved before devising a more strenuous set of experiments."

His mouth quirked, as if he were trying not to laugh at her.

She shoved him into the shallow water.  

A second later, he'd grabbed her around the middle and pulled her down with him, and splashing and spluttering, she'd had to fight her way to sitting.  He grinned at her, and she covered his face with her hand.  He took the opportunity to lick her palm, and she shrieked and ranted about how gross he was all the way to the citadel.

There they stopped for the night: one last night sleeping in a bed in exchange for playing princess as the general gave a guided tour and then hosted them at dinner.  But the tour turned out to be much more interesting than she'd expected.  A team of Sheikah had brought in a handful of guardians with the intention of adding them to the citadel's defenses.  They were a bit behind those from the Royal Tech Lab, and had to be aimed manually, but they still outstripped the cannons.  The general and the Sheikah soaked up every word she said, and soon she was gesturing wildly with her arm half inside a guardian, her face streaked with grease.

"The general's in love with you," Link whispered as he walked her to her room.

"Don't be ridiculous."

"Everyone here's in love with you."

"No, they're not.  They're just too far removed from the castle and haven't heard the terrible gossip about me yet."

"Okay, but if you ever need a fake Akkalan boyfriend, I bet he'd volunteer."

"I do not require a fake Akkalan boyfriend."  She paused at her door.  "How is your fake townie girlfriend?"

"We broke up."

"Oh?"

"She didn't like that I was leaving town for so long.  And she didn't like that I was going with you.  She's very jealous of you."

"Well," Zelda said.  "She should be.  Everyone here is in love with me."

He nodded.

"Everyone at the castle will be disappointed."

"They'll get over it."

"What will you do the next time you get a bite mark on your neck?"

He lifted his eyebrows.

She lifted hers back.  Then she closed the doors behind her and went to bed, smirking.

They reached the Spring of Power late the next day.  As Link set up camp, Zelda ducked away to see the Goddess statue.  She didn't change into her prayer dress or step into the water.  She couldn't sort what she wanted into words that might reach the Goddess.  She was out of practice praying.  Instead, she bowed her head and clenched her hands before her, gathered all the worry and hope and pleading that tightened in her chest and mentally projected it into the heavens, hoping the Goddess would hear her.

Link gave her a cautious look as she returned.  She realized that she usually left her prayers feeling lost and worthless and small.  Link must have noticed.  He must be expecting more of the same.  But this time felt different.  It wasn't a gladness that she'd heard others describe, but maybe the hope and determination that had pushed her on for the past few days was bolstered by the Goddess.  Then again, maybe it was the absence of a sense of defeat.  She gave Link as honest of a smile a she could as she accepted the bowl he passed to her.

"I'm alright," she said.  "I'm going to figure this out."

"I know you will."  He said it so easily that it disarmed her. 

Because of the depression in the ground, the sun seemed to set earlier than usual.  They ate in silence, and she pretended the warmth on her face was from the fire. 

She snuck a few looks at him--his posture easy, the planes of his face lit orange in the light.  He was handsome.  She'd never thought about him that way before.

She blinked, handed back her bowl, and retreated to her tent.

She arranged everything to her liking. She had a comfortable bed roll and a number of blankets fit for a princess.  She had a soft glowing lantern and a pocket watch and the Sheikah Slate and a journal with a pencil.  She made sure the pencil was sharpened.  She changed into a shirt with fine embroidery around the collar and a softness that belayed wealth, but it was also far too big for her, fitting a bit like a sack that barely covered her rear.  She didn't wear anything else.

She was suddenly overwhelmed with nerves.  But she took a shaky breath and stuck her head out of her tent.  "I would like to run an experiment.  If--if you have a moment."

He looked up from the fire, his interest piqued, and she ducked back into her tent before he could see how badly she was blushing.  Once in her tent, she put on as much bluster as she could to hide her nerves, ordering him to remove his boots and his sword and his shirt.  She thought about asking him to remove his pants, but that seemed a bit pushy.  Maybe she needed to be pushy?  "And your pants," she said.  "But your undergarments can remain."

She then had him lie on his side on her mat.  "You will observe and take notes," she explained, showing him were the pocket watch and journal were.  She tucked her hair behind her ears, lay down facing him, and hooked her leg over his hip.

He looked mildly surprised, but went along with it.  And that was weird, right?  This was weird.  She was taking advantage of how he couldn't deny her.  She was royalty and possibly the key to saving everything he knew from destruction.  Maybe should should find a way to--

"You're over-thinking it," he whispered.  He'd made himself comfortable, resting his head on his arm and a hand on the small of her back.

She huffed.  Then she closed her eyes and worked her hand down her body.

"Want me to help?"

"I don't want you to be too distracted to record your observations."

"Right.  Good.  Because this isn't distracting at all."

She pinched him with her free hand, and he laughed.  It was soft and low and she could feel his breath against her face.  It did more to arouse her than her own hand, which slid between her legs.

His hand moved to her bare hip, and once he did, she could feel how much she moved against him, how much her hips rocked.  He didn't try to control her rhythm or hold her still, and she found her movements growing even more animated as the pleasure built around her.  She bit her lip and breathed.  

His voice was soft like his laugh when he murmured, "What are you thinking about?"

"What you would say if you were talking to me."

"What would I say?"

"'That's it, Zelda. That's so good.'"

Not missing a beat, he said, "You're so good, Zelda.  The way you move, the way your whole body moves.  You're so emphatic.  In everything you do.  Your whole body moves when you talk.  And now, Goddess look at you, the way your shoulders move and your back arches."

Her shoulders rolled even more, her breath coming quick.

"Call me something sweet," she said.  In her head, he called her darling, and it wasn't quite right.  She always stumbled over it.  She couldn't hear it in his voice.

He leaned in to kiss under her ear, sending a shudder down her spine.  He whispered, "You're my peach."

She gasped, her hand picking up speed, a spike of pleasure rocking through her.    His hands wandered inside her shirt, down her leg.  Dizziness crept in around her edges.

"That's it.  That's it.  Let go.  I've got you."

He had her.  He would catch her when she fell.

"Look at me."

She tried twice to blink open her eyes, and when she finally managed, he was there, a heat in his eyes and adoration on his face.  The rhythm of her hand stuttered, and then his fingers had replaced hers, picking up the rhythm she'd set as he pulled her fingers into his mouth.  It all happened so fast that she thrust her fingers against his tongue a few times before realizing.  His eyes darkened and then rolled as he moaned and sucked greedily at her fingers.  The movements of his hand matched her own, except steady and sure when she faltered, when her body jerked, and her breath caught and caught and caught.  Link would catch her.  She threw her head back and grinned, riding every wave, letting herself fall.  She grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him into a kiss as she burned and burned and burned, still smiling against his mouth.

"Zelda?"

She blinked dreamily up at him, and there was a click as he snapped her picture with the slate.  He turned it around to show it to her. 

She was glowing.  Her whole body surrounded by a halo, her skin golden as if she had become the sun.  The picture smiled dreamily back at her.

"You've been glowing for two minutes and fifteen seconds and counting."

"You timed it?"

"Of course."

She beamed at him, and she could see from her hands on the slate that she was glowing more brightly.  Beams of sunlight radiated off her.  

She reached for Link's cheek and closed her eyes and reveled in the warmth in her chest, the shape of it, the pressure of it.  It was like...happiness?  A warmth of affection that had been there for a while, but had never before tapped into the power of her soul.  She hadn't let it.  She'd held it at bay.  She had pushed it aside to berate herself and turn her insecurities outward.  She'd thought the Goddess was spiteful, but the Goddess was love, and she rewarded those who loved.  To protect her country, she first needed to love it.

"Link?"

"Yeah?" He brushed hair from her face.

"I don't hate you."

"You sure?  That was a little fun."

"Only a little?"

"This is better."

She laughed and dragged him in to kiss her as she glowed.

***

Part 30

[snowdice]

Sandbox Brawl (Part of the Labeled Universe)

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Virgil & Roman

Characters: Virgil, Roman

Summary: Sadie sees a supervillain and superhero fight when she sneaks out to a park in the middle of the night.

Notes: OC’s perspective, Roman is still getting used to using his superstrength in a fight, but unlike most people getting used to using superstrength, he overcompensates by being too gentle lmao

This takes place before my story Sometimes Labels Fail and is part of the Labeled Universe.

Sadie was not supposed to be out this late, she knew. Mom would be really, really, mad if she knew Sadie had snuck away from her babysitter to go to the park after dark, but Sadie’s babysitter was boring. She was an old lady who made Sadie call her ma’am and had put on episodes of a show aimed at babies called Doc McStuffins even though Sadie was almost 11. Then she’d fallen asleep on the couch leaving Sadie alone and bored. So, Sadie decided to go to the park! Sure, it was dark, but the park was only across the street from her house. It’d be fine.

Luckily, it wasn’t one of those parks that had gates they locked when it got dark, so she was easily able to wander over to the swing set, though she kept a careful eye out for adults. Technically, the park was closed right now, though she was never really sure how or why parks closed at certain times. Her watchfulness was why, when she heard a bit of noise, she jumped off the swing and hid under the pirate shaped playset.

“Get back here you foul beast!” a voice said, and Sadie heard feet pound over her head on the pirate ship’s deck and then a shadowy figure landed only a couple of feet away from her hiding space.

“Fuck. Off.” Oh, those were really bad words, but then again, she immediately recognized the figure despite the darkness surrounding him… because of the darkness surrounding him actually. Supervillains were probably allowed to say bad words, right? Though Shadow Caster wasn’t considered the worst villain ever, he was probably allowed to say that. Something that sounded heavier landed on the top of the playset. “Did you really think throwing a net on me was going to catch me, Princey?” Shadow Caster mocked. “I’m not a stray cat. Idiot.”

Princey, or well, Prince the newish superhero sometimes seen with Bluebird, she figured out quickly when his bright white and red costume came into sight, gave an unhappy screech at being called an idiot and launched himself off the playset at the man covered in shadows. They fell straight into the sandbox.

“Get, fucking off me,” Shadow Caster demanded, his shadows smacking the back of Prince’s head as they rolled around in the sandbox, spewing sand all over. The adults would not be happy about that in the morning. Kids always got yelled at when they started dumping sand outside the box.

“No! I’m arresting you!”

Sadie was surprised since she knew Prince had superstrength that he was having a hard time pinning down Shadow Caster. In fact, as she watched, Shadow Caster reared back and punched Prince, but it was Shadow Caster who yelped in pain, pulling his fist back.

“Don’t punch me!” Prince yelped, pulling back a bit in surprise. “I have superstrength! You’ll break your hand!”

Yet, Prince pulling back a bit seemed to be just the opportunity Shadow Caster needed to escape because he suddenly rolled to the side. Prince tried to grab him, but his hands only caught shadows that quickly faded away. “Fuck!” he said as Shadow Caster bolted back over the playset. Then, his eyes caught on Sadie under the pirate ship. “…uh,” he said.

“Superheroes say ‘fuck’?” she asked eyes wide.

“No!” he said, even though he’d just said it. Sadie had heard him! “No, we don’t! How much ice cream do I have to buy you to make you not tell your parents or the press about any of this?”

“Shouldn’t you be running after Shadow Caster?” she asked.

He blinked and then his head shot up, but Shadow Caster’s footsteps had disappeared into the dark. “Fu-… dge ice cream. That’s what I’ll get you. Do you like fudge ice cream?

Sadie frowned at him. “I want strawberry,” she said.

He sighed. “Strawberry it is.”

Want to read more? Click below!

Labeled Master Post.

My Masterpost.

[triptuckers]

New In Town (part three) - Kaz Brekker

Request: nope Pairing: Kaz Brekker x reader Summary: after hearing an interesting conversation in the pub you work at, you're determined to find out more Warnings:  none Word count: 2.3K A/N: thinking about a video someone sent me on twitter of freddy saying the quote on bottling inej' laugh..... yea <3 enjoy reading! PREVIOUS PART | NEXT PART TAG LIST (all grishaverse fics): @ayushmitadutta @mrs-brekker15@dancingwith-sunflowers @thegirlwiththeimpala @parker-natasha@story-scribbler @romanoffstarkovs@daliareads@meiitanoia @itsnotquimey @sanktaesperanza @whymyparentscheckmyphone @aleksanderwh0r3 @ilovemarvelanne1 @marlenaisnthappy @brekker-zenik @just-deka @Graceknxwlson @the-very-tired-mess TAG LIST (Kaz Brekker): @mufnasa @janesofia7 @stairscortana @parker-natasha @illicitghosts @brick-by-brick553 add yourself to my tag lists here

When all of the customers have piled out of the pub, and you're cleaning the tables, you can't stop thinking over Jesper and Kaz' conversation.

If only you knew what gang they were part of, you could have easily snuck into their main building. You needed to find out exactly when this party was going to take place, if you wanted to steal the necklace.

You tried to think of any other way to find out the date and location of the party. You hadn't heard any other customers talking about it, so you guessed it was a party reserved only for the elite. And Ketterdam's finest didn't come to a somewhat dirty little pub like the one you work in.

You had to be smart about this. Maybe if Jesper or Kaz came back, you could try to follow them. Find out where they were meeting, what gang they are.

And if that didn't work, you'd just have to find some dirt on them and use it to your advantage. You'd done it countless of times before. Though this was an entirely new city, with new potential targets and clients, you are confident you can pull this off.

You have to, if you ever want to be able to rent a clean room, preferably one not directly above a pub.

But it looks like your luck has decided to abandon you. In the next three days, you don't see Jesper or Kaz in the pub. You even take on extra shifts, claiming you just want to earn more money. When in reality, you are on the lookout for either one of them.

They don't show up. And you have no way of telling if the party already took place or not.

On the fourth night, your gaze is fixed on the door again as you're working. Finally, your coworker steps closer to you.

'Did you like those two that much?' she says.

'Huh?' you say. You'd been so lost in your thoughts you hadn't heard her approach you.

'I'll take that as a yes.' she says. 'That tall one was cute. The other one gave me some creepy vibes.'

'What are you talking about?' you ask her.

'Those two that came by a couple of days ago. You kept hovering by their table, and you've been daydreaming ever since.' she says, smirking at you.

You laugh and shove her away. If only she knew the real reason why you had been hovering around their table. You decide to try if maybe she knows about the party. You doubt it, but there's no knowing unless you try.

'Hey, are there any good parties around here?' you say. 'I've yet to explore Ketterdam's night life.'

'Well, there are some.' she says. 'But most of the fancy ones take place at some merchants house. We'd never get in.'

'Sounds like one hell of a party, then.' you say.

'Oh, they're the best. On nights like those, you can see them all dressed up in their best clothes, jewellery all over the place. It's quite impressive.' she says.

'Hmm.' you hum. You hadn't seen a scene like that, so the party probably hadn't taken place yet.

'The merchants' wives have a new gown for every party.' she says.

'Really?' you say, genuinely surprised that they do. Surely you could spend your money on better things than a gown you'd only wear once.

'Uh-huh, they never wear the same thing twice. The other day, I was in one of those expensive stores to pick up an order for my aunt, and one of them was there. She kept raging on about how her dress wasn't going to be ready in time for a party.' she says.

This gets your full attention. Maybe this was about the party Jesper and Kaz were talking about.

'Was she really mad?' you say, pressing on.

'Furious.' says your coworker. 'She said that if her dress wasn't ready by Tuesday morning, because the party is that night, she'd never come to the store again.'

'Huh, what an attitude.' you say, trying to hide your gratitude for finally finding out the date of the party. All that was left was the location, and which wife exactly would be wearing the priceless necklace. But at least you got one piece of the puzzle.

'You really should have heard her. She kept yelling she couldn't possibly show up to Christensen manor without a new dress.' she says.

'Christensen manor?' you say, hoping you don't sound too curious. But apparently, your coworker loves gossiping way, as she nods eagerly.

'He's one of the richest merchants around. He's the one hosting the party. Rumour goes the ring he always wears is worth so much money, it could buy half of Ketterdam.' she says.

You snort. 'Half of Ketterdam? That seems a little too much.' you say.

'Oh, you'd be surprised.' she says. 'His family is always nearly sinking to the floor with the amount of jewellery they wear. They like to show everyone just how much money they have.'

'Aren't they afraid it gets stolen?' you say.

She shakes her head. 'They have too much security for that. Even the gangs back in the Barrel wouldn't dare to pull off such a daring stunt.' she says.

You smile to yourself. If only she knew at least five gang members were planning exactly that.

The two of you look up when a bell rings, signalling the end of your shift.

'That's my cue.' you say. 'You sure you're gonna be alright out here?'

'I'll manage. Go and get some rest.' she says.

'Alright, goodnight.' you say.

She waves at you as you walk toward the stairs to go to your room. To her, it seemed like you were just gossiping away. Little did your coworker know she'd given you exactly the information you needed. Maybe working at a pub turned out to be useful after all.

So the party would take place on Tuesday night, at Christensen manor. And his wife would most likely be the one to wear the necklace, if they parade around with their riches so much.

All you had to do was make sure you arrive before Jesper and Kaz do. You'd worked your way through more difficult plans, you could handle this.

When you wake up on Tuesday morning, you get dressed quickly and sneak out of the pub without being seen. You're grateful you bought loose pants with a lot of pockets.

You've hidden your gun in your pants, and your knives are strapped around your thighs. You didn't expect there to be an escalation, but you liked to be prepared.

You arrive at the manor, which looks abandoned. There are no lights on yet, but then again it's barely dawn. The reason why you came here so early is so you could inspect the building.

There are at least four different escape routes you can see. But you didn't know if you woud still have access to them when the manor is swarming with drunk party guests. And guard. And, of course, a few disguised gang members.

You pick out a spot in an alley across from the manor, and wait.

When you first stared doing jobs like this one, you didn't have patience at all. It caused you to be sloppy, to make mistakes and miss opportunities. But over the years, you learned that patience is a valuable ally.

You sit in the alley for hours, eating the food you'd brought with you. You're observing the manor, watching as servants come and go in order to prepare the party that would take place later that day.

When the sun starts to go down, the party guests arrive. Your coworker had been right; they're all dressed in expensive looking clothes in the brightest colours. Jewellery shines on their ears, around their necks, on their fingers and wrists.

You're lucky you're patient. Otherwise you would have simply snatched a less valuable necklace. But you had your eyes set on a prize, and you're determined.

When most of the party guests have entered the manor, you sneak closer and enter through the door the servants had used all day. Luckily, there's no one in the room you enter.

All you have to do is follow the music to the main area, and find the merchant's wife. Easy.

You make your way through the hallways, occasionally stopping to take cover when you hear someone approaching. Finally, you make it to the room where the music is the loudest.

People are laughing, drinking and dancing. You'd love to be part of that life some day. To just spend your days dancing with your friends, playing dress up. But that kind of life would have to wait.

You scan the room from where you are standing, and spot a couple dancing in the middle of the room.

They're dressed in colours so bright they seem to light up the room. The woman is nearly entirely covered in shining gemstones. And on her chest rests a heavy necklace, a large diamond dangling from it.

You look around the room, but don't spot Jesper or Kaz. They aren't here yet, or you just hadn't seen them. You had to be careful. They knew what you looked like. And as soon as they caught sight of you, you didn't doubt they would tell their companions.

Behind you, a servant approaches with a tray laden with glasses of wine. You smile and walk up to him.

'I'll take it from here, Christensen said you could take a break.' you say, holding your hands out to take over the tray.

It surprises you how easily he hands it over to you. Was working at a party really that bad you'd take the first change of getting a break you got?

You don't have time to question it. You have to move quickly if you want to be out before the gang members arrive.

You manoeuvre your way through the crowd, and most people don't even seem to notice you're not wearing a servant's uniform. Maybe they're too drunk to notice. Or maybe they just don't care.

After spotting Christensen and his wife again, you make your way toward them. The music stops just about the same time as you reach them.

Before the next song starts, you make yourself trip, spilling wine all over Christensen's wife.

She lets out a yelp of surprise when the red liquid stains her dress. She furiously turns at you and you're quick to put on a shocked face.

'I am so sorry, my lady.' you say. 'I tripped, oh Saints, I'm so sorry.'

'Watch where you're going!' she says. 'You ruined my dress.'

'I'm sorry, I'll help you clean it up.' you say.

'You better.' says the merchant, Christensen, as he roughly takes a hold of your arm and pushes you to follow his wife out of the room.

You keep your eyes down as you follow her through the halls. She opens door after door, muttering to herself about useless servants. She stops when you've entered a bedroom.

She opens another door to reveal a bathroom. When she sees her dress in the mirror, she glares at you.

'I haven't seen you here before.' she says.

'I'm new.' you say, keeping your eyes on the floor.

'New and clumsy.' she says. 'Wait here while I change.'

She takes off her jewellery and shoes before disappearing in the bathroom, closing the door. You don't know how much time you have, so you move quickly.

You grab a hold of the necklace and shove it into one of your coat pockets. You're debating wether or not you can go back the same way you got here, but then you hear footsteps approaching.

You whirl around, and spot a window. You could climb down and get as far away from the manor as possible.

With three big steps, you make it to the window and open it. You carefully climb through the window and being to work your way down to the street.

Just when your feet hit the ground, you hear the merchant's wife scream.

'Thief!' she screams. 'I've been robbed!'

You smile as you start jogging toward the street, to go back to the pub. When you round the corner of the manor, you see a few people making their way toward it.

Two guards and three people dressed as elaborately as the other guests. For a split second, you wonder why three guests would be accompanied by two guards, but then you remember Jesper and Kaz' hushed conversation.

A grin starts to spread across your face. You'd been fast enough. They'd go in only to discover there was no necklace to steal.

You walk across the street, keeping your head down. In the distance, you hear the woman still screaming. She had made it to the main party room.

'My necklace!' she yells. 'That damned servant took it! Find her!'

You see the small group of people outside the manor stop, and turn to each other. You can tell they're confused as they talk to one another. Probably wondering what the odds were someone else would steal the necklace they had their eyes on.

They're all looking at each other, except for Kaz. You can see even more clearly now he's the leader. Instead of looking at his companions, he's suspiciously looking around, his eyes scanning the dark streets around the manor.

You smile to yourself and disappear into the shadows. If you had it your way, he'd never find out you'd outsmarted him.

A/N: If you want to request something, make sure to read my house rules Here’s the list of characters I write for. Everything that I have written can be found on my masterlist. Please don’t repost my work, as I spend much time and effort on it!! Thank you for reading! Much love, Marit

[wiener-soldiers]

so, you’re real - tommy shelby

summary: while high off his ass, tommy shelby is approached by a mysterious woman offering him something more valuable than drugs: information. your services become essential to how tommy conducts business, but your anonymity means he can’t help but fall in love with you from a distance.

words: 5.4k

pairing: tommy shelby x fem!reader (race non-specific)

warnings: tommy shelby. that’s the warning.

a/n: first tommy fic :D he’s one of the most beautifully complex characters ever in television imo but that also means his kinda nightmare to right. so,,, he might come off a little ooc because he’s very soft!tommy in this. i also wanna write a tommy fic based off ‘why’d you only call me when your high’ by arctic monkeys for obvious reasons.

masterlist | add yourself to the taglist! | faq

Tommy Shelby could count the number of people who’s seen him high as a kite on opium with three fingers. Arthur was the first; he drukenly stumbled into Tommy’s room instead of his own one night and the smell of the pipe sobered him enough to start asking questions. Tommy shoved him out and by the morning, Arthur was too hungover to remember a thing. The next was Polly; Tommy stumbled down the stairs as he was high around three in the morning once as he searched the house for more booze. Polly watched from a distance as he sat himself on the kitchen table and wept, squeezing his eyes shut and covering his ears with his hands. She chose not to mention it the following morning, but a perscription for morphine found its way to Tommy’s desk a few days later.

The third person... was you.

You didn’t know the Shelby’s personally. You were the assistant of a local Small Heath accountant that dealt with Birmingham’s most infamous clients: local coppers, factory owners, politicians, even gangsters. Your boss was known as the Devil’s Safe—nothing that came in went ot without the client’s consent.

But you weren’t a saint. Being so close to his office at all times and knowing far too much about where the most influential people in Birmingham got their money and where they spent it, it was nearly impossible to keep your mouth shut.

So, you didn’t. At a price, of course.

You quit your job and created a small network of spies that could feed you information about anyone or anything at anytime, using your knowledge about the Devil’s Safe as leverge. You charged whoever could afford for your services, coppers and criminals alike. Some self-righteous copper tried to shut you down once. Keyword: tried. There were too many spies all over the city to try to arrest (that is, if he could find grounds to arrest them), and you were too important to too many important people that arresting you would likely have him assasinated.

That, and you tipped him off about a corrupt police captain who had been trading orphans for cash. It got him a promotion and you a protective shield over your dealings from the coppers.

Tommy first met you at the races. You were hanging off the arm of Roberts, Billy Kimber’s advisor, and he briefly caught your eye before returning his gaze to Grace who stared at him lovingly. He didn’t know it then, but you were analyzing him. His posture, his facial expressions, how he spoke to Kimber, and most importantly, his books that Roberts happened to have a copy of. Nothing went unnoticed by you. The Shelby’s were starting to cause ruckus all over the city and you were interested. But, to maintain your facade, you snuck a few kisses to Roberts’ neck to distract him from your snooping.

When Tommy returned to the table with the bag of cash his brothers had collected from the Lees, you were gone.

---

The second time he sees you, he isn’t even sure if it’s you.

It’s late at night as he approaches The Garrison when he notices Polly standing with another figure in the alley. He slows his steps and silences his breathing, trying to catch the end of your conversation.

“You’re sure this is where she is?” That’s unmistakingly Polly’s voice.

A soft chuckle rips through the air and Tommy suddenly wonders what your voice sound like. “There’s only so many women carrying a newborn and looking that terrified of what may be behind her,” the other voice says. It’s not soft or angelic, Tommy notices. Nothing likes Grace’s. It’s deeper, smoother, and he can almost hear the smirk in her voice.

“How do I know you’re not lying to me?” Polly asks back skeptically. Tommy has the common sense to realize she’s talking about Ada who had gone into hiding after Freddie was arrested. Polly hadn’t been able to stay in the same room as him for very long since.

You pull out another envelope from your coat and teasingly dangle it in front of her. “Here’s the list of all of Ada and Freddie’s known addresses. The Communists have them move every few weeks; the address I gave you is Ada’s current address. Go there tomorrow from seven to nine in the morning. Ada’ll still be in bed and Karl will still be asleep. Then, you’ll know I’m right, you’ll give me the full payment, and I’ll give you the rest of the addresses.”

Tommy is slightly stunned at what he’s hearing. They had been trying to look for Ada for nearly two weeks to no avail, but this woman was able to find her that easily?

The woman turns to walk away before Polly can respond and in the street light, Tommy can make out the outline of your face. It was so brief that he couldn’t tell if you were actually there or if he imagined your face in the darkness.

Polly doesn’t notice him as she makes her way back inside the pub. The following afternoon, Polly is pounding on his office door saying she’s found where Ada had been hiding.

---

The third time he sees you, he’s sitting in the empty Garrison with a bullet wound in his shoulder, whiskey coursing through his veins, enough meloncholy and anger to swim in, and a broken heart.

Billy Kimber was dead. Campbell was gone. But, so was Grace.

It was a series of emotions he hadn’t felt in a long time: relief, then anger, then happiness, then frustration. Then the shovels started. Then, it all got too loud and he slipped his opium pipe into his coat pocket before going to The Garrison to drink his sorrows away. He had never taken the pipe out of his room before. In that state, he didn’t care.

He doesn’t really know how you got in; he had angrily yelled at everyone to leave the bar when the night was late enough for him to feel emotion and locked the door behind him. Maybe I didn’t lock the door right, he thinks. In reality, you had picked the lock.

“I could’ve told you she’d been working with him,” your voice calls behind him. He’s still hunched over his drink, the pipe lying next to a nearly empty bottle of whiskey. He didn’t need her to clarify who she was talking about.

“You could’ve, eh?” Tommy mumbles dangerously. He felt light, but his eyes and his heart felt heavy. He hated the feeling. Oh god, he hated it.

“Hmm,” you hum back, taking a seat next to him. You reach behind the bar and pull out a bottle of gin and poor yourself a drink. Tommy watches you do so. You don’t look like you pity him, in fact, you don’t even look at him. Instead, you focus your attention on the drink.

After taking a sip, you reach into your coat jacket and pull out an envelope, slidding it over to Tommy. You had clearly seen the opium pipe that still had smoke coming out of it, but you gently pushed it out of the way so the envelope rested in front of Tommy’s drink.

“What is this?” he asks, still too high to think straight.

“Consider it a resume,” you quip back, taking another sip of your drink as you study the collection of liquor and spirits on the back shelf of the bar.

“For what?”

“My services.”

“You a fuckin’ whore? You think that’s what I need right now, eh?”

“What I think you need right now, Mr. Shelby, is a sense of security. To be ahead of the enemy. I can give that to you,” you reply smoothly, barely flinching. Tommy notices your voice doesn’t falter even at his jab. He begins to sober up, finaling looking at you.

You had an air of mystery and intrigue. Your eyes looked all-knowing and the corner of your lip was quirked. A white blouse was tucked into a deep red skirt with your black wool jacket overtop of it all. If he was a different man, he surely would have taken you home.

“Why are you telling me this?” he finally asks.

You look back at him, the smirk on your lips growing. “Because I quite like your family. Polly is quite intelligent and Ada is a delight. I also know far too much about you, so it’d be a shame if someone paid be good money to tell them everything there is to know about you. But if you came to me first, there wouldn’t be much of an issue. The rate for ratting out one of my clients is ridiculously high.”

So, it had been you with Polly that night, he thinks. “You’d work for me?” he asks again, tone getting more serious. The last time a woman worked for him, it didn’t end particularly well.

You laugh and Tommy is momentarily stunned. It’s a beautiful laugh that appeared in an awful moment. “I don’t work for anyone, Mr. Shelby.”

And then you left. Tommy stares a the door for a few minutes after you’ve left, wondering if he had imagined your visit the whole time. When he turns back to his drink, the envelope you left behind is a sign that you had been real. He hesitantly opens it and his jaw unhinges at the contents inside: there were several documents, reports, and even pictures tying Grace Burgess and Inspector Campbell together. It seemed so plain and simple once it was laid out in front of him.

Under the flap of the envelope was an address as well as a rate of service. It was high, Tommy couldn’t deny it, but he also couldn’t deny how the pressure on his chest eased for a moment when he was with you. Even more so when you had left the address.

The next morning, a wad of cash from Shelby Company Limited shows up at one of your drop locations. It’s more than you asked for and quicker than you expected it to come. You smirk softly and get to work.

---

Tommy doesn’t see you again until he pays a visit to Sabini’s club a few years later as he works on his London expansion. He had been a client of yours for nearly two years now and he was continuosly impressed with your work. You literally had eyes everywhere; there wasn’t a place between Manchester and Brighton that you couldn’t get to. You had been the one feeding him inside information about Sabini’s operations in London, as well as how to get Alfie Solomon’s attention.

Despite all this work, he hasn’t seen you since you approached him when he was high in the empty pub. He gets all his information through courriers, telephone calls from messengers, and packages from drop locations all over the city. He asked a courrier once why he hasn’t seen you since.

“No one really sees her, sir. We just get orders in one way or another, we excecute them, and then money shows up. She doesn’t want anyone to tie her to her clients or the boots on the ground.”

“She’s clever.”

“She’s bloody brilliant, is what she is. She’s set up this system so bloody tight that no one really knows how it works except her. One lad up in Coventry tried to turn her in. Went missing a few days later.”

He doesn’t think about you often, but when he does, he’s reminded of that night in The Garrison; how mysterious and beautiful and dangerous you looked, how his chest seemed less tight with you around. Maybe he’s imagined it. Maybe it was the opium clouding his vision. So, he pushes those thoughts away because as far as he’s concerned, you’re an enigma.  Hell, he doesn’t even know your name and he’s been paying you big money and giving away too much of his plans.

But he sees you that night when he and his brothers storm Sabini’s club. You’re sitting on a fancy velvet lounging chair, tucked under the arm of what Tommy assumes is a wealthy banker or socialite. You don’t see him (not yet, at least) but Tommy sees you. All Tommy sees is you. The smoke that flows out of your nostrils as your lips curl at whatever attempt at humour then man with you made draws Tommy in. So does the cut of your deep blue, satin dress. He knows it then, that you’re real. That you’re not a figment of his imagination.

“This place is something else, innit?” Arthur remarks as they make their way deeper and deeper into the club. Tommy is still drawn to you as his brothers gawk at the permiscuous behaviour around them.

The party atmosphere doesn’t last long however, as the boys make a show out of trashing the place. Tommy makes sure to put on a performance, to play up the fear. When he shouts something along the lines of being on a holiday, he happens to catch your eye and the first thing he notices is the smirk playing on your lips. He’s first confused as to why but he understands: you had a large part of the London expansion and you also likely knew that Tommy was going to be there that night. You weren’t there with a man. You were there to see him. You were there to see his reckoning.

The image of you tattooed itself onto Tommy’s brain and the feeling he felt in his chest was something he craved to feel again.

---

The next morning, the brothers stumble into Ada’s home, uninvited. Their younger sister begrudgingly lets them in, still clad in her nightgown, and hastily tells them to keep their noise level down as Karl was still sleeping.

It doesn’t last very long.

“You shoulda seen their bloody faces, Ades!” John hollers, mouth full of biscuits and tea. Ada hisses at him for spewing food across the table.

“Didn’t know what was coming, the lot of them,” Arthur adds, already taking a sip from a flask. He was barely sober from the night before and it wasn’t even eight in the morning. “Fuckin’ Sabini, Ada. He won’t know what’s bloody comin’.”

“Sabini, eh?” Ada plays along, still slightly annoyed but now intriguied. “You didn’t happen to hit up his club last night, did you?”

“’Course we did!” John snickers. “What’d you think we’d do, start small?”

Ada’s facial expression suddenly changes into one of slightly more concern. Arthur and John don’t notice, but Tommy does. “I was hopin’ you would,” Ada plays it off but Tommy notices.

“Ada?” he asks, voice stern but eyes curious. His sister was intelligent, so much so that her mouth was as good at getting her out of trouble as it was getting her in it. Tommy was sure that there was more than what she let on.

“Tom?” Ada says back, not meeting his gaze and instead taking a bite out her toast and jam.

“Why’re you so hung up on Sabini’s club?” Tommy asks  directly, slowly getting tired of his sister’s semantics. He mommentarily understands how Polly feels when he keeps things from her.

Ada sighs, having also attracted attention from her two other brothers. She sets down her toast and looks directly at Tommy. “You saw her, didn’t you?”

“Saw who?” Arthur asks, booming voice too loud for the sudden change of tone in the room. Ada grimaces but still stares at Tommy.

Tommy knows exactly who she’s talking about. But he wonders how Ada does.

“I did,” he says simply.

“Who’re you talkin’ about?” John asks next, looking between his siblings. Arthur shrugs at him.

“Did you say anything to her?”

“No.”

“Good,” Ada says too quickly. Tommy narrows his eyes at her.

“For God’s sake!” Arthur says again, slamming his tea cup back down onto the table. “Who in the bloody hell are you talkin’ about?”

Ada rolls her eyes and continues eating and Tommy is left to stare at his brothers. He wants to answer. He wants to answer so badly. But he doens’t even know her name.

“I—” Tommy trails off. He’s rarely rendered speechless, but he is when it comes to you. Who were you? Why did Ada know you? Why can’t he get you out of his head? Why does he hope you’re standing there in the shadows every time he steps out on the street?

“You? You what, Tom?” John asks this time, equally as exasperated.

“He doesn’t know and it should stay that way,” Ada says simply. “She offers you a service, you pay her, end of transaction. Stay away from her Tommy, I mean it.”

“What service?” John asks again, still getting more questions than answers.

Tommy sighs, rubbing a hand over his face. “After Grace, she offered me a service. Cash in exchange for information. Said she knew that I needed a sense of security.” She was right, Tommy thinks but doesn’t dare say.

“Information about what, exactly?” Arthur asks, voice dropping an octave as he leans forward.

“Everything. Anything and everything. She knows everything. I don’t have the slightest clue how,” Tommy answers honestly, his own disbelief being obvious for the first time.

“She can betray us...” John warns, skeptical especially after Grace.

“She won’t,” Ada says simply.

“How do you know?” John challenges.

“She won’t,” Ada reaffirms with a glint in her eye. John immediatley backs down. Ada doens’t trust easily, especially after Freddie.

Tommy believes her. You know too much, far too much. More than he or you had bargained for. You also gave too much. Tommy asked for one thing, you gave him what he wanted and more. Tommy wanted a brief description of the shipping business in Bristol, you gave him an itemized list. Tommy asked you to keep an eye out for any potential threats, you gave him incredibly precise weekly reports. He asked people what your service was like as if he didn’t already know himself: you were never this thorough. He knew you wouldn’t betray him because you would have done it already. The question is, why did Ada trust her?

“You know who she is, don’t you?” Tommy asks his sister once again, doing his best to intimidate her. It’s no use.

“I do,” Ada says simply.

“Even her name?”

John scoffs. “You don’t even know her bloody name and you’ve got that look like you’re in love? Jesus, Tom! You need a good fuckin’, I’m telling you.”

Ada ignores her brother’s comment. “Even her name.”

Tommy gestures for her to elaborate and Ada hesitantly continues, “Polly paid her to find me after Karl was born. She found me personally, not through a messenger. We got along quite well, she was very honest about what she’d been hired to do. She gave Polly that information she was looking for, but we kept in touch. Personally, I mean. I like her.”

“Tell me her name, Ada.”

Ada makes a face of fake appeasement. “Can’t do that, sorry Tom.”

Tommy’s jaw clenches. “Ada...” he warns.

Ada’s glare mathces his own. “Her identity is all she’s got Tommy. The minute a client knows who she is, it all falls apart. For the love of God, for your safety and hers, don’t find her.”

And hell, does Tommy want not to listen. He wants to find you again. To see you. To speak to you. To learn your name. To feel the weight in his chest lighten once more.

But you remained impossible to find. Even with his London expansion, he wasn’t any closer to finding out who you really were than the day you first spoke to him at The Garrison.

So, he tried to push his thoughts away. He didn’t get so lucky.

---

He was used to receiving messages from you on Sunday evenings before the week began and Thursday mornings before the week ended. Sometimes, they’d be in the form of a phone call from a messnger reading a message written by you. Other times, he would visit a drop site where he picked up parcels of information and evidence you had collected. Fridays were paydays, so he’d get a Blinder to drop a parcel of cash (though they never knew it was cash) at a drop site and wait for a courrier with a blue ribbon pinned under the lapel of their overcoat to retrieve it.

All your foot solidiers and clients wore the ribbons. You avoided paper trails so everything was with symbols. Ribbon colours were a discrete way for both the client and the courrier to tell who was who. Clients wore white ribbons, courriers wore blue ones, messengers wore green ones, and red ones were used for emergencies.

That’s why Tommy panicked when a man burst into his office late at night the day before he was set to take down Sabini, urgently lifting his lapel to show his red ribbon.

“What’s happened? Are we in danger?” Tommy asks immediatley, standing up from his chair.

“No, sir,” the foot soldier said. They were never allowed to say the names of clients, only sir and ma’am. “I have a message from her. It was urgent and couldn’t have waited until Thursday.”

The man gives him a sealed envelope before bowing and leaving as quickly as he came. Tommy checks to make sure that he is alone before ripping it open. It wasn’t a message, but a phone number and the word clairvoyant scribbled quickly with fancy ink.

Tommy furrows his eyebrows but picks up his phone and dials the operator. The other end picks up immediately. He hastily says the number he wants to be patched through to as well as the word scribbled below it. The operator says nothing else and he hears the phone ring again before a female voice finally picks up.

“Mr. Shelby, I was waiting for your call.”

It was you. Tommy’s heartbeat quickens. You continue to speak, oblivious to his shock, “I don’t make calls myself unless absolutely neccassary. You don’t need to worry about privacy; I have connections with the operating center that patched you through. They won’t say a word to anyone, telling them that you called and they won’t be listening.”

Truthfully, Tommy hadn’t even been thinking of that. He was still slightly shocked that he was hearing your voice, the same voice as nealry three years ago. The opium fucked with a lot of things, but not his sense perception. Your voice was as beautiful as he remembered it to be.

He forces the thoughts out of his head and finally speaks. “What’s happened? Is there an emergency?”

“You aren’t safe at the races tomorrow. There will be an attempt on your life.”

Tommy is not entirely surprised. “I’m sure you can put two and two together; what I plan to do at the races is practically a suicide mission, dear. Of course there’ll be an attempt on my life.”

You scoff at the other end of the line. “Mr. Shelby, I’ll rephrase: you may succeed in your plan tomorrow, but something will catch you off-guard. Something big.”

“What is it, then? If you’re so sure,” Tommy challenges, but is taken aback by the silence.

You sigh, defeated at the other end of the line. “Mr. Shelby, I’ll be honest. An Inspector Campbell approached me this morning, asking for my services to give him everything I knew about you plans tomorrow. I took his money.”

Tommy’s jaw clenches. “You called me to tell me you’re a fuckin’ conspirator against me now, eh?”

“I resent that. There’s a reason I ask you not to tell me anything about your business aside from what I need to know to do my job,” you snap back. “Campbell gave me money to tell him information I didn’t have. So, I took the money and told him lies. He didn’t pay enough money to turn me against one of clients anyway and I don’t negotiate.”

Tommy laughs in slight disbelief, “You clever bloody woman.”

You can’t help but grin at the other end of the line. “He let it slip that he had something planned, though. That you weren’t getting out of this alive. Thomas, I don’t know what and I don’t have enough time to find out, but you needed to know,” you say before soflty adding, “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t tell you.”

Tommy nods solemnly before saying, “That’s the first time you’ve called me Thomas.”

You laugh and Tommy’s heart clenches at the sound. “Is that what you choose to focus on?” you ask, amused despite your worry.

“I’m not afraid of death. Not anymore,” Tommy answers.

“It’s a shame. There seems to be a lot in your life that’s worth living for,” you reply, your voice softer that Tommy’s ever heard it.

“Will you do me one final favour? Take it as my dying wish.”

“Thomas—” you start before he cuts you off.

“Can you tell me your name?” he finally asks, but he’s met with silence. He clears his throat and adds, “Please?”

You sigh at the other end. This is not how you were supposed to conduct business. Anonymity was the only thing keeping you from being excecuted at the hands of the Crown or a crime-boss. But here the feared Thomas Shelby was, asking as his dying wish to know your name. You don’t know him aside from your brief interactions and stories from Ada. But strangely, you trust him with the key keeping your identity safe.

“Y/N. My name’s Y/N.”

---

The following evening, Tommy trudges home covered in mud and blood. His encounter with the face of death was anticipated, but still left him scarred. Despite his success against the races and against Sabini, he felt trapped. With a success in the business, he still finds himself indebted to Winston Churchill. He’s exhaused of this cycle and in the moment, he embraced his fate just a little.

As he pushed the door to his home open, his eyes are immediately drawn to crackling fire. He hadn’t expected anyone to be home, as the family was staying in London with Ada to celebrate their successes.

So the sight of you, sitting on his couch and staring into the fire shocked the life back through him.

He takes of his hat and stares at you in slight disbelief. “So, you’re real.”

You turn to face him and the tension previously present in your features fell and the corner of your lip quirked upwards. “You’re alive,” you state the obvious.

“The Devil’s tried too many time to kill me, I’m starting to wonder if God does exist,” he says plainly, taking off his coat and taking a seat on the other end of the couch from you.

A small laugh escapes you. “He has jokes, does he?”

Tommy smiles softly but shakes his head and stares at you. “You’re really real. I was starting to think I was imagin’ ya.”

“Ada says you’ve been asking about me.”

“I have. She wouldn’t tell me your name, though.”

“You got it anyway.”

“Who’s to deny a man his dying wish?” Tommy darkly jokes again.

“I can’t go back to operating how things were. Even you knowing my name is too much,” you say softly, turning back to the fire. You were slightly frustrated with yourself. Years and years of building a network built around your anonymity destroyed by one man. Deep down, you felt that it was time.

“I wouldn’t tell anyone,” Tommy says simply.

“But you’d want to be in my life,” you say back, still not looking away from the fire. “I’m a woman, but I’m not stupid. I know why you tried to look for me.”

Tommy sits back and watches her. A woman’s never been more direct with him before. Even Grace, who had just asked him to lay with her one final time before moving back to America at the races, had never laid out what she saw so simply and bluntly before. She was right. Tommy wouldn’t tell anyone your name if you asked him to, but he would still want to see you. The only thing more painful than not knowing who you were was knowing and still not being able to see you.

“You could start again,” Tommy says. He barely recongizes the softness in his own tone, but he decides the change is good. “You could work for me, have your men join the Blinders if they wanted.”

“I don’t work for anyone, Mr. Shelby,” you say again cheekily, reminding him of the first time the two of you spoke. You turn to face him and stop to admire his beauty—how the fire cast beautiful shadows across his face, how the moonlight sparkled in his eyes.

“That you don’t,” Tommy hums in agreement, still looking at you. His gaze hadn’t left you since he came home.

It’s silent for a few moments before Tommy says, “Stay.”

“With you?” you ask in slight surprise.

“With me, in Small Heath, with the company—whatever you want. Just stay.”

“You barely know me.”

“Then let me get to know you, Y/N,” Tommy answers, finally saying your name for the first time. He loves the way it spills off his tongue and you equally adore the sound of his voice when he says it.

You nod softly, agreeing with his hearfealt proposition. The two of you spent the rest of the night staring into the fire, allowing your heartbeats and breaths come into sync as you slowly fell asleep.

---

It’s been five years since you had started working for Shelby Company Limited as Tommy’s senior advisor and security specialist, four years since your network of spies had merged with the Peaky Blinders, three years since you and Tommy got married, two years since you gave birth to a set of twins named Benjamin and Mae Shelby, and one year since you had also become a political advisor to your husband and his allies in Parliament.

With your years together, the Shelby family found you to be an intriguing, fascinating, and intimidatingly wonderful woman. They couldn’t comprehend how right you seemed with Tommy. They also couldn’t comprehend how involved you were in their success without them even knowing who you were. However, they love to poke fun at Tommy for basically falling in love with from two interactions.

You were currently at the Arrow House doing the final touch-ups to your makeup for the gala you were hosting in your home. It was a typical charity ball that made sleezy politicians look good in the eyes of their constituants, but you had pressured Tommy to allow you to host it on behalf of the Shelby Family Institute. He had been skeptical, but relented when you reminded him that it wasn’t about giving them a platform to look good, but using their ego to benefit the institute.

“I’ve put the children to bed,” Polly announces as she walks into the master bedroom. The room is obscenely large with a king sized bed in the middle, but Polly can’t help but feel pride every time she visits. It was the both of your hardwork that you got you here and she was proud. “Ben passed out almost immediatley, but you’re right about Mae. She’s a trouble maker.” 

You give Polly a smile through the mirror of the vanity you sat in front of, “Thank you, Pol. Really.”

“Where’s that bastard husband of yours?” Polly jokes as she stands behind you, inspecting her pearls in the mirror.

“His study, no doubt,” you joke with a slight smirk.

“The faith the two of you have in my is astounding,” Tommy says sarcastically, immerging through the en-suite dressed in his tuxedo.

Polly rolls her eyes and leaves the room, leaving the couple to stare at each other.

“You clean up well, Mr. Shelby,” you state, smiling as he approaches you. “Though I’m not sure if that’s because of you or your OBE.”

“Sometimes, I wonder if I should have continued loving you at a distance,” he comments humourously.

You laugh—a real laugh—and wrap your hands around his neck while his arms immediately find themselves around your waist.

“How’re you feeling, darling?” Tommy asks, referring to the mental and emotional preparation for the event that was about to start downstairs.

“I’m not the biggest fan of a lot of your colleagues, Tom,” you say honestly. “Their wives however...they give me thousands of pounds worth of information every sentence.”

“You never cease to amaze me with that mind of yours,” he tells you honestly.

“And you never cease to amaze me with how verbally affectionate you can be,” you quip back lightheartedly before Tommy softly kisses your lips.

“How ‘bout this?” he says once you pull away. “I take care of getting donations, you take care of getting more leverage on the labour bill I’m looking to pass.”

“Done,” you say with a smile before Tommy kisses you again. You begin to hear cars pull into the driveway when you try to pull away, but he keeps you close.

“Tom,” you giggle, breathless. “Tom, the guests are arriving.”

“I’ve waited for you for years, they can wait for you a little while longer,” he replies with a smirk before kissing you deeply once again.

[sankyeom]

lullaby | j.b

pairings: jacob bae x reader genre: neighbour au, strangers to lovers, kind of implied that you both are in college summary: in which your new neighbour sings you to sleep every night since the walls in your building are so thin, and you fall in love with his voice word count: 5.4k series: sankyeom’s 2k followers celebration note: yes i’m in love with jacob’s a to boyz video. yes it inspired this fic. yes i’m going through it.

masterlist

When your old neighbour moved out, you couldn’t be happier at the news.

The girl living in the apartment next to yours used to blast her music late at night and into the early morning, and she always kept you up. Sometimes she did it just for fun, other times she did it to overpower the sound of her arguing with her boyfriend. Either way, you would be up at night wanting nothing more than to go over to your neighbour’s apartment and break her door down as a form of revenge.

But you didn’t, because you quite liked your apartment and didn’t want to give your landlord a reason to kick you out.

Instead, you and your other neighbours filed enough noise complaints to the building’s owner until the girl moved out on her own accord. If you had to pinpoint the worst three months of your life, it would be the time when that girl lived next door to you.

Of course it wasn’t entirely her fault; your apartment building had hilariously thin walls. Her music wasn’t the worst thing you had heard through the walls, but it was certainly the loudest and most consistent thing that bothered you.

For a few weeks, the apartment next to yours was vacant, and you were able to relish in the silence that you had been dreaming about for so many gruelling nights. One afternoon after you came home from your day of classes to find the elderly lady who lives a few doors down for you peeking outside her front door.

“Hi Mrs Kim,” you greeted her with a wave. Her eyes flitted over to you and she offered you a smile. Mrs Kim was your favourite neighbour by far. She always brought you treats when she made too many and made sure to check in on you regularly since you lived alone.

“Hi dear,” she waved back, eyes crinkling as she realised it was you.

“What are you up to?” you wondered.

“I’m just spying on your new neighbour,” Mrs Kim informed you, stepping out of her door frame to speak with you.

You sighed. “Another neighbour?” you echoed, craning your neck to see them move in.

If they were interesting enough to peak Mrs Kim’s interest, you wanted to see them for yourself. Alas, all you could see were boxes and bags piled outside the open front door of the apartment next to yours, the new tenant nowhere in sight.

“I was just getting used to having some peace and quiet around here,” you recalled as an afterthought, wincing at the memories of your last neighbour. Although you had no personal issues with her, you were glad to see the self-absorbed music-blaster go.

“I know dear,” Mrs Kim gave you a sympathetic smile, thinking back to how tired and cranky you were a while back. “But he looks kind,” she offered. “He greeted me very nicely and he even has a guitar! How wonderful.”

“A guitar?” you repeated, frowning. “Not electric, I hope?”

Mrs Kim laughed. “Don’t worry so much, Y/n,” she told you, patting your shoulder in an endearing manner. “He was quite handsome.”

You rose an eyebrow. You had been at the hand of Mrs Kim’s attempted set-ups many times before. “And that’s my cue,” you laughed, saying your goodbyes to Mrs Kim and making your way to your apartment. As you took your keys out and started unlocking your door, curiosity got the best of you and you tried to peer into your neighbour’s apartment for a sign of him. “What are you doing,” you muttered to yourself, scolding yourself for invading your new neighbour’s privacy and entering your apartment.

You awoke from your nap to the sound of music.

“Not again,” you groaned, thinking it was your new neighbour in your sleepy state. Soon, you realised that it was just your phone ringing, and felt a little guilty for immediately blaming your neighbour without even meeting him once. “Hello?” you picked up the call.

“Y/N!” your best friend Changmin yelled into your ear.

“Dude,” you groaned. “Why are you using your outdoor voice?”

“This is my indoor voice,” Changmin exclaimed, surprised that you had found him so loud. “You act like you don’t even know me.”

“Oh, my apologies,” you mumbled, putting your phone on speaker just to get it away from your ear. “What’s up? You woke me from my nap.”

“Mrs Kim told me that you have a new neighbour,” Changmin said casually.

You narrowed your eyes at your phone. “When did you talk to Mrs Kim?”

“I saw her at the convenience store,” Changmin happily informed you. “She said she’d give you some brownies for you to pass on to me in the next few days.”

You laughed at this. “How can you charm everyone around you, including the old ladies that live on my floor?”

“Never mind that,” Changmin dismissed. “New neighbour? What’s he like?”

“I don’t know,” you got out of bed to draw your curtains, letting what was left of the sunset brighten your room. You had fallen asleep while studying, and thus hadn’t set an alarm. “I haven’t met him yet.”

“Mrs Kim says he’s cute.”

“Mrs Kim says everyone is cute,” you scoffed. “That woman is a saint.”

“Alright, that’s fair,” Changmin giggled. “Why are you napping this late? You won’t be able to fall asleep tonight if you nap for so long.”

“I know,” you hummed, stretching out and relishing in how relaxed you felt after your nap.

Your best friend was right, though. Whenever you napped in the late afternoon, you always struggled to fall asleep again that night. Of course, this wasn’t a problem when your monstrous neighbour blasted her music every night anyway, but once she left naps and a good night’s sleep were finally possible for you.

“Maybe my new neighbour will play me a lullaby on his electric guitar,” you joke.

“He has an electric guitar?”

“I don’t know,” you admitted. “Mrs Kim says he carried a guitar into his apartment. I haven’t heard him play yet so I don’t know what kind. But I’m delighted to hear it.”

Changmin snorted. “Really?” he asked in disbelief, having been on the end of some rants about you possibly kidnapping your previous neighbour and threatening her to move out.

“Sure,” you exclaimed. “As long as he plays it during hours of the day where I want to be awake, I have no problems what-so-ever with a little rock and roll.”

“Hilarious,” Changmin said sarcastically. “Anyway, did you finish your Chemistry study guide?”

“Is that why you’re calling?” you wondered. “Pretending to be curious about my new neighbour just to steal my hard work and Chemistry notes.”

“You caught me,” Changmin said happily, no shame in his voice. “So?”

You flipped through your notes to see where you go up to before falling asleep. “Yeah I finished them. I suppose you want my Econ notes when I’m done with them too?”

“Forget Mrs Kim, you’re the real saint,” Changmin said in lieu of an answer.

“No need to butter me up, I’ve already agreed,” you rolled your eyes, grinning at your best friend’s antics. “I’ll text you pictures later.”

Once you said your goodbyes, you made your way into the kitchen to turn on the kettle for a hot drink before wandering back into your room to search for a sweater. Once your water was boiled, you made yourself a drink and snuck back into your bed to burrow under the covers and finish studying.

As you took a sip of your drink and flipped through your Economics notes, you heard the faint timbre of an acoustic guitar. Pausing, you stopped your actions and sat up straight, as if this would amplify the sound more so you could hear it.

You guessed your new neighbour didn’t have an electric guitar after all.

The warm chords that you could make out were soothing and whimsical, and you allowed yourself to get lost in your neighbour’s playing for a moment. Deciding that it would make good background study music, you set aside your headphones in favour of listening to your neighbour play his guitar.

Soon, you were already finished with your Economics study guide so you snapped a few pictures of them and sent them to Changmin, along with your study guide for Chemistry too. A quick glance at the clock told you that you had been studying for an hour and a half after napping, meaning that your neighbour was persistently playing for just as long.

Just as you started considering what movie to watch to kill time so you could feel tired enough to go to sleep, soft singing started to accompany the guitar playing coming from your neighbours’s apartment. His voice was rich and tender at the same time; filled with emotion and lyrics close to a mumble in terms of enunciating. Something about his voice made your heart flutter, just slightly. If you thought he was a good guitar player, you thought he was a phenomenal vocalist.

Rather than watching a movie, you tucked yourself into bed and went on your phone to scroll through social media for a while, just listening to the sound of your neighbour’s voice and the music he was playing.

It didn’t take long before your eyes started to feel heavy; lulled to sleep by the timbre of your neighbour’s voice and the warmth of the covers on your bed. Thanking your past self for already setting your alarm for your classes the next day, you were soothed into a deep sleep despite the fact that you took a lengthy nap that afternoon.

The next morning, you felt as though you had never slept so well in your entire life.

Your bed was almost impossibly cosy and you had to seriously motivate yourself to get out of bed and head to your lectures for the day. After getting ready and dressed for the day, you wrapped a scarf around your neck to fend against the biting cold autumn air. As you exited your apartment, you couldn’t help but linger your gaze on your neighbour’s door, wondering if he was still inside or if he had already left.

“He’s gone,” you yelped as Mrs Kim’s voice startled you out of your stare. She stood as if she hadn’t scared you, unfazed by your reaction. “He left two hours ago.”

You put a hand on your chest in an attempt to calm its erratic beat. “Mrs Kim,” you greeted. “You scared me.”

Mrs Kim ignored you, smirking knowingly at you. “So you saw him then?” she assumed. “You must have, if you’re looking at his door like you want him to come out of his apartment.”

“I didn’t see him yet, Mrs Kim,” you denied with a small smile. “I was in my apartment all night and I’m only just leaving now,” you added.

“Then why’re you staring?” she asked, bending down to pick up her cat from the floor.

“Just curious,” you said, which wasn’t entirely a lie. You wanted to know exactly who had sung you a lullaby that was so sweet it put you right to sleep. “Is he really that handsome, Mrs Kim? Not only did you tell me but you told Changmin about it too.”

“He’s very handsome,” Mrs Kim insisted, pushing a container into your arms with her free hand. “Speaking of your charming friend, that’s for him.”

The container had cut up brownies in it, and you almost laughed at how well Changmin and Mrs Kim got along. “Thank you Mrs Kim, I’ll be sure to give them to him today,” you promised, making your way down the hall and rushing to the bus stop so that you wouldn’t miss the last bus that would get you to college on time.

Somehow, it felt as though your new neighbour was avoiding you.

Either that, or the two of you just kept missing one another. Any time you had to leave, you could still hear him milling around his apartment. The only times you ever heard his front door open was when you were just getting home, or had no intention of leaving. Even Changmin, who was a social butterfly and constantly fluttered in between your friends’ places, never saw your neighbour when he came by to visit.

Without a fail, your neighbour played the guitar and sang every single night.

Sometimes he would play during the day as well, but he only ever sang at night. You assumed that he figured he could sing at night so that nobody else heard him, unaware of the paper-thin walls that separated your apartments. You wondered if it was because he was being courteous, or if he was just shy about singing when other people could hear. Either way, you definitely credited your neighbour to being the reason that you fell asleep peacefully every night.

You never had trouble falling asleep in general, but you mostly had very restless nights of sleep, even in the complete silence you heard when your neighbouring apartment was vacant.

Something about your neighbour’s voice just relaxed you to the point where you slept like a little baby.

The first time you met the owner of said voice, you were running late for class and cursing Changmin on the phone as he laughed at your misfortune. He had been teasing you all week about a presentation you were nervous about, saying that you were so well-prepared that the only thing that could mess it up was you missing the class entirely.

Then your alarm didn’t go off and you woke up half an hour later than you usually would on that day.

“Ji Changmin, you’re an ass,” you fumed, pulling your coat on as you opened the front door of your apartment. “You must have cursed me or something, or at least you spoke it into existence. I don’t know but if you don-“

“I’m so sorry!” a familiar voice exclaimed upon your impact with another body. Two hands reached out to steady you and prevent you from falling over, and your eyes met those of a brown-eyed man.

A beautiful, beautiful, brown-eyed man.

“Are you okay?” he asked, since all you had done since the two of you collided was stare at him. “You’re not… concussed, are you? Can you get concussed by bumping into someone?”

“I don’t think so,” you breathed out, taking in his sharp features and large, kind eyes. “I’m sorry. That was definitely my fault, I was rushing, and yelling at my friend,” you tried to explain, but were interrupted when he laughed.

“No harm done,” he assured you, a shy smile appearing on his face. “I’m Jacob. I just moved in next door, actually,” he introduced himself.

Jacob. Mrs Kim was right, he was very handsome.

“Hi Jacob,” you replied, holding out your hand for him to shake. “I’m-“

“Y/n, right?” he stated. At your surprised expression, Jacob only shrugged. “I talked to Mrs Kim from a few doors down. She told me all about you.”

“Oh gosh,” you laugh, covering your face with a hand. “I hope not everything. She’s seen me at my worst, let me put it that way.”

“All good things,” Jacob assured you in his velvety voice. “She speaks really highly of you. Says that you’re smart, kind, and that you have great taste in friends.”

You grin. “Ah, yes. My best friend seems to have charmed his way into her heart. That’s why he gets brownies in a Tupperware and I don’t,” you informed him. “I’m sure you’ll get there too.”

“I sure hope so,” Jacob nods. “I’m a terrible baker and brownies sound really good.” The two of you shared a laugh. “You said you were in a rush, right?” he seemed to recall, causing your eyes to widen.

“Yes! I need to run. I need to catch a bus, like,” you glanced at the time on your phone, realising how late you were and that you were still on a call with Changmin. “Twenty minutes ago.”

“Good luck,” Jacob smiled, waving at you as you said your goodbyes.

“Nice meeting you!” you called back to him, starting to jog down the staircase before bringing your phone up to your ear.

“Jacob, hm?” Changmin’s voice teased you.

“Watch it, Ji Changmin,” you warned. “You’re on thin ice already. Save me a seat!”

Other than being sung to sleep by him every night, your relationship with Jacob pretty much ended at your first meeting. The two of you always exchanged pleasantries when you passed each other in the hallway, and he had once informed you that he really had reached brownie-level friendships with Mrs Kim, but nothing beyond that.

You couldn’t say that you were surprised, considering how the two of you had such different schedules and you kept missing one another, but you somehow felt a little disappointed.

It felt a little bit like the two of you already knew each other, as you heard him sing every single night; hearing the emotion and vulnerability in his voice with every song. But you knew nothing about each other.

After a particularly gruelling day of your Chemistry lab class, you dragged your feet up the stairs to your apartment, feeling utterly exhausted and worn out by your class.

Your lab partner was the absolute worst. He was one of those types that thought he knew everything better than you because he was a Chemistry major, and he belittled you about every single step in the lab. Most of what he was saying was wrong, but he wouldn’t listen to you because he was sure he was right.

Half a semester later, you had just gotten your midterm back and found out that you failed because the data from your experiments were incorrect, and your professor couldn’t give you full credit for any of your answers. Frustrated tears built in your eyes as you made you way to your apartment door, rummaging through your bag for your keys.

“This can’t be happening,” you whined when you realised that your keys were nowhere in your bag, and you had left them in your apartment that morning. “Seriously? Today of all days?” you exclaimed, wiping your cheeks to dry your tears as you headed for Mrs Kim’s apartment to see if she was home. You had entrusted her with a spare key to your apartment since you knew you couldn’t take care of it yourself, and becomes she was so close by.

Realising she wasn’t home, you trudged back to your apartment and sunk onto the floor, burying your face in your knees and letting out a sob. Your day had been mentally and physically exhausting enough without having to wait outside your apartment, in the cold autumn air, to anticipate Mrs Kim’s return so you could enter your apartment.

The door next to yours opened slightly, a soft, concerned voice calling out to you. “Y/n?” Jacob asked quietly, wondering why you were outside. When he noticed your crying, he immediately stepped outside and knelt in front of you. “Are you okay? What happened?” You could only sob in response, not having it in you to explain your situation to him. “Why are you crying?” sniffling, you managed to raise your head and point weakly at your front door.

“You’re locked out?” he guessed, earning a nod. “Okay, let’s go to my place,” Jacob offered you, holding his hand out to help you up. “I just made hot chocolate, and I have Disney Plus so we can watch something while you wait for Mrs Kim,” he paused when you didn’t say anything. “Technically, it’s not my Disney Plus account, but I have my friend’s password. He subscribed just to watch the Beyonce album film,” you laughed tearfully, which Jacob considered a success.

“I don’t want to bother you,” you admitted in a quiet voice, slightly raw from your crying.

“You? Bothering me?” Jacob exclaimed. “Never. Now c’mon. Our hot chocolate’s getting cold.”

Grateful for his kindness, you accepted his outstretched hand and let him pull you to your feet, gently ushering you into his apartment and closing the door behind you. He motioned for you to take a seat on his sofa and you did so, taking off your coat and scarf as you adjusted to Jacob’s warm apartment.

“Here,” he placed two mugs of hot chocolate on the coffee table in front of you, taking a seat on a sofa next to you but giving you some space. You mumbled a quiet thank you before sipping on the hot drink, savouring the way it warmed your insides.

Spotting his guitar leaning against the wall next to the TV, you cocked your head in curiosity to see what it looked like. It was made of a light brown, almost yellow, wood and looked like it was treasured by Jacob. Not only was it in perfect condition, it also looked like it had been used for years already. You silently wondered how long he had been playing it for. “Do you play?” Jacob asked, noticing where your eyes were looking.

Shaking your head, you told him that you didn’t. “You’re really good, though,” you complimented before you could realise what you were saying.

Jacob blinked at you, eyes wide and lips pursed in surprise. “Me?” he echoed. “You’ve heard me play?”

Feeling stupid, you only nodded, sipping more of your hot chocolate as an excuse to think about what you wanted to say. “Um, yeah. Walls are kind of thin around here.”

Jacob blushed. “I’m so sorry,” he apologised. “I play until really late at night most of the time. I even-“ he paused, realising you had heard him sing. “I even sing,” he whispered, eyes flitting to the ground as his cheeks reddened further.

“You’re really good,” you complimented. “At singing, too.”

Jacob shook his head. “It must be annoying.”

“Not at all,” you denied. “My last neighbour used to blast angry-girl rock music. Now, I have nothing against angry-girl rock music, but I do when it’s being played at an ear-splitting volume into the early hours of the morning. That’s annoying. Your singing… It’s more like a lullaby,” you finished your thoughts in a whisper, shy at your explanation.

“Really?” Jacob was shocked.

You hummed in agreement. “I’ve never slept so well in my life,” you admitted with a small smile.

“Oh,” Jacob sipped on his mug to stop a huge smile from taking over his features. After meeting Mrs Kim for the first time, he was intrigued to meet the person she was speaking so highly of. When he ran into you, he felt flustered and excited because you were even more stunning than he could have imagined from Mrs Kim’s description. “I’m glad I helped, then. Even though the idea of you hearing me is mildly humiliating.”

“What!” you exclaimed, louder than you had intended to. “Why would it be humiliating? Your singing is… I can’t even describe it with words. It’s beautiful, Jacob.”

“You think so?” he asked in a disbelieving tone. Your eager nod made butterflies flutter in his stomach. “Thank you. That actually means a lot.”

“You don’t seem to believe me,” you observed.

“I’m not that confident in myself, or my playing,” Jacob explained awkwardly. “I’m more the quiet type, so it’s not so easy for me to put myself out there when it comes to music. I want my music to mean something to other people, and it’s how I communicate best, so…”

“Well, I can confirm first-hand that you’re amazing,” you offered. “I might not be as great of a musician as you, so my compliment might not mean anything to you, but I really believe it.”

Jacob bit his bottom lip, deciding to nod in response to your words, too shy to say much else. You took his reaction as a sign that he didn’t want to continue the conversation anymore, so you focused your attention back onto your hot chocolate. “Do you want to watch a movie?” he offered.

“I would love to leach off of your friend’s Disney Plus account,” you agreed, referring to how Jacob ranted a little about his friend. Jacob grinned, getting up to hang your coat and scarf up for you before he turned the TV on.

Being with Jacob in a more casual state was more fun than you had expected.

Once the two of you warmed up to one another, you found that Jacob was actually really goofy and fun when he got comfortable with you. He made terrible puns about the characters in the film you decided on, and his laugh made you want to squeal because he was so adorable.

Halfway through your second movie, you had fallen asleep as a result of the hot chocolate that had deliciously warmed your body, and the exhaustion from your emotional day. When Jacob noticed, he took one of the throw blankets form his bedroom and gently placed it over your body, getting up from the sofa to let you stretch out and get some rest.

The few times you woke up after falling asleep, you were lulled back to sleep and relaxed by Jacob’s soothing guitar playing and singing. Despite being tired, you were awake long enough to be pleased that Jacob seemed comfortable enough around you to play for you while you were still in his apartment, instead of just waiting until you left.

The next morning, you woke up to the sound of Jacob’s sweet voice gently calling for you to wake up. After opening your eyes, you saw Jacob kneeling in front of you with a bright smile and ruffled hair. “Hi sleepyhead,” he greeted, handing you a cup of tea. You sat up, rubbing your eyes with one hand and accepting the mug with the other. “Mrs Kim came by to drop off your key,” Jacob said. “I texted her last night.”

“Thank you,” you replied, surprised that he had gone out of his way to contact Mrs Kim when you were an emotional wreck who had forgotten all about it.

“She also said to wake you before noon because you have classes in the afternoon and you hate rushing,” Jacob added in thought, passing your spare key from Mrs Kim over to you. “Seems a little ironic since you and I seem to only ever meet when you’re rushing.”

You laughed at this. “What can I say, you always catch me on a good day,” you joke. “But seriously. Thank you. You really helped me out last night, I don’t know how I can repay you.”

Jacob waved you off. “No repayment needed. I’m just happy to get closer to you after being your neighbour for over a month already.”

His large smile was one that you hoped you’d be seeing more of. “Has anybody ever told you that you’re an angel?” you wondered, resting your head on your hand as you observed Jacob’s face. The fluttery feeling in your stomach didn’t surprise you anymore, not after he had saved you the night before. “Like an actual angel. Now that I’ve gotten to know you better, I think I see your wings.”

A giggle escaped the man next to you. “I’ve actually heard that before,” Jacob admitted sheepishly.

“I’m not surprised,” you hummed, sipping on the warm tea Jacob made for you. “What time is it?”

“Just after eleven,” Jacob recited. “Do you have to get going?”

You nodded, finishing up your cup of tea. “I do, unfortunately. I have to go see my Chemistry professor and do some serious begging and grovelling.”

“Sounds rough,” Jacob gave you a sympathetic smile. “Well, I had a really good time last night.”

You smiled back easily, unable to hold it back. “I had a really good time last night too,” you assured him. “I really can’t thank you enough.”

“Stop,” Jacob laughed. “Don’t even think about it. I was happy to have you over.”

“I was happy to finally hear your playing in person,” you replied. “I only really heard it in and out of sleep, but I was still glad to hear it. Also,” you paused, unsure if you were going too far.

“Also,” he echoed, curiosity piqued.

“You said last night that you wanted your music to mean something,” you recalled. “It does mean something. To me, at least. It actually means a lot.”

“I think I can see those angel wings you’re talking about,” Jacob said. “Except they’re on you.”

“Very funny,” you laughed, getting up and finding your coat. “I really need to get going, though.”

“Okay,” Jacob nodded, walking you to the door. “I’ll see you around?” he offered, insecure that you wouldn’t want to spend more time with him.

“I’ll see you soon,” you corrected, flashing him a wink before you let yourself out. Jacob closed the door behind you and you let yourself sigh in delight, relishing in the evening you had together the night before.

“What are you doing walking out of your hot neighbour’s apartment?” you jumped, surprised by Changmin’s sudden presence at your front door. He held out a take-away cup of coffee for you.

“You scared me,” you told him, ignoring his comment as you accepted the coffee.

“Don’t act like you didn’t hear me,” Changmin scowled, following you into your apartment after you unlocked your door. “You came to school in those clothes yesterday. Did you hook up with your cute neighbour? Jacob?”

“You ask so many questions,” you complained, making your way into the bathroom to wash your face and brush your teeth. “No, I didn’t hook up with Jacob. I locked myself out and he graciously took me in for the evening, despite my emotional ugly-crying.”

Changmin laughed. “You would go stay at your hot neighbour’s house after having the crappiest day in the world,” he said, pleased at the outcome.

“Thanks, Changmin. Now I need to change so that I have enough time to beg our Chemistry professor to let me do extra-credit assignments so I don’t fail the class,” you added, feeling gloomy about what happened with your midterm the day before.

“Sure, sure,” Changmin nodded, taking a seat on your sofa and taking his phone out.

You made your way to your bedroom to change your clothes, going as quickly as possible so that you still had time to neaten your hair a little. When a knock sounded through your apartment, you called out to Changmin to open the door for you.

“Oh, hi!” you heard your best friend say in his usual chipper tone. “You must be Jacob! I’ve heard so much about you,” at the sound of Jacob’s name, you dropped your hair brush and rushed to the front door, where Changmin was smirking at your neighbour.

“Hey,” you greeted. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jacob assured you, glancing nervously at Changmin, who was still grinning at him.

“Could you give us a minute?” you asked Changmin, raising an eyebrow at his blatant eavesdropping. He sighed, sad that his fun was over, before he walked in the direction of your kitchen. “What’s up?” you smiled at Jacob.

He took a deep breath. “Would you want to get dinner some time?” he asked, tapping his foot as a nervous habit.

His question both surprised and delighted you. “Like a date?” you asked, hiding your smile.

“Like a date,” Jacob confirmed. “If you want.”

“I want,” you agreed, showing your smile. “I want a lot.”

“Great,” Jacob sighed, relieved. “I want a lot, too.” You giggled at how strange the two of you sounded.

“If you guys are going to start kissing, I suggest you do it now because we have to go,” Changmin called from the kitchen, ruining the moment.

Jacob pointed in Changmin’s direction. “He’s not coming to dinner, is he?” he asked.

You grinned. “Absolutely not.”

“How does tonight sound?” Jacob suggested. “Or is that too eager of me?”

“Just eager enough,” you assured him. “Pick me up at seven?”

“Sure thing,” he agreed, beaming as he stepped out of your doorway to go back to his apartment.

“I hope you don’t get lost on your way to my apartment,” you teased. “It’s awfully far from yours.”

“I’ll just follow the sound of your wings,” he called, waving before he disappeared into his apartment.

Dinner. You liked the sound of that.

note: second fic in my 2k celebration series!! i know that this fic and the last didn’t end with a kiss or a relationship but i still think the ending is cute, i hope it satisfies you!

[skellebonez]

Hey, hey Skelle. 41and 51 with Spider Queen/Macaque/Wukong with the three adjusting to Spider Wukong and the first two trying not to be obvious that they're having a crisis.

Oh I know these two are absolute fucking disasters after Spider Wukong happens. They are the biggest bi/pan disasters and Wukong knows it. Here is some very important artwork that you need to be aware of (because I use them as references).

Spoilers for, well. Everything.

Can you teach me how to do that?/Can you two save the kissing for later?

"You did this," Macaque said bluntly to the Spider Queen, not taking his eyes off the display in front of them. "You did this and I don't know whether to thank you or hate you."

"I am aware," she sighed, only looking away to look down at the four armed and four eyed spider monkie beside her. "Is this a formal complaint?"

"Take a wild guess," Macaque managed out out, resting his head in his palm as he tried to stop the swishing of his tail.

"You're hopeless."

She turned back to watch Sun Wukong effortlessly move things around his island. It was always easy for him, it would take no effort for the Monkey King to move a tree with one hand. Except now... now he was a six armed and massively tall Spider Monkie just like Macaque. Only taller. With two more arms.. And always shirtless. And as he displayed this massive amount of strength he was gently grooming one of his many monkey subjects so carefully in his extra arms.

A dangerous sight for his two partners to behold.

~

Things had calmed down a lot since, well, everything that happened. Most of their lives were much less hectic with Spider Queen and her family combining with Team MK and the White Bone Spirit finally dealt with.

But that didn't mean they could afford to just relax all the time. There were still enemies out there, more so with the side switching and the reveal of MK being Spider Queen's son, and given the transformations both immortal monkies went through they needed to stretch and move around to keep themselves in decent shape. So that was how they found themselves in a light sparring match, working out excess energy and finding it more enjoyable than they had in centuries.

"You're getting rusty, Peaches!" Macaque teased, using his four arms to cartwheel sideways and then backwards with much more ease than he ever had before. "Come on, you have to have some kind of trick up your non-existent sleeves!"

Spider Queen watched from the sidelines in the shade, shaking her head at the terrible banter. "Speak for yourself."

Wukong didn't say anything, just smirked and rushed at his partner. Macaque strafed to the side, easily dogging the kicks and punches and finding himself let laughter bubble up as the fight continued. It had been so long since their last spar and he felt almost as good as he had ever been!

And then Wukong gently grabbed his face.

Distantly he felt four hands wrap around his four wrists and that was all the warning he got before Wukong flipped them sideways and Macaque landed backwards in the dirt.

He froze, the six armed spider monkie's top set of hands cupping his face like it was made of glass. He was suddenly very aware of exactly how close the other's face was to his own, how the lighter hair of his sideburns blended into his regular hair now, how bright green the other's eyes were and how wide his pupils were (was that normal? he couldn't think well enough to remember), and how excessively tall he was. He was so tall.

"I win," Wukong announced, hands now cradling the back of Macaque's head to keep it from hitting the dirt and wrists still held captive in his hands. He chuckled as he rolled them over again, so easy and so strong and Macaque felt like his own limbs were putty as Wukong sat back against a nearby boulder. He only watched with a wry smile as Macaque fell forward, hand out between two of his own arms to catch himself before he face planted into the other's chest. He felt Wukong let his wrists go, his middle arms on either side going to rest on his waist in some fashion and one of hi lower hands running up and down his back with claws digging through the coarse fur.

He didn't move the hands cradling his face.

"You're cute like this, you know."

Wukong said this with a soft low chuckle, and Macaque tensed up as he felt the taller's hand move from running along his spine to trail up the back of his tail from base to tip. His now massive stature making this a much easier endeavor, especially when Macaque's traitorous tail lifted of it's own accord to meet the touch against it.

All Macaque could do was tense as his fur poofed up, ears flared out, face flushed red, and an odd choking noise that sounded like it was mixed with a deflating tire escaped his mouth.

"Oh no... oh no, he has it baaaaaad," Spider Queen breathed from a distance, unable to hide the flush of her own face. "I made him more powerful... he's doing this on purpose, I know it."

Eventually Wukong stood the two of them up and had to run off to take care of some of the baby monkeys on their island home, leaving Macaque to stand there. And watch. As he left.

Then he immediately covered his face with his hands and screamed into them.

Spider Queen snuck away from Macaque later in the day, finding the courage to ask Wukong "Can you teach me how to do that?"

He laughed but obliged.

~

Spider Queen wasn't unused to moving around on her real legs, she'd done it before. Like when she had tricked Pigsy (and Tang by association) at the food market that long long time ago. But she had relied on her mech so much since then and had been ripped from it so violently, torn from it in a way that wasn't supposed to disconnect her from it at all, and then spent so much time in... whatever plane she was trapped in within the Trigram Furnace that walking again was difficult at times.

Then again... maybe if she hadn't insisted to herself that she needed to wear longer dressed and massive pumps and wedges and heels to make herself taller, so that she wouldn't have to crane her neck to look at her partners and so they wouldn't have to strain their backs to look at her... maybe she wouldn't be in this position.

Not that she was complaining. Oh no. Complaints about this exact scenario left the second it started.

She'd followed at least some of her partner's insistence that she stop wearing stilettos until she got the hang of safer heels. She was wearing wedges this time, still tall and extreme and probably not the best for someone still recovering. But she managed well enough.

Until she stumbled standing from the stool at Pigsy's, her legs more tired from the walk then she had expected.

It almost felt like it happened in slow motion. She was headed face first toward the floor. Then two arms grabbed her from behind, then another two, then when her momentum stopped a fifth and sixth brushed her hair away from her face as Wukong stood her up back onto shaky feet.

"Are you alright?" He asked, his grip loose but not entirely letting go yet. "Do your legs hurt?"

"N-no," she stuttered out, trying her best to keep her face impartial and to not let the blush forming take hold. "They're just... tired, I suppose."

"That's good," Wukong said, shaking his head after a moment. "Well, it's not good they're tired, but still. How about I help you get home?"

"UH... ok?" She said softly, and instantly she was off the ground.

And Wukong was off the ground.

They were both off the ground, the Monkey King lounged lazily on his cloud and Spider Queen cradled carefully in two of his sets of arms with her head resting on his chest. And... oh no. This was nice actually.

She felt her face flush more.

"Comfortable?" Wukong asked, tone low and soft with a smirk on his face as he moved it closer and she knew that he was doing it on purpose again. His pupils were oddly dilated as well... spiders and monkeys didn't do that, they weren't cats, but this was the monkey king and demons purred so... who knows.

"Yes," was the high pitched squeak that escaped her, and who knows what would have happened if a loud cough had not sounded from Pigsy.

Oh right. They were in his shop still.

"Can you two save the kissing for later? When you're not blocking the entrance to my shop, maybe?"

Wukong only laughed and zipped out of the store on his cloud, hugging Spider Queen more firmly against his chest.

... she needed to wear even more heels if this is where it got her.

~

The two were pressed into and laid their heads on either side of the partner's chest, the couch almost just a smidgen too small for all of them. But Wukong had fallen asleep in between them and they didn't have the hearts to wake him up. His head rested on one of his top arms, the other lazily slung over the back of the couch, while the other two wrapped around Spider Queen and Macaque softly.

Protectively.

One of Macaque's own arms was reaching over to hold Spider Queen's hand softly.

"Thank you," Macaque said after a moment. "I am with drawing my formal complaint."

She couldn't help but laugh.

[thenovelartist]

Game Over: Be Mine

Happy (late) Birthday to my friend @galaxyofconstellations​

“I swear, Adrien, you frickin’ blue shell me, I am going to kick you out of my house right now.”

The young man sitting beside her just laughed. “It’s not like I have the option of who to blue shell, though.”

“You have the option to not blue shell me in the first place.”

“Yeah, but what’s the fun in that?”

“Adrien Agreste,” Marinette growled.

He shot her a smug grin. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

Marinette huffed. To say this was out of the ordinary for her to sass a supermodel would be a lie. She’d met the man beside her a couple years ago when her best friend happened to start going out with his best friend. And then game nights between the four of them began to transpire every once in a while. And then once a month. And now about once week. However, there were times Alya and Nino, due to their schedules, wanted to ditch game nights so they could actually have a date night that week.

Just as they had done tonight.

And that was all right by Marinette and Adrien. Because they had become plenty close over the past couple years and had learned to enjoy solo game nights without the lovey-dovey couple getting all lovey-dovey on them.

“I am not kidding.” Marinette warned.

“I’d love to see you try.”

“To kick you out?”

“Yeah.”

“I will.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Don’t underestimate me. I’m stronger than I look.”

“I’m not. I’ve seen you lift flour bags. I know full well what you’re capable of.”

“Therefore, you know better than to use that blue shell on me.”

Marinette snuck a glance at Adrien, who was wearing a smile that she Did. Not. Like. It was that smile that always meant trouble yet caused her heart to flutter. It was not fair that he looked extra attractive wearing that grin. Being a fashion designer, she’d seen her fair share of models. She hardly cared for them beyond being able to display her creations. Attractive men who constantly made passes at her while she fitted them with clothes were a dime a dozen.

However, the model next to her with his tongue slightly sticking out while his brows furrowed deeply in concentration could not be so easily tossed under that blanket statement, even if he had jokingly made passes at her while she tailored his outfits. Honestly, she found herself wishing more often than not that he’d meant them despite knowing he hadn’t.

“Well…” he said, shooting her a quick wink before turning back to the screen, “knowing and doing are two different things.”

“Adrien Agreste.”

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

“Don’t even think about it.”

“About pressing this button?”

“Yes.”

He moved his finger.

“Don’t you dare.”

“Oops.”

“Screw you!”

Marinette watched as the blue shell flew through the course and struck her, causing her cart to explode right before the finish line. Before her cart could even fully recover, she watched as Adrien’s cart zipped past her across the finish line.

“Winner!” he shouted, tossing his hands in the air while wearing a beaming smile.

“You mangy—”

“Hey hey, be nice.”

“Nice?!”

“Yeah.” He shot her a smile that did not under any circumstances cause the butterflies in her stomach to swirl. “It’s not becoming to be a sore loser.”

Marinette sputtered. “It is when you’re a cheater!”

“How’d I cheat? I merely used what the game gave me.”

“You strategically planned to screw me over.”

“But but but…” he began with a pout. “That’s kinda the point of Mario Cart.”

She let loose a growl before turning away from him. “Honestly, you’re such a piece of work.”

“Yeah, but you love me.”

The words were said in jest. Marinette knew this. Her heart could not take it in jest. Not when she had developed a healthy crush on the man who was now behind her.

“Mari?”

Adrien’s concerned voice floated towards her, and her anger was already fading. She couldn’t stay mad at him, even if he did win this game five times in a row. She wasn’t a sore loser, but she also knew she was better than this.

“Maaaaariiiiii.”

His voice now resonated right by her ear. She could feel the couch cushion sink under his weight as he crawled across the couch to now be right behind her.

“Get lost. I’m sulking,” she snarked, turning her face away from him in hopes to hide the smile growing on her face.

“Oh, are we now?”

“We are,” she resolutely returned.

“Oh.”

There was a pause, and Marinette felt the cushion under her return to normal as Adrein shifted off the couch entirely.

“Well,” Adrien said, rounding the arm rest to place himself right before her. She had to cover her mouth in hopes of hiding her grin just a little while longer. “I do know one way to get you to stop sulking.”

Marinette froze for a second, hand falling away from her face—her smile was long gone now—as she looked towards Adrien.

He was grinning.

She began panicking.

“You wouldn’t.”

His smile only grew in responce.

He would.

In a flash, Marinette spun around, planning to bolt off the couch and out of his reach.

Unfortunately, she was not fast enough to escape. And she squealed as he began his attack.

His tickle attack, that is.

“Adrien!” she shrieked, collapsing onto the couch in a fit of laughter. She tried to wiggle away from him, but it was no use. He had crawled over the arm of the couch and was now hovering over her. “Stop.”

“Never!” he cried, wrapping his arms fully around her to hold her close as his assault on her sides continued.

Marinette let out another shriek, laughing so hard tears were forming in her eyes as she tried to wiggle her way out of Adrien’s grasp. He was now laughing along with her as he pinned her fully beneath him to the couch, his arms around her waist that held her tightly enough to continue tickling her sides. “Give up,” he cried, giggling all the while.

“I give!” Marinette screamed, still laughing as her back arched and hands pushed against his shoulders in an unfortunately futile attempt to escape his grasp. “I give! I surrender! Please.”

He held his hands still, though his fingers still lingered on her exposed skin right between her pants and where her shirt had ridden up on her hips. He propped himself up best he could and pulled her back towards him, close enough for his face to hover right above hers. “No more pouty Mari!”

“Yes, yes! Okay. You win. Stop!”

With that, he fully halted his attack, allowing Marinette a moment to breathe. Wide smile still lingering on her face, she let her eyes shut as she took heaving gulps of air that she wasn’t able to get during her tickle-induced laughing attack.

Faintly, she became aware of Adrien also breathing heavily, a short chuckle escaping him here and there. “Hey.”

She opened her eyes, only to come face to face with Adrien. “What?”

“I didn’t go too overboard, did I?”

With a heavy sigh, she let her eyes drift closed for a moment before shaking her head. “No. No more than usual.”

“Good,” he huffed, clearly relieved.

While the two were coming down from their giggle fit high, Marinette became increasingly aware of their very precarious position. At the moment, she was pinned to the couch, a fact she had already been aware of, but not to this extent. Adrien’s face was barely hovering above hers, looking every bit as handsome as he possibly could be while he laid on top of her, their legs intertwined and his arms fencing her in.

She felt all her blood rush to her cheeks that moment. It wasn’t fair. He shouldn’t be able to have this affect on her. He was a model like any one of the dozens she was frequently surrounded with.

But he was also her friend. And a huge dork. And great at video games. And skilled both in the art of cheering her up and melting her heart. And and and…

And it just wasn’t fair how badly she’d fallen for him. Or how badly she wanted to kiss him right now.

“Adrien.”

“Hmm?”

“What… what if…”

She bit her lip. Just what did she think she was doing right now?

“What if I told you you did go overboard? What would you be willing to do to pay me back for it?”

He paused, distress slowly beginning to shadow his pretty features. “Anything.”

“Anything?”

“I have Nino, who’s my best bro. But beyond that, the person I’m closest to… is you,” he quietly admitted. “I’d do whatever it took to make it up to you.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Her heart was racing as she looked at the handsome man before her, the one she’d come to care for deeply and sincerely. She knew better than to take advantage of this situation. She knew better than to be manipulative like this. And yet, as Marinette looked at him, she also wasn’t sure she cared. “Then, close your eyes.”

Without hesitating, he did just that.

It wasn’t lost on Marinette the amount of trust he put into her. He was the kind that asked “how high” when asked to jump, but only for a select few people. Everyone else could take a long walk off a short pier for all he cared.

It made her realize once again just how precious that trust in her was.

Which made her rethink what she was about to do.

Ultimately, she shoved doubt aside as she raised her hands to cradle his cheeks, and he sucked in a sharp breath at her touch. They were soft to the touch yet very well defined. He was so handsome. A model through and through.

And maybe, she should stop saying such things, because what did it matter that he was a model. That was the one thing she could care less about when it came to him. Not when he had so many other qualities that shone far brighter.

Slowly, she started pulling him closer. And he came willingly. Yet, at the last moment, she froze.

In the end, she couldn’t go through with it.

“Adrien.”

“Please tell me you’re going to kiss me.”

She gasped quietly, unsure how to proceed or even answer that question. “I…” Words choked up in her throat. “I… wanted to.”

“Wanted to?” Adrien asked, eyes cracking open to match hers.

Her hands fell from his cheeks, curling together on her collarbone. She glanced away shyly. “I don’t… can’t take advantage of you.”

His hand reached up to brush aside her hair before cradling the back of her neck, bringing her attention back to his soft and sweet smile. “You’re not,” he gently assured. “Not by a long shot.��

“Then…” Marinette once again reached up to cradle his cheeks, and Adrien took that as his cue to pull her close and kiss her.

It was a single kiss, one that was a firm, lingering press of their lips together.

And in that moment, Marinette knew this was game over for her and her heart. Adrien had won again. But this time, she hardly minded.

“I’ve wanted to do that for a while,” Adrien whispered. “But… seems like you were braver than I was. It never felt like the right time, and I was too chicken to push my luck when I knew I could end up losing you.”

Words now completely failed Marinette. What was she supposed to say to that? How was she supposed to respond? “I… get… how you feel.”

Above her, Adrien’s loving smile grew. “So, does this mean I can press my luck and get a favorable answer when I ask if you’d be my girl?”

Marinette was quick to nod. “Yes.”

Adrien visibly relaxed, faint blush growing on his own cheeks. “I’m… really glad to hear that.”

A short silence passed between them.

“Second question.”

“Yeah?” Marinette whispered, her heart already over the moon and head completely in the clouds.

“If I asked to kiss you again,” Adrien said, leaning closer. “Would that answer be a yes?”

Those words wracked around in her mind for two seconds before short-circuiting everything. Forget speech, because that had become physically impossible, Marinette just grabbed his cheeks again.

Right before she could pull him down to grant his request, she could hear him chuckle softly. “I like that answer,” he whispered. “But…”

His lips brushed against hers as his voice got low and so quiet she could barely pick up on the words that fully destroyed her. “I like you even more.”

[robininthelabyrinth]

AU where the Wei Wuxian who returns from the Burial Mounds has already had his mind so affected by the resentful energies that he's forgotten - many, many things. He remembers who tried to kill him, so lashes out against the Wens, but everything else? Not so much...

There was something quite freeing about not having much of a memory, in Wei Wuxian’s view; it wasn’t his fault that no one else seemed to agree with him.

It made things very simple. If he liked someone, he liked them; if he didn’t, he didn’t – he didn’t have to worry about how they might have interacted before, or what their history was like, or who they might be. He could just feel what he felt, and act accordingly.

Take the one in purple with the poisonous tongue, who scolded him in public and wept over him in private; Wei Wuxian liked him very much. So what if he couldn’t remember his name, no matter how many times he repeated it?

If he had a memory, he might have resented the way the man ignored his wishes and demanded desperately that he work on a cure to undo the damage the Burial Mounds had caused; as it was, he was able to simply see it as a gesture of love by someone who only knew how to show affection and never how to speak of it.

He liked the girl who made him soup, too. She made him feel safe and small in the best of ways; he’d remember just enough of manners to make sure they were alone before he asked her if she was his mother – it turned out she was as young as she looked, and not younger due to cultivation, and so it was impossible. A pity, in his view, and he told her as much; she’d been sad but also flattered.

She’d patiently explained a few times over what their relationship actually was; from that point on, he tried very hard to remember to call her shijie, and most of the time he even managed to remember it.

So there were two people he liked.

Turned out there weren’t many more than that. The ones in white-and-red – he didn’t like them.

That was something of an understatement, actually.

He loathed them.

It made killing them and denying them the dignity of having an intact corpse, turning their bodies into his puppets, into something that was not only useful, but enjoyable.

The man in purple scolded him about that, too, but maybe not as hard as he seemed to think he should.

Those ones were the easy ones: the rest were a little more tricky, since he largely felt nothing at all about them – as a favor to the two he liked, he didn’t make a move against them unless they provoked him, which they sometimes did, but even when he did take action it didn’t really matter. It wasn’t as though they weren’t all willing to trade a few dead allies in exchange for his power.

Good, bad, indifferent – that was his life now.

Nice, clean, simple.

There was only one problem.

At first he’d thought the one in white was the one in purple’s friend – they spent an awful lot of time huddled together trying to think of ways to cure him – but eventually it’d been explained to him that they weren’t. In fact, the one in purple said that the one in white had previously hated him.

Wei Wuxian didn’t like that.

He had no idea why he didn’t like that, but he didn’t.

“You’re not allowed to hate me,” he told the one in white, cornering him one day and poking him in the chest. “You’re not. You need to like me. You understand? You can’t dislike me.”

The one in white blinked. He had very long eyelashes, and pretty golden irises beneath them. “I don’t dislike Wei Ying,” he said.

“Good,” Wei Wuxian said, satisfied. And then, because he was feeling mischievous, he said, “Your forehead ribbon is crooked,” and laughed when the man immediately reached out to fix it.

He laughed an awful lot when he was around the man in white. He wasn’t sure why, since the man himself seemed to have no sense of humor at all, and barely any more ability to carry a conversation, but the man in purple seemed to think it was a good sign – apparently he’d always done that.

Personally, Wei Wuxian thought it was suspicious.

He laughed around the man in white, he felt bad when he thought the other man didn’t like him, he constantly felt the need to be near him, to tease him, merely seeing him made him lick his lips and taste the phantom impression of sweet wine, and yet no one else seemed to think they were on good terms –

It was really very obvious what was going on.

Even someone with no memory could figure it out.

He snuck up on the man in white late one night when he was off patrolling unnecessarily, as if all their sentries wouldn’t do the job; personally, Wei Wuxian would wager that the man in white just liked to be alone.

“I know, you know,” he said conversationally, and the man in white – totally unsurprised to see him, another mark of evidence in favor of Wei Wuxian’s theory – turned to look at him. “There’s no need to keep hiding it.”

“Hiding what?” the man in white asked, stoic as always.

Wei Wuxian laughed and wrapped his arms around his neck; the other man stiffened, but that was fine – Wei Wuxian reached over and placed the other man’s arms around his body, and yes, it was just as he’d thought; a perfect fit.

“I know we were lovers,” he said, and laughed again when the man in white’s ears turned bright red immediately. “It’s pretty obvious, you know.”

“Wei Ying –”

“Ah, ah, don’t worry! I won’t tell anyone. The way everyone thinks we can’t stand each other – we were clearly hiding it from them for some reason, probably politics, I think I’m very happy that I can’t remember politics – and even if I think it’s stupid, I won’t embarrass you by revealing it. But there’s no real reason we can’t keep on carrying on in private, right?”

“Wei Ying –”

“It’s my memory, isn’t it?” Wei Wuxian sighed dramatically. “You’re so stubborn. So what if I’ve lost my memory? I’m still me. The purest form of me, in fact, untroubled by all that mess…I’m still capable of thought, and I’m an adult, and I’m consenting. You should take me to bed.”

“Wei Ying!”

“Or do I take you to bed?” Wei Wuxian squinted at him. “Do we switch? I did some research, you know, once I figured it out – the cultivator in green, with the fan, has a truly marvelous collection, I hadn’t even known some of that was possible – and it seems – mmmm!”

The man in white had covered his mouth very firmly.

Wei Wuxian struggled for a bit, and the other man’s other arm tighten around him, and oh, yes, they were definitely lovers and he was definitely the one being bedded; he would rather like it if the man went a little further, maybe tossed him down on the ground – or oooh, maybe against a tree, that would be exciting, they’d done that on the fourth page of the book he’d looked over –

“Wei Ying, listen to me,” the man in white said, then jerked away his hand in a panic when Wei Wuxian licked his palm.

“I’m listening,” he said lazily. “Go on. What’re your conditions? Whatever they are, I’ll meet them.”

The man in white had been about to say something, but suddenly hesitated.

“Well?” Wei Wuxian prodded. “You want this as much as I do. I can tell.”

He rocked his hips forward suggestively, and smirked when the red started spreading from those ears into those cheeks.

“You will meet my conditions?” the man in white finally said, and yes, Wei Wuxian was going to get laid!

He had no memory of whether or not he’d done it before, but he was very enthusiastic about the idea.

“Whatever you like,” he said recklessly.

The man in white pressed his lips together for a moment, clearly weighing his options, and finally he said, “Very well.”

Wei Wuxian grinned. “Hit me.”

“Put your full effort into regaining your memory,” the man in white said, and Wei Wuxian’s smile disappeared.

“That’s not fair!”

“You haven’t been trying,” the man in white continued ruthlessly, and he’s not wrong; Wei Wuxian’s been nodding rather than waste effort disagreeing. “If you tried, you would succeed.”

Wei Wuxian pulled back just enough to study the man in white’s expression. “And if I do manage to get my memory back?”

The man in white looked awkward, but determined. “I will – do as you said.”

“Oh no,” Wei Wuxian said. “No deal. Uh-uh. You think I’m going to trade what might be weeks of work for a mere roll in the sheets? Absolutely not. You’re going to need to up your offer.”

The man in white frowned.

“I want to go public,” Wei Wuxian said, and grinned at the way the man’s eyes widened. “I don’t like the thought of sneaking around and not telling my family – my shijie, my…you know, the purple one, him – they should know. I want them to. You want me to put my full effort into getting my memory back? Fine. Then I want you in my bed all the time, not just when we can do it in secret.”

The man in white seemed to be thinking very hard about something.

Wei Wuxian waited.

Eventually, the man in white nodded, and Wei Wuxian beamed.

“Very well,” he said, and his voice was oddly shaky; the thought of going public must really be frightening to him. Good thing he had Wei Wuxian by his side; Wei Wuxian wasn’t scared of anything. “If you successfully regain your memory, I will go to Sect Leader Jiang and ask for your hand in marriage.”

Wei Wuxian hadn’t actually meant marriage, only publicity, but of course a stickler for etiquette like Lan – like Lan Zh- – like – like the man in white, well, of course he’d insist on doing things the right way.

That was fine by Wei Wuxian.

“And when we’re married, we’ll sleep together every day,” he added, feeling especially daring. “You hear me? Every day.”

The man in white nodded. “Every day.”

Wei Wuxian grinned. “Well then,” he said, feeling quite smug at having wrapped things up so nicely. His past and future self-with-memories was going to just have to thank him for doing what he’d clearly been too much of a coward to do before. “I guess I’d better get to work.”