#it could just be my body getting used to working out again after i had to stop for a week

[rustedhearts]

just friends (again) (roommate!steve harrington x fem!reader)

summary: you’ve convinced everyone around you that you and steve are just friends. now you just have to convince yourself—but it proves difficult when steve finally admits how he feels.

uses she/her pronouns and female anatomy.

✶ just friends (part one) ✶ the library

tags: pining, yearning, they want each other so bad they're so stupid, little angst/hurt/comfort, oh steve harrington the man that you are. didn't proofread so ignore any mistakes oops.

buy me a ko-fi! (my blurb commissions are also still open!)

“I’m having a little carpet picnic.”

Julia Roberts’ voice filled the living room with a familiar warmth. The pinks and whites of the Beverly Hills hotel room from Pretty Woman coated the coach and the surface of your face with a gentle glow. The Chinese food you ordered a few hours ago was starting to stink. Even Ted, who was curled at your feet for most of your movie marathon, could no longer stand the vegetative life and scampered away.

It had been a week since Eddie broke things off. After Steve punched him, you spent the Sunday post-knockout calling and texting, hoping to sort things out. But Eddie never picked up. Eddie never replied. You figured stopping by the shop was a bit too far—if he wanted to talk to you, he would’ve by now.

So here you were, spending another weekend on the couch. Single. Broke. Lonely.

“He thought I was cheating on him,” is the excuse you have for getting dumped.

But the look on Theresa’s face when you told her is the first time it made you recoil. The first time you doubted that Eddie was 100%, entirely out of his mind.

Theresa winced into the overpriced lattes you were drinking at a curbside patio on Wednesday. “Well…I mean…”

And you gasped, mouth agape and heart hammering in your chest. What the fuck did that mean? Because you were just friends. All Steve ever was and is: your best friend. Why did everyone act like you were having a secret affair when the doors were closed on the public?

“You’ve gotta be kidding me—“

“I’m not defending the prick,” Theresa justified. “He was an asshole for talking to you like that. But I can see why he might have thought that. You and Steve are really close. Like…very close.”

“We’re friends,” you insisted.

And Theresa dropped it, holding her hands above her latte with innocent agreement. But her words haunted you the entire week. Every time Steve filled your coffee and had it ready on the counter for your commute to work (he even used your favorite travel mug). Every time he came home with a bag of peanut m&ms when he dropped by the store because it was the little treat you always asked for, but he didn’t even need to be asked anymore.

But like any other Saturday, the apartment was void of him for most of the day. He mumbled some excuse about going to the mall through your door this morning, and when he came home twenty minutes into Pretty Woman with an Abercrombie shopping bag, you knew he’d been date shopping.

“Hey,” he called to you, door clamping closed behind him. His keys jingled on their toss toward the table cluttered with half-opened mail.

Cheek squished against a throw pillow, body splayed flat on the couch, you cut him a glance sideways and adjusted the volume. “Hey.”

Steve kicked off his shoes and set his bag near the door, making your chest tighten when he immediately sauntered toward the couch. He turned to the tv with his hands on his hips.

He asked what he always asked, despite his eyes watching the very thing. “Watchya watchin’?”

“Pretty Woman.”

“Did you already watch Mystic Pizza?”

“Yep.”

Steve sighed. “Damn. Alright, well, scooch over.”

When he plucked your feet up and flopped down under them, he smelled like the sickeningly sweet butter of a soft pretzel, and the overwhelming stench of Abercrombie & Fitch. You couldn’t believe he still shopped there.

His hands were still resting on your ankles, bracing your feet against his jean-clad thighs. His touch was warm, soft, all-encompassing—and suddenly all you could think about even as Richard Gere came on screen. Steve's touch, his heat, the body those hands came attached to resting just inches away. He was wearing blue today. He looked so good in blue.

You swallowed and coughed, cheek rubbing on the pillow. Steve’s finger twitched around your calf.

“You okay?”

“Mhm,” you croaked.

His eyes bored into you for a moment before he turned back to Julia Roberts. "Notting Hill or My Best Friend's Wedding after this?"

Your lips parted to reply, but then his finger began tracing shapes into the patch of skin between the bottom of your pant leg and the elastic of your sock. Air choked in your throat. Your eyes bulged on the glowing television screen. The muscles in the center of your body knotted and squeezed like nausea.

In your stock-still state, it didn't even occur to you that Steve somehow knew your entire I'm-sad-and-can-only-watch-Julia-Roberts-movies marathon setlist, but it certainly crossed your mind later on. You and Steve are really close. Maybe Theresa had a point.

"Um..." Your tongue darted out to lick your suddenly-dry lips.

"You good over there?" Steve chuckled, head tipping to gauge the features and their current predicament on your face.

You buried it further into the pillow, as far as it could go without hiding completely. "Yes, Steve, I'm fine."

Steve pulled back, settling into the couch again. "Jeez, oh-kay."

He waited a moment, and you inched free from your pillow enough to bring your eye back to the television, doing your best to focus on the movie you'd seen a million times and not Steve's hand sweeping under your pant leg. He'd done that a million times, too. Touched you. Felt you.

He held your hand when you crossed the road like a child that needed guidance. He braced your back to move you which way he wanted, and to pull you close when public situational occurrences arose that made him uncomfortable. He brushed your hair once when you were victim to an ungodly illness that had you picturing death. He removed your makeup on your birthday last year when you got so drunk you puked in the doorway.

His hands were always so gentle. His touch was always so soft.

But, God, why did it feel so different right now? Why did it feel so good?

"Want a mall haul?" Steve asked, too uncomfortable in the sudden silence of the living room. He was already standing and placing your feet back on their own before you could reply.

In your periphery, he headed toward the door to retrieve the bags he neglected. "Got a couple shirts to try. Also, am I too old for that store? I swear, everyone in there was like a little Taylor Lautner wannabe from 2012—meaning they were fourteen and on steroids—"

"Steve!"

He stopped. Standing at the edge of the rug with both hands on the corded handles of his Abercrombie & Fitch shopping bag to pull it open. The snicker gathering in his throat hitched into a snort, smirk drooping into wide-eyed surprise.

You never yelled. Not at him. Not at anyone that didn't deserve it, like the neighbors when they were arguing too loud again and you were trying to nap. Like the guy that tried to steal Steve's package a few months ago that you nearly tackled down the hall.

But never Steve.

You shot up on the couch, hands flying to your pounding head. "Just...please! I don't want a mall haul, I don't want to talk, I just...—I just wanna be alone."

Steve blinked, cheeks colored pink. He closed the bag slowly, paper crinkling as he went. He took it in one hand and backed up, stepping off the rug foot by foot. He glanced at Ted, who skittered in surprise at your outburst and was standing with an arched back and black pupils near the tv stand.

"Uh...yeah, okay. Sorry," he mumbled, scratching at the nape of his neck.

Your shoulders slumped, deflating into the couch as Steve turned his eyes to the floor and tugged at the back of his hair. That stress tick again—the one you hated causing. He turned slowly, caution stiff in his spine. You watched his finger twist and wind into a lock of chestnut hair as he trudged into the hall. His door clamped closed a moment later.

A heavy, moaning sigh shuddered from your mouth as you flopped back on the pillow. Two arms locked over your head, pressing down on your eyes to blind them and the horror you created.

"Slippery little suckers," Julia Roberts snickered on the screen.

"It happens all the time."

✶ ✶

You ate dinner separately. It was the first time you'd ever eaten dinner separately within the same four walls. Even the night you moved in together, when you were nothing but a pair of strangers gauging how weird it might be to live with the opposite sex without something romantic or sexual in the undertones—even then, you ate a greasy cheese pizza together on the living room floor with an empty box as makeshift table.

He asked all the right get-to-know-you questions, and when he successfully made you laugh with all his snarks and quips, you knew Steve Harrington would be an alright roommate. You never figured he'd become your best friend.

Tonight, you pouted into the salad you regretted purchasing yesterday because a "healthy" lifestyle was born and had died within the span of your forty minute shopping trip. And now, you wanted nothing but another wet, shiny pizza, and Steve Harrington's dumb jokes.

He ate in his room. Shuffled out while you were finishing Notting Hill and made another bland chicken-rice-and-broccoli dinner. And then he shuffled past you, shut his door, and ate it alone. Never even giving you a chance to tease his unseasoned plate for the purpose of "gains." You thought he could remain just as toned and handsome with flavor on his food.

By the time you were showered, redressed, and gurgling with lingering hunger, you were properly sour with guilt.

And maybe the black sweatpants with the bedazzled jewels on your ass were pulled on with manipulative purpose before you shuffled to Steve's door. You lingered there a while, gnawing on the skin around your thumbnail and glancing between the wood grain of Steve's door and the plush surface of your yellow slippers. At this proximity, you could hear the low hum of his radio behind the door. He had a strange affection for the 70s and 80s station.

If only you knew that it was because Steve knew "the all time hits of the 70s and 80s" were your favorite.

The radio dimmed, and a moment later Steve's voice called through the door. "I can hear you lingering out there."

You jumped, stepping away from the door. Your thumb returned to your mouth, teeth piercing the skin to nibble it away. The shuffle of feet and jingle of the doorknob came too swiftly for you to evade, and then the door swung open to reveal Steve in grey sweatpants and a tight red t-shirt. He looked good in red, too.

"Oh. Hi," you murmured, hand instantly dropping to your side.

Steve caged the doorway, biceps bulging on either side. You averted your eyes with a swallow.

He sighed. "Hi."

Steve watched you sweep a slippered foot back and forth like sloshing through water. He tipped his head and bit away a smile when he caught the edge of a jewel on your hip. His favorite sweatpants.

"Are you mad at me?"

Steve sighed again, this time a little shaken with laughter. "No, kid. I ain't mad at ya."

To prove his point, he nudged the door open with his palm and motioned toward the bedroom behind him. "Come on in."

You flopped on the edge of his bed, bounced up and down by old springs. Steve swung the door closed and joined you, easing back against his wooden headboard to reassume his rumpled position. He reached toward the nightstand and turned the knob on the radio to lower the Elton John song playing.

Steve snatched the small plastic basketball from behind the radio and tossed it in the air. "So, what's goin' on?"

You watched the ball soar into the air and come back down into his palm. "I didn't mean to snap at you. I was just...cranky."

Steve quirked a brow, catching your eye over an orange blur when he threw the ball again. "Yeah? That all?"

The corners of your mouth pulled down. "Yeah...? What else would it be."

Steve shrugged, chin turned up toward the ceiling as he watched the basketball fly toward it. Elton John died down and switched to Def Leppard. "Hysteria" was one of Steve's favorite songs.

"You tell me. You were having a Julia Roberts marathon."

"So?" Your thumb returned to your mouth, teeth ripping at the skin.

"You only watch Julia Roberts when you're sad."

"Not true."

Steve fixed his head straight again, eyes narrowing into a pointed look. The basketball sat in his right palm against his chest. You huffed, angling yourself toward the door to glare at it instead of your roommate and his smug, all knowing expression.

He waited a while, like he always did—waiting out your stubbornness and refusing to let it break him. You could talk to him, you knew that. He wanted you to know that.

"I guess..." You sighed, throwing yourself back on the bed with your arms locked over your eyes. "I guess I'm just upset that Eddie still hasn't called. I've been calling and texting him, but...he doesn't wanna see me."

Steve immediately felt every blood cell in his body curdle. Like they were burning and festering, irritated under his skin. He swallowed, bringing the basketball to sit between his knees where he could pick at the design with blunt fingernails.

"And you want to see him?"

You dropped your arms, letting them plop to your sides. "I mean...yeah."

Steve couldn't help it—he scoffed.

The sound had your head turning, brows furrowed his way. His head was shaking, eyes focused distinctly downward to avoid yours. All the smugness of his expression dimmed into something distasteful and angry.

"What the hell was that for?"

"Nothing."

"You scoffed."

"I sighed."

"No, you scoffed."

"Well—"

This time, Steve did sigh. He took the basketball in his hands and chucked it toward the door, causing it to boomerang off the wood and catapult back toward the mattress again. The sharp smack had you jolting upward, and your eyes widened on Steve when he hopped from the bed and stood to his feet.

"What the hell—"

"He's not good enough for you!"

You paused on weak wrists used to push you upward. Steve stood a foot away from the bed with pink cheeks and outstretched hands. They curled back toward him to sweep through his hair and tug hard at the roots.

"Steve—"

"He sucks. Alright? All your ex boyfriends sucked, but especially Eddie. He didn't understand you, he didn't appreciate you. He made you cry, for fuck's sake, and you want him back? I just don't get it."

Your lips parted, but it felt like gulping for water on dry land. And Steve watched, helplessly, as you stammered for words in the face of his impending and inevitable confession. Inevitably painful, he knew, but he could no longer stomach the tireless routine of finding the body closest to yours in another dark bar, hoping she would comfort him enough to soothe the ache he had for you.

You, who slept across the hall and shared the sofa with your head on his shoulder. You, who looked at him like some sort of light source with those little round eyes. You, who made his heart pound and weep endlessly every second that you were near, and every moment you were away—leaving him in a constant, centrifugal loop of torture.

So—knowing it might ruin every bit of good the pair of you worked so hard to keep—Steve stepped closer to the bed and swallowed. He prepared himself to form the words he'd practiced a million times over in his head.

"I just figured that eventually...you'd get tired of all the wrong guys, and realize that...I'm here. That it was me, that you loved me. Because I love you—don't you love me?"

He paused, but it would never have been enough time for your mind to process his proclamation. He had a look of such anguish embedded in his features, all scrunched and screwed together with wet, shiny eyes.

"And I figured it was easier to sleep my way around than sit and watch you waste your time with these idiots. But they were never you. And I never bothered to get to know them, because I only wanted to know you."

Your breath hitched when Steve crowded your corner of the bed, hands clasped over his chest. You had to tip your head back to meet his eye, and you felt your arms shake in their locked position holding you up. The sight of him blurred with the onset of your own hot, salty tears.

Steve sniffed: a wet slurp proceeded by a tear slipping down his cheek. He wiped it quickly and sank to his knees before you on the bed, hands coming to cradle your bent knees.

"I just can't take it any longer," he whispered, and his hazel eyes were like shiny coins gazing up at you.

His lips were wet with his own tears. His tongue swept them away. Every breath inhaled rattled in his chest, and every exhale shuddered his cheeks full. He chuckled when he rubbed his palm into his eye and turned it red, sweeping his forearm over his face to clear the tears again but they just kept coming.

"Fuck, say something, please," he huffed, lacing it with laughter despite its absence of humor.

Your throat felt like it swelled to twice the size. Sickness rolled in your stomach. But it only grew at the thought of breaking Steve's heart with your silence. Because the longer he looked at you with those almond eyes, and the longer he sniffled and massaged your knees to comfort himself—the more your heart crumbled.

"I...I don't know what to say," you croaked.

Steve inhaled again, stuttering through a sniffle. He wiped his cheek on your knee and chuckled again. "Yeah. Yeah, of course—it's okay."

"Steve—"

"It's okay," he insisted, scrambling to his feet. He backed away toward the door and you finished pulling yourself upright.

"Steve, wait—"

"Really, it's okay, honey. I'm just gonna...—we ran out of ice cream, so 'm gonna g-go—go get some. Mint chip, yeah? Okay."

He sniffled again upon his exit, slipping through a small crevice he opened the door to. The front door slammed shut moments later, and you rolled onto your stomach to unleash a scream into Steve's mattress.

"Stay tuned for more all time hits of the 70s and 80s!"

✶ ✶

Steve did not return with the mint chip until nearly midnight. It came in a plastic bag that announced his arrival even before the clamber of keys. Yet, it was the squeal of old hinges that woke you from your couch slumber, and you jolted upright as the door swung open.

Steve closed the door and stood there for a moment, spotting you in the dimness of the living room. You rubbed your eye and he shifted on his feet. Ted scampered off the couch and butted at Steve's calf.

He held up the plastic bag. "Got the mint chip. It's uh...it's all melted now, though."

You wanted to reply, to make him feel better again. His eyes were still pink and puffy, and you hated the thought of him spending hours in his car or another dark bar agonizing over what you might be thinking. Worst of all, regretting any of what he said.

Because you spent the past few hours doing plenty of thinking. You laid in his bed, curled on your side, and looked at all the pictures pinned to a cork board above his desk.

The sepia toned film strip from a wedding last fall where you took him as your date. You were smiling in every one, and to the unbeknownst you might have already appeared as a couple.

The Polaroid from his most recent birthday, where you were sitting on his shoulders and clutching onto his hair for dear life. His sister took the picture.

The black and white he printed from his phone of just you on a park bench, feeding the ducks. You never even knew he had that one.

And when you shuffled to your room, you suddenly stopped. The clack of hard-bottomed slippers caught your attention, and you looked down at the plush yellow footwear around your toes—a gift from Steve.

You stood on the other side of your bed and stared at the windowsill full of miscellaneous yellow items all gifted from Steve. The movie ticket stubs shoved in your mirror and the hundreds thrown in a box on your dresser because you'd probably seen a thousand over the years with Steve, who loved movie theater popcorn and sitting close to you in the dark.

The birthday cards he wrote extensive messages of well wishes and gratitude for your friendship in with terrible penmanship. The purse he bought you for that you said you liked in passing but would never spend that much money on, and the note still tucked inside the zipper that came pasted to the bag on Christmas morning:

Because you deserve it.

Love, Steve

And then you ended up on the couch, falling asleep watching the door and waiting for it to open.

Steve trudged to the kitchen while you were lost in thought, and you hurried to catch up as he swung the freezer open. He wrapped the plastic bag around the pint of the ice cream and stuck it on the top shelf, hand reaching to close the door—when he was pushed forward by a force crashing into him.

And then there was warmth around his stomach: two arms curling around his ribs. Two hands pressing to his stomach and pulling him in. Steve stopped, immobilized in the open freezer door.

"I'm sorry," you breathed into his shirt, eyes closed tight. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything, I was just so stunned. And I'm an idiot, I'm an idiot, Steve, for letting this go on for so long. Of course I love you, of course you love me—God, I just never wanted to ruin everything. But you make me so happy, and I—"

Steve spun around, causing your head to lift off his back. You went to drop your arms, but he instantly brought them around his neck. Two hands, still frozen from melting ice cream, braced your cheeks.

"You mean it?"

You nodded in his hold, happy to see his hazel eyes free and clear of tears. "Yes. Yes, of course I mean it—"

"Oh, thank fucking God," Steve breathed, and then his mouth descended on you.

You curled to the tops of your toes to press into his kiss, whimpering at the warmth and softness of his lips. It felt exactly as you thought it would—anticipating their plushness every time he pressed his lips to your cheek over the years.

It lasted until the pair of you were breathless, and you heaved for air upon release. Steve brushed his thumbs over your bottom lip, smearing spit and hemming your airless grin.

He kissed you all night, and let his hands roam where they could not roam before. You fell asleep in his bed tucked under his arm, and when you woke you shared the refrozen pint of mint chip with one spoon.

And when Steve called his sister while you were showering to share the good news, all she did was laugh.

"Jesus, about fucking time."

[rainybubbles]

What 141 would do if you're experiencing self-doubt ?

Ghost, Price, Soap, Gaz

(Sorry in advance for my mistakes, English is not my mother tongue. So sorry if it's badly written or if they're OOC.)

SIMON : 

-"I am not enough; I will never be, and you know it. You know it because, in a crowd, your gaze wanders elsewhere. Your fingers barely brush against me, and you only utter kind words without ever mentioning my beauty. I will never be like the others; I can never fill your heart. I am just a silhouette in your life, while I constantly dream of being the leading role in our film. But it’s just a film, an illusion, and I can’t be content with that."

-Out of breath, they stood before him, tears in their eyes. Their exhausted eyes let every tear fall, their breathing was labored.

-He stood motionless, rigid, unable to move, to utter a word.

-This silence was like a knife, silently cutting the bond between them, answering the unspoken with more silence.

-"I see," they murmured as they turned to leave.

-But their momentum was interrupted by his hand firmly gripping their wrist. He stood there.

-"Do you honestly think you can compare yourself to the others?" he murmured.

-"Don’t hit where it hurts, I—"

-"Do you honestly think you can compare yourself when your smile makes me forget the blood I shed? The souls screaming in my ears. When each of your breaths is a wave of desire I struggle to restrain, while for ten years, I struggled to feel even lust? When your voice, your ambitions are the only things I think about. You haunt me. I’ve tried day and night to flee from you, to distance myself, to keep you as an acquaintance, but no matter my efforts, I found myself at your feet begging for a crumb of your smile. Do you honestly think I see you like the others?"

-Stunned, they didn’t know how to respond.

-"Simon."

"I can’t, I didn’t want to. Not yet. I can’t afford to have people to lose, but you’re here, and I find myself unable to let another take your heart."

"Then take it."

Hesitant, the soldier could see his mother, Beth, his brother, his nephew. Having someone meant being able to lose them. Having only his life meant a gentle, painless death.

-But between putting them in danger or losing them, Simon’s heart had made its choice.

-He wouldn’t risk finding them one day dead in his living room, killed by an enemy. He couldn’t. Yet the idea of having them in their living room, their house, seemed so sweet.

"It’s not that simple."

"Simon, please. Be clear, you can’t—"

His hands were on their face, wiping away each tear he had caused.

"Look at us, Simon," they murmured.

Their breaths close, the heat rising, their gazes shifted from one to the other, settling on their lips. And everything happened quickly. A moment, a second changing everything. A kiss.

"You are enough," he murmured after the first kiss.

But it wasn’t enough; starving, his heart burning, Simon kissed them again and again.

Feeling their body under his hands, their much-desired lips on his. Their breath, their scent, their sounds, their hair, everything was them, and he could only get intoxicated again and again.

They were an addiction.

"I can’t get enough of you."

"Neither can I. Don’t leave me again, Simon."

"I wouldn’t dream of it."

They were enough, more than that, they were too good for him. But Simon was a selfish man, and if they allowed him, he would stay in their affections as long as they let him.

PRICE : 

(Tall reader implied in this one.)

"Am I... pathetic, John? Not enough?"

On a summer evening at the base, which was deserted due to the nice weather and the open bar, two colleagues smoked outside.

-The conversation had shifted from light banter to work, and now, as dawn approached, alcohol was loosening their tongues, steering them towards deeper topics.

"Pathetic?" John repeated.

"Yes."

They stubbed out their cigarette abruptly.

"Sorry, it sounds childish. I'm complaining about my life when we were talking about something else. I should go to bed, I—"

They were interrupted by his gaze.

"No, I'm listening."

They sat back down, almost timidly.

"Have you been with people, John?"

"I've had my share of lovers, yes."

"Everyone has, at our age, right?"

"I guess."

"Not me."

John observed their in silence, sensing their hesitation.

"My parents say it's pathetic, being only good at writing reports, not even able to seduce soldiers in a barracks. That my ugliness, my height, are horrible traits they can hardly stand to see at each meeting. And I know they're wrong, but when I hear stories of kisses, love letters, children, marriages... I can't help but wonder: what's wrong with me? Why... why have I never felt that desire, why has no one ever had it for me? Am I... pathetic?"

John removed his cigar from his lips, his eyebrows furrowed. He stood up without a word.

They guessed he was bored by their words, their problems, and regretted having said too much.

But John knelt in front of them.

"You'd have to be very cruel to think a person like you is pathetic. If you are, then I'm just a pathetic man who desires a pathetic person."

"John..."

"Not feeling desire, not having loved, kissed, or slept with someone at our age shouldn't be a shame. Love isn't a race, and if you start in your thirties, forties, or fifties, so be it. You should never feel any pressure or degradation about it. Because a man, a lover, a good one at least, will never define you. You are a wonderful person who may choose to have someone in their life, or not. It’s optional."

"It’s hard."

"I know."

On his knees, he reached out to cover their hand with his.

"You are not pathetic. Your laughter at Simon's awful jokes, that little tic after writing a report when you click your tongue, your height towering over even Johnny... I live for that. Every morning on this base, I wish to give you a report I spent too many hours falsifying just so we can correct the errors together, so I can sit next to you and feel your leg brush against mine, your scent filling my clothes, or leave my silly hat on your head in winter. I want you to see me, as I see you. Because if you did, you'd never dare, never even think to use the word 'pathetic' to describe yourself."

"John..."

"I'm not asking for anything. I know your desire now, and I guess I don't meet your expectations, but please, don't let this define you."

Slowly, he stood up, his hand leaving theirs.

"Why?" they asked, interrupting his walk.

"Why what?"

"Why tell me this when you... you know I could never have that physical desire for you?"

"Because my desire isn't just sexual, I want all of you. A life without sex doesn't bother me, not if I can see your smile every morning, not if I can fix a stupid sink we bought together, not if I can admire those lines on your face every day."

"You're an idiot."

"So it seems."

Wiping their tears, they blew their nose. With a determined step, they joined him.

"Where are we going?"

"Where?" he asked

"Well, a date should be somewhere nice, right?"

A smile appeared on his face.

"I know a place," he murmured.

"Let's go."

Hand in hand, the dawn rose on a new relationship at the base.

SOAP : 

— Wait, talk to me, we can fix this, he said, running after you into the bathroom.

— It’s not a problem, Johnny. It’s not a disagreement, you said, sitting on the floor.

— What is it then?

— ME! I’m... I’m completely useless. Seriously, all through this party, I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t even drink. I was paralyzed by a panic attack, standing there like a statue while my friends wanted to celebrate. I ruined their moment, I... I’m not worth it. Every time they want to hang out, they look for uncrowded places because of me. They delay our meetings to make sure I don’t faint on public transport. They try to guess if today’s a good day for me before even suggesting anything. I’m a burden to them. And I hate myself for that. I hate that I can’t talk to people without overthinking, I hate that I faint in crowds, I can’t go outside when I want to, I can’t call people, I can’t even tell stories. Because I don’t have any; I’m stuck in a boring life with anxiety slowly eating me away.

— Is that what you think? he whispered. That you’re not worth it?

— Yes, you sobbed softly. Because it’s the truth.

— Do you think your friends see you as a burden? That they hang out with you because they have to?

— Yes.

— No. They hang out with you, they take your anxiety into account, they plan around your feelings because they want to. They wish they could see you every day because you’re a wonderful person, you’re a delight to be around. They know they can’t always see you, so they take care of you. I... take care of you. I can’t count the number of times I’ve wished to see you every day, to go out with you every day. But I love you too much to impose my desires on your anxiety. We love you, we do all this because we care about you. Tonight was a mistake.

— A mistake?

— We were supposed to be five, but Thomas’s friend invited more people, and it turned into a big party. We couldn’t warn you in time.

— So...

— We wanted you there, we wanted to celebrate with you, with our friends. Not with random drunk people.

— You love talking to drunk people.

— I love talking to people, period.

— I feel stupid.

— Then I’ll be stupid with you, scoot over.

— John, there’s no room to sit, we’ll be stuck in the bathtub.

— So?

He settled in. The two of you tangled up in an empty bathtub, a laugh escaped your lips.

— You’re ridiculous.

— I’m whatever you want me to be.

— Even bald?

— I admit, I won’t touch my hair.

— ...Do you... do you really want to see me more often?

— Yes. But I know how you... how you need your space after socializing.

— You sound like a personal development book.

— Maybe it’s from "Introvert’s Guide", I admit.

A sigh escaped, a smile forming.

— Thank you, John.

— No problem.

— You... you could come to my place, maybe.

— You-

— So we can see each other... more. More than just outside.

— Okay.

Slipping a key into his pocket, John could only take your hand and gently caress it.

— You deserve it, this happiness , believe me.

— I’ll try, you whispered.

KYLE : 

The silence lingered at the end of the line.

"You're supposed to answer after a “how are yo”, you know?" Kyle said.

Usually they would have said “yes I’m fine.”

But that wasn't the case. It never had been. But they had always managed to lie, to downplay their problems. Yet their trembling lips betrayed them, letting slip the truth.

"That's not the case."

"What's going on?"

"Nothing, I was catching up."

Idiot. Kyle Garrick was nothing if not a stubborn and obstinate man.

"You think I'm going to buy that?"

"Kyle, I'm not sure that..."

"You just admitted what I've been waiting for months to hear. I'm not letting go."

"You were waiting?"

"Do you really think I believed you? You... you talked about your neighbor for hours to avoid my questions, please, just answer me."

"Have you ever wondered why I always seemed to mess everything up?"

"You..."

"I wonder every day. My parents barely talk to me, I did an art degree to avoid finishing my bachelor's and being in debt, I started a history degree only to end up cleaning after my graduation, unable to find a teaching position. I lost my apartment, my dog, my first love, and my second. And my college friends. And today, my job, and they all say the same thing, it's my fault. So Kyle, tell me, did I ruin your life too?"

The sound of the line crackled.

"No."

"You can't lie, I..."

"Your parents are disappointed that their prodigy of a child didn't do what THEY wanted for you. Your art school was filled with artists copying from the internet. Teaching positions come and go every year. You're just young, and as for your friends, they were nothing but hypocrites, taking advantage of your notes and then leaving. Your exes had their flaws and projected them onto you. They're all idiots if they think you're the bane of their existence, because now, they must realize how much you helped them. You mattered. You matter."

"Kyle."

"I wouldn't know who to call, who to tell the stupid things I see here to forget if you weren't there. I know you ask me to describe the scenery in each of my calls so I don't remember my missions, that you don't talk about my work to give me a bubble. And it matters to me, you matter to me enormously."

"I'm just trying to... help you."

"Then let me help you in return. Why don't you... why don't you come to my apartment?"

"Kyle, what?"

"You don't have a job anymore, do you? Rent is expensive and you have nothing holding you back. Come to England. My parents know a university, you could work there as a teaching assistant or find something else."

"Why?"

"Because you deserve better. I don't want to play the savior, I... it's selfish, but knowing that when I come back, I'll find you in my apartment is a selfish wish. I can't just settle for calls anymore, I want to hear your voice every morning."

"As friends?"

"No."

"I see."

"But if that's how you see us, then I'll respect your choice and my offer will always stand."

"I can't ask you to let me move in with you if I know that."

"I'll do anything for you."

"You're stubborn."

"Yes."

"I... I'll think about it."

"You haven't given me an answer."

"Do I really need to?"

"No. I... damn it, I wish I could kiss you."

"You'll have to wait until you come back."

"I can't wait."

If you want more : masterlist.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for getting tubal ligation, eloping with my two girlfriends, adopting a cat and moving out, all in two weeks and without telling my mother?

🏥💍🐈🏠

So, I (F, 21) have been planning for a long time to sort out my life. I live in a European country, I'm in college and work part-time. For years, I've been saving up money to get financially independent as fast as possible and move out of my parents' apartment. I also wanted to have enough to pay for tubal ligation procedure, because I don't ever want children and would feel much more at ease when I'm certain that I can't physically get pregnant. My mother from the beginning was very against that idea, telling me I'll change my mind later and not to do anything permanent.

Two years ago, I've met two wonderful women, A (26) and K (23) on a discord server dedicated to our shared hobby (writing fanfiction). We'd been talking and messaging for months, eventually creating our own server and sharing our irl names and faces. It naturally progressed to a point where we chose to call it a relationship (I'm on the aroace spectrum, we're all neurodivergent and have a weird relationships with gender so it's not a traditional romantic/sexual relationship by any means). We're all from the same country so we met up a few times before deciding to all move to one city and live together. K and I are finishing our bachelor's degrees and A works from home so there weren't any obstacles. We found a flat and A moved in, waiting for me and K.

My mother knew I was bisexual and dating A and K, but thought again that it was "just a phase" and that we were only friends pretending to date for some reason. I love my parents, they are great and supportive people but sometimes it can be so exhausting to convince them of something when they believe they're absolutely right. So, I just stopped talking to my mother about my relationship and plans for the future. I visited A (and K after she moved in) in our apartment without permanently staying there yet.

A, K and I got an idea to celebrate us finishing college and A getting a job promotion by going abroad for a week. K jokingly suggested that we could visit another country and get married (gay marriage is still illegal in our country). Obviously, polyamorous marriages are not legal anywhere in Europe, but A told us at the beginning of our relationship that she never wanted to get legally married for personal reasons (but a non-binding marriage ceremony was fine with her). So, all three of us could have a ceremony and K and me could get legally married (the marriage still wouldn't be legally recognized in our country though). Then I also realized that I could get a tubal ligation in the country which we wanted to travel to (tubal ligation procedure is also illegal in our country).

I knew my mother would be against both of those decisions and I didn't want to argue with her the entire time before I left abroad. So, I just told her I'm going on holidays with my two friends for a week and she accepted that. I've also been slowly moving a lot of my stuff from my room in my parents' apartment to our apartment and was ready to completely relocate.

Anyway, the wedding went great (the witnesses were six people we knew from the discord server where we first met, who lived close by and could get to the wedding site easily), my operation went great, the trip was great, and just as we returned a friend asked if we wanted a kitten, because their cat had recently had some. We agreed.

When I was sure everything was settled, I called my mother and told her about the wedding, the operation, the move and the kitten. She was shocked and angry, said she felt disappointed and betrayed I hadn't told her about any of my plans, didn't even invite her to the wedding and that I damaged my body and would regret having my tubes tied. I tried explaining that I didn't know how she would react, that based on our previous interactions I hadn't thought she'd be supportive and that I wanted make my decisions without also having endure her disapproval. She cried, told me I hurt her and to give her some time to deal with all the revelations.

I feel terrible for upsetting my mom, but honestly, I think I did the right thing and that informing her beforehand would've ruined my mood and I'd have had to argue with her on the phone constantly during the trip.

So, Tumblr, AITA?

[peachhcs]

mark to the rescue

hughes!sister x will smith au (samy + will)

samy isn't feeling it when hannah drags her out, so mark comes to save her from the frats

2.1k words

i always love writing the big brother relationship between samy and the umich boys, so here's her and mark after he picks her up when samy attempts to go out and talk to guys but realizes all of them are horrible

au masterlist

“come onnn, you haven’t come out with us in like..forever,” hannah frowned at samy where the girl sat on her bed trying to get her homework done. a small eye roll came from the soccer player. 

“maybe because i’m trying to keep up with my work?” samy’s tone had a bit of attitude laced into it. 

hannah’s noticed she’s become a bit more bitter ever since the breakup and knew to not take it personally. “okay, well you can take a break? it’ll be a fun break,” the girl tried again with a hopeful smile. 

“i’m just not into it,” samy shrugged knowing she wouldn’t really have fun. she never had a lot of fun when going out unless she was somewhat wasted and there was no way she was drinking her weight with a game in two days. 

“for an hour? please? for me if not yourself? maybe you’ll see a guy catch your eye or something,” hannah wiggled her eyebrows, but that only earned her another unimpressed eye roll. 

she’s been on samy’s back a little about going out and talking to some guys since will clearly didn’t care anymore and neither of them had spoken for five months. 

“again with the guys, huh?” samy raised her eyebrow. 

“i just think it could be fun for you. try out your flirting. you never really had to do that with will because he was always just all over you,” immediately after hannah said that she realized she probably shouldn’t have. 

samy’s gaze hardened a bit at the mention of will’s name. 

“if i come out, will you shut up?” 

hannah smiled, “yes. i knew i could convince you. come on, we need to get you ready.” 

samy was dragged off the bed a moment later, her textbooks and notebooks long forgotten as the two girls dove into samy’s closet to find an outfit. 

thirty minutes later, hannah and samy packed themselves into the full frat house. sweaty bodies knocked against one another along with drinks dropping to the floor as it sloshed out of people’s cups. the scene was chaotic and samy quickly regretted coming out. 

“i’m gonna find a drink. want anything?” hannah yelled over the speakers. 

“get me whatever,” samy responded. the girl nodded before disappearing into the crowd of bodies towards the kitchen. 

samy perched herself in the corner where she hoped she could hide the whole night and not have to talk to anyone. her phone suddenly became really interesting as she swiped through her different apps awaiting hannah’s return. 

“hey, samy, right?” the brunette’s head snapped up at the new voice. 

when she saw the face a few feet away, she instantly recognized him. he was in her political theory class where the two bantered back and forth about differing opinions. samy managed a small smile. 

“hi, yeah. that’s me. you’re..dylan, right?” the boy nodded when samy got his name right. 

“yeah, that’s me. i’m always firing some opinions back at you in class,” dylan said and samy nodded. 

“yeah, that’s right. those are fun,” the girl chuckled even though they were on opposite ends of the debate most of the times, samy enjoyed having someone to have civilized discussions with amd she knew they entertained the class. 

“i didn’t really take you for much of a frat girl?” dylan hummed, leaning himself against the wall. the brunette shrugged some. 

“i’m not, but my roommate dragged me out,” somewhere in the crowd was hannag getting them drinks and samy lowkey hoped she’d come back soon so she could exit this conversation. 

it wasn’t that she didn’t want to talk to dylan, samy knew what he wanted and why he was near her and that was just something the girl didn’t really want to partake in. 

“how are you and your boyfriend? i never see you post about him anymore?” dylan asked casually, but that sentence alone nearly sent the girl spiraling. she forgot people would ask her about will because they were fairly public with their relationship. 

“um, we broke up a few months ago actually,” samy swallowed, eyes on the ground. 

“oh. i’m sorry, i had no idea. that sucks,” the taller boy quickly sympathized with her, but samy shook her head. 

“don’t worry about it. it’s fine,” she gave a tight lipped smile that hopefully dylan would take the hint that she didn’t want to talk about it. 

he seemed to not take that hint though, “you were out of his league anyway. i’m sure you can do a lot better than him.” 

samy seriously hoped hannah was on her way back with those drinks. “yeah, it’s whatever. i’m getting over it,” the soccer player’s fingers brushed across her charm bracelet, subconsciously toying with the shark charm. 

whether the youngest hughes wanted to acknowledge it or not, she played with that charm a lot whenever will was on her mind as if it would help her stop thinking about him even though he got her that charm. 

“i bet your brother’s hockey friends are just lined up for you,” dylan seriously did not know when to stop talking. 

luckily, hannah pushed her way back through the crowd with two cups in her hand. she beamed when she caught sight of her roommate talking to a guy. 

“oh, perfect. i was waiting for you, hannah. mind showing me to the bathroom,” samy immediately cut in when the girl got close enough. 

samy had eyes that said get me away from this man. hannah glanced between her and the guy before nodding, letting the soccer player drag her away before anything else could be said. as soon as the two were out of view, samy grabbed a cup and quickly chugged whatever was in it. 

“jesus, slow down, hughes,” hannah laughed a bit. 

“these fucking guys don’t know how to take a hint. have they always been this bad?” because will was always just there, samy never had to do much flirting with him to catch his attention. she hardly paid attention to the guys in the frats last year, so she never realized how horrible it was to talk to one of them. 

“did something happen?” hannah grew concerned. 

“just that dylan can’t take a hint when to stop talking. he literally thinks luke’s hockey friends are at my feet after knowing will broke up with me,” the idea made the brunette shudder even thinking about it. 

“ew, gross. that would be a whole new low for you if you started dating one of them,” hannah shook her head. 

“can i just leave? i’ll get mark or someone to pick me up. i know you’re trying to cheer me up, but i don’t think a frat is gonna make me smile,” samy frowned a bit. 

hannah studied her roommate's expression and she knew this scene wasn’t for her. it never had been anyway. “okay, just text me when you’re back? i’m sorry this wasn’t fun.” 

“it’s okay. i promise i’ll text,” the two girls exchanged tight hugs before samy started her way back to the door and searched for mark’s contact. 

she knew ethan was studying for this big exam coming up and mark never did much except hang out with his girlfriend, so samy just hoped she wouldn’t interrupt things when she called. surprisingly, the older boy picked up on the second ring as soon as samy got outside. 

“what’s up hughesy?” mark cheered. 

“hey, i hate to ask but can you pick me up? i’m at this frat hannah dragged me out to and i just wasn’t feeling it. i’ll send my location,” the girl explained. 

“yeah, sure. i’m on my way,” mark said. 

“thanks, mark. i owe you,” the two hung up and samy made her perch outside while she waited for mark’s arrival. 

ten minutes later, mark’s little honda civic pulled onto the side of the road. the boy reached over the seats to push samy’s door open for her. the girl smiled as she climbed in beside him. 

“thanks again. i didn’t wanna bother ethan knowing he’s studying,” samy explained as she buckled in and mark pulled back onto the road. 

“it’s not a problem. i was just playing video games with the other guys,” that made samy laugh because of how typical that sounded. those guys were always glued to their computers on call with one another. 

“any chance you’re hungry? i could go for our usual,” mark glanced over at the girl with a smile. 

anytime ethan or mark had to pick samy up late at night, they always stopped at their favorite pizza place on campus that became the spot the two boys took the girl out for lunch every other week to catch up with her like real annoying brothers would do. 

“i could always go for pizza,” samy grinned back at the older boy. 

they pulled into the parking lot a few moments later as the two eagerly hopped out to order their usuals—two slices of pepperoni for samy and two slices of cheese for mark. with it being almost 12 in the morning, the two got in and out and then found a table outside. they let the comfortable silence overtake them, savoring the first bites and people watching the very drunk college kids wandering around to different house parties. 

“so bad night, or what?” mark wondered. 

“not really..i just wasn’t feeling it i guess. this one guy tried talking me up and it got weird really fast,” samy shook her head. 

“what’d he say?” 

“well, first he said i was out of will’s league because i told him we broke up when he asked. then he said and i quote, “i’m sure luke’s hockey friends are lined up at your feet.”” mark quickly frowned when he heard that. 

“what the fuck. who says that,” his eyebrows scrunched together in near disgust. 

“i have no idea. i just had to get out of there. i forgot how awful guys are when they’re trying to flirt with you,” the younger girl shook her head again. 

“i guess you have been out of the game for awhile so,” mark gently teased, but that made samy smile. 

“apparently. i hate that i actually have to like deal with that if i wanna talk to guys now.” 

“are you thinking about dating again?” mark asked. 

“i feel like i can’t keep sitting around being sad, so maybe. i don’t know. probably nothing serious though. the dating scene doesn’t really appeal to me.” 

“makes sense. i’d be the same way if i were you. i know you and will didn’t date for a long time, but that was some serious shit, so.. moving on isn’t that easy,” the older boy sympathized, which samy appreciated. 

“right. i was his first time, so i’d say that’s pretty serious,” the girl mumbled, but mark made a face. 

“ew, i didn’t need to know that part. but like actually?” his reaction made the brunette laugh. 

“sorry, but yeah i was. surprised me too when he told me, but i don’t know. i kind of thought it was sweet,” samy hummed a bit, her finger going back to the shark charm. 

“i know you’ve probably heard this a hundred times, but i really hope you guys can work it out. especially the friendship part. having a best friend like that is really special. i never really had a best friend like that until i came here and met ethan and luke and all the guys. even if the dating can’t happen again, i really hope you two can be friends again,” mark said softly which samy surprisingly didn’t hate hearing. she knew everyone who was saying this had a point and she, too, hoped that her and will could work something out. it was just a matter of who was gonna reach out to make it happen because they were both very stubborn. 

��thanks, mark. i also hope we can be friends at some point again,” the two shared a smile. 

they stayed for another ten minutes before deciding they should get back because it was late. when mark pulled into the parking lot to samy’s dorm, she reached out to give his arm a loving squeeze. 

“thanks again. text me when you and ethan are up for our get together next week and i’ll see you at tomorrow's game.” 

“yes, ma’am. have a good night,” they exchanged one last smile before samy climbed out and started her way back to the dorm feeling a lot better than she did when she left earlier. 

[st4rngirl]

— ON CAM 💝.

pairing: enemy!chris sturniolo x reader

summary: reader & matt are fwb, and chris seems a little jealous

warnings: SMUTTTT, dom!chris, oral, unprotected, roughhh, degrading names (slut, etc.), slapping, use of ma/baby, camera/recording, praise kink, choking if you squint, arguing

a/n: first time writing smut, so hoping for the best! please give me feedback on anything i can do better!

ੈ✩‧₊˚———————————————————————˚₊‧✩ੈ

you and chris had known eachother since you were kids, just like you had with the two other triplets. so matt and nick were confused when you two had suddenly become distant and rude towards each other in car videos.

so, they decided you and chris needed some alone time to work out whatever conflict had been going to between the two of you. so, they set you two down on their living room couch, and told you both exactly that. after that, they had left you two alone, and went to the store to get some things for tomorrows wednesday video.

the second nick and matt stepped out of the door, you shot up from the couch to leave this situation as soon as possible.

you’re quickly stopped by chris grabbing your arm, and pulling you back down onto the couch.

he looks at you like he wasn’t the one who ruined your friendship.

the truth was, you and chris had something going on a few years back. but you cut it off, and went back to being friends. for awhile, you had no idea why he had started being such a jerk to you in recent months. but eventually you pieced together a suspicion that it could be about what’s going on between you and matt.

you and matt hadn’t had anything truly serious going on. just flirting, and occasional making out.

but apparently that hadn’t stopped chris from being jealous, because he speaks in a playful tone, “i know what’s going on between you and my brother.”

you look at him confidently, and respond confidently as well. “okay, do you want a cookie?”

chris rolls his eyes at you and inches closer to you on the couch. he grips your wrist tighter, which causes you to whimper softly in response.

chris isn’t saying anything, so you decide to speak up again, “i don’t understand why your upset with me chris, i thought you would be over us by now.”

chris responds swiftly, like he had already had this conversation in his head before it happened. “i am over us, but i’m not over us if your with my brother.”

you look at him confused, you understand that he could be jealous, but that’s not like him. he could literally get any girl he wanted. “chris, what? are you seriously jealo-“

he cuts you off by slamming your faces together, his hand that was gripped tightly on your arm suddenly moves to your waist.

he pulls you closer to him, almost onto his lap as he pushes his tongue into your mouth. you allow him entrance as your mouth opens and a soft whimper falls out.

his grip on your hips tightens as the kiss deepens. chris can’t help himself, the desire to make you his is becoming stronger with each second.

you pull away from the kiss for a slight moment, just long enough for him to pull you fully onto his lap, his forehead resting against yours as you try to catch your breath.

he glances at your swollen lips, and gently traces his thumb over them.

“you have no idea what you do to me.” he says, before starting to move his hips around to create friction, just where you want it.

“i’ve been trying so hard to stay away from you,” he murmurs, his lips brushing against your neck as he speaks.

he places soft kisses along your neck, his teeth lightly nibbling at your skin. his hands begin to roam all over your body, exploring every inch of you as if he’s trying to memorize every curve and detail.

his kisses become more intense, his tongue swirling against your skin as his hands grab your hips, and slowly grind you against him.

“chris.. fuck,” you mumble into the kiss.

he suddenly breaks the kiss, his breathing ragged as he looks at you, his eyes dark with desire. he runs his fingers through his hair as he tries to regain his composure.

he tugs at your shirt, motioning for you to take it off. you oblige as he reaches for something behind the couch. his hands searching for something specific, and finally grasping it.

chris pulls out a camera.

his eyes linger on you as you take off your shirt, biting his lip softly as he watches the reveal of your skin.

“your so beautiful,” he whispers before motioning for you to take your shorts off. you comply, as he swiftly pulls off his shirt and sweatpants.

you cover your body with your arms, just for chris to take them off so he can see your body. “ma, let me see you.” he mumbles.

chris then takes out the camera, and starts recording as he slowly takes off your bra.

he pans the camera down to your bare tits, “fuck, baby” he mumbled as you breathed deeply, unable to move as he moves the camera down to your lap.

“now your panties,” he requests.

“but- your filiming.. i—” you stuttered.

“so? strip.” he interrupted

again, you do as he says. you slowly take off your panties as he spins you around for the camera. you couldn’t help but notice how much his demanding tone turned you on. you maintained eye contact with him as you discarded your panties on the floor.

“so sexy, ma” he praised

chris discarded his boxers as he gave the camera a better view of your exposed body.

“shit,” he groaned as he inched closer towards you.

you slowly turned around, to hopefully give him and the camera a better view. he snickered before running his hands past your tits, and up to your neck.

“you gonna let your little ‘boyfriends’ brother fuck you, slut?” he whispered while gently squeezing his hand around your neck.

his actions caused you to whimper, as he brought his free hand down sharply against your skin. his hand then slides down past your waist, pulling you even tighter against him.

“chris, please..” you whisper, your voice strained with effort.

“what? use your words ma,” he teased, clearly knowing what you wanted, but wanting to hear you say it.

“chris please fuck me,” you plead desperately, needing him inside you.

chris chuckled, letting go of you and pushing you onto the couch. he pumped himself with his free hand before lining himself up with your pussy. his tip teased you as you looked back at the camera with a grin.

as you focus on the camera, he snickered again just before shoving himself quickly into your pussy. he smiled as he noticed he captured your face in that moment on camera.

“chris,” you cried out, as he slapped your ass again.

“can’t take my dick slut? i know you can.” he huffed

at his sudden actions, you feel your walls clench as you adjust to his size. before you could make any more noise, chris brings his free hand to your face, and shoves two of his fingers into your mouth.

“you’re taking me so well baby.” he dryly praised as he adds another finger into your mouth.

chris continues slamming in and out of you as you suck on his fingers. your whimpers become louder and louder with each thrust. this whole time, he’s making sure the camera gets a perfect view of everything happening.

“who fucks you better?” he suddenly groaned.

“what..? fuck,” you replied confused.

“who fucks you better, slut? me or my brother,”

“you.. fuck, you fuck me better chris,” you panted.

chris smirked at your response. as you feel your orgasm approaching, your walls begin to clench around chris’ dick. looking back at him for approval, he grants it while chasing his own.

“that’s it. fuck, come for me baby.” he groaned as you felt your orgasm reach its highest point.

“get on your knees baby,” chris ordered. you followed and settled down on your knees as you looked up at him, still holding the camera.

“open your mouth,” he demanded as he ran his free hand through your hair before using it to pump himself, before entering your mouth. you took him all the way to the back of your throat, with his free hand gripped against the back of your head.

“fuck, that’s it.. i’m close,” he whimpered as he began to thrust into your wet mouth. your eyes formed tears as he released down your throat.

he slowly pulled out of your mouth, holding your jaw with his free hand. showing the camera the mess he had made.

he saved the video as you panted, trying to catch your breath.

“chris! what if someone sees that??” you whispered, embarrassed.

“that’s the point sweetheart.” he snickered as he put the camera down.

ੈ✩‧₊˚———————————————————————˚₊‧✩ੈ

— THANK YOU FOR READING 💝.

a/n: i kinda like this 😛 PLEASE lmk what i can do next time to make my fics better 🙏🏼🙏🏼

masterlist 💝!

taglist 💝!

@sturnsxplr-25

[theladybarnes]

CRIMSON AND CLOVER: CHAPTER TEN

“Could try sticking together at a different house for a change?”

▸ summary: in another time in another place, there’s time for one more night ▸ characters: steve harrington 🩷, ft. Robin Buckley & Dustin Henderson ▸ word count: 9.5k ▸ warnings: angst, fluff, SMUT MINORS DNI(18+) ▸ series masterlist

The hot water flowed slowly down your back. Washing away all the stress and worries that came from today’s recent search. As you leaned against the cool tile, your mind drifted back to the Creel house. At this point it felt like no matter how hard all of you worked to piece together this puzzle, more questions would be left unanswered.

 Pushing your head under the water, you tried to let your mind have a moment’s rest. But the very second you shut down that worry, the look of Steve smiling down at you with cobwebs in his hair came into your head.

 This was stupid. 

 You guys were supposed to be on pause. Thoughts about Steve and his dumb, cute, face could come around later on. When you aren’t trying to evade death by the hands of Vecna. But even if you gave yourself that small break, there was another lingering thought in your head; How was Eddie doing? 

 It’s been days since any of you have properly spoken to him and a big part of you felt guilty for not thinking about him until now. He was your friend! The one who helped lift your spirits after all the heartbreak from last winter. How could you be such a bad friend? Yes, you were working to help solve this and clear his name, but how could you let yourself get this distracted to not have him cross your mind once all day?

 With a sigh, you turned off the shower and stepped out, wrapping yourself in a towel. The steam clung to your skin. A temporary warmth against the cold air that seemed to follow you around all day. You caught a glimpse of yourself in the mirror, shuddering at the sight.

 You were exhausted, both mentally and physically. The worst part was that your body seemed to be taking the major weight of it all. Emerging from the steamy bathroom, the cool air of Steve's house hit you, bringing a slight shiver to coat your body. Lost in your thoughts, you almost didn't see that Steve had been standing there until you nearly collided with him at his bedroom door.

 "Whoa, careful there,” he said, a playful smile on his face as he caught your arms. "I hope you left some hot water for me. I know you like to have the water burning your skin practically.”

 "It’s not that hot.” you chuckled. His eyes darted over your figure, lingering in a few expected spots until he remembered where his main focus was. You felt as your face grew hot. Cheeks flushed as you adjusted the towel around you tighter. “Thanks again, for letting all of us crash here. I know all of us together can be a lot."

 Steve's expression softened, and he leaned against the doorframe, looking at you with those familiar, warm eyes that had your knees nearly buckling under his gaze. "I figured that the Wheeler residence could use a break from the chaos we bring.” he shrugged. “No one’s here anyway. We all could use a good rest for one night. Plus it beats sleeping on the basement floor again.”

 “You’re right about that.” you agreed, knowing your back is desperate for some comfort. 

 “Besides,” he continued, voice a low murmur. “I feel a lot safer having you here in my house. Where I know you’ll be safe.” 

 His words tugged at your heart. They were both comforting and painful. Mostly because you wanted to dive into the meaning behind them and hear his reasons. But you knew better. It was just hard to suppress the feelings you still had for him, but you pushed them down for now, managing a small smile instead. 

 "I always feel safe with you around. Doesn’t matter where.”

 Something about your reply had him inhaling deeply. For a moment he looked like he was going to say something else, but he didn’t. “Goodnight, Trouble.” He eventually got out with a smile of his own.

 “Goodnight, Steve."

 You turned to leave, heading towards the hall to his parent’s room, where you’d be sharing with Robin. But as you walked away, you couldn't help but steal one last glance back at him, catching him as he watched you with an unreadable expression. 

 Once you were inside the spare bedroom and away from his gaze, you wasted no time in getting into fresh clothes. Thankfully, your Aunt did not catch you sneaking in through your bedroom window earlier. If she had, you, Dustin, and probably the others, would surely have been under house arrest. With her paranoia, she’d have cuffed you all together to keep watch of everyone closely.

 The previously occupied bathroom popped open suddenly. Robin, who had gotten dibs in the master bath first, was freshly changed and ready for bed. She waltzed into the room with a content smile on her face as she plopped down on the other side of the bed. You noticed right away that her eyes were glinting with a familiar playful mischief as she caught your gaze.

 “So,” she started, drawing out the word, “How was your little run-in with Steve?” Her smirk was unmistakable, and you couldn’t help but roll your eyes, holding back the smile that wanted to fight its way onto your lips. 

 “Robin,” you warned lightly, but she only grinned wider.

 “Oh come on, don’t ‘Robin’ me. I was there in the Creel house. I saw how you two were talking.” she reasoned. “There were sparks flying and all that.” She mimicked an explosion with her hands for emphasis, bringing out a small chuckle from you. 

 “I can’t do this with you..”

 “Why do you think I got dibs on the bathroom first?”

 “Because you’re dirty?”

 She gave you a small slap to your arm before pointing over towards the door. “I did it on the chance that you two might run into each other in his room and get to talking again!”

 “Robin, we’re not together,” you reminded her, shaking your head as you finished drying your hair. “I’m not sure he’s told you yet but we’re pausing even discussing that situation until we get this Vecna stuff sorted out. It’s all very complicated.”

 “Yeah, complicated my ass.” Robin snorted. “All week I’ve caught you two a dozen times being a little too close for being just friends. I give it until tomorrow before the two of you are making out in some corner like you’re in the back room of Family Video all over again.”

 Your mouth flopped open as you attempted to think of a comeback. For some reason you were unable to conjure up a clever response. Instead, you threw a pillow at her, which she deftly dodged laughing. “We’re not gonna do... ugh, I’m done. I’m going to bed.”

 Thankfully, she moved with you to climb under the sheets. Giving you a couple of seconds of silence while you both adjusted under the sheets before Robin turned around to face you again.

 Her expression had softened up from the previous smug look she had as she looked down. “I know you’re both sort of stuck on talking things out. But seriously, I think with everything going on... I just don’t want either of you to have any regrets. Or waste time not taking just one second to work something out. Things are getting pretty crazy and I just want to help you both be happy in case something happens..”

 Her words instantly hit home. It was one thing for you to be self aware of the possibility of a limited amount of time. But for your friend to see it too just made the whole situation feel even more real. That wasn’t something you wanted Robin or any of them to have to go through. Especially when they were already worried about this whole Vecna mess already. Swallowing the lump in your throat, you gave her a quick nod, hoping it gave off some sort of relief to her.

  “Thanks, Robin. We’ll work on it soon.” Your words felt forced, but you smiled at her anyway. “Just give us a chance to work things out before you feel you need to ‘help’ again, okay?”

 She gave your shoulder reassuring pat before she flopped onto her back. “Alright, I’ll back off for now, but I’d be more worried about Nancy. She’s more fed up with this weird dance you two are doing than I am.”

 “Thanks for that heads up.” You chuckled softly, reaching out from the covers to turn off the lamp. The room fell into darkness, but the warmth of the conversation still lingered in the air.

 “Goodnight, Robin,” you whispered.

 “Goodnight,” she replied, her voice already drowsy.

 As you closed your eyes, your mind drifted back to previous thoughts. There were some things you couldn’t change right away, but Robin was right. Time was precious, and with the threat looming over you all, there’s no room for regret. Something had to change between you and Steve. 

 But for now, you settled on attempting to get some sleep first. 

 You huffed again, removing the earbuds from your ears.

 It had been two hours since you said goodnight to your friend, and here you were as you listened to the soft sound of Robin’s light snoring. Sleep was not coming for you. No matter how relaxed you attempted to be, your mind was not able to shut off whatsoever. 

 Looking at the clock on the bedside table, you use the little bit of moonlight that peeked through the room from the curtains to read the time. It was nearing two in the morning. You should be sound asleep like all the others in the house. And yet, you were wide awake.

 This wasn’t even a bed you could feel comfortable in. It was too hard and the pillow had a lingering scent aftershave. You glanced at Robin, her face serene and untroubled as she slept. The sight of her peacefulness made your restlessness more unbearable. What you needed was comfort, a sense of safety that only one place could offer.

 Biting your lip, you glanced over towards the clock again. Screw complicated.

 Slipping out of bed, you gathered your cassette player and headphones as you padded silently to the door, careful not to wake her. The floorboards creaked under your weight, a sound that echoed through the quiet house. Steve’s room was just down the hall, and the thought of being near him sent a shiver down your spine—not from fear, but from the cold that only he seemed to be able to take away.

 Pushing the door open a fraction, you peeked inside, hoping to slip into his room without waking him. Over on his bed, he laid on his side, facing towards the door. His chest rising and falling in the rhythm of sleep.

 Taking a deep breath, you pushed the door open enough to step inside. The familiar scent of his cologne mixed with the faint smell of the cotton sheets hit you. Hitting you with a wave of nostalgia. The summer nights where you crept in to spend the night for sleepovers that weren’t allowed. It was the time in both your lives where you guys thought everything would be okay. That all the troubles were over. 

 You wanted to feel that way again, if just for one night.

 Stepping into the room, you were careful not to let the door creak as you closed it behind you. The floor was thankfully covered in carpet, but you still shivered as you approached the side of his bed. 

 You moved to the empty side about to lift the blanket when you noticed a small photo frame. Picking it up, you used the small light coming from the window to look at it carefully. 

 It was the half torn photo strip you guys took at the mall last summer. You remember the night he stole this half, leaving you to the one back home. It was still taped to your mirror. But this one, you haven’t seen in such a long time. The smile on Steve’s face still made your heart leap and you couldn’t help but smile at how happy you looked then. “I can’t believe you still have this.” you said softly. 

 Steve stirred at the sound of your voice and you held your breath. Hoping you didn’t just wake him up. But nothing happened other than him settling back comfortably. 

 Gently, you lifted the edge of the blanket and slipped underneath, moving slowly so as not to disturb him further. The mattress dipped slightly under your weight as you turned on your side, wanting to face him. The warmth of his body was immediate, comforting in a way you had become desperate for lately.

 As you got comfortable, Steve's eyes fluttered open, making you freeze in place. But instead of accidentally scaring him like you thought you might have, he only blinked, sleepily focusing on you. 

 "Hey," he murmured, his voice thick with sleep. There was no surprise in his tone, just a quiet acceptance that made your heart flutter.

 "Hi," you whispered back, barely able to keep the small quiver from your voice. "I couldn't sleep."

 He shifted slightly, making room for you to slide closer, his arm coming around you instinctively. It was such a natural, familiar gesture, shared between the two of you. 

 "Bad dream?" he asked, his voice a soft rumble.

 "I’d have to have fallen asleep in the first place to dream," you muttered, nestled closer to him now. His presence was like a soothing balm. The knot that had been building up in your chest loosened up at just the sound of his voice. “Is it okay, I’m here?”

 His fingers brushed against your arm, a light touch that sent shivers down your spine. "You’re always welcomed here," he said quietly, keeping up with his soothing touch. 

 You closed your eyes, letting yourself relax for the first time in days. You couldn’t pinpoint as to why. Maybe it was the bed, or the smell of his cotton sheets, or maybe it was just Steve. All you knew was that you felt safe, away from the world, in this bed, in his arms. 

 "I missed this," you admitted into the darkness, voice barely audible under the sudden emotions swirling. 

 His arm tightened around you, and you felt as his breath hitched in reaction to your words. "Me too," he whispered back eventually, his voice low and rough. It was only a little concerning, considering that all day he’s acted so confidently around everyone. 

 "Steve," you begin, your voice barely above a whisper, "Am I hurting you by being here?"

 He sighed, shifting closer. "No, you’re not hurting me. If anything, this is comforting me. I like having you close to me..where I can feel you.”

 You reached out, your fingers brushing against his. "I just don’t want to confuse you anymore than I already have.."

 His hand closed around yours, warm and reassuring. "You haven’t. Besides, I know we’ll eventually get to talk things out. I’m okay with waiting until then.” 

 The conviction in his voice is comforting, and for a moment, you almost believed that everything would be okay. But your mind was quick to become frustrated all over again. Not only were you so physically tired from everything, but mentally too. It was as if you were some sappy soap character who couldn’t figure her life out. Everyday was a new brand of guilt and fear and you were sick of it. 

 A finger brushing against your cheek pulled you out of your rant and focused back on Steve who was watching you carefully. “Your thinking face is on.” he mused softly, “Wanna let me in?”

 You moved closer, resting your head on his shoulder. "What if... what if this was just a normal night? No monsters, no curses, just spring break. What would we have done?"

 Steve sucked in a sharp breath. Probably not expecting that sort of question. “Well,” he huffed, blowing all the air out of his mouth. “I’d have probably convinced you to hang out with me. Even if it was just friends. Put on some movie you picked from work.”

 You smiled at the thought, liking the simplicity of the scenario. "Something you’d pretend to be annoyed by, but secretly love every minute of, right?”

 He smiled back, looking at you with such a tenderness that lured you in close. "Yeah, something like that."

 The moment stretched out, leaving the air thick with heavy lingering feelings. You leaned in, keeping faces only inches apart. The urge to kiss him was so overwhelming. But you stopped, your eyes searching his face for more answers. "And after that? When the night was done and it was time for me to go home? What would happen?”

 For a moment, he didn’t respond, his gaze locked on yours. Then, without a word, he leaned in, closing the distance between you, and kissed you. It was soft and hesitant, but it held some feelings that you were sure he had been holding back. Like always, you melted into the kiss. His hand reached up to cup the side of your face, keeping you close as he finally spoke up.

 “That,” he whispered against your lips. “I’d do that.”

 You moved to rest your forehead against his, both of you breathing heavily now. “I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow,” you whispered, “But right now, I just..I just want to forget about everything. Even if it’s only tonight.”

 He slowly nodded, his eyes glancing down to your lips as you spoke. “Yeah,” he said, gently murmuring his agreement in a quiet tone. “We can forget everything else..."

 With his approval, you placed a hand on his shoulder and gently pushed him so that he was flat on his back. His eyes widened a bit and you carefully threw a leg over his waist until you were able to sit on his lap. 

 Your heart raced as you reached for the hem of your pajama shirt, carefully pulling it over your head until you were revealing your bare chest to Steve. 

 His breathing hitched as his eyes roamed over your breasts before it all seemed to click for him what you were doing. “Am I dreaming right now?” he asked as he brought his hands up to rest at your hips. 

 You placed your hands over his, giving him a shy smile as you shook your head to his question. 

 “This is real.”

 He gave your hips a gentle squeeze as a small shy smile pulled at the corner of his lips. “Thank God.” he breathed, shaking his head as he leaned up towards you. 

 You met him in the middle and pressed your lips onto his, feeling the familiar fire start to ignite inside again. His hands released your hips, grazing up the expanse of your sides until he cupped at your breasts, using the tip of his thumbs to brush over the sensitive pebble.

 A wave of heat dropped down between your legs at his touch. Not even a week has passed since you’ve last had sex with Steve but the carnal desire to have every inch of him inside you started to take over. Your hands roamed beneath his shirt. First, only grazing in from his waistline before you broke the kiss to push up the ends, silently urging him to lose the shirt.

 You could hear him chuckle as he reached down to tug the material off, tossing it onto the floor before he laid back against the bed, looking up at you expectantly. 

The pool lights reflected in through his window, creating spots of blue hues to seep in the room. 

 It reminded you of all the summer nights you spent here in the house, and how much they used to ease you during your secret sleepovers. 

 Leaning over, you pressed your lips back onto his as your hands explored. Your nails scratched against his chest, admiring the feel of the hairs that peppered over his pecs. The sensation caused Steve to groan out loud, making the kiss turn hot and opened mouth as you both touched each other.

 He pressed you closer to his body, making your chest flushed to his now. That’s when you felt the cold necklace press against your clavicle and you sat back to press a hand to your neck. 

 You had almost forgotten that you had stolen the necklace from his car the other day. It kept you sane during your trip to Pennhurst. Something you had planned on sneaking back into Steve’s car. But your impatience and needs seemed to ruin that plan now. 

 He broke his focus from your face, doing a double take as he looked down at your hand, leaning close to inspect what you were holding. “You-..you’re wearing it..” he stated, slightly taken back as his gaze flickered back to your eyes.

 “I just wanted to feel right again.” You professed softly, looking down at the gold ‘S’ that sat perfectly over your chest. “I know I should have asked but..” your voice trailed off, unsure how to answer without diving into feelings.

 A small smile pulled at the corner of his lips when he slowly reached up to gently touch the necklace. His fingertips gently ran along the chain while you waited patiently to hear what he had to say. “No, you’d never have to ask..” he assured you. “It’s yours. It’s always been yours.” 

 The tender reassurance caused an ache to spread into your heart. The memory of the night you received the gift bringing in emotions you needed to pause on. Reaching for his hand, you brought his fingertips up to your lips. Placing kisses on each finger lovingly until you pressed it to cup at your cheek. “Are you sure?”

 Steve held his breath for a moment, only staring at your face in his hand before he suddenly leaned up towards you. The look in his eyes had turned dark and familiar. Stirring something in the pit of your belly. Then, he slowly began to nod his head, letting his hand slide down to wrap around your neck. 

 “More than anything.”

 You shuddered a bit, finding yourself being flustered by not only Steve’s reassurance, but also from the slight change of hand. Not sure how long you can handle his touch or heated gaze, you took charge and leaned in to press your lips against his again.

 Feeling a new confidence in you that made you start to roll your hips on his waist. 

 A small moan built in your throat as his groin began to press through your pajama pants. Hitting at the spot you were starting to become needy for him to touch. Beneath you, Steve gently groaned into the kiss, moving his body to roll against yours when he felt the direction you were taking things.

 Your mind was becoming more hazy at that. More feral. The familiar desperation to reach your orgasm started to spur inside of you. And from the way he began to stiffen up underneath his clothes, you were pretty sure he was starting to feel the same.

 “Steve..I need you.”

 Your simple whimpered request seemed to encourage Steve as he groaned quietly again, reaching for your hips as he rolled up. “Need you too, Honey. Need you so badly.” he said in short shallow gasps. 

 Carefully, he wrapped an arm around your side and he pressed you close to his body before he flipped you over so that he was able to hover over you now. You held tightly, staring up in shock as he used his knees to push at your legs and allow him to sit between them. 

 Reaching your hands down, you rubbed up his sides until they met in the middle of his waist, where you quickly made do with his pajamas. Pushing the waist of his pants and boxers down while you picked your head up to press a kiss to his lips. 

 He shivered in your hands, only pulling his lips back to hiss down once the palm of your hand made contact with his hardened cock. “Fuck,” he said, licking over his lips. “Keep going.” he begged, hands rubbing up the inner part of your thighs soothingly. 

 The sight of his stiff cock brought a burning desire to pool between your legs. You thought back to earlier in the week when you last had him and how much you wanted to feel that good again and again and–

 “You with me?” 

 The warm touch to the side of your face pulled you from your dirty thoughts and you gave Steve a small smile. He rubbed the tip of his thumb over your lip, which naturally you pressed a kiss to, knowing how much he always liked it.

 And like always, he took charge after that.

 Moving his hands to the sides of your waist, he tugged down your bottoms. Exposing the rest of your body to his pleasure as he still hovered above you. The action sparked something inside and you felt yourself losing your composition in order to give into your needs. “I need you, please.”

 He shifted before you, making the tip of his cock brush against your thigh. Causing him to groan while he adjusted once more to bring his hand between your inner thighs. “Let me have my fun first, Trouble.” He replied back. Voice husky and low with desire. 

 It was one just one finger that brushed through your folds and you were already feeling out of your mind. Your body jolted and turned tense as you reached out to grip at his free arm. He used his thumb to circle over your clit, brushing the sensitive bud softly.

 “Fuck.” you hissed, feeling both frustrated and turned on by his slow pace. You let go of his arm to go for his neck. Letting your fingers get tangled in the ends of his hair, tugging lightly as he rolled over the sensitive bud again. Oddly, the small ministrations were slowly working you up.

 Steve’s eyes looked up at you. He watched you slowly the more you got heated, needing more but still keeping at his pace. He swiped a finger over your clit again, chuckling softly to himself as he bent his head down to you. “Already so close for me? You’re so needy, so perfect, all for me.”

 His whisper nearly made you come right there. It was so dirty and so familiar to how things used to be. You didn’t know how much you needed this until now. “Baby, please,” you whimpered, not even sure how desperate you sounded. “More.”

 You brought your leg up to wrap around his hip, allowing him better actress between your legs as you slowly began to roll again his touch. Needing to do something to create the friction you wanted.

 He cooed amusedly at your impatience. ”I’ll give you anything you want, baby.” he promised, pressing more pressure to your clit with his thumb. “Just keep making pretty noises for me.” he teased, moving his hand down your folds, teasing you slightly until you felt the tip of his fingers at your core. 

 Your eyes snapped open, looking up at the ceiling as you anticipated his next move.

 Little by little he pushed his fingers in, getting you to let out small panting breaths to calm you down until you felt him stop. “Doing so good for me, Honey.” he said, leaning forward to get his face closer to yours. “You’re so wet, just from my hand, it’s so hot.” he said as he pressed a soft kiss to warm your chest.

 “So good,” you whispered, loving how you felt his fingers give into some of the desires you wanted. He pumped his fingers in and out rhythmically as you writhed on the bed, becoming so unbearably desperate for more. God, you couldn’t believe how long it’s been since you’ve felt this way. “Fuck, Steve..” you whimpered as your hands found purchase in his hair. 

 He was being so attentive to you. It was so sweet, sexy, so addicting.

 Steve continued to listen to all of your sounds and whines, giving you quiet praises while his fingers curled, hitting at just the right spot as he increased his pace. Trying to get you to the edge you were teetering on. “C’mon,” he grunted, “Come for me, honey..”

 Your fingers gripped tighter to Steve’s hair, pulling him close to you. “Baby,” you gasped, sucking in air that was leaving too quickly. “I’m gonna— I’m gonna—ah!” 

 In one final push of his hand, your body froze and you felt your wave of pleasure hit over you instantly. It was so hot and so quick, you didn’t even have time to keep yourself in check. Only grinding your hips against his hand to ride out the rest of the orgasm. 

 He had leaned down during your euphoric haze to press kissing against the nape of your neck, Slowly pushing in and out until he gently slipped his fingers out from you “That’s it..just like that..that’s my good girl..” he said, holding onto you until he fell to your side. He reached around to have you closer to him. 

 You were still trying to catch your breath. Feeling so hot and heavy that you felt your head spin for a moment. “God,” you whispered, turning your head to plant kisses on his chest. “I’ll never get over that.”

 Steve hummed happily, seemingly content with having gotten you off. He pressed a kiss to the top of your head, sounding pleased by your reaction. “I won’t either..” he said before he reached down for your chin, tilting you up so you were looking at him as he whispered quietly. “You’ve never been so perfect and so sexy for me.”

 The whisper of his genuine words only took your breath away again. 

 Without saying anything, you moved your legs so that you could straddle on top of him. The slight pressure of his still so hard member was pressing lightly against your thighs. You gave a small roll of your hips before looking at him carefully.

 He stared up at you once you straddled his waist. Eyes wide before you rolled over him and caused him to groan loudly. “Honey,” he breathed out in a deep whisper. “You don’t have to–”

 Bending forward, you pressed your lips against his, letting your kiss distract him from saying anything else as you slowly lifted your hips, kneeling at his sides and reached down between you two. Grabbing hold of his member, you carefully lined him up to your core and slowly eased down.

 He pulled away from the kiss as he gasped for air. “God, you’re perfect.”

You’d chuckle at his sweet response if you weren’t too busy feeling the sensation of having him inside of you again. It was like you’ve been waiting all night to feel this full again and you couldn’t help but sigh in contentment from it. 

 Leaning yourself back, you slowly bottom his member out. Feeling as the tip brushed right at the right spot. A soft moan spilled past your lips and you placed a hand down to rest at his stomach, digging your nails into the skin as you slowly started to roll your hips.

 “Fuck, baby, takin’ all of me.” he whimpered. “Like my good girl.”

 A smile broke out on your face, loving his attempt to talk dirty through his whimpers. Beneath you, Steve’s whole body started to tense up. Turning as needy as yours did minutes ago for release. His hands up and down your thighs, trying to find something to hold onto before he gently wrapped hands around your hips. 

 One of your hands reached out to grip at your breast, feeling as the sensitivity ventured all over your body. Steve, who couldn’t help himself, reached out to replace yours. Squeezing and cupping up your breast as he bucked upward into you. 

 “God damn, honey.” he grunted, thrusting upward again. He pulled himself up to reach your mouth with his. He hungrily kissed you, sucking on your bottom lip before he pulled away for a moment. “You don’t know what you do to me..” he whispered, eyes dark as he looked over your features. 

 You used his new closeness as a chance to wrap your arms around his neck. Keeping him in place so that you could pick up the pace in your rolls. Hitting that delicious spot every time. The kiss had already taken your breath away, but you ignored it in favor of attacking his neck next. 

 Pressing loving kisses on all the spots that freckled his skin. “I could say the same.” You said panting against the line of his jaw. “I can’t get you out of my head.”

 Steve gasped out in between your kisses on his neck, holding you close as he moved his hand back to your lower back. Holding you steady as he began to buck his hips up to meet your rolls. Thrusting upwards so fast now that you were practically bouncing on top of him.

 ”I’ve been trying so hard to stick to this whole friend, pausing thing—fuck. But I can’t stop thinking about you like this.” he grunted between short, shallow breaths. “Want you like this all the time.” 

 His thrusts started to hit directly into all the right places, making your next climax approach faster now. You felt yourself shuddering at his words, holding tightly to him as his confession brought butterflies to your stomach.

 “God, Steve.” You whimpered, “All the time?”

 “Every, damn, day.” he answered, thrusting up to match each word he managed to get out.  You could feel your body react to him, clenching tighter around his cock. Needing to hold onto the feeling of him inside of you before he’d hit you again and have you gasping in pleasure. “God, I could do this all night if you’ll have me.” 

 His words made you shudder, and you dug your nails into his shoulders. Pushing against him lightly to lie on his back again while you looked down in his eyes. “You’re all mine?” You asked breath ragged as you rolled your hips again. The brink of your climax just nearly there. “Say it.”

 “Fuck,” he moaned, staring up at you with wide eyes. You’ve never been this possessive with him before but from his slight grin, you started to think he liked it. “I’m yours.” he nodded quickly, licking over his lips. “You have me, Trouble. All of me.” 

 Taking his chance, he gripped tightly to your hips, giving you a slight wincing pain but followed with another wave of pleasure as he used all his energy to buck his hips up to yours, going at a much more brutal pace.

 From the mix of his responses plus the way his hips kept snapping up in the right places, you could barely roll correctly as you felt your edge coming. “I’m so—God, I’m so close.” You gasped, reaching a hand down between you, rubbing your clit in a quick circle to drive you just enough. 

 “Come for me,” he hissed, sweat was beading down his forehead but he kept up his speed, not stopping until he got you there. “Come for me, honey..”

 Your back arched, curling at his command as a sudden wave of pleasure hit you. Every roll caused your core to tighten around him, giving you that blindingly hot sensation that only your orgasm could give you. Specks of white blurred your vision again and you let out a cry of ecstasy.

 Below, Steve held you close, riding out the rest of your orgasm by helping you continue to roll your hips. “Oh God, oh Go–fuck.” he moaned, his body tensing up before finally reaching his release. The sensation of Steve’s cum shooting in you had you shuddering slightly but not as much as the sinful sounds of his moans fought against your whimpers.

 There was a solid minute where the two of you were just there, both taking the chance to roll against each other until finally you started to calm your bodies down. You glanced down to look at him, smiling a little at his face. He was still softly moaning, most likely sensitive as you were right now before he felt your gaze on him. 

 “Hi.” you said softly, just staring at him until you leaned down to place another kiss on his lips.

 “Hey.” he whispered back, now sporting a goofy grin. Though you had the power of being on top, it didn’t stop you from feeling shy from his gaze. Looking away, you peeked over your shoulder to stare at the door before down again.  

 “Do you think the others heard us?”

 He glanced over toward the door, face scrunching up a bit before he shook his head. “Doubt it.” he chuckled, returning back to his former position. “Those little shits aren’t afraid to barge in and bother us if we’re disturbing them, so I think I think we’re in the clear.”

 Nodding your head, you held onto his arms. Using them as leverage to keep you up as you reached between you two so that you could pull him out. A small hiss escaped at the change of pressure before you carefully climbed off his lap and laid down beside him. “That was intense.” you said softly, placing a hand on your still racing heart.

 Steve, who had quickly managed to catch his breath, laid his head down on the pillow. You glanced up to see he was grinning as he stared up at the ceiling. “Intense isn’t the word I’d use..” he shrugged with an amused chuckle. “Now incredible..”

 You couldn’t help but laugh at that, gaining his attention. He slowly rolled to rest his head down against your shoulder, gently brushing his fingers up and down your side. You turned over to face him instead. “You’re incredibly cheesy, Harrington.” you smirked, still feeling like you’re on cloud nine from everything.

 He gave a fake look of shock, nearly clutching his pearls before he reached out to you. Tucking you against him so he could gently nudge your side with his hand. “Me? Chee—what about you, using cheesy lines on me like ‘you’re all mine’?”

 You felt your face heat up. 

 “Yeah, well, I was just taking a page right out from your book of lines.” You shrugged, trying to keep up with a faux bit of confidence.

 That seemed to only amuse him further. Making him let out a light laugh as he leaned down to press a gentle kiss to your lips. “Now you’re suddenly keeping note of my go to lines?” he asked with a light, playful, voice as he moved onto peppering small kisses over your face. “Thought you wanted to be a lawyer, not a stenographer.”

 “Uhh..” You had a hard time thinking of any clever response as Steve continued his kissing, making you incredibly distracted. He literally just fucked you stupid and thought adding drunkly sweet kisses on top of that would do any good. “..Shut up.” You eventually answered, not even able to combat it at this point.

 Again, he laughed at you. Giving you at least a break from his lips as he pulled back to look over at you. “Gotta admit, I kinda liked hearing you talk so possessively to me. Makes me feel all sorts of special.” he whispered teasingly.

 You sighed in defeat, figuring that while he was annoying in teasing now, he was kind of right. A small part of you felt alive to be holding such a claim on him. Sappy or not, he felt like he really was yours. But you hated the idea of Steve holding that over you right now with his shit eating grin.

 “Shut up.” You said again, slightly teasing, but mostly pouting. The blanket, while a little too warm, helped cover up your slightly sweaty body from the cold that would inevitably take over. You turned yourself to rest on his chest a little, needing to hear his heart while lightly brushing your fingers over his side.

 All this was so beautifully domestic. Reminding you of the calmer nights of the early summer you two had where you were actually allowed to be silly teens who didn’t have school worries or problems from the upside down. Just two people enjoying each other’s company.

 The thoughts of all tomorrow’s worries instantly came into mind. No matter how much you wished it, and how much Steve gave to you, the doubts would always come back to creep in, and the world would find ways to keep you from getting that happiness back.

 Steve adjusted himself to pull you closer to his body, keeping you pressed tight against his chest. Gently letting his hand move to pet over your hair as he softly whispered to you. “I can hear you thinking.”

 A small sad smile couldn’t help but tug at your lips. Steve’s familiar intuition kicked in once again and your body reacted so instinctively to him as you curled more into his side. Seeking comfort against him. You gently drew patterns over the sides of his ribs as you fought to get your words out. 

 “I’m thinking how I’ve messed up my life again..”

 He didn’t say anything at first. Only keeping his hold on you before he finally spoke up again. “Why would you think that?” he asked slowly.

 “I’ve lied to you guys, I’ve kept things that were important..and all for it to come back and nearly get me killed.”

 The reminder of the other day’s events unfortunately seemed to cause a dip in the vibe around the room. Beside you Steve stiffened up, possibly remembering his own emotions from that day. But you couldn’t stop yourself from going on, feeling more guilt pour out of you.

 “I’ve been such a bad friend. I’ve neglected Eddie who’s just stuck waiting for us to help him..he doesn’t even know what’s going on and I’ve just been wasting our time keeping things from all of you. I’m sorr–”

 “You were scared.” he cut in, not allowing you to finish your apology. “You just wanted to keep us safe and keep us focused on what you thought was important, baby. I know you. Not only are you a good friend, but you’re a good person..I’m so tired of having you put yourself down.” he argued, pressing a kiss to the top of your head. “I don’t know what that asshole is making you hear or see in your head..but you aren’t messing up your life.”

 You closed your eyes, wanting to believe everything he was saying. But all the months of Vecna feeding pain and hurt into you were still lingering. Even if you used your anger to fight back against him, the weight of his words still hung heavily onto you.

 “I can’t unhear his words, Steve. I can’t stop seeing the vision he showed me..”

 “Tell me about it.” he said softly, another kiss now to the side of your cheek as he tried to bring you back down from your spiraling. “Let me in..”

 Sighing, you reached over to grab for his free hand, bringing it close to your chest as you recalled the events of the past few months. Mentioning the times Vecna had attempted to make you feel alone and guilty over things. Whether it was from Billy’s death, the break up, or even the struggle to maintain the relationships you had with others.

 “..it wasn’t until the day he tried to take me..I just knew it was all wrong. Like everything he had been feeding me was just to get me to this point but it wasn’t enough. No one but me got hurt that night. Even as I tried to remember it in detail the only one around was me and the police until my Dad came. But he wanted to use that guilt and feed it into something worse.”

 “But he still has a hold over you..” he pointed out, letting his fingers lace with yours. 

 “I guess, even now it feels sometimes like I’m being lulled into a dream. Which must be a reason why sleep is hard for me tonight.” You moved to place your hand around his waist, feeling the need to hold him again. “What if this is the last night we get to do this? What if I’m pulled in again and can’t get out?..”

 It was scary to think about death easily taking over you. The worst part of it, is that you’d know you were about to die and know that it was your loved ones who would see the horrors of what happens when Vecna finally got his claw into you. 

 Without looking, you could hear as Steve let out a small sigh. He gently kept his hand brushing over your hair, seemingly attempting to soothe you. “Well, I’m not going anywhere,” he said, sounding determined. “Not unless you want me to..and even then, I’m not leaving your side.”

 “I know you’ll be here, Steve. My worry though is will I be?” You picked up your head and peered up at him, trying to focus on the features of his face. As if you suddenly needed to keep them in your memory to remember him in the future.

 “I’m not letting you go.” he frowned, his grip tightening on you. “I know you’re scared, we all are, but there's a fight within us. Okay? We’re not gonna stop until you and Max are safe again. And as far as things between us..they’re far from being done yet. So you can bet I’m not letting anything happen to you.” He let go to reach his hand back to softly cup your face. His thumb gently over your cheek as he kept his eyes locked on yours. “I promise, we’re going to have many nights like this again..” 

 “Yeah? After we’re done pausing our problems?” You said, feeling a little overwhelmed with reality again. There was just always going to be one problem over the other. 

 He turned silent, not saying anything for a moment as he leaned down to press a soft kiss to your lips.  “You wanted to pretend tonight was different, right?” he said, locking his serious gaze into yours. “Tonight we’re just two teens, both with feelings for each other, both in this bed after having amazing sex. Let’s keep it like that and worry about tomorrow..tomorrow.”

 Would there even be a chance tomorrow for all this? Or would the two of you just continue to dance around this subject? You wanted to argue against that, remind him of the truth. But you quickly swallowed that thought down when you saw the slight pain in Steve’s eyes. This was not easy for him either. 

 “Okay, tomorrow then.”

 Though he seemed a little skeptical of your answer, he still smiled at you as he laid his head back down on the pillow. His arm wrapped around you now as he gently brushed his fingers lightly up and down your back. “You want to stay like this for the rest of the night?” he asked softly.

 I could stay like this for the rest of my life. You thought. “Yes.”

 There was a soft, relieving, sigh as he leaned down to press a kiss to the top of your head. ”Then I won’t move till morning.” he whispered, words sounding more like a promise than just reassurance. 

 Your body relaxed under him and you found that you were now wishing to fight the sleep you were so desperate for in the beginning. Wanting to bask more in the short amount of time you and Steve had together alone. 

 “..and maybe a little bit after that?” you asked, more so wished out loud.

 Steve listened intently, letting you finish your sleepy words as he reached over behind you to grab the cassette player. Seemingly the only one between the two of you to actually remember the problems outside of your little promise earlier. 

 Soon enough the soft sounds of Joan Jett began to play in your ear again and he cuddled you closer into his arms. Tugging at the blanket so it covered you better. The last thing you saw before your eyes closed was the smile that crept back on his face. 

 “..and after that.”

 The small click of the tape ending was the first thing that stirred you awake.

 It would seem that partaking in the rigorous activities the night before was just what you needed for sleep to eventually come its way to you. Something you were thankful for considering this past week so far, you’ve slept roughly around two to three hours a night. 

 Unfortunately, that precious sleep time was over now and soon enough, you’d be forced to get out of bed eventually. A task you found to be harder once you felt Steve stir behind you. Without needing to turn around, you could feel that his eyes were on you. He quietly called out your name, trying to find if you were awake or not. When you didn’t answer back, he leaned in to press a kiss to the back of your shoulder. 

 The tip of hands caressed over the length of your bare leg, admiring the softness before it wrapped around your hips, dragging you back a bit in order to get you closer. After, his hand explored up the expanse of your stomach, curves, and chest until he cupped gently at your face. Again, he pressed kisses to you, only this time to your cheek. That’s when he stiffened up, noticing something, and let you go to reach for the cassette. 

 There was a click again and it quickly started to rewind. He set it back down as he resumed tending to you. Just as you were about to turn around and give into his affections, the sound of his door bursting open interrupted. 

 “Steve! Please tell me she’s in–oh God!”

 “Whoa! Shh!” Steve hissed. “Jesus Christ, Buckley, you ever heard of knocking?”

 “Have you ever heard of wearing clothes?!”

 The sound of Robin gagging followed along as Steve attempted to pull the blanket higher over the two of you. The door closed softly, but you could still feel the presence of your friend. You could only assume she had turned around now, keeping her eyes off of the two of you. 

 "Seriously? Here I was feeling like a bad friend for telling her I’d find you two kissing. But this?” Her voice had that unmistakable mix of exasperation and disgust that reminded you of the summer back in Starcourt. “I nearly had a heart attack, like, five minutes ago and now I think I’m gonna have a bigger one. I almost saw your butt, Steve!”

 “Please stop talking.”

 “Why is she here? You guys are on break.”

 “She couldn’t sleep, okay? She came in, woke me up and–”

 “And you took off your clothes?!”

 “Shh!” he hissed again. “Can you stop? You'll wake her up." His hold around you tightened, almost as if he were shielding you from the interruption.  

 Though you couldn’t see it, you could practically feel the eye roll from Robin. “Look, as happy as I am to see you guys making some sort of move in your relationship, we’re gonna have to cut the honeymoon short. The kids are up and we gotta get a move on. Nancy wanted us to meet her back at her house after breakfast. So, you two need to get dressed.”

 “Five minutes.” Steve reasoned, not daring to move you anymore. “Give us that and we’ll meet you downstairs.”

 “Fine,” she huffed, “Five minutes. That’s all you guys have before I’m sending one of the others. Let you two traumatize someone else for once.”

 Steve sighed, his voice tired as he quickly agreed. "I'll wake her up, I promise."

 You heard Robin grumble a bit as she opened the door. “God, Steve, you are so hairy!” she said in a hushed tone as she closed the door gently behind her. The sounds of her stomps slowly faded away as she finally left to go downstairs. 

 With the room now quiet again, you finally turned in Steve’s arms to face him. His eyes met yours, and a lazy, contented smile spread across his face. His hair was adorably unruly and you couldn’t help but reach out to run your fingers through it before you brought your hand to rest on his shoulder.  

 “Morning.” he whispered softly, leaning down to press a kiss against your lips. It was cut too short and he slowly pulled back to look down at you again. 

 “I see my late night visit got us in trouble.” you whispered back, feeling a little guilty for Robin’s unfortunate timing. 

 “Sort of.” He chuckled a bit, shaking his head at the interaction. “But, she’ll cool off. I think she was just worried when she didn’t find you in the other room.”

 Staring at the door, you hoped that you didn’t worry Robin too much. After her little speech, all she seemed to want was for you and Steve to make up in some sort of way. But after the sex, and confessing to him about your Vecna struggles, you were a little worried you might have pushed that progress even further. “Do you think I’ve just..complicated things with us after last night?”

 Steve inhaled deeply, looking at you with the same concerned gaze before he shook his head. “The only thing I feel after last night is amazing.” He pressed a kiss to your cheek, gentle but loving. “Besides, it’s not like you and I aren’t used to complicated, right?”

 You nestled closer to Steve, adjusting so that you could rest on top of him while he moved to lie on his back. The warmth from his body and steady rhythm of his breathing helped soothe you. He wrapped his arms around you again, keeping you close to his side as he savored the moment. 

 As the former silence settled, you focused slowly on Steve’s familiar quick heartbeat. One of his hands moved up to rub up and down your back. Almost as if he were coaxing you back to a peaceful sleep again. 

 "You know we really should get up," you murmured, though there was no real conviction in your voice. The comforting moment was too tempting to let go of so easily. “She’ll probably try to get us back by sending Dustin.”

 He chuckled, the sound vibrating through his chest a bit. “God, probably. He’ll never let us hear the end of it.” he agreed, pressing a soft kiss to the top of your head. “I’m sort of just..struggling to let you go right now.”

 “Me too.” you whispered, moving a hand up to gently comb through the curls that nestled over his pecs. He brought his other hand up to place over yours, holding it to press against him. From the look in his eyes, you could only see a glint of mischief as he looked down at you. 

 “Maybe we should stay..”

 “We’re supposed to be pausing things again.”

 “True.”

 It’s quiet again and it’s you this time who feels a spark of mischief come through you. “We do have four more minutes..”

 He hummed for a moment and you glanced up again to find that his eyes were closed. He had a small, content, smile on his face, nearly making you reach up to pinch at his cheek. “I know what we could do in four minutes..” he said in a very low, tempting purr. 

 “You are absolutely ridiculous.” you laughed as you tried to scoot out of his arms before you got caught up in his alluring notions. But he was quick, and held on tighter, turning his gaze back to you so he could press more kisses to your head.

 “I’m not hearing a no..” 

 “No!”

 “Make out instead?”

 “The night is over, we’re supposed to be just friends again, remember?”

 “Friends who occasionally make out?”

 You gave him a look, recalling the way you guys got together in the first place. But again, he’s looking at you in such a way, you can’t help but feel your lip turn upright, feeling that spark of desire built up in your stomach. 

 “..Fine. But now we only have three minutes.”

TEN MINUTES LATER

 “Hey Steve, Robin sent me up here to make sure you wer–OH GOD!”

 “DUDE, GET OUT!” 

 “GET OFF MY COUSIN!”

 “DUSTIN, GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!”

 “OH GOD, I’M GONNA THROW UP!”

A/N: So sorry the middle was so long. But!!! I hope you guys like this update. I had to kinda split it up. I just feel like I wanted to give them a chapter dedicated to just them. Sort of like in my season three chapters. They need one night to bone it out, talk feelings, and then have crazy shit to deal with the next day lol. 

Thanks for all the nice messages and I hope you guys enjoy it. If not, I’m sorry, another update will be hopefully soon.🩷

TAGGING LIST: @cluz1babe, @starofavolonea, @primroseluna, @siriuslysmoking , @bobo-bush, @summerellaz,  @hollandweather​ - Thank you guys for your patience! (also tried to tag some of you I feel are regulars and might want an update.🩷

[educatedsimps]

— bonus headcanons, iwaizumi hajime

≪ back to fics masterlist main fic here!

iwaizumi hajime x gn!reader

a/n: idea dump based on this iwa request (main fic) so this is basically just everything i wanted to put into the fic but i kinda lost the energy and the bandwidth to write everything up to the standard i wanted so now this exists HAHA hope u like this and tysm for reading! :)

headcanons under the cut!

You remember asking him once, "Hajime, why do you do that?"

And he replied "Do what?" with deadass the most confused look on his face.

"Kiss my wrists and palms all the time," You clarified.

"Oh," He stopped. "Yeah, why do I do that-"

ok so basically, Iwa finds the wrists a very delicate part of the body, and given his experience as a volleyball player, and the nature of his job, he takes extra special care of them.

he remembers his coaches always reminding him and his teammates not to injure their wrists during training, which translates to "YOU BETTER HAVE GOOD FORM WHILE SPIKING, SERVING AND SETTING, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

anyway, i think he started noticing wrists when he was in high school, especially since he was seijoh's ace and had to use his wrists a lot to spike. he probably injured his wrist(s) once and has always listened to his coaches ever since.

now that he's a professional volleyball trainer he makes sure that his athletes don't injure their wrists either.

so i think all of this adds to why he pays extra attention to your wrists especially.

bonus if your job requires you to use or rely on your wrists a lot, eg. musician (like me), athletes, surgeon, author, artist, etc... idk.

YOU CANNOT CONVINCE ME THAT HE DOESN'T GIVE THE BEST 👏 FKING 👏 MASSAGES 👏 ON EARTH 👏 and at the end of the massage he'll always kiss your hands and wrists and idk why but it just feels so chivalrous. like ofc it feels intimate when you hold his face in your hands and he plants kisses on your wrists/palms and but sometimes it just feels so chivalrous and gentlemanly ykwim?

OMG WHEN HE PROPOSES TO YOU like after he slides the ring onto your finger AND THEN KISSES YOUR WRIST/HAND AND IT FEELS LIKE YOUR HEART COULD EXPLODE 'cause i know mine would actually explode if he did that.

anyway some instances i thought of adding to the fic (but couldn't cuz i don't have the ability or capacity to write them out well) include:

waking up in the morning together or when you hold his face and kiss his forehead (these two are in the main fic linked above!)

when you're cuddling on the couch after a long day and just watching a show together or napping. if you're laying on him and touch his face he'll 100% kiss your wrists/palms

when he hugs you from behind and you reach up to run your fingers through his hair (like when you're cooking dinner together or something) and he'll pull your hand down to kiss your wrist

when you hug him with your arms around his neck and he catches your wrist before you pull away

when you shower together (SFW, DON'T WORRY) and you're facing each other and he's tilting his head / bending down while you wash his hair or massage his scalp and when you're done washing it he'll give your wrists a gentle kiss before returning the favour

BONUS: when he holds your face in his hands and you decide to give him a taste of his (very sweet) medicine. you’d twist your head to kiss his wrist and then his palm and he'd be BLUSHING because he's usually the one who does that AND HE'S SO CUTE he's like, "hey... you can't do that. i'm supposed to be the one doing that for you." while blushing and smiling and getting a lil shy and everything and HE'S JUST TOO CUTE FOR MY HEART 😭😭💕

a/n: ok that's all for the iwa brainrot ... i'm kidding, the iwa brainrot will never end. THANKS FOR READING THOUGH and thank you anon for sparking my two week long obsession with iwa once again

© educatedsimps 2024. do not repost, copy, translate or plagiarize any work from this blog on tumblr or any other platforms. if you do, the simps will hunt you down. likes and reblogs are appreciated!

[sophrosynesworld]

with all my love,

Edit: This is now a series with more parts available. Enjoy!

This idea came into my head, basically your significant other is an absent Katsuki Bakugo. After months of a loveless relationship, you decide to leave this note and finally move on.

Dear Katsuki,

If you’re reading this, I’ve already moved my belongings out of our home. You might not believe me, but I’ve had the majority of my items packed in a suitcase next to the front door. It’s been sitting there for the past week, but you never once questioned it.

Each day I waited, hoping you’d notice, hoping you’d ask me about it. Each day, my heart broke a little more when you walked past it without a second glance. I wanted so badly for you to see, to care, to fight for us.

I can’t live like this anymore. I’m tired of sharing a house that feels more like a cold, empty shell than a home. I’m tired of sitting alone at the dinner table, my heart sinking with every passing hour that you’re not there. I’m tired of not seeing you for days on end, of lying awake at night wondering if you’re bleeding out in an alleyway. I might not be a pro-hero, but I’m still your partner. I was your partner.

For months, I fought to gain your attention back, praying to whatever god would listen. I used to beg them, offering anything they wanted, just so you would notice how much I've changed. I started working out again, sculpting my body into something I thought you’d find appealing, hoping to catch your eye like I once did. I even joined a cooking class, learning to make all your favorite dishes. I wanted to surprise you with a homemade meal. You would have known that, if you made it home for dinner once in 4 months.

Do you remember our first apartment after graduation? That tiny studio next to the noodle shop? I find myself there sometimes, watching the new couple who lives in our old place. It's become a painful habit, seeing them live out what we once had. Her boyfriend seems kind, and they slow dance in the kitchen, just like we used to. Sometimes, I can almost hear your laughter echoing in their space, as if our ghosts still linger there.

I remember when we used to laugh and dance together, our dreams tangled like a ball of red string. We would stay up late, talking about our future, making plans that felt like promises. Now, our home your home haunts me. The warmth I once felt has been replaced by a suffocating darkness. I don't know what changed, Katsuki, but pretending everything is fine is tearing me apart.

I often wonder what your biggest regret in life will be. Is it pushing your friends away, no matter how hard they try to love you? Maybe it will be all the times you let your anger get the best of you. Could it be not taking a moment to stop and smell the roses, to appreciate the simple, beautiful moments life has to offer.

I don't know if you've found someone else. Part of me dreads the truth. I don’t want to know if there’s another name on your lips, another face in your heart. I don't think I could bear knowing their name or imagining you whispering those same sweet words into their ear.

Izuku says it’s selfish, but I hope your biggest regret in life is losing me. I hope you see my face in every little thing—the flowers you never stopped to admire, the meals we never shared, the quiet moments you never savored. I hope my laughter echoes in your silence, my tears in your loneliness. I hope my memory haunts your future as painfully as our present haunts me.

If you still love me, Katsuki Bakugo, I haven't felt that love from you in months.

With all of my love,

[mischiefmaker615]

Masochist

Summary: Intending to relax when you get home doesn't exactly go as planned.. 

Rating: R *trigger warning*

Tag List: @foxherder @asgards-princess-of-mischief

Your shoulders finally slumped, as did your back against the door once you shut it behind you. without even turning on a light, you successfully placed your keys and purse on the small table beside you and used a steady hand against the wall to keep your balance while you slipped your heels off one by one.

Work always had you beat at the end of the day- having to work at a fancy-ass bank that made you get dressed up in a wrinkle-less blazer, high heels and hold a business women like posture. The money was the only thing that had you stay so you could continue living in your nice apartment- as simple as it was. You could even walk in the dark half the time when you got home because of the few pieces of furniture you owned.. but it was home.

Your brain practically shut off comfortably as you let out a sigh, finding nothing out of the ordinary- finding most things the way you left it. most. A chill ran down your spine as you stopped walking, your eyes sharpening as it tried searching through the dark ahead of you as the atmosphere shifted and your hand gripped the back of the couch as you listened. Silence. After a good moment, you turned to give in and reached for the light switch until a sudden hand from behind clamped over your mouth and an arm pulled you flush against a body from around your waist.

Your immediate instinct was to shout a particular curse word as you struggled against your surprise capture, your body stiffening as you took note at just how strong he was compared to you- predicting who would already win if you fought more.

The slender fingers lay against your mouth just tight enough to keep you from speaking, who’s flesh was rather cold than the typical warmth of a normal person. By the faint breath on the top of your head, you could feel just how tall he was behind you and felt him hunch to have more of his chest pushed into your shoulders. by the way you felt his kneels slightly bent, you knew it was to purposely accommodate his height to yours to have his groin pressed right against your ass- and he was most certainly packing. A masculine smell with a hint of pine filled your nostrils and the soft, tight fabric of his shirt left very little to the imagination at how lean and sculpted he was.

A shaky hand reached up to try to pry under his fingers while your other hand gripped his forearm, but he was not budging while his fingertips slightly curled repeatedly against your side around your waist, almost wishing it could dig right trough your shirt to try to feel your warm flesh.

“I’ve been waiting for you darling..’’ the voice made you instantly shiver, a voice you know all to well as your body stilled. ‘’do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting to have you..’’

His voice was silky, smooth and almost a whisper as if he only wished for you to hear as he spoke right to your ear. Your pleas were muffled by his hand as you tried to lean away, only resulting with him leaning with you to press himself more into you from behind.

‘’you may think you can run my darling but I’m to involved.. to lustful to let you go now..’’ he breathed and you felt the tip of his tongue glide along your ear, coming down again and begin to nibble teasingly on your ear lobe.

You squeezed your eyes tight as you shivered, trying to scream at your mind to fight as you tried moving again out of his embrace. This merely resulted him to walking forward, his legs practically shoving you forward as he guided you both to the couch’s edge.

‘’you’ve had quite the long day love, do allow me to help you relax.. I know you’ve been looking forward to it all day’’ he smirked and pushed forward, resulting you both on the couch with him pressed on top while you lay on your stomach, your arms free yet a hand still remained on your mouth.

You tried using both hands to pry it off with no success so instead you tried propping yourself up as if you were in a push-up position. Loki wasn’t having it and used his weight to keep you down, his bulge seeming much bigger now as it pressed against your ass once more. This made you squirm while he pinned your wrists together in front of you with one hand.

‘’it’s nothing I know you aren’t capable of taking darling, I promise to be nothing but gentle and I know you’ll enjoy this..’’ he purred, nuzzling into your hair as he breathed in to take in your sweet scent. His hand slowly moved from your mouth and to rest under your jawline as he lightly gripped your neck, a threat to squeeze if you spoke of something you’d regret.

‘’w-why are you doing this?..’’ you whispered as you tried to remain still and he merely chuckled as he slowly, agonizingly slowly began to grind against your ass.

‘’you intrigue me dear mortal.. you aren’t like the other’s are you..’’ rhetorical. "you wealthy mortals understand power. you understand greed more than anyone.. you came from money, know how to use it in your precious profession.. money gives you power.’’ You felt him smirk against you as he moved his face to be along yours, nuzzling his cheek against yours as he tilted your head up. ‘’you want power don't you.."

Your body shivered, feeling how almost with every word he seemed to grind into you to emphasize each word. It was making it hard to think and to your shameful realization, found that you were beginning to be aroused as he stretched your arms more forward.

His hand turned a bit to gride a bit up your jaw so his finger could teasingly run along your bottom lip, asking for access in which you kept your mouth shut. You hummed in protest and tried to turn your face away, resulting in his hand leaving your wrist to grip your hair. Your gasp at the slight sting was enough to move his finger into your mouth, resting against your tongue as you instinctually closed your lips around it.

‘’you bite, I bite.’’ He whispered, and not the pleasurable threat as you felt him slowly pump his finger into your mouth, using the hand that gripped your hair to move your head up and down against it while he even grinded into your ass in the same rhythm.

‘’of your enjoying this aren’t you.. you might not bring yourself to admit it, but I bet you are just positively dripping for me..’’ he smirked, his voice low as he dipped his head down and began kissing and sucking at the crook of your neck once your hair slowly fell forward to expose it. ‘’I bet you’ve had a poor, neglected cunt from mortals who have no idea what to do with you..’’ he smirked and nipped at your skin ‘’but I do..’’

Your body tensed as you tried squirming beneath him but he wasn’t having it. you were manhandled and completely weak against his strength. By removing his hand from your mouth, your lips parted open to regain a proper breath of air while his hand traveled down and scooped at your waist. Before you even realized what was happening, he released your hair and moved a hand to your back, keeping you down while the other hand at your waist pulled up- now having you arching with your ass up.

His strong thighs moved so he had either one along your spread legs, resting on his knees just as you were and your hands reached out to try to grip something.

‘’ah ah ah, I wouldn’t move if I were you, you wouldn’t want to worsen your punishment darling..’’ he tsked and you stilled your hands, knowing with his strength you couldn’t get out from his grip anyway so you opted to gripping the couch cushion below you instead.

‘’w-what-‘’

‘’you’ve been a bad girl, keeping yourself away selfishly out of my reach. I nearly had you in new York.. if those heroes hadn’t gotten in between us..’’ the last part made him growl and you felt his hands suddenly quicken to grip your skirt and rip it off, tossing it before you.

Your heart rate picked up and you opened your mouth to yell but no sound suddenly left your mouth, making you grip your throat as if it would somehow be there. Your eyes widened, your body shaking as you tried to turn to look at him for answers by a hand returned to between your shoulder blades, keeping you down with a hand at your hip to keep them up.

‘’the only sound that I will allow to come from the beautiful mouth of yours darling are the moans of pleasure and when I have you screaming my name..’’ he smirked with a promise behind those words and your struggles came alive, trying to squirm and thrash but this merely just made him chuckle and suddenly your wrists were pinned down by an invisible substance in front of you and a weight pressed down where your knees were, almost as if hands were keeping you still but with no indication of hands on you. you knew this because you felt both of Loki’s slowly caressing your rump, kneading and squeezing while you almost felt him shiver.

‘’gods darling, It is practically sinful to keep such beauty away from me.. and now that I finally have you.. there is nothing that will take what is rightfully mine..’’ he growled and snapped your lace panties against your skin playfully. ‘’not even these.’’

You squeezed your eyes shut as he threatened you a few more times by snapping your panties against you before his hand disappeared entirely, keeping the other gently stroking one of your cheeks. Suddenly you felt his fingertips lightly graze against your intimate area through your panties, causing you to shiver and realize just how wet you were. This didn’t go unnoticed by Loki since he then proceeded to repeatedly stroke you in a teasing fashion against the delicate fabric.

‘’by the gods darling, I didn’t know you so ready for me and I haven’t even fucked you yet..’’ he smirked and slowly moved a finger into your underwear and sunk it all the way up to the knuckle inside of you.

This made you shiver in pleasure, a small moan leaving your lips that you both definitely heard before you even realized you did it. your cheeks reddened, hating to enjoy this as your muscles uselessly tensed to try to pull at whatever magical restraints he had enchanted you with. Nothing budged.

‘’its adorable that you think that you can get away from this darling.. oh how I would love to drop a little weight to feel you fully against me but I am quite enjoying the view I just cant bring myself to change positions right now.. then again, we do have a rather long night ahead of us to try quite a few things’’ he whispered, pushing his suddenly freed cock against you as you felt his hips against your ass while he removed his hand to teasingly rub his cock between your thighs.

With a sudden snap your panties were off and you could feel his warm, hard member rubbing up against our swollen clit and folds that begged for attention. Precum smeared against your inner thigh as he teasingly moved in a circler motion with his hips, purposely sometimes missing the area you wanted it most to earn a small whine from you.

‘’I was sure of it that you longed for me just as much as I have longed for you darling.. you’re practically crying for my touch..’’ he smirked as his hands gripped your hips, feeling his thumbs stroke against your shivering skin. ‘’admit it, you could have better fought this if you tried.. but we both know you want this.. you want my cock inside that poor, tight cunt that throbs and aches and clenches around nothing right now.. you want me to take care of you don’t you?’’ he smirked, a hand snaking around your thigh to slowly rub circles against your clit with two of his fingertips.

You gave a small moan before a sharp yelp left your lips when you felt his hand strike your ass harshly.

‘’I asked you a question Y/N.’’ the way your name left his lips was not only sexy but had all indication that he owned you even before he even claimed you and it had you shivering with pleasure all over again.

‘’y-yes..’’ you breathed, half registering that your voice was back before another slap came to your other cheek.

‘’yes what?’’

Yes I want you to take care of me!’’ you moaned, the sting becoming a pleasurable feeling as he ran his cold hand against the mark against your ass cheek.

‘’now tell me, how many of those earth’s mightiest heroes kept us apart from me claiming you that day?’’ he hissed and you felt him push the head of his cock just barely into your cunt.

A moan left your lips as you tried to think through it all, you even found yourself pushing your hips back to try to get more of him into you but a first hand on your hip kept you still. You opted to try to think of that day at how many Avenger’s came to your aid when you found yourself trapped alone with him. ‘’u-um.. five-‘’ your last word was cut off as he thrust fast into you up to the hilt with no warning, making your back arch more and your finger tips to grip the fabric, almost feeling like you would have torn them as his hand left your clit to join your other hip.

‘’I want you to name them one by one. For each one, I will punish you. and thank me after each one.’’ He hissed, his finger tips gripping your sides as he made sure he kept you pressed back up against his hips with his cock buried inside you with no movement. He allowed you no leave way to try to move, leaving you impaled on his cock as you tried to think.

‘’S-Steve-‘’ STRIKE! ‘’thank you!’’ you yelped as he stuck your ass cheek, being sure to run a cold hand over it after he let the sting hover for a bit and you tried to keep your mind sharp.

‘’..Tony-‘’ STRIKE! ‘’gods.. thank you!’’ you moaned, your head passing back as your eyes fluttered up to the ceiling and your body shivered, feeling how he had struck exactly in the same place as before.

‘’Clint- Bann-‘’ STRIKE! You yelped, feeling that one extra hard on your other cheek as you whimpered.

‘’do not rush this darling, one by one. And then we could see about how well of a cock-sleeve you are.’’ he smirked.

‘’t-thank you Loki..’’ you breathed, feeling how his cock twitched inside of you as he stroked the sides of your thighs with feather light touches from his fingertips. ‘’B-Banner-‘’

STRIKE!

‘’you are doing so well darling.. you can take one more..’’ he purred, probably holding his composure to fuck you by a thread as your mouth fell open and your eyes slowly closed as you relished the pleasurable sting. ‘’t-thank you m-master..’’ you breathed out and you felt him lean forward with a growl, almost as if he was getting as much inside you as possible as he a hand began to ghost against your clit.

‘’good girl.. you have one more..’’ he whispered and you caught your bottom lip with your teeth, a little afraid at the last one as you shivered.

‘’..T-Thor..’’

STRIKE! STRIKE!

You yelped as you felt two hard strikes against each cheek before you were shoved forward and his cock slid out of you while you landed on your stomach with a bounce on the couch. Before you realized what happened, you were flipped onto your back with Loki between your thighs and his lips crashing onto yours. His tongue thrust inside your mouth, claiming dominance you knew you couldn’t fight him on while your hands flew to his silky, raven hair and gripped it.

This earned a growl from him as he moved a hand between your bodies and only took one second to align himself before he thrust forward, making you scream his name as your back arched.

‘’gods Y/N your so fucking tight!’’ he moaned, his brows furrowed as his eyes closed, keeping a fast pace as if his life were at steak.

Your hand reached up and steadied yourself against the couch’s arm so your body wouldn’t slide to much to bump your head against it while your legs wrapped around his hips to take you deeper. You both lost yourself as you moaned, clawed, thrust and whimpered. He pressed his forehead against your shoulder as he panted, his thrusting slowing down ever so slightly to drag through you in longer strokes while his weight supported itself against his forearm beside your head. His other hand glided down your body before rubbing circles against your clit, causing you to shiver and silent gasp as your back arched.

‘’I want you to cum for Y/N, right now..’’ he ordered in a breathy pant, raising his head to look into your eyes while a small smile tugged at his lips. ‘’milk my cock, squeeze around me, let me feel you.. be my good girl..’’

That did it.

Your orgasm crashed in a second as your back arched and you moaned shamelessly his name, grasping his shoulders while your nails dug into his skin. This seemed to throw him over the edge as he gripped your flesh at your shoulder in his teeth while his orgasm crashed too. You both were a panting mess as your bodies shook, tensed and stretched while his thrusts and fingers came to a slowed halt to help you ride yours out while he buried himself and stayed there.

After a moment where you both composed yourselves, Loki rose his head to look at you with a triumphant look on his face while his hair hung down. ‘’how was that darling?’’

Your nails released his skin and moved your hands to his hair now while you looked at him with dick drunk and tired eyes. ‘’did you really have to grip my skirt though?’’ you said with halfhearted disappointed.

Loki chuckled and pecked your lips, pausing with a smile before going back to capture your lips again in a much longer kiss, moaning into your mouth before he rose himself again to look down at you. ‘’perhaps not, there are several ways I thought about going about getting you naked love, but this new.. what was it that you called it?”

Your cheeks couldn’t help but redden with your sheepish grin. ‘’C N C”

Loki nodded his head in remembrance. ‘’right- consensual non-consent. This seemed to have me absolutely feral after a while, and you looked like you needed it when you got home from work’’ he teased.

‘’you mean after you scared me? Popping out of the shadows like that’’ you lightly scolded and you could already feel him starting to get hard again as you bit your lower lip at the feeling.

‘’darling, you make this to easy..’’

♥Let me know if you wanna be added to my Tag List for future work

[angel-of-the-moons]

Peaches and Cream

Pre-War!Cooper Howard x Curvy!Fem!Reader

TW/CW: Smut, NSFW, Oral (f! Receiving), reader's got some thick thighs and little bit of hair down there, overuse of pet names. (You can't tell me this man wouldn't call you a pet name at every available opportunity)

MINORS DNI I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR CONTENT YOU CONSUME

A/N: Remember that line in MK 11 where Kano goes "Aren't you a peach? I could eat a peach for hours."? I just got some body wash that smells exactly like those peach ring candies and this happened upon me like a bolt of Zeus hit me whilst in the shower today

Divider by @/saradika-graphics

Being on the rebound after the messy divorce with Barb wasn't on Cooper's priority lists. Dating one of the animal trainers from one of his movies sets was certainly never an avenue he thought he'd pursue.

But when his horse got loose on set and she ignored him in favor of you? Oh, you got his attention all right... One thing led to another, and boy did the tabloids have a field day when pictures of the two of you kissing made it into circulation.

You were used to tabloids and reporters, working on movie sets. And now, dating America's favorite heart-throb cowboy? Oh, you bet your ass if you weren't used to it before you sure were, now.

You had fallen into a comfortable routine, often staying over at his place. To say Barb was prickly about how quickly he seemed to move on was... nice. She did however like how good you were with Janey, so that eased her annoyance with you some. So, she got used to seeing you around when Cooper would pick Janey up or when she dropped her off.

Today was one of those days, Cooper had run out to see his agent about something when Barb showed up to take Janey back again. You said stiff goodbyes and gave Janey a big hug, and once they were off, hopped in for a quick shower.

Your skin was still damp and your hair was still wrapped up in a towel when he got back, looking tired and annoyed.

Cooper kicked his shoes off by the front door, Roosevelt letting our short barks of excitement as his owner patted his head, before scampering back off to lay in his bed and gnaw his beef bone in content.

You just finished pouring a glass of sweet tea when Cooper's calloused hands circled your waist from behind, briefly giving your soft belly a squeeze before his fingers bunched in your dress as he kissed your neck. "Missed ya." He murmured.

"You were gone maybe, twenty minutes." You giggled, reaching up to brush his cheek with your hand as you slipped your drink, the ice cubes clinking loudly on the glass.

"Long enough. Didn't even get to kiss my baby goodbye when she got strapped into her Mama's car." He snorted, pressing his nose against your skin, breathing in the scent of the soaps you'd used.

"Damn, you smell good. Like a fuckin' peach."

"Oh?" You smirked as his hands began to roam, reaching down the front of your dress to grip the fat of your thighs in his palms, kneading softly. You bit your lip when he hummed an affirmation, his teeth grazing your skin on your shoulder.

"Mhhm... Good 'nuff to fuckin' eat." He drawled, his tone as thick and sweet as molasses; the timbre of his voice crawling through your pores.

"If you're hungry I can make dinner." You reply breathlessly, trying to interject your sense of humor.

"Nah, darlin'." Cooper growled, yaking you by the dress so you were flush tight against him; able to feel the growing outline of his cock as it filled out the crotch of his pants, "Not the kinda snack I want."

His breath hot on your ear, goosebumps on your skin; you barely had enough time to set your glass of tea down on the counter before he began tugging you to his bedroom; the towel on your head being unraveled and forgotten in the hall along the way.

The moment his door was kicked shut he turned you around and his mouth found yours like a homing missile--all teeth and tongue; dancing, twining, tugging and messy--knocking the air from your lungs as his hands blindly unbuttoned the top of your dress, groaning when the soft expanse of your bare breasts greeted his hands.

"No bra, darlin'?" Cooper rasped, pulling back from your mouth to grin.

"'s more comfortable." You barely mutter out before his lips are on you again, kissing you backwards until your knees hit the edge of the bed, knocking you back while he stayed standing.

His eyes lit up with a mischievous twinkle as he gave you that signature smirk of his coupled with the quirk of his brow. "Oh, you won't catch me complainin' babydoll... Not at all."

You huff and reach down, undoing the clasp to his belt, hastily trying to slide it free of the loops of his pants, but his hand stops you and you pout up at him impatiently.

"Easy now, baby." He said in a low and heavy tone, his accent emphasizing "baby" and making a shiver creep down to your toes.

He lifted his other hand to tug the buttons on his shirt free, plucking each one until his button-up was open more, revealing the white undershirt beneath.

"Now..." He growled softly as he began to sink to his knees, "Told ya I wanted a snack, darlin'... Now I'm gonna get one. Just lay back and relax."

Your heart sputtered a beat as Cooper pulled your thighs apart and just tugged your panties to the side; not even bothering to remove them before giving your damp folds an open-mouthed kiss, running his tongue along the length of your slit and drawing a shaky moan from you.

His hand trailed softly over your skin, brushing over the short mess of curls before using his thumb to pull the hood of your clit back; giving the sensitive nub a nip before chuckling.

"You're awful jumpy t'day, baby." He said, kissing that sweet little pearl a couple of times, stroking it with his fingers as you huff out a whine.

"Your fault..." You groaned, daring to look down at him.

Your eyes locked and he gives you a short wink, lowering his mouth again, this time dragging his tongue up your folds slowly before moving back down again as his thumb rolls your clit in opposite tune of his mouth.

Your head dropped back onto the bed and your voice seized in your throat, one hand bunching in the sheets while the other goes to grip at his immaculately slicked-back hair, tugging the strands free as you feel his tongue curl inside of you.

Cooper was good with his mouth; both on-screen and in the bedroom, this was never a debate.

His tongue was so skilled it had your legs all but jelly one night when he parked it at the local lookout; he'd lifted the cupholder separating your seats and tugged your hips over to him, leaning across the divider to eat you out right there in the front seat of his car. You barely had enough time to grasp that it was really happening before he ripped those sweet, sweet sounds he loved so much from you.

God, were you thankful that nobody had caught you two that night; "Cooper Howard caught in compromising position at Lover's Lane" you could just imagine the press salivating at that headline if they'd caught you.

You were happy he kept his antics on set confined to his trailer... but you had a feeling somebody walking by could probably hear what went on in there.

"Oh, fuck--Cooper!" You mewled, arching your back when he slid his long fingers inside of you, his lips wrapping firmly around your clit like a vacuum, writing obscene love-notes with his tongue, drawing more and more of your beautiful voice from inside of you.

Your toes curled and your hand tugged at his hair, making him groan and his eyes roll; his voice vibrating against you in a way that had you practically sobbing.

"Jus'--fuh--fuck." You moaned breathlessly, your heart pounding in your chest, your toes curling so hard you could feel your calves beginning to cramp.

"B-baby I'm--" You hiccuped; "'m gonna... gonna..."

All your words did was spur him on further, encouraging him to flatten his tongue in one long, slow drag until he could flick your clit again, his face and hand already soaked with your mess; his eyes dark and hungry like a wolf about to eat his lamb.

"That's it baby, c'mon, give it t' me." Cooper muttered against you before stroking your clit once again with his fingers, plunging his tongue and fingers inside of you in an alternating rhythm that had your brain feeling like it was turning to liquid sludge inside your skull as your climax hit you as if it were a runaway freight train.

Both of your hands gripped his hair tight, your thighs squeezing around his head, the flesh molding around his head wonderfully as he drank down your release, his hands going around your thighs to reach up and squeeze your belly while you rutted against his mouth; your voice babbling the sexiest things he could ever hope to hear from you.

When your orgasm finally died down and your legs dropped to hang over the edge of the bed, Cooper pulled back and grinned up at you, his face slick and shiny with your juices, his hair an absolute mess.

Fuck, he looked so good like that.

"You good, darlin'?" He asked you, his hands spreading over the squishy pouch of your tummy, his fingers tracing the stretch marks that lightly etched your skin.

"I... Y... yeah. Just need a breather." You pant, your eyelids heavy as you blinked up drunkenly at the ceiling.

"Good. He hummed, leaning down to kiss your throbbing clit, grinning at how your breathing stuttered and your body twitched as he did.

"Cause I can eat a peach for hours, babydoll."

[only-luce-the-goose]

Hiii pookie 🫶🥹

it's me again the same anon from Arthur's long fic 😂 i thought it would be nice to thank you again for fulfilling the request, they were all absolutely beautiful and I enjoyed them a lot✨,now proclaimed you one of my favorite Arthur writers ✨🥹🫶

i used to want an Arthur in my life now I NEED him 😭

Also today my mood was so bad but reading the fic distracted me a little from everyday things, thank you once again i send you a hug and kisses 🫶😚🫂💗💗

I hope you have the best days, always and forever !!!🙂‍↕️love ya boo💗

(if you didn't get enough of me, I promise that if I have any more ideas I will let you know so you can use them with your writings about other pilots)

A Bit Off

A/N: Hi Anon!!!!!

I’m so, so happy you enjoyed them and I feel privileged to be your favourite Arthur writer 🥰🥰. I’m thinking I might start writing for other drivers as well.

I swear I need an Arthur in my life too 😫. I’m sorry you weren’t feeling too well today, I’m glad my writing was able to help you feel better! 😘

And I will never get enough of you, message as much as you want!! 🫶🏻🫶🏻

I’ve currently got another Arthur fic and an Ollie Bearman fic in the works. I just wanted to write this little one as thank you for your kind words and requests. It’s also kind of based off how you felt today, enjoy ☺️

Arthur Leclerc x reader

Synopsis: After a bad day, Arthur just wants to make you feel all better

(He’s such a cute, lil smiley boyyyyy 😍)

You woke up on the wrong side of the bed, you felt down and depressed all day for no reason. Unfortunately, Arthur wasn’t around and wouldn’t be back for another 3 days. All you wanted to do was cuddle up and watch movies with him.

You stayed on the couch, drowning in your favourite hoodie of Arthur’s, watching your comfort tv show. You heard the door at the front of the apartment unlock, keys jangling as the door was pushed open. You pulled the baseball bat out from under the couch and crept over to the wall next to the hallway.

You heard shoes being toed off, sock padded feet slowly walking down the hallways. You waited for the footsteps to come closer before you stepped out from the wall. You swung the bat.

“OHHH HOLY SHIT BABY ITS ME” Arthur screamed in his Monegasque accent. You immediately dropped the bat, “oh my god, Arty! You’re not suppose to be here for 3 days!” Arthur smirked when he said “I know. I wanted to surprise you, gorgeous”

Tears sprung to your eyes and you buried yourself in your boyfriend. Your arms wrapped around his neck, your nose pressing against his jugular as you deeply inhaled his cologne. Arthur’s hands firmly wrapped around your waist, he kissed your temple and leaned his head against yours.

He felt teardrops on his collarbone, prompting him to let go for a second. He found you with wet eyes, teardrop stains down your cheeks. “Bèbè, what’s wrong?” Arthur pouted. He raised his hand and wiped your tears. You made eye contact with him and the flood gates opened.

You weren’t sad about anything in particular, you just started babbling about anything and everything. Arthur guided you to the couch and sat down, pulling you on top of him and he laid down. Your legs ended up in either side of his body, your chin rested on his chest, your noses nearly bumping.

Arthur let you get it all out, contently listening. After you finished, Arthur extended his neck and pecked your lips. “It’s ok to feel like this, love” you kissed him again “thank you Arty” you had cried yourself to exhaustion, he could see your eyes started to droop. He pulled the couch blanket over you both as he watched you fall asleep.

“Good night, my love” he said as he kissed your nose, “I love you, bad day or good day, I don’t care.” You lazily smile and confessed “I love you” back to him, drifting off to sleep. Arthur followed you not long after.

[ivelle-serenity]

Skateboard 8

Wind breaker

fem bodied reader | smut | action | pwp | jayjo/fml | vinny/fml | wooin/fml | joker/fml | hyuk/fml | owen/fml | enemies to lovers | angsty | the other woman (?) | reverse harem | fluff | SLOW BURN! | all characters featured are 18+

✧˖° — windbreaker men

✧˖° — mdni, smut, description of not safe for work content.

✧˖° — this is a story not one shot.

"What does he want from you, Demitra?" Minu asked, turning the attention to me. Panic flooded through me as I looked at Jay, who was waiting for my answer.

"I-I don't know," I stammered. The truth is, I have no idea what Vinny is up to. Why does he want to help me? Isn't he mad at me? I bit my lip, feeling the weight of my words. "But I can say that he's not threatening. Maybe he just wants to mess around with you guys."

"Yeah, he better be bluffing," Jay said, crossing his arms. This time, I won't let it slide if he does something again." Everyone looked surprised by Jay's seriousness.

"He's still our friend, Jay..." Minu started, but Dom cut him off.

"That's not how friends should act," Dom said with frustration. "He has no right to scare people or damage things that don't belong to him."

I stayed quiet, unsure of what to think. I knew I shouldn't get involved in their problems. I wasn't there when their friendship fell apart. I wasn't around for their conflicts. In short, I had no right to speak up. All I could do was talk to Vinny later and ask him to leave me alone.

"Demitra," Dom called out, not looking at me. He was staring at the floor. "Call us if he bothers you again. We won't let anyone harm you. You're part of our group now."

I was stunned by his words and looked at everyone in disbelief. Jay's intense gaze made me wonder if they truly considered me one of them now. Does this mean they're my friends now? But deep down, I knew Vinny wouldn't hurt me. Wooin wouldn't allow that to happen.

And why do you think that, Demitra? Just because you sense that the leader of Sabbath likes you? Gosh, this whole situation is just too much to handle.

"I understand, thank you," I said softly. Mia touched my hand, a smile gracing her face.

"If it weren't for you, this crew wouldn't be improving as much. You're a genius, and thank you for helping us, Demitra."

After she said that, I remembered the times when I taught Jay and Dom about biking. Even this morning during our class, Dom asked for advice on how to increase his speed, and I helped him with all my knowledge in sprinting. It was only now that I realized because of them, I returned to biking, but for a good reason this time.

After our P.E. class, I couldn't shake off what had happened from my mind. I let out a heavy sigh before running my fingers through my hair. I glanced to the side and saw the student council president staring at me, blushing. Some of our classmates were with him. I just rolled my eyes.

I knew they were the reason why my locker was filled with letters and flowers. I didn't expect to attract so much attention here in Korea. I thought I would have a quiet life as a student, but I was completely wrong.

I was startled when my phone rang. I wasn't surprised when I found out who had messaged me.

Wooin: Joker will pick you up there. So be ready.

I let out a sigh and hid my phone. I was surprised when a thick book was placed on my desk. When I looked up, I saw Jay with a serious expression. He adjusted his glasses.

"What is this?" I raised my eyebrow.

"A book," he answered simply.

Irritation crossed my face. "Stop with the sarcasm. What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Do you think my tutoring is finished? You're not even halfway there yet," he leaned against the wall.

I chuckled. "Aren't you supposed to be thinking about the race for tomorrow? Why are you thinking about helping me with my Korean again?" I shook my head.

"My mom isn't home. We can study there," he suddenly suggested. I was surprised by his sudden invitation. I looked at him in surprise, but his face remained serious.

"Maybe next time, Jay—"

“Why?” he quickly asked. “Do you have somewhere to go?”

My heart raced. I could feel the heat rising to the back of my neck. Why is he doing this? Damn it. I should be staying away from you, dumbass! You're just making this situation much worse than I expected.

"Yes," I replied. I smirked. "Don't worry, I'll study hard at home, Sir Jay." I teased, but it didn't change his expression at all. So cold.

As I made my way down the stairs and stepped outside, I immediately noticed Joker’s sleek motorcycle parked nearby. He was leaning against it, arms crossed, with his usual blank expression. This guy is always so hard to read. Maybe he's annoyed that he has to pick me up.

"Wow, I didn't expect you to be the one Wooin sent. I thought it would be Vinny," I joked as he handed me a helmet. It was my first time riding a motorcycle, and I fumbled with the helmet, not sure how to put it on properly.

"Disappointed?" he asked, moving closer to help adjust the helmet on my head. I felt a blush rising to my cheeks.

"Nah, maybe he'd crash his bike if he picked me up. That guy hates me," I joked again, trying to lighten the mood. Joker’s gaze briefly flicked to my lips before he looked away. He then climbed onto his motorcycle and gestured for me to get on behind him.

"Well, I'm the one here. Come on," he said as he started the engine.

I climbed onto Joker's motorcycle, feeling uncertain about where to put my hands. What if I fell off? Panic started to set in as I bit my bottom lip.

"You can hold on there," he said suddenly, pointing to a spot behind him. I felt a bit of relief. "Or you can hold onto my waist if you're really scared."

Why would I do that? My cheeks began to heat up.

"No thanks. I'm fine--FUCK!"

I wasn't sure if Joker did it on purpose, but he sped off so quickly that I had no choice but to grab onto his waist. The motorcycle zoomed ahead at an alarming speed, and I kept my eyes shut the entire ride. I was too terrified to let go until we finally stopped.

"Are you trying to kill me?!" I snapped, shoving the helmet at him angrily. He just tilted his head, giving me a deadpan glare.

Does he really have the right to look annoyed? I should be the one glaring!

We entered the club, and Joker walked ahead, leaving me to follow him. The place was a madhouse, with people dancing, drinking, and shouting. The music was deafening.

A drunk guy bumped into me, nearly knocking me over. Thankfully, Joker caught my elbow, preventing me from falling.

"What the fuck?--Joker!" The guy started to get angry but quickly recognized Joker. Joker stepped closer, his gaze icy.

"You got something to say?" Joker threatened. The guy quickly shook his head, raising his hands as if surrendering. "Get lost," Joker growled, shoving the guy in the chest, making him stumble back.

I shook my head and walked ahead, knowing we were heading to the VIP room to meet Wooin.

As I stepped into the VIP room, my eyes widened at the scene unfolding before me. There was a pole in the center, and dancers - or more accurately, strippers - were performing for Hyuk. I looked around, hoping to spot Vinny, but he was nowhere to be seen. Instead, I saw Wooin sitting back, casually drinking while a woman with long black hair grinding on his lap. She was barely dressed, and I could see him touching her ass as he took a sip of his drink.

My cheeks flushed with embarrassment, and I was about to turn and leave when Joker blocked my path.

"Why did you bring me here, you idiot?" I muttered, feeling irritated and uncomfortable.

"Let me out of here..."

"Is that Demitra?" I heard Wooin's voice, causing me to squint in disbelief.

I put on a fake smile and tried to play it cool. "I see you're all busy. What a great timing huh?"

Hyuk, who was lounging on the sofa, turned his head towards me. "You're pretty quick."

"Your friend seems to have plans to kill me with how fast he drive," I said sarcastically.

"Leave, everyone," Wooin suddenly announced, causing the dancers to stop and the woman on his lap to pause.

"But you said..." annoyance dripped from the woman's voice.

"I'll just come back next time. I'm leaving," I said, but Joker was leaning against the door with his arms crossed.

"Stay here, Princess. We have a lot to talk about," Wooin smirked.

"Do you really need me to win your race? From what I've seen, you guys are already pretty skilled," I remarked, crossing my arms as I watched the girls gather their things and leave the room.

I heard Hyuk scoff. "So, who's gonna tell her?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Demitra..." Wooin got up, came over to me, and adjusted his glasses. "You're not here to share your bike knowledge, Princess. You've got your own skills, so why share them with us? We have our own."

My heart skipped a beat at his words. I widened my eyes and pondered his statement. If that's the case, then why did they bring me here?

"Then why did Vinny say you needed me..." I started to question.

Hyuk clicked his tongue while lounging on the sofa. "He just said that to get you here."

My mind was reeling from what I had just learned. What on earth is happening?

Why do I feel like they're not telling the truth? Why does it seem like Vinny was being honest, but he just didn't know this was the plan all along, especially from their leader? My breathing quickens as I stare at the guy in front of me. Joker doesn't want to let me out. Hyuk seems to want this too. What do they want from me? I don't want to think that they all have feelings for me. I'm not that kind of person who thinks the world revolves around her. But their actions suggest otherwise.

Wooin chuckled. "You see, Demitra, you're our secret weapon. Even though we have skilled people like Vinny in our crew, having someone like you makes a real difference to our team."

"You're joking..." I burst out. "A weapon? Are you insane? Didn't I tell you I don't want to be exposed to that biking stuff anymore?" I was starting to get angry. I saw Hyuk shift in his seat. I could feel Joker moving behind me. Wooin's expression changed.

"You don't want to be exposed, you say? Then why are you letting Hummingbird use you?"

Hyuk's words sent a chill through my entire body. He stood up from the sofa and walked towards us. There's no way he knows that. I felt my face pale, so I averted my gaze.

"I- don't know what you're saying..."

He rolled his eyes.

"We know you've been training with Hummingbird," Joker suddenly spoke up from behind me. I turned to him in shock. "We also know they're using you as a replacement for their female rider, Shelly, who's currently in England," he said coldly.

[ashbye]

Fashion Show

-Look y'all I know I've been gone but I had a vision ok it came to me while I was doing yard work and I had to so enjoy. There's plot guys 🤚😔

Summary: While on a run you find something that would be the perfect surprise for Daryl. You show him and are very happy with the outcome.

-It's smutty oops 18+ 🤭 and not beta read. There's swearing so prepare yourselves. I HATE THE WORD PANTIES SO IM NOT WRITING IT! Unprotected sex (wrap it before you tap it)

-Alexandria era (probably) and I am a women so its she/her (sorry)

It had been a while since you'd gone outside of the walls so you jumped at the chance to go on a run. Although you had wanted Daryl to join you he was unfortunately busy. Maggie and Michonne were joining you today so you can't complain.

After gathering the needed weapons and equipment you headed with the girls to a mall nearby that hadn't been checked thoroughly yet.

You got to the mall in record time with Michonne driving. Grabbing your machete in your hand and putting your gun in its holster, you got out of the car walking to the entrance behind Maggie.

"Why are we back here again I thought some guys had cleared it out already?" You asked turning to Michonne.

"They said there was too many walkers to get too far in do we're checking again."

You turned towards the door with a hum sound and raised your machete, walking into the mall. After scoping out the front the three of you found the mall to be almost completely empty aside from a few stray walkers that could be taken care of when you came across them.

Maggie turned to you both, "I say we split up, cover more ground."

You nodded before walking ahead as you all separated. Most stores you had looked through had been cleared out over time. There was a shirt here, a pair of socks there, but other than that it was a bit of a bust.

Until you saw a sign to a store ahead of you to your right. "No fucking way..."

You picked up the walkie talkie on your hip and called to Maggie and Michonne. "You guys are not gonna believe what I just found."

"What is it?" Michonne asked urgency in her tone.

"Either of you need any new bras?"

"Obviously, why?" Maggie was incredibly confused by now. You laughed before responding again.

"Go straight and take a right you'll find me. You need to see it to believe it." You put the walkie back after hearing Michonne say she's on her way.

You turn to the approaching footsteps and laugh. "Isn't it great? A Victoria Secret practically over flowing with unused bras and underwear!" Maggie smirked at you "You wanna find something special for Daryl huh?"

Michonne laughed at your expense but you couldn't care less because you're pretty sure you've been wearing the same bra for 2 months now.

And, duh of course you're gonna find stuff for Daryl. You're a loving girlfriend why wouldn't you get a present for him when you're on a run?

"Uh hell yeah I am! If I can find something to make me look sexy for my man of course I'm gonna take it!" You speed walk into the store with the girls following you chuckling.

You hold up a beautiful red set. It's lace would compliment her skin perfectly, you think. "Michonne, if you don't take this home for Rick, I will riot." You hold up to the girls so they can look at it.

"Oh please get that!" Maggie practically begs Michonne. "Alright I'll take it!" Michonne says with a smikr on her face after holding it up to her body.

The rest of the 'shopping spree' goes similarly, with you each holding up sheer and lace bras and panties for the others to take home and wear.

You found quite a few for yourself to surprise Daryl with later. You carefully put them in your bag with a smile.

After your escapade at Victoria Secret you all successfully grabbed every useful thing you could find and packed it into the car.

You were almost shaking with excitement when you got home, the clothes feeling like a thousand pounds in your bag.

It wasn't until everything you found that day was sorted through and put where it was supposed to be that you could go back home to Daryl. You walked through the door calling out to him that you were back. "Hey Darlin'. How was the run?" The familiar gravelly voice said from behind you.

You turned to him with a smile and placed your hands on his hips. You gave him a long kiss with a smile. "It went really well. I have a surprise for you actually." You pulled away from his face with only a few inches of space between you two.

"Surprise?" He asked with a vaguely shocked face.

You hummed with a smirk on your face. "Yeah after dinner I'll show you what your present is."

"So it's an after dinner kinda gift huh?"

You nodded before pulling away from him to hide the gifts in your bedroom. "I promise it'll be worth the wait."

It's now dark outside and Daryl is sitting on the front porch smoking a cigarette. You walk up to him and sit down, leaning your head on his shoulder with a sigh.

You sit in silence for a moment before looking up at him. "Are you ready for your surprise Dar?"

He blew smoke out of his mouth before taking the cigarette from between his lips. "Hell yeah baby." He said before grabbing your hand and pulling you up with him.

You lead him to your bedroom with a laugh excitement flowing through both of your veins. Once the door was closed behind you both you turned and gave him a searing kiss. He grabbed your hips tightly with a hum in the back of his throat.

You slowly pulled away and pushed him onto the side of the bed. "I'm gonna give you a little fashion show. How does that sound?"

He looked up at you with a slight nod before you gently slid away from him. You went to the bathroom and put on the first set you got. It was white lace with a black lace flower pattern.

You slowly cracked the door to stick out your head. "You ready?"

"Been ready Darlin'."

The door was slowly pulled away to showcase your body that you had draped across the doorframe. You smirked at him when you saw his eyes slightly widen.

"What do you think Dar?" You slowly turned you body to show him the whole thing.

"Well shit..." he was almost speechless. He wasn't sure how long he'd last. And this was only the first one!

You walked toward him and placed your hands on his shoulders. "You like it?" Your smirk had yet to wipe from your face.

"I- uh yeah ya look-" he could barely even get the words out. He could only look up and down your body with lust clouding his brain.

"I have a couple more for you to take a look at." You pulled away from him and walked back to the bathroom, closing the door behind you. Daryl could barely process the fact that you even left the room.

Meanwhile, you're giggling to yourself like a schoolgirl in the bathroom at the look on his face. Once you were ready you opened the door again, looking at Daryl.

This time you're wearing a dark purple set. It had sheer lace with small lime green polka dots. "What do you think about this one? It's a little different." You said, walking up to Daryl.

"I like it." He said, eating you with his eyes like you were his last meal. You chuckled at him before doing a spin.

He nodded his head looking like his head was in the clouds. You gave his cheek a kiss with a small smile on your face. Walking backwards to the bathroom you closed the door and prepared the next one.

You walked out wearing a pale yellow lace set that had cute little bows on the front. It was less revealing but Daryl liked it just as much as the others. You could only stare as you walked up to him. Completely mesmerized with how beautiful you looked.

He wanted to worship you like a goddess. He would kneel at your altar for the rest of eternity if it meant that you would give him even a fraction of the love and elegance you grace him with everyday. You could be covered in blood and walker guts or be wearing the prettiest pale yellow lingerie he's ever seen and he would still think you're the most exquisite women he's ever seen.

"Ya're beautiful." He said, it was the only thing the connection between his brain and mouth could compute.

And you were just fine with that.

"Yeah?" You ask with a big smile on your face. He nods with a small raspy yeah that makes you chuckle. "If this one is your favorite I'll keep it on so you can make love to me or fuck me however you want."

"However I want?" He seemed almost surprised.

"However you want. We can be all slow and tender or you can fuck me so dumb I'm cock drunk. How does that sound?"

Daryl couldn't even come up with words before he stood to full height in front of you and grabbed under thighs. He turned and played you on your back, pressing his mouth to yours in a heated kiss. His hands ran up and down your legs searching for a hold.

Your arms wrapped around his neck as a moan left your mouth. Your tongues pressed together and you gave him all control. Daryl moved you up so your head was on the pillow. He took off his vest and threw it to the side before movie his mouth to your neck. He left kisses and bites up the column of your throat.

Small sighs left your mouth and your hands ran up and down his chest. Your fingers started unbuttoning his shirt and pushed it off his shoulders. You threw his shirt off to the side and it's lost to floor somewhere with his vest.

His hand made it's way up to the band of your underwear. His fingers slipped past the band and pulled it away from you skin. You yelped when Daryl let it snap back onto your skin.

His hand finally sunk past the band of your underwear and grazed your clit. You let out a sigh and brought you hand to his face to bring your lips to his. He let out a groan when you lightly bit his lip. Your leg jolted as he continued to make small circles on your clit.

You moaned again and pulled away from his lips as his fingers dipped down. "Dar please!" Left your mouth like a mantra as you gripped his shoulders and your legs pulled him closer.

"Hold on Darlin' gotta make sure ya're good and ready yeah?" His movements became faster as he felt you're pussy grip his fingers. You nod as moans leave your mouth from the feeling.

"Dar I'm gonna-" your sentence went unfinished as you felt the coil in your stomach snap. Daryl kissed you through your orgasm as your body finally relaxed. He gently slid the bottoms down your legs and onto the floor before unclipping you bra and placing it next to it. You were panting under him as his hands went to his pants. He had stripped down before you could even offer any help.

He looked in your eyes as he lined himself up with your cunt. "Ya ready baby?" You nodded as you wrapped your arms around his chest. "Yeah, yeah I'm ready." You said in a reassuring tone.

He slowly slid himself into you. "So wet baby. Taking me so good." He played his body on top of you and used his forearms to hold him over you. You sat with him for a second to get used to his size. With a nod from you he started to slowly grind his hips into yours.

Small whimpers left your mouth as his speed increased. He let out heavy breaths and groans along with his thrusts. "Fuck Dar-" you moaned as you nails dug into his back.

"I got ya baby, I got ya"

His hips got faster as you both got closer to release. Your legs locked around his hips to keep him close. "Please baby, cum inside please!" Your eyes were screwed shut tightly as Daryl's jaw hung open in pleasure.

Your pussy gripped his cock as the coil tightened for the second time tonight. "Come on Darlin' cum for me" he said to you. Your nails dragged down his back leaving angry red lines on his skin.

He let out a groan at the sting as his hips stuttered. "Holy shit Daryl!" You said as your orgasm washed over you completely. The squeezing of pussy sent Daryl over the edge as he finally let go with a loud moan. His head fell next to yours as his hips slowed, helping you ride out the wave of pleasure.

The room was quiet aside from the breaths leaving you and Daryl. He slowly pulled out of you as his cum poured out of you. He kissed your cheek and neck as his had brushed your hair out of your face. "Ya did such a good job Darlin'."

You looked up at him as you softly kissed his lips and held his face in your hand. He rolled onto his back next to you. He turned you with him so your head was on his chest.

After calming down you look up to him with tired eyes. "I love you Daryl Dixon."

He looked to you with pure love and adoration in his eyes, "I love ya too Darlin'. So much."

You layed back on his chest as you held eachother in the quiet of the night. Even though the world had practically ended, you had never felt safer and more loved than you did when you were in Daryl's arms.

[heyclickadee]

A couple things:

1. The thing is, I actually don’t really think we’re done with the bad batch, for a variety of reasons. There’s too much unresolved, for one thing, and “end of this chapter with these characters” is not how anyone says, “We’re never touching this again.” I really do think we’re getting an immediate follow up with more of a focus on Rex and Echo, but that the rest of the bad batch will still pop in from time to time, giving all of them a chance to round out the last little bit of their stories and character arcs—because they are all just a little bit undercooked. (For example: Crosshair doesn’t even get lines after Tantiss, and the last thing he says about himself takes him from implicitly to explicitly suicidal. The hug is beautiful and cements his place as part of the family, but we never get a moment where he forgives himself or no longer believes that he deserves to die. His redemption arc is magnificent, but it needs that last little push to feel fully resolved).

And, for another variety of reasons, I actually do still think we’ll be getting Tech back in one way or another. So much of what is left unresolved in TBB forms a chalk outline around a Tech-shaped void, for one. The writers aren’t committed enough to have come up with a decent reason for why he had to go in the first place—stakes does not cut it and is actively undermined by never treating it like a character death—for another. They were, at the very least, not committed enough to actually kill him. Tech is the only character in a show that loves making us watch who doesn’t die on screen, and the only one who’s “death” moves nothing forward and is never treated like an actual death. And we have no definitive proof he actually died, for another. (Even if he was CX-2—CX-2 got “killed” two other times on screen and popped up five minutes later each time like a daisy. If you do that you’re going to have to burn the body and scatter the ashes for me to think he’s dead, impalement or no. Besides, you can’t definitively kill a main character via subtext. You still have to be clear and direct.) And Tech has too many callback lines and potential survival foreshadowing for someone to never tug on them at some point, for another. You’d have to kill me to keep me from doing something with, “Better late than dead.” Basically, tl:dr, I think Tech will come back someday, whether they have plans or not.

Because I can’t really get on board with the idea that The Bad Batch was just always badly written. I can’t agree with that. It was never perfect, of course, but it was always remarkably well written and thematically consistent for 46 straight episodes and then tripped on the chalk of the finish line. Besides, I’ve never seen bad writing that was perfectly set up amazing writing if all they did was one simple thing—ie, follow through with what they set up. It’s not that the ending is bad, it’s that it’s bad in this particularly insane way. If it was just normal bad, I’d have dropped The Bad Batch like a rock by now and done my best to forget I’d ever watched it. But because it’s bad like this—basically, a non-ending that resolves nothing but Hunter’s Cut Lawquane arc, Rampart (which was good, actually), and the problem of Hemlock continuing to draw breath (which was just the last major obstacle in Hunter’s Cut Lawquane arc, so it’s not even a separate thing) and answers NO questions—I’m obsessed.

And I can’t get behind the idea that The Bad Batch ending is like this and that we got shorted a Tech return because they got shorted a season. I’ve seen many serialized animated shows that got shorted a season or more, and what every one of them did was cut out everything they could in the middle so that they could get to the resolution they wanted, squash the originally planned last season’s arcs into the actual last season—not leave those arcs undone and the resolution out. The only way them being shorter a season works as an explanation for all of this is if the creative team found out season three was the last at the same time we did. And even then, the solution there would have been to take out five minutes of fight scene and replace it with five minutes of resolving everything in the short and stupid but still THERE way.

For example: Give Wrecker and Crosshair one line each after Tantiss that tells us what they’re going to do. Unmask CX-2 as Tech after spearing him (or don’t spear him) and add one line where Hunter says he’s recovering and that it’ll be a long road, but they won’t give up on him. Or! If you don’t want to bring Tech back in the short and stupid but there way, add a line to the epilogue where Hunter tells Omega, “I see Tech when I look at you sometimes. I don’t want to lose you the way we lost him,” which seems like a no brainer, or, “Tech would have been so proud of you,” which is absolutely a no-brainer if you actually want to close things out for Tech. Tech would still be gone, but at least it’d be resolved, and that’s all short, simple stuff you could add to the very last episode to make it feel finished. If you’re shorted a season or even a few episodes, you cut everything that doesn’t matter, you do whatever you can to get your story resolved—unless you have somewhere else to put it. Which, given how open Star Wars canon is and how heavily it relies on recontextualization, is a very real possibility here.

What I think may have happened here is that The Bad Batch ended up being the first part of a longer story that had to be artificially cut in half. Whether it was always planned that way, whether it was something that unexpectedly happened partway through the production of season three, or a secret third option (the creative team set things up to to be resolved in three seasons but always wanted to do a longer version, but the longer version (in the form of another show) didn’t get greenlit until they’d already written most of season three, so all the payoff got schlorped over to that follow up show while the payoff stayed in this one, leaving us, the audience, with this incredibly unsatisfying mess of a finale in the meantime while whoever is in charge of announcing shit at Lucasfilm doesn’t see the problem). Put a pin in CX-2, slap something that looks like a happy ending on the rest, resolve nothing, do it all in the next thing.

(Slight sidebar: If it turns out that the reason we didn’t get Tech back is because something went horrifically wrong during the writer’s strike—basically, the finale got hit with extreme budget cuts and the script patched by AI—I think we’d still get Tech back. Tech in the first two seasons was something of a writer blorbo, and no one is leaving their blorbo dead over that. That’s a good way for them to bring back their blorbo and have that blorbo murder the hell out of a thinly disguised CEO insert.)

And if that’s what we’re looking at—well, okay. I can see wanting to give certain things (especially a Tech return) more time. If this is what’s happening I actually think it will be more satisfying in the long run, from a story perspective, anyway. I’ll be able to live with that.

That said….

2. If that’s the case—if what we’re looking at is a story artificially split in half one way or another and we are getting a Tech return and the rest of the resolution eventually in an immediate follow up, something that will ultimately work really well in the long run—that doesn’t mean I think it works now. Right now, it’s awful, from every angle. We don’t know for sure that anything else is coming, it makes for a deeply unsatisfying story right now because the “ending” we have is all we have to go on, and it’s unnecessarily stressful for most everyone but especially the autistic fans who relate to Tech.

And the thing is, if Tech were neurotypical? I don’t think we’d really be question the idea that he could still come back eventually. He’s a clear writer favorite to the point that they basically gave him the entirety of season two, except the two Crosshair episodes, great lines and moments in other character’s episodes, and they apparently liked using him so much that either CX-2 was Tech or they physically couldn’t stop themselves from writing and animating Tech in a season he wasn’t in. Killing off one of the writer faves and the fan favorite in order to bring them back later is something that happens. But it’s something that hits differently when that writer and fan favorite is also the only canonically autistic character in the franchise.

Which. Is I think where we run into a problem. You see, I never really got the impression that the creative team ever thought of Tech as The Autistic One. Does that mean I think the didn’t write him as autistic? Of course not—they absolutely did, and did so intentionally. What I mean is that that wasn’t the sum total or even the primary way in which they thought of him, otherwise I think we would have ended up with a terrible Sheldon-Cooper-esque. Instead, the Tech they wrote, and the Tech we got, is just a guy. A really amazing guy who’s noticeably different and autistic AF, but treated like any other character. And on the one hand, great! I know people have a lot of different ideas about this, but I personally want writers to deal with autistic characters that way—to just write us like we’re people. And if what they’re doing is bringing Tech back later and on a longer timeframe than what we expected—also great. It means that all the ambiguity, hinting, and complete and total lack of processing or closure makes sense, because that’s how you write a fakeout death. That’s textbook how you write a fakeout death. But—but—

The flip-side of just treating Tech like any other character and, perhaps, playing a long game with “killing” him off and bringing him back later like someone would do with a fan favorite, if that’s what they’re doing, is that you end up in the situation that we’re in right now. The interim situation where it feels like Tech’s sacrifice was never given the weight it needed to feel final or meaningful, where we’re given no closure and no opportunity to let go, where we DON’T know if anything is coming next even if we do get hints, where Tech got dropped, where nothing makes sense, and where the autistic fans in the audience who relate to Tech feel like Star Wars kicked them in the face and told them that they don’t belong here.

So.

I want this to be a long game, and I do think this could, one, be a situation where they team is having to work around some kind of corporate shenanigans to play that long game, and; two, could end up being a fantastic story that I love even more than the version I wanted.

But even if I’m right and that is the case, I also hate that this is where we’re at in the here and now, that it’s hurt people as badly as it has, and think that they should never do anything like this again, because the game stopped being fun a long time ago.

tl;dr: I don’t think we’re done yet, I think this is part of a longer story, I think we’ll get Tech back at some point whether it was planned or not, but I also hhhaaaaaatte the current situation and think it’s been mishandled.

[miracles-and-butterflies]

The sixth part of Ride the Cyclone AU.

This will make up for all the missing angst in the last chapter. Probably.

The previous part if you need a recap.

Comments are always appreciated.

Warning, sensitive topics ahead, especially character death.

Nombre Desconocida

Another awkward silence filtered through the space. Unlike previously Camilo didn’t shrink in on himself the way Isabela had, if anything he took the fact he had left everyone speechless in his stride. As his sister and cousins around him slowly gained their autonomy again, they pulled off their cat ears and glanced in confusion at the matching tails.

“When you said marrying a prince, this wasn’t what I had in mind.” Luisa admitted.

“Hell yeah, this was way better!” Isabela echoes, she threw an arm around Luisa and Camilo. “I thought I was gonna have to handle the flowers for some stuffy fake-wedding. Getting to be a villain and ruining lives? Life goals. So, thank you. You are weirdly awesome in the afterlife, Milo.”

Camilo shrugged, “I’m the same person I always was. It’s just nobody really listened to me when I was myself.”

“Well, we’re listening to you now, space Jesus.” Isabela ruffled his hair playfully.

“¡Ay!” He batted Isabela’s hand away, trying to hug his two cousins properly. “I guess the real tragedy is that we couldn’t all be in a drama group together. We would have been amazing.”

“We could always do it now. Just mess around in the corner?” Isabela suggested. “I mean, it’s not like any of us are actually care about this competition besides Dolores. I say we just rebel against the weird old man and do whatever the fuck we want!”

They cheered, laughing at the idea. Which was actually a very good one to say out loud, if only for the look of horror on Dolores’ face.

Luisa wheezed, beaming brightly, looking and feeling better than she thinks she ever had in life. Not even a single concern over work or expectations. She was finally at peace. “I’m so happy right now, I could never come down!” She gushed.

“My turn!”

As if on cue, they all turned, jumping out of their skin and their already dead hearts stopping, to where Desconocida had appeared directly behind Luisa, out of her cat costume and carrying that same headless doll again.

“Aww, man,” Luisa groaned, regrettably.

They left the stage, slowly, watching as the corpse stiffly made her way over to the suited man. In horror. Unable to look away.

“Desconocida,” the man introduced. “The one unidentified body of the Cyclone rollercoaster disaster.”

The girl in question glanced at him momentarily before reaching for the door. Unlike the others, it did not glow and show her magical engraving, for she was not a Madrigal. That was expected. What was surprising was the lack of photos that filled the room. The walls remained bare and empty, no sign of memories of life. She stared, perplexed why it did not work.

She cocked her head at the man, who too had gone quiet in favour of just watching her. She went to try the doorknob again. This time, she awkwardly brushed her hand across her ruined clothes, wiping away some imaginary dirt, before reaching for it. As if that might have been the issue. But again, as she turned to look about the room, there was nothing. No photos, no reenactment of her life from the other contestants, nothing to symbolise any identity or life she might have had.

Without any comment or reaction, she stepped aside solemnly, letting go of the door.

The man continued, “Everyone knew everyone in Encanto, but no one could recall this member of the community. There were rumours of a girl who joined the queue at the last minute, but as the employee (running the Cyclone) died of a heart attack shortly after the accident, there was no one to verify. Some say she was never part of the town at all. I sadly cannot tell you. All one knows for certain is that a body was found below the tracks of the Cyclone without a head. So… a mystery.”

~~~~~

14th September 1951, three hours before the Cyclone accident

“Roll up, roll up! Come one, come all! Step up and test your strength! Only the strongest here today will win one of our fabulous prizes!” A male voice bellowed loudly through the fairground.

Dolores caught Isabela’s sleeve immediately as she turned her head towards the sound. “No. You already wrecked that duck mini-game because it was, and I quote, ‘rigged’, I’m not letting you destroy another. Let’s go find those shooting games. You can be violent all you want there.”

“But I can be violent here!” Isabela whined. “Come on, Lola, I can win this one. Easy!”

“No, you can’t. You are getting overly competitive and cocky now. Keep walking.” She insisted.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Isabela got overly competitive and cocky twenty-two years ago, Dolores.” Luisa teased. She pulled away from the snack cart she had been eyeing up, following Isabela’s gaze. The same idea filling her head. Eyes lighting up eagerly, grinning like the devil.

Dolores let go of Isabela’s sleeve immediately, grabbing Luisa’s wrist with both hands firmly.

“No! If Isabela isn’t going over there, you certainly aren’t going over there!”

“Come on, prima. It’s literally my game. It’s literally called ‘The Strongest’! It’s like they’re begging me to play it.”

“Exactly! And it wouldn’t be fair for you to play with your gift! So you aren’t playing!”

“The people working here don’t know that.”

With ease, Luisa pulled her wrist free and followed Isabela through the mangle of people. Mirabel glanced at Dolores and Camilo before deciding to go after her sisters

Dolores groaned, almost growling in frustration, “I just wanted to see the music box. Was that so much to ask?” She muttered to herself, throwing her hands down to her sides.

“Hey, I thought you said we were gonna find a bathroom for me? I still need to go!” Camilo complained.

The test-your-strength game was a long red, wooden tower of sorts, full of whirling noises and flashing lights. At the bottom was a huge rubber pad. The player would strike it with a heavy mallet, the force would hit a little puck that would shoot up (and then fall down) the tower’s length based on how hard the person had hit. The tower was marked all the way up with various levels. The very top of the tower, the highest score, was emphasised with a bell that looked like it wasn’t being rang much, if at all.

Luisa thought for a moment. Then she nudged Mirabel. “You want to see something impressive? Something that will cheer you up?”

“Sure,” she said, “Though I don’t think there is anything here that will impress me.”

Her sister clicked her tongue. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that.”

Meanwhile, Isabela watched a young man in front of her take his turn. He confidently grabbed the mallet from the kids who had gone before him and shot a confident look to the people behind him. He slid up beside Isabela, offering her a wink.

“This one’s for you, boñita,” he whispered.

Before going to take his swing, he took her hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. Then he separated, puffed out his chest and raised his arms back, and swung the mallet forward. The little puck bounced up, hitting one of the levels around the middle of the tower before falling back down.

“Ah, better luck next time, my friend.” The employee offered, patting him on the back.

The man handed back the mallet and circled to leave the cue, not before pulling Isabela close to his side again.

“Stupid game is rigged. How about we got to something else and I can win a prize for you there, mi rosa?” He asked, smiling down at her.

“What?” Isabela questioned.

“Then what else would you be here for?” He scratched his head in confusion. “This game is too difficult for pretty women like yourself.” His eyes widened a little in realisation, looking a little more seductive. “You wouldn’t happen to have come over just to watch me, would you? I’m flattered.”

“I’m not here to watch, I’m here to win.” The woman hissed.

She pushed him aside, tossing her hair proudly. The employee, having not been paying attention what was happening, handed her the mallet without any ceremony and stepped aside to let her swing.

“Oh, here we go,” Luisa mumbled, pulling away from the conversation she was having with Mirabel. They too were unaware of what Isabela had been dealing with. “This’ll be good.”

Isabela slammed the mallet down loudly. The puck shot much faster than the previous attempt and Isabela flashed a smirk to the astounded man behind her. Only it faltered when she caught sight of the puck going back down again. It had only gotten a level or two higher than the previous one. The mallet dropped into the grass from Isabela’s hand with a thump.

“B-but… but I was…” she stuttered.

Luisa cleared her throat. She cracked her fingers carefully, pushing Isabela aside. “Excuse me, Bela. Let the professional show you how it’s done.”

She stepped forward, grinning, scooping the mallet off the ground and dusting off a few specs of dirt on it. After taking a dramatic breath, she shook herself, getting into an unnecessary stance and holding the mallet with both her hands. Mirabel saw Luisa’s muscles tense through her clothes and quickly shifted her hands over her ears. Isabela simply rolled her eyes at the show Luisa was making. Finally, Luisa brought the mallet down with all her might.

Vibrations came from the mallet hitting against the pad and spreading through the crowd, shaking the very ground and making teeth chatter. The little puck went wizzing straight to the top, hitting the bell and bursting clear off the top. Everyone watched as the spec disappeared high in the sky with no sign of coming back. The tower rung with the sound and lights of victory before it glitched, broken, and went silent.

Everyone nearby, minus Luisa, stood with their hands over their ears for a good twenty seconds as they waited for the noise to stop. Luisa stood, letting out a relaxed, satisfied sigh but didn’t say anything.

The crowd was quiet too. The employee’s mouth hung agape as he stared into the sky, one hand over his eyes to shield them from the sun as he looked up. Squinting, trying to see when or if the puck would reappear and fall back down. Slowly, they all turned to Luisa. Some children were crying, some were boldly insisting they could do that to their friends, most people were glaring - either form the disturbance/the upset of their children or the fact they were no longer getting a turn. All except Mirabel, who offered Luisa a round of applause once it was safe to stop covering her ears.

Luisa clicked her tongue, stepping back to Isabela and bending to her ear, “That’s how it’s done. I could give you a little sisterly advice on how to reach the top, seeing as you need a little help there—”

“Oh, fuck off!” Isabela snapped. “Stupid thing was rigged anyways! I could have won easily!”

She stormed off in a flurry of petals, already ranting under her breath, as she spotted Dolores hovering nearby but out of the queue. No doubt about to talk her ear off about how rigged this game was, just like the last one had been. And the one before that. And the one before that. And the one—

The other sister just laughed as Isabela disappeared and placed the mallet down on the pad for the next person - as though she hadn’t just broken the game.

“How was that, hermanita? Impressive enough for you?” Luisa asked, flexing a bicep.

“Oh, very,” Mirabel agreed. Looking up at her sister in awe. To be fair, Luisa had done what she promised. “It was the most impressive thing I have seen all day.”

“It’ll get better though. I mean, I do believe I get a prize now?”

“…Ah, um, yes… Right. Here are the prizes!” The employee shook himself and gestured to the set of prizes beside him. “Take your pick!”

Luisa tapped her chin in thought as she surveyed the table. Unlike some of the other games, the prizes here weren’t the same. Probably because the likelihood of a child winning this was slim to none, there was no need for little games or stuffed animals. Her previous prizes throughout the day had all been stuffed animals, most of which she dumped with Bruno thus far.

“That one,” she exclaimed, finally.

“Excellent choice!” The employee said. He slipped behind the table and picked off a doll from one of the back shelves, handing it to Luisa. “Thanks for, eh, playing. And breaking my machine?”

She tried to hold back a chuckle as she waved him off, “You’re welcome.”

With all said and done, she walked off with Mirabel following behind her, a little more than confused. The eyes and crowd slowly dispersing as Luisa found her way to a more empty part of the fairground - a relatively empty space of grass that was full of baby strollers and a few people sitting down to eat.

“Um, Luisa?” Mirabel called. “Where are we going? I saw Isabela and Dolores back the other way… Should we not stay together? It would be easy to lose someone here, the place is so—”

Luisa stopped in her tracks and turned. She held the doll down for Mirabel. The younger raised an eyebrow.

“Here,” Luisa said. “It’s for you.”

“But you won it.” Mirabel countered.

“Yes.”

“So it’s yours.”

“I’m giving it to you.”

“I didn’t win it, that wouldn’t be fair.”

“It’s a gift.”

“Then I don’t deserve it.”

Her sister handed her the doll anyways before settling down against a tree, pulling Mirabel into her lap to hug her. The doll stuck between them.

“Why are we sitting?” She questioned.

“I thought you would want a break. Or well, maybe not want one, but you need one. Your short legs must be killing you after all this walking.” Luisa explained.

“Well, yes, but if this is your solution to get me to accept your prize, it is not going to work. I won’t take it.”

“Nope, you can argue with me all you want; you’re keeping it. If I have to hammer it into your wall, I will.” Luisa insisted, ever an impenetrable force. “And you do deserve it. Okay? You may not be as strong as me, but your stupid amount of patience should be rewarded. You don’t want to be here and yet you are. You said you were staying because Dolores asked you to do so for food - but you could have just given her the food and left. She doesn’t need you to carry it. You know what I think? You are staying because you don’t want us to get hurt, sure. You are staying because you just want to see us happy.”

She smiled, a little. “I’m staying because I love you.”

“And I love you. So, here. Consider the doll a ‘thank you’, if you don’t want a gift.”

Luisa pulled the doll out and handed it to Mirabel, who did take it this time.

“She is rather pretty. With very fine embroidery,” Mirabel said, giving some approval to the doll as she admired it. “I honestly might recreate this pattern on my new skirt when we get home.”

“And she has very soft curls. Just like the real thing.” Luisa added.

“Will you stop playing with my hair?”

“No can do, I’m afraid. It’s one of my older sibling privileges. And it’s so much softer than mine! You also don’t have any knots in it, perfect to play with!”

“Well, stop messing up my forehead curl, it’s my favourite one. Every time you fiddle with it, you pull it loose and then I just have these wavy strands in front of my glasses for the rest of the day—”

There was sudden screaming in the distance and Mirabel sat up, alert, looking around for any of danger, steadying her glasses to see properly. Luisa turned her head, pointing to a large rollercoaster nearby.

“That’s where the screaming is coming from. Don’t worry, nothing is broken. It’s just people on a loop.” She paused, watching the rollercoaster soar along the tracks for a moment. “That’s the Cyclone. That was the big one on all the posters, you remember? Tío Bruno says it’s very popular. We’re gonna ride on it later, when the queues have gone down a bit. You wanna come?”

“Absolutely not! I’d rather stick pins in my eyes.”

Luisa laughed at her bluntness.

“Besides,” she continued, fiddling with the lace on the doll. “Someone should stay on look out. See if that puck ever comes back down to earth.”

[deepfivetraveller]

King Baldwin x Time!Traveler!reader

chapter 1

Okay I’m a little new to writing romance so please take it easy on me. This fic was inspired by this creators fic so please check them out! Btw I’ll try to keep y/n as neutral as possible but since this is set in the ancient era and religion is very important, y/n shall be hinted as being Hindu since that’s the only one that seems neutral in this situation.

“Alright that's all for the lesson. And since its complete I expect all of you to be thorough with ‘Life of King Baldwin iv’ during this weekend since there will be a test on this very topic next wednesday. Have a great weekend by the way.” The professor stands up and closes his laptop and all the other students start packing up.

“He had a pretty hard life didn’t he?” One of your friends chimes in. You look at her unsurprised. “You mean king Baldwins?”

“Duh! Poor man suffered an incurable disease almost his entire life! Imagine having skin infested in bacteria, euggh!” She recoils in disgust. “Imagine the cure to that disease being bacteria itself! Pretty sure Leprosy can be cured using multi antibiotic therapy.” Another friend joins in the conversation. You finished packing up your bag so you get up. “But you gotta respect him. He never used his illness as an excuse to be a bad king.”

“That’s true….” Your first friend agrees. “He’s tough. When I catch a normal cold I give up all of my responsibilities since I’m sick. Wonder how hard it must have been for him.” All of you exit the classroom. A few minutes go by and topics have changed. A fun conversation lasted for a while before it was time to go, so you three parted ways.

As you entered your home your first thought was to take a cold shower after a long, hot and sweaty day. While eagerly hopping into the shower you get reminded of the conversation you had with your friends a while ago. What did king Baldwin even look like? There were no images in your textbook. Curiosity got the best of you, making you draw back the shower curtains to leave. You wrapped a towel and went towards the table where you kept your mobile, typed a quick ‘King Baldwin the 4th images’ and hit enter. Two images popped up. One being an actual painting from the 12th century while the other being an image reconstructed by scientists which looked…realistic to say the least.

His face in the second photo was majestic. His mouth and nose were almost non-existent, having only two triangular shaped holes instead of a nose. His skin was dry, withered and stretched while having the hue of a dry leaf during autumn. Even though he was severely disfigured his eyes were pure and bright, having a child like innocence towards them. King Baldwin was…Quite handsome.

Okay that’s enough now snap out of it! It’s probably just some AI prompt message image anyway. If anyone found out you found him handsome they’d call you crazy. Plus now is not the time to fangirl over a dead king, now's the time to study. In an attempt to distract yourself you pick up your books to do work. Hours painfully go by as you study but finally, finally it was bedtime. You could care less about eating dinner or even taking a shower, you plop yourself onto your bed and wrap the soft blanket around your body. Thoughts about King Baldwin strike your mind again. Seriously, what's wrong with you?! Why is this man plaguing your thoughts all day?

A sigh escaped your mouth from irritation. If only it was possible to console him for his losses or better yet, cure him entirely. The world would have been a better place if he had the lifespan of a normal man.

But there is no point thinking about this, time to go to bed now. As you try to go to sleep your body keeps doing the fake fall thing, annoying you to the core. And finally when your bodys heartbeat was steady and your breathing was quiet, your body did that fake fall thing again but this time it was actually a real fall.

Eyes widen as you try to grab onto the air to prevent your fall but of course, you fail. Adrenaline rushes through your veins for that split second before you finally make an impact on the cobblestone path?

Owch! That fall really hurt, especially at the back of your shoulders! You hope it’s not bruised there. But after that reality check, you look around only to find yourself in some village?

You can see a few small huts and buildings beyond the grassy field. Where are you? How are you here? Why are you here? Too confused and dazed from the fall, you try to look around for people for help. That is until a holographic screen with text pops up.

Congratulations Ms. Y/n. Your wish to cure King Baldwin has been approved by the ₦ł₥฿Ʉ₴฿₳Ʉ₦Ʉ₴. You are now at Jerusalem, Year: 1181.

“What?”

Yes it’s true Ms.Y/n, you really are in the 12th century.

Your blood is now boiling in anger. “Just because….Someone wishes pity over a dead king DOES NOT ACTUALLY MEAN THEY WANT TO CURE HIM!” You try to grab onto the screen to shake it vigorously but your hands go right thru.

Now now, let’s calm down and try to get over with this together I’m sure we’ll find a solution.

“Calm down…CALM DOWN?!?!?!? I’m in the middle of nowhere in Jerusalem during the 12th century and you want me to CALM DOWN???? I don’t even know French and not to mention I’M NOT CHRISTIAN!” You were screaming with your hand in the air. Pretty sure you woke someone up.

Y-Yes but that’s why I’m here. Don’t worry about communication, the language module for french had been uploaded into your brain while you fell here.

The screen flickers a little, maybe due to fear.

Uploaded knowledge? “But I’m a woman from the 21st century! I can’t live here! I’m wayy to accustomed to the privileges of my time!”

That’s one of my perks miss! By using currency of this time you may purchase products of your time thru me! The screen changes to an online store. For now you have access to basic necessities like food and clothes. As you complete missions you shall unlock other parts of the online market! The screens display brightness increases due to enthusiasm, convinced it has impressed you.

You however look at it in exasperated shock. “How is this even possible?” You say with dread in your voice. “Who sent me here?” You ask, no, demand.

Like I said You’ve been sent here by ₦ł₥฿Ʉ₴฿₳Ʉ₦Ʉ₴. I’m pretty sure you can’t read that since mortals don’t have the capacity to….

Mortals? Is this the play of some higher being? God even? Too many questions float through your head, making you visibly tired. You can feel the bottom of the skin beneath your eyes folding, an indicator you’re developing dark circles.

Ah. It looks like you’re tired. It’s night anyway. You should sleep.

“But where do I-”

“Excuse me madam.” You turn around to see a man standing behind you. “I’ve noticed you’ve been talking to yourself.”

So he can’t see the screen. From his ragged outfit he seems to be a commoner. He also genuinely seems worried so you guess it wouldn’t hurt to ask for help.

“Yes, sorry for that.” You say embarrassingly while you get up. “You see I’m from the family of wandering traders, here to sell spices from my land. I was talking to myself since I was quite irritated at how I didn’t have an inn for the night.” The explanation seems responsible enough I guess.

“But I don’t see any goods with you… And how did a young lady such as yourself travel alone? Where is your husband?”

Crap. He’s doubting you. You need to give him a reasonable explanation fast or he’ll call you a witch or something.

“Oh no sir you’re mistaken! My father is the one who has the spices, it’s his business after all. We had to split ways during travel due to inconveniences, I’m merely here to help him!” You put on your best smile to convince him.

“O-Oh I’m sorry madame! H-Here let me lead you, I know an Inn nearby.” Good. Looks like he believes you. But now it’s your turn.

“I’m sorry sir but how can I trust you?” You step back a little. “What if you take advantage of me? How shall I testify my innocence? The locals would definitely believe you over me.”

“No no please don’t! I’m a married man. My wife’s right there.” he points at the lady standing just outside the house, looking worried. You look at her and she nods her head in reassurance. “You seem like a noble from your land madame judging from your colorful dress, why don’t the both of us show you where the inn is?”

Hmm….Guess colorful clothing is rare here. And he really does seem like he wants to help.

“Very well then. Both of you show me they way.” The man eagerly tells his wife the incident and both of them show you around. The screen follows you, showing you a winking emoticon.

Congrats Ms. Y/n! You have officially begun your first mission!