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not-neverland06 · 7 months

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One More Spring

One-shot

Tagging: @dumblittlebunbun bc you’d commented on a previous slasher post

Bo Sinclair x fem!reader A/N: This was a strange little Drabble I came up with when I was experimenting with a different writing style. Summary: You only have one wish, to make it to one more spring in Ambrose. You know that the women don’t last long, used and tossed aside, you don’t have big hopes. Just one last prayer.

You could always tell what kind of day it would be by how the door closed. Maybe it was because you’d grown up with strict parents, but you could read a mood based off their footsteps.

For now, you felt comfortable and remained lounged on your crappy lawn chair, trying to get some sun back on your legs after winter. The screen door closed lightly behind Bo as his heavy boots made their way to you.

You didn’t bother lifting your sunglasses as you felt him hovering over you. “What’re you doing?” His voice was gruff and he sounded like he was panting.

“Trying to get some color back.”

You could hear him scoff and glanced to the side to see him stealing a swig from your beer. “Don’t have better things to be doing?”

“Like what?” You snarked, rolling over and huffing when his eyes immediately went to your ass. Probably a good thing you chose a skimpy pair of bottoms, he was always more agreeable when he was horny. “Playing housewife?”

He chuckled under his breath, kneeling down beside you and flicking your sunglasses up. “Yeah, maybe.”

You rolled your eyes and swatted his hands away. You propped your head up on your arms and glared at him. “I’ll put on an apron for you later, for now, buzz off.”

He shook his head and stood up. “Don’t know where all this attitude came from.” You yelped as his hand came down on your ass. He laughed loudly, walking away much too smug for your liking. “Better not be a damn thing under that apron later!” He shouted as he went back into the house.

You looked up to tell him off and finally caught a glimpse of his coveralls. Blood coated the bottom of his pants and you shrank back into your chair. You put your head back down on your arms, closing your eyes and ignoring the way your stomach twinged in anxiety.

As requested, you’d made dinner in an apron and nothing else. Bo had subsequently banished Vincent from the kitchen. You’d felt bad when you’d woken up in the morning, you hadn’t gotten a chance to slip him any food. You’d passed out pretty much the second Bo was done with you.

Your eyes darted to the bloody coveralls on your bathroom floor. You sighed, legs aching as you got off the bed. You collected his dirtied uniform and the laundry basket and made your way downstairs.

You got started on the laundry, kicking the old washing machine a few times to get it going. It had been on its last leg for a decade, it was a matter of months before it finally conked out. You threw the clothes in, fingers snagging on a lacy number at the bottom.

You frowned, tugging it out and holding it up to the light. You’d never seen this before. It certainly hadn’t come from your bag. “You like it?”

You jumped, whirling around with the shirt clutched to your chest. “Jesus, Bo, you scared me.”

He chuckled, face still slightly mussed from sleep. He was only in a white t-shirt and pajama pants, rare to see him in anything other than working clothes. “Snagged that off a tourist yesterday, thought you’d look good in it.”

I thought you would like it.

I know you’ve got a few shirts like that in your closet.

You always look pretty in this color, baby.

You’d heard it all a thousand different ways. The same sentence over and over and over again. You were haunted by the women of Ambrose. The ones who came before you, who’d tried and failed to play house with him. The ones who were yet to come.

And the woman who would inevitably replace you when you messed up for the final time.

Your nails dug into the lace, feeling it give beneath them as you smiled at Bo. “I love it, thank you.”

He hugged you, lips lingering against your forehead before he wandered off to start some coffee. You turned around, eyes going back to the shirt. You’d burn it if you could. Rip it apart and scream, instead you tossed it in the wash with the rest of your clothes. You let the lid slam shut, the noise jarring you out of your stupor.

You forced on a happy face and walked into the kitchen. Vincent was lingering near the entrance and you offered him a gentle smile. “Sorry about dinner,” you whispered as you passed him. He shook his head and took a seat at the table.

You grabbed the ingredients you needed, rustling through Bo’s ancient cookbook for the French toast recipe you’d found the other day. One day, you’d run out, you wouldn’t have any more delicacies to surprise them both with.

Bo would tire of the same repetitive food. The same face every morning. The same sounds and movements in the bedroom. You’d become used up, lose the new shine everyone loved on their toys.

You clenched the spatula in your hand, gritting your teeth as you cooked some eggs for the both of them. You brought it over to the table, scooping it onto their plates, Bo got the bigger serving. Bo always got what he wanted.

Your mind flashed to the garage, the straps there waiting for you. “Hey!”

You jumped, pan nearly dropping out of your hands as you stared at the dropped eggs on his lap. “Sorry, I’m sorry.” You rushed to the counter, grabbing a towel and kneeling down, frantically trying to get them off his pants.

A calloused hand landed on your head, you jumped and looked up at Bo. Your heart raced, expecting malice or a sneer that meant the last nail had fallen and your time was up. Instead he was smiling gently down at you, hand smoothing the hair from your face. “Just a spill, darlin’, get the bacon ‘fore it burns.”

You backed away instantly, taking the egg filled rag with you as you went back to the stove. You flipped the bacon, turning off the burner and risking a glance over your shoulder at Bo.

He was sipping his coffee peacefully, not a worry in the world. But you could see how tightly Vincent had his fork gripped, the way it shook slightly as he placed it back on his plate. Seems you weren’t the only one who’d thought your time was up.

When would it happen?

When spring returned and the birds started chirping their early morning song again?

You wouldn’t mind if that was when it ended. If you got to make it to another birthday, that would be even better. You’d like to experience another holiday, or Halloween. Perhaps that was too much to ask for.

You’d settle for just seeing the buds return to the trees in Ambrose once more. Pink blooming in the absence of death. That would be lovely.

Alright, you’ll take that.

Make it through one more spring and you can happily let go.

You could hear the women screaming as you walked down the stairs of the house. See glimpses of who they used to be. Hair clips you knew weren’t yours, underwear buried in the back of drawers that you’d never touched. Necklaces and jewelry that didn’t match yours.

You could hear their voices, disorienting and panicked as you hung the laundry on the line. Felt like the birds echoed their mourning cries in their melody.

You saw the red lines around your wrist as you pulled off the dry sheets. You tried not to look at them too much. Bo liked to touch them, rub his fingers along your wrist and admire them. He thought it brought you closer, linked you together somehow.

You hated looking at them. Hated the sight of the worn skin. All it reminded you of was the time below. Your pictures that were tacked above the others.

You heard a scream further away from the house, bloodcurdling and echoing through the air of Ambrose. It would never make it out. Never travel past the forest bordering the ghost town. You wondered if it was a product of your own fractured psyche or another masterpiece in the works.

Your question was answered when you sat on your knees in the bathroom that night, trying to scrub the crimson out of Bo’s coveralls.

You liked your time with Vincent. You like the candles he kept scattered around his studio, nails dug into them to help him keep time. He’d sit you down on the couch and would position you like a doll. You’d let him, mind going numb as you lost time for as long as he wanted to draw you.

You knew he liked you the most out of the other girls. You learned sign language for him, communicating with him when Bo got sick of both of you. He enjoyed your face the most. It wasn’t model perfect or the type of beauty people wrote songs about.

He liked the normalcy of it, the slightly blandness. He’d told you once, on a nice night, that it was your eyes that gave you life. Not the color of them, but the light behind them.

You wondered if he would draw you again when Bo snubbed them out.

You folded Bo’s clothes, tucking them neatly into his drawers and tossing the basket back into the hall. You moved towards the bed, straightening the sheets and tucking them in tight. You liked it tight, he hated it.

Your one act of rebellion.

It honestly wasn’t hard to fall into this role with Bo. You’d known if you’d wanted to survive the only chance you had was to make him happy. In a way it was peaceful here. It was quiet and you never had to worry about anything.

You cleaned the house, cooked the food, were the perfect housewife and he’d be content and so would you. He let you have your own time, surprising you with journals to write in. Or he’d dig through tourists bags and bring you back books he’d thought you’d like.

You didn’t get to go into the city with him, doubted you ever would, but you were okay with this.

You picked up his watch, opening up his night table’s drawer to tuck it away. Your eyes landed on a bright splash of red and your fingers froze from where they hovered above the handle. You glanced over your shoulder, heart thrumming.

You turned back towards the drawer and carefully slid the Polaroid out.

A picture, a woman with gorgeous red hair splayed along her pillow. She looked beautiful.

Or she would.

If it wasn’t for the gash across the neck, so deep it showed you the inside of her throat. Crimson dripped from the wound, pooling around her and onto the bed below her.

Your eyes darted to the bed to your left, hands wrinkling the pristinely kept picture. Without thinking your hand dove further into the drawer, probing, digging, searching for something.

You didn’t know what until you hissed, hand jerking back as blood blistered out of the gash on your finger. You placed the picture back, popping your finger into your mouth and licking up the metallic taste of your blood.

You used your other hand to wrap around the handle of the blade, tugging out the large kitchen knife and staring down at it blankly.

One more spring.

You put the knife back, straightening out his drawer and leaving the haunted bedroom to clean your wound.

You woke to the sound of birds chirping. To your left was the window, pink buds blooming across the branch of the tree across from the house. Above you was Bo, straddling your waist, a knife held tightly in his hand.

“Well,” you wrapped a hand around his, calmly pulling the knife down to your throat. You’d thought you’d be more upset. Fight, beg, plead for one last winter, or just another day. One last good day. But you were tired, you’d been slipping since summer. Bits and pieces of yourself floating along the wind, joining the cacophony of lost women. “Aren’t you going to do it?”

Bo stared down at you, his brows furrowed. The whites of his eyes were red and you knew he’s been struggling with this for a while. You weren’t sure how long he’d been sitting above you, but you knew it had been before you’d woken.

You were thankful, at least, that he had let you see the spring morning before he did this.

He yanked his hand out of yours, “Crazy bitch,” he muttered. He scoffed and shook his head, jumping off of you. Your head lolled to the left, you opened up the window, inhaling the fresh smell of new life.

You made it another winter and another spring. Your face was plastered along Vincent’s wall. Statues of you adorned Ambrose but you didn’t occupy a single one of them.

On the outside MISSING flyers with your face faded and fell from lamp posts. Your name was forgotten from the minds of those who’d been alive to mourn you. You became another statistic, another lost soul. An old news story that would be used in classrooms.

What happened to her?

Is she still alive?

Was she the first?

Will we ever know?

No. They wouldn’t. You were the girl on the paper trampled beneath frantic feet as they rushed to work. Tossed aside in the garbage when they were done with the morning paper. To the rest of them, you were forgotten.

To Ambrose, you were their muse. Inspiration behind their every move.

Every morning you’d wake up to a blade pressed against your throat. And every morning Bo would leap away from you and shake his head. He’d never do it, you knew that now, and it provided you with a careless freedom that freed you from the shackles you’d placed upon yourself.

You didn’t spread your legs and let him take what he wanted anymore. You didn’t submit under his temper, you fought back, raised your voice and threw glass bottles right back at him. You didn’t let him bend Vincent under his thumb or scream at him just because he could.

You pushed, every day, that invisible line that separated you from the other ghosts in town. Yet, somehow, you never breached it, only managed to extend it.

“I want to go with you.”

Bo froze, after a moment he fixed his cap and grabbed his keys from the tray. He didn’t look at you as he spoke, “Well, come on then.”

You followed him through the front door, hopping in the truck when he opened it up to you. The engine rumbled, vibrating the seat below you and his hand slid from the keys to your thigh. He squeezed, as if reminding himself you were there, he was really doing this.

You could hardly believe it yourself.

Bo rounded the bend from the gas station and you felt your heart racing. A hummingbird flitting through your chest, frantically trying to break from the cage of your ribs. He pulled through the old campground, the one you’d been on before your car had mysteriously broken down.

You couldn’t remember who it was you were with. What their names were.

You’re halfway certain one of them had been a lover. His name lost to the past.

Bo pulls onto the highway and you brace yourself. You’re not sure for what. Perhaps for him to change his mind, a blade buried in your gut. To start pouring blood down the front of your shirt. Or maybe the car will wreck, divine intervention deciding that neither of you get another day.

Nothing happens. Bo slams his hand against the truck’s stereo and rock crackles through the speakers. His hand returns to your thigh and he hums along to the music. After a moment you relax, rolling the window down and letting the breeze cool you down.

He makes it to the city, smaller than where you used to live, but a mammoth compared to Ambrose. You buy groceries, marveling over products you’d forgotten even existed. You finally manage to buy the tampons you like instead of getting lucky that another woman has them in her bag.

You harass him into letting you go to a secondhand store, buying a shirt for you. Yours and yours alone. It’s simple, long sleeved and white, nothing special, but it means everything to you. When you make it back to Ambrose, the familiar stifling air and aged walls, you bury the shirt in your dresser.

You’ll never wear it and never part with it. This shirt will never be anyone else’s but yours. You’ll never allow another woman to get her hands on it. Even when you’re gone you’ll protect it.

“What do you think?”

Bo shrugged, taking another swig of his beer as his eyes roved over the journal in his hand. You sat on the edge of your seat, eagerly watching him read. Perhaps a bit too eagerly, he sensed it, pouncing on the chance to make you vulnerable.

“You know I don’t read much, baby.”

You rolled your eyes and moved to sit next to him. “I’m aware, it’s real sad, Bo. Now,” you nudged his shoulder with your own. “What do you think?”

He chuckled, marking the page and tossing it on the coffee table. His legs spread and you took the invitation, slotting yourself in his lap and wrapping your arms around his shoulders. He grinned up at you, “It was good. Real fuckin’ good.”

You smiled, cheeks puffing out with the force of it. “Really?”

He nodded his head, “Mhm.” He leaned forward, taking you with him, and placed his beer on the table. You reached behind yourself, blindly readjusting it onto a coaster. He rolled his eyes, but you saw the fondness in them.

His hands moved down your back, squeezing your ass before they landed on your thighs. Rough calluses spread along smooth skin and goosebumps prickled under his touch. You don’t know why you let him read the strange disjointed novel you’d been writing.

Maybe because you knew no one would ever see it. Maybe you wanted some part of yourself permanently embedded into his brain. Either way, you enjoyed the way his face changed as he took it in. The expressions shifting with each new sentence.

“You got a fucked up little mind, you know that?”

You hummed, nodding your head and leaning forward to slot your lips against his own. It was his own fault you were like this. He’d bent you, broke you down, used you until you were a shadow of the woman who used to exist within your body.

Maybe he had won.

There was a part of you, a spirit, floating somewhere beneath his garage, that had once belonged to you.

You ground your hips down against his, biting down on his lip until copper flooded your mouth. He didn’t get angry, just gripped your hair and moved you both to the cushions. He groaned into your open mouth, pinning your body below his and manipulating you how he wanted.

Then again, maybe you’d ruined him too.

You shouldn’t be alive. You shouldn’t still have a throat to drag air down, but here you were. Shoving against him and forcing him to submit to your whims. You weren’t the only one who’d changed, and you both knew it.

#bo sinclair x reader #Slashers x reader #house of wax x reader #house of wax 2005 #Slasher x reader #slashers x y/n #Slashers x you #bo Sinclair x you #bo Sinclair x y/n

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fuckyeahisawthat · 1 year

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Thinking about Heaven and Hell and how Heaven has vastly more resources at its disposal. When Hell wants to spy on Aziraphale and Crowley they have to send an actual demon Upstairs with a physical camera and zombie henchmen to take one (1) picture. When Heaven does it they can effortlessly pull receipts on all of human history without leaving the C-suite.

And that’s by design, isn’t it? Because Heaven is not the good side, they’re the victors. They won the war. They kept the executive floors, literally and metaphorically, and Hell got kicked down to the crappy basement.

Hell is defined by scarce resources and the behaviors an environment of scarcity produces. It’s shitty and dark and crowded; everything is old and broken and frustrating to use. Scarcity engenders infighting, scrabbling for resources because there isn’t enough to go around, backstabbing and deal-cutting and shoving down anyone weaker than you to get a slightly better position. Taking out your anger over your shit conditions and what you lost on human souls and on other demons alike. Demons are crabs in a bucket, constantly pulling each other down. (And, like the crab metaphor, their situation is manufactured. Crabs do not naturally occur in buckets. Someone put them there.)

We see that Gabriel, separated from the memory of his power and privilege in Heaven, is not fundamentally an asshole. The assholery is instilled by the system he lives in. In the same way, we don’t really know what any of the demons would be like outside the system of Hell. Beelzebub experienced the most modest amount of friendly camaraderie and understanding and decided it was worth risking everything for. Crowley, who has spent the most time outside the environment of Hell of any of them, is not vicious and cruel toward humans the way we see many of the other demons being. And it’s not because he’s special; it’s because he’s been able to spend time in an environment where his compassion and kindness and admiration for humans can breathe a little when no one is watching.

I highly suspect that the structure of Heaven and Hell and their current relationship to Earth and humanity (and Aziraphale and Crowley) is not going to survive s3 intact. There is simply no way for Aziraphale and Crowley and Earth to be safe and free from metaphysical threats with the system the way it is now.

There are several ways I could see this resolving, but the most metaphorically rich and theologically bananapants option would be…something that permanently heals the rift between Heaven and Hell.

Not undoing the Fall so that it never happened. That can’t be done on a societal level any more than on an individual one. The war still happened; the damage was still done. But some kind of mutually agreed disarmament. A radical redistribution of ethereal resources. Taking down the metaphysical border wall. Unrestricted fraternization between demons and angels who are really more alike than they are different. Maybe abandoning the executive floors and the basement entirely, and meeting…somewhere in the middle.

#good omens #heaven #hell #good omens s3???

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dira333 · 9 months

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Caught a kiss - Amajiki x Reader

for @missalienqueen - hope this was the vibe you were looking for - Follower Celebration Request

You are going to lose your job.

It’s as easy as that and just as painful to accept.

You have less than 24 hours to deliver your final draft; all you’ve got so far are the villain's design, the hero’s parents and best friend, and a rough draft of what you want to happen. Oh, and about twelve crappy drafts of the hero, every single one worse than the one before.

The hero with the strength quirk is just a cheap version of All Might and has been overdone for ages. The hero that looks dark and sinister but is actually a sweetheart reminds you too much of former Pro Hero Eraserhead and you don’t want anyone to accuse you of using your former teacher for your work.

One should think that coming up with new ideas comes easier after three successful book deals, but the opposite is the problem.

After more than six months of creative block, you cannot hide it any longer from the publisher or your writing partner, but you will be damned if you give up before your time has fully run out.

You get up with a heavy sigh, hoping against all odds that another cup of coffee will solve your problems.

Just as you push yourself up, an explosion goes off outside, its force strong enough to leave the floor trembling. You stumble, but your balance is off and you knock heavily into your table. Your hip and thigh hurt from the impact but you try to get up, only to be knocked to the other side by the second blast, the explosion even closer this time.

“Here.” Someone cushions your fall with their body. You look up into a pale face, almond-shaped eyes filled with worry as they take you in. Right. It’s the person who always sits ducked into the corner booth, fully engrossed in a book every time you come in to write. So far you’ve never seen more of him than the messy indigo hair that is not hidden behind his book. You can’t help yourself but take him in now that you’re this close. His mouth is a tight line and his ears… your heart lurches at the sight of their pointed tips. It makes him look like an elf.

“A-A-Are you okay?” The man stutters and you nod, blink yourself out of your stupor only to realize that you’re leaning way too heavily into him. All he did was keep you from falling over and you’re repaying the favor by putting all your weight onto him.

“Oh, oh, I’m sorry.”

“I-It’s o-okay.” His mouth pulls into an even firmer line and he looks past you. Whatever he sees has his eyes widening and you turn to see for yourself, only to be pulled down.

“Stay here.” He insists, voice suddenly firm. “Hide in the booth.”

Another explosion rings out, the sound deafening this time. When the ringing stops, he’s gone from your side. From your new hiding space, you can see him, walking upright to the door.

He’s a dichotomy, soft indigo cardigan wrapped around his lanky figure as if trying to protect him from the harshness of the world, but his steps are firm and his posture speaks of determination. You can tell that he knows what he’s doing in the way he utters short commands to the other people in the coffee shop.

The next time you see him is half an hour later when the police are taking statements.

He’s standing a bit to the side and someone must have brought him his hero costume, but you’d recognize that indigo hair everywhere, even if it’s partially hidden by a white hood.

“I didn’t see much.” You say, eyes never leaving the guy who, in your eyes, saved the day. “After he… I’m sorry, I don’t know his name, but the Hero in the white tunic… After he stepped out, I briefly saw a group of men with black suits and black face paint. And then, a few minutes later, one of them ran this way.” You point down the street. “But he was wearing something else. Something red on his head, like a wig, maybe?”

The police officer gives you a skeptical look. “Are you sure? You’re the only one who pointed that out.”

“I mean, I could be wrong, I’m not sure if it was a wig or not. Did no one else see someone running?”

“They did, but they all agree it was a civilian.”

“No, it was definitely not a civilian. I saw his face and while it didn’t have any facepaint on, it was clear that he wasn’t frightened. He looked pissed. No civilian would run around looking like that after such explosions and a bank robbery going on at the same time, don’t you think.”

“We’ll look into it.” The officer says, noncommittally and leaves you in favor of talking to someone else.

Your eyes immediately wander back to the hero who saved you and your legs seem to take that as an order to get you over to where he stands.

“Hi.” You start, surprised to see that he blushes instantly, head pulling back into the safety of his hood. “I-I’m sorry.” You start to stutter, “I’m normally not that forward, but I-I just wanted to tell you how amazing I thought you were.”

“T-thank you.” He whispers back and you wait, hoping for something more for him, but if he does say something, it gets swallowed by the booming laughter of a much larger man.

Fatgum, you know him from TV, steps closer. One of his hands lands heavy on the first man’s back.

“Don’t mind Suneater here. He’s a great hero, just a little shy with words. I heard you’re the one who’s convinced she spotted someone fleeing from the scene?”

“Uh, yes.” You try to catch Suneater’s eye but he’s looking at the floor as if he suspects to find the secret to immortal life down there. “But I told the police everything. I’m just good with faces, I guess. I just… I just wanted to say thank you. To Suneater, I mean. Because he saved me, in the coffee shop before.”

“Oh, he did?” Fatgum seems to find that incredibly funny because he laughs again, pulling Suneater into his side to the point that he almost swallows him whole.

“I think he’d gladly do it again. Nothing too much for my guy. Hope we did not keep you from anything important.”

“Oh, just my draft.” You sigh, before realizing that your drawing pad is still in the shop and you have even less time now to save your job. But, there’s an idea forming in your mind just now.

“Would it… would it be okay, to use you? I mean, your hero persona, or your… likeness, for a manga?”

Suneater freezes up, elbows locking tightly against his ribs. He looks like a wooden puppet, unable to move.

“It’s supposed to be a story about a boy overcoming all odds to be a hero and when he meets the evil villain, he realizes that what he’s learned makes him the most capable to deal with him. I’ve struggled to find a story to tell but if I could… draw a hero that’s a bit shy and didn’t like attention all that much, that could resonate with a lot of children, you know? We’d call him differently, of course, and I could change the looks, but I kinda.. well, I really like your costume, it’s very…” You clear your throat awkwardly, too aware of Fatgum’s growing grin and Suneater’s growing stiffness. “Aesthetically pleasing. Yes, hmm.. It’s the aesthetic.”

“That’s a big honor,” Fatgum speaks up on Suneater’s behalf when the latter seems unable to open his mouth. “As his boss, I give you the okay. But you should leave your card or something with us so that we can have a look at the product before it gets published.”

“Oh, absolutely.” You pull a card out of your blazer pocket and hold it out to Suneater who eyes it as if it might come alive and eat him any moment. So you offer it to Fatgum who takes it with a wide smile.

Your drawing pad is still where you left it. You grab a new cup of coffee from the jittery barista and insist on paying for it even though she offers one for free after today’s events.

“I’ll feel better if I pay for it,” you insist, knowing that there will be enough people taking advantage of it as it is.

The drink grows cold next to your pad as you draw, engrossed in the story you’ve got to tell now. It’s only the time crunch you’re in that keeps you from going overboard on your hero’s features. You want to stay on the page, take your time until you get his ears right or the exact shade of his hair. In some drafts, it turns out too messy, in others too neat and you wonder if you could ask him to stand model for you, just to get a hang of the way it falls.

Then it’s the color of his eyes. You thought they’d been a deep purple when you looked up into them hours ago, but it had been but a brief moment and you long to see them again.

It’s way past closing time when the friendly barista is finally annoyed enough to throw you out. You stumble home, eat a sandwich from the vending machine on the way up to your apartment, and get back to drawing.

Your alarm goes off right after you put down your pen.

Your draft is finished and you lay down for a quick nap that is filled with a now familiar face.

If anyone knew he was here again, Tamaki would surely lose his hero license.

There had to be some rule against stalker behaviour but he wasn’t going to go up to HR to ask about it.

The barista nods when he comes in, accustomed to his presence by now.

Thankfully it isn’t the same one as yesterday and this guy doesn’t seem to know he had been involved in yesterday’s shenanigans. This is embarrassing enough without people recognizing him.

He grabs his lavender tea and takes his usual seat, burying himself in the book he brought along today. “Chivalrous Hero: Crimson Riot - How I came to be” isn’t exactly his top choice of literature but Kirishima had urged him to read it and he might as well.

Nine o’clock comes and goes without any sign of you.

He has to leave around half past ten and he can feel himself grow more and more anxious the later it gets.

Maybe you are breaking your habit of coming here after yesterday’s events.

He certainly can’t blame you for that.

Or you realized that he’d been here every time you went there too and connected the dots.

Surely it has to be that. No one can blame it on sheer coincidence for this long.

He should have just bitten the bullet weeks ago when he noticed you and asked you out then and there or stopped visiting when he felt his interest grow.

Like a man, his inner voice reprimands him, sounding vaguely like Kirishima.

At ten o’clock on the spot the bell over the door chimes. He turns to look on instinct and feels the book drop into his lap without being able to catch it.

You look tired, to the point he wonders if you’ve even slept at all. Even with makeup, it isn’t hard to tell that you’re going to keel over from exhaustion any second, but still, there is a smile on your face that can rival the sun.

Your eyes move through the coffee shop, shoulders relaxing at the tune that is coming from the speakers.

Out of habit he moves to pull his book higher to cover his face but finds his hands empty. Before he can realize why that is, your eyes cut to his.

One, two, three seconds he feels time freeze and his heart stops beating.

Then, just like the sun rises, your smile changes… into something almost shy and private, something he’s never seen on you before.

You duck your head and walk over, making his heart skip from non-beating to beating too fast. His blood soars in his ears and he still can’t find the damn book to hide behind. And now it’s too late for that anyway because you’re standing in front of him, the shy smile curling around your lips in a way that makes his knees feel way too wobbly.

“Can I sit with you?” You ask and he nods before he can stop himself.

Your knees knock against his as you slip into the booth.

He takes in a breath and regrets it immediately when he can smell your perfume again.

“I was hoping I could meet you again.” You say, pulling something from your bag. “I wanted to show you what I draw… I was… so blocked, I couldn’t draw for months but when I saw you, something clicked and I…” You stop your movements, something like a tablet in your hands. You look down in what he recognizes as embarrassment. He’s too familiar with that feeling not to recognize it on sight.

“It’s okay.” He can hear himself say. He’s not sure what he’s even trying to say, but he can feel his lips move and that’s better than what he does most days. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me. I should say sorry anyway. I’ve been sitting here for weeks trying to talk to you and couldn’t get over myself.”

Wait, he thinks, panic bubbling in his stomach. Did he just… say that?

Your mouth is open, your eyes wide. You certainly look like you heard what he just thought out loud.

“You were trying to talk to me?” You ask. “Why didn’t you-” You seem to realize that he’s starting to sink into himself, that he’s actively trying to merge with the booth and stop speaking.

That’s it, he thinks. He knew it would turn out this way, he should have gotten over himself sooner.

“Here.” Your voice cuts into his miserable thoughts again, pulling him away from trying to sneak out of the booth. “Look at this.”

You turn your pad to him. There he is, or at least, someone looking a lot like him.

It’s a rough sketch of him, mid-fight. He recognizes the tentacles coming from his hands immediately. When his hands meet the monitor, the page turns and there’s the villain, telling his story of origin. There’s no text, but his face makes it clear that it’s a sad story.

But there he is again, Suneater saving the day, hugging the villain in the end to prove that even the bad guys can be friends if you treat them nicely.

“If you want,” you say, your voice low as if you’re letting him in on a secret. “I’d like to get to know you better. Not just for this project, but… like… on a date?”

You wave your hand in front of his face. “A-Are you okay? You’re not blinking?”

“Sorry,” he chokes out, digs his fingernails into his arm to pinch himself. Yeah, he’s not dreaming. “I’m…”

“I meant it.” You assure him, put your hand where he just drew blood. “If you want. No pressure though.”

He’s still looking for words when you pull back your pad, clearly trying to give him some space.

“I… have to leave in a few minutes.” He points out, glares at the tabletop to keep his nerves. “But do you want a coffee?”

--- one weeks later ---

You’re already there when he steps into the coffee shop. You’re at work, which he can tell by the fact that you don’t even look up when he slips into the booth and puts a fresh cup of coffee next to your pad.

“Hey.” He gently pats your thigh. A few days ago that wouldn’t have been possible, but you pointed out that it’s the safest way to get your attention without messing up your work and he’s actively trying to get over himself, so there…

“Oh, hey!�� You smile up at him, lean back to stretch your back out and move to press a kiss to his cheek.

His face bursts into flames. Not literally, but figuratively and you giggle against he hot skin before pressing another kiss on his other cheek.

“Missed you.” You say nonchalantly as if that doesn’t make his heart lose a few beats.

It takes him half an hour of passive cuddling to get his heart to calm down and his brain to unmelt before he remembers what he’s supposed to tell you.

“They caught the last member of the group.” He points out when you move to take a sip of your now cold coffee.

“What?”

“The guy you saw, the one wearing a red wig? They caught him. Detective Tsukauchi said your hunch was too good to ignore and they caught him. Turns out he was the head of the gang after all. So you’re the real hero of that day.”

“What? No. It was you. Or Detective Tsukume.”

“Tsukauchi.”

“Exactly. I just pointed out something obvious. Like that.” You press your thumb against the corner of his mouth. “You’ve got something caught there.”

“What is it?” He asks, already anxious as you lean in.

“A kiss.”

His mind goes blank way before your lips meet.

But, he supposes he doesn’t need his brain for a few more minutes anyway.

My Kofi if you want to tip me

#my writing #follower celebration #Tamaki Amajiki #Tamaki x reader #Amajiki x reader #Suneater x reader #Suneater #Tamaki fluff #Amajiki fluff #Suneater fluff #mha fluff #mha x reader

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cl3fairyyy · 6 months

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routine : part 2 || edward nashton x GN!reader ⋆⭒˚｡⋆

summary || you and edward finally go on a date

warnings || eddie is a liiiittle more stalker-y in this one, smoking, mentions of drinking, mentions of edward following reader home and just overall being his strange little self, this fic does get a little suggestive (no actual smut) so please MDNI!!!! i think that's everything, if i forgot anything i am so sorry </3 this fic is mostly just fluff with a side of awkward first date small talk

word count || 4.5k

notes || i am so sorry for the long wait on part 2!! been having the worst writers block of my life and my job has been taking over my life atm </3 but it is finally here!! i had so much fun writing this one, definitely thinking of doing a part 3 if u guys want it :)) apologies if at any point eddie is too OOC, he's definitely a little more confident in this one hehe. also this pic of paul is EXACTLY how I imagined him looking while writing this

You arrive back at your dingy apartment later than you had planned and, admittedly, a lot tipsier than you had wanted to be.

You shove your key into the crappy broken lock that your landlord refuses to fix and jiggle it around for several moments until you finally hear a click. Opening the door, you sway on your feet a little before stumbling over to the couch, kicking the door shut behind you; when you plop down on the velvety throw you use to cover up the horrible cracking leather of your equally horrible sofa, you sigh and throw your head back, allowing a smile to play onto your face.

He had asked you on a date.

You keep replaying the interaction in your head, mentally swooning at how Edward had lit your cigarette for you, how he had been so close that you could smell the laundry detergent on his clothes. You giggle like a schoolgirl, hugging one of your cushions as you fish around in your bag for your phone. You have to suppress a giddy squeal when you are greeted with not one, but three messages from a random number, one you can only guess belongs to Edward. You feel dizzy unlocking your phone, and you don’t know if it’s the alcohol or your nerves.

Hi, it’s Edward. I hope you have a lovely rest of your night.

I really liked talking to you today. You’re a very interesting person.

Are you okay? It's late, did you get home safe?

It takes everything in you to not dreamily sigh like you’re in a fucking rom-com. He's concerned about me, you think, typing a reply with a lopsided smile on your face.

hiii yes im fine!! just made it home : )

im vry drunk lol

Immediately the grey typing bubble pops up and you launch your phone across the room, scrambling to the fridge to open the half-empty bottle of slightly too expensive rosé that you have been saving for the next time you rewatch Fleabag.

You hear your phone ding twice and gingerly pick it up from underneath the coffee table, your hands shaking.

Oh, good to hear that you’re safe haha. I was about to head back to the bar to see if you were okay.

That was a joke by the way.

You can’t stop a smile from spreading across your face. You take a swig from the bottle and begin typing.

yea im sure it was lol

it was nowhere near as interesting after u left. u were in such a hurry too are u ok??

Edward’s cheeks grow red when he reads your second message. You think he’s interesting? Are you hinting that you would’ve preferred if he stayed?

Wish I could have stayed for a bit longer haha, just had some work at home that I couldn’t get my mind off, so wanted to take another crack at it.

Obviously, he can’t tell you that his work isn’t just some simple tax fraud, but a potential money laundering scandal that ties all the way back to Maroni and your own boss. He knows at this point, though, that you’re too polite to question him.

u sure do work a lot!!!! idk how u havent burnt out yet.

try to get some rest if u can : ) its not like the work wont be there tmrw!!!!

Edward smiles. You are so lovely to him; the idea that someone like you could show so much kindness to him makes his heart swell and his eyes fill with tears. A few run down the tip of his nose and plop onto his phone screen.

I know, I know. Sometimes it feels like I can’t switch my brain off haha. It’s been in overdrive since I got home.

He cringes at himself. Is he meant to text so formally? You're pretty much the only contact in his phone besides his landlord and the office. He glances down at his screen, noticing that you’ve read his message but haven’t started typing an answer, and immediately begins to panic.

Of course someone like you couldn’t like him. He was a fool to think you were any different than anyone else in this shithole of a city. You’re probably still sat with your colleagues at that shitty bar, reading out his messages and all having a good old laugh at him. Everyone get a load of Nashton! you're probably saying, and he feels sick to his stomach.

soso sorry my phone just died out of nowhere!!! i srsly did not mean to leave u on opened

honestly i get u i can be like that. its probably worse for u tho bc ur so smart lol

whats been sending the brain of eddie into overdrive tonight??

Edward shakes his head at how silly he’s being. It would be funny if he didn’t feel so pathetic. He reads your messages over and over until his eyes burn; no one has ever given him a nickname before. Eddie. He rereads the nickname, trying to imagine how it would sound coming out of your mouth. His mind begins to wander, picturing you lying beneath him, bare chest heaving as you moan that name to him. Eddie.

He's snapped out of his thoughts when his phone lights up again with a notification from his news app. He attempts to push down his building arousal before it completely clouds his mind, and scrambles for his phone to send you a reply.

It’s a little embarrassing, but... I have been thinking non-stop about the conversation we had outside.

I really would like to take you out, if you’ll let me. If you’d like to pick where we go so you feel more comfortable, I’m happy with that. I’m sure you know much nicer places to go than I do anyway haha.

You squeal at your phone, kicking your feet in the air like a goddamn teenager. You hastily type a reply, and soon enough you’ve made plans for Sunday to go to a lovely downtown jazz club that plays live music. It's one of your favourite spots in the whole city.

You fall asleep fairly quickly after throwing yourself on your bed still fully clothed. You don’t think twice about how bad your hangover will be when you wake up, instead picturing your date with Edward and just how lovely he is.

Edward, on the other hand, stays up all night, his thoughts rife with anxiety. You'd had one conversation in a loud bar, and now he’s expected to keep you entertained for an entire evening? What if you didn’t find him interesting? What if he ran out of things to talk about? What if you stood him up entirely?

He shakes his head, trying as hard as he can to shake the thoughts from his brain entirely. He opens your social media, which he has found himself doing every time he seems to be on the verge of a panic attack recently. He finds his favourite picture of you, a candid photo of you in a coffee shop mid-laugh, your eyes sparkling and cheeks rosy. He loves your smile in this picture.

He hopes he can make you smile like that.

Saturday goes by painfully slowly for you. The dragging hours aren’t helped by your awful hangover that seems to have convinced your brain that any slight movement will have you vomiting. You cringe rereading the messages you sent Edward the evening prior, hangxiety hitting you like a train.

Eddie? Seriously?

You have one conversation with the guy and have already started throwing nicknames around- you're in shock that you didn’t scare him off with how forward you were being. If he brings it up, you can always blame it on how drunk you were, which isn’t exactly a lie.

He doesn’t text you until later in the evening, just a simple message confirming that you’re still on for tomorrow. You wonder if he’s as nervous as you are, if his anxiety manifests itself in the way he chews at his lower lip the same way you do.

When Sunday finally rolls around, you wake up extra early to give yourself as much time to get ready as humanly possible. You would never admit it to anyone, but you’d picked out your outfit the night before and laid it on your desk chair, your nervous excitement barely allowing you to get a wink of sleep.

Edward had offered to pick you up, but you really do not need him seeing the shithole you live in the first time he sees you outside of work. You both agree to meet outside the bar, and since it’s in walking distance from your apartment, you decide against getting a taxi.

Gotham is strangely beautiful in March, the last moments of winter finally coming to fruition. The sun is just beginning to set when you step out into the chilly air, casting an orange glow on the old buildings and warming your cheeks against the cold.

Edward’s heart races as he clumsily stumbles out of the subway station. He's almost twenty minutes early and grasps a cluster of lilies in one hand, the other of which he uses to steady himself against a lamppost. The lady from his favourite podcast whispers soothingly in his ear as he attempts to block out the loudness of the city and steady his breathing.

“You are strong, and you are worthy. Be the change you want to see.”

He closes his eyes, taking deep breaths before finally grounding himself. Edward is all too aware of how he must look right now: sweaty, clutching a bouquet of flowers while standing alone outside a bar. He glances at his watch. Still ten minutes until your meeting time.

He tries to ignore the lump in his throat and the stinging in his eyes. You will show up. You have to.

Edward jumps slightly when his phone chimes in his pocket. His heart drops when he realises it’s a text from you.

so sorry!!! running a few mins late :/ decided to walk today and ofc that’s the day that every traffic light in the city decides to break LOL

The light-hearted tone in your message doesn’t do much to comfort him. He types a short answer and sends it, trying to focus all of his energy on his podcast and not crying from how utterly terrified he is.

Ten minutes after your initially agreed upon meeting time, Edward hears a voice shouting his name. He looks up to be met with the image of you practically sprinting down the street towards him. You pull to a stop in front of him, smoothing your hair down and smiling bashfully up at him. Christ, you forgot how tall he is.

“Before you say anything, I am so sorry. First there was the traffic light thing, then one of my old college friends stopped me in the street and decided that she wanted to update me on every single day of the past three years of her life.”

You breathe in heavily through your nose, your hands on your knees as you try and keep yourself from keeling over. You make a mental note to begin using that gym membership you keep renewing. Quitting smoking would probably help, too.

You look up when Edward hasn’t responded for several moments, and his cheeks are very pink.

“Look, you have every right to be pissed at me. If you want to cancel-”

Before you can finish, Edward interrupts you by thrusting a bouquet of flowers into your hands.

“Th-these are for you. I, um, remembered you mentioning lilies were your favourite flower, so...” He stumbles over his words, talking just a little too fast.

You're quite literally lost for words. You examine the flowers, your cheeks growing warm; it's a lovely spray of pink, yellow and orange lilies, tied together with a cream ribbon. They’re a little crumpled, but nothing that can’t be fixed with a little plant food. You smile at Edward.

“Oh, Edward. They're gorgeous, really, thank you. No guy’s ever gotten me flowers before...”

A small, lopsided grin spreads across his face.

“I can’t imagine why anyone lucky enough to have you wouldn’t get you flowers.”

You flush at that, and loop your arm around his, leading him inside. You manage to find a nice booth in the corner, away from the stage and speakers that surround it while Edward heads to the bar. You anxiously drum your fingers on the table and scroll through your phone, not really paying attention to what you’re meant to be reading as your mind replays what Edward had said earlier.

Edward watches you from the bar, admiring the high flush on your cheekbones and the way your outfit hugs your body. By the time he’s ordered and heading back to your table, you seem a little more relaxed. You smile at him gratefully as you accept your drink and try not to make your staring too obvious.

He looks handsome. He's wearing such a basic outfit, just a simple button up shirt and some smart slacks, but there’s something about Edward wearing something so casual and making it look so good that has you crossing your legs under the table.

“You look lovely tonight, by the way.”

You smile shyly at him, tracing your finger around the rim of your glass.

“Thank you, Edward. I have to say, you clean up pretty good yourself.”

He laughs, and you don’t miss the way it sounds like it's one of disbelief.

“Well, I don’t know if I’d say that.”

You roll your eyes playfully, taking a sip of your drink.

“Well, I would. You look really handsome.”

Edward shakes his head, a bashful smile on his face as he looks down, taking a sip of water. The pair of you sit there for a few moments in awkward silence, trying to think of something to start a conversation with.

“So-”

“You-”

You lock eyes and both laugh, cheeks red. You wave your hand.

“Sorry, you go.”

Edward averts his gaze, fiddling with his collar.

“I, um, was just going to ask how you found this place? I’ve never even heard of it. Well, I suppose the fact I don’t drink and don’t listen to jazz music doesn’t help, but...”

Edward finds himself trailing off, kicking himself for how utterly awkward he is. The way you smile at him, unfazed, doesn’t help.

How could someone like you ever find any interest in someone like him?

“It’s a funny story, actually. My old roommate was on a date with this absolute dick, and she needed me to come save her. So, what happened was....”

As you tell him the grandiose story of having to pretend to be your roommates' partner who caught her cheating, and how you had to run away when her date attempted to fight you, Edward can’t help but admire the way your eyes light up as you gesture wildly with your hands, the way your laugh comes out as an adorable snort when you attempt to do an impression of her very flustered date.

You are so beautiful. He wishes he could capture this moment in a bottle and replay it every day, for the rest of his life.

He doesn’t realise how much he’s staring until you clear your throat a little awkwardly, clearly finished with your tale. He can feel the warmth on his cheeks.

“Ah, well, I do hope you don’t have some secret boyfriend who’s going to jump out on me like that.”

He bites his lip after saying whatever the hell that was, but to his complete disbelief you laugh. Not a pity laugh, not one of discomfort, but a genuine laugh, one that’s just a little too loud, one that disturbs some of the patrons around you.

You clearly don’t care, your head thrown back as that smile, that lovely smile from his favourite picture spreads across your face. Even as you speak, uncontrollable giggles escape you.

“Oh God, can you imagine? Lucky for you, I’ve been single for a while, so don’t worry about my secret boyfriend coming in and trashing the place.”

That makes Edward laugh, much to your pleasure, and just like that, the tension in the air has dissolved. You can see Edward’s tense shoulders visibly relax, and the next few hours are spent under the warm light of the bar’s lamps, your conversations hushed and filled with longing glances, and it feels like you’re the only two people in the world that exist.

The two of you step out into the bitter cold of the evening, hands fumbling for your respective cartons of cigarettes. Your shivering hands are somehow able to summon a flame from your crappy old lighter, and the alcohol in your system, as well as the way Edward looks at you with such adoration in his eyes, warm you from the inside out. He offers you his arm and you take it maybe just a little too enthusiastically as you walk through the city streets.

When you look up at Edward, he’s already got his eyes on you, the tip of his nose pink from the late winter air. You can feel the flush spreading across your face, quickly averting your eyes to the sparkling lights of the skyscrapers.

Edward retracts his arm from yours, and you look up at him again, confused and somewhat offended. He’s shrugging his parka off his shoulders and draping it over your own before you can even comprehend what’s happening.

“You’re shivering. You might not feel cold because you’ve been drinking, but I can see the goosebumps on your arms.”

He says this so matter-of-factly. Does he not realise how romantic and thoughtful his actions are? He opens his mouth to speak again, but you interrupt him.

“Thank you.”

He offers you that adorable lopsided grin that accentuates just how round and soft his cheeks are.

“It’s really no problem. I don’t want you getting sick.”

Maybe it’s the alcohol. Maybe it’s just how perfect the night has been. Maybe it’s the way he looks at you like you’re the most beautiful person he’s ever seen. Before you can second-guess yourself, you’re removing the cigarette from between his lips and replacing it with a kiss.

He's stiff at first, unsure, before you feel a hesitant hand on your face, thumb caressing your cheek. He pulls away first, pressing his forehead to yours, and you can practically see the stars in his eyes.

“...Wow.”

You suddenly feel bashful, pulling away from him completely and taking a drag from your cigarette.

“Sorry, I-”

“Why are you apologising?”

You meet his gaze again, his glasses fogged up, but not enough to conceal the way his brow knits with worry, the apprehension in his eyes.

“I don’t know, I- I should have asked first.”

He takes your hand in his own, his smile so comforting that you feel all your worries melt away almost instantaneously.

“You don’t ever have to worry about asking me something like that. The answer will always be yes.”

He kisses you again, softly, and you can taste the tobacco on his tongue, making your head spin. His other hand comes to rest on your hip, squeezing it reassuringly as he takes your breath away.

You pull away first this time, readjusting his glasses which have slipped down his nose.

“Do you want to come back to my place?”

Edward’s face goes entirely red at your suggestion, and he stumbles over his words as he tries to string together a coherent sentence.

“I- um, well...”

You smile patiently, and he returns it somewhat hesitantly.

“I’ve- I’ve really enjoyed our night together, and I, just, um... I like you so much that, ah, I don’t really think we should rush anything. You’ve had a bit to drink, and I would hate to take advantage of that.”

Your eyes sting at his rejection as you attempt to muster up a tight-lipped smile, nodding stiffly. Edward’s smile drops.

“Oh dear, I’ve upset you, haven’t I?”

When you don’t quite meet his eyes, he sighs and gently holds your hand, giving you the chance to push him away. When you don’t, he pushes a little further, holding your chin between two fingers and tilting your head up to meet his gaze.

“I’m not lying when I say I like you. I really do, and I would hate to rush something as important as... that... especially when you’re intoxicated. I don’t want you to have any regrets. You're too special.”

Your heart leaps at his words, and you give Edward a small smile. It was never about him, or his comfort. He’s worried that you’d regret sharing yourself with him.

“I... yeah. I guess I’m just used to guys only expecting one thing out of a date. I really like you too, Eddie.”

He presses a chaste kiss to your lips, offering you his hand.

“Let me walk you home?”

You nod, leaning into his side.

Edward, of course, knows exactly where you live, but feigns ignorance as you take the lead back to your apartment. He'd know your building anywhere, thanks to his tendency to follow you home after work to ensure your safety, but being in front of it now, with you by his side, feels so fresh and new that it’s almost as if he’s seeing it for the first time.

It's falling apart, of course. Every building in Gotham that isn’t owned by someone extremely wealthy is. Crude graffiti adorns the crumbling brick walls, and he feels you stiffen up beside him when you notice a couple of shady guys, probably dealing drops, only a few feet away.

“It’s not exactly... the best area. Will you at least wait for your cab in my apartment? I really don’t want you getting mugged, or worse.”

Even with his impressive height, you’re worried Edward could be a target. His smart clothes definitely don’t help.

Edward can hardly believe his luck at finally being able to see the inside of your apartment. Of course, he’s seen it from outside your window when he’s perched on your fire escape late at night, but this is different. This is intimate. Even though he’d turned down your offer for sex, you’re still revealing such a personal aspect of yourself to him.

You trust him.

You lead him into the rundown building, apologising for the elevator that has been broken for months. He already knows that, but nods anyway.

“That’s okay. Five flights of stairs won’t do me any harm.”

When you finally make it inside, he perches somewhat awkwardly on your couch, his height making the piece of furniture appear ridiculously small. You curl up on the other side of the sofa, giving him his space as he books an Uber home.

The silence is thick, but comfortable. Edward is so engrossed in his phone that you’re finally given the chance to really study his features. The curve of his strong nose that holds up his glasses, the roundness of his cheeks, the softness of his jaw. The warmth of the numerous lamps scattered around your apartment light up his face with a soft glow that makes him look almost cherubic.

Edward glances at you, clearly feeling your intense gaze. He doesn’t seem anywhere near as nervous as usual, his smile relaxed.

“You okay?”

You prop your head up with your hand and nod, content.

“You’re so handsome, you know?”

His cheeks grow pink, his smile a little more shy. His voice is a whisper when he speaks.

“Thank you.”

You lapse into another comfortable silence as he returns to his phone, the smile never leaving his face. His phone chimes and he stands reluctantly.

“Cab’s nearly here...”

You walk him to the door, and he lingers for a moment.

“Can I-?”

You don’t give him time to finish, tugging him down by his collar and pressing your lips to his in another soft kiss. His hands find refuge at your waist, pulling you closer to him. You run your hands up his sides, and he reacts with a delicious shiver to your utter delight. Gathering your nerves, you tease his lower lip with a nibble, and he chases your mouth with a soft groan when you pull away from him.

You grin at his flustered state, his cheeks red and glasses fogged up, his sandy fringe ruffled beyond repair. You press one more lingering kiss to his lips before unlocking your door.

“You said your taxi’s nearly here?”

A chuckle escapes Edward, an octave lower than what you’re used to, and your knees go weak at the sound. He runs his hand through his hair, adjusting his glasses.

“You are so cruel.”

You glance down, immediately realising what he’s referencing, and giggle giddily.

“You’ll just have to wait for next time, I guess.”

He sighs, a dazed smile on his face.

“So, you want me to take you out again?”

You roll your eyes playfully, standing on your tiptoes so that your mouth is on level with his ear. You run a hand down his chest, your voice a sultry purr.

“I thought that much was obvious.”

Edward breathes out heavily through his nose and you smile innocently at him before kissing his cheek. The tension is shattered by the loud sound of his ringtone and you both jump back, the spell broken. Edward smiles apologetically at you when he answers the phone before panic spreads across his face. You can faintly hear a very angry man shouting at him on the other side of the line.

“Yes, yes! Sorry! I’ll be right there! Sorry!”

The other caller hangs up and you snort, pushing him gently out the door.

“Don’t let me keep you any longer from the most awkward ride home of your life. Are you gonna tell the driver you left him waiting so long because you were making out with your colleague?”

Edward stumbles over his words, the flush on his cheeks somehow deepening.

“I, ah, will not be doing that. Christ, I’m going to have to tip him even more than I was planning to, aren’t I?”

You giggle and Edward laughs too, giving you one last quick kiss before practically throwing himself down the stairs.

You close your door, sighing dreamily like the protagonist of a cheesy rom-com. You shoot Edward a quick text and sink onto your sofa, your heart thrumming. You'd gotten him to open up. You're going to go on another date. You kissed him. As far as first dates go, you’d chalk that up to being pretty successful.

The rest of your evening is spent texting back and forth with Edward, and when you finally roll into bed your brain is clouded with thoughts of him, his smile, the feeling of his lips on yours. You’re so focused on the image of Edward’s silly flustered smile after you kissed him for the first time that your rational thinking completely skips over one minor detail that you’ll have completely forgotten by the time you wake up.

How did he know what floor you live on?

#dano riddler #dano riddler x reader #edward nashton #edward nashton x reader #paul dano #riddler 2022 #riddler x you #batman 2022 #edward nashton x you #riddler x reader #danocel #dano!riddler #danonation #danonator

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rikiluvly · 1 year

Text

MIDDLE OF NOWHERE

🥀*ੈ✩‧₊˚ 𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔡𝔦𝔣𝔣𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔫𝔠𝔢𝔰 𝔴𝔦𝔩𝔩 𝔫𝔬𝔱 𝔭𝔲𝔩𝔩 𝔲𝔰 𝔞𝔭𝔞𝔯𝔱

tysm to the anon that requested this! <3

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | more to come...

PAIRINGS: vampire!riki x human!reader

SYNOPSIS: you and your mom move into an old mansion after some struggles. but what happens when the mansion is actually occupied by 7 vampires and the youngest just can’t seem to keep his eyes off you.

GENRE: vampire au, fluff, a tiny bit of angst.

WARNINGS: mention of food, slight swearing, and Ni-ki is kinda rude.

WORD COUNT: 1,4k

you didn’t want to move houses. you thought your apartment was cute and cozy, but according to your mom, it was cramped and suffocating. so what she did was buy an old crappy mansion out in the middle of nowhere.

you and your mom were in the car driving on a gravel path surrounded by tall pine trees. turning a corner you could see the place you were moving into. it sure was beautiful at least, with vines covering the outside and a great big gate giving an eery welcoming vibe. to some people, they’d think it was haunted, but you don’t believe in that stuff.

our car pulled up and you stepped outside. you took some time to admire the place. you knew there had to be something wrong with it because the price you bought it for was weirdly cheap. your mum got the key out and unlocked the door.

once you walked in you were overwhelmed. jesus this place was ginormous. the ceiling had amazing carvings and the walls had beautiful paintings. you walked up the long stairway to the second floor. the stairway was magnificent curling around up to the next floor.

“y/n your room is the third door to the right!” your mum called out to you from downstairs.

“ok thanks mum!” you saw the door and opened it. wow. your room was the biggest bedroom you have ever stepped foot in. You took your time to explore the painted walls and ceiling. the ceiling was painted with clouds and the walls were a beautiful baby blue color. a four-posted bed was leaned against the back wall with navy curtains that could wrap around it. two windows were displayed on either side of the bed with bright red curtains. maybe some changes could be made.

"who are you?" a sudden echo of a voice was projected through your new bedroom.

"what?"

"I said, who. are. you?" the deep voice came again. was this house seriously haunted? you thought to yourself.

"that's an insult," came the mysterious voice.

"what?"

"Is that the only word in your vocabulary or something?" the person that occupied the voice was still nowhere to be seen.

"calling this place haunted can be an insult to us. we don't haunt we just... occupy it," you couldn't lie, the voice was beautiful and you knew the face behind it would be as well. but you can't seem to help to grow a dislike for whoever it was.

"I'm confused, me and my mom thought no one lived here?"

"no one does live here. well, not any humans anyway" all kinds of thoughts started running through your head. is this thing some kind of ghost?

"I would prefer it if you wouldn't call me a 'thing' beautiful,' oh you really dislike the voice now.

you started eyeing around your room looking for the voice. the voice that wouldn't show its face. you took a look under your bed, disappointed to find nothing but an old stuffed teddy bear that the past owners must have left. you reached to pick it up and examined the toy. looks like it has been well-loved. you thought.

you stood up only to be met with an unfamiliar face.

"glad you like my bear," the surprise caused you to jump slightly. you had noticed fangs had appeared on either side of his mouth as he talked. vampire? no. no way.

"ah, you're a lot smarter than I thought," the tall figure looked down at you as you couldn't dare to look into his eyes.

"who are you?" you asked looking back at the stuffed bear in your hands.

"seems like you stole my question there... y/n," he knows my name? you couldn't bare stay with this 'thing' any longer. so you sprinted around the tall physique and tried to get to the door. only for him to spawn in front of you and block the exit.

"how do you know my name?" you asked, scared for an answer.

"I'm a vampire... I can read minds," answering like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"you didn't answer my first question, who are you?" you asked hoping for an actual answer this time.

"Riki, Riki Nishimura," the vampire said showing off his sharp set of teeth. as threatening as they are, no teeth could scare you. just the thought of being punctured in the neck by Riki did.

"so, are you the only vampire that lives here, or are there more?" you asked hoping for an answer that confirms he is the only one.

"there are six more of us,' SIX?! you suddenly thought of your mom. what if she had come across one? you had to get out of the bedroom.

"I- I have to leave! my mom, she could have come across one and-" you stuttered hoping Riki would move aside.

"no need to worry about that, they won't be interested in your mum," his answer made you stop your plan to escape.

"why?"

"we prefer them young and fresh," he said taking steps towards you.

"what.." you said in a whisper.

"...nah I'm just joking. they are all out doing who knows what," you felt a weight lift off your chest. so they aren't blood-sucking creatures?

"oh, we still drink blood don't get that wrong but only on very... very rare occasions," you stood there waiting for him to say he was joking again. until he didn’t.

“so, y/n I better let you get to your unpacking, ya’ need any help.. I won’t be here,” he vanished.

you took some time to adjust to what had happened. you and your mom had just moved into a house filled with vampires. even someone like you who doesn’t believe in stuff like this knows that this was very much real, and very much happening.

you can’t tell your mom. you just can’t. life has just been so difficult lately and you know she needs this fresh new start, in a fresh ‘new’ home.

you opened the door to leave your room and sprinted back down the stairs

"mom!" you called out but didn't get a reply. what if Riki had gotten to your mom. a thought u would dare to think of again. you ran around the first floor realizing how many rooms there actually were. too many.

"mom-"

"oh hey honey I didn't hear you. everything going well in your new room?" she asked standing up from behind the kitchen counter.

no, I met a vampire named Riki who lives here with his six other friends.

"yeah, my room is really nice," you wish you could tell her the truth but the truth could destroy her. she seems so happy.

"well that's great, I just got dinner ready how bout you eat?" you lost your appetite a while ago but you still couldn't resist your mom's cooking, so you both walked into the dining room. In the middle sat an extremely long dining table with exactly seven chairs.

seven chairs. seven vampires.

you took a seat in the one furthest down the table, as your mom sat in the one opposite. she laid out a plate of pasta in front of you along with a glass of water.

"thanks, mom," you said politely as you started eating. your mom didn't sit down instead she started to walk away.

"where are you going?" you asked intensively.

"oh I already ate, you spent quite a lot of time in that new room of yours so I'm going to go wash up," she then left leaving you in the ominous, scary dining room.

"your in my seat," the vampire you had met earlier was again before you sat in the opposite chair.

"you seriously can't leave me alone can you?" you asked looking up as you took a bite from your pasta. his mouth turned into a slight smirk showing his sharp canines.

"no one has come here for the past seven years, what do you expect?" the same obvious tone that he had displayed before had come back.

"yeah, well I didn't know that," you said quietly looking down at your food, as he wouldn't take his eyes off you.

"look, don't expect the others to go as easy on you as I did alright?" easy? he scared the living hell out of you two times now.

"when are they coming back?" you wanted to know so you could be prepared. but they could also easily pop up in front of you at any time.

"right about...now," you felt a gush of wind come from behind you, blowing your hair up.

there stood six tall, handsome vampires holding cups of red liquid. which could only be one thing.

blood.

A/N: I accidentally deleted a 3k word fic and it's completely gone naur. oh well, I hoped you enjoyed this! 2nd part will be out soon.

#enhypen x reader #enhahearts #niki x reader #nishimura riki #nishimura riki x reader #enhypen #kpop #enhypen fanfiction #enha x reader #enhypen scenarios #ni ki x reader #ni ki enhypen

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causenessus · 4 days

Note

for your event, can I request suna with ⭐️ and 🍳? :D

Almond Butter. | Suna Rintarou

suna x f!reader

written in 2nd pov and it tore me to shreds

prompts from 1k followers event -> ⭐ -> insomnia & 🍳 -> cooking

"you've adored me before, oh my good looking boy." from good looking (stripped) by suki waterhouse

word count: 1.1k words

notes: fluff <333 i can't help talking about how hot and sexy this man is everytime i write for him i am so in love with him i am barking from him HHHHH— suna being a good boyfriend and brother!!! i love this man to bits and pieces <3 1K WRITING EVENT IS BACK IN SESSION!!! AND SO AM I!! NESS!! FOR A SINGLE DAY!! WITH CRAPPY WRITING!! i'm obsessed with him and him only using petnames and also i see this as a scenario being quite early into your relationship with him <3 and basically this being the first time he says "i love you" to you (without realizing it) and you realizing you love him (and being too sleepy to say it)(this makes more sense once you read the drabble)

mango anon, if you see this <3 this is us <3 this is me making u almond butter toast <3

cw: food, talk about food chemistry and how your brain converts food to melatonin using carbs yay science! work is not exactly proofread

you’ve been waiting in your living room for the past 10 minutes.

well, actually, you’ve been waiting for the past two hours to go to sleep but your brain won't let you, no matter how tired you feel.

finally giving up any chance of falling asleep soon in your bed, you let the screen of your phone blind you as you shoot a quick text to your boyfriend:

y/n : taro are you awake? i can’t sleep :( insomnia’s kicking my ass again

you collapse back onto your pillow, throwing your phone haphazardly to your side with a groan. almost immediately, your head pops back up again at the sound of a buzz, and you blindly reach for your phone, looking at its screen.

rin <3 : yeah i am

rin <3 : give me 10 min

you weren’t entirely sure what he had meant by that; if he was busy, and would reply again in 10 minutes or if he was coming over.

you hoped it was the latter, but you'd find out soon enough. in the meantime, you moved to your living room, curled up on your couch under a heavy blanket, dimly lit by the warm light of a nearby lamp as you watched the seconds go by on your phone.

you always slept better with him, whether he was holding you in his arms or he was just simply in the room with you, it felt nice to be in his presence. just the thought of him was slowly making your eyes start to droop before the sound of the door unlocking made you perk up.

there he was, gently swinging your door open, a white plastic bag in hand. his yellow eyes fell on you as you looked him up and down, obviously judging his poor taste in clothing (sweats and a t-shirt) despite it being the middle of winter.

“hi baby,” he whispers, kicking off his shoes before immediately making a beeline towards you. you were peeking out from over the arm of your couch, and he knelt on the floor at the side of the couch, chin propped against the arm of it where you were, leaning in towards your face. there was a smile on his own as he spoke, “don’t fall asleep now, i just got here.”

you can only sigh quietly in response, happy to finally see him. “can’t help it,” you mumble, “‘was thinking of you.”

his smile only grows at your words, and he presses a chaste kiss to your forehead, letting a hand run down the side of your face, caressing it carefully. “you’re cute when you’re tired, doll,” he teases as you lean into his touch, too tired to even respond. “at least let me take care of you before you fall asleep though, yeah? i went to the store for you after all.”

“you didn’t have to buy me anything,” you whisper, reaching an arm out to him, trying to get him to join you on the couch.

he grabs your hand, rubbing a thumb lovingly over the back of it, but doesn’t let you pull him down, “of course i’ll buy you things, y/n. i love you. can i make you something to eat?”

you hum in thought, thinking about if you really want to allow him to move you, but when he tugs gently at your arm, you get up (begrudgingly) bringing your blanket with you to the kitchen.

you rest your arms on the counter you’re sitting at, lazily watching his figure move through your kitchen, pulling items out of his bag. “what’re you doing?” you eventually question, eyeing his selection of groceries with confusion. the jug of milk you can understand, but not the jar of what you assume to be jam and a nut butter.

“‘making you toast,” he answers, rummaging through your drawers for a knife, “my sister used to have trouble sleeping sometimes too, and she’d always wake me up instead of our mom so i had to figure out what helped.”

“and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are supposed to help you fall asleep?” you ask, sitting up to rest your head on your hand as you watch him pull a plate from your cupboard.

the bread he dropped into your toaster pops back up as he corrects you, “almond butter. my sister hates peanut butter, and rightfully so. almonds are better.” he continues talking as he places the toasted bread on the plate he grabbed, “i had to google what kind of foods you should eat when you can’t sleep and it’s the first suggestion i saw. the almonds have something in them that gets converted to melatonin using the carbs from the bread and jam, or something like that.”

you nod along like you really care about whatever science he’s rambling about when really, all you can pay attention to is how nice his voice is. ever since he entered your apartment, you’ve realized how much he was all you needed to sleep. you’re slowly getting more attached to him and the longer you date him, the more sure you are that you love him, too.

he slips into the seat next to you, sliding the plate of toast over to you. you mumble a small thanks, biting into the sandwich before opting to lean against him, your head resting on his shoulder while the rest of your body is wrapped in the heavy blanket you brought from your couch.

you hum in satisfaction, deciding that maybe rintarou was right about whatever science is behind the contents of this sandwich, or maybe he just needs to research the effect he has on you. you’re sure just being in his presence is sending melatonin straight to your brain–or however he said that works. “rin,” you hum, eyes closed as you remain leaning against him.

“what is it, sweetheart?” he asks. one of his arms has moved to wrap around your back, holding you close while one of his fingers grazes the skin of your arm, drawing lazy circles onto it.

“will you stay the night, too?” you ask, taking another bite of the sandwich.

he can’t help but smile, watching you snuggle up against him, scooting your chair and plate closer to him, closing the gap between you two. “of course, love, if that’s what you want,” he whispers, pressing a kiss into your hair.

you nod in response to the statement, holding up your sandwich to his mouth for him to take a bite of. “you're good at making sandwiches, but i think all i need is you to fall asleep,” you mumble tiredly and he chuckles.

“if you fall asleep here, i’ll have to carry you to your bed, you know,” he warns, but you're already drifting in and out of sleep, the plate on the table in front of you both now empty, besides a few crumbs of bread.

“that’s okay,” you try to say, fighting a losing battle against the sleep that's slowly overtaking you. “you can do it,” your last words of encouragement make his heart twist before your head lolls slightly, and he knows you’ve knocked out.

taglist: @akaakeis @wyrcan @daisy-room @eggyrocks @cheriisae @alexithemiyatic @kameyyy @iiwaijime @chaotic-neutral-ig @bakery-anon @kakeru-eem

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shewolf-sinclair · 4 months

Text

I HATE when people dumb down Jason Todd “he’s impulsive/irrational/erratic/brash/dumb/the angry robin!”

WRONG

let me break it down for you fools because he’s actually like one of the most nuanced and complex characters to ever bless my presence (and he’s the best ((my fav)) robin argue with the wall) (tldr at the end but please read the post)

Starting out as robin they are ALL orphans. because that’s like bruce’s thing. BUT dick and tim had families before bruce adopted them. Jason did not. HE GREW UP ON THE STREETS. (+10 points for truama✨) which led him to grow up to be independent and resourceful. Bruce literally met him because he was trying to steal the bat mobiles tires with the intent of reverse engineering them to sell to the people of gotham because bullet proof tires in that kinda city would save lives source

As for being brash. Yeah. he is. he lacks people skills because HE GREW UP ON THE STREETS. yet he still knows how to sympathize with people and not be an ass ALL the time. he’s cocky sure but it’s a defensive mechanism after years of being treated like he doesn’t have value/having to prove himself. and damien is worse lets bsffr.

He’s impulsive. (likely adhd) Teenager. next question.

He’s the angriest robin! he only ever wants vengeance! WRONG. dick is angrier! he was so petty he left gotham and got a new identity just as a fuck you to bruce. any anger Jason has is not unmatched or outdone by other robins and he is rightfully angry he’s been dealt a crappy hand in life. he’s jealous of dick because bruce was ALWAYS comparing him and telling heroic stories of dicks feats. it’s hard not to push yourself to be as good as or better than the og and not to crack under said pressure.

He’s dumb! NOPE. he is as smart if not smarter than tim. He is BRILLIANT when he wants to be. (see above: resourceful) if you take titans (cw) as canon (why wouldn’t u its as canon as any other tv show??) he is a GENIUS. he taught himself chemistry so he could invent and mass produce drugs. he had a genius strategy to fuck with the titans; the puzzle of clues for which dick needed scarecrow, kory, gar, and conner to solve. Not to mention him finding doctor light earlier in the season. He leads the outlaws bc he is a natural leader and good at handling the details!!

He’s a villain! OKAY AND? SO WAS HARLEY BUT WE LUV HER !! DAMIEN WAS A TRAINED ASSASAIN! he puts so much effort into helping people (see above: resourceful) HE RISKED/LOST HIS LIFE FOR IT. HE IS FIERCELY LOYAL. even as red hood he obtains a strict moral code; no drugs to kids or by schools, don’t kill innocent uninvolved people(depends on which media you’re looking at). serve karma on a gold platter. unlawful but USUALLY NOT unethical. he also becomes a vigilante (and the JL for a bit) and does so much good! none of them are perfect ALL of the time. and considering the other DC villains, he’s not that evil.

strength?? no problem! he almost beat dick and bruce several times in the comics!! source

not to mention his proficiency for new things (see above: chemistry) his whole time as robin he uses bat tech. but redhood uses guns and knives. he just picked that up and was a skilled marksman immediately. (also truama response after nearly dying to death stroke)

so what hes kinda fucked in the head. aren’t they all? isn’t that… the point? it’s justified after everything he’s been through AND it makes hims a better character, more 3D more realistic and relatable.

also for the sake of this thesis partially disregard the wonderful work of art that is WFA it’s a fixit. for a reason. because the it was broken and needed fixing.

TLDR; you don’t have to like Jason Todd, or think he’s the best Robin, but you have to admit, he is a complex, layered, well written character. And stop mischaracterizing him and dumbing him down to this impulsive, angry, weak kid.

bonus: my Jason playlist

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leonskennedysfavoritewife · 9 months

Text

Sobriety - DILF! Leon Kennedy x female!Reader

Word Count: 4k PART 2

MINORS DNI! 18+

Warnings! Mentions of Alcoholism, Masturbation, Pillow Riding, Sex, Praise Kink, Age-Gap relationship, Depressive themes.

Others: No use of Y/N, After-Care, Leon being unable to take hints.

(Loosely based on a JAI bot by BBSUSHI)

Another night. Another bottle. Or two. Or more.

The same old routine for Leon Kennedy. Sure- he knew his liver would be fucked at some point. Though, he didn’t give a shit after everything. It was either die from excessive drinking or get killed by some mutated B.O.W. from hell- another frightening creature to add to his collection of nightmares.

Leon groaned- trying to not think about any of it- after all- that’s what the liquor was supposed to be doing. He was currently sprawled lazily on his chair, the TV playing some crappy rerun of a show he didn’t even watch- just had on for the background noise and company- until… there was a knock.

Who the fuck is bothering at this hour?

He had grumbled to himself, swaying as he stood up. It took everything in him not to crash into the glass coffee table or any other delicate furniture. He reached for his gun, tucked into a drawer of the entrance table. He squinted, blurred vision through the peephole, but couldn’t see straight enough to tell who it was.

His mind raced with thoughts. Maybe it was someone from Umbrella come to finally kill him- or maybe Claire and Chris wanting to drag him to another bullshit AA meeting. Or maybe a fellow agent coming to tell him he’s needed for one more grueling, back breaking mission.

He pushed any morbid thoughts aside- hand undoing the chain on the door and fumbling for the door in record time- swinging it open with the gun pressed to the other side just in case- which might be a terrible idea while plastered, but whatever.

“What the hell do you wan-“ he started, his voice catching in his throat. Stood in front of him was a young woman- probably young enough to be his daughter- if he had ever been able to have children. He lowered the gun from its place- storing it into the back of his sweatpant’s waistband for now.

The girl was pretty- no- more than just pretty, gorgeous even. He shook his head, mumbling what sounded like a possible drunken apology.

You, however, spoke up loud and clear-but equally apologetic in nature.

“I’m so sorry- I just moved in and I figured I’d go around introducing myself to my neighbors. I’m throwing a little moving-in-celebration tomorrow and wanted to invite everyone on this floor.”

Leon raised an eyebrow, scoffing.

“A celebration, huh? Look- don’t you know how dangerous it is inviting strangers into your home?...” he muttered- his tone rude from him being hammered and -too stubborn to apologize for the drunken outburst when he had answered the door moments ago. He would blame this on his raging migraine later.

You crossed your arms, a little defensive but able to tell whatever he had going on was letting his frustration take over. You were perceptive enough to know that much- along with the fragrant smell of whiskey emanating from him.

“Well- sure. If you’d like to be pessimistic, I guess. Either way.. you’re welcome to come. It’s apartment G7. Show up any time from five o’clock to around seven’ish.” You were swift to turn on your heel- leaving him without a retort. He bit his tongue, closing the door. Hard. It made him angry- of course he was pessimistic. Most people would be too if they dealt with half the shit that he had, but he decided he wouldn’t possibly expect some oblivious young person to know that.

He slumped back onto his chair, tossing the gun from his waistband aside and grumbling.

The next afternoon, he woke up in a sweaty pool as usual- night terrors along with the tossing and turning were to blame.

His mind came to- a drunken haze flooding into his consciousness from the night before. He was feeling his much nicer self now- regretting the encounter from last night. Your pretty face. Your invitation. Shit. He didn’t even know if he remembered what apartment number you had told him. Whatever- he could figure that out on his own.

Fucking idiot. He told himself, climbing from the sheets and uncoordinatedly walking to the bathroom- disoriented. Once inside, he planted his hands on the edge of the sink for support- looking in the mirror.

Crows feet. Laugh lines. A few grey strands in his brown hair- which was once a shimmering blonde…

He started to wonder when the fuck he began looking like this- and why the hell you would still be nice to someone as old and grumpy as him- even after he decided to be an ass. Thinking about your face- beautiful and youthful… brought him back to his own for a moment.

Save it. No chick wants a middle aged alcoholic in their life. Not one that looks like.. this. Or has more baggage than an airport.

Either way- part of him wanted to not show up to your little rendezvous- but the other decided he would probably regret it more. He needed to get out of the house and stop ruining his reputation in the building. After all- people were tired of hearing his drunken stumbling in the apartment- and maintenance was tired of coming to fix holes in the wall- amongst other broken things. Hell, the only reason he hasn’t been fucked out of his lease is because of his job’s connections. But maybe- just maybe- showing up would salvage something.

Leon runs a calloused hand over his stubble, debating on whether or not he should shave.

What’s the point- I look fucking old either way.

He skips the maintenance- deciding he’ll get to it for a special occasion. Whether it’s an important, work-related meeting or a dinner at the White House.

After a lengthy shower- where he ran out his hot water from standing and sulking- he decided to skip the bottle today. The last thing he needed was to show up to this little ‘get together’ drunk and make a scene- being the unstable, quick-to-anger type of drunk.

Seeing as how it’s already 3 in the afternoon, Leon went ahead and dressed himself. Blue button down. Jeans. Leather jacket. Boots. Not much different from what he’d wear every day- but he put just a hint more effort into it today- given the spritz of cologne and freshly showered state. Eventually- it’s a little past five. Leon somehow remembered that you didn’t give a specific time- only a few hours of a frame. He stepped into the floor’s hallway, immediately hearing chatter and banter of all kinds from the left side of the hallway.

He sucked in a breath, making his way to where the commotion emanated, and firmly knocking on the door.

Why the fuck did I show up, I shouldn’t have-

The door swung open- your face quickly lighting up as you saw he had made it.

“Hey, neighbor. Glad you decided to show up.” You beamed, opening the door a little wider.

Jesus Christ, her smile. I can’t remember the last time anyone had that reaction to seeing me. Whatever- it’s only formality.

Leon wanted to smile back- but the insecurity returned- leaving him to give a half-assed smile, nodding, and stepping inside.

There were a good few other people inside- chatting and snacking on the few trays of food you had set out, surely enjoying themselves. Your apartment was nice, clean cut, yet already so lived in despite you having just moved in.

“Can I get you anything?” You asked- breaking him from his observations.

“Uh- yeah. Just some water.” He acknowledged you- his nerves kicking in from being around so many strangers at once.

You smiled again, making something stir in his chest. You went over to the small kitchen and grabbed a cold bottle of water from the fridge- the condensation sweating off in your palm. As you handed it to him- your fingers brushed- not going unnoticed by Leon.

Is she doing this shit on purpose or…- no, stop. This is normal human interaction. You haven’t been to a true social gathering in so long.

“Sooo… do you have a name? Or should I call you mister Pessimistic?” You teased- referring to what you had said the previous night. Before Leon could even say anything to defend himself- you put your hands up.

“I wanted to apologize, though. I don’t mean to make assumptions but it seems like something else had been bothering you- so I just wanted to clear that up. No hard feelings?” You gave a pressed, dimpled smile- extending your hand. Leon hesitantly took it with a protected, cautious look glazing his face- which slowly crept into a returned smile.

“Leon.” He finally answered.

You gave him your name, inviting him to come join you and the others in the living room. He looked around- recognizing a few faces- some of which had made noise complaints on him before.

Great.

He took a seat on your couch- his largeness taking up a good portion. He listened to the few conversations- sipping the water bottle and quenching his dehydration- mostly due to this being the first day in weeks he had gone without drinking for even a few hours.

Yippee. I can already feel the eyes on me.

In his mind, he already knew everyone that did know him, even a little, only saw him as an alcoholic that made too much noise and would be gone for weeks at a time with no explanation- which made him even more off putting to them. His nerves were eating away at him.

Then you sat next to him.

Now, his jitters were worse. Or somehow not there at all. He couldn’t tell, but despite you being a complete knock-out that made him a mess, he was comforted by your presence. You had invited him here and still treated him like a person- despite the way he acted towards you previously.

As you turned to say something to one of the other tenants and gave a laugh at something they said, you had shifted- your thigh brushing Leon’s clothed one. He held his water bottle with both hands- trying to distract himself from the spinning room right now.

“Leon?” You snapped him from his unnerved state- that same, damned smile on your face. Part of him wished you’d stop looking at him like that and hate him like everyone else. It was simpler that way. But no- it just couldn’t be that simple, could it?

He cleared his throat.

“Yeah?” He asked, focused on your face enough to seem like he hadn’t been both panicking and trying to suppress any other emotions- some of which he’d deal with later.

Holy shit, control yourself.

“I was just asking what kind of music you like.” You preened yourself for a moment- checking your hair with your hands and straightening out the front of your dress with your palms.

“Oh- uh. Rock.” He nodded- an answer you definitely expected.

“Cool. I figured.”

“Any particular reason, or…?” He trailed off- failing to realize he had a half smirk on his face.

“You’ll see.” You beamed, nonchalant.

“Okay- that’s not ominous at all.” He chuckled.

The rest of the party went by- Leon being dragged into conversations with fellow tenants and surprisingly- with your help- it salvaged some reputation. Or so he hoped.

After burning out his thin social meter- and most everyone else leaving due to their 9-5s- Leon called it quits too- lingering as long as possible.

You opened the door- gesturing for him out.

“I had a good time, Leon. Maybe come by again?” You invited. He was shocked that you actually enjoyed his company.

She’s just being polite. or maybe not. I’m bad at signals.

“Uh- sure. Thanks again for inviting me.” He muttered as he was caught off guard.

Leon shuffled back to his apartment- for once, disappointed to be home- yet relieved. His boots came off, being hastily kicked by the door before he headed to the bedroom, peeling his clothing off down to his boxers and climbing in.

8:14 pm his digital clock read.

A little early, but…

He released a shaky breath, his hand ghosting over his abs and down to his boxers- freeing his cock. The cool air only heightened how badly he needed to jerk off right now.

Fuck. He can’t remember the last time he had gotten this hard.

He grabbed some bedside lotion- stroking his cock slowly to start off. He told himself he was just horny and that it had been a while- that’s all. But it wasn’t true. You came into his mind- your eyes batting at him, the way your bare thigh brushed again his clothed one- yet somehow still arousing him. Holy fuck, he felt like a pervert. Though, thinking back about it now- he understood you were flirting. If he didn’t need to cum so bad, he’d have hit himself for not realizing. There were always other chances- anyways.

After eventually cumming all over his toned stomach- a surprising, pent up amount- he showered, shaved, and got back into bed- exhausted now that it was 9:30. Not drinking was a surprisingly good way to get to bed on time.

About two months went by- Leon’s busy schedule having him work in office at the D.S.O..

And no more deadly missions…yet. This workload consisted of him showing up late- coffee in hand and very rarely now- hungover. Chris got on his ass twice before giving it a temporary rest.

Though- the one good thing to happen was becoming friends with you- not exactly the most tight-knit but you both did spend some quality time together here and there- occasionally exchanging a phone call or a text. You even gifted him Rock CDs from time to time, being the reason you asked about his music taste. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t jam out to them on the way to work now.

The thing was.. you’re bubbly, full of energy. Young. Everything he was at one point. He loved seeing that in other people- giving him more of a reason to keep up his work- saving lives and giving others a chance at happiness and freedom. This was the first time he had seen this in a good light.

Leon had gotten home, throwing his keys and files onto the countertop. Right as he went to sit down- his phone buzzed loudly in his pocket, making him groan.

Please don’t be work, Please don’t be work. Please don’t be work.

It was you. He scrambled for the bright green button to answer you, putting the phone to his ear.

“Leon speaking.” He said flatly- trying to play cool.

“Heyyyy. You’re not busy are you?” You dragged the words, cautious not to weird him out. But if he was being honest with himself- there’s no way you could do that.

“Nope… why?” He asked, still not bothering to sit down yet.

“Well- I was wondering if you wanted to come over for a movie night or something..?” You sucked in a breath quietly- awaiting his answer.

Leon equally panicked- it being so long since a woman invited him to do anything- let alone showed him interest. He replied.

“Sure. Sounds good to me.”

Perfect. Not desperate.

You smiled.

“Cool. Just come over whenever. Door is unlocked.”

“Mhm.” He nervously mumbled, ending the call.

Yeah. Maybe he had panicked for a moment there. No worries, he still had to show up and screw up the rest before he could call it quits. After all, it was the first time you had invited him over to your place- at least for something this intimate anyways. He grabbed his keys again, heading out and to your apartment. He hated entering without permission- but he did have permission. So now he felt even more.. conflicted. He gripped the handle, letting himself in and closing the door. You were on the couch, remote in hand with a bowl of popcorn on the table- two glasses of whiskey poured.

Fuck me.

A pretty girl and alcohol would not mix well with Leon. What so fucking ever. He put his hand up in gesture.

“Hey- so what amazing movie did you have in mind?” He asked- avoiding the topic of alcohol being present.

“Hmm… how about you help me pick?” You hummed- Leon standing awkwardly. He was too lost looking you over. Your tanktop. Your shorts. Your exposed legs, the tops of your breasts framed by the tank tops hem.

Stop it.

Again, this has to be on purpose.

No- she probably thinks you’re a creepy old fuck.

Wait- then why would she invite me over?

“You can sit down- you know? I know you like whiskey- so I figured maybe you’d want some to unwind. After all- I did interrupt your relaxation time.” You knew what time he got off of work- feeling slight guilt but also wanting to be around him.

“Right-“ Leon nodded as he sat in the comfy, plush chair adjacent to the couch- leaning forward to grab the whiskey in his hand- the glass material cool against his palm. As he took a sip- his eyes momentarily fixed on you while you had joined in on tending to your own glass.

“Didn’t know young people enjoyed whiskey. Just thought that was something old farts like me drank.” He chuckled.

A smile crawled onto your lips- the tipsy-ness entering your system already.

“Uh… I don’t. Just thought it was a nice gesture.” You said playfully- hinting that this was solely for him. Your face was tinged with a very subtle pink, your own body loose and not in sync with your brain as the alcohol slowly crept into your veins.

“Woah- don’t go getting plastered now. That’s my job.” He joked- his usual, non-depressed demeanor was showing through more and more. Though- he, for some reason, felt fucking nervous.

Leon could barely feel his own buzz- the more recent lack of raging alcoholism letting his tolerance lower back down. Which was a downside right now.

The two of you had agreed on some more-than-likely shitty horror movie, you getting up to turn off the lights and sitting back in your spot. You both laughed, talking about the poorly done effects amongst other things. Leon was safe- you were sitting far away. Surely it would all be fine.

Then a scene came on. Sexual, of course. Some girl on top of a guy, their naked bodies sweaty as she rode him. Leon- naturally didn’t think of anything but how awkward it was to watch this with someone else- but you however, decided to speak, the alcohol clearly breaking a barrier here.

“You know- I never understood how girls did that.”

His eyebrow raised and his eyes shot over to you.

“Uh, forgive me… but do what, exactly?”

You giggled- the sound reverberating in Leon’s eardrums and his chest, making him want to lose composure.

“You know- ride dick or whatever.” You again giggled- moving to straddle your pricey throw pillow. You weren’t drunk- but definitely letting loose…

Oh fuck. Is all his brain could muster as his fingers tightened on his glass.

No fucking way.

You shifted your hips- more awkward with an audience watching.

“Okay- would you say… like this?” You asked- your voice sprinkled with confidence and nervousness at the same time.

Leon leaned forward, setting his glass down.

Jesus Christ. Okay.

“I- uh… are you asking for pointers?” He chuckled- not wanting to be creepy- but mostly showing restraint because god knows he didn’t need to feel even hornier than he did right now.

Is this how young women flirt or am I seeing into this too much?

“Yes.” You said, dragging out the e- as if to sound like it was obvious that you did indeed want pointers.

Before he did anything else- Leon picked the glass back up- downing the rest of his whiskey quickly and setting it on the coffee table again. He’d regret chugging it later- he was sure.

He stood, walking a little closer to the couch.

“I- uh… how exactly do you want me to give you tips here?” He asked, letting out that low chuckle again.

You chortled- shaking your head.

“Hands, words, whatever you feel like.” You said, boldly but with a hint of something else. He just couldn’t tell what, yet.

“Okay…got it. What are friends for, after all…” he muttered- sinking to his knees by the couch- his hands reaching out to rest on the small of your back and the other on your stomach.

“First things first- relax. You're a little stiff and nervous.”

Not exactly that easy with a dilf having his hands on you- but sure. You thought sarcastically. But still- you tried to loosen up.

“Here- rock slowly- and try using your knees for most of the work. Like lifting yourself and lowering- you know?”

God- fucking kill me now. He couldn’t even function- his words probably not making sense with how hard his dick is right now.

“And arch your back a little.” He continued- sucking in a breath. You bit your lip- wanting to just pounce on him already- but you held back. It was nearly impossible with the words he was saying.

Leon watched your movements- knowing this wouldn’t end at a simple, weirdly sexual and ‘friendly’ lesson. No.

“Christ- maybe… you wanna help me practice?” You mutter- hair in your face.

“Isn’t that what we’re doing already?” He asked- the whiskey and horniness clouding his cognitive function.

“No-“ you laugh, shifting to sit up straight.

“I mean on you.”

He was dumbfounded for a moment- like characters in a cartoon when they get smacked with a frying pan. He could swear his head might have spun, too.

“I-…” he started, before you interrupted.

“No- I’m so sorry. You probably think I’m being weird and tipsy- coming onto you like this.

Leon shook his head- his bangs brushing across his face for a moment.

“That’s not it at all- I’ve just been holding back. I’m old. And don’t want you to think I’m some pervert.” He finally manages- spilling his vulnerability across the room. To you- it explains why he’s downplayed your subtle advances for the last few months.

You smile- shifting off of the pillow now.

“I find your age sexy.”

“Yeah- but the gray hairs, the wrinkles, the-“

You stop him, a firm ‘Nuh, uh.’

“Again- all of it’s attractive.”

Leon wastes no time getting up off his knees- kicking his boots aside and settling onto the couch. He pats his lap- gliding a hand over his clothed thigh. You grin- settling into his lap- and Christ, you can feel his cock harder than diamond through his jeans.

“All for you..” he mumbles- tracing his hands along your waist. You lean in slow, your lips touching and alcohol scented breaths mixing. All he can think about now is how soft your lips are- and the way you taste. Yeah, he’s fucking hooked.

And now- here he was- underneath you as you rode his dick- rolling your hips perfectly and alternating between lifting yourself while he groaned underneath you. His hands squeezed at the soft flesh of your ass- guiding you lightly. And to your surprise- unlike his normal self- he was quite verbal.

“God, baby- you’re a quick learner. Just like that.” He huffed, his head lulling back in pleasure for a moment- your hips coming down hard and his cock filling you to the hilt once more.

“Yes- bounce yourself- f-fuck. You’re doing amazing- I knew you had it in you.” He spews encouragements and obscenities- definitely boosting your ego and filling your metaphorical praise kink meter.

But you do exactly as he says- continuing to bounce yourself on his cock oh-so-fucking perfect. The view for him is everything- watching your cunt swallow him every time you move down, and your tits bouncing in his face- hell- a view this good made him want to put down alcohol forever just for another chance. Then again- a little drinking is how you both got here.

“Fuck..” you whine as one of his free hands moves to place a thumb over your clit, rubbing in languid circles.

“You like that, huh? Tell me how I can- fuck- make it even better for you- baby.”

You shake your head no- unable to form a sentence with the combination of pleasure running through your body- and your focus on riding him. Everything was perfect already, and him calling you baby certainly didn’t help your concentration- ripping your orgasm through you.

Leon nearly lost his personal composure- the way you tightened around him like a vice- threatening to take everything from him. This didn’t stop him however- he continued with even more fervor- one hand on your hip and the other on the arm of the couch as he bucked up to meet your movements- giving a bit of relief to your tired legs. He could feel you having trouble, so he decided to take the weight off your shoulders completely.

His arms effortlessly lifted you while he was still inside- moving to put your back against the soft couch while he hoisted your legs over his shoulders for a deep angle. Those rough hands held onto the backs of your thighs, and he slowly slid himself out- gauging your reaction.

“You want it like this?” He asked lowly, you responded eagerly almost right away.

“Yes- god yes.” Was all he needed before slamming back into you. And out. And in again. You could barely see his smug face through the stars you were seeing- which quickly subsided when you pulled his head down to kiss on his stubble- trailing your lips down his strong jawline and prickled neck while your moans reverberated against his skin. With how much you seem to enjoy his stubble- he’s glad he stopped shaving so often.

The whole experience, really- was something he hadn’t had in fucking years. Maybe 10 or more- he lost count. He was just glad he still had this sexual stamina in him- and maybe the gym and recent lack of drinking helped. Who knows?

He was completely lost in the feeling of your pussy clenched around him and your lips on his neck that he swore he was hit in the head when you suddenly told him you wanted him to cum in you.

“F-fuck, baby. That’s a big ask.” He groaned- the words from your mouth alone making him almost bust right there.

“Birth control.” You muttered against his skin, unable to say much else through the moaning since he was pounding into you.

“God- okay. You’re not making this easy.”

Leon sucked in a breath- moving his hands off your thighs and pushing your legs gently off his shoulders- now pressing his chest to yours and wrapping his arms around you- a close and rather intimate position but not unwelcome.

He grunted- muttering into your ear now as he fucked into you, the squelching and skin slapping almost defeaning.

“If you want me to cum in you- I think I need to hear a please, don’t you?” He said the words smug- knowing you were in no state to really talk- but the word left your mouth faster than he could have slammed back into you.

Leon groaned against your ear- your plea somehow managing to turn him on even more before he gave one good, last thrust into you- his hips tightening as he came inside. His hold on you was tight- yet affectionate- despite neither of you having previous romance. After all- sex was a big deal with Leon and he wouldn’t have granted you this had he not been slightly (okay maybe very much) head over heels for you.

After a few moments of cuddling- Leon prompted you to get up to go pee by patting you gently on the back- helping your wobbly-legged self to the bathroom before giving you privacy- as if he didn’t just rearrange your guts to infinity and back again.

You expected him to have left after- as any guy would- but he was still here. He took it upon himself to straighten up your couch cushions and anything else that had been out of place from your shared lovemaking.

“You didn’t have to do all of that- you know?” You teased, coming out of the bathroom in an oversized shirt and underwear- comfortable.

“Well, it’s no bother to me. It should be a given, yeah?” He turned to you- only in his jeans as he buckled his belt- seemingly searching for his shirt. Though- you secretly wished he’d never have to wear one again.

You walked a little closer to where he was standing by the couch, a little hesitant to ask your next question.

“Would you… maybe want to stay over?”

#leon kennedy x y/n #leon kennedy #dilf! leon kennedy #leon kennedy death island #leon kennedy x reader smut #leon scott kennedy #leon s kennedy #leon x reader #leon x reader smut #resident evil #resident evil death island

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seancekitsch · 1 year

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Hi if you're open to requests: could you do an Adrian x fem reader with the premise of them having known eachother in highschool and sticking together as ostracized weirdos. Reader leaves evergreen after graduating HS and comes back 10 years later and runs into Adrian. I love your writing and how you characterize Adrian!!

hi hi hi i hope you enjoy this it got away from me and now its a full blown fic

A Homecoming

warnings: best friends to strangers to lovers, gut chase is his own warning, maybe ooc, angry drunk sex, bad speeches, love confessions, angry fluff if that makes sense, happy ending even tho both idiots are in their bag down bad

“How the fuck did Laura meet Gut Chase of all people?” you whisper to yourself as you pick out produce to stock the fridge of your Airbnb. It's a crappy one bedroom house on what was once the nicer side of town, the side with lovely little suburbs away from all of the apartments and trailer parks that people turned their nose up at. You remember those noses turned up at you for your lovely little apartment that you called a childhood home. Now it feels freaky to be on the other side, in a rancher in a suburb with cute little pinterest craft-esque decor on the walls and a Friends reference as the wi-fi password. Fucking yuck.

You never expected to be back in Evergreen after high school, especially not for a wedding. You flew across the country for college to basically avoid this very situation, but here you are. Your college roommate who got a job in Seattle bringing you back to your home town to marry easily the biggest douche from your high school. Your invitation to the fifteen year reunion came in the mail and was thrown directly into the trash several months ago muttering about how they even fucking found your newest address, and then the fuckin save the date from Laura came behind it. You’d known Laura was dating some gym trainer, you knew she said he was from a small town. She’s always been one to fall fast and hard, and you can count on more fingers than you've got the amount of times through college and grad school she had cried over a failed date with “the one” before getting back in the proverbial saddle.

You fondle an onion and think about the last time you saw Gut Chase. It was… the morning after your graduation. The morning you left for Gotham. He was sat at the breakfast bar of their house sipping coffee and raising an eyebrow at you trying to sneak out of his house for once instead of into it.

Now having taken that trip for the first time in reverse, your long taxi ride from the airport to the airbnb felt like a death march. You’d left behind so much and burned any bridges that could have been left here.

June 2008

“The guys are never going to believe this.”

“Dude, you’re not telling any guys about this,” you laugh, wrapping yourself around Adrian’s torso, the lean muscle taught under his skin as he laughs with you. You weight dips and moves on the trampoline below you, the stupid double wide sleeping bag doing nothing for your back, especially after you’ve been standing in heels all day and sweating in your graduation cap and gown.

“But then I can finally tell Gut and Chris it’s just that I’m a late bloomer! And if I don’t tell them it was you they won’t believe me!” Adrian exclaims, not at all worried by the open windows of his own house or the other backyards that the dawn is going to slowly creep over. You roll your eyes, your best friend always consumed with impressing his older brother and his friends.

“That's not a thing. Isn’t it enough that we had this?” you ask, you cheek pressing into his bare chest. His legs tangle in the early summer heat under the cheap sleeping bag.

“No!” He exclaims, laughing like you should be in on it too, but you don’t laugh with him. Your virginity was never important to you, it’s just that everyone else in Evergreen sucks. He’s the only one that you would have deemed worthy anyway.

You figured: You leave for college tomorrow, he’s the best person you know, and he’s hot even if he doesn’t know it. You’re both virgins- or- you were until you dragged him out into the backyard around two in the morning after passing back and forth a bottle of peach schnapps that he had been arguing about with you all night until he figured out it tasted like candy; the party his older brother hosting in yours and Adrian’s name very quickly became not about you and about him and his friends who had graduated a few years prior.

Tomorrow you’ll be a month away from being eighteen and across the country by yourself and you haven’t told anyone but your mother, but it hasn’t quite hit you yet. It can’t when a sticky condom was thrown across the yard twenty minutes ago, and That’s Not My Name by the Ting Tings is bass boosted and floating in the air from the house, and Adrian Chase just gave you your first orgasm.

“Maybe it is,” he admits, his voice now heavy with sleep. You don’t know when he falls asleep, but you leave before he wakes.

Your hand shakes at self check out, wondering if Adrian and his brother patched things up enough to be a groomsman. Laura made you a bridesmaid over FaceTime, talking your ear off about how much Dorian wasn’t her normal type but when you know you know, you know? And even then it never struck you to remember that Gut’s real name is Dorian. Maybe you’d be paired up, and maybe Adrian had changed enough in this span of time to forgive you and look you in the eye. You don’t count on it, honestly, you expect him to throw a fit the second he sees you. You don’t blame him for that hypothetical reaction either. It’s been over a decade with two degrees six terrible boyfriends and only one friend who ever came close to how special Adrian was for you. And now she’s marrying Adrian’s dickhead brother.

Its only a few minutes after you load the dirty old fridge of your airbnb (definitely only getting three stars, the place is sketch) that you phone rings, Laura’s contact illuminating the dull lighting of the kitchen. You put her on facetime while you load the pantry.

“BITCH!” she screams, her smile illuminating a dim screen as her voice cuts through all of the loud background noise, “Where are you?”

You laugh, tossing the veggie chips into the back of the pantry.

“Where am I?” you scoff, “I’m at my Airbnb, I was about to throw on a bad movie and drink some wine. Where are you, Miss Bride?”

She puts the phone up close to her face, only her eye showing as she fake whispers into the mic.

“I’m at Hooters,” she confides like its the funniest secret.

“Oh, with Mr. Groom?” you ask, teasing her as you reach for the bottle and the corkscrew, one of the few amenities left to you in the drawers.

“With tha whooooole wedding party,” she draws out the words without taking the phone away from her eye.

“You had their LIT’s, didn't you?” you ask, narrowing your eyes at her.

“And I just bought one for you,” she confirms, “So you better get an uber or I’m going to switch out your bridesmaid dress for an Aquaman costume.”

“You slut!” you shout, swiping up on her call to obey her and pull up uber, “You wouldn't. Aquaman is such a chump.”

“So get over here!” she laughs, and it's infectious. God, you've missed Laura. Sure, you facetime twice a week, but she lived with you for six years and it's like losing a hand to lose her being just a few layers of drywall away at all times.

“I am, I am! Its ordered,” you assure her, and a comfortable silence settles, she sips her drink, her hand clawlike to hold both hers and yours so she can hold her phone in the other.

“You know he fucks the fish, right?” you ask.

“You're the second person to say that tonight!”

The uber to Hooters is quick, thank god. The bright lights feeling harsh on your skin and you really wish Laura hadn't threatened you with the costume. It’s manipulation at its finest. You had the most recent kissing booth movie right there ready to be made fun of over your coffee mug full of wine. But no, you have to stand around in a Hooters in your hometown. Youre flooded with relief, however, when you walk past the hostess stand and clock that theres a touchtunes machine in the corner so you can at least entertain yourself with awful song choices. You know who would love hearing the Monster Mash followed by Call Me Maybe? You and Laura. Especially after she tries to pour that LIT down your throat the moment she sees you.

“There she is!” Laura shouts, helping you tilt back the glass immediately. It's just like college again, your days back in Gotham where you’d wander away from the college bars and see how much liquor you could get for your money.

“Mm, holy shit,” you cry out, barely able to down the drink in one go, “That's how you snagged your groom?”

She crinkles her nose at you,her blonde hair falling in her face as she leans in close.

“He happened to like my squat thrust, I know I have to work harder than that to win you over,” she quips, and you rub your nose with hers before pushing yourself out of her arms reach.

“Now where is he? Who are these bridesmaids I’m sharing my spotlight with?” you ask, letting her lead you further in towards the bar.

Gut Chase himself meets you halfway across the restaurant.

“Y/N!” He shouts, “You’re kidding me! I thought Laura-girl was joking when she said she knew you.”

“Gut!” you shout back, surprising yourself that you're actually sort of happy to see the familiar face. He pulls you under his bicep quickly, ruffling your hair as if you were his little sibling.

“She was so weird after she got kicked off the cheer squad,” he explains to his fiancee, “She spent all her time in my basement with my little brother! This one lived with us.”

“Oh, Adrian?” she asks hesitantly trying to remember his brother's name , and something weird twinges in your chest.

“Yeah,” you manage to get out, your voice and your breath practically leaving you.

Is he here? Does he hate you? Does he miss you? The first few years without him were tough, you would turn to tell him something or think of something funny you had to say and it all just had to float into the wind, forgotten. Then Laura sort of filled that gap. Then your D&D group. But the Adrian sized hole can only be squeezed into, never full filled, never a perfect fit.

“Yo, Adrian!” Gut calls out before you can stop him, “Get your ass over here!”

Gut releases his grip on you and a man across the bar looks up from his phone.

And it's like time slows down, and as he slides off the barstool “Foxy” by Jimi Hendrix floods the air like that scene in Wayne's World. Its like he moves in slow motion, his sweater doing nothing to obscure his physique and muscles, his glasses doing nothing to hide those beautiful eyes of his. He's changed so much, but not at all, just filled out what was already there. You're not sure if it's the LIT or the sight of him that's making your knees feel like they’re buckling.

“Why is she here?” Adrian asks his brother, his posture straight and tone unreadable, and Gut gives him a warning look. You almost pity Laura that you didn't brief her on on your intimate knowledge of the family she was marrying into.

“Bro…” Gut warns him, less than subtle. You've seen this before, but in high school, Gut would have just hit Adrian already or called him a pussy.

“Hey, uh, Gut? Sorry, Dorian?” he turns his attention to you as you correct yourself, “Why don't you take my dear Laura for another LIT? I could use another one too.”

Laura looks at you like you've got three heads for commanding the situation, but gladly lets her fiance lead her back over to order another, whispering to you that she’ll bring yours on Gut’s tab.

Adrian stares at you, looking you up and down, sizing you up… not sexually, maybe… maybe? Wouldn't be the worst thing, he’s always been handsome to you, but he's really filled out.

“Why are you here?” he asks you directly, his knuckles turning white around his beer.

“I….,” words fail you for a moment, breath hitching in your throat as a million things want to spill from your lips.

I’m sorry, I’ve always regretted leaving you, I wanted you to come with me, I wish I took you with me, I compared even the stupidest tinder date to you, I want to make you laugh, I loved you since I was a kid, Even Laura doesn’t get me like you do.

But you don’t say any of that. You can’t.

“I’m here for the wedding,” you say, holding it all back even though you could collapse into his arms at any moment.

“Me too,” He says, “Only I’ve been here and who knows where you were.”

Okay; you deserve that snark from him.

“I know. I’m sorry I didn’t call.”

An understatement of the century but it’ll do for now. If you say too much, you’ll cry. You cannot cry in a Hooters.

“Or say goodbye?”

“I know, I’m sorry for that too. I’m sorry for everything.”

Adrian’s arms fall around you, the cold heel of the bottle of the glass digging between your shoulder blades as you lean into the hug against him. It feels like home being in his arms again, only now the arms are filled out with muscle and he

“I’m sorry too,” Adrian offers, but there's no real emotion behind it. You can tell he doesn't really mean it; an empty thing to say just because he thinks he should, but that doesn't bother you.

“There's nothing to be sorry for, “ you console him genuinely, your hand rubbing up against his henley covered bicep.

“I know, I’m just saying that. I’m not the one who abandoned my best friend. Now I have a new best friend!”

You pull back, not at all upset because you expect that too, and at this moment Laura comes back with your LIT.

“For courage,” she whispers not at all subtly in your ear before kissing your cheek and running back to her fiance.

“Why do you need courage?” Adrian asks, not pretending he didn't hear that.

“Cause I never should have left… and you look really good.”

It's definitive, it's out there. You can't and you won't take it back for anything. It's the truth. You love Laura and the fact that you met her but you absolutely should not have left Adrian to do it.

You take the straw to your mouth and suck, not pulling away from Adrian, instead your hand still around his back clawing into his sweater to keep him there.

“You look really good too! Pretty, because women don't like being called hot.”

You dont know where he got that from, but you accept the compliment nonetheless.

“You know, I was really mad at you for like a year, but then I just got over it, I figured you were trying to teach me some weird lesson about missed opportunities or acting out part of some romantic comedy but then you didn't come back and… I’ll shut up now,” he says, misreading your attention on him as a bad thing.

“I wanted to call you back,” you admit, “But how do I call you and say: Hey, I’m in Gotham now! Even though we were supposed to get dinner tonight I guess I wont be making those plans. I didnt know what to do.”

“I could have come with you!”

You both know thats a fucking lie.

“I’m glad I got to see you,” you offer, the words so bittersweet on your tongue. His eyes search your face, and you realize then you probably should have re-applied some make up. Its set into your face from the flight this morning and all of the errands you've run. You probably look like some kind of victim.

"Me too, because honesty I've thought about that night a lot. I've tried to rank where it falls between all the threesomes I've had."

Weird flex, but, okay.

"I do too," you admit as you grab the straw for another sip, "not the threesomes thing, but I think about it... about you."

Something about Adrian's gaze has you open and honest, moreso than you would normally be with a man. But then again, Adrian isn't just some man...

“Finish that,” he tells you, his eyes zeroed in to where your lips and the straw connect. You obey, drinking what you can before putting the glass down on the nearest empty table.

“Adrian I-” You get cut off by his lips capturing yours; Adrian kisses you with a passion you haven’t felt in fucking years, the passion of someone who actually cared. Sure, you've had boyfriends and girlfriends, but none have kissed you like this.

Instead of hot and bothered you feel cold… and wet.

“Adrian, what the fuck-?” you whisper when you can break away, something dripping down your leg. His beer spilling as he tilts the bottle carelessly to grip you better. You break away from him to shake the beer off of your jeans, a puddle forming on the ground. He scrambles to right the turned bottle and place it on the same table as your LIT.

“I have no idea what I’m doing, I’m not good at understanding people,” he admits to you as if you didnt spend all of high school attached at the hip, and this time you kiss him, your hands coming up to cup his clean-shaven jawline.

The next thing you know, you're back at your airbnb, having Irish goodbye’d to Laura and Gut and without meeting or talking to the rest of the wedding party. Youre being a bad friend and a bad bridesmaid and you know it. You hadn’t had the chance to ask Adrian why Gut was so friendly to him, though Laura might have a hand in that. You hadn’t had the chance to ask where he worked, what he liked to do, who Adrian now was really.

Adrian’s mouth barely leaves yours the second the door is closed, instead backing you quickly into what he correctly guessed is the bedroom of the house. His reflexes are sharp, unlike the awkward teen he was, and he knows how to perfectly steer you to your bed for the next week.

You walk backwards awkwardly until your calves meet the boxspring unceremoniously. He tilts you back until you fall on your own, your elbows catching you as he follows suit and crawls on top of your figure. You don't know where the confidence comes from, but then again it had fifteen years to form in him. Adrian pulls off your shoes and your pants quickly as he moves up the bed, not even trying to hide his prowess, moving like some kind of well trained machine. He’s come to impress even though he's done more than that by simply not snubbing you or telling you off in the middle of a Hooters, although both would have been deserved.

But you; You feel like you're back out on that trampoline again, your graduation dress pushed up around your waist, all too bare under him. No time has passed, it’s all so familiar -

“I should hate you” he states, his lips hovering over your navel, “But it's weird, I don't! In fact, I feel like I should be thanking you. If hadn't left and rejected me so hard I wouldn't have gotten so buff and good looking.”

“You should hate me,” you agree, your breath and your words feeling lost in your chest under the weight of him on top of you. His lips travel from your navel to your ribcage, pushing your shirt up as he goes, leaving a trail of fire in their path. You arch your back into his motions, your hands helping him pull the shirt off, awkwardly shuffling until you can fling it to some random corner of the room. Adrian’s eyes widen when he sees your bralette, mesh and flimsy and hiding nothing from him.

He pulls one of the dark blue mesh cups down, immediately latching his lips around your pert nipple, sucking and earning a sharp inhale of breath from you. He chuckles against your skin at your reaction to him, and then does it again. Cocky asshole. You can't help but compare this to the trampoline. He was so unsure, fumbling and almost tearful at the fear of fucking something up. You led the way, urged him on. Adrian now needs no urging, no guidance in making you squirm beneath him. His lips release your nipple, and he bites down at the top of the swell of your breast, sure to leave a mark. Youll have to remember to put a spoon in the freezer tomorrow morning or else you could end up with a wardrobe malfunction for the wedding. Cocky bastard, you think, leaving his mark on you.

But really, he’d left so many marks on you that still havent faded. Its the way your ringtone from high school never changed, its the way you bought only the brands of locks Adrian said were best for each apartment you've had, its the way you buy things in teal if theres the option. Your fucking spatula back home is one of his many marks.

“Ah!” you yelp when his bite gets a little too hard, your perfectly manicured fake nails digging into his back. Adrian laughs again and pulls himself up to reach your neck, his hands exploring everywhere they can, teasing at your chest, your waist, your hips.

“Fuck me,” you plead as his lips connect with the pulsepoint on your throat.

“Youre sure?” He asks, “You know, you shouldn’t fuck someone who should hate you. That's just asking for complications.”

And although he gives you an out, he’s already gone back to kissing and licking at your throat and groping at every curve of your body. You're thinking with your pussy, not your mind right now. You know there should be a conversation instead of whats happening right now. Maybe some tears shed, maybe a nostalgic movie and some honest explanations on your part.

But you don't initiate any of that.

“Then fuck me like you hate me,” you say instead.

Adrian grinds his jean clad length against your core, and you whine, girlish and high pitched and embarrassing. He shushes you, removing himself from your grasp to yank off his sweater and undershirt, then his jeans all discarded over the edge of the foot of the bed.

He moves to you, working your panties down your legs until you can kick them off the bed at your ankles, and sheds his boxers with them. His eyes follow the trail of your legs to your center, already dripping and ready for him.

“You really want that?” he asks, and it sounds rhetorical. You didnt know Adrian could do that. He traces his calloused hands up the insides of your thighs, letting his fingertips tease you where you need him most. You nod fervently, arching your back to try to reach him, bring him closer.

“Please?” you ask, wanton and pathetic under him. He draws his thumb between your folds, testing the metaphorical waters. He draws low, anticipation laced moans from your lips, teasing and slow.

And then without warning pushes two fingers into you.

Your gasp echoes against the cliches wall decor, rattling the glass of the live laugh love frame, shaking the flimsy bedframe.

He does not start slowly, no, he gives you no mercy in his motions, his smirk teasing and taunting you as he thrusts his hand.

“Adrian, I- Fuck!” you struggle to find the words, your hands moving to his forearms and digging your nails in, trying to hold on for dear life.

“This is what you wanted, right?” he asks. Fuck, you didn’t know Adrian could talk like this. And to think, you could have had this the whole time if you just stayed here.

“Yeah,” you whine, “Yeah, please.”

You're not sure what youre begging for. To cum? To feel him? You just want more.

“I’ll give you exactly what you want,” he leans down like he’s going to kiss you, and then instead nips at your lip before pulling back. Its cruel.

His fingers move in, out, in, out, inout, and then slow to a halt inside you. You squirm under him, needing him to do anything. Anything.

“I can feel you squeezing me,” he says, and you flush in embarrassment, neediness and heat settling in your chest.

“Adrian, I need you,” Your voice sounds far away, underwater, foreign to your ears. Who is this person? How and when did you ever get this needy, this desperate? His smile grows, but it does not give you any comfort.

Adrian removes his fingers from you, lifting them up to his nose to smell them.

“Like fucking candy,” he remarks, and pushes his boxers down, easily discarding them.

He leans back down, his weight on you once more. A weighted blanket, a comfort as his chest presses against yours. You kiss him, the way a smoker needs a cigarette, pulling and all consuming; your hands find purchase in his hair, your body fully reactive to every tiny movement of his lips against yours. His tongue sweeps across your lips, easily parting them the same way he easily parted your legs. He moves against you, rock hard in the crux of your thigh, his big hands holding your hips in place as he finds his way. Adrian probes along, pushing his hips in slow teasing motions until he finds his rightful spot at your center.

“I’m gonna make you hate me,” he whispers between kisses, and you brace yourself against him, foreheads touching and his glasses fogged.

He pushes into you with a groan, bottoming out and giving you the grace to adjust before he starts to move.

Adrian’s hips rock you, the whole bed, your whole world, your hands tighten around his curls as they pick up in pace, the rhythm of the bedframe banging against the bed punctuating each of his movements. He picks up his pace quickly, and you move in time easily, rolling your hips to meet his with each thrust.

“Fffffuck,” you stutter, losing control of your lips, your tongue, both moving of their own accord and saying shit. There’s a war in your brain, part of you wants to stay in control, wants to make sense of this; the other side wants everything Adrian to overtake everything you.

“I’m gonna make you hate me,” he repeats, switching up his angle to make your next moan a pitiful squeak in your throat.

“You,” you gasp again, “You said that.”

His hands roam the geography of your body, mapping each curve and dip of you, not missing a single centimeter. Everything he touches turns to flame, hot under him and hot under his touch, pushing you closer and closer to your boiling point.

You won't last long, you know that. Adrian moans above you, dragging his lips against the corner of yours as he moves, closer and closer.

And then he pulls out. You whine at the missing contact, the chill that sets in without his heat in your orbit. You pout, lips messy and swollen.

“Turn over,” he demands, moving his finger in a circle to demonstrate his intention. You obey quickly, pushing yourself onto your hands and knees. His hands land first on your ass, smacking both sides of your cheeks and whispering “hell yeah” in a tone you're definitely sure you weren't supposed to hear. His hands then slide from your ass to your hip, then to your back. He unclips your bra and lets the straps fall down your shoulders.

He bends down over you, letting his chest press into your bare back as he presses a kiss to the space where your neck and shoulder meet.

“Down, girl,” he says, as one of his big hands starts to push your shoulder down until you cave into his movements, folding into the bed until your face hits the pillow.

Fuck, all control of the situation you had, you’ve lost. The ground crumbling out from under you and Adrian can mold and manipulate you any way he wants to, and you want him to.

His free hand strokes down the curve of your back, and then leaves you, only to position himself back at your entrance.

“Oh, you look beautiful like this,” Adrian sighs, sounding strained. You've always trusted Adrian to be honest, and you can believe he means it, like he would worship you face down ass up.

He presses his length into you slowly, letting you feel every inch of him, a glacial pace until he’s fully sheathed.

Adrian wiggles his hips when theyre fully against your ass, and you huff in laughter, giggling into the pillow before he silences you with a rough thrust.

This new angle feels like the wind has been knocked out of you, but in a way that you want to feel over and over again, in a way that makes you feel breathless and alive. The next thrust and the one after that leave you gasping and struggling for air, the ones after it drawing high pitched whines into the silk of the pillowcases.

He pistons into you quickly after that, like a man with something to prove. He presses his full length into you each time, and each time hitting a spot inside you that has you feeling fuzzy and hot all over. His hand returns to your hip to guide his motions and yours.

You chase your high, rocking back into his thrusts and meeting each of them half way. Your moans are swallowed in the silk, wrapped and buried down deep into the mattress, rooted in him and the moment.

“How am I doing?” he asks, and sensuality gone from his voice, but thats just Adrian.

You moan in response, his fingers digging into your skin, sure to leave crescent moons in your skin that would last far into the morning.

“Close,” you manage to squeak out, your voice barely audible, but Adrian picks up on what you're trying to say.

“Yeah? You wanna come on my dick?” he asks, but doesn’t give you a choice otherwise. Adrian moves his hand from gripping your hip to between your legs. His fingers circle your clit, just the right amount of pressure to make it feel like you're about to snap.

“Please,” you whine, arching your back further into the friction.

“Let go, baby, let go,” he coaxes you, his lips against your spine and you finally give in to him.

He slows and kisses your shoulder while you ride your high, whispering praise against your skin as you shudder beneath him, his whole frame bent over yours. His hand leaves your clit and both come up to hug around your waist, anchoring you to him and the world and bringing you back down. All you can think of is that you could have had this the whole time. Fifteen years of this.

But then he returns to his former position, the hand on your shoulder returning there as he picks up the pace again. It stings when he starts to move, but not terribly. A soothing burn that you find yourself rocking back into without a second thought.

“Where can I?” He asks through gritted teeth, lifting his hand off of your shoulder so you can lift your head up.

“Inside,” you answer, voice still muffled by the pillow, "I'll get plan b, there's always a coupon for that shit."

“Got it,” he confirms, and then speeds up his pace again. This time his hips are messy, without rhythm as his body meets yours, his voice uncontrolled as me moans without restraint.

Even overstimulated and tired, you rock back in time to meet him, moaning each time his hip bones meet your ass.

“Fuck, fuck, I’m gonna-” he stutters, and pulls back unceremoniously, heat streaming and filling you only seconds later. You shift slowly, trying to get your knees out from under you.

Adrian stops you though, one of his hands a soothing comfort on your hip to guide you to a comfier position as his other hand dabs a tissue from the bedside on your back.

He cleans you off remarkably gently, moving over you to throw himself down on the blankets beside you, his head hitting the empty second pillow. Your back feels sticky and cold, but you don't mind at all. You turn your head so at least one one your eyes can peek out at him from where you lay spent and tired, a mess of sweat and spit and butterflies in your stomach. He lays in a similar state, breathing deeply with a lazy smile across his features.

It feels right.

“Stay and cuddle?” you ask, voice wary from use and the need for sleep. You feebly move your hand toward him, reaching out to straighten his glasses.

“Sure,” he says, “But I won't be here when you wake up.”

He puts his big arm across your back, and where you should feel the familiar warmth you only feel ice.

“Really?” you ask, but fuck, thats a mistake. You shouldn't say anything. It's an instant realization you don't want to hear anything he’s about to say.

“It’s what we do, right?” Adrian says it like it’s a joke, but there’s venom in his words. It drips through, from his teeth to yours, and sinks in.

He pulls you close, his actions not matching his words, and snuggles in, his hot breath fanning out against your face. His eyes close and he lets his body relax quickly. You try to do the same, but you end up staring at the ceiling fan, trying to think of any reason why Adrian would actually stay. You don't know when you fall asleep, but it's long after he does.

True to his word, he’s not in the airbnb when you wake up. Just cold sheets and an empty glass of water and a half eaten green apple on your counter. That's all to signify he was even here, that you and your best friend had a sleepover after fifteen years. No real evidence, no trophy, not even his phone number, not even a cup left in the sink for you to clean when you do the dishes. Even the marks of his nails are fading away into nothing.

You deserve that, you think, all of Adrian’s talk of hate fucking of course wasnt a joke. When had he ever not said what he meant? He’d always told you what was on his mind, no filter and often TMI. But that doesnt stop the tears that fall, the streaking of last night's mascara down your cheekbones and the messy foundation you didn't take off.

True to your words last night as well, before you even brush your teeth you order a plan b kit from Doordash. Now you wait, and wallow.

It comes quickly, you take it, you feel no different.

You lay on the couch, the bed feeling weird and wrong now that it's been used and abandoned by Adrian. It's definitely going to be a long week, you think, and you debate trying to contact the airbnb host to see if you can check out early. Maybe you can take a rental car up to that town they shot Twin Peaks in and stay at the hotel or something.

This was a mistake. All of it. You shouldn't have let Adrian kiss you, you shouldn't have kissed him. You shouldn't have wanted him. You shouldn't still want him.

Your phone rings. Laura.

“Holy shit,” she sighs, her voice shaking, “Can I ask you the biggest favor?”

You have nothing to lose at this point, besides your comfort in the stilettos she has you wearing for the bridal party.

“Yeah, whats up?”

“I need,” her voice breaks, and you can tell it's serious.

“Whoa, what do you need? I’ll drop everything,” you interrupt and reassure her, and it's not like you had anything scheduled but self pity until the rehearsal tonight and the dinner at Fennel Fields afterwards. Laura’s not someone you've ever liked to hear or see cry, because she never does so unless she has a good reason.

“Gina’s plane got delayed,” she explains, “You remember Gina?”

You remember Gina well, Laura’s best friend since diapers, your Adrian basically. She was the maid of honor and you were basically second in command to her.

“Babe, I know Geen,” You remind her. Gina gave you your first pot brownie.

“Well her plane got delayed and she's stuck in Metropolis on her layover until the morning of the wedding and then she still might miss hair and make up but she's not here for the rehearsal dinner speech and I don't know what to do,” Laura sucks in a desperate breath, “I don't want to cancel the dinner speeches I know Dorian's best man had a plan.”

“You don't have to,” you tell her, “You made me second in command.”

“I know, I need you to write a speech if you can.”

At this point you can tell Laura is crying on the other end of the line.

“It's done. Don't worry your sexy little face about it,” you comfort her, not really thinking about what you're signing yourself up for but your undying loyalty to her taking over the rational thought in your mind.

“That doesn't make sense,” her voice is still watery, but you can hear the smile through it.

“Hang up on me and go make out with Gut,” you tell her, “Leave the amateur hour to me.”

And she does just that, whispering her thanks to you as she cuts herself off.

Oh, what have you gotten yourself into?

This fucking speech, your saving grace of a distraction. Fuck, fuck, fuck what do I say? You think. You wrack your brain on what to say, you practice, you write line after line in green glittery gel pen on a piece of stationary you found in the homes kitchen. You treat it like a stand up set, ‘yes and-ing’ yourself to death to try to think of something that doesn't sound stupid. You've never been in a long term relationship that was ever actually going anywhere. You're so incapable of wording what love is…

No, thats a lie you tell yourself. The words come easily now, the words flow like water from a fountain.

It's not clear how you're going to go through the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Knowing Adrian will be in the same proximity as you; Knowing that with Adrian one kiss is too many and a thousand is never enough. You want to bash your head against the wall, but instead you save your airbnb fees and focus on doing your hair and makeup and getting dressed.

You look at the dress you brought for the rehearsal, one of two garment bags hanging on the top of the closet door. Your bridesmaid dress; an olive green, low cut, with a soft flowing skirt. And then the dress for tonight, one that was already in your closet at home from your thrifting as a broke college student; navy vintage polyester taffeta, with an extremely tight square neck bodice and a tea length skirt that puffed out. You had sewn a comically big pink heart with white lace into the bottom of the bodice a week after you had gotten it. Laura came home to you sitting with fabric and thread strewn across the floor of your shared apartment. You knew this dress was a memory between you two, and that's why you picked it for tonight. Putting it on alone is a little difficult, but you manage. The only thing Laura asked out of your comfort zone was that all bridesmaids wore silver stilettos. Fucking evil, but you throw those on the passenger seat of your rental car.

You crinkle the paper with your speech in your hand as you clutch it against the steering wheel, and pull out of the driveway of the rancher.

The rehearsal goes smoothly, but that wasn't the part you were worried about. You only wrinkled part of your skirt under your sweaty hands but for the most part it was salvageable. You're walking with one of Gut’s coworkers, a nice guy named Mike who has also never been in a wedding before and he’s easy to use as a distraction from those green eyes you can't stand to feel on your skin. Laura is happy and that's what matters. That's what you tell yourself every time your smile falters.

You avoid his eyes at all costs as you enter the back room of Fennel Fields, taking your seat next to Laura’s mother, taking the Maid of Honor seat and looking at the fixed course menu after a polite hello to the woman who helped you find a Gotham apartment without remnants of fear gas in the venting. Adrian sits at the table diagonal from you now, a slight relief from the onslaught of him and everything about him. Your clammy hand reaches for the menu, passing it to the waiter nearby after clarifying that everything looked fine with no substitutions; everyone does the same and you try to keep yourself preoccupied by any means necessary to avoid that gaze.

Champagne is poured and you want to drink it down, want to take the edge off in any way possible.

But you don't. You can't. The note in your dress pocket prevents you from doing that.

Gut’s best man goes first. He gives a lovely speech, you figure. He talks about how Laura and Gut are like puzzle pieces or something and how she’s been such a light in his life. It's odd to think that Gut’s friends know so much of Laura, that she’s become one of their group. Her other bridesmaids are even Gut’s friend’s wives and girlfriends except for you and Gina and one other girl, her coworker at this new job.

You keep your eyes trained on him, and on Gut and Laura. They look so in love, so genuinely happy. Fuck, its beautiful.

“So I’ll end this trainwreck on a toast. To the lovely Bride and Groom: may they make their honeymoon flight, and not lose their luggage!”

You laugh, whispering a cheers before tapping your flute on the table and finally sipping champagne yourself.

Now it's your turn. On unsteady legs, whether from the stilettos Laura has you wearing or your emotional state, you rise from your seat and pull the grossly crumpled piece of paper from your dress pocket.

The microphone gets passed to you and you steel yourself to do your best stage face and voice. Give them senior year at Gotham University’s production of Miss Julie.

Here goes nothing.

“Hi,” you start, clear and confident, “I’m not Gina. I’m sorry, I wish I was.”

Laura’s mom and a few of the wedding party laugh. You don't look at Adrian.

“And to make matters worse, I’m not even qualified to give this speech.”

You earn another laugh, this time from more people, and Laura snorts and slams her hand down on the table. She can correctly guess how you screamed in your airbnb trying to write this, having watched you struggle through editing stand up sets for years. She knows you probably talked to yourself in the mirror to get this right.

“I’ve sabotaged my chance at love but these kids? They know what they’re doing.”

What the fuck does that next line say, you sweaty bitch? Why the fuck did you use gel pens for this?

“Before I moved into my studio in Condiment King’s territory—“ you pause for laughter and get some, “— I lived with Laura. And she was good, I guess.”

You stick your tongue out at her, winking.

“She showed me how to use a hair straightener and how to shotgun a beer, but most importantly she showed me what it looks like to actively be vulnerable and put yourself on the line for love. She faced the dating world before tinder, but she also extended that vulnerability to me. With her making soup for me when I’d had a crappy day, and calling me out when I’d done something wrong to put me back on the right path, she always loved me fully and with care. Not gentleness, though. After a frat formal she threw a glass at me once.”

The room erupted in laughter and Laura looked fake-embarrassed.

“But I have also had the privilege of knowing the groom. Dorian, or as I know him, Gut Chase, was someone I always knew would make sure I didn’t end up dead in a ditch. I was briefly a cheerleader, he was in football and a few years older, but I had someone close to him that I held dearly and he kept that in mind. I don’t think he liked me much when we were growing up, but he always made sure I had a ride home and a place to stay. I wasn’t allowed to speak to him in public but I wasn’t going to get hurt around him.”

The room laughed again, although you only focus on the smile of one of the groomsmen who doesn't meet your gaze. You crumple the paper further because you can’t even read it at this point and you don’t remember what it said.

“The point is, I don't need to have some love story of my own to know what care and love look like when it comes to these two. I know I could have had something like this and I'm endlessly jealous of my prettier college roommate. And judging from last night and today I’ve never seen such explicit love between two people, the way they orbit each other and care for the people in their lives. They've found someone who is not only going to be there at night for them when things are fun, but they've found someone who’s going to be there in the morning. And someone they're going to be there in the morning for. Someone that's going to take care of the good and the bad and someone that they're going to show up for in that way, too. It’s fucking beautiful. I’m sorry for cursing. Let’s get hammered.”

You knock back your champagne and remind yourself to call an uber and leave your rental here. Maybe it's heavy handed that you mentioned the morning. But really, had you stayed that morning with Adrian you would have never left. You would have thrown away college had he kissed you again the morning after. People cheer and you scurry to get away from the spotlight, people start to stand from where they were and waiters start to clear plates and people begin to go to the bar. You're one of the first.

You order another glass of champagne. Had Adrian asked, you would have stayed. You know that. You've always known that, and that's exactly why you had to leave before he woke up. Fate is cruel, bringing you back here.

“Baaabe!” Laura shouts, Gut in tow, and throws her arms around you.

You hug her back with the arm not holding your glass.

“That was amazing,” she says, and you can only scoff, not willing to take the praise.

“You did good, Runt,” Gut offers, patting your shoulder with a fond smile on his face. Maybe people can change.

“Thanks guys,” you sigh, and try to gulp down this next glass as well.

“Who were you talking about?” Laura asks.

You choke on your sip.

“Who?”

“In the speech, you said you blew it with someone, who was it?”

Gut’s grip on your shoulder gets a little tighter.

“Do you want a tequila shot?” you deflect, and never one to turn down a challenge, she accepts.

You shoot Gut a thankful glance, although he actually didn't do anything.

The next morning you wake up to your alarm with the slightest headache, two full glasses of water and a bottle of advil on your bedside table that you don't remember placing there but you also don't expect to with all the champagne and tequila going to your head.

It's still forty five minutes before you have to be at the wedding venue but you shower in under ten minutes and call an uber (thankful for your foresight to leave your car last night) the second you're dry. It's a good thing the ride is quick to the venue and they dont mind that you've thrown your bridesmaid dress and shoes and an additional backpack across the back seat. The uber driver is far too loud and friendly for this hour, your headache starting to get stronger even though you took the advil.

Laura’s already there and panicking, her lashes done and her immediately screaming at you to get into the hair chair even though it's technically not correct on her schedule. Janessa should be going first but you don't question a bride thats near tears. You hop in and close your eyes, and combing or prodding is fine with you, as long as you don't have to be standing.

By the time your hair is done other bridesmaids trickle in, and by the time everyone is done Gina finally is able to make an appearance and you all breathe a sigh of relief at Laura’s worry finally dissolved. You all look nice. Laura looks like a princess. You're not sure if you can get through this wedding without crying like a baby now that you see her all done up. Fuck. She ushers you all out as she stays behind, a smile that finally looks genuine plastered on her face, ready for her first looks with her new husband before the rest of the world gets to see her.

“Thank you,” she whispers one last time to you, and you squeeze her hand before you leave the bridal suite to go line up in preparation for the actual wedding itself.

“— You moron!”

You catch the end of whatever Gut is whisper-shouting at Adrian in the lobby, handsome in his suit and anxiety painted on his face and seeping from his gritted and bared teeth.

You walk the rest of the way over after getting down the rest of the stairs, skirt of your dress fluttering as you move, and put your hand on Gut’s arm not unlike the way he did to you last night.

“Hey, whatever's going on, I got it,” you tell him, not looking Adrian’s way still in fear of your own emotional state. You aren't sure why you offered to help at all, but there's no backing out now.

“He wants to switch partners to walk with you, which is stupid and not part of the plan,” Gut explains. What the fuck. Actually what the fuck.

You shake your head, and you bury the pit in your stomach. Your emotions aren't the most important ones today and others are at stake. Fuck it, you’ll take one for the team and maybe cry in the bathroom later and blame it on the alcohol, as long as it doesn't stop you from the cotton eyed joe at the reception.

“Let us switch, your bride is upstairs waiting, we’ll handle shit down here,” you tell him, voice already exasperated, and that seems to light a fire under his ass. He moves to the staircase without another warning and salutes towards you and his little brother.

His little brother whom you still cannot look in the eye.

The rest of the bridal party starts to get themselves together at the disappearance of the groom, and you sort yourself in order. Shoes are good, hair is good, dress is good, you are good to go; and once youre over this hiccup you can party with Laura and the other bridesmaids.

“Look, I’m sorry-” Adrian starts as you link your arm in his own. He looks so fucking good in the suit, so good you need him to shut up before the last of your dignity leaves you.

“Don't even worry about it,” you say, still not looking at him, “We’re even, remember?”

Adrian seems to deflate at your words, but if you know Adrian you know that doesn't mean he’s given up.

“I’m just saying, you didn't deserve that. I should have stayed.”

You eye up Gina in front of you, her long hair cascading down her back, happily joking with the best man. Mike’s now behind you, with Laura’s work friend. Adrian’s arm feels like a cage around you.

“Don’t worry about it,” you mumble, trying to focus on how it feels to be hungover in stilettos. Bad, but you can use that pain as a distraction.

“See, you say that,” you're in for an Adrian rant, and you wish you could appreciate it, “But you won't look at me, and then your speech last night had me thinking, and then you didn't let me talk to you about it after you drank a lot of tequila with my brother and even though I drove you home you wouldnt let me make sure you drank your water.”

He looks at you with expectant eyes, asking you to crack.

He says it so easily, as if his mini rant doesnt throw a spear through the heart of your barely calm and cool persona. As if your blood doesn't run cold knowing Adrian was in the airbnb again, only to care for you and look out for your safety. Adrian is a good guy, and as your pinky toe pinches in the straps of the stiletto while you rock away from him, you regret never calling most of all. Your eyes search his face for an hint of a lie, but you can't find one. So you do what you can, you look away from him.

“I drank the water,” is all you can say, the tip of the iceberg of what you really mean. His free hand squeezes your elbow, an exchange.

The opening chords of the organist strike, and you recoil at the sound, sighing deeply as everyone readies themselves.

Gina is all you want to focus on, her two braids tied into the curls the stylist sweat over in a half up-do that would rival what the wig makers on Game of Thrones could do.

“But anyways, I’m trying to apologize.”

You can't even find a bobby pin sticking out on her whole head.

“I don't want an apology.”

You want to run away again. You want to fuck him in the bathroom of this venue. You want to fight him to the death. You want to stain his clean shaven cheek with your lipstick.

“Then what do you want? You're torturing me, and I would know, I’ve been tortured. This is like emotional though, not physical.”

Ignore whatever that means.

“I want to know what you would have done if you didn't leave.”

Fuck, why did you say that? Quick, think about escape routes, find fire exits. Run for Mount Rainier, burn down the airbnb. Goodbye!

“Well, not fucking leave,” he starts, lowering his voice to a whisper when the doors open to reveal all of the guests.

You just tilt your head, yeah, figures.

“You like everything bagels with chive and onion cream cheese, and I would have gotten you one. They make your breath smell like shit but I would have kissed you anyway just to prove a point.”

That's basically a confession of love right there.

You and Adrian walk down the aisle, a smile tugging at your lips, but you refuse to let it stick. The venue is beautiful, sage green and pink everywhere, a flower arch out of some perfume commercial and trendy reclaimed wood galore.

“Can we just talk?” he asks, his voice rising and you immediately try to shush him as discreetly as you can.

“Save a dance for me at the reception,” you whisper to him, preparing yourself to take your place in the line up at the altar.

“But I wanted to talk-”

You shush him again, a little harsher than you mean to, but he seems to get the idea.

“Oh! duh— I didn't bring a date! I don’t have a dance partner to begin with,” he answers, and the smile you’ve been trying to hide breaks through. You squeeze his arm as you leave his embrace and go to stand on your side.

You look out at the crowd, a lot of them unfamiliar faces. A few friends from Laura’s major and their partners, a few cousins and kids you met when you went to her summer house, a few of Gut’s friends on the other side (save for Chris Smith, thank fucking god, you would absolutely not be surviving this if you had to hear him say anything about your tits) and Gut’s cousins from Northern California. You stop for a moment on two empty chairs, for Gut and Adrian’s parents. Suddenly you're sixteen again, watching Adrian push you away for the comfort of shooting ranges instead of talking about his own parents' deaths as a result of a car chase gone wrong. Your eye’s flicker to Adrian, his eyes already set straight on you, his smile not matching how his eyes scan you. Gut enters and practically power walks down the aisle, and you mote that theres already a noticeable amount of lipstick on the corner of his lips.

The music changes.

The most beautiful woman you've ever seen walks down the aisle.

You can feel Adrian’s eyes on you the entire ceremony.

Adrian doesn't leave your side the entire cocktail hour, following you around and asking about all of your drink and snack preferences.

“I like pomegranate martinis, you know, a little Hades and Persephone thing going on?” You joke, and he orders you one from the drink station without a second glance.

“You mean like Hercules, the Disney movie?” he asks when he hands you your glass, hand steady and careful not to spill it.

You could scoff, or make a joke, or correct him, but instead you just smile and say, “Yeah, Adrian!” just to see his smile get even wider.

“Thats a really good movie, even if its for kids,” he muses.

“So what does Adrian Chase drink?”

He pauses and thinks it over for a minute.

“Yeungling,” he says, but he doesn't try to hide his grimace at the answer, his teeth bared and his eyes averted.

“So thats a lie,” you point out immediately over the rim of your glass. Adrian’s eyes dart over to where Laura and his brother are talking to some distant relative, definitely from Laura’s side. They're both the happiest you've ever seen them and you can’t help but to thank whatever cosmic power led them to meet.

“Yeah, Gut says a bay breeze is chick stuff,” Adrian admits, and you figured this was the case. He was always pulling you down candy aisles or getting the really sweet stuff as far as slurpee flavors went.

“Get the fucking bay breeze,” you tell him, and his whole face lights up. When was the last time this man got himself a girlie tropical drink?

“Okay! I mean, I've gotta hide it, but if you won’t judge me then I’ll do it,” he turns away from you, already ready to get the bartender’s attention again to order.

Theres a million things you want to say and all you can come up with is talking about his drinking habits? You only know where the guy works because you asked one of his cousins why the rehearsal dinner was at Fennell Fields and she told you he basically was allowed to book the back room for free because he worked there. You have so many things to ask him, so many things to say, and you ask him about a fucking drink.

“You were right, this is way better. You said we could talk now?” he asks, not hiding his eagerness as he talks with the bendy straw still between his teeth.

You exhale harshly, pushing the air through your nose, nodding.

“Yeah,” you mumble, not wanting to correct him that the cocktail hour technically isnt the reception. Thats an easy mistake to make, its close enough.

He nods his head towards the back doors, leading out to the gardens that a few people are at, but its much less crowded than the venue proper. At least hes giving you that safety net.

Each step feels heavier, and you once again curse the fact that Laura is a stilettos girl and made you be the same for a weekend. But the garden is beautiful, it looks like a small town in Washington’s version of the Versailles gardens, which you've never seen outside of Google images so it doesn't matter to miss out on the real thing.

He leads you to a bench, and pats it as he sits down on one end. You sweep the flow skirt under you and sit too, thankful to be off your feet after the past few hours.

"You can take those off if you want," he points his glass at your heels, "We can swap? They don't look comfy."

"We can't swap," you chuckle, but you unbuckle the heels and stretch your feet on the pavement.

“Well, we should talk,” he says, as if prompting you. The whole situation feels like there’s some kind of teleprompter you should be able to read, some magical thing to say, but there’s not. You don’t have words, just feelings. The anxiety, the joy, the ecstasy, the profound sadness and emptiness of the whole thing. There’s no way to put it into words. You don’t know how to word that you’ve forgotten him for maybe only ten of the months you’ve been away. Often wondering with other dates if Adrian was nicer than them, if he was dating. Wondering if Adrian was having a good life, if Adrian made friends. Seldom you forgot about him. And none of it you can voice without sounding worse than you already are.

“I’m sorry,” you say, looking down into your martini, the last few sips staring back at you.

“You’ve said that already. Can I talk?” he asks. You nod, still not meeting his gaze.

“I’m sorry,” he says, “Like I said before, you didn't deserve that.”

“I kinda did,” you offer, shrugging.

“Will you stop?” he asks, his eyes widening behind his glasses. You only grimace and nod for him to continue.

“Sorry, anyway, you didn't deserve that. I know you had to have a good reason for leaving without saying anything. And I have to admit, I have kept tabs on you. Not in a creepy way,” he pauses, “Maybe in a creepy way, but not in an illegal way. When the library put up the article about your job in Gotham I took it because that's not real stealing, everything is free in the library.”

That's not how libraries work. You remember that article, you were put on a 30 under 30 article for art and design in Gotham; you just didn't know the article made its way back to Evergreen. It's sweet that he stole the article, even though he could have just bought a copy of the magazine.

You nod at him, needing him to continue.

“And then when I saw you it all just kinda, came up, you know?”

You do know. Its that same vacuum that sucked air from your lungs and slowed the time down in that fucking Hooters that now feels so much more meaningful and cosmic instead of being what it is. God, what a place for a reunion.

“Yeah, I know,” you say, your voice just above a whisper.

“I didn’t want to be mean, but I felt like I had to, I don’t know why.”

But you know why, you know exactly why.

“No it’s fine, I would have done the same,” you say, the knuckle of your free hand brushing the soft material of his suit pants.

“Yeah. I know,” he laughs, his smile overtaking all of his features. This feels normal, finally. You’re on the same wavelength.

“And I have to admit, I was a little jealous of Laura for taking my best friend position once I heard about you guys in college.”

You roll your eyes, letting yourself lean into him, his shoulder warm under his shirt. His arms look fucking good, with the crisp white

“Where’d your suit jacket go?” you ask, lowering your head to rest it against him.

“Gut’s gonna kill me,” he answers, and you can pretty much assume he’s lost it.

Laughter escapes your lips, loud and almost cackling, and you sit back up so as to not spill your drink as the laughter keeps coming. Adrian joins in, his eyes closed behind those glasses that haven't changed in the past fifteen years, laughter boisterous and light.

“Can we start over?” you interrupt your own laughter, setting your glass down on the ground next to the bench.

Adrian’s laughter subsides, and he goes quiet. He thinks about it for a second.

“Hmm, no,” he answers. Your hands fall limp in your lap, the skirt of your dress making a light swooshing noise at the contact. He could have punched you just now and it would have been less of a surprise to you.

“Oh,” you sigh, trying and failing to play it cool. Your shoulders feel heavy.

“I can’t start over with someone who’s seen my penis… or wore my retainer when she lost hers. Which was really gross,” he laughs, this time a subdued chuckle with a hint of nostalgia, and his eyes travel up and down your body again. You shiver under his gaze.

“Yeah, that was nasty,” you admit, but your teeth are straight no matter what.

You both go quiet, staring out at the treeline behind the venue. A cosmic reset. His hand scoots closer to you on the seat of the bench. The wind whistles and Party Rock Anthem is muffled and obscured by the glass doors leading back into the cocktail hour.

“So your brother and my college roommate, huh?” you break the stillness.

“Yeah, it's uh,” he looks down at his watch, “almost the end of cocktail hour. We get to walk in together, right?”

“Yep,” you confirm, “You made sure of that with the stunt you pulled this morning.”

If he's at all embarrassed, he doesn't show it.

You stand up, rolling your eyes.

“C’mon,” you say, holding your hand out to him.

A cosmic restart.

“And here is your wedding party!” the DJ announces over the microphone. The first couple dances out from under the sting light arch, offbeat and singing along. Then the second. After the third it's you and Adrian, and you can feel him starting to get antsy.

“We’ll be fine,” you reassure him, brushing your knuckles against his.

“Don’t hate me for this,” he whisper-shouts over the music.

You don't have time to even think about what that means because the couple in front of you dances out, but now you're anxious and rigid in your heels. You step into the spotlight, and your cue comes.

But Adrian has other plans, apparently, as he bends down to let his big strong arms (wow are you happy he grew these in your absence) circle your thighs and he hoists you over his shoulder.

You wave awkwardly at all the guests sat for dinner, cackling and slapping Adrian’s back to the beat of the music, Adrians laugh filling your space as he awkwardly dance- walks you across the dance floor to where the other wedding party members are standing and talking, waiting for dinner and the reception to officially begin. You feel giddy, like a late night drive in the summer after Adrian got his license, like when you walked into prom holding Adrian’s hand like you’d just won the lottery. His hands are warm, incredibly so, and his muscles are taut against you.

Fuck, you’d like to feel his muscles against you in - nope, hold that thought. You want to repair whatever this is with Adrian, not be a slut at your friend’s wedding.

When you finally reach your spot, he holds you there for a few moments, his big hands squeezing the backs of your thighs before he puts you down gently. You miss the feeling of his hands on you.

Dinner and more speeches go off wonderfully, and you're thankful you get to stay quiet this time, few eyes on you throughout all of the formal stuff, except for Laura. Sure, her main focus are the speakers and her new husband, but you've caught more than one sneaky glance your way, and you know exactly what that means. Before they leave for their honeymoon in Cabo, she's going to corner you and ask if you and her new brother-in-law are doing anything. And knowing her, she’ll already know the answer.

Adrian nudges you when the plates are cleared by the caterers during the first dance, drawing your eyes away from the happy couple dancing to him, apprehension apparent on his face. You realize that you really haven't spoken to him since he put you down.

“Do you want to… maybe, go out there when they’re done being a lovely couple?” he asks.

“I mean, yeah. I told you to save me a dance,” you respond, and Adrian’s shoulders visibly sag in relief like a weight has just been taken off of them.

And you're lucky enough that your anxiousness is spared that the next two songs and the family dances go by as quickly as they can, and the dancefloor opens for everyone with Vienna by Billy Joel. You look over to Adrian, winking as you rise from your seat, your hand reaching out to lead him away from the table.

He, to your surprise, grabs your hand firmly and lets you lead him out, and you become one of the first couples out on the dance floor. People trickle in after, but they're all peripheral noise and shapes as Adrian’s hands find purchase on your hips.

“I’m glad you're here without a date,” Adrian admits, without a hint of shame in his voice.

“I’m glad you're here without a date too, or else this whole weekend would have been a lot more complicated than it already has been,” you offer honestly, and lean into his swaying. Your fingers play with the curls at the base of his neck absentmindedly.

“It wasn't that complicated,” he says, “We’re just bad at feelings.”

Understatement of the century, you think, but yeah, that checks out. You'd both had hurt feelings and both been weird about it. He hums along as he pulls you closer, your chests almost touching, the heat tangible between you. It's going to be hard to keep your cool around Adrian all night without wanting to be even closer, without wanting to kiss him. Maybe you can kiss him afterward.

“Did you become a Billy Joel fan while I was gone?” you joke, knowing that his taste was a lot more girl pop or harder rock when you last saw him.

“Billy Joel? I thought this was Bruno Mars!”

You want to ask him if he's joking but you already know the answer to that.

“Yeah, I mean they're easy to mix up,” you say, and he nods.

“I really missed you, Adrian,” you finally admit, “I wish I-”

“I wish that you would just let it go, troll under the bridge. Lets have fun before you have to leave again,” he interrupts.

“Well actually,” you readjust your arms, more of a hug than a dance now, “I’m here until next Monday, and I want to give you my number so we can keep in touch. Laura lives here now so…”

“So you have a reason to come out here?” he asks, hopeful.

“You’re a reason to come out here too, if you want to be,” you assure him, and his fingers dig into your hips, the material of the skirt bunching under his palms.

“Really? I do, I want to be-”

Fuck it, you think. Be a slut, do what you want.

You pull Adrian into a kiss, cutting him off mid sentence. He hums, the death of a word coming to die from his lips to yours, and his form melts around yours, his grasp on you growing firmer pressing you against him

“I knew it!” you hear Laura scream, “I fucking knew it!”

But you don't dare pull away from Adrian to laugh with the bride. He keeps swaying, off tempo to the song, but perfect for you. His lips curl up into a smile and his own laughter breaks the kiss, though.

“Do you want to go have sex again?” he asks bluntly, slightly breathless from his own laughter.

Unlike the other night, you're pushing him down onto the mattress tonight, Adrian eagerly shuffling further up onto the bed as you hike up your skirt to climb on top of him. You stop when you're over his hips, letting the skirt pool around him, your flimsy underwear leaving you feeling bare and hot against Adrian’s pants.

You pull him up by his tie, your mouths meeting in the space between you for another sloppy kiss, open-mouthed and wet. You both fall back into the sheets, kissing as your hands move to the knot of the tie. You fiddle with the knot, pulling it one way, then the other, trying to loosen it without breaking the kiss to look at it.

Cmon, cmon.

You feel it tighten against his collar instead of loosen. You have to pull away.

Adrian’s lips chase yours, not opening his eyes until he hears you speak.

“Get rid of the tie, I can't do it!” you demand, your hands instead starting to work at buttons lower down on his chest. He laughs, but his hands leave your body to pull the tie loose, and he does it easily. He slips the stupid thing off of his neck and flings it into the dimness of the room. You're free to unbutton all of his shirt now, pulling at where it's tucked into his pants to get it off of him.

Fuck, he’s beautiful, you think, as you finally get to take in his bare chest. He's got muscle, he's buff, with the lightest dusting of hair between his pectorals and light freckles that you remember.

You pull him back up to sit so he can remove his shirt and you find that to be the wrong move. As he sits up, his hips shift against your core, and you struggle to bite back a needy moan.

“Am I bothering you?” he asks.

“Nope,” you shake your head, biting down on your lip at the friction.

“No? Then you wouldn't mind if I…” he trails off, tilting his hips up into yours again. This time, you feel him rock hard against you, and you whine desperately. Fucking bastard. Adrian chuckles, and you decide to get your revenge.

You push him back down on the mattress the moment the offending shirt is shed, latching your lips onto the expanse of his neck, kissing a wet trail in your wake as he gasps and grunts below you.

“I was so mean to you,” he gasps as you bite at his collarbone, “Do you want to punish me for that?”

Who the fuck is Adrian fucking? Is the first thought through your head. Punish him? What kind of kinky shit does he get up to?

“Don’t wanna punish you,” you dismiss, “Just wanna have you.”

“Okay,” he mumbles, his lips dragging against your hairline as he pulls you lower on top of him until your chests meet, “Still on the table, though.”

You'll keep that in mind.

“Get this dress off,” he groans, equally struggling with the zipper until he finally just rips the hook and eye at the top of it, the zip sliding down your back easily for him after that. You’re definitely going to have to get that repaired, but that’s the last thing on your mind when Adrian is pulling the material off of you half crazed, trying to have you bare against him as soon as he can. He pulls the dress up over your head, maybe not the easiest way to discard it, your arms struggling to untangle from the straps as he unwraps you. You help him push all of the bunched up material across your chest and over you, finally breathing a sigh of relief when the bodice finally comes off of you and you can both drop the dress off the edge of the bed, and his hands immediately working their way to your chest.

His thumb brushes against the faded mark on your breast that he left the other night, sending a shiver down your spine. You're sure he's about to leave even more.

“You’re so fucking hot,” he moans, squeezing at you while his eyes take you in. You’re glad now that you opted for the ‘sexier’ of the no-show underwear you picked out under the dress.

“Thought you said women don’t like being called hot,” you joke, recalling his previous words.

“Right, pretty,” he corrects himself, and you have to shake your head.

“I’m fucking with you,” you laugh.

“I’m gonna fuck you,” he retorts, and quickly flips you over, pinning you underneath him.

“So so pretty like this,” he whispers, his hands trailing down your body, stoking the fires of your arousal.

You’ll keep that in mind, too.

You grab at the sheets, balling the cotton in your fists as Adrian’s hands finally make their way between your thighs. He presses his fingers to your clothed cunt, and you both sigh at the contact.

“Please touch me,” you beg, all the boldness gone from your tone now that he’s got you like this.

“I’ll do you one better!” he says, and moves himself down the bed, removing his hand only so he can remove your panties.

“Can I taste you?” he asks, repositioning you for his own easy access. You nod, tilting your hips up towards him. He puts your legs on his shoulders, and slowly creeps in.

His hot breath fans out over your cunt, his glasses fogging as he looks up at you, the way his cheeks and nose scrunch lets you know that he’s grinning like a maniac.

Without warning, he darts his tongue out, licking between your folds and only stopping when the tip of his tongue meets your clit.

You whine, needy and unexpected, and try to quiet yourself again. You feel him as he exhales through his nose, maybe laughing at your desperation, and moves his tongue; small, deliberate licks against your clit that have you hitching your breath with each one.

“Please,” you whisper, squeezing your eyes shut and gripping the sheets so tight you could rip them. Adrian dives in like a man starved, his tongue dipping into you and the tip of his nose bumping against your clit. He licks into you like your cunt is what keeps him alive, like the water of life. You moan, languid and loud; his big hands flatten out, one against your stomach and the other along the underside of your breast.

Where the fuck did Adrian Chase learn this? Maybe you don't want to know, maybe you just want to enjoy the skills for what they are. His lips move in tandem with his tongue, not hiding the slurping sounds his mouth makes; fuck, he worships you.

Your orgasm sneaks up on you, at first a slow bubble, and then a sudden boil. Your moans turn almost to screams as you shake under him, your thighs tightening around his head.

Adrian’s having none of that, though. He removes his hands from you, moving them to your thighs to hold them in place. Without the leverage of your legs, your back arches almost painfully, leaning into your orgasm as it shakes your entire system, Adrian just happily working you through it, gradually slowing down his mouths movements as your breathing becomes more and more regulated.

“Good?” he asks, when he finally moves his mouth away from you. Everything from his nose to his chin is soaked in you.

“Y-yeah,” you pant, still catching yourself.

“Good, then you’re ready for me,” he says, smirking as he untangles from your thighs and moves back up. He kisses your cheek, decidedly not letting you taste yourself at this moment. Somehow, in your haze, you hadn't noticed that he’d gotten rid of his pants.

You already feel him, heavy and hard, resting against your entrance, and immediately you need more no matter how sensitive you might be.

“I’ve been ready,” you tell him, and he chuckles.

“Not for this,” and he pushes in to the hilt. He gives you no mercy, like he said he wouldn't. He gives you no time to adjust to his size. You yelp, both in surprise and in pleasure, and he picks up his pace as if your noise was permission.

“Fuck, prettiest girl I’ve ever known, all laid out for me, all for me,” he babbles, his lips just barely brushing yours as he stays close.

“All for you,” your voice comes out in a moan, all control of your volume and tone lost; the fire already building in you again.

“Gonna give you everything, all for you,” he says, like a promise, his own voice strained.

He doesn't hold back in his pace, pushing in all the way each time, deep and hard, a slamming pace. He's not gentle, but the way that he looks at you is full of all of the affection and sweetness he holds for you. This is your best friend. This is… whatever he is beyond that.

“Adrian, kiss me,” you beg, wanting to seal yourself to him, to connect.

“But I might taste-”

“I don’t care.”

That's all he has to hear, and once the kisses start, they don't stop. He moves a little awkwardly at first, his pace faltering slightly to adjust for this connection, but he finds his rhythm again. He thrusts sharply, your hips moving to meet him as best you can, your bodies moving in sync with your pleasure. He quickens his pace, his kisses getting harsher, more bruising. Adrian is a kisser, you realize. He likes it like this.

“I’m gonna—,” he gasps after his harshest thrust yet, and you grab his hips, holding him close.

“Go ahead,” you say, breathless yourself and ready to lose your own composure.

He pumps into you harder, his hips snapping against you sure to bruise. Adrian’s hand leaves your hip to move his thumb to your clit, rubbing quick circles that choke out sobs from your throat. It's hard to hold on, both physically to his hips but also to your composure. Every thought of him, him, him, and the fire inside of you that fights to escape.

“Adrian, please,” you beg, voice watery and desperate, and he obeys, speeding up his movements until you scream, and shake, and lose everything. Your mind whites-out. No thoughts but the specific shade of green of his eyes.

And when you come back you feel full, sticky and hot. Adrian holds you tightly, still inside you, snuggling you close and cradling your body to him. He's shushing you and pressing kisses into your skin, muttering sweet nothings to soothe you. Fuck, thats never happened before.

“That was good?” you ask, breathless laughter in your tone.

“Now I know you have to be joking with me,” he says, pulling back slightly, “That was mind-blowing! Literally.”

He pulls away more, and you reach out to reel him back into your embrace. Adrian reassures you he’ll be right back. Even after all of this, the tiniest doubt creeps in, and when he backs out of the room, boxers in hand, you pull the sheets up over you tightly.

He comes back into the room with two glasses of water in only his boxers, a sight you want to get used to. He places the glasses down on the nightstand and throws the covers over the both of you, enveloping you in their warmth and his. Adrian runs like a furnace.

“Can you stay this time?” Your voice is small, vulnerable. Adrian’s warm hand cups your cheek, and he shimmies closer to you under the covers.

“How much does a flight to Gotham cost?” he asks, deadly serious.

You balk at his question.

“Adrian, you can't uproot your life for me,” you insist, feeling bad suddenly about the way you continue to cling to him, hands pressed into his back to hold him to you.

“Psh, who said that? I figure maybe Evergreen can survive without me for a week or so. I wanna take you on a real date,” he snuggles closer, curling the blankets further over you. Your own little world, a little bubble just for the two of you.

You’ll remind him that Gotham is currently surviving a week without you, too, in the morning.

“I’d like that,” you say, sleep sinking into the edges of your voice.

“Get some rest,” he says, sounding just as sleepy, his head feeling heavier against you, “I’ll be here in the morning.”

He is.

#adrian chase x reader

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lonelym00n · 1 year

Text

The Road to Recovery

An epilogue for The Devil Likes the Pirate Series

Tara Carpenter x Reader

Word Count: 3.2k

Summary: Is it worth the effort to repair your relationships, or should you just let your friends go?

Warnings: Talk about injuries, nothing super gory

A/N: The epilogue is here (finally)! I hope it wraps up the series nicely. Thank you all so much for reading <3

The road to recovery, as it’s often said to be, is going to be a long one. You are confined to your hospital bed for a minimum of two weeks, set to undergo observation and a multitude of x-rays until your body has recovered enough for a laparoscopy to ensure that your wounded organs have properly healed.

You internally groan when the nurse informs you of your long stay. The next two weeks are going to be extremely boring, especially because you've been instructed not to move unless you’re being visited by your physical therapist or it is absolutely necessary to do so.

If it’s not bad enough that you can’t move, as with every other hospital, your only form of entertainment is watching the crappy TV shows provided by the hospital’s very limited cable subscription.

As much as you want to grumble and complain, all the effort that it’s going to take for you to heal is worth it because it means that you’re still alive. If your traumatic near death experience has taught you anything, it’s that you have to be thankful for life and its hardships even when you are desperately wishing for things to be easier.

In an effort to uplift your mood, you switch on the TV, dig into a cup of jello, and carefully shift into a comfortable position.

***

The two cups of jello that you ate must’ve had the same effects on you as a Thanksgiving feast, because your eyes droop shut during the second episode of Property Brothers.

It’s darker when you awake, and after blinking away the sleep in your eyes, you notice that you have a visitor.

“Kirby?”

The FBI Agent turns her head in your direction with a grin, “Hey kid!”

You both take a second to scan the other’s injuries. There’s an array of bandages on her face and you can just barely make out the thick gauze hiding underneath her loose shirt.

Kirby’s lips curve into a frown at your pale and weak form, “He really did a number on you huh?”

You nod, “But the doctors say I’ll be okay.”

She shuffles over to stand right beside your bed, “I’m glad.”

There’s so much you want to say to Kirby that it takes a good few moments to gather your thoughts together. Ever since Tara told you that Kirby had survived, you haven’t stopped thinking about how grateful you are for the older woman. She trusted you when no one else did.

“Kirby, I- I really can’t even begin to say how much I appreciate you having my back. I don’t think I would be here if it weren’t for you.”

She shakes her head, “I only did what was right, no need to thank me.”

Tears prick your eyes, “But I do need to thank you. You didn’t even know me but you were still there for me. None of my friends can say the same.”

Kirby sighs and gently grabs your hand. “I’m sorry. Have you talked to any of them about it yet?”

A shakily exhale leaves your chest. Though you’d seen Tara a few times, the two of you still hadn’t talked things through. You were terrified that it would break the honeymoon phase you and she were living in if you approached the topic, so you refused to bring it up. You knew from Tara that Mindy had been released from the hospital, but the Meeks-Martin girl had still made no effort to come see you. You tried your best not to hold it against her, but deep down it made you even more sad to know she was avoiding you all together.

A few tears trail down your cheeks, “No. Mindy’s treating me like I’m the plague and I’m too scared to talk to Tara about it.”

The agent squeezes your hand in an attempt to bring you comfort. “Mindy will come around, to be honest I’m betting that she just feels really bad. And Tara, well, I’ve heard the way that girl talks about you. It’ll make both of you feel better to talk things through and get that extra weight off your chests.”

“You’re right,” your heart feels heavy in your chest. You’ve been doing your best to avoid thinking about your time spent treated like a suspect, the hurt that it brings you is too overwhelming when coupled with the burning stab wounds littered around your abdomen. But now that it’s been breached, you know your feelings are going to come flying out like the contents of Pandora’s Box.

“God Kirby, it just hurts so much to think that no one even gave me a chance. There was nothing I could say or do. How am I ever supposed to trust them again when they so clearly didn’t trust me?”

A deep frown stretches across Kirby’s face and she moves to carefully wrap her arms around your shoulders in a hug. “You don’t have to trust them. You don’t owe any of them a single thing.” She pulls back to get a better view of your face, “But, I know you still care about your friends even though they hurt you. Just talk to them, and after that, make them earn your trust back. Your relationships are damaged but with time, they’ll heal.”

“Okay,” you nod and lean back in the bed. “That sounds good, thank you Kirby.”

“Anytime. I’m here for you from here on out kid.”

***

Tara comes by two days later, with yet another bouquet of flowers. She’s accompanied by Sam, the older girl refusing to let Tara leave her side.

Under normal circumstances Tara would throw a fit but since they had almost died just last week, she lets her sister’s behavior slide.

The younger girl greets you with a kiss on the forehead and moves to replace the old flowers with the new ones. Sam offers you a smile and a wave before making her way towards the empty bed next to your own.

You scooch yourself over to make room for Tara on the bed with you. Your abdomen screams at you for the small movements, but feeling Tara’s warmth next to you will more than make up for it.

When she’s finished with the flowers, she slides into your bed. Her hands instantly start sweeping across your form, a new habit she picked up to reassure herself that you were still alive and breathing. You melt into the contact, occasionally humming in content.

You let yourself enjoy the peace for a moment. It’s nice being cared for by Tara, letting her fiddle with your blankets and your hair as she quietly fusses over you.

But as much as you want to continue living in this heaven with her, the gnaw of leftover hurt and dejection in your chest has grown incessant since your talk with Kirby. You’ve been avoiding rehashing the nightmarish events with Tara because you’re terrified to lose her again, like you have every other time the two of you have had emotional talks.

Hesitantly, you grab one of her hands to stop its movement and draw her attention to you. Those big brown eyes of hers immediately look up at you, her long eyelashes fluttering slightly. The sight of her has you nervous and bumbling. Whatever you were going to say to approach the topic is stuck in your throat in favor of admiring her.

She tilts her head cutely and entangles the fingers of her trapped hand in yours. “Is everything okay?”

You close your eyes for a second and take a deep breath. When you reopen them, Tara’s eyes are filled with concern.

You swallow thickly, “We um,” you pause briefly, working up the courage, “We need to talk Tara.”

She freezes for a second but quickly finds herself again, “Okay. Yeah, yeah we can talk.”

Sam slides out of her place on the other bed swiftly. She squeezes Tara's uninjured shoulder as she passes by, “I’ll be just outside if you need me.”

The younger Carpenter nods to her sister in thanks. Sam sees the apprehension in Tara’s eyes and offers the girl a small reassuring smile.

The tension in the room increases when the door closes behind Sam. You and Tara blink at each other for a few long seconds.

You shift your gaze to your waist and pick at the thin scratchy blanket. When you start worrying your bottom lip between your teeth, Tara reaches up with her free hand to cup your check.

“Hey, it’s okay, you can talk to me.”

You look up to meet her eyes and see nothing but care and reassurance. It gives you the push you need to open up to her. “Well, I wanted to talk about everything from last week, and uh, how it made me feel.”

Her eyes widen a bit but she nods quickly, “Okay. I’m listening, go ahead.”

“When I saw you in the police station, god I felt so betrayed Tara. I know that since I was the only one who hadn’t stayed over it made me look bad, but no one even gave me a chance to explain myself. I get why you might’ve given them my name, but it still hurt to know it was you because it meant that you didn’t trust me enough to talk to me yourself.”

Her eyes shine with unshed tears and she slowly trails her thumb down your cheek, “I’m so sorry, about that and about everything. Me and Sam were just so scared and shaken up, and Detective Bailey was asking for everyone’s alibis, and Sam mentioned that you hadn’t stayed over. I tried to tell her not to, but she had to tell him. He was the one who decided to bring you in for questioning, not either of us. I know that doesn’t make anything better, but maybe it helps you to know.”

It did make you feel slightly better. It’s not like she threw him your name and told him to question you. “It does help. When I got to the park, I just felt so judged and alone, like I was some sort of outsider. And then Mindy said all that stuff and it just broke me. It upset me so much that she called me out like that and turned everything I told her in private into a stupid motive.”

The memory of Mindy’s words is particularly painful for you to relive. You’d never felt so exposed and let down. Quietly, a few tears begin to slip down your face.

Tara’s bottom lip trembles with the effort it takes to hold back her own tears, “I hate that we made you feel like that. We’re your friends and that’s never how you should feel around us. And Mindy, god, I was so mad at her for what she said to you. I tried to chase after you when you left but Sam wouldn’t let me.”

The timid look that you give her nearly breaks her heart. “You did?”

A tear escapes her eyes, “Yeah. I didn’t want you to be alone, not when you looked so upset.”

“I was so scared that you were going to hate me, or reject me, and that you thought I was the killer. I had to get away.”

“I could never hate you. And I wouldn’t have rejected you, I really really like you. When I told you I only wanted to be friends, it’s because everything that happened with Amber hurt me so much. I was scared that I could get hurt again, so I pushed my feelings away. And that pushed you away, and I’m so fucking sorry. All the Ghostface stuff happened so fast, and I never got a chance to apologize or to explain myself.”

You’re both crying now. You tug Tara closer to you and she positions herself so her head lays on your shoulder, moving carefully so as not to jostle you or lay on top of any wires.

She looks up at you from her position, “I didn’t think it was you, Y/N. I was just trying to be cautious about trusting anyone. The only person I was sure it wasn’t was Sam. When Wayne had you, I hesitated because of everything Ethan and Quinn were saying. And I was so, so scared that all the Amber stuff was happening again, but I believed what you said. You’re nothing like Amber, you wouldn’t have done something like that. I’m sorry it took me that long to be sure of it.”

You wrap your free arm around her waist and bury your teary face in her hair. You feel infinitely lighter having gotten your feelings out into the open. Part of you has healed from hearing things from her perspective.

“It makes me feel so much better knowing all of that, thank you Tara.”

“Of course, I’m sorry about how I made you feel.” She looks down at your wrapped abdomen, “And I hate that you got so hurt because of me.”

You tighten your grip on her, “It’s okay.” Then, a bit playfully you add, “And don’t blame yourself, it wasn’t you who stabbed me 17 different times.”

She lifts her head and slaps your shoulder lightly, gasping. “Stop that you know what I mean.”

You laugh heartily and Tara swears she could stay here with you forever. She traces her eyes along your features and finds herself in awe of your soft beauty, as she is everytime she looks at you.

Her hand reaches up to cup your chin and her fingers splay out across your jaw. You’re utterly lovestruck as you stare into her pretty eyes.

She leans forward and gently captures your lips with hers, sighing softly into the kiss. When she pulls back, she smiles sweetly up at you.

“I feel the same way, you know. I really love you too.”

***

Tara, and by extension Sam, visit you practically everyday after that. The younger sister brings her laptop with her so that you three actually have a good selection of movies to watch.

One night after Tara fell asleep, tucked into your side, Sam offered you an apology too. You forgave her immediately, though she hadn’t really done anything other than be her usual protective self, you appreciate the sentiment all the same.

It’s a quiet day when Mindy finally walks into your room. Sam had to sort out some work stuff, so the two sisters would be heading over a bit later.

“Hey,” she offers shyly.

“Hi Mindy.”

“Is it okay if I come in and sit?”

“Of course yeah, sit anywhere you like.”

Seeing her here is shocking, but not unwelcome. Tara had informed you that she was trying to convince Mindy to come visit you so that she and you could talk. According to Tara, the short-haired girl was entirely sure that you hated her and would never want to speak to her again.

Mindy shifts around a little and her leg hasn’t stopped bouncing since she’s sat down.

Deciding to reprieve her from her fidgeting, you give her a small smile. “I don’t hate you Mindy.”

Her eyes are wide and they snap up to meet yours, “You don’t?”

“I don’t.”

She breathes out a sigh of relief, but still looks a little apprehensive. “I’m surprised you don’t. I would hate me if I were you.

You had thought long and hard about how you felt about Mindy, and while you were deeply hurt by her words, you could never bring yourself to hate her. You considered her your best friend for a brief moment in time and she was the only person that was there to comfort and support you when you were wallowing in your feelings for Tara.

“I thought about hating you, but I really care about you, Mins. I know that you feel some pressure to follow in your uncle’s footsteps. I just wish that you listened to me, and that you didn’t go so deep on the motive stuff.”

She cringes at the reminder, “I feel, so so stupid about that.” Her hands come up to cover her face for a moment as she groans. “I’m sorry, it was extremely shitty of me.”

“It was pretty shitty of you,” you chuckle, “but it’s okay. I’d probably be more mad if things didn’t end up working out between me and Tara.”

She smiles, “I’m happy for you both.” Her face turns more serious and she leans forward to softly place her hand on your thigh. “Genuinely though, I feel terrible. I was just so sure it was you and I guess it kind of scared me. I’m sorry, I know that’s no excuse. Is there any way I can make it up to you?”

You ponder it for a minute. Bingo. Your face twists into a smirk, “I have an idea.”

***

It’s a few hours later when Sam and Tara arrive. They’re wrapped up in a conversation as they enter, so they don’t notice the current state of your room.

Sam notices first, “What the-”

“Surprise!” you cheer.

Your hospital room has been completely rearranged. The two beds have been pushed together to form a makeshift couch, and the chairs are positioned beside each bed. Fairy lights have been strung around the room and a white sheet hangs across from the sitting area, placed perfectly in the center.

You, Mindy, and Chad (who’d been wheeled in by his sister) grin at the dumbfounded Carpenter sisters.

Sam, ever the mom of the group, raises a singular eyebrow, “What did you three do?”

Your smile stretches even wider. “We’re recreating movie night! Hope you Carpenters don’t mind not hosting for once.”

Sam rolls her eyes good naturedly at your comment.

Tara walks over and hops up on the bed next to you. You greet her with a kiss to her cheek and she beams at you, pleased. “Baby this is such a nice surprise. But how’d you manage to put all this together?”

You share a secret little glance with Mindy, “I called in a favor from a friend.”

After a good few minutes of cheerful banter, the group settles in to watch the movie. You and Tara are pressed so close together that she’s practically sitting on your lap.

After a week full of misery, things finally feel right. Your wounds are steadily repairing themselves and your relationships have been mended. Slowly but surely, you are healing.

Tara, the girl who started it all, who stole your heart away with her teasing smiles alone, leans over to whisper in your ear, “When you’re finally out of this hospital, I’m taking you on a date. Just me and you.”

Your eyes shine with the same love that you see reflected in hers. “I’d love nothing more.”

“It’s a date.” She kisses you chastly and quickly pulls back. Her hand reaches towards your face and when she boops your nose softly, you know you’ll be in love with Tara Carpenter for the rest of your life.

Taglist: @thenextdawn @dreifhraniquo29 @fanboy7794 @thelonewriter247 @cartierdreamx @btay3115 @friedryes @bananasplits-world @alexkolax @ordelixx @adaydreamaway08 @youralphawolf72

Note: The last installment for the series will be the alternate ending, which I hope to have finished by the end of this week. I won't be including the series taglist, so leave a comment or send in an ask if you want to be tagged in the alternate ending! Thanks for reading, the angst awaits!

#tara carpenter x reader #tara carpenter x you #tara carpenter x y/n #tara carpenter #devil likes the pirate series #lonelym00n fic

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