#just came across this and i'm still proud of it

[nethhiri]

Marooned: Chapter 46

Kid x FemReader x Killer

Warnings: 1% plot, aphrodisiac use, no holes barred, group sex/orgy, lite kink (bit of shibari, bit of breeding, degradation, praise, domination), sex workers

I'm pretty proud that I could write this much smut; sorry it took so long!

Doing Business

Kid was getting impatient. A minute ago he had half a dozen women fawning over him and now he had just one. Don't get him wrong, she was super hot. But why did the rest all run off to Y/N? It seemed the rest of the crew was dealing with the same problem, though none of them seemed to mind. One pretty lady in their lap at a time was enough to keep them occupied. If he was gonna pay good money, he wanted the full experience. He was soon distracted by barely contained tits in his face as the woman hand-fed him. Kid had told the madame that he wanted to be treated like the Pirate King, after all, he would be in due time. 

You were ushered into one of the back rooms by what felt like hundreds of hands and excited giggles. The woman you knew as Jade held your hands in hers seated across from each other on luxurious stools. She kissed both of your cheeks and had tear streaks down her own even though she was clearly happy. You were honestly surprised at yourself for remembering her name. Your paths crossed very briefly when you had attacked the ship her and some other women were being held captive on. There wasn't supposed to be any 'merchandise' on the ship, but they had failed to offload the cargo when they didn't get a fair offer from the skin trader. The only one that was inadvertently hurt was Jade. Her hip had been crushed by falling debris and you had to carry her off the ship. You had done your best to set it but there wasn't much you could do for her. At the next safe island, you had made sure they had a place to stay for a few nights and helped them as much as you could before setting off. 

"I knew you weren't gone! They kept saying you were dead but I didn't believe it for a second." Jade gestured at the rest of the girls who were knelt down or standing near you. "These are some of the other women you've set free, either the same night as me or from different places. They all seem to find me somehow." 

"I was gone for some time, just stranded on an island. The pirates I came here with rescued me." You left out the bit where you tried to kill each other. "I don't understand. Why are you all still doing... this? I thought you would all return home or find work that you actually enjoy." 

Jade laughed. "Yeah we get that a lot. It's different. We work for ourselves now. Some of us did this sort of thing before we were captured and some of us were taken so young we don't have any other marketable skills." Jade paused. "We can choose our own clients and we can turn anyone we want down. And what's not to like, especially when clients look like your pals out there. We're completely free to make our own decisions. Thanks to you."

"Any decent person would do the same thing. There's a lack of decent people in the world is all." 

"So if you're with them," she gestured in your crewmate's direction, "have you stopped the whole Sea Snake thing?"

"Course not." Seeing these women made you more resolute in your personal mission. 

Jade smiled. "Good." 

A thought occurred to you. You could help Jade more than you had those some odd years ago now that you had a Devil Fruit. "Hey. I have some new abilities. Would you like it if I fixed your hip? Correctly this time."

She happily accepted and made a few more requests on behalf of her girls when you explained your power. When you were done, Jade no longer limped, and her and her girls were free of the slave marks that marred their skin. You had also noticed that a few of the girls had matching tattoos.

"What with the snake tattoos?"

"Oh! You didn't make the connection?" According to Jade, they were in honor of you, just as the club itself was, hence the name and the entrance decor.

It was a bit embarrassing. You didn't feel like you were special enough to be praised in this manner. You did what was right.

Jade stretched her newly healed leg and walked around on it. "This is incredible. I haven't walked without pain in so long." You winced knowing that it was your fault. She must have noticed. "Please don't feel bad. A little wince is better than being traded like meat." A smug grin crept across Jade's face. "I haven't been able to be on top in ages." She turned to you. "Say, which one of your comrades wouldn't mind giving this hip a test drive?" 

"Probably any of them, but if you want to be on top, probably the masked blonde one or the gray-blue-haired one. Sorry, I forgot you knew their names, Killer or Heat."

She nodded. "Girls, treat Y/N to some relaxation." She pointed to a few other girls. "You come with me. You've kept our guests waiting long enough." 

You were whisked away yet again to another chamber, this time with a bath. The girls stripped you down and languidly lathered you up, taking their time, not allowing you to lift a finger. All you had to do was lay back and relax. Their touch was gentle, every now and then their fingers grazed are sensitive areas seemingly by accident, but it was all part of the experience. They put you in a silk robe and led you into a chamber with a large bed. The light was low, lit only by hundreds of candles. The scent was foreign to you, yet very pleasant. You already felt relaxed from the warm bath. Next, each girl was stationed at a different part of you, rubbing massage oil into your skin with skilled hands. An interesting shot was offered to you in a small glass, a special tincture to help you relax. You let your head fall back as they worked every muscle with increasing pressure. There was even someone at your head massaging your scalp. You felt someone put something soft over your closed eyes. What they neglected to let you in on was that this was the aphrodisiac room, where everything was carefully crafted to heighten and entice your senses, the candles, the massage oil, the food, even the material of the sheets. You hadn't begun to feel the effects yet, currently feeling like you were melting into the bed itself. 

Elsewhere, Wire was allowing himself to give up control, being patient as his body was contorted and bound by silk rope. Every knot made his dick twitch. The girls were more than happy to stroke him or give him a kitten lick as a tease. When they were satisfied that he was begging hard enough, they would allow him a release. However, currently, they were keen on touching each other in front of him, not allowing him any touch or taste. Blood rushed to his cock, making it stand at full attention. It was harder than he knew for the girls to resist touching such an impressive member. His usual self would want them in his position, he would want them to beg. He rarely allowed himself the opportunity to play the other role. Any movement of his hips or flex of his muscles made the ropes dig harder into his skin. 

"His cock is so desperate for us. Look at it weeping." One of the girls blew air across it, making Wire shiver. "You want us to touch it so badly don't you. What kind of pathetic man would grovel to two whores?" 

He clenched his teeth to stifle a whine. Wire's cock ached from the absence of touch. He watched as the girls took turns tasting each other, cumin on each others' tongues. One of the girls took her own slick and wiped it down his shaft in one stroke. He let the groan out this time. More pre-cum leaked from him. He was in a kneeling position on the bed with his thighs spread apart. Another of the girls backed her cunt up to him without touching him. He could feel the warmth though, and he hissed as the ropes dug into him again, instinctively trying to rut against her. The other girl dove her fingers into her partner, demonstrating her wetness by eliciting squelches from her pussy. She removed her fingers and held her open so Wire could get a good look at the glistening pink walls. 

"Please. Touch me. Use me to get off." Wire gave in. "I-I want to be..."

"What do you want?"

"I want to be your sex toy." 

It would have been embarrassing how quickly he came when he was finally sheathed within one of them, but he didn't care because it felt so good and because he was hard again soon after. 

In the next room, Heat was sticky. One after the other, girls took turns riding his face. Heat loved eating pussy, so it was no wonder what he wanted to do with his time. his face was coated in the various combined juices of his partners. He licked his lips and groaned. The sweet, metallic taste of pussy clung to his tongue. He had cum a few times without his cock even being touched, gooey white stripes were scattered on his belly. Using it as a lubricant, one of the girls ground her center against his abdomen. Another was riding his thigh. Heat was a giver. He got off on getting other people off. He loved watching the pleasure take over another's features while they used him. He loved feeling the wetness against his skin or his tongue.

Usually, he enjoyed being degraded. Today, however, he was being praised, and by the Madame herself, who had joined in late. He was being such a good boy for them, letting them use him however they pleased. They praised his tongue for how perfectly it lapped up their juices. They praised his lips and how they expertly worked their clits. His thighs were so muscular and fit to be ridden. His hands were rough and wonderfully calloused in a way that felt exquisite against their skin, brushing against their nipples and squeezing their breasts. They saved his cock for last, the Madame stood on the balls of her feet, guiding herself up and down his shaft, while another girl stifled his moans with her cunt. They rode him like a tandem bike until he couldn't last any longer. 

Killer was enjoying himself down the hall. He had wanted to try this with you and Kid sometime, but hadn't gotten around to it, though he was pretty sure you would both be into it. He was balls deep in one of the girls, while the other was balls deep in him, with a strap-on of course. He could have cum several times by now, though he stopped himself from getting too close.  He had the first girl's knees next to her ears, bending her in half. She hadn't stopped wailing since he started. These kinds of days were a dream, the ones where the girls thought they should be the ones paying for a service for how good they were getting fucked.  

Killer's hips stuttered as he got close again. The feeling of getting fucked himself was almost too much. He was feeling pleasure from both sides as the girl behind him, rammed into his sweet spot. He had to stop. He didn't want to finish yet. Killer was used to being the giver, today, he wanted to be selfish. He wanted to be the one cumming over and over again. He let go of his self-control, pumping straight through his orgasm, allowing himself to cum. He let out a guttural moan as he was fucked from behind until he saw stars, spilling his seed until it leaked from around where his cock was buried.

They allowed him no rest as he was pushed onto his back. The girl with the strap puled out during the rearrangement, and slowly pushed the silicone cock back into Killer, causing another small spurt of cum to leak from his tip. Her hand smeared it down his cock as she started pumping it back to life. He wanted to cum over and over again and that's exactly what he was going to get.

Kid, ever the problem child, grew more and more frustrated. He had several girls to accompany him, at the moment two were taking turns sucking his cock. It had been half-hard the entire time. He hadn't even drank that much, so what gives? He demanded more girls, with little improvement. He was being pampered with any number of techniques. Some nipple play here, some asshole teasing there, and still his cock refused to stand tall. It wasn't the girls. They were all quite stunning, each in her own unique way. He knew why it was like this, and couldn't admit it to himself. 

Only when he let his eyes close, and pretend that it was you who was touching him, did his erection grow. He had to pretend it was your tight cunt wrapped around his cock when one of the girls was riding him. He had to pretend it was you who was stroking him or touching him. He had to pretend it was you when he fucked them. And he had to pretend it was you to cum. But it wasn't satisfying. He had to have the real thing. 

Kid begrudgingly got up. He tugged his pants on but left everything else on the floor. He walked in the direction that your collar alerted him to, pausing briefly to listen in to the other rooms. Everyone else could enjoy themselves freely. Why couldn't he? It wasn't fair. This was something completely new to him. Never had he been like this. He nearly bowled over the Madame, who had slipped into the hallway. 

"Something wrong? Were my girls not satisfactory?"

"Nah. They were fine."

She studied his face. "But they weren't what you wanted, or rather, who you wanted, were they?" She had seen it enough times to know.

Kid frowned. 

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Kid frowned even more.

"Have you told her how you feel?"

"And say what?!" This was so stupid. Talking about this in a whorehouse with the head whore. "That I haven't been able to get her dumb face out of my head since I first saw her? That she's so fucking annoying she makes my stomach hurt? That she makes me insane when she does stupid shit that might kill her? Those aren't feelings!" Kid released a breath. It felt good to say something out loud. He hoped no one had heard it though.

"You're right. Those aren't feelings." She held up one finger. "It's one feeling."

"That's not-! I don't-!" Kid stepped past her. "Where's Y/N?" Kid turned and growled. "UNRELATED!" 

"Very end of the hallway." The Madame smiled a knowing smile. How lucky you were to have someone so passionate. She walked to the back room, where the girls hung out or recovered and freshened up. She walked through to another back room filled with tools and props. Someone had left out the ingredients for their infamous Snake Venom shot, a powerful aphrodisiac, except there was a lot less of the active ingredient left in the bottle than there should have been. Whoever mixed it must have not been paying attention and doubled the amount. It was perfectly safe to ingest, but it was no wonder you hadn't come out of the back room yet. It was going to take a while for the effects to wear off. 

Kid huffed and stomped down the hallway, stopping at the end. He pressed his ear against the door. There was a lot of whimpering and whining behind it, maybe even... crying? It was enough for Kid to step in. Whatever scene lay in front of him, he could never have conjured in his head. You were lying across dark sheets with a silk robe falling off your body, which was bare underneath. He could see that your skin was coated in sweat and your entire body was trembling. There was a blindfold over your eyes and the girls surrounding you were teasing you with feathers or ice cubes against your sensitive skin. There were soft, loose restraints holding your wrists and ankles to keep you from flailing too much. Your thighs rubbed against each other as much as the restraints allowed and your back arched off the bed with frustration. The girls didn't give into your pleads to be touched, hence the tear streaked cheeks that Kid could see from the doorway.

"Please. I want- I want-"

"What is it?" One of the girls giggled.

"G-gimme my boys." You panted. "They'll h-help m-me."

"What a coincidence. One of your boys just walked in."

Kid felt himself be pushed towards you, the door slamming behind him. He was pushed until his knees touched the edge of the bed, amber eyes devouring your erotic form. A girl took his hand and spread it on your thigh. The rough skin of his palm elicited a moan that went straight to his groin. A moan like that just from one small touch? His eyes drifted to the sheets below you and how soaked they were. What was going on with you that you had clearly been cumming for a while and still acted as if you hadn't been touched at all?

You couldn't see anything but there was a faint smell of weld smoke and oil. "Kid?" Judging from the feel of his hand, it was definitely Kid. He had the roughest palm since he only had the one to work with. You heard the jingle and felt the tug of your collar. "Kid!" Your wrists were held back from trying to grab him. "Oh fuck please, Kid. Please." You couldn't articulate anything past that. In the time that you had been in this room, something happened to you. The part of your brain that controlled lust was uninhibited, running rampant. The thing about sex with strangers is that it didn't matter how they perceived you because you would never see them again. When you were with one of your crewmates, part of you was preoccupied with keeping up your prideful, tough girl front. But now, you couldn't give any less of a shit how Kid saw you. You felt like you would combust if you didn't cum soon. Whatever they had given you made it impossible to be satisfied. Even when they made you cum over and over again without ever touching any of your erogenous zones, it wasn't enough. You needed to get fucked and you needed it now. 

A chuckle rumbled in his throat. You were so cute begging without any pride holding you back. It was raw lust controlling you. "Don't ya worry, doll. Yer captain will take care of ya." 

You whined at his promising words, toes curling in anticipation. A breath was shakily sucked through your teeth as you felt his hand slide up your thigh to the silk tie that was still around your middle and untie it. His hand was splayed over your stomach and dragged up to your throat, pausing to squeeze before continuing to cup your cheek. You turned your head, chasing his thumb with your mouth. He let you suck on his thumb before switching it with his index and middle fingers. You swiped your tongue against them and your cheeks were hollow as you sucked your saliva off them. Kid pressed them further past your lips until you gagged. 

Kid took your saliva and used it to pump himself, not that he really needed to since he had been rock hard the second he stepped in the room. He got on top of you and seemed to change his mind about what he was going to do, turning around so that his cock loomed over your face. He positioned it against your lips and you opened wide. Kid's girth was hard to take. He moved slowly at first so you could get used to the feeling, at the same time bending down to lick a stripe down your cunt, tasting all the times you'd cum without him. There was a vibration around his cock as you moaned.

You didn't even care that Kid tasted like another woman's pussy, or that he was fucking your face, one of your least favorite things to do, especially with him because his cock was suffocatingly big. All you cared about was getting to your climax. More tears fell from your eyes and saliva leaked from the corners of your mouth as Kid moved faster. You were hardly aware of yourself gagging on him because a few strokes of his tongue were sending you to the moon. You felt the brush of teeth against your clit and that was your undoing. His cock muffled your cry of release. The restraints tugged against your skin as your body attempted to contort. Your muscles were beginning to get sore with the amount of times they had clenched during your orgasms. Without warning, salty, thick cum poured down your throat.

"Oh fuck!" Kid came much faster than he thought. He got off on how only a few of his touches turned you into a writhing mess. He took his cock from your mouth and watched you cough, choking on his seed. "What's wrong, doll? Couldn't take it?" He turned around to wipe the cum from the edges of your mouth and stuff those fingers back between your lips so you could clean them off.

"Need more." Your back arched off the bed again. You hadn't stopped moving, trying to gain more friction between your legs. "Captain, fuck my pussy please," you begged. "Touch me."

Kid was definitely going to ask for a to go sample of whatever they gave you. He trailed his fingers from your mouth to the apex of your slit, where he rubbed in slow, lazy circles. He could already feel you trembling against his touch. "What if I want yer ass?"

You shivered and groaned. "Take whatever you want. Just m-make me cum some more." It was confusing to want to stop cumming because it was beginning to exhaust you, yet still crave the release. You couldn't see because of the blindfold, but you could tell Kid was grinning by the inflection of his voice.

The girls who were in the room had mostly dissipated, though a few were still left in case anyone needed anything, or wanted them to jump back in. Kid asked one of them for lube. He spread a decent amount on his fingers.

You could hear some adjusting of position and feel the weight shift on the bed. There was a wet squelch of lube being squirted from the bottle. Then a cool sensation of the liquid touching your asshole. You bit your lip as Kid slipped his index finger in easily. He pushed in and out a few times before adding his middle finger. With that came a mild burning with the stretch. The third finger was when you started to squirm. It danced the line between pleasure and pain. There was another cold sensation as Kid pressed his metal thumb to your bud. A low vibration was added with the fourth finger to ease the painful stretch. 

By this time, Kid was fully hard again. He removed his hand from your ass and transferred the lubricant to his cock, adding more as well. He admired the small gape before pushing his cock in. Even with four fingers, there was still some stretching to be done. 

The feeling of being entered made your pussy clench around nothing. You were full and yet empty at the same time. You felt Kid release the restraints on your ankles and you greedily wrapped your legs around him, pushing against his ass to make him move.

He grabbed your hips and pulled you against his own until he bottomed out. Fuck, he loved seeing your hole stuffed, and he loved being stuffed in it. He loved seeing how open and pink and wet your greedy pussy was, just begging for another cock. For now, his finger would have to do. 

You groaned when you felt him press his metal finger against your entrance. He couldn't go past the joint for safety reasons, but the cold sensation and something to grip against was good enough. He moved his finger and his hips at the same time, building that release yet again in the pit of your belly. You were getting closer with every movement, even if it wasn't a full thrust. Kid removed his finger and focused on pounding into you, sensing that you want more. 

"F-fuck. K-keep go-nghhh." You threw your head back and came hard on his cock. 

Kid couldn't resist letting himself cum again. Your ass was so tight around him, and like a vice when you came. The way you were slowly coming undone turned him on. You didn't want to stop and neither did he until you were fucked silly and stupid. Even now, right after you had cum, you were already grinding on his softening cock, still in your ass. 

"Girlie, stop squirmin' or I'm gonna get Wire to tie ya up."

"Oh fuck yes. Please."

Kid was very much used to you resisting everything he said and was taken aback.

"Tell him to gimme that monster cock, too."  

Kid untied the rest of your restraints and flipped you over his lap, giving your ass a hard spank. "Mine ain't good enough?" 

Thoughts were difficult to form when every word and every touch went straight to the nerves connected to your cunt. "I n-need more."  

Kid spread your cheeks to watch his cum leak from your stretched hole. "Little slut wants all her holes filled." Kid saw your pussy clench. 

You nodded. Getting fucked by all of them at once would fix you, probably. 

Kid beckoned one of the girls to fetch Wire and another to get rope. He would get the others when the time came, but he figured Wire might have some fun with you first. The tall man walked through the door a few minutes later, looking bewildered, glancing between you and Kid. Then a dark grin appeared on his face. There was noticeable rope burn in symmetric lines across his body that Kid didn't comment on. 

"Look what we have here." He liked what he saw. You looked like a bitch in heat, melted across Kid's lap and literally begging to get fucked. 

"She won't keep her ass still." He nodded to the various ropes that were piled on the bed. "Ya know I'm not patient enough for that shit." 

Wire was all too eager to grab you from Kid's lap and throw you on the bed, facedown. He had wanted to bind and gag you since you came on board, mostly for practical reasons. He grabbed both of your hands and placed them behind your back, starting from there, he tied your forearms together horizontally. He wanted to create a harness around you so they could manhandle you however they liked by grabbing it. 

You felt your arms become more and more immobilized as Wire tied you up. The large man had his knee on your back, firmly keeping you in place. The pressure pressed your pelvis into the sheets and if you wiggled your hips you could achieve som friction. You moaned as Wire pressed you down harder. Wire slapped your ass, making you stop. When the sting wore off, you couldn't help but do it again, earning another smack. The cycle repeated enough that by the time Wire had finished, your ass was full of bright red handprints. 

Wire flipped you over again so you were face up. "You're being a brat." 

Still blindfolded, you could tell where Wire was based on the way the bed shifted. You stretched your foot out to find Wire's cock, rubbing the underside with the sole of your foot, lightly pressing it to his abdomen. "Give it to me," you whined. You pulled your ankles up to the back of your thighs and let your knees fall open. 

"Needy little brat. You're dripping for me. Tell me how badly you want it." Wire loomed over you, bringing his fingers to your entrance, touching you so lightly you wouldn't be able to feel it normally.

"Wire, please. I h-have to have it. I h-have to c-cum on it." Your hips bucked against his fingertips.

"Will you be a good fuck toy and take everything I give you?"

You nodded vigorously. "I'll do whatever you w-want." 

"Don't cum until I say you can. Understand?" 

You nodded again, legs shaking with need as he pressed his fingers into you. He worked you open to make sure you could handle him. You didn't know if you could actually keep yourself from finishing in this state, so you hoped he would go easy on you. He withdrew his fingers, satisfied. The continuous orgasms helped you stay wet and ready. Wire pressed the tip of his cock into you. You held your breath, trying not to cum just from that. He couldn't sheath his entire cock into you due to its length, but you took more of him than he thought you could. 

Kid stroked himself at a lazy pace watching the scene before him. He twitched seeing your cunt at its limit and he swore he could see a slight bulge in your stomach whenever Wire went all the way in. Your increasingly needy voice brought his erection back to life in no time at all. 

"Fuck. You're gripping me so tight. Don't you dare cum yet." He felt your walls twitch around him. 

The threats coming from Wire were only making it harder for you to contain your orgasm. You could feel your thighs shaking, trying to hold it off. "I'm c-can't hold it." Wire fucked into you at a fast pace, bumping into your cervix with every thrust. 

"You can. Your slutty pussy is just being greedy." He could tell you really were on the edge with how sloppy his thrusts sounded when his hips slammed into yours. He could barely pull out you were clenched so hard around him. 

"P-please." You were gritting your teeth and tears fell from behind the fabric covering your eyes trying to hold out. 

"Take all my cum first and then you can."

There were no more words coming out so you nodded. All your thinking power went to your focus on not finishing. It was like he was dangling you over the edge but not letting you go over. 

"Fuck!" Wire released his cum inside, more spurting out with every stroke, much of it spilling out around his shaft as it disappeared in your hole. 

When you felt the twitch of his cock and the sticky sensation on your thighs, you finally let go. Screaming as your walls tried to milk more cum out of Wire. Without a second to spare, Wire lifted your torso from the bed so you were in a sitting position and you felt his hot, sticky member on your cheek. 

"Clean it off."

You were still blindfolded, and you couldn't use your hands, so you used your mouth to feel what you were doing. You licked all the juices from him until it was only you saliva coating it. And even there, you didn't stop. Finding the tip, you sucked on it, getting the last salty drops from his slit, and taking as much of him as you could in your mouth to make him hard again. You felt his hand in your hair. 

"Good girl. Keep doing that." Wire pressed your face into him until you were gagging. He grabbed you by the ropes and laid you down before getting on top of you again, this time his legs were on either side of your chest.

You could feel his heavy member sitting between your breasts. His hands were big enough to take one breast in each, which was saying something since your chest wasn't small. The tip of his cock pressed against your lips and you opened your mouth letting him in. You heard him spit and felt him squish your tits around his shaft. He was big enough that he could tittyfuck you and you could suck him off at the same time. 

This was the scene that Heat walked into. He was told he was needed here, but it looked like you had been well taken care of. Kid held a finger up to his lips, indicating to Heat not to reveal himself. He walked around to get a better view. Your knees were pressed together, though the mess on your thighs and how wet the sheets were betrayed the amount of times you or someone else had cum. 

"Clean my cum out of her." Wire didn't have to say it twice. 

You assumed it was Kid who parted your legs. You quivered at the feeling of hot breath against your thighs and then against your exposed pussy. Your mouth was too stuffed to say anything. All you could do was moan as lips moved against your overstimulated clit, then licked down your center. A tongue slowly lapped at your folds, teasing your entrance as it got closer. This didn't feel like Kid. This felt like someone making out with your pussy, not bullying it. So it could either be Heat or Killer, though you hadn't heard anyone come in. The tongue moved in and out of you, dipping deep to reach all of Wire's mess. The next pass of the tongue lingered on your clit, where lips stayed to suck at it. Wire's weight prevented your back from coming off the bed, though your hips could still move to grind. 

You felt one hand come off your breast before you felt a slap across the face. 

"Don't pay attention to him. Suck my cock."

You moved your head as much as you could to please Wire. You flicked your tongue along the edge of his glans, swirled it around the tip, pressed it into his slit. 

You felt another slap on the opposite side. 

"Too slow." 

It hurt, yet you wanted more of it. And you again, were so close to another release, clit aching in someone's mouth. You tried to go faster and couldn't do much more than you were already doing. You felt both of Wire's hands leave your breasts and his weight shift. Then suddenly his hands were gripping your hair, tilting your head up slightly. 

"If you can't listen to instruction, I'm gonna teach you how." Wire used his grip as leverage and pulled you along his shaft while he fucked your throat. 

The juxtaposition of the rough treatment on one end and gentle on the other was confusing to your horny brain. It hurt your throat when Wire forced his way deeper, and you tried your best not to gag. You very much enjoyed the way he was roughly tugging your hair though and it made you groan around his shaft. It was hard to breathe with Wire's cock taking up all the space in your throat. Black tugged at the edges of your vision as you teetered on the edge of both passing out and climaxing. With a gasp, you could breathe again and you felt warm spurts hit your face and chest. The rush of oxygen sent fire through your lungs and pushed you over the edge. Your thighs squeezed around the source of pleasure between your legs, which must have been Heat, judging by the hair texture. Killer's was softer. You shrieked with the intensity of the orgasm, irritating your now sore throat.

Wire grabbed Heat from between your thighs by his hair and shoved him into your chest. "Clean that up too, dog."

You felt Heat lick and suck at different parts of your chest, lingering around your nipples to play with them a little. He moved up to your neck, burying his face in its crook to bite, earning a whine from you. 

Wire's eyes narrowed. "Heat, are you fucking around or are you doing as I told you?" 

A whimper came from Heat above you and he went back to licking up the dots of cum on your face. 

"Heat," you whined. "Kiss me." Your legs wrapped around him, pinning him place. "Fuck me." 

"You want to get fucked by this mongrel?" You were startled by how close Wire was to your ear. "Fine. You want to be fucked by an animal then you can get fucked like one." Wire shoved Heat off you and flipped you on your stomach, pulling your ass up in the air. 

You felt Heat behind you. Your cunt was slick enough he slid right in, causing you both to moan. Heat grabbed your arms and used them like a handle to pull you backwards onto him. His ground his cock up into you, reaching for the spot he knew would make you cum. 

Wire's voice was in your ear again. "Tell him what you want."

"P-please make me cum, H-Heat."

"No, tell him what you really want." Wire prompted. "You're a bitch in heat aren't you? Tell me you want to get bred." 

"I-" It was hard to think of anything when Heat was purposefully trying to make you cum quickly. 

"Tell him or I'll make him stop." 

"B-breed me, Heat. Fuck!" Saying it out loud made your cunt clench. "Fucking breed me!"

Kid had walked back in with Killer at the right time because hearing that tear from your lips made them both hard.

It was too much. Heat finally got you to your climax without a moment to spare. Those words had an instant effect of him. You were faintly aware of his dick twitching inside you as you pressed your face int the sheets and cried out. You couldn't even hold yourself up anymore, sinking down with your legs splayed as soon as Heat pulled out. There was a hand on your back.

"Look at you, breadcrumb. I guess you're more of a glazed donut now. You did so well taking everyone." Killer cooed, leaning down to be closer to you. "Do you think you could go one more round? For me?"

You nodded. The effects of the shot were wearing off and exhaustion was setting in. 

"That's our girl." He kissed the top of your head and pulled you to sit upright, holding on so you didn't fall over. He admired how pink and puffy your pussy was after hours of orgasms. It was still so wet and glistening, partially with your own fluids and partially Heat's cum. 

You felt the weight shift on the mattress again, in front of you and behind you. You were pulled into a lap, an erection rubbing your lower stomach. Then you were lifted and placed on it, as hips thrusting into you slowly, before you were settled into a lap. You had to lean forward and rest against him. You leaned up slightly to kiss his neck, but were met with helmet after a few seconds kissing upward. You made a noise of disappointment. 

Kid's voice came from behind you. "Sorry, doll. There's company." 

You felt him kiss up your back and bite the back of your neck, sending a shiver up your spine. Killer's hand grabbed your asscheeks and spread them apart, using them to stroke himself a few times before stopping to steady you. Again, you felt the cool sensation of lube being applied to your asshole. You expected one of them to lay back, but they both stayed on their knees, sandwiching you between them. You bit down on Killer's shoulder and groaned as Kid pushed his way into you with his dick. Killer held your hips and helped you ride both of them at once. You were doubled over, leaned against Killer's shoulder and drooling on it in a matter of minutes. You were so weak and so close to climaxing again. 

"Y-you both f-feel so g-good. So b-big." 

"That's it, bunny. Cum for us."

"Let it out."

You clenched around both of them, moaning wantonly with your orgasm, feeling your slick coat Killer and run down your thighs. Panting, you fell backward onto Kid's shoulder. He trailed a metal finger up your center and made a weak spark against your nipple, making you gasp. He caught it with his own mouth, placed over yours. He wanted to taste the sweet noises coming from your mouth. Your tongues mingled and his grunts were exchanged for your moans. With kiss-swollen lips, you pulled away.

"Killer, p-please. I want t-to kiss you." 

He made a noise. 

You don't know when she got here, but you heard Jade's voice, "Girls, l-leave us." 

Why did it sound like...? 

Suddenly, you could see. Wire grabbed the blindfold from you and tied it around Jade's eyes instead. Jade who was in very much the same position as you, though with Heat and Wire. "O-oh." You supposed you didn't hear her over yourself even though they were right next to you. Your eyes were glued to where Wire's dick was fully buried in her ass. Impressive. 

"Do you like watching, too?" Killer teased. "She liked watching you so much she had to come try it." 

You looked back at him to see that he had removed his helmet, and promptly attacked his lips with your own. Slowly, you felt your arms becoming more free. Killer's hands had left your hips to untie you. When you were freed, you stretched your arms, leaning back again and lacing them around Kid's thick neck. The change in angle had Killer hard-pressed against your clit from the inside. Kid pushed his mouth against yours again, panting. With your own noises stifled by him, you could hear Jade's pleasure tumbling from her lips. Her noises went straight to your pussy. The urge struck to break from Kid and pull Jade to your mouth instead. She tasted sweet, and even sweeter were the high-pitched cries coming from her mouth.

"C-cumming," she wailed and leaned on Heat, twitching. 

"Oh fuck. I'm- g-onna..." Your eyes squeezed shut as you felt your walls flutter around Killer and your ass clench around Kid. Your cry almost sounded pained. You were starting to cramp and your throat was sore from all the panting, screaming, and Wire. You were aching and you wanted to be done, but your body was still ready for another.

Killer could tell you were about used up. "It's ok. You're doing great." He held you against his chest with a hand on your back.

"O-one more." You panted. "Gotta c-cum one more t-time." You pushed yourself up. "L-let me do it."

"Are ya sure, bunny? Ya look fucked out." 

As an answer, you moved yourself up and down, grinding your hips against both of them. They let you do the work, but they helped support you, Killer with his hands on your hips, and Kid with his hands slightly higher. If this wasn't an orgy in a brothel with other people present, it might have been romantic. You swapped between kissing Killer and Kid. Your eyes were half-lidded, and you were basically on autopilot with a singular goal in mind. 

"K-Kid can you do t-that thing?"

He had no idea what you were referring to and you didn't appear to be in a state where you could coherently answer. So he guessed. In the background, it sounded like the others were wrapping up too.

As you rode them, Kid pressed his metal finger against your clit, vibrating the metal. A stream of curses left your mouth as you approached your orgasm. You felt the molten hot core within your belly burn brighter with every drag of their cocks inside you. "W-want you t-to c-um first." Your legs were starting to feel like jelly. "Wan to f-f-feel it." Kid pressed his finger more firmly to your core and laughed darkly, making your legs shake. He had no intentions of finishing first. Killer pushed you onto his cock and thrusted into your sweet spot, having you burying your face into his chest to moan. Kid pulled you back so Killer could see your face. There was the slightest, tinging spark, like what Kid had done to your nipple earlier, causing the little bundle of nerves to be set off. You were pressed into Kid's chest with your back arching, eyes rolled back, mouth open without noise coming out because you couldn't release your breath. You heard a moan from Killer as your cunt milked him dry, seed spilling from between your thighs. A flood of warmth spread over your body as endorphins rushed through your blood. Kid's dick was buried in your ass and the way you tightened around him made it hard to move.

Kid made a few more pumps into your ass before falling over the edge himself, muttering into your ear, almost a whisper, "Ah fuck! I love ya." 

Tag list: @bbnbhm @nocturnalrorobin

[spaghettificationandpretzels]

Hello my dear! So excited for Kinkfest! Could I please request praise kink & size kink with Mr. Sex-On-Legs himself, Billy Russo? 😍

Thank you so much for requesting, everyone seems to like size kink with this man!

Masterlist

A soft touch

Contains: Protective Billy, violence, oral sex (f receiving) fingering, P in V, fluff.

1.3K words

Billy is very gentle and sweet, at least with you he is.

Billy was so proud, the charity auction you had put on for Curt's group had raked in more than enough to keep the doors open and butts in seats for months to come. To make matters even better, he got to stick to the rich assholes who acted like donating a few bucks on their out of the Anvil office was saving humanity.

He walked up behind you and wrapped his arms around your waist, resting his head on your shoulders as he whispered into your ear. "You did good tonight gorgeous."

You craned your head and kissed him, and his fingertips grazed your cheek as he spun around to pull you close. "You wanna get out of here?"

Billy grinned. "Fuck yeah."

He took her hand and led you outside, but before he could open the car a shout stopped you both in your tracks. "Hey, baby why don't you leave the pretty boy and have some fun with me?"

Billy went stiff as a board, placing you behind him so he could stand between you and the yelling man. "Billy, let's just go."

You didn't have time, the man was already swagging over, his drunk gate wobbling as he walked. You wrapped your hand around his upper arm and tried to pull him, but it made no difference. "You should listen to your girl buddy, you wouldn't want to embarrass yourself getting into a fight you can't win."

You tended to forget how tall Billy really was, how imposing his height could be with just a change in his mood because he never gave you a reason to notice it. "Go the fuck home, I won't ask again."

Damn alcohol and its effects because all the man did was laugh and rear his fist back. Billy didn't even need to think to stop it, he just dropped the man with one punch. He watched the man get up and hobble away, ignoring the string of obscenities that came from his mouth. He placed his hand on your lower back as he opened the car door and helped you inside. "Sorry about that gorgeous."

You reached out and grabbed his hand, looking over his bruised knuckles as he smiled down at you. "Are you alright?"

He nodded. "Yep, that guy was nothing."

He pushed your door closed and climbed into the driver's seat, kicking the car over as his hand found your tight. "Let's go home."

****

Billy placed his folded suit jacket over the chair back and cleaned his bruised hand in the sink before walking behind you and unzipping your dress. "Did I tell you how beautiful you look tonight?"

You nodded. "Twice."

He kissed a path from shoulder to shoulder across your upper back, ending up kissing a line from shoulder dome to neck until his lips were at your ear. "Then let me tell you again, you look beautiful."

Your dress fell to the floor, and he walked in front of you, stretching his hand out for you to take so you could step out of the pile. He walked you to the edge of the bed and paused, his eyes moving up and down your body to take in the lacy set of lingerie. "I'm am the luckiest man on the planet."

You unbuttoned his dress shirt as he slid the straps of your bra off your shoulders, licking his lips at the newly revealed skin when it hit the floor. He stilled for a moment, his fingers drifting down your chest until his thumb was circling a nipple with the softness of freshly fallen snow, and then the air caught, and his lips slammed into yours. There was a rush to shed the rest of your clothes, and then you were scurrying up the bed with Billy hovering over you.

He was rock hard, his long, thick cock standing attention as the tip leaked with his arousal. His lips were on yours again, all lust and heat and his massive hands grabbed at whatever flesh he could reach. It was hard to know where to touch, there was just so much of him that it left you spoiled for choice. His back rippled under your hands as you dug your nails into his skin when his lips sealed around a nipple, your head falling back into the pillows as heat filled you.

The other one got the same treatment and soon enough, he was pressing kissing all over your abdomen on his way further down. He lifted your legs over his shoulder and kissed every inch of your thighs that he could reach before looking up at you through his long eyelashes. "Can I?"

"Yes please."

You loved the way he held you when he did this, his forearm thrown over your hips, keeping you still while he licked at you like he wanted to win some prize and the other holding your thigh, his fingers pressing into the skin in indistinct patterns like he was typing out a code. A gasp caught in your throat as the hand on your thigh moved towards your centre, his fingers slipping under his lips as he slid them inside you.

His thumb replaced his mouth, and he looked up at you with a soft smile. "Does that feel good, Sweetheart?"

"Yes." His lips were back on you as he stroked your G-spot with his calloused fingertips as you wove your hands into his hair. Pleasure zipped up your spine with each pass of his tongue and curl of his fingers and you yanked his hair as he moaned against you. "Billy.." He groaned an affirmative, and you held him to you as you came, him riding the wave with you until your hips stilled against the bed.

He pulled away, wiping his face with the back of his hand before kissing a line up your body to your lips. He took your face in his face, resting his forehead against yours and smiled. "You're so good for me." You spread your legs and he settled between them, gripping his cock and rubbing it up and down your slit. "Can I?"

"Yes please." He didn't leave you waiting, sliding home with a grunt as he hiked your legs over his waist with one hand.

He buried his face in your neck as he started to rock his hips, his voice tight with pleasure as he spoke. "My good girl, I love you so much."

He shifted angles to hit your G-spot as he picked up sped, and you tilted your head to the side to give him more room to suck at your neck as he ran one hand downwards, between your bodies to rub your clit. His lips broke away from your flesh so he could gaze into your eyes, his face filled with affection as he watched your expression fill with pleasure. "Can you give me another one?"

You gasped and nodded with each hitch of his lips, and he smiled. "I know you can." Your nails dug into his back as the edge approached and he kissed you again, nibbling your lower lip as he pushed you into a spine snapping orgasm. "Good girl."

He shifted again, putting his weight onto his hands as he chased his high. With one last thrust, he collapsed on top of you, his chest heaving as he kissed you softly. He rolled off you, moving onto his back to take you with him so your head rested on his chest. "Thank you gorgeous girl."

You sighed. "I should be thanking you."

He smirked and pressed his lips to your temple. "No, you have no idea how much I love you."

You turned your head and pressed a kiss to his firm chest. "I do, and I love you too."

He wrapped his arms around you and buried his face in your hair. "I'll run you a bath in a bit, I just want to hold you a little longer."

You laid your face on his cheek, and his eye fluttered closed. "I like the sound of that."

Fin

[karasuno-planet]

Long Distance + Prying Eyes- Oikawa Tooru

Post-Timeskip Oikawa x fem!reader

genre: a little bit of angst w/jealousy, but mostly fluff <3, sfw

wc: 0.6k

a/n: wow i wrote for a character that's not a Karasuno player?? Are you shocked? amazed? proud? thanks guys. my requests are open, enjoy <3

(gif not mine)

You had always felt like long-distance was a little harder on you than it was on him, despite his constant reminders that he misses you just as much. When he moved to Argentina he was swept up in the sport he had always been so devoted to, and who knew there would be just as many fangirls in Argentina as there were in Japan?

You were the only one who got to know Tooru in the way that you do, though. You have everything those girls want but could never have, but there was always still a lingering tinge of jealousy for the fact that they got to be physically around him while you were constantly reminded of his absence.

You sat in your apartment, eagerly tuning in to an interview Oikawa was doing. You opened your phone to see Tooru had sent you yet another picture of himself, this time showing you the outfit he had chosen for the interview. Soon enough, you see his tall frame walk on screen and sit down with the interviewer.

The questions had been pretty normal, asking mostly about his sport and his experience as an olympian. But your attention was particularly grabbed when the interviewer started asking about his personal life.

"So, Oikawa, it's no secret that you're the attracting force of a new fanbase, particularly a lot of girls your age have been tuning in since you joined the team here in Argentina."

He kept his sincere composure, seemingly unfazed by the question and still flashing his million-dollar smile, "Yes, I've had the opportunity to meet a lot of fans lately, which I'm grateful for."

"Oh, you have? Anyone in particular? I know our viewers are dying to know if someone has captured your heart."

"Well I hope I make it come across clearly that I'm in a serious relationship..." He responded using a light-heated tone, but he still came off a little defensive. You didn't mind that.

"Really? Tell us more!"

"I try to keep that aspect of my personal life a little more private, but I have a beautiful girlfriend back in Japan. I hope to show you more of her soon," He smiled so confidently while talking about you, and the respectful way he always spoke about you made your heart melt.

"How do you feel about your fans then? Are you creeped out?" The interviewer seemed to be asking questions to probe him for drama rather than discuss his career, which felt so skeevy to you. Thankfully, Oikawa was more than equipped to handle the questions.

"I'm always grateful for the support, and honestly flattered, but I always call for fans to respect my relationship and it hasn't been a huge issue." He smiled and nodded his head, "I just find myself so in love that it doesn't even faze me anymore. I don't give a single look to other girls." Upon hearing this your cheeks flushed red; there was no better words he could've said to the world to solidify how he felt about you and push away prying eyes.

A similar rush was given to you as you saw the words "I just find myself so in love that it doesn't phase me anymore" printed at the top of a news article the next day with your boyfriend's smiling face right below.

Long distance was not easy by any stretch, but having Oikawa Tooru as your boyfriend made it so worth it.

[masterlist]

[jji-lee]

Hey love , I was wondering if you could hit us with a nct dream x bridgerton short blub 💞

this is clearly not a short blurb (im so sorry) but i wanted to describe them each as suiters, i hope you still enjoy! <3

dearest readers,

last night’s ball was filled with chatter on some of this season’s fine young ladies however, one lady in particular, lady y/n bridgerton, seemed to be the belle of the ball.

the bridgerton estate was bustling with life as it hosted the most anticipated ball of the season. chandeliers set the mood as the candles adorning them cascaded a warm glow throughout the hall. the air was filled with a light scent of lilies and the sound of the live orchestra. guests were wearing their finest attire, excitement radiating off their bodies as they awaited tonight's matches.

tonight lady y/n bridgerton was a sight for sore eyes. a beauty in her long shining gown, figure defined by the lining of her handcrafted dress. her heart raced with excitement at the sight before her. this was her debut season, and she was anything but excited to have some time in the spotlight but little did she know that this season had some of the finest suitors on the market.

as she strolled around the ballroom lady y/n came across her first suitor, lord jeno lee. she had caught his eye as he spoke to some familiar guests, her smell of vanilla pulling him in. he was confident, his charming smile easily making girls weak. he lightly tapped lady y/n's shoulder hoping she would spend some time with him. as she turned she was pleasantly surprised by the figure in front of her, a tall handsome man, eyes shaped like crescent moons as he smiled wide at her. he introduced himself a light hand coming up to grasp hers. she immediately felt at ease opening up and telling him about her hobbies and interests. she felt like she had spoken for a lifetime, feeling warm as he nodded and smiled at her words, his hand never leaving hers. as she realized she had been the one speaking she blushed softly asking lord jeno what his interest were. but as he opened his mouth to speak a charming fellow approached them ready to steal her away.

"may i? lady y/n is not yet taken by you i assume?" lord jeno was all too kind allowing you to spend some time with your next suitor. you soon discovered he was duke of ashford, haechan lee, notorious for throwing the best balls and well, secret after parties. he ducked his head down as he brought your hand up to his lips. you flinched at the contact slightly tugging your hand away, but his grip only became stronger, a grin growing on his stupidly handsome face. "you're the talk of the ball tonight lady y/n, might i add your mother did a beautiful job decorating this place." you smiled at the compliment towards your mother, swayed by the idea that he had kept her in mind, "that is a great compliment coming from you duke, maybe you can invite me to a ball of your own someday?" he pulled her near as he got close enough to whisper, "you do know what goes on in my balls don't you m'lady, if that is the type of entertainment you seek, then just let me know now, i’ll have everything ready for you." he gave her hand one final kiss and danced away, proud that he left her red and flustered.

a cold touch jolted her out of her shocked state, as she turned to see the owner of this touch her eyes widened upon seeing the one and only lord renjun huang. he had pushed a cold glass into her arm to catch her attention, "excuse me, m'lady you were looking a bit hot, would you care for a drink?" she was relieved by the sudden change of demeanor between the men feeling comfort as she reached for the glass and muttered out a small thanks. "i'm surprised to see you here my lord, i hear you never come out to these sort of events." he blushed at your comment, knowing of the rumors of him being 'forever in solitude.' "yes, well, i saw someone this season who has caught my eye, maybe she will be the one to dismiss these rumors." she giggled at his comment knowing he was clearly talking about her, she was flattered that she was the one to finally get him to come to a ball. as their drinks emptied lady y/n excused herself to the ladies room to fix up her fading lip tint. as she walked through the ball she heard a familiar voice call her name…

a tall figure pushed through the crowd of guests hand in the air to stop her, “y/n, oh excuse me, y/n, pardon me, lady y/n, oh will you get out of my way” she stopped to see who was causing this disturbance. finally the man reached her, mumbling under his breath something about an annoying duke that needs to learn manners. “y/n i requested they play our song, let me have this dance?” lady y/n’s long time best friend lord chenle lee stuck his hand out awaiting her answer. she giggled at his disheveled appearance, he’d never been one to dress up for these kinds of occasions, and accepted his dance. he pulled her into the dancing crowd a familiar up beat tune playing. some would think they were long lost lovers finding each other again as they laughed, swayed, and twirled around the ballroom. but do not be fooled my dear reader, this lord seemed to be a temporary distraction for sweet lady y/n as she was seen shortly after with someone else to fill her cup…

as she caught her breath, a small smile still resting on her face, she heard a small voice behind her, “care for a refill m’lady?” she turned to see a very tall dark haired boy standing in front of her, he was dressed in all black a towel draped over his forearm, hands holding a bottle ready to refill her cup. as he looked up at her through his bangs she saw his features, a beautiful nose and lips adorning his face, “can i ask your name? lord…?” he quickly put the bottle down to wave his hands dismissively, “ no no, not lord, just jisung, jisung park, your mother hired me for this event” she smiled warmly at him causing his shoulders to relax and a light blush to form on his cheeks. “my mother has fine taste in bottle servers then” she held her glass out to him and giggled as he scrambled to pick up the bottle and pour the fizzy liquid into her glass. she gave him a light wink and walked out to get some fresh air in the garden.

as she wandered deeper into the large maze of a garden she began to hear distant giggling, as she continued to walk the sound grew louder. when she took a right turn she was greeted by a pair of strangers intertwined with one another. she gasped, quickly turning, well as quickly as her gown allowed, to shield her eyes from what was occurring in front of her. she heard the male laugh and the bushes rustle which she assumed was the girl running off, not wanting lady y/n to recognize her. lady y/n cleared her throat, “are you decent?” the male laughed again humming in approval. as she turned to see who this frisky male was she was met with a bare chest in front of her, buttons undone. she quickly put her hands over her eyes, “i asked if you were decent!” she felt his hands tug hers down. she looked up to avoid eye contact with his chest and was met with the beautiful face of duke jaemin na, this season’s biggest playboy, his sparkly teeth on display, “well hello there pretty lady, are you lost?” she backed away from him afraid she’d fall into his trap, “duke i actually am not lost, i will be finding my way out immediately!” she turned to exit the maze, hoping some magical force would guide her out. and unsurprisingly the duke followed behind her pestering her with questions from “what do you do on your free time?” to “have you ever been intimate with yourself?” she tried to ignore him, only answering the appropriate questions until she finally escaped the maze leaving him behind calling after her.

she finally thought the night was over and rushed to her mother’s side to find some peace, however, her mother had other plans. “my sweet girl, come, come!” she ushered her over, “i’d like you to meet sir mark lee!” a gentle looking man stood next to her reaching his hand out to lady y/n. as she took his hand he gave it a kiss and pulled her away from her mother to talk. “i’m sorry about all that, it’s getting late, i’m sure you’ve had a long night of suitors rushing your way” she smiled at him grateful that he acknowledged her struggle, “no worries sir, your company is welcomed, after everything i’ve been through your presence is soothing” he gave her a small smile before asking lady y/n to recount her night, giving her loud and exaggerated reactions to the stories, causing her to laugh at his expressions. they seemed to hit it off well, finding comfort in the others words.

the night seemed to end too early for lady y/n bridgerton, but it seemed she had done more than enough work for herself this season, as the next morning she was greeted by seven handsome men wanting to speak with her. now it is far too early to say which man has infiltrated the heart of our darling lady y/n. but patience my dear reader for tomorrow is right around the corner.

yours truly,

lady whistledown

[blank-house]

I've played through most of the revamped demo (still gotta check some other dialogue differences tho) and I ADORE IT SO MUCH!!!!! After playing through the original demo, I didn't think I could possibly love Keyframes more, yet here we are!!

One of my favorite changes was definitely Jamie's introduction. It was super cute while also showing more of the downside to Jamie's popularity!!.....BUT THE LAUGH CAUGHT ME OFF GUARD LMAO In a good way tho <33

(I'm also not sure if it was intentional, but I noticed a Percy laugh made its way into the demo along with Jamie pfft)

All in all, I loved it sooooo much and can't wait for the extended demo to drop!!! Super proud of the team, y'all have done amazing so far <3 — Hallow 💌

oh, we're so glad it came off the right way!

making sure that jamie came across the way that we wanted him to was a big priority in the rehaul of the initial otojam demo, which marina's alluded to! i'll say on our end that it was and remains fairly significant to us that jamie isn't just the campus boyfriend because we say he is. he's the campus boyfriend and we want to make sure that it shows in the text for better or worse that this is the case!

i think of his little giggle every day.

i mourn it.

we're glad to hear you and others are so excited to see the extended demo! the enthusiasm will get us over to the other side! hopefully sooner than later. hope you have a nice day!

[theinfinitedivides]

what do i have to do to get Joanna Newsom fans to listen to Shabaka and his recent solo debut album Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace. what do i have to sell who do i have to bribe pls brethren he is right there

[5sospenguinqueen]

Love To Hate | Daniel Ricciardo x Gasly! Reader

Summary: Daniel Ricciardo is known for bickering with Pierre Gasly's older sister online. The fans love it but they suspect there might be something more behind it.

Warnings: Swearing. One sexual innuendo. Female reader.

Takes place in the 2022 season so Daniel is with McLaren.

Main Masterlist

━━━━━━ ༻𖥸༺ ━━━━━━

mclaren just posted

liked by oscarpiastri, alex_albon and others

mclaren spot the difference #MonacoGP tagged: landonorris, danielricciardo

2,446 comments

YourUserName the one on the left can actually drive

→ User 1 wtf does she know about f1

→ User 2 um, her baby brother is a GP winner so…

danielricciardo @ YourUserName coming from the woman who failed her driving test twice

→ YourUserName @ pierregasly you weren’t supposed to tell your little racing friends that!

→ pierregasly do not drag me into this nonsense.

landonorris @ YourUserName thanks pookie

→ danielricciardo more like pukie

→ YourUserName you’re just mad that he gets bitches and you don’t

→ danielricciardo okay, cradle snatcher

User 3 mom and dad are fighting again

danielricciardo here’s to a good weekend 💪

→ YourUserName ass licker

→ danielricciardo you wish.

→ maxverstappen1 can you guys not do your foreplay privately

━━━━━━ ༻𖥸༺ ━━━━━━

YourUserName just posted

liked by arthur_leclerc, lilymhe and others

YourUserName soaking up the sun before the madness resumes (01/06/2022) 🌻

2,488 comments

danielricciardo i need to bleach my eyes. please cover you up before you mentally scar someone else.

→ User 5 he says like his jaw didn’t drop when this came across his timeline

User 6 how to become y/n gasly

→ YourUserName have an annoying brother and endure his equally insufferable friends

lilymhe the only reason i’m still with Alex is so i have an excuse to spend time with you in the paddock

→ YourUserName we could get married and then you could see me all the time??

→ alex_albon it’s a good thing I’m used to this or i might cry

→ georgerussle63 don’t lie. i can hear you sobbing from my hotel room.

MaleFriend wow 🥵 → danielricciardo try harder (comment deleted)

━━━━━━ ༻𖥸༺ ━━━━━━

PierreGASLY you’re both certified yappers. it’s why the two of you together is a nightmare

User 7 hmm, okay but why were you two together in the first place if you hate each other…

→ danielricciardo I was bullying her

→ YourUserName pierre ditched me to talk to a pretty girl and Daniel was making fun of the fact that I got lost

→ LandoNorris i wouldn’t have left you… just saying 👀

→ YourUserName i’m 10 years old than you, boo.

→ LandoNorris age is just a number

━━━━━━ ༻𖥸༺ ━━━━━━

danielricciardo just posted

liked by mclaren, scottyjames31 and others

danielricciardo preferred mode of transport... fast

6,443 comments

YourUserName title of your sex tape “i'm in love with my car”

YourUserName someone’s clearly compensating for something

→ danielricciardo omg why are you so obsessed with me. Get out of my comments, stalker

→ YourUserName let’s not forget you stalked me first

→ danielricciardo where’s your proof

→ pierregasly here. you begged me for her instagram until i gave in

→ danielricciardo and then i realised what a bitch she was

→ YourUserName just ‘cause i wouldn’t blow you

→ pierregasly i need you to delete this

User 1 this man is so fine

User 2 i’d like to ride

→ YourUserName you’d have more fun with the car

→ User 2 omg hi queen

━━━━━━ ༻𖥸༺ ━━━━━━

liked by charles_leclerc, francisca.cgomes and others

YourUserName last race of the season today. just wanted to say a big ‘well done’ to my baby bro. so proud of all you achieved this season and i know you’ll go on to kill it next year! 🍾 #AbuDhabiGP

3,323 comments

YourUserName yes, i know one pic has daniel. no, it’s not an announcement of our friendship. i just like how scared pear looks

User 8 i have never been more attracted to a frenchman before

danielricciardo and who is that handsome man

→ YourUserName there is not a single handsome man in this post; charles was sulking out of the frame

→ pierregasly 1) i am very handsome, 2) stay away from charles, he’s too nice for you

→ danielricciardo and too pretty

→ charles_leclerc stop it or i will fall in love with all of you

→ YourUserName @ pierregasly i’ll stop if you promise to get rid of daniel so i don’t have to see him again

→ danielricciardo and deny you of my bakery 🍑

→ User 9 it's cake, honey, but you tried

User 10 anyone catch the camera panning to y/n when daniel’s car spun out in qualifying

→ User 11 talk about delulu

→ User 12 because he almost crashed into her brother so obvi they would show her

pierregasly just posted

liked by francisca.cgomes, yukitsunoda0511 and others

pierregasly a huge thank you to my support system. je t'aime grande soeur 🌸 (she forced me to post this, please send help)

5,222 comments

YourUserName you’re such a liar! you were legit crying to me last night about how nice it is that i still come to all your races and then said you wanted the world to know

→ pierregasly don’t expose me!

→ landonorris come sit in my car instead. rub a little luck on it

→ User 12 never beating the no rizz allegations

danielricciardo @ landonorris probably best she doesn't, she’s clearly a curse, mate

→ YourUserName and how many races did you win this season?

→ danielricciardo i hope pierre pushes you off the plane tomorrow

→ YourUserName i hope you get run over in the pits

alphatauri we love having you in the garage

User 1 agreed. her hair looked so pretty today and he ruined it

User 2 only for him to then completely forget what he was saying when he realised she was wearing a white shirt? yes! it’s been playing in my head

→ User 3 can’t say i blame him. i too was no better than a man 👀

User 4 but the way he covered her body with his the second he realised to stop the camera focusing on her see-through top

→ User 5 and then gave her one of his shirts because she was walking around in a mclaren top until pierre yanked her into the alphatauri garage

→ User 6 guys, this is bare minimum. him being hot doesn’t make this extra chivalrous

User 7 another angle of that video showed it was an accident. he can be seen saying sorry a billion times and after that, they put a border around the fountain

YourUserName posted a new story

danielricciardo reposted your story

━━━━━━ ༻𖥸༺ ━━━━━━

YourUserName just posted

liked by carlossainz55, georgerussell63 and others

YourUserName happy 4 year anniversary to my professional car crasher tagged: danielricciardo

7,114 comments

User 1 i knew it! they all called me crazy

danielricciardo delete this. you said you would be a nice. i’m a champion! how many trophies do you have, huh

→ YourUserName depends on how many i steal from the trophy case in our living room (plus, those are replicas)

→ User 2 our?!?!

charles_leclerc but i thought you loved me?

→ YourUserName i do, citrouille. but, daniel and pierre are keeping us apart.

User 3 4 years? this means they were together when he was still at red bull! what did you think about him leaving?

→ YourUserName i'm not allowed to talk about that

landonorris congratulations, mum and dad

→ alex_albon congratulations, mum and dad

→ georgerussell63 congratulations, mum and dad

→ YourUserName i didn’t sign up for this responsibility

→ danielricciardo they’re a package deal, babe. they come with me

maxverstappen1 oh, thank god. It was so hard keeping this to myself in interviews

danielricciardo just posted

liked by maxverstappen1, kellypiquet and others

danielricciardo contrary to popular belief, pierre is not my favourite gasly

6,998 comments

YourUserName aww, mon coeur, you actually used nice photos

→ danielricciardo don’t speak french to me, you know it turns me on

→ maxverstappen1 i miss when you publicly hated each other

pierregasly you take that back!

pierregasly that’s it. you’re off the Christmas card list

francisca.cgomes wonderful, daniel, now he’s sulking

→ YourUserName you get used to it. they may seem cool but all f1 drivers are essentially big crybabies

→ danielricciardo hey!

→ charles_leclerc hey!

→ pierregasly hey!

→ alex_albon hey!

→ landonorris hey!

→ carlossainz55 hey!

→ georgerussell63 true

━━━━━━ ༻𖥸༺ ━━━━━━

Please request if you have any ideas you'd like to see, and I'll do my best to bring them to life <3

[ghoularaki]

cw: zayne being a service dom, size kink, fingering, bondage. MDNI

zayne honestly loves how much of a brat you are.

if he was a little less reserved he could say he was proud it. most of it is his doing by letting you get away with your princess-like attitude and continuously spoiling you.

he loves how you huff and stomp like a bunny when you don't get your way. but what he loves the most is how you cling to him and beg him to indulge you. depending on his mood, he will give in. though, when he's stern with you and you back down with wide eyes, obviously embarrassed, that's his favorite part.

no matter how much you like to pretend you are in charge, one little firm glance and you are instantly flustered. it always pulls an amused simper onto his face before he goes back to his typical stoic expression.

he can't help but bribe you with little treats whether it be candy, stuffed animals or himself when he wants you to listen. it always works like a charm. but on the days you want more he still obliges since you don't listen with harsh punishments, if anything you crave them. it's like allowing a child to eat as much candy as they want for them to finally learn too much of a good thing can be bad.

you look so pretty like this: under him and mewling like a kitten. it had been another day of you avoiding a checkup meaning he had to seek you out. at least this time you had the decency to sound guilty. telling him you forgot despite he had put a reminder on your phone for you.

so he offered to take you home, well more so his home, but you had no qualms. or you didn't.

now you laid on his bed, hands bound together by his tie, laid on your chest. your legs just as restrained, tied together with baby blue rope so your calf stayed to your thigh, and thigh to your chest on both sides. you were perfectly spread out for him, unable to squirm.

leaning over your form to establish just how much bigger he was than you, zayne's focus never strayed from your face. mouth parted and eyes hazy, you were thoroughly fucked out. he hummed in satisfaction. gently his fingers dragged in and out of your pussy, teasing.

"you're so pretty for me," his deep, soothing voice lulled into your ear.

a small moan broke out. tingles spread all across your body. he's been at this for what seemed to be hours. going at that pace that's enough to keep you at the edge, but never bring you over. it's maddening.

"zayne, i said i was sorry!" you cried out, wanting him to go more than a leisure pace.

"that you did."

his fingers pop out of your glistening hole to drag up to your puffy clit. from how your legs were forcibly spread, it was on perfect display. the swollen nub ready for zayne to play with at his discretion. your back arched as he swirled and flicked your clit.

"i'm sorry, please, please! i'll be good, i promise. i'll listen to you forever and ever, please," you babbled on.

zayne chuckled, amused at you being reduced to such a pliant thing. "i'll stop torturing you, now."

tears burst from your eyes as zayne kept his rhythm. moaning and whining, you snuggled closer to him as he bent further down to kiss away the tears. as you toes curled, zayne plugged his fingers back in and his thumb swirled your clit. petting the spongy spot deep inside you, you came with more babbles flowing from your tongue.

as you came down, he softly thrusted his fingers in and out, not wanting to drag your orgasm out as long as possible. when you sagged against the sheets, sweat on your forehead, you expect him to finally depart from you. but his fingers stayed inside, going back to tickling your g-spot.

"w-wait," you whimpered, still sensitive.

"you didn't think i was done, did you? there's still plenty you need to learn."

[thestarkinternship]

Mine

Bucky Barnes x Female Reader: One Shot (Smut)

Summary: When you went out for drinks with the team one Friday, you had no idea that this was how the night would end: with your back pressed flush against your bedroom door, a shaking thigh hitched over your boyfriend's shoulder and his pretty mouth daring you to completely let go for everyone to hear.

Word Count: 2.3k

Warnings: no mention of Y/N, profanity, oral sex (female receiving), jealous!Bucky, posessive!Bucky, slight praise kink, slight exhibitionism (people overhearing), hickeys, MINORS DNI!

A/N: This is my first time writing anything like this and i was (still am) very nervous to post it. But I promised myself I'd get back into writing, even if this is how I'm doing it. Thank you @ellemj for encouraging me to do this <3

"What do you think you were playing at tonight, huh?" Bucky's low voice caught your attention the second the pair of you walked through the door to your room. Looking up from the dresser where you had set your purse down, you met his eye. What once were bright blue had now clouded over with something else, something darker. Jealousy.

A lot of things came from having a secret relationship with Bucky. You got to see the sweet, caring side that he showed to no one else. You got to be the one he trusted most, and in turn place your trust in him. Above all else, you got to love each other. Tenderly, passionately, consumingly. And to you, the best part of it was that the other Avengers were none the wiser. All of the love and shared moments were kept just for you, hidden in late night walks and early morning kisses. It was better kept that way, you had always thought. No one was able to interfere with what they didn't know about.

But Bucky's mind thought differently, even if he had never wanted to admit it. He would've shouted from the rooftop of the Avenger's tower how much he loved you if you would've asked him to. He'd wrap a strong arm around your curves in front of everyone and kissed you on the cheek, a proud grin on his face as he got to show off the fact that you were all his. But he'd suppressed how he really wanted to act in favour of keeping you happy. After all, that was what mattered to him most of all.

That was until tonight. Bucky knew he was in trouble from the second you set foot in the place. There you were, your skirt grazing the top of your thighs, your long sleeved black shirt clinging to your curves like an elastic band. His eyes were no longer the only ones on you, and there wasn't a damn thing that he could do about it. Until now that you were back home.

"What are you talking about?" You asked quietly, looking up at him.

"You know damn well what i'm talking about." He took a daring step closer to you.

With a mind of their own, your feet took a hesitant step back, the soft click of your heels dragging across the floorboard in the uncomfortable silence. It wasn't like you were afraid of him, you never had been. But there was a dangerous atmosphere surrounding him that made you nervous.

He closed in on you as you didn't answer. Leaning down, his lips hovered close to your own, leaving just enough space for his thumb to reach up and trace your quivering bottom lip. You'd always thought it felt more personal when he touched you with his right arm. As much as you loved the feel of the cool metal sliding acros your skin, it was like he craved the true feeling of the flushed heat from your skin as it reacted to his touch and his touch only. In between your shaky breaths, his thumb dipped between your parted lips. But you resisted the urge to suck on it in the way he liked until you got to the bottom of what was getting this much of a rise out of him. When he saw that you weren't giving in to him just as he wanted, Bucky's tongue rolled in his own mouth.

Fine, if that's how you were going to be. He thought stubbornly.

He withdrew his thumb from your mouth, dragging down your bottom lip as he leaned in to capture it in a hungry kiss. As confused as you were about the whole thing right now, one thing was certain - when it came to kissing Bucky Barnes, you were certainly not about to complain or ask him to stop. His metal arm flew to your hip, the soft material of your skirt bunching up in his fist. You shivered slightly as the vibranium unintentionally brushed against your bare skin. Still holding onto you, he guided your hips back until you heard the soft thud of your body against the door as your back pressed against it. His right hand slid from the side of your face and to the nape of your neck. Reaching up, Bucky tugged gently at the root of your curls, twirling the soft strands around his rough hand. A soft gasp left your mouth, giving him the opportunity to slide his tongue against yours. You welcomed the feeling, giving in to him completely as the curious thoughts about what had led you to this position slipped from your mind.

And just as quickly as it had began, his lips were gone. They trailed across your trembling jaw and down the soft juncture of your neck. His tight grip released your hair, and your head nearly fell slack against his at the sudden loss of the physical control over you. Bucky tilted your chin back up and to the side, his precise movements giving him all of the access to your exposed throat that he desired. Delicate kisses on your skin turned rough, and his teeth gently nipped at you to earn soft whimpers. He smirked against your skin, rolling it between his full lips even harder.

"Fuck, you're gonna leave a mark…" you whined, "Bucky, you're being too damn rough, you're gonna…"

Bucky finally let go off your skin, but kept dangerously close to your ear instead. There was a split second before he spoke where all you could here was his panting breaths, and that alone kept your heart pounding.

"Maybe I should mark you up," Bucky's voice was ragged, "send you down to breakfast tomorrow morning covered in hickeys that I gave to you, just to remind Steve every time that he sets eyes on your pretty face that you're mine."

Your hazy eyes shot wide open. There it was. That's what this whole ordeal had been about? Bucky was jealous of Steve?

"Wh-what do you mean?" You could barely stutter out.

"Back in the bar tonight."

You swallowed nervously as you cast your mind back over the events of the evening. Being excited to see everyone. Knocking back several drinks over the course of the evening. Bucky smirking as you found any excuse to get close to him without anyone noticing. Nodding politely in your conversation with Steve as you tried to distract yourself from the less than pure thoughts that arose whenever you made eye contact with Bucky. Thinking about how good he looked in that leather jacket. Wondering how long it would be before you'd be dragging him back to the tower and taking it off him- Fuck. You were doing it again.

Bucky's face softened when he realised that you truly had no idea what he was talking at. He chuckled slightly at your obliviousness. How could someone so intelligent miss the careless flirtation thrown her way from her teammate?

"He was flirting with you all night, you know?" Bucky pulled back slightly, his hand moved from your chin to cup the side of your face. His earlier confidence wavered as he suddenly felt a pang of guilt for getting so jealous. "Did you really not see how he was looking at you? I swear, he must've pulled every trick in the book to try and get your attention tonight."

Looking past the jealously, you saw a vulnerability. The fear that he might lose you to someone else. You hummed gently, stroking his cheek as he kept you so close.

"How was I supposed to notice when all of my attenion was on you?" You asked gently.

He smiled at your reassurance. "Really?"

"Of course, James."

"And what about right now? Where is all of your attention?" Bucky tucked a stray strand of hair behind your ear.

"Right on you." You murmured, watching him lean in again.

"Exactly where it should be." His hand left your face. It trailed down your neck, and then your arm, leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake as it joined his vibranium one at your hips.

And suddenly, his lips picked up where they left off, kissing and teasing your skin. He bent his head down further to your collarbone, and then the crest of your cleavage as it peeked out of your lowcut top. Squirming, your back arched away from the door and into his waiting arms. The subtle movement of your body gave Bucky space to slip his hand up under your skirt to cup your ass. His fingers pressed into the soft flesh as he hooked your leg around his waist, pressing his hips against yours. A soft gasp echoed from your trembling lips as you felt just how hard he was through his jeans.

"Can't say I blame Steve when you look this good, doll. So fucking pretty. And it's all for me.. God, I don't know how much longer I can keep us a secret. Want everyone to know you're mine." He mumbled in quick succession as his lips worked their way back across your skin to capture you in another sweet kiss.

"What if I want that too?" You asked softly, biting your lip.

The corners of his lips tugged into a smirk. "You sure? I thought-"

"I'm tired of hiding us," you interrupted, "i'm yours, and it's time everyone else knew."

"If that's what you want…" He teased, an idea playing out in his mind as he dropped to his knees in front of you.

"Bucky, what are you-" Your own gasp cut you off as you felt him lift you leg, resting it over his shoulder. He kissed your inner thigh and your head fell back against the door.

Oh, that's where he was going with this.

Tracing lazy circles up your thigh, his mouth worked it's way up. Every movement made left you needy and wanting more. Soft moans from you filled the room, and his enhanced hearing heard every one as your thighs cushioned his ears. The sounds you made when he hadn't even touched you yet were embarassing. But you couldn't help yourself. Bucky knew how to push you closer to the edge better than anyone, and he wasn't afraid of showing it. By the time he reached the edge of your underwear, you were done for. Your arousal soaked through the thin material, and you knew he could feel it. Bucky chuckled slightly against the lace fabric, his heavy breath sending waves of pleasure straight to your core. Hips stuttering against his face, you grinded closer in a desperate need for him to do something else. Anything else.

"What's the matter, hm?" He murmured, licking right up to your clit. Even over your underwear, the touch was more than enough to make your body quiver.

"Bucky…" You whined, running your hands through his hair and tugging lightly.

"Someone's awfully needy," He tutted. Looking up at you, Bucky grinned like a devil as your wetness spread across his pink lips, "Who's got you like this?"

But you were so far gone in your own world that you almost didn't hear him. When you didn't immediately answer him, he grew impatient. Bucky's tongue rolled over the flimsy lace once again and your thigh tensed over his shoulder. The stem of your heel dug into his back slightly, drawing him in closer to you. To where you so desperately wanted him to be.

"Tell me." His voice was hoarse and demanding.

Another flick of his tongue. Another cry from your lips. "Y-you… always you."

"Good girl." He paused momentarily, hooking his thumb under the delicate edge of your underwear and ripping it to the side. You gulped nervously at the tearing sound of it as he finally set eyes on your bare core. "And now I want you to let everyone in this damn building hear it."

-

The next morning at breakfast was awkward to say the least. When you walked into the kitchen midmorning, legs still shaking, all eyes were on you.

"Morning." You mumbled, avoiding eye contact as you prayed no one would bring up the night before. You simply wanted them to realise you were dating Bucky now, and leave it at that, not another word mentioned. The few team members already there smiled politely, ignoring the obvious elephant in the room. As you wrapped your hands around a coffee mug, the sleeves of Bucky's sweater encase your hands. The cheeky bastard had insisted that you wear it today 'for good measure', because apparently the way you had screamed his name all night long wasn't enough. It still smelled like his cologne, marking both the jumper and you with traces of him. You kept your head down, hair covering the purple marks on your neck. As the strands brushed over the sensitive skin, you winced.

"Everything okay?" Steve asked quietly, glancing your way.

As you turned to meet his eye, your carefully placed hair shifted. Steve's gaze dropped to your neck, eyes widening at the sight he was met with. Looking over the purple that stained your skin, he swallowed nervously whilst trying to find the right words to say.

Eventually, he cleared his throat and spoke what was on everyone's mind. "So, uh… last night… was that you that we heard with… you guys are…"

"Yeah." Your head snapped up to the doorway of the kitchen. Bucky leaned against the frame, his arms folded across his chest and a smug grin plastered across his face, "She's mine. And don't you ever forget it."

[chuwenjie]

Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse comes out later today so I wanted to write a post reflecting on my journey and experience working on this movie. So many people have supported me through this and I am so thankful to each and every one of you!

Text version of this post under the cut:

Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse comes out tonight. It feels really weird to be typing that out right now. I worked on the movie as a visdev artist for the last 2.5 years, from 2020 to 2023. Long post incoming.

There are a lot of reasons why I'd consider this film to be one of the most ambitious animated films to ever be made. As artists, we were asked to push ourselves far beyond our comfort zones and do things that had never been done before in animation.

Every time we reached a point where most people would say "this must possibly be as creative and weird as it gets," our entire team of artists and animators would smash right through the ceiling. The driving direction for the visuals of the film was to push the limits of every single frame; to challenge audience expectations and make something truly original.

The best thing about this film was that there wasn't a single boring day working on this movie. The hardest thing about this film was also that there wasn't a single boring day working on this movie.

There were times while working on this where the imposter syndrome hit me hard. This was my first big movie, and what a hell of a first movie to get thrust into.

I came in only a few years out of school with absolutely no idea what the hell I was doing. I constantly feared that someone had made a mistake in bringing me onto this film, and I was going to let everyone down. There was a solid chunk of those 2.5 years where I wasn't sure if animation was the right path for me.

If there's anything I could tell my past self it would be this: there are so many people who love you and believe in you. There will be a time when you get to stand on the other side of it, look back on everything and see how far you came.

I'm still working on self-acceptance every day (it will be a lifelong struggle, I'm sure), but I'm glad I didn't give up on myself. I'm proud of myself and my contributions to this film, and I'm certain that this movie will continue to change and shape the animation landscape just as the first one did. That's truly a special feeling to have been a part of. I am so incredibly grateful to every single person who helped me along this journey.

Here come the thanks:

To the ENTIRE visdev & art crew- it's been an honor getting to work alongside each and every one of you. My jaw is literally still on the floor from seeing your incredible talent day after day.

I want to thank Tiffany and Felicia especially for being there for me through tough times- I admire and respect you both so much as artists, and even better than that, my life is greatly enriched for being able to call you my friends.

Thank you Patrick and Dean for taking chances on me, teaching me so much about art and what I'm capable of, and encouraging me along the way. To Aymeric, your art is one of the reasons I initially became interested in animation and you have been one of the kindest & most empathetic mentors I could ever have asked for.

I want to thank my wonderful parents for believing in me always and raising me into the person I am today: everything I do in life is to make you proud. To my brother Andrew who is perpetually awake at 3 AM when I need someone to talk to- thank you for always picking up the phone and making me laugh.

And finally to my partner Luke for making me grilled cheeses on all of the difficult days, for never getting sick of me even when all I would ever talk about was work, and for patiently and steadfastly loving me throughout this entire thing. I don't think I could've done it without you.

Starting tomorrow I will begin posting and sharing some of the art I made for this movie; I'm looking forward to sharing some of my personal favorites with you. I hope each and every one of you enjoys Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse when it hits theaters later today!

[hitomisuzuya]

Gamer!Scaramouche x fem!reader. Cock warming. Smut. Degradation. Scara receiving praise and encouragement. Mean!Scara

Think he should win this time? I think he should. As promised, here is more Gamer!Scara smut. This is just pure filth, honestly. Btw, I loved the movie🥰

Scaramouche was ready to send Freddy back to hell. That top hat wearing shit wasn't going to get the best of him tonight. He was halfway into Night Two, and despite the fact you were whimpering quietly in his ear, he found he was able to concentrate with his cock resting between your warm, clenching walls.

Having you cock warm him while he played was the best idea he'd come up with in awhile. He was quite proud of himself.

"You are doing so good, Scara," You encouraged, nuzzling your face lovingly into his neck. You nipped at his earlobe, shifting in his lap as you craned your head down to kiss his neck. "You'll win this time, for sure. I just know it."

God, your praises were making his cock throb. Noticing nothing really going on on the cameras yet, Scaramouche dipped his hand down to rub your clit. The tighter your walls clamped around his cock, the better he concentrated. Damn it if he didn't want to fuck you raw, right now though.

But he had a victory to achieve first.

He made sure your skirt was well hiked up around your hips, giving him a good view of the way his cock glistened shiny from your arousal when he bounced you a little on his cock to tease you.

"Please, please, let me bounce a little, please," You pleaded, feeling his the head of cock nudging against your sweet spot a little.

"Quit whining, slut," Scaramouche said, pinching your clit between his fingers. He smirked when your back arched, putting his hands firmly on your hips to halt your pathetic attempts to discreetly bounce on his cock for relief. "I'm trying to concentrate."

You mewled, ultimately doing as you were told. You dropped your head into his neck, trying to keep yourself busy by nuzzling and kissing his neck again. His degradation only served as fuel to make your cunt clench around his cock.

You still tried to reason with him anyways. You couldn't help yourself. Your cunt was practically sucking his cock in, resting against your sweet spot in a way that your legs shake. "Pretty please, it won't take me long to cum," You grinded needily in his lap, making him smack a hand across your ass.

He believed you. "You are cock warming me, not fucking me,"Scaramouche hissed, gritting his teeth as you yelped in pleasure. Denying you would only make you feel more sensitive for him.

"But I..I," You licked a line across his neck, smiling a little when you heard him let out a shaky sigh of pleasure. "I really want you."

Growling because he had to take his eyes off of the cameras to quiet you down, Scaramouche roughly grasped your jaw, and picked your head up from his neck. He kissed you to shut you up. He explored your mouth with his tongue, smirking against your lips as you melted from the kiss. "You just be quiet, and take it," His hand lightly smacked your throbbing clit, his teeth nipping at your lower lip when he pulled away

You moaned in bliss, your arms tightening around him. You nodded, tears burning in your eyes as you struggled to sit still. It was bad enough that before he set you on his cock, he'd made you sopping wet by teasing and dragging his tongue across your clit.

It felt like an eternity to you before Night Five came around, and Freddy made his move. Scaramouche reached down to rub your clit occasionally as he checked every camera over and over again until..

"HA! Fuck yes, and fuck you, Freddy!" Scaramouche suddenly declared his victory. He'd finally won before he forked over the money (willingly) to take you the movie later, making victory taste even sweeter for him.

"Guess what, doll? You can starting bouncing now," Scaramouche smacked a a rougher hand on your ass, groaning when you immediately started riding him like your life depended on it.

Feeling his cock repeatedly stretching your walls apart as he slammed against your sweet spot, your skin slapping against his, nearly made you fall limp against him.

"Your cunt is suffocating my cock..fuck..," Scaramouche moaned, pressing his fingers into the skin on your hips as he bullied his cock deeper inside of you. He lifted you off his cock just to abruptly drop you back down on it.

You screamed in pleasure, making him laugh. "Is my slut going to cum, hm? You nodded, your moans sounding pornographic as he held you still in his lap, gripping your hips.

Scaramouche craned his head down, flicking his tongue over your nipple once he yanked your shirt and your bra down off one of your breasts. All it took was a few more rough thrusts into your tight cunt to make you squirt, your body shaking from the intensity of your orgasm.

Hearing you babble in his ear about how you love him, and how only he could fuck you this good made his warm cum gobb and ribbon inside of you. He clutched you against him, fucking his cum back up inside of you.

Scaramouche gave you a long, sloppy kiss as he slowed you to a stop. He was panting a little as he pulled away, sighing content when you licked submissively at his mouth with a fucked out expression on your face. "Now go get ready. The movie is at 8."

[mypoisonedvine]

𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 (part one) | neil lewis x reader

title comes from the song you already know by bombay bicycle club

𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 | you've been best friends with neil basically your entire life, and secretly in love with him almost as long. will you ever find the courage to tell him the truth?

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 | 10k

𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 | smut, angst, pining/unrequited love - 18+ only

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 | alcohol consumption, 'kid' as a petname, reader being kind of a femcel, jonathan being kind of mvp??

Neil had asked you to make sure the Thriller section was alphabetized; sometimes you thought he was just giving you tasks to look busy, but then again, you could probably use it since the employees of Gumshoe Video never looked very busy.  You spent most of the day on the couches, watching whatever old bizarre gem Neil put on— sometimes you thought he only had employees other than himself so that he could pay people to sit here and watch this stuff with him.  

But, the point is, you were sorting tapes.  Because everyone needs their VHS thriller movies to be in perfect alphabetical order.

There actually was a customer in the store, for once, so it was better not to be on the couch anyhow.  You hadn’t really noticed him when he came in, but as he wandered around the shelves, he seemed to drift towards you.  

You tried to ignore him when he stopped right beside you— and kneeling to look at the lowest shelf, he towered over you— but when you stood up he got your attention.  

"Need any help, sweetheart?" he asked, leaning in a little too close.  "I'm kind of a movie buff."

He had a frat guy kind of look about him— polo, boat shoes, quaffed blonde hair.  He could be good-looking, you thought, if he didn’t dress like a discount Abercrombie model… and if he didn’t hit on random women at the video store.  "I actually work here," you corrected, barely looking up from your task.  This is why we need uniforms instead of just dressing up to promote specials…

"Oh, really?" he smirked.  "What made you wanna work in a place like this?"

"My best friend owns the place," you explained, "and I'm, you know… kind of a movie buff."

"Right," he said, not seeming convinced.  "You like Kubrick?"

You rolled your eyes so hard you almost choked: Wow, what a deep cut.  But you kept a straight-ish face when you looked at him.  "Yeah, he's pretty good.  Don't care for how he treats his actors, but he was certainly a visionary."

"What are your top five favorite Kubrick movies?"

You knew this guy was a tool, but you were still a bit shocked that he actually had the gall to quiz you.  "Excuse me?" you scoffed incredulously.

"Can you even name five?" he asked, looking horribly proud of himself, and you straightened up as you glared at him.

"You're heterosexual, right?" you asked him, getting a confused nod.  "Can you name five women you've made come?"

Neil watched the guy storm out, Lucien cringed a bit from behind the register— and Jonathan, not seeming as if he had been paying attention at all, kept laying across the couch and tossing a ball up in the air to catch and throw again.

“Okay, that’s gotta be the third this week,” Lucien groaned.  “What are you saying to these guys?”

“Nothing worse than what they’re saying to me,” you assured with a frustrated, sarcastic smile.

“Listen, don’t get me wrong,” Neil began, “that guy totally deserved it— but maybe, you know… work on your demeanor with customers?”

“Wow,” you scoffed as you crossed your arms, “do you think I should smile more, too?”

“Wha— no!” Neil denied.  

“Yes,” Lucien said at the same time, though he changed his answer with an awkward cough and mumble when you both shot him a look.  “No, no— you’re good— you smile too much, even…”

“I don’t mean it like that,” Neil promised.  “But I think half the guys that come here are just coming here to see you!  Nobody even rents movies anymore.”  He groaned a little, dropping his shoulders defeatedly.  “Can’t you… tell them you’ll go out with them if they rent something?”

“What?!” you squeaked. “No!”

“Sales would double,” Lucien nodded.

“No,” you said again.  “I’m not letting you pimp me out to sell tapes, Neil.”

“I just mean— maybe you don’t really go out with them,” he suggested.  “Just… allude to the fact that you’re only interested in guys who…”

He trailed off as he searched around the shelves for a bit, smiling when he snagged a copy of The Maltese Falcon.

“— in guys who like The Maltese Falcon,” he grinned, “you know— for example.  Then they rent it to impress you and we make a few bucks.”

“I am only interested in guys who like The Maltese Falcon,” you frowned, snatching the tape away and shoving it back on the shelf.  “But that’s not the point.”

“Maybe you have to be more straightforward, you know,” Jonathan butted in as he sat up, “guys are dumb.”

“Yeah!” Neil agreed a little too easily.

“Just say something about how a massive VHS collection turns you on,” Lucien suggested, and you glared at him.

“Jesus!” you protested, but Neil tried to soothe you a bit.

"C'mon, kid, can't you just… flirt a little?  Get our sales up?"

He'd started calling you kid since you two watched Casablanca together— which was especially stupid as you were both twelve at the time.  At first you complained because he shouldn't be calling you kid with you both being kids; then you complained because neither of you were kids; and then you gave up.  You still punched Lucien for trying to call you that once… you only barely let Neil get away with it anyways.

But you let Neil get away with a lot.  It was a side effect of being secretly, but massively, in love with him.

It had been an issue since middle school— that was when the two of you became such good friends.  Technically, you’d known each other since first grade (where you had shared your crayons, a true test of friendship at the time), and you’d sort of had a crush on him as early as elementary school (mainly because he was the only boy you could stand at the time), but it all kicked into high gear in seventh grade.  That was when you became inseparable, when you got in trouble together, when you stayed up all night watching movies, when you went through all of life’s ups and downs together: you even went to prom together, platonically of course.  

As for your feelings, you’d managed to hide them this long and still be his best friend, even when it sometimes felt like letting him stomp all over your heart without even trying.  Honestly, the only thing harder than being in love with Neil was trying not to be in love with Neil: you adored his sense of humor, his generosity, his sensitivity— and he’d been there for you through the things you couldn’t have imagined surviving alone.  That kinda stuff bonds you to somebody… and when that somebody has the most gorgeous eyes you’ve ever seen, it’s hard not to fall in love.

“Maybe I would flirt if I knew how,” you offered.  “But I’m not exactly, you know, flirty.”

“How hard could it be?” Jonathan interjected.  “Just, you know—”

You stared in quiet disbelief as Jonathan attempted to push his chest together with his arms.  It wasn’t quite working, of course, and the rest of you watched on as he fumbled around trying to force some cleavage.  “You look like an idiot,” you finally informed him after letting him do it for a minute.

“But is he wrong?” Lucien wondered.

“So, what, you guys really think that if I just went up to customers and—” you pushed your breasts together with your arms, accentuating them significantly in your tank top.

“That would work,” all three men asserted in unison before you could even finish.

“I fucking hate you guys,” you grumbled under your breath as you walked to the back, deciding to take your break in Neil’s office until these guys got their act together.

You never stayed gone for long, though— as idiotic as they could be, your friends were certainly charming.  They won you back with a promise to let you pick what tape to put on, and the four of you ended up laying on the couches watching Roman Holiday.  

When the movie was almost over, you rested your head on Neil’s shoulder; you guys did stuff like that, it was normal for you, but it always made your heart skip anyways.

~

This time, you were all hanging out at Jonathan’s primary workplace: the club.  In fact, it was a much larger crowd than just you and the guys— plenty of your local friends and loyal supporters of Gumshoe Video, all sitting around a big table while someone’s mediocre cover band took the stage.

"So, uh, me and Denise broke up," Neil said suddenly, going back in for another swig of beer right after.

The others offered their mild shock and half-hearted condolences, but you knew it was going to happen— he'd told you before he did it.  You tried to tell him that paying off a waiter to spill water on her was a weird way to prove what he already knew, but you couldn't disagree with his conclusion.  She was definitely difficult, and shockingly judgemental for someone who managed to date a video store owner for this long.

“No, it’s fine, it’s fine,” he promised, “I don’t think anybody’s too surprised, right?”

There was an awkward hesitation among the group as they wondered if they should lie, or just fess up now that he was obviously accurate.  You broke the silence to suggest someone go get another round of drinks for the table, and even though that was pretty much a one-man job, nearly everyone agreed and quickly shuffled off— leaving just you, Neil, and Lucien.

“I guess tonight’s your chance to meet somebody new, don’t you think?” Lucien suggested.  “Get over Denise, you know.”

“I think I’m already over Denise,” Neil decided.

“And if I told you that girl back there,” Lucien returned, pointing with the hand still holding his drink, “has been looking over here at you for the past ten minutes?”

You glanced where Lucien was pointing as well, seeing a girl in a denim mini skirt and massive hoop earrings settle her eyes on Neil before looking away quickly with a lip-gloss lacquered smile.

“I think I need some help getting over Denise,” Neil agreed suddenly, patting Lucien on the back before he left the table.  

You wanted to pout, but you were used to this— he was good-looking, he got a lot of attention from women in places like this… it usually didn’t work out for him, though.  Certainly not never, probably more often than most guys, but… definitely not every time.

You tried not to look over too much, you didn’t want to get caught spying or, even worse, looking a little jealous— but you noticed that every time you looked over at them, Neil was talking.  That was his problem, see: he never fucking shuts up.  Guys, girls, anybody who will listen— if you admit to not knowing about his favorite fifty-year-old spaghetti western or the most recent pre-Code horror comedy he watched, he’ll gladly blab to you about it for ages.  The first time you glanced at them, you saw her giving him doe eyes, laughing at something he said— and the last time, those eyes had glazed over and her laugh seemed more nervous and confused; you smirked to yourself.  He’s still Neil…

“So, um,” you struck up a conversation with Lucien, “what about you?  Anybody here catching your eye?”

“That’s actually the perfect descriptor of my type,” he replied.  “Anybody.”

You snorted.  “Then you should go, you know, talk to anybody?”

He shrugged and frowned a bit, and it was a simple movement but you understood completely.

The band started to play a new song, something upbeat and energetic, and you smiled.  “Wanna dance with me?”

“Oh, I don’t think I’m drunk enough for that—” Lucien began to protest, but a minute later you were dragging him up by the stage.  Neither of you were actually any good at dancing, mainly you were just kind of jumping and flailing around together, but it was fun and that was the point.

Eventually, more of your friends wandered in to join you; when the song ended, everyone clapped and cheered, the band bowing in gratitude.  You only stole one more look over at Neil and his conversation partner, watching her interrupt his rant with a hand on his shoulder: your throat felt a little dry.  You just hoped what she was saying was more like hey, my friends are leaving, I’ve gotta go and not hey, wanna come over to my place so you can keep explaining German expressionism to me?

Your heart dropped when he reached for her— what if he kissed her now?  What if he wrapped her up under his arm and they walked out together?  What if you had to spend the whole night thinking about him having sex with her?

“Hey, we should ask them if they know any Strokes songs!” Lucien suggested, tugging on your arm to get your attention, but your mind was elsewhere.

“Uh huh, yeah,” you mumbled blankly, and he frowned at you.

“What’s going on?” he asked, trying to look for what you were seeing; but Neil wasn’t reaching for her, he was lifting his hand to wave goodbye as she left.  You beamed, even though you did feel a little bad when you saw Neil’s shoulders sink— it’s not that you wanted him to be alone forever, you were just relieved that you might have a few more moments to breathe before he got with somebody again.

“Nothing, sorry,” you answered Lucien, giving him your attention again.  “What’d you say?”

“We should ask the band if they—”

And immediately, Lucien lost your focus as you couldn’t stop yourself from looking at Neil again— he was already looking at you, seeing you all on the dancefloor.  You waved for him to join you, and he smiled as he made his way towards the stage.  A new song began, even louder than the last, and you could blame that for not hearing Lucien’s question for the second time in a row.

Although he danced with you all for a few moments, Neil draped his arms over your and Lucien’s shoulders, nearly yelling to be heard over the music.

“You guys are coming over tonight for a movie, right?” he presumed.  “Jonathan’s working ‘til late so he’s out, but—”

“Sorry, I’ve gotta be up early,” Lucien explained, “my brother and his wife are visiting, remember?  We’re getting brunch and—”

“Whatever, party pooper,” Neil frowned, before suddenly smiling at you.  “Guess it’s just me and you, huh, kid?”

You tried not to sigh too noticeably through your smile.  “Yeah, me and you…” you agreed.

~

As you groggily blinked your eyes open, you found Neil staring at you, his face uncomfortably close to yours, with a big smile.  “Mornin’, kid,” he said, raising his eyebrows.

You yelped and nearly jumped out of your skin while he laughed.  “Jesus Christ, Neil!” you shouted, kicking off the blanket on you— and then you began to process where you were and why.  “God,” you groaned as you held your head in your hands, while Neil kept laughing at you, “did I fall asleep on the couch again?”

It was sort of a rhetorical question— obviously you had, it would be much stranger if you woke up on the video store couch without having fallen asleep there.  “Yeah,” he said, standing up and sighing a bit, “but you didn’t miss that much of the movie.”

“What happened at the end?” you asked, stretching your legs and snatching the blanket off the floor to fold up; Neil must have put it on you after you dozed off.

“No, we can finish it later,” he decided, walking up to the register, and you groaned.

“Seriously?  Not even falling asleep gets me out of finishing The Man Who Laughs?”

He smiled a little as he started prepping the store for open.  “Nope,” he said proudly, popping his lips on the p sound.

“It’s not that I didn’t like it,” you assured, getting up and trying to ignore the soreness in your back from sleeping on a ratty old sofa all night— you remembered helping Neil carry this thing from where he found it on the side of the road.  Considering you knew where it came from, it was a wonder you ever sat on it, let alone slept on it… but this happened relatively often.  Sometimes it almost felt like you slept easier here or at Neil’s apartment than your own. 

You stood up and stretched your arms, sparing a glance over at him.

“Can I run home and change?” you asked, and he frowned.  

“We open in ten minutes,” he noticed, “you won’t be back in time.”

“Yes, and who will serve the clamoring crowds that await our open outside?” you rolled your eyes, gesturing out the storefront to the abandoned sidewalk.  “You can handle it on your own.”

“Just go to my place,” he shrugged, “it’s closer.  And I think you left some jeans there anyway.”

Right— you’d borrowed a pair of his sweats to get comfy for a movie night, and forgot to take the jeans back when you left.  You yourself had one of Neil’s short-sleeve button-ups at your place, when you’d both changed there for a costume party, but you let him believe it was just lost… it was too late to tell him now that you had it, ‘cause then he might ask why you kept it so long and then he might, somehow, deduce that you had been cuddling it at night from time to time…

“Right, okay,” you nodded, “but I still need a shirt.”

“Just borrow one of mine,” he said, like it was no big deal at all and didn’t make your heart skip.

For a second you wondered if you should protest— if he was still dating Denise, you probably would’ve said something.  But you decided not to say anything, in case he changed his mind; you nearly bolted out of the store and down the two blocks to his apartment.

Your jeans were on the dresser, draped haphazardly in their same just-peeled-off shape you must have left them in last week.  You grumbled to yourself a little about how he could’ve folded them for you so they wouldn’t be wrinkled… but then again, all his jeans were wrinkled, so he clearly didn’t know any better.

And now the fun part: picking a shirt.  You smiled to yourself as you opened the drawer, perusing through t-shirts with old movie posters and semi-witty slogans… cute, sure, but those were pretty similar to what you already wore.  

But the button-downs?  Those were quintessential Neil, and you'd be wasting an opportunity if you didn't put one of those on.

You felt a little giddy as you opened the next drawer down and found them all folded.  The first one you saw had light blue and white stripes, so you snatched it up and slipped it on.

The fit was definitely off, but you let yourself indulge in a fantasy for a moment: waking up here, in Neil's bed… in Neil's arms.  You'd slip on his shirt while you went to find some breakfast, and he'd hum something about how pretty you look in his clothes, and you'd end up tangled in the sheets again not too much later.  

Sighing to yourself, you buttoned the last button, leaving the two at the top undone so you didn't look too formal, and headed back to the store for opening.

Neil stared at you for a second when you walked in— at the shirt, specifically.  You waited for him to say something, but he didn't.  "What, should I not wear this one?" you asked, looking down at it as well, and he shook his head.

"No, no, it's fine— sorry," he mumbled, "just start sorting out last night's returns, please."

You definitely got a much stronger reaction from Jonathan, as soon as he walked in the door.

(Why was he here when he wasn't even working today?  Who knows— he was just always here somehow.)

“Hey!  You look even more like a lesbian than usual,” Jonathan greeted with a peppy fake-smile as he approached you, and you smirked a bit.

“Don’t blame me, it’s his shirt,” you nodded towards Neil.

“See, I told you you dress like a— wait,” Jonathan stopped mid-insult, looking back at you, then at Neil again, then at you; he pointed his fingers at each of you, crossing them back and forth.  “Did… you two…?”

You narrowed your eyes, waiting for him to explain what he meant.

“Did you guys hook up?!” Jonathan accused, wide-eyed.

You felt your face getting warm, and you stammered out your denial; Neil started waving his hands in disagreement as well, but Jonathan was already on a roll.

“Oh my god!” he yelped.  “The one time I miss movie night here and it gets freaky!  Should’ve known better than to leave you two lovebirds alone—”

“Jonathan, we didn’t—” you choked.

“It’s not— it wasn’t—” Neil butted in.  “She just borrowed my shirt!  ‘Cause she— because—”

“I mean, we’ve kinda all been waiting for this to happen— but I never really thought it would,” Jonathan steamrolled along.  “Well, yeah, I guess I thought it would, I just—”

“Wait wait wait, what?” Neil shook his head, stepping up closer to the two of you.  “What does that mean?”

Finally, he seemed to get Jonathan’s attention, who began to nervously backtrack as both of you stared at him.  “W-well, I just mean—” he started.

“And who’s ‘we all’?” Neil noticed.  “This isn’t just you, thinking this?”

“I… I mean,” Jonathan scoffed, “you know— just, just some people… we thought that maybe… that since you two are so close, that you might—”

“Wow,” Neil chuckled, crossing his arms in disappointment.  “You know, that’s so reductive.  For a bunch of progressive, free-thinking hipsters—” he waved his hands as he said it in a mocking way— “you’re really just, like… like… you know, not!  ‘Cause apparently men and women can’t really be friends?”

“No, come on, not like that,” Jonathan denied, “of course we can—”

“I mean, you’re her friend, you’re both single,” Neil noticed, gesturing between the two of you, “why don’t you two, just, you know… hook up!”

You cringed a little as Jonathan tugged at his collar nervously.  “Well, I—”

“Come on, why not?” Neil went on, smiling at the suggestion even though he was clearly unamused.  “I mean, she’s nice, she’s pretty, she’s got a vagina— why don’t you hit on her?”

“Hey, come on, Neil,” Jonathan sighed, “I’m well aware she’s got a vagina—”

“So what’s the problem?” Neil insisted.  “Clearly you can’t just be friends with someone with a vagina—”

“I would really prefer if we didn’t talk about my vagina anymore,” you mumbled nervously.

“— how come you never hit on her, Jonny?” Neil pressed, backing him into a corner metaphorically— but also somewhat literally, he was leaning in and Jonathan was pressing his back more and more against the shelves.

“You really want me to answer that?” Jonathan replied, almost threatening.  That made you furrow your brow a bit.  It seemed like a rhetorical question, Neil trying to prove a point, but you didn’t expect Jonathan to have a literal answer.

“Yeah, sure,” Neil decided, “enlighten us.”

Neil glanced at you, like you were just as gung-ho about this interrogation, but you were feeling a little sick.  You understood the spirit of Neil’s argument— and technically, you agreed with him— but it still stung to see him so incensed at the suggestion of you two together.  You were trying not to take it personally, it wasn’t like he was disgusted by you or anything… he even said just now that you were pretty, and he’d told you that before, but… it still bothered you a little, for reasons you couldn’t quite describe and that you were sure were illogical.

“I never hit on her,” Jonathan answered, lowering his voice, “because I… I figured it would piss you off.”

That seemed to surprise you both, maybe for different reasons; you bit your lip to suppress a smile.  Did Jonathan really think Neil was that protective over you?  “Why would it piss me off?” Neil wondered, but he sounded a little defensive— defensive in a caught-red-handed sort of way.

“I… I don’t know,” Jonathan shrugged.  “That’s just the vibe I got, okay?  That she’s sorta… off-limits.”

Neil hesitated.  “Well… she’s not,” he decided.  “You’re grown-ups.  Whatever you wanna do is none of my business— as long as you’re not being, you know, creepy or an asshole.”

“Of course,” Jonathan agreed, most of the tension settling as Neil backed up a step.

“Okay, well, ask her out then,” Neil instructed firmly.

“I didn’t say I wanted to!” Jonathan sputtered.

“Neil, Jesus!” you complained simultaneously, and he seemed to relent, shrugging as he walked back to the register.

“Sorry, sorry,” he dismissed, “just letting you know it’s… fine with me!”

You rolled your eyes a bit and looked back at Jonathan.  “Sorry,” you offered him quietly, “he’s… I don’t know.  He gets weird about that.”

“Oh really?” Jonathan scoffed sarcastically.  “Didn’t notice.”

“The real reason you shouldn’t be hitting on me is because we’re coworkers, by the way,” you reminded him.

“Hey, I only work here part-time,” Jonathan noticed, “so I think that means it’s cool as long as we only go out part-time.”

You snorted, but he seemed to get nervous.

“You know I’m kidding, right?” he added quickly, and you nodded with a laugh.

~

"You know, I was thinking— we don't have many events at the store these days,” Neil mumbled around a bite of pretzel, watching you play your turn at Skee Ball.  Normally he would put coins in the machine beside yours and try to beat your score, but the other machine was out of order and you decided to take a relay race approach.  “What if we did, like, I don’t know… maybe a double feature for a couple bucks?”

“Neil, we show movies every night,” you sighed, “and we invite everybody, and ninety-nine percent of the time it’s just some combination of me, you, Jonathan, and Lucien.”

“Yeah, but this time we could do movies that more people like— a little easier to watch,” he suggested, “something that would get new people in the store.”

“New people don’t wanna sit on a musty old couch with strangers,” you reminded him, and he nodded as he chewed and swallowed his next bite.

“You’re right,” he agreed, holding the pretzel out towards you.  “Wanna bite?”

You were trying to get through your skee balls pretty quick, so you just leaned your head over and chomped down on the end of one of the twists while he held it for you.  You hummed in appreciation— it was pretty good, fresher than the last one you guys got here.

Visits to the arcade used to be your thing, back in high school (aside from watching movies, but that was a given).  Then you slowed down with the trips, feeling a little old and out of place surrounded by kids— but the problem was, this place wasn’t filled with kids anymore.  It hadn’t changed much at all since you were both in high school, and that was exactly the issue: it was old, run-down, a bit grimey… kids weren’t coming to arcades anymore anyways, they were all on the Internet apparently.  So, while you and Neil sort of appreciated having the place to yourself, it also broke your heart knowing your old haunt couldn’t hold itself together forever… you two visited not just to recapture some old childhood joys, but to try to do your part to keep the business afloat.  

You pretended to like being here— because you really did want to support the place, and Neil wanted to keep coming back— but it actually made you pretty fucking sad.  Surrounded by all the neon, the noisy pinball machines, the Dig Dug machine that had a fifty-fifty chance of stealing your quarters, the photobooth (you still had some strips from that thing pinned to your wall, some so old that they’d faded from the sunlight that came in your window each day); it all felt sort of eerie now.  You would’ve never known all those years ago how little this place would change, even though you never expected it to— you would’ve never known how little anything would change.  Neil was still by your side, but still so far away… if you could talk to that fourteen-year-old girl now, you would warn her that no amount of time spent running around this place and playing Street Fighter was going to make Neil love her, or you.

But here you were anyways.  “Woo!” you cheered when your final score came through: 50,765.  “Beat that!”

Neil set the pretzel down on the bar-height table (on a pile of napkins, don’t worry, neither of you trusted those tables that much) and brushed the salt off his hands with a scoff.  “Oh please, I can beat that with my eyes closed,” he assured as you crossed your arms.

As he put his quarters in and stepped up to the game, you smiled wide.  “Alright, if you say so.”

You came up behind him and covered his eyes with your hands, making him jump and then laugh.  “What are you doing?”

“Just keeping you honest,” you giggled, holding on tight even when he tried to move his head around so that he could see.  

He did his best, usually struggling to even find where the balls were coming down more than rolling them decently— but after the first three went in the gutter without even scoring, you knew he didn’t stand a chance.  He did score a few times, but when the buzzer went off and he lifted your hands from his eyes, he laughed at the pitiful 1,150 on the board.

“Ohh, that’s too bad,” you winced, “guess you’re just full of it.”

Still holding your hands away from his face, he spun around and twirled under your arms like you were dancing for a moment; it ended with him face-to-face with you, swinging your hands back and forth a bit to force you to twist with him slightly.  “Wanna play Street Fighter next?” he suggested quickly.  “I know I can beat you at that.”

The giddy joy of the moment dropped and shattered; if you thought about it too much, you probably could’ve cried right then.  As pathetic, yet oddly aesthetically pleasing, as it would be to cry in an arcade, you swallowed down the emotion and smiled back at him.  “Yeah, okay,” you agreed.

~

You’d been a little antsy all day— Neil seemed to notice, asking a couple times if you were okay, but you just nodded and shrugged it off.  He had a sense for when you were lying; but that’s the thing, you weren’t lying, really.  You just weren’t sure what to say.  You weren’t sure if you should say anything.  And yet, you felt a little guilty not telling him everything that was going on with you— not just guilty, but plain weird.  Because you usually did tell him everything— except, you know, the thing— but you didn’t know if you should talk about this.  Not that you couldn’t— but should you?

So you were sort of gnawing on your lip most of the day, keeping yourself busy with tallying late fees behind the desk, trying to keep conversation light and meaningless: thankfully, in that regard, Jonathan and Lucien made it pretty easy.

“Okay: fuck, marry, kill,” Jonathan began, “Dracula, the Mummy, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.”

“Dude, I can’t answer that,” Lucien refused.

“Okay, then Neil, what would you do?” Jonathan changed his target.

“Um, well,” Neil pondered, “I think I’d have to kill Dracula— spare the world from that evil, you know— and I guess I’d marry the Mummy—”

“Freud would like to have a word,” Lucien butted in.

“And I’d fuck the Creature from the Black Lagoon,” he concluded, “out of morbid curiosity.”

You snorted, but didn’t look up from your clipboard.  “You come up with one that Lucien will do,” Jonathan challenged Neil.

“Alright, uhh, let’s see…” Neil stalled as he thought, looking up at the ceiling and stroking his chin dramatically.  “Fuck, marry, kill: Sarah Carter, Ripley, and Trinity from Matrix.”

“Okay, see, that’s a real challenge,” Lucien affirmed.  “If I marry Trinity, do I have to live in the post-apocalyptic wasteland or can she live here?”

“You’d have to live in the Matrix,” Jonathan announced, like it was obvious.

“Hm,” Lucien pondered, “do I know it’s a false reality?  Does she know?”

“She knows, you don’t,” Neil decided.

“Is she gonna tell me?  What if she has another guy on the side in the real world?”

“Okay, you’re overthinking this,” Jonathan groaned.

“And is this the Sarah Carter that’s already had John?  ‘Cause if not, I can’t kill her, or the human revolution stands no chance— but if she has him, I can’t marry her, ‘cause I’m not ready to be a stepfather—”

“You’re useless,” Jonathan informed him flatly.

“Well, it’s easy then,” you offered, still tallying fees on the printed table.  “You fuck Carter, marry Ripley and kill Trinity.”

“Yeah, I guess that works,” Lucien shrugged.

“If you’re so good at this game, you should play,” Jonathan decided.  You looked up from your work for once, finding Lucien looking excited at the idea and Neil looking a little nervous but intrigued.

“I’ve got one for you,” Lucien decided, looking concerningly smug.  “Fuck, marry, kill: the three of us.”

Jonathan let out a giddy ‘ooh’ and Neil raised his eyebrows.  “Oh— I don’t know— that’s too weird,” you shook your head, “it’s different, you’re real—”

“Wait, wait,” Neil interrupted, “now I wanna know.”

You froze for a second, wondering if you should double down on not participating, or if you should tell him the first thing that popped in your head: am I allowed to do all three to you?

Instead, you set the clipboard down and crossed your legs, and the men seemed to straighten up as they prepared for your answer.  “Alright,” you said, looking at them for a lingering moment before sighing.  “I think I’d fuck Jonathan, and then kill myself.”

“Yes,” Jonathan hissed, shaking his fist triumphantly.

“Dude, really?” Lucien snapped at him.  “That didn’t sound like a compliment to me.”

“Don’t care, I stopped listening after ‘fuck Jonathan’,” he replied.  “Alright, Neil, you’re gonna have to make good on that ‘she’s not off-limits’ promise you made to me—”

But Neil wasn’t listening to Jonathan, he was still looking at you.  “Wait— you wouldn’t marry me?” Neil interrupted, putting a hand on the desk and leaning in a bit closer— he looked half-amused and half-offended, and your heart skipped a beat.

“Um…” you started to wonder how to defend yourself from that.  What did he expect you to say?  Yes, I’d marry you, I’ve actually been planning our wedding since junior year.

“Hold on,” Lucien stopped you, “if she fucks you and marries you, that means I’m getting killed!”

“Yeah, so?” Jonathan smirked.

“What, you don’t think I’m marriage material?” Neil laughed… but he didn’t seem like he was really joking, per se.  He didn’t seem serious either, of course, but you decided to take his question seriously since he’d dared to ask it twice.

“Well,” you mumbled, “no.  I don’t.”

Then he seemed a bit more serious, adjusting his posture a bit.  “Why not?”

“I mean… you’re my best friend,” you reminded him, “but… you’re not reliable.”

He nodded, pursing his lips together.

“You’re not ready for marriage,” you continued.  “I mean, I think you’re just as sure of that as I am.”

“Well, yeah, but—”

“And honestly?  You’re a great friend and all, but… if you were my husband, I don’t think I could really… you know, trust you…”

The silence seemed a little heavy— all the men were sort of frozen for a second, you wondered if you should wave your arm around to make sure time hadn’t stopped.  But they did move, Neil first in fact, as he stopped leaning on the counter and nodded a little.

“I’m just surprised that you didn’t fuck Dracula,” Jonathan said to Neil in an attempt to cut the tension, “considering your massive man-crush on Bela Lugosi.”

“Hey, that reminds me, tonight’s movie is Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla,” Neil announced, apparently shaking off whatever odd energy he’d picked up just before, “you in?”

“Yeah, sure,” Jonathan nodded, “should I bring drinks?”

“Uhh, yeah, why not?” Neil agreed. 

“Is a six-pack enough?”

"Uh, maybe…” Neil considered, turning over his shoulder to look at you.  “Kid, how many beers are you gonna want?”

You swallowed nervously.  “Um, I… well, I’m not coming.  I’ve got a date, actually.”

Of course it was just assumed that you would be there; you felt a little guilty admitting you wouldn’t, to the point that you almost considered just skipping said date and staying to avoid the awkwardness.

“Hey, great!” Jonathan said proudly, throwing his arms out wide.

“A date, huh?” Neil noticed, looking happily surprised.  “Sorry, I— I didn’t know— you didn’t say anything—”

“No, it’s cool,” you shook your head, “it’s kind of a last minute thing… you know how they’re showing Rope at the Palace tonight?  I met this, um, this guy the other day and we got to talking, and I asked him if he’d wanna come with me.”

“Rope, wow, that’s a great first date movie,” Neil nodded approvingly, “that sounds perfect.”

“Yeah— he hasn’t seen it, actually,” you admitted, smiling nervously, “so I guess how much he likes it will kinda be a good judge of if he’s worth going out again, right?”

Jonathan nodded approvingly, but Neil seemed skeptical.  "Well, the showing isn't until nine— you can at least hang out until the movie starts, right?"

"I've gotta get home and get changed!" you explained 

"You can't wear that to a date?" Julien wondered.

"No!" you scoffed, looking down at your ripped jeans and Dracula t-shirt.  "Besides, I have this whole plan of what I'm gonna wear— remember when we did Bonnie and Clyde for Halloween?"

Neil was Bonnie and you were Clyde, in fact; he looked shockingly good in that blood-red lipstick, you tried to convince him to wear it again but he insisted it was a one-night-only situation.  

"I figure if I wear my Clyde suit, I'll look kinda like James Stewart!"

"You're doing drag on a first date?" Lucien pressed, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, lighten up, I'm just dressing up for the movie— I'll still, you know, try to look pretty," you assured.  "What, I don't look good in a suit?  'Cause I got a lot of compliments on Halloween—"

"No, hey, go for it," Jonathan decided, "it's festive!"

"I think it's cool," Neil agreed.  "Have fun, alright?  And if he creeps you out or something, call the store number and I'll come get you."

"I'm not really worried about—"

"You know? Just call the store when you get home," Neil decided, "so I'll know you didn't get murdered."

"Dude, chill," you groaned.  "We're going to the movies, not, I don't know… hiking off-trail in the middle of the night."

You never agreed to call, but you did him one better: you ended up coming back to the video store afterwards, a bit over two hours later.  Of course, the guys were still on the couch— apparently the movie was over but they were watching anime (undoubtedly something Jonathan had brought as a palate cleanser after the movie).

They all looked over at you when you came in the front door and the little bell rang; they seemed excited to see you, and presumably to interrogate you about the date.  You sighed, knowing you couldn't have expected anything else, but you'd come here hoping they'd let you watch something with them so you could stop thinking about the date.

“How’d it go, hot stuff?” Jonathan purred, and you rolled your eyes as Lucien wolf-whistled.

“Oh yeah, it was awesome, best first date ever— I’m at his place having sex with him right now,” you frowned as you tossed your purse down onto the couch, and Lucien chuckled while Neil looked a little defeated.  

“Not that great, huh?” Neil noticed.

“Was he a creep?” Jonathan assumed.

“Did he think the movie was bad?” Lucien pressed.

“No, no, he was great,” you sighed, “he loved the movie.  We talked about it for a bit afterwards and he seemed to really understand it.”

“Okay!  That’s good, right?” Jonathan said optimistically.

“Yeah— so good that I asked him when we could do this again,” you recalled, “and he said that he didn’t wanna lead me on and he wasn’t interested in seeing me.”

“What?!” Jonathan yelped, while Neil winced a little.

“He said I was really cool and funny and easy to talk to,” you explained, “but that he didn’t feel any chemistry.”

“Chemistry?” Lucien repeated, confused.

“He means he’s not attracted to me,” you clarified.

“What?” Jonathan scoffed again.  “Why not?”

“I don’t know!” you whined, but you did know.  “I think I’m just, like, friend material.  I’m just ‘one of the guys’, you know?  Not somebody you actually wanna be with.”

“But isn’t that what every guy wants?  To date somebody who’s just ‘one of the guys’?” Lucien noticed, and then paused when everyone gave him an inquisitive look. “That sounded way less gay in my head.  You get what I mean, right?”

“As much as I would love to never let you live that down,” Jonathan smirked, “you’re not wrong— like, a chick who can hang.  That’s the best.”

“Well, here I am!  Hanging!” you snapped.  “Where’s my harem of suitors just desperate to date one of the guys?!”

“I mean, you are wearing a suit…” Neil noticed, getting a little defensive when you groaned and dropped your head back.  “No, no, you look cool!  I mean, you look really great.  I’m not sure what he wasn’t seeing.”

"Maybe he's got a girlfriend!" Jonathan suggested.  "And he was gonna cheat but he chickened out."

"Maybe he's intimidated by strong women," Lucien added, sounding more like he was quoting a Cosmo than actually thinking that.

"Respectfully, guys aren't that complicated," you assured.  "If he wanted me, he would.  He doesn't.  It's not that deep."

Neil looked away when you said that.

"Well, come take a seat on the losers couch," Jonathan offered, but Neil sitting next to him frowned.

"You think I'm a loser?" Neil protested.

"No, I was talking about that couch," Jonathan said as he pointed to the other one which Lucien was on.

"I'm not even offended," Lucien decided, patting the spot next to him.  "I'd rather be a loser with you than a winner with anybody else."

You smiled and plopped down next to him, pulling your legs up on the old sofa and finding the best angle to see the TV from.  "Okay, catch me up," you requested, bracing for the barrage of borderline nonsensical exposition about whatever obscure anime Jonathan was forcing on the group this time.

~

Since the store closed at eight on Tuesdays, you and Neil decided to go out for a late dinner after locking up— the nearest place you usually walked to was a little hole-in-the-wall dishing out Thai fusion, and even though there were open tables inside, you took your paper boxes outside to eat together on a bench.

You each sat up on it with your legs crossed, facing each other, while he poked at his fried rice with his fork and you stirred your noodles with the chopsticks.

“The Palace is still doing their Hitchcock screenings on Sundays,” you recalled, “I think the next one is Rear Window.  We could make Lucien man the store and go see it together?”

“Yeah, let’s do it,” he smiled.  “But we gotta sneak in the candy, that place is getting so overpriced…”

“Well, that’s a given,” you laughed.  “When I went on my date there I had Sour Patch Kids in my bag, but I was kinda craving Reese’s by the time the movie started.

"That guy sounded like an ass, by the way," Neil announced with a frown.

"Oh, no, it's fine," you dismissed.  "He was really nice, even when he blew me off, and I… I guess I wasn’t really expecting it to go anywhere, anyways.”

“Really?” Neil scoffed.  “Then why’d you ask him out?”

Just in case.  “I… I guess I’m trying to put myself out there more?”

“Huh?  You’re trying to put out more?” Neil joked.

You rolled your eyes and unfolded your legs to kick him playfully.  “You know what I mean,” you groaned.

“Yeah, yeah,” he admitted, “and I support it.  It’s sort of insane that you’re still single.”

“Wow, thanks for the pep talk,” you rolled your eyes before shoving a thick swirl of spicy-sweet noodles in your mouth.

“No!  I mean, like, I can’t believe you’re single,” he clarified, and you smiled somewhat awkwardly while chewing your mouthful.  “You’re smart and fun and cool and pretty—”

Thanks to the food in your mouth, you didn’t have to worry about coming up with a way to respond to that, so you just shrugged.

“Seriously!” he insisted.  “I mean, guys hit on you at the store— I wish somebody who actually deserved your attention would walk in that place.”

The guy I want is already there every day.  Swallowing, you finally got a chance to talk to him again.  “Thanks,” you sighed, “it’s fine, though.  I mean, I’ve been single this long— I think I’ll survive.”

“Keep waiting for the right one, okay?” he encouraged, and your heart swelled.

“I will,” you promised, sounding more wistful than you meant to.

After a brief lull in the conversation, he cleared his throat and continued.  “Hey, um, while we’re on the topic of Sunday, about the whole fuck-marry-kill thing—”

“I’m sorry,” you offered right away, “I shouldn’t have answered that.  I wasn’t being serious, obviously.”

“No, I wanted to apologize,” he returned, “I shouldn’t have pressed you on your answer.  It was funny.  And it wasn’t like you could say you were gonna kill one of us.”

You snorted.  “Yeah, that one was probably the worst of the three.”

“But I shouldn’t have asked you about what you would’ve done to me,” he shook his head, “I was making it weird.  So, sorry.”

“It’s okay,” you assured.  “Did you really expect me to say I would marry you?”

“No,” he admitted, “I thought you’d say you’d fuck me, marry Lucien and kill Jonathan.”

“What?” you scoffed, though you were still smiling.  “Why?”

“Well, Lucien would definitely make the best husband of the three of us,” he explained, “and Jonathan was the only one who wouldn’t have gotten butthurt about you saying you’d kill him.  He probably would’ve just asked you to give him a nice send-off, y’know…”

You nodded in agreement, wondering if he was going to address the obviously missing third piece of all this… he sure was staring down into his empty fried rice container with intense focus…

“And, you know, as for me,” he began sort of thinly, “I, um… I guess I just figured, you know, you’re the most comfortable with me.”

“Yeah,” you agreed, “obviously, but maybe that would make it worse?  Like, at least with Jonathan, I know that if we ever did hook up or something, it probably wouldn’t mess up our friendship.  ‘Cause we’re friendly and all, but it’s not so serious.  But with you…”

“Uh huh, well, that’s why it’s good it’s just a game,” Neil finished for you, chucking his trash in the nearest can.  “Don’t have to worry about any of that stuff.  Least of all you and I being married.  Talk about a disaster.”

You choked on your throat.  “Yeah.  No kidding…”

“Well, anyways,” he sighed, standing up from the bench and stretching for a moment, “wanna come over and see if the game’s still on?”

“Oh, um, I’m just gonna go back to my place,” you decided, throwing away the last couple bites of your food on account of your suddenly-lost appetite.  “Kinda thinking I should get my sleep schedule in order.”

“That’s good,” he nodded, “I respect that.  Have a good night, then, kid.”

“Yeah, you too,” you breathed, waving as he turned and walked off into the night, tucking his hands into his jean pockets.  

You looked down at your lap, taking a deep breath and shutting your eyes for a second.  Did he have to be so sweet just to cut you down like that?  Could he have even known how it would hurt you to say that?

It’s not even like he was wrong, but you were dying to ask him why he was so sure that you and him together would be so bad.  What was wrong with you that he still couldn’t see you that way?

Not interested in this repetitive thought cycle anymore, and being very familiar with where it leads, you got up and started to walk down the street.  You didn’t turn to go to your apartment, though; you kept going until you heard live music— scratchy, whiny guitars and throbbing bass drums— seeping out of the club.  You just needed to be somewhere familiar that wasn’t the video store or home; and, this place conveniently also had liquor.

You slipped inside— hit by a wave of sound as you entered— and took a seat at the bar, half-listening to the band that was playing, pretending to be focused at all on what was going on in the outside world rather than just spiraling into your own thoughts inside your head.

“Hey,” Jonathan nodded at you from the other side of the bar, and you nodded back.  He instantly started looking for Neil— of course he would— and you deflated a bit.  “You here alone?” he noticed.

“Yeah,” you shrugged.

“Wow,” he smirked, “it’s like when Peter Pan’s shadow escaped.”

You should’ve probably been offended by that, but it wasn’t worth denying— and you were more interested in getting liquored up than justifying that you did, in fact, have a life outside of Neil.

And, actually, Peter Pan was a pretty good way to describe Neil, too.  Fear of commitment, leader of freaks and outcasts, daydreamer… all he needed was some green tights.  “What are you drinking tonight?” Jonathan finally asked.

“What pairs well with feeling completely unattractive and unlovable?” you sighed.

“Well, that would be my drink of choice: whiskey,” he smiled, setting a bottle down in front of you.  “I’ll do a shot with you.”

He poured you both a shot, and you timed it to shoot it back together; he, obviously, took it better with you, and you cringed from the acidic flavor.  "Jesus, people really drink this on purpose?" you grumbled.

"Yeah, give it a few minutes," he assured, "it's gonna numb all those stupid emotions."

"I don't have a few minutes," you sighed, "do you have anything more fast-acting?"

"Yeah— a second shot," he joked, but you nodded in agreement.  "Okay, shit, you're not messing around tonight."

"Nope," you agreed, watching him pour just one shot this time.  "You're not doing it with me?"

"I need to pace myself, I'm here 'til two," he explained.

He slid it to you and you contemplated it for a moment, before forcing yourself to get it down as quickly as possible to avoid the burn.  You still grimaced, but recovered quickly.

"Is it working yet?" he wondered.

"I guess," you answered half-heartedly.

“Well, you could always gush to the bartender about all your problems?” he offered, but you just shrugged it off.  “Come on, you wouldn’t be the first tonight.  And since I know you, I might actually be able to help.”

“I don’t think you can help with this one,” you assured.  “This problem has been going on longer than you’ve ever been around.”

“Oh?” he pressed.  “Let me guess… boy troubles?”

“Isn’t it always?” you scoffed, irritated that he saw through you that quickly— apparently your reputation of being horrible with men preceded you.

“But this is just one boy,” he presumed.  “One boy who… conspicuously isn’t here tonight…”

“Is it that obvious?” you wondered with a whine, dropping your head in your hand.

“Well, if you weren’t having any issues with him, you’d be with him,” Jonathan guessed— and it wasn’t bad logic.

“But, like, does everyone know?” you wondered.  “Does everyone but him know that I’m in love with him?  Oh god, Jonathan, you don’t think he knows, do you?”

“Wait— love?” he repeated, and you swallowed thickly as you realized the whiskey had already gotten you to say too much.  “You… you’re…”

“Okay, so I guess not everyone knows,” you mumbled.

“No, yeah, I think you managed to keep that under wraps,” he assured with a nod, eyes getting wider.  “Sheesh.  No, I had no clue.  Now it’s even weirder that you guys aren’t together.”

“Well, he doesn’t love me,” you explained flatly.

“Did he tell you that?”

“No, god no— I mean, he tells me he loves me,” you corrected, “but he doesn’t mean— we just say that, you know, like at the end of phone calls or when one of us is sad.  It’s not, like… we never meant it that way.”

“Right, okay,” Jonathan nodded as he wiped a glass— the way bartenders do when they’re listening to people— but he didn’t seem to understand entirely.  “So, you’re not his type?”

“I don’t think I know what his type is,” you scoffed.  “I haven’t really noticed a pattern, have you?”

“You’d have to have a few more data points to really draw any connection between them,” Jonathan laughed.

“Yeah, fair,” you smiled, “he’s only had… I don’t know, maybe four girlfriends since I’ve known him?  One in high school, for a month— then Eva, they weren’t even really serious, just dating for a while.  And then, uh—”

“Tanisha,” he remembered.

“Right!  I liked her,” you hummed.

“What happened to her again?” he wondered.

“Got back with her ex,” you recalled.

“Wow, that blows,” Jonathan sighed.  

“She told me before she told him,” you admitted.  “She wanted me to tell him for her, actually, but I… I couldn’t do that to him.  But I came over right after, you know, and we ate ice cream from the tub and watched movies ‘til we fell asleep.”

Jonathan made a sort of face, one you couldn’t quite interpret, and you tilted your head as he seemed to mumble to himself.  

“What?” you wondered.

“Nothing, it’s just… he’s kind of an idiot,” Jonathan decided.  “I don’t think he gets how lucky he is.”

You wrinkled your brows together, laughing a bit.  “What do you mean?”

“Look, I’m not saying he’s, like, legally obligated to fall in love with you just because you guys get along so well,” he clarified, “even if that’s what Neil accused me of thinking— I really do think it’s fine for men and women to just be friends.”

“So, what are you saying?”

“I’m just saying… like, how do you have someone who cares about you that much, and you end up dating fucking Denise for almost a year?!”

“Well, nobody knows how he ended up with Denise,” you coughed.  “That was a fucking disaster.”

“I mean, not to be crass, but, uh,” he stumbled a little over his words, “I’m surprised that you coming over after that breakup didn’t turn into a rebound, at least.”

“After eating that much ice cream?” you laughed.  “That would’ve been awful.”

“But really, though,” he insisted.  “I have a hard time believing the thought didn’t even cross his mind…”

“I can’t really be sure that it didn’t,” you admitted, “I’m just saying, nothing happened.”

“I guess he’s just known you too long to go for it with you,” Jonathan shrugged.

“It’s not just that— you know Neil, he’s kind of an adrenaline junkie,” you rolled your eyes, “or at least he thinks he is.  He wants adventure, I guess— and he always talks about us doing spontaneous stuff but it never happens— and I’m just too familiar.  Too comfortable.”

“Yeah, he does kinda have something against stability,” Jonathan agreed, “do you think it’s a divorced parents thing?”

“I don’t know, I stopped analyzing that a long time ago,” you groaned, “and I told myself I would stop trying to be what I thought he wanted, but I think I keep doing it.”

“Well, I know you know him better than anybody,” Jonathan countered, “but I know guys, and that guy… there’s no way he thinks of you as just a friend.”

“Why do you think that?” 

“Because he was fucking lying when he said it wouldn’t piss him off if we hooked up,” he insisted.

“You really won’t let that go, will you?” you grinned.

“Did you see his face?  He couldn’t get the image out of his head!” Jonathan assured confidently.  “And then that whole ‘fuck marry kill’ thing— he started getting nervous, I think.”

“Nervous about what?”

“That something could really happen with us!”

“You really think he would care?” you frowned.

“I swear to— to Ash Williams,” he decided, “that if I walked into that fucking video store, and told him that you and I did whiskey shots and you came back to my place and we did the horizontal tango, he would beat me to death with the register.”

“You swear on Ash Williams?” you repeated with a smirk, knowing that meant more than swearing on any deity would mean.

“Him and his chainsaw hand,” Jonathan assured, putting a hand over his heart to add to the bit, and you giggled.

“Well, I don’t think Neil can pick up the register,” you decided.

“In that case, you let me know the next time you wanna get back at him for something,” he offered with a wink, and you smiled at him sympathetically.

“I know you’re trying to be nice,” you sighed, “but you don’t have to do that.”

“Hey, come on,” he frowned, “I know you’ve got this I’m insecure I’m a weirdo nobody notices me thing, but you can’t actually think it would be some kind of charity work for me to sleep with you—”

“No, I don’t mean that,” you sighed, “I know I could get laid if I wanted to—”

“But you don’t wanna get laid,” he finished for you, “you wanna be loved.”

You sighed again, even harder.  “Yeah,” you nodded.

“I know,” he agreed.  “And you know I love you, but—”

“But not like that,” you took your turn finishing his sentence.

His only reply was raising the bottle of whiskey with a sideways smile, a silent offer to pour another shot— for both of you this time.

“Yes, please,” you hummed, watching him fill the miniature glasses with a sigh.

part 2

[milkteabinniechan]

♡ sleep deprived - felix

MINORS DNI 18+ ONLY commissions // m.list

pairing: idol! Felix x female reader (sort of)

warnings: masturbation, pillow humping, sleep deprivation (get ur sleep!!)

a/n: this is a long one, folks! but I'm proud :) comments and reblogs are greatly appreciated!

Room service, single use shampoo, turn down service. Every hotel was starting to blend into one enormous mansion of anonymity. Felix dropped his bags at the door and pulled out his key card. A green light blinked and a locked clunked from inside the handle.

He pushed his way through to see what he had seen a hundred times before. A bed with sheets tucked in tightly and pristinely. A large television with crappy TV shows. A shower with complimentary towels and fancy soaps that would disintegrate and crumble within the first hint of water.

Felix sighed as he looked around at the all too familiar environment. Only this time, he was running on zero sleep. The plane that brought them all here had experienced terrible turbulence and as a result, he was never even able to close his eyes.

At this point, the adrenaline from the tour and the press conferences was started to wear off and now his body was just running on instinct. He made his way to the sprawling California king bed and threw his entire weight on top of it. The plush foam cushioned his fall and cradled his body and aching muscles in the exact way he needed.

Finally, he thought to himself, while his arms caressed the nearest pillow and squeezed it firmly underneath his head. Felix let his eyes flutter close as he tried to sleep, but what had happened the other night was keeping him up.

A few nights prior, Chan had brought you home to the apartment that he and Felix share. You had walked into the living room in a short black skirt, the pleaded fabric whipped lovingly across your bare thighs. Felix couldn't help but shift in his seat when he watched you make your way to Chan's bedroom. You were gorgeous.

You and Chan had hooked up a few times before, but Felix always came home when you were leaving. The two of you would exchange pleasantries and be on your way. But this particular day, Felix was home. He didn't want to listen. To eavesdrop. In fact, he had made a conscious and drastic effort not to listen. But your voice pierced through the music in his headphones like an alluring siren song.

And that's where Felix found himself in this moment, in this hotel room. In his ears still echoed the sounds of your moans, the rhythmic grunts of Chan as he slid in and out of you so exquisitely. The sounds reverberated in his mind. His hips gently began to press into the king sized mattress. A low grunt left his throat and into the pillow beneath his face. He could easily picture your soft skin and closed his eyes to imagine your sweet scent.

His hips picked up speed slightly while his growing cock was willingly enjoying the sensation of fabric to skin. His sensitive tip leaked and left a desperate little spot onto his boxer shorts. Felix pressed his face further into the plush pillow as he bucked his hips up and pulled the shorts off and into the floor. His hands squeezed the cushion and he imagined squeezing your soft legs, your delicate stomach. Sliding his tongue down to your perfect, soaking, tight....

"Fuck... Fuck.." Felix whimpered pitifully into the mattress as he pushed the pillow down to his throbbing cock with a frustrated force. He pictured your big, dark eyes looking into his as he slid into you nice and slow. He imagined your hands running down his chest and waist, gripping his hips to pull him further inside of you.

The pillow hugged the rigid length of him so sweetly as his mind turned fuzzy and dumb. His tip continued to leak and pour out onto the pillowcase, leaving a long, thin string of pre cum connecting him to the plushy faux cunt. His whimpers grew in volume and length. Drool fell from his lips while his hips rutted ruthlessly into the hotel bed. He could see you underneath him so clearly now and all he wanted was to fill you up so entirely that his seed would have no choice but to pour back out of you.

When Felix finally snapped back to reality, he witnessed the fruits of his labor. He sighed and instantly fell asleep. The deepest, longest sleep he had had in a very long time.

taglist: @simply-trash5 @sugawhaaa @trixiekaulitz @chrizzztopherbang @cassidymb121 @roanns-posts @staysinbloom @yaorzu-blog @bubblebisk @cotton-candycloudz @beautyinhypnosis @domicaru @strawberry31 @slxtmeri @newhope8 @tinyelfperson @dandelions-143 @stayyyyyyyyyyyy21 @msauthor @fun-fanfics @ell0thebell @stephanieeeyang

[kennedysbaby]

“not bad.” — leon kennedy

wc: 2.0k

pairings: di! leon kennedy x fem! agent! reader

synopsis: in the midst of a casual training session, leon accidentally throws a miscalculated punch, resulting in him needing to make it up to you, his favorite rookie.

warnings: age gap (leon is thirty-eight, reader is twenty-three). kind of inappropriate work relationship. mentor/protege turned lovers-ish? mild sexual content. leon riding his motorcycle without a helmet because he thinks he's too hot to (real).

author's note: i'm tired of pretending death island leon isn't the hottest leon. twink death dilf birth fr. also not my best work, i kind of just threw this up and wrote it in the span of two hours. i’m not too proud of it honestly.

even after long and strenuous missions, leon didn't care if you were beyond exhausted; as long as you came back relatively unscathed, you were required to show up to work the next morning. which, whatever, that was fair. it would be a little nice to catch up on some well-deserved sleep, though. the worst part is, it wasn't only mission reports that you were expected to complete—it was training, too.

sure, you might've had a teensy bit of a crush on your mentor, but this never failed to piss you off, even if he looked so good.

in the dimly lit training room, the air was thick with the faint scent of sweat and determination as you and leon squared off. you stood before the older man, a fierce glint glazed over your eyes, while leon maintained a more relaxed stance, his more experienced gaze assessing your every move.

"let's see what you've still got in you after last week's shitshow." leon teased, a smirk playing at the corners of his lips.

you shot back, "bring it on, old man," a playful glimmer danced in your eyes as you readied yourself for the impending clash. 

"old man?" leon feigned offense, scoffing in disbelief. "i haven't even hit forty yet. you're just cruel." 

you clenched your fists with a shit-eating grin, lunging forward and throwing a flurry of messy punches that leon expertly dodged—which only wiped away your smirk in an instant. your movements were fluid, visually pleasing from afar. circling one another, you searched for an opening, reaching forward with a swift jab, that he deftly sidestepped, countering with a quick jab of his own that grazed your cheek.

you grimaced from the pain, to which he responded with, "nice try sweetheart, but you'll have to be quicker than that," leon taunted, his voice laced with clear amusement. "i taught you better than this, babe."

sweetheart. babe. blush spread across your cheeks, and not from the back-and-forth punches and kicks. leon was fifteen years your senior, but unfortunately, he was also unbelievably hot—you felt so guilty for even having feelings for him in the first place. 

leon was ruggishly handsome, with long-ish dark brown hair that framed his face, and broad shoulders that made him look like he gave good hugs. plus, he rode motorcycles—that he occasionally crashed—and owned this alluring charm to him that you just couldn't help but fall for. your "little" crush had gotten so inconsolable, you started laughing at his awful dad jokes.

nonetheless, you two had established a sweet relationship built on witty banter and pretentiously deep conversations. one reassuring shoulder pat and charming smile from him and all your pre-existing daddy issues withered away into nothing. 

"oh please, i can hear your joints cracking from here," you grinned, determination coursing through your veins as you launched back into a flurry of punches and kicks, each one dismally met with leon's skillful evasion or expertly timed blocks. 

banter flowed effortlessly between you two, subtly flirtatious comments sprinkled amongst them—a mixture of teasing jabs and genuine encouragement that only served to heighten the unspoken tension.

your fellow agents on leon's team were well-aware of the evident favoritism shown towards you. unbeknownst to them, you heard their little snide comments they'd whisper whenever you breathed near your mentor. he probably fucks her, they'd say, she probably blows him. it was disgusting, and quite frankly, sexist, but you did your best to ignore them.

though, sometimes you wished they were true.

as the minutes stretched on, the intensity of your little sparring session only seemed to grow, the air thick was anticipation as you pushed each other to the limit. but, in the heat of the moment, a lapse in leon's concentration led to very dirty move. 

with lightning-fast movement, he threw a hard punch that was meant to be deflected harmlessly, but instead, landed with a sickening thud against your side. you gasped, the impact knocking the wind from your lungs as you stumbled backward, pain etched across your pretty features. 

in an instant, leon's playful demeanor vanished, replaced by genuine concern as he rushed over to you, his rough hands hovering uncertainly over your trembling form.

"shit, sweetheart, i'm sorry," his smooth voice was thick with regret as his fingers tentatively slid your white tank top up. his cold blue eyes narrowed as the pad of his thumb gently brushed over the wound, frowning at the newly forming bruise tainting your skin like mold.

you winced at the contact, but you definitely weren't complaining. a reassuring smile graced your lips as your strained eyes met his worried gaze. "it's okay," you murmured, "it was an accident." 

leon's lips parted slightly, as if restraining himself, before chuckling softly, "let me make it up to you," his eyes flitted upwards, landing upon your own—it sent a pleasant shiver down your spine. he guided you towards the nearby bench, settling himself right next to you, his free hand strategically placed on your thigh. 

i've got to use this to my advantage, you thought to yourself, before replying, "okay…how about dinner tonight?" your voice was still a little stiff, clearly still reeling back from the uncalled for punch. "i think i deserve it after putting up with your weird no-breaks-after-missions rule." 

leon wasn't an idiot. of all the things you could've asked for…dinner? he knew you weren't a goody two shoes just for the sake of it. your longing glances weren't left unnoticed, the fiddling around with the hem of your skirt, your inability to hold eye contact for more than two seconds. it was glaringly obvious. he found it endearing, and he'd be lying to himself if he said he didn't have a soft spot for you.

you really were a pretty little thing. and leon was only human. 

"dinner?" he repeated, a smirk creeping onto his lips. "that's the best you could come up with?"

you nodded, smiling as if you hadn't just had your shit rocked. leon swallowed hard, knowing damn well he couldn't turn you down. not that he really had a choice at this point.

…

after what was seemingly an innocent dinner together, you both found yourselves engrossed in a long anticipated kiss, standing right by his motorcycle that he surprisingly hadn't crashed. it felt so right, so perfect, like fate had written this for them, despite all odds...

"i had fun tonight," you said, looking up into his icy blue eyes, standing a few inches away from each other. your dress fell mid-thigh, tight around all the right places. 

leon felt like a creep just staring at how pretty you were. he was having an awfully hard time reminding himself that you were his protege, his subordinate. this was insanely inappropriate. but if his intuition was correct, then you definitely wouldn't mind if he made a move. 

the air was laced with anticipation and unspoken desire as he looked back down at your pretty face, eyes lingering on your lipstick coated lips. leon brought his calloused hands up, and cupped your soft cheeks, his touch gentle yet electrifying.

"i'm glad you did, pretty girl," an amused look crossed over his features as he took notice of your cheeks that were burning up from his touch.

with a shared understanding, leon closed the distance between the two of you, his lips crashing against yours and meeting in a fervent kiss, igniting something strong within you. throughout the night, your inhibitions had slowly but surely disappeared, evolving into this. 

his lips were warm against yours, his kiss both tender and possessive as he deepened the embrace, his hands roaming freely over your body, grasping at whatever he could. luckily, the parking lot was for the most part vacant, so leon took advantage of that. he didn't know what he was drunk on, but the fact that this was inappropriate had completely slipped his mind—right now, he wasn't your mentor, and he wasn't fifteen years older than you. what could go wrong? besides, it wasn't like the dso would let go of one of its founders.

you sighed into the kiss, surrendering yourself completely to the intoxicating rush that coursed hotly through your blood. leon pulled you closer, his fingers now tangled in your hair as he slipped his tongue between your lips, eliciting a content groan from you. you pressed your body against his, backing up against the cool metal of his motorcycle. his lips meshed into yours with a hunger that bordered on desperation.

leon really had been holding back this entire time.

you responded in kind, fingers desperately grasping onto his back, holding on for support. the cool night winds had both of your hair blowing softly, simultaneously sending a chill down your spine. but the heat of the moment was enough to keep you warm. 

time seemed to stand still as you lost yourselves in each other, the outside world fading away until there was only you two, bound together by an unbreakable thread of desire and longing. as the kiss only escalated, your aching need for him was only reaching dizzying heights, knowing damn well that you'd never forget this moment. a testament to your intense desire for the man you knew you couldn't have.

when you finally pulled apart, both of your breaths were ragged and hearts were racing. you shared a knowing smile with him, the feeling sending a pleasant rush through you.

"i think it's safe to say i've made it up to you," leon whispered, his voice husky with lust as he pressed his forehead against yours. "don't you think?"

you chuckled softly, eyes sparkling with affection as you traced the line of his jaw with your fingertips. "i couldn't agree more," you mumbled, your voice barely above a whisper.

his hand smoothed up your dress, feeling the area he'd accidentally punched earlier, a frown creasing onto his lips, "you holding up okay, by the way?" he asked concernedly, eyes flickering with worry once again.

"mhm, don't worry about it." you replied, grimacing a bit as he applied a bit of pressure on.

"good, good. you're a tough girl, i knew you'd take it like a champ." leon lightened the mood a bit, laughing lightly to ease his nerves.

"y'know, there's something else i'd take like a champ—" you had to cut yourself off, surprised that you'd let something like that roll off your tongue like it was nothing in front of someone who was technically your boss.

to your surprise, leon only shut his eyes, shaking his head in utter disbelief as he laughed a little harder. but he really wanted to test that theory. "you're really something, sweetheart." his chuckle alone sent shivers down your spine.

and with that, you rode off into the night, heading straight for his apartment. you wrapped your arms around his waist tightly, holding on for dear life as he sped off on the vacant highway. neither of you cared about the consequences of your actions, or how you'd be proving your teammates right. that would be a problem for tomorrow.

[azaleaniath]

~ AO'NUNG X FEM! SULLY! READER ~

Terrible liar

summary: Ao'nung loves to mess with your siblings, as they always get mad. Your reaction to his behavior though not only confuses but also frustrates him. Why are you always nice to him?

includes: swearing, cuddles, bullying, injuries, soft and harsh psychical touch, denial, anger, falling in love

SFW

5.4k words

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

You lived in Awa'atlu with the people of the Metkayina clan for a while now.

Some of them were curious about you and your siblings. Others ran off as soon as you were near. Some of them even seemed to be disgusted by your presence.

Ronal did not want to have you here. She was certain that you would bring war and death above her folk.

Tonowari on the other hand had a kind heart and allowed you to stay here. If he would've been in Jake's position, he would've pleaded for Uturu as well, at least for his children.

The chief's daughter Tsireya proved to be a bubbly and lovely girl who had helped you voluntarily from the moment she saw you. She always helped wherever she could.

And then there was his son Ao'nung. He used every chance he got to bully you and your siblings. He found it absolutely amusing to see you fail, it entertained him to get especially Lo'ak all angry.

Seeing your brothers and sisters all pissed and annoyed was fuel to his fire. To him, is was only a game. A game he always won. Or so it seemed at first.

"Ooh, what have he here? A forest freak~" His friends laughed at his dramatic pronunciation. You sat on the dock all alone, carving an ilu out of a peace of wood you had found underwater.

You looked up to Ao'nung and his two friends with a genuine smile. "Hey guys, what are you doing?"

Your friendly voice already disgusted him, but he loved to mess with your family.

"Better question, what are you doing there?"

Reaching your carving out to him with a proud face, you watched his grin turn into a disgusted yet still amused expression.

"Can you see what it is? I'm as good as done! If you want to, you can keep it." Your smile did not seem to lessen, even when Ao'nung snatched the wooden figure out of your hand. He heard you wincing, but he did not really care.

For a tiny moment, his mask fell. The carving was very impressing, it really looked just like a mini ilu.

"Can't tell. You forest freaks don't have any other talents apart from swinging through trees."

His friends took a look at it as well, bragging about how 'awful' it looked.

"You could've just asked me to hand it to you, Ao'nung. It's supposed to be an ilu."

As you checked your hand, he also noticed the bloody cut across the palm of your hand. Now seeing that he had actually hurt you, he almost felt bad for it.

"Aw, did little (Y/N) get hurt? You're gonna run to you big brother now?" one of his friends teased before throwing the carved ilu into the reef.

"Whoops~" he flashed a wide grin, but you still smiled as friendly as before.

Instead of being angry, you thanked him, calling it a good idea.

The three boys watched in confusion as you sheathed your knife and jumped after the wooden ilu, retrieving it from the depths.

Once you came back to the water surface you held the carving out to them again. "I can practice diving like this! What a wonderful idea, thank you!"

Ao'nung looked into your eyes, trying to hide his grin and instead faked a mournful face.

"I should apologize for my behavior. I'm sorry for treating you like this. Boys", he turned to his friends, "apologize to her too."

They only looked at him in confusion. Ao'nung, saying sorry? There was no way.

"Seriously, guys. It's wrong to treat her like this."

For a moment you hoped there was an ounce of truth to his words, but before the thought could even blossom, his devilish smile returned to his visage.

"It seems that poor (Y/N) hurt her head, she probably fell face first off a tree. That's why she's so dumb."

His friends laughed together with him, so loud it also caught Tsireyas attention.

"That would explain everything!" They wheezed, slapping their knees while Ao'nung wiped his tears from all the laughter.

"What's going on?" Tsireya asked, as she rode closer on her ilu.

You showed her the carving you had worked on all day, and she immediately fell completely in love with it.

"That's so pretty! It looks just like mine. Here, look-"

She held the wooden ilu against hers, comparing them.

"And it's so small, it fits right into the palm of your hand!"

With that, she reached out to your wrist to place the ilu back into your hand, as she saw the fresh cut.

"Ow, you need to be careful while carving, (Y/N)."

When Ao'nung saw Tsireya inspecting your hand, he almost felt bad since the cut was his fault.

None of your siblings behaved like this. He loved how aggressive they got, his ego fed on that.

But you were so pure, so kind. It confused him. More accurately; it didn't even feel satisfying to mess with you. But why didn't it bother you?

You almost reminded him of his sister, even more as he saw you two next to each other.

"Let's just go, guys." He murmured with a shaking head and left.

~~~~~

The next morning you trained ilu riding with your siblings again.

Kiri and Tuk had already taken off as they had mastered these animals pretty easily.

Tsireya tried to teach it to Lo'ak, Neteyam watched closely.

Much to his displeasure, Ao'nung was designated to teach you.

"You're still doing it wrong, ugh! Get it together!" he hissed quietly, so that your brothers wouldn't hear him.

You shrugged lightly while he held his temples in annoyance.

"I'm sorry Ao'nung. But if you could teach me more precisely, maybe we can get through it quicker."

The young man sighed and grabbed one of your knees unpleasantly, pressing it against the ilu.

"Close your damn knees, skxawng. Now try again."

You gave a thanking smile. It worked better already, you noticed, as you took off for a quick round with the ilu before returning to Ao'nung.

"Finally. Took you long enough."

He turned to leave, but you stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "Wait!"

"What else do you want? Unlike you I have something actual to do."

You guided your ilu closer to him to pinch his cheek.

"I wanted to thank you. For taking your time-"

"Like I have a choice." He slapped your hand away. "I'd rather be hunting."

You huffed at his comment and nodded. "You're always so stressed and angry, how about you come over and we teach you some human ways to calm down through training. A smile yould suit you so much better." 

Instead of a proper answer, all he gave you was that confused and disgusted look again.

"You're wasting my time."

With that, he swam off to the shore again and you decided to join your brothers and Tsireya again.

"(Y/N)! You got it!"  the young woman happily cheered while your brothers high-fived you.

As you looked back to Ao'nung, you caught him looking back to you as well. Once he noticed he turned away quickly, and it almost looked as if his cheeks seemed darker than before. Was he blushing?

~~~~~

A few days passed. You sat at the docks again, simply enjoying the warmth of the sun, until you noticed a shadow over your face. You felt someone kicking your leg, which made you open your eyes soon after.

"You think you can live here, sitting around doing nothing?" Of course it was none other than Ao'nung again.

"I've been busy until half an hour ago. How was your day?"

Ah, there was it again, that friendly smile you carried on your face, no matter what he said to you.

As you watched him closer, you noticed his bruised face.

"Great mother, what happened to you? Are you okay?" you asked while getting up to take another close look at his bruises.

Backing up a bit, he turned his head slightly.

"You can tell me how it happened, i won't tell anyone. Why don't you come to my marui, I can treat your wounds there?" He visibly froze as you invited him over. Something inside of him screamed to agree and follow you, yet he knew if your brothers would be there, he wouldn't get out alive.

"I'm a man, I can handle myself. I don't need you."

Why did he felt like he just lied to himself? Something about the sentence felt wrong.

Not listening to him at all, you grabbed his hand and dragged him over to where you stayed. Even though he refused to go with you verbally, he almost automatically followed. It felt like he was losing control over his own body.

A relieved sigh escaped from his lips as he saw that there was nobody else in here but you.

"Sit down, I'll treat your wounds. Just hold still for me, will you?"

Ao'nung internally cursed himself for following the order so easily. What kind of magic was this?

He hated you to hell and back, wanted to have nothing to do with you at all.

All he did was mess around with you, and yet you sat here now, treating his swollen face.

"Did someone hit you? You know", you gathered all of the utensils you needed before kneeling down next to him to take care of him, "I thought my brother was a troublemaker, but you're an entirely different story."

The young man did not say a word. All he did was stare at the ground, wondering why his heartbeat was betraying him.

He jumped at the cold feeling of the paste on his skin.

Giggling quietly, you covered your mouth with one hand.

"It's not gonna burn. Trust me, it will help you."

You spread the paste over his cheek with gentle touches. Some of it you also smeared across his bruised chest. He prayed you wouldn't notice his pounding heart which he couldn't even explain to himself.

"This will help you. See, that's better."

The treatment pleasantly cooled him off right away.

Ao'nungs eyes followed yours in mental absence. "Why are you always so mean to my family? We don't want to harm you, we just want to survive."

Your blatant words hit him like another punch and pulled him back to reality.

How the hell should he anwer this? He just didn't like your family. You were strange, different and new. He hated it for some reason.

On top of that, messing with your siblings just entertained him. But messing with you was... frustrating. And yet so strangely addictive.

You shifted into a more comfortable position and mustered him carefully. These doe eyes of yours almost made him feel guilty again.

"You seem so frustrated. Usually, people mess with others if they are hurt. They mostly are unhappy with something about themself. So in case you need to talk, know I'm here, listening."

Before he could get any word out, your parents returned to the marui. Neytiri and  Jake stepped in, looking at the two of you sitting on the ground. The entire energy around shifted in an instant. Jake decided to speak up. In english.

"Looks like your mind games are working, huh?"

"I think so. You should see how mad he gets when I don't react."

Ao'nungs body nervously tensed up from not being able to understand your words.

Were you talking about him?

Jake was very happy and proud that at least one of his children didn't argue with this young man. Instead, your mind games actually seemed to have an influence on his behavior.

You got up, held a hand out to Ao'nung then. He ignored your help and got off the ground by himself.

By now, your treatment had already eased some of the pain of his bruises.

"What did your father say?" he asked rather quietly as you walked him out of the tent a bit later. You bit back a smile seeing him so suddenly humbled.

"Oh, not much."

This didn't really help him at all.

"What kind of language is that?"

He slowly walked besides you, his posture not as arrogant as usual.

"English. I can teach you if you want?"

"Demon language?", he huffed, "What am I supposed to do with that?"

His eyes landed on you. After watching you closely for a while, he gave in.

"Let's hear it."

A wide smile spread across your face, and you gave it your best shot to teach him some basics. If only he knew what they actually meant...

Soon you arrived at the marui he shared with his family. They all looked rather surprised seeing the two of you actually talk to each other.

Tonowari walked over to you and greeted you with a simple nod.

Ronal also came closer, inspecting her son's bruises. Her eyes widened in surprise as Ao'nung told her that you had treated him, and she found nothing to complain about.

"We're eating soon. Why don't you join us?" Tsireya offered kindly. Seeing the two of you next to each other without him pestering you was a nice change of scenery for her.

Ao'nung looked at his sister in confusion, and something inside of him was pretty relieved yet also sort of hurt as you thankfully rejected her kind offer.

"I'm sure my family is waiting for me. I'll better be going. Good night."

As you gently patted his back, his muscles immediately tensed up again. It burned anf tingled, wherever you hands layed on his skin.

After saying goodbye to his family, you turned and left, leaving the young man rather speechless. Something about you worked like magic on him, and he absolutely hated everything about this.

He felt weak around you. There was nothing he could do to get you out of your positivity.

As he sat down to eat with his family, Tonowari mustered his son silently. Since you had treated him, he was so unusually quiet and seemed like he wasn't present with his mind.

"My son, it is good to see you getting along with (Y/N). She seems to be a nice young woman."

He did not answer, but only stuffed his mouth with his food so he wasn't expected to talk. Tsireya listened to her father attentively.

"Maybe you should invite her to eat with us?"

While Ao'nung stopped chewing immediately, he looked up to his father unamused, unlike Tsireya, who giggled at her fathers words.

"What a great idea! She's such a sweet soul, and apparently a great healer too! You've been circling her a lot lately, Ao-"

"Over my dead body. I can't stand her."

His father took a deep breath.

"If Tsireyas words are true, and I've seen it myself, it is rather hard to believe."

"I said I cannot stand her! What would I like about her? Her baby tail, her weird yellow eyes? Or her skinny arms?"

His words immediately reprased in his head. That delicate, graceful tail of yours that he caught twitching whenever he picked on you.

These shiny, golden eyes, which seemed so full of love.

Your elegant, almost fragile looking wrists which he could just wrap his hands around so perfectly.

"She's beautiful, Ao'nung, stop saying mean things about her!" Tsireya defended you in your absence, before their father spoke again.

"She seems like a good person. Bring her over to eat with us tomorrow evening. She can be our guest."

The young man balled his fists, both at his fathers words and his thoughts.

You were an ugly freak. Nothing more than that. A four fingered freak.

"Father I-"

"It is the least thing you can do since she treated your wounds." Tonowari said rather loudly, to which Tsireya agreed nodding.

His guts were tossing and turning. He wanted to hate you, but how could he? You had done him no harm.

"Agh!" he hissed in annoyance before he got up again to take a walk on his own, to sort out his thoughts.

'She is a freak. A forest freak.' Internally repeating this over and over again, a recent memory started to crawl up in his mind.

As you had treated him, your touch on his chest had burned. It felt like his skin was on fire. Yet not in a bad way, rather like a warm, tingly embrace.

You treated him like a friend, still all he did was pick on you.

You never took any defense. You never got mad.

It made him feel awfully bored at first, but that boredom turned into frustration, confusion and in the end; guilt.

Usually his ego fed on your hot headed siblings getting annoyed and even aggressive through his behavior. It was fun. But the more he bothered you, the worse he felt about it.

He wanted, no, he needed to get rid of these disgusting thoughts about you.

~~~~~

Tsireya hopped over to you and your siblings with a wide smile. All of you greeted her with the same energy, especially Lo'ak who was head over heels falling for her.

"Good morning, guys. Should we start with breathing lessons?" She asked, still smiling happily.

"Sure!" Lo'ak answered right away. You and Neteyam exchanged amused looks at his reaction.

"Wonderful. I see, you guys are getting better and better at swimming as well. Unfortunately I'll be teaching you alone today."

The girl smiled at you especially, as if this had to do with you. Did you miss anything?

"How come? Your brother's throwing tantrums again?" Neteyam joked, making everyone huff.

"Not at all. He's hunting right now, we're having a guest tonight. At least, that is the plan."

"A-a guest?" Lo'aks eyebrows furrowed at her words. Was she probably seeing someone he didn't know about? But she just shook it off quickly, seeing how his heart was about to crumble.

"Let's get to training, shall we?"

~~~~~

After training you decided to sunbath and relax in the sunlight on the docks again. Getting better at swimming and holding your breath did not make it less exhausting in the end. While dozing off, your thoughts gathered around one thing only; Ao'nung.

You couldn't help but smile at the thought of him. He was a pain in the ass sometimes, but after all, something about him made you all warm around your heart. By now, him trying to annoy you was almost something you adored. He tried so hard to make you mad, there was something cute about it.

You were almost sure that he actively seeked you even if it was just for his own entertainment.

The intense smile on your face almost hurt your jaw and cheeks, which lead you to the decision to cool yourself off. Immediate regret hit you after sinking your hot body into the cool water beneath the docks.

Your head started spinning soon,

swimming was only hardly possible.

"(Y/N)!" you heard a voice call out.

Yet you did not react, thinking this was only fabricated by your brain.

With heavily lidded eyes you tried to hold yourself over the water surface until you felt a hand wrapping around your waist.

Someone supported your body and held you up so you could calm down from the shock. Your upper body fell forwards in dizziness, against the chest of the person that held you up.

"Brother...?" you mumbled, trying to figure out who was supporting you.

"Yeah, take another guess."

It was Ao'nungs voice which was pretty close to you. While resting against him, you dropped the weight of your head onto his shoulder.

"And here I thought you didn't like me?"

Your voice was still quiet, even if the spinning lessened slowly.

"Don't get any ideas, skxawng. You helped me yesterday, so we're quit."

While he talked to you, you got even more comfortable against him. Never before had he been so close to you, but you were thankful. Him being caring for once was also something you could get used to.

Even as the spinning in your head disappeared slowly, you decided to stay like this.

"Did I get promoted from 'freak' to 'skxawng'?"

Ao'nung still held you close. One arm hugged your waist completely while the other one supported your back. He had gently pressed one of his knees between yours for more support, so you got to sit on his thigh.

"You're both."

You couldn't help but silently giggle at his comment, but so did he.

Your hands grabbed onto his shoulders while he still held you in his arms safely. You could swear that his hands traced along your back the slightest bit.

"How do you stay over water so calmly without your arms?"

"Cause I don't have such a thin baby tail like you."

You wrapped your tail around his waist, hearing his breath hitch as you tickled him like this. His facial expression hardened.

"It has other benefits." you grinned against his shoulder.

Again. He made fun of you and you laughed about it.

Ao'nung bit his lip in anger.

"You're weird."

"The way you don't give up mocking me is adorable and fascinating. Maybe this is just your love language?"

Chaos raged inside of his racing heart.

How the hell did you turn his insults into something so lovely? That's not how it was supposed to be.

He pushed you off of him and dipped your face under the water surface.

"Is this how you show your affection?" you asked with an amused smile once you came back up.

Ao'nung simply groaned and swam back to the dock, getting himself out of the water. You followed him and held him by his shoulder.

"Thank you for helping me."

His blue eyes stared at you in confusion. He was confused through not just your words, but also his feelings.

"Should've let you drown." he cursed before pulling away from your grip.

"Where are you going?" you asked as he stomped off, following him for a few meters.

"Prepare food for tonight. Why else do you think I went hunting earlier?"

"Right, your sister mentioned that you are having guests tonight. Who's coming?"

Ao'nung sighed, he didn't even look at you but just left.

"You." he said while walking away.

~~~~~~

You had spent the rest of the day with you siblings before going over to the chief's family marui.

"Dude I'd trade my ikran to be where you get to be tonight!" Lo'ak hissed at you.

"She isn't even trying to, bro", Neteyam laughed, "I guess she is the chosen one."

His exaggeration made Lo'ak turn his eyes. He would've done anything to get invited for dinner with Tsireya.

Kiri sat next to you and fumbled with her braided hair. "I don't think it was her choice, and I'm certain it wasn't Ao'nungs choice either."

You looked at her nodding, then back to Lo'ak who was still more than jealous.

"Is (Y/N) going on a date?" Tuk asked, she didn't fully understand what was happening.

"Yes." Neteyam grinned.

"No."  You corrected right away.

Tuk didn't understand. But in all honesty, neither did you.

Neteyam pulled his youngest sister into his lap and covered her ears before speaking again.

"He has to choose a mate soon, I'm sure Tonowari had this in mind when inviting you."

"As do you, dear brother. I'll better go, don't wanna be too late."

With that, you got up and left. It only took a few minutes until you arrived at the home of olo'ekytans family. Tsireya was the first to greet you, she got up as soon as her eyes landed on you.

"It's so good to see you!" she cheered happily while leading you inside.

You greeted their family with a humble gesture before sitting down at the place between Tsireya and her brother.

Ao'nung barely looked at you. Ronal and Tonowari on the other hand mustered you from head to toe.

"Our son's bruises healed in no time. May I ask what exactly you used?" Ronal asked with high interest.

"I've used yalna bark. I know you don't have that here, but I brought some from home."

Ronal nodded in approval.

She seemed to like you, so the first ice was broken.

Tsireya meanwhile got some of the grilled fish on a flat leaf that served as a plate and handed it to you.

"So, do you enjoy our customs and our way of living?" the chief asked, thrilled to get to know you better. He had no doubts about his son following his footsteps, but he needed a wife, and a worthy one at that. Some times already he had seen the two of you interact, Tonowari was sure that you would be able to handle Ao'nung well. On top of that, you were the daughter of another olo'ekytan and tsahik.

A few hours passed in no time. You sat with the chiefs family, ate, talked and laughed until it was late at night. It was getting so late that your father even came to check on you to make sure you were still with them.

Tsireya turned to yamn silently, it had been an exciting and exhausting day.

Most of the time you had talked to Tsireya and Tonowari, even Ronal had gotten comfortable to talk to you a bit more. Yet Ao'nung didn't say anything unless he was personally spoken to. He only watched his family and you interact.

Over the time, he caught himself staring a few times, and so did his sister. She found it rather amusing to see him like this while Ao'nung hated the fact that his heart wanted to jump out of his chest whenever his eyes landed on you.

He wanted to find negative aspects about you, but during his mission to find anything, he only ended up appreciating the smallest details about you more and more.

"I'm glad you joined us tonight. Know that you will always find a place here in the future. Feel free to visit us anytime."

Ao'nung clenched his jaw at his father's comment and took a deep breath. He hated how his father was trying to get the two of you together.

"I think I will go to sleep." Tsireya announced in a tired voice before she got up and went to her mat.

"As should we all." Ronal said, visibly tired as well. The chief hated to throw you out, he would've liked to see you and Ao'nung interact more.

You got up and wished a good night to the entire family, thanking them for the invitation and the meal before leaving  the marui.

As you did, you watched watched the stars burn bright above the horizon.

What a pretty sight, you thought, until your ears twitched at the sound of silent voices.

"Son, I'm not discussing that with you!"

"She's old enough to walk home alone, isn't she?"

"It's about courtesy and politeness!"

You sighed as you heard Ao'nung and his father arguing and hissing at each other.

"I can't stand her anyway! I hate her! She's an ugly forest freak, useless and stupid! It's annoying enough already to teach her our ways, I can't wait for her to get back to wherever the hell she came from! Disgusting demon halfblood!"

"Ao'nung!"

Even if you did like him, his words did not hurt. You knew that he had a weakness for you no matter how much he denied it.

You looked back to the marui as its curtains swung open, only for Ao'nung to step out in fury, he wanted to cool his head off, but as he saw you so close he was sure you had heard him.

Even if he said the same things to your face already, he was still shocked that you heard his words. But seeing you smile nonetheless was something he did not understand.

"You're a bad liar." You smiled while looking up into the stars again.

"There are some things in this world that we have to accept. Some things we cannot change. It's childish to think we could control them through denial."

You calling him childish only fed his fury. Ao'nung balled his fists in frustration.

He wanted you to leave and never come back. You made him weak, made him lose all focus whenever you were around him. The most embarrassing part for him was the fact that bobody believed him anymore. More than anything he denied his feelings for you but nobody seemed to believe it.

Was it so obvious?

He came a few steps closer only to drag you away with him. Nobody else was supposed to hear this conversation.

No matter how frustrated he was, his thoughts betrayed him again.

Ao'nungs curiosity about your wrists got confirmed; he could just wrap his entire hand around them. It fitted like they were made for his hands.

Shaking his head once, he got rid of the thought. At least, he tried to.

You looked around to where he was leading you. In no time he had guided you to a small bay, away from the village, where the two of you could be alone.

He turned towards you and pulled you closer by your wrist.

"Why?" was all he managed to get out, but all you did was look at him in confusion.

"What why?"

Aonung closed his eyes for a second, trying to remain focussed.

"Why are you so nice? I don't understand! I treat you like this, I pick on you every day and all you do is laugh! You never defend yourself! By Eywa, why are you so friendly? Why do you like me?"

You watched how he got completely mad, his eyes were filled with rage.

"Frustrating, isn't it?"

"You've been doing this on purpose?!"

His jaw dropped in anger while you simply smiled.

"You mocked me and my siblings on purpose too. It's fun to see them get mad, right?"

Ao'nung was completely speechless. It suddenly clicked in his head. All you had ever done was making him feel how he made your siblings feel.

And now that he thought about it, your behavior was only fair.

Something deep inside of his mind visibly changed. His anger turned into realization. He couldn't be mad at you, as much as he wanted to hate you.

"See, Ao'nung, I was never mad at you because that is what you wanted to achieve."

He swallowed the big lump in his throat. Nothing compared to the hatred he felt for admitting that you haven't done anything wrong. His tight grip around your wrist had loosened, his furious eyes seemed to calm down as well.

You came closer to him and took his hands instead, but he pulled away. Sighing, you engaged once more and placed both hands on his cheeks to hold him in place.

"Be honest to yourself; do you really hate me that much?"

At the question, his eyes darted right at yours, then softened at the sight of your gentle expression.

"... Maybe not that much..." he mumbled in shame, knowing this was definitely an understatement.

Your thumbs caressed his cheeks while your over four fingers softly traced over his neck.

"I forgive you, Ao'nung."

He almost overheard your voice since he was only paying attention to your soft touches and these golden eyes of yours which he secretly adored so much.

Once more he swallowed as he lost himself in your eyes.

As guilt took over his heart completely, he simply pulled you closer and held you pressed against himself. His arms fell around your neck, one hand buried in your hair, caressing your head carefully.

"What I said to my father about you-"

"No worries. Like i said, you're a terrible liar."

He swallowed heavily at your words again. Was he so transparent for you?

"I know you like me. But you've grown on me as well." you giggled into the crook of his neck.

"You're weird... but at least you have a good taste in boys..." You looked up to him, his face actually turned into a genuine smile.

"You're a skxawng , you know that, Ao'nung?"

You pinched his cheeks playfully until he pulled away, only to lift your head and look into your eyes once more.

"And you're a freak. My freak."

[hazbin-writings-and-musings]

Can I request reader x Lucifer, where she reassures him and tells him that she will always love and be there for him more than anything.

He deserves love, and Lilith deserves to go fuck herself.

I like to think that what's going on with Lilith is some kind of a misunderstanding or will otherwise be resolved, but our dear Lucy boy does indeed deserve comfort in the interim, so have this little ficlet!

Lucifer Morningstar x Reader

Hurt/Comfort

There were times when the King of Hell simply broke. The constant threats to his power, the atrocities committed by his subjects, the weight of all he'd done and his powerlessness to change anything for the better... it was too much, even for him. Once upon a time, he'd been able to share the weight of his crown, and to draw strength from the one he loved most on the days he couldn't think of a reason to get out of bed. Now, she was gone, and those dark days came for him all the more often in her absence. He'd survived, as he always had and always would, but his servants knew not to intrude when he sealed himself away to crumble behind closed doors. They'd learned no one could reach him when he fell into those dark thoughts.

You, unaware of these things, hadn't hesitated to seek him out when you didn't hear a word for over two days. His private wing of the castle had been unnaturally dim and dank when you'd arrived; the magical lights that usually kept it shimmering were mere flickers, and the golden walls seemed to sag, as if the structure itself was wilting under its own misery. A careful hand along the lifeless corridors had been needed to guide you through the darkness and to the King's private chambers.

When you'd opened the doors, you'd barely recognized the man on the bed at first glance. With his disheveled clothes, unkempt hair and lifeless red eyes, it had taken you a moment to recognize your beloved Lucifer, even with all six of his wings lying limp at his sides. You'd been across the room in a heartbeat once the pieces had connected.

Lucifer's surprise at your arrival had quickly turned to pleas for you to leave. He promised that he was fine, that he only needed to be alone, that you shouldn't bother yourself with such things, but of course you hadn't been convinced. The spread of shed feathers across the mattress and deep bags beneath his eyes told you he was in need of help, and you intended to provide it, however you could. Your steadfast refusal to leave finally brought the truth out of him.

"Alright, I'm not fine!" he confessed, sitting upright to face you. Seated on your heels, you gave him space instinctively, wanting him to continue so you might learn what was troubling the man you loved. Though your first guess would have been some unnatural, Hellish sickness, there was something about his movements that told you it was much deeper than that. Such a proud man would not let himself reach a state like this lightly. Grabbing a handful of his disheveled hair, he averted his eyes and took a shaky breath, wings crumpled around him in a ring of crimson feathers like a broken shield. Horns peaked from his forehead as he fought for his words.

"I didn't mean to scare you, I'm sorry, but I just..." he trailed off as a wave of frustration passed through his features, expression pinching tight as he held his face in his hand. Though your heart ached at the sight, you held back still, knowing you needed the truth before you could do anything for him. A heavy sigh passed through his fingers before he raised his head to look out a nearby stained glass window. The mixed colors reflected deeply in his glassy eyes, and he let out a miserable laugh. "Sometimes, it's too much, you know? Hell, the Sinners, the endless misery, and old Lucy's got nobody to blame for any of it but himself."

"Lucy-"

"What am I even talking about? Nobody to blame? I've got nobody, period! I can't! Soon as someone gets attached, it all goes south! Either I've gotta push them away for their own good, or they end up leaving all on their own!" he continued, breaking into a bout of unhinged laughter. All six wings flexed without any kind of unison, sending a fresh shower of feathers over the both of you as he looked upwards and pointed an accusatory finger at the ceiling. "Top marks for the punishment, you Heavenly bastards! It's the gift that just won't stop giving!"

You'd have stopped him were you not shocked into silence by it all. There had always been hints of your beloved fallen angel's deeply buried suffering: smiles faltering without a word, sudden flashes of sadness in his eyes when he thought you couldn't see, the tightness with which he'd embrace you upon saying goodbye... There had just never been enough for you to act decisively, and he always brushed off even the most casual concern for his wellbeing. Now, with his sanity potentially hanging by a thread, you could almost feel the agony that was weighing him down.

"Gotta keep my daughter away for her own good, lost all my friends, lost my wife-!" he halted with an especially pained laugh, and clutched the fabric of his shirt as if wounded by the very word. Suddenly you understood his seclusion all too well. His beloved of the past ten millennia, the woman he'd crossed Heaven for, the mother of his child... Lilith had been his rock, and without her, how could he shoulder it all? The man before you was collapsing under a kind of pressure few could imagine.

Burying his face in his hands, he spoke next as if you weren't present, sinking into himself and the pit of misery he likely thought he deserved. "And sooner or later I'll lose you too! Can't I get a damned-!?"

"Lucifer!" you interrupted at last, grabbing his shoulders in tandem with the shout. He lifted his head in surprise, having never heard you raise your voice with him and likely quite unaccustomed to the sound to begin with. Emboldened by the success, you continued with all the confidence you could pack into every syllable, needing him to hear you and know you spoke the truth.

"You haven't lost me, and you won't!" you insisted, sure enough in yourself that you'd have challenged every Exorcist in Heaven to prove you meant it. Lucifer, still caught off guard by your initial yell, remained briefly unresponsive. Blinking suddenly, he shifted to an expression of apathy before taking hold of your wrists and gently pulling them off his shoulders.

"I want to believe that..." he replied softly, slightly more grounded now. Breath hitching, he slid his thumbs over the backs of your palms, taking a moment just to feel your presence before abruptly letting go. You could sense how hard he was resisting the urge to pull you in. "But there's so much that can happen. My position, my enemies... it's more than I can ask of anyone, and eventually... Well, everyone has a limit, and I can't blame them for leaving when they hit it."

In the short time you'd known him, you'd seen a great deal of the hardships he spoke of, and knew that many would indeed find the constant weight of his position too much to endure. Since being at his side inevitably meant shouldering some of that weight by proxy, you understood why many would find themselves unable to endure. It was indeed too much to ask of anyone...

Thankfully, you didn't need to be asked. You were offering.

"I don't have a limit. Not so long as I'm with you." you said more firmly, taking his hands back in your own. Once more, you looked into his eyes, and spoke with all the conviction your voice could possibly muster. "I don't care about Heaven, or the rest of Hell, or anything. If I'm with you, I can handle it."

"You have no idea what you're getting yourself into." Lucifer replied quickly, almost mechanical in his dismissal. Though he was still deep in his thoughts and deeper still in his grief, you didn't fail to notice how he let his hands remain in your grip. Despite it all, he wanted you, but just wasn't yet strong enough to face the pain of wanting. You didn't mind. He needed time to heal, and you'd shoulder as much of the load as possible for as long as it took for him to do so.

"Well, good luck trying to stop me." you said, ever more defiant. A small but far more genuine chuckle passed his lips, and you pulled him closer, encouraging the exhausts angel to lean on you for an embrace. When his head met your chest, you held him tightly, fingers brushing through his hair just the way he liked it. As his exhausted body eased against your own, you knew you spoke only the truth. "I love you, and I'm going to keep loving you. Nothing is ever going to change that."

He laughed again, sounding like he still believed his luck wouldn't change, but was daring to hope regardless.

"I love you too."

As you held him on the bed in silence, you vowed to every being from the highest peaks of Heaven to the lowest depths of Hell that he wouldn't regret this.