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#lifeless--cold tag
finch-kid · 5 months
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HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT LJG'S WIFE REBLOGGING YOUR POST
WHATT!!! HOLY SHIT, I'M ACTUALLY GOING TO EXPLODE
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chronosbled · 1 year
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. ◞ * ☣   What   Were   Your   Hands   Meant  To  Do  ?
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Pray.
Not necessarily to a god, but to hope. To family. In mud you see art. In shadows you see color. If the world fell apart around you, you would start gluing the pieces back together. Life tastes bitter but you like the bite. Those around you are inspired by your kindness, by your faith, by your hope. You might not speak often, but your words are the loudest in the room. You are rain and its ability to seep into every crack, the promise of new life.
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Tagged by: @thornicidxs​​​
Tagging: Just steal it and tag me y’all.
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kneelingshadowsalome · 7 months
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i love your writings so much! i need you to write about könig with maid!reader like i need air and water. könig who needs someone to take care of his house while he‘s gone, returning from his deployment only to find reader huddled up in a soft blanket on the couch, the house smelling of freshly baked cinnamon bread and lavender while she sleeps peacefully. he‘s so touch starved and the domesticity makes his heart and cock stir, he‘s never had any woman cook for him since his Oma passed away. poor reader is oblivious to her boss‘s infatuation until she‘s not, he‘s so awkward around her she thinks he just doesn‘t wanna be disturbed, but she doesn‘t know he uses her conditioner to stroke his cock every night, and now he can‘t help but get a raging boner everytime she passes by and he smells her hair :((((
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Banner picture credit: @661ave
possession
noun
the state of having, owning, or controlling something.
Word count: 7 k Tags/warnings: 18+ only DARK FIC. Perv!König masturbating to thoughts of you + your stolen panties. Jealous & possessive behaviour. Dubious consent to having unprotected sex, multiple orgasms, cunnilingus, size kink, breeding kink, implied age difference. Some fluff if you squint.  A/N: First of all, I'm sorry if you expected something sweet & fluffy anon… This thing just came out of me. Also, @gremlingottoosilly wrote the best thing EVER for this trope so please if you haven’t read it yet go give it a read (dark content there too though so be warned!)
He’s good at repairing things. He prides himself in that.
And he keeps his house neat and clean: that’s not a problem. His papers are in order, his office is in order. His home is in order too, and so is his whole life – love life included because there is none. 
He always ensured he’s not dependent on anyone, he never seeked a mother from a partner. Just for self-reliance's sake, he knows how to do his own laundry and meal prep for weeks. He learned to fold his t-shirts with an orderliness fit for the military when he was ten years old, just so that no one would have the chance to say he needed a wife.
He always vacuums the entire house before deployment, does the dishes, takes out the trash. And he doesn’t hate house chores… but he doesn’t like them either. His house is a sad, lifeless, gloomy place to spend time in. It’s big enough for a family, it has everything he needs to host a night for friends, but he doesn’t have any. 
Family, or friends, that is.
When he hears that his co-worker – the one with a frigid wife and five unruly kids – hired a maid to do the cleaning in the house, he pauses to think. He doesn’t have a chaos in his home, but he’s got enough money to make life a tad easier. Besides, it’s only expected of a man of his position to hire an assistant of some sort, is it not?
It’s just that he didn’t expect housemaids to be this… cute. 
There are quite a few applications, and he’s a sick bastard for choosing the maid solely based on the picture attached to the CV. He told himself it was also because it looked like this lady needed the money the most. He's a generous man, so why not help a woman in need? 
Another thing he didn’t expect is how his house would start to smell so nice and look so cozy. It’s the small details, the tiny little things that make his chest burn. The way she uses softener on his shirts and folds not only his shirts but his boxers, too, or places a scented candle on the table when the weather turns cold. It’s clearly for his delight because it’s not one of those overly sweet apple or caramel things but something fresh, maybe spruce or fir. 
She even bakes for him on the days when he comes back. The fact that a beautiful young woman bakes for him stirs something unwanted and long-forgotten in his chest. The sweet scent of home baked buns makes his cock stir, too. His place has never seen a woman’s touch, no one has ever baked anything here…
And he certainly doesn’t expect to find his maid sleeping on his sofa when he arrives home one evening.
She stirs immediately, and apologizes profusely for making herself at home like this. She starts to stutter and explain how she’s had a busy week and difficulty with sleeping, how she simply dozed off while waiting for the rolls to bake in the oven. 
He stops her in the middle of her flustered excuses: she can take a nap here any time, it’s not like the furniture is going to wear and tear from use anytime soon. He’s barely even home, so it’s good that someone enjoys the sofa, right? She can use his bed too if she wants. More convenient that way, ja?
He realizes he went a little too far when she looks at him like he just offered to fuck her on the kitchen table. Which he has thought about, to be honest, for a good long while now. In fact, he’s thought about it ever since she started in this position a month ago. 
It's her fault for being so unsuspecting and lovely, and she's playing with fire when she takes more dangerous liberties by showering at his house. He finds a women’s conditioner bottle in the bathroom and once, he even catches her doing her laundry here too. There’s a pair of women’s underwear in the pile of clothes she politely informs he’d have to fold himself this time because she’s in a hurry to catch her bus. 
He’s far more intrigued by the innocent, blush pink strings greeting him from amidst his black and dark green clothes than by the fact that his maid is breaking the rules. Other employers would give her a warning or simply say she no longer has to come and work here ever again. Showering at his place, washing her clothes in his washing machine and taking a nap on his sofa border on violating the terms of their agreement, but he couldn’t care less. He would carve a hole in his chest if that would make her happy. 
When he finds out she’s busy because she has to work two jobs, he raises her pay, despite the fact that she’s sometimes late and at times, leaves a little too early. She does her job well enough, so there’s no reason to complain. He would simply like it if they saw each other more... Which is ridiculous, he knows, because the point of having a maid is that she cleans his house when he’s away. 
It just feels so nice to arrive home now that she's here. He’s never looked forward to getting back to his bleak modern mansion, but now he’s pining for his leaves like a young recruit who's got a girl waiting for him back home. 
Even if she’s not there when he gets back, he can savour her lingering scent. He sniffs the dark woolen spread she might’ve slept under just moments ago, he eats whatever freshly baked goodies she has made for him. He sleeps with her underwear tucked under his pillow, and reaches for them before sleep. Or then he grabs them in the morning when he wakes up, already hard. 
It’s nice to have an unhurried fap at home than to relieve his needs in some small grey room of a boring military base. It's far more enjoyable to stroke his cock with her tiny, cute underwear spread over his face. Sometimes he wraps it around his cock and jerks himself off to a quick, groan-filled release, adoring the way his cum stains her blushing strings.
His showers last for about 15 minutes nowadays.
It’s unheard of for a soldier, and he read somewhere that lonely and depressed people take longer showers because the warm water is supposed to make up for the lack of human touch and intimacy, and that may very well be true… But he also wants to take his sweet time stroking himself while using her conditioner as lube. 
Coconut or peach, vanilla or argan oil, he lathers it all over his cock and imagines her hot, wet pussy. His hand is too calloused to give him any illusions of softness, but the mind-numbingly sweet scent takes him immediately back to her. Her eyes, her soft smile. The dreamy sway of her hips, the elegance of her wrists as she moves some item out of the way to sweep or scrub or clean a surface.
He faps with slick urgency, wondering if her eyes would go wide if she saw his cock. He wonders if she’s noisy in bed – is she a screamer, or a moaner? Would she claw at his back or simply cling to him if he fucked her? 
And god, how he would fuck her… 
Slowly at first, draw moans out of that soft mouth until she begs him to fuck her hard. He would drag her shirt up and her bra down until her breasts are exposed, then watch how they bounce as he starts to fuck her with purpose. She begins to tighten around him, looking so fucking desperate as her cunt starts to throb and pull him in. The first moan of surrender is needy and tight when she cums around his shaft…
He never gets any further than that because his cock spills with a violent jerk. He cums, long and hard across the tiles. Loads and loads of hot seed go to waste as he groans loudly, not giving a shit about making so much noise. Feeling hollow and deprived for not being able to shoot his cum inside her and then stay there, snug and safe and warm inside her cunt, he allows himself just one single sob. 
He just wants to know how it would feel to cover her whole body with his as he slowly pumps the last drops into her. Sigh afterwards, breathe together, hold her close... Search for her eyes, check if she's in rapture too. Watch her come down from it while still squeezing him down there. Perhaps she’d give him a pleased giggle and a cute, weary smile.
"Scheisse–"
He leans on the wall, knowing that he's lonely, filthy, sick and obsessed. He lives in a dream world, and the thick conditioner takes ages to wash off. The withdrawal phase is worse every time he indulges in his dark fantasies and then has to live without her for weeks and weeks.  
She's just his maid, a hired employee. She’s just an innocent woman with her whole future ahead of her.
He's just a colonel at a notorious private military company… He's just an old, horny, depraved soldier. Calloused, fucked up, depressed. Girls like her don't want anything to do with a man like him.
She asks if he wants his house decorated for Christmas.
She asks it with bright eyes and such a lovely smile that he tells her he doesn't own such junk, but he can pay her if she goes to choose him some and then comes back to decorate his place. Their unusual agreement gets more unusual still as she nods with shining eyes, then goes to the city to choose his Christmas decorations for him. He even lets her use his car, which is unheard of. 
Soon, his windows are filled with lights and there are mistletoes hanging from the ceiling. She puts fancy little elves in the window, places Christmas flowers and candles everywhere she possibly can. He walks around the house with a coffee mug in his hand, suddenly awkward and shy when watching his maid put up the most sophisticated, elegant and adorable Christmas decorations he has ever had or seen.
Is this what a home should look like…? Warm, and light, and pretty, filled with cozy, useless things? 
But it's not the items she got him that make a home, no. Home now equals rich, home-cooked meals, or the mouthwatering scent of cinnamon rolls greeting him at the door. Home is a cute girl, returning his obsessive stare with a small smile and telling him to stay safe before he leaves to kill people. Home is a woman who's the perfect wife material, so fuckable and sweet, who's fussing over the fact that he doesn't even have a Christmas tree.
He gets it before her next visit – meaning, her next shift – and decorates it himself. It looks clumsy and uneven and a bit sparse, but she compliments him on it when she arrives. The looks she gives him are so warm and playful that he starts to have some hope – hell, a full surge of it – and he also starts to miss his hood. He's feeling awkward as it is around her, he doesn't need to be blushing in front of his suddenly flirtatious maid... Men don’t fucking blush when a woman flirts with them; they fuck them until their knees give in.
With no small amount of hidden guilt, he finally confronts her with her underwear, telling her she forgot something and that he found these in his laundry pile. Taking sick satisfaction from seeing how she's the one who's flustered now, he forgives her for washing laundry in his place. He's a merciful man, after all. 
There's still some cum on the lace as he returns her possession to her, and he hopes he's just imagining the shock in her eyes when she takes them back. It's his way of saying that he likes her a lot, but the flirting ends immediately, the playful smiles stop, and he knows he fucked up big time. The warm, lively woman is gone, she suddenly resembles an ice sculpture who's about to flee his apartment at any given moment, and he could hit himself in the head with a big metal bat.
What the fuck was he even thinking? That a woman would appreciate it if he returned her panties covered in old, dried cum?
He's a fucked up pervert, and he has lived in a dream world, and now reality awaits.
He shuts down and shuts up after that, keeps the connection pure, pristine and professional. She's just here to do her job. 
The holidays approach, and he's sulking, knowing that he won't see her again in at least six weeks. He'll have to make do without a maid, and he'll have to numb his whole soul to get through yet another lonely Christmas.
Well, not lonely: this time he spends it with the decorations she got him. They can keep him company during the lonely masturbation sessions. They can watch him live on takeout food and remind him what a horny, sad loser he is.
So his last attempt, his last minor sin is that he gets her a Christmas present. She's about to leave, hurrying to some place where she's loved and cherished, or then about to get fucked because she has her hair and make-up done. The jealousy creeps up his spine like a viper as he watches her get all dolled up. 
She's so very grateful to him for allowing her to get ready here and use his bathroom, and he plays the generous, kind gentleman while gritting his teeth, trying to ignore another demanding erection telling him to dick her down and make her stay down. Make her bake for him and sit on his knee as he squeezes her tits and watches her stare turn dumb. Tell her to douse the lights and light the candles, tell her to undress in front of that stupid Christmas tree, order her to lie down on the mat and spread her pretty legs for him…
She's standing at the door, a cute girl turned into a seductive goddess, while he's about to enter into another lonely brain fog. She grabs her coat and grants him one of those warmer smiles as he walks to her with an envelope in hand.
"I got you something... Merry Christmas."
"Aw… You shouldn't have…"
She accepts his gift delicately with both hands, clearly surprised and pleased. When she opens the gift, she laughs and then covers her mouth with her hand. It's a gift card to Victoria's Secret, and with a relatively large sum on it, too.
"Oh god... Ahah, okay. I like your humour," she laughs again, then gives him a wink and an exceptionally gorgeous smile. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." 
He's fully aware that he sounds like an ominous, threatening robot. His voice has an effect on women; most flee, some get curious. She's one of the few who don't know what's good for them at all.
He never had a gift with females, and even with his position, experience and age, he still feels like he’s trying to court a breathtaking alien species whose native language he can’t quite understand or speak. The silence stretches on, and her smile slowly fades, making him perfectly aware of the fact that he should say or do something assertive, something charming, instead of just standing here, looming over her. When the playful stare then turns into a helpless, pitying one, the kind his mother used to wear when she discovered he had been bullied again at school, his hands start to go numb. 
Jerk off and kill, those are the only things he ever was good for… 
"Mm... I'm afraid I have nothing for you," she says apologetically. 
Ach so… She’s ashamed for not getting him a present. 
Well, shit. Fuck.
"Don't worry about it."
"No, I mean… I thought about it. You're the kindest employer I've ever had. I really appreciate it... and I love working for you."
"That’s nice to hear." 
"I just didn't know what to get you. I don't know what you like."
He's trying to ignore the pull of his chest, the sick burning in his loins. His cock is stirring just from the way she's looking at him. Inviting, adoring, waiting.
"You already got me Christmas decorations."
"Yeah, but… You paid for them."
"Aber... You baked for me. No one's ever–"
He shuts his mouth before making a complete fool of himself.
"Well, I'm glad you liked my buns," she laughs, then bites her lip, realizing what she just said could be taken in many ways. 
"I truly did."
She guides her stare to the floor and smiles, and the electricity between them… it just can't be only a fabric of his imagination.
"Take care of yourself. Ok?" He says, then swallows a lump in his throat, but it never quite goes down. She’s still waiting for something; the tension between them is petrifying. 
"I will," she says, her voice a bit frail, and far too sweet. "You too. Take care."
She gives her last smile to him; it’s sad and somewhat disappointed as she turns around and reaches for the door.
"Wait," he calls, purely from the hard instinct that tells him to fucking do something about this heavy, sickening tension. She immediately turns with hope in her eyes.
"Yes?"
"I… Ah, glückliches neues Jahr."
"...What does that mean?" 
"It means 'Happy New Year'."
"Oh," she laughs, "I thought it was something naughty…"
Shit.
Shit.
Shit…
"Ich möchte deine Muschi lecken."
She freezes with her hand still on the doorknob. That fucking sentence was so dark it left little or nothing to the imagination... It was thick enough to make it clear that he’s not a kind, generous employer, nor is he a gentleman.
"What's that?" She asks, her pretty voice barely a whisper.
"Something naughty."
Her hand lets go, it falls to the side. She even tilts her head before her voice turns thick and suggestive too. 
"Really…?"
"Yes."
"Well don't be shy. Tell me what it means."
Playful, naughty, dirty. 
She wants to fuck. She wants to fuck.
Is this a filthy dream or is this really happening? 
"I want to lick your pussy."
There's an intake of air, just a soft gasp. Batting of long, dark lashes, just before the stars in her eyes start to shine in full.
"Oh," she breathes. "Is that so?"
"Ja."
It wouldn't be the first time someone offers him cunt just out of spontaneous pity. It wouldn’t be the first time he accepts it. A man like him takes whatever he can get.
Pity is apparently what's happening now, because his maid starts to undress. 
With a victorious shine in her eyes, she drops her coat to the floor, then unbuttons her jeans. Takes away her shirt and bra with shaky hands while maintaining that seductive, downright filthy eye contact. More and more of her skin is exposed as she quickly strips in front of him, finally slipping out of her black, see-through underwear while he's trying not to shake from dark urges and lust.
When she's naked, flush and bare, her fingers start to slide up her thigh. The other hand is pressed against her side as if shy. She’s either offering him a Christmas present in the most elegant way, or then she’s concerned about getting licked and fucked sore. It's like throwing a dog a meaty bone and then putting the hound in a loose chain, just an inch away from the mouthwatering sight and scent. She steals one look at his erection, currently trying to rip its way through his pants. The gross tent is pointed at her, and she knows it: she knows she has him on a leash, but only barely.
"Go ahead then," she whispers.
He falls straight to his knees, and presses his whole face against her softly trimmed hair. When he opens his mouth, she shudders, clearly not ready for someone this starved trying to devour her whole.
She doesn't know she's about to sleep with the devil… If she knew, she would be out the door by now.
It's too late now: he engulfs her, locks her in place by wrapping his arms around her hips. 
Mein.
Mein.
Mein…
He could rub his face in her sweet cunt forever, but that won't do: she said he could lick her, so that’s what he’s going to do. After a few bites and nibs, after inhaling the sweet scent of her and squeezing her long and hard in his embrace, he finally rises and carries her to his den. There’s only loneliness there in his bedroom, just stale sweat and old musk staining the sheets, but she softens on the linens when he goes down on her.
Her pussy is already throbbing and wet when he gives her the first, fat lick. Next up, soft little laps to make her thighs drift apart. Some long, teasing circles on her clit, and she starts to sigh - he’s not an expert, but he knows she won’t find a more enthusiastic cunt licker in this city. Or this whole country… Perhaps the entire world.
And she's not a screamer, she’s a moaner. She also whimpers a lot. He switches between giving fast attention to her clit, then slow tongue fucking to her hole. The scent of pussy fills his room: they only talk to each other through moans and whines and groans. He breathes into her like a panting dog: she whimpers under torture like she actually likes it, and likes him. Like she actually prefers his bed to any other place in this world.
He fucks her with his mouth, sloppy and hungry; he could french kiss her pussy forever like this. He could spend every evening licking her to ruin. 
"Just like that… Just like that… Don't stop…"
He's as hard as can be; he's about to lose his fucking mind. If she doesn't cum soon, he might just die from having to listen to those unhinged cries. 
To help her out – because he's a generous, generous man – he slips a finger inside, earning another spill of filthy moans.
"Oh god ohgod oh fuck–!"
She sounds dumb and helpless as he eats her out like she’s his last meal. His chin is drenched and his cock is hard as the poor girl leaks all over her ass and on his bedding. He adds another finger, starts to fuck her slow and steady. She's more than prepared for his cock, and when he starts to do the alphabet on her clit, she whimpers, whines, and finally, screams. 
The feel-good hormones flood his brain when she cums. He kisses her through it and slows down the torture gradually, gives her some space to pulse and throb and leak against his chin. 
Women need a lot of stimulation; that’s what he has learned. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, and he doesn’t want to ruin the explosion by overriding her senses. When he rises from a job well done, he sees how some of her makeup is ruined. 
Yeah. Fuck... A screamer, a moaner, and a crier.
And he's only about to fuck her…
"Das war gut. Good pussy," he mutters and licks his lips, high above his pretty little prize.
"Oh–oh god…"
Poor thing is so flushed, desperate and helpless; she jerks as he taps her clit with his cock, whines when he forces the fat, leaking tip into her folds. 
"Wait–"
"I will fuck you now."
"Sir… Please, could we use a condom? Please…"
She's still calling him sir like she's at work. Like he's her superior, or worse yet, an officer, a colonel she's not supposed to flirt with, let alone spread her weak little legs for. 
"Hm. I don't have any."
"I do," she's panting heavy on the bed, clearly reluctant to get away from his cock, too weak to get up after his thigh-shaking treatment. It would give him a year’s worth of confidence to witness her in this state, if she would only let him finish the job. Right here, right now. Dip it in raw and blow a load inside that sweet, aching cunt. She might just end up with his child... 
But the moment is ruined: he hates condoms, and he hates it that she has them with her. Jealousy starts to eat his mind like there's a can of worms poured inside his brain.
Who does she carry condoms for? Does she get fucked often...? 
How many does she have, one, two, three? A whole pack?
She rises to get the darned piece of plastic, and the thick thunder in his head is making him seriously consider locking her up and throwing away the key. Women shouldn't be running around like that, hungry and desperate for a dick. She should stay at home, his home, and go crazy when he returns from war. The rage is the only thing keeping his cock from growing soft. 
"It's too small," he laments when the condom is finally in place but barely reaches the base of his shaft. It's going to roll off if he fucks her like he intended to… Good, long, deep and hard.
She bites her lip as she stares at the sad little wrapping trying to render his cock harmless. Surely she can see how stupid and useless this is… Either he gets her a morning after pill tomorrow or then he pulls out, but the condom has to fucking go. 
"It's… okay," she swallows. "It's okay. Let's just… If you're clean?"
"I am."
He doesn't tell her he hasn't had a woman in months. Almost over a year.
And he’s clean; he keeps everything…in ordnung.
He rolls the cursed plastic off, and his cock immediately bounces back up: hard, demanding and ready. He throws the condom away, just somewhere, anywhere, as long as it's out of his sight. Wasting no time, he's back at her cunt, and bullies himself in.
"Ah ja… Das ist schön… Sehr schön."
Nothing compares to the feel of a real cunt, hugging him tight. And fuck… He can actually fit fully inside her. He fits like a glove. 
"Oh ja. Das ist... I'm not going to pull out. It's not an option. Ok?"
It's not a warning, it's a simple, honest statement. She looks at him with a fearful, desperate stare as his balls arrive to press against her flesh. Yes... nothing beats a wet pussy and a frightened stare.
"Ok…" 
"It's better this way," he promises, wondering if it would make him a bad person if he disposed of her condoms first thing in the morning. "Ja?"
"Yes," she sighs. "Feels so good…"
The tightness in his chest falls down, all the way to his stomach and forms a bittersweet knot there. Why does she keep looking at him like that…? He's not hurting her, she's not exactly afraid, it's something else that's making her give him those dumb doe eyes.
"You're pretty," he rasps while trying not to start a complete fuckfest in every meaning of the word.
"O‐oh…?"
"Ja… It's illegal to be that pretty. Someone might want to fuck you..."
"Please do," she almost chokes on the words while looking up at him. "Please…"
If this is a dream, it’s the best dream he’s ever had. She's so perfect, far more needy and helpless than he ever imagined. He moves before he drives them both to madness. 
"I'll fuck you, Liebling. As many times as you want. As hard as you want."
He can't remember when was the last time he sounded so soft. Or reassuring... He can't remember the last time a woman was so responsive to his cock. But he fucks her. He fucks his own sorrow into oblivion, too. He pauses only to take a good look at her and remind himself that he’s truly inside the sweetest pussy he’s ever had. 
He even whispers lies to her ear about how she doesn't have to worry: he'll get her a plan B after this. The girl turns a bit wild now that it's somewhat safe to be fucked by an animal. She lets him lick and bite her breasts, and thoroughly abuse her cunt. At some point she grabs his face with both hands and kisses him, hungry and sweet. Squeals into his mouth as his balls slap against her ass, hugs him like a drowning person when he picks up the pace and starts to lose himself in her pussy. The feel of a woman's hands around his middle is a sensation he's forgotten completely. 
"You like that?" He starts to talk nonsense between her sloppy kisses, pleased with his own soft voice, with her, with everything in his life right now. "You like my cock? Hm?"
"Yes… Oh fuck, I'm…"
Fuck, she's about to cum again... He's in heaven, no, he's somewhere near Eden. She suddenly goes still, and sinks her nails in his back, just before a cry cuts through the air. It reminds him of the aftermath of a grenade detonating; her moans pierce the air, and he can’t get enough of it. He wants to swim in those screams.
He was supposed to make love to her for hours, but it's crystal clear now that this won’t be a long session. He's a selfish asshole for chasing his own peak next by fucking her through her second orgasm like a rabid dog. 
"Oh das ist sehr schön, das ist gut… Ach für–scheisse—"
He sounds a bit too pathetic, and quickly buries his face into her neck to escape her lovely, adoring stare. He fucks himself into a big, fat, blinding explosion, he can barely hear the thundering roar that meets her sweaty neck. 
She's scared silent by his despair, poor little thing. And he just fapped this morning… But the orgasm compares to the first time he came, it's violent, abrupt and rough. Sadly, the descent is too heady, and too quick. Nuzzling deeper into her hair, he tries to listen to her heartbeat but only hears his own beastlike panting.
"Ok… Ok. I guess we both really needed that, huh?"
She's laughing and out of breath as she gathers their pieces and constructs some kind of a new reality out of them. He rumbles in agreement and refuses to pull out – now that he's inside her, he'll never fucking leave.
"Will you stay? For the night…?"
His question is met by complete silence. She just breathes, then buries her fingers in his hair. He feels like melting chocolate; for the first time in his life, he's somewhat relaxed and content. 
"I… I'd really like to but… I can't. I have a party to attend.”
She gives him a quick kiss on the head, then ruffles his hair. She fucking pets him while he’s plunging into some deep recess with the raw, post-nut clarity. 
She just needed a fuck… She just needed some cock. And a gift card, so she can buy nice things for the men she allows to lick her to ruin. Fuck… She's even worse than him.
“I'm sorry..."
"It's ok," he hears himself say. She’s too fucking gentle as she drags her fingertips across his scalp. Her other hand comes to trace his jawline, and her thighs hug his waist so good that he would have no trouble making love to her again. Just start another round with a slow roll of hips. Fuck her until they're both sweaty and crying, fuck her full of his cum and chain her to the bed, for safekeeping as he goes and gets himself a beer in between the sessions.
For some reason, he can't quite bring himself to act on this wish. Not when she just cried from how good he was, not when she's petting him like he's a good dog who's earned his rest.
He gives himself a minute before pulling out, and she leaves his bed in silence, tiptoeing into the bathroom in a hurry. Trust a maid to not want to stain the floor with cum when she just scrubbed everything clean…
She takes a quick shower and fixes her makeup, then picks her clothes from the floor. His heart is hammering in his chest, but his breaths remain even as he watches her get dressed. He even offers her a ride to the party, which she accepts with apologetic gratitude. It’s held at someone's home: a house party is a sight he has only ever seen from outside.
She gives him an uneasy, distant smile and a quick kiss before thanking him for the evening and the ride. Then she half walks, half runs across the pavement and up towards the door to be let in by her already drunken friends. Some man embraces her, and the white rage inside his skull is telling him to grab a gun, rise from the car and start a good old mass shooting. Instead, he guides his stare to the asphalt and drives off.
He goes home and has a beer, the rage and longing giving his insides a good stab every five or ten minutes. He watches some TV, then mulls over whether to sleep on the couch because her scent is still on the sheets.
It starts to rain outside, and reality kicks in. When it rains, it pours… He decides he actually hates Christmas, and he also can't stand the smell of freshly baked cinnamon rolls. Too tired to dump them in the trash, his feet carry him to the bed, cold and soiled and wrinkled from past love that never was.
The clock is only half past ten, and the doorbell rings just before he takes his shirt off. For the umptieth time this day, his heart starts to race, reminding him that it's not wars that are cruel, but women. 
When he opens the door, she's standing there in the rain. Utterly soaked, dripping wet, sad like a stray cat, lower lip trembling from cold.
"Sir?" she declares, "I'm afraid to fall in love."
There’s a spread of wings inside his chest, catching wind like a soaring eagle. It’s a fell swoop and a heady high at the same time, a burning pain right there over his heart as he looks at her, lonely and sad and so adorably lost. Beautiful and wet, like a trampled little flower after a summer storm. She's perfect, just perfect.
And has she walked all the way back here…? There’s no sign of a taxi, no sounds of a car or a bus, and she looks like she's wetter than a wet dog.
"You’re afraid to fall in love…?"
She nods, then bursts into tears. Her tiny shoulders rise and fall with sobs, the rain makes long, wet strings of her hair. He takes a step and tries to pull her in, but she won't come. Stubborn, incredible little thing…
"Liebling... Me too."
"Really?” she raises her sad stare to meet him while trying to wipe her ruined mascara in the midst of falling rain. “You seem like the kind of man who fears nothing..."
"Oh I fear a lot of things."
"Like what?"
"Like… flying, for example."
"But you fly all the time?"
"Exactly."
She's sniffling and pouting and sobbing, like a princess who always got everything she wanted. He wonders if she's the kind of girl who would've laughed at him in high school, or looked him down her nose. If she would've joined the bullies and been the one to say she’d never sleep with a freak like him…
"Let's get you inside. Hmm? You must be cold."
She won’t come, no matter how hard he tries to coax her to come inside his dry, warm house. The rain falls in mats behind her as the city sleeps, vibrant and vigilant. He thought he already broke his heart to the point it couldn’t get more broken anymore, but the look she gives him as he tries to pull her inside is making it burst and shatter into pieces again.
If she's a princess, she must be a battered, broken one. 
"Come on. I'll give you a bath," he tries to entice her. "And then we’ll tuck you in. That sound gut?"
"Yes," her shoulders drop as she finally accepts his asylum. "Thank you, sir…"
"And don't call me sir unless you want to make me hard."
She breaks into a fragile, shy smile while looking down at the tips of her drenched ballerinas. Then she allows him to drag her in. 
He helps her out of her coat and hangs it to dry while his pretty little kitten gets out of her clothes for the second time this evening. A strong, powerful possessiveness settles in his chest as he guides her to the bathroom and draws her a bath. Then he pulls her shivering, naked body against him so that she wouldn’t feel cold while they wait for the tub to fill with water.
What happens next is soft and gentle, the kind of unhurried exploration he never had time to do because the few females he was with were always in a hurry to get away from him and his needs. 
This pretty thing just eases herself into the bath. A timid but trusting little creature, who allows him to study her body like it’s already a possession for him to play with. She lets him rub her tits and tease her clit, caress her neck and face and waist. She does so with patience, love and hope. He’s been extremely tender and extremely slow with her; perhaps that’s why she doesn’t run away from him. 
"You're too good for me," she whispers when his hand comes to rest on her stomach, just below her tits.
"...What?" 
He barely hears what she’s saying, he can hardly hear her speaking at all because he’s there in the water with her, submerged in the hot, soothing liquid, even if he’s crouching next to the tub in reality.
"Oh please... You're everything a woman could want," she complains softly.
"What do you mean.”
She sighs and looks up to the ceiling, as if begging for help. Then she starts to list things.
"You're… Rich? And powerful, and strong. Kind and considerate. Mysterious... With a great body and a big dick, and still wanting to go down on a woman... It's insane."
He tries to remember how to breathe, but she’s not done yet.
"I'm sorry but… No one's ever eaten me out like that. You must be so experienced."
Her praise eclipses everything, even the thoughts of wanting to kill everyone who's had a taste of her.
So, the boys she's been with don't know how to please her… Stupid arschlochs don't understand what true devotion means. Even a fucker like him knows it's better to make a woman cry out of pleasure than out of fear. Although he always had a talent to do the latter…
And he's not experienced, he's just fucking horny. He just likes to eat pussy. 
But that's not something she has to know. Better to have her keep the illusion that he's a dream catch, a rich cosmopolitan of some sort. What a joke…
"You’re literally perfect," she moans from the bath like the princess that she is. "How are you even single?"
"I'm not… right in the head, I guess."
"Well, neither am I."
He can’t look at her. Not when she’s open and trustful and sweet like this. But her hand comes to rest over his, under the water, under the safety of the surface.
"No one is."
"No. Wirklich, I’m a bit sick. Always was. I jerked off to your…" He leaves the rest of the sentence unsaid, risking a look into her eyes. 
"I know," she smiles. "I don't mind… Actually I think that's hot."
"Liebling…"
"I think I’ve had enough now. Can we go to bed…?"
"Of course."
She giggles when he lifts her from the water, smiles as he dries him with his towel like she's a wet little kitten he rescued from rain. And perhaps he did... She caresses his chin when he carries her to bed, and reaches for him as he accompanies her under the sad, steel-blue sheets. 
He doesn’t need to fuck her, not right now. It’s enough that she’s here: soft, trapped, and tame. His, just his. 
Not another lonely Christmas for him ever again…
And she latches herself onto him like he’s the saviour she’s been waiting for all her life. Poor thing doesn’t know that he may be rich and powerful and strong, but he’s not kind. He’s not considerate, and he’s not perfect. He’s her worst nightmare, he's everything a woman would despise. 
He’s single because no one ever stayed. No one stayed after they saw who he really was... Some even had to flee the country.
But he knows she’ll stay. He’ll make sure that this cute one never leaves. No, this one is not safe from him, even if she tried to escape him to space.
"Are you still afraid?"
He caresses her head, pressed against his chest. She’s unsuspecting and lovely, the perfect woman, hugs him so tight and sighs from simple, lamblike happiness. 
"No," she smiles softly. "Not at all... I know you'll treat me right."
3K notes · View notes
witchywcmans · 21 days
Text
PLEASE, EAT. | LAIOS TOUDEN
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synopsis ━━ after you've been bitten by a sea serpent, you know the consequences are either death or the possibility of turning into one yourself. thankfully for you, laios touden is the devourer of all things monster and he is dedicated to getting that venom out of you. (laios x f!reader.)
content warnings ━━ sex pollen-adjacent, cunnilingus + fingering, praise, breath play (kinda, if you squint), semi-public sex, multiple orgasms. nsfw (minors + ageless blogs dni).
word count ━━ 3k
song inspiration ━━ too sweet, hozier / more than friends, isabel larosa
author's note ━━ this is the first time I've ever written and posted an x reader one-shot on here, so please be gentle with me lol. I usually only write x oc fics bc I'm a yapper and I love creating characters. but alas...I was perusing the laios x reader tag and wanted to read something with this plot, couldn't find it, so I figured I'd just do it myself 🫡
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This was definitely one of the worst situations you’d been in.
You had joined Laios’ adventuring party just a few months prior. They had found you on floor 3 of the dungeon, shivering and mourning the loss of your father. His body, dead in your arms, and beside him lay the lifeless body of a ghoul you had killed. At first, the party’s leader, Laios Touden, had only been interested in taking the ghoul's body so they could use its bones for utensils after the flesh rotted off. But it was Marcille who noticed the tears in your eyes, how you trembled from the cold, and suggested they take you in. You almost declined, not wanting to leave your father’s body, but knowing he’d soon turned into a monster left you with only one option. Your father had been with you for the past twenty-five years of your life, and now, you were leaving his dead body in a dungeon to travel with a group of strangers.
You soon came to appreciate your new party, though, and you felt your father’s spirit within each of them. Marcille had his kindness, Chilchuck had a comparable wit, Senshi was gifted with excellent cooking skills, and Laios … well, you were still figuring that out. And surprisingly, it was Laios who you began to connect with the most. His knowledge of monsters was unmatched, and he had a passion for learning how to prepare them while they traveled deeper into the dungeon. He was overtly blunt, much like you, and possessed similar advanced fighting skills due to both your fathers' teachings.
Sometimes … sometimes though, you found yourself staring at him more than you should have. His face was abnormally perfect, as if he’d been carved by an artist. His tousled ash-blonde hair reminded you of a lion, and his eyes … sometimes you could’ve sworn they were made out of gold, shimmering like molten lava. Each time you thought this way, you smacked yourself when no one else was looking. I mean, Laios was your friend, your party leader. Having a crush, especially in circumstances like these, was unethical. You had always been focused on one thing: helping your party and making it out of this dungeon alive, for your father. You wouldn’t let a little crush deter you.
Everything had been all well and good until today, when you and your party reached the end of floor 4. When Laios had struggled to fight off a sea serpent, you joined him in the lukewarm water, using your crossbow to shoot the creature in the head. Finally, Laios was able to step in to slice the serpent’s head off … but not before the creature could snap its jaw, tearing one fang down your hip. You jumped back, screaming as you felt the venom seep into you instantly. Some said sea serpent venom would kill you immediately, others said it turned you into one of them, cursing you to haunt the waters with them as penance. As soon as the head was cut, Laios carried you away from the water, and the last thing you heard was Marcille cursing him out before you were rendered unconscious. 
You were woken up – hours, maybe days later – by a drop of water hitting your face every few seconds. Lifting your head from the makeshift tunic pillow, you took in your surroundings. You were at the entrance of floor 5, in a damp corner of cobblestone, while water dripped down onto the floor every so often. There was a moist bandage covering your side where the serpent’s fang had cut into you, part of your tunic ripped to shreds. Hunger boiled in your stomach, making you groan and rub your head. Laios was sitting just a few feet away, a small fire in front of him to keep warm. Marcille had to have helped him with that; there was no way to craft a fire in an area this damp.
“Am I dead?” You asked softly. 
Laios immediately turned in your direction, his mouth lifting in a smile. “Of course not.”
Your stomach did flip flops as you took in his smile, hunger consuming you. You needed something to eat – bad. Your body felt hot and sweaty, and you wondered if it was just from the humidity, even though Laios didn’t look affected. Sitting up, you informed him, “Well, that was one of two options my father said would happen from a sea serpent bite. Which means …” You lifted the bandage up, noticing the gills that started to form on the healing wound. A turquoise hue surrounded the gills, almost like a bruise. “Oh, fuck,” you muttered.
Laios stood, looming over you while asking, “What’s wrong?”
“It’s the other option,” you replied, too hungry to cry. “The bite is –”
“– Turning you into a sea serpent,” Laios finished. “Honestly, I thought that was just a myth. But when the bite didn’t kill you …” His mouth twitched, tongue darting out to wet the corners of his lips. “We have to suck the venom out. That has to stop the mutation.”
Your head snapped up. “Huh?” 
But as soon as your eyes met his, you started to wondered if what you were experiencing was hunger after all. Perhaps … a different kind of hunger. Laios stared down at you, the sparkling gold replaced by a dark hazel. It was just you two in this little corner of the dungeon, but you suddenly felt exposed, so naked, under his gaze. Your body was hot all over, sweat sticking to uncomfortable places. And your thighs … a burning need emerged between them, soaking the thin linen of your undergarments. This had to be a symptom of the bite, but it suddenly didn’t matter anymore. Your worry had been replaced by an ache that only he could fix.
No – absolutely not. You couldn’t. You shouldn’t. You were turning into a sea serpent.
But the need between your legs still throbbed.
“It’s like when a snake bites you on the surface,” Laios said, crouching down to your eye level. His closeness made your heart rate pick up. You realized then that he had shed his armor, kneeling in front of you in just his gambeson, which clung to his muscles and wide frame. “A sea serpent is part snake. Sucking out the venom should stop the mutation. You’ll probably experience symptoms from the bite for a few more hours, but they’ll stop eventually.” 
He started to peel back the bandage, taking a look at the gills forming on your hip when you gripped his wrist. Immediately, his skin burned, making you even more hot. You ripped your hand away from him, and with sweat trickling down the side of your face, you said, “Don’t you think this is … weird? Maybe Marcille should do it.”
“Marcille and the others just went back to another part of the level to find dinner. They won’t return for an hour, at least. This can’t wait.” He inspected the turquoise gills with concern, before his eyes snapped back to yours, noticing the way your black pupils filled almost the entire iris. “Do you not trust me?”
“Of course, I trust you. It’s just …” What exactly was the reason again? Oh, yes, it was pulsating hunger dripping between your legs from the bite, and you were terrified how you’d react the second his lips wrapped around your wound. The symptoms would just get worse. But he was right – this was the only way. Fuck, this had to be the most embarrassing thing you’d ever experienced. 
“Fine,” you finally relented, lying back down on the cobblestone. You did your best to get comfortable, but the makeshift pillow hardly provided much cushion between you and the floor.  “What should I do?”
“Nothing, just lay back and let me take care of it.” Laios lifted your tunic a smidge, and just the tenor of his voice made your ache even worse. “We’re just gonna … get this out of the way. And then …” His fingers hooked on the waistband of your pants, and you immediately clutched his collar. If you touched his skin again, you were sure to moan.
Laios looked from where your hand was gripping him and back to your eyes. “Your pants need to be off so I can have better access to the mutation. It’s on your hip.” You swallowed hard, knowing he was right, and your hand started to slip off his collar. “We’re friends, right?” He asked.
You nodded weakly.
“Good,” he smiled again, and you struggled to hold back a plea for him to touch you. He pulled down your pants, tossing them to the side. For a moment, he paused, taking in your soaked underwear and running his fingers over the mutation on your hip. He licked his lips again, and then said in a rather blunt tone, “You’re so –”
“Don’t say it,” you cut in, snapping your eyes shut to prevent further embarrassment.  Though you had never minded Laois’ occasional lack of social cues, this was one of those moments you needed anything but. “Just get the venom out.”
Laios tugged your underwear down a little to see if the mutation had spread. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” he informed you, lowering his head to your hip. “I’ve read that these bites can have a multitude of internal symptoms. Nightmares ... sweating … fever …” He ran his tongue over the gills, making your breath hitch instantly. “… And especially, arousal. Neat, huh?” He chuckled, and just his warm breath on the gills made you even more wet. “Don’t worry, I got you,” he assured before finally wrapping his mouth on the wound.
Your body burned even hotter than before as soon as his lips touched your skin. He sucked the venom out of you, spitting out blue globs every other second. His hands gripped your side, digging into your flesh and leaving crescent shapes from his nails. As you felt the gills start to close up, you couldn’t help but moan and arch into nothing. This felt better than any time you masturbated … any time you imagined your party leader above you … Fuck, who would’ve thought sucking sea serpent venom out of you would feel this good? Thank the gods the rest of their party was off catching dinner. You couldn’t deal with them possibly hearing this.
It surprised you when your orgasm flooded through you like a crashing wave. As Laios finished sucking out the last of the venom and the mutation closed, your arousal came to a definite peak and you let out a whine. You grabbed his arm, cumming from absolutely no stimulation.
Laios didn’t seem to mind though. In fact, he was mostly preoccupied with inspecting the area. You opened your eyes, your cheeks tinged pink, and saw the globs of venom to the left dissipate to nothing but water. You pinched the bridge of your nose, “I’m sorry, I –”
“The mutation closed. I was right!” Laios looked down at you, a big grin covering his face. “How do you feel?”
“Well, I definitely don’t feel a second set of lungs on my hip anymore.” You lifted your hand when you noticed a trickle of blue staining his lip, wiping it away with your thumb. “But I … my body is still …” The ache inside you had simmered slightly, but it was still there, lingering underneath the surface. 
This was genuinely humiliating. Maybe you should’ve just decided to turn into a sea serpent after all.
Laios grabbed your wrist before you could pull away from his face. He leaned into your palm, running his long nose down to your inner wrist. “Your skin is so warm. I can still smell how aroused you are from the serpent bite.” His eyes burned into yours, keeping your hand close to his face. “I can help. Do you need another release?”
Your cheeks got even more red when he acknowledged your orgasm. Shaking your head, you said, “I couldn’t ask you to do that. I can just –”
“I’d be honored to,” he replied, quite gruffly and persistent. His fingers tugged your underwear down with precision and ease, despite the damp fabric clinging to you. He spread your legs wide and placed them on his shoulders. Lowering himself down, he inhaled the scent of your climax and hooked his arms around your inner thighs. He smiled up at you – your pretty face red with embarrassment – all dopey-eyed and grateful. “You lot like to call me the devourer of monsters. Perhaps I should devour the last bit of monster out of you.”
He inhaled again, groaning like he typically did when he was hungry. His hot breath against your achingly wet pussy made you whimper with desperation. “You smell so good down here,” he whispered. “I’d wager you taste even better.”
You gasped as soon as he dove between your legs, licking a stripe through your folds, tasting your recent orgasm. He flicked his tongue over your clit before sucking on it with feverish excitement. Slick gathered on his tongue and he whined, needing more. So much more. You were the most delicious meal he’d ever tasted. Better than any monster, better than anything on the surface. 
“So good,” he muttered into your pussy, lapping against your clit, doing anything that would get him more of your arousal. “You taste so, so good.”
You whimpered out his name and attempted to close your legs, but he held them opened with all his strength. His arms wrapped around your thighs went tight, bruising the sensitive flesh. Your jaw went slack while your own hands scrambled for purchase, eventually landing in his cropped hair. You tugged, hips bucking against his face, making him groan even more. This allowed him to hold your hips a little higher, and his tongue finally dipped into your leaking entrance. You heard him grunt the second he plunged his tongue deeper, his nose nuzzling your clit. 
He devoured you like a starved man. He devoured you like you were a boiled scorpion, or roast basilisk, or – even better – like sweet, delicious homemade cheesecake. 
“Laios,” you whined, feeling your fever dissolve with each lap of his tongue. “Laios, it’s … fuck – it’s okay, I feel –”
“Need more,” he muttered, his voice low and laced with need. He was practically humping the stone floor as he buried his tongue as far as it could go inside you. Your hips couldn’t stop bucking forward, riding his face as you felt your orgasm building at the base of your stomach. Laios was completely transfixed. He wanted to be here, nestled between your thighs, for every meal. He’d take you away from the rest of the group before dinner, lapping away to the sounds of your pleas and whimpers, so help him gods. He’d do this every day, every night, whenever you wanted, for as long as he was alive. Fuck monsters. He could survive off the taste of you for the rest of his life.
Slipping his tongue out of your hole, he went back to sucking on your throbbing clit and feeling your legs start to tremble. You had to be close to another release, and he was desperate to taste it. He paid all his attention on your clit, snaking one hand up and sinking two fingers knuckle-deep into your entrance in tandem. “Fuck,” you moaned, tugging on his hair once again, “fuck – gods, Laios. I – I’m s-so close –”
“Please,” he begged, smearing your slick all over his mouth. “Please, you’re so good. Need to see how you taste when you release on my tongue.” His own hips continued to buck against the floor.
You choked on a cry when you finally came all over his tongue. He groaned, loud and drawn out, when he finally got a taste of your sweet climax, knowing that it was him that brought you to this point. The orgasm felt long, like the ocean bringing you in and out, and your whole body trembled. He continued lapping at your clit as it pulsed under his tongue, his fingers curling inside you through your orgasm. When you finally breathed out and started to come down from the high of it all, Laios stayed between your thighs, allowing his tongue to gently swirl your clit. Maybe if he continued, he could taste a little more of you …
You found your voice, hoarse from overstimulation. “Laios, please, you have to stop,” you begged, yanking his head up from between your legs. His mouth was covered in your slick, and then he was giving you that dopey expression again, making your heart clench. Your body was no longer hot and sweaty. Laios had completely cured you of the sea serpent bite with that expert mouth of his. He unwound his arms from your thighs, bringing his fingers that were still covered with your wetness to his mouth, tasting the last of your orgasm. You watched him, eyes wide and cheeks blushing, until he was looking at you again with those golden doe eyes.
“That was amazing,” he said, like he was in a haze. When your eyes flickered down, you realized he was hard in his pants, but it wasn’t like he even noticed himself with the way he was staring at you. “We should do that again sometime.”
He stood up, and you scrambled to pull your clothes back on before the group came back. You stammered, “It’s okay, uh – we don’t have to. Especially if you don’t want to. We could just –”
“I want to,” he cut in, a determined look in his eyes. “What are friends for, right?” 
1K notes · View notes
daycourtofficial · 2 months
Text
Forever is the sweetest con
Cassian x reader, Azriel x reader
Summary: based on this request - the war with Hybern claimed the life of your husband. Reeling with grief, you discover that you’re pregnant. His brother and your friend, Azriel, begins spending more and more time with you, finding solace in each other amidst your shared grief.
Author’s note: sadness, sadness, sadness, this one took me ages to write bc it’s so fucking sad 😭 I’m not super happy with this bc I was mostly trying to meet the deadline so this might feel disjointed bc I had to kinda skip around a lot. Also I didn’t tag this as Cassian x reader in tags bc it felt too painful to do that
Word count: 3k
Warnings: character death, unexpected pregnancy, honestly just sadness
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“I’m Cassian.”
A large, handsome male greeted you as you were shelving some new books away. His large outstretched hand reached towards you, waiting in the air for a moment as you set the stack of books in your arms down. Your hand gets lost in the warmth of his, telling him your own name.
He smiles at it, repeating it, testing it on his tongue.
For days, that is the only memory playing in your head. It is what you think of as you lay in your shared bed, his scent still lingering. It is what you think when Feyre picks you up, and her and Mor place you in a bathtub as they clean you. It is what you think of as you stare at the ceiling, hoping it will collapse on you.
It is what you think of as you stand between Rhysand and Azriel at Cassian’s memorial. It is what you think of as they lower the casket into the ground, the citizens of Velaris standing around to pay their respects.
You don’t notice the hundreds of people who come to offer you a silent nod, a gentle prayer over you, their voices carrying gentle choruses of “he was so brave” and “you should be proud”.
You’re too numb for any of this. You’re too numb to recognize the hand Azriel places on your back, or the hand Feyre clasps into your own, squeezing tightly.
All you can think about is how his hand felt in your own the first time you held it - warm, gentle, comforting. And how it felt the last time you held it - cold, lifeless, gone.
Being a war hero came with a cost.
Only Cassian didn’t have to pay it - those he left behind did.
-
You’re not sure how much time has passed since Cassian died. You’re not sure if the people of Velaris still mourned him, or were simply wearing the traditional colors of their court.
You sat in one of Cassian’s old tunics, piles of clothes scattered on the floor around you. Your back was to the wall, its cool surface warming with your heat.
You hear movement in the house, but you don’t have the energy or ability to care who’s here.
Someone knocks gently before coming into the room, Azriel’s large frame coming through the door to your chambers. He sees the slightly ajar closet door, and shimmies his way in, sitting next to you amidst the pile of clothes on the floor.
He notes that they all seemed to have been pulled right off their hangers, in a fit of rage or desperation perhaps. Shades of black and red litter the floor, and the realization that it was all Cassian’s clothes causes him to take in a deep breath.
You two sit for a while, Azriel’s wings likely cramped in the small space. Mother knows Cassian complained if he spent more than five minutes in your closet.
Azriel just sits in silence, his shadows gently swirling the floor, searching through the piles.
For what, you’re not sure.
You finally speak, the words hard to form. You didn’t speak much these days - your voice a rare sound for your family’s ears.
“He doesn’t need them to be hung up anymore.”
Azriel sighs, shifting closer to you. He gauges you, looking for a reaction before moving a bit closer.
“He never needed them hung up. Before you he mostly just left his clothes strewn about the room. Drove Nuala and Cerridwen mad.”
You look at him, pulled from your trance of that black shirt Cassian wore when the two of you went on vacation in Adriada. The shirt that fit him so well the two of you did not see the beach at all for the five days you were there.
“They’d complain, saying every night he’d pull his clothes that they neatly hung up and the next morning they’d be strewn about his room,” he shrugs, still confused over how Cassian kept track of where everything was.
“Eventually Rhys told them to stop and to let Cassian do what he wants. No idea how he managed to stay neat and tidy with you.”
Your eyes meet his, and he reaches out a hand for you. It’s the first offer of help you’ve accepted in days. You keep his hand in yours for a long time, sitting amongst Cassian’s clothes.
-
You were sitting on the small balcony of your home, looking out at the expansive night sky above you. Elbows on knees, collapsing in on yourself.
Eyes red rimmed, tear tracks marking your face. You had never felt so helpless or as hopeless as you did now. Your eyes snag on a dark figure, soaring through the skies, its body getting closer and closer.
Azriel had taken to checking on you every three days now. Make sure you were eating, washing, and moving. Honestly if it weren’t for these biweekly check ins, you’re not sure how you would be faring.
The Illyrian descends next to you, a soft landing as he tucks his wings back in and sits next to you. You two sit in silence for a while, the sounds of the night a melody playing for just you two.
Velaris is dark, few fae lights scattered throughout the city aglow. You breathe deeply, taking in the smell of Azriel next to you. You should tell him, but you haven’t been able to tell anyone all week.
It was eating you up - you knew they’d be supportive, you knew they’d love you and help you in anyway they could. But it would still break their hearts just a bit more.
Your internal debate is ended by the overwhelming turn of your stomach, your lunch from earlier wanting to make a quick exit. You hurriedly get up, running towards your bathroom and throwing yourself on your toilet, narrowly reaching it in time.
Azriel ran after you, making quick work of grabbing your hair before you began your second wave of vomiting. The only sounds in the room are your retching and Azriel’s soothing tunes.
His other hand gently rubs your back as you feel as if you’re going to die. From embarassment or pain, you’re not sure. He waits for you to say what he already suspects, having noted a subtle shift in your scent when he arrived.
You wipe your mouth, not wanting to say the words aloud. The words that Madja had told you three days ago, the words that caused you to shut down until now.
“I’m pregnant,” you say, head leaning against the toilet seat. “All Cass wanted was to be a dad. Now I’m pregnant and he’s dead.”
A forced laugh comes from you.
“It’s not fair, Az.”
Your words hang in the air, and your friend responds by wrapping his arms around you, and pulling you into his lap. He nuzzles his head into your shoulder, his breath shuddering as he cries softly into your hair.
The two of you lay there, the cool bathroom tile digging imprints into your skin as he holds you, tears streaming from both of you.
-
Several months along in your pregnancy, and Azriel has essentially moved in with you full time. He takes meticulous care of you and the babe - he goes to your appointments with Madja with you, he goes baby shopping with you, he even put together the crib in your room.
He was your late husband’s brother. He was stepping up, knowing that Cassian would want him to help you. And yet your dreams wouldn’t stop being so perverse.
For the past month, every night without fail you dreamt of Azriel. Every dream was different - some of places you’ve gone before, places you only know of because Azriel described them.
The dreams were weird and disorienting, but you left them there. They were dreams.
About how beautiful he was. About his hands, his wings, his shoulders, his thighs.
Every day you’d wake up full of shame at where your mind takes you against your will.
-
“Az,” you say, a serious look on your face. “Something’s wrong.”
He looks over to you, glasses perched on his nose. The knife in his hand clatters, landing on the cutting board, a piece of carrot tumbling to the floor as he moves to you quickly.
Your breathing becomes more shallow, and you hold your hands out, reaching for his. Once his fingers reach yours, you bring his hands to your bump.
Just as he’s about to ask what the problem is, he feels a soft thump against his scarred hand. He can’t control the soft laugh that comes from him, and he can’t help but cradle your bump just a little tighter.
He looks back up to you, a mischievous glint in your eye.
“I thought something was wrong.”
You smile, “I know - that’s what makes it fun.”
-
Almost eight months had passed since Cassian’s death, and you were finally able to hear his name without breaking down. Azriel was the only one you would talk to about him, though.
It felt right to talk about Cassian to Azriel. It felt right to plunge yourself back into the memories of him - his boisterous laugh, his insistence on touching someone at all times, his presence in rooms.
It felt right, and the babe in your belly would kick frequently whenever Azriel spoke to you about Cassian, as if they knew who you were talking about.
It felt so right, and yet so wrong. Every night before bed you replayed the memories of the day, desperately trying to insert Cassian into Azriel’s spot in them.
He never fit perfectly into them, the edges of him not quite the right size.
-
This was too much.
You were an absolute fool to believe you could do this. To not only birth but to raise your dead husband’s babe. Who let you do this? Who thought this was a good idea?
“Hey.”
Azriel’s voice vibrates through you, pulling you from your thoughts, his large frame behind you. Your back pressed to his chest, his arms helping hold your legs up.
You lean your head against him.
“This was a terrible, terrible idea.”
He smiles, “Cassian never was known for good ideas.”
Your face contorts in agony, a strong cramping pain rippling through you.
Azriel takes the wet cloth from the nurse to his left, holding it on your forehead. “I’m so proud of you. You’re doing so well.”
You scoff, “if I was doing well, the babe would be out by now!”
Azriel takes your jabs, your sarcasm, the intense squeezing of his hand in yours. He’ll take everything you throw at him.
After about eight hours, you were blessed by the cauldron with a beautiful boy, tiny wings clinging to his back as he cried.
-
Azriel’s presence didn’t stop after the babe, Camden, was born. If anything, he spent more time with you. He delegated much of his work as spymaster to support you, even going so far as helping coordinate schedules for Feyre or Nesta to help you bathe.
In the first few weeks, you were able to move around, but you were utterly exhausted. Not just the physical demands of your babe and recovering from birthing a winged babe, but also the emotional toll this took on you left you unable to care much for yourself.
You had thought being bathed would make you feel like a burden, but Feyre and Nesta did everything to make you feel so loved instead. They lit candles, rubbed your back, and told you how proud of you they were constantly. Their words never failed to make you cry, the task at hand feeling impossible if you thought about it too hard.
Eventually, after weeks of sleepless nights, feeling like nothing more than a cow for milk, you and Azriel were able to settle into a routine.
He took care of the babe at night, allowing you decent sleep. He brought Camden to you for his middle of the night feedings. You took care of Camden during the morning through early afternoon while Azriel attended to his duties. The two of you cooked dinner together, Azriel always insisting on washing dishes afterwards.
After a while, it all felt so normal. As if Cassian was never meant to be here for this part.
-
A few months after your son’s first birthday all Hell broke loose. It was a regular day. The sun still shone as it always does, your son was as beautiful as ever. Azriel was holding Camden in the air, helping him stretch out his wings, when he spoke for the first time.
A soft dada accompanied the little boy’s giggles, followed by Azriel stiffening immediately. You looked to the shadowsinger, and when his eyes met yours, you knew.
As if a golden thread appeared out of thin air, tying a knot from Azriel to you, you could feel him. You pulled an experimental tug in the bond, and he pulled back.
Wide eyes meet each other from across the room, silent except for Camden’s continued giggles. You stare at him bewildered, your expression mirrored back to you on his face.
A high pitched noise starts ringing in your eyes before everything goes black.
-
“It’s a bit of a cruel joke,” you say. “I want to love him, I want to be with my mate. But what kind of person does that to her deceased husband?”
You had woken up in Rhys’s office twenty minutes ago to your head in Feyre’s lap, her hands gently running through your hair.
You had heard bits of hushed conversation, and you thought you had heard Az, but when you came to, he was nowhere to be seen.
Rhys looks contemplative before saying, “you of all people should know that Cassian would have wanted you to be happy.”
You put your head in your hands, gathering to courage to say your worst thoughts out loud.
“It feels like Cassian died for me. I know he didn’t, but I can’t help but feel like if he had survived, would Azriel still be my mate? He would have let me be with him, yes, but just.”
You sigh, trying to grab the fragmented thoughts in your head and place them together. Rhys lets you, allowing silence to fill the room.
“It would have killed him having to watch me choose Azriel over him. He would have done the respectable thing, he would have stepped back. He would have been happy for us.”
You sigh, “but if it were the other way, if Nesta or Elain were his mate, I’m not sure I could give him up.”
Your words come pouring out quickly before you begin sobbing. He wraps his arms around you, pulling you into his chest. His hands wrap around your head, and he gently smooths your hair down.
“Feyre and I are immensely happy for you, despite the circumstances. Both of you. I know you might not feel like it, but you made your own family.”
-
You found Azriel a few hours later in what used to be his room in the townhouse. He hardly stayed here, hardly stayed at any of Rhys’s estates anymore, opting instead for the comfort of the home you two now shared.
“Hi,” you say tentatively, stepping through the door.
“Hi,” he echos back, turning to see you.
“Crazy day,” you say, pulling lightly on the bond. He cracks a smile, but there’s a sadness deep in his gaze that you haven’t seen in months.
He moves towards you, slow and deliberate steps, as if you were a bunny found in the woods easily scared off.
“Do you want this?” He asks, eyes focused on your own.
You nod your head. He nods back.
“I dreamt of you. For months, years even. Since about halfway through my pregnancy, you’ve been in my dreams most nights.”
He watches you speak, letting you say whatever it is you need to. You take a deep breath before continuing.
“I don’t want to forget Cass, and I don’t want you to feel like you’re replacing him. I can love both of you.”
He steps closer, slowly moving towards you until he’s stopped right in front of you, his wings blocking you in.
“It’s unconventional, I understand. And I understand if you don’t want a widow with a child.” You look up towards him, determination in your eyes. “But I am all in.”
He gently cups your cheek, eyes full of conflict. “It won’t be easy,” he muses.
“Nothing about this has been easy, why start now?”
His face slowly moves closer to yours, his lips gentle against your own. His hands still hold you gently, as he kisses you long and slow.
There would be time for passion later, his kiss now is full of the emotions words can’t convey. Adoration, sacrifice, immense grief.
You thought having Azriel kiss you would make you feel like you were betraying Cassian. Instead you feel an overwhelming sense of rightness as your hands cup his jaw back, pouring every ounce of you into him.
-
You and Azriel look out at your backyard, watching Nyx and Camden run around, play fighting with their swords. The two boys occasionally take short flights, only about a foot or so off the ground.
Azriel wraps his arms around you, pressing his face into the crook of your neck. You close your eyes, letting yourself feel this moment, allowing the sounds of the boys playing and your mate’s breathing to lull you into some form of peace you never thought you’d find again.
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peachsayshi · 5 months
Text
✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄ being wrapped in your arms feels like coming home ⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧
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wc: 1,820
minors / ageless blogs / blank blogs - do not interact.
notes: here is a little drabble in honor of toji's birthday! this piece was originally titled as "adoration" but I changed it to this instead. I'm taking a small posting break, but I'll be back to my regular schedule within a week! I'm sorry if I haven't been responding to tags or messages, but I will do so soon <3 I hope you're all having a wonderful time and I'm sending all my well wishes out to you! xo
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ tags: widow toji; age gap (reader is 30 while toji is in his early 40s); a little angsty; toji attempting to break up with you but failing because he's oh so in love
toji overstayed his welcome which was only supposed to last the scorching heat of summer, but he found himself lingering through the quiet stillness of fall. winter came in with a brisk chill and gloomy skies, and that's when toji knew it was time for him to end things with you.
he’s lost interest far quicker in previous relationships. they served their purpose of healing over the wound in his heart, of soothing away the ache of loneliness. he oftens forgets that he was once a loyal, loving husband whenever he abandons yet another fling.
the difference, however, is he at least had the guts to verbally cut things off before.
fucking pathetic, he thinks as he scolds himself. he's been a coward, reducing his actions to disappearing before the sunlight peeks through the horizon, and avoiding any chance of waking you up. he ensures that he is never there to see the way your brows furrow with concern when your hand meets the cold pillow, because otherwise he would falter in his attempt to escape.
this has been going on for over two weeks now but last night was the first time you've actually snapped at his cold, detached behavior. he approached the argument with nonchalance to wither you down, shrugging off the gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach and then walking out halfway through the fight.
he stayed at a motel thinking that maybe you have finally taken the hint that he's done.
he arrives back to his apartment only to be met with unfamiliar silence. the entrance of his home is dark and lifeless, and it's so quiet he can even hear a pin drop. there's a tightness in his chest, followed by a wave of disappointment that runs over him like a feverish shiver.
despite his hard headed decision, he's still anticipating on hearing your lovely voice to greet him as he walks through the door.
he knows it's selfish.
toji expected many things to happen after last night's fight. he figured the reaction to him leaving you (again) would be far bigger. a screaming phone call or a string of cursing text messages to call him out on his shitty behavior.
after all he deserves it for acting like an insufferable asshole.
he tries to swallow his guilt but it remains lodged in his throat when he acknowledges that this might actually be the end. 
the expression on his features falls.
it’s better this way, he consoles, dragging his feet across the floor to approach his kitchenette. he shrugs off his beaten up, oversized coat and tosses it over one of the chairs. he opens one of the cupboards, and grabs a mug to prepare himself a cup of tea.
she’s too young to settle for a guy like me, he continues. widowed with two kids who he barely sees anymore, working paycheck to paycheck just to make ends meet…
a deadbeat.
he exhales, swirling his brew in his ceramic cup. the aroma of sweet leaves dances up the spiral of steam to kiss his nose.
she deserves more than me.
he places the kettle down but stares at the cup mindlessly, losing all train of thought as his hands grip onto the edge of the counter. 
he can acknowledge that his insecurities are clouding his judgement on something truly special, even though this was only ever meant to be purely physical.
except, the sex was growing more intimate. the experience wasn't about pleasure for him anymore. he would find himself losing all focus to the depth of your pretty eyes, stealing kiss after kiss like your mouth was the source of where all his happiness belongs.
belonged.
belonged.
it’s over now, he thinks again. it has to be.
a faint patter of footsteps distracts him, prompting him to ease his hold on the counter as the muscles on his face relax. his heart steadies itself, and he draws in a breath when he feels two arms delicately twine around his waist.
“you’re...still here...” he points out in shock. 
he feels you press your forehead into his back. “of course, where else would I be?” 
he clears his throat to release the guilt then spins on his heel to face you.
"I thought you might have taken off," he bluntly states as he rests his lower back against the counter.
his heart swells, emanates flurries of golden sparks when he meets your gorgeous irises. the will to carry on with his decision crumbles when he catches the corner of your mouth tick into a slight grin.
"I thought about it," you reply casually, loosening your grip to place your palms flat on the side of his stomach. "but the truth is I'm worried about you and I just…want to talk things out…make sure you're okay...”
“I’m the one acting like a jerk and you’re worried about me?” he blurts.
you quirk your brow at the slip of his question. “so, you know you’re acting like a jerk?”
toji’s eyes widen slightly, a hint of pink tainting his cheek. “I asked the question first.”
you purse your lips playfully, aware of the crack that's been revealed and ready to swing once again with another blow.
“it’s because you’re acting like a jerk that I’m worried about you,” you explain, “you’re not yourself when you’re unsettled about something…”
his face warms, the hue of pink deepening into a stronger blush. the familiarity of pointing out his personal traits feels all too homely. seven months shouldn’t feel like a forever but in this bubble with you time ceases to exist.
you trail the pads of your finger tips up his torso, your hands clasping around the back of his neck as you press all your soft and sweet parts right up against the frame of his body.
the brush of your lips on his scar prompts him to flutter his eyes close. he fails to stop himself from holding you then, his firm hands reaching for the outline of your waist
“so,” you murmur with a tempting kiss as you return to your question, “you know you’re acting like a jerk then?”
please don’t make me say it, he thinks, please don’t make me unravel right in front of your eyes.
he squeezes your side, whispering a defeated “listen…”
“did I do something wrong?” you question, a hint of pain laced through every vowel which only makes his heart ache further. “did something happen?”
toji shakes his head.
“it’s not you,” he grumbles. “look, you asked me a couple of weeks ago if this thing between us was serious and…it shouldn’t be.”
you narrow your gaze, tilting your head with adorable confusion that makes toji want to kiss you right there on the spot.
he can feel you pluck at the fabric of his sweater nervously, “why not?”
toji drops his head and sighs.
“c’mon, doll, let’s be real. I’ve got nothing to give you other than a good fuck in this shitty apartment. you're better off finding someone else and I don't want to waste your time”
you press your mouth into a firm line. “your behavior…” you reply, nipping your bottom lip slightly as you gather your thoughts. “are you acting like this because you…want to end things with me?”
toji has never felt smaller. you’ve reduced him into a shriveled pea rolling around his scuffed up boot. “look, it’s better this way, alright?” he admits with a raise of his head, still refusing to outwardly say what you easily deduced. “it's better to move on before things get too complicated…”
the silence hangs heavy in the air, the tension so thick toji feels like he can’t breathe properly. his heart rattles with no restraint, and he finds himself suddenly lightheaded. an apology rests on the tip of his tongue, ready to take back everything he just bombarded you with but his throat simply tightens once more when your hands cradle his strong jaw.
“I like your apartment,” you quietly speak, “your bed sheets always smell so good, and you fixed the water pressure after I complained that it sucked…”
toji blinks back his surprise.
“I also notice that you burn the candle that I got you and that you switched laundry detergents when your old one gave me that weird rash,” you giggle and toji couldn’t help but huff out an embarrassed laugh himself. “the windows let in the best kind of sunlight, and it’s always so cozy in here…”
you press your lips against his mouth to leave a chaste kiss, “as for the company…” you add on, nuzzling the tip of your nose over his, “I consider you more than just a good fuck.”
toji can physically feel himself wilting underneath the heat of your gaze. “I’m just looking out for you, doll.”
"you can look out for me by making me breakfast instead of running away from me..."
he looks serious but his eyes are sincere, holding a level of tenderness that he only reserves for you. his palm moves to seek out your lower back, a hint of pressure pulling you back into his warmth.
your lover has stayed tight lipped about his past, but over his period with you he's found himself spilling out a few secrets here and there.
"I haven't done this in a long time," he vulnerably admits.
"I know," you reassure him, "but...the real question is, do you want this?"
he parts his lips ready to seal the last nail in the coffin, ready to give you the chance to walk out of his life for good. but you're gazing up at him from underneath your eyelashes, your determined stare an opening of your own mercy. your plush, supple lips summoning his cowardice into oblivion.
"toji?"
his breath hitches, his apprehension silenced by the urgency of his desire.
you're so lovely, he thinks. you feel like home.
"I want you," he reveals, his deep voice smoky and untethered, releasing enough sentiment in those three words that he can feel you tremble in his arms. "I just don't deserve you. I don't want you getting caught up in my bullshit..."
""you're a lot sweeter than you look, you know?" you run your fingers through the streaks of his black hair, combing it back to reveal his forehead. "you deserve to be happy, toji, and...and I think I can make you happy..."
your aura beams with delight when he flashes you a wolfish grin in return. a smile you've grown to adore so deeply. his apology comes in the form of a kiss, one that's gentle and slow. a stroke of fire burns up the back of your neck, making you quiver in places when he glides his tongue across yours. you hum softly into his lips while he releases a content sigh, the barrier he's been keeping up turns to ashes beneath your feet.
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spacebarbarianweird · 6 months
Text
Fever
Summary: During your post-game adventures, you get sick and Astarion takes care of you.
Pairing: Astarion x f!Tav
Tags: hurt/comfort, f!tav, established relationship, post-game
Read on AO3
Masterlist
Headcanons
Thanks @tragedybunny for being an amazing beta!
It's bone-chilling cold. So close to the Spine of the World, the snow and winds prove as merciless as demons from the Abyss. Tears freeze on your cheeks. Even Astarion, wrapped in his fur cape, shivers; the cold seeping into his undead body. He starves. The dark forest is silent, with no animals around to prey on.
"Astarion," you muffle through the thick scarf, "take a small sip, I beg you."
"No," he refuses yet again, unwilling to risk your life. Hunger and cold torment him, but he stands on his feet. Meanwhile, you, a fragile mortal, teeter on the verge of death in this frozen forest. Your back aches despite Astarion carrying most of the load. Your feet are numb as if submerged in icy water, and your throat burns with pain.
Astarion grabs your hand and lets you lean back on him. The nearest village is still miles away, and there's no chance you'll make it till sunrise. Nights are long, dark, and unforgiving. You need to set up the camp; it might be warmer in daylight.
But Astarion desperately holds on to his sanity, which he might lose if he doesn't feed soon.
"Astarion, please. We need to put up the tent. Sunrise is soon. I will just lay by the fire, and you can eat."
"We still have time, darling, and save your energy," he grits his teeth. The starving monster within him looks at you through Astarion's kind crimson eyes.
"Astarion, take my blood!"
He doesn't reply, leading the way through dark woods. If only there was an animal, even a rat. Looking up, you see the dark skies filled with prickly stars.
"What is it, my sweet?"
Suddenly, you realize you haven't been cold because of the snow and winds. You are cold from within. Your heart, lungs, and bones are freezing, much like what Astarion feels every moment since he died. "Oh, fuck!"
You realize you now lie in the snow, unable to move, as the air in your throat burns with ice.
"Wake up, gods damn you!" Astarion's voice is desperate, betraying that he' is scared to death.
You hear the loud thump when his travel sack drops in the snow. Then he works on your belts, releasing your burden. A moment later, and you rest in his hands.
"Love, I need you to stay awake. You hear me?"
But you can't say anything. The cold rips through your muscles, turning into ice, and you lose consciousness, drowning in cold, dark waters.
So cold, so cold. It's a freezing grip of death on your heart, killing you. You think of Astarion, imagining him beside your lifeless body.
… You hear muffled talking and open your eyes. You aren't dead, that's for sure, but there is complete darkness around you.
And you lie under something weighty.
You try to move but can't, your. whole body shivers. You are almost naked, tucked in animal fur like some barbarian child.
The smell wood and herbs comes to you. And fire.
Then you remember the sun. And how Astarion carried you in his hands. Horror pierces your mind along with cold.
He is dead. He didn't make it till sunrise. It burnt him; he is gone. And the village people probably found you alone in the snow and brought you here.
While you think, you realize there are people in the room. Two people, to be precise.
"It's a freezing fever," the female voice says. "You two would have been complete idiots if you'd decided to put up a camp. She would have been dead by now."
"But now—is she ok?"
Astarion.
You have never felt so much joy in your life. He is alive and here, beside you. You can't comprehend how much strength he had to pull to make it with you in his hands by sunrise.
"She needs to take the potion. And then sleep in warmth."
You feel the familiar weight beside you. Then, two hands get you out of the blankets and make you sit up. Your head is spinning, and you shiver, though you notice sweat on the healer's face.
Astarion smiles at you and brings the bottle with the potion to your lips.
"Drink, love," he says.
"The taste is nasty," the healer shrugs. "Make her drink every last drop."
The potion is genuinely awful, burning your mouth. You start slipping away again, and Astarion tucks you in thick blankets.
"And people say vampires are soulless creatures. They should meet you two.”
When the healer leaves, Astarion lies beside you over the blanket. You wish to hug him but are afraid of his cold skin.
"Are you hungry?" you ask.
You hear a chuckle. "You are at death's door, and you ask about me? "Take mine," you insist.
"Tav, darling, I ain't taking a tiny drop from you until you fully recover. There is prey in the woods. I will find it."
You want to say something else, but the freezing hand of the sickness grips your throat. You feel like you’re naked on ice, in the howling wind.
"Love?"
"It's still… cold…"
Astarion sighs and stands up. You want to cry, to beg him to stay, but you can't say anything as he leaves the room, closing the thick wooden door.
You feel like crying, alone, and freezing. The healer curses, "You, idiot, stay inside!"
You hide under the blanket in the fetal position, trying to save warmth. However, it's difficult since the core of your suffering is still within. What if you are dying? And you are dying all alone in this village without a name in the middle of nowhere.
It's been years since you left Baldur's Gate together, and you can't fall asleep without him by your side. Astarion is safety. Astarion is protection. Whatever enemy is out there to threaten your life and freedom, Astarion is always there with his fangs and daggers. He doesn't sleep—only meditates a bit—and he is your guardian when you are most vulnerable.
But now you are alone. Your mind grasps consciousness with the last bits of strength you have. The thick blankets don't let you move, and you lie like you’re in your very own coffin of ice. It's been a long time since you were left alone, but you know it's still dark outside. And then you realize you aren't alone anymore.
Astarion crawls under the blankets and covers your body with himself, placing his head on your chest. He smells like blood, the hunt, and forest. He has already pulled off all his clothes, and you feel his skin against yours, unexpectedly flaming hot.
You can only wonder how much blood he has drunk. Sure, his body gets warm after feeding, and the more living blood he takes, the more alive he seems. But this is different. You can't see him, but you are somehow sure his skin has temporarily returned to its natural living color.
You wrap your hands around him and stroke the scars. Astarion groans and adjusts himself a bit.
"I've been hunting," he says, sounding drunk. "The healer told me there is a bear attacking villagers, starved and angry. I found and drained it."
"You shouldn't have risked it."
"I wanted you to be warm. I know how it feels to have a freezing grip on the heart. It hurts. All the time."
You press him tighter and kiss his forehead.
With him in your hands, you finally fall asleep. You have a strange dream—a summer day in the beautiful mountains.
And there is Astarion beside you. He smiles, exposing his face to the sunshine. You want to tell him to hide, to run away. But he opens his eyes, and you stare at him in disbelief.
They are green, not red.
… When you wake up, you feel hot. Sweat runs down your back, and the blankets suffocate you. You get out of them like a kitten squeezed by its mother.
"Hello, my sweet. You are so adorable with this bed hair," Astarion sits on the floor with a needle and a thread. You recognize his own shirt in his hands.
"How awful do I look?"
"You look like someone who finally got better. But I suppose you could scare away some kids in that village. Maybe I should tell them you are also a vampire. Food or bath?" he asks.
"Food. I am dying of hunger."
"My sweet, don't tell me about hunger." He mockingly kisses you. He returns soon with a soup bowl. You try to take the plate in your trembling hands, but Astarion forces you to sit still like a baby and starts spoon-feeding you.
"Good girl," he chuckles. "The healer said it would take you weeks to recover, and you made it in three days."
"And you have been here?"
"Don't offend me with such questions."
"Oh, don't be angry."
With a full stomach, you feel much better and lie back on the bed, letting your body fully recover. Astarion studies your face as if seeing it for the first time. Then he lies beside you, allowing you to place your head on his chest. His skin is cold again, but it feels more like him.
"What is on your mind, Astarion?" you ask.
"I want to stay," he says. "Not exactly here, but I can't live like that anymore."
"What do you mean?"
"Living on the road. I can't do that anymore. You obviously can't either. I... listen… I've never had a home. Never had a place to call my own. I want one. I want one with you."
"Didn't you tell me it would be tediously boring?" you inquire. "I wanted to see what life has to offer beyond the city walls." "Astarion, it will be dangerous. No one would want a—"
You bite your tongue. "Sorry."
"Dealing with a nosey neighbor doesn't sound more dangerous than getting some weird sickness in the middle of nowhere. Besides, we can prove to people it's better to have a vampire of their own rather than be threatened by some unhinged vampire lord.”
"Astarion, I am afraid for you. People hate vampires!"
"And I am afraid for you."
You are both silent. You turn to him and nuzzle his collarbone. He wraps his hands around you. Vague memories return, and you suddenly realize you heard the voices while in fever.
"Don't die. Please, don't die. I need you."
A scared voice of a healer. "You are a vampire!"
"Please help her. I won't come inside. I will stay in the woods. Please, please, help her! She is mortal; she is dying!"
You remember being carried to the bed and a strong smell of herbs. "How did you two end up together?", asked the healer.
"She saved me. From myself. Showed me I have a chance to be something different from what I was turned into. Tell me what I can do. Do you need herbs? Ingredients? I will bring you anything."
And then the face of the healer standing above you. She came to check on you in Astarion's absence, and the feverish mind remembered that.
"You are a lucky to have him, girl."
You caress Astarion's cheek. "Would staying in one place make you happy?"
He nods.
"Then, me too." --
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kykyonthemoon · 1 month
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Nightmares
When nightmares strike, you are the sole source of warmth that could help him overcome his inner turmoil.
ಇ. Character x Reader/MC
(Caleb, Rafayel, Zayne and Dawnbreaker, Xavier and Glitch!Xavier)
ಇ. Tags: hurt/comfort, angst with a little fluff, emotional hurt, comfort
ಇ. Word count: 3k7
ಇ. Requested anonymously.
ಇ. Masterlist
ಇ. Request
Pic from X
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𝑪𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒃
It was a sunny afternoon when he returned to his old house.
That place still had a modest beauty, the kind of beauty that made family members feel sad every time they left. It was so deeply engraved in his mind that with every breath, he knew he was closer and closer to returning home.
There, would be someone always waiting for him.
The door creaked when opened. Caleb walked inside. The familiar smell of food and the sound of cooking in the kitchen were always the things that impressed him the most. He continued in that direction till he noticed a familiar figure sitting at the dining table, back to the aisle.
Caleb grinned and spoke your name. You did not reply. He went forward, putting one hand on your shoulder to turn you around.
Your lifeless eyes glanced up at him.
"Pipsqueak? What's wrong?"
You did not respond. You slowly rose up and entered the kitchen. Why was this place so dark and cold? Caleb failed to recall the house being this vast and gloomy.
"Where are you going? I'm back now, pipsqueak?
You halted. The warm sunlight poured down on him through the window, but where you stood just a few steps away from him, everything was in darkness.
Even you.
“You only came home now…” You spoke, but your voice didn't contain any emotion. You were always the one who ran into his arms when he came home after long journeys away! Why were you being so distant then?
“Pipsqueak…”
Caleb reached out to you. How he wanted to touch you! He wanted to hold you in his arms and if he had to beg your forgiveness for leaving you, he would definitely do so.
He had been gone for too long.
You looked at him. Tears began to fall and your face showed little emotion. Not joy, but resentment. You became distorted and writhed as if fire surrounded your body.
“You've been gone for too long!”
You screamed out in pain. Caleb quickly rushed towards you, but it seemed like a force was holding him back, making him unable to move. Just like that, he could only open his eyes and watch you burn. The kitchen was on fire. The house was on fire. Everything was on fire.
“You've been gone too long, Caleb!” You shouted. Your tears turned into blood as your body burnt in the flames. “You left me alone! You abandoned our home!”
The walls cracked, the windows exploded and debris flew all around, cutting you, cutting him. The ceiling began to collapse. But there was nothing Caleb could do. He just cried.
“Pipsqueak… Please…”
“You… left me… here...”
Your plaintive screams were swallowed by fire. When he finally was able to reach out and touch you, there was nothing left there but a burned corpse.
The fire disappeared. The cozy house in Caleb's memory had become ruins. He clutched your corpse, which was scorched black and was disintegrating into dust. The sobbing inside him turned into a protest against himself.
He left, because he thought it was the best thing for you.
When it all came back, to this place, many years ago, he had caused the house to explode. To you, he had been dead since then. He didn't have time to say goodbye. But he only had to do it to ensure your safety.
In the end, he could not save you. He could not save himself.
Still, you left this world. Still, you turned into ashes. Who did this to you; it was not the matter. Not when you had already died the day he left.
Caleb yelled with anguish. He lost you, he lost his home. The one thing that kept him going was gradually vanishing, soaring with the wind and never returning to him.
⋆ ˚。⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚。⋆
“Pipsqueak!”
Caleb shouted. He opened his eyes to see the familiar bedroom ceiling, which was dimly lit by street lights outside the window and visible through the curtains.
Beside him, you turned over. With your eyes still closed, one hand struck his chest.
“What now?… Waking me up in the middle of the night…” You said in a sleepy voice. Caleb grabbed your hand and turned around to hug you. Only when he felt your warmth and buried his face in the scent of your hair could he calm down.
“It's nothing, pipsqueak…” He whispered. “It was just a nightmare… Sorry for waking you…”
You breathed evenly in a straight position on the bed. Your mouth grumbled something like: "Idiot... You're a grown-up now, and you're still afraid of nightmares..."
Caleb smiled softly. He gave you an even tighter embrace. "Yes. I'm such an idiot. I'm so terrified of nightmares every time I have to leave you."
“But I'm right here. Now will you let me go back to sleep?”
“Just let me hold you a little longer…” He whispered as he put his hand beneath the pillow and softly drew you into his loving arms.
You were real in front of his eyes.
And he had no intention of allowing you to vanish like in that dream again.
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𝑹𝒂𝒇𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒍
Waves crashed onto the shore in regular rhythms. The twisted moon overhead sent a feeble light into the sea, engulfing the two little figures standing by it. The water had reached their knees, and the two were leisurely dancing together.
Spinning. Around and around. Magically shimmering water droplets continued to soar high with each stride. You smiled pleasantly at him. That night, you became his bride.
The celebration was over. Only the two of you remained together, from now until eternity. You were so beautiful, so perfect. Your love for him was as pure as your smile.
And he should have felt happy.
He should have, because after all, he had got you and this perfect ending. But was this really the end?
He gazed at you with melancholy eyes. You smiled heartily as you whirled around. Sea water surged up high, bathing your entire body in a vivid crimson color. The entire water surface became the color of blood.
You were still dancing, as if the pungent odor of death gave you delight. You were immersed in blood when he gazed at you. Hatred was the only thing burning in his heart at that time.
You swayed a little farther, then turned towards him. Your arms stretched out as you called affectionately:
“Rafayel! Hurry. Come with me!”
He moved closer. He was strolling through a pool of blood from his own kind. Lemurian blood was dispersed over the waters.
Unbeknownst to you, as you turned your back on Rafayel, one of his hands was wrapped around your waist, the other brandishing a knife.
“I like this place. Can we stay here forever?” You said, as if you didn't care about the blood gushing at your feet.
"Alright." Rafayel replied in a cold voice. “If you like it here, we'll stay.”
You leaned your head back with joy, resting on his chest. You were so little, yet you had a powerful heart. So gorgeous. He only wanted to strangle it, tear it out of your chest, and toss it into the deep sea.
He wanted you to pay the price.
You closed your eyes and hummed the melody he once sang for you. How foolish of him! He had given you everything—his love, his life, his whole kingdom... Everything was ruined by your hands.
Now, he shall take it all back.
Rafayel raised your chin and let you stare at him for a long while. You were smiling still. But he swung the sharp blade high, plunging into your heart.
In your eyes was terror and agony. Tears streamed from the corners of your eyes, but he still held your chin in his palm, making you unable to look away as his other hand forced the hilt of the dagger, deeper into your heart.
“Rafayel… Why… Why?…”
That was all you could say before the vivid red blood from your heart spread to his palm, spilling into the sea and merging with the blood of the Lemurians.
He should have been satisfied. He should have been thrilled since he carried out his vengeance.
But he simply felt broken.
When he tossed your lifeless corpse into the water, it seemed like he had died too that very moment.
⋆ ˚。⋆୨ ʚɞ ୧⋆ ˚。⋆
“Rafayel!!!… Stop… I can't… breathe… Rafayel!…”
You pinched Rafayel's cheek hard; he was sleeping on your chest. His weight prevented you from breathing normally. The ache awoke him. White pearls dropped from the corners of his eyes.
“Rafayel?…”
You frowned and watched him slowly rose up, both hands resting on your pillow. When he lowered his head, the radiant pearls continued to rain on your face and the bed.
“Hey… What's wrong?” You lifted your hands to caress his cheeks. “Why are you crying?”
“I… just had a nightmare…”
Rafayel gasped. It must have been a really horrific nightmare to make him this way. He fell asleep, his body was all over you, and then he started weeping. You had never seen him like this, and it concerned you.
"What did you dream about?" Your arms curled around Rafayel's neck, bringing him closer. He hesitated, as if he didn't want you to know, then revealed:
“In my dream, I had to kill the person I loved.”
Silence filled the room. The sky over your head was twinkling with stars. Rafayel's bedroom was filled with the lovely sound of the sea. You rubbed your face into the crook of his neck and murmured:
“I trust Rafayel will never harm me.”
“Are you sure? Even I don't know... The person in the dream... It's not me..."
"That's right." You rubbed his sweaty back. “That person is definitely not you. You know, people say dreams are the opposite of reality. What you saw will not happen.”
Rafayel was calmer, however, you still felt his body trembling in your arms.
“I won't allow that to happen…” He replied. “Having to end the life of the person I love… It is far more painful than being stabbed in the heart by that same person…”
“Rafayel.” You said in a serious tone. You held Rafayel's face with both hands, forcing him to look at you. His hair was tangled, and pearls were no longer pouring from his eyes, but they remained red. “I don't know what will happen in the future, but as long as I still breathe, I will never hurt you.”
Rafayel gazed at you for a time before gently smiling. “That's a promise between the two of us then.”
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𝒁𝒂𝒚𝒏𝒆
“Zayne… So cold… I'm… so cold…”
Zayne helped you up, quickly wrapping his thick coat around you. His hands stroked your body repeatedly to keep you warm. But you were growing colder. Your breath slowly escaped your body as the sorrow smothered his heart
“No… Wake up… Don't sleep! Please!… Don't sleep now…”
Zayne's scarred and bloody hand clumsily held on to you. So tight. He wanted to give you all his warmth. But did he even have any warmth left?
“It's useless.”
The voice sounded as if it had just escaped his mind. Zayne turned around. Behind him stood Grim Reaper, another Zayne dressed in a cloak as black as the night. Cold and cruel.
“You know you can't save her.”
"Shut up!" Zayne's shouts resonated across the wind and snow. He would never leave you alone in this cold.
Yet Grim Reaper's voice still echoed:
“You know why she died.”
Trembling, Zayne gradually dropped his gaze to the girl in his arms. In the center of your chest, bright, sharp pieces of ice were developing more and more.
"No… NO!" Zayne screamed. His palm touched the shards, causing them to tear into his skin. Bleeding. “I will save her! I must save her!”
He breathed into your numbed hand. But the more he touched you, the greater the ice formed around your body.
“Give up.” Grim Reaper spoke again. Zayne ignored him, despite the fact that they looked absolutely the same.
Nightmare. He had always been his nightmare. Perhaps in another universe, he was the Grim Reaper. And he felt like he was progressively becoming the Grim Reaper as you left this life, leaving him behind.
“Stay with me, please… Open your eyes and look at me….” Zayne begged over her corpse. His tears turned into drops of ice. They fell onto your body and shattered.
You could no longer hear his cries.
"You cannot save her." Grim Reaper said. He was bending down on one knee beside you, on the other side of Zayne. His hand in the black glove brushed across your frost-covered face, as if he, too, was in grief. "After all, you cannot save yourself."
"Leave!" Zayne yelled in rage and suffering. His embrace of you became more intense, as if he wanted to take you away from Grim Reaper's reach. He grinned with bitterness.
"Remember. You are the one who killed her.”
Zayne shook his head, repeatedly. Everything in front of his eyes drifted away. Grim Reaper also vanished. There were only you and him remaining.
He had murdered you.
You and he promised to get through this together. He would save your dying heart, and you would help him in his escape from the curse of his Evol. It was a curse. He was unable to control it, and there came calamity.
Help you? No, he was not your savior. He was your death.
Zayne heard Grim Reaper's laugh - his own laugh - echoing in his thoughts. Cruel yet full of bitterness.
The snowstorm came, but it could not bury his sin and regrets.
⋆ ˚。⋆୨ ʚɞ ୧⋆ ˚。⋆
When you came into Dr. Zayne's office during lunch break, you noticed the temperature was unusually low.
You discovered Zayne asleep on the sofa. His body trembled, he broke out in a cold sweat, and his mouth moved without any word heard. You even caught a tear falling from the corner of his eye.
“Zayne? Are you having a nightmare?” You shook him by the shoulders. His entire body felt freezing. The nearest window was covered in frost. You started to panic. But no matter how you attempted to rouse him up, he failed to hear you.
You had to sit on the sofa, placing his head on your lap. You caressed his hair, patted his shoulders and head while comforting him:
"It's alright. I'm here with you… You will be fine…”
After a while, his quiver stopped. His eyes opened slowly. He found you.
“…”
Zayne's hand reached out towards you and then stopped halfway. He was about to touch you but hesitated. Seeing that, you clasped your hand with his.
"What's wrong? Doctor Zayne is experiencing nightmares from overwork, isn't he?"
You smiled. So gentle. That warm beam seemed to calm him down. Zayne's respiration and pulse rate eventually returned to normal. He replied:
“Yeah… My apologies for causing you to worry again.”
When he recognized your cold hand, he became fully awake. He rapidly gained control of his Evol, and the room warmed up to some extent.
“Are you feeling okay?”
“Yes. Much better now.”
Zayne's eyes were still red. He wanted to sit up, but you kept him in your lap for a while longer.
“Lunch break is still long. You can sleep for a bit longer. I will stay here to watch over your sleep.” You declared out loud, as if you were his little defender.
This made Zayne quite happier. He grinned and replied:
“You are always the one who guides me out of nightmares. No matter how bad it gets, I know you will come to my rescue.”
"That's right. Now you can sleep soundly.”
Zayne slowly closed his eyes. He was unsure if he could sleep again after that nightmare. But having you by his side made him feel more at peace. Your fingers squeezed his hand. Your warmth enveloped him. You were alive and well. He still had time to save you, to save himself.
Knowing that made him feel a lot more assured. When you placed a kiss on his forehead, he was ready to face all of the nightmares to come.
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𝑿𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒓
When Xavier returned to Philos, he did so as a traitor.
He gambled with fate, and lost everything. Honor. Freedom. Love. There was nothing left for him when he returned.
His fleet had crossed countless light years, to innumerable realms out there. But what he was looking for was just an illusion.
And suddenly his entire existence became a curse.
To lose his freedom, to lose the love of his life for eternity. Was that the price to pay for opposing destiny?
In the dark corner of the room, Xavier knelt on the cold stone floor. He could not move, nor speak unless granted permission.
He quietly observed the girl he loved in the garden on the other side of the door. The warm sunshine tenderly casted a lovely aura over your body. Your grin shone brighter than the myriad of flowers in the yard. How many times did Xavier want to approach you, call your name, and touch you? But he could not.
Every time he came close to you, the crimson chain around his neck tightened. It did not murder him, but it was painful and debilitating enough. All he could do was stare at you holding hands with an unknown person. Someone with a physique similar to his.
That man was the King, you were his Queen. And Xavier was nothing but a sinner, a tool to be used, a killing machine. All for you. He would do everything for you, but you were no longer his lover.
You failed to recognize him. You were no longer the same as before. Since the person he truly loved was dead.
She was once a Queen. He had vowed to be the Knight standing beside her. But he left her alone on the cold throne. She died and was reborn, again and again. How many times had his love died before he came back?
The girl in front of him now had no memory of those lives anymore. It was a blessing. For you would no longer have to cry over the treachery you believed he had committed on you.
His only wish was to save you; to save the girl he loved from the spiral of death and rebirth. But when he tried to cut off your chains, he, too, was bound by another curse.
He watched you die and come back in another life. As many times as you sat on that throne, he became a slave at your feet, and as many times as he witnessed your death. He could not do anything else, not even scream and weep.
For, he had been cursed since the day he left you alone.
“Xavier… Save me… I don't want… to die…”
He stared down at your body, which was securely tied to the stone table. Trembling. His Queen begged him. Xavier was shrouded in black. The chain around his neck became tighter.
“Do it, Xavier! Stop wasting time!”
The crowd behind urged him. Xavier's palm clenched on the shiny hilt of his sword.
“No… Xavier… Please!…”
“The sacrifice must be completed! Do not forget your duty as Philos' royalty, Xavier! Do not forget how you betrayed us and what punishment you must endure!”
Xavier closed his eyes tightly. You and him, you could never escape this fate. He raised his sword, once more. He ended your torment, for another life.
Yet, his suffering would never cease.
⋆ ˚。⋆୨ ʚɞ ୧⋆ ˚。⋆
Xavier awoke with tight agony in his neck and chest. His pillow was drenched from weeping. He heard your frightened voice repeating in his ears:
"Oh dear! You have a high fever!”
Through tears, he watched you climb out of bed. You were going to go fetch him a damp towel and medication. But he pulled you back. He wrapped you securely in his arms.
“X-Xavier? How are you feeling? You scared me?…”
“Sorry… I'm really sorry…”
He continued muttering like that. You began to suspect that his apology was not for waking you up in the middle of the night screaming, or that he was hugging you so tightly that you were suffocating. Was there anything else going on?
"Did you have a nightmare?" You questioned as you wrapped your arms around him, rubbing his neck and back.
Xavier responded with a gentle "yeah". He eased his hold slightly to allow you to breathe. But seeing his condition, you couldn't help but worry.
"You have a fever." You mentioned it again. "Let me get medicine for you…"
“Stay with me!” Xavier spoke, almost like a grumble. It startled you. His arm was draped around your torso, and his other hand gripped your wrist firmly. Xavier dropped his voice, recognizing he was becoming overly emotional: "Please... Just stay here a little longer..."
“Alright… I'm here…” You comforted Xavier. You cared about nothing other than his mental turmoil. But you believed he would feel better, and when he was ready, he would tell you everything.
A moment later, when he had calmed down, Xavier said:
“I'm sorry… I didn't mean to make you sad or worried…”
"It's fine. I just want you to know that I will always be by your side… Besides, we also have Galaxy Kid, Bunbun and these plushies..."
Both Xavier and you gazed at your plushie-filled bed. He grinned faintly, as if he was finally at ease. You added
“We'll get through everything together, okay?”
For a moment, Xavier said nothing. He just tilted his head slightly to look at you closely. His hand caressed your face as if you were a treasure he once lost, then found.
“Of course. We will get through everything together. Definitely…” His voice trailed off as he fell into a hazy condition caused by the fever in the middle of the night. “This time… I won't let you face it… alone…”
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auteurdelabre · 25 days
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Please, Mister Miller? SERIES FINALE
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rating: 18+ GET OUTTA HERE YOUNGIN'S!
words: 13.5k
tags: none. Don't want any spoilers for this chapter!
a/n: Y'all this entire series started with me wanting to try my hand at writing pwp with a despicable lead character. It morphed into a story of finding love in the most unexpected places and the pain that comes with infidelity. It was a challenge for me to do a believable character arc for them, to get you to root for them, to make you feel for them. It was a delight to read your input, your suggestions and to see how invested y'all became. So this is my love letter to you, hopefully a fitting final chapter for these two horny idiots.
love, Emma
ppppsssssstttttt if you wanna be nice and send a broke writer some cash because you like her writing and her stories, the paypal addy is [email protected] because ko-fi is givin me a headache.
The End with Mister Miller
In September the leaves fall in Central Park, brown, lifeless and curled into themselves. You think you recognize that in them. That dead, emptiness, the need to pull into yourself and wither away.
Life doesn’t feel real anymore.
It hasn’t since August.
Without him (you won’t allow yourself to think of his name) life seems slow and hazy. Like walking through the world with a headache. Things blur and ripple and don’t seem particularly real.
School is the only thing that saves you. A chance to focus all your attention on something that isn’t him and his beautiful face, and soft curls and sweet mouth. Something that isn’t his muscled arms holding you as he slides between your legs to bring you pleasure. Something that isn’t his voice in your ear whispering how much he loves you.
You think you will mourn Joel for years. You will wear black and trudge from place to place, looking down in the mouth with red-rimmed eyes and a gaping hole where your heart used to be.
No, don’t even think his name.
School is papers and tests and online discussion groups. You throw yourself into the academic life, your essays are well received, your professors are impressed and your peers find you likeable during zoom classes. You enjoy being the one with the answers in this space because outside of it you have none.
How did it go so wrong? How are you not with him in his arms right now? How can you get Sarah to forgive you when she’s blocked you on everything? How can you survive another month without him? Without holding his hand in yours? Without feeling the rumble of his laugh along your back as he held you?
New York is a good place for the lonely hearts though. It’s a big, unforgiving city that doesn’t give a fuck if you live or die. The city doesn’t care if you struggle to pay your rent and go to school at the same time. The city devours as much as it gives. It’s cold and unforgiving to transient residents, to those looking for anonymity within its concrete jungle. And you relish that. You like that no one knows you, that you can disappear into a crowd, that no one cares.
You deserve that.
You helped break up a marriage. You broke your best friend’s heart. You broke broke broke. You stole what wasn’t yours and you relished in it. You fucked him in every inch of that house and you rejoiced in a love that was never yours to have.
Your apartment is cramped, shared with two other girls who work more hours than they spend inside. You don’t care, you don’t deserve friends. You want the only true friend you ever had to be back in your life.  But that won’t happen.
 Food is bland, the sporadic sunshine days meaningless, your existence a joke.  
And it doesn’t get better for a while. 
///
October is much of the same.
///
By November your savings are quickly being drained. The money from scholarships enough to keep you afloat at school but not enough to pay rent which has just been increased. You get a second overnight job at a convenience store to go along with your part time work at the coffee shop by your apartment. You work late into the night, early into the mornings, you write, you study, you collapse into a fitful sleep and then you repeat. 
You have enough for little luxuries, things like the shampoo you always favored. The one that he once told you smelled like Christmas as he trailed his hands through your tresses, watching you read on his lap with eyes so soft you sighed.
Food still tastes bland so you don’t bother with fancy things.  You keep things cheap so you don’t run out of money. You eat packaged pasta, noodles, soups. You’re bloated, your eyes swollen from the salt and your tears. You still cry.
You don’t know if you ever stopped.
You touch yourself to memories of Joel fleetingly. You rarely orgasm. Arousal seems to be missing from most of your days. As if without Joel all the sensations that once brought you joy have been drained from your body, replaced with a poison that turns everything shades of grey. 
You don’t let yourself think about him. But one day he makes himself known. A simple e-mail sent from an address you don’t recognize. The message is short, simple and devastating.
Before I die I want to hold Snowflake one last time.
You’ve deleted his phone number. Blocked his e-mail address from Miller Construction. But this wasn’t on your radar. You hadn’t thought of the ways he could circumvent your pathetically inadequate system. 
You don’t write back. You can’t. It won’t solve anything. Sarah is still there at his place. You know from stalking her public Instagram from a brand new account. She looks happy, does outfit of the day videos, makes lots of posts about missing Charlie. But the story videos you watch again and again are the ones she films at home. The ones of her sitting with a bowl of popcorn on her lap, a movie in the background. A large masculine hand- Joel’s- reaches for a handful. You read the hashtag. #mydadpickstheworstmovies
You remember those nights. That couch, that television. You remember evenings curled up against Joel laughing into his shoulder at something funny on the screen. You remember giggling with Sarah in that room about secretly dating Charlie.
You’re happy to see her wither her father, to know that things have been mended. There is no awkwardness, no strange energy. It’s like they’ve always been – best buddies. It warms you, it brings tears of joy to your cheeks. It’s what you’d wanted, what you’d dreamed of. It’s not quite like you and Joel never happened, but its close enough.
A story pops up when you’re falling asleep one evening, eyes heavy with fatigue. Sarah is walking in the kitchen, humming about what to make for dinner when the camera catches Joel walking into the kitchen, looking at his camera and giving a soft, subtle smile.
“What are you watchin’ old man?” Sarah croons off-screen, zooming in on his face. “More tile orders?”
Joel glances up from his phone, gaze glossy. He sees the camera and gives an exaggerated roll of his eyes.
“Get that damn camera outta my face,” Joel chides with an embarrassed smile. He flips his phone over and you let out a shocked gasp.
To anyone else it would look innocuous, but you can see in that flash of pixels that he was looking at a photo of you. The one from your date night where you posed in front of the I Love you So Much mural. 
You re-watch that one over and over until it expires.
But you don’t write to him.  You can’t. You know it would take just the sound of his voice to have you jumping a plane and meeting him in some dark hotel. Not just for the fucking, but for the way he felt wrapping his arms around you, how his mouth slotted gently, how he smelled and tasted and felt like safety. 
You never had that before.
You may never again.
Your parents haven’t reached out to you since graduation. You know they never will. Your parents are stubborn – especially your father. They will force you to make it on your own; there will be no financial bail outs or sporadic gifts in the mail. They don’t even know you’ve moved to New York.  No one does. You don’t upload to your socials anymore.
And a year ago that would have terrified you, but now? It buoys you. It makes you feel strong. It makes you feel independent. You’ve done this all on your own and you’re surviving. It’s hard but you’re doing it. You don’t need anyone.
In mid-November during a gloomy day a young man asks you out as you walk to the subway. He’s seen you in the coffee shop you work at and he thinks you’re pretty. He’s cute in a wide-eyed, sweet dimpled smile kind of way. Not the right kind of dimple, though. Not the right eyes, or height or hair. His hands aren’t calloused, his neck not long, his shoulders not broad.
He’s not him.
You turn him down kindly, watching curiously when the smile leaves his face and he calls you a dumb bitch. You just shrug, no longer caring what the opposite sex thinks of you. You don’t care what anyone else thinks of you, only the two people back on Rancher Street.
You walk home from work the following week, feet sore from your back to back shifts. It’s late, the sky drizzling and in your hand you carry the plastic bag from the closest bodega. It holds only a few loose packets of instant noodles.
You’re traipsing down one of the snooty streets as you call them. The ones with high end restaurants and lounges that your parents could easily afford. You gaze down at the approaching puddles, wondering how long it’ll be before the snow arrives. You almost bump into the figure that’s come to a sudden stop in front of you.
You raise your head, about to sneer up at the obvious tourist when a familiar set of light eyes gaze back down at you, an umbrella hoisted gently above her head.
“Tess?”
She looks amazing. Her hair is cut to just below her ears, her skin glowing. She’s dressed similarly to how she was when you knew her – professional, tailored.
You on the other hand have gained weight, your face swollen with tears and sodium, your clothing bland and dark. The drizzling rain has made your hair stick unflattering to your face and you wish you were anywhere else.
“Hello,” she says sharply, her smile a false one.
She’s alone, no one walks with her. She looks like she just left a meeting. Your cheeks burn in humiliation at the memory of your last encounter.
“What are you doing in New York?”
“Marketing symposium,” she answers, her eyes scanning you over obviously.
“Oh.”
You have nothing else to offer. Someone bumps into you as they pass, the sidewalks quickly filling up. It’s New York after work after all, you’re surprised a rat hasn’t skittered over your feet at this point.
“I never pictured Joel as a New York kinda guy,” she offers. “Seemed like a Texas boy through and through.”
Joel.
You haven’t heard his name in so long that the sound of it makes you wince.
“We uh. . . We aren’t… Sarah found out,” you blurt, surprising yourself.
Tess blinks in surprise before she nods slowly, her eyes scanning you as you squirm on the cement. People continue to mill around you, but all you feel is you and her locked in this moment, she shielded by her umbrella and you exposed.
“She took it badly then?”
“Yeah. Really bad.”
You wish she would just walk on by. That she would let you shuffle to your shitty apartment with its cracked walls and peeling paint so you can heat up your instant noodles and fall asleep to the soundtrack of your own sobs.
“It’s what you deserve,” she says tightly. “The pair of you.”
“I know.”
You wait for her to give a polite nod and shoulder by you, but instead she seems to scrutinize your face further. You feel it, even as your eyes drop to her expensive looking shoes.
“Let’s get a drink.”
Your eyes dart from her shoes up to her face, confused to see no guile there. There’s no kindness or softness either. It’s an offer, but not one from a friend.
You shift your plastic bag from one hand to the other awkwardly. You don’t know how to tell this woman that you’re broke. That after this bag of instant noodles you have nothing until your paycheck on Friday.
You don’t want her to know how pathetic your life is. Her light eyes dart from your face to the bag and the items inside. She tips her head towards the lounge across the street.
“I’m paying. Let’s go.”
///
“A Chardonnay for me.”
Tess tilts back in her red leather chair, crossing her long legs over one another after she orders. With her jacket off you can see she’s got a tight dress on and she’s obviously been working out. She’s always been a beautiful woman, but tonight she looks like a bombshell. She and the waiter look at you expectantly as the other patrons buzz around. 
“I’m good with water.”
“She’ll have a Chardonnay as well,” Tess smiles up at the server. “And a plate of gyoza bites.”
The man nods, leaving the two of you to sit across from one another awkwardly. You’re still wearing your jacket, your bag of noodles in a crumple at your feet.
You think you must stick out like a sore thumb in this high-end lounge with its soft jazz music and sleek tables. The place is dimly lit with opulent chandeliers hanging from the high roof, shiny black veined marble floors and collection of upper echelon clientele in suits and well-tailored dresses. You feel so out of place in your jeans and you wonder if that’s why Tess chose it.
You can’t say you’d blame her.
The waiter returns with your wine glasses and appetizer, telling Tess to let him know if she needs anything else. He doesn’t even spare a glance in your direction. Tess takes a sip of wine as you play with the stem of yours.
“Why him?”
Tess’s eyes are fixed sharply on yours when you finally lift your gaze to hers.
“Huh?”
“Why Joel?” Tess repeats and there’s genuine curiosity in her gaze.
You weigh what you want to say, aware that what you admit could hurt her further. But then again what could hurt her more than what you’ve already done?
“Because my boyfriend had just dumped me and I felt like shit,” you say with a croak. “And when I saw Joel… I dunno… He was so beautiful and kind and funny and a good dad. . . and it was this instantaneous thing. And I think in my own insecure way I wanted to prove I was worth something. That I was still desirable.”
You break off, feeling your cheeks heat. Its one things to admit these things to yourself, quite another to admit them to the woman whose husband you seduced.
“You need to know it wasn’t like Joel was trying to get me into bed. It was all me from the start.”
“I don’t think he was fighting too hard,” Tess rolls her eyes in a way that makes you feel small.
“I think it was that he liked feeling desired.”
“I thought he was desirable,” Tess interjects.
“I don’t know that he knew that,” you wince with a shrug. You shift in your seat, feeling her gaze heavily upon you. “He uh… He kinda made it seem like maybe you didn’t really express that to him.”
“Maybe I didn’t,” Tess offers softly as she glances out the window at the darkening street. You take a long sip from your wine before continuing.
“He said you wanted kids at first and then didn’t,” you offer. “Can I ask why?”
Tess moves her eyes from the window back to you. Her jaw clicks as she considers her next words.
“I thought that the whole motherhood thing was for me, I really did,” Tess says, popping another gyoza bite into her mouth and chewing thoughtfully. “And Joel is the perfect Dad… Really perfect. Like, he loved helping Sarah with homework and taking her to the park and even making her soup when she had the flu.”
You try not to smile in memory of that side to Joel. That sweetly nurturing part. Tess on the other hand looks perplexed, her shaking lightly.
“The longer I was with him, the more I could see that he was just made for parenthood. Made to take care and protect, like it’s in his DNA. He loves to love. And I think I realized I wasn’t like that. I like my job and I didn’t realize how much I like my own independence. And I thought that Sarah and our love was enough, but . . . " Tess sighs. "I don’t know that Joel ever really loved me.”
“Of course he did. I know he did.”
Tess smiles at your emphatic response.
“I wanted to get married, he wanted more kids and we were of a certain age. It wasn't that unending spark and flame, it was the kind of comfortable fire that keeps your feet warm, you know?”
You don’t, but you nod anyway.
“Anyway...” Tess shrugs, trailing off as she spears a gyoza with her fork. She munches thoughtfully before chasing it with another sip of her wine. Yours is still mostly full, sweating in the glass.
“Tess, what did Joel tell you that day? The day at the hotel?”
The day Tess caught you in his lap, writhing and begging for Joel to come in you. The beginning of the end.  Tess looks mollified for a moment and you immediately regret asking her to go back to that ugly memory.
“You don’t have to say-“
Tess leans back in her chair, mouth pursed as she looks into middle distance. You can tell that she’s replaying that moment, that time.
“Honestly we cried a lot, together. Joel never really cries so it surprised me. He apologized over and over for not ending things with me earlier. I think it would have been different if we’d hated one another, easier maybe,” Tess takes a deep steadying breath, looking not at your face but your ear.
“Then he told me that he was in love with you, never felt that way before, blah blah blah. I told him it was a midlife crisis, he told me it wasn’t. It went back and forth like that a few times. I was convinced it was the sex. That he was just wanting someone shiny and new. But. . . that’s never been Joel’s M.O. He’s never been that guy. I still don’t think he’s that guy, despite everything.” 
Tess shifts, taking a sip of her wine. This entire experience is surreal. From the way you’re talking to one another to the way you sit like old friends at the narrow table. She waves off the server who attempts to take the now empty dishes away.
“Then he told me the same things you did. That it would break Sarah’s heart if she found out that way. Then he told me he would give me whatever I wanted. The house. His truck. His shares in Miller Construction. Anything if it meant I wouldn’t say anything to Sarah.”
Your brows rise, you had no idea about that.
“I said that I would let him keep it all. The house, the shares, everything, and that I would never tell Sarah if he did just one thing for me.” Tess gives a weak smile. “If he just broke it off with you right then and there.”
You stomach sinks, your skin going clammy as if you’re right back there in that hotel room bathroom, cringing as you pray Tess doesn’t realize it’s you who’s just come on her husband’s lap.   
Why did Joel never tell you this?
“He said he couldn’t do it,” Tess says softly, and she shifts back in her chair, legs crossing the other way. She has an almost amused look on her beautiful face, as if she still doesn’t believe it months later.
“He said he’d give me anything else, but that. That he couldn’t give you up. That he was so in love with you that he would give me anything I wanted, except for that.”
You close your eyes, needing to ground yourself for a moment.  This is all new information, private information that was never meant for your ears. But it makes the ache for Joel grow stronger, the desire to see him, to hold him, just one more time.
Tears begin at your waterline and you force them back. You finally crack your eyes open and see Tess staring back at you.
 “You didn’t take any of those things.”
“No,” Tess shakes her head, looking into her now emptied wine glass. “I didn’t.”
“Why?”
Tess gives a sigh, stretching her back as she shrugs.
“I have money; I have rental property in Illinois. I didn’t need his stuff. And it wouldn’t have mattered anyway because the one thing I wanted he couldn’t give me.”
You’re quiet, waiting. The waiter comes over with the bill, discreetly slipping it onto the table and walking on.
“I wanted him devastated," Tess continues. "I wanted him to wake up every day cursing that he ever cheated on me, sobbing, tearing his hair out, regretting every moment,” Tess says with an almost sinister curl of her lips.
“But that could never happen because he had you. I knew that if he had you there was no chance of him ever being anything other than content.”
You swallow the tears that burn your eyes. “Why didn’t you tell Sarah then?”
For the first time since you’ve sat down Tess looks hurt, almost wounded.
“Because I know how she idolized her father. I couldn’t be the person to knock him off that pedestal for her. It would make me cruel and one thing you were right about is that I’m not a cruel person.” 
But you are.
You’re cruel.
You knocked her father from that pedestal without care. You took and took and while you have hints you don’t even know how their relationship is faring. Has Sarah truly forgiven him?
“Well at the end of the day you were dealt the best hand,” you muse, taking your wine glass and motioning towards her. “You’re beautiful, you have money, you’re-“
“-Consistently worried that any man I date will cheat on me,” Tess finishes for you. “You know how many second dates I’ve turned down because I’m sure that I’m terrified of being hurt again?”
And there it is; the realization that even after this apology, even after this talk, the damage you have caused with your actions will never truly go away. They will linger like a scar on flesh – faded but a forever reminder.  This breaks your heart and you push the tears from your eyes before they can fall.
“I don’t know how to properly explain how sorry I am, Tess. You never deserved anything like it. I wish … I wish you could punish me somehow,” you say, swallowing thickly. “Like punch me or. . . Something. I deserve it.”
“I think you’re being punished worse than anything I could ever dream up.”  Tess signs the receipt, her signature narrow and cramped. “Being apart from the person you love? That's a different kind of pain.”
This is the first time that Tess has really recognized that you and Joel love each other. That it isn’t a fucking and forgetting kind of relationship. That you love him as much as he loves you and that this is a devastation you can’t seem to move on from. This is what makes the tears slip down your nose, head lowered.
You see Tess push a napkin across the table to you. You take it gratefully, dabbing at your eyes and under your nose.
“Why are you being so nice to me?” you ask through sniffles. “I ruined your marriage. I was… I was horrible.”
“Yes, you were,” Tess nods, taking a long sip of her wine. “And I’ll never forgive you for it. What you did was completely fucked up and selfish. You helped to break up my marriage.”
You want to curl into your shell. You want to run and hide from her scorn and her judgement. But something keeps you there, almost like you want to be punished. You want her to lay into you with her sharp eyes and sharper words.
“But Joel was right in a lot of ways that night," Tess says lightly. "Our marriage didn’t work like we wanted. And while it will never make what you did okay, it does allow me a chance to go out and find someone who actually wants me, who wants the same things as me.”
“Joel wanted you,” you tell her even though it hurts.
“Not enough,” Tess says with her mouth a grim line. “Not as much as he wanted you.”
You don’t say anything to that; you just trace the stem of your wineglass slowly.
“You know, I thought this would be more satisfying,” Tess observes after a beat. “Seeing you broken, knowing that Joel is probably ten times worse. But it’s not. I just feel sad for you. You’re so young and you’ve gotten into such a mess.”
You watch her place her wallet back into her purse.
“And for what?” she scoffs. “A guy you can’t even sleep with anymore.”
“He was more than that to me,” you explain, finger twisting. “I… I’ve just never loved someone before. Not like that. Never felt love like that. Never felt seen by anyone before Joel, not since Heather.”
“Heather?”
You think about telling Tess about your sister. Explaining that aside from Heather love always came with strings back in your house. But you think it would be a disservice to this entire exchange. That she would think you were sourcing pity.
“It doesn’t matter. I just . . .  I just don’t think I’ll ever find love like that again.”
Tess sighs, sucking her teeth lightly.
“Maybe you should be with Joel, maybe you shouldn’t. Back at the hotel I thought it was insane but now? Now, I’m not so sure.”
“Doesn’t really matter does it?” you exhale with a soft laugh to cover the pain. “It’s over.”
“Because of Sarah.”
“Yeah.”
“So talk to Sarah.”
Tess stands next to the table now, purse over her shoulder. You glance up at her, brows furrowed.
“I can’t. She’s got me blocked on everything.”
You’re confused to see Tess smirking down at you.
“Back in my day if we wanted to contact someone we sent a letter.”
///
Dear Sarah,
I don’t even know how to start this. I mean, even as I’m sitting here I’m thinking of all the reasons why I don’t deserve you to give me the time of day. If you’d done the same with my father and helped to contribute to the end of a marriage I’d think the worst of you too.
I saw someone today who encouraged me to write to you. To let you know my side of things. I know that it doesn’t make what happened okay, I just need you to know what I was thinking.
I know you probably think that your dad and I were trying to keep this secret from you because we were ashamed of it. The truth is yes, there is a part of me that is deeply ashamed that I pursued your married father. The selfishness of that action is not lost on me. I will be paying that price the rest of my life. 
I know there is shame for Joel that I'm your college-aged best friend. I know he worries that you'll think less of him (please don't). I know he's ashamed that he didn't end his marriage sooner. 
But I think we are most ashamed of not telling you sooner. We were really scared at how you would react. We even promised each other that when you got back we were gonna have you over for dinner and explain everything. You just caught us off guard coming home early (not blaming you! It's your house!) I just needed you to know that it was our every intent to tell you everything. 
And I think I thought that if we told you together, that if you saw how much we loved each other that you'd give us your blessing or something. I think I deluded myself into thinking I could have it all: you as my best friend and your dad as my soulmate. Now I have neither. 
And I know you might be reading soulmate and rolling your eyes because you and I have never believed in bullshit like that. But Sarah, he is my soulmate, whatever that means. It's like we come alive together, life is even better than normal. Things I hated with Conrad make me so happy with Joel. 
I share everything with him, stuff I've never told anyone in the world. Stuff I thought made me worthless. But your dad never saw me like that. It's like he sees me as what I always dreamed I could be. 
Your dad gave me love that I've never known was possible. The kind of unconditional love that I look back upon with nothing but extreme gratitude. I regret that he was married; I regret that he is your father but I don't regret loving him. Loving Joel Miller was the most wonderful thing I've ever experience; it’s like being warmed by the sun. 
I know this is hard to accept. From the outside it looks really bad. I know. And yes we did a lot wrong in getting together. We'll have to pay for that the rest of our lives. 
We never meant to fall in love, Sarah. We really didn't. And I won't go on about how wonderful and special your dad is because I know you probably don't wanna hear it. I'm just asking that you try to remember our friendship. Was I ever the type of friend to mess around with some married guy for fun? Was I ever the type to purposefully hurt you? Ever? 
Hurting you is the number one thing we never wanted to do. You know how much your dad loves you. You're his entire world. And you see in his actions that you are the most important woman in his life and always will be. 
You are also the only true friend I've ever had in my entire life. I know I fucked things up and I know that I betrayed your trust. I don't know how to show you how sorry I am other than cutting all ties with your father (which I have) and giving you space.  
But I miss you Sarah. I miss the way we laughed together, the way we could depend on one another. I miss your loving friendship as well. I hope one day you and I can talk. I hope one day maybe you'll be comfortable with me seeing your father. But if that day never comes I need you to know how much I love you both.
If you’ve read this far thank you.  I love you and I miss you.
You sign your name, wiping away the tears that fell without you realizing. They smudge the ink on your words, blurring some. 
There was so much more you wanted to put in that letter. How staying away from Joel is breaking your heart being the main thing. How every day without Joel has been torture. 
You slide the letter into an envelope, addressing and stamping it before rushing out in the bitter cold to post it. You come back into the apartment, feeling strangely light.
For the first time in months you fall asleep without crying.
///
Its weeks later before you hear back from her. A short message on your Instagram from the account she previously had you blocked on.
[SMILLER44] Read your letter. 
Thank you. Do you want to talk about it?
She doesn’t answer. You can see she’s read your last message but she makes no attempt to respond.
You don’t push it. You just let it happen. She doesn’t have to come around on your schedule. You don’t know that she ever will. But she’s read your letter, you have that form of closure and maybe that’s enough.
You’re studying for finals the following week when a message comes through at two am.
[SMILLER44] Chsalrie is fgoan and iw miss himsso mhc!!
Sarah very rarely drinks to the point of drunkenness. In habit you respond the way you always have when she imbibes.
Make sure you drink some water.
[SMILLER44] Mnoegyt mom! Iknw@!
You don’t know what to say to that.
She attaches a photo of Charlie from what looks like a recent zoom call. He’s frowning, looking into the camera with a sorrowful expression. It’s clear that their time apart has been really hard for both of them and your heart aches.
I bet you miss him lots.
[SMILLER44] Yeh it hurttsd sobad
I know that feeling.
But it’s only a few more months right? Then he’s moving back to Austin?
Sarah doesn’t reply to you that night. Either she’s fallen asleep in a drunken stupor or she’s remembered that you’re not friends anymore. Either way you don’t hear back from her for the rest of the night.
The following afternoon you look down to see you have another notification from her.
[SMILLER44] Hey Hi! Feeling okay? [SMILLER44] Hungover. Headache. I bet. [SMILLER44] Sorry about the messages.
I didn’t mind at all. Brought back good memories.
Nothing else comes through that day, but your spirit is lighter. Even at the shitty convenience store job you find yourself stocking items and scanning lottery tickets with a smile on your face for what feels like the first time in ages.
For the rest of that week you get intermittent messages from her at all times of the day and night.
[SMILLER44] Where are you living? Address on the envelope said New York? Yeah. That’s me. [SMILLER44] WTF?? Since when did you wanna live in New York? Seemed like a good place to disappear for a bit. [SMILLER44] I guess. You see Pizza Rat yet? Not yet. His cousin tho for sure. [SMILLER44] You have roommates? Yeah two this time. And they suck. One smokes so much weed I think I have a contact high most days. The other one doesn’t clean up after herself. [SMILLER44] Ew And that one always leaves hair in the shower.
You remember that was always Sarah’s complaint during your time together at school. The girls who would leave hair on the dorm shower walls. Or the ones who would leave soap all over the sinks.
[SMILLER44] 🤮
///
A few days later another message comes through.
[SMILLER44] I still can't believe we're graduated Me either. How's the job? [SMILLER44] Management really sux, but I’m learning a lot. How about u? How's Masters? Good actually. I really love it. The apartment sucks tho. 
You attach a photo of the tiny apartment with yourself in the bottom corner frowning dramatically. 
[SMILLER44] Oh fuck that’s a shithole. Yeah.
///
You always let Sarah be the one to initiate every conversation, even if you’re dying to talk with her about your day. You don’t want to alter this delicate ecosystem of messages. And soon it becomes a daily occurrence.
Some days it a meme and an emoji. Other days it’s her in front of the mirror in a new shirt going “Yes or no?” (something that takes you right back to your college days together). Other days it’s like nothing between you has changed.
[SMILLER44] Charlie is impossible to shop for. Christmas is like two weeks ago and I got him cologne& socks. Oh. [SMILLER44] Shitty right? No. [SMILLER44] Be honest It’s not great. I have an idea! Tet him a painting from a photo of the two of you on your trip this summer? [SMILLER44] I like that idea. He loves sentimental shit like that. And you don’t? 🤨 [SMILLER44] Not like him. he wanted to get me a locket with his picture in it Yikes. [SMILLER44] Right????
Having messages from Sarah becomes the light in your increasingly dark days. You’re working, you’re studying, you’re exhausted. But every time you see that notification it makes you feel like you’re back with her giggling in the library, drinking coffee on campus, studying together. And through it all you never mention Joel once.
[SMILLER44] Remember when Conrad got drunk and bought pizza for the entire dorm?  Lol I forgot about that!  [SMILLER44] Did I tell you he tried to reach out to me? Who? Conrad? [SMILLER44] Yeah. WTF? WHEN? [SMILLER44] A couple weeks back. He saw that me and Charlie weren’t living together. Thought we broke up. Wanted to know how I was doing. Are you fucking serious? [SMILLER44] Yup. Told him I was okay. [SMILLER44] Turns out he’s with some girl in Switzerland.
Of course Conrad would rebound with someone his family would be so proud of. A blonde, willowy thing that doesn’t talk back or give him grief when he does shitty things. Who laughs when he treats the wait staff like shit or doesn’t mind when he parties late with his friends.
Of course he is. She’s probably a model with access to her daddy’s oil money. [SMILLER44] Looks like it.  U ever miss him? Conrad? Fuck no. [SMILLER44] U seeing anyone?
This is the first time in your exchange that things have tiptoed on the idea of you and romance. Her question makes you want to laugh. How could you be seeing anyone? Your heart has been ripped out of your chest.
For the first time since everything happened you are angry at Sarah. Furious that for some reason you had to get her approval to love her father. You want to say you know that I’m not! You know why! But instead you swallow and type out a short reply.
Nah. Not ready.
She doesn’t reply.
///
December in New York is rather beautiful. The people even seem a little nicer – sliding coins into the tip jar at the coffee shop. The snow that falls over the buildings takes away the sharpness of the architecture, makes it seem more magical.
But nothing compares to Austin with its warm days and sleepy charm. Nowhere could ever compare, not when Joel doesn’t exist in it.
To you, New York is the most beautiful in the winter. You take this time to enjoy what the city has to offer. You go to museums and you eat shitty street food and you actually go the Statue of Liberty even though it’s a fucking cliché. 
You feel you might be slowly coming back to yourself. The air fills your lungs and you walk down the street back to your apartment most days with a strange sense of hope. Like perhaps there is a life ahead of you again.
Like maybe you could be happy.
[SMILLER44] Hey Hi! How are you? [SMILLER44] Bored. [SMILLER44] Dad is making gingerbread cookies. Pretty sure he's burning them. 
You feel your heart hammer at the mere mention of Joel in passing. You’ve been very careful to avoid that topic, to skirt around anything that could be considered prying. But here she is dropping it into your lap.
[SMILLER44] Now he's complaining that the icing he made is too lumpy. 
Your heart skips a further beat when she attaches a photo.
Tumblr media
His hands are held over a mixing bowl, mid motion. He's wearing his soft green t-shirt, one of your favorites. You can see the messy kitchen in the background and it makes you smile so wide your cheeks hurt. 
You wish she'd included his face if only so you could have something new to replace the scant images of Joel you have saved on your phone. The ones you can’t bring yourself to erase.
Nice to see some things never change. 
You hesitate before deleting it. 
I really miss both of--
No. Erase. 
In the end you don't reply. You can't. It hurts too much.
///
It’s Christmas in a few days and you have the week and a half off from your coffee shop gig and thanks to a Christmas bonus from your very kind manager who comments on your amazing work ethic. You think of spending it on a dinner out for yourself or perhaps a better pair of work shoes.
 School is finished for the semester and you think of the days ahead as you walk home from the local bodega eating the last of your chopped cheese. Snow falls lazily around you, flakes sticking to your cheeks as you stroll.  
Everywhere you look Christmas is in the air. Cheerful Santa's wave from department store windows. Ice skating is going on outside Rockefeller plaza, the insane light display at Dyker Heights, the couples snuggled together on horse drawn carriages in Central Park.
You cherish when Sarah sends you messages, but as the date creeps closer to Christmas there is a pang of longing you can’t overlook. This time last year you were entering into something with Joel that would change you. You were in his arms, you were falling for him. Now you're in a shitty apartment in New York trying to focus on studies and paying rent. 
It's possible that Sarah has forgiven you, but she's made no attempt to bring you and Joel back together. The truth is that she may never. 
You might get your friend back in some small capacity, but you likely are never going to feel Joel's strong arms holding you again. Never again going to sigh against his soft mouth as he enters you. Never going to hear those words murmured into your hair: I love you my perfect snowflake.
Paper snowflakes hang from a neon-sign laden window you're currently passing, causing you to still. You read the shop name, your mind on the extra money in your bank account. 
You step inside. 
///
Your phone beeps in your pocket. Sarah has moved to sending you texts now. You sent her a digital gift card for Christmas that morning to some clothing place in Austin and you assume she’s writing to thank you.
[SMILLER44] My dad is miserable. He just keeps moping around the house. 
Out of nowhere an anger begins to boil within you. You want to scream at Sarah that she’s the reason you’re both moping. That she’s the reason you can’t just be happy!
[SMILLER44] He's been like that since the summer.  [SMILLER44] I feel like it’s all my fault.
And just like that your anger for Sarah is quickly replaced with guilt that you could have ever been furious with her in the first place. She’s obviously been the one dealing with the fallout of a father and best friend who are miserable without each other.
Not your fault. You were totally valid in being hurt and furious. What we did was fucking shitty. I meant everything I said in my letter. I wish I had been up front from the start.
[SMILLER44] I think you made him really happy.  I think we made each other really happy.  I love him, Sarah. I’m sorry because I know that must be weird but I’m in love with him, I’ve never stopped. And I’ve never loved any man the way I love Joel. And I don’t think I ever will.
She doesn’t reply right away and you’re concerned that you’ve hurt her or scared her off in some way. You’re in bed, teeth brushed as the scent of your roommates weed filters in under your door when another beep sounds on your phone late that evening. You open the window to air it out, the night crisp before glancing at your phone.
[SMILLER44] It's gonna take a long time for me to really trust you again.  I want to earn that trust back if you'll let me. 
///
Joel Miller has never considered himself to be a good man. Never thought of himself as a bad one either, but in these last few months as he carves in the garage he’s been considering what it is to be good and bad.
Bad men keep secrets from the people they love. Bad men cheat on their wives. Bad men fuck the mouth of a girl half their age, aroused at the thought of being caught. Bad men stay married even as they call up said girl and make her come over the phone. Joel has been such a bad man in so many ways.
But he’s been a good man too. He’s never held your absence against his daughter. Never made her feel as if she isn’t his priority or that she was wrong to feel how she did. Sarah had no mother, Joel was damned if she'd live the rest of her life without a father as well. 
He’s a good man because despite that one mess up he’s given you space and not tried to contact you. He’s a bad man because he still watches that video the two of you made and it still make him come so hard he can only do it when Sarah is out of the house.
But he’s good because the love that he carries for you is beyond carnal and it makes him want to be a better man. Makes him want to be brave like you’re being, cutting those ties from your family. Makes him want to be patient like you and give you space. Makes him reach out to Tess at the end of November and apologize in earnest.
He’s confused by the cryptic little smile on her face over the Zoom call, but he says nothing about it. Just repeats over and over how wrong he was to disrespect their marriage like he did. That he was sorry he ever treated her with such lack of concern. He answers her questions with unflinching honesty, his knuckles turning white as he holds his coffee mug next to him on the desk.
“I’ll never forgive you for what you did, Joel. But I appreciate the apology.”
It’s enough. It’s more than he deserves.
At the end of the day Joel decides he’s just a man. A man who is in love with a woman he can’t have.  He doesn’t let himself look at your photo anymore – the one of you in front of the mural. He doesn’t let himself go on your social media.
He just goes to work early, works overtime and works harder than ever. He comes home and he makes dinner and he listens to his daughter talk about her day and he is content. He loves hearing Sarah talk about the challenges of the job, of seeing her grow into a capable young woman with her mom’s brains and a bit of his looks.
It was a few weeks of strained hello’s when you first left. When he walked back up into the house as your taxi pulled out, looking haunted as Sarah trailed in behind him. Of silent breakfasts and separate dinners. Until Joel bit the bullet and made her favorite dinner, until he insisted she come and watch a movie with him one night until things just started feeling normal again.
Sarah never brought you up. Ever. Not until this last week where her eyes have stayed on his face, sympathy and something else behind them.
"You miss her lots huh?"
"Sarah I don't wanna talk about her," Joel says gently. "You know that." 
Sarah gives him a strange little smile over dinner one night from his favorite BBQ place with the best cornbread this side of Texas. The day is calm and quiet and the house is decorated for the holidays.
“You called her since she left?”
Joel wants to tell Sarah to not ask about you. To never bring you up again. But his daughter deserves answers the most out of anyone. He lowers his fork, still chewing.
“No. She thought it was a bad idea.”
“Hmmm.”
“Sent her an e-mail a few months back. She never replied,” Joel says and he hates the pinch in his voice as he says it. He covers it up with a swig of his beer.
“Probably didn’t want to upset me,” Sarah rationalizes, fork poking at her pulled pork.
“Or she’s moved on,” Joel admits
He’d never say it out loud, but this is his biggest fear of all. That you have indeed found a new boyfriend. One closer to you in age with no baggage and endless love for you. The kind of man who fucks you tenderly, eyes on your face and whispers that he wants to marry you. The kind of man who would support you in school and the man that you’ll eventually carry children for.
The kind of man Joel would want for you if the thought didn’t make him want to punch a hole through a wall. 
///
“I hate this fuckin’ movie,” Joel grumbles as he and Sarah sit side by side on the couch. White Christmas is playing on the television and Joel has had just about enough. A bowl of half-eaten popcorn sits between them.
“It’s Christmas eve,” Sarah says with a cheerful laugh. “It’s tradition.”
Fuck tradition.
Fuck Christmas.
Fuck everything.
Snow and shortbread and every fucking thing that reminds him of you. Of your time with him last year. Your mouth, your body, your whispers in his ear. He sure as fuck doesn’t feel like celebrating.
“S’a dumb tradition.”
“Started because of you, old man.”
“Only because you were a kid and you would scream if I tried to watch anything else.”
“Yeah well you only have yourself to blame then.”
Joel gives her a sharp chuckle of amusement before swiping a handful of popcorn, munching softly. Despite you not being here, he’s so thankful his relationship with Sarah is good. He loves his daughter more than he could ever explain.  
Sarah checks her phone for what feels like the millionth time before relaxing back and watching the “Love, you didn’t do right by me” scene playing on the screen. The sultry intro begins as Sarah hums along.
Love, you didn't do right by me You planned a romance that just hadn't a chance And I'm through
Joel tries to hide his sigh.
What are you doing right now? Where are you? Are you safe? Enjoying Christmas? Did you go back to your parents after everything? Are they being kind to you?  These questions have plagued him since the day you left.
The doorbell rings, startling Joel from his thoughts. He glances over at Sarah, brows raised.
"You expectin' Charlie?”
"Naw, his flight just got in actually. But I think your gift is here," Sarah says with a gentle smile. "I'll need your help bringin’ it in though." 
Joel gives a sound of protestation, rising from the couch with a pop in his back before padding towards the front door after his daughter.
“What kinda gift comes on Christmas Eve?” He teases her, kissing the top of her head as she stands at the door. “And has to be brought in by two people?”
“See for yourself.”
Joel rolls his eyes playfully at her giggling face. His hand goes around the handle, pulling the door inwards and peeking around the corner. The teasing sweetness in his face is immediately washed away and he can only stare.
"Hi Joel," you say shyly on the porch, hand clutching your suitcase tightly. 
You’re dressed in a long skirt, tank top and light jean jacket. Your hair is done beautifully and your lips glossy. You look a little tired from your journey, but your eyes are bright as you gaze at him, your smile so wide your cheeks are pink.
You’re fucking perfect.
A moment passes between you and Sarah hides a smirk.
"I'm heading to pick up Charlie from the airport," Sarah tells you both as she pulls on her jacket. "We’re gonna stay at the hotel by the airport tonight. I'll be back for breakfast and presents tomorrow. I’m borrowing the truck, alright?"
Joel hasn’t stopped staring at you. He just gives a shallow nod to Sarah watching the way you give her a hopeful look as she walks out the door. His heart squeezes when you both reach for one another, hugging tightly. 
"I missed you," you whisper against her shoulder. 
"Same here," she whispers back before pulling away and smiling at you. "Glad you could make it. Hope you'll stay for a while."
"If your dad'll have me," you say shooting a nervous look Joel's way. 
"I wouldn't worry about that," Sarah says with a crooked smirk.
And then with a wave she's off, striding down the driveway with you watching after her. When she and the truck disappear around a corner you turn back to face Joel, looking strangely nervous.
"Hi," Joel finally croaks, still stuck in the doorway in a daze. "I-I can’t believe you're here. How’re you here?"
"Sarah called me. Said she wanted me to be your Christmas gift. I had air miles." 
"Best damn gift I've ever received," Joel says.
As if only now realizing that you are both exposed on the porch Joel urges you inside, taking your suitcase. He stops at the couch, suddenly not realizing where he should put you. He leaves it there by the couch, urging you to join him with a tilt of his head.
“You want a drink?”
“Nah, I’m okay thanks.”
He stands awkwardly for a moment, wanting to grab you, to kiss you, to touch you everywhere but he’s not sure if he should, if that's what you want. Instead he sits on the couch, his knee brushing yours. You both tense at the sensation, as if it's wrong to feel even the hint of one another. 
“So where you been all this time?”
“New York.”
“No shit? Why New York?”
“A good place to be anonymous.”
His eyes move to become fixed on your bare knee under your skirt, desperate to touch the warm flesh if only to prove to himself that you actually are real, that you're here. 
As if you're thinking the same you let a trembling hand go to his forehead, pushing back the curls there.
“Your hair is longer,” you murmur, smiling when Joel’s eyelids flutter shut and he leans into your touch. “I like it.”
“Thank you, baby."
Baby.
Now he takes his time staring back at you. Taking in the circles under your eyes, the soft curve of your cheek, the sensual pillow of your mouth. You're just as beautiful as he remembered, but even moreso because you're real. 
The tension is there, not just because of this surprise but because there is so much you want to say to one another. But neither wants to break this beautiful moment of reconciliation so instead Joel takes your hand in his and brings you to stand.
“Want some shortbread?”
“Sure.”
You follow him into the kitchen, marveling out loud how beautifully decorated the place is. Even more than when you were here last year. You take a moment to enjoy the sight of Joel’s biceps curling under his soft t-shirt as he brings out the plate from the fridge.
“No snowflakes though,” you tease as you take the cookie he offers you. You remember last year they were all over the garland and even in the windows. Now it seems they’ve been purposefully omitted.
“Ah, well, those are in the garage,” Joel says looking strangely shy. You’re curious at this, taking a nibble from the cookie. You don’t have to heart to tell him it’s awful. But he’s smiling dreamily at you and you find yourself sighing and smiling back.
“Show me?”
He nods, taking your hand in his even though you’re only going twenty steps. He takes you into the garage and you look around, expecting to see paper snowflakes hanging from the ceiling. Instead it looks deceptively normal.
Joel urges you towards the workbench where he pulls out a large box from underneath. He lays it on the table and takes off the top, his eyes sailing over to you as you peek inside.
Carvings, dozens and dozens of them. And all of them snowflakes.
Some are as small as your thumb, others as large as Joel's palm. Some are painted, others are wood grain. Some are intricately designed and must have taken weeks, others are smooth and buffed.
"Every time I was missing you too much I'd come out here and carve."
"Looks like you missed me a lot."
"I did."
There’s no hesitation from him and you gaze up at him with limpid eyes.
“You uh… I sent you that e-mail a couple months back,” Joel starts and you can see the insecurity in his dropped gaze. “You never wrote back.”
You raise a hand to his cheek, urging him to look back to your face.
“I couldn’t,” you explain with a tremor in your voice. “I wanted to so badly. But I had to respect Sarah’s wishes no matter how bad it hurt.”
Joel nods, knowing that your answer makes sense.
“I think I was worried that maybe you’d moved on,” Joel says with a wince.
You give him a sad smile before your hand drops from his face. You lift up the hem of your shirt, tugging your skirt down until your hip is showcased. Joel feels his heart pick up speed when he sees the tattoo there covered in second skin. A tiny black and white snowflake. The exact one Joel carved for you a year ago. 
"Got it when missing you hurt too much," you confess. “Still healing.”
Before he can stop himself he's knelt on the ground of the garage. He holds your hips gently, his full mouth going to press against your decorated flesh.  
"S' beautiful baby," Joel murmurs.
He feels goosebumps rise under his touch, and the sensation of your hand carding through his hair.
“How could you ever think I’d move on?” you ask, your voice soft. “I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you, Joel.”
Joel is still there at your feet as if kneeling before you is the most natural pose for him. Because with you he is reverential. His eyes search yours as he stares up at you, his dark eyes soulful.
“You’re so young and beautiful and wonderful and-“
“And you’re so handsome and kind and loving,” you finish for him.  “And I don't want anyone else.”
He gives a ghost of a smile up at you before he kisses your hip again, tenderly, lovingly and through the clear bandage you feel the warmth of his mouth. 
"Joel," you whisper above him.
He glances back up, seeing your eyes glossy and full of yearning. You don't have to say anything more. 
He slowly slides his hand under your skirt, fingertips tracing the curve of your inner thigh, edging your panties. You say nothing, just breathing heavily as you stare down at him while he drags your panties down your calves, over your ankles. You step out of them, watching him place them in the pocket of his sweatpants.
He lifts your skirt, holding it in his hands at the side of your hips. Your pussy is exposed to him and he groans at the sight of it there in front of him. He presses a sloppy kiss to your mound, shivering when you whimper. 
His fingers curl in the waistband of your skirt, pulling it down. He gazes at your sex as it is uncovered, groaning softly at the sight of it wet and waiting for him. The skirt is soon discarded and your lower back is urged against the work table.
His intent is clear as he gently urges your thigh over one of his shoulders. You breathe heavily staring down at him, his dark eyes fixed up at you as his mouth comes to press against your mound. 
"Please," he murmurs between kisses. "Just let m-"
He trails off as he kisses and licks between your legs, eyes rolling back when he hears your shuddered moan above him. You lean your spine heavily back against the work bench, one foot on the ground, the other leg hinged over Joel's shoulder. 
"Joel," you breathe softly if only to hear yourself saying that beautiful name again. The name you avoided thinking of for so long.
His large palms hold you in place, fingers dimpling the flesh as your moans increase. Joel feels tears starting at his eyes as he holds you, the warmth of your skin underneath his hands once more. His perfect fucking woman is here, and she's gonna come on his tongue. 
You came back to him. You came back. 
He slips two fingers into your dripping slot, curling gently so that he can take a moment to admire you. The way your fingers dig into the edge of the workbench. And now this sweet little snowflake, this forever mark dancing on your skin as your body moves for him. 
Overcome, his mouth goes back to your cunt, fingers still working in tandem as he begins to suck you clit in earnest. 
Your head is tilted back as your orgasm approaches. His eyes drift up to you even as his fingers and mouth work between your thighs. As if you can feel his gaze your neck bends forward, your eyes dropping to watch Joel between your legs gazing up at you. 
Your big, strong man is on his knees, laving your clit with his sinful touch while his big, dark puppy -dog eyes stare up at you with reverence. The sight of it has you whimpering, watching as his eyes darken, the black edging out the dark brown of his iris. 
"Uh huh," Joel growls against your pussy, sucking your clit with the perfect pressure as your thighs quake. "You come for me, pretty girl."
And you want to. You want nothing more than for Joel to fuck you with his tongue all night. But you find you need him deeper, need him closer. You need him with his body pressed against yours. 
"Take me to bed," you beg breathlessly.
Joel rises, wasting no time before his mouth is on yours. You melt into his arms, immediately slotting your lower between his. 
"I missed you so much," you whisper.
"I missed you more."
Joel can't contain himself. He's taken you into his arms, shifting you into a bridal carry. He takes you to the bedroom, laying you on the bed with a tenderness you can’t help but almost weep in the face of.
He undresses you slowly, kissing every piece of flesh he uncovers. Then he removes his own clothing, letting the items fall to the ground before you're in bed underneath his covers. 
"I missed you so fucking much," he tells you, peppering your face with kisses as he pulls you against him.  
"I thought about you every day," you say with tears in your eyes. 
For a moment the two of you slow the momentum down, kissing languidly as you card your hands through his hair and he holds your face between his palms. It feels like the most exquisite reunion of bodies and minds all at once and it warms you in way the sun never could.
Eventually his hands drift to your waist, sucking your tongue into his mouth as his hardness seeks your center. The two of you grind together, groaning and moaning into each other’s mouths before Joel pulls back to look at you.
"You want this?"
"You really have to ask?"
With a grin he urges your knees against your chest, opening you to him. In that folded position when he brackets you on either side he feels like he's holding all of you in his arms, like he's protecting you.
And he knows that when he slides into you in this position that the feeling is as incredible for you as it is for him because your eyes roll back and you whimper. 
"Tell me how it feels, baby," Joel groans, slowly drawing himself out and sliding back deeply, his ass and hips flexing. 
"So good," you murmur. "So full."
You inhale deeply, your mouth against his shoulder as the smell of his soap and wood shavings wash over you. The scent of safety and of home. Of love.
He kisses your neck, soft sloppy things as he sinks into you with a groan over and over, your eyes gazing down to watch his slick cock entering into you over and over, so slow and so deep it feels like you’re fucking for the first time in your life. You make a small whimpering sound, hips rolling against Joel’s and you feel him smile into your hairline.    
"There's my girl."
The sound of it, his girl, makes the tears sneak out the corner of your eyes. When you feel the light tap of wet on your cheeks you open your eyes to see Joel staring at you, tears dropping from his cheek onto yours and that sets you off, chin wobbling.
The two of you make love like this, whispered promises of unending love, of desire, of the torture it was to be without one another. And through it all Joel keeps up his slow and steady pace, more wanting to be inside you than anything. There is no rush, no time to keep. Just you and him and the future ahead of you.
When you finally orgasm it’s a powerful thing that has you sobbing loudly even as Joel empties himself into you. He holds you as you cry raggedly against him, your face buried in his neck as you mourn the months apart, about the pain you’ve both caused and ultimately at the knowledge that you are together again.
“I’m never letting you go again,” he promises as he rocks you in bed.
“Never,” you echo.
---TWO YEARS LATER---
It's one of your traditional Sunday walks, both of you with a coffee in your hand. You're finishing up your blueberry croissant and you're enjoying the mild weather as tourists mill around you. 
Normally you both stick closer to home for coffee Sundays. Especially since Joel's workload has been extra tough with his latest project. You only finished school a year ago and have been at your job less than six months. Despite his workload Joel has never been happier.
He loves coming home to hear all about your day. The two of you take turns cooking dinner. Sometimes Tommy and Maria join and those two always stay late to drink and play cards. Tommy likes to give you shit about how you first met, but Joel always reminds him with a severe look to drop it.
Sarah and Charlie are often invited and often attend, bringing over little baked desserts because as Sarah puts it “my dad can’t bake for shit”. 
Unlike before, Sarah doesn’t ask you intense details about your romantic life but every so often when the two of you watch Charlie and Joel laughing about something while they BBQ she’ll cast a soft look over at you and offer a gentle: “I don’t think my dad has ever been this happy.”
You always reply the same: “Neither have I.”
When you and Joel got married three months ago he claimed it was because he felt it was time to ‘make an honest woman out of you’. Which was a boldfaced lie. He was just really really excited to finally call you his wife and have you wear his ring.
You and Joel couldn’t stop beaming the entire time.
Of course your garter had a little snowflake charm on it. A private joke for Joel to uncover when he undressed you later that night. One that he enjoyed very much, especially when he found it was just the right length to bind your wrists together. . .
"Why'd you wanna come all this way for coffee, baby?" Joel asks you now, his free arm around your waist as he guides you through the throngs of tourists. 
"Remember the murals you showed me years ago? I wanted to see them again."
Joel is pleased with this, dark eyes disappearing as he grins broadly. You both wander around the familiar neighborhoods, stopping at your old favorite murals from the last time you were there several years ago: the bread and butter, the I love you so much where you take a selfie with you kissing Joel's cheek. 
"Ready to head back, beautiful?"
“One more?" 
Joel nods, his big hand swallowing yours. You find yourself standing taller when he does this, showing him off. You see many of the women taking second looks when he walks by, their eyes twinkling. Joel Miller is the kind of man that gets better with age and you are reaping the benefits. 
Sometimes he worries he's too old for you, but he still loves you more than you've ever been loved and fucks you like a twenty two year old on Viagra so you have nothing to complain about.  And while Joel does get insecure sometimes about his age, when he watches you bounce up and down on his cock begging for more he knows that you’re more than satisfied.
You turn the corner to find the familiar mural, still crowded with tourists and drawn all over. 
Before I die:________________
"You mind if I write something?"
Joel looks surprised by your question but immediately takes your coffee cup and his free hand. 
"Course not, baby. Take your time." 
You kiss him gently before going over to the mural. There are hundreds of white pieces of chalk all around the ground in front of it. You take a piece and go to one of the free spaces, your elegant swoops clacking against the backdrop of frenzied writing. You drop the chalk to the ground, brushing the dust from your fingertips and sailing over to a waiting Joel.
"Wanna see what I wrote?"
Joel nods, smirking as you grab his wrist and drag him over to the mural. He stands beside you, his dark eyes searching for your familiar looping script amongst the sea of writing. Then he sees it, complete with a little heart beside it. 
Before I die: I want to have Joel Miller's baby. 
Joel smiles sweetly at this, eyes glazing over with adoration as he looks at the mural and then back to you. 
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"One day, baby," he promises you with a sweet kiss. 
You know he's trying not to be too excited. He's expressed his concern of making you feel pressured before. "I'd love to have a baby with you honey. But only if it's somethin' you want. No pressure from me.' How can he not understand that you'd happily give him an entire football team? 
"One day might be sooner than you think, Joel," you say gently. 
It takes him a moment to realize that you're holding your palm over your abdomen. The coffee he holds that you'd insisted needed to be decaf. Then it's like it all comes crashing into focus and his eyes go owlish. 
"You're-"
"Yeah."
Joel is normally not that expressive a man outside the bedroom or even outside the house. So it takes you by surprise when he drops both half-full coffee cups and lets out a whoop before hoisting you into his arms. 
"We're havin' a baby!" Joel shouts, twirling you around. You throw your head back in laughter, arms around his neck as you spin.
The nearby tourists give cheers and claps, causing your cheeks to flush in embarrassment even as you laugh. 
But Joel is soaking it up, eyes crinkled in delight, and you realize that he never had this with Sarah. He was young and frightened. But now he shouts his excitement and you don't have it in your heart to tell him to keep quiet.
Eventually he lets you down only so he can grab your face in his hands and kiss you so soundly whistles begin nearby. 
"Okay that's enough," you tell him with a laugh. 
He takes your hand and starts to lead you back towards the truck, a goofy grin on his face. 
"I thought we were walking?"
"In this heat? I'm gettin' you home and outta the sun."
Not even five minutes have gone by since he learned of your pregnancy and already he's started to worry about how to take care of you. 
"Congratulations," an older couple says as you walk by. You both thank them enthusiastically, the older women grinning up at Joel. "Your wife is so beautiful."
"Ain't she?" Joel says, his smile broad against his tanned face. "Most beautiful woman inside and out." 
"You're a lucky woman," the older woman says with a wink to you. You look up at your husband and feel your heart swell. 
"Ma'am, you have no idea." 
///
"What's your guess?"
"I hope it's a girl," Sarah announces from her folding chair in the middle of the swelling group. 
"Nah, it's a boy," Tommy insists with a grin. "We need more male energy around here." 
Sarah raises a hand to shield her eyes from the glare of the sun, her engagement ring glinting in the sunlight. 
"The last thing this place needs is more male energy, Tommy."
The nearby group laughs as you run your hand over your swollen midsection. Joel's arm is around your shoulder and you feel his laughter rumble against your body. 
You're seven months pregnant and you're glowing. Everyone tells you that. You've never felt as beautiful as you do carrying Joel Miller's child. 
The backyard is decorated with tiny blue and pink baby silhouettes and it's ridiculously full with people from Joel's work, from your work and school friends, with Sarah's fiancé Charlie and his family, and your neighbors. The music plays in the background, the beers and wine are flowing and everyone seems to be having a great time. 
There's a pile of gifts for you and Joel to open later, and your parents mailed you out the largest package you've ever seen. You'd been unable to wait before opening that one with Joel this morning. 
Inside was an assortment of baby clothes, diapers, expensive looking cream, a bottle warming device and another small package wrapped in green ribbon. 
Inside this package was a rattle, a simple thing made of silver. Small and delicate with a pink bow faded over the years. Your eyes blur when you read the note. 
This rattle was once Heather's and then yours. It brought you both a great amount of joy and we thought it was only appropriate for it to be passed down to our grandchild. 
We apologize that we can't be there for the party, but we'd love to have you, Joel, and the baby up for Christmas this year if you would like to attend. If not we understand and perhaps could make plans for sometime in the New Year. 
Love, Mom and Dad
Joel is very excited to see what in his own words are "Where the uptight assholes live". He's still not their biggest fans and you're all trying to work through it. You're happy with how things are slowly progressing so far. 
"I'm voting girl," Maria tells you shrewdly, bouncing her own young son over her shoulder as she encourages him to burp. 
"I'll just be happy it's healthy," Joel insists, squeezing your shoulder gently. 
"Ten fingers and ten toes," you say after him. 
Joel kisses you sweetly. 
"When are we doing this damn reveal?" Comes a voice from the crowd. 
 Several others join in until a smiling Joel is helping you to your feet and guiding you towards the table by the patio that's covered in cupcakes. There's one small cake covered in white frosting and blue and pink question marks. 
Joel stands beside you, one hand on the small of your back. The music is lowered and the crowd comes to circle you and Joel. 
You give a wink to Sarah who returns it with a grin. You can see she's wearing the sash you bought her, the one that says "Big Sister". 
"Okay are y'all ready?" Joel raises the large cutting knife with one hand as the crowd cheers. 
Sarah raises her phone in front of her, hitting record. "Yep. Go for it!"
"How about you?" Joel asks gently, gazing down at your grinning expression. "You ready?"
"Uh huh."
His hand is gripping the handle of the knife and he encourages you to place your hand over his. You both slice down the middle, bringing the knife back out of the cake to reveal pale pink icing along the blade. 
"It's a girl!" 
Cheers sound out everywhere around you, poppers going off with baby rattle shaped confetti. The cupcakes are passed around and everyone gives their congratulations and hugs, citing that you and Joel are going to make the most beautiful baby. 
You feel like you can't stop smiling. Is life supposed to feel this perfect? 
The food is delivered shortly after, and the swarm of guests descend upon Austin's best BBQ. Paper plates and beer bottles soon line the folding tables Joel set up early this morning. 
"For a baby shower being put on for me I sure have to do a lot of fuckin' work for it," he murmured to you this morning before getting up to help Tommy set up. 
You watch the people milling around the tables, smiling to yourself as you watch them laugh and chat. The backyard buzzes with energy and mild chaos and you love every second of watching it.
"What do you think of the name Eleanor?" You muse as you and Joel sit next to one another at one of the tables. "Means shining light."
Joel makes a face as if he's not quite on board.
"Mmmm, s'a bit old fashioned."
You purse your mouth in disappointment. You'd come upon that name in a book you were reading and found yourself completely taken with it. You try to find some middle ground. 
"We could call her Ellie?"
Joel's smile grows at this, whispering it under his breath a few times in that sweet twang of his. Ellie Ellie. 
"I like it." 
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
Joel's mouth finds your temple, pressing a lingering kiss there. His voice lowers an octave, quiet and husky in your ear. 
"You know what I else I like?"
"Mmm?"
"How you looked coming for me this mornin'." 
Your face goes scarlet and you let out a surprised giggle before schooling your features into an exaggerated look of seriousness. 
"We'll have to behave now, Mister Miller since we're both going to be parents," you tell him with mock solemnity. 
You don't miss the way his nostrils flare at the sound of Mister Miller passing through your lips. 
Nor do you miss when he follows you into the house moments later when you claim to need the bathroom. 
He follows you inside in silence, his gaze heated as he comes to cup your swollen breasts through the thin fabric of your dress. You whimper softly, not wanting any passing guests to hear you.
“You’re not wearing a bra today are you?”
“Uh uh,” you grin wickedly. “I know you love it when they bounce for you.”
“Fuckin’ tease,” he grins against your ear before he turns you away from him, hands coming to grip the meat of your ass through your dress.
"Will you fuck me?" You purr, hand coming to graze his already throbbing bulge through his trousers. You shoot him your best innocent gaze, lashes fluttering. 
"Please, Mister Miller?"
He fumbles with his belt buckle as you slide your panties down over the globe of your ass. Joel lets out a grunt before sinking into you, his broad chest bracketing you from behind. Your head tilts back, jaw hinged open. He feels so fucking good every single time.
He fucks you against the door; hand over your mouth as you grip his neck behind you for purchase. Your belly nestles against the door lightly and your hips flex as he drives himself deeper into your drenched pussy.  
"Made me a Daddy," Joel groans in your ear, hips snapping against yours in a fervor. "Let me fuck you full and now everyone knows you're mine."
There's a sound of loud laughter outside and it makes you whimper as his cock pistons in and out of you. His hand is still sealed over your mouth. 
"Take it all, pretty girl. Take it all." 
His hands hold you tightly, but secure. He's paranoid of hurting you and the baby but that doesn't stop him from fucking you until his thrusting hips start to stutter. 
You glance over your shoulder to watch him, eyes shut and teeth bared as he fucks into you over and over. He’s fucking gorgeous like this, neck strained and curls falling into his forehead. One of the buttons of his dress shirt has come undone in the frenzy, showing you a swath of his muscled chest.
Your man.
"Taking me so well," he groans in approval. He opens his eyes to see you staring up at him with hearts in your eyes and he grins down at you. His face lowers to your shoulder as he croons more filth into your ear ending with a sultry:
"Such a good girl."
"And good girls get your come Mister Miller," you remind him breathlessly, a smile lingering as he kisses you soundly. 
"Yes they fuckin' do." 
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a/n #2: Y'all I had to end it on a filthy note because of how these two started. Don't hate me for it heh heh
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323 notes · View notes
mayullla · 1 year
Text
Quest SideStory: A Broken Wife
Character(s): Slime (Original Work/Unnamed Char) Summary: Married yet alone, you thought it would stay like this for a long time. An arranged marriage. It would actually continue to be like till you dropped a bottle where inside trapped a monster. Tags/Warnings: fantasy jrpg like universe, fem!reader, suggestive themes (both non-consensual and dubious kissing, touching), possession (not reader), mentions of cheating (not done by reader), Stockholm syndrome (broken!reader), dubious consent, toxic relationships, imprisonment, emotional manipulation, 5k words
{ - JRPG Quest masterlist - } { - Another yan!slime one-shot here! - }
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He was a greedy man. In an arranged marriage, you still thought that you got lucky when you first met him. A kind man was what you thought him to be as you two awkwardly greeted each other. He treated you kindly and was a gentleman that you thought that even if this man was who you didn't love, you thought that you would do as you became his wife. 
His soft smile as he asked for your hand, kissing it softly when you both first greeted each other. How he spoiled you already with words you thought he was gentle.
Really it was a delusional thought.
So quickly did he change, in front of others he treated you as someone he loves dearly yet in the privacy of your home he would drop that mask, his face almost uncaring and his words cold and manipulative. You were just a piece of item that was presented in a deal between your father who only looks at you as something he could sell and benefit from and your now husband a rich merchant who looked at you as a connection to your father, same as your father to him you were just an object.
Too quickly you have become used to this reality, your life hopeless from the start as your father nor your mother cared about your situation.
You stopped begging your mother to help you from the man who you knew didn't love you, a workaholic, and has eyes for other women. Yet you were only slapped harshly on the face as your mother berated you for your disloyalty to your husband. It was from then on that you knew you could not get out of this... when the people who were your family didn't care about you when the people outside were only jealous of you, and while others held respect for your husband unlike you.... a housewife who was lucky enough to find such a spoiling husband.
In a sense, he did spoil you... you knew he felt guilty when there were days he could not look at you in the eyes. It seems that he tries to cover all his guilt with material presents whenever he can. You have drawers and boxes filled with pretty dresses and pieces of jewelry. How he uses his words to try to make himself look just a little bit better and make you agree.
But this was not what you wanted. He and you knew both knew that.
Hopeless, you thought as you lifelessly woke up every day, forcing yourself to get up. You tried so desperately to look at the good, that your husband never raised a hand over you even if his words were like a snake sometimes coiling around your neck as he thank you for being so lovely. Thankful for the many benefits he had bought you from marrying him, ignoring the other problems. You can only nod. A smile doesn't reach your eyes as he went on that you were nothing without him.
When he was gone or if he was right beside you, you thought that most of everything was lifeless except a few things.
The plants that you took care of, small pots on the window sill that you planted from seed where you only small delights in your life. Your husband didn't care much for your hobby, but he did get a few flower seed packs as a gift, a smile on his face as people all looked in adoration of this lovely gesture.
Silently, you cleaned the house and cooked for yourself and your husband every so often you would go out to the market for groceries. You didn't spend much money on luxuries as your wardrobe was already full of dresses and accessories that your husband has bought for you to create an image that he was so in love with you and to push away the guilt.
Dusting the living room, you were cleaning a shelf that was full of items that were placed there for a show when guests visit. Most things were items gotten from adventurers, item drops from monsters, or rare dried plants. Items that he sold or traded with the other adventurers.
Your mind was in a daze, so busy cleaning the glass frames in the back of the shelf that you hit a jar with your elbow. Your heart raised as you tried to make a grab for it, but you were too slow as you watched the jar thankfully not shatter or break. However, the cork popped open from the jar as you watched black sludge slowly seep out.
You thought you could save it before it could touch the floor and dirty itself, you didn't want to make your husband upset at what you have done yet when you saw the sludge flinch and pull itself back into the jar you pulled your hands away, your heart on your throat.
"What..." You pushed yourself away from the jar in panic as you wondered what your husband had brought home without telling you.
"What are you?" You tinted your head at the moving sludge that slowly crawled out the lid when it realized that you would not do anything to hurt it. You were scared if not freaked out on what this thing was, yet you could not do anything as you watched it weakly trying to move. Little by little at a time. Just what did your husband buy...
Slowly you watched the slime reach out from far away a plant in your home, a small plant that you took to growing from seed was sitting on the window sill. Looking at it and then at the slime you threw your cautiousness out the window as you cut a leaf from your plant and carefully tossed the leaf into the slime.
You watched as the slime reached out, taking the leaf and pushing it within its body. Your eyes widened as you watched the leaf slowly break down with the liquid body.
"Are you hungry?" You asked cautiously. It wobbled a little as if nodding at your words. Standing up you quickly went to the kitchen without letting the slime out of your sight you grab a few cut vegetables from the cutting board and placed them near the slime watching it slowly eat them one by one.
You watched it slowly before a little more alive than before, which was hard to explain really as the slime was feature less without eyebrows or a mouth to tell its emotion but you suppose it jiggling its body a lot more compared to before is its way to show that it was happy?
You seriously need to know why a live slime was trapped in the jar sitting quietly on the shelf. Slimes are a common monster in the wild, but if you were not wrong, they were of a different color of blues and greens and rare ones of pinks that you saw in books. You never heard of black slimes...
Somehow, you managed to push the slime back into the bottle and place the cork back. Placing the jar back into the shelf, you waited for your husband to come. Thankfully, you needed to wait for only a bit more as you watched the sun go down.
"What is that?" You asked your husband who boredly looked at you and then at the jar that he brought home a few days ago. "It is a certain species of slime. I got that from a traveler who ended up in one of the deeper parts of the monster-infested areas and grabbed it." He told you in a monotone voice as he went back to eating.
"Why did you buy it?" You asked curiously only to receive a glare. It seems that he wasn't in the mood today. "Why? Am I not allowed to buy what I want with my money?" You flinched at his cold voice but shook your head. "N-no... I was just curious about its use."
His embarrassed face when he realized what you meant as he looked away and sighed, annoyed. "It is nothing really... slime has a variety of uses sometimes in the materials in building houses but also stuff like aphrodisiacs. The slime I bought is more of a special kind, as most slimes are mainly green or blue that are near human settlements, rare few are pink. That one is black due to its habitat being deep within the monster forests that no travelers are usually crazy enough to dare to travel. It is more potent than the other slimes. I was thinking of selling it at a higher price to a buyer."
Nodding, you glance at the slime again as you wondered if your husband knew that it was alive when he suddenly stood up from his seat, leaving the table. "I am not hungry anymore. I am tired from work, so I am gonna sleep first. Goodnight." He left before you could even say a word.
You were left alone in the kitchen, and the only sounds were your husband's steps walking away which grew smaller and smaller. It was silent as you ate alone, quiet when you took all the dishes away. You were used to this silence.
Washing the dishes after breakfast, your husband had already left early for work. The sun was up as you finished wiping the dishes. Looking at the remaining food that was left, you placed all of them on one plate as you headed towards the living room where the slime was kept on a shelf. You wondered if this was right if you should even be doing this, but as you watched the slime move inside the jar you opened it.
"Here you go." You said softly at the slime, letting it slide off the jar into the plate. The slime was first cautious but quickly started eating soon leaving nothing on the plate. "Good job." You whispered, laughing as you pat the slime with one finger, the slime bobbed as if happy from your pats. "One must not waste food, okay? hehe..."
Every day when your husband leaves home not coming back till late at night you would let the slime out of its jar letting it eat the leftover food that was left as you watched the chunks slowly break apart till there was nothing left but a clear black tinted slime. And when you grow to trust it a little, you let it move freely but only within your eyesight. The monster had also grown attached to you as it cling to your fingers hoping that you would continue to spoil it and attention and before your husband would come home you would place it back into its jar and pretend that nothing ever happened.
"Ah, don't touch them!" You said in surprise when it tried to go near the post of flowers you were caring for. Worried that it would eat them, you scooped the slime into your hand and took it farther from the flower pots. "You are not allowed to eat them, okay? I will be sad if you do." You told it. The ripple it made as if surprised at your words and then only to flatten could not help but make you giggle.
"You are such a cute thing. Are all slimes like you?" You asked curiously at the blob of slime."Slimes are common monsters, but since I live indoors most of my life, I have rarely a chance to see a monster for myself." You told it, it rolled to the side a little as it was trying to re-enact how a human would tilt their head thinking.
"I wonder if you could eat meat..." You handed a piece of stripped chicken from your leftovers immediately. The slime hugged your hand that held the food as you watched the chicken slowly disappear in its body, yet your own hand was without a scratch.
"Ehh?" You looked at the corner of the wardrobe, once filled with many boxes you thought of cleaning however when you finally got all the boxes out of the dark and went to grab a cloth you returned to a clean, dustless place with the slime right in the middle of the furniture. "Did you eat the dust?" You asked, you got your answer in a form of a squish-like sneeze from the slime.
"You shouldn't pull my skirt!" You slightly yelled, startled in surprise. As it tugged your skirt, the slime was definitely hungry and was begging you for food, but you didn't think it would pull on your skirt so suddenly!
"Do you want to go out?" You asked when you saw it still near a window. "I am sorry, but I can't take you out." It was a monster after all, and if someone saw it, you knew it would be killed right away.
You had created a special bond in a way. It was like your little pet, if not a friend to whom you would tell and vent your frustrations. You didn't think it could understand you, but when it nudged the heal of your foot, you thought it was trying to comfort you...
"Thank you." You said softly, patting it head. It bobs it head again 
You thought that this would last longer, a foolish thought, but you hoped. You didn't know that when you were out, your husband would return home so soon planning on grabbing the slime as he had found a buyer.
As you went to the market to buy food for dinner you came back surprised when you saw shoes that belonged to your husband as you wondered why he had come home so early. Well, till you heard a crash and yells. Dropping your bags you ran to your husband's shouts in the living room as your eyes widen in shock the jar that held that black slime was on the floor broken with no slime in sight instead it was on your husband's face clinging as he tried to rip the slime off from his face.
"Get off of me!!" He yelled at the thing that blinded him. You ran towards them as you so desperately tried to help. Only to be harshly shoved by your husband who could not see you.
Your head slammed to the wall, and you blacked out. Darkness slowly took over your eyes. The last thing you heard was your husband's shouting, trying to get the slime off.
You don't remember how much time had passed yet, your eyes slowly open still dizzy from the hit to the head. Yet when you finally got yourself together you could not help but gasp, the living room was a mess with many broken pieces of furniture, the table was flipped to the side, frames fallen from the walls as well as the decorations from the shelf, glass shattered.
Your heart pained when you saw the plants that you took care of, broken pots and roots and soil spilled everywhere. Your husband was dying in the middle of everything nose, ears, eyes, and mouth all leaking this black liquid slime water.
Slowly, you crawled towards him in fear that he might be dead. Placing your hands on his chest desperately, hoping that he was alive, you could only breathe in relief when you felt his breathing. Soft, but it was still there. You placed your head on his chest in relief as you tried to calm yourself, and after a while, you forced your head up again.
Only for your eyes to widen in shock and your blood to run cold when you saw his eyes. As he grabbed your hands sticky from the slime, holding them so tightly that you could not get away. His eyes were love-struck as he looked at you, his tongue slightly out, and his breathing heavier than a few moments ago, and his face flushed red.
He pulled you towards him, your head spinning as he slammed your lips on tip of his as he pushed his tongue into your mouth, exploring it. His eyes were still open as he watched your dulled reaction, weakly desperately trying to push him away but wouldn't let you. When you thought that you would faint again due to your lack of breath, he acted like a staved animal as if he wanted to consume you, and he finally let you go. A trail of spite connected your mouth mixed with black as you stared at him in fear. His short locks that touched the floor you could see looked like they had turned into a black goop at the tips.
You watched as the slime slowly seeped back into his locks. The slime on his ears and face slowly absorbed back into his skin, giving you more evidence that he was truly not your husband... but the black slime that you have taken care of.
What have you done...
He wasn't your husband. He is a monster that took control over your husband's body, and you were scared that it was too late.
You should have screamed then and there if nobody had come to your and your husband's aid the first time this time they would. Yet it didn't let you before you could do anything slime wrapped around your body, holding you tightly as well as your mouth to keep you from screaming. Part of his arms has turned into slime. You yelped in fear as you stared at the man who sat up, a solemn face that you were so familiar with and cold eyes. There was also a hint of something else. Something crazed as he looked at you with those eyes that kept you on edge.
"You shouldn't scream, dear. People would mistake that you and I had a little spat." He smiled.
It was the same voice, the same face, yet the smile was unfamiliar to you. It wasn't that smile that he used in front of others it was more sinister, more lustful. As the rope-like slime was removed from your mouth before you could take a chance to scream again, he attacked your mouth with his.
You don't know how long he kissed you, shoving his tongue into your mouth and exploring your teeth and corners of your mouth. You dont remember his tongue being this long, reaching the back of your mouth so quickly. You don't know when you fainted, but even after it, he never let you go. The moment you opened your eyes again, your hands and legs were tied to the bed. He was in a corner of the room relaxing on an armchair watching you.
"Let me go!! What did you do to my husband?!" You demanded, flinching as he took a step closer to the bed, closer to you. "What do you mean? I am your husband." Not a hint of guilt nor hesitation was obvious in his voice as he smiled at you. The bed creaked when he placed a hand beside your head, while the other started moving your hair from your face, playing with the strands. "It seems you have forgotten about me. How cruel. No matter, I will just have to help you remember."
"For now I should keep you here, we can't have you go around screaming after all." He chuckled, there was excitement in his voice. The fact that he was able to have you here and his almost made him high as he continued to play with your hair uncaring towards the fear in your eyes.
Every day, he spoiled you with affection and adoration. As you were trapped in your own home, he would kiss you not only on your lips but many elsewhere and lovingly hold you in his arms and whisper in your ear his obsession. You tried to fight back, bite his lips when he kissed yours, yet he didn't care and continued in his affections. You tried to push him away, but he was stronger than you even before the monster took over him, and the slime-like ropes held you in your place. 
"Hnn.." he groaned when you bit his tongue, yet when you expected the taste of metallic blood, you tasted nothing, instead yelped as he shoved his tongue deeper into your throat, causing you to have a vomit reaction. When you looked at his eyes, they crinkled almost as if smiling. You knew that he was punishing you. Right when you thought you would faint again. He released your lips to let you finally breathe instead, went to kiss your face, and continued his whispers of love.
It broke your mind, and he knew that. It took some time. Little by little, he continued to chip at your sanity. And when you were finally docile enough, quiet in his arms and reliant in his affections, he finally let you go.
Nobody knew what happened. The slime that took over your husband's body took it to work every day, and nobody could have been suspicious. Not even his own personality did they realize there was a flaw. Nobody really noticed you were gone for a while. Though a housewife who didn't have many friends, nobody would. He also made many excuses to make sure nobody looked for you.
He dressed you, before when you preferred something simple he forced you to wear the presents given to you in the past and more now. Dainty lace and cute frills he would dress you with. Kissing you on the lips before leaving for work, it was as if nothing had happened. Nothing was wrong.
"Here you go." Placing a box on your lap, he smiled at you, urging you to open it. Your hands slowly grabbed the ribbons and pulled them carefully. You opened the box and gulped at what you saw. A white laced lingerie something your past husband would definitely never buy you even after marriage. "It reminded me of you when I saw it. After all, I don't think I have spoiled you enough the time we got married." Placing a small kiss on your cheek right below your eyes, "From now on, I will give you everything that you have ever desired and more that you could only think of me."
He played with your mind. The slime that within him you thought was almost innocent after eating the man's memories had become sly. Mixed in with it, love and obsession towards you resulted in this possessive man. This man was kind. His touches were loving and gentle compared to the past, which was nonexistent. You knew that this man wasn't the same man you married instead you had to remind yourself again and again that this man was possessed by a monster that ate your husband's brain, and settled in the curves in it. It took everything away from your husband, his skills, talents, memories... his free will.
"Say ahh." You looked at the food right in front of you, hesitation in your eyes as you were forced to sit on his lap. Your face heated in embarrassment as he told you to open your mouth again. "Didn't you also feed me every day? Why are you so shy, honey?" He chuckled amused by your torment as he asked to open your mouth again. "I won't let you go till you finish all your food, alright? You always say wasting is bad."
You should be screaming. You should be terrified that this slime took over your husband's body and started to act like it was your husband. You felt your mind swirling with madness. Every action was so similar to your husband. The way he walked did not change nor did the manner of his speech change. As if nothing had really changed from the outside view, except... you watched as black goop that was supposed to be a replacement for earwax and eye gunk on his eyes and ears. When you kiss and then separate, you leave a string of saliva mixed with black.
"So cute." He chuckled as he held your face with his hands, breathless you panted after a long tongue kiss that he forced you to after a long day of work. He was the one giving you home after all, your wardrobe full of elegant clothes as he threw away the more simple plain ones, spoiling you with so much affection, yet you wouldn't do the same? Spoil him a little with your attention like you did before. He didn't let you go, holding you tightly towards his body. He knew that you gave you no room to express your thoughts.
Another day, you gave in to his teasing, raising your hands as you hesitantly pulled his face near yours. You have pecked him a couple of times already in his demands and always looked rather satisfied after it, yet it didn't seem to be the case today. When you placed a light kiss on his lips and were about to retreat, he didn't let you and pushed his lips on yours. "Tongue." Short yet annoyed, you saw his eyes and knew that you could not be getting away till you did what he told you. Hesitantly pushed your tongue into his mouth, his own curled around yours and pulled.
"You really shouldn't make such a face. I can only hold myself back so much."
The queen size bed the same bed that he trapped you in usually empty on one side in the past more often than not now had two beings in it, his arms hugging and holding you so tightly as if possessiveness and jealousy were swirling in his mind, angered that you have spoken with another man other than him when you went out with him. You thought your bones would break the way he was holding you, your back facing him he wanted to bring you closer and closer even when there were no gaps left.
"If only I could keep you in a jar whenever we go out. So that no men would notice you and you only have me." Annoyance and frustration were in his tone as you tried to pull away from the slime that strapped you to the bed. "I am so annoyed..."
He acted like he wanted to dig a hole in your heart whether that was physically or mentally you weren't so sure but you didn't doubt he could carve your own heart out when you weren't able to move from his embrace that tightens whenever you make a slight movent when the slime was the one who carved out your husband's conscious making him nothing more than a zombie it could manipulate as it steals both his talents, skills and memories everything that he has work hard over. He had told you many times that he could force you to love him, forced you to adore him.
Maybe he did take your body, the saliva like slime forced to swallow every day from the kiss was definitely doing something to your body. You just didn't know what...
Outside, he was soft and kind the same the past, the type of man any woman would love to marry, a gentleman. In the privacy of your own home, tho... he wasn't the same. He was nothing but a monster that was so possessive over your body and your being, so greedy for your mind to only think of him. In front of others, his touches were soft and gentle, a man so in love with his wife. At home, it was as if he wanted to chain you down so that you would only be for him.
"My wife is the most lovely person in the world. I would be nothing without her love and support." He sang to others as they looked at him in a kind of respect when it was so obvious that he was infatuated with you to insanity.
"I see you are wearing the gift I have gotten for you. Good, my love deserves a reward, don't you think?" The white lingerie hidden by your dress made you feel embarrassed even if you knew that others could not see it. It was like a mark of his, that you belonged to him.
Toxic you thought to yourself, this would eat you alive one day or another. Yet you could not do anything but follow along as your heart too greed for his touch and affection. His manipulative words were the same, but this time with an obsession that you could not help be grow addicted to.
"You are heating up. Have you become shy, or are you sick?" You flinched at his cold hand. He had become a little colder to the touch may be before how his body was really just slime, but in your flushed state, they were comforting. The sly smile as he faked his worry of your embarrassed self, teasing. He was the reason why you were like this waking up to see him staring at you for who knows how long. 
"What is the matter dear you can tell me." He pulled you closer. You could feel his legs weren't so solid anymore under the blanket as the wrap around your legs was a reminder that he wasn't human, yet once he leaves the house, nobody will be the wiser.
You looked away, avoiding eye contact, then with a bit of determination hesitantly, you grabbed his white shirt. You knew the moment you did this, it would be the end. That you could not take anything back. Yet you can not help it, you can not help it anymore. His eyes widened in surprise as you pulled him closer to you for the first time. Did you ever make a move out of your own will.
The clingingness that you never once showed as your eyes begged him to show the affection you so desperately crave and grew addicted to yet for so so long tried to resist. The surprise soon morphed into amusement, then a lovesick expression of drunken high of an expression that he often showed after a long heated kiss as you were forced to drink all this slime he shoved down your throat. You had a guess as to what that liquid might be at first and felt vile at the thought.
Yet now it was something small, minor, compared to his attraction towards you, as you looked at him, still clinging as if trying to cover the gap between you and him, or maybe the emptiness in your own heart, you weren't sure. You didn't care anymore, after all, now you were loved.
After all, you were too broken from the start.
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Note: okay now let me explain why there is too much kissing here... besides me being horny while writing this long ago- this is connected to the slime one shot that I have. Slime's "courtship" is basically giving a bit of the slime to the partner to show others that their slime companion is taken and now humans aren't slime... at least the reader isn't.
2K notes · View notes
elryuse · 8 months
Text
MOONLIT SEDUCTION
MIYEON X MALE READER
Tags : Co-worker, Teasing, Seduction, Creampie
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It was late at night, you and your co-workers were busy finishing all of the left over papers that have been given by your boss. Everybody was hella tired, including yourself. Your whole body was so stiff, and your eyebags were so black and lifeless. All you can think about is having a nice cold glass of beer to make all of the stress go away.
So After you're done with your work. You asked all of your co-workers to have a nice drink at a nearby Gukbap restaurant. And without any hesitation, all of your co-workers agreed. And so the night went on. You're currently having a big cold pint of beer, followed by a nice warm bowl of Gukbap, a bowl of steaming hot rice, and a platter of banchan at the table.
The moment the soup and rice touches your tounge, it immediately warms your soul like never before. The feeling was so cozy not to mention, when you followed it by drinking some cold glass of beer. The feeling was just majestic and refreshing. Your co-workers are also enjoying the atmosphere of the restaurant as well.
Not to mention this particular co-worker of yours. You kinda forget about her name. But if you're not wrong her name is something starting with Miyeon or something. But not gonna lie. She's looking beautiful af tonight. I mean she's not wearing her usual office look. She instead changes her clothes to something a bit more revealing and a bit sensual.
"Hi there"?
"O-oh Hi".
"Do you remember my name"?
"U-uhmm... I kinda forgot sorry".
"Ahh crap... That's alright... I'm Miyeon... And you are"?
"Oh.. Y/n.. Park Y/n".
"Oooh... You're that new kid"?
"Ah yes.. Ahahah".
"Well... I hope you're doing your best alright".
"You gott itt".
As she sways her way to your other co-workers. You can actually see something that you shouldn't see. Because her dress was so short and tight. Every time she leans on someone. You kinda see her panties and a little bit of her ass as well. You were kinda shy and wanted to tell her, but she was just enjoying her time. So you didn't really bother to tell her.
This party continued, until it was basically midnight. And everybody was pretty much Deadass drunk and tired. So after helping your co-workers to get home safely. You were left out there with none other than Miyeon. You kinda forget that she didn't go home yet, so the whole situation was pretty awkward actually.
"So... It's just us left huh"?
"Y-yeah... ".
"Hmm... Well I think it's time to go home... It's getting late".
"Y-yeah you're right Noona".
"Hey.. Uhm... Can you possibly... Accompany me back home? I swear it's pretty close to here.. I'm scared to go home at this hour by myself".
"O-oh O-okay.. I-if it's alright with you.. ".
" *chukle* I'll be more than welcome to be accompanied by a cute guy like you Y/n... *grab your hand* Alright... Let's grab a taxi".
"O-okay".
WELL... THIS IS AWKWARD.
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"What are you waiting for? *chukle* Get inside dummyy".
"O-okayy".
Inside the Taxi. Miyeon was basically holding on to your hand tightly. It was awkward yet comforting for you. Especially knowing that you'll never do something like this in your life. She was very playful and even teased you pretty much the whole trip. She started playing around with her hands by touching and rubbing your hands. Slowly going down and closer to your crotch.
Before she finally stops. And giggles at your cute reaction.
"Are you horny baby"?
"N-noona not here and not nowww"!!
"What's wrong.. The driver won't hear us don't worry".
"Stopp... This is wrong... I don't even know you yet".
"So what"??
Miyeon suddenly grabbed a hold of your erected cock. Before admiring how big it has gotten. She giggles and licks her lips as if a predator was locked on to its prey. She suddenly gets closer to you.. And she suddenly kisses your neck.
" *mwah* "
" *shocked* Whaaa... ".
"Hehe your reaction is so goddamn cutee".
"P-please stop Noona".
"Nuh uhh".
/sorry to bother you two.. But... We're here/
"O-oh Thanks sir".
"Thank you Sir.. Have a good night".
/Hahaha yeah yeah... Have fun.. You two/
After stepping a single foot inside her apartment room. Miyeon immediately pushes you towards her room. Kissing your lips passionately. The way her tounge intertwined with your own was hot not gonna lie. She was very good at this... And Y-you are just starstruck.
"Hmm..... Let's do it".
"... *pant*.... D-do what.. "?
" *smirk* I'll just remove this dress... And then..... Tadaa".
"N-noona"??
Miyeon suddenly undresses right in front of your eyes. Her skin was white and smooth. Her body was petite and so perfect. She Smirked while eyeing your body from head to toe. She smiles, before walking closer and closer to you..
"Let's go to my bedroom".
" *gulp* ".
"It's okayy... Babe... I'll be gentle on you".
As you walked towards her bedroom. You Were suprised by the amount of furniture that was scattered all around her room. It wasn't a cheap piece of decor either, I mean I can clearly see an art piece that would sell for thousands, heck maybe even million of dollars just sitting there on her walnut colored wall.
"Don't let that decoration bother us babe... We're here to fuck not to see some boring art piece... Come here... ".
"O-okay".
Suddenly Miyeon grabs your body and slams it down to the mattress, before plantimg her soft and silky lips down to your own. The kiss was long and delicious, the way her tounge twisted inside your mouth was divine. After the kiss ended, she immediately started to ride your cock slowly and Erotically. She didn't insert it just yet and just playfully teasing you.
"F-fuck.. N-noona".
" *chukle* Do you want me? Do you want to fuck me baby"?
At this point rejecting her offer is just plain dumb and outrageous to do. So without any hesitation you immediately said.
"Yes. I want to fuck you so bad".
" *chukle* beg harder baby.. And maybe I'll let you do it inside of me".
"P-please Miyeon Noona.. Please let me fuck you... I've always loved you.. And I always wanted to fuck you".
"Mhm... *chukle* alright then".
And just like that, Your cock makes an entrance to her now wet and slippery walls. When you went in, Her pussy walls immediately gripped onto your cock. The feeling was heavenly and there was just nothing like it.
"Fuckk...".
"Mhmmm so big... Hehe".
"N-noona You're so tight".
"Mhm.. Do you like it"?
"Y-yes.. Yes I do.. It's heavenly".
"I'm glad... But this is not enough.. Fuck me harder baby".
And you rightfully did. You started to increase your pace and started to give her pussy a nice fucking. Miyeon immediately started moaning like crazy and started to grip your chest harder than before.... The sound of flesh slapping was so loud it started to become music to your ears.
Before long, You're already on your limit. Your cock just couldn't handle the tightness of her pussy. Your cum is basically leaking right now.. And all you want to do now is to release all of your seed deep inside of her.
"Are you close baby"?
"Y-yes.. ".
" *chukle* mhmm... Then cum in me... Cum inside me... Cum inside my fucking womb".
"Fuck.. Fuck fuck... I'm cumminh Noona".
"Yes.. Ahhhh fuckkk... Cumm inside meee".
*Splurttt*
And just like that. You've released all of your seed deep inside her womb. Both of you got tired and just basically cuddled in her big ass bed. She slowly makes her hand on your face before caressing it and kissing your lips.
"Starting from today.. You're mine got it"?
"O-okay Noona".
" *chukle* Just call me Miyeon babe.. ".
"O-okay Miyeon".
~ The End ~
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finch-kid · 1 month
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top 5 instruments? 👁👁
guitar
synthesizer
drums
frog guiro
kalimba
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blkgirl-writing · 8 months
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So. Technically... the Revivify spell only works for one minute after death.
Begging for a piece where Gale sees Tav go down in combat, everyone is fighting for their lives, meanwhile he's across the battlefield, fighting his hardest to get closer and feeling the minute they have to revive Tav slipping away...
Gale x Fem!reader
"Cold to the touch"
I have never finished a request so fast I'll be honest. This is so heartbreaking but absolutely amazing.
Tags and TWs: angst, a bit funny, some detailed graphic violence and blood, Gale in denial lowkey.
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Sometimes the fights you picked should have been fights evaded
"Gale, go!" you screeched, seconds before the killing blow you your chest, blood rapidly pooling around your feet, too much blood, you whispered as you looked down with blurring vision, clutching at your skin, trying to stop the bleeding, even for a second. The last bit of your strength used to look back up at gale, and smile. your body thudded to the ground, completely and utterly lifeless.
Gale blinked. The wind knocked out of him like he was hit with a battering ram. He fractically looked around, who was close? no one. Astarion was high on the rooftop, Wyll and Karlach surrounded with no way out, everyone on the brink of death themselves. Lae'zel the furthest and least likely to help. That just left-
"Shadowheart? Shadowheart, HEAL HER!"
"I'm fresh out of spells-" Shadowheart yelled, looking back at your limp body. "I think...She's past anything I can do right now, anyway."
Gale's gaze went down to his own hands, the revive in his pocket, how many things were around him, and how much strength he really did have. Your body was getting cold, soul leaving body, time was of the essence.
"damn it" he whispered, squeezing his eyes tightly closed, concentrating on making sure he wouldn't lose you. He couldn't lose you. If the thoughts of your beautiful life absent from the rest of his miserable one crept up, he'd be paralyzed, he simply could not dwell on the bleak future. "ok"
Gale forced himself forward, nearly slipping immediately and cursing himself. Running. if he wasn't out of all the magic he could muster he could simply misty step. Instead he was forced to make his way little by little while watching the last of life slip from you as the reality set in. He couldn't get to you in time. He needed to save himself and the others if there was any hope of even bringing your corpse to have a proper burial. He had to topple goblins and just stare feet away from you as your magic slipped permanently away from this world. Helpless, and tearful.
-
He wanted to cover you up. Clothes ripped open from your wounds, he didn't want you to feel exposed. Though, he knew you weren't feeling anything at all. But he had nothing. Once again failing himself and you when he felt you most needed it.
"There....there has to be something we can do" he held your freezing and damp hand in his own warm ones. Enemies blood pooled with your own,. the fight was won, but it truly felt wrong to say those words. He had been brushing your hair out of your eyes while the others gathered around. They'd been the furthest, so Gale had gotten precious moments alone. Muttering sentances he didn't finish. About how he had failed you. About what could have been. Maybe an I love you had fallen from his lips, but it didn't matter anymore, not if he could never hear the words he so wanted to hear back from you, from your own sweet voice.
"I don't know, I....I'm so sorry, Gale." Shadowheart softly touched gales back for a moment of comfort and caring that was so rare for her. that's how he knew it was real. "I know you cared."
I know you cared. He didn't know why those words were his breaking point, but he suddenly felt water dripping down his face. Silent tears rushing down his race. "I truly did."
"We will find a way, Gale. Have hope." Wyll crouched beside Gale on the ground. "I don't think we can do this without her."
"I'll bring her back. Somehow." Gale nodded, finally tearing his gaze away from you. Everyone stood around your corpse. Everyone with the same, grim look. Though, Wyll just looked...sad, sadness for Gales pain, and for the senseless loss of another.
Gale had to get you back to get you comfortable in camp. You couldn't stay here. Not for animals to ravage.
"I'll get her to camp for you, Gale. Don't ware yourself out" Karlach effortlessly hoisted your body over her shoulder. Gale gathered the items that dropped from your pockets on the ground, covered in grime and blood. But he simply wiped it away. He didn't want you to have to clean it off later. He'd worry about the red stains on his fingers and blotches on his clothes later. He just had to worry about getting you back, and never losing you again.
-
(Consider supporting me on Ko-fi)
Tag list, tell me if you want to be added!
@shyminnie07 @makers-breath @claryvoyantfray
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ewanmitchellcrumbs · 9 months
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Who Taught You How to Love Like That? - Chapter Five
Pairing: Modern!Aemond Targaryen x female character (third person) Warnings: Sugar daddy/sugar baby dynamics. Smut. Angst. Word count: ~3.5k
Series masterlist
Chapter summary: Aemond dwells upon the past while trying to live without her.
Author's note: I don't have a tag list - please follow @fics-by-ewanmitchellcrumbs and turn on post notifications. Only scabs community label fics. If you find yourself tempted to slap a label on this, please block me instead.
The flat door clicks closed behind Aemond and he lingers in the corridor for a moment. This was for the best, he was sparing her, so why does his heart feel so heavy? Every step towards his car feels as though he’s walking through quicksand.
He loads Vhagar into the boot, throwing his overnight bag onto the backseat and sits wearily behind the wheel, gripping it with enough force to turn his knuckles white. He screws his eye shut, attempting to will away the prickling sensation around the rim, alongside the lump in his throat.
I’ve done the right thing. I’ve done the right thing. 
**15 YEARS PRIOR**
Aemond looks up at her from where he’s seated on the edge of the hotel bed, brows arched in pain and disbelief, as tears slip down his cheeks. “So that’s just it, you’re ending things?”
Alys purses her crimson stained lips, perfectly manicured nails of the same shade brush against his cheek as she stands over him. “Oh sweetheart,” she coos, “You had to know that our little arrangement wasn’t forever.”
His heart twinges at this, what could she possibly mean? They are made for each other, two halves of the same whole. He stares at her, confused. “But I love you…”
She laughs, green eyes crinkling with mirth and the sight and sound is a dagger to his chest.
“You don’t love me,” she says, her tone condescending, “You’re barely twenty, you don’t know what love is. You just like the idea of an older woman.”
He shakes his head, feeling himself become angry at her cold dismissal of his feelings. “Then why? Why bother with me?”
Alys sighs. “Look, we both got something we wanted out of this arrangement. You got to have a little fun, and I made sure I got the Harrenhal contract.”
Bile rises in Aemond’s throat, his eye narrowing hatefully as he stares at her, acrid warmth spreading throughout his chest.
She’d used him.
**PRESENT DAY**
Aemond’s own flat feels too big, too empty, too quiet, when he returns to it. The pitter patter of Vhagar’s claws against the hardwood floor as she potters towards her bed is the only audible sound.
He’s never stopped to consider his own living space much before, preferring functionality over comfort. He is out most of the time anyway, so what does it matter as long as things do what he needs them to do? 
It’s only as he leans against the spotless granite of the kitchen counter that he is struck by how lifeless and sterile it is here. He’s grown used to the warmth and cosiness of being at her place; the smell of jasmine that wafts delicately in the air from the incense sticks that her and Mysaria always seem to be burning, being pressed against her on the tiny sofa, her feet in his lap as trashy TV plays just a little too loudly, the tiny space is filled with laughter, comfort and love. Dropped back into his own space he feels as though he’s been set adrift, empty and hollow, yet he has no one to blame but himself.
The bed is too big, he has too much room, he misses the feel of springs digging into his back as he curls himself around her on her tiny mattress. This bed doesn’t feel like home, not anymore, not since he’d laid her down upon it all those nights ago, put her legs over his shoulders and…fucked it all up by leaving without saying anything the next day, just like he fucks up everything. She’d given him a second chance and he’d squandered it.
No, he did what he needed to.
I’ve done the right thing. I’ve done the right thing. 
He groans, scrubbing a hand over his face and throws the covers off, walking to the bathroom. Rifling through the medicine cabinet in search of painkillers to dull the throbbing ache in his left eye socket, his fingers close around something cool and metallic.
He plucks it out, studying it carefully. It’s a bracelet of hers, probably left there accidentally from one of the few times she’s stayed over. He turns the silver bangle over in his fingers, remembering the first time he’d seen her wear it. He’d thought to himself it looked cheap, but now as he holds it it feels like the most precious treasure in the world. It’s all he has left of her.
How had he allowed things to go this far? It was only ever supposed to be transactional but he’d allowed it to evolve, letting her occupy a space in his heart and mind that left them both vulnerable. He ended things, not wanting to cause her unnecessary pain and yet in doing so has devastated them both.
Aemond doesn’t do love or relationships. Not even his own family can stand him, so how can he expect another person to feel that way about him, or open himself up to the possibility of having those feelings for someone else? It’s a path he’s trodden before and it doesn’t end well.
**5 YEARS PRIOR**
Aemond leans in to kiss Floris, she turns her head and he catches her cheek instead.
“I’ve just put on lipgloss, Aem,” she says, her voice saccharine, “Aren’t you going to be late for work?”
“Mm. Was just about to leave, love,” He tells her, grabbing his keys.
“Forgetting something?” She says with a slight pout and tilt of her head.
“Ah, of course,” he fishes his credit card out of the inside pocket of his suit jacket and hands it over to her, smirking as the diamond of her engagement ring glitters with the movement of her fingers, “I’ll see you later. I love you.”
“You too!” She calls over her shoulder, already walking back towards the bedroom.
It’s not until Aemond is almost at his car that he realises he’s left his phone in the flat and heads back upstairs to retrieve it. As he opens the front door he can hear Floris on the phone, only able to pick up on her side of the conversation, he pauses to listen in.
“...I can only put him off for so long. I have to do it occasionally, otherwise he’d get suspicious. It’s that horrible prosthetic eye, it gives me the creeps–”
“...only a few months until the wedding, then I can get a quickie divorce and take half of everything–”
“...no, he hasn’t made me sign a pre-nup, he’s too obsessed with me for that–”
Aemond’s breath catches in his throat as a dull ache spreads its way through his chest. He slams the front door hard enough to alert Floris that he’s home and strides towards the bedroom.
**PRESENT DAY**
The next few weeks are a miserable dirge for Aemond. He buries himself in paperwork at work, in an attempt to push away thoughts of her, yet finds his mind wandering to how she might be spending the working day, whether she’s finally managed to get the museum to commission the exhibit she’s been pushing for or not. He considers dropping by the museum, just to see if he can watch her from a distance, but decides against it. It was his decision to end things, it was for the best, the least he owed her was to stay away.
Aemond sits on his couch in the evenings, the cold, hard leather unwelcoming against his back, the space too expansive as he attempts to watch the same trashy TV on his widescreen that he’d watched with her on her TV. He finds he couldn’t give less of a shit about which couples are voted off of Love Island or who scored the lowest on Come Dine With Me, for him the experience was about being snuggled up next to her on the sofa, feeling her warmth, hearing her laugh. Now she’s gone, and none of the things that accompanied that seem to matter.
Family functions are unbearable without her. He misses the way she’d smile up at him when he placed his hand at the small of her back, misses how effortlessly she converses with his family, even the members he struggles to get along with.
Without her to keep him grounded, he bickers with Aegon, is aloof with his mother and Helaena and actively goes out of his way to antagonise his nephews. He hasn’t just reverted back to old habits, he’s worse, and it’s obvious his family have begun to notice too. He elects just to stay away entirely when invitations are extended.
That is until the night of Helaena’s birthday party. His only sister would never forgive him if he didn’t show up, so grudgingly he goes to the gathering his mother is having for her at her place. 
He stands out on the decking, the same decking where he’d shared his first kiss with her, the memory plays on a loop in his head, he can still taste the red wine on her lips. 
The cherry red tip of his cigarette as he takes a drag provides further illumination alongside the soft glow of the lights through the windows of the house, and the moon that shines bright in the night sky. 
It’s quiet, save for the muffled bass of the music coming from inside. It gets louder as the French doors slide open for a moment, quieting once more as they slide closed.
Aemond rolls his eye, blowing out a tight line of smoke, his shoulders tensing. He wants to be left alone, he had hoped that escaping to the garden would have made that perfectly clear to everyone.
“It’s just me,” Helaena says softly, coming to stand beside him.
Aemond softens, glancing down at her, his gaze drawn to the bubbles that rise to the top of the glass in the gin and tonic that she’s taking delicate sips from.
“Happy birthday, Hel,” he says, facing forward again and taking another drag.
“It’d be happier if you’d actually come inside,” She nudges him gently with her elbow.
“Trust me, you wouldn’t be,”
“What’s going on with you? You’re miserable lately.”
“I’ve always been miserable,” He throws his cigarette butt down onto the decking and crushes it under foot.
“You were less miserable when you had your girlfriend. I liked the guy that you were when you were with her,”
“She’s not my girlfriend, never was,” Aemond’s tone is clipped, he purses his lips as he feels irritation prickle at his skin.
“Why not?” Helaena taps the rings on her fingers gently against her glass.
“She deserves better than me. I’ve spared her the inevitable hurt I’d cause her,”
“Hm. You know, there’s only so many times you can use that excuse before it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy,”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You’ve ended things because you don’t want to hurt her, but I bet doing that has hurt her, and you,”
Aemond scoffs, “I don’t do relationships, Hel,”
She huffs a quiet laugh, “No, I don’t do relationships because I’m aroace. You do do relationships, Aemond, you’ve just made crappy choices in the past and you’re allowing fear to dictate your future,”
He narrows his eye, glancing towards her again, “And how do you know so much?”
“I’m incredibly fussy about the insects I choose for pin-mounting, and those just go on my wall. I’m even more particular when it comes to people. I’ve seen how you two look at each other, don’t chuck this away,”
“Hel–”
“I mean it, Aemond. She’s your…your atlas moth! Pin mount her before somebody else does,”
“A truly horrifying metaphor, but thank you,”
“You’re welcome,” she smiles warmly, “You gonna come inside now?”
“Actually, I think I’m going to go. Do you mind?”
“Gonna go get your girl?” She asks with a grin.
“Perhaps,” he says with a bow of his head.
Helaena deposits her drink on the railing and claps her hands together excitedly. “Then of course I don’t mind, go!”
Aemond pulls out his phone as he gets into his car, seeing the Instagram notification pop up on his lockscreen.
mysaria_ww has started a live video
Allowing his curiosity to get the better of him, he clicks on the notification and startles slightly as pounding music blares from his phone’s speaker. The camera sweeps shakily over a couple of obnoxiously lurid drinks before it lands on her.
Aemond feels his breath catch in his throat, his heart seems to skip a beat at the sight of her and he holds his phone in trembling hands as he makes a note of the location sticker. A cocktail bar not far from here.
He locks his phone and is starting the car before he has time to properly think about it.
The bar is dimly lit, the music not to Aemond’s taste and far louder than he’s comfortable with. It’s the type of place that has seemingly endless happy hours and serves drinks that are mostly ice. He bristiles uncomfortably as he descends the steps, but refuses to be deterred. He needs to speak to her.
He freezes when he sees her. Her elbow is propped against the edge of the table, her chin resting on her hand, an easy smile graces her lips as she listens intently to whatever Mysaria is whispering to her.
They’ve been apart for so long that he’s forgotten just how beautiful she really is. It’s like the first night he met her all over again, when he’d gotten out of the car to greet her and she’d stolen his breath away. He hadn’t let her kiss him that night, afraid she’d just be doing it for the money. He won’t make that mistake again tonight.
He walks slowly over to her table and the way her face falls when she notices him makes it feel as though his stomach is in free fall. She looks so shocked and unhappy, she’s never not been pleased to see him. He hates this.
“Can we talk?” He raises his voice to be heard above the music as he reaches their table.
She shakes her head, climbing unsteadily from her bar stool and grabbing her bag. “Oh, I am too drunk for this…”
He watches in dismay as she staggers away, flanked by Mysaria, before deciding to follow them both outside.
“Hey, wait–” He says, reaching for her, and she whips around, eyes wide and mouth tightened in anger.
“I’ll be right here,” Mysaria says softly to her, stepping to the side and pulling up the Uber app on her phone.
“No, you wait!” She shouts at him, “I have spent weeks trying to get over you. You don’t get to make someone fall in love with you and then act like that’s nothing!”
She’s in love with him?! 
He feels his chest tighten at the admission, standing there dumbfounded, he allows her to continue.
“I let you go,” She sobs, streaks of black mascara track their way down her cheeks alongside her tears, “I respected your decision, I didn’t reach out, even though I wanted to. I left you alone, so what gives you the right to ruin girls’ night?! You broke my heart and acted like you were doing me a favour, so why the fuck should I listen to anything you have to say?!”
Because I love you too.
He can’t say anything, as much as he wants to, his throat has run dry. His fingers flex uselessly by his sides, longing to reach out and wipe away the tears and make up that have run down her face.
She’s pulled away by Mysaria as an Uber pulls up to the curb and he can do nothing but watch helplessly as they drive away.
You’re losing her. Do something.
Sleep does not come for Aemond. The image of her tears plays over and over in his mind as he tosses and turns, tears from hurt that he’d caused her. 
He has experienced crying in relationships before; he’d cried when Alys ended things, but he was young and stupid and thought he was in love with a woman twice his age. Floris had bawled when he’d confronted her about what he’d overheard, but they were the crocodile tears of a desperate woman caught out for being a gold digger.
Aemond has never seen the real anguish of heartbreak before, at least not on another person, and he never wants to see it again. He has to make this right. It’s not until he feels the drip from his jaw onto his collarbone that he realises that after weeks of holding them in, his own tears have begun to fall.
It is almost midday the next day when Aemond has everything he needs prepared. The big white van he parks outside of her block of flats is cumbersome to drive in comparison to his sleek, black sports car, but he hopes the inconvenience will be worth it.
Come outside.
He texts her, relieved when the bubble displays as delivered, at least she hasn’t blocked his number.
He climbs out of the van, leaning against it, heart pounding as he looks up to see the curtains of her living room window twitch.
A few moments later she’s stepping outside, a look of confusion on her face. “What’s this?”
“An apology,” Aemond says, “Letting you go was a mistake. I thought I was doing the right thing, but I fucked it up, it’s what I do, I fuck things up. But I’m sorry, and I want to be with you, whatever that looks like for you. I want to do this properly.”
“Why are you doing all of this now?” She asks, folding her arms defensively.
“Because I’ve tried to live without you, and I can’t. What we had was good, so fucking good, and I threw it away because I’m a coward. Just let me make this right, please?”
She sighs, “What’s in the van?”
He motions for her to follow him, and opens up the back, revealing a brand new mattress, still in its plastic wrap.
“A replacement, so I can stay over without feeling like someone has spent all night attempting to make balloon animals with my spine.”
“Presumptuous of you,” She says with a raise of her eyebrows.
Aemond shrugs, “I’m all in,”
She runs her hands through her hair, eyes flitting between him and the mattress. “How the fuck are we supposed to get this upstairs?”
He smirks. “There are removal people coming in an hour, they’ll take your old one away and bring this one up,”
“And what happens if I say no?”
“Well, that’s why I told them to leave it an hour, so I’d have time to cancel in case you did,”
He can see her fighting against the smile that tugs against the corners of her mouth. “I’m not letting you off that easily,”
“I know,” He says, taking a step towards her.
“So what do we do for the next hour?”
“We could give that old, lumpy thing on your bed upstairs a final send off,” he reaches for her and she rolls her eyes.
“You’re pushing it,” she whispers.
“Hmm,” he runs the tip of his nose against her cheek, “I’ve missed you,” he presses a soft kiss to her cheek, “none of it matters,” he kisses her other cheek, “not the money, not anything,” he kisses the corner of her mouth, “not without you,”
When their lips finally meet it is slow and soft, and a contented sound rumbles within Aemond’s chest. It feels like he’s taking his first breath of air in weeks.
They waste no time in helping each other out of their clothes as they hurry upstairs. He smirks to himself as he lays back against the bed, feeling the familiar springs dig into his back, he pulls her to straddle him, allowing her to set a pace she’s comfortable with.
He moans low as she sinks slowly down onto him, the tight wet heat of her enveloping him causing his balls to tighten in a way that builds steady pressure at the base of his spine.
Gazing up at her with reverence, fingers digging into the plushness of her hips, he watches transfixed as her breasts bounce softly with each undulation, committing to memory every breathy moan and gasp. She feels like home, and it has never felt better to return.
When she eventually collapses against his chest, tightening and spasming around him as she falls apart, she takes him with her and he grunts as he feels himself pulsate and spill deep inside of her.
He strokes her hair as he holds tightly, gratitude and love overwhelming him. “You forgive me?” he asks, voice thick with emotion.
“I’m working on it,” she whispers back.
“I can wait,” he reassures her, “I’m all in.”
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anemptypuddingcup · 6 months
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I’ll give you something to gnaw on.
Luffy x Female Zombie!Reader.
Smut short.
Idea from my bbygirl @milkzoro, their roles are just switched. This is also for her! Love you!
also tagging @coocoocatchoo, @bowsa-jr, @pileofmush & @kingofthe-egirls
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Contains: Not much context on story. Reader is somewhat a playful zombie. Reader still having some of her remaining mind left. Reader understanding…a few words. A bit goofy in a way in the beginning. Dry humping & grinding. Yes….Luffy is having sex with a zombie that zombie being you. WAIT SO DOES THAT MEAN THIS IS NECROPHILIA!? Lemme stfu it’s overall wholesome. Reader being referred as peach for my baby.
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“Okay- So what should I do w’ya? I can’ jus leave ya here foreva.”
Luffy stared at your semi-lifeless eyes, a bit of drool and dried blood seeping at the corners of your cloth gag. You continuously chew and gnaw on the cloth, assuming that it was something to eat. Though the more you chewed, the more you began to grow upset at the fact that you couldn’t swallow it. “Oi, that ain’ food Y’know peach-“ He groans, pinching your cheek. You growl out lazily to him, your cold and pale green hand pressing up against his wrist softly. “Why do I even bother, ya just a walkin’ dead body.” Luffy sighed.
You perk up at his words and look up at him, giving him a blank little stare which catches him off guard. You slowly turn over and crawl onto his lap, startling him even more and making him scoot back and away from you. “T-Th’hell?-“ Luffy stammers, a bit surprised that your movements weren’t so…lifeless anymore. You slowly your hands to his shoulders and tilt your head slowly at him, a lifeless groan leaving you as your rough fingertips scratched his soft and tanned skin.
“O-Oi! What’s up w’ya peachy!? Ya were jus actin’ all dumb a lil while ago!” Luffy asks you, making you flinch back a bit. You press your mouth to his shoulder and huff out angrily, trying to bite into his thick layer skin. He smirks and snickers before pulling you back and away from him. “Ehh? So ya ain as dumb as I thought? Ya still a lil’ slow, but smart at th’same time. Such a good gal ain’tcha peachy?” He compliments, pushing you away from him.
You groan out and claw lazily at his skin, reaching up before getting a grasp on his face. “Oi!-“ He pulls and furrows his brows, pulling your hands away and off of his face. You were persistent and continued to reach for his face, making him grip your wrist tightly and pull it away. “Dammit stop tryin’ t’touch me peachy!” Luffy groans out irritably, his teeth clenching tight as he pushes you away once again.
Your mind obviously didn’t understand the word no, and in a desperate attempt you continue to reach for him and try to get a bite out of him. A bit fed up with your struggling, he shoves you down into the couch cushions and sighs out as you begin to squirm around angrily. You groan out playfully, your legs and arms thrashing around slowly as you struggled and resist against him.
“O-Oi! S-Sit still!”
Luffy struggled to keep you still and a shaky groan spills past his lips as you continue to squirm beneath him. The more you moved, the more he began to grow hard and you obviously didn’t notice it until a bit later.
He sighs out shakily as he felt more irritated, knowing he couldn’t please himself around someone (or something half dead) like you without feeling weird meant that he obviously wouldn’t be able to take care of it.
At least he thought that…
He seemed to notice you growing more sedated and quiet as you felt his hot length pressed against your warm clothed cunt, and with that an idea begins to stir up in his mind. Your movements had stopped and you were just staring up at him with those cloudy lifeless eyes.
He felt butterflies stir up in his tummy, he couldn’t think to fuck you while you were obviously unable to think for feel for yourself. He slowly backs up off of you with the thought but you were stubborn.
You crawl over closer to him and he tries to shove you away. “Oi! No! Get away-“ He yells, not wanting you to get closer to him. Of course you disobeyed. You weakly grabs his hips and press your face closer against his erection, making him jump and struggle to shove you away. “OI! W-What’s w’ya! Get off!” He yells, slight moans leaving him as he watches you press your mouth against the fabric of his shorts.
He couldn’t help but sit there and watch as you tried to do whatever you were trying to do. Though sitting there and allowing to just sit there with your face against his crotch was just agonizing itself, his hand pressing up against your head and pushes you away once again. Even though you struggled, Luffy could tell that you had a sudden interest with his hard on. “Y-Ya…G-Get away from there peachy..Ya can’ be down there near m’dick like that…” Luffy demands, his breath hitching as he stared down at you.
You blink slowly yet blankly as he pulls you up back onto his lap. You wrap your arms around his neck and you smush your cold cheek up against his warm face. He sighs and pulls you closer to him, but a sudden movement against his erection causes him to jolt and hiss out. He feels you weakly grinding your hips against his, his hands slowly trailing down to your chilly hips.
He grips your hips and begins dragging your cunt along his hard cock, a groan leaving both him and you. “Ah~ Y-Ya don’t mind this…do ya peachy?” He asked, exhaling sharply as he begins to hump up into your cunt. Your weak grasp grows a bit tighter against him and a moan leaves your lips as you felt sudden warmth and stimulation shooting throughout your lower tummy and your cunt. You grip his shirt and begin to move your hips a bit faster, pressing your mouth up against his shoulder again.
“Ah~ F-Fuck…Ya so warm down there~” Luffy hums, pulling you closer to him. You mewl out to him, now letting go of his shoulders and laying back onto the couch. Luffy continues to grind up into your pussy, the feeling of your legs pulling him in closer making his eyes widen with excitement. He smirks and pulls your hips in more, huffing out shakily.
“Ahhh~ F-Fuck it. Here lemme take ya shorts off-“ Luffy groans out, his hands gripping and pulling your shorts off. A trail of thick slick disconnects from your pussy to the fabric of your shorts, and a groan leaves your lips as you felt the chilly air hit against your pussy. Luffy pulls his joggers and briefs down a bit, revealing his long and thick length to you.
He presses his shaft against your pussy lips and you shudder from the warmth, your eyes wincing slightly from his length pulsating against your cunt. He begins to slide his along your cunt, grinding and sliding it deep within your pussy. You whimper out, moving your hands up to your blush-dusted cheeks while Luffy concentrates on his pleasure. His tip continuously bumps up against your clit as he grinds into your pussy, now growing close to shoving his length past your entrance.
Your slick gives Luffy’s cock more lubricant, causing him to slide and grind into you a bit faster. His hands grips your cold thighs tightly and he begins to grow more vocal, a few heavy groans leaving him as he bit his bottom lip tight. His brows begin to furl as he whines out shakily, desperate to get a bit more friction or at least slide the tip inside of you.
Though felt that he couldn’t do that, not without your permission anyway.
“Hah~ Fuck ya pussy feels good~” He huffs, his body lying down and pressing up against yours, your breasts squishing against his scarred chest. You let out a little mewl and began to wrap your legs around his hips, pulling him in closer a bit more. He sighs out and smiles down at you, his hand moving from your hips and up to your face. He moves your hands and cups your face, his eyes half-lidded as he stared down into yours.
He was still grinding into your pussy and he watched your face twist and contort from the pleasure. They were rather adorable to him. He sighs out and presses his lips against yours, the cloth gag being the only barrier between your both. He pulls back and presses his face into your breasts while you stared at him, dazed and stunned.
“Lemme fuck ya…can I fuck ya peaches..? Will ya let me do it…?” He asks you, looking up into eyes. You tilt your head and Luffy move in close to your ear, whispering the question once again. “Can I…Can I fuck ya?” He whispers, his hand trailing along the cold skin of your neck. Your eyes widen in response and you let out a little noise before looking down at him. You slowly sit up, your hands pressing down against the soft couch cushions as you sat your own body up.
You scoot back and open your legs to him, breathing shakily yet thickly against him. Luffy sits up and stares down at you, watching as you struggled to get what appeared to be a form of words out. Luffy quickly pulls down the gag and pulls his hand away, watching as you finally spoke to him for the first time.
“Nngh…Y-Yessss- Mmghyesss!” You say, shaking yours head up and down slowly while Luffy watched. Luffy chuckles before pulling the cloth gag back into your mouth, tighten it so it wouldn’t fall off.
With your approval, Luffy wastes no time pressing his tip against your entrance and slowly thrusting in. You groan and gasp out, slowly throwing your head back as you felt his cock enter inside of you. It was warm and thick, stretching your warm walls as he entered with ease. “Mmgh~ Ahhh~” You gasp out, your hands reaching back up to cup your own face. Luffy grabs your hands and places them around his neck, giving you his toothy grin while he did so.
You kept your legs wrapped tight around his hips as he begins to thrust into you, gasping out as he felt your walls suck him in. Your breasts bounced at every thrust, each one harder than the last. “Mmgh~ Mmmh~” You mewl out and turn your head away, your brows furrowing as the pleasure began to hit you hard like a brick. Luffy groaned out while he stared down into your eyes, a few whines leaving him as he begins to pound into you.
“Mmgh Fuck! Hah, ya pussy is s’good~ Y-Ya s’warm and soft inside and s’sticky~” Luffy moans out, pressing his face up against your neck.
Even if you were a cold and lifeless walking corpse, your insides were still all warm and snug around his cock. A breathless and scratchy moan left your lips as you felt him thrust deep inside of you, his arms holding on to your legs while he pounds into your cunt. Your toes curls unconsciously from the pleasure and your hands were practically tearing Luffy’s t-shirt strap. Your teeth clenches tight against the cloth gag while your eyes shuts tight from the pleasure.
Your grasp begins to slip from Luffy’s t-shirt as you felt yourself melting on his cock, the pleasure was so wonderful yet so strong. His cock made your whole body feel hot and fluffy, yet you felt your insides melting while they were being churned by Luffy’s dick. “Ah! Ah!~” You gasp out and arch your back as you felt something wanting to rush out of you, your orgasm was growing close and Luffy had noticed.
A giggle leaves past his lips as he felt you tighten a bit more on his length, he knew how close you were and he couldn’t wait any longer to see your cute face once you cum. “Ahh? Peaches! Ya close ain’tcha?~ Ya gonna cum baby?” He asks you, chuckling as he continues to pound into your pussy. You lied there breathless, yet you gasp and moaned out as you felt yourself wanting to cum. It was a very very strong feeling.
You whimper out and a heavy gasp leaves you as you felt Luffy hit you hard against your g-spot. Luffy presses soft smooches against your cold green skin, pressing kisses all on your scars along your neck and collarbone. You release his t-shirt and place your hands on his shoulders, a sigh leaving you as your arch your back once again. “Mmgh! Nngh!~ Mmh!” You whimper and squirm around, your walls pulsating and fluttering around Luffy’s cock as you finally felt yourself ready to release.
Luffy continues to pound into your cunt and you let out a loud mewl, your cunt finally cumming around his length. “Mmmh! Ahhh~” You gasp and whine out shakily while Luffy watched your face twist from your orgasm. Your thick and creamy cum coats his cock and he was surprised to see that you creamed instead of squirted. He was satisfied either way but his body wasn’t.
He watched you catch your breath and he notices that you’re struggling to move and turn over. Luffy smiles and grabs your hips, pulling you farther into his cock and making you let out a sudden shaky gasp. He pulls back out, a thick trail of your cum disconnecting from his cock and spilling out onto the couch cushions. You look at him with a blank yet slightly confused expression as he turns you over onto your tummy.
“I still haven’ came yet baby gal~” He whispers to you, a little snicker falling after.
He slowly pushes his cock back into you making you groan out before he grabs your arms and pulls you up off of the couch. He pulls you back onto his cock and he continues to thrust into you making you whine and mewl out from slight overstimulation. The sound of his hips slapping stickily into yours echoes throughout the living room. Your whines and whimpers growing loud as your pussy was overstimulated and didn’t want anymore.
It was growing so addictive. His cock buried deep inside of you and kissing your sweetest spots. Fuck it was so good, even in the afterlife.
Even as a zombie.
Luffy feels you unconsciously tighten around him and he presses his head against your cold shoulder. He could see a little tummy bulge forming in your lower tummy from his thrusts against your cervix. He adored your reactions. Even if you were a mere zombie, you’d still had a bit of human left within you. He honestly thought it was more adorable watching you squirm against him, whining and mewling out in pleasure from his cock.
He loves it and he began to gain a liking to you.
“Does m’dick feel good baby? Ya keep moaning such pretty souns’ in m’ear.” Luffy whisper to you, his hand reaching up to grab your breast. He groped and massages the fatty tissue, making you mewl out and roll your head back slowly. He sees your cloudy eyes rolling back from the pleasure and he chuckles, adoring your wonderful little face. “Fuck, s’cute ain’tcha?~ M’dick makin’ ya feel s’good, Ya pussy suckin’ in m’cock~ Ahhh~” He huff out, the dirty thoughts causing him to fuck into your cunt a bit rougher.
Luffy hisses into your ear, the feeling of his cock twitching against your wall making you shudder a bit. His rough hand practically squeezes your breast, a gasp leaving him as he felt himself ready to cum. He lets go of your arms and presses your body down against the soft cushions of the couch, his body pressing up against yours as he ruts and pounds into your pussy.
His arms around your body and he gasps out, huffing heavily in your ear as he his orgasm was right there on the edge. “Mmgh~ Fuck m’gonna cum peach~ M’cummin’ baby!~” He groans, lying his head against your shoulder. You huffed heavily as your hand grasped the couch cushions tightly, your nails tearing the fabric slightly while Luffy kissed your cervix so good.
“Mmgh!~ MMH!~” You gasp out loudly to Luffy as you cum around his cock again, coating his length in your thick creamy essence once more. “Cummin’! C-Cummin’!~” Luffy gives your pussy a few more thrusts before he finally releases deep inside of your cunt, pumping you full of cum and filling your pussy up. Your body shudders as you felt him fill your pussy up, a few groans leaving your lips as you looked back at Luffy.
Luffy huffs heavily against you, mewling out as he laid his head down against your cold skin. His body was warm laying against yours, warming both you and your cold skin up. Luffy snickers against your skin before pressing a smooch to your shoulder. You breathe out another scratchy breath as you rested your head against your arms, a sleepy groan escaping past your lips as you lie there relaxed and fully satisfied.
A snore fills you ears and you lift your head before looking back to Luffy. He had surprisingly feel asleep, with his head resting up against your cold skin. You blink blankly and look around before resting your head in your arms.
You lie there and await for Luffy to wake up, guarding him while keeping warm in the process. You smile softly, lying there all snug and comfy as you relaxed against Luffy’s warmer body. He snored and drooled against you skin, humming out sweetly as he wraps his arms around you tighter.
You softly hold his hand and lay there, waiting for him to wake up so you could play again.
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shares-a-vest · 3 months
Text
@steddielovemonth Day 25: Love is… Asking, “Do you want a blanket?” (Prompt by @thefreakandthehair)
wc: 952 | Rated: T | cw: Hospital setting, mild descriptions of injuries and general hospital stuff, physical pain, one mention of blood
Tags: Post-s4, Fix-It, Eddie Munson Lives, Hospital
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'Hospital Blankets'
“Steve? Hey, Steve?”
Steve is pulled out of a restless slumber by Eddie’s stage whispering. A twinge in his back fully rouses him as he remembers exactly where he is – in Hawkins General, bent up like a pretzel on what is quite possibly the world’s hardest chair, wearing nothing but a hospital gown and his underwear. He blinks harshly, his vision blurry as he looks in the direction of the chattering, dark-headed form lying in the bed in front of him.
“Huh?” he grunts, his voice thick with sleep as he becomes very much aware of the overall pain radiating over his whole body.
His throat burns too, even from a single word. He instinctively reaches a hand up to the reddened scar there – already a formed habit – only to scratch himself with his patient wristband.
“Do you want a blanket?” Eddie continues, his weakened voice indicating he is barely conscious, let alone aware of Steve’s discomfort.
Steve arches his back this time but it causes his chewed-up sides to ache, the bandages stiffening and contorting. Their tacky borders pinching at the already tight skin and scar tissue.
He gives up and slumps back in the chair, clutching the armrests for dear life as a twang shoots directly up his spine to his head. He runs a hand through his hair, impossible to keep from flopping in his face considering all he can do is give himself a goddamn sponge bath these days.
He should have just listened to Robin (and more than a few disgruntled nurses) when they begged him to stay in his own room.
But his room feels empty. Big and dark, just like his family home but a little more white and clinical smelling. It gives him nightmares. If he manages to settle enough to sleep that is…
It’s kinda hard when your friends are scattered throughout the bowels of the local hospital, all in varying states of distress meanwhile, outside the world has half caved in.
“Steeeve,” Eddie whines this time as he repeats, “Do you want a blanket?”
He half dry-sobs his query and Steve has no choice but to shimmy upright – thankfully, the slippery cover of his stupid seat helps him up this time.
Blanket… he finally considers and finds himself stifling a shiver.
He didn’t think to bring a blanket with him as he was much too focused on getting out of bed and down the hall to Eddie’s room. A room that is much colder than his own, which the occupant clearly knows.
Eddie’s fist is balled up in his blankets, offering them up as he raises his shaky arm.
“No,” Steve says softly, shaking his head and waving him away.
Eddie needs it more.
With a herculean effort, Steve moves the chair a few inches closer to the bed, hoping it isn’t scraping the floor or tangling up any of the wires and tubes hooked up to beeping machines – god knows where they each begin and end. His sides all but seize up as he sits back down and forces himself to correct his posture.
“But you’re cold,” Eddie frowns, his voice impossibly small.
“I’m fine,” Steve protests.
Eddie’s weak hand punches at his banket in a haphazard swish motion.
“Get into bed with me…” he mumbles, closing his eyes, “Rest with me, sweetheart.”
His head lolls to the side and Steve huffs out a laugh. Eddie is certainly on one hell of a cocktail of meds, mixed with the overall exhaustion that must come from almost dying. Steve can barely keep his own eyes open and he wasn’t anywhere near as close to it.
His heart thuds in his chest as thoughts of Eddie’s almost lifeless body rush back to his sleepy brain.
Dustin’s sobs… Robin scrambling to tear up clothes and sheets from the Upside Down version of the Munson’s trailer to make bandages… Nancy forcing everyone to focus as she devised a game plan, stopping every few moments to shoot down undead bats…
Steve screws his eyes shut and stands, bracing his arms on the sides of the chair before swiftly moving them to the bed for purchase.
At least Eddie’s right side is a little less banged up – but only just enough, Steve thinks as he hikes back the three warm layers of blankets enough to sit himself down on the bed. He swings his legs up next, clenching his jaw as every muscle in his body aches and pains from what transpired however many days ago.
The bed is a tight fit, but Steve doesn’t mind. The mattress is perhaps a fraction more comfortable than the chair, but he soon warms as he settles down and rights the blankets, smoothing them out for good measure and double-checking he hasn’t disturbed Eddie too much.
His body warms almost instantly as he rests his head beside Eddie’s on his pillow, positioned close enough that he can feel frizzed dark curls tickling his cheek. Eddie’s wispier than he expected and smells of the generic hospital soap – but at least the dried and caked-up blood is gone.
“That’s good…” Eddie coos, turning his head to face Steve, those tickling tendrils now replaced with a soft woosh of his breathing.
He can see the scar on Eddie’s cheek now. The bandage patch has been removed, exposing raw stitches today. Steve sighs, relieved by the smallest of steps forward.
Eddie can’t do much more than reach his hand out. And Steve takes it, interlacing their fingers despite the heart monitor clipped onto Eddie’s right index finger.
“Blanket’s... warm…” he mutters, nodding as he feels slumber tugging at him once again.
Eddie hums in agreeance and lightly squeezes his hand.
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