#male!glimmer

[tippenfunkaport]

[bumblesimagines]

Imagine:

Becoming a tribute alongside Glimmer

Request: Yes or No

First work of 2024!

~~~

When Scoria Spring's name had been plucked from the bowl of names, Glimmer's hand had been first to shoot up into the air, her lips breaking out into a wide, satisfied grin when District 1's escort, Brioche Wellbreeze, pointed her out amongst the other many female volunteers. Her blonde waves bounced against her shoulders as she headed up the steps and onto the stage, spinning on her heel to greet her classmates and friends with that familiar Glimmer smile. She'd been training all her life for this very moment, for the opportunity to win the Hunger Games and bring more glory to District 1. 

Her eyes scanned the crowd of teenagers and children below, sending a smug yet fleeting smirk in Scoria's direction. Scoria wasn't meant for the spotlight anyway, not with her thin-as-paper lips, her awkwardly lanky figure or the thick mane-like hair she forced into a ponytail each day. No, the spotlight had been created for people like Glimmer. For people who'd grown up being called beautiful, for people who knew how to have others eating out of their hands with just a smile and wink, for those who could actually hit their targets during practice. Someone like Scoria would only make District 1 the laughingstock of this year. 

Brioche reached into the bowl again, rummaging her hand around the slips until she pinched one with her fingers and tugged it out from the bottom. Her bright aqua-colored lips pulled into a smile and she stepped up to the mic, clearing her throat and finally looking down at the name on the paper. "Marvel Thorneworth." She announced. Glimmer recognized the name immediately. How could she not when his brother-

"I volunteer!" The familiar voice startled her enough for the smile on her glossy pink lips to falter, just for a split second before she noticed her expression on the screen and forced another smile on her face. Shit. It wasn't supposed to turn out like this. She was supposed to go to the Capitol and win the Hunger Games so that he would realize how much better than everyone else she was. He wasn't supposed to be her competition, no, he was supposed to be her future. 

Glimmer's stomach withered when Brioche lifted her finger in his direction despite the number of other arms raised and voices shouting, begging to be picked. (Y/N) forced his way through the crowd and Glimmer squeezed her hands together, eyes following him when he made his way up the stage and stood beside Brioche. Where had the boy who'd always mumbled and grumbled about his distaste for the games gone? She craned her neck slightly to peek around Brioche and searched his face until he finally lifted his head, the grimace on his face speaking volumes. Shit.

"May the odds be ever in your favor!" 

[datura-tea]

having a thin white able-bodied doe-eyed brunette female vault dweller as the main protag in the fallout show is boring in its own way BUT can i just say that i am so so so so so glad it wasn't some blond blue-eyed tastefully muscular and appropriately rugged guy like i initially thought it would be??

[anti-spop]

spop where are the fat male characters. where are the fat men and fat boys. WHERE ARE THEY.

(not that they rlly, y'know. draw fat characters consistently)

[the-daily-male]

Today's daily male is Starlight Glimmer from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic! 🏳️‍⚧️

for anonymous!

[msb-lair]

Clutch #3545 - Evelina/Evel

Mated On: 2024-04-07 # of eggs: 2 Hatched On: 2024-04-12

Progeny:

Hatchling 9429 (Slayer) - Obelisk XXY Male, Eldritch iridescent/Eldritch Shimmer/Swamp Glimmer, Common - 15,000 on 2024-05-01

Hatchling 9430 - Obelisk XXY Female, Eldritch Harlequin/Eldritch Shimmer/Mantis Soap, Uncommon - 15 gems on 2024-04-12

Comments: 

[saccharine-sylphid]

Yk, I was kinda happy that I was going to graduate since I’d finally escape my obsessive crush on V, but then when I went to visit one of the college I got accepted into one of the professors had the exact spark that V has. It’s an endless cycle, isn’t it?

[scry-a-day]

143

Veilspun Male

Shell/Bee/Glimmer

Berry/Eldritch/Blackberry

Nature Unusual

[geniequestria]

What if Twilight had left Starlight back at the archives after their battle?

Note: This is a What If scenario bonus story. This will not effect the current story still ongoing.

______________________________________________________________ Stillness fell over the archive.

Twilight stood motionless, wide-eyed and dumbstruck, for what felt like an eternity

“Starlight? Starlight! Can you hear me?” Her voice was trembling

Starlight was gone. The only evidence of her having been there at all were the two gashes cut through the archive’s tile floor. And the shimmering dark purple lamp.

“Starlight, please… No, I didn’t… I didn’t mean to…”

Slowly and carefully - very carefully - the princess plucked the lamp off the ground with her magic. The lamp was very still now. It felt quiet and seemingly inert.

“Starlight, I’m so sorry… I know you were going to hurt ponies, but… you didn’t deserve this…”

On the side of the vessel, Twilight noticed a new mark. A pair of rising, two-toned blue-stripes, and a smaller purple lamp. Almost as if Starlight’s cutie mark had become imprinted on the side.

On one hoof, the day had been won. Starlight’s invasion of the archive had been prevented, and no serious lasting damage had been inflicted on Equestria.

But on the other hoof, Twilight still felt dejected. Carefully carrying the lamp out of the archive, the Alicorn reflected internally upon how remarkably dangerous the vessel had proven itself.

Twilight thinks about taking the lamp back to Equestria, in hopes of finding a way to free Starlight… if she’s even still alive in there. But now that things are a bit more tranquil, perhaps she should heed the warning about the place she’s in. And read what information there is about the lamp beforehand.

She sits down and pulls out the scroll about the lamp to read it.

In time, her face gradually grimaces the more she reads it. And she is suddenly full of conflicting feelings about the information she read.

(“If… if this is accurate… then… it’s unfortunately too dangerous to take this home… but… would I really feel right just leaving her here…? Starlight was up to no good…but if there’s a way to save her… I’d prefer to do that… but… if she’s going to be even more amped up… and possibly even more corrupted due to the crystal… then… I have no choice but to abandon her here…)

“I.. I… I am so so sooooooo sorry, Starlight… I never meant any of this to happen to you… this must at least be a little bit of how Celestia felt… when she banished her sister…” Twilight felt heartbroken, to decide to seal the fate of another pony for who knows how long is a heavy burden. She didn’t think Starlight deserved a fate like this,  but she can’t risk Equestria’s future all for one pony. She’s at least somewhat comforted by the fact Starlight wasn’t killed, though slowly it dawns on her that maybe she’s leaving her to a fate worse than death. Forever alone, trapped in this dark vessel.

Twilight’s eyes fill with tears, but she closes her eyes as she turns back and floats the lamp back onto the pedestal it was on. She then slowly walks towards the exits to the archives, looking back one last time longingly.

And from that time forward, Twilight, nor any pony else from her generation ever saw Starlight Glimmer’s face again.

The Storm King and his forces would prove to be a tough foe for Equestria, but Twilight and her friends ultimately prevailed. And from then onward, peace ruled in for Equestria for days, that became weeks, then months, then years and even centuries. Aside from perhaps the Alicorns, dragons like Spike, or other types of creatures like Discord. The generation of Twilight’s younger years would die out and make rise to many other generations. Eventually, there came a time where Twilight’s world was considered the ancient past. 

At least 5,000 years have passed since Twilight’s generation now. And since then, odd happenings seem to have come about to Equestria. For in the current state of the world, the ponies lived separately. The earth ponies in the sea-port city of Maretime Bay, the Unicorns in a dense forest called Bridlewood, and the Pegasi living it up in the highly technical Zephyr Heights. None of the ponies had their magic, and even more mysteriously… Nopony knew exactly why that was. There are many theories, and some that were obvious misinformation that placed the blame on the other pony races for what happened. But otherwise, no actual consensus on what caused magic to go away.

Perhaps even more somberly, most ponies grew to not care enough about what happened. And went on with their lives despite the knowledge of the existence of a happier time. Many could only refer to Twilight’s reign as “The Golden Age” with pessimistic views of society ever reaching the highs of Equestria’s history ever again.

But, there was certainly at least one pony willing to change all that. A mare by the name of Sunny Starscout, raised by her late father who was most certainly a historian that knew more about the ancient times then others. She hoped to prove that what friendships the ponies had in Twilight’s age could still happen now, even against all odds.

One day, a unicorn came by Maretime Bay and made the citizens freak out. It was none other than the happy-go-lucky Izzy Moonbow who had coincidentally received a friendship message sent many years ago by Sunny. The two then ran from Maretime Bay to explore Equestria, hoping to spark a widespread change to society.

Sunny’s childhood friend Hitch would however be on their tail the entire time. Although. he certainly has trouble catching up to the swift and idealistic mares full of optimism for the future. He refuses to give up however.

Eventually, Sunny and Izzy’s journey brings them to the beautiful Zephyr Heights. Where they meet none other than the Princess sisters of Zipp Storm and Pipp Petals. After being briefly imprisoned, the two of them are freed by the older sister. The three of them gather at the ruins where the trusty pegasus has a secret hideout.

“Where are we?” Sunny asked curiously

Zipp nodded proudly “It’s amazing, right? I’m pretty sure it was some sort of station for when Earth ponies and unicorns used to visit Zephyr Heights. It’s like every pony just… forgot”

“This is proof! All pony kinds did use to be friends! My dad was right. It must be really weird being the only pegasi that can fly” Sunny comments

Zipp however sighs and tells the truth. “The truth is we can’t fly either. We’ve been faking it”

Izzy and Sunny both gasp. “Faking it?! But… but how?”

“You’d be surprised what some wires and good lighting will do. But I’m just so tired of living that ridiculous lie. That’s why I come down here, to get away from all that. And… well… to do… this!”

Zipp jumps onto a lever that activates a ground-based fan. Allowing the pegasus to sort of glide, even without the actual ability of flight. She laughs and smiles smugly as she shows off her way of getting as close as she can possibly get to a simulated flight.

All Sunny can say is “Wow!” as Izzy says “Whoa! Her sparkle is so bright right now!”

Zipp soon gently glides down back on the ground.

“But that’s not why I brought you here. This is what I wanted to show you…”  Zipp points to a large stained glass window. However, it seems both Sunny and Izzy’s eyes are drawn to something else nearby.

Sunny gasped “Oh, my stars…!”

Zipp initially thinks it’s about the window. “This was made a long, long time ago, when we still had magic.”

“It’s beautiful!” Izzy can’t take her eyes off whatever she and Sunny are looking at

“What is that?” Sunny inquired

Again, Zipp thinks it’s about the window “That’s the pegasus cry-“

Sunny interrupted “No! Not that Zipp! The dark purple thing on the pedestal with the interesting markings!”

Zipp blinked twice “…Oh that lamp? I don’t actually know. I found it and the pedestal it’s on scrounging around this place. Some papers were nearby that had a huge warning text. However, the paper has completely weathered to near unreadable status aside from said warning symbol. Who knows if the warning is even related to the lamp

I mostly ignored it however, it seems like a nice art piece from what I can gather but nothing I’m entirely interested in”

Sunny steps up closer to examine the lamp in further detail. It was crafted really well, the symbol completely unfamiliar to her. “Zipp, may I… touch it?”

“Sure, knock your socks of-“ Zipp is once again interrupted, this time by a very familiar voice

“ZIPP!!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THE ESCAPED PRISONERS?!” Pipp ran straight to her sister’s side.

“The whole city’s in a panic! Please tell me you were about to bring them back…” Pipp frowned

Zipp however looks determined as she tells her sister the truth “Pipp, who do you think was the one that let them out in the first place?”

Pipp gasped “WHAAAAAAT?! ZIPP, ARE YOU INSANE?! This… is a scandal that could ruin your life! It could ruin MY life! Maybe even our mother’s life! Uh… uh… uh… Zipp! Quickly, if we play it out correctly… we could livestream us bringing the prisoners back, and we get back to the city as heroes. Nopony will ever know!”

“Absolutely not, sis! I’m not adding to our family’s big lie that’s forced us to pretend we can fly anymore! There will come a day they find out, and we’ll be in a position no worse than aiding the escape of two prisoners. Especially, since these two don’t mean any actual harm!” Zipp looks straight in her sister’s eyes.

“But… but… that’s different! We say we can fly because it keeps our citizens’ morale up! As long as they think we can fly… we won’t be as paranoid or superstitious as the earth ponies and the unicorns!” Pipp tries to bargain with her sister, though her last statement wasn’t exactly amusing to Sunny.

“You know we’re right here…” Sunny deadpanned

Zipp turned to Sunny “Just ignore my sister, go ahead and grab the lam… huh? What the, where’d it go?!” It seems during Pipp and Zipp’s conversation the lamp that Sunny asked to touch has gone. Sunny and Zipp look around until they see Izzy, who was now holding it.

“This lamp is amazingly crafted! Though… I wonder if it could use jussssst a little glitter on it…” Izzy takes out from her large mane a small vial of light blue glitter and starts rubbing it all over. The lamp is no longer just purple with blue swirls but now dots of shiny glitter on it. Though as Izzy continues to decorate, Izzy can feel the lamp suddenly rising in temperature.

“What the… is this some kind of heater..?!” Izzy drops the lamp in case it’s going to get too hot to touch. A dark glow envelops the lamp, the lamp seeming to writhe and condense on itself multiple times. The lamp starts jumping, and gets ever higher with each jump and moves surprisingly far. It’s as if something inside was trying desperately, impatiently to get out.

All four of the mares watching the lamp were a bit freaked out, just what was happening. Zipp feared it was some kind of explosive that was ticking. “Every pony! Get to cover! I have a feeling that thing’s about to blow!” The others waste no time listening to Zipp as they all group together and hide behind a fallen pillar that should be strong enough to avoid any deadly shrapnel should it explode like Zipp thinks it will. The four mares huddle together waiting for the inevitable explosion. But what greets them is not the sound of a boom, but a very, very loud…

FWWOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSHHHHHHH!

Lilac smoke pours out of the dark lamp and swirls above it. The sounds of an insane laughter increasing in volume as dark purple and light blue sparks as shiny as the glitter that Izzy put on the lamp pop. The mares take a peek at what’s happening and gasp in horror.  

“Oh no! Zipp, that isn’t… poison gas is it?!” Pipp worriedly asked her sister. 

Though the white pegasus shakes her head. “If it had been a poison gas canister, it’d have already covered the whole area. And we’d be knocked out… or worse. And gas doesn’t move like this… this thing… seems like it’s somehow alive! Didn’t you hear that strange… laugh?”

“a-a-a-a-Alive?!” Pipp shivered

“I-i-i-Izzy! What did you do?!” Sunny asked

“I-i-i-i don’t know! I was just trying to give it some of my own sparkle… but then it got hot, started jumping wildly, and now all this smoke is pouring out!” Izzy frantically frowned watching.

Suddenly however, a voice of a mare unfamiliar to the ponies below echoes throughout the station. And two glowing white eyes with small wavy blue smoke at the corners of the eyes appear.

“Spar… kle….? Did… some… pony… say… SPPPPPPPAAAAAARRRRRRRRKLEEEEEE?!” The mares scream as they hear the mysterious smoke cloud speak, and in a very threatening booming anger coming out of it no less. That’s when the cloud started to shape into something, every one of the ponies cowered in fear watching the smoke condense. Soon the smoke at the tail end starts to form a silhouette. Starlight Glimmer begins to fully fade into the real world for the time in many millennia. Her eyes were still glowing as she looked down at the ponies that had released her from her imprisonment from within the lamp.

Starlight’s voice booms and echoes throughout the station again “Tell me, where… is… TWILIGHT SPARKLE!”

Most of the mares just stay quiet, but the mention of the name of her idol actually seems to perk Sunny into some sudden bravery as she asks the figure a question.

“Wait… you… knew Princess Twilight?!” Sunny asked the figure. The intimidating glowing eyes and smoke finally begins to dissipate as Starlight looks a bit more normal, aside from of course her really long elongated smoke tail from her hips to the spout of the lamp.

“Knew her?! Why I…” Starlight initially was going to say what she really thinks of her, but realizes this is an opportunity for some trickery. If Twilight is still around somewhere, she’ll need to fool ponies into thinking she was at least a well-known acquaintance. In the thousands of years she spent in the lamp, she figured her name would be wiped out of any history books to prevent anyone from letting her out one day. But now that she was finally free, she could proceed to make her move and get her revenge should she find Twilight. And her time in the lamp has left her terribly impatient for this moment. Her glowing eyes fade away, and in a more softer tone of voice. She responds to Sunny.

“Ahem… yes… I knew Twilight… we… were greaaaaat friends~” Starlight turned her back and smirked devilishly. This was certainly a lie, but one she knew there was no way these ponies would have a way to fact check after all this time.

Sunny’s eyes fill with stars. “Oh my gosh… oh my gosh! Not just some pony who KNEW Twilight… but actually befriended her?!” Sunny immediately jumps out from the cover and approaches closer to Starlight”

“Sunny! What are you doing?! I don’t know if we can trust her yet!” Zipp warns her, but it falls on deaf ears.

Though Sunny does turn around to answer “If they were friends with the legendary Princess Twilight, then I 100% trust them no matter what!”

Starlight turns her back again and mutters quietly to herself “Phbbbt… ‘legendary’…” Starlight figured that with the rule of “History is written by the winners” that Twilight would have become an icon even this far in the future. But it still irks her just to hear. She turns around however and puts up an act as if she had been close with the Princess.

“Yes… indeed. Me and Twilight went… waaaaaay back… but please, how about you girls introduce me to yourselves” Starlight floats forward putting a hoof to her chin as she awaits the name of the ponies that have not just found her, but released her from her seemingly eternal imprisonment.

Sunny nods “Of course! My name is Sunny Starscout!”

“Ahhh… it’s a pleasure  to meet you, Sunny. My name is Starlight Glimmer. Now how about the names of your friends on the other hoof?” Starlight points to the other 3 mares who are still scared of the imposing sight of the mare towering over a long and shifting tendril of smoke.

After enough awkward silence Starlight chuckles and speaks up “Your friends aren’t very social, are they?~”

“Actually… all 3 are fairly social in their own ways… they’re just kind of… scared of you right now…” Sunny frowns.

Starlight just shrugs “Well, it’s understandable. All that power display from my emergence must have made one intimidating sight… if they’re not going to introduce themselves. Maybe you should do the honors, Ms. Starscout?”

Sunny nods once more. “Certainly! The unicorn is Izzy Moonbow. She hails from Bridlewood Forest where all the unicorns live. The two pegasi here are the royal princess sisters of Zephyr Heights of Zipp Storm and Pipp Petals. Oh and I suppose I haven’t said where I’m from, I am from Mareti-

“AHAAAAAAA!” A familiar male voice is heard before Sunny can finish mentioning her hometown's name.

Sunny gasped “Huh? Hitch? Is that you?”

“Of course it’s me! Were you about to give a suspicious pony like… this strange floating unicorn directions to Maretime Bay?! Not on my watch!” He stood firm, though he seemed to be breathing a little heavily. Chasing after Izzy and Sunny has taken its toll on the dedicated sheriff. A few more seconds is all it takes before he collapses and becomes prone on the ground.

“Ugh… sometimes I wish I was as nimble as you girls were…” The exasperated Sheriff lamented his relatively short endurance.

What the sheriff just said perks up Starlight’s ears. She swoops straight down next to the stallion, startling him as he drags himself backwards while sitting. His back turned to a standing pillar as Starlight’s face was in front of him. “You wish you were as nimble as a mare? Hmmm, I might be able to help you with that~. Long have I waited for my chance to grant some real wishes!”

Hitch blinks a few times. “W-w-w-what d-do you m-m-mean by t-tha- aaaAAAAH!” Hitch is quickly enveloped by a magic blast from Starlight’s horn.

“Oh no, Hitttttchhhhhh!” Sunny shrieked, as for a moment she thinks Starlight just hurt her old friend. But there were no sounds of pain coming from the stallion.

“What… the… huh?!” From inside the smoke cloud, Hitch could see his own hooves just slightly shrink, and on his line of vision his snout shrunk as well. He could also feel both his mane and tail lengthening. “What… is… happening… to… meeeeeeee?!” As Hitch said each word of that sentence, the voice raised in pitch until the voice of a stallion had faded away to make way for a more feminine voice. And a shriek from the sheriff’s new voice is what’s heard as the smoke dissipates.

Now that it was clear, the four mares looked in awe. As Hitch’s stallion body was gone, he was now a mare just like them. What they had just witnessed, just had to be an actual legitimate use of magic.

“H-h-huh… whaaaaaa…?!” Sunny is just speechless

“OH MY GOSSSSSSH! HITCH IS A MARE NOW! Yoooo! Do you know what this means?! STARLIGHT HAS REAL MAGIC!” Izzy excitedly exclaims.

“No way…” Zipp was astounded.

Pipp on the other hoof squee’d. “Oh my gosh, Zipp… I HAVE TO LIVESTREAM THIS!” Pipp pulls out her gold and white phone.

Starlight tilted her head. “Livestream?”

Pipp put hooves over her mouth “Oh that's right! You said you haven’t been out of your lamp in 5000 years! So you don’t know about our technological advances! It’ll take a while before you get used to what’s new Starlight. So I’ll try not to blow your mind all at once. But basically phones can do so much now! All you need to know is phones can download apps that allows ponies to do many things, even without magic! Like recording live events and allowing hundreds or even thousands of ponies watch it from their own phones even if they're miles away!”

“Hm, interesting. So with just your phone. You can reach the eyes of literally hundreds if not more ponies at once?” Starlight curiously asked

“Yep yep yep! Exactly!” Pipp nodded enthusiactally

“Hm hm hm… interesting… verrrrrryyyyy interesting… (Oh the propaganda I could send… this world may barely resist full genification within a week)”

“If you need to know anything more, just ask me later. I’m sure I can show you the wonders of our modern world!” Pipp tilted her head and smiled. “But let’s begin the stream. Looks like you’re a special guest, Starlight!”

Pipp pulls out her golden phone and doesn’t waste time pressing the go live button. “Ohhhh Pippsqueeeeaaaaaaks! You won’t believe what I just witnessed… you see this yellow mare behind me? You’re going to think this is total clickbait, but she used to be a stallion! Just barely a minute or so ago!” She then aims her phone up towards where Starlight is floating. “And this strange, floating unicorn mare named Starlight seems to have been the one who did it! So not only did we just witness a gender swap! But we witnessed actual real magic!”

Meanwhile Hitch was just bewildered, he…. or rather she could hear the other mares but could hardly believe them. “W-w-what? No! I’m not a mare! I can’t be a mare, I’m a full grown stall-” Next to her was a mirror where she could clearly see her reflection. She stares wide-eyed at it for a few seconds before a loud shriek pierces the air. “WHAT IN EQUESTRIA DID THAT UNICORN DO TO ME?! AND HOW…?! I thought everypony’s magic was GONE!”

“I did too, Hitch! This is AMAZING!” Sunny beamed happily.

“WHAT? NO! IT IS NOT AMAZING! This is TERRIBLE! You up there, I don’t know how you did it. But you better change me back right now!” Hitch demanded of Starlight.

Starlight just giggles a little deviously. “Oh, but you look SOOO much cuter! Though what your ex-girlfriend just said does irk me… she said magic has completely disappeared?”

“Well yeah… it’s been like that for so long. What have you been living under? A roc…” Hitch suddenly realizes Starlight said something that didn’t sit right with her “HEY, WAIT A MINUTE! DID YOU CALL SUNNY MY EX-GIRLFRIEND?!”

“Oh? Am I wrong? Are you two still dating?~” Starlight smirked

“No! We’ve never dated! We’re just friends!” Hitch replied a bit furiously

“Oh… then I guess you live a sadder life than I thought… left in the friend zone… you aren’t using your job as an officer of the law to stalk on these mares are you? Maybe you wished to be a mare yourself just so you can finally get a close enough look at a mare’s body without getting slapped~” Starlight giggled, continuing to push Hitch’s buttons.

Hitch’s face was growing redder. Whether it was by rage, or a little bit of embarrassment was hard to tell. But she wasn’t going to take this going down. “GRAAAAAAAH! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! And what even ARE you?! No pony else has magic! Why do you?!”

“Hehe, I’m glad you asked that. As the others are just as curious I imagine. I must first express some curiosity about the loss of magic in Equestria… is the cause known by chance?” Starlight turned to the group with a sincere curious look.

Just about every pony below Starlight simply shrugs and/or shakes their head as Sunny explained ”There’s many theories of what’s happened. But none that are entirely conclusive. It’s been like that since long before any of us were born. But whatever happened, it caused what was once Equestria’s greatest heights to split into the 3 places of civilization we live in now”

“Hmmm, I see… (Ha, goes to show that I’ve been right all along that Equality was the way to go… so much for Twilight’s reign…. things have turned out worse than Celestia’s sole rule! Oooooh I really hope she’s still out there somewhere… I really want to see the look on her face now!)”

Starlight then decides to fly on down and transforms her elongated smoke tail into her hindlegs and ponytail. “I suppose I’ll gradually learn more as I spend more time out here. Though I suppose if I may at least ask you girls once again… do any of you know of Princess Twilight Sparkle’s whereabouts?”

Hitch raises an eyebrow “I’ll repeat what I said earlier… where have you been living under? A rock?! Nopony has seen Princess Twilight for many, many, years!”

Sunny looks frustrated with Hitch “Hitch! You have no idea what this mare’s been through! What if whatever threat brought Twilight’s kingdom down had trapped her in that lamp, and she’s just now waking up to see what has befallen her world! And to hear that a dear friend of hers like Twilight has remained hard to find… you’re going to devastate her!”

“…She doesn’t seem very upset though.” Hitch points out that Starlight hasn’t really expressed any sort of woe for the state of the Equestria she once knew.

Which prompts Starlight  to quickly change her tune, if slightly overdramatic putting a hoof over her forehead. “Oh! Of course. oh nooooo… every pony I once knew may all be gone! The world isn’t what it used to be! What happened to our unity?! I so dearly miss my friend, Twilight! Oh where could she be?!”

Hitch and Zipp aren’t really convinced by Starlight’s act. But the other 3 are on the more naive side. “Oh, don’t worry Starlight! We’ll help you get accustomed to the world! We seek to bring back the unity that we once had in your time! And you could be the key to doing so! If you were able to change Hitch into a mare. There’s no telling what else you could do! From what I recall, instant gender change was a spell considered out of reach for even Twilight’s repertoire back in the day!”

“You mean Starlight could be even more powerful than Twilight was?!” Izzy asked Sunny.

Zipp expresses some skepticism “No offense, Sunny. But that sounds impossible… no one could have possibly had more magic then the Princess of Friendship and Magic herself…” 

Starlight just laughs deviously “Is that so?~. Maybe it’s about time I answered your cop buddy’s questions from a little while ago… both what I am exactly and why I still have my magic while no pony else does~.

You see… I’m not just any normal pony. How about you just take what you’ve already seen as hints… what does a being trapped in a lamp, a wish being granted, and a smoky tail remind you of?~”

As each of them recall what those three things tend to be associated with, it’s only seconds before Izzy starts waving a hoof frantically. “Ooo! oooo! OOOOOOO! I know! I know! I know! This means… you’re some kind of GENIE!”

The rest of the ponies gasp. Pipp whispers to her livestream “You hear that Pippsqueaks?! A REAL LIFE GENIE!”

Hitch on the other hoof wasn’t amused. “Do you really expect me to believe in such fairy tales?”

“You deny it, even though I granted your wish?~. Then how about this… each of the rest of you give me a wish of some sort. And I’ll grant it to the best of my ability. If turning this smart aleck into a mare truly wasn’t enough.” Starlight suggested.

“Hmmmph, if you’re really this powerful genie… then you should have no problem restoring me and Pipp’s ability to fly…” Zipp got straight to the point.

Though Pipp muted the microphone for her stream just before she said “ability to fly”. “Zipp! Don’t just say that so casually while I’m streaming!”

“Hey, if Starlight can really do what she claims. It won’t matter too long if they find out, cause then she could give them the ability to fly too” Zipp winks

That gives Pipp some thought “Hm… I guess that’s true… though I certainly think finding a genie to restore Zephyr Heights ability to fly first would be the better idea. We don’t even have to tell them we never had the ability to fly!!” Zipp admittedly inside is still unsure of having to completely cover-up the fact they’ve been unable to fly. But in all the excitement that all pegasi could fly again, there would be no need to rain on that parade. So she shrugs and lets it go.

“Though say… I have a bit of a worry…” Pipp mentions “If you’re a genie… don’t you only have three wishes before you go back into your lamp, and possibly sent somewhere where we may never see you again?”

Starlight shakes her head. “Heh, no. You don’t need to worry about that, this may be my first time out. But I feel no constraints from the lamp. You can make as many wishes as you want later!”

Pipp clapped in excitement “Oh wow! That leaves so many options, I’ll have to poll the Pippsqueaks for what other wishes they’d like!”

“But let’s get this show on the road, you still need “I wish” to be said before every wish. Right, Starlight?” Zipp asked the genie

Starlight nodded. “Correct! Allowing you and your sister to fly should be a cinch~”

“Then, I wish me and Pipp were able to fly!” Zipp confidently said, extending her wings out. Almost as if preparing for being able to soar into the air under her own power for once.

Starlight nods. “Goooood! Though before I grant the wish for the both of you, I thought I’d hear what the others want. What could prove my power more then being able to grant everyone’s wish at once?~” She then turns to Sunny and Izzy. “What would one or the both of you like?”

“Oooh! I’m so excited! Although… I think my wish probably will fall under the same bubble as Sunny’s wish. So I technically don’t need to say a wish yet, but I may keep in mind some ideas for later!” Izzy giggles.

Sunny nods “Yeah, Izzy’s wish if what I think it is should easily be doable under my most wanted wish too. In fact, I think Zipp’s wish would actually fall under a similar bubble too! For I wish that every pony in Equestria had magic again!”

“Hahaaaa! Perfect, prepare yourselves fo-“ Starlight starts charging her magic as she’s suddenly interrupted

“HEEEEEEEY! WHAT ABOUT ME!” The mare-ified Hitch exclaimed

Starlight tilted her head and raised an eyebrow “Oh? I was just thinking you already got your wish? Do you have another in mind?”

“Yes… I WISH YOU’D CHANGE ME BACK!” Hitch demanded raising both her hooves up in the air.

Starlight just rolled her eyes. “I’ll… see what I can do for you… Officer…”

“Hmmmph… finally…” The impatient former stallion huffs, now awaiting to be changed back at last.

Now that Starlight was free to grant the wishes, she smirked. “Now… as I was saying, prepare yourselves! You’ve given me the perfect wish to begin my plans!~”

Sunny gasped, that didn’t sound like Starlight was up to any good. “Plans…? What do you mean by that?!”

Starlight laughed “Oh ho ho, don’t worry yourselves… I only mean my plans to bring every pony together again~. You five will be getting a special sample of what's to come for the rest of the world, as a thanks for letting me out. For a bonus, I’d like to ask if you girls have any favorite objects. Even better if they’re capable of carrying or otherwise contain something. Though it’s certainly no requirement. Being out of there for the first time in many milennia has left me in a good mood so I'm very much willing to give you something worthy of my thankfulness, or at least… enhance an already beloved object of yours”

“Enhance it? Oo oo ooo! Like decorating some of our stuff?! Wow! Who knew unicorns from way back were into crafts like me!” Izzy clapped happily

Zipp put a hoof to her chin “Favorite objects? Admittedly that’s hard for me to say…. I suppose the closest is this water bottle for when I’m exercising” Zipp holds up a bottle that’s similarly colored to herself.

“Well, my favorite object is obvious! My phone! Isn’t that right, Pippsqueaks?!” She speaks straight into the phone.

“Mine is easy as well! My badge, of course!” Hitch pushes her chest forward as to present her badge

Izzy took some time to think “Oh, but there’s so many objects I love! I don’t know if I can just pick one. And at home I have like… duplicates of almost everything you can imagine! I feel like I’d need something totally new that I don’t have! The tennis ball the Pegasus guards put on my horn was kinda neat. I’d like to know what those are packaged in.”

Starlight made a mental note as each of the four answered her including creating a tennis ball can for Izzy. “All of those fit you nicely! (And soon... you'll all fit right in them too~) But how about you, young Sunny? What is your favorite object? A book like your idol, or perhaps a figure of Twilight Sparkle herself?”

Sunny goes deep into thought, as much as having more items related to her favorite historical figure or enhanced one she already has by some pony who knew her. The idea of her favorite object falls onto something else entirely. She shakes her head. “No, my favorite object is something else. It’s… one of the remaining reminders of my late father…”

The subject of a deceased father makes Starlight’s confident face change. She looks with sincerity. “Oh, I’m… sorry to hear you don’t have a father around… what about your mother?“

Sunny shakes her head “She was gone even earlier than that, before my first memory. My father was the only one of my family left…”

“Oh…  I see… that’s… unfortunate. I’m doubly sorry to hear that family-wise you’re all alone. Like you I actually had a loving, if naive father. I’m sure as with every pony else from my time he’s gone. Also like you, my mother was not around for my early life. I have to presume your mother at least loved you, one thing I cannot say for myself” Starlight continued her sincere tone.

“Oh gosh… I can’t imagine what that’s like… abandoned by a parent like that…” Sunny gives Starlight an empathetic look.

Starlight then shakes her head “But never mind any of this… please feel free to tell me what your favorite object is. Whatever this reminder of your father is.”

Sunny nods “Right, it’s this tall little carousel diorama lamp that had colored wood cuttings of each of the three types. One yellow pegasus, one blue unicorn, and one purple earth pony. When the key spins the keyhole, it would shine a light that creates shadows that depict all three types moving across the walls and ceilings of my room. It was most helpful as a nightlight before bed. As it’d get me thinking of a future I hope to restore… it’s just too bad my dad won’t get to see it if that day comes…”

Starlight nods solemnly. “I’ll need to pick into your mind a little to bring this object here, as unlike the others it’s not currently in this room nor is it something I know I can just create it out of thin air, as otherwise I don’t know exactly what it looks like. Would you be ok with that, Sunny?”

Sunny does think for a moment, as someone seeking to peek into their mind would normally sound a little suspicious. But if it was only to know what this special lamp was, is there really any harm in it? Especially since Sunny is in full belief that Starlight will bring magic back to Equestria. “This… won’t take long will it, Starlight?”

“Nah, don’t worry. All I have to do is place my hoof on your forehead and I’ll quickly make a mental note of what your precious lamp looks like and where it likely is back at your home~” Starlight assures her

“Then go ahead…” Sunny bows her head forward. 

The lilac genie then reaches out and places a hoof on the earth pony mare’s forehead and focuses her magic on Sunny’s memory banks. It only takes a couple of seconds for her to find what she’s looking for. Starlight thinks to herself (“Ah yes… I do almost feel bad about deceiving you, young Sunny… key word being almost… but I’m sure you’ll love having such a sentimental and meaningful vessel once you’ve joined me~”). 

Starlight then takes her hoof off of Sunny's forehead, the optimistic mare raises her head back up “Did you get it?”

Starlight nods “Mmhmm, now that you’ve each told me your favorite item… it’s time to collect~” Starlight charges her horn and soon levitates Pipp’s phone, Hitch’s badge, and Zipp’s water bottle towards her.

“HEEEEEEEY! What are you doing?! Give me back my phone!”  “AND GIVE ME BACK MY BADGE IMMEDIATELY!” Both Pipp and Hitch responded respectively.

“Don’t you two worry… I’m only… upgrading them a bit~” Starlight smirked

Pipp was actually sort of intrigued “Upgrade…?” though Hitch was unamused “I get how you upgrade a phone, but how do you upgrade a badge? I’m already the Sheriff!”

“Oh you’ll see~. Though let’s create Izzy’s and bring Sunny’s vess- I mean… item here too so I can enhance them all at once!” Starlight charges her horn again and out of thin air a transparent cylinder tube wide enough to fit tennis balls in them appears. And another poof brings Sunny’s special nightlight lamp to Starlight’s side. Starlight then proceeds to make all 5 items glow for a short while as the rest of the ponies watch in awe. Starlight is soon finished as the glow dissipates, although those who already had items don’t exactly see what’s different about them Sunny’s vessel seems to have slightly changed where the ponies on the carousel have a genie tail instead of back halves. Though it’s a detail that nopony picks up to immediate alarm. Starlight attaches Hitch’s badge back on her chest, while she keeps the other items next to her.

Hitch does a proud look as she gets her badge back, but she doesn’t understand what’s really so different. “Uh, so what now? I… don’t exactly see anything different about it…”

“Say! There’s no tennis balls in this container! What gives?” Izzy looks disappointed.

“Oh, you’ll both see very soon. I can promise you that~” Starlight smugly smirked

Starlight then picks up Pipp’s phone and starts using it.

Pipp gasped “Hey hey hey! That’s mine! Don’t be playing with something that isn’t yours!”

“Chill out, I’m just making sure it restarts for one last system update. Then it’ll be complete” Starlight assures Pipp

“But… that’ll end the stream I have going! I didn’t even say my closing outro for every stream!” Pipp frowned

“Don’t worry yourself, little Princess… I’ve made it so your stream doesn’t skip a beat while it’s upgrading~” Starlight smiles.

Pipp looks surprised “Wait, really? So the stream is still going?”

Starlight began to wickedly laugh “Indeed it is! And we’re about to get to the best part~. For there’s no more time to waste… I shall grant Sunny’s grand wish for you all… Magic shall return to Equestria once more… as soon as you’re all GENIES LIKE ME!” Her wicked laugh belted out louder as she opened up or pointed the items that were now to be their vessels all at once.

All of them gasp simultaneously, though as Hitch is about to run up she screams when suddenly the backside of her badge moves forward and starts pulling her in from the chest, her face and head soon curve downward along with her front hooves. Her cheeks blush for a few seconds, but the suction absorbs Hitch’s face before he could really feel what the badge was doing to her 

Pipp’s tail stretches toward her phone and she exclaims to her sister “ZIIIIIIIIP! DO SOMETHING!” Zipp quickly uses her contraption that allows her to glide and tries using it to give her some momentum to save her sister, but as she approaches the phone. Suddenly the water bottle that Starlight had gets in her path, Zipp having no way to stop her momentum. She quickly falls face first into the water bottle, resulting in the bottle quickly absorbing her up to her hips. “NOOOOO! ZIIIIIIIP!” Pipp screamed.

Pipp’s tail then connects with her phone’s camera. An automated voice from the phone says “Downloading a new application”. Pipp turns around “HEY! What are you downloading?! You better not be giving my phone a virus!” “Oh, don’t you worry about a thing my little techie Princess… this is a necessary part of the upgrade… you’ve obviously held your phone for a long time… maybe it’s about time the phone held you… Prepare to be downloaded, Princess Pipp!” “WHAAAAAT?! NOOO! THAT CAN’T BE POSSIBLE… YOU CAN’T DOWNLOAD A REAL LIFE PONY… SURELY?!” But sure enough, Pipp could see a progress bar on her phone’s screen with a percentage going up the more of her tail enters. The moment she sees the progress it says 8%, a few seconds more it’s 10%, and then 12%. “This is awfully slow for my usual connection speed!” Starlight smugly smiles “Well, then I guess that just means you're a big file for a small pony~. You should thank me for upgrading your phone’s memory size so you’ll fit more than comfortably inside!”

Pipp tries running and even tries to flap her wings as fast as she can to try to escape. Though she seems to have another concern… “Stop this, PLEASE! My… my tail is covering the camera! My fans can’t see anything!” Indeed, as the entrance into the phone was made the camera. All the streamers could see is the purple of Pipp’s tail. They could still hear the screams and words of the others, which worried many of the people in the comments of what was happening. Then Pipp got an idea. “Starlight! I wish there was a 2nd camera and it appeared on stream!”

Starlight seemed confused. “You’re trying to get away, but you’re so concerned about your precious stream that you insist they must see you?” Pipp’s priorities baffle Starlight, but as she thinks on it a bit more. She gets a smirk “Actually… not a bad idea… they’ll get to see what’s in store for them soon and watch every little detail of your transformation~” Starlight grants Pipp’s wish and now a mounted webcam is pointed at Pipp.

As soon as Pipp knows the camera is active she begins to speak, another window pops up on the stream and those watching can finally see Pipp again. “I’m so sorry about that, Pippsqueaks… now if you’ll excuse me… and again this isn’t clickbait… I’M BEING  DOWNLOADED INTO MY PHONE! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Pipp frantically focuses back on trying to escape.

Sunny and Izzy themselves scream in fear at the sudden turn of events as their tails stretch toward their respective items. Starlight had made an empty tennis can to contain Izzy herself, not tennis balls. And Sunny’s tail was approaching the direction of the keyhole at the side of her diorama lamp. Sunny, Izzy, and Pipp all try to run for the door but they soon come to a complete stop as they can’t drag themselves any further. Their tails acting like a leash keeping them from advancing, and they can only look in horror as they’re not just stopped from advancing. They’re slowly being dragged backwards! As they hear Starlight’s maniacal laughter, they realize this has been a trick all along.

“Waaaiiiiiiit! I’m not a tennis ball!” Though Izzy stops herself and thinks for a moment “But maybe that tennis ball they put on my horn gave me Tennis ball DNA…” She shrugs and then goes back to shrieking and trying to run away from the cylinder’s suction.

Zipp and Hitch in the meantime could not speak with their entire front halves already within the water bottle and the badge respectively, they could only kick their hindlegs and swish their tail. Though their kicking gradually begins to slow as more of them are brought in… 

For the other 3, their tails have given way and their hindlegs spun around each other they fused, Giving the three of them a similar tail to what Starlight had. Purple, orange, and pink tails waving towards their destination.

“Starlight! What is this?! I thought… you said you were a friend of Princess Twilight! None of her friends would do something like this!” Sunny yelled in an accusatory detail at what seemed like betrayal of her trust.

Starlight shook her head before telling Sunny the truth “Tch, tch, tch. Sunny, I’m sorry to say… but I lied. Me and Twilight were never friends… she was the one who trapped me in that lamp for more than 5,000 years in the first place! There’s no way I could EVER consider her a friend after that!”

Sunny went wide-eyed “Whaaaaat?! Why… why would Twilight do such a thing…? To ANY pony… that… isn’t right… what could you possibly have done to deserve that?”

“Let’s just say… we had our differences. Let me warn you Sunny that you should never meet your idols. Especially those from far in the past, you never know what kind of secrets that they censored from the history books. The Equestria of back then may have been better then how Equestria is now, but it wasn’t perfect. Most villains get at least 1,000 years for trying to take over Equestria themselves, but try to seek equality for all ponies and suddenly you’re left for more than FIVE TIMES that!” Starlight gritted her teeth.

Even as she was slowly being drawn closer to being captured in her night light lamp. Sunny was more shocked that Twilight would really have punished a pony that hard. “No… she couldn’t have done that… there had to have been a reason for it… you… you had to have done something real horrible… like… like what you might be doing to us now!”

“Hmhmhmm… let’s see if you still feel that way in just a short moment now… it may have been a very long time since my transformation… but I still can never forget that first time I felt my body enter my lamp’s spout~. You and all of your friends are about to experience a power and pleasure that your ‘hero’ hid from every pony for years!” Starlight cackled.

Pipp flaps as hard as she can, but she still can’t get any further from her phone. The progress bar reaching near halfway, the number becoming 49% just as what was her hooves are mere seconds from the camera.

Sunny, Izzy, and Pipp continue to scream as their back halves in smoke form near the entrances to their vessels. Sunny desperately trying to reach out and stop herself from being sucked in “Nooooo! It can’t end like this… I… have… to… stop… you! That’s… what… Twilight… would.. d- aaaaAAAAaaaaaaAAAH!” At that precise moment, all three of the tails enters the tennis container, the camera of the phone, and the keyhole of Sunny’s lamp. They are instantly overwhelmed with a brand new feeling, and they stop screaming. All three instead express a loud moan that echoes through the station.

They didn't know how to feel at first, but regardless they had stopped any means of trying to escape. Their faces blush a deep pink, their eyes drift upwards as the pleasure bubbles up to more of their bodies. Pipp and Izzy are even already smiling, Pipp’s eyes go lidded while Izzy beams a very wide grin  in reaction to the pleasure she’s feeling. Sunny doesn’t smile but her mouth is open, her eyes are closed and her hips are arced up as the magic is channelingthrough her body.

“You know… maybe I am a tennis ball! I can’t see any other reason why this feels soooooo good~” Izzy giggles, and coos.

Pipp meanwhile turns to the webcam pointed toward her. “Oh my gosh, my lovely Pippsqueaks… this… this is the greatest feeling in the world… you all deserve to see the best possible angle for this~'' It's a bit hard for Pipp to reach, but she manages to move the camera to a position where they can fully watch Pipp get fully absorbed into her phone's camera. The progress bar on the phone reads 60% 

Pipp giggles “If I had known it feels like this to be downloaded… I might have envied every file and app imaginable!”

She wiggles her body slowly and seductively, tossing her beautiful purple mane around, cooing and moaning as more of her body enters her phone. “Oooooh~ Yes… YESSSSSS! You’re all getting a real special show now~.” 

Sunny breathes heavily a few times before turning to Starlight’s direction “S-s-s-starlight… I… ooo~ h-how…. or why… does this feel so good? And… if… this is what Twilight did to you… why… are you bitter towards her? Cause this… feels more like a reward than a punishment…”

“Maybe if Twilight had let me out after I had experienced it, things could have been different between us. But that wears thin when you’re left to be alone for thousands of years… at least I had my near limitless magical powers to keep me occupied in that time, but I had no pony around to show… or shall I say… share it to… until you girls showed up~. 

Think of it like this, instead of Twilight or another pony getting my thanks for releasing me. You girls got something special for helping me out of there, you shall all help me restore magic to Equestria. But not in the way it was before, let them experience what I’m currently giving you… there will be no need for petty squabbles between the three races if we’re all in Geniequality!

Just think about it, Sunny! The future you and your late father strived for… it will all be for the taking if everypony were genies!” Starlight proudly pointed out.

Sunny goes into deep thought even as she’s made to moan some more from the process of her transformation. A part of her still feels like this probably wasn’t what her father had in mind, but the more pleasure that pumped through her. The more she was convinced this was a much faster and efficient way to bring all pony kind together again. A grin finally appears on her face as she thinks about how Equestria’s ponies will see each other as equals again soon.

Starlight knows she’s got her now “That’s it, Sunny. Now you’re thinking my way on changing the world, we won’t just have the magic back from the era of Equestria you glorify so much. We will make Equestria even BETTER then back then. Your fangirling for Twilight might make you think there couldn’t be anything better than her reign, but I promise there is much more that could be done then whatever Twilight did in her time!”

The thoughts just keeps swirling through Sunny’s head. Whereas Pipp and Izzy are already enjoying their transformations in their own way. Pipp uses her wings to fly up, and it turns the phone into a vertical position as she does. Moving herself so she can be sucked in downward, her wings were now moving and massaging her body along with her own hooves. In fact Sunny and Izzy’s hooves did the same swirling around their shortening tails. The pleasure intensifies as their hooves massage every area of their lengthening and smoky bodies. 

“Tee hee! We kinda look like strange worms. Oooo~” Izzy giggled while she too felt the pleasure pump through her body.

Zipp and Hitch were getting their tails slurped by their vessels, a schooomp sound for the water bottle and a cling for the badge is heard as they finish up sucking in the two mares.

Now Sunny, Izzy, and Pipp who were down to their necks. The pleasure ever intensifies through them, their moans reaching a new crescendo. Izzy and Pipp are now very open to the idea of what being genies could do for them before their final moments of being simply normal ponies.

“My longtime Pippsqueak fans, you are witnessing the birth of a new era of my channel… just think of the possibilities! And…. OOOOOOoooo~ for the new followers..  DON’T FORGET TO LIKE, COMMENT AND SUBSCRRRIIIIIIIIiBbb-mmmmmmmmmmmmph!” As Pipp is fully brought in, a notification makes a ding sound on the phone with text and the automated voice from before  saying “Genie Pipp.app successfully downloaded”. On the phone’s menu, a circle appears with what seems to be Pipp’s musical cutie mark, though the music note seems to be in the process of getting sucked in or coming out of a vessel in the corner

“OH MY GOOSSSSSSSHHHHHH! I’VE NEVER FELT SUCH SPARKLE IN MY LIFE! I NEED IT! I NEED IT ALL!  SO MUCH SPARRRRKLLLLLEEEeeee–MMMMMMPPPhhhhhhhh!'  A pop from the can is heard as Izzy’s pulled in completely

All that’s left now was Sunny’s head, she saw all her friends around her get sucked in as she was too. She saw that Izzy and Pipp were overwhelmed with their transformation. And despite it being done by a pony who was actually an active antagonist to her longtime idol, and the nagging feeling that this isn’t how her father pictured the ponies would be back together. It was at this point she let go of those concerns, because everything was beginning to click for her. Partly because she couldn’t resist the pleasure welling up inside her, but it makes her feel better when she pictures that no pony else will too. As long as the three types of ponies are happy, living together, and making active friendships again. Could it really be that bad if it likely wasn’t by what her father’s methods might have been? Regardless of the means, it was certainly sounding better then the current society they have now.

“Soon, Dad… it’ll be over… our dreams… magic will be back… AAHHHHH~ AND A NEW GENERATION OF FRIIIIIEEEENNNNNSSSHHIIII-mMMMpppppph!” The last of Sunny’s face swirls into her lamp. The key closes the keyhole, making a click as it turns to lock Sunny in. And the lamp glows for a short time as if fully absorbing Sunny had given it energy. Lights shine from the lamp, though instead of ponies depicted on the wall, they were of Sunny’s cutie mark. However, a lamp is added directly where the trail of the shooting star ends at.

Zipp’s, Hitch’s, and Pipp’s remain relatively unchanged on the outside. Though Izzy’s vessel becomes no longer transparent as it turns the color of Izzy’s coat. The circular top is colored like Izzy’s mane. A changed mark on Izzy’s as well with her buttoned heart being drawn downward into a vessel

With all 5 ponies completely in their vessels, Starlight laughs victoriously and wickedly. “Oh… that felt good! I’d almost say it was worth the wait, but I’m still miffed it took this long. It would have been nice to have this back when ponies I actually knew were still around… I bet Our Town doesn’t even exist any more. And I won’t get to have my revenge on Twilight’s family and friends… and if TWILIGHT’S known to be missing… who in Equestria knows what happened to Celestia, Luna, and Cadence. But oh well… I’ll take being free in this future then still being stuck in there forever… let’s meet the first members of our new Genie-ration!~”

Starlight uses her magic to lift the key and the tennis container’s top from Izzy’s and Sunny’s vessels. She shakes Zipp’s bottle, presses the new app on the phone menu,, and opens up a flap on the back side of the badge for the rest. She then lays them all on the ground. Pipp’s phone vibrates constantly, both the Carousel on Sunny’s lamp and Hitch’s badge spin wildly fast, Zipp’s water bottle and Izzy’s vessel compresses on itself. All leading up to a huge…

FWOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Pink, Orange, Yellow, White, and Purple smoke pour from their respective vessels with the colors of their manes and tails being sparks that mix around everywhere. Five tendrils of smoke that rise into the air of the station that may have very well been once part of Canterlot. Magic was back in a whole new way, and in Starlight’s opinion…. As well as the soon-to-be fully formed genies, it would be better then they could have ever imagined

The smoke clouds from their top halves turn into the silhouettes of the 5 mares. Their colors soon fading in completely. The colors of their veils and leggings were as follows: Blue for Izzy, Gold for Pipp, Brilliant Raspberry for Zipp, Dark Silver for Hitch, and Purple for Sunny. All of them sigh together in satisfaction after their transformations.

Pipp quickly flew down to the webcam down onto the ground. “Behold, Pippsqueaks. Feast your eyes on a whole new me! Me and my new friends have become genies! And we can all make your wishes come true soon~” The comments in the chat quickly get filled with requests for wishes, that the moderators have to put in a slow mode for the chat. Pipp giggles, don’t worry all of you… I have a link I can send to you to download my app. And send me your requests there… who knows… I may even show up in your own home depending on the wish~ (And then I can get downloaded over and over again~)”

“In the meantime… FIRST SELFIE AS A GENIE TIME!” Pipp swoops down near Starlight’s side. Who just looks rather confused with Pipp’s actions. Starlight imagines there will be plenty of technology she’ll get to see, as in a world without magic (Even if not for long now). It probably was more necessary here.

Zipp was just enjoying the feeling of being in the air, she did many tricks that she developed while simply gliding but was now actually using them in a proper flight. She couldn’t have imagined she would be doing this with the lack of hindlegs. Though she knows she can disconnect her tail just as Starlight did..As for now, she finds it fun to sort of draw loops with her new genie tail.

Izzy just squee’s in happiness. She created an empty canvas around her and started using her magic to create more at once then she ever could before. Glitter, Macaroni art, paint, everything an arts and crafts pony would imaginably have.

Sunny just looks around astounded at her and the rest of her friend’s forms. She also notices that her vessel seems to have lit up. She sees that her release has activated its glow and her cutie mark now spreads all around it. She also takes a look at the three wooden ponies on the carousel. It was there for a little while but she hadn’t truly noticed it as she had been too focused on meeting Starlight and then trying to run from the lamp’s suction. She smiles seeing the three ponies who were now genies, it was like a preview of what was soon to spread all over this world. “This… this is fantastic, Starlight! I love everything about this! And you say we’re really going to share this with every pony else?!”

Starlight nods happily “Of course, Sunny! While I did lie to you before, I was fully telling you the truth about what I have in store for the world~.”

Hitch in the meantime was still basking in his transformation. “Wow… that felt like my last trip to the massage parlor… but 10x better!” Though as Hitch finally begins to note some things, she looks at herself and notices… “….WHAT THE BUCK?! Starlight! Why am I still a mare?! I thought you heard my wish!”

Starlight giggled. “Oh I did… I just chose to ignore it~ or... perhaps… I just nixed one word from your wish. Instead of changing you back. It became ‘I wish you’d change me’ and change you I did! Haha!””

Hitch growls, but then another realization dawns on him. “Haha… hahahaha.. HAHAHAHAHA! You fools! You have given me equal power with you girls! I can put you all under arrest with the power you gave me!”

Starlight raises an eyebrow “Are you sure about that?~ It's 5 against 1… and need I remind you that one of those 5 being me… a genie with more than 5000 years of experience…”

“Yeah, officer… You’re kind of outnumbered on this one…” Zipp bluntly told her.

“Also, Hitch… as you are a genie now… you could simply just turn into your stallion self again if you really insist on it…” Pipp reminded

“Oh, that’s right!” Hitch goes ahead and poof himself to be a stallion. “Hehe, now I’m back to myse-“ But he notices that he still has the rather feminine looking veil and leggings on him. “Oh heck… now this just looks embarrassing!” He grumbles and crosses his hooves as he turns himself back into her mare form. “Ugh… I’ll at least admit… I kinda look good as a mare… those accessories would just have me laughed off by Sprout if I came back as a stallion like that…”

“But he wouldn’t be laughing any more as soon as you genify him, isn’t that right?” Sunny suggested with a smug smile.

Hitch thinks for a good moment and soon grins “Hmm, that is a good point. Heh, that might actually be sort of… fun”

“And one more thing, how would you like a name for your new mare self? You don’t have to of course, but if you’re averse to wearing feminine clothes while you’re a stallion. Maybe you’ll want a new name to associate your mare self with.” Starlight offered

“Oh gosh… I guess that’d be a good idea too… but I’m no good with this kind of creative stuff. What would be a fitting mare name for me?” Hitch turns to the other mares. And the most creative out of them raises her hoof.

“Oooo ooo ooo! Instead of Hitch Trailblazer… you could be… HARNESS PATHFINDER!” Izzy beams a grin

The mare that was once Hitch thinks on that for a moment, and smiles. “I guess that’ll do! Sheriff Harness it is!” She puts her hooves on her hips, raising her nose in the air making a proud pose.

With their genifications settled, Starlight gives them some time to talk things over and do some magic tricks with their newfound magic. Before she approaches the group as their discussion settles down. “Now that you’re basking is winding down… how do you girls feel about beginning our spread to the world~. We could even split into our respective pony races and we’ll then come together again once a good majority of each population have become genies like us! The pegasi Princesses spread this to the city above us, Sunny and Harness go back to their hometown, and I’ll go with Izzy to see what has become of the unicorns of this world.

“Ooo ooo ooooooooo! This will be great! I can’t wait to show you the mystical forest of Bridlewood and all the trees and crystals you can shake a stick at!” Izzy grabs Starlight for a hug and spins around as she still floats in the air. Starlight becomes dizzy after being let, go but she recovers and then giggles. “I’m sure it will be a great time, Izzy. Anything I should know before we go?”

“Ah yes of course… you’ll need to know… the unicorns have become quite superstitious. They instantly go say this 'Bing bong' chime whenever a cursed word is said” Izzy warns

“Oh really… can you give me one of those words?” Starlight curiously asked

“Mayonnaise is one of them” Izzy says, barely skipping a beat.

Starlight reacts in confusion “What? Why is Mayonnaise a curse word?”

Izzy shrugged “I don’t know! It just is!”

“Well… I guess to be fair, I’m not exactly a fan of mustard myself…” Starlight admits

“Huh! Is it just a unicorn thing to dislike some sort of common condiment and/or food topping even back then?” Izzy wonders

Sunny giggles “That might actually be a thing! I’ve heard rumors of Twilight not being a fan of foods with too much cheese!”

“WHAAAAAAAAT! How could Twilight dislike having MORE cheese! The cheesier the better I say!” Izzy protested

The entire group just erupts in laughter. Soon things settle down enough though for both the Pegasi and the Earth ponies to respond to the idea of Starlight’s plan. “Sure, me and Harness will go to genify every pony in Maretime Bay.”

Zipp nods “And me and my sister will get every pony here in Zephyr Heights”

“Ooooh~ I can’t wait to fulfill all my darling Pippsqueak’s wishes! Especially ones that will genify them… mua ha ha ha!” Pipp beamed a devilish grin.

Starlight is delighted to have these ponies from a future far from her own time listen to her. It’ll take time for her to get used to this world, but she’ll soon have what she’s waited so long for… Geniequality for all.

Though as they all split up, Starlight thinks to herself one more time.

(“If you are still out there somewhere, Twilight… I WILL find you… and you WILL find out what it’s like to be isolated for 5,000 years!”)

[cocklessboy]

The biggest male privilege I have so far encountered is going to the doctor.

I lived as a woman for 35 years. I have a lifetime of chronic health issues including chronic pain, chronic fatigue, respiratory issues, and neurodivergence (autistic + ADHD). There's so much wrong with my body and brain that I have never dared to make a single list of it to show a doctor because I was so sure I would be sent directly to a psychologist specializing in hypochondria (sorry, "anxiety") without getting a single test done.

And I was right. Anytime I ever tried to bring up even one of my health issues, every doctor's initial reaction was, at best, to look at me with doubt. A raised eyebrow. A seemingly casual, offhand question about whether I'd ever been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Even female doctors!

We're not talking about super rare symptoms here either. Joint pain. Chronic joint pain since I was about 19 years old. Back pain. Trouble breathing. Allergy-like reactions to things that aren't typically allergens. Headaches. Brain fog. Severe insomnia. Sensitivity to cold and heat.

There's a lot more going on than that, but those were the things I thought I might be able to at least get some acknowledgement of. Some tests, at least. But 90% of the time I was told to go home, rest, take a few days off work, take some benzos (which they'd throw at me without hesitation), just chill out a bit, you'll be fine. Anxiety can cause all kinds of odd symptoms.

Anyone female-presenting reading this is surely nodding along. Yup, that's just how doctors are.

Except...

I started transitioning about 2.5 years ago. At this point I have a beard, male pattern baldness, a deep voice, and a flat chest. All of my doctors know that I'm trans because I still haven't managed to get all the paperwork legally changed, but when they look at me, even if they knew me as female at first, they see a man.

I knew men didn't face the same hurdles when it came to health care, but I had no idea it was this different.

The last time I saw my GP (a man, fairly young, 30s or so), I mentioned chronic pain, and he was concerned to see that it wasn't represented in my file. Previous doctors hadn't even bothered to write it down. He pushed his next appointment back to spend nearly an hour with me going through my entire body while I described every type of chronic pain I had, how long I'd had it, what causes I was aware of. He asked me if I had any theories as to why I had so much pain and looked at me with concerned expectation, hoping I might have a starting point for him. He immediately drew up referrals for pain specialists (a profession I didn't even know existed till that moment) and physical therapy. He said depending on how it goes, he may need to help me get on some degree of disability assistance from the government, since I obviously shouldn't be trying to work full-time under these circumstances.

Never a glimmer of doubt in his eye. Never did he so much as mention the word "anxiety".

There's also my psychiatrist. He diagnosed me with ADHD last year (meeting me as a man from the start, though he knew I was trans). He never doubted my symptoms or medical history. He also took my pain and sleep issues seriously from the start and has been trying to help me find medications to help both those things while I go through the long process of seeing other specialists. I've had bad reactions to almost everything I've tried, because that's what always happens. Sometimes it seems like I'm allergic to the whole world.

And then, just a few days ago, the most shocking thing happened. I'd been wondering for a while if I might have a mast cell condition like MCAS, having read a lot of informative posts by @thebibliosphere which sounded a little too relatable. Another friend suggested it might explain some of my problems, so I decided to mention it to the psychiatrist, fully prepared to laugh it off. Yeah, a friend thinks I might have it, I'm not convinced though.

His response? That's an interesting theory. It would be difficult to test for especially in this country, but that's no reason not to try treatments and see if they are helpful. He adjusted his medication recommendations immediately based on this suggestion. He's researching an elimination diet to diagnose my food sensitivities.

I casually mentioned MCAS, something routinely dismissed by doctors with female patients, and he instantly took the possibility seriously.

That's it. I've reached peak male privilege. There is nothing else that could happen that could be more insane than that.

I literally keep having to hold myself back from apologizing or hedging or trying to frame my theories as someone else's idea lest I be dismissed as a hypochondriac. I told the doctor I'd like to make a big list of every health issue I have, diagnosed and undiagnosed, every theory I've been given or come up with myself, and every medication I've tried and my reactions to it - something I've never done because I knew for a fact no doctor would take me seriously if they saw such a list all at once. He said it was a good idea and could be very helpful.

Female-presenting people are of course not going to be surprised by any of this, but in my experience, male-presenting people often are. When you've never had a doctor scoff at you, laugh at you, literally say "I won't consider that possibility until you've been cleared by a psychologist" for the most mundane of health problems, it might be hard to imagine just how demoralizing it is. How scary it becomes going to the doctor. How you can internalize the idea that you're just imagining things, making a big deal out of nothing.

Now that I'm visibly a man, all of my doctors are suddenly very concerned about the fact that I've been simply living like this for nearly four decades with no help. And I know how many women will have to go their whole lives never getting that help simply because of sexism in the medical field.

If you know a doctor, show them this story. Even if they are female. Even if they consider themselves leftists and feminists and allies. Ask them to really, truly, deep down, consider whether they really treat their male and female patients the same. Suggest that the next time they hear a valid complaint from a male patient, imagine they were a woman and consider whether you'd take it seriously. The next time they hear a frivolous-sounding complaint from a female patient, imagine they were a man and consider whether it would sound more credible.

It's hard to unlearn these biases. But it simply has to be done. I've lived both sides of this issue. And every doctor insists they treat their male and female patients the same. But some of the doctors astonished that I didn't get better care in the past are the same doctors who dismissed me before.

I'm glad I'm getting the care I need, even if it is several decades late. And I'm angry that it took so long. And I'm furious that most female-presenting people will never have this chance.

[konigsblog]

farmer-könig and his little seductive farmhand.🌾

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT, YOU WILL BE BLOCKED — 18+

farmer-könig is hardworking and determined. he spends the majority of his day feeding the animals and taking care of them, although he has one little distraction: you.

you enjoy riling the older male up, getting him pent up before skipping away with a cheeky grin plastered on your face, leaving him with a hard and aching boner inside of his jeans. he teases you back of course, sometimes walking around shirtless, smacking your tight rear if you're doing a slow job.

although könig gets increasingly frustrated the more often this happens. you like to grind against him slowly, perhaps offering to show him what you can do to long objects... like, a carrot, for example! your little snide innuendos leaving könig achingly sore and insatiable, unable to focus ‘til he finally gets that release he's been fantasising of.

you giggle at the effect you have on the poor, older gentleman. although as soon as könig gets his filthy and perverted hands on you, he's not letting go ‘til he has you bare with his release oozing out of you.

immediately, he lifts up your sundress, revealing your bare rear and slicken pussy. it's clear as day that you've been dreaming of this yourself, fantasising of getting fucked by an experienced man like him. könig's bends you over a fence for a quickie, holding your wrists behind your back in a tight fist, his hard dick throbbing against your sex, so intimate and close to finally pushing inside and fucking you relentlessly for your misbehaviour and neediness.

his pace starts off slow and calm, but quickly becomes ruthless. his heavy and full balls knock and smack against your swollen cunt, your glistening hole taking almost every inch gracefully. seems like you've been preparing for this moment, taking him so well, so eager to please the man. each thrust leaves your pussy drooling with euphoria and ecstasy, the wind knocked from your lungs, and the stretch causing moans and whines to drip from your tongue.

it doesn't take very long before he's filling you with his creamy load, potent strings of his semen plugging you, forced into your cunt. you squirm and pant, heaving and shaking, your thighs coated in a glimmer and shine of your sweat and release, könig's tip oozing out his load before fastening his belt and leaving you a sticky mess to deal with.

perhaps you should've thought twice before taunting him like that, sonnenschein.

[suguruplsr]

NEED THAT DICKOLOGY!

— fucking your mentor?

geto suguru x fem! virgin reader , v random + pure filthy smut , oral (f) , protected sex ! , overstimulation , folding position , bar restroom scene > car scene , face riding , fingering , hair pulling , choking + spitting n mouth , not proofread + rushed so lmk what i missed ! 🪐

⸝⸝ psychology.. the study of the mind. a beautiful study you’ve always found yourself interested in, along with the long hour videos of interrogations of criminals. so having a mentor for the job you’re aiming for as a criminal psychologist, is very helpful.

like when he takes you out to dinners with large politicians to study their behaviors. not everyone’s a good person, he reminds you.

not everyone’s a good person, when suguru’s looks fucking edible with his dress shirts and slacks, always leaving out a button undone and his beautiful hair draping around him like a water fall. when he looks like a trap you’d love to walk into.

you’d do anything to imprint the image of his stupidly handsome casual+formal look in your mind, the one you love to imagine him wearing when you’re thinking about him taking you on his office desk, so why not take him out for once?

who knew you’d get so lucky..

“we’re still in public,” suguru huffs with a smile, clearly teasing you with that glimmer in his eyes. ignorant, you continue to kiss against his lips, eager and hungry to the male pressed against your body in the shammy bar restroom. “please.” you beg, nearly whining and mewling for suguru with your drawled voice.

you lick at the lingering liquor transmitted from his lips. his hands gripping your waist. his cologne filling your nostrils. his stupid smile. why did your stupid mentor have this— even more stupid, affect on you?

“please what?” “i don’t know suguru,” you impatiently bite back, frowning at his deep seductive chuckle. the kind that pulls victims like you into his aura. into a man who’ll put you into a trance. which it does, “i just need you, please, touch me suguru..”

suguru lets out a deep sigh at your words, eyes speaking louder than his unspoken words. but you can feel his growing erection against your thigh, and you’d gladly point it out if he wasn’t looking at you like he needs you just as much as you need him.

poor girl, he thinks. one of his hands on your waist trail up. his right one, going up to your throat and giving it a comfortable squeeze. he holds you like you’re nothing, and it makes you want him even more, stomach turning with need as he tilts your head back.

soon he’s attacking your exposed neck— and you’d think he’s a vampire with a how the noises of his lips on your neck fill up the claustrophobic atmosphere. his kisses form a line directly up the middle of your neck, leaving you sensitive once they drop down to your cleavage. and suguru almost has half the mind to pull off your clothing with his teeth, choosing to suckle at the peeking skin of your breast that the sleeveless didn’t hide. “touch you hm? how much? just something like this or..” suguru’s laugh is hidden in your skin once his fingers slipped between the slit of your dress, feeling the damp spot on your panties.

the yellow blinking lights above you do no better to help your failing and swirling head. a mixture of alcohol and lust overtaking your senses— and suguru geto himself. one of his large fingers find your clit way too quick, but it’s as expected of a man who exhibits a sleek ambience of sexiness. he presses the bud through the ruined fabric, “or you want your pussy stuffed full of me. you probably haven’t been fucked good for a while— no offense there..” suguru rubs the area in tight circles, catching how your breath hitches, hands immediately latching to his button up shirt. he doesn’t care for the wrinkles, or how he can feel your nails slowly dig into the shirt, probably forming crescents into the skin underneath.

you’re just too cute.

“i’ve always admired how determined you are, such a smart girl huh? so focused on studies you don’t even have time to touch yourself. but it’s okay baby, you got me now.” you almost feel undermined, despite his words. the way he ignores your pathetic whines and whimpers with each second of his exploration around your cunt..it’s all too condescending.

“i’ll fill that cunt of yours with my fingers first, shit— you can probably only take one.” suguru’s observation is made when the pad of a finger doesn’t slip into your hole easily. your panties were forced to the side already and your cunt wet against his palm. the man kneels, sacrificing his expensive slacks to meet your darling pussy face to face. the psychologist pushes your dress up, to which you get the memo, holding the blue dress and bunching it up to your waist.

suguru holds your panties to the side again, squishing it with a single hand and his thumb kneading the skin of one of your thighs. “s’ fucking beautiful down here..” he whispers, speaking to the mess in front of him.

if only you knew how his mouth watered, drool almost coming up and his muscles fighting with each fiber of his body. he just wants to attach his mouth onto your pussy, let all of your juices and wetness fall into his mouth rather then let it uncomfortably mesh together between your thighs.

let him relieve it.

but, ever the man, suguru stays true to his words, licking his lips unconsciously and bringing a hand up to your folds. yet, unlike his usual patience and prudence, he’s quickly forcing one of his fingers into your cunt. your body jerks, “o-oh. wait! please! oh fuck..” you blabber off into a tandem, curses leaving you while his finger works its way into your virgin cunt. an abnormal feeling.

“already falling apart baby. not even moving it, c’mon, just a bit longer. we don’t want you to get dumbed out at some bar, right baby? not being in the right state of mind is dangerous..” caution is nonexistent in his tone, more-so mocking as he moves closer and lifts your left leg onto his shoulder. you know what he’s implying, his words are promises to how he’s going to break you and leave your mind a mess.

is it really sickening how you clench around his finger just from the thought? you already have him here between your legs and yet, he still keeps you on your toes with each damning word that leaves his mouth.

“let’s loosen you up a bit, or maybe you want some extra work with my tongue?” suguru tsks, unapologetically moving his finger inside you, thrusting it slowly before pulling it out completely to add another, “maybe let me spit on your sloppy pussy and treat it like a whore?” you mewl as he gives your clit a pitiful hit of his palm, then massaging it between his fingers, rolling the bud before slipping two fingers in with ease.

it’s all too much.

“i.. i don’t care, jus’ wanna cum— as long as it’s from you sugu..” you whined, looking down at him with tears filling your eyes, giving little sniffles from how his fingers nudge where you need him most, you just want to grab at him, pull at his hair as he fucks your pussy with his fingers.

suguru hisses, leaving your pussy with a kiss on your clit, “we’re getting the fuck outta here baby, not gonna fuck you here.” and as annoyed as you want to be for having to wait, you follow his words reluctantly, quickly making yourself as presentable as you possible could before he’s dragging you away.

you found yourself in multiple positions in the more comfortable sleek pink BMW— regardless of the limited space in the black interior. you continue your heated session in the stuffy backseat, ridding yourself of that bunchy dress and trying your best to get rid of his clothes before you were put in the position you’re in now.

“ride me baby, keep this pussy on my face, and don’t you dare fuckin’ hover.” suguru’s demand makes you bite your lip, crawling over on top of him and briefly resting on his now bare chest to admire him. his usual put together look was ruined by you. the best you could. perhaps the ideals he had promised to you, reflected onto him. his upper body is covered in stains of your gloss, mixed with your brown lip liner. and the cresent’s of your nails and purple hickies are only more decorative additions that stained his skin in the hours of the night.

suguru’s long hair is sprawled underneath him, undone once you had mentioned wanting to use it as leverage. and who is he to complain about your wishes?

“do you really wanna do this? you don’t have to..” your energy now is a stark contrast from before, unsettling hesitation within you as his arms wrap around your thighs, tugging you forward. a slick of your essence drags along his chest, a guttural sound escaping suguru from the warmth of it on him. “do i need to restate your words my love? i’d be happy to brag all about how you claimed to need me. especially when i can tell right now..” suguru scoffs, and you’re quickly lifted onto his face without warning, his mouth widened and is forcefully attached to your cunt.

the way he eat dines on your pussy is like a man starved. from the tight grip of his hands to the way his cock strains so uncomfortably in his pants. his tongue moves like a snake, flexing and gathering every single drop of you on it, then flicking into his mouth with a groan. suguru savored your taste each and every time, slowly rocking you onto his mouth until you were completely riding him with little cries and moans of your own, tugging his long soft strands.

your hands would fly to the handle of the back seat door, holding the black leather as you came or squirted. after so long, you never knew which it was— but you knew the man underneath you would eat it all up in mere seconds, his thirst for you never ending.

after so long, suguru had layed you back, his hands ghosting over the skin of your stomach with your legs sprawled around him. it wasn’t his ideal choice of scenery for the taking of your virginity, knowing it’s something so cherished. and of course, he’d want your first time, and your first time with him, to be more special than fucking you into the rough fabric of your back seats.

his girl is just so fucking needy.

“hah! ha— sug! um.. fuck you feel soo good!!” you nearly scream, voice breaking and your eyes rolled back.

suguru’s cock is stuffed inside your pussy, the only thing keeping him from your gummy walls was a condom around his dick. yet he hits all the right spots without hindrance, the thick member filling and molding you with each of his pounding thrusts. “yeahhh bet i do— clenchin’ around me baby, shit..” the long haired male groans, his arms are around your thighs— his favorite place obviously, not sure to keep you spread or to push your thighs up and fold you dumb.

rather, enjoy the creamy sight of your pussy around him, or fuck you how he wants to?

he chooses the latter, folding you easily and greeting you with a sloppy kiss that swallows down your moans. his thrusts are more methodical, but they have so much force, nudging your sweetest spot and leading you to cloud nine. his balls, slap against you ass loudly with each one thrust, stringed wet with your previous cum. suguru loves to feel it, the absolute mess between you.

“cum. go ahead princess, give it to me, don’t want you to hold back— not at all.” suguru encourages, pausing your wet and spit inducing make out session with a more firmer kiss on your lips. you whine, holding onto the broad escape of his shoulders, adding more scratches down to his back and clawing with each second you’re brought closer to your orgasm. “o-okay sugu.. g’nna cum..” you can barely speak, voice raspy and only getting worse with a thick hand wrapped around your neck. he really wants you gone, to let your consciousness float away and fuck you till you’re incoherent of even breathing.

at least that’s what it feels like once your eyes are rolling back, body stuttering as he fucks you through the impending feeling while a nasty glob of spit is forced down your throat which cause you to release around him suddenly. it’s too good, unable to feel anything, but feeling everything, at the same time.

youre awaken with his hot load shot out onto your stomach, tossing the soiled condom somewhere and jerking himself off to the sight of your cock-drunk state. through your blurry eyes, you see how his muscles contract and react, his head tilting back and his cock eventually giving all that’s left in little spurts. suguru’s mumbling to himself, probably things he’d say to you if he had came in your ex-virgin pussy.

“baby.. fuck.. you with me or dumbed out? seems i kept my promise, hm?” not trusting your voice, you nod obediently, closing your eyes in content as he sighs. “shit, lets get you cleaned up, then i’ll drive.” suguru grimaces, pulling you up to sit back, smiling from your whine of dissatisfaction. “m’tired sugu”

“me too sweetheart, me too,” suguru hushes, leaning into a soft kiss that only makes you want to fall asleep, sighing against his lips, “ you did so good princess, let me take care of you..”

[crocodile-carousel]

painstakingly forcing myself to sell some old dragons on fr so i can have a more diverse gene pool and it is killing me

[capslocked]

PRAXIS

male reader x irene

23k words

"A girl could walk in and mistake this for an affair," you remark, and Irene smiles up at that.

The sound of city traffic underneath your open window makes for an uncertain backdrop - though the browns of her eyes glimmer caramel in the dying light. Something sweet, the beginnings of an addiction if you’ll let her.

"A girl could walk in," Irene says, "but, she never does."

It was not a good idea, of course, to keep doing this where the whole world could see, where your shadows and silhouettes make lurid shapes against the blinds, but your office is small and the lighting is soft and Irene keeps pushing up onto her tiptoes, pressing you flat against your desk, trying to kiss you, and you won't be able to stop her - or want to, not when she's already leaning into you with her arms loose around your hips, her eyelashes heavy, her mouth a pink line of want against her smile.

It’s inevitable, maybe.

Here's what they might catch in the exact moment, in a not-so-distant memory:

Your heartbeat, quiet and slow and distant, like there's too much blood for it in your veins, your skin electric-pulsing underneath Irene's, the feel of her leg hitched up your waist, your hand wound tightly in her ponytail. The tiny sigh of a smile at the corner of Irene's lips, like you're tickling her somehow - you'll stop if she really wants you to, but - she doesn't. She never does.

Why wouldn't we want to be mistaken for something? is what you’re supposed to hear; she's too haughty, too proud. Someone could catch you. She’ll never come out and admit, just what would anyone do, if they did?

So yeah. It’s complicated.

You give a little, Irene pulls back. You do your damndest not to push. You hate how goddamn easy it is to convince yourself of anything, everything - whatever the lie. Irene isn’t ignoring you. She doesn't ignore the texts you send her. You don’t need to make plans more than two hours in advance. Mixed signals are such a misunderstood phenomenon: she can just be shy, sometimes. Maybe she doesn’t want to intrude. She was nervous, but she felt really fucking good on top of you - maybe next time, the guilt will be a bit less for both of you.

It’s just sex, she says once to you after; there’s no strings attached. How could it get ever more perfect than that?

-

(And she’s right. You know she’s right, or at least you very well should.

See, you’ve been talking for hours about how you shouldn’t be talking for hours on end. Kissing her after a conversation you’d had around the fact you’d both be better off as friends.

So how's that gonna sound, anyway? Here, go on, try saying it:

Bae Irene? Yeah, met her on the subway - that's the story, the reason you know her; you got on a train one day and she was the prettiest person there. You were both headed to the same place. You’re just not sure when that's gonna change.

And well, the way you see it: you’d feel so much lighter, like a feather, with her off your mind.)

-

To be candid, you can't really pin down how any of this started. The logistical details, sure. However the suggestion, the sex, the seclusion - these things, not so much.

Somedays, if you squint, it plays out rather predictably. You’ll be going about your business, a particularly average day everything considered, or - well, mostly. Today, there are just the two minor caveats:

First off, your key grinds in the lock when you jam it in. That part is pretty normal, but to your surprise, the door is already very much open.

So, that's odd, you think. That's very odd. You slide inside, cautious, and as you call out an even more cautious "hello?" you realize all the lights are on - so either you've been robbed or are currently in the state of being robbed by someone with suboptimal visual acuity. A disability-washed-burglar. Not to minimize crime, of course, but that'd be interesting, you think, or representative perhaps? Maybe.

Alternatively,

Irene's let herself into your apartment again. It’s quite plausible.

She's not great at the whole 'asking permission' thing, though she swears every time it'll never happen again. You peek around your foyer: there’s her coat, her heels, her shirt, a handbag - all strewn about the hall like she’d been raptured and left a delicate trail of destruction, which does sound a lot like the Bae Irene you've known forever.

(Okay, six, seven months isn’t forever - but you get the gist; the general principle still applies.)

Now another, horrifying option is that both theories are true, simultaneously. A home invader has in fact gotten to Irene. In the middle of robbing the place. How terrible, how awful, how genuinely macabre, what a genuinely-

"Yeah, hey," you hear, followed by a heavy, sloshing thunk. "Welcome home or something."

Sure enough, as you enter the kitchen you spy your truly awful vision being confirmed. One of them, anyway. There is your incredibly hot (this is in reference to Irene), extremely fashionable (same boat as before, honestly), dangerously intelligent (yes) and notorious rulebreaker of an (it really bears emphasis on how hot and fashionable and stylish said rulebreaking often is) acquaintance as per her standard. Irene. A roguish and impossibly captivating conglomerate of trouble with a mild attitude and perfect posture; as a collection, she's a collection you want, a package you intend to keep, an accessory you'd die for. That, and a kettle on the stove apparently, so she can make you tea while you languish on the floor, and you could live like that forever, or so the dream goes.

Also right, the second caveat: there's the robbery. She's stolen a button-up out of your closet.

And look - she's actually so much prettier than she has any business being. Hair up in a messy bun, lips painted light. Nail polish starting to fade. She's still in her nylons and a tight little pencil skirt and you can't really complain. You'd need to be legally dead.

"Hi," Irene says, and the burner sputters to life. "Where'd you go?"

"The bank. And then I had to return books," you say, shucking off your jacket. "You know, I wasn't aware anyone else was living here."

"Excuse you," Irene replies. She turns, leans her forearms on the counter; the shirt buttons are misaligned, but she makes it look like a stylistic consideration - how the sleeves are pushed past her elbows and the neckline has already slipped down one of her dainty shoulders.

She has your clothes. She has an irritatingly winsome half-smirk. The clock above the stove says it’s barely even 9 PM.

"Do you get your mail forwarded here, too?" You shuck off your jacket. "To further clarify, why not call first? Maybe text? Hell, smoke signals could do."

"Because it's a hell of a lot easier to ask you for forgiveness," Irene tells you, knowing, "asking for permission gets me nowhere," and then grabs a mug from the cupboards. She seems to know where everything is already. "I don't know why you get so bothered about it, honestly, what should I do? Call you and say, wow, babe, I am planning on letting myself into your apartment, sorry, yeah, I was thinking we could - ah fuck - you know what, I am irreparably, incomprehensibly horny."

"Nice vocab."

"Thanks," Irene says, beaming, and even tips up her chin to show it.

You notice that you actually match right now, since it is, technically, your shirt. Sure, your collar’s a little stiff - and she’s barely able to keep the fabric from folding and spilling over her lithe frame, but that hardly matters. It's so ungodly hot. She could wear anything - or, probably, nothing, if you're being honest.

And you are, mostly.

So you pad into the space right behind her to tell her some truths, the things you think - but she spins on her heel before you get the chance to grab her, which is a pity; you'd love to do that, maybe just push her flat to the wall. You know, if she'd let you. She would. Probably. You'd ask, definitely, but you’re thinking you wouldn't even have to.

Irene crosses her arms. The collar keeps slipping. You see her collarbone, smooth. She is flawless, no fucking wonder. You are almost terrified of her at times.

"How do you know I’d have said no?" you ask, and it sounds a little sweet - then there’s you noticing an old bruise along her throat, where her shoulder dips down; that was probably your doing, probably from this week, last Saturday maybe? Her skin seems softer somehow, looks like her makeup was fresh at the beginning of the day and the end of the night, that kind of evening smudging. She's smiling with her nose crinkling up. 

She doesn’t react when you press in closer. 

"Really." You’re waiting for her. Probably waiting for her to kiss you, to reach up on her toes and latch her wrists behind your neck, to reach her mouth to yours - though, she doesn't. Her breathing picks up, so it's almost like she doesn't have to, she's smiling at you so sharply. It’s a rare win for restraint as far as your apartment is concerned.

"So then where lies the issue?" she asks, and then she simply waits on this smoldering sort of glance.

You can’t help the laugh that follows. "I mean it's the principle of the thing."

Irene hums at that. She glances to the side. Toward the windows, back to you, and then all over your face.

"Then, allow me a principle," she finally says, staring straight at your mouth, real subtle-like. "Yes, I'm going to keep coming here. Probably a lot. I mean, unless you have an actual issue you'd be hardly one to talk: Mr. Keeps Do Not Disturb Active At All Fucking Times. I bet you're the last person to go through their voicemails, too."

"Guilty, but look - I hit critical mass, like, a thousand unheard messages ago. It’s untenable and unreasonable. You should be offering me pity."

"You are ungovernable." Irene sinks back a bit against the countertop, slow, smooth and sinuous. "You're basically a hermit." She smiles at her own assessment, the grin growing with its truth. Her eyes sparkle in the low-light and her teeth bite at the bottom of her lip. The tea kettle starts to rattle.

"I think we’re supposed to be discussing the breaking and entering here," you correct, dryly, and step a bit closer, "also just for the record, hermits are implied loners. And yet."

"And yet," Irene echoes, letting her voice trail away.

There's an uptick in the corner of her mouth, and she glances at you, quick, momentarily mirthless. You wait for the punchline, the verbal parry, the expertly timed jab-

"What?" asks Irene, and her face instead is all soft edges, light pink lips, and clear, uncomplicated eyes. She grabs for the end of her sleeve and folds it one more time down the slender length of her forearm. The watch on her wrist catches the light. "It's a decent theory."

This almost feels normal, you think, like a routine, something domestic - Irene leaving her things all over your apartment, Irene occupying your bathroom cabinets and the space on your shower rack that used to belong to a singular bar of soap. This is a tale of a typical hookup arrangement gone absolutely off the rails: sex for a night here, a dinner together there, a break from the monotony. You shouldn’t even know Irene that well, you think, or nowhere near as well as you do - and somehow that didn't stop you from giving her a spare key to your apartment - or it didn't stop her from wanting the damn thing.

You try not to read too far into that last one, since you're probably the only idiot that hasn't noticed how smitten Irene has been from day fucking one. It’s your fault, it’s hers; there’s a case to be made for either.

"You can see how a girl might walk in and jump to the wrong conclusions," you remark.

Irene laughs at that, "Oh yeah?" and her eyebrows raise, her lips pursing in an immediate half-smile - this hot little line that’ll get kissed right off her mouth if she’s not careful. She doesn’t even pretend to react otherwise: that same brand of pleased, almost flirtatious - a bit unyielding. Pragmatic, maybe. Not fully on board, still keeping a distance, just an inch outside of what it could be. She never stops fucking with you. She's never anything but beautiful.

It's very unfair, if anyone’s keeping track.

"You mean like an affair?" She laughs out loud. The mark at her temple dots the expression like an exclamation point. "Like me, as your mistress. That’s fucking crazy." 

"Satisfy my ego. Pretend that wasn't, in any conceivable world, the worst possible phrasing, but yeah. More or less," you say, "one which would, mind you, seem very poorly planned on both our parts, all things considered."

There's a pause where she scrutinizes your face; you stare evenly back. It's kind of a bluff. You are sort of a self-centered prick, on occasion, but you are not lying to this woman; you have no reason to. Maybe it's a gamble: to hope she understands you better than she ought to, or to wish she'd accept you in spite of that. To want her, in your home, at your leisure, a friend or something more. 

Trying to materialize words for the immaterial is largely the dilemma.

"An affair, huh" Irene repeats slowly, tasting the word carefully, like she's trying it on for size - and she cants her hips towards yours. Her fingers had wrapped around the bottom of your tie at some point. "My goodness, that’s like, so, so romantic of us."

"Also jesus, please, ‘mistress’ is horribly gauche," you say, and Irene tugs a little too hard and you step forward. The smug look on her face suggests, not entirely unpretentiously: how else, then, shall we call it?

"But look at me. I am in your kitchen, I’m wearing your clothes," she reminds you, with another tiny pull, which draws you so much nearer. You can feel your neck prickle. "That makes us quite close, wouldn't you agree, darling?"

"Dial it back," you tell her, because Irene's the only person in the world that can put so much stress on a single fucking word and get away with it. 

But she's watching you, watching you still, intently. She looks good, smells somehow even better, You inhale her. There's this cloud of shampoo, fragrance, whatever she's decided to wear - citrus today, light. God, she's so fucking gorgeous.

"I'm still trying to scold you," you end up adding, because it won’t go without saying.

"And I'm waiting for you to." 

It's not the right answer, though your annoyance dissipates almost as quickly as it rises: Irene could probably charm her way out of anything if she really tried, maybe, and still make the entire world like her even better - so instead of responding, you just sigh, and sink further into her. She wraps your tie once around her knuckles, and tugs again, harder and pointedly, but it's not so hard that it hurts; you know she could manage that if she wanted. Irene just grins up at you, rosy in the face and pretty: no pain, just fun.

"Are you mad?" She tilts her head in and places her exhale right over yours. You could count her lashes if they’d stop fluttering. "Are you going to tell me you'll send me packing now? Just order me right the hell out of here and change the locks, do you mean it?"

"I would, definitely," you say, without so much as a beat missed. "If I weren't so busy being inconvenienced by the fact you're so goddamn pretty."

"Mhmm." Irene fits her lips to yours, murmuring, "exactly."

Her body presses and pushes up against you, and you're thinking again about Door A, Door B. Thinking about your future, her future: it doesn't mean anything. Who needs to dream, when Bae Irene's already such a walking daydream? Hypothetically - a wicked little fantasy if nothing else. She still can't fucking resist pulling away after just a second, just a touch too soon, and laughing right against your lips - even though, when you open your eyes again, her eyes are softly closed and she’s leaning in for more.

The reality is: the two of you, inextricably, are bound in each other's pull. A binary star of (1) extremely talented, (2) equally charming colleagues that only accidentally get lost inside the same room: (3) office, (4) storage closet, (5) bedroom, (6) living room, (7) kitchen, (8) the little-used laundry nook. Your list keeps growing. It is exhausting, but maybe not the worst: not, actually, so bad-

Your hands flatten against the cool material of her skirt.

"I could," you mutter, trying so hard, "you know, stop this. Maybe."

"I actually happen to believe you," Irene's saying. Her teeth graze your chin. "But maybe you can try," she offers, not so helpfully, "just this once?"

The hem of her shirt slips up the long stretch of her leg. It doesn’t move far before the bend of her knee has her pinned, skirt pressed flat to her thighs. You aren’t exactly a gentleman, so you pull it to her waist as you press even closer. The nylon feels wonderful against her legs.

So you let it boil down to the instinctual, the obvious. To physicality: her hip against your own, her soft sigh as the kiss grows in strength. You wrap an arm around her middle; her hands cradle the sides of your jaw - the tip of her tongue brushing yours - then her fingers find their home on the nape of your neck. When you touch the inside of her thigh, across the smooth fabric, ghosting over the center - where the tension is tightest - her lips part a little. She shivers. You try not to smile about it.

"Slow?" you ask her, and the amusement feels unfair to her, even if it is your best attempt to appear thoughtful. She sinks her nails into your skin and her eyelids open slightly. They gleam. "Told me to try," you point out.

You touch her, feel the heat as she says, a little strained, "I did." She swallows. "I'm allowed to change my mind later, though."

"Fine," you relent, "then so am I."

She considers this briefly. Her lashes lower and raise. She nods.

And the teasing has to go somewhere. "Well," you murmur, and kiss the hinge of her jaw. "Mistress it is. Guess there isn't much left to work with, huh." And in any other context, these are the things that earn you another patented-glare, a toss of a pillow over the bedspread, a hard swat on the chest, an indignant 'well fuck you, I can't believe we're having sex!', an abject departure, a million things all at once - at its most dramatic and emotional: a maelstrom of verbal riposte.

Here, though-

She hikes her leg even higher around your hip. Her fingernails clench even sharper. Your tie falls down a button, to the crook between her neck and shoulder, and her hair comes free of its messy ponytail. The line of it skims over her breast, just so.

Irene sighs louder, and does that thing, a deepening in the middle of the noise that lets you know exactly how badly she wants you - this, you're getting familiar with, or the start of it at least, that fine-tuned way Irene wants someone when she doesn't even hesitate to show it. It was odd, and at first almost embarrassing to see. That might've even been part of the charm, you think: Irene could want to devour you. You were you - slightly interesting, and in her eyes, probably the most intriguing fuck - but whatever her reasons, it all clicked for Irene. She had a system to evaluate and adjust and execute. There wasn't room for wasted effort.

"Hey," she hums, low in her throat.

"Yeah," you say, lifting her right up onto the counter. 

And see - there are these gestures, reminders, not always in good faith, where you make her feel small: Irene's wrists are suddenly so narrow, one right at the surface of the counter, fingertips cool at your collar, and her nail polish chipping a little at the edges. Your palm is larger, enveloping the high, broad arch of her hip, the sharp line of bone to muscle to sinew. She feels fragile, is what it is, a fine-boned little bird, a thin silhouette under her loose, borrowed shirt - it's almost poetic, a regular old fuckbuddy - a physical habit, and you know her, know how many inches, and you can find your favorite parts of her in the dark, but-

"Want your mouth," Irene's saying now. Her lips glistening, eyes liquid; you want to tell her that that's an indisputable victory, just objectively, even before the clothes fall.

"Tell me where to put it," you offer back, and watch the corner of her lips twitch up.

She runs her hand through the back of your hair, mussing it, the lazy drag of her nails, her heel right to your lower back. The light from the stove is doing her wonders, gold catching off the paleness of her skin. "Make yourself useful, I think, like on your knees."

You raise an eyebrow at her.

"Don't give me that look" - and Irene shrugs her shoulders back - the shirt falling more, the flat plane of her stomach - this jut of bone, the pretty contour of her ribcage, the stark outline of her body just under a few too many buttons.

"It just comes off a bit greedy," you say, letting the words twist, playing with the hem of her skirt between your fingers.

"Maybe because you reward that kind of behavior," Irene retorts immediately.

"You’re spoiled," you laugh. "That’s all. Just spoiled. Life must be great for you, do nothing and let someone else do everything."

It's another one of those, 'you fucking like it', and Irene smirks like the shape of her mouth here is foreplay enough alone. She might be onto something. Like the easy back-and-forth - how she's sharp as razor wire underneath you - a double-edged sword if the weapon knew the sheath.

You lean in. She places her palm flush to your heart, like she can measure exactly how long you’re drawing this out with its steady thud. You know she’ll repay it in turn: she thinks it's hot to jerk around with your emotions before she fucks you, like playing roulette with her orgasm, yours - a slow crawl, a nice burn. Her fingers curl.

"And here you said I was ungovernable."

Irene huffs, slightly. "You are still fucking talking."

"If I shut up, will you scream for me, sweetheart?"

You run a hand up her waist. There's this whiny intake of air. Then Irene says, soft and slow: "earn it."

(Maybe you shouldn’t keep enabling her. Therein lies the problem. Okay, so maybe you like this particular problem.)

But she's tugging your tie out of the way before the words leave her lips. The distance you have between is scant, which seems to be fine, with the way she leans in as the last syllable drops off her tongue, kissing the corner of your mouth, impatient.

It takes approximately zero convincing to drop to your knees; that much has not changed. You glance up at her. Your hands curve to her waist, sliding up. It's funny - how your fingertips just brush under the billowy fabric, how the taut skin over her ribcage fills the length of your palms, and then a touch further. Perfect proportions, as Irene usually is; you're on your knees and that's by design.

Your thumb rolls over the outline of her nipple and it peaks, draws into a quick, rosy point beneath the flimsy cotton, like an open invitation.

Irene smiles lazily, gorgeous - and sinks back again against the countertop. Her feet land on your shoulders. The nylon in the bend of her ankle slides soft at your throat, gentle. "Waiting." She sighs a little. "Still, waiting."

You press a kiss over the nylon, the fabric underneath, teeth barred and tongue pushing. "You said slow," and the rest of you might as well catch on fire, just for borrowing a moment’s composure. You can see yourself bringing her down to the floor, the kitchen tiles, spreading her legs and fucking her into the linoleum, scratching them up, making her cum as many times as she asked. But there's this heavy drag down your back, the nerves blooming. "So let me. I won't get distracted," you murmur - or don't, really - into the softness between her hip and waist, along her navel, the tight planes of her tummy. "I promise, I'll get there, baby."

She hesitates. The breath she holds back is a telltale pause.

And the first thing that really sinks into Irene's skin, besides yourself, is this: every last shred of hesitation she was waiting on, the self-control? Now gone. You've done nothing but serve its loss. She seems to sense her power; and in one blink, the act is apex. In a beat her nerves are recovered, and the nerves are fuel. A natural killer, an organic toxin, that same smile curving her lips, a pointed glint to her eyes.

"Baby, your mouth," Irene insists, her knees falling to the sides, "open. And yes," and a pause, or maybe an addendum, a double meaning in the downtime, "to be perfectly frank: free for me to use. To come and go as I please."

"Haven't left my fucking mind for a minute, sweetheart," you offer up right back, not bothering with restraint.

Irene clicks her tongue. "But yet, you don't ever do exactly as you're told-"

She hiccups, or something close to it - because you grab her ass, bring her hips closer, until you can sink your nails into the firm give of flesh.

Irene looks down at you, eyes just wide, and - ah.

She sighs. Sighs because she knows - you can find god in everything; that’s the goal, that’s the creed - and maybe Irene wasn’t your original way, maybe you were always meant for a different sort of holy figure, but the words you choose are doctrine in the end; that first prayer you got down on your knees and said to her was no less truthful for its betrayal. There are rules to it: this is faith, the religion. This is her. You belong to Irene, and she belongs to you.

"Um. Did you just tear my stockings?" she asks, like a sudden realization, her mouth still dropping.

You nod, because, well, yeah, and pull her panties to the side. "Permission, forgiveness, et cetera."

In lieu of a reprimand or a rebuke, she lets a shockingly pretty little moan when her pussy gets stretched by a finger, two - and they're wet, slippery, easier than the lace had ever expected, and she's already so plush, red and rosy. Irene has always gotten wet quickly, with your fingers, your cock, your mouth on her - and her head falls back in one languorous stretch. The tightness around your finger is dizzying. You'll never grow tired of watching her: a sudden shift, the spine so pretty when arched, the pulse of blood under her thighs, the fluttering of her cunt as it comes to the very precipice of letting you in.

"Do you understand me, baby?" she's asking you, and her breath seems to pick up and the muscle flutters again.

You waggle your eyebrows and lean in, and whisper against her skin, "better than anything."

Your mouth attaches to her clit and never lets go. You fuck her, all sweet, on two fingers. Down to the last knuckle. You curl your fingertips, and she's gasping. The scent of her drives you fucking crazy; this is what paradise has always tasted like, and heaven's the press of her thighs - your name spilling from Irene's mouth. She gets wetter, and wetter - you lap as it floods out of her, down her thighs. You lick it, taste the salt and her bitterness and her arousal, how her pussy grows slick in an instant, swollen under your touch, wanting, aching. Her heels press over your shoulders and dig in, tight.

When you look up over the tight spasms in her diaphragm, you realize she's got the shirt unbuttoned, finally. Fabric spilling down to the granite, skin and bra and sheen; you wrap your arms around the perfect curves of her thighs, the nylon shifting soft on your hands and bringing her closer, hitching up to your shoulders. This is only part one of what you owe Irene - the easy part, actually: you can see her clench in the same breath that she's straining - the need and want to fill her up a sin, the wet smack as her folds are pried apart by the flick of your tongue, the sounds of your hands, the desperation. She'll want, and you'll get, until she can barely handle it. Until the tremors overwhelm her, until it is too much and it never will be, ever enough - until she's left so gorgeous like that, shivering.

The kettle's got the pitch to its scream now, and the volume. The sound makes you grind your teeth. Lick harder, suck longer, kiss a bit deeper - her clit, the pink tip of your tongue pushing in past the folds, between the ring, deep and heavy. Fingers moving slow, almost absent-minded, flitting across her breasts, pinching a nipple - Irene groans. The metal rattles louder, louder.

The shirt's rumpled, tangled, bunched up between Irene's elbows. You lean your teeth to the crease of her hips. You lick, the smell filling your nostrils, her fingers threaded in your hair - holding you where she wants you to be:

"And fuck, ah, do you, oh god- fucking do you- have an," she sighs, trembling as the movement of your jaw sends her shuddering, as your mouth runs and your hands open her legs. She pants. "Oh, darling. Have an honest-" she laughs and the sound pitches too, "-idea, I mean-"

Irene has started grinding against you. Your heart is thundering.

"-of what I'm-"

A moan finally breaks from her lips, so disarmingly beautiful. Irene grabs for the edge of the granite counter; she can hardly seem to make out what she wants. Her orgasm is cresting higher, each flick of your tongue and soft sound of you bringing her there, near. You like that she needs you, like that the word 'insatiable' becomes an insufficient assessment. You push, you move - her hands tug you. You taste her: a warmth, the depth, the pulsing.

"-what you're" - a gulp, a gulping swallow - the fridge keeps beeping, the front door sticks, and it'd be so perfectly quiet if not for the fucking tea kettle. It keeps boiling and boiling and you are drinking your fill, drowning. Her skin smells fucking delicious. You can feel her heat pooling. "Fucking, o-oh, fuck- fucking doing-"

You smile into it. Against her messy, quivering cunt. You are: unashamedly smug.

And fuck. She's gone, swept away, carried off, the pressure of your lips sending her crashing back down with a moan - the kitchen still buzzing and the steam a bit of a haze, and you haven't even finished bringing her through the dying breaths of her orgasm before she's gasping, pulling you back up on your feet:

"I need you, I- right now. Up here-"

Irene tries to grab for your neck again. She doesn't seem to mind her own lack of strength, though. In any other circumstance you'd think she'd look a bit pathetic: her shoulders curved, chin resting in a hand, a absent, pleasantly confused grin, legs and hair a complete unmitigated mess - and here: her lipstick wiped, mostly smudged, her wet, glistening thighs-

"Tell me," you say, and a thousand possibilities are imagined. To get inside of her, feel her nails dragging across your chest, her teeth at your throat, her moan as you slide into the very heat of her - fuck, you cannot stop. She's got you spinning and you’ll gladly lose this particular battle; a typical Bae Irene ending. "Please, tell me."

The water boiling over has begun to crack; and the first tendrils of steam begin curling into the air.

"God," says Irene, shaking with her body so desperate, her hand still grasping you back. The look in her eyes seems so beautifully wrecked, but in no hurry to show it. She smiles, because she wants that over anything. "Don't you fucking listen?"

She grins.

"Ah." Irene shakes her head, pulls your head back, staring, but does not rise to a sit, just slides herself out. One leg kicks, one, then two, from the corner of your eyes: her nylons shredding down their long seams. You're on your feet; you're not really standing, but then you have no real bearings to start with. Your cock is throbbing.

She just scoots on out, and shuts off the stove, and sets the kettle a step back.

"Maybe," you say, pressing your thumb to the seam of your pants. You could probably die of lust right now and have no regrets. "Maybe not. I think I need more convincing."

It would probably also help if your thoughts could stop racing.

"Huh."

She turns - though not with the skirt. The hem has fallen to the floor. A puddle at her ankles. She's only slightly out of breath; the wet between her legs gleams. The slick, smooth fabric of her lingerie sticks to the swollen outline of her pussy. Her fingers dip down, playfully, so she's leaning over the counter. She tugs, and it presses and plays and sticks at her center. You're obsessed, half-crazy from it. Her expression twists; it's fucking bliss. She smiles, one breath, then two - the house settles. You cannot stop staring; you can't. Your mouth feels hot and dry and sticky, wet from her cum, and your pants, you can't quite breathe and the view's only getting better: Irene naked, against the counter, the jostle of her breasts as she strums herself, as her breathing catches and rises, and those nails digging deep into her clit as her eyes drift shut-

She's biting her lower lip - but she looks at you and - stops, her toes pressed to the linoleum.

The moment is suspended, and suddenly the words do not fit anywhere in your throat.

"Want it?"

"Fuck," you exhale, and maybe she isn't just asking that out loud, she's the embodiment of the fucking question: the need between her legs so vivid. She laughs again, licks the taste of herself off her fingertip, sucks at the curve of her nails - she touches the tip of her tongue to the very edge of her upper lip. Her smile, in its sharpness and precision, remains unswayed.

"Bend me over?"

And then, very quietly, and without so much as a scoff in disappointment-

"Fucking christ," you mutter, and nearly fall in a heap towards her.

-

It's borderline unhealthy, that this happens as often as it does: sex that leaves you breathless, sex that shivers across every inch of your fucking skin, sex that aches afterward, that drives your lungs to strain, a moan trapped forever just behind her teeth. Her hips were either made for your rough palms, or you’ve worn them down to your grip. Softened all the edges. Her thighs open to you like you own her. The ridge down the center of her back, your mouth trailing down every vertebrae - her pussy. The inside, the depth - and everything she doesn't mean to let out: all these little notes she's learning with each thrust of your cock into her, and you think you should just say yes, give in.

Let it go, and just trust.

Sex as routine? A repetition of desire. What is routine is that, with Irene:

There's always a new discovery. She has you when she's bent over and you're pounding her knees into the cabinets. She has you on the floor with her. She has you when she's bent over and you're eating her out again, then on top, and on your couch, and with her legs kicked high on the shower wall, and - you fuck her, you find room for her on the bathroom sink. You cum all over her stomach and she just smiles dreamily. You fuck her until she’s almost sobbing, and then you're saying her name like she has your life and your attention, for everything and nothing at all. And after an hour of letting her have your patience, and your dick, your face pressed against her throat, and her nails deep in your back - you tell her she needs to stay. 

It’s a hell of an admission, apropos of nothing.

"Oh? Say that one more time for me," and she's half-covered, the comforter pulled up over her the gentle slope of her breasts, the bedsheet tucked around her waist. "Again," and you have no real use left, you're certain. The most recent orgasms have nearly shattered you both in half: Irene can barely focus on your mouth, where your hips had slammed hers into the bed and - you are pretty certain - definitely did crack her skull right off the headboard.

"Yeah," you mutter face down into the duvet, "you should stay."

"Then it's decided," Irene says out loud, rather victorious, and drops a hand down the span of your back. She's there still, fingering her own cum from inside her pussy. The look in her eyes, sly. The message in them could not be any clearer: what an excellent suggestion, since you both know she'll have no shortage of reasons to keep coming back, anyway.

-

It all feels rather satisfying, pretending not to like the girl. It feels good not caring where she is at night.

As she had said, like an affirmation, a real statement: "this thing, between us, is so uncomplicated. It's so easy."

And she’s right: 

She fucks, and you cum. She looks pretty. That's what she wants to show off, she does and does it well, and as long as you don't pay attention and pretend like it doesn't matter to you, it's an absolute fucking win-win. That's it: that's exactly why, when she calls, when she comes around and asks about dinner, you ask how far you're expected to go for her. What'll earn you her gratitude? Her pleasure's a quick hit, and it's free - if she asks nicely, if you're up for it, if it isn't the same bullshit, same scene - and the night's never a big deal to waste. That's her script; there's your line:

"What's your endgame here," is a thing you're always asking.

She tips her head, her hair falling off her shoulder, that old cliché, those large brown eyes, batting and fluttering. Just curious, but also to draw attention; what a killer pair she has, they're gorgeous. Your eyebrows raise, and your mouth falls open as her fingers dance over your chest, playing with the collar of the button-up that you aren't entirely convinced doesn't belong to her.

"Who says I have to have my mind made up right this second?" is Irene's usual comeback - a favorite - followed by another favor, then an expectation. Then, as your hands fall to the small of her back: "for you, the point is probably the chase," she reminds you, a low little murmur.

Your heart thrums with the little spike of anger. Then again, your cock's feeling the yearn ahead of everything else already; it’s a bad habit, and not getting anything you need. Or, there's a tumble, a mutual surrender in this somewhere. 

"Sure, says you." 

You kiss her so easily. Run your fingers through her hair and drink down her sighs, pull away and pretend. Pretend to dislike how pretty she looks when you do things like this. Pretend like you haven't missed her, that there is no desire, not to run your touches down the back of her knees, or sink your hands into her perfect little ass.

"Didn't need me to," she points out, the lick into your mouth. And her finger curls right under your chin, nails a pretty, perfect oval shape, manicured and soft at your throat, that way she loves - the angle intimate. "And yet. Not stopping me, are you?"

Which you're not. Neither of you is fool enough. You don't hate yourself, she doesn't hate the truth. So, whatever, sometimes you give in to it - if you could call this a 'means to an end', you suppose that might just about cover the ground, because her plans, her reasons don't matter to you, and vice-fucking versa: just to find an answer, or to find a few dozen, and that's enough.

You're no good at love; she says she's not looking for it either, no heartfelt romantic shit to get a tear out of you, she'd tell you at the start:

"Let's just play it by ear, how about that? I could surprise you. You could surprise yourself."

-

(But fuck: Irene's surprisingly full of surprises.

Take when she texts a few days later.

Hey, a blip on the screen, an innocuous string of numbers you refuse to mark a contact. There's too much power, and leverage. She isn't asking. 

It's been too long.

A winky emoji.

I think you’re able to do me a big favor.

A period. It is imperative. She would tell you, with an authority she certainly isn't trying to front or to prove: she likes her punctuation.

I could really, really do with that same favor that you gave me back when we went to that housewarming party, you remember. It'd really be the best thing you've done with your evening if you could help me out. Call it the nice thing to do.

Is your vibrator out of batteries? you text back.

You are a genius.

Thanks.

Let’s go somewhere.

Just this once. But dinner's on you.

A selfie. Slippery fingers, glued to her pussy, running through the glisten-

Oh. Actually, it'll probably be twice.)

-

So. ‘Surprise yourself’ was, naturally, the key. 

It's difficult to have a notion as to how exactly you might surprise yourself - but here you are a little later; she's dressed and in heels, and that's a relief, or rather a delight: this woman looks devastating with her hair down. But still, like this: the hem to her slacks that draws her thighs down to an elegant peak, the nice blouse she's got her buttons done to the top, and one less: this cleavage isn't wholly visible but the shadow is still a tease, her thin jacket only pinning in how her waist is cut into such a deep arc. Irene had asked if this looked too formal, and the second response in your brain was to ask why: her normal wardrobe's worse - less clothing, more fucking exposed. Then again, you might not mind watching Irene work so hard if it meant your hands get full quicker-

"That is absolutely no way to put it," she admonishes.

"Come again, Mistress?"

"Ass," she mutters. It's not even a reprimand so much as an agreement, you can see where the smile is trying not to crack open. "No," she corrects, and smiles anyway. She pushes a lock of her hair behind her ear, "I just mean- fuck you and your terrible metaphors. Anyway, we should go. You drive, my car is a total mess."

-

You take her out. There's dinner. There's drinks. It's something like a date, because that's what she wants. The hostess smiles politely. The waiter raises a suggestive eyebrow at your fingertips grazing Irene's leg underneath the table, and you both ignore the interest. You pass him her credit card without comment when you go to settle up. When you stroll about, the sun is going down and the dying light paints her skin orange, yellow, and red. She tells a story about work. You manage to get a few of your own. Your fingers loop through hers and the action makes her do this lovely smile.

So the gist of it is: you have a fling, her name is Irene, there’s some vague cohabitation occurring, and - oh, she's an absolutely fantastic lay.

It's the sort of thing that on the surface level sounds like a total and complete win, even for all its contradictions, flaws, and pitfalls. She fucks, and you're willing. She looks pretty. You keep her content. That's enough, as a friend-with-benefits; more of the benefits than anything else, she always reminds you. And every now and then, when Irene starts making demands of your time, of your availability - making plans, making reservations, making the expectation known that the two of you have a standing obligation, ‘benefits’ penciled into your schedules every Tuesday and every weekend (and Thursday, too, if neither of you is booked) - she suddenly becomes more complicated than she should have any rights or reason being. There's a kind of security you take away from it.

Irene's holding her clutch in the parking lot, posture perfect. The sky's on fire and the setting sun is burning down the horizon all around her.

"Can we do it in your car?" she's asking, totally nonchalant. 

"What?" "Sex," Irene repeats, like you didn’t understand the question. Her expression is bright, seamless. She holds her wrist behind her back, and twists a little on one heel. "I want to get you off."

This is a case study; you’re walking, breathing empirical data. You’ve gone from wondering to knowing about what they say in regards to women of a certain age. The appetite. The inexplicable desperation. It used to be a joke. Maybe it's because men in their 30s are unusually relaxed with their dating life, or all of their friends are talking about wedding rings, kids, a white picket fence - with life a non-event to handle with finesse and a delicate grip. Or: maybe Irene simply isn't complicated in the ways people seem to expect her to be. She’s needier for sex than usual, for starters. "Are you expecting some urgent business meeting, or an important call - any sort of personal news, maybe - like, in the next half hour?"

"Are you serious," you manage. Fuck her, actually.

"I don't know why, I just feel like you might appreciate the cramped quarters. We can make out while you cum and stuff."

You almost snort, but - her hips have that sway. The door’s unlocked. You stare. The purse settles on the passenger's seat. This girl is so stupidly pretty.

"You, uh, wanna get on top?" you ask, voice already slightly drying at the sound.

Irene reaches over and traces your jaw. Her thumb feels lovely pressed to the seam of your lips, rubbing over them slowly. Her mouth is this gorgeous color and you just can’t stop staring. "So cute. What’s your best guess, sherlock?" She pats the roof of the car, gently. "Get the fuck in."

-

Irene is, at her most shameless, a list of demands: give me your fingers, touch my clit, do it now; take my wrists, fuck me faster; don't you dare fucking cum - there's no rush here, so put in the effort. You have a basic idea of where you're both headed, and the situation demands you to, um, obey. The sound of her wet cunt fills the tight confines of the car.

"Fuck, Irene."

At her most elegant, she's pretty much the same, but she fucks like a total dream: 

"Slow, yes," she'll coo into your ear, in the early stages, before her head starts falling back and her chest rises, and all the sweet notes from the back of her tongue get driven to the fore, and there are moans instead of directions, groans and cries. "Feel me. Deeper. Fuck, babe, just like that."

Her nails drag deep, and that's not usually the plan - the start is fast and easy; her pussy drips like she's soaking a cloth, a fresh layer every second, and a clench that swallows every thrust; and somehow the friction's good enough that if you stick around and keep your focus, you get Irene begging for mercy by the end of it, just to savor and relish the sensation, the motion of your body into hers.

"There," and her eyes flutter, "yes. You are so fucking hard for me." She leans in, kisses the shell of your ear: "you’re fucking stretching out this little pussy, baby, you know that?"

"Jesus. Fuck, please-"

"Should we? Should I let you?" She clenches down, "fill me up, babe? You think you're worth the privilege?"

"If you'd let me - Irene, the things I could do," you don't breathe, "jesus fucking christ."

And she looks at you with wide, honey-smudged eyes. Pretty even when fucked; especially so. Her fingers get wrapped in your collar and she’s nodding her head in rhythm with her quick little bounce. The snapping of her hips. Up and down, and up and down like she’d be insulted if you didn’t drain your balls into her perfect little womb right then and there. She says don’t do this, don’t do that - and then she fucks you like you’re supposed to.

"Yeah, that’s right, be a good boy for me," her mouth whispers, even though there is no one else in her car, you're pretty sure. Her voice is like a vice, just you, with her hips, her hot little hands pushing you down so she's riding the top of your head. You can hear her dripping down into the space, a new leak.

"How're you gonna deal with it when I'm filling your tight cunt?" You thumb at her ass, squeeze. "This pretty, round ass? Want me to cum inside you every which way, huh? Marking up my territory?"

You hear her stutter on a reply, as her pussy gives a particularly strong flex, another contraction.

"All those wet loads, dripping out your cunt, down your thighs... on your lips... you gonna taste every last one, princess?"

She has a face like she wants to hurt you for that one, the moniker - you have a sneaking suspicion there's nobility in her blood, laid deep somewhere in her veins, another lifetime lived far from this one: she'll have a predilection for thrones, diamonds, queendoms to rule. And if that were true - well, you'd be downright lucky if she consented to an audience, even less entitled to her hand. She's out of your league regardless. Or maybe, she's the furthest thing from royalty and she just knows the script better than anybody. Kneel, she'll say, and you find yourself obliging; give me your mouth, your fingers, she'll ask, and you're compelled. It's all ingrained.

"What was that?" she asks, incredulous, riding your cock so hard the seat shakes instead.

"I said: this cunt, christ-"

You bring her closer to your face, have to feel that clasp of heat with every stroke - and when it is so fucking deep, her hips lock up, clamped, thighs quivering - you just hold her in place, give her a few breaths, let the satisfaction really sink in, even if she's already moaning.

"Well, I guess you got me there, huh." Her mouth gives her away, the lopsided-grin. "Yeah. So cum, give it." And then it twists. Her face looks so beautiful in distress, and you're certain you've had that thought many times since: if the situation demands it - maybe it would be just fine to push a little bit more? It's a neediness that doesn't go understated, even when Irene's more whining for it: like, the fuck are you waiting for, her tits out, panting, sweating, cursing and moaning at the slow drag through her slippery muscle, a grip like satin, like velvet.

You’re a total mess: 

"Breathtaking, the faces you make for me" - "you look so good, like that, so handsome" - "has anyone ever fucked you this good?"

It’s official. She'll have to scrape you off the leather.

And as if to add insult to injury, Irene’s hands come up to her hair, holding it up into a messy bundle above her head. There’s a tilt of her chin, a bite into her lip. She’s bouncing fast, taking your cock deeper on each twist, and it’s all very performative. Fucking Irene is as visual an experience as it is visceral, because chiseled into her figure, the lithe frame, are these model-esque proportions - like she’s not actually five foot nothing in her socks. 

(A beautiful little paradox. She’s showing off here. She’s showing off, simply because she can.)

"And you’re the one always calling me greedy," she breathes, like the punchline, as she takes the next inch, the wet slapping of skin. There's heat. So much fucking heat - she's got a pulse that pulls you forward and won't let go, your balls hitting her ass and thighs soaked, so red and plush and beautiful, a softness that takes a second and an elbow's reach and, fuck. Her thighs on the dashboard. "You've been-"

Your palms fit into the curve of her ass. How a small, fragile, dainty thing like her can have so much to grab onto remains a mystery and a fucking miracle.

"-a bit of a prick, honestly, for a minute-"

But she's so responsive - and you want to wring it out of her, really, a desire to destroy and savor, even when that sounds a little wrong and too close to sacrilege - you really ought to just call her the ultimate fantasy: she has the cutest tits, soft creamy thighs, tightly wound curves and a sexy-as-sin attitude; and when she sits heavy on your cock, wiggling her hips in a circle, you lose the plot and a little bit of your mind.

"-have to say, it's been getting to me."

"Here's hoping it doesn't give," you grumble as your arms tense and your back aches, your shoulders strain. Irene seems unconvinced, and she usually is, but the drive is relentless.

"Then you'll have to hurry up," the rake of her fingernails across your neck, "won't you?" and she is too slick and so eager, "because you’re gonna cum for me, sweetheart, just let it all out, baby." Her cunt and her heels in the upholstery and the stinging welts draw you deeper- 

Your hand braces around the center console. 

She has her lips on your temple, your hairline: "I’m imagining how my pussy will look, all creamy and used and pretty - all because you fucked it nice and hard and raw - no matter how many times I fuck myself with my fingers, I'll keep feeling the ghost of this fucking perfect cock."

The noise that leaves your lips is a full, throaty, ragged groan, your muscles shaking and skin burning. "Irene, god," you sputter out; it's not super attractive, you think.

Irene kisses the juncture of your shoulder and neck like it’s music to her ears, her jaw against your jaw:

"You've got to stop edging me, love, my little pussy was made to get stretched by your cock, show me-"

You thrust in deep. 

"Fuck."

"Oh," she whispers, eyes hooded and lashes sweeping low, an awe so thick to her voice. "Such a good boy for me - now. Make me cum, yes - make me cum all over you - mhm-"

You jerk your hips again - your pants hanging around your thighs, her blouse pushed up around her waist. You've twisted and knotted the fabric over and over into something you can pull or hold onto - it's not clear to you yet which idea's more pressing.

Because there's no breathing room. You need to twist your hips just to fuck into her - her lips are parted with this insatiable moaning, and it's sweet and pretty and filthy. She wraps one knee higher. There's the lock to your ankle, but she's grabbing the lever and trying to pull your seat down, the rest of it; you absolutely let her. All this in heels that would be impressive without a tight wet pussy pressing down on the length of your cock, begging for what seems like an endless number of thrusts into that delicious heat, the perfect clutch. She rides you rough: the leather beneath your knees shifting with the constant scuffle. Her elbows bent, a thumb grazing her tits, pushing up the silk and the lace.

Her soft, pale skin is spilling all over you, her limbs finding purchase as her mouth slides against yours on a new rhythm of need and want: "that's the thing, right? You're such a delight when you put your mind to it." She's pressing a kiss against your temple - her tone, this intimacy, a hotness between her thighs that leaves you breathless, dumb - it's the only sort of inescapable validation that might suit.

You had the perfect view as she shrugged the jacket, unbuttoned the blouse, sat the bra over it, just undid her slacks: this perfection, laid bare, exposed in your passenger seat with her tits squeezed in both palms. Then it was her hand tugging at the zipper to your pants.

So - you're fucking her harder than you have any business doing. Her nails are digging trenches in the skin of your forearms and you have the slightest sense of everything she has, wants, demands; you've had her under you, bent her in half, folded at the corner of your bed. You’ve fucked her with your cock so far into the slick-dripping hole of her cunt until she can't stop cumming - or begging - or the Irene-equivalent.

"There you go," she says into your throat, like it's nothing, and sags a little further into your chest. "There we go," she repeats. Her brow is glistening with sweat, and you kiss it: hot, and a little bitter. You can't help it. 

You're fucking her harder than she can handle. You're filling her. She's stuffed to the fucking brim with your cock, bulging at the folds of her insides.

And, christ, her fucking waist. She is so small, so fragile-looking. You wrap both hands around her middle, and as her hips grind forward, meeting the roll, she grabs your wrists, holds your hands up her ribs and gets, and gets - oh, just where you fucking left her. Your knuckles are left digging to the silky skin, bruises dotting purple across her back, her neck, her tummy and her thighs, every surface - you're grasping and claiming what she has to give you, just a hint. There's a million and one ways to love, to give back, to please a partner - but you have one goal: you're not an artist, you're not a philosopher, or a poet - so you’ll leave physical marks, reminders, of everything you've done and will do. You’ll make her cum. Just hold her still and make her cum again and again and again. The weight, the lift. If she asked, you would. Fuck. You would. She rides your cock and rocks you into the upholstery of the passenger-side chair. She sinks down and presses her mouth to the edge of yours, just shy, her own teeth pulling at her bottom lip-

"Your cock feels," and here Irene takes the moment for a heavy, contented sigh. "-ah, fucking unbelievable. Your fucking cock, jesus."

Her voice is… it's really so dreamy. The praise does strange things: you reach down and pull her thighs so they tighten at your waist. There are no illusions here, she's found something worth chasing. The bare-boned desperation drives her insides wild, you can feel it. The clench, the pulse, the absolute slutty-slick dripping, a real, honest, aching cunt, warm and clamped at the hilt of your cock - it's obscene, and your patience is stretching paper-thin. You aren't asking any questions; she's not taking them.

It’s just you and this petite, absolutely stunning, heartbreakingly gorgeous girl sitting in your lap and working herself on you like a doll, and- oh. She really does look great. It's impossible to look away.

The windows are fogged, and her cunt feels divine as she runs you further into your car seat. Her hips snap up, back down - the soft drag and then the cinching flutter. The inside of her, a total fucking delicacy. One of your hands slides across her back, counting the rise-and-falls of her spine. One, two, three, and so on. Her lips are flush at your throat. You feel her whimper.

It’s the most perfect noise you've ever heard.

"Baby," she mouths at your collarbone, her movements becoming more spastic, more erratic. "I can feel you throbbing."

The encroaching dark keeps threatening the corner of your vision, so much tighter each time.

"You're going to make me," you're gritting through your teeth - this feels a little insane, a little irrational. "Irene you- you’re going to make me fucking cum."

"Oh?" Irene’s reply is immediate. She slams herself down on your cock, hard. "Then cum."

Your patience is truly nothing at this point. There is not a single breath left inside her either: the heavy swell of her chest is proof enough, those eyes fluttering shut, the angle shifting as her ass meets your thighs. "Seriously, I'm going to fucking fill you, and it is gonna slip all down the back of your legs - Irene - sweetheart, I’m going-"

Her fingers curl behind your head. "Cum," and she groans, "I know- I'm here. Take it. Use this perfect little pussy, I want to feel you cum." and you pull the pace up into a frantic tempo. The metal beneath your back creaks with the strain; the bounce of her ass against your groin. The moan, it pitches: a need, a lust, and she is rolling, rutting her body in circles on top of you, a wild gasp and then a beautiful cry, almost in pure unbridled ecstasy.

The angle shifts and - fuck. You’re able to fuck up into her so easily. Her cunt is hot and soft in all the right places, wrapped around your cock, tight and snug like she was made for you. Every drag of slicked skin and clenched muscle sends you both reeling.

"Irene," you barely say, and you're cumming, you’re fucking filling her up with cum - the only possible endgame. You can’t stop fucking into her even though she's just been fucked senseless, stuffed with your cock: little helpless noises, squeals and yelps like they're being tugged out of her. She goes limp on you, and then she collapses, shivering and whimpering with every deep-bore pulse: you're going to mark every inch of her body, claim every part of her soul.

"Oh my god." A groan. Another. It's coming off her like a wave - like a river, really, you're drowning. "It is so, so fucking hot. Your cum, in my pussy..." She trails off.

Her tight cunt twitches: pulsing with every motion. She squeezes down - hard. It takes a great effort for you not to let out a loud, embarrassing whimper. Your fingers dig into her ass, her hips, steadying her grind.

But you're looking right into her eyes when she falls apart, too, that long, tensing shudder, the gasping groan - fuck - because she feels exactly like everything that you've done, you know: Irene's tight cunt has kept your cock perfectly in place. She was just waiting for the spill of it before the final, hardest crest. The smell's in the air and the haze is all through her expression and, god, you want her, you could just sink a million words into that, every possible adoration and every bit of yourself and you still wouldn't be getting the entire story; just fuck - you can never not be fucking her, never not want to have her riding your lap, moaning out and falling and dragging every part of your body deeper-

"Mmmmm," Irene lets out, soft and satisfied, a tiny whimper in the way that she goes all soft around your cock and comes down and presses a wet, tired kiss at the base of your throat.

"Mmmm-m?"

"Thanks, I think." Her blouse is falling off one shoulder, the material crumpled. There are creases all across it. She's biting on her lip, flushed. "Thanks for that."

-

It has to be said, here - because you know, because the sun is setting on your open window and your arm is snug at Irene’s waist and neither of you even have to mutter a word to acknowledge the fact that it will inevitably rise across your living room carpet again. 

Irene is everything you might have been running from, everything you’ve ever chased - and you’d never ever stand a chance.

-

Greedy, however, just isn't the right word for it. Not really. 

It's the way she leans in when you kiss. The way she fidgets. The way her tongue brushes across her bottom lip. So no - greedy isn't quite the right way to say it. It's more: instinctual.

She's this not-so-subtle tincture of want and desire, in its most basic form - and that makes this all so dangerous, isn't that right, miss? Because want isn't something to toy with; want is, by design, something measured in its inability to be indulged.

(And for the record, your car hasn’t even moved from the lot. You were supposed to get frozen yogurt but that's looking less likely, judging by the way Irene's fingers are tapping lightly across your shoulder, your own clamping down on her chin.)

It’s just so indulgent. Irene hasn’t left your lap, blithely warming your cock for you. Stealing kisses while the day’s last light bleeds low over the buildings. Soft sighs. Whimpers, mewls, muffled little keens of, "oh, oh, please." You trace the edges of her, where your body becomes hers, and her movements are fluid - supple and knowing and just this side of eager.

The car feels now even more cramped and narrow than advertised, the sweat in your skin starting to bloom. The musk of sex, a creeping heat: "go ahead," you rasp out. 

She nods, a helpless dip, and that comes with a sigh, "yes, fuck, right there," her cunt squeezing, a hot, slick little velvety clench; there's something about being buried inside her and seeing her fall apart. This slow rock and build-up. All the hard edges worn to a perfect point. Her dark eyes are glowing, her clever little tongue darting to her lip.

You hold her, slumping together in the front seat. The leather squeaks with the gentle shifts, the slides. The color rising in her cheeks. She likes when your breath catches; her smile goes sharp, a hint of teeth: it's very obvious that she is very very drunk - on control, on cock, it doesn't seem to matter.

A beat passes before the architecture returns to her muscles. She's sitting up, and with your hand firmly cupping her ass, and your teeth pressed to the flat of her breasts. "You," she gasps, the most unironic and unexpected reply. The corner of her eyes is still glistening, still dazed, still blissful. "Don't play dumb. Fuck - no, don't stop."

"Sorry, say that one more time for me, miss."

"You- ah." She grins, and her hip shoves your cock out with a filthy wet sound in accompaniment.

The air of the car is sticky, and her slick is still covering your waist, so the discomfort makes the little groan extra appreciative, anyway.

"Fucking god-" she grumbles, and the whine that escapes is an order for attention.

You take her jaw with both hands. Pull her, and look her right in her eyes and kiss her. Not slow. Not gentle. Thoroughly, so the tip of her tongue reaches the very roof of her mouth. She ends up with her back shoved roughly into the dash, and your fingers tangled through her hair and tugging. And her laugh turns to a whimper, her eyes a half-closed - you fingerfuck her cunt open. Thumb pressed tight to the clit. Two, and the palm of your hand smacks between her thighs, resonating all throughout the car. It's your own hot cum coating your knuckles and drip-dropping off your wrist, so she's melting and needy. The evening's passing, her hands go to her bra, so she's twisting and slipping, the orgasms strung together like the pearls on her bracelet.

Her fingers squeeze yours, then let go.

She licks into your mouth. "Jesus, you're way too good at that," is what Irene murmurs, when you're both just left breathless, half-shivering, merely recycling the same torrid air.

"Let’s get you home, princess," you kiss into her skin, joking. "Before curfew."

She sits up. "Shut the fuck up."

"Sorry," you lie, smug - not sorry at all. "Can't help it. You're too pretty when you get like that."

"What, when I'm cumming for you? When your cock is inside me? When you're fucking my brain to mush?"

Her heels clack to the ground.

"You’re gross," she adds, and shoves your arm.

"You like it," you say to her, "don't lie."

"Because I’m just this sweet innocent thing, right? I can't be held accountable for anything. Look at you, fucking me like this - corrupting me." A flutter of eyelash, and she leans forward to meet your eyes. She's adjusting the straps of her bra. She's a picture-perfect pinup girl. "Is that really what gets you off?"

"It's not bad." You let yourself soak in it, for a second, just staring at her. "The whole naive, helpless schoolgirl act. It's a classic for a reason."

Irene snickers. It's sweet-bitter, and that's fitting. You like how her blush is red and stubborn.

"Goodness," she says, like you can't see the dust of a smile, of a smirk, take shape on her swollen mouth. "Okay sure, let’s get into that; say my dad is sitting up with worry." Her head cocks, playful. "My family probably sent a search party out for me," and her laugh's lighter than air, warm, a few shades shy of ridiculous - if you thought that the sound could make you as much of a fool as she does - then yeah, that’s pretty accurate.

"What - like in a rocking chair, with his shotgun and everything?"

"Yeah, you’re so fucking dead. He's so going to shoot you on sight when he sees the absolute state you're returning me in. His precious little girl, " Irene picks at her bra, tucks herself back in, adjusts her hair. The last of her hairpins drops, falls to the dash. It rolls back, between your legs. "Pull the trigger and turn you into swiss cheese. Last rites, eulogy, the full nine yards." Her makeup's smudged - red lipstick, the tip of her nose - and you just don't feel like pointing it out yet.

"Cremation, most likely?"

"Eh, who knows," she smiles, and now, more than ever, there's not a sign of hesitation in her face, her voice, the light and effortless way she drapes across the interior, stretches. "You’re so cute though. Maybe he'll give you a chance and let you run."

-

It hadn't really occurred to you until you arrived onto the front steps of Irene’s apartment and watched her sink back against the door, exhaling softly in the fluorescent light, her eyes heavy, but you have a sneaking suspicion that you're doing everything completely out of order. 

You aren't in some trope-addled tv drama, and Irene isn't your childhood-friend or your slowburn-material, someone with a sentimental backstory.

Maybe in a parallel universe, some twisted alternate ending, where she's in this long, silky wedding gown, both sides of the aisle are watching you commit sins the way people can't resist doing in those fuck-it stories, all heat and sex and dopamine without remorse - but not now, not yet.

(Probably - probably not ever, and if that's a cop-out you can't help it. Because isn’t it silly, the things the people will do. Pretending to not be in love, all for the sake of the chase - getting themselves hung up in this world of digital advances and missed connections.)

You'll regret it later, you think. That's an unforeseen variable you should've predicted, though, isn't it?

Because you've both loved before, both been hurt, the excuses are all in the chamber: all the mixed signals and stereotypes. How she looks at you - or doesn't, some days. Your past, hers, the differences. You've never known exactly how this should go, if there even is a best version of this love to pursue, the idyllic happily-ever-after, that perfect white dress. Fuck, that is not the daydream you're supposed to be having.

The story instead, is like this: you drive her home. She sings along to the music on the radio. She kisses you over the console at a red light. Someone honks. You walk her to the door, because you're old-fashioned when you think it’s useful. You're a charmer, she's yours. You grab her by the chin and probably end up making out for far too long.

Just imagine if it had all been by the book:

A first date, then text messages. A second, where you're supposed to invite her to dinner, drinks. You’re supposed to call her, on the phone, with your voice and everything - low, a little assertive - not bossy or controlling, no: that's what the third date's for. There's a checklist for what to do, what to say; how you're supposed to kiss her, and why she's supposed to act all shy, the picture of demure - like she's innocent, though she'll be anything but. At the end of it, you're supposed to pay. She won’t let you. You're supposed to walk her home. She's supposed to linger, put the keys in the door and ask you what you're doing next - she's supposed to look over her shoulder as she walks inside and say goodnight, be coy, let it dangle on the edge. And that's supposed to be that. All of it: quintessential.

Nowhere in that manual does it say anything about pinning her up against the door and slipping your hand into her slacks either - underneath the soft, dark lace of her panties and placing your other palm over her mouth so the neighbors don't hear what a little slut she can be when she wants to.

Just this side of coquettish. A total delight.

Irene practically sobs into the side of your hand. Her mouth drops open, and you haven't even really touched her; she's wet already, soaked - well. She's always wet for you.

"I'll catch you later," you breathe into her neck, letting your fingertips skirt the puffy lips of her cunt on the drag back up because you’re actually not old-fashioned, like at all.

She tosses her hair, lets a sigh run through her smile, the blush, the creased eyes - and disappears through the door. It's the simplest way you two will ever say good night.

-

Ignoring all the rules of engagement, you and Irene never actually tiptoe around each other.

There's never even been a third date because the lines between hanging out and fucking and hanging-out-fucking blur with astounding ease. It's no real shocker: it's the little details in the way you find her sitting next to you at work, hips shifting minutely from side to side on the stool as she sifts through sheet music, sipping her latte, just barely making a sound.

It's the little details in the way she shows up, dresses to all the events, hands brushing yours to call attention to the ends of her fingertips; it's how every camera in the room seems to favor her.

If any of the 14th-century courtship philosophers could ever weigh in, now would probably be ideal. You’d be grateful, sure - because Irene is the epitome of entanglement. And that's your excuse. If anything's going to kill you, let it be her.

-

The texts do dry up for whatever reason. 

Three hours between replies just to conceal a bit of earnest emotion or whatever. You wonder what that's called, wonder when it gets so boring - why all these steps had to be so dull, and why you can't do without them. The modern era has, after all, rendered the ancient rituals pretty fucking pointless - you could both use a time machine to the medieval ages, then you could get the fireworks. The gallant. Some declaration or betrothal - maybe a show of sword, a fistful of your bride's maidenhead. Or whatever the fuck they were calling it in those days, it all sounds a bit crude-

When it really comes down to it, this is less about the charm, the proposal, or the lack thereof. Less about the dear Irene, will you be mine, and more about the want. Want that's palpable, messy: about shedding decorum together and feeling filthy and rough, taking, receiving, biting into the sweet skin of her inner thighs and spanking her so hard she can't walk the next day.

That's all it is, you're pretty sure.

And look - she still attends a majority of your work functions even though, strictly speaking, she has no reason to. Everything is relatively normal, or maybe you don't know how normal is supposed to look, and that's alright because you're trying - and all you really care about is Irene smiling at you with that one knowing tilt of her mouth - and - and she does. 

Hey, you're not entirely hopeless.

-

(The toxicity, the slammed doors, ignored voicemails and belted taillights zooming off into the night - look, not everyone is built for all the drama, not everyone feels the thrill at the tip of their fingers when they cut their losses and move on to the next. Floating through the memories thinking, wow, what a waste of time.

That's not you, you're aware. And Irene’s seen it before, probably, had a story just like it in her own life, maybe been there, maybe not, but isn't it fascinating how all of it always sounds the same no matter how the story gets told.

So, keep it simple stupid. It's easy that way. Don't confuse her, or yourself, don’t fuck it up by demanding more. 

Afterall, it feels good, pretending not to care where she is at night.)

-

So - take some credit, you do something right for once. You call her.

It’s a Saturday and she’s working late because she’s a singer. She's between hair, makeup and costume. Bored. Or, pretending she is, and if you were a lesser person, the type to lie to yourself, you'd let the pretension sit as-is. It's not even difficult: no effort required to sit back, close your eyes, and listen.

"The way he was just staring at me was so embarrassing," Irene is going on about this production assistant, and her voice is always light, playful - it doesn't matter who, it doesn't even matter what, it's the cadence to her speech that lulls. "Like I could read his mind."

"Can't you?" you ask, indulgently.

"Okay, don't try being cheeky, mister," Irene scolds into the phone, but it's hardly stern; her tone's the softest kind of sultry, like caramel, dripping. "He wanted to bend me over the table. Get some nice little marks in."

Hey, who could blame him? She exhales, almost sounds annoyed - the pout on her face is practically audible.

You are not a good person by the longest stretch of the imagination. "Then what stopped him, princess?" you question, not a hint of chivalry left in you. "Fooled me - isn't that your kink? Fucking men you've barely just met."

She laughs - once, breathless and abruptly; something sharp. You're not actually joking and she can't pretend otherwise. "Fuck." The word is a sigh, the suggestion is all over the air. You aren't blind. "You would, wouldn't you? Probably love to see me bent over, too - and split in half on some stranger's cock. Worshiping it like you've taught me, or whatever the fuck."

You hum in amusement, putting the pieces together from what she hasn't said. "Aw," you coo. "Missing me already I see."

"Don’t flatter yourself," she shoots back, all quippy, fast: quick reflexes, the stuff of her brand. "What am I meant to be doing while I'm waiting for the crew, huh?"

And well, that’s the thing - you end up on the phone for far too long, far too late: she leaves you to wait a minute when someone knocks on the door, and you'll have her later, probably, but what's wrong with dreaming of fucking her in one of those dressing rooms, pulling that corset down her curves and kissing her silent in case someone walks by - leaving teeth and nail marks across the tops of her breasts. You expect her to bring the conversation to something a little more in the moment, but her voice carries back into the room and she's asking you, casually, what's for dinner, how was your day. You laugh, tell her a funny story that happens, talk about everything that's mundane, everything she should know and would know about you if you actually spoke all the words in your head.

"Hey," she says, at some point, quiet and suddenly gentle, and you're already wrapped around her finger and you've yet to tell her. "I like talking to you. Keep calling."

This isn’t like you, really. Or it hasn’t been - not in a while.

"As if that's up to you," you shoot back, your voice so dry you know she can see straight through it, but maybe you're doing alright, making leeway - because at least, it's a placeholder. Irene seems to understand what you can't explain.

"Ha." Another laugh, airy this time: easy-breezy. A vocal shrug. "My hair is way too cute right now to deal with your smart mouth, anyways - they're waiting for me." She hesitates, but the gap isn't uncomfortable, a space to breathe. "Let's just say you'll get tired of me before I get sick of you."

"Do you want me to see?"

"Later," says Irene, almost hurriedly, like an excuse, but in a pretty way, and the click on her end of the line is still warm.

(You hang up, stare at the wall and take deep, shaking breaths: in, out, hold - when you don't, you can taste her. But still, you wait for the feeling to subside.)

-

At first, she had seemed entirely untouchable. It’s funny. At first, you were convinced she'd look right past you.

-

She sends you a video, no commentary: the pretty, delicate sweep of her mouth brushing her shoulder. Her arm casts a shadow down the rise of her hips and your eyes trail that shadow south, across the soft planes of her stomach.

There are no questions after it, no words or emojis. Just her. In lingerie and no fucking context. The sound of her inhales.

(She says things with her face like that - or rather she says nothing at all. There isn't a hand-written translation key, though she leaves clues. She's playing it up, knows how you like her when she gets mouthy, lips glossy, knows how you like her panting. It wouldn't take much if she put her hand between her legs for you: you'd suck on her fingers, clean them off. You'd do anything.

The sound she does make eventually is low, frustrated. It's filthy - just thinking about her, all alone and barely touching herself: waiting for your reply.)

-

And yeah, it'd feel good not having to think about the bullshit anymore - you’d do your best to convince everyone that it's casual: the looks, the touches, all of it - the two of you together. It'd be a total lie, and you'd know it: everyone would know it, but that doesn't really matter. Because keeping things careless works. Never had it been about the feelings, and it's a cop-out, sure, that old cliché, but look - there's a really good chance you'll muck this up if you're given the power to put a name to the way her pupils dilate a half second before she grabs at you. Or the way you always fall a little more for her.

You think about that, about the worst of it: that she could ask you the most invasive question on her mind and instead, you'd answer, honestly and willingly, just like that: "hey, do you want to stay the night?" 

-

But here’s the thing: she's a singer and she's got all these friends. Colleagues and acquaintances from work who are, in her words, also 'friends' (code for: people I am required to tolerate by contract.)

Hey, you're no marriage counselor - you won't try to figure out the etiquette. And her labelmates aren't a total disaster.

It's only fair to make an appearance, meet all these alleged Bae Joohyuns. And - she likes it, in that way Irene likes a lot of things you do to her. She’s texting you a new address every few minutes, texting nonstop by the time you've matched a tie to a shirt and are actually considering heading out. It's this afterparty, or wait, sorry, we're actually at a bar now - no, scratch that, it's a friend of a friend's place, you'll love it, I think? - and you can't really picture her stumbling through the city at midnight like she is, but there's a blurry photo of her and Seulgi and Wendy crowded around a mess of champagne flutes on a counter. An outdoor patio, a rooftop garden somewhere downtown. Her dress is breathtakingly gorgeous. There's an arm snaked around her waist and that's - hmm.

Wendy wants u here lol, the next text reads, and okay, you can't actually be bothered to give her shit for that right now. She can't be helped.

Someone's having fun, you type out instead.

Maybe I'm bored, comes the reply, just as fast, and then a few seconds later: i don't think anyone knows me here.

You roll your eyes. You'd love her despite, or maybe because of, a personality like that. "Never took you for anything like a celebrity."

Fine. I'll have to think of something to do, then, Irene responds, almost lazily, the following text-delete cycle appearing under your thumb like some new and innovative high-speed braille. Maybe.

But you could also come over and get me off, you think she should add. That could be fun, too.

No dice.

Meet me soon, she texts, and maybe a drunk mind speaks a sober heart, but she doesn’t even know what it does to your stomach when she follows it with, I miss you.

You wonder, a little, how you got here. You wonder if things like that ever just become normal.

-

Kang Seulgi is standing out front when you spill out of an uber and onto the sidewalk, all stooped over under the yellow haze of the streetlight on the corner, smoke coming up off a cigarette hanging out of her mouth.

The chill night wind picks up and the edge of a leather jacket flaps behind her. It's almost eerie in how mundane the sight should be - and you think it's funny: Seulgi can make herself at home, anywhere.

"Hey," the brunette calls, stepping up. She's tall in her heels, the crescents under her eyes deep. The stars in the sky are shining against all the bright signs and street lamps, and it's hard to spot them. "Haven’t I seen you before?"

"Around the office, probably-"

Seulgi's eyes light up - she's not as drunk as the photo suggested, you think - and she gives a bright smile. Her eyebrows jump in recognition: a blur, the glimmering pulse of neon over glossed eyes and a lip caught by a canine. "You're Irene's-"

"-work friend," you answer quickly, before she has the chance to finish. It makes her laugh, which you weren't really counting on, and pocket her hands. You have enough bad ideas; you don't need hers as well.

"Oh. So you’ve got an arrangement," she suggests.

"It's an occupation," is as much as you'll tell her. "We all have one."

"Mhmm," she agrees, the wince on her face passing as a thoughtful hum. She shrugs.

"Did you-?" You clear your throat, don't know why it's hard to get out. "Is, uh, Irene in there?"

She takes a slow pull, long eyelashes sweeping over her cheekbones. Smoke spills out over her top lip. "Of course," says the girl, with all the attitude. "Just, not so alone."

"So," you start, cautious. "Do I even want to..."

Seulgi waves her hand, drops ash off the cigarette. "Nothing to worry your little heart over, friend," she mumbles, shrugging. Her fingers are delicate as she blows smoke between parted lips, eyes angling up at the city lights. "She said she was meeting someone cute. And I’m left wondering, if that someone could be you."

"Um," you respond. "Could be."

"Hm." The word is loaded, considering, and when she takes another step forward there's a smirk painted to her mouth, the deep red cut in the center of her lips almost reflective. She tosses her cigarette aside: a clean arc into a storm drain. "Interesting."

Seulgi's fingertips brush your collar as she ducks into the door in front of you.

"Later, pal," she tosses over her shoulder, and doesn't look back to see what happens next.

-

(You’d feel so much lighter, like a feather, with her off your mind.)

-

A crowd's scattered around the rooftop, now spread a bit thin - most of the people you recognize from tv screens and billboard ads, and everyone else seems a mix of other media. They're talking to each other in hushed tones about some shoot-down, this piece of gossip. They're comparing agent fees, checking the pockets of their jackets, flicking gold-plated pens in their designer hands. The whine of a power drill going a mile a second comes from over the railing: a few shots left to take. A skeleton crew works behind a camera, behind the glass, but no one seems to mind the business of film in the midst of celebration. They really are a different breed, aren't they?

You pick her out of the crowd instantly - in a white silk cocktail dress that costs more than a college tuition and no sense to act the part, Irene is seated among all of them like she fits. It's never a surprise, her at the center of things.

The seam at her hip rides up when she turns to reach for her drink, her leg extended long: overstretched, one toe pointed elegantly as if she could place her full weight onto a thin little stiletto heel and not snap both ankles. Her bottom lip is coated with bright gloss, pink smearing as it pulls at the straw.

There's a pause where everything slows down: she licks the crease of her mouth, sucks something golden and sparkling down, swallows, blinks - slow, pretty, perfect. Her hair is dark, cute, spilling onto her shoulders, and it brushes a collarbone, slips a little into the slit between her breasts. She's looking for someone, gaze traveling across the patio, swimming through the party - searching - and then, suddenly, those deep-water brown eyes catch yours.

They shine just a little bit brighter.

And then, the only logical thing: Irene smiles, before her feet carry you right in your direction.

-

Inside, things aren’t so loud. The night had gotten its worst out of the way early, the only source of music low and reverberating through the walls, the ceilings - all dark and liminal spaces; you and Irene find one to spare and fall into each other there, slow and searching and full of everything. It would be enough to get lost in her completely, this sweetness. You, and the kiss, and nothing else.

It's almost private enough to call it quiet; you're both out of sight and hidden, but there's voices, drowned noise all around. The bass can be felt through the floorboards, underfoot, but you can only focus on the rhythm that thrums from inside of her chest.

There's a disarm, here, too:

"I kissed someone tonight," Irene confesses, and then there's this break, a fragment where neither of you knows who you are to the other, what any of this means - if she'll bite down, be that sore reminder of a few unspoken words.

"Did you."

"Yeah," she says, exhale tickling your jaw. Her lips drag on skin, trace bone - and maybe it should bother you, but either way you can't help it: a thought finds purchase. Irene in someone else's grip, just enough a squeeze. Someone she'd like, or someone she could put herself back in a relationship with, or whatever they're calling this - and all at once, she's trembling.

The revelation is a bit like getting shot through the heart. A simple, awful: fuck. You think you might be bleeding.

Irene pulls the strap of her dress back up her shoulder and explains how it happened, out in that patio garden: a closed-mouth thing, some fleeting nothing, really, a bold dare on his behalf and her lack of inhibition. No, she assures you - he tasted like vodka and it was boring. She kept his hands off her ass, just in case you wanted to know. But still, the blood pumps harder in your veins knowing what she has and hasn't done - and what's wrong is how you only hear her confession in the middle of feeling something envious, a sudden, strong, profound desire to mark your claim: you'd leave this bruise, something ugly at the hollow of her throat. It makes you a possessive, possessive kind of person, and the sentiment, you figure, can only end in trouble.

"Sorry," she sighs, tipping her face forward to brush her forehead against yours, her eyes scrunching as she apologizes. "I don't think you wanted to know, but-"

You're trying to distract yourself; she's pressed between you and the wall, arms circling your neck as her spine bows under a bit of pressure.

"Yeah?" you question though. You can't not. There's this telltale roughness, the need to breathe: you'll hold on too long, take her mouth the way she deserves, keep her quiet, and let your tongue flick across hers until her lips are numb. "What then - should I care? Am I meant to?"

She swallows. It's all reflex.

"He kissed me," is all she says, and then her palm is stroking against the shell of your ear, soft, quiet. "Then he kissed me again." 

She shivers, eyes wide, wet and round and wanting: you could say you understand how he could only dream of being the one to turn her head and bring out her charm, the easy way she smiles, but-

"All I could think of was you."

There was never a chance to compete; this star whose shine eclipses. Your binary system was never quite fair, was it?

Your hands are on her wrists then, trapping them at her sides; her eyes smoky and dark and looking straight up at you. She can't breathe like that, mouth agape as your nose brushes hers, your words blowing straight against the heat of her lips:

"Are you still thinking of me now?"

It's only that - though you can hear a sound building up from her lungs. You kiss the line of her jaw and whisper things into her skin: you have me, you can have me, you've always had me. The truth.

And her eyes are slipping shut: mouth curling into the kind of smile that drives you crazy; half the reason why you're all over her in the first place. You don't care where she's been so long as this is where she ends up, your face brushing hers, the kiss held just out of reach - you press into her forehead, her nose, her cheeks; she tilts her chin towards you, begging you to just - but your mouth is on her, feather-light, not near enough: she chases the pressure, gasps your name as your lips find hers, tongue sliding right past, and oh-

It's fast. It's heavy: you take, you push; her whole body shifts and shudders when she finds a grip, one hand braced on your shoulder as the other swung upwards, pulling you closer by the jaw. Your hand runs up her thigh and you hear her inhale, deep.

Irene kisses you like she was made to. She makes sounds with her tongue against yours, ones that twist in you, wind, undo. Like this, it'd be so easy to just let it go - take, take, take. There's not an inch to hide as your hand climbs her bare skin, feeling a shiver rise as her breath rushes hot against your cheek, over and over and-

"Breathe, baby," you mutter, and Irene huffs like it's a game, one of her soft shuddering hiccups, like there's something you should've known - the gasp when you kiss her mouth open, how it was getting easier to drown. She's not drunk, but she's getting there - and she doesn't ask to take it back when you both tip and crash into the wall beside. The reverberation of her back hitting the surface is nothing like the rest.

You take her arm, press her further against the space.

"Bedroom," she barely manages to request. Breathes, the sound shaking and short, almost - almost a plea, or a prayer. A beg. "Somewhere quiet, please. Anywhere. Please."

There's nothing Irene doesn't do without grace - but how she needs you: her limbs give, and she sags, falls against the line of your torso. There's this full, bordering helpless sound as you find her waist, holding her up, pulling her closer. You're kissing in this empty corridor, knocking on doors, jiggling locked door knobs and wasting time, barely, maybe, forever until you can step back into some stranger's guest room: some hallway hideaway; the unoccupied kind of paradise.

"I want you," she mutters when your hand traces the slope of her neck, and then her face is burying against the space below your ear, her open mouth skirting across the sensitive skin there. "So bad, so much. Out of these clothes."

Her neck tilts and you lick. You find a place beneath her ear, kiss - hard. Irene says please. You leave a mark. You know you’ll leave more. 

An unlocked door, and she shoves you into a bathroom instead, fucks you in there with her underwear tugged to the side and her skirt rucked up her thighs: the mirror reflecting back every whine, the squeal you draw out of her when your teeth dig too deeply, the shock, the undiluted want in her eyes when she leans up against it. You have her half on the sink, your arms a cage around her lithe waist, your grip white-knuckled in the silk outline of her dress; she cums around your fingers, cunt slick and slippery, gasping your name so loudly that you have to shush her; and even after that, when her gaze locks into yours, the pretty round of her cheeks all red and her lashes stuck with her tears: when she tugs your zipper down, fits you between her legs and pleads for you to fill her with your cock until the tightness around it is unbearable, fucking her just as you're pulling apart her clothes, the clasp of her bra snapped so hard she curses - even that doesn't stop. She doesn't ask you to stop - she's incorrigible, needy, practically begging.

"Please." Again. Again, as she touches her cheek, fingertips on the skin that's already turning a deep crimson, all shades and blooms; and then she touches the lipstick-smudged prints at the top of her breast, and all the ones on her jaw. Your teeth, where it was light, and your tongue where it was hard. You took, and you marked, and the way she is, her thighs quivering like an aftershock; her body pliable, barely-breathing: that was almost all of what she asked for.

Your hips snap, and the impact jolts through her: ripples sent into the curves of her body from the pleasure, the pain. You try not to listen, not to look - not the obscenities leaving her mouth in a steady stream as you press her down against the counter: every hiss and moan, your name, jesus fuck-

Irene cums a second time with a wail, like someone's hurt her, like she's been set free, like she'll never again breathe so well as she does when your lips catch the scream and hold down the sobs, fingerprints at the faint, fragile curve of her nape.

"God," she whimpers into your mouth; and the sound, that voice, as she moans it to you: "your cock - is gonna kill me, baby."

Her cunt is tighter around your cock than it's ever been, this total vice grip, her hips lean and arched upwards where she lies, slick-dripping onto the bathroom counter; the edge of her heel catches on the marble-topped basin, and her ankle knocks over the handsoap - the whole of it hitting the floor and shattering. 

She doesn't care. She can’t. She's a fucked-out mess: her black hair in knots, sticking to her hairline, her face flushed with need.

"Darling," the sweetest, her soft voice cracking with a laugh, the tipsy tilt of a joke; she's begging with it, some lazy, pretty curl of a request, some pretty plea that turns around into a bite, the heat, the feral - you kiss her harder. Take her harder. Leave a few more marks: just so you know she'll still feel it later, bruised and sore and sorry, and it might be too much, but oh, the way Irene grabs and pulls and fights and tries to cling when it crosses the line; she'll be feeling this tomorrow, a sharp tugging at the inside of her chest as she rubs circles into the scrapes and imprints on her hip bones. This reminder; of what's right there, if only-

Mine, you bite against her skin, and the voice in her head might scream with it.

You can see the fantasy in her eyes: her standing here in the mirror after you've filled her pussy, fucked your cum back into her cunt and had your fingers inside her for so, so long that she'd been soaking, dripping with it - your palm pressing firmly on her swollen, desperate clit, two fingers hooking deep, right on the spot that makes her twitch, tremble. Her jaw goes slack, eyes fluttering and back arching as you watch her drip with the mess you've made of her.

"It was always, I think-" and she hiccups, a small pained sound, "it was always gonna be you." She says it like an apology, voice quieter, more uncertain, a little shaky. "I just can't get you out of my head."

Your hips are reckless, a little mean - but your mouth moves slowly across hers. It's tender. It’s everything. 

"Baby," you plead back: and it's something soft and small when you sigh it into her mouth. Your fingers tracing her ribs and feeling how she breathes with your every motion; how you're filling her so deep she almost can't. Choking, with a whimper, like it's hard - and then her jaw goes slack, eyes snapping shut - her knees bend - like she'll give up on the control. Her body slackens and gives under you; her legs widen to fit your hips, all her weight sinking backwards on the marble-top-

She keens when you bottom out, a high, delicate noise. Whimpers at how full she is of you; she must've felt your rhythm slipping and letting it run too rough-

And even then. She asks, totally breathless, panting: "Right there," and fuck, god, please. "I love this," she whispers, the sweetest, the most gorgeous, lips moving as slow as a prayer - "and you fuck so good. And-"

Irene swallows; her chest expanding and then halting, shallow and deliberate. Her chin turns; her mouth opening in some expression of yearning before the word comes; a gasp, and she can't - she can't quite-

"Keep- baby, please." Her throat makes a noise and all the words taper. "Please, right fucking there."

She makes another sound, strung out and desperate - and she keeps gasping the faster you thrust your hips. Each drag through her hot, wet cunt has you both clambering closer.

"This," Irene's panting, this terrible, wonderful realization in her mouth. "This feels like-"

A stutter. A strangled sound: you don't even catch a full breath before she's trying again.

"-like us."

Oh, Irene, her heart murmuring. Like something soft, like something hard - this burn, this hurt; Irene, in her prettiest, highest pitch - the way she speaks, the way she breathes, her voice dropping a decibel like some clandestine secret. Like sin, a honey-coated whisper in the space between you two.

"Irene," you say, and she melts like you’re inscribing it into her skin. DNA-deep, carved into her bones. She takes it like a baptism, something in it an invitation, a promise to hold her dear - and all at once, that smile grows, blooms. 

It's intimate. It's affectionate. Fuck, it's true.

You break open her world with her own name, spoken like a sigh and sounding like sin.

There's this hollow, raspy sound she makes. Beneath the shallow of her clavicle. When your fingers push down, her nipples pressing back into your palm - there, as her breath hitches, as she quivers - right there; her cunt trembles around you, eyes wide-open, and you're just watching each other lose yourselves until Irene has to beg for another kiss, and the next, her fingers grasping at the collar of your shirt as she slips her tongue into the corner of your mouth. You wonder why she bothers with perfume; when all she is is vanilla and cinnamon, a saccharine so sweet with a touch of spice; she murmurs the words into your ear: I want your cum. Fill me up. Use me.

You think:

God, her body; god, the feeling. The sound.

Think, still:

Look, your hand. At her waist. At her pussy. Right here. The place where you're connected. Flesh, bone, a stretch of skin - the raw, obscene mess you make; when all it takes is a rock of your hips, a thrust upwards and in to dismantle everything that is her, everything that is Irene, until her entire world is centered around you-

It could be a chorus, a refrain:

Let go. Let me see. Drown me out. Kill the lights. You’ll take three hours over three weeks where you pretend she doesn’t exist. It's simple. It’s, it’s-

It’s this: the press of her to your skin. The nails to your scalp, down your neck. The splay of her legs across your thighs. The sweat - hers, yours - all of it together; your mouths meeting and meeting and meeting. Again and again.

God. It’s the entirety of you which you were hoping to avoid. You love this woman. You fucking worship her, all of her, every piece and the whole - that she's making that noise in the back of her throat, soft; that her breathing is rising, ragged; that you do this to her, just this.

It happens in a blink. You tell her to turn. Tell her to bend. 

She ends up over the counter, gripping the sink, and you lift the fabric up to bare her ass and keep fucking her, deep, deeper. This sound is all you need, this whine that Irene makes, like you're reaching even her furthest, hottest spots - and then the push through her sopping cunt, how she spills around you and the slickness smears at the insides of her thighs; she clings and squeezes and fucks back against you so wildly, she doesn't even recognize her own name. It's the moment when she loses all sight: that's when you bury inside her, pull back her hair, wrap your hand around her throat, and she's under you, on you, body angling upwards like a flower to the sun. She cums so easily, shuddering into the pull of the climax; her pussy tight around the throbbing swell of your cock - the deep and penetrating pain of that desperate pleasure, like a flash-flood, an earthquake, oh, the grip, the warmth-

The moment stretches, just like that. 

Her heels kicked off and toes arching to scuff at the cool, tiled floors; she's sensitive; she wants to play dirty. Your grip loosens, that same tender thing when her throat bobs, a little movement, swallowing for you. She knows exactly what she's asking for, exactly what this all means - Irene begs so prettily: "put it inside me."

There's a few seconds in which you feel nothing but the heat and the way she flinches, like a reaction that's programmed straight into all her nerve endings; the raw instinct; the shudder from deep within her core when your hot cum finally starts to spill thick and heavy inside her - it's been too long since your last proper fuck, and her moaning in the mirror is, how do you say: an incredible inspiration.

"Your pussy," you can hear yourself say, throat gravel-dry. "Is so fucking tight, baby, shit-"

And she's nodding, voice ripped to ribbons. All the words liturgical, a prayer. She's begging with them; yes, please, fuck, god yes, give me-

Her thighs press together, but her eyelids have begun to fall.

"Use me," she mutters. Her breathing begins to even out - the very real sign she's spent, near unconscious. "Want this, want you - so fucking bad."

And the evidence is there. Irene is falling apart beneath you, hands fisting and legs spreading even further as she's braced against the sink, bent, and presented. All of it makes a beautiful sight: the spread of her toned, ivory thighs; her ass pale and her folds so pink; how she's bent, waiting. Everything about her is an artistic consideration, designed, purposeful.

"Christ," is all you manage. The strain is evident in how your tone rasps.

Because your hips are still pumping Irene’s cunt with cum. Fingers wrapped around her tiny waist and pulling her ass flush against your hips for good measure. Again and again and again; no room for doubt: you've missed the warmth, the fullness. Soaked to the hilt as your length curves within her; she coos, and she loves it. She says it’s ruinous. She says it feels incredible. She says it around the shape of your name and with no hint that you should ever stop fucking her apart.

"Feels so fucking amazing." She's panting and she can't say another word for a while; it's a fact and the other is simple. "It's - so good."

She can't stop moaning. 

You’re both breathless, watching her reflection in the glass, a study in motion: the soft bounce of her breasts in the mirror, the cords of muscle tensing in her abdomen, the small, pinkish mark blooming below her left ear. There's her lower lip, pinched between her teeth, her eyes flickering shut as her hair drapes across her naked shoulder and her skirt rolls higher on her waist. She doesn't try and muffle herself: you could hold her down, or even give her your fingers to bite down on - let her go a little wild as she wrestles against the instinct to stay silent, keep quiet. You plant an open-mouthed kiss against the side of her neck and look up, see her watching the movements, her dark eyes lidded, dazed, fucked-out-of-her-mind content as she smiles - lidded and lovely and impossibly knowing and rocking her hips into the moment.

"You are unbelievable, you know that?" you're murmuring, your palm on her shoulder. Pushing her flat. "Absolutely breathtaking."

You rub a thumb against her cunt, pull at the outer, exposed, sensitive parts as Irene's smile falters. You just keep pushing.

"Oh, baby," she whines, pleading for more. For one more press, another, anything: she begs you. "Your cum feels" - she swallows hard - "so fucking warm inside of me."

A shush, the palm soothingly pressing between her legs, and she bites her lips hard. Still trying.

So - you push it all deep into her cunt. 

There’s this beat, this moment, this quiet - where her eyes pinch tight, voiceless, speechless.

And right after, Irene is whimpering: her body seizing and shaking and arching away from the viscous slickness that just keeps building with each and every drag; the cum left on your cock when you pull it out, leaving Irene on the verge of sobbing, collapsing on her stomach, trembling. Your fingers are covered in her cum. And this is how she likes it, stretched and sloppy. The shudder through her body is proof: all over her nerves, electrified. Irene’s shoulders go limp when she feels the push - then your knuckles, curling. The gentle touch, the pressure, the fingers spreading her slit.

She asks what else, anything, please, and hints at wanting more; so much more.

“Irene,” you say, smiling into the ends of her hair. Maybe, you consider. Maybe later, maybe when you're fucking her flat on your bed; your cock up her tight ass or your palm coming down heavy on the supple roundness. You let her fantasize a minute, imagining it's the roughness she wants to receive; maybe the hot, slow grind of you still inside her or the whisper at her neck and her toes digging into the sheets. The offer has her breath stuttering in the mirror.

Irene tells you it's unfair.

"Sorry," you say, and don't mean a word.

Another breath in, the lungs expanding against your palm, ribs slipping. In and out, a reminder.

"Don't be," Irene manages, exhaling a laugh.

She offers you her lips, you know she doesn't mind - and she kisses you. You sink down to the bathroom floor and she sits so easily in your lap, your mouths meeting over and over again. She strokes your spent cock. Your hands squeeze her thighs and you take her chest in your mouth. Wiping your own smear of wetness off her tummy, bringing them to her face, letting her nose knock into your palm and lick at the tips. 

"Can you taste how sweet your cunt is? Baby," and your mouth is on hers, kissing all traces off her tongue-

There's so many things you could do, it's enough to keep you sated for ages. Her back is pressed against your chest, and you gently draw another spill of cum leaking out from her pussy; she shoves your digits into her mouth, sucks until her jaw clenches, your thumb rolling around the roof, tongue pressed right between.

"If someone sees us," she whispers, licks her lips, your fingers, moans, tilts her hips and grinds down a bit. "We'd be so screwed."

"Don't worry, I'd say," and you can't help the tease in it; your voice low and all grit, the heat and your heart rushing through every vein. "It'd all be my fault."

It's filthy: her sitting in the puddle of your cum, making it soak the thin material of her dress; your heavy spill leaking from her cunt and soaking your slacks as the mess seeps further and further down your pants and her ass-

"We are such a disaster." She says it wistfully. "You and me, like this. A total fucking disaster."

(With your clothes torn open, hair a disaster, the imprints of your lips and fingertips all over her, she means. If it was anybody but the two of you: oh, how ridiculous it would seem. But the sheer audacity of the possibility has her looking at the cum glistening on her thighs. Then looking back to you, her dark-brown eyes, brighter than stars, searching the depth of the hold in yours, your arms wrapped around her.

Maybe she just wants to have this. For as long as you're giving it to her.)

-

You can feel yourself falling so deeply into her, the pull. The draw. It feels a lot like being lost. Like, there's something about loving her. The night's long and she's pressed so closely, fitting like something just perfect, and the way her hands find your ribs is the nicest, fondest ache. You only break out of the haze once the footfalls of her heels begin to echo behind you. The bass fades as you both make a run for the exit. It gets harder not to laugh - your giggling voices slipping between you. You have her nose pressed to the dip of your collarbone, kisses dropping in her hair, her lips curved into a smile every time your thumb does another circle - that place right below her hip, or right there behind her ear.

"Take me somewhere," she sighs. Her body pressed against yours, her cheek snuggling against you.

"Any suggestions?"

She shrugs, and the elevator chimes. "I wanna sit with you."

When she leans forward, just the faintest movement, her mouth upturning in the smallest smile. Her eyes flit away, and her brow wrinkles and lifts, like this: here. You could swear, to god, or the devil: there isn’t an ounce of light inside you that doesn't live at her mercy.

The clock is ticking down into the small hours. The night at its calmest, darkest, most wicked stillness.  You ask her again, this time, just for clarity, a bit of guidance. "Somewhere we can go? If you have nowhere in mind, we could head back if-"

"No." Irene shakes her head. "Take me anywhere but home."

-

You're drunk. Irene's a little worse off. Her heel snaps. The usual grace, the poise, her ease, that’s all but vanished. It's just her: Irene. Hair windswept and the edge of her nose nipped by the chill, the moonlight.

She’s so fucking beautiful.

The night can hear her laughter in the air; you have her hands clasped around your middle, legs hoisted over your elbows. You’re carrying all fifty kilos of her across the pavement; the streets are quiet and the city's yours. Her dress bunches, and her voice is in your ear, a kiss peppered to the back of your hair. The both of you collapse and - ow, it's the crash onto concrete, a scrape and a bruise and a story to piece together tomorrow. Is this from the tumble? the sex? I don't know, Irene will say, sealing a band-aid over the red, the swell. Maybe this, maybe that. It all happened. The physical marks, the chemical thrill - the proof of life, a permanence, tethered.

"Let me, Irene," you're insisting, half-joking, pulling at the broken heel and tossing it a mile behind you. And like it's instinct, you just can't - can't help yourself. "Your legs are gorgeous, but, y'know. I’d hate to see you get hurt."

You run your palm down her calf and steal the other shoe. It gets tossed in the same direction, over her whine. "Babe."

Irene pouts, still too lovely, still too fucking sweet. 

She doesn't laugh, or blush, or try to argue. Instead, she sweeps your hair back, curls her fist at the nape of your neck, and suddenly you're staring, eyes locked and wanting. Irene leans in, her weight settling against your forearms, and gives you a look; just long enough and tender and dreamy and calm enough to have the ache of your heart match its rhythm with her own.

"What the fuck," and her smile cracks open as the words struggle in her chest; her hand goes down your arm and strokes a featherlight finger to the edge of your jaw. "Please don't throw away a woman's shoes without permission."

She hiccups. Sways.

You kiss her. And kiss her, and kiss her. Irene smiles right against your mouth.

"Stay right here," she says. "Go get my fucking shoes, but stay right here with me."

-

Look, it feels so good, not worrying where she is at night.

-

"I thought," she's whispering as you cross into a twenty four-hour minimart, Irene on one arm and both her heels in the other - a pack of wet wipes in your hand - and then her pausing, stopping; this brief flutter of something - she says, "I used to think about how this would all eventually fall apart."

Irene leans forward and gives her weight onto you, hand playing around with the sleeves at your elbow.

"I used to wonder which one of us it would be," and the cashier is ringing up your purchases: a bottle of water, a cold compress, baby wipes and neosporin. The ice cream Irene's insisted you treat her for. She runs a hand up the back of your hair and smiles when you meet her eyes again, "which of us would drop the other, you know, first."

"The thought still come up?" you say, sliding a bill onto the counter and offering a quiet "keep the change."

"Yeah, sometimes. Or I mean I'd be watching you, sometimes, I guess." She smiles at your reaction, bumping your shoulder. "That’s the look."

You're walking out to the parking lot and you're pressing a soft kiss against her brow, waiting, patiently; because you always do, waiting. "Do I need to ask?"

Her grin, close-mouthed and gentle, a tinge of fondness, of humor: "you're going to ask either way."

"Hm," you say, popping the lid off the ice cream, breaking off the flimsy paper seal of the container. She's in the pocket of your blazer, Irene's fingers weaving in between yours, her hand reaching for a bite and grinning all the while.

It's four-thirty AM and the early hours will catch up to you, but. It's this: the yellow-orange streetlight above the two of you and her bare feet dangling off a concrete half-wall. In a white cocktail dress and sitting, you and her, atop a parking barrier. You're here, together, watching the skies lighten in the east - there, where the road will split to lead towards her place. Towards your own.

"There's no way," she says, wiping the corner of her lips with her pinky and then making a face. "For us to be together and not mess this up, eventually, somehow." She steals the carton and balances it between her knees. "There's no way to save this."

"Probably not."

Her mouth curls. There, and gone; there again.

"Doesn't that scare you?"

Your stomach is a riot of twists and nerves and the base of your throat is tight, like a swelling.

"It does." You lick your lips, can't think. "A bit, sometimes." You look at her - her profile, her silhouette, the messy, knotted ponytail, the wisping hairs beneath her temple. The press of her lips, how the gloss rubs off onto her knuckles, staining. "But then I see you - and I can't imagine how I'd even pull a 'it's not you, it's me,' convincingly."

Her throat clicks, and she leans her head against yours, and you're forgetting everything else.

You both stop. Sharing a bite. Sharing the silence.

There, and gone.

"Hey," she breathes out - and you can't explain her expression, how her brows knit together; she squeezes your hand, a tremor, and the corner of her lips pulls upwards, almost apologetic; sad, or thoughtful.  "This ice cream is so fucking freezer-burnt."

"It’s not great."

You watch her nose twitch like she's holding back a sneeze, or a sniffle. She laughs instead and leans against the warmth of you; the smell of her, your bodies touching.

"I love it," you hear her say, and she doesn't give the container back.

-

Irene falls asleep in the backseat of a cab as the sun rises, your blazer draped over her chest; she murmurs your name and pulls closer, seeking warmth. The traffic thins as the roads lead to where she'll disappear, and you find yourself dreading it already.

In a day, maybe two. It’s funny. You could end up hating each other. You might have to force a pause, or take a break, or even step back from her entirely. That’s how it goes. It's the hardship, it’s living - it’s the knowing that she has a lease on life that will end, will expire, a loan where all her days are slowly counting down; a timer you recognize the injustice that it might someday read zero.

Not to get too far ahead of yourself, or to project some awful ending where one isn’t likely: but when Irene and you are like this, soft, sleepy, curled into each other; her hand at the small of your back, resting; this close, and closer. Your heart aches with an ambiguous type of feeling, indescribable-

Irene shivers a breath and presses her face into your shirt; and like a revelation: you fall further.

"Where do I take her, sir," the cab driver asks, and your eyes turn, watching her chest rise and fall, steady, easy; as her grip grows looser and her cheek presses onto the leather seats.

She's too gorgeous, too pretty in slumber, in sleep, the innocence the most dangerous thing; you fix these wispy tendrils of hair back behind her ear and press a hand to her temple, stroke the line of her jaw, the bow of her lip. How soft, she's always the sweetest sight - with her head resting, her mouth falling slack, eyelashes fanned out over the fullness of her cheeks, and all of her like this, all her darkness tucked away: you think about all those times you've traced her from across a room, across a city; if there was anyone else you'd rather wake up beside, in your bed and beside the pillow; someone who doesn't pick your fights and your silences and loves them in spite of, despite everything. Who lets the fights burn white hot until it leaves you both splayed raw and exhausted, in her, on you-

Someone who fits so, so perfectly with the grooves and the curves, who completes you.

"Just drive," you murmur, looking away, blinking away. "I'm not gonna remember."

You're thinking about a book you'd once read, an idea. The world of difference, the fact in its finer detail; all the myriad iterations of 'loving' and 'missing' and 'want': the imperceptible shifts between being the absence of something and feeling it, tasting it, taking it, drowning it and holding it in your palms, seeing it every time you turn, breathing, living: wanting to never let her go-

"You alright back there, bud?" the driver asks. The tone: the slow and steady understanding, his age, how he watches you, the soft shake in your voice, the gentleness with which you hold your gaze - he knows. A blind man could read what your heart’s written on your sleeve. "Late nights are a killer," he says, a chuckle, before shaking his head, muttering, "but mornings even more."

There are a few more hours left. Maybe more, maybe less, of not worrying, and not caring. The thing about loving Irene is this: her touch, the press and the tugging and pulling; her body and her heart; she can be anyone, the best friend, the boss, the mistress, the princess. The pet. And you would be remiss, she says, not to remember: you, too, can be just anybody. So long as it’s you, I always come running.

-

It's the last time you kiss her, and that's an okay thing; you pull off the side of the street to brush your hand up to her temple, and when Irene opens her eyes to you, her lashes fluttering against the swell of your cheeks; her hair in soft strands over her forehead and framing her face like this. This vision of her is for you, all yours, all the little things.

"I’ll see you soon," Irene says, sleepily, and you know that you will.

-

The nook she occupies in your head by now, is so well-established.

You can't remember when it began. Not like there was a sign, a hint, or a clue. Just, her. And her lips and her tongue and her touch, all this reckless abandon - like everything else, there had to be a leap.

Even with all the lights burning out and the moon hidden in clouds and the nights and days unraveling around you - in those early days, the press of her shoulders or the palms of her hands would always send the worst kind of butterflies through you, like everything else - just her, the sway and the tipsy, the turn and the look she'd have before she would touch the pad of her thumb to your cheek and drag her nail down the curve of your smile.

(It had felt - and you're no longer in it - but it had felt so frighteningly fast.

Weeks, she had told you once. I fell for you in weeks. Months? Years? Fuck, no time at all.)

-

"Hey," Irene says in the not-so-distant present. She's sitting across the kitchenette - knees under her, bare feet pointed to the window, and the steam rises from her tea.

"Mornin'," you mutter sleepily. Stretching, craning your neck and arching your shoulders and ignoring the pop in your lower back, the strain at your ankles. Irene tilts her chin up and blows through the steam. There's an air of self-sufficiency, a state of mind she seems to always have, as if, the ability to ignore her vulnerability is a muscle she could constantly flex, expand, train herself to avoid - and all you're noticing is how that small movement has her shifting and curling over the cup, trying to keep warm. Her hair is pulled high in a knot and held up by an elastic, her baggy sweats loose and rolled twice over, the camisole low, a thin strap sliding off her shoulder.

"When'd you-"

"Had to wake up earlier today." She blinks, her legs slipping open, bending.

"Any chance-"

"No." And Irene snorts. The teasing pull of her lips has your stomach twisting a little more: "you know me."

That you do; the lazy Sunday, the slight pull in the center of her lower lip as she purses it. Irene, with her hair messy-perfect and that stupid fucking smile, so careless, and the joke-flirt she's doing; she knows just what she's doing and, yeah, god. You still have a weak-spot for her and it's so big; the twist in the base of your throat. Your morning wood rising. You’re familiar with this: the deep ache.

"You know," you say instead, blinking through the heaviness of your lashes and scratching a thumb against the line of your jaw. "A girl could walk in and mistake this for an affair."

"Girls love me." She turns the cup around in her grip and grins again, makes sure that the image stays locked. "Or," and Irene holds up the fingers, counts on two. "I've had two affairs in my life. One is basically a distant memory-"

"The other?"

Her teeth press down on her lip again. "How am I doing so far?"

"Honesty and self-disclosure in the kitchen, at eight in the morning? Irene, you're really outdoing yourself."

She lifts a brow, then brings the mug to her mouth - like a second-rate cigarette and a scalding-hot burn. "If you did bring a girl here," she says after a while. And, smiling: "she'd see me sitting here, incriminatingly pretty. I mean, she'd probably cry. Screaming fits, a fist fight. Then the waterworks - oh, he was my first! I loved him! He took my flower - ow, don't touch me, I think I might faint-"

"I doubt it."

"Ooo," Irene sing-songs, turning and crossing the space to sit on the armrest beside you. The sway of her body's so obvious. You've got enough room to pull her onto your lap, but you keep your hands to yourself. She runs the tips of her nails over your shirt, just above the buttons and across the sleeves. "Hun, I bet she'd kill you. It'd be very bloody, but romantic. Sad, but inspiring in a mundane sort of way - something you've only heard in mystery novels. Riveting, sordid stuff. Could fill your entire inbox. I mean, as they say in Chicago: he had it coming."

"Nah," you decide, after a yawn. "Too dramatic."

"Not at all," she scoffs, peering at you over the tops of her glasses. "The man she loved was a heartless betrayer."

"Can I ask why my imaginary girlfriend always comes across like some cliché young ingénue? You seem to have a lot of opinions about this girl."

"What, the girl next door, a little smart, but neglects her intuition?" She flips the bun at the back of her hair. "All wide-eyes, a ribbon in her hair, a flower-child who's seen too many Wes Anderson movies." She sticks her tongue into her cheek. "Never once stops thinking about the bad boy."

"If you want to get technical, all my girlfriends have been older than me."

"Whoops," she says flatly, hand falling to her collarbone, "spoke too soon. Got you wrong. No need to panic. I'm sure you, a man, are not drawn to some young thing, easily swept up in a passion. Simply, if nothing else, for the sweet naivete. Those hushed little moans and then, the screams. She would tell you it hurts - and on the same note, she’d be begging you for more - the little slut. God, she'd still be so, so nice and soft and quiet. Ready to be anything for-"

"And if you're the girl?" You stand up and grab her wrist. "What then?"

She pauses, considering this new development.

"You do not treat me very well." Irene pushes the bridge of her glasses back up the curve of her nose. "No candle-lit dinners or grand, public gestures." She twists a curl of black hair around her finger. "Definitely not a confession on bended knee - oh, no, never, never - you'll not have to stoop to that. Because you are, in fact, quite terrible at it. I don't think I'd have a single opportunity to pine pathetically, waiting. And maybe you're a bad kisser, actually," she concludes.

You tsk, scandalized. "You are really not cut out to be the ingénue at all."

Irene laughs, softly, reaching out to tug gently at a tuft of your hair. She smiles up at you - and it's so easy for her, somehow. So graceful. "Shall I fix that for you?"

"Do not fall for me, sweetheart."

"I will try to resist the urge." She tilts her chin and presses a finger to her lips. "Kiss, first."

You lean forward, let your nose bump her temple, her hairline. "Glasses, first."

"Whiner," she murmurs. She yanks, gently. Tugs and pulls, and presses the pad of her finger at the sharp cut of your jaw - her gaze half-lidded and slow as she holds yours. Like she's reminding herself, something she can't forget - what it feels like, exactly. A reminder. You can only keep your eyes on the slide of her jaw. "Gonna keep you like this forever."

"Love," you find yourself whispering. Sometimes you wait just so you can relive that first kiss. Irene swallows. "What a beautiful temptation."

-

You imagine, again, if it had all really been by the book:

Three dates and a letter of recommendation. Making her pay for half, instead of making her feel guilty about paying at all, which for the life of you, you can't fucking figure out: how to treat a woman. Chivalry in modern times: a fucking travesty, truly. She'd lure you to her apartment, or you'd do the same to her - just after the first, you know, the obligatory. The getting to know her, except you'd end up skipping the post-dinner steps of being a gentleman, which would leave the night open-ended, and you wouldn't give it much thought until the kiss against her door is so fucking filthy it makes you reconsider everything and everyone, you know, the morality of fucking someone more than once in a day.

You'd have hit all the milestones, she'd have to lead you to bed, and you'd play all her favorite movies as she lays across your chest and shows you what she likes to do best: finger herself, or something. And you'd talk about it, afterward, you'd acknowledge it - because this should be what dating is, right? This should’ve been the next few months of your life. Running that same exact pattern, knowing each other so well you can tell what sex will be like before it even happens, anticipating exactly what kind of text you'll get the next day - the call the following night, the feel of her hands on you in all the right places. The lazy moans, her lipstick imprints on your skin, the smile at the corner of her mouth. Nothing like putting your own fucking hand in her pants and rubbing a few hasty circles until her slick gathers around her knees and she can't walk for a whole day.

Things fall into place, they fill gaps, the idea must be mutual at some point - mutual attraction, mutual enjoyment-

How it is Irene got to spending five, six nights a week at your place is beyond you. Not because you're worried about what people will say. You're not. It's just - weird, to not know what you've done to make this last so long.

Are there rules to loving someone? Is there a checklist, a script - what praxis will keep things in place: comfortable. Last you checked, you have no fucking idea how to treat someone like she deserves. To treasure and cherish, hold her tight but never cage - what qualifies, huh?

"Irene," you say, one day - as you're both brushing your teeth. Because really, what does.

She looks at you like she's bored.

"Forget it," you reply, laughing to yourself and leaning down to rinse your mouth. "Idiot."

"Wait, no," she says, stopping mid-brush, her toothbrush bouncing obscenely in her mouth. "What?"

"I said forget it," you tease, and of course, the glint in her eyes is a warning if you ever saw one - but who would you be, then, if you didn't lean in close and tell her, ever so gentle. The three words could be: not a clue, or, you're so petty, or, simply, I adore you and she’d let that one lay to rest.

You choose them a little differently, and Irene's face lights up like she hasn't known all this time. 

A foamy spill of toothpaste leaks down her chin. "Th'a m'eh?" She's a mess, wide eyed and dripping and already reaching to swat you on the shoulder, disbelieving. "You can't just-" and her face scrunches, this exaggerated - ugh! - before she hides it in her hands.

Oh, you love her, and it feels so good, not pretending.

"Again. Say it again. I didn’t even hear you." She knocks her knee against yours, grinning behind her palms, wide and genuinely - happy. "Like, have some decorum."

Laughing - so hard you can't breathe - you shake your head and curl your fingers tenderly around her wrists, pull her hands from her face. "You are so greedy," you attempt between breaths, letting yourself press against the softness of her palms, her wrists, the pads of her fingertips - wanting to be a poet, she is a masterpiece - and tell her properly.

-

a/n: thanks for reading, it's always unbelievable to me anyone ever finishes these fics. This one's a very belated 'thank you' present for @yieldtotemptation. I'm like way late, but thanks for everything.

[msb-lair]

Clutch #3181 - Tilly/Tilley

Mated On: 2023-04-04 # of eggs: 3 Hatched On: 2023-04-09

Progeny:

Hatchling 8409 (SodaPop) - Aberration Female, Aqua Diamond/Robin Flair/Pistachio Frills, Multi-Gaze - 50 gems on 2023-04-11

Hatchling 8410 (Mint) - Aberration Female, Spruce Flaunt/Seafoam Flair/Pistachio Frills, Pastel - 15,000 on 2023-04-14

Hatchling 8411 - Aberration Male, Turquoise Flaunt/Cerulean Flair/Seafoam Glimmer, Unusual - 15 gems on 2023-04-24

Comments:

[scryingworkshop]