#meli mumbles

[darknight3904]

𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕽𝖆𝖈𝖊

ᴀᴇᴍᴏɴᴅ ᴛᴀʀɢᴀʀʏᴇɴ x ꜰᴇᴍ!ᴏᴄ! ᴛᴀʀɢᴀʀʏᴇɴ

ᴘʀᴇᴠɪᴏᴜꜱ ᴘᴀʀᴛ / ꜱᴇʀɪᴇꜱ ᴍᴀꜱᴛᴇʀʟɪꜱᴛ /ᴍʏ ᴍᴀꜱᴛᴇʀʟɪꜱᴛ

ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ: ᴘʀɪɴᴄᴇ ᴀᴇᴍᴏɴᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ʟᴀᴅʏ ʀʜᴀᴇʟʟᴀ ʙᴇɢɪɴ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴋɪɴᴅʟᴇ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ꜰʀɪᴇɴᴅꜱʜɪᴘ ᴡʜɪʟᴇ ᴋɪɴɢ ᴠɪꜱᴇʀʏꜱ ᴘʟᴀɴꜱ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰᴜᴛᴜʀᴇ

129 AC

Rhaella wakes to blinding light. Her neck and back are stiff as she tries to straighten up. Falling asleep in the library over a table was not the best for the body.

"Sȳz ñāqes, Rhaella."

Good morning

"Aemond!" Rhaella is surprised to find her cousin resting beside her, his own head is tucked ontop of his arms as he looks at her.

"I came back late last night and found you here." Aemond said

"You could've woken me." She said, sitting up.

"You seemed peaceful, I didn't want to." He says

Silence settles around them as Rhaella finds herself grasping at topics of conversation to discuss with Aemond.

"How was the tavern with Aegon? Did you have to carry him home?" She jests

Aemond's face becomes drawn as he disgests her words. Perhaps she should not have asked, he did say it was not a place for ladies.

"I want to apologize." He says suddenly, "That night at Driftmark, I should not have struck you, I am sorry for any pain I caused you."

"You shouldn't have tried to hurt Luke." Rhaella says with a hum

Aemond's lips form into a tight smile at her words. She can tell he does not share her thoughts on the event.

"Nonetheless, I forgive you. I cannot hold silly grudges for my entire life after all." She says honestly

"Where those your thoughts when you began speaking to Daemon? A silly grudge that had to be dropped?' Aemond asked.

She was not awake enough for a conversation of this depth. Surely Aemond was hungry, her own stomach was rumbling at the prospect of food.

"I tolerate Daemon, he is not my friend," Rhaella says

She rises to depart for breakfast, surely something delicious would be waiting for her in her chambers. The sound of footsteps confirm that Aemond is indeed following her.

"Tell me about this dragon of yours, Rhaella." He says, easily falling into step with her

"You're very chipper today, Aemond." Rhaella smiled, purposefully ignoring his request. It was fun to see him squirm.

"I enjoy the mornings, they are peaceful." He declares, "What of your dragon? Which one did Lady Rhaella Targaryen claim?"

Aemond follows Rhaella to the dragon pit, he wishes she would reveal what dragon was hers. Why was she being so mysterious? It was driving him mad.

"Tell me." He commands

"Isn't showing you better?" She laughed

"It is annoying me," Aemond mumbled

"I'm so sorry, My Prince."

Her tone is mocking but he senses no true malice as they enter the pit. He wonders if Vermithor was going to come out from below. Although he wasn't sure if Vermithor was small enough for the pit, surely he had grown and was closer to Vhagar's size now.

A raucous sound is heard along with the flapping of wings. dazzling white scales that are nearly blinding in the sunlight come into view. Bright blue eyes looked into him as he took in Sōna a dragon who had been deemed unrideable by keepers for years, ever since she had hatched under King Jaehaerys.

Rhaella approaches the beast as if she had known her all her life and gently scratches under the dragon's chin like it was a dog begging for table scraps.

"And how did you manage this, cousin?" He fails to hide his amusement with his words

"I believe she chose me. I simply talked to her and she listened." Rhaella says

"Have you flown yet?" Aemond asked watching the way the beast that seemed to be nearly as large as The Red Queen Melys nuzzle its face toward her.

"Once, on Dragonstone. It was...difficult." Rhaella admits, avoiding his gaze.

"You will only get better with practice." He advises, " Sōna is as inexperienced as you."

"Now you sound like Daemon." Rhaella laughs

"Have them saddle her." He said gesturing to the Dragonkeepers, "We will go for a flight."

"I do not wish-"

"I will meet you in the sky on Vhagar." He declares as he walks away.

He is glad his back is turned as he leaves. The giddy smile that stretches across his face is rather embarrassing.

Rhaella cannot believe she is doing this. The people of Kings Landing look like bugs as she holds tight to Sōna's saddle. The dragon below her lets out a loud trill, communicating her impatience to stop the hovering.

"Umbās, Sōna." She commands

Wait

She searches the skies for Vhagar and Aemond. Surely a dragon of that size would not be easy to miss.

And then, she sees them. Vhagar's large form appears as she rises above the large trees she had been resting under. Aemond looks like a small silver-haired dot on her back as they begin to approach.

"Lykirī, Sōna" Rhaella says when she feels her dragon let out a loud breath

Be calm

As Aemond draws closer, Rhaella can tell he is about to suggest a challenge. His face has a mischievous look about it as he flys past her and out towards the open waters. He is daring her to follow him.

"Soves"

Fly

While Vhagar is huge, a monstrous beast truly, Sōna's speed allows Rhaella to catch up to Aemond and his dragon with ease. Aemond smiles when he sees her flying beside him. Despite the warm feeling it sends though her chest, her nerves are anywhere but calm. She trusts her dragon but it is still terrifying to be so high in the air with nothing but open ocean below.

The wind is deliciously cold as it threads through her hair and clothes. She laughs in delight when she steers Sōna down so that the dragon's belly nearly touches the waters. Aemond remains above, Vhargar's wings casting a shadow over her.

Over the sound of flapping wings and the movement of the ocean water she hears Aemond shout to Vhagar.

"Dracarys!"

A torrent of fire is released from the largest dragon alive's mouth as Rhaella looks up. Aemond emerges from behind the cloud of heat with smoke coating his riding clothes and hair.

Sōna lets out a loud roar, not interested in being forgotten by her new rider.

"Sōvegon adere"

Fly faster

Rhaella lurches in the saddle as her dragon listens. Aemond shouts his own orders to Vhagar and follows closely behind.

The sun streams down on the young dragon riders as Viserys watches from a distance.

"She has claimed a strong dragon, cousin," Rhaenys says

"Yes, she has. Daemon saw to that." Viserys says tiredly

"He has done the girl a favor. She tries to alienate herself from Baela and Rhaena, and now she can fully feel as though she is part of this family. That dragon represents acceptance." Rhaenys says

"Daemon also saw to that alienation." Viserys points out

"He is...trying to bond with Rhaella. She is uninterested." Rhaenys informs him

"Of course she is. He abandoned her an infant and ran off to remarry your daughter." Viserys sighs, "Does she know? Of what Lady Rhea's true fate was? What Daemon did?"

"No." Rhaenys says quietly

"She will know, sooner rather than later. And then Daemon's efforts will be for nothing." Viserys says

He wants his younger brother to have a good relationship with his children. Truly he does. Viserys, even now fears that Daemon's rash actions will destroy those relationships.

"What of Rhaella's marriage prospects, cousin?" Rhaenrys suddenly asks

"What of them?" Viserys asks with a cough. Today has been a worse day for his health, perhaps tomorrow will be better.

"She is close to being of age. Her moonblood is regular as well. I am not sure Daemon is interested in arranging a match." Rhaenys says

"He isn't planning to engage her to Jacaerys? Your letters have always said they get along well. Daemon surely would love the idea of Rhaella being Queen Consort one day." Viserys says, thinking of his dark-haired nephew.

Jacaerys had always been kind-hearted in Viserys' eyes. Unlike his older sons, Jace was not a lustful drunk or a vengeful, overly emotional individual. Rhaenrya's heir was exactly what the Iron Throne would need after his and his daughter's death.

"He is surely too focused on becoming King Consort himself." Rhaenys jokes

Viserys lets out a laugh at that. Daemon who has spent his whole life grasping at power will sit next to his daughter while she rules the Seven Kingdoms.

"If she reaches ten and seven without any prospects, I will arrange a good match for her. Or perhaps Rhaenrya will, she has always been able to bend Daemon's ear, far better than I have. " Viserys says wiping at his mouth.

The soft clang of the door lets him know Rhaenys has taken her leave. Viserys stand again to watch Vhagar and Sōna fly above the sea. The dragon's loud chirps of glee carry across the water to his windows. He smiles as he thinks of his son and niece flying beside each other on Dragonback.

Happy HOTD Sunday!

Short chapters are incoming...I am trying to work out the kinks of major plot points so I'll be building the romance section of the story for a little bit.

a note post viewing of the episode: WHAT WAS THAT DAEMON SCENE WITH ALYSSA WTF?????

Next Part

Comment below to join the taglist. (The taglist is not by chapter, once added, you will remain there unless you ask to be removed.)

Taglist:

@caspianobsessed

@starryhiraeth

@franzelt

@holymusicalmothman

@koobratzy

@schelfinser

@mizuki80

@flusteredmoonn

@sunmigs

@mizuki80

[mrssturnioloo]

dagger squad finding out bob has a girlfriend and who it is!! it could go one of two ways!!

1. going through his phone

the squad was all at the hard deck in their usual spot by the pool table. all of them but bob are talking. it’s not odd for bob to be quiet, but for the past few months, he’s barely talked because he’s been so immersed in his phone and he’s been more smiley than usual.

“what’s got you so happy, baby on board?” jake said drawing all the attention towards bob who looked a bit confused.

bob just shook his head and put his phone on the table next to him. “nothing. i’m going to get a drink, do you guys want anything?” nobody bought it. “no we’re good, thanks though.” bradley said and the others nodded in agreement.

as soon as bob had his back turned nat leaned over and grabbed his phone off of the table and unlocked it. the others gather around her as she looked through it. as they were going through it, a text from someone with the contact name ‘my songbird 🕊️’ popped up.

“songbird?” bradley mumbles. everyone looks to natasha for an explanation but she’s just as clueless as they are. nat clicks on the message and the first thing she notices is the contact photo. it’s a picture of you in the studio.

“holy shit, is that y/n—“ “l/n? yes it’s her.” bob answered. he noticed the group going through his phone as soon as he turned around. the group started questioning him as soon as he sat down.

“how did you two meet?” bradley asked. “we grew up together.”

“did you-” “no, jake. i didn’t pay her”

2. through a music video

it was a slow night at the hard deck and penny was just closing up. the daggers along with maverick had stayed behind to help clean. amelia was there too.

amelia was sitting in a booth on her phone while everyone cleaned. everyone jumped as amelia let out a loud scream. penny and mav rushed towards her as everyone stopped what they were doing.

“‘melis, what’s wrong?” penny asked. in return amelia just handed her mom the phone.

amelia ignores her mom and looks straight at bob. “you we’re in a music video with Y/N L/N?!?”

bob froze like a deer in headlights. sure he agreed to being in a music video with you and he gave you consent to post it knowing how it may interfere his job. but he didn’t think amelia listend to your music.

everyone looked at bob in shock. once the shock wore off everyone crowded around amelia to watch the video. they couldn’t deny that there was an insane amount of chemistry between the two of you. which is what lead to phoenix’s question.

“how the hell do you know y/n l/n and why do you both look at each other like you want to marry each other?”

this lead to bob cracking and telling everyone that you’re his girlfriend

@sebsxphia @top-gun-rooster @averagewriter-inthedark @bonitanightmxres

[muichiroslover]

Hey…it’s been a long while..well, maybe it can be my comeback era? lots has changed since i last came to write on here, but lets see where this takes us, I missed everyone on here! 😣🩷🩷

Pairing: Meliodas x reader

Genre: Angst

Warnings: None

Now you were usually the type of person who loved a clingly s/o, you yourself being a clingy person

But lately you have been in a bad mood due to a lot of bad things happening at one time making you feel like bad luck is following you

Naturally in your mind you wanted to be alone and calm yourself down but

“Y/nnn~~ i missed you where have you been?” Meliodas sung as you walked back into the boars hat, he seemed excited about something

You had just gotten back from going on a walk to try and calm down your irritable mood but you ended up tripping during the walk and hurting your ankle, now you were only more mad

You sighed as you walked around the bar place and rummaged through one of the cabinets for a bottle of liqour

“Y/n~ don’t ignore me!” Meliodas pouted as you put down the liquor on the counter and sighed once more putting a hand on your forehead

“Nothing Meli, i went for a walk and came back, i’m not ignoring you” you say as you take a cup and pour the bitter substance into it till it almost overflowed

“Oh i see, where did you go? did you have fun? oh i also noticed you were limping did something happen?” He asks as you walk from behind the counter to one of the tables

“Walk, no and yes” you answer bluntly as you begin to lift the cup to your mouth

“Y/n!~ whats wronggg you seem so mad come on stop giving me these short answersss” Meliodas whined as he tried to hug you but that caused your hand to shake and the drink in your hand to spill all over you

Meliodas backed up quickly as he looked at you speechless for a second

“Oh my god Y/n I’m really-“

“God Meliodas just- you don’t need to cling to me like a life line every single day, ugh god so annoying i must seriously have bad luck” you say with a hiss as you stand up from your seat to go get paper towels and a change of clothes

You missed how Meliodas’s smile faltered for a second and his voice died out

But it didn’t last long until he smiled again, though this one seemed a lot more forced as you walked back into the main area with paper towels

“Ah I’m sorry Y/n, here let me help you” he says as he approaches you but you hold up your hand

“Its fine, just, I don’t know” you say as you walk past him to clean up the mess

His smile once again falls before it goes back up

“Okay..uh, I’m gonna go for a walk myself, I’ll see you in a few!” He says and you mumble as he left

After you finished cleaning the mess you sighed getting up, you threw away the dirty paper towels and made your way to you and Meliodas’ shared room

You opened the door then closed it behind yourself as you began to strip from your now sticky and wet clothes

As you threw your dirty clothes into the hamper your eyes caught something on the bed

You turned around from the mirror and made your way to the bed, you raised a brow as you pulled the letter slightly sticking out from under your pillow out

You sat down as you opened it carefully and began to read the contents

Dear Y/n

For some reason lately it seems your not in the best mood. You don’t seem like you want to tell me whats making you so mad yet but that’s okay, I can wait. I’ll try my best to help in anyway I can until you can tell me, so I got you this. I hope it picks up your mood at least a little, I love you so much! Thanks for being with me!!!! ;)))))♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎

- meliodas

You put the letter down as you lifted up your pillow entirely as you saw a box

You picked it up and opened it as you slightly gasped

It was a ruby necklace that had caught your eye one time while you and Meliodas were exploring a town festival

You had been sad you couldn’t get it because you and Meliodas didn’t bring any more not expecting to buy anything

But Meliodas must’ve gone back to get it, just for you

Your face distorted into a frown as you remembered your outburst on your boyfriend

You hadn’t mean to come off as if you were annoyed at him specifically, its just everything piled up and you blew up at him, not that it’s justified with that stupid excuse

“Im a horrible girlfriend..” you muttered

You got up as you quickly dressed, you didn’t even grab a jacket before leaving the boars hat in a rush

You ran to the closest town looking around for your boyfriend, you looked left and right in fast movements

You started stopping inside of different bars until finally the last one you checked

Your eyes landed on your boyfriends fluffy blonde hair, he was in one of the booths, you made your way over and sat down with him as he drank

Meliodas took one last gulp of his beer before looking at you with a pout, you frowned deeply

“Babe..I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to go off on you like that, it’s just a lot of bad things were happening one after another and I just” You sigh deeply “I shouldn’t have blown up on you, it’s 100% my fault, there’s no excuse for what I said, I’m really sorry” You say bowing your head

It’s silent for a minute before Meliodas’ voice breaks you out of your position

“What you said really hurt my feelings”

“And I’ll apologize over and over again for that” You say as sincere as you can because you mean it, what you did was wrong

Meliodas pouts for a few more seconds before smiling, slightly catching you off guard

“Okay! I’ll forgive you if you let me stay in your room for a few nights!” He says with a grin and you sigh deeply but smile as well

“I guess that’s the least I can do”

“Exactly!”

[melis-writes]

Hello sweet Melis! I have a prompt idea for Sonny x Reader 🤭🤭🤭 If it's okay with you, can you please write a sexual scene where reader is very shy and insecure about her body, but Sonny comforts her and they end up having soft romantic sex?👉👈 Yes I'm a big sucker for love and romance! 😭Love you very much and send you lots of kisses 😘😘😘😘😚😚😚😚😚😚

But of course!! 😋❤️ My first Sonny x Reader request and I’d be more than happy to write it! Prepare for lots of fluff and of course, soft and loving sex. 🥵 Thank you for the request, lovely!! Finally got around to writing this sweet piece at long last. Lots of love and kisses right back at you!! ❤️❤️❤️

Laying over the scarlet, silk bedsheets with only the duvet half sprawled over your half-naked body, you gaze up at Sonny who slowly paces around the bedroom shirtless—smoking a cigarette.

“Well, baby, ya got your wish,” a grin spreads across Sonny’s lips as he blows out smoke around him. “Just you and me tonight, like we planned.”

“With the lights off this time too, maybe?” You blush, resting your chin over your first.

“Lights off?” Sonny raises a brow, moving towards the ashtray on the end-table next to the bed. “Feelin’ shy, baby?”

“Maybe,” you nibble on the corner of your lip, making eye contact with Sonny.

Sonny scrunches up his cigarette in the ashtray, ensuring its put out as he keeps his eyes over you. “Shy, huh? Well…” Straightening his posture, Sonny continues to gaze at you for a moment curiously. “It’s okay if you don’t wanna, baby—”

“It’s not that, baby,” you shake your head. “You know how much I’ve missed you this week, and you know if it was up to me we’d never get out of this room.”

“Right,” Sonny chuckles, beginning to unbuckle his leather belt. “But shy… Now that’s interesting.”

“How so?” Barely realizing it yourself, you pull the blanket further up your breasts to conceal yourself.

“Because…” Sonny moves closer towards the bed, throwing off his belt and letting it drop to the floor. “You and I both know you’re not shy, sweetheart. So what’s the matter? Hmm? Lights off and all?”

“Can you blame me?” You mumble under your breath.

“What?” Sonny furrows his brows in confusion, kneeling onto the bed, but it’s the movement of your hands clutching the blanket over your body and hiding yourself that gives it all away to him.

“I don’t know,” you frown back at Sonny. “It’s like… Sometimes I feel as if I haven’t come to terms with myself and I don’t know how to or anything. I barely want to see myself like this, I’m just…”

Your voice fades away as you lose your train of thought, noticing the concern growing in Sonny’s eyes as he listens to you.

“Nah, baby, no. Come on, no.” Sonny shakes his head, pulling you into his embrace on his side of the bed. “C’mere, sweetheart. Yeah, come ‘ere.”

“I feel gross, Sonny,” you admit, holding back your tears as you hug onto his chest. “I don’t know, it’s like I’m not good enough and—”

“Hey,” Sonny places his finger over your bottom lip, staring at you. “No, we ain’t gonna say shit like that. You and I both know it’s not true. It’s not.”

You shyly gaze away, remaining quiet as Sonny rubs up and down your back tenderly to comfort you.

“I know my woman like the back of my hand,” Sonny gives your waist a light squeeze. “And I have no idea what the hell you’re going on about. You’re beautiful, baby.”

Sonny caresses the side of your face with the back of his hand. “And I mean it. You’ve no idea how beautiful you are.  What, you wanna be like everyone else?” He raises his brows. “’Cause you’re the most unique woman I ever met—I don’t want anyone else but you, and that’s including all that you are and that you have.”

“Sonny…” The blush on your cheeks sting and intensify, becoming apparent to Sonny.

“I’m serious, baby,” Sonny steals a sloppy kiss from your lips. “You’re fine as hell, fuckin’ beautiful. Just beautiful.” He leans his head down, pecking little kisses over your collarbones. “Mm, all of you from head to toe, damn.”

You throw your head back, giggling from the sensation of Sonny’s warm lips tickling over your skin. “If you say so.”

“I damn do,” Sonny reaffirms, slowly beginning to inch the blanket off of your body. “This is all I wanna come home to, nothin’ else. You…” Sonny presses his body against yours as you let out a soft groan. “And all of you and your beauty, baby.”

“How do you do that?” You whisper, wrapping your arms around Sonny’s shoulders. “Just…” A streak of shyness hits you again as you form your next words, “comfort me, make me feel like I’m home and—”

Sonny cuts off your sentence by sealing a kiss over your lips; not one fueled by sexual desire and lust, but pure passion and love towards you.

“Because I love you,” Sonny breathes as he parts away from the kiss. “And you’re my only girl. Nothin’ in the world is gonna change that. Every single part of you…” Sonny tosses off the blanket from your body, letting his firm hands roam over your breast. “Is fuckin’ beautiful, baby. All of you.”

You breath out Sonny’s name, lost in the embrace of your lover as one kiss leads to another—deepening and growing with desire.

Unable to get enough of one another, you can feel all your insecurities and shyness easily melt away in Sonny’s embrace—in belief of his reassuring, loving words.

There isn’t a part of your body Sonny wouldn’t worship—absolutely adore and kiss all over.

Insistent on both teasing and pleasing you, Sonny’s body hovers over top of yours as he throws off his trousers and boxer briefs—his lips still colliding with yours.

Your hand wraps around Sonny’s back while the other roams through his brunette curls, tugging gently as you spread your legs as wide as you can and keep them wrapped around your lover’s waist.

“I love you, baby,” Sonny mumbles against your lips before kissing them again and again, wanting nothing more than to get lost in you.

“I love you too,” you moan out, feeling Sonny slowly begin to enter you. “Oh, please…”

“Shit,” you hear Sonny groan quietly to himself, pushing his cock inside of you inch by inch.

You roll your eyes back in pleasure, burying your face in Sonny’s shoulder as he begins to slowly pace himself in and out of you with deep thrusts snapping back into your hips.

“C’mere, c’mere—” Sonny trails wet kisses along the side of your neck, gripping your hips gently to keep himself angled inside of you.

“Ohhh!” You cry out, feeling your thighs tingle against Sonny’s waist as his cock thrusts close to your G-Spot.

“Ahh, right there, huh baby?” You can feel Sonny smirking against your skin as he leans in closer, pressing his forehead against yours. “You like that?”

“Oh God, yes,” you whimper, nodding back at him frantically.

“You really—” Sonny speaks inbetween his thrusts, “are fucking perfect, you know that, baby? Mm, fuck, you feel so good.”

“M-more, more—” You curl your toes, unable to stop your moans from getting louder with each slow, loving thrust inside of you.

Amidst both of your moans and groans, the only thing you can hear are your bodies against the silky bedsheets wrinkling underneath you two and the slight squeaking of the mattress as your love making session with Sonny grows more feverish.

[molochka-koshka]

♦: Slow dancing for Sosiel/Tristo? 👀

My laptop is about to die and I don't feel like getting up to find the charger heheh let's see if I get this posted in time (I didn't proofread it oops)

(Eta that I did go back and proofread on my phone uwu)

Ship: Tristo (KC) x Sosiel

Words: 807

CW: None I think!

“I don’t know how to dance.”

“Even if you’ve danced poorly before, there’s always time to learn.  They’re going to expect you to dance at the party.”

“I’ve never danced before.”

Sosiel’s eyes widen slightly at that, his gaze rising from his sketchbook to fall squarely on Tristo–for a longer moment than the brief glances he’s been casting his way while drawing him.  His smiles slightly, politely, huffing a small laugh.

“You mean you’ve never danced with someone else before?”

“I haven’t danced at all before,” Tristo mumbles, lips drawing themselves into a thin, tight line, brow furrowing.  His halo seems to blaze hotter for a moment, before dying back.  That little habit scares some people away–not Sosiel.  

Sosiel always manages to see past Tristo’s sharp edges.  Behind every scowl, every cold glare, every snapped command, Sosiel catches glimpses of someone else–someone who’s had to put up wall after wall to protect himself.

Tristo stares back at Sosiel, not understanding what the other man actually sees in him.  He’s softer with him than most–quiet, gentle–but Sosiel still sees how he is.  Tristo is a damn good hellknight, and he makes no effort to hide it.  He’s spoken at length with Sosiel about his association with the Order of the Gate, even, and as off-putting as he knows it is to the other man, Sosiel puts up with it, with him.

Tristo sits cross-legged on his bed in his chambers in Drezen, correspondence (work) spread out haphazardly on the silk sheets around him, a simple pewter cup of white wine perched precariously on one knee.  Sosiel sits across from him, on a chair by his desk, sketching him.  He’s made several drawings in the past hour that they’ve been here, discussing the upcoming party that Lady Konomi had very strongly suggested they hold for some visiting Mendevian nobles–a mix of thrill-seeking younger aristocrats and a variety of other nobility who have invested heavily in the crusade.  Melies–whose advice Tristo takes more often than Lady Konomi’s–had also implied that it would be beneficial to host the party.

Here.  In Drezen.  Near the front lines of the assault on the demon-spewing worldwound. When Tristo can't dance.

Regill–one of the few sensible people in the entire keep–had been on Tristo’s side in voicing reservations about it.  Eventually it came down to optics, and resources, two things the Crusade is in dire need of.

“You’re clenching your jaw,” Sosiel remarks.  “Doesn’t it start to ache?”

“I hardly notice anymore,” Tristo replies, voice soft, distant.

He forces himself to relax, drawing in a deep breath and exhaling excruciatingly slowly.  His eyes–dimly glowing, fiery in the low light of his bedroom–fall on Sosiel again.  Calm Sosiel.  Caring Sosiel.  Helpful Sosiel.

Tristo drinks the last of his wine, setting the cup aside on his bedside table as he slips out of bed and closes the distance between himself and Sosiel.  He stands in front of the cleric, a scarred hand resting gently on his shoulder, tracing his fingers up along his neck, his jaw, cupping his chin to raise his head so that their eyes meet again.

“Show me,” Tristo asks.

Sosiel laughs, blushing, flipping through papers to try to find the first sketch from earlier, but Tristo lowers his hand and pushes the sketchbook down.

“How to dance.”

“What?”

“I need to learn before the ball.  I would ask Daeran, but–”

“No, no, I mean…” Sosiel trails off, thinking.  “I mean, I can show you, I know how, kind of.”

Tristo wanders past Sosiel, shutting the door to his room quietly, before turning again to see Sosiel setting his sketches down on the desk.  Sosiel wipes his hands on his hips slightly, and Tristo realizes that he’s nervous.  Tristo grins.  He loves eliciting that response in people–usually because it means they fear him, which is the easiest way to make people respect him–but in Sosiel it’s different.  Sosiel isn’t afraid of him, he adores him–Tristo likes it like that.  He doesn’t want Sosiel to fear him, he has no need to.

“Here, let me just–” Sosiel takes one of Tristo’s hands, and puts another on his waist.  “We could try a waltz first?”

Tristo smiles, a warm, genuine little thing, like a flame nearing the end of a wick, and shifts his position slightly, releasing Sosiel’s hand and instead pulling him in closer to him, resting his arms around either of the man’s shoulders.

“Or that works too,” Sosiel says, voice a low, delicate whisper now.  He lowers his other hand so both are resting on Tristo’s lower back.

Sosiel starts swaying, slowly, and Tristo’s wine-sweet lips press to his, the aasimar having to tilt his head down slightly to do so.  It’s a fleeting little thing, as all moments like this with Tristo are, but Sosiel savors it, brown eyes closing as he leans into Tristo’s embrace.

[frizz22]

Behind the Scenes

NOTE: An idea I had while writing another Work Wives fic, haha, hope you enjoy. From camera crew POV.

READ ON AO3

“I’m telling you,” Jenn insisted from where she sat playing with her camera lens, “they’re in love.”

Rolling his eyes, Josh didn’t bother to look away from the clip he was editing. “Barbara is married.” He replied in a bored tone, knowing exactly who she was referring to.

Mouth pursing, Jenn set her camera aside. “And? Doesn’t stop you from loving someone else. You edit most the footage, Josh… you have to have seen how they look at each other.”

A long suffering sigh escaping him, Josh finally looked at her. “I know this assignment’s been a bit longer than you’re used to, but are you really so starved of stimulus that you’re creating relationships where there aren’t any?”

Affronted, Jenn punched his arm. “Ass! You know I love observing people. And these two,” her shoulders dropped as she softened at the thought of them. “They’ve got something, Josh, come on, you know I’m not imagining this.”

Josh pinched the bridge of his nose. “I…” he groaned. “Fine. They do share an abnormal number of affectionate and knowing looks. But that doesn’t mean they’re jumping each other’s—"

“I never said they were cheating!!” Jenn exclaimed, cutting him off. “I said they’re in love with each other.” The difference mattered, it did.

At a loss, Josh shrugged helplessly. “I, what do you want from me, Jenn? Have I noticed the way Melissa looks at Barbara? Yes, fine, I admit it. Have I witnessed Barbara watch Melissa with the most tender expression I’ve seen on a human, yes! Have I wished someone would look at me the way they look at each other? Also, yes. But that doesn’t change anything. We’re just observers.”

Biting her lip, Jenn leaned her forearms on her knees. “What if we weren’t?”

Exasperated, Josh threw up his hands. “What if we weren’t what?!”

She scooted her chair closer to him. “Just observers, dumbass. What if, you know…” Jenn nudged his knee.

“No, I don’t.” He retorted a bit grumpily as he crossed his arms.

Jenn inched closer. “Josh, come on. It’d be so easy to compile some clips, oh, maybe with maybe soft classical music in the background and have copies of these just happen to find themselves on their desks….” She bounced a little in excitement at the idea.

Brows furrowing in a dramatic manner, Josh rolled his shoulders. “I’m too busy. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

She scoffed. “You have to go through and pull stuff for promos anyway, just do this as a side project as you go through everything else.”

Uncertainty radiating off him, Josh finally met her eye again. “These are peoples’ lives you want to mess with, Jenn. They have families and boyfriends and… you want to play matchmaker.”

“One,” Jenn straightened and held up a finger for emphasis. “Melissa deserves so much more than ‘Gary the Vending Machine Guy’,” her voice took on a mocking edge at the guy’s name. “I mean he’s fine, but Melissa deserves lightning!” At this Josh mumbled something about her obsession with Ted Lasso, but Jenn plowed on, holding up another finger. “Two, these two are only denying their feelings because they think the other doesn’t feel the same. But they do! You know they do. And three, we wouldn’t be ‘messing’, per se, just opening their eyes to what’s right in front of them.”

Pleased with her speech, Jenn leaned back in her chair and waited for Josh to fold.

He did. It took all of a minute.

Lips twisting, Josh huffed. “All right! But I’m not doing the music and you have to swear to leave it, leave them, alone after this. Nothing else, no other prods or shit like that.”

Grinning, Jenn held out her hand. “Pinky swear!”

Unamused, Josh hooked his pinky around hers and sighed. “What did I just sign up for?” He groused, mostly under his breath.

All but popping out of her seat in excitement, Jenn twirled and then stopped to face Josh. “For Cupid duty!” She crowed, mentally congratulating herself for this and impatient to see what would happen once Melissa and Barbara saw the results.

[movedtoferinehuntress]

⌜ ♥ @independentzaun ⌟ ―― Caitlyn ► NSFW Ask Game = ❝ 43. Thoughts on gunplay? ❞

"I mean, I know I am an excellent shot and all but," Caitlyn paused for a moment at the question from Melis as she waved her hand with her head shaking in unison. "That's definitely not something I have any interest in. My rifle and pistol are weapons, tools of the trade, I don't find anything sexually gratifying about them. The sensual touch of a knife might be okay in the bedroom, especially to cut off clothing or the cold touch of its blade but I don't know how a gun could bring any sort of pleasure in the bedroom,"

From the corner of the room, though, the Baroness started to chuckle under her breath as Caitlyn rolled her eyes at her counterpart. "Vi must find you incredibly boring if you can't entertain a bit of fun and games. Let me tell you how erotic it is to see a woman holding a gun with such prowess in her eyes and knowing she has such fine control over it. Oh, I'm good with a rifle, but to watch another with the same expertise," The Baroness purred as Caitlyn rolled her eyes.

"How you and I are the same person, I will never understand," Caitlyn mumbled.

"You've never been at the front end of a pistol from one you love, have you? There is a sort of… violent beauty within it, and Jinx when she does it. Mhmm, I would lick that pistol for her and gracious kiss her foot if she told me to," The Baroness whistled as she waved her hand toward Caitlyn. "But do go on about how Vi is better at it,"

Caitlyn grumbled at her counterpart. "You and Jinx have fun with that pistol. I'll stick to having Vi bite my neck,"

[haloburns]

a work i've been trying to get out for a few months now. with the way i've been enjoying writing early ghost light/mateo things, i figured i could get this one out without much issue! you also get to meet some more of Mateo's family, all of whom i'm very proud of

there's no way out (i gotta hold you somehow)

“Wha— Teo, it’s not that big a deal, it was just a hoodie—”

“Danny, you’re doing it again!” Mateo cried, dropping his head into his hand. “It wasn’t about the damn hoodie, not really! I was jealous, remember? I told you I didn’t want you kissing Tony in my hoodie because I wanted you to kiss me in my hoodie!”

The moment the words left his mouth, embarrassment swallowed him whole.

“I— I mean— What I mean is— I don’t— That’s— Not— Wait,” he finally gasped after he’d stuttered through the start of several sentences. There was only silence on the other line. Mateo decided he couldn’t bear it anymore and said, “Nevermind, have a good day,” and hung up. He flung his phone onto the table and buried his face in his hands completely.

“Oh my gods, I can’t believe I just said that.”

“Said what?”

“Dios mio!” Mateo twisted in his chair to glare at his sister who had appeared in the doorway without his notice. “Meli, what the fuck?!”

“Atsia says you can’t talk to me like that,” she said, sticking her nose in the air as she stomped past him to the kitchen.

“Then don’t sneak up on me!” Without a second thought, he picked up the bagel Atsia had left on the table and launched it across the rooms. It smacked squarely into his sister’s arm with a satisfying swmack! It fell to the ground while she shrieked about being hit. Mateo rolled his eyes at her; he knew that didn’t hurt, she was just being thirteen and dramatic.

“Don’t have your breakdowns in the kitchen then, buttmunch!” She lobbed the bagel back at him. It hit the back of his head with the speed and accuracy of the city’s softball champion’s aim. He scowled at her and half stood from the chair.

“Buttmunch, really?!”

His phone ringing from the center of the table distracted them. Mateo stared at it like it might explode. Meli rolled her eyes and pulled another bagel from the bag on the table in the center of the kitchen.

“It won’t bite. It’s probably just your ~boyfriend~”

“He’s not my boyfriend, Meli! Gods, you’re annoying,” he mumbled as he swiped his phone from the table.

“Maybe you should’ve stayed at school then!” Meli shouted as he made his way to the back patio. He did the very mature thing and stuck his tongue out as he flipped her off, shutting the door behind him.

His phone was still ringing in his cradled hands, and Mateo just stared at it. Did he answer it and face Danny now, or hope he forgot it by the time he saw him in five days? He worried the corner of his lip as he debated with himself.

“Just answer the damn phone, simplón!” Meli shouted as she strolled past with her bagel. He scowled at her as she retreated back up the stairs, but when he returned to looking at his phone, he sighed. Unfortunately, his sister had a point.

Continue on AO3

[amor-immortalem]

Meli the Runaway part 2

A/N: This has been rotting in my drafts for three months and I don’t have anything better to post. So I figured it was time to post this…

It’s one of the last quiet mornings Lucifer will get until the end of the next school year. He starts his morning off with a nice cup of tea while Cerberus naps just outside the window. His only child is tucked away safely in his room and sleeping soundly. Nothing could ruin this morning- nothing at all. So why is Diavolo’s good name is Lucifer’s cell phone blaring loudly from its place on the table in front of him at seven in the morning? Better yet, why is it Satan’s name on the caller id?

“Good Morning, Satan. Why are you calling at seven in the morning?”

“Is Melissa with you? She snuck out of the house at some point during the night.” The fourth-born is quick and to the point with it.

“Not even a good morning in return?” The first-born mumbles under his breath, “No, Melissa isn’t here- at least not to my knowledge, anyway. Why? Did you two have another disagreement?”

“I’d say disagreement is an understatement…” Satan sighs, “She threw Hivetes’ laptop out the window yesterday and when I confronted her about it, it turned into a fight.”

“It’s always something between those two, isn’t it?” The blacked-haired demon lets out a sigh through his nose, “Did Melissa actually admit to throwing the laptop out or is this one of those situations where you’re getting two different sides to the story again?”

“Oh no, she admitted it. I grounded her for it but I just want her to apologize to her step-mother.”

“Just let the issue die then- move on and forget making her apologize,” the older demon suggests, “if her apologizing is causing this much of an issue then I have a feeling there’s more to it than you know.”

“She claims Hivites is a totally different demon when I’m not present.”

“Well maybe it’s not that far off from the truth,” Lucifer takes a long sip of his tea, “I know it’s not what you want to hear Satan but what if Melissa is telling the truth about her? Back when we all first fell and I would sporadically try to find a partner, I met plenty of demons and demonesses that have been two-faced when it comes to the six of you. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that she’s that kind of person.”

“Still, we’ve been together in one form or another since Melissa was two- thirteen years is quite a while to put up a ruse like that.”

“Weirder things have happened… anyway, circling back around to the reason you called, I would recommend giving either Asmo or Mammon a ring and see if either of them has her. Melissa usually goes to Azalea or Zulima if she’s having issues with you, doesn’t she?”

“Usually, but I’ve asked them to make sure they at least text me if Meli stops by after our fights just so I know she’s safe… and I haven’t heard anything from either of them so it’s safe to assume she’s not there…”

“I would still cover my bases if I were you.” Lucifer sets his tea cup down as he spies the time, “I’d love to sit here and chat with you all morning but unfortunately I have to get moving. Solaris and I have a busy day ahead of us. Good luck with Melissa- hopefully you find her soon.”

The line clicks off before Satan has a chance to reply, leaving the fourth-born to glare at the device in his hands. “That wasn’t helpful at all.” The blonde dials Asmo next as he heads downstairs to the kitchen where his wife is currently making a pot of coffee for them. She shoots him a curious look when he sets his mobile on the table a little too harshly.

“Meli’s not up in her room so I’m calling my brothers to see if she dropped in on them. Lucifer was no help and Asmo didn’t pick up their phone.” He explains, running a hand through his hair.

Hivites nods slightly before letting out a sigh. “That child of yours- what are we going to do with her?”

“I don’t know,” Satan frowns, “I just wish she wouldn’t sneak out in the middle of the night like this. It’s dangerous for her to be out unattended at that hour… she saw what happened to her cousin when she was out roaming the streets in the middle of the night. I don’t get what would be going through her mind…”

“The one with the missing eye, right? Maybe she’s the one causing this little rebellious phase Meli’s going through.” Hivites sets a mug of coffee on the table for Satan before going back to fix herself one.

“Azalea? No, I don’t think so. What makes you say that?”

“Well, for one, they’re always spending time together along with your other niece as well and it seems like Azalea would be the master of knowing how to spite a parent considering how spiteful the girl can be with her own parents. I just think perhaps some of her more… problematic behaviours are starting to rub off on our dear Melissa, you know? It worries me that she’ll turn into a delinquent the more time she spends with her cousin.”

“That’s a little unfair to blame that on Azalea alone though, don’t you think? We’re the parents, if Meli were to become a delinquent ultimately it wouldn’t be anyone’s fault but ours for improper parenting.”

“I’m just saying that I think her cousin’s a bad influence on her is all.” She gives him a smile as she takes a sip from her coffee. “Whether or not you feel the same is up to you…”

A silence falls over them as the blonde contemplates his wife’s words. He picks his phone back up and dial’s Mammon’s number, hoping he’d at least have the decency to answer unlike Asmo.

And he does, answering with a very out of breath “Yo.” Satan is a little taken aback by the greeting.

“Umm, Morning, Mammon. Did I call at a bad time?”

“No… no, not really,” the second-born answers still out of breath, “I was just out chasing down some runaway souls in Hell. I’m just really… out of shape from what I used to be. Why?”

“I was looking for Meli. We had a fight last night and when I went to wake her up this morning, she wasn’t in her room but I guess since you’re down in Hell, it’s safe to assume you don’t know if she decided to drop in on you and Arella.”

“Yeah, no. You’d be better off just callin’ ‘Rella to see if she’s there.”

“Alright, thanks. Keep an eye out for her once you get back please.”

“Will do.”

The line clicks off on Mammon’s end and the wrath demon moves on to his next contact.

・・・〆・・・

As the morning goes on and each call to his brothers and eventually the parents of his daughter’s friends turns up empty handed, Satan can’t help but feel worried. If she wasn’t with any of their family or any of her friends, where could Melissa have gone? Part of the demon wants to contact authorities and open a missing person’s case but another part of him wants to wait the day out, see if she just comes back on her own.

What if something happens to her? is the nagging thought in the back of the Avatar of Wrath’s mind. He just hopes she turns up soon.

・・・〆・・・

Two weeks later

“That had to be the single worst experience of my life,” Melissa groans out as she lays on the ground. “I can see why everyone prefers to leave the Devildom via portal. That trek through the layers of hell fucking sucks.”

As she sits up, the teen brushes some of the debris from her hair. She’s never felt so tired in her whole life. Her brown eyes drift to the bright blue sky of the human world as she lets her body soak in the sunlight.

Where in the human world even am I, anyway…?

・・・〆・・・

To be continued (eventually)

[fullmetal-ampharos]

what does tumbles think of my new cut? :3c

[pumpkinespresso]

Omg… ;; I haven’t had a cheat day in weeks and this morning after we woke up, my bf said he’s going to take me to ihop later!!!!

You guys have no idea how much I love pancakes!!! 🥞

[outsideratheart]

Nobody Compares To You (Claudia Pina x reader)

Based off this request

Getting called up to the Barcelona senior team was something you worked hard to achieve but like all things in life, it came at a cost. You would never forget the day, it was a Tuesday when you were told that Lluis Cortes wanted to talk to you. At first you didn’t think anything of it as it wasn’t the first time you met with the coach but it was the first time you met with him and your manager. 

“How would you like to join the senior team?” 

At first you thought he was joking but the look in his eyes told you he wasn’t. 

“I would like that very much” you try to remain calm and composed in front of the man who would soon become your coach. 

You rejoin the B team and Claudia gets called over. At first you think that your dream is going to come true, that the two of you would make your debut together but then you see Lluis getting into his car and you feel your heart sink knowing that she won’t be having the same conversation that you had.

You watch as Claudia ambled back towards you. Her eyes were dim and you could have sworn you saw her bottom lip trembling. 

“I’m staying with the B team for another season, something about them wanting me to develop further” 

This was bullshit. You and Claudia were identical on the pitch, no way could they see something in you and not see it in her. 

Your hesitation in replying and the look of guilt across your face tells Claudia that you received good news.

“I’m sorry—“ you want to console your best friend.

“Don’t apologise. Just promise me that it won’t change anything, that you won’t forget me” the look in her eyes showed fear but to you it was absurd that she thought it possible. 

“I promise” you hold out your pinky sealing the promise. 

It was a promise you intended to keep and in your defence you did keep half of it. You never forgot about Claudia, if anything you thought about her more than ever. Things did change though but they were out of your control. The time you spent together became less and less due to the two of you training at different times and you had extra training sessions. You tried your hardest to make time for your best friend but she only saw your lack of effort as you choosing anything and everyone but her. 

***********************

Three seasons later you find out that Claudia is getting called up to the senior team and you couldn’t have been happier. It's like the stars aligned or something.

“Someone’s happy” Leila nudges you as you tie your boots.

“What can I say, I have been looking forward to this day for years” you know Leila was teasing you but nothing could ruin your mood, or so you thought.

“Oh yes, today is day your girlfriend is joining us” Mapi joins in on the teasing.

“She’s not my girlfriend” you correct her.

Mapi and Leila share a look, one that you don’t recognise.

“Y/N we have heard the way you talk about her, our little star is in love”

You want to argue, say that you aren’t but the two meli’s know when you are lying and it would only lead to more teasing. Knowing that they have planted a seed in your head, the defenders leave you alone as you think about Claudia.

The team trained for about an hour before you saw her standing on the sidelines with some of the coaching staff. Suddenly football became a lot less interesting as you watched her from a distance. The two leaders of the team Vicky and Mel get called over, you see them introduce themselves and for some reason you feel yourself get nervous.

“Chicas!” Vicky shouts and like sheep to their shepherd, the team run towards her.

“This is Claudia Pina” 

You watch as your best friends mumbles a shy hi.

“After her outstanding performance on the B team she is now officially part of the—“

“The A Team” Jenni shouts earning a slap on her arm from Alexia.

“Claudia this is abuse and it is not tolerated, Ale go do laps” Jenni says in her most serious tone causing the group to laugh.

You don’t break focus though, all you cared about was finally being able to hold the new forward in your arms.

Mel and Vicky introduce Claudia to the team, purposely leaving you till last.

“This is Y/N Y/L/N although from what this one tells me you two already know each other, pretty well if memory serves me correctly”

With that the two older players leave you alone.

“That was a long time ago” Claudia says which catches you off guard.

“What’s that suppose to mean?” You ask.

“I mean a lot has changed since then. I’m not the same person and you certainly are not”

Her tone was like a knife to your heart.

You want her to explain further but you don’t get the chance as Jenni pulls her away, something about forward bonding time.

“Everything ok?” Patri asks.

“No, I don’t think it is” 

Not knowing how to respond Patri simply rubs your back in comfort before leaving you alone with your thoughts.

*******************

The next few weeks are rough, your attempts of speaking to Claudia go unsuccessful but it isn’t for a lack of trying. You text her every morning asking if she wants a ride to training, she replies no. You try to make conversation with her during breakfast, she wants no part of it. At first it was confusing, you would lay up at night thinking about what you could have do to earn a reaction like this but nothing comes to mind. After week 8 your confusion is replaced with anger, how could your best friend be treating you like a stranger and yet somehow act like the victim.

You decide to give Claudia a taste of her own medicine. With each day that passes you make less of an effort to be a part of her day. The only time the two of you interact is on the pitch, the team in awe at the way you play with each other. It is like you have a sixth sense for each other’s presence, you are able to play balls to one another without saying a word which is a blessing given the current circumstances of your relationship.

You had missed playing with her and the moments you share on the pitch are still the highlight of your day no matter how hard to try to be mad at her, deep down you know that you never could be.

You try one last time to talk to her after a gym session but she blanks you completely, the ignorance you receive pushes you to your breaking point. You storm out of the gym having no interest in being near her. Your reaction gains the attention of the team as they are used to you been calm no matter the situation.

“What was that about?” Vicky asks clearly concerned for you.

Although her question is directed at the entire team her gaze remains on Claudia.

The others players answer honestly, they had no idea what was wrong with you and that is exactly what you wanted. You were always a private person, there was no room on the pitch for your personal life.

“What about you Claudia, do you know what is wrong with Y/N?” Alexia asks noticing how the young forward stays quiet

“No, why would I?” She replies blatantly.

“Because you’re her best friend?” Alexia asks.

“No, I’m not. Not anymore” Claudia says as if it were obvious.

“There’s your answer Ale” Leila tells the Catalonian.

*******************

Claudia watches you during training a couple of days later, waiting for you to approach her as you did every other session only that doesn’t happen. Instead you partner up with Mel rarely moving a meter away from her. The team leaves the training field and still you don’t talk to or even look in her direction.

Her stare burns into you as you get changed and you only stop feeling it when you leave the facility.  

“What did you expect kid? Y/N is human, she can only take so much before she gives up” Mel pats the newbie on her back before heading to the showers. 

Is this what has happened, have you given up? Did Claudia care, she did after all think you gave up on her the moment you left the B team. 

As she slumps down into her locker she rethinks her behaviour. Feeling a presence near her she turns to see Jenni with alexia now sitting on her other side.

“She misses you” Alexia tells her. 

“Then she shouldn’t have left me” Claudia thinks back to the day you said goodbye, how you broke your promise, you left and gave her no second thought.

“She didn’t leave you. She was given a life changing opportunity and she took it. She shouldn’t be punished for that” Alexia was extremely protective over you and had been since you joined the team. She saw the way your light slowly dimmed every time Claudia dismissed you. 

“She left and didn’t give me a second thought, she—“

“Y/N went to almost all the B team games. Does that sound that something somebody would do if they didn’t care?” now it is Jenni’s who comes to your defence. 

“That’s not true. You’re just covering for her because you are on her side”

“I am” Alexia is quick to respond.

“We’re not” Jenni tries to play the voice of reason whilst Alexia was beginning to get frustrated at the the young girls ignorance. 

“Why would she come to the games, she didn’t play for the team anymore”

“Because she wanted to see you and you wouldn’t take her calls or answer her texts” Jenni tells her as she thinks back to the times she saw you text Claudia only to recieve no response or how your heart broke after the numerous times she sent you to voicemail.

“I lost her” Claudia says in defeat.

“You grew apart, it happens but the way you have treated her since joining us hasn’t helped your relationship. She has done nothing but be nice to you and you have thrown it in her face time and time again” Alexia shows no sign of backing off.

“Ale” 

“Fine” Alexia holds her hands up in defeat before walking away.

“Listen kid” Jenni stands up “relationships are tough and they don’t get easier as we get older, they require work from both sides, trust me. I have never seen Y/N like this so I can’t give you any advice other than I suggest you try to make things right with her before it’s too late”

As Jenni leaves, Claudia realises that she is the only player left in the locker room. She takes her phone from her bag and dials your number, which goes straight to voicemail.

“Guess I deserve that” She mumbles to herself.

************************

After taking a shower that was way too hot to be healthy you plant yourself of the sofa with no intention of moving, well that is until your takeout arrives. 

Almost 90 minutes later, 45 minutes after your supposed delivery time you hear a knock on at your door and assume it’s your pizza. 

“What took you so long?” You ask slightly irritated at the tardiness. 

It is only when you go to reach for the food that you realise it isn’t the delivery guy. 

“I was been an arsehole” Claudia says as a means to apologise. 

You roll your eyes as you move aside letting her into your apartment. 

“The girls are very protective over you” Claudia says thinking back to the conversation she had in the locker room.

Her words earn a scoff from you. 

“I know. Is that what you came to tell me? If so you can leave now” you make you way to the door, your fingers grasp the handle. 

“Y/N wait!” 

“Say what you came to say or leave Claudia. I have had enough of your—well—whatever it is you have been doing” For the first time in years you have to think about what to say to her when before it used to come so easy to you. 

“You broke your promise” with her head down you barely hear what she says. 

At this point Claudia reminds you of a lost puppy and for the the first time you see that she too is hurting.

“I never” you stand by your actions knowing that in your eyes it was her who made you go back on your word. After all it is hard to remain in contact with someone when said person refuses to take your calls. 

“You did” Claudia raises her voice slightly, you take a step back with surprise. 

“Like I said I didn’t but do explain why you think I did?” 

Your tone is emotionless as you do your best to protect yourself. The last you want is to give Claudia the satisfaction of knowing how much she has hurt you. 

Just as she begins to talk, she makes the extra steps to close the distance between the two of you. 

“Whatever you have to say you can say it from over there” you hold your arm out stopping her in her tracks. 

Claudia begins pacing the length of your living room and you cannot help but laugh. Here she is doing the same thing she always did when she was nervous. It might be the only thing has stayed the same all these years later.

“You left and I was hurt, I’m still hurt. We had plans and a future and one afternoon everything changed. You left to pursue a dream that was meant to be for the both of us” 

“I couldn’t turn them down” 

“And I wouldn’t have wanted you to. I think I was jealous. I saw the way your life changed and it suited you Y/N. Being in the senior team, having your face on posters around the city, going to events with the players that we used to idolise” 

As she list the reasons you only get angrier, all of the things she mentions, in a way, had nothing to do with you.

“You are talking about things that were out of my control. Like you said, a lot of things changed, I had all of these amazing opportunities but all I wanted was you Claudia” you are now shouting but you continue anyways “I needed my best friend and you wasn’t there and now you have the audacity to be mad at me, to ignore me, you don’t get to do that!!!!!” You voice cracks, a result of you raising your voice and the overwhelming emotions you are feeling.

“Y/N I said Im sorry”

“No Claudia you haven’t. You have come to my home after treating me like shit for the past couple of months and for what, to tell me I hurt you. Well guess what, you hurt me too. The only difference is that you did it on purpose!” 

“I am sorry” the smaller girl tell you as she walks closer to you. 

“Why didn’t you tell me how you felt? We never keep things from each, or least we didn’t” once again you are reminded how things have changed over the years. 

Claudia stops when she is less than a meter away from you. When she looks up her eyes brimmed with tears, this sight alone breaks your heart. 

“Pequeño”

“I thought that you were happier without me. You were all over my social media, a huge smile on your face and I hated that I wasn’t the reason for it. You would post photos with the other girls and I got jealous. I would see your name on my phone screen and believe me when I say I wanted to answer it but then I started to think what if you are calling to tell me that you met someone else”

“There is no one else Claudia”

“But —“

Knowing that in this moment one simple action will reassure more than any amount of words ever could you do the thing that you have been wanting to do since you were 15 years old. You muster every ounce of confidence you can before pulling Claudia into you, your hands cups her face and your lips crash into hers. At first she doesn’t reciprocate the kiss, it’s only when you pull away in fear that you have put her in an uncomfortable situation does she reconnect yours lips.

As you pull apart both of you take a deep breath, letting your head catch up with your heart.

“Believe when I say there is nobody in the world that compares to you Claudia Pina” 

[lale-txt]

lale first of all i love you, and even more since i know you are a simp for Rayleigh <3 can i have a little scenario with Rayleigh (young/near the end of his journey with Roger if possible) where he and the reader get physically close on a cold night to get warm. this can stay in the fluff but feel free to make it spicy 👀 thanks if you accept this little request, otherwise no problem! take care 🤍

meli my angel <3 i love you too! i squealed when i read your request because YES YES YES it's perfect. as expected it got a bit spicy in the end. whoops hehe. i hope i did your request justice!

getting close on a cold, starry night w/ young Rayleigh

contains: afab!reader & gn pronous, mention of alcohol, n.sfw under the cut (mention of breath play, dirty talk, penetration) word count: 1.8k (just a "small" scenario yeah SWEATS)

"I am wearing every piece of clothing that I own and I am still freezing." You were exaggerating, but still. Why couldn't you have stranded on some tropical summer island instead of this disastrous polar piece of land? You wipe some snow off the railing before you lean against it, seeking the company of your first mate.

"You should drink more, it warms you up from the inside."

Rayleigh takes a sip of wine straight out of the bottle before he offers it to you. He was wearing a big, black coat, his blonde hair slicked back as usual with a few strands of hair falling into his clear-cut face. It was your favorite face on the entire Grand Line, but that was a secret you kept well to yourself.

"You know it doesn't work that way, right?", you teased, but grabbed the bottle anyway and took a few sips. "Why are you still up, anyway? Is Roger snoring again?"

Rayleigh takes the wine out of your hands again, taking another sip. He laughs, but it sounds a bit desperate.

"You're making it sound like he and I are an old couple, sharing the same bed. But yeah... the walls of the Oro Jackson are not that thin, but they don't stand a chance against Roger once he's asleep."

He stares at the winter island in front of you, with its huge trees covered in snow. His fingers are playing absentmindedly with the label of the bottle. You're kind of mesmerized by his hands. How often you had dreamt about holding them, about feeling them all over your body...

"y/n?"

You flinch, startled by him calling you by your name and also because he caught you daydreaming... about him and his hands. Your cheeks turn pink, hopefully he won't notice in the dark of the night.

"Why aren't you back in bed if you're cold?", he repeats, looking at you questioning. It felt as if he could see right through you, probably right into your heart that had his name scribbled on every wall.

"I was studying for hours until my head hurt and needed some air. But damn, that air is cold."

To your surprise Rayleigh reaches for your hands on the ship's rail and takes them into his. His hands were so big that yours looked so tiny in his. Wait. Were you actually holding hands with Rayleigh right now?

"That's part of my duty as first mate. Making sure every crew member feels warm."

"Well... you're not too bad at this.", you mumble into your scarf, unable to look him into your eyes - fearing he might only see little hearts in there. You had dreamt about this a thousand times. Maybe this was a dream and if it was, you hope to never wake up.

A few minutes in silence pass where you're both just watching the dark, calm sea, occasionally passing the bottle of wine between the both of you, but never fully letting go of each other's hands. At this point your hands were very warm already, even more, your whole body felt like it was on fire, being this close to him. Without a word, Rayleigh puts an arm around your shoulder, pulling you closer to him. You were now leaning with your back against his chest, his arms wrapped around you, holding both of your hands. The empty wine bottle was at your feet. You could feel his heart beating slow and steady, the opposite of yours.

"This is nice...", you hum, tilting your head back slightly to look up to him. The alcohol made you slightly dizzy and also made your tongue loose. "I feel like we never get the chance to just... be. Just the two of us. Or do you do that with other crew members too, as part of your first mate duty?"

"I do, but no one is as cute as you. And most of them don't shower enough."

You try to remember if you showered this morning, when it hit you. Cute. Did he just call you cute? Your brain can't keep up anymore. That must be the alcohol speaking, right?

"Can I confess something?", you ask, sinking deeper into his arms. Rayleigh leans down to you, his face is now close to yours. It made your head spin.

"Me first.", he whispered in your ear, his voice a little hoarse from drinking. "I really want to kiss you right now."

"Just kissing?", you blurt out. Thinking clearly truly was not working for you anymore. You were thankful that he held you in his arms, otherwise your legs would probably just have given in.

"We could start with kissing?"

"Good. Kissing, yeah. That's good. Because I am really madly in love with you, Rayleigh. And I dreamt about kissing you a lot. For a while now actually. And not only kissing, but also..."

The dark king interrupts you by spinning you around and taking your face into his hands, tilting it up a bit, before he leans down to gently brush his lips against yours. You grab him by the collar of his coat, pressed tightly against him on tiptoes. The cold around you was completely forgotten. He writes a confession with his tongue in your open mouth; kisses you like it was his last one he had on earth, hungry and passionate, sinful and loving.

You wanted more.

"Too many clothes...", you mumble against his lips while your hands fumble with the buttons of his coat. He takes your hands into his again. At first you thought he wanted to stop here, but his face was telling a different story.

"I want this as much as you do, but I prefer a warmer spot for that."

That being said, he lifts you up bridal style, your arms wrapped around his neck. It still felt like a dream, being carried into your cabin by him (you assumed he didn't choose his cabin because hearing your captain snoring next door might kill the mood).

Him being inside your cabin felt intimate, almost forbidden, but also exciting. The fire in your small stove was still burning, dipping the room into a soft flickering light and making you both almost sigh in relief with its warmth. You get rid of every layer you threw on before you stepped into the cold earlier, throwing your clothes carelessly on the ground until it was just a wide shirt and your underwear that you were wearing. Rayleigh was also taking off his clothes, never not watching you. He was smirking, giving you butterflies with that smile. All of this felt like a dream. Suddenly you felt a bit shy, undressing in front of him. You wanted this moment to last. Wanted to feel his lips on you again.

Rayleigh steps closer, now only wearing simple pants and a half-buttoned shirt. He takes your hands and places them on his chest, pulling you into his arms. Warm shivers run down your spine when he kisses your shoulders up to your neck, his beard tickling you and his lips setting your skin on fire. A dream. Except it was not a dream and you could feel the heat rising between your legs, lusting for more.

"We can stop anytime, okay?", Rayleigh mumbles between your kisses, lifting you off the ground with ease and pushing you against the wall. You can feel the bulge in his pants rubbing on you, letting you know how hungry he was for you. Your hands wander over his chest, running through his blonde hair, pulling it as he kisses you deeply and passionately. Good thing you didn't have to stand up right now, because your legs were so weak and trembling with excitement.

"To the bed...", you groan when he touches you over your soaked panty, sending electric shocks through your whole body. You wanted him so badly, wanted to feel him inside, wanted to devour him.

You gesture to the box of condoms on the bedside table as he carries you to your comfy bed, putting you down gently. You sit down on the edge of the mattress, your legs spread wide, giving him a good view of your throbbing cunt as you pull your panty to the side. Rayleigh unbuttons his pants and the rest of his shirt, letting it slide to the ground. He takes his cock in one hand, stroking it steadily. He didn't take his eyes off you as you rubbed your clit in big circles, a wet dripping mess.

"Let me eat you out first?", he suggested, leaning over you, pushing you back onto the mattress. The physical strength he had over you only turned you on even more. How he could pin you down easily.

"I need you to fuck my brain out first. Skip foreplay. I really, really need you to fill me up, Rayleigh."

You stare at each other for three whole seconds, comprehending what you just said. Then he rips a condom open with his teeth, rolling it down on his hard cock with your help. You could feel it throbbing underneath your hands as you led him to your entrance. You're on your back, Rayleigh rubbing his cock teasingly on your dripping wet cunt, watching you lose your cool the longer he waited. At this point you were almost begging, groaning his name over and over again, melting under his grip as he spread your legs apart.

"Fuck me already, Rayleigh...", you whined, trembling. You felt like you were losing your mind.

He enters you slowly and you forget how to breathe for a second when your walls clench around his cock. You sighed in relief and gasped for air when he started thrusting, slow, steady movements. With a hand around his neck you pull him closer to your face, kissing him with an intensity you never experienced before. You're both moaning and hissing, you whimper under his touch and he groans with every thrust, every time your walls clench around his cock. He fucks you from behind, pulling you back onto his cock again everytime you try to crawl away because the pleasure is almost too much to handle. You're riding him, your eyes rolling back everytime you sink down onto his cock. You guide his hand to your throat, showing him how to choke you right with his big, strong hands. You bite his lip as he moans your name over and over again, begging you to cum with him.

You cum first, trembling and shaking, feeling it rolling over you in heavy waves. His moans add just fuel to the fire, they excite you, making you want to hear them over and over again. His hand is buried in your hair as he thrusts into you a few more times until he cums, groaning loudly, pulling you into a deep kiss. You both stay like this for a little while, intertwined, looking each other deeply, lovingly in the eyes. Knowing this was just a small taste, the beginning of something as magical as a starry, cold winter night.

[kaizokuwritings]

CONGRATULATIONS MELI 🎉 ! can i have the number 19 (heaven side) with Tobirama, Kakashi or Iruka please, and a female reader? thanks a lot !

note. thank you for your request ! it's the first time i write about Naruto! i hope i respected Tobirama's personality that i love. and it was complicated to choose between these three guys 😫

prompt. (𝕙𝕖𝕒𝕧𝕖𝕟,𝟙𝟡) pushing a strand of hair behind their ear.

pairing. tobirama x fem!reader

c.w. the reader is nice and tobirama acts like tobirama... i think?

words. 0.6k

There are only three things that Tobirama can't understand. The first is the Uchihas clan, the second is his stupid older brother and the third is his heart.

This last one can one day be totally under his control. Nothing affects him, and he can manage his emotions as he wants. But sometimes, and especially around you, his heart would go crazy, and the emotions that Tobirama thought he was in control of one day, would escape from his hands the next day, like fine sand escaping through his fingers.

His heart, his breathing become disordered when you are close to him and it only takes a nice smile from you to make him grumpy. Because for once, he has no control. Tobirama may appreciate your presence, your character and your laughter, but he hates being attached to you in this way. He is constantly afraid of losing you, of seeing you hurt. He's afraid, and that's something he doesn't like.

So when you took a little longer than expected to come back from a mission one day, Tobirama was pacing in front of your house, shaking his head, responding aggressively to anyone who came near him. What would he do if you didn't come back to him, what would he do on a daily basis without your reassuring presence and gentle nature? Everything seemed futile, unimportant until you came home.

So, when he felt your presence close to him, just behind his back, Tobirama turned around and prepared to yell at you. But he met your tired look, and your body seemed to be aching. Yet you were still smiling at him, and the fatigue could not stifle the light of kindness and intelligence in your eyes.

Tobirama's heart was pounding in his chest as he was able to enjoy your presence again. He knew how he felt about you, and it made him so angry. He wanted to be able to put his emotions in a closet, lock it and throw away the key. He didn't want to have any emotional constraints in his life.

But here you were in front of him, and he seemed to breathe easier with you. ❛❛Oh, you waited for me Tobi? That's adorable.❜❜ Your crystalline voice reached his ears as you moved a little closer to him and Tobirama didn't even think of correcting you on that ridiculous nickname. After all, it was almost only you who called him that, and it suited him.

You seemed genuinely touched by the fact that he waited for you so late, and you continued to look at him without being impressed or amazed like the others. No, you just looked at him, kindly, without any ulterior motive. Slowly, the Senju raised his hand and brought it to your cheek, and tucked a lock of your hair behind your ear. Your hair was soft and silky under his fingers and he wanted to stay in this position as long as possible.

Your face, now more open, reflected your surprise. It was the first time that there was physical contact between the two of you and you could see a small, tiny smile on Tobirama's face. It was also the first time you had seen him smile. Your cheeks tingled pink as the future Second Hokage was already removing his hand. ❛❛I'm glad you're back safe and sound. Rest well, you have a long day ahead of you tomorrow.❜❜

Realizing his somewhat instinctive gesture, Tobirama looked away, clearing his throat. He mumbled a simple, barely audible goodnight before slipping away. One more mission had been completed. Tobirama Senju had finally understood his heart

↬ 𝖈𝖍𝖔𝖔𝖘𝖊 𝖇𝖊𝖙𝖜𝖊𝖊𝖓 𝖍𝖊𝖆𝖛𝖊𝖓 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖍𝖊𝖑𝖑 ↫

the tag list for this event is open !

-> HEAVEN SIDE ☀️

[melis-writes]

Hi Melis!! i love your work so much 🫶 I was wondering (I’m not sure if it’s been done before) if you could make a prompt where Victoria catches Michael touching himself to the thought of her 🥵

Hello and thank you, sweet anon!! 🥰💖 That means so much to me! It seems like something that would be requested first and often, eh? Casual smut…🥵 Let’s just say in this prompt that Michael’s very impatient and aroused. Victoria’s the one keeping him waiting. 😈

“In a minute, in a minute.” Your cheeks flare up with blush at Michael’s insistency; his hands pulling the straps of your bra down your arms. “I still have to go check up on the twins.”

“You still have to tease me,” Michael corrects—his smoldering gaze meeting with yours as he pulls his hands back. “I feel like you’re enjoying this.”

“Maybe I am.” You giggle back, watching him continue to unbutton down his dress shirt. “I’ll only be a minute.”

“You’re definitely teasing me.” Michael mumbles, resting his back against the headboard. “Like I wouldn’t know.”

“And you’re so impatient,” you smirk at him, pulling over your night robe and tying it around your waist. “You already know how tonight is going to go.”

“Do I?” Michael’s eyes roam at the silky fabric hugging your body. “It’s gonna continue against the wall because I’m not going to have the patience to take you all the way to the bed.”

“So you are impatient, aren’t you?” You ask in a teasing voice, glancing back at Michael over your shoulder.

“You blame me?” Michael snakes his hand up your night robe from your thigh, giving your ass a firm smack. “When you’re looking like this, kissing me for the past ten minutes like nothing.”

“I’ll be back, baby.” You hold back your laughter, moving towards the door. “You can miss me for a few more minutes.”

“Hurry it up and when you get back—” Michael gestures to the bedroom door, keeping his other hand over his belt. “Make sure you lock the door, baby.”

“I will, don’t worry.” You give Michael a wink before slipping off into the hallway to get to the twins’ bedroom.

Picking the perfect yet worse time to check up on the twins before bed, you know you’ll be in for more than just a surprise when you get back.

Teasing one another, touching and kissing for the past ten minutes non-stop has already taken its toll on Michael whose practically throbbing for arousal.

The two of you hadn’t seen one another in three days due to a business trip that took Michael to New Jersey and both of you are more than eager tonight to make up for all that missed time over a mattress.

While you quietly enter the twins’ bedroom to tuck the children in and check in on them, Michael’s clothes are a wrinkled mess on the ground next to the rest of yours.

Letting out a shaky, deep breath, Michael tilts his head back against the headboard, closing his eyes.

Michael grasps his hand over his cock, relaxing his muscles and lazily opening his eyes to see his precum oozing down his shaft from arousal.

“Fuck,” Michael hisses quietly to himself, stroking his cock to spread the precum over it and lubricate himself.

The thought of Michael pulling off your lace panties with his teeth before burying his face between your legs, spanking you as he piledrives you against the bed amongst every other dirty fantasy Michael can imagine involving fucking you till you’re screaming his name throughout the night rotates in his head repeatedly.

You give both Niccolo and Verona who are sleeping soundly soft kisses over their foreheads before quietly exiting their bedroom and closing the door behind them; completely unaware of what’s going on in the bedroom.  

Imagining your lips wrapped around his cock instead, Michael’s arousal only amplifies as he’s unable to hold back—lost in his fantasy of you.

Walking back down the hallway and getting closer to the bedroom, Michael continues to stroke himself slowly—up and down at a steady rhythm.

Husky grunts and breathy moans escape Michael’s mouth as his precum has him almost completely lubricated.

Michael can’t quite remember the last time he had a solo session to himself like this, never feeling the need to but in terms of teasing himself for the heated rounds of sex to come tonight, it only fuels Michael’s passion and desire further.

Just as you’re about to enter the bedroom, you stop by the ajar door, picking up on the sounds of Michael moaning quietly to himself.

As your eyes widen to see the sight of Michael touching himself to the thought of you, a surge of arousal rushes through your muscles and causes them to clench.

‘Oh my God,’ you think to yourself, beginning to untie your nightrobe but still remaining just outside the door and out of Michael’s line of sight.

All Michael can imagine is how he wants to get lost inside of you—make love to you and fuck you throughout the night, missing the comfort and intimacy shared with you for the past few days.

You want to step in without interrupting and straddle his lap in a split second, but just as you plan to enter inside, Michael spits in the palm of his hand and continues to pump his cock.

“Enjoying the show?” Michael’s already noticed you by the door, now speaking in a low, ushered voice.

Your clit practically throbs at both the sight of Michael and the sound of him, but you’re almost stunned from being teased like this directly.

“Come here,” Michael gestures to you with his free hand insistently, bucking his hips up on the bed.

You don’t need to be told twice. You let your nightrobe slip off your shoulders as you move towards the bed—being greeted with Michael’s hand tugging through your hair.

“Go on,” Michael breathes, pulling you to him.  “Come get a taste.”

[weresodiscxnnected]

Relationships: Peter Parker/ Original Female Character Warnings: Swearing Word count: 4862 Notes: Surprise! A Friday update! Okay, I said earlier I try to post during weekends, and Friday is the start of the weekend. I've noticed that when I write about Harley I keep thinking Luke Hemmings for some reason, so, I've just gone with the flow. For Harry I kept thinking Timothee Chalamet because of all the fancasts in tiktok. Also, a small head's up; I have a lot of important deadlines coming up, and I'm already doing everything last minute, so I'm not sure if there will be an update next week (I'm doing my best to finish both, by essays and the next chapter). I think it's good to note that the following updates will go unedited and proofread only by me since my lovely friend who is doing the proofreading for me is travelling. Thank you to everyone who is reading! I never thought someone would read this since it's something I started writing for myself for fun.

Link to the series Masterlist

Chapter 5

It was Monday morning; Peter was getting ready for his visit to the Daily Bugle before his work. The news played in the background while he was loading the coffee maker. He adds one more scoop of coffee grounds into the maker as he hears Melissa’s door go. The clicking of high heels on the hardwood floors echoes in the hallway before Melissa arrives in the room. She was wearing a lavender coloured pants suit with high heels, and her hair was in a low ponytail. It was different from what Peter had used to seeing the girl in.

“What’s the occasion?” Peter lifts his eyebrow, leaning into the counter next to him.

“There are these end-of-the-year development interviews for all the staff, and they’re making me sit through them with Aida to take notes. Or, how I put it, I’m just there to look pretty and pretend I understand what they’re talking about.” Melissa sighs, sitting on the barstool.

Peter remembered how Tony used to hate those interviews, yes, they were beneficial, but they were also tedious. First, every head of the department would interview the people working under them, and then the director would be interviewed by Tony or Pepper; usually, Pepper and Aida did the job. He had been in that interview once, and it had been enough for him.

“You’re going to the Bugle today?” Melissa asks when Peter hands her a cup of coffee.

“Yup,” Peter nods, pouring himself a cup.

“So, are you an aspiring journalist or something?”

“Not really. I just sent these shots I got of Spiderman. Thought it would be a nice way to get more money” the boy sips his coffee.

“Harassing superheroes in your free time, Parker, I would’ve never guessed.”

“No, we’re cool; we’re like buddies.”

“You sold your buddy to the media who mocks him all the time?”

“It was his idea; he wants to keep his identity, so, instead of thousands of people taking pictures of him, he just has one whom he knows.”

There was something behind Peter’s words that Melissa didn’t swallow. She knew he was lying; she could see it. However, she didn’t say anything, she didn’t want to scare the boy, knowing she would out herself in the process. So, she just decided to play it cool.

“Okay, Paparazzi Parker. I can give you Daredevil’s address or Deadpool’s if you want to harass more masked vigilantes.” Melissa winks.

“No thanks, I think I'll stick with Spiderman,” Peter scratches his neck.

“Good choice”, Melissa mumbles in her mug while she scrolls her phone.

They spend the rest of their morning coffee in silence while Melissa scrolls Instagram and Peter watches the news. Nothing new for either of them, it was comfortable silence. The girl likes pictures of people she knew distantly, like Gwen, the girl who worked in the lobby of the Stark Tower. She posted a picture of her cats cuddling. Or Ned, the IT intern she had met twice, but he seemed to be friends with Harley and Harry, so she had followed him back. Apparently, Ned had recently gotten engaged and was now posting a picture with his fiance. Melissa’s Instagram moment is ruined by Happy, who has just texted telling her he was waiting downstairs.

“I need to go”, she mumbles, getting up from the barstool. Peter glances at the girl first, then the clock and realises he needs to leave as well. The boy shuts down the Tv before turning off the coffee maker and cleaning the mugs in the sink. Melissa pulls her coat on when Peter meets her in the hallway. Grabbing his jacket and back bag, Peter follows the girl out of the door, locking it on his way.

The elevator ride was quiet, but the silence was quick to end when they reached the front door and saw it was pouring outside.

“Shit!” Peter curses; he had forgotten his umbrella upstairs. He was never going to make it dry to the Daily Bugle. Melissa looks at the car where Happy was waiting for her. She then looks at Peter, who had already started to walk back to the elevator to get his umbrella.

“Happy can drive you; the office is close by the tower, it’s; it’s not a big detour” Melissa shrugs, knowing Happy wouldn’t be happy, but they had plenty of time, and she felt bad for Peter.

“Really?” Peter turns around.

“Yeah, let's go” Melissa nods towards the car, opening the door. They sprinted towards the car, holding their coats over their heads to cover themselves from the rain.

Finally getting into the car and relatively dry, Melissa and Peter look at each other, smiling; their mission was successful.

“Hey, what’s this? Who is this?” Happy’s head snaps to the backseat.

“Happy, this is Peter, my flatmate. He has a meeting in the Daily Bugle, and I couldn’t let him walk there soaked. It’s not a big detour. Please, Happy,” Melissa explains, batting her eyelashes at the man sitting in the driver’s seat.

Happy’s eyes scanned Peter, and Peter could feel the nervousness rising. Part of him hoped Happy would recognise him, and part of him feared that he’d recognise him. He had only met him once, on May’s grave, but he didn’t remember him. Happy then sighs and looks at Melissa, still making her best puppy impression.

“Fine, but I’m not a taxi, Mel.”

“Yay! Thank you, Happy!”

Twenty-something minutes later, the car stops in front of a large building with massive screens that play the news clip from the Bugle. The letters Infront of the building are written in yellow. Peter thanks Melissa and Happy before getting out of the car. Covering himself with his jacket, he jogs into the lobby.

People ran around the lobby, waving papers around and trying to catch the elevators. It was something you’d see in TV shows and movies, not in real life, or that’s what Peter thought. A big silver coloured desk with Daily Bugle written stands in the middle of everything. Behind it was a girl with blonde hair, staring at the computer with a troubled look on her face while trying to explain something on the phone. Peter couldn’t believe his eyes; it was Betty Brant, his High School classmate and Ned’s girlfriend. When he had seen her last time, she was still in college doing her degree in Journalism. Her degree and passion for journalism were only clear that she’d work somewhere like the Daily Bugle. Still, Peter wasn’t expecting to see her there.

Peter fixed his jacket and hair before he walked toward the desk. The girl glances at Peter, holding up a finger to ask Peter to wait for a second.

“Mr Jameson, I have already sent Mercado to investigate and write a report. She’s the best we have; I’ll send someone to take pictures with her.” She mumbles a few yeses and okays before putting the phone down and giving Peter her full attention. She looked the same as Peter remembered; she had shorter hair and was dressing more mature, but any other way, it was the same Betty Peter remembered.

“Uh, yeah, I’m Peter Parker, I sent material about Spiderman a few days ago, and I was told to come here for further discussion,” Peter stutters under Betty’s firm stare; he was a total stranger. It was hard not to ask how she was doing since it had been a while since they’d seen each other. Not to mention the urge Peter had to ask how Ned was doing, but he couldn’t. Betty’s face softens, and she clicks something on the computer. A few more clicks, and she finds the schedule she was looking for.

“Right! Welcome; I was told you’d be coming this morning. Let me call my boss” she smiles, taking the phone and placing it on her back again.

When she lifted the phone, a ring on Betty’s left ring finger caught Peter’s attention; that was indeed new. Has Ned gotten engaged? Peter’s guts turned, and his heart ached. The slow realisation of how many important things he was going to miss. Peter remembers how Ned used to talk about how Betty was the one and someday he would marry her. Back then, Ned had told Peter that he wanted Peter to be his best man; all of it felt distant then.  Now it was happening, and Peter couldn’t be there for his best friend.

“Mr Jameson, the Spidey photographer, is here. I’ll send him up.” She speaks, pulling Peter back to earth. “He’ll see you now, the last floor; take a right from the elevators.”

Peter thanks the girl before heading to the elevators and pressing the button to the top floor; the doors close in front of him. The gut-wrenching feeling didn’t ease. Meeting Flash was easy, but Betty was more challenging; she was closer. He never had thought about what he would do if he met people from his past. Until now, it had been easy just to avoid everyone and the places they might be. It had worked for almost a year now, but somehow, Peter felt like everyone was slowly creeping back into his life. Happy, Flash, Betty, he had managed to pretend he was a stranger for them but knowing himself, it would only get harder to act. He was afraid that he’d slip something, and it would blow his cover like it would be some counteracting to Strange’s spell, and everything would rewind into last year’s mess.

Peter jumps slightly when a man walks into the elevator on the sixth floor, nodding to Peter as a greeting and pressing the same button Peter had pressed earlier. When the elevator informs them that they’ve reached the top floor, they walk out and head right.

Peter didn’t know what to expect, he had just sent the pictures, and they told him to come around. He wondered why they didn’t just make him send his information over the email but made him come to the offices. The man from the elevator enters first into the room, followed by Peter right after.

“Well, get into that warehouse. I don’t care if the police have closed it! It’s not a coincidence that Deadpool and his little sidekick were seen there. We need to find out what is going on!” a man with slicked back grey hair yells into his phone, smashing it down in its place. “What the hell are you standing there?”

Peter jumps back, a bit shaken by surprise. He quickly fixes his position and clears his throat.

“I’m Peter Parker; I send pictures of Spiderman to you.”

“I don’t know what I was expecting but certainly not you! Anyway, I liked the material. Not the best but the best we have right now.”

“Thank you?”

The older man turns to look at the person next to Peter.

“Abernathy, How much can we pay the guy?”

“If our people had taken pictures like that, it would be around fifty bucks per pic, hundred for video and double if we use them. He sent five pics and five videos; it would make seven-hundred-fifty to cover the base and add commission after choosing what we use.”

“But he’s not working for us; I say four hundred.”

Peter was sure that the two had just completely forgotten that he was still in the room as they went on about how much he should be paid. They go back and forth before Mr Jameson speaks to Peter again.

“How did you get the pictures? How did you know where to be?”.

Peter freezes. He wasn’t expecting questions, or he was, he just wasn’t ready to answer them. 

“I-I have my ways. We’re kind of like acquaintances.”

“Acquaintances? So, you know the menace underneath the mask?”

“No, Sir. I’ve never seen him without his mask. I’ve just met him multiple times. He swings a lot in the area I live in.”

The older man squints his eyes; he can tell Peter hides something. If he knew Spiderman, he could be a valuable source for the Daily Bugle and perhaps, he could help them unmask the son of a bitch.

“I’ll give you a deal, kid. I’ll pay you a thousand if you bring me new pictures by Wednesday, and I’ll hire you as a photographer for Spiderman.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Peter would have to double-take if he heard the man correctly. He can’t be saying what Peter thinks he’s saying.

“You heard me; I’m offering you a job. I will get more pictures by Wednesday; I’ll give you 1000, and you’ll become Spiderman’s photographer since you can do the job better than our current photographers.”

So, Peter’s ears and mind weren’t deceiving him after all. Mr Jameson was offering him a job. Peter nods and crosses his arms on his chest.

“What would that job include except taking pictures of Spiderman?”

Now, it was the man next to Peter who talked. “Like I earlier mentioned, it would be fifty for a picture, a hundred for video, double if used, plus minimum wage for the first year. Office hours would be nine to five every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On other days you’d come if needed. Almost every photographer here works as a freelancer under the same rules.”

“Take it or leave it; I’ll pay you four hundred now, and you leave or thousand on Wednesday, and I’ll hire you.” Mr Jameson leaned back in his chair.

Peter might be losing his mind, but the conditions he was given sounded like a dream compared to his current job. No more yelling customers, no graveyard shifts where he had to sit behind the counter and hope someone would need something at four in the morning, no itchy bright green polyester vest. He could make money for being Spiderman and show up to the office three times a week.

“It’s a deal.”

“I’m waiting for those pictures on my desk at nine on Wednesday morning, Parker. And they need to be publication quality!”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good, now, get lost. I need to figure out what Deadpool is up to.”

Without saying anything, Peter leaves the room, heading to the elevator. Before he can reach it, he is stopped by Abertnathy.

“I have to say; you’re a crazy kid. The deal is good, but you have no idea what you got yourself into.”

“He’s waiting for me to fail, so he doesn’t have to pay?”

“Pretty much. Our team has been chasing Spiderman for a year now, and the best we got was pixelated CCTV material and blurry pictures from afar. One guy swears he was taking pictures of Spiderman when it was clearly a woman”

“Well, I have my ways, trust me” Peter walks into the elevator, leaving the man to just stare at the closing doors.

Peter pulls out his phone, excited to tell the news to his friends already typing a message, but when he’s about to press send, the realisation hits him. He didn’t have anyone to tell. It would be weird if a random number sent “Guess what! I just got offered a job!” nowhere. So, he deletes the message. When he’s about to close the messaging app, one name catches his eye on top of his message list. Maybe he did have someone he could tell the news about; hesitantly, he clicked the name. Peter was sure she wasn’t going to answer him, and he was probably interrupting her work, but still, he typed the message.

Peter: Guess what? I got offered a job at the Daily Bugle!

The elevator blings as it reaches the ground floor, opening the doors and revealing a group of people waiting to get in. Awkwardly the boy walks out of the elevator, making room for the people wanting to go up. He waves Betty at the front desk before heading out. When he steps outside, he is reminded that it is still pouring. For Peter’s luck, the closest Subway station where he could get a train to work was next to the Stark Tower, an almost ten-minute walk away.

He had no choice but to walk. Sprinting towards the station like him running would make him or his journey any drier. The water splashed under his sneakers, soaking his jeans. Peter didn’t even bother to cover his hair. It would be wet anyway. Because of the rain, the streets were relatively empty; no one wanted to go outside in weather like this unless they had to. He finally makes it to the station, putting his super-speed and reflexes into work, dodging the umbrellas of the one poor tourist group roaming the streets.

When he finally gets into the train, he’s dripping wet, like he had gone into a shower with his clothes on, hoping his phone and headphones in his pocket weren’t soaked as well. Pulling out his phone, he sighs in relief, seeing it is dry. Checking the phone, he finds out that he has one new message.

Melissa: oh, wow, congrats? not sure how to react, if it’s a good thing or a bad thing.

Peter: Thank you! I took the offer, so I guess it was a good thing. How’s your work?

Peter writes and deletes the last sentence multiple times before leaving it and sending it.

Melissa: i guess it’s time for proper congratulations! paparazzi parker ;) and boring; they keep talking about growth rates, marginals, and sales volumes.

Peter: Oh, I’m sorry! Am I interrupting? Didn’t mean to.

Melissa: nah, it’s okay. i’m texting Cindy as well. they don’t even notice. so, tell me about your new job.

Peter: Well, I don’t have the job yet. I need to bring them new pictures of Spiderman by Wednesday morning, and if the pics are good, they’ll hire me.

Melissa: that sounds sketchy, but if they like the previous ones, they will like the new ones as well.

Melissa: okay now aida is giving me a funny look, i better stop. talk to you at home x.

Peter: Good luck with the rest of your day!

*************************

It was almost two o’clock when Melissa was freed from the Interviews. It didn’t mean that her workday was over; no, it meant Morgan would be home from school soon, and her job as some sort of secret agent turned into a nanny. Happy was picking Morgan up since it was still pouring, and Melissa refused to drive a car in New York City.

So, Melissa decided to spend the little break she was given doing what she did best, annoying her friends in the labs. She strutted towards the engineering lab on the 12th floor. She could see two heads standing next to a computer through the windows. One with dark, almost black curls cleanly slicked back and one with messy blonde hair pointing everywhere. A big grin forms on Melissa's face as she parades into the lab after swiping her key card.

“What are we doing this afternoon?” She walks behind the figures.

“We’re doing the finishing touches on Cindy’s new suit,” The brunette says, nodding to the table on their left. A black and silver suit lays on the table, with a red spiderweb on the chest piece.

Melissa walks closer to the table, looking at Harry and Harley to ask permission to touch the suit.

“Go ahead”, Harley nods, knowing that the girl was aching to touch the suit.

Melissa carefully lifts the suit's sleeve, studying the red fingertips on the glove. Running her finger up the sleeve to the chest, she traces the red S that looks like a lightning bolt when you first look at it.

“This is so much better than mine”, She breathes out, fascinated by the suit.

“I’m not buying that; Lily made your suit.” Harry shakes his head.

“Well, it’s not that bad, but it could use upgrading. And I look like I’m cosplaying Taylor Swift when I wear it.”

“I thought you liked Taylor Swift”, Harley smirks.

“I do, but I’d like to have a little more coverage and lose the gold details. Wade keeps calling me Honeybee. It sounds like a lame version of the Wasp.”

“Technically, it is your name,” Harry points out.

“Oh, piss off, Osborn,” Melissa rolls her eyes. She plops into the chair next to the table, kicking off her heels before crossing her feet on the chair, barely fitting. Harley lets out a small laugh at sight, commenting that she never knows how to sit correctly in chairs. The girl answers with a middle finger and tells him to go back to work and pretend she doesn’t even exist.

The girl tries to listen to the boys' conversation, debating how they’re going to implant the sensory chips into the suit and how sensitive they need to be. This is where Melissa zones out; she had no clue about the technical side they were discussing, like the type of chips they’d use and what was the difference between the two chips. When they talked about chips, she thought about the French fries she had for lunch. She wasn’t super bright like the boys or a miracle child genius like her sister used to be; well, she was still a genius, just not a child anymore. Melissa could write code, she was pretty good at coding and programming, but that’s about it; her expertise lay elsewhere.

She blankly stares at the table where the boys have now flipped the suit inside out and started to attach the sensor chips to their places. Harley had put his hair into a small bun and put on his glasses. His tongue slightly peaked between his lips as he tried to place the chip in its place with a pair of curved tweezers. He carefully pressed the chip to seal it, and Harry next to him confirmed if the chip had correctly attached and it was showing up on the computer. 

Melissa sometimes forgot that her best friends were engineers and scientists, straight out of university, working for one of the biggest companies in the world. If you’d met them during free time, you’d think they were just normal twenty-three-year-olds, partying, making all the wrong choices before settling down, having pizza nights in someone’s living room while watching movies and drinking beer. They made her feel normal.

When Melissa had first met Harley, it was Tony’s funeral. Melissa had stayed back from the crowd with Lily and Aida. A tall, lanky figure with messy blonde hair had approached them, dressed in a black suit like the rest of the men there, introducing himself as Harley Keener. Tony had been a mentor to Harley over the years, helped him get into Empire, and was always ready to answer his calls when he needed help with his projects. They had met when Tony had broken into Harley’s family shed when he was 15. During the funeral, he mentioned looking for an internship to finish his engineering degree. Lily had suggested he apply to Stark Industries, as Harley already had connections, and her department was looking for two interns.

Harley then told Harry, his classmate, about the internships, and they applied; both were excellent students, and they got in with ease. Harley and Harry started the training at the same time as Melissa began her job as a nanny, meaning she spent more time in the Stark Tower. Melissa would visit her sister in the labs, who was the boys' trainer and every time, she spent more time with the boys than she spent with her sister. Cindy joined their group later that spring, she had started an internship with Dr Banner, who mainly worked in his personal laboratory, but sometimes they’d do collaborative work in the Tower labs. They studied gamma radiation and how it affected different organisms, primarily insects.

Melissa really couldn’t remember all the details of that study since it had big ‘science words’ that she couldn’t understand. Cindy had explained everything a million times to her, but she’d zone out when the words turned into something she couldn’t understand. All her friends were intelligent and successful, and she was just Melissa, a girl who dropped out of primary school at ten and had to do the rest of her education at the ripe age of nineteen, barely passing.

Melissa was glad Morgan was in the first grade, and the subjects she was learning were easy since it was her job to help the kid with her homework. Morgan didn’t really need help since she was a genius like her father, but sometimes she needed some push to do her homework since ‘it was too easy’ as Morgan had put it. Those times Melissa asked Harley to help. Morgan adored Harley, and Harley would give the girl more complicated stuff to work on to motivate the girl to do the easy stuff first. It had been under discussion if they’d move Morgan up a couple of years since she was already reading and writing fluently; her maths skills were almost the same as third graders, but Morgan herself had wanted to start from the first grade since all her friends were there.

Just then, Melissa’s phone beeps. It was Happy asking where Melissa was as he was back with Morgan. Melissa tells him to send Morgan into lab twelve D. Melissa knew that the boys wouldn’t mind Morgan; her dad had taught her well. She knew how to behave in a lab and what she was allowed to do. She loved wearing the white lab coats and safety goggles, parading around being the little scientist she was.

It didn’t take long, and Happy let Morgan into the lab before excusing himself and disappearing into the hallway. Morgan drops her school bag on the ground next to the door and tiptoes herself an oversized lab coat from the lowest coat hook. She pulls on the white jacket over her school uniform and marches toward Melissa, sitting on the chair, who greets the girl with open arms, ready to pull the girl into a bear hug.

“How was school today?” Melissa asks, letting go of the little girl.

“It was okay; we had maths in the first period, I already knew how to do everything, then in arts and crafts, we made hand turkeys since thanksgiving is this month, and we’re learning about it in history. And we ended the day with spelling exercises,” Morgan explains, barely taking any breaths between her sentences.

“That sounds like a day. Did you get homework?” The older girl takes the one sleeve of the lab coat the younger one was wearing, rolling it up, so it doesn’t get in Morgan’s way

“Yes, spelling and maths. But I know everything already, so can I go to see what the boys are doing?”

“We’ll do the homework later; you can’t start skipping homework on a first-grade, Miss. And yes, you can.” She finishes rolling up the other sleeve and pats Morgan on the shoulder.

Morgan shrieks in excitement, skipping over to Harley and Harry, carefully peeking between their figures what they were doing.

“Seems like we have top-level quality control” Harley smiles, putting down the tweezers and pushing his glasses on top of his head.

“This must be important since our boss is here”, Harry laughs, messing up Morgan's hair.

“What are you guys doing?” the girl asks, fixing her hair back.

“We are installing sensors into Silks’ new suit,” Harley explains.

The little girl looks at the inside out suit on the table, scratching her head in confusion.

“It looks weird.”

“Well, it’s inside out now, but I can show how it looks the right way.” Harley pushes himself with the saddle chair next to the computer. He clicks open a picture of the suit, and Morgan looks at the picture in amazement.

“Wow, that looks like a Spiderman suit! You’re making a suit for Spiderman?”

“No, we’re making a suit for Silk. She’s like Spiderman, but a girl.”

“There's a girl Spiderman?” Morgan exclaims.

“Yes, darling, there’s girl Spiderman.” Melissa walks up to Morgan, smiling.

“Does she know Spiderman? My daddy knew Spiderman; he talked about him a lot.”

“I don’t know. I haven’t asked,” Harley admits.

“You should ask! And then since you know girl Spiderman, she could bring the other Spiderman here and I could meet him! I want to meet Spiderman and girl Spiderman!” Morgan rambles.

“Since it's the boss’ order, we ask Silk if she knows Spiderman the next time we see her”, Harry promises.

Morgan and Melissa spend a little more time watching the boys install and test the sensors in the lab. Harley even let the girls try to install a couple of chips. Morgan gets it on right away and boasts about it to Melissa, whose shaky hands made her drop the chip on her first go. But when Morgan’s stomach rumbles, Melissa announces that it would be their time to leave to have something to eat and do Morgan’s homework. Morgan reluctantly heads out with Melissa, saying bye to the boys before the lab door closes.