#oh and I'll actually play the deck this time

[yogoodfella]

Very well, I shall share my thoughts, as best as I can, right here. We've been waiting much for this, and there are things to be discovered about them every hour, so I can't really say that this'll be a complete analysis. Nevertheless, now it's really the time to go back on stage! These talks will talk about the cards purely on their role, their design, and references. I won't insert any of my fanfic thoughts there, though I have a few.

Let the new tour begin!

Melodious Concerto

So we start off with the simplest card to talk about. This is what is essentially a Polymerization searchable by the new support, only it summons a Fairy Fusion and can use the Pendulum Zones as materials, which isn't much trouble in Melodious' case, as you'll see. This doesn't even require Melodious Monsters so... It could have potential even outside of a pure version. The GY effect is also kinda neat. It's the first Melodious card that can let you draw, which can make for some topdecks with its randomness.

Also... Aria and Elegy on the art. You know why they're there. Actually though... It's a bit weird of a pose for a Fusion Spell. They're not swirling towards each other, really, and they shouldn't exactly be used as Fusion Materials from the Field to begin with... It looks more as if they're on the Field, with their effects activated to protect the whole board. The pentagrams in front do seem to form a wall, after all.

Refrain the Melodious Songstress

Refrain comes up, belts one out with a grit that's hardly showed by the Melodious in their singing just so she could announce that she's pretty much all we've been waiting for: a Pendulum Melodious that the archetype lacked, a GY dumper (with an annoying caveat) and a Stratos (that works EVEN ON NORMAL SUMMON). These two things alone were amidst the most asked for by players, the first for theming and second for consistency. And she's great in both.

I say so because both Refrain and her companion, who's next up, can place themselves in the Pendulum Zone after a Melodious Fusion is Fusion Summoned as they're in the Extra Deck. That does mean that they can't do this off of Ostinato, but the card became so good in here anyways that they can afford to wait before going there.

Her on-summon effect is Stratos, not much to say, that's amazing and new to Melodious. But her pendulum effect is annoying because it brings back a tradition with Melodious Support that no one missed: conflicting with Aria. Because it Targets in order to get a Melodious from your deck to the GY... And it has to be a Fusion Mosnter so there aren't many opportunities for this. Then again, it's not that big of a deal right now, as there aren't any Main Deck Monsters, even in this set, that have effects off being sent to the GY. But it definitely has potential!

Design-wise, she looks lovely. But I'll reserve most of my thoughts after her companion is covered, which is warranted since they're meant to be parallels of each other. A thing unique to her, though, is her hat and her fiery-colored scheme, especially the hair. I wonder if that's actually a reference to Halil...

Remember this kid? He was the one who actually prevented Yuzu's first Pendulum Summon, and his theme consisted of Fire Genies. Could it actually be that the designers were somewhat inspired by this? It's all vague for me, but it would surely be cool if true.

Couplet the Melodious Songstress

And here comes Couplet, manifesting our joy in her songs! Let's see what, of her own, she can offer.

Her Monster effect is quite interesting: a Special Summon of a low level Melodious if it's revealed while added to your hand in any occasion besides the Draw Phase draw. Any occasion also means Shopina, Bloom Prima, and Soprano's effect of retrieving a Melodious from your GY. And she shares Refrain's effect of placing herself in the Pendulum Zone at the same condition. For her Pendulum effect... Well, she's a Spell/Trap searcher, as opposed to a Monster one. However... "Melodious" Spell Traps are actually very little. Most don't have that name, so the only targets are Illusion (very much a meme) and the new Concerto. Still good as a follow-up, but it's a shame she doesn't add Ostinato. Probably would have been OP though. Oh, and to keep the theme of Melodious being somewhat pure, you can only Pendulum Summon lights with her (very good) scale.

Admittedly, I couldn't find a specific reference in the design. She's cold color coded, the opposite of her companion, so maybe you can link it to Olga, Halil's Tag Duel Partner. However, I do very much like her skin tone being green. Weird, exotic colors were pretty much a staple with the Melodious Divas at the start, but we haven't really had a standout since Soprano. It's nice to see them back, even it's really only the case for Couplet and another Monster.

But... Let's do an extra segment.

Refrain and Couplet complete one another

It's evident that these two were designed as a pair because they mirror each other quite a bit in their effects, and their scale can Pendulum Summon the whole of the Melodious archetype. However, it's not just the effects that synergize, but also the designs.

Both artworks share certain elements such as the hand-over-chest pose, the light (very much the Pendulum's light) shining from above, and the most relevant one, double-ringed bracelets with a gem on the middle, just like Yuzu's! Refrain and Couplet also have differences in design that makes them mirror of each other: they share the color scheme and design of the dresses of Mozarta and Shopina respectively, albeit the armored, plated parts are different (Refrain has chest covered, and plates on her left hip with a blue gem on one, and one on the right shoulder, and Couplet has her torso covered with plates on right hip with a gem I can't quite make out -higher res is needed here- and left shoulder). There's some more asimmetries between their outfits as well, so they do look weird unless you see them together, which you should in a Duel. And they both have neon pentagram-shaped butterfly gown wings and that's just SO PRETTY. And both have black markings down their opposite eyes.

Bach(a) the Melodious Maestra

Now THIS. THIS IS MONEY.

In both ganeplay and design, this Card is just incredible, I might just be in love. I'll unashamedly admit that she's by far my favourite card of the set, and I know that another one has risen way above the rest in terms of popularity (in one day, which is legit impressive).

Let's get over how she's in game: a beastly extender who also acts as Fusion support. She requires 2 Melodious Monsters, making her the prime target for Ostinato. And she has 2 Special Summons of Melodious: 1 from Deck when she's Special Summoned, and one from the GY when she's sent to it, BY ANY METHOD (so also Diviner and Brilliant Rose). Well, this excludes herself, but it's still 2 Special Summons from favorable places, and it can be, in the second case, EVEN THEIR END BOSS. AYO. That's unbelievable enough, but here's another thing: Fusion Melodious' effects cannot be negated while she's on the Field. So that means even her own Deck Special Summon. Fantastic, she's legit incredible.

And now how about that design. Also incredible. The elegance and majesty of the Maestras was effectively brought back full force, and with an imposing black and orange scheme with gold accessories (even a huge treble clef that her left arm goes through), and red underdress, like a rose. Also her Hair's a bass clef and with her red eyes, hat and everything, I can feel her OP-ness and elegance, this is just magnificent.

That one-eyed golden mask of hers is also a really cute nod to Lunalight, albeit I don't know whether that makes her red eye glow more of if the other's obscured by the hat. But still... Red eyes, dark scheme, transparent gray veil, imposing pose, and inspired by Bach... This can go very well as a Parasite Fusion. Well, in this case, it's a reenactment, a gloomy one... And upon researching Bach further and remembering his songs... Dark, disturbing tones, especially with his Fugue in D Minor, really hammers the darker tone a Parasite Fusion card oozes. Not to mention the shade of purple of the background, as well as ORGAN PIPES AS BACKGROUND... The inspiration is too much, this is GENIUS. UNBELIEVABLE.

But she was not the main star of the show. In the fandom, for who she represents, and as a Card, we now have the main star of the concert:

Flowering Etoile the Melodious Grand Choir

As soon as Melodious was announced to come back, she was front and center. Well, of course! Not only is she the end boss, but she's also the Anime Character stand-in that all ARC-V decks got as of late! That's right, Yuzu has finally joined the Melodious Ensemble and become their End Boss.

This makes her position similar to Brave Masurao of Gongenzaka inspiration. However, while at launch Superheavy Samurai was more focused on efficiently going for generic negates, Melodious has to stay pure, so she's going to be core to any threat and disruption they can pose. Making her a 3 material Fusion also prevents Ostinato from just launching her in one move.

And yeah, while it's limited to essentially have just her (and Schuberta) as disruption, she's a really fun and potentially devastating one: she makes you banish any number of Melodious Monsters (until the End Phase) in order to return up to the same amount of your opponent's cards to their hand. You can do one or two early to disrupt combos, or call off the whole board while they're about to be wiped out and save them. Also the bounce doesn't target, and it's the same idea I had with my custom end-boss! That does mean, however, that the Melodious don't count themselves as Special Summoned anymore, so if Aria or Elegy get banished, they've lost their script. However, this does mean you can reset Schuberta's "once while face-up on Field" effect.

Also, if her opponent disposes of her except returning her to the Extra Deck, she can Special Summon pretty much any Melodious besides her.

But let's talk to the bigger reason she's broken through and risen above the rest... Her design and inspiration.

Well, I'll open this up with a take that I'm not sure you guys are going to like. Nevertheless, I've always been fairly open with criticisms. Even still, I promise to be fair.

I'm very ambivalent to this design. I like how she looks as Yuzu, but I don't like much how she looks as a Melodious Monster.

I'll go for the latter first. I feel like her style is very much contrary to how the Melodious dress in a way that she feels way more like an Idol rather than a classical singer. And Yuzu wasn't really much of an Idol, unless the Mikiyo duel, which had as much focus as anyone has on breathing when not told to do so manually, became the prime inspiration for this design. The bottom part is SO BUSY. Flowers, medals, gown after gown, ribbons, stars, it's just too much! If you changed her eyes a little bit, she would look like a Trickstar Monster! Also I can't make out what her hairstyle's supposed to mean, unless it's all kinds of bass clefs strung together.

That's where my conplaints end, because here comes the other part of the design... Which tends to be more of the focus when it comes to porting a character as a monster, which is the character part.

As Yuzu, the references are fantastic, simply put. She's pretty much got everything (besides other characters' themes aside from one) that Yuzu represented:

The bracelets are back, Yuzu styled, and on both hands this time.

The Hair colors are exactly like Yuzu's: soft, light pink with some darker tones, and it's somewhat reflected on her dress as well. Also the treble clef hairpins, doubling up as a callback to Yuzu and Bloom Diva!

Her flowers are Citrus flowers, and Yuzu is very much Citrus in japanese!

The mail below the flowers has an interesting pattern: one plain, one orange with a bright star, just like Yuya's goggles.

Admittedly this one's a reach, but there seem to be white butterfly-styled hair clips and white flowers on her slippers. You know... Like Pendulumstatue White Butterfly and White Flower? Kinda, the styles of such are not the same.

THE PINK PENTAGRAMS OF VICTORY! They're on both of her hands as tatoos!

So yeah, this one looks as if she had more of the job of referencing Yuzu than being a Classical Melodious Monster. It's definitely growing on me, especially as I've seen fantastic artwork of her already (IT HASN'T BEEN A DAY) and there's one last thing about her that makes her super valid: the Japanese name "Melodious Floral Song Goddess".

Yuzu joined the Melodious Ensemble and became their goddess.

Perfection.

Miscellaneous thoughts and conclusions

Ok! Phew! Each Monster is now covered, although here's some more of my thoughts before we close this off.

No Ostinato searching makes our Hands still reliant on having it already. Well, it's to soon to say that, because the theorycrafters are still working on the combos and it looks like Refrain and 1st Movement are also excellent starters, so we'll see!

Sadly, there aren't any references to Masumi and Sora in any of Melodious' presence, which is a shame. Heck, pretty much anyone besides Yuya is missing, and it's a bit of a blow considering the many great friendships she had. But I have hope for the future now that it's confirmed they haven't left Melodious to languish. Who knows, something even greater might happen!

There's no way Melodious is a top contender: that would require alienatingly strong support and more, because Melodious tends to be Pure in Monster variety. They'd need an entire revamp whereas these add another step to their current one while making it more active and fun.

Overall, I'M SO HAPPY that the support came back, and this fully inspired me! No doubt, you'll see more from me about these lovely ladies and their performances! I've got the ideas rolling, all that's left is letting them rock.

It's good to be back, weirdos!

[roosterforme]

The Younger Kind Part 27 | Rooster x Reader

Summary: You should be finishing your school work so you can ace your finals and graduate, but Bradley coaxes you to take a study break at the Hard Deck. While there, Bradley realizes just what life is going to look like with you by his side, and he takes a minute to remind both of you who you belong with. And then he helps you study the way only he can.

Warnings: Angst, swearing, fluff, smut, and age gap (18+)

Length: 5200 words

Pairing: Single dad!Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw x babysitter!female reader

Check out my masterlist for more! The Younger Kind masterlist.

On Friday morning, when Bradley got to work, he walked right over to Nat where she was sipping a coffee in the hangar. Her eyes were wide, clearly anxious to hear some more details about Meredith, but Bradley just walked right into her arms and hugged her.

She kissed his cheek and whispered, "What happened? Aside from the glorious fact that Merebitch has to fuck off now!"

"I'm being deployed."

"No!" she gasped, hugging him tighter as she set down her coffee. "Will you need help with Noah?"

"Nope," he said with a smile as he pulled away from her a few inches. "For once, I got that part covered."

She listened as he told her all about Wednesday in the courtroom and how you agreed to stay at his house the whole time he was deployed. He was in the process of adding you as a temporary guardian for Noah. He was also going to add you to his credit cards as an authorized user, but you were definitely going to protest. If he had any way of getting your social security number, he would have already done it behind your back.

"Oh, I see," Nat replied with a smirk. "Your babysitter is going to be staying with Noah? For six weeks?"

"Girlfriend, actually," Bradley replied smoothly. 

Nat looked pleased. "I still maintain that you have me to thank for that. If I hadn't downloaded that dating app on your phone, none of this would have ever happened. Now tell me I'm the best."

Bradley rolled his eyes and sighed deeply. "You're the best, Nat."

"Yes," she agreed. "And I'll help your girlfriend with Noah while you're away. Make sure you tell her to come to me if she needs anything. Anything at all."

"Thanks, Nat," he mumbled as he reached for his helmet. But Bradley knew you'd be just fine. Nat would be a safety net in case you needed something, and that helped put his mind even further at ease. 

After a morning of training exercises, Bradley headed inside to eat lunch and check his text messages. 

My Princess: Daddy, I'll be on campus until at least 6. Kind of panicking over how much work I still have to complete before graduation. 

He knew this was partly his fault. He was the one who hadn't let you return to your little rental so you'd have some peace and quiet away from him and Noah. But you and he both seemed incapable of being apart now. The way he knew how your body felt tucked against his chest in the middle of the night had him desperate to keep you in his bed. And the way Noah was so attached to you, Bradley was convinced he'd start calling you mommy soon.  

As he carried his lunch to one of the cafeteria tables, he texted you back to remind you that he'd help you finish up with your school work this weekend. But he also knew you needed to take a break tonight, so he texted someone else as well.

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

You were exhausted by the time you got back to Bradley's house on Friday evening. The Bronco was already parked in the driveway, and you noticed that the boys must have played with some sidewalk chalk. As you made your way up to the door, there were pictures of dinosaurs, and Bradley had written We love Princess next to the front porch. 

Quickly, you unlocked the front door and called out, "It's me!" Noah came running toward you from the kitchen, and you caught him in your arms. 

"Daddy's making dinner," he informed you, and you rushed for the kitchen to investigate. 

"Hey, Baby," Bradley said, smiling at you over his shoulder. 

You set Noah down on one of the chairs where the table was covered with his coloring books. "You're cooking," you said in shock. "Do you want me to take over?" 

"No, I got it," he replied, and you peeked in the pan to see he was making chicken stir fry. "The sexiest woman I ever met taught me how to cook this."

"Oh really? Where is she? I'd love to meet her," you said sarcastically. You were rewarded with Bradley's big hand smacking your rear end before he pulled you closer to him. 

He kissed you while the food sizzled on the stovetop, and he murmured, "You had a long day. Let's go out after we eat."

You let his lips linger on yours, enjoying the rough feel of his mustache before he pulled away to focus on what he was cooking. "You want to take Noah out to see a movie or something?" you asked, reaching to pull out some plates. A movie would be really fun, but you also hated the idea of Bradley paying for your ticket along with everything else. He was no longer paying you to babysit Noah. And now that school was ending and you weren't being paid by the college for your work study, you had no income. "Or we could just do something fun here instead?"

"We're going out to the bar," he informed you easily as he turned the stove burner off. 

You laughed and put your hands on your hips. "And what about Noah?"

"Got it covered, Princess."

"We actually do need to find him a new babysitter," you reminded Bradley as you glanced at where Noah was quietly folding up construction paper. 

"I already did," Bradley promised, kissing your cheek and carrying plates of food to the table. "Amelia Benjamin will be here in about thirty minutes. I wouldn't trust her with Noah for six weeks or anything like that, but I'm sure we can get away for a few hours. Just you and I." He was looking at you intently, waiting for a response. You were honestly surprised he'd managed to set this all up today. "Baby, you need a little break, and Amelia is out of school for the summer," he added softly before he started to blow on Noah's dinner to cool it down.

"I really need to finish my school work," you reminded him as you sat down and tasted his chicken stir fry. It was pretty good, and he smiled as you took another big forkful. 

"We have tomorrow and Sunday to work on that. I'll help you."

You were quiet for a moment as you ate. And then all you said in response was, "This is delicious. I can hardly believe you made it."

Bradley set his fork down and took your hand in his. "Come to the bar tonight. Now that I took you out to lunch yesterday, all I can think about is showing you off all the time, okay? Nat will be there, and I kind of already told her we'd be there, too."

"Fine," you said, agreeing with his plans. "But the rest of the weekend, I'll be working."

Bradley's smile held steady through dinner, and when Amelia arrived to watch Noah, he was still excited to be taking you out. You were promised that the evening was casual, so you changed into some jeans that were a little baggy on you and a button down shirt that you tied in the front so it was cropped a little bit. Bradley was in jeans and a colorful floral print shirt, and when he led you out to the Bronco, you offered to drive your car to the bar instead. 

He opened the passenger side door of the Bronco and kissed you. "Don't want you wasting your money or gas or anything on me, Princess." And you climbed inside with the realization that you were in a very adult relationship here, and maybe you were in over your head.

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

Bradley tried to brace himself ahead of time. You were a headturner. Fucking stunning, even in your jeans and beat up Sperrys. But even though you had your fingers laced through his as he led you inside the Hard Deck, you drew the attention of at least half the guys in the place. So he withdrew his hand from yours and slipped his arm around our waist which did essentially nothing to stop the looks he was getting. 

"What do you want to drink?" he asked, and you looked up at him with such innocent eyes. He pulled you snug against him, and your hand came to rest just above the waistband of his jeans. His cock throbbed for you and that trusting look on your face. You just knew he was going to take care of whatever you needed, and it was going to make him hard if he didn't get control of himself now.

"A beer," you told him, and he leaned down to kiss your cheek next to your ear. 

"I see Nat over by the pool table. Why don't you go wait for me over there while I get us some drinks." He squeezed your ass as you turned to walk away from him, earning him a heated gaze over your shoulder. And then he noticed that your eyes caught on something by the bar before you turned back to look at him briefly before you walked to the pool table. 

When Bradley turned toward the bar, Helen was there, watching you walk across the crowded room with a scowl before she said, "Rooster," in a bland voice. 

He had somehow managed to forget that Helen would be here tonight. Great. "Hey," he said awkwardly before he ordered two beers and watched her expertly pull two pints and slide them across the bar. 

"I'll start a tab for you," she said, barely meeting his eyes. "You know, I'm surprised you brought her here. She looks like she's barely legal. And I don't mean that in a nice way. She's probably going to get into some shit." And then Helen turned to help the patron next to him as Bradley's eyes found you. 

"Fuck," he grunted. You were leaning back against one of the posts as Harvard and Yale closed in on you. Yale was leaning close enough that you tried to pull away, only to end up pressed against Harvard.

"How old are you, Angel?" Yale asked as Bradley got closer. 

You rolled your eyes and said, "I'm twenty four, and I'd appreciate it if you stopped touching me."

Harvard and Yale laughed at the same time, and then Harvard told you, "Maybe you don't know this yet, but girls fight over the chance to come home with us. We're roommates. And we're really good about...sharing."

When you glanced up, your expression was one of extreme annoyance before you met Bradley's eyes and smiled softly. "Then you can share each other," you said before stepping into Bradley's open arms, careful not to bump the beers. 

"I see you met my girlfriend," Bradley said, his voice loud and deep as you wrapped your arms around his waist. 

He kept his eyes on you while Harvard muttered an excuse and Yale repeatedly said, "Sorry, Rooster," until he was too far away to hear. 

"Friends of yours?" you asked, reaching for one of the beers.

"Not really," he replied, watching you take a long sip. "I thought I told you to go wait by Nat."

You licked your glossy lips and said, "And I thought I'd never have to see that flower stealer ever again." You tipped your head toward Helen and held your chin high. 

"Flower stealer?" he asked with a smirk.

"I could call her a wannabe homewrecking bitch, but we're in public," you deadpanned, and Bradley actually started laughing. 

"Let's go," he said, taking you by the hand as he chuckled, leading you toward the pool table. He watched Nat light up and start asking you a million questions about Meredith and the court appearance even though he had explicitly asked her not to. And of course Jake was here, trying to discreetly check you out. 

Bradley wasn't really sure why he had expected this evening to be a nice break for the two of you. He was constantly having to physically touch you in some way, otherwise you got cornered by someone. "Everyone here is so friendly," you remarked after your third beer. Bradley pressed his lips to the sheen of sweat on your pretty neck just as Omaha looked like he might be getting some ideas in his thick skull. 

"Yeah," Bradley mumbled. "Or maybe you're just a smokeshow, Baby."

You giggled and asked, "Will you let me go get the next round? I kind of want to see what my buddy Helen has to say to me."

"Go right ahead. Get whatever you want, and put it on my tab."

"You want anything, Daddy?" you asked, rubbing your hand along his abs again, clearly feeling a lot looser than you were two hours ago. He thought about taking you to the bathroom and fucking you as your fingers tucked inside his white undershirt and found his bare skin. 

"I want you to go get your drink and get back here quickly," he replied, his voice raspy. "That's what Daddy wants."

He watched you shuffle away after promising him you'd be right back. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Rooster. My man. Where did you pick her up from?" Omaha asked, leaning past Bradley to get a good look at where you were standing at the bar. You had no idea how appealing your ass looked in those jeans, otherwise Bradley was pretty sure you wouldn't be standing like that. 

He turned back toward the other aviator and said, "I didn't pick her up from anywhere. She's my girlfriend."

Omaha had the audacity to whistle before he said, "Shit. How long you been hittin' that, old man?" 

Bradley felt his hand at his side clench into a fist. He didn't mind the reminder about his age when it came from you, but when it came from someone else, he wanted to start swinging. When you called him old, it was because he couldn't figure out the settings on his phone, something you assured him you found charming. And you weren't a child. You were a capable adult, smarter than pretty much anyone else he knew. But he still just wanted to protect you, even though he knew he didn't have to. The sting of Greyson and Meredith was still too close though, and Bradley had to work at loosening his hand once again. 

He was about to tell Omaha to fuck off when he saw you out of the corner of his eye. You were reaching for your drink just as Bradley saw Cyclone of all people reach his hand out to stroke one long finger across the perfect curve of your cheek. You were saying something to Cyclone, and you didn't look too happy. And now both of Bradley's fists were clenched as he watched you duck away from his commanding officer and head his way.

"Oh my goodness," you muttered, sloshing some of your beer onto your hand. But Bradley's gaze was fixed on that of Admiral Beau Simpson as the other man nodded in his direction. "That guy at the bar insisted on buying me a beer as well as a glass of the bourbon he was drinking."

That's when Bradley noticed you were holding two drinks. "Which guy?" he asked, even though he already knew. You turned to look at the bar and nodded toward Cyclone. 

"The older one," you muttered before you looked up at Bradley. "He asked me if I was single and insisted on getting me the drinks." You held out the bourbon to him, and he took it. 

"What did you tell him?" Bradley asked, fingers tightening around the glass as he felt the weight of your gaze and Cyclone's on him as well. 

You licked your lips and said, "I told him I'm here with Bradley Bradshaw, and that he should stop pawing at me."

"Good girl, Princess," Bradley muttered, wrapping one big hand around your waist and pulling you close as he sipped the expensive bourbon courtesy of his boss's boss. Beau Simpson wanted something Bradley had, and the idea of it was enough to make him feel giddy. 

"I don't really like this bar very much," you said, an edge of annoyance lacing your tone of voice as you sipped your beer. Bradley let his hand slide down lower and grip your ass, and you did nothing except snuggle in a little closer to him.

But then Bradley tipped the glass of bourbon toward Cyclone and nodded his head in thanks. When Admiral Simpson nodded before letting his gaze dip down along your body, Bradley smirked and downed the rest of the amber liquid. Then his lips were on yours, still wet from the drink. He wanted to mark you, brand you as his own. He wanted to do the filthiest things to you in front of everyone else. 

You moaned against his lips, and Bradley took the beer out of your hand so you could wrap your arms around his neck. "What's that for, Daddy?" you asked when his lips found the side of your neck. "Oh, god," you whined as he sucked on you there. 

Bradley knew you liked Daddys, and Simpson was older than him. Hell, half the guys at the bar who were looking at you were older than he was. Bradley wanted to make sure everyone knew who you were here with. Maybe he especially wanted to remind you. 

So he let you finish the beer from Cyclone while he stood behind you, his big hand splayed across the bare skin of your belly. He kissed the side of your neck and praised you for being a good girl. And if Cyclone happened to be looking in this direction as Bradley's fingers dipped down into the front of your jeans, then so be it. Let him watch. Let everyone else watch as Bradley got his tipsy, twenty four year old girlfriend whining for his cock in the middle of the Hard Deck on a Friday night. 

"Daddy," you moaned, grinding back against his erection, back arched as you set down your empty glass. "You're teasing me."

Bradley unbuttoned your jeans as he suggested, "Let's go outside?"

You smiled and bit your lip as you asked him, "Are you going to take me home?"

"Something like that," he replied, leading you toward the bar so he could close out his tab. And if that meant that both Helen and Admiral Simpson got a good look at the way you were coming apart in Bradley's arms while he signed his credit card slip, then that was just fine with him.

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

You stumbled out into the parking lot while Bradley unzipped your jeans. "Take me home?" you asked before his lips clashed against yours again. He tasted like that free bourbon, and you moaned into his mouth. You were so horny, you'd probably never make it back to Bradley's place at all. 

"You want me to take you to my house, Princess? You gonna start calling that home?" he asked, scooping you up in his arms and heading for the pitch black corner of the parking lot where he'd left the Bronco. 

"Daddy!" you whined, rubbing your lips all over the scars on his neck. "Take me home to your bed," you demanded, really quite tipsy. You'd never behaved like this before, ready to go in a parking lot, but apparently Bradley could read you like one of your nursing textbooks. 

He deposited you next to the Bronco, your feet meeting the ground just a fraction of a second before he spun you to face the passenger side door. His hands felt rough on your body as you reached for the door, your palms braced against the window. Bradley yanked down your jeans and underwear, and you cried out as the cool, night air met your wet pussy. 

"Bradley!"

"Shh," he whispered next to your ear. "You want me to fuck you right here, Princess?"

You felt almost ashamed as you gasped, "Yes," but you were so turned on for him, it didn't even matter. He bent you at the hips a little more, and then you felt Bradley thrust inside you in one quick motion. He filled you up so fast, the sensation took your breath away. He didn't give you time to get used to the stretch or to accommodate him before he was fucking you. It felt like he was teaching you a lesson as you tipped your head back and let him suck on your neck.

He nibbled on you before soothing you with his tongue, and you tried to look around, tried to make sure you were alone, but you would probably beg him to keep going even with an audience at this point. He felt that good. The cold glass against your palms was the only thing keeping your body from hitting the Bronco as he fucked you harder. 

"I can't believe you're letting me do this," he rasped next to your ear. His voice combined with the sounds of his thighs slapping against yours, the sounds of filthy sex, as you started clenching around his cock. 

"Daddy," you whimpered, unable to slow down your building orgasm.

"I'm your Daddy," he growled. "Just me. You're so fucking hot, you know that? Sinful looking. Can't leave you alone for a goddamn second."

"Ohhh," you keened, getting louder for him. He did nothing to stop you.

His words just made you clench harder as he said, "Every guy in that bar wishes he was me right now. Dying to be buried in this tight pussy. They all wanna look at you and touch you, but you're mine." He fucked you harder as he softly said, "You're my Princess." 

"Oh!" you gasped, cumming on his cock as he continued to fuck you until you were a moaning, writhing mess. Your legs were shaking, and you felt like you had just wet yourself, but Bradley kept going. He didn't stop until he filled you up with his cum and let it drip down your legs. Then he spun you around and kissed your lips so softly as you leaned back against the door, your head swimming with satiated pleasure. 

Bradley's hot cum cooled on your inner thighs, sending a chill through your body. He took his time pulling your jeans back up, and then he was helping you onto the passenger seat with the promise that he'd take care of you again when he got you home and sent Amelia away for the night. And the thing was, you'd definitely let him keep that promise.

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

When Bradley woke up to an empty bed and a quiet house on Saturday morning, he was instantly alert. He'd slept in, and something didn't feel right. He jumped out of bed, and when he rushed to Noah's bedroom door, he found his son's room was empty. 

"Noah? Princess?" he called out, continuing to the kitchen in just his underwear. 

"Hi, Daddy," Noah said, looking up at him and spilling a forkful of scrambled egg onto the floor. Bradley contemplated getting a dog just to clean up the food messes Noah made, but a pet would only be something else he had to worry about when he was deployed. 

"Hi, Daddy," you echoed from the seat across the table. You had your kid friendly playlist going, and you were reading from one of your textbooks, but you glanced up at him and smiled. You looked tired, and now Bradley felt bad for keeping you up half the night with his cock buried inside you. The Hard Deck had been a massive wakeup call for him. He was going to have to work hard to keep you. That much was obvious now. But you also needed the rest of the weekend to get yourself organized, and that was something he could help with. 

He kissed Noah's forehead and then yours. "You want some coffee?" he asked you softly, and you nodded in response. He would take care of anything you needed, but he knew you wouldn't let him provide for you. Hell, you hadn't given him a real answer about moving in here, even though he'd asked and dropped hints. He wanted you here all the time. He couldn't stop thinking about what it might be like to get you pregnant ever since the idea was planted in his head on Wednesday. 

As he worked the coffee maker to get you a vanilla latte just the way you liked it, he watched you cut some of the fruit in Noah's bowl into smaller pieces. And when Noah climbed into your lap, you didn't make a fuss that he was interrupting you. 

"I'll take him out for the day, maybe do some grocery shopping while you work," he told you, his tone apologetic. "And then tonight, after bedtime, I'm all yours, Princess. We'll get everything done."

You kissed Noah's cheek and said, "I made you a grocery list. We're almost out of Skittles already. You boys can go to the store while you're out, and then I'll make dinner later."

Bradley wanted to protest, he really did, but he also wanted to eat one of your homemade dinners. So he got Noah dressed for the day and took him to the playground and then on a nature walk and then to the grocery store. He kept him out of your hair for hours and hours, and when he got home that afternoon, he carried a napping Noah into his bed. 

You were sitting at the kitchen table wearing Bradley's gray sweatpants and one of his shirts, and you were typing away on his computer. He found himself entranced by your purple nail polish and calm exterior. He didn't disrupt you while he unpacked the groceries, he just set one of the many bags of Skittles he purchased on the table next to you. "Love you," he whispered, and you looked up at him with a little smirk as you opened your snack of choice. "You don't even have to share that bag with me."

"Thanks, Daddy." And that was all you said to him until you stood up and stretched a few hours later and started to make spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, because Noah started bugging about it.

"Let's give Princess a break, Bub. I'll make the ants on the logs today, and you can help me." It took Bradley just as long to cut up the carrots and spread the peanut butter as it did for you to make an actual meal, but as he watched Noah decorate them with raisins, Bradley felt a certain level of accomplishment. 

He knew how to cook now, kind of. He could make healthy snacks that Noah actually liked, sort of. And most importantly, he had managed to start a relationship with a woman who not only loved him, but loved his son as well. 

"Here you go," you announced, setting plates of dinner down in front of both of them. 

"Yay!" Noah cheered, and Bradley had to stop him from reaching for the hot food. 

"Listen," Bradley said between bites of food. "Early bedtime tonight after a nice bath. And then tomorrow night we'll have a family movie night. We can go to the theater that serves dinner at your seat so we don't have to cook anything here."

"But that place is expensive," you protested. "And I still have to finish studying for my final on Monday."

"We'll study tonight," Bradley promised. "And the fancy movie theater isn't too expensive for my family."

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

You insisted on being the one to put Noah in bed when he finished his bath. After working for twelve hours straight on school assignments, you needed a little break, and some hugs from Noah really did the trick. 

Once he was tucked in, you knew you needed to study for your anatomy final, but all you wanted was a glass of wine and a hot shower with your hot boyfriend. You found him in the living room, rooting through the drawers underneath the stereo system that must have belonged to his parents. 

"Oh my goodness," you teased, gasping as he looked up at you. "Are those cassette tapes? Are you sure you're only thirty six?"

He rolled his eyes and got to his feet, pulling you toward the couch. "Almost thirty seven, actually. You know, I was going to play something I thought you might like while we study, but nevermind."

"Wait, I take it back, I take it back!" you protested, wrapping your arms around his neck. "Play it for me. Please?"

"Fine," he groaned, running his hands down your sides and bending to kiss you. "But only because I'm in a good mood." Then he started to play the tape, and you noticed that he already had your textbook and a fresh bag of Skittles waiting on the couch. 

"Thanks for doing this," you whispered, watching as he settled down and patted his thigh.

"Come here," he coaxed as the mellow rock music played softly, and you were surprised to find you knew the band. "I like studying with you," he said with a grin as you settled onto his lap, straddling his thighs. 

As he tore open the bag of Skittles, you reminded him, "I'll be looking for a job soon. No more studying."

"Gotta make this count then," he replied, pulling a red Skittle out and feeding it to you. "Fifty percent of the Skittles are mine. You can earn your share by answering questions correctly from your study guide." 

You scoffed and ran your fingers through his hair. "I should get a more generous share of the goods tonight. As a reward for all my hard work."

He grunted and rolled his eyes. "Fine. You can have sixty percent. But just for tonight. Tomorrow we go back to a fifty/fifty split."

"Deal," you whispered, kissing his lips. 

And it was all so gentle, the way Bradley fed you a yellow Skittle and then a purple one as he went down the study guide, his thumb rubbing soft circles against your thigh through the gray sweatpants. Anytime you needed an extra minute to consider your answer, you pulled your fingers through his hair and down his neck as you contemplated. 

"You know this one, Princess. I know you do."

Every time he encouraged you, giving your hip a little squeeze, you got the right answer. And then you got a Skittle. And then you got a kiss. 

"Will you come with me to my exam on Monday morning?" you asked him softly, your head coming to rest on his shoulder once the candy was all eaten. "I don't think I can do it without you there."

He kissed your forehead and held you close. "Sure you can, Baby. You'll ace it. Besides, I have to meet with Tracy and get everything settled. You don't need me at all."

But that was a lie. You did need him. You needed him. And Noah. "I do," you whispered, your lips brushing his neck. "I need you, Bradley." 

"You already have me."

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

Cyclone, you dirty dog. Inching closer to this deployment. Hope you enjoy your fic, @beyondthesefourwalls And thank you @mak-32 !

PART 28

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[twoidiotwriters1]

My sisters in christ I am begging you for a Luffy smut where everyone thinks he's got no clue of how sex works cause he's Luffy and he doesn't mind the teasing UNTIL he hears the reader thinks the joke is actually true and he decides to show her he's not so innocent 😮‍💨😮‍💨

I didn't know I'm so good at this until now...-Val

I'll Show you (Monkey D. Luffy x fem!reader)

Warnings: SMUT... just-... your welcome!

Words: 2,181

After another successful battle, as always, the straw hats wanted to have a big party to celebrate. Unfortunately, the Marines appeared to ruin the moment. So, they had to run back to the Sunny before it was too late. But not even that could take away the festivity out of the pirates.  

Sanji takes care of the food, Brooke and Franky the music, and Zoro the drinks. After a few hours (and many drinks), the conversation takes different turns as they keep digging. 

“I can’t believe you, Luffy,” Zoro says with incredulous laughter and shaking his head. 

“What? Why not?” Says Luffy with a frown. 

“Me neither,” says Usopp. “How come you were on an island with just women for two years and didn’t do something?” He scoffs. 

“Well, it’s the truth. Why would I lie? And what do you mean by ‘do something’?” Luffy’s confused by his friend’s question. 

“You see, Luffy,” says Sanji with a smile. “It’s quite hard to think that you left that wonderful paradise!” He chuckles with his flushed cheeks as he lights a cigarette. 

“Uh, I had to. I made a promise to you, guys,” he smiles.  

“But you didn’t have a girlfriend? Or you didn’t want to do… fun things with them?” Usopp chuckles. He doesn’t know how to talk to Luffy about this kind of thing. It always has been a mystery how his captain’s brain works. And he’s drunk too, so he can’t think straight. 

“Fun things?” Luffy thinks. “I mean, we played, and they showed me some defense techniques, I think that’s funny,” he shrugs. 

The three men laugh at his words. Sanji sighs leaning against the boat’s mast. “Oh, I would pay anything to be with the most beautiful woman in the world, Boa Hancock.” 

“Oh, she’s nice!” Luffy adds. 

“You bet,” Zoro chuckles sipping his sake. 

“I would never leave that island,” says Sanji. 

“You’d probably be dead by now, cook,” Zoro snorts. “How much blood would you lose by being there for five minutes?” 

“Shut it, Moosehead,” Sanji grunts. “It would be the best way to die.”  

“Why?” Luffy asks. He tries to understand but every time he speaks, his friends just laugh at him. So, he lets it go and eats more. 

“What are you guys talking about?” You ask arriving on deck with Robin and Nami with a drink in hand. 

Luffy looks at you with a big smile. “I don’t know, I got lost,” he informs as Sanji, Usopp, and Zoro talk now between them and in whispers. 

You shrug at them and sit on Luffy’s lap, getting comfortable and caressing his black hair. His hand travels to hold your waist and his head rests on your shoulder. 

“See!” Usopp points at Luffy and then laughs with the others. “Just look at him! He’s so oblivious. He has his girl on his lap and her tits are practically on his face and he doesn’t do anything. Do you think he did something in Amazon Lily?” 

“Uh?” Luffy’s confusion returns when he hears that. 

“Yeah, he has no clue,” says Zoro. “Even if Y/N asks him.” He chuckles. 

“Shut up,” You roll your eyes getting closer to your boyfriend.  

“C’mon, Y/N,” Usopp moves clumsily to stand before you two. “Tell me, Luffy. Did you even want to kiss Boa Hancock?” 

“Uh–no. She’s a friend, why would I want to kiss her?” 

“Good boy,” you kiss his cheek and smile proudly. 

Even though you weren’t together back then, you feel happy that Luffy didn’t fall for Hancock’s tricks.  

“God, you’re so lost,” says Nami. “Even I want to kiss her.” 

“They say that she’s the most beautiful woman in the world,” Robin informs them. “I would kiss her too,” she giggles. 

“One night stand,” Zoro informs with a firm nod.  

“Yeah,” Sanji scoffs “Like you could have a chance with someone as beautiful as her, Moosehead.” 

“Hey! If Luffy has her wanting to marry him, I think I have a better chance than you, shitty cook.” 

With that, they all start to discuss who would have a real chance with the woman.  Meanwhile, Luffy has been thinking about what his friends have been laughing about in his answers. He raises his head to look at you. “What do they really mean, Y/N?” 

“Uh–what Zoro said?” Luffy nods. “One-night stand is when you… uh, want to sleep with someone, but without a relationship or romantic feelings, and it’s just for one night,” you shrug.  

Luffy takes his time to think about that, mixed with his friend’s comments. Finally, his brain’s cells connect and understand. “Oh!” He exclaims making the others stop talking and look at him. “You’re talking about sex!” He laughs. 

“So oblivious,” says Nami shaking her head, and everybody bursts in laughter again.  

Luffy smiles proud of himself for now, understanding their conversation, but his smile stutters when he feels your body shake in laughter too. “Wait, why are you laughing?” He raises an eyebrow. 

You frown. “Oh! It’s okay, baby,” you kiss his forehead. “I know sometimes it’s hard for you to understand this… topic.” 

“Hah! Really hard, right, Y/N?” Zoro barks and laughs. You look at him with a deadly glare of warning. 

“What?” Luffy asks getting a little annoyed. 

“Shut up, Zoro!” You warn him. 

“I swear I’ve tried everything, but Luffy can’t take a hint!” says Zoro, making an awful sharp womanly voice that makes everyone laugh. 

“I’m gonna kill ya’!” You groan standing up from Luffy’s lap and attacking Zoro’s good eye. 

“Uh...” Luffy leans to Robin. “Are they still talking ‘bout sex?” 

 Robin giggles. “Yes, Captain.” 

** 

When you enter your shared room, you see a very serious Luffy sitting on the bed.  

“Luffy?” He raises his head, but his expression is the same. “Are you okay?” 

Luffy’s jaw is tense, and his hands are fisted at his sides. “No.”  

“What’s going on?” You sit next to him as you take off your shoes. 

“You want to have sex with me.” It’s not a question. 

“I-uh. I mean, y-yeah...” as Zoro revealed, you’ve tried with soft touches, lingerie, and hot make-out sessions, but there’s always something distracting him. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” His tone makes you more nervous than you expected. You’ve never seen him like this with you.  

“I-I try, but...” 

“No, you don’t,” he stands and turns to you with his arms crossed. “Are you scared or something?” 

“What? No! It’s not that!” 

“Do you think you won't like it?” 

You shake your head, standing up. “No, Luffy-” 

“’Cuz I know that you’ll like it,” he smirks at you. His voice’s deep and his eyes linger on your body making you shake. 

“I-uhm...” you sigh. “Luffy, it’s just that… You can be a little… oblivious about sex and I just thought...” 

Luffy chuckles. “Yeah, maybe. But I choose to be like that. I don’t care if the others think that,” he steps closer to you. “But you are more important,” he slowly grabs your waist and pulls you up to his body.  

You put your hands against his chest. “W-what do you mean?” 

“I’ll show you,” he whispers and then crashes his lips to yours in a hungry kiss. 

You moan when you feel his tongue enter your mouth, his hands go down to grab your ass and squeeze it, wrinkling the fabric of your dress. “Luffy!” You gasp, ending the kiss.  

“I gotcha’,” he giggles as he gets behind you to unzip your dress, leaving you in just underwear. 

He picks you up confidently and you wrap your legs around his waist. He walks with you to the bed and drops you carelessly making you complain. Luffy laughs as he removes his vest, shoes, and pants at great speed. 

He crawls up your thighs without taking his intense dark eyes off you. You tremble with anticipation. “Maybe everybody thinks I’m dumb, maybe I am,” he shrugs. “But I know you, Y/N...” he starts to kiss your skin. “And I know your reactions to my touch.” 

Luffy makes you open your legs, and he doesn’t wait before he’s kissing, licking, and biting the interior of your thighs. You sigh, feeling a shock from his lips. Luffy pulls away a little and smiles proudly, having left hickeys all over you. He grabs your thighs again to put them over his shoulders and have better access to your clothed pussy. 

“Luffy!” You squeak at his proximity. 

“My favorite part...” he says, ripping off your panties. 

You want to scold him, but your scream evolves and turns into a moan from your lips when his mouth attacks straight to your core. Your back falls against the mattress and you hold the sheets. 

You’re surprised at his enthusiasm to eat you whole and even feel a little embarrassed to hear the wet sound he’s making. “Luffy!” You moan. He drowns his moans in response and his grip on your legs tightens. 

It doesn’t take you long to recognize the sweet sensation of an orgasm, but you also feel overwhelmed because you’ve never cum so fast. “Luffy… wait!” You try to breathe. “Slow down a bit!” 

He decides not to listen and continues his work by running his tongue over your clit. That alone is enough to make you moan loudly, your body trembles and your legs want to come together crushing Luffy’s head. Your hand tangles in his hair tightly to pull him closer to you. “F-Fuck, Luffy!” You groan as you try to breathe after that intense high.  

Luffy keeps licking but now lowers his speed to just get slower laps until he’s satisfied. Then he crawls higher up to be close to your face, his smile no longer shows any innocence, but pride in his good job. 

“T-That was...” you sigh. 

“I know. I told you I’d show you,” he giggles. He slowly moves to be completely between your legs, and you gasp when you feel his boner. “I ain't finished, though.” 

He leans to softly kiss your lips and his hands travel all over your skin. “Soft...” he whispers. “So pretty.” 

Now it’s your turn to touch him, feeling his sweaty and strong muscles, then you lower your hand to his still-clothed cock, and Luffy moans. “Take ‘em off,” you order, and he nods.  

You touch again his hard member and move your hand up and down. “Y/N...” he calls you in a trembling voice. 

“Y-yeah?” You don’t stop. 

“Did I–Did I do well?” He sighs. “Did I eat you well? You liked it?” He thrusts at your hand. 

“Yes,” you moan. “I liked it very much, love.” 

“Was I a good boy?” He whines. 

You understand what he wants to hear. “Yes, such a good boy, Luffy,” you praise. “My good boy...” 

“Fuck, you’re perfect,” he kisses you. “So soft, so pretty,” he smiles, “and so fucking delicious, the best thing I’ve ever tasted.” He laughs as he leans over and sucks on your nipple, firmly holding your breast. 

“Lu!” You scream, grabbing his dark locks again.  

He lets go of your nipple at holds the hand you’re using to caress him. “I-I want to be inside you, please... Can I?” He asks desperately.  

“Yeah, I need it too...” 

He smiles and moves, taking his member directly to your entrance eagerly.  

"Slow, Luffy..." You warn him. 

"I'm sorry," he laughs a bit. 

Both of you moan with his slow thrust, and Luffy buries his head on your neck when he's all the way in. You can feel the soft kisses on your throat as your body gets used to his intrusion, but you can't wait too long, so you grab his ass and pull him into you. 

"Move, baby..."  

He obeys, increasing the speed of the thrusts more and more until the sound of skin slapping skin floods the room along with the screeching of the bedframe against the wall. 

"Good boy."  

"Yeah, your good boy. Only yours..." 

After a while, you feel your body reaching a new climax and notice that Luffy's thrusts are harder and a bit sloppier. "I'm close," you moan. 

"Me too," he groans. “You first...” He raises his head to look at you. “I bet you look so pretty when you cum.” If your skin isn’t flushed by now, his words make your body feel like it’s on fire. “Cum f’me...” 

You squeal hitting your release and Luffy holds your waist like you might go away from him. “Fuck!” He grunts, and you feel him cum inside you. 

Your bodies shiver a little from the adrenaline, Luffy slowly pulls out of you, and his body falls on yours. You can't help but giggle and caress him. 

“I buv u,” he says, with his face buried on your tits.  

“I love you too.”  

After a comfortable silence, you remember the party happening on deck. “The others can’t laugh at you now, huh?” 

He giggles. “I don’t care. But maybe they heard your screams...” 

“YES, WE DID!” Someone yells upstairs. “WE GET IT!”  

You two laugh.  

[rubyreduji]

timeless — ljh

summary: you’ve just met jihoon, yet something about him feels familiar

tags: fluff, romance, reincarnation?, gn!reader warnings: arranged marriages, mentions of death and war  reader notes: no pronouns or explicit gender descriptions but they do take a more feminine role in history, jihoon picks up the reader but my mans is strong okay don’t worry wc: 10.3k an: i’ve been writing this for over a month now fjdskla and i like the finished product but im a bit worried the format is choppy but either way please enjoy and show it lots of love...also happy first fic of the 2nd year of rubyreduji!!!

“Soonyoung, stop it!” You scold your best friend as he giggles at you.

“Just go talk to him!” Soonyoung tells you, pushing you towards the door to the antique shop next to your favorite boba place. 

Him refers to the cute cashier you always see through the windows when you and Soonyoung go and get boba (which is about three times a week). It’s nothing more than a hallway crush but Soonyoung keeps insisting that it could be more than that if you would just go talk to him. 

You don’t actually want to talk to the boy who stands at the counter with a smile, but before you can stop him Soonyoung is opening the door to the store and forcing you inside. When you turn around to chew your best friend out, you find him not there, his back already retreating to the boba shop. 

A part of you wants to just dash back out the door but the bell attached to the door has already gotten the attention of the cashier and you can’t escape now.

“Welcome to The Eternity Emorpium, today anything marked with a green sticker is 20% off.” The voice isn’t what you expected Cute Cashier to sound like but when you turn around to face him, you realize you’re not talking to Cute Cashier at all.

Rather than the tall boy with glasses you’ve been peeking in on for the past few months, you come face to face with a short yet buff boy with long black hair. He most definitely is not the guy you came in for, but you have to admit he is just as (if not more) cute than the other cashier.

You’re not sure how you didn’t notice that your normal Cute Cashier wasn't behind the counter, but in your defense you were too busy fighting off Soonyoung.

You give the new cashier—who you have now dubbed Even Cuter Cashier—a smile, before pretending to look at all of the memorabilia set out. The actual shop is nice with an obvious theme and specific layout that only someone with an eye for aesthetic and organization could create. On the speakers a Bruno Mars song is playing and you wonder if it's the cashier who has control over the music or just a general store playlist.

You feel awkward walking around the shop, letting out fake hums every once in a while to make it seem like you're actually shopping and not just sneaking glances at Even Cuter Cashier whenever you can. You stop in front of a playing card deck and you pick it up, flipping it over in your hand a couple of times.

"Oh, we just got those in," Even Cuter Cashier says, startling you a bit. "Put them on the floor this morning. You into cards?"

"Oh, uh," Shit. This is your chance to talk to him, "yeah. My dad is more of a collector than I am, but I can see the appeal."

"Nice. Yeah I'm more of a guitar collector myself, but my wallet wishes I wasn't," he says and you both laugh.

"That's cool though. I would love to learn how to play an instrument but I definitely don't have the talent or patience for that." As you speak with the man you slowly start to drift towards the counter.

"Hey, anyone can be talented, it just takes practice." You quickly glance down at Even Cuter Cashier's name tag to see his actual name is Jihoon.

"Good inspirational quote, but I think I'll just stick to the playing cards," you tell him with a grin as you set the pack down in front of him.

Jihoon just pushes the cards back to you and when you give him a questioning look he just grins. "They’re on the house.”

“Oh no, you don’t have to do that,” you tell him.

“I wanted to,” he says. “Maybe it’s just my plan to get you to come in here again.”

You smile at Jihoon, your face starting to turn a bit hot. You pick up the pack of cards and bid goodbye to the cashier before turning and leaving. Soonyoung is standing outside the door with two boba cups in hand. He peeks in when you open the door and frowns.

“That’s not Cute Cashier.”

“Nope! That’s Even Cuter Cashier,” you tell your best friend.

“You’re abandoning the other guy already?”

“I can’t abandon someone I don’t even know,” you scoff, “and anyway, I think I like Even Cuter Cashier. Something about him…it feels like destiny.”

Soonyoung laughs at you, but you ignore him, your mind still lingering on the dark haired boy from earlier. The more you think about him, the more your heart starts to grow warm. You can’t place it, but something about Jihoon feels familiar, and you need more.

1500s

“You are to be married to Prince Wonwoo before the solstice hits.”

Your head shoots up, staring at your father, not sure if you hear his words correctly. There’s no possible way he said that. You can think of a dozen reasons why that’s impossible, a few including: 1. You’ve never met Prince Wonwoo in your life, why would he want you as his betrothed? 2. You two did not have a courtship and it would be a scandal for you two to get married without presenting as a couple to the public first. 3. Your family is not nearly important enough to be noticed by royalty. 4. (And this is the biggest one) You are in love with someone else.

Well, your father doesn’t know that you’re in love with someone else, but it’s still an important fact to note.

Despite all of these reasons, your father continues to talk about the arrangement, not noticing the shock on your face. You wonder about how it came to be, and without you hearing even a whisper about it.

“You will be meeting with a royal advisor in two days, please do not cause any trouble.” With that your father walks ways, leaving you with a million questions brewing your mind.

The main one being: how are you going to tell Jihoon about this?

For over a year now you’ve been seeing the same man, sneaking out whenever you can to meet him. He came into town with a bang (quite literally — his caravan practically falling apart with all of his belongings crashing to the ground as it did) and you’ve been captivated by him since. 

Your days are never boring when Jihoon is around, the two of you either going on adventures or hanging out in Jihoon’s (new) caravan. Though, you think your most favorite times spent with Jihoon are late at night, when you two meet up on the outskirts of your estate grounds, right on the edge of the forest.

There never is any guessing as to what Jihoon has planned. Some days you two walk around the garden under the moonlight, talking and gazing up at the stars, while other nights you’re whisked off to another town to dance the night away in a hidden tavern. You love the guise of the night, being able to do whatever and be whoever without the fear of onlookers and their judgment. It’s just you and Jihoon in your own little world.

Maybe that’s why you’ve been keeping him a secret for so long, you like keeping him all to yourself. No one can taint your relationship if they don't know about it. Though you suppose that has backfired on you now.

You don’t see your father for the rest of the night and when the sunsets and you slip out the back door and walk down to the forest edge, you do it with a heavy heart. As always Jihoon is standing next to the tree he carved your initials in, a wide grin on his face and a bouquet of flowers in his hands.

As soon as he spots you approaching his face lights up in a grin. He trots up to you the rest of the way, scooping you up into a hug.

"I've missed you," he says, pressing kisses to your lips and cheeks. You giggle at his antics.

"You saw me two days ago, my dear."

"Oh but that's two days too long for an aching heart in love." 

Other people may think it's cheesy but you can't help but adore the sweet way Jihoon talks to you, always putting his poet background to good use. You smile as Jihoon holds you in his arms, but soon the good mood is ruined by the news you remember you have to break to him.

"What's wrong, my love?" Jihoon asks, seeing the fallen look on your face. He reaches up and pushes your hair out of your face, a habit he has picked up since you two met. 

You just sigh and shift so you're out of Jihoon's embrace. Automatically you miss his strong arms around your waist, but you can't bear to look at him as you talk.

“My father has given me away to another man,” you tell him in a hushed voice. 

“Who?” Jihoon responds automatically. “I won’t let him take you. I-I’ll fight.”

You finally turn towards Jihoon, the solemn look still firm on your face. “I’m betrothed to Prince Wonwoo.”

“Prince Wonwoo?!” Jihoon looks taken aback. You don’t blame him. Suddenly he deflates. “How am I going to beat that?”

You’re not sure how to respond. The truth is Jihoon can’t compete. That doesn’t mean you’re going to give up hope on him, though.

“We’ll…we’ll figure something out,” you finally say. You step closer to Jihoon, allowing him to wrap you up in his embrace once again.

“I’m not giving up on us,” Jihoon tells you, pressing a kiss to your forehead.

“We’ll be fine. We have to be.”

When your father told you you’d be meeting with a royal advisor, this isn’t exactly what you were expecting.

When you arrived at the castle you were amazed at the size of it, but you weren’t allowed to gawk for long, being ushered into a sitting room where two men were already conversing. Neither were your soon to be husband though and you wondered when you might actually get to meet the prince.

The two men soon introduced themselves as Soonyoung and Mingyu, two of Prince Wonwoo’s most trusted men. Now two hours later, you’re starting to question the judgment of your betrothed.

Not only are the men completely scatterbrained and disorganized, they also seem to bicker more often than not, making it difficult for you to understand everything they’re telling you. The only thing you really comprehend is that you’re going to be spending a lot more time with the two men up until the wedding.

You’re given a schedule at the end of the day, your upcoming weeks all planned out for you already. Meeting with wedding coordinators, royalty training, garment fittings, and everything else of the like. You frown, thinking about your normally free schedule has now been filled.

Luckily for you, the meeting finished earlier than expected and you don’t hesitate to direct yourself towards the area where Jihoon’s caravan resides. Your lover is delighted to see you but before he can get any words out you’re throwing yourself at him, pulling him into a kiss. You’re desperate to drown in Jihoon and forget reality even just for a moment.

It isn’t until later that you and Jihoon finally exchange words. 

“I can hear you thinking,” Jihoon says. You two lay next to each other on his bed, bare bodies pressed together under the linens. Your head rests on his chest and his hands card through your hair. “Was I not satisfactory in taking your thoughts away? What is troubling your mind so much?

“Prince Wonwoo.”

“You’re thinking about Prince Wonwoo after laying so intimately with me?”

“No! Well yes, but- I- shut up,” you grumble, smacking Jihoon’s chest, making his laugh.

You’ve never met the prince before, though you are well knowledged on him. It’s hard not to be when he is to take over the crown in a few years. You try not to think about how that will make you the queen consort.

You’ve only seen Prince Wonwoo in person a handful of times, none too recently, but you still know the prince is very handsome. Not as handsome as you find Jihoon, though you may be a bit biased. He’s also said to be kind, smart, level-headed, and well calculated. You suppose it could be worse. 

“I met with his advisors today,” you tell Jihoon. “I guess it’s just all hitting me. This really is going to happen.”

“Hey, listen to me,” Jihoon moves so he can stare at you in the face, “no matter what happens, I will always love you. My heart is still yours.”

“And mine yours,” you tell him softly. “I love you Lee Jihoon. Never forget that.”

You don’t see Jihoon for a while. Your schedule is packed with futile meetings that take up your day and with the news of your engagement to the prince (who you have still yet to meet), there are guards outside of your estate at night.

You suppose you are fortunate that Mingyu and Soonyoung have grown on you in the past few weeks. Though you still think them foolish, you also have a fondness for the pair. You see why Prince Wonwoo puts his trust in them. You find yourself wanting to confide in them, though there is one thing that still remains a secret.

It isn’t until the night before your wedding that you see your love. You are able to lose your guards for a second and you make a beeline straight to Jihoon’s caravan. He’s still awake, sitting outside and staring up at the starry sky when you approach.

“My dear,” you call out to him. Jihoon looks away from the sky to meet your face, a look of surprise flashes over his face before they form into a soft smile.

“You know you really shouldn’t be out so late at night, it is not safe.”

“Well then, why don’t you help me find some shelter kind sir,” you tell him. Jihoon just grins and grabs your hand, pulling you into his home. 

You two spent the night wrapped up in each other, exchanging soft kisses and even softer words. When the morning comes Jihoon is still asleep when you awake and while you’d love to give him a proper goodbye, you know you already pushed your luck enough spending the whole night out.

You quickly find a quill and some ink and you grab a piece of Jihoon’s writing parchment and scribble a quick note to him before slipping out the door. It’s only after the caravan is out of sight that you let your tears fall.

The first time you meet Prince Wonwoo is at the altar. Up close he’s even more handsome than you imagined, with soft facial features and kind eyes. You can’t help but still feel a bit disappointed, staring at the stranger in front of you as you recite your wedding vows.

The chapel where you are being wed is packed full of people, mostly nobility. Your attire is suffocating, despite being fitted for it thrice. Across from you, the prince keeps a neutral face and you wonder about his own involvement in this arrangement. 

He’s dressed in a formal outfit fit for royalty. The colors pair with your own dressings and you wonder what you two look like from the outfit. A newly bonded couple who will eventually be ruling the whole country. Are you two a handsome, strong presenting couple? Or do you two look like two fools who have never met before?

You were surprised at the way the public took the news of the engagement. You were expecting backlash against the prince, but he is well loved by the public and they were all happy to see the young man finding a partner to settle down with before stepping up to the throne. Despite never having been seen together in public before today, there was a wide talk of your (fake) courtship and how you must be very lucky to have the prince hold your heart.

If only they knew that a lonely, penniless poet was the real caretaker of your love.

It isn’t until the words leave the officiant’s mouth that you realize you will have to kiss the prince. Not only to end the ceremony but for the public to see you two unite as one. You must look as taken aback as you feel because your now husband takes the initiative, stepping forward to close the distance between you two.

Wonwoo cups your face gingerly, his hands are cold and his fingers are boney. He stares at you for a moment, dark eyes gazing into your soul, before he finally leans in.

The moment his lips press against yours you want to jerk out of his hold. It feels wrong. Your lips don’t fit together nicely and there’s no warmth exchanged between you two. You’re both stiff and you note how Wonwoo’s lips aren't as full as Jihoon’s. 

The kiss is over within seconds but the damage has been done and you can’t shake the dirty feeling that has grown under your skin. Wonwoo’s hand slides down your arm to clasp your fingers together. Another sign of unity for the public. You force a smile on your face, but the only thing you can think about is how your heart is miles away, in a small caravan on the edge of town.

My love,

I am not sure how you were able to convince the prince’s closest man to be a part of this, but I cannot say am I ungrateful for him. Though I do find him quite eccentric (and slightly obnoxious) I must give him my gratitude.

I miss you tremendously, but the past few letters you have sent me have been acting as bandages over my heart. I read them whenever I feel an ache of your absence, which is quite often.

It is unfortunate you find royal life boring. If I could, you know that I would sweep you off to the farthest lands where we would explore the area during the day and revel at night. I would show you the large world out there and we could experience new joys together. 

How I long to have you lay by my side at night. To feel your soft, tender skin against my fingertips. It pains me to even think about it, but it would kill me not to. 

I will never stop fighting for us.

Write back soon,

Your Jihoon

My darling,

I saw you today. I was taken quite off guard when I saw you riding in the carriage, next to Prince Wonwoo. I admit, you two make a handsome couple, but not more handsome than us.

It’s been so long since I’ve seen your beautiful face in person, that even seeing you with another man made my heart sing. I couldn’t pull my eyes from you, doing my best to soak in the sight of you because you were once again gone.

You looked quite winsome sitting in the carriage, but you did not look like you. Are you required to wear such extremities every day, or were you dressed for the occasion? Either way I cannot imagine the process of getting ready to be a swift one. 

If I am being honest I do not find the purpose of such efforts. Does the prince not find your natural beauty fit to his standards? If so then off with him. Any person with eyes would be fortunate to gaze upon you. I know I was.

Seeing you has only made me yearn more for you. I know it has only been a few weeks since your matrimony to Prince Wonwoo, but to me it has been lifetimes. How I crave to feel your touch, to hear your voice, to kiss your lips.

I know that the idea is futile but I will never give up on you. No matter what, I am still yours. And I hope you are still mine. Even if I only see a glimpse of you once every decade, my heart will still burn for you.

Forever yours,

Your Jihoon

To my heart,

Though you are always in my thoughts, you have been overtaking my mind more often than not lately. Please do not think I am upset about this, it is quite the opposite, but I am afraid I have been missing you a great deal more than usual.

Maybe it is due to a conversation I had the other day. I was at a tavern, catching up with an old acquaintance who was in town, and you came up. Jeonghan questioned if there was a reason why I had settled here and wondered if it was ‘due to my heart’. I laughed and confirmed his suspicions.

We spent a deal of time after that talking about you. It felt liberating being able to speak of you to someone else. I must have rambled on for at least an hour before Jeonghan finally cut me off, telling me how lucky I must be to have someone like you in my life. I had no choice other than to agree with him.

Speaking about you and thinking about you has thrown me into a tumultuous frame of mind. It is quite shameful how often I get lost in fantasies of us and what I wish we could be. You have overtaken my mind, body, and soul. There is not a single night where I do not dream of you.

I hope our future king can see how fortunate he is to be married to you. I would kill thousands of men to be in his position. Your smile itself is worth more than every jewel on his crown. I know I am just waxing poetic at you, but that is my job.

I know we must stay apart, but please mourn the future we could have had for me. Please write back to me with every thought you have about our imaginary future, because even if I cannot have the real thing, my dreams will be enough for me.

Dream of me as well,

Your Jihoon 

The life between you and your husband is…comfortable. You two talk, but not often and seldom about anything that is not shallow or mundane. You two sleep side by side at night but the last time you two touched each other was when you danced at your wedding and while his days are spent in meeting, yours are spent wandering the castle grounds and having tea with Soonyoung and Mingyu.

The only thing you find yourself looking forward to in your days anymore is the nightly lettering that you receive from Jihoon. It was only a week into the marriage when Soonyoung noticed how miserable you were. Without being able to hold it in anymore, you told the man about your lover and your heartbreak. It was then that Soonyoung suggested he help you out, acting as a carriage pigeon to deliver letters to and from Jihoon.

One night you are sitting at the desk in your shared chambers with Wonwoo, writing your letter for Jihoon, when Wonwoo speaks up. He is sitting on the bed across the room and his deep voice startles you, not used to talking to the man like this.

“Are you happy?” Wonwoo asks you bluntly, after calling out your name. You take only a moment to form an answer.

“I am content, my lord,” you tell him. Though you have stopped referring to the man as “Prince Wonwoo” in your mind, you cannot help but tack on the formal titles at the end of your sentences to the man.

“But you are not happy. Why?”

“Rest assured your highness, it is nothing you’ve done.”

“Does it have anything to do with the letters Soonyoung delivers to you each evening? The letters you are writing back right now?” You freeze in your seat. You were unaware he knew, but the prince is not ignorant. You suppose you couldn’t keep it a secret forever.

“I-”

“Do not mistake my curiosity for accusation. I’m aware this arrangement is not an ideal situation, and I would not be upset if there was another. I would not even be upset if you wish to be with him,” Wonwoo says. 

His words trouble you. There is a benefit for both of you in the marriage, but his words imply he is not exactly happy with the arrangement either. The offer to let you leave him is strange though, and causes you to fault for a moment.

“I am not going to abandon you, sire,” you eventually respond. “I have made an obligation to you.”

“No, your father did. Though we are not well acquainted I still hold empathy and I do not want to be what is keeping you from your happiness. From your happy ending.”

“Either way my father’s word is say, so I will do what he asks of me. It is an honor to be wedded to a man of your status,” you tell him, trying to convince yourself more than anything.

“But that is all it is: status. What about love?”

You don’t answer. You sit there and stare down at the letter you are writing to Jihoon. You think about the wooden box hidden in the drawer that holds his letters.

“Please, I do not wish to cause you turmoil. If you want to go, I will not hold you back,” Wonwoo says. 

You finally turn to look at your husband. “You are very kind-hearted, but I cannot accept that offer. I will not tarnish your reputation like that. Do you know the talk that would rise if they heard the soon-to-be king’s spouse up and left? What would your father do to mine? It is too risky.”

Wonwoo has a morose look on his face, like he knows you’re right. “Tell me about him,” he says, surprising you.

You hesitate. You should not talk of your lover to your husband. It is unorthodox and unbecoming. You look at Wonwoo’s curious face though, and you can’t help yourself.

“He’s a poet. I’ve never met someone who can use words the way he does. Even in things as simple as short letters or passing comments, he can make it sound like the most romantic sentence ever uttered,” you tell Wonwoo.

“Tell me more.”

“He has a kind soul, like you. He’s very exciting to be around. He used to travel the world, so I love to hear him regale the tales of his adventures. He likes to take me on our own little adventures as well. One time a traveling show came through a neighboring town and he got us tickets to go watch.”

“You love him greatly.” It is not a question. You just nod to Wonwoo. “You light up when you speak of him. In a way I’ve never seen before.”

You don’t know what to say to him, so you turn your back to him once more, resuming your letter to Jihoon.

You love Jihoon, everyday apart from him feels like you’re struggling to breathe, and under any other circumstance you wouldn’t have stopped at anything to be with him, but you are not under those circumstances. You fought your father, refusing the marriage, even telling him you loved someone else, but he did not listen. He told you this was the one thing he would put his foot down on.

You can’t blame him, how often does someone get the chance to marry a prince. The things this marriage is doing for your family is immeasurable and you cannot in good conscience leave them without a second thought. Not to mention the damage it would do to your family’s reputation, let alone Wonwoo’s. Your family would be shunned by the public and Wonwoo would be labeled a joke of a king.

Not to mention if it was ever discovered what really happened. What would happen if everyone found out why you left? You and Jihoon would surely be ostracized. Town piranhas in even towns in other kingdoms. Jihoon’s career as a poet would be over. You can’t imagine that being a happy life.

Not that you’re particularly happy right now either. You wish you didn’t overthink everything, or else you would have left the town even before you got married. You and Jihoon could be living in his caravan, just you two alone, safe and sound and happy.

It is too late for that though, and now you have to pay the consequences. Married to a man you know nothing about. A man who seems to be rooting for you despite the outcome. It makes you frown. Maybe your first step in figuring it all out is figuring out your husband first.

“Have you ever been in love, my lord?” You decide to ask Wonwoo one day while walking the castle’s grounds. As of recently you two have gotten closer, an interesting bond forming between you two, though most of your time is spent talking of Jihoon. Wonwoo never draws back on his suggestions that you follow your heart. 

“Not in the way you are. I was very fond of someone a long time ago, but they loved someone else.” You frown at this news. 

“Please excuse the crudeness of my words, sire, but then why do you put so much mind into my love? Do you not wish to be wed to someone?”

“I do,” Wonwoo answers after a moment of contemplation, “but I do not want to be the reason why true love is separated. You and your Jihoon, you are a story of fate. Who am I to get in the middle of it? The public likes me enough, I will be okay. No matter what, I will be okay, but will you?”

Your heart aches and yearns for Jihoon, and your husband is not making it easier. That may have been his goal though.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” You ask Wonwoo. You frown as you stand in front of him, your stomach in knots of worry.

Wonwoo just gives you a soft smile. “I am sure. If anything, I should be worrying about you. Do you have everything you need?”

“Yes. Both Soonyoung and I checked twice. You have ensured that everything will run perfectly.” You reach over and take your husband’s hands in yours, squeezing them tightly. “Thank you, Wonwoo. For everything.”

“Ah, it is the least I could do. Now, you have somewhere to be and I cannot keep you waiting any longer. Send me letters, okay?” With a final squeeze of your hands, Wonwoo lets you go. You smile at the man once more before turning away from him and not looking back.

You slip out of the castle through the servant’s doors and quickly make your way to the outskirts of the grounds. It reminds you of all those times you escaped your own house to meet Jihoon at the edge of the forest. The thought makes a grin grow on your face as you speed up your pace even more.

Just like all the previous times, when you get to the edge of the estate Jihoon is standing there waiting for you. You launch yourself into his arms, allowing him to pick you up and twirl you around. He’s giggling high pitched and gleeful as you two spin around in each other’s arms.

When Jihoon finally puts you down he doesn’t waste a moment and leans in to kiss you. You happily kiss him back, grabbing his face and holding him in place. You can feel a wet stream of tears run down your face, your heart bursting with joy as you reunite with your lover.

His lips are familiar against yours and you automatically feel at home. For the first time in months you can relax, finally back in Jihoon’s arms.

“It’s you,” Jihoon muttres when he finally pulls away. He brings his hands up to caress your face.

“It’s me, my love, it’s me,” you tell him back, tears still flowing freely.

“I’ve missed you so much.”

“I’ve missed you more.” You lean in and press another quick kiss against Jihoon’s lips. “But we will never have to miss each other again.”

“I’m never letting you go,” Jihoon tells you, gripping you tighter. “Oh how much I love you.”

You giggle. “I love you more. Now come on, let’s get out of here.”

You grab Jihoon’s hand and pull him away from the grounds to where his caravan is waiting for you two. As you two travel further and further away from the town you feel your heart grow lighter and lighter, excited for the rest of your life of adventures with your love.

The next time you see Jihoon is nearly a week later. You and Soonyoung are once again getting boba when you spot the boy behind the counter, just like last time. When you and Soonyoung went and got boba a few days prior you noticed that the original Cute Cashier was working, and you couldn’t help but feel a bit of disappointment at him not being Jihoon.

As soon as you lay eyes on your Even Cuter Cashier, you quickly make a beeline into the shop, your desire for boba long gone.

Jihoon looks up when he hears the sound of the bell ringing and his eyes soften into a smile when he sees you entering through the threshold.

“You came back!”

“I did. It’s hard not to, with the amazing service I got last time,” you say. You casually browse the store as you talk to Jihoon, glancing at him every so often as you do. 

“Well I’m glad that my plan to get you to come back succeeded.”

You giggle at Jihoon’s words as you stop in front of a stack of old photos. You flip through them, looking at all the memories they hold. Many of the photos depict different couples, all smiling brightly as they hold each other. The images put a smile on your own face.

“Find something good?” Jihoon asks and you jump a bit at the closeness of his voice. When you turn, you see the man standing by your side.

“Oh, yeah, just these photos! Aren’t they beautiful?” You tilt them a bit to show them off to Jihoon. “I think it’s so amazing that no matter how the world changes, love will always stay the same.”

“Huh, I guess you’re right. Love’s been around since the beginning of time.”

“The love these people were feeling in these photos is the same love we experience today. There really is nothing like it.”

You look back down at the photos. The one in your hand shows a woman clinging onto a man’s arm, her cheek pressed into his bicep as she smiles at the camera. The man himself is smiling as well, though he is smiling down at the woman, rather than the camera. 

“They’re cute,” Jihoon mumbles, his own eyes transfixed on the photo. 

“Yeah,” you say, “I wonder what’s their story.”

“Something happy, I hope,” Jihoon says before moving to walk back behind the counter. You grab a few more photos from the stack before following after him, placing them on the counter.

Jihoon smiles at you and starts to ring you up. You take a moment to stare at him, your eyes tracing over his fluffy hair and round face and kind smile. You don’t stop staring until Jihoon breaks your focus.

“What? Does my hair look stupid or something?” He grins lazily at you again and you feel your heartbeat quicken.

“Uh, n-no! It’s just…your smile is super familiar to me. Sorry, that may be weird.”

“No, no, it’s not. I guess I kinda felt the same thing the first time you came in,” Jihoon tells you. “Who knows, maybe we knew each other in a past life.”

You chuckle at Jihoon’s joke, but you don’t stop thinking about it for the rest of the day.

1951

War Against North Korea Rages On, No End in Sight

You frown at the heading, throwing the newspaper aside onto the counter. The news of the North Korean troops invading Seoul changed everyone’s lives, throwing the country into a state of chaos trying to keep them from completely overtaking all of South Korea. Now a year later, the war is still in full force and though you know it’s important to stay updated on what’s happening, you don’t bother with the news articles anymore. They always say more or less the same thing: the war continues on with more casualties and less hope of ending soon.

Your heart grows heavy with each day growing worse than the last. You wish there was more you could do to help the war efforts, but you’re stuck at home taking care of your sick father. He’s the only family you have left, after your mother’s death a few years ago. All of the money received from her passing has gone into your father, but since the start of the war prices have done nothing but skyrocket.

So you spend your days at home taking care of your father, and your nights in a factory working to earn an income. You don’t mind the work though, allowing your mind to focus on something that isn’t the war or your father.

The only other time you get a break, an actual real break, is on Saturdays. It’s the one day in the week you allow yourself to go out, spending the afternoon to yourself getting groceries and taking time to focus on yourself.

You go through the same routine, walking down to the port and spending a few minutes enjoying the waves lapping against the shore, the salty sea water scent filling the air as the summer breeze brushes up against your skin. After taking in the sight of the sea, you move further into town and down the street to the cemetery.

Every Saturday you visit your mother’s grave, sitting with her for a while as you update her on your life and the current events. Occasionally you will bring a book and read aloud. You find the time spent with her calming, her maternal love enveloping you and letting you rest, even for a small bit of time.

Afterwards you browse the shops in town (only looking, never buying) before heading to the market to finish your day off. You spend the money for the groceries to get you through the week before heading back home. You do your best to walk most places you go, not wanting to spend the fare for the trollies. 

The streets are busy on the weekend and on your walk back to your house, someone bumps into you causing you to drop your bags, all of your freshly bought groceries tumbling to the ground. The person doesn’t even stop and you can’t bother chasing them too. You just sigh and bend down to pick up the now unusable goods. 

You now have to turn around and go back into town to get more groceries. It will take a good chunk out of your funds, but not too much. Maybe you’ll pick up a few more shifts at the factory.

“Excuse me, are you okay?” As you’re thinking about how to make up the price of the ruined groceries, you miss the man who has walked up to you.

When you look up you see a beautiful man with a sweet round face and dark hair staring down at you. He’s dressed nicely in a suit and it takes you a moment to actually respond to him, too distracted by his good looks.

“Pardon?”

“I was asking if you were okay?” The man bends down to help you pick up the rest of the food spilled on the ground. “I saw that man bump into you and I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Oh! I’m fine, thank you.” You smile at him, appreciative of the kind gesture.

“But all of your groceries are now ruined. Allow me to buy you more.”

“Oh no! That’s not necessary,” you quickly tell the man. You don’t even know him and you would feel guilty allowing a man who didn’t even cause the casualty to pay for your groceries, especially with the state of the economy.

“I insist,” he says, standing and then helping you stand as well. “It’s the least I could do.”

“Sir it really-” Before you can even finish your sentence the man was walking away, back towards the town. You could just go back home, but then you’d be left with no groceries for the week so you begrudgingly follow him back to the market.

“Lee Jihoon, by the way,” he tells you as you two walk around the market, collecting what you need. You give him your name as well and he grins, a small spark igniting behind his eyes as he tells you how lovely your name is.

When you’re done regathering what you need you move to head to the register, but Jihoon stops you.

“This is all you’re getting? It’s barely enough for any proper meals. Please, add more. I won’t mind, I demand of it actually.” Jihoon then moves to add more to the basket and once again you have to follow along as Jihoon is the one carrying it.

You protest each time a new item is added but Jihoon keeps hushing you like you’re a life long friend rather than a stranger he met on the street no more than thirty minutes ago. By the time Jihoon is satisfied with what’s in your basket, it’s full to the top and you can’t remember the last time you’ve seen so much food in your life. Guilt eats away at you as you think about the money Jihoon is about to drop on you just because someone else made you drop your bags.

It isn’t until you’re checking out and Jihoon casually pulls out multiple banknotes without even a blink of an eye that you realize that not everyone lives like you and that just maybe Jihoon doesn’t mind paying so much because he has the money laying around to do so. Even back when your mother was alive and your father was able to work your family was still paying for everything with scraped up coins.

The sun is already low in the sky by the time you two exit the market and Jihoon stops you once more. “Allow my driver to take you back to your house.”

The sentence alone confirms your suspicions on Jihoon’s monetary status. To own a car is a luxury of its own, but to have a driver as well seals the deal.

You already can tell it’s impossible to turn Jihoon down so you just follow him back to his car. You wonder if his driver followed you after you two walked to the market. When you two get into the car you tell your address to the driver, trying not to get embarrassed at the thought of the nice car driving through your run down little neighborhood. 

Jihoon’s driver just nods and starts up the car. The three of you sit in silence until the car pulls up to your house and you climb out. Jihoon does as well, helping carry your groceries to the door.

“It was nice meeting you,” Jihoon says. “If you ever need anything again, give me a call.” He holds out a small white card, his business card, to you. You take it and thank him once more before entering your house, your mind still lingering on the strange, rich man.

You don’t give Jihoon a call, but you don’t have to. You run into him again not even three days after your first interaction. It’s early in the morning and you’re heading back home after work when you hear your name called out. When you turn you see the man’s car rolling up next to you, his head poking out of the back seat window.

“What are you doing walking alone so early in the morning? The sun has barely started to rise.”

"I'm walking back home from work," you answer honestly.

Jihoon's face looks sour at this, like he couldn't imagine working so late at night. "If you have been working all night let me treat you to breakfast."

It's your turn to let your face screw up slightly. You know that Jihoon can afford to buy you breakfast, but you still don't want to feel indebted to him. Not to mention your father will be waking up soon and you'll need to make his breakfast as well. You tell Jihoon as much.

"Then I will buy breakfast for your father too," is his solution.

You're not sure why he keeps insisting on buying you things but you just sigh and climb into the car. Jihoon has a smug grin on his face as he tells his driver where to go.

A few minutes later the car pulls up in front of a diner and you and Jihoon enter. It's nothing extravagant, but still a treat for those with a tight budget. 

The two of you sit in silence until a waitress comes and takes your order. Jihoon doesn't allow you to order for yourself, picking what he tells you are the most delicious and filling items. He orders for himself and then a third meal, asking the waitress to not cook it until she brings the check.

You note the way Jihoon has a nice presence to him, friendly and warm and inviting. The way his soft features are accentuated when he smiles, his round cheeks puffing up and his eyes squinting. You find him fascinating, but there's something more than that, something drawing you to him.

"So, where do you work that has you walking home at six in the morning?" 

The question breaks the ice between you as you fall into a natural conversation, asking questions and trading answers. Your hesitations towards the man quickly ebb the more you talk.

You learn he's a highly successful businessman but the war has halted much of his work which has given him some much needed down time. Like you, he doesn't have many living family members and he's an altruistic man so much of his money is left unspent.

Before you know it both of your meals are finished and the waitress is bringing over the check and the packaged meal for your father. Just like at the market, Jihoon pulls out his banknotes and pays before escorting you back to his car.

When you arrive at your house a part of you feels disappointed that the morning with Jihoon is over. Now it's back to the real world. 

You're halfway to your door when you suddenly turn back around. You don't know what causes you to say it before you can stop yourself you spit out, "Would you like to come in for a cup of tea? It's the last I could do after all of your kindness." 

Jihoon beams in front of you. "I would love that."

Bloodiest Battles of the War So Far, Conscription Soon to Follow?

Five months after you meet Jihoon he knocks on your front door, a letter clutched in his fist. There's a grim look on his face when you open the door and you know automatically.

The Battle of Bloody Ridge, follwoed by The Battle of Heartbreak Ridge, took out many of the soldiers on the frontlines and the country was now desperate to find new ones to replace them. A mandatory conscription for any young man who was eligible to join the military.

It didn't take long for you and Jihoon to start a relationship after your first few meetings. He's the perfect man, taking care of both you and your father and showering you in nothing but love and affection. The thought of him so far away, in the direct line of danger, makes a lump grow in your throat. Your chest tightens as your heart aches.

"We'll be okay," Jihoon mutters into your hair as you cry silently into his neck, holding him tightly. Like if you hold him tight enough he won't have to leave.

That's not how the world works though, and you accompany Jihoon on the day he is to deploy.

"If you need more money just send me a letter and I'll take care of it, okay?"

"You've left me with plenty already, love," you tell him as you fix his jacket collar. "Just come home safe."

"As long as you make sure I have something to come home to."

You can already feel the tears welling up in your eyes and you lean forward to press your lips to Jihoon's. He kisses you back, putting all of his love into it. A promise to you, that you will see him again, that this isn't your last kiss.

With one last squeeze of the hand Jihoon boards the bus and you're left alone, a heaviness in your heart and worry forming under your skin.

You just have to keep telling yourself he'll be okay, he has to be.

December 19, 1951

To the one my heart has gone to,

I hope you don't mind the frequency of my letters, I just feel closer to you know that eventually you'll hold the same paper in your fingers. I miss you tremendously, to the point my heart aches thinking of you.

Do you know that when you send your letters they smell of you? I always keep your most recent ones safe, in hopes to preserve the smell for just a little while longer.

There's not much to report about today, which I suppose is a good thing. Better than something hectic or even worse, a battle. 

Unfortunately it still doesn't look like there will be a break anytime soon. Battle after battle, life after life. It's not easy, but I've come to like the other men in my unit. Jeonghan takes good of us and Seokmin makes nice company. 

I don't want to keep you long, but I wanted to make sure you'd get a letter for before the holidays hit. Merry Christmas my love.

I'll make it up to you when I get home okay? For now just keep me in your dreams.

Write back soon, please. I want to hear what my lover has been up to. Keep me updated on your father as well.

All my love,

Your Jihoon

March 22, 1952

Today was hard.

I'm doing unwell as I write this letter, but it would pain me more not to send you my update.

Kwon Soonyoung died next to me today on the battlefield. It is not the first time a man has died near me, but it is the first time it was a man I have grown fond of. He was only a few months older than I am.

As grim as it may sound, and as much as I will mourn the loss, I am grateful that it was not me in his place. It was a difference of mere inches and fate chose Soonyoung. Does it mean anything? Is there a reason why I lived and he didn’t? I’m not sure but all I can think about is that his sacrifice is giving me a second chance at going home. Does that make me a bad person?

Everyday I pray this nightmare will be over. The thought of you is the only thing encouraging me to go on. I think about coming home to you, kissing your sweet lips, holding you in my arms.

We’ve been apart longer than we were together and I beat myself up for that everyday. I wish we would have met earlier, but as soon as the war is over we will have all the time in the world. Just you and me.

Wish me home soon,

Your Jihoon

November 30, 1952

To the home of my heart,

You have been on my mind all of today, not that you aren’t always on my mind normally. It has been particularly hard today though. It’s been a full year since my departure from you and every day has been harder than the last.

It’s hard to sleep at night and I often lay awake and think about you. Sometimes I will take a walk and look up at the sky. The moon and the stars are thousands of miles away but they still seem so close and bring so much comfort. That’s how I feel about you. Gazing at the moon also helps because it is still the same moon that you are under as well.

Look at the moon and think of me okay? Maybe one night we will be looking at the moon at the same time and I will be able to feel you just a bit closer.

Whenever I am able to fall asleep, I dream about you. I dream about the thought of you laying next to me. I wish to kiss your soft lips and feel your warm skin and look into your shining eyes. I dream of the life we will build together when we are reunited at last.

Would you marry me, my love?

I know it’s silly asking over a letter like this, and asking with such a strange courtship, but something in me feels the need to ask. Ever since I met you on the street that one fateful day, I’ve known you were the one for me. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, so please accept my proposal (I promise to give you a proper one the second I get home).

The other men keep teasing me about you, but they just don’t understand the love we share. Being with you, even just the thought of you, it feels like home.

A part of me wonders if I’ve secretly loved you my whole life. It sure feels like it. No matter what I know you were made for me and everyday I bless whatever force brought us together. I love you so much it drives me crazy.

When I get home let me take you out on a thousand dates to make up for the time lost. 

Please send me your answer soon,

Your fiance Jihoon

February 01, 1953

To my dearest,

I’m writing to you from the infirmary. I was shot in battle earlier, nowhere too fatal just the leg, but I just woke up from the procedure to remove the bullet and patch me up. I’m lucky to come out with nothing more than a scar. Some other men aren’t as lucky.

It seems everyday is a new fight, but it’s worth it if it gives me a chance of going back home to you. We’ll buy a house close to the port, so you can be near the ocean breeze. Every night we’ll walk the shore and watch the sunset together. Then on Saturdays I’ll accompany you on your errands. We’ll go to town together and get groceries and visit the cafe and do whatever your heart desires. 

I’ll buy fresh flowers for your parents every week.

We could get a cat to keep you company while I’m at work and you could quit that heinous job at the factory. That would give you more time to focus on yourself. You and I both know that my wealth is more than enough for just the two of us.

Our house shouldn’t be too big, but still a good size in case we ever have guests over. I think we should start a garden as well.

Ah, my love, thinking about our future is nice. It helps me wish for the future, helps me feel closer to you. Thank you for being my safe place away from this nightmare. I should rest more now, but please remember that I will always spend everyday loving you.

Pray for my speedy recovery,

Your Jihoon

July 07, 1953

Jagiya! I apologize for the lack of letters recently, things have been so hectic around here, but I write with good news!

The talk around camp is that the negotiations have been making a move, there is finally an end in sight. I cannot wait to get back to you. It has been far too long since I’ve seen you and the photo I carry of you has started to fade already from how often I admire it. 

I cannot stay to write for long, but I needed to send you an update and a reminder of my love. I promise we will be back together soon.

Go to town and buy some flowers for yourself okay? Today is worth celebrating.

I can’t wait to see you,

Your Jihoon

You’re jittery as you smooth down your shirt, waiting for the bus to pull up. The same bus that took him away nearly two years ago.

When all of your friends heard about your beau, they all called you crazy. Holding out for a man who has been gone for quadruple the amount of time you spent together and you guess maybe it is crazy, but for Jihoon you would do anything.

It is true that you two were only together for five months before his deployment, but even before he left you knew you were madly in love with Lee Jihoon. You spent your nights reading the letters Jihoon sent you, and writing ones back. You would think you two had been lovers for fifty years rather than five months.

You’ve always felt the pull towards Jihoon though, like you’ve been loving him all your life. Every letter he sent made you fall in love with him even more, and now two years later he’s finally coming home. 

The days were hard without him when you saw him nearly everyday before he left. Winter of 1952 was less than kind, taking your father with it and leaving you alone for the last seven months, wishing for nothing but for Jihoon to come home. Now he is and you couldn’t be more elated.

The people standing around you start to cheer when someone catches sight of the bus, but you can’t do anything but stand there, your heart pounding in your chest. When the bus stops and soldiers start to pour out you have a moment of doubt. The fear that Jihoon won’t want you anymore, that everything has changed for the worse, creeps into your mind.

The thoughts can barely form though because then Jihoon’s stepping off the bus and his skin is so much tanner than it used to be and you’ve never seen him with his hair so short but it’s Jihoon, your Jihoon. His eyes light up when he catches sight of your familiar face and he’s dropping his bags and running towards you.

His arms are locked around your waist and you’re being lifted off the ground. You cup Jihoon’s face in your hands and lean down to kiss him as he spins you two around, easing all of the worries in your mind. Your cheeks dampen as tears start to stream down your face, too many emotions coursing through you to keep them all on the inside.

You keep your hands on Jihoon’s face as he sets you down. You stroke his cheek, feeling his warm skin under your touch. “You’re here, you’re really here.”

“I’m here my love, I’m here, and I’m never leaving you again.”

It doesn’t take much longer for you and Jihoon to leave the station. You two sit in the back of his car, pressed together as Jihoon presses kisses to your face every few minutes. You’re not much better though, leaning into him with a dopey grin on your face, ready to start your new life with the man you love the most.

The next time you see Jihoon isn’t at the antique shop at all. You’re getting coffee at the cafe next to your apartment when you see the man walk in. His eyes light up a bit when he sees you and he makes a beeline to your table after getting his drink.

“Is this seat open?” He asks, pointing to the empty chair across from you.

“Of course.”

Jihoon takes a seat before turning his attention to you. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“Maybe it’s fate,” you say teasingly but Jihoon just grins.

“Maybe it is,” his voice is smooth as he talks, and your breath gets caught in your throat, “I mean, I wouldn’t be upset if I was destined to meet you over and over again.”

You break his gaze, trying not to show him how flustered you are. “You’re quite the sweet talker you know? You don’t know anything about me-”

“No, but I don’t think it would be hard to learn. I’m starting to think we’re not really strangers at all. You can’t tell me that you aren’t a bit interested in me as well.”

You glance back at Jihoon to find him staring intently at him. His eyes are warm and deep and you can feel yourself being drawn in, like you’ve stared at those eyes a million times before. There’s an inviting sense to all of Jihoon and the only thing you can think of to describe it as is home. 

“Okay,” you tell him with a slight grin. “Let’s see if destiny is right.”

And really you don’t care if it is fate or not, because as you and Jihoon fall into a comfortable conversation you realize that the two of you meeting was no mistake, and that you could definitely love Lee Jihoon for multiple lifetimes. 

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[lucidlivi]

Never Been You

Requested: @hzllxhoundxx

Everything Tag List: @jc-winchester @mrsjenniferwinchester @perpetualabsurdity @antisocialcorrupt @heavenlyackles @anixiiee @jackles010378 @suckitands33 @deans-spinster-witch @k-slla @alternativeprincess @spnbaby-67 (if you'd like added to my everything tag list, please indicate by saying "please tag me in everything Jensen/Dean")

Warnings: Angst, Demon Dean, Kidnapping, Violence, Mature Themes, Demon Dean Being an Absolute Dick

Following S10 E2, S10 E3 (of course with my twist!)

I got carried away so this is a hella long one for you guys!

"you need to get to Beulah North Dakota now!" I rushed out to Castiel who was on the other end of the phone call.

"I do?"

"yes, Crowley and Dean were there, we have to pick up their trail."

I looked over to see Sam in the truck hunched over in pain.

"good, great."

I felt the emotions wash over me for what felt like the thousandth time since seeing the footage of Dean, our Dean, sporting black eyes. Castiel has no idea.

"Not exactly, Cas, Dean's a Demon." I said feeling the unshed tears slip from my eyes.

"Dean's a Demon? How?"

"It's the mark Cas, it messed him up, I don't know." I cried.

"that's a vast understatement." Castiel grumbled.

"look Cas, I know you're not feeling so hot right now, but I need you, it’s sort of an all hands on deck situation, so…"

"so I'll be there."

I hopped back in the truck I had rescued Sam in and continued to drive to North Dakota. I played through every scenario in mind of how this could go, and none of them ended well.

I needed to find Dean, I needed to help him.

"I got a lead, disturbance at a night club, a rowdy patron beat a security guard senseless. It sounds like a demon thing to do." Sam said looking at his phone.

"I guess let's check it out then."

It was still daytime when we were pulling up to the strip club.

Of course Dean would end up here.

"think that's the guy?" I asked Sam, looking at a muscular security guard who was wearing a sling identical to Sam's and had two black eyes.

"I would say it's a safe bet."

I stopped the truck hopping out, followed by Sam.

"excuse me sir, is this the guy who attacked you last night?" Sam asked straight forward, showing a picture of Dean.

"that's the guy, I called 911 but he was gone before they showed up."

Damn.

I didn't expect him to still be here, but it felt like a blow to the gut to actually hear it.

"that dude get to you too?" He asked Sam referencing his sling.

"uh no, this uh is just a hunting accident." Sam responded.

"would you do us a favor, if this guy shows back up, please give us a call." I said producing a fake FBI business card with my number on it.

"you bet."

"thanks."

I ran a hand through my hair with a huff before getting back in the truck.

"what now?" I asked, feeling the tears prick at my eyes again.

I couldn't bare the thought of Dean actually being a demon.

"I don't know." Sam said in defeat.

I drove the truck to a nearby motel, renting us a room. Sam had been through hell, he needed to rest. I helped him lay down on the bed, noticing his eyes get instantly heavy.

"I'll be right back, I'm just going to get something out of the truck." I told him, rushing outside.

As soon as I stepped outside, I heard a voice that made my blood boil with anger.

"hello there love."

I turned around to see Crowley with a smirk on his face.

"did ya miss me?"

I huffed in anger, reaching behind me to pull a blade from my belt loop.

"oh so much." I growled.

"easy now, I know you're here for Dean, and I'm here to give him to you."

Is this a trick?

I could never truly trust Crowley.

"I don't understand."

"you see he's bad for business, he's.. he's become uncontrollable, must be the mark.." Crowley trails off with a smirk.

"anywho Dean's your problem now, again, forever." Crowley added.

"then where the hell is he?" I snapped, not being able to contain my anger towards the king of hell.

"ah ah, first there's a small matter of my finders fee."

"nothing ever comes free with you, wouldn't have expected anything less."

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

I hesitantly walk in to the bar not knowing what to expect. I didn't even tell Sam where I was going. I knew he didn't have the strength to fight, and I didn't want him to get hurt.

"hiya angel." Dean said looking up at me with a smirk.

I felt my breathing get heavy as I looked at him. It was Dean in the flesh, but this thing was so far from Dean. Dean was brave, he was kind, Dean cared.

"I told you to let me go." Dean said picking up his glass of whiskey and sipping it.

"you know I can't do that Dean."

He smirked, taking another sip.

"by the way, your pal Crowley, he sold you out, didn't take him much." I said stepping a bit closer.

"sounds like him."

"Dean, we can cure demons, don't you remember that?" I asked taking another step closer.

Dean picked up the first blade, walking past me in a threatening manner.

"a little latin, lot of blood, yeah it rings a bell. but did you ever stop to think that if I wanted to be cured, I wouldn't have bailed."

"Dean that was Crowley, you don't know what you're doing."

"that's what you think." Dean said pouring himself another glass of whiskey.

"well it doesn't matter Dean, whatever happened, whatever went down, we will fix it." I said cautiously taking another step towards him.

"Oh will we? Meanwhile I'm doing all I can to not come over there and rip your throat out."

"Dean you don't mean that."

"I'm giving you a chance to run sweetheart, better take it." Dean threatened.

"I'll pass." I said quickly.

“I'm not walking out that door with you, I'm just not, so what are you going to do angel, huh? Are you going to kill me?" Dean asked.

I felt a chill run down my spine at the way he called me angel. It was laced with venom.

"I didn't come here to kill you."

"why? you have no idea what I've done, in fact I might have it coming."

"I don't care Dean, you're my best friend, and I'm here to take you home. I'm here to save you."

I wanted to admit so much more to him.

I wanted to tell him that it's because I was in love with him and couldn't imagine my life without him in it. I was worried now that I wouldn't get the chance too.

I heard Dean start to chuckle.

"save me? why would you want to save me? it's never been you, you know." Dean said taking a sip.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Dean got up sauntering his way over to me. I instinctively took a step back, not trusting him. I soon found out though, the more distance I tried to put between us the closer he got. I raised my hand up putting it on his chest to stop him from getting any closer.

Dean smirked at me before twisting my arm and bringing his hand up to my throat. He pinned me to the wall a twisted look in his eyes. I felt a chill run down my spine, he was getting pleasure out of this.

"I see the way you look at me, the way you lust for me, you want me." Dean smirked.

I glared at him, trying to turn my face away, his hold on my throat getting tighter.

"you don't want to kill me because you're in love with me, and you have been for quite some time, haven't you?"

I couldn't speak, Dean's hold on me was too tight. I furrowed my eyebrows as if to convey he wasn't right, even though he was.

"and its never been you for me.. you see while you've been trying to find me, trying to save me, i've been fucking everything with a heartbeat." Dean growled.

I could feel the tears brim my eyes as his words cut in to me. I knew he was just trying to hurt me, but part of me wondered if that's how Dean actually felt.

He let go of my throat, shoving me to the floor. I instantly stood back up taking out the handcuffs from my back pocket.

"you really think those are going to work sweetheart?" Dean asked with a smirk.

"well there's one way to find out."

As I took a step forward, the window shattered and the entire room started filling with smoke. I looked to my left to see someone had threw a smoke grenade. I felt the air rush from my lungs as I breathed in the smoke. I put my shirt over my mouth and nose, trying to find an exit. I started to cough, as my vision got blurry.

I finally found the emergency exit, pushing it open. I saw the silhouette of a man on the other side as I collapsed from smoke inhalation. He struck me across the face hard, causing me to fall back to the ground, hitting my head in the process.

I was seeing stars as I sat clutching my bleeding head. Dean came out glaring the man down. I heard them exchange some words, but couldn't make out exactly what they were saying.

I noticed myself start to slip in and out of consciousness.

I saw them start to fight, Dean clearly having the upper hand.

I felt like my head was on fire, as I glanced up seeing Dean holding the first blade to the guys neck. He was going to kill him. I was surprised when he dropped him, tucking the blade back in to his pocket. I tried to muster up any strength I could to get up, but my body was betraying me. Dean walked over to me, a sick grin etched on to his face as he swayed his hips.

"Dean please." I choked out.

"time to sleep now baby."

Dean raised his hand striking me, and that's the last thing I remember before my world went dark.

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

I was in agonizing pain as I fluttered my eyelashes open. I panicked as I couldn't move my body. I looked down to see my arms and legs were bound to a wooden chair. I gathered from my surroundings that I was in some kind of warehouse, but I didn't recognize where.

"oh good, you're awake."

Dean came over crouching in front of me so we were eye level.

"let me go." I growled.

"can't do that angel." He said caressing my cheek.

I quickly moved my head away, causing his hand to fall.

"you don't want to provoke me." Dean growled.

"or what? you're going to kill me?"

Dean gave a sickly sweet smile. He leaned in close whispering in my ear.

"or you're going to wish you were dead."

"I'm not scared of you Dean." I snapped.

Dean lets out a chuckle, standing to his feet.

"I knew there was a reason I liked you so much, feisty little thing."

"why don't you let me out of these ropes and I'll show you just how feisty I can be."

Dean chuckled again, grabbing a bottle of whiskey taking a sip.

"I don't even know why I'm talking to you, this isn't even the real you." I scoffed.

"oh it's the real me alright, the new real me, the me who sees things for what they actually are."

I scoffed again rolling my eyes at his words.

"hunters, do-gooders, fighting the natural order, well let me tell you something sweetheart people like me, we are the natural order."

"yeah well people like me still gotta do what we can." I growled.

Dean smirked as he crouched back down to my eye level.

"oh don't be so full of yourself baby, cause you see from where I'm sitting, there ain't much difference from what I turned in to, to what you already are." Dean smirked.

"and what is that supposed to mean?" I growled.

Dean took one hand resting on my cheek, the other on the back of my neck so I couldn't move away from him again.

"I know what you did when you went looking for me, how far you went." Dean whispered, dangerously close to my face.

I felt the guilt sink back in.

I just kept telling myself I did what I had to in order to find Dean. I felt my breathing quicken as Dean came in closer, practically brushing his lips against mine.

"so let me ask you baby, which one of us is really the monster?"

I felt the tears brimming my lashes as Dean stared at me. Dean smirked as he stood back up.

"Now you and Sammy were trying to get a twenty on Crowley and me from any demon you could snag, but Crowley didn't want to be found, and no one showed when you summoned. But you my angel, you found your own way didn't you?"

I was ridden with guilt as I remembered how I tricked Lester in to summoning a demon to make a deal.

"You would've liked to have gotten there before the deal went down but you didn't really care about poor ol' Lester did you? Oh and just so you know, I uh killed Lester myself." Dean smirked as if it were funny.

"I never meant.." I started to choke out but Dean cut me off.

"who cares what you meant, that line that we thought was so clear between us and the things we hunted, ain't so clear is it?" Dean yelled.

I bit my lip to stop the tears from falling.

"wow, you know, you might actually be worse then me. I mean you took a guy at his lowest, used him, and it cost him his life and his soul, nice work baby." Dean said crouching back down.

I spit in his face, the anger I was feeling towards him boiling over. Dean angrily wiped his face off with the hem of his shirt.

"there's no point in trying to bring your best friend back now." Dean growled.

"oh I’ll bring him back, if it's the last thing I do." I growled.

"In fact, your uh guilt ridden, weight-of-the-world best friend, has been M.I.A. for quite some time now. I have to say though, I'm loving the new model, lean, mean, Dean."

I rolled my eyes turning my head away from him.

"I can't believe you're still trying! I mean, I couldn't wait to get away from you. I chose the king of hell over you! I guess I was just tired of having to coddle you, always having to yank your ass out of the fire. Do you ever stop to think that just your very existence sucks the life out of my life?" Dean said.

I could feel the tears run down my cheeks as he spoke.

"this isn't my best friend talking, he would never say those things." I spoke, more for my benefit than for his.

"you never had a best friend, just an excuse for wimping out, and guess what angel, I quit."

"no, you don't get to quit, we don't quit, okay you and me Dean we're bonded whether you like it or not, and this bond is all that we've got." I cried.

"well then we've got nothing." Dean smirked.

I looked down at the floor, praying that Sam had noticed I was gone. I was praying to Castiel to come find me. I knew if it came down to it, I couldn't kill Dean, even if it meant he'd kill me. I was praying for another solution.

I heard the door open and the sound of heeled footsteps against the floor.

"you brought us a play thing?"

I looked up to see a female, she wore black eyes similar to Deans.

"not us, mine." Dean growled at the girl who took a step closer to me.

"but I want to play too." she smirked coming over to me, brushing a piece of hair off my bare shoulder.

I shivered at her touch, trying to move away with what limited space I had.

"I said no." Dean growled.

I glanced up meeting Dean's eyes and for a second, just a second, I could see he wasn't totally gone.

"have you gone soft on us Winchester?"

"ha, not even, but you see that one's kind of a special project of mine, and I want to kill her myself." Dean smirked staring at me.

"okay, then I won't kill her."

As she said this, she shoved the chair back, causing me to hit my head on the concrete below. I grunted as the air was knocked out of my lungs.

"I'll just hurt her." she laughed.

"Dean please." I pleaded, struggling to breathe.

"Dean's gone." the woman whispered, running a hand through my hair.

"Dean I know you're in there. I'm begging you. I always rely on you because I know I can. Dean you're the most selfless person I know. I know that somewhere inside you still care. I know you don't want to hurt me Dean." I cried.

As I was putting on my show, I managed to wiggle one of my arms free. I reached around to grab my blade that was hidden in my belt loop, but I didn't feel anything.

"are you looking for this?" she smirked, inspecting the demon blade.

"go back to hell where you belong." I snapped.

"nice show, even almost had me fooled for a second." I heard her laugh.

She held the blade to my cheek. I could feel my breathing quicken as she ran the blade down my cheek towards my neck. She pressed in just enough to draw a small trickle of blood. I looked past her to try to reason with Dean again but I didn't see him.

I suddenly felt blood splatter on my face. It was coming from the woman's mouth as Dean plunged the first blade deeper in to her spine. I watched the life leave her eyes in an instant. Dean grunted as he ripped the blade out, her now lifeless body slumping over my own. He threw her body off of me, picking the chair back up.

He started to pace around the room as if he wasn’t sure what just happened.

"look what you made me do!" Dean yelled.

"Dean, let me go, and then I can help you." I whimpered weakly.

Dean glared at me, his eyes going black before flashing back to his normal green ones. Dean growled, opening the door to the room before slamming it shut leaving me alone.

I had to get out of here. I noticed my blade still on the ground, just a few feet from where I sat. If I can get to it, I can cut myself free.

I leaned over as far as I could, causing the chair to tip over sideways. I once again smacked my head on the concrete as I fell. I groaned at the impact but shook it off, using my free arm to pull myself closer to the knife. I reached out my arm, my fingers just barely grazing the handle.

"come on!" I exclaimed, trying to grip it again.

I finally managed to wrap my fingers around the handle of the blade. I breathed a momentary sigh of relief, cutting my other arm free from the ropes than cutting my ankles free. I stood up weakly looking for an exit. I took my sleeve, wiping the blood off my face.

I wasn't sure how much of it was hers, and how much of it was my own.

I finally saw a red exit sign. I mustered up all my strength sprinting over to it. I put my hand on the door, but suddenly stopped.

I couldn't leave him.

I wouldn't.

I was debating with myself when I heard a loud growl. Dean must've come back and noticed I was gone.

"you're coming home whether you like it or not." I whispered, running through the warehouse.

I could hear Dean walking after me, opening doors as he went. It was eery how calm he walked.

"come on baby, don't you want to hang out with me, spend a little quality time." Dean yelled.

I quieted my breathing as I found the keys to the electrical room. I moved quietly against the walls towards the room.

I heard Dean kick down some doors, growling every time I wasn't behind one of them. I managed to get to the electrical room. I fumbled with the keys trying to unlock the door.

"fuck" I muttered in frustration.

I finally got in, and immediately pulled every switch I could, killing the power.

"that's smart angel, but now I know where to find you." Dean growled as he rushed towards where I was.

I hid against the wall waiting for him. I heard him enter quietly, looking around for me.

"come on out angel, you're just making things worse for yourself." Dean growled.

I rushed over to the door, just as Dean threw the switches back, restarting the power.

"now this is me yanking your ass out of the fire." I spit slamming the door and locking him inside.

I heard Dean chuckle.

"this is your big plan, locking me in?"

"Dean, just please come with me and we can cure you." I said holding out my demon blade.

It was completely silent.

"Dean?"

I jumped in fright as Dean banged on the door, slowly splitting the wood.

"you act like I wanna be cured, personally I like the disease." Dean growled, using a hammer he found to break the door down.

"Dean stop! I don't want to use this blade on you!" I yelled holding it out further in front of my body.

"that sucks for you doesn't it angel, cause you really mean that." Dean smirked, hitting the door with the hammer again.

"Dean if you come out of that room, I won't have a choice." I whimpered, choking back tears.

"oh sure you will, and I know which one you'll make, isn't that right baby?" Dean growled smacking the door harder.

I knew the door wouldn't hold him much longer.

"I'm lucky though, cause there's just enough demon left in me that killing you, ain't gonna be a choice at all." Dean growled continuing to break the door down.

I felt the tears streaming down my face at this point. I could see the door giving way. I turned around sprinting away before it broke completely. I heard one last loud bang before the door gave way. Dean's heavy footsteps were once again behind me.

"come on angel, lets kiss and make up. I'm tired of playing let's finish this game." Dean growled.

I leaned against the wall taking a deep breath. I didn't have the strength to continue. I knew I was no match for him.

I glanced down the corridor where I thought Dean was coming from. I didn't see him though.

I turned around just in time to see a hammer flying towards my head. I ducked quickly, pushing my demon blade against Dean's throat. I could hear Dean chuckle as he looked at me, raising his hands in mock surrender.

"well, well look at you baby, go on do it." Dean growled leaning in to the knife.

I felt the tears cloud my vision as I slowly dropped the knife.

I couldn't kill him.

I watched as Dean's eyes went black. He gripped my throat throwing me against the wall before slamming me on the ground. I watched him take out the first blade, bringing it above his head.

"Dean I love you."

I closed my eyes, waiting for death to come.

But it didn't.

I opened my eyes to see Dean growling, as if he was fighting an inner battle with himself, a battle for his soul. I caught sight of Castiel sneaking up behind Dean, wrapping him in his arms. Dean growled, trying to get out of his grasp.

"Dean it's over." Cas said his eyes flashing their beautiful blue.

Dean collapsed in CastieI's arms, before I slapped the demon cuffs on him. I felt myself relax as I saw Sam rushing to my side.

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

"I'll meet you guys soon, just one thing left to do." I said holding the first blade in my hand.

"Be careful." Sam said placing a kiss on my forehead.

I gave him a nod, watching him get in the impala with Castiel and a still unconscious Dean. I sighed as they pulled away from me.

"you can stop hiding now." I called.

I saw Crowley emerge from the shadows, a smirk on his face as he eyed the blade.

"pleasure doing business with you." He spoke reaching his hand out.

I quickly pulled it out of his reach.

"what are you going to do with it?" I inquired.

"oh toss it in a volcano, leave it on the moon, i'll get creative." He laughed.

I hesitantly eyed him.

"believe me love, I don't want Dean getting his hands on the precious any more than you do. he knows I've ratted and he tends to hold a grudge....I don't want to get how you say boned."

I rolled my eyes at him.

"besides a deals a deal."

I huffed before handing the blade over to him.

"I hope you know this doesn't make us square, quite the opposite actually, I swear Crowley if I see you again.." I started but he cut me off.

"oh stop it love, no one likes a tease."

I glared at him one last time before hopping in the truck, starting the drive back to Kansas.

I felt like my head was going to explode from everything that had happened in such a short time. Dean's words replayed in my head on a continuous loop.

It wasn't him, I know that. It didn't make anything he said any less hurtful though.

It's never been you.

You see while you've been trying to find me, trying to save me, I've been fucking everything with a heartbeat.

Do you ever stop to think that just your very existence sucks the life out of my life?

I felt the tears cloud my vision, making the road harder to see. I pulled over to the side of the road and cried. I let out every emotion I'd been holding in.

I cried for Dean, I cried for what he went through. I cried for me. I cried for the strain that this was going to put on our relationship. I just cried.

I didn't know how long I'd been crying but I finally collected myself enough to start driving again. I knew that Sam and Castiel could handle Dean. I'm sure they were already back in Kansas, starting the purified blood cure on Dean.

I didn't even know if I was ready to face him again. I spilled my darkest secret to Dean, fearing that I would be dead and never having the chance to tell him.

Dean didn't kill me though.

He could have very easily, I didn't put up much of a fight.

But he didn't.

I was praying that maybe some part of him felt something for me too.

I managed to make the rest of the drive to Kansas. I pulled up to the bunker, hearing Dean growl as the demon was expelled from his body. I hesitantly walked over seeing him slumped over in a chair, much like I was hours ago. Sam injected another syringe of purified blood in to his arm.

"what the hell are we doing to him guys? I mean even after everything he said he didn't want to be cured, that he didn't want to be human." I spoke, feeling the tears that I was sure I had cried all out, start to rim my eyes once again.

"well, I can see his point, you know, only humans can feel real joy, but also such profound pain." Castiel said staring directly at me while talking about pain.

"I guess this is easier." Sam added.

I was about to respond when Dean groaned, trying to move. He raised his head, showing us his black eyes, before they returned to their shade of green.

Dean groaned hoarsely before exhaling a big breath. He looked at the three of us confused, as if everything was coming back to him.

"you look worried guys." Dean spoke up.

I could feel Dean's eyes stay on me. He stared at me intently. I just hoped I didn't look as broken as I felt.

Castiel, Sam, and I gave each other a look, all wondering the same thing. Was Dean back?

Sam uncapped the holy water throwing it on to Dean's face. I sighed with relief when he didn't have a reaction to it. Sam smiled at us. I was still a little apprehensive as was Castiel.

"Dean, we've missed you." Sam said.

Castiel and Sam unchained Dean, helping him to his feet. I felt like every word I wanted to say was stuck in my throat. Dean stared at me as the boys led him to his room. He was weak, the blood cure taking a lot out of him.

How was I even supposed to talk to him about this?

Castiel and Sam returned quickly after getting Dean settled.

"how's he doing?" I asked the boys.

"he's still a little out of it, but better. I mean I think the blood cure, all of it, it really wrecked him you know." Sam said giving me an apologetic look.

It was silent for a moment.

"on the plus side, he's hungry again so I'm going to go pick us up some food, you guys mind keeping an eye?" Sam added grabbing the keys to the impala.

I nodded my head as he walked out. Castiel was unnaturally quiet.

"what is it Cas?"

"one problem is solved, but one still remains. Dean is no longer a demon, that's true, but the mark of cain, that he still has, and sooner or later that's going to become an issue.”

I knew he was right, Castiel always was.

"one battle at a time Cas." I half smiled.

Castiel looked at me with a sad face. It was no use hiding my emotions from him because the angel always figured it out. Castiel stepped up, wrapping his arms around me in a hug. I felt a tear cascade down my cheek as I sunk in his embrace.

"I'm uh, going to get cleaned up." I whispered.

I felt every muscle in my body aching as I walked to the bathroom. I cringed when I saw my reflection in the mirror. I looked like hell.

I sported a hand shaped bruise around my throat, along with a cut from my knife. I had a gash on my head, and my face was still crimson colored from the blood. I could see various other bruises forming all over. I licked over my lip that was busted from being thrown against the wall by Dean.

I definitely looked as broken as I felt.

I sighed as I stepped in to the steady stream of water, the sound of the water slapping against my skin drowned out my sobs. I scrubbed my skin until it felt raw.

I got out wrapping the towel tightly around my body. I tiptoed past Deans room. I couldn't help my curiosity as I heard Dean and Castiel talking.

"thank you, for stepping in when you did... has uh she talked to you? what does she say, does she want anything to do with me?" Dean asked.

I could hear the hurt in his voice. It made me hurt more.

"I'm sure she knows whatever you said, whatever you did, that wasn't really you, I mean it certainly wasn't all of you." Castiel reassured.

"Cas, I tried to kill her. Did you see her? I did that! I can't take back the things I said Cas." Dean said.

"Dean I feel I can be honest with you. You two have been through so much together, you're bonded. It'll take a lot more than you trying to kill her with a hammer to get her to walk away." Castiel said.

"you realize how screwed up our lives are that, that even makes sense?" Dean says causing Cas to chuckle.

"I think you should talk to her, and then maybe you should uh take some time, allow both of you to heal."

I heard Castiel exit Dean's room, closing the door. He gave me a wordless look as he passed, signifying that his words were just as much meant for me as they were for Dean.

Castiel the wise.

Of course I couldn't walk away from Dean.

I sighed as I walked to my room, quickly throwing on some clothes. As soon as I lay in my soft bed, I realize how burnt out I was. I heard a soft knock on my door.

"yeah?" I called out hesitantly.

"it's me, the real me."

I felt the air get caught in my throat.

"come in."

Dean opened the door slowly. I could see the hurt flashing in his eyes at he looked at me. I sat up not meeting his eyes. Dean walked over, sitting on the edge of my bed.

"(y/n), I.."

"you don't have to apologize Dean, I know that wasn't you." I spoke.

"it doesn't make it any less shitty though." He said through gritted teeth.

"or hurt any less." I admitted.

Dean ran a hand through his hair in frustration. I could see that this was really hurting him.

"but you could've killed me, and you didn't, you saved me, you stopped yourself." I said finally meeting his eyes.

"I couldn't kill you. I feel for you too much, even as a demon." Dean whispered, hesitantly looking at me.

I felt my heart swell up at his words.

"what I said, it wasn't true." Dean said, sliding just a bit closer to my body.

"it's okay if part of it was, it's never been me and that's okay." I said feeling my heartache.

Dean looked at me as if I had three heads.

"never been you? It's always been you."

I felt the tears run down my cheeks as Dean put a hand up, caressing one of them.

"Dean I don't know how we move on from this." I cried.

"I don't know either, but we're going to do it, together, just like always."

I smiled at Dean for the first time.

"there's my Dean." I whispered.

Dean leaned in slowly, leaning his forehead against mine.

"did you mean what you said?" Dean asked hesitantly.

I gave him a confused look.

"that you love me, did you mean it?"

I swallowed nervously as I stared at him. I slowly nodded my head adverting my eyes from his gaze. Dean grabbed my chin, forcing me to look at him.

I gasped as Dean crashed his lips on to mine. I was shocked so naturally I was still. Once my brain processed what was happening I pressed my lips against his, kissing him as if my life depended on it. He pulled away slowly, keeping his forehead pressed to mine.

“I love you too, I always have.” Dean spoke.

I felt the tears well in my eyes again, but these tears were different. These weren’t tears of sadness, they were tears of pure love.

Dean smiled as he reconnected our lips together in a heated kiss. It was lustful, neither one of use being able to contain the passion we had felt for each other for far too long.

Dean slid his hands under my shirt, gripping on to my hips as he deepened the kiss. I was so caught up in the moment I ignored my muscles screaming at me to stop. Dean brought my shirt over my head, breaking the kiss just long enough to do so. I felt insecure as my bare chest was now exposed for him. I panted as he brought his lips down to my neck gently kissing over the bruise.

“I’m so sorry sweetheart.” Dean said in between kisses.

I grabbed the hem of his shirt taking it off. I saw the mark of cain glistening on his forearm. I brought his arm to my lips, slowly kissing over the mark. Dean pushed me back on the bed so he was hovering over me. I gasped as his hands slid there way down my body to my shorts.

It was slow and passionate. I felt like my skin was on fire every time his fingertips met my skin. Dean dragged my shorts down my legs, his fingers brushing against my sensitive heat.

I wasted no time putting my hands in his pants yanking them down over his butt and down his legs. I was surprised to feel that he was already fully erect.

“do you want this?” Dean asked kissing my lips.

“more than i’ve ever wanted anything.”

Dean, with my consent slowly slid himself in to me. I groaned as my body adjusted to his large girth. He started to move at a slow pace, savoring the feeling of finally being together so intimately.

“It’s always been you.” Dean said as he thrusted deeply.

I don’t think either of us had the energy for the sex we really wanted to have but this sex was sweet, and full of love. I moaned as Dean picked up the pace, but still savoring the feeling of every thrust inside of me. I brought my hips up matching his thrusts. I was a moaning mess as we thrusted against each other, our lips crashing with each thrust.

“Dean” I moaned signifying that I was close.

Dean thrusted some more, softly but at a steady rhythm. I moaned one last time as I felt myself spilling over the edge. I was gripping him so hard, it cause him to release his arousal too. Dean’s body gave out as he collapsed beside me.

“hey guys I got the… oh god really Dean?” Sam said dropping the bag of food and covering his eyes.

I laughed at him, joined by Dean.

“not even back twenty four hours and this is how you’re spending your time.” Sam groaned in embarrassment.

“blame Cas, he’s the one that told us we should talk.” Dean laughed.

Sam backed out of my room, shutting the door behind him. I gazed at Dean but found out he was already staring at me.

“I didn’t save you, you saved me.” Dean whispered tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

“I’ll always save you Dean.”

“Always?”

“Always.”

Author Note:

I really hope you guys like it! If you feel so inclined please leave a heart, comment, reblog or a follow! I appreciate it!

[jpitha]

Used to Humans

Lots of "HFY" and "Deathworlders" and "Humans are $Adjective" stories understandably talk about early days with humans in the galaxy. It's fun to think about how humans could be different from other sapient species and how the things that we do that are normal to us could be seen by others. Eventually though, everything gets explained and the galaxy moves on, right? What does it look like when everyone already knows about the wild things humans do.

****

Vic burst through the door into the lounge. "I've got it! If we can route the neutrino stream away fro-"

Resimar and Pel'im didn't look up from their card game. Many of the games humans brought into space are popular, but almost all pale in comparison to the humble deck of cards. The idea of pieces of laminated paper with numbers and symbols on them to play hundreds of different games was appealing across all sapient species in the galaxy. Resi and Pel were currently deep into a Pinochle tournament.

Without looking up at him, Pel'im says, "Nice work Vic, I'm sure it'll work great." He sighs and flicks his eyes up to Resi. "twenty five points." Resi makes a face, but flicks her ears, indicating agreement.

Vic looks at both of them, incredulous. "You don't want to know what I figured out?"

Resi puts down four cards. "Kings around."

Pel snorts. He takes a moment to move the cards in his hand to a slightly different orientation. He doesn't look up at Vic. "Vic. How long as humanity been in the Galaxy?"

"Uh, more than one hundred Earth years now?"

Pel nods. "Right. And in that time, how many planets did you destroy?"

Vic thinks for a moment and looks down at his pad. "On purpose, or by accident?"

"That's entirely his point, Vic!" Resi looks up at Vic while Pel fusses at his cards. "For the last hundred and something years, when something wild has happened in the galaxy, you go to the center and you find one or more humans, either cackling with laughter or covered in soot going 'I had no idea that was going to happen!' We're just used to it now." She frowns at the cards in her hand. "You usually clean up any messes you make, so go nuts, have fun. Tell us when it's over. Is this going to be like the 'Apple Pie' incident again?"

"Double Pinchole!" Pel throws down both jacks of diamonds and both queens of spades, triumphant "That's thirty points, and my win for this round.

Vic crosses his arms. "No, it won't be another Apple Pie. For one, I know more about your physiology, for two, HR has forbid me from the kitchen, and for three the captain says that it wasn't that big of a deal actually, and nobody was seriously hurt in the end."

Resi sighs and scoops up the cards, carefully arranging them and with her smaller than human hands very carefully shuffles them. Pel leans back and takes a sip of his tea, satisfied.

Vic stares at them, deflated. "Oh. Uh, okay then. I'll let you get back to your game. Who is winning?"

Resi snorts. "Pel currently, but the tournament is not over yet."

Pel leans back and makes a gesture like rolling their eyes. "It basically is."

Later that day, when the bulkhead doors slammed shut to prevent all the atmosphere from venting from the ten meter hole that appeared in the hull near Vic's workstation, Resimar wondered if she should have expressed more interest in what Vic was working on.

[inactivewattpadauthor]

Fujin x Reader (Semi-Lemon)

Warning: Includes Fujin eating you out. Nothing more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was about an hour until midnight, yet you were busy playing a middle school game that involved drinking with a certain handsome wind god that was supposed to be back at the sky temple.

Fujin.

"Never have I ever... 'accidentally' hit and enemy in the crotch with my weapon." You squinted as you read the hand-written card.

You then peeked at Fujin to see if he was going to take a shot to that one, in which, he actually does.

"I have done that on several occasions." He smirks, chuckling low.

You giggled before taking your shot down as well. "I won't lie to myself, I be doing it on purpose. Now you, on the other head, is it by accident or have you just been around Mr. Cage a lot?"

Fujin lets out a small laugh at your question. "Perhaps both. Now hand me a card."

You listened to the wind lord and handed him a new card without turning it over.

Fujin reads it quietly at first but then smirks and looks back at you.

"Never have I ever slept with a co-worker."

'Damn, I forgot I wrote that card.' You thought.

"I have done that." Fujin informed, before taking another shot.

"Really?! With who?" You were a bit shocked.

Fujin would give me a friendly wink. "You don't need to know that."

"Ughhhh, fineeeee." You pouted.

Fujin notices you didn't take a drink. He assumed you got a bit side tracked.

"Y/N, aren't you going to take a drink?" Fujin gestures to your next shot glass.

"Oh... I never slept with a co-worker." You admitted, hiding down the embarrassment.

"Are you lying?" Fujin teased.

"Fujin, please, I'm not lying!" You defensively cried out, being flustered.

"Alright, alright, I'll believe you. Next card."

You got myself together before pulling another card from the deck. "Never have I ever..."

You trailed off as your eyes widened at the new card. 'Was it really a good idea to read such a thing in front of a god? It seems more personal than the last. He didn't seem to have problems reading that one though.'

Fujin notices your blush and how you were hesitant on reading out the card. "Come on, don't be shy. What does the card say, Miss Y/N?"

"Never have I ever r-recieved oral." You said the last part out quietly, before covering your face with your hands.

Fujin raised an eyebrow at me before taking his numerous shot in a row and setting the glass down to focus on you.

"I... take it you haven't?" He tilted his head and asked our of curiosity.

"No. I never have." Your response was muffled by your hands.

The demigod would think for a moment before leaning towards you, gently taking your hands away from your face. His glowing, white eyes looked at you with kindness and perhaps something else. Maybe it must be all the shots he took.

And then he spoke...

"Well, my friend, I think it is time for a change, don't you?" How straightforward this man is... so hot.

"Come on, Fujin, don't play with me like that!" You chuckled nervously, beginning to sweat. "You've certainly had quite a lot to drink..."

Fujin chuckles softly. For a moment, he thought of what to say. You looked to the side, thinking about his proposal, if he was just playing around.

"Do you really think I'm playing with you?" He asked.

Again, nothing was said at first. Maybe he wasn't tricking me or joking around at all. You still had your suspensions.

"Well... I don't know! Would... you actually... like... eat me out?" You fiddled your fingers with each other and asked. You really wanted to know if he was being genuine.

Fujin gave you a smirk before leaning into your ear. "That isn't a question that should be answered by words."

Just like that, most of those nerves went straight down to your crotch.

You looked at Fujin and looked around for a bit, pondering on what to do or say. You got it together, though.

"My room is upstairs."

You stood up with little difficulty since you weren't entirely too drunk. Lord Fujin stood too, seemingly as if he didn't take like more shots than you.

He picked you up bridal style, proceeding to carry you upstairs and locating your room.

"How experienced are you?" You asked him, holding onto him.

"Enough to know what I'm doing." Fujin quickly responded with a smile.

After stepping into your room, he gently places you on your bed, placing his hands on your hips to pull you closer to him.

You only laid back with your lips slightly parted, separating your legs a little for him. You could feel that heat burning in your lower stomach from him. Your mind was drawing blank from it.

Fujin got on top of you, kissing the base on you neck softly. After lifting your shirt up to kiss between your chest and down to your stomach he looked back up at you. You felt a tug at the rim of your shorts.

"Are you ready?" He looked into your eyes for permission.

"Yes, please." You almost immediately consented, ready to just have a tongue in you for the first time.

Your shorts were then removed along with your panties underneath it, leaving you already exposed, and the cold air hitting your wet sensitive.

Now if your mind wasn't so clouded with the eagerness, you'd probably feel a lot more self-conscious, but you found yourself already placing a hand in Fujin's, white hair as his head was between your thighs, passionately kissing them before his mouth goes closer to the more precious spot.

By instinct, you bucked your hips slightly forward when Fujin softly kissed your lips, and no, I'm not talking about your mouth. You let out a gasp as another response to the kiss as well, placing your other hand onto his hair and tugging.

Your lord didn't keep you waiting. His hands held onto your inner thighs as he licked around your tight hole, soon enough, he stuck his tongue inside, driving you crazy.

"Mmm~ Lord Fujin! ...Please..." It was hard for you to even beg, and he just only began... but he found it arousing.

His tongue worked its magic in you, touching all the correct spots, making you tense up and breathe heavily.

At some point, you even removed a hand from his now messy hair and placed it over your mouth to muffle those noises you were making. Fujin looked up at you and chuckled, finding you adorable.

You felt that building pressure inside your belly, as it intensified, your grip on his hair tightened. Fujin would pay attention to this and pace his tongue faster and maybe sloppier, making sure to get as much of your arousal fluid onto his tongue as possible. His grip on your thighs also increased. He enjoyed your taste and the reaction he was getting from you.

It took a small amount of time for you to have an orgasm. You were trembling even afterwards. Fujin sat up from between your legs and licked his lips. He lays right next to you, you could see the warm blush he had on his face from what he just did for you. Gods, this man is too gorgeous to be real. Even if his hair was messy because of you.

He wrapped his arms around your resting body, pulling you close. "Was I good?" He asks.

You took a breath before responding. "Y-Your tongue was so amazing..."

"I am pleased to hear that, Y/N. I suppose you could take that shot now." Fujin joked with a wink.

I smiled at him, messing with his braid a bit. "When we play again, just remind me to take an extra shot. Also, I'll certainly add more new cards to the deck." There was a hint to that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: I don't know how to write a good ending so I'll just end it here-

I first wrote this on my phone, but the app was still flopping on me so I switched to pc, which is why majority of the oneshot is in italics.

And update on the Nightwolf x reader p2 lemon, it is no longer promised, clearly, bc I'm a liar, and I kinda now feel iffy on writing lemons. Character ai gave me the idea to write this, sooo (I had to change the pov from 1st to 2nd so many times, god.)

I hope you guys like this :)

[scekrex]

An idea? Did somebody just say they have an idea? Oh wait, that would be me! Hi, hello, love, me again, the little pretty devil on your shoulder that encourages you to sin, or rather, create ✨

Just Adam, reader and Lute playing UNO. You probably knew this was coming. It's basically them just playing it like that one video on Smii7y's channel where everybody basically just yells at each other. Honestly it would be so funny to read about them playing, the reader placing a card for Lute, a nice +4 (Fucking hate that bitch, the sole reason for my misery during that game), what he didn't think of was the possibility of Lute having another +4. She put it down on top of the reader's (They play by the rule where the +4 or +2 stack) and Adam just goes "I can't believe you've done this!" (Like the meme with the British dude in sunglasses getting punched in the face), reader laughing and mocking him with "Oh, I cAn'T bElIeVe YoU'vE dOnE tHiS!" with a British accent, but then Adam finds another +4 in his cards, places it down and looks at reader with a satisfactory smirk. When readers sees it he just goes "Fuck, I actually can't believe you've done this. You fuck" with an accusatory tone, realising he has to pick up 12 cards and just flips his cards like Steve Harvey sometimes does at stupid answer during Family Feud saying "Man, fuck this, I ain't playing with you no more! You best believe I'll get my revenge. No damn sex for you" while walking away, obviously directing it for Adam, but Lute just going "DISGUSTANG" and Adam just going "He was not speaking to you, bitch. Mind ya business. This one is mine, there's my life on the line😭". I just see the possibility of them playing UNO while bored in Heaven would be the funniest shit ever 😂 UNO destroys relationships, kids... AND emotionally damages you 😭

Nah bc they'd roast the living shit outta each other. Just imagine how they'd react when playing Mario Kart, they'd tear open each other's throats.

Tired Games

pairing: Adam x male!reader

warnings: language, crack fic comin' through whoop whoop

note: not beta read bc fuck you I don't have beta readers

All you had wanted was a chill evening with your husband and Lute, to relax and enjoy the day off. So you three sat on the floor of your and Adam's apartment, in front of you there was a stack of UNO cards. You had been playing for a couple hours by now and slowly all of you were losing your patience. UNO was one of the games that always ended in fights, either because Lute was convinced the ‘you can stack a +4 on a +4’ rule was entirely made up - she had once shown you a tweet from the company that said doing so was against the rules - or it was like today.

“Hurry up babes,” Adam poked you in the side which caused you to flinch away from his touch and bat his hand away, “Stop that you touch starved bitch.” You slapped a +4 onto the stack, offering Lute the most wicked grin you had in store, “Sucks to be you, bitch.” Lute however was having none of it, she returned the grin, equally wicked and pulled another +4 out of her deck.

The look the first man gave you was priceless, he looked truly betrayed while a bit of annoyance gleamed in his golden eyes, “I can't believe you've fucking done this.” You chuckled to yourself as you poked him back, a small giggle escaped you as he flinched away just like you had. “Oh, I can't believe you've fucking done this, go cry about it bitch,” you mocked him as you laid down. You were starting to get tired but you also wanted to finish the game. The problem was when you grew tired you also grew short tempered and so you knew it was only a matter of time until things would escalate. Still you continued as you put your head in Adam's lap. The brunette looked down on you and offered you a small smile, then his hand was in your hair and for a tiny moment your eyes fell shut as you embraced the warm touch your husband gave you.

The first man stayed silent for a long time as he went through his cards, clearly thinking hard about whether to play the card he had or not. “Hurry up, old man,” Lute grumbled and kicked his shin, that made Adam yelp in pain and scoot backwards a little - he made sure to move drag your body with him so that you could continue to use him as a pillow - to get away from the executor, “Geez, the fuck is wrong with you?” he complained as he played yet another +4 card. The smirk on his face was sweet, so sweet that you genuinely wanted to tear it off and throw it in the trash. You looked at the stack of cards, then up at Adam and back down at the cards. That meant you had to draw 12 godforsaken cards. Fucking 12.

“Fuck that,” you flipped your cards over in anger and pushed yourself up - away from Adam - so that you sat on the floor before you fully got up, “Fuck you,” you flipped Adam off before turning to Lute, “And fuck you too.” With crossed arms and in a shitty mood you walked over to the couch and wrapped your wings around your body in order to hide from the people sitting on the floor. “I ain't playing with you with you no more,” you grumbled quietly, then raised your voice a little so that Adam could hear your threat, “No fucking sex for you.”

Lute's face twisted in disgust and she wrinkled her nose at your words, “Disgusting.” Adam raised an eyebrow and side eyed her, not sure if she truly thought you had addressed to words to her or if she was playing, “Bitch, he was talking to me, this is my punishment, my fucking life's on the line here,” the first human soul in heaven whined and got up from the floor as well. “Don’t forget so is your dick,” Lute reminded the brunette who just groaned at that as he walked over to you. He carefully nudged the tips of your wings apart and really couldn't help the smile when he saw your pointing face. “Aw, c’mon babes, it's just a stupid fucking game,” he hummed as he kneeled down to be on eye level with you, his hands were resting on your knees which were pressed against your chest. “Fuck off, I said what I said,” you mumbled as you were avoiding eye contact. You knew too well that he could plead so prettily with them golden eyes of his, looking straight into them meant risking taking your words back and letting him win. He put a finger underneath your chin and tilted your head slightly, he basically forced you to look at him. All it took was one glance and you were done for, you simply knew you lost.

Your eyes must've given that away because Adam leaned in to give you a short yet soft kiss, “That’s a good boy.” You turned your face away, grumbling something about how he should watch his mouth. “You two done with your shit? Can we continue?” Lute interrupted and while you loved her like a sister, you would've loved to grab her by the wings and throw her out the window. You might save that for later though. You pushed yourself away from the soft fabric of the couch and right into Adam's arms, “Actually,” you mumbled as you wrapped your arms around his neck so that he could carry you, “I think I’m going to bed.” Tiredness had won you over once again but Lute understood, of course she did. “Feel free to crash on the couch, danger tits,” Adam offered the exorcist but she shook her head, “I’d rather not want to wake up to the sound of you two fucking again, thanks. One time was more than enough.” Adam shrugged, he thought that was fair. And while the two of them had that little conversation, you had already fallen asleep in Adam's arms.

[coridotmp3]

this song reminded me of you

aka the hangster playlist masterpost (and maybe some of the fics inspired by them)

i have an unhealthy love of character playlists so i wanted to make one semi-organized post to keep track of the hangster ones !! if you want me to add yours, send me an ask or a dm!! if i've posted yours without tagging you, let me know and i'll correct it! (i might make an icemav one too if y'all want)

hangman's direct hits -> glen powell is the biggest hangster shipper around so this counts and you'll never be able to tell me otherwise thank you

songs bradley would play to jake at the hard deck -> "b serenading j all over again" // @crooked-jes

b&j -> also by my love @crooked-jes :)

"hangman you look...good" -> "i'm feeling very normal about these two fighter pilots"

IWTBY -> the accompanying playlist for everyone's favorite hangster nfl fake dating au "i want to brainwash you into loving me forever" // @hangmanbradshaw

uh oh! you fell from your perch! -> do you wanna cry? yes? okay cool listen to this playlist while reading "as he falls from his perch" - you're welcome // @urmomsonfire

ok bagman -> another accompanying playlist !! this time for "the whole time, under the lights" by our favorite @/urmomsonfire

do friends fall in love? -> a fic for what will EVENTUALLY be a hangster when harry met sally au - i just have to finish writing it first :) // @/coridotmp3

hangman. you look...good -> "i am good, rooster. i'm very good || rivals to friends to lovers, found family, and an asshole that cares about his friends more than he let's on" // @miraculousmultifan

hangster ✈ -> "just some bradley rooster bradshaw and jake hangman seresin vibes" (this one is over 15 hours long <3)

summer hangster (top gun maverick) -> "you look good" // @hangsterwheel

all about that slow ride -> "hangman thinking about rooster" also by @/hangsterwheel <3

hangster (lovers to exes back to lovers) -> "actually its: lovers to eves to rivals to friends to lovers" // @keenmarvellover

fucking sereshaw i guess -> "this is going to destroy me i can just tell"

yang on yin -> "bradley about jake" // @/hangsterwheel

yin on yang -> "jake about bradley" // @/hangsterwheel

"let me go. and i'll let you" -> "the exes to fwb to lovers one" // @/coridotmp3

==

i'll keep adding more as i find them, but i figured this was a good start !!

[dumbistsmartass]

Every Hatchetfield song explained badly in ten words or less

spoilers and also this is only the main trilogy not nightmare time.

The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Yeah, he didn't like musicals

La Dee Dah Dah Day - "the dogs are my meal"

What Do You Want, Paul? - "please god have an I want song"

Cup of Roasted Coffee - If I had to sing working retail I'd kill someone

Cup of Poisoned Coffee - oh hey, they killed someone

Show Me Your Hands - this is what cops think 24/7

You Tied up My Heart - gaslight, gatekeep, girl bossing your way to mariticide

Join Us (And Die) - Guts Magee and Brainiac explain why you should KYS

Not Your Seed - "it's your fault your daughter is dead bitch"

Show Stoppin Number - He had a point but like no

America Is Great Again - you know what it's a joke about

Let Him Come - they know he's the main character

Let It Out - Is it an identify crisis or possession

Inevitable - a beautifully haunting ending

Tickle-Me Wiggly Jingle - what the actual fuck is this?

What Tim Wants - what can I say, it's sad

Califor.M.I.A. - they really want you to bond with these characters

What Do You Say? - everyone is too invested in these twos relationship

Our Doors Are Open - "shopping will fill the hole in your heart"

Feast Or Famine - this is real footage when the new iPhone comes out

Monsters and Men - He's fucking back!

Deck The Halls - we got a full working boys, we could get this

Take Me Back - I'll be real I skipped this one on rewatch

Adore Me - haunting when you don't say the shit part

Do You Want To Play? - a reversal of who you're told to trust

Made In America - we let him in via consumerism, amazing capitalism critique

Black Friday - me singing a musical as I'm being choked out

Monsters and Men (Reprise) - This guy is so cool

If I Fail You - "are we the baddies?"

Wiggle - Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle

What If Tomorrow Comes? - So she is seeing the other Hatchetfields right?

High School Is Killing Me - they really spoil the people who die first song huh?

Literal Monster - shove yourself in your locker

Cool As I Think I Am - you think you're cooler then you think you are

Dirty Girl - makes me genuinely uncomfortable, skip it

Bully The Bully - interesting plan, let's see how It plays out

Bury The Bully - oh... that got dark fast

Go Go Nighthawks! - everyone is happier now that this bitch is gone

Nerdy Prudes Must Die - to be fair, you did kill him

Hatchet Town - mass panic is so hip

Just For Once - we all though the light was gonna fall on her

If I Loved You - they are in so much denial

The Summoning - Wiggly want you to kill your crush

Cool As I Think I Am (Reprise) - really tragic, trying to convince the other to sacrifice them

The Best Of You - I'm so glad it didn't end with everyone dead again

Dirty Dudes Must Die - When you give a Christian a little dark magic

[zorosjuicymelonsx]

Finding You

A/N: Welcome to Chapter 7 ya'll!

I was torn between two gifs to use for this chapter (its getting harder to pick) but like can we please take a moment to admire Zoro in this gif? I just imagine he doing this when Y/N catches him staring and he's like 'oh shit act casual' 🤭💚 I loved writing this chapter so much, I really got in my feels and hope you guys enjoy reading it. I'll be back in two weeks with the next chapter. I need some extra time to catch up with planning and writing the next chapters 🥺✨

Chapter Seven Previous Next

Hours had passed since Zoro sent himself to train in the Crows Nest. His body cocooned with sweat and his arms began to numb as he swung his heavyweight barbell over his head for the thousandth time. He knew it was overkill but he didn’t know what to do with himself. In his head; you were just you with no mental attachments but he couldn’t understand the yearning ache he felt around you in his heart. He had remembered only one memory that he would never admit he replayed in his head often in the hopes other memories would spur to end the vicious war his mind and heart were playing with each other. 

Eventually Zoro forced himself to drop the heavyweight barbell. As the weight hit and he brought himself to sit, he grabbed the towel he had nearby to wipe off the excess sweat. Satisfied with the moisture to dried skin ratio, he closed his eye to clear his mind and zoned in on his breathing. 

“Focus.” He mumbled to himself in the hopes it would help. 

In the thick of the silence and his ongoing mental confusion, he did not anticipate that his mind would take him back to recapping the entire day he’d spent with you, flickering through the outfits you’d tried on and your smile on constant display throughout despite how sour it ended with the dirtbag at the bar. You had shone brightly in the dimness that was his mind. 

He opened up his eye to look down at his hands, bringing his attention to the hand that bruised your wrist. The guilt he felt then returned and twinged his heart.

“For fucks sake.” He spoke irritatedly, clenching his fists for a few seconds. He gave up on meditation as a whole and laid himself back on the floor in defeat letting his mind go into the mental tangent he’d fought so desperately not to have since leaving you on the deck. 

The words he spoke earlier were still bothering him. He had no clue where it had come from, having no recollection of prethinking the words before they came out. He couldn’t fathom what was going through your head after hearing him say the words. Remembering the surprised look on your face, he was appreciative that you tried to change the topic to keep him calm. 

‘I called her my wife.’ He thought over it. It was the first time he spoke the words and solidified it into existence. 

Is it possible that somewhere deep down inside he felt more for you than he could mentally wrap around his mind?

————————————- ⚔️✨ ————————————

Somewhere in the vast sea of the New World, a large dark ship hidden away sailed miles behind the Thousand Sunny undetected. The very capitain of the ship Enver who had invaded the Straw Hats sat in his captains quarters going over every plan he could think of to get closer to you and achieve his goal without compromising his plans or crew.

“We failed to capture her. I can’t seem to comprehend how we keep missing her at every chance.” Enver spat, his teeth gritted as he scrunched an old map he had in his hand out of anger. He hadn’t anticipated you would actually find the Pirate Hunter, the last few years he had spent tailing you and waiting for the right moment to make his move and reintroduce himself. 

“What do you want to do about Roronoa?” Enver’s first mate Jacob stood beside watching the demise on his captain's face. 

“I’ll admit that we underestimated just how strong the Straw Hats are. We need to lure her away from them to have a chance. Especially him. I don’t like how strong he’s become since the last time I met him.” Enver stood from his chair, moving away to glare out of the window in his quarters with his arms folded. 

“Would he regain any memory of her?” Jacob questioned. Enver sighed out frustrated at the small possibility but shook his head to disagree. 

“He has no memory of her whatsoever. I made sure to remove every trace of her from his mind during our fight in Shimotsuki.” Enver affirmed to himself. 

“It would’ve been easier to wipe hers completely rather than his.” Jacob mumbled out. This set off Enver. He turned and with a few quick strides grabbed Jacob by his shirt and slammed him against the wall nearest to them. 

“I’ve already explained this to you a hundred times: Roronoa was blocking my way when I had planned to wipe her memory after their wedding. I had to get rid of him to even stand a chance to get closer to her. Even then, she left to look for him.” Enver angrily spat out before releasing Jacob. He regained his composure knowing how easily riled up his captain can get. No matter how angry Enver became and took it out on him, Jacob owed Enver his life for saving him when he was poor and pathetic back home. He brought him back to life and purpose. He would do anything to ensure his captain's goals are met. 

“It won’t be easy but I can’t take much more of this. I need her.” Enver mumbled out, turning to look back through the window and live in his head of fantasies of everything he wanted to do to you.  ————————————- ⚔️✨ ————————————

The next week you could say was…weird. You noticed Zoro seemed a bit more observant with you. Whenever you were at the table in the galley with everyone for food or if you were training on deck, you could feel Zoro’s gaze on you. You’d be lying if you say you didn’t love the attention you were getting from him but at the same time you didn’t want to give yourself false hope that maybe he could feel the same way you do. You couldn’t explain the hug or the way he referred you as his wife in the bar. He had been sporadic in the past and when you did question him then he just gave a ‘felt like it’ reason. 

For that, you chose not to overthink it but you’d already spent an embarrassing amount of time questioning Zoro’s intentions despite drawing no conclusions from them. 

You were officially put on your first night watch. You’d arranged for pillows and blankets to be comfortably placed in the Crows Nest, courtesy of Sanji and Robin for helping you set it all up. Sanji had also made you an assortment of your favourite snacks with plenty of beverages to keep you full and satiated throughout the night. 

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay by yourself up here Y/N-chan?” Sanji asked with a hint of worry in his voice. 

“Of course Sanji, don’t worry.” You said assuringly as you patted his shoulder to comfort the cook. You would have considered it a sweet moment between the both of you but seeing Sanji lift up his blazer to sniff where you patted him definitely changed that for you. 

You waved bye to Robin and Sanji, settling into your warm furnishing whilst picking up a book you had ready to read. You were not used to the silence that settled in around you, finding comfort in having background noise but you were also appreciative of it from time to time. As you opened the book to begin reading the adventure book Robin had recommended to you, the sound of the hatch could be heard opening. On instinct, you frowned as you immediately dropped the book and reached for your sword only to see a head of green pop through. 

On realisation it was Zoro, you breathed a sigh of relief before you released your grip from the sword with a smile now etched on your face. Zoro had closed the hatch behind him, walking a few steps forward to stand in front of you whilst awkwardly observing your setup. 

“You look cosy.” Zoro mumbled.  

“Well well well, what brings you here Zoro? Surprised you found your way here.” You teased, smiling at him whilst he offered an eye roll. 

“The stupid cook kept whining about you being up here all alone and I couldn’t sleep so..” Zoro slurred the last few words out. Knowing the swordsman's sleeping habits made it hard to believe but you gave him the benefit of the doubt. 

Zoro won’t admit that he’s gotten used to sleeping next to you. He didn’t want to migrate back with the others, having gotten used to the sounds of your gentle breathing as opposed to the loud snores Luffy breathed out on a nightly basis. 

“Would you like to join me?” You offered as you lovingly patted the space next to you. Zoro looked at how comfortable you were under the blankets, nodding before untying his swords to place them next to yours and crawling to sit next to you. He sighed a breath of relief before digging in his sash and pulling out a bottle of sake. 

“Of course.” You mumbled out giggling before going to pick up your book and attempt to start reading it. 

A minute of silence passed and you’d expected to hear the sound of gulping but heard nothing. You looked up from the page to see Zoro staring at you intently, the unopened bottle still grasped firmly in his hand. 

“Does it bother you?” Zoro asked. 

“Does what bother me?” You asked, feeling confused by the nature of his question. 

“My drinking habits.” You let out a small ‘ah’ in understanding. You shook your head to disagree.

“Not at all, you’ve always been like this since the start. Wouldn’t change a thing. I’m sorry if I made you feel anyway.” You said with guilt laced in your voice. Zoro grunted before opening the bottle of sake and taking a few chugs from it. You returned to your book and you both sat in comfortable silence for some time. You managed to get through the first chapter of your book before bookmarking it and picking up your beverage to take a sip. With your thirst quenched, you put your drink back and turned to see Zoro’s eye closed and his breathing evened out. You knew he wasn’t sleeping and you decided to ask him the one question that's been nagging you since you arrived on the Sunny. 

“Can I ask what happened to your chest?” 

Zoro opened his eye to see you looking at him, your eyes beaming with curiosity. He forgot that you didn’t know what happened to him. 

“Challenged Mihawk.” He said in two simple words. Your eyes widened and you soon changed your seating position to now face him entirely, your smile widening. 

“You found him?!” You asked excitedly, taking your drink back in your hands to centre your excitement. 

“Y-yeah, how did you know? Did Robin tell you or?” He asked, confused. He hadn’t expected your reaction to be this animated. You laughed before taking another sip of your drink. 

“I mean we are married, duh of course I would know. You were always so excited to tell me how you would find him and challenge him to take his title. Plus, you promised Kuina afterall to be the world's greatest swordsman.” The mention of Kuina made Zoro’s eye widen with surprise. 

“Kuina?” 

You nodded before crossing your legs to sit more comfortably. 

“I was devastated when she passed away, everyone was. She was amazing and an example of how being a woman shouldn’t stop you from achieving your dreams. Heck, she’s even given me a lecture to grow a backbone.” You smiled, your voice was filled with both humour and sadness that she was taken away so early. 

You sighed, looking away from Zoro and down at your lap. You sighed before clearing your throat. 

“I wasn’t supposed to but after the funeral, I was walking through the dojo to get my bag when I heard your voice coming from the room you were in with Koshirou. Seeing you like that…I remember how sad it made me. You could tell you took it the hardest out of everyone and when I heard you say you wanted Kuina’s sword, I felt somewhat relieved it would be in good hands. I’m glad you’re treating Wado well. She would be proud of you.” You shyly confessed. You hadn’t told him this even before he lost his memory. 

Pain seared back into his head, Zoro closed his eye grunting as he captured his head with his palm leaning forward. He knew what this was and didn’t fight it. He welcomed the memory into his head despite the infuriating ache that came with it. 

‘The memory took place from a different perspective; he was himself as he was currently and stood somewhere as if he was in observation.

“Honey, what's that you’re holding behind you?” 

Hearing your voice, Zoro turned in the direction of where it was coming from to see you. 

You giggled as you approached Zoro who stood by a tree. He assumed it was the forest back home as he watched a younger version of himself walk to you with something wrapped behind his hands. He saw himself now stood in front of you and leaned to give you a quick peck before bringing the gift from behind him to offer it to you. 

He saw you beam while you perked an eyebrow before accepting his gift. You unwrapped it and saw a sword. He recognised the sword to be the same that you carry with you now. He saw you gasp and display the biggest grin on your face. 

“Please accept this. I wanted you to carry something from me to remind you that I’ll always be by your side.” He saw the smile bright on his face. He made a note that you both look younger, assuming this is a much older memory. 

“I love it, thank you.” You blushed before tiptoeing to kiss him. He felt himself blush seeing how he watched himself grab you to pull you in closer to deepen the kiss.’

…..

“Zoro???” 

He was shook out of the memory, the pain dulled down as he opened his eye to see the worry in your eyes. His eye wandered to the sword that you had propped next to you. It was in pristine condition and felt his heart swell with pride. He wasn’t ready to leave the memory, he wanted to see more. 

“Are you okay? What was that?” You questioned him, panic laced in your voice. 

“n-Nothing, I think it's for the sake. I drank it a bit too quickly.” He mumbled out. You felt some relief hearing this despite the fact you’d spent the last minute trying to call out for him. You only realised then it wasn’t the first time he’d shown this kind of pain and made you question whether you should disclose this to Chopper or not. 

“I hope you’re not mad about me listening to the conversation you had about Kuina’s sword. I’m sorry, I know it's not easy to talk about. I just held onto that for years and felt now was the right time to talk about it.” You rambled guiltily as you fidgeted with your drink in your hand. 

Being brought back to reality, Zoro hadn’t expected anyone to know about his breakdown with Koshirou. Being a child and losing someone who you looked up to would affect anyone. He didn’t know what to say or do other than grunt in acknowledgement, turning to look at Wado. The sword will always keep him grounded, reminding him of his shared dream with her. 

“It's fine, we were kids. You didn’t know better.” You looked at him before nodding to yourself. You then saw the sake bottle was still in his hand and you reached over to take it away from him. 

“Maybe lay off this for a bit.” You said before laughing and tucking the bottle behind you. For once, Zoro didn’t argue and willingly accepted letting you take it. 

Silence filled the room again as you leaned back and returned to your book. Unknowing to you, Zoro used the silence to process the memory as he looked across the room. He never remembered ever seeming so…happy. The way he smiled at you in the memory, there was so much life in it. The way you looked at him with so much care and content. Seeing the both of you together somehow began to make more sense to him. He recalled over the last few weeks how easy it was for him to just converse or sit in comfort with you. Your kindness, your will, your selflessness. It didn’t go unnoticed by him. 

Zoro turned to look at you to observe you, seeing your eyes sparkle as they glided across the page along with the words. His eye trailed down from the gentle slope of your nose to the suppleness of your lips as they slightly pouted out in concentration. He then took in your face as a whole and the way your hair sat to bring your whole beauty in together. He fought back a blush, allowing the tips of his ears to reddin. He’d previously acknowledged your looks but seeing you as you are now… 

‘You’re beautiful Y/N’ 

“Everything okay?” 

He didn’t notice you were staring at him puzzled. The swordsman feeling embarrassed he’d been caught staring harder than he anticipated nodded before looking away to stare at the wall. 

“How did you get your devil fruit powers?” Zoro asked, hoping to change the subject now looking down to his lap as he pinched at his haori. 

“You finally want to admit it's cool?” You joked. Zoro looked back up at you, smiling as he scoffed at your ridiculousness  before shaking his head at you. You hummed in acknowledgement of his question, taking your time to collect your thoughts before you told the story for the first time out loud. 

“I stole the fruit.” You admitted your second confession of the night. 

Now this made Zoro laugh out loud. 

“Now that I wasn’t expecting to ever hear from you.” He said as he stared at the growing redness of what seemed to be a mixture of embarrassment and shame. 

You’d never told anyone how you obtained your fruit, choosing to keep it to yourself in case the very people you robbed decided to go on a widespread manhunt for you. 

“What? You don’t think I’m capable of doing bad things?” You defended, knowing you didn’t look the type to steal. In all honesty, you wanted to live a life as honestly as possible. Unfortunately, the last few years had opened your eyes to accept that sometimes you had to be dishonest to survive. 

“Alright, I'm invested now; why’d ya steal it?” Zoro continued encouraging you. 

You placed your drink down, wiping your hand from the moisture that collected from it on the comforter. You leaned to lay back down, your head sinking into the pillow before sighing out and looking at the ceiling. 

“After you disappeared and I made the decision to travel out and find you, the biggest con was the travel was taking too much time. Not a lot of ships as you know come to the village and finding my way around islands became a chore. A few months into my journey, I was in a bar resting and planning the next place to go to look for you when I overheard a couple guys on my right bragging about a devil fruit they stole from a group of pirates. They spoke about the fruit and how it was rumoured to give the user the ability to travel through holes to go to different places at your will or by chance. I was intrigued and desperate.

I made the choice to take a risk and steal it for myself. I followed them to where they were staying and thankfully they were so drunk and passed out once they got to their own ship. I snuck onboard and looked around for it. It was really hard to see since it was dark but I eventually managed to find a box that stuck out like a sore thumb and when I opened it; I saw the fruit. 

I knew that there was no guarantee it was the right fruit and I would lose my ability to swim but if it meant I got this advantage then so be it. I ate the fruit, bare in mind it was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever eaten in my life.” 

This made Zoro laugh again. You smiled before continuing. 

“I ate every last bit of that fruit. I managed to leave the ship without being detected and decided to flee the island itself just in case anyone else may have seen me sneaking on the ship to begin with. I chose to travel to a quieter island, one where there weren't a lot of people and where I could have some privacy to practise using the fruit. The fear of just being on the boat knowing one wrong move and I’d drown is scary as hell. I wasn’t ready to die just yet. 

I spent a LOT of time practising how to use my new abilities. It was a huge challenge and it took me about a year to summon just my first hole. The first island I travelled with my new abilities I unfortunately ended up being on an island with cannibals. They really tested my stamina. I was forced to use my ability again to travel back and because of that I found out the consequence of using the holes more than once in a day. I ended up spending three days barely conscious and recuperating completely alone. I don’t even want to get into the time I landed on Marijouse Island and was almost sold into slavery.” 

“I hate that place, some guy didn’t want to admit he wanted directions and had the audacity to point a gun at me.” Zoro mumbled out bitterly. 

“I mean look where I am now. It was worth it.” You said brightly to lighten the mood. 

“Did you have doubts you’d never find me?” Zoro questioned. 

“I did at one point. It was about two years into travelling when I had second thoughts. I was exhausted. I was running low on money, my father refused to help me. Lily had started her life with her new husband and children and I couldn’t bare the thought of burdening her. 

I didn’t give up because I knew that I would spend the rest of my life thinking about how much I would regret not getting any closure from you. I couldn’t bear the thought of starting another life with someone else. I couldn’t get over you and I don’t think I could love anyone as much as I love you. I respect you for having your ambitions and I had planned to stay by your side as you worked towards becoming the world's greatest swordsman. If I had to sacrifice myself to make sure you continue and achieve that, I would do it in a heartbeat.”

Zoro was stunned in silence as he stared at you. 

“Well that was a lot, haha.” You breathed out feeling somewhat lighter. 

“i-I don’t know what to say other than I’m sorry.” Zoro mumbled.

“Why are you sorry?” 

Zoro was silent, gathering his thoughts together before answering. 

“Don’t you feel you wasted the last few years just because of me?” Zoro looked at you intently. You looked back harder, your mouth thinning at his question. 

‘Was he trying to make you feel that you wasted your time over him?’ You thought to yourself.

“Zoro, I want you to listen and listen well. If I had to go through all of it again, I would do it. I don’t regret anything I did if it meant I could be here now.” You grinned. 

Zoro's heart became erratic. 

‘There it was again, his heartbeat.’

Ba dum, ba dum, ba dum. 

‘Why?’

Ba dum, ba dum, ba dum.

The longer you both held each other's gaze, the faster his heartbeat became.

Zoro concluded that his heart reacted because of you. 

Ba dum, ba dum, ba dum.

The ache he felt to be close to you and protect you till his last breath. He felt the gentle rising and falling of your steady breath as you both sat so close to each other. 

Ba dum, ba dum, ba dum. 

How your eyes were so gentle and full of hope. 

Ba dum, ba dum, ba dum. 

How your skin was so soft whenever you’d held his hand. 

‘Is this what love feels like? Is this it?’

And it was.

At that moment, Roronoa Zoro had accepted that he was in love with you. Despite struggling to mentally understand his feelings, he decided that his heart had won the war.

————————————- ⚔️✨ ————————————

A/N: God I am a sap for romance, writing the last line made my heart go BA DUM BA DUM BA DUM 😭❤️

[sourlemonsprout]

gn!reader x Alphonse

Word Count: 1,078 (This piece briefly references the "Summer Eve w/ Your Pastel Punk Boyfriend" vid from like 4yrs ago.)

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

"Music?" Al cocked his head slightly.

"Yeah! Remember when we got ice cream the other week? At the beach, you said if I was interested we could hang out sometime. Your suggestion of lying around and listening to music actually sounded really nice. That is if you're cool with that?" you said, your eyes scanning around the store, lightly bitting at the corner of your bottom lip.

oh-

"Uh yeah, yeah! That would be cool. I close up shop in a little over an hour. Is that alright?" He asked, a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.

"Sure thing! I'll come back then!" You said, waving as you headed out the door.

fuck they're cute

The shop had been a wasteland the rest of the day, so Alphonse eventually decided to close the shop a little early. The second the doors were locked and lights were out, he scrambled to clean his apartment. The clothes on the bedroom floor got kicked into the closet. The dishes beside the kitchen sink were cleaned in record time. Just before he heard a knocking at the shop's doors, he was able to tidy up the living room area. Taking a deep breath, Al ran his hand through his hair and glanced around the apartment one last time before answering the door.

"Hey there, come on in," he motioned inside.

"Again, feel free to grab anything you'd like from the shop," he said, locking the door once again behind him.

"Thanks, my day was kinda shitty, so I appreciate this," you admit. As you pass the rows of shelves stocked with delicious sweet treats, you snatch a KitKat from a basket as you walk beside Al to the back door.

"Oh, sorry to hear that. Did you wanna talk about it…?" He offered.

"Nah, it's not that serious. I just wanna chill and forget about it," you say, chomping directly into the top of the KitKat bar, which makes Al chuckle and admittedly cringe a little. You pause for a moment once you've reached the vaguely familiar living quarters you visited once before. Absentmindedly, you chew at your lip, taking in the apartment properly this time. Alphonse briefly looked around the room before his eyes landed on you. He can't help but feel a flush of heat rise to his cheeks as he watches you bite your lip innocently. As nonchalantly as possible, Al ducked behind you and made his way over to the kitchen. Now out of sight, a deep breath to regain his composure.

"Make yourself comfortable! I'm gonna grab some water. You want anything to drink?" he called out.

"I'm alright, thanks!" you call back, oblivious to Al's fluster. You wander over to the living room and sit in front of the couch on the carpet with one leg up and the other crossed underneath. You watch Al enter the room carrying a deck of cards, a baby blue speaker, and a glass of water. Upon reaching you, he places the water down on a little coffee table and hands you the speaker to which you're making little grabby hands.

"I thought it'd be fun to have something to do while we listen to music." Al gestured to the cards in his hand. As you eagerly queue up a list of songs, Alphonse begins to shuffle the deck of cards.

"So what games do we know how to play?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Crazy Eights, Slap Jack, Rummy, Black Jack, uhh… Go Fish?" he reeled off.

"Ooo, it's been a minute since I've played any card game," you pondered your options for a moment.

"Let's start out with Crazy Eights, I definitely know that one!" you decide. Alphonse deals out seven cards each, his head nodding in beat with the song pouring out of the speaker.

The first few turns passed slowly as you both sorted your cards and got into the rhythm of the game. Alphonse found it silly how much strategy you were trying to implement in a game he believed to be mostly chance. After several rounds of skill, luck, and shit-talking, you were both tied.

"We need a tiebreaker," you declare, reaching for the deck of unorganized cards.

Al sarcastically said, "Obviously, the town would be devastated if we didn't determine which of us is the Crazy Eight's champion," rolling his eyes with a grin. Thus began an intense game (mainly for you) for the crown and title of official Crazy Eights champion.

Rolling the bottom of your lip under your teeth, you surveyed your cards intently, plotting your next move as if money were on the line. Alphonse smiled softly as he watched you concentrate. His heart flutters at the way you nibble at your lips, causing them to swell and redden. Your expression delates with defeat and your eyebrows furrow as you realize you have to pick up cards from the draw pile. A warm bubbly feeling swells in Al's chest, and suddenly, he wanted nothing more than to lean across the table and kiss yo-

"AH HA!" You shout triumphantly, making Al jump slightly at the sudden outburst as you proudly display an eight or spades.

"I call clubs babyyyy," you declare smugly, knowing damn well Al didn't have a single club card in his hand. Alphonse chuckled as you slid the entire draw deck towards his side of the table.

"You're something else, you know that?" he shook his head, drawing his seventh card.

As the night wore on, you and Alphonse continued to play card games and listen to music, occasionally pausing to chat about life and share stories. Any tension or fluster Al once felt had melted into a comfortable ease, it felt lovely to open up to someone like this again. As the clock struck midnight, you both decided it was time to call it quits.

"Thanks for tonight, Alphonse. I had a lot of fun," you said, standing up from the floor to stretch.

"I did too. We should do this again sometime," he replied, walking you to the door.

"Goodnight," he whispered, his eyes meeting yours.

"Goodnight," you replied, feeling a warmth spread through your body.

As you walked home under the beautiful night sky, you couldn't wipe the smile from your face. Maybe there was something there between you and Alphonse, something worth exploring. Only time would tell, but for now, you were content basking in the glow of a wonderful evening.

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The End!

Thanks again @sleeplessdreamer14 for the req/idea! <3

I'm not exactly sure why this is the story route I went down, but I must really want to play a card game or something considering this is the second piece I've written where card games are involved lol.

[mads-weasley]

Hold My Hand: Part One

Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw x Wife!Pilot!Reader

Masterlist

| Part Two | Part Three | Part Four |

A/N: I saw Top Gun: Maverick, and the only thing I can say is that my mind is completely blown. WOW. I don't know if I've seen a better movie, and that's saying something. Also, MILES TELLER WITH A MUSTACHE, WHO WOULD'VE THOUGHT, AM I RIGHT? Anyways, this fic was born out of my instant obsession with Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw. I do not own any of these characters except (y/n). Enjoy!

Summary: (Y/n) and Bradley share their last night before the mission together...

Warnings: mentions of death, extreme sadness, slight fluff, idk?

(y/h/c) - your hair color

(y/e/c) - your eye color

italics - flashbacks

"hen" - your callsign

Tomorrow is the day. The day of the mission. The day they could lose everything. As (y/n) and Bradley walked out of the base to their car, silence filled the air. Normally, the couple would rarely shut up while around the other, but they knew the risks involved with the upcoming mission. The life they had built together was now in jeopardy.

Bradley gently intertwined his hand with (Y/n)'s over the middle console of his truck, knowing she needed something to pull her from her thoughts. After being married for two years, he knew how to get her out of her own head.

"Hey, babe, what do you want for dinner? You can choose and I won't even complain," he said with a smirk, turning to look at her briefly.

A small smile of her own painted her face, making his heart flutter. After all the years they'd spent together, she never failed to give him butterflies.

"No complaining?" she laughed, "I'll believe that when I see it, rooster."

His hand flew to his chest, feigning offense, "I promise you, Mrs. Bradshaw. On my pilot's honor."

"Sure, sure."

"What are we having, though? Cause I'm starving."

(Y/n) rolled her eyes as they pulled into their driveway. "You'll just have to wait and see."

With a small whine, he turned to see her getting out of the truck.

"(Y/n/n), come on. I'm serious."

"So am I," she whispered, leaning into the window before entering the house with a smile.

Watching her figure disappear into the house, he couldn't help but think back to the first time he saw her.

Four Years Ago

Walking into The Hard Deck for the first time, Bradley felt nostalgia wash over him. Memories of his dad played in his mind as he walked up to the bar. Wearing his signature Hawaiian shirt and aviators, he almost looked like a tourist.

"Did you lose your tour guide?" a voice said on his right.

He spun towards the voice. "Actually, I'm a-"

When he saw who the voice belonged to, the words got lost in his throat. A (y/h/c) girl in a beachy tank top and shorts, wearing some aviators of her own stood before him with a smirk on her face.

"You alright there, buddy? Cat got your tongue?" She laughed.

"Yes ma'am," he grinned, "It's just- well, you look like a tourist yourself."

A loud laugh escaped her mouth as she stuck her hand out. "(Y/n) (y/l/n)."

"Bradley Bradshaw, but everybody calls me ro-" he started but was interrupted by a shriek of joy calling his new friend's name. Glancing over her shoulder, her eyes lit up at the sight of her old friend. Smiling even wider, she looked over to him, "I'll see you around, Bradshaw."

"See ya."

Watching her figure disappear into the crowd, he ran a hand down his face. 'Oh, I'm in trouble.' He whispered to himself.

The Next Day

"Recruits. Welcome to Top Gun. If you made it here, you're the best of the best. Here, you'll be tested to your limits and shown what you are truly capable of as pilots."

(Y/n) was seated at the back of the small room as the Captain gave them the rundown of the program. Looking around, she could almost smell the testosterone in the air. She was one of two female pilots in the class, so she knew what to expect. What she didn't expect, though, was the handsome mustache guy from the bar to be sitting a few rows in front of her. Things started to make sense in her mind as she connected his slight ego with being a hotshot pilot.

Since their encounter, she couldn't get his stupid smirk out of her mind. She had never been the kind to get caught up on a guy, but something about him intrigued her. 'You can't get distracted,' she told herself and focused back on the Captain's speech.

She sighed in relief, realizing he hadn't seen her at the end of the briefing. As soon as they were dismissed, she bolted out of the room, not staying to talk to anyone.

Walking out of the briefing room, Bradley saw a familiar head of (y/h/c) rush around the corner. He could've sworn it was the girl he met last night, but what were the chances she was here for Top Gun too?

Leaning over to the recruit next to him, callsign "Payback," he asked, "Who's the (y/h/c) who dipped before everyone else?"

He looked around. "It was probably Hen."

"Hen?" Rooster asked incredulously.

"Yeah. It's her callsign. I don't know her personally, but all I know is that she's the best of the best."

Chuckling, Bradley laughed at the chance he had a crush on a girl with the callsign "Hen."

Later that day, the class met up at The Hard Deck. The second Hen walked in, Bradshaw pushed off the wall he had been leaning on, intercepting her at the pool table.

"Hey there, Hen." He smiled cockily.

She returned the smile, "It's Rooster, right Your callsign?"

"Yes ma'am. Rooster and Hen. Isn't that somethin?"

Payback overheard the conversation, laughing loudly. "You know what that means! You two have to get together now!"

With a playful scowl, she turned towards him. "Remember, I can easily shoot you out of the sky, Fitch."

"Very funny, Hen. I can do the same."

Rooster joined the conversation with a laugh. "Can you, though? I've heard she's the best of the best."

Payback's face falls. "Damn it, Rooster."

Gently putting his hand on the small of her back, Bradley ushered them towards the bar, getting two drinks for them. Little did he know, his touch had sent goosebumps across her body.

"So, why Hen?" He asked, looking down into her (y/e/c) eyes.

She raised her eyebrows, taking a sip of beer. "Well, I grew up on a farm, and it was my childhood nickname, so it just stuck. Why Rooster?"

Something flashed in his eyes at the question, but she couldn't decipher what. "My dad was a Navy pilot too. His callsign was Goose. He died in combat when I was really young. I guess Rooster is pretty close to Goose."

"I think it's pretty darn close."

He chuckled slightly. "Look at us. We're practically half a barnyard between the two of us."

Laughter filled the space between them. When it faded out, they were merely a few inches apart, eyes meeting expectantly. The tension in the air could be cut with a knife as both started to lean in slowly. Just as their lips were about to meet, Penny rang the bell behind the counter causing cheers erupting around them. Pulling apart, Rooster smiled, closing his eyes and letting out a huff of air. Opening them, he saw (y/n) was doing the same.

Present Day

(Y/n) was cooking with her AirPods in, so she didn't hear Bradley sneak up on her. He wrapped his arms around her from behind, making her jump slightly. Pausing her music, she peered up at him.

"Bradley Bradshaw! Don't you scare me like that!" She scolded him with a smirk.

Kissing her on the temple, he whispered in her ear. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I just wanted to hold ya."

Her smile faded. "We need to talk about it. I can't just act like it's not happening."

"I know."

Sighing, he softly grabbed her hand and led her into their bedroom. He sat against the headboard, tucking her close into his side.

"I'm scared, Brad," she sniffed, wiping a few stray tears that streaked down her cheeks.

"Me too." he paused, trying to keep his composure. "I'm not scared of dying. I'm scared of losing you. You're my whole life and I know I couldn't live without you."

The quiver in his voice didn't go unnoticed. She cupped his cheeks gently. "You know I feel the same way. There's no Rooster without his Hen, huh?"

A small smile graced his lips as tears spilled over his waterline. "I love you more than anything, Hen."

"I love you more, Roost."

The couple embraced tightly, sobs escaping both of them. The family they might never start flashed in his mind. The birthday parties and family vacations they might not have.

After a while, they pulled apart, eyes red and puffy, (y/n) breaking the silence. "We're going to make it through this, but if something goes wrong and I don't, I-"

"No. Don't. Don't say that." he pleaded.

The tears made their appearance once again. "I-if something happens to me," he shook his head, refusing to listen to her confession. "I left a letter in the glove compartment of your truck...I pray you never have to open it, but just in case, I wanted you to know."

"You're going to be okay. I'll make sure of it."

"Can you just hold me? I just want to stay right here, right now with you."

Smiling tearfully, he rubbed his hand down her arm. "Always."

She leaned up and kissed him softly, snuggling into his side as he wrapped his arms around her, bringing them as close as possible. Within minutes, (y/n) had fallen asleep on Bradley's chest. He leaned down and kissed her temple.

"I love you, Hen. Goodnight, sweetheart. We're going to be okay."

Part Two

[italeean]

Beetle fight? I meant tickle fight!!

Itto finds Gorou on his own after the TCG Tournament, and he can't accept that someone is getting bored during such a cheerful day

A/N: Hiiii sorry for the delay with this request... è stata una settimana lunga e impegnativa (it's been a long and busy week) 😅 This was my first time writing for this pair, and it was one of my favorites too 😻 A big thanks to @lokiisiconic for requesting it!! Un bacio!! (Kiss!!) 💚🤍❤️

WARNING: This is a tickle fic, if it's not to your taste I don't suggest you read it

"...I'll go play with Gorou. It's been a while since we last met... has anyone seen him?" Yae's words were the signal for Gorou to sneak away from his hiding spot and get away as fast and as far as possible. He was Kokomi's right arm, he had led his soldiers in battle during the civil war against the Shogunate, he had built a name for himself... but facing Yae Miko was beyond his capabilities.

He ran at top speed until he reached the harbor of Ritou and sat there on his own, watching the people come and go for the most different reasons. Business, sightseeing, diplomacy... everyone had their own story and Gorou couldn't help but be curious about the bustling environment he was in, especially after the TCG Tournament. Speaking of which, he had to talk to the Traveler for an update about the thief they were trying to catch...

"Heyo dog boy!! How're ya doing?"

Well... the general's stream of thoughts got abruptly interrupted by a familiar voice. Itto was approaching him with long and rapid steps and his usual cheerful expression. "My gang told me that your boss beat the Fox Lady in the final, congrats!"

Gorou scratched the back of his head, a little embarrassed by the attention that the loud Oni was catching, "Hehe yeah... Her Excellency is extremely smart and has studied countless strategy books so I thought she had her chances, although Lady Guuji is..." he gulped at the thought of Yae Miko "...a valid opponent..."

"Oh yeah... this tournament was full of geniuses!! I didn't even pass the qualifications..." Itto chuckled "but why are you here? Aren't you gonna visit Narukami Island or celebrate with your boss?" The general hesitated a little before replying, he was sure that Kokomi was having a nice chat and maybe a cup of tea with Miko. "Well... she's busy with a friend... and I wanted to get away from the confusion of the city..."

The taller guy grinned and pulled out his deck, "Since we're together, we could find somewhere quieter and play a few matches!! What do you say?" The Inu accepted the challenge and, after they reached a secluded place under a cliff on the seashore, the match began... and ended surprisingly quickly, and so did the following, and the one after that...

"How's it possible that I'm losing with Shinobu's deck?!!" the leader of the Arataki Gang huffed. Gorou chuckled, "Well... I'd use the cards more, if I were you... and I'd think of a rotation to optimize elemental reactions." he suggested.

"Hey hey hey!! You're smart, aren't ya?" Itto tried to give a headpat to his friend, but while doing so, his hand brushed on the general's ear, which resulted in a startled noise and a chocked giggle coming from the latter.

"Oh yeah... I forgot how ticklish you are..." Itto snickered, but an evil thought suddenly took over his mind. "Actually... I think it's time for us to try a new game. What about a beetle fight?"

Gorou sighed at the thought of having a beetle fight and said "Ummm... sure, let me go grab an Onikabuto. I'll be back qui- WAH!!" When he got up and turned around, the Oni jumped on him and tackled him to the ground, while his hands wasted no time and immediately found his tummy.

"HaaaehEHEhehe whahAHat ahareHEHE yohohou dohOHOHOing?!" the poor Inu started squirming and laughed uncontrollably as his tummy was targeted by ten fingers with evil long nails. "IHIhihi thohOHOught wehe wereheHE gonnAHAHa havehehe aha beeHEHEhetle fihIHIhight..!" He whined between his cackles and squeals.

"Oh? Did I say beetle fight? I meant tickle fight... hehe" Itto smirked, clearly knowing what he was doing, "I'm sure it's the same for you, right?" "AhaHAHAbsoluhutely nahaHAhahat!!" the shorter boy squeaked while he tried to get away.

After realizing it was pointless, he decided to be bold and dare to counterattack. His right hand shot up and tried to reach his friend side... but it only met the Oni's bigger hand. And Itto's smirk was almost ominous.

"You're in trouble now~"

The taller guy pinned Gorou's right arm above his head and wiggled a single finger above the underarm, enjoying the distressed giggles of his friend, who was completely at his mercy and was clearly feeling the anticipation.

"JUST DO IT ALREADY!!" Itto got almost startled by that almost exasperated request. He knew that the anticipation was getting to him, but he had no idea it was this bad! "Oh well... if you insist..." five nimble fingers quickly descended on the Inu's underarm, causing a screech, high-pitched laughter and futile attempts to get away.

"Ohoho? Trying to get away from Arataki Numero Uno Itto?" Gorou's fight was so weakened by all the laughter that the bigger guy didn't even try to pin him harder. It just wasn't necessary. "That's impossible, no one gets away from me!! I'm too strong for tha- OUCH!!"

The little general managed to hit the strong Oni's back with his knee, making him almost fall. Keyword: almost.

"Oh now you did it." Itto quickly regained his balance and turned around to face his feet. "You still got some fight in you, huh? I shall go for the grand finale then!!" he exclaimed while taking off Gorou's shoes.

"No!! Nononono Itto not tha- WAAAAHHAHAHAHAHA IHIHITTO WAHAHAHAIT!! PLEHEAHAHAHSE NOHOHOHOHO!!" The poor Gorou had no choice but succumb to laughter when his friend targeted his toe beans with quick scribbles, sneaky pokes and even light traces.

"Oh no... nope nope nope... you had the audacity to hit me and now you'll have to face the consequences!!" Itto exclaimed playfully as he kept tickling that spot mercilessly. "So squishy... I could do this all day. Your beans are soft like dango!!" Even if it was meant to be a compliment, that sentence flustered the Inu even more. "I CAHAHAN'T!! CHAHANGE SPOHOHOTS!!" he begged.

However, this time Itto didn't listen to him. On the contrary, he made sure to tease every inch of that squishy patch of skin, even getting the little beans of the toes and targeting the skin between them as well.

After five minutes, Gorou's face was red and stained with tears, but his wagging tail was a signal that he was actually enjoying himself. But at a certain point, he reached his limit.

"PLEHEAHAHAHSE STAHAHAHAHAHAP IHIHIT!!"

Hearing that, Itto immediately stopped and got up to give his friend room to breathe deeply and welcome plenty of oxygen into his lungs. "Are you okay? How're ya feeling? Did I get you a little too good?" he had a Cheshire Cat-like smug smile, but he was also ready to help the smaller boy if necessary.

"I'm... I'm fine... yohou got me good, yeah..." Gorou chuckled. "Sooo..." the red-eyed guy asked expectantly, "who won this tickle fight?" The general rolled his eyes "You..." "Exactly!! You have no chance again Arataki Numero Uno Itto!!" He boasted proudly. "Yeah... maybe next time you won't need a false start to win..." the Inu said in a sassy tone, but he regretted it right after.

"Excuse me?? I didn't use a false start, it was a brilliant strategy! You know what? Now you really did it, get ready for round two!!"

"No- nonononono Itto we... we can talk about this..! Itto please-"

Too late, the Oni's evil fingers went straight for Gorou's ears, focusing around the ultra-sensitive tips.

"WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAIT!!!"

[yostresswritinggirl]

TCG - Chase The Mirage

pairing -> Cyno x Adventurer!Reader x Tighnari; poly

word count -> 1.7k+ words

themes -> fluff, established relationship, scenarios and headcanons, lots of card game terminologies

(masterlist) (previous) The two Kings of Invokations, infatuated and hooked to a simple adventurer from the Adventurer’s Guild. Thankfully, in this universe, there is no need to duel each other for your heart.

"What a peculiar move, especially this far in the game already." Looking up from the light novel you picked up from Inazuma in your last trip, you shift your attention to the playing field before you.

"We're testing your new deck, I think it's only appropriate to see how well it works against slow build up players." Tighnari would notice your stare and send you a smile, before concentrating once again to observe Cyno's turn.

Shaking your head with a smile, you go back to reading as their chatters and occasional bickering turn to background noise.

It's one of those rare days where the three of you had the 'day-off' to enjoy time together. Emphasis on day-off seeing as your two lovers are still technically on the clock due to their positions, but here under the shade of a tree in the forest, only you three matter.

And for today's date, Cyno eagerly challenged Tighnari to a Genius Invokation TCG duel to try out his new deck. And the latter decided to humor him.

When it comes to his favorite card game, the General exudes the same seriousness when he deals with Matra work. This thought passes you as you sneak a glance at the way he strokes his chin with squinted eyes.

So focused in fact that he didn't see your hand approach his face until you're shoving the apple slice between his lips. He says a muffled thanks as he eats the slice whole, mirth in his eyes at your antics.

"Hey, why does he get hand-fed when I'm the one winning here?" Tighnari looks at the two of you with a mock glare and pout, prompting you to throw a grape at his face which he expertly evaded with a laugh.

"You're not a winner until you defeat all my charac- oh." Looking at the field, Cyno realized that all of his character cards are indeed defeated. "Must you really finish me with my own card?"

Unlike Cyno, however, Tighnari simply plays the game for fun (or when his lovers ask for a game) while being good at it still. The forest watcher only shrugs in response as he cradles the fruit bowl.

Thinking that would be the end of their game, you yelped when Cyno suddenly yanked you to his side to sit between his legs, book pried out of your hands and laid pages down to save your progress. "What the -"

"Since I lost, then it should be (Y/N)'s turn to duel you, right?" Cards upon cards fall into your grasp in your still confused state. Tighnari who now sits across you scowls at the man behind you. "Don't worry, I'll be assisting you the whole time since you're using my cards."

"And they say I'm the sly vixen here." Tighnari scoffs as he shuffles his deck, this time he seemed to be sitting up straight to show how he's taking this game more seriously now.

"I didn't even-" Your words were interrupted at Cyno's hands offering the 8-sided dice to you. You sigh. "I hate you two." And your hand throws the die to start your turn.

With your combined powers (aka Cyno's relentless backseating), you managed to defeat Tighnari with a score of 2/3. But when he then pulled you to his lap to assist YOU on defeating Cyno, you doubt that you actually won that last round.

"You two are such idiots." You grumbled as you draw the exile artifact card.

"You're also an idiot by association."

You throw the die to whoever said that.

About TCG: Introduction

It was inevitable that you got wrapped up on the TCG scene too when you have Tighnari and Cyno as lovers.

Like some kind of initiation, prerequisite to your relationship, the game was the first thing you were taught after you became official.

However, that doesn't mean you're good at it - then again, those two aren't really the best comparison to your beginner skills. There's just a lot of mental gymnastics involved that you can't keep up with.

So no, just because you're in a relationship with the kings of invokations doesn't guarantee that you're immediately a pro.

Your first deck was actually given to you by their combined cards. Extra cards they pulled or cards that don't fit their meta, it looked like an absolute mess when you knew better.

But it was endearing inheriting their cards, especially when you can see their genuine desire to share this hobby with you. Well, obsession for Cyno.

You realized this as the one who runs into Cyno a lot due to your wandering occupation, he would ALWAYS ask you if you want to play a round whenever you cross paths.

At first, you can't find it in your heart to decline since you're still learning. It wasn't until Tighnari caught wind of what Cyno was doing that he pulled you off to the side, lecturing you and reiterating that you CAN say no.

Turns out Tighnari also deals with Cyno's dueling addiction, and that if he doesn't decline, it would end up with him skipping important forest watcher duties.

To think you were lectured about the importance of consent over a trading card game.

The first time you opened a pack of cards was also a memory worth remembering.

While on a date in the city, Cyno pulled you and Tighnari to Dori after hearing that the merchant had a new batch in stock.

Paying for your respective packs, the three of you made a whole fuss to open up your cards at the same time. Somehow, while their packs were full of mediocre cards and duplicates, when they turned to you -

"What god did you sell your soul to?!" "What?" "This is the first time I've seen three meta cards in one pack!"

As a beginner, you only look at what design looks good or shiny, so you did not understand why they're breaking down on the floor then.

Dubbed as their archon of luck, it became tradition that if you were in the area, they would force you to open their pack for them.

You wish this luck of yours were for something else, honestly.

About TCG: Habits

Before you got into the game, they would always show you their new packs, showing off the beautiful designs and the rarities. At that time, you didn't know how expensive or 'meta' each card was. If it's shiny, it's probably good.

When Tighnari lets you peruse through his deck of unused cards, he would pay great attention to the cards that you took interest in even just by design.

And then he'll let you keep it! Doesn't matter if it's shiny or a really good card, you can have it, keep it in your home or in your wallet if you want.

Even if he only has one copy of a particular card, seeing you happy makes the sacrifice worth it.

It was also hilarious to see Cyno make a fuss about seeing said cards on your person when you catch up when crossing paths.

He'll look at your tiny but growing collection and throw in random facts here and there. "Ohh, you even have this card? What else do I expect from my lover, such good taste." He praises with a nod, exaggeratedly.

They both have their personal playing mats that matches their aesthetic greatly, and one that has the the limited edition Adventurer's Guild design because it reminds them of you! It's not the best looking one out there, but it's special to them.

Mats are pretty bulky so you don't really like bringing one around so when a game is expected, they bring their spare for you to use like the sweethearts that they are.

Cyno, still with his absurd spending habits when it comes to Genius Invokation, commissioned someone for custom deck boxes as a gift to you and Tighnari. It was definitely expensive seeing as he had to save up for it.

When Cyno is crafting a new deck, he urges you to do the same. Spice things up, you know? He likes to hear your opinion despite knowing more than you, to the point that he made a whole other desk made with your favorite cards and play style.

He uses that deck for casual games with the Matra, and they don't fail to notice how he seems to have a wisp of a smile on his face the whole time he plays.

Tighnari, on the other hand, is a meticulous player with a penchant for detail.

All of his cards have sleeves!!!! He likes taking care of his things and that includes his cards, some of them even have double sleeves! You can find him taking his sweet time putting each card in sleeves on a slow day.

Sometimes, you join him on putting sleeves if your hands aren't dirty, at least.

"Do you have a favorite color?" The next time you see him, he gives you a pack of sleeves in that color for your own deck. Do you want him to help you with that, actually? I think he finds it relaxing.

He also has fancy dice of his own which he changes around depending on his mood. Of course, you also get your own! There's a marbled set, a set that's galaxy-themed, oh oh this one refracts light to make a rainbow -

You don't participate in tournaments unlike your boyfriends, but they always encourage you to play with other players besides them for practice.

Tighnari doesn't give Cyno one tho, he's sure that he can buy it himself. Or lends him a set at least, one that's violet with gold accents, and had since 'forgotten' to take it back from him.

But if there's one habit that they share, it's that whenever you're around during a game, they are always guaranteed to win. It's because you're their lucky charm, they say, but it's as simple as wanting to show off when you're cheering for them so supportively.

"No, you shouldn't expend all your energy cards this turn." Your fingers twitched before moving to an artifact card instead.

"Are you sure you want to pull that out now? You're not really attacking this turn."

Your opponent, Amir, stares at you in sympathy as you pinch the bridge of your nose. Behind you, Cyno and Tighnari started a whole new conversation about strategies and what your next move should be.

"Um, do they even realize that they pretty much revealed your hand to me?"

"I think we should reschedule."

Amir let out a horrified gasp when you turned around and smacked your beloveds over the head with your deck box.

Maybe he should exercise how to say no to an invitation, too.

My TCG knowledge from my card game enthusiast seniors back in college has finally been put to use

@chuusposts @ireallylikehamsters @maehemthemisfit

[nolita-fairytale]

call sign: tennessee whiskey | rooster x fem!reader & hangman x phoenix | chapter eight

summary: you and bradley spend three days in encinitas on your proverbial honeymoon and make a big decision about your relationship.

warnings: smut, fluff, minor angst, suggestive language, swearing, mentions of death, military & aircraft carrier inaccuracies, second person pov

wc: 4.8k

listen to: the playlist

a/n: this is an exclusively rooster x whiskey chapter and gets a little smutty. this is the second to last part, so next chapter i'll wrap up the rom-com of these four. i'm going back to work and very much want to finish this nine chapter adventure before i do. however, i AM planning on writing a more extended oneshot that catches up with these guys a year and a half later so i'm definitely not done with these four.

chapter seven | masterlist | chapter nine

Friday 

“Look at us! We’re almost normal,” you comment, optimistically as you breathe in the bright California air. Sometimes, when you’re on leave, you can almost trick yourself into believing you’re a civilian. “No one would know by looking at us that you just saved the world!” 

“And almost died trying,” Bradley grumbles as a reminder the job you share is rarely ever that glamorous. 

Bradley holds your hand in his as the two of you walk along the beach. The drive up hadn’t been long, but you’d been eager to go for a walk after arriving. Once you’d arrived, Bradley had barely been able to put his seabag down before you’d practically tugged him outside across onto deck, past the gorgeous private pool, and off to the beach.

“That’s what I mean! We’re not aviators this weekend. We’re not facing near-death today! We’re just… two normal people who don’t have to worry about deployments or fighter jets or top secret missions funded and backed by the pentagon,” you continue, celebrating the freedom you’re leaning into on this particular leave. 

“Probably shouldn’t say that too loudly,” Bradley coughs, scanning the beach for any curious listeners. 

“Ahhhh yes, you’re right,” you mumble, lowering your voice. 

“But I like where this is going. We’re just… Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” Bradley chimes in, playing along with you. “You know… the boring ones. Not like... the spy assassin ones.”

“Right, right. Because there’s a fine line, Bradshaw,” you fire back. 

He laughs in response with a shake of his head, his eyes full of endearment towards you. 

“Okay so… how’d we meet?” you ask, turning to steal a glance Bradley’s way. 

“How does anyone meet these days?! On an app?” he answers, in his best well-duh tone of voice. 

“No!” you cry out, giving his arm a little shake. He laughs again, giving your hand a squeeze in return. God, no one’s made him laugh this much in a long time. He shoots you a quizzical look as you clarify with, “C’mon! There’s no romance in that! No, we uh… we definitely had a meet-cute.”

“Who knew you were such a romantic, Mrs. Smith,” Bradley chuckles as he teases you, giving your hand another squeeze. 

“Okay then. Tell me more about this meet-cute.”

“Okay hmmmm… so you’re…” you trail off, before letting the silliest, furthest away from reality thing tumble out of your mouth. “... a yoga instructor.”

“What?!” he yelps, his eyes widening at the ridiculous sentiment. 

“And I'm… a chef who’s just recently moved to San Diego to open up yet another fusion restaurant gentrifying small surf towns across the nation,” you continue, making sure your faux-job feels just as silly as his does. 

“Wait. Why am I the yoga instructor!? I can’t even touch my toes,” he backtracks, alarmingly. 

You laugh, “Because it’s funny! And maybe the furthest thing away from what we actually do.”

“Okay fine. I’m a yoga instructor,” he grumbles, resigning himself to his new pretend-occupation. “But I’m not growing out a man bun.”

“No, the mustache alone gives you enough street-cred. Or rather, hipster-cred, if you will,” you reply, playfully. 

“You like the mustache,” he shoots back. 

“Oh, I definitely like the mustache,” you smirk. “In fact, that’s how we met. I spotted that mustache across the room in a coffee shop, made sure to let you know that, even though they don’t really do it for me, yours was pretty cool, which of course led you to inviting me to the yoga studio that you own.” 

“Which was just an excuse to see you again,” Bradley adds, playing along. 

“Exactly,” you giggle, as the story continues to grow more and more ridiculous. “… And well, you know what they say! The rest was history.”

“You are so silly,” Bradley chuckles, releasing your hand as he wraps an arm around your shoulders instead. 

“Gotta keep you on your toes, Bradshaw,” you giggle, your sliding around his waist. “Oh! That reminds me. We need to go to the grocery store.”

“I thought you said we could stay in bed all weekend,” Bradley challenges, his tone light. 

“Fuel,” you shrug, coquettishly.  

“Besides, I’m cooking you dinner tonight.”

“Well, you are the chef between the two of us.”

“Now, you’re catching on.”

It’s later that night that Bradley learns that while you gave him the job furthest away from reality, the possibility of you being a chef was a lot more probable. He watches you create a lemon-scented pan sauce, his mind wandering back to earlier when he’d been surprised by your knife skills. 

“Holy shit! You really cook?!” he practically exclaims in the middle of the state-of-the-art home kitchen you’re occupying all weekend.

“Guilty,” you answer, as if it’s some kind of confession. “If I hadn’t gotten into the Naval Academy, I was going to go to culinary school. Just one psycho thing for the next.”

You coat the back of a spoon so that you can taste the sauce for seasoning:

Salt levels are good. Shallots are perfectly caramelized. Capers add the right amount of tang to it. 

You scoop up another pool of the liquid in the spoon once more, offering it to Bradley. 

“Come try this,” you say. “It’s a lemon chicken piccata. I think you’ll really like it.” You hold the spoon up to his lips, watching as Bradley tastes the lemon butter pan sauce. 

As soon as the sauce hits his tongue, you watch as he closes his eyes, in total disbelief. 

“Holy shit. This is un-fucking-real, honey,” he says, the term of endearment making you blush a little. 

“Thank you,” you smile, leaning in to place a kiss on his lips. 

As you pull away, he pulls you back for another kiss before murmuring against your lips, “Though I think I like it better on you.”

Holy shit, is that hot. 

As Bradley releases you, it’s almost as if you’ve forgotten to breathe. Your head feels light and you have to remind yourself to take a deep breath. 

“I won’t distract you any longer. Sooner we finish up dinner, the sooner I get you naked,” he coos, his hands dragging across your hips as he pulls away. 

Jeez, this man is perfect, you think to yourself. 

What the hell were you getting yourself into?

As you sit down to dinner with your lemon chicken piccata and a funky orange wine, you learn that Bradley can’t cook to save his life. You can’t believe that after two and a half weeks of the craziest of training, you’ve managed to find yourself on your proverbial honeymoon with a guy you’re quite sure is perfect. Sure, he’s got enough baggage to sink the USS Roosevelt, but you’re not sure you mind. He is, after all, who he is because of it. 

He finishes telling you another story from his days at UVA and you’re caught in a fit of giggles as you watch how animated he gets as tells you about his college-day shenanigans. 

“What?” he asks you, seeing the look on your face. 

You know you probably look like you’ve got goddamn hearts for pupils at this point, so your answer is simple:

“The more I learn about you, the more I like you, Bradshaw.”

He blushes.

“I really like you too, Whiskey.”

Saturday morning: 

Rooster Bradshaw thinks he’s died and gone to heaven. 

It doesn’t feel real. 

As you stand there in the middle of the kitchen, clad only in his NAVY tee, it’s as if the domestic bliss he’s always craved is right in front of him. 

This is all he’s ever wanted. 

Bradley’s frozen for a second, paused in a moment in time. Ever since his mother died, there’s been a hole in his heart he’s never been able to fill – not with girlfriends, not with work, not even with himself. It’s this hole in his heart that yearns for a family – that allows himself to be taken care of, to be cherished, to be loved. But he can feel something, this feeling, swelling in his chest as he watches you make breakfast in the way-too-fancy home kitchen after knowing you for barely three weeks. 

Now that he’s proven himself in the Navy, maybe he could begin healing his relationship with Mav. He could let himself open up to you. Maybe the part of his healing he’s been missing… is letting himself be loved. 

He’s not sure how long he’s been standing there, but he figures it’s been long enough as you turn back around to him, sending him a curious look. 

“Good morning, handsome. Coffee?” you greet him, with the sweetest smile he thinks he’s ever seen in his life. 

And damn, he loves the way you look in his t-shirt. 

“That would be great,” he answers, a lovestruck grin plastered to his face.

You hear the sounds of his footsteps before you feel his hands on your hips, pulling you in close to him from behind. You giggle, turning your head for a good morning kiss. Bradley’s lips are soft – a stark contrast from the rough texture of his mustache – earning another giggle from you. 

You nod towards the french press on the counter that holds the coffee you’ve just made. There’s a second mug resting on the table that you pulled from the cabinets for him. He likes that you thought of him – thought to do that. He likes being thought of. 

“How’d you sleep?” you ask, plating up two plates of eggs, bacon, sliced avocado, and a mix of berries you’d purchased yesterday. 

“Great. How about you?” Bradley answers, a soft smile on his face as he watches you. 

You wrap a hand around the edge of the plate while your other hand carries your coffee cup. 

“Wonderfully. Why don’t you grab a fork and meet me out by the pool?” you tempt him, sending a wink his way before disappearing, heading towards the sliding glass doors that lead to the deck. 

Instead of following suit, Bradley watches, taking this all in. He takes a few steps so that he can see you through the glass door. You sit down with your copy of today’s paper, while you snack on a few strawberries before picking up your fork to eat your soft scrambled eggs. Bradley swears under his breath, still in disbelief that this is real, before fixing his cup of coffee and taking his plate outside to join you. 

“You know… I know we have the same one… but I think I like mine better on you,” Rooster says, taking a seat on the lounge chair next to the one you’ve posted up on. 

You can practically feel your heart speed up, as you watch Bradley pop a strawberry into his mouth. 

“Listen. I’m just relieved you own something other than the Hawaiian shirts,” you admit, a cheeky smile on your face. 

“What’s wrong with my Hawaiian shirts?” he teases you with a wink. 

“Absolutely nothing. But… it’s not like I can bring you as a wedding date in a printed shirt and jorts,” you tease him back, playfully.

 As much as he likes to banter with you, he’s more focused on the fact that you’re thinking of ahead – thinking of the future with him. 

“How do you feel about eventually making our way out to the beach today?” you propose, continuing with your breakfast. 

“If we make it out… yeah,” Bradley replies, suggestively. 

You smirk, “Well in that case, finish your breakfast. You’ll need the energy.”

You enjoy the poolside breakfast with him, handing him the sports section of the newspaper so that he can check out some of the baseball stats. You swap: the arts section for the sports section when he mentions maybe seeing if there’s a show you both could go to – making plans that you most likely won’t make anyways. 

After breakfast, you pull Rooster’s NAVY shirt over your head, revealing your barely-covers-anything bikini you put on earlier. 

“You wanna-?” you start asking, with every intention of getting in the pool. 

“Oh, I don’t think so,” he says, grabbing your hand. 

Before you know it, Rooster’s thrown his empty breakfast plate on the small end table between both lounge chairs, pulling you back towards him. You follow, more than eager to explore exactly where this is going. As he pulls you down on top of him, you sit over his hips, just to feel how excited he’s gotten from seeing you in your bikini. 

“You are such a tease,” he growls, bucking his hips up into you. 

“I think you like it,” you smirk, leaning down to ghost your lips over his. 

“Uh huh,” he answers, and you can feel his breath on your lips. 

“Already, Roos?” you ask him, a devilish smile on your face as you grind your hips against him. 

He hisses, pushing his hips up again as he answers, “Baby, you’ve had me this hard all weekend.”

You giggle, your lips finally meeting his, your tongues easily tangling together as your lips move in perfect time. 

“I like these,” he says, his fingers dancing over your hips as works to untie your bikini bottoms. 

“Yeah?” you ask, your eyes filled with lust. 

“Yeah,” he answers, untying one side completely. 

Rooster sits up, flipping you over so that you’re now laying back against the lounge chair, earning something between a gasp and a laugh from you. Eagerly, he pulls your bikini bottoms off, tossing them somewhere on the deck as he covers your body with his in this new position. 

“Rooster,” you moan, his mouth moving lower. 

His lips and tongue are everywhere: your shoulders, your breasts, and rapidly making their way down your abdomen. 

His hands pull your legs apart to make room for his shoulders as he watches you with a fire in his eyes. You know exactly where this is going, waiting impatiently for him to touch you. Bradley licks a broad stripe up your already wet heat, his tongue stopping to move around your clit as you throw your head back, his name on your lips. 

“Bradley.”

“God, you taste so good, sweetheart.”

You close your eyes, the hot sun kissing the both of you as he eats you out, right on the freaking pool lounge chair. He works at your clit, tracing little shapes around it as you moan his name, trying to remind yourself not to be too loud since your friends do have neighbors. As his tongue moves further down, his mustache bumping up against your most sensitive spots, your hands move straight into his brunette waves, bucking your hips up against his face. 

“Jesus fucking Christ,” you cry as you feel him begin fucking you with his tongue. “You’re so fucking good at this.”

You feel him smile against you, your words having unleashed something within him. From here forward, Rooster is relentless. He’s holding your hips down, pulling all kinds of sounds from your body as he continues to bring you heavenly pleasure with his tongue and his fingers. 

“Fuck!” you cry, feeling that tight feeling in your abdomen as he pulls his fingers in and out of you. 

“You gonna cum for me again?” 

“Yes. God, yes. I’m so close!”

And it’s all he needs to hear to do whatever it takes to get you to cum, pulling you past the point of pleasure you thought you could feel. You come with a strangle moan, and before you know it, Bradley’s folding his body over yours once again. He presses his lips against yours and you can taste yourself on him, earning a moan from him as you kiss him with desperation. 

“I hope your friends don’t have cameras out here,” he chuckles, in between kisses. 

“You’d like that wouldn’t you?” you tease. 

“Jeez, sweetheart. If that’s what you’re into….”

You were going to be the death of him. 

And, he decides, what a lovely way to go.

Sunday: 

“Bradley!” you gasp, feeling that all-too-familiar tightening in your abdomen, as Bradley winds you up.

“You gonna cum?” he grits out, his hips driving into at a rapid pace. “Go ahead. Let go for me, baby.”

“Yesyesyes,” you’re practically chanting as you feel him so, so deep inside of you. 

“Fuck, Bradley. I’m gonna-,” you pant, and he groans, feeling you squeezing around him. “Please make me cum.”

“God, I love it when you beg me. Shit. Holy shit, baby. Fuck,” Bradley grunts out, his face buried in the crevice of your neck. He whines your name so sweetly as he releases, finally stilling the motion of his hips. 

Bradley lifts his head, still inside of you as he leans down to press a passionate kiss to your lips. 

“Holy shit. How is it possible that it just keeps getting better and better?” you sigh, your back hitting the sheets as you catch your breath. 

“I don’t know but… if we get any better at it I might go into cardiac arrest,” he jokes, earning a laugh from you. 

“No!!” you cry out, dramatically.

The two of you settle into a quiet intimacy, as you turn over onto your side, wrapping yourself up in the sheets. Bradley notices a shift in you, but remains on his back as you prop your head up on your hand. 

“I want to be with you,” you blurt out, causing Rooster to turn his head in your direction. 

He can’t even hide the smile on his face as he hears your words. 

“I want to be with you too, Whiskey,” he grins, his eyes as soft as the morning light. 

“Oh thank god!” you say, letting out a sigh of relief, eliciting the most amused look from Bradley. But you pause, and he can tell that you’ve got something else on your mind as you continue with, “I just-, I guess I’m just wondering if-. Do you… think we’re moving too fast?”

“What do you mean?” he asks, curiously, rolling over onto his side so that he can match your body language with his own. 

“I don’t know…” you hesitate with an ambivalent shrug. “We haven’t known each other for that long. Is it… totally wild to feel this way about someone after only three weeks?”

Bradley takes a beat, his chocolate brown eyes warm and filled with confidence. 

“Maybe. But stranger things have happened and… Whiskey, I-. I think I’ve been waiting to meet you for a long time,” Bradley answers genuinely. 

“I think so too. Is that crazy?” you reply softly. 

“If it is, then at least we’re both in it together,” he reassures you, pulling you over to him so that you can cuddle.

“Okay.”

“What do you want to do today?” you ask him, shifting a little to something more lighthearted. 

Like you’d predicted, despite every intention of doing so, neither of you had made it out of the house this weekend aside from the occasional beach walk and for dinner last night in Leucadia. Not that you were complaining. The hot non-stop sex-a-thon and staying up to talk till the early hours of the morning were absolutely heaven… but you knew at some point you’d both have to resurface. 

“I think I might go for a run,” Bradley replies, as if it’s the most casual thing in the world. 

“You haven’t gotten enough cardio?!” you practically shriek in surprise. 

He chuckles, “Can’t take too many days off or I’ll lose my stamina, honey. Wanna come with?”

“Hmmm… I think I may just stay here… take a shower. Unlike you… I’m not a psychopath,” you joke. 

He laughs, “Okay, okay. Then how about when I get back, I’ll take you out to breakfast and we can go from there.”

“Sounds perfect,” you agree with a totally lovestruck smile. 

After a few more kisses, Bradley manages to unwillingly pry himself out of bed to get ready for his morning run. He’s right. You both have to return to reality at some point, and it’s not a bad idea to try to work in some of your routine before you’re back on base. You might’ve even agreed to go on a run with him, but selfishly, you’d like the alone time because you have to call Nat. 

Once Bradley is out of the house, you slip a t-shirt left on the floor from the night before, hurrying into the master bathroom. You quickly FaceTime Natasha, praying that she picks up, considering this is the first time you’ve had a moment to call. 

“Hey! Didn’t think I’d be hearing from you till you got back,” Nat says as soon as she answers the call. 

“Oh my God, Nat. I am in love with this man,” you say, incredulously. 

“Are you talking about Rooster?” she asks.

“Yes, of course I’m talking about Rooster!” you exclaim, with a laugh. 

“Jeez, Whiskey. How much sex are you guys having?!” she teases, raising an eyebrow at you. 

“You… don’t want to know the answer to that,” you answer honestly. 

“You’re right,” she nods, her voice dropping. “I don’t. I guess I don’t even need to ask how it’s going then.”

“So well. Too well. I-, we told each other that we want to give this a shot. A relationship,” you fill her in. 

“Holy shit.”

“I know.”

“I mean... Whiskey, I think he’s ready to settle down with someone and… that’s why I wanted to introduce the two of you so badly. Don’t overthink it. Chalk it up to good timing,” she advises. 

“Okay yes, but do you think this is too fast?” you ask, nervously. 

“It’s… fast, sure. But it’s not like you’re getting married or anything,” she reassures you, before pausing. “You’re-... not getting married-.”

“Of course not!” you interrupt her, rolling your eyes playfully. 

“You know what the proverbial they say: when you know you know,” Nat adds, trying her best to offer up a little more reassurance. 

“Yeah, I guess I’m just trying to check in with myself. Make sure we’re being realistic, you know?” you vent. Truthfully, your hesitations have nothing to do with Rooster and everything to do with the fact that you haven’t chosen the best partners in the best. But Rooster? He’s near-perfect. 

“Have you told him about your deployment yet?” Nat asks you. 

You shake your head, “Not yet. I didn’t want it to be another thing to raise the stakes, you know? But I’m… I’m kind of nervous to.”

“Rooster knows how this goes. He’ll be fine,” she replies. 

You nod slowly, “How are things going on your end?”

“Uh… good. Just waiting for you guys to get back before I head back up to LA,” Nat replies with the most casual tone in her voice. You eye her suspiciously, knowing that that can’t just be it. 

“And Jake?” you ask, curiously. 

“What about Jake?” she asks back, earning a funny look from you. 

Okay, Trace. 

If she needs it spelled out, that’s exactly what you’ll do. 

“Have you guys talked or are the two of you still just fucking each others’ brains out?” you rephrase, putting it bluntly. 

Natasha rolls her at eyes at your crass comment before answering, “More so the latter,”

“Got it.”

You take a beat, not wanting to overstep, but then again this is the woman that quite literally parent-trapped you and Rooster. 

“It would be okay, Nat… if you had feelings for him,” you begin, cautiously. 

“Whiskey, I don’t-,” but she can’t finish the sentence. She knows she can’t finish that sentence because it would be a lie. And when has she ever been able to bullshit you? If anything, you’re the person who knows both her and Jake the best. 

She takes a beat before opening her mouth to say something else, “I don’t know if I’m ready. For that.”

You nod slowly, “And that’s okay too. You’re just gonna have to tell him.”

“Yeah, I know,” she sighs, dissatisfied with the resolution she’s come to. She changes the subject and you talk about a few other things. Who else is going on the next deployment from the Dagger Squad. Having lunch solo with Halo. That Maverick and Penny seemed to be a thing.

“Hey uh… I gotta run but, we’ll talk. When you’re back,” Natasha says, as she realizes what time it is.

“Yeah of course,” you agree.

“Okay. I’ll see you soon,” she smiles, signing off. 

“Bye, Nat.”

You take a breath after hanging up the phone with Nat. Maybe you wish that she and Jake could just figure it out, but you also know that they’re not exactly those people. They’re actually the most stubborn people you know. You run the shower for a minute or so, waiting for it to come up to temp before stepping in, letting the water help you think through things. 

You and Bradley were different. Both of you were looking for something – a relationship – and had found a connection with each other that felt good. It felt right to be with him, even if the idea of falling in love with him terrified you – even if it felt like the two of you were on the fast track. But Jake and Natasha? You’ve always felt like they were more similar than either of them would admit. They’d have to really want it, really want to be together to make it work, and it doesn’t seem like either of them are there yet. 

You finish up your shower, enjoying a little you-time before Bradley gets back. You haven’t exactly had that much since you got here, but you know you’ll have plenty when you return to Lemoore. After shutting off the water and drying your hair as best as you can with just the towel, you wrap a second towel around your body before heading back into the bedroom. 

Only, you see something you’re not expecting – something you weren’t quite ready for. 

“Bradley…” is all that comes out of your mouth as you see him. 

He’s sitting on the edge of the bed, tanned skin glistening from his run while he holds loose papers in his hands. 

Papers. 

Those papers. 

Your papers. 

“Why didn't you tell me?” he asks, looking up from your deployment papers. 

“Bradley. I’m sorry,” you repeat, your voice shaking a little. 

You take a few steps towards him, stopping so that you can sit next to him on the edge of the bed. 

“I don't know…” you answer, honestly. “I guess I just thought-. We've clouded our judgment with hot sex all weekend….” You laugh nervously. “... and all of this has just been so intense – between the mission, and you almost dying, and… – I didn’t want my deployment to change the outcome of this weekend.”

You wait for him to answer, and you can see the gears turning in his head as he listens to you. You’re right. The parameters of the mission, your hookup, all of it has been so high stakes. He’d be a fool to deny it. But it doesn’t change how crazy he is about you. He thinks he’d feel this crazy about you if he met you in the supermarket, not in training for a suicide mission. 

“I understand,” he says, his voice low as he turns to you. “But I wish you had told me.”

“Would it have changed anything for you?” you ask, stealing a glance his way. 

“No,” he reassures you, his voice softening. He slips an arm around your bare shoulders, his thumb rubbing soothing circles against your skin. “I just-, I don’t know. I guess I thought we’d have more time before we had to deal with… all of this.”

You nod, “I know. I should’ve told you earlier.”

“You still want to do this?” you ask again, with a nervous flutter in the bottom of your belly. 

“Yeah, of course,” he admits with a smile. “But it’s not going to be easy and… I guess… these papers just reminded me of that.”

You turn your body towards him so that you’re facing him, no longer sitting side by side. Bradley runs his fingers through your wet locks, eventually moving to cup your face. There’s a sadness in his eyes and you can see that the reality of your jobs has set in. 

“I kinda wish I was still a yoga instructor and you were some hot shot chef,” he chuckles, trying his best to make light of the situation.

“Me too,” you agree. “It’ll only be a month. And… then maybe once Cyclone has all the data he needs… they’ll make our detachment official. We-... won’t have to be apart.”

Bradley nods, “Yeah. We’re gonna figure this out together, sweetheart. I know it.”

You smile in response. How is this man real?

“How can you be sure?” you ask him, hopefully. 

“I can just feel it,” he replies, leaning in to kiss you. He touches his lips to yours before pulling back to ask, “What would you say to getting back in the shower?”

You smirk, “Lead the way, handsome.”

read: chapter nine