#ooooooooh i could go on GO LISTEN AND COME BACK

[broadway-and-books-love]

The Ballad of Jane Doe but as it relates to Sasha/Not-Sasha/The Stranger. You get me?

[cozzzynook]

Since we are diving into the angst. I have come offering another angsty idea.

Optimus and Rodimus are having an intense argument with each other while Bee and Cliff are trying to calm them down.

It gets pretty heated and messy until it suddenly stops when Optimus yells something he shouldn't have. It even shocks Bee and Cliff who look at their Carrier with horror while Roddy runs off trying not to cry.

Ooooooooh!!!!

I can see this argument happening when he’s hot rod and its hot rod calling Optimus out on his own personal beliefs holding him back from taking Megatron out. He tells him if he can’t handle the thought of Megatron dying or taking him out even after all this he needs to allow someone who will.

Hot rod argues how its dangerous to let him live when the mech starts coming after Bee and Cliff, the mechs own sparkling twins he sired before the war started, and that Optimus needs to get a clue because the mech very well could offline or brain wash them to do unspeakable things.

Optimus tells him continually to stop but Hot rod does not because he’s right and they all know it but Optimus doesn’t want to hear it and he doesn’t want this conversation happening in front of Bee or Cliff.

Hot rod fumes for a moment and then growls with his fists balled up and his teenage emotive neurons are firing up because he just wants Optimus to listen to him for once and not think he’s just being a youngling or brash or doesn’t know a chip from a bolt for once.

“Slaggit! Carrier! Please! Don’t let my brothers die by that aft hole who abandoned us! He’s not the mech we once knew! He doesn’t love any of us anymore! Please! Don’t get yourself or them killed because he will do it and he won’t think twice about it! Stop being a stubborn prime and leader and be our fragging carrier again just this once please!”

“Shut up, Hot rod! Stop saying things you know nothing about and stay in your place! Do not speak to your commanding officer that way and do not speak on my love for my sparklings nor the love of my sparklings sire when you never had one to begin with! Don’t question my love for my family you meddling mistake!”

And that…

He can never take that back..

He knows he’s messed up the moment he hears it, the moment he sees Bee’s outstretched servo and horrified expression. The way Cliffjumper looks accosted, the way Hot rods spark stops for a moment and how optics run tears without his permission.

He knows.

He knows.

He knows.

He knows!

Hot rod’s sob and gasp that can’t be suppressed shatters him and when he turns running out the door.

He doesn’t immediately go after him.

Bee does. Cliff glares at him.

And he knows.

Primus he knows….

He’s almost down on his knees when he collapses but instincts kick in. Instincts he’s long ignored when Hot rod was involved. Those Instincts push him forward and he’s running out into the night looking for red and yellow.

He comes home many days later, caked in grime and with his antenna down and two sparklings who refuse to look at him.

They go to Ratchets where he promptly gets a call from the medic saying he’s keeping the sparklings for a while and his conjunx Deadlock went looking for Hot rod but couldn’t find him.

…he doesn’t see his sparkling for a long long time after that and the next time he does, he’s no longer Hot rod but Rodimus.

Rodimus prime.

His baby died.

Died at the servos of megatron who shot and killed him through the spark.

The mech who once helped him carry his bitty shot him straight through the spark and didn’t care to tell him or get him help.

The matrix saved Hot rod. No. Rodimus. The matrix saved Rodimus.

His bitty.

The bitty who warned him of this happening and he didn’t listen because he couldn’t handle that possibility.

And that exact outcome did happen..and where was he?

Nowhere near his sparkling to help or save him.

Because he didn’t know where he was or if he was alive and its all his fault.

His bitty…

Who looks and speaks to him as if he doesn’t know him as more than an officer and prime.

He gets a shake of servos before Rodimus is off talking to someone else.

And all he can do is stare and silently cry.

Rodimus doesn’t look back and he Doesn’t say a thing else to him.

[hornball-house]

Experimental (Pre-events)

To say he was frustrated would be an understatement. Wyatt had no idea where to even start with this. He wanted to figure things out, he wanted to experiment. & so, he made the stupid decision of going to Moran, his friend who is basically family. "Psst. Hey. Other me. Do you have a second, mate?" Wyatt meakly asks him. Out of all people, why did it have to be him?

"Ohh?" Moran responds while raising an eyebrow. The way he asked him immediately made him realize what he was thinking of. However, Wyatt's words got caught in his throat & couldn't say it to him. Not that it really mattered, anyway. "Uhh.......well, you know how, uhh.....I said I was a little, um..........c-curious about certain.......'things', right?" He stuttered out. "Yeeeeeees? Why? You implying something?" Moran jokingly coos, making Wyatt punch his arm. "No, the hell I'm not, you sick fuck!" He snaps as Moran chuckles & rubs his arm, in an attempt to numb the pain. "I just, uhh......wanted some advice, I guess you could call it. You seem to know alot about that sorta thing, I've only had one or two partners & I clearly have no idea what I'm doing. So, I want this to be a, uhh......what's the word? An experimental thing, y'know?" He says back to him, alot calmer this time. Hearing him say an experimental thing made Moran's pink eyes light up. Which ultimately scared Wyatt a bit.

"Uhhh.......Why are you looking at me like that?" All he could ask as Moran smirks a little. That smirk proves he was planning something. That was when Wyatt's fate was sealed. "Hmm.......you said you wanna experiment, right?" Moran asks, making Wyatt slowly nod. "Hehehehe. Well, I'll tell you what. I'll do exactly that for you. But, I have a different approach to it." Different approach? What does he mean? This made Wyatt tilt his head in confusion. Moran leaned in closer, being a little closer to his face now.

"Since you seem to be more of a visual learner.~"

Wyatt flinched & went red in the face. Was he trying to say something? "Uhhhh......Y'know what, nevermind! I think you weren't exactly the best person to ask! I-I'll just go find David & he can explain it to me instead." Wyatt says in an attempt to get out of the situation. But, it was too late. Moran grabbed his shoulder & prevented him from leaving. He soon grabbed his hand & dragged him off to the nearest bedroom. Wyatt did try to rip out of his grip a few times, but all attempts were in vain. & he certainly didn't listen to any of his protesting, either. What in the world did he get himself into?

When Moran reaches his destination with Wyatt begrudgingly in tow, he shuts the door behind him with his foot. Wyatt was still struggling & trying to escape, but still no luck.

"What the bloody hell are you doing, mate?! This isn't fucking funny!" Wyatt yells out. To which Moran tosses him onto the bed in front of him. A squeak erupts out of Wyatt as he falls onto the bed, right on his back. Moran's grin on his face made Wyatt want to slap it right off, but his head was already so blank it didn't come up.

"You said you wanted my advice, so I think this is the only way to really let it sink in. That's how I always learn." Moran coos, climbing onto the bed above Wyatt. Wyatt tries scooting back as much as he can, but is cornered due to the headboard & Moran's grasp. When he grabs onto his waist to hold him in place, a small huff of pleasure escapes Wyatt's vocal chords, making him cover his mouth & Moran light up. "Ooooooooh, now that's a good start. Let's see what other sounds you can make." He chirped. Soon enough, he leans his head down a little more.

"Hey, wait! Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! What the hell are you d-- Aaaaaah!?" Wyatt is cut off by some firm kisses right on his neck. He didn't. Moran was so forward, it's scary. Wyatt covered his face to muffle any sounds that would come out, his glasses fogging up due to how warm & red his face is. Moran was already satisfied with his reactions already, but he wasn't going to let it stop this soon. The harder & longer he went on, the louder & quicker Wyatt's noises got. The sad part is that Wyatt couldn't even deny that he was really good. & that all of this was good, too.

Soon enough, Moran suddenly has the urge to bite down. Which is what he did. & got a very loud scream out of Wyatt in the process. One that couldn't be muffled. Moran chuckles & lifts his head up to look down at him, to see he was already panting pretty hard just from that.

"See? I told you. If it makes you feel any better, I'll be slow with it." Moran says to ease his worries. Wyatt gave no answer. No nod, no words, no nothing. But, to hear him say he'll be taking it slow made him feel a little better about it all. After that, Moran lifts his shirt up & does those same kisses on his chest & stomach, making Wyatt tense up & start those noises back up again. Even he didn't know he was already this sensitive & this much of a screamer. How humiliating.

"Uuugh......! Ahh-haah......~ I-If you say a-- *Grunt!* a word to anyone about this, I'll-- Hmmh~! Mmgh....... I'll kill you......." All Wyatt could struggle out, still not being light with that threat since he can & will go through with it. To which Moran chuckles.

"I hear you loud & clear.~" & then Wyatt hears something mortifying, but slightly exciting. Moran somehow got his shorts off, & that just made him go even redder in the face. This was a fine mess Wyatt got himself into. But, there's still one thing on his mind. Why was he enjoying this so much?

But, things only escalated from there.

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

This is the beginning of this, BTW. So, read this before you read the other one

@dorkygurl-89 Finally got it out. You happy?

[a-tale-of-legends]

Yaknow what? Here's a funky question; how would you ocs be if they weren't chosen?

Not that they wouldn't be protags or have legends (unless that's what you want to do lol) but just like normal pokemon world

Ooooooooh that's a good one.

Jin - probably still goes through their arc growing up, though no longer has this chip on their shoulders when it comes to being Chosen. Don't get me wrong, their relationship to Rayquaza is still pretty complicated, but given that there's no true bind, it's kinda easier for them to simply ignore it.

Kohaku - she's definitely the one of the few that took being Chosen well, so her not being Chosen wouldn't really change her outlook on life really.

Kenji - On one end, being Chosen made him feel like he really had to exceed imaginary expectations, something he was already struggling with. So not being Chosen would kinda relieve him of some stress in that sense. On the other end, being Chosen kinda gave Kenji a comfort that not anyone could give him. Someone to talk to when he felt like he shouldn't with his friends. Without Ho-Oh having that bond of a Chosen and Legendary, things feel more hollow. Yes, Ho-Oh is still there and still tries to comfort Kenji, but it's not completely the same, you know?

Aiko - Hmmmm. Aiko is still someone I'm reworking a bit, so it's hard to say. Maybe she just. Doesn't get the courage to stick it to Silver. Heck, maybe Silver ends up being the one that goes after Lugia instead of her. Aiko's personality isn't based on Lugia of course, but not being the trainer with a "soul like silver" might come to play here. Though all of that is just a guess, I really need to figure Aiko out lol.

Danica - Her eeriness is almost always the same, but her childhood is much more lonely I think. I'm going with the idea of Danica not being Chosen = Giratina never coming to her as her "imaginary friend". Of course, she had Barry, but I imagine Danica is more distant than she already is in canon.

Kiran- Not a Chosen lol. I think his powers would stay the same bc Sakura isn't a Chosen either. Whoops!

Alexis- Woooooooooh boy. BW would still be the same I think. But there's no. Sense of someone looking down at Alexis all the time. Like something is calling to him and he just can't figure out what. His journey is still a nuzlocke. It still sucks. He still runs away with Zekrom. After he returns, Zekrom would.... honestly just leave him given the path he was going. The main reason Zekrom stayed when he was a Chosen was bc 1) they had faith that Alexis would snap out of his awful funk and take care of himself and 2) Alexis was their Chosen. And while legendaries can Choose and Unchoose as they please, they can't help but just want Alexis to be The One. Zekrom is very optimistic in my au, if not a bit naive. Though without Alexis being Chosen, I think Zekrom is more inclined to listen to Reshiram and just leave ( or at least go back into it's ball form). Which. It wouldn't do great got Alexis mentally I think. Not great at all.

Elliot - Another hard one. She was passed down the Chosen title by N in this au. So honestly it's the same thing but she just doesn't get Chosen.

Eva - Another odd case for a Chosen. Kyurem knew it couldn't really. Survive with some sj ort of protection. So it Chose Eva. If Eva was never Chosen, she wouldn't have such complicated feelings towards the cold. Well. That's a lie. What happened in Opelucid City scarred her, but not being the Chosen of Kyurem would not have her in such a panic at the time.

Wayne - Maaaaan, Wayne not being the Chosen of Keldeo kinda implies that he hadn't fully found himself. I still think he grew as a character, and still catches Keldeo, but. Yeah, it's not the same.

Jude - I was going to say Jude fucking dies, but that seems to extreme lol. Jude has been repressing her aura for years, and while Lucario and Sylveon are skilled enough to help him manage it in the early days, Yveltal's aura helps our a lot. There could be a chance Jude would die so to their aura being so much, but protag powers say they live lol.

Dante - another one where he could have died but again that's probably too much. Honestly I'm not completely sure! Outside of like, moral support, I dunno how life would be without being a Chosen for him.

Ames- Nothing really changes outside of having to wear a specialized suit if wanting to go through ultra space. That and just not being that much of a night anymore lol.

Ray - Same as above( minus the night owl stuff)

Naomi - Well. For one, I don't think her father would be dead. Possibly. The whole reason she's a Chosen is bc her father's Curse Chosen status fell to her when he died. Can't be Chosen otherwise if that didn't happen so. There's still a chance the man could have died when she was young still, but there is no longer anything fogging her memory and the faces of the past. Not saying she remembers everything clearly but the unnatural fogginess in her head? Gone. If her dad was still alive, I think those two factors would have made Naomi just a bit more confident in herself. Not a lot, but just a bit more.

Carol- Nothing much changes I think. They don't have to accidentally touch someone and release their soul, so that's cool I guess. Carol got Chosen pretty late so. Yeah.

Luca- Again not 100% sure if he is gonna be a Chosen, but uuuuuh. If he wasn't, I don't think the story would have changed much lol.

R.B - Not a Chosen lmao, I know that now. I personally find that hilarious, and just wanna say that if no one is Chosen, that means R.B loses her " I'm the only normal human being next to these fucking demi gods of people" status. Then she would be losers like the rest of them ( affectionate).

Sorry this took so long to answer I! Feel asleep. Thanks for the ask deer!

[thegreatstoryteller]

The Great Shift: Vacation

It was another cold winter night working at the office. Fredrick was throwing himself into work after the divorce, trying to not think about how this is the first Christmas he’d be spending apart from his former husband.  They were two different people after all. He knew he was tired. He knew that it probably wouldn’t be wise to be working this late. He knew he could probably use a break, or better yet a vacation. But the empty house he’d come home to just didn’t seem appealing. More than anything he wished he could get away. From all the tiredness that came with his life.

Like it or not Fredrick would get his wish as before his very eyes a bright light engulfed his vision. When he came to he was blinking behind a tinted view of a warm welcoming beach. Some beach goers were freaking out, others were smiling giddily, and Fredrick was laying back confused. Holding a canned drink?

“Now this.... this is a strange dream? I’ve definitely been working too hard.” Fredrick muttered to himself in a deep bass voice. He’d had dreams like this before. Fantasies where he’d look down and see a completely sculpted chest, huge arms that effortlessly flex, and a commanding voice that would get him hard. However, those dreams typically ended in him seducing a guy at the gym or at his office. Never had one left him in a confused beachfront with people screaming. He hated the beach! His pale sensitive skin always burned way too easily.

While he pondered the nature of this dream he tried to stand up and got a head rush at the vantage point he now occupied. He wasn’t used to being this high up, and given how he towered over most everyone here, he knew he was probably rather tall. Still taking in his surroundings Fredrick was completely caught off guard by the woman rushing his directions. Her reckless sprint caused her body to run right into his, and right into an area which hurt. She recoiled her knee and said, “oh my gosh. I’m sorry! Geez. Man! Are you ok?” she said gruffly.

At that moment Fredrick knew this was no dream. Maybe a nightmare but no dream.

“OOooooooh” Fredrick moaned on the ground. Even his groans of pain sounded manly. 

“I’m so sorry man. I thought... I was freaking out cuz I’ve got these boobs and this long hair now... Are fuck. Stand up man!” the woman said.

It took a few minutes of deep breath and coaxing but Fredrick finally got to his feet, palming a rather sizeable appendage in his new body. 

In that time, thousands of devices delivered the same news. A worldwide event has caused the entire world populace to switch bodies with one another.

“Damn that makes sense. Fred right? Fuck. Well my name is John and I’m still freaking out.”

“It’s Fredrick. And I still can’t believe I’m awake. What on Earth are we going to do? I... uh...” Now that he was reoriented to the news and his pain, Fredrick’s eyes widened as he saw John’s body.  As a lifelong gay man he felt the familiar sensations of attraction, but now focused primarily on the body of the rather voluptuously form John now called his own. Never in his life had he expected to be caught ogling large yet firm breasts of a woman wearing a bikini, but there he was, somehow filtering out all of John’s words and staring.

“And anyway,” John continued, “I recognize this place I think. Family vacationed here a few years back. There should be some hostels or motels back closer to the city side if- Hey. Hey! Jackass! You listening?” John barked.

“Huh? Yes! Terribly sorry. You were saying? Places.... to stay! Yes. We should... go! I’m sorry... I... I’ll admit.. I was staring. I’ve never... felt such intensity. You see I’m a gay man... or rather... was is probably the right word... I can’t seem to look away from your beautiful body and I would totally understand if you wished to travel alone.”

John sighed. As bad as this guy was, he’d recently run from a few handsy guys who wouldn’t take no for an answer. At least this guy was polite.

“Whatever man. Just keep it in your pants. I was a straight guy and now I’m this hot chick. So let’s just move on and not talk about it. Maybe you could use those big muscles and sexy voice to get us a room.” John said blushing slightly. Did he just call this guy’s voice sexy?

The two collected their new body’s belongings. Or at least Fredrick did. He seemed to have a wallet and small backpack with some belongings. An ID that confirmed his new height of 6′7, a name of Walsh Gray, and a new weight of 320lbs. John had no such luck, with just a cute fanny pack with a silver phone that was locked. 

John led the way, giving Fredrick an awkward several minutes of averting his eyes from John’s curvaceous ass. He was glad it didn’t take them very long before a local motel was in sight. The patrons were offering the rooms for free until things calmed down, but due to limited spaces Fredrick and John would need to share a small single bedroom. 

Finally behind closed doors the two could breath. John fell to the bead exhausted and frustrated, while Fredrick said. “I’m... going to freshen up in the bathroom. I feel absolutely sweaty with how warm it is.”

Curiously the tired behemoth had left the door to the bathroom ajar, allowing John to see the exposed body of this new bodybuilder. Each cravice was completely carved to perfection. Everything from the intense neck and back muscles to the granite like calves and thighs. It would appear it was John’s turn to be unable to look away. Every second he looked he realized his hand was inching lower and lower down his navel. Then before anything could happen the water shut off and he snapped out of it.

“Thank you for letting me go first... you can use it if you want.... thank you again for guiding me here and for letting me stay with you. You caught me at a rather weird time in my life. You see I’d recently gotten divorced and-”

Before Fredrick could say another word John had stood on the bed and kissed him. “Just shut up. I don’t care who you were before. But the you now is making feel some weird things. So just shut up and let me ride this out.”

Fredrick’s eyes were more than wide at this explanation, but as the kisses kept coming and the small delicate hands kept wandering, he realized, maybe this was just the vacation he needed.

[astaroth1357]

Demigod MC Series: Hermes

Hey guys, still doing what I can to stay healthy (and entertained) in quarantine. Staying still, keeping calm, and trying not to exert myself too much because of the shortness of breath thing going on. My lungs just can't get enough air it seems… 😅 Anyway, I've gotten a lot of suggestions on this series and I'm excited to keep it going. Just going to be a tad slow until I'm feeling better. Thank you for the support, y'all!

Demigod MC Series: Intro, Aphrodite, Hermes

Lucifer

Oh no… it’s everyone’s worst nightmare… Another Mammon, but competent. Devil help us all…

Had he known who their father was, he'd have never assigned Mammon to watch over them. Hell, he would have made sure those two never even met. They became a new handful for him to manage from the day they first arrived…

When even more things started going missing around the House than normal, he knew he had made a grave mistake… They were clever, quick, and skilled. About the best WORST combination for a burglar to be…

Worse still, they were fast on their feet. He would pretty much have no way to nab them on foot and always had to resort to his wings or magic to have any hope of catching up to them… At least Mammon usually gets himself cornered!

But, paradoxically, he also came to notice that the mortal had an odd honesty streak to them... Like, they’d steal but they’d always admit to it, unlike Mammon who would try to deflect till he was blue in the face.

Were they proud of their work, maybe? Or just didn’t see the point in trying to get away with it...?

There would be several occasions where they’d take something, sell it with Mammon, and then steal the thing back later just to put it back where it belonged, seemingly never with Mammon’s permission to do so either… 

Is it better that they returned the stolen item or worse because their actions went from just robbery to a full-on scam? Either way, it gives him headaches trying to deal with it…

He pretty much gives up getting the mortal to stop after 6 months, they are legitimately that good, but makes them swear to always put back whatever they take at some point. It seems to work out and he lets more things slide, but please someone get them out of here soon… 

Mammon

Soulmatesoulmatesoulmatesoulmate, or maybe more accurately “Partner-in-Crime” but that means pretty much the same thing to him anyway. 🤷‍♀️

He’s never met a person better at thievery than they were. The day they met, they managed to pick his pockets without breaking a sweat (or a finger) and that was it. He was in love.

They could teleport! Actually teleport!! Suddenly, NOTHING was off limits to him any more! Lucifer’s rare records? Easy. Levi’s secret safe? Cakewalk. The Castle vault?? Child’s play!! It was like they could steal anything they put their mind to!!

He didn't even have to worry about them when they made getaways because they were fast too, the two actually have parkour races through the streets for the hell of it!

On top of all that, they were wicked creative. He’d come up with a money-making scheme then they’d offer him all sorts of little tricks to help get away with it...

HE’D have never realized that they could turn themselves into rats in order to frighten and sneak past Barbatos, but they thought of it the instant they heard of his fear of things. They're a mad genius!!

The only real downside was they seemed to like stealing for the sport of it instead of for the money… so they always steal back whatever they took.

That kind of defeats the purpose of all that work in the first place, right? Ah well, at least that's more money for him.

These two pretty much became a walking menace to Devildom society- Sorry, not sorry.

Leviathan

Not another Mammon!!! WHY?! What did he do to deserve this?!?

When he started noticing that EVEN MORE of his stuff was going missing than usual, he straight-up flipped! Like, had the mortal not been pretty tough in their own right they would have been Lotan-chow. End of discussion.

… And then they started using their powers for good? Kind of?

Like, first off they would always give back what they stole, which was a nice change from Mammon. Annoying, but at least he didn't have to go buy replacement games or anything…

And then they started stealing him limited edition merch or tickets and stuff because they… liked him?? He guessed???

Why else would they go to all the trouble of swiping one of the five ultra-rare Kitsune Ruri-chan figurines from its original collector? He would have had to pay Mammon half his tail for something like that but the MC just brought it to him one morning because they could!

Is… is this love? Has he grown to love that which he hates?! What is even happening anymore!?! Who is he?!? 😫

Eventually he has to reconcile his conflicted feelings by dubbing them the real life Peony Phantom Thief, Jane and even making them a cosplay. Yes, they have to wear it when they bring him things. No, it's not weird, shut up.

Satan

He wants to be irritated, no - furious, that they keep taking his stuff… But he’ll be damned if they aren’t making Lucifer’s life a living hell right now. 😏

He's honestly not even sure how they managed to swipe half of the priceless portraits in the Castle (a considerable feat since there's one for Every. Room.) but they pulled it off in under a week. Barbs didn't even notice the replicas…

If that's not mildly terrifying, he doesn't know what is. Who knows what things he could be missing at any given moment...?

At least the mortal had the good sense to return his things, unlike Mammon, which gets them off his shit list for the most part. 🤷‍♀️

It helps that they’re also impressively well-traveled. They claim to have been across every human continent and sailed every ocean. Though he was skeptical at first, just hearing their stories eventually convinced him.

What sort of person has sailed the Amazon River, hiked through Arctic tundra, seen every major capital city, and still had time to explore the sights of the French Riviera?

One that has magical teleportation powers apparently.

Frankly, he could listen to their stories of the human world all day and still ask for another. He's told them that they may as well just write a book of their own for him at some point, it'd be beneficial to their poor vocal chords.

Asmodeus

Ugh! Really? Another thief in the House?? Wasn’t one hard enough to deal with?!

Honestly, stolen beauty products aren't exactly something you can just sell or give back, so unfortunately a lot of Asmo's clothes/accessories get targeted and he is NOT happy about it...

Around the time his favorite scarf was stolen for the third time, he was about to gut the mortal himself, but they struck a deal with him. They could nab his clothes SO LONG as they returned them with an extra little "gift."

Jewelry, perfume, creams, nail polish, etc. Asmo kept a running list and pretty much treated his thieving friend like a less moral version of Akuzon. Whatever he asked for, no matter how rare or expensive, they always got their hands on so who was he to complain?

He once decided to test them by asking for the Hope Diamond - which they got for him - but he made them return it after a week after the curse on it made him ruin a particularly intricate manicure so…

Like Satan, he's also pretty impressed with all the places they've seen. He's pretty traveled in the human world himself so they exchange travel stories all the time!

He may bother them to him out traveling from time to time. There are so many gorgeous and romantic places to visit in the human world after all, it's not like anybody could stop them from just… popping in to have a look. Right? 😏

Beelzebub

They learned very quickly that his food is absolutely off limits and after that, they were good.

Seriously. Beel caught them once trying to swipe a piece of pizza from his dinner and he nearly ripped their arm off for it…

But on the flipside, he also knows that he can go to them if he REALLY needs a snack and is short on cash. 

It's pretty comical watching the fleet-foot mortal running from angry demon vendors with a basket of stolen apples for their buddy… But he appreciates their enthusiasm! 🙂

Beel actually likes to hear about their travels too, but mostly what they've eaten. They can keep him enraptured for hours by describing all the food they've come across in the human world…

Watch out for the drool, though.

Since they can teleport, they'll sometimes pop up with a human world treat for him and the man internally swears his undying love for them every time...

Outwardly, though, he just smiles. 'Cause he's a sweetie.

Belphegor

They… they opened the attic door on, like, the first day they met… They didn’t even make it look that hard, they had some kind of knack for breaking and entering…

Seriously, imagine the look on his face when they just walk into the attic to say hello… He had this whole, “Lure and Trick the Human” plan all thought out then they pulled out a magic lockpick or something and BOOM! Freedom!

He laughed, perhaps a little closer to the edge of sanity than he was intending, and he tried to attack them but they were so damn fast he couldn't land a single hit!

Damn was it embarrassing when the others came in…

MC: "LUCIFER! LUCIFER!! There's a monster in your attic!!!"

Lucifer: "That's not a monster that's my brother!!"

MC: *stops midway through kneeing Belphie in the stomach* …. Ooooooooh!

MC: Whoops. 

It was a… rocky start.

After they settled their differences quelled Belphie's bloodlust he found that they kind of grew on him rather quickly… Something about that mischievous energy and how much they gave his brothers (minus Beel) grief with it.

He absolutely helps them with their plans if it will annoy Lucifer in any way. Occasionally, they'll even take Belphie out on raids instead of Mammon.

Turns out he's surprisingly good at distractions because all he has to do is pretend to fall then take a nap. People around him will legitimately believe that he needs medical attention so the MC can sneak through crowds undetected...

Of course, Mammon gets PISSED when they do this, though. How dare his baby brother try to steal away his perfect partner!! Get your own damn mortal, Belphie!!! 🤬

[shadow--writer]

Good day to you! I’m in the mood for some slightly comedic fluff, so here we go! Could I get the main sixes reaction to the MC getting tipsy or drunk and loudly proclaiming to anyone in their sight about how much they love and adore their lover?

Ooooooooh I chuckled when I saw this! And when writing it was a cute prompt. Sorry these were a little short, I thought they were cute still!

Requests are open still (they might be closing soon so I can get all the ones in my inbox cleared out so send in your ask while you can!)

Main six x MC drunken love confessions

~~~~

Julian

You two went out to the Rowdy Raven for some fun

Boy did you get it. Drinking games, dancing, music, laughter galore 

Julian is having the time of his life and you kind of got swept up in it

The night was still going strong but you’re now drunk and sleepy 

Julian notices and picks you up, slinging you over his shoulder

“I think it’s time we go home darling.”

Giggling you kiss the back of his neck “I love you!”

Anyone who stopped by or said hello got a grin from you along with “I love him so much! That’s my boyfriend/husband!!”

Julian turns beet red

Trying not to sputter he nods to the person you were grinning at 

You’re still giggling, kissing his neck again murmuring how much you love him

He’s going to melt if you don’t stop

Asra

The two of you were out with friends, drinking sweet fruity things while telling stories and laughing 

You’re an affectionate tipsy, arms around their shoulders, legs in their lap

When other people come by asking for him you proudly grin up at them and say “That’s my significant other and I love them soooo much!”

Asra turns so red as you nuzzle into his neck

“And I looooove youu.”

Oh dear you’re gonna kill them

The rest of your friends are laughing at his predicament 

Walking you home is quite the trip with you declaring your love for them at everything 

But don’t worry he loves you so so much and this display of affection warms his heart right down to the core

Nadia

The two of you are relaxing and drinking champagne 

Getting tipsy together is no stranger to you 

But you declaring how beautiful and amazing she is to all the servants that come by is well

Surprising

So surprising in fact she chokes on her drink 

But she’s okay, watching you talk to Portia about how amazing Nadia is is a....

Rare treat

She loves you so much it aches

You’re so cute to her, and you yelling loudly about how much you love her never fails to make her blush 

She’ll brush light kisses on you face and cheek as she helps you off to sleep

Muriel

Muriel is not one for public displays of affection so when you get like this

He’s broken 

Great job you broke him again 

Now y’all gotta call Asra to get you home before Muriel melts into a puddle and evaporates 

Asra would have the time of their life trying to get you two home 

With you proclaiming how much you love Muriel to anyone who would listen

He’s bright red but patting your back softly

When you get home he kisses you and says he loves you too

But you are not going anywhere near alcohol anytime soon 

Portia

Hanging out in the bath with some wine and Pepi 

The both of you get tipsy and are giggling together

Stumbling back into her room, you declare your undying love for her

“This is my girlfriend/wife and I love her so much!”

Portia will blush and blush 

But gosh does she love you in all your dorky glory please never change

The other handmaidens and servants have a fun chuckle at your antics

You will go on a rant on how great she is much to her dismay 

She loves you though

Lucio

I’m gonna take it the LI aren’t drunk even though Lucio definitely would be drunk and yelling about how much he loves you too

But in this case, he’s sobered up to take care of you

And oh my gosh you’re yelling about how much you love him

Giggling while doing so

He loves you so much but please settle down!

You plant a big kiss on his mouth, whispering how much you love and adore him 

Okay that’s it

Throwing you over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes he’s taking you to your room

For a nap to nap the drink off 

Then he’s gonna show you how much he truly loves you back you silly amazing person

[rubecso]

I liveblogged that Greg Ellis video and now you can suffer with me

So I did not intend to watch the whole of Greg Ellis’ rant, but I guess I’m a masochist. I ended up liveblogging it so here, you can get the highlights without having to sit through 37:55 like I did. ETA: Holy shit, it got privated in the time it took me to copy this out. I might be one of the last people to watch it. What did I do to deserve this honour.

holy shit I'm on the video that Greg Ellis did in Cullen's voice and the like-dislike ratio is 124:1.4k

What the fuck this is 37:55 long?????

How did he bitch for 37:55??????????

HOLY SHIT 56 seconds in and he's talking about a 'mob of social justice warriors' wtf????

guys my soul has left my body

"Integrity is earned in turmoil, not simply asserted in comfort" what the fuck is this hasfdk;lsfdajlksfda;lksfda;sfda

HE IS TALKING ABOUT TWITTER DRAMA LIKE ITS A FANTASY WAR I CAN'T

"Join us on this most magnificent morality quest" WHAT

"Help us banish the reputation savages ((savagers?)) and cancel culture hedonists"

sfdsajklsfda this keeps getting weirder what the fuck

"Intellectual glitterati" he can't keep doing this

he can't keep making it weirder

i can't take it

i just can't

he's literally reading an Intellectual Dark Web manifesto in the voice of his character with Dragon Age background music and a bunch of hamfisted references to the dragon age world and general fantasy tropes

HE'S TALKING ABOUT THE CHIVALRIC CODE

"How can men and woman, who are profoundly different from one another, be equals? ~~Chivalry~~~"

I can't he's still voice acting he's acting this like he's actually voicing an emotional scene in the game i fucking can't

THE FUCKING MUSIC RAMPING UP UNDER HIS DRIVELLING BULLSHIT

"Join me, for this new adventure. Like. Follow. Subscribe."

If you aren't listening to this please please just imagine all this said with the upmost sincerity. Like, if you've done Cullen's romance picture it as the voice he used for the really emotional scenes.

Oh fuck I'm gonna listen to this whole thing, aren't I?

He's... he's talking about Johnny Depp and Pirates of the Caribbean

In Cullen's voice

Why is Cullen talking to me about Johnny Depp

He's talking about some time when him and another voice actor tried to hold an event where I guess they could try and launder their image after supporting JK Rowling?

Anyway this leads to him saying: "None of the mob showed up. Why..... WHY???"

THE PREGNANT PAUSES

THE INTERSECTIONAL MOB

OH god another "WHY???"

His voice quavering with OTT emotion

Fuck he really does want to be JBP, huh?

He's literally just bitching about people not showing up to his events now

“THE CANCELLATION OF CULLEN RUTHERFORD”

I CAN'T THIS IS JUST TOO FUNNY

OKay now he's just playing a propaganda film he made about the BLM protests??

Okay back to the cringe now

"In response to one angry mobster, Greg stated that every life has value~~~~~~..."

Okay I have now heard Cullen Rutherford say "All lives matter" with 100% sincerity

"We are living in an era of woke capitalism, in which companies pretend to care about social justice to sell products to people who pretend to hate capitalism."

Okay but like... you know that the 'capitalism' part of that is the problem and not the 'social justice' part right?

"Vile and LIBELOUS messages followed. They were posted online by a SELECT FEW..."

ooooooooh he's on to bitchiing about Mark Darrah this ought to be good

"Not to defend Greg or Cullen from the libelous and ridiculous aspersions...."

DUDE YOUR CHARACTER DIDN'T NEED DEFENDING WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU ON ABOUT????

Okay my chances of ever not hating Cullen have dissolved now, sorry this is all I'll hear when I hear his voice now

"And giving these negative nnnnnnincompoops exactly what they demanded..."

He literally drew out the 'n' in 'nincompoops'

"This post... had 6 likes. One of two comments.... was posted...." *dramatic reveal voice* ".... by MARK DARRAH"

"Mark Darrah... is the worst kind... of corporate coward. He has :’( no code..... of honour :’("

there are 10 minutes left i'm going to die

OKAY i have now heard Cullen Rutherford, commander of the inqusition, say the words "Go woke, go broke"

"One doesn't challenge The Maker.... without consequences"

I think the Maker here is Bioware?????

"Greg and Cullen were summarily lumped together.... and generalised!!!"

DUDE CULLEN IS NOT REAL

YOU CANNOT LUMP HIM IN WITH ANYONE

WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT

HE DID IT AGAIN

HE PUT "THE CANCELLATION OF CULLEN RUTHERFORD" TWICE

"The racist trolls came out of the woodwork to cancel Cullen, once... and for ALL!"

"I stand... for HUMAN... RIGHTS :’’’’’’’’’’’’(“ IT'S A VIDEO GAME CHARACTER

"BLACK.... LIVES... MATTER.” *long pause* “AND THEY DON'T MATTER MORE..... THAN ANYONE.... ELSE’S."

Yes. Correct. You are correct. Well done.

*insert the ‘You’re Correct Horse’ video*

"I love.... I ~~~~~love~~~~~~.... everyone "

"So yes.... alll... LIVES... DO... INDEED.... MATTER.... TO MEEEEEEE~~~~~~”

"This moment of history is harsh and merciless.... and in this moment.... I'm choosing.... LOVE"

HE'S LITERALLY JUST REPEATED THE 'WOKE CAPITALISM' LINE FROM EARLIER WORD-FOR-WORD

"Mobbing.... is social murder!"

"And by definition.... people cannot survive their own murder!"

(Again, just imagine his voice breaking with ~~~~~~~emotion~~~~~~~ on that line)

"How do we move from hateful to grateful????"

(The worst part is I know that this shit is going to be convincing to some people and that makes me actually sad)

"Exercise from the neck-up, during this.... PANIC-DEMIC!"

HE'S QUOTING CULLEN I FUCKING CAN'T

"As fans eagerly and patiently await the release of Dragon Age 4, and hope for the inclusion of their ~~~~beloved~~~~~~ Cullen" 

*vomit*

okay now he's just telling Cullen's backstory?

I'm guessing this is going to lead somehow into the whole "DON'T BE MEAN TO ME FOR THE SHITTY THINGS I DID IN THE PAST!!!!" thing?

Okay no he just... said it and then moved on?

"Only time.... and the Maker... will tell”

THAT’S IT

what the fuck i am going mad help

this video should come with a warning I got sucked in and trapped for half an hour

[apexqueenie]

For One-Punch man : S-Class psychic (with the power of telepathy) male superhero reader x Tatsumaki

Ooooooooh yes, sorry for taking so long! Work and School are REALLY taking a toll on me ugh. Welp, here’s bby Tatsu❤️

Enjoy!

Warnings: Foul language, dead monsters

“Ehhhhhhhhh? Some nobody made it to S-class right off the bat?” Tatsumaki crossed her arms. She hovered over the tech guys in the Hero Association headquarters impatiently and just happened to see a new document come up on screen. The name was cut off at the top of the monitor, but the large S above the nearly perfect score was clearly visible.

The nervous tech man jumped at the S-class heroine’s voice, “uhm, yes ma’am, he was just registered today”

“Tch, first King, then Demon Cyborg, and now this guy? So I guess anyone can just waltz into the S-class instead of earning it like the rest of us? Ugh, weaklings” she scoffed. “Also, I don’t know if any of you morons remember but I came here because you guys said you needed help so get on with it!”

She looked around the room at the various operators all furiously typing away at their keyboards, some taking distressed phone calls from powerless civilians encountering lower level monsters. Sighing, she floated around looking for the staff member that called for her aid. Tch, if there were copies of her around, there won’t be so many monsters wandering the streets. Waiting around here was so goddamn booooooooooooooooring.

“Who called me here anyways?!” She yelled, “It’s taking so long for them to show up that I might as well just go look for the monster myself!” She raised herself far above everyone else, hoping that someone would notice and give her some coordinates. ANY coordinates.

Her hopes were answered when an association worker, Scruff man she calls him, entered the room, laptop in one hand as he adjusted his headset in the other. She growls with impatience and hovers over to him, fixing his headset for him so he could pay attention to her quicker.

“Where’s the monster I need to clean up?” she said, poking the man’s head.

He sighed, still heading over to his desk to set his laptop down. “Actually, we already have a hero there, but we have reports of the commotion attracting a huge energy signature from the-”

“Yeah yeah, give me the location already! I have to do ALL the work here” she interrupts.

He typed at his keyboard seemingly unbothered by the heroine’s rude mannerisms. “City J, watch out along the border in city K though,” he says. He was about to say more, but the green haired woman already vanished. He shook his head, getting back to other important matters at hand. “She’ll be fine” he mutters.

***

City J wasn’t that far by any means, not if you could fly there like the Terrible Tornado. She could hear the screams of frightened people before she even got to the scene...at least...she thought they were screams. Listening closer, Tatsumaki realized they were...cheers?

Oddly enough, she saw people smiling, taking videos and selfies of an abnormally big bear monster that laid sprawled across the floor, a massive dent in its head as well as a destroyed cafe in front of it. The hero of the day stood next to the corpse, smiling at the crowd as they swooned over him. She didn’t recognize him however...was it some lower class trying to get a rank boost? She flew over, hovering above him for intimidation.

He turned to look at her, unfazed by her presence. “Oh, hi partner! You must be the Terrible Tornado! I heard they were sending you as backup-”

“BACKUP?!” she yelled, “I am NOBODY’S BACKUP! If it weren’t for those STUPID HQ workers, I would’ve been here faster and without all this damn mess!” She waved her hand to the remains of the destroyed building to prove her point.

The hero blinked at her and smiled again, “so, this must be the award winning personality that coined your name huh? Well, you’re not the only one with a powerful mind you know. Mine takes over weak ones- anyways, we need to evacuate these people. They came back once the alarm stopped, but HQ warned us that there’s another beast hiding somewhere…” he trailed off, concentrating at the crowd of people that still cheered for him. He was sensing an approaching danger…a BIG danger. Suddenly, he turned to Tatsumaki and called her name, pointing to a cluster of people urgently.

She barely got the message as the ground began to crack underneath them. In between the cracks, she spotted a blue and disfigured monster, its drill like teeth boring its way to the surface until it suddenly froze, its eyes turning milky white. Subconsciously, she had already picked up everything in that area: people, cars, street signs, rubble and all, placing them gently out of harm’s way. Next to her, the unnamed hero holds both his hands out towards the monster, his eyes reflecting the same white as the monster he controlled.

“Tornado!” he yelled with a bit of difficulty. Quickly, she pulls everyone she sees far away from the battle scene, clearing the debri from the streets simultaneously so they can make their escape. The alarm sounds again, warning everyone of a threat level demon terrorizing the city. Tatsumaki rises above the buildings, scanning the area for more threats, but to her surprise, she sees none. Before she could start worrying about the monster at hand, the hero below lets out a triumphant yell at the area being cleared of civilians.

“Hah! This is where the real fun begins!” He says.

Tatsumaki looked down to see the male jump right above the monster before it unfroze and launched itself far above the ground. She moved out of the way to let the blue salamander-like monster pass her, its impossibly long body covering her view of the sun. She stared in awe at the hero riding the nearly 200 foot long beast to the sky. He felt no fear as he dropped with the giant, yelling with glee like a child playing with a new toy. It fell to the ground, crushing uneven buildings with its soft underside, the sudden takeover messing with its head and making it uncoordinated and confused. This gave the hero the perfect opportunity to control it with ease. The Salamander’s eyes turned milky white in its confusion, ceasing his movements and almost robotically repositioning its body. A split second later, it began bashing its head against the ground, quickly losing the strength to stand up as the hero rode on top of it like he was at a rodeo. Tatsumaki could only stare in shock as it took one last hit and stumbled on its side, dying next to the previous monster who met the same fate.

She was speechless. Never had she seen someone use an enemy’s own power against them, not like that. What did he say again..? ‘Well, you’re not the only one with a powerful mind you know. Mine takes over weak ones.’. Huh, so someone on the opposite side of the Esper Spectrum.

The hero turned to smile at her from below and Tatsumaki couldn’t help but turn a bit red from embarrassment. She was the number 2 hero, yet, she barely did anything to aid in stopping the attack. She didn’t know why, but for the first time in a long while, she felt ok with someone else handling the monster. She floated down a good distance to meet him, hoping her green aura would cover up some of the redness.

“Thanks for the help back there, I don’t really like taking over human minds all that much, so it was a big help for you to move them yourself.” he says as he begins to make his way down from the monster’s neck.

Tatsumaki only responded with a ‘hmph’ as she hovered in pace with him. She wasn’t used to being the backup, but what’s done is done. Even if she was impressed, she couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit salty.

Sounds of sirens, helicopters, and news reporters became audible soon after the hero’s feet touched the ground. Few people came back to the aftermath to take pictures and film the dead beasts.

“Well,” the hero says, fixing his outfit, “looks like people are coming to interview us already. S-classes really are a big deal huh? I don’t think I’m ready to spend the next hour or two being asked boring questions, so I'm gonna dip. I’ll see you around?”

“...Sure.” She says.

“Great!” He smiles, before turning around to head off away from the paparazzi.

Tatsumaki eyes him for a second, trying to figure out again if she recognizes him before the curiosity gets the better of her. “Wait!” She calls out.

He turns around, giving her his full attention.

“What’s your name anyways?” She huffs.

He gives her a playful smirk, “I thought you knew already. I’m your new S-class companion, and I’m comin for Blast’s number 1 spot.” He says, pointing a thumb to himself as he turned back around and continued walking.

“LIKE HELL I’D LET YOU TAKE THAT SPOT” he heard Tatsumaki yell before she let out a frustrated growl and began heading off to her next task.

The hero chuckled to himself. The Terrible Tornado could be cute sometimes if she wasn’t trying to kill you.

***

As Tatsumaki flew off, she couldn’t help but feel a bit giddy. Finally, there was someone who could pull their weight... someone she could share the load with and who wasn’t quite normal like her and Fubuki. It was an odd feeling of..relief? Comfort? She didn’t quite know just yet, so she shook that feeling away. The number two hero doesn’t catch feelings that easily, at least, that’s what she told herself. Aside from her sister, relationships were hard for Tatsumaki...but deep down, she secretly hoped she would work with him again soon.

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[onlyhereforangst]

WWR

i mean i only had three weeks to get it done so naturally i’m finishing it three days before the next ep airs, would you expect anything less?

Ok we start off hot with a subtly jealous Nick scene and I love it. Ellie is like stunned that such a thing even exists “a covid crush” because lets be honest, she probably has no eyes for anyone else at this point - even if it’s been a YEAR (well 10ish months) a whole ass YEAR since the jail cell scene and can I just tell you I am mad about that. Why they do us dirty and skip a whole dang year?? Why can’t we quick flash forward every couple of months?? I mean I know it has felt like an entire year has gone by in a week, RIP 2020 no one will miss you, but like I wanted to see it 😩 and I better get at least some kind of explanation for whatever the F has gone down between these two from “well what are we gonna to about that as we stand 5 inches apart” to now. I demand this explanation. 

Anyways, back on track here - Nick is jealllllllous BUT different kind of jealous for this man because for once he’s not all dark and broody about it. He’s over here willingly, *willingly* bringing up said jealousy aaaand he’s smiling about it (!!!) because despite them still not being together (where’s the Gibbs’ headslap when you actually need it amiright) he’s not worried about this crush. He knows her feelings and his so it’s like yeah I’m a little jealous but also I’m gooood, I got this one in the bag 😏 (also can I just say I need Ellie to show him he does not in fact ‘have this in the bag’ if he’s gonna act like a little shit and push her away). 

This whole thing about babysitting and not wanting to take care of other living beings is very very very interesting considering they both loved taking care of Charlie (Cody, I blame this on pregnancy brain thank you @thekeyboardninja) in the end AND EVEN TALKED ABOUT PARENTING EVENTUALLY. So like, where did we backtrack??? Excuse me who allowed you to do such things. I’m feeling like they likely backtracked (this was s16 after all) because once again, the dust settled after their super close vulnerable moment and they went and hid behind those stupid walls they both have and somehow convinced themselves that being alone was better for them. IT’S A LIE YALL IT’S A LIE. You being together and taking care of each other is exactly what you need and it’ll be perfect and amazing and just DO IT ALREADY 😭

The team moment with Jimmy is so 🥺 and throughout the episode. I’m not going to touch on that stuff much because this is ellick focused but also because I truly do not need to sob again (even if I called Breena dying from covid like months ago and knew exactly what was coming with all of it but you know, I still cry, it’s fine, I’m fine). 

Ellie knowing Gibbs uses a weighted blanket and Nick doubting her is just comical to me 😂 mini side note before we get into how they have a thiiiiiing and it’s called always getting dibs on the elevator in tandem for months and McGee HOW CAN YOU NOT TELL. These two are so in sync even if they are still spectacularly failing at talking this out & taking that next step. Also months of Gibbs riding down the elevator with just those two…….the third wheeling must be slowly killing the old dude, give him a break you two. 

Tell me why these two have the exact same stance in the bullpen- could you be more obvious?? You rubbing off on each other. And then the walking up to the barbershop scene I caaaan’t. Ellie is SO flirty. Like so flirty. Who is this new Ellie and why do I love her so much. But Nick gives it right back too and her little giggle with shoulder shrug is just perfect. She’s fiiiiinally letting herself *feel* more and let it be out in the open and it’s just so great. I love seeing this character development for her 🥺 walls coming down, being more forward with her flirting and feelings and it’s all I’ve ever needed. Also we’re gonna take a small detour into Nick’s pants I mean the notebook he casually stashes in the front of his jeans like it doesn’t make a person look RIGHT. THERE. Don’t ask me why it’s hot, I don’t know the answers to the universe, it just is. We knoooooow Ellie is loving it’s location there, she wouldn’t mind flirtatiously taking it out at the next stop to “check” where they needed to go. You know, just helping a partner out- don’t worry Nick she’s got it handled 😏😏🔥🔥 Ok back from our detour, when Nick asks if she’s got him and she answers so quickly and almost with the undercurrent of “of course I do how is that even a question I’ll protect you until the day I die” (yes this is what she says), I love. 

Ok since when does Nick like puzzles and how does Ellie know this??? He was most certainly NOT a puzzle kind of guy when he first joined the team so are you telling me that maybe Ellie and her nerdiness (come on there’s no way she doesn’t love puzzles) got Nick into puzzles??? Also also also does everyone remember that time in covid lockdown where literally everyone and their mother did five thousand puzzles because we couldn’t leave our houses? Soooooo is this a nod to Ellie & Nick spending some time together doing puzzles (at presumably Ellie’s apartment because she’d be the one to have said puzzles) and turns out Nick loves them even more than she did???? Is this what you’re making me read in between the lines NCIS? Because I am most certainly ok with this. 

Ooooooooh-kay this 8pm thing for Nick. SO many possibilities. It’s been confirmed it wasn’t Ellie (which I won’t lie was my immediate wish) via Steven Binder on twitter (which I also won’t lie, my angst heart loves it’s something else). My take is it’s something (not another girl though) personal- I would *love* if it was therapy or some type of personal development thing. I think he realizes over the past year he has involuntarily retreated emotionally from Ellie even if outwardly it doesn’t show (no personal space and continued flirting). I think he *knows* he’s doing it emotionally and yet can’t figure out how to stop himself from doing it- like on the outside of his body watching him make a dumb mistake but unable to change a damn thing. SO I feel like whatever this 8pm thing is will play into that. It’ll somehow be related to Nick diving deeper into himself and trying to get more in touch with the parts of himself he loves to ignore/hide/push down. That could be therapy, a self-help class, getting in touch with family (but I don’t think he would feel the need to get secretive about this. i mean he already brought up Lucia to this dude, why would he all of a sudden be ashamed of a dinner/meeting with his mom or dad or something? i just don’t buy that). But anyways back to the point- it’s something Nick feels the need to hide in shame because that’s how he’s been conditioned as an undercover agent who feels the need to be tough and strong for everyone and being vulnerable is WAY too scary (helloooooo enneagram 8 nice to meet you I’m also an enneagram 8 Nick isn’t it fun). 

I don’t know why them talking so casually on the phone, while Nick is getting ready for the day no less is so damn pleasing to me. The simple domesticity of it all because it’s totally something one would do with their spouse is just 🥰🥰 And then their little freaking smiles can THEY NOT. Ellie you like glazed donuts?? Is this some kind of hint? Innuendo? Just a glaringly obvious chance to flirt and you don’t give a rat’s ass you’re in the middle of the bullpen with Gibbs’ listening to your conversation so you’ll take that chance anyways because you’re head over heels for this guy? Either way Nick’s little smirk oof. I think he takes it as all three of those things and he’s *perfectly* ok with it. UNTIL until, there’s always an until with you Nicholas god damn. Ellie nervously asking about NIck’s apartment 🥺 she may be head over heels but she’s still a little shy and unsure. She thought that jail cell moment would break things through for them and yet she’s- not to quote Taylor swift or anything because why on earth would I do that- right where you left her. WHY NICHOLAS WHY. Since we know Ellie has seen and is very familiar with the inner workings of Nick’s apartment come 16x10, I presume he moved, and it sounds like recently. From the looks of this new place it’s niiiiice. For someone who doesn’t like a lot of things (see s14 when he joins team I don’t remember the exact ep sorry) - he sure managed to settle into that apartment quite nicely. It’s furnished well, it’s homey for DC. And if he’s moved into it since after the jail cell, letting Ellie in is likely a big step in his eyes. But we know this has got to be a weird shift for Ellie. Seemingly so comfortable in each others’ spaces and now she hasn’t even been invited over?? Yeah you smell something fishy girl just like I do. Even if Nick has a cute ass smirk at the end of his little charade to hang up the phone. Wipe that smirk off your face sir you owe us I mean Ellie an explanation and a visit to your apartment. SHE WANTS TO BE YOUR HOUSEGUEST. SHE WANTS TO BE IN YOUR HOUSE. SHE WANTS TO BE IN YOUR PANTS WHILE IN THAT HOUSE. JUST LET HER ALREADY. Ok I’m done, moving on. 

Ok the guys opening the doors dramatically to let the one (1) woman on the team make a super badASS entrance is just 🔥🔥🔥 yes love it. 

Excuse me why does Ellie feel the need to completely turn her body from the rest of the team/bullpen to be 100% faced on Nick. Body language don’t lie bitch I see you. And Nick stealing a glance at Ellie before having to answer McGee’s question about roommates…..interesting, very interesting sir. You thinking about how she’s going to react to some rando being in your apartment AND staying the night before she has?? You thinking about making her a permanent roommate?? But of course he turns to quick humor for a hot sec because this is Nick and then shockingly, like actually shockingly (is this that personal development, soul-searching, deep dive into emotional wonderland rubbing off on him??? Is it working is this foreshadowing???) he goes and gets deep on ‘em. And McGee calls him on it and I love it, I really think this is some foreshadowing here. I think we’re seeing some of the work Nick is doing on himself, getting himself ready for as serious as a relationship as he knows it’ll be with Ellie, paying off. He’s thinking about ~*emotional*~ consequences to actions and OOF yes. The growth, I live for the fucking growth. “It’s not easy to get through the tough transitions on your own” you say as you literally tried to do that for actual YEARS until you met this team. Until you met Ellie. Until you realized that emotional fallout was a real thing and you my friend are a terrible victim to it. Because guess what- exhibit A is right here about to ask you to dinner and you gonna turn her down. You quite literally tried to get through a tough transition (re: Ellie’s kidnapping & the two bombs) by yourself. That dust settled and you immediately emotionally retreated, not physically- emotionally. You went back to what you always knew, the lone wolf on your own, endure the tough transition. And yes you’ve been doing some work on yourself, but now- now you realize it. You can’t do work on yourself alone. You can’t go through this shit alone. You need your support system- your person. But that thought truly terrifies you. You’ve realized it but are you ready to act on it? Not quite yet. You might be close, but you still can’t bring yourself to be honest with her yet. When Ellie nervously asks Nick if he wants to grab a bite you can feel her start to (it’s probably been there quite a while but she’s tried to ignore the feeling of him emotionally shutting her out and pushing her away but the houseguest thing brought it back full force) really worry about where they stood. She won’t completely admit it to herself because she knows what was said in the jail cell wasn’t a lie or a dramatization for either of them, but that worry that’s been creeping in like a vine is taking hold. Nick saying “there’s something I need to take care of” hmmmmm I feel like this is SO vague. And probably purposely done so by the writers but I just - if it was solely him bringing the dude back to his daughter’s why wouldn’t he just tell Ellie that? What would be the harm in her knowing this? She’s aware you’ve bonded so why would he not just say that? I feel like there was definitely something else he thought he would go do after it. With all the talk of tough transitions and then his obviously pre-made plans to drop this guy off, I just feel like there was some other task he had planned before McGee called him. And him discussing the reset button (I’ll get to this) just kind of solidifies that for me. He’d been doing a LOT of reflection that day and he had something more major planned, I just wish I knew what 😩 Ok back to Ellie’s response, she’s honestly shocked and a little confused at his ominously vague answer. And I’d wager a tiny bit of hurt is in that expression too. All those vines of worry taking hold? Yeah, that’s why. They even just tightened and made her speechless for a second. The emotional withdrawal she feared was being confirmed in front of her very eyes. Because (at least on our screens) the last time Nick turned down a bite to eat with her? Oh yeah, he was dating fucking Elena. (Once again, I don’t think he’s got another girl but y’all this is the parallel Ellie could easily draw seeing as it was only a few months ago, supposedly.) And he even looks almost guilty about turning her down, like he knows it’s probably hurting her (and their relationship) but he can’t help it. He hates that he’s doing it and the words coming from his mouth (good lord it’s like the end of 17x07 with overprotective/you’re like a sister to me all over again) but he can’t stop it. And then my heart breaks for Ellie when she tries to put on a brave, strong face that claims she isn’t bothered by his rejection yet we all knoooooow 😭😭😭 He gives her a small little “night” and she’s just standing there wondering where the hell she went wrong with this, how she read them all wrong. 

Ahhhhh the glorious reset button, ya love to see it. When he claims he has the opposite problem you can see his faraway look in his eye. You know *exactly* what, or better yet who, he’s thinking about in that moment. He knows he has to stop avoiding his emotional growth with Ellie. He knows he has to stop hitting the reset button the second things between them get real. And I think he’s known this for a while now but is finally, finally coming to grips with taking real steps forward. Taking steps to embrace the vulnerability he’s terrified of. Finally putting that reset button away 🥺

Ellie knowing Nick has one tie is just another swoon moment. Yes I could get dirty with that (see my tags on previous gifsets for proof) but like, also this is so real of them? They know so damn much about each other it’s insane. She may not have even been in his apartment yet but she knows he owns one tie. Like- come on. Nick you think you’re emotionally distant from this woman but my god it’s the opposite. You two are so intertwined you don’t even realize it as you chuckle and try once again to avoid thinking about that reset button. And then Jimmy goes and reads that letter and I sob. Yes I sobbed. Like I said not getting into this part because my pregnancy hormones can’t handle this (I’m barely rewatching this part with audio ok). But Jimmy’s words voiced over a shot of ellick…take my heart why don’t you. “To hear a laugh, and know that your life would change for ever” like come ON. First, Jimmy you slay me and second, all I can picture is Ellie chuckling with Nick in the bullpen showing him the clicker settings and Nick loving it. Nick your life would be changed forever in that moment I hope you knew. Ellie, pulling her arm around Nick’s for strength, support, I just-. Despite the turmoil she’s been going through, the doubts and the worry that’s crept in- she still feels it. She still feels love for this man and knows her life was changed forever when she met him. No matter how long she tried to deny it, she knows. And that little piece of her that desperately clings to Nick getting his head out of his ass and opening up emotionally to her, that piece decides to break that sliver of personal space and lean on him for support. She needs to touch him- the man who she can’t picture losing like Jimmy lost Breena. She needs to feel him still there, even if he hasn’t completely realized his life changed forever because of her- she has. Gripping his arm for the comfort it gives in knowing he’s still by her side, his hand brushing hers as an involuntary “I’ve got you” (even a reset button pusher like Nick can’t help his reflexes). The gravity of the fragility of life weighing heavily on them both, they hold each other. They’ve got each other. And good god is that poetry we just need them to actually fucking TALK ABOUT IT 😩😭

I don’t know if I even have side notes but I do appreciate NCIS paying homage to the utter grief this pandemic has been. Jimmy being the one to lose a loved one was quite honestly the perfect scenario to me. It shows just how cruel this pandemic has been, ripping even the most optimistic, happy people down to their knees in grief. It’s something that shouldn’t be glossed over and I do hope they continue to have this arc of struggling with grief throughout the season. I think it is so relatable and refreshing to see played out legitimately on the screen. I don’t want happy, go-lucky stale content. I want something real and something tangible. Yes I love my mindless entertainment, but it’s also nice to see *real* drama on a TV drama. At least, that’s my opinion 🤷🏻‍♀️ I’d apologize but isn’t that why you’re reading this to begin with? 😘😘

[wing-ed-thing]

Cliché (shy!Reader x Might Guy, Part III)

Notes: OOOOOoooh boy. You know, I’m usually really insecure about my writing but I actually had a lot of fun writing this chapter. Probably my favorite. Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading as I did writing. Links to part I and II are on the Masterlist pinned at the top of my blog. Unfortunately, Tumblr won’t let this post show up in the tags if I link them here. Lots of love!

Warning for foul language and some sexual innuendo.

It was a small step, but that small step began your blossoming bond with Might Guy. The both of you became almost inseparable. You didn’t know what it was exactly about him, but whenever he was near, you just felt at ease. Wherever you went, Guy accompanied you. Whenever Guy went to train, you were there if not to just spectate. It was apparent to the whole village that you were a good match, yet the two of you stayed near oblivious. Day by day, you grew bolder. You spoke more, laughed more, and for once it felt like you had a seat at the table in your own life. He balanced you as you balanced him.

“You can slow down sometimes, you know,” you would tell him, “Life isn’t a race, it’s meant to be savored.” He took your advice. At times where he normally would have been training for the umpteenth time, you would spot him taking his team out to dinner. When he normally would have run 500 laps around the village, he walked with you as the both of you chatted. You were still soft-spoken and Guy was still outgoing, but you had grown together. You thought you’d never see the day that Might Guy would become the closest person to you, but here it was. Even if you stayed friends, you would be happy.

It was the end of the training day. Your team was splayed out among members of Team Guy. All six children panted, catching their breath on the dirted training ground. Guy worked them hard today. You, well, you reminded everyone that water existed while you tended to the inevitable scrapes and bruises. You were always told that you had too much of a gentle hand when it came to training up Genin, but with Guy’s tough love attitude, both of your teams seemed to be benefiting from your mixed style.

“Alright Team, be sure to thank Guy-Sensei.” You announced as they gathered their kunai from around the field. They gave a tired yet resounding thanks to your colleague. Guy stood across the grounds and gave a thumbs up. One of your students came up to you.

“Do we always have to train with Team Guy?” she complained in a hushed tone. Your other students turned to face you, nodding in agreement. You gave a quiet laugh.

“And here I thought you liked spending time with Team Guy.” The kunoichi in training sighed. The two other boys stood beside her now, directly in front of you.

“We like Team Guy but Guy-Sensei always goes overboard!” one of your boys protested earnestly.

“Yeah,” the other pouted. “Just because you like having boring talks with Guy-Sensei doesn’t mean we should have to do all these crazy routines, (Y/N)-Sensei.” You blinked in shock for a moment before the shock turned into annoyance. Why these little-!

“I’m sorry.” You crossed your arms, a smile on your lips. Your brow twitched. “Do you want to run another 500 laps? Because that’s what I’m hearing right now.”

Your smile made your team uneasy. They passively felt your increasingly negative energy. Creepy. That was the end of those questions. They trudged back home as you trailed behind and walked with Guy.

“What did they want?” Guy asked, lightly bumping your shoulder with his.

“Who?”

“Your team!” he chuckled jovially. “It looked like they wanted to talk to ya.” Your students had begun to branch off at this point as they headed home. Guy continued to walk with you.

“Oh.” Your student’s words echoed through your head. Just because you like having boring talks with Guy-Sensei doesn’t mean we should have to do all these crazy routines, (Y/N)-Sensei. You kept your features light despite inwardly cursing those brats you loved so much. “Nothing! You know Genin. Complaining!”

You looked at Guy whose aura was as positive as ever. You really were smiling more, weren’t you? The both of you continued. In the distance, you saw two figures waving over to the pair of you.

“(Y/N), Guy, you’re just in time!” Kotetsu declared loosely. “Genma and them just got back from a mission!”

“We’re all getting drinks, the whole gang! You gotta come along,” Izumo chimed, “When’s the last time we were all in the village together?”

You did miss your friends and it had indeed been a long time. However, you didn’t know if the bar was the scene for you. Guy had already made up his mind.

“Aw yeah! I can’t wait to see everyone!” The two shinobi before you quite obviously pregamed before running into you, but Guy’s enthusiastic energy still matched theirs. You stood by, watching as the three hyped each other up for the night to come. You inched back.

“Um,” You started in a small voice, “I’ll see everyone later.” Despite their slight inebriation, Kotetsu and Izumo heard that.

“No! C’mon (Y/N)-chan, you gotta come!”

“Yeah you gotta come! We’re on missions tomorrow, and Kurenai and Asuma are being sent out the day after us! When’s the next time we’ll all be together?”

“When’s the next time we’ll be together, (Y/N)?”

Guy cleared his throat, putting a large hand on the shoulders of both men.

“Don’t pressure the lady. She doesn’t have to do anything she doesn’t want to.” You could’ve melted right there. What a dream for introverts! However, you were trying to be bolder, to step out of your comfort zone every once in a while.

“No,” you peeped, “It’s okay, let’s go. I’m sure it’ll be… fun!” Guy gave you a look as if to ask if you were sure. You nodded.

Kotetsu and Izumo led you to the bar where the others were already seated. They migrated to the bar where Kakashi sat with Asuma and Kurenai. Anko seemed to have claimed a circular booth so both you and Guy slid down at one of the ends. Shizune and Ebisu greeted you as Genma called for another round for the table.

The bar was busy but not enough for you to mind. In fact, the more you drank, the less you minded about most things in general. Despite your earlier hesitation, you were starting to really enjoy the company. Listening to your fellow Jounin tell stories, your posture relaxed.  You had one leg slung over Shizune’s thigh as you leaned back against Guy, his arm coming up to rest on the top of the booth behind your shoulders.

“And this dude really fell! Like ‘BOOM’ flat on his face!” Genma narrated animatedly, slamming his open palm against the table. The glasses on the table jiggled. “When I picked him up I asked him, ‘Are you sure you have a bounty? Because you’re the easiest catch I’ve ever hooked!’” The booth was in hysterics. Even the ever-stoic Ebisu couldn’t hold back upon hearing his ex-teammate’s story. Tears welled up in your eyes from laughter as you felt the deep rumble of Guy behind you. You sat up.

“Excuse me!” You exclaimed, waving the short distance from your booth to the group at the bar. “Would someone please do me the favor of getting me another sake?” Your words slurred towards the end. Anko snorted.

“Well fuck, I didn’t think we’d be getting (Y/N) shitfaced tonight!” She cackled.

“I am not drunk!” You defended, accepting your third sake from Kakashi who leaned against the side of the booth with an amused look. “But I may be a little tipsy.” The table howled as Genma reached over to ruffle your hair.

Guy leaned down to whisper to you. His fingers came over yours, delicately taking the glass from your hands. “Maybe you should lay off the drinks right now.” He breathed in your ear. He set your sake down by the one he had been nursing all night. You turned to face him, your leg slipping off of Shizune’s. You leaned more into his shoulder. Guy tensed.

“Maito-Kun…” You whined. Guy was taken aback. Maito-Kun. That was new. He took in your features: the pout on your lips, your large eyes framed by silky strands of hair, the fact that you were slowly trying to reach for your sake cup. He moved it to the end of the table. His attention was drawn again to your lips as they moved. Guy had never paid particular attention to your lips before… wait, as they moved? Guy shook himself out of his thoughts as he realized you were speaking. Now wasn’t the time.

“What did you say?”

“I said I was fine, really. Please don’t worry about me.” You smiled up at him. Before he could answer, Izumo’s voice boomed from the bar.

“Guy! Kakashi!” He called, “Come do a shot with me and Asuma!” Guy hesitated.

“Go!” you encouraged, lightly prodding him with your elbow. He stood up, Kakashi giving him a pat on the back as they walked towards the bar.

“So,” Kotetsu started, sliding into the other end of the circular booth.  You retrieved your drink from where Guy placed it. “How long has that been going on for?” You waited for someone to respond, but no one did. You looked up and all eyes were on you.

“Who, me?” You inquired, taking a sip. Anko puffed.

“Yeah, you.” She took a swig from her drink. “You’re the one who Guy’s been feeling up all night.” You almost choked on your drink.

“What? No, no he hasn’t been-”

“‘Cause you’ve had a thing for him forever, haven’t you?” Kotetsu questioned. Your heart sank. How did he know? “I gotta hand it to you, (Y/N), I don’t think anyone thought you had it in you.” He shrugged. You didn’t think anyone knew about your crush on Guy. You looked over to Kurenai. There’s no way she told anyone right? Your eyes drifted to the man in question. Did he also know?

“Yeah,” Anko barked, “It was always so cringy watching you try to talk to him.” You tensed, the pit in your chest growing larger and more painful the more she spoke. Every word felt like a punch in the stomach.

“It was painful to watch,” Ebisu added. “Especially back in the academy.”

Anko continued, “But we’re all happy for you that you pulled it off, (Y/N). I wasn’t sure how much more I could take! You know, all the stuttering.”

It felt like there was a knot in your throat. You cleared it. Your cheeks had begun to burn from more than just the alcohol. You batted back the tears that began to gather in your waterline. They weren’t from laughing this time.

“Actually, Guy and I are just friends.” You corrected, hoping that you could end the discussion there. That sentence alone barely made it out. You prayed for this conversation to end. You murmured, “Always have been…”

“Heh, I’m sure.” Genma leaned forward to rest his arms on the table. He gave you a wink. “So what? Are you just thirsty for his, uh, Green Beast, huh (Y/N)-chan?”

“Genma!” snapped Shizune. “Stop being gross.”

At this point, you regretted coming. You felt crushed, like you could burst at any moment. All your energy went into maintaining a straight face. You would not be the one to cry in front of your friends at the bar. It was a silly promise to yourself that held your last shred of dignity. Luckily, the topic of conversation quickly changed. You suspected that Kotetsu and Shizune picked up on your discomfort while Anko and Genma were too out of it to notice the bluntness of their words. You have never felt such embarrassment. You wanted to leave. Guy stayed at the bar. It made you relieved, despite a small part of you wanting him to come back. Despite time passing, you couldn’t help but continue to feel dejected.

You couldn’t hold out for long. As you started to sober up, you whispered to Shizune that you were leaving. She gave you a nod and an apologetic look. You only planned on talking to Kurenai and Guy before you left. As you were getting up from the booth, that’s when you heard it.

“C’mon Guy, what about that one over there?” Izumo was gesturing towards a woman near the other part of the bar. You had to admit, she was beautiful. Much more beautiful than you thought you were. “You should go talk to her! Guy, when’s the last time you got, you know, some action?”

You didn’t want to hear the rest of that conversation. It all became too much for you. You weren’t sure if you were overwhelmed. Maybe it was the fact that you didn’t really want to come in the first place. Perhaps it was just the alcohol, but you felt wetness on your cheeks and you quickly made your escape.

You stood outside under the moonlight, surrounded by cool air. You began to shed silent tears, your hands covering your face. You wished you could’ve at least walked home first, but your legs felt locked, as if they would collapse if you tried more than just standing. How did everyone know about your secret? Were you that obvious? Was Guy just playing with you? Your face burned. You thought about the conversation between Guy and Izumo. You had no right to be upset about what Guy decided to do with his own life. He didn’t owe you a relationship of any kind. You knew that, but it wasn’t Guy you were upset with. It wasn’t Genma or Anko or Kotetsu or Izumo. It was- someone called your name. You turned your head slightly. It was Kurenai.

“I just-” you tried to wipe the tears from your face, but they only kept flowing- “You didn’t tell anyone, did you?”

“Tell anyone what?” She came to stand in front of you.

“About my crush on Guy-San.” You felt like a Genin, like a child all over again getting upset about something as dumb as a boy. Shame coursed through your body.

“No, I didn’t.” Kurenai reassured you softly as she pulled you into an embrace.

“I know you didn’t,” You cried into her shoulder. “I’m sorry, I just feel so pathetic.” Your friend patted your head slightly.

“You’re not pathetic, (Y/N).”

“I just-” A sob wracked your body- “I feel like everyone thinks so! Why am I like this, Kurenai?” You shook violently. “I just, I just feel… horrible right now. I’m sorry, Kurenai.”

“Shh… don’t be sorry. You have nothing to be sorry about. You know how Genma gets when he’s had too many. And everyone knows Anko is a mean drunk.” Your friend whispered.

You let out another sob, “She is a mean drunk!”

Kurenai smiled at you. “Yeah, she is. Let’s get you home. We can talk more when we get you home.” And that’s where you went.

[two-simps-and-a-google-doc]

Tiny Galaxies

Chapter One

Pov: both (?)

Ship: intrulogical

Tw: cursing (it's remus), mention of burning things, mention of broken bones, mention of detached body parts, sympathetic remus

Let us know if we missed anything!

Word count: 754

Remus was sitting in his room, writing ideas down on paper and sliding them into a little compartment in his desk. It was used to send ideas to Thomas, but since they were almost never used, they would just burn up. Which was exactly what all the papers did. 

Meanwhile, Logan was sitting at his own desk, filling out an old notebook. The page title read: ‘Behavioral Devices for Optimal Information Comprehension’. It was full of ideas on how to make the others listen to him. Of course, most of them never worked, at least the ones he’s tried so far. He was running out of ideas though, and only two remained unmarked on the page.

Remus coughed a few times. The smell of the burning papers were beginning to get a bit too much.

“Okay...maybe I should do something else- ehhhh...But what else is there to do?” Remus thought aloud. “Roman’s a bitch, Virgil’s a bitch, Patton’s fucking Janus…” Of course, he was still salty about Janus being accepted.

“Maybe...Logan? I can go annoy him..Yeah! Yeah I can do that!!”

Remus teleported into Logan’s room, falling from the ceiling and breaking his neck on the floor followed by an awfully painful crack.

“Hey Dork~”

Logan sat at his desk, hunched over the page and focusing on the slowly moving words. 

‘Wait- slowly moving? I’ve been writing way too long,’ he thought with a sigh. 

He heard a smack behind him, followed by a loud cracking sound. He jerked around, looking to see what had made the noise. There, he found Remus on the ground, neck broken and head laying at an awkward angle. 

“Oh, it's the Duke,” he said, surprised face turning neutral.

“Mmmhmm!~Whatcha up to? You said something about moving words…” he said, face scrunched up as if he was thinking. Suddenly, as if a figurative lightbulb went off, he gasped. 

“You might be going insane! Say, I'm not even here!! OoOoooOoh,” he started waving his hands around as if mimicking a ghost. It was an attempt at making Logic himself think he was going crazy. It, of course, did not work in the slightest. 

“Remus, what are you doing in here? I don’t mind but I would like to know what your intentions are so I can...prepare for what’s to come,” he said, sighing and ignoring Remus’ previous comment. He looked at Remus tiredly, having been working for quite some time now and lacking proper sleep. 

“Weelll...I came by to annoy you, as per usual! Of course, I’d be down for some… “other” things if you feel like it~” Remus sang.

Logan sighed, “I’m actually quite busy at the moment, Remus. Why don’t you go and annoy someone else? I’m sure they wouldn’t mind your company.” He whispered under his breath, “It’s surely better than mine…”

Remus noticed and grinned. “Sorry what was that?~” He said as he ripped off one of his ears and held it closer to Logan as if that would help him hear better. Logan’s face flushed. He hadn’t meant for Remus to pick up on what he said and now regretted even saying it at all. “It’s nothing of importance,” he quickly responded.

“I don't think sooooo~ C’mon, why don’t you tell meeeeee? I won’t spill, I promise!” he said. Logan sighed.

“Really, Remus. It’s not important,” he said. He lowered his voice. “I didn’t mean it anyway.”

“You’re saying more things that make me wanna know!!! C’moooon pleaaaaaase?” Remus begged, cracking his neck back into place and doing the best puppy eyes he could muster.

“No, Remus. Just drop it,” He said, his tone stern. “I’m not going to tell you because it’s not important. Just…” The sternness in his voice grew quiet and honest, “drop it. Please.”

Remus felt like he’d done something wrong, maybe hit a wrong button. He frowned and reattached his ear. “O-oh...Sorry, then. I’ll leave you alone now..” He mumbled, sounding and looking genuinely sorry. It was a bit unusual coming from the Duke. He laid flat on the ground before sinking out into his own room.

“Wait Remus-” Logan started before he cut himself off. He looked at the place where Remus had sunk out, regret clawing its way up his throat. He shouldn’t have yelled. He shouldn’t have said it, shouldn’t have even THOUGHT of it. He sighed and turned back to his notebook. He was planning to continue writing but he was too preoccupied thinking about a certain creativity.

Let us know if you want to be added to the taglist!

[rsmrymnt-tea]

Ooooooooh arranged marriage adds so much to the assassin idea!!!! If the Lord of Masks is anything like Satan I can totally imagine him insisting on a lengthy engagement!! He needs to know to what degree his spouse can be trusted, and he wants to get to know her!!

Imagine Dola confessing about the assassination plot the night before their wedding!!! She's starting to love him so she can't stand to not tell him what her true intentions had been, even if it means that they can't be together!! She wants him to be safe!!

Of course the point is angst, but imagine him being relieved at the confession too. Like he's been feeling her keep her distance and he hasn't been able to bridge that gap, he can't even figure out why? The terror of loving her when she only tolerates him being so intense that her confessing to have been planning his death is preferable to it!!

I guess it doesn't work for all of them, but the idea of the Lords titles related to like, innate magical abilities they have. (looking at demonfamilytherapist's fic with the LoE being able to 'empty' Henry). The Lord of Masks powers relating to identity, lies, the ability to hide and reveal things. The LoM being able to force people to spill their truths, unmasking themselves as it were.

And then maybe Dola's confession is the first that he's ever heard without having to pull it from someone!! Her being the first to trust him!! Okay okay okay okay akdjsjssjfj

I was definitely thinking of Prince Sol being from a different continent/overseas. (Henry is probably the same, being a stand-in for MC). Also I didn't mention but I think it'd be cool to explore non-immortal, or young/pre-immortal Sol through his TSL conterpart. Definitely loving him deciding his true calling is magic and travel and going for it <- coming back to this in a sec.

That fight is so clear in my mind!!! Sol seeing she's not a threat and also that she has potential and deciding to test her is such a little shit move I'm so!! This whole scenario has my heart because scrappy Dola!!! She feels so cool and competent to me that the idea of her being like, dirty from travel and exploring ruins, and giving her all in a fight that lacks the grace that comes with practice and proper skill is everything!!

-> okay now hear me out! The Lord of Masks being tethered to his lands, people to protect, borders to maintain and all of that. He doesn't get to travel in pursuit of anything but the benefit of his land, and he never gets to explore. So he collects books. He collects scrolls. He summons people to share histories that are only kept orally. Versus Sol, who has given up his throne in order to explore the world in pursuit of knowledge and magic. Isn't that kind of perfect?? And also both Dola and LoM looking at Sol and going: You Are My Rival while he just does not notice or care is too funny okay you gotta do it.

Dola noticing LoM having sour feelings towards Sol: careful, that's how you fall in love with him

Imagine LoM having the ability to make people appear as someone they're not, and once they're close enough Solomon takes his place as the Lord of Masks for a time! He's trained to run a kingdom so he knows how to run the place. And this way LoM gets to leave and spend some time exploring the world with Dola!!

TSL polycule has rights okay!!

There's so much to play with with TSL I'm living for it!!

- 🐝

Listen nonnie I'm now getting so unbelievably invested in that arranged marriage assassination route that I don't want to let go of it but I have no idea how I'd work in the polycule...

Like? How could you implant the idea of the two slowly falling in love in my head? With the idea that the LoM would actually be relieved that that's why she's been distant and not because she doesn't actually love him like he thought she did? That her distance has only been forced by an outside entity and isn't coming from a place of disdain for him?

I'm even thinking of the backstory to that... What made her family despise the Lord of Masks? And why would the LoM even ask for Dolasach's hand in marriage? Perhaps her family's still a family of artistic elite that the LoM has been a long time patron of and he's kind of always had it sweet for Dola? But her family's got something against him... Maybe they lost a relative to his dungeons? To his father, maybe, and now they want revenge in the one way they can? Or they're part of a hidden opposition to the Lord's rule and want someone else there/want war to break out among the Lords by framing one of them for the LoM's death??????

But anyway sdfjdhjfg that's all for when I've gotten my energy out on the actual route I wanna go for with them because oh my goodness I don't think I even have the brains to try with royal politics like that

OH that idea of the lords having powers related to their titles is so good??? Plus with the LoM having everything to do with identity, the truth, deceit, lies, and all that??? And he's able to use it all to his advantage... I can see him using it to manipulate others as needed and to discern who his true allies are.

(Which makes the assassin route even better imo? Because he knows for sure that something is wrong with Dolasach, but he also knows that she isn't lying when she says she loves him... And while he's likely hurt that she's been planning to kill him all this time, the fact that her admittance that she's wanted to ruin the plan to kill him for a while is all true has him all relieved because it's proof she cares about him? Man this route has the brainrot bad shdfksjdf)

And yeah! Since TSL!Sol isn't the same as OM!Sol there's a while lot more freedom to be had I with him I think. Balancing out taking inspiration from his real world counterpart and going nuts with stuff that's completely outside of that seems so fun!! but also I feel like there's some charm in him being fairly secretive about his life too, just like his OM! self, with even the most informed people just knowing him as a prince who left royalty to do his own thing.

And actually, good move bringing up the pre-immortal thing because I actually don't know what kind of lifespan everyone should have in TSL. I just know I don't want them all to have regular century-long ones lmfao >.>

Scrappy Dola is honestly a Dola I wanna convey more--she's a fighter for sure but since there aren't a lot of chances for OM!Dola to really get into a fight (especially because she wouldn't really stand a chance unless it's like years into the future where she's a fairly good sorcerer >.>) I wanna have fun with her here with her like... struggling because as a noble she doesn't that that much actual experience with being on her own in the wild but also she's smart and crafty enough to get by and slowly learn the ropes on her own. Sure she's studied magic, and sure she excelled, but when forced to rely only on that and herself? It's so new, so different!

And while it's hard and a huge challenge and a half, she loves it and would rather deal with all that then go back to being a stuffy noble!! (But also the fantasy of Sol accidentally going to far in a fight and having to patch her up himself and staying with her for a while to make sure she recovers dhjkfshdkjg don't touch me this TSL thing has become Self Indulgence Central)

(Though that does mean that there would have to be a very compelling reason for her to remain by the Lord of Masks' side as his Lady? Am I even still making sense?? gosh aaaaa)

AND YES NONNIE omg you're so so so big brained... the contrast between the Lord of Masks and Solomon (the Mage of Wisdom?) is so good actually like wtf help??? 'Learning from experience even though it's really hard because it's fulfilling as fuck' Solomon and 'I've learned from an efficient system within my castle bc I can't leave but it's lent itself well to learning fast and thanks to being unable to leave basically Everything Is Here' Lord of Masks??? Two ways to advance that are both wonderful in their own ways hdskjfdf Dola wouldn't know what to do with herself

And omg... Dola saying that to LoM like he doesn't have the fattest crush on her hsdjkfskjdfhkdg wahahaha~~~~

That idea of him casting a powerful glamor on Sol so that he can go travel with Dola for a while.... help me... That's a show of brotherhood right there because I imagine that Sol would have to know the LoM incredibly well to fake being him and make decisions that he would make? And the LoM would have to have an insane level of trust in Sol to know that his kingdom would be fine when he returns >.<

Also while the LoM is perfectly capable on his own, the fact that he hasn't exactly been the most traveled of Lords sets him up as like... A little clumsy? He's got all the knowledge in his head but now that it's time to apply it all it's a bit of a struggle so this time it's Dola's turn to be a mentor in a way sdfkjsdfhgk makes me think of how there's a Devilgram where Satan got himself and MC lost in the forest like 50ft away from the HoL lmfao

[lostinfantasyworlds]

My love! 1, 3, and 13 for the fanfic asks, please and thank you! <3

Ahhh THANK YOU YOU BEAUTIFUL PERSON @anisaanisa !!! 🥰 😘❤️

1. Favorite fic you wrote this year

Definitely Under the Northern Lights!

I don't think I'll ever be able to love anything else I write in the future the way I love UTNL. I've poured so much of myself into it and spent an ungodly amount of hours working on it, all while growing as a writer along the way and sparking/growing multiple friendships because of it. It has been a huge comfort to me this year, and will forever be my baby 😭 ❤️

3. Favorite line/scene you wrote this year

Ahhhhh BLESS YOU FOR THIS QUESTION.

One of my absolute favorite scenes I wrote is the entire final making love scene from chapter 13 of Under the Northern Lights. I am such a slut for reading/writing about that bittersweet feeling of loving someone so much but knowing you have to let them go. I'm really proud of that entire chapter and all of the painful angst parts too, but the chapter really kind of centered around them making that intense, unforgettable connection in that scene.

I put the beginning of the scene under the cut below, but the whole thing is too long to paste here! However...I will call out this particular set of lines from later on in that scene that I'm particularly proud of👀

Knowing it would be the last time, Inuyasha paused to savor the sensation for a long moment, placing one hand at the very top of her head to brush her bangs to the side with his thumb. As they breathed together in peaceful harmony, his heart swelled yet again with the urge to tell her how he felt, but he tamped it back down.

He didn’t need words anyways.

Commencing a slow and steady rhythm with his hips, he left ‘I love you’ painted across her cheek in nothing but the ghost of his breath, far too quiet for human ears to hear. His lips placed the sentiment in lingering kisses to her forehead, nose, and lips at the same time that he let the feeling flow through his fingertips, imprinting it into every last bit of skin he touched.

Even the way he moved within her was a silent love song, intimately entwining them in such a way that they could both feel the true meaning of what they were doing. The sounds of their heavy breaths were the only noise for miles, penetrating an otherwise piercing silence and adding to the ethereal quality of their bond.

13. Favorite writing song/artist/album of the year

Ooooooooh now that’s a hard one! Although I often get really inspired to write by listening to music, I actually have a hard time concentrating while listening to music most of the time. 

Sometimes, if I’m trying to hone in on a specific vibe and already have a playlist built for the story, then I might listen to that, but otherwise I need to listen to music without lyrics, so I listen to a lot of piano/instrumental tracks. Yiruma and Ludovico Einaudi in particular! But I will say that Sleeping At Last has provided me endless inspiration this year overall, with their ridiculously beautiful lyrics/music  🥰

Thank you again so much for these asks Anisa!! 😘❤️

From the Fanfic End of the Year Asks 

(Beginning of the scene mentioned above below the cut!)

Kagome giggled upon finishing her story, and as the enchanting sound met Inuyasha’s ears he was struck dumb, for the second time that night, by how much he actually loved her.

Having grown steadily throughout the night, his feelings finally culminated with the sound of her laugh, the dying fire silhouetting the curves of her beautiful face with a faint reddish glow, and her story about befriending a bakery owner and her dog (because of course she would) all converging into a swell of adoration so strong that he felt like he had been knocked on his ass.

“That really is the cutest fuckin’ thing I’ve ever heard,” he murmured, knowing he probably had the goofiest grin on his face but not particularly caring at the moment.

Kagome turned her head to the side, still smiling, and let her cheek come to rest against the pillow. She had already opened her mouth to respond, but the words died in her throat when she saw the way Inuyasha was looking at her.

Although somewhat obscured by the lack of light, the remnants of the fire illuminated his face just enough for her to recognize that look. The one that sent shivers down her spine in the best of ways and made her feel grateful to exist at all, if for nothing else than to have experienced someone regarding her with such heartfelt admiration. He didn’t waver whatsoever under her observation, and she felt her own face soften in response, hoping that it portrayed the same unadulterated affection in return.

As they gazed into each other’s eyes, a particular kind of hushed reverence settled over them, similar to the silent captivation of an audience during the emotional climax of a play, except that they were not only the sole beholders, but somehow also the actors on stage.

Inuyasha turned to his side, his heart rate starting to pick up as he reached out the hand that wasn’t already entwined with hers and placed it gently on the side of her face. She turned to her side as well, so that they were almost nose-to-nose, and he spent several long moments just looking at her, feeling the soft skin of her cheek under his fingertips. He had always loved that her entire face pretty much fit in the palm of his hand, and that he could feel the tickle of her eyelashes against the tip of his thumb whenever she blinked.

“Kagome...” he breathed as he leaned forward to place his forehead against hers, a million different things he wanted to say to her running through his mind.

That he loved her so fucking much it almost didn’t even make sense. That she was beautiful beyond words, the most amazing person he’d ever known, and that despite the fact that she was leaving in just a few hours, and part of his heart had already begun to fracture, he couldn’t help but feel lucky in that moment.

Lucky to have met her, to have gotten a taste of the kind of love that people write songs about or give their lives for, and to have experienced something so world-altering that he felt like he had become a better person just from having known her for a short time.

The words threatened to burst from his lips at any moment, even though he knew he couldn’t say them out loud. Still...he wanted her to know, somehow, and there was only one way he could figure out how to convey his feelings in that moment.

[wiypt-writes]

Leave No One Behind

Ch9: Doctor’s Orders Part 3 Co written with @icanfeelastormbrewing​

Episode Summary: Hannah has a cold and of course Ari takes it upon himself to look after her. Once that little obstacle is out of the way trouble finds them once again on the morning of her birthday…and hell breaks loose at the Red Sea Diving Resort.

Episode Warnings: Bad Language words. Smut (NSFW no under18s)

Episode Pairings:  Ari Levinson x OFC Hannah Horowitz

Leave No One Behind Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Part 2

 Once the diving tours and usual chores were done for the morning, the team gathered together again at lunch time. The aftermath of Ari and Sammy's fight still lingered but they had been avoiding one another like the plague all morning and as such, lunch was as civil as it could.

"So what’s in store for the afternoon, Red, seeing as you have an honorary getting old day off…" Jake asked as they finished lunch.

"Still younger than you Loop, in fact any of you round this table so…" she said, waving her hand at the rest of them.

There were a few mumbled groans about her being the baby of the group, and Max threw a breadstick at her which landed on the floor much to Simon’s delight. Rachel then appeared and nodded to Ari, telling him she had finished setting up what he had asked her to, and he smiled at her before he cleared his throat  "Actually I need Hannah to help me with something this afternoon." 

He cursed internally, rolling his eyes at himself, when he realised what he had just said. His words eliciting sniggers and oooooooohs from everyone around the table. Well, bar from Sammy of course, who was glaring at him and Hannah who was looking at him with curiosity.

"Want me to babysit Simon? You know, wouldn’t want the poor pooch to end up more scarred than he is." Max obviously wasn't letting the opportunity to tease pass him by.

Ari rolled his eyes. "It’s nothing like that, get your minds out of the gutter."

"Yeah, you know…" Jake agreed, eyeing Simon up. "I really shouldn’t wear shorts around him."

"You’d get tan lines then Loop." Hannah quipped.

Max sniggered. "He’ll be putting matches between his toes next and walking like a penguin."

That image of Jake sent everyone bursting with laughter and Jake shrugged. "Suppose I should be flattered I’m the fuckable uncle."

"Better than the grumpy one." Hannah deadpanned as she stuck her tongue out at Sammy who rolled his eyes, a flicker of a smile on his face.

"I think we all know I’m his favourite uncle…the food one." Max grinned with satisfaction.

Ari was listening to the conversation, checking his watch. He was anxious as the next part of his plan was set to commence in 10 and he needed to do something first but, at the same time, he was also glad the nonsense they were all talking had diverted Hannah's attention so that she wasn’t trying to guess what he was up to. Hoping there weren't any more setbacks for the day after Sammygate, he tapped her on the arm, grabbing her attention.

"Come on."

She looked at him, shrugged and stood up. She was even more curious now but decided to just roll with it.

Ari turned to Max. "Watch Si for us, will you?" 

Hannah looked at him amused, now he was talking as if he was a concerned parent who needed his kid looked after while he was busy.

Sammy glared at Ari. "Seriously..."

Hannah turned to her brother sharply, her hands on her hips. "Stop. Now."

Sammy groaned and sat back in his chair, clearly sulking. But Ari couldn't be bothered dealing with him, Rachel would have to cope with his petulance. He simply took Hannah’s hand and led her out of the room and down the beach towards her hut.

"You taking me to my hut, lobo?"

Ari chuckled. "Yup. But not for what you think though."

"Bummer." 

Ari laughed at that and looked at her. "Later sweetheart. We got all night and all morning now everyone knows."

She stopped and turned to face him, smiling. "I know the way it happened wasn’t ideal but…I’m not gonna lie. I’m so relieved."

"Me too." He smiled back at her and leaned down to place a lingering peck on her mouth that he had to break as a few cat calls erupted from a group of teenage boys on the beach. Hannah sniggered as Ari tossed them a sarcastic wave.

"Feels good to be able to just do that." she sighed contented.

"Damned straight." he agreed before resuming the walk to the hut. "You know Max made a good point before?"

"Oh?"

"Yeah. He said us being together is an even better cover. I mean think about it. A couple making a go of a hotel here together is much less suspect than some random, single, white man in his late 30s doing it alone." he explained.

"Oh, so that’s why you’re with me?" she teased him.

Ari nodded. "Yeah, can’t think of a single other reason. In fact, I’ve been plotting this whole thing since the night of your 21st."

"Oh, I see, so seducing me was part of some huge plan was it?"

Ari raised an eyebrow at her.  "Seducing you? Now, you know that’s not exactly true Firefly."

 "I was an innocent little wallflower until you corrupted me." she retorted as they stopped at her hut door.

"Bullshit." 

Ari opened the door for her to step inside and she followed. He waited to speak till he had closed the door behind him "Now open the first drawer in your nightstand."

"You’re so bossy." she rolled her eyes.

"Don’t pretend like you don’t like it, wallflower." 

At that Hannah gave a full on laugh causing Ari to grin as she headed to her nightstand and then paused and turned to look at him, squinting her eyes in the process. "Why do you want me to open my panties drawer?"

Ari hesitated, mentally cursing Rachel as she had earlier told him that was where she would leave his present. Think, Levinson. He looked at Hannah before he grinned cheekily.

"Because I bought you a vibrator. Isn’t that were you’re supposed to keep them?"

Hannah blinked for a second or two and then laughed heartily.  "Well, I hope it runs on batteries, not like I can charge it in reception, is it?"

Ari pondered for a moment. "I dunno, be amusing to see Sammy’s face."

"He’d go into cardiac arrest. And that’s not funny…"  Ari rolled his eye, he was done joking. "Just open the damned drawer Hannah."

"Eager much are we, lobo?"

Ari took a deep breath, she was pushing too far, and dropped his voice. "You know you’re paying for this tonight firefly."

"Oh no…" her voice sounded as sarcastic as it could be. "Please don’t threaten me with wild sex Ari…"

"You’re gonna beg for it, believe me…" he said, his voice a low growl which went straight to her core and her reaction didn’t pass him by. He smirked. "Now, open the drawer." Ari held his breath as Hannah finally did as she was told and found a little package nestled in amongst her underwear, wrapped in light blue crepe paper. She frowned and pulled it out before turning to look at Ari whose face was impassive but she could tell from the way he licked his lips, he was nervous.

"Ari, what…"

"Open it and see." He insisted.

She didn't hesitate and opened it as anticipation was killing her and she gave a little gasp as she took the silver and amber firefly pendant in the palm of her hand. She fell speechless. Ari saw her gape but nothing came out and then she looked at him, finally finding her voice. 

"It’s a firefly, Ari." she said so softly he almost missed it.

Ari laughed softly. "I know that. Why do you think I bought it?" Hannah looked at him, her eyes sparkling, and he smiled. "I saw that in Port Sudan when we went that time, we weren’t even together back then… nor was I dreaming we ever would be."

"That’s…that’s why you didn’t take me the last time? Because you wanted to buy this for me? I thought…"

Ari cut her off. "I know what you thought, and I hated making you upset but…"

She looked at him again, then to the necklace. "Can you…" she asked as she handed it to him and turned around, pulling her pony tail out of the way. Ari moved to drape it round her neck, fastening the clasp at the back. 

"You know, it shines in the dark too, just like my firefly."

She reached up to grab the pendant, tipping her head round to look at him with tears in her eyes and he smiled, steering her to the mirror. He wrapped his arms around her from behind, his chin resting on her shoulder as she looked at the necklace in the mirror. He placed a soft kiss to the crook of her shoulder, straightening up. 

 "I love it." she said, her eyes locked onto his in the mirror and he swallowed. 

Fuck it. He loved her, he damned well loved her and he should have told her 9 fucking years ago. So he took a deep breath and before he could chicken out he spoke, his voice soft but clear. 

"I love you, Hannah."

Her breath caught and she turned slowly in his arms to look at him, silent tears escaping her eyes as she cupped his face with her hands.

"You don’t need to say it back, not yet, I just…" 

Ari was dying to lean in her touch but she had fallen silent and he didn't want to push her into doing something she didn't want or feel. So he stayed put, letting his eyes do all the work for him.

"But I do. I do. I love you, Ari.” her voice was gentle, and Ari felt his chest doing flips as a huge grin spreads across his face. He leaned down, his mouth slanting on hers in a deep kiss that left them both breathless when he pulled away, pressing his forehead to hers.

"I should have told you that years ago."

"Better late than never." she whispered, her lips grazing his.

Late. That word made him remember something. Shit!

"Yeah, hold that thought sweetheart." he said as he pulled away from her and his arms fell to his sides.

"What?" she frowned.

"Trust me. I got a surprise for you." He brushed his hair out of his face with his fingers and smiled at her.

"Another one?"

Ari nodded and turned his eyes to the bed and Hannah for the first time saw one of their radio transmitters. She couldn't believe she had been far too wrapped up in Ari to pay any attention and notice the equipment on her bedspread.

"Was that there all this time?" she looked at him.

"Yup. And we’re late so…" Ari bent over and hit a button.  "Team leader to base."

There were some static crackles and a few seconds later, Ethan’s voice rang out. "Base receiving, we are secure."  There was a pause and then Ethan spoke again. "See you are as punctual as ever Ari.”

"Sorry, we got a little side-tracked…" Ari grinned at Hannah.

"Sure you did.” Ethan said sardonically “Congratulations Hannah, I hope you’re having a great day…"

Hannah was grinning ear to ear at the sound of the man’s voice. "Thanks Ethan, it’s been great. I’ve been spoilt and…it’s just been amazing…" she explained as she smiled at Ari while she sat down on the bed. Ari's stood beside her, his hand gently between her shoulder blades, his thumb skating the back of her neck.

"Glad to hear it, and I have someone here with me who is going to make it even better."

"What do you mean?" 

She looked at Ari who shrugged. There was a bit of rustling at the other end and then a voice spoke, a familiar voice which made Hannah’s hand fly to her mouth in shock, tears instantly filling her eyes.

"Hannah, are you there sweetheart?"

Hannah took a deep breath, her voice shaking with emotion. "Yeah, I’m here mama…"

"Don’t cry honey…”

"I’m sorry mama, I’m just so happy to hear your voice” she sniffed, “I miss you so much!"

"I miss you too my little girl, but you’ll be home for a visit soon, right? Feliz Cumpleaños, mi niña"

Hannah nodded, wiping her tears which were now falling uncontrollably at the sound of her mother wishing her a happy birthday in Spanish. "In a few weeks, yeah."

Ari bent down and kissed her cheek, whispering. "Let me go find Sammy."

Hannah smiled, knowing full well Sammy would want to speak to their mama too.

Ari left, giving Hannah and her mother some privacy and wandered down to the main building. Sammy was surprised when Ari came out of the blue into the reception area looking for him but was even more shocked when he explained him what was going on. He blinked and looked at Rachel who smiled and nodded. Wordlessly, he followed Ari to Hannah’s hut. Sammy went in and spoke to the radio and Ari heard Mama Navon’s exclamation as the 3 of them then began to furiously jabber away in a mixture of English and Spanish. 

He waited outside the door, for 20 minutes or so, sitting on the sand just watching the waves and smoking. He smiled as Simon trotted over, apparently having dodged Max again, and flopped down next to him.

"You shake off Uncle Max buddy?" he asked the dog as he scratched his ear. 

He heard Hannah calling so he stood up and went in, Simon following suit and jumped up on the bed, ignoring Sammy as he stood there wagging his tail which repeatedly hit him in the face. Ari chuckled as Sammy stood up before he greeted Mama Navon who thanked him for setting the call up and then told them all to stay safe. After a quick goodbye they ended the call and Hannah looked at him as she stood up.

"Thank you. Thank you so much." she said as she hugged him tight.

"I told you, anything for you firefly." he spoke, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her head. 

Sammy took a deep breath, looking away as he too composed himself from speaking to his mama. He then cleared his throat. "Hannah, can you give me a moment with Ari?" She pulled away from Ari and looked at him narrowing her eyes as he shook his head gently. "I promise I’m not gonna punch him again."

Hannah then looked at Ari who nodded. She turned to leave, but not before she pointed at Sammy. "You best not break your promise, or I’ll break your face Samuel." And with that she left, whistling to Simon who followed her, closing the door behind her as she went.

Sammy tore his eyes from the door to look at Ari and took a moment to assess him before he finally spoke.  "Listen, Ari…what you did for her there, with the call, it was just.."

Ari shrugged. He got what Sammy was trying to express but couldn't find the words to and decided throw him a bone. "Well I know she misses home so…"

Sammy shook his head. "We all miss home, Ari."  he sighed. "But that was…” he trailed off. “Look, sorry I punched you in the face."

"Call that a punch?" Ari snorted.

Sammy narrowed his eyes at him. "Don’t temp me."

Ari held his hands up. "Wouldn’t dream of it."

He gave Sammy a sincere smile. He was confident the call from their mother had done more to help his cause than all the words and apologies in the world could have done. Sammy looked for a moment like he was about to say something else but he didn’t, instead he nodded before turning and leaving.

****

Later that evening, Ari headed down to the dining area to find everyone, bar Rachel and Hannah already there. He knew that Rachel had been doing Hannah’s hair for her so he wasn’t surprised they were still absent. He nodded to Max and Jake, flashing a tentative smile at Sammy who returned it with a jerk of his head, and he walked through to the kitchen to grab a beer. He returned the dining room, settled himself in a seat and was watching a couple of guests settle at a table a few down when he heard Max give a low whistle. “Damned Girl!

Ari looked round and almost choked on his drink at Hannah’s appearance. She was wearing the outfit her mama sent her. The white crochet top was cropped, and fairly low cut, leaving not much to the imagination (not that he needed to imagine it) and the high wasted matching skirt finished mid-thigh. On her feet she wore a pair of flat, gold gladiator sandals that twisted up her legs to her knees. Her hair was cascading down her back in dark, silky curls, the top half of which had been twisted away from her face and fastened into some kind of loose braid. Her make-up was light, as always, but the subtle burnt gold she’d shaded over her eyelids made her blue eyes pop even more. She looked stunning.

God, was it hot in here or just him…

Max meanwhile was stood to the side of the room, watching Ari, whose mouth was hanging open. He nudged Jake who in turn glanced at the positively gawping man at the table and grinned.

“Radio base…Team Leader is unresponsive.” Max sniggered and Jake let out a groan.

“Man, and to think I was chasing after her myself when all the time…” he shook his head “I’ve been an idiot haven’t I?” Max gave a nod “Yes, you have.”

“That’s what I thought.” Jake confirmed, watching as Hannah approached the table.

“You never stood a chance pal.” Max patted his shoulder sympathetically “Not with Ari here anyway, they have history, you know that.” Jake sighed as they too made their way to the table. As they passed a group of tourists, one of the girls made a deal of looking Jake up and down before winking at him. He grinned at her, nodding, all the time keeping his eyes on hers as they passed. Max gave a snort.

“Can’t keep a good man down for long…” Jake smirked.

“There’s nothing good about you, you’re a dirt bag.” Max rolled his eyes.

As they got to the table, Sammy was complaining about Hannah’s outfit. “Seriously? Mama made that? Hannah, I can see-“

“Don’t you dare say it…” she glared at him. Sammy simply rolled his eyes as she moved to take her seat at the table, before he turned to say something to Rachel. Ari took his chance and dropped a soft kiss to her lips as she settled next to him.

“You look beautiful.” He smiled, and her cheeks flushed shyly.

“Thanks.” She looked at him, taking in his light blue button down. “You don’t look so bad yourself, Lobo.”

They ate a dinner of seabass, Hannah’s favourite, engaging in pleasant talk and a few drinks before Max stood up and loudly announced to the guests that there was a gathering planned on the beach with some music to celebrate Rosa’s birthday. After a few more drinks they migrated to the area on the sand which had been set up, the boys all carrying cool-boxes full of beer and spirits down with them. Drinks where handed out and over the next hour or so the group sat, Jake integrating himself with the girls he’d noticed at dinner. At some point Sammy’s guitar made an appearance and he provided the music for the group as Hannah sat on Ari’s knee as he perched on the wooden logs which were being used as seats.

Whilst everyone was clear that they were an item now, they still didn’t want to flaunt the PDAs too much, but the more alcohol they consumed, the less of a shit either of them gave. Soft stolen kisses became more frequent, Ari’s hand gently skated her bare thigh in a not-so-subtle way that was easily noticeable to anyone watching. When Jake and Max declared loudly that enough was enough of the strangled cat routine Sammy was giving (earning them the bird in response) the stereo kicked in and Sammy placed his guitar down, his eyes straying to his sister and Ari. They were both talking to one of the guests, Ari’s hand looped around Hannah’s hip as she perched on his lap, her own arm draped around his neck, the plastic cup full of gin and lemonade hanging in her hand.

Sammy placed his guitar down, took a deep breath and looked away. Rachel, not missing the look on his face gave him a dig with her elbow. “I thought you’d made your peace.”

“I apologised for punching him.” Sammy turned to look at her “Still doesn’t mean I’m happy about them. And I certainly don’ want to see it.”

“Sammy, look how happy she is, how happy they both are.” Rachel corrected herself. “Have you ever seen Ari like that?”

Sammy sighed, because he hasn’t, not even with Sarah. The fact was, Ari Levinson, or Guy Thomas as he was tonight, was behaving like a love sick teenager. The smile hadn’t left his face for a second.

“Exactly.” Rachel took Sammy’s lack of response as an answer. Her eyes strayed to Hannah, who tipped her head back in a loud laugh at something, and then she turned back to Sammy “Have you seen the necklace she’s wearing?” “Spotted it before.” Sammy replied “And now it’s glowing it’s kinda hard not to see it.”

“I was with Ari when he got it for her in Port Sudan, the day after he came back from his leave.” Rachel said simply and Sammy turned his head to look at her. “You should have seen his face when the guy explained the firefly glowed in the dark. He told me he’d spotted it weeks ago and had to come back to get it for her birthday…”

“Ok, I get it Rachel.” Sammy rolled his eyes “Look, I’m happy she’s happy and I guess, I’m glad Ari is too, I just…” he signed and shook his head “Forget it, it clearly doesn’t matter what I think.”

“You’re right, it doesn’t.” Rachel shrugged “But if you can’t learn to live with whatever is bugging you about it all so much, then they’re gonna learn to live without you.”

“Well then, guess I don’t have much of a choice then huh?”

Before Rachel could reply, the brash tones of In The Navy rang out of the speakers. Jake stood to attention, saluting Max who flipped him off and Ari shook his head, he drew the line at this musical abomination. Hannah pouted a little as he stood, jolting her from his lap but he simply gave her a kiss and told her he was heading off for a drink. When she declined his offer of a top up, he strode away from the group who were now marching on the spot, a few of the girls from the guest groups having joined in. Simon was also doing his best to remain part of the festivities, jumping around and barking.

Ari gave a chuckle at the dog’s antics and opened the lid to the cool box which was set a little further back from where they’d set up camp for the evening.

“Can you pass me one?”  

Ari jerked his head up to look at Sammy, before he gave a nod, grabbing 2 bottles from the box. He popped the lids on both, tossing the opener back down and handed it over.

“Thanks.” Sammy took it from him, taking a long pull.

They stood in silence for a while, Ari knowing Sammy well enough to know that he was currently contemplating how to say what he clearly wanted to. And, sure enough, after a moment or too he heard his friend give a heavy sigh as he turned to him and spoke.

“Look, I’m not ok about any of this but well, Hannah, she deserves to be happy and for whatever fucking reason you seem to do that for her so…” Sammy shrugged “But Ari, I am warning you, you hurt her and I will kill you.”

It was Ari’s turn to sigh “Sammy why do you always have to think the worst of me? Yeah I fucked up with her in the past but let’s not forget, not all of that was my fault.”

“Look, man.” Sammy shook his head “I gave the same warning to Andy ok. I can honestly say it isn’t personal this time.”

At that Ari cocked his head, looking at him. He knew that this was Sammy’s way of giving him and Hannah a very grudging go-ahead. Not a blessing as such, but still, it was better than open hostility. Ari’s hands fell to his hips and he looked down at his feet before he raised his eyes to look at Sammy, a small smile playing on his face.

“You know when it comes to it, I hope Rachel’s brother hates your guts too.”

“Rachel? I…what…why do you…” Sammy furiously blushed as he stumbled over his words. Ari said nothing, merely raised an eyebrow and Sammy shook his head, snorting “Guess you know too huh?”

“Hannah told me she suspected it a while back.” He nodded.

“She always has been a pain in my ass.” He grumbled.

“Yeah, well, I don’t think that’s ever gonna change.” Ari smirked, his eyes glancing back over at his girl, where she was still dancing.

“Probably not.” Sammy took a deep breath, “You know, for the record, I don’t hate you Ari…I love you man, and I love my sister.”

“So do I.” Ari looked at him, “And I don’t ever want to hurt her again.”

At Ari’s words, Sammy took a deep breath. Love…ok, that was a little unexpected. But as he stared back at Ari, there wasn’t a shred of insincerity on the man’s face. He gave Ari a small nod, and turned back to watch the group as the opening bars to YMCA rang out over the night air, along with Jake’s loud shouting. As the two men watched, he and Max jumped up onto the over turned logs, launching into the dance routine.

“Which one is the cowboy?” Sammy asked and Ari snorted.

“Max.” he concluded after a little pause. The two men shared a grin and Sammy slapped Ari’s back.

That was the point Ari knew that it was going to be ok. Not wanting to make too big a deal of it, he smiled and then changed the subject.

“Do you remember that time we were singing to Rod Stewart, Do You Think I’m Sexy in that car in the middle of New York?”

“Jesus…” Sammy half-chuckled, half-groaned. “You know I try not to think about that a lot. The windows to the car were wide open…”

“Yeah, and those girls walking past just stopped and stared at us like we were 2 crazy bastards.”

“You are a crazy bastard.” Sammy teased and Ari gave a little nod, conceding the point playfully.

As they stood, still watching, Hannah and Rachel were pulled up onto the log by Max and Jake and Sammy shook his head, chuckling.“You think we should rescue our girls from those two idiots?”

Ari paused, the use of the term registering in his brain. He grinned and looked at Sammy “So you’re there already? Calling her your girl?”

“Piss off you cocky bastard”

Ari snorted and turned back to the dancing in front of them “Nah, leave them, they’re having fun. Besides, they can handle themselves.”

This remained Ari’s sentiment until YMCA finished, and Hungry Like the Wolf started to play. He watched, the 4 of them step down off the bench as the beat started, and then Jake  looked like he was having a little too much fun with Hannah, his hands on her hips from behind as she swayed side to side.

Ari stiffened slightly and Sammy, not missing a thing spoke, his tone amused. “Want me to hold your beer?” Ari turned to give him a look before he thrust the bottle at Sammy and pushed through the group of dancers. When he reached the two of them he tapped Jake on the shoulder. “Do you mind if i…”

Jake raised his hands. “Sure man I’m gonna…ummmm….just go.”

Ari watched him leave before he turned to Hannah, fingers curling around her hips as his lips pecked her neck.

“Didn’t think it would take long before you showed up.” She quipped, tilting her head to look at him.

“Yeah, well, I don’t like him touching what belongs to me.”

 Hannah chuckled “You’re such a possessive bastard.”

Ari hummed in response as Hannah reached down, grabbed his hand and tugged him towards where Rachel and Max were dancing. He protested at first but then, for the first time in God knows how long just let himself go. He danced along, grinning as Max started doing some furious type of dance thrusting his shoulders inwards and be arched an eyebrow as they were joined by Sammy too. Hannah watched him carefully for a moment but he simply flashed her a huge grin which she reciprocated and continued her dancing. Ari spun her around, and she giggled, stumbling a little until he reached out and caught her, his own chuckles being drowned out by the music.

The group of agents remained on the beach in the middle of the temporary sort of dance floor, under the large wooden archway which was decorated with fairy lights, simply dancing and laughing for another few songs until the music slowed down and the opening notes of Your Song drifted across the sea breeze. Ari grinned as Hannah’s arms slid up his chest stopping on his shoulders, his hands falling to her hips as they gently moved their bodies a little closer than they had been. Ari leaned down and placed a soft peck on Hannah’s lips, her hand gently stroking his neck, fingers lightly dancing over his skin. If he was Simon, his damned leg would have started to shake as every time she did that it felt like fucking heaven.

“I saw you talking to Sammy before. Everything ok?” she asked, her blue eyes bright as she glanced up at him.

“Yeah.” Ari said honestly “Yeah, I think it is.”

“Good.” Hannah beamed “Because I can’t stand the thought of you being at one another’s throats.” “It wasn’t really a thought I was relishing either.” Ari said, before he grinned wickedly as he bent a little closer to speak into her ear whilst he spun them both around a little to the music. “Although one I am relishing, however, is just exactly how I’m gonna make you beg like I promised before.”

His hands gently squeezed her hips and she felt his fingers softly bunching in the crochet material at the side of her skirt. “I didn’t realise you liked my outfit so much.” She spoke softly as his fingers continued to play with the item of clothing.

“I do.” He grinned back, “But as nice as it is, I’m looking forward to seeing you with nothing but that necklace on Firefly.”

“Yeah, well I gotta admit I’ll be glad to take it off. I mean, it’s pretty and everything but the top is a little uncomfortable…” at that she wriggled her hips and Ari gave a grunt as she pressed up against him, her pelvis almost flush to his. “Or maybe it’s the fact that I can’t wear a bra with it.”

Ari blinked, looked straight down at her cleavage, making no attempt to hide the fact that he was ogling at her before he glanced up at her to see her biting her lip.

And that was it, he was done.

“Ok.”  With a swoop he bent down and lifted her so she was over his shoulder causing her to give a squeal. He swatted at her ass as he turned and began to stride away from the group of party makers. There were loud whoops and cheers, above which Max’s trademark filthy chuckle could be heard and a low groan from Sammy.

Hannah planted her hands in the base of Ari’s back so she could push herself up slightly to wave at everyone. “See you tomorrow guys!”  she giggled as Ari strode away from the group and down the beach.

Hannah’s hut was nearer so that was the one he made a bee line for. He opened the door, made sure Simon was inside before he shut it with his foot and set her gently down on the floor.

“I suggest if you like that outfit you take it off pretty quickly before it ends up in pieces on the floor.” Ari looked down at Hannah, his hands grabbing her hips and pulling her towards him.

“Wait…” Her palms fell flat on his chest, before her fingers nimbly moved to the buttons on his shirt. “I wanna unwrap my last present.”

Ari arched an eyebrow at her but didn’t protest as she undid the buttons on his shirt, before she reached up and pushed it back over his shoulders, her hands smoothing down from his pecs to his defined, but not ripped abs, biting her lip as she took her time appreciating him. She glanced back up, her hands following her eyes before she reached up and pulled his head down to hers in a searing kiss. His lips locked on hers Ari trailed his hands up her sides, brushing the bare flesh that was on display from her short top before he grabbed the hem of it. She moved back, holding her arms up so he could pull it over her head and then his lips were back on hers, his large hands splayed on her back, pulling her chest flush to his.

He trailed open mouthed kisses across her jawline, finding that spot by her neck, giving a nip, all the time listening to the soft whimpers she was making in his ear as he backed her towards the bed and rather unceremoniously shoved her back onto it. She gave a soft giggle and started to move herself to the middle but in a flash he reached out and grabbed her ankle.

“Ah ah.” He said, as he dropped to his knees. “I told you, you were gonna beg for it sweetheart.”

She looked at him, propping herself up on her elbows, Ari groaning internally at the sight of her bare chest. His hands slid up her legs, finding the waistband of her skirt and in a single movement slid it down, along with her panties, leaving her bare on the bed before he unbuckled her sandals and slid those down over her calves.

Taking her left leg in his right hand he pressed a kiss to her ankle and continued his affections upwards, pressing small yet sloppy kisses all the way up until his nose was skimming along the apex of her thigh. She let out a groan of delight as she gently bent her other knee to allow him access and this time he couldn’t stop the soft moan which bubbled from his throat and he snuck one glance up at her, to see her head was already titled back in arousal. He reached up, and pushed on her shoulder, causing her to lay flat and then set his mouth on her.

There was nothing gentle about any of his movements, his tongue lashing at her, teasing her sensitive bud before poking deep into her, positively fucking her with his mouth. Her hips bucked upwards, pushing onto his face and he couldn’t help but smirk at how easy it was to draw the reactions he wanted from her. One of her hands reached into his hair, as he continued to eat her out with the ardour of a man starved. Her sweet, salty tang on his tongue set every nerve in his body on edge and the more he tasted the more he wanted. He felt her grip in his hair tighten, as her hips rotated slightly, seeking more friction and the relief that came with it, and as he felt her breathing begin to quicken he abruptly stopped, pulling back. Hannah stilled and gave a low whine as his fingers gripped at her hips, his mouth moving to the insides of her thighs, away from where she needed and wanted him most.

“Ari…” she began to protest and then his mouth was back on her again, edging her closer and closer to her orgasm until, a short while later as her breathing and gasps became ragged, he once more he pulled back.

“Ari, please?” her voice was broken plea, and he grinned, rising to his feet as he looked down at her.

“Told you, you were gonna beg Firefly…” he said, shedding his remaining clothing and freeing his now painfully hard cock.

“Don’t…” she looked at him, shifting slightly as he crawled over her. “Don’t be mean, it’s my birthday…”

“I’m well aware…” he muttered, his lips ghosting a path up her neck to her chin “This time 9 years ago I was kissing you outside a Club in Tel Aviv…”

He nipped at her neck and she keened underneath him, her body begging him for more, so needy and so ready for him. His tongue licked a line up her throat as his hands slid up her bare sides, calloused fingers ever so gentle over her ribs. His hands found hers and he pinned them to the bed either side of her head as his mouth moved down and his tongue flicked at her nipple as he took it between his lips, drawling a loud groan from her as her hips bucked involuntarily at the sensation. 

His lips caught hers in a deep, sloppy kiss, and he moved his hips and with a powerful thrust forward he sheathed himself inside her, causing her to wail into his mouth, her lips open against his. He started moving his hips, slowly, deliberately. Each thrust measured and powerful, his open mouth never once leaving hers as they panted together, sharing air. With every rock into her, moans of delight and pure pleasure flowed from her throat to his, every inch of their bodies pressed as close as they could get.

Ari plunged his tongue into her mouth and it was a hotwire straight to her belly and Hannah squeezed her hands around his, the tips of her nails digging into the skin just below his knuckles as she was completely overwhelmed by him and powerless to stop her body’s reactions.

“Let go…” she gently flexed her fingers. “Wanna feel you…”

Ari obliged and she moved her hands round his broad back, her fingers skating over the expanse of muscle and he gave a groan at her touch, his mouth straying back to her neck, his lips and beard gliding over her skin. Hannah turned her head, nudging his jaw with her nose and he raised her head, allowing her to reciprocate the affection, her mouth kissing at his neck and jaw line.

“I love you Ari…” she muttered, and he gave a low groan, rotating his hips as opposed to thrusting, causing her to cry out, her hands grasping at his shoulder blades.

“I love you Hannah…” he said, repeating the motion, well aware she was fast reaching the end, his lips crashing back to hers, chests gliding together, both of them covered in a light glisten of sweat. Ari’s hands gently cupped her face as he pushed into her as deep as he could go, his movements becoming slow and deep, rocking into her as opposed to thrusting, not wanting any inch of his body to be away from hers. “I love you so much baby girl…”

In contrast to his furious actions before, Hannah noticed the shift. Everything about his movements now screamed pure love and affection, and that drove her wild with her own love and lust and it wasn’t long at all before she felt the heat beginning to swell in her lower belly.

“Ari…Ari…” his name became a mantra, punctuated by her breathy moans and pants, her lips moving against his as she repeated her chant until the words died in her throat and her head tipped back in a silent cry.

“Fuck, Hannah…” Ari groaned as he felt her pulsing around him as she came, a strangled moan escaping her mouth and his lips became furious against hers, the kiss deep, his tongue wrapping onto hers as he picked up the pace slightly. His hips pushed forward deeply, and with another few sharp thrusts his rhythm stuttered and the world around him positively span as he came, hard, with a surge that he wasn’t quite sure he’d felt before. He stilled, deep inside her, before he gave a few shallow thrusts, riding his own orgasm out before he collapsed down on top of her, completely and utterly blissed out, the pair of them waiting for the world to right itself.

And for the first time since their reunion, Ari realised, that there was no goddamned rush. There was nothing to worry about, no concern about them falling asleep and sleeping in too late.

Nothing.

The revelation sparked something in his chest and he swallowed, pushing himself up slightly so he could lean down and give her a soft kiss, his forehead pressing to hers, his eyes shining as she glanced up at him.

“You ok?” she asked softly, reaching up to brush his hair back off his face as she noticed the look on his face.

“More than ok.” He smiled, his lips on hers again, “Because I just realised, we got all the time in the world Firefly.”

She grinned and nodded “Yeah, yeah we do.”

Still inside her, not ready to put that distance between them quite yet, he pulled her with him as he rolled to his side, her leg hooking over his as his hands skated down the bare skin of her back, his mouth trailing soft kisses down her neck to the crook of her shoulder as she gave a soft hum of contentment. He pressed his lips to her temple as she sighed happily, tucking her head underneath his chin the two of them simply laying in the dark, alone, wrapped around one another as close as they possibly could be.

**** Chapter 10

[what-is-your-plan-today]

Leave No One Behind Ch 9: Doctors Orders Part 3

Co-written with @icanfeelastormbrewing​

Episode Summary: Hannah has a cold and of course Ari takes it upon himself to look after her. Once that little obstacle is out of the way trouble finds them once again on the morning of her birthday…and hell breaks loose at the Red Sea Diving Resort.

Episode Warnings: Bad Language words. Smut (NSFW no under18s)

Episode Pairings:  Ari Levinson x OFC Hannah Horowitz

A/N: The final of the 3 parter!! We hope you’ve enjoyed this one, it’s been a monster chapter!

Catch up with Part 1 and Part 2 first…

 Once the diving tours and usual chores were done for the morning, the team gathered together again at lunch time. The aftermath of Ari and Sammy's fight still lingered but they had been avoiding one another like the plague all morning and as such, lunch was as civil as it could.

"So what’s in store for the afternoon, Red, seeing as you have an honorary getting old day off…" Jake asked as they finished lunch.

"Still younger than you Loop, in fact any of you round this table so…" she said, waving her hand at the rest of them.

There were a few mumbled groans about her being the baby of the group, and Max threw a breadstick at her which landed on the floor much to Simon’s delight. Rachel then appeared and nodded to Ari, telling him she had finished setting up what he had asked her to, and he smiled at her before he cleared his throat  "Actually I need Hannah to help me with something this afternoon." 

He cursed internally, rolling his eyes at himself, when he realised what he had just said. His words eliciting sniggers and oooooooohs from everyone around the table. Well, bar from Sammy of course, who was glaring at him and Hannah who was looking at him with curiosity. "Want me to babysit Simon? You know, wouldn’t want the poor pooch to end up more scarred than he is." Max obviously wasn't letting the opportunity to tease pass him by.

Ari rolled his eyes. "It’s nothing like that, get your minds out of the gutter." "Yeah, you know…" Jake agreed, eyeing Simon up. "I really shouldn’t wear shorts around him."

"You’d get tan lines then Loop." Hannah quipped. Max sniggered. "He’ll be putting matches between his toes next and walking like a penguin."

That image of Jake sent everyone bursting with laughter and Jake shrugged. "Suppose I should be flattered I’m the fuckable uncle."

"Better than the grumpy one." Hannah deadpanned as she stuck her tongue out at Sammy who rolled his eyes, a flicker of a smile on his face. "I think we all know I’m his favourite uncle…the food one." Max grinned with satisfaction.

Ari was listening to the conversation, checking his watch. He was anxious as the next part of his plan was set to commence in 10 and he needed to do something first but, at the same time, he was also glad the nonsense they were all talking had diverted Hannah's attention so that she wasn’t trying to guess what he was up to. Hoping there weren't any more setbacks for the day after Sammygate, he tapped her on the arm, grabbing her attention.

"Come on."

She looked at him, shrugged and stood up. She was even more curious now but decided to just roll with it.

Ari turned to Max. "Watch Si for us, will you?" Hannah looked at him amused, now he was talking as if he was a concerned parent who needed his kid looked after while he was busy.

Sammy glared at Ari. "Seriously..."

Hannah turned to her brother sharply, her hands on her hips. "Stop. Now."

Sammy groaned and sat back in his chair, clearly sulking. But Ari couldn't be bothered dealing with him, Rachel would have to cope with his petulance. He simply took Hannah’s hand and led her out of the room and down the beach towards her hut.

"You taking me to my hut, lobo?"

Ari chuckled. "Yup. But not for what you think though."

"Bummer." 

Ari laughed at that and looked at her. "Later sweetheart. We got all night and all morning now everyone knows."

She stopped and turned to face him, smiling. "I know the way it happened wasn’t ideal but…I’m not gonna lie. I’m so relieved."

"Me too." He smiled back at her and leaned down to place a lingering peck on her mouth that he had to break as a few cat calls erupted from a group of teenage boys on the beach. Hannah sniggered as Ari tossed them a sarcastic wave.

"Feels good to be able to just do that." she sighed contented.

"Damned straight." he agreed before resuming the walk to the hut. "You know Max made a good point before?"

"Oh?"

"Yeah. He said us being together is an even better cover. I mean think about it. A couple making a go of a hotel here together is much less suspect than some random, single, white man in his late 30s doing it alone." he explained.

"Oh, so that’s why you’re with me?" she teased him.

Ari nodded. "Yeah, can’t think of a single other reason. In fact, I’ve been plotting this whole thing since the night of your 21st."

"Oh, I see, so seducing me was part of some huge plan was it?"

Ari raised an eyebrow at her.  "Seducing you? Now, you know that’s not exactly true Firefly."

 "I was an innocent little wallflower until you corrupted me." she retorted as they stopped at her hut door.

"Bullshit." 

Ari opened the door for her to step inside and she followed. He waited to speak till he had closed the door behind him "Now open the first drawer in your nightstand."

"You’re so bossy." she rolled her eyes.

"Don’t pretend like you don’t like it, wallflower." 

At that Hannah gave a full on laugh causing Ari to grin as she headed to her nightstand and then paused and turned to look at him, squinting her eyes in the process. "Why do you want me to open my panties drawer?"

Ari hesitated, mentally cursing Rachel as she had earlier told him that was where she would leave his present. Think, Levinson. He looked at Hannah before he grinned cheekily.

"Because I bought you a vibrator. Isn’t that were you’re supposed to keep them?"

Hannah blinked for a second or two and then laughed heartily.  "Well, I hope it runs on batteries, not like I can charge it in reception, is it?"

Ari pondered for a moment. "I dunno, be amusing to see Sammy’s face."

"He’d go into cardiac arrest. And that’s not funny…"  Ari rolled his eye, he was done joking. "Just open the damned drawer Hannah."

"Eager much are we, lobo?"

Ari took a deep breath, she was pushing too far, and dropped his voice. "You know you’re paying for this tonight firefly."

"Oh no…" her voice sounded as sarcastic as it could be. "Please don’t threaten me with wild sex Ari…"

"You’re gonna beg for it, believe me…" he said, his voice a low growl which went straight to her core and her reaction didn’t pass him by. He smirked. "Now, open the drawer." Ari held his breath as Hannah finally did as she was told and found a little package nestled in amongst her underwear, wrapped in light blue crepe paper. She frowned and pulled it out before turning to look at Ari whose face was impassive but she could tell from the way he licked his lips, he was nervous.

"Ari, what…"

"Open it and see." He insisted.

She didn't hesitate and opened it as anticipation was killing her and she gave a little gasp as she took the silver and amber firefly pendant in the palm of her hand. She fell speechless. Ari saw her gape but nothing came out and then she looked at him, finally finding her voice. "It’s a firefly, Ari." she said so softly he almost missed it.

Ari laughed softly. "I know that. Why do you think I bought it?" Hannah looked at him, her eyes sparkling, and he smiled. "I saw that in Port Sudan when we went that time, we weren’t even together back then… nor was I dreaming we ever would be."

"That’s…that’s why you didn’t take me the last time? Because you wanted to buy this for me? I thought…"

Ari cut her off. "I know what you thought, and I hated making you upset but…"

She looked at him again, then to the necklace. "Can you…" she asked as she handed it to him and turned around, pulling her pony tail out of the way. Ari moved to drape it round her neck, fastening the clasp at the back. "You know, it shines in the dark too, just like my firefly."

She reached up to grab the pendant, tipping her head round to look at him with tears in her eyes and he smiled, steering her to the mirror. He wrapped his arms around her from behind, his chin resting on her shoulder as she looked at the necklace in the mirror. He placed a soft kiss to the crook of her shoulder, straightening up. 

 "I love it." she said, her eyes locked onto his in the mirror and he swallowed. 

Fuck it. He loved her, he damned well loved her and he should have told her 9 fucking years ago. So he took a deep breath and before he could chicken out he spoke, his voice soft but clear. 

"I love you, Hannah."

Her breath caught and she turned slowly in his arms to look at him, silent tears escaping her eyes as she cupped his face with her hands.

"You don’t need to say it back, not yet, I just…" 

Ari was dying to lean in her touch but she had fallen silent and he didn't want to push her into doing something she didn't want or feel. So he stayed put, letting his eyes do all the work for him.

"But I do. I do. I love you, Ari.” her voice was gentle, and Ari felt his chest doing flips as a huge grin spreads across his face. He leaned down, his mouth slanting on hers in a deep kiss that left them both breathless when he pulled away, pressing his forehead to hers.

"I should have told you that years ago."

"Better late than never." she whispered, her lips grazing his.

Late. That word made him remember something. Shit!

"Yeah, hold that thought sweetheart." he said as he pulled away from her and his arms fell to his sides.

"What?" she frowned.

"Trust me. I got a surprise for you." He brushed his hair out of his face with his fingers and smiled at her.

"Another one?"

Ari nodded and turned his eyes to the bed and Hannah for the first time saw one of their radio transmitters. She couldn't believe she had been far too wrapped up in Ari to pay any attention and notice the equipment on her bedspread.

"Was that there all this time?" she looked at him.

"Yup. And we’re late so…" Ari bent over and hit a button.  "Team leader to base."

There were some static crackles and a few seconds later, Ethan’s voice rang out. "Base receiving, we are secure."  There was a pause and then Ethan spoke again. "See you are as punctual as ever Ari.”

"Sorry, we got a little side-tracked…" Ari grinned at Hannah.

"Sure you did.” Ethan said sardonically “Congratulations Hannah, I hope you’re having a great day…"

Hannah was grinning ear to ear at the sound of the man’s voice. "Thanks Ethan, it’s been great. I’ve been spoilt and…it’s just been amazing…" she explained as she smiled at Ari while she sat down on the bed. Ari's stood beside her, his hand gently between her shoulder blades, his thumb skating the back of her neck.

"Glad to hear it, and I have someone here with me who is going to make it even better."

"What do you mean?" 

She looked at Ari who shrugged. There was a bit of rustling at the other end and then a voice spoke, a familiar voice which made Hannah’s hand fly to her mouth in shock, tears instantly filling her eyes.

"Hannah, are you there sweetheart?"

Hannah took a deep breath, her voice shaking with emotion. "Yeah, I’m here mama…"

"Don’t cry honey…”

"I’m sorry mama, I’m just so happy to hear your voice” she sniffed, “I miss you so much!"

"I miss you too my little girl, but you’ll be home for a visit soon, right? Feliz Cumpleaños, mi niña"

Hannah nodded, wiping her tears which were now falling uncontrollably at the sound of her mother wishing her a happy birthday in Spanish. "In a few weeks, yeah."

Ari bent down and kissed her cheek, whispering. "Let me go find Sammy."

Hannah smiled, knowing full well Sammy would want to speak to their mama too.

Ari left, giving Hannah and her mother some privacy and wandered down to the main building. Sammy was surprised when Ari came out of the blue into the reception area looking for him but was even more shocked when he explained him what was going on. He blinked and looked at Rachel who smiled and nodded. Wordlessly, he followed Ari to Hannah’s hut. Sammy went in and spoke to the radio and Ari heard Mama Navon’s exclamation as the 3 of them then began to furiously jabber away in a mixture of English and Spanish. 

He waited outside the door, for 20 minutes or so, sitting on the sand just watching the waves and smoking. He smiled as Simon trotted over, apparently having dodged Max again, and flopped down next to him.

"You shake off Uncle Max buddy?" he asked the dog as he scratched his ear. 

He heard Hannah calling so he stood up and went in, Simon following suit and jumped up on the bed, ignoring Sammy as he stood there wagging his tail which repeatedly hit him in the face. Ari chuckled as Sammy stood up before he greeted Mama Navon who thanked him for setting the call up and then told them all to stay safe. After a quick goodbye they ended the call and Hannah looked at him as she stood up.

"Thank you. Thank you so much." she said as she hugged him tight.

"I told you, anything for you firefly." he spoke, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her head. 

Sammy took a deep breath, looking away as he too composed himself from speaking to his mama. He then cleared his throat. "Hannah, can you give me a moment with Ari?" She pulled away from Ari and looked at him narrowing her eyes as he shook his head gently. "I promise I’m not gonna punch him again."

Hannah then looked at Ari who nodded. She turned to leave, but not before she pointed at Sammy. "You best not break your promise, or I’ll break your face Samuel." And with that she left, whistling to Simon who followed her, closing the door behind her as she went.

Sammy tore his eyes from the door to look at Ari and took a moment to assess him before he finally spoke.  "Listen, Ari…what you did for her there, with the call, it was just.."

Ari shrugged. He got what Sammy was trying to express but couldn't find the words to and decided throw him a bone. "Well I know she misses home so…"

Sammy shook his head. "We all miss home, Ari."  he sighed. "But that was…” he trailed off. “Look, sorry I punched you in the face."

"Call that a punch?" Ari snorted.

Sammy narrowed his eyes at him. "Don’t temp me."

Ari held his hands up. "Wouldn’t dream of it."

He gave Sammy a sincere smile. He was confident the call from their mother had done more to help his cause than all the words and apologies in the world could have done. Sammy looked for a moment like he was about to say something else but he didn’t, instead he nodded before turning and leaving.

****

Later that evening, Ari headed down to the dining area to find everyone, bar Rachel and Hannah already there. He knew that Rachel had been doing Hannah’s hair for her so he wasn’t surprised they were still absent. He nodded to Max and Jake, flashing a tentative smile at Sammy who returned it with a jerk of his head, and he walked through to the kitchen to grab a beer. He returned the dining room, settled himself in a seat and was watching a couple of guests settle at a table a few down when he heard Max give a low whistle. “Damned Girl!

Ari looked round and almost choked on his drink at Hannah’s appearance. She was wearing the outfit her mama sent her. The white crochet top was cropped, and fairly low cut, leaving not much to the imagination (not that he needed to imagine it) and the high wasted matching skirt finished mid-thigh. On her feet she wore a pair of flat, gold gladiator sandals that twisted up her legs to her knees. Her hair was cascading down her back in dark, silky curls, the top half of which had been twisted away from her face and fastened into some kind of loose braid. Her make-up was light, as always, but the subtle burnt gold she’d shaded over her eyelids made her blue eyes pop even more. She looked stunning.

God, was it hot in here or just him…

Max meanwhile was stood to the side of the room, watching Ari, whose mouth was hanging open. He nudged Jake who in turn glanced at the positively gawping man at the table and grinned.

“Radio base…Team Leader is unresponsive.” Max sniggered and Jake let out a groan.

“Man, and to think I was chasing after her myself when all the time…” he shook his head “I’ve been an idiot haven’t I?” Max gave a nod “Yes, you have.”

“That’s what I thought.” Jake confirmed, watching as Hannah approached the table.

“You never stood a chance pal.” Max patted his shoulder sympathetically “Not with Ari here anyway, they have history, you know that.” Jake sighed as they too made their way to the table. As they passed a group of tourists, one of the girls made a deal of looking Jake up and down before winking at him. He grinned at her, nodding, all the time keeping his eyes on hers as they passed. Max gave a snort.

“Can’t keep a good man down for long…” Jake smirked.

“There’s nothing good about you, you’re a dirt bag.” Max rolled his eyes.

As they got to the table, Sammy was complaining about Hannah’s outfit. “Seriously? Mama made that? Hannah, I can see-“ “Don’t you dare say it…” she glared at him. Sammy simply rolled his eyes as she moved to take her seat at the table, before he turned to say something to Rachel. Ari took his chance and dropped a soft kiss to her lips as she settled next to him.

“You look beautiful.” He smiled, and her cheeks flushed shyly.

“Thanks.” She looked at him, taking in his light blue button down. “You don’t look so bad yourself, Lobo.”

They ate a dinner of seabass, Hannah’s favourite, engaging in pleasant talk and a few drinks before Max stood up and loudly announced to the guests that there was a gathering planned on the beach with some music to celebrate Rosa’s birthday. After a few more drinks they migrated to the area on the sand which had been set up, the boys all carrying cool-boxes full of beer and spirits down with them. Drinks where handed out and over the next hour or so the group sat, Jake integrating himself with the girls he’d noticed at dinner. At some point Sammy’s guitar made an appearance and he provided the music for the group as Hannah sat on Ari’s knee as he perched on the wooden logs which were being used as seats.

Whilst everyone was clear that they were an item now, they still didn’t want to flaunt the PDAs too much, but the more alcohol they consumed, the less of a shit either of them gave. Soft stolen kisses became more frequent, Ari’s hand gently skated her bare thigh in a not-so-subtle way that was easily noticeable to anyone watching. When Jake and Max declared loudly that enough was enough of the strangled cat routine Sammy was giving (earning them the bird in response) the stereo kicked in and Sammy placed his guitar down, his eyes straying to his sister and Ari. They were both talking to one of the guests, Ari’s hand looped around Hannah’s hip as she perched on his lap, her own arm draped around his neck, the plastic cup full of gin and lemonade hanging in her hand.

Sammy placed his guitar down, took a deep breath and looked away. Rachel, not missing the look on his face gave him a dig with her elbow. “I thought you’d made your peace.”

“I apologised for punching him.” Sammy turned to look at her “Still doesn’t mean I’m happy about them. And I certainly don’ want to see it.”

“Sammy, look how happy she is, how happy they both are.” Rachel corrected herself. “Have you ever seen Ari like that?”

Sammy sighed, because he hasn’t, not even with Sarah. The fact was, Ari Levinson, or Guy Thomas as he was tonight, was behaving like a love sick teenager. The smile hadn’t left his face for a second.

“Exactly.” Rachel took Sammy’s lack of response as an answer. Her eyes strayed to Hannah, who tipped her head back in a loud laugh at something, and then she turned back to Sammy “Have you seen the necklace she’s wearing?” “Spotted it before.” Sammy replied “And now it’s glowing it’s kinda hard not to see it.”

“I was with Ari when he got it for her in Port Sudan, the day after he came back from his leave.” Rachel said simply and Sammy turned his head to look at her. “You should have seen his face when the guy explained the firefly glowed in the dark. He told me he’d spotted it weeks ago and had to come back to get it for her birthday…”

“Ok, I get it Rachel.” Sammy rolled his eyes “Look, I’m happy she’s happy and I guess, I’m glad Ari is too, I just…” he signed and shook his head “Forget it, it clearly doesn’t matter what I think.”

“You’re right, it doesn’t.” Rachel shrugged “But if you can’t learn to live with whatever is bugging you about it all so much, then they’re gonna learn to live without you.”

“Well, guess I don’t have much of a choice then huh?”

Before Rachel could reply, the brash tones of In The Navy rang out of the speakers. Jake stood to attention, saluting Max who flipped him off and Ari shook his head, he drew the line at this musical abomination. Hannah pouted a little as he stood, jolting her from his lap but he simply gave her a kiss and told her he was heading off for a drink. When she declined his offer of a top up, he strode away from the group who were now marching on the spot, a few of the girls from the guest groups having joined in. Simon was also doing his best to remain part of the festivities, jumping around and barking.

Ari gave a chuckle at the dog’s antics and opened the lid to the cool box which was set a little further back from where they’d set up camp for the evening.

“Can you pass me one?”  

Ari jerked his head up to look at Sammy, before he gave a nod, grabbing 2 bottles from the box. He popped the lids on both, tossing the opener back down and handed it over.

“Thanks.” Sammy took it from him, taking a long pull.

They stood in silence for a while, Ari knowing Sammy well enough to know that he was currently contemplating how to say what he clearly wanted to. And, sure enough, after a moment or too he heard his friend give a heavy sigh as he turned to him and spoke.

“Look, I’m not ok about any of this but well, Hannah, she deserves to be happy and for whatever fucking reason you seem to do that for her so…” Sammy shrugged “But Ari, I am warning you, you hurt her and I will kill you.”

It was Ari’s turn to sigh “Sammy why do you always have to think the worst of me? Yeah I fucked up with her in the past but let’s not forget, not all of that was my fault.”

“Look, man.” Sammy shook his head “I gave the same warning to Andy ok. I can honestly say it isn’t personal this time.”

At that Ari cocked his head, looking at him. He knew that this was Sammy’s way of giving him and Hannah a very grudging go-ahead. Not a blessing as such, but still, it was better than open hostility. Ari’s hands fell to his hips and he looked down at his feet before he raised his eyes to look at Sammy, a small smile playing on his face. “You know when it comes to it, I hope Rachel’s brother hates your guts too.”

“Rachel? I…what…why do you…” Sammy furiously blushed as he stumbled over his words. Ari said nothing, merely raised an eyebrow and Sammy shook his head, snorting “Guess you know too huh?”

“Hannah told me she suspected it a while back.” He nodded.

“She always has been a pain in my ass.” He grumbled.

“Yeah, well, I don’t think that’s ever gonna change.” Ari smirked, his eyes glancing back over at his girl, where she was still dancing.

“Probably not.” Sammy took a deep breath, “You know, for the record, I don’t hate you Ari…I love you man, and I love my sister.”

“So do I.” Ari looked at him, “And I don’t ever want to hurt her again.”

At Ari’s words, Sammy took a deep breath. Love…ok, that was a little unexpected. But as he stared back at Ari, there wasn’t a shred of insincerity on the man’s face. He gave Ari a small nod, and turned back to watch the group as the opening bars to YMCA rang out over the night air, along with Jake’s loud shouting. As the two men watched, he and Max jumped up onto the over turned logs, launching into the dance routine.

“Which one is the cowboy?” Sammy asked and Ari snorted.

“Max.” he concluded after a little pause. The two men shared a grin and Sammy slapped Ari’s back.

That was the point Ari knew that it was going to be ok. Not wanting to make too big a deal of it, he smiled and then changed the subject.

“Do you remember that time we were singing to Rod Stewart, Do You Think I’m Sexy in that car in the middle of New York?”

“Jesus…” Sammy half-chuckled, half-groaned. “You know I try not to think about that a lot. The windows to the car were wide open…”

“Yeah, and those girls walking past just stopped and stared at us like we were 2 crazy bastards.”

“You are a crazy bastard.” Sammy teased and Ari gave a little nod, conceding the point playfully.

As they stood, still watching, Hannah and Rachel were pulled up onto the log by Max and Jake and Sammy shook his head, chuckling.“You think we should rescue our girls from those two idiots?”

Ari paused, the use of the term registering in his brain. He grinned and looked at Sammy “So you’re there already? Calling her your girl?” “Piss off you cocky bastard” Ari snorted and turned back to the dancing in front of them “Nah, leave them, they’re having fun. Besides, they can handle themselves.”

This remained Ari’s sentiment until YMCA finished, and Hungry Like the Wolf started to play. He watched, the 4 of them step down off the bench as the beat started, and then Jake  looked like he was having a little too much fun with Hannah, his hands on her hips from behind as she swayed side to side.

Ari stiffened slightly and Sammy, not missing a thing spoke, his tone amused. “Want me to hold your beer?” Ari turned to give him a look before he thrust the bottle at Sammy and pushed through the group of dancers. When he reached the two of them he tapped Jake on the shoulder. “Do you mind if i…”

Jake raised his hands. “Sure man I’m gonna…ummmm….just go.”

Ari watched him leave before he turned to Hannah, fingers curling around her hips as his lips pecked her neck.

“Didn’t think it would take long before you showed up.” She quipped, tilting her head to look at him.

“Yeah, well, I don’t like him touching what belongs to me.”

Hannah chuckled “You’re such a possessive bastard.”

Ari hummed in response as Hannah reached down, grabbed his hand and tugged him towards where Rachel and Max were dancing. He protested at first but then, for the first time in God knows how long just let himself go. He danced along, grinning as Max started doing some furious type of dance thrusting his shoulders inwards and be arched an eyebrow as they were joined by Sammy too. Hannah watched him carefully for a moment but he simply flashed her a huge grin which she reciprocated and continued her dancing. Ari spun her around, and she giggled, stumbling a little until he reached out and caught her, his own chuckles being drowned out by the music.

The group of agents remained on the beach in the middle of the temporary sort of dance floor, under the large wooden archway which was decorated with fairy lights, simply dancing and laughing for another few songs until the music slowed down and the opening notes of Your Song drifted across the sea breeze. Ari grinned as Hannah’s arms slid up his chest stopping on his shoulders, his hands falling to her hips as they gently moved their bodies a little closer than they had been. Ari leaned down and placed a soft peck on Hannah’s lips, her hand gently stroking his neck, fingers lightly dancing over his skin. If he was Simon, his damned leg would have started to shake as every time she did that it felt like fucking heaven.

“I saw you talking to Sammy before. Everything ok?” she asked, her blue eyes bright as she glanced up at him.

“Yeah.” Ari said honestly “Yeah, I think it is.”

“Good.” Hannah beamed “Because I can’t stand the thought of you being at one another’s throats.” “It wasn’t really a thought I was relishing either.” Ari said, before he grinned wickedly as he bent a little closer to speak into her ear whilst he spun them both around a little to the music. “Although one I am relishing, however, is just exactly how I’m gonna make you beg like I promised before.”

His hands gently squeezed her hips and she felt his fingers softly bunching in the crochet material at the side of her skirt. “I didn’t realise you liked my outfit so much.” She spoke softly as his fingers continued to play with the item of clothing.

“I do.” He grinned back, “But as nice as it is, I’m looking forward to seeing you with nothing but that necklace on Firefly.”

“Yeah, well I gotta admit I’ll be glad to take it off. I mean, it’s pretty and everything but the top is a little uncomfortable…” at that she wriggled her hips and Ari gave a grunt as she pressed up against him, her pelvis almost flush to his. “Or maybe it’s the fact that I can’t wear a bra with it.”

Ari blinked, looked straight down at her cleavage, making no attempt to hide the fact that he was ogling at her before he glanced up at her to see her biting her lip.

And that was it, he was done.

“Ok.”  With a swoop he bent down and lifted her so she was over his shoulder causing her to give a squeal. He swatted at her ass as he turned and began to stride away from the group of party makers. There were loud whoops and cheers, above which Max’s trademark filthy chuckle could be heard and a low groan from Sammy.

Hannah planted her hands in the base of Ari’s back so she could push herself up slightly to wave at everyone. “See you tomorrow guys!”  she giggled as Ari strode away from the group and down the beach.

Hannah’s hut was nearer so that was the one he made a bee line for. He opened the door, made sure Simon was inside before he shut it with his foot and set her gently down on the floor.

“I suggest if you like that outfit you take it off pretty quickly before it ends up in pieces on the floor.” Ari looked down at Hannah, his hands grabbing her hips and pulling her towards him.

“Wait…” she said, her palms falling flat on his chest, before her fingers nimbly moved to the buttons on his shirt. “I wanna unwrap my last present.”

Ari arched an eyebrow at her but didn’t protest as she undid the buttons on his shirt, before she reached up and pushed it back over his shoulders, her hands smoothing down from his pecs to his defined, but not ripped abs, biting her lip as she took her time appreciating him. She glanced back up, her hands following her eyes before she reached up and pulled his head down to hers in a searing kiss. His lips locked on hers Ari trailed his hands up her sides, brushing the bare flesh that was on display from her short top before he grabbed the hem of it. She moved back, holding her arms up so he could pull it over her head and then his lips were back on hers, his large hands splayed on her back, pulling her chest flush to his.

He trailed open mouthed kisses across her jawline, finding that spot by her neck, giving a nip, all the time listening to the soft whimpers she was making in his ear as he backed her towards the bed and rather unceremoniously shoved her back onto it. She gave a soft giggle and started to move herself to the middle but in a flash he reached out and grabbed her ankle.

“Ah ah.” He said, as he dropped to his knees. “I told you, you were gonna beg for it sweetheart.”

She looked at him, propping herself up on her elbows, Ari groaning internally at the sight of her bare chest. His hands slid up her legs, finding the waistband of her skirt and in a single movement slid it down, along with her panties, leaving her bare on the bed before he unbuckled her sandals and slid those down over her calves.

Taking her left leg in his right hand he pressed a kiss to her ankle and continued his affections upwards, pressing small yet sloppy kisses all the way up until his nose was skimming along the apex of her thigh. She let out a groan of delight as she gently bent her other knee to allow him access and this time he couldn’t stop the soft moan which bubbled from his throat and he snuck one glance up at her, to see her head was already titled back in arousal. He reached up, and pushed on her shoulder, causing her to lay flat and then set his mouth on her.

There was nothing gentle about any of his movements, his tongue lashing at her, teasing her sensitive bud before poking deep into her, positively fucking her with his mouth. Her hips bucked upwards, pushing onto his face and he couldn’t help but smirk at how easy it was to draw the reactions he wanted from her. One of her hands reached into his hair, as he continued to eat her out with the ardour of a man starved. Her sweet, salty tang on his tongue set every nerve in his body on edge and the more he tasted the more he wanted. He felt her grip in his hair tighten, as her hips rotated slightly, seeking more friction and the relief that came with it, and as he felt her breathing begin to quicken he abruptly stopped, pulling back. Hannah stilled and gave a low whine as his fingers gripped at her hips, his mouth moving to the insides of her thighs, away from where she needed and wanted him most.

“Ari…” she began to protest and then his mouth was back on her again, edging her closer and closer to her orgasm until, a short while later as her breathing and gasps became ragged, he once more he pulled back.

“Ari, please?” her voice was broken plea, and he grinned, rising to his feet as he looked down at her.

“Told you, you were gonna beg Firefly…” he said, shedding his remaining clothing and freeing his now painfully hard cock.

“Don’t…” she looked at him, shifting slightly as he crawled over her. “Don’t be mean, it’s my birthday…”

“I’m well aware…” he muttered, his lips ghosting a path up her neck to her chin “This time 9 years ago I was kissing you outside a Club in Tel Aviv…”

He nipped at her neck and she keened underneath him, her body begging him for more, so needy and so ready for him. His tongue licked a line up her throat as his hands slid up her bare sides, calloused fingers ever so gentle over her ribs. His hands found hers and he pinned them to the bed either side of her head as his mouth moved down and his tongue flicked at her nipple as he took it between his lips, drawling a loud groan from her as her hips bucked involuntarily at the sensation. 

His lips caught hers in a deep, sloppy kiss, and he moved his hips and with a powerful thrust forward he sheathed himself inside her, causing her to wail into his mouth, her lips open against his. He started moving his hips, slowly, deliberately. Each thrust measured and powerful, his open mouth never once leaving hers as they panted together, sharing air. With every rock into her, moans of delight and pure pleasure flowed from her throat to his, every inch of their bodies pressed as close as they could get.

Ari plunged his tongue into her mouth and it was a hotwire straight to her belly and Hannah squeezed her hands around his, the tips of her nails digging into the skin just below his knuckles as she was completely overwhelmed by him and powerless to stop her body’s reactions.

“Let go…” she gently flexed her fingers. “Wanna feel you…”

Ari obliged and she moved her hands round his broad back, her fingers skating over the expanse of muscle and he gave a groan at her touch, his mouth straying back to her neck, his lips and beard gliding over her skin. Hannah turned her head, nudging his jaw with her nose and he raised her head, allowing her to reciprocate the affection, her mouth kissing at his neck and jaw line.

“I love you Ari…” she muttered, and he gave a low groan, rotating his hips as opposed to thrusting, causing her to cry out, her hands grasping at his shoulder blades.

“I love you Hannah…” he said, repeating the motion, well aware she was fast reaching the end, his lips crashing back to hers, chests gliding together, both of them covered in a light glisten of sweat. Ari’s hands gently cupped her face as he pushed into her as deep as he could go, his movements becoming slow and deep, rocking into her as opposed to thrusting, not wanting any inch of his body to be away from hers. “I love you so much baby girl…”

In contrast to his furious actions before, Hannah noticed the shift. Everything about his movements now screamed pure love and affection, and that drove her wild with her own love and lust and it wasn’t long at all before she felt the heat beginning to swell in her lower belly.

“Ari…Ari…” his name became a mantra, punctuated by her breathy moans and pants, her lips moving against his as she repeated her chant until the words died in her throat and her head tipped back in a silent cry.

“Fuck, Hannah…” Ari groaned as he felt her pulsing around him as she came, a strangled moan escaping her mouth and his lips became furious against hers, the kiss deep, his tongue wrapping onto hers as he picked up the pace slightly. His hips pushed forward deeply, and with another few sharp thrusts his rhythm stuttered and the world around him positively span as he came, hard, with a surge that he wasn’t quite sure he’d felt before. He stilled, deep inside her, before he gave a few shallow thrusts, riding his own orgasm out before he collapsed down on top of her, completely and utterly blissed out, the pair of them waiting for the world to right itself.

And for the first time since their reunion, Ari realised, that there was no goddamned rush. There was nothing to worry about, no concern about them falling asleep and sleeping in too late.

Nothing.

The revelation sparked something in his chest and he swallowed, pushing himself up slightly so he could lean down and give her a soft kiss, his forehead pressing to hers, his eyes shining as she glanced up at him.

“You ok?” she asked softly, reaching up to brush his hair back off his face as she noticed the look on his face.

“More than ok.” He smiled, his lips on hers again, “Because I just realised, we got all the time in the world Firefly.”

She grinned and nodded “Yeah, yeah we do.”

Still inside her, not ready to put that distance between them quite yet, he pulled her with him as he rolled to his side, her leg hooking over his as his hands skated down the bare skin of her back, his mouth trailing soft kisses down her neck to the crook of her shoulder as she gave a soft hum of contentment. He pressed his lips to her temple as she sighed happily, tucking her head underneath his chin the two of them simply laying in the dark, alone, wrapped around one another as close as they possibly could be.