#quick break during gigs

[nicoscheer]

[ilovetoxicfictionalmen]

FACE OF VERSACE

Pairing - Cillian Murphy x fem!reader

Summary - You accompany Cillian on his Versace photoshoot and cannot wait until afterwards.

Warnings - semi-public sex, p in v, oral (m receiving), in love

Word Count - 1.4k

Notes - Quick write. That white tank top does things to me. Also Cillian is a total simp you can't convince me otherwise.

It’s been like this for months now, Cillian’s schedule spilling all over the kitchen bench because it’s that full. Right when the both of you would think there would be a decent break for him, another job would come up. Not that you were entirely complaining about this one. 

It’s one thing to be the face of a brand, but to be the new face of Versace? Cillian never would have seen that one coming. It was a blessing to be able to wear Versace during the award season, but this felt like the cherry was too big to fit on the cake. There was a lengthy discussion on if he should do it, he was never greedy enough to push for another paycheck. Not to mention, being the face for such an elite business felt overawing. This was a big gig, which would lead to even more large opportunities in the future. He had a family and didn’t want to fall into the loop of constantly being away from home. But by the end of the night, you convinced your husband to take the blessed opportunity. 

You cleared your schedule to be able to watch the shoot. It was a very long day, the both of you had to wake up before dawn after flying in late last night. Cillian stubbornly decided to go on a fast, wanting to look the best he could for his age, as he argued. 

Even though he was high on excitement, you could see how exhausted he was. How desperately he needed to take a break and sit down. But he soldiered on, a refreshed expression of awe on him with every outfit. 

The clothes were tailored to him exceptionally, the way the fabrics snatched his waist made you feel butterflies in your stomach and your thighs squeezed together. 

You were wanting him all day, all week, all month. Even though you always had him, the spark of the thrill was currently dead. He was in work overload mode, so he was always so tired whenever he was free. Not that you blamed him for feeling that way, but you just always had the urge to show him how badly you adored him, wanted him, loved him. 

But, when he came out in the white tank that teased the beauty of his chest, a tailored black jacket with the matching high waisted trousers, topped with the medusa belt. It almost sent you over the edge on the spot. Especially when he waved the damn scarf. 

You had to have him as soon as possible. The way everyone was watching him, it made you feel possessive. The need to mark him as yours was pumping through your blood. There was no point in trying to hide how badly it was affecting your mind and body. Your legs were closed tightly and you were biting on your lower lip. 

There was a short break right after that shoot and you made up a little lie that you had a headache. Typically, being the thoughtful and attentive husband Cillian was, he took you back to his dressing room for some privacy and soundless scenery. 

But as soon as the door closed you pounced at him like a tiger. His back hit the door as you kissed him passionately, his hands raised in shock, his body stiff against yours. 

“Darling, fuck, couldn’t you have waited until we got back to the hotel?” Cillian chuckled nervously as one hand wrapped around your lower back and the other patted the door to find the lock on the knob. 

“Can’t wait, too horny” you moaned, flexing your hips up against his. 

“You’re such a fucking minx sometimes” he groaned, already feeling his cock twitch in his trousers. 

“I need you” you whined, your mouths still pressed together. 

Cillian whined out slowly, his eyes squeezed tight. The thoughts in his head were fighting each other. Desperately, he wanted to ravage you but logically he knew that the break would be over soon, and he hated rushing these moments with you. 

“I need you too baby, but-” he tried to object but the words in his throat went dry as you dropped to your knees. Quickly, your palm rubbed against his growing size. “Baby no” he protested, waving a finger as if he was scolding you.

But he couldn’t resist you. Naturally his hips flexed forwards and he was wondering how the fuck he was meant to get rid of his erection. 

“Come on” you whined childishly. 

“We’re meant to be on a tight schedule” he complained, but didn’t stop you from unbuckling his belt.  “My stylists will come knocking” he continued on. 

But you were determined and he already knew there was no denying this. 

“We’ll be quick” you promised slyly. 

“We’re never that quick…” he said, almost taking offense to it. 

You looked at him, puppy eyes and pouting to him. 

“Please sir” you begged softly. 

It was like a spell, whenever you’d call him that. That word made him bend backwards for you. His hand grabbed onto your chin and tilted your head back. 

“Such a little needy one, aren't you?” He groaned as you slowly slid down the zipper. 

“Yes sir” you answered, a cheeky smirk on your lips. 

“Well, who am I to deny my good girl? Who has been handling my time away so strongly. Taking care of my family so perfectly” he praised.

Those types of words always made your core clench. Every slight movement in your body, you felt your pussy slip in your thong. You hummed in response to him as you quickly freed his throbbing size. 

There was time wasted, you were on a tight schedule as he claimed. Swiftly, your lips wrapped around his cock and you bobbed your head down him. Cillian moaned out, his back pressed firmly against the door as his hands slipped into your loose hair, encouraging you to go faster. It hadn’t even been a minute when his hands gently tugged on the roots of your hair. 

“I want to fuck you baby…” he murmured as he pulled you up to your feet. You giggled and nodded your head in agreement. “You deserve to feel good too” he grinned, quickly leading you over to the two seater couch. 

He fell backwards onto the seat, quickly shaking his pants down to his ankles whilst you slid off your thong from underneath your skirt. Without a second to spare, you straddled him, his hands rolled up your skirt around your waist, his cock pressed against your abdomen. With a short lift, Cillian lined up his size to your entrance and you slid down slowly onto him.

Both of you moaned out in unison as his arms wrapped possessively around your upper frame, holding you tightly against his body. For a short moment, you both sat still, his cock twitching in between your clenching walls. An electric kiss was shared between your lips as you slowly rocked your hips against his. 

“Should be you, in the photoshoot” he praised you through a moan, eyes closed. 

“Shut up Cill” you moaned back as you bounced on him faster. 

He chuckled and gripped onto your thighs, guiding you to go at the perfect angle and speed. You planted sloppy kisses around his face, not caring that you were getting lipstick all over his skin. As he started to thrust inside of you, he buried himself deeply down your canal over and over again. 

“Love you so fucking much” he professed, holding your body close to his. 

“L-love you too” you shuddered, your eyes rolling back as he started to hit your sweet spot. 

He twitched briskly inside of you and could feel his balls tighten up. Through the euphoric sensations his mouth fell open, his hands moving to your bare ass. 

“Come for me now baby. I promise I’ll take it slow with you tonight, worship every inch of you” he vowed, his mouth pressed against your ear.

Your head nodded quickly as you felt your walls squeeze him like crazy. Shortly, you saw stars as you swore out, your hands in his short locks of hair as you rocked your high out. Straight after, Cillian moaned out, his seed shooting deep inside of you as he held onto you tightly. 

Both of you took a long moment to pant out, chuckling to each other as you stroked the hairs out of his face. He kissed you softly, confessing his undying love for you. tytr

Both of your heads snapped to the knock at the door.

[mrdrwrites]

Pairings: Oliver Quick x fem!reader

Summary: you go to a party and get drunk, Oliver picks you up and takes you home but refuses to have sex with you whilst you’re drunk so you get upset, he calms you down and makes a promise for when you are sober

CW: SFW, drinking, dirty talk (barely)

WC: 1.2k

Warning: i am dyslexic so don't expect all words to be spelled correctly, also i don't autocapitalise my words

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

purple and green strobes light up the dimly lit basement, people mesh together in a blurred blob of grey. the party is in full swing, music loud and sweaty bodies grinding and dancing on each other. i was off my head. completely drunk. after downing many shots, winning multiple rounds of beer pong and successfully out drinking my friends i could barely see straight. my best friend Kai slings an arm around my shoulder from where i’m sitting in the corner of the room, her dark skin beautifully contrasting my own pale complexion.

‘you enjoying the party babe?’ she shouts over the music, giving me a squeeze.

‘most fun i’ve had in weeks,’ i yell back, my words slurring together.

Kai and her boyfriend Felix had organised the party, a final farewell gig after we had finished exams. Kai had been begging me for weeks to come out partying with her but i had declined each time opting to stay home with my boyfriend Oliver.

‘where’s Fifi?’ i question, using our silly nickname for her boyfriend.

‘probably somewhere with Farleigh and Venetia,’ she replies, taking a sip of her brightly coloured drink.

as the words leave her lips Felix can be seen making his way through the sea of sweaty bodies toward Kai and i. when he is beside Kai he ducks down and gives her a chaste kiss on the lips, slipping his hand down her back and onto her ass in the process.

‘ey,’ she warns, breaking the kiss, ‘behave.’

‘i am,’ he smirks, dipping his head back down and kissing her once more.

‘i’m here Fifi. stop stealing my girl,’ i stand and almost fall but he grabs my elbow and steadies me.

‘don’t call me Fifi,’ he warns, moving his hand from my elbow when i am standing on my own, ‘are you okay y/n? you look… rough.’

i scoff, ‘yes Fifi, i’m,’ i hiccup, ‘great.’

‘right,’ he stretches out the ‘i’ and rolls his eyes.

‘i am,’ i turn to Kai, ‘tell him Kai.’

‘babe you are off your head. have some water.’

‘i’m fine,’ i assure the both of them but i soon need to sit down as the room begins to spin.

i get huddled up in the seat and my eyes begin to shut. before they close i see Felix pull his phone out of his pocket but i think nothing of it.

what feels like two seconds later i am being shaken awake, the music has now stopped and the room is still lowly lit. Oliver stands in front of me. my Oliver. his blue eyes filled with worry, brown hair a mess, he’s wearing a suit. he looks delicious.

‘y/n, baby, are you okay?’ he asks, panic sounding in his voice.

‘Oliver, you’re here,’ i smile but it soon fades, ‘why are you here?’

‘dinner finished early, Felix texted me. you passed out my love,’ panic is still evident in his tone but it has lessened significantly.

‘i missed you,’ i shoot forward and crush him in a hug.

‘i missed you too,’ he stumbles a little when i collide into him but he steadies himself quickly, ‘lets go home baby.’

i nod my head and he picks me up, manoeuvring me so i’m situated comfortably, and carries me to his car.

when we get home it’s as if all the alcohol i had consumed during the party had come back into my system for a round two. my head was spinning and i was stumbling when i walked with Oliver to the front door.

‘go to bed baby, i’ll be there in a minute,’ he takes my shoes off of my feet, kisses my head and leaves me to go into the kitchen.

i don’t listen to him however, opting instead to pulling the pink dress off of my body, my bra and thong following it quickly. i make my way towards the kitchen when Oliver is stood in front of the open fridge.

‘Oliver,’ i call out his name, ‘can you help me please?’

‘yeah baby what’s up?’ he turns to me, his eyes immediately widening when he sees the lack of clothing on my body.

‘i need you Oliver,’ i continue walking towards him.

‘baby we can’t, you’ve been drinking,’ he averts his gaze from my breasts and looks into my eyes.

‘please Oliver. touch me,’ i can feel my stomach swirling with need, ‘you look so good in your suit. i want you to do things to me.’

when i reach him he has side stepped away from the fridge and shut it.

‘i’m craving you Oliver. i need you to fuck me,’ i all but beg, placing my hand on his shoulder.

‘go to bed y/n,’ he brushes me off, not even looking at me.

i feel my stomach drop. he doesn’t want me. my eyes get glassy and i turn from him, hugging my arms around my body. i go up to our bedroom and crawl into bed. i silently cry til i hear him open the door, i pretend to be asleep. he moves over to the dresser drawers across from the bed and begins taking off his suit, neatly folding them and putting them on top of the dresser no doubt to put them in the washing machine tomorrow. he comes over to my side of the bed and i flinch when she gives me a kiss on the forehead.

‘you’re still awake?’ he crouches in front of me, boxers are the only thing he wears.

i don’t open my eyes, still faking sleep.

‘baby,’ he murmurs, dragging a finger down my cheek, ‘i know you’re awake.’

i open my eyes and look at him, the only light coming from the lamp beside him. he studies my face and gives me a light frown.

‘you’ve been crying,’ he sounds disappointed.

at his tone a few more tears escape my eyes, his lips part and he wipes the tears away with the pad of his thumb.

‘why are you crying baby?’

‘you don’t want me,’ i choke out, closing my eyes and moving my head away from his hand.

‘i do want you, i want you so bad my love,’ he assures, ‘it just doesn’t feel right having sex with you when you’re drunk. that’s all. do you understand?’ i open my eyes as his hand cups my jaw to tilt my head up so i am looking at him.

i nod my head, the alcohol still fogging my thoughts. he gives me a slow kiss on the lips and releases my jaw from his hand, moving to his side of the bed and sliding in. he grabs me and pulls my body into his own. i curl up to him and he presses a kiss to the top of my head.

‘i love you y/n,’ he whispers into my hair, his hands fiddling with the ends.

‘i love you too Oliver,’ i reply, my eyes suddenly feeling heavy.

‘i’ll tell you what,’ he pulls away from my head and i look up at him, ‘as soon as you’re fully sober, we can do every dirty little thought in that pretty head of yours.’

i don’t respond to him, instead pulling him into a kiss.

i love Oliver Quick.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

PART TWO HERE

ofc i had to include @lovandr as Felix’s girlfriend 🙏🙏

[absfawn]

emi baby i have a request if you’re up for it!! but jealous rockstar!abby performing at a late night gig with her band and she notices someone in the audience trying to flirt with you, so during intermission she takes you backstage and marks you up (and more if you’d like) so she can show them who you belong to 🫣

oh oh oh, yes 😼

The lights were dim under her hooded eyes. The sweat trickled down her forehead, sticking to her skin uncomfortably. Her head was lulled back, her heavy breathing echoing through the microphone and into the room while her hair stuck to her face annoyingly. She knew that was something that drove you insane. Seeing her hair all damp, sticking out in different directions and simply looking a little crazy.

Abby could barely hearing anything over the sound of her fingers moving quickly over the cords of her guitar and the screams of everyone in the crowd, but she lifted her head just in time to find you standing in the crowd, swaying and bumping your head to the current tune. One she loved to play for you when it was just you and her, in her trailer, loving on each other. She chuckled breathlessly when you perked up, waving your hand quickly in her direction when your eyes caught her gaze.

There was something she didn’t like though. She didn’t like the closeness of the girl standing beside you. Nor did she like the way she had her hand brushing up your arm, and how close her lips were to your ear. Abby didn’t even know what she was saying, but it had you laughing. Her girl was laughing at something someone else was saying. It had her clenching her jaw tightly, almost messing up the song and strumming the wrong cord with how hard she was gripping the guitar in her hand.

Abby was possessive of you, and she hated how someone was touching you and making you laugh when that should be her causing you to tumble into a fit of giggles, and shivering at a single touch. Always her. Not that girl standing next to you.

Thankfully Abby and her group were able to take an earlier break seeing as they had started earlier than usual tonight. She only had one thing in mind when she stepped off the stage, get you away from that girl as fast as possible without causing a big scene. Sometimes it was difficult because of how big they had become over the past few months of making and releasing music. Finding you and only you was the only thing she wanted. She was quick to ignore every person that screamed, yelled in her face, grabbed her arms, and even went as far as to almost jump on her, as she made her way towards the barrier keeping them, you, and everyone apart. Her jaw clenched again, your smile brightening when you finally spotted her walking towards you.

“Abs! you were so good, even though you are always good. Oh— before i forget, i want you to meet my new friend—”

No time. She didn’t have time to listen to you gush over the new brunette you had just met. She didn’t have time to listen you drabble on about how cute her shoes were, or how you liked her makeup. Instead, she grabbed your hand in her bigger yet clammier ones, cutting you off completely before dragging you, almost causing you to stumble over your own feet at how fast she was walking. “Abby? are you mad at me? have i done something wrong?” You question, furrowing your eyebrows with a pout on your lips even though she couldn’t see you.

Pulling you into her dressing room, you have to hold your hands out onto the couch before you to stop you falling over onto the floor like an idiot. The broad-shouldered stood standing in front of the door, looking at you, chest rising up and down with how heavy she was breathing. Her eyes were almost black the longer she stared at you, sweat still trickling down her temples. “Did you have fun?”

“At your show? i always do. what is this about—”

“Did you have fun when she was touching you?”

Each step you took back, she took one forward and it wasn’t long until she had you backed up against the dressing table, arms either side of your body, and her nose brushing against yours. “Abs, i don’t understand—”

Your words died in your throat the second she pressed her lips to your neck, not kissing, just resting there as you breathed heavily against her. Your fingers curled against the counter, nails bluntly scraping the wood harshly. “Dumb little brain huh, Sweet girl?” She whispers, her voice cracked from screaming and shouting so much tonight. “Thought you would understand by now that that you are mine, and i don’t share what’s mine”

Abby groaned into your neck at the little whimpers you let out as her lips trailed soft yet harsh kisses into your skin. You could barely focus on her words anymore, not when she was kissing you like this, not with how her hands trailed up your exposed legs, digging her nails into your skin the higher she went. It wasn’t until her lips had found that little spot that had you gasping and breathing heavy that Abby bit down a little harsher on your neck, sucking a brand new hickey into your pretty skin, enjoying how you whimpered and wrapped around arms around her body. “Mine yeah?” She almost growled.

“yours! m’yours Abs”

“This is mine too, yeah?”

You hand been so focused on how her lips felt against you that you didn’t even register her hand slipping into your now very soaked panties, fingers sliding between your folds, smirking into your neck as your hips bucked up into her touch. Nodding quickly, you bit down on your lip as she continued to rub circles on your clit.

Her forehead bumped into yours, blue eyes staring into yours, her jaw still clenched tightly, and if you weren’t so fucking turned on, you’d be worried she would break it. “Fuckin’ say it. Say it’s mine”

“It’s yours. i’m yours. Abby please—”

The second the words fell from your lips, she removed her hand from between your thighs and grinned darkly. “Think i have to remind you, hm?” She chuckled, pressing her thumb into the new forming hickey, biting down on her own lip when the action tears a whine from you. “can’t have her or anyone else out there thinking you are theirs for the taking, can i? you are mine, and only mine”

“You only have 15 minutes—”

Gripping your jaw between her fingers before you could finish your sentence, Abby hums softly, pressing the pads against your lips, prying your mouth open where you eagerly took them in, groaning as you look up at her with such an innocent look as you sucked slowly.

“If you think this is the only time i’m going to remind you of who you belong to tonight, then you really are dumb baby. When we get home, i’m going to fuck you until my name is the only one you will remember”

[sunflowergirl522]

Bats

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Reader

Summary: you’re in Hawkins for the summer and you bite to show affection.

Word Count: 6109

Eddie Masterlist

You and Eddie have been dating for a while now. You went to a gig his band had and the two of you hit it off immediately. But living a few towns over from Hawkins and being in college you never got much of a chance to see him. So your relationship was mainly through the phone and letters. He’d drive over to your place every once in a while staying for a night or for the weekend but everytime you brought up going to see him he turned the thought down immediately. He was always quick to clarify that it wasn’t because he was seeing other girls or anything he just didn’t want it distracting you from your studies. You knew that though, when he was with you he’d make sure you studied even if you didn’t have a test and that you did your assignments awarding each section you did with a kiss, oftentimes more. But now it’s summer break and you’re on your way to spend a whole week in the Munson trailer.

“Why’re you so distracted today?” Max brings Eddie’s attention away from his trailer back to her as she bounces a soccer ball on her feet in front of him.

“I’m not distracted.” He rests his elbows on his knees as he leans forward.

“Then what was I saying?”

“Uh, something about Lucas’s latest fuck up.” He knows he’s wrong with his guess when she bursts into laughter.

“Dude what’s going on with you today? That wasn’t even close to being right.” She sits on the picnic table next to him. 

“Y/n’s coming to stay for the week.” Max is really the only one out of the group that he talks to about you. They all know about you of course but he likes to keep you to himself so he doesn’t bring you up that much and he’s vague when they ask about you. But since Max is like the little sister he never knew he wanted he couldn’t ever seem to shut up about you when the two of them were together.

“Oh shit that’s this week?” She’s excited to meet you but at the news that you’ll be here today her stomach twists into knots. She’d never admit it to anyone, ever, but she’s anxious about if you’ll like her or not. And she desperately wants you to because Eddie’s the big brother she always wished she could’ve had in Billy and he’s always going on about how he’s gonna marry you someday. Max would love to have you fill in the older sister she never in a million years would’ve thought she could have.

“Yeah.” The smile on Eddie’s face calms her nerves a bit, happy to see him so happy. “I don’t know when she’s gonna get here though we didn’t talk about that last night.”

“It’s still early.” She offers up with a shrug but just as she finishes talking a car with muffled music blasting pulls in next to Eddie’s van in front of the trailer. The door opens and Eddie’s face lights up like the fourth of July as you step out, closing the door with a quick shove before looking up and locking eyes with him.

“Eddie!” He’s up and catching you in his arms before Max even realizes you’re running over. You’re in his arms for all of two minutes before you turn your head to bite into his bicep causing him to laugh.

“I can’t believe you’re here, Bats.” 

“Me either, I almost got lost on my way.” You huff at the nickname before speaking. You were fine with it, thought it was cute even, until he told you about how he got the scars littering his body. ‘I can’t help it if you’re my vampire bat’ is his response when you bring up him not calling you it anymore. “I can’t wait to finally meet Wayne and everyone else.” Eddie talked about his friends a decent amount during calls and when he visited you and you’ve talked to Wayne on the phone a few times when he picked up instead of Eddie.

“Speaking of meeting everyone.” He steps back and over to reveal Max, his hand going to hold your own. “This is-”

“You must be Max!” You interrupt him knowing exactly who’s sitting in front of you. You’re all smiles and excitement that it completely erases her nerves for now and she couldn’t stop herself from matching your vibe if she wanted to.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you. He goes on and on about you so often that I feel like I know everything about you!” She gets up to stand in front of you and her words somehow make your smile bigger. You squeeze his hand needing a way to let out all of the love that’s boiling over inside of you.

“Well Eddie absolutely raves about you! Talks about you the most out of everyone so much so that’s it’s crazy to think the two of you aren’t actually related.” You had even thought she was his sister for the longest time before asking him one day when he mentioned going to her place. Something that he had stumbled over his answer because no not really but also yes because that’s exactly how he sees her.

“He does, does he?” She doesn’t let it show just how much that means to her as she looks over at him with a smirk on her face.

“Now Red don’t go blabbing that to everyone, Dustin will never let it go.” He steps forward and brings you into his side wanting more contact with you, still not completely believing that you’re here in Hawkins with him. “Do you have a lot to unpack baby?”

“No, I just have my duffel and backpack.”

“Wanna get all situated and comfortable in the trailer then?”

“But I’ve barely met Max.”

“Max can come with us if she wants, I’ll make some lunch and we can watch a movie or something. You hungry?” You only start to nod before he starts to pull you back to the trailer. “C’mon Red, the lady requests your presence.”

“I really like Max.” You say to Eddie later that night when you’re cuddling into his chest in bed. You absolutely adore her just like you knew you would.

“Good.” He kisses the top of your head before smiling up at the ceiling. He was beyond ecstatic to have you in his arms again.

“I get to meet Wayne tomorrow right?” He was working a late shift tonight but Eddie insisted that you’d be able to see him then instead of staying up all night for it.

“Yeah, he’s off tomorrow so don’t worry about missing him.”

“Okay.” You prop yourself up on your arm then body hoving above his own. “What about everyone else? When do I get to meet them?”

“Well normally I’d be going to movie night tomorrow but I think I’m gonna keep you all to myself a little bit longer.” He pulls you back down on top of him as he speaks causing you to let out a squeal and some giggles.

“No, let’s go to movie night, it'll be fun. You get to have me all to yourself the day after when you show me around.” 

“You really want to go meet everyone that badly?” Eddie’s eyes are shining as he makes eye contact with you as you place your forehead on his.

“More than anything.”

“Then I guess we can go.” He sighs out like it’s going to be the most painful thing in the world for him. You nip the tip of his nose, getting the urge to out of nowhere and his already playful eyes get a new glint in them. “Oh so that’s how it’s gonna be Bats?” He’s quick to flip you over, straddling your hips. “I give in to your begging and you bite me. How is that fair?” His hands are working into your sides before he finishes talking earning him screeching laughter in return.

“Eddie! Stop!” You gasp out the words and he pauses his ministrations just long enough for you to catch your breath and for him to slide his hands up your, his, shirt.

“What do I get if I stop?” His tone is both playful and menacing at the same time in a way that lets you know if whatever you say isn’t good enough he’ll keep going.

“I’ll give you a kiss.” He hums mock thinking about your offer, his hands roaming up and down your waist bathing in the feel of your skin on his.

“Nope, not good enough.”

“What?” You frantically try to back up to escape his hands just for him to drag you back down the bed.

“Give me a kiss and tell me you’ll love me forever.” He keeps his hands firmly on your sides and leans his face over yours.

“Of course I’ll love you forever Eddie bear.” Your voice goes soft and your arms wrap around his neck as you nuzzle his nose with your own. “Now how about that kiss?”

Eddie wakes up first the next morning with a smile on his face at having you in his arms and in his bed. The thought of getting up and leaving you crushing his soul but the thought of waking you up with breakfast in bed and being able to see you light up in gratitude urging him to do exactly that. So he pulls you closer for a minute before kissing your head and sliding out of his warm bed getting dressed and heading to the kitchen where he finds Wayne making coffee.

You don’t wake up much later than he does, the bed is still a little warm where he was sleeping when you do. You lay there for a few minutes beaming up at the ceiling that you’re actually here with him. It’s hard for you to normally be so far apart from him with your love languages being quality time and physical touch. The two of you always made up for the time apart when he would come visit but it was still rough. Which is why you’ve decided that after you graduate you’d move to Hawkins to be with him all the time. You’d been saving up long before even meeting Eddie to be able to get your own place after school so as long as he wants you here you’d do it. 

You throw on one of his shirts and a pair of pajama pants before making your way out of the room excited to finally meet Uncle Wayne. You find both him and Eddie in the kitchen with Eddie making eggs and Wayne pouring his coffee. 

“Is this the famous Y/n Y/l/n I’ve heard so much about?” Wayne smiles your way and Eddie whips around to look at you.

“Sure is!” You gnaw on your lip and shift your weight from one foot to the other wanting to go hug him like you would your own family member but hold yourself back knowing he’s not much of a physical touch kind of person.

“Bring it in kid.” He opens his arms for you and you let out a small happy laugh as you rush into them and accept the hug he offers. Something he doesn’t normally do but he doesn’t know what other way to thank you for loving his boy so much. Eddie can’t help the smile that overtakes his face as he watches it happen knowing how much it’s going to mean to you.

“What’re you doing up darlin’?” Eddie asks as he brings you into his arms after you part from Wayne. “I was gonna wake you up with breakfast.” He pouts resting his forehead on yours.

“Sorry baby, I tried waiting for you to come back but I got bored and I really wanted to meet Wayne.” You peck his still pouty lips forcing them into a smile before pulling away. “So what do you guys do around here?”

You end up spending most of the day binging The Waltons with the Munsons and doing a puzzle Wayne had lying around on the small table in the living room. By the time Eddie’s standing up and telling you it’s about time to get going for movie night you and Wayne have gotten to know each other well enough that you can tell he’s going to be fast family to you.

“Have I told you yet how pretty you look today?” Eddie asks as he holds your door open and watches you step out. You’re a sight in your jean shorts and one of Eddie’s Metallica shirts standing in Steve’s driveway in front of him. “Cause you’re pretty as a picture Bats.” He takes your hand in his own and leads the way to the door.

“I’ve told you before to stop calling me that.” You drop your lips into a fake pout as he knocks on the door.

“Why should I? I’ve got the marks from last night to prove you’re my own vampire bat.” He pulls the collar of his shirt out of the way to show off the hickeys and bite marks you left on his collarbones and shoulder a proud smile on his face as he does so.

“Woah, you burn yourself with a curling iron there Munson?” Steve teases as he opens the door, your eyes go wide and you can feel heat rising up your neck. Eddie’s unphased though, letting go of his shirt and turning to smirk at Steve.

“Can’t help it if my girl wants to latch onto me any chance she gets.” He pulls you into him and you pinch his side for his words.

“Oh, I didn’t realize we were meeting your girlfriend tonight.”

“Hi, I’m Y/n.” All you do is wave and smile as you wrap an arm around Eddie’s waist and hug yourself to him wanting to be as close to him as possible.

“I’m Steve, it’s nice to finally meet the reason for Eddie disappearing most weekends.”

“Are Eddie and y/n here?” Max appears behind Steve and you rush in to hug her.

“Max!”

“I didn’t think you guys were gonna make it.” She melts into your arms feeling deeply comforted by your bear hug. 

“Eddie didn’t want to but I convinced him to come.” The two of you break apart and Eddie comes in to stand next to you and take your hand in his. 

“Come on, now that we’re here Dustin will kill me if I don’t introduce you to him next.”

“Oh hey Eddie! Who’s this?” Robin asks him as she starts to come out of the kitchen as the two of you pass into the living room.

“Sorry Robin, can’t talk.” He keeps pulling you with him passing her by you’d stop him so you could just introduce yourself if you didn’t find the whole thing so amusing. “Dustin, I’ve got someone for you to meet.” He announces his presence getting the heads of the group already settled on the couches to turn to look at the two of you.

“No fucking way, what’s she doing here?” He excitedly gets up and makes his way over to the two of you.

“She’s here for a whole week. Y/n, Dustin, Dustin, Y/n.” His hand motions between the two of you as he does the introduction. 

“Eddie talks about you all the time.” You look away from Dustin and up at Eddie who flushes pink at yet another one of his close friends admitting that to you.

“Yeah so much so I was starting to think you were a myth!” Eddie strides over to the couch to whack Mike in the back of the head leaving you in the entranceway of the living room. You look back over to Dustin after rolling your eyes at your boyfriend's actions.

“He talks about you a lot too. I heard all about that concert in that other realm or whatever the words Eddie used were.” Your face scrunches up as you try to recall what Eddie called that place as you step into the room Dustin leading the way back over to the couch. 

“He told you about the upside down?” Dustin's eyes are wide as you nod. “And you believed him?”

“Why wouldn’t I? He’s got the scars and PTSD to prove it.” When you and Eddie first started dating and he’d spend nights at your place he often had nightmares about it. You’d wake him up and assure him where he was before staying up almost the rest of the night with him trying to distract him from it. 

“I think you’re all super brave for going through it. Especially because you were what twelve when you first had to deal with all of that? I was still scared of the boogeyman at that age.” You still felt uncomfortable being completely in the dark. “Bravest group of kids I’ll ever have the pleasure of meeting and knowing.” Your voice is soft and your attention isn’t on Dustin anymore and rather on Eddie laughing with the other kids but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t stop at the way you say the words, with a sense of pride and admiration for a group of kids you don’t even know.

Before he can figure what to say in response Eddie’s looking over at you with a big smile on his face and holds his hand out. Your own smile gets bigger and you rush forward taking it in your own and letting him pull you close to his side as he introduces you to the rest of the kids. The excitement is evident in the air around you as you greet everyone.

“She’s nice right?” Max stops next to Dustin just a few steps from the entrance. “I can definitely see why Eddie fell for her so fast.”

“Yeah. You met her then?”

“Yep, I hung out with them all day yesterday when she got to town.” She smirks at Dustin before heading over to the group. The two of them constantly compete with each other over who’s Eddie’s favorite. So this is going to come across as a big win for her.

“Oh. Wait what? Eddie!”

Movie night was fun and you absolutely loved meeting Eddie’s little community of friends, his family. Which isn’t something he’s used to describe them in the past but seeing them all interact with each other you know that’s what they are. You and Robin even planned a day for her to steal you away from Eddie for an hour or two to hangout.

It warmed Eddie’s heart to see you get along so well with everyone. He can’t even start to describe the feeling in his chest as he sees you leaning against his van with Max her head thrown back laughing at something you said as the two of you wait for him to finish saying bye.

“I gotta ask, what’s up with the biting?” Steve asks from his spot next to Eddie in the doorway. You had bitten him a total of only twice during the movie so he hadn’t really expected anyone to notice it much. 

Once was shortly after everyone got seated and the movie was starting. Eddie had kissed the top of your head causing you to recline it back from your spot on the floor between his legs so you could look up at him in his spot on the couch. He gave you a quick peck, gaining a smile and a squeeze of his calf before you turned your attention back to the tv only shortly after turning your head to gently bite right above his knee.

The second time was near the end of the movie. Eddie had been tracing your face lightly with the tips of his fingers and when you began to feel like you were going to burst of all your adoration with how soft he was being with you in front of his friends, something no one had ever done for you, you bit his finger the next time it traced over your lips.

“It’s just the way she shows her love.” Eddie shrugs in response. “She either bites or squeezes, it’s like second nature to her, I don’t even think she realizes she does it sometimes.” Sometimes he thought it was like breathing or blinking to you. “It’s cute.”

You look over then and catch his eyes with your own and blow a kiss to him. Eddie’s smile widens as he makes a show of catching it and Steve and Robin share a look with each other. Neither of them had ever seen him smile that big before.

“Love drunk is a good look on you Eds!” She laughs as she speaks. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so full of life and that’s really saying something. You’re naturally extravagant. Get out of here and join your girl.”

“Yeah, we’ll see you around Eddie.”

“Bye guys.” He barely glances back at them, waving over his head, not wanting to take his eyes off of you still deep in conversation with Max. Really he should tell them how he’s glad they liked you and all but all he can think to do is go pull you into his arms and relish in the feeling of having you close until you inevitably have to go back home at the end of the week. 

Eddie fell for you harder and faster than he ever thought would’ve been possible. It wasn’t love at first sight but when he spotted you in the bar in your goddamn homemade Prancing Pony shirt he should’ve known that you were going to be it for him. Instead he just made it his mission to find you after their set to ask you about it which only led to the two of you talking so late into the night that your friend went home and his bandmates all piled into Jeff's car rather than wait for Eddie to be done. It wasn’t until your third date, which was only three weeks after meeting each other, because Eddie could listen to you talk forever and never wanted to stop talking to you so he came up every weekend to take you out, that he realized you were the one for him and he doubted anyone would ever live up to you. Luckily enough for him your mind was on that same track.

“You ready to go Sweetheart?” Eddie kisses the side of your head as he sidles up next to you wrapping his hand around yours.

“Yep, just waiting on you baby.” You squeeze his hand once, twice, three times before pushing off the van. “C’mon Max, I’ll open the back door for you.”

The next day instead of Eddie giving you a tour of Hawkins the two of you end up just curled around each other in bed just enjoying each other's company only getting up to eat. You told him about how you passed all your finals, to which he told you how proud he was of his smart girl and how he knew you could do it, and caught him up on all the gossip in your small college friend group with him hanging onto your every word. Eddie told you about how the bands doing and how you’ll be able to sit through practice this week if you wanted to, to which you sat up in excitement because A that meant you got to see the guys again and B you got to see them all perform again, and he told you stories from when he was growing up in the trailer park.

The day after that Eddie gives you the tour he promised you complete with his favorite places like the picnic table in the woods around the school where he spent a lot of his high school years, the library where he’s planned countless campaigns, and the movie theater where he ends up going all the time with the gang. He took you to lunch at the diner that’s officially replaced Benny’s and then dropped you off at Robin’s telling you he’ll pick you up on his way to Gareth’s.

In the hour and a half that you were over you got to know Robin, the two of you deciding that you’ll be great friends, and you got to meet Nancy. She had shown up about forty minutes after you did. Robin had just greeted her casually while shuffling the cards for the next round of five hundred forgetting that the two of you hadn’t met yet. It was silent for a minute as Nancy looked between you and Robin before she seemed to remember and quickly introduced the two of you. By the time Eddie showed up to take you with him to practice the three of you were in stitches after sharing stories and telling jokes to each other.

“I’m so excited to see the boys again.” You say to Eddie as the two of you walk to the van. You’ve only seen them twice, the first time being the night you met Eddie and the second time being around two months ago because Gareth was craving the wings at the bar they had played at and Eddie had shown up at your door that night to bring you with them, but they were cool and you enjoyed their company.

“I’m sure they’re excited to see you too.” They’ve asked about you a few times since the last time they saw you, about how you’re doing and if he’s gonna let you come visit him anytime soon. Eddie hasn’t said anything about you coming to practice this week so he’s sure they’ll be at least surprised to see you. “Did you enjoy hanging out with Robin?” He places his hand on your knee as he drives away from her house.

“Yeah, I got to meet Nancy. She’s nice.”

“Huh, I thought she was in school for another week. She must’ve just gotten back.”

“I think she said something about getting back yesterday. And something about Jonathan, that’s Will’s brother right?”

“Yeah, they’ve been dating for a while now. I think they’ve been going through a rough patch since she started college though.”

“That sucks.” He pulls up to Gareth's house and stops in front of it then. The garage is open and you can see the guys standing around and talking. They look up as they hear Eddie’s door shut.

“Hey man! Didn’t realize you were here without your music blasting.”

“Yeah well I have a special guest with me this time.”

“Hey guys!” You wave as you round the van and walk up to the garage with Eddie. The group breaks into cheers at the sight of you asking how you’ve been and playfully bullying Eddie for not telling them you were in town.  It took them an extra half an hour to start practice so they could catch up with you beforehand.

“What’re we doing for my last day tomorrow?” You ask later that night head rested on his chest. You didn’t even want to think about it being your last full day with your lovely loving boyfriend but you know that you have to face it sooner than later.

“I don’t know. Probably tie you up or lock you in a cage so you can’t leave and I get to keep you forever.” He shrugs and gives you a teasing smile as he repositions himself to be propped up on his elbow.

“C’mon Eddie be serious.” You poke his side amused with his taunts.

“I could call Max, have her come over for a movie day. Because as much as I want to keep you to myself she’d want to see you too.” He could tell after that first day how attached she was already getting to you. 

“That sounds nice. Maybe we could get that takeout you always rave about since you still haven’t had me try it?”

“That sounds perfect.” He brings you closer to his chest just wanting to feel your skin on his even more. You nip at his shoulder making his smile widen. “I can pick it up and then get your favorite movies on the way back.”

“Perfect.” You yawn through the word and cuddle closer to him.

“G’night Bats.”

“Night Eddie.”

The next morning you wake up to Eddie peppering kisses over your face and shoulders immediately bringing a soft sleepy smile to your face. It’s almost noon by the time the two of you made it out of bed and you went straight to making breakfast while Eddie called Max the girl showing up within minutes after hanging up.

“Smells good in here for once.” She chimes as she crosses through the door.

“That’s because I don’t leave the stove on too high while I cook so the food doesn’t burn. Unlike some people.” You shoot a pointed look towards Eddie who had almost completely burned breakfast the other day before Wayne had shooed him away to take over. 

“What’re you making?” Max makes her way into the kitchen and you give her the task of helping cook the sausage while Eddie gets plates down. 

The three of you sit down and eat, falling into a comfortable silence at times where none of you can think of anything to say. You ask Max about soccer to which she lights up with excitement while she speaks and Eddie tells her about how you grew up playing sports with your cousins on the weekends in your backyard and how you could probably help her practice better than he does since you know more about the game than him. That led to Max asking you questions aimed specifically at figuring out how much you know while Eddie watches and listens in with a smile on his face at how his girls light up as the two of you talk.

The two of you are left there talking about the different sports you watched your cousins play when he leaves to get the take out and stop at Family Video. And when he gets home with food and three of your favorite movies you’ve both migrated to the kitchen to do dishes where Max is telling you animatedly about the time she had a particularly nasty fall while skateboarding recently.

“Red came crying to me to clean her boo boos.” Eddie announces his presence with his joking tone placing the movies and food on the coffee table before joining the two of you in the kitchen.

“I did not!” Max scoffs rolling her eyes while you chuckle at the two of them bickering.

“You totally did, you were bawling like you were a baby again.” 

“You’re such a liar! You were the one who started panicking and making me sit down so you can take care of me.” You smile just knowing that that’s actually what happened while Eddie wraps his arms around you from behind.

“You could’ve gotten an infection.” He defends himself before resting his head on the side of your neck, kissing it softly. “Hey baby. You know you don’t have to do the dishes right? I can take care of them tomorrow.”

“Too late, they’re already done.” You put the last plate over to the side to dry before turning to wipe your wet hands on his shirt.

“You did not just do that.”

“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t.” You shrug and try to move away before he grabs you. 

“God get a room you two.” Max says before the two of you can start fighting.

“You should change your shirt Eddie baby. I’ll set up the take out and we’ll pick one of the movies.” You peck his lips before moving away and joining the girl in the living room. “Alright Max, Muppets Take Manhattan, The Thing, or Spaceballs to start with?”

“I’ve never seen Spaceballs.”

“Never seen Spaceballs?! That’s first then. Eddie! Why haven’t you ever shown her one of the funniest movies we’ve ever seen?” 

“Woah!” His hands go up in surrender at your small glare. “Calm down, it only came out last year so I haven’t had the time to.”

“Besides, aren't you glad you get to be the one to show it to her?” He adds after taking the movie from you while dropping a kiss to the top of your head.

“Okay, yeah you’re right.” You go to the take out bags to place the food on the table while Max sits next to you on the couch.

Max is asleep by the time the third movie is over, having dozed off somewhere in the middle. And even though it’s only a little after nine you can feel yourself succumbing to sleep as you lean further into Eddie’s chest. You’re stirred slightly out of it when he leans forward for the remote to eject the tape from the VCR, even more so when your source of comforting warmth gets up to take the tape out.

“Let’s get you to bed Sweetheart.” He speaks to you after placing it on the table.

“What about Max?” You yawn, standing up and taking his hand letting him pull you in the direction of his room.

“She’s fine there. Fallen asleep here enough times that Wayne won’t be surprised to find her on the couch when he gets home. I’ll ring her place to let her mom know she’s here after I get you in bed.”

“And then you’ll come join me?”

“Wouldn’t wanna be anywhere else.”

You fight with sleep the whole five minutes he’s gone from the room not wanting to waste time sleeping when you leave in the morning. You still fight it after he joins you in bed and wraps his arms around you. 

“Hey Eds?” You turn to face him after a couple beats of silence.

“Hm?” He hums in response, clearly starting to fall asleep himself. He’d never normally fall asleep this early but when it comes to falling asleep with you he can’t help it.

“What if I came to Hawkins after my next semester?” 

“That’d be great. Though hopefully you’ll be coming to visit again before then.”

“What if it wasn’t a visit? What if I came here permanently?” That wakes him up and his eyes shoot open and his mouth drops as he tries to figure out what to say. “I’ll be done with my degree then and besides my parents and the couple of friends I’ll be leaving school with there’s nothing tethering me there. But here there’s you and Wayne and there’s Max. And I think Robin and I could become really good friends. I’ve been saving up for a while, longer than I’ve known you, for my own place so I figure why not just get my own place here. It would be great if you could say something to stop my rambling so I don’t start thinking you’re against the idea or that you might not want me here.”

“Of course I want you here!” He’s snapped out of his daze quicker than you’ve ever seen him snap out of anything ever. “It’s just insane to think that you want to come stay here. I’ve spent most of my life wanting to leave and hating this town just for you to want to live here.”

“Well I didn’t want to ask you about coming to me. You have a whole family here despite how little you seem to realize that. And Hawkins isn’t that bad, it’s really a nicer town than some of the places near me. And if I move here no one will ever give you shit again because then they’ll have to deal with me and I’ll bite their ears off.”

“Of course you will Bats. Put that biting of yours to good use.” He laughs before holding you tighter to him. “If you really wanna do that, move here after you graduate, Hawkins would be a better place for it.”

The next morning after you pack your things into your car and say bye to Max who demanded you call her and write her letters to keep in touch while you’re gone you hug Eddie goodbye with a smile on your face despite how much you already miss him. 

“I’ll come back near the end of next month alright? We can start looking at trailers or apartments then.”

“I’ll be counting down the days Bats.”

Eddie Taglist (29/40):@sadbitchfangirl​ @notbeforelong​​​​ @navs-bhat​ @emotionaldreamer​ ​​​​​ @fangirling-4-ever​  @gaysludge​​​ ​@eddiethesexy​ @mazerunnerrose​ @midnightsgetawaycar   @mushroomelephant @saramelaniemoon @nojamsonmytoast @vintagehellfire @esoltis280 @spikedhe4rt @siriuslysmoking @toobsessedsstuff @alana4610 @gretavanfleas @sparkletash @aactuaaltraash @spookyemorockbabe @jesssssmaybankk @tlclick73 @eddiemunsonslittlemetalhead @bl4ckt00thgr1n @eli-flower @canyonmooncreations

Everything Taglist: @matchamunson​ @bubsonnobx​ @practicalghost​ @katsukis1wife @crustyowos @yourfavdummy @protecteddiemunson4vr @kennedy-brooke @m00nkn1ghts @rory-cakes

[in-hav3n]

 𝓕𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 - 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞 ?

The sun was already peeking through the curtains when a snore and a light cough roused you from your deep sleep. Still asleep, you blinked several times, taking your time to adjust to the brightness and emerge from your dream. One advantage of being a roadie was that you didn't have to get up too early, since the whole team was usually busy until late at night. You laid motionless for a few moments in the warmth of the comforter, staring at the pattern on the curtain in front of you, until you realized you weren't in your room. Where were you?

You glanced over your shoulder, rubbing your eyes as you searched for clues, until your eyes fell on the sleeping body beside you. A smile stretched across your lips as your mind recalled what had happened last night. You didn't leave this time, accepting to live in the moment, without asking yourself whether it was right or wrong. James wanted you to stay, and just after you'd settled under the covers, his strong arm encircled your hips. You felt that pleasant sensation of having an arm around you to keep you warm and you fell asleep, completely exhausted. You assumed James was too. How could he not be after a two hours gig and a making love session.

A warm sensation invaded you and burned your core, as you blushed at the thought of what you've experienced. It was incredible…You'd only spent a short time together but you shared something quite intimate. Anyone would have thought it's ridiculous to say something special had happened, but that was the feeling you had. James made you feel complete, different. Special even. It was hard to explain.

But now you had to make up your mind ; the night was over and so was this affair. It was time to go back into the real life. 

Your eyes sought out the alarm on the bedside table, the red digits telling you it was past eleven. You still had time to enjoy these last moments and the human warmth you'd been missing. Also more time to wake up, to have a quick breakfast and to pack. The first leg of the European tour was over and the next concert would be in a month's time, giving everyone a bit of a break.

You sighed, thinking it was really the end of a lot of things…yet you still couldn't understand one thing: why had James insisted that you stay with him? It didn't make sense to you, especially since he still hadn't explained. You'd hoped that you'd parted ways without actually having to have this discussion, but he'd decided otherwise. That said, he was a middle-aged man, so did he need to justify himself to you? Certainly not, you thought with a sigh. All you had to do was be grateful for the time you spent with him and move on.

James let out another light snore in his sleep and rolled over onto his left side, facing you. This still left you enough room to turn onto your back and stretch slowly, before moving to your right side, facing him in turn. He looked like he was fast asleep, and his features, usually a little more drawn, seemed more rested. His body moved to the slow, regular rhythm of his breathing. You watched every detail of his face, every wrinkle that made him so special and charming, smiling as you realized this man had chosen to share an intimacy with you, and you felt lucky.

A few minutes later, his leg moved under the comforter, his eyes began to move before opening to stare at you. You smiled at him, hoping he wouldn't find it strange that you were watching him.

“Morning…”, his harsh and deep morning voice breaking the silence. He stretched his arms far above his head, making the comforter move slightly, uncovering your bare shoulder.

“Good morning”, you whispered back with a tired smile and sleepy eyes. 

"I hope I didn't take up too much space during the night. I'm not really used to sharing my bed anymore"

“You didn’t”, you shook your head with a smile, thinking it was funny to hear him saying such a thing. He was so tough and beefy that you'd have felt it. But how you'd have loved to sleep on him, taking him as personal pillow. “I can be pretty invasive in bed myself too”. 

“And you weren't”, he assured you, smiling back. 

There was silence as he, in turn, took the time to wake up. Meanwhile, you remained silent, not daring to disturb him.

And very quickly, your mind began to think, wondering what to do next. He had asked you to stay, but what should you do? Get close to him and snuggle in his arms? You'd love to enjoy that last embrace, but wasn't that a bit over the top, given the nature of your relationship? You preferred to remain silent, waiting for James to make the first move.

"On what time do you have to be at the stadium today?”, James asked, scratching his grey hair.

"Early afternoon", you told him, adjusting the position of your head on the pillow. "We have the clean up the place and put all the boxes into the trucks. But I have to clean up my room and pack up my things before going there. It’s past eleven, I’m not late”.

A new silence settled in. You were still looking for a way to ask her what to think about all this, but it was too early for you to think properly. You were afraid of how he'd react, or that you'd come across as a strange girl making up stories. For his part, James didn't seem in any hurry to give you any more explanations. So you decided to take the easy way out…

"Well...I wouldn't want to disrupt your schedule, I think I should leave now" you said with a slight, embarrassed smile, pushing back the blanket, one leg already off the bed. But James stopped you before you could go any further, grabbing you by the arm. You looked up at him, over your shoulder, before he pulled you to against his chest. His lips settled on yours for a gentle kiss, his hands gripping your forearms, as if he wanted to hold you back and prevent you from leaving.

Butterflies made a party into your belly, a strong feeling of joy and content crossing all your body. But all this was far too dangerous. All these attentions to you made you forget the true nature of your relationship, making you hope for other things. And this wasn't good for you...

When your lips parted, you shared a glance that could mean many things. James was the absolute master of confusion.

“You always seem in a hurry to leave me…Why?”.

You didn't respond immediately, pulling away slowly and looking down at your hands. You didn’t need a mirror to know you were blushing hard. Your cheeks were burning and burned more when James placed his palm on it.

“What’s wrong baby? Tell me”. He encouraged you, his fingertips stroking your cheek in a pure torture way. He wasn't making it any easier

“I just…”, you started, but immediately let out a sigh, looking away again then back down. You felt so stupid that you are avoiding his gaze, staring at your hands.

You sat up on your knees beside him, the comforter around your hips to cover your naked lower body. “It’s hard for me to understand all of this. I mean-...", you sighed, daring to stare at his beautiful blue eyes. "I thought you just wanted to have fun with me and I agree with that. And then…you asked me to come back and here we are". You shrugged, scratching your head as you felt uncomfortable. Damn, you'd have loved to disappear, to hide from his gaze. "I’m just confused. And I know it’s completely silly…”.

James cut you off with a finger on your lips and a warm smile. Even tough his gesture pleased you, it wasn't still what you wanted him to do. You needed him to say it loud, to make you face the truth sooner than later. “I just want you to be honest with me. I'm not delusional and I know I shouldn't expect anything after. I'm not here to beg you for more. I just want you to say it to me...". There, you finally let it out.

James leaned on his elbow, looking up at you with a frown. "And what should I say to you?", he wondered, trying to understand the purpose of this talk.

"Say to me it was fun but now it's time to say goodbye. Say to me you have other things to do and that I should go back to my room and do my job. Why asking me to stay the night with you? I don't understand. It's just so-...confusing".

A huge weight finally left your shoulders as you sighed deep, waiting for what was coming next. Now you felt you were ready to hear it.

“What if I say…", James started, his glance looking around before setting back up on you. "I did have fun but...I want more”.

Speechless and more than surprised by his statement, you stared at him for a moment, completely lost. More? What did that mean?

“At first, I thought it would be nice to have fun, for just one night", he explained, one of his hands taking yours to play with your fingers. "But then, I realized I was maybe ready for something…different. That’s why I asked you to come back last night. I wanted more. I wanted to see what my intentions were…”.

“I still don’t understand-...", you replied, shaking your head in disbelief. "I’m just a normal girl, a roadie. Why wasting your time with a younger girl like me ?"

Gently, James rose to stand over you, the skin of his torso touching yours, making you shiver. You looked into his eyes, your hands resting naturally on his chest as you searched for answers to all the questions running through your mind. He slowly leaned upon you to kiss you tenderly, making you shiver.

"It's not about who you are", James said, looking deep into your eyes after he pulled away. "It's about what you make me feel and...I can't really explain it but... I'm feeling a connection, something that makes me think I should trust".

He let out a slight chuckle when he noticed no reaction coming from you. "Are you okay?".

"Yeah, I just_", you said with a nervous chuckle, your fingertips touching his soft hair chest, circling his tattoos. Your heart was pounding fast, definitely not prepared for this and it was kinda hard to believe his words. Maybe you were dreaming? "It's just that I still can't believe what I heard. I didn't expect such a confession".

"It's the truth though", James gave you a smile, chuckling again, amused by you reaction. "I enjoy spending time with you and...", his hand softly caressed your cheek, "if you agree, I'd like to see you again".

"But what about...my age? The fact we're not living in the same state ? Now tour is over, we're heading back home. Plus, you're famous and I'm just...me. I mean, let's face it. Could it work?".

"We can make it work", he assured you, nodding. "All I care about is what we can do. I don't care about the rest sweetheart..."

Master of confusion was striking again. James seemed so sure about it, about everything while you were still questioning yourself, your mind slowly realizing he confessed his desire to be with you. But was it a good idea? How could you be sure he was honest with you?

"I'm going back to Colorado tonight. Maybe you can meet me there? We could spend some time together, getting to know each other...even if I think we have skipped the intimate part yet", his joke made you chuckled. You looked deep into his eyes, chewing your lips. Your heart was telling you he was sincere, your soul was more than enthusiastic about the idea but it was so unexpected...

You decided to follow him again yesterday and it had been magical. Why wouldn't it be if you stay with him? Would it be enough to make you forget all your fears?

"Alright, I'll meet you there but I don't want people to know. I want this to be only you and me".

"Don't worry about it. Only you and me...", he promised, as he leaned upon you again, a big smile on his lips. His face came closer until he pulled you for a tender kiss. You replied with the same passion, your arms encircling his neck. You abandoned yourself to him, ready to experience something else with this man that was making your heart jump of joy and was making you feel so special. You just hoped you made the right decision...

A/N : So sorry for the delay, I struggled a little with this part! I wanted something cute and special, not too cliché and I hope I did something interesting. Stay tuned, next parts are coming. Thanks for your support, love you all ❣️

[chvnnie]

Felix’s nose scrunches as his fingers tap aggressively on his keyboard. Up, up. Left, right, left, left. His tongue pokes out, top teeth digging into the muscle as he starts to lose control of the fight. The tiny health bar on the bottom of the screen is turning red, draining with each hit he can’t seem to dodge.

One solid hit from his enemy, and the character on screen crumples into nothing. All bars drained, the screen turning dark as the battle is lost.

SMUT - MINORS DNI

“Fuck.” He curses lowly, pushing the headphones down around his neck. Elbows resting on the desk table, his head finds home in it. The monitor on his right pings over and over, lighting up with comments.

seriously? you lost to that guy?

it’s okay, lix! you did your best!

cuss again, that was sexy

Felix sighs, picking his head back up and muting the chat. The insistent pinging noise makes his head hurt, and after a very frustrating lost, the last thing that would help even out his heart rate is an overflowed chat box.

When he started streaming, he really didn’t expect his channel to sky rocket like this. For a few months, his viewer count stayed low — the average hung out around 50 per stream. It made him happy that anyone really cared to watch, so he wasn’t holding out hope that the number would increase.

Then, a popular streamer shared his channel. Cool, he gained a handful of followers and viewers from that. Another streamer promoted him, stating that not only was he good at the games he played, but his deep voice, pretty freckles, and septum piercing added to the charm of his channel. From there, the viewer count went from a few hundred to a few thousand.

Felix didn’t really care why people were watching, just that they were. If they wanted to listen to him talk, great. If they wanted to watch him play, awesome. It didn’t really matter — not when a new zero was added to his checks monthly.

Most of the time, he has a lot of fun with it. Trying new games, doing all night streams, responding to questions hurled at him during downtown. Rarely was this a stressful gig.

But this stream was one of the few frustrating ones. No matter what the battle, Felix couldn’t pull through. At the beginning, he laughed it off. Can’t win ‘em all! But by hour three, his patience has started to wear thin. Ears tinged red with annoyance, blood pressure raised due to the frustration. He needs to destress.

He needs you.

Rolling up the sleeves of his sweater, Felix puts his headphones back on. “Okay.” He says with a sigh, right hand going for the mouse while the left disappears under his desk. “Let’s try this again.”

While his character runs across the grass fields in search of energy, his fingers wrap around the rough fabric of your leash. For the past hour or so, you’ve been asleep. Curled up under a blanket with your head resting on his sock clad foot.

It’s a nice setup for you — a fluffy mat for you to rest on, spacious with as many blankets as you could want. A little resting place for Felix’s pet, keep him company during the game and helping him out when he needs a break.

And fuck, does he need one.

A few gentle tugs wake you up, the bell of your collar jingling as you start to stir. Once he feels your head move, Felix pats his lap.

You’re a good pet — obedient, well trained. Follows directions perfectly. So you know exactly what he wants when he scoots his chair out a bit so you can kneel comfortably. With a yawn, you reach for the drawstring of his joggers. Felix pets your head, smiling down at you and mouthing a quick “thank you” before his attention turns back to his stream.

His cock is half hard when you pull it out. You wrap your fist around the length, resting your head on your thigh as you slowly start to jerk him off. A happy hum comes from your boyfriend before he starts talking to his audience again, walking them through his plan to finally win against this enemy.

Like his hips aren’t bucking slightly when you squeeze his cock, quickly hardening in your hands. Fuck, he can already feel the stress rolling off him in waves. All thanks to your tight grip and the smooth flick of your wrist.

A bit of precum decorates the head, sparking under the purple LEDs. You had planned to tease him for a bit, working him up until he can’t take it and manhandles you. But you can’t help the way your mouth waters, needing the taste of him on your tongue.

Felix exhales a shaky breath with your lips wrap around the head of his cock, tongue drawing circles on the slit to lap up the cum. “Hm? Oh, I’m good.” He says, responding to a comment on the stream. “Just got the chills.”

You smile, ego boosted that just a little bit of your mouth can get him so worked up. You pull off his cock for a brief second, spitting in the length before you take more of him. If there’s anything Felix loves, it’s sloppy head.

Especially when there’s an (unknowing) audience.

It’s getting harder to focus on the game, spacing out as you start to deep throat him. Though you’re muffling the sounds, it’s hard to miss the way you choke when he hits the back of your throat. The messy sound of slurping as more salvia covers his length.

Fuck, it’s dripping down to his balls. He’s going to lose his cool.

Trying to mask a moan with a cough, Felix moves his character onto the next location, seeking out an enemy to battle. “Where should we go next?” He moves closer to the microphone, making sure that the only thing it picks up is your voice and not the jingle of your bell. “I was thinking-fuck-m-maybe-“

You’ve started to bob your head faster, a hand cupping his balls and smothering the spit across them. That, mixed with the way your tongue is swirling around the length, has pushed him over the edge.

“I’ll be back.” He mumbles, quickly shutting off the microphone and switching the screen to a standby slide. Once he double checks that everything is turned off, he throws his headphones on the desk and lets his head hit the back of his chair. “God-fucking-damn.”

Felix’s fingers lace through your hair, helping move your head a little faster over his cock. Fuck, this is euphoric. This isn’t the first time you’ve blown him during a stream, but it is the first time that he’s had to pause it because of your mouth.

He’s dizzy. Sweating. So close to the edge that he could almost cry.

“That’s it, puppy.” Moans are intertwining with his words, deep voice becoming pitchier with need. “Doing so good, fuck-“

The praise just makes you more eager, squeezing his balls a little harder. You don’t let up, even as your boyfriend tugs on your hair, taking control of the movements. His hips move quickly, nose pressed against his pubic bone as he fucks your face.

“Want a treat, huh?” He says breathlessly, cock twitching in your mouth.

You nod eagerly, looking up to meet his dark eyes. A part of you wishes his viewers could see him like this — flushed, sweaty, fucked out. All because of you.

The eye contact doesn’t waver even as he fills your mouth, cum rolling down your throat. Your eyes flutter shut, savoring the feeling of it’s warmth. There’s so much of it, a steady flow pooling in your mouth. Once he’s sure he’s done, Felix pulls out, letting you swallow it whole.

Patting your cheek, he gives you a warm smile.

“Go back to sleep. I’m sure I’ll lose again.”

[drewsbuzzcut]

GQ’s Couple’s Quiz

mat barzal x model!fem!reader

a visceral in doses fic

warnings: mentions having kids and I think that’s all… also! how ever many points reader or mat has is after each question they get correct

“Don’t give me that look,” you point at Mat, trying to hold in your laughter, but failing so far. You can’t contain the wide smile that dares to break out on your face.

“I’m not doing anything. Just know, I’m taking your ass down,” Mat declares.

“Okay! Rolling in 3… 2… 1…” the director’s words gathers your and Mat’s attention, the both of you staring at the camera.

“I’m more competitive than you, so I got this in the bag,” you state, confidently.

“We’ll see about that.”

“Hi! I’m Y/n Barzal,” you greet.

“Hi! I’m Mat Barzal,” Mat greets as well.

“And this is GQ’s Couple’s Quiz,” you both say together.

“Are you ready? This one’s hard,” you try to make Mat second guess himself, but you also know his memory isn’t the best.

“Hit me.”

“Who are our kids' godparents, in order from oldest to youngest?”

You see Mat’s face shift to slight panic.

“Nolan’s godparents are Anthony Beauvillier and Devon Lee Carlson. Angels’ godparents are Beverly Blount and Ethan Bear. Sloane’s godparents are Sydney and Matt Martin,” he answers swiftly.

“Correct.”

Mat: 1

“Second question: how old am I?” You know he knows this.

“You, my lovely wife, are 26 beautiful years old, almost 27,” he says, making you feel giddy.

“Okay, hotshot, stop trying to make me flustered.”

Mat: 2

“Do I prefer an intimate setting or a family setting?”

“If we’re talking about a family setting as in us with our kids, then a family setting. Our younger selves would most definitely love an intimate setting, but now that we have a 4 year old, a 1 year old, and a 9 month old, we really enjoy the family setting,” Mat answers flawlessly.

“Correct! I like the way you answered that, babe,” you compliment.

Mat: 3

“What was my first modeling gig?”

Mat rubs his chin, thinking long and hard before answering.

“You can’t be mad if I’m wrong,” he tells you.

“Why can’t I be mad?” You ask, but you’re just messing with him.

“Because I didn’t know you then.”

You gasp in fake surprise, mouth open and hand over your heart.

“You mean you didn’t stalk me on the internet when we were dating?”

“I’m not you,” Mat says, referring to something from the early bits of your relationship, something you’re glad you can laugh about now.

“Ouch that was a low blow,” you fake pout.

“Your first modeling gig was for a fashion show during Paris fashion week when you were 18.”

“Wrong. My first modeling gig was on a local magazine in my hometown when I was 17,” you correct him.

“Oh yeah. I totally forgot about that. Sorry, babe.”

“What’s my favorite movie?”

“That’s easy. It’s The Conjuring. My girl loves her scary movies,” he says proudly.

“It’s true! Mat loves whenever I get to pick the movie on our movie nights. Only because I pretend to be scared and cuddle into him more than I already do,” you look over at Mat with heart eyes to see that he’s already looking back at you with heart eyes.

Mat: 4

“What’s the hardest thing for our family when you’re on roadies?”

“The short disconnect between me and the kids. It’s hard for me to be gone when our babies are still really young. It’s also hard because I’m not always there to help you. You’re a champ for stepping up for me, and there are no words to describe how grateful I am that you’re my life partner. My heart would search for yours in every lifetime,” you tear up at his sweet words, immediately getting out of your chair to hug him. He’s quick to pull you between his legs, arms wrapping around your waist while his head rests on your chest.

Mat: 5

“If I wasn’t a model, what would I be doing?”

“You’d be a writer. Although, I already tell you that you can still be a writer and a model,” Mat says.

“Maybe when I retire modeling, whenever that’ll be.”

Mat: 6

“This one might be hard for you: what was the first name on my ‘baby names’ list?”

“How on earth am I supposed to know that? Umm… was it… I know it’s an S name because we both love S names. It’s Sloane,” Mat guesses.

“Nope. It’s actually Selene. I loved Selene so much, but when we found out our first baby was a boy, I just dropped Selene. I also didn’t want to use it for Sloane. I felt like she needed a whole new name, and Sloane just fits baby girl so well.”

“That’s true. She is meant to be named Sloane,” Mat agrees.

“What’s my favorite sport?”

“Hockey!” He has a cocky smile on his face, but only because he knows he’s the only reason you watch hockey.

“Barzy! I know you know the REAL answer, so answer truthfully.”

“It’s baseball,” he mutters, feigning annoyance.

Mat: 7

“If I could be an animal for a day, what animal would I be?”

“A cat.”

Mat: 8

“What’s my ritual before a fashion show?”

“When you leave for the venue, you give us all kisses. At the venue you listen to the playlist I made you and refrain from talking to anyone for the first 30 minutes so you can center yourself. After those first 30 minutes you like to dance around to get all your nerves out.”

“I’m surprised you remember that,” you grin proudly at your man.

“Well I have been backstage with you for quite a few of those shows. I actually miss being able to see you go through that process. It’s an honor to see you in a vulnerable state outside of the intimacy of our relationship.”

“Baby, I love you.”

“I love you more.”

Mat: 9

“What was my wedding scent?”

“This is so easy because I love that perfume so much. It’s so intoxicating. I swear it’s an aphrodisiac because I just never wanted to be away from you. It’s Maison Margiela’s Replica perfume in the scent: Jazz Club. I especially love when you wear it on special occasions,” Mat answers in a way that can only be described as lovesick.

“It’s true. On our wedding day, we could not be pulled apart. Our lips or hands were always on each other. I’m actually thinking about making it my signature smell, but I’m hesitant because I want it to be for special occasions only,” you ramble, face flustered by bringing up how touchy you and Mat are.

“Special occasions only, babe.”

“What if I said I’m wearing it today?” You tease.

Mat’s head falls back, a moan desperately trying to fly out his mouth. Without a word, he’s out of his chair and throwing you over his shoulder. He walks off set with you while you laugh uncontrollably.

“Barzy! Baby, we have to go back,” you say and even though you’re both off camera, the mic still picks up your voices.

“I love you,” Mat says through a laugh, lips connecting with yours.

As you both walk back, you’re fixing your hair and lipstick before fixing Mat’s shirt.

When you move to walk in front of him, he tickles you from behind, sending you into a fit of giggles. You reach behind yourself to wrap your hands around the back of his neck, pressing your body into his to get him to stop. His hands don’t leave your body, though. They just rest on your stomach.

“Sorry about that,” Mat apologizes while you hide behind your hand, trying to mask your red cheeks and big smile.

Mat: 10

“It’s your turn. Are you ready to lose?” Mat asks, sending you a smirk that makes you want to kiss him.

“I’m loving the aggression, but yes bring it on,” you send a playful glare back at him.

“How old am I?”

“You’re 31 and about to be 32. Old man,” you say in a fake cough, but it just turns out to be a big laugh.

Mat smiles, nose scrunching and he reaches out to tickle your neck.

“I’m sorry I’m sorry,” you try not to yell.

Y/n: 1

“Do I want more babies?”

“Surprisingly, no. Mat wanted to try for Angel and Sloane, but I was hesitant because Nolan was still young. However, I couldn’t deny that I wanted more kids. This time, Mat’s the one who told me he didn’t want anymore kids while I’m actually okay with having another baby. That being said, we won’t be having anymore kids, it’s a mutual agreement and we have our reasons,” you explain.

“Babe, I love the way you speak,” your husband compliments you.

“I love you.”

Y/n: 2

“What food do I hate?”

“Seafood.”

“Wrong. Babe, we just had fish the other day on our date.”

“Wait! Then why did you say no to sushi? I just realized this. Oh my god. You denied me sushi!” You’re appalled because you seriously thought he hated seafood.

“Sorry, I just don’t like sushi.”

“Literally how? It has seafood!” You’re still in shock.

“What’s something I want to learn?”

“You want to learn how to cook. You hate how I’m the one cooking all the time. But guess what guys, I’ve been teaching Mat every time I’m in the kitchen,” you state.

“You’re a great teacher.”

Y/n: 3

“How do you know when I’m mad at you?”

“You’ll give yourself some space or take one of the babies to rock in the rocking chair until you’re ready to talk. However, if I don’t notice you’re upset, you’ll linger around with a pout. The same pout that all our kids have. Sometimes if you’re upset for a small reason, you’ll just kiss me until you snap out of it,” you go through his tells.

“Yeah, your kisses almost always work. They’re magic,” he gets up real quick to peck your lips.

Y/n: 4

“When was our first kiss?”

“When you came to my apartment with flowers and an apology. We just had our first fight, before we were an official couple, and you were hesitant about kissing me so I kissed you first.”

“I think about that day everyday. I can kiss you forever. I will kiss you forever,” he whispers.

“Okay, sap,” you tease.

Y/n: 5

“Where’s somewhere I want to go?”

“Tokyo! We both want to go, so maybe our next couple vacation!”

Y/n: 6

“What are my tattoos?”

You look at him with wide eyes because none of his or your fans know he has tattoos. You knew people were going to freak out.

“Ooo a GQ exclusive! Your tattoos are ‘Nolan,’ ‘Angel,’ and ‘Sloane.’ Our kids' names and they are located on the inside of your fingers. You also have my initial tattoo on your ring finger.” You say animatedly, you’ve been waiting for him to share his tattoos with the public, so you can talk about them freely.

“I need my family with me at all times,” Mat confirms.

Y/n: 7

“Who is my celebrity crush?” You want to wipe the smirk off his face.

You remember the time in your relationship when you got insanely jealous when you found out about his celebrity crush. Now, you think it’s actually funny.

“Your celebrity crush is Zoë Kravitz. Zoë, Mat’s free on sundays. Just kidding. He’s all mine,” you say in giggles.

“Baby, you’re my celebrity crush,” he plays around.

“Liar.”

Y/n: 8

“What’s my go-to snack?”

“You love nutella a lot, so maybe your bagel with nutella?”

“I’ll give you the point because I do love nutella.”

“Thank you!”

Y/n: 9

“What’s the easiest way to make me mad?”

“When I ignore you,” you answer with a little smug smile.

“I hate it!”

“Sometimes I’ll do it so you’ll just kiss me. Or to see you pout because I can kiss your pout away.”

“We kiss a lot,” Mat points out.

“Yeah, well we’re married.”

Y/n: 10

“What’s my favorite color on you?”

“You love me in blue because it inflates your ego,” you roll your eyes. You think about all the times you’ve bought lingerie that was the same blue as the one on his hockey uniform. You immediately blush.

“You just look sexy in blue,” he states.

“Sure,” you say, unconvinced and your arms crossed over your chest.

Mat pulls the chair you’re seated on closer to him, brushing some of your hair behind your ear. You press a chaste kiss to his palm.

“Blue is your best color. I mean you’re even wearing it right now,” he says, pointing at the dark blue top you’re wearing.

“Ugh… kiss me,” he doesn’t keep you waiting.

Y/n: 11

“What makes me laugh?”

“Easy. Angel’s baby giggles make you laugh so much. Oh and you also laugh a lot when we watch jersey shore.”

“Nothing can beat Angel’s giggles. Cutest thing ever.”

Y/n: 12

You get out of your chair, dancing your way to Mat so you can sit on his lap.

“I won! I won! I won!” You sing.

“No, I don’t think so. I definitely have it in the bag,” Mat says, arms wrapped around your waist while your back leans against his chest.

“I’m educated in Y/n Barzal! That should be the name of a bachelor’s degree,” Mat jokes.

“Shushhh,” you quiet him with a finger to his lips. You smile at him, too happy and too in love to ever be bothered with him.

“Please tell us who won,” you requested.

“Y/n has 11/12 correct and Mat has 10/12 correct,” someone from the camera crew tells you.

“HA! I won,” you say in Mat’s face, grabbing his cheeks to kiss his lips repeatedly.

“Sorry if we kiss too much on camera. I just really love my husband,” you muse.

“Thank you so much for watching. I’m actually the winner, but we’ll let Y/n believe she won,” Mat teases you.

“It’s okay, hotshot, we all know I’m the best,” you say playfully.

“Thank you all for watching. We love you,” you add.

“Ready to go? I need more kisses,” Mat carries you out of the camera’s frame.

a/n: I had fun with this one, So I hope y’all enjoy!

[pedrito-friskito]

strawberry wine - joel miller x ofc!liv stone/fem!reader

during - part fourteen

series masterlist | main masterlist | read on ao3

life goes on, for a time.

a/n: a BIG one wowowowowow okay the end of this one fully got away from me and I was possessed by SOMETHING but idk man fuckin’ enjoy, more on the way, thank you always for the love 🤍

word count: 6.4k

warnings: MY BLOG IS 18+, MINORS DNI, angst, backstory, canon typical violence and injuries, death/murder, guns, knives, drinking, some rough sex, ass-play, spit-play (POSSESSED I TELL YOU), joel miller is a menace and so am I.

✨follow @friskito-library for updates on new chapters/works!✨

You keep going.

It’s easier, honestly, that it’s ever been before. There had been so many moments, between the outbreak and seeing Joel again at that gas station, where you didn’t know if you could keep going, if there was enough left to make you want to.

Deanna had her ways, yanking you out of it more often that not with a bottle of gin and a you keep your chin up, girl. And the kids — well, one toothy grin from Emily or a cheesy joke from Henry and you knew you had more in you. Nick helped some too, though he was more of a distraction than a solution, something infinitely more evident to you now, to you both.

You’d hurt him, ending it finally, completely, the way you did, and his reaction had cut you deep, but it had to be done. You couldn’t keep up a charade, and in retrospect, yes, maybe you should have waited, stopped yourself from falling into Joel’s arms (and bed) again until you’d told Nick what was happening, but…

I can’t love anyone the way I love him.

It’s always gonna be him.

It would have unfolded the way it did no matter what.

It’s Joel. It’s always gonna be Joel.

And despite the guilt you chase away with deep kisses and glasses of liquor, it’s easier, to keep going. It almost feels…normal, in a way you haven’t felt in a long fucking time.

+

Life is still bleak as hell; there’s no getting around that. FEDRA’s been kicking into high gear in Boston, handing out punishments more than ration cards, refusing people at the gates, falling back on some bullshit about overpopulation, that there’s not enough food or beds or resources for any more people. 

You’ve heard rumours that the QZ in Philadelphia was overrun, that the reason there have been so many survivors at the Boston gates is because they fled to the closest QZ still standing. You’ve heard rumours about Kansas City, that FEDRA’s become more ruthless there than anywhere else in the country, that getting caught out past curfew gets you hung rather than beaten. Or worse.

Joel moves in, officially. Not that he has that many things to move into your apartment, but his clothes take up space in your closet, his toothbrush beside yours, and you wake up beside him every morning. You let yourself get used to it, to feeling his breath on the back of your neck when the sun comes up, arm slung around your waist, always keeping you fit against him while you sleep. It’s nice. It’s really fucking nice.

Joel and Tommy take the handyman jobs in the apartment buildings, and you and Tess try to stick together, taking the same gigs more often than not. You pool your resources, and the three of them are quick to offer up help to support the kids, to take the pressure off you and Deanna. You’re grateful as all hell, and so is Deanna, despite her relatively grouchy demeanour towards you, ever since you told her you ended it with Nick, officially.

You thought she’d understand, to a degree. It had taken nearly a half bottle of gin in the early days of the QZ, but she’d gotten the full story out of you, the epic love affair of Joel Miller and Liv Stone, the unfettered version. You’d fallen asleep on her couch covered in tissues that night, woke up with the worst hangover you’d had since you were eighteen and got drunk with Anna on wine coolers over Spring Break. Deanna had offered you some sympathy, then.

But now, she’s been taking your — could you even call it a breakup? — your severance from Nick a little too harshly.

“He’s the reason I was in lockup the night Angie beat the shit out of me,” you’d reminded her, feeling a twinge in your side at the memory. “Or did you forget that?”

“Don’t bullshit me, Liv,” she’d thrown back, her face the harshest you’d ever seen it. “He put you in lockup to smuggle your friends through the gate. I’m not a fucking idiot. Don’t try and blame that on him. You got your ass kicked cuz you pissed Angie off, plain and simple. That’s not on Nick.”

“Oh, so then I should blame you?” You’d thrown a hand in her direction, and she’d glared so hard you thought she was gonna burn a hole through your skull. “I pissed off Angie trying to get those meds for Henry, which you asked me to do. So if you wanna start pointing fingers, start looking in the mirror.”

“You’re saying you wouldn’t have gotten the meds for Henry?”

“Don’t put words in my mouth.”

“You can’t talk yourself out of this, Liv. You knew what you were doing with Nick, all five fucking years. You knew exactly what you were—”

“It’s Joel!” you’d nearly screamed, tears crawling up your throat. “I never thought I’d see him again. It’s a second fucking chance, Deanna. I can’t waste that. I won’t. And I was as honest as I could be with Nick from the start. He knew about Joel, he knew I still loved him, he knew I couldn’t ever love him the way I love Joel. I never once told him I could.”

“Oh, and that makes it all better?”

“I know that I hurt him. But he hurt me, too, in case you give a shit. I know that I did a terrible fucking thing, I’m a terrible fucking person, and I’ll feel guilty about it forever, but it’s Joel. And I just…I can’t do anything else.”

She’d stared at you long and hard then, not so harsh a glare as before. She put her hands on her hips, boot tapping against the floor. “I have to go get the kids from school. Just…I’ll see you Friday, for dinner.”

You just nodded, swallowing hard, the tears retreating. “Friday.”

“Bring Joel.”

“Okay.”

(Dinner had been awkward as hell, to start. The kids had stared Joel down for the first hour, but by the time the table was being set, Emily was showing off her latest drawings and Henry was trying to rope Joel into a game of Monopoly. You helped Deanna with dinner, and while she was mostly quiet, before you left that night, she hugged you tight and whispered: “You’re not a bad person, Liv. You’re not.”)

After your official reconciliation with Joel — and subsequent fallout with Nick — Tess was the next person you went to. She stood firmly by the conversation you’d had in the food bank, kept to her agreement to join up with you to smuggle, and that was that.

You can’t force his hand in this.

Maybe I can.

You knew she had — Joel had given you the brief version of their conversation — and you were grateful, but it was just another thing you felt guilty for.

“You don’t have to,” she says to you. You’re outside the wall, heading for the hotel a few blocks out of the QZ, to scope out your route. Your drop is almost at the city limits, with some smugglers from Hartford, ones you’d happened across on the radio. You’ve been spending more time with Abe in the radio room in your spare time, trying to make as many new connections as you can. “Feel guilty, I mean. I didn’t give him to you. He was never mine to give. I knew that from the start.”

“What d’you mean?”

“He says your name in his sleep. I thought he was just mumbling for the longest time — y’know, Liv, live — then I figured it out. I asked Tommy once, but he wouldn’t tell me anything. And well, I know the rest now.”

You chew at your lip, bat swinging lightly in your grip, adjusting the backpack strap on your shoulder. Your bags are mostly empty; you’re anticipating a good food drop from the Hartford people, and they’d asked mainly for drugs in return, which you were happy to supply. You still have some left from the Providence drop, before Joel and Tess had showed up. It feels like a year ago, not a few weeks.

“I don’t want to be the reason you’re alone, Tess.”

“I’m not alone,” she tells you quickly, an actual smile on her face. “I have you. And Tommy. And Joel, still, in a different kind of way. It doesn’t matter. Life’s too fucking short, and I couldn’t…” She trails off, shakes her head, shrugs her shoulders. “I’m not alone.”

You shoot her a glance, seeing the way her thumb is rubbing at the wedding ring still on her finger. It’s her nervous habit, you’ve noticed. “We’ll find you someone,” you say, almost jokingly, trying to lighten the mood, elbowing her gently. “I’ll set you up, add QZ matchmaker to my resume.”

Tess barks a laugh. “Please, god, just no fucking FEDRA soldiers, yeah? I don’t think I could deal with the amount of testosterone that fucker Cowan is carrying around.” She squints at you, turning to you slightly. “Tell me he was at least good in bed. He must have been, for you to put up with that bullshit.”

You force yourself to laugh in return, staring at the ground ahead, kicking pieces of debris from your path. “He was much nicer, when it was just me and him. And I hurt him bad.” You shrug, sighing. “It’s the past but he…yes, to answer your question, he was very good in bed.”

“As good as Joel?”

You nearly choke, sputtering out an actual laugh at her bluntness. “You really want me to answer that?”

“Hey, it’s just us out here.”

“No one’s as good as Joel,” you say, and she throws her head back with a louder laugh. “Best I ever had. Ever. In my life.”

Tess just keeps laughing, pulls the knife from her belt and taps it against your bat. “Amen to that.”

The conversation wanders as you walk. She tells you a bit more about Baltimore, the few smuggling jobs they’d pulled before they’d gotten kicked out of the QZ. Turns out, her plans had been similar to yours: get a FEDRA soldier on her side, entice them with the goodies she smuggled in, threaten them with blackmail. Rinse and repeat. And it worked, for a time.

“There was this one guy, Anderson. Joel never liked him, and really, neither did I, but he was one of the first we got to agree to help. And…you know, Cowan actually reminds me of him.” She huffs a laugh. “That’s probably why I hate him, just out of fucking principle.”

“You don’t have to hate him.”

“He’s FEDRA, he put you in lockup, and he’s a jackass.”

“I also cheated on him, technically.”

She shrugs, giving you a conspiratorial grin. “Best you ever had? You did what you had to.”

You just laugh, but the sound feels hollow.

“Liv,” Tess says, and you stop short, turning towards her when she grabs your arm. “Jokes aside, I just…I get it. Why you did what you did. I know you feel guilty, and I know Cowan said some shitty things to you, but…we do terrible things, sometimes. To survive.”

You scoff. “That’s the understatement of the fucking century.” With a sigh, you push forward, gravel crunching under your boots, and Tess follows suit. “Joel said that too. That he did some terrible shit out there to survive. That we’re not the same as we were. And we’re not. I’m not.”

“Yeah, well, the world hasn’t exactly left much room for shit to stay the same, has it?”

The bat swings in your grip, and you let the tip knock against the toe of your boot. “Not so much. Never thought it would turn me into a killer, mind you. But…we do terrible shit, right?” You glance at her from the corner of your eye, feeling her gaze locked on you. “And no, I’m not just talking about Infected.”

Tess nods, slowly, her throat bobbing. “I…I shot that soldier, Anderson. First FEDRA soldier I ever killed, probably won’t be the last. But, it was either me or him, and I shot first. Then again, cuz the first one didn’t kill him.” Her brow is hard, fingers twitching over the gun strapped to her thigh. “It was either me or him.”

You nod, and the memory is rising in your throat and spilling off you tongue before you can stop it.

It was early days, just after the wall was completed, when restlessness got the better of you and you wanted — no, needed — to get out of the QZ, just for a while. There were fewer connections, back then, less people out in the open, more dead on the roads. You didn’t like Geoff from the get-go, something about him just made you feel super fucking uncomfortable, like every word out of his mouth was drenched in grease. But, you didn’t know any better, back then, and you wanted to believe a deal was a deal.

“He set me up,” you tell Tess, tightening your grip on the bat. Retelling the story makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. “He’d managed to get a few Infected locked inside this old hair salon, and threw me to the wolves, basically. Took the bat from me. I got fucking lucky; there was a straight razor left in one of the drawers, and I took them both down. It was the first time I’d killed one since the outbreak.”

“What happened to Geoff?”

“Once I got away, found him a couple hours down the road, got his gun off him and put a bullet in his head, got my bat back. I figured if he kept going, he’d just try and screw the next person he made a deal with, and on and on it would go. I had to end it.”

Tess nods. “You did what you had to.”

You scoff. “That’s not the worst part.”

After Geoff, you got jumpy. You didn’t want to let up on the smuggling, and you were still trying to find new connections, but you took more precautions. You brought a gun every time now, along with the bat. You only met in locations you chose, and refused anyone who tried to persuade you to go somewhere else. You didn’t trust people; you couldn’t.

“This guy, Eric, he just rubbed me the wrong way that day. He wasn’t a bad guy, per se; I knew he ran with some shitty people but he didn’t seem so bad. He met me down in the subway, simple ammo trade.” You blow out a breath. “I thought he was reaching for a gun, and I pulled the trigger before he could. Like you said: it was either him or me. And I chose me.”

You pause, waiting for Tess to say it again. You did what you had to.

“Three days later, his wife shows up at the gate, asking if he’d come through, toting this little boy that was a dead fucking ringer for his dad. I thought I was seeing a ghost.” You bite down on the inside of your cheek. “They still live in Boston. Her son is the same age as Emily.”

It’s a few minutes, before Tess has anything more to say. “You couldn’t have known.”

“You’re right,” you agree, nodding. “I couldn’t. But it still doesn’t hurt any less. When they’re infected, it’s easier. Almost. I sometimes wonder if they’re still…them inside, but same thing. It’s either you or them, and you have to decide. You do what you have to — even if it’s terrible — to stay alive. To survive.”

Tess opens her mouth to say something in response, but all hell breaks loose before she can get a word out.

You’ve turned down the road the hotel is on, and there are cars everywhere, craters in the earth from the bombings, debris and decay everywhere you look. The bullets ring out from behind the vehicles, and you grab Tess by the handle of her backpack, yanking her behind a nearby truck. The gunfire makes it rattle. “Fuck!”

“These the guys from Hartford?”

“Shouldn’t be. We’re not even close to the city limits yet.”

When you chance a look around the truck, your heart jumps into your throat. There’s at least five of them, all with dark-coloured bandanas covering the lower halves of their faces, two of them closer than the rest. Guns drawn, scores of ammo hanging from their belts. You adjust your grip on the bat just as Tess screams, and you turn to see her being pulled away, one of the raiders yanking her by the hair. You shout as one tries to grab you the same, but you slip out of reach, swinging the bat. It makes contact with his knees, a loud crunch making you flinch. He falls like a rock and you pull your knife out quickly, slamming the blade into his skull.

You do what you have to.

Abandoning the bat for the moment, you grab the guy’s gun, averting your eyes from his face. It’s an automatic, and you pop up from behind the truck, taking aim and pulling the trigger. The three that hadn’t advanced don’t stand a chance, bodies falling before they have the chance to shoot back at you. 

The one holding Tess is trying to pull her into one of the storefronts along the side of the road.

“Hey!” you shout, the word nearly a growl. “Let her go, asshole!”

The guy turns, seeing his fallen comrades, and fumbles. It’s just enough for Tess to get her knife out and swing upwards. It ends up lodged in his throat rather than his head, and he drops awkwardly, clawing at his throat, blood pouring around his fingers. Bile rises in your throat, and you breathe slow as he hits the ground. Tess pulls her gun out a moment later, and the gunshot echoes through the road.

You sprint over to her, each of you giving the other a once over. “You good?”

“Fine. You?”

“Fine.”

“Who taught you to shoot like that?”

You actually laugh this time. “Cowan.”

Tess’s jaw drops. “Motherfucker.”

You collect all the guns and ammunition you can carry. One of the raiders has a nice-looking bowie knife on his belt, and you take it, sheath and all. Tess makes the rounds, filling her bag with ammo, while you try and leave some space; you still have to make it to the edge of the city.

Being as heavily armed as you now are earns you some weird looks from the Hartford smugglers once you reach the city limits. The chain link fence that was once the only thing standing between you and getting the hell out of Boston has not done well over the years. The metal is cut in a million more places, bent in others, no doubt the result of years of Infected climbing over, survivors trying to make it to the QZ gates. When you explain what happened, the leader — the one you’d been dealing with over the radio, a tall woman named Gwen — softens. “We lost a few of our own to raiders in New Haven. Shit’s getting dark.” She sighs. “Darker than it already was.”

The deal goes easily, which you’re grateful for. You throw in one of the guns and some ammo you pilfered from the raiders to sweeten the deal, and Gwen returns your generosity with some of her own: a carton of eggs. Fresh ones. It’s been a while now, since the Boston food bank has had anything fresh that wasn’t an apple or a tomato. Meat was becoming more and more scarce, and so were eggs. The ones Deanna used for breakfast were the powdered kind, sat like a lead weight in your stomach no matter how much coffee you washed them down with.

“If you have eggs, does that mean…chickens?” Tess asks, curiosity dripping from her voice, and you can’t help the way your stomach growls at the thought of chicken wings. 

Gwen laughs. “I’m not having the chicken or the egg debate with you, but yes, there are chickens. I don’t suppose you have seeds, in Boston? Fruits, veggies?”

“We do,” you nod.

“Bring us some next time, and we’ll bring you one of the hens in return.”

You and Tess debate the best way to cook a chicken all the way home.

+

Once you’re safely back in the QZ, you and Tess unload the guns in one of your caches, head back to the apartments to divvy the food up between you and Joel’s apartment, Tess and Tommy’s, and Deanna’s. She goes to take the food up to Deanna, and you pull out the bowie knife you’d nicked.

It’s as good an olive branch as any.

You find Nick out on patrol, standing outside the same alleyway you’d stopped in when Tommy had arrived in Boston, when Nick told you Deanna was looking for you. At first, he makes no indication he’s even noticed you, his eyes trained forward, hands glued to his gun, his jaw set.

“I know you don’t want to see me,” you say, your voice low, forcing yourself to look casual. “But, there’s something I want to say. Need to. Please?”

After a beat, Nick turns, his face still schooled blank, but when you step after him, deeper into the alley, the mask cracks. “What?”

“This is for you,” you say, pulling the bowie knife out from where you’d stashed it in your jacket.

Nick told you once, about a gift he’d received from his father, when he first joined the army. A knife, similar to the one you now hold towards him. The blade was engraved with his family name, the date he enlisted, sheathed in fine leather. He lost it, on Outbreak Day, in a fight with an Infected soldier.

“It’s…I know, it doesn’t make up for what I did. I don’t think anything can. But I just…I want you to know that I’m sorry, truly sorry, and if hating me makes you feel better, then that’s okay. But I never meant for things to turn out this way. And what I said before, about Joel, it’s the truth, but I never wanted to hurt you like I did, and I hope you know that.”

He takes the knife from you, pulls the blade from the sheath, the muscle in his jaw ticking as he inspects it. “Where’d you get this?”

“Does it matter?”

Nick scoffs a laugh. “If I had a dollar for every time you’ve said that to me.”

“I’m sorry, Nick,” you say, nearly reaching a hand out to him, but stopping yourself. “I really am.”

After a long moment, he nods, still staring down at the knife. “I only ever wanted you to be happy, Liv. To be safe. And if that fucking…if Joel is the one to do that, then I have to be okay with that.” He swallows so hard you can see his throat bob. “It’ll take some damn time, but I’ll…I’ll get there, I think. I’ll try. Just don’t expect me to be friends with him, yeah?”

You laugh. “I don’t. I just…I am sorry, Nick. I feel like a broken record, but…”

“It helps,” he says with a nod.

“Good.” It feels awkward, suddenly, and you take it as your cue to leave. “I’m gonna go.”

“See you around,” he says, and you just nod, heading towards the street, out of the alley. “Hey, Liv?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re not a bad person. You did a shitty thing, but you’re not a bad person.”

The corner of your mouth twitches. “Thanks, Nick.”

He nods again, and you turn on your heel, heading back towards the apartments.

+

Time moves on. 

Nick still keeps his distance, but he doesn’t look at you with sheer hatred in his eyes anymore, so that’s nice. Deanna learns you’ve made peace with each other, and tells you you did good. It helps. The guilt still lingers a bit, but it helps. 

You keep up your smuggling, bringing Tess and Joel and Tommy — and any combination of the three — along with you every time. You teach them your routes, your hiding spots, where your caches are. Joel’s impressed, if not a little hesitant, Tommy of a similar mind. Tess remains firm that you’re a badass, and is always the first to volunteer to come with you.

You’re all still quiet, about your pasts, about the time leading up to the four of you being in Boston together. Except for what Tess told you, the story you returned — one she swore she wouldn’t pass on to Joel, one you knew you had to tell him yourself.

You will, in time. You know you have to. But…you’re not there yet. And in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t fucking matter.

None of it does.

Before you know it, it’s been nearly six months since they arrived, and you decide to celebrate, the only way you can in the QZ: food and booze.

“Family dinner?” Joel repeats, his hands on his hips, head cocked to the side. It’s early in the morning, you’re both getting ready to head out, pulling on clothes and shoving feet into boots. You usually sleep fully dressed, boots and all, but Joel’s tendency to get you naked has become a nightly occurrence, and sometimes you’re too worn out to redress when you’re done.

You turn on your heel, head for the kitchen, opening one of the cabinets and pulling out a jar of tomato sauce and setting it on the counter. Joel’s close behind, grabbing the jar when you put it down, smirking down at the label. “Look familiar?”

His jaw twitches, something nostalgic in his eyes. “Same shit I used to buy in Texas.” He smirks, setting it down again, sliding his arms around your waist. “Didn’t we make spaghetti, at my place? What was that, our second date?”

You lean back against him, covering his hands with yours, lacing your fingers together. “I made spaghetti; you tried to make risotto.”

“That’s right,” he agrees and his hands move to your hips, turning you to face him. “That was the first night we—”

“Uh-huh,” you cut him off, leaning up on your toes until your mouth brushes his. “It was.”

Joel slides his hands up under your shirt, palms curling around your ribs, giving you a hungry kiss. “And now you expect me to sit through dinner with…?”

“Tommy and Tess.”

He growls, ducking his head to bury his face in your neck. “To sit through dinner with my brother and Tess, thinking about that the whole time.”

You hum, tangling a hand in his hair. “I’ll be thinking about it too, if it’s any consolation. I’m always thinking about it.”

“You’re gonna be the death of me, woman,” he groans, nipping at your throat.

You’re both late, Tess giving you a pointed look when Joel pecks you goodbye when you meet her out front. “I swear, you two are worse than teenagers sometimes,” she mumbles, and you just laugh.

The day goes quickly — you and Tess each work a shift in the donation hall, which you’re told is shutting down, and the food bank — and before you know it, you’re back at the apartment, putting pots on the stove, pulling a bottle of whiskey from the space behind the fridge. 

You and Tess are already a little sauced by the time Joel and Tommy come through the door. Tommy has paint smeared on his cheek and Joel is laughing, that kind of belly laugh you haven’t heard since Austin. You grin as he kisses you hello, Tommy pecking your cheek once Joel disappears towards the bedroom to get changed. “Kisses from all the Millers,” you laugh, stirring the sauce on the stove. “Aren’t I a lucky gal.”

Joel pokes his head out of the bathroom, brow furrowed. “Pardon?”

Tess laughs with you, pulling the chair beside her out for Tommy to sit. She slides him a glass of whiskey a second later. “What the hell is on your face, man?”

“Ah, hell.”

The evening passes so comfortably, you wonder if you’re dreaming, for a moment or two. The boys both won’t shut up about how delicious your spaghetti is — even though the pasta is the flourless crap FEDRA hands out, your sauce more than makes up for it — and it’s not long before you’ve polished off the bottle of whiskey between the four of you. Your chest feels warm, from the alcohol, the good food, the company.

Once you’re all done eating, Tommy produces a deck of cards and convinces you all to play a few rounds of euchre. You and Tess team up and kick the boys’ ass, to the point where Joel declares you must be cheating, which Tess is having none of. “Never thought you’d be a sore loser, Miller!”

The game changes from euchre to war, and Tess and Tommy make their own rules, deciding to smack the table as hard as they can when the card matches, even if the other’s hand is already there. It has them both howling after a couple rounds, you and Joel just chuckling as you watch. Joel slides your chair closer to his, close enough that he can loop an arm around your neck, hauling you against his chest.

He buries his nose in your hair as you lean against him, moving down until his mouth is close to your ear. “How much longer we gonna entertain these two, hmm? I need you all to myself, baby. Need to be inside you.”

Your thighs clench, cheeks flaring with heat, and you smack him in the chest, burying your face in the collar of your shirt.

He just chuckles in your ear, low as anything. “You like that, huh, baby? You gonna let me fuck you, aren’t you? Always so good for me. Promise, I’m gonna make you feel so damn good, baby.”

You elbow him in the ribs. Hard. Hard enough that he lets out a low oomph, and both Tess and Tommy’s heads snap in your direction. You stare back at them, feigning innocence, whiskey buzzing in the back of your skull. “What?”

A few more games of cards, and Tess literally falls out of her chair, laughing the whole way down. Joel declares the night officially over, and Tommy gets Tess to her feet, half-carries her towards the door. “You need help?” Joel asks, and Tommy shakes his head.

“Nah, we’ll be fine. You two have a good night. Thanks for dinner, Liv.”

“You’re welcome, Tommy.”

The door closes behind them, and Joel lingers, locking the door, closing the curtains, clearing off the table. Meanwhile, you head for the bed, fumbling with the buttons on your shirt — Joel’s shirt, always Joel’s shirt — before giving up and falling forward onto the mattress, reaching for Joel’s pillow, bunching it beneath your head.

The bed creaks a moment later, Joel’s weight settling over you, hands planted either side of you, mouth at the back of your neck. “You’re wearing far too many clothes, missy.”

“You should fix that,” you slur at him, turning your face enough to see the shadow of him above you. You wiggle your hips, lifting your ass until it presses against his crotch, and Joel hisses. “You got promises to make good on, Joel Miller.”

“I do,” he replies, letting out a low hum as he drags his hand down your spine. “Don’t I?”

He shuffles back, and the loss makes you whine, but he slides your needs apart a moment later, grips your hips and lifts until your ass is in the air, face still pressed into the pillow. Joel doesn’t waste any time, fingers curling in the waist of your leggings and pulling them down, taking your underwear with them. You barely have a chance to breathe, his mouth covering you a moment later, tongue darting between your folds. “Fucking christ, Joel.”

He hums again, the noise vibrating through you, one hand coming down on your cheek in a quick spank a second later. You can feel yourself flooding his tongue, already wet from his teasing at the table. Reaching one hand back, you card your fingers through his hair, keeping him against you, angling your hips back to push yourself further into his face.

“Pretty girl,” he rasps, dragging the flat of his tongue up and down, back up and back down again. The rhythm makes your muscles tighten, the promise of an orgasm prickling at your senses. “Always taste so good.” He gives you another quick spank, the motion making your flesh tingle. “Always feel so good.”

“Joel.”

“Don’t worry, baby,” he grumbles, diving back in for a moment before pulling back once more. “I’m gonna fuck you so good, just like I promised.”

You moan into the pillow, whining again when he pulls back, your hand falling out of his hair, flopping sideways onto the bed. You curl your fingers in the bedsheets instead, gasping loudly when he presses two wet fingers into you, right to the knuckle in one fell swoop. His thumb reaches up, pushes lightly between your cheeks, and you let out a choked noise you didn’t know you were capable of.

“That feel good?” he asks, and you nod, your face still pressed to his pillow. “You want more, baby?”

You nod again, furiously.

“Want you inside me,” you murmur, your eyes rolling back in your skull as his thumb presses harder. “Fuck, Joel, please.”

There’s the shuffling of fabric, the clink of his belt buckle, the front of his thighs pressed to the backs of yours. You turn your head slightly, just enough to see him, the hem of his t-shirt tucked between his teeth, his cock in his hand. The sight alone makes you clench around his fingers, biting your lip as he pulls them out. They dig into the meat of your ass a moment later, spreading you open just a touch more. His thumb stays where it is, and you watch, stomach coiled in anticipation as he leans forward just slightly, drops his jaw until the t-shirt falls from his mouth, and spits.

It lands right where his thumb is, slides down over where you’re already drenched, and he flexes his hips forward. You try to bury your moan in his pillow, but Joel reaches down with his other hand, fists your hair in his hand, tugs a little.

“I wanna hear you, baby.”

“The neighbours—”

“I don’t give a fuck, Liv. Let me hear you.”

A choked moan falls out as he slams all the way forward, burying himself to the hilt, his thumb pressing down at the same time. You keep your face to the side, keep your eyes trained on his. He lets go of your hair just to take hold of your hip, pulling back just to slam forward again, the feeling and movement making your thighs shake.

“Joel, fuck—”

“That’s right,” he grits, and his pace only gets faster, the apartment filling with the sound of skin on skin. It drives you wild. “That’s fuckin’ right. Say it again.”

He spanks you again, just that much harder, and you cum.

It hits you like a freight train, your back arching fiercely as you lose it, eyes screwed shut, thighs shuddering against Joel’s. Faintly, you hear him groan, barely aware of the next spank he gives. You’re half-sure you’ll have a handprint on your ass come morning, but you don’t fucking care. His name spills from your lips, somewhere between a moan and a gasp, and your stomach flutters as he fists his hand in the back of your shirt and drags you up.

You can’t catch your breath, your chest heaving as he takes your chin in his hand, one arm banded around your middle as he keeps slamming into you, dropping his fingers between your legs. You don’t know where one orgasm finishes and the second begins, but he covers your mouth with his, drinks your noises down like they’re whiskey instead of moans.

“That’s my girl,” he whispers against your lips, his hips stuttering against your ass. “Love you so goddamned much.”

You flail a hand back, diving your fingers into his hair, tugging until his head moves back slightly, so you can look him in the eyes. “Then cum,” you murmur, leaning forward enough to bite at his bottom lip. “Cum for me.”

He does, his entire body shuddering with it, his grip on you like an iron vice. The warmth is delicious, spreading through your lower half like the whiskey had, only the feeling of Joel is that much more addictive, always leaving you wanting more. You both collapse forward a second later, a tangle of limbs and lips, never far from reach.

+

Joel wakes with a jolt. The nightmares have been less and less common, since he got to Boston, since he started sleeping in the same bed as you again, but they still show their faces every once in a while. Usually the drinking keeps them at bay, but tonight they’re intent to haunt him.

You’re not where you should be, tucked against his chest, and for a moment, panic seizes his heart, makes his hands go cold.

“Liv?”

You’re perched on the edge of the bed, knees drawn up to your chest, staring out the window. His mostly unbuttoned shirt is falling off your shoulders, and when he calls your name, you glance at him quickly before your gaze moves back out the window. Joel doesn’t miss the shine in your eyes, and sits up slow, reaches for you, rubbing one hand up your back.

“You all right?”

“I’m happy,” you reply, head tilting back on your shoulders, face illuminated by the moonlight. “I am unreasonably happy, Joel. I’ve done so much terrible shit, and yet here I am, stupidly, unreasonably, unfathomably happy.”

He reaches up, pinches your cheek lightly, catches the tear in the corner of your eye. “Then why you cryin’, baby?”

“Cuz I know there’s a chance that I could wake up tomorrow, and it could all be gone.” Your voice cracks, and Joel sits up further, slides down the bed until he’s pressed against your side. “That you could be gone.”

“Never,” he tells you, and opens his arms to you, sighing when you fall into them, presses his mouth to the crown of your head. “I’m not goin’ anywhere, baby. I’m right here, you hear me? I’m right here.”

PREV | NEXT

[luveline]

jade hi!!! i have an idea for shy reader. im thinkin eddie x shy reader and maybe corroded coffin has kind of blown up? like maybe they’re on tour or just an occasional big stadium gig. but r always comes even tho she is like very sound sensitive (do u hear me projecting) it is not her space at all but she still comes for him <3 like soundchecks and things she has like earplugs in but is still the most proud gf. idk!!! lov u

hi!!!! love u i hope this was a req cos I took it as one!! sound sensitive and shy reader with rockstar eddie is a seemingly unlikely pair but so cute!! fem!reader♡ suggestive

Eddie says you can sit wherever you like during soundcheck, whether that be sidestage, by the barrier, up in the VIP section balcony, or even just plain centre stage with him and the boys. Which is ridiculous because you'll definitely be in the way if you do, but he has awfully convincing reasoning. 

"I'm gonna marry you," he says succinctly. "If people aren't used to seeing you by my hip by now they will be eventually." 

So you don't go sit up on the balcony. You're also not gonna entertain his silly ideas, sitting neatly in a fold out sidestage with your ear plugs in, ear defenders in your lap. Eddie has assured you time and time again that nobody is gonna judge you for wearing them, they're not foreign to people in show business, but you can't make yourself unless the music is extremely loud. 

You scratch at one of the cans and watch Eddie run his hands up the neck of Sweetheart the third, looking odd in his hoodie and sweatpants. 

He has a complex about your 'giving up your dream' so he can chase his. And sure, you have ambitions, there are a thousand things you want to do, but none have ever felt as present to you as music is to him. Well, besides being his girl. You don't under evaluate the happiness you've found with Eddie, the late late nights and the early mornings, moments stolen between flights and buses and shows and interviews. It's all worth it to be with him and see his wicked smile during shows. 

His smile isn't nearly so electric right now. He's got his eyebrows scrunched up, picking at strings and apologising and then rescinding his apology when somebody rags on him. 

They start to play the crowd pleasers and you turn to your book, humming with your leg tapping to the rhythm. You get lost for a while and don't notice when the music fades away, nor when Eddie comes to stand in front of you. 

You can vaguely hear voices, so you look up, and when you find Eddie as close as he is you jump. He reaches out with two panicked hands and plants them against your hiked shoulders. 

"Just me," he says, or mouths, one hand moving to your ear. He pulls an earplug free carefully. 

"I'm sorry," you say breathlessly. 

He gets all cuddly, hand curled around your earplug and arm around your neck. His mouth is a heat over your forehead as he lays kisses from temple to temple, chest rumbling with a pleased sigh. 

"Plugs are doing their job," he says. 

You twist your hands into the front of his hoodie where he's leaning over you, unsurprised by his affection. He's always like this. 

"You don't have to stay if it's too loud." 

It's really loud. "It's alright." 

You feel his lips curve into a smile. "No," he says, pulling back quick to cradle your cheeks. "It's loud. I was thinking, maybe you should take a break tonight. Stay at the hotel." 

You don't get offended, though insecurity rears it's head for a split second. Why doesn't he want me at the show? It's gone as quickly as it came, dissolved by his concerned eyes. 

A break would be nice. You love to be here and to support him but the constant sound is overwhelming, and it builds up until you're wiped of energy. 

"Stay home, watch a movie," — he leans in, lips quirked into a knowing smile — "what kind of movie's up to you." 

"Eddie," you murmur pleadingly, turning in your seat to make sure no one's listening. 

He shushes you and dips down until his mouth is near your ear, hands holding you in place. "We need some inspiration, don't you think?" 

You're melting. "Eddie, please." Don't do this here. 

"Yeah, just like that," he murmurs. 

You push him forcibly away from you and glare at his giggling, his slight bend at the waist and his hand pressed to his stomach. 

"Jerk." 

"I'm serious about taking a break," he says as his laughter tapers off. He licks his lips. "It'll be tough but I can make it through one night without you." 

"Night?" 

"Show," he amends, leaning down with a pout. 

You give him a faux-reluctant peck. 

"Definitely not the whole night. You better still be there when I get back," he warns. 

You will be. You open your arms expectantly for a proper hug though you can't bring yourself to ask, and lucky you, Eddie collapses down into your chest smelling clean and familiar. He's warm. There's an inherent excitement that comes with being loved like this, the evidence of his affection in his adoring hands as they rub your back and the corner of his smile against your cheek.

"Not going anywhere," you murmur. His arms get that little bit tighter.

[he-goes-down]

There Was A Time:

previous chapters/warnings

5. Reckless Life

Second person POV:

The next few weeks were great, you had paid for some fixes around the house; lights, water, ceilings, walls, even Axl's broken door as well as buying your own mattress and sleeping on it on the floor in Duff's room. The guys started doing more gigs with you on their side, they were more successful as you equipped them with better equipment, and got some of the guys from the company to set up the stage instead of the members themselves. But you'd soon get a call that didn't make any one happy. Your boss had to extend the time until you and the band could record till next year. But you still had gigs to get the money and you were planning photoshoots for the band to get more publicity. You sat around the coffee table in front of the couch discussing stage outfits. "We should really get you guys a photoshoot." You said. "You need some appearance in magazines and newspapers if you wanna get bigger." You continued. "Yeah, and not just have the headline 'Crazy singer punches man in audience and gets arrested'." Slash looked at Axl. "Watch it man." He lifted his fist. "Alright, alright. Just kidding round." Slash surrendered. Steven took one of the magazines from the table and showed it to you, pointing to the cover with a smile. "Michael Monroe? You wanna do a glam shoot?" You asked. "Yeah! But just not as crazy as Bowie." He spoke. "Gimmie that." Axl reached for the magazine and snatched it. "Looks gay. Let's do it." Axl said as he gave the magazine a quick look and handed it to Izzy. Everyone agreed to the idea, you knew exactly how they were going to look; fishnet tops, makeup, shit ton of hairspray, they'd look glamorous. And they did. The photoshoots were a success. It didn't get as much attention as everyone wanted but they had fun doing them.

It was now early November and not a lot has changed in your routine. Gig, drink, another drink, hangover, feel guilty the next week, deep clean, get Axl out of jail. Repeat. Today on the agenda though was looking at new songs the members were writing. Slash and Izzy wrote a song about Heroine called Mr. Brownstone, it needed tweaking, but they already had a great riff for it. Izzy also wrote a song with Axl called Shadow Of Your Love, Izzy played a riff he was working on and didn't know how to make it fit the song as he wanted it to be a lot more mellow and acoustic. You told him it to maybe play it faster, he refused, saying that he wanted a slower song. Axl agreed with you on picking up the pace. Izzy scoffed and you decided to stop and not get further on his bad side. There were a lot more other songs that were looked at during that session but a lot of them were discarded as just songs to play at gigs and not record.

Once that was done, Axl asked if anyone wanted to go out and just fuck around a bit, you were the only one that tributed as the others complained it was too cloudy and it was going to rain or that they just wanted to stay home. You and Axl went down the strip and did some window shopping before going to a park and just having a walk. Axl was a really sweet and deep guy, he was human like everyone else, it was just that when he got attention it was because of the wrong reasons, normally him lashing out and causing fights. Fights that were caused because of him being protective and misunderstandings. You and Axl had a close bond, not as close as him and Izzy, but the two of you could talk about anything. You had the best conversations in the dead of night talking about philosophical things, and once or twice opening up and talking about past experiences and crying and comforting each other.

The park was quiet, no one was out as the clouds were a dark grey and ready to start pouring. "Want some booze?" Axl asked breaking the comfortable silence. His hands swinging behind his back the two of you walked on the path. "Got some on you?" You asked, as you couldn't figure out where he'd fit a bottle on his person. He flicked his head in the direction of the liquor store that was right over the parks fenced edge. "Fine, but you're paying next time." You dragged a sigh. "Who said anything about paying?" He smirked at you as he raised an eyebrow smugly. "I'm not gonna sit here and watch you steal." You laughed at him. "And! Watch you get arrested again!" You added. "Come on sweetheart, you gotta live a reckless life sometimes." He said, as he began to walk backwards to the store whilst look at you and flicking his hands. "You live it far too often Rosey!" You shouted at him and started to follow.

You went along with Axl's plan to steal, well you were actually the most important part of his plan. While Axl hid the bottle under his jacket, you'd try seducing and distract the man behind the counter. Axl nearly dropped the bottle on the way out, but it went smoothly. The guy even gave you your own expensive bottle from the locked cabinet for a kiss, who wouldn't say no to a little kiss for a 200-dollar bottle of booze. After your little thievery episode, the two of you went back to park and sat under a big oak tree. "We hit the jackpot! Fuck yeah!" Axl smiled as examined the fancy bottle you scored. "I'm gonna have to bring you along to everything now." He said as he gave you a quick glance then continued reading the label. You chuckled and threw your head back as you got comfortable on the grass. "Oh yeah, I brought this too." Axl searched his pockets on the inside of his jacket and pulled out a bag of weed. You were quite excited, you always wanted to know how it was like to have a blunt rotation with Axl Rose. He rolled the blunt and you opened the fancy bottle. "I'm definitely bragging about you when we get home." He said as he lit the blunt. "Yeah, and we'll leave them with the crappy booze." "Nah, that's still mine. Mine and yours." He responded to your comment. You didn't know why, but when he talked to you or talked about you, you felt a small tingle in your stomach. Even when it wasn't a flirty line. You felt and hit on your upper arm, you snapped out of your daydream, Axl was handing you the blunt. You took a swig from the bottle and traded the items.

You talked and swapped objects the whole afternoon, saying crazier and crazier shit as the blunt burned smaller and smaller and as the amount of liquid got smaller and smaller. "I can't believe," he started talking, "That you never kissed me. No matter how much! I ask and ask!" He said in a completely deluded tone, but he somehow made it attractive. You giggled at him but respond to him. Soon you heard the pitter patter of rain fall down the ground and leaves above you, and it fell harder and harder by the second. Axl got up without a word, grabbed your hand and dragged you out into the rain with one swift move. You squealed at the cold drips of rain falling on you and getting you and him both soaked. He placed one hand on your hip, and the other was holding the neck of the bottle as he took a swig. You snaked your arms around his neck and the two of you began to sway your bodies side to side together under the pouring rain. There wasn't any music but the two of you were dancing with each other in perfect unison. Axl sat the bottle down to the side and held the small of your back with his now free hand, the other hand trailed up to your waist and held you.

Subconsciously your bodies drew closer and closer until they were touching, and the wet material stuck together, soon after your faces came closer and closer together. You stared into each other's eyes, his blue eyes were mesmerising. Everything on him was mesmerizing and perfect. Your faces were now inches apart, rain drops dripped from your clothes, hair and face. "About that kiss...?" He spoke softly and smirked. "Yes." You spoke quickly. He pulled you in and kissed you. Your lips crashed together passionately, but it was soft. You continued to sway in the rain as you kissed with shut eyes. It was wholesome and comforting. Your mind was looping and spinning, it was on a high, from the weed and his addictive lips. You felt dizzy but it wasn't a worrying feeling, Axl was there to catch you. After a few moments your lips drew apart, the two of you panted softly, you still held each other so you felt his warm breath on your skin. The two of you didn't say anything, you didn't need to, you said everything you needed to when your lips touched. The two of you inched your faces closer together, this time with more confidence, closing your eyes, ready for the embrace. Just before your lips touched for the second time, Lightning struck a corner of the park and thunder pursued. Loudly and violently. Making both of you jump. "Let's get out of here." You spoke. Axl firmly agreed, and you started venturing back home. You didn't say anything on the way back, you didn't know if he kissed you because of the drugs or booze, or both, or neither, but it sure as hell sobered you up. Axl didn't say anything either. You could feel he kept glancing at you, you were scared to look back, what if he was angry? Or what if it was awkward as much as it already is. You looked back at him anyway. A small grin like smirk appeared on his face as he looked at you. He stretched his arm slightly, and he nodded to motion for you to look down. His fingers were spread as he held his hand out for you. You took it and your fingers entwined with one another. He squeezed your hand a few times on the way home just to communicate with you without speaking.

It was dark and late when you got home. No one realised you came in, or they didn't care. The two of you walked down the corridor, Axl went into his room but stood by the doorframe to talk to you. "Goodnight, Ax." You told him. "Goodnight doll." And with that he closed his door. You were a bit shocked. You didn't know what to expect. No, you did know, you were at least expecting a kiss. With that thought the door opened again, he kissed on the lips softly then on the cheek. "We should do that again soon." He whispered in your ear, then winked before he closed the door. You touched your cheek with the biggest smile on your face, and practically skipped to you and Duff's shared room, but you stopped when you heard the strum of a guitar. You carefully peaked your head into Izzy's room. He was playing the Shadow Of Your Love riff, and fast. He kept increasing the speed of it. You could see a small smile form on his face, as he was satisfied with how it sounded. You continued to the room with a smug look on your face and a satisfied heart.

[karmic-vibes]

Hopelessly Devoted to You

one-shot inspired by this prompt. enjoy!

cw: n/a :)

wc: 1.9k

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“Do you really think that’s a good idea?” Nancy asked.

“Yeah, why not?” Steve shrugged as he finished scribbling in the rest of his sign.

“He’s not even gonna see you.”

“Nance, just let him do what he wants,” Robin sighed.

“Yeah, Nance. Okay, you two dimwits ready to go?”

“Yes, dingus, we’ve been ready.”

It was Corroded Coffin’s annual Halloween gig at the Hoosier Dome—the lead singer, Eddie Munson, always insisted on playing his home state during the most sacred time of year. It sold out in minutes. Fans were hunched over their phones and laptops, waiting in the endless queue, hoping they were able to score tickets.

Given that Steve has been a die-hard fan since their first album (mainly because he found Eddie cute), he was a verified-fan on Ticketmaster, scoring him first dibs to all their big events. As much as he’d wanted floor tickets, him, Robin, and Nancy didn’t have enough money pooled, so they all settled for the lodge.

Steve insisted that the girls make signs too, as Eddie always set time aside to read through everyone’s insane, unhinged messages, but they refused. They kept insisting that Eddie wouldn’t be able to see, but that didn’t stop Steve. He figured Eddie wouldn’t be able to see a whole message, so instead he settled for a single word: DADDY?

Robin and Nancy called him crazy, but Steve’s rationale was that if he can’t see it anyway, what’s the harm?

The entire group dressed up as Teen Titans—Robin was Raven, Nancy was Starfire, and Steve was Robin (confusing? Yes. None of them thought that far ahead? Also, yes). They waited in line, got a few beers to sip while the openers performed, and before they knew it, it was showtime.

Corroded Coffin were dressed up as townspeople from The Nightmare Before Christmas, but Eddie was nowhere in sight. All of a sudden, the soft plucking of an acoustic guitar picked up and fog covered the floor of the stage. Eddie’s voice rang throughout the arena, soft and soothing—unlike anyone had ever heard him before.

“I sense there’s something in the wind, that feels like tragedy’s at hand,” he started.

A small trapdoor slowly opened as he sang, letting all the fog sink into it. The guitar plucked on, Eddie’s voice continued blessing everyone’s ears—then, he began to emerge as not Jack, but as Sally, dress and all.

“The worst is just around the bend. And does he notice my feelings for him? And will he see… how much he means to me?”

He stopped singing and the guitar paused—the arena went pitchy black. Confused chittered filled the air, but was quickly stopped when all lights were on Eddie wailing on his guitar, breaking into a quick solo. The crowd erupted with cheers as he showed off his skills to his devoted fans. He carried on with singing, ditching the somber tune.

“I think it’s not to be,” he continued. The rest of the band joined in, turning the sad ballad into a newfound rock anthem. “Try as I may, it doesn’t last. And will we ever, end up together? No, I think not, it’s never to become…” The lights flickered before going out again, all instruments and singing coming to a halt. The spotlight shone on Eddie, who returned to his somber tune. “For I am not the one…”

The entire arena was filled with people who were screaming, cheering, and chanting. The lights came up enough to show the rest of the band. Eddie chuckled to himself before taking a sip of his complimentary beer.

“How’re we feeling tonight?” he asked—everyone screamed. “Good, good. Happy Halloween, whores. Thanks for making it out, tonight.”

“We love you, Eddie!” Someone yelled.

“And I have no idea who you are. Alright, let’s kick this bitch.”

The concert continued on with a bang. They sang their usual line-up with a few Halloween-esc songs sprinkled in between. That was the real draw to this concert—it was nearly an entire hour longer because of all the covers he did.

As Eddie finished singing I Put a Spell on You by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, he took a few more sips of his beer before drawing his attention to the several signs people created for him.

“Eddie, adopt me! No!” he chuckled. “I missed my aunt’s wedding for this! Good, fuck your aunt. Um, alright…” He scanned the crowd for the next sign. “Eddie (or all of CC) do my BeReal? Yeah, fuck it. Throw me your phone.”

As the audience member tossed him the phone and he snapped the pictures, the camera crew focused in on one sign in particular—Steve’s. Robin and Nancy nudged him as he stood there, beet red in the face. The crowd was going crazy.

“Wow, I didn’t think you guys would have liked watching me take a picture that much,” he laughed to himself.

The people in the pit started yelling in protest, pointing to the arena’s central screen. Eddie cocked a brow and ran to where he could see it.

“Is that what you were screaming for?” The crowd erupted as the camera was still displaying Steve, holding his DADDY? sign up loud and proud. “Sorry… How’re you, sir?” Eddie smiled.

Steve gave him a thumbs up and beamed. Eddie ran over to the edge of the stage, getting as close to Steve’s section as he could. He extended an arm and smirked at the boy.

“Yes?” Everyone cheered as Steve nearly fainted. “Yes?” Steve started dying laughing as the surrounding fans continued yelling. “I fear there may be a communication barrier from this distance.”

“It’s okay, I love you!” Steve yelled, despite Eddie not being able to hear.

“But just know… yes?”

Steve flashed a Cheshire smile at the rockstar as he blushed up to his ears. Steve lowered the signs and blocked out the world around him. He fell back in his seat in awe, dropping his sign to his feet. Robin and Nancy were desperately trying to get his attention, but he couldn’t be bothered to listen. He’d rather stay in a state of bliss.

Eddie finished up reading through his posters before moving on to his next song. He smirked up the Steve as he went back to his set list.

“This next one goes out to my new baby, apparently,” Eddie teased, winking at Steve. “I was feeling done in, couldn’t win. I’d only ever kissed before…”

Steve’s eyes bulged out of his head as Eddie started singing a rocked out version of Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me (apparently dedicated to him). Steve sat in shock as Eddie pranced around the stage, like the sex symbol he was, singing a song about losing your virginity.

This had to be a dream.

Steve tried to muster his way through the rest of the concert as butterflies did backflips in his stomach.

His long-time crush, Eddie Munson, noticed him and called him his baby!? There was no way is was all real.

A few days later, after Steve managed to compose himself (which was hard to do, considering his social media pages were flooded with different views of his interaction with Eddie), he posted a video of himself hanging and framing the poster.

Thinking nothing of it, he hit upload, only expecting Robin, Nancy, and maybe Dustin go like it. But to his surprise, it went viral. Nearly a million likes and over six million views.

Shit. No way Eddie hasn’t seen this.

I’m awe, Steve posted to his Instagram story, blabbering on about how much attention it was getting. He turned off his notifications and left his phone alone for a while, trying to relieve himself of some of the stress.

That evening, when he did a final scroll through of his socials, he came back to over fifty messages of people who swiped up on his story. But one in particular stuck out.

eddiemunson: yes, baby?

“Oh my god… oh my god!”

His fingers were trembling beneath his touch as he typed out an equally cheeky reply.

kingsteve: oh, daddy, and to think, i never thought you’d answer

eddiemunson: baby teases back i see

kingsteve: only for you, munson

eddiemunson: oh, i like the sound of that

kingsteve: so, when are you taking me out?

eddiemunson: when’re you free ;)

Several months passed and the boys began seeing each other and becoming romantically involved. They slowly started teasing each other on their socials, never showing their faces or displaying any incriminating details.

It wasn’t until nearly a year in, right as the following annual Halloween concert was rolling around, when the hints became less subtle. Steve was attending concerts regularly (in blocked off sections with other friends/family of the band), and Eddie was slowly showing off more features of his pretty boyfriend.

This year, Eddie and the rest of Corroded Coffin were people from Scooby-Doo—Eddie was Shaggy, and other members were different monsters. But where was the rest of the crew? Well, standing with Steve on the sidelines was Robin dressed as Velma, Nancy as Daphne, and Steve as Fred.

Similar to years prior, they opened with a Halloween themed song, then continue with their normal set list with a few covers here and there. Right around the midpoint in the show, Eddie started going around reading posters. Thinking he was funny, Steve resurrected the DADDY? poster.

Eddie made his way over to Steve’s area, knelt down at the edge of the stage, cocked his head to the side and smirked at Steve.

“Yes, baby?” he beamed.

The crowd burst into cheers, but they had no clue what was coming.

Steve smiled as he bit the insides of his cheeks, flipping the sign over to reveal another message.

WILL YOU MARRY ME?

Eddie dropped his mic as he blushed up to his ears, and walked away, smiling like an idiot. Steve proudly stood there, waiting for an answer.

The crowd was chanting at him, some things were good, some were bad. Meanwhile, the boys were having an entire silent conversation through their looks. Eddie eventually picked his mic up again, kneeling back into his previous position.

“I hope you know, you’re becoming a Munson,” he said.

“That’s okay!” Steve laughed. “So is that a yes?”

“Of course, stupid.” He winked as he strutted over to the other side of the stage, starting his next song.

Steve fell back into Robin and Nancy’s arms, gasping in relief. He was so caught in his own head, he didn’t even realize what Eddie was singing until he reached the chorus.

“But now, there’s nowhere to hide, since you pushed my love aside, I’m out of my head. Hopelessly devoted, to you…”

The song carried on and Steve was swaying back and forth, listening to his fiancé’s lovely voice. Then came the final bridge.

“But now, there’s nowhere to hide, since you pushed my love aside, I’m out of my head. Hopelessly devoted, to you…” Eddie walked to the edge of the stage and tossed Steve a velvet black box. Steve (barely) caught it, as Eddie caught him off guard. Eddie winked before finishing out the song. “Hopelessly devoted to you…”

Steve snapped open the box, revealing a diamond incrusted band—he looked up with tears in his eyes. He ditched Robin and Nancy and charged the stage (in the walking path for the band). He shimmied his way past some amps, much to the security’s dismay, and met eye-to-eye with Eddie.

“Hopelessly devoted… to—” Steve yanked him down by his chain and forced him into a kiss. Eddie smiled uncontrollably before breaking away and running his thumb across Steve’s bottom lip. “You…”

———————————————————————

taglist: @steviesbicrisis

[alovesreading]

Constant Repeat | Part 15

Summary: Having worked at Focus Creeps for a year, Ella knows that as a production assistant and part of the crew, there’s one important rule: don’t interact with the talent unless it’s needed. But once she meets Arctic Monkeys, and the recording of the music videos for their upcoming fourth studio album starts, the band seem to become her exception. Not only because they treat her more like a friend than just someone else they’re working with but when Alex continuously makes her blush with his flirting, so enthralled by her that he forgets he’s got a girlfriend, Ella finds herself growing closer to him. As videos are filmed, wrapped and edited, the friendship lines become blurry. Situations unfold, secrets are told and others are kept under lock and key, but how long can Alex and Ella endure being stuck in each other’s minds on constant repeat.

Word Count: 32.4k

Story Warnings: Throughout this series there will be suggestive talk, jealousy, cheating, alcohol and drug use, angst, smut.

A/N: Hiii!! I'm finally back with chapter 15 and I'm still baffled at the fact that this one is the longest chapter in CR so far. Well, there was one chapter from the UK trip that ended up being almost 40k so I had to split it in half - but I made you wait long enough so I'm giving you it just as it ended up being. I've very quickly proofread it so I apologise for any grammatical and orthographic errors. Anyway, thanks for your patience everyone, I really really appreciate your support and your sweet messages and all the funny comments you leave here. I hope you lot enjoy this one, sending lots of love xx

Masterlist

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 |

✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧

It was weird for Ella to go from seeing Alex almost every day to only being able to talk to him through texts sporadically throughout the week.

Not only was the time difference being a horrible obstacle, but also their jobs.

Ella usually got a chance to send a text when she woke up and was getting ready to go to work or in between her lunch breaks, and Alex would usually text her when he had a chance to be on his phone peacefully before the gigs or when he was having trouble falling asleep on the tour bus.

Thankfully, the band had had a week off in Italy by the beginning of them resuming the tour so that the O'Malleys could go on their honeymoon, which meant she got to hear from Alex more often. Ella had been swooning over the pictures Kelly was posting of them in a gorgeous villa in Lake Como, and she'd had the chance to tell Alex how jealous she was of their picturesque views when they had managed to facetime on a random Wednesday during that week off. Alex was in Sorrento with Matt, Jamie and Katie and it was funny hearing how Alex and Matt were being third wheels to the fiances.

Picking up her phone to find random pictures of the places Alex was visiting was something Ella was growing used to. Sometimes it'd be accompanied with a cute 'You'd love this place x' or 'Wish you were here xx', and other times it would be a picture Matt had managed to ruin of a lovely view and it'd come with 'I'm tempted to throw him off this cliff x' to which Ella usually replied with a 'Please do x'.

The pictures Alex got back were mostly of Ella behind the cameras or Ella rolling her eyes by her laptop opened on her email. Being a director meant loads of things on her plate but despite putting on a face for the camera, Ella absolutely loved it. Sometimes the singer would get videos Ella had taken behind the scenes of a production she was shooting, or a quick run through the crew putting everything together for a shoot and Ella excitedly talking about which company it was for and a quick summary of what they were gonna be doing.

But then, the Monkeys resumed their tour so it went back to the little they were managing to talk on the daily, but they were making an effort to keep each other in on what was going on.

They'd talk about anything but what they were itching to say. Because there wasn't a day that would go by without them thinking about that kiss, or rather the couple of kisses they shared in Alex's guest room. And the thought was always accompanied by the hope of another kiss being on the cards for them the next time they'd see each other.

There had been nights on tour Alex had been so drunk he'd found himself writing some sort of message to Ella. Something along the lines of 'I think about those seven minutes far too often darling, and I'm stupidly hoping for them to happen once more when I see you again xxxx' but he'd always delete them, his thumb hovering over the send button for too long as he read and read the message, overthinking it so much that his drunk mind called him a fool for thinking those were the words that were gonna win him Ella.

When the 'Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?' music video came out on August 10th, the band was in Paris. Ella had called them to congratulate them and since they were in the greenroom, waiting for Pale Waves to finish their set before they could go on, Ella had managed to speak to all of them.

It had been a tad emotional, seeing them through a screen having the time of their lives. Ella had teared up when she said she missed them but her tears had cleared from her face when Matt took the piss out of her for not being able to live without them. Nick had smacked the back of the drummer's head, earning him a thank you from Ella and the video call had comically gone on with them pretending Ella was there.

Jamie had poured her a glass of wine that he put right beside Alex's phone which was propped on the drinks table, by a bottle of vodka. Ella had the best time, laughing away in her office as they purposely put on a show for her, chaotically singing along to the music they had loudly ringing through the speakers in the greenroom.

However, the call ended a little bit under half an hour later since the band had to go on stage, but Ella was left with her heart swelling in her chest when they sent her blown kisses and 'love you's as they went, Katie promising to record bits of the show to send her later.

By the time that show had ended and they were taken back to the hotel, Ella had been in a meeting with Ben, Aaron and the manager of an artist that wanted to work with Focus Creeps. That was why she had missed Alex's call, one that could've changed it all.

Alex had been on a high after the gig, but he'd found himself going back to Ella's messages and scrolling up their scattered conversations of the past month, so many feelings sparked inside him that it was almost like an instinct to call her and tell her everything that was coming to his mind: how much he wanted to see her again, to hold her and kiss her, to hear every story from her lips and in person, for her to see every show with her very own eyes and not through videos Katie managed to send her from time to time.

But Ella didn't answer and maybe it was a sign, maybe it wasn't the right time and Alex had that confirmed when Ella texted him hours later saying 'I'm so sorry I couldn't pick up, was in a meeting. I just got a three music video deal with this record label and I'll be doing it all by myself!!! I hope the show went amazing sweets, love you!! xx'

She'd seen the missed call almost two hours later and she'd thought about calling back for a split second before she remembered the difference in time zones and she cringed at the thought of stealing minutes of sleep from him.

Not that Alex wouldn't have answered. He had fallen asleep, phone in hand, waiting for her to call him back but that call never came.

Waking up to the text was bittersweet. A painful weight coming to press on his chest. It felt like another confirmation of him wanting to ask for too much from her, another confirmation of how selfish he was being. He concealed it easily through texts, sharing her excitement for her upcoming projects and even though the elation he felt for her was genuine, the situation continued to hurt nonetheless.

It felt like he was slowly losing her when his chest ached the most for her, an excruciating type of longing that had him zoning out from time to time when he thought too much about it.

And she was no better, every time she would go on her messages to see her latest texts yet to be answered it would dawn on her just how complicated this all was—the stubborn and afraid side of her hidden in the very depths of her mind telling her an annoying told you so every time her thoughts would go to this being the very reason why it wouldn't have ever worked out between them.

Distance was cruel and so was time—which seemed to go by slower than ever as if to mock them for how long they had to stay away from each other.

Another month went by with the same predicament: texts here and there, random pictures and videos of their days, one or two video calls if they were lucky to find the time to call each other without interrupting sleep or work. Ella claimed almost every thought of his and it got worse when the album finally came out.

There were many songs he had written with her in mind, 'Arabella' being the most obvious one, and Alex wanted so badly for her to catch on and say something about it. He understood why she hadn't back when they were recording but now, after everything that had happened, he was hopeful.

Yet, to his dismay, Ella didn't say anything about it when she texted him the day AM came out.

(09/09/2013 07:17) This record is incredible Al! Got it delivered right in time and I played it on the way to the office today. I keep thinking back to watching y'all record it in Rancho de la Luna and getting emotional at the memories :'( it was truly magical and hearing the album finally be out for everyone to hear makes me so fucking proud!!!! You guys are fucking amazing!!! The reviews are great, I told you this one would make history and it's already looking pretty damn good over here ;) Can't wait to see the gig later tonight! Love you!! xx

Ella had texted George to congratulate him for The 1975's debut album coming out the first day of the month, and after a little flirting from the drummer which had her blushing and struggling to reply, he had told her they'd be playing a set at the iTunes Festival that would be available to stream later.

That was how she'd found out she would be able to watch the Monkeys' set, since they were also playing the festival, when she got home from work and she was absolutely buzzing. It had been so much fun watching The 1975 while having a glass of wine the night before, and she'd ended asking Flo when they'd be touring the US so that she could get tickets to see them in LA.

Alex had thanked her for the love when he was sitting in the greenroom and he had joked about the set being dedicated to her. But he wasn't really joking. He really wished she was there with them, just like Breana, who had joined them in the previous week of the tour and was sitting on Matt's lap as they all chatted and laughed with drinks in hand.

They were due to be in the States again in a week so Alex figured he could arrange something up. They had a festival run for most of the month and it wouldn't be until the end of the month that they would go to LA for a headline show so he made a few calls to try and sort something out to see Ella earlier and he managed to convince his team of recording the music video for their next single before they got to LA, and it would be recorded with Focus Creeps again.

Before they resumed their tour, they had settled that 'One For The Road' would be the next single, along with 'You're So Dark' as its b-side.

A few emails and calls between AM's team and Focus Creeps was all it took to arrange it and the day for the shoot had fallen on the 23rd of September so the crew would be flying out to Chicago.

Alex had been buzzing in anticipation, the whole week leading up to the shoot he had spent it with an extremely good mood at the prospect of seeing Ella again, even if it was just merely a week earlier than their actual gig in Los Angeles.

But his hopes had been shattered in an instant when Ella had managed to text him back three days before the shoot saying that Aaron had been the one to be assigned the music video. One of the three videos she'd signed a contract with a record label to direct had been scheduled for that same Monday, meaning that it was between Ben and Aaron to take over and, eventually, Aaron had been the one to volunteer himself for it.

Ella'd had a tough time hiding just how upset she was about it, but Ben had caught up on it the day Aaron and his crew were checking they had everything ready for the shoot, her cheeks had gone bright red when the director came into her office and finished his quick chat about her shoot with, "Don't worry, they'll be here by the end of the month and you'll see him then."

Ben didn't need to say more than that for her to know exactly what he meant and she hated the fact that she couldn't manage to reply with anything, only a nod of her head which took her far too long to offer and Ben left the room with a knowing chuckle.

In hindsight, he must've seen the longing written all over her face as she stared at the open YouTube tab she had displayed on her computer with the latest BBC Live Lounge video which was of the Monkeys covering a Drake song she hadn't heard before. Ella sighed as she put her earphones back on and pressed play yet again, hearing the cover for the millionth time that week as she went back over the reviewed checklist Lydia had handed her over an hour before.

Aaron and his crew had gone to Chicago on Sunday morning and had a nice day settling down in the city, being mindful of properly resting since they were set to film with the band on Monday morning.

By the time Ella had woken up on Monday and was getting ready for a long day ahead, she had a text from Alex which consisted of a selfie of the band already in suits and on set, which funnily enough was a large farm, accompanied by a text that read 'Jamie Cook will be the camera's muse today. Miss you darling xx'

Those last words turned her into mush and a loopy smile stayed on her face as she drove to the office and then left to the site they were filming at. She sent back a picture there, when she was settled behind the cameras as the lighting crew finished setting up, a pout on her face to emphasize on her message that accompanied the picture: 'Behind the wrong cameras today :( Miss you too sweets xx'

Alex saw it about an hour after she sent it, during a break Aaron had let them have because of how hot it had gotten for them all in the tailored suits under the blazing sun that not even Chicago's wind helped them bear. He'd smiled like a fool as he went over every little detail of her face, the wrinkles in the middle of her brows as she frowned, those pretty eyes of hers almost hidden away behind her almost closed lids, the freckles he loved counting whenever he had her close perfectly showcased against her skin under the sun, her lips pink and soft in a pout that he wanted so badly to kiss away.

Alex just wanted her to be there with him, to have his arms around her and keep her close the whole time, to feel her laugh in his hold so their chests rumbled with joy together, to watch her pupils dilating as she drank with them, to have her pleading to take his picture or just sneakily taking one without him noticing, to feel the warmth of her touch all over him. To hear her call him that nickname she'd given him, sweetness, that was more her than it was him but it made him melt and maybe it was just her coming to swallow him entirely and melting him into a puddle of sweetness, all sticky like honey.

He missed her and it hurt, he ached for her presence and, if he had been already begging for the days to go by faster, now he was on his knees begging for them to fly by. He just couldn't survive anymore with just pictures and videos and those texts she sends. He needed her like he hadn't before. Because now it just wasn't something physical, it was this desperate need for a fix of her presence and how she made him feel when she was close, when she looked at him, when she laughed with him and touched him.

After that Alex had been distracted almost the whole recording of the video and when he watched as a girl stood there in front of the camera wearing the 'One For The Road' leather jacket, he couldn't help but think he was taking that with him to LA and giving it to Ella.

It seemed like Alex wasn't the only one moping around, for Ella went straight to Los Feliz the second the crew went back to the office and finished putting everything away. But she felt empty going alone into the theater yet again, and in desperate need to feel like he was there with her like how badly she wanted, she bought a ticket for a Blade Runner screening.

She sent a picture of her ticket and her melancholy slipped a little when she captioned it 'Your favorite today because I miss you and Los Feliz is looking a little dull without you here to make commentary xx'

Waking up to that made Alex feel a bit better, knowing he wasn't alone in his longing and a spark of hope ignited inside his chest. His thoughts the usual push and pull of does she, doesn't she that drove him insane on the daily.

He sang 'Arabella' and 'Do I Wanna Know?'with a lot more intent that night, as if she could hear him and answer just what he was implicitly asking.

But, of course, she wasn't listening because she wasn't in San Francisco that night.

However, being in San Francisco meant there were merely a handful more sleeps left until he got to see her and that soothed his soul. If he closed his eyes and thought hard enough, he could already feel her and hear her and breathe in her scent.

Just a few more days, Alex reminded himself every night before falling asleep—a smile on his face that stayed even throughout his dreams which were oh so coincidentally about Ella.

✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧

Ella had been so nervous getting ready the Sunday the band arrived in Los Angeles. They'd gotten into town in the morning and they'd gone straight to the venue so that their crew could set up and they could soundcheck by noon.

She'd been wide awake since seven in the morning and tossed and turned in bed as she waited for any sign of life from Alex.

He Facetimed her almost three hours later, the second the lads had settled down in their greenroom and he could escape to the back of the venue.

"Good morning, darling." Alex greeted her the second she answered and he smiled like a right fool when he saw her still in bed, hair splayed out on her pillow and a smile that had her eyes closing.

"Good morning sweetness." She yawned softly behind her hand and rubbed her eye with her knuckles before she basically begged, "Please tell me you're here already."

His cheeks hurt from how hard he was smiling and he put his sunglasses up on top of his head to see her properly despite the sun burning his corneas, "We are. Just got settled in the greenroom and the crew is setting up the stage so we can soundcheck soon."

Ella shifted in bed to her side so she could squeal into her pillow and Alex wanted to have the ability to teleport just so he could lay over her and shower her in kisses because of how fucking adorable she was.

"Okay, I'm gonna have breakfast and get ready to head over there before rush hour." She all but jumped out of bed and Alex held his breath when he noticed which top she'd worn to sleep.

It was the Clockwork Orange top he gave her when she'd stayed with him that night of the wedding, which he had fully forgotten about. But seeing her wearing it had him feeling a rush of warmth running through his veins and he fucking loved it.

The words left him before he could even process them, "Lovely top you've got on."

He watched as a pink flush coated her cheeks and a soft string of giggles slipped past her lips, "Sorry, I'll give it back when I see you later."

But that wasn't what he wanted, no. If anything he wanted to give her whichever shirt of his she fancied if it meant he'd get to see her wearing them right after.

"No." He quickly replied, a shake of his head to ensure she got the message, "Please keep it, darling. Looks better on you anyway."

She rolled her eyes as she walked to the bathroom, getting more flustered by the second. Her bare feet on the cold wood flooring of her house helped bring her temperature down slightly but she still looked quite red when she propped him up by the sink.

"Yeah, I think I pull it off quite well." Ella cockily quipped back with a smirk on her face as she grabbed her toothbrush and toothpaste.

She was looking at herself in the mirror for a few seconds so she missed the way Alex was stuck gawking at her through the screen. It was painfully obvious she wasn't wearing a bra underneath it and it was driving him insane.

"You really do, darling." Alex managed out his agape mouth, he was almost drooling. He wanted to kiss her again so badly.

Right before she could start brushing her teeth, she said, "Right sweets, I'm gonna get ready as fast as I can yeah?"

He hummed, nodding his head like a kid which was bargaining an hour of good behavior for an ice cream cone.

"Love you, I'll see you soon." She leaned in closer to the camera and offered him a bright smile, fluttering lashes as she watched him glow under the sun.

He matched her grin and reciprocated the feeling with much more hidden passion than she knew, "Love you darling. Can't wait to see you."

A giggle escaped her as she waved at the camera and he did just the same, two seconds of a wave before she pressed the red button to end the call.

He sighed, really dreading however long it would be until he saw her, feet lazily taking him back to the greenroom where he and the lads went on to have the food and drinks on their raider.

Ella was actually rushing through everything, cooking her breakfast and practically inhaling it before heading back to the bathroom to take the quickest shower and she half assed the job of drying her hair, letting the dampness still present to air dry as she dressed and did her makeup.

In less than an hour she was out the door, throwing herself in her car and quickly backing out of her driveway to rush over to the venue.

It was a fucking joke how even at eleven in the morning, the LA traffic was still a pain in the ass. It wasn't as bad as it could really get but Ella wanted to be there already and having to wait twenty more minutes sitting in traffic on the highway was exasperating.

She smiled when she got off into Koreatown and realized they were only a few miles away from Los Feliz, thinking whether or not there would be a possibility to sneak out of the venue to at least take a stroll over there. It would have to be that very day though, because the next two shows, she'd be able to make it just in time before Pale Waves were set to start if she was going to the venue directly from work.

It took her a few minutes to park right across the venue and cross the street to where people were already gathering in a short line for the show. Arctic Monkeys - Tonight at 8PM - with support of Pale Waves - Sold Out it read on the display right below the big red letters of The Wiltern Theater, Ella smiled to herself as a wave of excitement and pride came over her and her palms started sweating in anticipation.

That was a bit shadowed when she had to walk up to the security guard in the very front of the line and say she was in the guest list, the big bulky scary man offering her a soft smile and asking her for her ID and then to wait just as he made sure she was indeed in the guest list.

She heard the muffle voice of however was talking through the radio he had in hand and she took in the curious glances of the people in line when the guard nodded, handed her ID back and opened the door for her to walk in, "To your right walk all the way down, their tour manager is waiting for you."

"Thank you," Ella said shyly, a tight lip smile and a nod was all she left the guard with before she followed the instructions and just as she'd been told, Steve was waiting for her at the end of the hallway.

"Ella!" He greeted her warmly and she smiled at him, a comforting relief coming over her at the familiar face she hadn't seen in very very long, more specifically since Glastonbury.

"Hi Steve!" She greeted just as enthusiastically and hugged him tightly, "How are you? How's tour life treating you?"

He pulled away from the hug and answered as he started walking through a maze of hallways with her beside him, "The usual, everything's fucking mental but we make it work."

"That you do." She chuckled, she'd seen a few clips here and there of the tour and it always looked absolutely incredible. She couldn't wait to hear the new songs live though.

They walked past a few doors before she managed to see the one with the latest Arctic Monkeys logo, in the same font as Black Sabbath's which she loved so much but she was surprised when Steve walked right past it.

Her mouth opened to ask where he was taking her if the greenroom was right there but he beat her to it when he said, "They're out there soundchecking right now."

It was a quarter past twelve so she nodded understandingly, and she let herself get more and more excited as they walked closer to the door by the side of the stage. And when they finally walked past those doors, she was drowned with the strumming of guitars and that soft voice she'd missed so much.

Her fingers dug into her thighs, trying to wipe the sweat off her palms on her shorts and somehow release a bit of the nerves that were cursing her but when she walked in front of the stage beside Steve and Alex's eyes fell on hers, it was like it had all disappeared.

Alex stopped mid verse, the biggest smile appearing on his face and making it impossible for him to continue. She was right there, finally. So he turned to the lads and the sound crew for a second, asking, "That sounds good right?" But not waiting for an answer at all, only nodding like he knew it was right and quickly propping his guitar up on its stand, to rush to the side of the stage and run towards her.

His arms opened as he dashed for her and she did just the same, meeting in the middle harshly, the force of their collision not even being something they acknowledge as they clinged into each other tightly, he even lifted her off the ground to spin them around once before he set her down and mumbled, "Oh darling, finally." in her ear.

"I missed you so fucking much." Ella whispered back, a knot forming in her throat when it all fell into place, this was all that she was missing.

"Me too," He said desperately, cradling her head with his right hand while the other held her tightly around her waist, "You've no idea how much."

But she could imagine, because she had missed him in such a pathetic way, every day spent thinking about what he might be doing and envious of those who got to see him on the daily, every night breathlessly calling out his name as she touched herself wishing it was him.

She pushed aside the thought of one particular night she'd bought herself a new toy and all that she'd pictured was him filling her up instead of some stupid piece of plastic, only for her actions to flood her brain so much that she dreamt about it and she was left frustrated that she couldn't fulfill her want and her needs with him.

"Ella!" Nick called out as he walked across the stage, she pulled back and smiled brightly at him, waving at him to come to her and he did just that.

Alex reluctantly let her go for the rest of the lads to hug her and Ella found herself silently shedding a few tears at the reunion.

"Missed you." She mumbled against Matt's shoulder, sniffling right after so the drummer left a bunch of kisses on her temple, hugging her tightly to him and leaving his teasing persona on the side to say, "Missed you too, Ellie."

She let go and fiddled with her fingers as she looked around the guys, "Sorry I interrupted. You guys can continue."

"Do we have to?" Alex directed the question at the sound guys and sighed in annoyance when they nodded. He knew they'd just started soundcheck merely a few minutes before but he wanted it to be over and spend as much time as he could with Ella.

"It's fine." Ella waved him off, "I'll go look for Bre. She's in the greenroom isn't she?"

Matt nodded, "Yeah, she's been waiting for you."

So it was settled then, Ella would go over to wait for them backstage and she would see her best friend after being apart for so long.

Before she could leave though, she made sure to hug them all over again like it was the last time she could. Alex reveled in the feeling of her arms over his shoulders and around his neck holding him close to her and he melted when she left a loud kiss on his cheek before she was walking away back to the greenroom.

Ella was feeling so chipper as she walked up to the greenroom, a skip in her step and a massive smile on her face. Steve had left her on her own when she assured him she remembered the way there so he could stay to watch the soundcheck. So she knocked on the door softly when she got there and she opened it slowly to be greeted by her best friend who jumped up from the settee and ran over to her.

There was barely a second to close the door behind her when Bre threw herself in Ella's arms and they squealed at them finally being reunited back home.

"Can you not leave me again? I missed you bitch!" Ella complained in Breana's ear, eyes closed and relishing in the feeling of having her best friend with her again.

"I'm sorry." Bre laughed, "Committed to the groupie life now."

Ella cackled, pulling back as she softly pushed Bre away, "Of course."

A voice coming from the left side of the room interrupted her before she could tease Breana, "Hello gorgeous."

Her head turned so quickly and she smiled sheepishly when she saw Alice standing there. That smirk of hers promising pure mischief but just as inviting as it always was.

"Allie!" Ella said as she walked up to her, wrapping her arms around the singer's waist and pulling her into a hug.

"How've you been?" Alice asked, brushing a strand of her behind Ella's ear which had her biting her tongue not to smile too hard about.

Alice and George both would forever hold the power to make her crumble in an instant with the simplest of touches. It was kind of embarrassing.

"Alright, y'know. Filming loads now, so I'm very busy. But it's just what I dreamed of, really couldn't ask for anything else."

Alice nodded, a genuine smile on her face as her eyes took in how Ella was glowing, "M'glad baby." She squeezed Ella's waist, letting her hold slowly leave her side and Ella smiled as she took one step back. "You look beautiful." Alice took her in with one slow sweep of her eyes down her figure and Ella blushed at the compliment.

Ella really didn't think her blue jean shorts, her striped button down that was tucked into them and her chelsea boots was much of a fashionable outfit. Still she gave Alice a bright grin and said, "Thank you. So do you."

Oscar and Connor walked in through the door then and they instantly recognized her and walked over to hug her hello, and then they introduced them to the last member of Pale Waves that she still hadn't had the chance to meet, their drummer, Zara.

"Hi, I'm Ella! Nice to finally meet you!" The director said, putting her hand out for Zara to shake.

"Zara," the drummer said and welcomed the gesture just as kindly but then she teased her by saying, "So you're the famous Ella..."

Ella's eyes widened ever so slightly, entirely surprised about the hint of insinuation and a tad confused, but Oscar was the one to let her know what she meant by explaining, "Alice loved your pictures so much she has a few framed and up on her walls and Zara was quite intrigued."

"Oh..." Ella let out, her cheeks burning up and the flush coming all the way down to her neck. It was so noticeable since she had the top buttons of her shirt undone and her collarbones and chest were exposed for everyone to see. "Glad you liked the pictures. I guess."

Alice snorted in laughter beside her, finding it so amusing and just as endearing that she reacted like this and Zara smirked as well, "Yeah, they were quite something. But, in all seriousness, they were really good."

At that Ella puffed her chest out slightly, pride filling up her chest and overshadowing the embarrassment, "Thank you."

They all moved to sit down in the settees and chairs available and little by little they went onto catching up on what had been happening in the past two months. Some things Ella knew from Alex's texts or what Breana had managed to let her know when she joined the lads at the start of the month.

About twenty minutes later the lads came back into the room and Ella's heart swelled in her chest when Alex took a seat beside her and wrapped his arm around her waist to pull her flush against his side. She smiled loopily and she let her head fall on his shoulder as she listened to the new conversation sparking in the room. Alex left a kiss atop of her head, breathing in her scent and closing his eyes in utter bliss.

It felt like being home.

Time went fast, one moment they'd gotten food delivered to the venue and Alex and Matt were making everyone drinks and the other, Pale Waves was about to go on stage for their forty minute set before the Monkeys.

"Are you coming out to watch us?" Alice asked Ella as one of the sound guys fixed her mic pack on the top of her skirt.

Ella nodded with a smile, "Absolutely." but Alex's hold tightening on her waist made her turn to watch him and ask, "D'you wanna come with me?"

If it was anyone else asking, he would've said no—finding nothing worse than to have to watch Alice on stage yet again—but it was Ella so he nodded without a hint of doubt, "Of course darling. Let's go to the side of the stage, yeah?"

Alice had been throwing flirty comments at Ella the whole afternoon and it had Alex grinding his teeth. Ella had been playing along here and there but she never left his side and that was the only thing he was going to focus on. They'd had their touch on each other the whole time, if it wasn't his arm around her waist, it was her fingers fiddling with his, or him playing with her hair, or her legs thrown over his lap so he held her in place with a warm hand over her knee.

They were making up for lost time and it was clear to everyone, but they kept their mouths shut for their sake. To not disturb the bubble they had created around themselves. Alice was the only one to poke it with a faint touch every time she flirted with Ella but it seemed like it was beneficial to Alex since the director would only lean into his touch every time that happened.

It was like Ella was replying with her words but subconsciously she was telling Alice how much she just wanted the man rubbing circles on her thighs.

Ella stood up and reached her hand out for Alex to grab, and when he intertwined their fingers she pulled him up to have him walk with her. After grabbing their drinks, they went over to the stage along with the band, only they stopped on the side of it and Ella marveled at the sight of that many people and the volume of the crowd the second Pale Waves stepped out.

Alex stood behind Ella to her right side, one arm thrown over her shoulders and fiddling with the collar of her shirt as they watched the band perform. Ella had a smile on her face as she sang along and Alex was surprised to hear how she knew almost every line to every song.

A screech came from Ella when the second to last song started, 'There's A Honey' was probably her favorite off their record and she was ecstatic to finally hear it live.

When it was over, she turned to look at Alex with the biggest smile, "They're so good!"

Alex reluctantly agreed with a simple nod, taking in the way her face lit up under the red lighting of the stage.

But her smile faltered when 'Came In Close' started and she turned around to watch the band again, this time entirely silent just taking in the lyrics.

The first time Ella had heard the song when she played the full record, days after she got back home from her trip to the UK, she'd instantly made the connection of it to Alex and it was one of them things she couldn't really shake.

The same way it was hard to listen to The Strokes after Julian, the same way she couldn't listen to Highlight of my Life by Dolly Parton without feeling that pinch to her chest from her first heartbreak.

Ella sighed to herself when the set ended and Alice thanked everyone for coming, giving a brief shoutout to the Monkeys for having them on tour. She just hoped Alex hadn't caught onto that, especially because it was just sending her into a pathetic spiral.

Is it a sign? She wondered with a soft frown on her face.

"Y'alright?" Alex asked as she turned around, ready to leave.

"Yeah, yeah." Ella quickly muttered, taking a gulp of her still half full cup. "Let's go." She got a hold of his wrist and tugged him to walk beside her back to the greenroom.

The lads still had 30 minutes left until they had to go on stage so Ella wanted to just spend it in their presence, considering she only really had those three days with them and then they'd be gone again until December.

An overly hyper Alice and Oscar ran up to the pair and quickly started asking Ella if she liked their set, the American nodded eagerly and pointed out her favorite parts, accentuating how happy she was to hear her favorite song of theirs live.

When they got back, the energy buzzing through Alice and her bandmates was palpable in the air, so the lads turned to see them walk into the room with a smile on their faces.

"How was it?" Jamie was the one to ask, seeing Pale Waves touring with them and their reactions to the masses that gathered in front of them every night of tour reminded him of the Monkeys when they had just started and it was nostalgic and endearing.

Zara whistled in awe, "Fucking brilliant."

Oscar nodded, walking straight towards the table filled with drinks, "Honestly, amazing crowd."

"It's Los Angeles, baby, of course it is." Ella said proudly, lifting her cup in the air and throwing a wink on Alice's way.

Alice winked back and blew her a kiss, one that Alex rolled his eyes at as Ella hid her blushy cheeks behind the glass while she finally drank the last of her cocktail.

Matt stood up then and with a chipper tone in his voice, he suggested, "Right so... another round of margaritas?"

Everyone nodded, Pale Waves wanted to celebrate yet another successful night and the lads wanted to continue letting loose knowing that it was their turn to go up on stage in about half an hour.

So Matt and Alex took over, with a little help from Connor, and just like that everyone was cheering to an incredible night five minutes later.

The group had gotten caught up in lively chatter as they waited, but before they even realized, time had flown right past them and the lads were snatched from the greenroom and instructed to go up on stage.

Bre and Ella ran out to join the crowd in the GA floor area and they cheered just as loud as everyone around them when the band walked in on stage. The stage looked stunning, and she thought about just how hot it would get from the hard lights. She couldn't even imagine how much it would be on the lads considering Alex, Jamie and Nick were wearing blazers and long sleeve button ups.

If Ella had been amazed at the crowd's volume during Pale Waves' set, then she was absolutely mindblown when 'Do I Wanna Know?' started and the screams were deafening. The walls shook with the bass and the sneer of the drums, each strum of the guitars reverberated in her chest and she swore she could feel the floor shaking beneath her feet when Alex started singing.

Ella was entirely entranced by it all, she had missed seeing them on stage after months and the wonder never withered away. There was a feeling bubbling up inside her that she was sure wasn't due to the pair of cocktails she'd nursed earlier, though she really hoped she would have blamed it on it. When Alex found her in the back of the crowd, the feeling multiplied and Ella felt almost dizzy from it.

It was like Alex tried his best to steer away from Ella but his eyes were magnetized to her almost throughout the whole show, and not only the guys but also Breana noticed the change in Alex's demeanor compared to past shows. He was smiling so much as he sang, his gaze swimming through the crowd to end up looking at her and there was something laced around his words that showed especially when he sang those tunes he'd written with Ella in mind.

He'd raised his eyebrows and smirked at her right before they started 'Teddy Picker' and his eyes looked pleading as he stared at her when he sang 'Arabella'—Ella had been left breathless when he sang the bridge and didn't move his gaze from her, her eyes stuck on his mouth and the way it grazed the mic with every word as the sweat dripped down the sides of his face and his neck, unable to stop watching how he brushed his hair back to keep it from sticking to his forehead.

She and Bre went absolutely crazy with the crowd at the end of 'Do Me A Favour?' and Ella was a mess of giggles when Alex teased the crowd as he introduced their last song, 'R U Mine?'

Ella had her eyes stuck watching the way Alex's fingers swiftly moved up on the neck of his guitar, not even a glance down to where to place them as he sang with his eyes half lidded. She bit her lip while she watched his hips sway to the song, a smoothness to every one of his moves that had her mind going places.

It had been a fright when a fan managed to go on stage and grabbed the setlist from its place on the floor of the stage, she'd gasped seeing a security guard chase the teenager and catch him right behind Nick, but she'd eventually laughed at the band staying cool and unbothered at the situation.

The walls rumbled with the intensity of the voices that sang along the last chorus and it was an incredible buzz that lingered in the air like a charged cloud ready to thunder down when the guys waved as they left the stage, Alex blowing kisses and throwing peace signs in thanks to the audience for their attendance.

Trying their best to make their way through the crowd, Ella and Bre managed to go backstage again, flashing their AAA passes and when they walked past the doors and saw the lads slowly walking back to the greenroom, they took off to hug them.

Bre jumped on Matt's back, who instinctively grabbed the backs of her thighs and managed to stabilize himself as the model attacked the side of his face with chaste kisses. And Ella had ran into Alex's back, slamming into him with an oof and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist.

"That was fucking incredible!" Ella squealed in excitement, her eyes glimmering with admiration that Alex got to see when he unwrapped Ella's arms from him to pull her to his side and throw his arm over her shoulders.

Alex smiled wide down at her, leaning in to leave a kiss on her temple, "Did you like it?"

Ella scrunched up her nose at him at the kiss, letting herself take in the feeling of his lips on her before nodding and saying, "Loved it!" Her fingers squeezed at his waist softly as she added, "Thank you for keeping my favorite in the setlist."

He hummed with a smirk on his face, "I couldn't ever take it off, especially not if you're in attendance."

He winked at her and her cheeks were quickly dusted with a pink flush. It filled him with warmth seeing her blush at him again, he had missed that so much.

But his reminiscing was changed for surprise when she leaned into his ear and whispered, "Good boy." before leaving his side and throwing herself at Jamie, ruffling the guitarist's hair and congratulating him for being amazing and effortlessly pulling off the War Pigs riff by the end of the song.

Alex was left stupefied by that for a few minutes, not really knowing how to act anymore after that. He just wanted to walk up to her and interrupt her conversation with Jamie to kiss her hard and take her somewhere else. He wanted her all to himself.

Unfortunately, that wasn't possible. Not when they had to stay for an hour in the greenroom to ride out the adrenaline running through them after the show, whilst they waited for the crew to pack things up and leave their gear in order for the gig the next day.

When Steve came back to let them know they could leave, Pale Waves were the first to take a cab to the hotel they were all staying at. They'd said goodbye to Ella and she'd promised to be back to see them the next day.

So Ella, Bre and the lads slowly walked out the back of the venue towards the exit where their tour team was waiting for them to say what they were doing next.

Matt gestured towards Steve to give them a few minutes so that the group could figure it out, Alex and Jamie deciding to have a cigarette as they spoke and offering their packs up for anyone else who wanted a smoke.

Ella plucked one out from Alex's pack, and she thanked Jamie when he lit it up for her.

"Where are you staying?" She curiously asked them, taking a long drag of smoke.

Nick shrugged, barely remembering the area it was at, "Some fancy hotel on Sunset Strip."

"Oh..." Ella nodded, her brows raised at the mention of the neighborhood. She was intrigued so she thought about it aloud, just throwing a question into the air, "Is it the Edition?"

And to Ella's luck, she guessed correctly. "Yep, that one." Bre smirked in confirmation, she couldn't believe it when the band's tour bus drove past there and Steve had told them they'd be staying there.

The director whistled funnily in amazement, "Fucking hell. Record's doing quite well then."

Jamie and Alex snorted out a laugh, their heads shaking side to side at Ella's tone. But Matt scoffed, "Why wouldn't it?"

"Alright, Helders." Ella rolled her eyes, the smoke slipping past her lips as she spoke, "Forgot you've got a big ass head."

The drummer smirked and quickly joked by replying, "Next time ask Bre so you don't forget." ending it with a wink that made Ella dramatically frown and gag.

"You're disgusting..." She pointed at him with the lit up end of her cig, and then she sighed in exasperation, "That's my cue. I'm going."

"This early?" Alex let out instantly, a tinge of sadness in his voice.

Ella was sure it was way past eleven, since the last time she'd checked her phone was a while ago and it was a quarter to eleven, so she pulled out her phone and the screen showed her a horrendous 11:47 pm.

"It's almost midnight." She pouted, she still had to drive a whole fifty minutes back to her house and she was fucking knackered.

"The night is young!" Bre exclaimed as if that was going to convince her, she prayed Ella could see the 'call in sick for work tomorrow and come with us!' written all over her face.

It filled Ella with sorrow to be logical and actually take her responsibilities into consideration, "I've got work tomorrow and I'm driving home."

Bre winced silently when she realized how far Ella's was from the venue so she nodded sadly but understanding the situation.

To Ella's left though, Alex let his jaw drop slightly at the piece of information and a soft gasp came from him before he scolded her, "Darling, why'd you have those margaritas then?!"

Ella chuckled at him and waved him off, "Oh I only had two and it's been a while. I'm completely sober, I promise."

"You sure?" Alex asked seriously, not a hint of amusement on his face.

She nodded in confirmation at the same time as Nick offered, "You can always stay with us."

"Making you get another room just because yous want me to go out for drinks? No." She loved them and they were some of her closest friends but she wouldn't at all consider being that much of a burden not only to them but to their team. Accepting to have them spend money on a hotel room for her when she was just an hour away from home was silly and embarrassing.

And, of course, Matt took the opportunity to be a dickhead for he shrugged and suggested, "You can always share a room with someone."

"Matthew, don't." Ella glared at him with a fury that the drummer wasn't expecting, he had to press his lips together to not ask why the sudden intensity, but he didn't even get the chance because Ella took one last drag of her cigarette and then turned to her right to say goodbye, "Okay, that's it. Goodnight. I'll see you tomorrow."

She gave hugs around, all warm and with intent, and whispered goodbyes and love yous in their ears. When it got to Alex, she clutched him the tightest and kissed his cheek.

"Same time?" Matt asked from behind her since she was still hugging Alex.

"Later, unfortunately." Ella sighed out with a hint of sorrow, "Coming straight from the office once I'm done with work."

Alex wrapped his arm around her waist to pull her in and left a quick kiss on her temple before assuring her, "S'alright. As long as you're here, darling."

She turned to offer him a sweet smile and confirmed, "I will certainly be."

A breathy and soft "Good." was what Alex replied before letting her go and she took a few steps before turning around and blowing everyone a kiss, "Love you guys." She saw the nearest exit and waved them goodbye before quickly walking out of the venue with a loud and cheery, "See ya'!"

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She had tried her best to leave early, but she'd been caught up in a long meeting with Ben, Aaron and a few other people from Universal Music who had come over to the office to talk about signing a contract with Focus Creeps for a year.

It was exciting, the creative liberty they were offering alongside the good pay and the opportunity to work with multiple artists, but she kept glancing down at the time on her phone and it was annoying how every time five minutes seemed to pass like lightning.

When she had finally shook the hands of the reps and wished them farewell after she, Ben and Aaron had finally signed the contract, it had been half past six so she knew she'd be caught in horrendous traffic on the way there.

By the time she managed to find a spot in the parking lot across the street from the venue, she knew she'd missed Pale Waves' set. Thankfully, it was the same guard as the day before who stood at the door and he quickly let her inside.

She was power walking to the greenroom, a sliver of guilt threading through her ribs up her chest for being so late, so much so that the "Hello!" she offered everyone, just as she walked through the door after knocking three times, came out a little shy and strangled.

A loud "Ella!" was heard in chorus as everyone turned to the door to see her walk in.

Before she could even hug Bre who was right by the door with her camera in hand, seemingly having been about to take a picture, Ella turned to Zara and Alice who were standing across the room and apologized, "I'm so sorry. I missed your set, didn't I?"

Oscar, who Ella hadn't noticed was right beside her, threw his arm around her shoulders and sighed, "Yeah, we just came back in about ten minutes ago."

"Fucks sake." She let her shoulders drop in dismay and mumbled another curse under her breath to then point out, "Traffic was horrendous."

Alice waved her off with a quick, "S'alright." and a lighthearted wink and to make that frown disappear from her face, the singer offered, "Do you want a drink?"

Ella leaned into Oscar's hold to side hug him before leaving his side and going up to Bre to say hello. When she pulled back from hugging her best friend, she shook her head, "No, sorry I'm driving again and I don't think I'll sober up in time if I do."

The rest of the group held her tightly when she went up to hug them hello and she ended up plopping down on the settee next to Alex when she was done.

"How was work today?" Alex ask her genuinely, he had texted her earlier when the lads had agreed on going with him for lunch in Los Feliz and he'd send Ella a selfie along with a 'We're just missing you x' to which Ella had replied with a sad face and a promise to be at the venue as soon as she could.

She sighed as her day flashed through her mind in a sped up reel, "The usual, calls and emails to answer, projects to go over. Although, we did sign a year-long contract with UMG just an hour ago."

"Universal Music?" Zara asked with a brow raised, Alice looking at her with wide eyes beside the drummer.

A hint of blush came to Ella's face when she nodded, "Yep."

Bre squeaked and ran behind the settee to hug Ella from behind, keeping her in a loving chokehold as she pressed kisses on her cheek, "Congratulations!"

The rest of the group followed, congratulating Ella with chipper voices as she was now stuck in Breana and Alex's hold. Ella said "Thank you." between giggles and when Bre finally let go and Alex stopped squeezing her in his arms, she turned to Jamie and Nick who were sitting across from her and pointed out, "Oh I saw the editing department halfway done with 'One For The Road' earlier! It looks so good."

"Does it?" Alex teased as he headbutted her softly.

She chuckled lightly and added, "Yes! Y'all looked beautiful."

A loud snort came from the left side of the room, from Matt to be exact. He had a smirk on his face and repeated, "Beautiful?" as he found Ella's choice of an adjective to be hilarious and slightly thinking she was taking the piss.

"Oh what, is that not sitting well with you?" Ella scowled, she had actually meant it because from the clips she'd seen, they did look amazing. So she scoffed, trying to think of some other word that would appease the drummer, "What do you want me to say? You looked fit?"

Matt lifting up his beer bottle as in a cheers to that, had Ella rolling her eyes,"Now that's more like it."

"We need to get you back in England, darling." Alex joked further, his fingers pinching her waist, making her jolt in her place.

With a faint hit to his arm, she just said, "Oh shush." and just turned her attention back on Breana to ask, "D'you wanna go up to the balcony with me today?"

"Absolutely babe." Bre nodded with a big smile on her face, "That'll be fun."

"You're gonna get a good view that's for sure." Jamie pointed out. They'd gone up to the balcony the day before when they'd just gotten to the venue and he thought about how cool it must look during the show with all the lights and the crowd down on the floor.

"Counting on it." Ella quipped back as she straightened up on her seat, about to get up and leave the room with Bre, but she looked at Alex once more and she took the time to fully take in how he looked.

There was a hint of a smirk on her face when she said, "You look good." He looked fucking stunning, "I like this blazer." Her fingers traced down the lapel of the sparkly red blazer he had on, but her eyes went further down and properly stared at every detail of him.

She found herself thinking I also like this golden chain and this black shirt and how you've not buttoned it up completely, and those black jeans and that belt with the big buckle.

Alex grinned at her while she kept gawking down at him, she was entranced by the big golden buckle of his belt and he felt a tingle rushing to every nerve ending of his body.

"My eyes are up here, darling." He teased her, eyes not leaving her until she glanced back up at him with pink cheeks that she didn't let him really admire because she all but jumped up from beside him.

"Shut up." Ella called out, her gaze falling on her best friend so she didn't see the way everyone in the room was snickering and holding in their teasing laughter.

Without giving her much of an option, Ella grabbed Breana by the wrist and pulled her so that she could walk with her out of the room, "Bre let's go." And right before they could walk past the door, she turned around and said, "Bye boys. Break a leg."

The show started shortly after Ella and Bre had managed to settle in two of the seats up on the left side balcony, and just like the previous night, it had been fucking incredible.

They weren't sure how it was possible but the crowd sounded a bit louder this night and it was blowing them away.

It was so crazy from the second the first guitar strum of 'Do I Wanna Know?' hit everyone's ears, Ella and Bre's hearts were racing at the feeling of the floor shaking beneath their feet—it felt like the mezzanine was going to collapse.

When Alex found her, just a song before 'Teddy Picker', he winked at her and her stomach flooded with butterflies that had her heart racing more than the adrenaline rushing throughout the crowd.

And Alex only managed to have Ella's heart rate stuttering even more when he pointed at her as he sang 'The horizon tries but it's just not as kind on the eye'.

She bit her tongue about it for the rest of the show, only letting the feeling take over her and releasing it when she and Bre hollered along with the crowd.

"I don't get how you do it." Ella said breathlessly in Alex's ear when she got back to the greenroom after the show had ended.

Alex clutched her tightly around the waist, taking a deep breath and relishing in her scent and the feeling of her skin on his fingertips, the way their bodies molded together and swelled his chest.

He hummed back at her in confusion and once he pulled back to look at her, he actually asked, "What?"

"Putting on such great shows days in a row." Ella exclaimed like it was obvious, she was in awe and it showed like a gleam through her eyes and her unwavering smile.

Alex shrugged and before he could properly think about it, the words let loose and slipped past his lips, "These shows are for you. I have to."

Ella just couldn't not react to his words, her cheeks lit up in flames that washed all over her and she let her face fall on its side on his chest so she could hide from him as she mumbled a whiney, "Alex." almost like she was scolding him for saying stuff like that.

"What?" His chest rumbled with a giggle beneath her cheek and his hand came to cradle the back of her head, fingers brushing through her hair as he silently instructed her to look at him.

She did, a bit apprehensive since she knew her blush was still noticeable on her face but he delighted on the view. A soft smile tugged at the corner of his lips, his hand coming to cup her jaw when he asked, "Are you staying for a little longer?"

Her answer was a soft "Yeah." which sounded almost like a little squeak, her voice getting stuck in her throat from the tenderness of his touch and the memory of those kisses they shared months before coming to the forefront of her mind.

It burned. The desperate need to close the distance and feel his lips on hers again, a need that shifted into more when she let her mind rush with all that she fantasized when it came to him.

But she had no clue if it was okay or if it would be cruel on herself to let her get another taste when it would just be snatched away from her just as fast.

She sighed in despair and only allowed her lips to pucker up and leave a chaste kiss on the palm of his hand to take a short step back and create a bit of distance between them. It would be too challenging to stay this close to him and not do a thing.

"Next time please don't do your shows on a weekday, sweets." She tried to chuckle, to make it a lighthearted joke but she actually was so sad over the fact that she just couldn't try to spend more time with them after or before the show.

If there was the possibility of leaving with them, even if just to take the show's after party to a bar, then she knew she would gain the courage to act up on everything she'd been thinking about since she left. But she had to get to work at eight in the morning the next day and it was only half an hour until the clock struck midnight and she'd have to leave by then if she wanted to be a proper human being at the office the next morning.

"I know." Alex winced, his heart going through a weird tumble of feelings from the kiss she pressed on his skin and the way she stepped away from him right after. "Sorry."

Instantly, she shook her head at his apology, "S'not your fault, silly." And then she took a moment to really look at him and there was a hint of sadness written on his face that crushed her and she just had to step back in his arms.

"I can't believe you're leaving me again tomorrow." Ella mumbled into his shoulder, her hair tickling Alex's neck and making goosebumps cover every inch of his skin.

His fingers dug a bit more into the clothed flesh of her waist where he held her tightly against him, "Don't mention it."

There was a slight strain to his voice that could be more attributed to him getting upset than having sang for an hour just a mere few minutes before, so she pulled back to see his face, "Are you gonna cry?"

"Maybe." He hid behind a joke, with a crooked smile that mirrored on her face.

A bubbly laugh came from her, the wrinkles on the corners of her eyes showing as she smiled brighter, "You're adorable."

Alex wanted so badly to let it all out, but they were in a corner of the greenroom and obnoxiously surrounded by their friends so he didn't really think it would be that much of a great idea to let his heart bleed out for her at that very moment.

So he settled for kissing her cheek and telling her, "Love you." and it worked to soothe that need to bare his soul to her even just a little bit.

"Love you too." Ella reciprocated with ease, a whirlwind of emotions rushing through her whenever she heard him say those words and whenever she could utter them to him. It felt so much better to hear it and say it in person than it did through text or a call.

The two went back into the center of the room, finally deciding to join their friends after Alex grabbed himself another beer bottle, Ella sticking to a can of Coke that would hopefully help her stay up a little longer.

She wanted to cry thinking about the almost hour-long drive back to her house.

Connor and Oscar were going on and on about the hotel and how heavenly the beds were, and how the views to the Hollywood hills were to die for, until they started arguing about how Oscar snored way too much that he kept him up most of the night so he had to go smoke out on the balcony and he fell asleep in one of the chairs there.

The bickering was hilarious and the story went from that to Pale Waves sharing the worst nights on tour they'd ever had.

Even Alex found himself laughing at some of the anecdotes, though it was mostly because he felt so relaxed and allowed himself to enjoy every bit of the moment with Ella playing with his fingers as she attentively listened and laughed.

Alice and Oscar were trying to remember one particular night in Japan, from the first time they'd played a gig there, and the room had fallen into a softer chatter so Alex leaned into Ella's shoulder to mumble into her ear, "You know... There's someone coming tomorrow."

The sudden tease made her curious self perk up and she turned around to solely focus on Alex to ask, "Who?"

But Alex was in the mood to taunt her, for he shrugged and replied nonchalantly with a frustrating, "Can't say, it's a surprise."

Her mouth fell agape slowly at the nerve he had to leave her intrigued like that so she hissed through her teeth, "Alex! No, you can't do that."

Her frustration only grew when he puffed his chest out and proudly quipped, "Well, I'm doing it."

She huffed and squirmed in her seat like a child about to throw a tantrum, "Do I know them?"

Feeling just a bit kind, Alex genuinely replied "Yes." to offer her a small hint.

"Who is it?!" She didn't have the mind to try and guess at the moment, the only answer coming straight to her mind was a certain scouser she hadn't seen in months. "Is it Miles?"

And yet again, Alex shrugged, "I dunno."

Her teeth caught the tip of her tongue to bite down on it so she wouldn't groan loudly, "Alexander David Turner." She recited easily in a scorn, one that he took so lightly he let out a chesty laugh that brought Bre's attention to them for a brief moment.

Ella narrowed her eyes on Alex and she pointed out, "It better not be Miles because if he's visiting and hasn't told me, I'm gonna be fuming."

Just as she had been texting the Monkeys whilst they were away, Ella found herself chatting with Miles as much as they could. He was touring the album he had put out in earlier June and it was always nice to catch up with him whenever there was a chance in between their responsibilities.

Aled raised his brows and feigned complete seriousness, "Right."

The sarcasm in the single word had Ella rolling her eyes, "If it is, I have warned you."

And Alex played along to egg her on a bit more, "Sure, I'll let him know."

"So it is Miles!" She gasped out loud, feeling betrayed that the scouser hadn't told her anything about being in LA when they had been on the phone to each other about a week before.

"Lips are sealed." Alex said with a gesture that he was zipping his mouth shut.

"I hate you." Ella replied with a huff, crossing her arms and straightening in her seat so she stared ahead at the wall of the room instead of her best friend.

That comment gave him the perfect opportunity to just keep pushing her buttons so he menacingly crowded her space to say, "You weren't saying that a minute ago." in a low tone that made Ella's stomach flip.

She puffed out a breath of annoyance, trying her best to conceal the fact that the words went straight down between her legs. And it worked because he laughed and hugged her, fully missing the flash of lust that shadowed the hazel green of her eyes for a few seconds. Lust that disappeared instantly when his fingers came to poke her on the ribs before he started tickling her.

She stood stiff for a fraction of a second before she screeched out and squirmed in his hold, trying to crawl away from him but he hooked an arm around her middle so she couldn't escape.

"No! Don't!" She squealed out, moving around like a damn worm and her arms pressing on his chest to try and create some distance between them, but he was stronger than her.

Alex gave her a chance, stopping his actions to challenge her, "What was it then? You hate me?"

She really didn't want to be tickled again but she wanted to mess with him some more so she meekly replied, "Yes." and it wasn't a surprise that he resumed his attack. "Love you, love you! Sorry!" She desperately replied with a cackle, and more giggles came from her for the few seconds it took him to stop, "Fucks sake!"

Ella was trying to act like that had annoyed her, a faux frown on her face made Alex laugh breathlessly and he dropped a sweet brief kiss on the skin of her neck, just below her jaw, before he proudly reciprocated the sentiment, "Love you too."

The laugh that came from her was involuntary but she couldn't help it when the warmth that filled her insides made her feel so good.

The look Jamie gave them when their attention turned back to the conversation the rest of the group was having, said a million things that Ella just wanted to ignore at the moment so she flipped him off with a loving smile. Jamie chuckled to himself and turned back around with a shake of his head—he wondered when it'd be that they would do something about whatever they had going on because he was about to place bets with Matt and Nick about it.

Zara was in the middle of a horror story about a night she'd almost gotten her gear stolen when she was loading up after a gig when Ella turned to Alex and whispered, "So you're playing 505 tomorrow then?"

Alex looked at her with a frown, completely taken aback by the sudden question. But she found herself thinking about who it could be and since they hadn't done 505 yet, she thought it made sense that Miles would be coming to play 505 with them the following night since it was their last LA show.

"Well Miles is coming in as a surprise, isn't it? So you're doing 505." She was almost entirely sure it would be happening so she was growing excited to hear the song with Miles on stage as well. It had been absolutely magical in Glastonbury.

It took Alex a second to realize that she was still thinking about who he'd been talking about, so he chuckled under his breath and continued playing into the mysteriousness of it all, "You're not getting anything out of me."

"Rude." Ella scoffed, rolling her eyes and shaking his head at him.

Alex laughed again, wrapping his arm around her waist to pull her closer to his side and agreed with her, "The worst."

The sarcasm in his tone had Ella giggling, but his thumb started rubbing soft circles on her stomach over the fabric of her shirt and she found herself melting into him—head resting on his shoulder, almost hidden away in the crook of his neck and he rested his head right over hers.

Once again, she waited until they were leaving too to make her way back to the car and go back home. It was a bit over midnight and she kept yawning so there were many double checks as she hugged everyone goodbye to see if she was sure she could drive back home without falling asleep behind the wheel.

She swore she was fine and Alex had made her promise to send a text when she got home, and she did just that as she crossed the threshold of her front door and, after locking up, she walked to her room with her eyes locke on the phone and typed her promised text with one hand, sending it just before she got ready for bed.

(01/10/2013 01:21) Made it safe and sound. Say hello to Miles for me if he's already gotten here, I'll see him tomorrow. Love you sweets! Goodnight x

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Ella was sure that the second she pushed the door open, Miles would be standing there with that smile of his and his arms open ready for Ella to crush him in a hug.

But when the door creaked and showed the inside of the greenroom, Josh Homme was standing by the drinks table chatting with Nick and Ella was entirely shocked.

"Oh my god." She squeaked out, turning around to scowl at the singer who was standing right behind her, "Alex!"

Alex cackled at her reaction and further taunted her by letting out a cheeky, "Surprise!"

The familiar sound of Alex's laughter was enough to have Josh turning around to greet the person Alex had excused himself to escort into the venue.

Josh had a great memory and, even though he hadn't seen her face since that day at Rancho de la Luna, her name came easily back to his mind, "Ella right?"

Ella matched the grin the legendary rockstar had on his face and a breathless "Yeah." was her answer.

"Sorry, I didn't know if I was remembering correctly." Josh joked sweetly, coming up to her to give her a brief hug.

"No, yeah. I'm Ella." She replied in his quick embrace, "Nice to see you again after so long Mr. Homme."

He pulled a funny face at Ella's choice of words and waved her off for the formalities, "Oh please Ella, I told you it's Josh. We're friends."

"Right. Of course." Ella nodded, still in disbelief he remembered her name and let alone considered her a friend.

Josh laughed a little at her dumbfounded expression and pointed out, "She's cute."

Ella blushed at the comment and slowly moved back beside Alex, the gears in her head moving quickly and coming to a conclusion, "Wait, does this mean you're doing Knee Socks with them tonight?"

Josh raised his brows and pointed at her, "Smart girl."

Alex proudly threw his arm around her and squeezed her shoulder softly as if in a silent way of saying 'good job', "We are, yes."

A massive grin broke on her face in anticipation to that, "Oh people are gonna go fucking insane." She could almost hear the crowd going wild the second they saw Josh walking on the stage.

She looked around the room and when she found Breana, she inquired about their plan for the night, "What are we doing today Bre? Floor again?"

Bre nodded, "Yes please, I thought the balcony was gonna collapse last night and with Josh here tonight, it might as well give out this time."

Ella couldn't wait, she was so excited for tonight but she also wanted it to last forever. She was dreading having to say goodbye once more. She didn't want to.

Suddenly, she noticed the absence of the Pale Waves group and her heart dropped, "Where's Alice and Zara and the lads?" Thinking about having missed their set again had her freezing in her spot.

Alex noticed her tense under his touch so he quickly let her know, "Getting ready in their greenroom. They're about to go on."

"Oh, thank god. Thought I had missed them again." Her shoulders sagged in relief, she would've felt so awful if she had missed her last chance to see them before they left.

Of course, Alex took the opportunity to take a dig at Alice, "You know that wouldn't be that bad."

"Alex!" She elbowed him lightly in response, calling him out by saying, "Don't be an ass."

Josh laughed at the way Alex folded slightly into her and groaned in fake pain, noticing the way Ella blushed when she heard the sound coming from Alex and the proximity her attack had caused. He smirked and made a mental note to ask Alex about it since he hadn't mentioned he was coming to get his girlfriend.

Instead of being nosy right then, Josh asked, "Is that the opener band you're talking about?"

Ella perked up and smiled, "Yes, Pale Waves! Wanna come with me and Bre to see their set?"

"Sure."

"Amazing, let's go!" She all but jumped out of Alex's hold and ran to Bre, intertwining her fingers so that it was easier to pull her along with her as she walked out of the greenroom.

When they left the room, they could see Alice and Oscar by the end of the hallway and almost getting to the door that led them to the stairs on the side of the stage. So Ella led the way, power walking down the concrete floors and rushing out to stand on the side of the stage just as Alice picked up her guitar and strummed it to start the first song.

It had been so much fun dancing and singing with Bre, Josh nodding his head along the bass and complimenting Zara's skilled drumming that certainly brought so much to the songs. Unfortunately their set wasn't as long as she would've liked but she'd enjoyed it so much, she almost jumped into Alice's arms when she walked out of the stage by the end of the set.

When they all went back to the Monkeys' greenroom, Pale Waves settled in two of the settees and Josh joined them as they talked about the album they were currently recording.

Time went by faster than ever and before they could notice, the Monkeys were being called up on stage. Bre and Ella walked beside them up until they went up the stairs, so the girls ran to the further left side of the crowd and stood at the very back with excitement making them jump up and down in their places.

Even though it was the third time Ella was watching this show, the feeling that drowned the room when the lights that formed 'AM' went on and the band walked on stage, was still the same as the very first time. 'Do I Wanna Know?' as the opener song to the show was brilliant, the bass reverberating on everyone's chests and the guitars' rumbles shaking the walls made for an incredible experience and the best introduction to what the show would be like.

When 'Snap Out of It' died down and Alex thanked the hollering crowd, Ella was ready to scream along every line of 'Evil Twin', her hand clutching Bre's so they could dance around together as they reminisced about the filming of that very music video being how they met, but instead of the b-side, the starting heavy bass notes to a song she loved very much from 'Suck It and See' managed to get a gasp out of her.

There was a desperate conviction behind every line Alex sang, accentuating every one of the words that composed 'Reckless Serenade' in perfection. Ella sang her heart out, and despite turning to Bre to scream the lyrics at each other, her gaze ended up stuck on Alex and how amazing he looked on stage.

He was wearing a sparkly blazer again, only this one was black and it went incredibly well with the rest of his black outfit. The golden big buckle of his belt and the thin golden chain around his neck were the things that stood out against the dark clothes. Ella felt a wild fluttering in her stomach every time she took a glance at him.

With it being the last show in LA, hearing Alex sing 'Arabella' had her head spinning and she almost wished she could be drinking so every one of her wild thoughts could be justified on the alcohol in her system.

By the time 'Fluorescent Adolescent' finished with a deafening cheer from the crowd, Bre and Ella held each other with big smiles on their faces, they knew 'Knee Socks' was next and their eyes fell on the people around and in front of them for their reactions when Alex announced the song.

The atmosphere lit up and blew into hysterical exhilaration the second Josh walked into the stage, with a microphone in hand. His voice added even more to the already beautiful vocals from the lads on stage and it was certainly an experience.

When the band walked out of the stage before the encore, the volume of the crowd got impossibly louder, everyone begging for another song and chanting their pleas for the band to come back on. Ella had been to football games before and it was crazy to think this was just as loud as the crowds in those events.

The encore was three songs long with 'R U Mine?' closing the gig for good, and once again, the girls relished in the rush of adrenaline that buzzed through them as they slowly walked out of the crowd and to the backstage area.

Bre ran into the arms of her boyfriend the second they got to the greenroom, and Ella had a loopy smile on her face as she took in every last second of the whole thing.

Josh walked up to her and asked her about his cameo during 'Knee Socks' and she gladly went on about how much she'd enjoyed it and how insane the crowd's reaction was. Pale Waves had been watching the whole show as well, but from the side of the stage so they piped into the description of the sea of people jumping throwing their hands up the second Josh walked onto the stage.

Since the guys had to be in San Diego the very next day, their crew amped up on their efforts to pack everything up and they'd ended up having to leave the venue a bit over eleven in the evening. It was far too soon, and Ella wanted to cry about it but the lads purposely had walked slower out to the back of the venue and when they got there, Jamie made sure to ask for ten more minutes.

Ten minutes that flew past their unaware heads, and only realized they had gone by when Steve sighed out a sorrowful, "We really need to go lads."

Steve knew why they were putting it off, the reason had a first and last name, and he couldn't blame them at all but they really needed to get to San Diego as soon as they could and time was running out.

Alex didn't miss the sad sigh Ella let out and how her shoulders fell as well as the corners of her lips. She pouted as she took it upon herself to make the tough decision of saying goodbye, walking up to Jamie first to envelope him in a sweet hug.

She slowly made her way around the group and just as she was letting go of Matt, she asked nobody in particular "You're back in December right?" since Arctic Monkeys and Pale Waves would remain touring together until their holiday break.

When her arms wrapped tightly over Alex's shoulder, the drummer replied, "Yeah, we finish the tour on the west coast mid December."

A hum of bliss came from her right before she pulled away from her best friend's embrace and she assured, looking straight into Alex's eyes, "Okay. I'll see you in a few months then."

Behind her, Bre reminded her, "I'm coming back next month."

To which Ella turned around with a challenging point of her finger at the model, "Yeah, you better because then you're leaving me for the holidays too."

Bre pouted as if to apologize without words. She felt bad she was leaving Ella alone this year since she wasn't going to Tennessee for the holidays that year, work too close to the important dates to even manage a week in her hometown and she knew she'd get homesick if she rushed her visit. But the model was going to spend the festive season with Matt and his family and she just couldn't not go.

"Sorry babe." Bre apologized just half heartedly, and Ella assured her she was half joking with a blown kiss.

"Alright everyone, this is it. I'll be looking forward to seeing you soon." Ella said before she could properly leave, a weight falling on her shoulders that almost made breathing a little harder, like it was pressing right over her ribs and lungs.

But before she could turn around and walk away, Alex offered, "Do you want me to walk you over to your car?"

Ella froze in her place. She had not wanted anything more than to have some time alone with Alex but it being just when they were about to be snatched apart felt so cruel, she quickly pointed out, "It's across the street in that parking lot building. You sure it won't be an issue? Steve is calling you."

Something deep inside her filled with a flash of happiness when he shrugged and took a step closer to her, "He will live."

"Okay." It was merely a mumble, a heat creeping up her chest and her neck and threatening to dust her cheeks with pink blush, one that she hoped wasn't visible when she turned to her side to wave everyone one final goodbye and then start leading the way with Alex in tow.

They silently walked next to each other, a comfortable silence they both had missed so much and that they found themselves already longing for. He had slipped his hand into hers and intertwined their fingers together the second their skin brushed. He wasn't going to miss the opportunity of having something he knew he found himself wanting on the daily and not take the chance to feel it.

The walk to the side exit wasn't long so Ella was the one to slow down her steps to make sure the moment lasted even a few more seconds longer, and she smiled when he caught exactly what she was doing and went along with her slow pace.

What they weren't expecting though, was the long queue of fans waiting behind the fence that lined the venue. Fans who screeched loudly into the air at the sudden sight of Alex.

"Oh shit." Ella cursed loudly, completely startled, clutching onto Alex's hand the tiniest bit tighter from the fright.

Alex was dumbfounded by the amount of people standing there with posters and CDs in hand, sharpies ready for him to go up and snatch away to sign all the memorabilia the people wanted, "They're still here?"

There was a slight hint of annoyance in his voice that she found amusing so she quipped, "They're dedicated." as if to make him giggle a little at the situation and lighten his mood up.

He frowned and turned to her, huffing like a little kid, "They are but this isn't ideal."

Ella knew exactly what he meant and she knew just as much that he was trying to figure out a way to make it work so she tried stopping his train of thought, logically pointing out the facts, "You can't go with me, they're gonna follow you and then coming back in here to leave will be horrendous."

"I can get one of the security guards–" Alex tried fighting her logic but she interrupted him.

"No, sweetness, it's alright. I don't wanna be a burden."

Alex scoffed, it was lighthearted, more like calling herself a burden hurt him. He shook his head and assured her, "You're not."

But Ella wasn't having his obstinacy at the moment, not when it would involve putting his team through something unnecessary and wasting time that could end up being precious for the crew to set up in the next city, "Steve has been waiting for over ten minutes now. Calling your security to avoid you getting mobbed is gonna be an unnecessary burden on y'all."

"But–" Alex tried fighting again but she shook her head, a frown on her face and her lips pressed together as if she was fighting herself as well.

"It's okay." Ella promised with sweetness seeping through her voice. Taking a step forward, she pressed closer against his chest and took her hands up to brush his hair back, the rich brown strands damp and soft through her fingers. Slowly she let her hands softly fall down the sides of his face so she could cup his jaw, all she wanted to do was press their lips together.

Their breaths grew heavy as their gazes went over each other's faces but at the sight of such a tender scene, the people broke out in a new wave of screams that ended up making her flinch and the bubble burst. Their lips didn't meet, instead she settled for throwing herself into her arms, her hand cradling the back of his head as she whispered, "Love you, Al."

Sentiment that he had no trouble reciprocating, only he wished he could've been able to show it in more ways than just "Love you too, Ellie."

He wondered if it would be a good moment to just let everything out, have her turn around and take back those few steps she'd already taken away from him to crash their lips together at the prospect of hearing him scream out loud how much he wanted her to be much more than just this.

But he couldn't. Not in front of all those people, not when they'd still have to leave. The thought of telling her everything and then leaving for two whole months was cruel enough on his stupid heart, he wouldn't want to imagine if she reciprocated, how badly he could hurt her just up and leaving like that.

And he most definitely didn't want to think about the very plausible chance that she didn't feel the same way. Not waking up to a single text from her, no silly pictures at work or movie reviews she'd seen in Los Feliz. It was hell just to think about, and he didn't want to ruin things by rushing to say the things he could never take back, not even if they were at a wrong time.

So Alex stayed there watching her leave, the venue's security had to walk with her a few meters down the sidewalk to avoid her getting trampled. People got louder when they turned their attention back to him, he forced a smile and waved at them just to kindly acknowledge them. As if he didn't want to curse them all out for ruining the chance of finally having a moment alone with her like he'd been begging for since she left on a plane that August morning.

His eyes moved back to Ella, who had already crossed the road, and he managed to catch her gaze on him right before she walked into the building. He blew her a kiss, one that she mimicked to catch with a smile, pocketing it before she finally turned into the building.

A horrendous wave of regret, anger and disappointment enveloped him, leaving his skin uncomfortable and sticky like the humidity that comes after a summer thunderstorm.

If he closed his eyes he could picture himself walking beside her, getting to her car and catching a glimpse of the mirrorball hanging from her rearview mirror. The lights of the building hitting every fragment of it and cascading in rays inside her car, almost as bright as her smile—a smile that he knows she would've flashed him after he trapped her lips with his in a kiss he had been dreaming of giving her for months.

His heart was heavy as he walked back to the tour bus, where Steve was sighing in exhaustion and asking him where he had been. A question that got no answer because Alex was in complete silence, wallowing in self pity and all the promises of what could've been.

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Las Vegas was always a silent promise of something unexpected happening. Alex knew that quite well. He'd been to the bustling decadent city enough times to gather that, his memory too fuzzy when it came to some of the nights he'd spent there over the years to recall some events.

But this time it was somehow worse.

Worse because he had not only alcohol and wild parties to blame, but Alice.

And himself.

It would be unfair to not blame himself. And his lack of self-control. And the inability to live with his own frustration. And the cruelty of his own mind to remind him how badly he wanted someone who was miles away and unattainable until he was truly willing to risk it all.

The show in Vegas came after two consecutive nights in San Diego, so it had been three unbearably long days since they'd parted ways with Ella and Alex had let himself wallow in self pity the more he counted the time it took them to text each other back. It was like the second he had to put his phone down for a while, Ella replied to his messages but not when he was with his eyes stuck on the device counting each second in desperate hope of one of her messages coming through.

That particular show had been incredible, it seemed like the crowd put in extra effort to make their last gig in the States the very best for they were as loud as ever and Alex coil feel their voices still ringing in his ears.

They would be going back to the UK to continue with another round of tour in the home country and then move along to Europe, so they took the chance of their last night in America to properly celebrate.

Alex hadn't even known the type of club they were visiting, entirely unaware of the stupid little blindfold charade Matt had signed him up for until it was too late.

He'd been guided into a room where he was meant to kiss someone and guess whoever it could be from the group that had come along to the club. The struggle here was that he wasn't sure who had signed up and he was silently praying that it was Zara who had grabbed him by his neck and kissed him passionately until they slowly lost control and they were pressed against each other. He felt the way her legs clenched around his thigh, which was placed between the girl's legs, but when he heard that moan, he knew that it was no one else than the walking nightmare he'd had to put up with for months up until then.

Alice.

They weren't meant to take the blindfold off but he pushed her away the second he recognized the high pitch of her cry of pleasure, after having unfortunately had to hear it through the walls of his flat time and time again, and they both snatched the piece of fabric off their eyes and scowled in horror.

Before any of them could utter a word, the girl in charge of the game, and who had walked Alex into the room, scolded them for breaking the rules of the game and telling them their time was up.

None of them spoke, both putting walls up and pretending that hadn't happened and guessing poorly whoever their kiss had been despite knowing exactly who it was.

After that had happened, it was like they were competing on who could take the most alcohol and they'd end up stumbling their way out of the club with the rest of the group.

Oscar was almost blacked out and having to be almost carried by Nick and Connor, Jamie was the one who was the most sober of all of them but still wasn't in great shape. Matt and Breana were being disgustingly adorable in their drunken haze, holding each other as they walked outside to get a taxi back to their hotel. Alice and Zara clutched each other tightly, giggling about everything and anything, erupting in loud cackles whenever one of them tripped on the sidewalk. Alex was putting his mind to focus on every step he took, but his mind was swarmed with a mess of thoughts that made him silently wince. He could feel the headache brewing already and he hated it.

Two taxis had to be taken for the whole group to comfortably make it back. The first one had been taken by Nick, Connor, Oscar, Alice and Zara; and the second had been occupied by Matt, Bre, Jamie and Alex.

All Alex wanted to do was go back to the hotel and get in bed, exhaustion was finally catching up to him since the energy from the show was dwindling down thanks to the many margaritas he'd had.

But it seemed like his luck had run out completely because the second he'd finally gotten to his room and shed the coat he had on, his very much inconsiderate neighbor was blasting loud music that he could hear booming through the walls.

He sighed in exasperation but closed his eyes and dropped himself face down on the bed, thinking about just giving it a few minutes for Alice to turn off the music and go to sleep.

But five minutes went by and she didn't and Alex only had the patience to grace her five more, and when those went by and she was still playing music as loud as she could, Alex slammed his fist on the mattress and jumped up from the bed.

He stormed out of his room, snatching his keycard and pocketing it to walk to the room to his left, the last room of the hallway.

His fist pounded incessantly against the wooden door and a whole minute went by without her answering. She started singing louder then, and it angered Alex so fucking much that she was blatantly ignoring the clear knocks on her door.

So he hit the door harsher, and if it wasn't for her opening the door after another minute, Alex would've taken it down.

There was no kindness to be grasped when he opened his mouth the second that Alice opened the door, "Can you shut the fuck up? People are trying to sleep." His words came out slow though, and it was all because seeing her in just her cropped white vest top, which showed very clearly her nipple piercings, and the flimsy black fabric of her underwear made his brain haywire.

And in full honesty, Alice couldn't give less of a fuck, so she rolled her eyes as she took a gulp of the mini vodka bottle in her hand that she'd gotten from the mini bar and scoffed, "You're so fucking boring. It's barely two in the morning Alex, fuck off."

Alex couldn't believe her nerve, harshly running his fingers through his hair and spitting out his words with venom, "You're the most fucking inconsiderate person to exist."

"Blah, blah, blah. I don't care. Bye." Alice was done with the pointless argument, she was sure he was exaggerating about the volume and he could definitely find a way to fall asleep even if he faintly heard her music through the walls, so she pushed the door to slam it close but Alex put his foot forward to impede it closing.

She was so over it, she just turned around back to the middle of her room and started singing along to the All Time Low song that was blasting off the speakers.

"Turn your fucking music off. Now." Alex sternly said as he walked into the room, the door closing behind him with a loud thud from how hard he'd slammed it.

Alice watched as he looked around the room for her phone, knowing she'd connected it to the speakers in the room but she smirked in defiance and yelled, "No!"

He groaned loudly, making Alice spin around to watch him. He was red with anger and she foudnit the slightest bit amusing, especially when he clenched his jaw and hissed through his teeth, "Shut the fuck up Alice, I want to fucking sleep."

It was so entertaining for her to get under his skin so she easily found the words to pick at him, "Yeah you're the only one trying to because where in fucking Vegas, everyone else in this damn building is getting it on. Live a fucking little Turner."

His fists clenched in fury, "I swear to god Alice–"

She didn't even give him the opportunity to try and finish another one of his ultimatums, because she knew he was all talk, "What?! What will you do? You're fucking exhausting, all bark no bite." Walking up to him, downing the rest of the vodka and tossing the little bottle behind her, she lifted her chin up and stopped when she was pressed against his chest, "Tell me to shut up once more and you'll see what happens."

There really wasn't an explanation behind his actions, no way for Alex to find the logic behind why he'd wrapped his fingers around her neck and pulled her in to finally shut her up with a messy kiss.

He got a flash of the memory of a chat he'd had with Flo where she called him out for fancying Alice, for clearly having a certain desire towards her that he'd always denied. And this being the first time he acted up about it felt odd.

But the unfamiliar feeling was completely overpowered by the sudden eagerness and hunger that filled them up and made the kiss desperate. Alex growled into Alice's mouth when her tongue came to press against his lips, and when they finally tasted each other, something snapped.

Still, even in this situation, it felt like they were trying to make it a competition, see who was the one to pull away for air first, to smirk down at them for being weak. Alice was the one to pull away with a loud smack of their lips, but before he could come at her, she put on an unimpressed face and challenged him, "Really? This is how you choose to shut me up?"

Alex didn't say a word. In his mind, he thought if she was talking this way it meant that she wanted more and if it was like that, then he'd give her something to talk about. So he brought up his right hand, his index and middle fingers coming to press against her lips and when she parted them, he pushed them into her mouth.

Alice's cheeks hollowed as she sucked his fingers but he didn't stop there, he kept pushing them further until she rolled her eyes and gagged around them when he hit the back of her throat. She tried her hardest not to moan, she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of know she was enjoying this, despite feeling the pooling wetness in between her legs.

When Alex dragged his fingers out of her mouth, Alice released them with a pop before raising a brow and spouting more faux unimpressed words, "At least make me enjoy gagging around something, Turner."

He let out a snort of laughter, one that was purely mocking, "Is that it then? You want your mouth stuffed to finally shut the fuck up?" He didn't know what had come over him, but he couldn't hold himself back and his fingers came down to quickly undo his belt.

The smirk that appeared on her face seemed sarcastic, but she wasn't doing anything to impede him continuing, instead she mused, "Is this you trying your chances to prove you can make a woman cum?"

Without missing a beat, Alex replied, "This is me giving that mouth something useful to do."

Alice hummed as if she was taking it into consideration, a funny question coming to her mind, "And what makes you think I wanna bruise my knees for you, Red?"

He rolled his eyes at the nickname, but chatted back with clear evidence that Alice just couldn't deny, "I dunno Loveless, do you not want to? Because I can still hear you moaning against my mouth when we kissed at the club, clenching those thighs around my leg."

"You're obsessed." Was the only thing Alice could come back with, and it made him chuckle.

"Sure. Just as much as you are." Sarcasm was thickly wrapped around every one of his words.

Alice rolled her eyes, looking down at the way he was slowly bringing the zip down of his black jeans, so she sank to her knees and roughly snatched the fabric down, "You're so fucking slow, fucks sake."

It had taken those few kisses to have him hardening in his pants, but it wasn't enough so Alice licked the palm of her hand and started stroking him up and down. It was a relentless pace that she built, looking up through her lashes and smirking at how easy it was to have him throwing his head back and cursing under his breath.

That gave her the impulse she needed to wrap her lips around him and take him all the way until he hit the back of her throat, gagging and swallowing around him when he instinctively bucked his hips forward with a high pitched moan.

"Pathetic." She muttered when she pulled back off him, her hand continuing to stroke him while she got her breath back and then went back in to take him in her mouth.

She kept doing that over and over, pulling back to insult him or throw comments that came for him and his ego, but he retaliated the best he could in between the cloud of pleasure that she was bringing him.

Up until the point where he felt he was about to burst inside her mouth, so he fisted her hair and pulled her off him, roughly pulling her back up to her feet so that he could throw her on the bed.

Another challenging raise of her eyebrow accompanied by a mocking, "Oh, now you're gonna prove it?" irked Alex further.

"Shush." He harshly called out as he kneeled in between her legs on the bed, spreading them apart to expose the wet patch that was ruining her underwear.

She scoffed, totally hiding the tingles that run up her spine at the feel of his fingers digging into the flesh of her inner thighs, "No manners. Typical."

Alex wasted no time to grab at the sides of her underwear and peel it off her, throwing it behind him as his eyes were stuck watching her glistening cunt with a growing hunger that had him getting impossibly harder. He sucked his fingers and brought them to her cunt, one glide up and down to gather her wetness and then brought it up to his mouth. He hummed at her taste, which was sure to drive him a bit crazier but he wouldn't admit that out loud.

Alice was just glaring at him, trying to act stoic as if his fingers coming back down to tease her entrance and then go up to rub on her clit wasn't making her grip the sheets tightly. He was watching every twitch of her mouth and brows as he went, wanting to get a reaction out of her just like she'd gotten from him. But she wasn't letting up and he was growing impatient so she just filled her up with two fingers and curled them perfectly to shatter her facade.

Her brows furrowing and her teeth biting on her bottom lip was all he got as she swallowed her moans, so Alex had to coax it out of her with more. "C'mon now, Loveless. That's a bit unfair, isn't it?" He leaned down, breath hitting her still covered chest and bit one of her nipples through the fabric of her shirt, eliciting a sweet whine from her that he wanted to increase in volume by curling his fingers once again, "Don't fight it."

"Fuck..." Alice finally moaned loudly when he flicked his tongue over her nipple at the same time as he curled his fingers and from then on she couldn't keep up with her act.

He continued his actions, deliberately and with an increasing rhythm that was driving her mad, until a new song came on and his own voice drowned the room entirely. It was such poor timing for 'Dangerous Animals' to come on and she cackled loudly in between moans.

"Sure you don't want me to turn the music off now?" There was a slur to her words, she was so close to edge and he could feel it from how hard she was clenching around him.

"No." He didn't relent despite how pathetic the scene was now, covering up the feeling with another venomous comment at Alice's expense, "I don't want people to hear and you're obnoxiously loud."

But that comment gave her the perfect setup to come at him and hit a sore spot she knew would have him even more angry, "Just as loud as your pretty little Ella." She panted out a scoff when his fingers stilled inside her but she still didn't stop her mocking, "Bet you loved hearing us through the walls, didn't you?"

He was fuming by then, so he pulled his fingers out of her and frowned even more when she dared to call him a, "Twat." at him stopping his actions.

"Turn around." He instructed, his slick covered hand coming to wrap around his cock and swallowing a groan at the soft wave of relief.

Confused, Alice asked an exasperated, "What?" If he was messing with her then she'd kick him out and make herself cum.

Alex repeated himself with a huff, like he was annoyed he had to say the instruction again, "Turn around."

She scoffed but did as he said, and it bothered her how the need for release was clouding every bit of decency left in her. She wished she could just kick him out of the room, but the ache between her legs was so strong she was willing to shove aside the hate she had for Alex and indulge in the pleasure he was bringing her now.

He quickly took his pants fully off and crouched down to grab a condom from his pocket, something Alice noticed and called out immediately over her shoulder, "Came prepared? Were you that desperate?"

"I always have one on me." Alex explained easily, as if that made it less pathetic.

And Alice chuckled, "Right. Whore." She didn't expect the comment to have him strike a hit on her ass, but he did and she yelped out in surprise.

"Shut up before I stuff that mouth with my cock again." He threatened as he rolled the latex down his length, "It'd be a fucking pity leaving you clenching around nothing, wouldn't it?"

"Just–" Alice couldn't take the anticipation anymore and his words were going straight down to her core so she wiggled her ass on the bed and lifted it the slightes bit upwards to show her glistening cunt at him as she told him, "Fuck me Alex."

He groaned with his fingers wrapped around his cock, pumping himself at the sight of her dripping hole, "Since you asked so nicely."

She was so wet she welcomed his cock easily inside her, and he drove himself inside her until his hips pressed flush against her ass. The both of them threw their heads back at the pleasure, Alex groaning loudly when she clenched around him. He fucked relentlessly into her, purely needing to cum and she met him in the middle, pushing her hips backwards so he hit that spot over and over again.

Nothing else was really said, only curses and moans heard inside the room as they go, the slapping of their skin and bed creaking beneath them. It was just the same when they came. No call of each other's name, no sweet pet names accidentally slipping out in the heat of the moment. Just lewd noises and curses as they fell over the edge.

When they got their wits together and it dawned on them just what had happened, Alex stood up silently to shed the condom off himself and walked to the bathroom to dispose of it. And he was glad to see that when he walked back out into the room and grabbed his discarded pants and boxers, Alice had turned the music off completely and was getting some clothes on herself.

She yawned softly, like what had just happened hadn't been anything spectacular and once he finally buckled his belt in place, she shooed him off the room with a wave of her hand, "Right, off you go."

Alex scoffed, incredibly irritated still by her stupid attitude. He shook his head and pointed out, "That can't happen again."

To which Alice nodded, "Agreed."

With a stern "Good." Alex turned around and left the room, slamming the door because he still fucking hated her. Nothing could ever change that.

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(24/10/2013 13:06) Still confused about the tractor and Aaron's vision but Cookie looks incredible in this music video. As do the rest of you I guess... I'm joking! Y'all looked so handsome, I miss your pretty faces :( I also miss London, that's where you're today right? Love you lots!!! xx

Alex had smiled when he walked back into the greenroom after the show to Ella's text, going up to the lads to show the message and taking a quick funny selfie to send back to her.

The second she got it, she smiled knowing her lunch break was coming up soon and she could sneak out for a smoke and facetime them at least for a little bit.

It was like the more days went by apart and in different timezones, the more they got used to it and started to get the gist of it. Messages sent that would be seen after a gig or the morning after and replies that she would get by the end of her work day that she answered when she got home.

Nothing was better than finally relaxing on her settee, with some takeout and Mexican coke, texting Alex as she mindlessly watched a movie or a show. Now that they were in the UK, the time difference was a little easier to allow them to facetime her in their greenroom so she had a fun end to her nights seeing them enjoy the post-show energy.

On the days in between shows, there would be interviews or radio shows that would have either Alex and Matt or just Alex as guests—he had always hated that bit of being the frontman—so Ella wouldn't have much luck getting Alex to herself on the day's off the band had on tour.

Sometimes the rest of lads would text her on those to catch up with her, despite knowing things through Alex, and Ella's heart warmed up every time one of them would facetime her, even if briefly, on those days. She still couldn't believe how close they'd all gotten to her. It made her a bit emotional knowing how much she loved them all and it hit harder every time how much he missed them all.

It made her even more emotional whenever she allowed herself to indulge in every feeling Alex brought to her, and most of the time she truly had to force herself to stop because the squeeze of her heart inside her chest hurt too much.

But every day that went by meant a day closer to having him close again. She pushed aside the fact that it would only be one day that they would spend in Los Angeles before they had to leave, she wanted to see just the positive side of it all.

Soon enough Halloween day rolled around and the end of the month brought Ella more excitement than the actual holiday—which actually was her absolute favorite.

Since Breana wasn't due back in Los Angeles until the tenth of November, then Ella was stuck just enjoying the Halloween party Ben was throwing at his house. It would be mostly people from work and a few of Ben's friends, so Ella didn't really find the need to look for a proper costume.

She'd put on a pair of blue jeans, her favorite brown cowboy boots along with a brown cowboy hat and a funny shirt that Bre had gotten her for her birthday that she had yet to wear which read 'cowboy pillows' right over her tits. She finished it off by tying a red bandana around her neck, to emphasize the fact that she was going as a cowgirl and it wasn't just a regular fit she would wear.

Either way, when she arrived at Ben's everyone told her she'd cheated because it really didn't look like a costume considering she usually wore similar looking outfits.

It had been even funnier when she posted a picture of herself to her instagram that night and she'd woken up to a text from Alex that called her out for her costume not really being one.

He'd cursed under his breath when he opened the app mindlessly in the lounge of the tour bus and saw her looking as gorgeous as ever, and especially with that damn shirt that sent his mind reeling.

There hadn't been a moment to act on the sudden rush of need though, because everyone at the office had agreed on taking the following day off, which meant that Ella was home and had woken up way earlier than necessary and had all the time in the world to be on the phone to him so she facetimed him.

Thankfully, the signal wasn't that bad as the band went from one city in Germany to another so the video call went on smoothly, and Ella and Alex had probably been on the phone for most of the day. With interruptions from everyone else here and there but the smiles on their faces showed just how much they appreciated the chance to just somehow be in each other's presence for longer than a thirty minute call or a string of texts and selfies.

And they cherished the long weekend Ella had and the chance she got to check on her phone more often for they spoke loads those three days, and when they had to focus back on their work at the start of the following week, the memory of the great amount of time they'd managed to chat and spend hearing each other and seeing each other through the screen helped endure the days they had to wait until their reunion.

When Breana went back to Los Angeles, Ella felt like a bit of home had been brought to her and the wave of relief that flooded her had been enough to have her cry in her best friend's arms when Ella had brought her over to her house after picking her up from the airport and they finally shared a bottle of wine like they always used to.

Upon properly catching up, Bre found Ella had been diving straight into work to keep herself busy and really not giving herself enough time to have fun and go out. There still were her Los Feliz escapades on the weekends but they were all by herself and it was only from time to time that she met up with her work friends to have brunch or drink at one of their houses.

But there certainly wasn't much for her to tell when it came to dates or potential romantic interests. Ella had completely been avoiding dating, turning down a few people who had gone up to her asking for her number when she'd been out—always saying she'd a partner and that she appreciated them asking, a little white lie that really had no actual reasoning behind, though if she really listened to her subconscious then she'd find that there was a little hush voice wishing the partner she was mentioning was Alex.

She always shooed away the thought. Ridiculous, you're ridiculous, she told herself when the hope lit up with a spark like the ones that came from two stones being struck together.

It was pointless to indulge in the thought any further when she really couldn't do much about it. What good could it make to say something that could shift things in an exponential way when he was so far away to try and fix it.

She'd rather die.

Still, though, the sparks of hope flashed inside her chest and threatened to cause a fire whenever he signed off his texts with a 'Love you' or he took pictures of things she'd enjoy and send them to her, or when he recorded videos of the views he had even if it was just the venue and she could hear him whispering behind the camera "Isn't it so pretty, darling?"

November went by in a flash of loads of work and cute texts from Alex, and Bre getting her to leave her house, accompanied with a side of visits to Los Feliz theater and a lovely escapade to Manchester to spend Thanksgiving with her family.

That year Ella would unfortunately not be able to spend the holidays back home, because of already booked work around the dates that wouldn't allow her to spend proper time with her family and hometown friends, so she booked a week-long holiday off to Tennessee for Thanksgiving and it was such a breath of fresh air to fall back into the familiarity of the big barn house that she'd grown up in and her parents and sister—and Jayne, who had managed to get a lucky two days off from work.

Surreal would be the word Ella would describe how it felt to go back to Los Angeles and realize it would only be six more days until the lads were back in town. It was more like five days since they'd be arriving very late at night on the sixth, but she'd be spending the whole day with them on the seventh and Ella just couldn't wait.

Especially not when she and Alex had agreed that since it would be the only time they'd see each other right before the holidays, they wanted to give each other for Christmas and that they'd be allowed to open it on that very day just to allow them to feel like it was actually Christmas for just the two of them.

That was why Ella had gone all out and got them ugly sweaters to wear to the cinema, where she'd made sure they would watch 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas'. Bre had cackled when she jumped into Ella's car that Saturday morning and caught a glimpse of the obnoxious sweaters in the backseat of her car.

"You're cute." Bre said in between giggles, "I need to get a picture of you two in them."

And that she did.

When Ella pulled into the hotel they'd stayed at overnight, which was a five-star hotel in Downtown LA, and they walked inside the building to find Alex and Matt waiting for them in a lounge area by the lobby, Bre had them put the sweaters on first thing after they'd hugged hello. Alex hadn't even gotten a proper chance to look at what he had been given to wear and it had Ella creasing when he looked down his torso to find a horrendous bright green tree made out of actual green tinsel garland on a bright red knitted sweater—it had red and gold pom poms as ornaments and a golden bow on the very top of the tree.

His jaw dropped in horror when he looked down at Ella's which was a big wreath made out of the same green tinsel garland and had a big red bow on it along with two little elf legs sticking out from the middle of it.

Alex's face was actually priceless and Ella actually changed Alex's contact picture to the one Bre had snapped of the two of them.

"We don't have to wear them," Ella promised, still trying her best not to laugh at the way Alex's face contorted in absolute disbelief when he looked down to see the sweater, "It's really sunny outside either way, so we're gonna want to take them off."

"It's horrific." Alex stated, looking up at her but with a smile so big that contradicted his words, "But thank you darling, I love it." He wrapped his arms around her waist, leaving Ella to throw her arms over his shoulders and she hummed in bliss at the feeling.

"No you don't." Ella corrected him with a goofy smile that Bre could see over Alex's shoulder, so she took another picture of them like that before they could notice when they pulled back.

Matt snorted in laughter and shook his head, "God, that's an ugly fucking sweater if I've ever seen one."

"I know." Ella proudly admired her obnoxious work, "I did so well."

It was such an American tradition and really, mostly a silly thing her parents had started when she and her sister had been little but had continued well up until they moved out, but she loved it so much. Her mom and dad had loved the sweaters when Ella sent them a picture of them and that was all the reassurance she needed.

"Alright." Ella muttered as she started shedding the sweater off herself, giving Alex the greenlight to do so too. "Shall we go?"

Alex nodded as she folded the sweater and shoved it into a little gift bag that Ella knew was the gift he'd told her he'd get her. She smirked looking at it and wished she could see through things because she had been so intrigued about it for weeks.

Matt and Bre went their own way, to a park so they could have a lovely picnic Bre had prepared for them, so Ella and Alex walked back to Ella's car and they quickly got out into the road to drive to Los Feliz.

They'd sat directly next to each other instead of across from each other when they got to a cafe a couple blocks away from the theater and they'd been giggling and whispering like teenagers poorly keeping a secret.

Without them realizing, they'd spent almost a whole hour at the coffee shop and they were cutting it close to the time the film was supposed to start so they sped walk down to the cinema. Ella got their tickets after pleading with him to let her get them if he had already paid for their breakfast. He reluctantly nodded and she had the biggest smile on her face when she got handed the tickets and they walked down to the auditorium they had to go to.

Seeing Jim Carrey's genius on the big screen never got old and the joy that radiated from Ella at the moment was almost palpable. It exuded off her in warm heat and a glint in her eye, her face glowed under the flash of lights coming from the screen which were just as bright as her smile. She quoted lines from the movie in a whisper and it had Alex smiling like an absolute idiot. Their cheeks hurt immensely by the time the movie finished and they walked out of the theater, both with hearts full from having finally revived a tradition they'd missed sharing for so long.

Alex knew he had up until two in the afternoon to show up for soundcheck, but even though they were cutting it quite close, he still dragged the both of them out for a quick lunch before they had to go to the venue.

It was just a little sandwich and a couple of Mexican cokes that they ordered to go and they agreed to have in Ella's car. They'd also agreed that it would be best if they opened their gifts there instead of the venue and the anticipation was hanging over them with every step they took over to the parking lot where they'd left Ella's car at.

The second they got inside and Ella turned on the car so the AC would help them cool off a little—the sun had been burning their skin despite for the chilly winds of December—and she put down the food instantly, not being able to wait any longer to give Alex the present she'd taken a while to perfect.

"I want you to open your present first." She struggled against her smile to say it properly, sitting sideways so that she could stare directly at Alex.

Alex found her so fucking adorable, turning on the seat to look straight at her too, his head cocked to the side as his brows furrowed slightly with pure adoration coating his features.

"You sure?" He asked softly as if his heart wasn't hammering against his chest when he tried to imagine what her reaction to her gift would be.

Ella nodded and hummed, "Please? I really cannot wait any longer to see your reaction."

She really didn't need to plead, he was already nodding at her request, setting own food down at the foot of his seat to reach back for the gift bag that had her present.

He took out the ugly sweater she'd given him and with an amused smile set it over his lap just as he agreed, "Sure darling. But I also cannot wait to see your reaction so do you wanna open them at the same time?"

She doubted for a bit only because she really wanted to take in his reaction completely but inevitably, she nodded, "Yeah, okay. Sounds great." Reaching behind her, she got the bag that contained his gift and softly placed it over her thighs.

They slowly exchanged bags, a wary and curious look in both their faces before their fingers grasped the bags and Ella's eyes went instantly wide at the weight of hers.

"What is this?" She asked instantly, breathily like she already couldn't believe what he'd gotten her.

He raised a brow teasingly, "Well why don't you open it and see?"

Alex was afraid he was gonna get a 'you first' that he'd have to chat back to but the curiosity got to her and completely made her forget about her own request to have him open his present first.

The anticipation bubbled and extended to every nerve ending of his body like a fuzzy tingling as she dove for the contents of the bag and she got the small items first.

Her fingers were quick to rip the wrapping paper and when the words 'Portra 400 120' came into view, Ella looked up slowly at Alex with her mouth agape, "Stop."

Alex snickered and she finished unwrapping the multiple film boxes, each time with a louder gasp, until she finally dove for the bigger item.

The second her fingers touched the leather and felt the shape of the item, a small sob came from her chest and her eyes started welling up.

"Alex, stop..." She begged for no reason, a pout coming to her face when she fully pulled out the object from the bag and a little cry escaped her when she actually saw the gorgeous camera she was now holding in her hands.

A tear ran down her cheek and Alex let his hand come over her thigh to squeeze lightly in reassurance, "Don't cry, darling."

"I can't–," She managed out with a strangled voice, she couldn't finish saying that she just couldn't accept the gift. But her fingers worked against her thoughts and carefully shed the camera from the brown leather case and when the stunning Rolleiflex came into her blurry view, she choked on another sob, "Can't accept this, Alex."

There was no way in hell she would accept this present. Not when she knew the price of it, which had been exactly why she'd yet to get one for herself. It was so hard to find those cameras and if it looked as good as the one she was holding right then, then she was sure it would have to be way over the thousand dollar mark. Adding to that, the leather case and the multiple packs of film he had gotten her, it was just way too much to accept.

Especially with how simple her gift now looked like in comparison.

"You are." Alex stated firmly, his voice still sweet and soothing in her ears though.

"I can't!" She hiccuped, struggling to peel her eyes from the camera to look at him, "D'you know how expensive these are? I can't possibly–"

Alex interrupted her, "You are accepting it darling. Because I'm certainly not returning it and yes, I'm well aware of the price and I couldn't care less about it. Not when I know it'll make you the happiest."

Her bottom lip wobbled at the tenderness of his words and her chest hurt from how much she was feeling at the very moment. She exhaled heavily and shakily, thinking about it for a second and her worries came back up so she tried to argue again with a, "But–" that was again interrupted by Alex.

Another squeeze to her thigh was what she felt as encouragement for her to look up at him and take in the genuinity behind his every word, "Ella, I bought this for you and only you. There was absolutely no doubt in my mind when I got it and I was the happiest picking out a pretty case for your new camera and had trouble controlling myself when it came to getting you all those film rolls." He softened his features even more, like he was trying to do puppy eyes on her, "Please accept it darling? Nothing would make me happier."

She stayed quiet for a few seconds, eyes going back down to the pretty camera, debating whether or not to actually let herself accept such a gift but when she looked back up at him and saw those brown eyes she had missed looking into so much, she let her shoulders hang and gave into his wishes.

"Okay." She sighed out quietly like it hurt her, and she preoccupied herself with putting her new camera back in its case and putting it slowly inside the bag.

Once that was done, after almost a minute of her working ehr task in utter silence, she started saying, "But I'm gonna get you something else and I'll give it to you next time we see each other because that," She pointed at the gift bag in Alex's hands with a scowl, "Is way too simple."

"Eleanor." He called out for her to stop the rambling he knew would soon ensue if he didn't stop it from happening.

She sighed like she was regretting every one of her decisions and replied with a shy, "Hmm?"

"Stop that." He instructed her, a hint of an amused smile on his face. Not because he found this predicament funny but because she looked like she was about to throw a little tantrum and it was adorable.

She huffed like a child, about to chat back playing dumb about what he was implying, "Wha–"

But he stopped her with a soft, "Don't" that worked to keep her quiet and slightly reassured her, "I'm gonna love this, I know it." He lifted the bag slightly and decided to just go for it before Ella could continue spiraling. "You know what?" He trailed off before diving right into the bag for the gift that was well guarded inside a pretty wrapping paper and a little bow.

"It's so simple." Ella pointed out when Alex took it out of the bag and set it over his legs.

He shook his head as he started carefully undoing the creases at the bottom of the paper and when he saw the handmade cover of the big square journal she'd gotten him, his heart bursted in his chest.

Alex could faintly read 'On The Road' which was made with magazine cutout letters and a written subheading in a dainty piece of white paper beneath it that read 'A picture collection by Ella'. As he took the book out of the paper, he noticed polaroid frames sticking out along with ends of ribbons and hints of color seeping through the pages.

"Is this...?" He asked wordlessly, without really a need to because he knew it was a scrapbook.

Ella sighed, fiddling with her fingers, "Yeah."

Opening it, he found she'd written a little dedication page first. It had pictures of the pretty sunsets he knew they'd seen together and she'd photographed throughout the years. He could name them if she asked him to: it was the one from her first day in London, then that day coming out of Belmont Park, the first sunset they'd seen together when they recorded Brick by Brick, the one they'd also had the chance of appreciating together when he took her to the beach after everything with Julian had happened.

And in the middle of it all was a pasted note that seemed to be purposely and carefully made to look like a ripped piece of paper, attached to the page with two pieces of beige tape on opposite ends, that read the sweetest dedication:

Alex, I found myself lost in memory lane when I stumbled into pictures I had taken the first few times I met you and the guys. It's crazy to think it's been two years since then, it feels like it's been a lifetime but also just a few months ago at the same time. I got lost in every frame for hours and the warmth that spread through my chest felt so nice, I thought it would be kind to share the feeling. Of course, I had to make it better than a photo album so I took my sweet time meticulously putting every page together in a way my mind seems to assemble things. I hope you understand my vision. And if not, then I blame my lack of crafting skills.

Merry Christmas sweetness, love you lots!

- Ella xx

"Darling..." Alex said softly, a knot forming in his throat after reading that and it only got tighter when he flipped the page and saw the few pictures of the band Ella had taken back in 2011.

But she didn't even catch the emotion behind Alex's whisper because she was so lost in her own mind, "I know, I'm so sorry. I wasn't expecting you giving me a camera worth a fucking grand sweets! I should've established a budget."

"Ella." Alex said the tiniest bit louder this time, eyes getting more and more glassy the more he flipped through the pages, "This is the sweetest fucking thing." His voice was a bit strangled, but his smile didn't falter at all, his eyes dropped to the page he was on and his chest swelled even more seeing a picture where she was smiling hard at the camera, eyes closing from the big grin, with Alex resting his chin over her shoulder as he hugged her from behind.

"Come here." He mumbled, letting the book close on his lap to pull her in by her wrists and crushing her in a tight hug, an awkward one since the space in the car didn't allow for much.

He left a bunch of kisses on the side of her face, dropping a few down her jaw and neck, giggles bloomed from her chest and felt like music to his ears.

"Did you like it?" Ella asked shyly in his ear.

He pulled back, cupping her face with his hands and assuring her, "I fucking love it."

"Really?" She asked breathlessly, a hint of doubt behind her eyes that had Alex needing to keep flipping through the pages so that she could see it clearly on his face just how much he loved what she'd done.

"I really do." He skipped through the ones that he remembered had been snapped in that little west coast tour they did at the start of 2012 to the beginning of all the ones she'd taken when she'd been at the studio with them while they recorded AM, "I had never seen half of these!"

Ella winced a little, knowing it was true because she had never had a proper chance to show them to him. She had sent a few to his team just in case they wanted them for AM promo, alongside the first draft of the finished AM making documentary she'd filmed.

"Sorry, I have to send the scans to you." There were so many pictures she'd forgotten to show him that she knew he'd love because so many were of him in his element.

He hummed in agreement, "Please email them to me, darling." And then, he flipped onto another page and he giggled a bit before pointing out, "I wanna hang this one."

"Oh stop, it's so bad." Ella rolled her eyes when she caught which one he was talking about.

Shaking his head, he chatted back, "No, I love it."

"I was crying and you can tell I was." It was a picture of her birthday, one after they'd been drinking and singing karaoke in her house and she had started crying from how much love she felt. The 'Birthday Girl' cowboy hat the lads had gotten her was perched on her head and she was scrunching her nose in laughter with her eyes half lidded as Alex attacked her face with chaste kisses.

"And?" Alex didn't care for the way it was clear her mascara was smudged and the tears running down her face were clear in the picture, she looked as beautiful as ever, "Look at you."

Her face lit up in flames at the way he looked up at her and back down to the picture, there was so much written on his face that was making her heart beat faster with every second, "Shut up."

Alex kept flipping through it all, entirely in awe of the detailing on every page and the way she'd set up every picture. He went from her birthday to the last few months of recording, to their Los Feliz escapades, to Glastonbury and the entirety of her holiday over in the UK, to the few pictures she'd managed when they had three gigs in LA a few months before.

He wished they could move forward in time and see which other pictures would join the collection.

"Darling, this is so sweet." Alex mused, going back to see his favorites, which were mostly the ones he'd taken of her and she'd put together in a page that read 'The shots you took when you were coming for my career'. His smile got impossibly bigger, "Thank you." He pulled her in for another hug, pressing a long kiss on her cheek and mumbling a sweet, "I love you." against her skin.

"I love you too." She reciprocated and hummed in delight, but when she pulled back and saw the difference of presents perched on each other's laps, she let herself get emotional all over again and looked up at him with a pout, "Thank you so much Al, honestly."

He didn't like seeing her cry at all but knowing that it was happiness that was moving her this much, he smiled and endured it, "Merry Christmas darling."

Ella threw herself over him this time, giving him the biggest hug and mumbled, "You're the best."

To get her to laugh, he teased, "Am I?" and he was entirely satisfied when a loud cackle came from her.

"You're so annoying." She whined when she pulled back, softly shoving him by the shoulders.

He shook his head, "I'm joking." And intertwined their fingers together to have her in his arms again, "Come here, gimme a hug."

They didn't want to let go, not when it felt so right to hold each other and when it just made sense in this bubble charged with so much warmth and affection. There was not a worry in the world that could poke at them, until Alex's phone started to ring and, though he let it go to voicemail once, he got a swarm of notifications along with another phone call.

Reluctantly, he let go of Ella, still holding her hand and rubbing circles on the back of her hand as he answered with an annoyed, "Hello?"

His frown quickly melted for a clearly stressed out expression and he heavily sighed before he apologized, "Fuck. Yeah, sorry." Ella could barely make out what was being said through the phone, it was pure gibberish to her ears but she squeezed his hand in hopes to soothe whatever was happening.

He smiled sweetly at her and it heavily contrasted with his wary tone as he said, "We're about thirty minutes away, if that's alright?" And she saw his shoulders fall in slight relief after that. He ended the call with a calm, "Sure. See ya' mate." but let out a long exhale when he pressed the red button on the screen of his phone.

"We have to go?" She asked, it was the only thing she could imagine him getting in trouble about.

He nodded, "Yep. Soundcheck was supposed to start half an hour ago."

"Oh fuck." Ella cursed under her breath, carefully putting her gift bag in the backseat floor, placing the bag with her food beside it and chucking her ugly sweater behind her without much of a care for it.

"S'alright darling. They'll wait for me." He assured her, putting his seatbelt on after she'd quickly done so and turned on the car.

But Ella felt bad for making other people struggle with time just because they'd gotten carried away, "Sorry, I wasn't meaning to get you back late."

She almost melted on her seat though, when he shrugged and squeezed her thigh, "It's not your fault. Plus I'd do it again. I couldn't be arsed about being on time if I'm with you."

He caught a flash of her grin as she looked behind her and pulled out of their parking spot, "You're too cute."

✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧

It had been all hot and pathetic tears that just wouldn't stop when Ella had to say goodbye to them that night. And it was so unfair that it was that night that they had to leave as soon as possible, because she would've been able to actually stay for as long as she could.

There also was the fact that Bre was going with them so it was hitting her how she was spending the holidays on her own whilst the lads and their missus would be all spending it together.

The only consolation prize she had was that Florence would be coming to Los Angeles with the 1975 as they had a few gigs in town the following week so the prospect of seeing her and the band after so long brought a bit of familiarity she'd be missing until she got to see everyone again.

Which, now, she wasn't sure when it would be.

Just that had made her cry a bit more when she'd gotten home and when Alex had made it a mission to be on the phone with her almost the entirety of the day after, up until he had to go on stage.

The following days had been hard because her mind was plagued with the thought of Alex to the point that she was struggling to focus even at work. It was embarrassing the amount of times she'd gotten aggressively honked out of her thoughts when she was driving, and the amount of times Lydia had to snap her back into reality with waves of her hand in front of her face.

She needed a distraction, desperately, and when The 1975 and Florence arrived in LA, it was perfect timing.

They'd gotten into town on the morning of a Thursday so Ella couldn't go see them as soon as they got there, but Flo had gone to visit her at the office just a few hours before she was leaving and it had been such a lovely surprise, Ella had almost tumbled the both of them to the floor from how hard she'd hugged her.

Instead of going home and changing like she'd planned, Ella just drove the both of them to the venue where the lads would be playing and she got the warmest welcome when she walked into their greenroom.

She'd laugh so much from the moment she got there, and she couldn't help but find herself comparing the energy to when she was with the Monkeys in their greenroom. The 1975 guys were so much more chaotic, Matty and George together in a room was the funniest chaos and Ross added a spoonful to it that made her lose it altogether even more. Flo's cousin, Adam, was the more grounded one, but after a spliff or two that they'd all shared, he found himself giggling and throwing jokes that made Ella gasp in surprise at the lewdness of some of them.

It had been slightly refreshing that George had resumed his flirting with her and the affection he was showing her as they waited for the show to start, reminded her just how long it had been since she'd properly gotten any relief from someone else.

George had cheekily managed to get a kiss from Ella, claiming it was for good luck and that he would really need it. Ella had shaken her head but given in, and the feeling that washed over her made her want to beg for him to take her somewhere else when the gig was over.

Ella and Flo had joined the crowd and managed to wiggle their ways into the sea of people until they stood on the left side of the stage a few people away from the barricade. The venue was smaller than the ones the Monkeys had played when they came to LA but there was a good one thousand people inside the venue and the anticipation was even more palpable somehow.

When the lights went down and the big rectangle box flashed behind George's drum kit, the walls shook with the loud screams from the crowd and when the album intro boomed through the speakers just as the band walked out on stage, the people got impossibly louder. Ella and Flo joined in, the adrenaline coursing through their veins as the intro built up and peaked into their first song.

Hearing the many songs she'd absolutely loved from their debut album had been incredible and she'd been particularly louder when they got to 'Pressure' which was definitely her favorite from the album.

After the show, she'd helped them set their gear back in the small tour bus they had and she'd ended up saying goodbye not long after. She promised to be back the next day as soon as she could and she truly couldn't wait to watch another one of their shows.

"You should come over to mine after the show to celebrate." She invited easily, already thinking about having to get a few more bottles of wine for Flo and Matty. "I can drive y'all, we can manage to fit in my car."

They all nodded and agreed, they were staying in Los Angeles until the following Tuesday, so it would be perfect to get pissed at Ella's house and enjoy a proper catch up and finally take in her neck of the woods.

So, the next day, Ella arrived at the venue during soundcheck and she'd had the best time watching them mess about on stage before the show. Matty had snuck in the chorus of 'I Want It That Way' and 'There She Goes' in between their songs while Adam along with the sound people of the venue checked it was all perfect.

They'd gotten high and chatted about everything and anything until they were due on stage, Flo and Ella sneaking into the crowd once again in between giggles and managing to have a few conversations with some girls around them.

The show had been fucking mental, the energy that Matty exuded on stage was so contagious that the crowd gave him even more energy back and it was a vicious cycle that assured for the post-show rush to last a while.

It was a never-ending adrenaline rush that stayed with them the whole night, making for a really fun drinking night with them all.

Ella hadn't gotten that drunk, aware that she had suggested them all staying over so they didn't have to get a expensive taxi back to their hotel so she had to be a good host the next morning, but she'd gotten tipsy enough to settle the fact that George would be sharing her bed once everyone was ready to go to sleep.

They'd been getting off all throughout the night and all the 'get a room' comments had ended up in her deciding that they indeed needed to get a room for themselves that night. Though she knew they wouldn't be able to do much with everyone in the house, she wanted to enjoy having George to herself for a little longer.

Everyone groaned and complained about how they wouldn't get any sleep if George went with Ella but she flipped them all off and told them, "There's a guest room at the end of the hallway, the bathroom is right here and I'm gonna go get the air mattress. Someone is gonna have to sleep on the couch if that's alright."

Matty and Flo basically sprinted to the guest room and chucked themselves on the bed with Ella following behind to get the air mattress, "You two better not keep me up all night or have me change the sheets in the middle of the night."

Flo smirked as she watched her clumsily go through the things stored in the closet of the guest room, "Don't worry, we don't make messes. I swallow."

Matty laughed so loud at his wife's comment and Ella was left speechless at the sudden comment, "Jesus Christ, you filthy bitch."

"What? You don't?" Flo asked with a quirk of her brow, purely taunting her for an answer.

George startled her when he answered from the threshold of the room's door where he was leaning, "She does."

Ella blushed hard at the comment, getting embarrassingly wet at the memory of having her mouth stuffed with his cock and her mouth watering at the thought of it happening again.

"Shut up." She scorned him as she walked right past him, air mattress box, two pillows and blankets in hand.

WIth Ross and Adam's help, they cleared out the middle of the living room and set up the air mattress. Adam had kindly let Ross take it as he settled down for the night on the settee and they thanked Ella for the pillows and blankets she'd brought for them.

"Sweet dreams guys." She called out before she walked back to her room, where George was eagerly waiting for her with that smile of his luring her right in to sit on his lap at the edge of the bed.

At first it was just a continuation of the kisses they'd been sharing all night, until he felt just how wet she was and she couldn't keep down the moan that the feeling of his fingers on her clit elicited out of her.

She startled herself and stopped him, "We can't. I know I won't be able to keep quiet."

He of course understood, but she seemed so afraid of everyone hearing her that he had to joke to settle her down a bit before they stopped, "Should I gag you then?"

And that sparked an idea in her head.

She stood up from bed quickly, scaring George who instantly apologized and said he didn't mean it but he was surprised when she shushed him and told him it was alright to then walk up to her closet and pull out a big box that when she opened, made George's mouth fall slack at the amount of sex toys and kinky accessories she had in it.

"Ella, fucking hell." He cursed under his breath, watching her fingers move stuff around until she found what she was looking for: a silicone bar gag with a leather collar to buckle in place.

Something snapped inside of George when Ella so innocently went to put the box back in its place and slowly walked back to bed. He'd pulled her in by the waist and quickly hovered over her, kissing her hungrily until she was squirming due to the lack of relief when she was so uncomfortably wet already.

The gag had helped her not be as loud as she knew she would've been after such a long time without having someone in her bed, but still, George was so good with his tongue and his fingers that she'd been biting down hard most of the time, her jaw ached by the third time she came.

He'd been so hard, Ella was sad she truly couldn't feel comfortable enough to take him in her mouth after having her jaw clenched so hard for so long, so she used her hand to get him off and got him to finish on her tongue.

Ella had the best night of sleep cuddled up to George and it had been a struggle to give up the way his limbs felt tangled over her body so that she could make everyone breakfast.

The food had been a great apology for the noises that had managed to slip out of Ella's bedroom, for which Flo and Matty took the piss out of them both, and eventually, they all left. Everyone but George. He had kindly declined going around Los Angeles with them all to spend the day with Ella, more like on and in Ella, and practically kicking them all out of the house when they started teasing them just as they were leaving Ella's.

"We might be going out tonight. Any recommendations? And do you wanna come with us or are yous gonna be too busy?" Ross raised his brow as he asked them both with a smirk on his face, being the last to walk through the door.

Ella hummed, "There's this club in Hollywood called The Sound or something like that. I'll send you the address, we'll see you there."

Ross nodded and walked up to the taxi that was waiting for them, Matty and Flo already inside the vehicle while Adam was waiting for Ross to finish talking so that he could get in the car. Ella waved them goodbye, feeling George behindher doing the same while his free hand came to clutch onto her waist.

As soon as the taxi was gone and Ella closed the door, George lifted her from the floor and threw her onto his shoulder to all but run up to her room, where he threw her on the bed and hungrily pounced on her as he'd wanted since they woke up.

"You're gonna grab that box and we're testing everything inside it." George mumbled against her lips after dizzying her with a heated kiss.

Ella panted as she nodded and it took her a few seconds after he got off her to realize she had to get up and get it.

It was fair to say they spent most of the day trying the different things in the box, taking breaks in between and chatting like it was just another day, until they got another rush of lust and they went at it again.

They'd gotten interrupted by seven in the evening when Flo called Ella to make sure if she and George we coming with them to the club, to which she said yes but let her know it wasn't opening until ten, so they'd all have time to get ready and leave and get there early enough to be first in line and get a good table.

Ella had no idea how George had the amount of energy he had because they took their fun even to the shower when she was supposed to be getting ready, but he'd easily convinced her to let him join her and her hands started to roam and before she could even comprehend, she was sucking George's fingers and begging him to fill her up again.

When the pair got to the club, the group was practically asking every question out there with just their eyes but they got nothing.

Adam and Ella were staying sober that night, so they both had their entertainment sorted by a drunk Matty, Florence, Ross and George. Though, George had kept it within his limits because he was going back home with Ella and he didn't want to pass out on her. It was Ross the one who was the drunkest and it was hilarious to see the tall bearded man being so clumsy and avidly spouting random shit in between conversations.

By the end of the night, which was around two in the morning for them because Ross was falling asleep, they were all knackered from all the dancing. Adam had been left to look after a drunk Ross while Matty was being the best husband and making sure Flo didn't fall on her face as she'd had too many shots—she had most of them double, to compensate for the fact that Ella wasn't drinking, she said.

Ella had driven all the way back home and she'd been pleasantly surprised by how much of a cute drunk George was. She tended to him and when she got back to her room, he was fighting his exhaustion to wait for her to come back and cuddle into him.

He was so warm and she loved how he felt like a weighted blanket on her, her eyes were closing and she was relishing in the bliss until he slurred his words in her ear, "I wanted you to ride my face but I'm so knackered."

She shook with loud laughter that made him giggle in her ear, "Go to sleep, you idiot."

✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧

Ella gave George and the rest of the group a nice drive around her favorite places in Los Angeles, ending it with a nice stroll by the beach and invited them all out for dinner that Sunday. It had been so fun being the one to show the place she considered home to them all, and she found herself even happier when she saw them enjoying every place they went to.

George had spent that night over as well, Ella cheekily asking if he wanted to come over—she texted Ben right after George agreed enthusiastically and said she'd be taking the Monday off.

It felt good and easy, something casual with someone she trusted and she was incredibly happy even though she was sad to see them go that Monday night. She drove George back to where they were staying and actually went inside the airport with them to properly say goodbye. It was very late at night and their flight was leaving around three in the morning, but that didn't keep Ella from staying as long as she could until they had to leave to go through security.

Unlike with the Monkeys, Ella found it a bit easier to bid them farewell. It probably was because she felt so at ease with them that she was grateful for how they'd gotten her out of her miserable thoughts of the past week.

Plus the fact that there wasn't an underlying tension that she had no idea how to solve.

She sighed heavily once they all disappeared behind the white wall after they got through security, suddenly her mind flooded back with the same million thoughts of Alex and the distance between them. Like George's presence had been just some dense fog that made the mountain of every unsolved question and undiscovered feeling about Alex disappear for just a brief moment.

Now it came all back in sight and she didn't know what to do. There wasn't really much she could do.

The next morning, she drowned herself in work to muffle every distraction thought of her turmoil and when she got home, she started brainstorming photoshoots and putting together moodboards to take up on photography consistently again.

But as she took shelter in work and planning, Alex had been moping around alone in the tour bus on the way to Kansas City, the last stop of the tour.

Before the 1975 and Flo left LA, George had found a print of a picture Ella had taken the day they went on a date in London—the one with her thighs on each sides of his waist with his hands on her legs—, she had it perched up on one of her shelves next to a bunch of other pictures that she loved. It was a collection of pictures she'd taken and grown to love so she sprinkled them around her room proudly.

George had picked it up and teased her for it, which ended up in them kissing for a while, hands wandering everywhere until Ella got on top of him and they stopped just to take in their view. Ella had grabbed the picture, which had been printed in a size similar to a polaroid and placed it on George's abdomen. She'd picked up her phone and, after quickly making sure they were in the same position as the original picture, she took the same picture with the print in the middle—the black and white of the print contrasted against George's skin.

And Ella had posted it, after she'd ridden George until they both came and they were left sweaty and hazy from their orgasms. 'Nice kind of messy' she had captioned it and when Alex had seen it, his heart had dropped and his blood had grown cold.

Alex knew the 1975 were on a small tour in the States and he also knew that they were going to be in Los Angeles a few days, Florence had told him just that. And Alex recognized the print in the middle of the picture clearly, it was George—it was the same box tattoo he had on his thumb next to Ella's red ink 'Divine Feminine' tattoo.

Jealousy was something Alex was more clearly able to recognize nowadays when it came to Ella but this horrible sourness that rose up his throat and made him feel ill was new. It was far stronger than anything he'd felt before and he didn't know what to do other than hide away in the back lounge of the bus, the scrapbook Ella had gifted him in one hand and a bottle of vodka in the other.

Swig after swig, he'd ended up confusing the sway of the bus on the road for the dizziness that made his vision spin. He had ended up opening one of the big windows to smoke a few cigarettes inside the room, going over every poor decision he'd made so far that had kept him from telling Ella exactly how he felt. Keeping it to himself was so painful but he didn't know who he should talk to about it.

He was debating calling Florence, trying to make the math for the time difference in his head but eventually giving up when the memory of Ella's recent post came to the forefront of his mind like a cruel mocking his own brain was throwing at him.

He fell asleep on the settee there, the vodka bottle half empty and the scrapbook open on the pictures he'd taken of her. Time had completely slipped from his grasp when he woke up to Matt knocking on the lounge door, Alex only hummed in response and Matt told him they'd arrive at the venue so everyone would be going out to get some food. The show wouldn't be until the next day, so they'd be staying overnight at the place in the tour bus, and it made sense to go look for something good to eat after having had a typical tour bus breakfast that barely got them through the day. But Alex had no appetite for food at the moment, so he hummed again and mumbled a slurred, "M'staying."

Matt left shortly after, he'd asked if he wanted anything but since he got no response, he figured to just leave his best mate to rest.

But Alex couldn't really find rest after that, not when he saw the scrapbook again and picked it back up and, before he could think about it properly, he pulled out his phone to open her instagram to only be hit with the clear reminder that Ella had gotten with George again.

When Matt said 'everyone' was going out to get food, Alex thought he was entirely alone in the bus. But when someone opened the lounge door suddenly, the lingering hint of alcohol in his blood got startled away. If the nap hadn't sobered him up fully, it was the fright of someone coming into the room that did it.

It got even worse when that someone was none other than Alice.

Alice, who laughed loudly at the clear fright on his face and got even more amused when she saw him disheveled and really fucking sad.

Pathetic, she thought.

Her gaze fell on the handmade looking book he had perched on his lap and she asked, "What is that?" Her tone was clearly taunting, she was trying to get a rise out of him. He looked so fucking sorrowful that she was intrigued and incredibly amused at the same time.

"Go away Loveless." Alex said, exhausted, letting out a long sigh that he hoped told her enough about how he wasn't really in the mood at all for her attitude.

"Oh come on Red. I thought we were friends?" She played again, if his presence there had just ruined her plans of relieving herself in the peace of an empty tour bus, then she would get her fill of entertainment from him. "Tell me what's that and why's it got you so pathetically miserable."

He kissed his teeth and hissed a stern, "Fuck off."

But Alice wasn't planning on it. So she quickly came up to him with all the intention of snatching the book from him to take a peek at it, yet Alex acted quicker than her and raised it upwards and away from her.

That had turned out to be a mistake though, because Alice was stubborn and she had no issue in placing her knees on each side of his hips and using his shoulder as leverage to reach the book in his hands. And when she finally plucked it from his hand, she let herself sink down and took a seat on his lap.

Alice smiled to herself reading it had been made by Ella, thinking about how sweet she was, completely missing the way Alex swallowed a groan at the sudden contact and the way his hands instantly came to hold her hips.

She flipped through the pages in silence, admiring every little detail of Ella's work on the scrapbook and smiling harder when she got to see different sides of Ella that she was so jealous had been all there for Alex to witness.

God, did she want her.

Alice wasn't dumb though, she was able to quickly put it all together and she hummed to herself when she came to the conclusion that Alex's tragic mood was all due to the fact that she'd clearly slept with someone else and posted it proudly for everyone to know.

Yet, playing dumb just to push his buttons sounded like a far more interesting turn of events.

"Did you see what she posted today?" Alice asked him with a fake tone of naivety in her voice. When she remembered the picture though, she felt a heat come over her all over again and she let her sinful thoughts slip out easily, "It's all I've been thinking about while I was waiting for everyone to leave so I could play with myself to the memory of her on top of me."

"Alice." Alex muttered, his words sounded strangled like he was in pain hearing that, his hips shifting beneath her subconsciously.

"What?" She asked innocently, clearly noticing his writhing and biting her lip at the brief friction she got from it. She had been unable to get herself off for almost a week now and it was fucking painful.

"Please, shut the fuck up." He was willing to beg her to just go but his thoughts were being clouded by how close she was to him and how good it felt to have her heat radiating into him.

"Oh why? Are you having trouble again?" She chuckled, faux pity making her lips curl into a forced pout, "You know I love seeing her posts, makes me reminisce. I know you're stupid but I don't think as much as to not have seen those pictures she posts and not do a single thing about it."

He groaned in response, one of Ella's pictures coming to the forefront of his mind and the latest one he'd fucked his fist to which was the Halloween one. The same one to which Alice had fucked herself too, wishing it was Ella doing it.

"It's so sad isn't it?" Alice pushed further, "How he's had her twice now, maybe even more than thrice whilst you're left here fucking your fist alone in your bunk." She wished the image of that didn't turn her on as much as it did.

Just to irk him even more, the singer continued, "She gave me the honor of having her twice and god, Alex. Do you wanna hear a rundown about it?"

The 'no' he wanted to say got stuck in his throat when she shifted on top of him, a groan managing to slip from him. His fingers harshly digging into her skin and keeping her flush against his hardening cock was enough of an answer for her to continue.

Alice hummed, and her hips started rocking on his lap more consciously now, "Do you wanna hear about how she fucked herself on my fingers only to end up riding my thigh? Her hips moving just like this at the start, and god those pretty sounds she makes," She leaned into his ear and moaned sweetly, just like Ella did, rocking her hips harder and feeling the perfect amount of pressure on her clit to have her drench her underwear further, "They're fucking addicting."

"She was dripping all over my thigh, her head thrown back and those perfect tits all over my fucking face for me to suck on." Alex exhaled heavily against Alice's tits, his lips parting even more as if one part of him was tempted to suck on them like she was talking about, like he was fantasizing about doing to Ella.

His grip got stronger then. Ella. It was all that he was starting to think about, with his eyes fully closing to just picture her.

"She looked so fucking pretty when she came, Alex. I swear I can see and hear it clearly every time I need something to think about on lonely nights." It wasn't a bluff, the thought of Ella was a promise of a great orgasm for Alex and she was starting to go in that direction despite having Alex actually beneath her.

Another image of Ella flashed through her mind, making her moan loudly before she continued, "Do you wanna hear about how well she uses that pretty mouth of hers? How she ate me out like she was fucking starved only to fuck me with my toys until I fucking squirted all over her?"

A breathy moan fell from his lips then, cursing under his breath at the thought Ella's mouth all over him, wrapped around him, "Fucking hell."

"I know, it pains me that I can't have her every fucking day." Alice admitted, her mouth watering at the thought of Ella's taste on her tongue, "And do you wanna hear about how hard she kissed me and how much she begged for me to make her cum multiple times? She's insatiable, you know." Her pace got faster, hips moving erratically on his, "Fucking insatiable and you just can't never say no to her."

"Can you Alex? Huh?" She opened her eyes to look down at him, falling apart just from hearing it all.

He shook his head, answering honestly because how could he not agree? There was nothing he would deny Ella. Nothing.

He was growing harder by the second in his pants. Painfully harder, all just from picturing every word Alice was uttering and it was genuinely driving him insane.

Alice wanted more, she needed proper relief so she grabbed his hand and lifted it towards her mouth. She parted her lips and welcomed two of his fingers, sucking them and dragging them down her body until they reached under her skirt.

"She was so damn good to me. Knowing exactly how to touch me," She dragged him slowly up her soaked underwear until his digits pressed on her clit, "Exactly how to tease me." She made him draw circles on her clit multiple times until she shuddered at the pleasure rushing down her spine, "Exactly how to make me fall apart for her." She pushed her underwear aside and guided his fingers to her entrance but Alex was the one to push them in.

"Oh fuck." Alice cursed in a moan, struggling to continue, "She filled me up so fucking good." Alex curled his fingers at the image in his head and Alice smirked, swallowing a moan to praise, "Yeah, just like that."

It only took a few minutes of him thrusting his fingers in and out of Alice for him to lose control. His eyes were closed, so he was fully just picturing every single thing he was doing to be with Ella. To Ella.

Just like Alice was picturing Ella instead of Alex.

Suddenly, it seemed like a fair trade—both frustrated over Ella's absence and filling the void of carnal desires with each other.

So they ended up fucking again, both of them coming undone shortly after Alex sank himself into Alice. Their hips snapping fast and hard against each other, skin slapping and raw moans filling up the small space.

Nothing else needed to be said. It was over and done with and they both got what they needed: release.

Yet, it felt definitive and they both knew it.

Alice wasn't interested in keeping this up, Alex was far too complicated and whatever their relationship was had always been enough of a mess to even navigate for professional purposes.

Alex though, he felt a bitterness settling inside of him and it seemed to be an awful lot like regret and self deprecation. Ella flooded his mind but his heart was also filled with her and every detail that came with her existence and the fact that he had just got back in bed with Alice for a second time, to the thought of her made him feel disgusted. Of himself, of his actions, of the way he wasn't acting according to what his heart felt.

And that's when he realized he was far more tangled with Ella than he had imagined, even if he knew it was strong already, the feeling of every mile that separated them came to weigh heavily on his chest and he wanted to be sick.

It was just Ella. Ella was the one he wanted, and no one would ever compare.

And now, he felt like he'd completely betrayed her once again. And he had no idea how to fix it.

✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧

Going back home for a holiday break to the ceiling silence of his flat seemed to be the repentance Alex needed.

At first, the guilt had been present constantly when he thought of her or he saw the pictures on his walls where she appeared. Whenever she'd text him, or call him, there was the nagging feeling in the back of his head that made him nauseous. It was like he was hiding something from her and he hated it so much.

But how would he even let it out in order to feel free of the burden? Alex had no idea.

Calling Flo and telling her everything had been helpful though, and Florence being the wise woman that she was, told him that he had to forgive himself because there wasn't gonna be anything good to come out of him making himself miserable over his decisions. She also reminded him that he hadn't really done anything wrong, both he and Alice had willingly done it and both seemed to have shared the same sentiment of thinking of Ella.

"I suppose it isn't the best of things to use someone to satiate the need of somebody else but it's not like neither of you knew." Flo commented with a sigh and a merciful look on her face. "You'll be alright Shakespeare. Just stop messing about and tell Ella."

When? was the golden question.

The one Alex was still trying to find an answer to as Christmas rolled around which he spent at his parents' house. Penny and David had asked all about tour and much more about Ella the second Alex first mentioned her when he got to telling them about the American leg of tour.

He had spent Boxing day with them as well, loving being able to spoil his parents with presents, and it brought him much peace to think about the time Ella spent over. He texted her again that night, being embarrassingly melancholic about the memory and hoping to wake up to her feeling the same wave of nostalgia over it.

The day after boxing day, he went back to London and got ready to head to Matt's for the Christmas party he was throwing. The Monkeys were all invited, Katie and Kelly joining, as well as the 1975 lads and Flo, and many more of Matt's friends.

Alex had drunk plenty that night, all to help himself a bit more when it came to actually letting himself enjoy the moment and laugh a bit easier. He'd ended up stumbling into Matt's guest room and passing out on the bed as soon as his head hit the pillows, utterly and completely exhausted from having to mingle with such a large crowd.

When he woke up the next morning, if it could be called morning as he had slept in until almost one in the afternoon, he found two missed calls from Ella sitting in his notifications. His head was pounding and his vision was fuzzy as he opened his messages and saw a few ones that made him smile for he could almost hear the pout on her face as she said 'Throwing a Christmas party without me is so rude :( I'm alone at home watching a marathon of Home Alone, at least facetime me!' but he'd been long gone by then.

The next ones were a mess of typos that he could barely make out and he figured maybe she'd found a party herself to get drunk at to forget about the lonesome holidays.

The following ones, though, had him frowning. It was just after one of the calls he'd missed and she'd simply texted, 'Alex pleaseeeee' followed by another missed call and a final, 'Please?'

There was nothing else said that could give him a hint about what she could mean with her pleading, and he was starting to get concerned. She'd sent those at around three in the morning for her, and it was about to be five in Los Angeles, so he figured she'd be already asleep but still he sent a worried, 'Is everything alright darling?' and went along with his day, trying to be patient since it would definitely be a long time until she answered.

But she didn't answer for a long while, not until he was deep into nursing a few beers in the comfort of Flo and Matty's flat where everyone was gathered in a more intimate Christmas party.

He read her message that said, 'Sorry, I was very drunk. Everything's alright except for this stupid hangover that I need to disappear before work tomorrow.' just as Florence asked George something. Alex tuned the drummer out for a second, a smile forming in his face as he imagined Ella sleepily trying to move around her house, but it faltered when he heard Ella's name being mentioned in the chat. His ears perked up just in time to catch a piece of information he didn't need.

At all.

"Ella woke me up today, actually." George smirked against the rim of his glass.

Flo raised a brow at the mention of the director, she just said, "Go on." in response, knowing that there was more to the story and she really wanted to know what he was implying.

George shrugged his shoulders, "Let's say it was a really nice surprise to wake up to."

Flo squeaked and so did Bre, who asked very quickly, "Did she send a picture?"

"No," George blushed slightly and it only made the girls more curious, "She called me."

When George said that, it was like a truck carrying a full load had tumbled over and dropped all of its weight over Alex. There's no way, he thought. And before he could even think about there not being a possibility of it getting worse for him, it did.

"And because I'm a gentleman I won't divulge more than the fact that it was a very non PG call and I think I had a heart attack and died at 11am."

Alex froze in his place, not even the loud squeals from the girls managing to stop him from zoning out—the fact that he had missed that call dawning on him and it was the worst joke of all time.

He took a minute to count until a hundred, trying not to kick off at himself for getting wankered and sleeping so deep to have missed that, even more so when it meant that Ella had chosen him first, only to be replaced by George.

Fucking George, he cursed in his mind before standing up and excusing himself to go for a cig.

✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧

The New Year had come faster than expected and Alex's birthday creeped around the corner with it.

It seemed like 2014 was taking pity on Alex and giving him an early birthday present though, when he got an email from Steve and his team with the following tour dates coming up.

Alex had almost missed it, the letters on the screen of his phone merging into a big pile that confused him as he scrolled and scrolled. Until his eyes landed in a certain place that he had begged his manager to get.

Bonnaroo Music Festival 2014 - Manchester, TN, USA - 15/06/2014

He almost dropped his phone twice in the haste of dialing her phone, waiting eagerly for her to answer and trying again when it went to voicemail.

"Hello?" Ella asked breathlessly, and it sounded almost like she was running away from a loud place because the loud chatter faded away as the seconds passed.

"Promise me you're not gonna cry." He said first and foremost, and that only had a big ball of anxiety settling on Ella's stomach.

She bit her bottom lip with a frown, "Yeah, I'm not sure I can."

"Darling..." He warned as if he needed that promise to tell her the news.

She squeaked in stress, "Alex you can't just say that and expect me to say I promise! What is it?! Are you okay?!"

He smiled at the way her words stumbled into each other, "I'm more than okay darling. I just need you to promise me there won't be any tears when I tell you this."

There was loud silence for a few seconds before she hesitantly said, "Okay, I promise. Now what is it?"

"You sure you promise?" He asked again, but she could hear through his voice the smirk he clearly had on his face and she rolled her eyes.

"Stop teasing! What is it?!" She said desperately this time.

Alex let out a shaky breath before he finally let her know, "We're playing Bonnaroo darling."

A beat or two of silence were followed by a loud gasp. He giggled at her reaction and even more when her voice wavered as she asked, "Actually? For real? This year?"

He nodded stupidly, a foolish smile on his face and his heart hammering against his chest, "Yes, darling, this year."

Her scream was deafening, and he really wondered where she was just to take the piss out of her for making a scene in some public space. But then he heard her sniffling and he knew she was silently sobbing.

"You promised no tears, Eleanor." He reminded her with a soft voice.

Another sniffle was heard louder this time, "I know, I know. I'm sorry." Ella apologized halfheartedly, "I know. It's just," She stopped herself to take a deep breath and her heart felt like it was about to burst at the news, "You're coming home."

Home.

Alex thought about how Ella had grown to feel like home to him, and if the happiness and all the warmth he felt within him at that very moment didn't back that up, then he was sure he'd know the second he got to see her again. This time in her actual home.

✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧

A/N: I'm actually so damn excited to get to Bonnaroo finally!!! When I found out they'd played there in 2014 as I was plotting the basics of this fic back in April 2022, I genuinely gasped so loud. It just played so well into the timeline and building everything around it was so much fun. We're finally getting to my favourite bits of this story and I'm honestly buzzing about it - this means that we're closer to the end though :((( Only 4 more chapters and the epilogue left *cries* I hope you enjoyed this one and also hope to see you with the next one very soon - I'll try my  best I promise!! Have a great weekend darlings xx

Taglist:   @imagine-that-100 @red---moon @kennedy-brooke @faveficz @indierockgirrl @ladydraculasthings @moonvr @unwantedlovergirl @eaglestar31 @nikisfwn @funniestpersoninnyc @andrearroe @justacaliforniandreamer @alexturnersgf69 @yourorganiccigarette @chickenxdrum

[mochatsin]

WHEN THE BROTHERS GO SHOPPING WITH MC

It’s time you take a break from all the drama and craziness in Devildom by doing some shopping. Clothes, supplies, appliances, groceries… just anything you want really. And what better way to do something peaceful and simple like bringing your favorite demon along for a domestic shopping date?

This is a request made on AO3! Thank you for reading!

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

Lucifer 

It’s not easy to get him out of his office due to his normally hectic schedule unless you’re willing to work around his calendar. Lucifer is a very busy man when it comes to keeping not only his brother’s in line but also making sure the young prince doesn’t plan anything too crazy for him to handle. 

Though he finally comes around and joins you after Levi accidentally flooded the living room during his squabbles with Mammon. Now he needs to buy new couch pillows for the House of Lamentation and invest in sturdier coffee tables after the fight reduced it to splinters. Maybe even some new rope to tie up his rowdy brothers once he gets home.

Of course since you were the one who wanted to go shopping first, then he’ll make sure you finish through your list of whatever you needed in the mall before he attends to his errands of replacing whatever his brothers broke for the week. He’ll wait patiently and offer his honest opinions if you ask him for any in regards to what you need to buy.

Think of it as an IKEA date. Since you’re part of the family then Lucifer values your opinions on which furniture would look best for the house. Though if your preferred aesthetics clashed with the style of the house… Well, perhaps you two can compromise on something you both can agree on later. 

At the end of the day, Lucifer would take you out for a nice dinner as thanks for helping him pick out some nice furniture. Maybe buy you a nice piece of jewelry too as long as you promise to wear it on your next date with him to show it off to others.

There was a time a quarrel between Satan and Levi lead to the former’s tail shredding the couch pillows you chose, and you come home to find those two upside the ceiling for an hour. Lucifer is stricter when it comes to the furniture and items you both picked out together because it’s much more special to him, so he will not be so forgiving if he finds it destroyed. 

Mammon 

There’s no way Mammon would actually admit how happy he is when his human chose him to be their shopping buddy. I mean– of course you’d choose him right? He’s the Great Mammon and no one else should accompany you but him!

Being in magazine gigs, Mammon definitely knows where to show you for nice luxury brands and quality items if you need it! He’s always up to date flashy things like these after all.

Though you have to keep a tight leash on him when you go out in stores. The moment something catches his eye, he might want to buy it for himself despite having no money at the moment (or at all). He’d spend the trip talking about his schemes on how to make a quick buck so he could get his hands on that dandy looking watch he just saw earlier.

Mammon can be quite sneaky! He might place an item of his own in your basket while you’re not looking, hiding it in your pile of things and hoping that you won’t notice until it’s already bagged at the cashier. He’s counting on his chances that you end up paying for it without knowing. He once placed a few items in your groceries and you almost paid for his snacks.

If you end up treating him out for something nice, he might tease and ask you to spoil him more, but deep down he’s really happy about it. Still, be careful in spoiling him or indulging in his greed, it may become a habit of his if he gets used to it.

He’s surprisingly thoughtful, pointing out things that his brothers would like as you both walk by the stores. He’ll remember about the Devil Fizz Gummy Bears that Beel wanted, or points at the latest magazine with Asmo on the cover. But if you point it out to him he’ll deny it with a blushing face. The Great Mammon is not a softie! (he is)

Levi 

Levi is incredibly reluctant to go out shopping with you. Why would you take a shut in like him outside? Otakus like him deserve to stay indoors where they belong! The malls are infested with normies because that’s where they all go to!

It takes some (or a lot) reassurance for Levi to come out of his room. He does go outside, but never for things like a shopping date! He’s never been to one and he doesn’t wanna mess up anything. The chances of him joining you would be higher if you promise to take him to his favorite stores to check out some merch or new games.

Levi would cling onto you whenever a sales clerk approaches you both since he’s a little bit anxious around people. You’re gonna have to do all the talking for the both of you to get to places in case you guys are lost or if you need to find something because he wouldn’t be able to function.

Surprisingly, Levi is very good when it comes to clothes. It happened when you were trying to pick out a nice shirt and Levi pointed out the quality of the clothes isn’t that good before helping you find something better. This is due to his experience with looking at fabric for making his cosplays.

He doesn’t say it out loud about how good you’d look in the clothes he picked out for you, though you can see it in his blushing face. It makes his heart want to leap out of his chest, but the lump in his throat prevents him from telling you anything. His body language says it all though.

His anxious energy is gone once you bring him to a store to look at the latest games. You both spend the walk home carrying some shopping bags while Levi rants about the game he just bought and how he’s so excited to play it at home. You both are definitely going straight to his room to play it together.

Satan

Satan is happy enough to accompany you of course. Maybe he can visit the bookstore after all your errands to check if the shop finally has the book he was waiting for on the shelves, or perhaps you two can stop by to pet the stray cats before going home. 

He’d be helpful when it comes to going through your shopping list, leading you to the nearby shops and helping you find quality items for a cheaper price. He could probably haggle the shopkeepers for you if you asked him nicely.

If you take a while in a store, Satan would sit down on one of the closest chairs he can find and open up a book he brought with him in case he’ll get bored. He’ll look up and chat if you talk to him though, then continue reading as he patiently waits for you to finish up until you both leave for the next store. 

Satan would offer to carry some of your things for you if he finds that you bought way too much. He can be very sweet, but don’t abuse his kindness and make him carry everything. Satan has been through enough when he had to bring home all of Asmo’s bags once and he won't be very happy if you treat him like so.

You know what would make him very happy though? Bringing him to the appliance store so he could buy some tools and kits that he can use to dismantle Lucifer’s furniture. He would be talking about his next diabolical plan that he had planned with Belphie where he removes all the bolts in Lucifer’s office chair and hopes that he falls as soon as he takes a seat.

Satan would love to stop by an alleyway filled with street cats to feed them the cat treats he bought during the shopping trip with you. Maybe after that, you two can go grab some drinks at the Cafe. It seems like the perfect way to end such a nice date.

Asmo

You don’t even have to ask him because Asmo probably has plans to go to the mall himself that week, and he’d absolutely love to tag along with you! Because what better way to spend time with his favorite human like going out together at the mall right? Two of his favorite things!

Though if your errands involve going grocery shopping, checking out appliances, and anything that Asmo does not see as interesting then the demon may find it boring. Would probably spend his time tweeting on the phone or retouching his makeup by the nearest mirror he can find while you do your thing.

There would be times he would try to take a small detour by making you stop by some stores he wants to visit himself. There is no room for negotiation if there’s a sale because he is turning his heel and making a beeline for the entrance with a promise that he’ll find you in the next store on your list. He needs to see what that sale has to offer!

But if you take him to places he likes such as clothes shopping, shoes, or make up then he’ll have a lot to say. Definitely knows the best designer brands and some of the clerks immediately recognizes him when you both walk in. 

Did you need a new outfit for the ball? Or a wonderful everyday fragrance perfume? Maybe some shoes to match your favorite clothes? Asmo knows the best shops and the quickest route to these places. The mall is like his second home and he knows everything from the back of his hand.

Overall, you both would have a nice time just shopping together. Asmo would have a big grin walking back home with you, shopping bags in each hand, and he’s excited to test the new nail polish he bought tonight. Maybe he bought a little too much, but it was nice to splurge when he’s with someone whose company he really enjoys. 

Beel

Even though shopping isn’t something Beel does often (nor is he a fan of either), he accepts your offer if it means getting to spend more time with you for the day. He likes being helpful to you. All Beel asks is that later you both stop by Madam Scream’s so he can buy a dessert for his twin when he gets home.

He’d follow you around wherever you wanted to go like a puppy, standing close to you while he patiently watched you go through any items you needed in the mall. He’d even point to you where the nearest stores are if he knows where to go.

Beel can be quite the gentleman by offering to carry all the things you’ve bought, regardless if it’s a tiny paper bag or a large box, trust that he can carry it with ease! He’s been trained by Asmo when carrying like 10 shoeboxes in his arms for this moment. 

He’d make sure you won’t get lost in the crowds by holding your hand while his other hand held all the things you bought. Would flash you a sweet smile whenever you two make any sort of eye contact. 

You don’t necessarily have to compensate him with food, but it’s best you bring some candies in your pocket to feed him from time to time. It’s expected that Beel will be hungry throughout the trip so you’d have to give him some snacks whenever his stomach is roaring so he’d last longer.

Beel is happy to accompany you through your shopping list, but pray that his stomach won’t make you take too many detours to several food stalls before you can complete your agenda for the day. He’ll have this cute happy smile on his face once you both go home with your shopping bags and some take out from Madam Scream’s.

Belphie 

You must really mean a lot to Belphie if he agreed to go out with you for some shopping. On a weekend. When he could’ve been SLEEPING. 

Of course it was expected that he’d first say no until you nudged him for it. His half-awake glare was nothing to the puppy eyes you showed him. It reminded Belphie too much of his twin, so he reluctantly agrees to go out shopping with you as long as he gets to bring his cow print pillow with him. 

When shopping, he’s more likely to find the nearest chair and wait for you while you go wherever you want to go. If you take too long, expect him to fall asleep in a matter of minutes while sitting up. Maybe even standing up too, that’s how determined Belphie is to get some sleep. 

If your shopping date would take a few hours, Belphie is more likely to whine and nag that you both should go home so he can take a nap. When he’s getting tired, it’s evident with how slow and sluggish he’s walking that you have to drag him around with you. Unlike his twin, Belphie won’t have much energy to carry your shopping bags for you (not like he wanted to in the first place).

You both were in the Devildom equivalent of a department store and when you both passed by the mattress section, Belphie is no longer on your side. You find him asleep on top of one of the beds displayed and it’s best you complete your shopping needs before you wake him up. He’s not going anywhere, he’ll be fine. 

The moment you both come home, you don’t even have time to drop your shopping bags down. Belphie is immediately dragging you back to the attic with the intent of napping, but using you as a pillow to make up for all the times he could’ve been asleep today.

[toomuchracket]

i think the idea of them not at all planning on having anymore kids (but both secretly kinda wanting one more, but not wanting to scare the other) but she gets pregnant with baby #3 unexpectedly and matty is absolutely ecstatic and telling her he can’t wait to do it again is really cute.

several of you have asked about lore so here goes. yeah, she's unplanned - dylan will be six and elena four when she's born, and although neither you or matty have actively said you don't want another kid, baby phoebe (!!) is definitely a surprise. you come off the pill for a bit, just because you've been on it for a while with no breaks, and you genuinely forget that while you and matty are on a little date night away to a gig; that would be fine, there are other ways to stop random pregnancies, but in the grand tradition of that universe matty is condomless, because he also forgot you weren't on the pill. so you fuck (good, and lots) that night, and in the haze of checking out on time and wanting to hurry back to your girls, the fact you have no pill to take completely slips your mind. six weeks later, the nausea hits - you're wfh in the afternoon after picking elena up from nursery, and you have to RUN to the bathroom to throw up. you put it down to eating something weird, but when matty comes home with dylan he's not convinced, given that you and him have been eating the same meals for days and he's been fine; he doesn't say anything, but he does start to wonder if you might be pregnant, and his suspicions are all but confirmed the next morning when you have to run and be sick again when you clock he's making scrambled eggs for the girls, an intolerance you had both times you were pregnant before. by that point, you have an inkling of what's going on as well, and when matty says "i'll get some tests after the girls are done with swimming lessons, yeah?" you nod and kiss his cheek. you take a couple of tests, and... yeah. baby number three is in progress lol. there's a quick discussion - quick, because it's easy - about what you both want to do, but as much as you weren't prepared for another kid neither of you are opposed at all; matty's so fucking excited when you tell him you've been thinking about it for a while, because "i actually love being a dad and getting to raise a family with you and i really wanted to do it all again but really it's all up to you and i didn't wanna freak you out by bringing it up. but it's cool! we're having a baby! god, i love you. love our girls. love the tiny little munchkin of undetermined gender in your stomach too. m'so happy we're doing this" lol bless him. he's always so hands-on anyway, but he really takes extra good care of you during this pregnancy, and gets the girls (SO excited to be big sisters) involved too. he cries when you find out you're having another girl ("i love our daughters oh my god. what if they start a band they could be like haim"), and cries even more when phoebe (your name choice. bridgers is so hyped when you tell her lol) is born with the same shock of curly hair as her sisters and him. lovely lovely lovely <3

[smutlord-supreme]

A Long Road Home 18+

König X AFAB reader

Just under 8k words

CW: Violence, Mentions of War, Mentions of Kidnapping, Smut, Size Difference, Unprotected Sex, Drugging/Sex Pollen, Oral Sex (both ways), P-in-V Sex, Fingering. 

No use of Y/N. MCs callsign is Banshee. 

Summary: You and König are partnered for a mission when thing go wrong and you are hit with a grenade filled with some sort of afrodesiac. You both hope to make it back to base before the effects kick in but fail. Smut ensues. 

-Have fun with this one, if you like it I do have alot more ideas to continue this story, its the first fanfiction I've posted since I was fourteen (and the first to Tumblr ever) so be kind but constructive criticism is welcome. -

You had been partnered with König for 3 months now. He was a skilled insertion specialist and you respected him greatly. Standing 6’10 and roughly 250 lbs he was a beast of a man. Adding to his intimidation factor was a hood with bleached streaks running down from the eye holes, almost like tears. You liked König; he wasn't too cocky, or loud. Your last partner had been both, so this was a breath of fresh air. 

König had been a godsend. These last 3 months had been the easiest of your career. You were an Extractions specialist, with a focus in covert operations. Most people had assumed that König would be more of a burden than anything, due to his size, and frankly threatening aura. But you would always be quick to disagree. And it turned out to be for the best, König was willing to stay indoors and travel at night time, in fact it seemed like he preferred it. So covert operations was a perfect fit.

It wasn’t until this last mission that things had gotten complicated. You had been sent to a small town just north of Al Mazrah City, on the border of the United Republic of Adal. A simple extraction gig, fetch the daughter of a UK diplomat and take her to KorTac HQ for return to sovereign soil. Shouldn’t have taken more than 2 days including travel.

You arrived at the safehouse at midnight, the building you would be calling home for the next day was kitty corner to the supposed holding place of one Katie Simmons. The building she was being held in was nondescript, grey solid stone walls, flat roof, with an entry point that probably led into a stairwell. One front door, white, basic, König could break it down easily. And no windows to be seen.

You watched the house until the next night. Minimal movement, you estimated 2-3 armed guards, nothing you couldn’t handle. For once KorTac’s intel had been correct. So if that trend continued, Katie would be held in a downstairs bedroom, bound but unharmed. Around 8pm someone brought the mercenary standing on the roof a plate of food. Dinnertime. Everyone would have their guards down. You turned and woke a napping König.

“Get up, let's make our move.” The masked man opened his eyes and nodded, standing up and shaking a bit to get the blood flowing. You both threw on your backpacks and walked out the back door of the ‘abandoned’ house you had been camping in. This whole town had been abandoned during a set of bombings by the Republics northernmost neighbors so you didn’t need to worry about being spotted by any nosy civilians. 

No one stopped you as you crossed the street, the guard on the roof must have been tucking into his meal about now. You stopped by the front door, motioning König to kick it down. He nodded again, a man of few words. 

With a bang the door flew open and König pressed his body into the house, immediately shots went off, there were definitely more than 3 guns in there. You could hear König’s gun firing and reloading as you stayed pressed to the wall waiting for his signal to enter. 

This is what you did, König entered first, scared away or killed everyone in the main area and then you entered at his signal. Your job was to extract the target, his was to eliminate anyone necessary to get the target out alive. Not that you couldn’t handle yourself with a gun, but you had to admit König was much more intimidating. 

“Clear.” You swung your body into the door, gun raised at his signal. There were at least 6 dead. Every time KorTac gave you bad or invalid info you considered quitting. But the pay was good and it's not like you had anyone waiting on you at home. The inside of the building was nice enough, most of the bodies were in the kitchen and dining area to the right of the door. A steaming bowl of some sort of red pepper stew was on the table. You took a quick survey, there was a hallway on the other side of the main living area, 2 doors to the left, and a set of stairs at the end on the right.

You approached the hallway, signaling König to follow you. The first door was unlocked and empty, a small bathroom. The second was an office, also empty. You approached the open laptop, maybe you’d find some good intel on it, but it was password protected and your goal was extraction only, anything else was just a bonus. You turned back to König who was standing in the doorway to the room.

“All clear, let's go upstairs.” Another silent nod. He went up first, no one, they must’ve all been downstairs eating dinner when you came in. If they were holding Katie anywhere it would be here, the roof was the only other place, and there was no way they could have kept an adult woman up there without you knowing. 

The upstairs was more cramped, cots and gear strewn everywhere. You wrinkled your nose at it. You weren’t the most tidy, but this was ridiculous. Clothes piled on chairs, food wrappers thrown on the ground, guns out in the open, some of them with the safety off. These were not professionals like you had thought. But someone was funding them, the gear they were so reckless with was top of the line, and not cheap. 

You started opening all the doors upstairs. Another, messier bathroom, 2 empty bedrooms stuffed with even more gear. The last door had to contain your target, König stood at the end of the hallway. He could be a shock to most people, so you usually made first contact with friendlies. You jiggled the handle and found it locked, shooting König a confused glance, at which he shrugged. You stationed yourself in front of the door and landed 1 swift kick to the space right before the knob. It slammed open to reveal yet another empty room.

After a quick but thorough inspection you turned to him, “Fuck! König this one’s empty too. Do you think they took her onto the roof?” 

“Only one way to find out.” When König hadn’t spoken for a while it wasn’t unusual for his Austrian accent to come out in full force, this time was no exception. 

You both headed for the stairs at the other end of the fall, this time König went first, but he found his way locked by a padlocked metal door. He slammed his body into it multiple times before pulling out a crowbar that proved ineffective against the stone building, and the apparently impenetrable door. That proved your theory though. She was probably on the roof. 

You slam your bag on the ground, “Give me room.” The lock on the door seems basic enough, they had depended on it being unbreakable, not impenetrable. You kept bump keys in your pack at all times, easier to carry than a whole pick kit, and König usually had a mallet hanging off his bag for stubborn doors. 

You pushed the key into the lock and held your hand out for the hammer. König was already prepared and waved you out of the way, gently tapping the key multiple times until a click was heard. A slow way to do things, but still faster than going back out and finding a way onto the roof that way. And you needed all the time you could save, there were already sounds of a helicopter fastly approaching by the time you got the door open. 

You peeked your head into the fresh air on the roof, staring at the sky, “Two klicks to the South, let's move fast big guy!” You could imagine him nodding, although you didn't look back at him as you ran out onto the roof, pushing over and kneeling behind a lawn table for some cover. 

König on the other hand ran straight at the person closest to him, throwing him down and stomping on his throat before turning and pointing his gun at the next man. The second man was smarter, holding Katie in front of him with a pistol pointed to her head. He stepped backwards standing on the edge of the roof. 

“You’re going to let us leave here unharmed.” The helicopter circled overhead, looking for somewhere to land. “We just want to get out of here safely.”

You looked at Katie, she wasn’t crying, or even scared at that matter. Normally you would chock that up to nerves, or even drugs. But she looked lucid, and you could even see her lips moving, speaking to the man softly while caressing his arm. He didn’t hold her tightly either. Instead holding her gently, she could have gotten away at anytime. 

“König,” You stood and walked over to him, gun still training on the pair on the edge of the roof. “I don’t think she’s been kidnapped, look at her body language.”

He huffed back at you in agreement. “We’re under contract to send her back to England.” Always so obedient, that was one thing you couldn’t stand about him. Something that KorTac loved, he offset your impulsiveness perfectly. 

“I know that, but what I’m saying is, I don’t think he’s going to kill her.” The Helicopter set down in the yard of the house, sending dangerous amounts of shrapnel around. The four of you hit the deck. “We can just take her now.” You yelled over the sound of the engines. 

He huffed again, “Got it.” Despite the whipping winds he jumped up and ran at the couple now on the ground. The man panicked at the beast running towards him, attempting to stand, but König was faster, kicking the hand that held his gun, and then his face. Knocking him out cold.

Katie screamed and sat up, hitting König in the legs and you stood and ran over as well. “Katie Simmons, we’re with KorTac, your father sent us to rescue you.” You grabbed her by the arm, forcing her to half-crouch half-walk with you back to the door to the roof. “We’re going to take you back to England.” She was shaking her head and sobbing the whole time. “König, cover us.” 

He walked in front, with the landing of the helicopter there was bound to be more manpower coming your way. You met the first person on the stairs between the first and second floors. König shot her point blank and pushed her down the stairs. After that they just kept coming, apparently shoved into the old helicopter like clowns in a car. König took care of three more before they started coming from above, a second helicopter dropping people off via rope ladder.

“Fuck König they’re coming at us from both sides. Hold onto Katie, I’m going to call for Exfil.” You pulled out your portable radio, pulling out its antenna. “Phoenix this is Banshee, you there, over.” 

After a few seconds, “Banshee this is Phoenix, what's your status? Over.”

“We’re in a bit of a bind, Captain, requesting immediate Exfil for 3 to my coordinates. Expect enemy fire, 2 helicopters, do you copy? Over.”

‘I copy 20 Klicks out. Do you have the target? Over.”

“Affirmative, over” 

“Copy, over.”

You turn to König, “Can you hold on for ten minutes?” He nods, still holding onto Katie while she fights for her life. He has one hand clamped over her mouth and the other wrapped around her wrist while she tires herself out. That's one thing you hate about this job. Half of it is fighting terror, but the other half is bureaucratic bullshit like a saving a girl who ran off to marry some boy her daddy didn’t like. 

You shoot a man coming down the stairs, cursing the fact you didn’t bring a larger team, expecting it to be a quick  mission. Just fetch her and bring her back, easy peasy. The people coming down the stairs had armor now, throwing flash grenades to disorient you. A thought crossed your mind, if you died here, on a mission like this, you didn’t have anyone. No one to even inherit your life insurance, it was a little sad. 

König interrupted your thoughts, “We’re going to get out of here. I can hear the helicopter.” This man was inhuman, how could he hear that all over the gunfire, and Katie's wails. “On my count.”

It’s your turn to nod. You were going to run for it, pushing through the group of 10 unarmored men that came through the front door. 

“One...Two...” On three he pushes Katie towards you and takes off, you follow dragging the squirming girl through the space he creates. Soon you are both, somehow, unharmed and outside. You suck in a breath glad to be free from the smoke inside. You see a third helicopter circle above you, bearing the Kortac symbol. You run into the entryway of the building across the street, freeing them up to open fire on the mercenaries on the ground. 

The Mercenary helicopters flee the scene, whoever is funding them is rich, but not rich enough to replace 2 helicopters. Or maybe the pilots are just not willing to die over some quarrel with a billionaire across the sea who won’t even know that they’re dead. That's the thing, the people you worked for, no matter what side you fought for, only saw you as pawns, not real people with families and lives outside of this field. 

You stand with Katie in your arms and König to your back, one of his arms holding you to him, his breath coming heavy. “We’re done.” 

You start laughing, a bad habit from years of stress. “That was so fucked up.” 

After everyone is dead or gone the helicopter sets down in the street and 2 new recruits rush out and grab Katie from you. “Banshee. König.” They nod to you as they pull her into the machine, its blades still spinning slowly. 

König tries to climb in too but is stopped by the smaller of the two recruits. “No room, you’re going to have to drive back.” You sigh, this is probably the Captain's doing, he hates it when he has to send someone to retrieve vehicles from the field. Especially this far out of the way. You know that he probably gave the order to wipe everyone out so that you and König could have a ‘some nice bonding time.’ He was like that. 

König looked like he was about to start something with the recruits, but you pulled him back. He became Ornery at the end of missions, especially when things didn’t go the way he expected. “Come on big guy, let's just get home as fast as we can, I’ll drive so you can lean your seat back.” You hooked a finger into the edge of his vest dragging him out of his position beside the chopper and he followed, although hesitantly. He rarely fought you on the decisions you made.

You took back your spot in the entryway of a house and shielded your faces as the helicopter took off with your target. “Let's get home, I don’t know about you but I’m itching for a nice hot bath.” You turned and smiled at König who you imagined was still frowning under his mask. But he followed you either way as you both gathered the bags you had dropped right outside the house. They had plenty of rocks and shrapnel embedded in them, like our poor tender skin. You hated helicopters, they were such a hassle. 

As you walked back to your Jeep hidden around the corner of the block there was a sound from the roof. Both you and König turned to see what it was, finding Katies lover awoken from his blackout. “YOU  TOOK HER FROM ME.” He was swaying lightly, red in the face and crying heavy tears. It left  his face dirt stained. He held his arms above his head as he held what appeared to be a grenade. He pulled the pin and threw it at you, just as you fired a shot at his head. 

König jumped forward, blocking you with his body, but it's not an explosion but a noxious gas that smells of fish, and chocolate that comes out of the bomb, immediately making you gag. You both run from the cloud. It makes you lightheaded and you jump in and start the car. You drove far enough to get out of the range of the cloud before you stopped the Jeep and turned it off. “Are you ok? Feel any side effects yet?” König shakes his head and you pull out the radio again. “Phoenix this is Banshee, over.”

Click, “This is Phoenix, what is your status banshee, over.”

“We met up with your exfil tem, Katie is on her way, over.”

“Good, what did you need, officer? Over”

“They took out a good portion of the men captain, but the last one hit us with a gas, we don’t know what it was. Please prepare for testing once we arrive Captain, over.” 

“Copied, keep me updated, we don’t have a team to send for you now, so stay in on piece officer. Over” 

Of course he didn’t exfil was saved for less… Expendable characters than yourself. “Copied, over.” 

You started the car again, a feeling in the pit of your belly starting to form. Hopefully this wasn’t one of those gasses that made you throw up all over the place, you weren't squeamish, but you hated being sick. König looked at you intensely through his mask, scrutinizing your face. “You got something to say? Then say it,” you snapped at him. Upset about the lack of support from your employers. He stared for a second more and then looked back out through the passengers side window, watching the drive fly by.

You made it another 20 minutes into the drive before you had to pull over. The road was empty in that part of the state and you were glad for it. You had begun overheating within 5 minutes of starting the drive and now it was unbearable even without windows. You could tell König was too. Panting around his hood, eyelids fluttering. He was very reserved and wouldn’t complain, but with full tactical gear on, it would be impossible to make it through the hour and a half drive back to base. 

You got out and stripped down to your undershirt, knowing you would get chewed out when you got back to base, but choosing not to care. “König,” you nudged him lightly. He sat up, grabbing your hand. He was still wearing gloves somehow. “You’re going to get dehydrated if you keep sweating like that. At least take off your gloves and helmet.” He released your hand and nodded, doing as you asked, and getting out of the car to take off his tactical vest as well. When he turned back around to sit down you noticed a bulge in his pants, ignoring it for the time being. 

You both got in the car and kept driving, but after another 10 minutes you had to pull over again, the tightness in your lower stomach intensifying. Making you move uncomfortably in your seat. Were you… horny? That rarely happened to you. You were always in the field, and you prioritized separating work from pleasure. Things like horniness were for when you were back on home soil. 

You and König both got out, circling to the back of the Jeep. You pulled out two water bottles, bending over the end of the trunk to get to your packed provisions. When you turned back around König was looking at you with that intense blue gaze of his. This time you didn't have the energy to bring it up, handing him the water bottle and sitting on the edge of the trunk in sweaty silence. After a while you were doing some staring of your own, the bulge in his pants had grown… alot. You were struggling to keep from thinking about the size of it, you all wore the same pants, so you knew what a hard on looked like through these pants. The men in your unit were not unexcitable creatures after all… but this, this was a different beast, you could tell.

You didn’t know if it was the lack of sex in your life or this unnatural horniness you felt, but soon all you could think of was what his cock might look like. What it might feel like. You blushed and stood up abruptly. “We should get going.”

“Ein Moment." Königs voice wheezed out. He was panting. Heavily. You turned around to look at him. His eyes lock with yours, filled with desperation as he sits heavily on the back of the car. Making it sink down with his weight. He placed both hands on his knees, finally looking away, but not before you noticed his pupils were massive. You HAD been dosed with something. But what was the question?

You became lost in your own thoughts pacing back and forth. You didn’t want to contact the Captain over the radio, the symptoms were non-life threatening, and, frankly, embarrassing. But what if they got worse… Every option ran through your head and you only stopped when you realized König was groaning loudly, leaning backwards on his hands, face staring at the sky in discomfort. You rush over to him, your own discomfort all but forgotten. He had gotten the brunt of the attack after all, the effects must be tenfold for him. 

“Come on big guy, let's get you back to base.” You prop one shoulder in his armpit and try your best to lift him, but he's not much help, and you're not nearly tall enough to get him all the way up and out of the car. So you both end up falling back into a seated position. “Fuck, you want to help me out here dude. We can’t get you help until we’re back on base.”

König just continued panting, completely out of it. You did the only thing you could think of and you slapped him, right across the face. The blow was softened by the hood he always wore, but it still brought him back to reality. He grabbed your wrist and threw you to the ground. “ WAS MACHST DU?” He stood, towering over you. 

“I’m helping you, now get in the goddamn car we need to get back to base.” You stood and dusted yourself off glaring at him. Your wrist was throbbing lightly where he had grabbed you. You stomped back to the driver's side and got in, slamming the door. He followed closely after and crawled in. 

“I’m sorry.” His head was lowered slightly. 

‘I know, let's just get back to base and try and forget about this.” You started the car again. “It’s been a long day and I’m sure we’re both just tired.”

“Ja.” he crossed his arms and hunkered down, his cock still straining noticeably at his pants, that alone must have been painful. 

The sun was starting to set, which was a welcome break, since your body was now going in waves of hot and cold. Not to mention the throbbing wetness in your own pants. Every time you moved or shifted your clit would brush some seam, no matter how much you tried to avoid the sensation. And it sent shivers through your body every time. 

König seemed to be going through a much similar situation, bucking very few moments, his arms still crossed over his chest. Every once in a while a hand would slip free, reaching down. Then he’d stop himself right before he reached his pants and cross his arms even harder than before. If the two of you weren’t so uncomfortable you would have probably laughed at this situation.

You drove in silence for another 15 minutes before you were outside hunched over and gagging from the hot flashes. There were no more layers of clothes to take off while remaining decent and you were miserable. König got out and rubbed your back gently as you bent over, saliva pooling into your throat. You could feel the feverish heat from his hand through your thin tank top. It was soothing, the rhythmic feeling of his heavy hands.

Your face flushed again as your underwear flooded with heat. You stood up stock straight, turning and running face first into König’s chest. He grabbed you by the shoulders and you looked at him in the eyes. They were filled with vivid exhaustion. You were still nearly 45 minutes from base, and with your symptoms worsening.

You Knelt.

Placing one hand over the hard lump in his pants, praying he was feeling the same symptoms as you. “König I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to make it through the rest of the drive like this.” You gestured to your pants, flooded with warmth, that he couldn’t see. His eyes widened with recognition, so you knew he knew what you meant. “Can I?” You grabbed the zipper of his pants gently.

He nodded and you were once again glad for his strong silent demeanor. You couldn’t think any words could have made this situation less embarrassing. You undid the button and sipped down his pants gently. Warmth flooded out where his underwear was now exposed. You pulled his pants down around his thighs, suddenly driven by a rabid fervor.

You felt like you were starving, the professional part of your brain shutting off being replaced with one that was unbelievably and uncontrollably horny. You freed his cock. Being confronted with a behemoth. If dicks could be equated to snakes then this was an anaconda. A breath escaped your lips, your heart going crazy in your chest. 

You made eye contact with König once again, and you began cursing that mask. Yes his eyes were as hungry as you were, but the fact that you couldn’t see the rest of his face. His panting mouth and flushed cheeks, was a crime. 

You returned your focus to the throbbing shaft in front of you. Gripping it with one hand, he was already hard, painfully so, tip already swollen and leaking precum. You still gave it a few strokes before sitting up on your knees and encircling it in your lips. Horniness and desperation fill your senses as you moved your head slowly back and forth. The sound of his gentle, muffled moans. The taste and smell of his precum. The feeling of your mouth and jaw stretching to accommodate the sheer size of him. It was almost painful how big he is, and it took the majority of your focus just to avoid gagging. 

He wasn’t thrusting, instead just letting you do all the work, which was probably for the best. He was considerably stronger than you were and the pressure in your throat was already enough to bring tears streaming down your face. You looked up slightly, his head was thrown back and one hand hovered just above your head. He was a gentle creature, and if a dick wasn’t in your mouth you would have laughed again. You grabbed the hand and placed it on the back of your head, continuing to pump steadily back and forth while running your tongue over the warmth in your mouth.

With this new, unspoken permission he took the hair tie out of your hair, slipping it onto his wrist and tanged his fingers deep into your locks, as close to the skin as he could get. You could tell he knew what he was doing. You blushed at the thought of this gentle beast ever being with another person. He kept a light pressure on your head, not enough to force you deeper, but enough to make sure you knew he was enjoying himself. Each time your tongue swiped over the head of his dick his fingers would constrict lightly. You did it so many times your scalp was tender and tingling.

You gripped the back of his thigh, right above his knee for support as you began taking more and more into your mouth. Taking every one of his moans as a challenge to go deeper. Your other hand was pressed into a fist, fingernails digging into your palm, grounding yourself. A distraction was most definitely necessary to keep you from gagging every time he hit the back of your throat. 

You looked up again, this time making eye contact with a set of tear filled eyes. “Please, I need-” His voice was breathy and needy. You dug your nails into your palm harder, and strengthened your grip on the back of your pants. You made committal noises and tried to nod around his cock. Only resulting in drool running down your chin and down the front of your shirt.

He got the point though, gripping your hair and thrusting hard into your mouth. You gag involuntarily, smacking him in the back of the knee. After that he continues thrusting but less… violently. Instead opting to push deep into your throat slowly, before pulling most of the way out so you can breathe again. Every time he would thrust in he would let out a winded, mewling moan, whining from the pleasure your mouth and throat brought him.  This cycle repeated for another minute, although it felt like it could have been hours.  Before he pulled his dick out all the way, loosening his hand from your hair and stroking his cock a few times, shooting sticky mess all over your face and into your hair. 

You came down off your knees and collected yourself. There was a mixture of cum, tears and drool staining your face and chest. Sharp red marks showed themselves where you dug your fingernails into your own hand, a few pinpricks of blood where the most pressure was applied. Not to mention the pain in your knees from grinding them into dirt and gravel for nearly 10 minutes. But you couldn’t complain, the pain was a welcome relief to the discomfort you had been feeling for 40 minutes prior.

By the time that you had caught your breath König had gone back to the car and returned with a spare white t-shirt. He grabbed your chin lightly, bending over you, not forcing you to stand quite yet. Softly running the t-shirt over your face and torso. His cock had been stuffed safely back in his pants as well. You were almost sad to be rid of the view, but you didn't say anything about it. 

By the time you were ready to stand the horniness was returning, the inside of your pants once again slick with heat. You stood on shaking legs with the help of König. Walking back towards the car, still unsure how to keep your breath in your body after that. You opened the trunk for another bottle of water, bending into the trunk when you felt a hand between your shoulder blades

“Stay just like that,” his voice came soft but clear behind you. He was so tall, that in this position all you could feel behind you was thigh. Which he shoved between your legs, separating them. He then began to grind that 1 big thigh into the gap, awkwardly, but effectively making the throbbing of your cunt worsen. 

He reached the hand not on your back underneath you, deftly undoing the button and zipper to your pants. Just as you had done for him not 20 minutes before. “Is this ok?” You nodded and tried to make eye contact with him. But when you went to turn your head the hand from your back migrated up to the back of your head. “Shh, don’t look.” His voice came clearer. His mouth was no longer covered. 

You heard cloth shift and rub. He pulled your pants down around your ankles as he knelt behind you. One hand now on the small of your back and the other on your lower stomach. Sandwiching you between his warm hands. You felt his nose brush against the crotch of your underwear. It was big, you had never seen his face so this surprised you. You had always assumed his features to be softer, like most of the German and Austrian men you had met during your service. Although, over the last 20 minutes you had learned many new things about König.

As you were, once again, lost in your own thoughts, he dug in. Starting above the cotton of your underwear. Prodding and kneading at you with his warm tongue, sending a shiver up your body. His breath was hot and tickled the inside of your thighs. You clamped a hand over your mouth to control your breath and the other gripped one of the bags in your trunk with white knuckles.

Soon he pulled back, removing the hand from your back, leaving the one on your stomach, and eased your panties down to meet your pants. He let out a heavy breath, “Sheiße, du bist schön.” With that he sank one finger into your pussy, your breath escaped you. It was huge, but you were so wet it slid in like butter. He stroked slowly, hooking it slightly as he pulled out, catching your edges lightly every time. Then he added tongue back into the mix and you were in heaven. 

You felt him laugh lightly as you squirmed under his touch. You couldn't even be bothered to be self conscious as you groaned and moaned. Eyes rolling back into your head as he added a second finger. You felt like a fish the way you were gasping for air. “König,” Your breathy cries rang out in the air.

“Do you like that Mien Hase?” He was getting cocky, something you would normally find annoying, but right here. Right now. It was the sexiest thing ever.

“Yes, God, Please, I-” he shoved into you, hard. Sucking on your clit like it was the last thing he would ever eat. His fingers dug tightly into your stomach as you ground against his face. “God you’re so-”

He pulled his face back from your vagina,, “Tell me what you need Sußchen. What do you want.” You whined at this, suddenly embarrassed. He waited a few moment, still pumping his thick fingers in and out. “Oh, so you are done?” He said in a teasing tone removing the hand from your stomach and slowly, carefully slipping both fingers from your hole. Lightly flicking your throbbing clit before removing all stimulation.

“No, no, please... Please make me cum,” you couldn’t do anything to keep the whiny desperation out of your voice. 

“I can help you with that,” he planted a kiss on your bare butt. Keeping his mouth on that cheek as he reinserted his fingers, once at a time at a languid speed, like we had all day. 

“König, please,” you begged him, pushing back against his fingers. 

He began kissing any place his mouth could reach as he ramped up with his fingers once again. This time using his second hand to deftly rub your clit while his other hand worked its magic. You whimpered and ground with every single movement. The world falling away to pure pleasure.  You lost all senses outside of sex. The sounds, the smells, the feeling. All overwhelming you. 

And König seemed pleased too, letting out animalistic grunts as he kissed up and down your legs. Speaking softly in German, urging you to keep going, that you were so good, and so sweet. “Come on Hase cum for me. You can do this.” 

Then he started nipping. 

At first on the sides of your hips and butt. But then he dipped further down, in between your thighs. An awkward position you were sure. A small pinching bite followed by the soft swipe of a tongue, repeated a hundred times. Overwhelming you. Anything you had tried to do to hold on was gone now. The hand over your mouth fell away and the air was filled with the sound of your hopeless moans. 

Soon you were cumming around his fingers. Pussy constricting on their firm steadiness, abs hurting as you gasped for the second time that night. You were in heaven laying there, your thighs a mess, as König once again cleaned the slick off your body. He whispered sweet nothings to you while he did it. Speaking the most he had all week. He leaned down and planted one last kiss between your shoulders. 

You pulled on your pants in awkward silence. Not sure if you should tell him that was the best eating out you had ever received or not. He was actually the first to break the silence. “That was amazing. I-” he stopped for a moment, thinking about his words. “I don't know about you, but I don’t regret it one bit.”

You stopped midway through tucking in your shirt and looked at him. “I don���t either.” and you were telling the truth. You didn’t regret it, you had your concerns, but you absolutely felt no regret. “That was amazing.” You leaned up, standing on your toes and kissed his mask, which he had pulled back down before you had stood up.  

Suddenly it hit you. You had fucked your coworker. This could only go one of two ways, management finds out and separates you two, or things get so awkward that you could no longer work together… That made this whole thing quite a waste if you didn’t actually get to feel his cock inside of you.

You reached up and grabbed his hood, pulling him down and kissing him hard on the lips through the mask. “You up for one more round big boy?” his soft eyes grew hungry again, and you swore you could see the signs of a smile under that mask. 

“Are you?” He picked you up, looping his hands under your ass as you wrapped your legs around his hips. Already growing hard at the prospect of you. He walked you both to the hood of the car, now well cooled off during your shenanigans earlier. 

He set you down, this time helping you pull your pants and underwear off all the way. He followed with his own pants, pulling them down and kicking them off onto the dirt road next to him. Looking at his cock from a standing view somehow made it more intimidating. Suddenly doubting if you could fit it in. 

“Scared?” His cockiness was back in full force. You’d have to correct him for that later, but now was not the time.

You took his challenge, pulling yourself onto the flat hood of the jeep and spreading your legs for him. He looked ferocious under the mask. Reaching forward and pulling open your pussy lightly with one thumb, like he was considering how best to tackle a puzzle.

He flipped you over onto your stomach once more. His hips just a little higher than your ass in this position. He rolled the shirt he'd been using to clean the two of you into a makeshift pillow, sticking it under your hips. “Are you ready?” His thumb was once again lightly tugging at the opening to your vagina. 

“God yes König, please fuck me.” You didn’t have to ask twice, König was lifting your hips to meet his cock the moment you said yes. Lining himself up with your dripping entrance and easing himself in. It was an achingly slow process accustoming yourself to his size. He pushed in, stopping once the pressure got too great and then continuing again once you relaxed enough to continue. 

“Mein Gott, du bist so eng.” He grunted with the effort, one hand holding you up, the other holding himself up as he leaned over you. He started stroking in and out of you with a purposefully, frustratingly, slow speed. Each time you tried to push back against his hips he held you fast. Leaving himself in complete control. 

You could only imagine what you looked like from behind. Pussy dripping wet, desperately trying to push more of his cock into you. His fingers were digging into your hip. In the morning you were going to have bruises all over your legs. "God König, you're so fucking big." You squealed as his hips made contact with your ass again. Every time he inserted himself fully you could feel the pressure all the way up to your ribs. Pushing in and out methodically. 

He reached up leaving one hand on your hip and lacing the other through your hair, pulling your head back and exposing your neck. You smiled at him looking at him through your peripheral right as he slammed into you. It made your eyes roll back, and brought out the most guttural moan you had ever made in your life. "Fuck. König!" you screamed. 

He started grunting with effort at every stroke. Finally taking the hand off your hip and letting you thrust and grind as you pleased. The only thing keeping you on the slippery hood of the car was the power behind his hips and pure strength of some gods will. You couldn't help but get loud as the steady pounding led towards climax "please," You moaned, "faster."

He picked up the pace making his strokes shallower, so he could slam himself into your pussy more often. Never reducing the amount of pure power that went into each and every stroke. He leaned over you burying his teeth into your shoulder. That was the final straw taking you over a single, violent precipice. You spasmed as he continued his steady and constant motion though it. 

"We're not done yet, Engel." He slipped your sweating heaving form over onto its back. Only pulling out for a moment before thrusting into you again. In this position you could see just the corner of his jaw poking out from where the mask caught on his sweaty jaw. You reached up and adjusted it. 

You were curious of course. The whole team was, but he was your partner and you'd let him decide when to show his face. He grabbed the hand that pulled down his mask and held it to his mouth. "Danke liebchen." His breath was warm and his hand enveloped yours in an admittedly attractive way. You blushed at the small tender moment between you two. 

After that you kept eye contact as he thrust into you. Building onto your third orgasm of the day. He kept your hand in his, trapping it against the hood of the car. Keeping you from sliding off the edge. With the other hand he reached down and started rubbing slow circles around your clit, making your hips shove into him involuntarily. 

"Jesus Christ König. Fuck!" You grabbed onto the front of his shirt pulling him in for another kiss. While he was down with you, you wrapped your arm around his neck. Savoring his kisses through the hood. 

"God, Hase, can't get enough can you? Let switch this up." He lifts you up wrapping both your arms around his neck keeping his lips on yours and his dick in you. He then grabbed your thighs and coaxed you into wrapping them around his waist. Standing up to his full staggering height while he walks back around to the back of the Jeep. Laying you flat down in the trunk so he can thrust down into you. 

This was a game changer. The kissing, the pressure on your womb, it was all too much. Having you screaming his name while he whispered praises into your lips. One of his strong hands began kneading at your breast. Rubbing the nipple between his thumb and forefinger, stopping every once in a while to flick it painfully, making you gasp. "You're so fucking sexy," he looked you up and down. "I wish you could see yourself like this. All full of my cock and squirming around. You're gorgeous."

He began kissing and sucking at your neck like a teenager. Biting the same place on your shoulder as before. This time stopping to suck on that place until you were sure a hickey would form. When he made eye contact again you could tell he was getting close. His breath was heavy and his pupils were small with concentration. "God I'm so close Liebchen. Just a couple more- '' He stroked in again and came Hard. Warm liquid filling your pussy as he continued to thrust until you joined him in Sweet bliss. "Holy shit." He leaned on one arm over you. Not pulling out yet. "That was incredible." 

You stayed that way for several moments before he began untangling himself from you. Getting his cock out was a slow process, your vagina had welcomed him greedily but was less than certain about letting him go again. Finally he detached himself and began wiping up again, pulling out spare clothes from your packs as you wiped yourself down.

"I don't think we'll want to wear what we had. Smells a little… strong." You could disagree with that as you pulled out a pack of wet wipes, cleaning yourself from ears to toes before passing the pack on for König to do the same. With you both redressed and refreshed, apparently recovered from your fevers, you set out to drive the rest of the way to the base. 

You were met with a medical team and your Captain. "Banshee." He addressed you, "You're back late."

"Good evening Captain. We had some… technical difficulties on the way here due to that gas. Lightheadedness, nausea. All things I will go over with the medical team during our tests. Kept me from driving for a good 30 minutes."

"I think you may have lost count of time Officer, you’re well over an hour late." Phoenix said, causing König to chuckle under his breath. "I expect a full report on my desk by tomorrow evening. But for now, go with the medics and get some rest. You did good today, Katie is already on a plane back to England and her father is very happy. We couldn't have done it without you."

"Thank you sir, I appreciate it." With that the Captain walked away leaving you two to be led back to be seen. The medics ran blood tests and found traces of stimulants in your system. Consistent with the symptoms you told them. You left out the real cause of your delay, because as you looked at König from across the room, it felt a shame to share the story with anyone else.