#random thoughts on a monday afternoon

[theirloveisgross]

.

[kissandships]

Karen Sirko is a girls’ girl

[hyperesthesias]

I think one of the most confusing things for people who've never experienced complex trauma is that people who are healing from complex trauma sometimes need to do things that may be perceived as 'unhealthy' in order to be healthy. People who've endured complex trauma, specfically, are phyisologically and neurologically different than someone who has never experienced complex trauma. Therefore the needs and healthy baselines between the two groups will be vastly different. People who have never experienced complex trauma need to stop dictating what is and what isn't A. healthy and B. necessary for health and survival for those who are healing from complex trauma. Forcing a group of people who are physically different to conform to a set of standards or markers that will not work for them is the foundation of ableism.

The other side to that coin is: ableism centers around people with different levels of abilities (and that doesn't always mean a lack of ability, but rather just varying degrees of abilities). Not everyone who has endured complex trauma is disabled. The narrative of ableism only be applicable to people with debilitating physical or mental disabilities only ironically and conversely negatively affects those groups by eliminating other levels of ability, and neglecting to acknolwedge that humans do not exist on a linear scale of ability(ies).

Our differences will always intrinsically make us appear different to those who do not share our same levels of cognition or ability. The common baseline of health (whether mental or physical) will therefore always be a varying graph and not a model of positive or negative integers.

[seattlesellie]

hi angel i saw u say you wanted more fluffy ellie requests and i thought about maybe something along the lines of the cute pics she has of you two in her phone idk it’s just something i thought of u don’t have to write it if u don’t want to i just love ur blog and everything u write 💗💗💗💗🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻

not about love ♡

pre-dating slightly loser college!ellie 🦕 incoming !! basically u go through ellies phone and find… something. part 1 of… maybe?

warnings: slightly mean ellie for a second, sexual tension, mentions of weed and alcohol.

part 2

Tic-Toc, the gentle sounds of the ancient clock in Ellie’s room filled the thick air. a gift from Joel. It was a warm, lazy afternoon. You almost fell asleep, almost. Her bed smelled like her, so did the ruffled, Nirvana t-shirt you were laying on. Everything in this room practically screamed Ellie. The scent, the sketches on the wall — of Dina, and Jesse, and you. Why did she have more sketches of you than anyone else? A dinosaur lego, a miniature solar system, obscure band posters, Oh! here’s the pin you gifted her once!, two pairs of mismatched socks, a random rock (“It’s from like, the moon” she said. It was from the local science museum.)

“El” you whined, receiving a gentle hum in response.

“I’m bored” you exclaimed with a heavy sigh. It's not as if she owed you any attention, she told you she had to study. For some reason, some odd reason nor you or her could put your finger on, you had to be there with her. “Well” you excused. “It’s not like I have anything better to do, right?” A lie. What about your project due Monday? Nevermind.

“Catch this” she exclaimed, tossing a serene light blue stress ball directly at your face.

“Ow!” you whined, yet again. If only you knew what those whines did to her.

“Sorry bro, gotta finish this fucking question. She said, flexing her sore hand. “Fuck this fucking Prof, seriously” She mumbled, clearly annoyed, clearly frustrated. Ellie had this thing, well, if you could even call something that she only had specifically with you a “Thing” — where she had to call you by those stupid names. “Dude” “Bro” “Jeez man!” just to see you squirm. Youd flinch ever so slightly, a fleeting reaction that betrayed a hint of offense flickering in your eyes. Every time you couldn’t help but pout, couldn’t help but look a little bit hurt, it did something to her. It wasn’t because she liked hurting you, God knows she didn’t. It would give her a glimmer of hope, of light. Shed journal about it, too;

“I called her Bro again. She looked really sad. Why does she get sad? I’m so fucking stupid. It’s probably because no one else calls her fucking bro, I’m literally delusional. Also had expired fucking Pizza. Worst day ever. Shit. Not that bad because she smiled at batted her eyelashes. God Ellie you need therapy.” YOURE A DUMBASS!!!!”

Half an hour had elapsed, brimming with Ellie muttering to herself under her breath. lighting a blunt, burning the blunt, passing it to you, begging you to give it back after 3 seconds.

You were pretty sure you had gone through every single app on your phone five times already. Stalking rando’s on Instagram, watching ASMR tiktoks, talking shit with Dina in the groupchat. How much more of this boredom could you take? My god, you were humming a stupid melody to yourself.

“Griiiind boy you know I grind when I pull-“

“Shh”

Did Ellie just shush you?!

“Excuse me?” You said.

“I’m trying to concentrate. Also what the fuck is a Fartulum?” Ellie retorted, withdrawing slightly and punctuating her frustration with stomps on the floor. God, she was too fucking cute.

“Can I play on your phone?” You questioned innocently. One more opening and closing the same App and you’d have lost your damn mind. You could practically see the Candy Crush candies popping inside of your brain every time you closed your eyes.

“No” she answered bluntly.

“Why? you scared I’ll find your nudes? Not gonna look- Swear on my li-“

You could hear her eye rolling, somehow.

“I dont have fucking nudes” she affirmed with a touch of exasperation.

“Someone else’s?” you said quietly. Your tone almost exposed you. Almost.

“Psh… no” Ellie said in return, just as quiet. Her tone almost exposed her, too.

Wish I had yours. Shut it, Ellie.

“Then let me go on your phone” You whined, got off the bed and almost slipped on one of her belts that laid on the floor. So messy, so, so Ellie.

She cast a sidelong glance at you, her eyes darting from the corner of her vision. Her grip on the pen was incredibly tight. It happened every time you got near, got too close to her. Whether it was clutching the strings of her hoodie, her knuckles turning white with tension, or her toes curling in a clenched stance. Shed never ever admit it to herself, cool, calm & collected, but fuck did you make her nervous.

You settled yourself on the chair beside her, causing her to divert every ounce of her attention back to her assignment, shifting it solely onto you. You. You. You.

She gazed directly into your eyes, and a peculiar warmth flooded your face. Its funny how even after being friends for all this time, making eye contact with her managed to stir something within you. She asked you about it once, mid fight. “You never even look at me when we talk!” she huffed. “Yes I do!” no you dont. “No you don’t!” and when your lips quivered, turning you in, she left it at that.

Ellie scratched the back of her neck, her arms flexing subtly with the motion. You gave her that look, the look that made her cheeks go bright pink, her hands clam up. She bit her lip. “Fine”. You won, flashing her a toothy smile she couldn’t help but grin at.

And there you were, with Ellie’s iPhone 5C (Yeah, she never got that buying a new iPhone every 2 years phenomenon) laying on Ellie’s bed, in Ellie’s room.

“Ew - Ellie what the fuck? why is your screen greasy?!” You squirmed, fingertips grazing over her slightly sticky screen. Is that fucking chicken nuggets residue?

“Shut up, dude. You asked me for my phone so deal with the consequences”

Dude.

You rolled your eyes, proceeded to wipe the screen of her phone with the corner of her cozy flannel bedsheet. Her phone was really warm. One more month and it would probably set on fire.

“Password?” You questioned, and shifted to lay on your stomach, your cheek caressing the pillow. It had a little auburn colored hair laying on top of it.

Ellie huffed and waited a second before she responded, contemplating again. It’s harmless, fuck it.

“2222”

“Okay, seriously - you could get hacked with that dumbass password”

“Pffft” Ellie huffed. “I’d fucking beat them up if they tried robbing me” she said, ever the brave.

“I’m not… talking about robbers, Ellie. Like, hackers?”

“Same thing”

“You cant beat up hackers they’re- Nevermind” you sighed.

2222.

If the room was classic Ellie, god, so was her phone. Default Apple background, because she truly couldn’t be bothered. iMessage, Instagram with four pictures on her feed; One of her arm slightly flexing her tat (who the fuck was the bitch who commented “damn” under there?), one of a stray cat wearing her grey beanie, a meme that says “Fuck sex. Let’s do something romantic like play Fireboy and Watergirl on CoolMathGames.Com” (God, she thought she was so funny for that one. 6 Likes, one from you, one from Jesse, the fake Instagram account you and Dina created for Joel, her ex Cat, and one from Dina and a spam bot). Next to the Instagram laid the NASA app (of course), Call Of Duty for iPhone (Made her sleep for only fifteen minutes one night), calculator, 9GAG (People still use that?!), and… her gallery.

You pursed your lips, contemplating the situation. Should you?after all, Ellie said; No nudes. So what could possibly be on there?

Of course.

You couldn't contain a soft giggle that escaped your lips, earning an inquisitive whine from Ellie. "What's so funny?" she grumbled, unable to resist her curiosity.

“Said you were studying, so study” You said, while scrolling through her gallery.

As you readjusted your position on the bed, you unintentionally swiped to the left, revealing her albums. Just harmless browsing, right?

“Screenshots”

“Funny memes”

“Pics to send Jesse when he’s being stupid”

“Dhhdjsjsou”

“Stink ❤️”

A picture of you, laying on the grass, a bright, toothy smile spread across your face. It was from your Instagram, the one you deleted because you thought you looked dumb. The one Ellie commented a for once unsarcastic “Woah” on.

The album was locked.

You felt your throat go dry, heartbeat speeding up. Your leg started shaking, and God, you hoped she would come and snatch the phone off of your hand.

But she didn’t. She just shifted in her sit, cleared her throat and resumed her studies.

You shouldn’t have. But you did.

2222

Unlocked. Success!

You felt like screaming at the top of your lungs. Was it even hotter in here now? Extra humid today? you bit your lip, it almost hurt.

A picture of you and Dina. A selfie you sent to the groupchat two weeks ago. Ellie doodled a green heart on it. You were sweating. A picture of you on Christmas last year. That same day you had your stupid fight on. You were wearing a Santa hat, mug of hot Coco and tiny white marshmallows in your hand.

Your stomach felt as if it were infested by a swarm of Ellie looking butterfly’s.

A picture of you sound asleep, in Ellie’s bed. She was mid-moving a hair strand away from your face. It was blurry. You recognized that top.

You were wasted that day. Blabbering uncontrollably about how you had to crash on her bed, because you were scared your new roommate would think you’re stupid, and dumb, and an idiot, for getting drunk at a frat party.

You couldn’t understand why Ellie didn’t want to help you. You almost kicked her when she said she couldn’t, that you’d be better off in your bed. “I snore. And I kick in my sleep - Seriously” You almost cried. You called her a bad friend, a fake one, because — isn’t that what friends are for? Shouldn’t they have your back when you’re a babbling mess? Hold your hair for you, put you to sleep, take care of you?

Ellie couldn’t sleep that night.

When you laid there, right on her bed, her face went so red and hot you could fry something on it. She almost hit herself in the face when her chest grazed your back. When your leg caressed her’s, and ended up on top of her thigh, she almost screamed. When you shifted to face her, an angelic, sound asleep expression on your face, she swore she almost died. The string of your top came off, revealing more of your shoulder, and the strap of your bra, Ellie turned around so fast she almost woke you up.

She slept for 20 minutes.

When she woke up, she had to make herself remember it. Remember you, laying with her.

So she took a picture. An innocent one.

You almost jumped when the pen fell slipped from her hand and she turned around to face you.

“What are you doing?”

Whats in her notes app?

♡

part two

[coryosmin]

Lights, Camera, Action

Modern Coryo x Fem Reader

summary: coryo’s roommate had a job that he didn’t know about. until one day, after he had subscribed to a random woman’s onlyfans and she had finally spoken words during her videos. and suddenly, coryo realized his roommate was the woman he’d been jerking off to.

warnings: masturbation, cam girl reader, horny coryo, coriolanus has such a big dick, coryo’s horny thoughts, p in v, unprotected sex, modern au, etc.

3,400 words

When Coriolanus had moved into his apartment, he realized that he would need a roommate pretty early on. He couldn’t afford the rent just on his own, especially because he was a full-time college student and worked a part-time job after his classes, he needed someone who could help provide that extra income that he needed. So when he met you, he thought you were perfect.

You hadn’t told him exactly what you do for work which was fine, he didn’t particularly care as long as you had the means to pay rent. You had only told him that you had a steady flow of income to live comfortably and that was enough for him to allow you to stay with him. There were other factors that played into it. Such as the fact that you were quiet, and neat, and didn’t annoy him whatsoever. With the other applicants he had interviewed, they were all just so obnoxious. You were not. Eventually, the two of you were able to become friends.

Coriolanus often wondered to himself how you made so much money. You were also a full-time college student and you didn’t seem to leave the apartment much. Maybe you just came from a rich family so they sent you money often? Regardless, you were the one paying for groceries, paying the internet bill, and paying the electric bill. And Coriolanus couldn’t complain because honestly, it was really good Wi-Fi. He could stream all of his favorite shows in high quality and could attend any Zoom meetings he needed to without any issues.

Laying in his bed on a lazy Saturday afternoon, Coriolanus scrolled aimlessly on his phone. He had nothing to do. He had finished all of his assignments for the week, he didn’t have to work as he only worked Monday through Friday, so he had the whole weekend to himself. He sighed to himself, bored. Coriolanus felt like he constantly had to be doing something and the fact that he was finally not doing anything was strange to him.

As he scrolled on his phone, he thought about what he could possibly do at the moment. And in his bored, twenty-year-old brain, Coriolanus realized that he hadn’t actually jerked off or had sex in a while. He licked his lips as he opened up X on his phone. He knew not to go on Pornhub. He didn’t want viruses on his phone, thank you very much. He opened up one of his favorite porn accounts. It was just an account that posted people’s porn videos and would tag the creator if they knew who it was.

Coriolanus scrolled through the account, looking at the videos of women getting railed, riding dicks, or masturbating. He felt his cock stiffening in his sweatpants as he watched some of these videos. And as he scrolled, he came across a video of a woman wearing a red lingerie set. She wasn’t showing her face, just sitting in front of the camera as she massaged her tits. Coriolanus pulled his sweats down enough to let his cock breathe, gripping the base with his right hand as his phone with his left.

He watched the video. It was a short video, only about two minutes and thirty seconds. The woman unclasped her bra, revealing her beautiful tits to the camera. Coriolanus inhaled sharply, not giving himself the satisfaction of jerking himself off quite yet as he continued to grip his cock. The woman began to massage her nipples, letting out small whimpers as she did so. And by the minute and thirty-second mark, her panties were pushed to the side, fingers deep inside of herself. She was so wet and her moans were so cute. Coriolanus began to stroke himself slowly, relishing in the beautiful sounds of this woman.

When the video ended, Coriolanus checked the caption to see if she was tagged, and much to his luck, she was. He pressed on her X account, seeing numerous videos posted though they were never any longer than fifteen seconds. There was one video, a two-minute one, where you could see her fucking herself with an average-sized dildo. Coriolanus clicked on it to begin watching the video. Again, her face wasn’t revealed to the camera as she began the video by teasing her clit with the tip of the silicone cock, moaning softly. Coriolanus began to rub the tip of his cock, imagining it was him rubbing his tip against her clit. God, he needed to have sex with someone soon.

Coriolanus continued to watch the videos of this woman, stroking his cock to the rhythm of her fucking herself. And within minutes, he was cumming to the whimpers and moans of this woman’s voice. When he finished, he breathed heavily, deciding to go onto the woman’s OnlyFans and subscribe to her. Really, it was only $10 per month and he had $30 in his account so it wouldn’t be bad of him to subscribe right? So he did it. He created an account and subscribed to the woman without a second thought before closing the app and turning his phone off.

Coriolanus usually wasn’t driven by his hormones. But in the days following that Saturday, he was getting hard easily. When you walked out of your bedroom on Sunday morning in just a large shirt and pajama pants, Coriolanus couldn’t help but think back to that woman on OnlyFans. Maybe it was just the way your thighs looked. Anyways, it made Coriolanus so hard.

And when Coriolanus would be laying in bed after a long day of school and then work, he wanted nothing more than to just fist his cock and then go to sleep. So he pulled up that OnlyFans account, his cock already out and in his hand, and saw that the account had posted something new. It was a video taken on a couch that did look a bit familiar but didn’t think much of it as the woman was dressed in a pink lingerie set this time. The camera still never showed her face, only showing her thighs to right above her tits.

The video began with her spreading her legs, moving her panties to the side to reveal her beautiful wet pussy. Coriolanus let out a soft groan as he saw how wet she was, wanting nothing more than to bury his face into her cunt. She began to rub her clit, making Coriolanus begin to stroke his cock. She let out small whimpers as she rubbed her clit, sounding heavenly to Coriolanus’s ears. God, he really needed to fuck someone.

As the woman entered her fingers into her pussy, the sounds of it squelching could be heard. She was so wet! Coriolanus moaned at the sound, closing his eyes as he listened to the woman pleasure herself. The sound of her fingers going in and out of her pussy turned Coriolanus on so much. And she must’ve found her g-spot because Coriolanus heard her moan out “oh fuck!” which made him pause. She never moaned out actual words in her videos.

He knew that voice. He definitely knew that voice. But it couldn’t be, right?

The video continued playing as Coriolanus continued stroking his cock slowly. As the woman continued to pleasure herself, Coriolanus looked at the video with concentration. And it wasn’t until she moaned out loud again that Coriolanus was able to realize. “Oh my god!”

It was his roommate. Oh my god Coriolanus was subscribed to his roommate’s OnlyFans. Coriolanus was jerking off to his roommate’s pussy.

And suddenly he was cumming, hard, unable to help the moans escaping his lips as his cum landed on his stomach. When he came down from his orgasm, he breathed heavily as he realized who he had been fantasizing about for the past week. Fuck, he roommate was a cam girl. It all made sense as to why she constantly had money without having to go out much.

The days following that realization were full of Coriolanus busying himself. He invested more time into his schoolwork and his job. You were busy with your own studies that Coriolanus was able to avoid you the best he could. That was until he came home late on Friday night and you were sitting at the kitchen island, typing away on your computer. You glanced up at him as he walked through the apartment door, a small smile on your lips. “Hey,” you greeted.

Coriolanus jumped at the sound of your voice, not expecting you to be awake. It was almost one in the morning. “Hey,” he replied back thickly.

You were dressed in a pair of pajama shorts and a tank top that revealed some of your cleavage. And Coriolanus’s mind immediately went to the fact that you’re the woman he keeps jerking off to every night. Though he’s tried not to jerk off since he found out it was you, it didn’t work. Not jerking off at night led to him thinking about you during the day while in class. And he had a little incident on Tuesday when he came in his pants in the middle of class simply because he thought about your wet cunt. It was embarrassing. So he went back to jerking off at night.

“How was your day?” You asked, looking up at Coriolanus.

Coriolanus swallowed, trying not to think about what your lips would look like wrapped around his cock. “I-It was good,” he mentally cursed himself for stuttering. He felt like he was hitting puberty all over again. It was so pathetic. He was twenty-years-old! “How was your day?” He asked, trying to play it cool. He could have a normal conversation with you. You were his roommate.

You smiled. “It was good! I had my abnormal psych class today which was really fun,” you exclaimed.

Coriolanus gave a small smile. “That sounds like fun,” he exclaimed. “I’m going to go get ready for bed now. Goodnight,”

“Goodnight, Coryo,” You exclaimed before looking back at your computer screen. Though Coriolanus thought he could see a smirk on your face, he quickly shook it off. You couldn’t possibly know that he knew about your OnlyFans, right?

Coriolanus made it to his bedroom, closing the door behind him as he put his stuff down. He quickly undressed himself, kicking off his jeans that were just too tight on his hard cock. Sighing in relief, Coriolanus grabbed his phone and sat down at his desk chair, gripping his cock. He pulled up your OnlyFans, seeing that you posted a new video. You were wearing an oversized shirt this time while playing with your pussy. And as Coryo watched the video, he noticed that it was one of his own shirts. Oh my god you fucked yourself in his shirt.

Coriolanus fisted his cock fast and hard, watching you fuck yourself with your fingers. He was so involved in what he was doing that he didn’t not hear the small knock on his door as you walked into his room. You watched for a moment, smirking before speaking. “Seems you’ve found what I do for a living,” You said, standing in Coriolanus’s doorway.

Coriolanus jumped, dropping his phone and using both hands to cover his cock as he looked over at you. “What the fuck?” He said, furrowing his eyebrows in embarrassment of getting caught getting off to you. “Why didn’t you knock?”

You laughed. “I did,” You exclaimed. “But clearly, you were too busy to notice.” You said, walking into the room to stand right in front of Coriolanus. “Did you like the video?”

Coriolanus swallowed, still covering his cock with both of his hands. “Y-you were wearing my shirt,” He replied.

You smiled, nodding your head. “I was.”

“Why?”

“Because I figured you found my account,” you exclaimed. “You’ve been avoiding me this week, making excuses and such to not have dinner with me or trying not to stay in the same room as me for long.” You licked your lips. “Only explanation was that you’d found my OnlyFans. Figured if I showed you that I knew you knew, you’d be more inclined to speak to me.”

Coriolanus bit his lip as he listened to you. “Sorry,” was all he could muster to say as he didn’t know what else to say.

You smiled, shaking your head. “No need to be sorry,” you said. You sunk down to your knees in front of Coriolanus. “Move your hands. I want to see you.” Coriolanus did as he was told, revealing his hard cock to you. You licked your lips. “Fuck, you’re so big,” You whispered.

Coriolanus couldn’t believe that this was happening. He thought that you’d be angry with him. He had been jerking off to your OnlyFans. Any normal person would be disgusted by his behavior. But instead, you were on your knees looking at Coryo’s cock. He inhaled sharply as you complimented his cock, it definitely inflated his ego to hear those words out of your mouth. You looked at his cock and then up at Coryo’s face. “Can I touch you?” You asked and it took everything in Coryo’s power to not whine.

“Please.” He whispered, looking down at you.

You wrapped a hand around Coriolanus’s cock, jerking him off slowly. Coriolanus hissed in pleasure, his eyes still on you. You leaned your head forward, licking the tip of Coryo’s cock. Coriolanus couldn’t help the small moan that left his lips. “Oh,” he moaned out. You continued to jerk him off while licking the tip of his cock until you slowly eased him into your mouth. Coriolanus brought a hand up to your hair, entangling his fingers into it. “Fuck,” he groaned, feeling the warm and wet feeling of your mouth on his member.

You began to suck him off slowly, bobbing your head up and down. You couldn’t fit him completely into your mouth, only being able to go halfway so you jerked off the rest of his cock with your hand. Coriolanus groaned again, his eyes fluttering shut as you sped up your movements. Coriolanus couldn’t believe his luck. He needed to get laid but he hadn’t expected a blowjob from his roommate at all.

He felt the familiar tightening in his abdomen. “Fuck, I’m close,” he moaned, his fingers tightening in your hair.

You moaned around his cock before taking him out of your mouth, causing Coryo to let out a small whine. You smirked, looking up at Coriolanus. “Wanna fuck you,” you said. Your eyes were glinting from arousal while your lips were swollen from sucking his cock. “Is that okay?”

Coriolanus licked his lips, nodding his head. “More than okay,” he replied, breathing heavily. “Wanna taste you,” he said.

You stood up, smiling. “Maybe later,” You said, taking your clothes off. “Just want you inside me.” Both of you were desperate for each other. You had been wanting to fuck your roommate for weeks. And honestly, him finding your OnlyFans was a blessing because clearly, he wanted you too.

Coriolanus watched you as you took off your clothes. He grabbed your hand when you were completely naked, guiding you close to him. He was still sitting in his desk chair, ready for you to sit on top of him. You hovered over him when he brought his other hand up to your pussy, his finger spreading your wetness. “You’re soaking wet,” he murmured, looking up at you with his pretty blue eyes.

You let out a soft moan, nodding your head. “Been thinking about you a lot,” you murmured. You grabbed his hand, intertwining your fingers with his as you sat down in Coriolanus’s lap. “Been wanting your cock for a while.” You murmured. Your other hand reached between you, grabbing Coryo’s cock and lining it up to your pussy. You teased yourself with his cock, rubbing the tip against your clit, causing the both of you to moan in pleasure.

Coriolanus let go of your hand, reaching to grip your hips. You slowly sunk down on his cock, moaning as he stretched you out. Coriolanus let out a groan, feeling your tight heat around him. God, you were so fucking wet and tight. Coriolanus closed his eyes in pleasure.

When his cock was all the way inside of you, you stayed still for a few moments, adjusting to his size. Coryo was bigger than the toys you used and you knew that. You looked at Coriolanus’s face and he opened his eyes to look at you. And then you both leaned in to kiss each other. The kiss was hungry and desperate, much like the both of you. You began to move your hips, causing the both of you to moan at the feeling. Coriolanus was so big and it just felt so good.

Coriolanus gripped your hips, kissing you like he needed you to breathe. The feeling of your tight heat around his cock just felt so good. He’s truthfully been fantasizing about this all week. God, he was so desperate and horny and he’s just so happy to finally be getting his dick wet. You’re so hot. He pulled away from the kiss to look at you. Your cheeks were flushed, your lips were so plump, your tits were bouncing with your movements. “You look like such a slut,” Coryo breathed out, slapping your ass.

You whined, clenching around his cock at his words. “Oh fuck,” you moaned out as you bouncing up and down.

Coriolanus chuckled, unable to help himself. “You like that? You like being called a slut?” He asked, guiding your hips onto his cock. “Fucking slut, so tight around my cock. Finally happy to have the real thing and not those stupid toys?”

“Feels so good, Coryo,” You whined, throwing your head back in pleasure. “So big, so so big.”

“Yeah?” Coriolanus said, wrapping his arms around your waist and fucking up into you.

This caused you to moan loudly, leaning forward to put one hand on the back of the chair and the other on Coriolanus’s shoulder. The feeling of Coriolanus thrusting in and out of you was amazing. His cock was hitting you so nice and deep, filling you up so good. “Mhm,” you replied. “So close, Coryo, so close,”

Coriolanus moaned, loving the sound of your words and the thought of you cumming undone on his cock. “Fuck, me too, baby, me too,” he said, thrusting into you. He moved his hips up into yours faster, hitting your g-spot repeatedly with his cock. You were just a moaning and whining mess on top of him and Coriolanus loved it. He adored it. You make videos of you fucking yourself with your fingers and your toys, giving these soft whimpers and moans. But only he can make you moan so loudly from just his cock.

After a few more thrusts, you were clenching hard around his cock, thighs quivering and moaning loudly as you came. Coriolanus watched as you came undone on top of him, arching your back and shaking. He came inside of you, not caring at that moment to ask if that would be okay. He was groaning as he spilled his seed, fucking up into you through his orgasm.

And when you both finished, you both relaxed against the chair. You moved so that Coryo’s cock left your pussy, causing you to let out a small whine from the loss of contact. You were both breathing heavily, your head rested on Coriolanus’s shoulder. His arms were still wrapped around you. “Fuck, that was…intense,” he murmured, kissing your forehead.

“We should film it next time,” was your response.

Coriolanus couldn’t help but chuckle. “Are you saying you want me to be in one of your videos next time?”

You smiled and nodded lazily. “Yeah,” you replied.

And the next time you guys had sex, you filmed it. Coriolanus was pounding you into your mattress and when he saw that the video had been uploaded, both of your faces were blurred out. Thankfully. And the video was an absolute hit. So let’s just say from then on, Coriolanus was hooked on fucking his cam girl roommate.

[thewayitalknj]

Friday, I'm In Love?

Eddie Munson x Female Reader.

When random corny love notes start appearing in your locker, you're wondering who the hell Is taking time out of their day to think of you.

Quick Notes - Happy Valentine's Day! I got this idea while playing our Valentine's Day Playlist at work and thought I would write something. Super short but to the point, lol. Hope you enjoy!

Word Count - 849 (Told you it was short) Warnings - None! Enjoy :)

Monday That's when the first note fell out of your locker. When the small piece of paper fell onto the floor you were confused. You had all your notes, what could this possibly be? You opened it up and read the message ; Let's commit the perfect crime. You steal my heart and I'll steal yours.

"The actual fuck?" You laugh.

"Whacha you got there?" Eddie snatches the note from your hand and reads it in the most dramatic voice you have ever heard, clearly used for DM'ing only. You close your locker and lean against it. "You have a secret admirer? That's adorable." You take the note back and stuff it in your bag.

"Beats me. Probably someone playing a stupid prank."

"Or someone's in love with you."

"I highly doubt that."

Tuesday ; They say true love hides behind every corner. I must be walking in circles.

"So, who do you think it's from?" Jonathan asks as you walk the track field for gym.

"No idea. I just find it odd. Why now? For fucking Valentine's Day?"

"Maybe they think it's the right time since it's a holiday about love."

"I still think it's a silly prank."

"Or someone is in love with you." He smiles.

"Well, I highly doubt it."

Wednesday ; Romance is the icing, but love is the cake.

"I like this one, it has to do with food." Robin snarks, holding all 3 notes in her hand.

"That's such a you comment to say."

"What are you guys talking about?" Nancy takes a seat next to you at the lunch table.

"Someone has been leaving me stupid notes with pick up lines in my locker everyday this week."

"And you don't know who it is yet?"

"Nope."

"You haven't recognized the hand writing?"

"See, this is why you're the smart one." Robin states.

"I never even thought of that, let me take a look." You examine the writing on the notes. "Yeah I got nothing. Who knows, it could be very obvious and I don't even see it."

"Or, someone is in love with you."

"Again, I highly doubt it."

Thursday You fling your locker open and there fell a note. ; If I were a cat, I would spend all nine of my lives with you.

"Okay, that's it. I'm done with these. Thank god tomorrow is Friday."

"You haven't figured it out yet?" Eddie asks.

"Nope, I haven't. Do you think I'm stupid?"

"No, of course not. But speaking of stupid," He pulls out his math binder. "Here are the math notes you needed."

"Thanks, I'll get them back to you tomorrow. I can't believe you actually paid attention."

"Well if I want to graduate I gotta do some work, ya know?"

Later that night you're doing homework in your bedroom and started organizing your math notes. Using Eddie's notes from earlier you flip over the page to continue note taking when you notice some scribbles at the bottom, definitely not pertaining to math. Let's commit the perfect crime. You steal my heart and I'll steal yours. ; They say true love hides behind every corner. I must be walking in circles. ; If you were a fruit you would be a fine apple ; Romance is the icing, but love is the cake. you're a 9 out of 10 and i'm the 1 you need ; well i'm here so what are your other two wishes? if you were a cat, I would spend all nine of my lives with you ; if you let me borrow a kiss I promise I'll give it right back to you.

A lightbulb goes off and you immediately reach for the love notes in the front pouch of your backpack.

"Holy shit." You whisper.

Friday The morning bell rings as you slip a note into Eddie's locker. ; Roses are red, Violets are blue. I found out who you are, and you must admit it to me too. Meet me at the picnic table after school.

The afternoon bell rings as you take off towards the woods to meet Eddie.

You sat on the table impatiently waiting, bouncing your leg up and down until a familiar face appears before you.

"What's this?" He asks waving the note in his hand.

"It's you."

"What do you mean it's me?"

You wave the four notes in front of him this time. "Didn't get one this morning. I beat you too it."

"That's not me."

"Stop lying Eddie."

"But it's not. Can you prove it?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"Your math notes." He looks at you confused, taking out his backpack and finding his notes. As you watch him flick through his eyes get wide.

"Holy shit." He whispers.

"Yeah I said the same thing."

"Look I'm sorry-"

"Why are you sorry? And why didn't you just say anything in the first place?"

"Because it wasn't suppose to end like this, and I didn't know how you would react. So I thought this would be a good way to ask you out. Maybe. Possibly."

You nod your head and look down to the ground.

"So?" He ponders.

"So what?" You look back up.

"Can I take you out on a date?"

You smile.

[luvkyu]

rivals ( lee donghyuck/haechan ) part two

donghyuck x male!reader

hyuck wants to get closer to his rival.

content : 2.2k words, fluff, high school!au, academic rivals trope

( a/n ) the long awaited part two </3 this is v soft compared to part one and im in love w it tbh. i'll start writing part three soon, which will also be the last part :)

part one

"what do you know about y/n?"

jaemin's brows furrowed at the sudden question.

"y/n from our class?" he asked, looking between donghyuck and his open locker.

"yes, that y/n. dumbass."

jaemin clicked his tongue and flicked his friend's head.

"not a lot. i don't think anyone really knows a lot about him. he's really good friends with mark though."

"mark lee??"

jaemin nodded, "yeah. jisung said that y/n hangs around after dance practices sometimes and then they leave together."

donghyuck nodded, a little surprised at the way his heart sank.

"but i think they're also neighbors so," jaemin added.

"ah okay.."

"why?"

donghyuck felt a small surge of panic run through his body. he could hear the suspicion in jaemin's voice.

"..nothing. just wondering."

"whatever you say," jaemin replied with a small smile.

it was monday morning, and if you asked donghyuck, the weekend passed way too slowly. he hadn't told anyone about spending time with y/n on friday afternoon. it was driving him crazy if he was honest. he kept finding the urge to bring up y/n in random conversations, or just tell one of his friends about how much fun he had killing time in the restaurant before they had to part ways that evening. his grudge against y/n was crumbling fast.

"haechan."

donghyuck's head snapped back up to look at jaemin.

"what?"

"you coming? lunch time."

"oh right, yes."

jaemin snickered at him. he watched donghyuck hurry to zip up his school bag and close his locker, but not before stealing a quick glance at y/n's unoccupied locker across the hall.

donghyuck and jaemin eagerly found their table of friends after entering the cafeteria. the others began to go get their food, while donghyuck's attention was fixating on one thing. or rather, one person.

he frowned as he looked around at the different tables. y/n wasn't to be seen anywhere. donghyuck did, however, spot a different familiar face. he took a deep breath and began walking over.

"hi, sorry, um.. do you know where y/n is, by chance?"

mark looked up from his phone in confusion. why was lee donghyuck asking for y/n's whereabouts?

"why?" mark asked.

"i wanted to eat lunch with him. does he have a different lunch period?"

the corner of mark's mouth tilted in thought.

"no, he's in our lunch period. he just eats up at the rooftop garden."

donghyuck's face instantly brightened at the information. with a small bow, he said a quick thank you and rushed out of the cafeteria.

the small bag of food in donghyuck's hand was getting more crushed and crumpled with every step he took. just the idea of seeing y/n made him nervous. the kind of nervous where your head gets fuzzy and your body feels shaky. he hated it, but he loved it.

before he knew it, he was already at the top of the stairs and pulling open the door to the rooftop garden. he stood still for a moment after finally finding y/n. the male was sitting at one of the shaded tables, headphones on, chopsticks in one hand eating cup noodles while he flipped through a textbook with the other hand.

donghyuck felt his heart flutter. he continued walking over to him until he was finally sitting down next to him. y/n jumped at the sudden presence of someone else. he quickly removed his headphones to sit around his neck, looking over at his classmate.

"are you really studying while eating?" donghyuck asked. y/n looked at his textbook, feeling a little self conscious.

"i was just reviewing a little."

donghyuck's brows furrowed in disapproval.

"lunch is supposed to be a break. give your brain some time to breathe," he gently closed the book and pushed it aside before looking back at y/n with a soft smile. "talk with me instead."

"are you just trying to get me to fall behind so i won't be top student anymore?"

"that would definitely be a perk, yes," donghyuck responded with a small chuckle. y/n rolled his eyes, but still laughed along.

"what are you even doing up here?" y/n asked.

donghyuck looked away as he tried to form an answer that wouldn't embarrass himself. he could feel himself getting flustered, but he'd sooner move schools than let y/n know that.

"i wanted to eat somewhere that wasn't so crowded," he answered. "same for you i assume?"

y/n nodded, "i hate eating in the cafeteria."

"what about when it rains up here?"

"usually i'll just stay on the top step of the stairs," he replied while pointing to the staircase inside. donghyuck only nodded, which surprised the other. he thought surely donghyuck would make fun of him or tease him.

"you're nicer than i thought you'd be," y/n said quietly.

"hm? i'm nice?"

"nice-ish."

donghyuck began to unpack his lunch in efforts to hide his growing smile.

"i can be mean if you want," he joked before his gaze locked with y/n's.

"no no, i like nice donghyuck," he responded quickly.

donghyuck's face was practically on fire. he could feel it, but he refused to look away from y/n this time. it was quiet between them for a moment, simply staring at each other through the tension until donghyuck cleared his throat.

"are you doing anything tonight?"

"i'm st-"

"studying, right." donghyuck laughed lightly. "can i join?"

y/n felt his heart jump.

"you want to study together?"

"yeah, why not? we can exchange numbers and meet at a café or something."

"that sounds great actually."

"yeah??" donghyuck became much more excited, perking up in his seat. y/n flinched at the sudden enthusiasm before laughing it off.

"you're warming up to me, y/n!! i think it's time for nicknames."

y/n looked at him with furrowed brows. "what? absolutely not."

"you can call me 'hyuck' and i can call you.."

"nothing."

donghyuck frowned. "'nothing' is not a good nickname."

"will you just eat your damn lunch?"

donghyuck sighed dramatically and looked at his food, "fine."

"thank you, hyuck."

"wha- no!" donghyuck's jaw dropped while y/n smiled to himself. "no, no! not fair, you can't use hyuck if i can't use one for you!"

"okay. sorry, hyuck."

"y/nnn!.." he whined.

"eat your lunch, please."

donghyuck was about to argue again, but the smile still stretching on y/n's lips made him give in. he couldn't help but grin a little himself. he clicked his tongue as a final protest and finally began to eat.

donghyuck let out a heavy exhale as his eyes drifted to the entrance of the cafe again. he was early, waiting since 5:45 when they agreed on meeting at 6 o'clock. now he was simply just paranoid and nervous, awaiting y/n's arrival.

his fingers were fidgeting with the straw of his coffee when he finally spotted y/n walking inside. he quickly sat up straight and pretended to be immersed in the books in front of him.

"hi," y/n said quietly while sitting down across from him.

"hi!" donghyuck sounded more enthusiastic than he meant to, scowling to himself in result. but the smile that instantly grew on y/n's lips made him feel better.

before their recent interactions, donghyuck had never really seen y/n's smile. he always stayed quiet in classes and never really made a scene, something donghyuck couldn't say for himself. but donghyuck found that the more y/n smiled, the more he loved it. and whether he realized it or not, the deeper he fell.

"do you wanna go get a drink or something?" donghyuck asked as he gestured to the cafe's counter.

"i will in a little bit."

donghyuck nodded, at a loss for what to say next. he was afraid of seeming bland to y/n, especially since he wanted to get closer to him. with anyone else, donghyuck was outgoing and great at making conversation, but y/n seemed to just make his mind go blank.

"how was your day?" y/n spoke up instead.

donghyuck perked up. such a simple question, and yet it made his heart beat faster.

"it was alright. it just went by slowly."

"mine did too. i was nervous to meet here."

donghyuck looked at him with shining eyes. y/n's cheeks were the lightest shade of red, gaze averted as he got his textbook out from his bag.

"really? why?" donghyuck tried to sound as nonchalant as he could, but he wasn't sure if y/n could see through him or not.

"i just get anxious easily. especially with new people."

"ah.. well let me know if i can do anything to make you feel more comfortable."

y/n smiled again. "thanks, hyuck."

as y/n began to actually study, donghyuck couldn't tear his view away from the male. y/n was just so different from what he initially thought.

"hey, you know my friend jaemin, right?"

"oh, uh.. he's the one that sits beside you in first period right?"

"mhm!"

"then yes," y/n answered. "i mean, i don't know him, i just know who he is. why?"

"well i was thinking maybe you could come hang out with us this weekend. he wants to go to that new arcade that opened. i think a few of our other friends might come too. they'd like you."

y/n looked up from his book, now entranced by the endearing gaze from donghyuck.

"that sounds cool.. i don't think i've been to a real arcade before."

"what??"

y/n flinched again before laughing softly and nodding in confirmation.

"you have to come then, you have no choice," donghyuck announced proudly.

"alright, then. when are you guys going?"

"saturday."

"oh.." y/n's grin fell slowly, in turn making the other's heart drop. "i have plans with my friend on saturday actually. i'm sorry."

"oh, that's okay then." donghyuck looked at his drink, playing with the straw again. "which friend?"

"do you know mark?"

"ahh.. yeah, i've talked to him a couple times."

"he's pretty much the only friend i spend time with outside of school."

"so do you like, have anything more with him?"

y/n looked at him a little confused.

"what d'you mean?"

"like, more than friends." donghyuck's voice had grown softer the more he spoke. he felt embarrassed asking such questions, but his curiosity outweighed his embarrassment.

"oh. no, i don't really feel that way about him. i'm pretty sure he's straight anyways," y/n replied.

"ew."

"i know, right."

a soft exchange of laughter sounded at their table. y/n didn't even know donghyuck was into guys, but it was nice to know now.

"wait, why do you ask though," y/n quickly realized. donghyuck quieted down at this.

"..just curious about you."

y/n blinked. "curious?"

"yeah. i wanna be closer with you, if that's okay," the other responded happily. y/n looked back down at his book, hiding his stubborn smile.

"mhm, that's okay," he answered while nodding slowly. after bringing himself to look back up at donghyuck, he saw that the male was still gazing right back at him, refusing to budge.

y/n's heart jumped when donghyuck's eyes shifted down to his lips for just a second. he couldn't tell if he was seeing things or if donghyuck was really considering kissing him. it had to be the former.

"we should actually get to studying now.." y/n croaked out. he silently cursed at himself for the way his voice shuttered, and for the way it made donghyuck smile before nodding along.

"right," donghyuck agreed as he went back to his own textbook.

it was quiet between them for a couple minutes. y/n soon reached into his bag and pulled out the heavy fabric of donghyuck's coat.

"oh, also.. i brought your jacket back."

donghyuck's eyes widened a bit. if he was honest, he'd kind of hoped that y/n would keep it. maybe wear it outside, or even just in his bedroom when he wanted to feel some comfort. it made donghyuck's chest feel fuzzy to imagine y/n in his clothing.

"oh, right.." he began to take it, but decided to stop, "actually, that's okay. you can hold onto it."

"what?"

"in case you get rained on again. i have too many jackets anyways. might as well give one away."

y/n nodded, unsure of what to say. he tucked the coat into his arms and sat back in his seat. he was a little confused. donghyuck had no reason to be this nice to him, especially when he hated him so much before.

"why did you say hyuck instead of haechan?" y/n asked suddenly.

"huh?"

"you told me to call you hyuck earlier. as your nickname."

donghyuck twisted the pencil in his hand as he thought of a good answer.

"mm.. everyone calls me haechan."

"..so?"

"..so you're not everyone," donghyuck explained, quickly going back to his school work.

y/n felt heat rush through his body. did he hear that right? he was practically just staring at donghyuck now, as if waiting for him to correct himself or add something mean. but the male just sat, eyes going between his different books, occasionally writing something down or taking a drink of his coffee.

y/n smiled softly. he tightened his hold on the jacket still in his arms, took a deep breath, and finally returned to his own school work.

[cher-rei]

afterglow- pt.2 [ T.A.A ]

pairings: trent alexander arnold × fem!reader

summary: young and aspiring marketing and business major jamie carter (you) is privileged with working alongside the liverpool marketing and public relations team while also getting entangled with their star player and right back, trent alexander arnold.

[wc: 2,1k] [part 1] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5] [part 6] [part 7] [part 8]

genre(s): friends?? to lovers, work romance, fluff

warnings: swearing

notes: guys I totally forgot that curtis has a girlfriend help💀 so I'm just gonna remove her completely and in here they're not together... it's for the plot I swear

"what the fuck?!"

"jamie!" your sister's voice echoed through the house to your bedroom that early wednesday morning. it was normal for her to scold at you whenever you swore anywhere near her. which was all the time seeing as the two of you shared an apartment.

you didn't bother apologising as usual though and sat up straight in your bed, your blankets dishevelled and a look of confusion plastered on your face. "no way," you gawked at your phone screen and ran your fingers through your hair to try and comprehend what had just happened.

"there's really no reason to be shouting at 7 in the morning." you brushed your sister's comment off, the older girl taking it as a sign to join you on the edge of your bed to see what had gotten you all riled up.

she let out a heavy sigh as she moved you over so that she could sit with you. "speak woman. I don't have all day."

you took a breath and turned to look at her, eager eyes staring you down for any sort of explanation you could give her. "Okay so basically I just woke up and obviously my first instinct is to check my insta and twitter notifications because I got a bunch."

she gave you a look. "which isn't anything new. probably just a few followers or something."

you pointed your index finger in her direction. "exactly. but then--"

you turned your phone in her direction, your twitter feed showing up. "--I saw that I was being tagged like crazy. only to realise that this whole liverpool pr thing is blowing up."

maya gave you another look. as if you to say 'what did you expect?'. she began to get up from the bed but you quickly caught her wrist and pulled her back down again, urging her to stay for the rest of the story.

"jamie," she sighed. "you have an entire fanbase, of course they're going to go crazy over something like this."

you shook you head. "that's what I thought. but then I decided to go check my instagram notifications because apparently..."

you turned your phone screen to maya, displaying your follower list and lo and behold right at the top, your most recents followers queued up.

"what the fuck?!"

you jumped up at your sister's reaction. "that's what I'm saying!"

jude bellingham was one thing. but the entire liverpool squad?? there was no reason for that to happen at all. you were just some random twitch streamer on the p.r team, nothing more.

was it because I kicked the ball on monday?? it was so because I kicked that ball on monday.

you weren't going back to the training center for a while though. there were too many errands to run and meeting to sit through. and today's meeting at 10 was sure to pile even more projects on your table.

the match on saturday against wolves was going to be a premier league match so a lot of preparation had to be done for the interviews. yesterday's meeting already gave you a headache so today was going to be something for sure.

"is jamie not coming in today as well?" curtis asked no one in particular while his eyes roamed the hallways, yet there was no sight of the girl anywhere.

from beside him, trent quirked an eyebrow and nudged his arm. "you're on a first name basis already huh? you work fast."

curtis scoffed at his comment, recalling mpnday afternoon's events all to clearly after jaimie had left. "hey I'm not the one who stalked all her socials the second she left."

"what?" trent raised his hands in defence. "she looked familiar so I had to check."

"who looked familiar?"

the two jumped up at the sudden question, their glares shot at dominik who had pushed in beside trent who only shook his head, not bothering to brush off dominik's arm that was slung over his shoulders.

"the new p.r girl," he answered and put his phone away.

"jamie?"

trent shot him a weird look and then to curtis who was smiling from ear to ear with an 'I told you so' look. "what so you're all just on a first name basis? how did that even happen?"

the conversation carried on until they got to the field and even during their warm-up session. but it still seemed off to trent who grew more an more confused whenever someone chimed in with an "are you talking about jamie?"

it didn't make sense to him. they barely knew her or had any decent conversations. what difference did asking about where she was from or how many siblings she had make? but either way, the team wondered why trent has such a big issue with it.

"did you guys know that jamie's a twitch streamer?"

"what the hell?" trent groaned in obvious frustration when ibou chimed in while they were doing their laps around the field.

"what? are you just going to call her 'ms carter' for the rest of your life?" ibou asked again with a low chuckle which got a small shrug from trent.

"obviously not. it's just that she's a staff member and has a job to do." he turned his head to look at curtis who seemed fed up either the mini lecture that he was getting, but he felt that it needed to be said.

"she's not here to be your friend or--"

"--I fully agree with you trent. I'm glad some of us have common sense," harvey retorted out of nowhere.

seriously. they didn't even know he was there. the smallest of the group was adorning a look of determination as he jogged alongside his teammates. one that screamed, 'I hate jamie carter.'

ibou scoffed from beside him. "oh shut up. you're just mad because she's taller than you."

the group couldn't hold back their laughter as they watched harvey go quiet, a look of defeat on his face as she shook his head to the side. he'd get her back. one day.

but with trent's issue, everyone's argument was that they were just trying to make her feel comfortable. and he could give them the benefit of the doubt there, he knew how fans tended to react to situations like this and their presence in general was probably a lot to her.

but there was no reason to be involved with her personally. okay so what if he was the first one to follow her on Instagram?? when dominik saw that he was stalking her account his first instinct was to take trent's phone and follow her, just to tease him.

but then everyone followed her so that was kind of pointless.

after a bit more back and forth banter curtis let out a sigh. "but either way, she's friends with jude in a way or something." he gave trent a cheeky smile and the right back couldn't help but roll his eyes, knowing very well where he was leading with this.

"and any friend of jude, is a friend of mine," he finished and put his hand on his chest causing ibou to laugh but oh boy he wasn't finished just yet.

curtis took a moment to clear his throat and looked behind their group to see dominik running along with darwin and cody, laughing about what ever.

"if this is like any movie I've watched, then someone is walking out with more than just a premier league trophy."

that earned him a harsh slap on the arm from ibou but he didn't care and instead ran up in front of trent, now taking the liberty to jog backwards to take him head on. "what do you say? are you going to keep that 'ms carter' thing up until she becomes mrs alexander-arnold"?

"boys!"

everyone immediately halted at the sound of virgil's voice booming from the front with robbo and salah. "am I going to have to chase you to make you run any faster?"

you sat in the meeting room that afternoon with your laptop in front of you and your attention drawn to the front where the projector was with the media teams director, marvin colesmen.

he was a a slender man no older than 40, with blonde hair that was styled to the side. he wore a polo shirt underneath his blazer with a very obnoxious pair of socks as well.

"regarding our performance, we're doing fairly well but there's much room for improvement. but let's all thank clara for the last minute camera replacement last week since the last one broke."

everyone at the table immediately turned to look at someone who you remembered to be shaun. all he did was roll his eyes, and judging by the death glares he was receiving he definitely broke that camera.

mental note: don't break anything. ever.

"ms carter?"

your head snapped to the front at the call of your name, a bubble of anxiety filling your stomach now that you were put on the spot.

"do you have any thoughts on anything I've said?"

thoughts?? I don't have any thoughts??

"uhm..." you sat upright in your chair as you trailed off to formulate a response. "I think that more attention should be drawn to the team's more laid back promotional content."

great answer.

marvin tipped his head to the side at the response in intrigue. "care to elaborate?"

not really.

you licked your lips as you thought. "coming from a supporter, the occasional training video and interview don't really attract attention."

you watched as marvin urged you on with a nod. "and I think we should expand our content to something more entertaining. it'll be more rewarding for them team that way as well, I'm sure they're tired of answering the same questions every other week," a small laugh left your lips but you immediately stopped.

the room was dead silent and the atmosphere was a little too hostile for your liking. it was obvious that everyone was waiting for marvin to either shoot you down mercilessly or agree with you. but the experience was nothing short of terrifying.

the director nodded his head and continued to mutter something to himself before sending you a smile. "I'm giving you a week to come up with entertaining alternatives. if you convince me enough, I'll give you what you need since you'll be with the team from next week onwards unless I need you. you'll be joining them on the trip to molineux saturday morning as well. I'm sure the fans wouldn't mind seeing you in the booth either."

what's that supposed to mean?

when the meeting was finally over you didn't waste a second and rushed to pack your things and get in your car. you needed to hurry if you wanted to miss the rush hour traffic but of course you were wrong and sat in the car for an extra 40 minutes. lovely.

by the time you got back home, you felt as if every bit of energy had be drained from your body. you dropped your keys onto the counter in front of the door and kicked off your shoes.

"jamie?"

you let out a groggy "yeah" and dragged yourself to the kitchen where your sister was finishing up supper. you didn't say much and took your usual seat on one of the barstools and rested your head on your arm.

"so," maya poked your head. "how was work?"

as an answer you gave her a mumbled run down of your day, and by the time you were done the only words she heard were "broken camera".

she let out a hum regardless to show that she was paying attention and continued to stir the pasta in the pan. "well a kid fell down the slide today. I know I'm the teacher but I still laughed."

you couldn't help but cough up a laugh at her sudden confession. you looked up at her with a smile and she slumped her shoulders. "I just hope no one saw."

by the time you had gotten out of the shower. finished your night routine and ate dinner you were surged with a sudden burst of energy and needed to get it out. after a bit of scrolling through your socials and interacting with your followers and a much-needed poll on instagram, you decided to start a twitch stream.

and boy did it lead somewhere.

[feelbokkie]

Fanged Love

Feeltober Day 4

genre: fluff, slight crack, slight angst

pov: 2nd person

description: Just another day where you appreciate a day with your human boyfriend.

pairing: Lee Know x vampire!reader

warnings: slightly suggestive, swearing (like one word)

word count: 733

©feelbokkie (2023) — all rights reserved. reposting/modification of any kind is not tolerated.

☀️Feelbokkie M.list ☀️

👻13 Days of Feeltober👻

"I know you won't drink my blood but what if you drink Hyunjin's?" Minho says when he walks into your apartment. He sets the cooler lunch box that he's carrying down on the table. He opens it up and hands you a blood pouch.

"...This...this isn't Hyun's blood is it?" You ask hesitantly as you take the pouch from him.

"I wish it was. Maybe that'd shut him up. But I got it from the blood bank so you're fine." He closes the cooler and takes it to the kitchen to store the rest of the blood bags.

Minho has taken the liberty of going to the blood bank and getting you a few pints of blood regularly ever since the blood donation program started. You would go down yourself but after one incident with accidental sun exposure and another with anti-vampire protestors picketing outside of your local blood bank, you decided it would be safer if you didn't go at all. Minho decided he'd go for you, and to the butcher to get your regular pints of animal blood, to ease the stress off your body.

"What did he do this time?" You call into the kitchen.

"Exist," He sighs as he walks back into the living room, sitting down next to you. He instinctively pulls you in closer and tries to warm up your ice-cold body.

"I don't think you can fault him for that." You laugh, snuggling into him closely.

"I can and I will," He grumbles.

"You complain about being an only child. Hate to break it to you, but this is exactly what it's like having siblings. My siblings and I used to get into it constantly, drove my parents nuts. Electronics didn't exist back then so we had no choice but to annoy each other. Glad to see that hasn't really changed in centuries." You smile sadly thinking about your family.

You were the only one who was turned into a vampire. One of the vampires in the coven who slaughtered your family took pity on you and decided to save you by turning you. It was too late for the rest of your family. It's a story that Minho knows well enough, you told him when he questioned why you don't feed on people directly. You never wanted to inflict the same amount of pain that the coven that turned you, the coven that took you in after you lost everything away from you to anyone else. And as years passed you watched as the coven, which became your new family over time, slowly imploded as members died, were killed by villagers, or left altogether. You were lucky enough to have two families in your lifetime and you outlived both of them. You didn't want to date Minho because you weren't sure you could take losing yet another family. The ending of this family made up completely of humans being inevitable. And yet, you somehow find yourself cuddling with your very human boyfriend on some random Monday afternoon.

"I should have kept my mouth shut. Now I have a permanent pain in my ass." He grumbles again. "What if you--"

"No,"

"I didn't even finish my sentence,"

"Whatever you were about to say was going to end in you suggesting I sink my fangs into Hyunjin's neck and drain him of his blood."

"Not technically,"

"Hmm," You hum, "Are you sure you want me to drink Hyunjin's blood? To have my fangs, tongue, and lips on his neck?" You tease. You watch as the blood drains from Minho's face and his jaw clenches.

"That's what I thought, Mr. Jealous," You laugh again before placing a kiss on Minho's cheek.

He visibly becomes less tense and hugs you tighter, almost like you might disappear. This family that you're building with Minho may be temporary, but it's all you need.

"What if I just hit him with my car?" He asks.

"Minho, that is a crime and I don't do conjugal visits."

"After I went and got you blood from the blood bank? Wow,"

"Sorry, but I would not look good under those fluorescent lights."

"Guess Hyunjin's going to have to live a little longer. Unless you change me and I--"

"No,"

"You're no fun!" He groans, throwing his head back onto the couch.

"I love you too, Minho."

Yeah, you're okay with your little temporary family.

—

Buy me a coffee?

—

Red means that it wouldn't let me tag you (either at all or properly)

Taglist

@amyyscorner @puppysmileseungmin @veedoesntknaur @its-hannjisung @marked-unknown @honeypaintedskies @jaydebow @want2besomeoneelse @lanatheawesome @starlostastronaut

[staryuee]

“you’re such a cute couple!” — genshin hcs ⸝⸝

— [warnings]. not proofread but is that a surprise ehe, also some are pretty short bc i had writers block :((

— synopsis . . . you and [char.] get mistaken for a couple — but it seems this comment fluttered the heart of your ‘friend’ a little too sincerely.

— characters . . . heizou, tartaglia, jean, shenhe, kazuha, xinyan

— notes . . . GAAAA IM SO SORRY FOR NOT POSTING :(( i haven’t been feeling the greatest :’p im sort of getting back into the swing of things tho ^^ expect some more gushy fluff on the way

general backstory :

a banal monday afternoon, with you and [char.] linking arms and just slowly strolling the town, enjoying the soft breeze and the warmth of the sun. you two looked so at peace together, it was difficult for outsiders to not sneak a second glance at your puppy love.

during your little wander you stumbled across a generous elderly lady who flashed you two a gentle smile. as you were about to return the gesture, she says, “you’re such a cute couple! we rarely see such pure love in youngsters nowadays.”

S. HEIZOU

what exactly were you meant to say to that? you couldn’t break it to the poor lady..and plus you didn’t want to offend heizou by making it seem as if you’re completely disinterested in him. you side-eye him in hopes his sharp thinking skills will come out to guide the situation. instead, however, you feel his body tense up and a rosy tint appear on his ears.

he coughs into his hand for a brief second, he glances over at you before responding to the lady; “thank you, i think so as well.” he winked at you. you both said your farewells to the lady, and as you walked once again with linked arms you remembered the words heizou said.

“what did you mean when you said, “i think so as well?” your gazes met each other and for a second it seemed like time froze.

“well, what i more so want to say is that i like you, and being seen as yours is something precious to me.” heizou really had a way with words the sly bastard !!! the heated embarrassment rushed up to your cheeks as you let your face be hidden by your hands.

“now, i don’t have to be a detective to infer that that reactions means you’re interested as well, am i right or am i right ?” he chuckles, pulling you into his chest to let you hide and gather your thoughts for a while…

TARTAGLIA

he is a family man and he absolutely respects his elders so he literally cannot lie to this poor grandma and shatter her fantasy. so, instead, he whispers you a prior apology before taking your hand in his with that bright grin of his and responding, “haha! we appreciate your compliment, we really do love each other a lot im glad it shows.”

seriously for being a literal fatui harbinger you’d think he’d be much more reserved and secretive.. but no, here he was going on and on about his ‘supposed’ love for you and your idyllic relationship to this random grandma that mistook you two for a couple. although, childe truly does have a peculiar way with words as you became rather flustered with each lie that he made up.

eventually, the conversation was dropped and you both continued your stroll, not before you noticed that tartaglia was very insistent on still holding your hand even though the situation has been sort of dealt with. “hey uh, ch- tartaglia, you’re holding my hand..” all he does is send you a look that sends you butterflies in your stomach.

he grins at you, “i know, i’m just hoping that more people mistake us a couple so i can prove a point.”

“prove what point?”

“prove that we belong together.”

G. JEAN

you can feel jean tense up as her head is clearly thinking of a million of excuses she could give the poor woman, but perhaps she malfunctioned since the reply that she gave was not one you were expecting, “uhum..tha-thank you! it’s an honour to have someone as [name] by my side, i’ve really been blessed.”

you know better than anyone else that jean would not be the type to lie so frivolously about her feelings and opinions, especially when it comes to you therefore you couldn’t stop yourself from looking away in slight embarrassment at the thought that jean truly thinks of you like this.

“haha, no worries, take care of yourself ma’am.” was the first thing you heard as you snapped out of your little daydream. jean looked composed to an extent, she still radiated that same knightly and trustworthy exterior but you could feel that she was rather anxious after that interaction.

“[name], um.. sorry for rambling about you for so long, i guess when thinking or talking about you like that i really can’t hold back.” you’re not sure if jean had realised the impact that could have on your heart because she said that so nonchalantly as if it were rehearsed.

“hey jean, did you mean those things you said? like uhm, everything about how you’re happy with me?” you asked, your eyes failed to look at her you were afraid your heart might jump at the pure glance at her. a mild silence erupted, the breeze fanned your skins delicately while the dandelions glided in the air. jean mustered up the courage and took your hands together, “everything i said was completely true, forgive me for being so brazen ..but it’s really hard to keep my feelings hidden from you.“

SHENHE

shenhe knows she loves you, whether she understands what type of love it is; platonic, romantic, familial etc - she doesn’t know however it’s clear to her , her admiration for you is not the same one she holds for people like yunjin, cloud retainer or lumine. the lady’s words come as a real surprise to shenhe, she doesn’t even fully understand how friends are supposed to interact let alone couples.

you don’t want to make her more confused than she already is, or to make her uncomfortable so you deny it, “sorry, we’re not together but we are really good friends!”

“oh dear, my apologies! such a shame, you two would look quite nice together.” she smiles up at you both, taking a minute or two to bid her goodbyes before she leaves.

after walking for a while you noticed that shenhe hasn’t been responding for some time now and instead has been lost in her own thoughts, “heyyy, earth to my lady shenhe~” you poke her cheek in a way to break her out from her own thought.

“sorry, i was just thinking,” you pause and stare at her with a gentle smile, she gazes back at you, “it would be quite nice to be a couple.”

K. KAZUHA

his eyes shift to you to sense any discomfort in the topic, kazuha doesn’t enjoy lying and he doesn’t really know how you feel about you two being ‘together’ as of yet, “apologies, it seems this is a misunderstanding. [name] and i are simply good friends.”

while his words did sting slightly, the ache in your heart was numbed by the fact kazuha’s cheeks and ears were blooming a pretty rosey colour. you two walked off with this newfound tension in between you, kazuha internally cursed himself for allowing a simple misunderstanding to linger in his thoughts so vividly. “so, would my lovely kazuha care to explain why he was so flustered?” you seemingly popped his thinking bubble as he flinches and stares at you for a good minute with this puzzled expression.

his gaze softens and he sighs, looking away from you to stare at the distant greenery ahead. “kazuuuhaa~ answer me already!” you huff out, your patience was running very low at this point.

“sorry, somethings on my mind right now.” he at last responds, although his response isn’t at all satisfactory and almost seems like a coverup. you give him the look of, ‘i know you’re chatting shit but just tell me what’s the matter’. he laughs in amusement, patting your head as he does so. “to be honest, i never realised just how happy i’d feel if people saw us as a couple.”

XINYAN

“haha! thank you, unfortunately, [name] and i are just great friends. but they are absolutely adorable aren’t they?” she squishes your cheek to amuse herself. the grandma beams at you two, “such a shame, you’d be quite lovely together don’t you think?“ perhaps xinyan’s conscious was much more focused on teasing you because she absentmindedly replied, “hehe, absolutely!”

obviously during the moment, you were attempting to come up with excuses as to why she agreed, ‘maybe she was caught in the moment’ or ‘she just didn’t hear the question!’ yet despite your own self esteem, your cheeks were quick to heat up as the other side of you was hoping the words she said were true.

“alright, goodbye nana! be safe!” she yelled, waving to the lady while walking. she kept her hands on her cheeks the entirety of your journey, her expression was unclear but she look pretty dazed. “hey xinyan, you alright? you’ve been spacing out.” you poke at her.

“eh? oh so sorry [name]!! it’s just that..well aha..after being mistaken for a couple i cant help but feel a little happy.” as soon as the words escaped her lips, she smacked her own mouth closed as a fiercely red colour bloomed on the tips of her ears. you yourself weren’t doing so great as her sudden confession (does it even count as one?!) leaves you flustered and speechless.

you’re gonna have to talk more about this after xinyan stops hiding her face from you..

©IHEARTGANYU do not copy, steal or repost <3

[ao719]

Vancross

Vancross - As Long As There’s You At My Side (Chapter 19)

Most of the characters belong to Pixelberry.

Summary: A group of friends embark on their final year at Vancross Institute with the hopes of making it their best year yet. When a new face with a complicated family plagued by secrets and rumors arrives on campus, new friendships are formed, a new relationship blossoms, and threatening challenges arise.  

Title inspiration: Golden - Scars On 45

Main Pairing: Liam x F!OC

A/N: Multiple crossover series. There will be random sprinkles of canon throughout this story, but for the most part, it’s pretty much out the window. Not beta’d. Please excuse any errors.

Rating: M • Warnings: This series will contain nsfw material, language, some alcohol and drug use, and is not suitable for minors. If you read, you acknowledge you are 18+

Catch up here

Leaning back against his headboard on a Friday afternoon, Liam typed away on his laptop, finishing up the last couple of paragraphs of a paper he had due for one of his classes. His eyes flickered up from the screen and he smiled when they fell on Croía; she was lying horizontally across his bed with one of his legs draped over the backs of her knees as she, too, worked on a paper for another class. 

It had been a month since Vancross closed its campus to students and they started virtual classes. Hour-long meetings with the professors from each of their classes were held Monday through Thursday, leaving them with three-day weekends to work on assignments and study for exams while the investigation into the attack remained ongoing. From what they were told through weekly updates from the Dean, they still had no evidence as to who was behind it. 

Liam wasn’t sure how to feel about the situation. On one hand, it was nice being home and with his family which he typically wouldn’t see much of during the school year. On the other hand, it was his final year, one they were midway through, and he didn’t know if he’d ever be returning. He was thankful, however, that Croía chose to stay with him in Cordonia. 

When they learned that the campus would be closing, Constantine and Eleanor didn’t hesitate to invite Croía to stay, and she didn’t hesitate when she accepted the offer. A week later, Blaine and Alia arrived in Cordonia after the same offer was extended to them. The four of them were staying in Liam’s wing, working on assignments and studying together along with Rashad and Olivia, who would come from their duchies a couple times a week. 

Liam knew his mother was trying to make their time away from campus feel as close to normal as she could. 

After finishing the last of his paper, Liam closed his laptop and set it on the bed before moving next to Croía. “How is yours coming along?” he asked before dropping a kiss on her shoulder.

“Done,” Croía smiled as she scanned over the document. “Just looking it over.”    

“Do you have anything else to work on?”

“I have to study for my IRT exam.”

“Good ol’ International Relations Theory.”

Croía looked at him. “How did you manage to get out of taking that class anyway?”

“Because I took it last year,” Liam chuckled. “I got put in it by some glitch in the system and they were going to take me out, but I asked my advisor if I could just get it over with, and he said it was fine as long as I thought I could handle it with my other classes.” 

“And … how’d you do?”

“Aced it, of course,” Liam smiled.

Croía playfully rolled her eyes with a good-natured grin. “Overachiever.” 

“Think of it this way … that means that I’m the perfect person to help you study.”

“Oh?” Croía chuckled. 

“Mmhmm,” Liam nodded as he leaned in, pressing his lips to hers. He felt her smile before parting her lips, allowing his tongue to find hers. 

As the kiss deepened, Liam lifted his hand, closing her laptop and pushing it off to the side; he rolled to his back and pulled her over until she was straddling him. He combed her hair back from her face, becoming more consumed in the kiss with each slow curl of her tongue against his. With his legs dangling off the edge of the bed, he sat up; one hand dropped and splayed against her back to press her body flush against his own as he wrapped her long hair around his other. He gave a gentle tug, causing her to break the kiss as her head tilted back before his lips found her neck.

Over the past month, Liam found himself lost in Croía any free moment they had. He couldn’t get enough. Since that first night in the safe house, she couldn’t seem to get enough either. He’d always found her innocence and shy-by-nature personality endearing, but he also loved watching this more sensual side of her unfurl and come alive. Each time was more perfervid than the one before as she became more attuned with not only this never-explored side of herself but him as well. And while she was still the same kind-hearted, sweet, and coy woman he first met, the confidence that this newfound side gave her was, if he was being honest, sexy as hell and a turn-on all by itself. 

Just as Liam’s hands slid up underneath Croía’s shirt, planning to pull it off of her, a knock sounded on his bedroom door. He paused his movements, slowly lifting his head as she looked at him. 

“Li?” Blaine called out on the other side of the door. “Your dad is downstairs.” 

Liam dropped his head back with a sigh. “Tell him I’ll be down in a minute.” He looked back at her, smiling ruefully. “Sorry.” 

“It’s ok,” Croía chuckled as she maneuvered off his lap. 

Liam stared at her longingly as she adjusted her clothes back into place and he let out a grumble as he flopped back and rolled to his stomach, burying his face in his arms. “I need you to describe to me, in detail, Rocky Mountain oysters.” 

A laugh escaped Croía as she walked by the bed. “I’ll give you a second.” She opened the bedroom door and stepped out, closing it behind her as she met Blaine. “He’s coming.” 

Blaine flashed a knowing smirk having heard Liam grumble a moment before. “Not the way he wants to be, I’m guessing?” He let out a rumble of laughter when her cheeks flushed as she walked past him. 

Croía headed downstairs, and when she reached the bottom, Constantine was waiting near the door, smiling. “Hello, Croía,” he nodded.

“Hello, sir,” Croía smiled in return, then waved to Eleanor who stood behind him. 

A few moments later, Liam appeared at the bottom of the stairs. “Hello,” he greeted his father. “Everything ok?”

“Yes,” Constantine nodded. “I was stopping by to see if you were busy.”

“Not at the moment,” Liam replied. “I just finished up a paper. Why, what’s up?”

“I have a meeting I need to attend with Landon regarding trading coming into Portavira’s entrepôt that I thought would be good for you to sit in on.” 

“Oh … yeah, sure,” Liam nodded. 

“It shouldn’t take too long,” Constantine said. 

Eleanor stepped forward. “Croía, I have some preparation planning for the Peace Summit to do and wondered if you might like to join me?” she smiled. “Please don’t feel like you have to say yes, I just thought I’d extend the offer while Constantine stole Liam away.” 

“Sure,” Croía smiled. She’d heard the summit mentioned a few times in the time she’d been there and, truthfully, she found herself a tad curious about it. 

“You’re not busy with any classwork?” Eleanor asked.

“No, ma’am,” Croía shook her head. “I have an exam I was going to study for, but Liam was going to help me, so I’d be waiting until he finished up anyway.” 

Eleanor smiled. “As long as you’re sure … and you want to. Again, please don’t feel like you have to.” 

“I’m sure,” Croía smiled. 

“Alia and I will hold down the fort while you’re gone,” Blaine said from the top of the stairs where he leaned against the railing.

Liam glanced over his shoulder, shaking his head with a knowing smile before looking back at his parents. “We’re ready when you are,” he said as he gestured toward the door. He slipped his hand into Croía’s as they followed him into the hall. 

Constantine and Eleanor fell into step on either side of the pair as they walked down the corridor; while Liam talked quietly with his father about the meeting, Eleanor looked at Croía. “It’s nothing arduous that we’re going to be doing,” she said. “Just going over the current guest list from those that have responded and some plans for the event.” 

“Well … full disclosure,” Croía began, “I haven’t … I mean, I’ve never helped with anything like this before,” she smiled sheepishly. “So, if I get in your way, feel free to tell me.” 

Eleanor smiled and patted her shoulder. “You’ll be fine.” 

When they came to a split in the corridor, Liam slowed his steps as his father turned one way and his mother the other, both pausing to wait. He looked down at Croía and smiled. “I’ll see you in a little bit.”

“I won’t keep her away from you for too long,” Eleanor said. “Promise.” 

Liam kissed Croía’s cheek before turning and heading down the corridor with his father toward the King’s study while Croía joined Eleanor on the walk to hers. 

****

Sitting inside the Queen’s study, Croía flipped through a list of names. “They’re broken down by country and kingdom,” Eleanor explained. “It’s just easier to keep track that way, and then, when the time comes for the seating arrangements, we can keep them all together.”

“It looks like you’ll have a decent turnout,” Croía noted as she looked at the list. 

“Yes,” Eleanor smiled. “It’s the first time we’ve held a Peace Summit here, so I’m glad we’ve gotten such a good response so far.” 

Members of royalty from various kingdoms such as Monterisso, Pavedena, Naporvie, Ulmeria, Monterre, and Ismar, to name a few, were all planning to attend as well as members of government from Ardona, Rutherland, Esherstein, Ithanstan, and Drivosa. 

The families of all of her and Liam’s friends, Croía noticed, and their friends were all on the list to attend alongside them. 

There was one country and kingdom noticeably not included. 

“Did … did you extend an invite to Drakovia?” Croía asked, immediately wishing she hadn’t as soon as the words left her mouth.

“We did,” Eleanor answered. “We haven’t heard back from them yet. But there’s still time.” 

“No offense, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up.” 

Eleanor looked at her, smiling sadly; she’d heard the same thing from Trystan. “We’ve extended invites to them in the past for various events, but they don’t usually respond. So, while I know they’re likely not to attend, I hope they do.” 

It was the truth. Eleanor did hope the King and Queen of Drakovia would attend, but not for the reasons Croía probably thought. The attendance of the Drakovian monarchs could bring a different kind of peace. And at the thought, a pang of guilt shot through the Cordonian Queen, knowing both her words and motives were deceptive, but just as they were trying to protect Liam, they wanted to protect Croía as well. 

“Have you spoken to your parents?” Eleanor asked as casually as she could.

“Oh, uh … no,” Croía answered. She let out a breath and dropped her gaze back to the list in her hands. “I’ve called a couple of times, but I … I haven’t heard anything back. I’m sure they’re busy.”

Eleanor stared at her; she’d heard Croía make that same excuse before as to why she hadn’t been in contact with her parents. She knew she didn’t believe her own words, able to hear the disappointment and hurt in the lie even though she tried to mask it. She’d heard from Liam how Croía was treated, but heard even more unsettling details about it from Trystan. And her heart broke for the young woman sitting before her, the one who still held onto hope that her family would someday show her love and affection despite being made to believe all her life that she was nothing to them … the same young woman who had become an integral and special part of her son’s life, and because of that, her own. She’d taken a liking to Croía, more so over the last month and seeing firsthand how happy she made Liam. Perhaps it was her natural motherly instinct, but she wanted to protect Croía from all of the same things she wanted to protect her own children from. And she wanted to help her, to see her thrive and succeed; it was part of the reason she’d asked if she wanted to join her that afternoon. 

Eleanor knew Croía didn’t have the experience that others in her position typically would, and not all of those kinds of lessons could be learned from a class or a book. And while guest lists and event planning were the more frivolous sides of her role, Eleanor had a few reasons for spending this time with Croía; she had a purpose for it all. 

“Well, why don’t we see how many from each country and kingdom are coming so far,” Eleanor said, changing the subject. She smiled as she sat next to her on the small sofa. “That way, we can start to figure out how we’re going to do the seating.” 

****

That evening, Constantine and Eleanor sat inside the King’s study, unwinding from their day with drinks. When Constantine’s phone rang, he stood from the sofa and walked to his desk, lifting the receiver to his ear. “Yes?”

“Hello, Constantine,” Trystan greeted him.

“Trystan,” Constantine said as he glanced over his shoulder at his wife; she rose from the sofa and came beside him as he put the call on speaker. “How are you?”

“I’m well. I hope you and Eleanor are the same.”

“We’re good,” Eleanor answered, letting him know she was there. 

“I’m here with Cameron,” Trystan said. “We just wanted to give you a little update.”

Constantine and Eleanor shared a look. “We’re listening.” 

“It’s not much of an update,” Cameron chimed in. “We’re still looking for the proof we need. We just need some more time to find that smoking gun.” 

“What we’ve found so far is better than nothing,” Eleanor replied. “It has to lead somewhere.” 

“Unfortunately, these people are very good at keeping things hidden,” Cameron said.

“I can imagine, considering they’ve flown under the radar for as long as they have,” Constantine scoffed. “But at least we’re getting somewhere.” 

In the time since they started their undercover investigation, the Cordonian monarchs along with Trystan and Cameron had uncovered more than they bargained for with the help of Damien and his Interpol connection. They’d come to learn that things were far more complicated and complex than they initially thought. And despite how much they’d found — and because of it — they needed more. What they had was only enough to drum up more suspicion and speculation. Both the delicacy and complexity of the situation called for more conclusive evidence because they couldn’t take any chances or risk any slip-ups based on technicalities. They needed a surefire smoking gun before they could make any moves, and they had yet to find it. 

“How’s Croía?” Trystan asked.

“She’s doing good,” Eleanor answered. “She was with me earlier, actually, helping me with some things regarding the Peace Summit.” 

“Taking her under your wing, are you?” Trystan quipped. 

Eleanor chuckled. “I simply extended the offer to keep her occupied while Constantine had Liam sit in on a meeting with him.” 

“She likes to learn, but was never given the chance back home,” Trystan said. “So I’m glad she’s got you there.”  

“Speaking of the summit,” Eleanor began. “Are you still  aiming to have enough evidence by then?” 

“Yes,” Cameron answered. “Damien still thinks it would be easier to have Interpol be there than it would be for them to get into Drakovia. I’m hoping we’ll have what we need, and that’s the goal, but I don’t want to make any promises.”

“And I still wouldn’t put too much faith in them attending,” Trystan interjected. “I know Damien thinks that’ll be the easiest way, but it’d be a damn miracle if they accepted. And if they do, be on alert because it wouldn’t be because they’re actually looking for peace. If they accept, they’ll have an ulterior motive for doing so.” 

“We’ll keep that in mind,” Constantine replied. 

“And Liam and Croía … they still don’t know anything about it?” Trystan asked.

“No,” Eleanor and Constantine answered in unison. 

“We’ve only been giving them the updates from the Dean and the University’s investigation, not our own,” Constantine added. He shared a look with his wife. “We’ll tell them when we need to …”

****

After having dinner with Blaine and Alia, Liam and Croía headed up to his room while the other two decided to venture down into the capitol in search of dessert. They’d offered for them to tag along, but Liam knew they hadn’t spent much time alone since their arrival in Cordonia; he’d told Blaine about one of his favorite local spots to take her. 

Croía sat on the bed and let out a breath, glancing at Liam when he sat down beside her. “How did that meeting with your dad go?”

“Fine,” Liam shrugged. “Just some trade stuff he wanted me to overhear.” He glanced over at her with a chuckle. “How was planning with my mom?” 

“It was fine,” Croía smiled. “Everyone is coming to that summit. Alia and her parents and sister. Blaine and his parents. Kennedy and her mom. Dionne and her parents. Peter and his parents and brother … to name a few.”

“Yeah, I knew Blaine and Alia were coming, only because they told me,” Liam said. “I figured the others would more than likely tag along … or be dragged along,” he chuckled. 

“I noticed Drakovia wasn’t on the list,” Croía said. “I asked your mom about it … she said they invited them, but in a surprising turn of events, they haven’t heard back,” she quipped. 

Liam shifted to sit in front of her. “Maybe they’ll come.” He knew they wouldn’t.

“Doubtful,” Croía replied. Liam smiled sadly before lifting a hand to her cheek; he drew her to him and pressed his lips to hers as his other hand settled on her waist. Before they could get too lost in the moment, she gently broke the kiss. “I have to study for my IRT exam.”

“You have all weekend,” Liam whispered. 

Croía chuckled as he kissed her again. “I need to get some studying done tonight. And you said you’d help me.” 

“I will help,” Liam said as he brushed his thumb across her bottom lip before kissing her once more. 

“I think we have two different definitions of help at the moment.”

A rumble of impish laughter escaped Liam as he drew back to meet her gaze. “Ok, I’ll help you study. But how about we make it a little more … interesting?”

Croía couldn’t help but chuckle at the mischievous smile he wore. “How so?” 

“I’ll quiz you …” Liam smirked, leaning forward and pressing another lingering kiss to her lips. “And reward you for every right answer you get.” 

Arching a curious brow, Croía smiled. “Reward me how?”

“Guess you’ll have to agree to play to find out.”

“Ok,” Croía laughed. She reached for her book on the nightstand, but he stopped her. “The questions are in the book.”

Liam tapped a finger to his temple. “It’s all up here.” He grinned when she laughed, then kissed her again as he guided her back on the bed, stopping once he was hovering over her. “First question,” he murmured against her lips. “Which theoretical perspective views globalization as a new form of imperialism?”

Croía smiled. “Neo-Marxism.”

“Good,” Liam said before finding her lips again; he kissed her slow and deep, curling his tongue against hers before shifting a moment later, kissing along her jaw to her ear. “Next question,” he whispered. “Globalization is most associated with which theory of world politics?”

“Liberalism.” 

“Uh-huh,” Liam hummed as his lips lingered on her neck. He slipped his hand beneath the hem of her shirt and pushed it up, revealing her lace-covered chest; he gently dragged his hand from her neck down between the valley of her breasts and his lips followed their path before shifting off course and trailing over the swell, stopping when they met the seam of fabric. “What is the economic theory and ideology that serves as the backdrop to what is commonly referred to as globalization?” 

Croía shuddered as his lips brushed over her covered peak, feeling his warm breath through the thin lace; her thoughts jumbled when the tip of his finger dipped beneath the scalloped seam and began to pull it down. “Neo-stru—” He paused, arching a brow as his gaze flickered to hers, and she shook her head. “Neoliberalism.” 

A wolfish smirk curled on Liam’s lips as he slid the rest of the fabric out of his way and lowered his mouth down to her pebbled nipple; he slowly swirled his tongue before pulling away and blowing a stream of cold air against her, drawing out a soft gasp. “Name two contributing factors to global integration,” he murmured against her as his lips moved to her stomach. 

“Transportation and Communication …”

“Mmhm,” Liam hummed, continuing his slow descent as his hand slid up to caress her. 

“And European Colonization.”

“Very good.” Liam shifted himself lower, placing a kiss just below her navel; his hands slowly pushed up the hem of her pleated knit tennis skirt before he hooked a strong arm around one of her thighs and draped it across her hips. “What is the type of exchange rate that is based on its expected value in the international market and is considered to be self-correcting?”

Croía bit her lip, fixated on him as his lips made a path along her inner thigh, all while holding her gaze. “It’s … it’s fixed—” He paused, and she swallowed thickly. “Floating. Floating exchange rate.”

“Nice save.” Liam ghosted his lips over the thin piece of lace that covered her and he smirked when just that light touch drew a soft yet needy whimper from her. “Name one revolutionary approach to International Relations.”

When he placed another teasing kiss over the lace, Croía’s eyes fell shut as a tingle shot up her spine; she instinctively tried to arch her hips for more but was stopped by his arm holding her in place. “F-Focus on — focus on North — North and South relations,” she stuttered through a breath.

Liam chuckled, dragging a finger along the seam. “I think I might prefer to focus on the south right now,” he said before he pulled the lace aside and dropped his mouth down on her. 

When she felt his velvet tongue swirl against her, Croía’s lips parted with a moan as her hand slid into his hair. 

*******

A couple of days later, Liam, Croía, Blaine, and Alia sat in the living room of the south wing, all working on assignments and studying for upcoming exams. 

“I wonder how much of this shit I’m actually going to use in the real world,” Blaine scoffed. 

Liam chuckled just as the door to his wing flew open; they all glanced over as Leo strode into view. “Hello,” he grinned. He walked further inside and sat beside Croía on the sofa, slinging an arm over her shoulders. “Hi, Cocoa Bean.”

Liam shook his head as the others laughed, including Croía.

One night while they all hung out in the game room, Leo had caught a glimpse of Liam’s phone, seeing Croía listed in his contacts under ‘Cocoa’. He’d laughed himself hoarse, despite there being a story behind the nickname, one Liam tried to explain. Leo ignored him and the story entirely and had been calling her Cocoa Bean for the last few weeks anytime he saw her. She didn’t seem to mind, however, so neither did Liam. 

“What are you up to?” Liam asked. 

“I want to go golfing,” Leo said, “but I have no one to go with. So I thought you all might like to join me.” 

Blaine threw his book down. “I’m in.”

Liam’s brows furrowed. “I thought you hated golf?”

“I don’t hate it, but it’s not my favorite thing either,” Blaine replied. “But I’ll do anything to get away from this shit for a while,” he said, gesturing toward the book and his laptop.  

“I’m game,” Alia said.

Liam and Croía shared a look, both shrugging. “Ok.”

****

A while later, after changing into appropriate attire while Leo filled a cooler with beers and White Claws, the five of them headed out to Cormery Isle’s golf course. 

They laughed and joked as they made their way through the course, all in much need of the little reprieve.

Liam, Croía, and Leo pulled up in a golf cart to where their balls landed on the seventh hole; Blaine and Alia pulled up in a second cart behind them. 

After taking their shots, Leo, Blaine, and Croía sat on one of the carts after grabbing a drink from the cooler, waiting while Liam and Alia made their shots. 

Leo glanced back at Blaine from the driver’s seat, chuckling. “Remember last year when we were shotgunning beers for every shot we took?” 

Blaine snorted, nodding before he tipped his head back to take a sip of his beer. “And we were all shitfaced drunk by the time we got back to the palace and your mom made us all her infamous hangover remedy.” 

“I swear, her spiced apple tea hangover cure is fucking gold,” Leo said. “They’ve made me functional for so many events.” 

“What’s a shotgun?” Croía asked.

Leo’s brows rose in surprise and he glanced over at her in the passenger seat. “Cocoa Bean! You’ve never done a shotgun?”

“No,” Croía chuckled, shaking her head.

“Oh, we’ll need to fix that,” Leo said. “Blaine, grab me a drink.”  

Blaine reached back, grabbed a can of White Claw from the cooler, and handed it to Leo. “So, the first thing you’re gonna do is make a hole down here,” he said as he tapped his finger near the bottom of the can. He grabbed the pen they were keeping score with and carefully poked through the can, maneuvering it around. “Ok,” Leo said as he finished making the hole wide enough; Blaine leaned forward from the backseat of the cart to both inspect and watch. “Take this, put your thumb over the hole, and position your other hand so you can open the tab.” He handed her the can, and she did as instructed. “Good. Ok, now, put your mouth there,” he pointed to the hole, and she leaned forward and replaced her thumb with her mouth. “Now open it and then suck.” 

“Tilt it slightly,” Blaine added.

Croía tilted the can slightly as her nail flipped up the tab, but she was met with a rush of unexpected carbonation, causing her to cough into the can. 

Suddenly, the liquid shot out from the opening, spraying Leo directly in the face.

Croía slowly looked over at Leo with wide eyes as what little she managed to get into her mouth dribbled out; liquid and foam dripped from his face.

In the back seat, Blaine let out a loud bark of laughter as he threw his head back. When he heard her wheeze, he looked at Croía and started to laugh even harder at seeing how hard she was now laughing; her face was bright red and her hand covered her mouth, which was open in shock as her body shook. 

When Croía took a breath, she squealed out a laugh as her foot kicked the panel under the seat and she doubled forward. Both the sight and sound sent Blaine over the edge; he tipped sideways, rolling out of the cart into the grass as he clutched his stomach. 

Alia and Liam approached after taking their shots, and Alia started to laugh just at the sight of Blaine rolling around on the ground. 

“What the hell happened?” Liam asked, seeing a substance dripping from his brother’s face; he wore a grin despite whatever just occurred. 

A loud guffaw erupted from Blaine as he started to try and tell them the story; he rolled to his side with a wheeze as he slapped the ground, unable to continue. 

“I was trying to teach Cocoa Bean how to do a shotgun,” Leo began to explain through a laugh of his own as he wiped his face down with his golf towel. “But I somehow managed to get a face full of White Claw instead.”

Alia couldn’t contain her laughter at the imagery.

“I-I’m sorry … I-I got a …” Croía trailed off, unable to speak as another shriek of laughter bubbled out of her. 

Liam looked at her and he couldn’t help but chuckle as she gripped his arm; tears glistened in the corners of her eyes as the melodious sound of her contagious laughter filled the air. He’d seen her laugh plenty of times, but never that hard … and he never wanted to go another day without seeing or hearing it again, without seeing her so utterly happy and carefree.

“Holy fuck,” Blaine chortled. He slowly rolled onto all fours, trying to catch his breath. “My abs hurt. That …” He trailed off, snorting. “That was the funniest fucking thing. His face …” He howled, dropping his head onto the ground between his arms as he continued to laugh. “Shit, Croía.” 

Leo gripped Croía’s shoulder. “We’ll need to work on your execution, Cocoa Bean,” he chuckled. 

*******

The following Friday, Liam, Croía, Blaine, and Alia sat in the living room of the south wing, watching a movie; they’d spent all week working on assignments, had gone out to the beer garden with Leo, Rashad, and Olivia the night before, and were taking that night to relax. 

Midway through the film, a knock sounded on the door; Liam paused the movie and shouted for them to come in. A moment later, Constantine and Eleanor appeared. “Sorry to interrupt,” Constantine smiled apologetically at the group as they all sat up.

“No worries,” Liam said. “What’s up?”

Constantine and Eleanor walked into the living area and took the two empty seats on either end of the sectional. “We just received a call from the Dean. Vancross is opening campus back up.” 

They all smiled. “When?” Blaine questioned. 

“One week,” Eleanor answered. “They’re giving you next week free of classes to allow you to get yourselves situated before returning.”

“So they finished the investigation?” Croía asked.

“They closed it,” Constantine said. “They couldn’t find any evidence pointing to who was behind the attack. Being that it’s been over a month, they didn’t have much of a choice. I’m sure they’ll still be looking into it, but they think it’s time for the students to return.” 

“Your parents are aware,” Eleanor said to Blaine and Alia. “They’re leaving it up to you whether or not you want to go right from here or go home for the week before returning.” 

The pair shared a look. “We should probably go see them before going back,” Alia said. “We won’t see them again until graduation.”

“Yeah,” Blaine nodded. 

As they began to discuss leaving the following morning, Croía took in Alia’s words. We won’t see them again until graduation. She hadn’t seen her mother since her impromptu visit, and she hadn’t seen her father since she left to attend Vancross. She hadn’t been home at all. They hadn’t tried to reach out to her and hadn’t returned any of her calls. And while a part of her knew it was foolish to even want to see them or to think they cared about seeing her, another part of her couldn’t let go of the notion that she had a home and family of her own. 

Alia and Blaine excused themselves to go call their parents and make their arrangements to leave, leaving Liam and Croía alone with Constantine and Eleanor. 

“I … I should go home, too,” Croía said. 

Liam furrowed his brows as he snapped his gaze in her direction. “What?” 

“Alia’s right,” Croía said quietly as she looked at him. “We won’t have another chance to go home again before graduation, and that’s a few months away. And I haven’t … I haven’t been home at all since school started.” She could see the wariness in his eyes. “I know I haven’t talked to them … but maybe I should try to see them.” 

Liam knew why she wanted to go — or rather, felt like she had to. She didn’t want to give up on believing that maybe one day they’d see her for more than the mistake they told her she was. She wanted their love and acceptance so badly that she was willing to risk her emotional well-being on the off chance she might get it. Every instinct inside him wanted to tell her not to go, to beg her not to go and to stay with him. He’d seen firsthand what being around just her mother did to her, and he didn’t want to see her fall back into that headspace she was so easily put in before. He didn’t want to see her hurt and defeated if this trip home didn’t go the way she hoped it would … and he was almost certain that’s what would happen. 

Liam let out a breath. “But Croía—”

“It’s just a week,” Croía interrupted, seeing more trepidation fill his expression as he stared at her. “And then we’ll be back at campus.” 

Constantine looked at his wife the same moment Eleanor looked at him; he recognized the question in her eyes. He knew she didn’t want Croía to go either and that look told him exactly what she was thinking: She doesn’t know what we know. But he subtly shook his head at her silent request. They couldn’t risk telling anyone, including Liam and Croía. Not yet.

“Are you sure, Croía?” Eleanor asked, hoping she might reconsider. 

“I’m sure,” Croía nodded with a halfhearted smile. “And while I’m there … maybe I can bring up the Peace Summit and gauge their interest in possibly attending.” 

“Well, how about I go with you,” Liam said. 

Constantine and Eleanor both stiffened at his words. 

“I appreciate the offer, but I think it might be best if I go by myself,” Croía said, much to his parents’ relief. “I’ll be fine,” she assured him. 

Liam continued to stare at her. “When … when are you going to leave?” 

“Blaine and Alia seem to be leaving in the morning,” Croía noted. “So maybe sometime tomorrow afternoon. I’ll have to have Jonas call to have the jet prepared and sent.” 

“No need to call for the jet. You’re more than welcome to use ours,” Constantine offered, although his motives weren’t entirely selfless; he didn’t trust a Drakovian jet landing on Cordonian soil. 

Liam heaved a sigh as he finally dropped Croía’s gaze. He didn’t like the idea of her leaving. He didn’t like it at all. 

**** 

The movie night had been cut short so Blaine, Alia, and — much to Liam’s dismay — Croía could pack their bags. 

Liam sat on the edge of his bed, watching Croía stuff the final pieces of her clothing into her suitcase before zipping it shut. She set her bag over by the door and turned to face him; the look he gave her had her seriously contemplating her decision. 

When Croía approached him, she rested her hands on his shoulders, and Liam pulled her down so she was straddling his lap. He searched her icy blue eyes as he tucked her hair behind her ear. “I don’t want you to go,” he said just above a whisper.

“I’ll be ok,” Croía said, not sure whether she was trying to convince him or herself. 

“Does Trystan know you’re going?”

“No,” Croía chuckled, knowing he was hoping her brother would change her mind. “I haven’t called to tell him, but I will.” He shook his head, dropping her gaze. “If I come back disappointed … it’s no one’s fault but my own.”

Liam looked at her again. “If that’s even a possibility, why go?” he asked. “Why risk making yourself feel like that?” 

“Because I … I just feel like I need to do this,” Croía replied. “For myself.” Liam sighed, dropping his head on her shoulder. “Listen …” She forced his gaze back to hers. “If this trip goes badly … I promise, it’ll be the last time I try.” 

“You won’t go back again?”

“No,” Croía shook her head. “I think this trip will tell me everything I need to know.” 

Liam chewed the inside of his cheek as his hold around her tightened. “I still don’t like the idea of you going … especially by yourself.” 

“I’ll be ok.” 

Knowing he wasn’t going to change her mind, Liam heaved a defeated sigh as he dropped his head on her shoulder. “I’ve gotten used to you being here with me,” he murmured. “I don’t want to wake up without you.” 

Croía chuckled. “It’s only a week.” 

“Too long.” Liam lifted his gaze back to hers, holding it for a moment before he closed the small space between them and pressed his lips to hers. 

When they parted, Croía rested her forehead against his. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” 

Liam kissed her again, this time more ardently; he turned, laying her back on the bed, planning to make the most of that night. And she eagerly returned the kiss with the very same intention. 

*******

The following morning, Liam and Croía said their goodbyes to Blaine and Alia before they left, and that afternoon, they rode in silence and hand-in-hand in the back of an SUV to the airport for Croía’s flight. 

Anthony drove the pair with Jonas riding beside him in the passenger seat; knowing they were in cahoots, she had instructed her guard not to call Trystan, telling him she would do so herself. In the third row behind them sat Leo, who offered to tag along, knowing his brother might need a distraction on the way back. 

Liam tossed and turned all night, trying to come up with some way of changing Croía’s mind, but he fell short. Despite her assuring him she would be fine and that it would only be a week before she saw him again, he still couldn’t bring himself to get on board with the idea. He didn’t push, however, because he didn’t want her to think he was being overbearing. 

When the SUV pulled up to the tarmac alongside the waiting jet, the two guards exited the vehicle first; Anthony went to do a cursory check of the aircraft while Jonas grabbed Croía’s suitcase. 

When Liam’s guard reappeared a few moments later, giving the all-clear, Liam sighed as he opened the door and stepped out, turning to offer a hand to Croía; she said goodbye to Leo, who gave her a quick hug, before taking Liam’s hand and allowing him to help her out. 

The pair walked slowly toward the stairs; Jonas shook Anthony’s hand before stepping onto the jet while the latter headed back to the SUV, giving Liam and Croía some privacy. 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?” Liam asked, forcing a small smile. 

“I’ll be fine,” Croía reiterated with a sad smile as she looked up at him. “Remember, it’s only a week.” 

Liam wrapped his arms around her as hers looped around his neck. “I know …” He leaned down, pressing his lips to hers. 

“We’ll talk every day.” 

“Promise?”

“Promise,” Croía assured him, and he kissed her again. 

Croía cupped his face in her hands. “I love you,” she whispered against his lips as he rested his forehead against hers.

“I love you, too.” 

After drawing back from another kiss, Croía stepped back, knowing she wouldn’t get on that jet if she lingered there any longer. “I’ll call you as soon as I land.” 

“I’ll be waiting.”

Liam watched her turn and head up the stairs; she gave him a wave and one last smile over her shoulder before disappearing into the cabin. He walked backward, watching Jonas secure the door, and when he reached the SUV, he leaned against it, waiting to see her take off. 

A moment later, Leo appeared beside him. “Relax. She’ll only be gone a week.”

Liam didn’t take his eyes off the jet as it turned toward the open airstrip. Yes, he knew it was only a week, but he had an odd feeling that he couldn’t seem to shake, one that grew in intensity as he watched the aircraft pick up speed down the runway before lifting into the air.

******* 

The following Thursday, Liam sat out on the balcony of his bedroom, eating breakfast as he scanned a newspaper. His eyes kept flickering to his phone, waiting for Croía’s morning call. 

As promised, Croía had called him twice a day every day since she left. They messaged each other throughout each day as well. 

That first night, when Liam asked how her return was received, all Croía said was, “as expected.” Each night since, she told him how her parents had been in closed-door meetings all day and she had yet to see either of them. That was until yesterday afternoon when she sent a message to tell him she was having dinner with them that evening; she said she would call him later to tell him how it went. 

Croía never called. 

Liam had sent a couple of messages to see if everything was ok and to ask how the dinner went, but he never got a response. 

As he looked at his phone again, Liam told himself not to panic, that she had probably just fallen asleep and wasn’t awake yet. He still couldn’t shake that odd feeling he had, though, and it was doing him no favors in staying optimistic. 

When his phone chimed with an incoming call, Liam threw the paper down and snatched his phone up; he let out a breath when he saw the name flash across the screen. “Hi,” he answered.

“Well, don’t you sound chipper this morning,” Blaine chuckled.

“Sorry,” Liam sighed. “What’s up?”

“Nothing. I just wanted to let you know I’ll be heading out tomorrow morning.” 

Blaine was flying back to Cordonia tomorrow so he and Liam could head back to Vancross together Saturday morning; they wanted to give themselves time to get resituated in their suite and relax before classes started up again on Monday. Rashad and Olivia were taking the Domavlliers jet but weren’t planning to return to campus until Sunday. 

“Is Alia coming too?” Liam asked.

“No,” Blaine answered. “She has an event she’s attending with her family tomorrow evening, so she’s just going to meet us back at Vancross Saturday morning.” 

“Ok …” 

“Are you alright?” Blaine asked.

“I’m just waiting for Croía to call.” 

“What’s wrong?”

Liam sighed. “She was supposed to call me last night but never did. And she hasn’t called or answered my messages this morning.”

“Calm down,” Blaine chuckled. “She’s probably still sleeping. Don’t get yourself all worked up over nothing.” 

“Right …” Liam drummed his fingers against the table. 

Something told him it wasn’t “nothing.” 

*******

The next afternoon, Liam sat inside the living area of his wing after he’d returned to the palace from picking Blaine up at the airport. Liam held his phone to his ear, listening to it ring and ring and ring before Croía’s voicemail picked up. He sighed, ending the call and tossing his phone on the table in front of him before running his hand down his face.

“Still nothing?” Blaine asked, and Liam shook his head. “Let me try.” He scrolled through his contacts before tapping his finger against Croía’s name. It rang … and rang and rang and rang … until her voicemail picked up. “Nothing …” 

“Has Alia heard from her?” Liam asked.

“She said the last time she talked to her was Wednesday.” 

“Same as me …” Liam let out a breath, running his hand through his hair. 

“We’ll keep trying,” Blaine said. 

****

That night, Liam tapped his foot anxiously against the carpeted floor of his bedroom as he tried calling Croía again. He still hadn’t heard back from her. When he reached her voicemail for the umpteenth time that day, he let out a frustrated breath as he rubbed his eyes, waiting for the cue to leave a message. When he heard the beep, he lifted his head.

“Croía … it’s me again. I’m really worried. I just want to know you’re ok. Please … please call me back.” 

Liam sighed as he dropped the phone away from his ear and ended the call. He thought about calling Trystan, but another part of him thought maybe he should wait. Like him, Blaine, and Alia, Croía was supposed to be returning to campus tomorrow and he didn’t want to worry her brother for no reason if there truly was an explanation as to why she hadn’t returned any of their calls or messages. He couldn’t figure out what the hell that explanation could be, but he was holding onto that small sliver of hope like a lifeline. 

*******

The following morning, Liam drummed his fingers across his thigh from his seat on the jet; through the clouds, he could see Vancross University’s campus as they flew overhead, headed for the airport. 

“Alia just landed and is headed back to campus now,” Blaine said, reading a message from her. Liam looked at him. “I told her we’re about five minutes behind her. She said she’ll let us know if Croía is there.” 

They had yet to hear anything from Croía; their calls were now going straight to voicemail, and messages were still left unanswered.

It had been three days since Liam last spoke to Croía and that odd feeling he had when she first left had now grown into full-on panic. When he said his goodbyes to his family that morning, his mother asked if he was ok, able to tell something was bothering him; he didn’t tell her what was going on because he didn’t have any answers to explain it. 

Liam’s only focus that morning was getting back to campus and seeing if Croía had arrived yet. 

****

When Liam and Blaine arrived back at their suite, they dropped their bags in their rooms and met back in the living area, both with their phones in hand. Liam tapped his finger against the screen on Croía’s name and put the phone to his ear; it went straight to voicemail again. 

Blaine could see the concern etched in his friend’s expression. “Maybe her phone broke or something.” 

Liam merely nodded at Blaine’s attempt to settle his nerves, but he didn’t believe it. Something was wrong. He could feel it. 

Suddenly, the door to their suite flung open and a frantic Alia rushed inside; she was out of breath, clearly having run from her building to theirs. 

Blaine turned toward her. “Baby, what’s wrong?” 

“Croía’s stuff … it’s not there,” Alia breathed as she pressed a palm to her chest. 

Liam’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean?” 

“Her room is empty. All of her stuff … it’s gone.” 

The color drained from Liam’s face as his heart plummeted into his stomach. “No.” In the next moment, he was rushing out the door, and Blaine and Alia followed behind him. 

Liam ran along the campus path from his building towards the other. When he entered through the front doors, he bound up the steps two at a time until he came to the correct floor; he flew down the hall and pushed the door to the suite open, making a beeline for Croía’s room. 

When Liam stepped inside, he froze. Just as Alia had said, the room was empty save for the bare bed and the desk and chair. 

There was nothing but empty hangers in the closet. 

The drawers of the dresser were pulled open and bare. 

The books that once lined the built-in bookshelf were gone. 

The only thing that remained to show Croía had ever been there at all was the pictures still pinned to the corkboard above the desk she once occupied. A photo of their whole group together from a night they had a bonfire on the beach, several photos of her and Alia, her and Liam, and a few of the four of them together on the many nights they hung out. 

Liam looked around the empty room, blinking as if her stuff would suddenly reappear … along with her. His eyes fell on a crumpled article of clothing he spotted on the floor of the closet. He walked over and picked it up; when he held it in front of him, he saw the ‘Rys’ stitched across the top of the back. It was the mock jersey she had worn to his final polo match. He sat in the chair and leaned forward, burying his face in the shirt; the scent of vanilla and sandalwood still lingered in the fabric.

Fisting the shirt in his hands, a wave of worry, guilt, and anger washed over Liam. He didn’t trust the idea of her going home, but he didn’t try hard enough to convince her not to. He knew in his gut something was wrong when he didn’t hear from her, but he didn’t try to figure out what it was. 

Blaine took a tentative step toward his friend, seeing his hands start to shake. Suddenly, Liam stood, grabbing the chair by its back and hurling it across the room with a growl; the sound of it slamming against the wall caused Alia to yelp. 

Liam ran his fingers through his hair, lacing his trembling hands behind his head. The stress of the past few days had finally gotten the better of him. His chest was rising and falling heavily, his breaths shuddered and quick as he tried to wrap his mind around what the hell was happening. But he couldn’t. He didn’t know what was going on. He didn’t know anything. 

Blaine approached him, resting a hand on his shoulder. After a few quiet moments, Alia broke the deafening silence. “What … what do you think happened?” Blaine glanced over his shoulder at hearing the worry laced in her words. 

Liam dropped his arms to his sides, looking around the room again as his jaw tensed. “I … I don’t know,” he said. He stormed out of the room, unable to stand inside the emptiness any longer, stopping once he was in the living area. He pulled his phone from his pocket and went to his contacts, tapping a name on the screen before lifting it to his ear.

“Liam?”

“Have you heard from Croía?” The question tumbled out of Liam, who didn’t care about a polite greeting at the moment.

“No …” Trystan paused for a moment. “She’s supposed to be returning to campus today.”

“Yeah, but she’s not here. I haven’t talked to her since Wednesday morning; she hasn’t answered any of my calls or messages. Any calls to her started going straight to voicemail this morning. We just got back to campus, and Alia found all of her stuff from their suite gone. Her room is completely empty, Trystan.” 

Trystan could hear the worry in his voice; his own anxiety spiked at what he’d just been told, but he hid it, trying to remain calm. “Let me try to call her phone for me. I’ll call you right back.” He didn’t wait for a response before hanging up. 

Liam dropped his arm, gripping his phone tightly in his hand. The few seconds that went by felt like hours until his phone rang; he answered before it made half a ring. “Anything?”

“No … right to voicemail.” Trystan heard Liam let out an exasperated breath. “Listen, let me make some calls … see what I can find out. I’ll let you know as soon as I know something.”

*******

In the living area of his suite the following afternoon, Liam sat slumped on the sofa; his fist was pressed against his mouth as he stared off in a daze with his phone clutched tightly in his other hand. Blaine and Alia sat in silence across from him on the other end of the sectional. 

It had been over 24 hours since Liam had spoken to Trystan, and every minute that passed that he didn’t hear from him only caused both his concern and irritation to heighten. He’d tried calling and messaging Croía several more times after his conversation with Trystan but to no avail. He’d gotten a mere couple of hours of sleep last night, and that was only because he dozed off at the kitchen counter while waiting to hear from Trystan or Croía herself. Blaine found him at 2 a.m. when he exited his room to get a bottle of water; he was slumped on the stool with his head on his arms and his hand curled around his phone. He woke him up, telling him to go get some sleep, but when he entered his room, sleep was the last thing on his mind. 

When Liam’s phone chimed with an alert, his head snapped to the screen; he sank back with a heavy sigh at seeing the message from his mother, telling him she hoped they all got settled in ok and to enjoy his last day before starting classes back up tomorrow. He sent back a quick response before tossing his phone onto the table and laying back, covering his face with his hands. 

Blaine looked at him. “Who was—”

“My mom,” Liam interrupted. 

Alia and Blaine shared a look; Liam’s stress over the situation was palpable. Alia glanced back in Liam’s direction. “Why don’t we go get something to eat while we wait.” 

Liam dropped his hands away from his face and met their gazes; his expression was a silent declination. “Come on, Li,” Blaine sighed. “I’ve been with you since yesterday afternoon and you haven’t eaten anything. You’re not doing anyone any favors by starving your damn self.” 

“We don’t have to go far,” Alia said. “We can go to that Greek place right across the street from campus.”   

As Liam sat there and contemplated their suggestion, a knock came on the door of the suite; he sprung up and rushed over, flinging it open. 

Liam swallowed thickly when he saw none other than Trystan standing on the other side, and the look on his face immediately filled him with dread. 

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

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[courtforshort15]

Late Night Confessions

Pairing: Matt Murdock x AFAB Reader (could be read as GN, though the first part of this series mentions the desire to carry Matt's children)

Word Count: 9,000

Summary: You’re not quite sure why Matt has been pulling away from you, but you know that it’s impossible to stay in a relationship when someone is hiding something. You’re devastated that it has come to this, but you figure it’s better to push away than be pushed away.

Warning: Annnnngst, but with a happy ending

This is the third installment of the Coffee Shop Woes Series, though it could probably be read as a standalone.

Part 1: Coffee Shop Woes

Part 2: First Date Jitters

Masterlist

You didn't really go to the coffee shop on Tuesdays anymore. 

It felt too weird to go when you and Matt were on the outs like this. It felt too much like you were seeking him out, desperate to recreate mornings where you'd openly flirt and hold hands while waiting for your drinks together, Brittany pretending to gag and rolling her eyes in fake annoyance whenever Matt leaned over to brush his lips over your cheek.

It felt too much like searching for something you weren’t sure was meant to last.

And…it wasn't like you were really on the outs with him, when you thought about it. There hadn't been any sort of fight, nothing heavy and angry between the two of you, lapping at your skin while it flared to life and burned you from the inside out. It was just that he had been slowly slipping away; gone were the midday kisses when meeting for lunches, and the nights of him holding you while you slept in his bed. All the words and gestures of care and affection were growing fewer and further between, slowly fading from sight, sliding into a far off distance that even you couldn't see. 

You still talked sometimes; late night phone calls to tell you he was thinking of you, good morning texts and random afternoon office stop-bys to bring you a treat from your favorite bakery. 

But it wasn't enough.

You didn't know where you stood with him anymore. His smile that you loved so much was charming when aimed your way, his eyes crinkling at the corners when you made him laugh. But those had slowly started disappearing too, and all that was left were a few sweet photos on your phone that stung every time you looked at them. 

You changed your home screen back to some generic picture of a flower the fifth time he canceled a date last minute.

A gray, dismal Monday evening found you at his office after asking if you could swing by for a few minutes. He had told you haltingly that he still had a mountain of work to finish, but you insisted, and he reluctantly agreed. The stilted and somewhat awkward conversation was enough to strengthen your resolve, spine straightening, and it forced a sense of coldness into your heart and mind, one that you'd need in order to follow through with a step you really didn't want to take.

The office he shared with Foggy and Karen was dark, which wouldn't have been unsurprising to any other person given that he had no use for the lights. It's just…you had gotten used to the way he made sure to turn them on when he knew you were coming over, excited and breathless at the thought of having you in his space. But this time it was if no thought or consideration for your arrival had passed through his head, and with a quiet sigh, you flicked them on yourself. Matt was at his desk, face tilted down as he ran his fingers over a file, and his head jerked up when the front door shut behind you. 

Maybe he had already forgotten you were coming over, as if you were some vague distraction he would have to face and hopefully get rid of quickly, and the idea was sharp and stabbing, leaving pieces of your skin hanging lifelessly from the wounds.

He stood up as you made your way further into the office, and the smile he sent you was beautiful, as always. But for some reason it held an edge to it, something borderline frustrated, and he wasn't as good at hiding it as he probably thought he was.

Had you not spent the last five months spending every possible moment with him, the smile might have fooled you. But as it were, the smile was almost hurtful to look at, even as you sent one his way in return. You were grateful he couldn't see the way it was extremely strained, dry lips stretching over teeth, cracked more from the bitterness of the situation rather than from the cool weather of fall. 

"Hey, sweetheart," he said as he stepped around his desk, placing the papers he'd had in his hand on another stack of files. He met you at the entrance to his office, pulling you gently in, one hand finding your shoulder, the other your cheek as he leaned in to press a kiss on it. You loved the way his lips felt on your skin, the slight rasp of his stubble brushing against it enticingly. You couldn't help but lean into it, a quiet sigh leaving your mouth.

"Hey, Matt," you greeted him as you pulled away. You took a full step back, bringing yourself just slightly out of his reach, and grimaced at the way his smile dropped ever so slightly. "Busy day?"

He ran his hand through his hair, shrugging. "No more than usual, I guess. Trial starts next week, and I still feel like there's so much to work through."

You made a sound that was sympathetic, all too aware of the case he'd been working on the past few weeks. It was a large case, large enough to make you pause when thinking about his lack of attention lately, but something was still off, and it was a feeling you couldn’t ignore as much as you wanted to. You had been wanting to talk about it with him, but he hadn’t given you a chance, hadn’t spent enough time with you lately for you to even bring it up, and now it just felt like a lost cause. 

"Seems like it's been taking up most of your time, amongst other things."

Matt sighed, and if he picked up on the inflection of the word other, he didn’t say anything. Instead, he rolled his neck lightly before rubbing at his eyes, having obviously removed his glasses at some point in the evening. The sleeves on his shirt were rolled to his elbows, his tie loosened, and while the look had always driven you crazy, it made your throat briefly close up in pain. He looked so stressed, hair messy and eyes tired, but it didn't keep the fact that the distance had slowly been killing you from the inside.

Your heart ached just looking at him, but you knew you needed to push forward. It wasn't just his work schedule that seemed to be creating this chasm between you: he was hiding something, of that you were sure, and you'd been with far too many men who were hiding something to know it was usually best to cut and run before it got worse, before the pain managed to tear you from the inside out. It’s what you did, what you always did; push people away, desperate to keep yourself from the ways they might hurt you when you felt like things were going south, and it was a habit you couldn’t keep from falling into at this moment with him. 

It was a habit that had kept you from many heartaches, though you were positive you weren't going to walk away from this unscathed, regardless.

"Is there a reason why you needed to come by?" He asked, and you couldn't help but narrow your eyes at the the tone that sounded a little too short for your liking. "You sounded like it was pretty urgent."

"Yeah, there's a reason," you said, preparing to rip yourself in two, hands clenching at your side, skin straining and tightening over your knuckles, knuckles that were somewhat bruised from the other night when you’d slammed your fist against your door in frustration when he had canceled dinner again. Matt’s head tilted slightly, as if we could sense the motion, but he didn’t say anything.  "I think we should talk."

Matt's eyebrows rose. "Talk? Right now?"

"Yeah," you shrugged, the movement slow and reluctant, the collar of your jacket lightly brushing against your jaw as your shoulders lifted. "It's not something that can wait, I don't think."

"Sweetheart, I wasn't kidding when I said I have a ton to do for this case," he said with a sigh, placing his hands on his hips. "Can I call you later?"

You shifted on your feet, eyes landing on the random lamp sitting in the corner of his office, reluctant to look at him. It was an old lamp, likely found used on some sort of online posting by Karen, and you were grateful that the swirling design that littered across was enough to draw your attention away for just a brief moment.

"No, it's best we do this now."

"Look, we're having dinner tomorrow night, right? We can go to the restaurant on 51st, we can get that bottle of wine you like, and I promise you'll have my undivided attention," he replied, and the way he was attempting to bargain, attempting to push you off to the side as if he had way more important things to do than talk with you, made you feel weird. Since when did he feel like he needed to bribe you to do what he wanted? "I know it's been a little bit since we've had some time together, but I just really need to finish this portion tonight."

Your laugh almost sounded bitter as it echoed throughout the office. "A little bit? I've barely seen you in three weeks."

He froze before opening his mouth to object, lips quickly tilting into a frown. "That's not true. We went to lunch at that Chinese restaurant down the street the other day."

"Yes, but that was three weeks ago."

He faltered again, jaw dropping slightly. "I–how is that possible?" He asked, sounding vaguely incredulous. "There's no way it's been that long."

"Yeah, well, I guess maybe time flies when you're avoiding me?"

His eyebrows rose again. "Avoiding you? I'm not–"

"That's what it feels like," you told him, trying to keep your voice as blank as possible. You could cry later, there was no need to embarrass yourself with tears. You hadn’t ever cried in front of him, and now was not the time to start, not when you were trying to do what was best for you. "I barely hear from you. You always tell me you're too busy for something these days. I saw you three weeks ago, sure. But in the last month you've canceled on me like five times."

Matt looked surprised, face twisting in something that was beginning to look like guilt. "Sweetheart–"

"And like…I get you're busy, but you can't possibly be that busy 100% of the time. At some point you've got to have some time for me, right?"

"I'm so s–"

"So obviously something is happening outside of work that you won't tell me about."

He took a brusque step forward, hands reaching for you again, but you sidestepped, pulling yourself away from him, unwilling to let him touch you. His face dropped, and you cringed at the look for hurt that was already spreading. 

"Nothing is happening outside of work," he said carefully, each word seeming to be practiced and well-controlled, as if it were a lie that he had told a million times before. Who knows, maybe it was. "I promise. This case…it's draining."

You swallowed dryly, eyes once more flickering to the lamp in the corner, desperate to control yourself enough to push forward. "I don't believe that. I'm sorry."

Out of the corner of your eye, you noticed the way his face paled, and you continued to look away for a moment longer before your eyes landed back on his face. "What are you saying, then? If you don't believe me, then what do you want me to do?"

The breath you took seemed far too shallow, the sound too hoarse, and didn’t actually get you the amount of oxygen you had been needing to help calm you down. He started to take another step towards you, but you shook your head, pushing out a hand to make sure he kept his distance. "I'm saying that this isn't working for me."

Matt's body came to an immediate stop, his mouth dropping in alarm. "What?"

"You heard me," you told him, playing with a thread that had poked loose on the edge of your jacket. "This isn't…working. Not for me, at least."

Matt's mouth opened and shut a few times before he spoke, the words almost too quiet for you to hear. "I don't understand."

You shrugged again, hand finally falling back down to your side. You tried to avoid looking at him, avoid looking at the crestfallen downtown of his mouth and eyes. This beautiful man was wilting before your eyes, and your heart was echoing the movement, sliding downwards and landing on the ground with a quiet thunk that still managed to ring in your ears. 

"I just…I don't really ever see you anymore. We talk sometimes, but not like we used to. I felt like I had to force you to allow me to come over, which is a super shitty feeling to have," you said almost helplessly. The words were starting to catch in your throat. "To be honest, it's started to feel like you want the relationship to end but you're just too nervous to say the words yourself."

His mouth dropped again in surprise. The lighting in the office was bright enough for you to be able to see the way his chest rose and fell rapidly as if he was struggling to catch his breath. "You think I want to end things? Sweetheart–"

His continued use of his word for you, the word that slipped out of his mouth more often than your name, wrapped up in affection and adoration, finally succeeded in causing you to flinch. He’d said it enough times this evening alone, and each time it fell from his lips, your heart squeezed just a little bit harder, but hearing the pleading tone that had slipped into his voice was almost enough to give in to him and throw yourself into his arms. 

You ruthlessly shoved the flickering feeling of wanting him to hold you down to the ground, and opened your mouth to reply. "Something is going on, and I don't know what it is, and even now you're lying to my face saying there isn't."

"What could possibly be going on? What do you think is happening? I still don't understand why you think this."

"I'm not sure," you admitted to him honestly. "I know we're not really official, or whatever that means these days, and I know we’ve kept this casual so far, but I thought maybe we had something. Maybe I was wrong."

He looked like he had been slapped. "What do you mean, not really official? It’s never been anything but serious for me. What else did you think this was?"

You shrugged again, your shoulders rising and falling jerkily. "I'm not really sure, to be honest. We never really said anything about it. So I guess it would make sense if you were keeping your options open, I guess."

"My options op–"

"And like…if that's the case, there's really nothing else to say, right? I haven’t really gotten the feeling from you that you've wanted this to be serious, not with the way you've been dodging my invites for dinner or rushing to end our phone calls. If you're seeing someone else, just let me know."

"I am not seeing anyone else!" He exploded suddenly, picking up his feet from where they had seemed glued to the floor, and started pacing the office, his hurt temporarily taking a back seat and anger replacing it at the wheel. "How could you even say that?"

You lowered your eyes. "I've been down this road too many times before, Matt. I may not know what's going on with you, but I do know what it feels like when I've been given the slip, and that's exactly how I've been feeling the past few weeks."

"I promise I'm not giving you the slip," he said, a hint of desperation making a brief appearance in his voice. "Please believe me."

"Maybe you're not. But it doesn't change the fact that we've been dating for five months and that these past few weeks have made me feel even more lonely than before we met." Your eyes darted back up to look at him, taking in the way his face had lost any remaining color he’d had. "If you can't tell me what's truly been going on, then I don't want to sit around and just hope that one day you'll let me in."

He looked ready to tear his hair out, and you couldn't tell if it was from anger or frustration or sadness. Perhaps it was all three, merging together into something explosive. "Jesus, what do you want from me?"

You jerked back as if you'd been struck, your turn to almost be startled into silence. "I just wanted you to be honest. I just wanted you to tell me the truth, regardless of what it was. But all you've been doing is trying to gaslight me."

“But–”

“I don’t…I can’t do this, Matt. Not with someone who keeps themselves so far away from me,” you mumbled, a stray tear heating your cheek on its way down. You hastily wiped it away. “Whatever it is that you’re hiding, I hope it’s worth it.”

You turned on your foot, making your way to the door, but were stopped by a sudden hand wrapping itself around your wrist.

"I'm so sorry I've made you feel this way," he whispered, though you refused to turn around. "I never meant for that. Please don't go. I'll be better for you, I promise."

You shuddered, closing your eyes briefly, before you shook your hand out of his grasp. "I wish I believed that."

You left his office without another glance back, your mangled heart still bleeding and shattered at his feet.

----------

A few miserable days later found you making your way up to the roof of your building, blanket in one hand, red solo cup in the other, with a large box of cheap wine under your arm. Your standards weren't very high, especially when it came to nursing a broken heart, so the least expensive item at the liquor store would work just fine.

Prying open the roof door, you forced your way out of the building, a wince marring your face when you accidentally stubbed your toe on the brick someone had set aside as a way to hold the door open. Despite the way your toe throbbed, you wedged the brick into place with your foot, unwilling to accidentally get locked outside.

The rooftop was empty of people, which was what you'd expected and hoped for. No one ever came up here, it seemed. It wasn't a great location, nothing to see around you except for other run-down and ugly buildings, old brick surrounding you on all sides. There was an ashtray on a ledge a few feet away, but other than the occasional smoker, the roof rarely saw any action.

On a night like tonight, eyes still stinging and red from a brief session of tears in your shower, the rooftop was perfect.

The ledge you sat on was cold, the brick rough and scratchy, even through your sweatpants. You weren’t surprised at the chill, given the fact it was early October, but you were still mildly uncomfortable when the cold immediately began to seep in. With a brief shiver, you set the box of wine and cup next to you, curling the old blanket around your legs, glad you had worn a hoodie over your t-shirt as the breeze drifted lightly by.

You lifted the cup to your lips, having given yourself a heavy pour of the cheap red wine, and took a large gulp. It didn't taste awful, but it certainly wasn't great, the acid of the liquid seeming to burn you from the inside out as it slid down your throat and settled in your stomach.

Dejected, a sense of hurt settling so deeply inside you that you weren't sure would go away anytime soon, you sat there on the rooftop, wishing you could coldly shove your heartbreak aside as ruthlessly as fall did to summer.

Matt…had been perfect. Everything you were positive you wanted, everything you could see yourself with for the rest of your life. Those first four months had been thrilling and beautiful and heated while somehow still soothing and calming. He took you apart every single night with his words and his cock, then built you back up by holding you in his arms while you slept.

It had been so easy, embarrassingly easy, to fall in love with him.

Such was your lot in life, you supposed. Forever feeling too much for a person who seemed to feel too little.

Maybe he had similar feelings of affection, maybe he had been honest when he said this relationship had never been anything but serious, but you couldn't build something with such a heavy, obvious lie in the middle. You deserved better.

So there you sat…bundled up against the cold weather of fall, plastic cup full of cheap wine that tasted worse and worse by the second, your bruised and battered heart laying at the feet of a man who probably didn't even want it.

It sucked.

You were so involved in your own misery that you didn't notice right away that you were no longer alone on the rooftop until a quiet thump shattered the comparative silence, standing out sharply against the occasional laughter that rang out from the streets below. You whipped your head towards the sound, heart rate increasing exponentially when you noticed a dark figure now standing near the edge. You moved to stand up, weary of the man who had suddenly appeared on the rooftop.

Squinting your eyes, it didn’t take long to figure out who had joined you. You'd seen the sharp silhouette far too many times to count on a TV screen or newspaper article. You weren't a New York native, having only lived in the city for a short amount of time, but there was no mistaking who it was. 

The black form of the devil walked slowly towards you, each step appearing to be calculated down to the exact inch of movement, hands raised slightly in some sort of sign that he meant no harm. Despite the abrupt pounding of your heart, you couldn't find it in you to move away, and neither did you necessarily feel the need to. 

The people of Hell's Kitchen tended to sing his praises. Perhaps not always his methods of intimidation and violence, but they were resolute in the fact that he had saved far more than he had hurt. Many people felt safer knowing he was prowling the neighborhood for those who would do it harm.

You supposed you’d have to trust the people of the neighborhood for now, and so, with a heavy sigh, you sat back down.

"I'm not here to hurt you," the man's voice rang out, and despite the near-whisper, you heard it loud and clear.

Your response was quick and almost disinterested in its tone. "I know."

"You do?" The voice almost sounded confused, as if he hadn't expected the response. The alcohol buzzing through your veins helped numb any anxiety you might have felt in the situation.

You nodded, raising your cup back to your mouth and taking another long sip. "Daredevil doesn't hurt innocent people. We all know that." The taste of the wine lingered on your lips and tongue, and you shuddered at the taste, the sharp sting of the liquid sliding into your stomach. "And seeing as the most heinous thing I've got on my record is an awful speeding ticket I received from going way too fast in a construction zone, I doubt I'm on any list of criminals you're trying to track down."

The shadow moved closer, and though the rooftop was pretty dark, you could see the way his head was tilted slightly, shoulders broad and tense as he observed you. You stayed where you were, unafraid but still cautious, eyeing him curiously as he took a few steps forward. 

"Are you okay?"

The question struck you as funny for some reason, and you snorted gracelessly, the sound almost bitter as it sounded across the rooftop. "I'm up here in ratty clothing and drinking wine out of a plastic cup on a Friday night. I'm definitely not great."

The man looked like he grimaced, the expression seemingly sad, though you couldn't quite tell if you were reading the expression correctly in the limited lighting on the rooftop. It was probably just your imagination that someone would care enough to be sad for you.

You assumed a man like him was used to experiencing a certain level of sadness himself, having seen and experienced the darkness housed in the people living in Hell's Kitchen, more so than anyone else had. You supposed he wasn't as immune to the anger and desperation that reeked from the city's pores as the news portrayed him to be.

The neighborhood seemed to label him as cold and uncaring, calculating and intentional about the violence he inflicted. But staring at him now, you could see the lingering fire that rested underneath the devil's dark clothing, even as he stood calmly in front of you.

"I can go if you want. I didn't mean to intrude."

Eyeing him with vague interest, you shrugged your shoulders apathetically. "I don't care either way. I won't be here much longer, and I don't own the roof. Stay as long as you want."

The man settled onto another ledge, some old AC unit that obviously wasn't on this time of year, approximately fifteen feet in front of you. He crossed his ankles in front of him, hands resting on the AC unit on the outside of his thighs to balance his weight, face aimed in your direction. The skin of the lower half of his face was a stark contrast to the black he was wearing, and it stood out sharply, even in the dark.

"Long night?" You asked suddenly, lowering your gaze and watching as you swirled the wine in your cup, deep red sloshing against the sides. You could only imagine the way the liquid was staining your lips with every sip you took, as if this innocuous liquid was also trying to place its red, sharp mark on you the way one Matthew Murdock had.

The man lifted his shoulders and dropped them. "It's just getting started. Yours?" The tone of his voice seemed familiar, but it was too dark and raspy to be anyone you knew, so you shoved the thought aside.

"I guess," you said with a sigh. You pulled your legs up and folded them underneath you. "Mostly came up here because it sounded less depressing than drinking in my apartment alone. Figured fresh air is somewhat healthy, right? Not that New York has what one might consider to be fresh air."

His mouth dipped further down and settled into a frown that had become more obvious than just a few minutes before. "Do you drink by yourself a lot?"

Your lips twisted into a wry grin before you took another sip. "Recently, yeah. It's never really been much of a habit before."

"Are you…are you sure you’re okay?"

You let out a loud laugh at the question, and the man seemed to be startled by it if the way he rocked back slightly was any indication. "Is Daredevil doing wellness checks these days?" You asked with another laugh that was close to being described as bitter. 

The man in front of you didn't deserve anger at such a simple question, but you couldn't bring yourself to care much. You were sad and angry and hurt, and unfortunately this man was receiving the brunt of everything that was blazing inside of you. "I haven't been in the city for very long, but I thought you would have better things to do than talk with random drunk women on their rooftops."

He shook his head. "I do whatever people need me to do."

You laughed again, and you couldn't tell if it was sarcastic or genuine, too buzzed to determine the motive behind the sound. "I think you should find someone who actually needs help. There are better uses of your time."

"Something tells me I'm right where I need you to be."

"Okay, man," you said with a shrug of your shoulders. Tiredness suddenly slunk into your skin, and you decided to lean into the exhaustion, rather than fight it. After all, sleeping was far more preferable than drinking shitty wine and having a pity party. "I'm going to head down to bed anyway, so enjoy the rooftop."

"I hope you're not leaving because of me," the man rushed out, abruptly rising from his spot, his face looking mildly alarmed from what you could see in the dark. 

You shook your head with a sigh. "I'm not," you replied honestly, standing up and folding your blanket. After taking the the last sip of wine in your cup, you tossed it in a nearby trash can. You picked up the box of wine that was far lighter than it had been when you’d walked up the stairs with it, already wincing at the hangover that was bound to set in tomorrow morning based on how much you had consumed. 

"I'm going back downstairs because I'm sad and drunk and I'm ready to go to bed. It was nice meeting you."

Turning quickly on your heel, you were already halfway to the door when your name rang out across the open air, and you heard it as clearly as if it had been said by someone standing next to you.

Head whipping around instantly, you opened your mouth in surprise. "How did you–"

But the words died on your lips, because the way your name had been said was unique, each letter and each syllable carefully crafted by the mouth it left, and there was only one person who said it exactly like that, only one person whose voice you had all but memorized since the moment you saw him in the coffee shop.

But…it didn't make sense.

The vigilante stood a few feet closer now, arm still lightly outstretched as if he had been reaching to pull you back into him, and you couldn't help but notice the knuckles that seemed to be perpetually split, the very same knuckles that had ran themselves down your cheek on more than one occasion. He had stepped further into the small light the open doorway offered, and sure enough, there was no way that mouth belonged to anyone else.

It was parted in surprise, red lips you'd spent so much time beneath still forming your name, and your breath caught in your throat. 

His voice, in his desperation to make you stay, no longer sounded so raspy and on edge. It had shifted rapidly into the one you were so used to hearing, and you found yourself reeling at the thought that you had completely shoved the familiarity of it aside just minutes earlier.

He stood facing you silently, the only sound ringing out across the roof coming from the people and cars below, and it was clear he was as surprised at the calling out of your name as you were. 

You cleared your throat loudly, hands starting to tremble at your sides. You shoved the items you were holding back onto the ledge you had just vacated, unable to hold the weight when your world had just been rocked almost violently. "Take off the mask, Matt."

Leaning his weight on his back foot, he swayed ever so slightly away from you. "I don't–"

"Take it off!" The words that tore from your lips were shrill, a direct result of the alcohol surging through your system and the panic that was rapidly rising. 

Without another word, his hands reached up and yanked his mask off, dark hair simultaneously slick with sweat and sticking to his forehead while also standing up slightly in the back. His face was pale, and even in the dark, you could see a cut that was bleeding sluggishly at his hairline and a bruise rapidly forming on his cheekbone.

You had noticed the random bruises and scars on his body, steadily mapping every inch of his skin with the gentle press of your fingertips during your months together, but he had somehow crafted reasonable excuses for the marks that littered his flesh. Upon the sudden realization of what was actually happening, you felt incredibly stupid. 

While your mind continued to race and put together every single puzzle piece and clue you'd received over the past few months, never knowing they'd fit to form a picture like this, Matt stood frozen in front of you, eyes darting rapidly around the rooftop. 

"You're…Daredevil." It wasn't a question. There was no denying that the man in front of you was the infamous Man in the Mask, broad shoulders and muscled thighs poured into dark fabric with thick gloves wrapped in ropes around his hands. They were the same shoulders you placed your weight on when you rode him, the same thighs that slammed against the back of yours when he fucked you from behind.

You didn't understand. 

Matt licked his lips as he always did when he was nervous. "Yes."

"How?"

"I have…abilities."

"That seems to be the most bullshit oversimplified phrase I've ever heard come out of your mouth."

He flushed, looking deeply uncomfortable, but you weren't about to let this go, so you looked at him expectantly and demanded an answer again when he was quiet for longer than a few moments.

"I...uh, it's hard to explain."

"Try me," you said with the crossing of your arms over your chest. You widened your stance as if you were physically preparing yourself for what was to come.

"When I lost my sight, things changed. I was suddenly able to–”

“Are you saying the two are related?” You asked in some type of disbelief, mouth dropping open as you cut him off before he really began. “Losing your sight and…gaining whatever abilities you have that allow you to run around like a goddamn ninja and beat the shit out of people?”

His chest expanded in what you assumed was a deep breath. “I…yes. I guess that’s one way of putting it.”

You shook your head in disbelief. “I still don’t get how it’s correlated.”

A small smirk settled on his face, and your eyes narrowed at the expression. “Don't interrupt me and maybe I'll get a chance to explain it.”

You sniffed and tilted your head up in a motion of defiance, though you knew he was right. “That’s fair.”

“Like I was saying,” he said, clearing his throat, hand tightening on the mask held in his grip. “I lost my sight, and things just happened. I don’t know how, I don't know why. But suddenly everything else was just…more. More than I could process. Too much was coming in and I–”

"Let me guess," you cut him off again, ignoring the look of exasperation he sent you as your voice rang out over his. "It heightened your other senses, right? Isn't that the expectation, that other senses somehow slightly make up for the lack of sight?”

“That’s generally not how it actually happens when people lose their–”

You couldn’t help but groan in something bordering annoyance as you spoke over him again. “I didn’t mean literally. I meant that people learn to lean on their sense of hearing more, so naturally they just tend to listen and focus on their surroundings better. I feel like that's just…common sense, really. "

"Yes," he replied slowly, blank eyes out of focus as his head tilted in your direction, looking vaguely frustrated at the constant interruptions. "But it's more than that."

Your eyes narrowed further, even while your head shifted closer in curiosity. "How so?"

He ran his hand through his hair. "My sense of hearing is beyond that of what you might…expect, I guess. I can hear things from a few blocks away. I can hear through walls, through buildings. I can hear your heartbeat."

You raised your eyebrows in alarm, taking a step back and raising your hand over the left side of your chest, as if to cover the muscle in question. "My heartbeat?"

He took another step forward, gradually closing the distance between you that you kept creating. You didn't pull back further. "Yes, and it's pounding, but not in fear. Perhaps anxiety? Nervousness. Like part of you wants to run, but the other part knows you need to stay and hear me out."

You moved your weight to your other foot, every bit as anxious as he'd said you were, beginning to catch on that he knew far more about your reactions and motions than you thought he did. "Do you do that a lot? Listen to my heartbeat?"

Matt smiled faintly, and you couldn’t help but be momentarily settled by it. "It's become one of my favorite sounds, actually."

Flushing, you cleared your throat, refusing to let it charm you, this idea that the sound of life pounding through your veins was something that might be important to him. "What else? I'm guessing there's more."

"I can pick up the shifts in movement because of the air it displaces," he replied, gesturing towards your face. "I can tell by the heat in your cheeks that you're blushing because I can sometimes tell the difference in temperatures if I’m within close range, almost like–"

"Like some sort of thermal detector."

Matt shrugged half-heartedly. "I…sure, I guess? Not really, but we can go with that. It usually only happens when the heat or cold is extreme, and it doesn’t form an image, it’s just...there."

"And you're able to use some of that to guide you around?"

He lifted his shoulders in a deep inhale, before letting the air out rapidly in a sharp exhale. "It's a little more complicated than that. My sense of smell is…intense, too. I can smell the sandwich you had for lunch, or can sometimes even taste coffee off of your lips, regardless of whether or not you had a cup today or two days ago."

You shifted your weight again, the feeling of awkward still lingering on your skin. "Is that all?"

"Basically," he replied with a sigh. A random car horn sang out sharply across the rooftop, and you didn't miss the way his mouth twisted into a slight grimace at the noise. "It all forms some sort of idea in my head of what’s going on around me, something that allows me to shift focus and move quickly, pick up on things people don't usually think about or notice."

You nodded as if you understood, but you really didn’t. "And…the fighting? Where did you learn that?"

Matt lowered his head slightly, as if this was the harder topic to discuss. "I had a mentor at one point, pretty early on. He helped me focus on things around me, helped me hone my senses. And while he was teaching me those things, he also taught me some of the…skills you've probably seen on the news."

You smiled slightly, because yes, of course you’d seen some things on the news, but it left your face half a second after it appeared. Images of a man, lithe and powerful and dangerous, prowling through the city, full of fury and the need to enact his will on those who would harm others. "Yeah, I've seen a few things here and there. It’s…intense stuff.”

Huffing a quiet laugh, he shook his head lightly. "I kept up with the training, even once he left. Just never stopped practicing. Came in handy later on, I guess," he said with a self-deprecating grin. 

"And…this is the thing you've been hiding, right?" you whispered, voice suddenly softer than it had been all night, playing with the hem of your shirt, a nervous habit of yours. "All those times I asked what was going on, only for you to lie repeatedly that nothing was wrong."

Matt looked extremely pained, face twisted in a grimace and hands twitching at his side, but he didn't hesitate. "Yes."

"And it's why you've seemed so tired and stressed and unable to spend time with me."

He lowered his head in what appeared to be a level of shame. "Things have been ramping up on the streets and I...I needed time to figure some things out with that, see what was going on, what I needed to do, and I didn't realize how wrapped up I got in it until you were walking away. I didn't mean to avoid you, or hurt you. I never wanted you to feel that way. I'm so sorry, sweetheart."

You took a deep, shaky breath, the sound rattling in your chest, nodding in understanding as you did so, wordlessly accepting the apology even as the reminder of being temporarily moved to the side continued to sting. "I guess I get it. I mean…this is a huge secret of yours, right? What you do, no matter your good intentions, could send you to prison the rest of your life. Makes sense that you wouldn't just…share this with someone until you knew you could trust them, right?"

His jaw dropped. "You think I didn't tell you because I don't trust you?"

"Clearly not," you said with a loud sigh. Your eyes briefly shifted to stare at a few random bricks on the building next store for the sole purpose of trying to reign in the sense of sadness that you felt was seeping out of your skin. "It sucks, but I get it, I think. We've only been dating for a few months. Not nearly long enough to trust someone with a secret like…this."

"That's not at all why I didn't say anything."

"Then why?" You shot back in question, shifting your eyes back to him and the defensive way he was standing. "Was it because you really were giving me the slip? No use in telling someone when you're not planning on sticking around, right?"

Matt finally took a few steps forward until he stood in front of you, lips still tilted in a sharp frown. "Stop putting words in my mouth."

You looked up at him. "I mean, you're not really giving me much to go on, Matt. What else am I supposed to think?"

Blank eyes darted over your face, red mouth parted, and a brief flicker of want rushed suddenly through you, one that you were unable to fight it off, even with the tension still flowing through your body. When was the last time he had kissed you? "I didn't tell you because you deserved better."

"Ah," you said, unable to keep the hurt that flooded over the single syllable that fell out of your mouth. "The classic you deserve better than me speech."

“You do deserve better.”

“I think that I get to be the one to decide that, Matt,” you responded with another helpless shrug of your shoulders. “Don’t I? I’m a grown adult, I get to decide what’s best for me. Not you.”

“But–”

“No,” you cut him off with a shake of your head. “If you want to do the thing where you push me away because you think you’re doing the right thing by letting me go, then I guess I can’t stop you. I’m old enough to know that forcing someone to stay just ends up being more hurtful in the end. But…if you…if…”

Matt took another hesitant step forward, even while your feet remained glued to the concrete of the roof. “If I what?”

“If you decide that you’re willing to…be more open about things, then ok.”

He looked absolutely flabbergasted, eyes wide, jaw going slack, as if he couldn’t understand or process the simple words you had just said. “Ok? What does ok mean?”

“It means that I’m ok with this.”

“You’re ok with what? You’re okay with me being Daredevil? You’re not mad?”

A laugh that was bordering the territory of bitter left your mouth. “I mean, yes, of course I’m mad." You didn't miss the way he grimaced just the tiniest amount, but you continued anyway. "But not about this, not about you being Daredevil. Just the lie. And like…even while I’m mad, I still somehow get it? It’s not an easy secret to let go of, something that could send you to prison. I wish you would have said something sooner, but I get why you didn’t.”

Matt continued to look like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing, and it struck you that maybe he didn’t. 

“You’re…I can’t…”

“It’s fine, Matt. Honestly.”

“But–”

At last you took a step forward, determining it was your turn to close the distance that still remained, and you couldn’t help but notice the way he tracked your movement. Had he always done that? How had you not noticed the way he always seemed to know exactly where you were without you saying anything?

"I'm thinking that based on your reaction right now, you weren’t expecting me to…react favorably," you said with a shuddering breath. “Am I right?”

His jerky nod was enough to answer your question, and it seemed like he had temporarily lost the ability to speak. With a sigh, you reached up to push a lock of hair off of his forehead from where sweat had pressed it into his skin. Matt didn’t move an inch, but his breathing did hitch, and it was enough to crack your heart, just a little. 

“And I’m guessing that other people haven’t reacted well in the past either.”

Matt shook his head, and when he opened his mouth to respond, the words were dry and cracked. “No. Not at all.”

“Because of the lying?”

He shuddered, his eyes closing briefly. “That, and they didn’t always agree with my…methods of justice.”

“Got it,” you said quietly, hand lowering slightly so that you could run a finger over his cheekbone. “Foggy and Karen?” His responding nod was confirmation, and your mouth tilted down slightly at the corners. “I’m sure it was a shock for them.”

“Yes,” he croaked out, fingers twitching at his sides as if he was resisting the urge to either flee or pull you into him. “But they were right to have some issues with it. It’s not an easy thing to hear.”

“It’s not,” you told him honestly, wincing when he flinched. Your finger traced over his cheekbone in something that was supposed to be soothing, though you’re not quite sure if you succeeded. It didn’t quite hit the mark on soothing you, either, as you still felt a lump forming in your throat. “But I’m not going to judge you or hate you for it, if this is what you feel you need to do.”

His eyes fluttered shut again, a deep shuddering breath pouring from his lips. “It is.”

“Ok. Then it’s ok.”

"Just like that?"

You sniffled as you nodded your head, tears suddenly welling back up, and you lifted your arm to rub lightly at your nose gracelessly. His head tilted to the side, no doubt aware of the tears that had gathered briefly, if his explanation of his…abilities was anything to go by.

"Will you…will you tell me what’s going through your head, sweetheart?" He asked softly, the words barely floating over the sound of the wind sifting by. "Will you talk to me? Please?"

You kicked at a small pebble that was an inch or so to the right of your foot, arms wrapping tighter around yourself. With a sigh, you opened your mouth and revealed a large insecurity that had been resting in your head these past few weeks, the thought that had been skillfully and ruthlessly gnawing at your skull. 

You couldn't help the brief watery laugh that bubbled up. "Daredevil things aside, I honestly thought you were seeing someone else, and I think the idea of that is way more hurtful than you hiding this from me."

There was a low moan that rose from Matt's chest, and the sound was one of something akin to anguish. Before you could even take another breath, he was pulling you into him, one hand wrapped around the small of your back, the other pressing your head against his shoulder. You could do nothing but wrap yourself around him in return.

A heavy, solid press of his lips to your forehead was all it took for a few tears to escape, and he was pulling his head away before they could slide more than an inch down your cheek. Calloused fingers wiped them away, the touch soft but the purpose weighted, and it wasn’t long before he was pressing his forehead to yours.

“There hasn’t been anyone else, not since you. Not since the first time I held your hand in mine,” he whispered, the words caressing your face as they spilled out. “Do you remember that? On our first date?”

You nodded your head. “Yes, I remember.”

“Your hand fit so perfectly in mine, and now it’s like nothing else feels right if I’m not touching you,” he said, and you sniffed again, closing your eyes before more tears could force their way down your face, though you knew he’d wipe them away the second they started drying on your skin. “I promise, sweetheart, I promise that it’s just you. I think it's always going to be you. And I’m not perfect, and this won’t be perfect, not with the life I have, but there’s no one else who has the hold on me like you do.”

There was a tiny hiccup that escaped your mouth as you tried to stop tearing up, though you weren’t quite as successful as you would have liked. “Promise?”

Matt was apparently already done with not holding you to him because there was only a split second between the word that left his lips and the movement that pulled you to him. “Promise.”

The weather didn’t seem quite as cold up here as it had when you first stepped outside, not with the inferno of Matthew Murdock pressed against your front. With his arms wrapped around you and body positioned so that it was taking the brunt of the wind, you felt like you could stay trapped up there forever, despite the chill of the nighttime October air. You weren’t quite sure how long he held you, but it simultaneously felt like forever and no time at all before he pulled away again, hands still resting at your sides.

You sent him a questioning look, but before you could actually say something, he parted his mouth as if to speak. He opened and closed it a few times, seeming to have difficulty with what he wanted to say, so you let him formulate the words without trying to interrupt this time.

The breath he took was deep, his chest pressing into yours slightly. "You haven't asked me if I'm really blind," he said quietly, and the way his fingers twitched despite their hold on you told you how serious the topic was for him, how reluctant he was to bring it up.

Ah.

Eyes raked over his face in consideration. "I know you are," you responded simply with a roll of your shoulders.

His head tilted to the side, face questioning and curious. "How? It's something everyone asks when they find out I can do what I can do."

Your heart ached in your chest, and you couldn't help the swell of pain that flowed up through you, hurt on his behalf. No wonder he kept things to himself, no wonder he expected people to pull or push away from him. Lifting your hand, you ran it gently down the side of his face, watching as he leaned into it. "Because even just standing here, telling me everything, you still won't meet my eyes. And it's not because you don't want to, but because you can't."

Matt took in another deep breath, closing his eyes as the hand settled at your waist shook for a moment. He nodded, the movement causing your hand to shift slightly, and you used the opportunity to wrap it around the back of his neck to angle his head down so that his forehead could press against yours.

"That's an old wound isn't it, Matt?" You questioned quietly, unsurprised when he nodded again, though this time the movement seemed to be more hesitant. "People accusing you of hiding a very real disability because they can't understand these abilities."

He shuddered again, swaying more heavily into you this time, and you'd bear his weight gladly, if it meant he was still yours like this.

"I'm sorry people have asked that," you whispered, moving your head from his so that you could rest it on his shoulder instead. With a quiet exhale, he pulled you in tighter, fully wrapping himself around you. The chill of the fall weather ceased to exist when he held you to him the way he was now.

"Don't be," he said, the words pressed lightly into your hair. "I think it's a…reasonable thing to ask."

You found yourself shaking your head. "Maybe if asked by people who don't know you. But not by people who have been in your life for a while."

“I…yeah,” he mumbled softly in your ear, his breath fanning lightly across your cheek. “It wasn’t great to hear, but I guess it is what it is.”

Reaching up, your hand settled against the heart that was thumping underneath the skin and muscle of his chest, and you wondered briefly what it might sound like if you had the hearing he did. You were sure, without a doubt, that it would be one of your favorite sounds in the world, too.

“You deserve better than that, Matt. And I’m sorry.”

A quiet laugh shook you from where you rested against him. “Am I going to get my own you deserve better speech?”

Your own quiet laugh copied his. “Shut up.” You moved to pull further away from him, but he pulled you quickly back in, hands tugging at your sides. His face was serious, despite the laugh that had left his lips just moments before. Leaning forward, he placed his mouth against yours softly before lifting his head to press it into your forehead.

"I was never going to stay away, sweetheart," he said as a hand tangled lightly in your hair. "I just…needed some time to figure out how to say what I needed to say. Please tell me you believe me."

It was your turn to nod, and you did so gently, letting out a quiet sigh when his lips found yours again, the kiss soft and light and unrushed. No words were needed for him to understand that you believed him. He kissed you like he had all the time in the world to make you his, though you both knew, with one hundred percent certainty, that you already were.

He offered himself up to you completely, finally tearing himself open and sharing with you his most trusted, his most dangerous secret, and you weren't exactly surprised when you realized with sudden clarity that you’d never be able to offer anything but your whole self in return. 

With a smile, the first real one to settle across your face in what felt like weeks, you tugged on his hand and pulled him with you down the stairs and into your apartment, desperate to feel him pressed as tightly against you as he could be, knowing you’d never be able to let him go again.

[grandeoatmilklatte]

Saturday Morning Snails 🐌 (Garreth Weasley x F!MC)

Was in desperate need of some Garreth inspiration, and the incredible @ellivenollivander decided to help me. She created a random mood board and told me to try and write a Garreth fic based around it and it worked! Enjoy!

Warnings: Fluff with some very slight NSFW implications || characters are over 18!

Word Count: 1.0k

Golden rays of sunshine poured through the open window, pulling the sleeping girl out of her deep slumber. She rolled over, deeming it too early to wake up, even though she had no idea what time it was. Not that the time mattered anymore to her - she had nowhere to go. 

On Monday, she had lost her job, the small bookstore she worked at needing to cut down their staff due a slowdown in sales. It was now Saturday, and she had spent the week in the exact same routine - sleeping all morning, waking up in the early afternoon, moping around all day until Garreth came home from work, fixing him dinner, and then moping around all evening until it was time for bed. She didn’t have the energy or desire to do anything else. Typically on a Saturday morning, she’d welcome the rays of sunshine pouring into her window, always taking a moment to gaze out into the lush green trees of the forest that surrounded their countryside home; but today, not even the beautiful scenery outside made her happy. 

She rolled over again, her foot bumping a solid mass that meowed at her. She sat up and tossed her blanket aside to find their orange cat at her feet. “Oh, Orange Juice, I’m sorry to have woken you.” She picked him up in her arms, hugging him before placing him on her thighs, where he readjusted himself to go back to sleep. 

The purring from her feline friend warmed her heart, giving her a burst of serotonin, something she hadn’t had in days. 

“Hey, I should be the only ginger in your lap like that!” Garreth jokingly shouted at his girlfriend as he entered their bedroom and climbed on the bed. The stupid joke caused the girl to let out a soft laugh. 

“Aw there’s my happy girl! It’s been a bit since I’ve heard you laugh.”

She looked up at Garreth, struggling to smile and fighting back tears, but she didn’t have to fight long, as Garreth pulled her into a hug, his arms providing her comfort and safety when she felt like her world was falling apart around her. She nuzzled into his neck and hugged him back as one of his hands came up to stroke her hair. After holding her for several seconds, Garreth pulled back. 

“I made you breakfast, sweetheart! Let me bring it for you so you can eat it in bed. You look far too comfy for me to make you go to the kitchen for it.” 

Without another word, Garreth jumped off the bed, the action startling Orange Juice, causing him to move to another position at the foot of the bed. Garreth came back a moment later, a dumb smile on his face, with a plate in one hand, and a cup of coffee in the other. He set the coffee on her nightstand, and the plate in her lap. The girl looked down to find some oddly shaped pancakes, needing a moment to determine what shape they were. 

“Darling, are these…snails?” 

“Yes! While I was making breakfast, I saw a snail on our windowsill. I named him Gregory. He inspired me to make these snail shaped pancakes because I, well me and Gregory that is, thought they’d help cheer you up! When I woke up this morning, I promised myself that I was going to spend this Saturday making you feel better.”

She smiled at Garreth. Even when times got tough, she could always rely on him to put a smile on her face. She loved Garreth, and she knew that Garreth loved her. As she began to enjoy her snail shaped pancakes, Garreth spoke, talking as if he could read his girlfriend’s mind. 

“I love you, sweetheart! Don’t ever forget that. Don’t forget that I’m here. I’ll always be here. I know things have been tough for you. I wish I could just snap my fingers and make it all better. Unfortunately, there are some limitations to our magic. So instead, I’ll just be the best boyfriend I can be to you. As long as we have each other, we can get through anything!”

The girl fought back tears again, but this time it was tears of joy as she threw her arms around Garreth and kissed him, almost sending her plate of snails crashing to the floor. Garreth’s quick reflexes saved the plate, him delicately placing the plate on the nightstand as he kissed her back. 

She felt Garreth’s tongue press against her lips, silently asking for entry. She parted her lips, greeting Garreth’s tongue with her own. He placed his hand on her lower back, adjusting her so that she was laying down, his lips never leaving hers as he climbed on top of her. He began to slip his hand up her night dress when a “meow” next to them broke Garreth’s concentration. 

“Ugh, sorry Juicy! You need some breakfast too! Just lay there and be pretty, baby, I’ll be right back!” Garreth scooped Orange Juice in his arms, earning himself an annoyed meow as he hopped off the bed and dashed off to the kitchen. 

She laid on the bed as Garreth requested, smiling to herself. Garreth was right - as long as they had each other, they could get through any hardship life threw their way. He loved her, and would support her through anything, as she would do for him.

As promised, Garreth returned a moment later, tossing himself on the bed to resume his position on top of her. The entire bed shook when he jumped, which brought a fit of laughter out of her.

“I love you, baby!” He said softly as he planted a kiss on her forehead. He gave her a sweet smile for a moment, before that sweet smile turned into a mischievous one. “Now then, where were we?” He said as his hand slid back up her night dress. After all, Garreth had made a promise to make her feel better this Saturday, and the pancakes were only the beginning. 

–

[fever-dreamer97]

Yor: I think of a great way to give Loid his Christmas gift!

Franky: I thought he didn’t want any gifts.

Yor: He doesn’t. So I decided to put it on his desk at work in a plain brown box with a note that says ‘Open Now’ in Anya’s handwriting so he doesn’t suspend it’s a gift and he won’t recognize my handwriting.

Franky: So to recap, you put an unmarked box on his desk with a suspicious note that looked like it was written by a crazy person on a random Monday afternoon.

Yor: Yep!

TV: Breaking News: Local hospital shut down due to a bomb threat in Dr Loid Forger’s office-

Yor:

Franky: Yeah, that’s what I thought.

[enjoythesilentworld]

Wille's Month - Music (Room)

day 29 ! @youngroyals-events

Ex-Prince Wilhelm, hoping to escape the turmoil following the end of the monarchy, enrolls in university in New York City. He meets fourth-year music student Simon Eriksson in a music room on campus. AU.

read below the cut or on ao3. (T, 2k)

It’s a random Monday afternoon in September when he first meets him. Well, first sees him. 

Wille has been taking advantage of the rentable music rooms on Columbia’s campus, despite not technically being a music student. One day, enjoying the general listlessness of his new life in New York, no path, no expectations, he’s playing a tune on the piano that he still somehow remembers from his childhood. He must have gotten carried away, distracted by the music, because he jumps out of his skin when someone bursts through the thick, sound-proofed door. 

“Listen, I just made it to the practice rooms so,” a voice is saying in– Is that Swedish? Wille turns around in surprise as the intruder halts, quickly ending his phone call and dropping his hand to hang loosely by his side. He switches to halting English to say, “Oh, sorry, I thought I had—”

Ever used to it, Wille notices the exact moment the recognition flooded the other’s face. He braces himself, feeling a bit sick because he hasn’t been recognized yet in New York, which has been a welcome change of pace, and also because this man is the most beautiful person Wille has ever seen. 

This time, the stranger doesn’t bother switching to English to say, “Aren’t you—?”

He stands up abruptly, saying “I– Just, just Wilhelm,” then gives a curt nod and starts frantically collecting his things. Hesitating for a moment, he cools his expression, trying not to stare too hard at the man’s smooth skin and silky curls. “Forgive me, I must have lost track of time. I didn’t realize anyone had booked this after me. I’ll get out of your way.” 

In a matter of seconds, he’s slipping out of the room, ignoring the warmth when his arm lightly brushes the stranger’s as he passes, and fleeing down the hallway.

Feeling guilty, he thinks about it the rest of the week, hoping he’ll run into the pretty man with the brown eyes and brown curls again so he can apologize. He’s back in the music room on Wednesday at the same time and he stays a few minutes after, but no one else arrives.

On Friday, he does the same, pacing the room as the last few minutes of his reserved time tick over. Just like Monday, the same man bursts through the door, looking slightly ruffled. 

“Oh.” The man stands in the doorway again, awkwardly staring. 

Wille comes to a stop next to the piano. 

“Hej.” 

“Uh,” the stranger glances over his shoulder, like he expects to find someone else standing there.  “Hej.”

“I’m sorry, I was rude last time. I didn’t expect to—” He shakes his head and steps forward, extending a hand. “I’m Wilhelm.”

The man stares down at his hand for a moment, looking shocked, before slowly extending his hand.

“Simon,” he says, brown eyes boring into Wille’s. Wille tries not to think about how well Simon’s hand fits in his. Thankfully, he’s distracted by the other man saying, “You were kind of a dick.”

“Simon,” Wilhelm repeats, feeling both a slight grimace and an embarrassed flush rise on his face. “I am really sorry.”

Simon shrugs and his perfect mouth curls into a smirk. Wille’s shoulders sag a bit at the realization that Simon might be fucking with him just a little bit. That, he can deal with. 

“I was hoping to run into you again,” he says earnestly, hoping to make up for his lack of manners earlier that week. “It’s nice to meet you. You… You speak Swedish?”

“I am Swedish,” Simon deadpans. Wilhelm’s cheeks blush pink again. “Half, at least. I was born there. We moved away when I was, like, 13.”

Wilhelm nods understandingly. At that moment, they both seem to realize that they’re still shaking hands. They drop each other's hands quickly, chuckling awkwardly. Wille feels the blush on his cheeks darken further, but he sees a slight pinkness appear on Simon’s cheeks, too, and feels a bit better. 

“I have to admit, you caught me off guard.” Wille folds his hands behind his back and rocks a bit on his feet. “Most people here either don’t know who I am or don’t care.” 

“Oh, I don’t care,” Simon says nonchalantly. Wille lets out a surprised laugh. “I just mean— I never really cared about the monarchy, you know. I thought it was a stupid waste of taxpayers’ money and upheld harmful traditions of the elitist class. I mean, I lived in a small town with a fancy rich-kid school. They all assumed the absolute worst of me and just solidified my theory that the upper class sees those below them as ‘less than’. The monarchy really only encouraged that mindset, I think. Rich people helping other rich people get more rich, perpetuating the gap. I wasn’t living in Sweden when the vote happened, but I would’ve voted for the end of it. Thankfully they didn’t need my vote, anyway, but—” 

Trying to school his expression into something that hopefully doesn’t say I want to kiss you so badly right now – one, because that’s inappropriate and two, because they’ve quite literally just met – Wille pulls his bottom lip into his mouth and bites on it, hard. 

The other man looks sheepish by the time he cuts off his own rant, then blushes and looks down at his feet. “Sorry, I just…” He trails off and Wille grins. 

“It’s okay. You’re right. It was a harmful system. The vote passed for a reason.” 

Simon tilts his head to the side, considering Wilhelm, which, is fair. Most don’t expect him to be staunchly against the institution that he was a part of for most of his life. 

“What are you doing here?” Simon asks. 

“Uh,” Wille glances behind him at the piano. “Practicing?”

The pretty man waves his hands, “No, here, in New York. But, yes, I suppose also why are you in the Columbia practice rooms?” 

“Oh. I’m a student here. I wanted to escape Sweden for a bit after… everything. My, um,” Wille pauses, twisting his fingers together, “My brother and I always talked about taking a trip here when I turned 18, too. So… Here I am.” 

A silence fills the room and Wille is grateful when Simon diverts the topic. 

“Are you focusing on music then? What are you working on?” Simon rounds the room to look at the papers propped up on the piano. Wille feels suddenly embarrassed by the music sheets that are just messy scratches of black ink. 

“It’s not really—“ Wilhelm rushes forward, collecting the sheets and shuffling them together. “I’m registered for sociology, but I haven’t really decided on a focus yet. This – the piano – is more of a… hobby. It was a hobby. I’m not really sure how I feel about it.” There’s another long pause and Wille blushes more, holding the papers to his chest. He looks down at his feet. “I wasn’t really allowed a lot of hobbies growing up, but music classes were required so I figured…” 

“Right, that makes sense,” Simon says gently. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to overstep.”

“No!” Wille bursts out, nearly dropping the sheets in the process, eager to reassure the other. “No, no. It’s okay. I’m just not very good so I…” He releases the music from his tight grip and shuffles them in front of himself, frowning slightly at the scribbles. 

“I could,” Simon begins slowly, “take a look, if you want? This is kind of my whole degree. No pressure.”

Wille looks between the black ink and Simon’s face, chewing on his bottom lip again. Reluctantly, he slowly returns the paper to the music shelf. “I mean, if you don’t mind. I don’t want to steal your reserved time.” 

Waving him off again, Simon slides onto the bench and begins to sort through the notes. “It’s fine. No one has this room booked after me so I can stay later. Like I said, it’s literally why I’m here.” 

Simon looks up at Wille hovering over him and Wille looks down, thinking, oh fuck this is going to be a big problem isn’t it? 

Before he can doubt himself any further, Simon says, “Show me how it goes so far?”

That entire weekend, this time not out of guilt but out of fascination, he thinks about Simon. He can’t help it. The beautiful man with his beautiful laugh, his snarky remarks and complete disregard for Wille’s past is the perfect storm for Wille immediately falling head over heels.

On Monday, he lingers awkwardly in the music room, praying Simon will show up. He does, much to Wille’s delight, and brushes past any lingering unease, offering to show Wille the production program he’s been learning about in class. Simon is very smart and a very good teacher, easily moving through the parts of the program and kindly explaining them to Wille without complication.

Apparently the program is rather large, because after only about ten minutes, Simon’s laptop slips into buffering mode. He frustratedly smacks the side.

“God, this dumb laptop,” Simon groans, tossing his head back. Wille does not look at the long, lean line of his neck.

Wille smiles at the dramatics, and says, politely, “I don't think hitting it will encourage it to work, Simon.”

Simon groans again and sends a scowl at him. “You don’t know what my computer likes.”

“I can’t imagine it likes being jostled around like that.”

Simon rolls his eyes and Wille laughs.

“Why don’t you leave it alone for a bit and let it work itself out?” he suggests, wanting to reach out to comfortingly pat Simon’s shoulder but not knowing if they’re to that point, yet. “We can do something else?”

Shrugging, Simon puts the laptop down on the piano and folds his arms, glaring at it like he’s willing it to work.

Motivated by the rapport they’ve established, and itching to learn more about Simon, Wille asks, “Do you like it here?” He’s embarrased by how shy and timid his own voice sounds.

Simon turns to him and studies his face.

“Do you like it here?”

Wille holds eye contact for as long as he can, before looking away to stare at his shoes. There’s something about Simon’s stare that pierces his soul and completely disarms him.  

“Yeah.” It sounds a bit like a question, which it kind of is, because he’s unsure if he’s telling the truth but also doesn’t know if he’s lying. He steels himself enough to look back up to meet Simon’s eyes.

New York has been fine, a nice change of pace at the very least, but he’s still lonely. A different type of lonely, but no matter how far he flees, his brother is still dead and the monarchy is still gone and he still has no idea what his future was going to look like. (Now, though, for the first time in a long time, thanks to brown eyes and a blinding smile, he has some idea of what he might want it to look like.)

“What did you want to be?” Simon blurts, startling Wille out of his musings. “Before this. When you were a kid. Before you were… a prince. Before you weren’t anymore.”

Wille smiles slightly. “An astronaut.”

“Really?” Simon sounds surprised.

“Yes,” Wille frowns. “What’s wrong with astronaut?”

Simon shrugs. “Cliche.”

“Oh, alright,” Wilhelm quips sassily, and enjoys the amused look that arrives on Simon’s face. “What did you want to be, then, if my answer is no good?”

“A fish.”

Wille’s mouth drops open. He closes it, then opens it again but can’t seem to make any sound come out.

“Yes, exactly like that!” Simon grins widely, pointing at Wille. This makes Wille splutter, which makes Simon burst into laughter.

“That’s not– You can’t be a fish, Simon,” he gasps incredulously.

Simon continues to giggle. “Why not?”

“It’s not possible!”

“Oh and you becoming an astronaut is possible?”

“Hey, if I wanted to I could. You are a human person. You cannot be a fish.”

“Well, that’s what I wanted to be. You asked.”

Thirty minutes later, their booked time in the music room is up and Wille realizes Simon’s laptop has stopped buffering. He’s not sure how long it’s been done, he’d been too busy laughing and joking with Simon. He’s also not sure how long it’s been since he laughed like this. It feels really, really nice. Comfortable. He books the same time slot for Wednesday as they bid their goodbyes.

[yoonsdoll]

earl grey - ljh

content : n-i!woozi x gn!reader ; fluff ; 1.1k words ; no warnings c: - woozi looks for song inspo at a café you work at ! an : please give feedback by reblogging / sending in thoughts and suggestions (๑>◡<๑) + longer an at the end!

“ ‘scuse me,” you turned around, immediately leaving the daydreaming headspace and turning to the customer who was in the middle of ordering, “um i said, an earl grey tea.. thats all.”

it was a winter afternoon, the moonlight illuminating the streets and the dim lights in the café barely keeping you awake. working in such a cosy atmosphere with little customers made you slack off a lot - zoning out and humming songs to yourself while waiting for the next order.

“oh, right.. sorry, you can pay and take a seat.. ill bring it to you.” you managed to blurt out, turning around to start boiling the kettle. and he did just that, he took a seat by the window and took out a laptop out his bag. the laptop seemed to have a few stickers consisting of random phrases and a red guitar, “cute.” you hummed.

as you finished preparing the tea, you focused on how concentrated he was, typing away while restlessly bopping his leg. 

“here's the tea.” you glanced at him, taking a better look at his features which were unbelievably alluring. his black hair complementing his dark eyes, his light pink lips that curled into a smile when you walked over, his muscular arms that filled his white button up shirt, reaching over to you. “thanks.” he replied almost instantly.

you couldn’t help but sneak a glance at his screen as you passed him the hot cup of tea, noticing a google document titled ‘23’ with some sentences written on it, barely filling half a page. “is that for work or something?” you decided to strike up a conversation, partly because you were curious but partly because the guy was too cute to not talk to.

“ah this?” he looked over to scan over the document, “kind of?” you replied with a little tilt of your head, to which he chuckled, “just some lyrics for a song.”

“oh wow… thats cool. hows it coming together?” 

“not very well. i'm usually full of ideas, cant think of much lately.” you could tell he was passionate about it all, you gathered it was something he truly enjoyed doing, not just something he had to do. 

“sorry to hear? maybe a sweet treat on me to cheer you up?” his face lit up again, nodding with clear gratitude, “i’d like that.”

.

the next evening, he came back again, “oh hi.” you smiled softly, sort of glad he wasn’t a one time customer.

“a cup of earl grey please.”

as you brought him the tea, you took notice of the document opened up on his laptop once again. ‘23’ - the same one as yesterday, yet this time it was wiped blank, the bright light highlighting his face.

“how come you deleted the stuff that was on it yesterday?” he turned his attention to you, and the steaming cup in your hand, taking it from you. “didn’t like those notes, ‘m restarting again.”

you nodded, showing your interest in his softly spoken words. “let me know if you want to order something else.” your eyes twinkling at the thought of talking to him more.

as you awkwardly walked away, he quickly added, “um.. i’m jihoon by the way.” looking back, you replied with, “y/n.” 

.

a few days passed and there was no sign of jihoon returning, until it hit 7pm on a monday evening, when your eyes scanned the entrance as soon as you felt the cold wave of air hit you. it was him.

“an earl grey?” you hummed, trying to hide your smile but failing very miserably - though jihoon didn’t mind, in fact he looked just as happy to see you too. “an earl grey.” he replied through his chuckle.

just as usual, you walked over to his seat with the tea, realising that he was typing more than any other day, his document now full with the title changing to ‘23 - earl grey.’

“guessing you finally have some ideas?” your voice seemed to startle him as he jumped a little, closing the laptop half-way. “hm?” you questioned.

he shyly took the tea as he looked over, this time avoiding direct eye contact. “sorry, i didn’t notice you came over.”

“so what’d you write about? can i read it?”

“its not done yet…” 

“it doesn’t matter, i’m sure its good.” you reassure him, though you could tell he still wasn’t up for the idea. you shook your head and sighed, “nevermind, sorry for disturbing you”

.

another week passed and you hadn't seen jihoon since that evening, and you noticed a pattern of how often he came, assuming he was a busy guy with better things to do than sit around the café to entertain your delusions. by the second week you felt a little worried, wondering if the comment about reading the lyrics was too weird of a request or if he was uncomfortable due to your intrusiveness. just as the week was ending and you’ve started to give up on the idea of ever seeing him again and apologising, you see a familiar figure entering the cafe.

“jihoon?” you sighed in relief, “im so sorry if i made you uncomfortable, that was never my intent i swear..” you began rambling but jihoon’s smile only continued to widen. 

“you didn’t.” he explained, being blunt yet somehow comforting. “i was just busy and.. here.” he passed you a piece of folded paper, before you could say anything he was already running off and waving, “see you!” 

.

before you headed to bed, you remembered the paper given to you, running to the bag you stuffed it in. quickly, you unfolded the paper to see a handwritten page of lyrics. ‘earl grey.’

as you read through it, you picked out some of the lyrics that stood out to you the most. ‘cold evenings with you by my side, earl grey tea with you on my mind.’ being your favourite by far. your face felt a little warmer as you turned the page to see a note that thanked you for being such a big inspiration for the song, his instagram handle written on there too.

you looked up the instagram to see his account, 27k followers, 103 following, 14 posts. you started looking through some of them, the pinned one being a photo of him and his 5 other friends, another a selfie of him, then the most recent one of his laptop and a tea cup at the café you were working at.

‘the lyrics were really pretty, thank you.’ was the first message you sent him that spiralled into a whole night of talking.

an 2 : i haven't written in a while so this was to get going on writing again, i wanted to write a cute lil fic for woozi since i literally do not see enough of him on here... again if u have any feedback please interact and if u have any suggestions send in an ask / request! ily :3