#slow release fish food

[guppysaquariumproducts]

Purchase The Top-Notch Fish Tank Water Test Kit In Australia

Are you need to keep your fish tank healthy and thriving? With Guppy's Aquarium Products, you get the ultimate water testing experience for your fish tank! Our test kit provides simple, precise, and reliable results so you can keep your fish healthy and happy. With our easy-to-use instructions and tools, you can take the guesswork out of ensuring a healthy aquarium for your fish. Our fish tank test kit includes everything you need to keep your aquarium water healthy and clean. With our comprehensive testing options, you can be sure that your fish are happy and healthy. We have a variety of tests available for different types of tanks, including freshwater and saltwater. Our aquarium test kits include everything you need to start your water testing adventure! Get your fish tank water test kit today and enjoy the peace of mind of knowing that your fish are swimming in the safest environment possible!

[punkshort]

Swept Away | Chapter 5: Riptide

Pairing: sugardaddy!Joel Miller x f!reader

Chapter Summary: On the last day aboard the yacht, you get to spend some alone time with Joel, and things heat up.

Chapter Warnings: language, slow burn, sugar daddy/baby vibes, food and alcohol consumption, implied drug use, jealousy, angst, flirting, sexual tension, thigh/bulge riding, dry humping

WC: 8.1K

A/N: happy birthday @itsafullmoon 😘

Series Masterlist

Joel's fingers shyly found your knee underneath the table and you held back a smile. Instead, you focused on your breakfast, one that pleased him to see you were actually consuming, while he sipped his coffee.

It was another warm day, the heat already climbing and it was barely nine in the morning. As you looked around the rest of the table, you noticed most of the guests looked just about as hungover as you felt, yet they still insisted on indulging in more mimosas and Bloody Marys.

You chose to stick with water and coffee.

There were some quiet conversations being held around you, but mostly you shut it all out in favor of gazing out over the crystal blue ocean. Joel's thumb brushed over your knuckles and when you breathed in deep, you could smell the salt in the air. It made you feel completely at ease, the drama and your argument from the day before the furthest thing from your mind.

Well, maybe not the furthest. You still side eyed Tammy when you both sat down to join everyone that morning, but you decided to let it go. Joel's admission that he hadn't been with her in a year gave you some peace, and you weren't going to allow her to get under your skin. Instead, you were determined to enjoy the last day out at sea because, according to Glenn, the yacht was planning to dock back on your island rather early the following morning.

"We're supposed to stop in a few hours so we can do some water sports. You ever been on a jet ski? Or they got these aqua toys that'll take you under the water so you can see the fish. You wanna do any of that?" His voice sounded slightly nervous as he rambled, something you found incredibly endearing.

"Both sound fun. Whatever you want to do," you told him with a small smile. He was trying very hard, you could tell. You weren't sure if it was guilt that was driving him, or if it was the way you woke up accidentally wrapped in each other's arms, but either way, you enjoyed this side of him.

Just the thought of that morning made your cheeks burn and you had to look back down at your plate. You had a feeling he might have been thinking about it too because he shifted his weight in his seat and released your knee, draping his arm behind your chair instead while he pretended to listen to something Zachary was saying with the tips of his ears turning red.

That morning, your face had been pressed up against his chest, his arms wrapped around your shoulders, facing one another. Before you even opened your eyes, you could smell him. That distinct scent of hair products, expensive cologne and soap, faded by that point, but still lingering on his skin. One of his legs was slotted between yours. A dangerous place, to be sure. All he really needed to do was roll you both over and his hips would have pressed enticingly against your center.

When your gaze flickered up, expecting to find him fast asleep, you were surprised when you locked eyes. It appeared that he had been awake for a while. Sleep no longer clouded his eyes. So if the way you woke up together was an accident, why didn't he pull away? Why did he continue to stare down at you without withdrawing his limbs from yours? Why did his eyes scan your face and linger on your lips?

And why didn't he kiss you?

"Say, when are you two lovebirds getting married? Set a date yet?" Glenn's voice boomed from the head of the table with a wide smile. His linen shirt unbuttoned halfway down, revealing a mass of grey curls scattered all across his chest.

Joel's grip on the back of your chair tightened and he looked at you affectionately.

"We haven't picked a date yet, but I've always loved springtime," you replied dreamily.

"Then springtime, it is," Joel murmured, then leaned forward to press a kiss against your temple.

"We had a spring wedding," Tammy piped up from across the table. She curled into Scott's side, pulling his arm around her shoulders and you spotted Zoe stifling a laugh next to her. "May 21st. I was so nervous it was going to rain, the forecast called for it all week but when we woke up that morning the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I told Scott at the time it felt like fate. Right? Remember, honey?"

He smiled and curled his fingers around her arm, his eyes flickering back and forth as if he were scanning his memories, desperately trying to remember.

"Of course I do," he said, kissing her forehead.

"Maybe we should get married here. On the beach," you announced, narrowing your eyes in Tammy's direction. "Then we wouldn't have to worry about rain."

Joel chuckled next to you, his thumb brushing gently over your back. "Whatever you say, baby."

"Now you're gettin' it, Joel," laughed Jack, Lynne's husband.

"Oh, no. You should get married at home. Nobody likes to travel for a wedding," Tammy challenged, and you bristled.

"I don't think anyone would mind traveling to Fiji," Harry interjected, and suddenly it seemed like the entire table was involved, previously private clusters of conversation long forgotten in favor of discussing your fake wedding plans.

"Yes, well," Tammy said, fixing a few invisible flyaways, "even so. Guests prefer to stay near their home. Won't you be afraid of alienating people on your special day if you choose a destination wedding?" she asked, tilting her head to the side questioningly.

You probably shouldn't have let it bother you. After all, your entire relationship was a farce, but you couldn't help yourself.

"It doesn't matter to me," you replied airily with a shrug. "The only one I want there is Joel."

When you looked up at him, you could see the playful glint in his eye. He knew what you were doing. He knew Tammy was bothering you and knew goddamn well why.

And he fucking liked it.

His lips curled up into a smile and he inched a little closer, wrapping his arm around you a little tighter, and you felt a shiver run through your body when his lips met yours once again.

You decided to blame it on the leftover tension from that morning, but you flicked your tongue against his lips, looking to deepen the kiss. Joel only hesitated for a second before parting his lips and slowly sliding his tongue into your mouth. It took everything in you not to moan into the kiss, knowing full well how inappropriate it already was, so after allowing yourself just another moment to enjoy it, you breathlessly pulled away. He smirked at you, his eyes dark and filled with desire, a look you no doubt mirrored back.

"What do you think, Joel?" Tammy asked, clearly trying to crack the tension brewing between the two of you. "Don't you have family you'd want there?"

Family.

Why did she say it like that?

Joel's expression changed instantly. Something flickered across his face and his lips twitched nervously when he dropped his gaze to the table.

Then it clicked.

She knew something about him. Something she was taunting him with in front of the whole table.

You desperately wanted to know what she was insinuating, but your bigger issue was not knowing anything about his damn family whatsoever because as he foolishly told you on the plane, it won't come up.

So you had to think fast.

"Anyone who loves us will make the effort to be there. Right, baby?" you purred, stretching an arm to circle around the back of his neck. He dragged his eyes up to meet yours and you gave him a subtle nod.

That's right, look at me.

"Yeah," he agreed, and you could see his resolve coming back the longer you clung around him.

"Oh, you two are just so cute," Zoe gushed. Your eyes briefly shifted to hers over Joel's shoulder and she shot you a wink.

"Maybe you should get married while you're already here," Glenn suggested. "Do another ceremony when you get home. Problem solved."

Your blood ran cold and for the first time, your mind went blank. You had no idea what to say. You looked at Joel, trying to silently convey your panic without being obvious, but he seemed perfectly at ease when he tilted his head to look at Glenn with a sly smile.

"Nah, I'll wait til my new hotel is built on that nice spot of land you got 'n we'll get married there, instead."

The table doubled over at his comment, some of the men jokingly calling him ruthless and Glenn complimenting how quick Joel was with his face all pink from laughter. You noticed with a jolt of satisfaction that Tammy was the only one at the table not laughing.

When the table finally let the topic of your wedding go, everyone falling back into their own personal conversations once again, Joel leaned into you and whispered in your ear, "good job."

You grinned and tried not to preen too much at his approval. "You, too," you said back. He scanned your face, his shoulders relaxed and the tension gone from his eyes and you swallowed thickly with a flutter in your chest. You really liked this side of him. The side that wasn't glued to his phone or laptop, the side that smiled and grazed his fingers along your back or arm for no reason.

The side that held you close while he slept.

Just then, Brooks flung the door open from the cabin and stepped out onto the deck with an apologetic look to his father. Glancing around the table, you realized then he was the only person missing from breakfast.

"Sorry," he mumbled before pulling up a seat next to Mary. "Had too much fun last night."

You tried not to stare but you couldn't stop yourself from noticing his obvious disheveled state. His clothes were wrinkled as if he slept in them, hair sticking out at all angles, and his eyes looked bloodshot and glassy.

"Sheesh, guess I wasn't the only one who drank too much," you muttered to Joel. He looked over his shoulder at Brooks, their eyes momentarily locking, before turning back to you.

"Think it's more than just booze," Joel told you softly. Your eyes widened when you remembered how fidgety Brooks seemed at Glenn's cocktail party and the pieces began to fall together.

Scott clapped his hands together after he tossed back the rest of his Bloody Mary. "What's the plan today, gang?"

Glenn checked his watch while Brooks hunched over his plate, his focus solely on his food.

"We'll find a spot around lunchtime and drop anchor. Try to find somewhere quiet so we can really open up those jet skis. Then we got a beautiful dinner at sunset. Mary wrote the menu, can't wait to see what you have planned, sweetheart," he said, lovingly curling his arm around her shoulders and giving her a kiss. She flushed and grinned, the cute display of affection making you smile.

The table began to murmur, some people standing and stretching as they discussed what they wanted to do with their last few precious hours at sea.

"Sounds like we got some time to kill," Joel said as he watched people branch off towards different sections of the boat. You spotted Scott and Jack already sidling up to Glenn while Tammy linked arms with Lynne and strolled towards the open part of the deck to sunbathe.

"You should probably spend it with Glenn," you told him, jutting your chin in his direction. When you looked back at Joel, you caught something not unlike disappointment flicker across his face before he caught himself.

"Yeah, you're right," he replied, "you sure you'll be okay? Don't wanna leave you all alone."

You smiled, touched that he was showing some concern. It was a very different Joel than just a day ago, but you had to keep reminding yourself while his delivery left something to be desired, his message was correct: you were there because you had a job to do, and so was he.

"Yeah. Go get that land so we can have our dream wedding," you joked. He chuckled but when he stood, you noticed his cheeks dusting with pink.

"Yes, ma'am," he said, then reached forward and pinched your chin in exactly the same way he did when you were shopping for clothes on your first day there. "Stay outta trouble for me, will you?"

You giggled and nodded after he dropped his hand from your face. And when he tossed you a flirtatious wink over his shoulder as he was walking away, you felt your face warm and your stomach flip excitedly.

It was too late. You were already in trouble.

"Jesus, I shouldn't have drank," Zoe said nervously while you both watched the crew unload the water toys. "One lap around the yacht on a jet ski and I'll be throwing up my lunch."

"Just aim for the big, wide ocean and not Zach," you joked. Fortunately, you had stuck to your word and hadn't had a drop of alcohol all day, but you still felt your stomach drop when you watched Trevor and Brooks fly past on their jet skis, their bodies bouncing violently with each wave.

Zach called out Zoe's name, his round stomach hanging over the band of his black swim trunks, and she groaned before forcing a fake smile and flirty wave.

"Fucking kill me," she muttered before abandoning your observation post. You leaned over the railing, grinning to yourself as Zoe was getting fit for a life jacket with the fear of god in her eyes when Joel sidled up next to you.

"You wanna take a spin on one of those?" he asked, bumping gently against your shoulder with his own. His skin looked bronzed from all the sun and his eyes sparkled as he gazed down at you.

"Uh, if you want to," you replied, biting your lip nervously when you watched Zoe and Zach take off at full throttle, the look on her face telling you everything you needed to know about the experience.

Joel noticed your hesitation and looked around.

"How 'bout we check out the inflatable stuff?" he offered. You frowned and swiveled your head back and forth. "On the other side of the boat. There's a few different ones, I think. Bit more low-key," he said, giving you an adorable shrug when you looked at him with relief.

"That sounds great," you said, then he tilted his head to the side before pushing off the rail, indicating you should follow him.

Joel was right. The crew had been inflating a couple cabanas, a trampoline and a jungle gym for you to use. Glenn and Mary were already waiting for one of the cabanas, joking with you both about how they felt like chickens for not giving the other toys a try.

The cabanas were spaced apart, the trampoline and jungle gym between them and so far you were lucky; the other guests seemed far more excited about the water toys on the other side of the boat, so you were afforded some privacy together for the first time all weekend.

"'M sorry you've been on your own so much," Joel apologized once you both got comfortable on your cabana. "But I'm makin' good progress, I can feel it. Zachary ain't got a chance in hell," he chuckled.

He sat up and gripped his linen button down shirt at the hem, pulling it over his head and tossing it to the side with a grunt. You couldn't look away when his lips puckered around a bottle of water, tipping his head back and closing his eyes as he drank. A small noise got stuck in the back of your throat when he finished and a few drops fell from the bottle and trailed slowly down his sun-kissed chest.

"Ain't polite to stare, sweetheart," he said lowly without even looking your way. Your cheeks flared and you fumbled with your sunglasses, but he just chuckled and laid back down.

"Oh! Speaking of Zachary, I have something to tell you," you said, suddenly realizing after your argument the day before, you never told him what you found out.

He rolled his head to the side and squinted up at you. "Oh, yeah?"

You glanced around before leaning in and whispering, "Zoe is a sugar baby."

His eyes went wide and he scrambled to sit up.

"How'd you find that out?"

"She told me yesterday," you shrugged. Joel swallowed tightly, his mind racing.

"Did you..." he trailed off, not wanting to finish his question and insult you, but needing to know the answer.

"No! Of course not!" you exclaimed. "I wouldn't say a word, I promise."

He nodded, visibly relaxing before averting his gaze. "I just didn't... I know you were pissed yesterday, but you should know it'll void the contract if you say somethin'."

"I know," you said softly, "but regardless of the money, I still wouldn't do that to you, Joel."

Something flickered across his face, something quick that you couldn't read before he looked away and slid his sunglasses on, effectively building his wall back up.

"Oh, and another thing," you added, "she thinks he's in a bad place financially. Says if he doesn't get the bid, he might go bankrupt and have to sell his hotels."

His eyebrows raised above the top of his sunglasses and hummed under his breath, looking thoroughly impressed.

"Goddamn, look at you. Feels like I got my own little spy or somethin'," he said, making you giggle. "Might need to hire you to work for me full time when this is all over."

"Oh, yeah? Doing what?" It was impossible to keep the playfulness from your voice. As much as you tried to deny it, you really enjoyed being on the receiving end of his praise.

"Oh, I'll think of somethin'," he replied, winking at you over the tops of his sunglasses, then smirking when he watched you get all flustered.

You settled back in your seat with a sigh, watching as the other guests zoomed by on their jet skis or dove under the water with the sub aqua toys.

Joel had your number before the plane even landed in Fiji. Even though it was taking you a little longer, you were slowly starting to figure him out. One thing was for sure: his good moods were really good, but his bad moods were really bad. He was obviously a man who had grown accustomed to getting his way, a man who had high expectations for the people who worked for him and had zero tolerance for mistakes.

He was a confusing man, made even more confusing by his behavior towards you. One day he was flirting with you, touching you, kissing you, but the next day he was icy and cold and hyper focused on work.

You turned your head in his direction, watching quietly as he basked in the sun with his eyes closed, skin prickling with sweat. Were you reading too much into those little glances and touches? Was it all part of the act? Or did he feel something more? It was clear you were attracted to him. He called you out on it more than once.

So why wouldn't he fucking do something about it?

"Do you wanna go on the trampoline with me?" you asked. He cracked an eyelid and peered at you.

"I think that stuff's made for kids."

You shrugged and flung off your cover up. You caught the way his eyes raked down your body before pretending to look out at something behind you, and you grinned.

"They wouldn't have set it up if adults can't use them."

"I ain't sayin' adults can't use 'em, I'm sayin' it's childish."

You feigned offense before adjusting your bikini and dipping your toe in the water. It was crystal clear and far too inviting to resist sliding in for a quick dip. The warmth of the water engulfing your entire body sent a thrill right through you. When you bobbed back up to the surface, you brushed the hair away from your face with a sharp gasp. Turning around, you saw Joel had laid back down, his eyes closed once again and facing away from you.

"Are you sure?" you called out to him as you began to swim backwards towards the other inflatables.

"Yep," he replied without opening his eyes. A devious smile tugged at your lips and before you could talk yourself out of it, you leaned back and kicked your feet wildly, splashing water all over him.

"Hey!" he shouted angrily, but you were already swimming away as fast as you could. Once you got to the trampoline, you pulled yourself up and swiveled around to see if Joel was truly pissed or if he had just laid back down, but unfortunately from your angle, you couldn't see the front of the cabana.

With a shrug, you stood up and took a few hesitant steps onto the trampoline. It was pretty large, in an octagon shape but no walls, so if you so chose, you could bounce right into the ocean. You took a couple small jumps, barely getting any air so you could get an idea of how strong it was before bending your knees and jumping as high as you could go. You laughed when you landed with your legs tucked under you, relaxing your muscles so you could bounce this way and that until you lost momentum and rolled onto your back.

You took a deep breath and closed your eyes, enjoying the sway of the ocean underneath you. In the distance, you could hear voices from the others on the water sports, mostly squeals of excitement and barking laughs, but otherwise you were completely at peace.

Before you even had a chance to process it, the trampoline dipped and you were suddenly drenched with water. You shrieked and snapped your eyes open, heart slamming in your chest from shock just to find Joel standing above you smirking with an empty plastic drink bucket in his hand.

You swung your leg out, kicking his legs out from under him. The bucket went flying when he collapsed next to you with a loud, deep laugh you weren't sure you had heard from him before. The sound brought a huge smile to your face only to gasp and yelp when he leapt onto all fours and shook his head like a dog, showering you with the water soaking his hair.

You raised your arms in defense, desperately trying to protect yourself.

"Stop!" you half yelled, half giggled from underneath your hands. Finally, the water stopped raining down on you and you slowly dropped your hands from your face.

Joel was smiling down at you victoriously, his arms bracketing you in on either side of your head. The sun shined brightly behind him, making his wet hair and tanned skin practically fucking sparkle.

"No fair," you whispered.

"Never said I play fair."

You swallowed when you saw his eyes darken, his gaze lazily sliding down your face, your neck, your chest, brazenly taking in every bit of you he could see. He swung his leg over your waist, pinning you down into the trampoline when he sat back on your thighs so he could take the weight off one of his arms. To your surprise, he cupped your jaw and dragged the pad of his thumb over your cheek, carefully and tenderly wiping away the droplets of water from your face while you struggled to remember to breathe beneath him. And just when you thought you couldn't take anymore, he spoke again.

"Did I make you all wet, baby?"

Fuck. You squeezed your eyes shut, the low tone in his voice making it very clear he knew he was tormenting you, making you squirm and bite your lip while you fought to keep a clear head.

"'S'matter? Dish it out but can't take it?" he tsked, his fingers gliding down to trace your lower lip. Your eyes flashed open, your lips tingling under his touch and breath coming in shallow pants. You locked eyes with him and opened your mouth so you could wrap your lips around the tip of his thumb. It sent a surge of satisfaction through you when you saw his eyes go wide and his jaw fall slack. The corners of your mouth twisted up into a smile around his finger, your tongue flicking suggestively against the tip. All the smugness from a moment before vanished from his face, and the only thing that remained was surprise and undeniable lust.

Joel said your name warningly, his eyes glued to the way your mouth was wrapped around his thumb. He could have easily pulled his hand away, but he didn't. He let you swirl your tongue around him, gazing up at him through your wet lashes, your arms lying limp next to your head, painting the perfect picture of obedience and that was when you felt it: a small twitch against your thigh, one he tried to hide by shifting his weight but it was too late. A look of triumph flared in your eye when you released his finger with a grin.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to make it hard on you."

He chuckled and shook his head. "Funny."

You stared at one another for a heavy moment, Joel still pinning you onto the trampoline. You waited for him to do something, say something... anything to acknowledge the elephant in the room before you lost your mind. And for one brief moment, you thought he just might. His lips parted, his expression softened and you held your breath, waiting for it. Then suddenly it was like a door slammed shut. He rolled off you in an instant, leaving you feeling cold despite the tropical, humid heat.

"I'm gonna get somethin' to drink. Want anythin'?"

You shook your head in a daze, the sharp turn of events sending you reeling.

"No."

Then you heard a splash and listened while he swam back to the cabana, leaving you with a devastating ache between your legs and more confused than you thought possible.

Despite Joel leaving you wanting more, you still couldn't wipe the smile from your face the entire afternoon. And it seemed like he couldn't, either. Something felt like it changed in him that day. He appeared more relaxed and happier than you had seen him the entire week you'd been on the island.

It was the reason you were distracted on your way back to your room. You told Joel you were going to take a quick shower and change before dinner right before he got roped into a game of poker with Glenn and a few others, but not before giving you a quick peck on the lips. After he hurried to catch up with the others, you glanced around and found no one was there to witness your little kiss. It wasn't for show.

Your mind was swirling with images of Joel, replaying everything with a stupid smile on your face when you turned the corner of the quiet hallway.

"Oh!" you cried out when you collided with something, or rather someone, firm and strong walking from the opposite direction.

"Hey, there," Brooks said, grabbing onto your shoulders to keep you steady. You took a step back, removing yourself from his hold, and gave him an apologetic smile.

"Sorry. Wasn't watching where I was going."

You moved to step around him when he blocked you with an extended arm and you looked up at him questioningly.

"Having a good time so far?"

"Uh huh," you replied, folding your arms in front of your chest when you noticed his gaze wandering down. "This yacht is amazing, we're having a great time."

Brooks smiled and propped his hand up so he could lean against the wall, fingers tapping rapidly against the wallpaper, effectively blocking your path.

"Glad to hear it. You're welcome to come for a ride whenever you're on the island next."

You smiled back and tried to create a little more distance, but the hallway was narrow enough as it was.

"That's so nice, thank you. I'll be sure to pass that along to Joel."

"Nah, we don't have to tell the old guy, huh? I was thinking it could just be the two of us," Brooks said, "that way's more fun, don't you think?"

You felt a shiver go down your spine at the hungry way he was looking at you and suddenly you realized, aside from the crew somewhere in the depths of the boat, you were the only ones indoors.

"Oh, I don't think that's a good idea," you said, hoping to keep the tremor from your voice. "Joel would be worried."

It didn't seem to matter how many times you reminded him you were with Joel, Brooks still persisted.

"Aw, I'm sure we could work something out," he replied, brushing his knuckles slowly over your bare arm. Your eyes dropped at the contact and the panic began to set in. You knew you should push him away. Hell, you should punch him in the throat and tell him to keep his hands off you, but all you could think of was Joel and how hard he was working to get that plot of land and what a great mood he had been in all day.

So instead, you took a step backwards and pulled your arms tighter across your chest.

"Why don't we talk about it with Joel at dinner?"

You were giving him your fakest smile at that point and he could tell. Slowly, his expression dropped along with the arm that was caging you in.

"Sure," he said, then finally began to slip past you to join the rest of the guests but paused and leaned in to whisper in your ear, "but I see right through you. Everybody's got a price."

By the time you had collected yourself and turned around, Brooks was gone.

"You're missin' an earring," Joel said with a frown the moment you emerged from the cabin, freshly showered but still shaken.

"What?" You lifted your hands to your ears and groaned before removing the one you did have and dropping it in your clutch. "Shit. Sorry. Must've forgot."

His eyes drifted over your face for a moment, concern etching his features. "Don't be sorry, sweetheart. Everythin' okay?"

"Yeah," you said immediately, ignoring the heated look Brooks was giving you behind Joel's back. "Everything's great. How was poker?"

You partially listened to him talk about his card game, joking about how he was lucky they weren't playing for any actual cash because he was fucking terrible at it, but you had a hard time moving past that interaction with Brooks just an hour prior.

He could tell your attention was elsewhere. You looked nervous and distracted but for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why. He replayed everything over and over since you slipped inside to freshen up. Sure, he knew he left you high and dry after that particularly intense moment on the trampoline, one he knew if he didn't stop, you would both have done something you would regret, but you seemed fine afterwards. The rest of the afternoon you were bubbly and sweet, your playfulness leaving a permanent smile across his face.

So what the hell happened between then and now?

Mary clapped her hands together, sending a wave of silence over the bustling table as everyone turned to give her their attention. Joel's hand found your leg, his instincts telling him you needed an anchor, even if he didn't know why, then twisted around to listen.

"Good evening," Mary began. "Once again, I'm so pleased you could all be here on this beautiful getaway with Glenn, myself, and our boys," she said, giving Trevor and Brooks a loving glance. "I had the pleasure of curating tonight's menu, the theme being Tropical Barbecue."

A ripple went through the table and a pleased smile pulled at Mary's lips. Your eyes flickered down to Joel's hand on your thigh and you slid your own on top, fingers curling around his. After a moment where you felt him still, his thumb came up to brush gently against your knuckles, making you smile at the comfort it brought.

Mary began to describe each course and her inspiration behind her choices, but you were finding it difficult to focus. Everybody's got a price. What did that mean? Did Brooks somehow find out you were hired by Joel to fabricate a relationship and sway his father into selling him the land?

No, that would be impossible... right?

Then Joel uttered your name softly and you snapped out of your trance.

"Huh?"

He fixed you with another concerned look.

"I asked what you wanted to drink."

"Oh," you said, shaking your head a bit, "I'll just stick with water, thanks."

He scanned your movements. Your eyes were darting around nervously, your foot was tapping incessantly on the floor and he hadn't seen you smile once since you washed up.

Joel leaned into your side, hand still firmly planted on your leg, and murmured, "You can drink, y'know. I ain't mad 'bout yesterday."

"Mhm, I know," you replied, tugging your lower lip between your teeth. Joel shifted his weight in his chair and gave a polite smile to the crew member who placed two plates in front of you. He watched you pick up a fork and pick at your first course and he swore he saw your hand tremble.

"Did I do somethin'?" he asked after leaning in again. "If it's 'bout earlier, we can talk -"

"What are you two lovebirds whispering about down there?" Brooks' booming voice called from his end of the table. You each turned to look at him, Joel with politeness, you with dread. When Brooks met your eye, you could see the veiled threat behind his otherwise friendly demeanor: don't you say a fucking word.

"Just talkin' 'bout what a great time we've had 'n how disappointed we are it's comin' to an end," Joel replied kindly. His hand left your leg to pick up his glass of scotch and you instinctively found yourself raising your arm, trying to bring him back to you, surprising yourself with your neediness.

Joel raised his glass for a toast to Glenn and Mary while you forced a shaky smile and raised your water. Zoe leaned into your other side when the volume rose around the table and whispered, "Are you pregnant?"

You sputtered around your glass and you looked at her all wild-eyed.

"No!"

She giggled and shrugged. "You've been drinking water all day and you look like you're about to hurl."

You laughed at the absurdity of it and you finally felt some of your nerves begin to ease. If only she knew how long it had been since the last time you had sex.

"No, I promise you I'm not."

"Not what?" Joel asked when he turned away from talking with Harry on his other side.

"Nothing," you replied sweetly. The tone of your voice made him smile and his hand found your leg again. Then, his brows knit together and he raised his other hand to swipe his thumb gently over the corner of your mouth. When he pulled it back to examine the spot of barbecue sauce he collected, your breath stuttered at the same time his paused. It seemed as though you both realized at the exact same time he was holding up the same thumb you had wrapped your lips around just hours before.

His eyes met yours and his lips parted. Slowly, he raised his thumb to his mouth and you watched with heavy lidded eyes as his soft looking lips spread open across his finger, taking an unnecessary moment to grunt in pleasure when the sweet and tangy sauce was lapped up by his tongue.

"Mmm, you taste good," he teased with a little smirk. His chest flooded with warmth when he saw that playful spark in your eye again. He didn't like it when you weren't yourself, he realized, but he really, really didn't like to see you cry. It only happened once, but he knew he didn't want to see it again. As much as he tried to fight it, he had grown too fond of your sweet nature already. He liked the way you stood in awe of the affluence surrounding you but also found a great deal of joy from a few pink seashells, so delicate and so beautiful.

Just like you.

He noticed the more attention he gave you, the happier you became, and he really shouldn't have liked that as much as he did. Seeing your wide smile and hearing your adorable laugh made him soften. But watching your eyes glaze over or your eyelids flutter from his touch, whether it be your arm or leg or back, did something else to him entirely. Something that made him have to remind himself more than once during dinner that this was all an act, that this wasn't real.

Once dinner finished up, you appeared back to your usual self once again. Your hand fused with his while everyone said their good nights, and they remained that way when you walked together towards your room, the air around you silent and thick.

You swallowed nervously as you picked up your pajamas from where you abandoned them earlier that morning.

Instantly, your cheeks warmed when you remembered how you both woke up, all tangled limbs and hesitant glances. You cleared your throat and kept your eyes cast down while you maneuvered around him to get to the bathroom. As you changed and washed up, you wondered what would happen that evening. Probably nothing, you decided, based on the way he abruptly stopped things that afternoon, but just in case you made sure to apply a little lip balm and spritzed a dash of perfume in your hair.

"All yours," you said shyly before sliding into bed. All yours, all yours, all yours. You listened to the water running in the bathroom while you flipped through the channels on the television before giving up and turning it off.

When he exited the bathroom, you locked eyes and gave him a small smile. He tossed his clothes into a pile next to his overnight bag before turning off the lights and slipping into bed next to you with a groan.

You both laid there for a few minutes, each of you staring up at the dark ceiling, your hearts beating too fast to really find any rest. Finally, you tilted your head to the side and peered at him through the darkness. You could just make out his side profile in the moonlight, his distinctive sharp nose and the little pout to his lips.

"I can't sleep," you whispered. He blinked and turned his face towards you.

"Why?"

Everybody's got a price.

Did I make you all wet, baby?

"I don't know," you lied.

He turned onto his side so he was facing you, then you did the same. You left your hand flat on the mattress between you, not touching, but wishing you were.

"Did you wanna talk 'bout... earlier?" he asked softly. You couldn't really make out his face but you heard it in his voice; he was uncertain.

For a moment, you almost said yes. Yes, please explain what the hell is going on between us. Until you realized you may not like the answer, then you whispered, "No."

You couldn't see it, but he was relieved.

"Okay," he replied. You inched your hand a little closer.

"Can I ask you something, Joel?"

He nodded, then remembered it was too dark to see. "Yeah."

You took a deep breath. "What did Tammy really mean this morning when she mentioned your family?"

He inhaled sharply and you immediately knew you weren't getting an answer. "Don't matter," he replied, then stretched out his arm to loop around your shoulders. "C'mere," he added, giving you a tug and pulling you into his chest.

You burrowed your face against him, arms wrapping around his middle, all thoughts of Tammy and Brooks erased from your mind. Instead, you focused on how warm he felt, how good he smelled, how strong his heart sounded against your ear, and before you knew it, you were fast asleep.

"Hey."

You heard his voice whispering in your ear, but you frowned and ignored it. It was barely light out, too early to wake up, and you were so warm and at peace curled up next to him, you didn't want it to end.

"Hey," he whispered again, this time a little louder. Still, you didn't respond. Then you heard him curse under his breath and shift his weight on the bed.

Finally, your curiosity was enough to make you open your eyes.

He rolled onto his back, his arm still trapped underneath you but the other was stretching down to grip his rock hard erection through the comforter. Your eyes widened when you saw the pained look in his face after he flexed his hand, as if he were trying to seek out some relief without actually jerking himself off. His eyes were screwed shut and his brows furrowed together while he focused on taking long, deep breaths. Then he squeezed himself again and a quiet noise slipped past his lips. The tendons in his neck strained with effort, his skin looked flushed and a little sweaty and the entire visual was enough for you to feel your pussy soften and throb.

He must have wanted you to move so he could get up and take care of himself in the bathroom, but fortunately your deep sleep paid off into what you saw as a golden opportunity.

Before you could overthink it, you slid your hand down his stomach towards his waistband, but right as your fingertips came in contact with the elastic, he stopped you.

"What're you doin'?" he asked gruffly, his hand wrapped tightly around your wrist.

"Giving you a hand," you replied, hoping you sounded sultry like you intended.

"'S not funny," he said, yanking your hand out from under the covers before he looked at you. His eyes were stern but his forehead dotting with sweat and his chest heaving underneath his white tshirt gave him away.

He wanted this.

"I'm not laughing," you said, trying to tug your hand from his grip, but he shook his head. You squirmed next to him under the covers, pressing your thighs together, feeling your arousal soak through your panties. "Please," you whispered, voice breaking on just the one syllable. He shook his head again but you felt his fingers begin to loosen around your wrist.

"Can't," was all he managed to grit out. You groaned and lunged forward, biting angrily at his jaw, then his lower lip.

"Why?" you practically begged, your mouth brushing over his beard, the sharp hairs poking your sensitive lips, leaving them feeling tingly when you pulled away and asked again, "Why, Joel?"

"Ain't part of the deal."

You scoffed and hooked both your legs around one of his, pulling it towards you, towards the heat radiating between your legs. You began to roll your hips, doing your best to torment him into breaking by rubbing yourself on his thigh.

"I don't care about the deal," you replied, narrowing your eyes as you continued to rock your hips against him. "I want you, Joel, fucking please," you whined, then gasped when he dropped your hand and in one swift movement, hauled you up so you were straddling his lap.

"You think you want me, but you don't. Not really," he told you, jaw tense and eyes so dark, you could barely see the sliver of dark chocolate brown you had grown so fond of.

"What does that mean?" you asked. His statement made your hips stall in a moment of clarity.

His eyes dropped to your chest, swallowing when he noticed your nipples poking through your loose fitting tank top.

"You don't know me, darlin'."

"Yes, I do," you cooed, bending forward seductively to play with his hair, but in reality you were just trying to give him a glimpse of your tits.

"No, you don't," he shot back, his eyes glued to your chest, his hands leaving bruises on your hips when he began to shift you back and forth, encouraging you to rub yourself over his clothed erection. "And I ain't gonna fuck you, baby, I'm sorry."

You fought back the sob that clawed its way up your throat. "You want me, too," you tried, tipping your head back and biting your lip when you felt his cock slide perfectly through your folds. He was thick, that much you could tell, and you moaned at the thought of him stretching you open. How delicious that sting would feel at first, the pain that would bleed into pleasure, your mingled breaths and the feel of your skin sticking together that first time.

"This is... fuck," he groaned, bucking his hips up to meet yours. "This is a business relationship, that's it." But his voice held no conviction whatsoever.

"Yeah?" you panted, tilting your chin down to look at him. He was fucking wrecked underneath you. His eyes were all wild, teeth clenching together so hard the muscle in his jaw twitched. You smirked and lunged forward to kiss him, your tongue sliding into his mouth with ease. He whined against your lips, his hands sliding up your back, pressing against your spine as he gave in, his jaw falling open wider, giving you more room to swirl your tongues together frantically while your hips ground down onto his lap, selfishly chasing your high.

"If you do this with all your business partners, I can see how you became so successful," you breathed when you pulled away.

His eyes fluttered closed and you watched his muscles relax, as if he were giving up the fight. You leaned forward and tenderly kissed the corner of his mouth, your thighs burning from the effort as you continued to rut yourself against him. You felt the tip of his cock catch on your clit and you squeaked as a shiver ran through you and your vision began to blur.

"Joel," you whimpered, pressing your nose against his throat.

"Just... just take what you need, sweetheart," he told you, wrapping his arms around your ribs. "I'm hangin' on by a thread here, just - take what you need."

You whined and pushed your face into his neck, too close to your orgasm to fight with him any longer.

"Come with me," you whispered. You could feel his body tremble underneath you at the request, but he replied, "No."

Tears stung your eyes and you weren't sure if it was the confusion surrounding his steadfast rejection or the intensity of your orgasm, but either way you gasped and two tears slid down your cheeks when you fell apart on top of him.

With a shocking amount of speed, Joel flipped you over so you were on your back. He hovered above you, watching your release wash over you, his hips still pressing against your center, still grinding and thrusting and rubbing as he memorized the look on your face when you came. And maybe it was just all too much: too much build up, too much tension, too much begging for his cock from your perfect fucking mouth because he suddenly tensed and groaned.

Your eyes snapped open in surprise when you felt the warmth spreading through his boxers and dampness leaking through the fabric, just barely touching your skin.

"Oh, fuck," he moaned as he continued to come, "fuck, fuck, fuck!"

He dropped his chin to his chest, mouth forming a circle and his eyes squeezing shut while his body pulsed and shook with an incredible amount of force.

"Oh, shit," he breathed, his eyes finally meeting yours.

You stared at one another, each of you panting for air with your hearts hammering wildly in your chests and heat flushing your faces. Slowly, when you began to come down, reality seeped in. As much as he tried to fight it, and as frustrated as you were with him, there was no denying it now:

A line was crossed, and there was no going back.

Please follow @punkshort-notifs and turn on notifications for fic updates ❤️

[coven-of-genesis]

Ways to rejuvenate spiritual & physical energy levels

Here are some herbs, plants, teas, foods, and recipes that will help rejuvenate energy:

Ginseng: This is a traditional Chinese herb that has been used for centuries to increase energy levels, reduce stress and fatigue.

Matcha Tea: This tea is a form of green tea that is high in antioxidants and caffeine, which can help improve mental alertness and physical energy.

Maca Root: This herb has been traditionally used in Peru to enhance stamina, endurance and energy levels.

Ashwagandha: This adaptogenic herb is used in Ayurvedic medicine to reduce stress, anxiety, and fatigue.

Chia Seeds: These tiny seeds are packed with nutrients and can help provide a slow release of energy throughout the day.

Dark Chocolate: This treat is high in flavonoids which can help improve mental alertness and focus.

Spinach: This leafy green vegetable is high in iron, which is essential for maintaining energy levels.

Quinoa: This grain is rich in protein and complex carbohydrates, which can provide sustained energy.

Lemon & Ginger Tea: This tea is a great way to boost your immune system, reduce inflammation, and increase energy levels.

Berry Smoothie: Blend together a handful of mixed berries, a banana, a tablespoon of honey, and some almond milk for a delicious and energizing smoothie.

Avocado Toast: Mash half an avocado and spread it onto a slice of whole-grain bread for a healthy and energizing breakfast.

Grilled Chicken Salad: Toss together some grilled chicken, mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, and a lemon vinaigrette for a light and energizing lunch.

Sweet Potato & Lentil Curry: This hearty and delicious dish is packed with nutrients and is a great source of sustained energy.

Baked Salmon: This fish is high in omega-3 fatty acids which can help improve mental focus and reduce fatigue.

Golden Milk: This warm and soothing drink is made with turmeric, ginger, honey, and coconut milk, and is believed to help reduce inflammation and increase energy levels.

[bethanythebogwitch]

When they say "be there or be square", today's Wet Beast Wednesday subject chose "square". I am referring to boxfish. Also known as cowfish, trunkfish, and cofferfish, these real-life Minecraft fish are bony fish in the family Ostraciidae, sometimes called Ostraciontidae. This makes them close relatives of pufferfish and file fish in the order Tetraodontiformes. While all the Tetraodontiformes are weird-looking fish, the cowfish are easily the strangest, they don't even really look that much like fish.

(image: the yellow boxfish Ostracion cubicum. They literally named it "cube")

The squarish shape of the boxfish comes from their unique skeleton. They have a carapace made of overlapping, hexagonal plates called dermal scutes that are the equivalent of scales in other fish. Each plate is composed of a soft and bendable collagen layer and mineralized surface layer. This carapace is very sturdy, with holes in it to allow for the eyes, mouth, fins, and cloaca to pass through. In game terminology, the cowfishes are stone walls. Because of the composition of the carapace, boxfish are fully rigid and cannot bend their bodies in any direction. This, combined with their not-overly hydrodynamic shapes, makes them slow and weak swimmers. When they filled out their character sheets they went all-in on defense and neglected speed and offense. A boxfish won't be winning any races, but the carapace is extremely hard to bite through or puncture, giving an effective defense. Despite their small sizes (the largest species can get up to 50 cm/20 in long, and most species are much smaller), adult boxfish have almost no natural predators. It's worth noting that while boxfish are slow swimmers, they are very maneuverable. They have the ability to create small vortices around their bodies to help maneuver.

(image: a boxfish skeleton)

(image: a boxfish with its hexagonal carapace visible through its skin)

Not satisfied with having an impenetrable shell, many species of boxfish developed another defense mechanism. When stressed, they can release poison into the water. These poisons are surfactants, substances that break up surface tension, that can damage the cell membranes of other animals. While each species has their own specific chemical and not every species is poisonous, these toxins are collectively called pahutoxins. Poison is a pretty common thing in the Tetraodontiformes. Famously, pufferfish, close relatives of boxfish, are highly poisonous. Most poisonous boxfish species are brightly colored. This is called aposematism and is used as a warning to potential predators that the animal is dangerous. A famous example of aposematism is the brightly-colored poison dart frogs. Young boxfish are typically more colorful than older ones.

(image: a longhorn cowfish Lactoria cornuta)

Boxfish are voracious omnivores that will eat just about anything that can fit in their tiny mouths. The majority of boxfish species live in coral reefs and their diet consists largely of algae that they scrape off of coral. Additional foods include sponges, tube worms, mollusks, and small fish and invertebrates. Some species can spit out water to blow aside sand and search for buried food.

(image: Ostracion meleagris, the spotted boxfish)

Boxfish are typically solitary, but occasionally come together in small groups. These groups typically consist of one male and a few females. Scientists speculate these groups are formed for reproduction. They are known to reproduce by swimming to the surface of the water, releasing their gametes, and quickly swimming away.

(Aracana ornata, the ornate boxfish)

Because of their unique appearances, boxfish are popular in aquariums. They are recommended for experts only because of their ability to release poison. Boxfish are easily stressed and can kill themselves and other tank-mates by releasing toxin. Aquarists usually say they should be kept in solo tanks or with smaller, mild-mannered tank-mates. In addition, they need to be in tanks with minimal water flow as even the current of a decently-sized filter can blow them around uncontrollably. People who keep boxfish have called them shy, but highly inquisitive and even playful. They have been reported spitting water and their handlers, apparently in an attempt to get attention.

(image: Lactoria forasini, the thornback boxfish)

[lixieisgod]

𝐺𝑌𝐴𝐿 𝑌𝑂𝑈 𝐴 𝑊𝐴𝐿𝐾𝐼𝑁𝐺 𝑻𝑹𝑶𝑷𝑯𝒀 # !

𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑠⤷ there is like zero Caribbean representation in fics so you know ya girl has try to fix that shit. Caribbean girls on top🕺🏽 so it’s not right that we ain’t got shit. please reblog and lmk if y’all like this.

𝑠𝑦𝑛𝑜𝑝𝑠𝑖𝑠⤷ 𝐸𝑟𝑒𝑛 𝑌𝑒𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝐶𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑔𝑖𝑟𝑙𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑. 𝐸𝑟𝑒𝑛 𝑌𝑒𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑥 𝐶𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑛! 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟

since the night you and eren met at a party you’ve basically been inseparable since. you two have been together for a while now and it’s safe to say you guys are the IT couple.

lmfaoo at first when your friends would catch you simping they’d be like “what happens to gazah forever” and start laughing. But they mean well it’s all jokes they like seeing you and eren so happy with each other.

a few people thought it wouldn’t last that long, thinking he wouldn’t be able to handle you. BUT BABYY were there wrong ! you two have a good balance in your relationship, your energies align so well.

there’s no getting between you two. “my man tie me, I’m on him badd”

you were a little nervous at fist to let him meet your family, you know they can be a little judgmental sometimes but you weren’t too worried. Everything went really good when he met the fam. Your male relatives were a bit over protective but you can’t blame them too much, you’ll always be their baby.

At the family events he eats his weight in food lmfaoo. He’s a big fan of rotis, jerk chicken with white rice, green bananas and salt fish, as well as chutney. It melted your heart to see him enjoying traditional foods.

this man lives to see you dance, from the first grind he got at that party, he’s been hooked since. He’s actually got really good rhythm. So he’s great at any party, whether it’s holding onto your waist slow dancing with you singing the lyrics “ gyal, mi wan’ if hold yuh put me arms right around yuh” in his ear.

this one time you brought him to a family gathering and he danced western with the older ladies of the family, your grandma love him sm, he even calls her ma or mum.

this man can really turn tf up. like REALLY turn TF up. for example when you two are at a Bacchanal all his composure flies out the widow. But he never lets other girls try to dance with him and you do the same when it comes to other men.

lemme tell youuu, there’s a video of you two dirty dancing to vybez kartel at the fette. that shit was wildd like giving him mad fast wine and him positioning you with his hands on your lower back watching your movements

He loves when you make him breakfast, his favorite thing that you make him is fried bakes and cocoa tea. It’s like his comfort food at this point.

he loves hearing all the folklore stories, they’re so fascinating to him. he was low-key kinda scared when you told him you’d send a dupply after him as a joke.

He likes trying Caribbean snacks, he likes half frozen chubby and icelollies.

A DOMINOS FIEND !! your uncles and him were playing together and that shit was heateddd. He smacks the dominos hard asll lmfao. Your uncles lowkey started respecting him more after he won a few games.

He lovesss playing football in the rain with your cousins. your grandma puts oil in the middle of the head to make sure he doesn’t get sick.

LATE NIGHT DRIVES ARE A VIBEE. The two of you have this long ass playlist that you guys bump while driving in the middle of the night with the roof down.

Play from 0:45 before reading next slide

it’s the middle of the night and the two of you are speeding through the mostly empty streets with cold Heineken’s screaming the lyrics to the songs in you guy’s playlists. “ LONGING FOR MY BABY TO LOVE ME MOREE, WHAT AM I LONGING FOR? BABYLON RELEASE THE CURE” !

he sings you all of the old school love songs

he loves and appreciates you so freaking much, you’re the best thing in his life, and he lets everyone know it. you two are such a good couple.

© 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝗼 𝐥𝐢𝐱𝐢𝐞𝐢𝐬𝐠𝗼𝐝. 𝐂𝗼𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝗼𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝗼𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝗼𝐥𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝗼𝐧 𝗼𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐟𝗼𝐫𝗺𝐬.

[hellishjoel]

tequila!

6k / pairing: linecook!frankie x waitress f!reader

Series Masterlist l Previous Chapter

summary: a night off and some well deserved drinks put you and frankie in the same spot on a friday night. 

warnings/information: MA 18+ (minors DNI), food and alcohol consumption, intro to triple frontier friends, reader is mentioned having hair and wearing perfume, swearing, pet names (princess), jealousy, angst, hot girls cry in the bathroom, smut, fingering (f! receiving), cum eating, discussions of men being douchebags. if I missed anything, please let me know!

A/N: it’s been since halloween! how are we doing?! here’s more frankie and princess figuring out their shit and actually communicating! can we get a round of applause? thank you to @undercoverpena for the emotional and plot support! thank you to @saradika-graphics for the dividers!

follow hellishfics and turn on notifications to see the next time I update!

The town was small, but you guys knew how to kick it. 

Pool balls clattered, people cheered, and butts of beer bottles clinked in celebration. 

This was exactly what you needed, a night off and a fucking drink. 

You tried to tell yourself that your spat with Frankie a month ago hadn’t taken its toll on you, but he was plaguing your thoughts. The fastest way to forget your inhibitions? To forget Frankie? 

Tequila.

Sideways was known for breaking health code violations and overserving its customers. Despite their negative Yelp reviews, they were the only bar in town packed on this Friday night. 

You were two and a half drinks in with your girlfriends, the ones you never get to see from working late shifts. They were sweet and funny as hell. They were the pick-me-up that you really needed after what happened with Frankie.

It was still sitting in the back of your mind, playing on a loop like Christmas songs do in the winter. 

“What do you want from me, huh?” 

“I don’t know.”

Heat scorches your throat, burning and scraping at the inside as you accept a shot from a stranger. Not your smartest decision, but you suppose you haven’t been making a lot of those as of late anyway. 

Just as you take a deep sigh, you see it. That stupid hat and nest of dark curls accompanied by broad shoulders. What was Frankie doing here? 

You try to drop your head, avert your gaze, but it's pointless. The moment your eyes meet, time warps into slow motion. His usual honey-brown eyes look oaky-brown in the low light ambiance Sideways provides. His face softens at the sight of you, taking you in. Even as he walks past your small table, his head cranes to keep you in sight. 

Then his friends slap his back and keep him moving, their large and loud group weaving through the sea of strangers. And it’s over. He’s gone, probably somewhere tucked in the back of the bar ordering drinks. Time returns to its normal pace, and the loud hum of drunk twenty-somethings returns. 

“Jeez, Fish, that’s like the second bullseye tonight.” Frankie’s friends playfully clap with mustaches tickled with white foam from their beers. 

Frankie shrugs a shoulder, glances at your table, sees your pretty smile and the way your hair swishes before his eyes return to the dart board. An angry huff leaves his lips before he raises his arm, eyes narrowed on the dart board a good seven feet away from him, before he releases the dart like a lightning fast whip and he sinks it right into the center. 

His friends howl, a little smile on his lips at their approval. 

“Make that three!” One chimes in. “He’s hot tonight, folks! Get’em while he’s hot!” 

Despite being with his friends and cheap alcohol, Frankie didn’t feel very happy. Not after what went down after the last time he saw you. And now, you were here, which was making the pistons in his brain fire a whole lot faster. He wonders what happened, why you threw up your hands that night and pushed him away. 

Work has been hell trying to avoid you. Nothing more than giving him orders and brushing past him with your pretty smelling perfume that has put him in a trance since the first day he started at the diner. Now you were here, huffs of people in between you two, and he could still pick out the sweet blossomy smell he considers to be your own.

“I need a fucking drink,” Frankie mutters, plucking the darts from the board as he slaps them in the hands of his buddy for his turn. 

Frankie pushes through people to the bar, gently rapping his knuckles against the dark wood of the bar for a beer. His head dips down to look for his wallet, pulling it from his back pocket. The last thing he expects when he looks up is… not you. 

“Do you know that girl or something?” Your friend nudges, eyes still locked on the glowing redhead who had approached Frankie at the bar. 

“No.” You mutter, sucking in at the side of your cheek as you watch her put the moves on an adorably awkward Frankie. 

“You sure seem to act like you know her, you won’t stop staring.” She teases before she’s distracted by one of your girlfriends spilling off her barstool. 

All you can see is the way she blocks your view of Frankie, doing all the typical flirtatious moves you can get away with when you’re hot. Twisting her hair around her finger, smiling at Frankie like he was the funniest guy in the world, leaning into his front. She had a gorgeous body, tight waist, glowing smile, and a huge fucking rack she purposely accentuated when she threw her head back in laughter. 

First off, you hate the way she looks at him like he’s already hers. Second, when did Frankie become so goddamn funny?

You huff out a sigh and throw back another tequila shot as soon as it’s delivered. 

Jealousy wasn’t your thing. Frankie just knew how to pinch your fucking nerve. It’s so fresh still, you know? Now here he was, talking to another girl. Part of you feels like you deserve it. You cut him loose, there were no more strings that tied you two together. So why did you feel like this? Angry, annoyed, sad. Jealous. 

Fuck that. 

“Another tequila?” The bartender perks up upon seeing you nudge your way to the front of the bar’s counter. 

You give him a tight nod and a blank mhm leaving your mouth, leaning over the counter as you wait. 

His cologne shatters your thoughts. “Hey.” 

You look up to see Frankie has turned away from his girl, eyeing you over. You couldn’t deny how good you looked tonight, taking advantage of your one night off to wear something that accentuated your figure. 

And it was catching more eyes than Frankie’s. The woman beside him glares at you as if you took her favorite toy on the playground, as if she had dibs. 

You hate to admit that your eyes drift as well, a certain sexually charged energy between you both. His classic khaki jacket and ballcap accompanied by a dark wash pair of jeans. His stupid hands are stuffed in his stupid pockets, and his stupid chocolate curls curve up toward the brim of his hat. 

Frankie’s eyes fell to your sweet neck, then to the curves of your body, your mouth going dry at the way he was drinking you up. 

“Hey,” you muster up, giving him a tight-lipped grin as you nod as a greeting. 

You want him. He looks so fucking good tonight. But he already had a date going, you didn’t need to interrupt. You nip at your lower lip and force yourself to stare elsewhere. 

“Rum and coke, please, Frankie,” The woman coos, an attempt to stray Frankie’s attention from you. She’s obviously seen the way he looks at you, both of you practically eye fucking each other right in front of her. You kind of got a kick out of getting under her skin, though. 

“Hi,” you say as you reach your hand past Frankie, offering the woman a handshake and your name. “I work with Frankie.” 

She gives you a snotty little hmph, nodding tightly instead of shaking your hand. 

“I’ll meet you at the table with my drink.” She insists to Frankie, leaving the two of you on your own, but not without a squeeze to his broad arm and a certain look in your direction. 

“Wow,” you fake applaud, “she’s a real keeper, Frankie. No, really, I mean it. Didn’t know you had a thing for girls with tits bigger than their face.” 

“I just met her ten minutes ago,” Frankie mutters as he’s served his beer and the girl’s rum and coke, as well as your tequila shot being delivered. 

You try not to roll your eyes too obviously. “Well, she’s certainly all over you.” 

“What do you care?” He counters, finally facing you again, his eyes still lingering on your body for longer than you know he should. “You came up here to us, princess. If there’s something you wanna say, say it.”

A larger group comes in through the front door and pushes through to the bar, a light gasp leaving you as you’re shoved into Frankie, your fronts aligning. You feel his toned torso and smell his fresh cologne as his hand instinctually clutches your waist to keep you upright. 

Both of you take one another in again, not being able to fight the tension between you both that could be cut with a knife. 

The last time you were this close was Halloween. The last time he touched you was Halloween. Now, he was touching you again, and god, all you wanted was for him to flip his hat around, duck down, and kiss you. Kiss you hard, make up for all the time you had lost. 

Have you ever missed someone so much you feel physically sick? You had no idea how much your little talks in the kitchen meant to you until you forced Frankie to let you go. You had the overwhelming urge to run away, like he was too close, he would learn everything about you, and he’d leave after finding out you’re just a broken plate that can’t be glued together. 

You were unfixable. And Frankie was a fixer, down to his bones, and in his heart, he would try to mend you back together, only to be disappointed after many failed attempts. You wouldn’t put him through that, and more importantly, you didn’t want anyone to try. It would just hurt you more.

But you looked at each other a little too long to be just friends. 

If there’s something you wanna say, say it. 

I can’t. 

Frankie’s eyes sink as you throw back the shot, feeling the liquid burn your throat and then your chest again. This is what you’d rather feel than hurt. 

“Well,” you say, a bit raspy from the fresh alcohol. You gently push your hand into Frankie’s abdomen in an attempt to squeeze out from between him and a random drunkard, nails sinking into his toned torso. “Have a good rest of your night. See you at Tommy’s.” 

Your shoulders swivel back and forth as you carve through the bar to the rest of your friends, toppling over people to get back to your seat as you sigh defeatedly. God, why are you torturing me?

It’s an hour later, followed by two tall water glasses. Your friends have ordered some appetizers off the menu to soak up the alcohol. And because you were all damn hungry. Your eyes stray to Frankie’s table every few minutes. 

You couldn’t help it, you were overthinking. Was he looking at you when you looked away? Was he not looking at all, too into Miss Red? The more you thought, the more your chest felt like it wanted to give way. But you weren’t prepared for what you saw the next moment you looked up. 

Big Red decided to make her move, her long fingernail catching Frankie’s chin and swiftly guiding him to face her as she leaned in and kissed him. 

She kissed him, your Frankie, she kissed him. Put her pink lipstick on his mouth and marked him as her own. 

Goosebumps flood over your skin, eyes sinking as you watched helplessly from across the room.  Suddenly, it was all too much. The loud talking, the buzzing of people, the alcohol, her and him, it was all too much. 

Your feet find the floor before you can stop yourself, you feel like you might shed a tear in your race to the bathroom. You tug on the handle, and it’s locked. 

“Occupied!” Some snotty girl whines. 

“Hurry the fuck up,” you shout amongst the crowd of people to ensure she can hear the urgency in your voice. Your throat feels thick with wetness. 

Finally, the door opens, and the woman looks you up and down in annoyance. You don’t care. You put a hand on her shoulder to guide her out of the doorway, trying to push yourself in and close the door. Not before a familiar pair of thunderous boot steps echo in your ears. 

You let out a grunt as you attempt to slam the door, but you see a hand curve around the frame. He speaks your name, it’s Frankie. Your stomach falls, and you quickly shake your head, feeling angry tears threaten to spill. 

“Fuck off,” you say behind gritted teeth, attempting to use your body to finish closing the door. But he’s a hell of a lot stronger than you. 

“Come on, princess, open up, just wanna talk.” He pushes himself in, tall figure looming over yours as you look away with annoyance. He flips the lock and presses his hand above the wall you’re leaning back on. “What’s wrong?” 

Anger surges through your voice, planting your hands on his chest as you attempt to shove him away again. You find yourself confused when your own hands curl in on his shirt and bring him closer. “I told you to fuck off, I’m fine.” 

“You don’t look fine.” He says as his hands attempt to cradle your face, but you shove them down. 

“Then stop looking,” You quickly shake your head, the heat of his hands making your stomach churn. 

Suddenly, you don’t want to cry, you want to shout. 

“I saw you kiss her!”

Frankie’s eyes met your glaring ones, your lips parting as you let out panted breaths.

“I didn’t kiss her,” he starts to say before you interject. 

“I saw you! Why are you lying to my face?” You accuse, feeling your body flush with warmth as your hands gently push at his pecs. “Get away from me.” You mutter, but Frankie always returns despite how many times you push him away. 

“I’m not goin’ anywhere until you listen to me, okay?” Frankie goes to cup your cheeks again, but the warning look on your face makes him groan in annoyance and drop his head before he comes back up to look at you. “She kissed me, I didn’t kiss her back, and-and I didn’t want her, okay? I want you, I want you, I want you, goddamit, I want you!” 

You quickly shake your head, feeling your hoop earrings gently hit your cheeks. “No.” You whisper, feeling small under his gaze. And he’s looking at you again like you put the sun in the sky. You absolutely hate it in some ways, but he looks at you with such clarity that it makes your heart flutter. Like he knows his place is with you. 

“No, what?” He challenges. You find yourself fisting at his shirt, both in comfort and also a way to keep him at a distance. 

“No, you don’t want me, Frankie,” Your face is pinched in anger, eyes searching for his intentions. You watch as his face sinks at your words, hurt by what you’ve said. 

“How can you fuckin’ say that? How can you say I don’t want you? You don’t get to decide that for me, alright?” His voice is stern, eyes narrowed in on yours as he fills the space between you two, no matter if you take a step back, he’s right there on your toes. “I like you.”

“You don’t know me, not really,” You say.

“I want to, though. I’m scared as hell to want you, but here I am, telling you I want you anyway because that’s how much I care. I want you more than I fear the rejection on Halloween happening all over again.” 

All you can do is shake your head, feeling the mixture of angry sad tears start to melt at your eyes again. You hurt him so badly on Halloween, yet he was still here trying to say how much you mean to him. 

“Frankie,” your lower lip wobbles, straying eye contact. 

“No, listen to me, I’ve got more to say,” he says as he cradles your face once more, and this time, you don’t push him away. His beautiful brown eyes pour into your own, and you feel so drunk that he’s kissing your soul with his eyes. 

“I haven’t even missed you,”

“Bullshit, I know you fuckin’ miss me because I miss you.” He sees through all your lies, you feel transparent as he holds you close, backing you up against the sink as he strokes a thumb along your cheekbone. 

“No,” you start to say, shaking your head as tears cloud your vision. 

“No, no, no,” he mocks, “Is that all you can say?”

You despise how much your throat feels swollen, and your words sound thick with wanting to cry. “I just wanted you to fuck me, but then I got greedy, and I wanted you to love me, too. But that would be a waste of your time, Frankie, you need to listen to me.”

The admission felt like a dam breaking inside of you, and Frankie only pulls you closer. Suddenly, the buzz of everyone else outside the bar died down, and all you could think or hear was Frankie. 

“Loving someone is never a waste,” Frankie whispers. 

You playfully scoff and wipe under your eyes around his hand. “You don’t love me.”

“No, not yet. But I could. I know I could. Because this past month has been hell without talking to you. I don’t wanna walk around the diner, pretending like you don’t exist or that you don’t do something to me. You do everything to me, you are everything.” 

Frankie starts swiping away the tears you didn’t even know were falling, taking them away with the pads of his thumbs. 

“I think of you at two in the morning when I can’t sleep, you’re always the first place my mind runs to. You stayed over once, once, and my body just fuckin’ craves the way I got to hold you. It was addictive, how it felt to finally be close to you, when you finally let me in.” 

You force yourself to close your eyes and try to breathe, his words feeling like the powers a hurricane carries. Your shaky fists are still clutching his shirt at his sides, not willing to let him go after his confession. 

After you gather a few breaths, you meet his eyes. “Frankie, once you care, you’re fucked.” It’s a warning.

Now, he’s the one shaking his head. “I don’t believe that for a minute. I’ve cared for you ever since I started working at Tommy’s, and even more when you kissed me at the Christmas party last year.”

You playfully scoff and break a smile. “We were both drunk.” 

Frankie shrugs. “Yeah, and I wished I was sober so I could remember every bit of how good it felt. Now we’re almost a year later. It took me from December to August to make another real move on you, and I don’t want to let you go. Not after having the real thing. This feeling doesn’t just go away. I miss you.” 

You nip at your lower lip, goosebumps flying across your skin away. 

“I just don’t want to get hurt,” you whimper, your forehead gently leaning into the support of his large palms. Your glassy eyes make him melt. 

He hushes you gently, your voices growing softer the closer he comes to you. Your noses gently brush, making your wet eyelashes flutter. Frankie sighs before he speaks. “If you promise to stay, I’ll promise not to leave.” 

Frankie’s care for you was evident. You knew pushing him away was wrong, trying to save yourself only wounded you both. But what a waste it would be not to try with someone who was as good-hearted as Frankie. 

The douchebag you once knew was long gone. In fact, it feels like he started to drift away after last December. Because he had made up his mind a year ago that he wanted to be with you, and he would change for the better to make it happen. He’s been showing you all this time what you mean to him, that he wouldn’t hurt you. 

You must have left him hanging for too long because he parts his lips to speak your name. 

“Stop talking,” you whisper as you lean up and crash your lips against his. No more words needed to be said. 

You can feel Frankie’s cheeks perk up from his smile, both of your mouths upturned, happy to be in one another’s arms again. Being apart felt like a drought, and he was finally touching you. And both of you were fucking starved.

Frankie’s once soft movements turn greedy. As do yours. Hands are gliding over waists, teeth are tugging lips, and your core physically buzzes as Frankie flips his hat to face backward without breaking your kiss. Jesus Christ. His tongue glides against your bottom lip and you easily part your lips to grant the access he so desperately craves. 

“Lemme make it up to you,” Frankie mutters against your mouth, tasting remnants of his ale and he, your citrussy-lime tongue. 

“Please,” you beg. 

He doesn’t waste another moment, nipping at your bottom lip and making you mewl while his large palms find the back of your thighs. His strength makes lifting you look easy, gasping into his mouth as he sets you on top of the sink while his hands fasten on your waist once more. 

You push his hand towards the button of your jeans and he pops it open with one hand. 

“Fuck,” you moan out, jaw dropped as his hand pushes past the band of your panties, large fingers gliding down through your slick, then back up your valley. A breath catches in your throat, your back archiving off the mirror as Frankie takes the opportunity to bury his head into your chest, planting kisses along your breasts over your shirt. He eventually moves his lips up your body, across your sweet neck, to where he nibbles on your jawline. 

Your jaw drops against his cheek, your faces smooshed together as you feel his familiar stubble scrape against your soft skin. It’s like there’s a non-stopping rollercoaster in your mind, with his fingers moving up and down your soaking pussy, you can’t fucking think. 

A weak cry leaves your lips against the shell of his ear as he plunges two fingers into your entrance. You brace an arm around his shoulder and pull him into you, ensuring he keeps his damn fingers stay buried in your cunt. 

“Please,” you whimper, grinding your hips with vigor against his hand, his wrist rolling with you. 

“That’s it baby,” his silken voice purrs with praise, “let go for me.” 

You become completely pliant under his touch, under the lead of his fingers. He was already filling you up, you couldn’t imagine being filled up by the girth of his cock after a month without it. 

With two fingers inside of you and his thumb working sweet circles around your clit, you feel as if you might explode. He walks a line between kissing and sucking on your neck, the surface of your skin becoming clammy and raw. 

There’s a sense of safety in his arms, his tense bicep that’s hardened from the one that’s working up into you.

You barely acknowledge the knock on the door, forcing yourself to bite down onto Frankie’s shoulder and his jacket flap to keep yourself from spilling out loose moans. Loud music and even louder chanter is muffled by the door. 

“Fuck, fuck, Frankie-” you moan, mouth stuffed and jumbling your words. 

Frankie clamps his free hand over your mouth, guiding your head to rest back against the mirror once more, your hot pants fanning against his palm. 

“So fuckin’ loud, don’t remember you bein’ this loud for me.” He says with a wide cocky smirk. You will yourself to roll your eyes, but they end up staying at the back of your head as you continue to fuck yourself against his fingers. 

He curls them inside of you, your back arching as you feel your stomach swirl with excitement. Your small hands clench at his jacket, gasping shakily as your high nears closer. 

Your muffled moans stay concealed by Frankie’s hand clamped over you, letting your weak moans and cries land into his palm. It felt so good, the way your clit twitches under his control and his fingers work effortlessly to plunge deeper and deeper into your depths. 

There’s another incessant knock at the door. Fuck, there was no way to be quiet. 

Frankie smirks wider as your walls clench around his fingers, one long moan of his name landing muffled against his fingers as his eyes fixate on your own, spilling your orgasm across his fingers. 

“Good girl, just needed to get off, didn’t you?” He belittles.

You sigh weakly against his hand, hearing still fuzzy from feeling so over the moon. A slow, tired smirk grazes your lips as you playfully push his face away. 

“Such a douchebag.” You mutter, nipping at your lower lip while Frankie gently removes his fingers from your entrance. You feel empty, you hate it. 

Frankie raises his two fingers to your lips, your eyes studying the pretty cream he’s gathered amongst the mix of your slick. 

“Taste yourself, baby.” Such a fucking charmer. You can’t help the heat that gathers at the back of your neck, shyly leaning in and wrapping your lips around the tips of his fingers. You lock your eyes with his own as you flatten your tongue and hollow your cheeks, sinking your mouth lower and taking him to the knuckle. 

Your heart pounds thinking about his cock angrily twitching against his thigh, desperate for his own release. But he’s always put you first. And you always make his loyalty to you worth his while. 

Frankie’s cocky face slowly melts as you swallow around his fingers, lips parting as he looks over you in a sense of pride. 

Another damn knock on the door. More like an incessant pounding.

He forces himself to release his fingers from your mouth.

“What?” Frankie protectively barked, voice laced with annoyance. 

“Fish?” A voice called from the other side. One of his friends. 

He looks at you apologetically, grabbing you by your hips and lowering you off the sink.  His hands are already on the hem of your jeans,  and securing the button while you zip the fly and hurry to make yourselves presentable. 

Frankie puts his hand on the knob, ready to flip the lock. He feels compelled to kiss you one more time. He spins on the spot and cups your cheeks, meshing your lips together and pulling your chin up to face him. He savors it, lets his tongue tangle with yours to get that last taste of come on your tastebuds. 

He forces himself to let you go, finally opening the door. 

“Santi? What, man?” He asks in annoyance, seeing his friend on the other side. 

“Sorry, sorry,” he pauses to look past Frankie, to you, a sly little smirk on his lips after he’s put two and two together. “Listen, uh, Benny’s been arrested.”

Frankie shares a look of confusion with you. Frankie and Santi both stand there a little dumbfounded, unsure of what to do. 

“Well, come on, he can’t stay there all night. Let’s go.” You urge. It’s enough to snap the two out of their surprised trance. Frankie takes your hand and leads you towards the bar’s exit, pushing people aside with his arms and broad shoulders so no drunk asshole knocks you around in the crowd. 

You’re surprised to see his friend, who you’ve gathered is Santi, doing the same. It felt like you had two incredibly handsome escorts. Or maybe a better term would be guard dogs, pretty and sleek Dobermans. 

After saying goodnight to your friends and grabbing your purse, Santi catches up you both while Frankie drives his truck. 

“This drunk guy came up and started hitting on this girl he knows from.. somewhere.. I don’t know, but then he started getting all belligerent when she rejected him, and Benny stepped in. They started knocking each other around, it was so fuckin’ crowded in there, and I didn’t know where you went. Surprised you guys didn’t hear all the commotion.” 

You weren’t surprised you missed the whole fiasco. Frankie had you coming so hard that you saw Jesus Christ himself. 

“So, what?” Frankie prodded, annoyance laced in his voice as he drove over the bumpy road, glancing in his rearview mirror every few moments to see you. “The police got called and they both got arrested?”

Santi makes an affirmative humming noise, looking out the window as they pull up to the town’s police department. 

“Fuck,” Santi swears as he hops out the back of the truck. “I haven’t done this in a few years. Don’t remember how it goes.” 

You jump in before you can stop yourself. “We need to go in, ask for his name, and figure out what he’s being charged with. We pay his bail, he completes his release paperwork, and as long as he didn’t bad mouth any cops in there, we should be in and out, bada-bing-bada-boom.” You say as you clap-wipe your hands in demonstration of how painless this process should be. But Frankie and Santi still look starstruck. 

“Don’t ask. Let’s go.” You say as you hop out of the truck, the two men following suit. 

You imagined their friend Benny to be this mean, big, bad guy. But you guys didn’t see the way this man smiled upon seeing his friends come to pick him up. He was the definition of a Golden Retriever if we’re still speaking in dog lingo. 

Tussled dark blonde hair, big blue eyes, and a smile that would make any person melt. He just wasn’t what you were expecting when you heard that one of Frankie’s drunk asshole friends was arrested. Maybe you expected another stoner-type who didn’t give a fuck. You were wrong. 

“Arrested for defending a woman’s honor,” Benny scoffs as he digs his possessions out of a large envelope. You eye the way he delicately places his watch back on his wrist before bumming a cigarette from Frankie. The glow of the lighter illuminates his face a mute orange before the end of his cigarette caught blaze. Then you were all surrounded by the blue of a midnight sky again.

“What, like you wouldn’t do it again?” Santi teases, stuffing his hands in his pockets as the cigarette slowly made its way down the line to Frankie. 

“Fuck that, I’d do it again tomorrow if I had to.” He chirps with a laugh. “Fish, you should have heard the way this guy was badmouthing this woman, I mean, the most vulgar shit that came out of his mouth just because she wouldn’t let him buy her a drink.”

“M’glad I wasn’t there. There would have been two guys arrested tonight.” Frankie mutters, the cigarette passing from him to you. 

“Wouldn’t believe how often that shit happens.” You mutter before you take a drag. Benny leans forward to take a look at you, maybe just now realizing you were even here. 

“Yeah?” He probes for more as you slowly nod, tipping the ash off the end of the cigarette. 

“My friend was called a cunt last week after saying no to a guy wanting to sit next to her at the bar. He knew the seat was taken, our other friend just went to the bathroom. He purposely waited until she was alone to make a move.”

“No shit.” Santi hummed curiously. 

“Seriously. Called her a fat bitch, said he’d hope somethin’ really bad would happen to her. If I was there, I would have knocked his teeth in.” 

Benny slowly smiles, nodding proudly. “I have no doubt. Just wish you didn’t have to do that stuff in the first place.”

You sigh as you glance at Frankie, who’s looking at you with sympathetic eyes. But he knows you don’t really like it when he looks at you like that, so he quickly glances at his shoes. 

“Wait,” Benny whispers with a goofy grin. “Fish, is this the girl from the diner you always talk about?” 

Even in the dark of night, Frankie’s sweet glowy blush tints his face. Or maybe it was the alcohol, but he wouldn’t have driven if he was that out of it.

“Yeah, yeah, Benny, this is her.” 

“Oh shit, hi,” Bennys says as he stands in front of you and offers you his hand to shake. “I know this is kind of a bad start, gettin’ me out of jail and all, but I’m Benny Miller, nice to meet you in person. My guy here,” Benny pauses to playfully yank around Frankie’s shoulder, “he’s always tellin’ us stories about the diner. Can’t think of one you’re not mentioned or the star of the show.” 

The smile on your face can’t help but grow as you playfully eye Frankie who is being all too quiet. You hand Frankie the cigarette as a distraction, shaking Benny’s hand. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Benny. And trust me, I’ve met guys under worse circumstances. Like working with them at a diner.” 

“Oh, fuck off,” Frankie mutters playfully around the cigarette in his mouth. 

The whole group erupts into laughter, Benny and Santi both taking the opportunity to say their proper greetings and apologies for busting up your night with their friend. 

“I should probably get back to my brother.” Benny hums, motioning his head back to the bar’s general direction. “If he thinks I had to do another overnighter, I owe him twenty bucks.” He teases as you all start piling back into the truck. 

Frankie drops Santi and Benny back off at the bar, the entirety of the building shaking with applause and whistles to see that their noble heroes have returned. A very specific pretty blonde rushes up to Benny and thanks him with a kiss. 

“And he still gets the girl.” You hum, watching from the passenger side window. 

“He always does, that one.” Frankie teases, his hand coming over to rest on your upper thigh, thumb making gentle circles over your jeans. “Lemme take you home.” 

You swallow down a lump in your throat, gently resting your hand over Frankie’s. “Is home your apartment?” You ask, slowly raising a hopeful eyebrow as he nods. 

“Can be.” 

A nod to that, Frankie starts his truck down the road again. 

You need to tell him the truth, that this didn’t make you official. That you were still wary, trying to learn how to ride a bike again, sort of thing. 

“What?” He asks, knowing you’re thinking too loud in your head. 

You part your lips to speak but realize you shouldn’t feel bad about what you have to say. “I’m not ready for a full commitment. You’re not my boyfriend, Frankie, not yet. I just wanna take things slow. See if this is what we both really want.” 

The right side of Frankie’s mouth twitches up into a smile. “We’ll figure it out. If no label is what you want right now, I’ll wait.” 

You can feel your heart swell at his understanding. The last thing you wanted was for Frankie to start announcing to the world that you were dating. Not when you didn’t feel fully ready. You had bad relationship habits, ones you were ready to finally outgrow. But you didn’t want him to be subjected to your learning process. So you both could wait. 

Frankie’s hand rotates palm side up, fingers apart. You slip your hand over his, your fingers interlocking as he starts the familiar route back to his apartment. This would be a lot of work, and you both had to be patient. 

“Take things slow...” Frankie slowly murmurs. “Does this mean we can’t have sex?”

“No, fuck that.” You both laugh, squeezing his hand in your hold. 

here's my masterlist!

follow hellishfics and turn on notifications to see the next time I update!

[ssukidesu]

what friends do

Fandom: Fairy Tail

Pairing: Nalu

Rating: T

Nalu Week 2024 - ( @allaboutnalu @thenaluarchive )

Summary: Lucy gets a little too happy and does something (maybe not) regrettable.

Chapter 7: what friends don’t do (yearning)

Read on AO3

Read below the cut

She pulled the bread slices out of the oven and finished throwing together the salad—not that she thought he’d eat any of it.

He was busy setting her small dining table with silverware and napkins. A moment later, they were seated and digging in.

“That really was a good move,” he was saying between bites. “It woulda worked if you found a way to pin at least one of my arms. We can work on that next time.”

Lucy slathered some butter on a piece of bread. “Yeah,” she muttered mournfully. “I’ve been planning that one for a while. You kept getting me with those low sweeps—I wanted to try something that took advantage of that.”

“Not a bad strategy,” he hummed. “If you had your whip, you coulda used it. So at least in a real fight with a real bad guy, you could pull it off.”

Lucy pouted. “You can be a real bad guy when we spar.”

“What?” he cried. “I’m a perfect gentleman.”

“Really?” she drawled. “What about that time you—”

“That doesn’t count,” he said, narrowing his eyes.

They both were referring (or refusing to refer) to the time that Natsu had very indecently (and, he insisted, accidentally) groped her ass while trying to force her to release him from a quite complicated hold.

I didn’t know what I was grabbing! he’d sworn. You’d twisted us into a pretzel!

“Yeah, whatever,” she acquiesced. “Anyways… don’t you think I’m getting better?”

“Loads!” he said cheerfully, swallowing his last bite of fish before licking his fingers. “I don’t know if today counts as a real victory… but you’re getting stronger every time.”

Lucy rolled her eyes, but she appreciated his honesty. He was leaning back in his chair lazily, watching her finish her plate. She felt a little self-conscious—she was wearing her typical t-shirt and pajama shorts, but his eyes seemed to be roaming a little more than normal. At first she wondered if she’d gotten food on her shirt—but upon looking down, nothing seemed out of place.

She stood and gathered their empty plates. She brought them to the sink and turned on the hot water, figuring she’d go ahead and clean them. When the water was warm enough, she doused the sponge with soap and began to scrub.

Is he just gonna watch me do this? she thought after a minute. I wish he’d do something useful, like take out the garbage…

She heard him stand with a grunt, and his bare feet padded quietly on the hardwood as he approached to stand behind her. While she rinsed the plates, she inspected his hazy reflection in the window above the sink: he was looking down at her with drooping eyes and a lazy smile. When his hands came to brace themselves on the bar on either side of her, her attention went from his reflection to the veins on his forearms, the calluses on his fingertips. His breath surprised her when it brushed her ear—but what surprised her more was when he continued to angle his head until his mouth hovered above her cheekbone. His lips brushed her skin lightly, as if testing for something, and then pressed firmly there.

“For the food,” he muttered.

When he didn’t release her from the trap of his arms, she slowly turned her head to meet his eyes from over her shoulder. His were piercing, watchful. His face was slightly red, but not anxiously so.

She swallowed. “I was happy to do it.”

His eyes flicked downward. “Yeah?”

Wrong thing to say, she thought in half panic. But upon second thought, she realized it might have actually been the perfect thing to say. She thought she’d say something else.

“Movie?” she asked, her voice cracking just enough to make her blush even harder.

His lips perked into an easy grin. “Sure.”

She cleared her throat. He released her.

As she changed into pajamas, she willed her heart to slow down and utterly failed. When she returned to the living room, she saw he had found a bag of popcorn and was pouring some into a large bowl. He never used the microwave; he was too impatient, and his magic was perfect for the job.

They settled on the couch, and he handed her the remote. “You pick,” he said, draping his arm over the couch back. She had her legs flung over his; it was a nice way to stay close without being so close that she couldn’t think.

“Really? Anything I want?” she teased, leaning forward to grab a handful of popcorn, which was wedged between his calves.

He curled his lip. “Nothing mushy.”

She giggled. “Thought so.”

Lucy shuffled through the different options that were available and settled on an action flick she’d seen once before. There was a romantic subplot, but she figured there were enough explosions to make up for it.

Thirty seconds in, they both sat up to grab more popcorn, meeting in the middle. Though they had both filled their hands, neither reclined again, favoring instead to remain near over the bowl.

Lucy watched him shove the entire bundle into his mouth in one go. As he licked his buttery fingers, she felt her stomach flip in recollection of his lips on her face mere minutes ago.

She brought a piece of popcorn to her mouth and placed it on her tongue behind her teeth. “Thanks for letting me pick,” she tested.

He fished out another handful, smirking sourly. “You did make dinner, after all.”

Her fingers twitched in her lap as she watched him stare at her absently. “Still…” she said.

She pushed herself up on her knees. Her hand sought balance on his shoulder. He stopped chewing. She moved quick, too afraid to linger in her uncertainty, and pecked him on his cheekbone—right where he had kissed her. The sound it made was sweet, and pronounced. She returned right away to her previous reclined position and filled her mouth with the rest of the popcorn in her hand. Her cheeks flushed, and she turned her head back to the screen.

The movie trudged on. Lucy forced herself to focus on it, no matter how often she felt his gaze burning into the side of her face through the dark room. As his thoughtful silence persisted, she wondered if she had pushed it too far—if he was weirded out by her arbitrary reason for the affection.

She also knew he could definitely hear her heart racing. She wouldn’t be able to play pretend much longer.

But it seemed he was playing the same game. She was visibly red, but during a quieter part of the movie, he surprised her with a question.

“You cold?”

Lucy turned her head toward him, grateful for an excuse to inspect him outright for the first time in a half hour. “Huh?”

“Your feet are cold,” he observed, pushing his toes into the sole of her foot. His gaze was nonchalant.

“Oh. Uh… maybe a little,” she answered, a complete lie.

He sat up from his position leaning against the arm rest. He grabbed the blanket that was draped over the back of the couch and loosened it out of its fold. “Sit up,” he said.

She obeyed, eyes glued to his unreadable face.

Leaning forward to meet her, he flung the blanket around her back and secured it around her frame. She thought that’d be the end of it, but he scooted closer still, his hot fingers collecting her hair from her neck and freeing it from the confines.

He was close enough for her to smell the salt on his breath. “Better?” he breathed.

She nodded, dumbfounded and staring. He didn’t look away. After a moment, Lucy wondered what he was waiting for—that is, until he made a soft noise that was eerily close to a whine, angled his jaw toward her, and nodded his chin in a subtle expectant gesture while flicking his eyes to her mouth.

If her heart was pounding before, it was outright thundering now.

Her throat made a noise upon her sucking in a breath that sounded a lot like a gasp. She knew he heard it, but he still didn’t move. His fingers had left the blanket at some point and were resting lazily against her ankle, which was between them. Slowly, she leaned her face forward toward his, which he did a poor job keeping angled properly. When she was close enough, she had to turn her own head rather sharply to reach around to his cheek. When she made contact with it, she heard him exhale, and his eyes fluttered closed. She lingered for a beat, her nose brushing the skin she had just kissed before she slowly pulled away. He turned his head as she retreated, the breath from his lips ghosting over hers until she was too far for him to follow.

His fingers stayed on her ankle, pressing more firmly now. She didn’t recline fully back, but she did separate enough to regain her own air. The movie kept playing; a car crashed into the side of a brick building, flames breaking out on the screen. The room was dyed red by the television. Their skin flickered as they kept staring. Natsu’s jaw was clenched; hers was slacked.

He spoke again, and she almost didn’t hear over the loud sounds of the film. “Can I have some of your water?”

It took a second for his words to fully hit her, but once they did, she nodded rapidly, angling her body to turn and grab the half-full glass on the end table. He placed the bowl of popcorn on the ground, since all that was left were kernels. She resteadied herself on the cushion and handed it to him with both hands, worried her fingers would tremble.

“Thanks,” he mumbled, securing the glass from her.

She watched his throat bob up and down as he drank, and her throat ran dry. When he finished swallowing and returned it to her, she stole a couple of sips herself, emptying it. She placed it on the floor, not wanting to stretch far from him again, though she couldn’t bring herself to lift her attention from the ground.

He tapped his pointer finger twice on her ankle. He wanted her attention.

Slowly, she lifted her face up again, but she kept her eyes lowered. They were already sitting closer now than they were before, so he didn’t need to lean forward much to reach her. He brought his right hand to brush beneath her chin, tilting her up an inch. She couldn’t meet his eyes now—he was too close for that. His lips were warm on her cheek, and he placed them an inch closer. Closer to where friends would never kiss each other.

He barely pulled back. “Lucy…” he began, and his breath was on her cheek as he spoke. “Tell me... What am I supposed to do if everything you do makes me happy?”

Her heart was in her throat. They were so close now; they were breathing into each other’s necks. Her hands clung to his shirt, holding him there. “You’re exaggerating,” she whispered, clutching for a tone that was somewhat familiar while simultaneously longing for something new. “No way I make you happy all the time.”

His lips were on her ear now, dragging, not kissing. “What do I do?” he asked again.

Lucy kissed the scar on his neck. It was right there—she couldn’t help herself. “Whatever you want, Natsu,” was her faint answer.

He pulled back to look down at her, brows furrowed and lips parted. The television cast him in flickering rays of reds and blues and yellows. His right hand came to her neck, thumb tracing down her throat, then back up again. He brought his lips again to her, a mere inch from her mouth, and kissed her softly. He didn’t pull away. Her eyelids were permanently drooping now, gaze fixed low. She felt her head turning, and she wasn’t sure if she turned it herself or if his hand on her neck had done it.

Another kiss, a centimeter away now. She thought this was getting rather frustrating. “Natsu?” she urged, tilting the final bit to mingle their breaths.

It was timid, tantalizing—the way he brushed his lips over hers without actually kissing her. It was like he was mapping her out before landing. A stupid thing, in her view, and very unlike him. She wished he would barrel right in, just like he did with everything else. But she let him explore. Let the air electrify. And when he finally pressed against her mouth firmly, she whimpered.

His hands were on her face. This was a long, firm kiss. They both inhaled each other like a drug. When this kiss ended with a sweet sound that churned her gut, she was worried he’d pull away—but he didn’t. His mouth came back, lips rough but pliant, stealing every attempt of breath from her mouth. She had no idea kissing would be equally centered around teeth and tongues, alternating between avoiding and seeking them out.

After a minute, he realized all at once that his hands could do other things, too. He released her face and gathered her to his chest, yanking and tugging her close first by her clothes and then by the waist beneath them. He wasn’t content until she was in his lap, her legs wrapped around his hips and his arms secured around her back.

His mouth was steaming hot. Tongue even hotter. It almost burned her own, and she sucked in a relieving breath when he pulled away to lap at her neck, which he could reach easily at this position. Her fingers were in his hair, on his shoulders, at his lower back, clawing the bottom of his shirt until it rolled up and exposed his skin.

Then, she was under him.

He propped his weight on his elbows by her head, her blond locks tangling in his fingers above. She bit his lip, and he found himself wanting to pull her hair, just a little, just to make her gasp. He tucked his hand under the nape of her neck and clenched his fist. When her mouth opened, he dove in again, deeper than before. Their foreheads brushed, and he felt the sweat collecting there.

He tore his mouth away, panting. She was wrecked beneath him, face almost as red as her lips and expression wild and helpless.

“Too hot?” he grunted, quiet but half savage.

Lucy, also panting, nodded her head. She could hardly think words, much less say them.

He peeled his body off of hers and brought her to sit up. He grabbed the empty glass on the ground and tore himself from the couch to fill it up in the kitchen. Lucy instantly shivered by the drop in temperature from his absence. She watched him return with heavy strides. He knelt in front of her on the ground and brought the glass to her lips. She drank until it was empty. As soon as the cup was removed from her lips, his mouth was back on hers for one, two, three firm kisses. But he wouldn’t suffocate her again, no matter the fact that she’d absolutely let him if he tried.

“Natsu?” Lucy squeaked. “I should tell you…”

His gaze was fixed on hers, his breath held. “What?” he urged.

“I lied to you before. About friends kissing each other on the cheek when they were happy.”

She could see his pulse beating through the vein on his neck. Her words made him nervous, she saw, so she chased him for another kiss, placing her arms over his shoulders. He swallowed it whole.

She continued against his lips, “It’s kinda… for people who are more than friends.”

His eyes flicked from her mouth to her brown irises. “We’re more than friends,” he said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

And after the thrill of his words settled into her heart, Lucy laughed. Hard.

“What is it?” he inquired anxiously.

Her forehead rested against his. “Nothing. Just kiss me again,” she said, smiling.

And he did.

[lovesickbtch]

Protected

Pairing : Aged up!Aonung x Omaticaya f!reader Sully

Summary : You and Aonung alone collecting fish.

Dom!Aonung /Sub!reader

Warnings : NSFW. Fingering, Squirming, thigh riding, creampie, p in v, kissing, swearing, Degration, Praise.

Notes : This is legit the first fic I've ever written in my life bc I'm lazy asf. Reader is 19, Aonung is 20.

Settling into your new home was difficult. The whole environment was nothing like your old home. The fresh smell of vines and trees was replaced by the salty air. You had to learn to adapt, sometimes it'd feel like a dream you hope to wake from.

A few months of living there and you enjoyed living there. You and Aonung become pretty close and start to get used to flirting with each other.

One time, you and Aonung were sent to collect fish for a special dinner for your family to become closer to Aonung's.

You walked across the rocky path scattered across the beach.

"Aonungggg, I'm tired can we please go back" "Come then let's take a break"

We were far away from the village and you felt like your legs were about to give out. You both sat in a shaded place under a tree.

"That fish would last us a week, we don't even need that much" I insisted.

"Well swimming takes a lot of energy so it takes a lot of food as well"

The conversation continued on and I felt a hand slowly making its way along my thigh. Aonung drew patterns around it and he stared into my eyes with the same sneaky smirk on his face.

I wanted to say something but I ended up almost falling asleep by his touches not realising just how high up his fingers were tracing up my thigh.

I instinctively closed my thighs up together and his gaze shifted from my eyes downward and gripped slightly onto my thigh.

"A-Aonung.."

I wanted to say something but I didn't even know what to say. It almost came out as a moan.

"Aww you pretty baby tell me, what do you want" He slightly smirked knowing where this would go.

"Y-you Aonung, please touch me"

He hummed then moved over you with his knee against your clit.

You moaned from the unexpected friction.

"Move" Aonung demanded

You found yourself rubbing against him, with tears welled up in your eyes.

"So cute seeing you like this"he said kissing you passionately.

"Pathetically grinding yourself on me"

He moved his knee and removed your clothes making you whine as the cold air hits your glistening cunt.

"S-shit"

He slowly inserts a finger, making you moan loudly. He stuffs in another twisting and curling his fingers making you cry.

You release all over him, your pretty white juice spread on his fingers.

He licks his fingers taking out his dick.

Slowly pushing it in, inch by inch.

You whine in discomfort so he starts to make out with you, one hand playing with your tits.

"mmpphh- fuck so wet for me" He moans

He starts thrusting at a steady speed then slowly picks up the pace.

Wet slaps coming from you and Aonung.

"Aonung 'm gonna c-cum"

"Alright baby" He swipes at your clit quickly making you squirt on his stomach, the fluid running down your thighs.

He releases after you, filling you full of himself. He sees your legs cutely shaking after the intense orgasm and he smiles kissing your forehead <3

=====================

Halfway rushed this shit bc I'm tired and I know I will forget tmrw

I take requests but just know that I am a slow writer.

[would-this-pokemon-be-a-friend]

What about a Slowpoke? Would be a good pet? I love them so much 🥺

Good news! A slowpoke would indeed be a good, if sluggish, pet!

Slowpokes are pretty heavy, and larger than you’d think a nearly four feet long! This certainly may be too large for some owners, but considering that they aren’t very active pokémon, you won’t need a lot of space.

In fact, slowpokes only have one real habitat need: water. Wild slowpokes live on the shores of bodies of water, using their tails to fish for prey (Gold, Ruby/Sapphire). While they are skilled fishers (Diamond/Pearl/Platinum), they often forget what they’re doing (Ruby/Sapphire) and won’t register that they’ve caught something quickly, sometimes not noticing for a whole day (Gold). Slowpokes aren’t all that bright (Sword), to put it nicely, so a pet slowpoke might not notice if the water you provide them with is something as small as a kiddie pool. It isn’t clear, however, if slowpokes will eat food that they don’t catch this way. I’d wager though, that like a lot of predators, they’d get used to it pretty quickly. If you’d like to release some live prey into your slowpoke’s pond, I’m sure they’d like that….maybe? They might not notice.

It should be clear by now that if you’re looking for an active, energetic pet, a slowpoke is absolutely not for you. They’re often content to do nothing but sit around all day, “without worrying about the time” (Yellow). They have a super slow reaction time, not even registering pain for over five seconds (Red/Blue), which may make playing with them a little boring. You probably won’t receive a lot of obvious affection from them, but that’s not what everyone is looking for in a pet!

Slowpokes can use some moves that can pack a punch, like Psychic, Surf, or Zen Headbutt, but I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Getting attacked by a slowpoke is pretty unlikely, especially if they see you as a source of food and comfort. Slowpokes are often picked on by other pokémon due to the sweet sap contained in their tails, which they use for fishing (Silver, Crystal). As evidence that these pokémon are slow to jump into a fight, their tails can painlessly detach to avoid trouble and be regrown like a real-world lizard’s (Sun). If someone picks on a slowpoke, trying to eat their tail, they would rather lose and regrow it than fight. Slowpokes aren’t very much of a threat.

If you are interested in a pet with excellent ease-of-care and a chill, lazy disposition, a slowpoke will be just right for you! I know I could hardly say no to those charming, dopey faces!

[buckychristwrites]

When The Rain Gathers | Chapter Three | j.t.

↳  Pairing: Jamie Tartt x f!reader

↳ Word Count: 4.2k

↳  Summary: Pain hits like a downpour, but when a heartbreak from your past is what greets you at your new job at Nelson Road Stadium, it's more like a catastrophic tsunami.

↳  Warnings: Enemies to lovers, Discussion of parental abuse, fluff and angst.

Series Masterlist | Masterlist | Main Blog

It had been the longest first week of your life.

For the most part, you shadowed Sharon to get a feel for how things were done around Nelson Road Stadium. It was mostly self explanatory, as it was all things you had already done before. There was only one session you had missed with her in the whole week.

Friday evening was more than welcomed when it finally came. You sighed happily when the clock read that it was time to leave. Come Monday morning, you would be released to start seeing the players, and anxious just didn’t seem to describe how you felt. All you wanted to do at this moment was pick up Ivy, go home, order pizza and curl up on the couch. 

A knock at the door pulled you from your daydream.

“Hiya!” Keeley called, her voice bubbly as the door creaked open. You smiled at her, surprised.

“Come in,” You urged, taking a seat once more as she walked over.

“How are things going?” She asked with a genuine look. “Settling in alright?” After a brief moment of mulling her question over, you shrug.

“About as well as to be expected,” You said, surprising yourself with your honesty. She gave you a small, soft smile. 

“Adjusting to a new job can be hard, I know,” She said. “When I had just started my firm, I felt like a fish out of water, you know?” I nod my head understandingly.

“Add in the fact that I haven’t lived in England for over six years,  I’ve never ever lived in London, and I’m navigating this new place with a toddler, and you may as well call me a martian.” Keeley snorted, her head falling onto her shoulder. Her amused look faded into one of empathy. 

“Rebecca and I were wonderin’ if you’d like to join us for dinner at Ola’s tonight. Sam’s restaurant.” 

My eyebrows raise. “Sam has a restaurant?”

She nodded excitedly before explaining, “It has Nigerian food. It’s wonderful. And the whole team will be there!” 

Your smile faltered, and Keely was quick to pick up on it. “Don’t worry! They’re loads of fun, once you get to know them.” 

As if getting to know the team as a whole was the problem, and not the one player you knew the most. 

“I don’t know…” You said, your eyes jumping around the room in an effort to avoid looking at her anymore. “I don’t have a babysitter for Ivy-“

“Bring her!” She exclaimed. “We’d love to meet her!” She gave you another lingering look. “Rebecca and I just want to welcome you to the Richmond family.” 

Your eyes meet hers this time. It was quite clear that Keeley was one of those people that simply does not take no for an answer. But there was no question. The answer had to be no. 

“Maybe next time?” You offer, heartbroken by the way Keeley’s smile faltered. “I just would rather have a babysitter for Ivy.” A long moment passed where Keeley just eyed you, and then she nodded understandingly.

“I’ll hold you to that next time, you better believe.”

You laughed. “Of course.”

When leaving that night, your office locked up tight, you felt incredibly relieved. Every step that you took closer to the parking lot made you more and more excited to get home. The hallways had largely emptied out, but in the distance, you could hear the post-training commotion coming from the changing rooms. Despite your short tenure with the club, you found yourself loving the sound. There was something quite wholesome listening to it. The laughter was always echoing through the hallways, and hitting your heartstrings in all of the right ways. 

As you got closer to the changing room, you found yourself slowing down in an effort to listen. Through the window, you could see that the players were all dressed, and mostly just mucking about.

“Oi, Tartt,” Colin called. “Ain’t your date with Anastasia tonight?”

Though you couldn’t see Jamie, or hear a response from him, the response he got from the team told the story. The chorus of “Oooooooooo”’s followed by praises and laughter bounced off the walls.

Something about it made you feel nauseous.

“What date is this? Three?” Sam asked while throwing his bag over his shoulder. Jamie walked into view. 

“Four, actually,” Jamie corrected with a smug smile.

This only seemed to rile them up more, Isaac appearing to shake Jamie’s shoulders.  

“Have you… you know?” Dani asked.

Jamie pursed his lips. “I don’t kiss and tell, lads.”

“But you have no problem fucking and telling,” Isaac pointed out. Your eyebrows rose to your hairline. A small part of you was surprised by their vulgarity, until you remembered that they didn’t have a reason to censor themselves, especially since they didn’t know you were listening. You pretended that the idea of Jamie sleeping with someone else didn’t make your skin crawl. 

“Wait, wait, Jamie…” Sam asked, waving his hands out in front of him. “Does this mean you have not slept with her?” Jamie’s cheeks turned a deep shade of red. A tell that he was embarrassed. When he didn’t say anything, his teammates began to round on him.

“Tartt! You fuckin’ gentleman!”

“Lasso has gotten to him, lads. He made him a carin’ guy!”

“He’s gotta properly fluff a girl up now before his willy stands up.”

“Does this mean you love her and want to cherish her, Jamie Tartt?”

“Boys, boys,” Jamie said, lowering his hands to the floor slowly. “When there is somethin’ to tell…I’ll tell it.” 

You decided you’d heard enough, pulling your phone from your pocket as you began to walk down the hall once more. Your fingers were moving without the explicit permission of your brain, as if you were on autopilot. The next thing you knew, you were bringing the speaker to your ear. It’s unclear what part of the conversation made you change your mind, but one thing was obvious: You no longer wished to spend the night alone at home. 

“Hello?” The bubbly voice answered.

“Hey,” You said, your tone nervous. “I’ve given it some thought and… is that invitation for dinner still open?”

Jamie stared at your receding back, your words stirring something in his chest. Dinner? You mean…a date? So soon after you’ve moved home? 

He shook his head. It didn’t concern him anymore. You were just another girl in his life now. What you did was of no concern to him.

Except it was a concern to him. He just couldn’t help it. Even after three years apart, he still felt so drawn to you, like you're the North and he’s a compass that can do nothing else but point to you. As unfair as it was, as much as you wanted him to fuck off and leave you alone, he couldn’t help it. The thoughts of you crept in when he least expected it. He wondered what your house looked like, and what you did in your free time now that you lived alone, and where you did your grocery shopping, and if you had found a new favourite takeout place. But most of all, he wondered if there was any part of you that would ever consider, even in the least bit, forgiving him. 

By the time he began to walk again, you had already disappeared out the door and into the car park. He was still staring down the hall when he came out of his thoughts. The boys came up from behind to follow you out, and Jamie plastered on the best smile he could muster as he did the same. He had a date, after all. What was there to be upset about?

The drive home seemed to go by quicker than normal due to Jamie’s preoccupied thoughts. Who was the dinner with? 

He fumbled with his keys while attempting to unlock his door. Was it with someone he knew?

Dropping his bag next to the front door, he made his way upstairs for a quick shave and to change. After all, he showered back at the stadium. Worse, was the dinner with one of his teammates?

The phone chimed, bringing him back to reality. Anastasia’s name crossed over his lock screen. Normally, this would bring him a shock of excitement. But now, at this moment, he felt nothing as he picked up his phone.

R u picking me up? x

Didn’t he already tell her that he would? He typed back a simple Yeah before turning back to his closet to dig out some shoes. When his phone chimed again, he huffed. Why am I getting so annoyed? He found himself asking. 

U better behave urself James Tartt! x

Real annoyance filled his chest. He couldn’t count how many times he told her not to call him by his full name. 

“I only ever behave myself,” He grumbled, dropping his phone back on the bed without responding.

“Alright, love, you ready to behave yourself at the restaurant?” 

“Yes!” Ivy shouted, jumping up and down. She was wearing the purple dress she had picked out, a white bow in her hair. You laughed before peaking back in the mirror and straightening out the dress that she had picked out for you. The smile faltered only slightly. Was this too much? It wasn’t formal, it felt more… clubby to you. But you knew how angry the tiny fashion critic would be if you tried to change. 

“Let’s go, Mummy!” Ivy shouted, tugging at the hem. 

“Alright, alright,” You sighed, shaking your head as you whipped her into the air before bringing her to your hip. A quick Google search had told you that the restaurant was just around the corner from you, and you were thankful to not need the pram. “Do you wanna walk or be carried?”

“Walk, please!” She shouted happily, bouncing up and down.

“Alright, but you better keep hold on Mummy’s hand or a car’ll turn you into an Ivy pancake.”

The surprise on her face made it impossible not to laugh. 

“NO pancake, Mummy!”

“The tiniest Ivy pancake!” You continued to tease as you slipped your shoes on. The toddler shrieked in dismay, still smiling and giggling at you. As you reached for the door, your other hand extended out for her. She didn’t hesitate before running up and smacking her tiny palm into yours. 

The cool evening air felt perfect when you stepped outside. Ivy proudly walked beside you, feeling like one of the grown ups. 

“Are you ready to meet the people Mummy works with?” You asked as the two of you stop at a crosswalk. 

“Yes!” A beat passed. “And eat!”

“Oh yes,” You agreed, nodding. “That’s more important, isn’t it?”

The light changed to Walk, and the two of you made your way across. The fact that Ivy wasn’t trying to run away from you made you feel a little easier about the evening ahead. Already, you could see the restaurant slowly coming into view. 

The anxiety filled your tummy, but the squeeze of your fingers from the toddler at your side made you feel slightly better. At least someone there was unconditionally on your side. 

The door opened and released an array of sounds, filling the quiet from the outside. The dining room was filled with footballers, who were laughing loudly as multiple conversations happened at once. In the middle of the room, the tables were all pushed together, the table set like a family style dinner. You looked down uneasily at Ivy, who only looked excited despite the amount of people around. At first, as you crossed the threshold into the restaurant, your arrival seemed to go unnoticed. But then, a flash of blonde bounded through the room. She shouted your name before throwing her arms around you. Just by her behaviour, it was clear she was already a few drinks deep.

Keeley kneeled down to the toddler’s level, who was suddenly holding onto your legs. “And this must be Miss Ivy?” She smiled warmly, her voice gentle. “I’m Keeley. It’s nice to meet you.” Ivy stared at Keeley with a curious glance, though her face was still largely hidden behind the hem of your dress. You pressed your palm to the back of her head, your thumb stroking her hair.

“Sorry, she’s so shy,” You explained, giving her a sheepish smile. Keeley shook her head as she stood up straight again. 

“‘S’alright,” She said with an unwavering smile. “I’m just glad you’re here. Come on!” She took your free hand and led you and Ivy to the other side of the table. When a high chair had been set up at the end, your heart skipped a beat. You lifted the toddler up and set her in the seat. She looked pleased, as she knew she was about to get food. As if he had a sixth sense of reading minds, Sam Obisanya appeared out of nowhere and set down a plate of chicken nuggets and fries in front of Ivy. And before you even had the chance to protest, you noticed the nuggets were already cut up. You look at Sam in wonder.

“You didn’t need to do all this,” You said to him, swallowing the lump in your throat. Behind the two of you was a buffet style table of food. Sam waved you off.

“As soon as Keeley told me you were bringing your daughter, I decided to do this.” His expression grew embarrassed. “I wanted to apologise for the team’s reaction the day you began. It was not fair for us to judge you so harshly, and so quickly.” Overhearing, Dani Rojas turned around, his smile warm and friendly.

“Yes, we owe you a sincere apology,” He added. When you turned, you found that Isaac had his arms out, gesturing towards the entire room.

“That’s what this is,” He told you. “Our Welcome-To-The-Team-Sorry-For-Being-Dicks dinner.” 

You shook your head, astonished. “This is so nice, I’m-”

An arm wrapped around your shoulders, and when you turned, it was Rebecca, with a deep smile.

“We’re so happy to have you here,” She said, bringing you in for a hug. When you looked over, Keeley was playing with Ivy as she ate her dinner, the toddler looking as though she was starting to get comfortable with your new friend. When your eyes find Rebecca again, you can feel them welling up with tears.

“I’m just going to run to the toilet real quick,” You said, desperately trying not to sound strained. She nodded understandingly before letting you go. As you make your way to the back, you have to refrain from rushing. You didn’t want to come off like something was wrong. The door swung shut behind you, and you pressed your back against it, taking deep breaths to calm down.

As the door shut behind him, Jamie looked around Ola’s with a wide smile. Anastasia was to his left, hugging her arms around her torso.

“James, why are we here?” She asked him without a single effort to hide her annoyance. Flinching, he gave her a look. 

“Me whole team’s here,” He said, as if it were obvious. When she stared at him with a hard look, he sighed in defeat. “We won’t stay long.” 

It only took one teammate to notice Jamie for the whole room to erupt into cheers and shouts. He smiled as he walked up to Moe, clapping his hand into his friend’s before pulling him into a hug. 

“Life of the party’s here now, ain’t he?” 

Moe, Zoreaux and Colin all shook their heads and laughed as they greeted their friend. Jamie saw them glancing at Anastasia as she followed him through the room. She didn’t speak to anyone, and it took him a moment to realise she was staring down at her phone. 

Shaking off his annoyance, Jamie spotted Keeley at the other end of the table. She had her back towards him, and it appeared like she was talking to someone, though he couldn’t tell who. A comfort fell over him as he approached. 

“Hey, darlin’,” He said, putting his hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him, first in surprise, and then in excitement. 

“You made it!” She exclaimed, giving him a hug. He closed his eyes at the contact. After the week he had, and the date he was already predicting he was about to have, he needed a hug. When she pulled away, she nodded to the side. “Look who’s been keeping me company?”

He followed her gaze to the toddler in the high chair that he somehow missed upon approach. His face softened as he looked her up and down. She had deep brown curls and familiar looking eyes. He lowered himself down to her level, her round blues staring intently at him.

“And who are you, love?” He asked, his voice friendlier now. She pulled her hands away from her mouth.

“Ivy!” She exclaimed, trying to hide a smile.

“Ivy? My, what a lovely name!” Jamie threw a glance back at Keeley. “What, are you a nanny now or somethin’?” 

“Of course not, she’s-”

“You?” 

Jamie turned back to the toddler, his face curious and playful again. Ivy was staring at him with watchful eyes as she waited for his answer.  

“Who am I?” He asked, pointing to himself. She nodded excitedly. “I’m Jamie! Nice to meet ya!” He held a hand out towards her for a shake, but she just shoved it away. As she pulled her hands back towards her face, she eyed him, as if begging him to respond. He pretended to be offended with a loud gasp, which made her giggle. “Someone has to teach this muppet some manners!” He reached forward and gave her round tummy a tickle. A shriek of laughter left her mouth as she tried to escape him, though it was impossible due to the high chair. 

“Jamie!” Someone called from across the room. Turning away from his new friend, he rose to his feet, the welling feeling of elation in his chest dissipating. When a disgruntled shout came from behind, he turned towards Ivy once again, who looked at him with a fierce angry face that, for whatever reason, gave him deja vu.

“What?” He asked. In lieu of words, she angrily crossed her arms over her chest. He mirrored her, making the same face back at her. “Do ya want to come with me?” The anger washed away from her face in an instant, and was replaced with bright enthusiasm.

“Yes!”

Jamie’s heart lurched when Ivy reached out towards him, an invitation to pick her up. He hoisted her up and tossed her on his shoulders, receiving a squeal of approval in return. With one index finger in each of her hands to keep her steady, he began to walk the room.

“Dani!” Jamie shouted as he approached his friend. There was a bounce in his step now, and he could hear Ivy giggling as she held on tightly to his fingers. Rojas turned, his eyes immediately on the toddler and causing his crescent moon smile to fill his face.

“Hello there, amiga!” He exclaimed, taking a step forward. Ivy ducked behind Jamie’s head.

“This is Ivy,” He said proudly. He turned his head ever so slightly towards her. “Ives, this is Dani. He’s a friend! Don’t be shy.” Though she popped her head out a little more, she didn’t not greet the stranger. Jamie gave Dani a reassuring glance. “Don’t worry, she’s just feelin’ bashful, don’t ya, love?” Dani tickled Ivy’s foot, causing her to giggle loudly. A broad smile filled his cheeks.

Jamie continued his parade around the room. At the same time, he found himself wondering who this little girl belonged to. If she didn’t come with Keeley, the first person he saw her with, then who? She didn’t resemble anyone else in the room. And he thought he had met the families of at least most, if not all, his teammates.

The bell of the door rang out, and when Jamie turned, he saw Roy Kent walk inside. He gasped dramatically.

“Look who it is!” He announced as he made his way to the dark haired man. “Roy Kent! Roy Kent! He’s here-“ He jerked Ivy to the left. “He’s there-“ He jerked Ivy to the right. “He’s every-fuckin’-where!” He bounced to the beat of the song, instigated by the sounds of the little girl’s laughter.

“You might want to watch your fuckin’ language around her,” Roy warned. 

“Who are you to talk?” 

He shrugged. “Not a person walkin’ around with a toddler on my shoulders.” Though his face was still impossible to read, Jamie didn’t miss the way Roy’s eyes softened when he eyed Ivy. “Who brought her?” Jamie shrugged in an exaggerated fashion, making the toddler bounce and laugh once again.

“No idea.”

Roy began to head further into the room, with Jamie and Ivy close behind. The walnut mist footballer eyed the food table and remembered how starved he was. Not that he could do anything about it in the moment. 

“Are you having fun?” Rebecca asked as she approached. Jamie bounced some more, raising Ivy’s hands up along with his own before jerking them back down quickly, earning another contagious laugh. 

“I am,” He said, as Rebecca gave Ivy a fond look.

“She’s very sweet,” She remarked as she rubbed the toddler’s back lovingly. It seemed it wasn’t just Jamie who Ivy had wrapped around her finger. The whole room was slowly dropping like flies to the toddler’s adorable smile and piercing laughter.

“Who’s kid is she?” He asked Rebecca, the smile still wide on his face. Despite his distraction, he didn’t miss the way her smile faltered.

“You-“ She looked between him and Ivy, a deep crinkle forming between her eyebrows. “She’s-“

“Jamie Tartt!”

The shout started everyone in the room, including Ivy. He felt her release his hands as as he whirled around, his heart seizing as he felt her fall backwards off his lap.

The entire room seemed to pause. Jamie expected a loud thump, already flinching at his failure, but it never came. When he turned, he found that Ivy was safe in a pair of arms. 

Yours. 

Behind you was Jan Maas, who had stopped you when you were on your way out of the bathroom to return to the party. It was just a normal conversation, though not without some very intense and obvious flirting from his side. Since he’d been a few drinks deep at this point, and wasn’t on the roster as a participant in the therapy program at AFC Richmond, you decided to let it slide. It wasn’t until Anastasia had yelled out at her date that you turned and realised that your daughter was no longer in the high chair with Keeley. 

As you raised Ivy to your side, resting her on your hip, your eyes never left Jamie. His eyes were pleading as they stared into yours, the pieces of the puzzle coming together in his mind. Ivy picked that moment to wrap her arms around your neck, pressing her head against the side of yours.

“Mummy,” She said lovingly with a content sight. You raised your hand and patted her back. Opening your mouth to speak, you were stopped by the Russian model coming up behind Jamie.

“I want to leave,” She hissed into his ear. He glanced back at her with a look that suggested he had forgotten about her presence entirely.

His eyes turned back to yours, searching for answers. You had them all, but no words to give them with. 

Anastasia grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the door to leave. His feet dragged across the floor as he kept throwing glances back towards you, even still when he was outside and walking by the windows. 

The party had largely resumed, except for you, as you set Ivy back down in the high chair and sat down next to her. 

The moment you had never prepared yourself for.

He knows.

He knows. 

You stared at Ivy, who was now eating her foot again, albeit while acting a bit more fussy than she had before. Was she just worn out? Or was she missing him? You buried your face in your hands.

“Hey.” 

When you looked over, Keeley was sitting down next to you, placing a comforting hand on your shoulder. You nod in acknowledgement. Even when you looked away, you could still feel her stare burning holes in the side of your head.

“So, you and Jamie…”

You closed your eyes.

“Yup,” You said slowly, drawing out the word. “Me and Jamie.” 

“How long ago was that?” 

You glanced at Ivy, who was dancing to the song playing over the speakers. “We knew each other forever, and dated for four years, I think. Ended about…” You narrowed your eyes in thought. ”…three years ago.” 

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Keeley looking between you and Ivy. You could practically see the maths she was doing in her head like it was written in white in the air around her. 

“Does he know?” She asked. You sigh before turning to look at her again. She nodded towards Ivy. “Does he know she’s his?” 

You laugh slightly without an ounce of humour. 

“He didn’t,” You said, with a shake of your head. “But he definitely does now.”

~

A/N

I don't know if anyone cares to know about this, but i thought I would take the time to explain some of my process with this fic, mostly because I love it and i've put a lot of thought into it! A big inspiration for this story has been the song Euclid by Sleep Token, and in particularly, the line "Yet in reverse, you were all my symmetry, a parallel I would lay my life on. So if your wings won't find you heaven, I will bring it down like an ancient bygone". The duel POVs are to show that, even though they aren't together, Reader and Jamie still have an unexplainable symmetry, and constantly parallel each other, and as the story goes on, the parallels will become more obvious. Each time the POV changes, it's when a thought or action of theirs parallel. The title also comes from this song, from the line "Do you remember me when the rain gathers?" You'll also notice that rain is a prominent feature in this fic. A fun fact is that I debated making the title the whole lyric, but decided it would be too long. This fic was also almost titled Take Me Back To Eden, which is another sleep token song, but i decided WTRG fit it better! If you cared enough to read all of this, thank you for supporting me in my writing. I have tried to slow down with my writing so i can take better care with my chapter planning and writing, I hope that work shows! Please let me know what you think! :)

~

TAGS

@oncasette, @shiptheship, @ajkdjdnkekemfxj, @breepboopbap, @sssatorus, @jelleeyfish, @puckyou-forpuckssake, @ricciardhoe3, @buckybarnex, @loveslide, @hopefulromances, @sokkigarden, @optimisticsandwichgladiator, @hanybunch, @skewedcherries, @pythagothug, @thatonedogwithablog, @gcidrvsh, @star-of-velaris, @burkayyy, @loveforaugust

[pray4saint]

You should do headcanons for dteam and Chuckle sammy for what kind of hugs they give </3 thats such a good idea

types of hugs the dteam & chuckle sammy boys give their partners

dteam masterlist & chuckle sammy masterlist & descrip. pg. 13+. gn!reader. fluff.

a/n. thank you for indulging me anon

dream

number one hug type with this man, full embraces. / arms completely holding each other, heads linked around the other's neck

unironic bro hugs, i fully believe this guy will walk up to you and bro hug you out of nowhere

all for hugs like this; his hands on your hips, your hands on his shoulders, foreheads and chests pressed together, whispering sweet nothings to each other

”you know, you're really beautiful from this angle.” you laugh a little bit, looking into his eyes while. ”babe,” you smile at your boyfriend. ”you look a zero point five.” he makes a kind of silly face at you, ”i was thinking more of a fish eye.”

also hugs where you scratch his head >>> / he absolutely lives for it, pressing kisses to your hand when you try to pull it away from his hair

sapnap

straddle hugs with this man, i guarantee it happens / regardless of who's on top, he likes being so close to you, especially if there's people around, it shows off who he belongs who and who you belong to

i also think sap is big on reverse hugs, where he comes up behind you and wraps his arms around you, kissing into your neck and along your shoulders, especially if you're in the middle of something

equally as much if you come up behind him, snuggling your head into his shoulder blades before spinning him around to properly hold you

also when he travels, hugs after he's been gone for awhile, he loves them, how you try to get yourself impossibly closer to him

”i missed you so much.” your arms squeeze harder around his neck, drawing him closer if at all possible. ”i know darlin',” he squeezes your middle, rubbing your lower back. ”i missed you too doll.”

george

in public, george really only does side hugs with you, it's not that he doesn't love you, he just gets nervous in public, but he will hold your hand the rest of the time

i think george though likes hugs where you kind of baby him, with your arms around his middle and his arms rest around your neck, tucking his head snuggly into the crook of your neck

”are you alright hon?” you ask him, lifting a hand from his waist to his hair, gently scratching at his head. ”yeah. i just missed you.”

i also think he kind of avoids group hugs if you're in them, he really prefers having you in his arms alone, with nobody to bother you

also being wrapped up in each other's arms on the sofas in his or your living rooms, with your head lying against his shoulder or his stomach while you draw shapes into his arms or his chest and his hand runs through your hair and along your back, talking about random things

ted

ted + quick hugs, i think he likes to hug you hello and goodbye with every interaction, he just loves being so close to you

definitely big on what we'd consider 'normal hugs', because sometimes he just wants the hug to take in how you smell, to remind him that you're real

ted takes a deep breath in, holding you close to him. you settle in his arms, putting your arms around him to reciprocate the hug. ”you alright babe?” ”i am now.”

eye-to-eye hugs with ted are regular, whether it be standing to sitting down, the eye contact is special when combined with the hold you have on each other

slow dance hugs in the kitchen >>>> / while you wait for the food to heat up, you slow dance around the kitchen with ted, keeping your hug intact

charlie

bear hugs, i absolutely believe he squeezes tight when he hugs you, savouring every intimate second of it

”ch– charlie,” you tap his shoulder, ”can barely breathe.” ”just another second, please.” he kissed your neck before releasing his tight hold. ”thank you baby.” ”no, thank you for putting up with me, i know i can be a bit much sometimes.”

THE PICKPOCKET HUG THE PICKPOCKET HUG GUYS / keeping your hand in his back pocket while his hand rests in your back pocket, especially in public?? he loves it

hugs lying in bed with you completely on top of him, his arms around you while you rest your head against his chest, it's intimate and mostly takes place in the morning after you wake up, right before you go to bed or just after certain activities

i also think dance hugs happen a lot, sometimes it's slow dance but other times you're just dancing around while holding each other

schlatt

the type to fully envelop you in his arms, keeping your head tucked into his chest with your hands against his chest

other hugs include side hugs with his arm draped over your shoulders, hand interlinked with yours

OH schlatt and lifted hugs, where you jump up and wrap your legs around him for a hug, he loves that

also schlatt seems like the type to paw at your arm when he wants a hug in public, sending you looks that aren't easily discernible until you finally turn around and run your hands up and down his arms before wrapping yourself around his middle

”y'know if you wanted a hug big guy, you could've just asked,” you looked up at him, he scoffed with a smile. ”yeah i know.” he wraps his arms around you.

pray4saint© do not copy, translate or repost my work without my express permission.

[guppysaquariumproducts]

Browse Our Best Aquarium Products Online In Australia

Are you looking exclusive seller of professional aquarium products and accessories? Guppy's Aquarium Warehouse is one of the most reliable and reputed online aquarium stores. With our wide selection of aquarium products, you can easily find what you need for your aquarium or pond. Our team is passionate about providing our customers with professional and friendly customer service, so contact us if you have any questions about our aquarium products or services.

[punkshort]

Roommates | 8. forever

Pairing: pornstar!joel x f!reader

Chapter Summary: Tommy and Maria get married.

Chapter Warnings: language, angst, idiots in love, alcohol and food consumption, sexual tension, flirting, a wedding!

WC: 7.6K

Series Masterlist

"Oh, goddamnit," you muttered under your breath, pausing in your rush across the hot parking lot to tug your dress out from underneath your heel. You crouched down for a moment to examine the dress to make sure it wasn't damaged before you stood back up, this time bunching all the extra material in your fist before trotting as quickly as you could to the entrance of the restaurant.

"Slow down, you ain't missin' anythin', they haven't even sat down yet," Joel said, startling you from his post on a bench next to an ashtray.

"Oh, hey," you said breathlessly, then looked him up and down. "Were you smoking?"

He shook his head and stood up, dusting off his grey dress pants in the process. "Just gettin' some air. Tryin' to cut back."

"Good for you," you said, then nodded towards the door. "Ready? I need to get out of this heat."

"After you."

You thought for sure you would be in for Maria's wrath when you hit traffic and ended up being almost fifteen minutes late for the rehearsal dinner, but mercifully, Joel was right. The group was in the reserved banquet room but hardly anyone had sat down yet. Instead, people were mingling and laughing in small groups as the waitstaff filled up waters and placed open bottles of wine across the tables.

As you scanned around and looked for a seat, your eyes landed on someone familiar and a wide smile stretched across your face.

"Mrs. Miller!"

Joel and Tommy's mother beamed when she heard your voice and quickly abandoned the people she was talking to in favor of pulling you into a hug.

"Oh, honey, how are you?"

"Good! Late, but good," you laughed when she released you from her death grip. She kept her hands firmly planted on your shoulders and gave you a once over.

"Love that dress, my goodness. Doesn't she look beautiful in this dress, Joel?" she asked mischievously. You felt your cheeks warm and you looked down at the floor while Joel just rolled his eyes.

"Yes, Mama," he replied flatly.

"You'll sit with us, right, dear?" she asked.

"Of course," you said with a nod.

"Good, I want you to meet the man I've been seeing," she replied before wrapping her thin fingers around your arm to lead you to her table, which, of course, was shared with Tommy and Maria.

James seemed nice and he got along well with both Joel and Tommy, from what you could tell. Before he retired, he worked in construction, just like their own father before he passed away, and he seemed absolutely smitten with their mom. His arm was around the back of her chair or holding her hand the entire dinner and you could tell Mrs. Miller was adoring every second of it.

"Are you still seeing that lawyer, dear?" she asked right when dessert was placed in front of you. You felt your chest tighten as you stared down at your tiramisu and you focused on the skills you learned in therapy whenever you felt this type of feeling crop up. Take a few deep breaths, collect the data, put things in perspective. Just as you were about to answer, you felt Joel's hand on your knee and he cleared his throat.

"No, Mama. Didn't work out."

He must have given her a look when your gaze was still fixed on your plate because there was an awkward silence before she spoke again.

"No matter. Plenty of fish in the sea. Maybe you'll meet someone tomorrow at the wedding."

You forced yourself to meet her eye and smiled. "Yeah, maybe," you replied weakly. Joel's fingers tensed around your knee for half a second before he slowly pulled his hand away to pick up his fork. When she began to talk softly to James, you took the opportunity to shoot Joel a grateful smile, which he returned with a wink.

"Thank you," you whispered. "I could have handled it but... thank you."

"Welcome," he replied just as quietly. "And I know you coulda, but you don't gotta do everythin' by yourself."

Joel began to eat his dessert while you sat there, immobilized. For some reason, hearing him say those words knocked you on your ass for a moment. You were always the type to take on too much and rarely ask for help, another trait that contributed to your anxiety. The only thing that pulled you out of it was Tommy's voice aimed in your general direction. He was giving instructions to the wedding venue from the restaurant so you all knew where to go after dinner to do one quick walkthrough before the big day, so you nodded along and finally picked up your own fork.

"You wanna follow my truck?" Joel asked once dinner disbanded and everyone slowly filtered into the parking lot. You shook your head and pulled your keys out of your purse.

"No, I think I know where it is. It's not far from the hotel."

He nodded and glanced over his shoulder, checking on his mother. "You get settled in okay?"

You gave him a curious look. "In the hotel? Yeah."

The wedding wasn't too far away from home but most of the wedding party elected to stay in the hotel where the reception was being held so they wouldn't have to worry about getting a ride after drinking.

He nodded again and swiped his palm over his mouth. "Which room?"

You laughed and playfully shoved his shoulder, making him grin and stumble a bit over the asphalt. "What?" he asked innocently, but he didn't sell it. You rolled your eyes but couldn't stop smiling as you unlocked your car and opened your door, tossing your purse onto the passenger seat. As you were about to bunch up your dress and get into the car, Joel cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow, indicating he was still waiting for an answer.

"409," you said with a sigh. His tongue clicked against his teeth and he shoved his hands in his pockets.

"418. Right across the hall."

"What a coincidence." Propping one arm on your hip and the other on the roof of your car, you tapped your fingers on the hard plastic, waiting for him to say something else. His eyes drifted up and down your body before meeting your gaze once again, the corner of his mouth twitching in amusement. People streamed past you to their cars, heels clicking on the blacktop and soft chuckles floating in the air, but you kept your eyes pinned on each other, silently daring the other to say something more.

Against all odds, or maybe it was always inevitable, your relationship managed to mostly repair itself over the past few weeks. It was nice to have Joel back in your life again in any capacity he was willing to offer, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore your feelings for him. The morning you woke up on Tommy and Maria's couch with Joel's arms wrapped around you, holding you against his broad chest with his face buried in your hair felt like a literal wake up call. As you laid there listening to his deep, steady breaths, you tried to think back to a time when you fell asleep in his arms without sex preceding it, but you came up empty.

It felt really fucking nice, so you had closed your eyes and tried to go back to sleep, but it was impossible. You felt like yourself again. You spent months in therapy wondering where that feeling went when all along the answer was right there.

"See you at the country club," he finally said before tearing himself away and forcing his feet to move in the direction of his truck.

"Yep," you said softly, watching him longingly as he made his way through the cars until he disappeared from view. You took a deep breath and looked around the parking lot when your gaze unexpectedly met the deep brown eyes of Mrs. Miller, watching you from the passenger seat of James's SUV.

You felt something happen in that moment. Something unspoken passed between you through the glass and you had never felt more seen. Woman to woman, she held your gaze and you swallowed the lump in your throat, knowing your expression was betraying you by that point, but what could you do?

James pulled out of the parking spot and you blinked, snapping yourself out of your stupor. When the car passed, you could see the knowing look in her eye, one that told you you weren't fooling anyone, and then they were gone.

The event coordinator, Michelle, was a tiny little thing who also happened to be very bossy. She probably did at least one wedding a weekend the entire summer for god knows how many years, so she knew her shit, but considering the entire wedding party had just come from dinner with copious amounts of alcohol, her patience was wearing thin. She was barking orders at the first bridesmaid and groomsman at the front of the line while the four of you stood in the back snickering to yourselves.

"Goddamn, she ain't messin' around," Tommy said quietly with a grin.

"A woman after Maria's heart," you replied over your shoulder.

"I've never felt more calm in my life," Maria chuckled softly. "There's no way this isn't going off without a hitch."

On the actual day, it would just be you and Joel at the end of the line, but Tommy and Maria wanted to observe during the rehearsal.

Michelle was making her way down the rows of bridesmaids and groomsmen, instructing each set how to stand, where their hands should be, and what their cue was to start walking.

"Slow!" she barked after a pair began walking. You saw the bridesmaid's shoulders flinch and you had to hide your grin by biting your lip and looking down at your feet.

When she got to you and Joel, you straightened up. Suddenly it felt like you were back in high school and the vice principal was about to chew you out for skipping class.

"Closer together, please," she told you, waving her perfectly manicured, blood red fingertips at the two of you. Immediately, you stepped to the side and apparently so did Joel because you bumped into each other.

"Okay, not that close," she scolded. You had to hold yourself back from kicking a foot at Maria when you heard her snickering.

Michelle took you by the shoulders and placed you exactly where she wanted, then did the same to Joel, leaving just a few inches between you. You could feel his fingers impatiently twitching at his side and you got the feeling Michelle made him nervous, too.

"Okay, crook your elbow, like this," she told him, yanking his arm up and bending it before she flattened his palm against his stomach. "Great. Don't move. Maid of honor, loop your arm through, place your fingers here, hold your bouquet at your bellybutton. Both of you, straighten your spines and begin a slow walk once they make it to the first set of chairs. Any questions?"

You both quickly shook your heads and you looped your arm through Joel's, just as she instructed, and pretended to hold a bouquet at your waist with your other hand.

When you saw your cue, you both began to walk, praying you were going slowly enough. You heard her voice begin talking to Tommy and Maria, asking if they had any questions or if anything was missed, and you breathed a sigh of relief.

"Fuck, she's scary."

You giggled and glanced up at him. He was staring straight ahead but he had a little amused smirk tugging across his face and you could see that damn dimple creasing his cheek. You tried not to think about how close you were to him, how long it had been since that night on the couch, or how comfortable it felt to touch him again, and instead focused on where you were supposed to stand once you got to the altar.

Joel dropped his arm and you went your separate ways, taking your places at the front of the bridal party, and waited for the next instructions. Tommy and Maria came down the aisle talking with Michelle and motioning towards the chairs while you all waited. You let your gaze drift over to the men and you caught Joel already looking your way. You gave him a little smile and you watched him swallow before taking a deep breath, dragging his eyes away from you.

Michelle's commanding voice cut through the air and you snapped your head back in her direction. She was explaining the bullet points of the ceremony to everybody while she pushed Tommy and Maria up on the altar between you and Joel.

"Next, the officiant will say you may kiss the bride, you two will kiss-"

Tommy took that moment to wrap his arm around Maria's waist and bend her backwards before planting a wet, sloppy kiss on her lips, causing the entire wedding party to break into fits of whooping and laughter. Michelle clapped her hands sharply and the noise instantly ceased. Tommy picked Maria back up, who was pressing her palms against her cheeks with a huge smile, and he shrugged.

"Sorry, thought we were rehearsin'."

She cleared her throat and raised a thin eyebrow at him before she continued, explaining the music would start and Tommy was to lead Maria down the aisle, which he did without goofing around.

"You two," she said, motioning towards you and Joel. You both stepped forward and stood where Tommy and Maria were just standing. "Same as before, hold onto his arm, keep your bouquet at your bellybutton, and don't begin walking until the bride and groom walk down the entire aisle, got it?"

You both nodded stiffly and, once Tommy and Maria reached the end, you started to walk. Michelle began to instruct the next couple and Joel picked up the pace a little once he knew she wasn't looking.

"You're gonna get us in trouble," you teased.

"Wouldn't be the first time."

You gasped and gave him a little hip check and then you heard Michelle calling after you to stop fooling around.

Joel chuckled as you felt your face flush with an embarrassing smile. A few months prior, a comment like that might have sent you spiraling into a pit of self despair just for simply being reminded of the camping trip, but that day you managed to let it roll off your shoulders.

You joined Tommy and Maria and watched as the rest of the bridal party practiced leaving the altar. Joel casually stretched his arm behind you, leaning on a railing so he could say something to Tommy behind you and Maria, but when they finished up and Tommy began talking with his groomsmen, Joel kept his arm on the railing. The fabric from his button down was brushing ever so slightly against the skin of your back, exposed by your dress. Your jaw was tight from the effort it took to not react when his thumb skimmed over your spine, sending tingles across your skin.

"Did I tell you this dress looks nice on you?"

His voice was warm and deep against your ear and it took everything you had not to lean back into his shoulder, it was so hypnotizing.

"Your mom kind of did that for you," you reminded him quietly, keeping your eyes on the rest of the wedding party as they began to cluster around Tommy and Maria, laughing at some story Tommy was telling them about his tux fitting.

"Well, it does. This's your color," he said lowly and you could practically feel his eyes dragging over your soft curves being hugged by the delicate material.

"Thank you," you replied a little breathier than you would have liked. You tilted your chin to risk a glance at him, finding yourself immediately getting lost in his eyes. You searched his face, trying to read him, trying to figure out what he was thinking but you kept getting hung up on all the little details about him that you loved. The way his eyes crinkled when he smiled, the patchiness in his beard, the little scar across the bridge of his nose.

Fuck, he was perfect. How did you ever let yourself take it for granted?

"What're you thinkin' 'bout?" he asked softly. Apparently he had been doing the same thing to you: trying to read your expression, see inside your head.

You swallowed and gave your head a little shake.

"How fucking stupid I was."

His eyebrows twitched up in surprise, his lips parted and you were certain he was about to say or ask something else when Tommy stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled so loud, the whole wedding party groaned and covered their ears.

"C'mon, let's all have one more drink back in our room, place is fuckin' huge," he announced, causing a ripple of laughter amongst the small group.

And just like that, the moment was gone.

Maria and another bridesmaid hooked their arms through yours, pulling you away from Joel and through the venue towards the parking lot, laughing and babbling suggestions for their hair the following day. You glanced once over your shoulder and caught his eye, clocking the tortured look he gave you. Even from a distance you could see the longing, the curiosity to learn what you meant, and the absolute frustration at having the opportunity ripped away.

Joel tapped lightly on your door the next morning but figured out pretty quickly he was too late. You had already left with the other bridesmaids and Maria to get ready at the country club, leaving Tommy and the groomsmen to get ready in the honeymoon suite at the hotel.

He tried to get you alone for just five fucking minutes the night before but the group was too small and it was impossible to tear you away without being obvious. He could tell you wanted to talk, too. He saw it in the way he caught your eye more than once in that measly little hour spent in Tommy's hotel room. Then he got caught in a painful conversation with another groomsman about golf and suddenly, you were nowhere to be found.

He excused himself and hurried back to his room, hoping to catch up with you, but it was no use. He hovered around your door, fingers carding anxiously through his hair, wondering if he should knock, debating over and over in his mind whether or not invading your space would scare you off until he heard an elevator chime and the doors slide open and he slipped into his room in a panic.

He should have just fucking knocked.

The next time he would see you would be at the ceremony. He wouldn't be able to talk to you til the reception, well after pictures and dinner and speeches were done.

It was going to be a very long day.

You up? We got breakfast here, get your ass going

Joel rolled his eyes as he continued to gather his things after his shower, wishing more than anything that you had just texted him instead of Tommy.

Be there in 10

He draped his tux over his shoulder, two fingers hooked through the hanger, and carried a small bag of toiletries in his other hand as he shuffled out the door, stealing one last glance at your room as he went.

He rode the elevator up to the top floor and stepped out, already hearing the men laughing and glasses clinking with the steady thumping of a deep bass line through the walls. Knowing he would have to be loud for them to hear, he made a fist and pounded on the wood, rattling the door in its frame. It swung open and Nick, the groomsman who monopolized his time last night talking about fucking golf, stood on the other side.

"Joel, mornin'. Come on in, got some catchin' up to do. We're already two drinks deep." Nick stepped aside with a friendly smile and allowed Joel to enter.

"Two drinks? Shit, might wanna slow down, gonna be a long fuckin' day at that rate."

Nick laughed and let the heavy door close, then patted him on the shoulder as he headed over to the little kitchen area. "We all put our shit in the spare room. Go ahead and I'll get you somethin' to drink. Got some food here, too."

"Alright," Joel replied, his eyes drifting around the living room as he walked towards the bedrooms. Tommy caught his eye and raised both arms in the air.

"I'm gettin' married!" he shouted excitedly. Joel grinned and kept walking.

He would have to be patient. As much as he couldn't get you off his mind, he had to be present for his brother. This was going to be one of the happiest days of his life and Joel would be damned if he messed that up for him.

Nick slid a glass of champagne in Joel's hand after he emerged from the spare room and he quirked an eyebrow.

"Pacin' ourselves," Nick explained with a shrug.

Joel nodded and took a sip, the flute looking comically small in his grip, before setting it down and forcing himself to join in the festivities. And he was doing a pretty good job at pushing you from his mind for once until a few hours later. All the men had gotten dressed and a hairdresser Maria hired was going around fixing loose pieces of hair on everyone when Tommy's phone pinged. He picked it up and a huge smile spread across his face.

"It's Maria."

He turned the screen around to show a picture she took. It was of the room where the girls were getting ready, a candid shot of bridesmaids in the background getting their makeup done or sipping on champagne. The main focus of the picture was Maria's left hand extended in front of her, her engagement ring sparkling in the light, but Joel hardly noticed the diamond when you were in the corner of the shot talking to another bridesmaid with a dazzling smile that always made him weak in the knees. You looked so fucking beautiful and you didn't even have your makeup done yet.

He wasn't the only one who noticed you, unfortunately.

"Hey, what's the deal with Maria's maid of honor?" Nick asked Tommy. "She's pretty and seems like fun."

If Joel had even a moment to think, he might have caught the way Tommy immediately looked in his direction, conflicted and unsure what to say. But it didn't matter because Joel set Nick straight instead.

"She's unavailable."

Nick swiveled to look at Joel. "Oh, damn. Figured as much."

Joel nodded and cleared his throat, trying to avoid the very obvious look his brother was giving him, and took a long sip of whiskey.

Once Nick wandered away, Tommy instantly sidled up to Joel and he knew he was in for it.

"Unavailable?" he repeated under his breath. "Got somethin' you wanna share?"

Joel shrugged, trying to look casual but he knew Tommy saw right through him. "It's the truth. She ain't interested in seein' anyone."

"Hm," Tommy said, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth, loving the way his brother was squirming under his questioning. "How'd you find that out?"

"She told me."

"Told you."

"Yep."

"And under what circumstances did she... tell you?"

Joel frowned and finally dragged his gaze to meet Tommy's. "We're just friends now."

"Didn't exactly answer my question."

Joel scoffed. "Don't you got shit to worry 'bout, like vows or somethin'?"

Tommy shook his head. "Nah, got that all locked down. Would much rather hear 'bout your friend."

He groaned and rubbed his eyes. "Ain't nothin' to tell, I promise. Nothin's goin' on."

"Well, weddings are romantic. Drinkin'... dancin'... beautiful venue... dim lights. Might stir up some old feelin's."

Joel nodded and looked at his watch with a sigh. "Limo'll be here soon."

Tommy bit his cheek, wishing Joel would open up a bit more, but decided not to push it.

"Oughta wrangle everyone up. Almost show time."

"They're here!" a bridesmaid squealed when she saw the limo pull up to the front doors and the men slowly piling out, one by one.

"Well, guess he didn't get cold feet," Maria joked next to you as she fumbled with her earrings, but judging by the way her fingers shook, she was nervous.

You stood up to fuss with her hair, making sure the flowers that were carefully weaved in were still firmly in place.

"You look absolutely stunning," you told her warmly with a smile through the mirror. She took a deep breath and finally dropped her hands in her lap.

"Thank you. For everything. I know you got your own shit going on -"

"Nuh-uh, none of that. Today's not about me. It's about you and Tommy and I'm delighted you chose me to stand next to you today."

She smiled and reached behind her to squeeze your hand, which was curled around her shoulder. Tears welled up in her eyes and she nodded. Just one quick, definitive nod signaling the topic was closed, then stood up and brushed her hands over her dress.

"Well, let's go do this," she said, her voice wavering just a bit. The rest of the girls heard and cheered excitedly before scurrying around to check final touches on their makeup before filing out the door, where Michelle stood waiting.

"Ladies, the groomsmen just got in position and the groom is heading to the altar now. Maria, your father is waiting for you in the office. We'll hide you in there in case there's any late arrivals that might sneak a peek."

Once you all filed down to the foyer, you hung back to give Maria one last hug before she was whisked away into a small office where her father stood waiting with misty eyes.

When the door closed behind her, you gripped your pink and purple bouquet in one hand and gathered up the skirt of your peachy dress in the other and lightly jogged to catch up with the rest of the bridal party. When you turned the corner, everyone was finding their partner and whispering excitedly amongst themselves while Michelle walked around, making small adjustments to posture and checking everyone's teeth.

Joel turned around when he heard your heels clicking on the tile floor and couldn't stop his smile from spreading when he laid eyes on you.

"Sorry, just wanted to give her a quick hug," you said to him quietly as you took your place by his side. You were busy fixing your dress and batting pieces of hair out of your face so you didn't notice the way he was gazing down at you, temporarily spellbound.

"No problem," he finally managed to say, then caught Michelle making her way towards him so he quickly jut out his elbow for you to loop your hand through. After Michelle adjusted the placement of your bouquet and moved on, you finally glanced over, taking him in for the first time. He looked so fucking good, it was criminal. All the groomsmen were wearing the same tux, and all of them hand white button downs open at the collar with no tie, but Joel looked the best, by far.

Your mouth opened to tell him so, but at the last second you chickened out.

"Did you guys have a good morning?" you asked instead.

His eyes roamed leisurely over your face and the longer he took to answer, the faster your heart raced under his scrutiny.

"Yeah, it was alright," he finally said. Somewhere in the back of your mind you heard music begin to play and the first pair of the bridal party began to walk. "Wanted to catch you before you left this mornin' but you must've got an early start."

"Oh?"

He nodded slowly, eyes still trailing over you, admiring how beautiful you looked. He knew he was being obvious but he couldn't bring himself to care.

"Did you need something?" you asked, swallowing the lump in your throat. You knew you should have been paying attention, that you would miss your cue if you didn't, but you couldn't look away from his heated gaze.

"No, just..." he trailed off and took a deep breath, eyes momentarily fluttering closed before he reopened them. "You look really pretty."

Blood rushed to your cheeks and you smiled.

"T-thank you, you-"

"Best man, maid of honor, let's go!" Michelle whispered angrily, snapping you both out of your daze. Forcing a smile on your faces, you waited for your cue and began to walk up the aisle.

Aside from Maria, you two were the last to enter. The altar looked stunning. Not a single flower was out of place. The white rose petals the flower girl had scattered were evenly distributed along the deep red carpet that was laid over the grass to mark your way. You passed by rows and rows of friends and family, their faces lit up with excitement while the photographers bounced around in your peripheral vision, snapping pictures as you went.

When you reached the end of the aisle, Joel dropped your arm and you stepped apart, each taking your rightful place, just as you practiced.

The music changed and the doors opened, finally revealing Maria and her father. You glanced over at Tommy so you could see his reaction but your gaze locked with Joel, instead. His face softened and he shot you a secretive wink before dragging his attention to the bride.

The ceremony was beautiful. The sun was shining but it wasn't too hot. Both of them remembered the vows they wrote, bringing out the occasional laugh or tear from the guests. It made your heart swell to see your best friend so unbelievably happy. And when Tommy dipped Maria backwards for a dramatic first kiss, even Michelle cracked a smile from her place in the back.

After the ceremony, the wedding party was whisked away to take pictures while the guests enjoyed a cocktail hour back at the hotel ballroom. If you weren't in the pictures, you spent most of your time with the rest of the bridesmaids and occasionally stealing glances in Joel's direction when he wasn't looking. Shit, you hadn't even drank anything since you had a mimosa earlier that morning and you still couldn't keep your mind off him.

It didn't help matters when, at one point, the photographer asked for a picture of just you and Joel. Under the warmth from the sun, he had began to sweat a little. You could see it from the way the exposed patch of chest glistened and when you got closer to pose for the picture, his natural scent mixed with the hotel soap he must have used that morning filled your nostrils, making it difficult to focus.

"You got your speech all ready?" he asked once the photographer moved on.

"I think so. You?"

He nodded. "Ready as I'll ever be."

"We should probably do a couple shots first, loosen up," you joked, nervously twisting your hands together in front of you.

His face lit up and he unbuttoned his jacket. "Here," he said, handing you a small flask with his name engraved on it. "Gift from Tommy."

"Nice. All I got was this necklace," you said sarcastically with a laugh and a point to your neck before unscrewing the flask and taking a sip. The whiskey burned on the way down and you felt the warmth bloom in your stomach, your muscles instantly relaxing.

"Thank you," you told him, handing him the flask. His fingers brushed against yours briefly, sending sparks down your spine, and you quickly tugged your hand back, averting your gaze. "Oh, looks like your mom's up next. Might wanna head over."

He sighed and readjusted his jacket after pocketing the flask. "Duty calls, I reckon."

You nodded and pursed your lips, rocking back and forth on your heels. Why were you acting so weird? It was just Joel. But as you watched him stroll across the perfectly manicured lawn, you knew why.

After dinner and all the festivities were over, you were going to find the courage to finally tell him how you felt.

And you couldn't be more nervous.

It felt like dinner took forever. Michelle drilled into your head that your speeches would come after dinner and before the cake cutting, so naturally the entire time you were eating, you were a nervous wreck. Fortunately you were too nervous to even drink anything else past the small sip you had from Joel's flask, your stomach twisting in knots the longer it took for each table to get served. Tommy and Maria disappeared after they ate to greet each table and be back in their seats by the time dinner was finished, so you sat picking at your food with your heart hammering in your chest, scrolling the notes app on your phone, reviewing your speech.

"Nervous?"

You jumped at the sound of Joel's voice, who had somehow slid over to take Maria's chair without you noticing.

"That obvious?"

He shrugged and leaned back, surveying the ballroom.

"Your foot's tappin' so fast it's shakin' the damn table."

You giggled and dropped your face into your hands with a groan. He chuckled and took a sip from his glass of champagne, then paused when his eyes landed on an older woman at a nearby table looking in your direction.

"Who's that sittin' next to Maria's folks?"

You popped your head up and looked, then your face broke out with a wide grin. "That's my mom," you told him without taking your eyes off her, giving her a little wave. Joel looked back and forth between the two of you.

"You look alike, shoulda guessed."

"You think?" you asked, then your smile slipped when your mom pointed in Joel's direction and gave you a face before fanning herself with her open hand. You clenched your teeth and slashed your fingers in front of your throat, trying to tell her to knock it off, but she just laughed.

"Pretend you didn't see that."

"See what?" he replied innocently before giving your mom a charming smile and wave.

"Joel!" you exclaimed, smacking him in the leg. "Stop flirting with my mother!"

He threw his head back and laughed at that, his shoulders bobbing up and down and his hand clutching his stomach and just seeing him so happy and carefree made you smile and laugh, as well. Once he regained his composure he straightened up in his chair, his cheeks tinted pink and his eyes bright as he looked at you.

"Don't worry, baby, don't wanna make you jealous."

Your jaw dropped in shock and your brow furrowed but your heart fluttered excitedly in your chest at the term baby coming from his lips again. Before you even had a chance to formulate a response, he cleared his throat. "I'm just kiddin'. Tryin' to take your mind off the speech. Did it work?"

Did it work? This man had you spinning around in circles and he didn't even see it.

"Yes," you mumbled, mind still reeling. Baby, baby, baby.

"Good, 'cause we're up," he said, his eyes drifting over your shoulder, spotting the newlyweds heading your way. He stood and vacated the chair so Maria could sit back down.

You took a deep, shaky breath when the DJ cut the music and made the announcement that the speeches were to begin, and the whole ballroom fell silent, turning in their chairs to get a better look at the long table where you sat up front.

Joel went first, which initially you were relieved, but then about thirty seconds into his speech you realized you wish you could have just gone and gotten it over with because you could hardly focus on anything he was even saying. You faintly remembered him talking about growing up with Tommy and telling some embarrassing story that made everybody laugh but then ended up getting the guests teary eyed when he turned it around at the end, using the story as a sweet example of how Joel always looked out for him and he was now passing that torch onto Maria.

After a polite round of applause, Joel sat down and all eyes turned to you. The DJ told everybody your name, announcing you were the maid of honor, before walking over to hand you the microphone. You cleared your throat before standing on shaky legs and forcing a nervous smile for the room.

"Good evening," you began, then repeated your name. "I have not only the pleasure of being Maria's maid of honor, but also her best friend."

You stole a glance in her direction and you felt your nerves begin to subside when you saw the look in her eye and the warm smile stretched across her face.

With a deep breath, you confidently launched into your speech. You began by telling the guests how you met, how you bonded over one particularly painful meeting at work and afterwards got sushi together for lunch. Ordering the same dish by happenstance cemented your relationship and from then on you saw each other through countless breakups, illnesses, birthdays and even some vacations. After telling the room a silly story about a road trip the two of you took one year with no destination or goal in mind other than to have fun and live in the moment with the promise to stay close forever, you paused and looked down at Maria next to you.

"And then she met Tommy," you said, eyes drifting in his direction. "I knew from the day she came home and told me about him that he was different."

Tommy smiled and wrapped an arm around Maria's shoulders.

"I don't think I've ever seen two people more perfect for one another," you continued, turning your attention back to the room. "At the center of everything, they're best friends. They accept each other, faults and all." Tears began to well up in your eyes, trying not to draw comparisons to your own life as you pushed through. "And that's how I knew early on we would end up here today."

You looked back over at the newlyweds, Maria leaning into Tommy's shoulder, pure happiness radiating from them both as they gazed at one another.

Then you locked eyes with Joel and your throat went dry.

He was looking at you, hanging on your every word, and the expression on his face told you he must have been thinking the same thing as you. Unable to tear yourself away from the emotion behind his eyes, you continued your speech for the room, but it felt like you were talking directly to him.

"When two people love each other fiercely, when they're willing to do whatever it takes to make things work, when they learn to open their hearts and make sacrifices for the sake of that other person, their partner, their love... I believe that is what makes a relationship last." You dragged your eyes away from Joel and looked at Tommy and Maria once again. "And you've both proven time and time again you're more than capable of doing that for one another."

Maria swiped a tear from the corner of her eye and you picked up your glass, watching as the rest of the room did the same.

"I'd like to wrap up with this quote I found online, so I can't take credit," you said with a ripple of soft laughter echoing through the ballroom. "'Love is a friendship that has caught fire. So may your love burn bright for years to come'. Here's to my best friend and her new best friend."

After the room collectively toasted to the new couple and rewarded you with a round of applause, you slumped down in your seat with a sigh of relief. Maria tugged your shoulders, pulling you in for a hug that squeezed all the air from your lungs, whispering her thanks in your ear, then Tommy followed up with the same and a kiss on your cheek.

You tossed back the rest of your champagne and immediately looked around for a server to ask for more. Now that your nerves were finally at ease, you wanted to enjoy the rest of the party and relax, temporarily pushing the conversation you planned to have with Joel from your mind.

Tommy and Maria stood to go cut the cake, diverting the guests's attention so you could slip away to the bar with your empty glass. As you were leaning up against the bar, waiting for the bartender to refill your glass, you felt a familiar presence sidle up next to you. When Joel brushed his palm against your lower back, you had to suppress the shiver that tried to make it's way down your spine.

"Can I get one of those?" he asked the bartender when she returned with your drink. She nodded and placed a cocktail napkin on the bar before disappearing.

Joel's shoulder nudged against yours and he tilted his face towards you. "Nice speech."

You smiled and continued to stare down at the tiny bubbles rising and popping in your drink. "Thanks. Yours was good, too."

"Here you go," the bartender said, placing an identical glass next to yours. Joel nodded his thanks and lifted it up, raising it between your bodies for a toast. You obliged, gently clinking your flutes together before taking a small sip and turning around to look out over the ballroom. Across the way, Tommy and Maria were posing with their cake while photographers and guests took pictures.

"I liked that quote. 'Bout friendship that turns to love," he said nonchalantly. You bit your lower lip and tried to tamp down the rise of emotion in your chest, your nerves in desperate need of some rest.

"Yeah, I thought it was fitting."

Your eyes flickered to his, those deep brown eyes you'd had the pleasure of seeing in every shade, then to his mouth, his soft looking lips so inviting, you wondered what they tasted like in that very moment. Probably champagne, but you were willing to bet you would get a hint of chocolate from the wedding favors that were placed at every seat because you knew him well enough to know he couldn't resist sweets.

"You ever have that?" he asked, and you thought you could hear a little tremor to his voice. "Friendship that turns into love?"

Your heart hammered wildly in your chest as you took a shaky sip from your champagne, eyes now pinned on the newlyweds but you were hardly absorbing a thing that was happening. Your mind was racing with the implication behind his loaded question and you could hardly remember your own name.

Taking a deep breath, you answered him.

"Once," you said softly, then slowly turned your head, gazing up at his side profile while he appeared to be taking in the party, but you could see his pulse thrumming fast in his neck, his tanned skin twitching with every nervous beat of his heart. "You?"

He hummed and finally tilted his head in your direction, eyes drifting up and down your face, tongue darting out to wet his lips. "Yeah. Once."

You felt yourself practically melt under his gaze, your muscles going lax, your body being pulled like a magnet towards him. Was it too late? Did you miss your chance? Or was it possible something was still there, something that could be salvaged? Joel murmured your name, his hand rising from his side, and you had a feeling you were about to get your answer when a familiar voice shattered the moment.

"Joel! C'mon, take pictures with my phone while I dance with your brother. James can't see in this lighting, he won't get it right."

As Mrs. Miller got closer, she noticed you next to him for the first time and it was impossible to miss the look of regret on her face when she realized she interrupted your conversation.

"Oh, nevermind, I'll find someone else," she said, clutching her phone to her chest, eyes sliding back and forth between you both. You cleared your throat and stepped away with a smile.

"No, you go on. I have to find my mom and say hi."

Before he had a chance to stop you, you slipped away, weaving through the crowd until you disappeared from view.

"I'm sorry, honey. I didn't mean to intrude."

Joel shrugged and tossed back the rest of his champagne. "It's alright, Ma. Go dance with Tommy, I got it," he said, holding a hand out for her phone. Hesitantly, she placed it in his palm, then reassuringly rubbed her hand up and down his arm.

"Will you save me a dance for later?"

Joel gave her a pained smile and nodded. "'Course, Mama."

She pressed her lips into a thin line, easily picking up on her eldest son's dismay once you left. Right when they were about to reach the dance floor, she stopped and cupped Joel's face with both hands, looking up at him with an adoring smile.

"It's all gonna work out, honey. I promise."

Joel almost feigned confusion, almost put up his walls so to protect his feelings. But in that moment, he couldn't bring himself to do it. Instead, he sighed and nodded.

"I hope so."

Please follow @punkshort-notifs and turn on notifications for fic updates ❤️

[sylvia-forest]

[CN] Shaw's Target Locked Date

⚡Warning: This post contains detailed spoilers for a Date which hasn't been released in EN yet!⚡

[Released Date: 1 May 2024]

[Section 1]

MC: Slow down! I'm so full.

Shaw: Tsk, who was the one claiming they were 'starving to death' and bragging they could eat a whole cow and a whole pig before we left?

Shaw's exam week finally ended. After eating and drinking our fill on the commercial street, we walked home together.

Although he said this, his steps still slowed down.

MC: I just didn't perform well today and ate a bit too quickly, otherwise I would have... Shaw: Otherwise what?

Shaw took my hand and put it in his pocket.

Shaw: The thing about rabbits is that they have big eyes and small mouths. They want to eat everything, but they can't get enough. Shaw: Fortunately, I ate more than half of it, saving them from a life of wandering in the trash can.

As he spoke, he raised his eyebrows and a proud smile appeared on his face.

MC: Since when do you like doing 'good deeds'? If you want to eat with me, just say so directly instead of beating around the bush.

The winter afternoon sun was just right. When we passed by the small park near our home, we saw that it had been beautifully decorated with a vibrant array of festive flowers, freshly planted.

MC: That place looks so beautiful. Since there's nothing to do at home, let's walk a bit more.

Shaw: Sure, I found that being overly full has some benefits. MC: Hm? Shaw: Doesn't this increase your motivation to exercise?

After that, he pinched my cheek and pulled me towards the park.

There weren't many people in the park. Although the trees and plants were not as lush as in spring and summer, the cypress and holly landscaping complemented each other, preventing the scene from appearing monotonous.

Colorful decorations were hanging from the street lamps on both sides. Shaw and I followed the fitness trail all the way to the flower bed in the center of the park.

The festive flowers were in full bloom. Just as I was about to take out my phone to take pictures, a rustling sound accompanied by a meowing noise caught my attention.

A long-haired tabby cat was pawing at the flower bed, with some snack crumbs beside it.

Seeing me approach, it raised its tail high, bared its teeth, and growled, as if in a defensive stance.

Shaw: This cat is quite fierce, a bit like some people when they're angry. MC: ……. MC: Some people really accuse others before they even do anything wrong.

Seeing that we weren't getting any closer, the tabby cat started eating the remaining food again, occasionally looking up to keep an eye on us.

MC: We just packed some tuna sashimi earlier. Shall we give it some? Shaw: Sure, let it celebrate the new year too.

As he spoke, he opened the bag he had just brought back from the restaurant, took out two pieces of fish and placed them not far from the flower bed.

Shaw: Go ahead and eat. But remember, if you take food, you shouldn't be mean. Shaw: Don't be aggressive with that silly rabbit after eating.

Shaw stepped back a few steps after placing the food, but the tabby cat still seemed wary of us and was unmoved by the tempting food.

I had to step forward, pick up a piece of fish, and place it closer to the cat, using a common trick for attracting cats—

MC: Kitty~

This time, the tabby cat seemed to smell the fish. After cautiously approaching to confirm it was food, it swiftly moved closer.

Shaw: Heh, this cat is quite…

Before Shaw finished speaking, the next second, the tabby cat grabbed the fish in its mouth and ran off into the bushes.

Shaw: So rude.

—

[Section 2]

Shaw: Are you feeling better? MC: I'm fine. I feel much better after taking the medicine.

I took the warm water that Shaw handed me and collapsed onto the sofa.

After we got back yesterday, my stomach felt uncomfortable. Although Shaw seemed fine, I still suspect it might have something to do with the big meal we had.

MC: Do you think it could be that the sashimi from yesterday wasn't fresh?

Shaw: Isn't it more likely that the ice cream we had after the meal is to blame? Shaw: Besides, you were looking at flowers and feeding cats along the way, so maybe you got a cold in the park.

MC: That possibility can't be ruled out. But if it wasn't the ice cream...

Something suddenly occurred to me.

MC: The cat in the park also ate the sashimi. Do you think it also got a stomach ache?

Shaw: You just got better and now you're worried about the cat?

MC: If it really was the sashimi, I'd feel quite sorry for it. Being a stray and having a stomachache... that's even more pitiful.

Shaw: …Alright, let's go check on it. And we can also settle the score for it running off yesterday.

Shaw and I brought some cat food and went to the park to look for the cat.

We searched around the flower bed and the nearby bushes, but there was no sign of the cat.

MC: Could it be that we just happened to meet him yesterday?

Shaw: Why are you in such a hurry?

He motioned for me to be quiet. Once there was silence, the faint sound of a cat's meow reignited my hope.

The sound seemed to be coming from near the rock garden not far away. Shaw and I exchanged a glance and with a mutual understanding, we lightened our steps and slowly approached it.

When we made our way around to the back of the rock garden, we saw a tortoiseshell cat crouched by the edge of the weeds.

Shaw: Tsk, it's not that one. MC: …But since we've come across it, let's give it some cat food anyway.

I just took out a small bowl to pour some cat food when a fierce meow came from the side.

Immediately, a familiar small figure leapt over and stood in front of the tortoiseshell cat.

The tabby cat growled at us, looking quite protective and formidable.

MC: .......This scene seems a bit familiar.

Shaw: Are these two a pair? Is there no such thing as a single cat in the cat world?

Shaw's words brought a smile to my face , and I couldn't help but think that the cats we met together were indeed a pair.

The fierce mountain king couple, plus Big Fat and Little Mimi from the neighborhood.

[T/N]: The first one is from his Great Conductor Date and as for the other one unfortunately I forgot to post this pet date (⁠●⁠_⁠_⁠●⁠)

Although this tabby cat doesn't look as strong as the mountain king, its temperament is indeed somewhat similar.

Seeing that we weren't scared off, the tabby cat's growls became even fiercer.

Shaw: It's quite energetic. I think it's in very good condition. MC: It's a relief that it's feeling fine. We can finally relax.

Seeing that the tabby cat seemed perfectly fine, I gently pulled Shaw back a few steps.

Maybe because it saw us retreating, the tabby cat hissed a couple more times, but the next second, it got a few swats from the tortoiseshell cat, immediately losing its earlier bravado.

Shaw: Oh, there's always something that can keep something else in check. Shaw: This female cat looks weak, but is actually much more ferocious than the male cat. Shaw: But it’s quite perceptive, knowing we're good people. MC: It probably saw that we brought cat food. They must be hungry.

The tortoiseshell cat meowed at me twice. When I looked closely, I noticed its belly was somewhat swollen, possibly because it's expecting kittens.

Meanwhile, the tabby cat had also quieted down and nuzzled against the tortoiseshell cat.

Shaw snorted, looking like he couldn't bear to watch, and stepped aside to give me space.

I poured some cat food into a small bowl, and together with Shaw, we placed the bowl a bit farther away.

After seeing us walking away a little, the two cats started to eat food.

While the tabby cat had just been swatted, it showed no sign of anger at all, and even let the tortoiseshell cat eat first.

Seeing the two cats in such a harmonious scene, I couldn't help but glance at Shaw.

His usually careless face also had a smile on the corner of his mouth.

MC: Although this tabby cat is a bit fierce, he still loves his girlfriend very much. He won’t hit or scold her back. MC: Isn’t that right, Shaw?

I intentionally raised my voice, infusing a subtle emphasis into the way I pronounced his name, conveying a hidden meaning.

Shaw: This is called 'the big cat has a big heart'.

Seeing him looking so pleased with himself, I angrily waved my fists at him. But the moment my fist was about to land, Shaw swiftly grabbed it in his palm.

Shaw: Is it necessary to use violence if you can't say it? MC: Now I believe its greatest strength lies in its brevity.

Seeing Shaw about to say something, I pretended to use my other hand to cover his mouth, but he agilely dodged it.

Shaw: Save your energy. I'm still skilled enough to handle your clumsy kung Fu moves.

—

[Section 3]

On our way back, it started to snow lightly.

I didn't expect the snow to get heavier after we got home from lunch. I was just scrolling through my phone when a notification popped up from the municipal department, informing us of something.

MC: The city will experience cold weather tonight, with a risk of icy roads. All units and individuals are advised to take necessary precautions to stay warm and safe.

Looking at the snowflakes falling more and more outside the window, I couldn't help but worry about the two cats in the park.

The mother cat was expecting kittens. I wonder if she can make it through.

MC: Why don't we bring some warm items for the cat? That rock garden is exposed to the wind from all sides...

Before I could even finished speaking, Shaw emerged from the bedroom fully dressed and walked swiftly to the entryway in a few strides.

I was stunned for a moment, but he had already put on his shoes and was leaning against the wall, smiling at me.

MC: Huh? Where are you going?

Shaw: The park. Aren't you worried? Let's go check them out. MC: Are you clairvoyant? How did you show up right when I was mumbling? Shaw: I'm clairvoyant. If you keep staring into the distance, you'll turn into an ice sculpture. Do you think I can't guess what you're thinking? Shaw: Put on your gloves and let's go.

When we arrived at the park with the blanket, we found that the tortoiseshell mother cat wasn't in good condition. Though it took some effort, we successfully brought both cats to the hospital.

Since the mother cat was a bit weak, the doctor recommended keeping her under observation. The tabby cat was fine, so after getting vaccinated, we temporarily took it to our home.

But I didn’t expect——————

Shaw: Don't run!

The sofa cushions were scattered messily on the floor, the tissue box on the coffee table was scratched up, and next to the overturned teacup was a trail of cat paw prints damp with water.

We followed the wet paw prints to the kitchen, where a paw sticking out from behind the curtain revealed the culprit's hiding spot.

Shaw put on an apron, tossed me a pair of kitchen gloves, and then moved forward to pull back the curtain. Together, we cornered the tabby cat against the wall.

Realizing it had nowhere to escape, the tabby cat let out a low growl, making a final stand.

MC: Little kitty, you can't keep wrecking the house...

I tried to soothe it as I bent down and reached out to pick it up, but that gave it the perfect opportunity.

The tabby cat suddenly made a dash, trying to escape between Shaw's and my legs.

Shaw: Where to run!

Shaw reacted quickly, grabbing the tabby cat by the scruff of its neck and putting it back into the carrier.

Although the place was a mess, half an hour of battling wits and nerves had left us both exhausted.

I leaned closer to Shaw, and he raised his arms and hugged me directly.

MC: Fortunately, you are here, otherwise the whole house would be turned upside down.

Shaw: It’s quite clever. We tried to change its cushion to make it more comfortable, and it took the opportunity to escape.

At this moment, though confined in the carrier, the tabby cat still hadn’t given up its resistance.

It kept pawing at the carrier, trying to push open the door with its paws. After several unsuccessful attempts, it switched to vocalizing its dissatisfaction at us.

First he growled a few words, and then there was an angry "meow, meow, meow, meow".

Cat: Meow! Meow! Meow%meow&! Meow meow meow! Meow meow meow meow!

Shaw: Although I don’t understand it, this guy must have scolded me quite unpleasantly.

MC: ......I feel so too.

Seeing that it wasn’t stopping, I decided to use food to try to calm it down.

MC: Maybe eating something will help.

I got up to fetch some cat food and carefully placed it inside the carrier using a bottle cap.

The tabby cat sniffed it but wasn’t moved, and even growled at me twice.

Shaw sprang up from the sofa, took a few strides to the carrier, and leaned down to stare at the tabby cat.

Shaw: Hey, don't blame me for responding to violence with violence.

Sensing Shaw's "aura of intimidation," the tabby cat turned its head away and let out two low meows.

But then, there was a series of familiar "meow meow meow meow".

MC: What should we do? We can't let it continue to scream like this.

I was a little helpless, but Shaw raised his eyebrows slightly and turned his head, looking confident.

Shaw: Don’t you have an online meeting later? Shaw: You go first and I'll take care of it.

—

[Section 4]

By the time I got to the living room after the meeting, the mess had been sorted out.

The tabby cat was released and was now lying in a corner of the living room. From the next room, I could hear Shaw’s intermittent voice where he was making a phone call.

Although I don't know how Shaw "solved" it, seeing that it didn't look as fierce as before, I felt a little relieved and walked slowly to the flight box.

MC: Don’t you like this cat food?

Seeing that the cat food I put in just now showed no sign of being touched, I planned to open a can for it first and wait for Shaw to finish the call before asking for details.

I took the opened can and put it in front of the tabby cat, but it was still unmoved after smelling it just like before.

I persistently shook the can of food in front of it, but the tabby cat just twitched its ears.

Shaw: Why do I get the bad attitude from you, while you’re so gentle with these little guys? Playing favorites?

Shaw poked his head out of the room and curled his lips.

MC: You finished your call? Why did you let it out? Aren't you afraid it’ll wreck the house again? Shaw: Of course it's because it's solved.

Shaw walked over to me and picked up the tabby cat from the floor.

Shaw: I've trained it well, if you don't believe it, look at it.

Shaw held the cat's hind legs with one hand, supported its chest with the other, and handed it over to me.

MC: Be careful, don't let it scratch you. Shaw: Its arrogance has long disappeared. Isn't it submissive now? Shaw: Now it's on my side of the battle. MC: Phew, then I’m even more “scared”!

Seeing Shaw mischievously lift the cat again, I instinctively closed my eyes and laughed, pretending to surrender with raised hands.

Although the cat moved a bit instinctively, as Shaw said, there was no sign of violence or retaliation. It even yawned.

Its previously fierce appearance now seemed somewhat cute and endearing.

The afternoon sun shines through the window and onto Shaw's body, creating a warm glow.

Compared to the scene of battling wits just now, the current moment of harmony between the person and a cat seems particularly peaceful and idyllic.

MC: He's so well-behaved and quite cute. Shaw: The biggest hero without exaggeration, should we praise it? MC: Don't you know your prowess extends beyond this? It's too early for praises. Shaw: You've got quite the foresight, well noted.

He put the cat down, turned around and placed the can in front of it.

The tabby cat sniffed around, glanced at Shaw, then leisurely started eating.

Shaw: Mission accomplished. MC: Wow, you are quite capable! Just now, it refused to eat no matter how much I fed it. MC: Looks like you've gained quite a bit of experience from Mountain King and Little Flower. Shaw: It's okay, mainly because of good understanding.

As he spoke, Shaw raised his hand and touched the tabby cat head. Looking at the cat's obedient appearance, I couldn't help but be curious.

MC: How to train it well? Can you teach me too~

Shaw: Teach you? What is the reward? Shaw: This is top secret. I'll have to see if it's a good deal and then tell you. MC: What do you want in return? Shaw: Look at you. Shaw: But you should know that I like to be paid sincerely.

Shaw casually shrugged his shoulders, then slightly leaned forward, a mischievous gleam in his narrow eyes.

With the sudden closeness, I already had a good idea of what was coming, but seeing his determined look, I didn't want to be led by him.

MC: …….. Shaw: While I'm in a good mood now, if you ask later, the reward will be doubled.

Knowing he always follows through on his word, despite feeling a bit annoyed, curiosity got the best of me. After some hesitation, I pecked at his cheek.

MC: .......Is this reward enough? Shaw: Not bad, I guess there's some sincerity in it.

The corners of Shaw's lips raised, not hiding the bright smile in his eyes.

He immediately took out his mobile phone and clicked on the video file inside.

The purring sound came through, and in the video, the tortoiseshell cat was being well taken care of, sleeping on a soft cushion, even comfortably changing its position.

It turned out that he asked someone from the hospital to take a video of the female cat.

Perhaps hearing a familiar voice, the tabby cat also came over.

Shaw handed me the phone, and the tabby cat ran over to my arms, even rubbing against me in a friendly manner.

Shaw: This guy, whoever has his girlfriend in their hands, he'll cozy up to them.

Watching the peacefully sleeping cat in the video, I replayed it again.

Shaw: Scroll down, there are several more. Shaw: Just now I asked the doctor for some new ones, but I haven't had time to see them yet.

In the next video, the tortoiseshell cat had already woken up from its nap. It watched as the doctor approached with a cat treat, mewling softly.

Shaw mischievously reached out to block it, but to everyone's surprise, the tabby cat actually followed his hand, as if inviting Shaw to pet its head.

Seeing the helplessness and a little disgust on his face, I couldn't help but laugh.

MC: Actually, its temper is quite good. It's probably only aggressive towards us because of its girlfriend. Shaw: How long has it been since they last saw each other? And it's already like this. Shaw: I thought it had some kind of fierce temperament, but it turns out it's just a lovesick fellow. MC: Lovesick? MC: ......Okay, I get it now. MC: So, some people haven't seen each other for a few days during exam week. I found out that their phone screens have my photo on them, and they call me every day— MC: Could it be they're trying to cure lovesickness?

Thinking about how eager he looked when talking about rewards earlier, I deliberately elongated my tone.

Seemingly caught off guard by my remark, Shaw paused for a moment, then slowly uttered a response.

Shaw: That's different. MC: What's the difference? Shaw: I'm much more handsome than him.

—

🐈 Call

[its-in-the-woods]

Down the Rabbit Hole Chapter 14

Chapter one here, two here, three here, four here , five here, six here, seven here, eight here,nine here, ten here, eleven here , twelve here , thirthen here

master list

Pairing: Walton Goggins x You

Rating/Warning:  As always minor get out. Like why are you even here leave. Alcohol use, angst/fluff, hurt/comfort, domestic cuteness,

Synopsis: Updated synopsis, Saturday evening doesn't go quite as planned but sometimes that's exactly what is needed.

Note: These are going to be spaced out going further as I have a fallout AU I want to start releasing. But these will still be coming out every 2-3 days <3  Thank you for all the love and support it's greatly appreciated!Keep reading

*To the readers who are new hello! Welcome. It's been so fun seeing y'all pop up in my notifications! Don't be shy leave a comment <3. To those who have been with me since the beginning thank you so much for still being here!*

***

The two of you lay there for a while curled around each other. You enjoy that comfortable silence just listening to the other one breathe, heartbeats pounding in sync. Fingers roving over each other with no other purpose than to feel. The sun starts to go down through the trees as the time ticks by. Something about just getting to spend time together, nothing else in the way.

“Do you want to have a shower?” Walton mumbled hands still tracing patterns against your side.

You hum for a minute, “Probably not a bad idea, What do you want to do for dinner?” 

Walton leans and gives you a slow kiss, tongue running along your teeth, before laying back, “I got some fish that would be nice. Can do up the bbq, outside, enjoy the evening air.”

“That sounds wonderful,” You grin, before sliding off of him. You wince slightly as your butt hits the sheets.

“It still stings?” Walton asks sliding over and off the bed, he wanders into the bathroom coming out with a bottle of advil. 

You shake your head, “It’s okay, I should probably take it with food.”

Walton’s eyebrows go up wrinkling his forehead, “Grab something from the trays and take one.”

“Okay, I will take one as long as I am allowed some cheese,” You grin, grabbing the bottle from his hands. 

“You can have whatever you like,” He gives you a kiss, hands rubbing at your butt. 

You rub your nose against him, “Going to have one with me?”

“Already got the water running,” He smiles, and you follow him into the bathroom. 

The shower is quick, Walton making sure to put more cream on your wrist and ass. Also, you snack on something and take advil. Then he was grabbing a pair of worn sweatpants and an oversized shirt, telling you to put them on because it’s cool outside. You don’t mind slipping into the soft clothes, Walton doing the same. It makes you feel like you’re being hugged by him. He grabs a brush, comb, and elastics out of your toiletry bag. You raise an eyebrow but he doesn’t say anything just walking out of the bedroom. 

You follow him out into the living room, he swings the windows open letting in the cooler evening air. Placing the hair tools on the dining table before he wanders into the kitchen. You help him dig out several items, laying them out on the counter. He also grabs a couple of bottles of booze, a mixer, and glasses. 

“Come over here,” Walton asks, pulling a chair out from the kitchen table, you sit down still unsure of what he is up to. 

He brushes through your hair, in long fluid strokes of someone who had done this before. Being gentle on any tangles you might have, fingers carefully working the knots out. You are surprised at how adept he is at it. Large hands use the comb to part the hair into sections before braiding it easily. He then ties it off and lets it rest against your back, hand running back over the strands. 

“How do you know how to do that?” You ask, fingers going over the twisted strands. It’s tight enough to keep its shape, but loose enough that it won’t pull against your scalp. 

Walton smiles as he walks over starting to pour various liquids into the shaker. “Grew up around a lot of amazing women. Taught me a thing or two. Also, Trevor mentioned how much you liked having your hair that way.”

“Of course, Trevor would be giving away all my secrets,” You tease happily, taking the drink he handed to you. It tastes amazing, and you can’t help but take another sip. 

“Ahh yes 'cause you have so many skeletons hanging in your closet,” Walton winked sipping on his drink. 

The two of you move outside, sitting on a patio set as Walton fusses over the BBQ. You lean back in your chair enjoying the cooler evening. Taking another sip of the drink, it had grapefruit, mint, and gin. A lovely combo that had the start of a buzz thrumming at your temples. Walton sat beside you, drink in hand as he melted into the chair. 

“Mmm, it's a lovely evening,” He hummed, fingers tapping on the chair. “I was wanting to talk to you about a few things. To do with work.”.

You nod your head as you stretch out your toes, getting comfortable in the wooden seat. The night air was different here, you could smell hints of the city. There was the noise of the car in the distance, a slight buzz of ambient noise, just enough of a humm to let you know the city lay a few streets away.  

“For some odd reason, I've become quite attached to you.” He smiled as you rolled your eyes at his teases. “So I was hoping you'd come with me to my next gig. Douglas my agent, has someone who works for him. Charlotte, she's a sweetheart. She is happy to take you on as a client if you like of course. But she will help you with paperwork, visas, banking, and so on.” 

“Oh wow,” You swallow, It was a lot to take in. You hadn't thought about much, passed this week. Still in the trenches of the show, you were currently on. “Yeah, that would be fantastic. I have very little knowledge about this end of things. Are you sure they are okay with helping me?”

Walton took your free hand in his, “I promise if they weren't legitimate I won't offer. It can be stressful to figure out all the legalese of things. The agency I am with is very knowledgeable about how that all works. They'll be able to make sure you can go where you need to when you need to without worry.”

You nod, the reality of it sinking into your chest. This was actually happening, you were going to be moving to LA, and traveling with Walton. It was wild, a few months ago you were wondering if you could even afford to live in a one-bedroom. Now this. 

Walton is up and moving around by the BBQ leaving your hand empty and your stomach knotting. You instinctively curled into a ball. Knees tucked against your chest, could feel yourself trembling a little, but it wasn’t from the cold. Your heart starts hammering in your chest. Panic had gripped your lungs in a vice and you were close to hyperventilating. You got up and were moving back inside hurriedly, you didn’t know where you were heading but you needed to move. Your bare feet hit the tile and you feel dizzy. Walton’s voice behind you, you head into the bedroom pacing back and forth trying to get your heart to stop trying to rattle its way out of your chest. 

A voice in the back of your head screaming that you needed to run. That nothing good ever came easy, that all of this could disappear as fast as it appeared. The doubt and worries, the night spent on the shower floor flood over you with a sob. 

Warm arms are wrapping themselves around you, your first instinct is to try and push him away. No. Nothing was easy. Life was cruel and you were bound to end up hurt again. The words rattling around your brain. Walton wasn’t going to let go though, he was much stronger than you letting you push without giving up space. Tears flowed out of you in a rush of emotions as you collapsed against him. 

He rubs at the back of your head soothing you, the feeling of guilt flooding over you. He had been nothing but kind, had flown you down to LA, and here you were a blubbering mess in his arms. You try to slow your breathing, lungs hitching and spasming as you finally calm yourself down. Relaxing you hug him back, letting the warmth and smell of him bring the moment back into focus. You pull back and he finally eases up a little, looking down at you worry lining his face. 

You look down at his shirt, feeling foolish for letting things get so bad. Your mind could be its own worst enemy, especially when you start to feel vulnerable. Anyone poking at those walls, disrupting your routine, but this wasn't that. This was new and you hadn’t let yourself feel these feelings in a long time. Your fingers work over the soft material of his shirt trying to dig words out of your mind that feel like scrambled eggs. 

“I-I- Umm,” You stutter clenching your fist, “I am sorry, I got overwhelmed.” It’s a lame thing to say, but your brain is so frazzled you can’t come up with much else. 

“Hush,” He whispers, kissing your forehead softly, “You got nothing to be sorry about. Been an intense day and I had to bring up work.”

You shake your head still feeling flustered but trying to listen to what he is saying. Even though your head is spinning in circles. Why couldn’t you just accept that things could be okay? 

“Hey,” He touches your cheek, having you look up at him, “It’s okay. We don’t have to worry about work or any of that until Monday.”

“No,” You shake your head, “It’s important, I just,” You take a few breaths, Walton giving you a little space to try and find your words. “My life isn’t easy, this,” You gestured around the space, “Is a lot to take in. A few months ago I was wondering how to make rent. And my brain just keeps running in circles about how easily this could all disappear”

Walton nodded guiding you over to sit on the bed, “Life has been hard, and I don’t know. This relationship between us is so easy.” He holds your hand, rubbing it between his own.

“I keep waiting for the other shoe to fall,” You say quietly, “I keep waiting for this to somehow end.”

He pulls you close to him, “You know we can’t know what’s to come. I know you know that. If I could promise you that it would never change. That it would only get better. But I don’t make a habit out of lying to people I care for. Sometimes our brain can be our own worst enemy.”

You nodded, wiping tears from your cheeks with your free hand. “It really can be. Thank you for understanding.”

He hums kissing where your tears fell, “And you aren’t alone in this. Even if things go south, I am not gonna leave you high and dry in a new city. That’s why you’re getting your own agent with all your own info, accounts all of it. Everything will be set up so that if things don’t work out between us you have a fallback.”

Worrying at your lip, he had a fallback plan, but not for him. For you. The man had only ever been kind, thoughtful, sometimes stupid, but he didn’t want to hurt you. He just wanted to be with you, whatever that meant. 

“Your brain is running again,” He whispered, “Let me in, please,”

You turn to him, kissing him softly, the two of you just sat there for a moment. The buzz that had infiltrated your mind was finally gone. 

“It’s never not running,” You say quietly, “Except when I am with you, when I am with you it’s quiet. Like the noise just goes away, and it scares me.”

“You don’t have to be scared. Not the only one whose mind is quiet when we are together. It is okay to enjoy the silence. Even if it’s just for a day or an hour. He stands offering you a hand, you take it and walk with him. “Me and you, whatever comes. We will get through it.”

Your lungs finally fill with air again, as you grab his hand and wrap your fingers with his. Heart slowing down and body easing as you follow him back out. 

“Ever consider writing poetry?” You tease at him as you grab a sip of your drink.

“Only across your backside,” He teases back, hand rubbing over your sore butt. “Pretty writing all over that,”

You flush, “still a little sensitive,” You pout a little but wiggle against his hand. 

“Hopefully the food is still semi-alive.” He says, giving you a quick kiss before going over to the BBQ.

You are more than a little bit tipsy, somewhere along the way Walton had turned the music on. The night had gotten cooler as the sun had disappeared and the two of you had curled up together on the sofa with the windows open. Blanket thrown haphazardly over top of tangle legs, as you sip on something that tastes like blackberries and honey. 

“Whatever you put in these,” You giggle as you run your hand over his legs. Something about the two of you just snuggled in each other's lap was so intimate. “Is addictive.”

Walton chuckles sliding further down the sofa cushions, eyes half closed, “Mmm, if there is one thing I know how to do, it’s make good cocktails.”

You rub at his feet, he groans watching you as you work them over. You carefully put the glass down on the coffee table so you can work at his arches.“You know how to do a few other things,” You grin, pushing your thumb in the right spot and watching him slide right onto the seats. 

He groans again, “What sort of things, sugar.” You can’t see his face but can tell he is smiling. 

“Mmm not sure I can say it out here, might scare the neighbors.” You tickle his toes making him try to grab them back. But you hold on until he’s sitting up swaying back and forth as much as you are. 

“Hey,” He glares at you, which is hilarious as his eyes can’t focus and his hair is disheveled. He squeaks as you hold his feet tickling again until he is rolling off the couch, you somehow are wrapped up in his legs and also end up on the floor.

There is a scuffle of blankets and legs as you both try and find a way out. You run smack into his chest, knocking him off balance and you fall on top of him in a fit of giggles. Throwing the blanket off the man who somehow still has his drink in his hand. You grab the drink and take a sip as you sit on his lap. He groans, taking the drink back from you and taking a sip. 

“How’d we end up here,” He grins, words slurring together as his free hand runs up your thigh.

“I am not sure,” You also slur, a little, “I think we got to go to bed.”

Walton chuckles somehow getting the glass onto the table beside yours. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news but uhh that ain’t happening again tonight.”

You let out a snort, wobbling yourself up, almost falling back onto the couch, “Mmm, no. Sleep. Actual sleep, you horny old man.”

Walton waves his hand in circles before you come over to pull him up. He is also wobbling, as you both try to make it down the hallway on unsteady feet. Giggling back and forth as you bump into each other, along with walls and doors. Once in the bedroom, you plunk him onto the bed, he groans and lays there as if he is unconscious. 

Running around you grab glasses of water and the bottle of advil putting them onto the side table. Head spinning a little as you try and keep yourself upright. Now you then need to deal with the half-asleep man who has somehow mostly slid off the bed. Poking him, you manage to get him mostly in bed. Getting him undressed was another matter.

“Walton,” You groan trying to get something off this man, he is not being overly cooperative.  “You got to help me out here.”

He grumbles trying to sit up, you get his shirt off and he flops back down. You throw your hands up and almost knock yourself over. Managing to get yourself undressed, you come around and flop the covers over.  Walt sat up slightly and crawled over to the spot like a drunken tiger, flopping into the open spot. Laughing, you go around and climb in on the other side. He immediately comes over and wraps himself around you. You move yourself as much as possible, getting comfortable and tucking the two of you in. 

“Mmm, you,” He grumbles against your shoulder, “Smell nice.” Walton’s words slurring so much that you can almost not understand what he says. 

Running your hand over his arm, squeezing at it a little, “Go to sleep, already.”

The sun is shining and you are warm. Walton is on top of you, groaning as you try to untangle yourself. A headache pushing at your eyeballs, you fumble managing to grab Advil and water downing both. Your teeth were fuzzy, dizziness floating around as you tried to figure out what way was up. Turning around you nudge Walton, he blinks a few times one eyeball fully open, hair in disarray. 

“Dear god, how do you still look good,” He grins, and you hand him some water and pills. Which he downs without a fuss, before scooting back to make room for you. Your face was flush as you slid in beside him

“You flatter me,” You grin against his side as you snuggle in, not bothering to cover yourself as you are both warm. “So what’s the plan for the day?”

Walton snorts, “Damn girl, I just got my eyeballs open.”

You pat his chest, “Can’t help myself, you’re just too handsome. Got me all wound up.” 

“Oh really now?” He says tickling your side, you squeal and try to squirm away. “What if I say you’d have to wait until those bruises heal?”

You pout, and huff at that, “I suppose I’d have to listen to you.” Sliding up you kiss him softly, he watches you, eyebrows raised. 

“Something tells me you aren’t very good at listening,” He says leaning in and giving you a quick kiss. Before sliding out, you huff but lean over to grab some water. 

You get up and stretch wondering what was going to happen. It was hard not to dwell on the previous night, you mulled it over a little more than you should be. Letting out a sigh you grab your toothbrush and brush your teeth. No. Today was a new day, no more overthinking, as if just the thought would magically make your brain stop. Grumbling at your internal monologue, remembering what Walton had said earlier. One day, one hour, that’s all you need. Letting out a breath you close your eyes, trying to let that aching feeling in your stomach leave. 

“You okay,” He stood in the doorway, still missing his shirt as he watched you. 

“One day at a time, right?” You reply, moving over to him, Walt wraps himself around you. “I plan on enjoying today.”

Walton hums squeezing you a little, how was he so warm all the time. You let yourself sag a little against him, if you could stay there for the day you would. He rubs your back and kisses your collarbone. 

“That’s all I can ask for.” He says, leaning back slightly to look at you. Why did he look at you like, making you feel like he could see right inside. “Today, just me and you.”

fifteen

*This got a little bit more angsty than intended but I am not mad about it

*I am still working on developing this relationship and their dynamic. It's interesting to dive into.

*as always likes, comments, reblogs are appreciated and keep the demons fed

[roci-wolf]

[22:29]

lee know x f.reader

word count: 1,2k

genre: fluff, established relationship

warnings: slightly suggestive jokes, mentions of food, "witch" used as an endearment. please do tell if i missed anything!

a/n: had this in my drafts for a while now and i decided to finally finish it so i hope the ending doesn't sound a little too rushed. anywayz, tooth rooting fluff bcs i need it.

It had been a very exhausting day. Actually, exhausting was not enough to encapsulate the plethora of emotions boiling inside you or the way your body was feeling — your arms were aching so hard you almost dropped your bag on the way home more than three times, your legs were trembling like jelly and your eyelids were so heavy they were threatening to close against your will. But you had to at least get home first and collapsing in the middle of the street as cars were passing by wasn't on your to do list that day.

But there was something you haven't done yet. One last bullet point that desperately needed to get checked. You wouldn't relax unless you were completing that last task. That's why you were now almost running towards your apartment, high heels echoing in the silent and chilly night. The light in front of the apartment building was slightly flickering again, the buzz of the lightbulb giving its last breath filling your ears as you were fishing for your keys in your purse. You cursed under your breath — where were those damn keys?!

Everything seemed to be running in slow motion. The only thing engulfing your head was the image of the last task of the day needing to be tackled. Your blood was pumping furiously in your veins as if you had been fighting with a lion and a bunch of pirates before arriving home. A tiny moth flew in front of you, entering the building through an open window, as if it was mocking you for being a human who needed a keypad in order to enter their own home. You huffed and puffed, getting more and more agitated.

Finally, you found the keys hidden right at the bottom of your purse. It was as if the whole world wanted to piss you off by keeping you away from your task.

You couldn't even remember how you got in the elevator and then unlocked the apartment door. Everything happened so fast.

A smell of freshly heated food with a tint of male cologne filled your nostrils. Soft music notes carassed your cheeks, dim warm light kissed your eyelids and the fluffy carpet hugged your toes, inviting you in. You smiled to yourself like an idiot, taking a deep breath.

Your heart was on the brink of exploding. But not yet, you wouldn't allow it.

You dropped your purse on the ground, threw your jacket in the hanger carelessly and started running. Nothing could have made you run like that in that moment apart from what was waiting for you on the couch of your living room in a dark blue hoodie and sweatpants with a cat in his lap.

"'Night, Y/n, how was toda- OOF"

Dori was smart enough to predict the disaster that was to follow and quickly left her spot from Minho's lap when you decided to throw your body like a sack of potatoes towards him. You landed with half of your body on the expandable couch and with the other half on your boyfriend. Your hands crawled on his chest and reached his cheeks. He stared at you, blinking like a confused cat with puckered lips because you were gently pushing on his cheeks.

"I'm guessing you'le bely tiled?" he tried to speak with lips like a fish's and you giggled, tucking your nose in his chest and releasing his face.

"That hurt, honey", he whined as you scooted closer to him, wrapping your leg around his figure. Your skirt slightly rose up your leg, so he covered your lower half with the blanket that had been previously warmed up by him. You hummed as the crazy demons that were trampling in your mind burned in the cozy feeling and slowly perished.

"I could die happy now" you mumbled with your face hidden in his hoodie.

"Go ahead", Minho said, surrounding your shoulders with his arm. "Send me a letter from hell".

You gently punched his stomach with your fist.

"How rude! How could you know I'd end up in hell and not in heaven?!"

"With your demon-like behaviour and bewitching being? Darling, you're a walking sin."

You raised your head to glance at his face, chills traveling across your body like a gang of dancing mariachi.

"Wow", you said. "You got me there, Mr Darcy."

The corner of his lips lifted in a smug smirk upon perceiving your reaction.

"What, has my compliment vanished all your braveness? You were so determined to fight me a second ago."

"You're talking as if you didn't just admit I have bewitched you", you scoffed, placing your head on his shoulder so you could look at the side of his face better.

"Well, you do it everyday. I'm not ashamed of speaking about it. How could I not?"

Oh, he did not.

You felt his hand sneak up around you, his fingers traveling across your spine. You rolled around above him before his hand could find your bottom.

"Auch! Witch, what have I done to you?!"

"Keep those grabby hands to yourself, mister", you pushed his chest with your index finger. "Or I'll have to cast a spell and transform those fingers of yours in spaghetti."

"Babe, I don't think that you'd like that", he raised his eyebrow, looking you dead in the eyes. You couldn't believe he was so blunt that night.

"Are you trying to imply something?"

"I don't know, am I?"

Your faces were inches apart, your lips almost touching his.

"Hm. Maybe that tongue needs to disappear as well."

"Oh, honey, you make bad decisions upon bad decisions. You know, it's your loss, not mine. "

"Are you so sure about that?"

His long eyelashes were tickling your face.

"I know you, baby. You wouldn't resist two days."

"Oho, cocky, are we?"

"Hm, just like you like it, my witch."

You didn't push his hands away this time. He grabbed your waist with his hands and gently pushed your body up so that your lips could finally touch. You were fully draped over him now, with your hands on his chest. His fingers tangled in your hair, softly massaging the scalp, making you hum into the kiss. You felt him smile as his other hand placed itself on your back, pushing you closer. You pulled away from his face and let him intertwine his legs with yours as your bodies mingled together, almost becoming one.

You would have fallen asleep there if only your annoying stomach didn't start making weird sounds. Minho giggled, cooing at you.

"Aw, is honey hungry? Why didn't you say so from the beginning?"

You mumbled, feeling your face heat up.

He turned his head with his ear towards your mouth, mockingly.

"What? I didn't heaaar youuu", he trailed off, amusement clear in his voice.

"I said", you spoke up, "I wanted to cuddle first!"

You smirked seeing his face contort because you spoke too loudly in his ear. He frowned, blinking repeatedly and slowly.

"Well, your belly doesn't want cuddles."

"Then my belly is a loser."

"Hey", he retorted, patting your lower back. "Your belly is cute. Don't insult it."

"But it's standing in the way."

He laughed, a series of giggles ending in an "ah", almost like a sigh, while he was carefully prying away from you. You pouted, but he quickly pecked you on the lips before disappearing in the kitchen.

"I know something both you and your stomach would love", his voice floated to your ears. "Pancakes and cuddles?"

You smiled, hugging the blanket and your knees closer to your chest, hiding your nose in it, inhaling Minho's familiar scent.

My final task is about to be completed.