#some freelance husbands fluff!

[modern-gremlin]

Morning Errands | Sebastian SDV — Married Life 🔞

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT

Pairing: Sebastian (SDV) x afab!reader

Summary: You need Sebastian's help with beginning-of-season errands. If only there was a way you could "wake him up".

Tags: Husband!Sebastian, Smut, established relationship, detailed descriptions of sex, a dash of fluff. NSFW Tags below the cut.

Word Count: 2,900 (I did it, a fic under 5,000 words lol) A/N: Fun Fact — this idea started as a non-SDV related adult animation concept I was in early development of. I unfortunately do not have a lot of time for animating things anymore, so it's definitely more feasible to write it down. PLUS, I just love quickly shooting these stories out — better spat out here than rotting in my brain!!

It was really fun to rewrite it to fit the Stardew Valley world; I think it just gives me so much more to work with. Especially when it comes to writing about the world in detail. (and I get to feed my Sebastian brainworms <33) Hope you enjoy the read xoxo

NSFW Tags: morning sex, foreplay (dry humping), some dirty talk (mostly teasing), oral (male receiving), overstimulation, creampie

"Seb? Seeeeebb, it's 6:40," you say softly with a gentle shake of his arm, "we gotta get going." Still unwilling to move from his comfortable spot on the bed, Sebastian stifles a sleepy groan in response. It's always been hard to wake him up — that's something you knew even before you married him. Working freelance comes with the blessing and curse of setting your own work schedule, which means late night cramming sessions are a normal occurrence. You don't really blame him for wanting to sleep in, but today, he promised to help you with your ever-growing list of morning chores.

You run your fingers through his hair, lightly brushing the dark strands off his cheek with the back of your fingers. He just looks so peaceful when he's asleep; it's really such a shame to wake him up like this. Especially when he wraps his arm around you to cuddle against your thigh. It's almost tempting to sink yourself back into his arms and shut the whole world away under the protection of your shared bed covers. Almost — but you know better than to underestimate your beginning-of-season errands. It doesn't help that you also agreed to host a family dinner with Robin and Demetrius this evening. So much to do, so little time. In hindsight, you wish you planned this all a little better.

With a little more force this time, you try to shake him awake. "Mmph… just a few more minutes…" he mumbles while releasing his arms from your thigh, now lying on his back. At least he's able to get a few words out. That's a good sign, you think to yourself. You head toward your bathroom, hoping that by the time you're done brushing your teeth he'll be sitting upright. Maybe.

A soft, cool breeze enters the small opening of your window as you pass through the hallway. It's remarkable how quickly the seasons change in the valley. From your view in the bathroom, you can catch a glimpse of your summer crops, now reduced to wilted clumps in the soil. You'll definitely need Seb's help with this today. You take a little extra time to brush your teeth and wash your face, trying to buy him time to get up. He's gotta be awake by now, right?

You're not surprised to see him still splayed on the bed, eyes just barely fluttering at the sound of your footsteps entering the room. "Seb, it's almost 7 now. I really need your help," you plead sweetly, hoping the cute tone you've adopted would prompt him to move with more haste. He just smiles and offers a curt, "Mhm," in response, eyes still shut. Wow, he's really out of it, huh? You might need to switch strategies.

If you married Sebastian knowing that he's not exactly a morning person, he should also count on the fact that you're always up for a little bit of mischief — because now, you've got a plan that's basically foolproof. Creeping up to the bed, you slowly plant a knee on each side of his body to gently straddle his lap. With your chest pressed against his, you place kisses on his face. "Sebby, come on" you whisper tenderly into his ear, "you can get up for me, can't you?" He lets out an amused huff out of his nose and wraps an arm around the small of your back. He's definitely more awake now, but perhaps a little more provocation will do the trick.

You kiss along his jaw down to the side of his neck, playing with the collar of his t-shirt with your fingers. His eyes lazily open when you stop, now meeting his gaze from where your cheek rests on his chest. "Morning, sleepyhead. Remember those errands I need help with?" you tease. He lovingly smirks at your remark, placing a hand on your head to gently stroke your hair.

"Mm… what time is it?" he asks in a raspy voice. You answer his question with a light pinch of his cheek,

"Probably seven, by now. We're running a little late, y'know?"

The fact that 7AM is considered late to you is something he's still getting used to. If left to his own devices, he'd absolutely sleep the day away and have his breakfast at 3PM. Yet, he tries his best to slip into your daily schedule because that'd mean he'd get more time to see your face throughout the day, wouldn't it? But you know what they say, old habits die hard, and right now his old habits have him basically glued to the bed.

"What are the chances I can convince you to push these errands to tomorrow?" he asks cheekily.

"Hm… slim to none," you reply. "With the dinner party today and the fair coming up in a few weeks, it's gonna be really tough to–" You notice his eyes droop as you speak. "Seb?" He startles awake at the sudden call of his name.

"M' sorry, babe. Promise I'm not doing it on purpose," Sebastian rubs his eyes and yawns. "It's just... hard to stay awake."

With a smile, you shake your head and sigh, "what am I gonna do with you?"

"Hm…I don't know. What are you going to do with me?" He places his hands onto your back again, looking down at you with a suggestive smirk.

Leaning in closer to his face, just barely grazing your mouth over his, you whisper, "I might have a few ideas."

Placing your hands around his neck, thumbs resting against his jaw, you pull him closer into a deep kiss. He tightens the grip around your waist in response, pulling you closer toward him. God, if he wasn't awake a few minutes ago, he definitely is waking up now. He takes your mouth into his, enveloping your lips entirely and gently brushing them with his tongue. You can feel your pulse quickening as your breasts press firmly against him; an urge slowly building and itching at you from below. Unable to contain yourself, you lower your hips to grind against the thick bulge beneath you. You can't help but smile at how hard he already is; grinning against his tongue.

You pull away to shift your weight onto his clothed cock, gasping at how it rubs against you. "At least one part of you is up," you jeer, rocking slow movements against his length. He muses at your words and brushes his hair away from his face, granting him a better view of your body on top of his.

"Can you blame me?" he smiles, his sleepy eyes scanning your form. Running thumbs underneath the hem of your shirt, he gingerly lifts up the fabric to reveal your bare chest steadily bouncing at the rhythm your clothed pussy rubs against him. "Fuck me," he gasps breathily, "what a way to wake up."

His exasperation makes you laugh, motivating you to grind your hips with more fervour. "I'm glad this is working," you admit, "because we have just– so much– to do…" Your words are broken up with every sway of your hips. He pulls your shirt off your arms as you continuously pleasure yourself with his dick, moaning and creating a wet spot on his boxers. He just watches as you use him, in absolute awe by how your body reacts to his. His head slowly falls backward onto the pillow, closing his eyes to take in the stimulation. Then suddenly, you stop.

His eyes dart open again at your weight being lifted off his lap, ready to pull you back onto him. You move his hands away and lower your face to his lap. "Nuh uh. You gotta wake up," you chastise before pulling down his boxers. He groans breathily when his thick cock springs free, smacking his toned stomach from the speed of your movements. Without warning, you spit on his tip and run your palm against his shaft, causing him to tense at the sudden sensation. For a while, he can only stare at you with furrowed brows and complete admiration.

"I should sleep in more often," he teases while grinning at his own remark. But soon his sly grin is replaced by a strained grit because you wrap your fingers around his fat length, stroking him at an unfair pace. He perches himself up by the elbows, watching you fist his cock from base to tip. "Fuck, baby. You gotta slow down or ill–" You lower yourself to lick his balls, dragging your way up the shaft.

"Can't, Sebby," you say, stopping at the tip. "Can't have you falling asleep on me." Taking his length in your hand, you guide his cock into the warmth of your mouth, swirling your tongue around the head.

He instinctually places his hands on the top of your head as he throws back his own. The bed gently shakes at the bobbing of your head, catching and swallowing his length into your throat. It's all so sudden; so frustratingly sexy that he can hardly take it. With the hand that grips at your hair, he tries to pry you off him — hoping to gain some reprieve. But this only invites you to suck on him with more excitement. It's just too hard to resist when he praises you in his gravelly, morning voice. "Holy fuck, babe. You're too good at tha–" You can feel his cock twitch in your mouth as he pushes you away from him; he must be close.

With a gentle tug of your hair, you give in and pull away. You and Sebastian heave heavily, the latter trying to regain his composure. He's usually the one to make you melt underneath him, so you can't help but marvel at his flustered expression. "You awake now?" you triumph with a mischievous smile. He picks himself up to stare into you; the look in his eyes tell you that you're in for it now.

Releasing his grip, he sits himself upright and leans toward you. "Hm, yeah. I think I am," he says while returning your expression, "turn around."

Without a question, you turn yourself around, resting your chest on the bed while lifting your ass toward him. You wiggle your hips tauntingly in his direction until you're greeted by a firm smack — a small yelp escapes your lips from the impact. "So impatient," he chides while soothing the sting with his palm, "well, you got what you wanted. I'm up." He slaps your ass again before leaning behind you, pressing his chest to your back to whisper into your ear, "unless…there's something else you wanted."

Just the sound of his condescending tone sends shivers down your spine, and he knows it. He hooks a finger by your dripping slit and tugs at your underwear, causing the fabric to bundle tightly against your clit. All semblances of your mischief has disappeared, vanished with his scolding and now you're moaning his name into the covers. You can tell he's enjoying every lewd noise you make, because now he's tugging at your panties harder, trying to elicit a bigger reaction.

"Well, now that I'm awake, let's go over our to-do list, hm?" He releases your underwear, only to slip his cock beneath the fabric and vigorously rub your clit.

"Seb… I can't–" you plead, eager to feel him plunge inside you. He places his hands on your waist, stroking soothing circles with his thumbs against your back.

"Don't worry, baby. You'll get it, after we go through the list. Okay?" he coos.

Stumbling your words in between moans, you begin listing the day's tasks. "W-we… need to clear off the crops…and prepare the fields."

"Mhm," he hums while wetting his tip along your slit. "What's next?"

"Clear off the weeds in front of the b-baaaarn–" You words shake as he teases your entrance with his tip, gliding it to catch your slick. "Then go to Pierre's… to pick up ingredients for tonight." Your legs quiver as he prods your wet cunt, not fully entering.

"Is there…anything else?" Sebastian meaninglessly asks, his own voice getting shaky in anticipation. He doesn't really care what's on the to-do list, not at the moment at least. No doubt he'll have to ask about it later, because all he cares about now is making you beg to be railed.

"We might also need to–" This time, he slowly pushes his cock through your wet folds, slipping himself inch by inch into your cunt until his thighs are flush against you. His size fills you entirely, stopping any words from escaping your mouth.

He lets out a breathy moan as he feels your pussy clench around him, still gritting his teeth to continue, "We might need to what? I didn't… catch the last part." He nearly pulls himself out entirely while waiting for your response.

"We…might need to–" You breathe in heavily while his dick pulses inside you. "Seb, please," you beg in a petulant tone. Your cries are so needy and desperate, but you don't care. There's no pride between you two, only true love and the aching desire to be fucked. Lucky for you, the feeling is mutual. Deciding he's equally impatient, he fucks his full length back into you.

"I think I get the gist," he says with a satisfied smile before plunging himself in and out of your cunt. He so badly wants to praise how well you took his teasing, but he's almost completely breathless. Lost for words at how tight you are, how well your pretty pussy takes him, and utterly smitten by the way you moan his name between thrusts. He wants to pound more of them out of you — a reminder to everyone in town that you've chosen him and he's the one fucking you the way you deserve.

Really, this is just one of the many moments he's reminded just how lucky he is. He feels so lucky that you decided to move to this boring town. So lucky that you stuck around despite his icy exterior, and miraculously lucky that you fell in love with him. Now he gets to wake up beside you everyday, fuck you like no one else can, and navigate life's mundanities with the person he loves. Morning errands be damned; nothing ever feels like a chore now that you're his.

He pounds you harder now — as if he's trying to bury his intentions deep inside you so you can feel his gratitude. Because even all his sly remarks and bullied thrusts are just another way of praising you; another way to tell you he loves you without saying it out loud. Your pussy clenches down on him so tightly, grasping onto his praises like your life depended on it. Ready to cum all over his cock to confirm that you feel the same. But even if your cunt wasn't being obvious, your words certainly were.

"Seb– it feels so. Fucking. Good," you whine in between thrusts. You try to warn him of your impending burst, but the arch of your back signals your orgasm much faster than you can speak. Backing your ass further into him, you accept his length against your cervix until you feel your release. You convulse around him, whispering thank you's under your breath. The only sound reaching his ears are your muffled cries of pleasure and the squeaking of the bed. He fucks you through your orgasm, but even after you come down from the high, he's still not done.

He rails your stimulated pussy over and over again, causing you to reach out your hand behind you to slow him down. "S-sebastian, I just came. Slower, it's so f-fast"

Grabbing your arm by the wrist, he plows deeper into you. "Sorry, baby. Can't," he says breathily, "We got too much to do today, remember?" You turn your head back to look over your shoulder and flash him a blissed-out smile, silently laughing at his twist of your words.

Reaching around to your front, he rubs circles around your puffy clit while he fucks his last few, sloppy blows inside you. "So close, babe. M'so fucking…close" he says with gritted teeth. His movements on your bud stokes the fire within you, threatening to shatter you once again. With one last buck of his hips against yours, he shoots his load deep inside your pussy, filling you to the brim with in white. He groans profanities as he sputters small thrusts into you. The warmth of his semen hitting against you is the last straw, sending you into your second orgasm of the day.

Dropping your wrist from his grip, he leans forward onto your back, pulling out slightly causing his cum to spill out of you. You breathe in unison, heavily and laboured as you try to regain your bearings. Maybe it's been ten minutes or maybe it was an hour, but you both lay beside each other, unbothered by the time that's passing you by.

When you both come down to your senses, your eyes lock onto his and suddenly you're both chuckling at the morning's happenings. With a bright-eyed smile, he takes your palm to rest on his cheek. Placing a kiss on your knuckles, he greets you to start the day.

"Good morning, honey."

[teacasket]

i love you bear-y much

genre: fluff au: non idol au warnings: none word count: 0.4k   pairing: gn!reader x yang jeongin

Your sleep-addled brain barely registers Jeongin’s alarm going off, but your tired body definitely feels the bed shift as he gets up. He tucks the blankets around you, sealing in the warmth, before heading to the bathroom. You fall back into slumber and only wake again when he kisses your forehead in goodbye.

“I’ll see you in a week,” he whispers. “I love you.”

“Love you more.”

Several hours later when you’re awake, you stumble into the kitchen to make coffee. Unlike your husband, you have no business trips to go on, but doing freelance work is no easy feat either. Jeongin’s usual mug is in the drying rack, so you grab it in lieu of combing through the expansive souvenir mug collection in the cabinet for today’s choice of drinkware. As you wait for your coffee to brew, your phone vibrates with an incoming video call. Jeongin’s face, lovely albeit worn, fills the screen.

“Hey,” he says. “I’ve landed, and I’m safe. I’m just waiting for my driver. What are you up to?”

“Coffee,” you answer over the sound of the machine. “And then emails.”

“Did you like the gift I left for you?”

You visualize your bedroom, searching for any object that seems out of place. Then you poke your head out to the living room and find nothing unusual there. “I’d like it better if I knew where it was. Did you hide it somewhere?”

“No. You didn’t pick Mug of the Day yet?”

You hold up his mug, decorated with a watercolor rendition of the Busan skyline. “It’s this one.”

He smiles. “Check the cabinet.”

You open the doors, expecting to rummage through the enormous selection available, but the plush teddy bear makes the search much easier. The mug it sits in is new as well.

“‘I love you bear-y much,’” you read aloud. The cartoon bears hug each other, and a red heart floats above their heads. “This is adorable. I love you bear-y, bear-y much.”

“Love you the bear-y most,” he says, laughing when he notices your slight pout. “Please, just let me win this time. My driver’s here.”

“Okay, fine.” You wave goodbye with the arm of the teddy bear. “Stay safe. Call me when you’ve checked in.”

“I will. See you.”

The call ends, and you pour your freshly brewed coffee into your brand new mug. Some sugar and creamer later, it’s complete. You take it to your office along with your new friend, who now lives on the shelf above your desk. As you reply to emails, you can’t help but feel your coffee tastes even better than usual.

[loudblonde]

Could I request anyone in the 141 with a non military/detective s/o who just finished a dangerous case. and like how they react to it idk 💀

thanks 👍💪

In honour of Sherlock Holmes becoming public domain, you dear Anon will get more than just one of the boys with a detective s/o. Male!Reader is vaguely if not outrightly stated to be a Holmes much like Sherlock Holmes, he is not BBC Sherlock.

Warnings: mentions of child porn, human trafficking, and torture. Canon typical violence.

Hurt/comfort and some fluff

All stories are under 500 words long, so they might just be drabbles.

Male reader,

~ Captain John Price ~

John Price was sitting in his office with the small radio turned on low, just filling out paperwork from work from his most recent mission with the team. It had been a success but he still had a ton of paperwork. John never quite paid much attention to the radio until a familiar name came up, (Y/N) Price. 

John abandoned all thoughts of paperwork as he turned the radio on. 

“-great news to announce that Detective (Y/N) Price has once again done the impossible after disappearing off the radar for two weeks, (Y/N) located and personally gathered information on a human trafficking ring, allegedly going undercover despite being a very well known man.” One of the hosts said. 

Price sucked in a deep breath and listened carefully, his mind filled with static as gore filled images of his husband getting brutally tortured and killed because he was discovered crossed his mind, Price knew the reality would be that, he knew that (Y/N) wouldn’t have made it out alive had it not been for his husbands sheer dumb fucking luck. 

“I know right, Kelley,” The other host said. “From what we know, Detective Price is a married man, he wears a gold wedding band, I sure wouldn’t wish to be married to someone who just disappears all of the sudden for weeks on end!” The hosts laughed together and John looked down in his hands.

They both had a tendency to disappear for work, rarely ever saw each other but when they did, between missions and cases, especially with (Y/N)’s freelance work, much like his older brother. 

Price reached over and grabbed his phone, dialing his husband's number. He placed the phone to his ear and listened as it dialed 3 times before it was picked up. “Hmmm, John it’s 3 in the night here.” His husband's groggy voice came through. 

Price smiled a bit as he turned the radio off. “I heard the news about your latest case.” 

(Y/N) chuckled, voice sounding rasped. “I wasn’t alone, despite what they say, my brother was with me and not Sher.” 

“Ah, so the oldest Holmes made it out of his fancy office to help, that is at least somewhat comforting.” He said. 

(Y/N) hummed for a moment. “It was scary, I won’t lie to you, I knew this kind of work was gonna take a lot but wow… I can’t imagine your mission being easy either.” 

“Hmm, no my mission wasn’t easy but we all made it through, minimal injuries and we recovered the intel.” Price said. “I have some saved up vacation time, why don’t we take a break, the both of us and go somewhere just the two of us?” 

(Y/N) smiled. “I would like that, just the two of us, it would be nice… I love you John, you know that, right?” 

John touched his necklace where the ring was. “I love you too, with all my heart.” 

< Simon “Ghost” Riley > 

Simon was sitting with the team watching some telly when the news came on, the picture of his husband looking stoic as ever came on as the reporter smiled. “Today the Brother Holmes were successful in taking down a child porno ring that extended as far into minor positions of our government. The brothers went undercover while posing as people who could give access to child porn, they worked closely with Scotland Yard in catching over 150 pedofiles in the UK alone. It has been reported that both their lives were at risk during it and that (Y/N) Holmes was almost killed several times during this investigation, though I am happy to tell you that any hospitalisation lasted less than 24 hours and that the young detective is not in any danger.” The reporter finished and ads started playing. 

Simon sat, staring blank at the screen, (Y/N) had mentioned a case that had been dangerous but he was never told his life had been in danger. Logically he knew that (Y/N) was a capable man who could not only keep up with his brothers and their crazy shit, but also knew his way around several fighting styles and weapons, Simon logically knew all that and still hearing his husband, one of few people who knew Simon’s face, who Simon trusted with all his life, had been in danger and almost killed… it made his blood boil. 

Simon stood up, spooking Soap who cursed after him, But Simon didn’t care, he couldn’t care, he was just making a beeline for his room and as soon as he got there he took out his phone and called one of few numbers even saved in it. Their house phone, a secure line.

“Holmes Residency, (Y/N) speaking.” A pained voice came out. 

“Are you okay?” Simon asked before anything else. 

“Ahhh, Simon, yes, just a few bruised ribs.” (Y/N) said and Simon could hear his smile. 

“He was also poisoned.” Came Mycroft ever so helpful. 

“And stabbed, twice, I have him on bedrest.” A much clearer Doctor Watson said. “Well, as much as you can keep a Holmes on bedrest.” 

Simon took a deep breath. “(Y/N)... you are single handedly going to make me go grey before Price.” He knew his comment would make (Y/N) chuckle. 

“I am fine Si and I love you too.” (Y/N) said as he chuckled. “I love you more than I could ever express to you…. I love you more then (favourite food/movie).” 

Simon smiled a bit. “I love you too… but be careful, I don’t want you getting killed… I can’t lose anymore people.” 

(Y/N)’s smile softened a bit. “Don’t worry Si, I won’t take a case until I am healed. Apparently there is a high reward for people who help out with catching criminals, who would have thought?” 

) John “Soap” McTavish (

John was sitting in the police room as (Y/N) finished up whatever he was doing. The mission had been too close to his own line of work for comfort. Laswell had gotten the 141 to bring out (Y/N) Holmes from a person who had kidnapped him. His own husband had been kidnapped and he didn’t even know. 

Sometimes John hated their line of work, it was cruel and left little contact with loved ones. 

“Relax Johnny.” Ghost said from beside him. Both still in full gear. “Nothing is gonna happen while we sit here.” 

John looked at Ghost and cracked a small smile. “Yeah I know, it’s just two weeks in a long time.” 

Ghost looked at him and slowly blinked. “Yes it is, but he is a Holmes, I thought that was a given or they were trained for that.” 

John shook his head. “No, no they aren’t, they are just civilians who everyone thinks are-” John stopped talking as (Y/N) stepped out of the room, looking worse for wear, but with a big smile on his face. 

John instantly stood and walked over, hugging (Y/N) close and a tad too tight. 

“John, my ribs.” (Y/N) groaned as he hugged back. 

“Oh right sorry.” John pulled away and took (Y/N)’s face in his hands. “Don’t ever do something like that again!” He said loudly. “I was worried sick when I heard you had been missing for 2 weeks!”

(Y/N)’s eyes softened. “I didn’t mean to get caught, but Sherlock managed to get away and get to safety, he ensured that I was kept alive.” 

John rested his forehead against (Y/N)’s. “Remind me to thank him when we see him.” John chuckled a bit, just happy to have his husband back in his arms. 

“Hmm, you can thank him at the wedding in 7 months. Him and Watson are finally tying the knot, I won the bet between everyone by the way.” (Y/N) said, smirking a bit. 

“I love you so much,” John said. 

[ Kyle “Gaz” Garrick ]

Kyle was just standing and talking with Soap as he saw his long time boyfriend (Y/N) walk up with a newspaper in hand. Kyle tilted his head slightly and stopped talking, causing Soap to turn and look at (Y/N). “Hey, why is a Holmes walking directly towards us? Is he even allowed on base?” Soap asked. 

Kyle shrugged. “He should be. Hey (Y/N)!” He called out as (Y/N) got closer. 

“Kyle!” (Y/N) said happily as he practically bounced over. “May I?” 

Kyle nodded and they hugged close. Kyle missed (Y/N) whenever he went away but he couldn’t exactly stop (Y/N) from taking on case after case, they paid far too well. 

(Y/N) showed Kyle the newspaper from that morning. “I just finished a case for the king of Sweden, didn't even know it was the Swedish king, he is very… eccentric but normal. He is just a person, it was nice.” 

“Soooo.” A certain Scottish man broke through their conversation. “How do you two know each other?” 

“(Y/N) meet Soap, Soap, this is my boyfriend, (Y/N) Holmes.” Kyle said. 

(Y/N) smiled brightly and shook Soap's hand. “I have heard a lot about you lot and the 141.” 

“Only good things I hope.” Soap said. 

“The best of things. Oh and Kyle, no reason to worry, a doctor that wasn’t my brother's close friend cleared me. I am not injured even though you will undoubtedly hear about a very large fall I had in tonight's news. I just wanted to tell you that before you hear it from someone that isn’t me.” He said. 

Kyle’s eyes widened. “(Y/N) you promised to be careful.” 

“I was… ish… okay maybe not as much as I should, but I was safe during the whole thing, no large injury or bed rest needed.” 

“No case for at least 3 days, please.” Kyle said. 

“... Okay, no case for a week. I love you, alright? I am always going to return home to you.” 

Kyle smiled at that. “Good. I love you too.”

[dancingtotuyo]

The Life We Built (Joel Miller)

Part 5 of Build You The World Joel X Reader Rating: PG-13 (Language) Warnings: fluff, that's it. Tags: no outbreak, fluff, craftsman!Joel, Time jump, it's 2023 folks, no mentions of COVID, you decide if it happened Notes: So we've reached the end of this little adventure that was only supposed to be a one shot, but never fear! I have another Joel Miller idea in the works. Check out my Masterlist for some Javier Peña works as well! Thank you everyone for your support! Words: 1998

Series Master List | Author Master list

Joel eased into the chair next to you under the pergola he built 25 years ago. It was still sturdy and spoke to Joel’s craftsmanship. The sun was beginning to set, granting some relief to the spring heat as you watched your three grown children clean up the backyard. They’d insisted the two of you relax. 

Emma graduated from Duke last weekend with honors in Pre-med. Which meant traveling to North Carolina for the ceremony. Joel has insisted on driving up. He hated flying. With a 20-hour car ride one way, you caught up on a lot of reading and almost booked yourself a plane ticket home. The two of you had been gone for almost a week. So her graduation party took place this weekend at home. She’d been accepted into UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Medicine and would be going back to Durham in a couple of weeks. She was officially moving out, boxes already stacked high in her room. You and Joel both chose not to think about your baby leaving the nest for good.  

Emma laughed at something Asher said. You couldn’t see Sarah roll her eyes, but you knew by her body language. Joel chuckled next to you. He sensed it too, both in tune with your children. 

Asher graduated with a Bachelor's in Engineering from UT-Austin a few years ago, choosing to stay close to home. He had a small apartment in town working at Miller Construction since graduation. Joel joked that if he didn’t put his degree to use soon, he was gonna have to rebrand as Miller and Son. You had a sneaking suspicion that’s what Asher wanted. He and Joel shared the same love of building things with their hands. 

“Grandpa!” Sarah’s 3-year-old daughter, Jessie bounded across the yard, dark curls bouncing like springs behind her. You could see the brightly colored book in her grasp.

She panted heavily as she reached the two of you. Her small hands rested on Joel’s knees. She looked up through dark lashes. “Will you read this to me?”

Joel smiled. She reminded you so much of Sarah at her age. “Don’t you want grandma to do it? She’s a much better reader than me.”

“No, you!”

“Okay, Okay.” Joel chuckled, pulling the child onto his lap. You closed your eyes as you listened to Joel read. His drawl had only deepened with age but it still flowed like honey. It soothed your weary bones and often brought you through time, making you feel 25 again. 

Sarah had started college at the University of Georgia but transferred to UT-Austin after her freshman year. She loved Georgia, but she missed being close to her family more. She’d earned her Bachelor's in Journalism and Creative Writing (also with Honors). Working across all aspects of journalism, she went back to get her MFA several years later. She worked freelance for several publications and taught a creative writing class at the community college in town. She’d married Mike 6 years ago. They’d been together since senior year of college aside from a one-year gap. They’d bought a house just down the street from you and Joel soon after their wedding. Jessie’s 4th birthday was next week, and aside from her husband, you were the only other person to know that Sarah was 8 weeks pregnant. They were planning to reveal it next on Father’s Day.

You and Sarah were convinced Joel didn’t have a clue. The two of you were desperate to surprise him. Other than his 45th birthday party, you and Sarah hadn’t been able to surprise Joel in the 31 years you’d loved him. He’d even figured out Sarah’s first pregnancy before they’d told anyone. 

Joel continued to read. The world drifted further away only anchored by the sound of his voice. Sometimes a bird’s song drifted in and out. The warm breeze floated across your skin. Joel’s voice stayed constant. 

“Grandpa… Shhhhh, grandma is sleepin.”

Joel looked up from the book. He smiled. The wrinkles around his eyes were well-defined now. “I think she’s just restin her eyes, kiddo.”

“That’s what you say when you’re sleeping!” Jessie giggled. 

“Keep reading,” you said, keeping your eyes closed. “The story was just getting good.” 

He looked at Jessie who nodded her head, and he continued. 

The construction business had been good to Joel. Miller Construction kept its outstanding reputation throughout the years, something Joel worried about as the number of crews grew and his ability to check up on every job decreased. Joel spent most of his days on job sites in a supervisory capacity. He trained the new hires to meet his rigid standards, and his body took less wear and tear. He was able to spend more quiet morning moments with you. At 56 years old, he was still the best pitcher in the men’s rec softball league. He took every Thursday morning off to hang out with Jessie while Sarah taught her class at the Community College. He piddled in the garage on weekends, working on the next project. He’d just redone the kitchen cabinets. Tommy joked that Joel lived in partial retirement, but there was some truth to it. You liked seeing him take time 

Joel finished the book as Sarah and Mike walked over. You slowly opened your eyes, letting the world envelope you once again. 

“It’s time for us to go home, Bear,” Mike said. 

Before Jessie could issue a complaint, Joel pulled her into a back-breaking squeeze. She laughed. He tickled her sides. “Grandpa!” 

“I gotta make sure you meet your tickle quota.” 

“I have! I have!” Jessie laughed, her cheeks turning red. 

“Okay,” Joel let out a deep breath. “I think that’s enough for today.” 

Jessie wrapped her arms around Joel’s neck, kissing his cheek. “Love you, Grandpa!”

“I love you too.” He kissed her cheek, patting her back. “I’ll see you on Thursday.”

Jessie slid off his lap, rushing to you. A chorus of goodbyes between parties rose in the corner of your backyard in hugs and handshakes. Jessie nestled into her father’s arms, eyes already beginning to droop. 

Joel wrapped his arms around you. You leaned into him. His hands traveled down your back, lips finding yours. You grinned feeling warm and giddy. Even after all these years, he still had the same effect on you. 

Gagging noises interrupted your moment. Asher and Emma stood on the porch directing said sounds at you. 

“Get a room!”

“We don’t want to see that!”

Joel flipped them off before firmly grabbing your ass making a show of the steamy kiss he planted on you. You laughed. He kissed your neck softly. 

“You’re gonna traumatize the kids.”

“They’re grown adults. They can leave.” He nuzzled into your neck. “I want to kiss my wife in our backyard.”  

“Y’all are gross.” Asher chided. 

“If it weren’t for us, you two wouldn’t be here,” Joel shouted back. 

“You say that like it’s a good thing!” Emma responded. “Have you seen the world?”

“Hey,” You laughed. “You’re the saving grace of this family, Miss I’m going to be a doctor.” 

Asher scowled. “Don’t say that. Her head will get bigger than it already is.” He ruffled Emma’s hair. 

Emma rolled her eyes. “We’re done cleaning up. We’ll leave you two to do… that.” She motioned toward you and Joel. “Asher’s gonna take me out on the town.”

“Make smart decisions,” Joel called.

“Always!” Emma smiled. 

The duo filed out of the backyard leaving you and Joel alone. Joel kissed your forehead as you swayed to a nonexistent tune. 

When you finally stopped, you and Joel sought the respite of AC inside. Joel prepared a plate of leftovers for the two of you to share on the couch. You read as Joel watched the Baseball game on low volume. You propped your feet on his lap. His thumbs found the soles of your feet applying pressure. You hummed. 

You had stepped down from your position at Miller Construction after Emma started high school. As much as you loved working with Joel and helping him build and expand the business, desires drew you elsewhere. You started working part-time at the public library. When their head librarian announced plans to retire, the city had offered to pay for you to get your Masters in Library Science providing you could give them a 10-year commitment. Daunting at first, you’d managed to complete the courses in 2 years via an online program. You work at the library full-time now. Joel often brought Jessie in on Thursday mornings along with a coffee for you. You tended to the garden on weekends. Joel replaced your raised beds a few years ago. You had the kids over for dinner once a week. You and Sarah walked the block on pleasant evenings. You spent lazy evenings on the couch with Joel, something that had rarely been a part of your marriage until the past few years. 

“I’ve been thinking…”

You looked up from your book. “Uh oh, that’s never good.”

He tickled the bottom of your foot earning a squeal. Everyone talked about growing out of being ticklish. That had never happened to you. “I think it’s probably time to refinish the book nook.”

You glanced behind you, eyes trailing over the bookshelves Joel had built you more than 25 years ago. They’d been through it. The finish was peeling in a few places. The cabinet doors that lined the bottom were dented and scratched from a number of things bumping and running into it while raising 3 kids. You glanced at the farthest one, still stained with faint marks from Emma taking Sharpies to it when she was 3. Residue from stickers marked other areas. 

“Sounds like a big project.”

“I’ve got the time.” Joel smiled. 

He reached down beside him, revealing a gift bag. A simple brown paper bag with a gold ribbon neatly tied and curled. Sarah’s trademark. He handed it to you with a smile.

“This from you or Sarah?”

“Me.” Joel crinkled his nose. “Just asked Sarah to wrap it for you.”

You lifted the bag up and down. It felt like it was probably a book. It rarely wasn’t. “And what is this for?” You smiled at him.

“Just fulfilling my husbandly duties.”

You laughed as you untied the ribbon. Joel had taken your first line to him like an oath over the course of your relationship. He’d surprised you with a new book at random times. Sometimes you came home to one on the kitchen counter or your nightstand. Other times, wrapped or handed to you, each with an inscription detailing something he loved about you and how “Pretty” didn’t cut it. 

You smiled at him, pulling a hardcover book out of the bag. You opened the front cover. A piece of paper slipped out. Before you could investigate, Joel’s handwriting caught your attention. 

I don’t know if you’ve been counting, darling, but this is the 100th book I’ve given you. When I met you in that bar, I knew if I had the chance to give you just one, I’d be the luckiest man alive. 

We always talked about going on a big trip for our 25th wedding anniversary. I know it’s a little bit late, but I booked us on that trip to Italy you were eying last year. 

I’m sure it’ll be beautiful, but I still think the best view is you. 

I love you, Darling. 

You picked up the slip of paper: the booking confirmation set for mid-September. You looked up at Joel, tears blurring your vision. 

He chuckled. “Surprise.”

You set the book carefully on the end table, moving onto Joel’s lap. “You hate flying.”

“But I love new places.” He kissed your nose. He still looked at you like you hung the galaxy. You imagined you looked at him the same. “And you.”  

You kissed him, the words whispered for just the two of you. “I love you too.”

[honestly-oceanie]

YOU PUT ME ON AND SAID I WAS YOU FAVORITE || soft bois edition pt. 2

Synopsis: You draw something(s) on their arm/wrist/hand

《Ijekiel Alpheus, Felix Robane, Isis de Elmir, Erden Astar Halstead, Erudian Lu Soledo Belgoat, Cassian Eckard, Felix Chamberlain, Anakin, Zachary de Arno, Kiyu Ahn | gn! reader》

{Fluff♡ | ▪︎imagine/scenario▪︎}

A/N: here's part 2 cause there's image limit😑. So I decided to remove 'Eli' cause I feel like I'm going to be redundant and I don't like that.

Into The Light, Once Again

Isis de Elmir

"Crown Prince of Elmir Empire"

🦋 It would definitely happen during his break. I mean he's the Crown Prince so yeah he's pretty busy.

🦋 You were both just sitting on the drawing room, silence over taking you. You started to feel anxious, you didn't want to bore the Crown Prince to death, today he has a break and he should definitely spend it wisely not just sitting here with you doing nothing.

🦋 He noticed you were so unusually quiet and decided to take matters in his own hands.

🦋 While you were drowning on your own thoughts, Isis picked up a pen and called out to you. Yes he was the one who ask not you

"(Name), can you give me your hand?"

🦋 You just obliged, curious to see what he was up to. Then all if a sudden he started drawing on your hand, you were very surprise at first. I mean, the Crown Prince doing something like this is already surprising.

🦋 After a while, you started to relax and enjoy what the Isis was doing to you, your eyelids fluttering until it finally close.

🦋 When he'd finished, he turn to you and was about to ask you to do the same to him so you'll be even, he found you fast asleep. The sight in front of him made him smile.

" *sigh* What did I told you about overthinking again (Name)."

Seduce The Villain's Father

Erudian Lu Soledo Belgoat

"Emperor of Belgoat Empire"

🦋 *every ml's on fanfiction*

🦋 Ah yes, from Crown Prince to Emperor, this man is even more busy. Tho Idk how he could be a freelancer in the manhwa.

🦋 It happened because you were pestering him in his office whilst he was busy with his paperworks.

"Come on! You deserve some break, stop that for a meanwhile."

🦋 He only give in because you just wouldn't stop. When he put down his pen, you suddenly got an idea.

"Ru, give me your hand!"

🦋 He obliged without questions then you started drawing on his (hand or wrist). He was very amused then chuckled.

"What is this for?"

"Nothing! Just wanted to do it."

🦋 He just let you do as you pleased. He won't admit it but he liked it too. Would definitely tease you about your "artisticness".

Once Married

Cassian Eckard

"The Monstrous Duke of the East"

🦋 This man is willing to do ANYTHING for you!

🦋 He can say one thing for sure and that is: his heart is completely for you😉

🦋 Now back to the topic. He'd of course want to try some things with his wife and he'll partake in any request you ask of him. For him it doesn't matter whether it is small or not. Anything that has to do with his wife IS. A. BIG. IMPORTANT. DEAL.

🦋 even if its just small things such as this, he takes them rather too serious.

"I—Cassian, it's not really that big of a deal you don't have to take it seriousl–"

"Yes, I must. Now what may I do for you, my wife."

"...."

🦋 Although you only meant for this to become a little fun activity because of your husband's stiffness and seriousness, you put your guard up, constantly looking at his face for some indifferent reaction.

🦋 After a while, you both finally chill and relaxed with each other, realizing how silly you two were just a few minutes ago😆.

🦋 idk but ig I just liked his puppy demeanor😅 eventhough it only appears shortly. This kinds is my type of guy.

-honestly, Oceanie-

[gingerbreadmonsters]

a ring on the carousel

or: one incubus, standing where the road divides.

gn!reader, warnings for gavin’s backstory and one mention of nausea, a heaping helping of heart-achingly melancholy fluff. inspired by out there from the musical barnum. in which i try not to make my love for history too obvious. gavin stepping out of the shadows of the past in 2900 words or less.

(directly derived from the fic of legend, @solclaw ‘s refractions - to cut a long story short, i forgot that refractions wasn’t canon, wrote the events of that fic into this as backstory, realised that it didn’t exist as an audio when i went back to check the redacted records index and got very confused thinking it had been deleted! anyway, that’s required reading from here on out - i’ll see you back here when you’ve finished it, alright?)

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Gavin, in his mind, has always been a dreamer.

Ever since that very first moment in the Elision Well, that first single instant when he’d coalesced, when… when Vindemiator had stepped out of the nothingness and into the not-actually air of Aria - he’s always been a dreamer.

Different, in a way that hadn’t made sense, before. Different, in a way he couldn’t describe.

He (Gavin, Vindemiator, whatever - they all mean the same incredibly attractive, wickedly talented, infuriatingly handsome incubus) hasn’t existed for as long as a lot of his kin. He and his siblings have lived for countless millennia, between them, and they’ll live for countless more. His brothers and sisters chatter to each other in human languages long-dead, lament the sights and cities that fell before they could visit, trade rings and brooches and hairpins made by human hands long since turned to dust. Thousands and thousands of years of human history, and they’ve been there for it all.

Gavin… has not.

He’s not the youngest of his kind, but he’s on the younger side - he was ‘born’, so to speak, about two or three hundred years before he met his freelancer.

(He likes to phrase it like that, measure his life with theirs. Like he belongs to them, like every moment of the before was just him waiting in the wings, waiting for some unknowable, inevitable cue. That imperceptible moment when they coalesced, the tiniest tiniest micro-fraction of a second when his freelancer came into being, and the world could finally begin. The universe belongs to them. It’s not his fault nobody else has realised.)

Much of that time was spent… how to put it? Lounging is probably a good word for it - people did so love to lounge back then, or at least the people he tended to spend his time with. Tortured artists and poets in their little attic sanctuaries, surrounded by the viscera of their creations. Refined gentlemen-about-town, straight-laced and stifled and desperate for the chance to let off a little steam. Wealthy young ladies in their summer houses by the sea, some equally-loaded husband or other left far behind in the smoke-filled city. Everywhere was full of silks and velvet and pearls, paper and lace and beading, lacquer and gold and lounging - and make no mistake about it, he looks very good sprawled out across a bed. Or a chaise longue. Or a workbench, an armchair, a writing desk… whatever it is, he makes for an excellent accessory.

And that’s exactly what he’d been - an accessory. Something more, something extra, a little something on the side. He’d been the accomplice to a frankly staggering number of flings and one-offs over the years, the subject of countless poems and novels and paintings lamenting a young lover swept away by the flow of time or money or - more likely - boredom. Most of them were fun, it’s true, but they couldn’t all be winners. If you look, which he doesn’t, you could probably find him in the background of hundreds of photographs (and those were rare, in those days), fluttering around from party to gentleman’s club to manor to party again.

(Well, you couldn’t, seeing as he hardly ever looked the same at any of those parties, but theoretically you could.)

That’s what life had looked like for him, for those first however-many decades of his existence - Vindemiator, the secret companion of the rich and suffering. If you’re going to be miserable, you might as well be miserable in style. His companions tended to be dripping in money or jewels (and all of them were dripping in something, by the time he was finished), but all that luxury didn’t really leave much room for anything else. They got bored, staggered back to their husbands or wives or books or easels. He got bored, drifted away on the current until he washed up at the next plush apartment or fancy estate.

No need, no time, no reason to feel anything. Vindemiator, the patron saint of the empty champagne glass. Always the bridesmaid, never the incubus bride.

Life had gone on like that for a long time, watching the years and the cities and the faces pass him by, As the world began to turn faster and faster, so too did they - blurring and blending until he couldn’t say for sure what his own face looked like, let alone what decade it might be outside.

Perhaps he was getting older, or the world was getting older, or perhaps it was that the world was getting older without him. Leaving him behind, a monument to his beloved excess, hundreds of years taking their toll, and you would never - could never - tell at all. His soul bleaches to beige in the sunset of a thousand afternoons. Hedonism becomes overstimulation.

Those colourless years, trudging through the faded remains of the life he’d thought he loved, plastering on the act even thicker than before. A revolving door (once those had been invented) of lovers to spend his evenings with, around and around and around until he felt sick, and even then it didn’t stop. Wringing the light and the laughter out, always trying and never succeeding to numb the nausea and the horrible, sticky feeling of being used.

After a while, he’d stopped caring - or at least stopped caring about trying to stop it. An incubus has to put food on the table (or the bed, or the sofa, or the counter) somehow.

Is it possible, do you think, to die of nothingness?

He doesn’t really know how to explain what happened next. If anyone asks, which they don’t, he’ll say it was the years just after the war - the world ablaze with grief and hope and joy and pain. He’s never been a stranger to any of those things, and he knows a thing or two about catharsis. Maybe he’d soaked up just enough of that courage to make it count.

He’d chosen the name Gavin about sixty or seventy years before he met his freelancer, in his first, most noble act of rebellion. Rebellion against the prison of his nature, rebellion against the ghosts of a too-long life. The name Vindemiator wasn’t gone, has never been truly gone, but he’d resolved to be more than just the name. He’s never lost his love of pleasure, nor of people - from that first day, kicking down the iron doors of his listless existence, from that first moment, swirling out of the magical ether of Aria, he has always always always dreamt of a life of love. At first he’d thought he’d find it in the lap of luxury, flinging himself from bedroom to bedroom, sunning himself in a haze of adoration - and he’d been right, until he wasn’t anymore.

It was good for a very long time, and for most of his kind that’s the sort of life they prefer. He won’t begrudge them that, he’s not bitter that they’re happy where he’s not. It’s just the way of things, you know? You take your love where you can get it, and that’s allowed to be enough. He’s not the same as his kin, doesn’t feel it the way they do, and he’s come to realise that he’s not quite so ashamed about it anymore.

Vindemiator had always dreamt of love. Gavin was going to find it.

(That’s not to say that he doesn’t still like to lounge, when the mood strikes him. He is, as you well know, a creature of habit. You’ll come home to see him artfully draped across your sofa, or elegantly propped against your bathroom door, some cheesy pick-up line or other falling out of his mouth, and the crackling fizzle of your laughter against his senses is enough to have him corpsing right out of whatever slinky pose you’ve found him in this time. It’s the best feeling in the world.)

(...)

(Wait, have you domesticated him?)

And find it he had, albeit in quite… unconventional circumstances. Isn’t that always the way of things, with him? To have searched and given up and searched and given up again for so long, only to turn around and fall for the hopelessly-lost freelancer he’d been caught by in some random 7/11? To have thrown his lot in with a random gaggle of elemental misfits, only to find the family, the home he’d longed to have?

You, Lasko, Hux, Damien. You all make him… happy. He hadn’t been sure he was allowed to have that.

That’s not to say that he’d ever stopped looking for it - he’s always known it’s out there somewhere, some promised land that everyone else seemed to know the way to. He’d turned his face from the light for a hundred years, tried to satisfy his soul in the only ways he knew how, but all he’d done was shrivel up in the dark, a dying little thing with all his petals falling off, leaves dry and crumbling.

How on earth had you managed it? Scooped him out of the dusty soil and kept him on your windowsill, cradled him in your arms and watered him until his little roots grew strong, strong enough to plant himself just inside your chest, twined around your ribs. Do all flowers turn to face the sun? His all turn towards your heart instead.

He’d had enough, enough of all of that, enough of being not-happy. He’d decided so, all those years ago - Gavin is a battle cry, defiant, a challenge to the world, a promise that one day, one day, he’ll make the life that he wanted for himself. Gavin is his greatest defender, a single torch in the darkness, the first ray of dawn, that which had stood between him and the creeping emptiness of an endless night. Gavin is the creation of hundreds of years of loneliness, all that nothing imploding in on itself, getting denser and denser until he’d burst into being.

(Yes, he’s well aware of the similarities there to his astronomical namesake. Apparently, irony has always had it in for him.)

Gavin has always existed within Vindemiator. Vindemiator has always existed within Gavin. An endless circle, spinning in place. He sits opposite you on Lasko’s picnic blanket, listening to the sound of the sea and you waxing poetic about the time your hated psychokinesis professor had got a faceful of watermelon slush from an unapologetic-looking third-year, chucking grapes into the air and failing miserably at catching them in his mouth, and two voices in his head become one.

Lots of things change, that day. They also don’t change at all. Maybe it’s him who changes? No, that’s not it. Maybe nothing changes, and he just finds the words to describe it. Yeah. That sounds about right.

It’s funny, you know. You don’t make him feel like he has to change at all. It just happens, so slowly that he doesn’t realise until he looks down and sees the negative space where you’re supposed to go. He’s grown around you, with you, full of grooves and curves where your body is meant to be against his. He is meant for you, he knows. How could he not be? He wears the face and the form that he coalesced with, so long ago, and he slots exactly, wonderfully into place. You both fit perfectly.

He looks over, in the cool darkness of that sunlit day at the aquarium, watches as you swish your hands around in the touch pool, feels his cheeks ache with smiling as you usher him over to hold a tiny starfish, shivers faintly at the feeling of that anti-something hand gel not quite rubbed in as you thread your fingers together with his. Somewhere inside, he holds out his glass and you fill him up and up and up until he’s full to bursting, brimming with champagne until he’s overflowing, until he’s so full of bubbles that he thinks he might just float away, clinging to your hand like it’s the only thing keeping him on the ground. It’s true, he thinks giddily, it’s really true. I deserve to be happy. I must deserve it. Why else would the universe have led me to you?

He asks you, in the car on the way home, gleefully examining his kiss-swollen lips in the rearview mirror, what you know about the language of flowers.

“What, like the Victorian thing? A little bit, I guess. Why do you ask?”

“Just wondering, deviant.”

He thinks about the bunch of camellias sitting on your kitchen table, and smiles.

“I was there when it was invented, you know.”

That era, he thinks, will never leave him. That’s okay. It was a different time, a different world, and it wasn’t all bad. The clothes, for one thing - fashion might be cyclical, but he’s still waiting for frock coats and crinolines to come back.

(What can he say? It's not his fault he looks so good in a top hat.)

He’s always had a thing for fashion, albeit not always for the same reasons. At first, it had really just been a pragmatic thing, an easy way to attract his next meal, but over time he’d actually come to find a sort of pure, uncomplicated joy in it. The best presents come in pretty paper, and he’s always loved being unwrapped, but there’s no shame in prettying himself up for the sake of it. It’s fun.

Maybe he ought to show you his little collection soon, when you have the time. It’s all sitting in storage, somewhere on the other side of town - he’d have kept it in Aria, but human-made objects like that have a habit of degrading in such a magically-saturated environment, and he’d rather not have it all dissolve while he’s not looking.

(Would you enjoy it, seeing that part of him? Proof of the ageless, bygone creature that still remembers the rattle of a horse and cart, the days of swordfights and musket fire in the streets, the first night they turned on the electric streetlamps? He thinks you would. It’s no secret that he’s been around much longer than you have, and you’ve never been shy about asking him what the world was like back then, or at least the bits of the world that he saw.)

Yes, he’ll take you the next time you’re free, to go and splash around in his wardrobe together. He’s got all sorts of things from all over the world, in all sorts of fabrics and sizes and styles, whatever was in vogue at the time. You can have ruffles or embroidery or beads, feathers or brocade or fringe… If you can imagine it, he probably owns it. Hats, jewellery, headscarves, fans, sashes, shoes, gloves, pocket-watches, underwear - lots of underwear. It’ll be a wonderful day.

(After all, you do seem to love playing dress-up with him.)

“Yeah?” Your voice is fond and indulgent as you catch his eye in the mirror for just a second, and his champagne headache melts away. “You’ll have to teach me all about it.”

His teeth catch on his tender lip, and the world has never seemed so bright.

“For my lovely freelancer?”

Breathing in, the scent of roses, attraction interest amusement. The search for a life of love. The first, imperceptible moment of night-becomes-dawn, sunlight breaking on the water. He whispers deviant in languages that didn’t have the words to describe you, promises to take you to the ice cream parlour downtown that he swears has done the best banana split in the country ever since it opened in the ‘50s, dreams about kissing you in the street as that first electric streetlamp fizzes to life above your heads.

One voice says what two minds are thinking.

“Anything.”

-

(Hidden away, somewhere among the hoop skirts and bombachas and cheongsams, there’s a tiny box with a golden clasp at the front. As was the fashion at the time, it’s made of soft, dark leather, and it hasn’t seen the sunlight since the day it was bought, from a jeweller’s shop that hasn’t existed for two hundred years, from a man whose name isn’t remembered anymore. The contents has never been worn by a human being, living or dead, and no photographs of it survive, but Gavin knows exactly what it looks like.)

(That day at the aquarium, distant light seeping in from above, your reflections floating gently in the endless water, hands entwined. He’d seen you, couldn’t stop seeing you, smiling softly at the glass like the whole world had fallen into your lap, and all of a sudden he was reminded of a little leather box and a man’s voice, asking about his special someone.)

(If only he’d known, that nameless man, exactly who that someone would turn out to be.)

(He doesn’t remember what he’d said in return, but it doesn’t matter. He might not have known it when he bought it, but something tells him you’ll like it, that it’ll fit you just fine, if you accept it.)

(It’s not time yet, but he thinks you’ll say yes, when he asks. After all, he’s always had excellent taste in jewellery. Rings are no exception.)

this is an original work by @gingerbreadmonsters - please do not repost or misattribute

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P.S. the slush attack thing is a reference to take a sip, specifically a particular homework assignment involving watermelons and lego (don’t ask), and i like to think that the vengeful third-year who carries it out is guy’s partner honey, who i firmly believe is empowered.

[fregget-frou]

“Terpsikhore”

Gavin/Freelancer

AN: this is tooth rotting fluff I was in a lovey mood so here you go :^]

His hands were unbearably soft, my poor skin subjected to his beautiful taunts as he loved me so deeply with his softness so foreign and forgiving.

I never really believed in karma, was never really superstitious to begin with. But as me and Gavin sway in the kitchen with some old song in the background I think this is a wonderful reward for living.

Living just a bit more.

Gavin was a wonderful dancer, I’ve seen how he moves so elegantly in a way that captures the attention of everyone. I’m quite lucky then that I am the only one in the audience now, even as he only spins slowly and lazily his little laughs and smiles are worth more than any dance. He truly just shines light on the stars, twinkling and lighting up the dark. It’s hard for me to say, I’ve never been a talker, not enough for me to convey what I feel.

So I can only rest my head on his shoulder, hopefully he breathes in my love as most daemons do, I want Gavin to fill his artificial airways and hopefully he can understand how deep these feelings go.

I want to be tortured by his gentle kisses as he peppers my cheeks.

I want to be mauled by his arms as he holds me when i make breakfast for the two of us, his bed head adorable and flopping around while he whispers sweet nothings into my ear.

I want to have my sorrow demolished when he presses up against me as we sleep, even for the smallest moment in time I could feel truly safe.

To feel his steady heartbeat against my own chest, to tether myself to his breaths when he sleeps so peacefully. Then I’ll drift of to join him, and we would wake up tangled and my heart will skip a beat when I see his face again.

His beauty always seemed to grow every morning, if this continues I might die.

“See something you like hot stuff?” Gavin draws me out of my thoughts with a sly smile, I guess I was caught staring at his face. Pretty face…

Burying my own in his neck, cheeks heating up with embarrassment.

“Just lookin’.”

“More like ogling,” he spins and massages my neck, bridging his own against my shoulder. I feel his ribs move under my hand on his back.

“, y'know freelancer, it’s rude to stare.” He’s starting to tease me again, but I don’t mind.

“I think I’m allowed to admire you, you are my husband of course.”

“Aha right, still you were practically drooling at the sight. What were you thinking about?”

“You.” He pauses for a moment before sighing into me, leaning in heart to heart in unison.

“You’re such a lovebird, it’s oozing off of you right now.”

How could I not? How could I not admire the best thing in my life? The one person who gets me and loves me to my all.

Am I truly not allowed to love you to my very destruction, my love?

“Can’t help it, you just have to deal with my sappiness.” Smiling into his neck I can feel his cheeks were warm too.

“Oh noo, the horror. Why must you subject me to such horrors.” He teased me, sarcasm etching into his silly little words.

I wasn’t really listenting to the music anymore. We still span, rocked and held our hands.

I didn’t really care about the cookies we baked a while ago, laying preciously tantalizing as they cooled.

What were we even supposed to be doing now?

This.

Why would I even ask that when I knew in my very core that this is where I’m meant to be,

In my kitchen with the best someone to ever be in my life, dancing and giggling with each other.

And I’ve never been happier.

[feral-pansexual]

Last Heaven

Asahi Azumane x Model! Reader

Another one for @cup-of-fluff 's collab, Time to Shine! Asahi’s always been my Haikyuu fav, I’m glad this gave me inspo to write more for him!

Song is “Last Heaven” by Waterparks. The song itself is suggestive, but I found some lyrics that I thought fit the narrative I was going for.

Word count: 1.1k

-----

Without you I'm nothin, and yeah, I think this is somethin'

And I'm not sure if that's good or bad or plain fuckin' disgustin'

Before he had met you, Asahi had been.. Lonely. He was considered intimidating by most people, or was picked on by his teammates (they weren't intentionally harmful, but things like that can wear someone down.) Coupled with his anxiety, it was hard - almost impossible, really - for him to connect with others. He always mentally beat himself up whenever he scared someone away, or would hide from his teammates if tempers flared

Then, he graduated.

His first year on his own as a fashion designer had been somewhat rough. The world of fashion could be even harsher than high school, and other designers could be rough on both clients and cooperatives.

You weren’t any of those things, though. A freelance model was the only real way you could describe yourself when he asked, and he gladly hired you on whenever you offered.

After the first few years of designing, after making a name for himself.. Only once he was fully established within the fashion world did he ask you to stay with him.

“With you?”

“Sorry, not quite-” He sighed, a light blush dusting his face. “With my label, I mean.. Now that it’s well established, I think I can offer you a steady income here. You’ve always worked well here, and I’ve heard freelancing doesn’t always pay consistently, so..”

He watched with bated breath from across the table as you looked his contract over. Hands clasped out of view, he nervously flexed his fingers. Finally, you looked up from the paper.

“Asahi.”

“Yes?”

“You never gave me a pen to sign with.. Boss”

I just wanna take you where you'll go

The two of you worked incredibly well together. Even though you had been hired on as a model, you stayed back after hours to help Asahi with his personal work. He always insisted that you leave, but after many instances of the same thing happening, he caved to your.. Demands, per se, to assist him. Tidying up his office became a joint task by your insistence, though there was never a ton to do - mostly sorting his recent designs, both finished and not, as well as putting materials and paperwork where it all was supposed to go.

From there, it wasn’t hard for him to find himself in your company. You both invited each other out for coffee or lunch, hanging out outside of work. He invited you as his plus one to his ten year class reunion, to which you gladly accepted. Only two of the people there seemed to really be close to him, introducing themselves as Koishi and Sawamura Daichi.

“You never told us you hooked someone so good looking!”

“Sawamura, your husband is right there.” Asahi; Azumane to you now, he had insisted, glanced away from the pair with tinted cheeks.

“His husband agrees.” Sawamura reached out, glancing at your boss with a grin.

You chuckled, shaking his hand. “Well, thank you both. I’m actually employed as a model right now.”

“Really?!” Both their eyes widened, Koushi grinning after a moment. “Under who?”

“Azumane, actually.”

Asahi was unable to rid himself of his blush the whole reunion, Daichi and - well, Daichi - both asking questions about how long you’d been together, isn’t it bad luck to date co-workers, and when should they expect to be invited to your wedding?

“We’re, uh.. Not even dating, guys.”

The couple glanced at one another before returning their attention to you.

“Officially, you mean? Because you two look like you’ve been ‘together’ for quite some time, even if you’re not actually together, y’know? Like.. unofficially dating, like Sawamura and I were in high school!”

The taller of the two chuckled, regarding you both carefully.

“Well.. Koushi’s right, Asahi. Even if you two aren’t dating, you seem like you could be. I’m guessing other epople’ve though you two were together, too?”

“I mean, yeah, but-” Asahi fumbled over his words again, glancing towards you. Unsure exactly of what he was looking for, you reached and grabbed his hand.

“I think we already call ourselves partners.. Even if it’s just been for business.. That could change?”

You had absolutely no idea what you did to him.

We built our house on a gold mine, baby

In quiet habits that I forget lately

There was barely a shift in you two’s dynamic once you began referring to one another romantically, merely a change in schedule. You would visit one another’s homes, spending even more time together than before. But it felt right, even just after the first week. Asahi thought so at least, shifting slightly beneath you. The sun’s golden rays peeked through the blinds, settling into a rainbow across your sleeping form. Even with a king-sized bed, you managed to find your way across to him every night you spent at his home.

He found himself lonely more again, now that he was dating you. Not because you didn’t spend time with him, but because every moment he was without you left him feeling empty. He never faulted you, though, quite the opposite; after every workday or trip spent apart, the two of you would spend the night together, sometimes at a restaurant, sometimes at one of your homes. Occasionally, you would both get the opportunity to visit local festivals together; always linked by the hand, browsing the shops and vendors you came across without the threat of slipping apart.

He proposed to you on New Year’s eve, hours before the fireworks went off. Just before the party he had thrown would start, while there was still a tint of light coming in from the sunset. Even though it was freezing, he invited you out to the balcony, breath freezing in the air. Your engagement photo consisted of him kneeling before you in front of the sunset, ring glinting in the low, red light.

You took your time and it left me pacin'

The better half of a year spent chasin'

The gathering cheered as you and Azumane’s lips finally met, his fingers gently cradling the base of your skull. You pulled away from one another, both grinning, before he pulled you back to him. Sawamura and Koushi were louder than most of the rest of the crowd; not too hard, considering that they were both in the groom’s party.

Barely a hair’s breadth separated you two, his hand shifting forward to brush your cheek gently with his thumb. He looked into your eyes, smiling gently.

Finally, he knew for certain that he was not alone.

You could be my last, last heaven

-----

Make sure to check out other works in the collab! My asks/requests are always open, too ^-^

[hostess-of-horror]

Bride of the Lagomorph

[M.B. is my Cadetsona OC, Shelley is my Sam and Max fanchild OC, and M.J. belongs to @sleepy-heads-blog]

Just a fluffy Halloween-themed Sam and Max story I wanted to dabble on!

---

[Sam leaned against the wall as he watched M.B. and his children gather together for some festive arts and crafts. Spread across a long table are ripe orange pumpkins, glue, glitter, sequins, stickers, paint, markers, all sorts of art supplies. He smiles as M.B. helps Shelley placing gold glitter and sequins onto her tiny pumpkin. Geek and M.J. share cups of black paint, teasing each other by trying to mess up each other's pumpkin. John quietly focuses as he uses his claws to carve in intricate details of skulls and vines. Sam watches on until he turns to see Max, hiding away in a corner.]

Sam: "What is it, little buddy?"

[Max giggles and slips away without a word. Confused, Sam follows Max, leaving everyone behind to investigate.]

Sam: "Max? Little buddy?"

Max: "Come and find me, Sammy~"

[Sam knew that tone of voice. Max always had some tricks up his sleeve, especially around the Halloween season. If Sam had a dime for every time Max had gotten him with his pranks, he would have bought himself an automatic sucker-punch gun by now. Sam enters their bedroom to look around. No one is inside.]

Sam: "Where are you?"

Max: *in a distance* "Over here~"

[Sam turns around and follows Max's voice. It leads him all the way down into the basement, where Geek's lab is located in.]

Max: "Oh, you're getting closer, Sammy~"

Sam: "Okay, Max, I'm here. Now, show me where you are. Just pull your prank and get it over wi- AHH!"

[Sam jumps in surprise with a yelp. Towering above him is a semi-giant Max, standing over 10 feet tall, rushing towards him. His arms extend over to him like Frankenstein's Monster, reaching out to grab onto him. Each step Max takes echoes throughout the lab. With a victory screech, Max grabs Sam and lifts him up to carry him bridal style.]

Sam: "Max! God damnit, every time!"

Max: *cackles* "Ah-ha! I got you, and now you're mine! For all eternity!" *continues cackling*

Sam: "How the hell did you get so big, little buddy?"

Max: "With Geek's Size-o-shooter, of course! Now I can tower over you and make you my prey! Oh, actually! Better yet... I can make you the Bride of the Lagomorph! Hmm... Bride of the Lagomorph... has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"

Sam: "Well, considering that you're now a giant monster bunny, I guess that makes sense."

[Max maniacally laughs as he lifts Sam into the air. Sam's body goes almost becomes limp due to the gravity.]

Max: "Surrender, my Bride, to my unyielding and undying love!"

Sam: "Ha ha, okay, you got me. Can you let me go now? I'm feeling rather emasculated."

Max: "Awwww, come on!" *hugs Sam tighter and closer* "You're always the big tough policeman, the one who carries me around. Why don't you relax a little, allow yourself to be the damsel in distress for a while?"

Sam: *crosses his arms* "I mean..." *blushes* "It... does feel kinda nice."

Max: "See?"

Sam: *annoyed sigh*

Max: "Come on! I know you love me, Sammy~"

[Sam blushes even harder. He unfolds his arms, allowing himself to relax a little inside Max's arms. He looks up and smiles.]

Sam: "Yes, of course I love you, little buddy."

[Sam wraps his arms around Max's neck and kisses him. Max receives his tender kiss and smiles underneath his lips. They both release after a moment of pure bliss.]

Max: "Hm... I think all you're missing now is a flowy, white, skimpy dress for dramatic effect."

Sam: *chuckles* "Heh... you crack me up, little buddy.

[maki-matsurra]

Hello Shining Stars!

Happy Valentines Day! ❤️🧡💜✨

I hope everyone has an amazing day today with your Valentine!

But since today is the day to show how much you love your loved ones, I want to give you guys this cute little one-shot, written just for all of you! Consider it my Valentine gift!

I love you all so much! ❤️🧡💜✨

Want to send in a request? Start Here!

Sam sighed as he stretched his arms over his head for the 5th time in a row, feeling his lower back pop and crack in certain places. He was on paperwork duty, ordered by the Commissioner. He looked over to the calendar and saw what day it was.

Valentine's Day.

The day where everyone goes out and does lovey, mushy, and how Max would put it, Grody things with their loved ones.

While Sam and Max never really celebrated the day per se, since Max claimed it was all a marketing thing, and cupid was just downright too creepy to celebrate about, they did do some... Uhm... activities on this set day.

But, those activities were put on hold since they have gotten a call from the Commissioner at their home, early in the morning, saying that he needed paperwork from them like no tomorrow. And the man did apologize, he never wanted them to work on this particular day, especially with something as gruesome as paperwork, but he did technically ask for them 2 weeks ago.

He could remember Max turning to him with a look and asking; "You uh... You want some help with that?"

"No, No. You stay and give little (Y/N) our Valentine's Basket from us when they wake up. I'll go to the office and sort the paperwork"

Max gave him an unsure, yet sad look. "You sure?"

"I'm sure, little buddy." He put on a strong but forced smile, nodding and kissing his forehead. "It's no problem. I'm used to it."

And that would bring us to here, him doing paperwork in the early afternoon in their office on his trusty typewriter.

He did glance out the window once or twice, seeing how it was such a beautiful, yet probably chilly, day outside. He could faintly see other people going out and doing things with their loved ones, making him let out the quietest of whines before going back to typing.

With a loud ding, he finished another piece of paperwork and unscrewed the dial on the side of the typewriter, letting the paper come free and ready for him to sign it. He grabbed his trusty fountain pen and did so, putting it in a small stack and getting ready for the next page.

He jumped a bit once he heard the door slam open, whipping his head to the doorway to see Max had kicked it open, he glared at him; "Max! What in the Hannah Montana is going-" He paused as his eyes widened once his brain finally registered what Max actually looked like.

He was wearing a red frilly short coat with cream, brown, and gold accents, a brown corset over that, red frilly shorts with, again, cream, brown, and gold accents. The shorts had a long red train on the back, and for accessories, he was wearing see-through black polka dot gloves, pearl bracelets and necklaces, red and white striped thigh highs, and brown knee-length booths with bright red laces on them. He as well had a small red and brown top had on the left side of his head, right in front of his ear.

(A/N; 10 brownie points for each person who knows where this outfit is from, I adore this outfit and so badly want to see it on Max 🥺)

"Hey, Sam! You know school was still open for today? I had to take the subway with (Y/N) since they apparently missed their bus and the teacher asked where they were! Funny? Right?" The lagomorph smiled at him like he just did not kick in the door dressed in like... Like that.

"M-Max... What are you doing here- Why are you dressed like that- Why are you dressed in clothes?!" Sam questioned, shaking his head after asking each question. The rabbit in retaliation jumped on the desk in front of Sam, his boots' low heels clicking on the oak as he stuck the landing.

"I'm here to save you from this boring paperwork! I got us a reservation to a nice place and when I tried to tell them I don't wear clothes, they said I had to wear some if I wanted entry, so, I got all dressy to shut them up! Let's go!"

He grabbed Sam's arm, hoisting him up and trying to drag him to the door, but Sam stood firm, looking down at the desk. "I dunno, little buddy. D-Don't get me wrong! You look absolutely stunning right now, and a great lunch does sound good right now, but I have to finish the paperwork and-"

He shut up once he heard a click of a gun's safety being turned off, he looked up to see he was face to face to the barrel of Max's Luger.

"Sam... I made a $200 reservation... and spent another $180 on this outfit... You're coming with me to this lunch." Max warned in a calm, yet unnerving tone, his shark-tooth smile wide.

He gulped nervously at that. "Y-You got it, buddy!"

The place Max took him to was all the way on West 34th Street in the Garment District, which was a whole 2 hours and 30 minutes away from their office. But once they did get there, Sam did have to admit, it was a nice place.

Once they got to a table, they were already seen by a very friendly, female sever, asking for drinks. Max said to go crazy with whatever he wanted, so Sam asked for a Scotch on the Rocks, while Max asked for a Strawberry Champagne Float.

"Can I see your ID please?" The sever asked with a smile, making Max reach for it. "Should I be flattered or insulted by this?" Max mumbled, making the sever laugh. "Definitely flattered, means you look young."

"Ho-Ho-Ho, hold on there lady, my husband is sitting right across from me." Max smiled at her, giving her his ID, making her laugh even more as she looked at it and gave it back. "Don't worry too much about it, I'm taken anyways."

"Who's the lucky guy?" Sam questioned.

"Gal, actually, her name's Veronica." The server smiled. "We've been together for over 2 years now."

"Hot damn! Why aren't you spending Valentine's with her?"

"Work. Don't worry, we have something set aside for tonight." She smiled before saying she would be back with their drinks, walking away.

The two freelancers started chatting about many things after she left, their adventures, their life, their plans. Even when they got their drinks and food, they were still laughing and having just an overall swell time.

After they were done, it was in the early evening, the sun slowly starting to set, making Sam's eyes widen, "W-Wait, you did arrange someone to pick (Y/N) up from school, didn't you?"

"Sam, who do you take me for? Of course, I did! I had Sybil pick them up and take them to Maya's house to spend the night!" Max waved a dismissing hand, making the dog breathe out a sigh of relief.

The two continued their walk down the street to the Desoto, making small talk as the street lamps and other lights start turning on. The dog looked to the fancy-dressed lagomorph with a curious smile. "You know, I'm actually surprised, Max. You usually don't want to do this type of thing with me on Valentine's day... or any day at all."

Max blushed at that, clearing his throat and looking away with furrowed brows. "Y-Yeah well... you look pretty disappointed... A-And I mostly did it cause I was not gonna miss out on the usual activities we do for tonight!"

Sam chuckled at that, putting his hands in his pockets, stopping as Max stepped in front of the Irish Wolfhound, stomping a brown boot on the concrete, his face almost completely flushed. "And don't think this is an every time thing as well, Sam! This is a one-time thing! You hear me! A one-time thi-"

He shut up as he felt Sam, bring his chin up, stealing a kiss from the rabbit as he kneeled down in front of him, making his brown eyes widen before fluttering shut and wrapping his arms around his neck, bringing him closer.

The two stayed like that for a good minute before parting, looking into each other's eyes. "Thank you, Max. I mean it. You've made this the best Valentine's day I've ever had."

His eye's widened at that, before looking away, glancing back at Sam before hugging him. "Happy Valentine's day, you Grody goof."

Sam chuckled deeply at that. "Happy Valentine's day, melon-head."

[axemetaphor]

i drew this a couple days ago but totally forgot to upload it here for some reason ??? anyways im actually workin on an edit for today’s prompt of Sam and Max week but, in case that goes sideways/doesn’t get done in time, i’ll upload this, too ! 

it should be obvious that they’re my favourite ship, given i draw em so much, but really, the only relationship in the entire canon that im not too fond of is Abe and Sybil (Sybil deserved better) so, anyway, of course I had to redraw this moment from the cartoon:

[from-the-clouds]

Home (Part II) - Zemo/Reader

Part One | Masterlist

Summary: Healing doesn’t happen in a straight line. Gender neutral reader/pronouns.

Words: 2.4k

Warnings: Fluff, angst, mentions of abuse, starvation, weight loss, probably PTSD. 

A/N: Guess what, I’m still alive! and still obsessed with Zemo, apparently. For those of you who don’t know, I am a freelancer and certain jobs get really intense and draining for me, so I don’t have much time to do anything else creative in my free time. But I would like to get back to posting more regularly on here, so please shoot me a PM or message if you’d like to see something specific. Also I hit 1,000 followers on here, so maybe I’ll do some kind of celebration for that? 

**********

Despite what you thought, healing was a complex task. 

Helmut didn’t leave your side. 

You assumed that he did, he had to, at some point, maybe while you weren’t conscious he’d sneak off to shower, to eat, and tend to himself.

Each time you woke up he was there, most likely thumbing through a book in a chair next to your bed, or speaking on the phone in the corner in hushed tones. He’d be nursing a whiskey, or smoking a cigarette while leaning out of the open window, a bad habit of his when stressed. 

During that first week, when the pain, bone-deep and relentless, refused to retreat and kept you glued into bed, he stayed through it all. It wasn’t just the pain, it was it’s consistency, which was wearing down your resolve. Being frail was becoming frustrating, and had tears pinching at the back of your eyes, though you’d never let your caretakers see. 

Independence -- one of your qualities you were the most proud of -- was stripped from you entirely, and you were left to rely on others. Everything required assistance, especially the most intimate parts of your day-to-day life. And while Helmut had seen you -- and even put you -- in almost every compromising position throughout your marriage, this was different. No matter how much you loved him, there was only so much vulnerability you were willing to display to your husband. Preserving your dignity was important, and he’d hired a nurse to help assist you with those parts of your day-to-day life. 

Recovering was exhausting, you were rarely able to spend more than an hour or two awake before sleep pulled you back into its unwelcome embrace, fighting it always ended in defeat.

Then would come the nightmares -- that you were back in that awful place, the comfort of home and your husband had all been an illusion.. And Helmut would be by your side as you woke up panting, whimpering, sweat on your brow. Sometimes he was the one to wake you, a warm hand on your face, a squeeze on your shoulder, a grip that grew tighter and tighter. Each time, his eyes would hold less and less of the kindness meant for you, the fire burning behind them was overpowering.

However, as doting as he was, besides that first night, he rarely touched you. When he did, it was hesitant, short-lived. He no longer slept in the bed you once shared. Every fleeting brush of his fingers across your palm, forehead, along your jawline seemed to sting, he’d recoil like you were dangerous, like if he lingered too long, you’d bite. All you wanted was his affection, but you couldn’t find the energy to approach the subject. He’d already done so much, it would be selfish to ask for any more. 

But you needed more. It wasn’t enough just to have him there. You’d forgotten what it felt like to be held in his arms, to press your lips to the underside of his jaw, let you head rest in the crook of his neck. At the very least, you wanted to talk to him, hear the lull of his voice as he told one of his long-winded stories. Unfortunately, general pleasantries were all you could manage before nodding off. In some ways, despite his proximity, you felt more distant from your husband than you ever had. 

A bit after the first week, you turned a corner. The edge of the aches and pains were beginning to dull, and while fatigue still weighed down each joint of your body, moving wasn’t as difficult and you could spend more and more time on your feet. 

Helmut had stepped out for lunch, and you decided to use the time to finally take a proper shower.

Padding into your bathroom, the tiles were cool, never cold, thanks to under the floor heating. 

Waiting for the water to heat up, you decided to work up enough courage to look at yourself in the mirror.

Carefully slipping out of the pajamas you wore, you stared at your reflection. Not surprising was the amount of weight you had lost, of course that tends to happen when deprived of food and water for weeks on end. Your body was covered in cuts, scratches, and a patchwork of bruises weaved across every inch of skin. Some were fading, but others were still tender, even under the gentle graze of your fingertips. 

Besides that, the time away had aged you considerably. Dark circles hung below your eyes, a shiner healing underneath one of them. No wonder Helmut hadn’t wanted to touch you. This was somehow worse than you’d imagined. Biting back tears, you turned away from your reflection. It seemed shallow to cry about your appearance, considering everything you’d been through, which somehow made you feel even worse. But, steam began to fog up the mirrors and refocused you on the task at hand.

The shower was stocked with all your favorite toiletries, fancy soaps and lotions. Not much had seemed to change. You wished, in some ways, that time had truly frozen while you’d been away. It would make everything now so much easier. 

The warm water was intoxicating, soothed your sore body as you basked in the comforts you once took for granted. A built-in bench and detachable showerhead made things easier for you, as you had to pause to take breaks every now and then, catch your breath. Every inch of your body was scrubbed from head to toe. There was dried blood still caked under your fingernails, and it took two shampoos before your hair seemed free of dirt and grease. Up until now, you’d only had sponge-baths, and you were half-expecting the water to turn brown as it flowed to the drain. You weren’t sure how long you spent washing away the last few months of your life, but you didn’t leave until you were practically antiseptic. 

Off the bathroom was a closet, although calling it that felt like an understatement -- it was big enough to house a small family. Helmut’s wardrobe took up most of the space. Before him, you’d never been very interested in fashion, and bought your wardrobe off of the sale rack in most stores. Since marrying him, however, you’d amassed quite the collection of expensive clothes, jewelry, and shoes. He was excessive in many ways, but especially in the way that he spoiled you. 

Sighing, you started towards your pajama drawer until your eyes fell on a familiar piece of clothing, hanging across from you on Helmut’s side of the closet. Made of silk, a deep indigo color, and custom-made by some designer whose name you couldn’t pronounce was your husband’s favorite robe. He’d been wearing it since before you were married. 

Without thinking, you let the towel you’d wrapped around your middle for some modesty fall to the ground as you stepped forward and tugged the robe off it’s hanger. Falling limply in your arms, you didn’t even think twice before you wriggled your way inside of it.

Fastening the tie around your waist, you secured the robe shut. Most of the encounters you’d had with this robe was wrestling your husband out of it so he could have you on the bathroom countertop or bent over your bed. Until that moment, you hadn’t realized how badly you wanted him. It had been ages. You wondered if he’d ever want you again that way, or if things would ever be normal enough to allow it.

With the robe on, you were enveloped by a familiar perfume, an exotic mix of spice and musk, a mixture of cologne, aftershave, and bodywash that Helmut used. And beyond that was the faint smell of tobacco, the cigars he smoked when celebrating. All of it smelled like him, and you closed your eyes, leaning against the wall in a brief moment of comfort. 

Already, you were growing tired, this was the most activity you’d had since you’d arrived home and the hot water had been soothing.

On your way back to bed, though, your eyes were drawn to the sunlight filtering through the large windows that looked out over the backyard of the estate. There was an ottoman in front of it, and you sat down, just to look outside. One of the windows was cracked, and you heard the faint sounds of birds chirping, wind rustling the leaves of the trees, the water babbling in the pool. There was a small garden out in the distance you’d planted after moving in, so you could have fresh fruits and vegetables to cook with, and pretty flowers to look at. You were relieved to see that someone had kept it going in your absence, pruning the roses and making sure the tomato plants weren’t overgrown. Everything was still alive and thriving. 

Sleep was tugging again at your eyelids, urgently, and making it back to bed seemed too big an undertaking. So you curled up on the ottoman, lifting the collar of Helmut’s robe to your nose. Like a warm embrace, his smell enveloped you, you closed your eyes and hugged yourself, imagining you were wrapped in his arms. 

It was unclear how long you’d been sleeping when you woke again. The air filtering through the window had cooled, the bedroom had grown dim. Fingertips carded through the hair at the nape of your neck, and you turned to find their source. 

Helmut was looking down at you, a smile playing on his lips. The remaining sunlight that trickled through the window lit up his auburn hair, casting a golden halo behind his head. He looked a little tragic, like he always did these days, but you found some comfort in the short-lived touch. Sitting on the edge of the ottoman with his hips aligned with yours, his other hand held him upright on the opposite side of your waist, boxing you in. 

“How are you, my dear?” he asked softly. 

“I’m okay,” you answered. “I took a shower.”

“I can see that,” he smirked, and you rolled onto your back so you could see him better, still too loopy from the nap to sit upright. His hand on your neck came to smooth out the collar of his robe. “It looks like you were rooting through my closet as well.”

You felt yourself flush, feeling self-conscious. “I’m sorry, I should’ve asked,” you studied the paint on the ceiling, rather than making eye contact.

“Don’t apologize,” he answered kindly. “It’s very sweet.” There was a glimmer in his eyes, one you hadn’t seen yet since you’d come home.

But it was short-lived. The slight spark faded and the furrow between his brows returned, and he shook his head like he was trying to dust off some unwanted memory. Even the time away didn’t erase how well you knew your husband. Helmut sighed, and turned to look into the scenery outside. 

“Look,” he murmured, gesturing towards the window. He helped you right yourself, his hand on your waist. The warmth of his broad palm radiated through the thin fabric, tingling against your skin. 

The sun was setting, and the bedroom window gave you a perfect view of the horizon, lit up in brilliant pinks and oranges, the last slice of sunlight glittering behind a hill in the distance, slipping away. 

“It’s beautiful,” you mused. You couldn’t remember the last sunset you’d watched from your home, but you surmised it was after splitting a bottle of wine on the back porch with Helmut. “I noticed you had someone look after the garden.”

“I looked after the garden,” Helmut corrected. “I’m impressed,” you turned to look at him, and he was staring back at you. It was unfortunate, as you preferred to admire him when he wasn’t paying attention. “You were always convinced you had a brown thumb.”

That earned a chuckle, and one of his hands rose to rest on the windowsill. “Not anymore. I did my research.” He turned away from you, and you had the chance to be struck again by how handsome he was. There were a few creases around his eyes that seemed deeper than before, a few more grey hairs amongst his stubble, but aging had only made you more attracted to him. “I know how much you loved it. It helped me feel close to you.”

His remark, coupled with every other insecurity that had been running through your mind the past few days, made you misty, and you turned to focus back on the sunset so he wouldn’t notice you getting emotional. 

But instead, you felt the warmth of Helmut’s hand on the small of your back. His opposite arm wound around your waist, and he drew himself closer, holding you from behind, molding himself to fit against your stoic form. His lips found your temple briefly before he rested his chin on your shoulder. “Is this okay?” he whispered. 

Unable to find words that wouldn’t come out as a choked sob, you nodded. You felt relief, mostly, he was giving you what you needed without being asked for it. You just hoped it wasn’t temporary. 

“I haven’t received very clear instructions on what I’m supposed to do,” his voice was low and soft, right in your ear, and he cleared his throat. “Now that you’re home. One doctor tells me to keep my distance, another tells me to never leave your side. I’ve been so worried I’ll make a mistake, and scare you away.”

His lips trailed down your neck, finding a pulse point and pressing there softly, goosebumps rose along your arms. Everything began to click into place. 

“Oh, Helmut,” you sighed, partly because of the way he was touching you, and partly because of his words. “You couldn’t scare me away, even if you wanted to.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” he chuckled, you could feel the vibration in his chest, still flush against your back. You felt a smile tugging at the corner of your lips.

“I want you to sleep in our room again,” you stated plainly. “I want you to touch me. I want to be close to you. Can you do that for me?” Then you were pulling away from him slightly, so you could turn and look into his eyes. 

“Of course,” he answered, and pressed his lips against your own. 

Zemo tag: @juice-1981  @marvelsvision  @pattispunk  @msmarvelwrites  @professorrw

[atlafan]

My Everything - Part Thirteen

A Take it Slow Sequel

What happens with Harry and Y/N after he proposes? How will the two navigate the engaged life while also continuing to juggle their jobs, friends, and families? Let’s find out.

Warnings: Fluff and Smut! 7K

Masterpost

You and Harry had gotten into the habit of singing Jack to sleep at night, and he seemed to really like it. It was something nice for the two of you to do together. Your hormones were starting to level back out too, which was great. Having Anne around was a huge help too. Gemma had come to visit for a couple of weeks, but she couldn’t stay much longer than that.

Nannie had come up around Father’s Day, so your mom had a big cookout for everyone, even your dad came so you could all be together. You had just missed the mark for Mother’s Day, of course, but you were happy to celebrate Harry. He needed the reassurance since he was putting so much pressure on himself.

“Oy! Look at those cheeks!” Nannie says as she holds Jack. She gives him a nice big kiss. “Now that is delicious, absolutely delicious.”

Tons of pictures are taken to show the four generations of people there. Harry was happy Anne was there too. Not that he didn’t like your family, but it was always nice to have a buffer. Plus he enjoyed seeing her interact with everyone.

“You look so good, honey.” Nannie says to you.

“Oh, thanks, yeah, I’m not where I want to be, but getting there.”

“Your body will never look the way it did.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” You laugh.

“All I’m saying is, you’re healthy right?”

“Yeah.”

“So don’t stress too much.” She gives you a reassuring smile.

//

You were passed the six week mark, and you were more than cleared to have sex again, but you were extremely nervous. You weren’t sure if you wanted to go back on the pill or not, maybe use an IUD for a bit until you were ready for another kid. There was a lot to consider. It didn’t help either when you got your first real period for the first time in eleven months. You were raging, and Harry did his best to stay out of your way, but the summer heat wasn’t exactly helping either.

“Are you okay?!” You looked paler than a ghost when you came back out to join him on the couch with Jack.

“Yeah.” You sit back down and sigh. “I just threw up.”

“Why?!”

“Because…I can’t even begin to describe the clot of blood that just came out of me, dude. Like, never in my life have I been so disgusted by my own bodily function.” You look at him.

“Here, uh, take him. I’m gonna get you a big glass of ice water.” He hands the baby to you and he gets up. You take the glass of water from him as he sits back down, and takes Jack back.

“Harry, we should talk about birth control. I have a doctor’s appointment coming up.”

“Alright, what do you feel like doin’?”

“I have zero idea. I could go back on the pill, but that means readjusting to new hormone shit. I mean any form could mean that. I was thinking of maybe an IUD, but those are risky. I truthfully can’t see us using condoms all the time, and if we slip up that could mean another baby, and I’d sort of like to stick with one for a while if that’s alright with you.”

“Yeah, of course. Let’s see how things go with him first.” He smiles. “Maybe the pill is the best option then? You know what you’re like when you’ve been on it.”

“But I’m scared that if I go on it again now that when we do want another one we’ll have issues like before. Ugh, I have no idea what to do.”

“See what Dr. Johnson thinks, I mean, she deals with this stuff all the time. She might know what’s best.”

“I miss having sex with you, I’ll get it figured out soon.”

“I miss it too, but I also want you to take care of yourself. You’ve put your body through enough already because of me.”

“See, when you say stuff like that, it makes me want to have sex with you.” You groan.

“So, you want me to be less nice to you?” He laughs.

“No, you’re pretty sexy when you’re rude too.” You smirk.

“Think that’s just your hormones talkin’, love.”

“Maybe.” You shrug. “I’m also a little nervous to have sex again…what if it, like, really hurts?”

“We’re not exactly strangers to taking things slow in that department. We can start out doing little things. I could just eat you out.” He grins.

“Aw, it’ll be like when we first started dating.” You giggle. “How romantic.” You roll your eyes.

“Last thing I wanna do is hurt you, so we’ll just take it easy, small steps.”

//

“Everything has healed up nicely, Y/N.” Dr. Johnson tells you. “You can sit up now.”

“Thanks.”

“Any discomfort going to the bathroom?”

“Not so much anymore…but I had my first period, and it was disgusting.”

“That can happen.” She nods. “Your body’s still letting a lot of things out, you know?”

“Right. Um, I had some questions about sex and stuff.”

“Oh, you’ve been cleared-“

“No, I know, I guess I was just wondering about birth control. I know Harry and I are gonna want another kid at some point, and it took us longer than I thought to get pregnant with Jack. I’m scared that if I go on some form of it that we’ll run into trouble again, but I also really don’t wanna use condoms all the time.” You sigh. “But I don’t wanna accidentally get pregnant again right away.”

“I think an IUD might be best then. It’s less hormonally invasive, and when you take it out you can try for baby.”

“Aren’t there more risks? Harry, uh, well, he can get in pretty, um, deep.” You blush. “It could get jostled.”

“If your husband is ramming into your uterus, then I think we have bigger problems.” She laughs. “It goes in through an opening in your cervix and into the uterus. Sex can’t jostle it. We wouldn’t use them if it did.”

“Oh, I guess that was kind of stupid then.”

“It’s alright. No stupid questions.” She looks at you. “There’s a copper one that doesn’t have any hormones. It essentially works like spermicide. There are strings on the end of it that you can sort of feel to make sure it’s in place. But Harry shouldn’t be able to feel it during sex. You can still us tampons. I could do it for you today if you want, the procedure doesn’t take long.”

“What if he’s fingering me? We do a lot of that…” You blush again.

“If you’re doing that he may feel the strings, but-“

“Or what if he’s going down on me?”

“Y/N.” She sighs. “You don’t have to decide today. It’s a hormone free option though, and the copper one actually works right away. You just need to wait twenty-four hours after it’s inserted. A lot of people use them. If you try it and don’t like it we can always take it out.”

“And you can do it today?”

“Sure! I just gave you an exam, I know what size you’d need. It’ll be a little uncomfortable while it’s going in. Sort of feels like when you’re getting a pap.”

“Alright, let’s just do it. If I don’t like it, I’ll come back.”

“Okay, after I put it in, I’m gonna use a mirror to show you what to look for. You should be able to feel the strings to make sure it’s in the right place.”

You nod and wait for her to go get a nurse.

//

Later, when you come home, Harry’s sitting with Jack on the floor, just playing with him. It was an incredibly sweet sight.

“Jack look, it’s mummy.”

“Do you think he’ll have an accent?” You come over and sit on the floor with them.

“You know, technically, to me, you have an accent. So he could have yours, or a mix of both.” He kisses you and hands him over. You snuggle him close to you. “How was your appointment?”

“Good, everything’s really good. I had her put a non-hormonal IUD in to try. If I don’t like it she can take it out. It was really fucking uncomfortable though, so hopefully I’ll like it.”

“How’s it feel now?”

“Fine, can’t even really tell it’s up in there. Although, you maybe be able to feel the strings on the end of it with your fingers…sorry.”

“Not a problem, you’re not the first girl I…” You give him a warning look. “Um, it’s no big deal is all I mean.”

“Mhm.” You give Jack kisses on his chubby cheeks. “How was lunch with your mum?”

“Oh it was good! It was good for her to spend time with him.”

“How much longer is she staying here?”

“Only another week or so. I’m kinda sad, it’s been nice to call her and have her be right there, you know?”

“I know, I’m sorry.” You frown. “At least we can spend a little longer there for the holidays, right? Since my winter break is so long, we can go for two weeks instead of one.”

“Very true, and I can always pick up some freelance while I’m out there. Do you think once you’re back on campus you’ll bring him with you?”

“Probably. I think I’ll go to campus quite a bit even though I’m teaching online. I like my office. I was looking into it, and they do have a daycare on campus. The babies need to be at least six months, I think to make sure they have all their shots, but I can put my name in the pool.”

“Must be expensive, no?”

“It’s a little pricey, but it would get him socialized with kids his own age, and at least it would be a formal daycare, and I’d be right there if he needed me.”

“Yeah, I like the idea of that. I suppose comin’ to work with me all the time probably wouldn’t be a good idea.”

“It’s one thing to bring Buster, but your staff are not babysitters.”

“Obviously.” He looks over at Buster and pets him. “These two have become quite the little buddies. I think he likes the way Jack smells.” He chuckles.

“Still got that new baby smell somehow.”

“His acne’s gotten better.”

“You’ll never believe what I did to get it to go away.”

“What?”

“I read that you should rub your nipple over the baby’s face, so I just started doing that when I’d feed him.”

“Are you serious?” He laughs.

“Yeah! Worked great, didn’t it, Jack?” You hold him up to look at him and he giggles slightly. “God, he’s so cute. We got the world’s cutest baby.”

“We really do.”

//

At some point in July, you got your family photos taken. Mariah did them for you at the studio. It was lovely. It was nice to finally be feeling better about yourself. You and Harry hadn’t quite dived into the sex stuff yet. You had started giving him blow jobs and things of that nature, but you hadn’t let him touch you.

“Harry, I’m not ready to leave him for the night.” You pout.

“Y/N.” He sighs. “My mum is gonna be with him all night. It’s your twenty-eighth birthday, we’re going away for the night like we planned.”  

“Why do we always need a getaway? What’s wrong with staying in? It’s not even a big birthday. Now your birthday later this year, that’s a big birthday, but mine-“

“If we don’t do this now, we’ll never be able to leave him. He’s in good hands.”

“I never said he wasn’t! I just…” You start to tear up. “What if he needs me? What if he can’t sleep without us?” You hear the buzzer for the door.

“That’s my mum. We only have her here another few days, and that’s because she extended her stay another month for us. Please, let her have this last little sleepover, and let us have some alone time.” He huffs, and opens the door.

You didn’t like being put in your place like that, but you knew he was right. You both thank Anne and say goodbye to Jack before heading out. You were quiet on the ride to the hotel. You knew it was good to get away, but you were sad nonetheless.

“It’s by the beach. I thought tomorrow we could go out, lay outside like you like?”

“Sure.”

“Honey…” He puts his hand over yours. “I’ll miss him too, but this’ll be good for us. We haven’t been alone in a long time.”

“We have plenty of alone time.”

“You’re always afraid we’re gonna wake him up or something. Think of how nice it’ll be to shower without worrying if he’s gonna cry or not.”

“I know.” You sigh. “You’re right about all of it. I’m just not happy about it. I feel like I’m so old already.”

“Old?! What does that make me? You’re not the one that’s six months away to bein’ thirty.” He scoffs.

“I know, it’s silly.” You shake your head at yourself.

Many thoughts left your head as soon as the wine at dinner hit your lips. You’d have to pump and dump, but you didn’t care. You and Harry enjoyed a really nice meal that was long overdue. For the first time in a long time, you were on a date with your husband. For the first time in a long time, the main focus of conversation wasn’t about your son. It was like you were getting to know each other all over again, and it felt good.

“Babe?” You say to him as you get back up to the hotel room.

“Yeah?”

“Will you make love to me?”

He pouts at you and gives you those eyes that look like a puppy’s. He thought he was going to melt into a puddle.

“Of course I will, angel.” He comes over to you and cups your cheeks in his hands. “S’not why I brought you here, I hope you know that.” He kisses your forehead.

“I do.”

He tilts your chin up so you can look at him before he kisses you. You wrap your arms around his neck and pull him closer to you. You can’t remember the last time you two really kissed like this, which was kind of sad. You feel tears prick at the back of your eyes, and you try to blink them away.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just…we’ve really put us on the back burner, huh?” You wipe under your eyes.

“Little bit…” He brings you over to the bed and you both sit down. “I haven’t wanted to say much because I didn’t want you to feel pressured. I know you’ve been nervous. I’ve appreciated you takin’ care of me, but you know I much prefer doing it to you.”

“Remember when we used to be able to take our time for everything? I mean, when was the last time we even got to do anal? Your ass must be so tight by now.”

“Y/N.” Harry laughs, and puts his hand on your shoulder. “One step at a time, yeah?” He leans in to kiss you again. “Let’s just take advantage of this time. We can take all the time in the world.”

“Okay…I know it’ll be fine, I just can’t help but feel nervous.”

“S’just me, love. Nothin’ to be nervous about.”

You nod and stand up. You go to take your shirt off and you grab your breast pump.

“Let me just, uh, take care of this first.” You take everything into the bathroom so you can pump and dump.

Harry gets some music playing and tries to make the atmosphere a little more romantic. You come back out with your arms crossed. He had gotten undressed other than his boxers.

“Come here, sweet girl.”

You walk over to him, only in your underwear and let him hold you close. His hands slide down your sides and then to your breasts. He kisses down your neck and then your chest.

“Harry, wait.”

“What?”

“Don’t…suck on my nipples…”

“Why not? You love that.” He frowns.

“Not when I’m still producing milk!” His hand moves up to grip your throat and your eyes widen.

“Alright, but I’m sucking wherever else I want. That okay?” You nod your head slowly. “Good, now get on the bed.”

He lets you go so you can crawl on the bed. He gets on and hovers over you. He kisses you and works his way to your neck, sinking his teeth in and sucking harshly. You gasp and clutch at his shoulders. He works his way down your body, sucking where he pleases. He pays special attention to your tummy, kissing on your stretch marks that he loved so much. He hooks his fingers into your panties and drags them down your legs. You instinctively clamp your thighs together. Harry puts his hands on your knees and looks at you.

“Would you open up f’me, please, my love?” He asks ever so softly. You take a deep breath and open up for him. He looks down and smiles. “Look, at that. How’s my old friend doin’?”

“Harry.” You giggle.

“M’just sayin’, it’s been a minute. She looks real good, even better than I remember, honestly.” He kisses from your knee down your thigh, stopping to suck on your skin right near your center. He looks up at you and you nod. He licks a flat stripe up from your center to your clit. “Mm, oh my god.” He groans and continues to lap at you.

You lean back on your elbows as things start to feel good. You couldn’t help but get wet from the sounds Harry was making against you. You grip at his hair as he starts to suck on your clit. You grit your teeth when you feel a finger slip inside you.

“Shit.” You moan out.

“That feel oka-“ You don’t let him finish his sentence, you just push his head back down.

“Fuck, Harry, that’s it!” It all becomes too much and you end up coming on his finger. He continues to suck on you as you ride it out. He sits up to look at you afterwards.

“Yeh taste so fucking good.”

“I do?”

“You have no idea.” He leans in to kiss you quick.

“I didn’t know if anything would happen, but I packed some lube just in case. Might be good to use some.”

“Good idea.” He smiles and gets off the bed to grab it from your bag. He slides his boxers off, and get some lube on his hard cock. He spreads some around you as well. “Ready f’me, doll face?”

“Mhm, want you so bad.”

“If it doesn’t feel good make sure to let me know.”

“I will.”

You grip his biceps as he slowly pushes inside you. His eyes flutter closed at the feeling. Once he’s all the way in, he looks down at you. You were gritting your teeth and your eyes were squeezed shut.

“Y/N.” He grunts. Your eyes open slightly to look at him. “It hurts, doesn’t it?” He frowns.

“No! It doesn’t, I’m just getting used to it. I’m really sensitive. How’s it feel for you? Loose, right?” He smirks at you and shakes his head.

“You feel amazing, and I’m not just sayin’ that. Can’t even tell you pushed Jack’s big head outta there.” You both giggle and you relax a little.

“Okay, you can move.”

“Are yeh sure?”

“Yeah, come on, Daddy, fuck me.” Harry’s face completely drops and you burst out laughing.

“That’s not funny.”

“Oh come on, I’ve been dying to say that to you since he was born.” You wipe some tears away. “It was funny.”

“Yeah, you’re a real comedian, babe.” He rolls his eyes. His hand slides to grip your throat again. “Don’t say it again unless you mean it, understand?”

“Okay, okay.” He move his hand away so you can speak. “How about, fuck me, Harry?”

“I like that better.”

He starts to rock in and out of you slowly. Your hands drag down his back, your nails definitely leaving marks. You both were panting against each other. One of his hands snakes between the two of you so he can rub your clit.

“Oh, fuck.” Your head rolls back into the pillows, and you wrap your legs around his waist.

“Fuckin’ love you so much.”

“Love you too, shit, love you so much.”

“I get to have this forever?”

“All yours, forever.”

He groans and picks up the pace. He loses it as he watches your full breasts bounce up and down, and you come from the way he rubs your clit. You gasp at the way his come feels as it fills you up. He collapses on top of you as he tries to catch his breath.

After you both use the bathroom, you get into bed and rest your head on his chest. He rubs your back as you trace shapes on his stomach.

“That was amazing.” You say, looking up at him.

“Yeah? Felt really good for you?”

“Mhm, it was perfect. I’m sorry I was so nervous before.”

“You were just bein’ cautious, I get it.”

“And I really felt good?”

“You felt incredible, I swear. Thought I was nearly going to come when I just got the tip in.” You giggle and snuggle in closer. He looks over and sees it’s past midnight. “Happy birthday, angel.” He kisses the top of your head.

“Thank you.”

//

A couple days a week you’d hold office hours at school, and bring Jack with you. He was so good and barely fussed while you worked, and your students loved seeing him. It was nice to be back on campus after being home with him all summer. He was just about five months old, and was actually starting to look like a person.

Sometimes you’d take Jack to visit Harry on his lunch breaks and it always made Harry happy to see the two of you walk into the studio. You really had a routine down.

“Harry, we got on the list for the daycare at school for next semester, isn’t that great?” You tell him one night at dinner. “There were a couple of open spots. It’ll only be a few days a week since I’m only teaching Monday, Wednesday, Friday.”

“You are?”

“Yeah, we had a meeting today about what days certain classes are gonna be offered. I’m still teaching the same amount, just more on fewer days.”

“You’re okay with that?”

“Yeah! I can go in for office hours on Tuesdays, and then be home on Thursdays. It’ll cost less if he’s a part timer too.”

“Alright, sounds good to me.” He shrugs. “I wanna run somethin’ by you.”

“Okay.” You put your fork down to look at him. Before Harry can speak you hear the baby monitor. “Oh shit, he must’ve pooped.” You sigh. “Sorry, one second.”

Harry cleans up the dishes while you go to change Jack. You come back into the kitchen and wash your hands.

“He go back to sleep?”

“Mhm, barely woke up while I changed him.” You laugh. “So, what’s on your mind?”

“We got this place because it was a decent halfway point between Mark It and Plant Geo, and because Niall was across the street. None of those things matter anymore, do they?”

“I suppose not.”

“I was thinking…I love this place, really I do. It’s been such a great home for us for almost five years.”

“What are you saying, you wanna move?”

“I just thought maybe it would be nice to find a place with a yard. Somewhere Buster could run around, Jack could play outside without us havin’ to pack a bunch of shit to go to the park when he gets older.”

“You wanna be suburbs people?”

“Not necessarily, I mean, we could look for a detached townhouse or something. My business is in the city, and so it your work, so it wouldn’t make sense to move super far away and add a longer commute. But I know there’s neighborhoods around here we could look into.”

“Do we even have enough for a down payment? Homes in Mass are so expensive. Remember what Niall and Sarah had to deal with?”

“My step-father owned some real-estate. When he passed away my mum sold the building. Instead of giving Gem and I the money right away, she put it into an account for us. I have the money for a down payment, I just have to ask my mum. It’s what she’s been savin’ it for anyways.”

“Oh my god. Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“I honestly forgot about it. I’ve been talkin’ to my mum about all this, and she reminded me. What do you think? Do you wanna look for a house or something?”

“I mean…sure, I suppose we’re starting to outgrow this place. We don’t exactly have a functional guest room anymore. I don’t know where we’d look.”

“In all honesty, I think it would be nice to look in the Milton area. It’s just outside the city, we could hop on the T if we didn’t feel like driving in.”

“The traffic in the morning would be unbearable…”

“Like I said, I could hop on the T. Niall and Sarah seem to manage just fine. Or I was thinking Quincy.”

“Quincy is nice…and we’d be even closer to my family. I suppose it couldn’t hurt to look, right?”

“I think we should look in like November. A lot of people won’t wanna deal with a move in the winter time so we’d have less competition.”

“You’ve really thought this through.” You smirk.

“It’s definitely been on my mind. Plus…I could always move the business. I lease the space, it’s not like I own it. I could always find another spot if it got annoying for me. It’s you I’d be more concerned about. Like we wouldn’t be able to just run home if we needed something, or visit each other as often.” He sighs. “I definitely don’t wanna go Northshore.”

“God, no.” You cringe. “I think if we could find a neighborhood that has easy access to the T, that should be fine. And you make your own schedule, it’s not like you need to be there at 8AM every day. And I’m allowed to say when I want to teach and what times. None of my classes start before ten next semester.”

“You don’t have any at night right?”

“Nope. Need to stick to Jack’s schedule.”

“That daycare’ll come in so handy if we move.”

“Imagine if we found something in Niall and Sarah’s neighborhood? Niall takes the T to his work a lot, he says he doesn’t mind it. Sarah drives in, and she said as long as you leave early enough the traffic isn’t too bad. It’s more so coming home when it gets bogged down. But we get stuck in that just as bad in the city now.”

“So…we can start house hunting?”

“Yeah.” You smile. “I think it’s a great idea.”

//

You and Harry had found a home down the street from Niall and Sarah, and it was better than perfect. It had four bedrooms and three baths, a nice big basement that could be finished if you wanted it to be, a garage, and a decent sized yard, room for a pool in the future, perhaps. You only had to compete with one other offer, but ultimately, yours was accepted. You bought it just after Thanksgiving. As you walked around your empty apartment, a few tears came to your eyes. There were so many good memories had at this place.

“Ready, love?” Harry asks, Jack on his hip, and Buster at his side. “Think we’ve got everything we need.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Your friends and family were able to help you move, thank God. There wasn’t much work that needed to be done to the house either. You were able to get whatever painting and small things done before moving in. Harry would be able to catch the train with Niall most mornings and afternoons if he felt like it, and your commute wouldn’t be that bad either. Only about ten minutes longer than usual. It felt good to own a house. Jack would have a real neighborhood to grow up in. Your yard was fenced in for Buster, not that he could really use it at the moment what with snow starting to come.

You and Harry spent two and half weeks in London for the holidays. He got some freelancing done while he was there just to make some extra cash. His business was thriving, but expenses tended to add up from time to time now that you had a baby to worry about. He was always putting away for a rainy day, which was smart. Louis and Eleanor got to spend time with you all, and it was cute to watch Eliza May interact with Jack. Overall, it was a great trip and you were thankful that some things didn’t need to change.

He wasn’t expecting much for his thirtieth birthday since you had just bought a house and were still settling in. Maybe just a simple dinner with friends. He had the week from hell with people at work. Him and Mariah had this big sale going on from the New Year, so naturally a ton of people were coming in. It was worth it for the extra money, but they both were exhausted.

“What are you doing for your birthday, Harry?” Isaac asks at the end of the day Friday.

“I have no idea. I told Y/N I didn’t want anything big, so I think she’s just gonna have dinner ready for me when I get home and we’re just gonna chill this weekend.” He shrugs.

“Sounds nice.” He grins. “Thirty’s a big deal, you know? It’s like you’re officially an adult.”

“Oh, so the wife and child didn’t make me an adult?” He smirks.

“Nope, now it’s really real.”

Harry takes the T home, as he did every day. For some reason Niall said not to wait for him at their meet up spot. He didn’t really think much of it. He was on autopilot as well when he drove home from the train station, so he didn’t notice the street littered with cars. What he did noticed when he pulled into the driveway was his house had no lights on.

“What the…?” He pulls into the garage. “Her car’s here…don’t even fuckin’ tell me the power went out.” He groans.

Harry gets out of the car and goes into the house. He kicks his shoes off in the basement mudroom area you had set up, and he hangs his coat up. He flicks the light on to go up the stairs to the kitchen. As he reaches the top of the stairs, more lights flick on-

“Surprise!” A ton of people pop out and yell.

“Jesus Christ!” He clutches at his chest since his heart had started pounding.

You walk over to him giggling, and kiss him on the cheek. You hand him Jack, who had been waiting to see his Daddy all day.

“Happy birthday, honey, are you surprised?” You beam at him.

“Very…I…I had no idea.” He smiles and kisses your temple.

“That’s the whole point.” You laugh. Harry’s jaw drops when he sees Issac and Mariah standing around.

“How the fuck did you get here before me?”

“We may have gone over the speed limit a bit.” Mariah says. “Happy birthday.”

“You knew all this time she was plannin’ a bloody party and you didn’t tell me?” He scolds Isaac.

“We were sworn to secrecy. I’m far more scared of her than you, H, sorry.”

The party was a lot of fun, tons of friends, a few family members, and Harry could have as much to drink as he wanted since he didn’t need to drive anywhere.

“Lemme take him, it’s time for bed.” You say. “Say night night, Jack.” Harry gives his son a kiss before he hands him to you.

“Yeh did good, Y/N.” Niall says, as he helps you put Jack down. “Harry really had no idea.”

“It helped that he’s been too busy to notice me putting the plans together. Perfect way to have a little house warming too, don’t you think?”

“You’re always thinkin’.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Anything.”

“You and Sarah have been married a few months now, been together a few years…do you think you two will grow your family in any way, or are you not so into the baby thing?”

“I want whatever she wants, and she doesn’t seem to want kids.” He shrugs. “She’s always sayin’ her kids at school are enough. We might get a dog soon though.”

“That’s nice.” You smile. “Not that she needs to have kids or anything, I was just wondering is all.”

“My brother’s got a couple, I’m honestly happy just bein’ an uncle, and I think she likes bein’ an auntie to Jack.”

“Whatever works, right? Besides, I’m grateful to have you both so close by again. Jack will really get to know his auntie and uncle.”

“Exactly, and then when he’s older I can teach him how to properly play soccer because honestly Harry is shit at soccer.”

You burst out laughing, and clasp a hand over your mouth to not wake up the baby boy you just got to rest. You both sneak out of the room, and head back downstairs. Harry was chatting with Seth about something, and they were both laughing over whatever it was.

Around 11PM, everyone disperses. People were tired from the work week, after all. You say goodnight to everyone, and collect the cards and gifts people had left for Harry.

“You can open these tomorrow.” You yawn. “Let’s go to bed.” He grabs you and pulls you into him. He kisses you all over your face and you giggle. “Someone had fun.” You push away from him and go upstairs to your bedroom.

“Loads.” He pinches your bum and you have to stop yourself from squealing. You put a finger up to your lips to signal he needed to be quiet.

“If he wakes up, you can put him back to sleep.” You unzip your jeans and throw them in the hamper.

“Well, now you’re just not playin’ fair.” He closes the door behind him. Buster had gotten into the habit of sleeping in Jack’s room. He liked being near him at night.

“What, what am I doing?” You take your sweater off next and throw it in the hamper as well.

“You’re givin’ me a little strip tease.” He sits down on the edge of bed, practically bouncing on it.

“Am not.” You smirk. “I always get undressed like this.” You reach behind yourself and unclasp your bra before going into the bathroom to do your nightly routine. When you come back out Harry was still sitting there with a dumb smile on his face. You were completely naked now. “Can I help you?”

“Yeah, actually.” He looks down at his crotch and then back to you.

“Ohhhh, I see. It’s your birthday, so you want to have sex, is that it?”

“Well, I always want to have sex, but sure, yeah, that’s it.”

You stand in front of his parted legs and rest your hands on his shoulders. You run one of your hands through his hair and get a good fistful to bring his head back slightly. You plant kisses down his neck while he grips your hips to pull you into his lap. You straddle him while you suck on the available skin. One of his hands moves up to grip your throat.

“Get comfortable while I get undressed.” He says to you before letting you go.

“Now who’s giving the strip tease?” You cock an eyebrow as you sit up against the headboard. “And who said you were in charge tonight?”

“It’s my birthday.” He scoffs. “Can’t I have it how I want it?” He gets all of his clothes off and walks back over to the bed.

“And how exactly do you want it? I was planning to get that cock down my throat, but if that’s not something you want-“

Harry gets on the bed and sits next to you, spreading his legs apart.

“Be my fuckin’ guest.”

You giggle and get between his legs. You start by suckling his tip. He closes his eyes as his body starts to relax. You take him further in your mouth, hollowing your cheeks as you suck on him. His hands run through your hair, making a ponytail with his fist to hold it back for you.

“Ah, fuck.” He breathes as his head rolls back.

You cradle his balls as you bob your head up and down. You groan against him when you taste his precum. This causes him to buck his hips up and you gag slightly on him. He pulls you off of him and you gasp for air.

“I wasn’t done.” You pout.

“Yeah, well, I wanna fuck my wife now, that alright?”

You smile at him as a blush graces your cheeks. He pulls you close to him by the back of your neck and his lips connect with yours. His hands move down to your breasts so he can knead them. Before you know it, you’re being pinned down, your head on the pillows, and Harry’s fingers plunging inside of you.

“Oh, god.” You moan softly.

He sucks your bottom lip into his mouth while his fingers do their work inside you. He brings you extremely close to the edge before pulling them out of you.

“I really fucking hate when you do that.” You groan.

“It’s my birthday remember?” You look over to the clock.

“Only for twenty more minutes, smart mouth.”

“Guess I better make it count then, huh?”

He spreads you apart and pushes inside you without much warning. You bite your bottom lip to stifle the moan you desperately wanted to let out. Even though Jack’s room was down the hall, you still didn’t want to risk being too loud. You also had neighbors that you didn’t want to think Harry was beating you from the way he would make you scream sometimes.

His tip brushes against your g-spot and you grind your hips up towards his. He thrusts in and out and it feels so good you think you might cry. It’s not that you two weren’t intimate, you normally just had to keep it quick, or sometimes you were just too tired to put a lot of effort in. Right when you think you’re going to come to your release he pulls out all the way.

“Harry, I swear to god, I-“

He grabs your hips and flips you over. He slides back in and swoops his hand to the front of your throat to pull you back to him, back flush with his chest.

“I’ll tell you what, I’m gonna fuck yeh really hard right now.” He was making slow circular motions with his pelvis while he was talking. You could barely concentrate. “And your face is gonna go right into that nice pillow, so you can scream out all yeh want. How’s that sound?”

“S, sounds good.”

You gasp when he pushes you back down, and starts ramming into you. You grasp at the pillow and keep your face shoved in it to muffle your noises. His balls were slapping against you in the perfect way, and you can’t help but rub your clit while he continues to pound into you the way you were so desperate for. You turn your face to the side to catch some air.

“Harry.” You moan. “Please, I need to come.”

That was all he wanted to hear. Just to have you beg him, at least once, it was always music to his ears.

“Go ahead, angel.” He coos as he gives you more hard thrusts.

You feel his come shoot inside you and you lose it at that. You moan loudly into your pillow as his thrusts slow. He pulls you of you and helps you flip back over. He hovers over you and gives you a soft kiss before getting up to use the bathroom. You use it again after him and climb into bed.

You both face each other and get your legs tangled together. He tucks your hair behind your ear and smiles.

“Thanks for throwin’ me such a great party, babe. I love you so much.”

“You’re more than welcome, and I love you too. You’re thirty.” You giggle.

“I’m thirty.” He sighs. “Little weird.”

“Age is just a number.”

“Tell me.” He rolls onto his back. “Am I still the sexy young thing you fell in love with?” He looks down at his stomach and then to you. “Or am I like Dad bod central?”

“Oh my goodness, Harry.” You can’t help but laugh. You move to straddle him again, removing the covers. “Your stomach is as flat as the day I met you, and even if it wasn’t I’d love you just the same. Besides,” you pinch at his love handles, that he’s always had, “what are you always saying to me? More to love, right?” You lean down and kiss him. “Still plenty sexy, and still plenty young.”

“Thanks, you know how I know I’m still plenty young?”

“How?”

“Because I could fuck you again right now if yeh let me.” He smirks.

“Yeah? Wanna take me for another ride?” You roll your hips down on him.

“I do.” He starts rubbing circles on your sensitive clit.

“Fuck.” You breathe. “I think I could go for a second round. You only turn thirty once, after all.”

[junquisite]

C’est La Vie 6

WORD COUNT : 1.4K

GENRE : Fluff. SIngle Parent! OC AU

WARNING : None. yearning if it’s considered one

PARTS : 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  F

NOTE : Please enjoy one of my favorite fic i have EVER written.

"Yeah. Let me walk you home." He huffed out.

"It's fine. It's just 10 mins away. I can go." She insisted.

"I know. But it's 1 am and it's dark. And we haven't talked alone even once. Please. Let me." He whispered the last part and she stared at him for a long minute.

It gave him butterflies. He hadn't been alone with her since he came back and now she was with him, close like this and staring at him. He couldn't help but be reminded of how much this was like before. Like 10 years ago.

"Alright. Let's go." 

She was walking a step in front of him and he was walking behind, kind of concerned with how she was wavering slightly.

Suddenly she turned around and looked at him.

"You wanted to talk." She said and he nodded.

"I heard from Seungsik Hyung that you work at the publishing company he works at. But you're a cover design? Why not an editor?" He asked and she sighed.

"I majored in arts and design. So I'm working in that field." She said and she slowed down her pace to walk with him.

"Weren't you going to major in literature?" He asked, puzzled. She wanted to be a writer when they were in highschool. What went wrong?

She shrugged. "I couldn't write." 

"And that book you started with me?" He asked again, dreading the answer.

"I stopped writing when you left Sejun. I couldn't. It reminded me of you. Eventually I just couldn't write at all so I changed my major from literature to arts." She said and he looked away.

"You never thought of completing it?"

"I tried. I tried after I left work after Jiah was born. I was going to stay at home and take care of her and start working again on writing. But then he died and everything fell apart." She said and he could feel she was trying to stop herself from crying. He wanted to console her but she looked up at him and smiled.

"I had Seungyoun with me and he helped me so much. After he died, I couldn't even move from my room for a week. Seungyoun and Jimin took care of Jiah and eventually helped me get out. I started working again as a freelancer and Seungsik helped me work from home at the same company. I still have to go to the office sometimes for meetings but I couldn't have done it without them."

He smiled at her words. She really had gone through so much but was happy now and Jiah was so lucky to have such a mother. He understood now why Seungyoun was so precious to her, made sense. Maybe he can understand now where she comes from and where Seungyoun comes from. Obviously he's overprotective.

"Enough about me Sejun. What about you? How was Paris?" She asked and gave him a big smile and he couldn't help smiling himself.

He talked about how he got into the patisserie school he wanted and got to work under the baker he had always looked upto. She couldn't stop herself from smiling with how happy Sejun sounded and he felt butterflies.

It was 1am in the morning, some of the stars were shining in the sky and the rest were in her eyes, and she was laughing with him. The world was alright and he felt like he could overcome anything as long as he could see that smile on her face.

And as soon as that thought came to his mind, she stopped walking.

"Here I am." She said, pointing to the apartment building behind her and he looked up. It was pretty close to his house too.

"That loft was a nice place. And pretty near. The party was beautiful too. I'll help you clean up?" He said and she laughed.

"It's fine. No hurry. We can do it anytime we want." 

"Why? Wouldn't the owner be mad?" He asked and she smiled at him.

"It's mine. My husband gifted me that loft. He said it was small enough to be affordable but big enough for me to display my arts if i ever feel like doing it." She said and wow she married a rich guy.

"It was nice of the guys though. Although it might not be too far, they always compromise for places to go since I get worried about Jiah if she's not with us. I like to stay close to her and they understand it and I love them all so much for it." She said and he smiled. Seeing her so happy made him blissful. God he missed her.

She waved then and turned around to enter her building when he grabbed her hand and stopped her.

"Hey, You wanna grab something to eat?" He asked and she looked at him, perplexed.

"At this hour?" She asked and nodded.

She looked up at the building and he tugged at her arm. "Jiah is probably asleep and so must be Jimin. Come on, let's go eat!"

And she finally gave in. Who could resist those dimples?

"Is that diner still open? Where we used to go?" He asked her and she nodded.

"Then lead the way!" He said.

 ~

The next day Subin walked in the bakery and smiled at Taesong and took a seat on the stools near the counter.

"Is Sejun hyung inside?" And Taesong nodded. Subin asked him to call him and he went in and a few seconds later, Sejun walked out.

"Subin-ah. What's up?" He asked.

"How did it go yesterday, hyung?" Subin asked.

 They walked in the diner they used to frequent when in highschool. The same lady was still the owner and she smiled at Jinae.

Jinae told him she comes here frequently with Jiah who loves the food. They took a seat in the booth and the lady came over to them, holding a menu.

"What would you like today kid? Isn't it too late for you? Where's Jiah?" She asked and Jinae smiled.

"She's home, probably asleep, with Jimin. I would like.. pancakes! Strawberry and cream pancakes!" She said and looked at Sejun.

Pancakes. That was what they always used to have there. Pancakes and waffles. Each of them would take different things and then split.

"I'll have waffles then. Chocolate waffles." He said and smiled back at her.

The lady smiled and then stared at Sejun for a while.

"I almost didn't recognize you but I could never forget those dimples. It's been a while since I have last seen you. It's nice to see you both together again." She said the last part smiling down at them and Sejun saw Jinae looking down and..was she turning pink?

 "It was.. something." Sejun said, smiling to himself.

Subin nodded and took out his laptop and started working and asked for a coffee.

When Sejun got him his coffee, Subin thanked him and started working again but Sejun kept staring at him.

"Subin-ah. Can I ask you something?" Sejun asked and Subin nodded, looking up at him.

"We kissed yesterday." He confessed and Subin stared at him, eyes wide.

"Seriously?" He asked with so much happiness that Sejun blushed slightly.

"Yeah. But she hadn't messaged me yet. Nor replied when I messaged her at Least 4 hours ago."

Subin looked at him, unimpressed, and said,"You know the address. Go to her."

Sejun leaned back. "I should, right? Should I take something too?" He asked and Subin nodded.

"Of Course! Taesong, Can you pack a few cupcakes? Especially the Oreo ones? I have to leave, take care of the bakery while I'm gone." He said, crossing a confused Taesong and walking in the staff room to check his hair and face for any flour stains.

 ~

He rang the bell and waited, albeit nervously.

He knew her building and she told him yesterday night her apartment number, saying Jiah would love to have him home someday. So here he was, waiting patiently for her to open the door.

She did just that and he smiled seeing her in her pyjamas with loosely tied hair but her eyes looked panicked and she came out of the apartment and closed the door behind her.

"Hey Sejun. What are you doing here?" She asked and he raised an eyebrow at her.

"I wanted to see you. And I got cupcakes for Jiah!" He said, lifting up the box to show her.

"Umm bad timing Sejun."

"Why?" He asked but then they both heard someone Calling her name from the inside of her apartment and then the door opened and someone peeked out to see them.

"Wooseok?" Sejun said.

[btsmakesmehappy]

Broken vase | 2

Genre: Enemies to Lovers, Angst, Fluff, possible light smut in the future

Pairing: Agent!Namjoon x Agent!reader

Rating: 18+ (Mature Content)

Word Count: 5,7k

Warning: Public display of affection, murder threat, traumatic experience

Summary: You are one of the best agents in the Company, and so do Namjoon. After your last mission with him, you hate him and so do Namjoon. Suddenly, you assigned again with him as a married couple. How can you handle the mission, Kim Namjoon, and your emotional wound?

Chapter: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4  completed

Series Masterlist: The Company

a/n: Basically I had zero idea about how agents work. So I apologize for missing any crucial thing. I wanted them to focus to the mission, but I want them to kiss and jump on each other more. So If you thought, “Why don’t they spying the Lee couple better? Why they’re always distracted?”. Well to my excuse, let’s just think that Tae and Yoongi as their Hawaii sidekicks do the spying job and Jung couple just literally be on cover, laughing and talking with no other specific jobs to do. To this, I apologize. Thank you for reading this!

Taglist: @kb-bangtanenthusiast​, @w0lfqu33n​

       You fell asleep after you told Namjoon what happened to you. Maybe Namjoon hates you, but you’re his partner and he knows you needed that rest. He called Jin and Yoongi and filled in the situation that arose. He also told Jin about college friends of Minister Lee which you mentioned before you fell asleep. At first, he’s mad because you didn’t tell him a crucial clue sooner, but he will let it go, there should be no more fighting between you two. You both should realize that now you are working together, that you should tell each other everything regarding this case.

He has been listening to the headphone for several hours now. The couple’s room was silent, meaning they both have already fallen asleep. He put the headphone on the desk, and stretched his body. He walked to the bed and sat beside your sleeping body. He watched as you breathed slowly. He never watched you this close before, usually, you sensed it so fast and you walked away or even chewed him out. But now, he could see your long lashes, your pinkish lips, the shades of your cheeks, and even a scar on your forehead. Where did you get that?

He remembers how soft is your lips when you kissed him on the plane. The kiss was sudden and light, but he couldn’t help but notice how the kiss made his heart thumping inside his chest. How you affected him. He shook his head softly, maybe it because he hasn’t done fieldwork for a long time, yet been in cover. These last 5 years, mostly he has worked from the office, trained recruits, and lead operations.

Maybe I am nervous about this mission.

        He then covered your body with a blanket and then walked to the bathroom to wash his face, to wake himself up. He has already gulped cups of coffee but he still feels tired. He sat on the sofa. His mind wandering, why you’re attacked? Did they know that you are an agent? Did our cover blow? It has been less than 24 hours and you barely did anything. It’s impossible. Or did someone misidentify you as Minister Lee’s wife because you changed your room? Does that mean this threat is done by someone amateur? Or maybe it is just a random crime? He sighed in frustration. The threat itself has no clue whatsoever, now someone is targetting you? It’s getting more complicated.

           As morning came, Namjoon shook your feet slowly to wake you up. You stirred in your sleep and opened your eyes slowly. “Come on, y/n, we need to get breakfast and join the tour.” Namjoon has already ready to go, he wore a red t-shirt which accentuates his hard chests and denim shorts. He looks hot in casual attire and you almost wanted to jump on him while you’re this half asleep. Fortunately for you, you gained your senses to realize that the man before you is your job partner.

           You walked lazily to the bathroom, your neck’s still has a throbbing pain and your head still hurt. You brushed your teeth and picked your clothes for today. You’re not in the mood of something girly, you just wanted to stay as comfortable as possible. You searched your baggage to find anything like a t-shirt and hot pants, only to find dresses. You wanted to yell at Jimin for preparing unnecessary things. You finally decided to put on the simplest dress you found. You tried to zipper your dress up, but your neck’s killing you and you couldn’t reach your zipper properly. Hesitantly, you called for Namjoon. “Namjoon-ah, could you please help me?”

           He sat on the sofa. He was texting on his phone when you asked him. He grumbled silently and looked up to you. When he found you with your exposed back before him, he gulped silently. He was pulling your zipper you up as his eyes lingered to your neck, looking at your small bruise. “Luckily for you, it looks just like a hickey.”

           Your cheeks stained red shade as you touched your neck sheepishly. You laughed dryly. You then sling your bag around your shoulder and walked to the door.

            His hand grasped your wrist softly. “Are you really okay? Can you continue?” His eyebrows knitted in worry.

           You smiled and nodded. “I am okay. It is kinda hurt a little but I think I can hold it. Don’t worry, I will not let this ruin our job.”

           “That’s not what I me-.” He sighed and released your wrist. “If you said so.”

       You sat through the breakfast in silence. Sometimes glanced at the couple across you. You then texted Yoongi to let him now that you’re in the post.

“So how do you know Yoongi?” Namjoon asked while trying to chew his bread.

“Well, we worked in the same mission 2 years ago, also with Tae, here in Hawaii. They were a big help.” You laughed dryly, remembering the past.

“So they’re like Jin and Jimin in Hawaii then?

“Yes and no. They were before. But now, they aren’t. Yoongi lived here now but Taehyung is on his leave. They can do the fieldwork, but also handling agents, but they assigned to none. They’re like freelance agents. I think it’s a good job though. Sometimes it can be boring, stucked in the office like Jimin and Jin. Don’t you think?” you shrugged.

“I know what are you saying. But that boring work has stability you know? Don’t you think stability is important when you took a job?” He asked curiously.

You laughed loudly which made Namjoon stared to you to quieten. “Sorry, but you haven’t change for a bit, really! Yes, stability is important, but it is important to have a fun job too! And besides, if I want to have a stable job, I would never take this job in the first place.”

“I can’t understand you.”

You snorted. “Since when have you understood me at all? We’ve known each other for almost 10 years, yet you never understand me. Oh right, so what does Jin say about that friend?”

“Well, he found some names, but they’re not in Hawaii at the moment. And Jin also tracks Lee’s email, messages, and calls but they haven’t been in contact for a while.” He then put his hands across his chest. “We believed that they’re all clean. I personally think it’s nothing.”

“So we back to square one.”

“I’m afraid so. Oh right, Yoongi said that he will follow us later if we need backup.”

“Alright.” You fiddled your dress and sighed. “And Namjoon? About that friend thing, I am sorry not to tell you in the first place. I thought I can search it by myself first before I tell you.”

Namjoon smiled softly, “That’s okay. We haven’t worked together for a long time. Just promise me to tell me everything now. We shouldn’t keep work individually. And as harder as this mission already is, I don’t want to make it more difficult. So that’s why I also appreciate it if we try to be as friendly as possible by not fighting anymore.” He reached out his hand to you, waiting for you to take it.

You took his hand in yours. “Yeah I think you right.” You then pull him up and gestured him to walk with you. “Let’s go to the tour then.” He released your hand to put his hand behind your waist and pulled your closer to him as he walked beside you to the lobby.

You saw Dahee waving to you from the distance. “Nara-ssi! Good morning. It looks like you have a good night together.” She smiled playfully. “Are you joining the tour?” She then gestured to you to sat beside her.

           “Good Morning, Dahee-ssi. Yes, you too?” You and Namjoon joined them sitting in the lobby. “But, I thought you and your husband have been to Hawaii several times. Why do you join the tour then?”

           “Yeah we did! We go to Hawaii like every 2 years, but we keep joining this tour.” Her voice quietened, “I wanted to go alone, you know. We literally know every road here. But my husband there just so lazy to drive or take a bus.”She laughed.

           You shared a glance with Namjoon. It’s not that weird considering there also other people who joined the same tour more than once. Besides, you could see Myunsoo’s face lightened in excitement when he read the tour’s pamphlets.

           “Alrighty! Are you Mr. And Mrs. Jung? Aloha! I am James! I am going to be your guide on this tour.” A man in his early twenties with black hair and Hawaiian shirt reached out for your hand to shake yours. Both of you stood up to greet the man.

Namjoon interrupted your hand, and with his other hand he pulled you closer possessively. “Hi, I am Mr.Jung, and this is my wife. Please take care of us.”

He smiled as he handing you the pamphlet. “This is the pamphlet for this tour, any information you need is written there, and if you have any questions, just ask!” James then walked away to give the pamphlets to the other couple.

You were busy reading the pamphlet, unbeknownst to you, James’ eyes trained to you several times and Namjoon caught him red-handed. The way the other man looking at you, his wife, was making him uncomfortable. Namjoon might not be as instinctual as you, but James seems suspicious. Like why he looked at a man’s wife in the first place?

He then looked at you beside him, still has zero clues about the situation. That’s another weakness of you, you trust people so much. Like last night, when you helped the pregnant lady and now, this unknown man. He sighed. What are you doing to him? You are an agent, a skillful one, but you always make him worry. Why are you always on his mind?

Namjoon pulled you into his arms, snuggling his head into your neck. That action startled you for a bit. You then put your hand around his waist, pulling him closer. You could smell his cologne, he smelled earthy, warm, and sweet. It’s comfortable. You looked up to his face, “What are you thinking?” You smiled.

“Nothing. Just.. don’t ever leave me, okay?” he begged. 

You’re taken aback with his statement. The hug felt real, you’re not gonna lie. And how his deep voice begged you, it’s making your stomach fluttered. Your heart beat faster as he snuggled deeper and grazed his lips lightly in the crook of your neck. You could hear his beating heart in your ears. Your mind went blank and the only thing you want to do was hug him back tightly. You must be going crazy. 

You then took his face gently in your hands. “You are weird, you know that?” You giggled and then you pressed your lips to his. He returned your kiss slowly, molding your lips together. It is your second kiss, but somehow it felt different from the one you shared on the plane. It is more intimate. It is more desperate.

You released each other when you heard all of the tour guests stood up and walked to the bus in front of the lobby. Namjoon then interlocked his fingers with yours as you both walked to the bus. He dragged you to the seats in the back, just two seats behind Myunsoo and Dahee. There weren’t many people who joined this tour, only 4 more couples excluding yours and Dahee’s. Because this was an exclusive tour, those couples have already booked the tour for some time, and the company already checked their background, and they’re nothing to worry about. Except for the tour guide.

Namjoon remembered correctly, that the tour guide should be a woman named Tiffany whom he’s already checked before. Why does the tour guide change? He then pulled his phone to text Jin.

  09.38 am NJ: background check of the tour guide, pls. –NJ

09.38 am SJ: k.

  “Who are you texting?” you asked him warily.

He then showed the screen of his phone and you nodded. Then your phone vibrated and you slide it to unlock it.

  09.39 am JM: u k?

09.39 am You: im k.

  “Jimin?” Namjoon asked. You nodded as you felt your phone vibrate again.

  09.40 am JM: how is the kiss? Lmao

  Your face went redder. You impulsively hide your screen from Namjoon as you write to Jimin back. Damn, it had to be Yoongi who told him.

  09.41 am You: OOT! Fuck u. Gotta go!

         Suddenly there’s mic feedback followed by James’ voice. “Aloha! Welcome to Hawaii tour! We will be headed first to Queen’s Marketplace. The journey will take about 45 minutes.” James then walked through the small aisle to give bottled drinks to everyone. “And it is a complimentary drink for you.”

You took it with a smile. It’s just bottled juice with the tour company’s sticker stuck on it. When you wanted to open the bottle to drink it, Namjoon stopped you. “Please don’t drink from an unknown source.” He looked at you with knitted brows. “Did you forget what happened yesterday? We need to be more careful.”

You gulped at his remarks. Why were you so careless? You have worked for a long time, but why did you turn like a teenager on a field trip? Was it because you with Namjoon? Was it because of Hawaii?

You straightened your back as you looked at the scenery outside the window. Namjoon rested his head on your shoulder, sleeping soundly. He looks tired. You thought. Well, Namjoon did stay awake for a whole night while you’re sleeping. You pinched your cheek lightly. This is a mission, get a hold of yourself, Y/n! You can’t keep making trouble and making it hard for him. 

45 minutes later, the bus finally stopped at the parking lot. “Alright people, you get 2-hours of shopping here. We will meet on this bus at 01.30 pm. Please don’t be late because we are on a tight schedule!” James said. All of the couples stood from their seats and ready to go. You woke Namjoon up by shaking his thighs and you grabbed his hand to leave the bus. You should do your job by following Dahee and his husband.

You’ve been walking around for some time. Grabbed a cup of coffee, while looking for Dahee from the distance. They’ve been shopping since the time they step on the marketplace. The weather’s sunny and hot, and you didn’t know if you regretted that you didn’t wear sunblock, or felt grateful because your skin wouldn’t be sticky. Suddenly, Namjoon stopped. He looked confused as he searched his pocket. “I think I lost my phone.”

“What? Really? Do you remember where is the last time you use it?” you asked. He thought hard but shook his head. He’s one of the best agents in The Company, but yet sometimes, you forget how clumsy he was. So rather than getting mad at him for lost a thing, it’s just faster to just look for it. “Alright, you go to the cafe and I will check the bus okay? Let’s meet in 10 minutes in this place.” You both then ran in separate ways.

After a few minutes running, you arrived at the parking lot, wandering in front of identical buses. After you’re sure which one is your bus, you knocked on the door and talked to the driver. “Excuse me, I think I left my phone there, can I check it?”

“Oh sure miss. Do you need help?” The driver is still young, probably in the mid-thirties He was smiling as he opened the door.

You shook your head. “I believe I don’t, Thank you. I will just look for it in my seat.” You hopped on the bus and walked to your seats before.

“Okay then. If you need any help I will be just outside the bus to take a call.” The driver then stepped out from the bus, leaving you alone.

There you found in between your seats, a purple flip phone. You took it and put it inside your bag. As you walked, you looked to other couple’s seats and finally, James’s seat. Your eyes glanced at the door, seeing that the driver’s still outside the bus. You then opened his backpack quickly. You found only travel books, a camera, a notebook, and a water bottle in the main compartment. You patted the back of the bag and found something hard inside. You noticed there’s a small opening on the side seam. When you reached your finger inside and you felt something tubular. You pulled it out and your eyes widened. It is a syringe. And there’s liquid in it.

Does he use it for medication? If he does, why he hid it on his back? Or..  you gulped. Did he drug someone with this? Carefully you put the syringe to your bag, and placed the backpack like before. You then walked back to Minister Lee and Dahee’s seats. You carefully examined the bottled juice, smelling it, and opening every sticker attached to it. Luckily for you, they’re easily removed, meaning that they’re attached just now. But after removing every sticker, you found no opening or whatsoever in those bottles. Maybe it’s his medication. You sighed as you reached for the syringe in your bag to return it to James’s bag.

But there’s a weird feeling, instinct, that bothered you. You returned to your seats. You removed all of the labels on Namjoon’s bottle first. It’s sealed and there’s no opening. You then grabbed your own bottle, carefully remove all of the labels. The cap’s still sealed, but when you remove the sticker on the cap, you felt nauseous. There’s a little hole on the cap. You suddenly got a goosebump as you sat on your seat. You put your bottle in your bag with the syringe, you need to examine it carefully later.

“Are you okay miss? You found your phone?” the driver asked in front of the door.

You stood from your seat and walked down the aisle. “Yes, I found it. I’m afraid that I lost it somewhere I don’t know.” You laughed. “Well, I should get going. Thank you very much.”

As you stepped outside, the driver laughed sinisterly, making you look at him strangely. “It’s good that you can find what you seek, right, Miss Nara?” He smirked and glared at you eyes meaningfully.

You shuddered and walked away faster. Your heart’s pounding hard in your chest. you held your sling bag tightly, afraid that it will fall down. You never introduce you to him before yet he knew your name. Sure, maybe he had the guest lists, but to be that sure that you’re Jung Nara? It’s weird.

Your eyes searched for Namjoon, and when you found him, you sprinted to him. “Babe, I found your phone!” you almost yelled. You then handed him his phone.

He sighed in relief. “Thank God! So it’s on the bus?” He asked and reach for his phone, grazing your hands. “What the hell? Why are your hands so cold?” He held your hands tightly. He studied your face carefully, only to find a pale woman in front of him. He cupped your face gently. “What happened to you?”

Your mind went blank. You put your hands around his waist and just buried your head in his chest and whispered “I- We need to talk. With Yoongi too.” Your hands tightened. “I found something.. and I hope I am wrong.”

5 minutes later, you found yourself getting calmer after drink a herb tea. You sat in the small cafe in the marketplace, which Yoongi’s already checked to assume it’s a safe place. Namjoon sat beside you and Yoongi sat across you, while Taehyung listened in his earpiece, as he continued to follow Dahee. You then pulled out the syringe from your bag and put it on the table. Namjoon looked confused and before he asked, you pulled a bottled juice out too. “I found this syringe hidden in James’s backpack.” His eyes widened. “I don’t know what is in this syringe nor what he did with that. But before, I had a feeling. So I remove all the stickers on the bottled juices, and found this.” You said as you showed him a tiny hole on the cap. “I also don’t know whether the hole matched with this syringe or not, but I got a feeling that it will match.”

Namjoon nodded. “Alright, we need to investigate this syringe and the bottle. And contact the company. If it is a match, we can conclude that it is attempted murder. I think we should tell Minister Lee and Dahee about the threa-“

“We can’t!” You interrupted him. You grew anxious.

“Calm down Y/n. What do you mean we can’t?” Yoongi asked.

You hesitated for a moment. “Because it is my bottle.”

Namjoon shocked and grabbed both of your shoulders, forcing you to look at him. “What? What do you mean, y/n?” He asked cautiously.

You met your eyes with him, your eyes were glistening in frustration. “That bottle is my bottle. I’ve checked Minister Lee and Dahee’s bottles and also yours. But there are no holes. That is the only one with a hole,” you gulped, “it’s mine.” You wanted to cry. It’s not that you’ve never been threatened before but It’s just somehow made you nervous.

Namjoon looked at you in worries and confusion, “But why are you so afraid? You’ve been in plenty of fights and near-death-experiences, you know?”

“The driver..” you hesitated. “I think he noticed what I’ve been doing on the bus before. Furthermore he knew my fake name while I’ve never introduced myself to anyone except Dahee. And he felt weird.”

“What do you mean weird?” Yoongi asked impatiently.

You look into Yoongi eyes, “His eyes and his voice feel familiar.”

Yoongi noticed the meaning of your uneasiness, then slammed the table angrily. “That’s not possible! You and I knew that he is dead! You even watched it!”

You couldn’t hold back your tears anymore. “You and I both knew that we never found the body! And even I knew, that you don’t believe it in the first place.” you cried frustratingly. You hugged yourself tighter. This is definitely a nightmare.

Namjoon left in bewilderment. What the hell happened two years ago? He shook his head. “Alright, alright. We need to stop assuming things. Yoongi, can you examine those as fast as possible? And Y/n, we shouldn’t let James knew that he knew. We must pretend like we know nothing. And we should keep an eye on James and the driver. I’m going to request a background check for them and send a back up to investigate them further. We should continue our plan like before until there’s evidence. Do you both understand?”

Yoongi nodded as he grabbed the syringe and the bottle, “I will check these. I will prepare the back-up ASAP.” He walked out of the cafe.

“Can you do this?” Namjoon asked. You nodded slowly. You took a deep breath and again for the second time of this day, you pinched your cheek.

It is just a mission. It is a different mission. You can do this. You’re wrong about him.

When you finally walked back to the bus, you forced yourself not to mind James or the driver. Namjoon held your hand tightly to make you come to your senses. As you sat on your seats, he wondered, Why do they target you? Why we got no clues regarding Minister Lee, to begin with? Is this a trap? What if the threat actually addressed to you? He pulled his phone and wrote to Jin.

  01.43 pm RM: background check of the driver.

01.43 pm RM: also can you give me the file of Y/n’s mission in Hawaii 2 years ago? ASAP.

  By the time you came back to the hotel, your body drained. Yoongi and Taehyung finally decided to use the unoccupied room on your floor and moved the listening devices to their room. Namjoon called and told all the details to the company, begging that they will take you off this mission. You watched him from behind. You’ve never seen him so desperate before. He also almost cursed after he got an unsatisfying answer from higher-ups. There’s no way to send you back home or replaced you with another agent. You would have to continue the mission. Namjoon threw his phone angrily to the bed which made you flinched. The room grew silent.

“Do you really hate working with me that much?”

Namjoon stopped for a moment. “What are you talking about?” His phone vibrated. He grumbled as he picked the phone to read what you assume was a text from Jin. His eyes widened and frowned his brow confusedly. With the thought of you’re in danger was already filled his mind, he really didn’t need this fact to be added.

“Do you want to get rid of me from this mission, that much?” You snapped. You did realize that you shouldn’t be bothered by your emotions, but you’re that frustrated. You’re confused, mad, and afraid at the same time. Do you hate me that much?

He scowled at you. He, too was frustrated, with you. “My priority is the success of this mission. So, if you need to phrase it that way, yeah. I don’t want you here.” I only want you to be safe.

You felt a stab on your chest. You felt humiliated. Your eyes got teary. “We both know that we never want that happened in the first place. And besides, you said before that we shouldn’t assuming anything yet” You cried.

“What happened in Hawaii 2 years ago?” He snapped back.

Your eyes widened, “Why are you talking about it right now-“

“Why is there no data about your mission in Hawaii in the database?” His jaw clenched. You could sense Namjoon walked closer to you, cornering you. You stepped back until your back of your legs hit the side of the bed. Then you felt something cold on your stomach. You tried to move your hand to your thigh, grabbing your small gun which hidden underneath your dress. Click. “I won’t do that if I were you.” He warned.

You froze. Your throat felt dry. “Wha.. What are you doing?” you stuttered.

“I said, what happened in Hawaii 2 years ago?” he said coldly.

“I- I don’t want to say..” You groaned in pain as he pushed his gun harshly. You’re so sure it would leave a bruise. It’s maddening. Just a few hours ago, he’s the one who held you close, opening your heart. You were trying to trust him again. And now? You felt a soft pang in your heart as you realized. “You never trust me, do you?” you said weakly.

His eyes met yours. Your eyes brimmed with tears, feeling disappointed, and exposed. His gaze softened. “Just answer me.” Please.

“I can’t say..” You could feel, that your cheeks have already been wet from your tears. Again, he doesn’t trust you.

He felt betrayed. Why don’t you want to tell him? It messed up his mind really bad. “You do understand that what you’ve hidden will make you seen as a traitor, don’t you?” He warned you. “Not only you, but also Yoongi, Taehyung, and even Jimin.”

You bit your lips then you grabbed his gun and kicked his side until he fell to the carpeted floor. You seized his gun and aimed it to the back of his head. He froze. “I’m sorry..” You then knocked his neck with the gun. As Namjoon passed out, you threw the gun beside him and walked out of the room. “I’m really sorry.”

Ten years ago.

  Your forehead beaded with sweat. Your body’s hurt after all that kicking and punches. You then found a chance and pushed your body to the person before you. As the person stumbled and you locked his neck from behind.

“Alright, I give up!” Namjoon smacked your hand repetitively.

You snorted as you released him. “You know that if you couldn’t beat me at least once, you won’t be promoted, right?” You stood up, fixing your clothes. “Why do you even join the promotion test for field agent?”

Namjoon just laid down on the floor, controlling his breaths. “You really shouldn’t rub salt into my wound, you know.” He sat up and gestured his bag to you.

You walked to the side, picking your water bottle and drank it in one gulp. You then walked to Namjoon’s bag. After rummaging his bag, you picked his water bottle and threw it to him.

He caught that with his right hand nicely and drank like he’s in the desert. “Thanks.”

“I think you should focus more on the other field. I heard Seokjin’s department also setting the promotion test.” You walked closer to him and sat beside him.

“Yes, I heard too.” He sighed, “But, I don’t really want to be handler like Jin-hyung.”

“Why? I think it’s nice.” You shrugged.”And besides, you can be my handler.”

He laughed loudly, “What? Your handler? Are you fucking kidding me? You are such a pain in the ass. I feel sorry for whoever ended as your handler.”

You then hit his back hard. “Hey! If you ended in field-work, I also feel sorry for whoever ended as your handler. You clumsy dickhead!” You stood up. You gathered your things and tossed them into your bag. You hung your bag on your shoulder, as you walk to the door. “Just really think about it, okay? And also stop bothering me to spar with you. I need to study too.” He just waved as a reply.

  It has been 6 months since you joined The Company as a recruit. You still couldn’t believe that after your first loss in karate championship that year, you’ll be recruited. The thought of working by fighting never occurred to you. Well, maybe as a coach. But as an agent? Never for a bit. Maybe you’re that naive. When the Company told you what the work would be, you’re almost sure that your eyes were twinkling in excitement. You always love the adrenaline rush. Whenever you go to an amusement park, the only thing you ride is a roller coaster. You live for adrenaline. So, yes. You agreed to join in a heartbeat. Your parents? Well the only thing they knew was that you worked as a stuntwoman. So every time there’s an action movie, you just told them that you’re starred in there.

It’s not easy working as an agent. You did ace the fighting training considering your background. Even you’re good at firearm training. The one thing you sucked at was coding and hacking, basically anything with numbers. That’s when you meet Kim Namjoon for the first time. The Kim Namjoon who can solve any of the codes in just a second. He’s recruited when his college professor recommended him. He’s the top of his class and even in this country. Genius, that’s what people say about him.

You still wondered, why such a person like Namjoon ended in a place like this. He literally could work in every place in the whole world and yet he chose this. With every knowledge he had and used with his brain, yet he chose to fight. Sure, he’s good at firearm training, and for fighting? Well, He was not that bad considering he only trained for six months, but he was not good enough to work as a field agent. Oh, and not to forget how he almost blew the bomb-defusing-training, only because he clumsily cut the wrong wire. Thank God there’s Hoseok beside him who then defused it in no time.

He’s also the one who knew what’s he lack at. Thus, he contacted you to teach him to fight and as a thank you, he taught you coding and hacking. That’s why you become close to him in such a short time. You spent most of your time with him after work, to spar, go to the gym, or even just chatting. However, because you knew about how good he was (well, you are the one who taught him), you thought that Namjoon was not suitable for a field agent at that time. You always told him, trying to talk some sense to him. But every time, you brought that topic, he didn’t care for your advice for a bit. The promotion test was on the day after tomorrow, and you really hoped Namjoon will change his mind.

It’s the first time Namjoon didn’t listen to you. He applied for a field agent and barely passed the fighting exam. Furthermore, aside from being bad at fighting, he’s unlucky too. He paired with Minho, who was the only one who could fight the teacher and won. You couldn’t get mad at him. You could only hope that he won’t die or even hurt specifically. He didn’t win obviously, but he passed the exam with the addition of long and deep wound on his left cheek which would be scarred his face.

Miraculously passed the field agent exam made Namjoon become one of the favorite agents to work with. Who doesn’t want to work with a genius agent? He got more missions with more thinking which usually political, while you, who passed the fighting exam in an excellent grade worked in your usual environment, more fighting. Yes, of course after many missions and lots of training, Namjoon’s improving too, made him stronger, smarter, and a more high-demand agent than you. He soared to the top too soon, you barely caught him. He went up in an elevator, comfortable and fast, yet you earned your way up through the stairs, tiring and sweaty. You barely even talked to him, to busy with your own missions. And you could feel deep in your heart that you missed him.

so, what do you guys think? Let me know what you’re thinking or if you want to added in taglist!

[dmsden]

What Is Wanting and What Is Owed

Hullo, Gentle Readers. Since I’ve been given the rare gift of a 5th Monday this month, I get a freestyle article. And, although I don’t often like to get on a soapbox, I’m going to do so a little. If you don’t want to hear me pontificate, you may want to skip this article and come back on Thursday.

During its recent D&D “Live” event, a few products were announced. Rime of the Frostmaiden was announced as the new adventure. While I’m personally meh about the whole Drizzt/Icewind Dale storyline, books, etc, I recognize that they’re an incredibly popular property, and I’m looking forward to seeing new monster stat blocks and so on. In proximity to this announcement came three other announcements, all of which I thought of as very positive, but which, to my surprise, brought a ton of venom from other D&D players.

Beadle & Grimm’s announced a Platinum Edition of the mod. No surprise there.

WotC announced Heroes’ Feast, the official D&D cookbook, from the same team that did the beautiful Art & Arcana book.

And finally, WotC made an announcement, which I will not go over again here, about how they wanted to show more sensitivity when presenting cultures based on real world cultures. You can read this in full at https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/diversity-and-dnd

I was pleased with all these announcements, but I was shocked (I guess I shouldn’t be any more?) about the level of venom I saw online about all three of them.

The B&G announcements was met with comments like, “$500? For that, the adventure had better run itself for me!” “Does it actually cast the spells?” and so on. For full disclosure, I have bought everyone of the Beadle & Grimm’s products. I ordered Waterdeep: Dragon Heist with a lot of trepidation, because $500.00 is a decent chunk of change for me. After receiving it and being blown away by what it contained, I knew we’d be buying other products as they came down the line.

The fact is that I am the target audience for B&G products: I’m a huge D&D fan, as is my husband, and we have a decent amount of disposable income to spend on our major hobbies, which includes TTRPGs. If you’re not in that target audience, then of course you’re not going to buy it, but I don’t see the value in tearing down others who make that decision. I guess, if anything, it’s likely motivated by jealousy. That’s a pretty natural human emotion, but it would be nice to see the honest reaction behind it.

The reactions to the cookbook seem to range from “I won’t waste my money on this” to “Well, they’re gonna lose money on this one” all the way to “Why is WotC wasting time with all-fluff products like this? They should be working on XXXX, because I’ve been waiting years for it.” I can understand not wanting to spend money on something you don’t want or need; that’s sensible. I’m personally charmed by the idea of an official cookbook, because I love to cook, so I’ll be grabbing this. I was actually pondering a fantasy-based cookbook project myself, but now I’ll wait to see what this looks like and if it scratches the itch I have for such a product.

So is WotC wasting talent on this? No, they’re not. The people who are writing this are the same freelance team that worked on Art & Arcana, so no WotC authors were dragged away from valuable work for this. Also, this isn’t one of WotC’s normal books that they release in a year. We’ll still be getting all the fluff and crunch this year that we normally would, but those of us who like the idea of a cookbook will get one.

Oh, and as far as losing money goes, I’d like to tell you about a book called Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home. When the Dragonlance novels and modules came out, they were incredibly popular. They were so popular that the demand for more material about that world prompted TSR to publish Leaves. It was all fluff and no crunch. You got everything from astronomy notes to sheet music to...oh, gosh...recipes. And it was a massive seller. It sold so well that they ended up making two sequels to it. So I think WotC will be okay with this one. And if not, they just won’t do another project like this down the line.

I think what bothers me about this one is really the sense of entitlement. Way too many posts seemed to boil down to, “This isn’t what I want; I want XXXX. WotC owes it to me.” Like, really, no they don’t. Every time WotC has a product announcement, I cross my fingers for Spelljammer, because I have an irrational love of its silliness and the imagination that went into it. But it would NEVER occur to me to think that WotC somehow owes me Spelljammer. WotC is a company, and the core principle of every company is to make money. I’m sure that, if WotC eventually thinks Spelljammer will make it money, that it’ll happen, but they know that Forgotten Realms is their bread and butter, so I’m not holding my breath.

I’ve been going on for a long time, but the last one is the one that cuts me deepest to the quick, so I can’t ignore it. It’ll probably come as no surprise to anyone that, as a very liberal/progessive gay man, I was disgusted to see so many comments condemning WotC for bowing to political correctness or for doing this “just to make money”.

As far as making money goes, I have already said, that’s what a company wants to do. I think you’d have to be blind not to see the surging tide of people in the U.S. and across the world who are sick and tired of inequality. The fight for equal treatment for people of color, for women in general, for gay people, for trans people...it’s still raging. For every victory, like the Supreme Court case that said workplaces couldn’t fire people for being of LGBTQ+ status, there’s a crushing setback, like President Trump’s executive order to allow hospitals to discriminate against trans people. But things seem to be shifting again, and people are more and more stepping up to declare their dedication to the fight. So yes, if I were running a company, I would be taking notice, and I would be taking actions in this direction.

What I do not and will not understand are people who are somehow going to claim to be upset that WotC is going to take steps to try to not offend people in the future. It bothers me that people can’t say, “Well, I’m not personally offended, but I’m not black/Romani/gay/Asian/Native American/whatever. I think it’s great that WotC is trying to make sure D&D is more inclusive for everyone.” I don’t understand how anyone can play a game like D&D...a game that literally makes you walk in someone else’s shoes...and yet have so little ability to do it in your actual life. D&D literally shows you how different people with different abilities have to work together to help each other achieve a goal, and it’s sad to see that some who play it have so little regard for people who are different from themselves.

If you’ve stuck through this article this far, I wish I could offer you some great wisdom at the end. I guess I’ll just caution you to spend a moment thinking about what you’re going to say online before you say it. Once your words are out there, they’re very hard to take back, and that can have consequences. I try my best to make most of my interactions online with people positive ones. Even when I don’t agree with people, I try to be positive, and to educate them as to my side of the argument, rather than just blasting them with “No, you’re wrong for thinking that.” I thought long and hard before writing this article, and I thought long and hard before publishing it. I may lose readers over it, and, if so, that would be a shame, but I would rather be honest about who I am and what I believe.

So be kind to one another. To borrow a quote from Critical Role, “Don’t forget to love each other.” Roll those 20s. And we’ll be back on Thursday with a fun question about running a campaign that begins before Session Zero. Whaaaaat? You heard me. See you then!