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rustedhearts · 8 months

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knockin’ on heaven’s door (70s childhood bestfriend!steve x fem!reader)

summary: to celebrate the one-year-anniversary of the day you decided to be more than best friends, you go on a road trip through new england with steve.

uses she/her pronouns and female anatomy.

✶ the only living boy in indiana ✶ main masterlist

tags: short and fluffy, childhood best friends to lovers, casually-dominant steve (again)?, smut!

buy me a ko-fi! ♡

new england, november, 1978

"Babe, don't touch the stereo."

"Why not? You rig it, stud?"

Cheeks rosy and swollen hot, Steve grinned at the road ahead and reached with one hand to gently shove your approaching fingers away.

"You know it's the only car rule I have, honey," he defended, guiding your hand back to your denim lap.

Eyes rolling, you leaned your head back against the leather of the Pontiac passenger seat, doing your best to block out the obnoxious sound of Black Sabbath crackling through the stereo speakers. You didn't always find the band obnoxious—but when Steve had Master of Reality on repeat since its debut, and did nothing but brag about how many copies and how many different cover arts he owned...the songs got a little annoying.

"Do we have any Twinkies left?" you groaned, rolling toward the backseat over the headrest.

The car veered a little toward the left as Steve's eyes transferred to your ass, pushing against your Levi bellbottoms and angled toward his face. He resisted the urge to reach out and pop his hand across the fat of it, knowing it always made you shriek and flush and pretend you didn't enjoy it. He made sure to do it extra hard when he had you bent over the bed all alone, drooling into his sheets. He was thinking about asking you to move in together just so he could do it whenever he liked.

"You ate them back in Ohio—sit down."

You flopped back into your seat with a huff, a pout etched on your mouth but a glare set sternly in your eyes. "Don't boss me around, Steven."

Steve chuckled, tongue prodding the end of a sharp white incisor as he took his right hand off the wheel to reach over and squeeze your cheeks.

"But I'm older—and you look so cute all flustered and pouty."

You shoved his hand away by the wrist, feigning disdain—but the touch of his hand, callused from greasy work on the Pontiac and his new part-time position at the plant under his father had your insides squirming. Unbeknownst to him, you pondered over evenings spent kissing him hello after a long day at work, basking in the way he'd pull you in by the waist with a dirty, oiled hand. There was something so manly about him lately. He was no longer the boy you grew up with.

Falling in love could do that, you supposed.

The pair of you decided on a romantic road trip a few weeks ago. It was a late anniversary celebration—one year since your first kiss, followed by a few weeks of uncomfortable tip-toeing around blossoming romantic feelings, until ultimately crumbling and tumbling into an unspoken agreement to never look back on friendship, and only look forward to commitment. You wanted no one but each other, and there was no point in denying it any longer.

The road trip spanned the New England states, and the rest of the Midwest between Indiana and your final destination in Connecticut. The motels along the way were small and dingy, fly-infested and sticky, but Steve kept you safe in his arms. It felt good to get out of Indiana and be on your own. You felt like real adults, a real pair of lovers venturing out of their circle for life on the road.

Winstons thrown on the dash and shoved against the windshield, eight track spinning, leather soaked in nicotine and the vetiver musk of Steve's cologne—the Pontiac was your home that week.

But he could've at least packed a few more Twinkies.

"There’s some Slim Jims in the glove box, I think,” Steve mumbled, rubbing at his eye with the back of his knuckle.

The road fatigued him, but he refused to let you drive. The Pontiac was his pride and joy, and you tried not to let it irritate you that he didn’t even trust you with it. You, who had been there when his father handed him the keys, who was the first person to ride passenger when he got his license at sixteen. But Steve insisted that you looked better in the passenger. He could be a little old fashioned that way.

“You tired?” you asked as you rummaged through the glove box.

Steve shook out his hair, blinking rapidly at the road ahead. It was midday, sky chilled with pigeon grey clouds, casting shadows over the grey asphalt and bursts of orange and scarlet leaves flanking the road from high trees.

“M’ fine. Hand me a smoke, will you, honey?”

“Slim Jim first, sweetheart,” you drawled, mimicking his mumble.

Steve’s eyes rolled, though his mouth subsequently coiled into a grin. He loved when you teased him like you used to. His biggest worry when you finally decided to shift to dating was that you’d lose the playfulness your friendship always had. He didn’t want to lose that.

Luckily, the past year had been nothing but laughter and love. It sickened you a little to know how much you ached for Steve Harrington.

You peeled the plastic packaging on the dried jerky and shoved it in your mouth, reaching forward to the windshield where his crumpled Winstons were. You slid one from the box, plucking his silver Zippo, engraved with his initials (a Christmas gift a few years ago from yours truly), from the front pocket of his flannel. Brown and green, soft, a little faded from detergent powder. You had to fight the urge to shove your nose into his neck and sniff him like a dog. Later.

Steve tipped his chin out, lips parting with just enough room for the familiar cigarette. Once perched firmly in his mouth, you flicked the lighter open and singed the end. Steve closed his lips around the filter and sucked hard, popping them open to expel smoke from his nose.

“Thanks, baby,” he muttered around it, reaching over to smooth his hand over your thigh.

You leaned into it, watching the shape of his fingers overtake your leg. “Mhm.”

He felt over the denim of your jeans, sturdy but still worn. They were a few years old. He could remember the day you bought them at Sears, because he was there with you. Hours trailing the linoleum tile, head tipped back to watch the fluorescents buzz and whizz by, listening to the crank of receipts and ding of bells. You spent a good thirty minutes just in the denim, holding up options and popping in and out of the fitting room with different styles.

That was the first time he noticed how glorious the shape of your ass was.

Steve’s fingers wandered in his daydream, inching toward the apex of your thighs where the seam of your jeans pressed tight against your panties. You jolted, turning to see the cigarette puffing clouds over Steve’s nose.

“Hey,” you mused, watching his finger trace your zipper. “Whatcha doin’?”

Steve pulled his hand away, removing his cigarette to ash it in the crack of the open window. The way his neck craned, purpled vein protruding against soft and freckled ivory skin, made your mouth water. Your teeth tingled to bite.

“Nothing.”

You wanted to pull back his hand, guide it between your legs again and tell him he didn't have to stop. You didn't want him to stop. But his eyes were shuttering against the warm light peeking through tufts of clouds, lips puffing at his cigarette greedily—a sure sign of a sleepy Steve.

Reaching over, you smoothed your hand through the back of his hair, shaggy and soft and longer than it's ever been before—he tipped his head back an inch to lean into it.

"Come on," you cooed, finger twisting a silky lock into a limp curl. "Let's stop and get coffee."

✶ ✶

"Ugh," Steve grunted into an orange porcelain diner mug. "Fuck, I needed that."

You concealed a grin with the rim of your own mug, lifting it to your mouth to gulp down the warm stream of acidic brown liquid. You sweetened it with a pink sugar packet and a small vat of vanilla creamer, but it still doesn't taste like Steve's does. When he made it for you at home (still insistent upon bringing you a thermos after class), he poured as much sweetness as possible. Something sweet for my sweetheart. Such a sap.

"You hungry?" Steve asked, flipping over a laminated menu to check the lunch options.

You shrugged, mug clinking on the sticky tabletop. Steve eyed you carefully over it, assessing your sudden distance. He slipped a hand beneath the table and knocked it on your knee, settling it into a smooth glide across your thigh like he did in the car. You flashed him a bashful grin.

"Split some pancakes?" he suggested. You nodded.

The waitress came and went in a polyester flitter, and soon an opalescent plate of blueberry pancakes sat between your elbows, slowly sloughed off by pulls of metal fork prongs. Steve let you have a little more than him, noticing the way you waited for his bite to go before grabbing your own. Always so considerate, always so sweet.

"Did you ever think," you started, swallowing down a burst of warm fruit, "that we'd be here?"

Steve placed his fork down, licking remnants from his lips. "Where?"

You huffed, wiggling your fork through another bite. "You know..."

Steve did. He leaned forward on his arms, glancing around fleetingly before fixing you with a sly and half-cocked grin. "Like...makin' out and shit? Doin' the nasty?"

You giggled, eyes rolling. "Stop. You know, did you ever...think about it?"

Steve eased back against his side of the booth, arms slipping from the table into his lap. He rummaged through his jeans until he found his pack of smokes, poking one into his mouth to rest a moment. His eyes took on the vacancy of thought. You waited, overtaken by diner clinks and chatter. Your insides squeezed in anticipation.

"I don't know. I always thought you were beautiful. Always thought you were sweet and...knew you'd make some guy really happy, but...I guess I never thought it'd be me. Not really...Did you?"

With warmth pulsing in your cheeks, you tipped your gaze down to your lap and picked at the skin around your red-polished nail. Steve liked them red. He said it was his favorite color on you.

"I thought Nancy Wheeler was an absolute idiot for letting go of you," you murmured.

Peeking up through your lashes, you found Steve's smirk fading into a slow bite of his bottom lip. God, were you always so sexy when you talked about loving him?

Unlit cigarette dampened at the filter perched between his fingers, Steve leaned forward on his forearms again and cleared his throat. His eyes dashed around the diner once more before fixing on yours.

"Do you wanna get outta here?"

Blueberry and coffee on his breath. You wanted nothing more than for him to light that cigarette and watch him pull it away with that strong, working man's hand. You wanted nothing more than to have him tug you in by the belt loop like he did that first time you kissed in his driveway.

You lurched forward a little too fast. "Yes."

✶ ✶

The click of the motel door lock sent shivers down your back. The bags fell next, dropped with zippered clinks and heavy thuds. The keys clattered on the round wooden table near the curtained window, thrown from Steve’s hand. You fumbled to release your feet from their booted confines and watched with bleary eyes as Steve removed his own. He fiddled with the tiny tortoise buttons of his flannel, and you whipped your sweater over your head.

“Wait, wait,” he rushed, leaping forward and snatching your hands before you could unhook your bra.

Grinning, you went plaint in his hold and stepped a little closer. He let your hands slip from his, dropping back to your sides and giving him room to move. His palms swept over your waist, gliding up your spine until he found the soft band of your bra. He unhooked it with ease, dragging the dainty pink straps down your arms until it fell to the floor with a thud.

Once exposed, the warmth of his hands encompassed your breasts, pulling a small gasp from your throat. Head tipped up to admire the attentiveness of those hazel eyes, you nuzzled your nose into his jaw.

“You’re so warm,” you cooed, nose slipping down his throat.

A chuckle rumbled through him like thunder, reverberating into you. His thumbs swept over your nipples and gently pinched the peaks. Something between a giggle and a yelp squawked from your mouth, pulling another laugh from his chest. Steve’s head dropped into your neck, teeth nipping and mouth sucking at skin.

Your head fell back with a groan, hands clawing at his hair. For just a moment, you gave into the slow, teasing pleasure. Swaying in his arms, pressed half-naked against his body, letting every lick of his tongue against your flesh tingle through you like electric shocks.

But it wasn’t enough.

“Okay, wait, wait,” you moaned, tipping away from his mouth. “Just…can you…”

Steve scraped his teeth along the side of your throat and peppered quick kisses upward until he met your jaw. Once there, he pulled back and brought his hand to your jaw, holding it steady.

“What?” he whispered. “What d’ya need, baby?”

Rubbing your hand up and down his forearm, you made your eyes into those round, weepy shapes that made him coo and give into whatever you wanted. You’d been doing it for years—once used for cheeseburgers at football games and a bite of his last Twinkie, now used to coax him into giving you what you wanted without clothes.

But this time, Steve chuckled and shook his head. “No, no, don’t use those eyes on me. Tell me what you want, and maybe…I’ll give it to you.”

Lip jutting out, you pressed a firm kiss to his chin. “Maybe?”

Steve laughed, using his grip on your chin to pull your head down and plant his own kiss on your forehead. “C’mon, honey, you know you got me whenever…wherever you want.”

You pondered a moment, lips pursed shyly. He waited. He waited with bated breaths, taken shallowly through his nose, eyes trained on your still body. You took a small, socked step back across the plush pink carpet, toward the bed. It yipped against the impact of your thigh.

“Well, in that case…” You were quiet, and when you turned around and placed your knee on the mattress, Steve didn’t quite know where it was going.

But then your hand came down, pressing into the quilt. The other knee, dipping into the springs. Crawling, back arched and chin tucked over your shoulder to blink all bashful and sweet at the man staring in wonderment.

“I want you…like this.”

Steve whipped his belt off, silver buckle clinking with a thud on the floor. You could’ve sworn he ripped his zipper and popped the button with how fast his hands were moving, and soon he was fully nude and reaching for you as he maneuvered behind you against the bed.

His hands hooked into the waistband of your jeans, giving them one harsh tug and bouncing you in between. You giggled, doing your best to aid his hurried, eager movements. Your panties came next, a flash of pale pink fabric in his fist and then a speck on the floor.

"Fuck, hang on," he huffed, leaving you with a cool draft as he scrambled for his pants on the floor.

Steve pulled a brown leather wallet from the back pocket and whipped out a familiar plastic square, resuming his spot behind you just as swiftly. You kept your eyes trained on him over your shoulder as he rolled it on, as his shoulders pulled in and his swelling biceps strained as he attempted to keep his pulsing erection at bay. He needed to make you believe you didn't drive him absolutely insane. He had to have some sort of decency.

But with you, it was hard.

All he ever wanted to do was—

"Oh, fuuuuck." Dive in.

And once he was there, splitting you in two and bringing vibrancy to your flesh, rendering you mindless and stupid and so fucking beautiful—the world fell away. All Steve knew, all he wanted to feel: was you.

"Oh, God, Steve," you mewled, gripping the rough fabric of the bedspread in your fists like bracing for a rollercoaster.

Steve's hands took hold of the globes of your ass, feeling every ripple under his palms as his hips pistoned with vigor. Fucking you always had him feverish. It was though he lost all sense of himself, pouring every ounce of being into you. He had never given himself to another woman the way he gave himself to you.

Using your hips as leverage, Steve yanked you back into his pelvis, eliciting a broken yelp muffled by a mouthful of mattress. Burying your face into the bed, you fell pliant to his animalistic charge, barely conscious of his babbles behind you.

"Ooh, yeah, s' good, baby. Oh, fuck yeah. Oh, oh."

A heavy hand came sweeping down on your asscheek, cracking in a sharp snap of skin on skin. The impact had you shrieking and shivering, back contracting into a delirious series of arches and relaxations. Your legs were jelly and eyes bursts of white, and it hadn't even been five whole minutes.

He was just that good.

Steve snickered, out of breath but too cocky to let it slide. He tipped his head to watch your slickness gush down his cock, admiring the way you squeezed like a fleshy, gummy sleeve up and down, dripping with every prod.

"Aw, look at that. You love when I do that, don't you s-sweetheart—fuck, m' cumming."

It was like music to your ears. His mockery, his low grunts and groans, the raspy crispness to his voice when he was buried deep inside you. When he came, he crumbled. Shuddering into a halved version of himself, crouching close to you, hands like bad mufflers over your hips, mouth full of saliva and moans.

His forehead clung to the skin of your spine with shared exertion, breath hot across your back. He hummed mindlessly, floating in a half sleep lulled by your body.

"Gonna pull out," he mumbled a bit later, bracing your hips when his hands were steady enough.

You settled against the bed, catching your breath against harsh quilt fibers, watching through the blurry haze of your eyes as he moved through the room. Padding to the bathroom, the soft snap of used plastic, the metallic ping of heavy release hitting the bottom of the bin. The soft rush of water, the click of the rosy bathroom light snuffed out. Coolness between your legs, massaged with hands too gentle for the work they did. You groaned, soothed by his shushes and hums. The bathroom light stayed off when he went back in.

And when he returned, he tugged you close with an arm around your waist, sticky skin fused together like one beneath a sheet that didn't smell like home. Steve kissed your cheek, thumb rubbing into your rib.

"Get some rest," he whispered. "We'll be back on the road in a bit."

✶ ✶

You slept. And you slept on the road, too. Once tired of Twinkie complaints and chowing down on Slim Jim remnants, you somehow found your head in Steve's lap. Tipped over across the front seats, cheek pressed into his thigh, hair dripped over his jeans. He glanced down at you every few stoplights, taking a few moments to rub his hand on your cheek.

Welcome to Connecticut! whizzed by in the soft orange light of a Thursday sunset. Careful not to wake you, Steve leaned toward the windshield and swiped a smoke. He tapped the ashes into the road, careful not to let them flutter on your peaceful face. He smiled around a mouthful of sweet Winston smoke.

He was lucky to call his best friend the love of his life.

#rolly!#steve harrington #70s!steve harrington #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington smut #steve harrington x y/n smut #steve harrington x y/n fluff #steve harrington x fem!reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington fic #king steve #steve stranger things #steve the hair harrington #stranger things

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thebibliosphere · 2 years

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Peddling my weres. (and my vampires too)

This is not an urgent cry for help, but Holly Mop spent the morning in the emergency room (she's okay, she's been given meds and fluids, but we need to send her for an endoscopy), so if you've been thinking about buying a copy of Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites and haven't got round to it yet, please consider buying it from my Payhip store, where I get 90% of the royalties and don't have to wait several months for royalty payouts.

Both editions of the ebook and audiobook are available for download for $4.99 and $18.99, respectively. All files purchased from my payhip are DRM free and should load into whatever e-reader/player of your choice. You can also get the Crewel Intentions short story for $1.99 if you're eager to jump ahead and see how the trio fuck get on together later in their relationship.

You can also gift copies of Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites to your friends by entering their email into the delivery email section. So y'know, if you want to inflict a sexy queer paranormal romance featuring disabled main characters on all your friends, this would be a fun way to do it.

Again, this is not urgent. Holly Mop is fine and will get the treatment she needs; I'm just living up to my blog title and peddling my weres to try and soften the blow.

Thank you. I'm going to crawl into bed for a few hours and wait for my dog to come home.

#Holly Mop #payhip #I hate this #I hate this I hate doing self promo #but I will put my stuff out there for the Mop

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trans-axolotl · 1 year

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I went to the anarchist/abolitionist healthcare conference this weekend, and it was really a beautiful experience that I don't even have words for. Being able to share resources, knowledge, dreams, and joy together with other people invested in this work was so special, and I gained a ton of hope by seeing the many ways that other people are actively engaged in resisting these fucked up systems and building care into our communities. I gave a presentation about psych abolition, talked about resistance within the psych ward, and got a standing ovation from a room filled with 50 people, many of whom were mental health professionals looking to build solidarity. I legitimately almost cried because of being to have that experience with my mad comrades. I met so many beautiful crazy people who intimately understand what it means to survive as a mad person, and just gained so much knowledge from people actively putting their abolitionist values into practice. I want to share a few of my favorite resources that I became aware of at this conference, and I'll make another post later with some of my key takeaways.

Mutual Aid Self/Social Therapy: This is a support framework designed by one of my friends that provides an intentional structure for providing therapetuic support within communities, especially organizing communities where there's a lot of burnout. It offers so many resources for skills training to allow anyone, whether you have a background in emotional support or not, to set this up within your community. The framework is purposefully not hierarchial or transactional, and allows for actually addressing people's material conditions as well as providing space for emotional processing.

Of Unsound Mind: Incredible archive and research on psychiatric history. Mostly focused around America, but also has some info on other countries. The author of the website will be coming out with a book later this year, which I think is mostly going to be about the Trieste, Basaglia, and that history of psych resistance in Italy.

Power makes us Sick: Collective that focuses on autonomous healthcare and emotional support, especially in terms of autonomous trans healthcare. Has some fabulous zines and resources.

A Corpse among Corpses: Incredible documentary about asylum graveyards in the Midwest and the trade of graverobbing for experimentation in medical schools, and how this connects to settler colonialism, slavery, eugenics, and modern gentrification. Really do want to emphasize a trigger warning for genocide, eugenics, medical violence, self harm, antiblack racism, instituionalization, and lots of discussion of death. I talked a lot with the filmmakers, and really appreciated their care and intent in making this film as a way of bearing witness rather than exploiting atrocity in the name of art, but do want to be very clear that this film is incredibly heavy to watch and might be something worth doing with other people. It was deeply impactful for me, and made me tear up many times.

The Living Museum: Through transforming the old Creedmoor hospital grounds into a musuem and workspace for current patients to showcase their art, this space celebrates psychiatric resistance, transformation, struggle, and joy. I really want to go visit and share in that space, as it seems just so fucking cool. It seems like you might need to contact directly to schedule a visit.

Cahoots Crisis Response Model: This is one model for crisi intervention teams that respond instead of police. They are not perfect, still have some enagement with police, but are an interesting example of how to try to implement these types of programs. Since theyv'e been around for 25 years, they have a lot of knoweldeg and could be a good first group to reach out to if you're trying to create this in your community.

Overall this whole weekend was a beautiful example of how to put our values into practice, and really just wanted to share these projects with you all!

#personal #psych abolition #mad liberation #mad pride #antipsychiatry #mad studies #mental illness #neurodivergence #okay to reblog!

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roach-works · 1 year

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I’m always a bit nervous to talk about being Jewish on the internet. In part, I’m afraid of getting outright antisemitic harassment, and in part it’s because a lot of positive discussion of Judaism ends up getting hijacked by oblivious goyim who turn the discussion sour, no matter how well-meaning they might be.

So, it makes me really happy to see you writing openly and unabashedly about being jewish. Whether you’re writing from a place of celebration, social-media-exasperation, sorrow, joy, education, frustration, or any of them at once, it’s always good to see people talking openly. I’m starting to think that I could follow your example, and be a bit less anxious.

I know I’m just a tumblr stranger, but I want say thank you. Even the little things help! :)

aw, thanks for the sweet ask! being jewish was definitely the least and most 'minor' piece of my identity until uhhhh yknow. nazis started being real again. but i remember slamming into this weird realization a couple years ago that i had put a lot of effort into learning to respectfully depict black people, because i wanted to be a thoughtful and conscientious ally, and because i firmly believed that fantasy and science fiction should belong to everyone... but i had never even once thought of drawing a man that looked like my family.

like, i thought i was white. and then i thought, i'm white and jewish. and then i thought, what if i drew this podcast character as jewish? what if i drew him as if he looked like my uncle or my dad or my brother? and then i felt, immediately, reflexively: absolute terror.

generational trauma, growing up in the shadow of the holocaust, living and working in the midwest, you just... you hide that part of yourself. you survive. you don't get loud and proud and angry. you live like a mouse, in the corners, in what space you gnaw out for yourself.

i still don't wear a star of david. so many of my coworkers wear crosses but so many of my coworkers have guns. i think of wearing a gold star around the people who i've already cheerfully told i was gay, and my hands sweat. i think everyone who goes outside with that kind of target on their chest is phenomenally brave.

there is a bone deep terror in me of my own jewishness, of when i'll have to pay for it, of what the bill will be, of what i might do or say that's a little too loud or clumsy or obvious or true, and thus sign my own warrant. jews are so brave and so strong to keep living through all this but like have you seen the midrash? have you seen how many generations of our sages left behind the distilled wisdom of a lifetime and it boiled down to be secret, be safe.

jewish representation is so fucking fraught! the theif, the banker, the pedophile, the goblin, the bones in the oven. we don't often get to tell our own stories, or wear our own faces. and even when we have the opportunity, it's terrifying. we flinch. how jewish is superman, really? our hero, our ubermench, the most famous converso. we joke around, we make coded allusions, we minimize.

it's hard to walk into the spotlight and smile when you don't know if you're in a theater or a prison yard, you know?

so. i don't know. i don't know! sorry to explode on you! i'm going to a christmas party at a bar tomorrow. i live in indiana and work a blue collar job with guys who think trump was a whole lot of fun but invited me specifically and promised to buy me a pint. there'll be ax throwing and free drinks and i'm probably going to have to explain hannukah for the fifty millionth time. second verse, same as the first, a little bit louder and a whole lot worse.

the sages write: be secret, be safe. survive. but even with all that weight, you've got to be brave, you know? i think you know. you can't live your life in the dark. you can't make art from the fetal position.

even the mouse deserves a day out.

#maus #jewish blogging #nightblogging #roach's kawaii life

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strid3rofthen0rth · 5 months

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Maverick is coming.

For a decade or three, I wasn't good with Christmas. It hurt too much. With all the nuclear family and wife having departed way too soon, to be blunt about it, for me, Christmas equaled crying.

That's over now. I decided I'm starting again. So I put up the Bat Signal to the college friends and my extended family this year. Come to my place. Let me see your beautiful faces.

I'm hosting a Christmas shindig again, holy shit. And Mav said yes.

One of the oldest, deepest friends. We called him that, back in the house party days, because he looks like Tom Cruise, only hotter. Gorgeous man, holy fucking pretty, and he definitely used that to slut it up back then. No judgement.

He also, back when I was in the abyss, years after college, used his fancy Hollywood tour promoter knowledge to let me know when the local auditions for those shows where they play Star Wars and LOTR on a big screen with a live orchestra were coming to the Midwest.

I got to sing or play in a fine fair number of those over the years. With deep joy and gratitude.

Maverick is coming. And I don't treat favors like what he's done for me lightly.

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munsonfamilyband · 1 year

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500 Follower Special!!!! I still cannot believe that I've hit 500 followers on this blog, it seems surreal honestly. I know it's cliche, but I never expected really any followers but you guys seemed to like what I write enough to follow and I cannot thank you all enough.

This is a companion piece to my Different Meeting AU, it can be read on it’s own but I would recommend reading at least the first part for the context.

———————————

Wayne Munson hadn’t always lived in Hawkins, Indiana. In fact, he grew up in Louisiana, so Hawkins was very far from home, but after the war, he needed a change of scenery. He bounced around awhile, moving around in the south and midwest before finding Hawkins.

Before moving to Hawkins, Wayne had lived only a couple blocks away from his brother and his family - not that he ever saw his brother, but he saw his wife and son plenty. Eddie was an energetic kid but he had so much joy in him that it made it all okay, until his mother died. Wayne never really got the full story about what happened, just that she was gone and his brother was going to jail. After that day, Wayne packed up Eddie and took him back home with him. Eddie was going into the 8th grade and his hair had yet to grow back from when his father had shaved it all off, so Wayne promised himself that he would help Eddie succeed.

Eddie didn’t thrive in the ways Wayne expected but he took to playing guitar like breathing and he found good friends who all played that nerd game with him. Unfortunately, with how small Hawkins was, Wayne had learned quickly that they were both outsiders - and he learned who wasn’t. He heard the Harrington name all over town and it meant that he was prepared when Richard Harrington and he ran into each other for the first time. The man was cruel, that was the only way to describe it, and he looked at Wayne like he was dirt on his shoe. That short interaction was enough to convince Wayne that the Harringtons were awful people who were not to be trusted. His opinion on the Harringtons didn't improve when Eddie was in high school and their son, who was a year younger than Eddie, became a common talking point at their dinners. Eddie complained about how the kid walked around like everyone was beneath him, rarely even talking to anyone. Instead he let his flock harass and humiliate people like Eddie. Wayne did notice that the bullying and harassment stopped for Eddie shortly after he started his junior year, around the same time the trailer started to stink of weed. He knew that there would be no way to fully control what Eddie did in his spare time, but Wayne did warn him about getting mixed up with drugs; he told him about how his brother had been using all the time. That at least got Eddie to be safer, and he seemed to avoid using anything but weed so Wayne could be okay with that.

In ‘83 things in Hawkins started to get weird; kids dying and coming back to life, entire fields of crops dying overnight and Wayne was worried but without any information he had no idea what was really happening. Then in ‘85 the mall burned down and 30 people died, sending a shockwave through the entire town; even Eddie was quiet in the few days after. But about a week after the fire Eddie started acting more like himself, but still odd. He only got weirder when asked what was going on, but Wayne found out what was happening with Eddie two weeks after the fire when he came home to his kid sitting on their coffee table in front of another boy. Another boy with bruises all over his face and a split lip, but more importantly with very identifying hair - Steve Harrington was in his home. It may have been his own distrust, but when Wayne saw Steve flinch, he didn’t think about how awful his father was and how likely Richard Harrington was to hit his own kid. No, he thought about how his father looked at Wayne like he was less than nothing, and he assumed the worst in Steve, that he was reacting the same way. Eddie had turned to look at Wayne, oddly staying where he was by Steve.

“Wayne, you’re home early. Steve just needed some help, his-“

“I’m okay, I should probably get going anyway. Thank you for helping me, Eddie. I’ll see you tomorrow.” The boy cut Eddie off mid sentence and then ran out of the trailer like it was on fire. Wayne couldn’t help but think it was typical that he would want to get out of there, it was beneath him after all.

“What’s with that look, old man? Steve is a friend and he needed help so why do you look like I shit in your coffee?” Wayne looked back at Eddie, who was cleaning up the first aid supplies on the table.

“Since when are you friends with people like him?” He realized after he said it that the wording could have definitely been better, but it was too late by then to take it back.

“What’s that supposed to mean? What, because he’s rich I can’t be his friend?”

“Eddie, you know what I meant. You know what his daddy is like, and all the sudden you’re hanging out with his kid? Harringtons are no good, nasty people, you agreed with me on that.” Eddie scoffed in response, even rolling his eyes, which Wayne thought was a bit much but Eddie was always dramatic.

“Yeah, I know exactly what his dad is like, Wayne. Look, I probably shouldn’t even say this but if it will stop you from glaring daggers at Steve… the whole reason he came here was because his dad hit him and he needed someone to help clean him up, okay? So, yeah, I know what his dad is like.” Wayne was forced to then reassess the moment Steve flinched when he entered the trailer, it wasn’t because of who Wayne is, it was because he was an adult man entering unannounced.

“Alright, then I’m sorry for assuming. But still, kid, you complained about him all the time last year, so I’m a little surprised that you’re hanging out with him.”

“Yeah, me too, honestly. But, he came to see me last week for some…stuff. He was in the mall fire and he couldn’t sleep. We’ve been talking since then and he’s actually a pretty okay guy.”

~~~

After that night, Wayne saw a lot more of Steve Harrington and with each meeting Wayne noticed things that were pointing him towards a new understanding of the kid. The first being how jumpy the kid was, and not just around him. Wayne knew the signs of abuse, he saw plenty of them in Eddie and his ma for years, but with Steve it seemed like... more. He had a look in his eyes that was too close to the looks in Wayne and his fellow veterans' eyes, like he had seen too much of something he shouldn't have. The kid flinched whenever the lights flickered and he stared at the woods like there was something in there waiting to come eat him. When he started sleeping over at the trailer, the few times that Wayne was home to see it, Steve would wake up screaming multiple times during the night. He would listen to Eddie calm him down and then Steve would start speaking to other people, probably using the walkie talkie he always had on him.

The second thing Wayne noticed was the way he and Eddie acted around each other. Now, Eddie had never come out and said anything about his preferences, but Wayne had spent enough time in the military, and in the south growing up, to recognize when someone is trying to hide their attraction to other men. It had never been a problem in Wayne's mind, but with Eddie he did worry about his safety, especially with that disease that started in California. Point was, he knew Eddie liked men - Wayne wasn't even surprised that Eddie seemed to like Steve. What did surprise Wayne was that Steve seemed to like Eddie back. The two of them always sat as close as they possibly could together, sharing meaningful looks when they all had dinner together. Hell, Wayne had come home to them curled up on the couch together while the TV was still on, clearly having fallen asleep watching a movie together. He had no idea if they knew about their mutual attraction but he wouldn't pry, it was better if Eddie was allowed to tell him himself.

The final thing Wayne noticed about Steve, the one thing that settled Steve into a permanent spot in his heart, was how he seemed to collect people like Eddie did. The first one of Steve's friends that he met was the Robin girl. When she first showed up, Wayne was nervous that she was Steve's girlfriend and they were about to break Eddie's heart, but then he saw how they interacted. Her and Steve seemed to be extensions of each other, the same brain in two bodies. They bickered like siblings and defended each other just as fiercely, even from each other. He had overheard multiple conversations where she went from teasing him to relentlessly complimenting him all because he got too self deprecating. Steve did the same for her, including talking about the girl she liked - Wayne definitely wasn't supposed to hear that part, but he was happy that Eddie had more people like him to talk to. The next people he saw Steve collect was, somehow, Eddie's band. He's not sure how it happened, because those boys complained about people like Steve just like Eddie did, but suddenly they were all friends with Steve and he and Gareth were talking about hair care (if Wayne heard them plotting to get Eddie to care for his hair, he didn't say anything). The last of Steve's friends came in pieces. It started with the Mayfield girl across the way from them; Wayne saw her and Steve sitting on the steps of her trailer one morning when he came home from work, Steve had his arm around her and she was leaning into his space. They weren't talking, they were just sitting together, soaking up the other person's presence. He heard other names mentioned - Wheeler, Sinclair, Henderson, even Byers - but he didn't see Steve with any of them for a while. When the school year started, with Eddie going back for attempt number 3, he came home a week into the year and announced that he had found new members for his little club. When Steve showed up that night for dinner, Eddie told Steve that he had found his kids and the look of relief on Steve's face was hard to look at. He started seeing Steve with the kids after that, whether it was picking them up from something with Eddie or just driving them around town. He saw how Steve cared for those kids, and that cemented Steve's place in Wayne's heart.

Here was this kid who had been put through hell, with a clearly abusive father and an absent mother, who had seen things no teenager should have seen. This kid who had ever right to be cruel and mean to the world that had been nothing but cruel and mean to him, and he was caring for kids that he had no reason to care for, who stared at his kid like he was gifting Steve with his time. Wayne decided that Steve was part of his little family now, whether he liked it or not.

Around the start of October, Eddie and Steve sat him down and Wayne instantly knew what was about to happen, but he refused to interrupt - this was important for them to do, together. But when they finally told him that they were dating, and had been since August, he nearly cried with how happy he was for them. He told them how much he loved them both and he told Steve that he would always have a place as a Munson, whether he and Eddie stayed together or not.

#stranger things #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie #different meeting au #500 follower special!!!#i love wayne and he adores steve #fr wayne sees himself in steve and is like “well shit guess i have another kid”#he calls steve “your boy” when he asks eddie about him

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ladylooch · 2 months

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I know Lexi is American, do we know where her family are located?

Maybe when the devils are on a long road trip Lexi suprises him when they visit her hometown. All three of their girls are ready by the glass for warm-ups and Nico's heart stops seeing them all there.

Thats night is also a treat as her parents look after the girls so nasty Nico can visit 🔥😂💕

NASTY NICO CAN VISIT!!!!! NONNIE!!!! HAHAHAHA! We fucking love that. literally.

Lexi is from the Midwest- Northern Missouri is specifically coming to mind for me. Her hometown is a few hours from where David's family farm is in Iowa. However, Lexi's parents divorced when she was younger and have since moved on to different places. Her dad lives in Tampa, Florida and her mom lives in San Diego, California. They needed an entire country separating them once Lexi turned 18 ( she is an only child).

Lexi and her mom have a very up and down relationship. So, she is hesitant about bringing the girls to California without Nico as a buffer. She does bring them to Tampa to see her dad though!

All week, Lexi has been giddy, imaging this moment every time she closed her eyes to go to sleep. It is practically impossible to surprise Nico Hischier, but as the Devils come rushing out at Amalie Arena, she is confident she pulled it off.

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" Lucie screams as he does his first pass. His eyes are focused on a puck, so he doesn't see them. Lexi watches him work that gum, tongue blowing it out into a tiny bubble. She shivers. The Devils have an off day tomorrow and are sticking around the Tampa area before traveling to Sunrise. Nico is getting a green light and although he doesn't know yet, she knows exactly how he is gonna spend that time.

"He didn't see!" Mack whines, tugging at Lexi's jacket sleeve.

"Pat the glass this time." Lexi suggests.

They do, but that still doesn't work. Uncle Timo comes trolling around the rink, then grins when he sees the Hischier girls. He taps his stick against the glass on their little faces, chuckling as Mack startles.

“Hey!” Mack growls, baring her teeth. Timo does the same back to her and they have a little stand off that finally captures Nico’s attention. From across the ice, Lexi watches the recognition and beaming smile flood his face. He gets up from his one knee stretch and glides across the fresh ice, twirling his stick as he does.

“Daddy!!” The girls all squeal together. Lexi laughs, appreciating the utter joy on Nico’s face as he takes in all his favorite people right in front of him.

“Surprise.” Lexi mouths. He sighs hugely, then gives her an appreciative pout.

Three pucks go over the glass for each one of the girls between Uncle T and Daddy. Nico signals to Lucie to walk down to the camera hole a few feet away and gives her fist bumps.

“Just like home, huh?” He asks her. Lucie laughs and waves as he takes off to join his team drills.

The Devils win, barely squeaking through to avoid extra time. The post-game hugs with the girls are massive. Nico wraps all of them up right, squeezing until they squeal and giggle and give him the 13 kisses he demands as payment. Then, he stands, working his way around three little girls to get to his gorgeous wife.

“Thank you. This was a great surprise, babe.” He places his lips against hers, running his tongue along her bottom lip. Lexi leans into his chest. Nico’s hand on her lower back presses her in closer. Her fingers weave into his long locks as the whole world disappears except for them.

“Tell me your dad is taking our kids.” He mumbles quietly against her mouth.

“Mhm.”

“The things I’m gonna do to you….” He trails off then pulls away like he didn’t just soak her panties straight through. He keeps his hand on her lower back as he shakes her dad’s hand.

Lexi’s eyes widen, intrigued by his confident, easy demeanor.

This conversation wouldn’t be so friendly if her dad knew what Nasty Nico is going to do to her later.

#what my world spins around au

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hueberryshortcake · 7 months

Text

mom doing my hair. turned ducktales on the tv while she did it because it takes 90 minutes to do this thing. we reach the golden lagoon of white agony plains. I love the golden lagoon of white agony plains.

it has taken her sixteen episodes to realize that David Tennant is Scrooge McDuck and she only knows because we told her. she screamed with joy.

halfway through the episode. she looks at me. and she says "M, I've figured out what your problem is" [we've had to explain to at least four people in the last two days that no, I don't have a boyfriend, because I have high standards and most men my age are lame.] she says "M, your problem is that you're searching for Scrooge McDuck to marry."

I put my phone down. take a deep breath. and another. I'm just an eighteen year old girl living in the Midwest and my mother has informed me that I am single because my ideal man is Scrooge McDuck.

"okay."

"am I wrong?"

the worst part is I can't outright say she's wrong because it would be a lie. "he's kind of a loser." Scrooge is onscreen chasing a trail of gunpowder. I hate that this is happening to me.

"he's adventurous and intelligent!"

"and emotionally closed off."

"....that's fair."

"but, hey, you're living proof that you can make it work!"

she probably should not have laughed at this but she did. my father was not in attendance. poor man

#what a day #hueberry shortcake blogging

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dannystattoo · 6 months

Text

august

chapter 1 - "i can see us lost in the memory"

you didn't plan on spending your summer fixing up your family's old cabin, but you also didn't plan on reconnecting with your childhood crush for the summer. based on august by taylor swift

Pairing: Danny Wagner x fem reader

Warnings: Some language, but that's about it

Spending the summer after your senior year of college helping maintain your grandparents’ cabin was not what you’d anticipated upon graduating. While you wouldn’t say you were ready to tackle job hunting just yet, you would have preferred to have at least been able to stay in the college town with all of your friends for a couple more months. You’d have loved to at least have a last hurrah before you all inevitably moved on to whatever was next. Life had a way of happening though. Your grandfather passed away in the winter and a lot had changed. Your grandma wasn’t able to live on her own, so she had moved in with your family for the time being. Your parents were also trying to figure out what to do with the cabin your grandparents had purchased decades ago. It was your grandpa’s pride and joy, and he would never let anyone sell it even if he’d barely been able to use it in the last few years. The rest of your family, grandma included, couldn’t care less about keeping the property in the family, Since you and your siblings all moved out of the house and didn’t have the opportunity to visit much anymore, they decided it was best to sell the house. However, it needed a lot of TLC before it could go on the market and you’d gotten roped into spending your summer taking care of the property. You cursed yourself for learning so many DIY skills in college when your friends had insisted on renting the shittiest house possible your sophomore year, as well as for being the golden child who couldn’t draw boundaries with your parents no matter how hard you tried.

…and that was how you found yourself looking around this house, wondering how the hell you were going to have it ready to list by August, in three months. Your dad offered to come up and help when he could on weekends and you did have a list of contractors your grandparents had previously used who could help with the things you weren’t able to do, but you were mostly on your own. You tried to remind yourself that his would give you the opportunity to save up some money since you weren’t paying rent and your family would be paying you for your work on the house. This would also give you time to polish your resume and work on perfecting your design portfolio, hopefully allowing you to move somewhere better than the sleepy midwest town you grew up in or the slightly less sleepy city you went to college in. Your ultimate goal was New York City, but you were aiming for Chicago right now. All things considered, though, the thought of a summer spent more or less by yourself doing a stupid amount of manual labor made the thought of living in the city in cramped apartment with multiple roommates and eating ramen for every meal sound appealing.

It had probably been about five years since you’d spent any sizable amount of time here, and that was around the same time your family started doing the bare minimum maintenance on the place. They’d also done the bare minimum when it came to cleaning, so you spent the entire morning making one of the bedrooms and one of the bathrooms clean and comfortable enough to get you through the first few days. Once you finished that, you started trying to make a game plan, but you became overwhelmed pretty quickly. Realizing it was nearing one in the afternoon, you decided to drive into town, pick up some fast food and take a break. You weren’t able to find much, but there was a Taco Bell within a reasonable driving distance. You returned home with your Nachos Bell Grande and a massive Baja Blast, hoping that would push you to have a productive evening. It was a beautiful day out, so you took you lunch out to the dock. The gate that led down to the water’s edge was a bit rusted and hard to open, but once you got it, you remembered why you loved coming here so much as a kid. Admittedly, once you looked past the state of the house and the yard, it was gorgeous out here. You were steps away from the lake, which had a tiny private sandy beach at its edge. Trees and plants in full bloom surrounded the lake, and you always loved the glow of the sun off the water. You told yourself that if you got through a clearing the clutter in the rooms you, your siblings, and cousins had shared as kids that day, you’d reward yourself with a glass of wine and a night spent on the patio with your designs. The change in scenery was inspiring you in a way you hadn’t expected. Looking at the nearby houses, you tried to remember all the kids you’d met here over the years. They were all fleeting friendships, lasting for only one week in the summer over the 4th of July and picking up the next year, depending on who returned and when. You’d met these kids well before social media, and you had no idea what happened to any of them after losing contact. You start thinking about them, wondering where life had taken everyone after those golden summers.

Lost in your thoughts, you didn’t notice that someone had appeared from the cabin next-door and they were walking down towards the water.

“I had no idea they sold this place,” the voice said as it came up behind you. Startled, you turned around to see a man approaching you. He looked like he was about your age, maybe slightly older. You could tell from his tan skin he probably spent a lot of time outside, giving the impression of someone else who might be spending the summer here. Based on appearances alone, that was something you could get on board with. You couldn’t overlook the fact he was gorgeous - you were immediately drawn to his intense eyes and radiant smile, and the fact his was absolutely ripped didn’t hurt matters.

“Because they didn’t,” you laughed. “Granted, it’s barely been used in at least five years, but yeah, haven’t sold yet.”

“Well that’s good, I always like the people who lived here.”

“You knew them?” you were taken by surprise.

“Oh yeah, my family owns the place next door. I’m Danny, by the way.”

“Y/N,” you said. The longer you looked at him, you began to think he looked vaguely familiar. “This is gonna sound weird, but we’ve met before haven’t we?”

“You have two older sisters and your family was always here the week of the 4th of July, right?”

“Yeah. You have a younger sister and you were also always here for the 4th of July?” As Dnny confirmed this, it all came flooding back to you.

He was part of the group of about a dozen of you who lived on this street that you’d just been thinking about. He was, in fact, a few years older than you, but you seemed to remember his younger sister was around your age. You also remembered you’d had a hugely embarrassing crush on Danny that resurfaced every year. God, you’d forgotten about him completely, as it had been ten years since you’d seen him, more since you’d seen him with any sort of regularity at the cabin. You remembered it all with clarity now.

He was three years older than you, and by the time you were eleven and he was fourteen, he started hanging out with the group less and less. Fair enough, he was a teenager, but it didn’t hurt any less. You’d always thought he was cute and he was the only boy in the group who was always nice to you. Looking back, he treated you like a little sister, but you didn’t see it that way then. You remembered the summer you were twelve and he was fifteen when he and another one of the older girls in the group stopped hanging out with you as frequently, only showing up at events where the entire family was present. You’d been devastated when you’d accidentally stumbled upon them making out in her room at a barbecue you’d all been at. By the next summer, you were convinced that because you were thirteen and a full fledged teenager, he’d finally be interested in you. Much to your dismay, he hadn’t even come up north that year, opting to stay home in order to spend more with his friends instead. It was only a couple more years before you stopped spending long stints there in the summer. You realized how much you’d forgotten about your time here.

“So what brings you back?” Danny’s question brought you back from your nostalgia.

“Well, my grandpa passed away over the winter -“

“Oh shit, i’m sorry.”

“Thank you. It wasn’t unexpected, but still. Anyway, my family is actually planning to sell now and I somehow got roped into coming out here for the summer to fix it up and get it ready to put on the market. You live in one shitty house that forces you to learn handy skills and they use it against your for the rest of your life,” you laughed.

“What, by yourself?”

“Not entirely, my dad is coming up to help me out when he can and we will need to hire people to do some of the more complicated projects. But yeah, mostly.” You were kicking yourself the moment you said it. Way to go, Y/N, you thought to yourself. You don’t know the first thing about this guy anymore and he could be a crazed serial killer for all you knew.

“Anyway, I could ask you the same thing,” you shifted the attention back to him.

“Honestly, I don’t know. Getting away, I guess? I’ve been so stuck with work lately and I thought a change of scenery might be good. Don’t ask why my first inclination was to come here, but it was.”

“By yourself?”

“For now. Three of my friends, more like my brothers actually, are planning to come up in a few weeks and spend most of the summer. They may be going back and forth between here and home a bit more than me though.”

“Where do you live?”

“Nashville.”

“That’s so cool, I unfortunately didn’t get to go far for college and I was so lucky to move back to my hometown in Michigan after graduation. I’m hoping to save up some money over the summer so I can start looking to move. Enough about me, what is it you do for work?” You were intrigued when he said he was “uninspired”, wondering if he did something creative too.

“Uh, musician,” he said running his hand through his dark curls. You could tell he assumed you’d react a certain way.

“No shit, that’s sick! What kind of music?”

“I’m in a rock band, drummer. I know it probably sounds kind of lame, but we’ve actually released a few single, and EP, and we just got a contract for our first full record. As exciting as all of that is, I’m having a hell of a time getting anything written to contribute to it. Decided I’d come here for a little bit first by myself, and then the guys are gonna join me in a couple weeks. I thought maybe getting out of the city would help. Plus the lease on my place was up last week and the house I’m set to move into isn’t available September 1st.”

“Well, I don’t think that’s lame at all. I’m trying to break into design, so I kind of get it.”

“Oh really, what kind?”

“My dream would be fashion, it was my main area of focus in school, but I’ve also been building by graphic design portfolio to have something more ‘practical’, as my parents would say.”

“I get that, I’m sure you can imagine my parents were just thrilled when I said I had no desire to go to college right after graduating high school.”

“Sounds like you’re doing great anyway,” you shrugged. You guys talked comfortably for quite a bit longer, catching up on the past ten years. It was nice to have found a friend so early on, at least you hoped you’d found a friend. Danny was so easy to talk to and you felt an effortless connection, even if you hadn’t seen him in a literal decade. Eventually, you picked up your phone, sitting abandoned on the table, and you didn’t like the time.

“Oh god, how is it already three? I’m so sorry, but I should probably go, I have so much work to do,”

“Honey, you have all summer,” Danny said. You wouldn’t admit that your stomach flipped when he called you that. Fuck, were you attracted to him now, still?

“You’re right, but you have no idea how much I have to do.”

“Can I help with anything? I know I didn’t come here for home renovation projects, but you could persuade me, I think.”

“I would actually really appreciate that, if only for the company. Tell you what, my main goal for the day was to start cleaning out some of the bedrooms, if you’d want to help? When we make some good progress, maybe we can grab dinner? Like I said, even if it’s just for the company and an accountability buddy.”

“I’d love that. Honestly, I’ve only been here like two days and I’m going insane in my own company. I was so hung up on the idea of taking a solitary trip to work that I forgot I’m an extrovert.” You smiled at him, grabbed your Taco Bell remains, and led him into the house.

“Not to be rude, but you weren’t kidding,” Danny said, looking around the house.

“Yeah, it’s so, so bad. We’ve hardly been up here since like, 2017, what with life and school and work, and that was around the time my grandparents weren’t able to come up here by themselves anymore. I think my parents did just enough maintenance so that the neighbors wouldn’t lose their minds.”

“Gives me an excuse to offer my services around here a lot then?”

“I think that sounds perfect,” you smiled, leading Danny to the bedroom you and your sisters shared years ago. Before you could stop yourself, you caught yourself thinking that you’d love to be taking him back to your room under much different circumstances. You couldn’t believe that you were down bad for this guy yet again, hours after seeing him for the first time in a decade.

To be continued

#danny wagner #greta van fleet #greta van fic #daniel wagner #danny gvf #sam kiszka #josh kiszka #jake kiszka #danny wagner x reader

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murdrdocs · 1 year

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i'm just saying that if you were someone who visited jason a lot, he'd definitely tell you stories about his grandson and when peter finally came home??

you'd be at his grandfathers house a lot more often.

MHMMMM

you’d made friends with jason during the snap, keeping him company, helping him around when his health started to decline, opting to get a nurse for him, too, just to make sure he’s as safe as possible.

it seems lame to admit to people your age, but jason quill is one of your closest friends. conversation comes easy with him, advice is delivered in the least disheartening way, and his house is insanely comfortable.

there’s many times — especially during the beginning of your friendship — where you would roam around freely in the living room, eyes scanning the pictures on the walls. you weren’t a local, you didn’t grow up in that town, so you were increasingly confused with the way the child in the photos grew, and grew, and then stopped. no pictures after what you could assume was around age ten? maybe nine?

jason, still perceptive in his old age and through his jeopardy! addiction, notices, and he begins to tell you the story of peter quill, his grandson.

at first, there’s remorse and guilt and longing in the stories, then they turn to joy and almost remembrance, soft smiles on both of your faces when jason mentions something peter used to like.

to you, with the way jason talks about peter, the older man thinks his grandson died.

so it’s to both of your surprise whenever there’s a knock on the door, and luanne, jason’s nurse, answers it to let in a tall man with copper hair, wide eyes, and a pretty smile.

you’re sitting on the couch, escaping from the midwest heat outside, and you look back at him when he enters. he looks … familiar? you can’t put your finger on it, but he walks through the house like he knows it, eyes too busy looking around to notice you laid back on the sofa.

you spend the next few moments trying to figure out who he looks like, then your eyes land on the picture frames on the walls, and you hear jason say his name, and then you realize.

jason’s grandson is alive.

and he’s hot.

but jason quill is still one of your closest friends, so you try to keep your ogling to yourself. you try to suppress your feelings when you and peter are in the kitchen together, and he’s moving around behind you and you’re painfully aware of his body heat and how enticing it feels behind you.

when he stands directly behind you, chest touching your back as he reaches a hand to the side of you to grab something, he murmurs an “excuse me” and the combination of his body touching yours, and his deep voice in your ear, has your heart thudding behind your chest.

you move to the side a little, humming affirmatively to let him know that you’ll get out of the way, and then you feel the strength of his other arm on the side of you, palm pressed into the counter and his bicep flexing, limb trapping you inside of his space.

you take a second, eyes trained on the liquid in your mug, and then you push the mug away and turn around to face peter, immediately noticing the way he's looking at you.

his eyes trailing up and down your body, eyebrows raised with interest. his pink lips pulled back into a smile, one that's condescending more than friendly, but still comforting. his lips part to let his tongue out, the pink muscle dragging along the skin before pearlescent white appears to nibble down on his bottom lip.

simply put, he looks fucking glorious.

you're stuck in your place, mentally battling thoughts of how good peter looks, and how he's your closest friends grandson who's just returned from perceived death. you didn't know if jason would want this from you, and you weren't willing to sacrifice a friendship from some dick. dick that was probably the best dick you would get in your life.

but with the way peter's leaning a little closer, and the scent of him entering your nostrils, you decide that maybe just one kiss one hurt.

a kiss that quickly turns hungry. lips pushed together, teeth clashing, hands grabbing shirts and shorts and muscles and ass cheeks. it's not long before peter has his crotch pressed into yours, your ass pressed into his hands instead of the edge of the counter like they should be with the force peter's grinding into you with.

it's slightly addicting, a high you never want to end. one that you try your best to ride out while you can.

peter's hand slides down the back of your thigh, cupping the area and lifting your leg, angling it out so he can press further into you. you moan with the action, lips pulling away from peter to allow air to flow into your body. he doesn't falter for a second, lips trailing down your neck and pressing into the visible bits of your collarbone created by the low cut top you wear.

you're completely lost in it, your own hips starting to meet peter's in a grind that allows you to chase a closer-than-expected high. but it all comes crashing down with the sound of jason's voice from the outside.

"peter! what's taking you so long with that water? i'm parched out here."

peter takes a second to pull away, and even when he does, he still has his hands fondling the backs of your thighs and your ass, and his lips still come back to yours once, twice, thrice, and then he takes a full step back.

"i'm coming, i'm coming!" peter replies, a cheeky, and childish, smile on his face as he says it. you hit his shoulder halfheartedly, turning back around to your mug.

and when jason asks if peter has seen you, you smile sheepishly at the way he easily lies for you, a poorly concealed yelp almost escaping your lips when peter's large palm strikes against your ass.

#long because i wrote most of it in line #and bc i miss quill #cosmic rewind <3333 #peter quill x reader #peter quill x you #peter quill smut #peter quill #celeste writes mcu #quillsworld!#star lord x reader #star lord

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livinglifebehindthemask · 9 months

Text

Lessons in Soulbonding

Pairing: Malec

Rating: E

Artist: @gintoki976

Beta: @quickbright

Word Count: 12k

This fic was created for the Mini Bang 2023 presented by the @malecdiscordserver

Prologue

How does one go from being a single middle-aged, well not quite but might as well be, literature professor to being the soulmate of a model turned nightclub owner. It sounds like the plot of some movie Alec would look at the poster and then turn away from. That was fantasy, he lived in the real world, but now fantasy had become reality.

It had been exactly two days since he’d met Magnus Bane. Magnus was gorgeous, witty, playful, and young. Really young in comparison to Alec who was pushing 37. Magnus hadn’t even had a quarter life crisis yet. They were barely a decade apart. It was only a twelve year difference, but twelve years seemed like an insurmountable number.

So far the only thing they had in common, besides being soulmates, was their love for trash reality tv. Magnus was a night owl who loved to party at his new club in Brooklyn. Alec was a morning bird that preferred to spend his evenings at home with his two cats, Church and Raz. Okay, they did have one other thing in common, cats. Magnus had a lovely little fluff ball he called Chairman Meow for whom he liked to throw parties. And Alec thought he was a crazy cat parent.

Alec leaned back at his desk in the small office. He couldn’t even focus, not that he needed to try that hard. Spring semester had just finished and summer was not far off, but it gave him a sense of normalcy. His old boring life when all he cared about were his cats and which book to read next.

His new soulmate was breathtakingly beautiful. He lit up the room when he entered. He was young and carefree, everything Alec wasn’t. Alec was too old, too jaded, and too set in his ways.

Everyone wanted to be soul bonded. There were movies and romance novels that described the joy and passion of finding your soulmate, to be bound to them for the rest of your life. While soulbonding had been around for centuries, only a small fraction of the population ever found their soulmate. Around puberty the initials of their soulmate would appear on their skin, usually where their soulmate would first touch them.

When Alec was fourteen he woke up one morning to find the initials MB on his right shoulder. Teenage Alec had been excited at the prospect of meeting his soulmate. He had imagined what the man would look like. Would he be tall, dark, and handsome? Would he have a childlike wonder in his eyes? What color of hair or eyes would he have? He had spent so much time fantasizing about his future that he nearly forgot the statistics. Only 1 out of 100 individuals would find their soulmate. Not to mention the small number of soulmates that didn’t get along. It was rare, but it still happened.

Being a closeted gay teen in a small Midwest town didn't help either. No one in his small town had those initials, which was fine with him. He had grown up in that bigoted town and wanted out as soon as he could manage it. That was why he applied to colleges in all the big cities. New York, Chicago, LA, and even Cincinnati. He just knew his soulmate would be out there waiting for him.

When he finally got to college, the first year had been a race to find his soulmate. Not many people had only two names. Some even had multiple middle names, while Alec’s soulmate had just a first and last name. He finally found two men his freshman year with an M first name and B last name, but it turned out Michael was straight and Mathias had two middle names. Subsequent years were a bust.

Berkeley didn’t provide him with his soulmate but he was sure moving across the country for his master's program in NYC would. Again he looked throughout the campus only to come up short. There had been a couple more candidates but were either bonded or soulmates with different initials.

In the time he had been looking for his soulmate his best friend found his soulmate, a fiery redheaded artist that Alec had hated on the spot. It took nearly six months before he could admit, only in his mind, that Clary was good for Jace. Nowadays they are much closer. Even his little sister had found her soulmate in a little nerd of a kid.

As the years went on Alec slowly stopped caring. Now he was edging 40. He dressed like the typical professor with his tweed jackets, plain button up shirts, and camel colored sweaters. He even wore horn-rimmed glasses. Alec had been a literature professor at NYU for the past six years ever since he’d finished his PhD.

He had given up on finding his soulmate and was content with being a lovable uncle to his three nieces and two nephews and the godfather to his best friend's two kids. While he thought he was truly finished with this soulmate nonsense he didn't take into account that fate had other plans OR that his life was just about to begin.

Chapter One

Two days prior…

It had been a long and grueling semester. Another class of students had graduated and come the fall they would have another group coming in. Usually Alec would take a small staycation at home for two weeks before summer classes, hanging out with his two cats. He would drink his wine and marathon the Real Housewives of New York. It would be a time to catch up on sleep and just relax. So when one of his colleagues had asked him if he wanted to go and get a few drinks he uncharacteristically said yes.

Now, Alec was a bit��well, a lot of an introvert. He preferred staying at home with his cats or going to his sister's place in Chelsea to visit his family. So it surprised even Alec that he had agreed to go to one the newest and hippest clubs in Brooklyn. One of his colleagues knew the owner so they would be VIP. Everything about the idea should have sent him running home, but something made him <i>want</i> to go. Like a moth to flame.

The only problem was that he didn't have a thing to wear to a hip club or any club for that matter. He had a decent pair of jeans and black loafers, but it was the shirt that was causing him the most problems. Clothes were not his forte. He had been wearing the same type of clothes for nearly a decade, only trading them out for new ones when holes appeared. But he couldn’t wear one of his sweaters as it would be too hot in the club. He did have a polo shirt that someone had given him for his birthday the year before, but it made him look like a frat brother circa 2008. His button ups were also less than spectacular. Dear lord, he would have to do what he never wanted to do. Call Izzy.

Isabelle Lightwood had been the middle and only girl of the Lightwood clan. She was about 17 months younger than Alec. It had been just them for nearly ten years before the last son, Max, had been born. She had been scouted at an early age for modeling and spent ten years in the industry before pivoting to being a fashion editor for some of the best magazines. She knew her way around a store or two. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

She answered on the second ring with a cheery voice. "Hey big bro."

"Hey Izzy. How are you?" She sighed.

"Dealing with a moody preteen who thinks her uncool parents are trying to ruin her life." Izzy had married Simon Lewis when they were both only 20.

Simon's small band had been playing at an event when they locked eyes on each other. Izzy had always wondered who belonged to the SLL on her left forearm. When their eyes met across the dancefloor they had started walking toward each other. The way Izzy described it was as if she was only half a person until she met Simon. While walking over to talk to her, Simon had tripped over some of the cords to his amplifier and wound up falling face first into Izzy. She had caught his forearm as he touched her forearm and his head bumped her stomach. And that was that.

Simon's band had never really gotten that big and when Izzy got pregnant with their first child, Lizzie, the aforementioned preteen, he had settled down into a 9-5 job that he had absolutely hated.

"Sounds like fun. All I have to worry about is if Raz is going to steal Church’s food when he’s not looking."

"If only I could have stuck with cats and not kids." She chuckled. "But enough about me. How are you doing, big bro? It’s been a while. School out for summer yet?"

"Actually, yes. Just ended today. I have a few more papers to grade, but pretty much done…that is kinda why I was calling…I got invited to a party at a club." There was silence before Izzy spoke.

"Remember that teal shirt I got you for Christmas like four years ago? Wear that." Alec didn't even ask how she knew what he was going to ask because it was Izzy. She knew everything. "And either some black slacks or black jeans."

"I have a pair of dark blue jeans I never wear."

"Black would be better, but that will do. Also, Alec, try to have fun for once in your life. You never know what could happen when you try." She was right, but Alec had never tried.

=-=-=-=-

He showed up at the club, Pandemonium, at around ten p.m.. His colleague, Lydia, had told him that the club didn't get really busy until about midnight or one a.m. so they would start out when the club opened and end just before midnight. Alec decided that he would arrive at ten and leave by eleven.

The outside of the building was not spectacular. Just a brick face with a neon sign that read Pandemonium with devil horns flashing once in a while over the E. The bouncer let him in after he said he was with a group of professors. Once inside he could tell that what money was not spent on the outside had been used on the inside.

Along the walls were tables and plush couches. A few people were already hanging out there. Off to one side was a bar with two bartenders making a few drinks. They were very hot men in tight white shirts with muscles you could see through the fabric. Three girls that looked like they might barely be able to enter the club were seated near them giggling to each other. Alec remembered being smitten with hot guys. But each relationship had ended before it had even begun.

Across from the bar on the opposite side of the room was the VIP session. It was made up of three stories of tables and equally plush couches. Alec wondered who would choose white for the couches. Didn’t that stain easily?

On the main floor of the VIP section he could see John Monteverde, Lydia's husband and professor of Chemistry. Alec liked both John and Lydia. Lydia was a professor of psychology and while psychology and literature were not in the same field being from a small college you got to know everyone, and she was also his neighbor, being right next door to his office. Off to the side he saw Ragnor Fell, the Head of the History department and the man that knew the owner of the club. One look at the older man, alright he was probably only ten years older than Alec, and he wouldn’t strike you as a man that liked clubs or anyone that ran them.

Walking over to them, through the sparsely populated dance floor, Alec couldn’t help but feel like he was being watched. It was an odd feeling, like hair standing up on the back of his neck. Alec tried to shake it off. It was probably just some of the other patrons of the club looking at him. He didn’t exactly belong here anyway.

Chapter Two

Magnus never arrived at his club before midnight. Why wait around for the fun to begin? He would just lounge at home, maybe get the party started with a couple drinks before dressing to kill. But tonight was different. He felt different. His skin felt tight around his bones. He felt jumpy and any attempt to relax made him instantly jump back up. Maybe it was because he had just recently broken up with his on-and-off girlfriend of seven years.

Camille Belcourt was as pretty as she was cruel. They had met when Magnus was just 17. Both of them had been modeling in the same fashion show. At 20 Camille had seemed so mature but looks can be deceiving. Magnus always seemed to find himself going back to her but not now. His new club had just opened up the month prior and, being only 24 himself, he intended to forget about Camille and move on. Still that didn't explain why he arrived just as the club was opening up.

When he entered he felt like something was…not right. Walking around he checked everything just to make sure. The music started up without a hitch and the first customers arrived. The bar was fully stocked and he even had a drink with his bartenders.

Ragnor and his group of roughly 50 professors would be coming in soon to celebrate the end of the semester. Maybe that was why he felt off? Ragnor was not one for clubbing, but when one of his colleagues had asked where they could have a party he knew who to call. Magnus would do anything for Ragnor. The man was the reason why Magnus was able to leave his poor town in Indonesia. Ragnor was like the father Magnus never had. Still, older people out celebrating at such an early hour, it was…cute. He might feel pity for them but he still cheered them on.

After checking everything twice, again, he couldn't find the problem. Drinks were plenty, music was great, bathrooms were stocked with condoms and small sachets of lubricant. His money was locked up tight and he had balanced the books the day before, so why did he feel on edge?

By ten he had moved up to his office to look over the security cameras. Still nothing. Maybe he was just tired, he had been working a lot lately. He needed another drink and maybe some company. Looking out over the whole of the dance floor from his one way mirror he noticed a single, dark haired man walk in. The dark haired man was tall and lithe, at least from this far. The lights danced across the shirt and Magnus instantly recognized style and brand. A little out of date but still beautiful. The man stopped and looked around. He looked like a fish out of water. Probably being pulled out by friends that wanted to make him have fun and he was right— the man headed for the table of professors. Ah, an educated man.

Magnus found himself rubbing the skin just under his watch where the initials of his soulmate resided. Magnus was a romantic but he was also a pragmatist. If he went looking for his soulmate he might never meet them. Better to enjoy life and then when your soulmate comes around you wouldn't have any fomo. Still he found himself forgetting the letters more often than not. This had been the first time he had thought of them since the night he broke up with Camille.

Pushing the band up he looked at the tiny letters. His soulmate must have the worst handwriting in the world. The letters looked like chicken scratch but they were still endearing to him. AGL. How many times had young little Magnus stared at those letters before he covered them up? How many times had he wished his soulmate would take him away from his horrible life? How many times did he wish for his soulmate to appear just to push it away and live life?

But why did he think of them now? He looked back up to see that tall, dark, and brainy had made his way to the professors’ table and the people there were welcoming him, though he still had a stiff posture. Yup, he didn't want to be here at all. Maybe Magnus could help that. He still needed to see Ragnor, and maybe he could double check that this teacher was not his soulmate. Magnus chuckled to himself. Yeah, a professor and a hedonist, what worse pairing could there be?

~*~*~*~*~*~

Magnus danced down the stairs to the beat of the music. It was still early so only a few people were on the dance floor. The party didn’t really get started until midnight when the floor would be packed with writhing bodies all looking for release. Magnus had joined them a couple times, but with the club still being so new he had to make sure the ship was running smoothly. Maybe after he started to make a decent profit he would join in the merriment more often.

The lights danced across his face as he walked towards the group of professors. One of his waitstaff was just finishing up bringing them their drinks. From his position now he could not see the fish out of water, but Magnus knew he was still there. Probably nursing a drink for a while before he would inevitably excuse himself to run back home. Introverts were so cute, Magnus thought as he rolled his eyes.

“And here is our mysterious benefactor.” Magnus picked up Ragnor’s posh voice instantly. He remembered so well when the Englishman had walked into the tiny little one room schoolhouse in the remote countryside to teach a small group of Indonesian children English. That has been over twenty years ago and yet the man had still not aged, he had always looked old.

“Ragnor, darling.” Magnus said, putting his arms around the man. He still smelled like tobacco and old books. It reminded him of a simpler time. “I am so glad you are here, you and all of your lovely friends.” He was sure that not all of the people there were friends, but a friend of a friend was just as good.

“And how are you, my dear boy.” Ragnor was just a few inches taller than Magnus so Magnus had to look up into those emerald green eyes.

“I am good, Paman. Now why don’t you introduce me to your friends.” He knew this would annoy his friend, but Ragnor did it anyway. Mostly history, english, and psychology professors in the group. There were a couple science teachers and one math teacher. All brainiacs.

Magnus had been good at school, but it was not where he wanted to land. He loved fashion and makeup and expressing oneself through their appearance. Ragnor had not been happy when Magnus had told him. In fact that man had been furious. After everything he had done for Magnus. But after he calmed down they had talked and Ragnor accepted Magnus' decision.

Magnus was great with names, faces not so much. Sometimes it was hard putting a name with a face that didn't have some special feature. Most of these professors were dressed nicely but not like his usual clientele.

"This is Lydia Branwell. She is part of the psychology department." Lydia was sitting with the tall, dark, and handsome man from before, well across the booth table and next to another man. Magnus leaned in to shake her hand. He had to place his other hand on a chair to balance himself, but misjudged where it was and ended up touching tall-dark-and-handsome’s shoulder. A light shock went through his body, like static shock, but all over. Before Magnus could remove his hand the man was twisting and grabbing his wrist. The pad of tall-dark-and-handsome's thumb pressed into Magnus’ inner wrist. If the shock before had been a little odd this touch was like coming home.

Feelings of love, comfort, and safety ran over him. Home.

Chapter Three

Alec hadn't meant to grab the man’s wrist. He didn’t touch others freely, but the small shock from just a hand on his shoulder made him think something was wrong. Of course this man wouldn’t try to hurt him here, in front of everyone, but Alec acted before his brain could process. Which was very unusual for him. They stood there staring at each other for the longest time. Everything else seemed to vanish. His co-workers sounded like they were miles away.

He felt warmth envelop him from head to toe. It was like curling up in a thick blanket on a cold winter's night. It was like coming home to peace and security. It was like…oh fuck.

Alec’s brain had finally started to work again. This was not good. Not good at all. Alec let go of the other man's wrist like it had burned him. He had given up on ever experiencing this moment a long time ago, yet every instinct told him that he needed this man more than he needed air to breathe. This man was the answer to all his lonely nights. But Alec was rational and rational thought told him he needed to get the hell out of there. ASAP.

He stood up and pushed past the man, noting the smell of sandalwood, musk, and bourbon. It was the most intoxicating scent he had ever smelled. It made him want to go back, stick his nose into the other man’s neck, and just breathe him in. But Alec’s body had already made up its mind. He was hurrying out as fast as his feet could carry him.

It took Magnus exactly three seconds before he was running after the man. The first touch had been like getting hit by static electricity, but when tall-dark-and-handsome had touched his skin the feelings had only intensified.

Yes, he had always wanted to meet his soulmate, everyone did. He just didn’t know it was going to be here, in a club and that his soulmate would be a tall, dark, and smart man. When the man got up and brushed past him Magnus was still reeling. This moment had finally happened. Then his mind kicked itself into high gear. He was not letting his soulmate get away. Not when they were this close.

Alec had almost reached the back entrance to the club. The orange-red light of the exit sign had been the first thing he’d seen when he darted out of the booth. He had to get home. He needed to get home.

His whole body was buzzing with something just under the skin. His breath was coming in heavy pants, sweat ran down the back of his neck, and his skin felt too tight. As Alec reached to punch the door open, a hand on his shoulder had him reeling around.

They were staring at each other once again. The air was thick with the smell of sandalwood and Alec felt his knees want to buckle. This man was unbelievably gorgeous even in the red light of the exit sign. Alec found his eyes drifting down to those perfectly plump and shiny lips. It had been a while since he’d had a date, let alone a kiss. He had been fine with it at the time. Content with his life, but now…

Suddenly Alec was grabbing the man by his lapels and pulling him in for a kiss. He tasted…cherry? No, strawberry. The man was wearing lip gloss of some kind. But even as Alec had the thought, all other thoughts left as the other man’s tongue slid against his. Alec was falling in love.

Magnus had not been expecting a kiss, but hell, he didn’t mind. He had read somewhere that the meeting of two souls could create an intense reaction and this was truly intense. Tall-dark-and-handsome had pulled him in for a kiss. There was a scrape of stubble across his cheek and he found himself hoping for stubble burn. A reminder that this was not a dream.

Magnus pushed the man back against the door, intensifying the kiss and running his hand through short dark locks. His pulse was racing, sending every ounce of blood straight to his groin. If only they were not in a small hallway that led to the back exit. Okay, he was going to let that joke slide by.

Magnus' leg slid between the other man’s thighs and he felt an echoing bulge. Tall-dark-and-handsome was just as turned on as he was. With that last thought Magnus’ brain shut down and focused only on kissing and getting his soulmate off.

The kiss was almost all consuming. Alec had never felt like this before. It was all so fast and so very much unlike him. The man, well, his soulmate pressed against him and Alec could feel the hint of a bulge. Then suddenly there was a rush of cool air and Alec was falling. For a minute he thought his legs had finally given out, but no. He was falling backwards.

A hand gripped his wrist while the other gripped his hand. It kept him from falling head first onto the cold alleyway. He was able to get his feet under him and get back inside the club.

They were both panting when the door finally closed behind them. Now that they were not pawing at each other Alec felt…very uncomfortable. He had just kissed a man he had just met and STILL didn't know the name of! And to make matters worse he had nearly fallen because of all that kissing.

"Uh…thanks for…catching me." Even in his awkwardness Alec was still a gentleman with good manners.

"Not at all. I couldn't let my soulmate get hurt. Name's Magnus, by the way." The raven haired man stuck out his hand to shake as if they had not just been making out like teenagers in the back of a parked car.

Alec slowly put his hand out to shake Magnus'. Magnus of course, his name had been said but Alec had only been half listening.

Soulmate. The word finally made it from his ears to his brain. Oh shit he had just been making out with his soulmate and fuck his soulmate was so young. What was he? Twenty, maybe twenty-two if he was lucky. They had an over ten years age difference. How the fuck could they be soulmates?

"Uh…tall-dark-and-handsome, you alright?" Wait what? Did the ma- Magnus just call him tall, dark, and handsome?

A flush crossed Alec’s face as he answered. "Iii-I'm Alec." Great now he was a stuttering teenager.

Now that they had quit clawing at each other they could hear the music that pounded in the background. Where did they go from here?

“Let’s go up to my office.” Magnus said, stepping back and unlocking a door to their right. Where had that come from? Magnus was already through it when Alec finally followed.

Chapter Four

The door led to a set of stairs which they used to get up to Magnus' office. Alec was glad not to have to see his colleagues again. He didn’t know how to explain what sent him running from the table. They would probably figure it out sooner or later. Preferably later and not with Alec around.

The man in front of him asked if he wanted a drink or a seat, but Alec was still trying to wrap his head around this whole…situation.

“I hope you don’t mind if I have one.” Magnus walked over to a small bar cart and started to make a drink. The golden eyed man knew they had to take this slow, but he was too giddy. He finally had his soulmate, a breathtakingly gorgeous man with the beginnings of gray at the temples of his dark brown hair. Magnus licked his lips hoping to taste the man. Alec. Short for Alexander? Maybe.

Turning back to Alec, Magnus smiled slightly. The man looked like a lost puppy. Magnus would give anything to go and push the man down on the couch and kiss every last inch of his body. Okay, calm down. You didn’t know him an hour ago and now you are ready to climb him like a jungle gym.

“How old are you?” This was the first time Alec was asking any questions. It might seem odd but Magnus understood.

“Twenty-four. And you?” Magnus popped his hip to the side, looking sultry, but tall-dark-and-handsome was not even noticing it. Pity.

“Thirty-six.” Alec was not going to mention that he would be thirty-seven in September. God, twelve years. Alec ran his hand over his face as he tried to process. For years he had been trying to find his soulmate only for the man to be two years younger than his little brother.

“Alexander?” Alec’s head shot up at the name. No one but his parents ever called him that. He had been Alec for as long as he could remember.

“Alec.”

“Okay, Alec. Are you sure you don’t want to take a seat?” The man before him was being nice and Alec should try to be just as cordial.

“No. I’m fine.” So much for being cordial.

“Alright.” Magnus moved to sit on the arm of the couch and took a drink. “Well I am sure you have a lot of thoughts going through that pretty little brain of yours. I know I do.” Magnus smirked behind his drink. “I never knew my soulmate would be a professor. Kind of exciting really. I liked school but never saw myself going into academia. I know Ragnor was sad I didn’t, but why hide all this.” Magnus motioned to himself with his arms. “In tweed jackets, camel colored cardigans, and turtlenecks. Still I am excited that we’ve finally met. Ooo, I need your phone.”

Getting up from his perch and setting his glass down he walked up to Alec and held out his hand expectantly. It took Alec a moment to understand what Magnus wanted before he slowly pulled his phone out of his pocket. Magnus grabbed it and put his number in tall-dark-and-handsome’s phone then shot himself a text.

“There we go.” Magnus handed the phone back to Alec.

Alec looked back at his phone as he finally processed what Magnus had said. Shouldn’t he be more upset that this kid just called his wardrobe dull? Not that he was wrong. Alec knew his style was old fashioned but it suited him. His soulmate, he was probably never going to get over calling this man his soulmate, was dressed in what Alec could only describe as club clothes. A navy blazer, that now Alec could look more closely at, he realized there was no shirt underneath. Oh God! Magnus was practically naked. Oh God! He sounded like his father.

“I knew there had to be a reason.” Alec finally noticed that Magnus was talking. “And here he is.” Magnus said, grabbing his drink back up and winking at Alec. “My soulmate. Wow, I didn’t think I would meet you this soon, but better sooner than later.” Magnus turned his back and walked over the window where he could see the rest of the club starting to fill up.

“I was standing here when I saw you walk in. I could tell you were handsome, but I didn’t know this was the beginning of forever.” Forever, dear lord. Any plans that Alec had about his future were moot. “Now we will need to tell our families, naturally. A bonding ceremony will take a bit to plan, but it will be the talk of the town.” Magnus' voice was low as if he was speaking to himself. “We can do it right here! Where we met.”

Magnus was planning out their bonding ceremony as if both of them had agreed to this. Alec hadn’t agreed to being Magnus' soulmate, let alone having a bonding ceremony. Magnus sounded like he had been planning this since he was child. But hadn’t Alec done the exact same thing? Didn’t he have scores of notebooks filled out with what he wanted included in his bonding ceremony? All he had ever wanted was to meet the man that MB belonged to. Now he had and he was not ready.

“I can’t do a honeymoon for another couple months. Opening up this club has taken most of my time.” Magnus still had his back to Alec, oblivious to his soulmate’s full blown panic attack.

“I…I can’t. I have to go.” Alec said, before zeroing in on the door to the office. Flinging it open he barely remembered flying down the stairs and out the same back door he had wanted to take not an hour ago. Thankfully, this time, Magnus didn’t follow him.

Chapter Five

Alec awoke to the sound of a text. He was still too tired to get up so he just stuck his hand out of the covers to see who it was. It was probably Izzy, wondering how his night had gone. Boy was she in for a shock. Blinking a few times he read the name and almost dropped the phone.

Magnus 🌶💋: Morning, darling. Sleep well?

Lord did he really put that as his contact name? Alec sat up and checked and sure enough a pepper and a kiss emoji. Maybe he was lucky the younger man didn't put an eggplant emoji.

Magnus 🌶💋: Darling?

Alec put his phone on silent and rolled over in bed. He still couldn't come to grips with his own reality. Just yesterday he was ready for a regular, boring old summer and now… now he had a soulmate a decade his junior. Maybe that was why he never found him. Magnus was so much younger. All those years spent trying to find his soulmate while the man was running around on a playground somewhere.

Alec turned back over and looked at his phone again. There was another text asking if he was alright, something that warmed his heart, but his brain was not having it. He is 24! He is a child! You teach others his age! It was not like Magnus was in high school or anything like that.

He must have been thinking for a while because the phone lit up with a call. Magnus 🌶💋. Panic welled up in his chest and he quickly put the phone upside down back on his side table. He couldn’t deal with this right now. He was not supposed to have a soulmate. He was supposed to be single for the rest of his days. That was the plan and now some hot, sexy, beautiful….

“Dear God.” He groaned and fell back onto his pillow. Magnus was everything Alec was not. Pulling the covers up over his face he felt like being a petulant child and staying in bed. He wanted to go back to sleep and wake up back in his reality, not in this soap opera. That lasted all of about 20 minutes before Raz started clawing at the door wanting food. Leaving his phone in the bedroom he went and fed his cats.

Church had been given to Alec by a neighbor when he had to move out of state several years ago. He was an eight year old Himalayan mix with beige fluff. Raz, on the other hand, was a gray tabby and only two years old. She was so spunky and playful while Church was a grumpy old man in cat form. As he watched his cats he suddenly felt lonely.

He had not felt like this since college while he tried to find his soulmate. Now that he had one his body chemistry was changing. Soulmates were drawn to each other. They needed physical closeness to truly feel at home. Running his hand over his beard he scratched his head. Was he being an asshole while he ignored his soulmate? Surely Magnus was feeling the same way, but the problem was Magnus had their lives all planned out. Alec had given up.

After he fed the cats and got a cup of coffee he went back to his bedroom. Flipping the phone over he saw several more texts and two more calls. Sighing he opened the messages and typed in, I am alright. I just need time. I will call you later. But even as he sent the message he didn’t know when later would be.

Sipping his coffee he scrolled through instagram not really seeing what was posted, just needing something mundane to do. Something to get his mind off of the present. Somehow, he still was not sure how or why he did it but he found himself on Pandemonium’s insta. In the bio it said owner Magnus Bane @purrfectlymagnus. He clicked on it before he could stop himself. The account was not private, which he was glad for. Maybe?

Alec scrolled through the pictures. There were several of Magnus with a white fluffy cat who he called Chairman Meow. There was even one with the cat behind a huge cake that said Happy 5th Birthday, Chairman. The cat looked like it would rather be sleeping. Alec looked over at his cats. Church had run off to probably sleep off his breakfast while Raz was licking both of the bowls clean.

Well, at least we have something in common. One thing they had in common. Alec didn’t party or go to the most exclusive restaurants. He kept scrolling until he found a Throwback Thursday post. Magnus had his arms around a dark skinned woman; they were both in high fashion outfits that made absolutely not sense to Alec. The caption read: “To the time when @imblue_catarina and I were in the same show. She was better than me, though. Just don’t tell her that.” Below one the comments was from the woman in the picture calling Magnus a liar. Alec clicked on her name, but her account was private.

Going back to Magnus he looked through more photos. Ones of Magnus with friends or his cat. A few posts about trashy reality tv shows, the very same ones that Alec liked to watch just to have background noise. Still they didn’t have much else in common. Setting his phone down he sipped his coffee and looked out the window.

They liked cats and the same tv shows. But in everything else they were complete opposites and twelve years apart. Of the posts he had looked at was one of Magnus celebrating his 24th birthday at a strip club. Magnus was wild and free. Alec was boring and conventional.

Sitting back in his chair Alec didn’t know what to do, but he knew he had to do something. He was an adult and while he had given up on a soulmate or even just a partner he had to do something about this for Magnus. The kid didn’t deserve to be left on read.

Chapter 6

Alec leaned back at his desk in the small office at his university. He couldn’t even focus, not that he needed to try that hard. Spring semester had just finished and summer was not far off. He had thought that coming to work, and going on as he normally would, would help him decide what to do with Magnus, but surprise, it didn’t. There was still a small stack of papers that needed to be graded and entered. He had only one more day before all grades were due but his mind was not in it and he refused to just give them a pass.

There was a knock at his door. Slowly opening it Lydia stuck her head in. She had tried to call Alec but, like he was doing with Magnus, he ignored her.

“Hey. I am glad to see you got home safely. Ragnor told me not to worry.” Oh god now he had to face the shame of having run out on the party. What did everyone say about him after he left? Alec was always so stoic yet he went running out of the club like a ghost was after him. And they didn’t know he’d found his soulmate. They would probably all be happy for him.

“Yeah.” Was all he could muster to say to her.

“Are you…alright?” She stepped a bit more into the room but stayed in the doorway.

“Yes and no. It’s a long story.”

“Well I am here if you need me. Well if you need me later. I was just grabbing my tablet from the office. Forgot it on Friday.”

“Maybe I will take you up on that offer after I know what I am doing.” Lydia just smiled at him and bid him good day. After the door closed Alec groaned and rolled his eyes at himself. He could have been more civil, but it seemed like that emotion had left him for someone else.

“What the fuck do I do?” Leaning over his desk and hand in his hair, probably making it stick out at all angles. He needed to talk through his emotions and fears, but to do so, for a very private man, was incredibly tough.

Alec was silent for what seemed like hours, his mind both racing and freezing. He was not used to being out of control, to have his life messed with. Finally he buckled down and did what he knew needed to be done.

-=-=-=-=-

<3 Alec <3: Is there somewhere we can meet that is both public and private?

The moment Magnus' phone lit up with those words he was jumping up and screaming yes, arm fist pumping the air. Quickly he typed out the directions to a small coffee/ice cream stand in Central Park. Once he received Alec’s confirmation he went running from the living room to his closet to pick out his outfit.

Ever since Alec had left the club on Friday night Magnus had felt like a part of him was missing. He didn’t feel whole or even comfortable in his skin. He was able to brush it off until he had tried texting Alec. When tall-dark-and-handsome didn’t answer, that was when the panic set in.

He had worried that maybe Alec had never made it home. What if…Alec already had a boyfriend or even a girlfriend? Was Alec bisexual like himself, gay, straight, or even still in the closet? It was not unheard of for one soulmate to choose their partner from before over a newly met soulmate. Granted Magnus had not given Alec much time to talk. He couldn’t even remember everything he’d said since he was riding the highest of highs but he was sure that whatever he said had scared his soulmate off.

It had been a tense half an hour before he got the text saying Alec was fine but needed time. Magnus had relaxed at those words. He needed time. Duh. Alec had just met his soulmate and he needed time. While Magnus could understand that, it didn’t make the time apart any easier.

He had waited all day for Alec to text or call, hoping it wouldn't take too long, but as the minutes turned into hours he had to accept the fact that Alec needed even more time. So he tried to fill his time with trash tv but seemed to gravitate to the sad romantic movies instead. He cried his eyes out to the Notebook and A Walk to Remember before he finally fell asleep from pure exhaustion.

It didn’t help that Ragnor wanted to know what had happened. He was Magnus’ closest thing to a father but Magnus pushed him away. Old feelings of abandonment surfaced. He thought he was over and done with those feelings. He thought he had left his time at the orphanage long behind him when he went to England. But it seemed he was not over his past.

He remembered when he had first met Ragnor and how happy he’d been that someone cared, even a little, for the odd boy with honey brown eyes. Ragnor didn’t care that Magnus’ father had been a foreigner that got his mom pregnant then ran away. Magnus was known as the bastard that killed his mother, but Ragnor didn’t see it that way. When his mother had died in childbirth her family had taken Magnus to the orphanage. He was at least happy they had done that instead of killing him.

While life in England had been fun and exciting he never really had anything that was solely his. When he chose to become a model and travel around the world he thought that would be the something he was missing. Then Camille happened and again he thought that was the something he was missing. But it wasn’t. He was missing his soulmate, his other half.

Magnus finally decided on a casual purple top and dark skinny jeans. He threw on his Chucks, grabbed his leather jacket, keys, and wallet before heading out the door. Of course he told Chairman he would be back, but the cat probably didn’t even hear him. Down in the parking garage he put on his helmet and revved his bike. Since he had not really fixed his hair he would wear the protection.

Chapter 7

Alec was waiting by the cart with an ice tea in his hand. It was too warm for coffee but he didn’t feel like ice cream. Looking at his watch he wondered how much longer Magnus would be. Really it had only been half an hour since he got the text telling him he would see the man in about half an hour.

Everything in Alec screamed to leave and hide at home, but that was not fair to Magnus. He deserved to know why Alec had run and why he was not sure this would work out. If Alec could give him anything he would give him that.

Taking another sip he finally saw Magnus, leather jacket and hair pushed back from his face. He looked…younger with no makeup on. God, why did he have to be so young.

“Hey, Alec.” Magnus smiled at him, but didn’t come in for a hug or even a handshake like he was waiting for Alec to initiate it first.

“Hey. How are you doing?” Alec was never good at small talk.

“Good. Let me get something and then we can talk.” Magnus ended up getting a cone with strawberry and vanilla swirl on top.

They walked for a bit just trying to get used to each other's company. It was like a balm to frazzled nerves. Odd but kind of nice.

“I am sorry.” Alec said after Magnus was halfway done with his ice cream. “For running out on you the other night.”

“No worries. I understand. I was talking too much.” Magnus tried to shrug it off, but had remembered what he had been talking about when Alec suddenly said he had to go and left. He had been talking about their future. Stupid really, but when you have grown up imaging your life differently you tend to dream about your soulmate. But in the dreams his soulmate had been just as happy. “I am sorry about what I said. I understand it was all too much and I am sure your partner was not happy when they heard.”

“Partner? What partner?”

“Boyfriend or girlfriend. Or are you mar…” At that moment Alec had let out a sharp laugh that made some ducks honk and move farther away from the two of them on the pond.

“Sorry, no. I don’t have a boyfriend and I’ve never had a girlfriend. I am…I’m gay.” Relief flooded Magnus' body. “I didn’t run from you because of a partner…I ran because…” Alec sighed. “You were not in the plans.”

“Plans?” Magnus asked and Alec motioned them to a bench. He quickly finished his cone, which was not the best idea, and had a bit of a brain freeze. Thankfully Alec waited until Magnus was not in so much pain before he continued.

“I’m thirty-six, Magnus. I have been looking for my soulmate for a long time.” Alec said, looking into his drink as if he was replaying his past over again. “After I finished my PHD and still had not found him I decided that I was done waiting. It hurt too much to keep searching and failing to find my soulmate. So I gave up. I made myself believe I was fine with no partner and being the brainy uncle to my brother and sister’s kids. I got a second cat and was like, this is it. This is me.” Alec paused. Magnus wanted to say something. He had been waiting and looking too, not for as long, but he had never given up that his soulmate was out there and they would meet one day.

“Then Friday…every carefully laid plan I had made for my life just crumbled. I didn’t know how to move forward. I finally had the soulmate I had always wanted, yet at the same time, I had told myself for years that I didn’t want a soulmate. That…I didn’t deserve a soulmate.”

“Didn’t deserve a soulmate? Just because you could not find me?” Magnus asked. It made sense, they were twelve years apart. While Alec was in college running around trying to find his soulmate Magnus was still in Indonesia. When Alec was finishing his schooling Magnus had just started his modeling career. But it still didn’t help the words from hurting. Magnus felt a burn in the back of his eyes. “Do you still not want a soulmate?”

“I don’t know, Magnus. I could not find you and now that I have given up you are here. I am a mixture of emotions. I don’t know anything anymore. I wanted to run, but you deserve better than that.” Finally Alec looked up and their eyes met. Wow how had he never noticed those beautiful golden eyes. They were unlike any color he had ever seen before. “Your eyes…” Magnus looked away, trying to make sure that not one single tear fell. “They're beautiful.”

Okay what?! Magnus’ head whipped back around. “What?” That was not something he was expecting Alec to say.

“Well, they are. I just didn’t notice until now.” Magnus felt his cheeks heat up a bit.

“Thanks.” After that they were silent for a bit. They watched as people came and went. A couple of little boys with their dad, begging him to play catch. A mother and her stroller. A young couple holding hands.

“I was born in Jakarta, Indonesia.” Magnus started. “My father was long gone by then. They said he was a foreigner. My mother died in childbirth with me and her family didn’t want the disgrace of a bastard child so they gave me over to an orphanage.”

“I’m sorry.” Magnus shrugged.

“I never knew my family so I feel no attachment.”

“But you were a child. No one should be made to feel like that.” Magnus looked back at Alec. It felt good to have someone other than Ragnor know the tale. “My parents and I were never very close.” Alec said. “They were a midwest power couple that liked the prestige of being a perfect family. I haven’t talked to my dad since I came out when I was 23 and after I graduated with my degree. He wanted to disown me but my mom stopped him. My mom and I do not have the best of relationships but I know she is trying. We have been in contact more since they divorced.” Wow they both had screwed up families.

“I don’t remember how old I was, but I do remember when I first met Ragnor Fell. It was late April and he came to teach the children of the orphanage English. I took to him and he took to me. It was a couple more years before he became my guardian and took me to England, where he was teaching at the time. I call him Paman which means Uncle. He never formally adopted me, just sponsored me so I could go to school in England.” Sometimes Magnus wished he had but it didn’t make Ragnor any less special to him.

“But he is like your father.” Alec said and Magnus nodded.

“He is all I have.” They were quiet again for a moment before Alec spoke.

“I don’t…I don’t know how to be a good boyfriend. I have not dated since I was 29. I don’t know if I can be what you need me to be.”

“How do you know? We barely know each other.” Magnus protested. “If you want to give us a chance, I would be very happy. But don’t discount us because we are different. Haven’t you heard? Opposites attract.” Alec chuckled at that. “Give us a chance.”

“Okay.” Alec nodded. “I will.”

Chapter 8

Their first official date was set for the following Wednesday. They had texted back and forth since Sunday. Alec finished up his work and then spent the next couple days worrying. It had been ages since he had gone out on a date. He was not even sure he remembered how to date. Martin had been his last shot at something meaningful, but they were just not meant to be.

Martin had been a dance instructor and two years Alec’s junior. He had the correct initials, Martin Barns, but the initials on Martin’s waist were not Alec’s. Still they tried to make it work, because they were both lonely. As looks went Martin was not exactly GQ man of the year, but neither was Alec. He had sandy brown hair, crooked teeth and a thin frame. Martin was more carefree than Alec, but it seemed like a perfect balance, at least at first. As time went on Martin wanted more and more of Alec’s time until Alec felt smothered. They broke up not two months after becoming a couple.

After that Alec had wiped his hands of the whole idea of partners and soulmates. If he couldn’t find his soulmate, then he didn’t need one. It was also around that time that Max got married and had his first kid. Alexis was the spitting image of her dad and the happiest baby. Alec took a semester off of school to visit Max and his family in Chicago. That change had helped him to solidify his position. He would be content with what his life was.

But now he’d found his soulmate and while he couldn’t change overnight, he did want to try and make this work. Magnus deserved that much, they both did. Still he was on edge as he got out of the taxi in front of a nice restaurant. It was not one that required a coat and tie but that didn’t seem to be his soulmate’s type of place either.

Walking in he told the hostess that he was meeting someone and gave Magnus’ name. The woman nodded and showed him the way to the table, telling him his friend was already there. That was a surprise. Alec was well over ten minutes early and Magnus was already here?

As a man from another table sat down Alec could finally see Magnus. The man was drop dead gorgeous. His black hair was styled to perfection atop his head. He wore a magenta shirt with a black sequined jacket over it. When their eyes met Alec felt a jolt go through his body, much like their first connection.

“Sorry if I’m late.” Even though it wasn’t even 7 o’clock yet.

“Fashionably late.” Magnus purred and Alec felt like melting into a pile of goo at his feet. Magnus’ voice did things to him. “But I suppose I was fashionably early.”

They opened the menus and looked through the selection. Alec wasn’t sure what he wanted, aside from Magnus. He felt his face flush at the thought and buried his face in the menu until the waiter came to take their drink orders. Alec was not one for alcohol, not since his junior year in undergrad. You can only drink so much tequila before everything you’d ingested for the past week would come spilling out.

Magnus ordered red wine and Alec joined him in that. They sat in relative silence while their drinks were being poured. Only after their food orders had been taken did Alec try to break the ice.

“Is fish your favorite?” He asked, since Magnus had ordered the salmon.

“Not really. I mean, I do like fish, but I would say my favorite food is rather mundane.” Magnus chuckled. “I love fruit, especially mangos and blueberries.”

“Oh? I love blueberry pie and crumble, but I have never been too fond of the fruit on its own.”

“It can be an acquired taste.”

“I prefer strawberries myself.”

“Chocolate covered strawberries?” Magnus’ little wink made Alec feel hot all over. He had this sudden urge to reach over the table to pull Magnus in for a never ending kiss.

“Yyyeah. Them, too.” Alec stuttered. Another smile across Magnus’ face let him know that Magnus knew just how much he was affecting Alec.

“I tried to go vegetarian once.” Magnus said, thankfully changing the subject before Alec made a fool of himself. “But I like fish and steak too much. So I just cut down on it when I can.”

“I love steak, chicken, and pork.” Magnus scrunched his nose up at the last one. “You don’t like pork?”

“Not really. When I lived in Indonesia the home next to mine had pigs and they got into everything and they smelled.”

“Ah, I see.” Alec nodded. “So no pork, what about chicken?”

“It’s fine.”

“But also not your favorite?” Magnus nodded. They talked a bit more about their food choices and had even moved into music when their food arrived.

“I am not going to say I don’t like them, but…their music is not my taste.” Magnus comments on Alec’s favorite group, The Nephilims.

“What do you mean?!” Alec asked with a smile. “They are the best alternative rock group to come out of Brooklyn in ages.”

“Yes, but a lot of their songs are…sad and lonely.” Oh. Yeah, they were.

“So you stay away from them or any alternative rock?”

“I like upbeat parties, techno, trap, and dance mixes. And some kpop. It’s my secret obsession, but you didn’t hear that from me.” They both chuckled. Finally they were getting comfortable with each other. Finally they were making progress.

-=-=-=-=-=-

After dinner, and a brief argument about who was going to pay, they stood outside the restaurant watching the cars go by. Now that they had become somewhat comfortable with each other Alec found himself gravitating closer to Magnus.

Turning his face toward Alec, Magnus asked if he would like to come over and share a drink. The tension seemed to get worse after Magnus asked.

“I don’t know…if it’s a good idea.” The sad look that briefly passed over Magnus’ face made Alec want to take the words back.

“I understand. It’s no-” Magnus didn’t even get to finish his sentence as Alec pulled him into a deep and passionate kiss. What had been simmering at dinner was igniting.

Magnus thread his hands through Alec's hair, not caring that they were in the middle of the sidewalk. His soulmate was kissing him and he never wanted to stop. Unfortunately, they did have to stop kissing so they didn��t die of asphyxiation.

“I…I don’t know where…” Alec was stuttering again.

“I shall ask you again, want to come back to my place?” Finally Alec agreed.

Chapter 9

They barely made it into Magnus’ apartment before they were pulling clothes off each other. The taxi ride home had been excruciatingly long. Keeping his hands to himself had been hard but somehow Alec did.

They almost tripped over someone’s shoes and they both laughed.

“Bedroom or couch?” Magnus asked. They hadn’t been able to talk about what exactly they would be doing. All they knew was it involved less clothes and more touching.

“I…I haven't been intimate with anyone for a long time.” Alec found himself admitting, feeling ashamed. Magnus pressed his finger to Alec’s lips.

“Don’t be embarrassed. I don’t mind taking the lead, but I need to know what your boundaries are.”

“Stand here and talk out the details?” Magnus laughed a hearty laugh.

“Neither do I but I prefer clear guidelines.” Alec bit his lip, not sure how far to take this, but knowing he needed something more than just kisses.

“Maybe not all the way.” God he sounded like a teenager about to lose his virginity on prom night.

“Alright. Are you okay with condoms? We probably should get tested.”

“Yeah. But can we do something before my dick decides to settle down?”

“You are only in your thirties. You are fine, but I will gladly help you.” Magnus pushed Alec back against the wall and knelt down. He pulled out his wallet and produced a condom.

“Expecting something?” Alec asked with a blush.

“More like prepared.” Magnus tore the wrapper and pulled the condom out. He placed it on the tip of Alec’s dick and with one quick motion used his mouth to roll it all the way down.

“FUCK!” Bubbled out of Alec’s mouth. Magnus just pulled back to the tip before going back in. The pace he set was both too much and not enough. Alec felt like he was on the edge from the moment Magnus’ mouth had engulfed his dick.

“Magnus, fuck… please!” What was he pleading for? More? Faster? Alec’s fingers slid into Magnus’ raven hair, pulling the strands from the perfect coif and pushing it out of place. His hips started to move on their own even as he tried to hold back. He didn’t want to hurt Magnus, but he did love the feeling of hitting the back of the man’s throat.

“Magnus…” He panted, letting his eyes close as Magnus’ hands ran up his thighs to his ass and pulled him forward. Fuck, did his soulmate want him to fuck his throat? His hips seemed to understand and snapped forward hard, causing Magnus to moan around him. It wasn’t long before the thrusts and Magnus’ own vibrations over his dick were too much and he fell over, coming inside Magnus’ mouth.

Magnus pulled off, panting, and leaning against Alec’s thigh for a moment before he was able to gather himself enough to stand up and help Alec with the condom.

“When I said…maybe not all the way…” Alec was panting trying to stand on shaking legs. “I might have spoken too soon.” Magnus chuckled.

“One step at a time, big boy.”

They ended up sticking to their agreement not to go all the way. While they both wanted to, it wasn’t the right time. Instead Magnus took Alec back to his bedroom and showed him his collection of “toys”. Magnus even put a few to good use as he fucked himself while Alec watched.

If Magnus had been breathtaking at dinner, he was something else now. Alec’s gaze ran over Magnus’ body as he pushed a purple toy in and out of himself. Magnus’ back was arched and his neck stretched to show off his throat. What did Alec do to deserve such a god?

Once Alec was hard again Magnus switched from a dildo to a vibrator. He still needed something inside him as they kissed and pressed their bodies closer. Their cocks rubbed against each other smearing precome all over their stomachs.

The morning after was devoid of any awkwardness. It was as if everything had shifted into place. They were completely comfortable around each other. That, in and of itself, was magical. They moved in sync as they made breakfast; snuggled on the couch, trading kisses and stories.

Unfortunately, before too long, Alec had to leave. He had two fur babies that would not be happy they had to wait until nearly noon for food.

“You could bring them over here. So they don’t get lonely.” Magnus said as Alec had put on his clothes from the day before.

“Are you sure your cat won’t mind?” Alec countered.

“Well…he will have to get used to them sometime, right?” They hadn’t talked about the next steps in their relationship, but they were both pretty sure that they would be moving in together sooner rather than later.

“Maybe a play date?” Alec suggested.

“Tomorrow?” Magnus asked hopefully.

“Tomorrow.” Alec agreed.

Epilogue - Three months later

Magnus growled as his liner skipped, again. Alec walked over to him, passing the bed where a kitten pile had developed on Magnus’ discarded clothes. Alec knew Magnus was nervous. This was the first time he was going to meet his soulmate’s family. It would be nerve wracking for anyone.

“You look stunning.” Alec said, leaning down to kiss Magnus’ cheek.

“One side is thicker than the other.”

“Magnus, relax. Everything is going to be just fine. Izzy is very excited to meet you, having heard of you from the modeling world.” Alec tried to pump his soulmate up.

Magnus met Alec’s eyes in the mirror. “What if they don’t want me in the family?” It hit Alec like a ton of bricks. Magnus had already been shunned from his biological family and now here was another chance at rejection.

Alec knelt down next to Magnus. “They won’t. My siblings are much more open minded than my parents. Izzy knew I was gay before I even told her. Max wanted to cut all ties with our father when he tried to disown me. They will love you, because I love you, but also because you are loveable.” Magnus smiled as his eyes watered. “The only one we have to worry about is my mother. I don’t think she will be cruel, but she can be stone faced. But if she doesn’t accept you, then I won’t accept her.”

-=-=-=-=-

“Alec!” Izzy nearly threw herself at her big brother as she opened the door. Alec caught her in his arms and Magnus just stood in awe. They could pass for twins. They were both tall and thin with dark hair. Her eyes turned to Magnus and she let go of her brother. “And you must be Magnus.”

“Yes.” They shook hands as two little kids peered out.

“Uncle Alec!” The cousins say in unison. Alexis had a head of curly dark hair while her cousin, Luke, had short brown hair. They were the only cousins close enough in age. Alexis was four years younger than Izzy and Simon’s middle daughter, Abby. But Luke and Alexis were only a year apart.

“Lexi, Luke.” Alec said, scooping the two little ones up into his arms. “I want you to meet someone.” Suddenly all eyes were on him and Magnus had not even gotten in the door. “This is my soulmate, Magnus.”

“Hi.” Alexis waved at him, but being five and more inquisitive Luke asked.

“Soulmate? Like mommy and daddy?”

“That is right dear.” Izzy said, taking her song from Alec’s arms and motioning them in. “Uncle Alec now as a soulmate.”

“Uncle Magnus?” Luke asked, looking from his mom to his uncle.

“If that is alright with Magnus.” Alec sat Alexis down and looked at Magnus. Uncle wow that was quick.

“Yeah. I would like that.” Magnus nodded.

“Uncle Mans.” Little four year old tried saying. Magnus smiled.

Luke took Magnus by the hand and introduced him to the rest of the family. First off was his two older sisters that were on the couch not inches apart but on their phones.

“Abby, Lizzie. Uncle Magnus.” Luke introduced Magnus, with Alec stepping in to tell the nine and eleven year old, respectively, that Magnus was his soulmate. Abby was shy, like her father and only smiled, but Lizzie was the clone of her mother.

“Nice fit. Armani?”

“Yes.” Magnus nodded looking down at his dusty green jacket.

“Last fall’s collection, correct?”

“Yes. You know your styles well.”

“Thanks. Mom takes me to work with her a lot.”

“Soon enough she will know more clothes then I will.” Izzy commented. “But I am still so proud of my little fashionista.”

“Mom.” The preteen whined and hid behind her phone.

Next was Max and his wife, Erica. Max was nearly the same height as Alec, but had a mess of curls much like his daughter. A family of giants.

“Max, good to see you.” The brothers hugged and then Alec leaned down to gently side hug Erica as she was holding the youngest member of the Lightwood clan, two year old Peter.

“It's good to see you too, Alec.” Erica tilted her head at Magnus and sighed. Taking something out of her pocket she gave it to her husband. “You win.”

“You win?” Alec asked, echoing Magnus’ own thoughts. Had they made a bet about them? Or about him? Magnus suddenly felt very uncomfortable.

“Your brother bet me that your soulmate would be shorter than you. I said he would be the same height or taller.” Alec laughed and that broke any tension Magnus had felt. His soulmate pulled Magnus closer to him.

“He is shorter by maybe an inch or two.” Magnus made a show of laying his head on Alec’s shoulder.

“Yes, but what I lack in height I make up for in style.”

The last person on the list to meet was Maryse Lightwood, the matriarch of the family. After Max had left home there was nothing else holding the family together. Robert had been cheating on her for years and Maryse had just looked the other way. Once the divorce was final Maryse moved closer to her youngest child. She had enjoyed being a grandmother more than she had being a mother. There were no external pressures, just love.

“Mother. I want you to meet Magnus, my soulmate.” Alec said, one arm around Magnus’ back. Alec was not sure what his mother would do. They didn’t talk that often and only for short amounts of time. She was trying, he knew that.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Lightwood.” Magnus held out his hand like he had for Max and his wife and waited. It didn’t exactly take that long for Maryse to react, but to the soulmates it was an eternity.

Maryse sat her glass of wine down on a side table and leaned in, putting her arms around Magnus and hugged him tight, much to Alec’s shock.

“Thank you for making my son happy.” She whispered into Magnus' ear. Pulling back she had a bright smile on her face. “And welcome to the family.”

“Mom! Can you help me wrangle the kids?” Izzy called out to her mom. The younger ones were underfoot while the older ones were on their phones.

“If you will excuse me.” She grabbed her glass and headed for the kitchen. “Now, who is getting into trouble in here?”

Alec’s mouth was still slightly agape, his mind not comprehending what had just happened. “I think Mom might have had too much wine.”

Magnus just smiled, keeping what she had said a little secret to himself for now. He had been welcomed into the Lightwood family by every single member. It was like a dream come true.

#shmb2023 #shadowhunters #malec #au non magic #fanfiction

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