#tom hiddleston and original character

[allthenobodypplfics]

Arousal Poisoning (Chapter 1)

Fandom: MCU Loki

Pairing: Soft Dark!Loki x Female Reader, or Soft Dark!Loki x Original Female Character, depending on reader interpretation.

Other Characters: Mobius, B-15

Rating: Explicit

Summary: This takes place in season 1, episode 2 of the Loki series; before Pompeii. Mobius takes Loki and a team of hunters to a Nexus event on some inhospitable planet. Mobius and Loki are supposed to investigate the event before the branched timeline collapse, but a trap poisons Loki and a (female) Hunter, causing them to fall into their baser instincts… Or, in other words, a sex pollen, drug-induced, rough sex smut fest.

Warnings: Soft Dark!Loki, Smut, Sex Pollen, Drugged Sex, Rough Sex, Consensual Sex, Slight Fluff

Series Masterlist || Main Masterlist

Read on AO3

“Alright, team,” B-15 announced as a time door closed behind the last hunter stepping through. “This is one of the most inhospitable planets in this side of the galaxy, and the only thing here is this prison.” She pointed her thumb behind her where a formidable building lies. “This is where they chuck the most hardened criminals and toss away the key. Now, everyone inside is dead – they’re not supposed to be dead; that’s the Nexus event – so be prepared to see some horrible shit. The next guard shift change is in a week, so we have plenty of time before the branch collapses. We’re supposed to take readings and investigate the area; find out what the Variant took and why. Keep your eyes peeled and be careful of your surroundings. Let’s move.”

“How thrilling!” Loki quipped as he walked beside Mobius.

“Yeah, okay, calm down,” Mobius scolded, “don’t look so excited, you’re weirding everybody out.”

Loki huffed and jammed his hands into his pockets.

They entered the building and the first thing to grace their presence was a bloodbath.

One of the hunters whistled. “Yeah… everyone’s dead alright.”

A female Hunter made a soft sound of disgust at the back of her throat.

“Not used to the horrors of battle?” Loki mocked. “Thought you TVA agents have seen it all.”

“Don’t talk to me,” she deadpanned.

Loki’s shit-eating grin turned into a pout.

“Come on, Loki, make yourself useful.” Mobius pulled Loki further into the prison. “What do you see?”

“Death.”

“Yeah, no shit, Sherlock. What else? What was your Variant looking for?”

“How should I know?”

“Loki!”

“Fine, fine, give me a minute.”

The female Hunter followed along. “This doesn’t make sense,” she said. “The Loki Variant had been killing our people this entire time. They usually spared the people on the timeline. Why did they massacre everyone here?”

“Well, these are the worst of the worst, and I guarantee you the prison guards aren’t any better. Maybe… altruism?” Mobius replied.

The Hunter snorted, “A Loki? Yeah, right.”

Loki gave the Hunter a side-eye.

“Anyway, we’re not here to figure out why they killed everyone,” Mobius explained, “we’re here to find out what they took, why they took it, and what they plan to do with it.” Turning, he said, “Did you sniff anything out yet, Loki?”

“‘Sniff anything out?’” Loki spat. “What do you take me for? A dog? First I was a little pussy cat, and now I am a little lap dog?”

“Now, don’t get so sensitive–”

“I am not being sensitive, you are being rude–”

The Hunter left them arguing amongst themselves to take readings elsewhere. Her readings began to ping the closer she got to one of the hallways. There was… something… sitting on a table with a piece of newspaper covering it. She gingerly pulled the newspaper away and let it fall to the floor.

“The fuck?” she uttered. It looked like a huge flower bud the size of a basketball. The dark green sepals wrapping around the petals had golden veins running through them, veins that seemed to glow with a pulsing heartbeat. The very tippy top of the bud had some deep red petals peeking through. There was a sickly sweet fragrance emanating from the bud. Leaning closer, the Hunter could see a trickle of golden viscous liquid seeping from the top where the petals were. The bud twitched and the Hunter jumped back.

“Hey… guys?” the Hunter called out. “You should come check this out…”

Loki looked in her direction and his eyes almost popped right out of his skull. He pointed at the bud and screamed, “Stay away from that!”

Loki ran to the Hunter and grabbed her arm to pull her away from the flower, but it was too late. The flower popped and splattered its contents all over Loki and the Hunter. The Hunter grimaced as this golden, sticky, shimmery goop slithered down her face and body.

“Jesus Fucking Christ, what is this? Is this…” She touched her fingertips to her lips. “Honey? Nectar? It’s sweet–”

“Don’t eat that!” Loki furiously shouted as he slapped the Hunter’s hand away from her mouth.

The Hunter was shocked. “Wha–”

“Take your clothes off!” Loki demanded.

The Hunter belligerently narrowed her eyes at him. “What?”

“I know what this is!” Loki yelled as he grabbed the Hunter’s wrist and pulled her with him down a random hallway. “Where are the showers? Every prison has a shower wing! We need to wash this off immediately!”

“What the hell is going on?” Mobius called out as he followed them.

“Let go of me,” the Hunter snarled as she tried to pull her wrist out of his grasp, but he wouldn’t budge. His hold was so tight that he was grinding her bones together.

Mobius, sounding exasperated, sighed, “Where the hell are you going?”

Mobius reached out towards Loki and Loki recoiled, screaming, “Don’t touch us!  We’re contaminated!”

“What?” Mobius snatched his hand back.

“With what?” the Hunter screeched.

“There!” Loki pointed at a sign for the washroom. “The showers! Quickly!” He dragged the Hunter towards his intended destination.

“With what?!” the Hunter repeated as she smacked Loki’s arm with her free hand. The goop caused his clothes to stick to her palm and it released with a wet squish. “Ugh! Loki, contaminated with what?”

“It’s- argh!”  Loki was annoyed with the Hunter’s lack of cooperation. “It’s a very concentrated form of aphrodisiac. It’s usually used in very small amounts – and I mean very small; miniscule, and tremendously diluted – during feasts where – I’m not sorry to say – an orgy is the main event. But the amount that has bespattered us is deadly. So we must dispose of our clothes and wash the nectar off of our bodies. This is very potent; you don’t even have to ingest it – although you already did. Just letting it touch your skin is enough to feel its effects.”

“Holy shit!” Mobius’ voice cracked behind them.

“Holy. Shit.” The Hunter gasped as well.

“Indeed,” Loki scowled. “Now, come on.”

Loki shoved the Hunter through the door of the communal shower. She stumbled but he righted her and then stuffed her under a shower head. He turned the water on as hot as he could and left her there. She yelped and turned the water back to a more comfortable level.

“Hurry,” Loki said as he turned his own shower on and started tearing off his clothes. “Take everything off and throw it there, furthest away from you.” Loki pointed to the corner of the room. “Thoroughly wash yourself. Use soap – use a lot of soap – don’t just stand there, hurry!”

The Hunter tore her eyes away from the undressing god and quickly unclipped her helmet, throwing it in the direction Loki told her. She ripped the hair tie out of her ponytail, letting her dark, straight hair fall just past her shoulders; then she started peeling off her armor and utility clothing. There wasn't any shampoo, but there was a bar of soap sitting on a wall-mounted soap dish and she grabbed it. It squished out of her hand and jumped in the air. She did a small little dance as she tried to catch the soap, but it kept shooting out of her grasp. When she finally caught it, her relief at not dropping the soap was short-lived when she noticed a very large mirror stretching the width of the room on one of the walls.

“Is that a two-way mirror?” the Hunter cried, her lips curling incredulously. “Why is there a two-way mirror to view the showers? That is disgusting!”

Loki scoffed, “I assure you that this isn’t the only place that has such an amenity throughout the galaxies.”

“Agent Mobius, you and the team better not be watching us!” the Hunter yelled.

Mobius’ voice rang through a loudspeaker. “Sorry, kid, I promise we’re not looking. It’s just me and B-15, okay? Hurry up and wash that crap off.”

“Why the hell did the flower explode?” the Hunter hysterically squealed as she frantically rubbed the bar of soap into her hair and face.

“It was overripe,” Loki answered. “It’s normally harvested long before it gets to that size.” Loki tilted his head up to catch some water to rinse his mouth, but he, too, already swallowed some of the nectar earlier so it really didn’t make much of a difference now.

“Ugh, it doesn’t wanna come off!” the Hunter squeaked in a panic.

“Just keep washing! Don’t stop!” Loki told her.

After a few minutes, the sounds of frenzied scrubbing slowed and stilled. The Hunter suddenly felt dizzy and she fell forward, placing her forearm against the shower wall. She wheezed and leaned her forehead against the cool tiles and let the water run down her hair and back. She closed her eyes and swallowed. This growing… yearning… was steadily building in her groin to the point of pain.

“Oh, crap…” she grumbled.

The sound of the Hunter’s voice caused a violent tingle to run down Loki’s spine. He shuddered and clenched his jaw as he tried to even out his breathing. He glanced at the Hunter to see her back towards him. She was practically shrinking into herself; she was biting one of her fists and her shoulders were trembling. He huffed as he looked down at himself and watched his cock harden and grow.

He shook his head and chuckled, “It’s too late.”

Loki’s unhinged laughter caused Mobius to glance up and see Loki slowly turning to look at the Hunter, his eyes burning with desire, his breathing came out heavy through his parted lips; his chest was heaving as if he had been running a marathon.

“Hey…” Mobius’ voice piped through the loudspeaker. “Nooo…” he scolded as if to a dog about to do something they shouldn’t – like humping someone’s leg. Except this wasn’t a dog and he would do a lot more than hump the Hunter’s leg.

Loki eyed her from the top of her head to her feet on the floor. She was a young recruit. Well, young was subjective, as time moved differently at the TVA. She could have been working there for decades, maybe even centuries, and still look to be in her twenties; barely pushing thirty. She had an athletic build, showing that she had been a fighter for many years. Her shoulders were broader, slimming down to a smaller waist, giving her a bit of an upside-down triangle figure. Her arms were somewhat thickened with firm muscles, as were her thighs and calves. His eyes lingered at her delightfully round and lifted ass.

“Loki…” Mobius dragged out the “i” in Loki’s name in warning.

Loki turned completely and started to take slow strides to stand behind the Hunter. The two people watching behind the mirror caught a glimpse of the god’s cock; it was fully erect… and very well endowed.

“Oh, shit!” B-15 spluttered before coughing and clearing her throat, embarrassed at her little shocked outburst.

“Loki, no!” Mobius continued in the same scolding manner. “Now, you stay away from her! Don’t you touch her!”

And Loki touched her, placing his hands on her shoulders.

“What did I just say?” Mobius snapped, the loudspeaker creaking with feedback. “Loki, get away from her!”

Loki ran his palms down to her upper arms and squeezed. He didn’t use his full strength, not even a fraction of it, but it was hard enough to leave bruises in the shape of his gorgeous hands on her skin. He pulled her back towards himself until she could feel his length pressed against her tailbone.

“Loki, stop that! Bad, Loki!” Loki could almost imagine Mobius wagging his finger at him if he wasn’t so engrossed in the naked woman in front of him.

Loki wrapped an arm around the Hunter’s torso, cupping one of her breasts; it barely filled his large hand. He placed his other hand against her abdomen, but it was slowly slinking lower. The Hunter’s breath hitched as her jaw went slack and her lips fell open. She leaned her head back against Loki’s shoulder and he leaned forward to plant a kiss on the side of her neck.

Mobius smacked the two-way mirror and yelled, “Loki! Let her go!”

Loki gave Mobius the middle finger salute.

“Well, fuck you too!” Mobius smacked the mirror again.

Loki let out an irritated sigh as he gestured towards the two-way mirror and it completely frosted over in white, keeping prying eyes from getting a free show.

Mobius screamed, “God dammit, you stop that, Loki! Stop that right now!” With a flick of his wrist, Loki crushed the loudspeaker in a glittery swirl of green. It let out a metallic shriek before it became blissfully silent.

“Oh, that mischievous scamp!” Mobius glowered as he stomped his way out of the nasty-shower-watching office. “That mischievous horny scamp!”

“Mobius, what do you think you’re doing?” B-15 grabbed Mobius’ arm and pulled him back into the office.

“I’m going in there and separating those two!”

“Are you crazy? They’re contaminated! Do you wanna go in there and start an orgy? ‘Cause I don’t! You don’t know how… sticky… that goop is! It might not be washing out; it might still be stuck on them. You wanna start touching them and pulling them apart?”

“B-15, they’re drugged.” Mobius sounded frustrated as he waved his arms around. “They don’t know what they’re doing; they can’t control it. They can’t consent. It could really mess them up!”

“If they survive,” one of the other hunters snorted.

B-15 glared at the tactless hunter and he snapped his mouth shut, having the grace to look abashed.

“Get out,” B-15 ordered as she pointed to the exit. “When the hell did you get in here anyway? Pervert. I will write you up!”

She turned back to Mobius as the hunter scurried out of there.

“They’ll probably be fine.” She sounded unconvinced, but she wasn’t willing to step foot in the showers and she would not allow anyone else to go in either. They had no idea what the nectar did; if those affected would just… make love until they died. B-15 cringed at her own description of the matter. It was hardly “making love,” it was more animalistic than that, but she didn’t want to think “mating” either because that just sounded worse. She’d be damned if she allowed anyone else to fall under the same toxin and… made love to death. She cringed again. But, considering one was a god and the other was human, it was more than likely the human wouldn’t survive.

“They’ll be fine once they get it out of their system,” B-15 added while nodding, still sounding unconvinced.

The squeal of feedback from the smashed loudspeaker jolted the Hunter. Her eyes widened and she blinked hard, shaking her head. Her wet hair slapped and stuck against her face. She took a few gasping breaths and, in a moment of clarity, pushed away from Loki; stumbling her way towards the exit.

Loki’s lips curled in indignation as he gestured towards the door and a blast of green magic jammed the lock into place, keeping the Hunter trapped with him while keeping everyone else from interrupting. He grabbed the Hunter by her wrist and yanked her back. She slipped, but he caught her and shoved her against the wall. She tried to step away again, but he wouldn’t allow it and pressed his slicken body against hers. Hot water from the shower fell over them.

“Nowhere to run to now, little agent,” Loki chuckled as he brushed her wet hair out of her face to get a good look at her. She was cute, he could say that much. She had a slightly round face with big eyes and full lips.

“I’m not an agent,” the Hunter slurred, as if drunk. “Mobius is the agent. I’m a hunter – a soldier.”

“What’s your name, soldier?” Loki placed two fingers under the Hunter’s chin and lifted her head to meet his gaze.

“B-38.”

“That’s not your name,” Loki sneered.

“That’s all I know.”

“Alright then…” Loki leaned in and brushed the tip of his nose against hers. “Little Bumble Bee.”

“Don’t call me that,” B-38 said as she shoved at his chest. He didn’t budge. “Don’t give me any pet names. That’s weird. We’re not that close.”

“Well, we’re about to get a lot closer.” Loki firmly pressed his lips against hers. She grunted as he pried her jaw open by squeezing her cheeks and he unceremoniously drove his tongue down her throat.

B-38’s eyes rolled to the back of her head and her knees gave out. She would have sunk to the floor if Loki wasn’t holding her up.

“Aw, hell. Screw it,” B-38 thought as she got her feet under her, reached up, and raked her nails into Loki’s back; kissing him just as aggressively.

The kiss was messy. Their teeth clicked and their noses didn’t align quite right and were a bit smashed against each other’s faces. Loki ground his rock-hard cock against the Hunter, and she kept shifting and squirming until she was able to get the positioning right and felt his length rub against her clit. She whined against his mouth and he swallowed her cries.

Loki pulled away and tugged her hair back, forcing her to crane her neck; then he pressed his lips to her throat – rough kisses and bites that hurt just as much as felt good. He slowly trailed down until he reached her breasts, pausing to admire them – they’re small with caramel-colored nipples. He sucked one nipple into his mouth and she moaned. B-38 tangled her fingers into his wet hair and raised one of her legs to wrap around his hip. He grabbed her thigh harshly to keep her there. He drew a line with his tongue across her chest to lavish attention to the other nipple, twirling his tongue around it before licking it. With his other hand, he reached between them and cupped her cunt. She instinctively ground against his palm and drenched him with her arousal. He released her nipple from his mouth with a wet kiss; then he straightened and grabbed her chin to make her look at him. Her lips were parted and her breathing came out in heavy gusts. Her pupils were blown open; he could barely tell she had brown eyes when almost all he saw was black. Her entire face was blushing a deep crimson. He could tell the flower’s toxin had taken hold of her completely; he wondered if he looked the same.

Loki positioned the tip of his cock to her opening and watched her face as he callously thrust into her. She yelped at the very sudden invasion; then leaned forward and bit his shoulder in retaliation. He grunted but didn’t push her away. The one leg she still had on the floor was shaking uncontrollably as it was on its tippy toes to accommodate his height. He hooked his other arm under that leg and lifted her completely off the ground. From that position, his cock sunk even deeper into her; she groaned against his shoulder.

Loki started his thrusts long and slow, feeling her tight walls mercilessly squeeze against him. She freed her teeth from his shoulder and tilted her head back; the water from the shower rained down her face. He was the largest she ever had and she could feel him stretching her just almost shy of pain. When he shifted and began to pick up speed, hitting her at just the right spot, her eyes fluttered close and she moaned loudly, “Oh, God, please, please, please…”

Loki laughed breathlessly, “Are you begging?”

B-38 inhaled sharply and then she sputtered, “No.”

“Don’t stop,” Loki demanded; his smile full of glee. “I like you begging. Beg me like a wanton whore.”

“Stop that.” Her face twisted in annoyance.

“Alright, darling, forgive me,” Loki relented, his voice lilting. “I was too crude. My gentle Bumble Bee deserves tenderness.” He slowed his momentum and leisurely pumped in and out of her, teasing her and driving her insane.

B-38 let out a sound of frustration; then she snarled, “Will you just shut up and fuck me? Stop messing around!”

“Not so gentle then,” Loki chuckled. His face then grew dark as he ruthlessly slammed into her.

B-38 shrieked and then choked on her gasps to keep herself from screaming her lungs out. He was practically jackhammering her at this point; their flesh obscenely slapping against each other. She clung to his shoulders, digging her nails into him. She was half sobbing, half moaning. It hurt so good. Tears ran down her face, but neither she nor Loki would notice as the water from the running shower masked it.

Loki muttered into her ear as he fucked her silly; muttering pure vulgarity. He cursed her beauty and he cursed her sweet weeping voice. He cursed her perfect tits and he cursed her impossibly tight cunt. He described to her in very detailed imageries exactly how tight she was; how her cunt just kept greedily swallowing him up and not wanting to let go. He told her he wanted to fuck her wide open and make her bleed on his cock, but they were just words. He didn’t mean it and he didn’t do it. He told her such deliciously horrible things; so atrocious that it made her cry harder and harder as he fucked her harder and harder with every terrible thing he said.

B-38’s orgasm took her by surprise and she wailed, throwing her head back and accidentally smacking her skull against the tiles. Her quivering tunnel clamped down on Loki and he gasped, feeling his own orgasm nearing. He came with a soft cry and buried his head into her neck. She was a little surprised because it sounded quite vulnerable. Lokis were a lot of things, and vulnerable was never one of them. She found it quite endearing…not that she would ever say that out loud. In a moment of impulsiveness, she tugged at Loki’s hair until he looked at her, then she placed a soft kiss against his lips.

Series Masterlist || Main Masterlist

Read on AO3

[redfoxwritesstuff]

You shd quit writing rpf for Tom. Hes married and got anther kid on the way. Show him some fucking respect if you claim to be a fan. Stop making him cheat on Zawe, its not like hes ever going to want you anway

Someone can't tell reality from fiction here and honey, it's not me.

Tom Hiddleston, the actual man, is married- yes, and has a lovely son and a new baby on the way. I'm very happy for him. Good for him.

But *that man* isn't the doll that lives in my head that I can play with. I don't know that man. I know the face he shows the public but I don't know him.

I need you to sit down for me honey. Are you sitting? Good girl. Now, I can't make Tom Hiddleston, the actual man, do a goddamn thing. Additionally, every single one of those dime store romance novels where a nobody falls in love with some actor? They have a actual actor in mind when they're writing it. They just change the name and the details.

It's RPF wearing a mask.

Calm the fuck down. I'm married. Tom's Married. And we're not married to each other.

Go pet a goddamn chicken or something.

[winterisakillerwrites]

Glass Slipper - Part One: Beginning - Chapter One

Title: Glass Slipper

Chapter: 1/30

Character: Tom Hiddleston/Rosemary Hiddleston (OFC)

Genre: Angst

Rating: Mature

Summary:   “Marriage is never easy, even in the best of times. And mine is no different.” Choices shape who we are as people just as much as they shape our relationships with those around us. One choice was all it took to shatter the life Tom and Rosemary had built together. Now they are faced with the agonizing choice of what can be done with the wreckage left behind. Final part of the ‘Last Minutes & Lost Evenings’ series.

Authors Notes/Warnings: So this has been a hell of a journey (and honestly still is). I still have this plotted out about a third of the way (nearly five years later, yes I know) and I know more or less where this is going. This is going to be a very long, emotional journey so bring wine and tissues.

Tag List:  @tinchentitri​ @messy-insomniac-bookgirl​ @noplacelikehome77​ @blacksuitofdoom​ @nonsensicalobsessions​ @theheartofpenelope​ @ms-cellanies​ @nuggsmum​ @inkededucatednnerdy @redfoxwritesstuff​  @just-the-hiddles​ @wolfsmom1​ @theoneanna​ @hiddlescastle @sabine-leo​ @alexakeyloveloki  @echantedbytwh @finchbaggins  @kenzieam @ciaodarknessmyheart @ladyblablabla @trippedmetaldetector @redfoxwritesstuff

Part One: Beginning

Chapter One

One Year Previously

Tom Hiddleston rubbed a hand through his now shaggy hair, surveying the mess he’d made of the master bedroom. His suitcase lay open on the bed, a good quarter of his admittedly limited wardrobe folded in varying stages of neatness inside. The remaining pieces were strewn beside it on the bed and hanging on the opened closet door.

It was always a nightmare, packing for an extended shoot. No matter how many times he’d done this very thing, it never seemed to get any easier. Trying to cram everything he could possibly need into a suitcase often seemed nigh on impossible. The only things he truly needed wouldn’t ever fit, no matter how creatively he tried to fold them.

His mind flitted to Rosemary, who was downstairs with Gracie and Wills trying to wrangle the latter into his chair for his lunch. Leaving her had never been an easy thing, it was something he struggled with every time he’d had to go and she had to stay. They’d weathered this storm many times and he had every faith they would this time as well.

But this would be the first time he would be leaving his family since Wills had been born. He’d stuck to local and regional theatre work as much as he could during that first several months of his son’s life, wanting to be there as much as he could for his growing family. He’d missed so much when Gracie was that age and hadn’t wanted the same this time around. This pending separation was one they’d known was coming but one neither he nor Rosie were truly looking forward to. His Rosie was strong and infinitely capable, she would be alright. But gods he would miss her and the family they’d made.

Sighing, Tom dropped the sweater he’d been folding on top of the suitcase. He didn’t want to go; despite the fact he was eager to put his months of research and character development into practice. He’d accepted the role before they’d learned Rosemary had been pregnant and with one delay and another, things hadn’t come into fruition until now. The fact that the shoot was a US based one hadn’t made things any easier. It would mean months away from Rosie and the children, with only video calls as a lifeline.

He’d put off packing for the last week or so, selfishly hoping that if he’d ignored the whole situation, it would simply fade away. But no such luck. In less than a weeks’ time he was needed in New York for filming and he couldn’t put this off any longer. The pressure didn’t make the task at hand any easier though.

“Daddy,” a soft voice lilted from behind him. Tom turned to find Gracie standing in the doorway of the room, a soft frown overwhelming her features. The sight of it broke his heart. “I don’t want to you go!”

With this declaration, the three-year-old sprinted into the room, latching her small arms around her father’s legs. Tom bent automatically and picked his daughter up, holding her tightly in his arms. She buried her face into his neck. He stood rocking her gently, ignoring the strain on his back. It was unnerving how much she had grown and frightening to realize that in a few short years holding her like this wouldn’t be a possibility. In Tom’s eyes she was still the sweet baby who would gum at his knuckles and smile at the silly faces he made to entertain her.

Rubbing his hand up and down her back, Tom whispered soothing words into Gracie’s curly, dark hair. “It will be alright, Gracie girl. It will only be for a short while.” She shook her head, burrowing further into her father. Tom laughed softly, despite himself. “You know how you talk with Auntie Sarah on the computer?” He felt his daughter nod against him. “We can do that too.”

“Not the same.”

“I know, princess. I wish I didn’t have to go. Leaving you and Wills and Mummy is the last thing Daddy wants to do, but sometimes when you are a grown up you have to do things you don’t always want to.” He felt her grip tighten against him. “But I will call you every single day and I’ll miss you, Wills, and Mummy so so much. And I promise I will be back home as soon as I can be.”

He shuffled backwards and sat carefully on the edge of the bed, not caring that he was most likely wrinkling the clothing beneath him. Once they were settled, Tom pulled his daughter back so he could see her face, tearstained and reddened as it was. He smiled warmly at her and was offered a small, slightly watery one in return.

The sound of feet on the stair pulled Tom’s attention towards the door of the bedroom. Rosemary stood, Wills balanced on her hip, a soft smile on her face. Her eyes were warm and full of quiet understanding as she smiled at him, though he could see the flicker of pain she took great pains to cover as they fell on the half-filled case beside them on the bed.

“Gracie love,” he murmured, pushing the thought away, “Why don’t you go and help your Mummy and Wills with lunch?”

Biting her lip, Gracie studied his face for several moments before nodding and climbing down from his lap. Wordlessly, she made her way towards Rosemary and took her mother’s waiting hand. Rosemary smiled at her daughter before looking back up at Tom. “I’ll send this little pipsqueak up when it’s ready.”

Tom laughed. “I cannot wait.”

He sat briefly, watching as his family turned and made their way down the stairs towards the kitchen, Wills babbling happily as Rosemary murmured softly. God, how was he going to survive this? Leaving them behind. He’d done it before and they had survived, thrived even.

But this time felt different, though Tom couldn’t put his finger on it. There was a heaviness surrounding his leaving. It didn’t make sense, they had done this time and again and had always come out better for it, no matter the struggle it had been to get there.

Tom let out a soft sigh. He was being ridiculous and putting this off wouldn’t stop any of it. Scrubbing his hands over his face, he stood, turning his attention back to the bed and his suitcase. 

※※※

Gracie had returned half an hour later just as Tom was zipping his case closed. He turned, smiling at his little girl as she called, “Daddy! Come on Mummy’s waiting!”

“Well, we most certainly can’t keep her waiting now, can we?” He reached out and grasped Gracie’s small hand, letting her pull him from the room and down the stairs. The sounds of Rosemary’s quiet voice and his son’s contended laughter echoed from the kitchen. It brought a smile to his face quickly followed by a jolt of sadness. Shaking himself from thoughts of leaving, Tom smiled as he and Gracie rounded the corner and jogged into the kitchen.

“Mummy, Mummy! I got Daddy!” Gracie yelled triumphantly.

Rosemary laughed softly, shaking her head. “I see. Now go wash your hands, young lady, and get settled at the table.”

Gracie dropped Tom’s hand and darted from the kitchen towards stool placed before the sink in the kitchen. Tom laughed and stepped forward to place a light kiss against Rosemary’s mouth. “Hello,” he whispered against her lips, feeling her smile against him.

As he pulled back and turned to head to the wooden table positioned in the middle of the room, Rosemary put a hand on his arm. “Not so fast, you need to wash up yourself.”

Tom smiled, shrugging sheepishly, and went to wash up as well.

Clean and settled, he helped Rosemary make sure the children were settled with their meals before filling their plates. Tom found himself watching Rosemary tempt Wills into taking another bite of mashed peas. The buzzing noise she made as she flew the ‘airplane’ towards their giggling son brought a smile to Tom’s face. Wills was firmly in his ‘picky eater’ phase and the fact that he seemed agreeable to eating the offered food was a blessing. Even if half of it seemed destined to be smeared across his face.

Moments such as these were ones Tom knew he’d miss more than anything. The little everyday things that drove a person mad, but those small details one couldn’t imagine their life without. The children were still so young, and they were growing so fast. There would be so much he knew he’d miss just as he knew there wasn’t a single thing that he could do to avoid it.

He loved acting, loved the challenge of it, and the comradery of working with the same group of people for months on end. It was the fact that it took him so far from home and family that caused him a moments’ pause. It wouldn’t be like the local shoots he’d gotten used to nor the theatre work which allowed him to be home every night for bath time and to read to the children before bed. He would be hundreds of miles away, leaving Rosemary alone to act as mother and father. It wasn’t fair and he knew she was dreading it just as much, if not more, than he was. But she was stubborn, the woman he married, and determined. She would be fine. They would both be.

※※※

Tom smiled down at Gracie’s slumbering form. It had taken three stories (with all of the character voices) to settle her. She’d fought sleep, clearly not wanting to miss a moment of time with her father. It tore at his heart, knowing this separation upset her so. Gracie had always been such a happy, upbeat soul and seeing that light dim, knowing he was its cause, was agony. But he hadn’t a choice, not really. This was a role he’d worked so hard to get, put so much of his time and effort into building this character, walking away just as it was coming to fruition would be such a waste.

It didn’t mean he didn’t want to do so desperately.

Gracie turned in her sleep, small arm wrapping around the stuffed duck she still insisted on carrying around with her everywhere.

“You do know she isn’t going to go anywhere,” Rosemary’s soft voice echoed behind him. He turned, finding her standing in the bedroom doorway smiling quietly at him. Her dark hair was piled on top of her head and he could read the exhaustion written the in lines of her shoulders. Wills was well into cutting his next tooth and had been a cranky, miserable thing. Especially at bedtime. How she’d gotten him settled was a miracle.

“I know,” he answered just as softly. But I am.

He didn’t utter the words aloud, not wanting to add another burden to her already heavy load. Rosemary’s knowing look told him he didn’t have to. She understood all too well.

With one last glance at his daughter, Tom padded towards the door, flipping off the overhead light as he followed Rosemary out into the darkened hall. Quietly, they padded down the stairs and into the living room. Bobby sat, his muzzle sporting more grey than Tom was willing to let himself believe possible, curled in the middle of the well-worn sofa. He blinked lazily up at his humans, not at all pleased at having his rest disturbed as they settled beside him.

Rosemary scratched behind his fluffy ears. “Grumpy old man,” she teased.

Tom laughed. “You try being chased around by a toddler who is determined to make your tail a plaything and see how cheerful you are.”

She reached over and playfully shoved his arm. “For that, you can make the popcorn.”

Pushing himself to his feet with more of groan than he’d expected, Tom face Rosemary with his hand held firmly over his heart. “Whatever milady desires.” Rosemary’s laughter followed him into the kitchen.

He rustled through the cabinets, in search of the bags of popcorn they’d stored there just for such occasions. He could hear the soft hum of the television as Rosemary set up the blu ray player with the night’s feature. These movie dates had become almost a ritual for them, a way of coming together after a busy day to just enjoy being together, no stress, no demands. Gods, he would miss this.

“Salt or sweet?”

“Hm?”

“Do you want salt or sweet tonight?”

“Salt,” Rosemary’s voiced called out after several moments of silence.

“Salt it is.”

※※※

Rosemarys’ head fell gently against his shoulder as she shifted beside him, her eyes focused on the screen before them. But it was clear her mind was elsewhere. He could feel it in the tenseness of her shoulders. They were on their second movie of the night and usually Rosemary would be asleep curled up against him, the day having worn her out.

With care, Tom reached for the remote left lying on the table before them and paused the film. “You alright?”

“What?” Rosemary blinked up at him, confusion painting her features. He could see the worry lining her brow that she was so careful to try to hide from him. But he knew her far too well. The pending separation was bothering her far more than she was willing to share with him. He tried not to let that fact bother him. She was perfectly allowed to feel however she liked. But he wished she would let him shoulder some of that weight. Even if all he could do with hold her.

Tom turned so they sat facing one another. “Something’s bothering you, Rosie. Just talk to me, love. Let me help.”

Her eyes wrinkled as she carried out some quiet, internal battle with herself. “I’m alright, really. Just…I wish you didn’t have to go.”

The words were so soft, Tom barely heard them at first. “Oh my Rosie, I wish I didn’t have to go either.” He pressed a kiss to her hairline. “And you know I wouldn’t go unless I had to. I hate leaving you and the children. It’s the worst part of all of this. But we are strong, my girl. We are so much stronger than this. It’ll be alright. We’ll have as many calls and video chats as we possibly can. And if I can sneak away or bring you all over, I will. We won’t be apart longer than we absolutely have to be. I promise you.”

Rosemary pulled back, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. “I know, Tom. Really, I do. I’m just being silly.” She flashed him a watery smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “It’s just been an incredibly long day. Let’s finish this then bed, alright? I’ll be better in the morning. Promise.”

With a quiet nod, Tom pulled Rosemary tighter against him and unpaused the film. It was going to be alright. This fear would pass and they would be fine. They always were.

Chapter Two

[marvelsgirl616]

my mischievous boys with daddy issues, anger issues, have a high kill count. They're known to be these feared beings but deep down they’re just scorned from their fathers wrongdoings against them and just want to be loved (and a 🤏 feared). They have issues with their siblings, but if their sibling was threatended they'd fight till their last breath to make sure their sibling was safe.

[lulubelle814]

The Traveler - Chapter 11

Chapter 12

The Traveler Masterlist

Main Masterlist

To say she was stunned would be an understatement.  She stood there for a moment in complete shock.  “Pinch me.”  She needed to check how far out of it she was.  The saying was that if you think you're dreaming, have someone pinch you.  

“Pardon?”

“Pinch me, please.”  He grinned.  “I have a better idea.”  Without further ado, he stepped inside, gathered her up in his arms,  and placed his lips on hers, moving them against hers.  It took her a moment to pull her mind to the present before returning his kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck.  When he felt her responding, the kiss intensified, licking her lower lip, silently asking for entrance which she granted.  Their tongues battled for dominance; however, he quickly won as he closed the door with his foot as he dropped his rucksack on the floor.

They only parted due to the need for air.  “How did you….”  Before she could finish, he kissed her again.  Who was she to argue?  The person she thought she’d never see again was really here.  If this was just a vivid dream?  She didn’t care.  She’d enjoy every single second.

Her mind slowly returned, breathing heavily.  “Definitely not a dream.”  His lips smiled against her as he kissed her one more time.  “No, definitely not a dream.”

Conrad held onto her.  “When you disappeared in that fog, I almost lost my mind.  I looked for you everywhere.  Brooks had your pictures developed, and I saw these.”  He handed her the photos he’d brought, including the few she took before she landed in his reality.  “When I saw this one,” he pointed to one particular picture, “I knew there was only one person who might have answers.”  It was the same picture he’d shown Hank with other pictographs.

“Hank.”  Conrad nodded.  He fished the talisman out of his pocket to show her.  “He gave me this, saying the Iwis told him to hold onto it.  Told him he’d know what to do with it when the time came.”

Holding it in her hand, she looked at it closely.  “It’s exactly like the one Steve gave me.”  Looking up into his eyes, she spoke again.  “You really came to find me?”

Conrad nodded.  “I had to find you.  When you disappeared, it was like a part of me went with you.”  He sighed.  “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”

Billie lightly shook her head.  “I can’t blame you.  It sounds completely bonkers.  I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn't experienced it myself.”

The storm picks up outside.  Her phone chimes with a text.

Virginia: My car broke down. I'm okay, Tony came to get me. I think I should stay here for the night to be safe. Are you okay?

Billie: I’m okay.  Glad you’re safe.  I’ll be okay.

She put her phone down on the coffee table.  “We have the place to ourselves tonight.”

Considering it was dinner time, Billie went to the kitchen to preheat the oven so she could bake the lasagna, Conrad trailing behind her. Once the oven was on, she turned to find him right behind her. He trapped her there, placing his arms on both sides of her before leaning in to kiss her again, unable to get enough of her. Not to mention, if this was a dream, he wanted to enjoy it as much as he could. She wrapped her arms around his neck to deepen the kiss. Wrapping his hands under her thighs, he picked her up and sat her up on the counter. 

This continued until the oven beeped, ready to cook the lasagna. Once she put that in the oven and set a timer, she turned back to him. “What am I going to do with you?” It was more of a rhetorical question. There were several things she wanted to do to and with him, but at the moment, she needed to find out how long he was staying and where he would sleep. They could discuss the first one over dinner, but the second one? Should she have him sleep in a guest room? The couch? Or her room? She didn't want to presume what he might be thinking, but evidently he was thinking the same thing. It wasn’t hard to tell how exhausted he was.  So rather than tell him where to sleep, she gave him her room to which he protested.

“I cannot take your bed. It wouldn't be right.”

She was already dragging his rucksack towards her room. “I insist. You’re obviously tired, and i can sleep on the couch.”

He grabbed her hand to stop her. “I'm perfectly capable of sleeping on the sofa.”

“Look at you, though. You're way too tall for that.”

A grin spread across his face. “Darling, I've slept in much, much worse conditions than a couch. I'll be fine.”

Billie thought for a moment. “We could share my bed? It's big enough for two, and we're adults.”

His eyebrow arched. “Are you sure? I don't want to make you uncomfortable.”

She resumed dragging his rucksack to her room. “I wouldn't have suggested it if I wasn't comfortable with it.”

Sighing, he gave in. “Alright.”After dropping his bag in her room, he followed her to the kitchen. “You came just in time, too.  I just finished cooking lasagna if you're hungry.” As if on cue, his stomach rumbled, causing Billie to laugh. Grabbing plates and utensils, she put them on the table followed by said lasagna. 

Once dinner was finished, it wasn’t hard to tell that Conrad was ready for some shut eye.  She grabbed her shirt and sleep shorts, changing in the bathroom.  Coming out, he was disrobing.  “Are you okay if I sleep in my boxers?  I can grab a shirt if it makes you uncomfortable.”

“No, no.  It’s okay!  That’s fine.”  Billie wasn’t really fine.  This felt a bit awkward.  So instead, she laid down like she usually did, on her side facing the window while he laid on his back, staring up at the ceiling.  It took longer than usual for either one to fall asleep.

Conrad woke up first the next morning, finding himself in a very different position.  He was laying on his side, holding her close as she had nestled into him, her head tucked just under his chin.  For the life of him, he didn’t want to move, afraid to wake her up because he loved the scene right in front of him.  Without thinking, he brushed a piece of hair out of her face before he leaned forward, placed a gentle kiss on her forehead causing her to stir.  Rather than pull back, he kissed her forehead again before moving to her cheeks and then the tip of her nose.

Her eyes fluttered open to the sight of him so close, and there was no way she could say she minded waking up this way and gave him a sleepy smile.

Rather than saying good morning, he leaned forward, placing a light kiss on her lips to which she quickly reciprocated.  She brushed her fingers into his hair, giving it a tug that caused him to moan.  “Now you're asking for it,” he said with a sly grin.  He turned them so that now her back was on the bed, him on top of her.  Clothes came off as the kisses became more and more heated.  The heavy rain outside was the perfect backdrop to their lovemaking as he entered her in a single thrust, causing both to moan loudly.  As he moved, she began to move with him, meeting each thrust with a desperate urgency. The air in the room grew hot and heavy, filled with the sounds of pleasure, their bodies coming together in a passionate dance. The pace quickened, and the intensity grew rougher, their breaths coming in ragged gasps as they lost themselves in one another, falling over the edge together.

“Still think this is a dream?” 

Billie laughed and lightly smacked his chest in response.  “Definitely not a dream.”

For the first time in, perhaps, ever, he felt he’d found what he was looking for: home, here, with her.

Taglist: @vbecker10 @eleniblue @msdjsg7 @lovingchoices14 @buttercupcookies-blog @wolfsmom1 @mischief-dream

Taglist is open!

[kristabelles]

The Empath (A Spider-Man/Loki/Kraven x Reader/OC fanfiction ft. Alex Turner and John Krasinski)

As you're watching a small device shatter into a fiery explosion before your eyes, something awakens in you, creating a shield of bright light that blinds you the instant the fire bellows too close to your face. The result of which sends you hurling through the grass of Central Park with the air knocked out of you. Before you can comprehend what just happened, a hand jerks you up by the collar of your jacket. "Be still or I'll feed you to Deimos," A guttural Russian accent growled into your ear.

In this universe-mashing tale, you will face the likes of Kraven and an unknown woman from space with Spider-Man's help. You'll try to keep it together as you deal with your suddenly unusual boyfriend Alex Turner and your protective friend Peter Parker. All the while, Peter is becoming more and more suspicious of your boyfriend, causing tensions to build between everyone. You will have to face uncomfortable realities of who you are, who everyone else is, what their intentions are, and where your beliefs lie...

Now available on Archive of Our Own.

[allthenobodyppl]

Title: Arousal Poisoning

Fandom: Loki TV Series

Rating: Explicit Smut

Relationship: Loki/Reader or Loki/Original Female Character

Other Characters: Mobius, B-15

This takes place in season 1, episode 2 of the Loki series; before Pompeii. Mobius took Loki and a team of hunters to a Nexus event on some inhospitable planet that had only one infrastructure – a prison that was supposed to house the galaxy’s most dangerous criminals. Every single criminal and prison guard had been executed and the prison ransacked. Mobius and Loki were supposed to investigate before the branched timeline collapsed, but a trap poisoned Loki and a (female) Hunter, causing them to fall into their baser instincts…

Or, in other words, a sex pollen, drug-induced, rough sex fanfic that can either be a self-insert, or an original female character, depending on your own interpretation.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/54362926

[thegirlwholovesficcharacters]

𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐏𝐔𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐒 & 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐓𝐒

Autor's note: Hello!. In this space I will be publishing fan fictions and one shots already published and updated, this publication will be linked in my set master list.

𝐀 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐑𝐈𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐍 Series The Marvel Cast x Org Teen Fem Reader !

Chapther 1

╰┈➤Summary: ❝Rhiannon Hart's life as she used to know it was about to change. She was a young actress in progress from a small town in Minnesota playing small roles from a very young age, After months of her latest project, Rhiannon thought she would continue with her daily routine, concentrating on her studies and resting. Until her representative gets her an audition with Marvel Studios, for a new character. After her audition, Rhiannon didn't believe she could be selected to play the new character, until Kevin Faige contacts her to give her the good news...❞

𝑳𝑶𝑽𝑬 𝑳𝑬𝑻𝑻𝑬𝑹𝑺 Evan "Buck" Buckley x shy!Femreader! Part 1

╰┈➤❝Summary: In where y/n write Love Letters and send to her crush in a anonymously way, and thanks to eddie magic, she ends up her identity as Buck's secret admirer❞

𝑼𝑵𝑬𝑿𝑷𝑬𝑪𝑻𝑬𝑫...𝑭𝑹𝑰𝑬𝑵𝑫𝑺𝑯𝑰𝑷? 911x Org fem reader! 𝑭𝑰𝑹𝑺𝑻 𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑹 𝑷𝑹𝑬𝑽𝑰𝑬𝑾

╰┈➤Summary: ❝The crew from Fire Station 118 was helping out at the Santa Monica Pier after the first wave, until the second wave hit them, causing one of their colleagues to end up being swept away and disappearing completely. Until they find her carrying little Christopher Díaz heading to the medical camp. Or where, after the tsunami, the team's introvert, Breanne Maximoff, finds herself in an unexpected friendship with her two coworkers, Evan Buckley and Eddie Díaz, without imagining the adventures she would live with the duo from Station 118.❞

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐓 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐀𝐆𝐄 The originals x Org Fem teen reader Chap 1

╰┈➤Summary: ❝For as long as she could remember, fourteen-year-old maisie buckley used to have strange dreams, about people she had never met and scenarios that only she could believe would happen in movies or fantasy series, dreams that had faded with the passage of time. However, after suffering an accident, those dreams reappeared, leaving her to believe that they were a figment of her imagination due to post-traumatic stress disorder. But as time went by, Maisie began to realize that most of her “dreams” seemed to want to leave her a message or give her a sign about something, and although that seemed to be all, her situation seemed to get worse when she accidentally touched her classmate's hands, causing her to go into a trance and see blurry images. Confused and frightened by those recurring “dreams”, maisie finds herself trying to find answers about her strange dreams, until she arrives at the store of a voodoo witch, who seeing her desperation helps her search for some answer to her condition, her search resulted in a small town, New orleans. Without hesitation, maisie buckley leaves her life in boston behind, and upon arriving in new orleans finds more questions than answers to answer her questions, being rescued from a coven of witches along with a woman and becoming involved in a strange connection with those who claimed to be the originals, the first vampires created on earth. The mikaelson brothers.❞

[tomhiddlestonfanfic]

He Loves Me Not Chapter Twenty-One

Ch.1 - Ch.2 - Ch.3 - Ch.4 - Ch.5 - Ch.6 - Ch.7 - Ch.8 - Ch.9 - Ch.10 - Ch.11 - Ch.12 - Ch.13 - Ch.14 - Ch.15 - Ch. 16 - Ch. 17 - Ch.18

Summary & Chapter Index

TITLE: He Loves Me Not

CHAPTER NUMBER/ONE SHOT: 21/?? WHICH TOM/CHARACTER: Actor Tom OTHER CHARACTERS: Benedict Cumberbatch PAIRING: Tom Hiddleston/OFC GENRE: Hurt/Comfort, Drama, Romance, Teen Angst, Coming of age

FIC SUMMARY: Norah is a troubled teenager who is secretly and obsessively in love with her sister Sarah’s boyfriend, Tom. Sarah constantly worries about her younger sister, who is struggling with depression and anxiety, and one night, after a long evening at a charity event, Tom decides that he has had quite enough of Norah’s at times reckless and what could be considered rather selfish behaviour. He reveals a new side of himself as he desperately tries to help Norah break her vicious circle of self-destruction and open her eyes to the beautiful things in life. Could he be Norah’s knight in shining armor? Or will his efforts prove to be all in vain? Is his mere presence actually doing more harm than good? Could he ever love her the way she loves him?

WARNINGS: This story contains potentially triggering subjects such as Depression, Anxiety, Self-Harm, Self-Destruction, Eating Disorders, Talk About Suicide and Suicidal Ideation. It also deals with the subject of Grief and contains Previous Character Deaths. Other potentially upsetting subjects this story contains are Spanking Fantasies, Sexual Fantasies, Masturbation, Dirty Talk, Age Difference and Age Play.

WRITER'S NOTE:

I realise this might strike you as odd, me updating this story after such a long time. But I rediscovered after getting some very nice positive response on it on one of the platforms I use to post it, and I went through my notes and realised that I did have a few drafts for chapters written on it. I read through them and I decided that I feel okay with posting them now. My intention has always been to finish this story someday and give it a proper ending. Your support for my writing means the world to me. As I write, I constantly learn new things and ways to express myself in a language that is not my native language, and it's quite wonderful, really.

I want to thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for reading my work. Please, take care, and feel free to comment on my writing or just get in touch me if you want to.

Love, F.

If you are having a hard time and think that stories containing any of those subjects might have a negative effect on your wellbeing, I advise against reading it and wish you the best of luck. Please, take care of yourself.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE Noncompliance

'Maybe you’ll get a replacement There’s plenty of me to be found Mongrels who ain’t got a penny Sniffing for tidbits like you On the ground, ah, ah

So goodbye yellow brick road Where the dogs of society howl You can’t plant me in your penthouse I’m going back to my plough'

Norah stared blankly out the car window, not taking notice of the change in scenery outside as she listened to the lyrics of the song. Tom had made her playlists of music that made him think of her in one way or another. She found it sweet that he thought about her enough to produce playlists with hours of music for her. Some of the lyrics and music really spoke to her in a way she had not anticipated. She felt a strong love for music and sometimes looked up more songs by the bands and artists on the playlists because Tom’s song recommendations had awoken an interest in her. Listening to Tom’s playlists made her feel closer to him in a way, but he was still always out of her reach somehow, even when he was sitting right next to her, like now.

Sarah was sitting in the backseat reading through the paperwork related to Norah’s admittance to the treatment facility called Willow’s Creek. Norah had been assigned to stay in a section called ‘The Wood Anemone’. After learning about her doctor’s decision to send her there because of the incident at new year’s eve, Norah had promptly refused to look in the brochure about the place. She had dramatically torn it into pieces and spread them out in her doctor’s office like confetti after having it handed to her. Sarah had made sure to keep the rest of the papers away from Norah, fearing that she otherwise might do the same to them. Norah felt furious by how things had ended up like this, especially after having that nice doctor, Darius Feresteh, who her ordinary doctor was supervising, getting her hopes up about her actually having a choice in all this. It was a small comfort that Darius had actually seemed quite openly displeased with his supervisor when the decision had been made and offered Norah some encouraging words before she left the doctor’s office that afternoon her fate had been sealed and decisions had in their usual fashion been made over her head.

Darius had taken her aside and looked at her with compassion in his warm, kind eyes. ‘I’m really sorry about all this, Norah. I didn’t expect them to disrespect your right to make your own decisions like this. Maybe I’ve been too naive to realise just how great the discrepancy between how I think things should be done and how they are actually done is. But I know you will get through this and I’ve met patients who have been to Willow’s Creek and completely turned their lives around. I’ve visited the place a few times and let me assure you, it really isn’t as bad as you might think it is.’

It was a rainy Sunday afternoon, the tenth of January 2016, to be more precise, and Norah felt like a convict being transported to the penitentiary where she would serve her sentence. At least she got to sit in the front seat with Tom, rather than in the back of a police transport, Norah thought to herself. She had recovered from the incident at new year’s eve, at least physically. The bruise on her cheekbone was barely visible even when she was not wearing any makeup to cover it up. As they approached their destination, Norah checked her makeup in the mirror to make sure that she looked presentable. She didn’t want to make a bad impression on the other teenagers living in the treatment facility by looking unkempt. One of the upsides of having short hair was that it was a lot easier to brush and style than her long hair had been. Norah sighed heavily once she saw the sign that read ‘Willow’s Creek’ and turned to look pleadingly at Sarah in the backseat.

“Please, don’t make me go,” Norah begged. Sarah looked up at her sadly and shook her head in response.

“I’m so sorry, but your doctor has decided that this will be a safer environment for you right now,” Sarah said regretfully. “It’s only for a while. I think you even might enjoy yourself here, there are horses and -”

“I won’t,” Norah interrupted irritably. “I’m going to hate every damn second of it.”

When the car came to a stop in the parking lot Norah looked up to see that there was a woman and a man approaching the car. She crossed her arms to express her dissatisfaction and refused to make eye contact with any of them as they looked at her.

“It’s going to be alright, Norah,” Tom said and undid her seatbelt before gently patting her shoulder. “The grown up thing to do in situations like these is to face reality and try to make the best of it.”

“Clearly I don’t qualify as a grown up yet, since I apparently have no say in this. So you can take your grown up advice and show them up your-” Norah got distracted by the car door suddenly opening next to her and didn’t finish her sentence. She looked up to find Sarah smiling gently at her and sighed heavily in response.

“It’s time,” Sarah informed her as if she didn’t know it already.

“I don’t want to,” Norah mumbled.

“I know. I don’t want this either, but we have no other choice,” Sarah replied.

“There’s always a choice,” Norah muttered.

“Even if I would insist on keeping you home, your doctor would have the law on her side and make you go here either way. The difference would be that I would no longer have a say in how long you would have to stay here. It’s better this way,” Sarah explained. Norah knew this already, but she still felt upset with Sarah for bringing her there voluntarily. “Come on, it’s time to go.”

Norah held back a smile at her sister’s words as they reminded her of a Pink Floyd song that Joe had introduced to her. ‘That will keep you going through the show. Come on, it’s time to go.’ She thought about Joe for a moment and felt a bit more at ease. He had encouraged her to use the place to her advantage, just like he had done when he was in rehab. His stories of success and setbacks made her feel a little bit more at ease.

“Norah, come on,” Sarah said, bringing Norah back to the present.

“Fine,” Norah muttered and reluctantly got out of the car. She grabbed her backpack from the floor in the front seat and put it on. Tom had already grabbed her bag from the car boot and carried it for her. Sarah was carrying a bag of things she had insisted on packing for Norah.

The woman and the man introduced themselves as Jane and Max. As they walked towards one of the buildings, Max spoke with great enthusiasm about the place, making sure to mention all the good things about it. He spoke excitedly about going horseback riding, painting, playing musical instruments, practising yoga and mindfulness, and doing different sports. Jane smiled gently at Norah when they briefly made eye contact, but Norah didn’t return the smile, instead she quickly looked away in an attempt to discourage the woman from speaking directly to her. It seemed to work.

They showed Norah her room and put her things there, before walking to an office. Norah slumped down in an armchair near the door. Sarah and Tom sat down on each side of her, while Max and Jane seated themselves across from her.

“Sarah and Tom, are you in a hurry to get somewhere, or could you stay for about an hour while Norah gets settled?” Jane asked.

“We can stay,” Sarah confirmed.

“That’s nice. Then you can help Norah unpack and add a more personal touch to her room,” Jane said with a gentle smile. She then went on to talk about the rules, or common values, they had at The Wood Anemone.

“You will have your own personalised schedule to live by,” Max proceeded to say once Jane was done talking. He said it as though it was something to be excited about. He felt a bit too positive for Norah’s liking. It was bound to get on her nerves if it would turn out he always was like this. “Do you like horses?” he wondered.

“Umm, sure,” Norah replied.

“Good. Then I’ll put you on the list for our twice weekly visits to the stables. Do you know how to ride a horse?” Max asked her.

“Not really,” Norah replied.

“Then this is a perfect opportunity for you to learn something new,” Max said with a smile.

“She’s great with animals,” Sarah told him. “When we were kids she wanted a pegasus. Norah, do you remember that?”

“No,” Norah replied, even though she vividly remembered how Sarah had made her believe that flying horses really existed. She resisted the urge to smile at the memory, because she didn’t want anyone to get the impression that she was anything but dissatisfied about being there. It had to be made clear to everyone involved that she did not want to be there.

Jane and Max told her about what an ordinary day in the treatment facility could look like, and explained to her that her days would be customised to fit her personal needs and preferences. Norah seriously doubted that she would be able to enjoy her stay there no matter how much they tried to adapt things after her preferences.

“Well, I would prefer not to stay here, because I really don’t need to be here,” Norah told them irritably. “Could you customise my schedule based on that?”

Max smiled at her. “Come on. I promise you, it’s not nearly as bad here as you think it is,” he said encouragingly.

“It’s probably worse,” Norah muttered.

“Give it a week and we’ll evaluate your time here. If you still hate it here by the end of the week, we may need to consider other options,” Max told her.

“What other options are there?” Norah asked.

“You could always be transferred to another treatment facility, perhaps a bit closer to home. But I don’t think that will be necessary,” Max replied confidently as the five of them left the office together. He seemed to have great faith in that place’s ability to help people. “I will be one of your contact persons here at The Wood Anemone. The other two are called David and Samantha. You can of course talk to all the other staff members here when you need help with anything, but the three of us will have the most knowledge about your situation and personal needs. So you should mainly turn to us about things regarding your stay here.”

‘Great,’ Norah thought sarcastically to herself and sighed. Of course she would have to be assigned with a chatty contact person. She was hoping the other two would be less upbeat and energetic than Max. She found his cheerfulness somewhat disturbing, and they had only just met. She quietly wondered how his good mood would affect her if he kept this up. It would probably drive her insane.

“It was really nice to meet you, Norah. I will see you again tomorrow,” Jane said before saying goodbye to Sarah, Tom and her colleague, wishing them a good day.

“Let’s get you settled,” Max said cheerfully. “Did you bring any posters for your walls like we suggested in your admittance letter?”

“No. I never bothered to read the damn letter,” Norah informed him irritably.

“I see. That’s perfectly fine. We have a bunch of posters to choose from if you like. The idea is that by personalising your own room, you might feel more at home here faster,” Max explained. Norah glared darkly at him before turning away from him.

“That’s a nice concept,” Sarah said and smiled as she took a closer look at the room Norah had been assigned. “Look Norah, the walls are bright purple instead of sterile white,” she pointed out.

“Great,” Norah said sarcastically as she went to lay on the bed, kicking her boots off. It was the new ones that she had gotten from Tom.

“Is it comfortable?” Tom asked her and gently pushed her legs aside to sit on the edge of the bed. “It’s bouncy,” he commented and Norah bit her lip to hold back a smile at how dorky she found his comment.

Sarah smiled at the two of them before proceeding to open the bag of things she had packed for Norah. “Do you need to look through her things or anything?” Sarah asked Max.

“It’s standard procedure,” Max explained with a shrug and an apologetic smile.

“I understand,” Sarah replied and unpacked the bag, putting everything out on the desk by the window so Max could look through everything. Norah just remained on the bed while Sarah and Tom, under Max’s supervision, proceeded to unpack her clothes for her, putting them in the closet.

“You don’t need to unpack everything, I’m not planning on staying that long,” Norah muttered irritably as she watched them go through her stuff. She always hated that part when it came to psychiatric wards and treatment facilities. It made her feel like a criminal.

“Norah, could you come over here for a moment, please?” Max requested from where he stood leaning over the desk. Norah was taken aback by the seriousness in his voice and reluctantly got out of the bed to walk up to him. Her heart sank once she saw the small razor that had been hidden beneath the pencils in her Faber-Castell metal pencil case.

“I must have put it there years ago and forgotten about it,” Norah told him awkwardly.

“I understand,” Max replied and gave her a gentle smile. “I just want you to be completely honest with me. Okay? No one’s upset with you, Norah. But it’s important that you tell the truth. Do you have anything else among your things that you’re not supposed to have?”

“Not that I know of,” Norah replied truthfully.

“Norah, do you smoke?” Max wondered as he reached into her backpack and took out a lighter.

“Umm, no, not really,” Norah said.

“Do you burn yourself?” he asked.

“It’s happened,” Norah told him honestly.

“I appreciate your honesty,” Max said and put the lighter in his pocket. “I’ll confiscate this.”

“What if I start smoking? Will I get it back then?” Norah questioned, causing Max to smile.

“If you need to smoke, someone from the staff will lend you a lighter,” he explained.

“You’re not planning on picking up smoking, now are you?” Sarah asked her with a sigh.

“Why not? Tom smokes, even though he says he has quit. You’re addicted to caffeine and sometimes you drink too much wine while studying,” Norah pointed out provocatively. “You call me self-destructive, but you’re just as bad, if not worse. You’re denying yourself rest and time to recover after intense periods of stress. It’s just a matter of time before you crash and burn, you know.”

Sarah looked at her little sister with sadness in her eyes, but she still managed to force a smile. “Don’t worry about me, Norah. I’ll be fine. Just focus on taking care of yourself and doing things that are good for you.”

“Only if you promise to do the same,” Norah demanded. “Take at least one day off from studying every week.”

“I’ll take one night off, every week,” Sarah negotiated. “The course I’m reading right now demands a lot of time and effort.”

“I suppose things will get easier for you now that you’re finally rid of me,” Norah remarked. “Maybe this is exactly what you need; a proper break from my melodramatic self.”

“You know as well as I that I want you to be home with me. Your doctor gave me no other choice,” Sarah defended herself.

“She presented you with a perfect opportunity to not have to be the bad guy and still get rid of me,” Norah said irritably. She felt like she truly no longer cared about what anyone thought about her. She wanted to get under Sarah’s skin and hit her where it would hurt the most. “She presented you with an offer you could simply not resist. But not in the Godfather kind of way,” she added, looking at Max. “I can assure you that there were no horse heads in any beds.”

“I’m relieved to hear that,” Max replied humorously.

“Norah, would you please stop this?” Tom requested. “I know it may feel good to hurt somebody else when you yourself are hurting. But it usually doesn’t feel good afterwards.”

“And what do you know about true pain, Tom? You’re like the luckiest and most popular person I know. You’re well-respected, have a girlfriend that would do anything for you and you’re pretty much flawless. I mean, seriously, what the hell do you have to complain about?” Norah questioned.

“I suppose that what hurts me the most right now is loving and caring about someone who clearly doesn’t love herself,” Tom replied. “You’re correct in assuming that I consider myself a lucky person. But that doesn’t mean that there are no downsides to my life and career.”

“Poor little rich man,” Norah muttered sarcastically.

“There are things that are more important than money, Norah,” Tom replied, seemingly genuinely hurt by her words.

“That’s easy to say when you have all the money you need, and even more,” Norah muttered, holding back her bad conscience about what she was saying. She was entitled to feel hurt by the fact that they would be leaving her there all alone with strangers. It felt even worse as she thought about what a relief it would be for them to not have to look after her anymore.

“I know you’re hurting, Norah. And I’m so sorry about that,” Tom said and slowly approached her. “You have every right to be angry with us, because we’ve brought you here against your own will. But hopefully, one day, you’ll understand our decision.”

“I’m not an idiot. Of course I understand,” Norah said with tears in her eyes as Tom embraced her. “But it still fucking hurts,” she cried.

“I’ll give you some privacy,” Max told them quietly before leaving the room with the razorblade and the lighter.

Norah opened her eyes as she kept hugging Tom and looked directly at her sister, whose tears ran down her face.

“I love you,” Sarah said and walked up to take her little sister’s hand in her own. She kissed it. “I love you so much it hurts.”

“I love you too,” Norah replied sadly.

Norah still felt sad and let down as the three of them arranged her unpacked things together.

“What’s this?” Norah asked as she was looking at her desk. There were two pairs of black pants and a pair of shoes she hadn’t seen before.

“It’s riding pants. One pair is for the winter season, and the other pair is for when it gets a little bit warmer outside,” Sarah explained. “And the shoes have steel toe-caps in case a horse steps on your feet.”

“So you’ve taken for granted that I will want to ride the horses?” Norah asked her.

“I know how much you love animals, so I assumed that you would want to spend time with the horses now that you have the opportunity to,” Sarah replied.

“Thank you,” Norah said appreciatively and put the clothes in the closet. She held back a smile at the sight of two jigsaw puzzles with a thousand pieces in each. One of the puzzles had the painting ‘The Scream’ by Edvard Munch on it and the other one had ‘The Starry Night’ by Vincent van Gogh.

“I bought a game called Pandemic,” Sarah said and moved the various toiletries away from the rectangular cardboard box. “I figured you could play it with the others.”

“You want me to socialise,” Norah concluded with a sigh and walked up to the sink attached to the wall to look at herself in the mirror. Her mascara and eyeliner were slightly smudged from her crying earlier, so she grabbed her makeup bag and proceeded to fix it. She caught Sarah and Tom smiling at each other, as if they were happy about her new found vanity. Months ago, Norah wouldn’t have bothered to put any makeup on to begin with. But she felt differently about that now. She wanted to look good and not make a fool out of herself in front of the other people staying at that place, especially not those her own age.

Right after Sarah and Tom left, Max sat down with Norah so they could fix her week plan together. Norah frowned when she saw the meal times on her week plan. According to the plan she was expected to eat six times a day, just like she had when she had been underweight. In the last few weeks she had skipped having snacks once, twice, sometimes three times a day.

“This must be a mistake,” Norah said. “I don’t need to eat snacks between meals anymore.”

“You’ve stopped having snacks in between meals?” Max asked her with a slight frown and looked through his papers. “According to my papers, your doctor hasn’t authorised that.”

“I’m not underweight, so I don’t need to eat that much,” Norah told him decidedly and crossed her arms.

“According to your doctor, you still need to follow your meal plan,” Max insisted. “Look Norah, you’ve only just reached a weight that’s acceptable. It’s a vulnerable time period for you and you will need extra support to keep up the good and normal eating habits so you don’t start losing weight again.”

“Normal?!” Norah questioned angrily. “My sister doesn’t normally eat six times a day. If it hadn’t been for me, she probably would have skipped most meals to study instead.”

“Your sister strikes me as a very dedicated person. Based on my conversations with her, she cares about you a lot and wants you back home as soon as possible,” Max said. “When it comes to the number of meals you need to eat, I really have no say. It’s up to the doctors.”

“To hell with the doctors then! I won’t do it!” Norah informed him angrily, causing Max to frown slightly at her.

“Noncompliance to your treatment plan won’t get you home any faster, Norah. If you want more freedom, you have to prove that you can handle it by taking responsibility,” Max reasoned. “I know it might sound a bit harsh, but that’s the way it is. It’s for your own good.”

“I thought you said this was a treatment facility, but it sounds more like a correctional facility,” Norah told him bitterly.

“Trust me, this is not a correctional facility by any means. They’re very different to this,” Max assured her.

“In what ways?” Norah questioned.

“A lot of ways,” Max said. “You won’t be under constant surveillance here, you will not be locked into your room at night and you have nowhere near all the restrictions people in correctional facilities have. Trust me. This place is very different and much preferable.”

“To me this feels like a prison,” Norah said with a frustrated sigh.

“You haven’t even been here for two hours yet,” Max pointed out. “So how can you possibly know what it’s like already?”

“I already know that I hate it. It’s really a waste of resources to have me here. Please, give this ‘opportunity’, as you all love to call it, to someone who will actually do something with their life, instead of me,” Norah told him.

“Is that the real problem here?” Max asked her pensively. “Do you feel guilty for taking up a spot and are you afraid of disappointing people?”

“I always disappoint people,” Norah said quietly and laid down on the bed. “That’s the only thing I’m really good at in life. Being a fucking disappointment.”

“That’s not true and you need to stop thinking it is,” Max told her insightfully. “You seem tired, Norah. Do you want to take a break and talk more about your week plan later tonight or tomorrow instead?” he asked her.

“Yeah, I want a break,” Norah told him.

“Okay,” Max agreed and stood up, gathering his papers. “Can you set an alarm for ten to six PM on your phone? You’re expected to be in the dining room ready for dinner at six on the dot. I suggest you use the toilet before that, because you won’t be excused from the table during dinner but will have to finish your food before you can leave and then you will have an hour of quiet time in the big common room after you have finished your meal.”

“That’s not fair! I’m at normal weight so I don’t need quiet time, damn it!” Norah protested and felt like acting out her anger in some way.

“I understand that it makes you upset and that’s perfectly fine,” Max validated her. “But like I said before, this is a vulnerable time for you in your recovery process. You’ll need extra support to get through this. It won’t be as bad as it sounds, Norah. You’ll notice that the routines here are quite different from the routines in locked psychiatric wards. Things are not as strictly regulated here, but a ground stone for the treatment here at Willow’s Creek is mutual trust between attendants and staff members,” he calmly explained to her. Norah absolutely hated the fact that the staff insisted on calling the patients attendants, as if that would really make any difference. In her ears, it was nothing but a silly change in wording to make it sound more convenient for the people working there and reading about the place. It didn’t change the fact that the people treated there were in fact patients with limited power over their own lives. When Norah kept glaring at him he sighed and asked her “Do you have a list of things you can do when you feel upset to regulate your emotions?”

“If I had one, I would probably tear it apart right now,” Norah muttered bitterly.

“I strongly suggest that you don’t destroy information booklets or working material when you get upset, Norah,” Max advised her. “At this stage in the process, compliance is key. You need to show that you can take responsibility before you can move on to the next step.”

“I thought this place was supposed to make people like me more independent, but if you’re requiring blind compliance without questioning, it’s in fact doing the exact opposite,” Norah argued, crossing her arms.

“You need to show that you can act responsibly before gaining more freedom to grow independent, and one way of doing that is to adhere to our regulations,” Max informed her. “Freedom under responsibility. It’s one of our mottos. I strongly suggest that you read through the material we sent you.”

“I don’t have it, after I tore apart the brochure, my sister took it from me,” Norah explained, causing Max to sigh.

“If I give you a new set of material, do you promise you won’t destroy it in any way?” Max asked her.

“Sure,” Norah replied. “Could you give me something I can destroy too then?”

“You don’t need to destroy things, Norah,” Max told her and looked at her sympathetically before leaving the room.

Norah laid back down on the bed and quickly fell asleep. Of course she forgot to set her alarm, resulting in her getting woken up by Max after she had failed to turn up to dinner on time.

“I thought I told you to set an alarm so you wouldn’t be late for dinner,” Max told her.

“I never said I would, though,” Norah replied irritably as she forced herself to get out of bed.

“This is your first warning,” Max informed her brittly as he led her to the dining room.

“Warning?” Norah questioned confusedly.

“You can ask the other attendants to explain it to you,” Max suggested and walked with her all the way to the long table where he pulled out an empty chair for her. “This is your assigned seat. Since you were late for dinner, someone has already put food on your plate for you. When you’re on time, you can do it yourself,” he explained to her in a clear voice. “Do you have any questions?”

“Yeah, why are you such a dick?” Norah asked him irritably and stubbornly refused to sit down by the table.

“Second warning,” Max informed her calmly but with a warning look, causing her to frown.

“But I just answered your question,” she objected.

“You were being deliberately rude,” Max remarked. “If you were wondering why I’m so strict, you should have phrased it differently.”

“Is this some kind of test?” Norah asked him confusedly and he smiled at her.

“No, but you’re clearly testing the limits, which is why I have to put my foot down,” Max explained to her in a way that she couldn’t help but find somewhat condescending.

“Blind compliance is not independence! It’s sheep mentality! Which is the complete opposite of independent thinking! Are you a fucking shepherd?! And we’re nothing but sheep in your eyes?!” Norah questioned angrily, raising her voice a lot more than intended. She could feel the other patients and staff stare at her as Max pulled her aside, a few metres away from the long table for some privacy.

“Either you sit down and eat with the others right now, or you get to sit over there with me and my colleague and eat. Which one do you prefer?” Max asked her. He was firm, but still surprisingly calm.

“I don’t want to sit with you,” Norah muttered.

“Then I expect you to act responsibly and not raise your voice like that again. I really should give you a third warning for this outburst of yours, but I’m going easy on you since this is your first day here. But keep in mind that this kind of behaviour is not acceptable here,” Max told her firmly. “Is that understood?”

“Yes,” Norah said, feeling so small and powerless all of a sudden. She had no idea how this place worked and just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

“Good,” Max replied with a breezy smile and walked off to a smaller table on the other side of the dining room.

Aileen frowned in confusion at his sudden change of demeanour as she sat down at the long table and noted that there didn’t appear to be any staff members sitting with the patients to supervise them during the meal. She counted it to twelve patients around the long table, herself included. The staff members were sitting at a table near the kitchen area and didn’t seem to pay too much attention to the patients at all.

“You must be the new girl, I’m Lexi,” the girl seated to her left greeted her with a polite smile. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Lexi. I’m Norah,” Norah introduced herself.

“Can I give you a piece of advice?” Lexi asked her.

“Sure,” Norah said.

“Don’t argue with the staff like that. You don’t want to get on their bad side. They’re nice to you if you’re nice to them,” Lexi told her.

“And if I’m not nice to them?” Norah wondered.

“Then your stay here will become more difficult and quite possibly longer,” Lexi replied. “Noncompliance to the rules equals more restrictions. If you want more freedom, you have to dance to their pipe.”

“Like the rats in the story of the pied piper,” Norah reflected. “The rats all drowned, you know. Do you think they see us as vermin?” she asked, nodding at the staff’s table.

“You have interesting thoughts,” Lexi told her with a smile. “They’re not tricking us, though. They’re trying to help us adapt to the expectations the real world is going to have on us once we get out of here.”

“That’s what they’re brainwashing you into believing,” Norah replied.

“That sounds paranoid,” the boy to Norah’s right commented with an amused look on his face. “Don’t let the staff hear you say things like that, because they will use it against you,” he advised her.

“So you’re paranoid too then,” Norah concluded with a smile.

“I prefer the term realistic,” the boy replied humorously. “I’m James, by the way.”

“I’m Norah,” she replied. “What does a warning entail?”

“If you get three warnings, you lose a privilege,” James replied.

“So they’re using punishment?” Norah said incredulously. “Such assholes.”

“I know right,” James agreed with an amused look on his face.

“Don’t listen too much to James. He’s been here for five weeks and is still not allowed to leave the facility at all,” Lexi advised Norah. “I’ve been here for four weeks and can leave the facility alone and with friends.”

“He’s not allowed to leave at all?” Norah questioned confusedly. “Not even with his family?”

“Nope, I’m still in the red group,” James replied.

“Why, though?” Norah questioned.

“Because he insists on being rebellious and irresponsible. He’s run away twice already even though it’s futile,” Lexi said.

“I really don’t get why they’re not just throwing me out,” James said with a sigh. “Any other place I’ve been to would have done that by now.”

“So that strategy doesn’t appear to work then,” Norah reflected. “That’s rather discouraging.”

“Were you planning on trying it?” James asked her amusedly.

“I suppose I considered it,” Norah admitted. “They’re not supervising the meal. Will they notice if I don’t eat it all? Are they surveilling us in other ways? Does everyone mind their own business or are there informants among us?”

“I’m pretty sure they have their ways, because they tend to find things out sooner or later. You should be careful with who you trust,” James told her and shot Lexi a dirty look. “Lexi’s been climbing the ladder suspiciously fast, for example. I wouldn’t trust her if I were you.”

“I’m far more reliable than you are. They trust me because I’m doing what they’re asking me to. Don’t take out your own failures on me,” Lexi told him irritably. “Grow up and start taking responsibility, rather than blaming everyone else for your mistakes and failures. It’s not noble or cool to stand up to authorities just for the sake of it, James. It’s stupid.”

“It might not be functional at all times, but surely there’s something commendable in standing up for what you think is right,” Norah reasoned.

“That’s not what he’s doing, though,” Lexi objected. “I would understand that, but what James is doing is just immature and self-destructive.”

“Can’t it be both?” Norah questioned, causing James to grin at her.

“I like this one,” James established and quickly finished up his food before leaving the table with his plate, glass and cutlery to place in the dishwasher. “Thanks for the dinner, whoever cooked it,” he said with a grin and playfully saluted the other patients around the long table. There was something about James that made Norah feel instantly drawn to him; he had charisma and there was something interestingly mischievous about his demeanour.

“Are you required to say thank you for dinner?” Norah asked Lexi who smiled at her.

“Yes, you’re expected to do that because it’s considered polite,” Lexi confirmed. “They like good manners. You should really read up on the rules and routines around here, Norah. It will make it a lot easier for you to adapt to this place. Have you downloaded the app yet?”

“There’s an app?” Norah questioned with a frown.

“Yes. Your login information should be in the admittance letter you received before you got here,” Lexi explained. “We’re not supposed to take out our phones during meals, unless we have a really good reason to, but I can show you how the app works later, if you like,” she offered.

“Okay, thank you, Lexi,” Norah said appreciatively.

“Don’t forget to eat, Norah. You already have two warnings,” Lexi reminded her.

Norah sighed heavily and reluctantly ate from the vegetarian food option that had been placed on a plate for her. Lexi was soon done with her own meal and left the table, thanking two other patients for the dinner before placing her plate, glass and cutlery into the dishwasher. Norah looked around her immediate surroundings to make a risk calculation. The table was nearly empty of patients by now and no one was really paying attention to her, so she placed some food in a couple of napkins and hid it in her pocket. Her plate was nearly empty, so she followed the other patients’ examples and thanked the patients Lexi had thanked for the dinner earlier, before throwing away the leftovers in the compost bag and placing the plate, glass and cutlery into the dishwasher. She discreetly took the napkins with food from her pocket and pushed them down into the ordinary trash bin, and washed her hands in the kitchen sink afterwards.

Realising that she did not really know what to do next, Norah reluctantly walked up to the table where Max and his colleague Jane were at.

“Umm, what do I do now?” Norah asked them tentatively.

“Did you finish your meal?” Max asked her and she nodded. “All of it?”

“Most of it. I just threw away a little bit of rice in the compost because the ratio was off. There was too much rice in relation to the lentil stew,” Norah explained.

“That’s why you should make sure to be on time, so you can balance the ratio the way you like,” Max told her. “You were supposed to finish all the food on your plate, not throw some of it away in the compost.”

“But I saw plenty of others do it,” Norah argued.

“Not everyone has the same history of illness as you do, Norah. You all have individual rules,” Max explained. “But I appreciate your honesty about throwing away the rice, and it gladdens me that you thanked the chefs for the dinner and cleared your place at the table,” he commended her. Norah felt impatient as she stood there and listened to him. She found him insufferable at the moment. “I’m also pleased that you came here to ask about what to do next. Of course, it would be optimal if you actually had read the information you received from your doctor before you got here, but asking for guidance is the next best thing.”

Norah couldn’t resist sighing audibly and let her impatience show as he never seemed to get to the answer to her question on what to do next.

“Okay, but what am I expected to do now?” Norah asked him impatiently.

“Have one hour of quiet time in the big common room. I told you that earlier,” Max reminded her.

“Okay, so do I time it myself then?” Norah asked him and he nodded. She gave him an odd look and began walking towards the big common room while checking the time on her phone. ‘19.07’ She then sighed and turned back towards Max, realising that she still felt pretty much clueless as to what to do. “What exactly does quiet time here entail?” she asked frustratedly, causing him to smile at her and get up from his seat.

“Why don’t you go sit in the big common room and I’ll be there in a moment with all the information you need,” he suggested and she nodded in agreement.

Norah walked to the big common room that she had been shown during the tour Max had so enthusiastically given her, Sarah and Tom a few hours earlier. Max had been talking so much during the guided tour of the place that she had eventually just decided to block out most of his words by discreetly placing a headphone in one of her ears to listen to music in order to make the whole ordeal less insufferable.

There were surprisingly many of the patients in the big common room, Norah noted. After quickly counting them, she concluded that two thirds of the patients she had seen at dinner were in there. The big common room was a large open area with different sections. There were two different TV sections in opposite corners of the large room, allowing two different groupings to watch different things together without disturbing each other. There were a couple of desks with computers placed against a wall, various reading corners with lamps and tables with chairs that opened up for various activities. There were shelves with books, board games, puzzles and various art supplies.

“Couldn’t you decide where to sit?” Max asked her with a friendly smile as he walked up to her with a file folder and other various supplies in his arms. “Let’s sit over here, then,” he decided and walked up to an empty table.

Norah followed him and watched as he placed the pile of things on the table’s surface. Max smiled as he saw the sceptical look on her face and pulled out a chair for her so they would be seated next to each other.

“Will this be another infodump of yours?” Norah asked sullenly as she reluctantly sat down next to him.

“I’ve noticed that you’re not too keen on me talking too much, so I’ll try to restrain myself and keep it as brief as I can,” Max assured her. “You wanted to know more about quiet time, right?” he asked and turned the pages in the file folder. Norah frowned upon noticing that some of the pages were laminated.

“Yep. Keep it short and simple, please, because I’m dumb as a bag of rocks,” Norah requested.

“Do you really expect me to believe that after your rant about sheep mentality and independent thinking? You made it quite obvious that you’re a thinker, Norah,” Max told her. “You’re not dumb, you’re rather impatient and have a limited attention span. That’s something completely different.”

“Nah, I’m just dumb,” Norah insisted and looked down at the page he had turned to and sighed frustratedly at their circumstantial wording and consistent use of the word attendant instead of patient. She already hated the place and seriously doubted that it would get any better with time.

A week passed by and Norah had been devastated at the fact that in accordance with their routines, patients weren’t allowed to leave the facility at all during their first week at Willow’s Creek. She felt tricked, even though the only reason she hadn’t known about how things really worked at the treatment facility when she had been coaxed into getting into the car that day, was that she had straight out refused to listen to or read any more information about it after the decision about her going there had been made over her head. It had all been made available to her, but she had been in complete denial about the fact that she was going whether she liked it or not until the very end.

Norah had lost both her phone and internet privileges within the first twenty four hours of getting there, so she couldn’t even vent about her misfortune to anyone on the outside. Instead, James had become her primary conversation partner since he appeared to be the one who she could relate to the most of the other patients. Max and her other contact persons in the facility had hinted to her that Lexi or some other of the more treatment compliant patients would make a more appropriate company for her.

Norah found herself sitting in an office for an evaluation meeting of her first week at Willow’s Creek with Sarah, Tom, her contact person Dave, the facility’s psychiatrist, psychologist and a social worker. Norah kept spacing out, not really paying attention to what was being said during the meeting, but stared out the second floor window at the treetops of the woods situated near the building they were currently in. There had been several ‘mindfulness walks’ in those woods during the past week which she had appreciated more than she liked to admit. While being deprived of other privileges, Norah had at least been allowed to participate in some outdoor and group activities despite not adhering to the regulations as much as the people there wanted her to.

“Norah,” Dave said and gently touched her shoulder, attracting her attention. Everything about him was gentle and he was so mild mannered that she couldn’t help but like him.

“What?” Norah asked dazedly and looked at him.

“They were asking you about the roof incident that occurred a couple of nights ago,” Dave informed her. “Could you explain to them what happened?”

“Oh, that was just James and I stargazing,” Norah told the others with a shrug. “The sky is so much clearer here at night than it is in London. We looked for and listed different star signs we were able to identify because we had read about them in a book. It was purely for educational purposes, and not at all unnecessary risk taking behaviour, as you put it,” she added and glared at the psychiatrist. “You can’t really stargaze in daylight, now can you? So it had to be in the middle of the night. You’re making a big deal out of nothing, really.”

“You can stargaze from the ground,” the psychiatrist informed her brittly.

“Well, what’s the fun in that?” Norah questioned irritably. “It wasn’t like we were on top of a high rise or anything. We weren’t really taking that big of a risk climbing out a window and onto the roof on a building that only has three floors. It’s not that high a fall if anyone was to tumble down, and it was grass on the side we were at, so there wouldn’t really be that hard of a surface to land on anyway,” she argued.

“It’s January, Norah. The ground is still pretty hard from the cold, even if it’s covered by grass,” Tom pointed out, supporting the psychiatrist’s view. “It’s also pretty high a fall if you would tumble down from that roof, so you could actually hurt yourself quite severely if you’re unlucky. Possibly even die.”

“But we didn’t fall!” Norah reminded them irritably. “We were actually really careful, believe it or not.”

“Norah, can you please promise me not to do it again?” Sarah requested and gave her a pleading look.

“You don’t trust me anyway, so what difference does it make if I promise you anything or not?” Norah questioned.

“If you really want to regain my trust, you should do it by making promises and keeping them,” Sarah told her.

“But I don’t want to make that promise, because I’m not sure I can keep it. I really enjoyed being on that roof and looking at the stars,” Norah told her honestly. “We used to do that as kids with Dad, remember? Get up on the roof in the middle of the night to look at Orion’s belt and all those other star signs. This experience reminded me of how many good times we had with Dad. Even if a lot of the things he did weren’t conventional, I wouldn’t change any of it for the world. I miss him, you know. I miss him so much and James kind of reminds me of him sometimes. He makes me feel closer to him.”

Sarah’s eyes filled with tears at her little sister’s words as the memories of various night time adventures with their father came rushing back to her. Their childhood had been rather odd in some ways and at the same time so ordinary in others. Their parents had complemented each other in a way that made it all work out somehow, providing them with both stability and excitement.

“Is it possible for me to meet this James?” Sarah asked and looked questioningly at the psychiatrist who seemed a bit taken aback.

“Why do you want to see him?” the psychiatrist wondered.

“I want to talk to him and make sure that he understands how important it is that he doesn’t put Norah at risk again,” Sarah explained. “I don’t want to discourage their friendship altogether if it means so much to her, but I want James to understand that he needs to be more careful for both of their sakes. If Norah cares for him, then so do I. Does he have a lot of people who care for him and let him know about it?” she wondered.

The psychiatrist looked thoughtful for a moment and shared a look with the psychologist.

“Mira, what do you think about Sarah’s suggestion?” the psychiatrist asked the psychologist.

“I think it sounds like a good idea,” Mira said honestly. “Provided that James and his legal guardian agree to the meeting, I think it could be very beneficial for him to hear those things Sarah just mentioned. It might inspire him to take better care of himself.”

“I agree with you,” the psychiatrist said after a moment’s consideration. “Do you think you could try to contact his legal guardian now and see if he agrees to the meeting?”

“Of course,” Mira said with a warm smile and left the office to tend to the task right away.

Norah was a bit taken aback by the sudden turn of events and shift of atmosphere in the room. She felt really grateful towards both Sarah and Mira at that moment, and even towards the psychiatrist, who surprisingly enough had appeared to be reasonable and compassionate for once.

“Did that just really happen?” Norah asked Dave quietly and he smiled amusedly at her as he nodded to confirm that it had.

“Norah, can I have your attention for a moment?” the psychiatrist asked in her usual assertive manner. Norah forced herself to look at the woman who always looked so stern and uptight with her neat clothes and grey hair up in a bun so tight that it was almost painful to look at.

“Doesn’t it hurt keeping your hair in such a tight bun?” Norah asked spontaneously, not intending to be rude, but out of pure curiosity. “Is that why you’re often so bitter? Because you’re in constant pain from head to toe with that bun and those high heels you’re wearing?”

“Please, excuse her,” Sarah interjected and smiled apologetically at the psychiatrist. “Norah hasn’t been socially interacting with that many people for the last few years, so she sometimes just speaks her mind and doesn’t really consider how what she says might be perceived. She often doesn’t mean anything by it… Actually, she’s always been like that,” the older sister realised. “There would often be misunderstandings at school when she was younger related to social difficulties, but our mother didn’t want to go through with letting her have a neuropsychological assessment.”

“Is that so?” the psychiatrist asked with interest and scrutinised Norah with her small grey eyes. “Now that you say so, it doesn’t seem all that unlikely that there may be some underlying neuropsychiatric condition that could explain some of her divergent behavioural patterns and unevenness in cognitive and social functioning.”

“And now they’re talking over my head again,” Norah mumbled and walked up to the window, opening it to let in some cold fresh air. “I just needed some fresh oxygen. This is a rather small and not all too well ventilated room for so many people,” she explained when she had turned around to find the others staring at her like she had done something inappropriate.

Dave smiled at her as he walked up to her and waited for a moment to let some more air into the room before shutting the window again.

“You know, people usually forewarn the others in a room before opening up a window in the middle of winter. It gets pretty cold,” Dave informed her amusedly as they both walked back to their seats.

“I suppose that would be the customary thing to do,” Norah agreed and smiled when she noticed that Tom was looking at her with a hint of amusement. She liked it when she managed to awaken positive feelings within him. She really wanted to make him feel happy. “When can I go back home again?” Norah wondered as she laid down in the armchair, swinging her legs over one armrest and resting her head against the other.

“It’s still too early to set a date,” the psychiatrist told her. “The average commitment period for attendants here is somewhere between three and a half to five months. We want to achieve long term results with sustainable changes. We are very keen on seeing our attendants succeed once they’re discharged. The transition period sometimes takes a couple of weeks, which is one of the reasons that the average treatment period here is so long.”

“That’s too long,” Norah said despondently and looked at the psychiatrist. “Do you think my time here might end up being shorter than it is for the average patient? Or attendant, as you like to call it,” she corrected herself.

“No, I don’t think so,” the psychiatrist told her honestly. “I know it’s not the answer you wanted to hear, but I want to be honest with you. You really shouldn’t rush processes such as these if you can avoid it. It’s good that you’re eager to go back home, Norah, but we really shouldn’t rush this. Especially considering your long history of mental illness and everything that has happened in your life. You need time and therapy to process it.”

“I can live at home and do outpatient treatment, like it’s usually done. I really don’t need to be here,” Norah argued. “It’s a nice location and all, but I don’t think this place is right for me. I’m more trouble than it’s worth.”

“You sound an awful lot like a certain young man whose name I won’t mention,” the psychiatrist stated as she looked thoughtfully at Norah. “Like with him, I think this is precisely the right place for you to be right now. I truly believe that we can help you here. You just need to let your guard down and start to accept the help and guidance we have to offer. This can turn out to be a life changing and positive experience for you if you just let it.”

“But why do you think independence starts with blind compliance?” Norah questioned with a frown. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”

“If you start to act responsibly and make a habit out of it, you will have an easier time adapting to society’s demands rather than getting overwhelmed by them once discharged. In order to become truly independent, you also have to be responsible,” the psychiatrist reasoned. “Complying to treatment and adhering to rules is in itself a responsible behaviour.”

“Not if the treatment is faulty and the rules are senseless,” Norah objected spontaneously.

“Norah! That isn’t a nice thing to say to someone who’s trying to help you,” Tom chided her.

“What?” Norah questioned with a frown as she sat up straight in the armchair. “I just meant that if the treatment were to be faulty and the rules senseless, it wouldn’t really be responsible or wise of an individual to dance after the piper’s tune just to either drown in a river or to never be seen again. Now would it?”

“Norah, why are you likening this situation to an old folklore?” Tom questioned and sighed.

“Am I?” Norah asked confusedly. “I was speaking hypothetically, Tom. I thought that was pretty obvious. It would be ridiculous to take offence by a hypothetical scenario. I’m not saying that the psychiatrist is like the pied piper.”

“Surely you must understand that it can be interpreted that way when you say it like that?” Tom asked insistently.

“Then the person would be reading too much into what I’m saying,” Norah told him. “It’s just a bunch of humbug. Like everything else I have to say, it ultimately doesn’t matter. That would be truly nonsensical; if someone was to listen to me when I speak of the pied piper, but not when I expressly say that I neither want nor need to be here,” she reasoned.

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[allthenobodypplfics]

Arousal Poisoning (Chapter 2)

Fandom: MCU Loki

Pairing: Soft Dark!Loki x Female Reader, or Soft Dark!Loki x Original Female Character, depending on reader interpretation.

Other Characters: Mobius, B-15

Rating: Explicit

Summary: This takes place in season 1, episode 2 of the Loki series; before Pompeii. Mobius takes Loki and a team of hunters to a Nexus event on some inhospitable planet. Mobius and Loki are supposed to investigate the event before the branched timeline collapse, but a trap poisons Loki and a (female) Hunter, causing them to fall into their baser instincts… Or, in other words, a sex pollen, drug-induced, rough sex smut fest.

Warnings: Soft Dark!Loki, Smut, Sex Pollen, Drugged Sex, Rough Sex, Consensual Sex, Slight Fluff

Series Masterlist || Main Masterlist

Read on AO3

Loki and B-38 were enjoying a moment of peace as they lay on the floor; the hot water from the showers was still running to keep the room warm but the spray was away from their bodies. One of Loki’s arms was hooked under his head; the other was wrapped around B-38’s shoulders. B-38 laid her head against Loki’s chest, one of her arms limply splayed over his abdomen; the other was beginning to go numb, trapped half underneath herself and half underneath Loki.

Loki was gently circling one of the bruises he left behind on her arm. “I can heal these for you,” he softly suggested.

A beat, and then B-38 breathed, “Nah, leave ‘em.”

Loki lifted his head to look down at B-38; his eyebrows were raised in surprise. “Really?” he said.

“Yeah,” she mumbled, her eyes growing heavy with exhaustion.

Loki stared at her for a few seconds before slowly leaning down. He was just about to press his lips to her forehead when a sudden agitated knocking broke the moment and startled both of them.

“Are you two still alive in there?” Mobius’ muffled voice could be heard screaming through the door. “There’s, uh, no more sounds.”

Loki groaned; then replied, “We’re alive.”

“Good,” Mobius yelled, “‘Cause I’m gonna kill ya, Loki!”

Loki scowled. “Why is this my fault?”

“Loki, open the fucking door!” The knocking sounded more like a fist pounding at the door now.

Loki groaned again and slowly stood, gently pulling B-38 up with him. With a small wave, he conjured each of them a towel to cover their nudity.

“Thanks,” B-38 said as she adjusted the towel across her torso.

“My pleasure,” Loki said; his voice deep with some mischievous rakishness.

B-38 side-eyed him and couldn’t help the small smirk playing on her lips.

Loki twirled his fingers and the door opened. Mobius and B-15 barged in with their timesticks engaged and ready. Loki immediately took a step back and hid behind B-38.

“Stop, stop, it’s okay!” B-38 reassured them with her hands out trying to placate the worried duo. “We’re fine. I’m fine. Everything’s fine.”

“Are you sure?” Mobius asked as he lowered the timestick. “You don’t look fine.”

Mobius glanced over the Hunter’s form, noticing dark bruises in the shape of hands and fingertips covering her arms and thighs. Round splotches of red also spread across her neck and chest. He looked away so as to not rudely stare.

B-38 sincerely replied, “I’m sure; I’m fine. It’s no big deal.”

“See? It’s no big deal!” Loki reiterated with a little grin, a dramatic flourish of his hand, and his eyes were wide in his attempt to convey boyish innocence.

Loki’s remark earned him a scathing glare from both Mobius and B-15. Loki cleared his throat, his face fell, and he shifted uncomfortably.

Mobius tossed two pairs of prisoner jumpsuits in Loki and B-38’s direction. They were still in their plastic packaging. “Put these on;” Mobius ordered, “leave your old clothes behind. They’ll be destroyed when we reset the timeline – don’t wanna bring that shit back with us to the TVA.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Loki quipped as he tore the plastic off of his jumpsuit, “every single one of you looks like you could use some lightening up. Perhaps a little debauchery is exactly what you all need.”

Mobius scoffed, “Get dressed, you degenerate,” and shooed B-15 out the door to let Loki and B-38 have some privacy. Not that they really need it anymore, seeing as Mobius and B-15 already got an eyeful of them earlier, but it was still polite.

Loki watched B-38 get dressed with her back to him. Her body language seemed to be relaxed, if not a bit embarrassed. He thoroughly enjoyed his time with her, and it seemed she enjoyed her time with him. At the very least, she wasn’t hurt, disgusted, devastated, ashamed, or angry. And! She was choosing to keep the marks he left on her. She also chose to kiss him after their tryst, and also lie in his arms. That was all very promising. It had been… a very long time since he last had any relations with someone. He’d hate to admit it, but he had been a bit lonely. Maybe he could convince her to spend more time with him later.

It turned out Loki didn’t have to do much convincing.

Mobius decided to put a pause in the investigation to go back to the TVA with everyone in tow. Out of an abundance of caution, everyone was put through decontamination. Everyone else seemed to have escaped the aphrodisiac flower, as they showed no signs of arousal. Loki and B-38, however, still had the nectar’s illicit effects coursing through their veins.

B-38 was in a private room in the infirmary, sitting on a bed and anxiously fiddling with her hands. She had changed out of the prisoner jumpsuit and into some standard TVA gray sweats. Her collar was beginning to become darkened with her perspiration.

“So wh-where’s, uh,” B-38 stuttered, “where’s- where’s Loki?”

“Separated from you,” B-15 sternly answered. “Look, you guys can’t be near each other; at least, not until the toxins are flushed out of your systems. I know it’s hard–”

B-38 snorted.

B-15 narrowed her eyes slightly in amusement before continuing, “But he’s a god, and he can kill you. You just gotta… tough it through for a little while–”

“It’s really hot in here,” B-38 interrupted, no longer listening to what B-15 was saying. B-38 quickly tugged her sweatshirt over her head and tossed it to the side. “Hoo…” she whooped as she rhythmically tugged at her white tank top in an attempt to cool herself off.

Loki growled wordlessly as he pulled at the restraints tying him down on the bed. A doctor came to draw his blood. “Just a small pinch; gonna run some tests,” she commented.

“You dare–!” Loki snarled before noticing Mobius walk into the room. “Mobius!” Loki suddenly sounded elated. He laughed breathlessly, “There you are, my friend!”

“Oh, I’m your friend now, am I?” Mobius sardonically replied.

“Of course, you are! You are my best friend!”

“Right…” Mobius gave Loki a quick look-over, who had also since changed into TVA gray sweats; Mobius donned his standard suit. Loki’s face was red and a vein was popping out of his forehead. He was covered in a thin sheen of sweat and his hair was damp from it. In fact, Mobius thought that Loki might actually have steam coming off of his skin. Loki’s eyes looked wild and his smile showed a little too much teeth. Mobius pointedly ignored the huge bulge poking up from the blanket covering Loki’s lap. The blanket had to have been an attempt at modesty from the nurses.

Next to the bed, the heart monitor was beeping like crazy and all sorts of alarms were going off. Mobius glanced at the machinery before giving it a double-take. “Holy shit!” he hissed in disbelief. Loki’s heart rate was going well over 600 beats per minute; a mortal would be dead by now.

“Hey, Doc…” Mobius said; his voice was tinged with worry, “how’s he doing?”

“Yeah… um…” the Doctor replied, “Not great. His heart rate is insane, we’re sure the only reason he didn’t go into cardiac arrest is because he’s not human. He’s also running a very high fever; he’s practically boiling. Earlier, he felt like a pot of soup that’s been sitting in the fire a little too long. If you touched him, you’d literally get burned.” As if to prove her point, the doctor raised her hand and showed the red scorch mark on her fingertips.

“Yeah, are you doing anything about that at all?” Mobius sarcastically asked while squinting, sounding a bit irritated. “Any more of this and he’s gonna croak.”

“Of course, we are, Agent Mobius,” the Doctor sighed. “We gave him as much sedatives as we possibly could to slow down his heart rate, any more and he might OD. It’s already way over the limit a human can take. It’s enough to take down an elephant. We’re also giving him cold IV fluids to lower his temperature. At least touching him no longer feels like sticking your hand into a deep fryer.”

“So…” Loki cut in, trying to sound casual but failing because his voice was cracking. “Where is my other best friend? My darling Bumble Bee? Where is she, Mobius?”

Mobius rolled his eyes and said, “Don’t you worry about her, Loki. She’s being cared for.”

“That’s good to hear, that’s very good to hear. I’d like to see her.”

“No.”

“Oh, come now,” Loki laughed; his words were coming out of his mouth a little too quickly. “I just wish to talk to her. I, uh, I wish to apologize. I wasn’t as kind to her as I should have been. I was very rude, you see; lost all my manners.”

“Uh huh… you’ve lost all your marbles too if you think I’m letting you outta here.”

“Just let me go; let me see her. I want to see her. I’ll be good, trust me.” Loki was starting to sound desperate.

“Yeah, I don’t quite believe you.”

“Come on,” Loki chuckled.

“No.”

“Where is she, Mobius?” Loki, who was practically hyperventilating at this point, grinned at Mobius.

When Mobius remained silent, Loki’s face twisted in rage and he roared, “WHERE IS SHE?!”

Mobius sighed, “I’m not letting you go, and I’m not telling you where she is. You’re a god, for Christ’s sake, with all the hunger of one too. You’ll kill her.”

“I won’t,” Loki gulped as he furiously shook his head. “I promise, I won’t. I’ll be very careful. She’ll like it, I swear.”

Mobius cringed. “Loki, don’t say things like that; that’s gross.”

“Untie me,” B-38 heaved as she squirmed. “I, uh, I need to use the bathroom.”

“I’ll have the nurse get you a bedpan,” B-15 sweetly answered as she patted B-38’s hand.

“Where’s Loki?” B-38 whined pathetically.

“You can’t see Loki,” B-15 gently said. “He’ll kill you.”

“Oh, fuck you, let him kill me then!” B-38 groaned as she arched on the bed and pulled at the restraints. “I’ll die with a smile on my face!”

“Gross,” B-15 said with a guileless smile, ignoring the disrespect, as she patted B-38’s hand again. “And no.”

After making sure no one else was showing symptoms of arousal poisoning, Mobius decided it was time to rally the team to go back to that hostile planet and finish up the investigation. This time, everyone went in full hazmat gear. Loki and B-38 were, of course, left behind, as both were still completely incapacitated, although stable. Loki’s heart rate was still skyrocketing, and his fever was still at a ridiculous temperature, but that didn’t seem to be hurting him. They gave him enough sedatives to kill an abilisk and he was finally knocked out enough to keep him from screaming about going scorched Earth for their insolence.

B-38 was taking the treatment a lot better (and with a lot more dignity). The sedation was keeping her heart rate down, and regular old ibuprofen was keeping her fever down.

Loki burned through those sedatives faster than the doctors could anticipate, but – the very clever god that he was – he wasn’t stupid enough to let on that he was no longer sedated. He kept his eyes closed and his breathing even until he could no longer hear anyone buzzing around him. When all was silent, he cracked one eye open, then the other.

Loki twisted his wrists in their cuffs. Those restraints might have been able to hold indefinitely for a mortal, but for a god, it was only a matter of time before he was able to tear through the fabric.

“Finally,” Loki growled, sitting up and unbuckling the rest of the restraints over his ankles.

He ripped the IV out of his arm; then he yanked the heart monitor electrodes off of his chest. His entire sweatshirt was disgustingly soaked in his perspiration so he impatiently tore it over his head and threw it in a random direction. He hopped off his bed, grabbed a pitcher of water resting on an overbed table, and chugged the entire thing; most of the water dribbled down his chin and chest. Gasping for air after he finished emptying the pitcher, he quickly scampered out of the room before the squealing alarms on the heart monitor got someone’s attention.

B-38 was limply lying in bed and high as a kite from the sedation. The cocktail of drugs made her feel like she was on a swaying boat sailing on gentle waters, which would have been comforting and lull her to sleep… if not for the fact that she was so horny she was literally crying. Well, perhaps not real crying, but tears kept rolling down the corners of her eyes involuntarily.

B-38 saw a flash of someone suddenly appearing at the door’s window. She jumped and yelped, “Jesus Christ!”

She calmed down when she realized it was Loki enthusiastically waving at her, but in her defense, he did look a little psychotic. He quietly slipped in through the door and B-38 chuckled, “Oh, my God…”

“Is here!” Loki announced with his arms spread.

B-38 snorted, “Yeah, okay.” She paused; then added, “What happened to your shirt?”

“I took it off,” he simply answered.

“Why?”

“I was hot,” he said, as if that was the most natural thing in the world. “What happened to your shirt?” Loki asked in return when he noticed she was only wearing a white tank top that was soaked in sweat and became a bit sheer. He appreciated the view.

“Oh… well, I guess I also took it off… because I was hot…” B-38 sputtered. “Look, it doesn’t matter; let’s just get out of here!”

“Okay!” Loki beamed and swiftly undid her restraints.

B-38 sat up and the room spun; she shook her head and made it worse. She muttered something incoherent.

“Here, drink this,” Loki ordered as he shoved a glass of water into her hands.

She hadn’t realized how dry her mouth was as she swallowed the entire thing in three sips. While she was distracted, Loki hastily yanked the IV out of her arm and the vein started shooting out a tiny stream of blood.

“Ow!” B-38 snapped.

“Oops, sorry! Sorry!” Loki floundered, as he pressed a finger to the pinprick to stop the bleeding.

If looks could kill, the exasperated one B-38 gave Loki would do it.

“Alright, let’s go before they separate us again,” B-38 said as she pulled the heart monitor electrodes off of her chest, and then hopped off of bed… to immediately flop to the floor.

Loki was too late to catch her, but he quickly helped her up.

“Oof, these drugs are not kidding…” B-38 moaned.

An alarm started blaring throughout the facility.

“For fuck’s sake!” B-38 whined.

“Pardon me,” Loki said as he hurled B-38 over his shoulder and made a run for it.

“Loki!” B-38 yelled. “Loki, I don’t like being upside down!” She could feel her stomach lurching.

“Bumble Bee, you have to stop squirming,” Loki scolded as he lightly slapped her ass and continued to run down the halls.

“I will puke on you,” B-38 threatened. “And don’t call me that!”

Loki passed an elevator and B-38 yelled, “Wait, go in that elevator!”

Loki doubled back and went in; B-38 told him which button to press and he did as she said. As the elevator whirred to their floor, B-38 demanded, “Now put me down.”

A sharp bark of laughter escaped from Loki’s lips and he proceeded to ignore her.

“I mean it!”

“I put you down and you will just sink to the floor.”

“I’m good now,” B-38 insisted.

“Alright,” Loki cheerfully conceded and slowly lowered her from his shoulder. She was able to stand for exactly one second before her knees gave out. Loki held her against him to keep her from falling with a very smug look on his face.

B-38 narrowed her eyes at him before she belligerently said, “I don’t want to be upside down.” 

B-38 ignored the hard bulge digging into her pelvis. As difficult as it was, elevator sex was not in the equation. The propensity of getting caught and then being separated again was too great. However, she did notice that just being close to Loki was easing some of the incessant ache she had been feeling.

“Fine,” Loki acquiesced; he lifted her into a piggyback position.

The elevator pinged and the door opened. “There,” B-38 pointed.

Loki followed her directions as she guided them deeper and deeper into the TVA; walking down a hallway, into another elevator, into a hallway, and then another elevator, over and over again. Soon, the halls started to get narrower, the lights started to become dimmer, and random junk began to line the walls.

“This place is a labyrinth!” Loki complained.

“Through that door,” B-38 instructed.

Loki sighed and nudged the door open with his foot; then stepped through. It looked to be a warehouse-sized archival room that didn’t get many visitors. Shelves filled the room with dusty plastic bins; the contents weren’t known as neither Loki nor B-38 were interested in finding out. Well… Loki might have been interested in snooping if he wasn’t more interested in finally sinking his cock deep inside B-38’s tight cunt again. Loki kicked the door shut behind him.

“People rarely come down here,” B-38 stated as Loki walked further into the maze of shelves. “We can be alone for a while.”

“Good,” Loki replied as he looked for the least disgusting spot to have his fun. He found it behind one of the newly installed shelves, therefore the least dusty, and the area around it looked like it had been recently mopped too. He lowered her to the floor and she was able to stand this time. When he turned to face her, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss; he eagerly complied. He placed a hand on her chest and then moved down into her tank top to fondle her bare breast. She moaned into his mouth as he rolled a nipple under his thumb.

B-38 pulled away and then pushed down at Loki’s shoulders until he sat on the floor. She tugged his sweatpants off and tossed them behind her. Loki laughed as she pulled her pants off as well and then straddled him. He ripped the tank top off of her and gleefully stared at her breasts. She ground her slick slit against his length; the grin got wiped from his face as his jaws went slack and he sighed.

B-38 snaked her hand between them and grasped his cock, stroking it a few times and feeling its hefty weight before she lifted herself to her knees and positioned his cock against her core. She slowly sat down on him, sheathing him inside of her. She hissed between her teeth. He was so big that she still struggled to take him. She shifted and gently rolled her hips, trying to adjust to his size. As much as she enjoyed the not-very-gentle-and-kind-of-painful-but-amazing sex from earlier, that was not what she wanted this time.

Loki moaned and grabbed her ass, trying to urge her to move already. B-38 leaned down and distracted him with another kiss, brushing her tongue against his. Loki slid his hands up to cup both of her breasts, gently squeezing and grazing her nipples with his fingers. B-38 gasped into his mouth and unconsciously began to slowly ride him. He slid his hands back down to her hips, massaging her ass and thighs. She shifted ever so slightly to get the angle just right; sending tingles down her spine. She wrapped her arms around his neck as she rode him faster; her breath rasping as she threw her head back.

Loki wanted to see her face. He placed one hand on the back of her skull and pulled her head back down. B-38 bit her lips and whimpered as she looked into his eyes; she rode him faster and harder. He was looking up at her, almost as if in awe, his lips parted and eyes sparkling. She didn’t notice before when they first fucked in the showers; most likely because he didn’t show this side of himself then, but she noticed it now – Loki’s voice tended to get higher, softer, and breathier when he fucked. And like the first time she heard him come, he sounded a lot less guarded, and a lot more vulnerable; it was like he bared his soul when he fucked. She found it extremely sexy and a bit heartrending.

B-38 felt that she was close, so close; she rolled her hips a few more times and came with a sob. Her entire body shook violently as her movements became jerky and uncoordinated. Loki firmly gripped her hips and forced her to continue riding his cock; lifting and lowering her faster and harder; using her until he, too, reached completion. B-38 took it all with her jaws clenched. He came softly this time too, wrapping his arms around her waist and crushing her against him, burying his face into her chest. She intertwined her fingers into his hair and held him closely as well.

They sat like that for a long time, Loki still inside of her even as his cock softened. Eventually, B-38 moved to untangle herself from him; Loki reluctantly obliged. It seemed the effects of the flower’s toxins had been satiated for the time being and the burning lust surging through them had decreased somewhat. It wasn’t completely gone, and the couple knew they would end up needing to have another romp soon, but exhaustion was taking over B-38 and she really needed to rest. On the other hand, Loki had already recovered.

B-38 sat down next to Loki and leaned her head against his shoulder while wrapping her arms around his waist; Loki wrapped his arms around her as well. Sleep immediately took over B-38 and Loki contentedly enjoyed her quiet company.

Series Masterlist || Main Masterlist

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The Dress

Masterlist / Main Masterlist

Asgard 1971 A.D. (Thor 26, Loki 26, Astri 24)  

   "I think she'll wear green, brother," Thor said 

   "Why does it matter what she wears?" Loki asked dismissively 

Thor smiled knowingly at his younger brother who was sipping at his wine pretending not to hide his face in his beverage. 

   "Oh, it does not. Not to me at least. The last time she wore green I thought your eyes were going to pop out of your head." Thor teased

 

Thor's words continued to bounce around in Loki's head all day and into the night. He hadn't seen much of Astri today since she was sparring with Sif and then practicing some new magic technique with his mother. They hadn't had lessons together in years after she and Loki got in a fight which ended in Frigga's favorite vase breaking and Loki's ego feeling rather bruised when Astri refused to talk to him for a week. He hadn't meant to antagonize her but his jealousy got the better of him and after she had been able to successfully multiply herself faster than him he had let out a string of insults which ended after he brought up her mother and father. Astri had shot him across his mother's chambers so fast that he barely had time to blink. 

   "Say another word, Loki and I'll toss you from the balcony next." Astri's voice was dripping in malice as her hands were still glowing their soft blue hue her magic put out.

   "I'd like to see you try," Loki had quickly quipped back righting himself while Frigga demanded they cease their actions at once 

Astri's hands had glowed once more and this time he went to the other side of the room and into his mother's favorite vase, a gift from his father when they married. 

Loki tossed and turned now in his bed, wishing he had been at whatever lesson his mother had been teaching today. No, it wasn't because he wanted to be better at whatever was being taught. He liked seeing Astri's face light up whenever she got something right. He had seen it often when they were children when learning about the history of Asgard in their shared classes. 

A quiet knock sounded, interrupting his nightly brooding. Loki removed himself from the pile of blankets and pillows he slept with nightly and pulled the door open to reveal Astri and a tall stack of books. 

   "I missed seeing you today so I figured I'd come to you." She explained entering his room without even asking and tossing the books onto his already overflowing desk.

  "It's very late, Astri." Loki sighed trying to pretend that he was tired and not at all happy to see her. 

   "So? We used to sneak into Thor's room and then hang him from the ceiling by his toes around this time when we were younger." She pointed out before selecting a book and jumping onto his bed

   "Yes, we did. But..." Loki trailed off eyeing her legs that were exposed by her night dress moving up as she got comfortable among his many pillows

   "Why do you have so many pillows? It's kind of impractical." She said utterly missing his wandering eyes

Loki felt a lump rise in his throat as she tossed a pillow towards him to get his attention as if he wasn't always watching whenever she entered the room.

   "Are you gonna put on a shirt and come over here or keep standing there?" She asked

Right. Clothes. He fumbled for the shirt he had discarded on the floor before climbing into bed hours earlier. He tried to calm his nerves before sliding under the covers next to her. One of his many pillows was squished behind her acting as back support while she began to explain the plot of whatever book she had chosen for their evening. Loki watched as her long hair moved while she gestured to the hand-drawn pictures of a large mountain on the first page. Her hair had always been mesmerizing for him. Even as a child, he had been interested in it, pulling at it for fun and just to get her attention. The result had been Astri cutting her hair up so it was chin length so she could avoid Loki's mean hands. Now, it was long again, streaming over her shoulders and down past her chest. God don't look at her chest!

   "Are you even listening to me?" She asked suddenly, reaching out to flick his forehead.

   "Of course." He lied, moving her hand away from him.

   "Then what just happened in this book?" She asked

  

Loki smiled before gently taking the book from her hands and setting it aside.

   "Does it matter? Why don't you show me what my mother taught you today?" He asked, leaning towards her

  "Are you going to get angry if you can't do it yourself?" She asked

  "No, of course not. That time I wasn't angry at you...I was upset with myself." He admitted

  "I know..." She softly said reaching for his hand with her smaller ones

  "So what did you learn today?" He asked letting her play with his fingers

   "Well I didn't succeed but Frigga was trying to teach me how to take over others' bodies." She responded a little sadly

   "Ah, enchantment. I've read about it." He nodded

   "Can you do it?" She asked

    "No. Not yet." He said, "I've tried on Thor in the past."

Astri nodded and looked back down at his hand in hers.

   "What are you wearing at tomorrow's festival?" He asked suddenly

   "Wouldn't you like to know," Astri smirked

   "I would actually," Loki replied

    "Why? Scared we'll show up in  matching dresses?" She laughed

   "Perhaps." Loki softly said 

   "Guess you'll just have to wait and find out." Astri smiled 

Loki woke the next morning to a stiff left arm and a slightly sore neck. The cause of the issues? Astri had fallen asleep next to him last night. She had convinced him to read to her and then proceeded to fall asleep almost immediately despite insisting she was not tired. He tried to slowly move her head off his arm and to the pillow next to her but instead was met with an ugly groan as she awoke. 

   "What're you doing I thought it was your turn to read." She groggily said 

   "Yes, it was my turn but you fell asleep mere moments after I began." He said standing up from the bed

   "Impossible, I wasn't even tired." She yawned before glancing out the glass doors that led to the balcony, "Damn it." 

   "It's alright, no one's perfect." He assured, "Except perhaps me." 

A large pillow came flying in his general direction before smacking the wall to his right. 

   "Awful throw." Loki commended 

This time, another one came flying and it hit him in the stomach with a surprisingly strong force. 

   "I win." Astri declared before slumping back into the bed and pulling the covers around her. 

   "You can't go back to bed, Astri," Loki said 

   "Sure I can. Watch me." She responded, her voice muffled by the pillow under her 

   "Today marks the beginning of the festivities for the Winter Solstice." Loki reminded 

Another loud groan came from the cocoon of blankets that was his friend before she unceremoniously removed herself from the bed. 

   "I'll see you later I guess." She said walking towards the door "I hope your dress is as nice as mine." 

   "It'll be far better," Loki said seriously 

Astri just shook her head and laughed as Loki shut the door behind her. 

⋆⭒˚｡⋆

   "It appears I was wrong, brother," Thor said amid sips of his drink 

Of course, he had been wrong, Thor was always wrong. Astri wasn't in green but rather a light blue and silver one, and somehow this one was even more breathtaking than her green one. Loki watched her greet Sif and the other noble women who stood around in small groups while they chattered about unknown topics. Loki felt his legs moving without even a thought towards her as they finally made eye contact. 

   "Loki, where is your matching dress?" Astri teased 

   "I must have left it behind in my room." He breathed "You look...good." Damn. Why did he stop at just good?

   "Thank you. Frigga has a good eye. Astri smiled 

Loki glanced around the room, searching for his mother. 

   "Looking for me?" Her voice suddenly said from behind him 

   "Mother." He greeted 

   "Astri, come we want to show you something." A noble lady had looped her arm with Astri's and pulled her away from Loki.

   "Do you like her dress? I helped pick it." Frigga smiled 

   "Of course I like it," Loki admitted 

   "Good. Then you should have no problem dancing with her." Frigga said before gently pushing her son towards where her ward had walked "Don't forget to complement her hair!"

Normally, the heat at festivals never affected Loki. But, as he approached Astri again he swore he felt himself break out in a sweat. The instruments of the entertainers his father had summoned to the palace seemed twenty times louder as he held his hand out to Astri. 

   "Lady Astri." He finally found his voice, " May I have the honor of a dance?" 

Thor's eyes scanned the room, he was looking for his brother who had left his side the moment their childhood friend had entered the room. What surprised him though was that Loki wasn't just speaking to Astri as he normally did but instead leading her to the dance floor among other couples. He couldn't help but smile as he watched his younger brother smoothly lead the clumsy Astri in a traditional dance they had learned when they were younger.

Astri felt as if a thousand eyes were on her as Loki led the dance. As they spun, she could see Frigga's smiling face among so many other noble Asgardians. 

   "You're rather stiff." Loki pointed out 

   "It feels like everyone is watching us." She said, her voice barely above a whisper 

   "That is because they are." Loki smiled down at her, "They're all watching you." 

Astri felt her face redden as Loki's drew closer to hers. She tried to focus on anything but his words and his bright blue eyes that stared into hers.

   "You know, I love the way you look in green." Loki said "But this..." 

She felt his hand gently squeeze at her waist. 

   "You're stunning in blue, Astri." 

Astri swore it was out of embarrassment that she hid her face in his shoulder while his frame lightly shook from laughter. When she unburied her face, he was still looking at her with that intense gaze of his. 

   "Don't let it go to your head." He joked 

Instead of quipping back she just nodded and pressed herself closer to him, wishing for the moment to never end. 

I drabbled in Loki's POV a little more for this part. Also, the Attack on Titan finale still has me on the floor. Like, I knew what would happen in the end but seeing it all animated in front of me is a whole different thing. I listened to Lover by Taylor Swift while writing the dancing scene so if you want to set the tone, there you go. Also, starting in the next chapter I will be beginning to follow the plot of the first Thor movie. This means that the plot will be more cohesive and that updates might take longer since I won't just be writing from my imagination but instead sticking to what the MCU says is canon. Hope you are enjoying the story so far! 

Astri's Dress

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Sundew: Chapter 7 (Tom Hiddleston x ofc)

CW: smut. fem rcv oral  Previous Chapter -- Masterlist -- AO3 -- Kofi Want a bonus chapter? See the post on Kofi for details. Or just to say hey, thanks for the fic!

Tom pulled Mia into the small bedroom, lit only with the city lights filtering in through the gauzy curtains that offered privacy. The sound of the door latching closed seemed to echo around the room. The only thing louder was the sound of the lock clicking. 

Mia didn’t have time to focus on the strange way the sound seemed to inconsistently move through space before Tom’s arms wrapped around her from behind. He held her back tightly to his chest, breath washing over her shoulder. 

“I’ve missed you,” Tom whispered, “so much. I’ve been wanting to really hold you since I saw you.” 

“You did hold me,” Mia teased, voice sounding far more confident than she felt. 

“Not like this,” Tom said, pulling her tighter to him. She could feel the stirring of him, just a suggestion of hardness in his pants at this point. 

“You even kissed me, too.” Mia ran her teeth over her lower lip, knowing what she was asking Tom to do without outright asking it. 

“Not like I wanted to,” Tom said, reaching up and turning her head to face him. 

“And how did you want to?” 

“Like this.” Tom’s lips ghosted over his, little more than a suggestion of a kiss that quickly became solid. Hungry but not demanding. 

She turned in his arms, draping her arms around his neck as he kissed her as if it would somehow make up for all the time he had to spend away from her. Black curls, glitter still clinging to them, tangled around her fingers as she ran them through his hair. 

“Mia,” Tom whispered her name as if it was a sacred prayer. 

His fingers slipped under the hem of her shirt. Her eyes fluttered open at the electric feeling of his touch on her skin. Soft kisses marked a burning trail down her neck before icy air replaced where his searing presence had been. 

He quickly pulled her shirt up and over her head, tossing it to the side. This was the moment that always made her feel insecure, aware of every stretch mark and misplaced curve. 

“I want you,” Tom kept his voice low, not wanting to risk making any more noise than needed for fear of being interrupted. 

His roaming fingertips devoured her curves while she worked the buttons of his shirt free, pushing it back and off his toned shoulders. While she could name countless blemish on her own body, she would be hard pressed to find a single on his. Even the freckles and scattering of hair on his chest were perfectly placed in her opinion. 

“Please, Tom.” She didn’t need to say more. 

His fingers made quick work of her bra, sending it to the ground. Jeans were always sexier to wear than they were to remove. Mia unbuttoned them and pulled the short zipper down. 

Tom hooked his thumbs into the waist and pulled them down, taking her simple cotton panties along with them. The denim clung to her hips and thighs tightly, doing everything but falling to the ground. As the pants passed her ass, Mia sat on the bed. Tom fell to his knees and pulled the pants from her legs, leaving her naked as he sat between her spread knees. 

He was painfully hard now, pressing up against the buckle of his belt. With one hand, he worked the belt open and pulled it free. His other hand pushed her leg out, spreading her open in front of him. 

Mia’s flushed face looked down at him as his attention zeroed in on her core. Without looking away from her, nimble fingers worked open the button of his trowsers. A sigh blew from between his thin lips as the pressure on his straining erection lessened. 

For Mia, the first time they came back together intimately after time apart always felt like what she imagined the first time felt like. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach as her eyes met his in a heated gaze. Strong hands wrapped around her thighs, caressing and urging her to spread wider for him as he leaned forward. 

A bolt of lightning shot down her spine as his tongue ran up her slit. There was something about how he tasted her that made it feel so much better than when others would. He tasted her as if he enjoyed the taste. The way he groaned as he worked his tongue over her clit made her feel desired.

“Oh,” she gasped as Tom’s finger rested against her opening, slowly pushing deeper inside her, “oh, Tom.” 

He shifted, working a second long finger inside her while his other hand shoved at the waistband of his pants. He didn’t settle until his cock was free, standing tall from his lap. A bead of precum glistened, reflecting the dim light in the room. 

To Tom, she tasted like home. Her slick walls fluttered around his fingers. Under his tongue, he could feel the slight twitches of muscles as he pushed her closer to her orgasm. There wasn’t a chance in hell he was going to let her cum on his fingers. 

Her breasts heaved with each breath, nipples pulling tighter in the cool air of the room. Each thrust of his fingers, each suckle at her clit, wound her body tighter until she felt like she was going to snap. 

When it was about to be too much, Tom pulled away. Light reflected off the slick on his fingers. There wasn’t time for Mia to complain before he was standing, lining his cock up with her opening and pushing slowly inside. 

Being inside her felt like coming home. Her hot, wet walls spread over his shaft, swallowing him until his balls were pressed against her. He leaned over her, supporting his weight with his forearms. It took his breath away just to be inside her. 

She looked at him, face flushed. Her legs ran along his thighs, wrapping around his waist as she tried to pull him closer. 

He gripped her thigh and pushed her back on the bed. He used his pelvis to generate the force, grinding his cock deep into her in the process. The moan that bubbled up from her throat made him want to hear it again. 

He wanted to hear her moan. He wanted to fuck into her with such passion she cried out his name. He wanted all the city to know how good he could love her. 

But this wasn’t the time for that. If he couldn’t hear the sounds she made as he pushed inside her slowly again, he would feel them. Her lips were so soft under his. Each whine and moan vibrated through their shared breaths, spilling from her throat into his mouth. 

Her walls fluttered, gripping his cock as he pushed into her with each soft roll of his hips. With how close Tom had brought her to completion with his mouth and fingers, it was easy for the slow, deep thrusts to bring her back to the edge. 

Mia’s breasts pushed into his chest as her back arched. He worked his hand under the small of her back, pulling her into him more. He didn’t have to ask her if she was close. The high-pitched whines and the way her body gripped his cock told him how very close she was. 

She came with a whimper that tasted sweet as he swallowed it. The bite of her neatly cut fingernails digging into his back sent him finishing as her core contracted in spasms around his cock. It was his turn to moan into the kiss, the deep sound reverberating through his chest and into her as he spilled inside her still twitching walls. 

Though he spilled his seed inside her, he loathed the idea of leaving the warmth of her. Instead of pulling away, he gripped her hip and pulled her tighter against him. He rolled onto his side, taking her with him. The tight grip he kept on her hips kept his softening cock nestled inside her hot, wet tunnel. 

“I love you,” Tom whispered as Mia’s head nestled onto his arm. It wouldn’t take long for the limb to go numb, but it would be worth it to hold her naked body tightly to his for a few moments longer. 

“I love you, too.” Mia hooked her leg over his hip, pulling his hips tighter against her. His seed smeared between her thighs, leaking from where their bodies came together. 

“I’ve missed being with you.” Tom caressed the side of her face, brushing back stray waves of brunette hair. “I’ve missed this.” 

“I missed this, too.” Mia whispered, sighing at the loss as his soften cock fell from her opening, leaving her feeling empty. “I don’t want to get up.” 

“Then don’t.” Tom rubbed the tip of his nose against hers. 

“I have to,” Mia laughed. 

“Who says?” Tom held her closer to him before letting his arms go slack so she could will herself to stand. 

“Biology,” Mia teased, grabbing Tom’s shirt from the floor. He watched with rapt attention. 

To him, Mia was one of the most beautiful women he’d been blessed to see. Each imperfection told a story if a life lived and stories he was only beginning to learn. The only thing more beautiful than Mia naked was Mia when she wore nothing but his shirt with a few buttons fastened. 

“Fine, leave me if you must.” Tom flopped back on the bed, watching as Mia slipped back into her panties. 

“I’ll be right back.” 

He couldn’t help but to reach around, grabbing a palmful of her ass as she leaned over his naked body to kiss him one last time. She laughed at the way he grumbled when she pulled away. 

Being with Tom after time apart always left her feeling shy and insecure, but after? This was when she felt like the most attractive and desired woman in the world. Tom made her feel that way and for that, she would always be thankful. 

If only she could get past the anxiety that came with coming together again first.

The sad reality of Mia’s life was that she would never have enough time with Tom. Weekends never lasted long enough, and someone always needed Tom somewhere else. Neither Mia nor Sally were ready to part from Tom by the time the small family was standing together inside the airport. 

The sorrow of parting felt suffocating as Mia swallowed back every tear that threatened to swell in her eyes. She couldn’t afford the privilege of heartbreak. Sally needed her to be strong and positive. 

“I don’t want to go,” the small girl whined as Tom hugged her tightly. 

“I know,” Tom said sullenly, “but you’ve got school tomorrow.” 

“I don’t need to go to school.”

Mia couldn’t help the watery laugh at the way Sally protested. “Yes, you do.” 

“I’ll be back home before you know it,” Tom promised. 

Whenever Tom would call the apartment in Las Vegas ‘home’, Mia’s heart would do little flips. She wanted it to be home to him. She wanted them to be home to him. Tom often referred to his personal residence as home as well, though, and Mia couldn’t fault him for it. No matter how he tried to integrate himself into their lives, there was a whole different hom that she’d only seen in pictures and video calls. 

“I had Luke pull some strings for you,” Tom said sheepishly, wrapping Mia in his arms. She wanted to protest, but the warmth of his hug doused any fires of irritation she may have had. “I had him upgrade your seats.” 

“That costs money,” Mia protested, though Tom smiled at the lack of energy in the protest. 

“I can afford it.” He kissed her slowly, softly as he took his time tasting her. It felt like he was trying to memorize the feel of her lips against his, but perhaps that was simply because Mia was trying to do the same. 

“Are you sure?” Mia couldn’t help but asking. 

“I wouldn’t have done it if I couldn’t afford it.” Long fingers hooked her wavey hair behind her ear. “I’ve got a few more projects lined up for the year, some scheduled for next year. We’re more than fine with just what I’m bringing in alone.” 

“Okay.” Mia sighed, kissing Tom one more time. 

“You should get going,” he hated to have to say those words. Tom would have given anything if he could convince Mia to just stay there with him.

She wouldn’t. He knew that. Asking would only cause her to feel pressured. She had to go back to the job she didn’t need but insisted on clinging to. If only she would just trust him, she could spend more time by his side. 

There was no choice but to wait and hope. If he gave her enough time, perhaps she would reach that point on her own. 

“I love you,” Mia whispered the words as she stepped back. 

“I love you, too.” Tom squeezed her hands one last time before letting them fall. It physically pained him to step back from her. “I love you, Sally,” he added as the Mia started walking toward the security line.

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Next?

[winterisakillerwrites]

So I am ever so slowly easing my way back into writing and I figured I’d give a bit of a glance. For fun.

Once everything was settled, the three took their places at the table, Wills was still napping and showed no sign of waking just yet. Food was quickly served, murmurs of thanks breaking the silence. Gracie, usually a chatter box, she was so like her father, Rosemary thought with a pained fondness, was nearly silent save for her quiet request for more juice. A pained smile spread across Rosemary’s face, Tom’s absence a throbbing wound in her chest, as she nodded, filling the bright green cup Gracie held aloft.

[therealmrslisting]

I’ve been writing a thing these past few years…and it’s almost finished! Would love your feedback! ❤️

~~

"Believe it, Sylvie. Because I broke him. I took the most incredibly kind, gentle person in existence, and I broke him without even trying."

When the TVA is attacked, Loki, Mobius, and Casey are forced onto the timeline: Earth, 1996. Mobius’ timeline. Waiting for rescue, this unlikely trio finds comfort (and trouble) in the human experience. Mobius and Loki find each other. But with his penchant for trouble, will Loki's lies tear them apart? More importantly, will Casey meet a fish?

~~

This is part rom-com, part action/adventure, part drama! Prepare for some 90's nostalgia, a healthy romp in the sand, plenty of slow-burn pining, drunken confessions, misused magic, a full-fledged Mobius backstory, and trials that will test the strength of love.

SLOW BURN

This 250k+ word story is divided into two parts. Part 1 leans more toward character building and romance, and Part 2 is when the action picks up. It's the SLOWEST slow burn. You've been warned!

WARNINGS

These boys have issues, so shit will get kinda dark. Warnings include explicit sex, suicide, lgbtqia+ prejudice, depression, alcohol use, injury, panic attacks, and death.

[lulubelle814]

The Traveler - Epilogue

The Traveler Masterlist

Main Masterlist

Billie and Conrad made it back to his reality safely, showing up in the same bedroom at Hank’s house that he’d been in when the talisman took him to Billie’s.  Exiting the room hand in hand, they found Hank on the sofa with a beer watching the cubs game.  Hearing footsteps behind him, he turned around.  “You’re back!  And you got her!”  He jumped up and hugged the pair.  “I was wondering if I was ever gonna see you guys again!”

“How long have we gone from here?”

Hank took a moment to think.  “It was a couple of weeks, but I made sure no one went into that room while you were gone.  I didn’t want anyone to mess up the talisman juju environment stuff.”

Conrad smiled.  “We appreciate that.”

Hank turned to Billie.  “It’s so good to see you again!  I’m glad you came back with him.  You shoulda seen him before.  It was sad, really.  I mean, it’s like someone died or something.  Doesn’t matter now.  You’re here!”  He gave Billie another hug.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Conrad protested.

“I would.  Seriously, Billie.  You shoulda seen him.”  Hank gives a grim looking face.  “Was not pretty.”

It took some time, but Billie and Conrad found a place of their own using money paid to them by Monarch, getting a house in the countryside with plenty of space as well as a few goats and cows.  Eventually, they added to their family, having a boy followed by another boy 2 years later, Thomas and Bruce.  It wasn’t until another few years after that when they finally had a girl, naming her Virginia or Ginny for short.

“It feels like paradise,” Conrad said.  “I thought I knew what home was when I met you.  I never thought it could get better, but here we are.”  As Billie and Conrad looked out over their little farm, they enjoyed watching their children play and have fun.

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