#we fell asleep at the same time so it was like someone was holding me to a bedtime

[bg-brainrot]

The Thousandth Time (Astarion x GN!Tav)

Featuring: Astarion x Rogue!Tav

Series: Fits into Love at First Knife, AO3 link here

Rating: Explicit, 18+

Summary: Astarion and Rogue!Tav make love for the thousandth time. In a bathtub.

Tags: Smut, Slice of life, POV Second Person, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Fluff, Spawn Astarion, Post-Canon, bathtub sex, sloppy sex, seriously just sickeningly sweet smut, Spawn Astarion, Post-Canon, Established Relationship, Domesticity is romantic, Hand Jobs, Blood Drinking

A/N: Some context-- I wanted to write soft, gender neutral smut. And by the gods is this soft. I tried to look at what it's like to love someone for so long. In my experience, when you've been with someone for so many years, you still find a lot of love in the little things. which I hope I hit? Anyway, enjoy!!

Word count: ~5.3k

The thousandth time you make love to Astarion, you don't know it's the thousandth time.

It's a day like any other, really.

After a long day at the guild, you've arrived home, a sigh on your lips, a furrow to your brow.

"Whatever is the matter, my dear?"

You compose your expression and turn toward your lover. "Astarion," you start, a reflexive wistfulness to your tone. Gods are you glad to see him after a day like today. "Nothing is the matter. Nothing important anyway. Simply glad to be home."

Astarion gives you a look that says he doesn't quite believe you, but knows better than to pry too deeply into issues you'd rather not bring home. "Very well, darling. But you know I'm all pointy ears. Especially if Nine-Fingers has been difficult again."

"Ugh," you say, wincing in annoyance. "Do not say her name right now."

The vampire gives you a bright, toothy laugh. "That bad, eh?" You nod. He walks toward you, arms outstretched. "Mmm in that case, shall we call it an early night tonight?"

You dive into the comfort of his arms, holding him to you, inhaling his fresh, familiar scent. It feels like the day's troubles melt in his cold embrace, and the tension in your body finally relaxes. "That might be nice."

"Dinner first?" he asks, pulling away from you slightly.

You look into his warm crimson eyes, feel that same warmth reflected in your face. Of course, he’d check to see if your mortal needs have been met. "No need, I've eaten. How about you?"

Astarion brings a hand up to inspect your face, this way, then that. It’s as if he’s examining you for injury, not assessing if he can partake in a bit of your blood. "Mmm, you seem a tad tired, love."

"You know I'll manage. Besides, get my blood while it's still boiling with rage," you say, craning your neck for him in response.

"As delectable as that sounds,” he begins, letting go of your face, tracing his fingers along your neck. “I think a bath and bed ought to come first."

You want to argue the point, make sure he's fed to the best of your ability, but the yawn that escapes you is irrefutable. With nary another word, his hand is on the small of your back, guiding you toward the bath.

"Would you like to join me?" you ask him as you open the door. Your expression is calm, the question harboring no hidden intentions. Any other day, you may have raised an eyebrow at him suggestively, begun taking off your armor in a tease– but you're tired, simply not wanting to relinquish the feel of his arms around you.

"Certainly, if it keeps you from falling asleep in the tub…" he trails off, looking at you warily. He appears torn, somewhere between keeping you from drowning and keeping you from resting.

You give him a wry smile. “Imagine that. After felling all manner of beasts and men, finally succumbing to the tub.”

Astarion offers you a reluctant smile in return. “My love, I swear to every god above and below, if you die in any manner even remotely that ludicrous, I shall have to pretend not to know you at your funeral.”

“That’s fair,” you say, holding a hand out to him. “Best to make sure that doesn’t happen then, don’t you think?”

The man can’t argue with that, nor does he seem to want to. After an entire day away from each other, this closeness is exactly what the two of you crave. So he takes your offered hand, and follows you into the bathroom.

It has been years since you had added a tub big enough for the two of you in your house. While the two of you had accrued wealth enough for an entire bathhouse, you’d settled for a more modest setup. At least, modest in Astarion’s eyes.

The floor is made of the finest marble tiles, the walls of intricately laid and patterned brick. And in the center of the room, is the room’s main attraction: the enormous, magical tub. It’s long enough that you could comfortably lay down across the entire bottom, wide enough that you have to extend your arms to reach both sides. The outer edges are infused with enchantments to improve your bathing experience, and the tub itself is made of the highest quality crystal that gold can buy.

Once you enter the room, you activate the heat and water sigils along the basin’s edges and turn back to Astarion. “Would you mind grabbing some soaps from the shelf?”

He gives you a lopsided grin, eyes crinkling with amusement, but still moves to do as you ask. “Would you also like me to bathe you while I’m at it?”

“Oh, would you?” you ask half-joking. You begin to strip your armor off, piece by piece.

“Mmm,” he murmurs, picking out a few of his preferred scents from a shelf on the wall. He’s accumulated quite the collection now, enjoying mixing and matching as his nose guides him. “That could be arranged.”

You’re almost halfway through your armor when he returns, bottles of lemon, bergamot, and sage soaps in hand. “Ah, you know how much I love bergamot,” you say, smiling at it fondly, pausing halfway through undoing your leather straps.

“I know,” he says, placing them next to the tub before turning his attention fully to you. “I also know that you need help with that armor or we may be here all night.”

Holding your arms out wordlessly, Astarion starts to unbuckle each and every strap from the front of your padded armor. As he releases you from its confines, you take a deep, relieved breath and say, “Thank you, love.”

“It’s my pleasure,” he murmurs, leaving a long lingering touch along your now exposed collarbone. “While you strike quite the image in your armor, I think I much prefer you without.”

You laugh, feeling quite light in the now steaming room. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say your mind is straying quite far from rest, Astarion.”

The vampire shrugs, beginning to tug at your undershirt and small clothes with each of his hands. “Merely stating fact, my darling.”

With a few smooth movements, he’s taken off the last of your clothing, exposing every inch of you to the warmth of the room and the heat of his gaze. He seems just about ready to bury his head in your neck, begin covering every piece of you in kisses, when you speak, “Excuse me, are you planning to enter the bath in your house clothes?”

Astarion looks down at his own garb, the comfortable satins and silks of a man who spent the day lounging at home. When faced with your words and, ugh, logic, he says with a sigh, “Would you do the honors?”

You need no more invitation before your hands are on his soft, flowing shirt, running along it appreciatively. “Is this new?”

“It is,” he says, a hint of pride in his voice. “Do you like it?”

“It feels magnificent,” you respond, beginning to undo its buttons. “I may just have to steal it for myself one of these days.”

His lips purse at you. “You know, you could simply ask, darling.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” you taunt, pulling up on the shirt's edges, tugging it up and off of him. Now, faced with the plane of his ivory chest, your fingers act on instinct. They trail down his shoulders, trace the line of his pectorals, drop down the center of his stomach to the waist of his pants.

Astarion gives you a low, approving noise before asking you wryly, “Now whose mind is straying?”

“Not mine,” you respond, pulling his pants and underwear down in one smooth motion. “My hands are just so tired, I’m sure you understand.”

“Surely,” he responds, as he pulls each foot out of his pant legs. “How is the water?”

The bath is steaming by now, visibly fogging up the room, but still, you bend down to skim your hands along its surface. “Ah, it’s warm,” you say, gripping the edge with one hand. “Maybe too warm?”

“No such thing,” he responds, and one of his hands lands next to yours as he bends down to feel the water for himself. The man gives a happy hum before asking, “Shall we then?” Then his now-wet hand is smacking your butt, his head gesturing toward the waiting water. 

“Excuse you,” you say, indignantly, as you turn toward him. “I'm tired.” But you don't feel tired. Not after running your hands over his cold skin. Not after feeling the quick contact of his hand on your backside.

“Not to worry, darling. I’ll take care of you.”

As in, bathing or–? Luckily you don't have much more time to think about it before he’s lowering himself into the tub. Even with his quick movement, even with the water’s slight obscurity, you easily note that Astarion’s cock has stirred in interest.

Ah. While you hadn’t meant to illicit anything by inviting him… it’s certainly not unwelcome. It’s a good thing that your exhaustion is all but melting away under his loving touches.

Acutely aware of his sharp gaze on the length of your back, you turn to face away from him, grab the edge of the tub, and slowly enter its warmth. As was customary in your baths, he would start with your back, so you take a spot in front of him, leaving just enough room for him to settle behind you as he pleases.

Too much room clearly, as Astarion immediately scoots forward, extending his legs to each side of you. You feel his hardening length graze your backside as he does so and can’t help the smile that curves your lips.

"Astarion, dear,” you start, placing your hands on each of his knees under the water. “Are you certain you want to bathe me?"

“And why wouldn't I be?” He leans closer, planting a soft kiss along your spine.

You debate backing up into his groin to prove a point but instead shake your head. "No reason, I suppose."

He begins by lathering his hands in a mixture of soaps, carefully measured out by eye and feel. All the while, you sit before him, hands on each of his calves, thumbs repeatedly rubbing the ridge of his muscles. While he’d had a nice, calm day today, his calves are always so tight from sneaking about– and it’s the least you can do for the man that’s bathing you.

Then his hands get to work.

At first he drags both hands along your back, once, twice. Once he’s made sure that soap covers every inch of you, he starts massaging you, working the soap into your skin, kneading into your sore muscles.

Astarion knows your body so intimately and, after so many years of tending to each other, he rubs all of your tightest spots. His knuckles press deep into your neck. His fingers work around your upper back. His thumbs dig underneath the edges of your shoulder blades, working out the knots he knows lay beneath. And, by the gods, if you thought you’d been melting under his caresses before, now you’re practically a puddle.

You can’t help the noises that come out at the sensation of his nimble fingers at work. Your shoulders ache from a long day of sneaking, stabbing, and general tension of dealing with people– the relief is palpable in the way you relax into his touch, grip his legs, and release several breathy moans.

And with each moan, you can feel his cock growing firmer against you. After the first few, you can feel him shift closer with every noise he draws from you. Knowing your affect on him has always done something to stir the fire in you, and this time it has you shifting uncomfortably as heat blooms between your legs. The both of you spur the other’s building lust, all the while the fresh scent that Astarion’s concocted permeates the air.

Then, when it’s clear he’s done with your back, thoroughly satisfied with each gasping breath of pleasure, his hands drop from your shoulders. They tail down your back, playing along your spine. And, in an almost leisurely motion, they wrap around your torso, where they finally settle on your chest.

I don’t think this is a relaxing bath anymore, you think distantly. Yet you’re unable to resist leaning into his palms, arching into his touch.

Sensing your shuffles, Astarion curls further into your back, almost entirely flush to you now. His fingers feel their way to each of your nipples, first gently brushing against them, then thumbing over them each in turn. They respond eagerly, perking up under his delicate sweep.

“Astarion,” you begin, turning your head back to him slightly and raising an eyebrow. “What are you doing?” Your tone isn’t exactly admonishing– your voice comes out too quiet, desire muffling all other emotions.

His hands trail down your chest, past the surface of the bath water, settling on each of your thighs before he responds, voice low, lips inches away from your ear. “Making sure that every single centimeter of my beautiful darling is clean, of course.”

“Astarion, I thought you would be, ahh… taking care of me," you say, barely holding on to your trail of thought as his hands dip between your legs, brushing your sensitive core.

“I am taking care of you,” he whispers, finally closing the remaining distance between your back, his front. At the feel of his stiff cock pressing against your back, you give an involuntary gasp. He seems to enjoy your reaction, taking a moment to slowly grind the entire length of his hardened arousal along your backside once, before he settles between your cheeks. “Unless you’d rather leave all of this stress pent up, my dear?”

You’d been tired– been ready to bathe and head off to bed. But something about this man never fails to ignite the fire in your heart– or your loins. “I suppose not,” you murmur, releasing Astarion’s calf, running up his leg with your fingers, landing on his arm, gripping it closer to you.

“I knew you would see reason,” he says, taking your grip as guidance. His hand moves down to begin stroking your heat, building up steadily to the fast-paced rhythm he knows you like. In the water’s buoyant embrace, his actions feel a touch more fluid, his fingers more silken.

It has taken time experimenting together to reach this place– one of utmost security and intimate knowledge of each others’ bodies. But now that you’re here, you’ve found that Astarion’s agile fingers are obscenely precise in their movements. Like he knows exactly which pins to tumble to unlock your utmost excitement.

So you can't help the way you buck into his touch, nor the way the water sloshes around you both in response.

"Careful, love," he says, hand stilling. "We don't want to make a mess this time, do we?"

Somewhere in the back of your mind, you remember the last time this had happened, how the floor had been practically flooded. You should agree with him, make sure that such an incident doesn't occur again. But the front of your mind is wholly occupied, thinking only of how he's stopped moving his hand, how being careful may mean that he takes it too gently. "Mmm, we managed to clean it up well enough," you respond, jerking your hips back, pressing against him with need.

Astarion's laughter rings upon the bathroom's stone walls, before it turns into a groan as you roll your hips once more. His voice is a bit huskier when he responds, "You know we’re going to regret it later.”

You smile back at him, satisfied with the noise you’ve elicited. “Sounds like a problem for later, doesn’t it?” Then your hand squeezes his arm, motioning it back down to your now throbbing arousal. “For now, what was that about releasing my stress?”

“Oh very well… in that case, let’s find where you ache most, shall we?” Astarion murmurs, dipping his head, placing a kiss on the base of your neck. “Here?” Your shoulder. “Or perhaps here?” Then his hand settles back between your legs, fingers touching you in a rather delicate caress. “Or maybe here?”

You hum a noise of approval as his . “Oh, there.”

His fingers close on your swollen sex, rubbing languidly as he whispers in your ear, “Mmm, darling. So much tension…” A bit more pressure. “I must simply…” A bit faster pace. “Massage it all away…”

If anything, his touches cause you to grasp at his legs harder, all of the muscles in your body responding in kind to his ministrations. Your back arches instinctively, earning an exquisite groan from Astarion. So when his next stroke causes you to clench, you lean into it, grinding your ass back into the full length of his erection, sliding easily in the water’s low friction.

His other hand finds its way to your hip, helping you match his pace as you continue to rock into him.

The two of you fall into a beautiful, raucous rhythm, each open and generous with your vocal pleasure, the water’s regular splashes punctuating each movement.

“Yes, yes, gods, Astarion.”

“My sweet, you’re the only divine thing here.”

Then your words begin to lose sense, your rhythm begins to falter, and it’s clear that you won’t last much longer under his caring fingers.

You also know that Astarion hasn’t been tended to nearly as well as you have.

So you move to turn toward him. With how his full length twitches against you in urgency, your own nimble fingers ought to return the favor.

Astarion stops you, placing his unoccupied hand back on your chest to hold you in place. "Ah ah ah. Love, I'm here to help you."

"You are helping,” you start, pushing back against his hand. “But I don’t want to leave you like this.” ‘This’ is obvious as the man clearly exercises every ounce of self control he has judging from the visible veins on his arm, the way his legs squeeze reflexively around you each time he strokes you.

He gives you a reluctant groan, one that does nothing to hide his desire. “Must you always be so selfless?” His hand doesn’t release your chest though, and he begins tracing delicate, wet circles around one of your nipples, as he murmurs, “Fine, just let me continue.”

Staying in place for him, you reach back with one hand to feel for his cock. It’s almost unreal how naturally you slot around him, the way your fingers circle around its girth. The entire length, inch-by-inch, the pattern of his veins, the sensitive lip of his head– they’re all intimately familiar to you now. As is finding just the right grip, the right pace.

When you start to pump him in earnest, Astarion can't help but shudder, his movements losing their steady, pulsing beat. In losing his pace, he takes on a new one– erratic, a bit fumbling, but utterly intoxicating.

You're both stoking each other’s fires in tandem, wildly offset in your desperation to touch each other more and more and more. 

The water feels almost cool compared to your heated core, to the sweet friction you're building together.

Astarion's face tilts into your back, grunting as he strains to right his tempo– his forehead presses against you, his cool exhale grazes your searing skin. His chilled touch is a reprieve in the sweltering fog of steam and heady lust. Hearing your sigh of relief, he seems all too willing to make more contact.

His lips crash onto your back roughly, and his fangs nick your skin. An involuntary shiver runs through your body as you imagine the pleasure his drinking evokes from you. As you imagine the man behind you lapping at your neck, moaning in satisfaction, flushed pink with your very blood–

"Take some blood,” you offer, breathless. Imagining would never be enough, you find yourself craving the real deal. So when you say your next word, it comes out more pleading than you intend, “Please."

“Whatever my dearest desires,” Astarion replies, voice low and rumbling. He removes the hand from your chest and places it on your shoulder, holding you in place as he places his lips at the crook of your neck. His nose rubs gently against your fleshly washed skin. “Mmm, you smell so good.”

Then his fangs pierce you.

When you first began your relationship, you hadn’t intended to enjoy his bites as much as you do, but after years and years of them, the pain hardly registers now. All you feel is close– So very close to the man you would gladly give your lifeblood to.

He draws a gulp, and you feel the blood course through you, into him.

Another drink, and heat builds in you as you feel his cock grow harder in your hand, his veins more prominent.

A third long pull of your blood, and you feel his fingers quicken at your aching arousal.

You jerk into his hand in reaction, trying to seek an outlet for your pleasure. Your mouth emits a whimper– you hadn’t been comfortable whimpering with Astarion at first, but after he drew one out of you, he couldn’t get enough.

He still can’t, and you feel his lips curl into a smile at your neck, his fingers move with more urgency.

All the while you continue stroking his length, fingers sloppy in your own hazy state. It doesn’t seem like you need your usual dexterity though, because Astarion is practically writhing with newfound reactivity. Drinking blood always leaves him especially sensitive.

One last shaky swallow and he removes his fangs from your neck. But not his mouth. His tongue begins lavishing your puncture wound furiously as he struggles to hold back his approaching peak.

With the way he haphazardly tilts his hips into you, it’s all too evident to you that he’s reaching his limit. He’s not afraid to tell you so either.

"My sweet," he all but moans into your ear. "I–I can't last much longer. May I?"

You know what he means, and you honestly can’t last much longer either– you’re positively light-headed from a mixture of bliss and blood loss. So you stop your movements, nod your addled head at him.

He removes his hands from your core and neck, reaching out to your legs. Pulling them out and apart, he shuffles behind you, moving impatiently.

Realizing he can’t do this alone, he gestures, motioning for you to put your legs up.

Still a bit dizzy, you carefully place each leg on either side of the tub’s edges, hooking yourself in place by the ankles. It feels a precarious balance, but you can hardly care when you’re this eager to have Astarion inside you.

Astarion seems just as eager, rubbing his length against your ass hungrily as you get into position.

Perched and ready for him, the man is quick to help once more– his hands grip your asscheeks and lift in a swift movement. You’re particularly buoyant in the water, and you rise higher than either of you had expected. Your hand instinctively reaches out, gripping the edge of the tub to brace yourself, and you hear Astarion give a deep chuckle from behind you.

Holding back your own almost giddy excitement, you try to compose yourself for him. Angling your hips up, you’re almost floating on the water for a moment as Astarion lines the tip of his cock with your entrance.

However, you’re instinctively clenching a second later when a pair of your lover’s fingers tease at your opening. You barely avoid clamping your legs back together at the sensation. 

Recovering from the tickling probe, you look back to see a lust-drunk fanged smile, lips smeared with red. "Astarion, please,” you mutter. “I can't balance like this all day."

"Come darling, I know you’re quite talented," he taunts, easily gliding his fingers back in, curling until you truly do begin to lose balance.

"Astarion," you breathe out, clutching the side of the tub even harder to stay afloat.

Then his fingers slip back out, replaced a moment later by the head of his cock. “No need to worry, I have a seat for you right here.”

His palms cup your backside, his fingers squeeze, as you lower your hips back down, taking in his entire, slick length effortlessly in the water.

“Now isn’t that better?” he asks, grabbing your hips with one hand, the other finding yours on the side of the tub for support.

“Mmm,” is all that you manage, as you adjust to the sudden fullness. You haven’t lain with anyone else in so long, it’s hard to remember a cock other than his. Still, you can’t help but feel like he settles in you just right. Especially when you both slot together neatly, you taking him to the hilt.

Astarion drops another kiss on your back. “Comfortable?”

“Mhm,” you mumble. Now that you’re securely held in place by Astarion’s hips flush to yours, your legs hanging off the tub’s edges, you place your second hand back at your aching arousal. You begin to stroke yourself back into the same fervor Astarion had you in moments ago.

After a small, deliberate thrust of his hips, testing how you rise and fall in the water, Astarion starts moving against you. It’s slow at first, the water rippling out from you both in small waves. Then his hips rock back, only to drive back into you with sloshing force. 

“A–ahh!” Sweet hells, he knows exactly how to hit your most sensitive spot. You had already been so heated, but now, with your lover’s full, hardened length pressing into you? You feel dizzy with pleasure.

Years of lovemaking, and you’re still in awe of how well he knows your body. It’s more than his previous experiences culminating in some kind of skillful paramour. No, this was built through time, trial, error, effort.

So as this gorgeous man you call love bounces you up and down in his lap, you feel yourself coming undone. Your breaths come ragged as you ride his cock, water spilling out of the tub with each and every buck. Your fingers clench the tub, barely holding on as you feel your pleasure coil tighter and tighter.

Astarion places kiss after kiss down your back, and you hear him murmuring, "Gods you're perfect." A harder kiss. "You feel so good." Another thrust. "Each." A nip at your skin. "And every." A thrust. "Time." Another kiss. "I–I love you."

For your part, you’re finding entire sentences difficult. With the feel of him throbbing inside you, the way his lips feel along your back, each roll of his hips, you're truly only capable of a few phrases. "Astarion." A splashing bounce. "I love you–" A loll back of your head. "Oh hells–" A dip of your hips. "I love you too."

When your peak finally runs through you like a shockwave, when you clench around him in ecstasy, those very same words are still on your lips. "I l–love you."

He moans at the sudden tightness, the muscles that now hold him deep within you. "Darling," he breathes. "Oh love. I can't–"

Astarion means to say that he can't hold on much longer. He'd already been so close, holding back only to keep your pleasure going. So you reach down to his fingers on your hip, as best as you can while still hanging on for dear life, and squeeze his hand. A wordless affirmation, a plea to join you, as he always has.

And it’s that silent communication that has his fingers lacing through yours, his neck craning back, his hips stuttering.

When he comes, there's no pretense or performance. There hasn't been for many years. So when you look back at his face in a hazy fuzz of emotion, the expression you see is utterly unbridled.

It's a look of sheer pleasure– his perfectly pale skin flushed a light rosy color, his usually impeccable hair stuck to his face in a mixture of sweat and water. His eyes are shut, his mouth agape as he spills into you.

So enraptured are you by the mundane beauty of his climax, that you’ve strained too far from your precariously balanced position. Your foot unhooks from the tub’s slippery edge and you fall onto Astarion’s lap with a large splash as he finishes. You’re both left panting and wet in the wake of both your and the tub’s peaks.

Water drips down your face, all of the soap bottles have been knocked from the edge of the tub. The high you’d felt just moments ago feels doused in the stark reality of making love in a bathtub. 

However, when you feel Astarion’s breathy laughter on your back, feel his softening cock twitch with his last few thrusts, you know he’s still in fine spirits.

You stay together for a few moments as you both collect yourselves. Water is wiped from eyes, your second leg comes back into the tub, and several deep breaths are had. Once you’re relatively sorted, Astarion pulls himself out of you with a long, happy sigh.

The man falls back from you, sitting against the end of the tub in a tired flop. Then he’s patting the water in front of him, motioning you to join him in some post-coital cuddles.

You don’t need much more of an invitation.

Floating through the now much lower water, you stop just in front of him. Movements relaxed, you wrap your legs around his waist, your arms around his neck, and scoot into his waiting embrace.

"So," you start, looking at the wasteland of water and strewn soap bottles around the tub. "Looks like we made a mess."

"I told you we would," he says, closing his arms around you, pulling you against his chest.

"I know," you say, leaning into him comfortably. Your body is truly exhausted now, but your mind is a buzz of joy. "It was worth it though."

He laughs into your shoulder, squeezes you tighter. "Feeling better, I take it?"

"Gods yes," you say, tilting your head into his silver hair. "Thank you."

"Oh my sweet, it was my utmost pleasure," he replies, and you can feel his smile on your skin.

You both lean back, grinning at each other like fools. The smiles stay, even when your lips meet in a soft, wet kiss.

You will need to clean the room, the tub, likely your bodies once again– but all you can truly feel right now is content. Enjoying Astarion’s gentle fingers as they trace a pattern onto your skin, the warm water all around you, you very nearly forget that today was merely a day like any other.

The thousandth time you made love to Astarion, it was messy and wet and silly– somehow, it was sweet, caring, and loving all the same.

The thousandth time you made love to Astarion, you didn't know it was the thousandth time.

Just as you hadn't known your tenth thousand kiss, nor your hundred thousandth 'I love you.' Were anyone to ask you about them, you might not even remember the days or events surrounding any of them.

What you do know is that each individual moment holds no less importance, that the affection shared between you doesn’t diminish with each recurrence.

You’re unable to quantify your love, nor would you want to. All you really want is Astarion– his soft lips, tender hands, and whispered words of love– until your dying breath.

[dragons-and-yellow-roses]

I love horror movies.

But I have extreme anxiety.

No seriously it's so bad that just looking through the horror titles on Netflix is spooking me.

But I love horror movies!

But I live alone.

So. You see my problem.

[srjlvr]

SEVEN ROYALTIES

,, once upon a time there was a princess who managed to melt the prince’s cold heart ” — park jay.

park jay x fem!reader genre: arranged marriage , one sided love at first , angst , fluff ! warnings: curse words , mentions of food (nothing serious, just dinner breakfast and all) , uhh dunno if it’s really a warning but just a rude behavior. | NOT FULLY PROOFREAD!!

WORD-COUNT ; 5.1k+

NOTE. it took me a while to finish it forgive me my loves. i’ve been in london and came back so i couldn’t really write it for a few hours straight. i reaalllllllly hope you’d find a way to like jay’s part as it’s not really my fav so far i’m sorry- i love you all!! hints of jake’s story are dropped in here as well ;)

royal life sucks.

at least that’s what you believe. others would say it’s the best thing that a person can wish for—and by others you mean your parents.

ever since you were a child you were taught how to behave, how to speak formally and how to treat others like a princess should.

oh and of course how can your silly little brain forget? you need to get ready for marriage as soon as you’re born into a royal family.

so royal life does suck. a lot.

you’ve met numerous princes from all across the country. with you’re parents forcing you to meet any prince they see—it’s quite hard to avoid all of them.

on one of the days, you wanted to catch a breath, so you went to the forest that was the nearest to your own castle.

groaning as you heard your parents yelling at you to take the guards with you, you quickly turned your heels and walked away. the guards will eventually find you anyway.

you sat by one of the trees as soon as you dived deep in the forest. you opened your favorite book you took from your library and started reading it.

you fell asleep after a while, being too tired of life in general and your parents’ constant screams about finding a prince to marry didn’t help any of that at all.

you woke up to a rustle noise and put your hands up since you thought you were caught by the royal guards.

it wasn’t the case at all.

you got up and noticed a little child roaming around the forest. you were about to go up and help him until something stopped you.

“hey! kid! what are you doing here all by yourself?” to be more specific, it was someone.

he wore a uniform only a royal blood would wear—he’s definitely a prince.

you looked at the prince and god, he was so breathtaking. his uniform suit him the best, and his jawline was definitely one to stare at. how come you’ve never met him?

“i-i got lost in the forest, i don’t know the way back” the kid’s eyes were filled with tears.

“hey, it’s okay, don’t cry” he smiled and grabbed the child’s hand, “let’s get you out of this forest”

the kid nodded, “what is your name?” he asked.

“my name is jay” the prince held a hand over his chest as a friendly gesture and the kid smiled, “i’ll tell my mother about you jay”

the prince laughed and shook his hand, “no need to! you should keep that as a secret”

the prince and the kid kept walking until they were nowhere in sight and you finally released a breath you didn’t know you were holding.

you have to meet that prince jay no matter what.

his kindness was what attract you the most to him. who can blame you? beside his outstanding visual, he seemed so kind and generous. definitely a one you’d like to marry.

you came back to the castle and prepared yourself to hear loads of screamings from your parents, but instead you were greeted with a wide smile smeared over their face.

“what’s with that face? you’re scaring me” you sighed.

they looked at each other and cheered at the same time, “we found the perfect husband for you!”

“what?” you spit out.

“we have everything closed! a husband, a place and of course, a date!” they clapped.

“you didn’t even ask me about it!” you shout and they rolled their eyes, “you’re getting old already y/n, and we’re definitely not getting younger. you need to marry someone already so we decided to help you a little”

“this is ridiculous, i can’t believe on you” you shook your head and went back to your room.

“be ready for the meeting tomorrow at ten in the morning!” they shout as you harshly closed the door.

“good morning your majesty, the queen asked me to wake you up early today and help you get ready” one of your servants softly caressed your hair.

you sighed and nodded, “thank you”

you got up and your servants helped you to get ready to meet your soon-to-be husband.

you thought about running away multiple times before, but now you’re definitely considering it as your only way out.

“what if i’ll just run away?” you mumbled while your servants were busy fixing your dress, “don’t be like that your majesty, you’re our only hope in this kingdom after your parents” one of them answered.

they’re actually right. as an only child it is your responsibility to take after your parents when their time will come to an end.

“come on, quickly! we don’t want to be late” you mother waved her hand at you and signaled you to get into the car quicker.

you sighed heavily, an obvious look of disappointment and sadness is smeared all over your face.

“we’re driving to hybe’s kingdom now, i’m sure you’ve heard of them” your father excitedly explained, “you’re going to meet prince jay, your soon-to-be husband”

your eyes light up, did he just say prince jay?

“prince jay?” you asked and your parents nodded.

“his mother is a good friend of mine, when she heard that we’ve been searching for a husband for you she told me one of her sons needs to marry off to someone too!” the queen smiled, “in order to take the throne he has to marry someone, which means you’re getting a kingdom for yourself!”

“it’s not my kingdom” you murmured, “but i am excited to meet my soon-to-be husband”

your parents clapped hearing the exciting news. they never thought you’d get so excited to meet the person you’re off to marry.

“good afternoon” hybe’s queen greeted your parents with a lovely smile and a welcoming hug.

“afternoon! how have you been?” you mother asked her while you curtsy in front of the other queen, “wonderf—oh what a pleasing surprise to see such a beautiful face here in this kingdom”

you smiled widely, “good afternoon, your majesty. i’m l/n y/n”

she then giggled, covering her mouth with her fingers as a formal gesture, “you don’t need to be so formal with me young lady, i’m your mother in law already”

“your mother told me a lot about you! i had to get one of my sons to marry you no matter what” she added.

the king then called everyone to gather in the dining hall and you did as he told.

“it’s nice to finally meet you, my future wife”

as soon as you arrived into the dining hall you were greeted by prince jay, your soon-to-be husband with a kiss on your hand and a slight bow.

before you even noticed it, you were already a blushing mess. this man surely knows how to fluster people!

“it’s nice to meet you too, my future husband” you smiled and curtsy in front of him.

he stared at you and you couldn’t deny his breathtaking visuals. you held your breath, suddenly feeling so nervous around the prince.

your parents made you sit next to jay, you were between him and your parents, as jay was between you and his family.

“so,” one of the seven siblings started speaking, “i’m heeseung, the next one as you already know is jay, then jake, sunghoon, sunoo, jungwon and riki”

you nodded, “it’s nice to meet you all, i’m l/n y/n”

their parents then clapped, “we’ll be leaving now with your parents! stay here and chat for a bit, we’ll tell you all the details later today”

you nodded again, this time a bit hesitated since you’re going to stay alone with your future husband and his six other siblings.

or so you thought.

“we’ll be going now as well, after all you do need some privacy” jake smiled warmly at you.

you looked at the rest of the siblings and they all mouthed you a goodluck,

why were they looking at you with such pity in their eyes?

“so—” you planned on starting your little speech now that you’re alone with jay, but he cut you off before you could even continue.

“don’t get the wrong idea, i’m doing all of this for the throne and my kingdom,” he groaned, “in order to get my kingdom i need to marry, you’re the best option i have right now”

you were taken aback, completely speechless and disappointed.

“shouldn’t you give this a chance? we’re marrying anyway so we should try to—“

“i don’t believe in love anyway,” he scoffed, “especially not when it comes to marrying off to someone like you”

“someone like me?”

he nodded and replied, “a spoiled princess who marries off to a prince”

“i saw you yesterday, in the woods, helping a little boy,” at this point tears started to form in your eyes, “you were so kind to him, why am i different?”

now he’s the speechless one. it took him a while to think of an answer and as he was about to reply both of your parents entered the room again.

you pressed on your eyes to clean the tears that were threatening to fall and smiled at yours and his parents.

“the wedding will be held next week! it’s official and it’ll happen in our ballroom” your mother-in-law smiled warmly at you.

she seemed kind, unlike one of her children.

you nodded and your parents cheered, “i can’t believe my daughter is going to marry” your mother pat your head and you tried not to cringe.

“you’ll pay a visit in your kingdom in a few days as well” your father-in-law added.

this whole idea feels surreal. you? marrying off to a prince? and you didn’t even do anything against it!

you believe that sooner or later, jay will find a way to fall in love with you and find some interest in you as you already did in him.

“morning! i’m taking you to choose a wedding dress today” your mother woke you up with a big smile on her face.

the whole idea about being able to marry a prince you finally found some interest in really excited you.

you’re almost sure that he didn’t mean what he said yesterday, and it’s probably because he got stressed about the whole wedding thing. keyword, almost.

you decided to give him time, and maybe after the wedding he’ll calm down.

“you look so beautiful” your mother held her hands over her mouth and tried really hard not to cry.

you held her hands and smiled, “thank you mom, i got my beauty from you”

the whole week passed in a blink of an eye, and you were already getting ready for your own wedding, held in hybe’s huge castle.

loads of princes and princesses from all over came to congratulate the new couple and to your request, a few important citizens were invited as well.

your visit in your new kingdom that was held a few days ago was nothing but humiliating.

you were busy greeting the citizens while jay went to the other side of the town, completely as far away from you.

the citizens kept asking you if you’re doing okay and if you’re sure about that marriage since prince jay doesn’t seem to treat you right, but you just giggled and shrugged it off, telling them it’s ‘completely normal for a couple to have a fight a few days before their wedding’.

you then arrived to your new castle together, “walking with me around the town isn’t something bad to do, you know that right?” you asked him before you entered but all he did was to ignore you.

you took a few moments to take in the beauty of your castle and your garden, forgetting about the fact that jay is standing next to you with fierce eyes.

“you’ll be taking the room at the end of this hall and i’ll be taking the one on the other side” he started speaking, “don’t talk to me unless it’s important” he added and you scoffed.

did he really have to separated your bedrooms too?

“jay we’re going to be a married couple, don’t you think that—“

“i already told you i don’t care about this marriage, you should be thankful i’m letting you in the castle anyway” he rolled his eyes and entered his new room.

you stayed there, dumbfounded and speechless again for the nth time.

“it’s okay, he’s probably just stressed, that’s all” you convinced yourself to calm down and forced a smile.

the guards that came to accompany you looked at you with an apologetic look, feeling sorry for what just happened and what is about to happen in the future.

as you were now pronounced as a husband and a wife, you couldn’t help but take a look at jay, who was standing right next to you and holding your hand.

for the first time ever since you first met, he smiled at you.

maybe there’s a chance for the both of you?

your wedding was more than amazing, your parents kept on smiling and laughing, it honestly made you feel relieved about the whole situation.

the rest of the guests kept congratulating you and complimenting you about how good you look.

your mother-in-law kept hugging you and showing you off to her friends.

jay couldn’t stop smiling at you and staring at you as well and honestly? that felt so good.

until the moment you were left alone in your new castle. thinking that maybe, only maybe now jay will show some interest and ask you how do you feel about the wedding and the whole situation.

instead, he just got inside his room, not before commenting something like “don’t talk to me unless it’s something important” for the second time.

jay was always known as the cold hearted prince in his family. he can’t explain why and won’t even budge to explain as well. his ego is boosted enough to care about himself and himself only. and well, maybe sometimes his family.

when his parents said the exciting news about getting a kingdom in terms of marriage, he was the first one to jump and ask from his parents a little help, that’s the only reason he got married before the first prince, heeseung.

he doesn’t believe in love. he thinks it’s stupid and distractful, he likes being alone.

when he saw you, he couldn’t deny your beauty, he got a bit taken aback by your gorgeous smile that was smeared all over your face.

but he couldn’t show how mesmerized he was, not when his image is the cold hearted prince and his ego is up in the sky.

he couldn’t deny the fact that he likes your presence, even if both of you spent about an hour alone.

he still remembers the first time he saw you. he was around the woods, walking around and exploring the view, until he saw a figure laying besides a tree.

he walked a bit closer and that’s when he noticed your peacefully sleeping face. god, you looked so pretty even when you slept.

he didn’t know you nor your name, but he felt so relaxed when he saw you.

until he heard some rustles and was sure someone or something was about to attack you.

when he noticed it was a little child his eyes softened and he ran to the child in order to help him.

on a usual day he wouldn’t care about the lost child, but something about your presence made him want to help out and take care of the child.

as soon as he saw that he was going to marry you, he had to push you away at any cost.

you’d be a distraction for him, and that’s a big no.

you on the other side however, held hope about this marriage, after all you weren’t being taught about marriage and how to be good to your family your whole life for nothing, were you?

the first morning after your marriage was quite weird to say the least.

you weren’t awaken up by your parents’ annoying remarks about marriage, and you weren’t even being called into breakfast.

you quickly got ready and went down to the dining hall, already seeing jay sitting in one of the chairs and eating his breakfast already.

“you could’ve called me for breakfast…” you whispered but it was enough for him to hear.

“why would i?” he asked and you were left speechless, “nevermind” you shrugged and sat on one of the chairs across the table.

breakfast was awkward and quiet. none of you spoke, only sounds of muffling were heard between the two of you.

“should we walk around the town today? i feel like we—“

jay sighed, cutting you off, “no, i don’t see a reason to do so”

you replied with a quiet ‘oh’ and nodded, “either way i’ll be going out to—“

“i don’t care” he cut you off again.

you pressed your lips together and nodded again, leaving your seat and going back to your room.

you had to do something about it, there’s no way he hates you that much, right?

that evening, after committing all your duties for the day, you arrived to the castle’s kitchen, greeting all the servants with a kind smile and asking them to teach you how to cook.

“your majesty, a royal blood like you shouldn’t cook your own dinner” they said but you shrugged them, “i insist, i want to make my husband a small surprise, even though i’m not the best cook”

they all nodded and taught you everything you need to know.

at dinner, you sat at the same seat you took at breakfast. right across jay, who was busy daydreaming about something.

you waited for him to finish the food and asked him, “how was the food?”

“appetizing” he answered coldly and pushed back his chair to get up and walk back to his room.

you were bored. you had no one to rely on. the servants became your best friends now ever since you asked them to help you at the kitchen.

you asked them to teach you how to do laundry, cook, clean and much more.

you had nothing to do anyway so why not?

you did most of those things to impress jay. but all you got in return was scoffs and ignorance from his side.

it sucked. and if you thought royal life sucks, this is ten times more awful than royal life only.

he got sick? you’re the one who’s running around with medicine. he felt a bit hungry? you’d be the one to cook him meals. not even minding the facts you have tons of servants in the castle.

after a while into your marriage, and your dozens attempts of making jay have a slight interest in you, you got tired of it.

you felt drained. you felt tired. you felt unwanted.

in one of the days you paid a visit in your parents’ castle.

your one and only home.

you looked at them, eyes full with nothing but love when they looked at each other. you won’t ever see them doing something by themselves, always having to rely on each other no matter what.

you envy them, you feel jealousy whenever you’re watching them and you don’t know what to do about it.

“i was thinking,” you called out in your dinner with your parents, “it’s been a while since we’ve been together and i really miss the both of you”

you sighed, “can i come over for a few days?”

you had to do it. even though all your parents did was to worry about you getting married, they still showed you and showered you with love.

you need to feel loved now, you need those few days with them now. and maybe even eventually you’ll never go back to your current kingdom.

your parents looked at each other shocked, “is everything okay between you and jay?” your mother asked.

not wanting to ruin jay’s image, you nodded, “nothing bad happened, i just miss you two”

“if that is the case then of course! you know this is your own kingdom as well” your father opened his arms out and you hugged him.

you got back to the castle without even having your usual dinner with jay.

he felt frustrated, were you busy doing something more important than a dinner with him?

he knew it wasn’t his place to brag, heck he shouldn’t even feel frustrated, but he can’t help it.

“the food tastes different today” he mumbled, “i wonder why”

of course he doesn’t know you’re the one the always cooked him his meals so far.

you made the servants swear on their own life that they’ll keep that as a secret for their whole life.

and for the first time ever since your marriage and ever since you were taught how to cook, you didn’t cook for him. and he couldn’t understand why it tasted so different for him to the point that he didn’t even want to finish his meal.

the next morning you packed your stuff and stood by the door, you looked over jay who tilt his head in confusion, “i’ll be leaving now” you started.

“i don’t know for how long, and i’m sure you don’t even care. so don’t mind me” you took your last bag and walked away.

jay was left speechless. did you really just admit that you’re leaving him? does that mean you’re planning to divorce him?

why does he even care?

“she’ll be back” he whispered and went to have his breakfast.

he was so wrong for that.

it has been a few days, even weeks since he last saw you.

people started talking and spreading rumors about a divorce between you two, and his parents paid a visit in the kingdom.

he used a lame excuse of “she’s on duties, she told me she’ll be back late and is extremely sorry for not being able to greet you two” and they believed him.

a few days later he was invited to hybe’s kingdom, to meet the person his older brother heeseung fell in love with.

when he heard about the person being the same commoner he warned heeseung about, he couldn’t understand him.

how dare he break the rule of not marrying a commoner?

how did he even managed to fall in love with such a commoner?

he only then realized how messed up he was the moment he heard heeseung’s partner explaining how much she loves him.

he felt even more devastated when he heard how much his older brother is willing to sacrifice in order to marry the commoner.

there’s got to be something that he’s been doing wrong.

you, on the other hand really missed jay. even if he wasn’t even sparing you a glance, even though he ignored you most of the time, even though he denied anything you suggested, you can’t lie you just want to start all over again with him.

there’s something about him that kept you attracted to him, you can’t let go of that feeling.

spending the last few days with your parents made you realize that all you had to do was to confront him instead of going around in circles and trying to get his attention.

jay’s guilty feelings were eating him alive.

just now he heard from the servants that you were the one who took care of him all the time.

this is the only reason his food tasted differently lately, and the medicine he takes when he’s sick has changed.

he’s got to do something about it, but what and how?

“hey, sunghoon,” jay called his brother and sunghoon answered with a short ‘hm’. “have you seen jake?”

sunghoon looked up at jay and slowly shook his head, “i don’t know where he has been lately, he has been gone for a few days already, i’ve been lying to mom and dad about his whereabouts but i really don’t know where he is”

damn. he wasn’t expecting that answer. jake? running away from royalty? what has been going on lately in the little mind of his?

jake is known as the best advice giver, and jay wanted to ask him for some advice about his marriage life. but now that he’s a runaway prince who can jay talk to?

“jungwon,” jay knocked on his younger brother’s door and opened it right after.

“is everything okay?” jungwon asked worriedly.

“i need help,” he sighed, “i messed up, big time”

“is this about your marriage?” jungwon already knew. he was expecting his older brother to mess up his marriage. after all, he wasn’t expecting from much when his brother’s ego is boosted up.

“you should go to her” before jay could even speak again, jungwon put his hand on jay’s shoulder, “admitting that you messed up in front of her is the best thing you can do right now”

jay nodded slowly, “how did you—“

“lying to mom and dad and telling them she’s on duties? not showing up with her for dinner with everyone? come on! it’s so obvious”

“thank you” jay smiled and ruffled the younger’s hair, “update me with whatever is happening” jungwon chuckled.

“you should update me with whatever is happened with jake! where is that idiot?”

jungwon shrugged and sighed, “all he said is that he might be back in a few months, or never”

“what about mom and dad?”

“they don’t know anything, they’re sure he’s staying in his friend’s kingdom for a bit”

jay shook his hand, “let’s hope he’ll be back soon”

that night jay could barely sleep. he spent hours over hours thinking about a way to get you back to him.

he only now realized how much he cares about you, how much he likes your presence, how much he misses you and needs you.

he wanted to tell you all of this but didn’t know how to put it in words, what can he do?

the moment he woke up he cursed under his breath. he knows you’re at your parents’ kingdom, which means he has to tell your parents what happened as well.

can his life be more miserable? he can’t blame anyone but himself honestly.

he took a deep breath before entering your castle.

bowing in front of your parents and waiting for a response from them.

“jay! what a pleasant surprise to see such a king in our home” the queen smiled warmly at them.

“how can we help you?” the king asked.

“i’d like to see your daughter and my wife, y/n” he gulped, nervous and scared of their reaction.

“it’s really been a while since she went back to your home, i guess she missed us that much!” the queen giggled.

jay froze for a second. you didn’t tell them about the whole situation at all? why do you still care so much about him when he treated you so bad?

he couldn’t take it anymore and as soon as your parents guided him to your room, his eyes roamed around and finally softened when he found you.

“jay?” you asked. you were facing the window and took in the view, until you heard your door opening and turned around to welcome the guest, “what are you doing here?”

“y/n” he whispered and got closer to you.

you frozed, it was the first time he called your name ever since your wedding. what happened to him?

you tried to read his eyes but couldn’t. his fierce gaze is long gone, his softened eyes replaced it.

“i’m so sorry” he stopped when he felt he was too close to you. he was actually one step from caging you in his arms, but was scared you’re too angry and hurt to care about him.

“you’re…” you breathed, “sorry?”

you’re almost certain this whole situation is a one big dream.

prince jay? the cold hearted prince? just apologized? in front of you?

“i’m sorry, i was being a jerk, i wasn’t thinking straight” he shook his head, “i thought that if i’d let myself get distracted by you i’d get lost, but i was so wrong. i’m so lost without you”

you couldn’t believe what you’ve just heard. it feels too surreal to see jay almost begging on his knees for forgiveness.

you could see his eyes filled with tears that were threatening to fall. “when i first saw you i was so taken aback by your beauty, you’re so pretty y/n. i loved your presence, even if it was for just a few seconds because i was being a jerk and always ran away from you”

when he noticed your soft gaze he finally stepped closer and caged you in his arms, “i was so wrong. i was scared to fall in love but i already did. it took me so much time to realize that i’m sorry y/n” he whispered in your ear.

he felt so relieved when you wrapped your hands around him and buried your face in his neck.

“it took you so long, idiot” you chuckled, “i’m glad you finally realized how much of a jerk you were and i’m expecting for a payback”

he giggled and nodded, “i’ll give you anything you want as long as you promise to stay with me” he held out a pinky and you interlocked your own with his, “i promise”

not even a day passed and you were already back in your kingdom. yours and jay’s kingdom.

he promised to love you forever, and even planned a little wedding for the both of you, saying that “that wedding was nothing but toxic, you deserve a new and a better wedding”

you played along with him and remarried him again, this time with both of your hearts full with love and affection to each other.

“did you know?” he asked and you hummed, “what?”

he kissed your sweet lips and smiled through the kiss, “i love you so much”

you playfully pushed him and giggled, “i love you so much too, jay”

a few days passed and ni-ki’s birthday was held in hybe’s kingdom.

jay introduced you to heeseung and his future wife and after a while of talking ni-ki called you and you had to go.

jay smiled at heeseung and his partner, apologizing for acting like a jerk and thanking them for saving his marriage.

he went back to you right after that and pecked your lips while holding you tightly.

“by the way, ni-ki asked me to adopt him and i agreed”

“why would you do that—“

“my new parents! i love you!” ni-ki hugged the both of you as you both giggled and held him tightly.

TAG-LIST ; @jaeneohee @hsgwrld @enhastolemyheart @enhacatalog @kaykay11sworld @ipoststuffandyeah @beomsbeanie @queestionmark @ineedsomezzz @yenqa @ikayyyyyy @nshmrarki @asteriaskingdom @loumin908

PERM TAG-LIST ; @sungwhoonz @ohdudehesflirting @unlikelysublimekryptonite @deobiis @manooffline @miumiuoi @in-somnias-world @lovelovelovebts

••• copyright © srjlvr all rights are reserved.

[runningfrom2am]

cold nights // twenty-two

summary: you showed him colours he knows he can't see with anyone else.

pairing: coriolanus snow x fem!reader

wc: 3.8k

masterlists / nav / requests

tags/warnings: tribute!reader and mentor!coriolanus, r is very sweet (too kind for this world. literally.), sunshine x grumpy trope kinda, he falls first, violence typical for the source material, depictions of mental illness, also she's is very smart (as she should), district twelve!reader.

a/n: this is the last part of s2!! ahh i am so excited for s3 and i hope you guys too after this part :)

my asks are also open to talk about this series! (i do have emoji anons open now too!)

send me any and all of your thoughts! here!

series masterlist // playlist

When you come to, the air is cold on your skin and it's mostly dark. You groan, feeling the sway of someone carrying you very quickly.

"Hey, love. Hey..." Coryo says, noticing you stirring in his arms. "We're almost home. Hold on, I'm gonna get you some water."

"O-okay..." You agree, reaching up to rub your eyes so you can better see where you are. It's still nighttime, and you're outside. Looking up, the stars have filled the clear sky.

Coryo looks down at you, and then up. "The stars are beautiful. You were right." He tells you and you smile.

"I know." You whisper. "I'm glad you got to see them."

"Me too."

You almost fell asleep in his arms on the way back to their house. You didn't ask why they didn't take you home- part of you didn't want to know. Every time you caught yourself trying to piece together what happened before you fainted, your heart rate increased again. It wasn't good- that was all you knew.

Sejanus opens the door and Coryo is quick to lay you in his bed, kissing you on the forehead and giving you a bottle of water before quickly leaving. You can hear him and Sejanus talking, but you can't make out what they're saying. It sounds like Sejanus is crying.

You want to get up and help, but you are just so tired. You end up falling asleep.

Coryo didn't sleep at all all night. He tried after getting Sejanus to finally go to bed he came and laid with you, but it was no use. What would they do with you? They couldn't just leave you here- whatever history you and Cole had would no doubt come to light very critically in the fallout of his death. He didn't know if anyone had seen you go in or seen you there that night. After the games, it would be so easy to point the finger at you and call you dangerous and insane.

The bottom line of his decision: he couldn't leave you behind in Twelve.

He had a tentative plan, and you didn't have much of a choice if you wanted to live, but the hard part would be convincing you to come back to the Capitol. Well, convincing your whole family to let you come back to the Capitol.

He waited as long as he could before he had to wake you up, getting up and packing all his things while Sejanus did the same. You looked so peaceful, so untouched by everything horrible that has happened to you in your short life. You didn't know he was about to ruin your life again.

Carefully, when he knew you didn't have another moment more to spare, he sat down on the edge of the bed next to you. "Y/N/N?" He whispers, placing a hand on your shoulder. "Love, you have to wake up. I'm sorry."

You hum in your sleep, rolling onto your back. Your eyes open, only slightly, and you smile. "Hi..." You mumble, trying to untangle your hands from the sheets to rub your eyes.

"Morning..." Coryo smiles slightly. You're so beautiful. It's almost easier for him to just scoop you up and bring you with him just like that- sleepy and untroubled. How he ever imagined leaving without you by his side he didn't know.

"What time is it?" You ask, voice raspy from having just woken up.

"Just past three, but we need to get moving. I'm so sorry, love."

You push yourself up, still rubbing at your eyes. "What? It's so early. What's going on?"

Coryo sighs, running a hand over his jaw. "Let's... Let's get you something to eat and then I'll explain, okay?"

You nod, yawning and he stands as you throw your legs over the side of the bed.

"Oh- oh my god." You mumble, quickly standing up from the old chair at their dining table. Coryo and Sejanus look at each other nervously.

"I didn't know that would happen, I didn't even know they were using the money to buy guns." Sejanus defends himself and you nod, hands placed over your face.

"I know." You reply, voice muffled by your hands. "I just... oh my god. I thought it was a nightmare. I thought I was just having another nightmare I-"

"I know, but it's okay. You're gonna be okay."

"His sword, death's stamp, where it did mark, it took. From face to foot he was a thing of blood, whose every motion was timed with dying cries..." You mumble to yourself, pacing now. "Deaths stamp. The reckoning."

Sejanus looks at his friend as you ramble, eyes wide.

"Y/N?" Coryo tries to grab your attention, but with how quickly you were clearly spiraling he didn't want to touch you. "None of what happened was your fault or ours. There is nothing we could have done."

"I know, I know, I know but I can't stop it either everything is falling apart and I am killing everyone and who is next?"

"No, hey, you didn't kill anyone. No one is next." He assures you quickly. "They can't charge anyone if they can't find the guns, no one can prove we were even there. We just have to act as if nothing happened."

You nod, shaking out your hands and trying to breathe. "Okay, yes. Yes." You press your hands onto your chest, clocking your heart rate. A panic attack wouldn't help. "I am having a panic attack." You state, looking toward the two of them.

Sejanus doesn't say anything, but looks quickly between you and Coryo.

"I know, love." Coryo replies. "But you're going to be okay. We're safe here, but we need to get moving so we have to relax. Okay?"

You take a deep breath in through your nose, closing your eyes. Everything is okay. You can't panic now, it will only make everything worse.

"I'm calm. I'm calm." You tell yourself, but it isn't working. Coryo chews his cheek. He still hasn't even told you that you'll need to come with them.

"What was that joke you told me? From that book?" Coryo asks, trying to distract you. "I think Sejanus would like it, would you mind telling him?"

"'I can see he is not in your good books' The messenger said," You recite mechanically. "No, and if he were I would burn my library.'" You furrow your brow, shaking your head. "No, that wasn't it. It was the one about Benedick and his horse."

"Yes, the horse." Coryo chuckles, trying to help you down. "Although, that is funny too."

"Okay, okay." You nod, taking another big gulping breath. "In our last conflict four of his five wits went halting off, and now is the whole man governed with one: so that if he have wit enough to keep himself warm, let him bear it for a difference between himself and his horse; for it is all the wealth that he hath left, to be known a reasonable creature."

You finish, and Coryo smacks Sejanus's arm when all he does is give you a confused look, trying to track what is meant to be a joke.

Sejanus looks at him and Coryo nods toward you. "Oh! That... yes, that's very funny." Sejanus chuckles nervously.

"She's saying that you can't tell him from his horse because he's just about as smart as it." You explain, knowing he wouldn't have understood. "Well, he would be if she didn't let him keep one of his wits."

And just like that, you're breathing almost normally.

"Feeling better?" Coryo asks, approaching you carefully.

You swallow and nod. "Yes. Thank you." He takes your hand in his, gently rubbing the back of it under his thumb.

"Okay, now, this is the hard part."

You had agreed through tears. The idea of even setting foot in the Capitol again almost set you off, but you made it through. You knew it would be hard, terrifying even, but you would have Coryo, and that would help.

The three of you made your way back to your house in the dark, preparing for you to pack up your whole life in order to move in a matter of hours.

You sneak inside, closing the door quietly behind the three of you.

"Just wait in the living room." You whisper. "I'll start packing."

"Y/N, honey, is that you?" Your dad's voice shocks you, and your eyes shoot over to the clock. He hadn't yet left for work.

"Pa?" You walk into the living room where he is sitting, having his morning coffee.

"What were you doing out so late? Did you have fun?" He asks, and then his eyes go past you to the boys. "Oh, hello. Can't say we were expectin' company this early. Or late, I suppose, for you guys."

Your lip starts to quiver as you walk over to the couch. "What's wrong?" Your dad frowns, eyes back on you now as he puts his coffee down quickly, reaching out to rub your arms. "Did something happen?" He looks over to the boys, but they don't dare move.

"Pa..." You cry, sitting down next to him and he pulls you into a hug.

"Honey, what happened?" He frowns, holding you close. You wouldn't see him for so long, and it was breaking your heart.

"I..." You sniff, quickly running over your agreed story. "I'm leaving."

"Leaving? You don't need to go, you're safe here, Honey..."

You look up at him, trying to smile. "Can you get Ma? I need to talk to you both." You say, chin still wobbling with tears.

"Okay, stay right here. I'll get her." He promises, getting up and patting your head.

"Can... can you guys wait outside?" You whisper and both Coryo and Sejanus quickly nod, passing you to wait out back.

"What's happening, Y/N/N?" Your mom asks, brow furrowed as she pulls her housecoat tight around herself. "Are you okay?"

You nod, swallowing as you refresh yourself on the story you came up with. Your parents sit down, all eyes on you. "I..." You start, but you can't get it out without a sob. "I have to go back to the Capitol."

"What?" Your dad asks, brow furrowed as your mom already begins to cry. "They can't take you back, you won. Fair and square, you're home now."

"They aren't." You shake your head. "Coryo helped me apply to the university there and I was accepted. Our train leaves in a few hours."

Both your parents stare at you, absolutely in shock.

"I... What?" Your father asks again and you nod.

"Yes." You laugh slightly.

"But... You can't go, where will you stay? We can't afford any kind of school or even the food there." Your father shakes his head. "I'm sorry, I know you're happy and this is amazing but... that just won't work."

You shake your head again. "No, we thought of that. I'll stay with Coryo, and he will cover my tuition." This wasn't a lie, that's how he talked you into it, in fact- though you hadn't wanted to accept.

"Look, it won't be all bad. You can come to school with us, get an education. It'll be so good for you and your family." Coryo says, holding your hands between his own. "You can stay with me, I'll pay for everything with money from the prize. You gave it to me, anyways. I owe you that much."

"I can't take that from you... I can't leave them."

"I owe it to you, love. Besides, it's not forever." He promises. "You can come visit, and we'll pay for them to get a phone installed so you can call whenever you'd like. They even have these really nice ones with cameras, we'll get you one of those."

"The school won't take me, I don't have a Capitol degree." You sniff.

"Of course they will- everyone there loves you. They know how smart you are. You'll just have to do some testing first, and then you can major in whatever you like. Even literature."

"I can?"

"Of course you can. Whatever you want to do, anything in the world."

"What are you taking?" You ask, wiping your eyes.

"Political Science."  He answers. "But you could do... art history, creative writing, journalism, anything you want, love. Hell, you could even take mathematics if that's what you want." Coryo smiles, squeezing your hands. "You'll change your family's lives, and we can be together."

"Oh, honey..." Your mother cries, pulling you into her arms.

"He said we'll get you a phone, a nice one with a camera and I can call every day." You tell them through your tears, hugging her back. "And then I'll come back for you, with my shiny new education and neither of you will ever have to work again if you don't want to."

"I... I don't know what to say." Your father admits.

You laugh slightly, leaning into your mother's arms. "I don't either... I don't know."

You laughed and cried together, but you knew you couldn't tell them why you really had to leave on such short notice. They had to be happy for you to let you go without fear. Knowing anything about the truth would put their lives at risk. You cried harder when your father had to leave for work not long later; it would be a long time before you would see him again.

"Well." Your mom takes a deep breath in after a few minutes of your father being gone. "We better get you packed." She pushes herself up, and you join her.

"Ma." You stop her as she goes to make her way to the kitchen, no doubt to put on some tea for the process.

She turns, looking at you expectantly with reddened eyes.

"Lennox is going to hate me, isn't he?"

She frowns, pulling you into another hug. "No, honey. Never." She shushes you. "He may not like it at first, but he loves you so much. He could never hate you."

"You promise?"

"Of course, honey. Don't you think on it for even a minute. He'll miss you, but we'll be waitin' on you to come home. We'll be right here." She assures you. "And we are so proud. Don't worry about us, okay?"

"Parting is such sweet sorrow." You sniff, laughing slightly against her shoulder.

"This time, it is." She chuckles. "Now, let those boys back in and we can get moving. We don't want you to miss that train."

Somehow, you managed to pack everything up without waking your brother. You don't know if that was a good thing or not.

The sun began to rise as you made your way to the train station. Sejanus hadn't said a word since you left their temporary home.

"Y/N." Coryo whispers, and you look up at him. He's carrying one of your bags along with his, while you focus on the makeshift carrier in your arms that contains your cat. "When we get up there, let me do the talking."

You just nod, swallowing back another wave of tears. The guilt you felt was immeasurable, especially now that you allowed yourself to be excited. What if you did get into their school? Your whole life was about to change, but this time, hopefully for the better. But if it was all because of the deaths of three more District kids, how dare you think it may be worth it. Even if Mayfair was vile and Billy Taupe had an insatiable habit of cheating on Lucy Gray.

Lucy Gray. You didn't even say goodbye to Lucy Gray.

She wouldn't handle his death well, you knew that. You would have to write her immediately. Maybe that's what you would do on the train.

You would miss her greatly, but she would understand. Same as your parents, she would be proud. And you'd tell her about their phone and you could call her anytime you wanted as well. It would all be okay.

The train was heavily guarded by peacekeepers- though it was likely less so than usual. All the others were probably out already searching for the guns that killed the Mayor's daughter as well as a peacekeeper. It was unlikely they cared about Billy Taupe. You wish you could have warned your family that peacekeepers may come knocking, but the less they knew the better.

When you see Lucy Gray standing back against the building, looking out seemingly for the boys, your heart feels heavier in your chest. You don't say anything to them before you run up to her. You call her name and she turns, smiling at you.

"Hi, Hun. I wanted you to come say goodbye with me but I couldn't find ya last night, you weren't home when I came by after the show or this morning. I was worried."

"Oh, sorry. I slept over at theirs." You nod back to the boys as they approach behind you.

She smiles, but something in it is sad. Her eyes are puffy, clearly she had been crying. It was about Billy Taupe, no doubt.

"Y/N, I got something to tell you." She says quietly, and you tilt your head at her. "Last night..." Her eyes well up with tears again. "Last night Billy Taupe was murdered. He was shot, at the Hob. And Cole was too. I'm so sorry."

Coryo just catches the tail end of it, stepping in next to you and carefully watching your reaction. Or, what you thought your reaction was supposed to be.

You're quickly handing your bag off to Coryo and pulling her into your arms. "Oh- I'm so sorry, Lucy Gray... I'm so sorry."

Coryo and Sejanus look at each other as she cries in your arms.

"I was mad at him... I was so mad at him and I never got to say that I'm sorry."

"I know... God, honey I'm so sorry." You rub her back as you speak, focussing purely on comforting her. You had been close with him too. You don't know if Lennox knows yet, but you know he will be devastated. Just because Billy Taupe was an awful boyfriend to her at times didn't mean he wasn't still like family. "Don't beat yourself up about it, okay? It's not your fault. He knows you love him, okay? He knows."

She sniffs and you can feel her nod against your shoulder. "Love is immortality." You tell her quietly, kissing the side of her head.

"Y/N." Coryo says, hating to interrupt but the train wouldn't wait for you.

"I know." You reply, nodding as you pull away and take her hands in yours. "Lucy Gray, I am so sorry but I have to go."

"Go?" She looks at the boys behind you and the bags they're holding, there are several more than what they had arrived with. "You're going with them?" Her voice breaks and you nod, swallowing back tears.

"Coryo helped me apply to the university and they accepted me. Classes start in a couple of weeks." You lie, you couldn't find it in your heart to tell her you were there when Billy Taupe was killed.

She looks confused, squeezing your hands tight. "I... why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted to wait until we knew for sure. His cousin called last night and said the letter arrived, and it would have been so embarrassing if I didn't get in. I wish I could have told you sooner."

"You could tell me anything. You shouldn't have been embarrassed." She frowns, shaking her head. "I wish I had known- we could have had a goodbye party or something I just feel like you shouldn't be leaving just like this."

"It's okay, I don't need a party. You know that." You smile.

"I know." She sighs. "Well... I'm proud of you. I'm so proud of you. This is amazing."

"Thank you." You laugh slightly, realizing that the tears you were trying to hold back had started to fall. "I love you so much, I'll write you all every day and we're getting my house a phone so you'll be able to call too."

"Okay. We'll talk every day." Lucy Gray nods, sniffing. "I love you, Y/N." You give her another hug.

"It was so good to meet you, Lucy Gray. Thanks for everything." Coryo says as you let her go again. You take your bag back from him so he can hug her. "And I'm sorry about your friend..."

"Thank you... and of course, it was lovely to have some new faces here. I hope you'll come back sometime." She grins, wiping her eyes again as she pulls away.

When she looks at Sejanus who had been awfully quiet this whole time, you gently pull on Coryo's arm. "Let's give them a minute." You whisper and he nods, following you away. You can't look back, if you look at her again you aren't sure you'll be able to board the train at all.

"Excuse me." Coryo approaches the peacekeeper stationed by one of the train cars, pulling a slip of paper from his pocket. "My friend and I have tickets, back to The Capitol."

The peacekeeper takes it, looking it over. "You live there?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then why did you come to Twelve?"

"Oh, our friend Y/N lives here. We came to get her, she is coming back with us." He explains, flashing a charming smile as he looks back over at you.

"There's only two tickets here, and neither of them has her name on them."

"Yes, so, we were hoping she could just tag along. She won't take up much room."

"No. District personnel can't just go to the Capitol, you should know better."

"I do, yeah." Coryo nods. "But maybe you'd recognize her, that's Y/N Y/L/N, Victor of the tenth annual Hunger Games. I was her mentor. Under the circumstances we were hoping you'd make an exception- we haven't been able to call home about her ticket but they need her back there. It's a new thing, they want to do a Victory tour, some interviews- that kind of thing. They're trying lots of new stuff this year."

The peacekeeper looks past him and eyes you skeptically. You smile, giving a slight wave as Tybalt squirms in the carrier. "Good morning, officer. How are you?"

"What's in the bag?" He asks, returning his attention to Coryo and completely ignoring your question.

"See, she really wanted to bring her cat. Since the games he's been a real comfort to her, Dr. Gaul, head of the war department and head gamemaker, said that the cat wouldn't be an issue as long as he's kept inside. He'll be an indoor cat only, officer."

"No animals." He shakes his head. "She can go, but a cat isn't necessary cargo."

"Okay, well..." Coryo sighs, looking back at you. You can see the panic shift in his eyes. There was no time to take Tybalt home, and you weren't going to set him loose here. Either Tybalt comes, or neither of you do, and that was hardly an option.

"Here," Sejanus mumbles as he rejoins you, digging in his pocket and walking past you and up to them. "No cat." He hands the peacekeeper a wad of cash so thick that it makes your eyes widen.

The officer chuckles, tucking the money into his own pocket. "No cat." He agrees. "Enjoy your ride."

Coryo smiles at you and motions for you to join him, helping you up the stairs onto the train with a hand on your back while you take another last look at the city you love so deeply.

taglist: @soulessjourney , @that-veela-girl ,  @dreamyysouls, @rockstarbfs , @maysileeewrites , @baybieruth , @kitscutie ,  @fratboyharrysgf0201 , @totallynotkaibiased , @stelleduarte , @secretsicanthideanymore , @bejeweledreverie , @drewsandsebastianswife , @niicole-87 , @queenofshinigamis , @innercreationflower , @nallasstuff , @iovemoonyy , @thatmarvelchick19 , @wearemadeofstardust0 , @regulusblackcore , @puredreamagination , @fantasticchaosthing , @becauseseaotters , @secretsicanthideanymore , @strawberryflavouredkisses

okay suddenly tumblr isn't letting me tag more people than this so i just made some cuts unfortunately :') i just left the max amount of people i could whose users i recognized and see in my notifs all the time :) if you're not on here and you should be i'm so sorry!

also this taglist is closed now!! if you’d like to get a notification when i update, turn on my post notifications!! i promise i won’t spam y'all :,)

[ajortga]

home

pairing: jenna ortega x fem reader

summary: nothing feels more than home to jenna than you.

word count: 800+ (drabble)

a/n: wanted to get this out there as a thank you, we reached 400 followers! words actually cannot describe how grateful i am that people appreciate the stories i write. i really hope they can make your day<3.

hey alexa, play home by edith whiskers.

You yearn to feel the sense of hope and comfort.

Home.

Not the home that shields Jenna as she sleeps, a roof over her head.

But at the same time, it is that.

Not the home that she wakes up in everyday when she wakes up for breakfast, the aroma of her mom’s cooking fills the air,

The TV turned on, her older and younger siblings playing in the living room. 

Not the home that holds her, her yorkie terrier and her family.

Or the home that shakes as Aliyah and her jump on the bed with Cash.

No, not that.

Home.

As much as she loved her family, nothing could compare to you, no one.

Jenna could remember her words as she strummed her guitar, a gentle hum filling her room.

“Alabama Arkansas, I do love my ma and pa, not the way that I do love you.’

The only home she’ll be the first to run to when she has news.

“We laugh until we think we'll die, barefoot on a summer night”

As Jenna strums to her whistling, she remembers running across the sandy coast with the palette of the sunset around you. Shades of orange, yellow, pink, and baby blue hues. Holding hands with you as you two laugh and run with each other barefoot during the summer. The sweetest memory she’s ever experienced. A moment that she never felt could be better. If she could go back to one memory before she died, she’d choose that one. With you, cupping your cheeks as you two kiss as dawn was welcomed, during her favorite season of the year.

Giggling as you both collapse on the sunlit meadow on a warm summer night, bodies wrapped around each other.

“Nothing is sweeter than with you.”

Oh you were everything to her, her best friend, girlfriend, soulmate, universe.

-

When Jenna’s boyfriend broke up with her, she sobbed on her pillow, she never told you when you came over that she pretended that it was you.

She didn’t know why it might’ve helped, it’s warmth reminding her of you, it made her hug it tighter.

“La-la-la-la-la take me home”

That day Jenna’s heart was shattered, you were the one to bring it back together, her sobbing in your warm arms as you comforted her, your hands scratching her scalp in the perfect way.

You told her she could stay over, she sobbed in your arms, fell asleep as soon as her body reached your arms, melting in your presence.

The next day you made her her favorite heart shaped nutella pancakes that she always asked for when she sleeps over at your house, she knew that whenever you made her it, it was always sweeter when you made it. 

She closes her eyes and remembers it, all too vividly. A smile comes across Jenna's face as she changes the chords, her fingers strumming again.

"Girl I never loved one like you."

Even if someone were to take every single step of your recipe and memorize the grains of salt and sugar you used, it was never the same, she knows your baking by heart. 

Drives in your jeep as you two interlock hands. Travels all over the world, shares of gelato ice cream and sweet moments. 

Deep gazes into eyes as a blanket wraps around the both of you. A soft kiss planted on your forehead as you fall asleep on her chest with the campfire crackling in front of you. 

She remembered when she first realized she loved you.

To have you first in her mind when she wanted to spend time with someone. Craving your cookies, your time spent together, those soft lips she always looked at as you talked.

To have someone listen to her strumming the guitar, to have them admire her voice and closed off side. Her little Y/N on her shoulder. To be so in love that she wrote this song for you.

You loved her.

Her freckles you counted as you’re curled up by her side, her soft hands. Her.

Your first encounter, meeting her on set and immediately feeling you two click.

Your first date together, when she accidentally spilled a coffee on your white shirt and you busted out laughing.

Your first kiss.

When she asked you to be your girlfriend, officially. You wanted to be with her forever. 

Jenna was the first person in your life to calm your storm down. You were the person who struggled falling asleep, it didn’t happen easily, but in her arms, it did. You were always gone as soon as she pressed your nose into her neck.

You were each others homes, you wanted to stay with her, to always be assured by her.

As the song comes to a close, she looks up at the polaroid picture of you two. The orange hue from the salt lamp the only source of light. Polaroids hung of you and her all across her string of fairy lights. Her walls were filled with her girlfriend. And as her fingers pluck the strings, Jenna smiles faintly. The song nears the end as she sings the last of the lyrics.

"Oh, home, let me come home Home is wherever I'm with you"

-

i love this song sm it's crazy.

[vulpisnocturna]

Binding Vow - Part II

Part I here

Part III here

Read on AO3

This is part II of III :)

Warnings: kidnapping, manipulation, coercion, Stockholm Syndrome, captivity, Chrollo being a manipulative asshole, obsession, slight NSFW

Word count: 6k

The lilies in the vase by the windowsill were starting to wilt. Their petals were drooping, the stems getting darker, the vibrant white of the flowers starting to become ashen. In that way, you were like them. Wilting away in a prison you were forced to call home. 

But Chrollo never let you see them die. No, he brought you new flowers every week, along with all the other gifts he gave you. You did not know which ones were bought and which were stolen. Not that it mattered much. 

His pathetic romanticism fell on deaf ears. He could court you all he liked, but he failed to see in that brilliant brain of his that it would not work after kidnapping someone and holding them prisoners. A golden cage was still a prison, and he could not make the canary sing by locking it away, even if he used his silver tongue on it. 

Sometimes, you did not know whether he was completely oblivious or simply did not care. Every glare of yours, every time you ignored him, shouted at him or even refused to eat- he met all of your attempts at rebelling with a soft sigh and a stoic outlook, telling you he “would wait for your tantrum to quiet down to talk like adults”. Always patronising. He was always so damn condescending. 

Another month had passed since the day Chrollo had tricked you into having sex with him under the guise of letting you go free and then had drugged you and left that house with you. When you had woken up, you were in a new flat, which he told you would serve as a home for the both of you for a couple of months. 

He had reassured you that he would never harm you and that he would protect you, failing to understand you needed protection from him. He had also reminded you that the doors were all locked, and that he knew your life inside out in case you planned to do something foolish. 

The first night in this house, you had screamed your lungs out at him, fighting him, or rather, trying to hit him with all your might whilst he restrained you. In the end, he’d tied you to the bed and told you he would free you once you learnt to be civil. 

Next, you had refused to eat. That lasted until he tried to force feed you, and the humiliation of the act had made you start to eat by yourself again.

After that, you had refused to speak or even look at him. Luckily, he hadn’t tried to force himself on you, but he certainly seemed to want it. He had started to sleep in the same bed as you as soon as you had cut out the screaming and hitting, and no amount of begging had made him change his mind.

“I understand you dislike my approach, but I’m doing this to keep you safe, my love. If you can get past it, you’ll see it’s only natural that we sleep in the same bed. I love having you close to me. You are so peaceful when you sleep” he had said, stroking your upper arms as though the gesture could ever be perceived as soothing. 

You always made a point to fall asleep curled as far away from him as possible, yet, somehow, you always woke up with his arm wrapped around your waist. He was stifling.

Your best moments were the ones where he’d go away to do God knew what for a few hours, or when he would be so immersed in the book he was reading that he would not talk to you for a while. Of course, he would insist on having you sit on his lap as he read, but he had settled for letting you sit with him in the living room where you wanted, which was as far away as possible from him.

You hated to admit it, but when he left, you sometimes could not help but feel lonely. He was the only person you ever saw, the only one you talked to, the only one you could go to in order to find comfort. That fact alone was enough to make your stomach churn. 

But that was all stopping that day. You had decided that one way or another, you would escape. You were on the eighth floor of an apartment complex, but even Chrollo hadn’t been able to find a place that did not have windows. They were locked, of course, but you could break them if you used enough strength. It wasn’t your strong suit, but you had trained a little on your Hatsu to be able to do more damage than your muscles were capable of. And of course, you would get hurt, but it was all for a good cause. If you could make it out, then… then maybe he wouldn’t find you. If you were careful. 

That very day was your best bet. Chrollo had told you he would not be home for supper and had left you some food in the fridge. You packed it and filled several bottles of water, raiding the cupboards of chocolate, biscuits and fruit. You also found some gauze in the bathroom drawer, which you took with you in case you wouldn’t be able to use your Nen power straightaway. 

You had cursed your power for two whole months now, hating that you weren’t an Enhancer, that you weren’t strong or fast at all. Of course, Chrollo would still be stronger, but your chances at escaping would increase. But now, you were glad you had it: if you fell from a few stories, you would be able to heal yourself, so long as you did not die on impact.

Which was why you had gathered every single towel and sheet you could find and created a makeshift rope with tight knots. It was around ten metres, which left fifteen to twenty metres left to jump. You’d found that there was a tree underneath the window of the office, so that was where you decided to escape. 

The glass was thick, and you decided to wrap your hand in a section of your rope and punch it with all your strength. 

It took half an hour and the breaking of your knuckles, which had also split and gotten wounded, but you had managed to stay focused through the pain and heal them before you lost too much blood. 

Now, as to your escape. The window was now broken, and you did your best in creating a wide enough passage where glass would not be likely to cut you or the rope. Next, you looked down to see that no one was around. The apartment complex was situated on the side of a forest surrounding a small town, and the office happened to face the woods. You could not see anyone around.

You had around three hours to escape and get as far away from that place as possible before Chrollo came back. You had to move quickly, find out where you were and then find a way out of there. 

You breathed in, calming your thundering heart and swinging the rope out of the window after tying it to the sofa. It reached ten metres or so from the canopy of the tree beneath the window, which was not ideal, but not too bad either. You stepped on the windowsill, planted your feet and started descending. 

Ten minutes later, you had reached the end of your rope. You swallowed, the wind making your eyes sting and tear up as you looked down. Legs first. You had to either grab a branch with your hands or land on your legs. 

You jumped.

Your hand scraped against the bark, burning and shredding against it. The branch underneath you winded you as you landed on your side, but you managed to break the fall before you hit the ground.

You convulsed on the grass, nausea and cold shivers tearing through your body as you quivered, taking small breaths that had you dizzy from the pain.

Definitely broken ribs. Definitely a broken leg. 

Your trembling hand reached to your side, and you focused on your aura, feeling the pain, mending the bone, healing the damage until it felt like a dull throbbing rather than stabbing, burning agony.

Next was your leg. It took you longer than you wanted to consider to heal all of your injuries, but when you finally got up, you were okay. You could run, even though the numerous cuts on your body had made you lose quite a bit of blood and you felt lightheaded.

You started running. The feeling of hope that bloomed in your heart was quick to burst into euphoria, even though you tried not to lull yourself into false security. Running along the path in the forest felt good, freedom felt like cool breeze, autumn leaves and the faint scent of rain lingering on the ground.  

You must have run more than ten miles by the time you stopped as you got to the edge of the forest. The sun was setting on the horizon, and you wagered Chrollo would be back soon. You probably had another hour before he realised you were gone. Where could you go from here? The hills to your right looked too exposed, but so did the town to your left. He would expect you to be there. But with the amount of blood you’d lost, the fact that you’d been running for hours and the lack of shelter in the hills, you had to go to the town. Maybe you’d find a sheltered place where you could stay for a few hours, before you left again. 

But you never did get to the town. 

Because as soon as you got back on your feet and went to grab your bag, your wrists were caught behind your back in an iron grip. You knew that scent all too well. 

Your heart threatened to burst in your ribcage, and your chest heaved, your eyes widening as you writhed wildly to no avail.

‘If I were you, I would stop thrashing, darling. I am not in a gracious mood’ he murmured against your ear, voice cold, seeping into your bones like ice. You stopped moving altogether, swallowing the heavy lump in your throat.

‘Have you any idea of what that fall could have done to you? You’re covered in blood. Did you break anything in your brilliant escape?’ he continued, and you wet your lips, your temples throbbing. 

Would he kill you now? Would he simply take you back? Would he break some more bones to punish you? Tie you to the bed, or relocate you to a basement? 

‘Answer me. You do not want to make this any worse than it already is’ he said coldly, releasing you and staring at you. You knew trying to make a run for it would be useless. He would catch you in seconds. And who knew what he’d do to you. 

You were done. He’d found you immediately. There was no escaping him. 

‘My knuckles. My ribs- my leg’ you whispered, scanning his face for any clue on what might happen to you. His jaw tightened.

‘So you counted on your power to heal you, disregarding that had you broken your neck, you would not be able to heal. Not quite well-thought out’ he said, a tinge of cold fury in his voice. You ground your teeth, deciding you would go out swinging instead of listening to more of his patronising remarks. 

‘I did not have many options. I ran, because you kidnapped me. I was willing to take the risk’ you spat, and he lifted his chin, looking down at you, seemingly rigid in his posture. 

‘I must say that was a rather inventive plan. I think I might have read about a character doing the same thing in an adventure book once’ he mused, recomposing himself and disregarding your words completely.

‘You clearly cannot care for yourself, darling. Look what you've done to yourself. You are so very fragile. We have much to discuss. Of course, there will be consequences, but you should know I would never hurt you. I simply need you to listen. You can come with me now without a fuss or you can make the situation worse for yourself and risk more dire consequences for your behaviour. Your choice’ he said, looking at you, his eyes softening ever so slightly as you let out a strangled sob. 

Choice. Another choice that was already written in stone.

‘Just let me go. Let me free. Please’ you breathed, resorting to pleading in the face of defeat, hating the fact that you could feel the tears spill from your eyes. He let out a soft sigh, cupping your face and stroking your cheek. You did not know whether you wanted to spit in his face or let him comfort you for something he was guilty of. Because you were so alone, your heart was so wretchedly heavy.

‘Shh, shh. It’s alright, my love. You must be so exhausted. You need to rest. I’ve got you. I’ve got you’ he kissed your forehead, soothing your sobs, and perhaps it was desperation and exhaustion that made you cling to his shirt with trembling fingers. You let all of your tears of frustration, pain, hurt and anger out, sobbing in the arms of the one who had brought them to life. And he was so gentle as he held you. So painfully tender in the way he soothed you, stroking your hair, kissing the top of your head, holding you close to him.

Chrollo bent to pick you up in his arms, and you buried your head against him, not wanting to look at him and accept what you had just done and where he was taking you. What the consequences of your escape would be.

As the temperature started dropping, you found yourself seeking out the warmth of his body, feeling the exhaustion catch up to you quickly. You had finally stopped crying, but your head was pounding and your eyes were raw from the tears.

You saw a car at the edge of the forest, parked behind the building, in front of the tree and your makeshift rope. He opened the door and deposited you on the passenger seat, closing it behind you and getting in on the other side. He reached over and put on your seatbelt, locking the doors and staring at you.

‘Where are we going? What is going to happen to me?’ you asked, voice hoarse from all the crying. Chrollo slicked back the wayward strands of black hair that had escaped his hairstyle, regarding you with a cold expression, if not slightly laced with disappointment.

‘You saw fit to break the window of our flat. I called some people to take care of the mess there and get our stuff whilst I retrieved you. We are going to another place, this one is compromised now. As to you, my love... I do not know what punishment would fit this crime. Your sorrow and your tears have touched me, truly. But I must ensure you learn your lesson. You don’t want this to happen again, do you?’ he asked, turning the keys and starting to drive.

Did you want this to happen again? Of course not. His tone let you know that if you ever did this again, there would be Hell to pay. Who knew what he would do now, you shuddered to imagine what he might think to do if you tried to escape once again.

‘No’ you said quietly.

There was no escaping Chrollo Lucilfer. You had been stupid to think that you could have done so. Drunk on the idea of freedom. He might have said he would never harm you physically, but he hadn’t said anything of the sort about your loved ones. You had learnt that with him, the devil was in the details. He always twisted meanings and played with words like a musician would play an instrument. And there was no escaping his judgement.

Chrollo was not having a nice day. He had had to pull back a heist when Shal had informed him the museum had been tipped off, and had thought he would just get to go home and spend some needed time with his darling girl. He had seriously thought you had made vast progress in your interactions with him. In a mere month, he had managed to mellow you a lot, and even though it had irked him to put up with your foolish tantrums, he had done so patiently, knowing being less strict would eventually aid him in making you come around. You had started to talk to him again, even seemed content to sit with him in the living room to read.

He wasn’t too pleased you never took him up on the offer to sit on his lap, and sometimes, he wanted to pull you against him and hold you there, but he was a patient man, and he understood the perks of patience and strategy.

That was why he had been willing to compromise on not taking everything he wanted yet. He had put boundaries on what was non-negotiable, like sleeping in the same bed. After all, you were his. He had claimed you, given you food, shelter and protection, brought you all kinds of beautiful gifts that reminded him of you, made you feel good. He knew you liked the sex, too. You could not deny it, he remembered all too well how very precious you had looked writhing underneath him, begging and whining for him.

Nevertheless, he was waiting to do it again, simply because you were under the impression you had been tricked by him with the vow you had made, and that had upset you. Understandably so, but the fact that you hadn’t paid enough attention to his words was hardly his fault. However, if he was respectful of your body and did not force himself on you, he knew you would eventually seek him out. He could already see the slivers of your resolve shattering, and it pleased him to no end. The way you now let him kiss the top of your head, flinching less often when he drew you in for a hug or stroked your cheek. It was a chess game, and Chrollo knew he would win.

But now, you’d broken his trust. You’d disappointed him.

When he had come back home, looking for you, thinking you might be asleep or ignoring him as he called your name, and had eventually seen the window shattered and a makeshift rope made of sheets and towels, he had seen red. There was blood spatter on the glass, and the thought of you going so far as to harm yourself in order to escape him had made his stomach hot with rage and his chest tight with worry.

He had inspected the grounds underneath the tree he surmised you had used to break your fall, and he could see some blood, not enough to make you die of blood loss. Some drips had seeped into the blades of grass that led to the woods. Torn between cold fury, worry and admiration for your commendable resolve, for a moment, he had also thought you were truly so delightful. It was so sweet of you to believe you could escape.

He also knew you must have used your power to heal yourself, because he expected you to have broken at least a few bones. Therefore, you must have been lightheaded and weak. A fragile thing like you, alone in the woods, where anyone could easily harm you. He had been worried sick, ready to burn the forest to ashes.

It had taken him twenty minutes to scour the whole forest. When he had found you, you had been panting, holding onto a tree as your gaze shifted between the hills and the small town as though you were considering your course of action. So fragile, so impossibly delicate and fatigued, so oblivious to your surroundings. He hated how you put yourself in danger. Hated that you thought it would be better than being by his side.

Of course, Chrollo knew it was human nature to seek freedom, so he could not fault you for trying. But he was not pleased. You had put yourself in danger and broken his trust.

He had been ready to make you learn your lesson by confining you to a windowless bedroom, never taking his eyes off you, even pay a visit to one of your friends. However, the moment you had started to sob and clung to him, accepting his embrace, seeking him in your sorrow, he had been truly moved. You were truly so sweet in his eyes, so vulnerable, he just wished to hold you and never let you go.

Now, he was not sure what the best course of action would be. Should he be understanding, threaten what would happen if there was another attempt, and bask in your need to be comforted by him? If he happened to be too strict with you, it might halt the progress you’d just made. But if he offered himself as the only one who could soothe your worries and comfort you, then, perhaps, you would become more dependent on him. He wanted nothing more.

But things would have to move more swiftly, because his patience was starting to run out. If he was honest, as he had you back in his car, looking so meek with your tear-stained eyes and torn clothes, he had only wanted to move you to the back of the car and show you just how much he needed you. Just how much you truly liked him. Then, maybe, you would regret your actions. But he had to hold back.

He had nothing but time with you. And your attitude and outlook on your living situation was the most important thing right now. He had to change your perspective, or his work the past month would be ruined just because he had lost his temper after you made a mistake. You could still make things better.

‘Chrollo’ you murmured, wringing your hands in your lap. You rarely called him by his name. You rarely talked to him without him starting the conversation. He loved the way his name sounded on your lips.

‘Mh?’

‘What’s going to happen to me?’ you repeated, small voice haunted. He placed his hand on your thigh, stroking your skin gently as he drove through the empty street.

‘You did something quite upsetting, dearest. You know I would have never forgiven myself if something happened to you. I cannot let anyone, including you, harm you. I cannot trust you now; you understand that, don’t you?’ he asked, voice smooth. A part of him wanted to ask you what you thought a fitting punishment would be. But he did not do well with not knowing what you would say.

‘I won’t try to run again- just... please don’t hurt the people I care about. Please. I’ll do anything’ you said desperately, and Chrollo forced himself to restrain the urge to smile. Now, that was a pleasant development. He could utilise this. Could reap the benefits of your dedication.

‘My love, it pains me that you think me a monster. There would be no reason to visit your past acquaintances if this is a one-time mistake. But how can I trust your word? How can I be certain you will not try to run from me again? That you’ll be my good girl?’ he asked gently, keeping his voice as soft and calm as he could.

Human imagination was truly intriguing. How you had come to that conclusion in your mind, already deeming it a reality, and sought to find a way out of it by offering everything you had. It was truly endearing, and Chrollo had barely had to do anything. And now, if he spared your acquaintances, he would be seen as merciful. You would be grateful. Even though he hadn’t planned to kill them as of yet, deeming it counterproductive for your opinion of him. But if he utilised your fears against you, he could appear as a compassionate source of comfort to you.

‘Because... I know it’s useless. And I don’t want to be the reason they might... get hurt’ you said earnestly, your bottom lip quivering. It made you look so sweet in his eyes. So innocent and pure. Completely different from him, someone so fascinating he could never take his eyes off you.

‘I- will behave. I’ll do- whatever you want’ you whispered, almost resignedly, your shoulders sloping. Chrollo let out a soft sigh. You had no idea of the effect you had on him when you said things like that. It was all he ever wanted. And soon, he knew you would say the same words with care and tenderness in your voice.

  He parked the car in front of the skyscraper, opening the door and stepping out, and a middle-aged woman approached him, holding a pair of keys. Chrollo took them from her, spotting Shal’s antenna sticking out of her neck when she turned to head towards the glass doors. Chrollo went back to the car, opening the door and giving you his hand. You looked at him, closing your eyes briefly before you accepted his help and stood up on unsteady legs. He took his coat off, wrapping it around you. It would not do to have you walk in the lobby with your shirt and legs covered in blood.

It was long and baggy on you, and covered your whole body. He thought you looked quite sweet in it. He made sure to lead you to the door with a hand on your lower back, not trusting your balance after the injuries you had sustained and the clear exhaustion he could observe in your sluggish movements.

This time, Chrollo had asked Pakunoda and Shal to find him a place as high up as possible, so you could still watch the sky and not get any stupid ideas. The woman led you and him to a lift and pressed the button for the fiftieth floor, the penthouse. He liked to show off with a better flat, a more luxurious one, but had it been up to him, he would not have cared much, so long as it was comfortable and had everything he might need.

The woman stayed in the lift as he led you outside, to the door of your new home. He opened it, stepping inside and conjuring Bandit’s Secret to lock the door with Nen that only he could unlock. He put the keys on the bowl on the accent table by the door, because they were as useful as a pen to you if you planned to use them to open the door.

The penthouse was spacious but decorated in a way he did not mind. Cosy and warm, with a big fireplace, a loveseat and two armchairs in front of it, bookshelves filled with books on the opposite wall. His friends had truly found him a good place to crash. The dining room and the kitchen were connected to the living room by a wall with open arches, and one side of the dining room was a full window that offered a nice view of the city. He decided to look for anything that might be amiss before you moved from the hallway, and walked through the corridor, opening the door to the bedroom and the bathroom. It must definitely be more expensive than his previous lodging, but he hardly cared or worried about that in his life.

His clothes and yours had been carried here in two suitcases, and Chrollo decided he would give you space to have a bath or a shower whilst he tidied things up. With that in mind, he stepped back into the living room, observing you as you put his coat on the armchair.

‘Why don’t you take a warm shower, darling? It will relax your muscles. I’ll be here if you need anything’ he said, and you looked down at your torn clothes, your eyes wandering around the room.

He quickly went back to the bedroom, opened the suitcases and grabbed one of his shirts and clean underwear. You could go without trousers. If he were honest, he wanted you to go without any of those cumbersome clothes covering your stunning body, but he doubted you would react nicely to it if he suggested that. He was willing to compromise.

Besides, the thought of you wearing one of his shirts was somehow even better than going without it. Something about having something that was his on you. Proof of the fact that you were his.

He stepped outside, handing you the clothes and planting a kiss on your forehead.

‘Uhm- I need... trousers’ you murmured, your face growing hot against his fingers. He smirked, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear.

‘Do you, darling? The shirt will cover enough of you up. I’ll be in the living room. Come over when you are finished’ he said, leaving you blushing in front of the bathroom and going to the bedroom, starting to sort through the clothes and objects in the suitcase.

When you came back, he had finished tidying up and was sitting down on the sofa with a book in his hand, the fireplace now crackling with orange flames and a glass of red wine on the coffee table.  

He had been right, you did look ravishing. With the smears of blood and dirt gone, his shirt on you, covering you to your upper thighs, leaving your legs exposed, he could hardly restrain himself. But tonight was not the right time to have you. No, he just wanted to hold you and see you. And perhaps taunt you a little as punishment for running away. Yes, he would definitely have you fulfil your promise to do anything he liked starting that very night.

He patted his thigh, and watched with sly amusement as you swallowed, clearly trying to find a loophole that would allow you to sit anywhere else. He enjoyed watching you rack your brains, knowing you might incur more dire consequences after you refused him the day you had attempted to escape.

It took you a minute, but eventually, you took small, hesitant steps towards him until you were firmly sat on his lap, his arm around you holding you to him. He loved your scent, loved the feel of your body against his, loved the sight of your pretty thighs. If he had been any other man, he would not have been able to exert control on his desires. But he would, because if he waited, the reward would be much sweeter. Besides, you seemed to think he would do something, and watching you squirm was delightful in it of itself.

He resumed reading the psychological thriller he’d picked up, stroking your ribs, knowing you’d mended them mere hours before. Your power was truly incredible. A power that sought to heal, remedy, one so in tune with your pure, kind soul. He found it so very fitting, so sweet. And so useful.

He could feel you shifting on his lap from time to time, and could not decide whether he wanted you to continue or to stop because it was so enticing. He decided he might do something, even if he would not take you to bed yet. After all, he had you there, glued to his body. It would be a sin to discard such a sweet chance.

He lowered his book, holding you more tightly, tilting your chin with his fingers.

‘Kiss me’ he murmured, watching you to see if you would hold to your word. He saw your pretty eyes widen, your lips parted as you scanned his face and shifted on him. Your teeth caught your bottom lip, pulling lightly on it, and he could not wait to do that himself and feel just how soft your lips were.

He had held back on kissing your lips as well, and he still remembered how worked up he had managed to get you just with that. He had a nice plan in the making, but he wanted you to kiss him first. Set it into motion.

You hesitantly craned your neck to press your soft lips on his cheek, and he let out a soft laugh, cupping your jaw.

‘Do not play coy with me, darling. You know perfectly well what I mean. Now, shall we try that again?’ he crooned, and he could see the acquiescence on your face set, compliance in the face of what you had said in the car as you leaned back towards him, closing your eyes and pressing your lips to his. This time, you did not have to be told to do it again. You knew what he wanted from you, and you acquiesced, tilting your head and touching his hair gingerly, your lips brushing against his, soft and timid. Chrollo restrained the urge to take the lead and show you exactly what he craved, because he wanted you to get there yourself.

At first, you kissed him slowly, tentatively, but then, the tip of your tongue traced the outline of his bottom lip, and you sucked it gently. Chrollo’s fingers curled around your scalp, tangling in your hair as he sank his teeth in your bottom lip, taking advantage of it to slide his tongue in your mouth. He had waited way too long to do this, but God, it was worth it.

You were addicting. He sucked and licked your lower lip, pressing his tongue against yours, tasting you, savouring the feeling of your restraint fading whenever he kissed you more passionately. A few times, he could have sworn you sought out his lips, hungry for more, battling your own desires but unable to deny them to the fullest. And it felt like a damn drug to him. He could force himself on you, but nothing could ever replace the feeling of watching you melt in his arms, so willing and pliant by the time you warmed up to his touch.

Your fingers were tangled in his hair, and his hand wandered down to cup your ass, fingers gripping the plump flesh of it, his cock already hard in his trousers. Judging by the way you were squirming and pressing your thighs together, he knew you would be wet if he touched you. And the thought alone was tantalising. He wanted to devour you, wanted you underneath him again, pretty and completely at his mercy. But he steered clear, deciding to just stroke your thighs, massage them, feel the goosebumps there as he continued to kiss you.

When his fingers inched closer to your inner thigh and you spread them for him a little, he knew he’d won. He smirked against your lips, sucking your swollen bottom lip one last time before he pulled back, looking at your flushed skin, bright eyes and tormented lips. You looked so tantalising, so compliant.

‘Have you any idea what you do to me?’ he whispered, his hand resting on your hip now. He let you simmer in that feeling, knowing that he would not have to wait much longer, he would have you soon.

He went back to his book, smirking slightly whenever you would squirm in his grasp. Oh, you must be so wound up. He wished he could help you. But this was all in favour of something better. To make you truly desperate, just as he was to get his hands on you. To have you all the time.

It did not take you long to start growing more sluggish, and before he knew it, he had finished the book and you were asleep, your head against his jaw, peaceful in your slumber. You were such a heavy sleeper, but he was also aware that you had exhausted yourself with that foolish stunt you’d pulled. He kissed your hair, setting the book down and lifting himself up, carrying you to bed. When he looked at you as you twisted in the sheets and his shirt lifted up to reveal the panties he’d picked out, he let out an audible groan.

Just a little longer, he thought. For now, he headed to the bathroom, seeking to relieve your effect on him.

You were disgusted with yourself. Disgusted with your weakness, disgusted with the effect he had on you. Yes, you’d said you’d do anything if he spared your loved ones, and you had been dreading him trying to fuck you. Having to go through it again. You had not expected him not to.

A week had passed, a week of torture. You had given up altogether on running away, especially because the door was impossible to open and jumping out the window wasn’t a viable option anymore. He had been more lenient than you’d ever imagined he could be, and hadn’t even tried to fuck you. He had merely demanded you sit on his lap and kiss him. And he had done so every day for the past week.

And every night for the past week, you’d been plagued with dreams about him having his way with you. You were horrified whenever you woke up drenched, pressure in your lower stomach, the unbearable desire to feel his touch rearing its ugly head again. Reminding yourself of who he was had become increasingly difficult, when all you could think about was how good he felt, how much his touch sparked heat in your body. And he knew it too, the clever bastard. You could see it in his sly grey eyes, in the sardonic smirk he would give you once he pulled away.

You were lonely, and you were tired. Tired of the struggle, tired of the anxiety, tired of weighing your every word, of pushing him away, of walking on eggshells all day long. It would be so easy to give in. The only thing that held you back was giving him the satisfaction. But then again, you’d already done that the time you’d slept with him. What was the point? Wouldn’t you live a much easier life if you gave in? If you stopped fighting and just let him encroach himself in your life? It had already happened, and your stubbornness and pride were only making your life harder.

You wanted to scream. You wanted to cry. You were weak and twisted for considering liking someone like him. Someone who had kidnapped you, a murderer with no morals, a man who had no problems threatening your loved ones and keeping you captive.

But what choice did you have? What was there in the future for you? More struggle, more bile in your throat, more tightness in your chest, more pain and suffering? Or just acceptance?

He could be considerate, when you did what he wanted. And he could be your worst nightmare if he wanted to.

You couldn’t defeat him, couldn’t escape, couldn’t convince him to let you go. Your choices were to either live a miserable life of suffering, or to give in and experience something bordering safety. Something that might resemble a life one day. All in exchange for giving in to the one who had ruined your life. Somehow, the choice made itself in your mind.

Part III here

[traveler-at-heart]

The Tooth Fairy

Summary: Your daughter gets a generous visit.

Natasha Romanoff x Fem!Reader

A/N: Sorry for the weird format, I’m on my phone. Also, fun game, drink everytime you find the word fairy in this fic 🧚

“Mom!”

Your daughhter’s scream puts you immediately on edge.

Her voice is quivering, as if she’s not sure she should be crying over what’s happening.

“What is it, sweetie?” you kneel next to her on the playground, mentally counting all her fingers and checking for injuries. You have to stay calm for her sake.

“My tooth fell off” Anya says, showing it to you. “Does this mean that I can’t eat chocolate anymore?”

“No, sweetheart, it’s fine” you pick her up and carry her to the park bench. “These are called baby teeth. They’ll fall off and then you’ll get your new ones. And those are for good.”

“Promise?”

“Well, yes. Unless you eat too much chocolate. Then you’ll get cavities”

Anya keeps looking at the tooth in her hand and then offers it to you. Closing one eye, you examine it as if it were a diamond.

“The tooth fairy is gonna be real happy with this one”

“There’s a fairy?” Anya perks up and you smile.

“Oh, yes. You have to leave it under your pillow with a small note and then they’ll pick it up. Leave you a dollar or two if they think it’s a good tooth”

“I wanna write the note, can we go home now?”

“Yes, sweetie” you carry her, relieved now that Anya seems happier.

—-

It’s not an easy task, but you persuade Anya to wait for her other mom to write the note. You’re sure Natasha wouldn’t wanna miss it.

After all, this is the same woman that almost cried when she was away on a mission and your daughter sneezed for the first time.

“I’m home” you hear the door open and close. Anya smiles, eager to tell her mom about the highlight of the day.

“Mama” she jumps to her arms, wavy red hair flying as Natasha catches her.

“Someone is very happy to see me”

“I’m happy to see you too” you say, leaning forward and giving her a quick kiss.

“Then why aren’t you jumping into my arms?”

“Mama, I’m going to meet the tooth fairy!” Anya interrupts you, pulling her tooth from the pocket of her pants.

“Your first tooth? And I missed it?”

Damn it, she’s gonna cry again. You can’t have that.

“Baby, you didn’t miss it. Anya still has to write a letter. She’s been waiting for you”

“Yeah, come on” Anya bounces on her arms, encouraging Natasha to go to the living room.

“I’ll work on dinner while you two do that, ok?” you kiss Natasha’s cheek and let her enjoy the time with Anya.

From your spot on the kitchen, you can hear Anya asking all sorts of questions about the fairy lore.

She’s a smart kid, so all Natasha does is hand her the crayons she requests. Anya falls silent, and then begins to write the letter.

“All done?” your wife says and Anya covers the sheet of paper with her tiny hands.

“This is a secret letter”

Natasha looks at you, both struggling to hold your smiles.

“Dinner’s ready” you announce, serving pasta.

Anya giggles when the spaguetti goes through the whole her tooth left.

“Baby, don’t play with your food like that” you scold. Then you turn to Natasha for support, only to find her creating a spaguetti mustache that leaves her face full of sauce. “Honestly, Natalia”

“Mama is in trouble” Anya laughs.

“She’s doing the dishes, that’s for sure” you agree.

After dinner, Natasha prepares a bath for Anya while you clean the kitchen. You both know you’re too obsessive to leave the cleaning to anyone else.

You go to the study to write a small thank you note for Anya from the tooth fairy. You even add some glitter for extra flare.

Tucking it in the back of your pocket, you walk into your daughter’s room to wish her goodnight.

“Is it under your pillow?” you check and she nods, yawning.

“I wanna wait for them”

“Oh, the fairy only shows up when you’re asleep, darling. Like Santa”

“Are they friends?” Anya says, quickly falling asleep.

“Yeah, you could say they’re practically the same person” Natasha whispers and you nudge her with your elbow. Anya is already asleep, so it doesn’t really matter if she heard that last part.

Quietly, you take the letter from under her bed and place yours instead.

“Why are your hands all shiny?” Natasha asks as you’re getting ready for bed.

“Welll, I am a fairy, baby. Haven’t you heard?” you tap the tip of her nose, leaving some glitter on it.

“I’m happy I was here for this” Natasha says against your shoulder as you cuddle.

“Me too” you say, your eyelids heavy. “Oh, crap. I forgot to leave the money under Anya’s pillow”

“That’s ok, I’ll do it”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. You’re the stealthy spy here” you smile when Natasha kisses your neck and leaves the bed. You’re so tired you fall asleep before she comes back.

—

The smell of coffee wakes you up.

Coffee and pancakes. Stretching, you get out of bed, feeling relaxed and happy.

“Hey, baby” you greet your wife, admiring her toned arm muscles accentuated by the white tank top.

“Morning, detka” she smiles, adding more pancakes to the plate next to the stove. “Breakfast is ready”

“I’m hungry for other things” you lift the edge of her tank top, scratching Natasha’s abs with your nails. She follows your lead, tilting her head and parting her lips to let your tongue explore her mouth.

“Mom, mama!” Anya says, running out of her room. You sigh against Natasha’s lips and step away. “They were here! I woke up and there was a letter with some glitter”

“That’s awesome, sweetie” you smile, pouring yourself a cup of coffee. You turn to your daughter as you take a sip.

“And look! She left me this!”

Anya waves a hundred dollar bill in front of you, making you choke on your coffee.

“Wow, that fairy won the lottery since the last time I saw her” you catch your breath.

“Is this enough to buy a pony?”

“No, darling. Go set the table, I’ll bring you some juice and pancakes, ok?”

“Can I watch tv while having breakfast?”

“Fine” Natasha answers and you wait for your daughter to be out of earshot to talk to her. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Uh, baby, did you leave all that money for Anya?”

“Yes, I didn’t know how much to put and you were asleep”

“Ok, for future reference, five bucks is more than fine” you smile, placing your hands on her shoulders.

“I’m sorry” she looks defeated and you try to cheer her up.

“Don’t be, it’s fine. We’ll use the savings we have for the rest of the teeh and then send her to community college”

“Stop!” Natasha rolls her eyes.

“Come on, it’s ok” you kiss her softly. “We’ll tell her that the fairy had to pay her mortgage and is broke. I’ll even add less glitter on the next letter”

“You’re taking this glitter thing too seriously”

“Well, we have to rely on Alexei to play Santa. At least I get to have some fun with this”

—

Later that day, as your friends get together for a barbecue, Anya shows everyone the place where her tooth once was; luckily, she left the money at home.

That doesn’t stop Billy and Tommy from finding out. Pretty soon, they’re asking their mom about the tooth fairy and if there’s a special deal for twins.

“They left 100 dollars for Anya” Billy shouts and everyone falls silent.

“Oh, wow. Maybe the fairy can visit me as well” Sam smiles. You kick him under the table.

Unfortunately for Natasha, you have to explain everything when Wanda convinces the twins to go back to play.

“Don’t sweat it, Red. Everything’s so expensive nowadays, it’s only fair Anya starts saving now”

“Oh, you’re one to talk” Pepper points at Tony. “He left a blank check under Morgan’s pillow the first time she lost a tooth”

Everyone laughs at that, Tony adjusting in his seat.

“Would you like to adopt me?” Sam asks after a minute.

—

“I got the door” you whisper. Natasha is carrying Anya to her room. It was a fun afternoon of playing with friends and then doing the math on how many plushies she could get with all that money.

She’s fast asleep, and you wait by the door as Natasha tucks her in.

“You ok?” you want to double check, knowing she can be insecure about motherhood.

“I just wish I knew everything”

“Well, so do I. I wish I knew how to stay calm. Remember last week when she hurt her hand with the stove? I thought I was going to throw up and you handled it while I panicked”

“It’s nothing”

“It’s a lot, Tasha. We love you. And we need you” you kiss her softly and she smiles against your lips.

“Wanna read the letter?” you offer once you’re settled in bed. Your wife nods and you take it out of your nighstand. “Dear Miss Fairy - very formal. This is my tooth, it felll off while I was playing. Mom told me you take them and leave some money. My Mama helped me draw this. I love my moms and I want to buy them ice cream and chocolate with the money you give me. Hugs, Anya Romanoff”

“She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. You both are” Natasha says as you cuddle, kissing her neck.

“We love you”

“So, what do we do next time?”

“We tell her the fairy is getting heer a car at 16 and hopefully she’ll forget about it by then” you smile, confident.

Of course, she doesn’t.

[klausysworld]

Hey hope you’re days going well, I just wanted to make a request that I thought abt last night. I wanted to ask if you could do smt where the reader is sleeping in the next room and she woke up from a nightmare all freaked out so she sliped beside klaus and he was telling her that she was safe and that she is a good girl, just smt all sweet and safe but maybe if you can fit it in a little smut to calm reader down 😮‍💨

Let me protect you

I woke with a gasp as the rush of adrenaline shook me out of my nightmare. My heart raced and my skin felt burning hot as I sat up and pushed the covers off me. I took ragged breathes as tears fell down my face.

Hesitantly I got out of bed, my legs felt weak and shaky as I stood and I went straight for the light switch. I wiped my eyes and cheeks as I looked around to make sure I was alone and my dream was just a dream.

I crawled back into bed and sat down for a moment before pulling my knees to my chest and covering my mouth with my hands.

The nightmares had been here every night since the incident. Turns out life with the Mikaelsons isn’t that great. Id come with Hayley to New Orleans when she thought she’d found her pack and ended up getting close with Klaus, Rebekah and Elijah. Unfortunately that came with a target over my head and resulted in a kidnapping.

I had assured everyone that I was fine and I’d rather just move on from it and so everyone agreed to drop it. Everyone except Klaus. He had tried to talk to me about it a few times since but I brushed him off which ended up making him feel bad and distance himself from me.

I felt bad for pushing him away, it wasn’t his fault it happened and I knew he blamed himself but I didn’t want to tell him what had happened while I was taken, I wasn’t ready. But that didn’t stop the memories from haunting my mind.

And as much as I didn’t want to go make a fuss about it, at the same time I just needed someone to hold me or tell me it was okay.

Hayley was at the bayou for the night and so Klaus was the next person I would go to. Even though we weren’t talking as much recently, I knew if I went to him, he would never turn me away.

So I went to his door and knocked lightly but he didn’t answer. I felt like a nervous child going to their mothers room to wake them up.

Which much reluctance, I opened his door and looked inside. The duvet only went up to his waist exposing his bare upper body. His eyes were closed and his lips were parted as he breathed slowly.

I quietly shut the door behind me and made my way to his bed. I faltered in my step when the floor creaked and I thought I’d woken him but he didn’t move so I lifted the covers and got in beside him.

I silently tried to lay down without rustling the covers. I turned to lay on my side and face the opposite direction to him as I put my head on one of his pillows.

My legs curled up so I lay in the fetal position. I let out a sigh as I stared at the painting that hung on the wall in-front of me.

It felt like I laid there for hours before Klaus’s body rolled over and his arm went around me. I stiffened at the feeling and slowly turned my head to see if he was awake but he was still out.

I managed to turn in his hold as he pulled me closer. I could feel my face getting hotter as I was held against his chest. Hesitantly, I nuzzled a little closer and allowed myself to take comfort in his touch.

Several moments later I heard him mumble something before his hand pet my hair lightly and he shifted to sit up slightly.

“Y/n?” He rasped sleepily as he cupped my face to have me look up at him. I could just about make out his face in the darkness and nodded. “Love? How long have you been in here?” He asked with a yawn. He pushed himself up against the headboard and kept me tucked to his side

“I don’t know…not too long” I whispered and he furrowed his brows a little. “I had a bad dream is all and well I knocked but you were asleep…but I can go back to my room”

I went to get up but he pulled me straight back to him and tightened his arm around me so I couldn’t leave. “Nonsense sweetheart” he mumbled “stay” he whispered and I wasn’t in much of position to argue, physically or emotionally. I nodded and lay relax against him again as his hands held me close. “What was your dream about?” He asked softly and I frowned with a shrug

“Don’t remember” I whispered and he hummed. He moved about a bit before pulling me onto his lap and kissed the side of my head.

“You can sleep here for the night” he murmured softly as his hand rubbed up and down my arm gently. I pressed my cheek to her chest, my eyes fluttering at the warmth that radiated off his skin.

“Thank you” I uttered as his hold on me tightened.

We laid there for a small while, I must’ve fallen asleep for a moment because before I knew it I was back in that room and screaming for someone to come save me. It wasn’t long until Klaus was there, right in that room and trying to tell me to calm down. It didn’t make sense that he was there, he didn’t turn up the last time. I didn’t realise it was a dream until I woke up with Klaus’s hands pinning me to the bed as I kicked at him aggressively and tears covered my face.

I froze when I realised it was Klaus who I was fighting and turned my head to look around in confusion.

His grip on me loosened and his thumb swiped the tears away from under my eyes. I went to push myself up but he presses a hand to my chest to keep me down. “It’s okay love” he whispered, “you’re okay now”.

I sniffed a bit and rubbed my eye “I’m sorry” I told him quietly

“Don’t be sorry sweetheart, it’s my fault they took you” he argued

“I don’t blame you” I whispered. The back of his fingers grazed my cheek and his lips pressed to my forehead.

“Then you’re a fool” he muttered and I smiled a little. He laid back down beside me and pulled me back to his chest “I should have saved you” he confessed. I’m all honesty it was him that I had been yelling for to save me, I was obviously still more than happy that Hayley and Elijah had come and got me but I had wanted him. That might not have been fair to him, he was probably really busy fighting for his own life but at the time I had been upset. Obviously I realised now how ridiculous it was to be mad at him for something so silly but I couldn’t find it in me to argue with him that he should’ve been the one.

I swiped my palm over my cheek and moved my arm over his chest. His arms slipped around me and pulled me on top of him completely. “You were so strong that night” he whispered “I’m so proud of you…and I know you’ve wanted to keep being strong by keeping it all to yourself but I don’t want you to pretend. I want to protect you now…just let me take care of you” he murmured and I nodded reluctantly. I relaxed against him and sighed softly.

I should’ve let him help me earlier.

But I suppose late is better than never so now was just as good a time as any.

I let my eyes close as his fingers played into my hair. My heart fluttered when his lips brushed over the shell of my ear and he whispered the words “good girl” to me before kissing my temple.

I nuzzled up into the crook of his neck as he began to rub along my back leisurely. Warmth left me as the duvet was pulled down to my hips but I didn’t complain, it was too hot anyways. My body stiffened momentary as his hands slid up under my top against my bare skin to my upper back. He hugged me closer than possible, my chest was squished to his and I felt his legs shift so they were tangled with mine. I let out a breath once his touch slid back down to the bottom of my back, his hands choosing to squeeze my hips lightly.

I felt his lips press to the top of my head as the pads of his fingers wondered the length of my body. “I’ll take care of you” he whispered quietly. I kept almost silent and still, my body reacting on its own as he continued to draw swirls and patterns up and down my skin.

With each breath I took, the more of him I seemed to feed on. His scent and warmth and touch and softly spoken praises. My stomach fluttered when his fingertips moved down past my back to my arse. I was only in panties and a t-shirt while he was only in his boxers so there wasn’t much between us as he began to feel the waistband of my underwear.

He kissed along my hair and then my forehead, I pushed myself up on my forearms so his kisses could continue down my face. His lips touched everywhere but my own, instead our foreheads rest together and his nose brush mine as my heart rate increased and his hands moved under my panties to squeeze at my arse gently. We both let out a hot breath as he did so and I could sense the smirk tugging at his lips as he repeated the action.

“Such a good girl” he murmured, his mouth just brushing mine teasingly with each word. I could feel a certain heat begin to pool inside me, my body began to grow needier as his hands borderline massaged my arse until I let out a soft moan and moved my hips to brush myself against one of his thighs.

He hummed before allowing our lips to touch, just lightly to begin with before they were moving together in perfect sink. He pulled me further up his body, pulling my legs over him to straddle his hips to give me a little more control as I kissed him back. His tongue brushed my lower lip to part it from the top one to deepen the moment. I make a noise of surprise when a ‘snap’ sounded through the room and I felt my panties slid away from my body.

I pulled back and he let me to see the item in his hand that wasn’t cupping my arse. He lifted them to see the glistening wet patch that had spread across the material making my face flush red and my skin to burn hot.

Neither of us spoke a word before he brought them to his mouth slowly and let his tongue taste the warmth. I could feel my body tingle at the action and my eyes widened slightly as his eyes rolled back into his head and closed. I swallowed down the saliva that was flooding my mouth as he put the panties on his bedside table and cupped the back of my head to pull me back down and let our lips press together again. I went to pull away as his tongue met mine but he kept me there, having me taste myself on him as his other hand began to encourage my body to rub against his.

His mouth left mine, only to travel along my jaw and down my neck as he shifted me to sit directly on his clothed dick, I could feel my body getting wetter, hotter and more nervous as I ground against him and his hands gave gentle pats to my arse to keep me going.

“Let me love you” he whispered and my heart squeezed in my chest. We had both known that the other cared for each other deeply but neither of us never said a word about it out loud, until now. “Tonight, tomorrow, and every day after that” he murmured into my ear before kissing just below it and lifting me up by my thighs so I couldn’t grind against him anymore.

He looked to my eyes, a soft yet seriousness to his gaze making me nod “every day, forever” I confirmed and he nodded.

“Good girl” he whispered and before I could blink he was completely nude and I was placed on-top his cock, my pussy pulsing as he moved his hips to slide himself against my folds. My breathing got laboured as his tip knocked against and around my clit. His hands kept a good grip on my waist to control both our movements. I glanced to his face but his eyes were trained on where our bodies met as his teeth bit down on his own tongue and his tip slipped inside me.

My breathing grew shallower as he pushed me down via his hold on my waist until he was halfway in. I let out a whimper as my body adjusted to fit him and he groaned softly. “Tight” he mumbled to himself before his eyes found mine and he smiled lazily before kissing my lips gently before pushed me further down until he had bottomed out completely.

My brows scrunch together in pain as I stretched around him while his head dropped back against his pillow with a loud groan. His arms moved around my waist and he pulled me tight against him, our bodies pressing together. My upper body was still clad in a slightly too big shirt as he lay completely bare beneath me.

I laid my cheek against his upper chest and let my eyes shut, my hands smoothed up his arms to his shoulders. I could feel his touch slide back up my back until his fingers were in my hair and an arm was round my waist. A soft moan left my mouth as hips began to rock gently. His breathing shallowed as he continued to move within me slowly. His hand gripped my hair as I rubbed my fingertips against his shoulders.

“You feel so soft” he whispered making my cheeks heat up. I could feel myself squeezing his cock as he moved a little bit faster. “So warm” he mumbled before releasing a puff of air. His lips pressed to my head and down to my ear, “so wet” he breathed down my spine. Another soft moan left my lips in response and I began to help slide myself along his length to match his movements.

My breathing quickened, my knees digging into his sides as he sped up our pace. His hand form my hair moved to cup my jaw, lifting my face closer to connect our lips. He hummed against me sending a buzz through my body as he sped up again.

The kisses were soft and loving, both of us keeping as quiet as we could despite a few moans, groans or whimpers between heavy breaths. Mostly so we wouldn’t wake the whole house and also because we were both still tired and our bodies were ready to sleep.

That was until the intense pleasure became much more apparent as his tip rubbed over a sensitive spot inside me. A needier moan bubbled through me at the sensation and I pushed our lips together a little harder.

His arms wrapped around my waist before we were rolled over so he was on top. His hips moved to mine considerably faster as his mouth seemed hungrier.

A hand moved from my waist and brushed over my thigh encourages me to open them a little wider. I let out as gasp and my hands pushed at his shoulders gently to pull my lips away from his as I felt his thumb press to my clit. “Klaus” I whined as my walls clamped around him and he groaned.

His other hand tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear as his breathing turned to panting as his hips stuttered every so many thrusts.

I whispered softly as his thumb rubbed against me and his cock began to release hot spurts inside me. My thighs opened as wide as I could manage as he pushed me over the edge, his hand covered my mouth as I came and his movements slowed. His eyes fluttering as he pulled himself out of me and dropped to lay beside me. His hand left my face and I was pulled right back against him for his lips to press to mine again.

My breathing calmed and I kissed back gently before he pulled back away and his hands smoothed over my hair. Both our faces formed smiles as he kept me to his side. “I’ll bring you to the bathroom and we can clean you up, then we can try getting you to sleep again, okay my love?” He whispered while pulling me onto his lap and moving us to the end of the bed. His arms moved, one under my legs and one round my midsection as he lifted me and walked us to the bathroom.

He sat me on the toilet seat and told me to wait. He disappeared for just a second before returning in clean boxers with one another pair in his hands and one of his tops. He pulled the one I was wearing off, and his gaze landed on my chest for a short while before he cleared his throat and pulled the top over my head, I slid my arms through and basked in his scent. My lips kept pulling up as he got down onto his knees with a warm cloth to wipe me clean. Very few words needed to be spoken as he did so, both of us just feeling comfortable enough to continue in the quiet.

A yawn forced its way out of me while he pulled a pair of his boxers up my legs to my hips. Before I knew it, I was back in his hold and brought back to his bed. He dropped me down making me breath a soft laugh before he was on-top of me and pulling the duvet over us both. My mouth opened to speak but his lips stopped any words from leaving. From there he planted kisses right the way round my face before snuggling closer and pulling my face to his neck.

“You should try sleep now my lovely…I promise I won’t let any bad dreams or memories get you” he promises and I nod with a small smile

“I don’t think I could have any bad thoughts after that” I whispered and he hummed

“I should hope not” he murmured with a growing smile “but just incase, I’ll be here every night”

“Oh? Every night? Do I get a relaxation session each night as well?” I giggled and he chuckled

“I will show you my love every night, every morning, every afternoon and every moment in between that I can have my hands on you” he whispered and I kissed him briefly.

“I’ll stick around then” I mumbled and he squeezed me tight

“I’ll be waiting”

[pb524830]

anyone else

part: 6 pairing: paige bueckers x oc word count: 3.3k c/w: language, drinking a/n: guys i think this is probably the third to last part... keep sending in those asks so that i can keep writing pleeeeaaaaase!

DECEMBER 5, 2021

I stay with Paige for the rest of the game. It had already almost ended by the time she was dragged out, so it’s a matter of about a half hour before her teammates come piling in. I sit cross-legged on the training cot with her. I let her hold my hands, tracing her fingers over my manicured nails, toying with my rings. It distracts her for the time being. 

Her good leg bounces anxiously. She wipes angrily at tears that threaten to fall, her hands stopping their ministrations. My chest hurts, and hesitantly, I bring my thumb up to swipe at her tears. She glances up at me, her eyes watery. “Thank you.” I shake my head. “For what?” I whisper, brushing at her face still. I cup it gently. She reaches her arm up to hold my hand to her face. “For staying.” I breathe out shakily, pushing her hair out of her face. “Always,” I mumble. Her lip quivers at that, and she glances away.

Always, Paige.

For you, always, always, always.

The trainer comes to see her. Paige stares blankly as they reach a supposed diagnosis, telling her that she still needs to go in for an MRI. They’re saying it’s some kind of fracture to her tibial plateau, as well as a meniscus tear. Fuck. That has to be at least two months off. I glance at Paige. Her jaw is set, eyes rapidly blinking away tears. This is going to drive her crazy.

After the trainer leaves, her teammates trickle in. I move to pull my hands away, but she holds tight. “Don’t,” she whispers, and there’s a hint of desperation in her voice. My heart breaks, cracking slowly. I nod my head, lacing my fingers with hers, holding her hands in my lap. Azzi comes in first. I give her a small smile when she takes note of our hands with her eyes, the corner of her mouth twitching ever so slightly. 

I ride with the girls back to the apartments, helping Paige up to her room. If they have questions, if they’re confused, they don’t say anything. They let Paige curl into me with her head on my shoulder in the car without a word. 

She doesn’t even have to ask me to stay that night. She just tosses me one of her t-shirts, an old, ratty USA Basketball one that’s practically soaked in her scent. When I crawl under the covers with her and wrap my arms around her, when she buries her head into the crook of my neck, when she wraps her arms back around me tightly like she’s drowning and I’m her lifeline… I let her.

I’d let her have anything she wanted.

I’d let her do anything she wanted.

Because under it all, under all the hating and the yelling and the spiteful remarks and the silent treatments… She's still the girl who called me beautiful the first night we met.

She’s still the girl who walked me home.

She’s still the girl whose arms I fell asleep in, night after night.

The girl whose face I have memorized, whose voice is etched into my brain.

Paige is the girl who carried me off the court when I got hurt, who let me cry in her arms, who took me to her trainer, who stayed that night.

I look down at her sleeping face. Is this the same girl who left me to go fuck someone else?

Is this the same girl who kissed me until I was dizzy, who let her hands wander over my bare skin, who had me melting in her arms, and then tossed me to the side the second another girl called?

No matter how hard I try, I can’t reconcile the two people in my head. They aren’t the same. And I wonder just how long it will take before the new Paige reverts back to the old Paige.

I wonder and wonder until I see light creeping in from under the blanket she has thrown over her blinds. And then I decide.

These past few weeks, getting to learn her again, falling back into our old routines of bickering and craving each others’ touch and falling asleep in each others’ arms… they’ve been a dream. We just fit. Being here with her makes sense.

But she drives me insane. There’s so many questions that are unanswered, that will go unanswered because I’m just too scared to ask. And these next few weeks, with this recovery process, I need to be focused. And Paige, this beautiful, perfect girl who's holding me like I might fade away if she doesn’t hang on tight enough… She's a distraction.

That’s what I tell myself as I climb out of her bed and force myself out of her room. It’s what I tell myself as I grab my keys from the counter and reach for my shoes.

My internal monologue is interrupted. “Where are you going?”

I clear my throat, slipping my Forces on. “Home,” I answer Paige, turned away from her as I lace up my shoes.

She’s quiet. “How come?”

I sigh, turning to her. “We can’t keep doing this, Paige. Okay, it’s exhausting.”

She narrows her eyes. “It’s exhausting because you won’t admit that you have feelings for me, Ava.”

Ava. Ava, Ava, Ava. Ava and Paige and Paige and Ava and God I’m so sick of this.

“You know what? Yeah. Yeah, Paige, I have fucking feelings for you. Is that what you wanna hear? Huh? Does that help?” I burst out. I don’t mean for the words to come out as loud as they do.

She steps closer, hobbling on her bad leg. “Then give in. Why are you so against the idea of us?” She asks.

I shake my head, taking a step back. “We don’t work.”

“How would you know?” Another step.

“I just do.”

Paige reaches for me, grasping my arms to bring me against her chest. I stumble into her. “Doesn’t this feel right to you?” I don’t answer. She presses on. “It feels so fucking right to me. Waking up with you in my arms feels right to me, Ava, we feel right.” 

“Paige, stop,” I plead quietly, pushing her away, because I’m so close to giving in. And I can’t. I can’t and I won’t.

“Why? Because you don’t want to hear the truth?” She demands, her voice raising.

“I don’t owe you an explanation!” I exclaim, mine raising, too. I can feel anger stirring in the pit of my stomach.

“Holy shit, Ava! Do you not get it? Are you not hearing me?” Her voice is closer to a yell now. 

I open my mouth to tell her to quiet down, that her teammates are sleeping, but she’s on a roll, bulldozing over me. “Fucking hell, dude! I just want you! I want to- to hold you without you pulling away, I want to fucking kiss you without you telling me to stop, and I want to think about you and-and tell you that you’re all I fucking think about without you running away!” She’s really yelling now, her eyes wide with disbelief and anguish and the words she’s saying are tying the knot in my throat tighter and tighter, heightening the need I have to just reach for her and kiss her until the anger on her face melts away.

“Stop saying shit like that when you don’t fucking mean it!” I scream back instead, biting back a sob.

“Stop telling me how I fucking feel!”

“You want me now, Paige. But after you have me, you’re just going to toss me to the side the second someone else comes along,” I spit at her venomously.

Her face hardens. “That’s not fair. You don’t get to say that. That’s not fair.”

I force myself to roll my eyes, throwing my hands up in the air exasperatedly. If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s self-destruction. “Tough shit, Paige,” I bite out, and it takes everything in me, everything, to turn to the door and yank it open, letting it slam behind me.

DECEMBER 6, 2021

Ava come back 9:08 AM

Please 9:08 AM

Let’s just talk about this 9:09 AM

I’m sorry for yelling 10:34 AM

I shouldn’t have screamed at you 10:34 AM

Ava I’m sorry okay? 8:52 PM

Please don’t fucking do this to me again 8:52 PM

DECEMBER 7, 2021

Can we just talk? 12:03 AM

You can’t ignore me forever 12:04 AM

I can see you typing 3:02 PM

Avantika come on 3:02 PM

We can fix this  3:02 PM

DECEMBER 9, 2021

Azzi says you don’t wanna see me 4:28 PM

This is such fucking bullshit  4:28 PM

You’re being such a bitch right now 4:28 PM

Wait 9:56 PM

I didn’t mean that 9:57 PM

DECEMBER 13, 2021

Happy birthday 12:03 AM

I miss you 12:03 AM

DECEMBER 25, 2021

Merry Christmas 10:28 AM

JANUARY 1, 2022

Happy new year 12:15 AM

If this isn’t proof that I’m insanely down bad for you I don’t know what is 12:16 AM

FEBRUARY 25, 2022

It’s my first game back 6:07 AM

Come if you can I guess 6:07 AM

You came? 8:49 PM

You could have said hi 8:50 PM

Fuck this 8:50 PM

Why am I even still texting you 8:51 PM

MARCH 2022

“And you’re sure she’s not going to be there?” I ask Azzi for what must be the thousandth time over the phone.

“Yes, Ava. I told you, she hasn’t been out with us in months,” she responds exasperatedly. The notion does bother me a little - Paige passing up an opportunity to party isn’t like her. According to Azzi, she normally heads over to Werth and just shoots for hours. I hum thoughtfully; the thought of drinking with the girls without seeing Paige is fairly tempting. “Just comeee,” Azzi begs. “As long as she won’t be there… Yes, I’ll come.” I relent finally, and Azzi whoops on the other end. “But only for a couple hours. I have to study,” I say sternly.

I can almost hear Azzi’s eyes roll. “You’re so annoying. Yes, just make sure you’re there!”

I laugh, hanging up the phone.

Later that night, I stare at myself in the mirror. I’m not wearing anything special, just a pair of denim shorts torn at the thigh. They’re a little shorter than I’d normally go for, but the weather outside isn’t as cold as it’s been these past few months and I want to take advantage of that. I pair it with a white tank top that’s been ruggedly cropped just at my midriff. I curl my hair quickly, letting it fall in loose waves. I cock my head. I really need to redye it. 

I walk to the address Azzi’s given me, one of the men’s players’ apartments near her place. When I walk in, I nearly get deja vu to that pregame I went to months ago. It’s those same flashing strobe lights, the same thumping, unrecognizable music. “Avaaa!” Nika squeals, running to me and squeezing me tight. “Nika!” I hug her back, laughing as she rocks me back and forth. Azzi’s next, squeezing me tighter and shoving a White Claw into my hand. “Come, come! Someone wants to meet you,” she urges, her face taking on a sly smirk as she pulls me through the crowd.

“This is Emmett,” Azzi says, presenting me to one of the men’s players. “Emmett, this is Ava,” she tells me. We both stare blankly at her. I recognize him as the guy who tried to buy me a drink at Ted’s the last time I came out with the girls. “Okay! Talk!” Azzi instructs brightly, clapping her hands before strutting away. 

Emmett and I look at each other, laughing awkwardly. He reaches his hand out to me to shake, and I take it, grateful that he’s broken the tension. “She knows we’ve met, right?” He asks curiously. I chuckle, craning my neck to look back at her, but she’s gone. “Guess not,” I shrug. “Well,” Emmett starts, looping an arm around my shoulder. “I was just gonna take another shot. You down?” I grin at him slyly, bumping his hip with mine. “Try and keep up, white boy,” I tease. He laughs, following me to the kitchen.

I take a shot with him, Jordan, and Aubrey, wincing as it stings its way down my throat.

Emmett’s not my type. Even though I do technically like guys, I’d normally never go for him.

I take another shot with Emmett. Nika takes one too. The tequila burns, and I cough.

Emmett’s not my type. His eyes are green, not blue. His hair is coppery, not blonde with dark roots.

Vodka, this time. Emmett’s there. I’m not sure who else.

Emmett’s not my type. He’s not…

Paige. She walks through the door as I lean against the wall, having some mindless conversation with Emmett. The drink in my hand is strong, but I can’t really taste the Everclear in it at all. It’s getting me dangerously drunk, and all I can think when Paige pushes that door open and steps through is that she looks so fucking good. She’s wearing a cropped black tank top with blue jeans that hug her hips just right, the curve of her slender waist still visible under the white button down she’s thrown over the outfit lazily. Her hair down and straight and so ridiculously shiny that I know she's just washed it.

I watch as she laughs, dapping Jordan Hawkins up, grinning as she teases him. My heart stutters. Has her smile always been that beautiful?

Then she disappears. Emmett’s saying something, but I haven’t registered any of it. “What? Can you say that again?” I call over the music. He leans closer. “Want another drink?” he asks, louder this time. I nod. He takes my hand, leading me into the kitchen.

We run right into Paige.

She’s smiling, and I hate the way it fades when she catches sight of me. Hate the way it twists into a frown when she registers our hands clasped together. I shake Emmett off quickly. Paige stares me down, daring me to say something. I don’t. I can’t find the words. She licks her lips. I follow her tongue, despising the way my eyes still draw to her mouth. 

Emmett, oblivious to the situation, walks past her with my cup to refill it. I try to edge past her and follow him, but she steps to the side to block me. I try the other side, and huff when she does the same thing. I try to circle around her, but she switches so that we’re sideways. I can’t go further into the kitchen or leave without her blocking me.

“That was fast,” she notes, almost cruelly, her upper lip curling. I hardly notice it, too busy freaking out over the fact that those are the first words she’s said to me verbally in fucking months.

“What?” 

She scoffs. “No wonder you couldn’t answer my texts. You were too busy whoring around with him,” she says, and her words sting.

“How fucking dare you-”

“Yo, P, you good?” Emmett approaches us, our drinks in hand.

“Leave, Emmett,” Paige snaps at him, her eyes alight with a warning. I turn to follow him as he holds his arms up in surrender. Paige grabs my arm, hauling me back.

“I guess you have a type, huh?” She sneers. “You’ll just fuck any white hooper who crosses your path, is that it?”

“You have a lot of fucking nerve to be talking to me like that,” I spit back, squaring up to her.

Yeah, her words are pissing me off. But it feels so comfortable, so familiar, to be in this position with her, arguing about something or the other. She takes measured steps towards me, backing me into the counter.

“You’re such a bitch, you know that?” She whispers, licking her lips as she stares down at me.

My ass hits the counter, the backs of my thighs pressing against the wood, but she doesn’t stop until her breath is hitting my face. I want her.

I want her so bad that it physically hurts me, that the tips of my fingers tingle and my palms ache and it pains me not to just reach up and kiss her senseless.

I’ve been craving her for months. The taste of her strawberry chapstick, the feel of her jaw under my fingers, the sounds she makes under her breath when I kiss her. And she’s here, in front of me, so dangerously close. She smells the same, like pine and strawberries.

“What? You can’t respond to my texts, can’t call me back? You show up to my fucking game and don’t even fucking speak to me? Hm?” She demands, her voice quiet and rough and full of danger. I can’t tear my eyes away from her lips.

Her hands land on my hips, pressing me hard into the island. I swallow hard. She smirks. “You still want me, don’t you?” She whispers. I shake my head, but have to choke back a moan when she edges a knee between my thighs. “No?” She says, her voice laced with faux pity. I’m dizzy, but I’m not sure if it’s her or the alcohol. I shake my head defiantly again.

She leans closer. “Go fuck him, then. Go on.” Her tone is tinged with venom, but all I can think is how sexy she looks when she’s mad, that the word fuck on her lips sounds like poetry, somehow. Her lips press against my ear and I shudder, clutching at her biceps. “Does he make you as wet as I do?” She murmurs.

“Just stop it,” I beg hoarsely, fisting a hand in her button down and yanking her to me. When her lips meet mine, it’s so cathartic that my knees nearly buckle. She gasps lightly against my mouth, but recovers quickly, kissing me back with a fervor. Her lips move against mine hungrily, arms winding all the way around my body to press me closer than should be humanly possible. I moan into her mouth, clinging to the white button up, letting my hand find her bare waist. She makes a noise as my cold fingers touch her skin and I take the opportunity to shove my tongue into her mouth. 

I had missed the way she tastes, like sweet mint and summer. 

Her mouth moves to my neck, placing shameless, open-mouthed kisses against the side of my throat and I gasp. “Paige,” I whisper. “Paige, not here,” I insist. She drags herself away from me, her blue eyes glazed over with need. “Avantika,” she mutters. “Don’t make me stop this time.”

I shudder at the sheer desire in her voice. “Who’s at your place right now?” She grabs my hand. “No one.” I let her lead me out of the kitchen, through the door, and across the street to her place. Realistically, it should have given me enough time to think, enough time to unmake this rash decision I’m making.

But my hand is in hers, and I’ve been out of sorts for months, and it feels like someone finally set me back on my feet. She pushes open the door to her apartment, and for a moment we just breathe, looking at one another.

Then Paige reaches for me and I reach for her and I think that just this once can’t hurt.

[wosoamazing]

Injuries & Panic - Part 2

Warnings: Hospitals

A/N: just a short part 2. Also please feel free to send requests (however just know that there is no guarantee I will write them, )

You walked through the whitewashed sterile hallway of the hospital. Beth, Steph, Katie and Caitlin followed closely behind you. You looked at every number on the door as you went passed. You had prepared yourself for the worst, so when you heard laughter coming from the room that was supposedly your sister you had to recheck the number, just to make sure it was her room, and sure enough it was her room. The girls had warned you that her speech might be slurred or that her movements would be slowed and uncoordinated, you had expected her to be barely conscious, so to say you were pleasantly surprised when you rounded the corner to see you sister was okay like truly okay, was an understatement. You were so happy to see her sitting up in her hospital bed laughing, she was okay, everything was okay, she was the same Leah, she was your sister.

“Bug!” she said slightly too loudly when she saw you, grimacing at her own actions. You quickly went to her side asking, “Are you okay?”

She smiled saying “Yeah, just moved too quickly” “Oh okay”

“You know, I’ve missed you, and I’m sorry for scaring you,” she told you as she carefully shifted to one side of her bed, you were confused as to why she was moving over until she gestured for you to join her, you were kind of worried you might hurt her but you really wanted to hug you sister so you carefully got up and sat next to her, before gently resting your head on her chest, you looked up at her to check this was okay and she just smiled and nodded back down to you reassuring you that it was. The other girls had found positions around the room and had all fallen asleep, and you weren’t too far behind them, they had stayed up with you for most of the night, as only half an hour after you had arrived at Beth's you had a nightmare, causing you to wake up screaming, they had decided to bring you out to the couch and they all slept there with you, waking up almost every hour with you from your nightmares, calming you down and not falling back to sleep until they were sure you were asleep.

“I think we might just quickly go and have showers and a grab a bite to eat quickly Le, if that’s alright, we will only be around half an hour max” Lia whispered to your sister.

“That’s totally okay, take as long as you need, and Viv, Wally, thank you for staying with me and taking care of me” your sister replied whole heartedly.

“It was no drama, honestly” Viv replied before the two girls headed out.

Leah quickly fell asleep after they left, seeming that was all anyone else in the room was doing and because she had also been woken up every hour last night, for a different reason to the rest of you but it still meant she too didn’t get much sleep.

Leah woke to a soft tap sometime later, she looked up to see Lia.

“I see someone is happy to see you” she said as she smiled at you both, you were now sound asleep, head still resting on Leah, her arm was wrapped around you, holding you tight against her.

“Mhmm” Leah responded looking down to your sleeping figure, a huge grin was plastered on your face as you slept. A few of the girls were also awake smiling at you pleased with the fact you were sleeping finally.

“Glad she is finally sleeping,” Beth piped up, “Huh?” Leah replied brow furrowing in confusion, the girls had kept Lia and Viv updated but they clearly didn’t tell Leah, as they didn’t want to upset her.

“She kept having nightmares, but we stayed with her the whole night, all four of us, she stayed on my lap all night, and every time she woke up we quickly calmed her down and made sure she was asleep before we fell back asleep.” Katie informed your sister.

“Thank you so much, you guys honestly don’t know how much you mean to me, to us, but mostly to her, she sees you all as her big sisters and she honestly loves you all”.

Later that day the doctor came in to update you all, Leah was able to go home, that night all six girls that had made sure you and your sister were okay decided stayed over at your house, some slept in the spare room, some on the couch, some in your bed. You slept with Leah in her bed, Lia was on a blow-up air mattress on the floor, not wanting to disturb your sisterly peace but also not wanting to leave Leah alone, she was happy to sleep on the floor, but Leah insisted she had to at least sleep on an air-mattress if she wouldn’t join you both in bed. The following days Leah returned to colony to start her recovery, she had a grade 3 concussion but surprising had very little symptoms, which was good. The girls had decided they should probably go back to their own houses, but Lia stayed, she stayed until Leah had played her first game again, wanting to be there just encase, you didn’t mind though because you had grown quite fond of Lia recently, and her being over wasn’t really out of the ordinary, if anything you would class it as weird if three nights had gone by without her sleeping over.

[daysofyellowroses]

jam

richie jerimovich x afab single mom reader | 4.6k | tw: smoking, language, little bit of smut

this story basically came from me listening to norman fucking rockwell and radio by lana del rey (my robbed queen) on repeat, two songs that don't have a ton to do with this story but I was vibing to them and thinking about the fact that I actually really find richie attractive and this story just came out

—

“Alright, I'll see you later thanks so much!”

You hurried down the steps of your house, jiggling the keys in your hand til you found the key fob for the car and unlocked it. Your bag was tossed into the passenger seat, and you quickly started the car.

When you pulled up in the crowded car park, you checked the time and let out a sigh. Five minutes late. Of course. You grabbed your bag and headed straight into the building, adjusting your coat as you slipped into the auditorium. 

There was a group standing at the back, but you scanned over the seats anyway, spotting an empty one and quietly sitting down, smiling as you saw Richie sitting in the next seat looking like he was struggling not to fall asleep.

“Hey,” You whispered, resting your bag in your lap. “Did I miss anything?”

“Oh, hey,” Richie smiled a little, sitting up and gesturing to the stage. “Nah, you didn't miss anything except this jabroni talking shit about lunch menus.”

“The usual then,” You nodded, looking at the stage. “His voice just drains me. I nearly fell out of my seat when he was talking to me at the last parent's evening. At least it would have rescued me.”

Richie laughed a little, rubbing his jaw and letting out a yawn.

“I hate these things. Can't they just send a letter home with the kids saying whatever all this is?”

“I wish.” You sighed, glancing over to Richie. You were a little surprised to see him, usually it was Tiff who came to these meetings, sat beside you in boredom. Maybe she wasn't feeling well or something, it was a rare occurrence for Richie to show his face at any school event that didn't directly involve Eva.

“Before I forget,” You looked back to your bag, reaching into it. “I have something for you. Here we are.”

You pulled out a folded slip of paper, handing it over to Richie with a smile.

“What's this?” Richie raised a brow with a grin as he unfolded the paper. “To Richie, you are invited to Mia's fifth birthday party on Saturday at 1pm..”

He looked over to you, holding up the colorful invite. “This is so adorable, really. Eva is so excited for the party, she spent an hour telling me about it the other night.”

You smiled as you watched Richie look back at the invite before carefully folding it.

“Honestly I think Mia would be happy if Eva was the only person to show up,” You grinned. “she keeps asking if she'll definitely be there. And she wanted to make sure you and Tiff got invites, she doesn't really understand that parents don't need invites, but I think in her mind if she invites you both then Eva will definitely be there.”

“That's fucking precious,” Richie smiled, looking over to you. “I'll be there, I got Eva on Saturday. But I think Tiff is..away, this weekend.”

You reached out to gently touch Richie's arm, giving him a warm smile. 

“But you'll be there, thank god. I'm gonna need someone to talk to because I can't deal with the mommy cult.”

Richie nodded, letting out a chuckle before looking to the stage.

“You know, I'm pretty sure he was the principal when I went here. And he was still giving the same speech.”

You let out a laugh that was louder than you intended, covering your mouth when a couple of heads turned to look at you and the principal craned his neck forward to see the cause.

“Please hold all comments until the Q&A,” He frowned, looking over the top of his glasses. “As I was saying..”

“Q&A?” Richie muttered, slinking back in his seat. “What is this, Cannes fucking film festival?”

A long hour later, you and Richie slipped outside for a smoke as soon as the meeting ended, avoiding any run-ins with the mommy cult that always seemed so keen to recruit you. 

“That was torture,” You sighed, reaching into your bag for a light. “I hate that man, honestly.”

“Me too,” Richie nodded, pulling a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and holding it out to you. “He hates me too though, since I called him a jumped up little fucker.”

You laughed as you slid out a cigarette, placing it between your lips and flicking your lighter.

“He is though,” You murmured, handing your light to Richie and exhaling.

“He definitely hates me too. I can feel it. Sorry I can't bring anything more exciting than rice crispy squares to bake sales, I have a fucking life.”

You let out a sigh as you flicked your cigarette, glancing over to Richie and laughing.

“Sorry, I don't mean to get all..uppity. How's everything with you? I heard the Beef is getting a makeover?”

“Yeah,” Richie nodded, exhaling smoke and resting his hand on his pocket. “It's uh..it's all good, yeah. Chaotic, but that's to be expected right?”

“Right,” You smiled, pulling your coat a little tighter. “It must be exciting though, knowing you're about to start something new.”

“Mm,” Richie nodded, taking a long drag on his cigarette. “I guess I'm just not letting myself get too excited just yet. Just in case.”

“That's fair,” You agreed, taking a drag of your cigarette and glancing over your shoulder as you heard voices coming from the front door of the school. “But I think it will work out. Gut instinct, I'm never wrong.”

Richie laughed softly, smiling as he looked over to you.

“I'll have to borrow some of your faith, I got this..thing coming up that I'm-”

“Oh my gosh, there you are!”

You raised a brow as you heard a voice behind you, turning around and forcing yourself to smile as you spotted one of the ringleaders of the mommy cult. Perfectly styled hair, flawless makeup, a coat that cost more than your mortgage, and a very fake smile on her face.

“Hey Sarah,” You smiled widely, your mouth hurting a little. “How are you?”

You heard Richie scoff behind you and tried not to laugh.

“Ugh, I'm such a mess right now,” Sarah sighed, tossing her long curls over her shoulder. “I just had to throw something on to come to this, I was just so busy all day.”

“Mm,” You nodded, biting your tongue hard. If spending your husband's money and fucking your PT was a career she'd be the CEO. “Yeah, it's..it's tough.”

“I know,” Sarah smiled, touching your arm. “I meant to catch up with you at the gates this morning but you just looked so..frantic.”

Sorry we can't all turn up at the school gates in designer gym wear with a perfect ponytail and a decaf latte, you thought to yourself, forcing the smile to stay on your face.

“But I wanted to check in with you,” Sarah continued. “About Saturday. Will you be serving food? Drinks? Cake?”

“Will I be serving food, drinks and cake at my five year old daughter's birthday party?” You raised a brow, tilting your head slightly with a smile. “Yes, yes I will be doing that.”

“Okay, awesome,” Sarah smiled. “Well Tabitha isn't eating meat, dairy or preservatives at the moment, just so you're aware..but please don't let that interfere with your plans, I can always just bring something for her myself.”

“Awesome,” You smiled, your cheeks starting to ache. “Well I have to be off but I'll see you Saturday, can't wait.”

Once Sarah had walked away you let out a deep sigh before turning back to Richie and taking a long drag on your cigarette.

“Well that was..awesome,” He grinned. “free entertainment.”

“For you maybe,��� You sighed, laughing as you flicked your depleted cigarette away. Richie reached for the box and you shook your head. “God I can't stand that fucking woman. You know her precious Tabitha was eating hot dogs and cake at the birthday party last weekend. Funny how she always seems to develop new eating habits when I'm the one throwing the party.”

“Hey, don't let her get to you,” Richie insisted, gently touching your shoulder. “The party is gonna be awesome, the food is going to be great, if you need anything at all just hit me up, alright?”

“Stop being so sweet, I'll cry,” You laughed softly, gently squeezing Richie's arm. “But thank you. I appreciate it.”

Richie waved his hand with a smile, shaking his head. 

“Don't mention it. I gotta get going but I will see you Saturday, right? Gonna be awesome,” He teased in a high pitched voice.

“Oh fuck off.” You grinned, walking over to your and being unable to stop the smile the whole ride home.

For the rest of the week, you found yourself excited and nervous for the party, when usually you were totally calm. The past four had been a breeze, blow up some balloons, play music, serve cake. But this one had you feeling more on edge. 

On the morning of the party, you tried to relax yourself. Your best friend had come over to help you set up, and very sweetly entertained Mia while you got everything set up. You laughed when your best friend pointed out that your house looked more like a meeting of the Taylor Swift fan club than a birthday party, but Mia was a girl who knew what she wanted. 

Once everything was ready, you ran to have a shower and get changed before the first guests arrived, taking a little extra time with your hair and makeup but not too much because there was no need for full drag for a child's birthday party.

To your surprise/relief, the party seemed to be a hit. Mia and Eva were glued together the moment Eva arrived, the two of them running off into the house giggling, leaving you alone in the hallway with Richie.

“That's her day made,” You smiled, embracing Richie in a hug. “Thanks for coming.”

“My pleasure,” Richie gently stroked your back before you moved apart, holding out a large pink gift bag. “Got somewhere I can leave this?”

“Of course, come on through,” You smiled, heading into the living room where the coffee table was already starting to get full. You told yourself you had probably given the equivalent amount of gifts over the past few months between all the other kids parties but it still felt like too much. “You can just leave it with the others.”

“I would say what it is,” Richie smiled, setting the bag down before turning back to you. “But I don't know. Some teddy bear looking thing that's got some whole backstory, apparently.”

“They all have a backstory now,” You grinned. “I can't keep up. Do you want a drink? Something to eat?”

“Sounds good,” Richie nodded, gesturing to the door. “After you.”

A couple of hours, half of Taylor Swifts's back catalogue, dozens of hot dogs, endless cupcakes, and a couple of sneaky beers later, you were feeling much more relaxed. 

For the most part, you'd managed to avoid Sarah and the mommy cult, who mostly stood in a circle, one hot uneaten cupcake between them. There were some lunch boxes with half eaten salads in them, and you were sure there wasn't a crumb of cake left.

You were in the kitchen with your best friend, showing her some of the pictures you'd taken of the day when Richie came in, giving you a nod.

“Oh, perfect timing,” You smiled, holding out your phone to Richie. “How cute is this photo of the girls? I think I'm gonna have to get it framed.”

“Let's see,” Richie smiled, walking closer and accepting your phone. “Well look at that..that's possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen.”

“I'm gonna have to take off,” Your best friend smiled knowingly at you as you raised a brow. “It was a great day, honestly.”

As she was leaving you got a ‘He’s fucking cute’ mouthed at you and you had to bite your tongue.

“I know it's corny but I hope they're best friends forever,” You smiled as Richie handed your phone back. “they're so sweet together.”

“That is so corny,” Richie rolled his eyes with a grin. “But I get it. Even if it is really corny.”

“Shut up and get me another beer,” You raised a brow with a smile. “I should have you thrown out for being so rude to the host.”

“Alright, alright,” Richie held his hands up, walking backwards to the fridge. “I'm truly, truly sorry, you've been an amazing host, really.”

“Thanks,” You smiled, setting down your empty beer bottle. “I was weirdly stressed over all this but..I think it turned out okay? The cake was good, wasn't it? Like, it was okay?”

“Okay? It was out of this fucking world,” Richie opened the fridge, getting two beers from the bottom drawer. “Truly. You made it yourself right?”

“Yeah,” You nodded, accepting the beer Richie handed you with a smile. “I always make Mia's cake. Chocolate cake with peanut butter cups on top, it was what I asked for when I was five. Well, I asked for peanut butter cups instead of a cake but my mom compromised. It would be so much easier to just buy a cake, but..I just feel like I need to overcompensate because..”

“Because her dad is a bum,” Richie muttered, closing his eyes and shaking his head. “Sorry, that was..inappropriate. Forget I said that.”

You smiled as you opened your beer, watching Richie look like he wanted the ground to swallow him. 

“It's okay,” You insisted. “I've called him a lot worse. But I'm glad that the cake went over well.”

“Absolutely,” Richie nodded, taking a sip of his beer before glancing to the door. “Listen, before I forget..I actually have an extra gift for Mia. But I thought I should run it by you first.”

“Oh?” You set your beer down, resting your hands back on the counter. “What is it?”

“These,” Richie reached into his back pocket, pulling out an envelope and handing it over to you. “I managed to pull some strings.”

“What is this?” You smiled, turning the envelope and slowly peeling it open. You let out a gasp as you saw what was inside, carefully taking out a ticket to the Eras tour, looking back into the envelope and seeing three more.

“This is..”

You took a deep breath, laughing after a moment. 

“Richie..have you been walking around all day with these in your pocket?”

“Well..yeah?” Richie frowned, gesturing to the tickets. “I don't know if Mia still likes Taylor Swift but Eva really wanted to go to the concert and I figured if Eva likes Taylor Swift then Mia likes Taylor Swift, probably, and I thought it might be weird or a lot if I took them on my own and I don't even know if you're a Taylor Swift fan but I mean who isn't, really, and I-”

“Richie,” You held your hand up. “This is going to be her favorite gift of all time, it is unbelievably generous of you. I can't thank you enough, truly. This is..amazing, I can't wait to show her.”

Richie was silent for a moment, a smile stuck on his face.

“Don't mention it, happy to do it.”

You waited until all the other guests had left before you sat Eva and Mia down and got them to close their eyes, placing the tickets in their hands. You were pretty sure your hearing wouldn't come back for a solid day or two, you'd never heard screams so loud. 

While the girls played together, Richie helped you clean up, despite your insistence he was a guest and didn't need to.

You were standing on a stepladder taking down deflated balloons, handing them to Richie who was putting them in a trash bag.

“Oh shit, did I tell you about the soft launch?” He asked.

“The what now?” You raised a brow, glancing down at Richie. “What's a soft launch?”

“Like a..trial opening, for the restaurant,” Richie explained. “For family and friends. Just so we can see how it will go.”

“Oh,” You nodded, looking back to the balloons. “I get you. That's exciting, when is that happening?”

“Next Friday night,” Richie held the bag open as you dropped more balloons in. “You should come. Bring a friend, have a night out. I can put you down, if you want?”

You couldn't help but smile at the hopefulness in his voice, turning to look at him and leaning down a little.

“I want that very much,” You murmured softly, lightly biting your lip as you watched him take a breath and lean in closer. You felt your heart race, the scent of his cologne engulfing you and making you want to grab him and jump into his arms when you heard an excited shriek and quickly pulled back, clearing your throat and smiling as the girls came running back into the room. 

When you waved Richie and Eva goodbye, you let out a deep breath as you closed the front door, your heart still racing.

The week that followed was the longest of your life. Days went too slow and too fast. You spent your lunch breaks frantically searching for an outfit for the restaurant launch, sending endless links to your best friend for approval. You went back and forth on whether you should get your hair and makeup done professionally or if that was too much, but what if the restaurant was going to be fancy? You wanted to look the part after all.

When Friday came you raced home from work, changed into sweatpants and a comfortable baggy t-shirt before taking Mia to your friend's house, offering a thousand thank yous for the babysitting and a thousand promises to take them out to the Bear next time.

When you got home your best friend was just pulling up, and you quickly pulled her into the house.

You settled on allowing your bestie to do your hair and makeup, which proved to be the perfect choice when you couldn't stop looking at yourself in the mirror.

The dress you'd ordered hung in the closet, waiting to be worn. It was quite simple, black and mid-length, but still elegant and just a little bougie because..how often can you say you're going to a restaurant opening?

“Ready?” 

You looked up from the mirror, smiling through the nerves.

“Ready.”

When you were walking around the corner to the restaurant, you raised a brow as you saw a line down the block, linking arms with your bestie as you went to join the queue.

“So,” Your bestie looked over to you with a grin. “You're definitely fucking him tonight, right?”

“What?” You laughed, slightly nervously, looking over to your bestie. “Don't be ridiculous, we're just friends.”

“Mm, okay,” Your bestie nodded. “you tell yourself that.”

You rolled your eyes and gave your bestie a nudge, the two of you bursting out laughing.

When you reached the front of the queue, you felt a fresh wave of nerves hit you as you walked into the restaurant. It looked incredible, totally different than it had before. You were just getting used to it when another new sight hit you, one that almost had your jaw on the floor.

“Ladies, welcome to the Bear,” Richie smiled, appearing in front of you in a suit, with a new cologne that had you feeling on edge already. He clicked his fingers and there was a waitress beside you both offering to take your coats. 

“You are in for an incredible evening, when you're ready follow me and I'll take you to your table.”

“Oh yeah,” Your bestie whispered to you as Richie led you to a table. “you're definitely fucking him.”

You slowly relaxed as the evening went on, enjoying having a rare night out. The wine was heavenly, the food was incredible, and having Richie drop by to check in on you was the cherry on the cake.

At some point he disappeared from the floor for a while, and you found yourself missing him, but focused on having some quality time with your bestie.

When you finished dinner, you felt like you wouldn't be able to move for a week, a wonderful feeling. You couldn't believe it when Richie appeared, coming over to your table with a tray in his hand, a plate covered with a cloche.

“Dessert, ladies,” He smiled. “enjoy.”

“Oh I honestly couldn't eat another-”

Your hand flew over your heart as Richie set the plate down, lifting off the cloche to reveal a large peanut butter cup with caramel drizzled around it.

“Thank you,” You managed after a moment, looking up to Richie. “I love it.”

“My pleasure,” Richie gave you a wink. “Enjoy.”

“Alright, smile,” Your bestie grinned, taking her phone. “I need a photo of this.”

After the perfect dessert, you felt like you were riding on a high, catching Richie's eye from across the restaurant and giving him a smile before looking back to your best friend. 

“I'll be right back.”

You got up and went to the bathroom, standing in front of the mirror and taking a deep breath. You smoothed out your dress, did a little over the shoulder look before spritzing on a little extra perfume and heading back out. You bumped into Richie almost immediately, taking a step back with a smile.

“Careful, I might think you were waiting for me,” You teased. “Thank you again for that dessert, and for everything..it's amazing.”

“Glad you enjoyed it,” Richie nodded, looking down for a moment before looking back up with a smile and a raised brow. “Something on my face?”

“No,” You smiled, gently touching his tie. “Just..admiring this new look.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” You nodded. “Listen, I know you're probably gonna be going out to celebrate after this and I am being extremely presumptuous but I've had a bottle of wine so I can say this..”

You took a deep breath, looking away for a moment before looking back to Richie.

“If you're around, later..you know where I am.”

You walked away before he could respond, your heart thundering in your chest. You and your bestie collected your coats and decided to go have one more drink somewhere before heading home in an Uber, your head on her shoulder. 

You waved her off when you got dropped home, heading inside and checking your phone. Your friend who was babysitting Mia asked how the night had been, you sent a quick reply before heading upstairs to change. 

You put on some comfortable pajamas but kept your nice underwear on, just in case. You took your makeup off and did your usual nighttime routine before heading down to the living room and getting comfortable on the couch. 

An hour later you had a knock on the front door, smiling to yourself and getting up from the couch. You opened the door to find Richie on the other side, his head in his head.

“I just hit on your elderly neighbor,” He groaned. “I got the wrong door and said some things..can I come in?”

“Get in before Mr. Williams calls the police,” You grinned, taking Richie's arm and pulling him inside. “There's gonna be rumors about a late night deviant.”

“Hey, less of that,” Richie grinned, closing the door behind him. “I'm a lot of things but I'm not a deviant.”

“So what do you call terrorizing elderly men at night?” You teased. “Because I can think of a few words..like..”

You muffled a laugh as Richie put his hand over your mouth, gently moving your hand to his wrist and giving him your best doe eyes.

“Very funny,” Richie grinned, lowering his hand. “How you feeling? Alright?”

“Me? I'm feeling great,” You smiled, gently taking Richie's hand and guiding him to the stairs. “Let me show you.”

You raised a brow as Richie didn't follow you, turning back to look at him. 

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Richie nodded, clearing his throat. “I just uh..we don't have to just..” He gestured to the stairs and you couldn't stop smiling.

“So you came over to..talk?” You raised a brow with a grin. “watch TV? Have a cup of coffee?”

“Well, not..” 

“Richie,” You smiled, stepping closer to him. “Just spit it out.”

“Right,” He nodded. “Okay, I just..I really want to go upstairs but I don't want you to think I just came over for that like..I'm not that kinda guy, we can go for like a real date, see how this-”

“Richie,” You placed your hand over his mouth, raising a brow. “I know. I'm not like that, I know you're a decent guy. We got all the time in the world for dates, but right now I really need you to take me upstairs and fuck my actual brains out.”

You slowly moved your hand, smiling as Richie immediately closed the gap between you, his arms wrapping around your waist as yours wrapped around his neck. He tasted like cigarettes and whiskey and you couldn't get enough, letting out a gasp as his hands moved down and he picked you up with ease. 

You weren't sure how you had the patience to get upstairs, but the moment you got Richie into your bedroom you couldn't wait much longer, letting out a moan as he threw you onto the bed and immediately began tugging your pajamas off. 

“Fuck,” He groaned, pulling back and looking down at you. “Were you..did you have these on all night?”

“Yeah,” You murmured softly, your hands holding Richie's tie and tugging him down for a kiss. “Am I keeping them on?”

“Absolutely fucking not.”

You lifted your legs, giving Richie a preview of how wet you were, meeting his eyes as he slowly peeled off your pants, tossing them over his shoulder. 

“Waiting for an invitation?” You grinned, laying back and resting your arms by the pillows. 

“Such a pillow princess,” Richie grinned, sitting up and undoing his tie. “didn't expect it.”

“You think so?” You raised a brow, moving your hand down between your legs. “Might have to start without you if you're taking so long..”

You grinned as Richie practically tore off the rest of his clothes, letting out a soft hum as your fingers dipped into your wet warmth, reaching your other hand out to Richie.

“Come on..don't keep me waiting all night.”

“Are you always so bratty?” Richie grinned, climbing onto the bed and watching you closely.

“Sometimes,” You murmured softly, meeting Richie's eyes. “But you can talk, with that pillow princess comment,” You moved quickly, straddling Richie's waist and holding his hands above his head. 

“Maybe I should let you do all the work, for being so rude.”

“Fuck,” Richie muttered, shifting his hips a little. “just say the word and you got it..”

“That so?” You smirked softly. “Might just have to put that to the test..”

“Yes ma'am.” Richie murmured, smirking as he sat up, kissing you deeply and pushing you down onto your back as you let out an excited squeak.

In the morning you texted a picture of a sleeping Richie to your best friend, captioned ‘We're just friends’

Two weeks later you and Richie stumbled upon Sarah's laundry room and made excellent use of the washing machine.

Six months later the two of you take your girls to the concert, holding them up on your shoulders. Richie teases you for singing along and you choose not to point out his hypocrisy, as he belts out every word. He leans in to kiss you and the girls shriek excitedly, you kiss him back and feel like everything will be just fine.

[cheianimatez]

Doubts (Gaming x GN!Reader) (SAGAU IMPOSTER AU)

(Might be a bit OOC, pls correct me 🥲)

"G-Gaming...?"

Gaming's body froze, you knew his name. He lowered his weapon, his doubts coming back to his mind. Ever since everyone was given an order to kill the "imposter" by their "Divine Creator", he thought "Why the heck would we hunt someone just because they have the same face as them, that's a bit cliche 🫤", but he can't defy his god, for he fears punishment.

But you, you knew his name, like you personally knew him, unlike the one on the throne.

"You're not going to kill me...?"

His thoughts got interrupted by your voice, sensing fear in it. He sighed.

"Honestly, despite everyone claims you impersonated Our Grace, you never did anything wrong at all. You also knew my name, unlike the one on the throne who didn't knew me at all, or maybe anyone else"

You looked at him, your fear dwindling down but still kept your guard.

"Yeah, probably that. In fact, I literally appeared here, then everyone started hunting me, like bro, do I look like I'm going to do some heinous crimes that they don't think their Grace or whatever the heck they call them would do?"

Gaming tried his best to hold his laugh. Somehow, even in tough times, you surprisingly have humor (even speaking his language /j). Maybe that kept you sane while you're being hunted down or something.

Then they heard voices. It's the Milileth. Gaming looked at the "imposter", suddenly feeling bad for them.

And that's when he decided to be against the order, deciding his own fate by himself

"Hey, what are you- UHH WHAT THE F--"

Gaming them immediately gave you a glare to shut you up.

"Oi, quiet! I'm going to help this time because who the frick would order people to kill someone just because they have the same face as them?!"

You looked at him in disbelief. He's helping you? But I guess you should be grateful this time, the last time someone helped you is Bennett, Fischl, Razor, and Mona helping you to escape Mondstadt, then you got killed by the Acting Grandmaster Jean, returned home to your world, then managed improved your life there until you fell asleep at the end of the day, only to find yourself you respawned in Liyue, and now the Milileth, the Qixing, heck even the Geo broke ahh grandpa Archon started chasing you! And I guess I could say it's enough for you to slowly develop distrust against anyone. Until this guy started to help you.

"I'm going to take you to my house. My father will probably understand my doubts of this... order..."

You stayed silent as Gaming carried you on the back away from the hunters, safely hidden from them.

"You know, I really wanted to go home. I had known these types of events that would happen in this world when I came, but I half didn't expect this sht would happen to me. I don't want godhood, I don't want to become a god higher than the Archon, I don't like how really submissive but blind these people are when it comes to faith on their beloved "Creator". All I wanted is a perfectly normal life, here in Teyvat, and now I wanted to go back home because of what I suffered..."

Okay, now he felt really bad. You didn't deserved this! He felt thankful for following his guts.

"Anyways, Gaming, did you know I actually laughed at your voiceline about your troubles? Like the way you said "How much?!" and "I'm not paying for a few extra wet wipes!" got me rolling! Oh, and your thoughts on Qiqi, it's so wholesome! I'm glad Qiqi gets the respect she deserves..."

To be honest, when he brought you to his house, he is already flustered about how much you knew him, praised him, heck even he heard you said a lot people from your world liked him because of his personality. Gaming could feel like jumping to the atmosphere, he felt being recognized.

Meanwhile, you feel your trust coming back again, and it's directed towards the guy whom everyone in the fandom called him the "sunshine boi".

And you're quite thankful that he's not blind like those rodents (blinder than Dora the Explorer lol 💀)

"You know, I feel... happy about how much you knew me and praised me. I feel recognized unlike Our Grace for not answering our prayers."

ISTG THIS GUY IS MAKING OUR DAYS BETTER 😭😭💖💖💖

"Anyways, want some dim sum? 😃"

Yo, this is my first time writing a one shot in Tumblr. I usually write the stories on my notebook at school, and maybe sometimes post in Wattpad (I'm barely active there anymore, just only used it for reading purposes-)

[letsgetrowdy43]

The perfect summer—

The long awaited Sunny and Adam get back together fic!!

Au Masterlist!!

Sunny’s second semester had been a bit of a blur, her boyfriend-turned-ex started his professional hockey career, while she continued to navigate her way through adulthood.

Summer was all she wanted.

She made it through her brother's playoff runs, family wedding season, and finally, the Hughes siblings all found themselves in the same place at the same time for the first time in almost a year.

Lake Michigan was easily her favourite place to be, the boat days, the golfing, and even her summer job at the country club was something she looked forward to. The lake house was her happy place, and summer provided all of the right things to end her miserable school year.

Now all she needed was for Adam to finally call her to talk about everything.

★★★★

Luke stumbled onto the deck where Sunny was lounging, her latest read in her hands as she ran her fingers through the ends of her hair.

Brows furrowed in concentration as she was quickly pulled away from her book and looked up towards her brother who aggressively cleared his throat.

“Yes?” she looked at him with a big smile, sitting up slightly so he had room to sit on the end of her lounge chair. “I have a question, and feel free to say no,” he began rambling but abruptly ended as he watched her face grow annoyed, “I wanted to invite Luca and Adam here to train for a few weeks, I promise that he-” Sunny cut him off “Of course, Adam can come over, he's your friend, and we are all good,” she smiled as Luke let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding.

“You're the best sun, I'll make sure he's on his best behaviour,” he said as she smiled and nodded her head, his hand reaching up to mess up her bangs which gained him a smack to the chest with her book.

And there it was, the perfect situation for them to finally talk about it all, properly face to face since he ended it in his bed all the way in Columbus.

★★★★

It was anything but perfect.

It seemed to be that every boy in the house was destined to make sure Sunny and Adam were never in the same room alone. A whole week of supervised conversations and overbearing boys who imposed themselves in the middle of their almost moments.

The only time they seemed to have a conversation alone was his first night in the house when he found her down in the living room, curled up in a ball on the couch with her book in her hands.

“What are you still doing up?” she whispered, her eyes tired as she looked up from her book to the boy who was sipping on his glass of water. “Can't sleep, you?” “Rutger fell asleep in my bed, and I'm not sleeping on his air mattress in your and Luca’s room,” she slowly blinked, as Adam moved from the counter to the armchair.

“I can make him move back to our room,” he offered as she shook her head. “Leave him be, I'm okay on the couch, it wouldn't be my first time sleeping on it” she smiled, covering her mouth as she yawned and shut her book.

Adam watched as her gaze on him grew soft, “I feel like I've barely seen you since I got here,” he whispered. “I know, I've missed you.” “I've missed you too,” he watched as she smiled and pulled her blanket up to her chin. “Tomorrow, tomorrow I want to talk about all of this, I need to talk about it, it's eating me up,” she said as he nodded and stood up from the couch.

“Good night sunny.” “Good night Adam, love you,” she said in between yawns as he flicked off the lamp next to him and headed back upstairs, heart thumping in his chest as he crawled back into bed next to his brother.

It was safe to say Adam did not sleep well that night, short ‘love you’s’ filling his mind every time he closed his eyes

★★★★

Tomorrow turned into three days, no conversation was had between the two thanks to the boys not allowing them any sort of alone time.

“Is there a reason every time I speak to Adam someone miraculously shows up to make sure we have company?” she looks over to Quinn who is also just silently sitting on the edge of the doc. He lets out a short laugh and looks at his sister who is clearly not amused by this, “Jack just wanted to make sure that you Adam remained civil, I told him it was a bad idea.”

A groan left the girl's lips as she looked at her older brother, annoyance filling her expression as she laid back on the hot wood of the doc, “I miss him, and I think he feels the same way” “So what does that mean for the two of you?” “Well I haven't gotten to ask because our brother is an idiot,” she said through a clenched jaw.

She looked to Quinn who was holding in a laugh at her, her glare narrowing as he laid down beside her, "I'll keep the boys busy tonight so you two can sneak away," Quinn offered with a smile as Sunny's glare grew soft.

"Thank you Q," she sat up and grinned at him as he offered out his fist for her to bump. "No need to thank me, I like seeing you happy, Adam makes you happy, it's not like I'm sacrificing my life," he shrugged. "This is why you're the better Hughes brother," she watched as his smirk grew cocky. "Not hard to be the best when my competition is dumb and dumber."

★★★★

Quinn lived up to his promise, the boys returned from their golf outing and immediately were ushered into the game room for darts, pool, and beer after dinner.

Adam and Luca were in the kitchen getting more beer, laughter dying out as Sunny walked into the kitchen with a sweet smile on her face which prompted Luca to leave as quickly as possible, giving the two space to talk.

Sunny sat on the kitchen counter, adjacent to the boy who popped the bottle cap off of his beer with the ring on his finger, awkward silence filling the space between them as he took a swig and then offered her a sip. To which she crinkled her node and shook her head, "Still not a beer girl?" "You could never get me to drink that," she mused with a look of disgust resting on her face, "but I wouldn't mind a cider," she batted her lashes. "They taste almost the same?" She shook her head, as he placed the cold can of cider in her hands, remaining in between her legs, face to face as she placed the can on the counter next to her.

The laughter died in her throat when she realized how close they were, the smile on his face growing as her eyes flashed down to his lips.

"Maybe we should talk before you get any ideas about kissing me," he joked which was met with a slight push to his chest to make him back up. "Okay, you go first," she grinned as he leaned up against the counter. "This year was a shit show, but it was a lot better when you were in my life, not just because I needed someone to talk to but because I just missed listening to talk about your life or your little visits, and I fucked everything up by pushing you away," he answered honestly.

she nodded, "If I were to say that I wanted to get back together, would you want that? Or do you need more time to figure out what you want?" she asked, her eyes moving from his face to her hands as she picked at her nails. "I don't need time sunny, I never needed time, I just thought you needed an out," he whispered as she nodded and looked up at him.

"if we get back together I want some rules," she proposed, "I want better communication, and I want you not to make decisions like that for me, if I wanted an out or a break I would've told you," she watched as he nodded.

"Can I hug you?" he asked softly as she opened her arms, his face burned itself in her neck as her hands found the back of his head, fingers intertwining with his outgrown hair as he squeezed her torso, "I'm such a fucking idiot for letting you go." "You are," she whispered, "but I was never going anywhere Adam, you’re stuck with me," he pulled away and smiled at her, tears lining his eyes as he let out a laugh. "Good, I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Can I kiss you now?" she asked but was met with no answer as his cold hands cupped her face and his lips captured hers in a sweet kiss, slightly sloppy but very passionate, almost to make up for the lost time as her hands found the back of his neck.

his arms lowered from her face, one hand finding her hip, the other finding the counter to stabilize him, trapping her on the granite countertop as she smiled into his mouth.

He pulled away, swollen lips and shaky breaths, as his forehead leaned against hers, "I don't know how I lived without you for nearly six months," he whispered as she grinned and started to kiss along his jaw. "We have a lot of lost time to make up for," she whispered in his ear as he curtly nodded his head and picked her up off of the counter, laughter filling the kitchen as he made a beeline to the stairs, the opened beer and ciders forgot on the counter as they headed to her room.

-

-

-

[milaisreading]

Toddler sized manager

Warnings ⚠️: u all don't take this seriously, I just had this idea at 3 am and had to write it down. Reader uses she/her. Requests are open

Pt 2 Pt3 Pt4

⚽️Blue lock belongs to:Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura⚽️

"It's 7.30 already.... why is she still asleep?" Anri wondered as she ran to (Y/n)'s room. Today was an important day in Blue Lock, since the coaches from other teams would be there, so having one staff member missing will be a big issue. The issue will become even more bigger if the missing staff member was also the manager. Both Anri and Ego were worried as to where (Y/n) was, since she wakes up at 6 am and now she is over an hour late.

"And I told Chris (Y/n) will bring him the papers... now what?" Anri groaned as she knocked on (Y/n)'s door. The woman waited for a moment for the girl to answer, but nothing came.

"What?" Growing worried, Anri slowly opened the door and looked inside. Everything looked normal at first and the woman thankfully found (Y/n) sleeping in her bed, but... something looked off.

'Did her head get smaller?' Anri wondered and went over to (Y/n)'s bed.

"(Y/n), wake up. It's already 7.30 and you need to help Chris out today." The woman started, throwing the bedsheets off of her. Anri sighed and opened her eyes, only find something that nearly caused her to scream. In bed was someone who looked like (Y/n), same hair, same skin color, same face shape, nose, but... the body was much smaller, resembling one of a 3-year-old.

'Who is this lost child?!' Anri watched in horror as the child opened her eyes and looked up at the woman. The big, (e/c) eyes sealed the deal.

"EGO-SAN!"

Ego stared at the 3-year-old (Y/n) and she stared back at him. Anri had somehow managed to find clothes that would look normal on (Y/n) and brought the girl into the man's office. Surprisingly, the girl didn't scream at the sight of the man, instead she made grabby hands at him. Anri, finding the ordeal adorable, squealed and handed the girl to the reluctant man. This is what got him here, with a toddler looking up at him and Anri taking pictures of the scene.

"Anri, please stop that."

"No! This looks so adorable!" The woman pouted and continued taking a few more pictures.

"What are we going to do now? If her father hears this, he will want to take her back and we can't even explain how this happened." Ego said, tensing up as (Y/n) leaned against his chest.

"Dada..."

"Ahhh! This is adorable!!" Anri yelled as Ego fixed his glasses, face red from the embarrassment he was feeling.

"(Y/n), say that again. Please, I need it on tape!" The woman asked, holding the phone up to her.

"Am I the only one worried about-"

"Ego! Where is the manager? I need to ask her something." The black haired man groaned as Chris and Noel entered the room, only to freeze up at the sight of the child.

"Uh..." Noel stared as Chris looked between the adults. Silence fell across the room as (Y/n) stared back at the two, it looked like she remembered them, but at the same time she didn't.

"Dada..." She said again, pulling on Ego's tie.

"Did you and Anri do the thing?" Chris asked, earning a hit on the head from Noel as the two adults glared daggers at him.

"You are an imbecile." Ego facepalmed, tightening his hold on (Y/n) as he felt her move around too much.

"Are you out of your mind-"

"Mama..." Anri nearly fainted at (Y/n)'s words and she looked at the girl in shock.

'Mama?! She called me mama?!' The woman thought, having mixed emotions.

"No shaming here, if you did." Chris defended himself as Noel walked up closer to the desk, inspecting the kid a little more.

"No! This is (Y/n), I have no idea how and why this had happened. But I found her like this in he room. Why she is calling us dada and mama is beyond me." Anri explained as Noel tried to pick the girl up, earning a glare from Ego.

"Hands off." Ego warned, getting up from his seat.

"She clearly wants to be picked up." Noel argued as (Y/n) made grabby hands at him.

"I will kick you back to France personally, if you don't move away."

"Dada..."

"See?! She even calls me dada!" Noel argued, causing a even harder glare from Ego.

"I don't care, move!"

"Ahh! She would look adorable in one of those child sized Manshine jerseys! Can I dress her up?" Chris said happily.

"Over my dead body." Anri glared.

Now an argument between the four started, attacking the attention of Snuffy, Lavinho and Loki, who were nearby, in the process.

"Isagi! Now it's my turn!" The boy shook his head and tightened his grip around the girl. The Blue Lock team were in the training field doing everything but training. The boys were informed about (Y/n)'s situation, causing them to nearly cry when they saw the 3-year-old in Lavinho's arms.

Bachira was the first one to take (Y/n) from the man's arms and started playing with her hair. Rin, Reo and Otoya were up right next, all three crying at the girl's cuteness. Baro and Kunigami were struggling to keep themselves from blushing as (Y/n) ran up to and started at them in wonder. Clearly remembering their faces, but not the names.

Now it was Isagi's turn to hold her and he was past his time by now. 3 minutes and 45 seconds to be exact and yes, Karasu was counting.

"Come on, Isagi! Don't be like that! I want to hold her too!" Karasu said as Yukimiya joined in.

"Yeah, we all want our turn."

"Just a minute more!" Isagi glared as (Y/n) snuggled into his chest.

"See! Even she wants to stay here!" This caused the rest to glare daggers at him. She didn't do this to any of them.

"And this proves I am ger favorite." Isagi grinned. Hiori and Kurona kept quiet as the sat besides Isagi, patting the girl's head and playing peekaboo with her.

"These are my treasured possessions now." Nagi muttered as he took the 100th picture of her. Niko blushed at how adorable the girl was, patting her head from time to time.

"Can I get a picture that you took, Nagi?" Aryu asked the albino, who stopped what he was doing and looked at him.

"One picture is 10.000 yen." He said simply.

"That's robbery!" Aryu and Kunigami exclaimed in disbelief.

"Is it? It's baby (Y/n) we are talking about." Nagi stated, pointing at the girl, who was now in Chigiri's arms. The two stopped and looked at her.

"Maybe it's a fair prize." Aryu muttered.

"Yeah... 10.000 you said?" Kunigami asked, looking for his wallet.

Chigiri smiled as the girl played with his hair, smiling at how soft it was.

"So cute~ I could cry!"

Bachira made some silly faces at (Y/n), who giggled at them.

"This is so cute. Bachira, move away a little." Lavinho said, filming the whole moment.

"Haaa~" Gagamaru sighed happily as Chigiri handed the girl over to him, pouting that he had to let her go.

"Shouldn't she eat something? It's already noon." Snuffy interjected as he walked over to Gagamaru to take the girl.

"Good thought process, Snuffy. I lost track of tim- SHE YAWNED! And I have it on tape!" Lavinho said, pointing at the sleepy girl.

"Awww~ can I hold her too? I am good with kids!" Loki said.

"Aren't you still a kid, too?" Reo wondered, earning a side-glare from the French coach.

"Enough. I will bring (Y/n) to the dining room-"

"Can I bring her instead?" Niko asked as Baro and Aryu joined in.

"No, now shut up." Snuffy said as he moved the toddler away from Chris.

"Come on, I just want to hold her."

"No, you want to dress her in one of your Manshine shirts."

"Is that illegal now?" Chirs asked, a little offended.

"Yes." Snuffy and Lavinho simply answered  but Nagi, Reo and Chigiri backed their coach up.

"Shouldn't she be wearing a Bastard München jersey? It is her team after all."  Isagi spoke up, earning approving nods from Hiori and Kurona.

"Yeah! That would make more sense. We need a toddler sized one." Gagamaru said. Kunigami meanwhile took the opportunity to search for Noel. This statement from Isagi caused protests to erupt from Rin and Baro, who wanted her to wear a PXG or Ubers jersey instead.

Loki sighed and took the girl from Snuffy's arms as he kept denying Chris a chance to hold her.

"Let's get you to eat something." Loki smiled, earning a giggle from the girl.

"Mhmm!"

But before he could leave a familiar blond boy made his appearance, looking at the girl in amusement.

"Is that my manager? Noel told us she is tiny now." Kaiser laughed as he looked down at the girl. Loki groaned at his words and moved the girl away a little. (Y/n) stared at Kasier's face, a unfamiliar and uncomfortable feeling rising up inside of her.

"Kaiser, please move. (Y/n) needs to eat lunch now." The French boy said as the other boys sent daggers at the German. Kaiser ignored them and forcefully took (Y/n) out of Loki's arms and held her instead.

"Kaiser! Be more gentle, (Y/n) is a toddler now!" Snuffy scolded him.

"Also, that's not how you hold a kid." Chris said, seeing how uncomfortable (Y/n) was while being held by him.

"Lukewarm, give her to me. You will just break her bone or something." Rin threatened but Kaiser just sent him a smirk.

"Mhmmm..." (Y/n) let out a uncomfortable sound as she started tearing up.

"Kaiser! Give her to me!"

"You are just making her cry!" Baro and Yukimiya said, glaring at the blonde.

"I will go and call Noel." Loki said, but it didn't work on the blonde, instead he hugged her closer to his body.

"I think she will enjoy my company. She is just a little shy." Kaiser snickered. Tears started flowing down (Y/n)'s face, causing the coaches and the players to panic.

"Kaiser, I am killing you!" Isagi yelled as Hiori held him back.

"Just give her to me. I know how to deal with crying kids." Snuffy said.

"What's going on here? Is that (Y/n)? So she really is a little kid now." Ness spoke up as he walked up to the group. As if a switch was flipped, (Y/n)'s eyes widened at the sight of the magenta-eyed boy.

'Ahh! Pretty!' She thought, rubbing her eyes.

"Nothing major, just Kaiser being a dick." Chigiri rolled his eyes. Ness was about to speak up again, but was cut of by (Y/n).

"Nesss... Gimme." She said, trying to get out of Kaiser's hold and stretched her arms out to him.

The boys froze up at the scene, seeing (Y/n) for the first time act like this.

'She never went willingly to me!' They thought. Ness blushed a little as Kaiser sent him a death stare.

"Why does she want to go to you? (Y/n) look away, he is a loser." The blonde tried to argue, earning protests from the kid.

"Noo...Ness..."

Laughing, Chris and Lavinho started filming the scene as Snuffy told Kaiser to give her to Ness. After a while of protesting, the German gave in and allowed Ness to take her. (Y/n) giggled and and hugged the blushing boy tightly.

"Ness..." She kept on muttering.

"Now that she picked her favorite, let's get her some lunch. I will feed her while you can hold her, Ness." Lavinho said.

"Sure! I won't mind!" Ness smiled, rubbing the girl's back and tightened his hold on her.

"While we are at this... It's kind of adorable that Ness is the first one whose name she said." Chris butted in as Loki and Snuffy nodded their heads.

"Now that you said it, you have a point. Us she either called dada or Anri mama. The rest she didn't name."

This realization caused the boys to go into a frenzy. They either wanted to cry or murder Ness on the spot.

Meanwhile, the said boy was enjoying his time as (Y/n) kept muttering his name over and over, causing Kaiser to get even more jealous than he already was.

[b0g-b0y]

Is It So Hard To Believe?

Price x M reader NSFW

“I got to say Y/n i'm surprised you really haven't slept with anyone?” Gaz spoke as the water fell from the group showers. “ Why is it so hard to believe that I haven't?” Y/n asked. This time Soap spoke. “ Your a bonnie Y/n” Soap said with a small chuckle. “ Think you have all gone mad” Y/n said. Throughout this whole conversation Ghost and Price havent said a word.

It wasn't long until Y/n was drying his hair with a towel. “ Think you need to go out more Y/n '' Gaz said as he walked by. “ Think you need to mind your own business Gaz, I don't put myself out there but I do have someone and we are taking things slow” Y/n said with a small sigh. “Whatever you say Y/n '' Gaz said.

Later that night y/n stood in the captain's room taking off his jeans he had on throwing them on a chair in the room. Price came into his room not to long after he finished brushing his teeth. “Don't give me that look, John.” Y/n spoke as he sat down on the bed with a small sigh. “ You really never had sex before?” Price asked as he looked at his lover with curiosity. “No i havent. Is it really that big of a deal that I haven't?” Y/ns eyes met Prices for a moment. “ No it's not a big deal, just surprised, Soap was right you're a pretty guy it's just surprising is all. I think you'd at least have a few partners in bed. I mean look at you doll.” Price spoke as his hand held Y/n's face softly. “ I'm not that pretty, and yeah i've dated other people just as far as i ever got was sexting that's it.” Y/n says as he grabbed John's hand and held it. John's blue eyes looked Y/ns body up and down. “ Would you ever want to try anything like that… maybe I don't want to make you do anything, I'm just asking for a doll” Price spoke.

And that's how/n ended up under Price as Price softly kissed down his body before he gently sucked and nipped at Y/n's nipple earning a small whine from Y/n. “ That's it making pretty sounds for me, didnt think youd be so sensitive doll” Price spoke before going up for a quick kiss. “ Me either, it's just different when it's someone else” Y/n said as he reached out to hold one of John's hands. The moment was intimate but sweet at the same time soft moans fell from Y/n's lips as Price loved him worshiping him, there was a smile on John's face as he looked at his work Y/n's chest rising and following as he panted softly. Y/ns stomach and chest were covered in marks that john left behind. Johns hand pulled down Y/ns boxers, John brought up the hand he held and kissed it softly before he started to stroke Y/ns cock. The sounds that fell from Y/ns mouth was like music to his ears, Y/ns yes were half lidded as he watched John stroked him. It wasn't long until Y/n came.

After a few minutes of coming down from cumming Y/n looked at John. “ What about you?” Y/n asked. “ What about me? This isn't about me it's about you doll” John spoke. “ But It would only be fair- '' Y/n said before Price cut him off. “ We can go all the way a diffrent night doll, I just wanted to please you. But don't worry love, I've made a mess in my boxers.” Price said as he showed his pre cum covered boxers.

It didn't take much convincing him that it was ok if he wanted to finish himself off. And after a quick clean up the both of you snuggled together, John kissed y/ns neck softly a few times. “ I love you for more than your body. You know that right. You know that I love you and no matter what I'll be here for you, and that my body is yours. I love you Y/n get some rest” Price said before the both of you fell asleep.

[kindagayfish]

I am also very obsessed with Babygirl Vash lol how about the classic sharing a bed trope with Vash? It can be swf or not! We just need more imagines of him!

Vash and sharing the bed trope

A/N: YES SHARING THE BED TROPE I LOVE IT SO MUCH HDJBSFHKSBFHKDBGHJB especially when its with bb girl vash *swoon* I’ve seen quite a few of these scenarios already but there will never be enough to satisfy me. I made this one sfw cause I really just wanted to write some fluff. Also, I finished the OG Trigun and I see some differences between OG Vash and Stampede Vash. I’ll be writing for the Stampede characters unless specified otherwise. We just haven’t seen him flirt with anyone yet, while in the OG he was very much a Chad lol. So sorry for the quality, and for taking so long. I haven’t written fanfiction in a LONG TIME. Seriously it’s been years but it feels nice to do it again. But how do people write these so quickly like damn.

Contains: fluff, Gender-neutral reader, And not really proof-read cause we die like men out here.

When you open your eyes again, it’s still dark. Your mouth cracks open in a yawn and you slowly become aware of someone pressed up against your back. 

Oh. Oh that’s right.

It had been an exhaustingly long day trekking through the desert, and an even longer evening trying to find a place to stay the night. You have no idea what possessed every abled body in Noman's Land to travel to the same town as you, but every room in the dusty motel next to the bar was taken. Even the porch swing had some poor soul wrapped up in his coat for the night.

You and Vash were about to call it and take turns sleeping in a nearby alley, when an old woman took pity on you and offered up her spare room. You were so excited to sleep in a real bed that you didn’t even think to ask about the size of the space.

It wasn’t until the both of you had finally gotten into the tiny, very much intended for one person or two people squished very close together bed, that you realized how incredibly awkward the whole situation is.

“Hey-”

“WELL GOODNIGHT” You had blurted out, turning so that your back was to Vash, hiding your flustered expression. He is a little too good at reading your face sometimes, and you didn’t need him asking questions.

He replied with a quiet goodnight, feeling him shift away as well.

Now, Vash’s breath is hot on the back of your neck as he snores lightly, his spiky hair tickling your skin. Sometime in the night, his arms found their way around your middle and pulled you flush against his chest, securing you in place.

This particular scenario had been one you’ve played in your head on loop anytime the two of you had slept close to one another. It’s like a dream come true. And any other time, you would have nestled back into his hold and fell back asleep, hoping that this action was intentional; but instead, you silently curse yourself for chugging a whole gallon of water after arriving in town. Because my god you have to pee.

He stirs slightly when you shift, hugging you closer and burying his face into your shoulder. You feel yourself growing hot as he lets out a content sigh, lips ghosting over your skin. It quickly becomes clear that you’re not escaping without waking him.

“Vash…” You whisper his name softly, not wanting to alarm him. “Vash?”

“Hmm?” he hums, breathing in deeply. Vash lifts his head and loosens his grip slightly. You take this opportunity to turn and meet his eyes. They’re droopy with sleep, blinking a bit. He gives you a lazy smile before whispering, “hi.”

“Uh hi.” Your heart rate picks up at the sight before you, and you swallow hard. “Could you um…”

“Hm?” It takes a moment for him to register the kind of position you are in. “Oh. OH SORRY.” Vash squeaks with wide eyes, releasing you quickly with a growing blush on his face. Getting out of the bed in a hurry as an attempt to hide your own flustered state, you almost miss the deflated look he gives when you’re no longer next to him. 

“Everything alright?”

“Yeah yeah. Just ya know…bathroom.”

“Right right.”

You quietly make your way to the bathroom, making sure not to wake your host who slept soundly in the room next to yours. Part of you wanted to rush to get back, feeling chilly after leaving the warm bed and Vash’s arms. You hide your burning face in your hands as his smile flashes in your mind.

He’s just so…ATTRACTIVE. Ever since you realized you had fallen for him, it has been increasingly harder to hide your feelings. Any time he touches you (which is a considerable amount when running from danger) has your brain short-circuiting and your stomach doing flips. Sometimes you can’t help but wonder if Vash is really this oblivious, or if he is ignoring it to save you both the embarrassment of a rejection. Either way, you aren’t sure if you’re ready to face the truth just yet.

Maybe if I take long enough he’ll fall back asleep and it won’t have to be weird.

After a considerable amount of time pacing the bathroom, you finally make the short walk back to the spare bedroom.

To your slight disappointment, Vash is asleep by the time you slip back into the bed next to him. His face is calm, a stark contrast to the way his brows furrow together during an intense confrontation, and you take a moment to admire his face in the moonlight. You brush a few hairs back from his forehead and immediately freeze when his eyes flutter open.

“Hi” he whispers a second time.

Pulling your hand back, you feel your face grow hot again. “Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you twice.”

“It’s okay: Vash replies, smiling softly.

You continue to stare at each other, both unsure of what to say next. It’s subtle, but you start to see a blush creep up Vash’s neck and reach the tips of his ears.

“Um” Vash is the one to break the silence, reaching for you. “Can I…?”

“Yes” you answer immediately, scooting your body closer to his.

“Does that make this weird?”

You let out a laugh. "You just caught me watching you sleep and you think this is weird?"

“Fair enough" Vash laughs with you. "But are you sure?”

“Absolutely.”

“Oh okay good” He breathes out a sigh in relief, pulling you completely into him. Feeling his body relax against yours, you tuck your head up under his chin, ear pressed against his chest. You swear his heart is pounding as intensely as your own.

“So warm” Vash mumbles into your hair. You let out a content hum, allowing sleep to overtake you once more.

BONUS

Some general headcanons:

Man sleeps like a ROCK with you

Very used to having to wake up and jet at any moment so I assume he’s a light sleeper. But with you next to him? His body finally allows him to get those good Zs.

Clingy af

Good luck escaping Vash’s arms in the middle of the night. Once he has latched on, you won’t be free until morning.

Will 110% snore lightly in your ear

mumbles in his sleep too. Usually you can’t make out what he is saying though.

Loves any cuddling positions, but his FAVORITES are any where you are the one holding him.

Vash always wants you to play with his hair. Legit will turn to putty in your hands if you scratch his scalp.

Sometimes will even nuzzle into your shoulder to get you to do it because he’s too embarrassed to ask

If you need some extra comforting at night, maybe you had a nightmare or something particularly scary happened that day, he will lay you on his chest and softly hum/sing until you fall asleep. (I honestly think Vash would have a really nice singing voice)

Usually the last one to fall asleep, and the first one to wake up. He really enjoys the quiet moments with you. It’s the way you softly smile at him in the dawning sunlight that makes him forget that he’s a wanted man.