#we’ve had to stop her from reaching out to this person so many times and i feel awful with her this upset

[thef1diary]

Little Big Fan | Fifteen

— Little Big Aftermath [aka the end]

Series Masterlist

wc: 3k

we’ve made it to the end guys! I just have to say I never thought I’d complete this story and that too fifteen parts of it but to all those who read it and motivated me to keep writing, thank you. While it is the end of the official story, I will continue to take requests for blurbs on specific scenes you’d like to see. However, there won’t be a set posting date on these blurbs, it’ll be out whenever it’s requested and completed. Once again, thank you so much for those who were here since the first chapter, and here’s to more fic series in the future. P.S lemme know if you want to be tagged in the blurbs.

Your frown grew deeper as you turned in the direction your daughter had pointed, unfortunately spotting Tyler. Luckily, he wasn't looking at you two since he was focusing on the podium celebrations about to happen.

"I didn't know daddy was here, mama." Picking Isabella up, you shook your head, "I didn't know either, angel, but let's focus on Max for now okay?"

She gave a nod of agreement and applauded for the drivers, Oscar and Lando in particular, who finished second and third in the race. She did, however, cheer the loudest when Max, as he has done after almost every race this season, stepped onto the top step of the podium.

He was having trouble finding you and Isabella right away in the crowd, and you could see the slightest frown forming on his face until a smile emerged when he succeeded, connecting his gaze with yours.

Isabella giggled as Max held his hand up to wave at her before blowing a kiss in the air in your direction. His behaviour drew Lando and Oscar's attention to you as well, with the former driver rolling his eyes at Max jokingly and Oscar smiling at the interaction.

However, you didn't realize that someone else was also looking at you because your gaze didn't waver away from Max.

The champagne bottles were popped, and this time Isabella was awake to see it all, watching with fascination as it was the first time she was able to see it in person. "I wanna do that, mama," she pointed at the drivers spraying the alcoholic drink, soaking each other's race suits while laughing. "Maybe when you're older, Bella."

"When I'm 7?" She asked, and you chuckled, "a little more than that, sweetheart."

Once the celebrations were over, a huge part of the crowd dispersed, the teams resuming to their usual scheduled routines, preparing for post-race debriefs and other meetings. "Where's Maxy going?" Isabella asked, watching as he was led away by someone clad in a RedBull uniform.

"He's a little busy with interviews, but he told me that he'd come back as soon as he's done," you explained, knowing that Max had a post-race conference and a few other duties lined up.

Isabella huffed, "but he won the race." She rested her head on your shoulder for a moment while playing with a strand of your hair—the habit formed back when she was a few months old.

"Yeah he did, which means he's very famous right now and so many people want to talk to him," you explained and while she nodded in understanding, she still pouted, "I wanna talk to him too."

"Why don't we wait for him inside his driver's room?" You asked, turning around when she nodded.

You had almost reached Max's driver room—a place he had suggested for you and Isabella to stay to wait for him, but pausing in a secluded area as a familiar voice called out, "Isabella!" then heard your name as well. Isabella squirmed in your lap, wanting to get down after seeing Tyler walk up to you both. You sighed, knowing that you'd have to stop and chat.

"Tyler," you greeted, and awkwardness hung in the air for two seconds before Isabella decided to speak up. "Daddy, you said you were busy, what are you doing here?"

Despite her hesitance to stay at her father's place, which she still hasn't done since the day she was discharged from the hospital, she frequently spoke to him over the phone.

Unfortunately for him, Isabella rarely forgets promises. While he was busy playing the "good father" role after your ultimatum, he had make false promises, agreeing to everything she asked for without hearing her out properly. In that conversation, she asked about the promise he made of taking her to a race before she had met Max.

While you and Max had taken her once, she still wanted to experience the thrill with her father since he was the one who introduced the sport to her.

He glanced at you, silently asking if he did in fact claim that he was busy, and frowned when you nodded. "Oh Bella, sweetheart, I didn't know that I would have the time to be here, it was an unexpected decision or else I would've brought you along, but you're here anyways!" He tried to uplift her mood, but instead of hanging on to every word he spoke like she used to do, she just shrugged.

Deciding to divert the topic of conversation, Tyler asked, "did you enjoy the race?" He stepped forward, kneeling down to be closer to her but on instinct, Isabella moved away, clutching on to your hand tightly.

He frowned, once again glancing up at you after noticing her behaviour, but you didn't let an ounce of emotion show on your face. "I'm so happy Maxy won!" She exclaimed, her mood improving for a moment as she thought about him.

Standing up to his full height, Tyler looked at you, "why don't we sit and chat for a moment?" Pressing your lips together in a tight smile, you replied, "I don't think that's a good idea."

He scoffed, then shrugged, "fine, have it your way like always." You were not in the mood to indulge his stupid comments which would eventually lead to an argument, in fact you were here to enjoy the weekend with your boyfriend who you dearly missed in this moment.

His eyes widened briefly when you didn't respond to his comment, wondering how you changed so much in a matter of a few weeks that you couldn't care less about him anymore.

"Hey Bella, why don't you show daddy the caps that you got?" You prompted another topic, that Isabella quickly agreed to. Tyler's gaze remained on you for a moment, understanding that you truly had no intention on speaking to him longer than necessary. The conversations you did have were only necessary due to your daughter, but even those texts and calls started becoming less and less frequent.

Isabella took off her Red Bull cap, which had autographs from Max and Checo, to expose a Ferrari cap with two more signatures from Charles and Carlos, and then a McLaren cap that undoubtedly featured two signatures from Oscar and Lando. She caught up to Lando and Charles, who had given her their hats earlier, as well as their teammates, to obtain signatures. She then wanted to get autographs on her RedBull cap as well. When she asked Max and Checo, they chuckled with the latter claiming she had them all at her beck and call, but they nevertheless signed the cap.

Isabella ended up stacking all three caps on her head because she couldn't choose which one best matched with her outfit. She began explaining the story behind the signatures, and Tyler intently listened, asking a few questions in between as well.

"And then-" Isabella's gaze wandered off, eyes lighting up in excitement as she spotted, "-Maxy!"

Without any hesitation she ran up to him, colliding with him as she tried to wrap her arms around him, earning a low, "oof" from him.

Picking her up and settling her on his hip, holding her up with one arm, he held up his other hand that had a medal hanging from it. Max placed the medal around Isabella's neck, which he received on the podium earlier along with his trophy. "We won, princess," he commented, smiling as wide as she did.

She held both of her hands up, imitating the action Max did as he held his trophy on the podium, causing him to laugh. You watched the interaction with a smile on your face, and could hear their laughter from a few feet away.

Walking towards you as Max was initially planned on doing, he noticed a man next to you, which based on your descriptions was Tyler. He decided to overlook him for now, instead greeting you with a kiss to your cheek.

Tyler held his hand out, "great race, congratulations on the championship. I'm a huge fan by the way." Max, nodded politely, still holding Isabella in his arms but shaking his hand nonetheless. "Thank you," he prompted, waiting for the man to introduce himself to confirm his suspicions.

"Oh, so you're Tyler." Max glanced at you for a moment, watching as you tried to hide your smile behind your hands because of his antics. "Why do you say it like it's a bad thing?" He questioned, and Max was quick to retort, "well, it's not really the best thing now is it?"

"I don't understand," he trailed off, and your boyfriend shrugged, "I figured you wouldn't understand, it's okay," he patted Tyler's shoulder in faux consolation. You had to take a step back so Tyler wouldn't see your expression, placing a hand over your mouth to muffle your laugh.

Tyler was quick to catch on to the condescending tone Max spoke with, looking at you—after you composed yourself fortunately. "So what, you get invited to one race and you guys are best friends now?" He asked, a hint of jealousy you were familiar with revealed in his tone.

"More like she's my girlfriend and they're here to support me," Max clarified. Tyler looked at Max, then Isabella, finally understanding why she was always so enamoured by him.

He scoffed, "oh great, enjoy my sloppy seconds then mate, I will warn you though, it's not worth it because a few months later she'll show you a positive pregnancy test and force you to be a father."

Your jaw dropped, instantly responding, "in front of my daughter?" You glanced at Isabella who was in fact hearing all the words spoken, only frowning due to yours and Max's expressions as she didn't understand the full context of the words her father had said, just knowing that it wasn't good.

Max wiped his hand over his mouth, jaw clenching while his warm gaze turned cold within seconds. "Apologize, now," he instructed, trying to hold himself back from causing a fight.

"Now why would I do that? It's true." Max placed Isabella back on her feet who quickly shuffled over to you, standing behind your legs. "How dare you stand here claiming to be my fan yet talk shit about the person I love?" The driver placed his hand on Tyler's shoulder again, but this time you could see the fear bubbling up in his eyes as his grip tightened.

Still, Tyler managed to scoff, "love? Bold claims there. Sorry to break it to you but she's probably just with you for your mon-" he couldn't finish his sentence because he was punched square in the jaw by your boyfriend.

"Max!" You shrieked, and watching the interaction, Isabella held on to your hands tightly with tears welling up in her eyes. You picked her up again, noticing that Tyler was fuming in anger. "Gonna fucking sue you for that," he spit out some blood, but Max only shrugged, "try me."

Fortunately, you guys were stood in between the team motorhomes, which meant you were slightly hidden away from public eye due to the buildings covering the scene.

Readying himself for another punch if needed, you shook your head, "it's not worth it, Max."

"Yeah Max, listen to your girlfriend," he taunted, angering you in the process. "Will you ever shut up?" You shot back. Max glanced at Isabella who had hid her face in the crook of your neck, arms wrapped around you. Although he couldn't see her face, he guessed that her eyes were tightly shut.

Nodding as a silent agreement with Max, you decided to walk away from the scene as you didn't want to expose Isabella to any more of this argument than what she has already heard. Glancing at Max once more, you hoped that your expression was indicating something along the lines of, "don't do anything too bad."

However, you could hear Max's words as he began speaking to Tyler, "listen here you little shit..." but you didn't stick around to hear the entire conversation, smiling to yourself knowing that Tyler would finally be put into his place—that too by his favourite driver.

Finally entering his driver's room, you sat down on the couch sighing in relief. Isabella was still in your lap and you ran your hand up and down her back in a soothing motion because you could feel her sniffling against you. "Bella," you murmured, wanting to see her adorable face.

"I'm so sorry you had to see that, sweetheart." You kissed her head before brushing your hand through her hair. You heard her mumble but didn't catch her words, "what was that?"

She lifted her head to look at you, and you frowned seeing the tears staining her cheeks. "Why is daddy so mean? I don't like him."

"Some people are just mean for no reason, and unfortunately, your daddy is one of them," you explained, no longer covering for him knowing that after what Isabella witnessed, she wouldn't want to be near him no matter what you said.

She frowned but didn't respond, leaning her head against your shoulder again. You didn't disturb her peace, knowing that after the eventful day, she needed some quiet time.

Max entered the room a few minutes later, and he smiled to greet you but it fell flat. He pointed at Isabella, then put his thumbs up to silently ask if she was okay, but you shrugged.

"What did you say to him?" You asked, knowing that whatever conversation followed probably wasn't kind. "I told him that I'd ban him from future races if I saw him anywhere near you or Bella, and he left."

You knew that it probably wasn't that easily done, but you didn't ask for more details.

You had thought Isabella fell asleep since she hadn't moved in a while, nor could you see her face, but she lifted her head up to look at Max once she heard some shuffling about in the room.

He paused as soon as his gaze connected with hers, unsure of how to initiate a conversation because he did literally punch her father. Isabella wiggled off your lap, and both you and Max thought that she would walk away further into the room so her next action surprised you both. Running towards Max, she held her arms out, engulfing him in a hug.

"You're better than my dad, Maxy," she muttered, and he audibly sighed, the stress wrinkles on his face disappearing while wrapping his own arms around her smaller frame.

"Thank you, princess," he whispered back, and she pulled back to kiss his cheek. Isabella looked back at you, smiling when she saw you smile as well. "Thank you for taking care of my mama," your daughter told Max, and his heart warmed at her words. "Always."

The ring of your phone interrupted the beautiful sight in front of you, but your eyes widened when you saw that it was your mother calling. As soon as you pick it up, you're greeted by hearing your full name.

"Hi, mum," you stood up and walked further away just in case you were about to get a scolding although you had no idea what you could've possibly done. "Why didn't you tell me?" She asked.

"Tell you what?" You answered with a question of your own, knowing that she could be referring to anything at the moment. "That you have a boyfriend."

Your mouth dropped open, "how do you know that?" She chuckled, "because a friend of mine called me and told me that she just watched you kiss someone on live television, some racer guy."

Covering your mouth with your hand, you thought back to the moment Max kissed you in front of the huge crowd after getting out of his car, and of course there had to be cameras capturing the moment. "Max, he's a Formula 1 driver," you explained.

"Wait, the same Max that Bella talks about?" You hummed, "the same one."

"I'm glad you finally moved on from your daughter's father, but I'm also sad that you didn't tell me sooner and I looked foolish because I didn't know until my friend told me about it."

"I'm sorry, I didn't think my relationship would be broadcasted live. Plus, I think the chapter with Tyler is finally over, for both me and Isabella."

"That's good to hear, she doesn't deserve a father like him. Is Max good to you?"

"He's the best to both of us, she lights up with joy every time she sees him." Your mother hummed as she heard your response, "then me and your father have to meet him one day."

You heard some laughter in the next room where Max and Isabella were, and you smiled at your mother's words, "I hope we can come by soon, I'd love to introduce him to you and dad."

After saying goodbyes and promises to meet soon, you returned to the room Max and Isabella were in, pausing in the doorway at the sight in front of you. Just like how Isabella was sitting in your lap earlier with her head against your shoulder, she did the same to Max.

You were about to make your presence known when you heard your daughter's question. "Maxy, why do you call me princess?"

Max's gaze found yours, always finding you whether you were standing in the corner of the room or in a crowd. "Because your mama is the queen," he responded casually, as if he was stating a fact.

Isabella lifted her head, "does that make you the king?" He shrugged, "I guess it does."

She giggled, "and does that mean we get a happily ever after like the storybooks?" Max reached his hand out towards you, asking you to join them which you obliged to easily.

"Ours is better than the storybooks," he stated, placing a kiss on Isabella's forehead before pecking your lips briefly.

The End.

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[riekirei]

retroactive. — nishimura riki

“it’d be easier if you just didn’t ask, but it’d also be easier if she wasn’t his last.”

pairing: boyfriend!riki x afab!reader | genre(s): angst | content/warning: both riki and reader are of legal age in this work, consumption of alcohol, mentions of getting drunk, riki calls reader baby and vice versa

word count: 1.8k

author’s note: i’m back from the dead, hi guys. i hope you enjoy reading thisss. please ignore any typos or grammatical errors (if there are any) and lmk if i missed any warnings.

[🎧 now playing: did you like her in the morning? by NIKI]

you slipped your shoes on, heading out the door. you were on your way to yongsan-gu to accompany your boyfriend, riki, to a get-together at a pub with his friends. it wasn’t really your thing to go out drinking with your boyfriend and a few other people at around 10 pm at night, but you agreed to go.

riki said he’d meet you at a nearby landmark in yongsan-gu as it’d take him just a few minutes to get there since the building he works at was in the district. you call a taxi and make your way there. the ride to the district was short, it took around 20 minutes considering how late in the night it was and how you were just within seoul anyway.

the moment you step out of the vehicle, you walked around for quite a bit before you spotted riki, who stood by a bus stop, leaning on its shade, waiting for you to arrive. you ran up to him, hugging him from behind. riki quickly turned around and greeted you with a big smile on his face. “am i late?” you ask, looking up at him. “nope, looks like your just on time” he responds, showing you the time on his phone’s lockscreen. he wrapped his arm around you and rested his hand on your shoulder. “the pub’s nearby, actually. let’s get going” he says. “okay baby” you reply, taking his hand off your shoulder and locking it with yours as you walk.

after around 5 minutes of walking, you two finally reached the pub. the neon sign fixed on the pub’s entrance flickered and the chatter of people from inside brought the night to life. riki walks in first and you closely follow. you walk past a couple of tables before finding riki’s group of friends settled on a long table further back into the pub. they all greet the two of you as you sat down on the two empty seats. riki’s friends from work, from highschool, and from anywhere else were there, considering most of them knew each other anyway, but you didn’t expect his most recent ex to be there. his ex of 2 years. you didn’t really know that much about riki’s past relationships, but you for sure knew about this one. she was that one girl he really got along with and they just ended up seeing each other. they had so many common interests and personality traits. i mean, it didn’t mean you and him were any less alike, but the fact she was his last just wasn’t something that you could move past by.

“hey? you okay?” riki tapped you on your shoulder, snapping you out of your little zone-out moment. “oh, yeah, sorry” you say, shifting your focus onto the group’s conversation. “so, riki, y/n, how’s things between you two?” heeseung asks. “we’ve been doing well, nearing to our two year anniversary on november actually” riki answers with both of your hands intertwined, resting on his lap. “and our work schedules have loosened up a bit so we’ve been able to see each other a lot often recently” you add. the chat between the whole group continued as you two immersed yourselves into it as well.

the night passes but you can’t help but notice the stolen glances riki’s ex has made with both you and riki. they’ve exchanged some words too while in conversation with the rest of the group. maybe you were just overthinking it? you knew it was a get-together with his friends, and you are his girlfriend after all, so maybe there was no malice or intent of her glances. plus, you and riki have been together for quite some time. but two years? him and her? of course it would be impossible for him to forget. but he was with you now, and he looks like he’s the happiest he’s ever been. there’s no problem there, right? but why has this whole scenario been messing with your brain since the moment you sat down on the table?

you take a shot of soju, slamming the shot glass back down onto the table. you were probably on your third, fourth, maybe even fifth bottle? you don’t know, but you were lowkey getting drunk at that point, actually, everyone at the table was getting drunk at that point. after some time, you all decide to stand up and head home. you weren’t as dizzy, so you were able to slowly stand upright. you sighed to yourself, the night was finally over.

as everyone walked towards the front door to exit the pub, riki’s ex stumbles forward. she probably had gotten sloppy after a few bottles of soju. riki’s hands naturally found their way onto her waist, standing her back upright. “you okay?” he asks. she nods and hums in respond, with heavy eyelids and a face tinted with the color red. you stood there, blankly watching what had just unfolded before you. you didn’t know how to react, you didn’t want to cause a scene. were you just being overly sensitive? it was just coincidental that she so happened to have tripped and riki was right behind her. but, you saw the concern in his eyes and how it was second nature for him to have placed his hands onto her waist. this whole thing was most probably not a new thing to riki. how he’d spend the whole night with her, drinking and having fun, how he’d drive her home in the same ford he drives around now, and how he’d probably walk her inside, making sure she got home safe. was the alcohol getting to you? or were these thoughts coming from your completely sane, rational, sober self?

you let it pass until everyone parted ways. riki walked you to his car which was parked somewhere near his company’s building. he didn’t notice anything wrong the whole walk there, but he sensed the tension as soon as he shut the car doors. the air grew thick. you tried avoiding riki by looking out the car’s window, or mindlessly staring into the road ahead. in his mind, he was trying to work out what he had done wrong. were you just sleepy? were you just tipsy? or were you simply just not in the mood? he got a hint that it may have had something to do with his ex, knowing you and how you think about such things.

the car ride to your apartment was silent, with only the sounds of the engine, the other cars passing by, and the road being heard. you two did not exchange a single word the entire drive. riki parked the car by the sidewalk of your building, switching the engine off. he finally broke the silence by saying “hey, i’ll walk you inside, ‘kay? i don’t want you getting hu-“ but you cut him off halfway “no, riki, it’s alright. i’ll be alright.” “but, baby, it’s like 3 in the morning. it isn’t-“ and you cut him off once more “i said it was alright, didn’t i? just go home, riki.” you said, walking towards the lobby of your apartment building. he walked and followed closely behind you, not letting you go up to your apartment alone, both under the influence and with something going on between the two of you too. “baby, look, i don’t understand what’s wrong? what did i do?” he asks you while looking you straight in the eye. you couldn’t do anything but look away from him as the two of you stood in the elevator going up to the third floor of the building. you storm down the hallway, towards your flat. the tears formed in your eyes, holding them back from streaming down your face. “hey, hey, baby-“ riki says, fastening his pace to keep up with you. you grab your keys and unlock the door, shutting it close as you walk in. he stops the door from closing and grabs your hand, stopping you from walking in further into your apartment unit. “what is it that you want, riki? WHAT?” you exclaim as you finally turn around to come face to face with him. he comes into your apartment, shutting the door behind him before leaning onto it. the tears formed from earlier began to escape the corners of your eyes as you start to sob in front of your boyfriend. “i’m sorry, baby. w-what did i do?” he says, pulling you into his embrace. all you could do was cry in his arms. he caressed your back, rubbing it up and down to relieve you. he repeated the words “i’m sorry” all over and over again. the sight of his disheartened girlfriend in his arms, crying her eyeballs out, shattered him into a million pieces.

“why are you hugging me right now?” you quietly say, wiping your swollen eyes with the palms of your hand. “what do you mean, baby? you’re my girlfriend, why wouldn’t i hug you?” riki answered, with tears running down his cheeks too. “t-then what the hell was that earlier? do you still love her? do you love her more than you love me?” you ask him, looking up at him. you pause. “i saw the way you two looked at each other, how you to conversed and interacted still. and i’m probably stupid for thinking all this, knowing you two have moved onto new relationships, but i don’t know if i can compete with her. and it’s driving me fucking crazy, riki. it’s driving me fucking insane.” you add. “y/n, baby. past is past, okay? i love you and i’ve been the happiest i’ve ever been. being with you, being able to love and care for you, it’s all i could ask for. please don’t think of whatever happened earlier as something different. please don’t take it as a sign that i haven’t moved on just yet. she trips and falls, i catch her, and it ends there, okay? but you could trip and fall a million times, i’d always be there to stand you back upright and it doesn’t end just there. even if you try and fail, i’ll be there for you. even if you cry or weep, i’ll be there wiping your tears. even if you jump with happiness, i’ll be there celebrating with you.” riki responds as tears continue to come streaming down his face. “i love you, y/n, hm?” he holds you tighter. “i love you too, baby. i’m sorry-“ “no, don’t be sorry. it’s okay. we’re okay.” you lightly push yourself out of riki’s embrace and look up to smile at him. you pull him towards your room and you tuck the both of you into your bed.

you drift off into sleep, buried in riki’s nuzzle. he kisses your forehead and finally falls asleep, holding you close til morning.

[marlynnofmany]

Not A Pest

I kept a hand on the pallet of boxes on the hoversled, making sure it didn't wobble while Blip and Blop pushed it up the ramp. It was all held in place solidly enough by high-tech netting much fancier than the kind we used, and I didn't need to worry much. So when we reached the cargo bay and Zhee called for my assistance back on the ground, I didn't feel bad about leaving the Frillians to finish loading it. They were strong enough to muscle anything into place if needed anyway. 

“What's up?” I asked as I trotted back down the ramp.

“Thought you might weigh in on their pest problem before we go,” Zhee said with a twitch of his antennae towards the clients whose stuff we were delivering. More Frillians today: not as beefy as Blip and Blop, but with waving frills everywhere that just made Zhee look like a praying mantis among flowers. He also looked smug, but that was nothing new. “I mentioned an animal expert, and they mentioned payment,” he told me.

I came to a stop beside him. “You know I don't know everything, right? Just putting that out there. My vet training was on Earth.” 

“Yes yes, I gave them the disclaimers,” Zhee said. 

The client in front, a tall female with colors like a Siamese Fighting Fish, said, “That’s better than anyone on our ship has. Something's getting into boxes in our cargo hold, and we can't find it. Tore into some food and made a mess of the animal fibers.” 

The shorter male behind her in salmon-peach tones held out a lumpy handful of what looked like brown wool. "My guess is it's making a nest somewhere, but it's being wasteful with the stuff too. Tangled it up something fierce."

My response died on my lips as I got a good look at it. Among the stray fibers was the exact shape of a teddy bear. 

“Can I see that?” I asked. 

He handed it over. I plucked off the extra bits and yes, it was definitely meant to be a teddy bear, made by hand from the wool in the cargo hold. There were even little twists for eyes.

I looked up at them. “You don’t have a pest. You have a stowaway.”

They blustered and pooh-poohed the idea: nonsense, how could there possibly be an intelligent creature onboard without their knowledge?

“We’ve been in space a long time,” said the tall one. “Only stopping at uninhabited locations for resources.”

“And at the—” put in the pink one, then stopped at a sharp look from his teammate.

I wasn’t about to let that go. “The what?” I asked.

The tall one sighed. “We salvaged some fuel from a wreck,” she admitted. “But there was no one on it. We checked. And with the tow ship we saw in the distance, it seemed likely enough that the owner had jetted away in a life preserver rather than sticking around. It was a single-person ship.”

Somebody else piped up from between the many crates in their cargo hold. “It couldn’t be a person! There’s nowhere big enough to hide!”

I held up the teddy bear. “This is a child’s toy from my planet.” I looked up at the maze of pipes on the ceiling. “And my people like to climb.”

Zhee was being smug behind me while I made a quick circuit of the room, looking for likely spots. One corner was particularly dark, and it had a series of crates below the pipes, stacked into a perfect ramp. I flashed back to the time a litter of kittens had found a similar hidey-hole on my own ship. This spaceship was made by a different group of aliens altogether, but they never seemed to expect anyone to pay attention to nooks and crannies in the ceiling.

“Hello?” I called, climbing onto the first crate with the wool bear in hand. “Anybody up there?” I continued in every language I knew greetings in, which included the galaxy’s favorite trade language (which I knew well), several minor trade languages (which I did not), and a smattering of languages from Earth (which I knew not at all), plus English. Despite my efforts, I didn’t hear a thing until I got all the way to the top.

“Jambo?” I tried, peering into the dark crevice. “Uh, sprechen sie deutsch?” I held out the wool bear. “Is this yours?”

A quiet gasp echoed off the pipes, then two small arms reached out to grab the bear. With further coaxing, the girl clambered forward to where I could see her: dark skin, wide eyes, artfully braided hair, and clothes that looked fancy, if very dusty. I’m not great at kid ages, but she was young. Old enough to push buttons on her parents’ spaceship maybe, not old enough to steer.

I still didn’t know what language she spoke, but it was hard to go wrong with body language. I held out my arms for a hug. “Want to go home?”

She sniffled and climbed forward into the embrace, clinging tight. That made it a bit of a challenge to get back down to floor level, but I managed. A crowd of Frillians and one smug Mesmer waited there.

“See?” Zhee said to the tall Frillian. “Exactly the animal expert you needed.”

I shook my head in amusement. “For all the wrong reasons, you’re exactly right.” The girl didn’t want to be put down, so I hoisted her onto one hip and stood carefully. “How far away was that crash site? Can you send a message to the planet or station the tow ship came from?”

“Yeah, we’re on it,” the tall Frillian said, her frills flattened in what might have been shame. She directed a couple of the others to do that, and also to gather the fuel they’d scavenged.

Zhee cheered her up with talk of a probable finder’s fee. “Humans get very attached to their offspring,” he said. “There is a strong chance this one’s parents are already advertising a reward.”

While they talked money (and Zhee got our ship that promised fee for pest control), someone with sense arrived with a bottle of water and questions about what food would be suitable.

The girl drank the water eagerly, not letting go of her bear, and didn’t answer any of my questions about food allergies. She accepted some protein cubes and chewed them with determination.

By then, a reply had already come from the nearest space station, and a ship was on the way. Full of authority figures and very anxious parents, by the sounds of it.

While the Frillians discussed that and the little kid quietly refused to be put down, Zhee held up his communicator so I could talk to Captain Sunlight back on our ship. Zhee had already explained the situation.

The captain asked me, “How long do they expect until arrival?”

“I think they said about half an hour,” I said. “Hopefully that won’t put us behind schedule.”

“No, we’ll be fine,” she said. “Given that the young one is so taken with you, we might as well stay to make sure everything gets resolved. Does she need to visit the medical bay?”

“I don’t think so. She hasn’t said anything yet, but she doesn’t look injured. Couldn’t hurt to give her a once-over with the hand scanner just in case. We’ve got time.” I looked down at her thoughtfully, then had a bright idea. “And I bet she’d love to meet Telly. After we check her for allergies, of course.”

The captain agreed that was a fine idea. Zhee took over the conversation while I asked the girl, in a mix of Earth languages and pantomime, if she wanted to see my cat.

Her eyes lit up and she started talking in a spill of words that I didn’t catch in the slightest. Spanish, maybe French? Portuguese? Ah, it didn’t matter. The language of kitty ears and “meow meow” is almost as universally recognized as hugs. We walked from one ship to another, and waited for her parents in the company of a medical scanner, human food, and a very friendly cat.

~~~

These are the ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book.

Shared early on Patreon! There’s even a free tier to get them on the same day as the rest of the world.

The sequel novel is in progress (and will include characters from these stories. I hadn’t thought all of them up when I wrote the first book, but they’re too much fun to leave out of the second).

[ejlovesvi]

Hi

Can I please request a fic with Taylor swift x fem!reader where they are in a PR relationship and reader is a really big actress and in her late twenties and she’s an introvert and likes to build legos and play Mario cart and she’s a big softie and incredibly sweet but the catch is Taylor and her friends don’t really like the reader whenever she has to hangout with them they always ignore her and make her feel uncomfortable and unwanted between them and one day she goes live on instagram or TikTok and she’s building a Lego with her fans it’s something that she does a lot and the Lego just happens to be a lovers house one to support Taylor and the fans just go crazy meanwhile Taylor is with her friends and they are talking about how the reader is annoying and weird and always quiet and then one of them mentions how the reader is live now so they get on to spy on her and they realize how nice and cute the reader is and someone in the comments asks the reader about Taylor and she starts gushing about Taylor with a love struck smile on her face because she secretly likes Taylor and wants to pursue her for real and then later on they start treating the reader better and they go on real dates together and it’s just fluff. Sorry this is long you don’t have to write it if you don’t want to I just had this idea for a long time and wanted to share it but if you do end up writing it can you make it with as much details and events as possible. Thank you so much

note: this is such a cute idea!! it’s fairly different because i changed it up a bit to make it easier to write. thanks for the request! not proofread.

IT’S LIKE I’M WASTING YOUR HONOR

pairing: taylor swift x fem!reader

warnings: taylor coming to her senses, sad but amazing folklore song

masterlist

to say you were in love with your PR girlfriend was an understatement. you knew it the from the moment you had met her and heard her laugh at a corny joke that slipped from your nervous lips. taylor had been incredibly kind to you and had seemed to notice things others had never thought to mention to you. you were doomed.

you two began a PR relationship for many reasons, the number one being that it would help taylor’s prideful content reach further to others who were part of the lgbtq+ community.

now obviously you knew taylor wasn’t as in love with you as you were her; or if she even really loved you at all. but you didn’t let that stop you. after all, you two were supposed to act madly in love anyway.

so now you sit here on live building a lover house lego set that the company sent you two. taylor left four hours ago to go spend some time with her model friends and you had simply kissed her on the cheek and wished her a good time as she left.

your eyes scan the comments that speed past and you catch onto one of them in particular. “does taylor show you her song writing process?” you read aloud the comment.

you think about the question for a moment, trying to figure out what you can reveal on live without getting a call from tree. you weigh your options and decide fuck it. with a smile you answer, “sometimes she does. it’s mostly after we’ve had a few glasses of wine that she sings to me. half of the songs i hear on guitar or piano end up scrapped in her notebook.”

you look down at your lego set and continue placing pieces together, all while continuing to ramble on. you try to fight the smile spreading across your face but the intense emotions at the thought of the blonde invade your mind like a thick smoke.

“it’s sometimes sad to hear songs get scrapped because they end up being my favorites.” you admit. “she’s just so talented and i love being able to see her grow as a person.”

a week later

it’s been a week since you gushed about taylor on instagram live. the repercussions ended in the internet going insane over your guy’s relationship and calling you two perfect for each other.

taylor had been acting different lately and the thought of her being upset over the live made you feel worried. what if she completely disliked that?

but as you sit in front of the brick fireplace with two wine glasses in front of you and taylor’s cats curled into the side of your criss-crossed legs — you let all those worries slip away.

taylor sits beside you, her body shifted towards you slightly. her fingers pluck at each string as she adjusts them to perfect tuning. the only light in the room elicits from the crackling fire contained in the fire place.

taylor looks up from her guitar to smile shyly at you, “this is a song i wrote last night, so it’s not perfect but i hope you like it.”

you tilt your head as you pet the cats beside you. taylor looks back down at her guitar and clears her throat, plucking at the soft chords before softly singing. “our coming of age has come and gone. suddenly the summer, it’s clear. i never had the courage of my convictions. as long as danger is near.”

you listen intently with a soft smile, watching her fingers skillfully move across the wood guitar with perfected ease.

“i’m a fire and i’ll keep your brittle heart warm. if your cascade ocean wave blues come. all these people think love’s for show, but i would die for you in secret.” she sings out, looking you right in the eyes for those specific lyrics.

she suddenly stops playing and swallows, looking at you with anticipation. you breath in as you take in the moment, analyzing the lyrics she just sang to you.

“those last lyrics are… something.” you breath out with a small nervous laugh.

taylor lets out a small chuckle and softens her gaze on you, “it’s true though. i’ve thought about my feelings for the past week.” she starts. “about my feelings for you specifically. this whole thing started for the public but getting to know you and experiencing your kindness has made me fall in love.”

your eyebrows raise slightly but you stay silent, letting her continue. “i want to be able to love you behind the cameras and public. and a part of me thinks you want that too.” she finishes.

with a smile gracing your lips you giggle, “taylor i’ve been in love with you since we started this stupid PR relationship.”

taylor lets out a breath of relief and sets the guitar aside. “well, that’s great news. if you rejected me i probably would’ve shit my pants.”

you bark out a laugh and lean forward, your face just inches away from hers. you glance from her pale blue eyes to her soft plump lips that you’ve only had the pleasure of kissing twice in front of paparazzi. “well, are you gonna kiss me for real or should i call some paparazzi to come get content?” you joke.

taylor rolls her eyes, “shut up you dork.”

and with that she kisses you softly but passionately. you hum and you lean in further, resting your hands on her thighs. she grabs onto the back of your head to get better control.

before you can protest she lifts you to straddle her as she lays back against the soft rug. she pulls away from the kiss and looks up at you with complete and utter love in her eyes.

you bite your lip to contain obnoxious giggles and glance over at the curled up cats. you glance back to taylor who looks over feature on your face. “let’s get to bed, tay.”

she nods and lets you drag her to bed where you fall asleep in each others arms for the first time in your 1 year relationship.

[halfvalid]

the blade daughter, pt. 2

ABOUT

pt. 1 | pt. 2 | pt. 3

alternate title: dracule mihawk cures your daddy issues!

rating: mature

characters: live action!roronoa zoro | fem!reader | live action!dracule mihawk | live action!straw hat ensemble

pairing: live action!roronoa zoro x fem!reader

word count: 23.6k total | 8k this part

description: after joining the straw hats on board the going merry, you're confused as to what to do with your life from now—and you can't help but get closer to zoro.

tags: mihawk's daughter!reader, female reader, canon-typical violence, cursing, no use of 'y/n', pet names per mihawk ('dear', 'darling', 'sweetheart', 'little hawk'), emotional hurt/comfort, slow burn, patching of wounds

author’s note: second chapter! i hope you like it <3 out of the three this one's probably my favorite personally, i really like the wound-stitching scene & i think it's one of the best scenes ive ever written. i'm suchhh a slut for the patching up of wounds trope.

You rose before the sun, careful to pack your belongings all in one sack. Considering the very little amount you’d brought, it was a relatively easy task—leaving the sloop would be fine, too, as you paid for the slip for a few months longer at least. Your father had so many ships across so many seas it hardly mattered much anymore. 

You double-checked that you had all of your things before shutting down and leaving the sloop, consulting some of the dock men to transfer a boat lift under the berth. You moved carefully across the east port, making quick time as you returned to the Straw Hats’ ship in slip fifty-two. 

There were apparent signs of life when you reached the ship, even with the sky cast over in dark hues of navy. All of the dead bodies had been removed, for one, and dock men were loading barrels up on the deck while Sanji watched over them. His expression brightened as his gaze fell across you. 

“Lady Dracule!” he called out, slipping off from the barrel on which he’d been perched to meet you at the pier. You gave him an unimpressed look. 

“I have a name, you know.” 

“Oh, I wasn’t aware of that,” Sanji answered, a lopsided grin pulling up the side of his face. You rolled his eyes and introduced yourself, which only prompted a brighter smile and a steady pat of his hand on your back. “A fine name, for a fine woman.” 

“Sanji, stop flirting with the crew.” You glanced up to see Nami, one hip cocked to the side with her hand on her waist, staring down with an exasperated glint in her eye. “Welcome aboard the Going Merry. Sorry I was a little grouchy last night. I don’t like having my sleep interrupted.” She leaned down to offer you her hand, and you took it, climbing aboard the ship. 

“The Going Merry?” 

“Fits it, don’t you think?” Sanji asked from behind you. Nami eyed him again, volume dropping as she tilted her head towards yours. 

“He’ll quit with the sweet talk eventually. I’ll give you a tour once we’ve cast off. We’re just waiting for Zoro to get back from town, and then we’re all set.” She turned to bark out another few orders to Sanji— “Finish up with the crates already!” 

“Anything you want, madam,” Sanji said with a little bow. Nami let out a long-suffering sigh. 

“Luffy already prepared a room for you. I’ll show you to it.” She led you below deck, back towards the ship’s aft. There was a collection of rooms all crammed together, one beside the other. “These are the women’s quarters. Men’s’ are all the way at the front of the ship.” She nodded behind her. “You get this one here. Sorry, it’s small.” 

She opened the door to the very last room, and you stepped inside, surveying your surroundings. It wasn’t much; the cabin barely scraped by as a room, consisting of only a wardrobe, a hanging bed, and a small table and chair stuck in the corner. A round window at the very edge of the room revealed the water just a mere few feet below. 

“It’ll do fine, thank you,” you said. Your room back at home was far more ornate, but you’d never been picky. 

“You can sleep for a few more hours,” Nami said, lingering by the cabin mouth. “Come find me when you’re ready for a tour. We should be setting off in a few moments, if Zoro’s back.”

You gave her a smile, and she left, the patter of her footsteps dying off as she walked further and further away. 

It didn’t take you long to get arranged, and afterwards, you gingerly sat down on the bed, the rope tied to the ceiling causing it to sway under you. You were still uncertain about boarding the ship, but you couldn't exactly return to your sloop now. And it wasn’t the worst idea in the world, you tried to convince yourself. 

You felt the ship start moving just a few moments later, and you stood up, walking across the rocking ship to get up to the deck. You were making fast time, Loguetown’s silhouette rapidly getting swallowed in the gulp of the horizon. 

Nami was bickering with Zoro and Luffy when you found her. “What even took you so long? We were due to leave a half-hour ago.” 

“I was getting new swords,” Zoro said calmly. Nami eyed him, then yanked something out of his hand. A wallet, it looked like, stuffed with bills of berry. “You can’t be mad at me. I spent less than half of your budget.” 

“They scammed you,” Nami scoffed, eyeing the katanas at Zoro’s hip. Zoro simply shrugged. “A sword for free? It’s probably made of plastic.” 

Zoro snorted. “I’d be able to tell.” 

Nami cast him a look, gaze unimpressed under the line of her eyelashes. “You can’t tell the difference between a ship mast and a tree.” 

“Yeah, but I know swords.” 

“Oh, hey!” Luffy, who’d seemed tuned out of his crewmates’ conversation, said as he spotted you. “Glad to see you here. Officially part of the crew.” 

“Oh, well…” you hesitated. “Not so sure if I’ll be joining you forever.” Luffy looked confused by that, but not particularly offended—Nami and Zoro had turned to watch you, too, argument dying on trembling legs. “Right now the plan is to help you get to the Grand Line. From there you can drop me home. And then we’ll part ways.” 

“If you change your mind…” Luffy trailed off, then patted you on the shoulder. “Nami, were you going to show her around?” 

“I was, but I’ve got some mapping to do.” Nami glanced over at Zoro. “Hey. Make yourself useful.” 

“I hate you,” Zoro muttered. He brushed past you, just barely motioning with his head for you to follow. “Afterdeck.” 

You stepped into the small space. It was easily the most secluded place on the ship deck, decorated with three young tangerine trees in white boxy planters. “I like your trees.” 

“They’re Nami’s trees.” Zoro gestured with his head again, and you followed him. The tour was brief; Zoro didn’t have much to say, generally just showing you a room before telling you what it was and departing for the next area. 

You were about halfway through the tour when Zoro spoke again, the words abrupt in his throat. He spat them out rather than spoke them, and you got the impression he’d been mulling over talking for a while— “You ever beat your dad in combat?” 

You snorted. “No.” 

Zoro didn’t look at you, opting instead to push through the next doorway and gesture vaguely around him to show you the surroundings. “Gotten close?” 

“Never.” You shrugged. “He taught me the basics, but I wasn’t the best student. He’d try to be strict and everything, but… sword fighting isn’t really my thing. You’re probably better than me.” 

Zoro gazed at you skeptically. “He taught you.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Do you—” He paused, mouth open for a moment before resuming his sentence. He didn’t sound particularly hesitant, but the pause had you stifling a smile anyway, knowing he was at least a little bit flustered. “We should train together.” 

“Was that a question?” 

“Not really.” Zoro’s lip quirked, one side of his mouth tugging upwards in an odd semblance of a smile. He didn’t seem the type to smile often, though, so it didn’t look out of ordinary on his face. “Have you seen enough of the ship yet, or do you want me to show you the bilge too?” 

“I’m good, thanks,” you answered primly. “Now did you want to fight me or not?” 

Zoro actually smiled at that. 

You decided to train on the main deck, in an area wide enough to not bump into anyone else. You shed your jacket, pulling Hiru out of its scabbard. Zoro winced as the sun hit the silver blade, reflecting a blinding gleam off its surface. “That a stylistic choice?” 

“I polish things when I get anxious,” you answered. “So not really.” 

“Right.” Zoro untied a black bandana from where it was fixed on his bicep, fingers working fluidly against the knot. Once he got it untied, he wrapped it around his head, tying it carefully around his head. Afterwards, he slid one of his swords out of its scabbard, holding it with his fingers to follow with the other. “How low should my expectations be?” 

“I don’t know, you tell me,” you answered. Zoro let a soft sound out through his mouth, but he said no more, transferring one sword to each hand. He moved carefully, arms arching over his head to lower to each of his sides. You lifted Hiru up, more casual in your movements than Zoro was. 

You paid more attention to Zoro than the actual fight when you started moving. You figured you’d have time to genuinely practice later—you hadn’t kept a close eye on the swordsman in the battle against the pirate hunters, and your curiosity was eating at you. Zoro was all angles when he fought, elbows lifted and limbs pin-straight. That wasn’t to say there was no flexibility in his movements, though—he dodged your oncoming attacks easily, sidestepping with a light twist of the torso so your blade cut air instead of flesh. 

Just a few seconds in you could tell Zoro was far, far better than you. You parried one of his attacks, gasp ripping from your throat as you just barely managed to block off a slash from his katana with Hiru. He spun towards you, careful not to actually cut as his blade came for the throat. You managed to dodge just in time, moving backwards with a quick patter of your feet against the wooden deck. 

There was barely anything skewed in his motions, you were soon to realize. He was perfect in every sense of the word. Your styles were vastly different, of course—Zoro mainly relied on his blades, and his physicality was carefully practiced, no curves or bends apparent in the straight lines and slants of his body. In comparison, you were much more slippery, focusing mainly on your agility to carry you throughout a fight rather than your strength. 

“Your elbow,” Zoro said. You barely managed to respond, letting out a grunt of effort as you blocked Zoro’s oncoming attack. 

“Hm?”

Zoro’s katana came from the left. He used the other one to knock your arm up, nearly gentle in his movements, and you were reminded of how Mihawk used to train you—stopping mid-fight to reposition your limbs, using his sword to carefully push your hands in the right places. “You’re dropping it.” 

“I don’t care much for angles,” you answered, ducking under Zoro’s incoming blade and sliding off to the side instead of trying to shove against it. Zoro seemed startled by that, struck off-balance as he stumbled, turning to face you. 

You jerked your sword towards him, one leg coming up to shove against his torso whilst doing so. You managed to knock him fully off-balance then, and he staggered against his feet, teetering precariously backwards. “Your center of gravity is screwed.” 

“You dad kept flinging me around the pier,” Zoro said. You raised your brows, the phrase nonsensical to your ears. But it did sound like Mihawk. “It run in the family?”

“Very funny.” You dodged another slash of Zoro’s swords. “The only thing I picked up well in our lessons was about keeping balance.” 

“And dodging, apparently.” You snickered at that, parrying another one of Zoro’s attacks—but it was getting harder and harder, what with the immense strength of his body you simply couldn’t keep up with. As flexible as you were, you weren’t quick enough this time, and Zoro swept you off your feet so you fell to the ground, wind bursting out of your chest all in one rush. Hiru clattered a few feet away, your fingers unfolding from their grip and letting it move freely.

Zoro slid his swords back in their sheaths, letting them close with a satisfying click. “You fight too defensively.”

You lay there for a moment, trying to gather air back into your lungs. “Never found a point in attacking others, really.” You got up, straightening your shirt before bending over to pick Hiru up from the floor. “Good fight.” 

“Yeah,” Zoro said, but his voice was weak, tapering off to blend in with the wind. He had an uncertain look on his face, big brown eyes all fuzzy around the edges, like there was some cloudlike film covering him from seeing properly. You frowned at him. 

“Is that because I’m worse or better than you expected?” you asked, gesturing vaguely up at his expression. Zoro blinked, the fog over his eyes clearing as he glanced down to meet your gaze. You waited expectantly, but he didn’t say anything. “Zoro?” you prompted. 

“Sorry,” Zoro said. “I’m—I’m going to go to my cabin.” 

You watched him leave, growing more quizzical by the second. Well, you’d gotten what you’d come there for, anyway. Roronoa Zoro was a great swordsman. And he certainly had the potential to be the greatest in the world, too—a realization that shook you a little, heart trembling from where it was fixed in your chest cavity. You swallowed hard, mind replaying the firm motions of his body from the fight. He’d been confident, sure of himself. You had even forgotten he still hosted Yoru’s slash along his torso from just a week or so prior, he’d been so… perfect. 

“He’s good, huh?” 

You startled, turning to see Usopp sitting atop a pile of crates like a king on a throne. He was picking at his fingernails. “Zoro,” he clarified. “Best swordsman in the East Blue.” 

“Yeah,” you said, glancing over at where Zoro had left. “He is.” 

Usopp eyed you for a moment. “Your shell phone is ringing.”

You startled, patting down your figure before finally unearthing your phone from where it was tucked safely away in your pocket. You opened it, pushing the den den mushi in your ear as it vibrated, little mouth making soft rumbling sounds to catch your attention. Usopp clearly didn’t know a thing about privacy, though, because he kept watching even as you picked up— “Hello?” 

“Back home yet, darling?” Mihawk asked over the line, and you relaxed, your entire body going slack with comfort as you heard the familiar low hum of your father’s voice. “I figured you’d go back as quickly as possible.” 

“No, actually,” you said. “Luffy roped me into coming aboard his ship.” 

You could practically see Mihawk’s brows lift up in surprise. “You joined the Straw Hat pirate’s crew?” 

“No. They’re bringing me home. I’m helping them get to the Grand Line,” you corrected. Mihawk hummed, the sound a crackle of monotony through the den den mushi’s mouth. 

“And why, pray tell, would you do that?” 

You chewed at your bottom lip, glancing off the side of the Going Merry to the East Blue. The sun had risen fully, fixing itself in a warm beam in the sky. “I was curious about Roronoa Zoro. You never told me why you left him alive. Or why you let Luffy go.” You could still feel Usopp’s gaze on you while you spoke, and you just knew he’d be telling the rest of his crew this after your conversation finished. “So I wanted to figure out your reasoning.” 

“Ah,” Mihawk said. “Has he healed from Yoru’s wound yet?”

“It’s not like I tore off his shirt to check, dad,” you muttered. Mihawk barked out a laugh, and you startled at the sound before settling down again. “He walks fine. I saw bandages.” 

Mihawk seemed pleased by that. “Wonderful. He’s a hardy one. You should fight him.”

“Already did,” you answered. “He beat me.”

Mihawk considered that for a moment. “Eh, I saw that coming.”

You scoffed. “You have no faith in me. Where are you now?” 

“South Blue, still,” Mihawk replied. “Are you at least enjoying yourself there? It’ll be good for you to make friends, sweetheart. You don’t get much social interaction other than me and the villagers, after all.” 

“I’m not here to make friends, I’m here to get a ride home,” you said insistently, but your voice was weak, and Mihawk clearly didn’t believe you. Your mind wandered back to Zoro—the firm muscle of his body, the hushed tone he spoke in, and you found your face pinkening. “One of them—one of them wants to kill you. That’s his entire life’s purpose. To murder you.” 

“I think you’re being a tad bit broad, darling,” Mihawk said with a click of his tongue. “You seem rather enamored with this particular young swordsman. Something to say?” 

“I—” your words fumbled in your mouth, and you were certain you were entirely pink now, the sun’s glowing rays only making your face warmer than it was rapidly turning. “Stop. I’m hanging up now.”

Mihawk’s voice was tastefully dry when he responded. “I’m sure.”

“Shut up, old man,” you grumbled. 

“Right. Remember the rule, dear,” Mihawk trilled, and despite his voice being as monotone as ever, you could still identify the undertones of it—laced with syrupy mocking, all teasing and dramatic. “No dating unless he can beat you in combat!” 

You actually did hang up this time, practically tearing the den den mushi out of your ear. You huffed out an irritated breath, rubbing a circle into the shell of your snail as an apology just a moment later. “Sorry,” you murmured. “My dad’s a bitch.” 

The snail just let out a little grumble in response. You tucked it back into its case and snapped the phone shut. 

“Aw, we’re not allowed to say hi?” You spun around at the new voice, glaring upon seeing Sanji and Luffy having joined Usopp in his eavesdropping. Sanji bore a gigantic grin on his face. “Sounded like an interesting conversation.” 

“None of you know what boundaries are,” you muttered, but it was light-hearted. 

You didn’t see Zoro until suppertime, a fact that rang odd in your head. It seemed like he’d completely evaporated from the ship, disappearing around every corner as you spent the rest of the day getting to know the rest of the crew better. Something had happened, but you weren’t exactly sure what—and you weren’t exactly sure if you were close enough to him to even ask, yet. 

Sanji had cooked up a dinner so fine you doubted it could even quality as ship food. From your time traveling with your father, rations on-board hadn’t been much of anything—a few scraps of bread or dried meat, old apples, perhaps some fish if you were lucky. Mihawk hadn’t the biggest priority on eating well, but the Straw Hat crew seemed to have the exact opposite opinion. You were served a bowl of miso soup along with a bowl of rice, and dishes of tofu and oyster sauce stir-fried vegetables were carefully laid out all across the table. 

“Bon appétit,” Sanji said, taking a half-bow before slipping into the last seat around the table. “I hope it’s to your liking. Yours especially, Lady Dracule.” He gave you a little wink at that. You just stared at him. 

“I thought I told you my name.”

“Well, you did, but I thought Lady Dracule had a nice ring to it.” 

“It doesn’t,” you said. Nami stifled a snort, the hand not holding her chopsticks coming up to cover her mouth. Sanji didn’t look the slightest bit dissuaded. You turned your attention on Zoro, who hadn’t spoken a word throughout the whole meal. He was rather studiously focused on his bowl, eyes picking apart the grains of rice like they’d reveal the world’s greatest secrets. 

Carefully, you leaned towards Nami, voice coming out in a hushed whisper. “Is he okay?” 

“He gets like that sometimes,” Nami answered, her words drowned out by Usopp and Luffy’s cheerful conversation. “Nobody can crack him except for Luffy. I’d just leave him be.” 

“You don’t know why?” 

Nami just shrugged. “Hell, we’re all depressed sometimes. Not within my rights to question him.”

You nodded, but your gaze didn’t move away from Zoro’s figure. There was a particular squeezing sensation deep in your chest—a little flip-flop thing, a sort of panging you couldn’t quite place. He glanced up, dark eyes meeting yours for just a fraction of a second. But he didn’t flinch away. He just returned your gaze, strong and unblinking. 

To your surprise, Zoro was the first to look away, craning his neck to study his bowl again and continuing on like your extended bout of eye contact hadn’t even happened. You watched him, dumbstruck, until Nami nudged you in the shoulder. The rest of the group’s idle chatter had died down, and Usopp and Sanji were staring at you, low murmurs falling out of their mouths. You cleared your throat, finally dropping your gaze from the green-haired swordsman and attempting to ignore the fact everyone had caught you staring. 

You didn’t do much of anything after supper—you just returned to your cabin, carefully walking across the creaking boards of the ship. Luffy assigned you mid watch, so you had a few hours to sleep before waking up at midnight to look out for any enemies. 

You couldn’t find yourself falling asleep even after you’d slipped into bed. You’d changed, a loose blouse light against your skin, black silk shorts grazing your thighs. It was cold out, so you shrugged on a robe as you headed out into the darkness of the Going Merry. You emerged out on the deck, taking in a breath of the night air as you glanced to see who had the night watch. 

Just your luck. It was Zoro. 

He seemed tranquil, lounging across a hammock with his white sword—the Wado Ichimonji—cradled in his arms. In the dim light you couldn’t see if his eyes were open or closed, but as you got closer, he cracked one of them open, a gleam reflecting off his right iris. “Hi,” you said, moving over to the side of the ship to watch the waves on the water. 

Zoro didn’t deign to respond, so you just stood there, watching the sea lap at the side of the ship until eventually the hour struck twelve. Zoro left soundlessly. You stayed awake all throughout your watch until Usopp came to relieve you of your duties. 

Zoro was avoiding you. 

A few days had passed since you first boarded the Going Merry. They hadn’t been of much interest—just days of practicing with your sword and chatting with the crew, for the most part. You helped around the ship, completing various tasks apparently none of the members knew or cared enough to do. You were just emerging from the bilge, having done basic maintenance to ensure everything was working properly, when you bumped into him. The man was apparently taking a nap, though you couldn’t figure out why the storage area was a very good place to sleep. Still, he seemed comfortable enough, long body splayed along a grouping of crates. 

“Hi,” you said, for what seemed like the hundredth time over a few days. Zoro just averted his gaze and let out a little grunt in response. You stared at him for a moment. The realization had dawned on you ever since the first day, but it was growing more and more apparent, and you were baffled as to what you���d done to incur the silent treatment. 

“Hi,” you repeated, more purposefully this time.

“Hey,” Zoro said, though the word was clearly bitter in his mouth. You propped your hands on your hips and stared down at him. 

“You’re avoiding me.” 

Zoro closed his eyes, expression not even changing. “You’re not that special.”

“Ever since we fought that one time, you’ve been ignoring me,” you barreled on, entirely ignoring his quip. Zoro cocked a brow, eyes still closed, and you glared down at it. “I’d like to know why.” 

“Why do you care? We’re not friends.” 

“Isn’t it natural to want to know why someone is mad at you?” you demanded, perplexed. Zoro sighed then, shifting around on his boxes. 

“I’m not mad at you.” You heaved out a sigh even more irritated than Zoro’s. Your experience in the realm of dealing with close-lipped men’s personal issues was, unfortunately, rather well-seasoned. You’d had to coax situations out of your father, one hand pressed against Yoru’s hilt to prevent Mihawk from lashing out his frustrations rather than explaining them. But that didn’t mean you were all too fond of it. 

“Okay, well, why else would you be ignoring me then?” 

Zoro’s response was annoyingly frank. “It’s not really any of your business.” 

You pursed your lips, trying to suppress the irritated noise that threatened to burst from your throat. “I don’t like being on bad terms with people,” you started. “If I did something to piss you off, I’d very much like it if you—” 

The floor slipped out from underneath you before you could finish your sentence. You fell with a graceless clatter, lurching forward into the stack of crates Zoro was leaning on, words dying on your tongue. The entire boat trembled, quivering from side to side as if the ocean waves had suddenly propelled a thousand more ripples at its surface.

Zoro sat immediately up, one hand pushing you off of him as he scrambled off the crates. “What was that?” 

“I don’t—” Just a moment after regaining your balance, there was another dull thud and a row of quivers. You remained steady this time, glancing carefully around you before you and Zoro were both hurrying up towards the ship deck. The Going Merry was in chaos when you emerged, Nami at the helm while Sanji was firing up a cannon beside her. 

“What’s going on?” you demanded, the tails of your coat lapping around your calves as you hurried up besides Luffy. 

“Pirates,” Luffy said grimly, nodding towards a ship that was quickly gaining on you. “They blew through the stern railing. Do any of you recognize the jolly roger?” 

You glanced up, taking in the billowing sail boasting a pure-white jolly roger with a top hat and mustache. “Nope. These things are getting more and more ridiculous,” you muttered. 

“Yeah,” Luffy agreed, affronted. “Ours is way better.” 

You turned your gaze up at the Straw Hat crew’s aforementioned jolly roger. “...No comment.” 

“We can’t outrun them!” Nami shouted from her place at the helm. Sanji had successfully nailed a cannonball into the railing of the oncoming ship, but they had a dozen more men. “I’m going to try to get closer. Best chance we have is one-on-one combat.” She turned to fix the small grouping with a glare. “Don’t just stand there. Get to it!” 

You launched into action, hurrying to climb up the rigging to get a better view as Nami veered hard to starboard. The enemy ship had dropped their cannons, and you could see them preparing to board the Merry, grabbing onto loose ropes of rigging. “They’re going to swing over,” you reported, watching as the ship tilted in your direction, gaining on you. “I see maybe two or three dozen men.” 

You hesitated, glancing around at the rather stationary crew around you. Your lip tugged between your teeth, and you stood there for a moment, unspoken words heavy on your tongue. You could see the captain yelling out orders on the ship across from you, and you turned abruptly, fixing Sanji with a look. 

“Sanji, trade with Usopp. I want you to nail a cannon at their port stern.” 

“W—What? Me?” Usopp stuttered. You nodded. 

“I want Sanji on the frontlines. That should be close enough now.” You gazed out at the rapidly thinning gap between the two ships. One final cannonball whizzed towards, and you ducked, watching as it just brushed the side of the Merry. The ship rocked, and you tightened your grip on the rigging, satisfied to see it’d barely left a mark. 

“They’re coming over,” Sanji reported, and you nodded, sliding Hiru out from your scabbard as enemy pirates started swinging over on ropes. Luffy was the first to react, an arching, rubbery limb catching one of them midair and yanking them down into the ocean. Boots thudded on the ground as the enemy pirates landed aboard the Going Merry. 

“Time for a fight,” Zoro murmured, barely audible from your left. You jumped down from the rigging, sword coming down to crash against one of the enemy pirates. He reacted slowly, pistol cocking towards your chest—but you just brushed it to the side with Hiru, cutting it straight out his hand and following up with a flurry of sword thrusts. 

Besides you, you saw Sanji sliding into battle, spinning on his palms to deliver a mean right hook to someone’s jawbone. An audible crack pierced the air, and you winced, breezing backwards on your feet as two pirates closed in on you. 

Luffy seemed to have engaged in a one-on-one with the enemy captain, who was easily identifiable due to the gigantic top hat perched upon his head. He had thick black hair tied neatly back in a ponytail, and a mustache and beard to match. A thick cutlass was tightened in one fist, thrusted towards Luffy—but every sweep was dodged with unbelievable bends of the torso. 

You turned your attention away, whipping your sword at the pirates that surrounded you. Hiru clashed with their blades, gleaming silver scraping against theirs. You leaned forward, and the blade before you broke with the pressure, sword snapping under Hiru’s will. 

The sword dropped out of the pirate’s hand, and you took the opportunity to pull your leg up, kicking him squarely in the jaw. The other lunged for you, and your fist dug into their torso, hands gripping tight to their belt. You bent over, twisting into his body to push him over your shoulder in a sweeping throw. 

He fell to the floor all in one, and you landed a kick to his chest just to ensure he wouldn’t get up again. Another man—bigger, this time, probably half your width and inches taller—gunned for you. 

You sidestepped him easily, agility tilting in your favor as you escaped his grasp. It was harder to take this one down—while you could dodge him well enough, and parry his oncoming attacks, he was simply too strong to compete with. Strength isn’t everything, little hawk, Mihawk would always tell you. Everyone has a weakness. Get them off balance. Use your points. 

The man delivered a stinging left hook to your torso, and you gasped. He took the opportunity to grab onto your wrist, grip so tight you couldn’t move your hand. Hiru clattered out from between your fingers. You directed a hit with your elbow towards the pirate’s sternum, but it was oddly-placed, and he just sneered down at you. 

One of his large fists rose to thud against your skull, and you braced for impact, but the blow never landed. A warm squishing sound of a sword against skin made your entire body shudder, and you turned to stare as your assailant’s head slid cleanly off of his neck. 

Zoro was behind him when his body collapsed, sword slick with blood as he spun it lazily around in a hand. “Careful,” he said. 

You gaped up at him for merely a second more before you realized your jaw was ajar. You flushed, bending over to fish Hiru up from the floor. “I was fine.” 

Zoro just thrust his sword cleanly into the torso of an incoming pirate, eyes not breaking away from yours. He slid it out with a sickening sound, flicking the blood off the blade with a motion of his hand. “A thank you might be nice.”

“Behind you,” you said instead, but Zoro was already reacting. You watched him, an incurable sigh perched on the tip of your tongue. He was good. He was really, really good, and you didn’t know how to feel about it. “Is that most of them?” 

“I think—” Zoro cut himself off, glancing over his shoulder as you both hear the familiar yell of Luffy’s voice screaming out one of his final moves. You both watched, soundless, as his foot smashed into the top hat pirate’s face, flinging him all the way across the water straight into the mast of his own ship. Only mere seconds later did the mast crack, the wooden pole falling down in a glorious, wooden heap. 

“...Yeah, we’re fine.” Zoro said. He leaned down, grabbing the shirt of one of the fallen pirates to wipe his blade with before sliding it back in its scabbard. “Let’s get out of here.” 

“On it.” Nami snapped her bo staff closed—when she’d jumped down into the battle, you were unsure, but she was already returning to her place at the helm. “Toss these bodies off our boat, would you, Zoro?” 

“Right.” Zoro bent over, easily picking up the fallen pirate and chucking the corpse overboard without another thought. You watched him the entire time, the strain of his biceps against his skin forming solid ridges up his arms. 

“I can clean your swords,” you said, words a bit too late out of your mouth. Zoro glanced up, brow creased. “While you’re doing that.” 

Zoro looked uncertain, but he unstrapped the scabbards from his hip, handing the twin katanas to you. You took them, glancing over his figure again. He moved with difficulty, and while you’d originally thought that was because of the bodies’ weight, you now saw the real reason. Lines of crimson were seeping through his shirt, a pool by the left side of his lower abdomen the biggest injured site. You took an involuntary step forward. “You’re hurt.”

“I can treat them later,” Zoro said dismissively. “Gotta clean up the Merry first.” 

“No, mosshead, the lady is right,” Sanji said. You startled, not having noticed him slip up beside you. “Usopp and I can manage with waste control, eh?” He winked. “Go clean up.” 

Zoro glared at him, the look dripping with malice, but he didn’t argue past that. “Fine,” he said, chucking another body—this one alive—off the side of the ship before straightening. You heard the hitch in his breath as he spoke, along with the near-imperceptible wince of his face. “You good, Luffy?” 

“A little hungry,” Luffy responded truthfully. He was still watching the other ship. Fire had started aboard it, and soft billows of black smoke drifted in the air. “Can you cook something up later, Sanji?” 

“Got it,” Sanji said. “Tell your first mate to patch up his wound before he bleeds out all over our beautiful deck.” 

“The deck isn’t beautiful, it’s got blood and guts all over it,” Zoro muttered. 

“Well, have a little respect and don’t add to the mess.” Sanji fixed him with a stern look. Zoro bared his teeth at him in a grimace, extracting a sharp little laugh out of your throat. His eyes brushed over yours, a glimmer of surprise dancing in his irises, before he ducked inside. 

“Why are you following me?” Zoro asked flatly, as you entered the cabin he’d gone into. You’d hastened to keep up with him, only a few steps behind before finding the room he’d gone into. Zoro had propped himself up on the hanging bed, loosening the ties of his wrap shirt to expose his bare chest. 

“I was wondering if you needed any help with your wounds.” You deposited Zoro’s swords, along with Hiru, on the table in the room, moving closer to him to survey the scene. “If you wanted it.” 

Zoro’s gaze met yours, and he said nothing for a moment. “First aid kit’s over there,” he finally said, nodding to the table. You moved towards it, opening up the small box to expose supplies of bandages, needles, stitch string, and disinfectant inside. You carried the box over to the bed, sanitizing your hands before carefully parting the folds of Zoro’s shirt. The cloth stuck to skin, coagulating blood making the shirt peel rather than move. Now that his entire torso was bared, though, you could fully inspect his wounds. There were still bandages from Yoru’s cut, all dirtied up now from his other injuries—you’d have to take them off and re-dress them, so he’d be in the bed for thirty minutes at least. 

You turned your attention to the cut by Zoro’s abdomen, deciding it was the most important thing to focus on. The cut wasn’t too deep, but it was gushing a steady flow of blood, and you picked up a towel to press against the wound. “Hold,” you instructed, and Zoro’s fingers brushed against yours as he took a hold of the cloth. “Thanks. I’ve got to take your bandages off, then I’ll clean and dress all the wounds. That one down there might need stitches.” 

“How do you know how to do this?” Zoro asked, watching as you unwrapped the previous bandages from around his chest. You were careful to touch his skin as little as possible, distracting yourself with the blood and gauze. 

“My dad,” you answered. You’d spent too many late nights patching up a wound Mihawk had brushed off as unimportant, only to wind up bleeding out on your couch. Zoro raised a brow. 

“Dracule Mihawk gets injured?” 

“Of course he does,” you said with a huff. “Don’t be stupid. He’s a man, just like the rest of you.” The gash from Yoru had fully scabbed over, revealing a long, trembling crust of dark ochre. You finished peeling off all the bandages, and cast them to the side. 

“You know a lot.” 

“Jack of all trades, master of none,” you quipped. You moved away from the desk to fill a bucket with warm water, dipping a cloth into it and squeezing out the excess. You dabbed around Yoru’s scab with the cloth, careful not to break the shell while still cleaning it of any extra gunk. Then you focused on flushing out the other wounds, wiping across his skin and getting all the little nicks on his chest and arms. Zoro didn’t say a word, but you could feel his eyes boring into your skull, watching you with a hardened intensity that made your insides churn. 

You nudged his hand away, examining the big cut. The rag he was holding had filled up with blood, white cotton dyed red and sodden with liquid. Thankfully, the bleeding seemed to have lessened. You wiped up all the last of it with your towel, swiping it against the pills of blood that had caught along the waistband of his trousers. Zoro hissed as you came into contact with the wound. “Sorry,” you murmured. 

“Why are you apologizing?”

You frowned at that. “Because it hurt?” 

“I thought you were mad at me,” Zoro said stiffly. You raised your brows. “Since… you thought I was annoyed at you, or whatever.”

“Just because you feel a certain kind of way towards me doesn’t mean I reciprocate the same feelings,” you answered, setting aside your towel after deciding everything had been cleaned out well enough. You picked up another cloth, dabbing this one with some alcohol to disinfect the wound. “This is going to sting,” you warned. 

Zoro’s jaw clenched, teeth grinding against each other as you flushed out the wound. His torso clenched, and your eyes fell across his exposed midriff, watching the tight skin that was seemingly sculpted into muscles. You glanced away just a moment later, a dusting of warmth brushing over your cheeks. “On that topic,” you hastened to say, trying to distract yourself from the half-naked man in front of you, “Why were you avoiding me?” 

Zoro let out a sigh, the sound stuttered as he clenched his jaw again when you brushed your towel against his wound. You waited, taking out a fresh cloth to dab at the other nicks on his body. You examined the wound near his left side again. “Stitches.” 

“Great,” Zoro muttered. You ignored him, searching in the kit for some needle and thread. “Can you take the stitches out from your dad’s yet?” 

“Ha ha. You’re going to need those for a few more weeks,” you said, without even looking at the scab to check. “Ask me again later. Yoru cuts are deadly.” 

Zoro let his eyes flutter closed. “It’s a great sword.” 

“Yeah, it is,” you said. You paused from where you were threading the needle, glancing up at Zoro’s face now that you knew he couldn’t catch you staring. He looked so peaceful in this state, eyelashes splayed along his cheeks, dark umber freckles that you hadn’t noticed before splattered across his face. There were dozens of them, skin sun-worn and bearing the marks as proof—constellations of dark brown stars, so similar to his warm, glowing skin it was easy to miss. A five-o’-clock shadow traced around his mouth, and at his left ear, his golden earrings gleamed bright. 

“I don’t feel anything,” Zoro said, and you snapped out of your reverie, fingers fumbling to finish threading your needle. 

“Patience is a virtue, you know,” you hissed. Zoro snorted.

“Yeah, one I don’t have.” You rolled your eyes, tying off the string and bending down to examine the cut again. It wasn’t too wide—maybe five or six stitches at most. You gave Zoro no warning except for the light brush of your fingers against the wound, and he hissed again. 

You glanced up. “Do you want something to bite on?”

“I’m not a toddler,” Zoro sneered. You mouthed his words mockingly, though you didn’t actually speak them, not wanting him to catch you doing such an immature action. You fixed your gaze back on the wound, free hand resting flat against Zoro’s abdomen to steady you—his skin was warm under your palm, and you expected him to say something, but to your surprise, he didn’t even flinch. 

The first puncture came carefully. Zoro hissed, the sound of a low rumble in his throat as you felt his abdomen clench under your palm. You forced yourself to continue, pulling the thread fully through the skin before moving onto the other side of the wound. You did it again, carefully to keep the string untangled as it ran through Zoro’s flesh. 

“It wasn’t because I was mad at you,” Zoro said abruptly, and you paused, glancing up to look at Zoro’s face. His eyes were still closed, brows contorted tight and mouth bared down into a grimace. “Don’t stop. I wasn’t avoiding you because I was angry. Or because of anything you did.” 

“Why, then?” you asked, lowering your head to continue with your stitches. Zoro took in a sharp breath at the next one, the edges of a scream cutting into his breath but not fully escaping from his throat. You were rubbing a comforting circle into his stomach before you could stop yourself—muscle memory from patching up your dad’s wounds. You swallowed hard, but didn’t stop the motions—Zoro didn’t seem offended by them. 

His voice was raggedy when he spoke again. “Fighting against you. It reminded me of—my friend, from back then. I told you about her.” 

Your lips pursed, but you didn’t stall your actions, running the thread through the hole you’d pricked. “The one you made the promise to?” 

“Yeah,” Zoro said, the word falling out all in one breath. You fixed the string tight along the wound, fingers splayed across his stomach warning him for the next puncture. He continued speaking despite it, and your needle hovered over his skin. “We were training together—fuck.” 

“Sorry,” you said again, still running your thread through his skin as he heaved out a long, ragged groan from low in his throat. 

“We were training together,” he repeated. “Haven’t done that in a while with a girl. So it—” His voice tapered off in another breathy groan. “Reminded me of her. I got bitchy.” 

“Yeah, I noticed,” you said. You were getting close to the end of the wound now, but your actions slowed, just to keep him talking—the words came out all harsh and hesitant, and you got the feeling speaking about his past was a laborious task. Might as well let him have the safety of avoiding your eyes like this while he spoke. “Do I look like her or something?” 

Zoro huffed out a laugh. “Ha. No.” 

“Okay,” you said. You pierced his skin again—he took this one better, muscles clenching as he sucked in hard. You waited until you finished the stitch to speak again. “Are you going to keep avoiding me?”

“No,” Zoro said. His words pierced the air, weighed heavy with a gasp of pain and a hiss, but it still rang sharp in your ears. He eased out a breath, long and soft. “It was unfair. Can’t help it sometimes, that’s all.” 

“That’s fine,” you answered carefully. You threaded one last stitch, both of you mute as you tightened the wound closed with the suture and tied it off. You snipped the string with a pocketknife, using another damp towel to clean up any of the excess blood. “I’m going to dress everything with bandages now. Almost done.” 

“Okay,” Zoro said. You reorganized your supplies, tucking away your stitching things to replace with bandages and dressing pads. You washed your hands again, then returned to bend over Zoro’s torso. When you did, you were surprised to see Zoro’s eyes had opened, soft brown irises boring into yours. You swallowed, feeling the burn of his gaze into your skin as you stared at the skin of his midsection. 

“I’ll do the big one first, then everything else,” you said carefully. You worked in silence, pressing a dressing pad along the wound and tying it off with some gauze to fix it in place. You moved around his body, bandaging up any cuts you deemed worthy until you finally were left with Yoru’s cut. 

It stretched the entire expanse of his torso, from shoulder to hip. It’d been well done, the cut deep but not deep enough to kill as long as someone was fast enough with treatment. You recognized the shape of the cut, the very tip of it thin before Yoru’s mouth caught the skin with the center of his blade. “He did it like this on purpose?” Zoro asked.

“Yeah,” you said. “He’s methodical with most things.” You wrapped gauze around the scab, tightening it up and then finally tying it off by his hip. “I’d keep that on for a few days before replacing it. Keep dressing it for another two weeks or so. It’ll probably start swelling soon, so I can help you drain whatever fluid develops.” 

“I’ll let you know,” Zoro said. He was still watching you with those big brown eyes, and a soft shiver traced down your spine. “Thank you.” 

“Thank you for saving me from that pirate earlier,” you said. You surveyed him again, though you were careful not to meet his eyes. A long silence filled the space, heavy with something you couldn’t quite place. You ducked your head, busying yourself with putting away the first aid kit. The words fell from your mouth before you could stop them— “I like your earrings.” 

“Oh,” Zoro said. Nothing else. 

You were pretty sure you liked more than the earrings. You liked the way he fought, even if it scared you sometimes—even if you knew one day he’d probably be able to beat your father. You liked his face; those big brown eyes, soulless at times but holding the world in those glistening irises at others. Those freckles, adorned with the entire galaxy, stars and planets and constellations dotting his cheeks like a mural of life. The way he talked, soft-spoken but utterly real, voice low in his throat, words disturbingly honest. 

You didn’t say so, though. You stuck with the earrings, because those were safer.

pt. 1 | pt. 2 | pt. 3

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© halfvalid 2023

[galamalion]

┈ ✧.* romance in the red line

┈ ✧.* summary﹕You and Nami attend Vivi's well-planned sleepover, and meet a new face the next day.

╰┈➤ .𖥔 ݁ ˖ pairing﹕one piece x fem!reader

┈ ✧.* chapters﹕[i] [ii] [iii] [iv] [v]

╰┈➤ .𖥔 ݁ ˖ w/c﹕4.1k

┈ ✧.* chapter v﹕three's a crowd

“Wow, Vivi…” You took a deep breath in, marveling at the architectural wonder before you. “This is…”

“Totally awesome?” Nami chimed in, looking around the room.

“I was gonna say that it rivals the work of Michaelangelo, but that works too…” you replied.

Vivi crouched down and crawled into the blanket-pillow fort, poking her head out and looking up at the two of you.

“Feel free to come in! There are many snacks for us to share and movies to watch!” Vivi said cheerily, tucking herself back into the fort.

Both of you crawled after her, choosing your spots within and diving straight into the generously provided snacks.

Nami shoved a handful of pretzels in her mouth, “You’ve really outdone yourself, Vivi.”

“For sure,” you added. “Having a sleepover wasn’t on my college to-do list, but it definitely should have been.”

“And without the boys!” Nami cheered, kicking her legs excitedly. “No Luffy here to eat all the food!”

Vivi smiled at you both, “I’m glad you are enjoying the sleepover! I don’t have any siblings, so I have perfected the art of fort-making from a young age…”

“Well, that’s what friends are for!” You took a couple pretzels from the bowl. “Now we can do all sorts of things you couldn’t do back then.”

“And we can drink!” Nami interrupted, stealing a pretzel from you.

You rolled your eyes, moving over to the laptop to pick a movie, “I’ll leave the drinking to you, Nami.”

“Really?” she snickered. “You seemed pretty open to it when we were at the Baratie. If I can remember correctly, Sanji had to carry you back to the dorm…”

“How the hell would you know that?” you gaped, crossing your arms defensively. “You drank more than I did!”

Nami laughed, crossing her arms proudly, “I can hold my liquor pretty well, for your information! I’ve outdrank at least 30 grown men before!”

“What an accomplishment, Nami!” Vivi clapped.

You grimaced at Vivi’s cheeriness, “Don’t congratulate her for that, Vi…”

“Any more interesting bits of information from you, ____? A story we’ve yet to hear, maybe a long lost love? Or perhaps you and Sanji…”

“Nope, not a thing,” you quickly countered.

“Oh, you’re no fun!” Nami pouted.

You were quick to bring this party back on track, and away from your own personal life, moving to the laptop to search for movies.

“Alright, what are we thinking, gang? Romance? Comedy? Horror?”

Nami made a gagging noise, “Ew, no horror, please. I’m here for a good night, not a nightmare-filled one.”

“I do love romance!” Vivi said excitedly, looking over your shoulder with Nami at the selection of movies.

“Also, I want something classic!” Nami reached for the laptop, scrolling endlessly for movies. “And no superhero stuff, or future-y stuff.”

“Ok, well, we’ve got Clueless, Mean Girls, 10 Things I Hate About You…”

“10 Things I Hate About You!” Nami shrieked, reaching over and clicking on the movie before you could stop her.

Vivi gave Nami a confused look, “I’ve never seen it before, is it good?”

Nami scoffed, “Only the best romance movie of all time! Trust me, Vi, you’re in for a treat.”

“Agreed,” you added, “it’s at least in the top ten best movies of all time.”

“Make that top five,” Nami corrected, leaning back into the pillows.

“I’m glad to be experiencing it, then!” Vivi cheered, joining Nami in her cushioned throne.

You cracked your knuckles, “Alright, ladies! Movie’s starting now, I expect all phones to be silenced and all mouths to be zipped! Now, please enjoy the show.”

“Ok, mom,” Nami quipped, throwing her arms behind her head.

“You wish I was your mom.”

“Nuh uh, my mom’s already the greatest mom, like, ever!" Nami hissed, sticking her tongue out at you.

“Yeah, I already know, we had a fantastic time last night.” You grinned, copying Nami’s pose.

You earned a pillow to the face for that joke.

.

.

.

“I knew it! They belonged together from the start!” Vivi sobbed as the credits rolled, throwing her face into a nearby pillow and staining it with her tears.

“It’s a romantic comedy, Vi,” you said, pinching your nose, “you’re not supposed to be crying.”

Vivi’s lip wobbled, “I can’t help it…”

“Shh…there, there, Vi,” Nami cooed, rubbing the poor girl’s shoulders. “Be nice, ____! It was her first time seeing the movie of a lifetime.”

“It was a romantic comedy, ” you groaned, laying down in the mass of pillows.

Nami hummed, giving Vivi her blanket before collapsing down beside you.

“Tell you what, girls,” Nami yawned, pulling her sleeping mask over her head. “We absolutely need to go shopping soon. I know we all need a break after this heart-wrenching cinematic experience.”

“It was a fucking romantic comedy!”

“Well, so was the Fault in our Stars, and I cried at that!”

“You’re supposed to!” you yelled, hitting Nami with a pillow, “it’s not a comedy!”

“Comedy, shmomedy,” Nami shrugged, “you in for a shopping trip, Vi?”

Vivi smiled, her blanket pulled up to her chin, “Yes, it sounds very fun! I would love to go out with the two of you again!”

“Well, I suppose that depends on our little roomie,” Nami smiled devilishly, turning towards you. “You in, ____?”

You grimaced as the two girls looked at you expectantly, waiting for an answer you didn’t want to give. Nami’s eyes were dark and knowing, while Vivi’s were light and full of happiness, unaware that Nami would probably coerce her into paying. You were more than capable of saying no to Nami, but Vi? A world with a sad Vivi was a world you couldn’t bear to live in.

“...How about Friday evening, after classes?” you muttered.

“Perfect!” Nami cheered, sliding the sleeping mask down to cover her eyes. “I’ll see you girls then. Just text me when you two are out of class and we can head out!”

“A terrific plan!” Vivi said, snuggling into her pillow. “I will see you both in the morning, good night!”

“Yeah, night, Vi,” you murmured to yourself, fearing for the safety of your wallet.

And so you joined their roommates in their quests for sleep, shutting your eyes and curling up in the mound of blankets and pillows surrounding you, giving you a very cushioned send off to the world of dreams.

*⋆✧*.𖥔⋆☆⋆𖥔.*✧⋆*

“...up, ____,” a voice mumbled above you, though you were hardly able to make out their words on account of the pillows smothering your ears.

Instead of responding, you just rolled to your side and pulled the fluffy comforter over your body, deciding that whatever the person was trying to tell you wasn’t worth it. You could decipher it in a minute, or five. Hell, why not just make it ten?

“Wake up!” the voice, now shouting, called out.

The dull pain in your ears was nothing compared to the unexpected pain in your face as a pillow hurled at top speed smacked you in the head.

“Hey!” you shrieked, clutching your cheek and looking around frantically. Nami stood above you, fully dressed with a hand on her hip, brows furrowed. 

“Are you kidding me? How many times are we gonna have to wake you up?” she huffed, throwing a pile of clothes at you. “You’re lucky I set my alarm for earlier, you still have time to get ready.”

“My savior,” you groaned, examining the clothes laid before you. “Thanks for the clothes, though.”

Nami certainly had style, and it wasn’t hard to see with her daily outfits. What she picked for you chic, but comfortable enough to walk to your classes in, and wasn’t that the college dream?

“Oh it’s nothing, just something I threw together for you,” she giggled. “Vi’s in the shower right now, so once she’s done and dressed we can head out, ‘kay?”

“Got it, girl boss.” You rose from the jumbled mess of pillows and blankets and stepped carefully over to the closed bathroom door, gingerly knocking.

“Vi, it’s me! Mind if I come in for a sec?” you called out.

A muffled ‘yes’ came from the other side, so you creaked the door open and stepped inside with your bundle of clothes, doing your best to get dressed as quickly as possible.

“Sorry for the intrusion, Vivi,” you apologized, slinging the top over your shoulders.

“Ah, it’s no problem, really!” she said from behind the glass walls of the shower. “I hope you had a good night’s rest after our sleepover.”

You scoffed, “Oh, believe me, the rest was wonderful. It was the wake up call that sucked.”

Vivi laughed heartily, the sound echoing in the cramped bathroom, “This is the second time Nami has woken you up, yes? I am glad I missed this time, the first was quite…brutal.”

“Be lucky you’re not on her bad side, Vi,” you snorted, pulling your phone out.

Aside from notifications from games and emails, you did have a couple unread texts from Sanji this morning.

| Mr. Prince: Good morning Sleeping Beauty!!!!! | Mr. Prince: &lt;333333333 Read 8:12 AM | You: lol i swear you say the same thing every morning | You: do all the women in your life get the princess treatment? | Mr. Prince: Just you! | Mr. Prince: I swear princess <33333 | You: swear your loyalty to me and i’ll believe you | Mr. Prince: ;3; | Mr. Prince: If it means earning your love… | Mr. Prince: I’ll do it!!!! | You: lol i’m just kidding | You: pls don’t do anything rash | Mr. Prince: ;3; | You: go forth and take care of every princess!! | You: that is my command | Mr. Prince: You are too kind!! | Mr. Prince: I wilokgopp;;;;;

You raised an eyebrow as Sanji’s final text, clearly too disordered to be anything except for a violet keyboard smash.

| You: did you die prince charming? | You: it’s only like 8 in the morning lol | Mr. Prince: its zoro | Mr. Prince: sanji needs to get ready so im taking his phone away | Mr. Prince: see u guys at 9 | Mr. Prince: Attachment (1) Image

The picture featured was a selfie of Zoro and a very angry Sanji, the latter attempting to wrestle the phone out of the former’s hands. You could also make out a very blurry Luffy crawling over a horrified Usopp in the background, clearly trying to be a part of the picture.

“I’ll give you some space, Vi,” you said, exiting the bathroom and making your way over to Nami amongst the mess of comforters.

“I got a text from Sanji—well, from Zoro, technically. They’re planning on heading down at nine, if that’s cool,” you said, sitting beside her.

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Nami responded, scrolling through her phone. “We’ll probably have a few minutes to kill, depending on how fast Vivi can get ready.”

Vivi’s voice rang out from the bathroom, “I will be out shortly, do not worry!”

“Take your time, Vi!” you shouted back before turning to Nami. “Judging by Zoro’s texts, Sanji might be a while.”

“That tracks,” Nami sighed, a smile slowly forming on her face. “Knowing him, he’s probably ironing his suit right now.”

“Or curling his eyebrows.”

“Or waxing his shoes.”

Vivi’s head poked out of the bathroom, clearly trying to hold back her laughter.

“Perhaps,” she giggled, “he is powdering his nose!”

The room was silent for a second before the three of you burst into laughter, doubling over at your stupid jokes. You could afford wasting a couple of minutes to laugh, unknowing that the boys were, indeed, waiting for Sanji to finish ironing his suit.

“Pancakes aren’t that bad, Vi,” Nami said, drizzling her stack of pancakes in tangerine syrup. “You just gotta add what you like on top!”

“Yeah, Vivi!” Luffy said, voice muffled as he stuffed his face with his seventh pancake. “You’ve got syrup, sugar, butter, ice cream, gravy, meat—”

“You can’t put meat on pancakes, Luffy,” you pointed out, sliding your plate further away from Luffy’s potential grasp.

“Sure you can!” Sanji said, carefully decorating his own stack. “There’s plenty of traditional recipes that utilize meat and ‘pancake’, though I’m not sure you could call every example a pancake…”

“I’m saying you can’t put meat on pancakes like how Luffy does it.” You gestured to Luffy’s plate, which consisted of pancakes with huge pieces of steak and chicken on top. 

“They’re not even serving steak right now!” Usopp hissed, looking at Luffy’s food with a mixture of awe and terror. “This is crazy! He’s crazy!”

“Pancakes don’t have any special nutritional benefits, but they are yummy,” Chopper remarked, taking a bite of his cotton candy-covered pancakes.

“I will stick to rice, but I thank you for your unique perspectives,” Vivi said, giving a polite smile to everyone.

“Here here,” Zoro agreed, taking a sip from his bottle.

“Stop drinking during breakfast, you have classes afterwards,” you whispered, nudging his shoulder.

“I’ll quit when I’m dead,” he responded unflinchingly, taking another swig.

You sighed, continuing to eat your meal amidst your chattering table of friends. Every conversation seemed to switch, both in topic and participants, every five minutes. You were able to catch details about the introduction of new majors—as if Grand Line didn’t have enough—as well as the topic of Luffy’s potential major.

“Come on, Luffy,” Usopp said, pointing his fork in Luffy’s direction, “you’re gonna have to choose a major soon. Why not try engineering?”

“I don’t wanna do math!” he pouted.

“You could do exercise science like Zoro,” Nami added. “Isn’t Ace doing something similar?”

Zoro hummed in agreement, “I think you’d like it, Luf. You’ve gotta learn a little bit, but you might like it.”

“But I don’t wanna copy Ace!” Luffy cried, shoveling more food into his mouth.

“If you’re interested in it, then you’re not copying,” you reassured. 

“But I’m not interested.”

The table sighed in unison, knowing that any hope of finding Luffy a major would be short-lived on account of his short attention span.

“Well, you can always talk to your advisor,” Sanji concluded, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “Or your brothers. They’re juniors, aren’t they? Should have plenty of experience.”

“Oh, yeah!” Luffy exclaimed, practically jumping out of his seat. “I bet Sabo would know what to do! He’s way smarter than Ace!”

“I wouldn’t say that out loud, Luf,” a blond man sitting behind Luffy said, turning to face your group. “You know how Ace gets when you compare us.”

Luffy’s momentary confused expression turned to one of glee as he tackled the man, grabbing onto him like a koala.

“Sabo!” he shrieked, earning the attention of nearly half the cafeteria.

“I think I remember something like this happening with the other brother,” Usopp grimaced, looking all around as if something would hit him at any moment.“Has he been there the whole time?” you whispered to Nami.

“I’ve only started sitting here since last week,” Sabo replied, giving you a knowing smile. “I heard Ace had a rather ostentatious entrance, so I thought I’d surprise Luffy in a little quieter way.”

“...I’m not sure you can call this quiet,” Nami said, watching Luffy squeeze Sabo rather violently.

“Does this mean Luffy’s off our hands?” Sanji asked, peeking over at the reunion.

Sabo seemed to think for a minute, looking between Luffy and your group, before saying, “I doubt he’ll let go in time for his classes, so I can take him for a bit.”

“Sounds good to me!” Nami cheered, standing up from the table. “We should all head to class anyway.”

“Have fun on your field trip, Luffy!” Vivi smiled, waving at Luffy before dashing out of the cafeteria with Nami.

You grabbed your plate and turned to Chopper, “Do you have class right now, Chopper? I’m heading over to the science building to talk to a professor before my biology lab, so we might be heading the same way.”

“I have my chemistry lab there in a bit!” Chopper said.

“Perfect, we can head over now.” You smiled, before thinking for a second. “Are you in organic chemistry, Chopper? Or are you in some higher class?”

“No, I’m still in general chemistry,” Chopper nodded excitedly, but then looked down at his feet. “I think I’m in your class…” 

“Oh, shit,” you blurted, feeling guilty. “Where do you sit? I don’t think I’ve seen you in class before…”

“In the front.”

“...Really?”

Chopper blushed, looking embarrassed, “I can’t see when I sit in the back…”

“Well, I can sit up there with you tomorrow!” you offered. “If that’s not a problem, that is. It might be nice to have someone to talk to.”

“I’d like that!” Chopper smiled, picking up his bag. “But we should head over now, before all the spots get taken.”

You slung your bag over your shoulder, calling back to the table,  “See you guys later! Don’t let Luffy cause too much trouble, please!”

Sabo waved back, laughing, “I’ll do my best, but he can be unpredictable…”

“Hey!” Luffy shouted, “I’m 100% predictable!”

“That’s not—”

Before the conversation could grow into an uncontrollable argument, you escaped with Chopper in tow. Luffy may be unpredictable in seemingly every other aspect of life, but you could certainly predict how that was going to go. There would be no winners in that cafeteria, only poor, emotionally-scarred college students.

It’s truly amazing what you can learn from someone despite knowing them for less than a month.

“I fucking hate chemistry, Chopper,” you deadpanned, feeling wrinkles etch on your face as you looked over the lab you’d gotten on Tuesday.

You’d been sitting at one of the few tables in the building, trying to get a start on your lab before Chopper finished completing the in-class portion of his, but you’d been struggling with question two for roughly the entirety of Chopper’s lab, leaving you feeling hopeless, even with the aid you’d received from the professor.

Chopper looked shocked, joining you at the table, “It’s not that bad! I promise it’ll get better, ____! If you want, I can help you study?”

“Truly, Chopper,” you sighed, “I think I’m a lost cause. But I’ll still take you up your offer.”

You dug your phone out of your pocket and opened your contacts, swapping info with Chopper. Another friend to add to the collection, and this one had inherent value to your major!

“Thanks, Chop.” You smiled, tucking your phone away. “I should probably head to my psych class now, so good luck with your lab.”

“Thank you, ____!” Chopper beamed, waving you goodbye.

Luckily, your psych class was in the next building over, so you didn’t have to worry about being late. In fact, the only thing you had to worry about was your chemistry lab. Psychology wasn’t too hard for you, especially back at South Blue High. It was basically just memorization—albeit a lot of memorization—that you didn’t really struggle with. Differentiating ideas could be a tad difficult, but nothing you couldn’t manage. Way better than chemistry, at least.

Your class wasn’t all too great, however. It was full of people who didn’t really want to talk to others, leading to incredibly bland discussion times. Their lack of enthusiasm killed your vibe, so despite the subject being a total snoozefest, you weren’t really looking forward—

“Hey, ____!” Luffy yelled, waving at you from a lone table near the back. 

Sitting beside your rambunctious friend was his brother, Sabo, who also gave you a polite wave.

“...Is this part of the field trip?” you asked Sabo.

“Well, I’m TA-ing for this class, so I thought it might help Luffy to learn about other subjects!” Sabo said, grinning.

“Wait, you’re the TA for this class?” You raised an eyebrow, setting your bag down at a nearby desk. “I didn’t see you on Wednesday, and you weren’t introduced either.”

Sabo leaned back in his chair, “It was a spur of the moment thing. I’m a sociology major, but I thought I might dabble in psychology. It’s fascinating, the mind, and what you can do with it…”

“You sound like a supervillain.”

“Me? A supervillain?” Sabo gasped, putting a hand over his heart. “I’ll have you know, I am the kindest, gentlest, utmost altruistic gentleman this world has ever seen! Isn’t that right, Luffy?”

Luffy blinked, not a single thought going on behind his eyes, “Sabo is totally awesome! One time Ace dared him to eat a caterpillar, and he did it!”

“...Gentleman, huh?” you snickered.

Sabo shrugged, his grin tugging at one end of his mouth, “What can I say, I was a strange child. But not as strange as Luffy…”

“Hey!” Luffy yelled, shaking Sabo violently as the latter laughed.

“Well, if you have any questions, just ask,” Sabo said, easily pushing Luffy off. “Though, you seem like a smart cookie, so I’m sure you’ll do just fine.”

“Or you could ask me!” Luffy shrieked, trying to push back against Sabo.

You laughed, finally taking your seat as class began. With Sabo and Luffy providing you company, the class wasn’t so bad. Sabo was nice to talk to during discussion times, as well as when you were filling out your notes—though it was slightly grating to hear your notes being critiqued. Luffy, despite being reprimanded by the professor multiple times, kept the mood of the entire class up. Luckily Sabo was good at smooth talking, or else Luffy would have probably been expelled. You can only break the same desk so many times before being a lost cause.

As soon as the clock struck 3:20, everyone filed out of the room. You left with Sabo and Luffy, making your way over to the cafeteria for dinner, though Sabo planned on showing Luffy one more class before officially ending their ‘field trip.’

“Has any class struck a chord with you, Luffy?” you asked, glancing over to your friend.

Luffy seemed to think for a moment before speaking, “Nope.”

“Seriously, Luf?” Sabo groaned, pulling on his hair. “Not even sociology? Come one, it’s awesome!”

“I hate sitting in a classroom all day!” Luffy pouted, dragging his feet as he walked. “I wanna do something cool, like being a firefighter!”

“Well, you can bring that up to your advisor,” you offered. “I’m sure there’s a degree that—”

“Fire Fist!”

You felt a tug on your waist as Sabo pulled you ever-so-slightly closer to him and away from Luffy, and within an instant you understood why. Hurling towards Luffy at top speeds was Ace, who tackled Luffy and sailed into the nearby grass patch.

“That’s 572 to 0, Luffy!” Ace cackled, slapping his brother harshly on the back.

Luffy heaved for a couple of seconds, clearly trying to catch his breath after being so blatantly assaulted by his older brother.

“I’ll get you next time,” Luffy scowled, jumping to his feet. “I’ve been working on my punches too!”

“Oh, I’m shaking in my boots,” Ace snorted.

“Now, now, guys,” Sabo said, releasing you. “You almost hurt this poor young lady! What would Dadan say if she saw you now?”

“Don’t leave the house until you’ve done your chores?” Luffy responded, picking his nose.

Ace punched Luffy again, causing the latter to fall over onto the grass. He stepped up back onto the sidewalk, approaching you with an apologetic smile on his face.

“Sorry ‘bout that, ____,” Ace chuckled, scratching his head. “But brothers will be brothers, ya know? Can’t go a day without tackling one of them.”

“I seem to manage just fine,” Sabo coughed.

“...In other news,” Ace said, “I thought I might invite Luffy and his gang of pals—that’s you—to a lovely restaurant in order to celebrate the upcoming hockey season!”

“Is it really hockey season? School literally just started,” you deadpanned.

Ace barked out a laugh, “Every season is hockey season, baby! Now, I have other plans currently that I’m 10 minutes late for—”

“You’re what ?” Sabo’s eyes widened as he turned to Ace.

“—and I need to be there soon, so I’ll take your stunned silence as a ‘yes’ to coming, and I’ll see you Saturday night at eight!”

Before you could even respond to Ace’s outlandish statements, he sprinted away as quickly as he came, dashing through—not around—groups of people, knocking over countless bystanders as he ran away.

“Your brother is a work of art, Sabo,” you finally said, feeling breathless watching Ace’s escape.

Sabo only snorted, looking down amusedly as his little brother rolled angrily through the grass.

“Which one?”

“...Fair point.”

tag list: @sylum , @dimplewonie , @kingofthemfingpirates , @luuffyswife

[harryforvogue]

Harry sets the hair dryer down on the table beside Yasmine’s shoulder. Her eyes blink open to glance at him curiously through the mirror, hand already reaching for the dryer to take over. “Got tired?”

He shakes his head, staring back at her reflection with a pensive look.

It was his idea to dry her hair for her since her arms were sore from yesterday's therapy. Despite taking a hot bath immediately after to soothe her muscles, the ache had made it tough this morning. They’d showered together, Harry’s gentle fingers massaging the shampoo into her scalp, gliding the conditioner down her ends, and his palms carefully smearing over her eyes to remove any suds from her face. He’d held her jaw in his hands and bent down to kiss her softly, thumbs rubbing over her wet cheeks. 

He’d usually be handsy in the shower, but this time he only held her and kissed her face, eyes never straying from hers. It unnerved her for him to be so silent, but it also excited her to have all his attention.

“What is it?” she asks him, because a silent Harry is something to be worried about.

Harry almost smiles at the immediate frown on her face. It’s a default expression for her, and oh how he loves it. “What do you think about marriage?”

Yasmine freezes. The frown disappears, but it’s now replaced by apprehension.

“Marriage,” she repeats.

“Mhmm.” He runs his thumb over the back of her neck. She shivers.

“It’s. Well, it’s marriage.”

“Astute, my love.”

“It’s legally binding.”

“That it is.”

“Webster Dictionary defines it as–”

“Yasmine,” Harry says quietly, but firmly. “First thought that comes into your head. Go. Marriage.”

She blinks and automatically replies, “You, of course.” And then she has the audacity to look concerned with her own answer. “Oh.”

He smiles fully then, whirling her around so she can see his face. She looks up at him quizzically, but lets him push her hair back over her shoulders. Instead of kissing her, he hugs her to his torso, pressing her face into his stomach. “Okay.”

“Okay?” she says, muffled against his shirt. 

“Just wanted to see something.”

He squeezes her tightly, hard enough to make her wince, but not hard enough to make her cry out. He smooths his hands down her back then, and then releases her, reaching for the dryer again.

“Whoa,” Yasmine says, placing her hand on his to stop him. “Listen, I’m not a very big romantic person, but there’s no way I’m going to allow you to propose to me while you’re drying my hair!”

Harry ponders over this for a minute. “Would it help if I got on one knee?” And then he does so, bringing the dryer along with him.

“Harry!” She puts her hands on each shoulder, scooting closer to him. The wild look in her eyes is still there, but it’s now mixed with…delight?

He shakes his head. “Yasmine, you have no faith in me. Why would I propose to you like this?”

“I don’t know! Why are you asking me about marriage?”

He gives her a pointed look. “We’ve been dating for over a year, not to mention you made me wait throughout grad school for you to come around. I hope you know that I’m fully committed to you and would like a life with you. You are mine. This is it for me.”

Yasmine feels her face flush, swallowing hard. Her heart hammers in her chest and the entire world melts away. It’s just her and this ridiculous gem of a man. “I thought that was a given. And unspoken.”

“It was. But now I’m saying it out loud so you know. Because I know things get lost between us sometimes, but I need to be clear now.”

Oh.

“I started dating you knowing you were the last woman I’d be with. I will do many, many things to ensure that. I will let you win as many fights as you want, put up with your worst habits if the need be. And I need to know if we’re on the same page about this.”

Something inside her squeezes. He looks so serious, eyes unwavering, jaw set, that it makes her shiver again. He’s rarely ever this intense about anything. His hand strays from the dryer, taking one of her hands instead, pressing her open palm to his heart.

“Of course,” Yasmine blurts. She grabs his shirt, tugging him a little closer. “We’re on the same page about that. You can’t get rid of me now.”

Harry nods once. “Good.” He then kisses the top of her head and then stands, her hand falling away when he reaches his full height. He manually turns back around and parts her hair once more, ready to dry it again.

“Harry,” she says before she gets drowned out.

“Hm?”

“I don’t have high expectations about a proposal. I need to clarify that.”

He finally smiles, his eyes clearing. He kisses her head again, more firmly, and then sighs against her. “It’s been years and you still think so little about my wooing skills.”

“I’m just saying. It doesn't have to be big.”

“I know, baby.”

The pet name makes her inwardly soar. “But just not while drying my hair.”

“It would make me happy,” he admits softly. “To propose while taking care of you. Something I consider my only purpose.”

“I mean it.” She tries to sound strict, her breath catching at the confession. She fails completely.

“I know,” he says again, and then hugs her tightly. “I know.”

[kesujo]

Vacation

Tags: girlxgirlxgirl, double penetration This is a continuation of 'Secrets', but it's not required to have read it to understand this. (Also, this is randomly first person POV)

Being busy is both a blessing and a curse.

On one hand, one gets stressed out. One's work starts to seep into one's private life, and finds themselves unable to enjoy the hobbies they used to enjoy. Even the more … intimate ones.

On the other hand, once a break arrives, relaxing felt much better. And after almost two straight months of busywork, many overnight shifts, and several all-nighters, we all were soo ready for a vacation.

“Why are your suitcases so small?” I asked, eyeing Tiffany’s and Taeyeon’s suitcases. Or rather, their suitcase. “I mean, we are staying at that house for a week, right?”

“Oh, this will be enough, don’t worry,” Tiffany said, closing the cover to the suitcase.

I, for some reason, was suddenly reminded of a few months back, when Tiffany and Taeyeon first proposed to ‘let me in on their secret’. “Ok, well I’m just about done packing too, so I’ll be down in a few,” I said, turning around, half to do what I told them I was going to do, half to hide the blush that was creeping onto my cheeks.

Whenever I thought about it, it seemed weird. I mean, who wouldn’t find having sex with your housemates on a semi-regular basis weird? Still, no matter how weird it seemed, it was undeniable that it always felt good. I was just glad that it didn’t affect our relationships at all.

Recently, actually, I found myself missing our normal night activities due to how busy we’ve all been. Every time I have had those thoughts, though, I had to stop myself; despite how frequently it happened, I still didn’t seem to be used to the idea. After all, both Taeyeon and Tiffany are gorgeous, and just knowing about our nightly activities made me feel … fortunate? Was that weird? I sighed and shook my head, clearing my thoughts.

I took a few minutes to finish packing and to calm myself down before going back downstairs, carefully carrying my suitcase down the steps. A few minutes later, after packing the car (which took like half a minute), we drove off.

It was only about a two-hour drive before we reached our destination. When we got there though, I could just about feel my eyes widen.

It was a huge two-story house with a lawn that could probably fit half a football field. On the other side of the house, I could just about make out tiled floor lined up against the grass and the tip for a pair of handrails to what I could only guess was a pool. “Wow, this is so big! How did you get this place?” I asked, looking around as much as I could through the window of the car.

“Ah, I just got lucky,” Taeyeon said dismissively. That made me a little suspicious, but I trusted Taeyeon enough to not question her. “The more important thing is that no one else is allowed near here, so we have this whole place to ourselves,” Taeyeon said as she pulled up to the front of the house.

“Really? Is there a lot to do here?” I inquired, stepping out of the car.

Tiffany, who was seated in the passenger seat, got out along with Taeyeon. “You’ll know when you get inside,” Tiffany said, heading towards the trunk.

Once again, I was reminded of that one night a few months ago, when Taeyeon and Tiffany. I felt my face grow hot again and averted my gaze from the other two. What was wrong with me?

After settling down and exploring the house a little bit (which, turns out, does have a pool in the backyard, equipped with a few lounge chairs a few mini-tables to put drinks on), Taeyeon set out to the kitchen to make dinner. When I suggested that I help, Taeyeon insisted that she do it alone, saying that she wanted to make dinner a surprise.

So with that, Tiffany and I took the time to explore the house. After going upstairs to check out the bedrooms, Tiffany excitedly squealed at how soft the bed looked and jumped into one. After only about a minute or so, Tiffany fell asleep, so I decided to leave her sleep and come back to wake her up when dinner was ready.

After exploring the rest of the second floor, I walked back downstairs, aimlessly walking around. Eventually, having nothing else to do, I found myself heading back to the kitchen.

“Taeyeon? Do you want help?” I asked, entering the room.

I froze as soon as I saw her. My heart suddenly started racing, and my breathing grew ragged. “Oh, you’re here Sica,” she said nonchalantly, turning around.

She was completely naked, save for an apron draped across her front. The cloth just barely covered her crotch, leaving her perfectly shaven, slim, milky white legs for show.

She smiled gently at me, as if nothing was wrong. “What’s wrong, Sica?” she asked, stepping towards me.

“U-Um, … why are you—” I was cut off as I felt a pair of arms snake around my sides and embrace me. I gasped as I felt what seemed like Tiffany’s bare breasts press against my back.

“Remember when you asked what there is to do here?” Tiffany said softly, almost breathing into my ear. I shivered as I felt her warm hands crawling under my shirt. “Here’s our answer: we’re allowed to do anything, but as long as it’s just us three on this property, none of us are not allowed to cover ourselves with anything,” she said, pulling my shirt up. I instinctively raised my arms, allowing Tiffany to pull off the shirt I was wearing.

“Wait! What?” I stammered. Tiffany slid her hands underneath my bra; I inhaled sharply, closing my eyes as I felt Tiffany’s hand being pushed against my skin by my bra.

“Of course, there are a few exceptions; if anyone comes over, we’re all allowed to put clothes on, or if you ever have to deal with heat, then you can use the apron that Taeyeon is using, but only the apron,” Tiffany continued, reaching back around to undo my bra strap.

“A-Ah…” I gasped as I felt my breasts spring free from my bra.

“Go on, open your eyes,” Tiffany said, her alluring, husky voice. I shuddered as Tiffany’s hands found the hem of my jeans. “Don’t you want to watch Taeyeon’s cute ass as she cooks?”

I opened my eyes just in time to see Taeyeon glance back at me. When she met my gaze, she grinned playfully and shook her ass. If I said that the action didn’t turn me on, I would be dead wrong.

When Tiffany had finished stripping me, she stepped away from me, releasing her embrace on me. “If we ever catch you cheating, we’re going to have to punish you, ok?” Tiffany said, slapping my butt lightly.

“Ok,” I breathed out, finally regaining control of my body.

“Sica, come here,” Taeyeon said, still standing in front of the stove. I obediently walked up to her, trying really hard not to stare at her bare ass. “Could you just stay here and accompany me?” she asked, turning to face me for a brief second. I held my breath as she did, fully aware that I was stark naked, but she turned back to the stove shortly after.

“Yeah, sure,” I replied, walking up to her and standing slightly behind her to her right. “So what’s for dinner?”

“Pasta with alfredo sauce,” Taeyeon replied. I peered into the pot, but something caught the corner of my eye.

When I saw it, I instantly regretted my decision.

The apron itself was designed to cover nothing more than her front. The string that tied it together was probably meant to tie around the midriff of a person’s body, but because of Taeyeon’s rather short figure, it was tied just above her butt, the thin string hanging loose right between her butt cheeks, almost as if framing the pair of beautiful mounds of flesh.

That wasn’t the thing that caught my eye though; because the apron was designed the way it was, the cloth followed the shape of Taeyeon’s body, protruding a bit at her breasts before gradually falling back down to cover the rest of the front of her body. However, the apron did an extremely poor job of protecting the side of her body; that is to say, I had complete vision of her sideboob.

“Like what you see?”

Taeyeon’s voice startled me, and it was only then did I realize I was staring at it. “A-Ah, I’m sorry,” I stammered, tearing my gaze away from her.

Taeyeon giggled. “It’s fine. Can you help me carry the pasta to the dining table?” she asked, scooping the last of the sauce into a plate.

“Yeah,” I said, grabbing the bigger plate. “Wait, why are there only two plates?” I asked.

“You’ll see,” Taeyeon asked, taking the apron off and setting it on a hook before grabbing the smaller plate. “Let’s go,” she said, patting my bare butt cheeks with her free hand. I flushed a little at the contact; all this time not having sex seemed to have caused me to regain sensitivity to these intimate actions.

I followed her, making sure to keep my eyes on the plate instead of Taeyeon. However, carrying the plate proved to be a little bit more troublesome than I expected.

Because I wasn’t wearing anything, my boobs bounced a little with every step I took, meaning that I had to keep the plate a good distance in front of me, or else I risked smearing the pasta or dropping the plate.

“Sica, are you ok?” I heard Taeyeon’s voice calling from the dining room.

“Yeah, I’m almost there,” I replied, entering the room.

The mahogany table draped in a white cloth was an average size, enough to seat 6 people. It was rectangular shaped but rounded at the edges, with the smaller side facing the entrance of the room. However, as I walked in, I noticed that there were only two seats located at each end of the table, with Tiffany happily sitting in at the far end.

“You’re over there, Sica,” Taeyeon said, turning around from the chair right in front of the open entrance. She must have noticed the way I was holding the plate, as she started giggling when she saw me. “Ah, I didn’t even think about that. Sorry for making you take the bigger plate,” she said, trying her best to regain her posture.

“I-It’s ok,” I replied. I shuffled over to Tiffany; feeling her gaze from the front and Taeyeon’s from the back only made me flush even more as I kept my eyes trained on the plate of pasta, finally reaching Tiffany and setting it down in front of her.

“Where—?”

“Here, Jessi,” Tiffany cut me off and answered my question immediately, patting the chair she was sitting on.

I glanced down at where she was patting, almost as an automatic reaction, and when I did, I gasped once again.

Tiffany had a thick, pink strap-on dildo fastened to her waist, pointed straight at the ceiling. “Wh-What…” I trailed off. My heart raced against my chest, almost to the point of hurting; however, it was partially because I was scared and worried—the large majority of me was feeling extremely turned on at the situation.

Tiffany smiled in reaction to me. “Right here,” she repeated, patting her seat again. “I bet this will be your first time eating while having a dildo stuffed inside your pussy,” she said, grinning mischievously, tapping the rubber tool. I could feel my nether regions respond to Tiffany’s dirty talk, but I still couldn’t bring myself to move.

“We aren’t going to start eating without you Sica,” Taeyeon’s voice chimed in from the other side of the table.

“Ar-…You’re not kidding, right?” I asked cautiously.

Tiffany shook her head. “Of course not. Come here,” she said, beckoning me with her hand. “I’ll feed you, don’t worry,” she said.

Seeing no alternative, I took a few breaths and nodded, taking careful steps towards her.

Tiffany pushed her chair back a bit more to make space for me. I felt myself slow down a bit as I neared it, eyeing the thick pseudo-cock. Will that even fit inside me anymore?

Those thoughts were blown into a blur as Tiffany grabbed my waist and pulled me towards her. “You can go as slowly as you need to,” she said as soon as I situated myself in front of her.

I nodded and took a few more deep breaths. When I felt Tiffany’s hands grip my butt cheeks and pull them apart, I bit my lip as I felt the cool, crisp air-conditioned air make contact with my unshaven vaginal opening.

Slowly and surely, I lowered myself, allowing Tiffany’s hands to guide me. When the tip of the phallic object made contact with my vagina, I bit my lip, quickly taking in a breath before lowering myself further on it.

“Ah,” I moaned involuntarily as I felt the strap-on enter me. I closed my eyes and pushed myself further down, feeling my vaginal walls stretch around the rubber shaft.

“That’s it, good girl,” Tiffany cooed, using one hand to rub my thighs while the other massaged my boobs.

“Ah, ah, … Aah fuck,” I moaned incessantly as the dildo continued to stretch my insides. I placed my hands on Tiffany’s legs, slowly working my way down the shaft. Every time the toy advanced deeper into my core, I could feel its walls stretching, trying its best to welcome the guest. I let out the occasional moan as pleasure coursed through my body; after a few minutes, with Tiffany continuing to urge me on while rubbing my thighs and boobs, I finally felt my ass make contact with Tiffany’s skin.

“Good job, Jessi,” Tiffany complimented me, using both hands to pat my legs. When I opened my eyes, I realized that Tiffany must have pushed the chair forward without me realizing as the plate was already right in front of me. Unsure of where to move my hands, I kept them planted on Tiffany’s thighs. I was vaguely aware of Tiffany’s breasts pressed against my back, but the sensation was mostly drowned out by the feeling of the thick member plugging my pussy.

Tiffany reached forward, unintentionally pushing the dildo further in me. I gasped, biting my lip once again.

As she grabbed the fork, I looked across the table to see Taeyeon’s gaze locked onto me, and seeing her facial expression made it very evident that she was extremely turned on by what just happened. I felt my face heat up again and diverted my gaze.

It was then I felt something warm touch my lips. “Open up, Jessi,” Tiffany said, hovering a fork full of pasta noodles in front of me. I obeyed and let Tiffany feed me the forkful of food.

“Wait, shouldn’t I be feeding both of us? I’m closer to the plate,” I told Tiffany as she fed herself. Tiffany reached forward again, repeating the same action and drawing out the same response from me.

Tiffany put the fork down, and after she finished chewing, she replied, “It’s not convenient for you to reach backwards. Plus, it would be such a waste of a dildo if I only stuffed it inside of you without even moving it a little bit,” she replied, reaching forward again.

This time, she caught me by surprise; when the dildo was pushed inside me again, I couldn’t help but let out a soft moan. Right after this, I felt Tiffany kiss my jawline, whispering, “Let’s see who gives in first; you, or me.”

I inhaled sharply, closing my eyes to take a few breaths to calm my aroused state as I felt my competitive side awaken. Soon after, I felt the same warm feeling on my lips. I opened my mouth, but instead of feeling the pasta inside my mouth, I suddenly felt the sauce-covered pasta noodles on my breasts.

“Ah, sorry,” Tiffany said, leaning forward to place the fork down before using her hands to pick up the strands of noodles. I could tell by the motion of her hand that she was eating the noodles that she picked off my boobs.

“It’s ok,” I replied, trying my best to control my voice as I reached up and helped her pick the noodles off myself. As I was about to put the noodles on the napkin next to the plate, Tiffany grabbed my wrist and guided my hand to her mouth. I bit my lip once again as I felt Tiffany’s lips close around my fingers, her tongue guiding the noodles into her mouth before pulling my hand out.

“Wouldn’t want to waste perfectly good food,” Tiffany told me after she had finished chewing, proceeding to resume picking the food off me as if nothing out of the ordinary happened.

I hesitantly nodded and continued to help Tiffany pick the noodles off my breasts until nothing but bits and pieces of sauce remained. “That kind of looks sexy; kind of like you have cum splattered on your boobs,” Tiffany commented, reaching forward again.

Once again, I was caught off guard by her comment and let out a moan.

It was after we had only a few forkfuls left of pasta that I finally cracked.

After the nth time Tiffany leaned forward, pushing the fake dick inside me once again, I let out a throaty growl and gripped Tiffany’s legs tightly, grinding my ass against Tiffany’s crotch, desperate for more action.

Tiffany dropped the fork and placed her hands on my inner thighs, grinding against me in response. “You lose,” Tiffany whispered against my ear, planting kisses all along my jawline and neck.

“I don’t care,” I replied, breathing heavily as I felt the rubber cock shift around inside my pussy, stretching it even further. “Fuck, just fuck me already,” I said, using Tiffany’s legs as leverage to ride her.

“Will do, princess,” she replied, moving her hands up to my boobs as she began to pump the fake cock inside me.

“A-Ah!” I closed my eyes tightly as Tiffany’s dildo started thrusting inside of me, sliding against my slick vaginal walls. “Shit! Ah … ah, Tiff …”

“Fuck Jessi, you’re so fucking sexy when you’re riding my dick like this,” Tiffany said, massaging my boobs as she continued to piston the shaft inside me.

I felt myself only grow hotter as I heard her.

“Ah, can you guys be quiet? I’m actually going to start masturbating right here if you guys make me any hornier,” I heard Taeyeon whine from across the table.

Remembering that Taeyeon was in the room with us, I felt my face flush; however, I didn’t even slow down as I started to feel a familiar sensation.

However, after a few minutes, Tiffany wrapped her legs around mine and pinned me to the chair, stopping all motion.

“Wha—Why?” I whined. The sudden stop in activity, combined with how horny I was feeling, caused me to feel extremely frustrated; I tried to fight against Tiffany’s hold, but it only caused a slight rattling sound.

“Let’s make a deal first. For every forkful of pasta you eat, we’ll continue for about a minute,” Tiffany offered.

I nodded hastily, taking a few breaths to try to calm myself back down. Tiffany once again leaned forward, gathered up the noodles at what seemed like a painstakingly slow pace, and fed herself before feeding me.

“Finish chewing first,” Tiffany told me. “I’ll verify myself once you tell me you’re done.”

At that moment, I was feeling so impatient and aroused that I could barely taste the pasta or the sauce. After swallowing the last bit of pasta, I informed her that I was done.

She then turned my head with her hand and leaned forward, planting her lips onto mine. She then proceeded to push her tongue into my already open mouth, exploring it briefly before breaking contact.

“Good girl,” she said as soon as she pulled away, smiling.

I immediately took the chance to resume, using Tiffany’s legs as leverage as I continued to ride her.

Before what seemed like hardly any time at all, Tiffany stopped me again.

This continued three more times, until Tiffany scrapped the last bits and pieces of the pasta into my mouth.

With the meal finished, Tiffany impatiently pushed the plate to the side, nearly causing it to fall off the table, before standing up, dildo still inside of me, and bent me over the table.

I moaned loudly as she resumed pistoning the fake dick into my pussy, the new position granting her greater freedom to thrust harder and faster.

“Ah fuck Tiff!” I moaned, gripping the sides of the table as she fucked me relentlessly.

“You like that, huh? You like the feeling of my dick filling up your pussy? You like it when I’m fucking your pussy like this, don’t you?” Tiffany growled, giving my butt cheeks a few sharp slaps.

“Ah … ah … ah …” I continuously moaned as I felt the shaft continuously push itself in and out of my core, feeling the table shake ever so slightly from the force of Tiffany’s thrusts.

After a few minutes, I felt the build up start to overwhelm me. “Tiffany, I’m going to cum,” I warned her in a warbled voice as she continued her assault on my nether regions.

This further encouraged her, causing her to bring one hand to our connection and rub my clit. In about a minute, the pleasure overwhelmed me. “A-Ah!” I screamed, the additional stimulation pushing me over the edge as I felt a wave of pleasure wash over me. I felt myself pulsate on Tiffany’s strap-on, a wave of my juices staining the dildo and Tiffany’s legs.

I rode my orgasm out for the next half minute before sighing in relief, resting on the table with all my stamina drained, not even caring that my breasts being pushed against the table was somewhat uncomfortable.

“Can you go clean the dishes while I go help Taeyeon?” Tiffany said. “You can join us when you’re done,” she finished, patting my butt lightly before pulling the dildo out. I groaned softly as I felt the shaft slide against my vaginal walls before completely breaking contact with it.

I laid on the table, catching my breath until I heard Taeyeon moan. Oh, Taeyeon must have gotten horny from watching us, huh? I thought, feeling my face get warm once again. It was then that I completely registered what she said.

“Ah, Fany,” Taeyeon’s drawn out moan, along with my sudden realization, caused me to stand up straight, pushing myself off the table.

“Tae—Tae, aaah,” Tiffany’s accompanying moan piqued my interest; I knew I would regret it, but I couldn’t help myself. I looked in the direction of the living room, which was where their voices were coming from, and found Tiffany and Taeyeon sharing what was probably a two-sided strap-on dildo, with Tiffany wearing it.

I tore myself away from the hot scene and found the strength to stand up. I took a second to steady myself before carrying the dishes and silverware to the kitchen. Luckily, there was enough wall in between the kitchen and living room that they were significantly quieter than in the dining room; unluckily, I could still hear the two fucking and only felt my lust grow.

“Tiff—Fany, aah fuck,” Taeyeon moaned once again as I stepped out of the kitchen.

“Mm, you like it when I fuck you like that huh?” Tiffany asked, hands placed securely onto Taeyeon’s hips while she thrusted wildly into her. Even from this distance, I could see the amount of cum that was leaking onto Taeyeon’s crotch and legs.

“Yes, I love it soo much,” she replied, clearly clouded by lust.

Taeyeon was on her hands and knees, sticking her ass in the air to allow Tiffany easy access to her pussy as Tiffany continuously humped Taeyeon, occasionally creating the wet clapping sound of flesh against flesh.

Watching the scene before me rapidly returned my stamina to me, and before I knew it, I was in the living room. “Jessi, you’re here,” Tiffany noted, glancing over at me, “Tae, were you frustrated before, during dinner?” she inquired, stopping her thrusting.

I picked up a barely audible whine from Taeyeon as she turned her head around, nodding while using her best puppy dog eyes.

“Well, you’re about to get all the attention you could want,” Tiffany informed her, giving her ass a couple of encouraging slaps. “Jessi, you see the other strap-on two sided dildo on the couch over there?” Tiffany asked, motioning to the couch behind her.

“Yeah,” I said, spotting the blue sex toy.

“Put it on and join us,” she told me. I didn’t hesitate to grab the toy and push one end into myself, groaning as I felt the shaft enter me.

I made sure the shaft was bent in the proper direction before turning to face the pair.

Tiffany, who was underneath Taeyeon, was rubbing the rubber cock against her labia lips. Taeyeon was laying on top of Tiffany, face up with her legs spread wide open, allowing me easy visibility of her well shaven vagina. When she turned her head upwards to see me, her eyes just about popped when she noticed the dildo I was wearing.

“Oh, you’re going to—oh my god, I don’t think I can take both,” Taeyeon said, nervously shifting.

Tiffany wrapped her arms around Taeyeon’s waist. “Didn’t you want attention, though?” she asked, placing her head just to the left of Taeyeon’s. I continued advancing, breathing deeply as I felt the dildo shift inside me with every step I took.

“Isn’t this too much?” she asked, eyes showing a mixture of both fear and excitement.

“It’s ok, I lubed you up already,” Tiffany reminded her.

“But still … I don’t know—ah, fuck,” Taeyeon moaned loudly as Tiffany pushed the dildo into Taeyeon’s asshole.

I quickly closed the gap and situated my legs perpendicular to Taeyeon’s, quickly lubricating the shaft with Taeyeon’s honey before plunging into her pussy with the fake dick.

“AAH, FUCK!” Taeyeon screamed, arching her back as the second dildo entered her.

“Jessi, just lay on top of Taeyeon, I’ll be fine,” Tiffany said, voice strained from the effort she was putting into fucking Taeyeon’s ass.

I acquiesced, bringing my knees onto the carpet so that I was semi-bending over Taeyeon and lowered myself on top of her. Our boobs pressed against each other as I found Taeyeon’s lips with my own.

I placed my hands on Taeyeon’s waist, right above Tiffany’s, as I relentlessly thrusted into her. I could feel Tiffany’s simultaneous, mismatched thrusts as Taeyeon shook in response to both Tiffany’s and my own furious thrusts.

“MM, MM,” Taeyeon screamed continuously, her hands gripping my arms tightly.

The continuous shaking from both Taeyeon and Tiffany also helped the dildo inside of me shift around, causing it to push itself in and out, although with considerable less force.

“MMM!”

In just about a minute or two, that final scream barely gave us a heads up as Taeyeon shook furiously, pumping out stream after stream of cum that splattered onto the blue shaft, her legs, my legs, and even my waist.

Neither of us slowed down, even after Taeyeon had finished riding out her orgasm.

I broke our lip lock, next aiming for her breasts.

“Fuck, I just came, I can’t—ah—ah!” Taeyeon moaned as I lightly sucked on her nipple, bringing my left hand up to massage the other breast. “Pull out, I can’t take much more, oh fuck … please—please pull out,” she begged, although her body betrayed her as she immediately moaned afterwards.

“Just admit it, you love having our dicks inside you at the same time, Taeyeon,” Tiffany said, “Admit that you love being fucked in both holes at once while sandwiched in between two sexy women.”

“I—… I need a break, please, I’m … I’m—ah, FUCK,” Taeyeon moaned as I felt Tiffany significantly pick up her pace.

“I’m close,” Tiffany warned us.

“Ah, Tiff—” I moaned in response to Tiffany’s increased aggression, feeling the dildo stuffed inside of me thrash inside of me more wildly as a result.

“Admit you love being fucked in both holes at once,” Tiffany repeated, reaching around and grabbing my butt cheeks with both her hands.

I gasped at the unexpected contact, pushing the shaft extra deep into Taeyeon.

“FUCK! Yes, I love being fucked like this! Oh, fuck, I’m going to cum again!” Taeyeon screamed, panting heavily.

I felt Tiffany’s hand on my vagina, running along it as if searching for something. When she finally settled on my clitoris, her fingers started working on it furiously, pinching and rubbing it.

“Tiff—!” I moaned loudly, thrusting harder and harder into Taeyeon’s pussy as I felt the tension start to build up again.

Only about a minute later, Taeyeon let out another scream of ecstasy as her body once again shook with pleasure, depositing her honey onto the rubber dick, occasionally splattering my legs.

Tiffany followed soon after, shaking so furiously that I felt her vibrating through Taeyeon.

As she came, Tiffany gave my clit one last, hard pinch before letting go. This, combined with the dildo thrashing inside of me as a byproduct of Tiffany’s orgasm, was enough to send me over the edge. I let out a squeal as I shook furiously against the fake cock, causing the dildo to thrash about wildly inside of Taeyeon as I rode out my orgasm.

When I was finished, I let out a big sigh, resting my head on Taeyeon’s soft breasts, not having the strength to remove the dildo inside of her or me. She gently stroked my hair, brushing the loose strands of hair away from my face.

“Wow Taeyeon, you really are something,” I commented, my hands lazily resting on the carpeted floor.

She giggled in response to that. “Yah, and whose fault is that?” she said, lightly flicking my forehead.

“Hey, don’t blame me,” I said, turning my head to look at her and pout.

“You’re right,” she said, patting my head again, “It’s Tiffany’s fault, isn’t it?”

“I mean, you were basically begging for it, weren’t you?” Tiffany chimed in from underneath both of us.

Taeyeon mouthed to me the words ‘tonight’, motioning at Tiffany before responding, “I wasn’t asking for it to be this intense, though.”

“Oh well, you still liked it, didn’t you?” Tiffany asked. I could hear from a soft, but sharp slapping sound that Tiffany slapped Taeyeon’s ass after her accusation.

“Yeah,” Taeyeon responded lazily, leaning her head onto Tiffany’s shoulder.

“By the way, you guys didn’t happen to spike my food with something, did you?” I asked, still too lazy to bother moving from my current position.

“Well it’s a good thing we did, because you seemed like you weren’t ready for sex at all,” Tiffany noted.

After a few minutes, the three of us regained enough strength to get up, cleaning the sex toys before putting them away.

“Tomorrow, I think we should use the pool,” Tiffany said, walking towards the stairs.

“Meet up at 1:30 right outside her room, ok? I’ll get the toys,” Taeyeon whispered to me.

“What do you two think?”

Tiffany turned around, but by that time, we had already straightened ourselves up. “Yeah, that sounds good,” Taeyeon said.

Later that night, at around 1:30 AM, I got up out of my bed and carefully walked out of my room.

But before I even reached my door, I felt a pair of hands grab my arms. Before I could even react, another pair grabbed my legs and together, they hoisted me up.

I squealed as I felt myself carried and dumped back onto my bed.

“Taeyeon? Tiffany?” I asked as I felt another body join the bed with me. The blinds to my room were suddenly opened, allowing the moonlight to pour in.

There Tiffany was, straddling my waist with her knees, absolutely stunning in her beauty as the moonlight perfectly curved around her boobs and ass, accenting her already sinfully sexy body even more. “Taeyeon, what…?” I said, looking over at Taeyeon.

Seeing her absolutely stunned me as well. The way the moonlight hit her body, softly curving around her breasts and illuminating her smooth, milky-white skin, and the way a single strand of hair fell loose, casting a single shadow on her otherwise flawless face was a simply breathtaking sight.

“Sorry, but the idea of ganging up on you just seemed much more appealing to me,” she said, smiling innocently. I pouted, Taeyeon simply responding by letting out a chuckle.

My legs were gently resting against Tiffany’s, spread open enough to allow Tiffany’s fingers easy access. Tiffany seized the opportunity and lowered herself onto me, capturing my lips for her own while using her right hand to tease my entrance.

“Mmm,” I sighed in contentment, feeling a wave of pleasure course through me.

I borrowed Taeyeon’s razor to shave my pubic hair before heading to bed, which only allowed Tiffany easier access to my pussy lips. Every time she used her thumb to flick my clit, I moaned loudly and bucked my hips, causing the bed to emit a rattling sound.

After a few minutes of Tiffany’s ministrations, I felt myself leak with my juices, staining the area around my labia lips and inner thighs with the wet substance. Tiffany broke our lip lock and retracted her finger, saying, “Your turn Taeyeon.”

I turned my head curiously towards the window, but didn’t find Taeyeon there. Confused, I looked to the other side and gasped, feeling my eyes widen with shock.

Attached to Taeyeon was the thickest, longest dildo I’ve ever seen; it was a purple strap-on dildo almost 2.5 inches in diameter and probably at least 8 inches in length. Seeing that monster of a dildo caused a swirl of emotions to rise up inside of me; fear, anxiety, and nervousness with hints of excitement and wonder.

“Come here,” Taeyeon said, making a ‘come-hither’ motion with her fingers. I obeyed, climbing off the bed and walked towards Taeyeon.

As soon as I got within her range, she pulled me towards her. I squealed as I tumbled into her arms, but by the time I found my footing, Taeyeon’s hands were already parting my butt cheeks.

“W-Will that even fit inside me?” I asked nervously, feeling the rubber tip poke at my entrance.

“One way to find out,” she said, plunging it into me.

“UUGGH,” I groaned, feeling the rubber shaft push my pussy lips wide open, stretching its walls, slowly but surely sliding up and further into my vagina.

After about half a minute, Taeyeon stopped, letting me adjust to the size before pulling out a bit and immediately thrusting back up.

“FUCK!” I screamed, once again feeling the sex toy pushed further up my core.

“God you’re so fucking tight, Sica-yah,” Taeyeon said in a strained voice, gripping my hips tightly.

“Taeyeon, I’m ready,” I heard Tiffany from behind me.

No, no way can I take any more, this is already the biggest thing I’ve ever taken, I thought anxiously as Taeyeon carefully guided the both of us onto the ground, making sure to keep the dildo inside of me.

“It’ll feel amazing, I promise,” Taeyeon whispered as soon as she was laying flat on the floor with me on top of her, facing her.

I had my hands planted on either side of Taeyeon’s head, as laying completely against her would probably become uncomfortable. “Fany, you can start lubing her up as I finish this,” she said, bringing her hands down to our connection and carefully rubbing my labia lips.

“Aah,” I groaned, feeling a mixture of pleasure from Taeyeon’s hands, anxiety from the dildo that was plugging my vaginal canal, and pain as my pussy worked overtime to try and accommodate the fake cock.

A few seconds later, I felt a strangely cool, yet incredibly smooth substance make contact with my love hole. “Aah—aah,” I gasped, feeling Tiffany’s finger, coated with the substance, enter the smaller hole.

“Ssh, don’t worry about that,” Taeyeon cooed, patting my butt cheeks. “Just focus on one thing at a time,” she told me, returning her fingers to my spread out pussy lips.

I shuddered as I felt her fingers once again make contact with the sensitive skin.

“I-It’s too big…” I whimpered, wincing as I felt my vaginal walls continue to tightly hug the rubber member. “Taeyeon-ah, I—I—ah!”

I let out another moan as the dildo forced itself just a bit further inside of me.

“You’re doing great, princess,” Taeyeon said, kissing my cheek. Her gentle words seemed a bit paradoxical, given the fact that she was currently forcing a monster of a dildo inside of me.

“Huhhh … huhhh,” I panted heavily, wincing every time Taeyeon forced the dildo further. After a couple of minutes, I had finally taken in the whole thing as signified by my ass making contact with Taeyeon’s waist.

“Good girl. You did really well, my princess,” Taeyeon complimented me again, rubbing my butt cheeks and giving them a couple of affectionate pats.

By that point, the pain had started to fade away and pleasure had started to take over. I could feel a strange tension in my lower parts as my pussy walls hugged the enormous fake dick tightly; honestly, it was hard to believe that the monster of a dildo was actually inside of me.

“Jessi, this is not going to hurt, ok?” I suddenly heard Tiffany say. I knew what she was talking about when I felt the tip off the pseudo-cock prod at my anus; I instantly felt myself tense up a bit, feeling my vaginal walls grip Taeyeon’s dildo even more tightly

“Jessi, it’s ok, I’ve lubricated both you ass and the dildo. I promise it won’t hurt if you just trust me and relax, ok?” Tiffany reassured me, patting my butt cheeks.

I took a deep breath and nodded; it was a little challenging to relax with my pussy filled to the brim with Taeyeon’s dildo, but after about a minute, I managed to relax myself enough to give Tiffany permission to enter my other hole.

I involuntarily gasped as I felt the slick rubber tip of Tiffany’s strap-on prod at my second entrance, and without even a warning, Tiffany slid the second cock into my backdoor.

“Uuggh,” I let out a drawn-out moan as I felt Tiffany’s dildo slide into my anus. I could feel the toy slowly sliding along the walls of my anus until it finally accommodated the whole thing.

Almost as soon as that happened, they both started thrusting.

“AAH! OH, FUCK!” I screamed, feeling myself shake both in response to their thrusts and to the waves of pleasure flowing through my body. “OH MY GOD, FUCK—fuck I feel so full,” I said, panting heavily. “Fuck, I’m such a slut for enjoying this,” I breathed out.

It was like I lost control of my body as wave after wave of pleasure crashed into me. I was merciless as the two of them fucked me over and over in harmony; as Taeyeon pulled back, Tiffany would thrust, and as she would pull back, Taeyeon would thrust.

I eventually found Taeyeon’s lips and hastily met them, sloppily yet passionately kissing her.

“Fuck, you’re so fucking sexy like this Jess,” Tiffany said, slapping my butt and giving my clit a pinch.

I squealed against Taeyeon’s lips in response, feeling myself convulse as I felt my impending orgasm oncoming.

“Seeing you getting mercilessly fucked in both holes at the same time is so fucking sexy,” Tiffany continued, saying her words in an almost predatory fashion, “Just watching our dicks pounding you is almost enough to make me cum,” she continued, giving my clit another pinch.

I let out another high-pitched squeal, feeling myself convulse once again; my orgasm rocked my body, causing me to spasm against Taeyeon.

After I had finished riding out my orgasm, Taeyeon released the lip lock and brought her hands up to my boobs, leading one into her mouth while massaging the other. Tiffany took the liberty to use one hand to massage my butt cheeks and rub my clit while the other gripped my head. I felt my head turn and almost immediately after leaving Taeyeon’s lip lock, I felt Tiffany’s capture me.

 The room was soon filled with nothing but my incessant moans, grunts from the other two as they continuously fucked me, and the occasional slap from contact between my ass and their waist.

It didn’t seem to take long at all before I felt my second orgasm coming. I mumbled against Tiffany’s lips to relay the message to her, who seemed to receive it well as she responded to this by using her hand solely to rub my clit.

About a minute later, the sensation overwhelmed me as I felt the tension suddenly release. “AAH!” I broke the kiss to let out a scream as my second orgasm rock my body.

After about a minute, when my body finally subsided, I felt myself drained of energy once again, collapsing onto Taeyeon.

“You did so well Jessica,” Taeyeon said, patting my head.

“Mm,” I groaned in response, trying my best to catch my breath.

The two eventually retracted their dildos from inside of me. I let out a heavy sigh as they unstopped my pussy, causing me to shudder slightly as a bit more of my juices trickled out of it.

They carefully put me onto the bed, laying me on the side so that I was facing away from the window, making sure to place the covers on top of me before tackling each other. It didn’t take them long to get into a 69 position with Tiffany on the floor.

After a few minutes of hearing nothing but licking sounds, muffled moans, shuffling, and eventually the ecstatic screams, signaling the climax of the two, I eventually felt another weight onto the bed.

“Put this on, Jessi,” Tiffany said, securing the harness for yet another strap on for me. I didn’t complain, mostly because I didn’t have the strength to, and let the pseudo-cock hang from my crotch.

I heard a short groan followed by the slick sound of another vagina being penetrated. I opened my eyes to see Taeyeon crawl into bed in front of me. When we made eye contact, she smiled warmly, patting my shoulders. “Good job Jessi, we were really impressed with you today,” she said, turning around so that her back was facing me.

I chuckled. “Thanks,” I said, not even noticing Taeyeon grabbing my dildo until it made contact with her butt cheeks.

“Ah, can you help me a bit?” Taeyeon asked, turning her head around to look at me. “Can you just guide it?”

“What? Why?” I asked. However, my question was very soon answer as I felt another weight on behind me. Assuming it was Tiffany, I turned around my head to look just in time to see her crawl underneath the blanket. “Tiff?”

She didn’t answer me, instead spreading my butt cheeks and sliding what was probably one of those two-sided strap-ons back inside of me. “Ah—uugh,” I moaned, feeling my pussy lips being parted once again, the shaft sliding back inside of me.

“We just wanted to test this out. Go ahead and put your strap on inside of Taeyeon and then we’ll sleep,” she said.

I winced as the strap on shifted inside of me while Tiffany situated herself, wrapping her arms around me, pressing her boobs into my back, and settling her head into the crook of my neck.

I acquiesced, using my hands to grab the shaft before carefully parting Taeyeon’s labia lips with the sex toy, pushing it until it was completely buried inside of her.

Taeyeon let out a contented sigh as I wrapped my arms around her waist, wrapping my legs around hers and resting my head on the pillow, blanketed by Taeyeon’s silky, sweet smelling hair.

“Good night,” Taeyeon said, covering my hands with her own.

“Good night,” the two of us chimed in response. And for the first time that night, the house fell into a silence as we all drifted to sleep.

Tbh, I technically do have a part 3 in drafts, but it's been in my drafts for like 8 years xD if I feel so compelled, I may go back to it :D

[justkending]

Mr. & Mrs. Hunt (Bonus Chapter)

Mini-Series Summary: Two of the most stubborn people in the group partnered together for an undercover mission are also the two people with the most hatred for each other, so what could go wrong? Or is it, what COULDN’T go wrong?…

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Avenger Reader (Enemies to Lovers) (Fake Marriage Trope)

Word Count: 3700+

A/N: I got some motivation for a bonus chapter and a lot of you guys reached out asking about some. So here is a cute little side story with the two! I hope you guys enjoy it while I take my time getting through all my other WIP!🥰

______________

Bucky’s POV: 

The mission yesterday was brutal for the team—so much so that Tony vogued for us and ensured we’d have the next two days without any form of work to interrupt our much-needed break. That meant we were off-duty, unless a world-ending turn of events came up, for the next 48 hours—starting the morning after we got home from said brutal mission. 

My first stop as soon as I got up and around was Y/N’s room. She had left the field yesterday more beat up than any of us after she was cornered and her backup had fled. Something I was royally pissed about, but it was some lower agent she was paired with to train. I offered, considering the kid was known for being squeamish, and it was originally meant to be a low-level operation. But apparently, someone with a gentler and friendlier disposition was preferred for the agent's training lesson. But of course, the tides turned, and Y/N was left on her own fighting off a dozen armed men, yet unsurprisingly, she came out on top. 

Although she claimed the various cuts, bruises, and pulled muscles in her quad were manageable, I knew she would be horribly sore today and, therefore, grumpy—understandably so. 

I thought I’d get a head start on helping her, considering things have grown between us since our first date two months ago. 

We hadn’t made it official, and we were taking it slow since there was so much to learn about each other after years of distancing ourselves from one another. 

We’ve had as many dates as time allowed since then, and the team has caught on, but again, we’re taking it slow. So slow, in fact that we kept to our respective rooms for personal space outside of movie nights, considering we lived together for almost a month and technically still do live together, even if across from the hall. We saw each other all the time, and we thought it best that we hold on to that piece of individuality at the start of our relationship so as not to rush anything. 

But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find any chance I could to come hang out with her in her room and spend time with her as often as I could. I meant it back at the house when I said I envied my teammates for getting to experience a version of her that actually like you as a person. The change in pace has been eye-opening, and I’ve become somewhat addicted to the time I spend with her now. 

“One second!” I heard from the other side of the door after I knocked, and the tone alone showed me she was not happy. 

“I brought you some breakfast and pain meds, Y/N/N,” I said into the barrier. Seconds later, the door unlocked, and a battered Y/N looked up at me miserably. “Hey, sweetheart.” I couldn’t help the pout in my lip seeing my girl beat up. 

There was bruising under her eye, a butterfly stitch on her cheekbone, and a few bruises visible on her legs where she was wearing one of the biggest t-shirts she owned as a nightgown. 

“How bad does it look? I’ve been inching out of bed for the last 10 minutes because of how stiff I feel, and I haven’t made it to the bathroom to look,” she cringed as she rubbed the uninjured side of her face in exhaustion.

“You make black eyes look hot,” I answer, leaning to kiss the top of her head as I sneaked past her into the apartment and move to the kitchenette on the side. 

We all have a fully functioning studio apartment at the compound, but since we share the main spaces of the living room and kitchen, our personal ones are much smaller and more so for convenience than anything else. 

“Appreciate that, but also, I’d rather put on a sexy dress to look hot than get punched by a 250 lbs man with a mean right hook,” she sighed, shuffling to follow after me and sit at the end of her bed as she watched me plate a breakfast burrito and a fruit parfait. 

“Sexy dress or not, you exceed the threshold in the looking hot category no matter what.” I’m lucky enough to get a soft chuckle from her as she pulls a blanket from her bed and wraps it around her body, snuggling close to it with a few grunts and moans of pain. “Outside of that, I’m going to hunt down that twirp from yesterday and give him a nice talking-to about leaving your partner in the dust.” I look up and point to her with a spoon before stabbing it into the yogurt and bringing it to her. 

“Honestly, if I hadn’t seen worse, I would have run the other direction, too,” she wiggled an arm free to grab the cup and thanked me before continuing. “For it being one of their first onsite missions, seeing a dozen armed bodyguards, and not one of them being under 200 lbs running full force at you? I’d be surprised if he didn’t shit his pants on the way out.”

I laughed at the image since Y/N and I had seen far worse, and what she was describing was just another Tuesday to us. 

“Regardless, you don’t leave your teammates to fend for themselves. Especially in that scenario. He could have at least grabbed you and ran the other way,” I mumbled, grabbing my burrito from the counter and moving to sit with her on the bed. 

“Grabbed me and run?” she scoffed, swirling the fruit and granola together. “You’re a funny man, Barnes.” 

“You know what I mean,” I shoulder bump her lightly, and she sighs, digging into the breakfast. “Meds the Doc prescribed you are on the counter. You need to take them with food 2x a day to keep the pain at bay.”

“It’s fine. The pain is manag-”

“If you say manageable, I’m going to make you walk from this side of the room to your bathroom and prove you’re fine. Meaning, no cringing, limping, or grunts in the process.”

She stared at me in a challenging manner. That much had not changed in our relationship whatsoever. I just didn’t get death glares with them anymore.

“I can walk to my bathroom just fine,” she rolls her eyes, staying stationary and distracting herself with breakfast. 

“Sure you can,” I nodded, taking a bite of my own and keeping my eyes solely on her. 

I could tell she was growing squirmish under my gaze. The uncomfortability matched with uncertainty in her claim. I mean, come on. She gave it away that she wasn’t fine when she said it took her 10 minutes to ease out of bed. 

“Stop staring at me,” she grumbled, lazily eating to drag out her inevitable defeat. 

I hummed, standing and moving to grab some hot sauce in her cabinet. “Oh, by the way, the team’s doing a day of pool Olympics tomorrow. Sam’s asked for a rematch in chicken.”

“As long as I get a rematch in categories.”

“Yeah, I don’t think you’re going to be participating in the games much,” I scrunched my nose at her with a grin before taking a giant bite.

“By tomorrow, I’ll be back to new,” she groaned and stood up too fast, stilling herself, seeing she’d overdone it. But not wanting to get caught, she played it off as stretching and taking her time. “I have an above-average healing rate, after all.” 

“Maybe, but not nearly as fast as I’d prefer,” I placed the meal back on my plate and wiped my hands off on a towel before coming to her side to help her take some weight off her bad leg.

“As you’d prefer? Please do elaborate on what you’d prefer, Sarge?” The cockiness in her voice made me look down at her and grin at her orneryness. 

“You know I’d prefer you wrapped up in bubble wrap and in a magic forcefield the rest of your life that keeps you out of harm's way. I’ve never liked seeing you hurt or in pain. But unfortunately, due to realism and already trying to do that with Steve, I know it's not attainable,” I answered, both hands on her shoulders. Now, let me take this.” I quickly grabbed the parfait and placed it on the counter before offering my arm. 

“I can walk to the bathroom on my own.”

“Standing showed me otherwise.”

“Are you going to hold my hand while I pee too?” 

“If you asked me, I 100% would. But knowing you, you’re a little too stubborn for that,” I winked as she walked with more weight on me than she’d care to confess. 

“Just a little,” she grunts when she loses her footing, and I catch her. 

“Hm, about that help…”

“Shut it,” she mumbles and shuts the door behind her as she gets ready for the day.

_______________

“Where’s Y/N at?” Wanda asked, meeting me in the hall and following after me. 

“Med bay. I made her go get a check-up with Banner since she’s hellbent on playing in the water games tomorrow,” I answered once she was by my side, my stride slowing so she could catch up. 

“Do you think she’ll actually listen to anything he says if he doesn’t give her the all-clear?” she asked with a laugh. 

“Doubtful, but I can be hopeful.”

“Things are going well for you two then, huh?” I could hear the grin in her voice before I looked down at her. “Crazy to think, considering just a few months ago, I wouldn’t hold it against her to have your head on a plaque hanging in her room just because you looked at her wrong.”

“Crazy the things a little communication can do,” I winked and threw an arm around her shoulders before squeezing her into my side. “That and patience. Lots and lots of patience.” 

“You do have a surprising amount of that stuff in ya, big guy,” she patted my chest as we turned to the hall where Y/N was. 

“Ow, son of a bitch!” sounded from the corner of Banner’s office, and we shared a look. “Obviously, that isn’t going to feel good, injured or not, Bruce!” 

“May need to save his ass,” Wanda whispered, and we hurried our steps to the space. 

Inside, Bruce was laughing as he logged in her symptoms and any other notes doctors take in these instances. 

“Just proving to you that playing any high-impact sports, which are almost any of the ones that include the team, isn’t going to help the healing process,” he told her as she rubbed her thigh with the heel of her hand. 

“Sam told me he doesn’t plan on holding back,” Wanda cut in just as I saw Y/N rearing up to retort something to the scientist. “Something about revenge for the last time we held a water Olympics.” 

“Empty threats,” Y/N sighed, turning to me. I was still getting used to the fact that I caused her body to ease tension rather than create it now. “Banner gave me the all clear,” she says to me in a very convincing way... If I wasn’t a trained spy. 

“I did not,” Bruce was quick to turn and shake his head.

“Don’t listen to him. He doesn’t even know what a vastus lateralis is!” she pointed and thought about hopping off the medical table she was on but realized the fast movement would only prove Banner’s point. 

“Um, I very much do know what the vastus lateralis is, considering I just told you you strained yours, and it needs to heal fully before you take on any high-mobility actions. You’re the one who asked if it was a witch incantation,” Bruce pointed a pen at her and moved back to his floating screens. 

“Can confirm it is not a witch incantation,” Wanda spoke up, moving to Y/N’s side by the medical equipment table and started playing with the tools. 

“Who’s side are you on?” she furrowed her eyes at the redhead, and I moved to lean on the table next to her, my thigh touching her knees hanging over the edge of the stainless steel. “I really think he’s exaggerating. I can walk on it and everything just fine.” 

Her eyes are leveled with mine while she’s sat higher up, and she gives me pathetic puppy dog eyes like it’ll sway me. And it almost does, but I cup her face in between my hands and squeeze so that her lips are pursed. 

“Nice try. Not going to work on me, doll,” I grin and kiss her nose before turning back to Banner. “How long are we talking about being fully healed? I don’t know how much more gaslighting I can take about her pain level.” I get a swift smack to my shoulder, but it barely stings. I grab her uninjured leg and squeeze her kneecap as she leans on my shoulder for support. 

“With her enhanced healing, I’d give it about three to five days before it’s healed enough for training or anything else. For any other normal person, it would be about a six-week process. Count yourself lucky,” Banner answers, only looking back for a second. 

“Still bullshit,” she grumbles and fidgets with the sleeve of my t-shirt. “So are you saying I have to be a bystander for tomorrow’s games?” 

“And quite possibly be benched for the coming week. Meaning no more missions until you’re given the all clear,” Banner turns around at his last statement. 

“Wait, what?!” 

“You heard me. You just don’t like what you heard,” he smirks. 

“I don’t quite like you right now, Bruce…” she says lowly, collapsing her head on my shoulder and groaning. 

“Don’t worry,” I turn and offer a hand for her to get down, which she stares at and reluctantly hops down. “I’ll make sure to kick Sam’s ass for you tomorrow in place of you. You know it’d be more than an honor for me.” 

“I fear he may kill him,” Wanda adds, walking to the other side of Y/N. 

“Compared to what I was planning, it would be a mercy.” 

____________

Y/N’s POV

To say I was pissed about the current circumstances would be putting it lightly. I hate being benched, and like anyone, I hate being injured. 

Call it past trauma I may never fully grow out of, but being the weak link made me anxious and antsy. It was like being the runt in a litter of pigs. It can’t fend for itself and tends to meet the slaughterhouse sooner than its friends. 

All that to say, I didn’t take help well while in this state either. But for some odd reason, Bucky’s aid wasn’t unwelcomed. 

Did I give him a hard time? Hard not to. Did he laugh it off and match my energy? 1000%, and I couldn’t be more thankful. It’s made this a touch more bearable, knowing he doesn’t pity me or see me as a weakling but just wants to help get me back to my best. 

And 3-5 days is doable, considering the alternative was over a month…

“Did you take your meds?” Bucky asked, letting himself into my room after a long day. Thankfully, we had another day of resting and for me, it looked like a week of resting. 

“Taken and pumping through my veins,” I give him a thumbs up as I lazily scroll through the streaming services as we set up for a lowkey movie night. “Are these the loopy kinds?” 

“Most opiates are, unfortunately,” he chuckles, placing the take-out bags he had grabbed downstairs on the coffee table. “What time did you take them?

He pulls out his phone and goes to the notes app. I know he has been making detailed notes on my meds, pain levels, doctor’s visits, and any other ailments I complain about. It’s really sweet, and surprisingly, I don’t find it overbearing like I thought I would. It’s nice having someone look out for you in a genuine way. 

“About ten minutes ago, so 6:30,” I pat the seat beside me. “Come on. I need your decisiveness on what movie we should watch tonight.”

He laughed while typing the details into his phone before putting it on the table, sitting next to me, opening the bags, and creating a nice little family buffet of Thai food in front of us. 

I watched him as I had become fond of these last few months. When I see him do the things he does for others and me, I internally punch myself for letting hatred keep me from such a man this long. 

“Question,” I asked, and he hummed, handing me a carton of low mein and grilled chicken. He stabbed two chopsticks into the food, and turned back for his own before leaning back and relaxing finally. “If things were different. If you never had to enlist for the war… What would have done for yourself?” 

“You mean like…”

“What job field would you have gone into?”

He nods his head as he considers the question and takes a large bite of pad thai. 

“I’m not sure… I don’t think I’ve ever really considered it. Especially since war has always been a thing, and given the era I was born into, I had just accepted I was going to be thrown into the military at some point.” 

“Well, that’s sad,” I crinkled my nose and the ache from my black eye had dulled thanks to my faster healing. “You didn’t consider any other paths?” 

“I mean, not realistic ones. I probably would have gone into business of some kind. Sales, maybe?” he said more as a question and poked around at his food. “I doubt anything that would have brought me true joy.” 

“Ok, then. What about now? If things were different, and you had complete freedom to live a normal life, like Beau Hunt,” I nudged him, and he laughed, leaning closer to me on the couch. “What career would you choose?” 

He thought about it, looking down at his food and then at the wall ahead of him. 

“If you’re asking me about today? As in this very moment?” 

“I am.”

“I’d say a chef.” 

I paused, not 100% prepared for that answer, but also not shocked by it. I didn’t reply instantly and felt him turn his gaze to me. 

“Didn’t expect that?” he asks. 

“Just imagining it,” I grinned, digging back into my cardboard carton as I pictured the dreamboat of a man next to me in an episode of The Bear. “I like it.” 

“Think I can get a Michelin-star type of restaurant going?” he hummed, a grin evident in his voice. 

“I don’t think that would be your scene. I could see you in a cool, locally owned, and homey restaurant. A staple piece in Brooklyn where everyone would come from all over to have the best comfort food the city would offer,” I smile at him, scooting down in my seat so I can rest my head on his shoulder.  

His head rested on top of mine after a quick kiss to the top of it. I treasured learning he actually loved showing affection in public, especially in the sweet and wholesome ways he went about it. 

“I can see that much more than what I said,” he laughed, and his body vibrated with the sound. “What about you? Different career choice, what would you choose?” 

“Hmm,” I snuggled more into him as I ate, and the screen on my TV went to screensaver mode. “I think something in social work. Given the things I’ve seen in the world, I’d be able to help kids in dangerous situations and homes get out of it.” He hums and chuckles some, making me look up at him. “What’s so funny about that?” 

“Not funny, just,” he chuckles again and looks at me from the side. “Of course, you’d want to go into the world and make a difference in it while I hole myself up in one spot and do background work for a living. In other words, the less I have to deal with people up front, the better, and the more people you can confront, the better.” 

“You’re a social person,” I laughed, sticking my chopsticks into his container for a taste. “I mean, you’re a better people person than you think.” 

“I have to build that relationship with people before I can become a ‘people person’. On the other hand, you can walk up to a stranger on the street and insert yourself into their life without hesitation.” 

“Maybe. But I also understand not wanting to do those things just cause it’s not your scene. I think our fake imaginary jobs are perfect for us.” 

“I was always envious that I wasn’t one of those people you approached and welcomed in,” he says, but not with annoyance and hurt, just stating a fact. 

“I was an asshole who allowed her backstory to control the present life she had made for herself. I wasn't too proud of that version of myself.”

Bucky turned his body to me, and I sat up. 

“As upset as I was about not getting the friendly treatment you gave to others, I’m happy to say I get to experience it now compared to never at all.” 

I stared into the blue eyes I knew would be my downfall as soon as I saw him for the first time. 

“Who knew force proximity would have this outcome?” 

“Not Nat or Tony. Oh, by the way, did I tell you Tony was in on the deal, too? Gave it three days and lost all his money before he even had a chance.” 

“Serves him right, betting on people’s downfall,” I nuzzled back into the couch as Bucky got comfortable again. “Speaking of… Wanna make a bet on how many games I can make Sam lose without even participating in the games?” 

“I will never not bet to see Sam lose. But I think I can beat you out on that deal, considering I will be in the games.”

“You’d like to think, wouldn’t you?” 

“Is that a challenge?” 

“A challenge would mean I have to have competition. That won’t be the case tomorrow,” I leaned forward, grabbing the remote from him and placing a soft kiss on his lips. 

“You’re much appreciated PDA isn’t going to make me take it any easier on you.” 

“No, no, no. We wouldn’t want that.”  

He laughed and leaned in for another kiss. The TV in front of us forgotten.

Marvel Tags:

@thejourneyneverendsx​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @death-unbecomes-you @mythos-writes​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​  @srrymydood​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @xa-dia​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @redhairedfeistynerd​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @morganclaire4​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @connie326​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @captain-asguard​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @mollygetssherlockcoffee​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @teenagedreams-bucky @shower-me-with-roses​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @livstilinski @basicallylool​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @starryeyeseunbyul​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

My Lovelies Forever:

@natura1phenomenon​ @lauravicente​ @kakakatey​ @traceyaudette​ @notyourtypicalrose​ @awesome-badass-cafeteria-sauce​ @sandlee44​ @thorne93​ @thefaithfulwriter1​ @essie1876​ @greyeyedsmile14​ @capsiclehan​  @xostephanie​ @averyrogers83​ @awesomenursingstudent​ @gh0stgurl​ @cs-please​ @jjlevin​ @rainbowkisses31​ @deannotmoose​ @their-bibliophile​ @kitkatd7​ @willowbleedsonpaper​ @mariaenchanted​ @snffbeebee​ @couldabeenamermaid​ @rebekahdawkins​​ @alyispunk​​ @billyseye @hallecarey1​​

Bucky Barnes Tags:

@chloe-skywalker​ @charmedbysarge​ @jbarness​ @bellamy-barnes​ @katiaw2​ @aikeia​ @stopjustlovethemcu​ @enchantedbarnes

Mr. & Mrs. Hunt Series: (TAGS CLOSED)

@jackiehollanderr @mrs-bucky-barnes-73 @theroyalmanatee @wintrsoldrluvr @alexakeyloveloki  @bxckybxrnes24 @lillianacristina @selella @heletsmelovehim @lovelybaka @julvrs @mostlymarvelgirl @heletsmelovehim @learisa @bubblegumbeautyqueen @that-d-bitch @rabbitrabbit12321

[gay-dorito-dust]

If you are up to it, could you write the prompth

❛ is that my shirt? ❜ for Aegon? It would allso fit modern!Aegon.

Morden!Aegon it is! Seeing as I rarely give myself the opportunity to do so. (Ngl this was shit.)

Summary: with most of the family out of the house, Aegon decides that now would be the best time to bring you over.

“Where are they?” Aegon whined, refusing to look at his phone like he had for the past fifth teen minutes, bringing both of his hands to rub away at tiredness within his eyes before letting them drop to be bedding below. Earlier that morning he had been told that he would be having the house to himself for the night. Upon asking why, Alicent told him that herself and Heleana has been invited by Rhaenyra, Baela and Rhaena for a girls night out whilst Aemond had a paper to work on at the public library. This information only told Aegon that none of them would be back until really late or within the early hours of the next day.

At first he was ecstatic with the potential prospects that came with being home alone. He could throw a party, walk about stark naked, whip out his secret weed stash and get high, TP Aemond’s room; The realm of possibilities were endless for Aegon. However when he tried talking Cregan and his nephew Jace into coming over to play games with him. The pair declined, stating that their respective teams had a big game going on that night and that they had already made plans with one another to head to the gym beforehand to get some last minute reps in. Disheartened by the turn of events, Aegon reached out to one last person whom he knew wouldn’t let him down; you.

So when a knock came from the front door Aegon had already bolted out of his bed and down the grand staircase, stopping only to quickly check his appearance in the mirror they had in the foyer, before unlocking the door to usher you inside. “Are you ready to partake in the most banger sleepover ever?” Aegon asked impatiently, eyeing the shoulder bag you had brought as you took off your shoes by the shoe rack, fearing of tracking mud or muck onto the pristine and rigorously polished floors. “Aegon, we’ve had many so called ‘banger’ sleepovers before, how is this going to be any different?” You asked as he slung an arm over your shoulders pressing you into his side, “my sweet, sweet y/n. The difference this time is (a) we’re all alone,” he wiggled his brows suggestively at you only to girlishly squeal when you lightly pinched his side, causing him to flinch away from your side momentarily before continuing.

“(B) we’re alone-“ “you said that twice now- where is everyone?” You cut him off as you tried waiting it out for someone else to appear out of the blue. Normally whenever you came to hang out at Aegon’s, Alicent would be in the bar room, Aemond would either be in the living room or his own private library, mostly reading and Heleana would be in the backyard playing with the dogs or making notes of the plethora of butterfly species that would come visit. The house never felt as spacious as it did with just you and Aegon it almost made you feel small, minuscule even so much so it unnerved you. “I didn’t tell you?” The eldest sibling inquired almost innocently as you shot him a glare. Aegon sighed, knowing that he was partially to blame for being quite vague in his demands for you to hang out, “Mom, Heleana and Aemond are out for the night and…I didn’t want to be alone.”

Aegon could see in your eyes what you were about to ask next and before you could be given a chance to vocalise it, he beaten you to the punch. “Now before you say it, yes I did ask the gym twins but they got their a stupid games tonight. You were the only option I had left…Sorry if that makes me uncool or whatever.” He finished also ashamedly, avoiding your eyes in favour of the money Alicent has left sat on the counter in the case he should get hungry during the night, she took into extreme consideration of the fact her son couldn’t cook for shit, even with a cookbook to guide him; She just didn’t feel like having to deal with the house being set ablaze all because Aegon wanted macaroni and cheese for dinner. You smiled sweetly upon seeing Aegon’s softer, more vulnerable side; He was already quite an emotive man, who was prone to crying out of frustration of his own emotions, but to see him in his natural environment with his guard down made him all the more sweeter in your eyes.

You reached out to grasp his hand in your own, relishing in the warmth it emitted as you squeezed it in means to comfort him. “You could never be uncool to me Aegon,” you reassured him, watching as his pretty doe lilac eyes met your own from underneath his lashes, “now let’s have ourselves the coolest sleeper over ever, yeah?” Just like that Aegon was back to being his normal self as his smile brightly beamed mischievously and his eyes glimmer cheekily under the fluorescent lights. “Hell yeah.” He responded as he swiped the money off of the counter and dragged you up the grand staircase to his room with state of the art LED lights that bathed the room in a deep royal blue.

You’ve been in his room many times before in the past but your eyes never seemed to get use to the colour lighting he chose, you wouldn’t have been able to make out a thing had the glare of his mounted tv not been there to illuminate the unnecessarily large king sided bed pressed up against the left wall; Nor the scattered clothes and other things that littered the floor. “You did happen to bring sleepwear with you, didn’t you?” Aegon asked as he rummaged through his bedsheets, victoriously pull out the remote he was searching for and brings up Nextflix. Whilst he was doing that you rummaged through your bag to find that you had exclusively brought only next day clothes; This technicality wasn’t your fault as you weren’t expecting to be asked to sleepover so late in the night.

To make up for your shortcomings, “Yeah. Got ‘em right here.” You replied as you quickly snatched one of Aegon’s shirt and sleep shorts off of the floor, though not before giving them a quick sniff to make sure that they were clean. “Good, go change in the bathroom whilst I search for a movie for us to watch.” Without needing to be told twice you made your way to bathroom, locking it behind you just incase Aegon got a little cheeky to then removing your clothes and into his grey sleep shorts -which you found were a little big but thank fuck for the existence of drawstrings- and his greyish blue shirt. “You ready yet?!” Aegon yelled from his room, cussing you to flinch slightly at the unexpectedness. “Yeah, yeah I’m ready calm your tits!” You exclaimed, picking up your clothes from the toilet seat, shoving them in your bag.

Aegon made sure to pause the movie of choice just as it was about to get into it’s opening sequence, when he heard you exit from the bathroom and what he saw when you came into his peripherals had the beginnings of a smirk cross his lips. “Is that my shirt? And are those my sleep shorts?” He inquired playfully as you looked down at the captain America; Civil War shirt you were wearing and shrugged. Aegon didn’t need you to tell him anything for he already pieces together everything in his head, which didn’t help his inflated ego anymore then it did make it obnoxiously bigger. His smirk widened as he hopped off the bed to get a closer look at you in his clothes.

“You didn’t have any sleepwear did you?” He asked rhetorically, “So instead of admitting to it, you stole mine and playing it off as though you did. Babe if all you wanted was to wear my clothes, just say so. After all,” his eyes looked you up and down, biting down on his lower lip, “I’m not complaining.” He practically purred which caused a flush of heat to flood your entire body. Which only got made more worse when the platinum haired male got into your personal space and tugged at your (read: his) shirt so you would be chest to chest with him. “Are we gonna watch the movie you spent such a dedicated amount of time searching for? Or are we just going stand here in hopes that something will happen.” You asked, feeding off of the tension building between the two of you. Aegon raises his brows, “I don’t know? Which one do you prefer sweetheart?” He asked in faux innocence as his face edged closer to your own as he whispers, “No need to worry about there being a time limit, we’ve got all night after all.”

[bagopucks]

A. Matthews - Needs Approval

✄————————————

Auston Matthews x Reader

Requested✨

Word count: 3.4k

Warning(s): itty bitty happy crying

Proofread once

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“Alright. We have plans.”

Spontaneity was not something I knew Auston for. So when he came through my front door with these ‘plans’, I had to refrain from looking too surprised.

“Auston, you can’t just blow through here unexpectedly, trying to take me out. I have a kid-“

“No, that’s who I’m looking for.”

My face lit up in shock and slight amusement.

“Sad is the day a woman is outshined by her son. To the man of her dreams, I have become but a mere oracle to consult.”

“Okay, Shakespeare.” Auston smiled, walking over to help me pick up Hudson’s few toys scattered across the floor.

“What are these plans?” I asked, watching him sit next to me.

“I was gonna take him to see that new kids movie.”

“Is there a reason I can’t go? I mean- I’m all for the bonding, but.. I’m a little surprised there’s no invite.”

“Well.. ya know I just thought,” Auston shrugged, “give you a night to yourself. Maybe you could call one of your friends, or- you could always go to my place and hang with Felix. Whatever you want.” I couldn’t quite tell what he was hiding, but I knew it was something. Auston didn’t like to make eye contact when he was avoiding a topic.

“You know I go stir crazy when you boys aren’t around.” I teased, gently nudging his leg with my foot.

“I promise I’ll invite you to the next movie outing.”

“Alright. He’s coming home from a friend’s house. They were working on a project.”

“What kind of project?” Auston glanced up at me before setting another toy into the tub Hudson had designated to his action figures.

“A science project. Creating your own habitat. He and his friend are doing something Arctic with penguins and polar bears.” I smiled, recalling the creativity Hudson had been blessed with. He had so many materials he wanted to use, and so many great ideas.

“He asked me if you could get him a little plush of Carlton so they could set it up in the hall by their habitat.”

“Sounds cool. I’ll definitely get one when I can.”

“By next week.” I was quick to add. “They’ll need it by Friday. That’s when the project is due.”

“I feel like two weeks is a long time for a project like that.”

“Not all kids can be as smart as the one we’ve been raising together.” I didn’t miss the way Auston’s eyes lit up. Then a sheepish smile took over his lips.

“That makes us sound like bad people.” He commented.

“But not bad parents.” I would never tell another person that my child was smarter than theirs, nor did I ever feel as such. I was aware all kids grew and learned at their own pace. But at times it was nice to admit that Hudson was such a curious and driven child, always eager to learn. It was nice to admit Auston and I were shaping a pretty successful child.

“So we’re parents now?”

“Auston, you’ve been here long enough. I’m not ignoring what’s in front of my face. You’re a father to Hudson. You know what he told me the other night?” Auston stopped what he was doing to focus on me. “He told me he wished you didn’t have to bring clothes over all the time. That you could just stay here and be with us every day.” I smiled and tossed another toy into a smaller bucket. “He also said he really loves your house. He said he loves when you have sleepovers there, because he can swim and have ice cream all day.”

“I feed him other stuff!” Auston laughed, shaking his head. “That kid. I promise I feed him other stuff.”

“I’m not too worried about it.” I admitted with a shrug, reaching for another toy. I glanced up at Auston, watched the way his eyes went blank, staring me down. I didn’t ask. Usually he spoke his mind. So I waited, going back to tossing toys in the bucket.

“Do you want me here?”

“You’ll have to explain a little.”

“If we ever move in together. Do you want me like- in this house with you, or do you want to live with me? Or we could get our own place.”

“Change is gonna be a little hard no matter what we do. But I think what’s best is searching for a new home together. Something that’s ours equally. I want a new house, with new memories. Unless that’s too expensive.”

“No, I totally understand. And nothing’s too expensive.”

“We’ll buy a place we agree on. And as much as I love the modern touch of your house, I still want something that feels like a home.”

“Whatever you and Hudson want.”

“I’ll let you have a man cave.” I teased, smiling at his quiet laugh. We had time to discuss it. We were in no rush. We had just only started talking of marriage a month ago. We actually had to get married before anything else. At least that was the next step Auston and I agreed on.

“Do you want any more kids?”

“Are you kidding?” I laughed, resting my hand on the floor to support my weight. “Every time I see you with Hudson I think I want another kid.”

“But after the change?” Auston asked.

“Yes.” I picked up the last action figure and set it in the small bucket. A small test. I knew Auston would pass it before his hand even reached into the bucket to remove the figure, tossing it into the bigger one. “I want Hudson to feel comfortable in a new place, and feel secure before we go making any additions.” I watched a brown curl fall out of place. “It’s important that he feels like your kid before we have any others. The last thing I’d want is for him to feel like you’ll love him any less.”

“I could never. He’d be my kid just as much as the others.” Auston slowly leaned back to lay on the floor. I made my way over to lay with him, resting my head on his chest.

“Others plural?”

“At least three.”

“Three between us?” I gasped.

“No! No. Like- Hudson, and then two others.”

“Why three?”

“‘Cause kids that grow up in families with just one sibling- they end up weird.”

“What?”

“My first example is Mitch.”

“Auston!” I scolded through soft laughter. “He’s not weird.”

“He’s pretty weird.” Auston chuckled, warming my heart with the way his body moved beneath me. I lifted my hand to check the time on my watch. A sigh fell from my lips. We’d only just laid down, and already we had to get up.

“You wanna come stand with me on the porch? Hudson’s gonna be here soon.”

“Boy do I.” Though Auston’s words were teasing, I knew he was excited. I stood up and helped him off the ground. I walked toward the door and unlocked it while I put my slippers on. Pulling the door open, I walked out onto the porch, Auston close behind.

“What time do you think you’ll be getting back?” I asked as I pulled the door shut.

“Probably around eight? If thats not too late.”

“Eight is just fine. Maybe hold off on the sweets though if you get movie snacks.”

“What do you mean if? You always get movie snacks.” I laughed at Auston’s argument.

“The popcorn is pretty good.”

“And the little chocolate crunchy things.”

“The Buncha Crunches?”

“Yeah, those.” Auston nodded. I leaned against the porch rail, and Auston mirrored my stance next to me.

“He’s gonna be so excited to see you.”

“Oh, quit that.” Auston bumped his hip against my own.

“You don’t understand how much he loves you. Or how much he misses you. When you’re on road trips. And how scared he gets when he thinks you’re hurt.”

“I’m always a call away.”

“Yeah I know. I just hate not knowing your schedule when you’re in another city.”

“Shoot me a text.” Auston rested his hand atop my own. “You’re a first priority. I’ll always text you back fast.”

Our conversation was cut off as a car pulled into the drive. The back window rolled down as Hudson hopped out with his book bag. His friend waved and shouted goodbye.

“Thanks for the ride Mrs. Haleigh!” Hudson bounced up the driveway, but the second he turned in our direction, his speed picked up. I waved to Haleigh before she pulled out of my driveway and left.

“Auston!” He climbed up the porch steps and dropped his bag.

“You mind if I steal ya for a bit tonight?” Auston asked, holding his hand out for their elaborate handshake.

“Did you ask mom?”

“Of course I did.”

“Can I put my stuff inside?”

“I’ll get it.” I answered quietly, laughing. “I’ll take a hug first before you leave.” I added quickly. Hudson was swift to spin around and hug my legs. “Be safe. And listen to Auston.”

“I always do.”

“I’m serious.” I pulled away to grab his bag from the floor.

“I’ll see you boys later.” Hudson was already jogging down the stairs by the time I turned to Auston. I rested my hand beneath his chin and guided his lips to my own. “I love you.” I whispered.

“I love you too.” Auston smiled, pressing another quick kiss to my lips. Hudson had never been one of those kids to gag or groan. He usually just smiled or looked away. I had no doubt it was because of his happiness. He didn’t grow up for five years with a proper example of love. He was content with knowing love provided happiness. With understanding that we had a good situation.

“Ready, Hudson?” Auston finally followed the kid down the steps.

“Yes!”

I gave one last wave before they left. When the silence set in, I felt both at ease and antsy. I decided to slip back inside to find something to busy myself with.

——————

“So what snacks do you want?”

“Can we get gummies?”

“I’m cool with that. What about slushees?”

“Oh! Blue!”

Auston followed and enforced every rule you did. Almost every rule. When it came to movies, he didn’t give Hudson a sugar limit other than what would make the kid sick. And when it came to hockey, Auston told Hudson sometimes cursing was appropriate. Hudson however, was keen on saying words and phrases you told him never to say. Like “stupid” and “jerk.” Hudson knew of curse words, but they weren’t well rounded in his vocabulary yet.

“Did you get that?” Auston asked the woman behind the counter, who smiled and nodded.

“Cute kid.” She complimented.

“He’s my girlfriend’s.” Auston used to love the attention in Toronto. Girls always managed to find him, speak to him, contact him. It brought a lot of confidence, and worked wonders on his ego. If he was honest with himself, Auston didn’t know what he was getting into when he first met Hudson. Auston always said he wasn’t opposed to meeting somebody, he just never found the right person. Turns out his right person was actually two people. Now he only needed one love to make him feel like a million bucks. And the admiration of the kid standing next to him, trying to gnaw open a bag of gummy worms.

“You think mom’s okay on her own?” Hudson asked after Auston had paid, and they were handed the rest of their snacks.

“I think she’s doing just fine.”

“How’s come you didn’t invite her?” Auston led the kid toward the theatre corridor.

“‘Cause I just wanted to have a fun night with you.”

“You always invite mom.” Auston sighed, glancing down at Hudson.

“I have a really important question for you.”

“How important?”

Auston had to pause, thinking of a good comparison.

“Like.. Stanley Cup important.” He found amusement in the way Hudson immediately looked up at him, wide eyed.

“Dude…” Hudson whispered. “That’s pretty important.”

“I know.”

“Why do you need to ask me?”

“Because right now, you’re kinda like.. the keeper of the cup.”

“That’s cool. What does he do?”

“He protects the cup. Makes sure it doesn’t get any scratches. Travels everywhere with it, and keeps an eye on it.”

“Well that sounds like a pretty boring job.”

“Yeah, but its important.” Auston paused as he pulled the door to their theatre open.

“So what are you asking me?”

“Well I can’t tell you right now.” Hudson groaned as he walked up the isle into the theatre, Auston following close behind.

“Why do I have to wait?”

“I wasn’t gonna bring it up until after we watched the movie.” Auston reasoned as he helped Hudson find their seats. Hudson’s silence was a bit out of character, but Auston let it slide. Once they got comfortable, Hudson turned to him.

“Nobody’s ever told me I’m as important as the guy who watches the Stanley Cup.” He admitted softly.

“Well I’m glad I got to be the first.” Auston smirked, reaching for the extra straw he’d stuffed in his pocket.

“What’s that for?” Hudson asked, watching as Auston peeled the wrapper off and crumbled it up. They made brief eye contact before Auston stuck the straw in Hudson’s slushee and took a sip.

“Hey!” Hudson laughed quietly, and soon Auston was laughing too. “That’s not fair!”

“Yeah, we’ll I paid for it, pal.”

“You’re mean,” Hudson teased as he swatted the bill of Auston’s hat.

“I only do it cause I love ya.” The words left Auston’s lips before he could really think of them. He looked away almost immediately, holding his breath and trying to act natural. A kid can smell panic from a mile away. But instead of Hudson asking any more questions, or teasing, he let out a big old sigh and looked forward as well. Auston saw him smile from the corner of his eye. Then he felt a small hand rest on his arm.

“I love you too.” Auston could hardly contain his smile, and he was still grinning like an idiot as soon as the movie began.

The boys sat quietly through the movie, though admittedly Auston missed most of it, replaying the quiet moment he shared with Hudson over and over again in his head. He’d worked hard to earn Hudson’s respect and acceptance. He worked hard to fill a role he knew he hadn’t been prepared for.

When the movie ended, Auston knew he’d have no trouble asking Hudson his important question.

“That was such a cool movie.” Hudson beamed as the credits began to roll. Auston helped him gather their trash before they left the theatre and threw everything away.

“Thanks for taking me out, Auston!” Hudson skipped along the tile floor in the lobby, careful not to step on any cracks. Auston laughed at his excitement. The kid was all hopped up on sugar.

“Hold up, Buddy.” Auston immediately reached for Hudson’s hand when the boy made it to the door. Hudson high fived Auston before pushing the door open.

“No, Hudsy. It’s a dark parking lot. Hold my hand.” Auston’s amused laughter was met with a bashful smile from Hudson, who slipped his hand into Auston’s. They were careful when walking across the parking lot, and Auston opened the front door for Hudson.

“My car seat’s in the back.” Hudson reminded.

“We have to talk first, little dude.”

“Oh! Oh yeah.” Hudson climbed up into the front seat, before Auston walked around the car to join him on the other side. He pulled his door shut and turned the vehicle on.

“So, this big question.”

“Yes.” Hudson pulled his legs up onto the seat to fold them up, turning to face Auston.

“You ready for it?” Despite his certainty that he’d get a yes, Auston still felt nervous.

“Yes!” Hudson insisted.

“Alright.. I want you to be honest with me. Like completely honest. Okay?”

“Just ask, Auston.” Hudson urged. His impatience got the best of him.

“Is it okay if I marry your mom?”

There was a beat of silence. Hudson taking time to process the question, while his wide eyes studied Auston’s face.

“You wanna marry my mom.” Hudson repeated.

“Yeah? I really love her, Aus. And I love you. I’d love to join your little family.” Auston fidgeted with his own hands, occasionally glancing down to avoid the steady gaze from the kid across the console.

“So you mean like.. I’m gonna have a dad? Like a real dad?” Auston immediately looked up.

“Of course, Hudson. That’s what I’ve been trying to do.”

“I’m gonna have a dad.” Hudson’s features shifted from excitement to shock, then he couldn’t sit still. His hands pulled at the fabric of his pants, seemingly distressed as tears clouded his vision.

“Hudson?” Auston immediately reached across the car to rest a hand on the boy’s arm. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m gonna have a dad.” Hudson cried out, the tears spilling down his cheeks. Years of confusion and grief, always feeling like he was missing out on something. It was finally coming to an end. Hudson’s mind could only focus on one thing. Having a second parent.

“Buddy, come here.” Auston gently guided Hudson forward. The kid practically climbed over the console and right into Auston’s lap, wrapping his arms around the man’s shoulders to sob against his collar. Auston held onto Hudson like his whole life depended on it. The situation choked him up, but he kept a brave face. At least he thought he did, until he felt a few tears of his own sliding down his cheeks.

“Hudson,” Auston forced the word from his lips. He knew Hudson would be happy eventually, but the pain had to come first. Kids were too young to completely understand their emotions. Hudson’s tears came from fear and relief. Relief of knowing the wait was over, and fear of not understanding why that made him want to cry. He just needed to let it out. Auston learned he was pretty good at sitting and waiting for that.

“I gotcha, Hudson. You wanna take a few breaths for me?” He felt Hudson’s choppy breathing stop for only a moment before it started again. He was listening.

“Those were pretty bad breaths, dude.” Auston teased softly, sniffing quietly, a quiet quivering laugh falling from his lips.

“Shut up.” Hudson pouted, his voice broke as he spoke. He gently punched Auston’s shoulder.

“You wanna try that again?” Auston moved one of his hands from Hudson’s back to reach for the hand that hit his shoulder. Hudson only tightened his grip.

“I just-“ he hiccuped. “I just wanna hug a little bit longer.” He whispered.

“You got it.” Auston nodded, wrapping his arm back around Hudson.

At some point, Hudson’s legs grew tired, and his grip on Auston finally loosened. So, the hockey player took his chance to help Hudson lean back, a smile on his lips as he pulled the sleeve of his sweatshirt over his palm.

“You okay now?” Auston asked as he wiped Hudson’s face with his sleeve. Hudson managed a smile and nodded.

“I’m really happy.” Hudson finally admitted, though his voice sounded as though another round of tears were close behind.

“You can’t tell your mom, okay? You’re gonna help me with everything, but you can’t tell her.”

“I can do that. I won’t tell anybody.” Hudson spoke as he stood on the seat between Auston’s legs, leaning back against the steering wheel.

“Betcha didn’t expect me to ask that kinda question tonight. Did ya?”

“That’s bigger than the Stanley Cup.” Hudson giggled quietly, still sniffling as he rubbed at his face.

“I know. That’s why I had to ask your permission. You and your mom mean the world to me. I wanted to make sure you were okay with it first.”

“It’s okay with me.” Hudson clarified, as if he needed to. “You can marry my mom.”

“You know.. as her son, you’ll get the third piece of cake in the wedding.”

“Who gets the first and second?”

“Me and your mom.” Auston helped Hudson back across to the passenger seat.

“You’ll share a little bit with me though.. won’t you?” Hudson’s question made Auston scoff out a laugh.

“We’ll talk about it more when the time comes.”

✾❀✾❀✾❀✾❀✾❀✾❀✾❀✾

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for wanting my mother to stop making so much noise in her own house when I’m staying here?

So me (22M) and my mother (62F) have a complicated relationship. She is very very toxic and always has been - she used to induce illness in me and make my pre-existing disorders worse so that she could keep me with her when she separated from my father, she never let me leave the house because she would tell me I would be harmed or something would happen to me if I was away from her, she would control everything I did and what I ate or drank, where I went, etc. The house she and I lived in was an incredibly bad environment for me. It’s not taken care of, it’s dirty and unhygienic, I was constantly ill and having allergies set off, she would try to feed me dirt-covered food I watched her pick up off the floor, the shower didn’t work and she wouldn’t let me go elsewhere to bathe. I kept talking about moving out, especially once I got into a serious relationship with my girlfriend (26F), but it would always devolve into an argument with her telling me I wasn’t going anywhere, that my girlfriend would leave me, that she’s the only person who’ll stick by me, and so on.

All of that is basically background context to counterbalance the (fair) preconceptions of “you’re guests you’re imposing on her you can just leave” etc you’re about to have.

So I finally moved out this year and in with my girlfriend and it was wonderful. However, my mother was blowing up BOTH of our phones 24/7 telling me to come back, and it reached the point she was contacting Other people (family, our friends) to get Them to tell me to move back in with her and asking where I was at all hours of the day, who I was with and what I was doing. I was ignoring her as best I could. Then a couple of weeks ago mine and my girlfriend’s house flooded after our upstairs neighbour burst a pipe in the building and water began fountaining through all our electrical sockets and lights and pouring from the ceiling. We had nowhere else to go except to stay with my mother until the house was repaired and made safe again, especially because so many of our belongings were ruined.

So we’ve been back here since. We’re forced to sleep on the couch together in the living room because in the time I was gone she somehow let bugs infest my old room and her cat pee all over the mattress of the bed.

Now, my girlfriend and I are both very non-confrontational and I’m usually super hard to annoy, but I’m also autistic and highly sensitive to noise. And my mother is. Very noisy. She blasts the TV at full volume all day even when she leaves the room and gets angry if you turn it off even if she’s not watching it, she’s a chainsmoker who’s constantly hack-coughing, she’ll have the radio playing OVER the TV, she shouts out the windows to her neighbours, she keeps all the windows and doors open, she’ll play music at full volume without headphones on, etc. I have noise-cancelling headphones from when I still lived here but she’s often so loud it doesn’t muffle it at all.

Recently it’s reached the point where she’ll wake up during the night, say 2-4am, come through to the room we’re sleeping in where the TV is, and just turn the TV on, turn the radio on, start singing along to music, slam doors, VACUUM. For the past 2 weeks she’s been waking me and my fiancée up every single night, often several times, and we’re at the end of our rope with it.

We can’t afford a hotel and have nowhere else to go, when we try to ask her to keep it down at LEAST during the night she says she can do whatever she wants because it’s her house and says we’re being ungrateful, and when we’ve offered to try to clean up my old room so we can sleep in there she snaps at us not to touch anything of ‘hers’ and gets mad because we’re implying her house isn’t clean, that we don’t want to be near her, that we must be telling everyone her house is shitty, etc.

Yesterday I got into an argument with her because I was having an extremely bad sensory day, my girlfriend said she had a migraine, and my mother responded by turning up the TV. When she saw I was holding onto my headphones and my girlfriend was near tears, she turned it up even louder and smirked at me. The argument basically ended in her screaming at me that if she was so bad we could leave, I impulsively said okay we would, and then she got physically aggressive and barred the doorway and told us I wasn’t going anywhere because she’d make sure of it.

It’s just. Exhausting! GF and I are constantly sleep-deprived, drained, grumpy, tired, and dealing with headaches on top of the stress of trying to financially recoup from the house flood and deal with getting everything fixed, and half of me is mad at my mother for not having even basic respect for us sleeping or our issues when half the time she is not even watching the damn TV or in the same room as it, while the other half of me feels conflicted because it’s her living room and we’re sleeping in the TV room and she’s putting us up when we have nowhere else.

AITA (/are we the assholes) for wanting her to accommodate us despite being guests?

What are these acronyms?

[bronx-bomber87]

Happy Wednesday my lovely readers :) We’ve reached the episode that rocked me to my very core. Honestly haven’t been this attached to a ship in a very very long time. Years passed without this level of attachment. Bringing out sides of me I didn't think existed. Like doing reviews. But our ship is something special even when they rip our hearts out. I blame Eric and Melissa LOL They are INCREDIBLE in this episode. The both of them. Brought their A game and then some.

This ep legit affected my mood for 3 weeks no joke and utterly destroyed me. I needed extra days to decompress before did my mini. The fandom was so lovely about that too. Love this fandom so much. I still don't know how I got that out tbh lol Also God Bless my bestie D for going through that with me. I got to watch it early that day which normally didn’t get to. Was usually after work. I remember D wanted to stop me but didn’t cause she couldn’t tell me why..

I had to go to a company meeting after and pretend I wasn’t devastated. Be a positive fun leader when inside I was dying. I did a good job my team had no idea lol But damn that was tough. Never been happier for a 3 week break than after this one. We all needed it. Let us begin. And thank you all again for going through this heartbreak with me. Gif count was rough for me so I fit in everything I could and made a ton.

6x06 Secrets and Lies

We start out with Lucy looking as stressed and anxious as we’ve ever seen her. Laying in bed but most definitely is not resting. The brutal toll this situation has taken becoming visible. When Tamara asks how stressed she is from 1-10? Lucy answering 19….Ooof....Could not be more relatable if she tried. When I get this laser focused I too am a nineteen. Her person has been radio silent for days. Her last contact with him was a massive knock out drag out fight.

This is the most time they’ve spent apart since they got together. Like I stated last review other than 6x01 they've scarcely been away from one another. Her UC mission in 5x21 yes but doesn’t really count. They talked every single day. So it’s truly the longest they’ve been apart. No wonder she is at a 19. Poor Lucy. Kills me. Such a wreck without him. Tamara asks if Tim is still ghosting her? Lucy tries to defend their situation. Not well but she sure tries lol

Lucy is barely keeping it together and it shows. I love that we get a shot of her pin-up board from that BTS video. The cupcake poster hehe Hopefully that makes a triumphant return in s7. Tamara doesn’t want to add to her stress... But let's her know she wants to move out. With friends from school. Worst timing ever. It makes sense but the timing is horrendous. Lucy takes so many hits this season. It’s almost worse the second time around somehow.

This time Lucy goes to an actual adult about Tim. Not useless Nolan who was painfully inept for her. Couldn’t fit it in but we see her touch her tattoo when she approaches Angela. *heart clutch* I love Melissa for doing it every time though. So subtle yet impactful. Nice little mini gut punch to start the scene. This was the right call though. If anyone knows Tim like her it’s Angela. Lucy asking if she should alert Grey? Honestly she should've but here we are. That would've been a whole other set of problems though...

Lucy feels like she’s going insane so Angela validating her helps. (at first) You know she finds this behavior of his incredibly alarming. We can see the immediate worry painted across her face. That’s her brother. She loves that man like he’s one. What sucks is that, even though Angela is empathetic, she doesn’t fulfill the needs that Lucy is going for. Which is reassurance and 'Hey let’s do this together.' A united front. Hoping since he is acting off Angela's reply would be 'Let's find out why as a team.' She is protecting her but Lucy is in a heightened emotional state and doesn't see that. Only see's being shut out further from Tim.

Angela plays her cards very close to her chest. Like a good detective would. Sadly Lucy wanted more solace than just ‘Trust him.’ That’s all she’s been doing for days. Poor woman is going out of her damn mind with worry. Even tells Angela as such. The reply she gets back not what she wanted… She wanted her detective gut and friendship. Unfortunately she just gets the former. That short lived validation she got earlier dying off quickly. Lucy is so damn upset when she takes off from the convo. Knowing if she sticks around she’s going to cry on shift. My damn heart. Melissa be killing me. Holy hell.

Angela scaring the crap out of Tim is hilarious. Serves him right tbh. This episode had me so upset and twisted, I couldn’t even enjoy scruffy Tim in a leather jacket. You know something is wrong when I can’t gawk over this man. Angela has zero trouble finding him. Because well it’s her. This is why Lucy enlisted her. She needed the best to help her. Such best friend behavior from the minute she enters his car.

Drinking his soda, calling him out, and asking WTF is going on? I adore her brazen bravery. This is why we love Angela Lopez. Willing to get herself fired for him. That she can take the hit not Lucy. I mean she’s not wrong….Angela could easily live off Wes. She would hate it but she could. It's a more viable option. Says it can be ‘Wine o’clock for her.’ LOL I always enjoy them. More of them in s7 please writers.

Tim doesn’t argue with her reasoning. Starts to explain the whole Ray debacle. Why he can’t just let him go. What he has on him. That he needs to catch him in a new crime. So he has reason to actually arrest him. Once Tim fully explains Angela just replies. ‘I’m in.’ Tim is shocked because of course he is ha Even though she is his best friend he can't believe has his back like this. Oh my broken boy. He double checks and asks if she’s sure? Her reply being the absolute best. ‘Yeah. I got your back boo.’ Hehe Lucky she’s your best friend my love.

We rejoin our bestie duo at the docks. Scoping out Ray on whatever back door deals he’s doing. She is studying Tim hard in this scene. It’s the best. Angela tries to impart some logic to Tim. Saying he’s followed Ray for two days and nothing. Asking how long he’s going to do this? Tim replying the most Tim Bradford reply. ‘As long as it takes.’ Angela is on her game today and doesn’t let him get away with it. Saying he’s just going to walk away from his job? From his relationship with Lucy? All to arrest a guy he hasn’t thought about in over a decade?

Something isn’t adding up for her and she is letting him know it. Angela gives her patented look. Knowing it’s something more. There’s a reason she’s such a good detective. Woman knows how to get to the root of things. Tim has only given her surface info at this point. Definitely not enough to justify this crusade he’s currently on. Let’s him know Lucy would understand why he lied on the report. She would even commend him for it really. We know she would. She love his soft heart so much. Tim agrees and says she would still get in trouble for knowing and not reporting him to IA.

A risk she would gladly take if you’d let her Timothy… It’s here Angela digs a little deeper. He gets a second stare. Tim finding it aggravating and telling her as such. Angela let's her next truth bomb drop. Saying he’s doing it to protect himself as much as her. That there’s something he’s not admitting. Mic drop. Nailed it and Tim knows it but won’t entertain it further. Has him dead to rights and he knows it. We then get the glorious BFF line. Like it or not she is. lmao Has your number just like your girl.

We return to Angela’s for Tim to break our hearts some more. Theme of this episode. One punch after another. Literally no time to breathe unless you check out during the other SL's. Which I did tbh.... They’re alone so she probes Tim further. Knowing that it has to be so much more than a report. He wouldn't let Ray get under his skin like this if it was that shallow. That he's bearing the weight of something on his soul. Tim gives in and begrudgingly explains what happened. That he had been squad leader most of his tour. That he was looking to move up to Sergeant First Class. Only caveat was he couldn’t have any rampant criminality in his unit.

Ray was in the way of this. Tim decided to keep it within the squad if they caught him themselves. He did an unsanctioned mission… Oh Timothy….He explains how Ray called in an air strike on them. Did this the minute he knew he was trapped. Schmuck would rather take them with him. Such a cowards move. The way Tim describes the air strike. Ugh my heart. His eyes filling up as he depicts how the world imploded around them. Eric is a master of emotion here. So expressive. Looks like he is right back there, with the most haunted look on his face. He thought he was going to die. Being so vulnerable I wanna hug him.

He and Mark were lucky though. The Humvee took the hit for them. But Henderson and Coyle were ripped apart….Ugh and now we see what he’s been bearing. That he led his men to their deaths. Their loyalty and faith in him had cost them their lives. All because Tim was in pursuit of a promotion. For personal glory. Explains why he wouldn't praise himself or take awards pre-Lucy. Or advance his career before her either. He didn’t feel he deserved anything good. Because the last time that was important to him, he got two of his men killed. Imma go cry now.... My poor broken boy. The PTSD is so real.

Eric continues to rip my heart out. Telling Angela there was so much blood. I can't imagine seeing that. They for sure thought Ray was KIA. No way he survived. It’s the way he catches his breath, tears in his eyes in this next part. I'm so upset for him. The way he points at himself when he says leadership. The failure and shame he feels for what he did. When we found out it would be his military background I was excited. I knew it would be dark though. Whatever this was. But my god. I wasn’t expecting it to be this. But makes perfect sense why he’s kept it from Lucy. He can’t bring himself to forgive what he did. How could he expect Lucy to? To still look at him like he’s the same man she fell in love with?

The deep rooted shame is evident in this scene. This is quite the weight to keep on your soul. One I’m sure he’s never told anyone. Not even Isabel about I bet. My guess is he buried it once he was state side. Like most do with trauma. Hoping it would never resurface. Sadly not how trauma goes... The way he tells the story it’s for the first time. You can tell. He’s right back there re-living it all. This scene gives us so much insight to Tim as a person. Why he is the way he is as a cop. As a person. It explains why he lost his damn mind in 2x01 over Lucy falsifying the report. Probably brought him right back there.

This is a very revealing scene. It makes sense why he shoulders things alone. It’s punishment for what he did. Doesn’t think anyone could love him enough to shoulder it with him. That breaks my damn heart. This ep makes me so emotional. *sad sigh* Nothing scarier than the person you love seeing you at your worst. With his background of abuse, it makes sense why he’s hidden this from Lucy. He doesn’t feel worthy of the comfort she would bring him. Only shame that he made a mistake. Tim is very self loathing and this is why. Coupled with his childhood it makes so much sense why he is the way he is…This one is emotionally heavy af. All his unchecked trauma barreling through like a bullet train in this ep.

Lucy arrives home and Tamara is there to take care of her. Saying she ordered pizza. I love this. She needed this. Lucy leaves the room to drop off her stuff. We hear a knock at the door and it’s Ray.... Earlier he scanned Tim’s vehicle and got Lucy’s address. Which made me sick to my stomach. I knew him grabbing it was going to end this way. Best way to get to Tim is through his heart. When Tamara opened the door and it was him..The hairs at the back of my neck stood up. Tamara calls out for Lucy. She emerges and goes into protect mode right away. Eyes on Tamara first but also hating her gun is locked up.

Heart was in my damn throat the entire time. Lucy handles herself like the bad ass we’ve all come to know and love. Commend her for keeping herself composed when she was terrified. I also adore her not putting up with any of his scare tactic BS. Her line about the only call she’s gonna make is for the ambulance. Like hot damn Lucy. Way to protect Tamara and yourself. It's true she could take his scrawny ass easily. I long to be the confident BAMF she is.

Doesn't hurt she’s still got the rage burning from being in the dark. So not only is her life being threatened now Tamara's is. This is Lucy's FINAL straw. It’s now bled over in the worst way. Not only that but she still has no idea what’s going on. We can see that mama bear come out loud and proud. It’s one thing for her to be involved it’s a whole other thing with Tamara dragged in. This is what pushes her to reach out To Tim. To cut his crap. Whatever this is has now endangered an innocent life. One she loves fiercely and will die to protect.

Lucy RAGE calls Tim and unleashes hell. As she should… Demanding to know where his ass is. Tim knowing he can’t hold her back any longer. So he lets her know. I mean Lucy is million percent done with this crap now. With his behavior, him cutting her out, all of it. So very very done. Rightfully so. I do love him answering ‘Hey, what’s wrong?’ Knowing she wouldn’t be calling unless something was. He for sure would’ve dropped it all to go to her.

But she was way too pissed to see that fact. She shows up like a bat out of hell. Biting his head off immediately saying 'Does she look ok?' No….she does not. Forever love Angela escorting Tamara out of the room. Mom and dad about to have it out so let's go. The concern all over his face kills me though. This was the last thing he wanted to happen. The very thing he was striving for by shutting her out backfired horribly. Not only did he endanger her but Tamara too.

It was Lucy’s final straw and she is showing it. These were the types of fights that are needed though. As much as this hurts she is fighting him to save them. Because he is worth the bother and effort. Just like he stated in 5x08. Asking why her and Chris never fight?They’re fighting against each other to protect one another it kills me. Also you know your ship has chemistry when even their fights are lightning in a bottle goodness. Just as amazing as their happy stuff. I can't speak enough to their fantastic on-screen chemistry. Even though this fight is fiery and hurts to watch it's hurts so good to watch them hash it out.

Tim explains who Ray is and Lucy don’t give a single fuck. It’s not who he is that has her raging. It’s him cutting her out that is. I love the movements Melissa does in this scene. I know she had an interview about her being mad. Thinking she was awkward. It wasn't at all. Was so real. I think she nailed it. Her body language is on point. How she stamps her foot. Shouting how who Ray is doesn’t explain why he iced her out. At all. She is VIBRATING with anger. Yelling at Tim to stop protecting her. Which he won't. That is like asking him to stop breathing tbh. He would rather die than not protect her. Ugh his reply of ‘ I can’t. I won’t.’ They’re at odds with the deepest part of their souls. Of who they are.

Tim will never stop protecting her. Just as she will never stop trying to help him. Been in her DNA from the jump. For him to not let her is just as painful as Tim not protecting her. *sigh* This is where their intense need to protect each other backfires so badly. Sounds romantic and sometimes it is. But in these type of moments, it shows the cracks in their already fractured communication. It real though. Communicating is HARD. Especially when you both come from abusive homes where that wasn't taught. If you aren't taught healthy communication you're just not going to do it. Simple as that. It's like a muscle that never gets used. Then when it does it feels so unnatural and painful.

These two are going to be the death of me. Hell they already have been. They have so much to work on in s7. It’s insane. I'm excited for it though. Lucy then brings up how Lopez was read in but not her. She is HIS PERSON. If anyone should be read in it’s her. Consequences be damned. Yeah Angela does have less to lose but that is NOT the point. Tim is clearly not getting that fact. I adore Lucy grabbing his hands during the end of the scene. Mirroring back she 'Can’t and won’t' not help him. Telling him she is over being to good girlfriend. He’s going to let her in NOW. Oooh lord. You Tell 'em Luce.

Their OP to foil Ray goes off without a hitch. Tim tells him it’s over. That there isn’t an air stroke to save him this time. Ray tells Tim ‘I am the air strike. I’m about to blow up your whole life.’ *grumble* It’s so true on many many levels. Watching Tim be so stoic in his IA investigation kills me. Wish could've fit this in. Eric be out here again making me emotional af two eps in a row. You can see the tears in his eyes but the rest of him is controlled. That military background of his coming in clutch.

it pains me to watch him lie and have it destroy him. I remember I saw people saying how could he lie? That’s not like him. Um no. This is very like Tim. Not to lie but to protect those he loves. If lying protects Lucy and Lopez that’s what he’s going to do. He has a history of being a little gray for those he loves. Isabel is a good example of that. All that went down with Detective Murphy was similar to this. ‘Some things matter more.’ Once again rings true with him. Tim is believed over Ray. Because even if Tim doesn’t want to believe this he is the better man.

Better reputation and Percy closes the investigation. Have missed him. But whoever he’s around it’s not good. Love the actor though. What happens after is rough to say the least. Never seen Grey as disappointed in Tim as he is here. Reprimanding him and having to report him to Pine SUCKS. R.I.P. Metro Tim. I loved you so…It’s killing Tim to have Grey look at him this way. Deeply respects him and to be scolded by him cuts him. Just dismisses Tim without further comment or fight….

God almighty the song playing in the background. I don’t even remember it. I only watched this scene once. I think I blacked out a lot in this moment. The immense shock rocked my system. Suffice to say it’s beautiful. The piano, the haunting oohs and lyrics are the perfect backdrop to this devastating scene. I felt this building anxiety watching this scene. Waiting for the hammer to drop. When she pulled him into her arms *phew* It was first breath I had taken in nearly two episodes. These eps had me on the razor's edge of sanity. I love her waiting outside for him and instantly pulling him into her arms. Just like Tim did for her in 5x22. I'm fine.....Imma cry as I write this. Horse heaven playing in my ears right now. Adding to my emotional state. These two getting me all weepy.

I’ll be honest I thought if a break up was coming, it was coming from Lucy the first time. Which is why this devastated me like it did. Having the full season in hand now. Makes total sense it’s Tim. At the time I thought would be her. But that wouldn’t be like Lucy at all. After everything he put her through. The secrets, the lies and shutting her out. She had every damn right. But she loves this man unconditionally. So unconditionally. Everything Lucy does in this scene is a reflection of that unconditional love. There to pick up his broken pieces despite all of that went down. Look at her in those gifs above.

Especially that second one. First time she took a breath too. So grateful to be here for him in this moment. I truly thought ‘Oh. Maybe we’re ok... She’s hugging him.’ Encasing him in her arms. Trying to absorb all of his hurt. Supporting him the way he sought out days previous. Gently cradling him against her. It's the tender way she nestled her fingers at the back of his head that gets me. Tapping into some ship crack for me there. *phew* Honestly thought with her being there for him they would make it out unscathed. I truly did. The chemistry from this hug is unreal btw. Tim doesn’t feel worthy in the least. The way he slumps against her. Doesn’t really hug her back like normal. Can't see Lucy is so willing to absorb his hurt and pain. To love him through this. This hug is beautifully tragic.

Lucy releases him and he looks as broken as I’ve ever seen him. 4x09 x 1000 tbh. He shirks away from her. Hands in his pocket. So disgusted and ashamed with himself. Something l've learned in Pilates is posture and the importance of it. When you stand tall and at full height. You are confident and sure of yourself. When you are slumped it presents a lack of confidence, shame, and feeling unworthy. His posture is screaming that. Like he feels he shouldn’t even be in her presence right now. He crushes me with how he says he lied about everything.

Then sarcastically almost sardonically follows it up with ‘But hey it saved my job….’ The amount of disdain in his voice is gut wrenching. The whole reason he was in this Ray mess was to further himself. To keep his career intact. He saw a promotion and went for it at all costs. What he just did lying to IA was to be that same man again. (In his mind) To put his career first over what’s right. Risked people's lives again as well. People he loves. Sickens him ten years later he’s doing the same thing all over again. Even though it's so different this time. There is still nobility in it with saving Lucy and Lopez. But this man can't see that right now. Doesn't see any good in this situation or himself.

Lucy does her best to sympathize. Telling him it was an impossible situation. If it had been her she would’ve done the same thing. Thing is if it had been for Tim yes she would’ve without question. But he can’t see the forest for the trees atm. He is drowning absolutely drowning in his self-loathing. Tim continues on with the painful self flogging. Telling her she would’ve never been in his position. Putting her on a pedestal while he makes himself very very small. That OTP line from 6x03 from him 'You could never disappoint me.' That is true. The problem is he doesn't realize he could never disappoint her either. Tragically Tim doesn't view it that way. Only sees he's not worthy.

Lucy once again tries to pick up his pieces. Telling him he thought he could handle it. He was wrong but made it right. It’s like she can sense him pulling away in this moment. Doing her best to calm his fears about himself. Trying to do what she’s always done in years past best. Build him up. Soothe him. Sadly she isn’t gaining an inch of ground with him. He is stuck in how he feels and there is no budging him. Tim is morose saying he wishes it was that easy….We can see the incredible amount hurt on his face. Telling her he just lied to two men he deeply respects. He is coming undone rapidly and Lucy can see it. I adore her putting her hands on him. Trying to right his ship.

Ground him to her in this moment. Because once again it's something she’s done so well in the past. Tim is spiraling so hard he can’t see her gesture for what it is. Tells her he just betrayed everything he thought was right about himself. *heart clutch* Lucy can’t stand him talking down about himself. Tries to interrupt but Tim won’t allow it. Lucy graciously nods and lets him get it out. Especially when he tells her how hard this is for him. She is so wonderfully understanding it makes my heart ache. Tim feels like he is a bad guy. Thought he had gotten past this and was sucked back in so easily. Truly believed he had become a better person since then. (He has) Ray was right he was gonna blow up his entire life.

He just exposed Tim for the fraud he already felt he was. Bringing his greatest sin to light. Bringing up feelings of not being deserving. Of inadequacy. His abuse background pulling into the station and not leaving. Tim is back to a place of massive self loathing. Saying he has been lying to himself for years. Thinking he’s gotten better when he hasn’t. To him he reverted back to the man he thought he left behind. Not only that he put his person. The woman he loves at risk to cover up his past. To cover up his shame. It’s hitting him like a freight train of terrible realization. Continuing on to say he can’t go back to the way it was. I was hopeful when he said ‘Right now.’ Then followed it up with maybe never….

Lucy had been nodding along. Being so wonderfully empathetic and understanding. She was with him till he said that. Then she is hit with her own terrible realization. He’s leaving her. She is losing him. In the same parking lot where he told her to take a risk. Where she expressed her concern over losing him if they did. Worried about losing the most important relationship in her life due that risk. The same spot where he told her 'Unless it is.' A giant stab to our collective shipper hearts.

It's why Lucy is in a state of utter shock. As we all were tbh. She shakily asks him if he’s breaking up with her? When he said I’m sorry. I remember having to pause. Freak out and cry. I recall chanting ‘No no no….’ To myself repeatedly. My dog was very alarmed. Because I was distraught af. I couldn't believe this was really happening. My happy place was being decimated before my eyes.

Look at the range of emotions on Tim's face before he delivers that line though. Eric you why you doing this to me? They blow this scene out the damn water. it's so visceral. and raw. He looks like he's about to have a breakdown before he delivers that line. Battling with himself about it. There's a desperate need to want to stay with her. But his self doubt and hatred wins out knowing he isn't deserving. Do I think he came out thinking he was going to do this? A little. I think the more he spoke about it and himself the decision was made. He wasn't going to be be talked off this ledge.

The way Lucy replies after this rips my heart out. This break up feels like death by a thousand paper cuts. Months later and this hurts just as much as the first time. Lucy doesn't hold back in the least. Telling Tim he doesn't get to do that. Her line about using it as an excuse is so spot on. This Ray situation has hit VERY close to home for Tim. An insanely sensitive subject for him. It's rubbed against a wound that never really healed properly. Just was buried in the back of his mind.

He doesn’t have the capacity or emotional maturity to handle it. So he ejects out as a coping mechanism. Lucy calls his ass right away for it. It’s so painful to her that he is doing this excuse. Because it feels like a crappy cheat to them. To her. It's truly a cop out and our girl deserves better than this. Especially after all they’ve been through together. All that rapport and trust they’ve built over the years. It’s an insult to who they are as a couple and the relationship they’ve developed. Sadly that all vanishes in this moment. It’s stunning Lucy and straight murdering my feels.

Her ‘That's not okay.’ is a dagger to my shipper heart. The way she continues to repeat herself cause she's in shock. Ugh.This goes down as one of the most painful breakups I've had to go through. Lucy is so upset he is going this route. Melissa had a great interview (quite a few actually.) About the lie line and using it as an excuse for Tim. She noted Lucy is upset cause how he’s acting isn’t them. That they get to have these conversations. Not only have them but recover and grow from them. It’s what she expecting from him in this moment. It's what she expected from his 5x08 Mantra going into this relationship.

She is telling him I’ve got your back. I’ve got you. What are you doing? What happened to ‘Unless it is?’ Lucy continues to vehemently disagree with him. As she should. The worst part is Tim says ‘I know.’ Like he knows what he’s doing is wrong. Knows to eject after everything isn’t ok. Yet he can’t stop himself. He is not emotionally mature enough to handle this conversation properly. Also too blinded by his own self-hatred to see the unconditional love she is showing for him in this moment. God this is painful.

Tim then comes in with the breakup line of ‘You’re an incredible person.' Lucy can’t believe this shit . She really can’t. That Tim is is doing this to her. To them. Even though Tim is being genuine with his statement. You can hear it in his voice. Doesn't do anything to soothe the wounds he's causing. Once again Melissa crushing it with the upset body language. The mannerisms are so on point. Maybe it's because I'm Italian and I use my hands when I'm upset. I do exactly what she's doing. Why I appreciate it so much. It's so real.

It's a cop out what he is doing. 'It’s not you it’s me' schtick. We see the anger building in Lucy. She can't even look at him in the second gif. For him to toss away what they have is painful enough. To do it based off a cliched excuse is destroying Lucy. Thinking what they had was worth so much more than this. Thought they worth the nasty fights. No way she knows fully what happened or she would figure out why he's really doing this. That’s what makes the rest of Lucy's replies so god damn tragic. She is trying to hold onto him for dear life. But is only being pushed away in return...

Tim continues to push forward with this breakup. Letting her know she deserves better than him. It's SO much deeper than that but it's the only way he can convey it right now. Her ‘Oh my god…’ This is her worst nightmare. Her biggest fear come to life. This is why she hesitated starting this relationship. Why she was so afraid of risking her most important relationship. It's unfolding before her eyes and she can’t stop it.

Like a bad dream she can't seem to wake up from. We all wish we could...Tim has never felt worthy of Lucy’s love, light or praise. This reaction just proves that. It's been building for a long time and this is the final result of it. It’s not logical but a trauma brain rarely is. The amount of emotional and physical abuses he endured growing up left it's mark. Has him truly convinced Lucy could never love him knowing what he did. Tim feels he does not deserve her comfort, support or love.

Punishing himself and denying what he need most because he feels unworthy. Thinks he has made a mistake so grave there is no coming back for him. No way she could love him if she knew. So he like Angela stated earlier Tim is protecting himself. Pains me to watch. Now as I've said before it's not to excuse but to explain his side of it. I understand why he's doing it even if it's fucked up.

He doesn't give Lucy much more than she deserves better. Tells her it's why he's walking away. This man feels so undeserving of the love she has to give. In his mind he thinks he’s doing her a kindness. To separate herself from such a shameful and broken man. That she could do better than him. To Tim he made the biggest sin and can’t live with himself about it. He can't envision a world where Lucy would love him through it. The tragedy is she already was in this scene.

Lucy isn’t hearing any of it. Full on panic spiral that I shared in this moment. Her ‘Don’t do this. Why are you doing this?’ Is the most soul crushing part. She can feel him slipping through her hands. Like sand rushing through her fingertips. She can’t hold onto a grain of him. Can only stand there as he gives up on them. His face in the third gif...Knife to my soul. *screams into a pillow* It's killing him to walk away from her. Eric and his expressive eyes has me bawling. The quiver in his bottom lip as well. Gah it hurts to watch them both in so much pain. It’s the way she pulls away with one hand, but is clutching his other hand for dear life, that really gets me in that last gif.

Asking him once again why are you doing this? I shared that sentiment in this moment.. Tim stands firm in his decision to end them and rip all of our hearts out. Eric had a great quote about how Tim handed this whole thing. ‘He is impulsive and he reacts instead of thinking things through. And it can come out as a bit too strong.’ He feels he is a burden Lucy therefore he is removing himself. Not thinking about the damage it’s going to do to her. The immense regret he’s going to feel when he regulates a bit more.

Something therapy has taught me is we are ruled by our nervous system. Anxiety, stress, fear etc Tim’s was haywire in this moment. All of them going off at once. Not thinking clearly. Acting out of fight or flight. He took the flight option unfortunately. The tragic way he grabs her head and gives her the saddest head kiss. Shattering all of our hearts in the process. It’s the devastated look on his face when he strokes her hair and takes off. One final gut punch from him. It's like he’s leaving behind his greatest treasure and can’t bear to be around it any longer. Lucy is clutching to him until he departs. *snifffle*

The man actually thinks she is better off without him. Truly believes that. Even if Lucy had succeeded it keeping Tim, this would've reared it’s ugly head again down the road. This breakup ruined my friggin life. I kid you not. They were my happy place. My consistent happy place. And now that was gone. It affected my mental health a little too not gonna lie. I think I was in mourning for three weeks. Honestly I still am. Low key will be till they're fixed. Those three weeks were unbearable. But also needed. Thank you again to my bestie D for being my mourning partner through out that. Kept me sane.

That being said I think this will push them in the best direction. A healthier and stronger one. I truly believe that. I recently broke up with a friend who I had been friends with for ten years. It was very hard on me but time. Boundaries were being pushed and it wasn't healthy anymore. My therapist pointed me to a wonderful book called ‘Goodbyes and good boundaries. ’ While It helped heal my heart it also has really good pieces in it. Stuff made me think of this very ep tbh. Sure that wasn't her goal LOL But my brain is always in a Chenford state of mind in some way or another.

First one that made me think of them. ‘Health cannot bond to unhealth.’ As much as it wasn’t fair for Lucy. And god it wasn’t after everything else this season. Tim was in such a radioactive state staying with her wouldn’t have worked anyway. He was radiating turmoil. Lucy can do a lot for him but not this. He NEEDED therapy so much. There are things you learn in there that only your therapist can help you with. He was unhealth and Lucy was trying to keep her empathetic healthy self to him. It was never going to work. Not unless Tim put in some work. Which he couldn't at this point in time.

“Relationship often die not because of conversations never had but rather conversations needed but never had.” Another good one made me think of them. Tim was not ready in the least for the adult conversation required of him in this moment. Or their entire relationship really. They both danced around the issues a lot. 6x02 closest we got. Even then it was one sided. Thus them dying in this moment. Despite Lucy’s damndest to keep them afloat. Remind him of what they’re fighting for. Of why they started this. This breakup was painful af. Despite how this wrecked my world it’s going to be good for them in the long run.

I will say Lucy in that last gif was all of us in that moment. It was a soul crushing moment that decimated this fandom. Still blows my mind Melissa and Eric were surprised just how insanely devastated we were. Why they did those lovely posts during the three weeks. To thank us and to hold on. Growth is coming. They’re going to be even better after this. Doesn’t mean this didn’t hurt like a SOB and won’t long after they reunite. Curse you Eric and Melissa. You are incredible to evoke such emotions out of us all.

Thank you for going through this with me again. It wasn’t easy but they always worth it. Appreciate any and all comments, likes or reblogs I get. I shall see you all in 6x07 :)

Side notes non chenford

Balian doing the creepy bed thing again. Just have to note that.

Also can’t believe they didn’t end the ep with their breakup. There is a whole minute or so of I don’t give a shit after that scene. I was so distraught they could’ve had Nolan walk into a wall and I wouldn't have noticed.

[leggerefiore]

Sorry if you’ve already gotten this ask, I’m not very good at looking for similar posts:

We’ve seen what happens when the villains and their S/O meet their Rainbow Rocket counterpart, but what would happen if there was also a RR version of their S/O? Someone who failed to stop them from becoming villainous, or perhaps even joined them?

How does seeing this alternate version of their partner affect them?

cw: slight hurt and comfort, redeemed/retired villains

characters: Lysandre, Maxie, Archie, Cyrus

🔥Lysandre🍷

☕️ The red-haired man opted for a vacation due to a frustration with various happenings in Kalos. His obsession with beauty and creating a perfect world still continued to haunt him despite his best attempts to put it all behind him. Jail had only been avoided due to his deep connections with many authorities, but he could feel the shame constantly. Sycamore had come to him in tears afterwards while his lover seemed horrified by his plans. Having two people so close to him utterly mortified by his actions snapped him back to reality before he activated the weapon. He was truly stopped right in the knick of time. But, now, he was in Alola. At one of its most expensive resorts, too. It was time to work on managing his obsession.

☕️ His time had mostly been kept at the resort, too. Lysandre would not lie and say he was some rugged explorer. It was plain to see that he was a man more than used to the finer things in life. The beach was thoroughly enjoyed by lounging and having a few drinks. He had a few rounds at the golf course, too, naturally. Though, his favourite time was spent locked away in his suite with you. A quiet escape from the constant burden of people and to enjoy fully the person he loved most. Though, his time felt consumed by endless tasks, even on vacation. Especially when the sudden appearance of a familiar International Police agent happened. A request was politely made to chat with a business acquaintance of his and see whether she had any ill intentions was struck up. He agreed, not wishing to see anything ugly happen to such a beautiful region.

☕️ His trip to Aether Paradise had been a fine one. The president spoke with him normally, seeming to find a certain kindred spirit in him. There must have been no better bond than someone who horribly messed up and had to back out while working for a redemption. His heart felt strangely more at ease. He parted with her after their chat, with his determination on the situation entirely decided. Walking around on the conversation floor, he searched for you, as you had tagged along to see the majesty of the structure. His gaze flowed down the pathway before him to spy a familiar uniform. He froze. That shade of red was recognisable anywhere to him. The familiar hair made his stomach twist. What were you doing? Whatever doubts may have lingered about this being another person tormenting him faded as they turned around. Your face greeted him, eyes lighting up with recognition. You rushed over to him.

☕️ “Lysandre,” you called out, “Oh… I know you said not to wander, but I got curious about this place… Isn't the nature here wonderful?” He blinked. Did he say that? He did not believe that he had. You were free to explore any of the public areas, as he was unsure of how long his meeting with the Aether President would take. A nod came from him at your words. “What happened to your clothing?” you reached forward to feel his shirt, “… Is something wrong? I thought you planned to stay in your office while planning to preserve this world's beauty, too.” Lysandre froze. Perfect, too? Office? Your attire suddenly hit him harder. What was going on here?

☕️ Yet, his distress was set only to grow. Another person called out his name from behind. There stood you in a familiar attire set for Alola. You waved at him before walking over, clearly having been searching for him. The you in front of him took a step back from the confusion, blinking at the you behind him's appearance. Lysandre could barely process the situation himself. The you in clothing he recognised stepped to his side and grasped his arm. Your gaze stared at the copy of you in a Flare Admin uniform while they stared back at you. “… Is this some sort of trick?” they spoke, apparently unamused, “Who are you? Is this an attempt by that annoying officer to stop us?”

☕️ Lysandre closed his eyes for a moment. They seemed convinced that they were his partner and spoke of his previous plans. Their clothing was a uniform that he had retired. You stood at his side in the vacation wear he had recalled you wearing before parting, and you seemed just as horrified by their presence as he was. “… I believe you have mistaken me for someone else,” his voice held authority as his gaze narrowed, “Is this some sort of prank? Neither of us finds it funny. Do not harm my partner in an attempt to attack me.” He pressed you closer to him unconsciously, unsure of just what their reaction would be. Their eyes went wide, but before they could open their mouth to argue, something went off into their earpiece. Whatever was spoken made them back away in a rush, vanishing through the twists and turns of the conversation area.

☕️ For a moment, Lysandre spiralled. You had never sided with him… You had been adamantly opposed the moment you learnt of his plans. But, possibly, in some alternate universe, a version of you did. You had supported his plans, and perhaps they had even been successful. Preserve this world's beauty, too… He closed his eyes. No. No – His plans had been stopped. Xerosic had attempted to convince him to, but he – Everything was interrupted by a lovely voice calling him by a nickname. His eyes opened back to reality. True beauty remained at his side. You would never allow him to follow such a path again. He wanted to follow that person, yet he felt that nothing good would follow. Instead, he opted to see some of Alola's natural beauty with you.

🌧Archie🌊

💧 Alola was a change-up for Archie. He needed to get away from the horrible guilt he kept feeling when he looked at Hoenn's beaches. While he had changed his group's initiative from expanding the ocean to instead working to preserve natural aquatic habitats and cleaning up pollution, the glares of those around Hoenn did get to him. His apologies meant nothing, which he understood, but he was trying desperately to repent for his actions. Though, it had unfortunately become too much after a recent incident. A vacation was a suggestion he made to you, his spouse, and you saw no reason to deny the trip.

💧 He had fallen in love instantly with Alola. The endless seas, the natural beauty, the careful preservation of nature. It was no surprise that he found himself at home in the beaches of the island region. His pokemon were let out to join him as he enjoyed the temperate waters. You had joined him sporadically, but your enjoyment for the sea had run out much sooner than his, and you had departed back to the motel. He managed to get his fill when you returned and suggested a visit to the Seafolk Village. Archie wanted to make sure that you were enjoying this trip away as much as he was.

💧 You had hung behind to chat with someone in the restaurant while he stepped out to look at the glistening seas. The shape of the houseboats was fascinating, and the idea of living out on the sea almost did call to him. Perhaps it would get him away from all the lingering shame for a while. His feet carried him out towards the end of the wooden port to stay out at the setting sun. This region really was beautiful. The stress from his mind almost drifted away as he sat down to let his feet rest in the water. Yet, someone called his name. His attention shifted to his left. You stood there, in clothing that bewildered him. An Aqua Admin uniform? And… why were you getting off one of those Aether boats? You were in the restaurant, were you not?

💧 “Archie,” you spoke properly and tilted your head, “Did you get a tan that fast? How did you do that…? Oh, and your beard grew…” He felt bewildered. What about a tan? His beard was well trimmed still — also. One a second glance at your outfit, he went quiet. That was not the wetsuit uniform at all. Was that denim…? Paired with a blue banana? He was silenced. It felt like an earlier decade take on his team's uniform. “Are you getting ready to use Kyogre? That man said you shouldn't, though,” you continued. Archie felt dizzy. Kyogre?! He had not thought about the Sea Basin pokemon since he came to Alola. It certainly was not in his possession either… As much as he adored it, he simply would not allow himself it.

💧 His panic grew worse when another called out his name. He knew that voice. Eyes whipped over to the Wailord shaped boat. You rushed over to him, grinning brightly. Your clothing were the ones he recalled you wearing. The other you seemed taken aback as you hugged him tightly. Slight relief entered his mind. You were not being all weird after all. “Who are you?” the other you snapped, reaching for a pokeball. He was brought back to reality. Right. Something unusual was happening.

💧 “Stop,” Archie ordered. They froze, listening to him. He could not grasp this situation entirely. Two versions of his partner… One in some odd Aqua uniform and the other wearing the clothes he knows they were earlier. One telling him about using Kyogre. His head heart. This area of thinking was not his usual one. He cared more about marine biology than complicated things like theoretical situations, but he identified it due to some show he watched. “I guess you're an alternate version of them,” the Aqua Leader really had no idea what he was saying, “You said your Archie doesn't look like me, yeah?” They blinked at his words. “You said I had a tan that he didn't or whatever,” he shrugged. Suddenly, they tossed out their pokeball to reveal a Sharpedo and surfed away on it, leaving you both alone.

💧 Archie was really lost. None of that made sense. Was there another him with a Kyogre here? Panic rushed through his mind. But, he was forced back to reality by you tugging on his Alolan shirt. Right. That could be handled later. Whatever was happening was concerning, yet he felt a strange urge to stay out of it. Coming face to face with a version of himself who succeeded in getting Kyogre... He felt strangely ill. Clinging to you, Alola suddenly felt a lot less like paradise.

☀️Maxie🌋

🪨 Something haunted Maxie as he tried to go about his day to day after everything. Naturally, people were upset with him. His actions were deeply misguided ultimately, and he felt foolish for not stopping when Tabitha had warned him. His madness to complete his work – To prove himself to everyone and bring about his ideals were too strong. What a fool he had been. He swore against going to such extremes ever again and dedicating Team Magma to bettering humanity through other means. Alola was a recommendation by his partner. A change of pace but not too dissimilar to Hoenn for it to be unbearable to Maxie. Somewhere nice for him to get away from his stress.

🪨 Alola had been a pleasant change in the end. While he may not have been the biggest fan of most water activities, which led him away from the beach, Akala offered a volcano for him to eagerly observe the rock formations at for hours. The Aether Paradise had been a place of interest, too, as the large structure floated in the water. Its dedication to pokemon preservation was fascinating, as well, and the many scientists in the facility were good conversation for him. He also travelled through the Haina Desert alongside the Lush Jungle to observe the variety of the islands.

🪨 A suggestion by him for another trip to the Wela Volcano Park for a hike together had been accepted by you. The heat was a bit unbearable to most, but Maxie quite enjoyed hotter environments. Everything had been going well, light conversation was shared, and he felt at ease with you at his side. Then, you mentioned needing to take a quick break to rehydrate and sit down for a moment. While he planned to stay with you as you rested, you encouraged him to go on ahead to enjoy more of the volcano. He agreed. Yet, a sight bewildered him as he went further up the mountain. A familiar uniform came into his line of sight, but it was slightly off. The fabric was different. He felt utterly confused when the person turned around to face him. You… How…? He was stunned into silence. That seemed utterly impossible. You had been behind him, after all, and he did not think your bag was large enough to carry a change of clothes.

🪨 You trailed over to him in a trained stride. Something that was expected of his grunts. The Magma emblem on your chest made him pause. Of course, the horned hood should have been a dead giveaway, too, but Maxie had held on to a small hope that he was simply seeing something else. “Leader Maxie?” you called to him, stopping a few steps out, “I thought you sent me here to investigate the terrains of this world before you initiated your plans. Did something change?” Maxie blinked. His plans…? He supposed he had intended to ask you out to dinner, but that did not seem related. Leader Maxie? Hearing his title come from you felt unbelievably odd. “Are those specialised glasses?” you continued, “Actually, what happened to your uniform?” He took a step back. His uniform? Well, he certainly had no intention of wearing that on his vacation. Then, his panic worsened. Another voice called out to him from behind.

🪨 You waved at him and jogged over, apparently recuperated. Two of you…? Except, logically, the you that had just appeared was almost certainly the real one. The doppelgänger recoiled at the sight of you standing at Maxie's side. You stood bewildered yourself. “Leader Maxie?” they called out again, “… What… What is going on?” He struggled to comprehend everything himself. It was truly maddening. Yet… He would not call himself unimaginative or ignorant to certain concepts. The multiverse theory entered his mind. Was it possible that…? He almost wished to deny it. There was no way that in some other universe, his plans had actually continued on without being stopped. The idea was simply too terrifying.

🪨 “… I believe,” Maxie spoke carefully, “You have mistaken me for someone else.” They seemed lost, as did you. He sighed. There was no need for an entire explanation, was there? His hand unconsciously moved to grasp yours in a hidden motion. Everything felt like it was spinning. The redhead swallowed. “Let's go,” he tugged on your hand, “I wish to see the peak again before it is too late.” You seemed to catch on to his wish and followed him immediately, not wishing to be left with your odd look-alike. They did not seem to follow.

🪨 He nearly fell to his knees once they were out of sight. Heavy breaths came from him. Did you support him in some alternate world? The thought terrified him. Then you seemed to agree with his plans of expanding the land even here in Alola. He simply felt shaken to his core. Before he could fall further into emotional turmoil, you called his name, pulling him back to reality. A shaky breath was sucked in. None of that mattered. No. He had changed and learnt from his errors. You had expressed your opinions to him, he recalled. His plans always seemed like some blown up argument between him and Archie. He soothed his hair. Embracing you, Maxie forced down his panicked thoughts. For now, he would enjoy the volcano park with you.

🌌Cyrus🛰

☄️ Alola... The salty breeze and tropical heat brought him back to a place he would rather forget. One that would torment him possibly throughout the rest of his life. Cyrus fought against the mental chains that sought to bind him. He had been born anew, in a sense. The pain that he used to allow to dictate everything he did was suppressed. It could not be forced away – be it through remaking this world without spirit, nor could it leave through his best efforts. He managed it. That was all he could do. The life he had, after all, was not so bad. Galactic allowed him as their head, and Cynthia managed to convince the International Police to let him go. Something lingered in her eyes that had bothered him. But, he was enjoying his pseudo-vacation. In truth, he had been asked for his aid personally on the Hokulani Observatory's recent project… And by a certain officer to help manage suspicious goings-on.

☄️ His romantic partner, you, naturally had decided to tag along. While he had not mentioned the information about possible investigative work, you seemed to enjoy the thought of a proper tropical getaway. Cyrus ultimately had been unable to say “no,” past the first time. His pay cheque was still handsome enough that he booked a place at the Hano Grand Resort, and he planned that it should keep you well enough entertained while he attended the meetings required of him. Molayne had been quite impressed by him while his younger cousin, Sophocles was fascinated by the company president. What Looker asked of him had not been so unbearable, either. It had taken him to the Aether Paradise to investigate lightly about his general feeling about their true nature. It appeared they were moving away from their more sinister actions, in his opinion.

☄️ His plan was to leave and meet Looker about his findings, but a figure on the elevator caught his attention as he was going to leave. Familiar hair colour appearing up from the lower floor. The docks, likely. However, something truly gave him pause. A familiar uniform. No, he had not retired them, but you had never really worn any, nor did he think that you would pack it. Your eyes lit up when you spotted him standing near the front desk. Shoes clicked against the floor as you rushed over to him. His stomach twisted. Why were you doing this to him? Had you not been the one to encourage him to change?! You stopped just before him.

☄️ “Master Cyrus?” Your voice sounded far too formal for his liking. Hearing that title come from you made him feel more distressed. “I thought you wished to remain in your office. This world was too filled with spirit to be bearable, you said,” it was trained manner of speaking, not to let emotions enter. He had been changing, he swore. Your suggestions for him to move forward despite his shame helped him finally leave the Distortion World. Not once had he let his mind linger too long on his hatred of sprint. Why would you claim him to say such a thing? Sickening feelings swirled around inside him. Then, another voice from behind called out his name. His head turns to see your visage again, plainly dressed for Alola.

☄️ That version of you rushed over to him, grasping him arm in a playful manner and smiling up at him. Clearly, this encounter had been unexpected but exciting. His hand shakily went to your cheek to cup it. Warmth. His attention went back to the other you in the Galactic uniform. They stood frozen, blinking a few times and trying to process what was happening. “… What is this…?” their voice filled with confusion. You stared at them in as much shock as they were. “Master Cyrus…?”

☄️ “… How odd that I let you call me that,” Cyrus's scientific brain quickly worked to unravel this mystery. Something was amiss here, and they did not seem like an illusion or anything similar. A theory of many worlds entered his mind. A version of you that sided with him. One that perhaps had succeeded. A chill ran down his spine as his arm pressed you closer to him, afraid that if you strayed too far you may vanish. “An alternate version of…” he called your name, “… One that supported me.” They took a step back in shock, eyes going wide. No discussion followed as they rushed away in the depths of VLFS. He decided that chasing them would be a box that he was not ready to open just yet.

☄️ You called his name, reaching a hand to cup the back of his neck. He felt his breaths growing short and quick. Embarrassment flooded his mind. Here? Of all places? He wanted to curse the spirit in his chest – But, he was stopped. Your voice pulled him back from the madness he had been driven back to the precipice of. His new world… It was long gone. Perfection lied here in this one. It lied at his side. The way you called him your sun forced him back here. The meeting with Looker needed to be postponed. He needed time alone with you first.

[skyof-atlas]

Insufferable girl - Hu Tao x gn!reader

A/N: I was semi-high writing this..ur so welcome. Also i drew smth :D (not smut)

rating: 18+ (minors and men dni)

Warnings: afab!reader, fingering, eating out, sub!reader, dom!hutao, overstim, dumb fucked, fucking with rings on, aphrodisiac usage...thats all i think/

You were making your daily deliveries around Liyue after finishing the new batches of medicine. 

It was a busy day in Liyue as everyone was getting ready for the Lantern rite this year. You swerve and slip by people to drop off your final delivery. 

You suddenly bumped into someone slightly shorter than you. 

“Aiya! oh! My dear apothecary, lovely running into you here.” She slightly smirked and looked at you up and down. 

You mentally cursed at yourself for not being more aware and bumping into the one person you didn’t want to see.

You have a history with Hu Tao. It really started back when Zhongli introduced both of you and hit it off really well until you started developing feelings for her. It made it really hard for you to speak to her and be around her, especially when she was so touchy. 

Your eyes trained down to hers and you gave an awkward smile. 

“H-Hu Tao! What a surprise! Unfortunately I don’t have any time to catch up. I have to finish these deliveries.” You quickly spurt out your words stumbling over some words. She seemed unconvinced because she raised her eyebrow at that. 

“Awww how unfortunate. I was really hoping we could hang out and maybe I could buy you some Tanghulu.”

Oh she was trying to bride you…and it was working. 

“T-Tanghulu? I mean..I guess— NO- sorry I really have to finish these deliveries…maybe later?” She had a sly smirk and something mischievous behind her eyes, but you didn’t notice due to lack of eye contact. 

“I’ll go with you!” She grabbed your hand and practically dragged you to your last delivery quickly. 

earlier that week

“Aiyaaaa~ I wonder why y/n is constantly busyyy. They shouldn’t have so many orders right???!” Hu Tao complained to Yanfei as both of them sat down at a table. 

“They are? I just saw them yesterday and we chatted..” Yanfei smiled because she knew what was going on.

“Ah? Yanfei…please do explain.” Hu Tao smiled creepily.

“You’ll just have to find out yourself.” Yanfei smiled and shrugged. She didn’t further disclose anything else about you and let Hu Tao figure it out.

—————

After finishing that last delivery and getting paid, Hu Tao brought you to a Tanghulu stand and bought you some. 

Oh how much you loved your sweets! 

And oh how you loved her—

“It’s been so long since we’ve hung out, Y/N!” 

“Ah, yes. I’ve been extremely busy delivering medicine and gathering..” you said finishing my Tanghulu with a smile. Hu Tao smiled.

“What a shameee! I missed your cute face! It’s so boring without you now” She said, dragging you around town to take a walk. You followed her around and talked.

It felt like hours of chatting with her. You missed this with her. You both stop once you reach the parlor. 

“You wanna come in? I can make some tea! I Just ordered a new batch.” She asked you with a sweet smile. How could you refuse.

“Sure!”  what could go wrong?

———————

She placed down a cup of tea in front of you and smiled. You thanked her and picked up the cup and sipped it. 

“Oh! Isn't this tea from Qiaoying village? I always love visiting and buying tea.” You drank some more, practically chugging it. 

“I just ordered a bunch, I’ll get you some more!” She picked up your cup and went to serve you more. 

You waited and looked around, noticing a photo of both of you on the wall near the door. 

Goosebumps covered your arm and neck. The air became stuffy and your clothes felt tight. Why did everything feel so stuffy and hot? 

“H-Hu tao? What was in the tea?” You nervously asked. She walked back into the room with the box. You were fanning yourself and rubbed your legs together profoundly. 

“Hm? I was told it was a mixture of green tea and ginkgo.” She said leaning against the door frame.

“Ginkgo? You gave me an aphrodisiac?– ngh–!” A sudden heat wash over your body and your hand clenched the couch. Your core was beating and soaked. Your breaths were heavy and you looked at Hu Tao with half lidded eyes, begging. 

She took her sweet time walking over to you, bending down to face you. 

“Oh wow! You look really red my dear.” She placed a hand on my cheek and smiled. “Burning hot..” 

“Hu Tao…please..” The last of your pride was thrown out. Fuck it. 

“Please what love?” 

You grabbed her hand and brought it down to your clothed cunt. 

“Fuck me. Please.” You stripped your clothes down and spread your legs like a literal dog in heat. Hu Tao did not hesitate to spread your folds and rub circles on your clit. She had to restrain herself from not fucking you right now. She wanted to play for a bit. 

You sloppy kissed her and bucked your hips looking for some type of friction. It felt like hours of biting and kisses before she paid attention to your soaked cunt. Her fingers slid right in without any trouble. 

“Hu Tao! R-Rin-gs…cold..” Oh her rings were still on. But she wasn’t gonna take it off. Cold and hot go together after all. 

“You can take it pretty.” She began pumping in her fingering, slightly curving at an angle trying to find that spot. After a few ins and out she found it and you moaned and cummed. 

“Already? But I’m not done yet.” She continued pumping her fingers, abusing your plushy inside. Your hips bucked and you were clawing her back due to the immense pleasure you were receiving. 

Strings of moans and whines filled the room as you were ready to cum again for the second time. She wasn't slowing down and you still wanted more. You could feel her fingers hitting you with force. You wanted her…her.her.her.her just her. 

Your pussy tightened around her fingers.

“My pretty thing~ My sweet apothecary~ I know, I know.” She bit down on your neck. Her other hand played with your tits and nipples, flicking them. She looked at you gently and cooed sweet pet names. 

She drives you crazy and she knows that. 

As she kept pumping she pressed right below your belly button, forcing pressure down. A loud moan left your mouth and your eyes rolled back. 

“Oh?” 

The knot that was building up suddenly broke and you squirted all over her fingers. She pulled out and licked her fingers before cleaning your pussy, and by cleaning…she was eating you out. 

“T-tao…mmngh…ke-keep going please!” and so she did. Tears were spilling and your mind was mush. 

You cummed,

3….

6… body all sticky 

8 times before the heat slowly started dying out. You were tired and extremely sensitive. Even a breeze can knock you out cold. Hu tao had to be careful cleaning you and after she did, she gave you little kisses on your face.

“Next time, don’t avoid me.” She stuck out her tongue and you madly blushed and looked away. 

“You insufferable girl.” You responded and you laid in her arms and drifted off to sleep. 

[oshiawaseni]

Trails of Love Hori's been paving down in the build up for the series' ending

Part I: The Shape of an Eternal Bond

Romantic Love. Falling in love. When we break it down, what really is it, but a deep emotional connection formed with someone, an overpowering instinct that screams at you to protect that person, and the vulnerability you allow yourself to succumb to when your logical 'self-preserving' mind and it's hurt-proof walls is completely overrun by your heart's most based need to be close with them, the object of your affection.

And who shows these feelings for each other the most in BNHA? Bakudeku, right? Of course it's them.

It's something so obvious and yet this somehow feels overlooked by almost everyone in the fandom: I’ve never actually seen Izuku feeling happy or excited about his relationship with Ochaco, nor elated about getting to spend more time with her. But Izuku and Kacchan? The feelings they both have of longing to be closer to the other and every single action they took for that, chaotically and passionately smashes the "stable pleasantness" of IzuOcha right out of the park.

Izuku views getting to speak 'normally(?)' with Kacchan as a miracle on the exact same level of importance as being mentored by the greatest hero of their generation (and his U.A. room looks like what it looks like). This scene gave the cutest 'Work life: check. Love life: check' vibe.

Is it really all that surprising that BKDK have had plenty of development in this area while IzuOcha has had almost none? In fact, as BkDk became closer, the "expected end game" pair has gone in the opposite direction. And why does this not strike odd to "bkdk canon" doubters or the fans that ship IzuOcha? It really is no coincidence how many moments we’ve accrued about this mutual feeling and attraction that exists only between Izuku and Katsuki.

I want to be closer to you. I can't imagine life without you. vs Why are you so confused when I show you I care about you, too?

It's so simple - but maybe it being so simple is why this is not something we really stop and take a minute to think about specifically. About how this 'obvious' concept of two people desiring to become closer is one often shared between lovers and those who are falling in love.

And how that fits with bkdk because this longing for deeper connection has existed between them almost since the beginning... and we haven't been talking enough about it.

I want you to think about the true feelings and meaning lying behind these moments that have inspired the writings of many fic and meta:

Izuku's desperation and suffering at Kacchan being taken away...

the hurt and loneliness that pools within Katsuki's heart from his fear of being left behind (and alone) by Izuku...

the regret they both felt in not using their own hand to reach out and connect to each other (believing their hand 'wouldn't be enough') and putting those feelings aside to prioritise their boy's rescue and safety...

the distress Katsuki felt in facing his biggest fear of all - losing Izuku for good - forcing him to become a true hero, for his sake...

and the total overwhelming despair Izuku felt in realising he didn't make it in time and he had lost his hero.

This is it, this cover was Hori locking them in. Holding his Kacchan so precious, placing his hand gently over his heart, trying to somehow connect to it. The appearance of an enraged and protective alpha ready to strike down the monster who did this to his mate. This is the vision Hori wanted to draw for bkdk and it cemented the deep romantic love and bond that's been growing between them, rewarding those of us who have picked up on their trails of love and causing meltdowns baked in confusion for the rest.

They've had many scenes like these throughout MHA. Scratch a little at their surface and what lies underneath every single one of them is the pining desire Izuku and Katsuki both share of wanting to be together. The need for the other to be by their side and within reach.

And they don’t share this feeling with anybody else.

It’s always been this way exclusively for them and I think this aspect of their relationship was established by Hori to tell us they will stay feeling this way forever.

If Izuku is right and he takes back everything and the course of their future gets put on track again, then maybe the idea of them holding onto each other and never letting go isn’t all that far from reality.

After they graduate, I can't imagine these two not choosing each other every single time, until the very end of their days: becoming a hero wonder duo, moving in together, living their best domestic life complete with their adorable husbands banter (but repackaged into something so much more loving and soft which befits them), nurturing their relationship... letting themselves fall deeper in love...

It's so easy to imagine this all happening, simply because of their desperate need for closeness to one another in the manga.

They can’t imagine their life without the other.

Their love is a multi-threaded story that's been told to us over, and over, and over again. Through Izuku and Katsuki's every action and by the mouths of others (which I'll be covering in my next post).

I honestly believe that since the beginning, Hori has been carefully leaving trails of their passion for each other, simply to say this: While this series may be coming to a close, Izuku and Katsuki’s bond, that brings them only closer and binds them tightly together, will transcend the very last of their inked pages and never end. ❤️

Part Two -> Intro & Compress