#what if i jumped off a building. what if i reached my fucking limit

[diejager]

bro make a fanfic about the reader and the ghost/konig WHEN THE READER WAS SHOT IN THE BUN ON THE MISSION AHAHAHHHAH LMAO (in the military helicopter when they were supposed to return, the reader was holding her butt, moaning, writhing in pain and trying to hide the pain)

That is a funny thought…

Shots Cw: gun violence, bb shots, tell me if I missed any.

You yelped when you were hit is the ass, flinching forward and raising your arm just as you turned to glare at whoever landed the shot. Your right cheek exploded in soreness, tingling from the sharp pain of a BB shot.

“Hit!” You called it, letting your rifle hang from your shoulder as you rubbed your right cheek, grumbling about the bastard, “On my fucking ass of all places.”

You walk towards the respawn with your arm up, still cussing out whoever shot you in the ass. You had a hunch about the shooter: Soap, who else had enough courage to shoot you in the ass. You doubted Gaz did it, he might’ve been tempted, but he preferred other type of pranks, more mischievous ones like tampering with the washer or drinks, harmless but hilarious. Soap, however, rarely knew the limit, going as far as stealing and hiding your stuff, tapping you in the ass or messing up your head while he cackled away, speeding off to Ghost or Price to escape your wrath.

You reasoned that this was a staged scenario, a small group activity Laswell came up with that landed your Task Force somewhere in France for game of airsoft, a Free for all in the reserved location. No one had complained, thinking it a good activity mixing fun, training and awareness —everyone agreed to it enthusiastically once Ghost had voiced his grumpy acceptance, seeing this as a moment to be able to training without the prying eyes of others or the presence of strangers. Once you reached the spawn point, your jump back in to land a few shots at Soap to see whether or not he liked getting his ass bruised by a BB. You walked off determined, mind narrowed down to a single goal, your retaliation—

Until you yipped a second time, a pellet bouncing off your second cheek. You whipped around, yelling as your eyes scoured the tree line and the openings in the buildings behind you, the windows, the roof and behind pillars. You couldn’t find Soap anywhere, he wasn’t hiding behind the trees or in the buildings, but you did catch the glint of a scope —a familiar sniper scope.

“Ghost, you son of a bitch!” You screamed in outrage, feeling how both cheeks throbbed with pain. You bared your teeth, hissing at your Lieutenant who seemed smug and comfortable in his high perch on the roof of the building, “Why’d you do that?! I was already out!”

”Big target, luv,” his amused voice cracked in your comm, the low rumble of sadistic pleasure ringing out in your headgear. He cocked his scope, his white mask standing starkly in his dark gear and broad figure, “Impossible to miss. Quit moaning.”

“Big target? Are you-!” Huffing at his continued laughter, you glared his way before you turned to hurry back to the respawn, “Let’s see who’s laughing later, you ass.”

“Fuck- Hit!”

Your shoulders shook with restrained laughter, admiring the way Ghost jumped from your perch, hidden in the darkness given by the cement wall. You listened to him hiss and swear, massaging the place you aimed for: the pronounced curve of his ass, his jeans rarely doing him the pleasure of hiding what he had.

“Quit moaning, Ghost,” you cackled as you parroted his words, telling him the same thing as he told you, but you had more to add, more to taunt and tease him as revenge, “Couldn’t miss it, Lt, it was a big fucking target.”

You watched him stomp off, retreating to the tree line for his spawn point. It filled with a sense of elation and ugly smugness, and all that was left now, was to find Soap.

“Steamin’ Jesus!” Johnny’s yelp felt more exciting than Ghost, something you could devour over and ove without regret.

“Not so fun, is it, Johnny?” You smirked, replying with a gleeful tone.

He looked red-faced, the tip of his ears turning a bright shade of red from the way you spoke to him, utilising his known weakness and playing him to watch him stutter and flush brightly.

“Awa’ a bile yer heid! That hurt, lass!” His voice had taken a whinier tone, face screwed in embarrassment and something that you couldn’t put your finger on at this distance.

“I know, shouldn’t have shot me in the ass then.”

Gaz tapped you on the shoulder, a smile threatening to break into chuckles. He’d known what happened to you and knew what you did in retaliation, finding amusement after siding with you, sitting beside you and peering at two frowning and mumbling men.

“Heard you had a lot of fun.”

“Not enough.”

You thought you heard Price sigh tiredly.

taglist: @sae1kie @yeoldedumbslut @bvxygriimes @distracteddragoness @konigsblog @im-making-an-effort @daisychainsinknots @0alk0msan @danielle143 @dont-mind-me-just-existing-sadly @tuttifuckinfruttifriday @notspiders @brokenpieces-72 @petwifed @aldis-nuts @randominstake @cassiecasluciluce @hayleybarnesx

[dazedvivenne]

Okay I got this one from the ice breaker book but could you write something of Drew Starkey and reader where Drew gets home after a long day and strips reader and then walking over to the bed and lying down and when reader asks what he is doing he says something like “I’m waiting for you to come over and sit on my face. What does it look like I’m doing?” AHHHH THANK YOUUU!!!!

DREW STARKEY - PLEASURABLE TASTE

Short summary: Drew gets home and wants you ontop of him.

Trigger warning: cussing, mentions of cum, lots of oral, typical smut.

Drew walked into the apartment tired from running around all day while acting, it always got him very exhausted at the end of the day.

Drew unties his shoes and kicks them off, tossing his jacket on the coat rack. Walking into the living room of the house, you were sat on the couch watching a random movie with Justin Long casted in it.

Drew walked straight to the bedroom you both owned, leaving the door open on purpose. Slipping out of his grey joggers, pulling his shirt off of his body. Jumping onto his bed with a sigh.

You curiously walked into the bedroom, wondering why Drew didn’t greet you with a kiss and a hug as he usually does. You cross your arms over your chest, leaning on the door frame.

Rafe was laying on his back in the middle of his bed with a hard-on. He was fantasying about you all day, the curves of your body left a dent in his mind, wanting your perfect body on top of his. He felt hungry for you.

“Honey what’s wrong?” You asked with care, getting closer to the bed, Drew sits up, smirking at you.

Drew pulls your waist close to him, ripping your shirt over your head, pulling your pyjama bottoms down, leaving you not your lacy underwear. Drew’s fingers wrapped around the waist band of your underwear, slowly pulling them down.

You kicked them off, once you were fully nude Drew just laid back down. This left you feeling even more confused. “What’s your problem?” You ask softly, your nude body having the cold air hitting it, your nipples getting hard.

“My problem is you’re not sitting on my face.” Drew groans, “What else would my problem be?” Drew asked with a hushed tone.

You crawled on top of Drew, sitting on his chest. Looking down at him with a smile, “I said my fucking face baby.” Drew’s husky voice turning you on.

You slowly got closer to his face, shying a bit out. You and Drew had never done this before so you didn’t want to push any limits or suffocate Drew of anything.

Drew’s muscular arms wrapped around your thighs, pulling you on top of his face. His arms pulling you down so you were sat on top of him.

You felt Drew’s nose against your buzzing clit, Drew’s arms tightened around you as he started to eat you out like a mad man. A loud moan echoing out of your mouth.

“I love you.” Drew mumbled into your heat, his tongue licking your hole as his nose rubbed your clit. Drew’s hands travelled up to your breast, massaging them while always toying with your nipples.

“I love you too.” You whimpered, slapping a hand over your mouth when you realized you were being to loud. You back arched.

Drew’s hand left your breast and suddenly gripped at your wrist, pulling it away from your face. “Let me hear all your pretty moans.” Drew demanded, his hand letting go of your wrist and grabbing onto your hip.

You nodded your head, more moans and whimpers escaping your mouth. You felt your hips start to buck into Drew’s face as you felt your climax build up, “M’close.” Your voice was mumbled now, focusing on reaching the height of your climax.

Drew’s nose rubs your fast but his tongue stays at the same pace. Licking all of your juices up, his hand gently slapping your ass.

You moan loudly, feeling the butterflies in your stomach go loose, riding Drew’s face as you came all over his mouth. “Fuck.” You shouted, your chest heaving.

Once your high was over you got off of Drew, your hair slightly messy now. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to-“

“Don’t apologize, I fucking loved that.” Drew chuckled, licking his lips for the last taste of your juices. Drew’s hand running down to his hard-on, rubbing himself through his boxers.

You giggle a bit, crawling in front of Drew, slowly pulling his boxers down. His member springs out of the thin fabric underwear, you saw the glossy tip, knowing that was pre-cum.

“Fuck-“ a groan escapes Drew’s mouth, “You don’t have to do this honey.” Drew grumbled, watching as you grabbed onto his member and pumped it into your mouth.

Licking his pink tip, tugging the skin down then letting it fall back up only for you to tug it down again. Sucking on Drew’s tip.

Drew’s hand goes to your head, running his fingers through your hair, forcing your head a bit further down. “I’m close.” Drew groans, his hand pulling and pushing on your head.

Your mouth bouncing up and down on Drew’s dick, feeling his penis twitch in your mouth then you felt shots hit the back of your throat, you stroked it a little slower so Drew could ride out of his high.

You sucked all of his cum into your mouth, you took his penis out of your mouth with a pop. You smile at Drew. “Now we’re even.”

[astroboots]

EVERY YOU EVERY ME #11.5 SPECIAL

Pairing: Miguel O'Hara x female reader

Summary: Let’s start from the beginning one last time.

Word count: 5,800

Warning: Heavy angst and character death. Dead Dove do not eat.

Series Masterlist | Spiderverse Masterlist | Astroboot’s Masterlist | thirstworldproblemss’ Masterlist

[Previous] [Next]

Let’s start from the beginning one last time. 

My name is Miguel O’Hara, and in an experiment gone wrong, my genetic code was partially rewritten with Spider DNA, giving me superpowers.

My home is Earth 928-C where I was the one and only Spiderman... of my home dimension at least.

I invented and built a dimensional travel device that allowed me to jump between universes with the goal of exploring the limits of the multiverse. 

And then I met a woman in this other world who nearly died from a crazy freak accident.

I saved her of course.

Then I saved her again.

And again, and again.

... And again.

We fell in love, and I decided to stay with her in her world.

You know the rest. We got married. We had a life together.

I was happy. Really happy. 

For a while.

[Earth 383-D]

3 YEARS AGO

"Goddamn idiot bird," Miguel mutters under his breath.

Vulture is on the loose again, wreaking havoc on the city. The maniac is flying high above the city grounds, leaving a trail of mayhem in his wake. 

Miguel's been in pursuit for the better half of two hours. In that time, the bird has derailed the High Line, literally hit a traffic light and managed to knock over the spire on the Statue of Liberty as if he was flying under the influence.

Then somehow flew across town through Tribeca, along Lower Manhattan and Greenwich Village and now reached all the way to Midtown Manhattan. 

Dumbass ugly stupid bird. 

Miguel digs his claws into the exterior of the limestone and granite of the Empire State Building to steady himself, using the momentum to leap forward.

The Vulture crashes into a skyscraper 50 feet ahead of Miguel, and in the mad dash, he can see a man tumble out of the building head first to the ground from the 30th floor. 

Swinging forward, Miguel slings out a web from his palm, catching the screaming and sobbing office worker in midair and lands briefly against the windowpane. He ensures the man is secured to the building in a cocoon of webbing until the fire department can get him to safer grounds.

Miguel doesn't even get a second to catch his breath. From afar, he can pick up the sound of another window being crashed into by the unwieldy metal bird. 

Crap. 

It's impossible for Miguel to both chase the Vulture and keep everyone else in his path of destruction safe. One superhero can't be in two places at once (none that he has encountered).

Gritting his teeth, Miguel leaps off the building swinging freely into the air to make up on the lost ground between him and the metallic cuckoo bird.

He needs backup, and the backup is unfortunately running late.

Where is he? Why is he always late?

Does that man not understand that when someone calls for backup because of an emergency, the emergency part indicates that there's some urgency to it?

Flying through the air 100 feet above the ground, from the corner of his eyes, Miguel catches the familiar garish red flowing cape that billows from the cowl of the grand cloak and suit. 

Miguel would know that weird wizard get-up anywhere. 

"Strange!" Miguel calls out, and he can feel irritation rattle in his chest. "You're late! Where the shock were you?"

"The word you're looking for is 'fuck.' Where the fuck was I," the man responds with a sarcastic drawl.

Strange levitates through the air, effortlessly without expending any energy at all as he catches up with Miguel. "You gave me no notice. Be happy I showed up at all."

From a distance he sees the dumb bird soar high up into the sky and towards the all too familiar crowned roof of the Chrysler building. 

No. nononono. 

Why is he there? What is he doing there? Anywhere but there. 

His back flashes cold then burning hot as the Vulture makes a straight beeline for the familiar building.

It’s fine. Maybe he’s not going to fly in there. Maybe he’s just going to fly past it.

Miguel watches as the metallic bird soars up and up and up, past the midpoint of the building, past the 40th floor of your office and up to the 50th floor. The tight squeeze in his chest eases.

Then the vulture stops, mid-flight and looks down below, as if he changed his mind, before he descends again. 

Shit! Shit! SHIT!

He dives into one of the windows between the 40th and 50th floor. The sound of broken glass and shrill screams can be heard even from where Miguel is. 

Blood freezes in his veins and nausea overtakes him. Calm down. Breathe.. Maybe you’re not in. After all, Lyla’s security protocols would’ve been activated by now if you were. He would’ve been alerted. 

Soaring through the skies, Miguel reaches over to his wrist to punch in the dial for Lyla to check in and reassure himself you're safe. But his tracker blinks back in an alarming red, and he darts down his head towards the display.  

Error. 

His heart stops. 

The flying silhouette reappears through the shattered windows and the metallic harness strapped onto the vulture gleams bright against the sun.

It’s only then it hits him. Lyla's been deactivated by the madman's stupid Electro-Magnetic Harness. 

Why hadn't he foreseen that as a technical flaw?

Against the reflective glass panes, Miguel sees you, caught in the Vulture talons like a mouse captured by a large predatory bird. Every hair on his neck stands on end. His vision bleeds into red, blood roaring at the sight of it.

Kill him.

Miguel's gonna murder that freak for touching you. Crush his windpipe so he can't ever squawk again, then rip his throat out with his claws and feed it to the street pigeons for good measure.

Launching himself through the air, Miguel tears up the side of the building. The tempered glass beneath his claws and feet, shatters into sharp jagged pieces as he closes the distance. 

He is almost within reach. Only some 30 feet that still separates you from him. Leaping the final distance he slams hard into the side of the Vulture until metal crunches beneath his feet. 

Miguel roars until his throat burns with it. Palms gripping at the man’s jaw and prying it back to get at his bare throat. His fangs are ready to sink into the jugular. He can see the dark pupil of Vulture's eyes dilate with fear. 

Good. Miguel's anger will be the last thing this freak sees.

"Miguel calm down," Strange shouts at him from behind. "You're gonna knock her off."

Miguel freezes at the warning, forcing himself to hold still as he looks down to where you are dangling precariously from the Vulture's claws.

"Be ready," Strange shouts, and Miguel looks to him, not understanding what the hell he means. 

Strange rests his hand over the shiny blue gem hanging around a chain from his neck.

What does he mean by be ready? What is Strange going to do?

"What'd you mea–"

Miguel doesn't have a chance to finish the rest of his sentence. An unnatural force vibrates through him. A pulsating wave that pervades his senses, punching through his lungs and knocks him back. 

In an instance, you're propelled away from Strange and the Vulture, and you are freefalling towards the ground below.

Miguel leaps mid-air, arms outstretched to catch you as you plummet towards the ground below. His fingers clasps around your wrists, your warm skin against his fingertips.

He's got you!

Taking hold of you by the arm, Miguel pulls you into his chest as he wraps one arm securely around your waist.

Immediate relief fills him from the inside out as the adrenaline and the searing anger is already starting to fade now that he knows you're safe.

"You okay, nena?" he asks.

You nod, arms finding purchase around the back of his neck, and squeeze down tight. He swings you both to the safety of a nearby rooftop.

There's barely time for him to touch the surface, he hears the nearby explosion and sees Vulture crash into the concrete wall of the nearest building. 

Strange is levitating nearby, hands making wild gestures, presumably to perform some hocus pocus ritual. There’s a magical glow as strobes of light manifest out of thin air surrounding the Vulture from all sides and wrapping around him in a restraining bind.

Miguel sets you down. You're a little bit wobbly on your feet, and seeing you stumble the way you do has that protective streak spark anew in his chest.

Stupid Strange. He can't just do shit like that. 

What if Miguel hadn't reacted in time? What if you had fallen? 

This is why Miguel hates working with the guy, even if they’re friends. Always on his moral high horse about Miguel being reckless, then he pulls shit like this.

"Everyone alright?" Strange asks as he levitates through the sky to set feet close to you both on the rooftop.

Miguel grits his teeth with annoyance at the man’s casual demeanor when he nearly threw you out of the sky.

"Shock you, Strange," he spits out.

"Miggy..." you sigh in a reprimanding tone next to him. 

Stephen shakes his head at him. "I told you. It's fuck"

"Fuck you, Strange."

Sanctum Sanctorum is closer than home and Strange has, comfortable sofas in his ridiculously big mansion. Big enough sofas that Miguel can actually lounge in them comfortably without it feeling cramped. It's why, given the choice, he always prefer to regroup there, over your tiny apartment.

Besides, while the man's control over his magical powers can be suspect at times, he used to be a doctor. Supposedly one of the leading brain surgeons in the world, and Miguel is a lot more comfortable at the prospect of Strange giving you a checkover to make sure you don't need further medical attention than trying your luck at one of the local ERs.

"Follow my finger," Strange says as he shines a little flashlight into your eyes and moves his index from side to side. 

Your eyes follow him dutifully, and Strange proceeds with the rest of his medical check, asking you the boring standard questions. "Any symptoms of dizziness, lightheadedness, or a sense of vertigo?"

He fires them out in rapid succession, and a bit too perfunctory for Miguel's liking.

"Noticed any changes in your vision, blurriness or double vision, etcetera etcetera?"

Miguel's jaw tic in irritation at how Strange is putting in minimal effort and just going through the motions.

"Yeah, you're fine." Strange pats your knees, then whisks the flashlight away into nothingness with his cape.

That medical check wasn't anything close to thorough. Miguel crosses his arms over his chest. "Are you sure? Her feet were wobbly before, I wanted to make sure she didn't sprain her ankle."

"A little bit overprotective as always aren't we?" Strange says.

Miguel shoots the man a glare and Stephen sighs, "Her reflexes are fine, I don't think anything's sprained."

"Check again, you seemed sloppy," Miguel accuses.

"You know, I'm doing this as a favor because you’re a friend. Do you have any idea how much a medical examination by one of the leading neurological surgeons in the world would cost you normally?"

"I'll have Lyla transfer the money."

“No, it’s not actually about money just–" Stephen shakes his head, then sighs. "Nevermind.”

He gestures for you to drape your leg across his lap, then he reaches over to gently assess your ankle as requested.

"What is this necklace?" You ask. You lean closer to Strange, inspecting the blue gem where it rests against his chest.

Strange swats at your hand, the way an adult scolds a child with sticky chocolate smeared hands trying to touch the fine china.

"It's a protection amulet. When activated it forms a protective barrier that forcibly repels everything within ten feet of you."

"Huh," you reach back for the amulet undaunted by the earlier reprimand, fascinated and clearly enamored by it. "I'll give you fifty bucks for it."

Strange looks offended. "It's not for sale, and if it was it would certainly be worth a lot more than fifty dollars. It's a genuine magical artifact, not fake costume jewelry from the theater department."

You purse your lips, considering the amulet.

"Forty," you offer.

Miguel has to choke back a snorting laughter in his throat at the way Stephen's eyes goes wide in confused outrage.

"Wait, why is the price going down?"

“We’re in the middle of an economic crisis, Stephen,” you counter.  

Strange's head darts over to where Miguel sits, presumably for backup, but he's knocked on the wrong door. The man must be mad if he thinks that there is ever a world where Miguel would side against you.

"Strange, we both know it’s easier if you just give her the amulet." Miguel says. 

The man sighs, shaking his head in defeat.

"Be careful with it," he says as he drags the chain over his head to place it in your awaiting palms. "And don't lose it like the invisibility amulet with Mysterio. Had to spend a whole month clearing up your mess when that creep used it to get into the women's locker rooms at every local gym in Greenwich!"

"That wasn’t my mess! Miggy lost that one during an aerial fight. You can't blame that on me."

"You married him, so you're responsible for him. I consider you two jointly to blame."

"Now you're just lashing out," you shoot back.

Miguel watches the two of you in patient boredom, his head propped up by an elbow on the arm of the sofa. He expended way too much energy during the fight, and now he needs to refuel. 

If Miguel leaves you two to it, you'll spend an eternity bantering, the way you do. His stomach growls. He wants food. Wants wantons and beef ho fun and a dozen custard salted egg buns for dessert. And the longer you two are at it, the longer it's going to take for him to get it.

"Nena," he calls out, "I'm hungry. Are you two done? I want to go for dinner."

You shoot Miguel a quick smile, pulling out your wallet and take out a wad of green bills then fold it into Strange's hand with a happy grin.

Strange looks down at the crumpled up money in his hand. "Wait, you're only giving me thirty? I thought we said forty."

"You still owe me like ten bucks from mini golf last week."

Strange pockets the money with a grumble. "Unbelievable." 

“C’mon,” Miguel says as he stands up and gestures to the both of you with a curt nod of his head towards the door. “Let’s go. I’ll pay for dinner this time,” Miguel says, and that seems to abate Strange’s outrage somewhat as the man grabs your coat from the sofa cushions and offers it to you.

Life on Earth 383-D is strange.

Life here is borderline primitive. The technology is something out of the stone ages.

Social media is a wasteland. Reality TV is a dystopian concept. And he doesn't understand who Kardashian is or why everyone is obsessed with her and her family. 

He does like fax machines though. They are basically teleportation machines and it boggles him that the people of your dimension do not seem to understand its potential.

The one thing he will give this version of earth credit for is that the food here is nice. Everyone in his home dimension is too health conscious, and fried food has long been banned by the government for the long term damage it does to the cardiovascular system. 

He also likes the life that the two of you have built together here. You have a home in that tiny shoebox apartment. You have friends. Strange friends. Like the Doctor who flies around with the help of a magic cape and now practices the mystic arts after a gap year in Asia. A young girl whose main superpower is the ability to communicate with squirrels. Then there’s that ugly red-masked wise-cracking, katana-wielding maniac who never dies.

Sadly, your friends are not the only thing that is strange about your surroundings.

Miguel perches himself on top of the Chrysler building sitting hunched over on the ledge of the roof. He’s drained and bone-tired, chasing down a helicopter that had gone haywire and was hurtling towards your office building. 

Luckily Strange was able to assist and sent it through a magic portal to crash into the Atlantic without putting any lives at stake. 

"Just had to do some cleaning up," Strange says as he sets his boots back down on the ground. 

Miguel doesn't answer him, staring out at the city view and the setting sun as he takes a well earned breather for a moment or two. New York is a bit of a shit hole, but it does look pretty from a high viewpoint, especially when the sun is setting, Miguel has to give this city that.

It's silent between the two of them. Or at least it is until Strange decides to break it with a harkle of his throat. When Miguel doesn't react the man does it again, coughing discreetly in a clear attempt to get his attention.

Miguel doesn't say anything about the man's sore throat. He ran out of the lemon drops you bought him as snacks hours ago, but he does tilt his head up at the man.

"She's been getting into a lot of these incidents lately. More than usual, more than any normal human for it to be a coincidence" Strange says.

The whole of Miguel's back stiffens.

"Have you noticed the abnormal uptick in strange unexplainable supernatural occurrences lately? Indoor tornadoes. The rain of poisonous frogs outside of whole foods. A sinkhole appearing right next to the cafe your wife frequents."

Miguel doesn't love the insinuations. Even with his lips pressed tightly together, Miguel can feel the small muscle in his jaw flex like a nervous tic at the mention of it. Because yeah, he's noticed, kind of hard to miss when your wife's life is in constant peril at all hours of the day.

Ice storms in July that hit right outside your workplace. An inexplicable solar flare causing a blackout that had every single vehicle within a 5 miles radius go haywire in the dark near your apartment. A swarm of mutated mosquitoes with a venomous bite that chased you down Central Park. 

The incidents are occurring more frequently. They are also getting increasingly bizarre and dangerous.

No one can say it’s just bad luck when the daily occurrences around you are defying the very laws of nature itself. Something isn't right with the universe, and he's not sure what else there is to do except pretend that everything is still ok.

"What are you implying?" Miguel asks through gritted teeth. 

But for the first time in the years that Miguel has known him, Strange's talkativeness is nowhere to be found. He doesn't answer Miguel. He's smart that way, the clever bastard. Knows that if he says one wrong word, Miguel is going to unhinge his jaws like a feral alligator and snap at him. 

Strange has said what he needed for Miguel to know exactly what he's getting at. The man just meets his eyes with an intentional stare, not shying away from Miguel's glare.

It's not like the thought hasn't crossed Miguel's mind. Not like it hasn't been keeping him up at night, every night.

Even though you've always been accident prone and suffered from bad luck, at this point it's a mathematical impossibility that anyone would run into as many near death incidents as you have.

This isn't by chance. It's by design. Miguel's suspected as much for a while now. He just doesn't know whose design and why.

"It's not her fault," Miguel spits out.

"I never said it was."

"Even if what you are saying is true..." Miguel stops, and stares down at his fisted palms with a sinking feeling in his guts. "There's nothing she can do about it to stop it. You can't put that on her."

"Whether she knows about it or not, if it's true, none of this is going to go away.

Strange walks over to where Miguel is, sitting down next to him.

"It’s been escalating in severity," he continues. "There are strange universal energies attached to her. There’s warping of the universal order and space around her. We don't know how bad this can get, if we don’t do anything about this, it could unravel the fabric of reality itself."

Despite the calamity of what Strange is implying, his voice is even and calm as he says it as if he might as well be discussing the weather. That trait has always annoyed the shit out of Miguel.

"What are you planning to do if this continues?" Strange asks.

It's such a silly question. Strange says it as if this is a multiple choice question. But for Miguel there's only one correct answer. 

"Protect her. I have to. She's everything to me."

Miguel is staring into the sunset bu all he sees before him is your face even though you aren’t here. The happy smile that he wants to preserve forever. He tries to fight the ache that's building in him at the thought that it would go away.

"Strange, don't tell her. Please. She doesn't need that burden."

He fists his palms into his side.

Miguel never liked asking for help, but even he knows that if what Strange is saying is true. That if the universe for some unfathomable reason wants you dead, then he's going to need all the help he can get.

If Strange has figured it out. Then it's only a matter of time before others do as well.

Soon enough, you won't just have the universe coming after you but every superhero and villain combined in a united front to take out the common threat that you pose to this entire universe.

Even Miguel knows he can't do this alone and as much as that helplessness tastes like failure and bile in his throat, he can swallow his pride if it helps keep you safe.

"Stephen, you have to help me save her."

From behind, Strange rests one hand on the corner of his shoulder. The weight of it feels like a promise being made. For the first time in a long time, Miguel feels like he can breathe just a little bit easier.

"I will do what I can, my friend."

Weeks go by. There are more incidents. Runaway vehicles that go haywire. Electrical storm fires. Rain of poisonous locusts. 

Somehow he manages to protect you from it all. 

It just means that he has to be more vigilant, that's all. The universe doesn't rest and neither does Miguel now. Lyla has been set on constant alert to wake him up whenever he's napping at any small signs of abnormal occurrences happening near you, with an electric shock to make sure he wakes. Something the A.I. is taking a worryingly amount of glee in (which probably means he needs to retune her programming when he has time).

And today, today Miguel was meant to have a Sunday lie in. Universe be willing, his goal was to sleep all the way into the late afternoon and then you had promised to take him to IHOP and get him all the pancakes he could eat for late breakfast.

But right now he's not asleep. He's trying to. But there are hushed words and whispered murmurs, buzzing in his ear that keeps trying to drag him away from sleep.

It's you and Strange.

Judging from the distance of the noises, you're both standing outside in the hall. The fact that you two are trying to be quiet makes it worse. If you'd spoken in normal volume he could tune it out as white noise, but the conspiratorial quietness of it all makes the hair on the back of his neck tingle with alertness.

Fuck's sake. He swears to god if you two are gossiping and making fun of Hercules’ costume (or the lack of it) again.

It's too early for this crap. Don't you two know that people are trying to sleep? He was up all night chasing crazy Kraven worshippers releasing animals from the Brooklyn zoo. Miguel had to gather wild zebras and crocodiles all the way down East Village til 4am.

With a groan, he drags himself halfway up along the mattress, about to go and growl at you both to be quiet, when the cluttered noises register as words and the fuzziness of sleep clears momentarily.

"He'd destroy this world for you."

Huh? What are you two talking about?

Miguel's too groggy to make sense of the context of what's being said. Even with his super hearing he has to focus to make out the words.

"You can't let him."

Irritated, he gets out of bed and walks to the front door to swing it open. The first thing he sees is you standing with Strange in the hallway. You jump at the suddenness and look up at him with wide eyes.

You have the worst poker face of anyone he's ever seen in his life.

"What are you two jabbering on about this damn early?" he asks.

He'd expected the two of you to act coy, maybe a clever 'wouldn't you like to know' retort back from the Mystic. Instead, Strange's face is entirely inscrutable, tone serious as he responds.

"We were just catching up. Nothing important. I need to head back," Strange says, then he turns to you with a meaningful tilt to his head. "Think about what I said."

"What was that about?" Miguel asks you as he watches Strange step through a portal and disappear.

You don't say anything. There's a worried frown etched between your eyebrows as you bite down on your lip.

Something crawls under Miguel's skin at the whole interaction.

You're oddly quiet the whole afternoon. Deep in thought and walking around as if in a daze, which unsettles him.

It's not difficult for him to guess what's wrong. He might have been half asleep when you and Strange were whispering in the corridors, but Miguel can put one and one together. Having two PHDs and a lifetime's experience of working in theoretical physics gives you that leg up.

In a last ditch effort to get you out of the uncharacteristic blues, he orders a dozen of your favorite cupcakes from that tiny shop in New Jersey. It costs an arm and a leg to have it couriered, but it'll be worth it if it makes you smile. 

Then he sits down next to you on the bed and places the pink pastry box down on the mattress. It's your favorite place to eat cakes and it’s why you two always end up with crumbs and frosting all over the sheets.

You happily cram half a cupcake into your mouth in one bite as you eat, and he watches you contently. If there was any fairness in the world, this quiet idyllic moment could last forever. In a good world, Miguel wouldn’t have to burst this perfect bubble. 

Sadly, this world is neither fair nor good sometimes. 

"Strange said something to you right?" Miguel asks. 

You still next to him, clearly torn between whether or not to share what was said to you, probably in secret with the very intention of being kept away from him. 

“Nena,” Miguel tries again, and you close your eyes taking a deep breath, caving into his prodding. 

"Strange thinks that my incidents might be correlated with the strange natural occurrences lately."

That fucking asshole. He knew it. Irritation pings across his jaw, and Miguel bites it down. He tries to reel it, forcing back the rant that wants to surface. Instead he tries to focus on you instead of his own anger. 

"We don't know that. It could just be a series of coincidences," Miguel tells you. 

You nod, but Miguel's not an idiot and neither are you. He can see the worry creasing your eyes as you look down to your lap. 

Putting down the cupcake, he reaches over and links his right hand with yours. 

"Nena, don't worry.” He cups his free hand over your cheek to drag you up to meet his eyes.

“I'll fight the whole universe to keep you safe if I have to. Nothing's ever going to harm you so long as I'm here. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. You're the most important thing to me."

You smile at him at the words, but there's a wistfulness to it that embeds a dull ache in his chest that he wants to physically rub away to make it stop.

You lean into his touch, until your forehead presses up against his and the physical touch blunts the ache in him for a moment, putting it on pause. 

"You’re the most important to me too," you say.

The sky itself cracks open not long after. 

It doesn’t take the combined forces and intellect of the entire world too long to hone in on you being the root cause. Soon enough every superhero, mutant, villain and alien starts coming after you. Because hero or villain alike, no one truly wants their world to end, not if it’s not on their terms. 

Mysterio tries to kidnap you by the elevator in your apartment building. The Human Torch even tries to burn the whole building down. The Punisher tries to murder you point blank outside your office.

Miguel can’t remember the last time he slept. He’s running on fumes. Day after day, he feels like he’s getting by on borrowed time. 

The friends and allies you have thin out fast as the threats to the world increase in severity. Miguel never imagined having Deadpool standing outside his door stating that the life of one single person cannot outweigh the universe itself. 

It’s all so stupid. None of them know what they’re talking about. A lynching mob with their torches and pitchforks. Never stopping to think whether harming you could trigger something much worse.

If Strange is right and you are the knot at the center of the fabric of reality that is coming apart, then ripping that out leaves a hole. Miguel gave up on explaining that fairly quickly because he realized that theoretical consequences doesn’t matter to an angry mob scared of facing the reality of extinction. 

It all becomes a blur. 

Exhaustion eats into his bones, until he can no longer tell the days apart. No matter how many times he saves you, disaster is always waiting just around the corner. 

And now he’s chasing down the Green Goblin to the top of the Chrysler building from the 61st floor, where the green freak has cornered you to the edge of the rooftop.

Miguel is already out of breath, running away from the coalition of superheroes and villains that are hot on his heels, trying to stop him from saving you. 

Adrenaline beats fast in his veins as he keeps running. Miguel is only able to make out those in pursuit in brief glimpses. The bright blue spandex suit of Reed Richards as his freakishly long elastic limbs stretch towards him. The blocks of metal hurtling towards Miguel, missing by inches and crashes into the side of a building as Magneto’s form hovers nearby. 

He ignores them all, not sparing a glance behind him. He just has to keep moving. It doesn't matter that his muscles scream and burn in exhaustion. Doesn't matter that his head dulls with a heavy ache from lack of sleep. He has to keep going for you. Has to save you.

He's so close, he's almost there.

From the corner of his eyes, he makes out the familiar garish red flowing cape fluttering against the blue sky.

Strange.

Miguel marginally relaxes, at the sight of the sole ally he has left in this universe. He leaps across the rooftop, into the temporary safety of the observatory deck.

His feet doesn't even reach the ground. Something restrains him from behind. Bright lights materialize out of thin air. It wraps around Miguel's limb with the strength of unbreakable manacles, hugging him so tight it restricts the flow of blood to his fingers. Then he’s brought down to his knees. 

Miguel whips his head back and Strange stands there, hands formed in a holding gesture.

“What are you–”

"I'm sorry," Strange says.

Miguel snarls at his restraints, wrenching and twisting in every direction he is able to even with the limited range of motion, but it's to no avail. The harder he struggles the more forceful the restraints seem to close in on him, mirroring his strength.

"I'm sorry it had to come to this. I really hoped there was another way but every life in the whole of the universe is at stake, Miguel."

Hot burning anger spears through him, and if he could he would raze it all to the ground with it. This place, this world and this fucking traitor standing there can all fucking burn. Miguel is gonna kill him. He's gonna kill this fucking bastard. He can't believe he trusted him.

“Strange, fucking let me… Stephen!”

He hears your pained shout and snaps his head towards the sound.

Miguel is only ten feet away from you. Ten measly feet from where the Green Goblin is holding you by the ledge of the rooftop. He can still reach you, if he can get free he can still save you. 

Tearing through the magical binds, there’s a bone-cracking sound in his shoulder. Searing pain spreads through his arm. For all his struggles, he doesn't know if he’s even an inch closer towards you. 

He watches you drop from the ledge. 

It's a pin drop moment where everything stops. His heart is no longer beating. 

No. This can't be how it ends.

He's moving forward, even as the sharp restraints digs into his limbs and flesh and burrows in with an excruciating ache. But the pain doesn't matter. All that matters is you.

It claws into him, and digs and tears, until he is sure that his entire limbs are going to be torn off, but he doesn't stop, keeps pulling against the resisting strength that surrounds him, rips against the hindrance embracing every ounce of the pain until finally, the pressure gives.

There's a cacophony of sound that's left behind him as he leaps through the air. He slingshots downwards, cutting through air as he tries to reach you.

Miguel catches your hand and relief fills his chest.

"I got you. I got you," he murmurs. He's not sure if those words are to calm you or himself.

Pulling you up in defiance of the pull of gravity, he tries to haul you up towards him. Your hand squirms in his, and if you keep going you're going to slip out of his grasp.

"Nena, don't move," he shouts in alarm, but you don't stop, twisting in all directions, making it harder for him to get a better grip.

What're you– You're resisting against his strength, why would you...

It hits him with a sickening realization.

You don' want him to save you.

"Stop!" he shouts. “Stop!”

You shake your head, tears filling the corner of your eyes that flow upwards and everything is upside down to him. 

"We’re out of time. You have to let me go,” you say. 

His fingers squeeze down even harder at your words, refusing to hear it. 

“There's still time. There are still other options. I can still save you!” 

Your hand reaches for the amulet pressed against your collarbone. Dread floods every nerve in his body as he sees your fingers squeeze around it.

"No!" He shouts. Screams it so loud it burns in his lungs. But deep down he knows it's not going to make any difference. "Nena, don't!"

The wind whips too loudly against his face. The sound of your heart pounding so painfully hard in his ear that it's deafening and he knows that sound will haunt him forever. 

You're scared.

He sees your lips move, but he can't hear what you're saying.

But he's heard these words so many times before from your lips that he knows them by heart. 

''I love you.''

An invisible force blasts away at him, it shatters through him through his limbs and torso into the very soft tissue of his stomach and makes his teeth shake. He's propelled upwards, unable to control his movements or defy the gravity that he's learned to navigate after all these years mid-air.

He holds on as hard as he can to your hand, but it doesn't matter. His fingers slip, his grip is lost.

You're falling through the sky.

Miguel doesn't remember much after that.

Somehow he makes it back onto the ground.

Somehow he finds you amongst the cracked dirty concrete. 

Somehow, despite falling from over a 100 feet your body is still intact where it lies lifeless on the ground.

Your bones are broken though. Body limp and soft in his arms in a way that has never felt more wrong to him. His only consolation is that you're still warm in his arms, and he thinks that maybe if he just doesn't let go, if he holds you tightly pressed to him the way he is doing now, it'll remain that way forever.

The sky has cleared above. There are no cracks in the azure blue canvas.

This world is saved. 

His world has ended. 

~ Next Issue

Dedication & Credits: To @thirstworldproblemss who has been with me on this journey since chapter one without her enthusiasm and her companionship and friendship and listening to my wild ramblings about this story, I would never have set out to write this thing. She gave me so much joy in the process, she also gave me her time and her skills and brainy talent to help me process and brainstorm this into a shape that I was excited to share with you all! You also have her to thank for that devastating last line.

@guruan who has been a constant well of inspiration with her amazing art, her bright sense of humor and her sharing of theories of what's going to happen! You've made writing this story so much fun!

Author's note: Here we go guys, we've officially entered the final arc now. With only three chapters to go! I am so excited to share the remaining puzzle pieces with you all!

[joi-me-hoi-me-noi]

SHIBUYA INCIDENT - Blurbs

This features Nanami, Kugisaki, Fushiguro, Itadori/Sukuna and Gojo

This contains: Spoilers on the Shibuya Arc, blood, death (one reader death) and cursing... please enjoy as this is my first time writing :))))

Taglist: B L A N K 🤭🤭

Nanami Kento -

You were met up with Itadori while looking for your husband, you knew the mission was dangerous and you came with Shoko. She told you strictly not to leave your post because you were safe with her. You didn't listen...at all. She looked back to talk to you about something and you were already jumping off the building, stopping yourself with the help of your cursed technique.

"Where's Kento?" Then you look where Itadori's eyes stopped, wide and in shock. Mahito's hand touched your husband's bare back when he was distracted with the other curses in front of him. "Kento...no..." His head turns toward you and his student, he's smiling softly at the both of you. "Take care of her for me... Y/n, I love y-" He gets cut off by his top-half exploding into nothing.

"No! No, no no!" You immediately rush into action with Itadori following you. Mahito goes to reach for you but you quickly activate your technique just in time to send him to the ceiling and lock him there while you look at Nanami's lower half and fallen knife. You pick up his knife and hold it close to you while you sob loudly. "I guess your husband wasn't strong enough."

Your head looks at Mahito's stupid face, smirking at your pain. With a snap of your fingers, large spikes go through Mahito's skin. The time limit on the ceiling wears off and he falls even more onto the spikes. "I couldn't hear you over your fucking whining! Itadori," He looks to you, the most worried look on his face. "Deal with this fucking curse, I'm going back to Shoko. Show him hell."

Kugisaki Nobara -

"Was that Mahito?!" She nods and grabs your hand to then pull you along. "We have to stop him now, I already wore him down." You run alongside each other, following the figure down the subway station. "You wanna get boba afterwards? If we live that is." She gives you a small smirk. "I have you with me and you have me with you, we'll be fine. So, yes, I do."

You both get to the bottom of the stairs and see Mahito running toward...Mahito?! There's two Mahitos?! Oh, and there's Yuuji. "Ready?" You look at your girlfriend with a smile. "Of course, this'll be fun." You notice that they didn't form back together, one was running towards you both and the other was going toward Yuuji. "Look out!" You hold her hand tightly as you wrap vines together into a shield.

"See we'll be fine." Two of Mahito's stitched hands break through the wall of thorns, touching Nobara and you. She covers her left eye and you can't see out of your right. "Nobara, I'm scared...I didn't want to die this soon." Yuuji stops a couple feet away from you both. She uncovers her eyes, reaching for your hands. "Someone will come. But if not, we'll still be together. Smile Y/n," Her hand cups your jaw and your hand immediately rests on top of it, tears brimming your eyes.

"You know I hate seeing you upset." A loud pop and your girlfriend's blood decorates your face and clothes. You take a couple of deep breaths and let out a loud screaming sob. "NOBARAAA!" You draw out the last letter of her name whilst screaming. Then you feel yourself go silent permanently, death felt different than you expected. You thought you were alone...

But then you realized, you were both still holding hands, even through death.

Fushiguro Megumi -

"Megumi?" As you stand near the exit of the alleyway you were in, you see get flung harshly into the wall. "Babe? Holy shit!" You look to what threw him into the wall and gasp. You see Shigemo and then the most powerful curse that most people couldn't defeat. "Mahoraga...it was his last resort." You look at your boyfriend, blood spewing from his open wounds.

"Jesus Christ Megumi. You are the most handsome idiot I've ever met!" Another person meets the ground at a harsh speed, kicking up dust and asphalt from the streets. You cover your mouth with the top of your oversized jacket and close your eyes, still holding Megumi close. When you feel the smoke clear, you open your eyes, now close to no other than Sukuna.

You grab the knife on your belt and hold Megumi even closer to your body, not letting your eyes fall off of the King of Curses. He squats down to your level, eyes still locked on yours. "You're Megumi's woman, yes? L/n Y/n." You nod, keeping the knife pointed at him. He sighs and grabs your wrist quicker than you can react. You try to pry his hand off your wrist, grunting.

"Drop the knife." His voice booms due to the close proximity. You drop it and hold him close. His hand reaches forward to Megumi and you notice all of his wounds start to go away. "That's all I wanted to do, woman. I know you'll stay put, now if you'll excuse me." He hurries away extremely quickly as you pick up your knife from beside you. You press your hand against his palm and bring it to your lips.

"Stay with me Megumi. I'm right here this time."

ITADORI YUUJI / RYOMEN SUKUNA -

You were hiding until Choso left the bathroom, you heard the fight from the distance. "Itadori..." You rush in front of him, checking his heartbeat. He's breathing but slowly...it's slowing down...his fingers are moving. "Yuuji, I'm right in front of you. I'm right here. Please open your eyes." You hear soft chattering and look in the direction quickly.

"It's just some kids..." You press your hands against the large wound, blood soaking your hands. A soft groan falls from his lips. "I know it hurts. I know, shhhhh. I'm trying to help you love." You hear a couple of steps and then a soft 'I knew it' from the doorway. "We have fingers, miss. This might help him." He already passed out and his pulse is becoming weaker. This was your last resort...

After watching Yuuji swallow two of Sukuna's fingers, flames touch the side of your face, burning your skin. You quickly put up a barrier to protect yourself, forced to watch the girls burn in the fire. "He's not going to be very happy when you wake him up." You open your phone to the camera and look at your cheek. Jogo looks at you slightly, annoyed by your conversation. "Why's that girl?"

"You hurt me. He's going to kill you because of that, Itadori and Sukuna made a deal surrounding me." Itadori gulped down the final finger Jogo had to offer. He looked nervous, probably because you said that. "Wake up Sukuna." Two sets of eyes open. "Get your hands off of me." Jogo moves away quickly and the girls are back as well. It must be one of their techniques.

Your barrier lowers and you bow your head to Sukuna. "Y/n." "Ryomen." He does the come hither motion with his fingers, you get up and stand in front of him. He turns his attention towards you, pressing his fingers under your chin to make you look at him. "I-I didn't put my barrier up in time." He sighs and heals the side of your face.

"I'll give whoever harmed my woman a chance to out themself right now." They all stayed silent. "Who did this to you?" You simply pointed at the curse and looked away, you've seen enough blood today. He cut off the two girl's heads and looked directly at Jogo. "Y/n," "Yes, Ryo?" He turns his head slightly. "Go hide again dearest." You nod and run to your hiding space.

"Now you, we're going to take this outside. I think you deserve it for putting your hands on my woman, don't you?"

GOJO SATORU -

You were the first and only person at the floor they were keeping your husband. You pull the lollipop out of your mouth and look at Geto with a smile. "He giving you a hard time? You shouldn't be that upset Geto, it's Satoru. What did you expect?" The eyes on the box widened at the sight of your presence. "Oh look at him, he's shocked that I'm here. Hi Pookie, I heard you got sealed."

You dodge all the attacks Geto's throwing at you while putting on Gojo's cool sunglasses. "Oh Toru, you don't mind if I use your sunglasses do you?" You press your hand to your ear, laughing. "I don't hear any disagreement so I guess I'm fine." You slide past Geto and sit on the ground near the box that your husband was trapped in. "Hello love. Thank you for letting me pick you up."

You place a big bubble around yourself while Geto tries to destroy it in any way possible. "Are you just going to sit there until I destroy this barrier or are you going to fight me?" You slip the lollipop back into your mouth and spin the box in your palm. "Well my job was to get my hubby this box but it didn't come with any instructions so my job is to wait until someone comes down here."

"Also, you're right, I'm not going to fight you. But they will!" Your technique caused every curse to turn against him... you were truly a funny lil' trump card.

[britcision]

Okay WIP Wednesday! I’ve had a real fucking busy weekend painting the house and building new furniture and making some fucking HELLACIOUS overalls (pics later maybe???)

But I basically haven’t been on except my occasional cursed thought, and hopefully I’ll be around more and actually get to some messages this week 👀 maybe

In the meantime! Here is the Danny segment I considered giving you last week!

————————

A Good Excuse To Be A Bad Influence iii

Honestly, driving in Gotham wasn’t even all that exciting from Danny’s perspective. After being tossed around the GAV despite the seatbelts, a couple of cranky fellow drivers just didn’t register.

If they hadn’t been going through the city, maybe going highway speeds it might have been different, but he’d kind of worked out how loud he had to be to be heard.

By Jason snickering when he screamed at pedestrians.

If they didn’t want to be screamed at they shouldn’t be trying to loom menacingly.

Of course, that just meant now was the perfect time for him to use his new power for evil. Danny flipped his visor up, straining as high as he could to yell to Jason.

“SO, THAT CONSTANTINE GUY?”

There was a sudden click in his ear and he jumped as Jason’s voice came through, quiet and definitely amused.

“There’s a radio in your helmet, Danny.”

Oh.

News to fucking him, he was pretty sure that wasn’t standard in motorcycle helmets, but not from any lived experience. Johnny 13’s dead experiences were a little out of date.

Poking around the sides of his helmet, Danny soon found a button.

“Sweet. Looks like you finally forgot to mention something,” he teased, and heard Jason snort loud and clear.

Didn’t have to hold the button to talk then. Good times. He’d get Tucker to take a look on the way home after he ecto infused it. For now he flipped the visor back down.

“Looks like,” Jason agreed dryly, swerving them around a cluster of traffic.

He wasn’t exactly sticking to the letter of the law, they were definitely half again over the speed limit, but they hadn’t gone on a sidewalk so it was nothing to a Fenton. There was even an empty slot in the lane he merged into.

“So what about Constantine,” he prompted, and while it broke Danny out of his musings, it also reminded him of the exact thing he’d planned to do to make the trip more interesting.

“Oh, I own his soul. Like, a dozen times over,” Danny chirped perkily, grip tightening just before Jason had to slam on the breaks to keep from hitting the car beside them.

They sped off again before the sudden swerve caused comment, and passed a block or two in silence. Then Jason sighed.

“Of fucking course you do that for everything and not just Mariokart.” He mostly sounded resigned, so Danny allowed himself a snicker.

“What, it’s not like we’re gonna die. You’re even still on the road,” he dismissed easily, waving a hand to show just how unconcerned he was.

Did not expect Jason to huff, reach back and grab his hand, and pull it back around himself.

“I’m reconsidering teaching you to drive,” he told Danny flatly, and Danny pouted but took the hint and held on.

“Oh come on, you can’t say that, you haven’t even seen me try!” Danny protested.

Jason made an unimpressed noise.

“Your town’s weather includes reports of if your parents will be on the road.”

Which, by the way, was totally unfair of him, since he’d never have known that if Danny hadn’t told him. Or Tucker hadn’t told Tim.

Same difference.

“My parents, not me,” Danny argued anyway, shrugging, “and it wasn’t their driving that killed me.”

This time he was close enough, snugged tight to Jason’s back, that he felt the guy’s whole body shiver with a loud and rumbling growl. The same growl he’d heard and soothed earlier.

Something had really riled up Jason’s pit ghost.

Danny hummed another quick soothing trill, stroking his aura gently across Jason and his extra passenger.

Sort of trying to do it unobtrusively; he would actually really prefer that they didn’t fully crash. It kinda worked, in that Jason managed to unlock suddenly solid muscles enough for them to make the next turn.

“Sorry,” Danny said quickly, kind of to both of them, “guess Pitty doesn’t like the death jokes today.”

They passed another few buildings in silence, anf Danny had definitely noticed by now that they weren’t heading for the manor. Didn’t matter so long as Jason knew where they were going.

Danny waited him out, long enough that he almost wanted to make another joke and lighten the mood. Again though, Jason broke it first.

“Pitty.” He did not sound impressed. But he didn’t feel mad. More what the fuck just came outta your mouth.

Danny gave him a quick squeeze, and almost felt the pit purr.

It was kinda getting stronger the longer they hung out. Technically that probably meant that both cores were making progress.

“Well, technically you probably get to name it, but until you come up with something I’m calling it Pitty,” Danny explained, and rather felt that Jason should be grateful.

Unlike the rest of his family, Jason had seen the full list of how Jack Fenton named things. Danny preferred to think he took after his aunt.

He coulda called it the Fenton Pit Friend or something. Really, it wasn’t hard to think of anything worse.

From his aura, Jason now seemed to be intentionally ignoring him.

Stewing in indignation-disbelief-confused-confused-confused. Well, that was his call.

Anyway.

“Back to Constantine though, I wasn’t kidding. I do actually own his soul,” Danny said casually, since they’d gotten distracted from his previous attempt to make the drive more interesting.

For a moment he wasn’t sure if Jason would rise to the bait this time either, and then another sigh came over the radio.

“Y’know, somehow, that’s the least surprising thing you’ve said. Man sells his soul so much everyone seems to have a chunk,” Jason grumbled, and Danny snickered.

“Oh, pretty much. He’s the Caterpie of human souls. He never made a deal with me directly though,” he added quickly, without being fully sure why.

He was pretty sure Jason wouldn’t jump straight to “Danny is a soul trader”, but honestly he’d gotten used to getting ahead of wilder trains of thought.

“Oh? How’d you get twelve then?” Jason shot back, clearly warming back up to things.

Mission accomplished. Danny grinned.

“Well, previous Ghost King was in nappy time for a couple thousand years, but he had this whole thing about collecting souls to add to his army of thralls, so basically anyone could sign their soul over for a chunk of power. Real charmer,” Danny snorted, rolling his eyes.

It was so far from the worst thing Pariah Dark had ever done, but so far it was definitely the longest lingering annoyance.

“I got the impression,” Jason agreed in pretty much the same tone, prompting Danny to continue.

Which. Yeah. Was more fun than thinking about the mountain of thrall contracts still awaiting their owner’s deaths, which the Observants were still fussing over.

Nobody wanted more thralls, souls wiped clean of everything that made them, well, souls. Just unliving batteries. Even ghosts found them creepy.

On the other hand, there was nothing the Observants loved more than rules. And the rules said a signed contract had to be honoured.

Really they shoulda expected Danny to ask who the fuck signed for Pariah, since he was (again) in nappy time prison. He hoped nobody else died while they sorted that out.

“Danny?”

Ah. Yup, he did it again. Danny shook his head and sighed, kinda missing the wind in his hair. It kept him more present than the enclosed space of the helmet.

“Sorry. So, John Constantine, clever bitch, wrote himself a contract that signed his soul over to the Ghost King, not Pariah Dark. Got through whatever screening was in place no problem, and now he’s my problem.”

A problem that Clockwork had presented Danny with on his fucking birthday no less.

That had been part one of the soul screening process; who was stuck with Pariah by name, and ho boy that was a depressingly long list… and still growing, though it had slowed recently.

News of Pariah losing his crown was slow to spread, and frankly Danny himself could be doing more to help that, except. Well.

Not taking the damn crown himself until he had to. Not wanting to give the creeps of the world anything to call him.

There were a lot of good reasons, okay? And Clockwork had specially singled out Constantine’s contract and delivered it to Danny himself as a birthday present.

“Well, that explains one,” Jason agreed with a snicker, pulling to a stop in front of the police station, “but what about the other eleven times?”

Danny snorted a laugh, sliding off the bike and stretching. As much fun as hugging Jason at high speeds was, he didn’t like being still for too long.

“Tax season,” he explained cheerfully, pulling off the helmet and looking around, “I guess we’re meeting Harley here?”

Snickering to himself, Jason pulled off his own helmet and tucked it into the storage on the back of his bike. Danny passed it over, noting that Jason had also had to get a second little pod for the other helmet.

He wasn’t gonna ask. Maybe they were in storage?

“Yeah, we’re meeting Harley here. Better not to swing by the manor for a while,” Jason added, his expression souring.

Which did make Danny feel a little bad actually. He didn’t want to cause trouble for Jason with his family…

But before he could say anything Jason ruffled his hair roughly, shaking his head.

“It’s not your fault, Danny. This kinda shit happens every other week, Bruce gets on his bullshit and I steer clear. He’ll calm the fuck down eventually and remember to mind his own business,” he explained dryly, nodding towards the doors.

Danny hesitated before moving to follow. It felt true, he could feel Jason’s sincere-exhausted-familiar-still over it clear as day, it just.

“I’m still sorry I wound him up though,” Danny finally decided, heading after Jason up and in. Jason who rolled his eyes and held the door open.

“Danny. He winds himself up. You could be a literal angel and he would not fucking care. You couldn’t unwind him even if you miraculously found the key. We’ve all tried,” Jason said with a sigh, though at least the anger seemed to have burned off into just…

Tired.

Jason just felt tired.

Probably cuz he was off fucking around with Cass last night, but Danny wasn’t about to call him out on it.

Not when they’d just walked into the police station (ew) and the wild sight of Harley Quinn, hair in pigtails and dressed in her signature red and black, sat on the duty officer’s desk with a bat. Filing her nails.

Total silence filled the room, broken only by the swing of the doors opening as Danny and Jason stepped through.

The whole room was watching her in a kind of terrified awe, like she was a particularly dangerous bomb waiting to go off. Danny’d swear they weren’t even breathing.

She looked up as the door opened, grinning broadly at the sight of them and waving in a large, exuberant gesture.

“Oh, there’s my boys! Hey boys!” She called in obvious delight, and half the room flinched.

Didn’t seem to matter that she hadn’t even been in Gotham for ages, let alone being her former roguish self. She had the kind of presence that left a lasting impression.

No wonder Danny liked her. She coulda fit right in with his ghost friends.

Maybe she’d come join them for fight club.

——————

Tag List: @welcometosasakiworld @kyrianclawraith @someonebored0100 @stealingyourbones @starkcravingmad @frostedthroughghost @akikkobara @rainbowbunny0159 @littlefeather345 @violet-catsarelife @serasvictoria02 @wolfjackle @blacksea21090 @secretdestinywerewolf @anime-hipster-the-amazing @undead-essence @skitscratched @blackroserelina @snoodly-boop @trickerdi @mayoota-blog @xysidhe @idkmrpianoman @little-apricot-the-writer @chaoticmistake @the-legal-shipper @bun-fish @aroranorth-west @demon-cat-goes-woof @perfectwastelandcreation @onyxlightdragon @larks-and-katydids @peachesandcreamfemboy @jesus-camp-the-sequel @may-rbi @mothman-the-mothman87 @viyatrix @stargirl1331 @idfk-man10 @thedepressedrobin @skulld3mort-1fan @rootsmudge @ravenshadow17 @cankoking @phantom-dc @mentalcarebear @magic-pincushion @redamancyardor @lyra689 @itsparadoxlacuna @alcorbearson @asphyxia778 @why-must-i-be-like-this @tkiesai

[scrunckled-idiot]

(chat please it took me so long to figure this out)

So uhhg ughm uh-

I got the idea of A survival tf2 horror game based off this post by @the-sound-of-progress (bbg please you haven’t posed in 8 months ☹)

Like my brain is fucked so I like um i- ghuh just hear my idea out please chat-

So the premise of the game is to steal a randomised amount of randomised weapons (min 10 to 15) scattered around the battlefield in 25 or something minuets while giant medic stalks around. Like the game description would be something like:

“what was going to be just a quick and easy heist of stealing some valuable weapons from that freaky base near your town, turns into a deadly game of cat and mouse. as the bases medic has found an interesting way to defend the base at night. Stay out of sight and evade his clutches as you navigate the abandoned battlefield, collect all weapons, and escape back to your vehicle.”

Or something. Like I kept thinking of game mechanics, unique death animations, and achievements for it to. Damn fucking autism. Like firstly how medic would function based on the images.

Medics mechanics and how to counter them:

medic is giant, which means he’ll be slow, right? Makes sense so you could probably outrun him… as long as your sprint meter doesn’t run out. (refillable with MRE packs). In that case, try and take cover in the nearest building.

You’re still not safe yet if you hide in a building. Either medic will wait until you come out (random chance that he will or not), which you can tell he is or not by listening for his breathing or watching for his shadow. Or he’ll try to reach his hand inside and grab you, counter this by pressing against the wall next to the opening.

If you’re atop of a building, he will try to swipe at you or use his bone saw to slash over the roof. Just go further to the middle of the roof to avoid them or just duck.

If he does manage to grab you, time will slow down and you will have a 5 second window to mash the jump button to “wiggle free” or something.

you can bait him to go somewhere else by using walkie talkies. can only use this trick a minimum amount of times before he learns ts a trick.

tid-bits:

At the end of the game it will tell you the total cost of the weapons you stole was, how long it took you, how many MRE packs you ate, and other cool stuff perhaps.

He will hide behind corners of buildings and jump out at you. No counter to this, just a cool jumpscare while he laughs like a fucking madman.

Some Cool and unique death scenes when you’re caught. depending on range:

Long range: shooting a big-ass needle at you from his crossbow, throwing a boulder at you.

Close range: stomped to death, crushed to death, eaten, getting picked up and thunder-cunted into the stratosphere like a baseball, sliced by his bone saw, getting carried away in a comically sized jar.

Player will restart in the spawn rooms or back at the gate if they die.

You’ll know he’s near when the ground starts quaking.

ending cutscene will either have you successfully drive away after stealing the required amount of weapons, or have medic stomp your car while you try to escape if you don't steal the required amounts of weapons. or a secret ending where he follows you home and kills you since you've seen too much (canon ending). not sure what triggers the endings yet.

THERE IS A TIME LIMIT SO YOU CANT CAMP IT OUT PUSSY!!!

Achievements (shitty names tbh someone come up with something better ong):

An apple a day, keeps the doctor away- don’t die once during the whole run

monk diet- don’t eat a single MRE pack during the whole run.

Wiggly woo- escape medics grasp every time you’re caught.

by the skin of your teeth- escape with the good ending.

midnight snack- get the bad ending

you didn't see anything- get the secret ending

Uhhhh… some other ones I cant think of yet. sorry :(

I wanted to do voice lines as well but I couldn’t do it, felt cringe. He’d mostly just use voice lines from the game anyway. Typical laughter and taunts. And Probably some cool things that im not creative enough to think about. Maybe deaths will also have a zestier variant just to awaken something in someone. But ye, just something I came up with within the span of a day. Now wanting this to be real and not fiction :( maybe some kids doing game design in my collage will bring my idea to life? Idk man no promises.

Thank you for listening to me autistically ramble about my tf2 g/t horror game pitch. that is all.

Well, off to hang myself! Watch and lear-

*gak*

[romanarose]

Burn

Joel Miller & Ellie Williams

Join my taglist : Masterlist

Summary: How Ellie got that scar. Just my thoughts of the moment Ellie mutilated her arm to cover up her bite mark.

Content and Warnings: Self-mutilation but not for mental health reasons. Protective Joel, Dad Joel, Joel needs a hug.

A/N this isn't going to be for everyone, it's not a reader fic, but I couldn't get this scene out of my head. Does not show Ellie burning her arm, but it does show her in extreme pain.

****************

It wasn't supposed to happen in Jackson. Not yet anyway. Ellie was 15 and had 3 years before she would take up patrol shifts, so in Jackson, she would be safe, right? Joel would be around, he'd protect her. Even out in the feilds where he was now, Joel knew no one would mess with her, not with his reputation. There was the fact he was Tommy's brother, yeah, the town leader's brother in law... but Maria didn't show favoritism, and if she did... well, Joel wasn't a favorite. Still, the town didn't need to know that, and Joel proclivity towards violence to defend his kin had reached the popular gossip. Yeah, no man would dare lay a hand on his kid.

Not that she couldn't handle herself, of course. She'd told him what she'd done to that bastard in the winter... but she shouldn't have to. That was the point of him. Joel was supposed to be there so she didn't have to. He failed her with David, and now as he road on the back on Tommy's horse, he felt like he failed her again.

When Tommy road up to where Joel was working in a field, flying like a bat out of hell, Joel knew something was wrong.

"Ellie's hurt-"

"What the hell happened! Who-"

"Joel! Get on and I'll explain on the way."

It had been an accident, Tommy said. No one was in the auto building where Ellie was learning to fix up a tractor when another worker heard a crash and she started screaming. Battery acid.

Joel had a thousand questions, mostly why she was left alone. Tommy answered that with the fact in Texas, Joel has been operating a chainsaw since he was 13. In hard times, teenagers have to take on responsibilities.

"Where was she burned?"

"I don't know, Joel."

"There's a big different between her whole face and a splash on her leg Tommy!"

"I don't know! I didn't stick around to get a diagnosis, someone needed to get you and if it was anyone else you'd rip his fucking head off right now so will you just fucking relax!" As they road up to the clinic, Joel practically jumped off the horse, Tommy calling after him to not hurt anyone.

When he burst into the clinic, he felt the flashbacks start, the sheer panic like that day in the hospital again, like if he even wasted a second, he'd be too late. The nurse seemed to be prepared, holding a door open and ushering him down a hall. "All the way down on your left."

But as he entered the hall anyway, he heard her screaming.

"ELLIE!"

When he saw her alive and awake, it was almost a relief. He wasn't relieving the hospital, they hadn't touched her at all. He brain wasn't cut out of her head. She was alive.

"Joel! Shit! It fucking hurts!" She cried out, writhing in the-

"WHY THE HELL IS SHE RESTRAINED!" Joel screamed at the doctor.

He answered, looking scared. "She kept trying to claw at the burn."

Ellie shouted that it was burning, and Joel turned to see where the burn was... on her forearm... and she was wearing a short sleeve... Elli couldn't wear short sleeves because her bite mark was on her- fuck.

"Did you give her anesthesia?!"

The doctor hesitated, and Joel heard Tommy shout from down the hall, but he ignored him. "Mr. Miller, there's a limited amount of anesthesia, we can't give it for minor injuries-"

Before he knew what was happening, Joel fisted his hand up in the doctors shirt and thust him against the wall. "SHE HAS BATTERY ACID ON HER ARM!"

"WE CLEANED IT!"

It was Tommy to pull Joel off.

A loud back and forth ensued, the doctor trying to explain that anesthesia was strictly for surgery, while Joel, trying to undo Ellie's restaints, screamed at him that she's just a kid. Tommy tried to mediate, but he had his own frustration. He'd grown rather attached to Ellie in the months since they returned. Sarah's death hit him hard too, and he was beginning to see Ellie as a niece... with the birth of his son, Joel's fatherly pleas that she was just a kid rang true in his ears.

"Just give her a little topical to get her through this so she doesn't go into shock, okay?"

"But-"

"I'll take your daughter off overnight patrols for a few months, okay?" Overnight was more dangerous.

The doctor hesitated but agreed. "Just once. Just to get her past the hard part."

The doctor left after administering anesthesia and promising not to tell Maria. Tommy hung by as it kicked in, Joel and his holding either hand as she kicked and thrashed and cried. Ellie tried so hard to grit and bear it, but every now and then a string of expletives fell out her mouth.

"It's okay, babygirl, s'alright. I'm here, Ima take care of you, kay?"

Tommy's eyes flicked up to Joel, and when his bother got his gaze, Tommy nodded down to where the battery acid burned away at Ellie's skin. He raised his eyebrows in a silent question. 'that her bite mark?'

Joel nodded, the went right back to holding Ellie's hand in one of his while the free hand caressed her face. "Gonna be alright, Ellie, you're doing real well, 'm so proud of yuh, being real brave."

Normally, Ellie hated anyone babying her, but in rare moments, moments like these, she found comfort is just being able to be a kid who needed her dad.

After the doctor checked on her to make sure she hadn't gone into shock, Tommy left with Joel sitting by a sleeping Ellie's side, holding the hand of her burned arm. He knew what she'd done. Every know and then, she'd whimper in her sleep.

*

Ellie woke up, disoriented and in pain... but when she gasped and looked to her side, she saw Joel. If Joel was there, she was okay. Slowly, Ellie took in her surroundings, and connected the dots of what had happened. Joel was going to fucking kill her.

"Better start explain' yerself" Joel mumbled, eyes still closed. Alert ass mother fucker.

"Jesus, do you ever fucking sleep."

He opened his eyes. "Do you ever think before you act?"

Ellie yanked her hand out from where Joel stole held her. "Well what was your grand plan! I can't wear long sleeves forever! It gets hot as balls in the summer, Tommy told last year it was like, 110!"

Fucking Tommy always running his mouth. "You should have talked to me!"

She scoffed. "Please, you never would have let me-"

"Of course I wouldn't!" Joel shouted. "Battery acid on your am, are you insane? Jesus, Ellie!"

"Oh yeah, here you go, acting all dramatic-" She tried to get up off the bed but Joel grabbed her hand.

"I'm trying to protect you-"

"Dad! Stop!"

They both in their tracks. There was no back tracking what she just called him. Ellie broke the silence.

"Shit, Joel, I'm sorry-"

"Please don't be." He was quick to reassure, Joel's voice soft and quiet. "I- I don't mind that."

"I'm not trying to... replace Sarah, or snything-"

"Your not." A pause. Joel sighed, letting got of her hand. "Sarah will... always just be Sarah. She'll always be 13, or 12, or 5... she'll never be here in Jackson but... you are. You're here and... you make my days better, you make me smile when I'm cranky-"

"What is a lot"

Asmall smile quipped at his lips. "-which is a lot, but you do, you make me smile and... you make me proud. You ain't replace'n her or noth'n, Ellie. You're someth'n new, someth'n special all your own. You are both... different from each other, but I love you both, as my daughters, all the same and..." Joel swallowed hard. "And if you see me as your dad well, then, I hope I can make you proud too."

Ellie was hugging him before he had a chance to think, and instinctively he wrapped his arms tightly around his daughter. She was okay. She was hurt, but she'd be okay. The burn with heal, and so will she. He didn't fail her. Ellie would live a good life, a happy life. He'd give her everything he couldn't give Sarah.

"I love you, baby girl"

"I love you, dad."

**********************

Ellie calls Joel dad <3 might be a lil too sappy for our two emotionally constipated besties but what's a little OOC between friends.

please lmk if you want to join my tag list or be removed!

If you enjoyed, reblogs are the only real way to spread art, and comments mean the world &lt;3

@fandxmslxt69 @runa-falls @k-ra @whatthefishh @ahookedheroespureheart @mikaelak @littlenosoul @stevenandmarcslove @pikapuff-316 @del-ightfulling @faretheeoscar @harriedandharassed @my-secret-shame-but-fanfiction @campingwiththecharmings

[usgsnajs]

God I can’t wait until tomorrow’s episode of secret life… it’s obviously gonna be the finale, and unlike previous seasons I watched live, I have wishes for every server member except for the previous winners to win lol

I want Cleo to win because she deserves this story arc, surviving the zombie apocalypse and turning human as a result, being the last green name, and also getting back with her ex husband lolol (just so you know, I have essays of thoughts about Cleo and Ethos character arcs this season that I cannot put it into words. Just trust me that this and Ethos sections should be a lot longer)

I want Etho to win because oh my god??? What has he been on this season??? First off, he has somehow reached higher set cat status than he did in Limited life, which I thought was impossible, but he just struggles so. hard. in the earlier sessions especially. Secondly, he plays the secret aspect of the game really well, where he almost always comes up with a fake task for him to do in addition to his actual task, and sticks with it completely. He’s just really good at the secret part of it while also hiding what he’s doing really badly, which is the best thing to watch ever. But thirdly and most importantly, the fucking…zombie apocalypse session…He failed his task, and made the ENTIRE SERVER also fail their task just because he didn’t want to give up Cleo and Grian… He jumped in front of Bdub’s arrow to protect Cleo… ‘I’m a survivor’ this ‘I’d probably run’ that, you are a liar Mr Etho Slab!! Face it, you’ve had character development since Last Life!!! Stop thinking the worst of yourself!! Also, in addition to all that, he also fits the fact that all the previous winners played the game differently than how it was intended, with the previously mentioned failing of the task, so he also deserves to win because of that.

I want Scar to win because this entire season has been him fighting against what the secret keeper pushes onto him, with him not wanting to be the villain but repeatedly getting villain related tasks, so him winning in spite of that would be so satisfying. Also the idea of Scar, who has spent previous seasons constantly fighting to make friendships, winning the season where everyone on the server hates him does something to me the vibes are just immaculate. Also also! Please let him win he’s come so close so many times 😭

I want Gem to win because Geminislay next question. lol but actually I think it would be really funny if she joined the server for the first time, killed all her friends, won, and then left. Also something something her bringing the boogeyman curse to a season that was never supposed to be cursed in that way, and then fighting her way to victory is really cool. Also also Gem is just cool so I want to see that victory

I want Impulse to win because he’s gotten so close in like almost every season before this!!! He got second last time please just let him win and go apeshit, he deserves it I think. Also last yellow??? He deserves to pop off in the final session and take the win

I want Bdubs to win because this season has been peak Bdubs allying with half the people on the server, and he deserves to win at his worst /j But seriously his perspective so far has been one of my favorites this season because of how funny he is. He spent over an episode building the world when he didn’t even need to. He was murdered by Scar when both of them were green. He has a room in the Roomies base when he’s not even part of their group. He’s so silly he deserves to murder Scar in revenge for his first death and then gloat as he wins.

I want Joel to win because he deserves to go apeshit and then not die from recklessness. I think he should be insane and murder a bunch of people while still staying alive, like Last Life but without the ending part. His base is filled with joy but he is not, and that’s hilarious to me. Please let Joel win one of these he’s come so close

I want BigB to win because out of everyone in secret life he was the one to truly take the ‘secret’ part of the title to its very max. BigB gaslighting everyone he comes into contact with for literally no reason is my favorite part of secret life lol. He should win just for that as well as having the funniest life series base ever. Also his storylines tend to get ignored by a bunch of the fandom, and while it’s definitely improved a lot this season, it still could be better, so I’m hoping he wins just so more people will watch his perspective 😭

I want Skizz to win because like BigB, he is seriously underrated. He still doesn’t have 100k!! Subscribe to him right now!! But other than that, he also deserves to win just because it’d be funny if, now that he’s lived past the third death, he promptly switched his curse as far around as possible and just won lolol. Also also the Heart Foundation has been one of the silliest groups ever, and their base was really cute while it lasted, so any of the members of that group deserve to make it far if just for that. Plus him immediately going after Tango once he got infected with boogeyman was very funny. You go king! Drag your friends down with you! In conclusion Skizz is very funny and deserves to win purely because of that as well as the underdogness of it all.

I want Tango to win because of the Heart foundation stuff I mentioned with Skizz, but also he deserves to win just so he can break his curse of always having a kinda stupid final death 😔 I think it would be really funny if he broke that curse in the coolest way possible, and then in every season after this one he immediately goes right back to silly final deaths.

(Also if a previous winner won this season again I would not be upset as all of them have storylines this season that are really good for it, I just want them to win a little less than the others)

This season has been incredible so far, and it might even end up being my favorite season yet!

[mahougotham]

City Lights

The Gotham streets were always constantly busy, from dawn to dusk it was packed with people going to their next location, vendors taking advantage of the foot traffic, and the occasional pickpocket. Because of this, a lot of the fights determining the fate of the city and on a larger scale the world, took place on the roofs of Gotham City’s many structures, and Oswald was sick of it.

Don’t get him wrong, he loved the theatrics of chasing down and fighting people jumping roof to roof on paper. However, in practice, in heels-

“This sucks!”

Currently, he was locked in a sword fight with the Riddler (maybe sword and cane fight but whatever) on the top of the Wayne Enterprise building. How did they end up on top of the tallest building in Gotham City? Oswald could not tell you, the chase was a blur of him running and jumping and occasionally cursing the shoes he was wearing.

“Had enough, Penguin?”

“Yes! Actually! We’re going to fall off this tower at this rate! I’ll be fine but you’d be fucked,” he reverted his weapon back into an umbrella, “Can we at least hash this out through the parking structure?”

Riddler pouted, “I figured the height and limited space would raise the stakes! I mean you must admit this is impre-“

As took a step back, the prince of puzzles lost his balance and only had a second to register that like it or not, he’s falling.

“Ah.”

“RIDDLER!”

Oswald ran off the edge and jumped towards the black and green figure dropping backwards towards the streets far below them. Riddler moved to reach his hands towards his nemesis. He didn’t want to go out. Not like this at least. Pale blue eyes clamped shut waiting for the inevitable crunch and splat.

But it never came.

In its stead, was the sensation of his arms around soft body and the feeling of gliding across the air instead of down. Riddler rather he didn’t open his eyes just yet and opted to just grope around what he was hold to make sure this was all real.

“Ey ey ey! Take me to dinner at least,” the Penguin scolded. This made Riddler stop immediately.

“You saved me.”

“Astute observation, Sherlock.”

“I could kill you.”

“You wouldn’t,” the city’s defender shot at him, “You’re a clever guy. You know that if you kill me you’re fucked.”

Riddler finally opened his eyes to look at the Penguin, umbrella over his head, eyes looking towards the streets seeing the breathtaking view of the Gotham nightlife.

“… It’s beautiful from up here.”

“Of course it is. The view down there is just as good if you let it be,” the driver of this flying umbrella said, “afterall this city is my home. I deserve it.”

“You are aware that it’s a hellhole,” the Riddler grimaced only to be met with a burn passion behind dark blue eyes.

“I know that. Gotham City is the only place I know where you can watch robberies happen back to back while a hungover woman pukes off the side of the road. It’s the city that refuses to sleep because shit can hit the fan at any moment. It’s the city that will hold your head in the water til the bubbles stop,” a heavy breath left his lips, “But I wouldn’t have it any other way. This city is my home. Flaws and all. And it’s mine.”

An arm held Riddler closer to its owner who growled in a way that sent shivers down spine.

“And I’ll be damn if anyone destroys what is rightfully mine.”

The taller man should be intimidated by that threat or at the very least indifferent so he can play it off like he didn’t care. Instead he found himself swooning over his enemy.

[33max]

Accidental omorashi + fireproofs

really not sure if i hit the mark with this one but...

It’s really not that bad, or maybe when Max is in the car he’s so in the zone that he doesn’t feel the need so much, it’s hard to say. But he manages to keep the fullness of his bladder out of his mind during free practice. Not willing to let something like this get in the way of important track time.

Except then he stands up to get out of the car, and gravity changes everything, because now that he’s standing upright his bladder is screaming at him to find a bathroom. Find a bathroom now.

He has to jump out of the car, and the force of his feet hitting the concrete floor of the garage has him scrambling to hold himself. From across the garage, Max can only assume that GP takes note of his panicked expression because he gives him a dismissive hand gesture, it’s a we can debrief later.

Thank god.

He undoes the zipper of his race suit on the way to the bathroom, pulling his arms out and letting the material fall around his waist. It’s not far to the bathroom, and he can pull the driver card, cut a queue if there is one.

When he rounds the corner and the bathroom is in sight he has to stop walking for a moment, grip his cock tightly through his fireproofs and breathe. Just breathe. It’s crazy how the desperation triples as soon as he sees the end, especially when there is no queue.

He’s nearly there. It’s like he can feel the piss building up behind the head of his cock, ready to burst out as soon as he takes his hands off of himself.

It’s so close. A few more delicate steps.

He tries the handle, and because clearly the universe hates him – the door is locked.

“Gimme a sec,” He hears an Australian accent say through the door. He knows that voice. Daniel.

“Daniel, let me in,” Max begs, “Now, let me in now,”

“I’m just washing my hands, calm your tits,” Daniel says, but he is kind enough to unlock the door with one hand while still rinsing the other with soap.

Max can’t reply. He barrels into the bathroom shoulder first, kicking the door closed behind him, one of his hands scrambling further into his race suit so he can try and pull his cock out of his fireproof leggings. The other hand trying to squeeze his cock, hold the flood back.

“You good?” Daniel asks, clearly shocked at the urgency of this intrusion.

“No,” Max’s voice is frantic now, he’s losing this battle.

It’s as he’s trying to pull his cock out of his fireproofs that he leaks, the stream powerful enough that it’s visible through the fireproofs. His cockhead is stuck against the tight material, and he can’t- he can’t-

He gets it back under control. There’s a pretty substantial wet patch on his leggings.

“Are you…?” Daniel asks, staring at Max’s crotch. It’s not subtle.

“Fuck, yeah I am,” Max whines, and the wet warmth of the material holding his cock takes the desperation up a notch. He’s spent.

He can’t hold back the next wave, his muscles tired, his cock throbbing. The stream is heavy, loud and coming straight through the material of his fireproofs.

The relief is so great that Max’s brain turns offline for a moment and he doesn’t even think to try and limit the damage. The damage is already done. He’s going. He’s drenching his fireproofs and he can’t stop it now.

He didn’t get his cock out in time and now he’s pissing through his leggings.

He takes a couple of steps closer to the toilet, as though that’s going to make this any better.

“Jesus, Max,” Daniel says as he watches the scene in front of him. He takes a step towards Max, his bottom lip is trapped between his teeth, and his hands are reaching out towards Max’s hips. Daniel’s dark eyes are blinking heavily, like he’s not quite sure what to do with the scene in front of him. Or what Max will want him to do.

He’s not sure if it’s the euphoric feeling of relief, or Daniel’s gaze, which has his cock hardening before he’s even finished.

[allegedlyanandroid]

Happy (late) Birthday to our favourite miserable little rat manlet Gavin Reed! In celebration I've written a fic of him thoroughly enjoying himself on his b-day but... it's not going up until I'm done with the next chapter of Metanoia.

But here's a little sneak peak ;)

A taste of affection

Delights and Desires is a boutique tucked between an office building and a convenience store, the second being one of those places none but the locals shop at due to their outrageous pricing. The storefront is tiny, easy to pass by without a second glance, innocuous with its sterile font and although their loyal customer base keeps it afloat, it has seen a surge in interest as of late spread mostly by word of mouth and gossip. For its small exterior the inside is several times its size and stocked to suit anyone and everyone's kinky needs.

It has been Gavin’s go-to place for years, his accumulation of gadgets and toys a work almost a decade in the making, yet he hadn’t expected to be herded there for his thirty-eight birthday.

The reason for their sudden surge in popularity is not lost on him. They were one of the first places to include body modifications and miscellaneous items marketed towards androids and their enjoyment of all things related to sex. Gavin’s eyes fall on the neat row of vaginal plates stacked beside them in simple packaging before looking up at his boyfriend with a small frown. “So, uh… you wanna tell me what we’re doing here? Forgot to plan ahead for once?”

Nines snorts, managing to look both prim and prissy while doing it. “Of course not, darling, but seeing as it’s your birthday we’re celebrating I thought I’d allow you to pick today’s escapades.”

“Anything goes?” Gavin’s brows rise in something like incredulity and Nines shrugs with one shoulder. 

“You know my hard limits.”

It takes another couple of seconds filled with wide-eyed staring before a smirk stretches over Gavin’s lips. “Famous last words, babe.”

“What can I say, I prefer living life on the edge.”

Gavin laughs at that, cackles to be more precise, and skips away to browse over the frankly obscene amount of items on display. Nines watches him go, glad to have found a gift his boyfriend will enjoy (and perhaps a bit selfishly, him as well). It won’t be the only one of course. There are a few neatly wrapped presents stacked on the uppermost shelf in their storage closet, hidden behind their seldomly used cleaning supplies, safely out of sight and out of reach.

His mind wanders while he waits, artificial nerves alight with anticipation. There’s no telling what Gavin will pick even if he has a vague idea. Gavin “Monsterfucker” Reed, and a proud one at that, has panted enough scenarios into their bed sheets while Nines fucks him raw to really put a number on them. Being an android has its perks and exchanging parts of himself to fit his mood is a big one. They had dabbled into unusual alterations before but he knows his lover wouldn’t mind… more, and frankly neither would he.

He sets the thought aside as Gavin comes lumbering up to him with an unprecedented air of sheepishness to him.

“Yes?”

“What- what models are you compatible with when it comes to, y’know–” Gavin gestures at Nines’ crotch, “–beacuse there’s a shitton to choose from.”

“The BL300, the HR400 and the SK300 parts are all compatible with my model if the genital attachments are produced after 2036. Most of the non-standardised genitalia won’t give you an issue since they’re new on the market and supposed to fit a broad spectrum of consumers. If you wish me to wear a vaginal plate I’d suggest the WR400 model as a jumping off–”

Gavin cuts him off with a strangled noise. “Look, as much as I’d enjoy eating your pussy I- I have something else in mind.”

And then he scurries away again, presumably to look for whatever dick he plans to impale himself on later.

[ladygoofball]

A Shady Love Poem from the office of Cassandra Apparently

For Apparently, Nobody. Fuckers. If you want Inanna's story? You'll keep reading. If not, feel free to scroll on by and accept my little written kiss sounds

kiss muah muah lovie lovie thank you for the time.

I just love pushing the boundaries of what is possible because the only thing I've ever been good at is fantasizing a better life for myself. I'm just nobody though, don't quote me on that.

To clarify it is to the same audience as my Battle Worn Boots poem. I'm tired of figuring out the meaning of words. You might say I've been chasing some wild geese for crumbs. What the hell do I know though? I'm just a lady! An American at that!

Another application? In this economy?! Come on. I've done thousands over the course of 7 years, and I'm pretty sure that is not hyperbole but I can't look in my emails without feeling a sense of disgust in my own behavior. Call it an official Strike Declaration.

The offices of Cassandra Apparently calls that? Witchcraft. Ereshkigal's crypto-testimonial (free of as many negative effects to the environment as humanly possible so better than crypto currency) is below the cut. The vibe? Keep that li'l diddy on repeat.

DATE OF PREDICTION: Basically all of 2024 so far. Assholes.

First off? Fuck you for questioning that authenticity. That needs to be said in no uncertain terms. Call me Absolute Truth, if you dare. I won't accept that in writing that needs to be told TO my face. That's where my self respect is, raise the bar any higher and I'll be happy to take this shit elsewhere tyvm (thank you very much in american gods damned english)

The spirits told me?

CALL THE PROJECT CASSANDRA!!!

I knew They'll say "No, that's too good to be true!" The bots will prevent the word from Reaching you. I did it anyway. That's too bold? Cool now I have to code switch to flirting because characters are limited and have to jump through hoops to prove I'm not trying to do that with any real ass person right now.

I say? I'll keep knocking until I get answers. As politely as possible until it might get to be too late. That's called good cyber security working out of courtesy to save something worth fighting for, Your Honor. What if there was a better world that I could show you?

I keep them begging. Yearning for the definition of the word. I am a Lit'rary thirst trap on the world wide web. I'll be Miss spider for a second and keep going anyway.

Oh...yes? GIVE IT TO ME, PLEASE!!!!

Bitch, "please"?

Just "please"? Not even dolling it up for me?

THE queen of 2020 hindsight? Come on.

You know what, now I have to start laying some ground rules. Call them boundaries, a steel sword in a marriage bed, or whatever. That's why I'm so activated anyway, I'm now in military generational trauma land Your Honor.

Yes, it is kind of your fault...but Yes it is kind to know people care. No, I'm not really that angry but Witness Ereshkigal cannot rest this case until it she knows it has been WITNESSED. Inanna does not come out for just anyone. /genuine.

I just have to set some HARD LINES IN THE SAND. I call that: building a wall with just imaginary bricks and mortar since the economy is collapsing and border walls are a poor concept in real life anyway. I call that Quality American Craftsmanship, a dying breed. I watched "Adventures from the Book of Virtues", I know when something is just a lesson and when something is direct. That was how I went to sleep thanks to good ole public television.

Rules for Conducting Business with Cassandra Actually, if you want to come into her house and beg her forgiveness for not listening to her sooner.

For the Camp Records: No, You don't personally have to, but someone should at this point for fuck's sake.

Rule 1: JUST PLEASE?! If this elvish paradise isn't enough for you, then hand me the keys. I'll drive US somewhere better, eh? We can call that Manifest Destiny without slaughtering native peoples and not endangering anyone in the process for being too on the nose. If that's not possible? I get it, but somebody has to try to get something better for me and for the record? I'm very happy to do it by myself thank you very much. My grandmother owns her own building. It's in my blood to seek the best for myself. Noni would approve, and she calls me frequently to provide tech support for her because she can't work a computer to get tenants. I don't have a single aspect of what I do on this WWW that is not exploited by someone, so that's why it has to be like that.

Rule 2: Do not do me the discourtesy of keeping their names from my shit list. If they bother any of you, bring them to me. I'll show them a way around a word or two. I've written thousands just for myself and nobody gets to see that before I am finished.

That last song probably got old by now, so you know what? Let's throw in another one to change the audience and the tone without putting words to what I'm doing for once in my gods damned life.

Rule 3: If I swing and I tell You to Duck? Then, bitch you had better get Quacking. That's not putting too much emphasis on the timeline, that's running out of funds to write checks that I can't cash if I wanted to because Nobody says it is not safe for me there. My entire Organization is on the line. I still honor the value of words, which is a craft that is apparently lost on these ghosts.

Rule 4: I may have been here for a while now, but I do NOT make time for anyone who can't get their damned facts straight. Even if it hits them over the head with ACME's Anvil. Bugs Bunny ass. That's not my problem, Your Honor. That sounds like a pissed off spirit. Too bad the art of Necromancy is dead in this place. If only a wizard knew how to Divine the cards as well as we can. A shame, really.

He must not be a master of the school of Divination like he claims to be!

Rule 5: I do not have time and will not make time for anyone who cannot get their facts STRAIGHT. It's the only straight thing about me, all these facts that I have are the definition of the straight and narrow.

He says that the way I hit it makes him forget his words? Try harder than that!

He says I must be celestial with all these angels singing in the chorus? Try harder than that!

The tone shifts away again? She can't keep doing this, but They say "Third time is the charm!"

Bozo Apparently asks: WHO THE FUCK HEALED YOU? WHO LAID HANDS? WHO CHARGED? THE GOOSE GIRL?? Over 400 hours, assholes. And weeks of playing with wild geese on the internet. 3 different runs through the Holy Narrative and I refuse to play through Act two until my eyes stop burning and my psyche is healed. I know how to play a video game or two and I know far better ones I can spend my time with. Ask Matthew Mercer who my last man might have been. Call that? Rune Factory 4 approves.

Did you say: Only a General could get them stepping this fast?

Bozo says: It could have been too late, sorry I'm a bit rushed! The economy is collapsing and industries I keep trying to get into are shutting me out faster than I can count how many weeks my unemployment checks. It's not that bad, all things considered, but if I was more than a half inch away from losing my familiars with no other options to save them I would not call myself Witch.

Bitch. Fuck a closing paragraph.

Wait, one last recommendation? Watch "The Social Dillema" and tell me I'm looking too into subliminal messaging online again motherfucker. You might as well add the Lizzie Bennet Diaries youtube series to your media diet too, while you're at it.

[rintoki]

minors dni

rindou + filming + masturbation

a/n: somewhat loosely inspired by that one fanart of rindou by leepoon u know the one i don’t wanna talk about it

coming home early and catching rindou touching himself. he must have just got home as well, pants still hanging off his leg and his boxers still on with just his cock pulled out. eyes closed and his head tilted back, he’s sitting at the edge of the bed leaning against one hand, and the other languidly pumping his base as he tries to get himself to full hardness. not that it was difficult—you’ve been plaguing his mind all day. pearls of precum already dotting his slit as he sighs your name, only when he opens his eyes does he notice your figure standing a little ways from him.

“jesus, fuck!” rindou jumped, hand flying off his cock to his chest in shock. “bro, a little fucking warning next time?” you coughed out a laugh, eyebrows shooting up at his reaction, it was hilarious honestly.

“first of all, ‘bro’? you touch yourself to your ‘bros’?” you can’t help but laugh at his huffy expression, “fuck off, you know what i mean.” he was too cute. despite just thinking that… you really wanted to watch him play with himself while moaning your name.

“secondly, ‘next time’? don’t worry about ‘next time’, rin.” stepping in closer till you stood between his legs, you tilted his chin up towards you, “next time? i want you to film yourself for me. i’ll watch it diligently, won’t miss even a second.” the smile on your face so sweet it was almost cruel.

his adam’s apple bobbed nervously at your order; blood rushing to his face and cock. rindou was not exactly opposed to it, in fact the idea turned him on more than he’s willing to admit. sending you clips of himself masturbating to you, the thought of you watching completely straight-faced at work or in public, fuck his cock was leaking so much more now.

“don’t want to?” your voice soft as you stroked his cheek. there was no command or force in your tone this time; you were checking his limits. rindou shook his head, his thoughts was all jumbled up; the way you switched so fast between cold and commanding to loving and reassuring.

“it’s ok we don’t have to-”

“no!” he blurted, pulling you closer by your thighs, “we can, we can try… i want to.” his cheeks were flushed adorably red, you smiled. “in that case, we can try it out now.”

wait, what? rindou blinks in confusion, how would that..? but before he could even say anything, you’ve already reached for your phone, setting it to record before placing it against the headboard, a clear view of the empty space in the middle of the bed.

“get naked babe, let’s make your first sex tape,” you snickered, crawling to the middle of the bed and facing the camera. grumbling at your word choice, rindou strips naked, crawling to sit between your legs, facing the camera as well. nerves building again as he catches the blinking red dot on the screen indicating that it’s already started.

adjusting himself as he got comfortable in your embrace, yelping in surprise when you pulled apart his legs, hooking them over yours so that it was forced open. he clenched his fist over the sheets, face burning at the exposing position—he could see everything in the video.

looking over his shoulder, you checked your phone screen, “god, baby look at you.” rindou taking up most of the screen, you were barely in the shot—but that’s how you wanted, he was the star of the show today. already breathing hard just from anticipation, he squirmed a bit as your hands roamed his chest, tracing his tattoos, wrapping his own hand around his hard cock.

and when he seemed comfortable, getting used to being filmed, you begin to tease him again. “c’mon babe, you shy? you sure didn’t seem so when i caught you moaning my name. tell me, what were you thinking of?”

he lets out a breathy whine, the entire situation unbearably arousing; rindou already knows he’s going to cum embarrassingly fast. he lets his head loll agaisnt your shoulder, “i was, was thinking of your hands. wanted to feel you… ‘m missed you.” he almost whimpers the last part.

you were so fucking glad this was being recorded. your ears was ringing, having trouble focusing on what he’s saying as you watched the way he toys with his cock. one hand gripping the sheets and the other tracing feather-light lines up and down his cock, reminiscent of the way you would tease him. go on, you whispered in his ear, pressing kisses against his neck whilst watching his cock intently.

“hmgh… wa-was thinking ‘bout how, you wouldn’t jerk me off until i was w-wet enough for you,” his voice was shaking, toes curling in attempt to retain self control. rindou looks down on his cock, his tip glistening from precum, he was much wetter this time. “you’re so mean,” you could practically hear the pout.

gathering it on his fingers, rindou spreads it over his shaft, hand now sliding over his stiff cock with ease. a blissful sigh as he finally strokes himself in earnest, but still slow—exactly how you’d do it.

“but you like when i’m mean don’t you?” you cooed, “after all, you’re reenacting it right now,” and rindou kept silent at that, only a huff to signal his acknowledgment of your words. “and now what darling? what else do you think of?”

“now… now, i…” he trails off, truth be told, he’s losing coherency. you were so close, he could feel the heat emanating from your body. and your hands stroking his thighs was not helping at all, neither was your hot mouth sucking bruises into his neck.

he was fighting a losing battle as rindou’s arm began picking up speed; one hand playing with his balls and the other pumping himself. running his thumb over his sensitive head with every upward stroke, he was embarrassingly close, couldn’t have even been more than a couple minutes in and he was ready to release all over his hand.

“are you close, rin?” fuck, was it that obvious? his breathing had quickened to quiet pants, whines interjecting with every few breaths and his eyebrows knitted together in effort. it wasn’t hard to tell, for you, that is. he nodded dumbly, hair falling over his face as he leans forward. rindou’s thighs jerking slightly over yours as you held his legs apart, wanted to capture it on video without hindrance. the lewd sounds of him fucking his fist accompanied with his breathy whines was almost enough for you to be satisfied.

“hm come on babe, just a little more, wanna see you cumming all over, and then i can watch it again and again forever, my own pretty little pornstar,” practically growling out the last part, your teeth sinking into the flesh of his muscular shoulder as a hand moves to wrap around his throat. an uncharacteristic possessiveness flooding your veins at the thought that he trusted you with these tapes; that they would be for your eyes and your eyes only.

rindou whimpers meekly; the pet name, the slight pain from your bite, plus your hand around his throat? he felt his mind blank, tingles shooting through his body, hips spasming as his high hits him. it might because of the recording that makes him put on more of a show for you, but his body felt extra sensitive, extra responsive as he trembles and shakes, cum shooting out and spilling all over his hands and thighs.

you watch as rindou strokes himself through his orgasm, licking the deep bite mark you left on him—you might have lost control a bit watching your lover touch himself while thinking of you. you kiss beneath his jaw, pulling away as you move to stop the video.

catching his breath, rindou observes as you play back the video, the lewd sounds playing from your phone causing his cheeks to flush once again. a twisted sense of pride seeing how much his little show captivated you. crawling to the side of the bed, rindou sits on the edge; thighs and hand still covered with his release as he begins to lick it off his hand, watching as your breathing was slightly uneven. he was craving something else now, eyes wandering down your body.

tugging your closer by your thighs, rindou pressed his face into your navel, peppering kisses lower and lower. peeking up at you past his lashes and with such a needy voice, “was thinking of this too, your taste on my tongue.” he pulls at the fabric, mouthing at your clothed sex, “need you to cum on my face.”

ah, how could you say no?

[lubdubsworld]

⋆⋆✵ Perfect Imperfections ✵⋆⋆

Chapter 1

Genre : Arranged Marriage AU! Angst! Explicit Sexual Content.

Rating : 21+

Warnings : Ableism , Chronic disability. OC has limited use of her left leg, Emotional infidelity? Mild Cheating ( nothing very physical.. a kiss or so )

Summary : Marrying Jungkook is a mistake. Falling in love with him? Definitely the worst exercise in masochism .

~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 2

No one tells you how easy it is to imagine yourself in love with a beautiful man. Especially when you don’t have a clear understanding of what love actually is. 

When I met Jungkook, even knowing he was in love with my sister hadn’t done much to douse the flames of hope and attraction. He was a lot of things that other men in my life weren’t. Kind without being pitying. Concerned without being overbearing. He took care of me without making me feel helpless. And there was always such a thin line between these things that I found myself impressed by his ability to toe the line so well.

Jungkook took care of me without making me feel like a burden and I suppose, some part of me had assumed that this could, in due time turn into love. But I was clearly wrong.

Jungkook and Liza had been kissing in the hallway of their hotel room and someone had taken pictures. My father and his had managed to get them taken down but the news was already out, spreading like wildfire . My phone began ringing sometime around eight in the morning and hadn’t stopped. It was now a little past one in the afternoon and I felt queasy, despite the assurances that it was all being taken care of.

It was the pity in everyone’s face that I couldn’t bear.

I wasn’t hurt. Angry, yes? Upset? Of course. But I wasn’t hurt because there really was nothing to be hurt about. Jungkook didn’t love me. He was in love with my sister . He had made it clear, through his words and his actions, over and over again. At this point, I could see this debacle as nothing more than a possible way to get out of the marriage. Perhaps, my father would approve of a divorce?

I glanced at the article again.

The photo is just so annoyingly clear, I thought with a grimace. If it was a little blurry, I could convince myself it wasn’t him and her. But it was clear. That was my husband with his lips locked with my sister’s. Against my better judgment, I read the article again. It was a gossip column, of course there would be nothing good in there. But sometimes curiosity can be a persistent thing.

I felt my skin crawling as I realized that the phrases were all pretty true. There was no gossip here. Just plain facts.

And then my eyes reached the end of the article.

Of note is the fact that Jeon Jungkook’s wife is disabled and perhaps the virile young man is merely looking for pleasure he can’t find in his own marital bed.

I swallowed, quickly exiting the page and tossing the phone on the bed, away from me. I stared out of the window of our bedroom, the large doors left open to let air and sunlight in. There was a tall sycamore tree right outside out bedroom and the branches almost reached in and I stared at the rustling leaves, trying to scrub my mind clean of the words I’d just read.

But it was impossible.

It wasn’t something I hadn’t thought of. The stark difference between me and Jungkook, physically. He spent five days a week in the gym and they were right. He was a young man with healthy sexual appetites.

I’d never cheat on you. Jungkook’s voice from a week ago still echoed somewhere inside my skull.

I sighed, playing with my wedding ring.

I wasn’t a virgin when I married Jungkook. Hadn’t been one , when I got into the accident either. My then boyfriend, a tall strapping lit major had been a very sexual guy as well and our libidos had matched pretty well. But I’d been an athletic nineteen year old, able to bend like a pretzel at his whim and there was just endless time and endless stamina and just a whole lot of attraction . We had spent hours, exploring each other the way college kids do. Weekends in bed spent trying every possible permutation of sex positions and kinks and I’d discovered all the things I liked. All the things I didn’t.

But then the accident had happened and well, when you’re in crippling agony, sometimes sex takes the backseat. I’d been focused on my recovery, on making sure that I came out of this at least with the ability to walk and I’d succeeded. Burying the part of me that craved a man’s touch, it wasn’t easy but it was necessary.

And then Jungkook had happened.

Sex with Jungkook hadn’t been difficult. Not really. I wasn’t completely crippled after all but it was also nowhere near as exciting as it could be with someone who had full use of her legs. I knew that. It was kind of obvious. But I hadn’t dwelt too much on it because to be honest, Jungkook hadn’t looked like he’d minded. He had seemed to enjoy himself .

But then reading about how he probably hadn’t enjoyed it definitely stung.

Worse yet, probably half the country was reading it with me. I felt nauseous. Did no one think that they should have left the last part out of that article? It was terrible enough without adding that bit about me.

A faint buzzing made me turn to the bed.

I glanced at my phone as it rang, my father in law’s name prominent on the screen.

Showtime, I thought with a grimace.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I suppose it was too much to hope for , expecting that boy  to keep his dignity. This is outrageous.” Mr. Jeon’s loud voice rang through the foyer of the house and I flinched, gripping the edge of the futon as Sana jumped a bit . She sat next to me, holding my hand carefully. Moral support I supposed but I was feeling entirely too blasé about the whole thing. None of this was unexpected, I thought miserably and I wasn’t feeling up to pretending otherwise.

“I still wish they’d talked to me about this.”

My brother in law’s voice broke me out of my thoughts. The man looked like he’d been dragged through hell and back and I felt a pang of genuine sympathy. He looked wrecked and it was obvious she was in love with my sister. Resentment coiled thick and deep inside me. Resentment and envy.

With no effort at all she had charmed both the Jeon brothers, I thought bitterly.

Jeon Jihyun looked absolutely stricken at the thought of losing his wife.  

“I’ve asked Lisa to take the first flight out. She called me this morning, hysterical. It was something done in the heat of the moment. She .. She’s very apologetic. I believe her and I’m willing to forgive her. We’re…. We’re thinking of starting a family together. ” He said softly and my stomach turned.

I felt my skin go ice cold as I wrapped my arms around myself. Shivering just a bit, I lightly squeezed Sana’s hand. She looked at me in askance and I had to swallow to get my voice out, throat dry. The words made me want to retch. I could imagine how Jungkook would take this news.

“Can you get me my shawl? It’s in the green room.” I said hoarsely.  She bowed before moving away from me and when I looked back up, Jihyun’s gaze caught mine.

“This must be hard on you.” He said softly and I flushed, staring down at my knees.

“Not like I can run from it. Literally or figuratively.” I smiled without mirth.

“Jungkook is …he’s just confused. He needs some time to sort himself out. I’ve asked him to take a break and come back to Seoul after a couple of weeks. The separation would do him some good.” Jihyun said quietly and I sighed before nodding. What else was I supposed to say to that anyway? There wasn’t much I could do, my influence on things almost nonexistent at this point.

“Are you going to give the boy a break, Jeon?” My father demanded, staring at Jungkook’s father who sighed.

“Yes. I’ve been trying to get these damned reporters off our back. They’re all over the place. And yes, I think Jungkook should stay in Japan for a while.  We’re starting a new distribution branch there and I wanted him to scout places and possible vendors. I’ll tell him to hash out all the details before coming back.”

His phone rang again and he excused himself . I watched him leave the room, trying to make sense of his words.

How long would it take to build a whole branch in Japan? I had no clue. But it could hardly be done in a few weeks, could it?

“That’s.. That’s a long time.” I said hesitantly and my father frowned.

“is that a problem?” he asked.

I sighed. There was no point keeping this to myself. I was supposed to go to the doctor’s tomorrow. And well, it would be better if they heard it from me first.

“I.. I’m pregnant.” I said quietly.

The silence that followed was deafening. I stared at the carpet, not able to bring myself to look up at them. I could guess, what I’d find there. It was what I always found in people’s faces.

“Oh, sweet child.” My father’s sigh made me look up and there it was. The pity. I felt sick to my stomach. Sana returned, settling the hand knit shawl over my shoulders and I wrapped it tight, before glancing at her in some desperation. She smiled reassuringly, settling next to me and gently taking my fingers in hers. The warmth grounded me for a second and when Jihyun growled, I stared at him.

“I… I didn’t know. Fuck, I’m going to kill Jungkook. This fucker…” Jihyung swore and my father sighed, clearly thinking hard.

“you can’t be staying alone now.” He said softly, sitting up and cracking his knuckles, and I swallowed. I wouldn’t bear it if they tried to take me back home. I had hated it there.

“ You must come back home with me.” He said softly but I quickly shook my head.

“ No.. No I won’t. I … Please.” I begged, the mere idea of going back to my childhood home a nightmare. My mother would kill me with just her sharp and vindictive words. I was in no shape to put up with her verbal and emotional abuse. It was one of the things that had made me agree to marry Jungkook in the first place.

“Well, you can’t stay here by yourself.” My father protested. I’ve been by myself my whole damn life, I wanted to scream.

“I’ll be fine. I have Sana and the others to help me.” I said tiredly. My father shook his head before turning to Jihyun again.

“Is Namjoon still working on his book?” My father asked him and Jihyun frowned. The name elicited a tug in my memory and I turned to stare at my father, confused.

“You remember him? He used to tutor you when you were hi High School.”

I had a brief flashback to dimples and almond shaped eyes. I remembered him vaguely. Very vaguely. But nowhere well enough to want him to live with me, alone or not.  

“Dad…” I protested but he held a hand up to silence me, nodding at Jihyun .

“Namjoon? Kim Namjoon? ” He shook his head. “ I’m not sure. Why?”

“I think it would be good if he moves in here. His father was telling me that he was looking for a place to stay, now that he’s moved back to Korea. ” My father said softly, staring at me and I stiffened.

“Father…” I began desperately and my father shook his head.

“Don’t argue. He was a dear friend of yours. I don’t think you should be alone at a time like this. And I think Jungkook would approve. Like Jihyun said, the kid needs some space to sort himself out. Let him finish whatever business is going on in Japan.” My father glanced at Mr. Jeon who looked at me with guilt.

“I owe you an apology , on behalf of my idiot son.”

I looked away, not sure what to say to that. I hated the man quite passionately. Jungkook wasn’t perfect… far from it. But this man had taken a sledgehammer to my husband’s mind and heart at every turn. The disdain, the condescension, the sick way he favored his brother over him, the way nothing Jungkook did was ever good enough. It had all taken a toll on my husband. I had watched it chip away at Jungkook’s self confidence, at his mental health.

“I think more than anything, you owe an apology to your son. You knew he was in love with Lisa and yet…. You forced him to marry me.” I said quietly and the room went eerily quiet. My father rounded on me , eyes blazing.

“Leah!!! Apologize, now!” He roared and I looked away.

“You’re all the same. Ungrateful and entitled.” Mr. Jeon said sharply, before turning to his son. “ I’m leaving Jihyun-ah. Tell me when that wife of yours get home. I want to talk to her.”

He shared a half hug with my father before stalking off and my father grabbed his jacket as well.

“I’ll leave as well. Your mother is being quite hysterical. Apparently, all her friends are hounding her about the article.” He sighed and I nodded , watching him shrug on the jacket before nodding at Jihyun and then following his friend out to the front doors.

Jihyun stayed standing , watching my father’s form disappear through the door before turning to me.

“ Are you alright?” He said quietly, moving to kneel in front of me. Sana stood up, bowing before leaving and I watched her disappear into the hallway leading to the kitchens. Jihyun’s fingers wrapped around mine, brushing my knees and I stared down at him.

“The question is, are you alright?” I brushed the hair off his face. He sighed.

“No. No I’m not. I’m angry and jealous and very much filled with resentment towards my brother.” He said honestly and I laughed, tugging on his hand and patting the seat next to me. He straightened before moving to settle next to me and I leaned on his shoulders, sighing as he wrapped on around me, the warmth of his body comforting .

“Are you going to give your marriage a chance?” I asked carefully.

“She told me she was going to break things off for good. We.. We’ve been talking about it. Starting a family, making this work.” He said quietly. I nodded. It was understandable. Unlike Jungkook and I , Jihyun had a responsibility. He would need a son and even though people liked to act like they didn’t care much about gender, like they didn’t care much about having children , it was sort of an unspoken rule. First son of the house ? You had to have a male heir to carry the family name.

I wondered how that conversation had gone between Jungkook and Lisa. It didn’t really match the photo I’d seen.

“I suppose Jungkook probably put up a fight. He genuinely wants to end up with her. He… He tells me often that he loves her and can’t love anyone else. ” I wondered if I ought to feel embarrassed or insulted.

But the truth was, I was numb to a lot of things that had once hurt quite a lot..

The conversation with Jungkook about my pregnancy had definitely cleared things up for me. There was nothing there worth salvaging. Chasing something that wasn’t real , that was foolishness. Especially when I had a very real baby to think about. A child that counted on me to make the right choices.

“I don’t think he did. She spoke to me last night and said that he agreed. Of course that was before the article came out. I’d like to think she didn’t lie to me but I’m not sure.”

I sighed, settling in closer to his chest. He was warm and firm, solid and reliable. I wondered if it would have been easier, if my father had just married me off to Jihyun instead. Jihyun and I …we were alike. We had been friends , even from childhood. Had watched with fond adoration as our younger siblings had fallen madly, wildly in love. Jungkook and Liza had been drawn to each other from the first. Inevitable.

Jihyun and I were more carefree. We didn’t feel things that intensely and perhaps that was why we could sit here in the calm of the afternoon air, quiet and introspective when we ought to be furious and raging.

“ Should we run off together? You and i?” He said suddenly making me laugh.

“Very much incapable of running.” I reminded him with a grin and he squeezed my shoulder .

“I’d carry you.” He said simply.

“Where would we go?” I asked curiously, indulging the fantasy for just a few minutes.

“Somewhere far away. Maybe India? There’s so many people there and we could get lost in the crowds.”

“That does sound appealing.” I smiled and turned to look up at him. His face inches from mine, not as handsome as Jungkook but strong featured and kind. “ But I’m not alone anymore. I have a child.”

His gaze dipped to my lap.

“Yes. Jungkook’s child.” He said thoughtfully.

“No. Mine. Nobody else’s . Just mine.” I said quietly. Jihyun’s gaze softened. He pressed a quick kiss to the top of my head.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered, echoing his father’s words.” On behalf of my idiot brother, I’m sorry.”

And where Mr. Jeon’s words hadn’t made any sort of impact, Jihyun’s made my heart clench and ache in the worst way. Self pity was something I loathed but sometimes, being handed the short end of the stick at every turn in life makes it impossible to not feel sorry for yourself.

Tears stung, welling up in my eyes and spilling over my lashes like water bubbling out of an aquifer.

I blinked slowly, not bothering to wipe them as they traced a path down my face, dripping into the fabric of my shawl. In a moment of clarity I wondered what Jungkook must be going through now. Nothing good for sure.

It definitely said something, that I still worried for him. Sighing, I let Jihyun hug me closer. I would take advantage of his kindness for a few more minutes. It had been a while since someone had held me like I mattered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I called Jungkook that evening.

It wasn’t an easy choice but my heart ached and my mind raced with unanswered questions. I didn’t want to get lost in my own thoughts so I didn’t overthink it. We were still married. I was allowed to call him.

He picked up on the third ring.

“Where are you?” I asked quietly and Jungkook’s groan made my face heat up a little.

“I… Leah?” He sounded groggy. I glanced at the time. It wasn’t late.

“Are you sleeping?”

He didn’t reply for a few minutes.

“I’m sorry about what happened. We.. We didn’t do anything else. It was just.. it was a kiss. Just that.”

“Are you still in the hotel?” I asked quietly ignoring his words.

“ For tonight, yes. Dad wants me to stay with a friend of his. I’ll be going over to their place tomorrow morning.” He replied .

Silence followed for a few seconds.

“Namjoon is moving in tomorrow.” I said stiffly.

Jungkook didn’t respond for a minute or so.

“Yes. Father said it’s a good idea. And I agree. You shouldn’t be alone while I’m here. He’s right. Hyung’s a nice guy. He’ll help you out.” Jungkook said softly.

“Liza came home. She wanted to talk to me.” I said quietly.

Jungkook didn’t reply and I sighed.

“I told her I wasn’t going to talk to her before I talked to you. I don’t… I don’t want to say anything to her that I haven’t already said before. But I still want to know your thoughts on all this. Your plans, that is. I take it you weren’t happy with her ending things.” I said stiltedly.

Jungkook didn’t reply for a few seconds.

“Things between us ended a long time ago, Leah. It was over when we both agreed to marry other people. Maybe even before that, I don’t know… I … I guess I just didn’t want to acknowledge them.” He said quietly. “ She’s different, now. Even that kiss felt so wrong.  She’s moving on. I’m glad in a way. She deserves better than me. She deserves someone like hyung. He’s better than me in everyway and-”

God I wanted to strangle him.

“So why did you kiss her?” I snapped. “ If you’re so generously letting her go why would you…” I stopped.

“I didn’t kiss her. She kissed me. It was barely for a second.” He muttered. “ whoever it was must’ve been videoing us for a while.”

I had to remind myself that in the grand scheme of things, this little detail made no difference.

“Right.” I sighed. “ So, you won’t be home for a while?”

“Six weeks at least.” He said quietly.

I tried to keep the disappointment down. I still wanted to see him, just to make sure he was okay. But I knew that was just the pregnancy hormones talking.

“Okay.” I said simply.

“How are you? Did you go see the doctor?” He asked softly and the question surprised me. I was half sure he had forgotten.

“No, not yet. Maybe in a couple of days.” I scratched at a small stain on my skirt. Lime juice and baking soda, I thought absently. That should get the stain out.  

“Its pretty late. You should go see the doctor, Leah. I.. I looked stuff up. They say you have to be on pre natal vitamins, folic acid and iron supplements  and you have to have  a balanced diet. I called Sana earlier and told her to speak to our doctor and get a diet chart for you. She said she’ll do it soon. So , please take care of yourself.”

Jungkook sounded entirely serious and as always my brain felt muddled, unable to process why he did the things he did. He had looked things up about the pregnancy and that implied some sort of interest, didn’t it? But ….. he had also kissed my sister so what was I supposed to do with this?

“I’ll call you.” I said shakily, drained. I was done for the day.

“Right.” He said softly. “ Namjoon hyung will be there tomorrow right? Should I talk to him? He could take you to the doctor.”

“No.. That’s fine. I’ll manage.” I said quickly.

“You’re sure?” There was genuine worry there.

“Yes.” I sighed.

“Alright.”

Silence again. I exhaled shakily.

“Should I hang up?” I asked quietly.

“Yeah. Good night. ” He breathed.

“Good night, Jungkook.”

Click.

I stared at the wall, gently lowering the phone and placing it on the bed next to me.

She deserves better than me, his voice echoed in my head.

Well, so did I.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Namjoon looked nothing like the twenty one year old college student I’d seen a decade ago. I knew he was a successful novelist and I’d read all his books. They were mostly philosophical or commentaries on life and emotions. I enjoyed the way he wrote : melancholic and deep but also clear and easy to understand. It was like staring at a particularly deep pool, being able to see all the way down to the bottom because of how clean the waters were. But once you put your feet in, the depth  always surprised you.

“That’s a lot of books.” I laughed, gripping the edge of the door frame as I watched him stumble under the weight of a crate full of bound books. Namjoon’s messy brown hair peeked over the top, and when he adjusted the huge load to stare at me, I caught sight of his handsome face stretched in a dimpled grin, eyes glinting.

“Research.” He grunted, straightening himself up and I watched the flex of his muscles as he carefully moved to place the crate down in one corner of the large bedroom that I’d had cleaned for him. It was on the west wing of the house, parallel to my own bedroom that I shared with Jungkook . Namjoon had spent three years working as a professor somewhere in Indonesia. And I knew that he’d spent a year backpacking all over Scandinavia. I stared at his tall strapping figure, watching him set up his writing space carefully, sorting out boxes and electronics.

He had driven here in his Range Rover and I knew all his clothes were still there in the back of the car.

“Should I ask the footmen to get your clothes?” I asked and he glanced up at me, frowning.

“Footmen?” He looked confused and I rolled my eyes.

“Namjoon…” I said chidingly and he grinned again.

“I keep forgetting you’re filthy rich. Makes me wish I should have beaten Jungkook to the game and bagged myself a rich wife.” He winked. It was a joke but there was no mistaking the hint of interest in his eye. Or maybe it was just wishful thinking on my part. Being married to Jungkook had definitely made me question the attraction I held for men so it felt good, having someone as handsome and whole and successful as Namjoon look at me like that.

“I’ll ask them to get your clothes. You should shower and settle in. We’ll meet for dinner tonight.” I said quickly and he nodded.

“You’re going to be okay heading back to your room? Let me know if you need help.” He pointed at my feet and I nodded. It was sweet of him to offer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dinner was surprisingly not awkward at all. Namjoon had a lot of interesting stories to share and I found myself clinging to ever word in rapt attention. He spoke about all the folklore he’d run into in different places, how he thought that no matter the culture, there were always some common things you could find in every one of them. He also talked a little about his next book, which he hadn’t named yet.

“It’s about second chances. Forgiving and moving on.” He said, taking another bite of his braised pork and moving to make another lettuce wrap.

“ Heavy stuff.” I said thoughtfully. “ Most of my writing is commercial. I just try to sell stuff to reluctant people. It’s not much but it keeps me occupied and it’s always nice to make money that you can call your own.”

“It’s because you don’t write for yourself. When you start writing for yourself, you can truly be who you are.” He said firmly and I nodded in agreement.

My writing in college had been vivid and bright and filled with life. But after the accident, it had turned grey and gloomy. The words seemed to drip with loss and longing and  I didn’t enjoy it, because it was a reminder that I was no longer the vibrant, attractive fulsome girl I once was.

“Maybe that’s what I’m afraid of.” I smiled. “ Being who I am. I would rather pretend I’m at least a little alright.”

Namjoon stared at me, thoughtful.

“You used to run track.” He said softly and I grinned.

“You remember.” I said, pleased.

“Of course I do and you were captain of the volleyball team as well. You used to organize all those hikes and treks and stuff.”

“Yes I did. I loved the outdoors.” I stared out of the window.

“Loved? Past tense?” He tilted his head. I stared at him, shaking my head.

“What kind of question is that.” I shook my head. “ Look at me. I’m not trekking anytime soon, considering how the last time ended.”

“You can still go out.” He frowned. “ When was the last time you went somewhere?”

I shook my head.

“Oppa…”

“Listen. You know me. You’ve known me for more than a decade. Do you honestly think I’m going to let you rattle around this old house like a ghost when you should be out there taking in all the sunshine you can get?” Namjoon placed his chopsticks down and linked his fingers together, staring at me.

I stared at him, and it was definitely there. The concern, the affection. Not that different from when I was sixteen and struggling to understand what pathos meant.

But now there was a definite undercurrent of attraction. Back then it had been childish, the wild crush of a teenager on her hot tutor but now, now I knew that he was so much more than just a hot guy.

“I’m pregnant.” I said softly, more a reminder to myself than anything else.

Namjoon grinned.

“We’ll steer clear of horse riding and alcohol. Anything else you can just let me know.”

“Are you serious?”

“As a heart attack.”

“I think I’m getting one now.” I deadpanned.

“Because you’re nervous.” He grinned.

“Because your dimples look too adorable.” I retorted.

He laughed.

“I’ll talk to Jihyun and we’ll go see your doctor first. Then we’ll go out and have  a nice picnic.”

“Namjoon, I can’t…”

“You don’t know that.” He said firmly.” You don’t know if you can or can’t because you’ve never tried. Listen I love picnics and I love going out and I want company. I’m agreeing to be stuck with you for a while and the least you can do is  give me company at a picnic. You know how big a loser I’d seem like if I went by myself?”

It was like I was sixteen again getting brow beaten into things by a tutor who just hated the idea of not getting his way. I shook my head fondly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fourteen weeks. Three and a half months.

I stared at the ultrasound, feeling a multitude of things, not all of them good. The baby was growing well and I had all my prescriptions filled. Namjoon had offered to come with me but I had refused. It was too intimate and he was still a stranger. I did take a photo of the ultrasound and sent it to Jungkook.

/Jungkook called me back almost at once.

“You went to the doctor?” He asked, sounding a little breathless.

“Were you running?” I asked, surprised.

“Not really. I’m supposed to be meeting one of the vendors for lunch and I thought I could walk to the restaurant but its farther than I thought.” He huffed.

“Everything’s fine. Baby’s due in July.” I said quietly.

“Summer. That’s good.” He replied. “Right?”

I hesitated. What did that mean? What did it matter when the baby would be born?

“Because winter would mean it being too cold . Summer we can take the baby out and stuff without worrying too much.” Jungkook said softly.

Oh.

“How’s work?” I asked awkwardly. The non conversation was getting tedious. There was just so much to talk about and it was obvious that both of us weren’t in the mood to actually ask or answer anything worthwhile.

“Did dad say something?” Jungkook asked quickly and I frowned.

“No. Why?”

“He wants me to join hyung in the corporate office. Leave the smelter units.” Jungkook sounded subdued and upset and I felt sympathy well inside me.

“Join him? As what?” I asked quietly.

“Head of the marketing department. I’ll be reporting to Seokjin hyung.” Jungkook had clearly started walking again, breath coming in little exhales.

“You don’t want it?” I asked confused, not sure if this was a good or bad thing.

“I mean… I have a degree in Business and Finance. Hyung’s the CEO , I was hoping I’d be the CFO.” Jungkook sighed, “ But I suppose I should be grateful he didn’t disown me altogether after what happened earlier.”

I stayed quiet and so did he.

“We need to talk . When you get back. You … I know you don’t like sharing about what you feel but you owe me an explanation.” I said firmly.

“I know. But I meant what I said when I left. I’m going to be there for you and the baby. You’re still my wife. That’s not going to change.”

I ran my fingers over the ultrasound.

“Did you also mean the part where you said you can’t stand me.” I said bitterly .

Jungkook didn’t reply.

“I… You know I didn’t. That was just something I said on impulse. I’m sorry. You’re… You’ve been nothing but good to me. And honestly, just the fact that you’re carrying my child is proof that I can definitely stand you.” He sounded just a little hoarse.

I bit my lips, staring up at the door when I heard a knock.

“Leah? I’m going to have some tea in the garden … You wanna come with?” Namjoon’s voice rang through the room and I froze.

“Oh.. Oh.. yes. I’ll be down.” I said quickly, nodding . Namjoon pointed at the phone and gave to thumbs up before moving back out.

“Was that Namjoon hyung?” Jungkook’s voice came over the line.

“Oh… yeah. Yeah, he’s… he wants me to have tea with him in the gardens.” I said awkwardly.

“That’s nice.  You should go. Get out of the house once in a while.” I didn’t know what to say to that so I stayed quiet.

After another minute or so of silence, Jungkook cleared his throat.

“ I got that form you sent in for me to fill, about my medical history. I’ll fill it up and mail it to the doctor’s office. Is that alright?” He asked hesitantly. “ If not I can fly back home. If they need me in person or something.”

I frowned a bit.

“They don’t need you in person, Jungkook of course not. Mail it, that’s fine.”

Another pause.

“This is really happening huh? A baby. We’re having a baby.” The exhaustion in his voice was palpable and I wondered.

“Yes. We are.” I said simply, not having anything else to elaborate on. It was happening. I was torn between pleasure at having something to look forward to and guilt at forcing Jungkook into a role he wasn’t ready for. But , for better or for worse we were married. The child was his. It would be a Jeon.

“ I’ll do better.” He said quietly. “ With the little one. I’ll be better.”

Tears these days, sprung up out of nowhere I thought miserably, furiously swiping at my face.

“Leah?” His voice came over the line. “ Leah are you there?”

“I need to go.”

“Alright.”

“Take care of yourself too, Jungkook.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Loneliness .

It’s such an odd sort of feeling. Sometimes you get used to it so much, that you forget all about it.

It stays , a part of you that doesn’t make much of an impression on you until one day, suddenly it becomes unbearable,

Until you get a glimpse of what it’s like to not be lonely.

And then suddenly it’s like a deep chasm of longing and desperation just opens up inside you, craving love and warmth and company with a hunger that feels like it can never ever be satisfied.

I’d never paid much mind to the fact that my life revolved around myself, my writing and the flowers in the garden. Not until Namjoon had come, demanding to be felt and seen and heard .

 Namjoon hadn’t joked about not letting me rattle around the house. Our days were spent sprawled on the lawns of the Jeon estate, each of us occupied with our own writing . Namjoon typed away on his laptop while I preferred my leather bound notebook. It was oddly soothing, lying there on the clean cut grass, the sharp blades rubbing against my bare legs, as I leaned back against a tree trunk, watching Namjoon’s furrowed brows as he wrote.

Namjoon had changed in a lot of ways and yet he was still somehow just as I remembered, focused and often lost in his own head. He was a contemplative man and seemed to spend as much time reading as he did writing.

“There’s a poetry club that meets every Tuesday in Gangnam. Would you like to come with me?” He asked casually, about a week after he’d moved in and I considered it. The paparazzi had finally stopped hanging about the estate and Jungkook had called the previous night with a ETA for when he would be back.

Four weeks at most, he had said firmly and I wasn’t sure if I was feeling all that excited for his return anymore. Days spent with Namjoon were more exciting. He included me in every little thing and I was addicted.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew this was probably wrong. Namjoon was sweet and kind but I was still married. But on the wake of that thought came the bitter reminder that there was nothing between Jungkook and I. He was in love with someone else. Why should I deny myself the joy of Namjoon’s company over a relationship that really wasn’t a relationship at all.

Namjoon treated me as an equal, teased and flirted like there was nothing wrong with the two of us living like this, together and away from the rest of the world and I liked it. It made me feel like perhaps happiness wasn’t such an abstract, unreachable thing after all. That perhaps I could find happiness like this. In friendship and mindless conversation with a man who didn’t see me as a burden.

“I’d love that.” I said with a smile, letting my fingers knit together with his.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Scorned wife getting even? We spotted the recently cheated on Mrs Jeon getting cozy with a strapping, buff hottie in a private restaurant last Friday and we can’t help but wonder if perhaps the reclusive lady is trying to get back at her husband by flashing her own boytoy.” Namjoon read cheerfully from his phone, looking way too entertained as he showed me the zoomed photo of us holding hands over the dinner table .

“That’s quite the description they’ve put for you.” I grimaced, sipping my chamomile tea slowly. My father and Mr. Jeon had reacted with their usual anger, threatening to sue the gossip rag for libel but it was pointless. They would keep being intrusive rats. There was nothing much to be done beyond enduring them.

“My agent’s losing his mind. He’s been at me trying to get me to agree to book signings and public appearances and he’s pissed that this is the way I get introduced to Seoul’s High society. Poor guy.” Namjoon chuckled and I felt guilt churn.

“I’m sorry, Namjoon. I really didn’t think they’d be following me. I mean… usually they’re only tailing Jungkook but I guess with the whole thing with Lisa , they’re just looking for ways to make things worse.” I said hesitantly.

Namjoon hesitated, staring at me for a few seconds.

“We never really talked about how things are.” He said quietly. “ Between you and Jungkook, that is.”

I ran the edge of my chopsticks on the brim of my soup bowl.

“ There’s not much to say. He’s…. He’s still sorting things out. With my sister.” I smiled a little. It ached a lot less, I realized with surprise.

“They loved each other deeply.” Namjoon said softly. “ that sort of thing doesn’t go away that quickly.”

I nodded.

“Of course. And I’ve been …understanding of that. I like to think.”

“But its unfair to you. You deserve to be loved too. Fully and well .”

I leaned back to stare at him.

“Are you offering?” I laughed, teasing.

Namjoon didn’t smile, leaning forward instead.

“Depends. Will you ever consider leaving him, for me?” He said seriously.

My heart turned over inside me.

“Namjoon…” I choked out and he reached out and lightly touched my palm.

“I know how marriages work with people like you, so I think I should draw boundaries now, if I want to keep myself safe.” He smiled a bit.

“I’m pregnant. With his child.” I swallowed and Namjoon’s brows went up.

“I thought it was your child. Yours and no one else’s.”

I felt torn, staring at him and wanting to say that I didn’t consider Jungkook as the child’s father, not in the way most people did. But I also remembered my husbands determined voice, the way he kept insisting that he wouldn’t neglect the child.

“Its not about Jungkook or the child, Leah. Its about you. You married Jungkook knowing he was in love with your sister and that tells me that you listen to your parents. You don’t want to stand up against the rules set by our parents and I don’t fault you for it. But I can’t let myself fall for you, knowing you’re going to be bound by your obligations to yurr family.”

I shook my head.

“Don’t fall in love with me.” I said easily. “ You’re right. My family comes first. And whether I want to be or not, I’m bound to Jungkook for life. So don’t fall in love with me.”

He smiled and nodded.

“Alright then.”

“Do you want to move out?” I asked bitterly and he looked genuinely surprised.

“What?”

“You clearly think I’m trying to seduce you or something when really, I-“

“Hey. Hey, Leah…no. No alright, that’s not what I meant. These two weeks, it was amazing. I love your mind and you’re easily one of my favorite people on this planet. We’re friends. And we’ll stay friends no matter what but you must know why I said what I said. You’re a beautiful woman and I’m a lonely guy.” He smiled a bit, “ I just don’t want to make it hard for myself when you want me to leave.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jungkook arrived back in Korea on a cold, rainy morning and against my better judgment I let Jihyun and Lisa drag me to the airport. It was some kind of publicity stunt, that much I could fathom but I didn’t know if Jungkook was in on it. I hadn’t spoken to him in a few days, he had been busy wrapping things up with the new branch in Japan.

It was another bad day for my leg and I found myself leaning heavily on my sister, her arm wrapped around my waist as we walked over to the waiting area. I could already identify a few men with cameras staring at us discreetly. Paparazzi . I saw them move their cameras down to the now obvious curve of my stomach and I swallowed. I could already imagine the articles wondering who the father was : Jungkook or Namjoon.

“You alright?” My sister asked worriedly and I nodded, not looking at her. Lisa hadn’t been discouraged by initial refusal to speak to her, keeping at it till I finally caved and let her visit me at the estate. She didn’t love Jungkook anymore, she insisted . It was over. They were over . She wanted to give her marriage a chance. Very sweet and nice, that. And it was obvious that she wasn’t lying, what with the way she and her husband kept

Jihyun and Lisa had made amends with each other and it annoyed me that they seemed to be madly in love with each other all of a sudden. Like the past couple months hadn’t even happened. I stared down at my wedding ring feeling stricken. Was it unfair that I resented them for this? Why hadn’t the two of them thought of this, of breaking things off and moving on before the damn wedding. And then maybe Jungkook and I would have had a real marriage too.

Bitter and hormonal was definitely not a good combination I thought with a wince, fingers splaying on the curve of my lower belly. It was so odd, being pregnant. The extra weight somehow foreign but also …so soothing. The last scan had shown that I had an anterior placenta and that meant that I may not feel movements for a while. I didn’t mind, having found comfort in just tracing my palm over the bare skin of my stomach.

“There he is.” Jihyun’s voice made me look up and ure enough there he was.

It wasn’t the longest we’d been away from each other and yet, I felt my heart leap at the sight of him. He truly was a very handsome man, I thought miserably. And no matter what people said, it was infinitely more difficult to hate your husband when he looked that good.

Jungkook’s eyes caught mine first and I saw the way his gaze dipped straight to the curve of my bump. Even from the ten feet between us , I saw hi lips part in surprise , eyes going wide. It probably hadn’t felt real to him till now, I thought biting my lips as he carefully handed his bags over to the two chauffeurs who had rushed to help him.

Jihyun wasted no time in bounding over and hugging his little brother tight.

I glanced at the man who had been taking photos, pleased to see the surprise in his face. Was he hoping that the CEO would punch his little brother in the face ? Idiots. Lisa stayed by my side and I exhaled shakily.

“ Dad told me something and I want to know if its true.” I said quietly.

She didn’t reply.

I took a deep breath, still watching the two brothers embrace each other, Jungkook’s face buried in Jihyun’s shoulders. I could see him shaking just a little and I felt my gut clench.

“He told me that …that you never told him that you wanted to marry Jungkook. That when he suggested Jihyun you agreed at once.”

She looked away.

“Lets talk about this later.” She said quietly.

“Does Jungkook know?” I demanded. “ Because he spent that first month of our marriage cursing our father out for forcing you to marry Jihyun. Forcing. And dad says that he did no such thing. So what is the truth.”

Lisa didn’t respond.

“Jungkook  knows.” She said finally, “ I told him… the truth. When we were in Japan.” and I laughed in disbelief.

“Was that before or after you kissed him?” I snapped and she looked genuinely pained.

“Leah, I never meant to hurt you or Jungkook.” She said shakily.

“My God.” I shook my head. “ I always knew you were a selfish, greedy person but I didn’t take you for being a liar and a deceitful coward. ”

She stared down at her feet.

“Yes. I’m greedy..”  She whispered “ And you may not understand it now but I did it for you and for Jungkook.”

She moved away and I watched as Jihyun pulled away from Jungkook, still holding his arm as he held a hand out to Lisa. The smile on her face seemed genuine as she took her husband’s hand and I shifted my gaze to mine. Jihyun and Lisa walked away to their car and Jungkook stepped closer to me, his face stoic and impossible to read.  

“Leah.” He said quietly, dark hair falling into even darker eyes.

I didn’t reply, merely stepping up to gently press my palms on either side of his face.

“Welcome back.” I said softly, before reaching up and kissing him full on the lips. Jungkook’s entire body went stiff as a board at the gesture but he didn’t pull away , thankfully. It felt cold and impersonal and barely lasted a few seconds but hopefully the man had gotten a few good shots. I closed my eyes for effect, running my thumb over the clean shaven curve of his jaw, before pulling away slowly.

I peered over Jungkook’s shoulder, just to make sure and sure enough, the man was moving closer to get better angles. I smiled a little. Good. That should hold these vultures off for a while. I turned back to Jungkook and his eyes followed my gaze catching sight of the man with the camera and his entire body seemed to go stiff with anger.

“Why did you do that?” He growled and I bit my lips.

“You know why.” I made to turn away but he gripped my arm, hard. So hard that I winced.

“What are you doing?” I asked panicking, glancing at the man who was still watching.

“Since when did you start pandering to those pigs?” He whispered angrily and I flinched.

“Your father wants to introduce you to the Board of directors this weekend.” I whispered quietly, “Most of them read the news Jungkook. The last news about us can’t be about you cheating on me.”

“That’s my business. And I’ll deal with it. We’re not doing this, Leah. I’m not putting on some kind of act just to please my fucking father.” He looked furious and the taut line of his jaw made me flinch.

“I’m sorry.” I said quickly, guilt churning inside me. He was right. I shouldn’t have done that without talking to him about it but I knew that the scandal with him and Lisa wouldn’t go down well with the Board. And the Board generally had a direct say on who got hired to top managerial positions.

“I just want you to get that job.” I said softly and he stared at me, stiff body relaxing marginally.

“Let’s just go home. Yeah?” Jungkook said tiredly and I bit my lips.

Less than fifteen minutes since he came home and we were already at odds with each other.

The most ill suited couple in the universe, I thought with a grimace as he stepped right next to me and wrapped a hand around my waist.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had a very terrible tendency to forget taking my pills. So I generally left them by the bedside table. Stepping out of the shower, I found Jungkook sitting on my side of the bed, examining the bottle carefully. I tugged on the white t shirt I had on, suddenly embarrassed because it was Jungkook’s

I’d asked to borrow a couple over the phone,  simply because I no longer fit into my own and the ones I’d ordered weren’t here yet. Jungkook had agreed but still, it felt awkward when he was wearing the exact same t shirt himself.

He turned around when I moved to the vanity to put on moisturizer for the night and through the reflection I saw his gaze linger on my attire.

“Aspirin? Didn’t know that was part of pre natal vitamins?” He said seriously and I blinked., surprised. I turned around to stare at him, licking my lips nervously.

“How much research did you do?” I asked, genuinely curious and he flushed.

“I had a lot of free time. “ He said defensively. “ These six weeks.”

I frowned, before turning back to grab the small pot of night cream from the draw.

“My blood pressure is a little elevated. My mother had pre eclampsia with my sister and they just want to be careful.”

“Pre eclampsia?” Jungkook’s voice was fraught with nervousness and I turned back to see him almost white as a sheet.

“Jungkook…I.. its nothing serious.” I said hastily and his jaw went even more taut.

“What do you mean its not serious? Do you even know what it is?” He demanded.

“Do you?” I snapped back, annoyed at being treated like I was an errant child.

“I know that it’s the leading cause of maternal death during birth.” He all but shouted and I flinched.

“Okay…that’s only in extreme cases.” I held both my hands up. “ it’s a bit too premature to be panicking over that.”

Jungkook opened his mouth, as though to argue but then seemed to calm himself down.

“When’s your next check up?” He asked casually.

“This weekend. But its okay, Namjoon is-“

“I’ll come with you. I.. I want to come with you.” He said quietly.

I stared at him, feeling too awkward to outright refuse.

“You have the meeting with the Board. This weekend.” I said softly.

“So?” Jungkook shrugged. “ I’ll just tell them your appointment and health is more important to me. Besides isn’t that what you wanted? The reason you kissed me at the airport? You want the board to think we’re happily in love. I think that would be an excellent way to show them that. ”

Jungkook stared at me , head tilted curiously, daring me to deny what I had old him myself.

Sighing, I nodded.

“Alright.” I managed a weak smile. “ You can come with me.”

“Namjoon hyung left today, you said?” He asked casually.

I nodded.

“I should send him a bottle of his favorite wine for taking care of you so well. You look good.”

“He did it because he wanted to. Because he enjoyed it.” I retorted, his words rubbing me just a little wrong.

Jungkook smiled although it was more of a smirk.

“I’m sure he did. But I’m here now. And I did promise you that I’ll be there for you.”

“For the baby.” I said sharply, not liking the way he looked. The things he seemed to b implying.” You promised me you’d be there for the baby.”

“And right now, said baby is inside you.” He grinned now and I felt my pulse quicken at the sight. Jungkook didn’t smile with me. It wasn’t something that happened. At all. “ So I’ll have to take care of you.”

I stared at him, biting my lips.

“What are you doing?” I demanded. “My sister told you she never wanted you so now you want to start fucking me again?”

It was cruel. A terrible thing to say and I regretted it at once.

The smile faded.

“What?”

“ I…fuck Jungkook.” I groaned.

“is that what you think of me? Need I remind you that you were the one who came to me all those months ago? I never…. I would never force myself on you, Leah.” He looked like he’d been stabbed and I heart clenched.

“Jungkook , I…”

“I’ve been honest. Through all of this I’ve been honest to you. I lied to your sister, I lied to my father and fuck I even lied to myself. But I’ve been honest with you , Leah.”

“And that’s supposed to make me feel better?!” I cried out, despairing. “ You were in love with my sister and –“

“And she wanted to marry my brother.” Jungkook yelled, standing up and turning to me, eyes blazing. “  All along. Know what she told me Leah? That it was never supposed to be me. That five years of us being together…it was because she was in love with my brother and she couldn’t bear the thought of being alone. She started dating me to make him jealous and when she saw that I spent so much time with Jihyun she stuck around . So she could spend time with him.” He shook his head.

I stared at him, horrified.

“Jungkook….”

“I thought I could never feel more pathetic than when I stood there listening her tel me how she never felt a single thing for me. But wow…. Thank you for proving me wrong. Because right now, standing here begging you to let me a part of the child we both made knowing you only see me as some kind of pervert just looking to get into your bed….” he shook his head,” I feel worse. I feel dirty.”

My throat went dry.

“You know what?” He moved to the closet and to my horror he grabbed a bunch of his clothes and a small suitcase. “ I’m going to go get a Hotel room.”

“What? No… Jungkook, wait!” I rushed to his side, grabbing his arm but he threw my hand off quickly.

“Ask Namjoon hyung to move back in. Better yet, tell dad the truth. That you think I’m disgusting. That the thought of me being in your life makes you sick. Tell him you want a divorce and-“

“It’s a girl.” I exhaled sharply.

Jungkook went completely still.

I swallowed, my heart racing so fast I couldn’t catch my breath.

I took a deep breath and moved to lightly touch his back, fingers splaying on the broad expanse of his shoulder blade .

He turned around at that and my heart lurched at the tear tracks down his cheeks. He looked wrecked.

“ A girl?” He whispered.

I bit my lips, nodding.

“We’re having a little girl.” He looked a little shell shocked.

“Yes. And hopefully, she isn’t as dramatic as her father.” I said softly, grabbing the dozen or so t shirts he’d pulled out of the closet and pushing them back into the shelves.

Jungkook didn’t protest, still staring into space, probably just taking the news in. I felt awful for one second because I hadn’t even cared all that much when the technician had told me.

I closed the closet door and moved back to the vanity trying to process all that had been said in the last five minutes, only to feel a headache come on. I would think about it tomorrow.

I finished braiding my hair when Jungkook’s voice came from the bed.

“If you don’t want me to intrude into your space you can tell me. I’m okay with only getting information about the baby.” He said quietly.

I stared at myself in the mirror.

I turned to him slowly. i took a deep breath, considered that what i was going to say would likely change everything between us. But i had to. 

I’ve always been honest with you Leah, He had said and I decided that perhaps he deserved some honesty in return.

“I think I’m in love with Namjoon.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author’s Note : these two are such a mess istg. 

ooh i don’t have a taglist for this so please comment if you wanna be on it. 

[digital-corruption]

This chapter ended up being looooong. (Sorrynotsorry.) I promise a shorter wait to the next chapter!

Unrecognisable Part 38

Hitting the streets in our new clothes was more entertaining than I could ever imagine. Sure, people looked, but most of the time it was just sideway glances of disapproval or of mild curiosity but didn’t want to be caught staring. And if they did look, they were looking at the clothes, accessories and makeup, not paying any attention to the faces that went with them. There wasn’t a single reaction of recognition amongst the faces we passed. Jake found the effect so surprising, that he had us walk to the subway station after we ate some lunch. There was still a cop watching the entrance, but even as Jake walked by giving him the stink eye, the cop didn’t even react. As we travelled on the train, this time without jumping off, I could sense Jake’s satisfaction at having fooled the police in how he stood more confidently.

We transferred at Central station and despite our new clothes, Jake still had us avoiding the cameras just to be safe. We swapped lines to head towards the industrial area of Colville, which as it was the weekend, was nearly empty. So much so, we moved to the end of the train so we could have our own car.

“Well, I think I call this a success,” I smirked.

“But we should try to not get too cocky,” Jake warned as he sat down, sprawled across an entire row of seats.

“Says the one who was practically daring the cop to try something back there!” I laughed and sat down across from him.

He shrugged, “My chances at getting under their skin are limited.”

"What was that about not getting too cocky?" I shook my head.

"I knew what I was doing," he insisted. "Why are you over there?"

"Because it's a big spacious car and it feels weird to crowd you?" I gestured to his man spread.

"Exactly, we have the car to ourselves, you should be over here," he smirked.

"Oh, does Jake need some cuddles?" I teased.

He leaned forwards and reached to grab my hand, pulling me out of my seat and onto his lap, straddling him. He put his hands on my lower back to help support me whenever the train decelerated.

"Hi," he grinned.

I bit my lip, "You’re a naughty puppy."

"We're not even kissing," he laughed. "Although I am open to anything, and I mean anything."

"It’s the middle of the day and there are kids on this train," I rolled my eyes.

"So if we come back at night you would consider it?" He teased.

"Ha, I would have to be absolutely drunk to even think about it!" I exclaimed. "Do you have a public sex kink?"

"I don't know, maybe I do. Nothing really says 'fuck you' to the system and my pursuers than having sex freely in the open. Besides those leather handles are giving me ideas," he gestured to them above us with his head.

"Oh, you would like that, wouldn't you? My hands tied to the pole while I am whimpering and completely at your mercy," I teased him seductively.

He sucked his teeth,"Are you sure you don't want to try it?"

I could feel his erection building in his pants, "I'm sure."

"Pity," he smirked.

"Shouldn't we be more productive?" I raised my eyebrow.

"There's only so much I can research on the internet before we arrive. We will be able to find out more just by exploring," he explained.

The train slowed down and stopped at a station. A young man wearing headphones stepped onto the train. He took one look at us and moved to the next car.

"See? They already think we're doing it, so why not give into temptation?" He cooed.

"You’re so bad," I shook my head.

"And you like it," he smiled smugly.

“I plead the fifth, your honour,” I acted defensively.

Jake smirked, “You can’t hide from me. I see everything.”

“And the scary thing is you still want me,” I laughed.

“Maybe it just makes me want you more,” he said seriously. “Where you see flaws, I see uniqueness.”

“You can stop trying to lay on the charm, I’m already yours,” I joked.

“That doesn’t mean I need to stop,” he brushed the strands of my wig back over my shoulder.

“If you’re trying to convince me to have sex with you right now, it’s not working,” I teased.

“That’s a shame. Well, we're getting off at the next stop anyway,” he announced.

As if on cue, the train exited the underground onto a bridge crossing the river. Looking out the window I could see the vast industrial district topped with various old smoke stacks. Even at a distance I could tell there were sprawling alleyways full of shady corners to hide in. It looked quiet and empty, but I wasn’t sure how much of it was actually abandoned given it was the weekend. The train reached the other side and sped past walls of graffiti to the next stop. Jake tapped my shoulder to encourage me to stand up and move towards the doors. Gripping tight on our bag, we alone disembarked onto an empty platform. The doors snapped shut behind us and the train sped off leaving us with dead silence.

Jake pulled out his phone and brought up the map of the area with the location of the rave marked on it, quite a distance from where we were. “We’ll want to keep our distance from the rave. We have to assume it will be raided by police at some point. Even if the police don’t check our location, we’re at risk of fleeing revellers finding us by chance. So I suggest we look in these regions here.”

“Sure,” I nodded.

“What is it?” he raised his eyebrow.

“Oh, I love it when you talk all serious like,” I giggled.

“You wanted me to involve you more,” he frowned as we went down the stairs to the street level.

“I do!” I insisted.

“Then take it seriously,” he shook his head.

“Yes sir!” I paused at the bottom of the stairs to salute, then continued to walk down the street with Jake.

Jake sighed, realising there was no middle ground with me, “Ok what we’re on the look for is a location with power and running water, preferably with a hot water heater. We should be able to determine the status of the two on the exterior of any building by checking the meters. Only on the instance of those two conditions being met do we bother entering. Next we take note of extra amenities, such as a kitchen or a shower…”

“Or a bedroom?” I smirked.

“That is very unlikely, but sofas are a bonus,” he clarified. “Although, who knows, maybe we’ll find an old mattress factory.”

“Do you want to split up and cover more ground?” I suggested.

Jake was quiet for a moment, then tapped his map, “We probably should, otherwise it’ll take us well into the night to cover this area. I’ve turned on the tracking on your phone so I’ll know where you are.”

I pulled out my phone and opened my map app, “Ok, so turn on yours.”

“What? No,” he looked at me like I was crazy.

“So it’s ok if I have tracking, but not ok for you?” I narrowed my eyes.

He stammered for a bit until he realised I had a point, “Fine, hand me your phone.”

I handed my phone over to him and with the two phones in his hands he shared his location with mine.

“Promise me if you are compromised that you will break your phone,” he sighed as he handed my phone back to me.

“Huh? Why would I do that? Don’t you want to know where I am?” I questioned.

“I have other ways of finding out. However, if our pursuers know my location, we’re screwed,” he pointed out. “But if the threat is less severe, just hold down the home button on your phone. It’ll send me an emergency notification.”

“Oh, a bat signal!” my eyes widened.

Jake laughed, “Not quite. But I will come running.”

“Such power!” I beamed.

“Act responsibly,” he rolled his eyes. “Ok, you take these blocks. I’ll take the southside.”

“Hmm, one question, how do I break in?” I asked.

“You don’t,” he frowned. “Just note down which abandoned buildings have connected power and water. You don’t know what sort of security they may have on the inside. Some won’t have any, but others will be monitored.”

“And if I find an old mattress factory, we can call it a day?” I shrugged.

“Check for power and water first, but yes, you can message me if you find a mattress factory,” he smiled.

“Ok, let’s roll out!” I turned and marched off to the first building on the block.

“Good luck,” Jake called out behind me.

I glanced back to wish him the same, but he had already disappeared. It was scary how quickly he could do that. Meanwhile I was walking around in broad daylight with a bright pink wig on. Not very inconspicuous, MC, I thought to myself. But the area was empty so I shrugged it off and kept going. The first building was very much occupied so I continued to the next. Soon I realised that most buildings were actually occupied, just shuttered for the weekend, which meant this mission was actually much harder than I originally thought. After five buildings, I finally came across one with a For Lease sign, but when I checked the meters on the side of the building, I saw they were unmoving and labelled with a tag, which I assumed meant they were disconnected.

Feeling defeated, I leant against the brick wall and took a moment to think about the situation. The buildings on the main road near the train station would be considered premium properties. If I wanted a wider selection of abandoned buildings, I had to go further into the neighbourhood and look for the less desirable areas. I walked down to the corner and down the side street, away from the river. The area, even a couple of streets back, was quite dense with buildings, but soon I began to notice more boarded up windows and For Lease signs. At least I had more abandoned properties at hand.

Heading down one of the single lane roads, I checked building after building for power and water. Each and every one had been disconnected. Still I marched on, determined to be the one to find us an ideal location. My competitive nature fuelled me to persist with the search even though I was striking out on every occasion. Part of me wondered if Jake had found any yet, but my pride got in the way of checking with him. I wasn’t going to contact him until I had at least something.

Then, finally, at a small, unassuming building, squished between two larger imposing buildings, I found a property that had both connected power and water. I don’t think I had ever been so happy before. I took out my phone to mark the location on my map and realised I had been searching for two hours already. The location was so deep in the district that I wasn’t even sure I could find my way out, even with GPS. I was so excited though that I had to message Jake.

MC: Eureka! Power and water! Mattresses unconfirmed.

Jake: Haha, good, I was beginning to get worried.

MC: Why? Haven’t you found any?

Jake: I did, I found three. But I haven’t heard from you for a while.

Jake: Your marker kept moving so I had to assume you were ok.

MC: You could have checked in.

Jake: I could have.

Jake: But I trusted you were ok.

MC: Wait you found three? I have been searching all this time and you have three!?

Jake: Hmm, well one was an old fish tinning factory. The smell was wretched. Another was completely barren with no extra facilities. And the third was so filthy the walls were crawling.

MC: So my one might be the one.

Jake: What do you think? Should I head to you now or should I keep looking?

I lowered my phone and walked around the building, looking for a window a peek in. There wasn’t a lot to go on, but for some reason I had a good feeling about the building.

MC: Yes, my feet are hurting. I don’t think I can take anymore.

Jake: Hmm, ok. It will take me a while to reach you. Try to find somewhere quiet to sit down and take a break.

MC: Aye aye captain!

I moved to the alley to find somewhere to sit when I noticed that the side door was slightly ajar. I tried my hardest to ignore it, but my curiosity got the best of me. I walked up and carefully put my hand on the door handle. Ever so slowly I opened it, hoping no alarms would go off. Thankfully there were none. I peaked inside and looked around. I couldn’t see any sensors or cameras. Tiptoing in, I snuck into the dark building, pausing for a brief moment to turn on the light on my phone. I had entered via some supply room, judging by the empty shelves. Heading further in, I walked into a wide, open space. I saw streaks and did a double take. Looking back, I realised there was paint splatters all over the floor, not blood as I had feared. Pointing the phone higher to the opposite wall I saw it was covered in various artworks. I walked over to have a closer look at the designs. It took me a while to realise these designs were original creations. Searching around the room more I saw several devices with stations set up in a circle. I felt something soft underneath my foot, which made me jump. Pointing the light downwards, I realised it wasn’t a dead animal, but scrunched up clothing. Putting together everything I had seen, I realised the last occupiers were screenprinters. Far better than a fish tinning factory, I laughed to myself.

Walking to the back of the building, I saw several discarded boxes of t-shirts. At least we had a free supply of clothes, I shrugged. At the back was a closed door. I peaked in and saw an old break room with a small fridge, sink and hot plate. Even some plates and cutlery were left behind. Following the back wall a bit further I came across a set of mens and womens toilets with a shower room between. Now the place was too good to be true. At the end of the back wall was a metal staircase leading up to the loft office above. Carefully I ventured up the stair, wincing at every creak, as if it would give up my position, but there was no one to hear me.

At the point of the stairs was several empty desks with what looked to be the owner’s office at the back. I opened the door and was happily greeted with the sight of a leather couch with cushions. I had to wonder what kind of situation the business was in to have left that much furnishing behind. Closing the door, I turned around and saw a figure standing behind me.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Jake!” I gasped. “Don’t do that!”

“I could’ve sworn I told you not to enter any buildings,” he frowned.

“I was careful!” I insisted.

“So careful you didn’t hear me,” he raised his eyebrow.

“Yes, lightfoot. Make some more noise next time!” I sighed.

“Well?” he tilted his head inquisitively.

“Well we have a building with a kitchen, shower and a leather couch,” I boasted. “It doesn’t smell of rotten fish and comes with free t-shirts!”

“Good job, MC,” Jake smiled.

Jake took his backpack to the middle of the floor and plopped it down on a large desk. From there he could see the front of the building in full view. I sat down on a nearby desk, dropping our bag to the floor, and watched him set up his laptop.

“We have six hours until the rave starts. I would like to check on things before we leave. Can I trust you to order us some food?” he questioned.

“Will they deliver here?” I asked.

“Hmm, some businesses are working overtime. It isn’t that unusual,” he assured me.

I pulled out my phone and looked up a pizza delivery service that would cover our area while Jake turned power on to the building. Using my browser’s translation add-on, I was able to navigate it and order a couple of pizzas and drinks for us. Jake gave me a Paypal account to use. I didn’t bother questioning whose it was. While I waited for the pizza, I headed downstairs and checked out the lobby after a brief pitstop to the bathroom.

The lobby was fairly simple, but also had a couple of leather couches in a makeshift meeting area for clients. I dusted off one of the couches then laid down and kicked my feet up. After hours of walking that day, it felt like a godsend. I spent the rest of the time browsing idly on my phone until the pizza guy knocked on the front door. It took me a moment to work out how to unlock the front, but I got it. Making sure I locked up tight, I went back upstairs to Jake with the pizzas and drinks. I set up the food on one of the empty desks and dug in. After a few minutes, Jake joined me.

"It’s not so bad here," I commented. "Aside from the lack of beds, I definitely see us staying a while."

"I will need to do some research later and find out why so much has been left behind, but we should be able to stay at least until Monday," he warned. "How exactly did you say you got in?"

"The side door was ajar," I shrugged. "Someone didn't close it fully."

"Hmm, we'll have to assume the building isn't fully abandoned then," he said as he picked up another slice of pizza.

"What makes you say that? I questioned.

"This is a prime location for squatting. If we are the first to discover it, the door must have left ajar recently," he explained.

"Yeah, but this area is a maze. It's not like I was casually walking by and saw it," I countered.

"True, but it is better to err on the side of caution," he spoke with his mouth full.

"So you want to take our gear with us tonight?" I glanced over at his laptop set up.

"No, I will find a place to store it where it won't be found easily, but still accessible for us," he assured me. "Unless you had second thoughts about going. It has been a long day.”

"No, I still do," I smiled. "I might take a little snooze and freshen up."

"Don’t worry about getting too fresh. The other revellers won't be," he joked.

"What about you?" I asked.

"Me? I want to finish setting up roots in the area," he replied. When he saw my confused expression, he decided to elaborate, "I will break into surrounding networks so I can set up a wide surveillance net across the area. That way I can easily track the movements of anyone who enters the net. I have a program that detects an unknown entity on a camera, determines their phone signal and tracks their movements with it, assuming they are carrying a phone, but who isn't these days? It's a poor man's facial recognition software. Within a week, I will know who belongs in the area and their usual behavioural patterns. Then I can filter them out to create an early warning system.”

“Is that how you knew I was coming?” I questioned.

“Yes, although I couldn’t believe it. I was so stunned watching you approach the building, I nearly didn’t have enough time to deactivate the traps,” he explained.

“Are you going to set up traps here?” I looked around the building. It was much smaller than the one I found Jake in.

“Probably not. That building you found me in, I could live on the upper floors without descending for entire weeks at a time. Here, there’s not a lot of distance. Also, that building had been deserted for years. This one was more recently occupied and more likely to have the owner or agent come by,” he pointed out.

“It sounds like you’re saying this isn’t a good pick,” I frowned.

“That building you found me in was a real lucky find. A completely desolute building with a shower is extremely hard to come by,” he emphasised. “I was pissed that I had to give it up.”

“Is that why you were so cranky?” I teased.

“I was cranky because someone was blindly and foolishly walking onto a battlefield,” he glared. “Even after all these years, you never cease to keep me on my toes.”

Grinning, I shrugged, “Well I do like to keep things lively. Would you have me any other way?”

Jake laughed, “No, no I would not.”

[latte-fairytaekwoon]

𝐴𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑧: 𝑆𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐷𝑖𝑙𝑓!𝐴𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑧 (𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑)

Warnings/Disclaimer: NSFW content/Older Ateez but age differences is written withing legal boundaries. Also mentions of infidelity (which I don't condone, justify nor encourage), corruption kink and loss of virginity.

A/N: Also, Yeosang's reaction is a sneak peek at the Dilf! Fic in my w.i.p.

❥𝓚𝓲𝓶 𝓗𝓸𝓷𝓰𝓳𝓸𝓸𝓷𝓰

It all started as a way to get a passing grade for the semester, but soon became a mission to get inside your professor's pants. You still remembered the unamused gaze he gave you when you first suggested you 'help' him out.

"Nice try Miss Y/N.... but perhaps instead of wasting time behind the bleachers sucking off the jocks' cocks, maybe dip your head instead into your books and study for once."

You couldn't believe he'd actually reject you. No man had ever rejected you, they always fell to your charms. Professor Kim was about to become your biggest challenge yet and you didn't mind. Besides, something about fucking an older man had you pulling out your trusted vibrator out so many times during the night. Kim Hongjoong was just so fucking hot and you desperately wanted him, even if for one night.

"Please Mr. Kim..... you know they say I give the best blow jobs here." You tried yet again one day when everyone else left.

"They? You mean horny 20 something year olds who bust a nut by just a booby pic?"

For the first time, his poker face finally had an expression in the form of a smirk.

"Honey, you're going to have to try a lot harder than that. I've had my cock sucked by countless women in all my years. Besides..."

Leaning closer to you, he reached a hand out so his thumb could graze across your bottom lip.

"What makes you think a pretty young thing like you can take a mature cock like mine? You've probably never even had one half the size of mine."

You let out an involuntary moan as you pictured just how well endowed your teacher was. Looking down, you noticed the obvious bulge he was donning and you wanted nothing more than to pull him out and suck him dry. It seemed he noticed since he sat back down on his chair. Gesturing for you to come over, you practically hopped over to him, letting him guide you on your knees as he began to take himself out.

"But do knock yourself out. I'm kinda curious to see what the newer generations do nowadays."

❥𝓟𝓪𝓻𝓴 𝓢𝓮𝓸𝓷𝓰𝓱𝔀𝓪

Others would have complained and would be annoyed by the fact their new neighbors would have almost daily fights between them, typical marital disputes. But not you, you didn't mind hearing their screaming that was clearly heard through the walls. Especially since more often than not their fights would end in rough, angry sex that had you touching yourself at nights, a guilty pleasure you always looked forward to.

And you had been eyeing the husband from the moment the couple moved in. Park Seonghwa was everything you looked for in a man and even more. Handsome, mature, tall, well sculpted, responsible, sexy as hell and you knew for a fact he could definitely fuck. One day you knocked over at their door to give them one of them many pastries you'd often bake for your neighbors in the building.

"You know Mr. Park....if you ever get too frustrated with your wife....my door is always open." You boldly offered him.

He looked at you in shock but you sent him a reassuring wink before walking back to your apartment, making sure to sway your hips so he could have the image engraved in his mind. And boy did you rile him up. Now he couldn't stop thinking about you. You're all he had in his head. Now whenever he'd fight, he'd storm out and you'd welcome him, proud to get what his wife wasn't getting anymore. And you were hell bent on making sure you'd keep him to yourself.

"Cum inside me....fill me up." You told him one day.

He was so lost in his lust for you he didn't think he'd hear you correctly. Giggling, you flipped the position so you were now on top of him, bouncing yourself on his enormous cock.

"I'll give you what your wife won't give you. Knock me up with your babies, fill me to the brim. I wanna carry your kids in me." You ran your hands down your chest and placed them on top of your stomach to get your point further across.

Seonghwa was going wild by this point. He had wanted to become a father for so long but his narcissistic and conceited wife would not budge. Yet here you were offering him the one thing he wanted and he couldn't resist. Sitting up, he began pounding up into you with more intensity, sending you crying his name over and over again as his teeth began to mark your neck.

"Oh I'll make sure to knock you up babygirl. Gonna fuck my kids into you...fuck! You're going to look even more pretty carrying my baby in you."

❥𝓙𝓮𝓸𝓷𝓰 𝓨𝓾𝓷𝓱𝓸

Yours and Yunho's relationship was rather.... unconventional to say the least. He ended up becoming your sugar daddy after you had auctioned off your virginity online cause you were a broke college student and you honestly didn't give a damn at that point. But it was you who were in for a surprise when you met him in the hotel room and he just handed you the money without wanting anything in return.

"Just take it and don't give away something so valuable away like that."

You were so stunned by his behavior and it honestly sent some weird feeling inside you.

"But what if I wanna give it away?" You asked before he could open the door to leave. He let out a deep sigh.

"Trust me, you don't." He insisted.

Biting your lip, you took in his height and built. You weren't going to lie and pretend you didn't size him up from the moment you saw him. He probably had a monster cock that could tear you apart and part of you wanted that. Plus he was probably experienced in making love to someone so why not?

"If it's with you I really do..."

He whipped his back at your words, about to scold you but his words got caught in his mouth when you began to strip in front of him before laying down on the bed, legs spread for him and anxiously waiting for him to touch you. He couldn't resist himself. He ended up pining your tiny and virgin body under him, tearing your hymen apart and claiming you as his. He made sure you were in no pain and he had you cumming more than once. You could say it was an amazing first time.

You spent the rest of the night talking, and you ended up spilling about your economic situation. Perhaps it was pity, perhaps he was high on having taking your virginity, or perhaps he truly felt something for you. Either way you agreed to be his sugar baby, and you don't regret it one bit. Not when you get to have his monster cock in you, and he's not complaining either when he gets to stuff himself in you.

"Fuck! You're still so damn tight my little one... just like the first time."

❥𝓚𝓪𝓷𝓰 𝓨𝓮𝓸𝓼𝓪𝓷𝓰

He tried to ignore the sound of the shower right behind the door he was leaning in. He had to. He shouldn't try to imagine what was going on in there. But as his eyes closed, he couldn't stop picturing your naked body glistening as the water cascaded down your skin. His hand grazed over his erection, wondering if perhaps you were doing something similar.

Before he knew what he was doing, he slowly and quietly opened the door, the hot steam fogging up the glass doors to the shower but he could still make out your beautiful and young figure. He witnessed as your hand played with your clit, dipping inside your folds as tiny gasps and pants escaped your lips.

"Mr. Kang...." Hearing you murmur his name sent any self-control he had out the window.

He began to strip himself out of his clothes, very slowly and in silence so as to not disturb you. Besides you looked so pretty as you touched yourself, trying to get yourself off at the thought of him. Without taking his eyes off you, he slid the glass door and soon stood behind you in the luxurious and spacious shower. You jumped slightly when you felt familiar hands wrap themselves around your waist, fingertips digging into you. You could never forget his touch, you remembered how those hands felt when they once caught you and saved you from a nasty fall.

You knew it wasn't a dream or fantasy when you felt lips pressing open mouth kisses against the side of your neck and traveled down to your shoulders. You moved your hand away to allow the person behind you to take control, his long and slender fingers finally making your darkest fantasies come true as they penetrated inside you, moving back and forth in an effort to bring you into an orgasm.

Kang Yeosang's deep and husky voice breathed into your ear, sending shivers down your body.

"You don't know how long I've lusted after you..."

❥𝓒𝓱𝓸𝓲 𝓢𝓪𝓷

With Choi San it wasn't you seducing him. It was letting him seduce you. Ever since he saw you walk in with your short skirt, applying for a part time job at his bookstore, he had been wanting you, craved your body. And honestly... you fed him in his game.

You would wear even shorter skirts, bending down right in front of him so he could get a glimpse at your scantily clad pussy. Or you'd constantly ask him for help in putting away some of the books that went on higher shelves just so he'd put his hands around you, which he'd often keep there longer than needed. And you loved it.

One day he had been frustrated by you past his limit. Throwing away all decorum, he came up behind you as you arranged some books. You let out a gasp when you felt his hands grope your breasts.

"I've been working you too hard my darling... maybe I should let you take a little break?" You became putty in his hands when he used his satoori tone with you.

You didn't stop him when he lifted your shirt up to your neck, nor when he pulled your breasts out from your bra cups. You just moaned with no shame as his fingers tweaked and pinched at your highly sensitive nipples.

"Fuck you have really soft and squishy boobs. It's like they were made for my hands."

Snaking one hand under your skirt, he was surprised to not only find out that you were practically dripping for him but you were not wearing any underwear that day.

"Shit darling, did you came here hoping I would fuck you?"

You threw your head back as he cupped your heat, rubbing at your clit.

"Yes! Please fuck me Mr. Choi! W-wanna get fucked by you." You begged him, pushing your ass behind you to grind against his very obvious bulge.

He was more than satisfied by your answer. Finally getting your consent, he no longer had to hold back. Freeing his cock which was leaking at the tip, he pushed your skirt up to expose your ass cheeks. Giving each of them a few slaps with his cock, he teased you as he rubbed his bulbous tip along your slit.

"Now my little apprentice, I'm going to show you how a real man fucks a little cunt like yours."

❥𝓢𝓸𝓷𝓰 𝓜𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓲

Spotting exactly what you were hoping to find for the night, you approached the older male and sat in front of him. Giving you a little glance, he furrowed his eyebrows as he took in your countenance.

"Aren't you a little young to be in a club like this?" He questioned you.

"Trust me, I'm old enough." You boldly took the glass he had in front of him and took a sip before setting it back down.

He let out a tiny chuckle as you practically drowned almost an entire glass of straight vodka. You had guts, he was giving you that.

"Little lady I'm sure there are more young men your age scattered about waiting for a beauty like you to pay attention to them. So why not go find them?" He suggested.

You frowned at him, a tiny huff coming out from your lips.

"Guys my age are all idiots and little babies. Absolutely nothing fun about them."

You scooted closer to him, your hand coming down to rub at one of his ridiculous thick thighs.

"I prefer men who are more older and..... bigger." You made emphasis on that last word.

The male snorted as he let you continue your little game. He was actually pretty amused and flattered at having a young and attractive girl hit on him.

"Little lady as much as I'd love to take you back to my place and fuck you into my sheets, I'm warning you that I'm into more.... risque and exotic pleasures and honestly....I don't think an inexperienced thing like you could handle it."

The man, whom you soon found out was named Song Mingi peeked your interest even more as he confided in you that little detail. And you were more than happy to indulge in extremely naughty kinks. That's how you ended up in his bed, your hands and feet tied to each of the bed posts, blindfolded, gagged, nipple clamps adorning your perky breasts as your older lover for the night was continuing his abuse on your swollen and red pussy, drawing out orgasm after orgasm out of your body.

"Fuck! Holy shit!" He cried out, grunting in an almost animalistic manner as he pumped his cum all over your body.

Removing your blindfold and mouth gag, he looked for any signs of regret but was instead met with your fucked out face that held a tiny grin.

"Older and bigger cocks are indeed the best."

❥𝓙𝓾𝓷𝓰 𝓦𝓸𝓸𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓰

Working as an exotic dancer, you met a lot of customers and got used to having regulars. But no one got under your skin or made you lose your senses like Jung Wooyoung. Usually you didn't give any special treatment to anyone unless it guaranteed more cash in your garter belt. But there was something about him that had you constantly looking over when he was there. Every time he was watching from the crowd, you made sure every wink, every lip bite or swirl of your tongue was directed at him.

You were thinking about giving up, since weeks passed and he didn't seem to make a move on you or on any of the other girls. Perhaps he was dragged there by his friends since he always sat there idly, no expression whatsoever. When you were told someone payed to have a private show with you, the last person you expected to see was none other than Jung Wooyoung himself, sitting on the couch, a glass of wine on his hand. Pulling out a large bill, he smirked at you.

"One hundred dollars if you take off that top."

His request had your legs wobbling. Since it was a rather fancy and elegant strip club, none of you ever actually stripped completely bare, only staying in scanty lingerie. But honestly, you didn't hesitate and let the top fall to the floor. You loved the way Wooyoung was eyeing your chest, tongue poking out to wet his lip. Reaching into his pocket once more, this time he produced even more bills and layed them on the table.

"500 dollars if you remove that lace thong."

Holy crap, you thought to yourself. That was a lot of money that you weren't going to refuse. And besides, you were already wet for the older man that you would suck him off right then and there if he asked you to, with absolutely no payment. This time his hand began to rub at his crotch. Unzipping his pants, he took his long length out which had your mouth watering and staring for so long that you didn't notice the even larger stash of cash he had taken out of his jacket which layed beside him.

"One thousand dollars if you hop your pretty ass over here and bounce yourself on my cock."

Not needing to be told twice, you practically plunged yourself down on him, not caring to take your time as you began to fuck yourself on his cock. The man underneath you was enjoying himself as well, the visual of your ass clapping against his hips driving him insane.

"Fuck! Yes! Just like that- oh god!"

You let out a yelp when his hand came down to slap your cheeks rather harshly, hips taking control as he rammed his cock into you. Through raspy grunts and growls, he made his final proposition to you:

"Your own place, monthly allowance and anything else you want if you leave this place and become my own personal fuck toy."

❥𝓒𝓱𝓸𝓲 𝓙𝓸𝓷𝓰𝓱𝓸

Working as the personal assistant for your father's CEO friend was not easy. Not because Choi Jongho was difficult, scary and begrudgingly agreed to have his friend's daughter work for him when she had no experience, but because the man was hot. You had the hots for your dad's friend and knowing you would have to be by his side for 8-10 hours on the daily both thrilled and terrified you.

"Can't you even work a simple printer? Seriously? How stupid could you possibly be?"

You honestly didn't mind his constant insults and degradation. In fact...that's exactly what you wanted, even more if he did it in front of others. Truth was, you did know how to work a printer and do other office related small tasks. You just chose not to just to have him yell and scream at you. His anger further fueled your sexual desires for him.

Eventually he ended up finding out what your little plan was when he chanced upon you sending a fax for someone, something he had always refrained from teaching you cause he thought you'd be too stupid to do.

"Why you cunning little vixen." He clicked his tongue in annoyance as he saw you, angry that a little brat like you was getting under his skin just to get a reaction out of him. He felt his palm start to tremble with an urge to bend you over and spank you into place.

Which he did end up doing, among other things in an effort to get you to behave or straighten up. But it never fully worked since you kept testing his patience, and he truly didn't mind. He liked your little game and he started to look forward to having his little vixen misbehave just to put her back in her place. And you lived for having him punish and degrade you.

"Look at you. You look like a common whore, letting me fuck her little hole as much as I want to."

You whimpered as his hand pulled your hair, making you lift your head and watch from the mirror as he fucked you from behind against his dresser.

"Maybe I should take a picture and send it to your dad. Let him know that his precious daughter is nothing more than a slut that likes getting her tight little hole fucked by his best friend."

You shook at his words, tears steaming down your face from the overstimulation he was putting you through. You absolutely loved it. Loved having him remind you of how wrong and sinful it was. Pressing your back against his chest, he wrapped an arm around your throat as he pounded his cock into you like the beast he was.

"But no... I won't do that. This will be our little secret."

Gifs not mine. Credit goes to their respective owners