#xofc

[ashbrat488]

Candy - August Walker Fanfic

August Walker x Original Female (escort) character

Trigger warnings: talks of abuse and torture

Summary: August Walker, the CEO of a renowned Security Firm located in the bustling streets of Washington DC. His life is a constant juggling act, burdened by the weight of stressful responsibilities. The strain on his marriage is palpable, with his relationship barely holding itself together. However, he remains tethered to his wife primarily for the sake of their son, whom he adores dearly.

To find solace amidst the chaos, August forms a unique bond with an escort who goes by the name "Candy." Their clandestine meetings become a refuge for him, an escape from the pressures of his daily existence. For over nine months, their encounters grow in frequency, and August finds himself becoming increasingly possessive of Candy's time, although he strives to keep their interactions as casual as she desires.

However, their relationship takes an unexpected turn when August accidentally discovers Candy's true identity. Intrigued by this revelation, he begins to interfere in her life and even meddles in the affairs of her boyfriend, who coincidentally works for him. As August's feelings deepen, he wrestles with the idea of whether he can make Candy choose him over her current life.

This story is 40 chapters and over 50k words. I will be posting one chapter at a time, if you ever want to be added to the taglist, please let me know.

This story (as well as any stories I post) is only for those over 18... it will include all sorts of sex including MFM...

And there will be a special guest star by Lloyd Hansen...

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 - coming soon

Taglist If you want to be added or removed from my list, let me know 🫶🏻

@identity2212 , @alicedopey, @propelkingkitten , @critfailroll, @mrsevans90 , @carrie80reads , @thearcana-moonlight , @devotedlythoughtfulanchor , @alwayzmsbehavn , @dangerousblizzarddreamer , @secretdream2 , @evansabove1981 , @juliaorpll78 , @kingliam2019

[starstruckunknown-princess]

Lilac - Jamie Tartt x F!OFC

Lilac (Syringa) - Meaning: First Love, Reminiscence

Summary: Jamie Tartt and Katie Archer were childhood best friends and had planned their futures together, but what happens when childhood ends and it's time to face reality?

Pairing: Jamie Tartt x F!OFC Katie Archer (NO physical description other than a name)

Word Count: 1371

Warnings: Language, takes place mostly pre-show, childhood idealism gets shattered, Jamie's anxious/angry reaction is slightly violent (NOT against reader), mention of Jamie's dad being a crap parent, enduring childhood love

Day 3 of the In Bloom Writing Challenge! I originally wanted this to be a whole series, but couldn't find the right way into it so I condensed it into a short fic. Also, this is my first ever Ted Lasso fic! That show is pure dopamine, I swear. Perhaps a teammate or coach of Jamie's will appear in his own fic later this month? Who knows? Oh wait, I do :D

In Bloom Masterlist

Comments, Likes, Reblogs are always appreciated! Thanks for reading! <3

9 May, 2009

Jamie Tartt and Katie Archer’s Unbreakable Life Plan To Remain Friends Forever

Become pro footballers (in the same city but not on rival teams or they’ll make us stop being friends)

Marry the fittest people we know (models, actors, or royalty ONELY)

Have neighboring houses with a pool that goes across both our backyards and a football pitch

Katie can have as many cats and dogs as she wants and Jamie can’t say anything

Jamie can wear whatever he likes and Katie can’t make fun of him

Our partners have to be best friends too

Our mums will live in our pool houses when they get old

And, the most important rule of all!!!! 

8. Any changes to this life plan MUST be discussed with your best friend, OR ELSE!!!

Signed,

Jamie Tartt 

Emily Archer

_________________

21 March, 2014

“Who is this? And what has she done to kick Renaldo off the wall?” Katie asked, holding the corners of the poster while Jamie taped them. 

“This,” he said, rolling the poster down to reveal the blonde girl holding two footballs in front of her bare chest, “is me future wife, Keely Jones.” 

“But I thought you were going to marry Heidi Klum and I would marry Orlando Bloom? That way we’d be the Klum-and-Blooms,” she joked, referring to their life plan since they were eleven. 

“‘Course I remember, babes, but I think Keely here is more of a sure thing. ‘Sides, she’s closer to our age.” He taped the bottom corners to the wall and stood back, admiring the poster while Katie flopped onto his bed. 

“As long as you’re sure,” she shrugged, opening her maths book. 

A football materialized and Jamie started dribbling, “Wanna go kick the ball ‘round?” 

“No, big test tomorrow, remember?” 

“Dunno why you’re bothering with that,” Jamie fell on his back on his bed next to her, “Don’t need school if you’re gonna be a footballer, yeah?” 

“Even if I played half as well as you, we both know I’d get less than half what you’d make as a footballer,” she said, rolling her eyes at the injustice of unequal pay. 

He rolled over and flipped around so they were parallel to each other and threw his arm over her shoulders, “Don’t worry, babes, I’ll loan ya cash if ya need it.” 

She giggled and shoved him off her, “Well how will you know how much I end up owing you if you won’t study your maths?”

“Fine! Five minutes to study, then we go work on your football skills. Maybe you’ll get so good you can play for a men’s team and get paid what you’re worth.” He smiled at her and she rolled her eyes at him. He was too charming for his own good sometimes. 

_________

5 August 2016 

Jamie perched on the edge of her mattress, absolutely gobsmacked at the news she just shared. “You’re fuckin with me, right? You…you’re just messing with me.” 

“No, ‘m not. I’m going to university,” she confessed, squeezing his hand that she held in both of hers to try and comfort him.

Instead, Jamie looked at her like she’d just confessed to being Jack the Ripper. “But, we were…what about the scouts from City?”

“I turned them down.” 

Jamie exploded then, yanking his hand out of hers, shooting up from where he sat next to her and began pacing. He crossed and uncrossed his arms, ran a hand through his hair, pulled at the strings of his hoodie. His limbs felt like they were too full of electricity.

“So what, all these years, all the plans we made, just fuckin’...don’t matter to ya anymore?” 

“You mean the completely unrealistic plans we made when we were kids? Become top footballers, marry some fit fuckin’ models, have adjoining houses with a pool going across both backyards? Come on!” 

That was the twist of the knife. 

“Fuck you, ya know that? I’ve wanted that all this time, believed in it! It’s all I’ve been workin’ toward since we came up with it! And you just go and fuck up your half…how’m I gonna do it without ya?” 

She reached out for him again but he backed as far away as he could in her small bedroom. “You’re incredible, Jamie, you’re so talented and you’re gonna go far. But it’s not for me.” 

“You mean I’m not for you.” 

“What? Jamie, you’re my best friend!”

“That’s not…we were…fucking FUCK!” Jamie’s brain felt like it was full of fire ants and his stomach lurched. He kicked a hole in the drywall before slamming her bedroom door on his way out.

The very fabric of their friendship had torn and there was no going back. If she didn’t care about him the way he cared about her, then fuck it. He didn’t need her, he would be the best fuckin’ footballer Man City had ever seen and she’d have to watch from wherever it was she ended up, hopefully somewhere miserable. 

He didn’t speak to her for the rest of their break. He didn’t see her off when she moved her things into the dorms. He never responded to her ‘Congratulations!’ text after his first game with Man City. 

The only response she ever got were three dots, appearing and disappearing. 

And then, nothing.

____________

August 5, 2021

Slipping off his jersey, Jamie couldn’t help but think about her. After all this time, he still remembered why he’d chosen 9 as his number. It was hers, her lucky number, her birthday in November, only 20 days after his. 

They’d grown up together, their mums having met at work and becoming best friends. He sometimes heard about Katie’s life on his phone calls with his mum but he hadn’t really listened to any since Katie had decided to give up on their friendship, on their life plan — the one they had come up with together when they were eleven so they’d never have to be apart.

Katie had seen how difficult it was for him to deal with his dad’s frequent appearances and disappearances and wanted him to know she would always be there for him. At the time Jamie had only gone along with it because she insisted that he could have whatever he liked in their future — it wasn’t until she’d announced that she was going to Uni that he realized the only thing he truly wanted from that list was their future. 

Together. 

He didn’t care much what it looked like, as long as it was theirs. As long as she was there at the end of every day. Which is why it devastated him when she left. Why he’d thrown himself into training and took his new life as a football star for granted as much as he had. 

Now that he was back at Richmond and apologized for his behavior, she’d been on his mind more and more.

Did he pop into her mind ever? Had she been following his career? Seen him embarrass himself on that stupid fucking dating show? 

It had only been five years but if he ran into her now, would they even recognize each other? 

It was a sad thought to have about someone he was once so close to — someone he, deep down, knew he had loved, and even deeper down, knew he still loved. It wasn’t like the love he had for Keely, his only long-term relationship amongst the revolving door of fit women he’d dated.

He wished he could describe it better than ‘a love I grew up with,’ or ‘love I didn’t even know was love at the time,’ but alas, Jaime Tartt was no poet.

He finished his post-training routine and made his way out into the summer night. On a whim, he decided to walk home. He needed time to think. About a block away from his house, he pulled out his phone and let his finger hover over ‘Contacts’ but he thought better of it and tucked his phone away. 

Only to pull it out again a few steps later and press her contact before he could chicken out. 

“Here goes nothin',” he said to himself as the phone rang.

[darklydeliciousdesires]

The Dark Passenger - Chapter Nine.

So, with the pitiful amount of interaction this is receiving (bar my beautiful girls who always leave such lovely feedback) my hand has been forced. If you want the next chapter, you are now in charge of making it happen via an unlocking system. This chapter must reach a minimum of 35 notes for the next to be posted, or it doesn’t happen. I work hard at my writing, and I deserve a little more in the way of feedback. I don’t think that’s unreasonable to ask of the people reading this. You can drive up the note count with likes, comments and reblogs very easily. It’s all in your hands now!

Previous chapters - One  Two  Three  Four  Five  Six  Seven  Eight

Words - 3,261

Warnings - 18+ content throughout, minors DNI!

Tag list - In the comments. Please DM to be added/removed

“I swear, not one little bit of cellulite, not one flaw. Damn her. I’d hate her if she wasn’t so fucking lovely!” Amelia announced with a soft snort, she and Bella sitting at the table while Camille put their lunch order in at the counter of the restaurant they were at.  

“I know! She makes me feel bad about my thoroughbred knees.”  

Amelia rolled her eyes. “You have such a complex about your knees, girl! They are not knobbly, or like a horse’s knees!”

“Oh, but they are! I mean, those legs, babe. EZ almost makes me jealous that he gets them wrapped around him on the regular, and I’m not even close to being bisexual.” Looking at Camille’s legs again in the tiny pair of denim shorts she wore, Bella shook her head. Some women had all the luck by nature.  

“I’d totally turn bi for her, you know.” Sipping her soda, Amelia then snorted softly with laughter. “I told Gilly that the other night and I swear, it lit his fire so damned much, I still feel dick drunk!”  

A poorly timed sip of her own drink led to Bella spraying a mouthful of tea everywhere, leaning into Amelia as they both cracked up hard, the latter using a napkin to clear up the mess from the table.  

“Men are such simple creatures like that! I mean, remember when Nala and I kissed for a bet? The absolute pounding Angel dragged me away for afterwards, fuck!”  

Amelia nodded, still laughing before she composed herself with a sad sigh. “I miss having her around, you know, now she isn’t coming to the clubhouse.”

Nala had of course taken her boyfriend’s death very, very hard, and found it impossible to be around the place she had so many happy memories of him in. She still remained close with the girls, meeting with Bella and Amelia whenever she could, even visiting the former out on tour when Heavenly Creature had gigged around Europe in support of a very well-established band, but being an immediate part of it all was just too tough for her still, even a year and a half after Coco had died.  

“I know, yeah,” Bella lamented, sipping her tea, her throat sore from a morning of rehearsing new material her band were compiling for their second album. “But at least she’s doing well now and finding some happiness again.” She then contemplated her next statement before deciding to voice it. “Besides, we have a brand-new old lady to keep our eye on. I think she needs our support, navigating her way through it all, her place in our world. Or more specifically, her place at EZ’s side.”

Amelia widened her eyes a touch. “I mentioned it to Gilly the other day, that I wanted to further take her under my wing, try and be there for her. He told me not to get involved. It’s tough to be like that, though, because she’s becoming our friend. We met her a month ago now, and over the course of that month, her relationship with EZ has been so up and down, while us as a three are growing so tight. They’re fighting one minute, only to be back in love and wonderful the next, and it’s so hard, watching her going through that.”

Straightening her cutlery, Bella puffed her cheeks out on a long breath. “I get what he’s saying, and I know Angel would tell me the exact same thing, to stay out of other people’s relationships, but they don’t get it, how us girls are there for one another like that, that we’re the ones we tell everything to. I think there’s things she wants to tell us, too, but for whatever reason, probably because we’re such new friends, she feels like she can’t. Or she’s in denial. You see that, in relationships like theirs. And now I feel like I’m judging, argh!”

“You’re not,” Amelia was quick to reassure. “It all ties in with the fact that EZ hasn’t been himself for a long time, doesn’t it?” She then thought on her comment, her mouth twisting up at the corner a little. “Well, I suppose that’s not fair. We see flashes of the old him, but they’re getting fewer and further between.” A little huff left mouth as she chewed her lip. “I miss him, who he was.”

All talk was hushed over then, Camille returning to the table with a bright smile. “What are we talking about?”

“Your bloody legs!” It was half-true, at least. They had been talking about them at one point. “You give me knee envy.”

Camille raised an eyebrow. “Is that even a thing?”

“It is for Bella, Bella and her thoroughbred knees, as she calls them,” Amelia joked. “Thinks she’s like something that came off the track at the Kentucky Derby.”  

“Oh, come on!” Camille exclaimed. “Bella, you have a beautiful body, so gorgeous and slim!”

“I’m skinny, and I have no boobies either!”

“Yeah, but the way Angel looks at you. I can tell he thinks you’re perfect. If you’re bothered by the fact you have smaller breasts, just do what I did and buy yourself some bigger ones,” she reasoned, looking down at her own E cups, which had been B cups prior to her surgery.

“He does, you’re right. He even said if it got to me, he’d buy me some titties, as he worded it. I’m a little scared of the surgery, though, and everything that can do wrong,” she spoke, doubt riddling her voice.  

Camille grabbed hers, giving them a little shake. “I can honestly say, I’ve never had an issue with mine. I got silicone as opposed to the other options, operation was done in a couple of hours, I went home later that day and stayed with my parents, because you do need someone to look after you, help you wash and dress, and then six weeks later I was all healed up!”

“Are they heavy? Also, what do they feel like, because I mean, they look amazing!” Bella then questioned, Camille leaning forward a little.

“Here, give them a squish and feel for yourself.” Bella reached out and gave them a gentle squeeze, her eyebrows rising in surprise. “As for them being heavy, they took some getting used to, but no, I wouldn’t say they were a burden or anything.”

“Oh my god, they feel so real!” she exclaimed, turning to Amelia. “Get in on this!” 

Amelia reached over, softly squeezing, both of them making little noises of approval before Camille looked up and snorted with laughter. “Excuse me, sir? We’ll have to charge you by the minute if you’re going to keep on staring. This isn’t a free show!”  

Her joke had her new friends cracking up completely, the man who had been copping himself an eyeful of the sight turning away with reddened cheeks. It certainly made for an entertaining moment when they arrived back at the clubhouse an hour later, finding their guys communed outside under the hot sun.

“So, what have you girls been up to?” Angel asked after they’d gotten out of Amelia’s car.  

“Eating salad and playing with Camille’s boobies!” his wife enthused, Angel’s eyebrows raising. “Squishy, squishy!” she then exclaimed in a playful voice, standing behind the lady herself and giving them another squeeze and a shake. Immediately, she found herself thrown over his shoulder, his grin huge.  

“Don’t nobody come to the bathroom for a while,” he stated, smacking Bella’s ass and carrying her off in the direction of the clubhouse.  

“How long are we talking, ten minutes?” Amelia called in joke, not able to resist razzing him.  

He snorted, turning back. “Get outta here with your bullshit, Garcie!” Pausing, he made a thoughtful face. “Twelve should do it.”  

“Eleven!” EZ called, moving to hug his girl, Camille pleased that he seemed to be in a good mood.  

“Fuck you, bro.” With that, Angel vanished inside, Amelia exchanging some kisses with Gilly before she had to leave and get back to work, Camille and EZ moving to the couches to sit down. He swung his feet up, stretching out, his head in her lap, grasping her hand and resting it to his hair.  

“Oh, he wants to be petted?”

He nodded, closing his eyes. “He does, yeah. All of the scritches, please.” Feeling her nails begin to tickle his scalp, he smiled, the tension in his body from a stressful morning running between there and the border through the tunnels for clandestine meetings melting away. “I’m so pleased you’re not working tonight. I missed my baby.”  

She felt her insides glow with happiness, leaning down to kiss him. Happy EZ, sweet EZ, he was the one she loved the most, and the one who she had been seeing him make more of an effort to be. He’d been vulnerable with her in the wake of confessing his love, telling her that he thought the duality he felt within him was some kind of unconscious compartmentalising, borne of stress at sitting at the helm of the MC.  

In her eyes, he was making a very conscious effort to overcome that, but it didn’t mean the other side of him had merely ceased to exist. He had good and bad days, heck, sometimes good and bad hours, but that afternoon, at least, everything was calm. Well...  

Opening his eyes, he looked up at her, the sunlight making them glow more golden, Camille leaning to kiss him again as her hand skimmed beneath his t shirt.  

“I’d be very careful, if I were you, encroaching on the happy trail like that,” he murmured. “Because it’ll make me happy.” A suggestive double eyebrow raise had her in soft fits, kissing his forehead.  

“How’d you like for me to take you upstairs and make you even happier?” He was on his feet in two seconds. A few more after that, and he was naked, standing at the foot of his bed, Camille seated before him, his cock gliding in and out of her mouth.  

“How the hell is it that you’re getting even better at giving head?” he questioned, pulling a comic face of disbelief that had her snorting softly. “Like, where’s the other end popping out? For real!”

“Don’t make me laugh when I have a mouthful of your dick, baby,” she snickered, licking a circle at the head of it, making him shudder with a soft sigh. “I guess I’m just getting used to the fact I have to virtually unhook my jaw to get this third leg all the way back in my throat.”  

She had him laughing then, his eyes tightly closing when she took him back once more, sucking along his shaft as her lips took him inch by inch, EZ tangling his fingers in the mass of her soft, wavy hair. The heat of her mouth chased an icy chill through his veins, freezing then warming, his cock pulsing as he felt those familiar tingles of utter paradise pulsing through him.  

“Fuck, I’m gonna cum, baby,” he gritted, Camille speeding up a little, looking up at him, her blue eyes lust blown, framed by long lashes, her beauty making his heart somersault as the surge of his orgasm hit him hard, hot trails of cum flooding her throat.  

After he’d ceased shaking like a leaf, Camille quenching her thirst with a few gulps from the bottle of iced tea she’d bought earlier, he moved to kiss her, yanking her shorts and undies, off, her top and bra soon to follow. “Only fair I return the favour,” he spoke between kisses, watching her grin as she giggled, his fingers pushing between her legs to stroke at the wetness already gathering there. “Yeah, you want that, huh? Want my tongue right up in this little honey hole, querida?”

“Mmmm, yes please, big guy.” Pushing her until she was flat, he lay before her spread legs, lowering his mouth to her and giving her exactly what she wanted. “Oh god, that feels so good.”  

Opening his eyes as he pushed his tongue inside her, he winked, tasting the gloss of arousal that sucking on his cock had left her with, laying long, slow licks over her slit, catching her clit sweepingly before pulling the hood back with his thumb, delighting those thousands of nerve endings with the incessant caress of wet, rolling heat.  

She lay back, her body somewhere between blissfully relaxed and winding with tension, EZ using more pressure, driving the glimmers from her, his breath hot against her balmy folds, hands clutching at her thighs as he began to suck upon her hungrily. He released her with a slippery pop, his tongue running slowly up her body, two fingers pushing into her as he rained kisses all over her breasts, his mouth closing over her nipples in turn, sucking, teeth gently nipping before his mouth covered hers.  

Their kisses burned like honey laced napalm, slow, hot and sweet, his fingers hooking within her, dragging against her soaking walls until glimmers began to flood her, Camille panting against him, overcome, arousal twisting through her core. Pulling away from her hungry lips, he stared down at her, seeing the same need burning blue in her eyes, resting his forehead to hers, knowing what she craved. Just the act of burying his mouth between her legs had gotten him hard enough to do exactly the same with his cock, sliding into her fully, kissing the cry that fell from her lips, his arms tightening around her.  

“I love you so much. Never, ever forget that, baby,” he told her, stroking her face, losing himself to her. Control? Darkness? Manipulation? Gone. For that moment, he was him again. However...  

“You can’t do this!” he fumed at her, three hours later after Martin had called her, desperate for her to cover two girls who had both tested positive for covid, and thus couldn’t come into the club for their scheduled shifts. “You’re meant to be spending time with me!”

Camille closed her eyes, sighing softly. She knew if she reacted to it with anything even bordering on the same level of ire, he’d just get worse. “EZ, please. Calm down.”

“Don’t fucking tell me to calm down! What, what? I’m supposed to just be cool with the fact that you’d rather go grind into some other dude’s crotch tonight?” he yelled, his rage pulsing.  

She was incensed at such a stance, how worked up he was getting over something that wasn’t out of the ordinary. It was her job; one he had no issues with. Except for now. “Oh, so it’s not that I’m leaving you, but what I’m leaving you to do, that’s what’s bothering you?” Taking a breath, she checked herself. “Baby, that’s exactly how you met me, isn’t it? It isn’t like what happened between you and me is something I regularly make a habit out of, is it? I’m with you, you’re my guy, and my work is my work.”

He snorted, eyeing her dangerously. “I don’t fucking know that, do I? You could be taking any number of them out back and fucking them.”  

She stood up, striding across the apartment, pulling her shoes back on. “I can’t believe you’ve just said that, accused me of something like that. For god’s sake, what’s wrong with you? You know that isn’t me!”  

“What’s wrong with me? I’m not the one running off here!”  

“EZ, for the love of Jesus!” she yelled, unable to quell letting her emotions get the better of her. “I’m doing a favour for my boss, a guy who has been good to me in the past, understanding me wanting short notice time off, even waiving my fees if I’ve been a little short on cash. I’m not going to leave him in the lurch.”  

EZ snorted, shaking his head. “And how many times did you suck his dick to make him be that nice to you?”

Oh. Now he’d done it. “None, which is in stark contrast to the fact I suck yours plenty, and yet you’re still an asshole.” Picking up her bag, she walked over to where Sally was looking at her with big, sad eyes, kissing her head and stroking her ears, the dog fluttering her tail happily before she headed for the stairs.

“I didn’t fucking say you could leave, Camille,” he barked, following her. “Camille! Fucking get your ass back here, now!” he then roared, making her jump as she exited the stairs and walked as fast as her feet could carry her, EZ gaining on her, his hand closing around her arm.  

“Get off me!” she shouted, pulling against him.  

“No! You’re not fucking going anywhere. Do you hear me?”  

“Let me the hell go, EZ!” she yelled, Bishop and Gilly both sitting up to take notice, looking between one another, setting themselves on high alert.  

“I said you’re not leaving, Camille! I’m not letting you leave here to go and hoe it up at that place, no!”  

Her reaction was immediate, her upset flowing out from the skippy beats of her heart, running down her arm and landing in the hand that slapped him sharply around the face. Immediately, he let her go, but the way his eyes darkened, a knot of fear grew in her belly, before suddenly and without warning, his fist met her cheek.  

Everything clouded after that, Camille aware of her body falling back and hitting the floor, her consciousness hazy, blackness engulfing her. When she came to, it was Gilly’s face she saw, his arm beneath her neck, lifting her up off the hard floorboards. She could just about focus enough to see Bishop laying into her boyfriend behind him, both men in a fist fight as she was lifted into strong arms, carried out of the clubhouse, clinging onto him as she trembled with fear.  

“Shit, are you okay?” he asked softly, seating her on the couch outside, crouching to look at her as he gently held her hand, touching his thumb to her stinging cheek. “I can’t fucking believe he did that, slugging a woman. God damn him. He’s getting worse. No, not worse. Worst, to do this to you, Jesus.”  

Immediately, she began to cry, falling forward into the safety of his arms and sobbing on his shoulder. “What the hell is wrong with him, Gilly?” she cried, her little sobs making the big man feel awful for her. There she was, so sweet and kind, so in love with EZ, and yet he treated her like this. “I don’t understand why he’s so good one minute, only to turn so dark the next!”

“Shhhh, baby,” he soothed her, the door opening to reveal Nestor, who carried with him a towel full of ice, and a bottle of Sailor Jerry. Gilly mouthed his thanks, jerking his head in the direction of the table, Nestor placing them down and squeezing his shoulder before heading back inside. “I don’t have a clue, none of us do. We thought it was the pressure of taking the gavel, all the shit he’s had to deal with, but it’s something else. It has to be. All this? It ain’t normal, and I’d say it ain’t him, but shit, seeing him punch you out. I dunno, Camille. I don’t know who EZ is anymore.”  

This? It was a new level of darkness revealed in El Rey Oscuro. And nobody had seen it coming.  

[the-boy-branithar]

reader inserts b like "he stroked your long, straight blonde hair and gripped your skinny waist as he fucked your perfectly shaven pussy. you admired his many tattoos, you'd always been too much of a pussy to get any yourself even though you wanted lana del rey lyrics all over your humongous honkers. he tried to change the music to nasty mcr but that was too heavy for you so you changed it to your favourite taylor swift playlist. "y/n," he moaned, "your green eyes with blue flecks are so beautiful. just like your tiny perfect dainty feet." you came and then immediately went to sleep."

[gggoldfinch]

the lack of Ultron fic is really disheartening it’s almost been a decade guys come on

[lazyneonrabbitt]

Here you will find the full list of my works for Daryl Dixon and other characters portrayed by Norman Reedus. [Main masterlist]

Requests are OPEN

⬇️ Masterlist under the cut! ⬇️ [My Ao3]

★ indicates smut, 18+ content.

Series

Paintings & Picture frames [Pt.1] [Pt.2] [Pt.3] [Pt.4] [Pt.5] [Pt.6] [Pt.7]

No apocalypse AU. Daryl and reader are studying at the same college and are assigned orientation project parters. [ONGOING, HIATUS]

Wings [Pt.1] [Pt.2] [Pt.3] [Pt.4] [Pt.5] [Pt.6]

Judith plays matchmaker by stealing your jacket and making it match Daryl’s

Oneshots

Records of forgotten times

Digging through old music brings back sad memories, but also happy talks of the future.

Sinful★

Father Daryl enjoys some private moments with the not-really nun.

Ruppel

You're chilling on the couch watching your favorite show. Daryl joins you because he wants to learn about your interests.

Shielded (Fantasy AU)

Everyone openly shows and uses their powers, except for Daryl. Until you get hurt.

Bad ideas★

During a laundry round while home alone you find some ..'used' items of Daryl's to fuck yourself with and now have to work through the concequences.

Girlfriend

Daryl is in a sucky relationship but doesn't see it at first. Reader helps him see and later shows him how a good partnership works.

Hunters Ink

One tattoo leads to many more when you fall head over heels with the artist.

Creep (modern AU)

Finding an apartment in this new town was easy, but now you needed a job.

Daisy chains

Daryl gets separated after the prison attack. He comes across a home for him and his kid to hole up in. Your home.

Beef

Requested : "Could you do a Daryl x reader where at first he doesn’t like her, and she tries to get to know why hes so mean to her? Maybe he yells at her and then some comfort after?"

Rough times

Requested: Hi! Would you be willing to maybe do a one shot with Daryl x reader in a pre established relationship but the reader is pregnant with a child that doesn't belong to him and she isn't proud of? (non-con if you're comfortable with that) Some angst about the reader being worried he won't love her once he finds out 👀

The fun has just begun

Drabbles

Two men snatch you away for some fun. Before they even get anywhere you and Daryl have turned the tables and have some fun of your own. CW: Torture

Forest Guardian

You plan a week long vacation to a luxury cabin. Luxury is nowhere near what you find.

Period cramp relief

Photographer Daryl

Different kinds of sex w/ Daryl

You needed Daryl for something

"Hey buddy, what are you doing here?"

"Carol gave me some cookies to share!"

Rick and Daryl go out on a run

Old man Daryl

Showing Daryl how beautiful he is★

Worshipping Daryl's worn body

🐺Were!Daryl 🦊Were!Reader

🐺Series🐺

Shared interests [Pt.1] [Pt.2] [Pt.3] [Pt.4]★

Grimes!reader. Your father shares information about the man he considers his brother in support of your interests. Those interests take a different turn than he expected..

🐺Multichapters🐺

🐺Monsters among us [Pt.1] [Pt.2]

Your water breaks in the middle of nowhere but you find the prison in time for them to help you. There you meet the man of your nightmares. CW: childbirth

🐺🦊Feral for you [Pt.1] [Pt.2★]

Request. Daryl develops a crush on a soft and sweet lady, afraid to ask you out and ruin your sweetness, only to learn later on your have a feral side as well,

🐺Oneshots🐺

🐺 His girls (xOFCs)

Alexandria's new residents find a dog. And his very handsome owner.

🐺Full moon meetings

You get stuck in the woods, surrounded by walkers and are saved by ..something.

🐺Night shifts

During a night shift with Rick he sends you to investigate movement in the woods, knowing it would end with two of his group members coming home together.

🐺Dog person★

You’re Dog’s new favorite human and Daryl gets jealous. Lucky for him you’re also good with his dog-side.

🐺Creature Feature★

After overhearing your spilled dirty little secret of old world fantasies, Daryl suddenly feels like he does have a chance to get you into bed with him.

🐺Unexpected

This can be read as a continuation of Dog Person. Reader is pregnant with Daryl’s pups and has to hide it from the community until they can leave for Daryl’s cabin. CW: childbirth

🐺Roses for the ones left behind

Daryl gets taken and leaves a pregnant reader, not knowing her child and partner aren’t human. CW: childbirth

🐺New comforts★ alt. ending★

No one needed to know that sex between the two of you was for human Daryl only. Alt.: Rick now knows.

🐺Witch hunt

Thanks to an emotional slip-up you almost risk your home in Alexandria.

🐺Arrows & Rags

You help a wounded creature who leads you back to its den, where you find the one person you thought you had lost in the walker attack.

🐺Why didn't you tell me?

You follow Daryl into the woods on the one night he asked you to stay away.

🐺🦊The softer the skin, the sharper the teeth

Request. WereDaryl and Glen find a she wolf (in human form) out and talk to her about coming to the prison. She and Daryl are mates

🐺 Shame

Your most private moments are shared with the intent to drive you away. And it amost worked.

🐺 Not a monster

Request. Beauty and the Beast inspired fic. Set during Alexandria times.

🐺 Domesticated

Request. Cuddling in bed, like mundane little moments in their relationship

🐺 Bath time

Daryl's distaste for showers rubbed off on his children.

🐺 Forbidden

Strickt parents and werewolves don't mix, so you run.

🐺🦊 Found

Daryl finds a young girl and takes her home. He adopts her and learns she's a wolf too.

🐺 Savior

You show a little too much interest in Negan's new prisoner so he uses you as a test subject. CW: Non-con, forced impreg

🐺King of the cage

🐺Drabbles🐺

In the apocalypse, entertainment is hard to come by. Until you hear of underground groups fighting with anything nonhuman.. CW: Descriptive violence and murder.

🐺King and his Queen

[KING series pt.2] After Daryl's match he gets treated like royalty by his loving partner.

🐺Instincts

Daryl finds a woman with her newborn pup, taking them into the group. Slowly their bond grows stronger.

🐺Rules of Nature

Daryl gets hurt on a simple hunting trip and reader patches him up.

🦊 Daryl was out on a hunt > Daryl liked being around her > Daryl has never been so proud

🐺 Daryl hated full moon these days.

🐺 You, Carol and Daryl go out on a run.

🐺 "Man, 's colder than a witch's tit."

🐺 You and Daryl had a great life.

🐺 Daryl came home early today.

🐺 Daryl saves you

🐺 You were all sitting around the bonfire

🐺 Daryl came home from a run. (xOFCs)

The adventures of Daryl the werewolf and his witch girlfriend.

Inked Sigils. ★

Fate brought you together. Spells finally brought you family

Bored ★

You tagged along with your boyfriend who ‘just needed a minute’, but you were so bored..

Momma's boy ★

You find your boyfriend all alone and desperate in your apartment, so you help him out. Again.

Warm & fuzzy

You just love him. It doesn’t matter what the others think

Much fun indeed ★

A summary of what being with the biker has thought you over time.

Coming soon??

Double Stuffed ★ Daryl/Scud/reader

It's your birthday so you get to have twice the fun!

[cevansbaby-dove]

Safe Haven 7

Pairing: Cowboy!Glen Powell XOFC!Amber Dawnson

I woke up to see Glen softly sleeping in my bed. I sit up slowly and see the sunlight through my window. I get out of bed and walk to the window and look out at the farm and see down trees and I sigh grabbing my jeans and flannel. I get dressed and Glen groans as he sits up. "What time is it?"

"a little after six" I put my boots on then stand up. "Come on we got work to do" I walk out after I put my hair into a ponytail and I walk out of the house and look around. "well I got a lot of work"

Glen grabs his shirt and puts it on and gets his jeans on and then puts his boots on and walks outside and stand by me.

"So about last night" I walk away. "it was a Bad idea I don't want to think about it" I shake my head as we clean up the ranch and Lauren is moving a tree brunch. "Morning you two how are you?"

i glance at glen then say. "It was rough" I get big eyes thinking back to last night.

"going to make you feel so good cowgirl"

Fuck my mind needs mind bleach after last night.

"How about you and Toby?" She and I move some horses and she says. "It was good." She looks at me and says. "what about you and..Cowboy over there?"

I look at him and then say. "Nothing happened" I look at her and she raises an eye brow. "Nothing? your neck say different"

I lightly touch my neck. 'What about my neck?" Glen walks over and says in my ear. "You need to put ice on that cowgirl"

Lauren's jaw drops and says. "Fuck no!" I roll my eyes. "what?" She drags me into the house and I pull away from her. "Lauren what's up?!" She gets a huge grin. 'You two fucked didn't you!?"

"No we.." "that hickey says other words" She folds her arms. "Come on tell me all about it" I hear Glen say. "Cowgirl I need help out here"

"I'll be right there Glen" I look back at my friend. "Well it just happened. I got scared and kissed him...Trust me it's nothing"

"It's not NOTHING! You two fucked and holy shit I am so happy you did because I am sure another girl would have if you didn't"

Glen walks in and says. "Amber come on" I look at him and say. "I said one minute"

I look back at my friend. "Ok fine yes we had sex but it's just a one time thing I promise" Glen frowns behind me and he says. "Really?"

I turn and face him. "it was a mistake Glen I'm sorry but...I can't do that to you, your a great guy and all but..I just don't think we should do that ever again"

He nods. "Right, got it" he walks out and Lauren says. "He's right..you should get ice on that" She walks out leaving me in the living room alone and questioning how I really feel about him.

Time skip:six days.

I walk down the hall and knock softly on Glen's door. He walks over and opens it and looks at me. "Hi" I look at him and say. "Can we talk?" I knew this would be a bad thing to do but I walk into his room and he shuts the door.

I turn around and Glen looks at me as I rub my arms. "I'm sorry for what I said the morning after I just...I was lost on what to feel and I honestly I should hate you....But that night made me...feel love for you"

Glen nods and sits on his bed. "You love me?" I walk to him knowing I should turn around and walk out of the room, but damn I needed him. I nod standing between his legs.

Glen stands up looking into my eyes. "Amber....I" I crash my lips on his..I knew I wasn't leaving this room not without having him use me again....

A/n: Oh we just got the love confession 🤭 Warning the next chapter will be smutty like...Dirty very very..dirty. 🥵

Tags:@angelbabyyy99 @cutedisneygrl @entertainmentgirl80 @hangmanbradshaw @jakeseresinlover

[wangxianficrecs]

Follower Recs

~*~

Hiya I was hit by enormous Xichen feels these past few days so I'd like to rec this truly wonderful story of XichenxOFC. What's so good about this gem is how the author make the OC a self-sufficient one, it's like reading SVSSS but without everyone (Except LXC later on) babying the OC. Not to be TMI but reading this fic actually gave me the confidence to writing a fic again after a decade or so 🥲 please give this one a go, even if it's already the top most bookmarked LXC xOFC on Ao3 lol @parmigianana

i told you when i came i was a stranger

by Caramelized

M, 50k, Lan Xichen/Original Female Character

Summary: A modern OC arrives in Yiling before the start of the Sunshot Campaign. She has no friends, no money, and no cultivation. She knows what's coming, but what could she possibly do about it? - “Well…” I looked down at my fingernails and tried not to squirm. “If there were a way to separate Wei Wuxian from Madam Yu without ruining his relationship with his siblings, I’d encourage it. Like, as an example, marriage.” Xichen blinked. “To you?” “No. Absolutely not. What even—?” The thought was so abhorrent I couldn’t hold it in my head. My brain spat it right back out. “To your brother.” Xichen blinked. Again. “To Wangji?” “Obviously?” “This is a concern of yours?” “I realize it’s not my business at all,” I admitted. “But you asked.”

Edit: re: the first fic- i would also really recommend the podfic for anyone looking to read, it's brilliant <3 <3 @danmeiireader

~*~

This series sooo good. You can feel the emotion in every part of the series. My personal favorite is the second part of the series "Living In Between The Lines". You can feel JWY's hatred and grief. It's soooo good. Im in tears reading that

Shattered Pieces Will Remain

by meicairoubingfan (kiradyn)

M, 13k, Series, WIP, Wangxian & Jiang Cheng

Summary: A bad-ending AU of what happened if Wei Wuxian decided to follow Lan Wangji back to the Cloud Recesses at some point before the final confrontation.

~*~

(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for these hard-working authors if you like – or think others might like – these stories.)

[nessieart]

•Nessie's Masterlist•

Putting all my stories into one spot

Small About Me: I just started writing, and so far, it's mostly Tony Stark. I draw, but the majority of it ends up on tw*tter.

Series (Tony Stark x reader)

TEETH

tooth&claw

Short stories

Sunbeam (Tony Stark x ofc)

One

Iridescent Greens (??xofc)

Prologue One

[roseelise]

The Weather // Dylan O’brien

Reposting all my writings from @r0s3mm, my main blog, it is not stolen or plagiarized. All my works on my masterlist are main unless stated otherwise.

Hello! Welcome to 2-h, the back up account of @r0s3mm, I’ll be posting my works on here too until (hopefully) my blog gets restored and if not this will become my main blog.

Pairing: Dylan O’Brien x ofc!Alice

Word Count: 5129

Author’s note/warnings: break up? Swearing? Reader and Dylan talking about their relationship, a series of voicemail reader sends Dylan at different moments after their relationship ends.

Based off of the song: Lawrence - “The Weather”

Come say “Hi!” Wattpad

Masterlist

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

“Hey D’, it’s me, leaving you a message on your voicemail… again. Listen, I know we agreed to give each other space but I just wanted to let you know that your change of address probs didn’t go through because I got your new script at home- hum, at my place. I’ll just send it to Liz’s office… Oh, also I wanted to know if you wanted me to box up and send you the rest of the stuff you have here, there’s a few sweatshirts and other clothing items, as your mom would say. Okay, so you don’t have to call me back, you can text me, maybe even email me. I can leave your stuff at your mom’s house, I’m seeing Jules on the 23rd, so yeah … whatever you feel good with. Ok, bye.”

“I won’t talk about the weather Not with you, we’re not together ‘Cause even when the sky is grey, I’m feeling blue And though the winds are always changing And the clouds are rearranging A part of me will always be in love with you”

I hung up the phone and placed it in my jeans’ back pocket and turned up the volume from the TV.

“A heatwave this week turned the city of Anaheim, home to Disneyland, into the hottest place in theUnited States. The Tick fire forced 50,000 people to flee their homes, many in the mid…” The weather man on the tv announced as I picked up the package with Liz’s name on it from a tv or movie set in LA, taking back my cell phone, I texted Liz, Dylan’s manager telling her I’d be sending her the script in the next few days, putting the block of pages on the bench next to the front door, I sat down next to it as the news kept playing as a background noise accompanied by the rain falling down harshly on the large windows.

It had been a little bit over 5 months and I still hadn’t tidy up from his big move, a lot of empty and piled up boxes were on the floor next to the sliding door, there were empty spaces on the wall and people who would be coming in the apartment could easily guess that the large white wall used to be full, filled with baseball jersey’s, many pictures, music record, stickers of liquor brand, some posters and a few music instruments.

“Hi Jules, it’s me, are we still on for the 23rd? Ok great then, I’ll pick you up. You got any news from your brother? Yeah, I know, I asked you to refuse if I asked but I just wanna make sure that with his new place he’s good and away from the fires and that he’s … that he’s safe y’know? Ok great then, just maybe tell him to- actually you know what? Never mind. I gotta go, but I’ll text you this week… alright bye!”

“There’s a fire in LA Since you moved there back in May I wonder, should I call to see if you’re alright? Yeah, you’re a million miles away But I still think of you each day And hope the weather doesn’t keep you cold tonight”

After picking up what was on the floor and actually tidying up the apartment, I put on my rain boots with my coat and an umbrella before going out the door with the trash and some things that I wanted to get rid of. I walked the streets of the city, listening to the chaotic sounds, the loud voices and the fast steps of those who wanted to escape the rain. Walking to the Blue Ribbon Brasserie, I turned left to get to Sullivan St and passed the convenience store and got myself a few stamps and envelopes for the thank you notes I still had to write after the home warming gifts I received a while back. I put my earphones in my ear as I gave the cashier the money and put everything in my purse. As I entered the restaurant, I took off my coat and held it tightly against me, my eyes falling on a couple sitting at the bar, both a drink in hand and completely enamored with each other.

“Table for one miss?” The host asks taking a menu.

“Yes, thank you.” I smiled at the young man.

I followed him to a table near the windows. He pulled my chair for me to sit. I smiled at him and thanked him.

“What would you like to start with?”

“Glass of white wine, if you have it. Actually no, I’ll get a G&T, please”

“Right away, ma’am” The waiter’s New Yorker accent came through and I smiled at him as I picked up the menu and swiftly looked through it, already knowing what I wanted to eat as soon as I had left my apartment.

The rain was still pattering against the window and it gave a nice ambient sound to the restaurant that for once was almost empty on a Monday afternoon. A few minutes later, the waiter came back with my drink, putting a squared napkin underneath.

“Would you like to order now, or would you like a few more minutes?”

“I’ll order now, thank you. So, I’ll get the chicken barley soup with the steak, please.”

He smiled, took the menu from my hands and left to another table. I watched the other waiters walk around with platters of food as people started to come in. Usually the restaurant would be busy from opening to the time it closed but today felt different. I held the glass in my hands as I sipped it slowly taking the wedge of lime off of it and biting into it and letting it drop on the piece of paper after draining it of its juice.

As the waiter approached my table and put my soup down my phone’s screen lit up with Dylan’s name and contact photo. I had taken the picture when we were out one day and waiting to cross the street. My finger swiped the screen to answer.

“Ali? Hey, it’s Dylan…” His voice rang through my ear, it was hoarse and dry. He had been smoking.

“Yeah, I know. Your contact info popped up.” I said, silently slurping my soup.

“Oh, wasn’t sure if you had gotten rid of it. Hum, I- I thought it’d be better to call you rather than text you and I don’t even know the last time I sent an email that wasn’t for work.” He chuckled quietly but didn’t hear a sound from the other side. “So, for my stuff you can keep it, I won’t really need it, but if you really wanna get rid of it, I can transfer you the money for the delivery and stuff. It-It’s however you want it.”

“Yeah, no. I’ll send it to you or Liz, I wanna start over with a clean slate. I also found a few caps of yours earlier when I was cleaning up, so I’ll send those over as well.” I said finishing the rest of my soup. It was silent on the other side of the line for a few seconds before I heard him sigh.

“A, maybe we should talk? Y’know, actually have a conversation. The only times we’ve talked in the past few months were through voicemail and-”

“Sounds good Dylan, just right now isn’t the right moment. I’m out at a restaurant and I don’t think I can actually do this right now and in public.” I said dryly my voice full of emotion. A waiter came to pick up the now empty bowl and I smiled up at him.

“Yeah okay. Is everything good up there? Are you feeling good?”

“Yep, I’m fine, we’re all fine.”

“That’s good. I feel a bit far away from everyone, y’know ?!”

“Yeah, are- are you okay? I’ve seen the news on the TV about the fires. I was worried.” I said the last part quietly.

“I’m fine too, yeah, you don’t have to worry. Pretty sure Jules or my mom would have rung you up if something had happened.”

“Yeah probably…” I whispered. “Did you start smoking again? Your voice sounded funny when I answered.” I said catching the eye of the waiter that was bringing me my steak. “Thank you.” “You’re welcome, miss. Hope you’ll enjoy” The small exchange between the waiter and I was soon over, and I picked up a fry.

“Yeah, a little. It was weird being in LA, felt nervous at first and I couldn’t shake it after. Are you at Blue Ribbon?”

“You were nervous? Dyl’ you’ve been to LA a hundred times for filming and shit and yeah I am.” I said, picking at the veggies in my plate.

“I never actually lived there for more than four or five months, and usually I’m not alone.”

“Don’t.” I said loudly, I lifted my head and looked at other costumers. “Listen I gotta go.”

“Alright, I’ll talk to-”

I hung up and went to eat my dinner and finishing my drink quickly. After paying my bill, I put my coat back on, the weather would be a little chillier than earlier. Halloween was approaching and carved in pumpkins were starting to make an appearance on people’s doorstep and balconies. The rain from earlier had stopped and had been replaced by clouds and sun light.

“So, I won’t talk about the weather No, I won’t talk about the weather I won’t talk about the weather Not with you, we’re not together 'Cause even when the sky is grey, I’m feeling blue And though the winds are always changing And the clouds are rearranging A part of me will always be in love with you”

Music was playing loudly in the apartment, the vacuum loud over it and it felt as if the sun had disappeared from the sky. Halloween was even closer now, only 8 days away. I checked the time, 10:37, Jules would be here in just under two hours. There were two boxes full of clothes, pictures, sports’ games tickets and damaged drumsticks, that I will have to leave in Jules’ car at the end of the day. The two of us had planned to get lunch and then hang out. She told me that some of our friends and her were planning a Halloween party and that they insisted that I come “You gotta get out of your hiding place, Alice!” They had screamed at me through the phone almost a month ago. Even if the weather wasn’t really great, Julia insisted we leave her car at my place and walk.

I had gotten ready slowly, music still blasting through the small speaker when it suddenly stopped. Thinking it was Julia texting me she had arrived I jogged to get to my phone in the other room, it was the other O’Brien child.

“Hello?” I answered the phone, putting it on speaker while I walked back to the bathroom to finish brushing my teeth. “Ali, are you busy? I tried calling you a couple times.” I looked at the screen where I had missed a few phone calls. “M’getting ready to spend the day with your sister actually. Can you make it quick?” I said spitting in the sink and rinsing my mouth. “I just wanted to know if right now would be a good time to have that conversation I talked about last week…?” I stopped and looked at my phone and sighed. “Your sister’s supposed to pick me up in ten minutes, think you can finish in ten minutes?” A silence was heard before light chuckling and I swear I could picture in my mind how he looked in that exact moment. “What?” “‘Nothing. Look, why don’t we try to set up a date and time for us to talk? I think it’d be good. Maybe clarify things up a bit.” “Yeah sure.” The doorbell buzzed, I sighed, picked up the phone putting it against my ear and taking it off speaker mode. “Listen Jules here and I’ve- wait a sec” I told him before shooting Julia a one letter text to tell her I was on my way and putting on my shoes and coat. “Ok, so your sister’s here. I gotta go but if you call me back tonight at around 5, your time I should be back home and mentally prepared to have that conversation you want us to have.” I locked my door and ran down the steps to stop in front of the blue car with my friend resting against it, excitedly waving at me, I walked to the car. “So, I really gotta leave now, but don’t think I’m excited about this. I’m doing this for you.” “I don’t want to make you do this if you’re not ready A’.” He says, guilt overflowing the other emotion in his voice. “It’s fine, I’ll talk to you tonight.” I hung up and put my head in my hand, scratching my hairline and walking the rest of the distance to Jules.

“So, I won’t talk about the weather No, I won’t talk about the weather I won’t talk about the weather Not with you, we’re not together And it’s hard to say if we will ever be But I’ll admit my greatest fear is that The air will never clear So I just wish we could talk like you and me”

“Who was that?” Jules asked me as we started walking towards the larger and busier streets. “Damn you, O’Brien’s.” I mumbled as I pulled her into a greeting side hug. “Oh my god, was it Dylan? Are y’all talking again?” She was too excited for her own good. “Not really, I just wanted to know what he wanted me to do with the stuff of his left at the apartment and he started saying how we should talk about what happened.” “Yeah, I’m not still a hundred percent clear on that, by the way. I don’t think any of us expected you guys to break up after 4 years.” “Don’t remind me, please” I begged as I opened the door to the small café.

When we entered, I looked around for either an empty table or counter seats. I nudged Jules and pointed to a small table at the very back near the window and looked at her, watching for an answer.

“Sure.” She shrugged and took a newspaper off the stand we were standing next to.

We sat down and she opened the menu, looking through it as a woman brought us glasses of water.

“Hello ladies, how are you today?” “We’re good, Jane, thanks.” I asked sipping the iced water. “What about you?” Jules asked putting the cardboard menu down. “Oh, I am very good thank you” She said a huge grin on her face as she extended her left hand, on it a very beautiful diamond engagement ring. “You are fucking kidding me! Oh, my fuck!” Jules exclaimed jumping up and down. She and Jane were college friends, I had met her through Jules at a party a few years back. “Congratulations Jane!” I said leaning in for a hug and sitting back down.

Jane and Jules were standing up and talking in loud whispers as to not fully disturb the other customers. I picked up my cell phone and opened the messages app and clicked on Dylan’s conversation as a reflex before making the screen turn black and setting it back on the table.

“Hey Alice, I haven’t seen much of you in the past two months, but you and Dylan are so invited! Maybe you’ll be in my situation in a few months!” She said cheery, my head snapped up at the mention of my ex-boyfriend and I looked at Jules.

“What? What did I say?” Jane looked back and forth between us. “Y’know when I told you that my brother went to L.A to film a new project?” Jane nods, “Well it wasn’t fully true, yes he is filming something, but he also moved to L.A” Jane’s eyes go from Jules to me. “Dyl and I broke up 5 months ago …” I said picking my phone up again to play with something. Anxiety filling my body and making my fingers shake at the mention of the break-up.

The waitress just sits down next to me and pulls me to her and squeezes me telling me encouraging words before she is called back to the counter.

“The usual?” She asks and Jules and I nod with a smile. “I think we’ll take it to go, if you don’t mind.” Jules says as she finishes her glass of water, Jane’s eyes go over one last time before going to the kitchen.

When we leave the little café/diner we decide to walk through a park that’s nearby, eating our paninis and drinking our mango and strawberry smoothies.

“Hey,” Jules nudges me. “They added something to your bag…” I look at her a put my hand in the bag. “It’s a muffin?” Jules says unsure. “What?” My word stays stuck in my throat. “Pretty fucking sure Janey didn’t tell Henry that Dylan and I were broken up” “Henry? The cook?” I nod and put the muffin back in the paper bag. “Yeah, hum, when Henry started working there Dyl and I went there to get you a smoothie and Henry was there and he just started hitting on him and like he knew that we were together but I guess it was a running gag between them and whenever I went Henry would put a muffin in the bag for your brother with a note” I laugh remembering the memory. “Once,” I laugh stopping us from walking further. “Dylan went to pick up our order to bring back to his apartment, before we moved in, and he actually gave Henry his number … Anyway, yeah.”

Jules looks at me and pulls me to her side as I hold the bag tightly. “You miss him, huh?”. I put my head on her shoulder, “you’ve got no fucking idea”

We keep walking and talking, and I can see that she is trying really hard to change my ideas. We go into stores and try on stuff without buying anything, we just spend an afternoon hanging out and it feels so good.

At around seven thirty we part, and we walk back to my apartment, I put the boxes that I left in the lobby in her car and wave her off. Clutching the paper bag, I grab my keys from my coat’s pocket, unlock the main door before going to the building’s mailboxes, gathering my mail and going through the lobby’s door to wave to Sam, the receptionist, before going up the stairs since the elevator hasn’t been fixed in 4 months. As I get onto my floor, I wave at my neighbor who exits his apartment as he looks at my door. I turn the corner and see that my door is opened, fearing the worst I grab a baseball bat sitting near the door that my father forgot last weekend when he came over. I hear soft music coming from the record player sitting in the living room, the smell of ham and cheese stuffed chicken filled the place and for a moment I thought my mother had come to New York … I entered the kitchen with the bat lowered down knowing who was in my apartment from the humming they made.

“I made dinner” Dylan says turning around and leaning his back on the counter, he pushes himself off of the counter.

“I can see that.” I huff out not looking at him. “What are you doing here?” I ask him, putting my coat on the back of the chair and my purse on the table.

“I- I wanted to talk.” He says taking a step towards me.

“Yeah, I know I was about to call you … We said we would talk tonight, on the phone” He nods slowly and turns around to put food in two plates. He hands me one and gesture for me to sit.

“I’m not a fan of phones.”

“Yeah I know that, we could’ve facetimed or something.” I pick at my Brussel sprouts, usually loving the way he made them, but seeing here tonight caught me off guard.

I actually look at him for the first time tonight, he hasn’t changed that much, his hair is a little bit longer though, he is hungrily eating the food and nervously keeps his head down.

“What happened?” He suddenly says, his head lifting and eyes connecting with mine. I take in a short breath and can’t look away.

“What?” I shake my head and look down. I stand up and put as much distance between him and I as physically can while still being in the same room.

“What happened between us?”

“I can’t say that I honestly know. We weren’t on the same path; we didn’t want the same things … I don’t know” I mumble picking and my chewed-up nails, a habit I had taken up from him.

“Ok so why didn’t work, it’s not distance because god knows we’ve done that before, none of us were unfaithful” I grimace at the thought of him with another woman and look at him, he notices, and pain quickly passes behind his hazel eyes. “I- I don’t think, hope not, we’ve fallen out of love… So, what happened Al’?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know what you’re expecting me to say right now, showing up at my apartment at fucking 8 …” I say my voice low and full of emotions.

“We agreed to talk” He says standing up and talking another step closer.

“I agreed to talk to you on the phone because even if it’s been five months, I can’t look at you right now!” I say looking at the shirt he’s wearing

“Did you send my stuff yet?” He asks changing the subject and taking another step, now only at an arm’s length from me.

“I actually gave the boxes to Jules earlier. Left em’ in the lobby and gave them to her when she left.” He nods silently, turns around before starting to put away the food, knowing we probably would not be eating tonight. The domestic choreography started as we moved around each other with ease and habit, but I still tried to keep a distance between us. Without having to consult each other I bent down to a cupboard to grab a few Tupperware’s and set them on the counter as he passed me the now empty pots and pans ready to be rinsed off. While we were quietly washing the dishes, the music in the back changed, but still fit the ambiance perfectly. He walked to the furthest and lowest cupboard where the large serving plates used to be and opened it to now find the spices.

“You changed the plates?” He asks over his shoulder.

“Hum, yeah didn’t have much of a choice, I couldn’t reach the spices from where they were, and I don’t use the serving plates all that much.” I shrug as he picks up the utensils and dries them off. He walks around me to the drawer where they’ve always been and opens it slowly, his hand supporting underneath.

“Oh no, I got fixed, it’s fine”

“Oh okay… Did your dad came all the way from Oregon or did hum…?” He asks and I smile at what he’s really asking me.

“No, I actually asked Pat to come over a month ago, he repaired a few things here and there” I smile warmly at him and his expression that went from sad to relieved.

“You- you called my dad?” He asks as he turns around to look at me and rests against the counter.

“I mean, yeah, is that okay?” I ask him, giving him a pot to dry off.

“Of course, yeah, no- no worries, heh.” He chuckles. “I’m just happy you guys stayed in contact. They adore you, y’know, my parents. Almost like a second daughter.”

“Well that’s just wrong” I mumble quickly my eyes large, falling back into the familiarity that is Dylan.

“What why?” He asks

“That would make us “brother and sister”” I finish washing the last dish and hand it to him.

“Oh yeah, so wrong. So, fucking wrong” He says under his breath and I laugh a little as I help him put away the plates. I open a cupboard and look up to see that it is far beyond my reach and I make a noise that attracts his attention. “Oh wait, I’ll get it” He says before taking large strides towards me. I quickly move to the side and put the plate on the counter so that he can pick it up.

We finish putting everything away in silence and I go sit on the couch as he washes his hands. A few seconds later he joins me and sit on the other side of the couch. Tears pool at my eyes and I sniffle, I can feel his eyes on me, I hear him shift on the couch, so his front was towards me.

“No, I won’t talk about the weather Not with you, we’re not together But I wonder if we’re ever really through 'Cause if we’re talking about whether You and I shouldn’t be together Oh, I know I’ll always be in love with you Oh yes, I know I’ll always be in love with you”

“It hurts so much” I whimper as I wipe away a tear that’s fallen on my cheek. “I don’t know what fucking happened. We didn’t get to talk, we-“

I freeze when I feel him starting to get closer to wipe away more tears that are now falling down my neck. I nuzzle my head into his large hand.

“I’m so sorry, for everything” He says his face in my hair.

“Don’t. It is not your fault. No, the situation was not ideal you having to leave for filming after the initial event, but it is not your fault. I think we just thought we were untouchable.” I say never facing him, my eyes fixed on the stickers stuck on the wooden table.

“But still, if I hadn’t talked about me moving back to L.A we could’ve talked and work things out.”

“Stop it.” I lick my lips attracting his eyes to the area as I turn to really look at him for the first time in months. “Dylan, it is not your fault, we had a weakness, we miscommunicated something got lost in what we told each other. I feel like I might’ve thought I was ready to leave the city to go to L.A but I wasn’t and maybe-“

“Say it again.” He suddenly says, cutting me off in my version of the events.

“What? Say what?”

“Say my name again, please.” His ton is full of hope and desperate at the same time.

I lock eyes with him and chuckle.

“Dylan” I enunciate each syllable.

“God. I missed you” He says, tears filling his eyes.

He grabs me by my waist and pulls me on his lap.

His face nuzzles itself in my neck and I feel a single tear rolling down my neck followed by a few soft kisses.

“I just got used to you not being there and knowing you wouldn’t come back. I didn’t like that.” I mumble against his temple. “Don’t say that. You know I’ll always come back to you.” He takes my hand in his and kiss the silver band around my pointer finger.

We part and I just stare at him, his eyes fall on me with the softest look I have ever seen.

“You almost didn’t come back once” I say softly thinking back on probably the hardest year of my life. My finger tracing the soft and ragged scar on his forehead and nose area, his eyes close at the sensation of my finger going around his face.

“I know. But baby I swear to you, you are stuck with me until the day I die, even then.” “Yeah okay, I’d be cool with that. But I want to take things slow. You have to go back to L.A for a few months.” “As soon as I’m finished over there I’m coming home.” He smiles at me and I stand up quickly from his lap and walk over where I put my stuff when I came in. “Oh my god I forgot.” I say quickly grabbing the object and walking back to him and plopping myself hard on his lap. “What’s that?” He looks at me with a smile. “It’s an impromptu welcome home gift, it might have gone stale a little though.” I give it to him and pull his face to kiss his moles that I missed oh so badly.

He opens the brown bag and puts his hand in and gets out a blueberry muffin.

“Oh Henry! My man” He says as he splits it in two and share half with me.

___________________________________

The morning after, I wake up at 9:45 in my bed, alone. I squeeze my eyes shut, not believing that I actually dreamt this whole thing. I check my phone to see if I have any messages and only one from Julia saying that she would be at my place around 11. As I text her to bring the boxes back I hear my bedroom door open and a smile stretches on my lips as I turn around to see Dylan walking in with freshly made hot cocoa and buttered toast.

“Oh, you’re too good to me, O’Brien” I smile and lean against him as he sits on the bed. “What makes you think that’s yours? You’ve got the good homemade bread and I fucking missed it” He says taking a bite.

Seeing him bite into the grilled piece of bread I only think of his lips.

“Dylan?” I say grabbing his face in my hand. “Hmm?” He swallows his piece of toast. “What’s up.” “You haven’t kissed me yet. I didn’t get to kiss you welcome back. Please, do it” I say in the most desperate tone I’ve ever heard myself talk. “Anything for you my love” He leans in and kiss me.

(ALSO HIS FUCKING TONGUE OMF)

[ashbrat488]

Candy - Chapter 5

Word count: 1182

Cassidy has found out someone paid her school bills for the rest of the semester... The Contractor makes himself at home inside her apartment while she's gone.

MINORS DNI - 18+

Cassidy finally stepped up to the counter at her school office. It was time to pay for her last semester of school. Sure, she still had student loans, but it was a relief to know that she was almost done with her degree. "Hi," she smiles at the woman behind the counter, "Cassidy Turner." She pulls out her checkbook as the woman looks up her name on the computer screen.

"Ms. Turner, your school bill has been paid already."

"No..." Cassidy shakes her head, closing her checkbook to stare back at the woman. "There must be a mistake. I haven't paid my bill yet."

The woman looks at the screen once more with a sigh. "Looks like the bill was paid last week."

"Thank you," she offers to the woman, shoving her checkbook back into her purse as she stalks from the office. Joe could have paid it, but while his family was well off, he wasn't well off enough to do something like this for her. No... there was only one person that would have done this.

She pulls her phone from her purse as she stands outside the door of the office. Her suspicions are confirmed when she pulls up her student loan information to find the balance at zero. "Fucker!" She ignores the glances she obtains from a few other students as she furiously messages August. She knew she couldn't barge into his office, because Joe would wonder why she was there. And she couldn't invite him back to her place or show up at his place.

Cassidy: We need to talk. ASAP.

August: I'm sorry... who is this?

Cassidy: Don't fucking play with me.

August: Cass? Or Candy? Which one am I talking to?

Cassidy: Goddamnit Walker...

August: Watch your tone, or you'll regret it.

Cassidy huffed, hating the way his warning even through the phone elicited a gush of arousal in her panties. She rolled her eyes, typing in one last message before returning her phone back to her purse.

Cassidy: Peacock Café in one hour. You're buying me lunch.

August laughs at his phone, going over Cassidy's last message. He knew paying off her loans would force her to reach out to him. He calls up his old friend, The Contractor, waiting for him to answer.

"Yup..."

August rolls his eyes at the response, sighing. "She'll be out of her apartment for at least the next hour or so."

"On it," he responds, hanging up without another word.

"Okay," August scoffs, sliding his phone into his pocket as he stands up from his desk to pull on his jacket. He stops at his assistant's desk and the young girl flutters her eyelashes up at him. She was young, around the same age as Cassidy and just out of college. She was attractive; model features with long blonde hair and big blue eyes that would certainly look better looking up at him with her pink lips wrapped around his cock. But he didn't like to mix work with pleasure, despite how many times she tried to make it obvious to him she wanted more. "Cancel the rest of my meetings today. I'm going home early."

"Yes, Mr. Walker," she responds sweetly, making sure to lean forward to display her breasts to him in her blouse.

August leans on the desk with his palms flat on the desk. "What have I told you about flirting with me, Ms. Riggins?"

She blushes, straightening up in her chair at his tone. "I'm sorry, Mr. Walker..."

"Good." He winks at her, the blush now turning a bright shade of red as he chuckles, walking away.

The Contractor steps into Cassidy's apartment, breaking in easily. August had tried to pull records of her online, but she had changed her identity when moving to DC. He wanted to know more about her and that is where The Contractor came into play. Sure, August could do what he did, but August was a public figure. The Contractor could keep a low profile much easier.

He closes the door quietly and looks around the small apartment. It was modest and neat, everything in its place. He walked to the bookshelf in the corner of the living room, planting a small camera on top that covered most of the living room and small kitchen. He moved a few little knickknacks, some porcelain owls, just the slightest out of place to see if she would notice. He grabbed one owl, keeping it in place as he completely turned it to face the inside of the shelf, laughing to himself. Small amusements.

He opened the fridge next, taking a large swig of Cassidy's almond milk before turning the carton so the label faced the back of the fridge. After looking through a few cabinets and drawers, he diagnosed her with OCD and moved on to the bedroom. The aroma of coconut and lavender filled his senses as he entered, smirking as his cock jumped slightly in his slacks.

He begins to open dresser drawers, finding a pair of pink lace panties. He brings them up to his nose, taking a whiff, slightly disappointed at the fresh laundry smell. He folded them and neatly placed them back into the drawer and closed it. There were no personal photos anywhere in the apartment. No family photos or even of friends. He made a mental note of that and moved on to the closet next.

He found the small safe on the ground, in the back of the closet behind some dresses. "Bingo," he mutters proudly to himself as he lifts it to bring it back to the bedroom to send on the edge of the bed. It doesn't take him long to crack it open. He takes photos of the documents inside, finding out her birth name was actually Catherine Faris. "Hmm..." He doesn't touch the money she has neatly stacked inside, but takes a photo of her passport before placing everything neatly back into the safe and replacing it in her closet.

He stops in the middle of the bedroom, contemplating whether to put a camera in her room or not. Part of him wanted to, but he finally sighed, shaking his head as he decided to inspect the bathroom before leaving. He opens the medicine cabinet first finding birth control pills as well as Lexapro along with a few other antidepressants. "Hmm..." He picks up the Lexapro bottle, opens it to find it half gone, and checks the date. He places it back in the cabinet, turning the label slightly to the right as he chuckles to himself, moving all the pill bottles slightly off center.

As he turns to leave the bathroom, his gaze catches on a pair of red lace panties on the top of the laundry pile in the basket. He snatches them up and brings them to his nose, savoring the sweet, musty smell as his cock jumps to full attention this time. "Mmmm, that's the stuff." He shoves them into his pocket, making sure all the lights are off before leaving the apartment just as he receives a text from August, telling him that she was on her way home.

Chapter 6 Candy

Taglist If you want to be added or removed from my list, let me know 🫶🏻

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[motherflippinaliens]

Max: "Billy's been taking the breakup kinda hard."

Lucas: "Really? Are we taking about the same Billy here? What are you even talking about?"

Max: "Well, he's been listening to Michael Bolton, for one."

*Michael Bolton's How Am I Supposed To Live Without You, blasts from behind his closed door.*

Lucas: ".... Yikes." 😬

----

Ooc, I know. But funny nonetheless.

[band--psycho]

Chibs x Reader-Welcome Home

One day, I’ll be able to go onto my Pinterest board without Gifs inspiring me to write stories..but I don’t think that day’s coming anytime soon..so I hope you all enjoy this💛 // Might do a second part 🤷🏼‍♀️

Sons Of Anarchy Masterlist

Chibs POV

“You look shattered, brother,” Tig said, walking over to me as I downed my coffee.

“Aye, I couldn’t sleep,” I answered, placing the cup down on the small table next to me as I leaned against the car, my eyes fixed on the entrance. 

“Any reason why that would be?” Juice asked, without even looking I could tell that he had that annoying smile plastered on his face.

“Is it because a certain someone is coming back to town?” Tig taunted as he hit my shoulder lightly.I didn't respond, I just simply ran my hand through my hair as I let out an exhausted sigh. For the past few days, everyone had been like this. Of course it was only in jest, but that didn’t make it any less annoying. 

“Oooo, it’s definitely because Y/ns coming back to town,” Juice continued to tease

“She is my girlfriend, ye know, I’m allowed to be happy she’s coming back,” I pointed out only for a groan to come from both of their mouths as they both rolled their eyes. 

“How could we forget, it’s not like you were going on about it for months on end-” Jax drawled, walking into the garage a playful smirk coming across his face as he placed a hand on my shoulder. 

 “Even after she said yes to being your girlfriend.”Juice to playfully added, Earning an approving smile from both Tig and Jax. 

“Which still makes no sense, she chose you when she could’ve had me,” Tig chuckled, wiggling his eyebrows slightly, but he soon changed his tune when I sent him a warning glare. 

“I’m only joking, brother,” He apologised, putting his hands up in surrender, his actions causing all of us to laugh. 

“When’s she meant to be here?“ Jax asked once the laughter ceased. 

“Any minute now,” as if on cue, a taxi pulled into the car park, a few seconds passed and then I saw her. I knew I’d missed her but I didn’t realise quite how much until I saw her step out of the taxi. Maybe it was the way the scorching California sun was shining on her, maybe it was because of the relaxing holiday she’d had, but she seemed to be glowing.She looked even more beautiful than when she left and I didn’t even think that was possible. All I wanted to do was run up to her, tell her how much I’d missed her and how much I loved her, but for some reason I found myself frozen on the spot. My mouth went dry and I could feel my hands getting slightly clammy, and then it hit me. A small wave of anxiety washed over me as I watched her greet the others who’d eagerly rushed over to welcome her, I never thought I’d be so thankful for the guys swarming towards my girlfriends...but at this moment, I couldn’t be more grateful. I was nervous. Y/n was one of those people that could light up a room, not by doing anything specific, just by being it in. I fell for her as soon as I saw her and I knew it was a longshot asking her to be my girlfriend but I needed to ask her...the thought of not doing it was driving me crazy. So did it and to my surprise, she said yes. I always knew she was out of my league, that’s partly why I was so surprised she said yes to being with me.  Her laugh dragged me back to reality, I knew I probably didn’t have a lot of time, so I wiped my hands on my jeans and took a deep breath, a small smirk coming on my face, desperately trying to act calm and confident as I made my way over to her, the rest of the guys moving away as I got closer. 

“Hey,” She said, a beaming smile coming across her face as I made my way towards her. I couldn’t trust my voice to say anything, so I just smiled back at her and pulled her into my embrace, pressing a kiss on the side of her head. 

“You okay?” She asked, pulling away slightly, the confusion clear in her voice and eyes. I mentally cursed myself for thinking that I would be able to fool her with this act. Acting was not my strong suit and Y/n knew me well enough to know when something wasn’t right. Her eyes locked onto mine, searching for an answer. 

“Just..nervous…” I breathed out, momentarily closing my eyes at the admission that left my lips. In all the years I’d been alive, no woman had ever made me feel so nervous yet so excited at the same time. 

“Nervous?” She questioned, her eyes looking even more confused than before. 

“Aye, just the effect ye have on me love, make me feel like a fuckin’ teenager again,” at my words a small chuckle left her gorgeous lips before a small smirk came across them. 

“Now you know how I feel everytime I see you,” She giggled, a sound that I hadn’t realised I’d missed so much until now. 

“Welcome home, mo ghra,” I muttered before crashing my lips onto hers. Within seconds her soft lips molded onto mine as she wrapped her arms around my neck, lightly tugging on my hair. It felt like we were the only two people in the world in that moment, not that that feeling lasted long of course. Cheers and applause from the guys behind me brought me back to reality, making me pull away from the kiss and causing Y/n to let out another chuckle, her tints growing a deeper shade of red with every second that passed.

“C’mon, I wanna welcome ye back properly,” I whispered, placing another quick kiss on her lips before grabbing her hand lightly and leading her towards the clubhouse. 

“Do we not get to see the show?!” Tig shouted as  I opened the door for Y/n, I simply rolled my eyes at his remark, shaking my head at him as I turned round to him with my middle finger raised before following Y/n into the clubhouse. As soon as I shut the door behind us, her lips were on mine again. Without any hesitation whatsoever, I lifted her up, her legs instinctively wrapping around my waist as I headed towards the bedroom, my lips not leaving hers for a second, ready to welcome her home the way she deserved. 

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[gggoldfinch]

idk if its bc xOFC fics always get interaction than xReader fics but I'm really hoping more people pick up Lonely Universe because im so proud of it 😭

[darklydeliciousdesires]

Verboten - Chapter Four.

It’s lovely to see a couple of you excited for this, and I thank you eternally for your interest as well. 

Previous chapters - One  Two  Three

Visuals - The Verboten cast of characters post

Words - 3,911

Warnings - Angst, longing

Tag list - In the comments! To be added/removed, please DM me :)

Chapter playlist - AC/DC - Thunderstruck

“So, then I told this woman, excuse me, but no. I was here first, I’m getting the damn bag and yes, honey, I will fight you for it. Zoey? Hey, Zoey?”

The click of Paris’s fingers in front of her face and the flash of dark red acrylic in her eyeline roused Zoey from her catatonic state, back in dreamland, or alternate reality, as she’d begun to refer to it as. In her adventures in AU today, she was dreaming about sitting on Tyler’s face, wearing nothing but the high heeled Louboutin shoes she currently had upon her tired, aching feet.  

She much preferred trainers, but never underestimated the statement a power shoe made. Plus, she’d saved for months to buy the patent stilettoes with the six-inch heels. Six-inch heels to go with the nine-inch cock she kept on remembering, taking a peek at the photo every so often, usually when she masturbated. There’d been no further messages, though.  

If she had her way, there wouldn’t be any more either, although it was a hard urge to fight, to send him something naughty and enjoy a little back and forth play with him. That’s all it was, just playing, talking of what would be, AR wise. Well, singular. It had only happened once and no matter how turned-on sexting with a man she shouldn’t have had left her, she knew it was wrong. Still, it did little to curb the daydreaming.

“Sorry, sweetie. So, is that the bag there?”

Paris was incredulous through her mouthful of sashimi. “Yes! Blimey, you really are away with the fairies, aren’t you? What is it, work stuff? You should have said if it was an inconvenience, getting away. I would have just grabbed some takeout trays on my way and come to you.”

“No, really, it’s fine. It did me some good to get out for a bit. Sorry, you have my full attention again now. So, this was the last of them, huh?” Looking at the beautiful, black calfskin bag in more detail, Zoey felt herself drooling a little. It was from a boutique there in the city, by a local designer, Amelie Shaw. Her bags were so sought after, they fetched the same prices as more well-known haute couture, the one Paris had scored well over five grand in price. Her own? Three hundred bucks from a leather craft exhibition she’d visited with Cait a few months ago. She liked nice things, but didn’t need to be designer fancy from head to toe. Her shoes were enough today.

“It was, but I didn’t leave there without getting a little gift for you!” Pulling out the small, flash gift bag, she waved it from side to side with a grin.

“Oh, Paris no! You didn’t have to!”

“You’re my best friend and I wanted to! Open it, open it!” Within the swathes of peach tissue paper, wrapped in a little white ribbon, was a beautiful, dark purple card wallet that exactly matched the colour of her bag. The smell of the leather was intoxicating, the designer's emblem embossed just below the elegant brass clasp.  

“It’s absolutely beautiful, thank you so much! I shudder to think what it cost!”

“Eh, I’m gonna let Daniel faint when he gets the credit card statement. Heck, it’s my money too and you’re worth it!” Paris was so generous, she always had been, loving to spoil people. She often said it was in lieu of being able to have children, she and Daniel unable to conceive and currently, looking into adopting from China, where their parents were originally from.  

Zoey couldn’t identify with the hardship of longing for children since she didn’t want any of her own, but she was always there to sympathise with Paris’s plight. “Well, lunch is on me and I won’t hear of any arguments either!”

“Just to try and stop me, this place is pricey!” Zoey laughed, shaking her head while picking up salmon skin roll and giving it a liberal dunking into the small pot of sushi vinegar. “Anyway, you were really far away just then. Something on your mind?”

Shaking her head, she attempted to sweep it under the rug. “No, nothing.” Paris was far from fooled.  

“I remain unconvinced by your denial. You went all glazed, you always do when thoughtful.” Paris would know, they’d been friends since they were eleven, after all.  

“I’m just anxious about the next meeting I have, it’s with a fella who seems more convinced in telling me how he’ll spend his money than letting me advise him accordingly over how to invest it and where.” It wasn’t a complete lie. Kenneth Evans was difficult, to say the least. Zoey never relished in putting her proposed plans to him, but the fact he continued to insist she tweak them did keep her in sushi money.  

“Ahh, mansplainer?”

“Oh yeah, hugely!” She confirmed, asking the passing waitress to bring them the bill.  

Phew, she’d bought it, because there was no way in hell that Zoey was going to tell her about the...whatever the hell it was she’d slipped into with Tyler. Was it a flirtation? She guessed not, really. Flirtations were a lot more innocent than telling your sister’s husband in as many words how much you wanted to slow ride his huge cock.  

Oh, there she went, imagining it again, her astride him, stroking his short beard while staring at him intently, rolling her hips back and forth, squeezing on him as he ran his big, powerful hands up and down her back and his...  

“Zoey! Jesus, girl.”

“What? Oh, sorry!” Taking out her small purse, she rooted around for her bank card, telling the girl waiting with the payment machine to put on an extra twenty-five dollars as a tip for herself, sliding the card into the slot. “Are we still on for Saturday?”  

“Just you try and stop me!” With that, they exchanged a hug and kiss and went their separate ways, both looking forward to a night out, just the two of them in three days from then. Zoey just had to stop her ridiculous daydreaming in that time. Hell, maybe she’d meet a guy while out with Paris and be distracted away from the man she couldn’t have by a new focus for her lust.  

By Saturday night, she’d managed pretty well too in seeming to forget about Tyler, sheer busyness alone with work leading to the kind of exhaustion that didn’t go hand in hand with late night thoughts or daytime zoning out. Whenever she wasn’t working, she was either on the treadmill working off her penchant for pasta, or asleep. However, come Saturday night as she walked from the train down the street to the wine bar she was meeting Paris at, back he came into her consciousness after she received a text message from him.  

‘You look absolutely stunning.’  

Stopping, she looked around, turning to see a police vehicle parked up on the other side of the quiet street flash its headlights, Tyler at the wheel. “Ahh, fuck. Just when I was beginning to forget.” She muttered, changing her direction and heading over to him.  

“I’m gonna have to see a license for those legs, miss.”  

“Very funny.”

“It wasn’t meant to be funny. Seriously, you look amazing. Get in.”  

“Are you sure both of us being in a confined space together is wise right now?”

The little flicker that flashed through his ridiculously azure blue eyes, coupled with the fact that he was obviously in uniform (a huge turn on for her) made her knees weak and her heart begin to race. “Safest place we can be together. I’m not about to dive on you while I’m on duty in a squad car.”  

‘So, that’s the only thing holding you back right now?’ Making her way around to the passenger side, she climbed in, turning to face him with small smile. “So, how you doing?”  

“Still in the spare room.” Fuck, that wasn’t good. “Has she mentioned anything to you or the others?”  

“No, she hasn’t, Then again, I haven’t seen her since Cait’s birthday.”  

“Fun night, wasn’t it?” His wink alluded more to the part that came after the birthday celebrations.  

“Tyler,” she warned gently. Still though, her heart continued to hammer so loudly, she’d be surprised if he couldn’t hear it.  

He sighed, shifting slightly in his seat. “I know, I know. Still though, you should know that I can’t remember the last time I was that aroused. That includes when I’ve actually been having sex, from the little I remember of that.”

“We can’t...I...” She floundered, feeling uncomfortable, the juxtapose of the situation crashing within.  

“I know that, too. Sorry if I’ve made you feel uncomfortable. I guess we ought to at least try and go back to normal.”

“Just keep thinking of my sister instead of me. Come on, we had a bit of illicit fun, probably took things a step too far, but remained on the side of redemption. We can turn this around and go back to normal. We can.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Fuck. Ain’t gonna be easy, though. Every time I look at those texts, my dick hits my belly button. I enjoyed it way too much. Well, I guess we just have to leave things in the alternate reality. That’s it, done with. Back to normal.” To Zoey, he sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than her.  

“I think deleting those texts might be the best action. I’ll do the same, too, although I don’t really want to,” she replied honestly, biting her lip in a way that made Tyler’s insides tremble. Fuck, she was so sexy.

“No?”

“Nope. That cock. Wow.” He snorted with laughter, gripping the steering wheel and butting his head off his hands a few times with a groan.  

“Feels even better than it looks, so I’m told.”

“Oh god, we have to behave ourselves! Because now you’ve got me thinking about it all over again! We went for ten years without a flicker of anything like this and now, over the space of two weeks, we can’t control ourselves?” She made a very valid point, he guessed. Self-control was what they were both lacking.  

“If I’m honest, I’ve always thought you were gorgeous. It’s just until two weeks ago, I didn’t want to dive on you. That’s the thing about when you light a fire, I guess. Sometimes you have no choice but to let it burn out by itself.” Was he implying that they just continue this...whatever it was, until it was out of their systems? Was it an insinuation that he wanted more? At the moment, they were like Icarus, flying much too close to the sun. Would letting it blaze them entirely finally relieve a little of the tension?

Could she live with herself, having sex with her sister’s husband just to get it out of her system and move on, because it was too difficult to resist him? ‘Of course you bloody can, woman! For Christ sakes, stop being so selfish and thinking with your damn vagina!’

It didn’t matter, though, how much she chastised herself, how her internal monologue screamed at her how it was wrong, she still found herself there, a silent moment stretching out, the tension growing palpable between them, with her face nearing his once again. To kiss him again, it was all she wanted, to feel that fire, singe her wings, satiate her craving for him.  

His hand swept into her hair, his breath fluttering her cheek, both about to give in to it, the crippling desire, the magnetism, the heat. Just one kiss...

“30434, what’s your current location? Over.” Saved by the radio.

“30434, Park Street West, over.” Looking at her, he smiled, reaching to stroke her cheek with his thumb. While he received instruction, she winked and mouthed ‘bye’, Tyler returning the same before she got out, her loins fizzing. She turned to see his car hurtle up the street a few seconds later, lights flashing and siren on. God, the whole man in uniform thing. How it killed her. Nothing sexier than a gorgeous policeman.  

“Did you run? You’re flushed,” Paris observed, standing to kiss her before taking the beautiful bottle of Chilean Pinot Grigio from the ice bucket and pouring out a glass for her late coming friend.  

“No, and sorry I’m a few minutes late. Cheers.” Picking up her glass, she toasted Paris, mindful to acknowledge she was ten minutes later than their agreed time, her bestie a stickler for punctuality. Then, and without pause, she lifted the large glass to her lips and promptly sank it in three gulps.

“Easy, easy!” Paris exclaimed, her eyes wide. “That’s a lovely Pinot there, you could at least have appreciated the bouquet before you necked it like a thirsty racehorse!”

“I appreciated the alcohol, believe me. Crikey.” Zoey sighed, feeling better.  

“Bad day?”

“Something like that.”

Those three words were met with an eye roll, Zoey finally jostling around the table of businessmen to their left, the smell of machismo confidence and Paco Rabanne heavy in the air as she placed herself down next to Paris on the pew style seating in their little section. Religion was their favourite wine bar, built within an abandoned church, the original pews used to flank the sides of the room itself, but with slightly comfier padding added to the seat itself. “You know I don’t like it when you’re cryptic.”

Taking a deep breath, Zoey knew that her off behaviour would continue to send alert signals to the Paris radar, as she lovingly referred to it as. Her best friend was sharp as a tack in noticing anything even slightly out of place with her, mood wise. Litigators always were.

“I think I’m in trouble,” she began, Paris immediately cutting in.  

“Trouble? Trouble how? Legal? Pregnancy? Financial, what?”

“Man trouble,” she confirmed, refilling her empty glass and catching the attention of a passing member of staff to bring another bottle over to them. She loved table service.  

At hearing that her woes were male oriented, Paris’s eyes lit up. “Ooooh, juiciness!” She had no idea of the half of it.  

“Yes, it is, but not in the way you’re thinking. You see the thing is, I...”

Paris made a gesture with her hand that indicated she should speed up her getting to the point. “Verbally procrastinating!”  

“He’s married.” Immediately, her friend threw her earlier words about bouquet appreciation to the wind and drained her glass.

“You’re having an affair?”

“No, no nothing like that. Well, it’s kind of like that. There’s been some...well see this is where it gets complicated. Apart from one kiss, one very hot sexting session and one other near kiss, we haven’t done anything, and we can’t either,” she explained, Paris looking like she was missing something.

“Okay, so then if you can’t do anything, then why don’t you just stop seeing him and letting these things happen?”  

Taking a deep breath, Zoey came out with it. “Because it’s Tyler.”  

“I will need four shots of Absolut Mandrin as well please.” Paris spoke to the server who brought their fresh bottle of wine, the girl nodding before she turned back to the bar. “Zoey...you...you and hot copper? But...”

“I know.”

“Ella!”

“I know!”

“Married for ten years!”

“Yes!”

“Three lovely kids!”

“I know!”

“Zoey!!”  

The shots couldn’t have arrived at a better time, Paris sinking her two and gesturing to the others. “Drink them quickly, because after what you’ve just told me, if you leave it any longer than five seconds, I’ll be putting them away too.” Doing as instructed, Zoey lifted the first glass to her lips, pouring the Russian rocket fuel down her throat, the second following.  

“So, how did it even start? I mean, you two are like bros! You do dude things like take the kids camping together since Ella hates the great outdoors. How can you go from that to sexting?” Going back to Ella’s birthday celebrations, Zoey explained it all, the admission from him that his marriage was on shaky ground where affection and physicality were concerned, his feeling of being constantly rejected, the silly flirting, the very serious, very hot moment in the hallway, everything that had gone on in two weeks, leading up to that night, nearly kissing him in the squad car.  

“Well, that man in a uniform, I can’t blame you for being weak, but I will if you bloody carry on! It doesn’t matter that he’s on rocky ground in his marriage, that doesn’t make it right, Zoey, just in case you’re using that as justification over continuing with this little flirtation. Well, not that you can call it that, because it sounds like you’re both holding onto the urge not to bang each other with some very flimsy resolve.”

“Yes, I agree with everything you just said,” Zoey replied, lamentation clear in her voice.  

“But you really don’t want to, do you?” Correct.  

“No. I want him. I want him all over me and I want him so badly it’s driving me to distraction. When we met for lunch on Thursday and I kept spacing out, that was because of him. It’s getting so bad now that not even thinking how much it’d break Ella’s heart is working as a deterrent. The selfish bitch in me just keeps thinking that if she doesn’t want him sexually, then I’ll have him. I mean, how rotten is that of me!” That’s when Paris saw it, that truly, it was something tearing her up inside because of course, he was her sister’s husband.  

“That’s forbidden desire for you, baby. It’s like the old cartoons where the protagonist is wrestling with a moral dilemma. You’ve got an angel on that shoulder and a devil on the other.” Tapping her shoulders, she then picked up her wine and finished the glass, quick to top them both up. “It’s who you listen to more that’s important. But hear this, lady. No man is worth wrecking the bond you have with your sister over.”  

Zoey nodded, knowing she was right. “Not even one time, just to get it out of our systems?”

“Mate, if you’re lusting after each other this badly after one kiss and one sexting session, one fuck ain’t gonna do it. You’ll be opening Pandora’s box, or rather Zoey’s box.” She couldn’t help but snort at Paris’s analogy. “But you know what I mean. Once you fuck him, are you really going to be content in never doing it again? Will your conscience ever truly stop kicking you too, for betraying your sister?”

She was right, everything she said made sense, Zoey confirming as much. “I have to try harder, don’t I?”

“Yes! I mean, it can’t be easy since you’re all in each other’s lives so much with how tight knit your family is, but that’s what you have to remember, the lovely little family you have and how pursuing anything with Tyler would blow all of that apart. She’d find out, you know. They always do,” Paris warned, a warning that in time to come, Zoey would wish she’d heeded a little better.

“Well, we don’t have anything social planned together for a while. Not until we’re due to take the kids camping in six weeks, actually. I might have to abandon that plan.” Paris agreed that it would likely be best. Unburdened from her dark secret, Zoey actually felt a little better and together, the friends had a lovely night out.  

“Here, ladies. Let me walk you to your taxi under this,” the friendly doorman offered at closing time, ushering them under the huge, black golfing umbrella he held. “That storm is coming in a few hours earlier than planned!”

There’d been a severe weather warning set in place for much of the east of Queensland beginning Saturday lunchtime, with Brisbane right in the firing line of the huge storm weathermen were predicted could last for anything up to two days in total with little respite. With the rain tumbling from the sky with the ferocity it was, it seemed it might be arriving a little sooner.  

Indeed, by 8am the following morning, the news broadcaster was advising people to stay indoors, Zoey watching the lightning forking the sky, the trees all beginning to bend in the hostile winds blowing through the city.  

“Blimey!” she exclaimed, watching a car attempting to get down the street go sideways for a few moments before continuing on its path. She was glad she had no plans, nowhere to go and a kitchen full of food not dependent on whether the power went out, as it sometimes did. It was while she was foraging for some of said food that her phone began to ring. Her heart leapt in her chest when she saw it was Tyler.

“Hey, sorry to bother you early, but I’m in a bit of a jam,” he spoke, the wind howling all around him before suddenly going quiet. He’d just gotten into his truck, she recognised the squeak on the hinge when the door closed.  

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“I can’t get home with this bloody storm, it’s too risky, fuckin’ cars skating all over the highway, so I need somewhere safe to be. Any chance I can come to yours until it passes? I’d ask Cait, believe me, but she’s too far out and it’s like the end of days out here. Shit the fuckin’ bed! A wheelie bin just landed on a squad car, fuck!” he exclaimed, explaining the scene in front of him as he started the engine. “I know things are weird right now, but I wouldn’t ask unless I wasn’t really stuck.”

She didn’t have a choice, really, but hated herself for feeling a little sliver of excitement. “Okay, come over. Be careful, though.”

“Will do. See you in a bit.” Putting down her phone, she folded her arms in front of her on the polished, smooth black counter in her kitchen, collapsing down and promptly screaming. “What am I doing? What...okay so he could get really hurt out there, and he’s family and I have to help him out, but...I need to staple my goddamn flaps shut, make a chastity belt, put a mouse trap into my pants, something, anything to stop us being stupid!”  

She raided the cupboard and made herself a quick sandwich of fried egg and sriracha sauce (her favourite breakfast ever) before washing up and putting a load of laundry into the machine, about to go and grab the towels from the bathroom, but stopping on the way when she realised the state of her carpets. Vacuum first. Not that Tyler gave a shit, but she was lazy with housework (nothing like what he was used to with Ella) and realised that in a situation where power might be lost, then it was better to get it done.  

She was just putting the vacuum away again in the hallway cupboard when a knock came at her apartment door, sending her heart into her throat. Upon opening it, she could have passed out on the spot.  

“Sorry, I think I’m about to get your floor wet.” A soaked to the skin Tyler said, smiling crookedly in an apologetic manner.  

‘That isn’t the only thing.’ She thought, letting him in.

[fanfictrashdump]

Queening a Pawn, 26

If you’re new: this is my procrastination fic. It is what I drabble around with when I’m being my worst self, and ignoring all my other WIPs and responsibilities! Enjoy!

X

Summary: During the Time Heist, Loki stole the Tesseract and escaped. He did not expect, however, to be pulled through a Time Loop that delivered him to a Midgard more than a decade older, wiser, and bitterer. Having just lived through his unsuccessful attack in New York, Loki must learn to live in Midgard after the defeat of Thanos (post-Endgame). The question is, who is Loki without a quest for a throne or total domination?

Pairings: Loki x OC

WARNINGS: Language, domesticity, tattoos, cute idiots being cute idiots, a waaaaay too long chapter I can't be bothered to trim down.

Previous Chapter

XXX

There were several things that Loki did in his day to day that Delilah had claimed (fervently, and more than once) were adorable. At first, Loki was loathe to think that there was anything adorable about his person. He was a warrior; he was a King (well, used to be, at least); he was the cause for many a shiver of terror. He was not adorable.

The more he thought about it, though, he realized that he would be of the same opinion if it was Delilah doing the same. Actually, the reason he did many a "cute" thing was because Delilah's responses, intentional or not, were always delightfully sweet.

Loki sighed as he woke, shivering at the gentle heat seeping over his back. At some point during the night, he had turned over in his sleep and Lilah had clung to his back. He could feel the soft breath escaping her parted lips fanning over his spine. Little spoon, she called it, and he felt foolish for enjoying the protective nature of the position. He remained perfectly still, staring into the dark, and tried to commit the feeling to memory before he shifted.

Therein lay the second thing Delilah thought adorable. As he settled on his side, facing her this time, sea glass eyes scoured her every feature. When he was pleased that he could remember every line and curve of her sleeping face, he cut the distance between them. Carefully, as not to disturb her, he pressed his forehead to hers.

The first time he had done this, he wasn't sure what had possessed him to do so. He still didn't know why he did it, but there was something intimate about it. Perhaps it was the way Delilah sighed dreamily at the contact, or the fact that if he concentrated hard enough he could catch bits and pieces of her mismatched, wild dreams without really meaning to. His hands would tangle up in her hair, stroking her scalp in soothing circles and watch as her thoughts turned into dusky blues and periwinkles, soft grass and a lungful of sunshine.

When he thought it couldn't possibly get any better, his name would flash across, just a fraction of a second and he would nearly sob in sweet emotional release. Those same fingers in her hair would shake and he'd reluctantly pull back to keep her from waking (he had not done so on a previous occasion and that is how Lilah now knows about the habit). With a brief kiss, he would leave the bed, making sure Lilah was tucked in and warm before adjourning to washroom.

Now, he would vehemently deny it, but Loki was of the habit of humming under his breath most of the time. It just so happened that when he was in the shower, it was hard to hear himself hum. So, more than once, he had drawn back the curtain to find Delilah sitting on the toilet lid, quietly listening to him sing. She never made any mention of it, directly, but she never failed to gravitate towards him whenever he would start crooning to himself. In some instances, he had even caught her following his melody as she did her own work.

Loki stepped out of the washroom, half dressed, to find Delilah sitting on the corner of the bed. Her hair was in a mad disarray, curls shooting in all different directions and she looked more concerned with rubbing the sleep out of her eyes with her fists than arranging the shirt she had stolen from him around her form so she wasn't mostly naked. A ghost of a smile tugged at his lips, and he bent swiftly to kiss her good morning before finding a shirt to wear. He didn't bother with speaking–Delilah did not communicate at this hour in the morning.

A while later, he let out a sudden huff of air as his middle was squeezed in a vise. Loki chuckled, turning around just enough to press a kiss to Delilah's crown. His hands were occupied with arranging a plate of food that was colorful and vibrant. He could feel Delilah smiling into his back. Loki was aware that if it were up to her, she'd have a cup of coffee and half a cracker before heading off to work. He made it a point to make her a meal, something that would keep her going through the day.

It wasn't like he pre-planned the meals in his head while he showered.

Or like he had read books on Midgardian nutrition to determine the best options.

That would be silly (and considered adorable).

And, Delilah most definitely did not have pictures to prove it.

"Go on. It'll go cold if you just stand around hugging me," Loki groused, chuckling. Delilah detached with a grumble and he playfully swatted at her behind, ignoring the impish grin she shot him over her shoulder.

Sitting across from her, he nursed a mug of black coffee, steam billowing from the top, and watched her pick through the fruit on her plate. Loki himself didn't usually eat until after he had gone to train, to minimize the probability of being sick all over the mats, so he just sat there, head propped on his palm, watching her. Delilah would toy with him whenever he did, mouthing out phrases to make him laugh while pointedly avoiding his stare. He liked watching her eat the sustenance he had so carefully made for her; she liked the goofy smile plastered on his face. More than that, she liked when he would sigh like he was having an out of body experience and mutter–

"Damn, I love you."

Lilah giggled. It was like clockwork. "I'm literally doing nothing. Less than nothing. I'm eating breakfast."

"So long as you breathe, that is enough to earn my affections."

She rolled her eyes, though she was blushing and staring at him with a soft expression. "That's your type? Breathing?"

Loki grinned, equally besotted expression on his face. "Well, it certainly helps, doesn't it?"

"Dork."

"Pest."

The two stared at each other for a long beat before Loki chuckled, shaking his head. "Shall I get you for lunch, or…?"

"I was actually wondering if you wanted to take a trip with me this afternoon."

He tilted his head, worrying the inside of his cheek with his top and bottom canines. "A trip? As in, outside the compound? Is that wise?"

"I mean, it's up to you." She shrugged easily, sipping on her coffee before diving into her oatmeal.

The offer turned in his mind. "What are you going out for?"

"Oh, I'm getting a tattoo."

Loki's brain stopped. He didn't consider himself a base animal, though he thoroughly appreciated every swathe of skin on her tanned, warm body, but the thought of that same skin permanently marked in ink… did things to him. In Asgard, warriors got their tattoos after first blood; the Valkyrie got theirs to show their allegiance; and he could not find a better addition to their ranks than the pocket-sized huntress before him. He must have been out of it for a long while, if Delilah's insistent repetitions of his name were to be believed. He blinked awkwardly and offered her a smile.

"You, uh, OK there, bud?"

He swallowed against the lump in his throat only to find his whole mouth was dry and rough. Delilah smiled. Leaving him speechless was just another thing she found adorable. "When do we leave?"

"Noon. We'll drive out to the city and come back in the evening. I already cleared it with Pepper." Loki couldn't answer, so he simply nodded. "OK. I'll be by later, then." Delilah shotgunned her coffee and stood, kissing Loki for just long enough to make him sigh before she was out the door.

--

Delilah was an excellent driver, Loki noted. Cognizant of the rules of the road, but speeded just enough to not make it tedious. Every so often she would reach over and pinch him in the side, as if to remind him that he was, indeed, still visible and was blatantly staring.

"Would you like to learn how to drive?" Her tone was curious as she briefly sized him up in his charcoal trousers and blue button up.

Loki smiled, shaking his head. "I just like watching you. Your easy command is most… intriguing."

Delilah snorted, eyes back to staring straight out of the windshield. "I'm just driving, Lo. Doesn't exactly take a rocket scientist to do it."

He shrugged. "You are very self-sufficient."

"Not all of us grew up in the palace, Your Majesty," she teased, sneaking a peak out of the side of her eye.

"You think I'm spoiled." It wasn't a question.

"No. I think you used to be spoiled." She giggled. "Very spoiled. Ugh, you used to be the worst." Lilah reached for his hand and squeezed it twice. "We just grew up differently. In my world I am boringly average."

"Blasphemy." He laced his fingers with hers. They had just turned off of a main road and were traversing over a bridge. It was nowhere near as impressive as the Bifrost, but it was interesting in its own right. "So, a tattoo?" They had slowed down considerably as they navigated the traffic of the city.

"Yes. Is that weird?"

He smiled, lowering his eyes to the floor. "Not at all. Getting marks is not uncommon in Asgardian tradition." He raised her hand to his lips just as she pulled into a quiet backstreet. "I'm actually curious about the outcome." He smirked to himself while he watched her parallel park one-handed and fix him with an easy smile.

They walked hand in hand, dodging light foot traffic left and right. Loki was not entirely comfortable with the amount of strangers around them. Though the mortals were terribly short-memoried and he had redeemed his name somewhat with the most recent mission, he wouldn't put a nasty insult or snarl past them. Whenever they'd pass someone new, Loki instinctually pulled Delilah tighter into his side, tucking her smaller form under his chin. Lilah sighed contentedly, wrapping his arms around her middle. It was hard to be weary when encapsulated within her warmth and easygoing aura. So much so that he did not catch her leading them both in an awkward waddle to a storefront with dark, tinted windows and colorful art decorating its face.

A woman not much taller than Delilah was sitting behind the front counter, busy scratching in details on a large ledger. Her bare arms were covered in designs of different styles, making her look attractively mismatched. Her voice cut in the instant the door chimed their arrival. "Hey, welcome to the Dragon's Hoard. How can I help–well, will you look at what the cat dragged in?" The woman had raised her eyes, a warm cocoa, and pushed back the long curtain of dirty blonde hair away from her eyes. "Delilah Vázquez gracing my doorstep. What a momentous occasion."

"I made an appointment with you, asshole. We talked last night."

"I know, but I never actually thought you would come. You always chicken out," the woman complained with a grin, excitedly getting out of her stool and rounding the corner with her arms open. Delilah slipped just the slightest away from Loki and held the other in a vise for several seconds with squeals being exchanged between them. "Ooh, and you brought a snack," she added, looking over Lilah's shoulder at Loki.

"Cali, this is Loki. Loki, you have the misfortune of meeting my oldest and dearest friend, Calliope."

Cali's jaw flew open, her eyes flickering wildly between Delilah and Loki. "Shut up! When your mom said you were dating Loki, I thought it was a metaphor!" Loki stiffened behind Delilah and swallowed thickly. "He looks more… terrified… than usual."

Delilah frowned, making a double-take over her shoulder before turning in Loki's grip completely. "Hey, don't worry. Cali is cool, I promise." She stole a look at Cali and pointedly gestured back at the Asgardian. "Right, Cal?"

Cali laughed, waving off the concern plastered on his face. "Oh, yeah! Dude, I have heard nothing but good things from you. You saved my baby girl. You're golden in my books."

"Not your baby girl, Cali."

"Not now that you have that whole mess of man, you ain't, but I'll take you back when you miss me." Cali grinned and offered a lascivious wink at Loki before she hooked her arm around Delilah's and pulled her deeper into the shop. "Come on, lover boy. Hold her hand while I hurt her good."

Loki awkwardly perched himself in a corner seat, pretending to blend into the walls as Delilah and Calliope caught up. Several stencils lay out on the prep table, along with different, diminutive pots of ink sealed and awaiting use. "So, you've chickened out of every appointment you've made with me and now you're getting three pieces done. Are you insane or is this a cry for help…?"

"You're hilarious," Delilah retorted, deadpan. "I didn't know which I wanted first, so I decided I wanted all of them."

"That's a lie, but sure." Cali flipped over to a small drawing of a triangular arc reactor and a Narcissus bunch and held it up to Delilah's view. "You said Dad and Tony were going on your shoulder, right?" Delilah nodded. "Fluffball?" A cat showing its dark belly, about three inches across was next.

"Thigh. That's Einherjar." She gasped, fishing through her pockets with a grin. "I have more pictures!" There was an instantaneous coo from her friend.

"I vow to make him my most precious artwork!"

"He will demand it, the brat," Loki quipped under his breath, much to the amusement of both ladies.

"Oh my god! He speaks! I was half afraid he was a mute now," Cali teased, before mouthing sexy voice at Delilah. "I was a little confused about the third. It's… kinda boring? I can spruce it up. Or is it one of your nerd things that shan't be changed?"

"Something like that. It's perfect as is," Lilah sighed. "On my left arm, please."

"OK. Shoulder first, then thigh, then arm." Her warm eyes landed on Loki. After a moment of quiet contemplation, she gestured the table. "Lilah's a wimp. She's gonna need you," she assured before putting on her gloves and asking Delilah to shed her shirt. Loki felt a little more relaxed. Cali had a calming personality, and the art in her room was soothing. The colors were muted and the portraits of flowers, animals, and surreal scenes were oddly alluring. It was very different from the art of Asgard, but no less beautiful.

Loki had no issue clambering atop the padded table. Delilah had pulled off her lemon yellow t-shirt to remain in a grey tank top and promptly lay her head on his lap. His fingers busied themselves with delving into her thick curls and soothing her tensed form. He felt her shudder as the stencil was applied to her skin, and he marveled at how even in drawing, she seemed so suited to it. When it was over, he was sure, it would be like she always had it–born with it, even.

"Deep breath, babe. I'm going in." Delilah tensed at the first bite of the needle, but did not complain. She had taken bruisings from half the Avengers, some daggers from his own hand when he was mind-controlled, even a bullet wound–this would not break her.

Still, Loki felt her anxiety and made it his own. "What are the flowers, my love?"

"Narcissus. Narcissus was my dad's name. Him and Tony's arc reactor," she struggled out.

"The dads," Cali commented, smirking. "So, Loki, how's the Resurrection going?"

"Cali!"

"I'm genuinely interested! He caught a one-in-a-million flux in time-space, or so you told me! You can't tell me you're not curious as to how it compares?"

"Well, I don't have much of a comparison, I'm afraid," he confessed, brow furrowed. "Still, I currently have this one in my lap, so I can't exactly tell tales of woe, can I?"

Cali laughed, long and hard, lifting her hand from Delilah's skin to chuckle at the sentiment. "Oh, I like him. You don't need to keep sweet talking her. I'm pretty sure she's already decided to keep you."

"I don't know. Might decide against it," she grumbled in response, though she blindly reached beside her until she had Loki's free hand in her grasp. "Oof, damn Cali! Easy!" She groaned, clenching her eyes closed tight.

The woman held her friend down firmly as she scratched the ink over the small details of the reactor. "Don't be a crybaby." There was no malice behind the words, though Delilah pouted, regardless.

Loki lowered himself to her ear. "You're doing so well, darling. And the design holds a remarkable likeness to Stark's power source." He caressed her cheek. "Did you help draw it? It has your characteristic line work."

"Yeah. I did the arc and Cali did the –aargh– flowers."

The buzz of the tattoo gun cut out and Cali cleaned off the area with a large gauze soaked with witch hazel. The ink was promptly wrapped in a dark bandage and taped closed. "OK. Sit up and rest back against Loki and I'll do your thigh. Left or right?"

"Um… doesn't matter?" Delilah responded, though she sounded questioning. "Lo?"

"Left. The Einherjar will always keep to the left to shield the asset at the right."

His response had been so easy and automatic that it had made Cali laugh and sigh dreamily. "Oh, is that before or after they ravage their assets? You know, like in the Bodyguard?" Delilah snorted her amusement; Loki did not understand the reference.

Now that Delilah could see the process, she was a lot more relaxed. She pulled Loki's arms taut around her and leaned back until all she had to do to kiss that soft spot under his jaw was crane her neck the slightest. Bit by bit, the shaggy form of Einherjar the Kitten appeared, looking regal and most cute in his position. According to the diagram Cali was following, Ein was to be laying on a gentle purple mist as lavender and white stars flickered over him.

Cali worked quickly and efficiently, taking careful and precise strokes to delineate the fur and whiskers on the dark tabby's face before going in with the detailing. Loki was more than generous with the amount of kisses he pressed against Delilah's temples, feeling her shudder in delight at every touch of affection. Being out in the real world, without a care–it was so easy to forget that they lived in a compound full of superheroes. Here, with a friend who did not care about his past, only what he was doing in his present, he felt content.

"One adorable, fluffy boy! You like him?"

"He's great, Cal. Thank you."

"Yay! Does that mean I can sneak in and meet him soon?"

Lilah rolled her eyes, shifting in her place to pop her stiff spine. "You do not need an invitation, Calliope. You know that."

"I'll be there next week, then." Cali announced, proud, before also cleaning and covering the portrait. "Want to take a break? Stretch your legs before the final piece?" Delilah nodded, letting Loki maneuver her onto the floor as if she weighed nothing more than a feather. "Come on, let's grab a slice."

The trio leaned against a brick wall, slices of greasy, floppy pizza in their hands. Delilah and Cali had theirs neatly folded down the middle and were pros at leaning forward to avoid grease drips down their fronts. Loki was not so lucky and had already needed to magick away several stains as he chewed his treat.

"Did he just–"

"Yep."

"And this happens all the–"

"Yep."

Cali smirked, leaning closer to Delilah. "So, in the bedroom, can he–"

"No."

The mischievous smile on Cali's face fell. "Oh, that's kinda a bum–"

"He doesn't need it," Delilah interrupted one last time, prompting Loki to choke on a swallow of cheese pizza. "You could take all his magic and he'd still be fan-fucking-tastic." Loki could feel his cheeks burning. Cali asked something directly into Lilah's ear, and the latter chuckled and gestured with her eyebrows as an affirmation.

"So, you do have a brother, right? Thor? Can I get his number or something because I have not gotten anything good in a while." Lilah giggled, though Loki still had not recovered from his earlier fright. "Come on. One last doodle."

Sat back in the tattooing room, Cali opened a pot of dusky blue ink and unwrapped the stencil. Loki and Delilah were side by side, with Delilah's left arm hanging out on the support table for ease of work. Loki did not catch the design at first, but when the artist unwrapped the dampened paper from around Delilah's arm, the breath caught in his chest.

A collection of dots and lines circled the entirety of her left forearm. They were eerily familiar, like he had seen them a million and one times instead of the couple dozen he had allowed himself. It was an even smaller number for her. And still, she had gotten every detail correct– every line, dot, and hatch in its proper place.

They were his Jotunn markings.

"Should be easy enough. Just lines. You ready, babe?" Delilah nodded with a smile, sparing a glance at Loki, who had turned into a shocked statue beside her.

Cali worked easily, dipping into ink and turning Lilah's arm as she finished sections of drawing. When Loki finally caught his breath, he let out a shuddering gasp, burying his face into the crook of her neck and muttering in Old Norse that she could not understand at a speed she could not have hoped to decipher. Lilah's free hand rested on the back of his neck, stroking the skin at the nape until he sighed. When Cali finished, there were blue lines that perfectly matched his own, from her elbow down to her wrist and a single set of runes, his runes, on her ring finger.

"I know I'm brilliant! Please, please. No autographs. " Cali joked, breaking into the unaddressed tension, extending her arms as if she were holding court on an adoring kingdom with her needle still in hand. "What about you, lover boy? I'd love to sink my teeth into that perfect ivory."

Loki leaned back slightly in alarm. "She likes virgin skin. It's a problem we're dealing with," Delilah clarified, patting his arm gently, though her attention was placed solely on her own. "He doesn't have virgin skin, though, Cali."

The blue contrasted off her skin and made it glow, and whenever she came into contact with his, a tendril of green connected her fingers to his body. It was the same as when they had played around with their shared magical potential. The side-effect was not worrying as much as it was fascinating and the short glimpses of thoughts she was able to grasp from his tumultuous mind were intriguing. It was safe to say that Loki liked the tattoos, if the flood of excitement and arousal that made her shudder was any indication.

"How many scars can he actually have?"

"A hundred and thirty-two the last time I checked," Lilah muttered under her breath, not in any way pleased.

Loki chuckled, basking in her irritation at his lack of wellbeing and pressed a hot, affectionate kiss against her throat. "I wouldn't know where to start."

Cali grinned, eyes glued onto the Asgardian with a spark glowing within. "Lilah, can you go get us some sodas from next door? I need to have a chat with Mister Odinson."

"Oh, god. Please don't break him. I'm rather fond of the dork," she warned, but hopped off the cot, regardless. Turning to Loki, she cupped his face and slanted her lips against his with a sigh.

"Do I get a kiss?"

"She's exhausting, isn't she?" Loki snickered at the question. "I truly hate her, but she's like a bad penny. Just keeps coming back." Delilah sighed. "Just the one. Greedy." She casually pecked Cali on the lips, much to Loki's amusement, and mussed her hair. "Cherry Coke?" Cali nodded. "Lemonade?" Loki offered a half smile in response before she turned toward the door. "Seriously. Don't break him."

The pair watched Lilah disappear for a long moment. "Now that teacher is gone, we can really get to business." Cali sat back, crisscrossing her legs on the chair and propping her head on her hands. "Tell me about your life."

"I-I was born in Jotunnheim, raised in Asgard as a Prince, and then I went off kilter, it seems." Loki was tense once more. The question was simple enough, but he worried that it was to corner him into some admission of guilt in order to remove him from Delilah.

Cali's grin softened, unguarded and pure. "I know all that. I don't want the ancient history. I want to know about you. What do you like? What do you dislike? What's your favorite color? Does it drive you insane when Delilah stares at wall for an hour and a half because she's trying to figure something out, but you secretly think she had a stroke?"

Loki groaned. "Oh, blessed Norns! I thought she had died once. How can she remain so still?"

"Beats the hell out of me. I can barely sit still long enough to tattoo someone!" They fell silent for a long while before Cali prompted again. "So?"

He sighed, spilling the first thought that rose to his head. "I teach small children who think I am the most awesome thing they've ever seen. I sort of love it." Cali cooed immediately. "I live with other equally strange individuals and I don't always mind it. My favorite color, despite popular belief, is yellow because that was the color Delilah was wearing when I realized I was stupidly in love with her." Cali shifted in her seat, picking up her tablet and making several notes on it with her digital pen. Loki slumped comfortably in his seat clicking his tongue while he thought. "I dislike most current music, including whatever seizure garbage this is." Cali snickered, stopping briefly to flip him off. "I love laying in the sun and feeling, somehow, that I belong. I love playing chess and the fact that Delilah somehow beats me every single time." He chuckled. "I love that spoiled cat of hers… ours… who doesn't tolerate anyone even being upset at Lilah."

"That's all… ridiculously sweet." Cali leaned forward and glanced out the door before she lowered her voice. "Lilah needed someone to take care of her. Someone she'd let take care of her. Tony tried, but he never got very far. She'd work herself to the bone because she was so grateful."

The knowing grin came out more like a pained grimace. He had no tolerance for knowing his most favorite creature had ever suffered a day in her life. "Yes, we've talked about it, Stark and I."

"I'm really happy you happened to her when you did." She sighed. "I think the other you had a crush on her, but he was emotionally not all there. I met him a couple of times. Nice enough, just… a lot going on." She gestured to her temple and sighed. "You are very different people. It's astounding."

Loki chuckled. "I'll take it as a compliment."

"It is." Smiling, she worried her lower lip. "You think you can use that abracadabra stuff to inconvenience Lilah until we're done?"

His eyebrows rose in pleased surprise, a grin blossoming seemingly from his chest up. "Oh, it'll be my pleasure. What do you have in mind?"

Delilah walked in an unacceptable time later with three cups. She was already calling her complaints through the empty shop when she walked into the back room. Loki was just doing up his buttons and Cali was cleaning up her station with a secretive smile on her face.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing, dove. All ready to go when you are." He swept down and kissed her soundly before he sipped on his lemonade. Delilah knew that roguish grin.

"I hate you both. How dare you turn him against me?"

"I didn't! I just… had a thought," Cali defended, wrapping Delilah in a hug, hoping to squeeze herself back into her good books. They embraced for a long time, to the point that Loki wondered if he should go take a walk while they had their moment. Fortunately, Cali pulled back and pressed a kiss to her temple. "I love you, Li."

"Love you, too, Cal." She sighed. "What do I owe you?"

Cali scoffed. "How dare you? Those are fighting words in this house, Delilah!" The two giggled, play arguing amongst each other before Delilah admitted defeat.

"Fine! Jesus! Do whatever you want. I don't even care." She gave Cali an extra hug. "Next week?" The other nodded.

--

Loki breathed deep and even, arms like chains around her frame. He had fallen asleep after kissing over every raw bit of skin that was now pulsing and swollen after she removed her bandages. After leaving Cali's, Delilah had taken Loki around the city, to her favorite quiet spots, and ended with dinner at her a tiny hole-in-the-wall that made the best pasta either had ever had. He had been very quiet about what had happened while she was out getting drinks, and she was sure she wouldn't hear a damn thing until she stumbled upon it herself.

Smiling to herself, she pressed her lips to his exposed neck, watching his expression shift with every kiss. Loki shuddered, muttering something in his sleep. He stretched, shifting in bed, though still keeping an arm around her waist, as if she'd disappear if he didn't. Out of the corner of her eye, something caught her attention. On his side, over the ribs she could distinctly remember having broken the first time they sparred, lay the outline of a pawn with a Queen's crown. Its black and gold seemed to glitter off of Loki's skin, or perhaps it was tiny dotted stars around it that made it seem so. Her fingers lightly trailed over outline on their own accord.

Loki inhaled deeply, rousing awake, and watching her through half-lidded eyes. "Took you long enough." She slanted her lips against his, and he blinked rapidly awake. He groaned, twisting his fingers into her hair and peppering her face with kisses. "What have I done correctly? I want to be able to do it again later."

"I love you so much, Loki." Her voice was thick with emotion and the corners of her eyes leaked hot, heavy tears.

"Love, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. You're just…adorable and I love you so much and I just…"

Loki cupped her cheek, brushing tears away with his thumb. "Delilah, sweetheart," he cooed softly, smiling at the doe-eyed stare she was giving him. "I know. I know all of that. Everything you're trying to tell me. I feel it, I hear it." He kissed away a fresh wave of tears that made tracks down her cheeks. "Rest assured, I love you as wildly as you love me. Even when it doesn't make a lick of sense." He held her close, despite the sting on his lower ribs from doing so. "I love you with everything I am, including the parts I hate and you constantly remind me you adore," he whispered, tapping her left arm and the frost giant markings. "Have you ever had any doubt?"

"Never."

"Don't cry my darling girl. Never for love. Or for thinking you don't express it enough." He hugged her tightly and they lay in silence until they could feel their heartbeats sync up. Eventually, they slipped into slumber in a tangle of limbs.