#yeah that’s when I seriously wondered if I would actually be able to finish this as it stands

[imogenkol]

Ok so I mayyyy have fucked my first playthrough of bg3 because I’m an impatient bitch when I get a new game and I like to steamroll through the main plot during my first go of it and I’m used to being able to go back and do side quests whenever I want but now it’s the beginning of act 3 and I feel like I missed important decisions/quests and I am already fighting for my life harder than usual 🙃

[papercorgiworld]

Listening in and panicking

Mattheo, any Tom, Enzo, Theo, Blaise and Draco

Your boyfriend overhears you say something that makes him believe he’s not the one you planned to be with and panics, with each having their own dramatic reaction.

Thanks for the request! Usually it’s the reader that overhear something, so it was fun to focus on the guys overhearing something, misunderstanding it and panicking about it. I actually almost had this finished last weekend but Draco was being difficult and it took me another week to finish this! So I’m happy it’s here! Sending you all a lot of love and kisses. Happy readings!

Mattheo

That the quidditch game hadn’t gone well was a light way of putting it and Mattheo really needed you to brush through his hair so his muscles would instantly relax. For the past few hours Mattheo had been contemplating whether or not to crash your girls' night. He knew he could be demanding and didn’t want to be the asshole boyfriend who ruined this for you. He was especially afraid of your judgy friends who probably didn’t hold Mattheo in a high regard as a boyfriend. However, he was damn near losing it when he heard the Weasley’s fireworks. “They won a game. Not the cup.” He hissed, throwing away his cigarette and surrendering to the desire to be with you.

He could hear the giggling of girls when he approached Pansy’s dorm and took a deep breath as he raised his hand to give a gentle knock on the door. 

Mattheo halts his movement as he hears your voice, he listens intently but is only able to make out some words. “What?! Someone like Cedric? How did you end up dating Mattheo Riddle of all people?” Pansy’s sharp voice sucks out all of Mattheo’s breath and he’s nailed to the floor as he listens to your voice. He can’t really hear all you’re saying because your voice is soft and further away than Pansy’s, but he does make out one thing. “Yeah, sometimes I wonder how I ended up falling in love with someone like Matt.” 

Mattheo’s distrusting nature took this entirely the wrong way and he didn’t even bother to listen in further. After those words his feet take him far away from you. His heart aches as he now believes he’s not the guy you want to be with while you are all he wants for the rest of his life. He feels suffocated by the fear of losing you and rushes out of the castle. 

It’s Fred that spots Mattheo’s appalled face first. “Still not over your epic loss.” He snickers, not aware that Mattheo is more than pleased to run into an excuse to punch. “Get off of my brother!” George screeches before taking a swing at Mattheo. Fuck, I forgot there are always two of them.

A soft knock at the door has all the girls narrow their eyes at the door. “Are we expecting anyone else?” Pansy looks disgusted at the thought of some loser girl wanting to join her elite girls’ night, but as she gets up to open the door it’s Theodore who pushes it open just wide enough to stick his head through it. “You better have a damn good excuse Nott.” Pansy crosses her arms with a death glare that would match your boyfriend’s. “Mattheo.” Theo simply states making your heart skip a beat not just at your boyfriend’s name but at the seriousness of Theo’s voice. “That guy is always in some kind of trouble and not an excuse to come in here.” Pansy snaps, far from interested in whatever mess Mattheo had gotten himself into, but you had already gotten up from your spot among the soft pillows. Pansy lets her head fall, not pleased that you were leaving, but you just give her an apologetic smile and pull your hoodie over your head.

Mattheo rolls his eyes when he sees you enter the hospital wing, but he also couldn’t help but return his gaze to you. In short pyjama shorts and an oversized hoodie that Mattheo didn’t recognize was his, you looked so innocent and for a moment he forgot that you broke his heart. You took a seat next to him on the hospital bed, while studying his injuries. “You’re an idiot.” You whisper, but Mattheo just snorts and lets his head fall back into the pillow, staring up at the ceiling. “Yeah well, apologies that I’m no Cedric Diggory.” Mattheo says with a quiet but poisonous ring to it. 

Your eyebrows knit together for a few seconds before it hits you. “Unbelievable.” You chuckle and Mattheo looks up at you with pained and confused eyes. How could you think this was funny when it was heartbreaking to him. 

“You sure are no Cedric Diggory.” The soft laugh that follows your words puts Mattheo at ease. “You’re better than anything I had ever hoped for. So Matt, don’t ever jump to conclusions as ridiculous as the ones circling your head now. I love you and I don’t think I could ever love someone else.” Mattheo stares at you with a clenched jaw and glassy eyes. “I really hope so, because I don’t want to lose you.” His voice is raspy and you give him a soft smile, before leaning in. Your boyfriend is more than pleased to feel your touch, deepening the kiss as soon as your lips brush his. 

Tom

You and Tom had been dating for a while and it was clear that you were his girlfriend and he was your boyfriend, but Tom was not one to put labels on relationships especially with all dark things surrounding him. He was losing his patience with Hogwarts and its professor questioning his ambitions. His always stoic and charming attitude had almost been broken by Dumbledore’s intrusive questions. It had upset him  to such a level that he needed you around regardless of your plans.

Agitated and in need of your calming voice Tom is ready to burst in and ruin girls night when he overhears you and your friends banther. “What, him? He’s nothing like Tom?” Some girl squeals. “He’s the exact opposite.” Another laughs. “Yeah, sometimes I wonder how I ended up falling in love with someone like Tom Riddle.” His eyes go dark the instant he hears you say his name. His tongue moves as his mind rages with absolute fury for you. You of all people, you that he needed more than anyone. He wasn’t even your first choice. Suddenly all your friends in the room faint and you jump up, immediately checking for a pulse. It’s in that silent moment of relief when you realise that your friends are just asleep that you hear footsteps outside.

You swing the door open with your wand ready in hand, but when you spot your boyfriend you relax. “You can’t just hex people.” You sigh, you tense up a bit when Tom turns to face you with emotionless eyes. “I can, I'm a wizard.” You knew better than to mess with him when he was as cold as he was now. “What’s going on?” You calmly ask, walking towards him. “Explain to me what you meant with ‘someone like Tom Riddle’?” A featherlight huff of air escapes your lips as you meet his eyes, you can’t keep a smile from tugging at the corner of your mouth. “Someone who hexes four people to sleep because he’ll take any excuse to believe that he is unloved, rather than listen to the sentence as a whole. I fell in love with you Tom Riddle and I don’t intend to fall out of love with you.” Your boyfriend feels almost attacked by your words. You love me? “You mean love as in the big sense of the word?” Tom’s voice is hesitant, failing to sound demanding or charming. “Tom, the word love has no small sense of the word. It’s a word that’s always true and always full of emotion.” 

“Should I wake up your friends?” Tom offers, feeling a bit embarrassed at how he overreacted. You chuckle and walk over to him and he’s happy to wrap his arms around you as you think over his offer. “Nah, I much rather spend the night with you.” His lips search yours for a tender kiss. I love you too.

Enzo

Your boyfriend was insulted when you picked Pansy over him. We could be having a bath together, but no girls’ night. I need a new girlfriend… Who am I kidding, I need just mine asap. Ignoring his friends warnings about how dangerous Pansy could be when someone interrupted her gossip nights, Enzo basically ran to Pansy’s dorm, like he needed you for urgent matters. Then again, in Enzo’s book intimate quality time with you was always an urgent matter. He needed you and he would have you now. “Yeah, sometimes I wonder how I ended up falling in love with someone like Enz.” Enzo’s happy puppy face falss the second he recognises it was you talking. 

The next morning an unwashed, unshaven, not properly dressed Enzo is picking at his food when you jump in to give him a kiss on the cheek. He lets you, but he doesn’t react and you frown, looking over at his friends you see them raise their shoulders. Odd. You shuffle between him and Blaise and turn to face your boyfriend. “Talk to me Enz?” “Not hungry.” He states and without even giving you one look he gets up from the table and leaves. You are absolutely frozen in your seat at what had just happened. “What did you do?” Mattheo asks, unable to hide his curiosity and amusement. No one had ever seen Enzo like this so everyone at the table was dying to know what had happened, but you didn’t have a clue. 

You take breakfast on the go and follow your boyfriend. Quickly stuffing your mouth as you head for his room. You enter and see him lying on his bed with his back turned towards you. “Enz, talk to me, what’s wrong?” You get no response except for a lazy shrug so you decide to move closer and sit by his side. As soon as you do so he turns around so again his back is facing towards you. At this point you were getting slightly annoyed with his behaviour. “Enz-” “Just break up with me already!” Enzo snaps and he jumps up heading for the door.

When you see him angrily swing open the door you snap. “Sit your ass down, Berkshire!” Enzo stops in his tracks and for a second no one moves, not you, not Enzo, not the people in the slytherin common room who were absolutely terrified of what was about to go down. Enzo closes the door and turns to face you. You immediately notice his tired eyes and you walk over to him. “Enz-” Your soft voice breaks your boyfriend’s stubborn attitude. “I’m nothing like the type of guy you wanted… you just accidentally ended up with me.” Your eyebrows knit together and Enzo explains himself further. “I overheard you and your friends talk last night, I wasn’t listening in or anything, I just missed you.” His voice sounds painfully broken and your grab his hands meet his eyes with a sincerity. “I didn’t accidentally end up with you. You charmed me. You spend days flirting your way into my life, my head and my bed… You made me fall in love with you and oh boy did I fall for you, Enzo Berkshire, you and all your charm. Did first year me think to ever end up with you? No. Do I ever want anyone else? No! You are the one, Enzo.” A small smirk tugs on his lips as he can’t hide his happiness anymore. “I’m the one?” Your boyfriend questions sheepishly and you nod, making him smile brightly. “I’m the one.” He repeats, eyebrows wiggling, pleased with that new piece of information. 

Theo

Stealing you away from a girls night wouldn’t be easy, but Theodore had come prepared. He hated himself for being this needy and this cheesy, but he flicked away his cigarette anyways and picked up a small box filled with your favourite snacks. His friends and everyone else at Hogwarts were starting to see that the tough guy act that Theodore had been keeping up for years was cracking as his softer side was becoming more and more visible everyday all because of you, the love of his life. Walking towards Pansy’s dorm a small smile creeps up your boyfriend’s lips as he stares at the snacks in his hands. Salazar, I’m whipped for this girl and I don’t even mind. Your voice interrupts his thoughts and his eyes lift to the door in front of him. “Yeah, sometimes I wonder how I ended up falling in love with someone like Theo.” Pansy snickers “Yeah, he’s nothing like the guy you just described. So weird you fell for him.” You chuckle at Pansy’s words. “Silly, I know.” The word silly rings in Theodore’s mind as he speedwalks away. 

“I so want to marry him.” You laugh and continue dreaming out loud. “He would be such a sweet and sexy husband… oh and omg he would be the greatest dad to our kids. I just know he’ll be so invested with their dreams and hobbies.” You roll on your back and stare up at the ceiling, when you sigh in a dreamy way Pansy smashes a pillow in your face. “Hello! Girls night, stop dreaming about your boyfriend… and instead tell us nasty sex stories or something.” Everyone burst out laughing and you spend the night not having a clue that in Theodore’s mind you two were done.

The next morning you are still unaware of your break up and instead fall in love even more when you find a box filled with your favourite snacks outside of Pansy’s dorm. “That’s just disgustingly adorable.” Pansy jokes as you walk in the direction of the great hall. “Husband material.” You sing and smile at Pansy. However, you stop in your tracks when you spot Theo lazily hanging over some girl's shoulder joking with her about something. He notices you and you want to smile, but he instantly looks away making you frown. You and Pansy walk over to him, but your heart already knows something is wrong. When you stand beside him Theodore reluctantly pulls his attention away from the pretty girl at the table to give you an agitated look. “Look (y/n), I heard you last night, I’m not the guy you planned on ending up with and I don’t mind, but let’s not waste any more time on this relationship and just go our own way.” You stand there absolutely perplexed and you’re absolutely horrified to hear some girls giggling at the scene in front of them. When you finally open your mouth Theo doesn’t even let you speak. “It’s been fun, but really I’m busy here.” 

Never had anyone stomped on your heart and humiliated you like this. With teary eyes you turn around and rush out of the great hall, only to hear Ron hushed voice, “That was brutal.”, followed by loud smack, probably Hermoine. 

Theodore didn’t even look as you walked away, but Pansy’s silent but demanding presence forces him to again look away from the girl he’s trying to play. When Theo looks up Pansy wastes no time. “You absolute baboon!” There’s a silence as she just looks at him like he’s vermin. “First of all you don’t eavesdrop.” She smacks him on his arm. “Secondly, you missed out on the part where she said she wants to marry you.” Smacks him again. “Contrary to her opinion, I think you would be a shit dad considering you are a god awful boyfriend.” Smacks him even harder. “Go apologise!” “But she said-” “Apologise!” Pansy’s shriek horrified everyone in the great hall, but Theodore just stood there confused. He had been so convinced you didn’t really want him, you had just fallen for him but it was never supposed to last and now Pansy’s telling him that you want the same as him, marriage and a life together.

Slowly and slightly terrified Theo opens the door to your room. He’s immediately met with the sound of your sobs and when he spots your figure curled up into a ball his heart breaks even harder than it had done yesterday. You turn around expecting to see Pansy, but you’re shocked to see an apologetic looking Theodore slowly walking towards you. “No!” You snap at him and get up. “Get out!” You yell and throw a pillow at his head. “Please listen, I made a mistake.” You grab the table lamp on your night stand. “Yes, you did by coming here!” He’s quick to grab your hand and keep you from smashing the lamp on his head. “Don’t. You love this lamp.” You girth your teeth, of course Theodore knows you love that lamp, he knows everything about you. You start sobbing again and Theo struggles to find words so he just gets to his knees. “It was a misunderstanding. I thought I was just a fling to you and it broke my heart… and I did a dumb thing.” Your eyes go wide. “A fling? You thought you were a fling?” You can’t believe your dumb ass boyfriend. Theodore takes your hand in his and kisses it softly. “Please forgive me.” He begs in a soft voice. You look at him sitting on his knees, holding your hand, looking lost. “Please.” He urges and you start laughing. “There are no words to describe you, Theodore Nott.” Theo gets up and smiles. “How about future husband? Does that describe me?” He pulls you closer and a cheeky smile forms on his lips. You loved him, but forced your smile into a line. “I’m still mad.” You state and your boyfriend’s confidence fades. “Obviously. Just let me make this up to you.” You better!

Blaise

“I dare you.” M attheo whispered near Blaise’s ear for the millionth time. “Still not playing.” Blaise sighs and Mattheo growls in annoyance. “Why?” Blaise looks up from his book. “I’m not ruining my girlfriend’s girl’s night because you want me to spy on your crush… I also don’t believe they would even let me stay.” Mattheo huffs. “I don’t have a crush, it’s research, and you should at least try to get in there.” Blaise shakes his head no. “I’ll do your homework.” Mattheo offers. “I’ll do it better.” Blaise sings, making Theo chuckle. “I’ll clean your side of the dorm.” Blaise looks up at Mattheo. “Have you cleaned a thing in your life?” Mattheo thinks about it and quickly realises that he needs to think of a different offer. “I’ll shut up for at least 24h hours if you try to get in.” “Oh, please Blaise, do me a favour and just go, so Matt will be silent.” Blaise sighs and gets up. “Fine, I’ll take one for the team.” Draco and Theo both cheer, making Mattheo frown.

As Blaise approaches Pansy’s dorm he hears several girls snicker and followed by lots of chatter that he can’t make out, until he’s right in front of the door. “Yeah, sometimes I wonder how I ended up falling in love with someone like Blaise.” Without a second though Blaise turns on his heels and walks back to his friends. Once there his friends all look up to see his horrified expectation. “You okay mate?” Mattheo asks worriedly and Theodore puts his book down to listen, but Blaise can’t form an answer. What does that mean? Why does she wonder about how she ended up with me? 

Blaise just stares in front of him like he was solving some physics problem and not being very successful. Draco takes a piece of parchment from his study notes and forms it into a ball of paper before throwing it at Blaise who seems to wake up from his thoughts and again turn on his heels. “Odd.” Theodore says and Draco shrugs, but they all continue with their business. 

Blaise is back at Pansy’s door and swings it open this time, making all your friends scream for a second. “What the hell, Zabini!” Pansy snaps. “Why do you wonder how you ended up falling in love with someone like me?” Blaise’s eyes focus on you. “What does that mean, someone like me? You mean my colour, my nerdiness, sporty side, or that I’m a bad boy type of guy? And more importantly, are we done? I mean, I would like to know if you’re breaking up with me.” Pansy crosses her arms and groans, dropping her head before snapping at Blaise. “Did she not just say that she fell in love with you! Seriously, if you eavesdrop, at least do it right!” 

“I’m not breaking up with you!” Blaise sighs in relief and you get up from your seat. Blaise looks around and feels a bit embarrassed when he notices all your friends saw his moment of panic. “And what I meant with someone like you was someone as cool and composed as you… but I guess that facade just fell.” Blaise chuckles as you wrap your arms around his neck. “I guess I panicked for a moment, but that was only because I thought you were going to break up with me. Now I’m cool again.” You  smile and lick your lips. “It was kinda sexy.” You whisper and his hands make their way to your hips as you kiss him. 

“Ew! Get that dude out of my girl’s night!” Pansy expresses her annoyances making you both smile into the kiss. 

Draco

“Girls like it when you interrupt their little parties and show them love in front of all their friends.” Enzo frowns at Draco’s statement. “Your girl might like it but Pansy will not.” Draco huffs and straightens his shoulders. “I’m not afraid of her.” This false play of bravery makes Enzo snort. “Even Matt is scared of Pansy and his father is the dark lord.” Enzo argues, but Draco just waves his arguments away and heads for Pansy’s dorm. 

“The guy you describe is nothing like Draco!” Pansy squeals, shocked by the person you had just described. “Yeah, sometimes I wonder how I ended up falling in love with someone like Malfoy.” You say rather serious. Draco considers whether to continue listening in, but his ego is too bruised. I’m not the kind of guy she wanted… Did she start dating me out of pity or something…

After a few seconds Enzo sees Draco return, clearly upset. “Told you, Pansy’s scaryyy.” Enzo sings as Draco just speedwalks past him and Theodore lounging in the common room. Both Slytherins shrug, but make no move to check on Draco. 

The next morning you joyfully walk, almost skip, to your boyfriend who is rather depressingly resting his head in hand as he stares endlessly in front of him. “Bad night?” You ask in a gentle whisper and his eyes move to yours, but he doesn’t answer, only the corners of his mouth twitch in response. The heartbrokenness is obvious in his eyes and your joy fades away as you sit beside him. “Who is he?” You almost hurt yourself trying to figure out who Draco is asking about. “The guy you actually like?” You raise your eyebrows and his absurd question. “Oh that guy, total moron… YOU! You dummy! I like you, you know that.” You laugh at Draco’s silliness but he doesn’t even smile so after a few seconds your smile fades as well. “I heard you talk yesterday… about this other guy… that’s nothing like me.” There’s a long silence as it takes you a moment to figure out what your boyfriend is talking about. When you do, you immediately want to assure him, but interrupts you before you get the chance. “I just need to know if I still have a chance with you…” His eyes look lifeless as he confesses his fear of losing you and you. 

You sit up straight and cup his cheeks. “Draco Malfoy, I love YOU. There is no other guy! You hear me?” Even though you’re holding his face in your hands he shakes no. “You said-” You sigh. “Draco, before I came to Hogwarts I had a crush on another guy who was nothing like you, but as soon as I met your dumb ass I thought that has to be the love of my life… weird but true.” Draco stares deep into your eyes in an attempt to check if you’re telling the truth. “So you’re not dumping for some tanned six pack bodybuilder type?” You laugh out loud and Enzo and Mattheo raise their eyebrows as they approach you. “Draco is an idiot.” You say smiling. “I could have told you that before you started dating.” Mattheo jokes sitting down opposite of Draco. “Looking for a new boyfriend?” Enzo quips, wiggling his eyebrows at you. “I’m single and ready to mingle.” Draco throws a pancake at Enzo who dodges it elegantly. “Don’t even think about it Enzo! I’m an idiot but not that big an idiot to let her go.” You smile at your boyfriend and he kisses you gently. 

[zeltqz]

I can’t stop thinking about Rin eating his girl out for a first time and cumming in his pants without even noticing. He would be so awkward and anxious ab it but so cute RAAAHHH

“I got a question,” you asked, turning to look at Rindou. 

“Shoot.” The two of you were on your bed, in the midst of cuddling, when you popped the question,

“Why haven’t you eaten me out yet?”

Rindou glanced at you. “Because I’ve never done it before.”

“You’re fucking lying.” Your mouth was open, shocked, as you sat up, looking down at the boy next to you. 

“I’m not.” Rindou had one arm behind his head and shrugged, the other fiddling with the blanket. “Why is that so hard to believe?”

“Because you’re you,” you stated dumbly yet seriously, and Rindou simply arched his brow at you. 

“What?”

You huffed. “Want me to be blunt about it?”

“Sure.”

“How do you have the reputation you have and tell me right now you’ve never given a girl head?”

He shrugged again and you groaned, wondering if you were just making a big deal over nothing. You moved to lay back down and stared at your ceiling, coming to the conclusion that no, you weren’t in fact overreacting, yes this was weird, and no amount of him acting nonchalant could change that. 

“I’m sorry but it just doesn’t make sense!” you continued. Beside you, Rindou groaned. 

“If I knew you were gonna make a big deal out of this then I wouldn’t have told you.”

“I’m not making fun of you or anything. It’s just like wow. You know?”

He scrunched his nose. “Not really.”

“How would you react if I told you that I’d never sucked a dick before?”

“But you have. Mine,” he said with a smirk. You rolled your eyes.

“Well yeah. But that’s not the point.”

He hummed thoughtfully. “I guess it'd be kinda weird.”

You interrupted him. “See—!”

“But it’s two different things,” he finished and your mouth slammed shut. “We aren’t the same.”

“What?” Dimly, you knew where he was going with this, and had to prepare yourself for the amount of bullshit he was about to spew out of his mouth. 

“Cause like. Blowjobs are a necessity in sex. How else are we supposed to get hard? It’s different because girls get wet regardless. I don’t need to eat you out to get you wet.”

You pinched your nose bridge. “That’s not the point.”

“What is the point then?”

“It’s about making us feel good.”

“You feel good during the actual sex, no?” he asked, turning to face you on his side. 

“Before you, not really. Maybe the guys I was with just sucked.”

“Unfortunate for you,” he chuckled, laughing when you threatened to suffocate him with your pillow. “Really though that’s unfortunate for you.”

“Yeah I know,” you sulked. “I’m over it now though. But I guess I understand you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like.” You also turned to face him, playing with the hem of his shirt. “I’m not a big fan of giving blowjobs cause they’re always rough with it and my jaw and throat hurts for days after. So I understand you kinda.”

“It’s not that I hate doing it. I just don’t see the point.”

“But whyyy ? Because it doesn’t benefit you?”

Rindou rubbed a hand over his face. “You’re making me sound like a dick.”

“Not me. Your responses are.”

“What, so you want me to eat you out? Is that where you’re going with this?” He looked you dead in the eye and you stammered. 

“W—what? Where’d you get that from?”

“You keep obsessing over the fact that I never gave head before.”

“Uh no! It’s just shocking, that’s all,” you defended, getting marginally more irritated when he still looked like he didn’t believe you. Scoffing, you rolled your eyes. “That doesn’t matter anyway. You wouldn’t be able to handle me,” you teased, a cheekily proud smile on your face as you shifted to lay back down.

“Girl, stop playing around and come here.” He put a gentle, but firm hand on your lower back and tugged you towards him. You kept laughing and brushed some hair out of his face, your hand lingering on his cheek as your eyes roamed all over his face. His eyes were a shade of violet you’d never seen before and the way he was looking at you right now has your stomach tightening in knots. 

His hand slid from your lower back, a warm heat following his palm as he skimmed over your ass, grabbing your thigh and jerked your leg over his hips. He leaned in and kissed you. It was soft and sweet and made you lose yourself in it for a moment before you came to a realisation and reluctantly pulled away. 

“Wait, you were serious?”

“Yeah?” He looked down at your chest, hand moving to your waist. “You thought I wasn’t?”

“Yeah. It just seems a bit…I dunno. I don’t want you to feel forced into doing it,” you whispered. He rolled his eyes and sat up, your back moving to lay flat as he rolled on top of you.

“Nobody can force me to do anything” he stated, and kissed you again. 

“I know but—” You barely had time to respond as his lips pressed against yours again. His hips lowered against yours and the growing erection in his shorts brushing against your inner thighs had you humming reverently into his mouth. “This feels different though,” you finished, out of breath as you finally gathered the strength to break away.

“Doesn’t have to be. It can be an experiment or something.” His head dipped down to leave a trail of ticklish kisses on your neck, body bowing up to press your chest against his. “Besides, I kinda wanna know how it feels now,” he mumbled against your skin.

“Really?” you asked, mildly embarrassed of the way your voice went high for a moment.

“Mmhm.” He sat up and grabbed your hips, lifted them up at an angle to help slide your shorts down, your panties following shortly after.

You didn’t have time to feel embarrassed as he spread your legs open, running his hands up and down your thighs as he eyed your exposed pussy. “Fuck,” he breathed, setting your hips back down on the bed.

“Rindou,” you whispered as he set himself between your legs. His eyes lingered on your beautiful pussy, how it was already wet, slick sticking to your folds. He licked his lips. He looked up at you and you smiled shyly, fighting the urge to hide your face in the pillow at the feeling of being so exposed to him. 

He gripped onto your thighs, nails digging into your skin as he dipped his head down, licking a long, experimental stripe up your pussy. Your mouth fell open, a slow, long, shaky breath escaping you. 

He gauged your reaction, licking another stripe just to watch your head fall back to the pillow, hands scrambling to touch his hair. He grinned and moved closer to your clit, throbbing and shiny from his saliva. The sound that escaped you when he sealed his lips around your clit and sucked was enough to instantly make him hard, his name a long breathy moan on your lips that had him fighting to grind futilely into your bed to relieve some pressure.

He gained some more confidence and began sucking and licking at your pussy, the taste of you sweet and addictive on his tongue. Rindou wasn’t sure what he was expecting but it wasn’t this. He found himself with this desperate desire to pull as many sounds from you as possible. His tongue, flicking repeatedly against your clit, slid down to your hole, hesitating for a moment before gently pushing it through and the way you keened had him groaning into your cunt. He tongue licked in every direction inside you, fucking in and out, and making the wettest mess on your pussy. His nose brushed against your clit as he moved his face side to side, taking in your scent.

Rindou wasn’t an idiot. He’d seen porn before. He knows how to make a girl scream with his cock, and fingers, but never his tongue. Before he’d never seen the appeal of eating pussy, and before your conversation today, he wouldn’t have been open to the idea. But laying here now, the bottom half of his face drenched in your wetness, and your thighs squishing against the sides of his head, he realised he didn’t want to stop. 

Not even as you came, your walls pulsing tight against his tongue, his arms wrapping around both your thighs to keep you down even as your hips began to twitch. He exploded in his pants. He didn’t even realise, not as his mind was distracted with repeating your moans on loop, on keeping you down on the bed as you tried to squirm away from his tongue. He kept licking and sucking, and kissing your folds until they were puffy and overstimulated. 

He wanted to see your face, what kind of expression you were making but you refused to look at him, two hands covering the sight. He closed his eyes and sucked your clit, feeling it throb in his mouth. Everything was so addictive, the taste of you, the feeling of digging his hands into your thighs, the way your hips couldn’t stay still.

“I can’t—Rin, please,” you begged, voice worn out. “It’s too much.”

“Just a bit more,”  he mumbled, pushing your legs to your chest. He readjusted himself to lick deeper into your pussy, holding your legs by the ankles as you struggled to take anymore of this. “Fuck you taste so good.” He let go of one ankle and spread your folds apart with two fingers, flicking his tongue against your pussy. His face was buried in your sex, eyes squeezed impossibly shut as his mouth sloppily kissed and licked like a starved man.

He hummed and smiled when your entire body jolted. Your hand flew to your mouth and your back arched, gripping the sheets as you came for the second time, your entire body buzzing and you shook, toes curling as you rocked through it. 

He sat up and you watched through tired eyes as he swiped a hand over his face. You raised your arms up and he lowered himself until you wrapped your arms around his neck. He slid his hands under your thighs, lifting you up, and you squealed, wrapping your legs around his hips. 

You pulled him in for a kiss, his tongue tangling with yours. All you could taste was yourself and your face heated up when you realised. He pulled your bottom lip into your mouth and bit it, your moan stuttering off into a groan. You broke the kiss and looked down as he settled you back on the bed, your hand drawn to the hard bulge in his boxers. 

He hissed when you grabbed his cock, then froze as your hand touched something wet. You slowly peeled your hand away and brought it up to your face, your eyes going wide at the strings of cum sticking to your palm.

“Did you…?”

“What?” Rindou looked at you confused before he felt a wet patch in his pants. “Oh my fucking god.” 

“Did you seriously bust in your pants without noticing?”

“Laugh and I’ll kill you.” Your face contorted as you tried to keep from smiling, the facade breaking as you burst into a fit of giggles and laughter, holding your stomach.

“I said you couldn’t handle me, and I was right!”

He rubbed a hand over his face, feeling blood rush to his cheeks turning them to a sensitive pink hue. “Please stop laughing.”

“Oh my god.” You smiled at him, the expression so endearing for a minute he forgot his humiliation until you started giggling again, seeing his blush. 

“I swear I didn’t even feel it,” he sighed, flopping down next to you. You pulled him closer, wrapping your arms around his neck. 

“I won’t tell anyone don’t worry. It was cute.”

It definitely wasn’t his finest moment, and he still doesn’t know how or why his body reacted that way, but the fact remains that this moment will be engraved in his memory every single time he eats pussy in the foreseeable future.

“Oh my god,” he groaned, covering his face, ears heating up when you started cackling again.

“Stop laughing right now before I bring up the time you almost puked when sucking me off.” Your laughter immediately died as you stared at him, his smirk only growing. “Or the time you farted when on top. Or the time you—”

“Finish the last one and I’ll kill you,” you threatened, voice serious.

His mouth was still open, his eyebrows raising as he gauged your reaction. “When you burped in the middle of making out,” he finished and you sat up quickly, smothering him in the face with a  pillow.

[talaok]

I was thinking about the reader having a close guy friend who has a crush on her and it makes pedro jealous and angry that why the reader can't realize it?

pairing: Pedro Pascal x reader

warnings: angst, jealousy

"You know, I was thinking that tomorrow we could go to that sushi place you like" Pedro called from the bathroom, as he finished brushing his teeth.

You smiled to yourself as you got into bed before remembering something.

"Tomorrow?" you asked

"yes" He nodded, walking into the bedroom "We haven't gone there in a while"

"It's just...Steve asked me to go out with him tomorrow"

Even if he was turned around, you could see all his muscles tense.

"Steve?"

"yeah," you confirmed, "maybe we could go out the day after tomorrow?"

"Just the two of you?" He ignored your proposal, finally facing you

The question confused you a little bit

"Yup, he said we haven't seen each other in a while and he missed me"

"of course" he chuckled, a trace of bitterness in his tone

"What?" you frowned

"Nothing I'm just wondering if he'll finally use this opportunity to propose"

"What are you talking about baby?"

"oh c'mon you know" 

"no, I don't know" 

He was looking at you as if you had just admitted to not knowing how much 2+2 is.

"y/n listen as much as I'd like to believe you, I know you're way too smart not to know what I'm talking about"

You threw your blanket off your body, suddenly hot.

"Pedro" you stated as calmly as you could "I'm telling you, I have no idea what you're trying to say"

"oh really?" he raised his eyebrows, "you don't know? You don't know why I don't like when you hang out with the same guy who has not missed a single opportunity to tell you how beautiful or amazing or perfect you are? Who texts you 24/7? Who literally comes running whenever you need anything?"

Your mouth was parted but you needed a moment to process his words before being able to come up with some of your own.

"What are talking about?" 

He sighed frustratedly, running a hand through his hair

"I'm talking about the fact that he likes you! That he- actually you know what, I'm talking about the fact that he's in love with you y/n!"

And there it was

It was as if time had stilled, as if the world had stopped spinning.

Why was he getting so angry about this? How long had he been keeping this to himself?

And most importantly-what the actual fuck was he on about?

"Steve is my friend Pedro- I've known him for like six years, just cause he's a good friend doesn't mean he likes me" you sighed "Since when do you get jealous? This is not like you"

"are you serious?" he dropped his hands by his sides "You seriously don't fucking see it?"

"what? What is there to see?" you gestured, getting up from the bed

"y/n he gave you roses on valentines day!" he huffed a laugh raising his head to the ceiling "What friend does that?"

"that-that doesn't mean anything it was just a nice gesture it didn't mean anything"

"of course" he paused a moment before looking at you again, so many emotions clouding his eyes they almost looked a different color "y/n I don't know if you're lying to yourself or if you actually don't see it, but I'm telling you- he likes you"

"wh-" you stuttered, unable to do anything but beg your brain to start working again.

"he looks at you like your an angel sent from heaven y/n" he sighed "and you are, you know that, but I'm the only one who's supposed to feel that way" he said "not- not fucking Steve too"

"he-he's just a friend" you muttered,

you didn't know if you were telling yourself or him anymore

"I know he is" he nodded "but I also know that's not everything he wants to be"

"how-how would you know?"

"Because I'm not blind, baby!" he insisted, getting closer to you "because I would bet a million dollars that if you called him right now and told him you liked him he'd come running!"

"that's not true! We're just friends- he- he doesn't like me that way"

"y/n c'mon!" he groaned "How do you think it makes me feel? To see him drooling over my girlfriend every time we go out?"

"Pedro he doesn't like me!"

"He does! And I'm tired of pretending he doesn't" Frustration was tracing his every word "He needs to get a fucking grip, Someone needs to tell him how things actually are, and if you don't wanna do it then I gladly will"

"what do you even mean?"

"I mean telling him to back off!"

"Pedro I-"

"please-" he stopped you, his voice lower now, more pleading "please don't tell me again that he doesn't like you"

"but-"

"ok how 'bout this" he interrupted you again, "You ask him"

"What?"

"yeah, if you're so sure he doesn't like you why not just ask him?"

"Because... because it's weird"

"it's not weird- and if he's an honest man he'll tell you the truth"

You stared at him

Was he serious?

"Are you being serious?"

"one hundred percent" he nodded "Tomorrow" he stated, "you ask him, and I'm coming too"

"you're not coming"

He cocked an eyebrow "I'll be outside, I don't want him trying any weird shit"

"Pedro..."

"I just- I'm tired of it y/n"

You sighed "fine" before sitting back on the bed, feeling all your energy drained.

He sat beside you after a moment

"How long have you kept this to yourself?" you finally broke the silence, turning to him just to find his gaze already on you.

"Since I met him"

"Pedro...that was 2 years ago" 

"I know"

You paused, again

"You know that I would never cheat on you, right?"

"of course I do" he sighed "It's just- him... I don't like him"

You let out a small laugh "Yeah, I gathered"

"I can't help it" he murmured, his hand going to stroke your cheek "There can only be one man all over you" he smiled a lazy smile "and luckily... that man happens to be me"

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 406: Secret Menu Hero Name

Previously on BnHA: Kacchan was all “NOT EVEN DEATH ITSELF CAN STOP ME!!!” and saved All Might so easily and spectacularly that it immediately became clear why Horikoshi had to keep him on ice for fourteen months straight. All Might was all “thanks for the assist Bakugou-shounen, now please allow me to show my gratitude by lending you my SWEETASS ROBOT ARM that nearly gave makeste a fucking heart attack when she saw it, HOLY SHIT.” Kacchan was all “I JUST LIKE TO SMILE, SMILING’S MY FAVORITE” and he smiled the BIGGEST EVER and indeed has literally not STOPPED smiling ever since, and my heart is warm. <3333

Today on BnHA: A jubilant menace stirs in the air. A chill runs down Kid For One’s spine. A sudden crash behind him. He whirls around, only to be met with the face of Chaos itself in all its raucous glory. The boy is relentless. His pursuit, unending. His blows, unyielding. And his mirth, as perplexing as it is petrifying. What the fuck. Why won’t he stop laughing. He’s laughing. Horikoshi is laughing. The readers are all laughing. You’re laughing. Kid For One is shitting his pants while this cackling sleep paralysis demon gleefully chips away at his frail sanity, one frenetic BOOM at a time. And you’re laughing. :|

doo de doo, don’t mind me, just gonna scroll past the first couple pages of this chapter so I don’t get spoiled for the outcomes of all the other mini-battles I haven’t finished catching up with yet :’)

though I already caught a glimpse of a bloodied-up Shouji before I realized what was happening, so unfortunately that particular cat is now out of the bag. can’t believe the suspense of whether or not Shouji would survive his fight is now completely ruined for me. can you even imagine how tense it would have been wondering whether or not Shouji would get killed off. ...and you know what, even as I type this, I’m realizing that this is really not the type of sarcasm that translates very well across the internet, lol. and even if it did, it could just as easily come across as “WOW, MAKESTE REALLY DOESN’T CARE ABOUT SHOUJI AT ALL, HUH” sarcasm, rather than the “it’s not that serious guys, it’s just that there’s no possible way Horikoshi could ever convince me that he was actually going to kill off one of the kids” sarcasm it was intended as! so yeah. you know what, I’m just going to shut up about all this now and move on. glad he’s okay though

so now back to the Main Character Battlefield, where Kacchan is currently having way too good of a time for someone who actually WAS killed off by Horikoshi fairly recently

All Might is all “he’s so fast!” and yeah he really is lol. ngl, I had a fair amount of Kacchan endgame theory stuff riding on his ability to meaningfully upgrade his speed, so all of this is very satisfying to hear! and to be fair, I do wonder how much of it is owed to the boost from Gearshift as opposed to Katsuki’s own newly acquired exploding bloodsweat. but I’d like to think that even without GS he’s still incredibly fucking fast at this point. like easily still a Top 3 BnHA Speedy Boi

well shit lol now Edgeshot is reminding everyone that even prior to his “death”, Kacchan was briefly able to surpass Tomura’s speed with his upgrade

well there you have it! so yeah, that basically confirms he’s currently even faster than All Might was at his peak. just a homicidal little comet casually zipping around all of these other slowpokes

lol

just for the record, I still have no clue how Kacchan’s bizarre new upgrade actually works, but I am fairly certain that sweat is NOT SUPPOSED TO EVER DO THAT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES

like seriously though Kacchan, doesn’t this hurt? like at all?

(ETA: hahahaha. ouch.)

well whatever!! if Tomura was able to bypass Erasure’s loopholes with all of his hand nonsense, then Kacchan’s sweat has my permission to zoom around inside his bloodstream and randomly explode inside him to somehow make him faster without actually harming him in any way, AND THAT’S FINE. the time for nitpicking ended roughly around the same time that a soft-spoken paracord man dove inside of him to forcefully restart his organs

LOL

“DON’T GET ME WRONG, I COULD EASILY KILL HIM ANY TIME I WANT! I JUST DON’T FUCKING FEEL LIKE IT RIGHT NOW, OKAY. THAT’S DEFINITELY WHAT IT IS, AND IT’S DEFINITELY NOT BECAUSE HE JUST EXPLODED ME SO HARD THAT I SAW THE FOURTH DIMENSION”

meanwhile back in Dekutown it looks like Tomura has maybe finally broken free of his impromptu Blackwhip toddler leash

whatever man. how are you still not redeemed yet since I last saw you in chapter 369. you had like an entire year’s worth of chapters. get it together already!!

lol what in the actual fuck is “instadeath”

is this just a Funny Ha Ha fanscan way of referring to Decay?? or were there some additional Tomura quirk developments that I missed out on which were somehow even wilder than the infinityhands

Deku keeps saying that he’s for serious REALLY going to run out of Gearshifts now, but I don’t fucking believe a word this kid says tbh

it will be the “final one” once the fight is finally over, and not a moment sooner. if I know anything about Deku, which I do. and Gearshift, which to be fair I really don’t

-- oh, fuck yeah

what the hell is up with that swirly hand shit though, Kid For One. you better knock that off right now

OH MY GOD THIS FUCKING GUY FOR REAL THOUGH!!

:/ well at least this time you’re being ignored because he’s actually scared shitless of you. shh. don’t tell anyone

holy shit this chapter keeps hitting me with these random bits of information Destiel meme-style and it’s the wildest fucking thing

so while I did obviously clue in to the fact that something must have gone down in the Endeavor+Hawks+Toko+Jirou VS AFO battle, on account of AFO very clearly not being in Jakku anymore, I have not yet caught up to that part of the series, so I don’t actually know anyone’s status! hopefully they’re all alive and relatively unmaimed! although they very clearly failed at their One Job, but oh well

that being said, “AS STRONG AS DARK SHADOW” looooooool omg. DS what did you do. my boy left an impression. I cannot wait to read that, oh goodness

KFO YOU LITTLE TWERP, DIDN’T ANYONE EVER TELL YOU YOU SHOULDN’T LOOK DOWN ON OTHER PEOPLE OR ELSE YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO SEE YOUR OWN WEAKNESSES

seems like someone ought to have told you that. could have spared you a lot of pain and agitation to come. more’s the pity

hee hee hee

hello there

so now my feral wolfchild is having a big internal monologue about how he’s finally mastered his new superquirk through the power of being an unrepentant masochist

fsdkfj. listen up Kid For One, he may be “nothing but a pebble”, but I promise you, if you could fucking hear this kid’s thought processes right now, you would already be halfway across the planet. living out the rest of your days in hiding while checking underneath your bed every night to make sure this little hobgoblin isn’t secretly waiting there to pounce at you

FSDLKFJSLDKJFL SDFLKWJEFLKWLF WLKJFLDKS

(ETA: you guys will never believe this but I found a sneak peak of the as-yet-unreleased soundtrack which will accompany this scene in season seven of the anime! SPOILER ALERT!!!)

ACTUAL GHOUL. I AM ACTUALLY SCREAMING. MY SON HAS BECOME GENUINE NIGHTMARE FUEL

THIS IS MY FAVORITE, FAVORITE, FAVORITE THING EVER YOU GUYS. HOLY SHIT. I CAN’T BREATHE OMFG

OUCH. HA! HAHA.

(ETA: once again, I know this sounds highly improbable, but I actually found some 100% authentic footage from the anime version of this scene! I’m telling ya. once this hits the airwaves minds are gonna be blown.)

HE IS THE “WHO” WHEN YOU CALL “WHO’S THERE”!!! HE IS THE WIND BLOWING THROUGH YOUR HAIR

you have to admit though, this really is the exact type of behavior you’d expect from someone who literally just got spat back out from the pits of hell

oh my god hold up what is this sudden tonal whiplash?

you guys I seriously had to sit back and take a deep breath and calm myself down for a moment, because Final Form Katsuki is just So Much. like actually just THE MOST. that I had to physically force myself to slow down and take these next few panels seriously and resist the urge to keep on making jokes about how CLEARLY EVEN HIS PARENTS ARE TERRIFIED. LOOK AT THEM. MASARU IS SOBBING AND MITSUKI’S HAND IS TREMBLING. IN THE WORLD’S MOST EPIC TWIST, AFO GOES DOWN ONLY TO BE REPLACED BY KACCHAN HIMSELF AS THE FINAL VILLAIN!!!

but yeah I had to stop and calm down from all of that because, oh. Masaru has his head in his hands. and Mitsuki’s trying to get him to turn around, but her hand really is shaking though. and it just really hit me that the two of them have spent the last... thirty minutes...?? swept up in the highs and lows of almost losing their child, and then getting him back, and then watching him be so strong and so good and SAVING ALL MIGHT and RESTORING EVERYONE’S HOPES AND DREAMS. and they must be so incredibly proud, but at the same time he’s still caught up in this fight, and the fight is still not over, and they know the tide could still turn again at any moment. and I can’t even imagine what that must be like. especially with them having already watched their son die once today

oh my god Horikoshi you cannot freaking do this to me!

goddammit. and now I’m all caught up in my Bakufam feels. DAMN YOU HORIKOSHI, THE MITSUKI TEARS WERE THE LOWEST OF BLOWS

and now Kid For One is once again whining about this “pebble” who’s pissing him off even worse than All Might. you love to see it!

OH MY GOD?!?!

oh my lord?! is it finally happening?? ARE WE FINALLY GETTING THAT SWEET, SWEET CONTEXT AT LONG LAST? WILL A MAN FINALLY HAVE A NAME??

-- Horikoshi I swear to god

YEAH NO SHIT. NOW THAT YOU MENTION IT, THEY DO KIND OF BEAR A RESEMBLANCE. YOU KNOW, IF YOU SQUINT

okay, color me intrigued. so that is indeed why AFO was crying when we previously saw this flashback! this is actually so interesting to me, because it’s literally the one and only time he’s ever shown real emotion outside of generic battle-related stuff (anger, shock, surprise, etc.)

so he says Kacchan pisses him off because he looks like Two. and every time he gets reminded of Two, he remembers how his brother died. and, I guess, made him feel sad for the first and probably last time ever???

holy shit, Kacchan was right

he really is AFO’s Final Boss. like even more than he realized

*~*~*OH MY GOD*~*~*

HOLY SHIT YES PLEASE AND THANK YOU!!

OFA DOS PARTIAL NAME REVEAL AT LONG LAST!! FULL NAME REVEAL AND ADDITIONAL FLASHBACKS TO FOLLOW NEXT WEEK...?? YES? MAYBE? PLEASE????

I swear to god, if Horikoshi deliberately kept Two’s quirk and name Top Secret for YEARS only for them BOTH to wind up NOT ACTUALLY BEING REMOTELY SPOILERY OR WORTH ANY KIND OF SUSPENSEFUL BUILD-UP IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER, I will. just sit here and be puzzled, I guess. lol. “sometimes I just like to fuck with people like that.” OKAY?? WELL GOOD JOB, THEN??

“Kacchan of the Bakugous” was so out of left field and I am grinning so, so hard right now. BAKUGOU NO KACCHAN. that’s officially the second Heroes Rising reference in as many chapters! sure feels like A Certain Mangaka is building up to a Certain Reveal about SOMEBODY maybe possibly still having SOMETHING which will remain unnamed for now, but which rhymes with “done for mall”! and that’s all I’m gonna say about that

except that it’s not, because I’d be lying if I said I didn’t also have fifteen other entirely different emotions about him proudly introducing himself to AFO not as Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight, but as someone even more powerful. “BEHOLD, it is none other than I... Kacchan!!! ( •̀ ᴗ •́ )و lolo get fucked you big dumb fart”

heh. but seriously. just me sitting here basking in the fact that he uses the name Deku gave him. the fact that he decides not to go with his formidable, much-agonized-over hero name in this one moment, but instead chooses to use a far more terrifying moniker, even if AFO doesn’t realize the significance. because Dynamight is a hero, yes. one of the very greatest and strongest!

but Kacchan? Kacchan is the boy with a dream. Kacchan is the boisterous child laughing at the danger, unafraid of the challenge. smiling in the face of the tallest wall. Deku’s motherfucking Image of Victory. hahahahaha. ouch

anyway so yeah! what a chapter. this may have actually derailed me because now my brain just wants to write a bunch of character metas even though I STILL HAVE THIRTY MORE CHAPTERS TO READ. and not to mention I still have to actually post all of them as well lol. but whatever! we’ll make it work. long live Kacchan of the Bakugous, and may his Secret Menu Hero Name always strike fear in the hearts of his enemies

[squadmuse]

ONE DAY, Part I

A WILL HALSTEAD X READER FIC (FT. JAY HALSTEAD X READER; PLATONIC)

A/N: so I’m a huge fan of the Halsteads (who isn’t?) and love the idea of Jay’s wife or Will’s wife being close to their brother-in-law

You were bored, and you were uncomfortable, extremely so.

At nearly thirty-eight weeks pregnant, you felt like an overgrown watermelon. Everywhere was swollen and sore, and you had not been able to see your feet for the last eight weeks.

Sighing, you flicked through the television. But not even an episode of Property Brothers could pull you out of your stupor, and it made you glance around the living room hoping that something would appear to need to be done.

You hated being on medical leave from Chicago Med, even if it was because you were so close to welcoming your baby into the world. That hospital was more than just work to you. It was there one day that you had met your husband, Will.

Picking up your cellphone, you debated phoning Will but decided against it. He was still pulling shifts at Med so he could have some time off after Baby Halstead was born, and would be extremely busy as an Attending in the emergency department.

You couldn’t even phone your best friend Sylvie, as she was at work.

You were just about to throw the iPhone at your side when you realized that you did have someone to phone.

Your brother-in-law, Jay.

Humming, you knew that before Will had left for work that morning that he had mentioned his brother having a day off, and he hoped Jay would relax for once. You instantly clicked on his name and the ringing filled the silent room.

“Halstead?” said Jay curtly, as he answered his cellphone.

“Halstead here too, two in fact,” you giggled, knowing that the detective had not looked at the caller ID.

Jay chuckled, lighter than before. “Hey if it’s not my two favorite Halsteads!” he replied.

Now it was your time to chuckle.

“Don’t let Will hear that, Jay,” you said, thinking about your husband.

“Are you kidding me? Have you met my brother, your husband, he’d agree,” said Jay over the phone. You giggled again, that was actually very true. Will was smitten with you and ecstatic to be a dad.

Jay cleared his throat. “So I’m guessing you’re at home and bored?”

You couldn’t help the nod, even though he couldn’t see you. “Yup, wondered if you wanted to go get lunch?”

“Mama Garcias?” asked Jay. He knew that it had been a firm favorite during the pregnancy, it seemed his unborn niece or nephew had inherited his brother’s love of spicy food.

“Yeah, I’m ready to go,” you replied, pushing yourself up off the seat a bit. “How long will you be?”

“Stay comfy, sis,” answered Jay, as you heard him move around. “I won’t be long.”

————————————————————————

“Jay Halstead, I freaking love you,” you exclaimed, swallowing yet another spicy chicken tamale.

Jay chuckled from where he sat before you in the cozy restaurant. “Just wanted my sister and baby niece or nephew to be happy.”

“Well, we’re both very happy, so thank you,” you said seriously, smiling wide. You were so lucky that you and Jay were so close, he really had become a brother to you in all but blood.

He sipped at a cup of coffee, returning the smile. “So any idea what the newest Halstead is going to be?”

You shook your head. “Will and I decided not to know, but we’re thinking it’s another Halstead boy to be honest.

Jay chuckled again. “That’s funny, I’ve been saying to Kim and Antonio that it’s a little girl for sure,” he replied.

“Aww,” you said softly. It was so cute that Jay thought you and Will were going to have a daughter and him a niece. “Well, I’m sure they will love their Uncle Jay regardless!”

“Of course they will!” answered Jay as he finished a pupusa. “Uncle Jay is going to be tons of fun.”

You smiled, you knew that your baby would be so loved. “Don’t let Will hear you say that, he’s been such a mother hen lately, but it’s from a good place.”

Jay nodded. “I’ve figured so, from my calls and being with him and you both. It’s nice though, us just hanging out!”

You had just opened your mouth to reply, when shots rang out and cut through the windows and you felt yourself hit the ground.

“Stay down!” shouted Jay over the gunfight, his body shielding your own. He had his own gun outstretched, but you couldn’t help but scrunch your eyes shut in fear.

You were terrified for your unborn child, for the life you had lovingly conceived with your husband and couldn’t wait to meet.

Perhaps today should have been the day that you stayed home.

[moonlightspencie]

like the gardens of babylon

part 11 of ‘the sweetest con’

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x fem!Reader

Word Count: 1.7k

A/N: some suggestive content at the end, but nothing explicit!

Walking into the bullpen had never felt so nerve-wracking. Usually, if I felt any anxieties at all, it had to do with a case. Or at least work. As it should, considering this was my workplace, after all.

But, this time, all the nerves stemmed from my concerns that word would get out before I had the chance to address it all myself. After JJ had seen us kiss last week, every day felt like a new opportunity for everyone to find out. Each day only got worse. Any time someone looked at me for too long, I started sweating a little.

But, of course, my darling girl couldn’t care less. She was convinced that JJ wouldn’t say a word, and I had to commend her faith in our friends. I, however, knew that the thrill of a scandal could break down even the strongest barriers on our team. Especially when it came to all of our love lives.

As much as I love my team, I knew they weren’t always the most… discreet.

I could see the lingering looks from JJ anytime Y/N snuck into my office for our usual lunchtime “date”. It felt like a matter of time before it escalated.

And escalate it did.

I snuck out of my office after lunch that afternoon only to see a few pairs of eyes on me, and a lot of whispering. I narrowed my eyes at Derek, Penelope, and Y/N.

“Something you’d like to share?” I asked, noticing they didn’t look away when I’d caught them.

“No—”

Penelope cut Y/N off. “Teasing our little ray of sunshine, here.”

I merely raised my brows in question, making quick eye contact with the aforementioned “ray of sunshine.” She looked at me with pleading eyes, though I couldn’t quite decipher what she was trying to ask of me.

“It’s nothing, Hotch,” she shook her head.

“Nothing?” Morgan questioned. “Mmm mm. Lies.”

“What is it, then?”

Morgan smirked. “Something goin’ on with you two that you’d like to share?”

I froze up, though I tried playing it off. I hoped it was convincing enough.

“Like what, exactly?”

Penelope blushed. “We were merely asking her if your little daily lunch dates meant anything.”

I looked at Y/N briefly. Apparently, that was a mistake. Derek stood abruptly, closing in on me.

“Wait, seriously?” he turned to look at Y/N, who looked, frankly, like she’d been caught red-handed. “Seriously?”

“Oh my god—” Garcia squealed.

I’m sure my face going red didn’t help our case as I asked the two of them to keep it down. Y/N stood, standing next to me as I attempted to fend off questions from the other two.

“Guys,” she raised her hands to calm them. “This is still kind of new. We weren’t really ready to tell anyone yet, so…”

“Oh,” Penelope said, her voice lowered.

“Just please don’t tell anyone else. For our sake.”

“Sure thing, mama,” Derek said, nodding.

Penelope smiled softly. “Wouldn’t dream of trying to ruin this. I am so, absolutely excited, but I promise I will zip my lips just for you, sugar.”

“Thanks, Pen,” she smiled back at her.

She looked at me, looking a little apologetic. I gave her a raised brow and half a smile.

“Sorry. I thought we’d be able to keep this secret a little while longer,” she said quietly.

“Not your fault. I think we’re both pretty bad at hiding our feelings,” I sighed. Then, I looked at the others. “Thank you for your… Discretion with this. We’ll tell the others soon, we just wanted to keep this—”

“Yours?” Morgan asked, practically finishing my sentence.

“Yeah,” I nodded once. “Exactly.”

He smirked. “Can’t blame you for wanting to keep her all to yourself. I can respect that.”

I rolled my eyes, hiding a smile. “Right. Well, I need coffee if I’m going to get through the rest of today.”

They nodded, waving me off. I let out a deep breath as I turned. Three coworkers knew already, and I wondered how long we could actually keep things quiet before I had to come clean with everyone.

Though, after that conversation, part of me couldn’t wait to finally show her off as mine.

I got my coffee, heading back to my office to get through all of the work I had set aside for the day. It passed incredibly slowly. Her sweet face in my doorway at the end of the day made up for it, though.

I sat up a little straighter, an unintentional smile on my face.

“Hi,” I greeted.

“Hey. Getting late,” she said. “We’re picking up Jack in an hour, so pack it up, love.”

I snorted a laugh. She walked in, shutting the door behind her. I packed up as she had requested, standing to accept a soft kiss from her near the edge of my desk.

“He’s been asking about you, you know?” I said.

She smiled, still holding onto my waist in a hug. She pressed a small kiss to my cheek.

“Yeah?”

I hummed an affirmation. “Every night I’ve talked to him since we went to the zoo. He’s been looking forward to tonight.”

She smiled, and my heart warmed. “Let’s go get him then, yeah?”

We left the building, heading off to my apartment. I put away my things, and we both quickly changed clothes before getting in my car and heading to Haley’s. Of course, she stayed in the car when I went to get Jack, though I’d be surprised if she couldn’t still see the dirty looks being shot at her from the front door.

I ignored the hostility, too wrapped up in the plans we’d made for the night to care too much about Haley’s attitude. Jack practically squealed when he saw Y/N in the car, shooting a million questions at her the entire ride back the apartment. One in particular had me smiling like an idiot:

“Are you and daddy gonna get married?”

She laughed a little. “I don’t know buddy. We’ll have to wait and see, yeah?”

“Yeah,” he shrugged.

She looked at me, almost panicked by the question, but it only made my heart flutter in my chest. I knew it was probably far too soon to consider marriage, but I didn’t hate the idea of it happening some day. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea.

Our night was spent in front of the TV, snacks and drinks set on the coffee table, all of us sat in a pile of pillows and couch cushions at Jack’s request. As much as I’d like to say that I set most of it up, it seemed that no matter what I tried to do, she’d get to it first. I would have been offended if she wasn’t so excited to do everything she was doing.

Jack cuddled up to my side for a while as we watched the tail end of Monsters Inc. My arm was around his tiny shoulders, but soon I felt him shrugging me off. I looked down in confusion as he started leaning into Y/N instead, leaving me in the dust. I furrowed my brow, looking at her with offense.

“You stole my child.”

“Maybe he just likes the girl who gave him candy a little more than the dad who tried giving him pretzels.”

Jack giggled, rest his head against her arm. I tried to look annoyed, but it was hard to do with this sight right in front of me. My previous worries about them being together seemed so stupid now. Of course he’d love her.

“Still,” I raised a brow in challenge. “He was mine first.”

“Still love you, daddy,” he said, giving me a cheeky smile.

I couldn’t hold back my grin. “I love you more.”

He was out like a light by the time the credits were rolling, and she allowed me to take him to his bedroom and tuck him in. I kissed his forehead, wishing all my nights could end like this.

I wandered back into the living room to find her already cleaning up.

“Babe, I can worry about that tomorrow.”

“Babe, huh?” she smirked.

I felt my cheeks heat up. “Just… Shut up.”

She laughed. “You know, I can help pick up the mess I made, babe.”

I sighed, rolling my eyes for good measure. I followed her into the kitchen with two cups in my hands as she took care of a few other dishes. However, I set mine down quickly, plans on my mind that had nothing to do with cleaning.

I wrapped my arms around her waist from where she stood at the sink, pressing a few soft kisses up her neck until my lips were at her ear.

“Why don’t we go to bed?”

“Aaron,” she warned, though the way she leaned into me made that warning much less severe.

“I’ve missed you.”

“You see me every day.”

I groaned, turning her around. “You know that’s not what I mean.”

She bit her lip. “You’re ridiculous.”

I smirked, leaning in before she could think too hard about my plan of… Redirection. Her lips met mine as if it was her plan all along, kissing me softly, but not without passion. Her hands trailed up my arms until they were linking behind my neck. I took that as my chance.

I patted her hip, and she jumped into my arms. I hooked my arms under her, carrying her to the bedroom and dropping her on the bed unceremoniously. She looked at me with that little mischievous glint in her eyes as I pulled off my tshirt. I crawled up over her on the bed, though she quickly pulled me down on top of her.

“You’re a troublemaker,” she mumbled, kissing my neck.

“I think you like it that way.”

“Never said I didn’t.”

She nipped at my skin, moving her lips back to mine. My hands found their way under her shirt as we moved up towards the headboard. Her back arched into my touch, exciting me all the more as her hands ran all over me.

“Just promise me one thing?”

I nodded. “Anything.”

She pulled off her top, tossing it somewhere. “Don’t be too loud or you’ll wake up Jack.“

I scoffed a laugh as she smirked again, flipping us over so that she was on top of me.

“Sure,” she said, looking down at me. “Go ahead and laugh like didn’t nearly wake the whole building last time.”

[thatgirlstrawberry]

The Kiss - BLURB

I’m which all Spencer has been able to think about was Kissing you

Warnings: fluff, kissing, nervous Spence!

Spencer Reid x fem!reader

All he could think about was kissing you. Ever since the night in the pool. All he could think about was the feeling of your breath on his lips, the way your eyes looked from his to his mouth made his head dizzy. He remembered the feeling on your arms resting on his shoulders and your fingers pulling at the hairs on the back of his neck. But then, you had been interrupted. You spared one last look at Spencer before climbing out of the pool, water dripping off your body. You grabbed a towel and walked inside and ate with the rest of the team. You left a little earlier than everyone else.

Neither of you spoke about it, you were both too nervous. At work, you’d steal glances at him. He would pretend not to notice. Then, when he absolutely Knew that you wouldn’t see him, he’d look at you.

Weeks later, you and Spencer were the only ones left in the office after a long, hard case. You were barley keeping your eyes open and he was on his third cup of coffee. You sat at the desk in front of his. Your eyes would occasionally meet, each of you wanting to stare but deciding not to. He watched you bite your lip as you read through the files. He noticed that you always had your lip between your teeth when you were focused. He wondered what your lips felt like.

Anyway, the two of you finished the last of your work at the same time. You usually took a cab to and from work so he cleared his throat when you were packing up your stuff.

“Um… hey Y/N?” He said quietly. You looked up with a smile of your face. “I-I could drop you off at your house if you’d like.” He nodded.

You smiled still. “Oh, I don’t want to trouble you, Spencer.”

He shook his head. “It’s no trouble. A-and it’s also pretty late… creeps can drive cabs too.”

So, you agreed and five minutes later, the both of you were walking towards the elevator in awkward silence. It had been like this since that night in the pool. You both didn’t know how else to act. At the elevator, Spencer reached for the down button at the same time you did. Your fingers touched and a spark shocked your bodies. You stepped back as he looked at you and bit his lip. The elevator dinged and you both stepped in.

He pressed the parking garage button and waited for the doors to close, rocking back and forth. You glanced at him with you lip between your teeth. You then trailed down his body, examining the nice shirt and slacks he wore (that fit him very very well). When you looked back up at his face, he was already looking down at you. You heated up at the fact that he just caught you staring at him but smiled anyway.

“Spence…” You inhaled deeply. He hummed. “About the other day… in the pool…” You trailed off. “Did I… did i make you uncomfortable?”

“What? No! N-No, I actually…” Your breath hitched and you waited for his next words. “I actually wish you did kiss me.”

Your lips slowly turned up at the corners. “Really?” You asked, not actually believing his words. “S-seriously?”

Spencer chuckled and swallowed. “Y-yeah. I was really disappointed when Morgan came out to get us.”

You sighed deeply. “I’m sorry.” Your smile was still there but the elevator fell into silence. You faced forward and so did he.

“Y/N,” He spoke, voice low and husky. You turned to him once again. He seemed to be getting closer and closer. “Can I—“

“Don’t ask. Just kiss me.”

So, he leaned in quick but slowed once your faces were centimeters apart. Your eyes fluttered closed and your hands reached up to be placed around the back of his neck. You waited until he moved again to move your entire body closer to his. His head leaned closer to yours and his eyes finally shut. He brought his hands up to grab the sides of your face gently and brought you forward the rest of the way.

Your lips connected and the whole building could have collapsed. Neither of you would have cared. The feeling of their lips on each other’s shocked you both to your core. It wasn’t what Spencer imagined. It was 100 times better.

When he pulled away, your eyes stayed shut, a smile gracing your freshly kissed lips. Your brain was fuzzy. You hadn’t been kissed by a man you liked in a long time. He smiled at the sight of you still smiling even with your eyes closed. He began to speak again but you just pulled him back, lips crashing together. You kissed each other. The feeling just a little different than the first time. The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. You pulled away first, keeping him close.

He was breathless. “C-can I kiss you again tomorrow?” He asked quietly.

You smiled and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the exit of thyme elevator.

“You, Mr. Reid, can kiss me whenever you want.”

————————————

Yayyyy pt. 2 to The Almost Kiss!!! I love this!!

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[thedragonqueen1998]

Today at work i got insanly inspired to write and once i got off work, i immidiently went on my phone to type it out. XD I just finished a 3 hour long writing ses(had a 15 minute food break in the middle). ^^ Probably just gonna forever gonna be a wip thing, but it was fun and i'm kinda proud of it. Despite it being rough in some parts, mostly because i wanted to rush to the 2nd half and i didn't wanna get stuck, i'm happy to share it. ^^

It's a kinda long, so i'm gonna add a Read more line to not fill your dash with text. Also, first time trying formatting out! XD

So, originally this post was just gonna be a "i actually wrote something! Look!" thing, just showing of some work i did, but after writing the reason why i wrote a line a certain way, it went into something very sad and kinda dark, so if you don't wanna read about death, a light mention of suicidal thought and grief... just stop after What even is my life.

Idk why i wrote it, but it took alot of effort and it feels... important to me, i guess. Part of processing and such. So, yeah. Read at your discretion. Thank you for your time. 💜

Ezio had many regrets in his long life. Not being there when his father and brothers were arrested. Of not being there more for his sister and mother. Of not trying to be together with Cristina. Not being able to save her. Or being able to save Uncle Mario and Monteriggioni. But biggest of all, not having spent more time with his family before the execution.

He had love, but didn't cherish it. Didn't truly feel it and took it for granted. But unlike so many others, Ezio could take those regrets and change them. Thanks to Desmond.

When he walked into the Library, he thought he might get an answer or two in return for many more. He truly didn't expect that calling out Desmonds name while the Apple bathed the walls in gold would result in it being answered by the being himself.

The being looked like a man, clad in a white light, eminating from a strange device under his right arm. His face looked like an exact replica of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad's face, though his build was closer to his. Broad shoulders hidden underneath a strange hooded white doublet and long legs wearing strange tight fitted pants made from a material he did not recognise. Even the scar was the same as his! Was Ezio made in the image of the one he was the Prophet for? Was Altaïr the herald? All questions Ezio wondered, but not knowing if Desmond was like Minerva or not, he dared not waste any questions if the beings patient was thin.

But first: "Are you Desmond?" He had to know, have it confirmed, even if the being appeared after the name was called.

"Ezio? Is this the Library? Am i seriously bleeding while dying!?" Desmond was looking around at the empty tomb, before his eyes returned upon Ezio.

"Yes, this is Altaïr's library. You are bleeding? I do not see any blood and you are dying!? Is there anything i can do to help you? Please, my lord. Tell me what i need to do to save you." Ezio was desperate to know his purpose and if all his life lead to this moment, where he could save Desmonds life, he would fulfill it.

"There's nothing you can do. I am dying semi willingly and even if this is some Animus infused death hallucination, it is nice having my last moments with you, even if your not really here. I am so sorry i couldn't answer any of your questions or try to save you from losing everything. You never deserved any of it. In the end it didn't really even matter. I am sorry you wasted your time chasing riddles and ghosts." He looked so grieve struck while saying it and the look Desmond had while gazing down onto Ezio could only be described as lovingly.

"What do you mean? Could you have saved my uncle!? My father and brothers!? Why didn't you if you do not think i deserved it! I have served the Brotherhood almost my entire life, sacrificed so much trying to find out what Minerva meant and now your telling me that it was all for nothing!? If you think i wasted my time then give it back!"

Desmonds eye's widen before softly smiling and saying: "Your right, you wasted your time and sacrificed too much for nothing. Let's change that."

Before Ezio knew it, the world went white and he knew nothing more.

—————

When Ezio awoke, it was to a bed he hadn't seen in almost 40 years. His childhood bed and his room. He couldn't believe it. He was given a second chance. To live his life. To right wrongs. To save his family! To think going to the Library would result in this!

At the thought of the Library, Ezio suddenly remembered Sofia. To have forgotten her and even abandoned her without a second thought left Ezio feeling guilty. Would she wait outside the Library before realising he would never come back? Or because he is now in the past, a past where he intends to change the future, would she never meet him? Never exist? The thought of her hurt, but like so many others, Ezio knew that him being in her life would have risked hers. Even if she knew and accepted it, it is still better if she never got the chance to know him and inevitibly suffer because of it. Same with Cristina. Though he could now choose her, he knew that despite the many mistakes in his life, the Brotherhood was not one of them and his refusal to properly let her go killed her. Letting that life affect her once again was too cruel. It was for the better to just let her go.

Federico nudged him with his elbow. "Brother, what has you thinking so hard you look like you bit into something bitter?"

"Nothing much, just wondering what i should get." Ezio smiled and laughed. He was currently out with his family on a trip the market. The last time around, he had decided to sneak off to spend some time with a girl he didn't even remember the name of anymore instead of spending time with his loved ones, to his great shame and regret. This was the last thing his family had done together outside of dinners before the execution in 3 days. That he missed out on it was one of his biggest regrets, but Desmond let him change it.

That Ezio might never truly understand or know what or who Desmond is, how he watched him in the Vault or even what Minerva's people and the Pieces of Eden truly were will forever haunt him, but the trade to see his family again and to even be able to save them is a fair trade. He can go his life wondering these questions and maybe try to find them now that he will have more time, thanks to already knowing the Templars plans and who will be an enemy or ally.

He felt a finger poke him inbetween his eyebrows.

"There you go again Brother. Thinking too hard! Be careful or you might hurt yourself." Federico teased before yelping and then laughing when Ezio pushed him.

"Please don't start fighting now sons." Their father said before turning back to the stall owner to continue discussing what wares to buy and the prices.

"Sorry Father!" Ezio said before giving his brother a teasing look that promised this was not over.

Ezio remembered this day well enough. Not to remember the woman he decided to chase, but enough to know that when his family had been at the market a horse had run wild there and according to Claudia, nearly trampled her down in the confusion.

He was a bit sceptical to believe it was as close as she had made it out to be, but he knew horses much better now than he did before. After years of riding them to and from places in the chase for his targets, he knew that having one running towards you in a blind panic could scare anyone. Even though he knew to be wary of them and treat them with respecy during his original childhood, he didn't truly get how these gentle beings could be as scary as his sister had made the poor creature out to be.

According to his family, it had been a war horse, bloodied, running around in a blind panic, probably scared from a skirmish. Being chased by guards hadn't helped and eventually the guards got a good shot at it and put it down.

Ezio wanted to save his sister years of fearing horses, so he kept an eye and a ear out for any signs that the animal was on it's way.

There. A scream. Everyone stopped and looked around for the source. The source was still hidden by the crowds, but in the distance you could start seeing people moving away from something coming this way and the screams were getting closer.

Ezio breathed and slipped into his Second Sight, the Eagle Vision, as he now knew Altaïr had called it. Or more accuratly, Eagle Sense. With the years, his constant use and need for it had changed his Sight. It had become much stronger, letting him see farther, expanded his hearing, to let him hear his enemies heartbeat and even know what moves they were going to make. Even let him know where his enemies was going to go on a patrol route.

It truly was a gift and now he would use it to try and predict where the animal would go, as to lead his sister and family away from the danger. Then he saw it. The shine of something important. Something that glowed as strongly as the Apple of Eden had. The horse.

There was much about his Gift he could not explain. He had tried, but it is much like explaining sight to a blind person. Why things he didn't even know about could glow gold and lead him to the answer. Why allies glowed blue and enemies red, nor how he could tell friend from foe and now. His Sight told him, with the same intuition as telling friend from foe, that this horse was Desmond.

How is Desmond here? Why? Did he lie about dying? Or was certain death only a large chance that Desmond beat? Ezio supposed it did not matter. If he lets events play as they had before, Desmond would be struck down by an arrow within minutes. Oh, maybe Desmond had tried to prevent his father and brothers demise, but was struck down in the attempt? Though, why choose to do it as a rampaging horse? Either way, Desmond was clearly panicking, almost upon him now. If Ezio could not calm him down, his death was guaranteed.

But how? Ezio has just seconds now to plan a way to stop him before he is trampled down.

Then, he finally realises, that among the bright gold he shines, he also glowes blue. Such a deep colour which he has only seen in the greatest friends or closest family and he knows, Desmond would never harm him. The look of pure love on Desmonds face made more sense now.

So Ezio decides to not move and simple raise up his hands, as if to pet the horse.

"EZIO!"

————

Desmond was in pain. He knew that Juno lied about his death being quick and painless, but god, why did it have to hurt so much!? During his hallucination, it wasn't nearly so bad! And can't forget the weird nightmare he's having ontop of it. He's a goddamned horse on some battlefield. He was rearing up when the nightmare started, neighing as his rider was shot and killed by an arrow.

There's so much blood. The smell strikes fear in his heart. There's so much red. He slips into Eagle Vision and there's even more red. Not a spec of blue. A sword slides against the armor he is wearing and the screech of metal is too much. He bolts.

He needs to run. Away from the monsters with sharp sticks. Away from the smell of blood and death. Away from the shadows hiding hunters. They follow him. They chase him for a long time.

He is getting so tired.

He needs to get back to the barn. His owner would make everything alright. He would croon soft noises he did not understand, but the tone was soft and gentle. He would give him a treat while brushing him down after a hard days work.

He did ride him into scary battles he did not understand, but afterwards he would wash and groom him extra thoroughly, while feeding him the best apples, crooning more sounds in a happy tone. He would repeat one of the few sounds he understood, which meant "him" and "pay attention to me".

Dante.

But he wasn't on his back anymore and he didn't hear his voice. Just the loud, scary noises of more men in the shiny hard thing. They had the pointy sticks too and tried to take the things dangling from his mouth. Only his owner can touch that! Only he is to be trusted with them.

Running is getting harder, there is large, straight hills in the way and the path is narrower with many strangers in it.

There is still so much red. He can still smell the blood, feel it clotting his fur. Too much red!

Blue.

Suddenly there's blue in front of him. He knows blue means ally. Though why and how this person is blue confuses him. But he is Blue and running him over is not good, but why is he standing there!? Does he not see the red!? Smell it!? Does he not understand we need to run!?

"Desmond"

That single word pierces the fog of fear and wild panic that has flooded Desmonds mind. Ezio is in front of him, hand already gripping the reigns while the other rests on his muzzle.

"There we go Desmond, everything is alright."

Desmond still feels phantom threads of fear, but with Ezio's calming blue glow and his voice saying gentle reassurances, it feels far away.

Now with his mind fully human and not driven by horse instincts or memories, the question becomes: How and why the fuck is he a horse in 15th century Italy with Ezio!?

What even is his life.

————

So, a couple parts i'm stupidly happy about is the "He had love, but didn't cherish it. Didn't truly feel it and took it for granted." part. This, as you can probably tell was inspired by the famous quote "When I was a young man, I had liberty, but I did not see it. I had time, but I did not know it. And I had love, but I did not feel it."

I believe Ezio didn't fully understand liberty until he tried to live a peaceful life with Sofia and realised he would always fear Templars taking revenge on his family and time, because the knowledge that he would never see his children grow up to adults had never been a concern before he met Sofia. He probably thought he wouldn't have a family at all.

But love. Love he would understand what he missed. He would understand it just days after he lost his father and brothers. Those moments you missed out on. Of opportunities to spend time that you squandered away. Time you will never get back, because in real life we don't have time travel.

And now i understand it. Before the end of the last year, i was like Ezio before the loss. Before i lost my grandparents only a few weeks apart.

Those opportunities to spend time was rare and thankfully i took most of them, but i still squandered it away by not actually spending time with them. I just visited and hid away in my room, wasting the time by sitting on the phone.

I will forever regret that because ny memory is shit and besides a few childhood ones, i have no memories of them. I still remember their voices, they were pretty distinct thankfully, but how long until i forget that.

It hurts and as someone who is afraid of death and it's finality, such a reminder that time and love is finite is soulcrushing. It is only recently that i have truly started to think of my grandparents and i guess try to process the fact they are gone forever.

When we first got the news that my grandpa had died, i was even more glued to my phone, not wanting to acknowledge what was happening. I also didn't wanna sleep and only got some when i passed out from exhaustion. We even went to the doctor to get time of work and some sleep medication i didn't dare end up taking.

I even had thoughts of just taking all the pills and just sleeping, to get away from the pain forever. But i'm thankfully too much of a coward, so it just stayed thoughts. I'm doing much better now and as i mentioned, i think i'm starting to process the fact that they are gone.

So, yeah. This post went in a direction i didn't expect. But it feels important and maybe in a few years i can look back at this post and see a snapshot of who i was and reflect on who i am now. So, here's to the future me and anyone else who needs to hear it:

I hope things are going well and if they're not... well, things get better. They always do. You're loved and even if your loved ones are gone, they live on in you. You will carry that love with you, for the rest of your life. 💜

[genericpuff]

Winter is Coming - Rekindled schedule adjustment and plans for next year!

So it's that time of year now when conventions, markets, and expos for next year are rolling out their submission periods. So far I've gotten accepted to attend the Atlantic Entertainment Expo again (both venues so two shows), MiraCon, and I'm gonna be attending not one, not two, but THREE tattoo expos ! Which is definitely a lot, but I'm excited, it's gonna be good publicity and good money :' ) I'm also gonna be applying to HalCon, Geekquinox, and Animaritimes again, I didn't get in on HalCon this year and didn't find out about Geekquinox until submissions were done (and I only got in on Animaritimes at the last minute when they were looking for people to fill in) but if I do get into any (or all) of those, I'll have to play the fun game of "make sure none of these events land on the same weekend" LMAO

All that's to say, it's gonna be busy next year! (and all of those are the ones I actually decided to apply to, there are ones I did this past year that I'm not planning on doing again because they just didn't turn out to be as good as I had hoped). Thankfully, none of this is starting up until spring, so I'm gonna enjoy the winter off and get to work on new stuff to sell. I'm really eager to get through the rest of [AFTERBIRTH], it's still got quite some time until it's done but my plan is to pitch Thread of Fate to publishers once [AFTERBIRTH] is finished - and if it's not able to get in with those publishers, then I'm gonna pursue other means in getting it published, either digitally or traditionally. Time Gate is a series I've been working on for well over a decade of my life, and it's not something I want to keep throwing to the wolves of free-to-read platforms like WT. As much as I love being able to offer it for free, I want it to be taken more seriously than being just another free to read comic and that starts with me and how I choose to distribute it.

Right now working on all these things is sort of limiting due to the fact that I'm stuck on my iPad, but I'm making it work as best I can and I'm hoping to have the new PC setup going by the end of the year running with a new tablet (currently shopping around between an XP-pen and Huion, I don't want to get a Kamvas 22 Plus again if it's gonna shit the bed in 2 years like this one did, apparently this is a common problem from what I've seen :/)

So yeah, with all that in mind, I'm planning on adjusting Rekindled's update schedule. While I did initially want to offer a poll for y'all to choose between "shorter updates once a week" and "full updates once every 2 weeks", frankly I'm erring more towards the "every two weeks" one because it'll give me more actual time and room to work on everything else. Not to mention (and I'm sure you've all noticed by now) that I have a very specific way that I structure many of these episodes so making them shorter would sort of ruin that rhythm. I don't want to be sacrificing the comic's quality, pacing, or narrative progression for a schedule adjustment.

This isn't going to be an immediate change, I'm thinking of doing this sometime in December so that y'all can have a decent amount of heads up before the switch. I know it's gonna be a little painful to go to a slower release schedule but ultimately I think it's the best way to go so that I can balance all of the projects I have going on without sacrificing quality. Rekindled may be a free to read non-profit project, but I still hold myself to high standards and I want to do my best to deliver on those standards !

Thank you all so much for your patience and support. It seriously blows me away to see all of the wonderful comments, asks, and support for what I do here every day. I'm gonna do my best as well to respond to asks in my inbox as they come in, but please just know I get a LOT of them on a regular basis, it's sort of a Hydra situation where I respond to 1 or 2 and then get 4 more LOL That said, rest assured that I do read and appreciate each and every one of them <3 That also includes essay posts about LO, with LO returning in November I'll surely have more stuff to say about it so I'm gonna try and keep up as best I can :' )

On a final note, we're coming up to the one year anniversary of when I started posting actual episodes of Rekindled!! I'm so excited for this, I can't believe it's been a year!! And I have so much awesome stuff planned for the story that we're gonna see throughout the next year, I can't wait! Thanks so much for being a part of this project with me, I couldn't have asked for a better audience <3

(P.S. everything I have lined up for next year is lining up with the dry period for FF XIV between Endwalker and Dawntrail so I won't have distractions until the summer LMAOO)

[heliswife]

haiiiiiiii since i’m finishing my lab report can you do another jake fic w a reader who’s not weird nessecarily but they choose to be an outcast and choose to only hang out with their friends who they’re close with, so whenever he tries to hang out with reader they’re always surrounded by their friends and he feels intimidated so he kinda runs away

but yea, also this is based off of nmixx’s fe304: stand out concept :3333

how i feel when the oomf makes me fuel her parasocial relationship with a guy who acted like a dog for aegyo (its okay! I love jakey jakey!)

You didn't stand out at all. You liked being alone, headphones on and doing something that made you happy. You had a few close friends who you talked to, but that was it. You were content with your position in life.

Until Jake came. He would chat with you during classes, starting with small things such as asking for a pencil or homework help to gossiping about the students and teachers.

It got to the point where he started hanging out with you outside of class, eating lunch with you when you were alone. You would complain if you didn't have a crush on him. What's not to like about him?

"Hey y/n! What are you listening to today?" He asked, taking a seat beside you.

"[FAVORITE SONG], it's good," You replied, taking a bite of your sandwich.

"I see, I should listen to it! How do you think you did on the math test?"

"Y/n, hey." One of your friends waved. "...Jake?"

"Oh I gotta go, Sunghoon needs me," Jake excused himself, getting up and leaving you with your friends.

"Bye Jake." You watched as he scrambled off. "Wonder why he ran off like that."

"He's like, scared of us or something," Your friend said, "You should ask him."

"Is it okay if I do it right now?" Your friends nodded, and you sprinted in the same direction you saw Jake go.

His eyes met yours, and he immediately looked away.

"Jake, why did you get scared of my friends like that?" You asked once you were able to isolate Jake from his friend group.

He shrugged. "Don't know, they're just intimidating?"

"How?"

"I told you I didn't know, y/n. Plus, I like talking to you alone."

"Oh really?" Now that was something you weren't expecting. "Why me?'

Jake looked stunned. "Was it seriously not obvious?"

"Was what not obvious?"

"My crush on you."

Oh. oh.

"You actually like me back?"

"Yeah? Wait, you like me too?"

"I do, I have for a while now, Jake. I didn't think I was good enough, and I don't think some of my friends liked you much and-" You couldn't even finish your sentence before Jake's lips were on yours. You gasped, but that just allowed him to slip in his tongue. Your stomach didn't even have butterflies anymore, it was a whole zoo.

"Jake..." You could only mutter his name when you pulled away for oxygen.

"Y/n..." His eyes glimmered with admiration for you. "You've got to make your friends like me."

"Alright, alright.."

[riddlerosehearts]

okay, i've got some things i wanna say about twst EN's translation of scarabia's story that i was originally typing out as part of a response to an ask, but then i realized i was going off on a bit of a tangent and was like "this could basically be its own post"--so now it's going to be its own post!

i'm a twst EN player, and for the most part, i do really like the localization. i don't speak japanese but i love learning about language and the process of translation and localization, so at one point after finishing books 1-5 i went and reread them all (and 6 as well, once it was fully released on EN) with a fan translation and the localization side by side to compare them. and from what i could tell as someone who isn't a japanese speaker, i honestly thought it seemed like they usually did pretty well? sure, there were a few mistakes like cater claiming to be an only child (this one, i think, has actually been fixed recently), or how in book 2 they removed a small mention of falena making it seem like he's never mentioned at all until leona's flashback and they also removed the numerous times that he said "be prepared" (at least they finally properly translated it in book 6, though!!). but i thought most of these mistakes were somewhat minor and could be forgiven... until book 4 (well, and book 5, mostly in regards to vil and epel's conflict and i'm not talking about them here, so).

see, i actually realized that something was off about the localization when i first played through book 4, because i have a weird memory and have picked up a bunch of random words and phrases from being into japanese media and reading so much about the localization process. and i also play twst with the sound on because i love to hear the voice acting. so sometimes i would hear jamil speak, i'd pick out the words "shujin" and "juusha" for "master" and "servant", and then the subtitles wouldn't include them at all. so i'd guess certain things about the actual intent behind the story based on that. take this message i sent to my friend when i was sharing my blind reactions to the game:

and she ended up telling me that apparently, what i thought he should say essentially IS what he originally said!! according to the fan translation on wiki.gg he said this instead:

i had wondered if maybe i was reading into things and assuming too much, but it turned out i was completely spot on! but most people who play EN would not be able to pick up on this and realize that jamil was born into servitude to kalim and has no escape, because as i later discovered almost every single mention of him being a servant at all was removed, in events and vignettes as well. which is actually really weird to me because they don't remove it entirely, they do in fact bring up the fact that jamil has to test all of kalim's food for poison during book 4 and they also left in a line where he says he "works as kalim's servant". but they only really mention these things once or twice and then they try to sort of play it off as jamil being a paid employee or something most of the time... seriously, during beanfest there's dialogue where jamil says it would be rude to refuse an order from his boss but i've read that that line was originally him saying a servant couldn't disobey his master. and in the scalding sands event he calls himself "a dedicated employee" of kalim's... what, am i supposed to assume he works as a butler by choice or something? yeah, no. also, one of his birthday vignettes, which are fully voiced so i could TELL he said, with a devious smirk on his face, that if he had a parrot the first word he would teach it would be "shujin-sama". "master". what did EN change this into?

the person i was originally writing all of this in response to said that sometimes people's takes on jamil make them wonder if people are reading a completely different story but also that part of that can probably be blamed on the way EN completely changed the context of his situation with these translation choices. and yeah, i fully agree with that assessment: more casual fans or people who just aren't that interested in the scarabia duo could be said to be reading a different story with this whole "boss" and "employee" thing that has jamil make it sound like the worst that could ever happen to him if he got in trouble would be getting a really stern lecture from his parents.

and it makes me sad because i really do love both jamil and kalim so much and i think their dynamic is so tragic and complicated and interesting to think about. i think they're both really complex characters who are trapped in an awful situation. kalim is so kind and loving and would never wanna hurt anyone but he hurts jamil just by existing as part of the fucked up society they live in. kalim thought he and jamil were best friends, he had no idea of the toxicity of their dynamic and the pain jamil was in, and people say jamil should've just talked to him about it earlier... but jamil's first memory as a child is of seeing his parents bow to the asim family. being a servant is practically all he's ever known and he's had it drilled into his head since they were both small children that he can never be himself around kalim, can never just treat him like a normal person because he's a servant and kalim is his master. and even if he did accept kalim's offer to start over as equals and be friends, what would happen when they had to go home to their families? they won't be at school forever.

and i just. augh. i hate what the localization does with them. if you try to water them down to just an employee who's super mad at his obliviously crappy boss, or just two childhood friends who needed to communicate better or something like that, then you take away from the complexity of both characters. you also lose extremely cool writing choices like how jamil is a character who was born into servitude but has the power to make himself the master with his unique magic. i see so many takes about how jamil is just a jerk who betrayed his best friend and how kalim never did anything wrong in his entire life and i hate it but i'm sure the localization's choices are in fact to blame for a lot of this.

so anyway jamil and kalim's actual dynamic is fascinating and lives rent-free in my head, no thanks to how the EN version gutted it.

[fanficshiddles]

The Redbridge Hunts, Chapter 39

‘Is Mandy ok?’ Claire asked Loki the following morning, he’d just been on the phone to his dad while Claire set up Bat’s automatic feeder for the day before they headed out.

‘Yes, thankfully. She’s right as rain after dad fixing her. Pretty shaken up, understandably, but is fine.’ Loki said, relieved.

‘Phew, that’s good news.’ Claire put her arms around Loki. He smiled and leaned down to kiss the top of her head.

‘Is her majesty all sorted for food?’ Loki asked as he straightened up.

‘Yep, all prepped.’ Claire smiled.

‘Excellent. Shall we get going, love?’

Claire nodded. ‘I don’t know whether I’m more excited to see Louise or to get that awesome breakfast from Café Five.’

‘I’m so telling your sister that she’s on par with food.’ Loki teased.

‘Pfft, Louise would trade me in for food in an instant without a single thought.’ Claire scoffed, making Loki laugh.

‘Come on, let’s get going. Get that breakfast you’re desperately craving.’ Loki winked at her and took her hand.

Claire was of course excited to see her sister again. This time more so, since she was bringing Loki so they could both meet. She knew that Louise would love Loki, and vice versa, but there was still a tiny bit of nerves within her since she so desperately wanted them to get along. They were the two most important people in her life, she wasn’t sure what she would do if they didn’t like each other.

It didn’t take long to get to the café where they stopped for breakfast. It was at the side of the motorway, a dinky little place but clean with amazing food and service. There were only around ten tables squished in, but thankfully it wasn’t too busy when they turned up so they didn’t have to wait for a table, like Claire did last time.

‘I’m so hungry I could eat a horse!’ Claire said as they sat down with their tea, waiting for the food to arrive.

Loki chuckled. ‘I’m sure I saw a field of them a few miles back.’

Claire stuck her tongue out at him playfully. He reached under the table and pinched her thigh, making her squeak.

‘I hate how long your arms are. You should not be able to reach me.’ She laughed.

‘To be fair, it’s a small table.’ Loki grinned.

‘Still.’ Claire shrugged. ‘I’m so excited for you to meet Louise. She might be a little odd at first, like I’ve said before, she acts all confident and outgoing, but she’s actually really quite insecure and shy. Well, more she’s put a wall around herself than shy, I guess.’

Loki nodded. ‘I’d say it’s completely understandable though, after what she’s been through.’

‘Yeah, it is. I hate him so much for what he did to her. She was so confident and outgoing, which wasn’t an act, until he started draining all of that out of her… Literally beating it out of her.’ Claire sighed sadly.

Loki reached across the table and cupped Claire’s cheek softly, brushing his thumb up and down a little. ‘She will soon flourish again, I’m sure. Now he’s gone, she no longer needs to live in fear. She’s got a wonderful sister who’s going to continue to be there for her. And now she also has a brother-in-law that’s a vampire.’ Loki smirked and winked at her.

Claire blushed a little and laughed. ‘That’s very true. I know a good gang of vampires that will be able to sort out any assholes.’

‘Exactly.’ Loki grinned and leaned back.

Their food was quick to arrive, it smelled amazing and made Claire’s mouth water. Claire and Loki tucked in straight away.

‘Oh my god, this is better than sex.’ Claire groaned with a mouthful.

Loki mocked a gasp and looked horrified. ‘What? You can’t be serious!’

Claire finished her mouthful and shrugged. ‘Sorry, vampy… but this is seriously good food. If the choice was this every day or sex… well, I wouldn’t be going hungry.’

‘You are so asking for trouble, missy.’ Loki growled deeply at her, which made her clench her thighs together a little.

Loki smirked when he caught a bit of her scent and he saw the way her cheeks turned a little pinker. ‘Aha… Are you sure that you’d be able to go without sex?’ He asked cockily as he raised an eyebrow.

‘Of course I could. I bet I could go longer than you.’ Claire scoffed as she stuffed some bacon into her mouth.

Loki laughed and folded his arms over his chest. ‘Oh, you think so, huh? Well, why don’t we see how long we can last, see who folds first?’

‘It’s on!’ Claire laughed.

When they finished breakfast, they made their way to Louise’s. They arrived just before lunch time, pretty much right on time for when Louise was expecting them.

Claire and Louise were so happy and excited to see one another again, giving each other a big hug. Then Claire stepped backwards a little to Loki and put her arm around his.

‘This, is Loki… Loki, this is Louise.’ Claire introduced them enthusiastically.

‘Lovely to meet you, Louise.’ Loki said charmingly.

‘Lovely to meet you, too.’ Louise grinned and, to Loki and Claire’s surprise, she put her hand out towards him with only a little bit of hesitation.

Loki gently took her hand and shook it. He could smell her nerves and could feel her hand shaking ever so slightly, so he didn’t hold her hand for too long.

Louise then stepped to the side. ‘Come in, come in! I can’t believe I’m actually meeting a real-life vampire. Claire’s told me all about you.’

Loki chuckled as they stepped inside. ‘All good I hope.’

‘Mostly.’ Louise teased.

Loki mocked a gasp and glared at Claire, who just gave him a big cheesy grin as she pushed him through to the living room.

Louise made them all tea and she’d made some sandwiches and brought out some nibbles for lunch.

‘First things first, let’s get rid of the elephant in the room.’ Louise announced as she sat down on the single chair, Claire and Loki were on the sofa.

Claire and Loki looked at her with a confused look on their faces.

‘I need to see the fangs. I’m sorry. It’s just I can’t actually believe it.’ Louise said sheepishly.

Loki threw his head back, laughing. ‘That’s exactly what Claire wanted to see when she found out.’

‘What can I say, we are sisters after all.’ Claire laughed.

‘I can see already that you are both very alike.’ Loki grinned, then flashed his fangs at Louise, who’s eyes widened but Loki saw the excitement on her face.

‘You’re living the dream, sis.’ Louise said as she shook her head in disbelief and took a sip of her tea.

‘Claire was telling me that you both used to talk about being swept off your feet by vampires.’ Loki chuckled.

‘We did.’ Louise nodded. ‘I never would have imagined that they’d be real though… I still can’t quite believe it.’

‘Tell me about it. Teenage fantasies come true.’ Claire smirked and glanced at Loki. ‘Oh, by the way Loki. I was thinking we should set Louise up with Matt. He’s single, right?’

Loki grinned. ‘He is indeed… So is Spencer, actually.’

‘You said Matt is hot… Who’s Spencer? Is he hot?’ Louise asked Claire.

Claire shrugged and nodded. ‘I’d say so.’

Loki looked from Claire to Louise, then back to Claire so fast he almost got whiplash. ‘You think Matt and Spencer are hot?’

Claire looked at Loki and shrugged again. ‘They’re handsome fellows.’

Loki’s mouth fell open and he folded his arms over his chest.

‘In-fact, all the teachers at the school are pretty hot. I’m surprised students can even concentrate properly, to be honest.’ Claire said seriously, though she struggled not to smile and laugh.

Loki pouted and shrunk back into the sofa. ‘I thought I was the only good looking one.’ He huffed.

‘N’aww. Don’t worry, you’re the only one for me.’ Claire assured him and pinched his cheek.

‘You two are adorable together.’ Louise blurted out with a smile.

Loki was quick to turn things around, asking Louise for all the dirt on Claire when they were younger. Claire tried to keep Louise quiet about some things, but Louise was having far too much fun.

‘One memory I have, that I will never ever forget. Is when we were around sixteen?’

‘Oh no… no, no, no.’ Claire made a dive for Louise and tried to cover her mouth, but Louise managed to get her head away so she could still speak freely while fending Claire off.

‘We snuck out late one night to a party at the local park, alcohol was involved. Claire got a little too bold and decided that she could easily climb the monkey bars and hang upside down, to prove she wasn’t drunk. She managed, but as she was upside down her top fell down around her face and she had stupidly decided that going braless that night was a great idea.’

‘No! You didn’t?’ Loki gasped, his mouth fell wide open as he looked at Claire, who slunk back to the sofa and pulled her jumper up over her face.

‘Yep, she did. Flashing most of our classmates. Obviously the guys never let her forget that. Neither did a lot of the girls, actually. Considering she was more endowed than the rest of us at that age, she was getting glares from some of the girls for weeks after. Especially with all the attention she was suddenly getting from the guys.’ Louise laughed hysterically.

Loki’s stomach began to hurt from laughing so much. Claire just kept hidden, until Loki tugged her jumper down to reveal her bright red cheeks.

‘Remind me next time you’re drinking to double check that you’re wearing a bra… don’t want any of the other hot teachers to see what they shouldn’t.’ Loki teased and winked at her.

Claire stuck her tongue out at him in response, earning a playful poke to her side.

Loki and Claire stayed for most of the day, they ended up having a Chinese takeaway with Louise before finally heading home.

‘It was so nice to meet you, Louise. You’re welcome to come see us in Demsdale whenever you like.’ Loki said with a big smile as Louise walked them to the door.

‘Thank you. It’s been good to meet you, too. Though as Claire’s sister, I do need to say this… Vampire or not, if you hurt my sister I will come after your ass.’

‘I wouldn’t expect anything less.’ Loki chuckled.

‘Don’t need to worry, sis. I’m in good hands.’ Claire assured Louise as she gave her a big hug.

‘You sure are.’ Louise agreed as she squeezed Claire. ‘See you soon, yeah?’

‘Definitely.’

When Claire and Loki got into his car and began the drive home, it was beginning to get dark.

‘Your sister is lovely.’ Loki smiled and reached over to squeeze Claire’s thigh.

‘She was really comfortable around you, which shouldn’t be a surprise, really. You’re a big softie after all.’ Claire smiled back at him.

‘I sure am.’ Loki winked at her. ‘I could tell at first she was a little anxious around me, but she did seem to relax after a while.’

‘I still can’t believe she told you that damn story.’ Claire laughed a little and put her hand over her face.

‘I’m glad she did. Now I know I need to keep a close eye on these babies.’ Loki said as he moved his hand up and squeezed at her breasts, making Claire laugh more.

‘Hands off, vampy. They’re off limits for now, remember our bet?’ Claire smirked.

‘You’re not still serious about that, are you?’ Loki raised an eyebrow and glanced at her.

‘Definitely. Unless you’re ready to cave in already, hmm?’

‘Of course not. I can last longer than you. It’ll be you that’s on your knees begging for me to fuck you before I’m the one begging.’ Loki said confidently.

‘Yeah right.’ Claire scoffed.

-

Claire moaned as Loki repeatedly thrust into her, grunting hotly over her. He had his hand wrapped around the back of her neck, pinning her down over the bonnet of the car. It was warm against her cheek from the engine underneath.

‘Lokiiii. Fuuuuuuck, I’m gonna cum!’ Claire cried out as Loki thrust hard into her once more, exploding deep inside her as she clenched around his cock.

Neither of them cared much that anyone could just pull into the car park at any moment, it was dark enough and there were trees shielding them from the main road. Though the slight chance of being seen did fuel their fire even more when they began.

They were only around ten minutes away from Demsdale, but their teasing of one another in the car had become too much for them to bear. Loki had snapped and swiftly pulled off the motorway, practically dragging Claire out of the car and folding her over the front of the car so he could fuck her senseless.

Sweat beaded on Loki’s forehead as he pulled out of Claire and helped her to stand up. She was blissed out, but managed to turn around and, with his support, got her trousers and knickers pulled back up.

‘See… I told you I’d last longer.’ Claire giggled as she leaned back against the car while Loki tucked himself away and buckled his belt up.

He raised an eyebrow at her. ‘You are the one that started masturbating in the car next to me. You stunk out the car, how else was I supposed to react?’ He growled at her, making her stomach churn with more excitement.

‘Well… we didn’t say we couldn’t masturbate. It’s not my fault you can't control yourself.’ Claire shrugged with a smug smirk.

Loki narrowed his eyes at her and a slow smirk spread over his lips, then he launched at her. She tried to run, but couldn’t even get two steps away from him before he grabbed her and began tickling her underneath her jumper.

She screeched with laughter as Loki tickled her, not letting her get away from him. He growled and blew a raspberry against her neck, making her screech even louder. She tried stomping on his foot, but he knew what she was doing and managed to avoid her stomps.

He laughed wickedly when he relented on his attack, finishing with a big sloppy kiss on her cheek.

‘You’re such a goof.’ Claire laughed and pushed his face away.

Loki slid his arm back around her waist and tugged her into him, grinning down at her. She put her hands on his chest as she gazed up at him.

‘We couldn’t even last a day.’ Loki sighed dramatically.

‘We are useless.’ Claire giggled.

‘Perhaps I just needed to re-claim what’s mine…’ Loki hummed as he glanced at her breasts.

‘I’m going to kill Louise for telling you that story.’ Claire grumbled.

Loki chuckled and escorted her back into the car.

[teecupangel]

*Jumps through the window* Desmond after sacrificing himself is thrown into the time of Bayek (Maybe like a Yew Branches?). Maybe because of Issue technology or some bug of the Eye he becomes immortal and is know by the assassins as this hooded figure of the legends. There are record of people that saw him at the important moments for the brotherhood or is mentioned to give some forgotten knowledge or advice to people...... i just want people to think that Desmond is this badass figure in brotherhood history, when in reality he is sweating his ass and is full chaos mod.

*Jumps out of different window*

*stares at the only window in their room wondering how the hell nonny was able to fit thru that*

*rummages all over the blog for that specific ask that does have immortal!Desmond in it*

*search of immortal or mask does not yield the ask*

*ask for help from duckduckgo instead of tumblr’s sucky search bar*

Lo and behold!

Immortal!Desmond ask that I answered using sorta-kinda Outsider POV

He’s more or less deitified in that ask so it’ll be super funny to think that he’s making such a big impact in history and is known as an absolutely powerful figure and they all think he’s cool but, in reality, he’s flying by the seat of his pants.

Oh, don’t get him wrong.

He had sorta an idea of what to do.

But that’s because he went to Altaïr first and Altaïr felt both sorry for the fact that he has no idea what to do and annoyed by the fact that he has no idea what to do so the two of them spent most of their time just planning Desmond’s next moves for the next 600 years or so. 

Then Ezio came along and Leonardo was able to make sense of all his ramblings about techs he and Altaïr sorta started and kinda finished.

Edward was purely by chance, and he will never let down the fact that Edward had found him by fishing him out of the waters while he went diving for treasures.

Okay. Haytham becoming an Assassin was intentional. Matchmaking was not his strong point and he always fucked that up so badly because all his meddling only made Haytham and Kaniehtí:io sorta-kinda hate each other. Bless Edward for being able to fix that.

Desmond was only planning to take a vacay for a bit. That’s why he joined Shay. Realizing that taking out the POE would be bad? Yeah. That was unintentional. Making Shay freak out because he was freaking out because that POE looked ready to just drop off its container like the little bitch that it was? Yeah… definitely not intentional. Desmond and Shay swore never to talked about that incident. 

In Desmond’s defense… He didn’t help Arno broker peace between the Assassins and Tempalrs. That was all Arno and his supporters. Desmond had been… preoccupied by de Sade’s writings to actually be of any help. Oh. Well, Desmond guessed he did take the Sword of Eden and beat Germaine on the head with it while Arno was busy with the negotiations and trying to pretend that he hadn’t been banging the new Grand Master of the Templar Order for years now. 

Desmond would like to stress that he didn’t provide council to the Frye Twins. Unless one counts “Noooo, don’t do that” and “Wh… why are you doing this? No, seriously… talk me through your thought process on how you got to this plan” and, Jayadeep’s favorite, “Uh-huh… and then?”. Desmond spent his entire time in London in Kenway manor, just chilling then Jayadeep would come barging in asking for his help because of the next Frye patented idea one of the twins have. They weren’t bad. It was just… Evie might pretend that she’s good at planning and she is. The twins just see the word improvise as ‘the first thing we think of which is usually the most chaotic thing we can think of’ and double-down on that.

Honestly...

Desmond was already dreading the shenanigans that will happen after he takes this timeline's Desmond Miles under his wings.

But fuck it.

He'd been winging this from the beginning and he'll continue to wing this.

And just...

Hope for the best...?

[andguesswhat]

Timmy said he swam in chocolate....

Not much time to think, not much time to write, so if you are not satisfied, please complain to @zuzla33! 😜 She somehow managed to coerce me into it. And maybe to @Valgal78 and @gatoenlaciudad, too 😂😘 Oh yes and the butthole anon may also be somewhat to blame 🙈

Not beta-read. But I hope you can enjoy it nonetheless. If there are stupid mistakes in it, please let me know.

Drenched

*

Timmy turns the key and pushes the heavy iron door open.

"I wonder what they're doing with all that choc- " Armie is about to ask when Timmy interrupts him in a panic.

"Shhht!"

"What?" asks Armie in still relatively normal volume as they step into the hall. "It's in the middle of the night. No one is here, right? You made sure of that, remember?"

Timmy rolls his eyes. "Can you please be quiet anyway? I'm getting scared. You never know!"

"Yeah, you never know!" Armie imitates Timmy with a grin and then adds in an exaggeratedwhisper, "Okay, I’ll whisper but only if I get to choose the music and the volume on the way back because seriously my ears are still ringing and that might be the reason that I talk so loud, I can’t hear anything.”

Timmy rolls his eyes again, this time apparently at Armie's stuffiness, but can't help a little smile.

The hall is dimly lit, only emergency lighting everywhere. Armie considers asking if they could turn the lights on, just to annoy Timmy a little more, but of course there is something about it, this mood of an abandoned movie set in the middle of the night.

He follows Timmy down the hall. He's been able to see a bit of the set while he's here in London with him, but the set in this hall had only been finished at the last minute before the shoot.

And then they're standing in front of the river. The chocolate river. All around is lawn with lots of green plants and colorful flowers and it really looks pretty awesome actually.

Timmy grins enthusiastically at Armie.

It's not at all clear what they're exactly doing here. Or will do.

Timmy had sent him some photos of the shoot in the chocolate river in the morning, his clothing covered in chocolate, his face smeared with chocolate, and Armie hadn't been able to resist sending a few raunchy comments.

Although he didn't even know if the chocolate was edible.

Yes it is, Timmy had written. Just chocolate, milk and honey.

And that's how it smells now. Very pleasantly sweet.

Timmy had glamoured the security of the hall. He knows how to do these things. He's nice to everyone, and when he wants something, he's even nicer. And then a few bills, of course, to keep quiet.

Timmy's request didn't sound that strange though. Armie is used to much stranger things from celebrities. Timmy had told the security guard that he had heard that chocolate baths are the latest shit and oh, so healthy, and it would be a shame not to use all this, right? So he wondered if he couldn't take a quick bath tonight?

"You weird Americans,” the very British security guy had replied, shaking his head. “But don't you dare do anything ugly that gets me in trouble, or I'll have you drowned in that river and then you won't be able to smile so nicely anymore."

Armie hasn't met that security man yet, but likes his humor already.

"And what if this guy has a crush on you and shows up here too?" he wonders.

"Don't give me that shit! You better take your clothes off!" Timmy answers while starting to undress himself.

"Me? I'm not going in there."

"What?"

"I said I'd be happy to help you lick it off, but I can't imagine -"

Timmy's t-shirt hits him square in the face. "Pussy!"

"What?" Armie's voice is way too high. "Well, I really don't know if that necessarily has anything to do with being a pussy, if-"

"Oh fuck you!" laughs Timmy as he takes off the rest of his clothes and finally stands stark naked in front of him.

"Okay..." Timmy looks kind of nervously excited at the chocolate pond and Armie feels way too many feelings for his man again.

How he now stands there so skeptically with his beautiful slender figure, indecisively crosses his arms in front of his chest and finally carefully dips a toe into the chocolate river, looking like some modern version of Botticelli's Venus.

"I don't know... So completely naked now it's something else..."

Armie laughs. "But making me look stupid. Come on! Go for it."

"I thought we were doing this together! You could have said something about not going in!"

"But I didn't say I was going in either!"

"But so alone now... feels kind of stupid!"

"You know, we can stand here and argue... or - "

And then he pushes Timmy unceremoniously into the chocolate.

Blutsh!

That fall alone is a sight he will never forget.

How the chocolate sloshes around Timmy in huge waves and coats his body with the liquid chocolate.

Epic!

And Timmy squeals happily. What more could you want.

"Oh god, this is so good!"

Armie lies down contentedly on the grass, one arm propped on his elbow, watching his man move happily in the chocolate pond.

"Please come in. It's so much more awesome when you feel it on your bare skin..."

"I'll take your word for it, but thanks, no."

Because he wants to watch Timmy experience this, explore this. It’s just so adorable. How he's fascinated sliding his arms through the chocolate, making ripples, and then doing some steps, bending his knees a bit and realizing in amazement, "God... it feels so good…” he wrinkles his nose, “Especially in certain places…"

And when Timmy then curiously lets his hands disappear behind his back in the liquid chocolate and everything looks like he's pulling his butt cheeks apart, plus his facial expression suddenly becoming all sensual, including a slight opening of his mouth, a little excited gasp... Armie involuntarily has to swallow. And is suddenly horny as hell.

With Timmy, the switch is apparently also flipped, as he puts one arm somewhere in front of him, and yes, he certainly is touching his cock and definitely liking what he feels.

That little sexy bastard. Armie gets hard just from watching him.

He wonders if he will have to get into the chocolate now after all, but then Timmy looks at him so darkly, wades towards him through the chocolate, crawls out of the chocolate, and Armie can’t think straight anymore.

Timmy’s whole body is covered in this sweet, wet chocolate, some of his curls are drenched, too, the chocolate is dripping, dripping from his curls, from his body, and fucking dripping from his already hard cock…

Who wouldn’t find that extremely delicious?

Even more delicious when Timmy crawls over Armie; it’s dripping everywhere, and then he already has Timmy's chocolate smeared hands on his cheeks and Timmy's chocolate smeared lips on his mouth and he can't say that's bad, quite the opposite. It’s fucking luscious.

Chocolate, milk and honey. Everything smells so good, tastes so good.

He lets Timmy kiss him, enjoys the moment, enjoys the literally sweetest man imaginable kissing him, tastes the chocolate on Timmy's lips, on his thumb sliding into Armie's mouth and running over his tongue, sucks on it, and then he can't stop himself, he has to slide his hand over Timmy's smeared neck, has to lick the chocolate off his lips, off his chin and god, off his neck. And Timmy moans with satisfaction.

Armie feels like he is in heaven. His naked man smeared with chocolate, looking so sexy and apparently feeling so sexy, all that smearing and licking… it is just so fucking hot. Plus the sweet smell, the sweet taste, and he wonders why didn't they think of this before?

Armie runs his hands over Timmy’s chest, smearing the chocolate as he licks Timmy's neck, licks it clean, inch by inch, wants to taste Timmy’s chocolate nipples, sucks at them, and licks them clean, too. All the while Timmy's eyes darken with lust, low moans coming out of his mouth.

And that's why Armie then grabs Timmy's cock too, is about to pump the already hard chocolate dripping dick, when Timmy suddenly whispers, "I can't do this here. I'm shooting a movie here! I can't do this."

What?

Armie tries to stay calm because he wants his man way too much right now and is afraid that if he says something wrong he won't get him, but he has to at least comment on the obvious."You already are totally naked and you already have a boner."

"Yeah, but making out like that is another thing from actually doing it!"

"Timmy!" Armie takes a deep breath. He'd like to say, ´you can't get me all hot and bothered here right now and then say, nah, you don’t get me`, but he knows he won't get anywhere with that line of reasoning, so he says softly,

"God, Timmy, you look so fucking hot, you smell so fucking good, taste so fucking good, I want you so bad, baby" because this is so fucking true and he kisses him, on the lips, on the cheek. "And besides, what are you going to say to the car rental company when you smear the chocolate all over the car seat, I kind of need to lick you clean first, don’t you think?” More soft kisses. “And that’s what you want, too, isn’t it?” He whispers into Timmy’s ear before he licks on Timmy’s neck again.”You want me to lick you clean, right? Like everywhere. You love that, don’t you, baby?" Timmy’s breathing is getting heavier, so Armie dares to carefully put his hand back on Timmy's cock, starting massaging it lightly, with all the slick chocolate around, and smiles contently when he sees Timmy's eyes flutter shut.

"God, you're so fucking hot, baby. Can we please go on a little more?"

"Okay..." answers Timmy, breathing heavily.

"Really okay?" asks Armie just in case.

"Yeah..." and a small smile flits across Timmy's face before the lust takes over again.

His man is horny as fuck and that is good because he is horny as fuck as well.

Quickly Armie undresses himself, everything has to go, shirt, shoes, pants, shorts, while Timmy lies in the grass on his back, looking at him darkly and running his hands over his slick body. God, he loves it when Timmy does this.

Finally, he squats down and once again takes in his beautiful, chocolate-soaked man before leaning forward and beginning to lick him from toes to head.

Of course he lingers for quite a while in the middle section, the inner thighs deserve a lot of attention, and the way Timmy moans he seems to think so too. Especially the hollow between leg and hip needs a lot of thoroughly licking, there is really a lot of chocolate accumulated. And then of course there is Timmy's beautiful chocolate covered cock. First he licks the balls, then the shaft, then the tip. Armie licks it and sucks it while Timmy moans and groans and buries his fingers in Armie's hair.

At one point then, Timmy whispers, "You need some chocolate too," before he bites his lip and bends to the river, dips his hand in the chocolate flow, pulls it back out, the chocolate dripping, and reaches for Armie's cock, rubbing the chocolate over it and Armie can't help it, the squishy, slippery feeling is too much, he has to moan out loud.

“Fuck!”

Timmy giggles.

"Can I taste it? I want to taste it so badly" he whispers and without waiting for an answer he starts licking Armie's shaft.

Fuck, this feels good! Timmy swirling his tongue around his cock, licking it. And fuck, this looks so hot when Timmy lets Armie's cock slide deep into his mouth, the chocolate spilling over his lips left and right.

Timmy is sucking him devotedly until he can't get any harder and Armie would like to come into his mouth so badly but he knows he definitely needs his boner for what is yet to come.

Timmy knows this too, because when he lets the cock slide out of his mouth satisfied, he asks "Wanna see what my hole looks like?"

And god yes, since Timmy has pulled his butt cheeks apart in the chocolate pond, he desperately wants to see this.

Timmy flips over onto his stomach. Timmy's backside isn't quite as darkly smeared with chocolate anymore because he was lying in the grass, but that makes the dark wet spots leading between his butt cheeks all the more appealing. And so it is, Armie spreads Timmy's cheeks with his hands and his mouth gets dry involuntarily when he sees Timmy's butthole completely drenched in liquid chocolate. This is only topped when his entrance twitches.

Armie can't stand it a second longer, he puts his lips to it, sucking out the chocolate, greedily running his tongue around and finally over the luscious wet chocolate hole.

Not that he doesn't love eating out Timmy otherwise, but tasting the sweet liquid chocolate out of Timmy’s ass while Timmy squirms with moans beneath him is something he won't soon forget.

He could do this forever; every time he has licked him clean, he spreads some more chocolate over his hole, when Timmy suddenly desperately pants, "Fuck me, Armie…Please!"

Timmy is already a wreck, Armie can feel it. All the licking was teasing enough, and that's why Armie doesn't make him wait any longer. He quickly stretches him by the most necessary with his fingers, puts his cock at Timmy's entrance, pushes it inside him inch by inch and starts fucking him.

“Yes”, Timmy groans in relief.

Armie has to grip hard because the chocolate skin is so slippery, ramming his cock into Timmy again and again, who cries out in ecstasy with every thrust.

He is just considering increasing the speed when Timmy pushes his butt back and breathlessly says, "I wanna ride you."

He gets on top of Armie, lowers himself on Armie’s cock, rides Armie, rides himself further into ecstasy, milking Armie's cock with his tight hole, writhing his body, moaning loudly and Armie has to concentrate not to cum at the sight.

Timmy's sexuality is like no other. He can lose himself completely in it.

Moreover Timmy knows exactly what he wants. "Oh God, fuck me, Armie, I'm so close," he gasps and quickly lies on his back and spreads his legs and just as quickly Armie bends over him and sinks his cock back inside him to fuck him again.

They've had sex in places where Armie had to put his hand over Timmy's mouth so Timmy's moans wouldn't give them away, but here, here, when Timmy's unrestrained moans echo through the hall, it brings him close to the edge.

Timmy’s thick cock is lying heavy on his stomach and Armie grabs it with one hand to pump it while he keeps thrusting into Timmy’s hot hole.

“I’m coming, Armie..!!” Timmy pants and just one more thrust and Timmy spurts his load on his belly, his cum mingling with the chocolate, and just the thought of tasting this brings Armie over the edge.

A deep and loud groan and he comes in Timmy, and then…. only panting.

God, fuck, this was good.

When Armie has caught his breath again, he leans forward and licks the white cum with the brown chocolate off Timmy’s raising and lowering belly, licks his way up until he finally gets to Timmy’s face and kisses him tenderly on the lips.

They lie there for a few minutes clinging and snuggled together before they slowly get up, completely exhausted, and collect their clothes.

With their T-shirts they scrub the lawn a bit to make the chocolate disappear, but they only do it half-heartedly because Timmy thinks they won't shoot in the corner anyway.

On the way back they listen to Barry White at a moderate volume, which is important if only because Armie can then better hear Timmy singing along softly.

In their hotel room they take a shower. There are still remnants of chocolate on their bodies and Armie loves to wash every inch of Timmy's body with the sponge.

Afterwards they lie down in bed and look at each other dreamily. They both have a smile on their lips. How could they not, with what they just did.

Timmy still smells of chocolate and Armie involuntarily takes his hand, smells it and kisses it.

And then all of a sudden reality-Timmy stops by, he does that sometimes, not often, but sometimes, and for a second Timmy's whole body tenses, his look a picture of pure horror as if just in that second he realizes what had happened and shouts startled,

"What the fuck did I do?"

As if he hadn't even begun to think about reality in the last few hours, but was just in his own world. Not even when he said he couldn't do it was about reality, but was just an unconscious way to make Armie beg and make everything that much more intense.

"Maybe there were cameras?" He looks at Armie with the biggest terrified eyes and Armie can’t help himself, he has to laugh out loud at this.

Oh man, life without Timmy would be so boring.

And after he kisses Timmy softly on the mouth, he says, “Well I would say, make sure to get a copy of that footage. You have a good connection to the security guard, haven't you?”

*

[tabitha42]

The Wizard's Apprentice - Chapter 22

Saffron is just a lowly apprentice with barely a successful firebolt to her name. So what chance does she have with the arch mage she's slowly falling in love with?

Gale x Tav, slow burn, eventual smut

Chapter 1 Previous chapter Next chapter

The girls returned to camp to find the tieflings ready to head off having packed everything away. The boys had got back before them, and Saff was glad to see Gale finally awake. 

“Morning,” she said as she walked up to him, giving him a smile. 

“Morning,” he replied, returning the smile. 

“Can’t believe I was actually up before you today.” 

“Ah, yes, well I confess I was nursing a worse hangover than I thought humanly possible,” he said with a laugh. “I assume you weren’t cursed with such an affliction, then?” 

“Luckily not. Not as bad as you, at least.” 

“I’m glad. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone… especially not you.” It was a bit of a cheesy line, but it made her smile. 

“I hope you’re feeling a bit better now.” 

“I am, thank you,” he said with a nod. “And, um… ahem… I wanted to talk about last night. I… wanted to say that, even though the alcohol may have addled my body… it didn’t addle my mind.” He looked at her seriously, sincerity in his words. “I meant what I said. Every word. And I would still like to talk to you more tonight… if you’re interested?” 

A wide smile spread across her lips. 

“Of course,” she said happily, hoping she didn’t come across as too eager. 

“Wonderful. I look forward to it.” 

That wasn’t quite true. In fact… he was rather dreading it. He feared how she would react to finding out the truth of it all, of what he did… telling her he was an utter failure with a time bomb in his chest, that couldn’t even kiss her, who’d messed up so badly even a god was angry at him, wasn’t exactly going to paint him in the best light… but he couldn’t keep it from her any longer. He’d already hidden it for too long. 

After the tieflings left it was decided it was finally time to move the camp and head north towards the mountain pass. Halsin stayed with them to help, and eventually they had everything ready to go. 

Gale was taking a moment to look round the area and take it in one last time before they left when Saff walked up to him while they waited for the others to finish their last minute preparations. 

“Hard to believe we’re finally leaving…” he said wistfully, looking round at what had been their home for the last few days. 

“Yeah…” she agreed, looking round too. “I’m going to miss it.” 

“I hope we get just as lucky with the next place.”

Soon they were off. Saff took one last look back at the camp, thinking of all they’d done here - the nights spent around the campfire with her friends, the lessons spent with Gale down by the river’s edge… she hoped, maybe, one day they’d return here once this whole ordeal was over. 

The walk was even longer than normal with the heavy bags of camp supplies weighing them down. As they passed the grove Halsin stayed behind to wrap up a few last things, saying he would meet them at the mountain pass. After all, a walk that would take them several days would take him mere hours as an eagle. They arranged a day to meet and he headed into the grove while they continued on. They were all rather disappointed to have him leave the party, partly because they liked his company, and partly because he’d been able to carry so much of their equipment. 

After what felt like an eternity, they finally reached the spot they’d agreed to stop for lunch - the blighted village. They’d cleared it of goblins before so they knew it would be safe and provide plenty of shelter should they need it. Plus, Astarion was quick to point out, they didn’t stay long there before and there was probably plenty of loot to be had.

Saff followed hesitantly into one of the houses, feeling a bit unsure about looting the belongings of the goblins’ victims. Astarion had absolutely no problem with it of course, and was soon devling down into basements with Shadowheart and Lae’zel.

Saff did eventually find something she thought was worth taking - alchemy equipment. She gathered all the tools and ingredients she could find and was soon set up next to Gale where he cooked lunch for the group, brewing any potions she could out of the ingredients available to her. 

“Karlach will like this one,” she commented to Gale as she watched her concoction boil. “It’ll be a potion of hill giant strength - if I got it right. She’ll be able to arm wrestle an owlbear with this in her!” 

“Don’t suppose she’d be willing to give me a sip first while we cart this camp equipment around? My back is killing me,” he half-joked. 

“That’s not a bad idea…” she mused with a chuckle, very much feeling the effects of carrying such a heavy bag around herself as well. 

Soon they gathered for lunch, with Astarion and the others being the last to return. Their looting seemed to have been successful, given the grin on Astarion’s face. 

“Good hunt?” Wyll asked as the group sat down to eat.

“Fantastic. Who’d have thought such an innocuous little village would be hiding such treasures?” Astarion said happily. “Say, I don’t suppose any of you came across a gemstone, did you? Round, about this big? Probably an amethyst?” he asked, holding his hands out to show what would be a pretty sizable gemstone. 

“No…” Gale said, narrowing his eyes slightly suspiciously. “Why do you ask?” 

“Oh, no reason. But do let me know if anyone comes across anything like that.” 

They decided it was best not to question it. 

They chatted together as Gale began to serve up lunch, til Astarion’s ears pricked. 

“Shhh,” he hushed quickly, holding out his hand for them to stop talking as they looked at him. He paused a moment, listening. “Someone’s here…” 

He grabbed his bow and began silently moving towards the noise. The others slowly, carefully, readied their weapons, staying as quiet as possible as they hid amongst the ruins. They let Astarion take the lead, watching as he silently stalked across the village square they’d been having lunch in and pressed himself up against the wall of a building. They could hear the footsteps now, crunching along the broken stone of the pathway, growing ever louder til they reached the corner…

A figure stepped out. Masculine, dressed in embroidered black and red robes, his face obscured by the shadow of a hood. 

“Who goes there?” Astarion demanded, drawing his bow and pointing the arrow to the man’s face. He was so nonplussed when Astarion spoke that one might even think he’d known Astarion was there, and while he clearly wasn’t threatened, he did at least do Astarion the respect of stopping. 

“You don’t want to do that,” he said calmly. “It won’t go well for you.” 

It was only when she heard his voice did she recognise him. 

“Malitas!” 

Saff ran out from cover, smiling as she headed towards them. Astarion looked at her in surprise, then back to the man, who was now smiling too as he lowered his hood to reveal long, dark hair tucked behind the familiar pointed ears of a fellow high elf. His head was adorned with an intricate silver circlet bejewelled with jade and obsidian, and his golden skin was starting to show the first wrinkles of old age. 

“Saffron! My dear, I’ve been so worried about you,” he said as he hurried towards her. The others began to emerge from their hiding places, though he paid them no mind as he looked over Saff. 

“You know him?” Astarion asked, lowering his bow. 

“Yes. He’s my master. Everyone, this is Malitas,” she said, turning to the rest of the group. She glanced at Gale, who was looking at Malitas slightly sceptically. Malitas looked over at the others, eyeing each of them for a moment, until Astarion spoke and pulled his attention back.

“And to think, I was about to put an arrow through your head. My apologies,” he said with a chuckle as he put his bow away.

“Oh, no harm done. I would have disintegrated you first,” Malitas replied casually, somewhat to Astarion’s annoyance, before turning to Saff with a much more concerned look. “Are you ok?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” she said with a nod. “What are you doing here?” 

“What do you mean, what am I doing here? My apprentice goes missing and you expect me to just do nothing? Of course not. I set out immediately to find you. A few divination rituals set me in the right direction, though it certainly hasn’t been an easy search. But enough about that, we have far more pressing matters. Tell me - are my fears true? Was it the Nautiloid that took you?” 

She sighed slightly and nodded. 

“Gods… and have they infected you?” he asked. Another nod. “Mystra save us…” he whispered, looking away in despair.

“But it’s ok!” Saff said quickly, to his surprise. “We’re going to get it cured. We’re on our way to a githyanki creche. They can cure us!” She glanced over at Lae’zel as she mentioned the creche, before turning back at Malitas, who was looking over the group.

“You’re all infected?” he asked. Lae’zel was the one to answer.

“We are. Your apprentice speaks truly - we will be rid of these parasites soon enough,” she said, confident as ever. Malitas looked curious.

“A githyanki… it’s been a long time since I’ve seen one of your kind. Where is this creche of yours?” 

“In the mountain pass,” she answered, which seemed to worry him. 

“The mountain pass?? That’s days from here. Ceremorphosis doesn’t take that long. You’ll be long turned before you reach there. In fact… are you sure you’re infected? You’re all looking surprisingly… healthy,” he said sceptically. 

“Yeah, that’s… the thing,” Saff started, a bit awkwardly. “We don’t have any symptoms. We all had this dream, a visitor came and said they were protecting us and stopping us transforming. We don’t know if it’s true or not, but… something seems to be protecting us.” 

Malitas was quiet for a long moment, his brow furrowing. 

“Fascinating… I’ve never heard of anything like this…” he murmured, scratching his chin, before quickly shaking his head. “But we can’t rely on that. Saffron, listen to me,” he said, taking her by the shoulders. “I believe I may be able to cure you, but we need to get back to Baldur’s Gate as soon as possible.”

“You can cure us??” she gasped excitedly, though he didn’t match her excitement. 

“I can cure… you,” he said after a moment. “It is not an easy spell and I only have the materials to do it once. I cannot help your friends. I’m sorry.” 

There was a long moment of silence… until she stepped back away from him. 

“Then… you can go back to Baldur’s Gate, and I’ll see you when I get there,” she decided. “I’m not leaving them.” She didn’t see, but there was a look of surprise from some members of the group, to see her so loyal to them.

“What? Saffron, no, don’t throw your life away for people you’ve only known for a few days!” he argued, but she wasn’t having it. 

“They’re my friends, I’m staying with them,” she said firmly, folding her arms. 

“Mmph…” 

He pressed his fingers to his brow and shook his head, then turned to the others, as if to assess them. As he looked at each of them, his curiosity grew. 

“My my Saffron, you do keep some interesting company, don’t you?” he said, looking at them in turn. “A githyanki from the astral plane. A vampire that can walk in sunlight. A cleric of Shar, of all gods! A tiefling with an infernal engine for a heart. The Blade of Frontiers himself! With an unexpected new look. And…” 

He trailed off a bit as he came to Gale. For a moment the two looked at each other, til Gale’s eyes narrowed. 

“You’re looking into our minds…” he growled accusingly, clenching his fists slightly. Suddenly it became clear how he knew so much about the others, and they were none too pleased with the intrusion. 

“That I am. Saffron is my apprentice, I will do what is necessary to protect her. And you were the only one who not only noticed, but was even able to stop me. I have met very few people that can do that. Which only confirms my suspicions of who you are - Gale Dekarios, the prodigy of Waterdeep! It is such an honour,” he said, taking a deep bow. Though there was something ever so slightly… off about his manner of speech. 

“Wait, you know each other??” Saff gasped in surprise, but Malitas shook his head. 

“Not personally. But I know of him. Of course I do, any self-respecting wizard would…” he looked over at her. “You don’t recognise him?” he asked. She shook her head, rather embarrassed. “I clearly need to keep you more up to date with wizarding news then, because his name was all over it about a year ago. Gale of Waterdeep, prodigy, archmage… Chosen of Mystra,” he said, though the tone of his voice showed that he was certainly not as impressed by those things as one might expect him to be.

Gale bristled, realising how much Malitas knew about him… and realising now how much Saff was about to find out. 

“You… are one of Mystra’s Chosen?!” she gasped, turning to Gale with wide eyes. Not only her, but the rest of the group too now turned to him in surprise. He felt their eyes on him, burning into him… but how did he tell them the truth, that he was no longer her Chosen because of his own folly? 

“Her Chosen, and more… if the rumours are to be believed,” Malitas continued, a slight smirk creeping onto his lips. 

“What- what do you mean?” Saff asked quickly, turning to Malitas, who kept his eyes on Gale. 

“The rumours are true, aren’t they Gale?” he said, watching Gale for a moment. “Mystra’s Chosen… and her lover.” 

As she looked back at him, Gale couldn’t bring himself to look her in the eye. They heard Astarion stifle an impressed, disbelieving laugh. 

“Of course, that all changed a year ago, didn’t it?” Malitas continued, then turned his speech to Saff. “They say he was cast out by Mystra and locked himself in his tower, never to emerge. No one could reach him, no one knew what happened. Plenty of speculation, but no answers. I suppose the Nautiloid plucked you from your solitary confinement, did it Gale?” he asked, but received no answer. He chuckled, and turned back to Saff. “A true mystery indeed. What do you think he could possibly have done to invoke such anger from our kind and forgiving goddess?”  Saff stared at Gale with wide eyes, and still he couldn’t bring himself to look at her from the shame. Saff could hardly believe it… she wouldn’t have believed it if Gale had not effectively confirmed the truth of it himself.

“Doesn’t look like we’re going to get answers today. Pity,” Malitas said, then finally turned away from Gale to Saff. “Come, Saffron. We have to go.” 

At first she could barely react, her mind still reeling from the revelations. To find out he’d been keeping something so big from her… part of her believed that he had no obligation to tell her, but she thought they were closer than that. Her own words to Lae’zel came back to her. You realise they’re not like that at all, and that you’ve not actually fallen for them. You’ve fallen for this idea you had of them that isn’t actually real. Was that the case with Gale? How much more had he not told her about? And then there was the question of what he did that could have been so bad for Mystra to cast him out…

Nonetheless, she stepped back again. 

“N-no. I’m staying,” she said, sounding less confident than before, but still determined. 

“Gods help me…” Malitas murmured, shaking his head. “Saffron, a word? In private?” 

She glanced back to the others, to Gale in particular… but he wasn’t looking at her. He couldn’t bring himself to. Trying to ignore the pang of sadness she felt, she turned and headed off with Malitas.