#you lied and quit your job and got a new one that’s closer to your ugly ass boyfriend

[galariangengar]

💭

[baronessvonglitter]

Cherry, Cherry 🍒 Chapter 4 🍒 "Ride Along"

pre-outbreak! AU!Joel Miller x f!Reader

Word count: 2.610

Summary: during your ride along, you and Joel become a bit closer.

WARNINGS: 18+ Only! Mature and Explicit, sexual innuendo, flirting, Joel openly gawking at you, you gawking at Joel's delicious biceps, mutual pining (though you're both too nervous to make the first move), you now have a song 🥰, age gap (reader is 18, Joel is 35), reader's race not mentioned, no use of y/n

Author's Note: this was one of the more fun chapters to write! It also brings us the song which (in part) gave me the idea for this story. Give it a listen and tell me you can't see yourself in Joel's truck on a sunny day, windows down, music blasting ☺️

Series Masterlist

The rest of the weekend you spend in daydreams, imagining scenarios that are unlikely to happen, if only to prepare yourself for what may actually happen. Joel is not likely to sneak into your room through your window, nor to approach you in a dimly lit corner at your job. But you like to think you'd have a handle on what would happen next. You like to think he'd be impressed by your maturity, that you're not like other girls your age.

But you have to admit that at the same time you realize you have no idea of the bounds you're crossing, of what lies beyond those daydreams that play out quite safely in your head. You cannot control Joel but it's very likely he can control you, and you're not sure whether that thought excites you or scares you.

Trevor is out of sight, out of mind. He hasn't even bothered to give you a call. Whatever he sensed between you and Joel at the party that night has obviously hurt him, and he's run back to Houston to lick his wounds. You are surprised that you don't think anything about him except mild annoyance.

Should it scare you that an older man is attracted to you? You could easily shut him out, cut it off before whatever this is branches into something uncontrollable. Right now you're safe.

But what if you're tired of safety?

You're living in your cousin's house, per your mother's permission, driving a car that was handed down to you, attending a school that everyone thought was best for you.

So what's wrong with taking a little something for yourself? Figuring something out on your own, even if you might get hurt in the process? Even if you might get rejected?

Curiosity killed the cat, so the saying goes.. But is there any quote about luck? Because it's purely luck that carries you as you catch up with Joel just before he leaves for work one sunny day. Dressed in a white tee with the sleeves rolled up, high-waisted shorts and your favorite Converse high tops, you catch up with him at his passenger window. "I'm coming with you today," you say with more confidence than you feel, now that you're actually face to face with Joel again. You're taking the initiative because he hasn't reached out. Too late you realize you may be an inconvenience.

Joel looks like a deer in headlights, and for a moment you find it so cute. "Oh.. really? I, uh.. sure, that works." He pops the automatic locks on his door and waits until you step in to turn the engine on.

You smile brightly, heart hammering in your chest. "Good, because I'm buying lunch for us later." You put on your seat belt. "Where are we going first?"

He eyes you as you make yourself comfortable in his truck, and it doesn't escape you that his gaze travels up your legs and to your thighs. You wonder if he's remembering how they feel around him. Then he clears his throat and begins to back out of the driveway. "Well, we got two more new jobs that need to be done, so we'll head to those first." His arm reaches across the back of your headrest as he maneuvers the truck onto the street.

"What kinds of sites are they? Residential? Commercial?"

Joel glances at you and a smirk crosses his lips. "You've done your homework on the contracting business, haven't ya?"

You blush with pride. "There's this beautiful thing called the internet," you remind him.

"Ah, that's a foreign concept to a dinosaur like myself," his deep, warm voice sounds serious but there's a twinkle in his eyes. "Actually, they're both residential jobs. New roofing on one, and the other..." he trails off and you realize he's lost in thought, looking down, obviously distracted by the point where the hem of your jean shorts meets the flesh of your thigh. "The, uh, other job.. is rebuilding a garage." You smile as he forces his eyes back to the road, your heart skips several beats.

"Maybe it's time for some music?" you suggest, as the tension is palpable, and you know he can feel it.

"Yeah, sounds good to me." He reaches over and turns on the radio. The end of an oldies song blasts from the speakers, and is followed by another, and you immediately recognize the bright guitar melody, it's the opening of "Cherry, Cherry". With a grin you start swaying along to the music.

"I love this song," Joel says, his expression one of wonderment. "What's a kid like you know about Neil Diamond?"

"Just that this is one of my favorite songs," you reply with a cheeky grin. "And now it'll remind me of this moment."

Baby loves me, yes, yes she does Ah, the girl's outta sight, yeah Says she loves me, yes, yes she does Mmm, gonna show me tonight, yeah

When he smiles at you there's a warmth in his eyes. "It'll remind me of this moment, too."

"Then I guess this is our song," you say with certitude, leaning back against the seat, the wind ruffling your hair. "Joel, can I ask you something.. kinda personal?"

It looks like he's mentally and physically preparing himself for what your question could be. "Sure. What's up?"

You pause, second-guessing yourself. "So, why don't you have a girlfriend? I mean, I assume you're single." Your voice shakes a little as you ask, and you wonder if he can hear it.

Joel reddens slightly. "Well.. I've just been really busy with work and raisin' Sarah. Never really had time to invest in a relationship before."

You want to ask about Sarah's mom. It's been a burning question ever since you've known him, and you haven't been able to get any information from Sarah herself, whose face clouded at any mention of a lack of female presence in her life. For now it doesn't feel right to ask, and you don't want to put a dent in the fledgling friendship between you and Joel. That's a question you tuck away into your pocket for a later time. Your expression turns playful. "I guess it must be harder as you get older."

He gives a little chuckle. "Yeah, as you get older it gets harder. Women start to want kids.. want to get married."

"Are you against getting married?" you ask, genuinely curious.

There's a long silence from him and you worry whether you've crossed a boundary, brought up a sore subject. "I don't know," he answers with a shrug of his shoulders.

"I get it. Honestly the odds are against married couples. Over fifty percent of marriages end in divorce."

"Yeah. I know a lot of guy who've been burned in marriage."

You wonder if he's including himself in that number and your eyes soften. You feel it's callous to prod him and give pointless statistics. "One of my best friends back home is getting married soon. Her boyfriend proposed on graduation day. He's going into the Marines.. I can't imagine getting married at eighteen."

"Well, I can't say I'd be totally against marriage, if it was with the right person." Joel's smile is nervous, and he focuses on driving.

You could ask him what the qualifications are, and measure yourself against them, but you highly doubt 'teenaged college freshman' is one of the distinguishing characteristics he'll mention wanting in a wife. So you gracefully change the subject as you see the job site up ahead. "I'm excited to see you in action," you grin at him.

"You're excited to see me in action?" he repeats. "Well get ready. 'Cause I'll show you how I do it."

Your heart skips a beat and your blush at his innuendo. Is it innuendo?

It has to be, because he continues. "If you want, you can be my assistant. I can tell you exactly how I want things done." He gives you a side-eye and smirks. He drives up to the site and parks.

You bite your lip, taking the bait. "I'm a fast learner." You're flirting, yes, flirting back.

"I'll show you everything you need to know.."

You wet your lips with your tongue, your face still red. "I'll bet there's a lot you could teach me.."

"There is," his voice is husky, almost strained. "I'd enjoy teachin' you."

There's a tingling in your body as the flirtation seems to have taken a serious turn. Your brain locks up, taking the safest route back. "You're funny, Joel." Your smile is forced.

There's a moment of quiet, a silence that is rife with tension. "I'm not tryin' to be."

You look at him. A new tension fills the air, something exciting and new. You swallow hard. "Think we should get out?"

His countenance changes abruptly, back to factory settings. "If you want. They're almost done here, so it shouldn't take too long."

"Trying to get rid of me that quickly?"

He smirks again and hands you a bright yellow hard hat. "Come on, it's hard hat time. Can't have you gettin' hurt while you're my assistant, now can I?"

You put the hat on and it's a little bigger than you need. Seeing that smirk on his face has brought out something within you, and the words bubble up in your throat. "Can't do it without protection," you smirk back.

"Very true," he says, and you admire him with that yellow piece of plastic on his head. "But there are certain times for exceptions."

"Really? When are those times?" You watch him blush. "Come on, you're the expert. You tell me."

Now out of the truck he eyes you again, and this time you let yourself bask in how it feels. "Am I dressed okay?"

He swallows hard and gives a curt nod. "You won't see me complainin'." Just then a hopeful look crosses his face, as if he's remembered something. "You doin' anything tonight?"

Your heart leaps and you shut your mouth tight in fear it may just jump right out and land at Joel's feet. "Um, I don't think so. Why?"

He rubs the back of his neck and you watch, enrapt, as his bicep flexes. "Well me, Tommy, and some of the guys are gettin' together for a beer after work and Sarah's gonna be all by herself. I'm not sayin' she needs a babysitter, but I know she'd rather spend time with you than alone. Would you be okay comin' over, or her comin' to you?"

Your smile is wide so as to cover the hurt you feel that he didn't ask you out, and then you feel foolish for having thought it would happen at all. "Of course, Joel." Though Sarah probably would have come over even without her dad suggesting it.

"Yeah.. thanks. It's just gonna be.. y'know.. catchin' up with some friends who are in town."

You raise your brow, silently wondering if those friends include women, older women who have more confidence and experience than you. "You gonna wear something other than this?" You playfully tug at his gray t-shirt.

His grin is infectious. He obviously likes your teasing. "You don't think it looks good on me?"

"You look good all the time," you reply, walking ahead, smiling, blushing.

You watch as Joel checks out the site, giving instructions to different workers. It's a side of him you've never seen before. You watch him when you know he's not looking, taking in the way his clothes hug him in all the right places, especially his biceps: round, thick and smooth, half-hidden under his t-shirt sleeves.

When you stop for lunch at a sandwich place, you both sit in the bed of the truck, enjoying your meal. "So tonight.." you wash down your food with some water. "Should I have Sarah at my place in case you bring someone home?" It hurts to ask, as if by simply suggesting that such a thing would happen, that it already has.

Joel only shakes his head, a little amused by your question. "I don't think there's much of a chance of that happenin', sweetheart."

He calls you 'sweetheart' and it's like a caress on your skin. You have to remember to breathe. "You never know. You're hot, you have to know that." At this Joel nearly chokes on his food and you chuckle, patting his back until he's okay again. "There are some women out there who prefer a no-strings attached kind of thing."

"No-strings-attached isn't my thing," he says solidly. "I'm gettin' too old for that kinda bullshit. I want strings attached."

His gaze upon you is piercing, liable to steal your breath away. "I guess that's how it should be. Just two people for each other."

"Yeah.. two people for each other." He finishes his lunch and so do you. "We should be headin' to the next site."

He has to be teasing me. It's just meaningless chatter to someone young and inexperienced. He's having fun at my expense because I'm allowing it.

On the drive to the next, you keep quiet, thinking deeply. Oldies play on the radio but you block out the details of who and what is playing.

"Looks like you'll finally be rid of me after this," you tell him once you're parked at the second site. You get out together.

He chuckles. "Yeah, finally. Some peace and quiet."

You smile back. "Aw, you'll miss me."

"Oh, I don't think I'll miss you for one second." Joel puts his hands on his hips, a silly, defiant stance.

You poke his chest. "If you say so."

He pokes you right back. "Yeah, I say so."

"Come on, don't you have a job to do?"

"Yeah, come on, sweetheart. Let's get to work." This plays out the same as at the first site. Your eyes don't even take in the architecture of what these men are doing. You just see Joel.

"I thought I might get to see you in action," you say once you're away from the builders. "I thought I'd get to see you hammering or sawing.."

"You want to see me use my muscles or somethin', sweetheart?" He steps close to you. "I don't think you can handle it."

"You don't know what I can handle," you tell him with a little attitude, your hand on your hip.

"Sweetheart, you're about half my size. I don't think you could handle what I'm packing." He wears a smug smirk. "But I'd love to show you."

Not for the first time you feel a rush of heat to your core. "I'd love to see it.."

He's even closer to you now. Your entire body sizzles. "Maybe it's time I show you exactly what you'd be working with, sweetheart."

Joel's phone chirps and he frowns as he picks it up. The mood, while not shattered, has changed and you're both back on Planet Earth. You can't help but feel a little bummed.

"I have an emergency I need to tend to. Is it okay if I drop you off real quick?"

"Sure," you smile. On the ride home Joel is on his phone, talking to one of the men on his crew, discussing the problem in question. Your thighs stick to the leather seats. Once you're home he gives a quick smile and wave before driving off.

As you walk through the door you get a text from Hailey, a friend from the cafe. party tonight! finally 21! come thru

You said you'd keep Sarah company while Joel is out, but maybe there's a way you can do both..

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divider by @saradika-graphics 👑

[minisugakoobies]

Paradise | JJK - Thirteen

Pairing: Jungkook x Reader

Genre: smut, neighbors to lovers (not quite friends but not quite strangers), slow burn, love triangle, Stripper!AU

Rating: M (18+)

Warnings: new pov 👀, grinding, fingering, oral sex (m + f receiving), hand job, shower fun, mentions of roleplaying, mentions of biting (always get consent!), a bit of exhibitionism, lots of teasing, texting dirty photos, dirty talk, deepthroating, cum eating, but also a lot of cuddling because Jungkook is pretty whipped y'all and so is reader, Jungkook has to deal with a nasty drunk customer, 2021 AMAs Jungkook is the wedding visual

Word Count: 9.5k

Disclaimers: NSFW, obviously I don’t own BTS - they just inspire me

Summary: That sexy man on stage - the one currently giving your friend the lap dance of her LIFE - is your super shy neighbor, Jeon Jungkook?!

A/N: Fuck, it’s been a while since I updated, huh? Sorry about that! I got busy with holiday fics, and then my life kinda fell apart for a while and writing was the last thing I had time for. And then I had a difficult time with this chapter because I’d decided the story was only going to be 15 chapters and I was trying too hard to wrap things up too quickly… so guess what? Paradise is not ending with chapter 15! I hope you’re still enjoying the story, because it’s gonna go on a bit longer. How long? I don’t know! We’ll find out together! 💕

Song lyrics are from "Notice Me" by SZA

Thanks to @minttangerines for taking a look at this one! Please don’t be a silent reader, I’d love to hear from you! Taglist is open. 💕

Previous Chapter ♦️ Paradise Masterlist ♦️ Next Chapter

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Alarm clocks are such a cruel invention. 

There’s little worse than a tiny machine whose only purpose is to violently jar you from peaceful sleep by means of unholy bleating and throw you directly into your day. Really, whoever invented the alarm clock had to be a sociopath.

These are the sleepy thoughts that run through Jungkook’s head as your alarm clock tears him from his sleep Friday morning. Eyes still closed, he feels you shifting beside him, and then there’s a slapping sound and the annoying beeping ceases. Your heavy sigh makes him smile. 

“You know, I’ve always hated your alarm, too,” he mumbles, remembering your confession about his alarm the other night. 

“It did not occur to me until this moment that you can hear that every day,” you admit, and he laughs, opening his eyes. 

He presses himself forward against your back, burying his face in the nape of your neck to breathe you in. He can smell the faded sweat from last night’s multiple rounds where it still clings to your soft skin. It’s insane to him, how everything about you is wonderful, down to even the smell of your sweat. He hears you sigh again, a happy sound that makes his heart beat faster, and you scoot closer, threading your fingers through his. 

“Mmmhmm,” Jungkook hums. “S’okay, I usually just fall back asleep. But I really hate it today, because it means you’re getting up, right?” Obviously you have to go to work. Or login or whatever it is you do with a work from home gig. He tightens his grip when you start to pull away, whining into your skin. “Noooo, don’t leave me.” 

“Kookie!” you huff amusedly. He gives up when you persist, twisting yourself onto your side so you can peer at him while he pouts. Your fingers pinch his bottom lip playfully as you eye him, an exuberant grin on your face, and he wants to roll you onto your back and cover your face in kisses until you’re breathless with laughter.

You sigh again. “Does anyone ever say ‘no’ to this face?” 

“Nope,” he lies gleefully, lips turning up in a smirk as your arms loop around his neck. “Don’t tell me you’re about to try. You can’t.” 

“Actually, I was about to tell you that I hit the snooze button, so you’ve got me for at least another five minutes.” Lightly, you kiss him. He follows your mouth when you pull away to speak, so that you end up breathing the words onto his lips. “Better make them count.” 

The delighted giggle you let out when he swiftly rolls you onto your back sends him to the moon. He brings himself back down to earth by covering your mouth and body with his own, his hands reaching for your thighs, prompting you to wrap your legs around him and keep him close. 

He feels you start to squirm against him and takes the hint, easily flipping the two of you over so that you’re on top. “Shit, jagi,” he hisses as you roll your hips, grinding your core against his. He can feel how wet you are through where your cunt drags against his naked cock. You’re always so wet for him. He’s definitely getting a big head about it. 

That damn alarm clock of yours goes off again, and you groan, sliding from Jungkook’s lap to reach for the machine. Jungkook remains tangled up in your sheets, one arm behind his head as you climb off the bed. 

“You, uh, you don’t have to get up now, if you don’t want to. I know it’s early for you. I don’t mind if you want to sleep a little more here.”

He watches as you hurriedly drape yourself in a big t-shirt before turning back to face him. You’re so cute like this, when you get shy in front of him, as if he hasn’t seen every inch of you by now. As if he doesn’t want to see every inch of you. There’s nothing you need to hide from him. 

But you seem a little more nervous than usual. Is it because he slept over? He hadn’t intended to, but after the third round last night, you’d fallen asleep on him yet again, this time literally, draped across him, with your head tucked against his neck, and he’d been too enamored to move you. Your soft breathing must’ve lulled him to sleep. 

The offer to let him stay and sleep in is sweet, but he’s wide awake now. “Nah, I’m up.” 

“Okay. Um, just take your time getting up, I guess.” 

Jungkook can’t help but appreciate how awkward you’re being right now. Makes him feel better about his own clumsiness with stuff like this. He always over thinks things when it comes to relationships. Not that this is a relationship. Unless it is, but only if that’s what you want, too. 

Shit. Prime example right there. 

You’re slowly backing towards the door. Jungkook’s not sure if that’s because you don’t want to leave him or because you’re still trying to keep him from seeing your naked ass under that shirt. Seriously, how are you so cute? 

“I’m gonna go shower.” 

He can’t help himself. “Want some company?” 

You bite your lip, contemplating, and he smirks. He’s not a betting man but he’s pretty sure he knows what your answer is going to be, so he rises from the bed, hard cock slapping against his stomach as he crosses the room. Once his arms are around you again, you sigh. “I’m gonna be late, aren’t I?”

Jungkook grins cheekily. “Depends on how you want it.” His hands roam over your backside, squeezing the soft flesh there. It’s an understatement to say he’s a fan of your ass. He drops a smack on one cheek and you let out a cross between a yelp and a laugh. 

“You’re gonna be the death of me, Jeon Jungkook.” 

Stealing your giggles away with a kiss, he shuffles the two of you towards your bathroom, only allowing you to break away long enough to turn on the water. Under the spray, he reclaims your mouth again with needy lips. An electric current runs through him every time you moan, and soon he has you pressing your palms into the tiled wall as he slides his fingers into you from behind.

Jungkook’s shy, but he’s not chaste. He’s never had trouble finding someone on the nights when he’s needed to lose himself in someone else. Especially once he started working at Paradise. At first, he’d tried to resist fucking his patrons. Didn’t want the lines to blur too much. But eventually, he caved, too easily flattered by the women throwing themselves at him - literally, some nights - too easily tempted by the pleasures they promised. 

He’d go home with them and then slip out in the morning, before they woke. Never wanting more than just a memory. He lived this way for the longest time. It was easy, especially for someone like him, someone who used his onstage cockiness to hide his shyness. Required no real thought, no real effort - beyond, of course, what he gave in the bedroom. Or the shower. Or, more than once, in the car. He always made sure they were satisfied. 

So he doesn’t lack experience. But being with you is like nothing he’s ever felt before. Maybe it’s the newness of this physical connection between you that is driving the way he wants you all the time. Like all the time. Or maybe it’s something else. 

Whatever it is, he wants more than the memory of a wild night. 

These thoughts swirl through his mind as he slams a hand on the wall right above yours, steading himself so he can thrust his other hand into you harder, faster. He tries to shut down the thinking part of his brain as he focuses on the moment, letting the sensations take over.

Slick skin slides against slick skin. The warm water rushing over you both gets in his eyes, his mouth as he drops to his knees, but he doesn’t care. 

“Fuck, Kookie.” 

Your words reverberate in the resonant space, a chorus of praise that fills the room. He’s the one kneeling, worshipping, but you’re the one praying. All he feels is you.

“Come on, baby, I know you’re close. Just let go.” He grabs at your waist, making you arch your back a little so your ass sticks out. Once you’re in the right position, he tilts his face up and licks along the wet slit where his fingers just were. 

Jungkook loves eating pussy. He could spend hours between your legs, face buried in your sweetness, coaxing orgasm after orgasm from you. It makes him feel almost powerful, knowing he can make you come apart so quickly. Confident, in a way he’s rarely known off the stage.

He feels that way now, even though he’s in a rather vulnerable position, crouching in your crowded little bathtub with your thighs on either side of his head. You could crush him with those, so easily. And he’d use his last gasping breath to thank you. 

“Kookie, goddamn, that’s - ah - oh, that’s so good!” You press your cheek into the wall, trying to keep your balance as you push your hips back, seeking more of his hot mouth. “Please, oh fuck, please don’t stop!” 

There’s no way he’d stop now. He hums into you, loving the way you shudder in response. As your hips begin to rock, dragging your cunt over his eager tongue, he brings his tattooed hand up to press into your clit, tracing tiny circles into the throbbing nub like he’s drawing a bullseye, aiming oh so carefully for the center.

You cry out so loudly when your climax hits. Jungkook feels his dick twitch just from the way you say his name. Before he’s finished licking you clean, you’re reaching for him, pulling him up to join you. He rises obediently as you wrap your hand around his aching cock and begin to stroke. 

“Jagi,” he grunts, hips jerking erratically into your hand. His eyes fall shut. His mouth blindly finds yours, kissing you desperately as you twist and tug and then he’s painting both your stomachs with his hot seed before the warm water splashing over you washes it away. 

He’s content to let you take the lead when you kiss him this time. Your hands slide into his hair, nails scraping the nape of his neck, and he groans, pulling you closer. He knows you should probably get moving or you’ll be late, but he doesn’t want to stop holding you, and it doesn’t seem like you want to let go, either.

Eventually, though, you climb out, handing Jungkook a towel while wrapping one around yourself. He wrings the water from his long locks before knotting the soft cotton around his waist as he follows you back into your bedroom. When you turn to look at him, something in your eyes makes his pulse race. 

“What are your plans for today?”

Jungkook pulls his sweats back on as you throw on a loose shirt and some shorts. “Don’t really have any, other than work tonight.” He’d traded shifts with Bang Chan so he could have tomorrow night off to attend your friend’s wedding with you. Something he’s equally excited and nervous about, though he’s doing his damnedest trying not to show it. 

He can tell from your stories and from the few times he’s seen you with your friends that you’re incredibly close. And he gets the vibe that your friends are pretty protective of you. Especially Jisoo. Jungkook finds her pretty intimidating. Even if both Taehyung and Jimin swear she’s a sweet little kitten. Hard to trust their judgment when they’re both so lovesick. 

You’re still looking at him, though you seem deep in thought. Finally, you nod. “Okay. I’m taking today off, too.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah, fuck it, I need a break from that place. And yesterday was so nice…” you shrug, playing with the drawstrings at your waist. “Maybe we could hang out again? Since you’re free?” 

Jungkook’s starting to worry about the effect you have on his heart. Right now, it feels like it might just float straight out of his body and through the ceiling. 

“I mean, if that’s what you want…” he replies, hoping his tone sounds calmer than he feels. How’s he supposed to play it cool when such a simple question makes him so happy like this? 

You slide off the wall, stepping closer until you place your hands on his chest. “It’s what I want,” you confirm, brushing your lips against his. He feels you smile as he tries to deepen the kiss, but you dance away from his grasp. “Let me email my boss quick, and then I’m all yours.” 

It’s amazing how much he wants that to be true. Jungkook watches you walk away, hips swaying, and it hits him suddenly - he’s fallen so, so hard for you. 

Fuck. Whatever he does now, he can’t mess this up. Like he always does. 

“Do you want some breakfast?” Your voice calls to him from your kitchen and he snaps out of his thoughts.He finds you rummaging through your cupboard, grabbing bowls and a box of cereal. 

He munches away happily while you take a seat at your desk. “So you like working from home?” Jungkook loves dancing at Paradise, but he’s thought about camming a few times. It’d be nice to skip the commute. And the grabby customers.

“I fucking love it,” you answer, making him laugh. “I hate it when I have to go into the office. Everyone’s so loud there, all hopped up on stale coffee from the break room. Plus, I really hate having to abide by the dress code. I work better in joggers and comfy t-shirts, but some people aka my boss think that’s unacceptable.” You roll your eyes, scrolling through your email. “Ugh, I need to follow up on some of these. Shouldn’t take long.”

Jungkook tries to picture what you must look like at your office. He imagines you sitting behind a large desk, dressed in a smart suit, something like what he’s seen someone wearing in a movie, with a sharply tailored jacket clinging to your curves and a tight pencil skirt, maybe a little tighter than strictly necessary, and then his reverie shifts. Now you’re standing in front of your desk, palms pressing into the shiny surface as you bend over in that tight little skirt, and - 

Wow, he needs to get a hold of himself. He lowers his bowl a little to cover the half-chub he’s sporting, and remembers something relating to suits. “Hey, for the wedding tomorrow - is it black tie?”

“Shit, I’m sorry, I really haven’t said much about the wedding, have I?” You twist in your chair to glance at him. “It’s not a super fancy ceremony. You can just wear, like, a nice suit, if you have one?”

“All my suits are tearaways.” 

“Oh. Oh.” You blink as you realize what he means, and then he laughs. With your eyes wide like that, you kind of resemble a deer in headlights - an expression he’s come to adore, since he sees it frequently. 

“That was a joke. I have normal suits.” He takes your hand and kisses the back of it. “It’s really too easy sometimes.” Flustering you is his favorite new hobby. He’s kinda proud of how good he is at it. 

“Shut up.” You press your lips together in what looks like annoyance, but he knows you’re fighting back a laugh. He grabs your empty bowl, heading for the kitchen. “Anyway, about tomorrow, I’m gonna get ready with Jennie and the other girls, so I’ll meet you at the hotel before the ceremony. I did tell you where the wedding is, right?” 

“You did. The Black Swan.” 

Another reason Jungkook is rather nervous about tomorrow. The Black Swan is an expensive, high-end luxury hotel in the heart of downtown Seoul. Clearly your friends are doing pretty well if they can afford to get married at the hotel’s famous rooftop venue, overlooking the entire city. He bets they all have prestigious jobs or something, like lawyers and professors and doctors. 

“Right! Okay, good, at least I told you that much. Sorry, my brain’s just been all over the place lately.” 

He just hums sympathetically, lost in his own messy mind. Thinking about the rooftop makes him think of that night at Dionysus, when he’d gotten too drunk, sulking over the fact that you were on a date with someone else…

Oh shit. Jungkook pauses mid-pour of a second bowl of cereal. Are you still seeing that guy? It’s been a while since you’ve said anything about him. Seokjin. Kim Seokjin, the super successful chef. Jungkook had checked out his YouTube channel after seeing the two of you in the hallway that one time. The guy seemed to have it all - talent, good looks, and you in his arms. 

But does he still have you? Does Jungkook, for that matter? Maybe he shouldn’t think in such terms. How can anyone really “have” anyone, anyway? 

It’d be okay for him to ask you about Seokjin. Right? There was that whole competition or whatever… He closes his eyes, trying to calm his thoughts. Relax, dude, you’re spiraling. 

“Oh shit!”

Jungkook pops his head out of the kitchen at your shout. “What? Is there another spider?” 

“You’re not gonna let me live that down, are you?” 

“Nope.” He pops the ‘p’ before chomping down on another spoonful, crossing the space to stand beside you. 

“Well, it’s nothing bad. My friend Wendy, the one I told you about, that I used to work with? She said someone quit unexpectedly and her company needs to hire someone immediately for some sort of new project, so she wants to know if I would be interested in coming in for an interview!” 

You beam up at him, and he’s honestly not sure if it’s the sugar rush or just you, but he feels a little lightheaded as he grins back. 

“Jagi! That’s great!”

“Yeah! It’s kinda amazing, actually. I feel like Wendy’s thrown me a life preserver.” You fall silent as you reread the email. Jungkook swallows as quietly as he can, not wanting to disturb your concentration. He notes your brow furrowing as the silence stretches on.

“Everything okay?”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah! This is great! I just…” you trail off, still reading. He waits. “They want me to interview next week, which is… a little quick.” 

“Ah,” he hums. 

Could you be nervous? Although you’ve told him that you’re sick of your company, you strike him as someone who is incredibly surefooted when it comes to your career. It’s honestly pretty sexy. (As if everything about you isn’t sexy, right down to the way your fingers lightly caress the wheel of your mouse and goddamn it, he really needs to stop thinking with his cock.)

But then you bite your lip as your gaze meets his and he realizes that yes, you are nervous. And it’s a feeling he can understand. 

“It doesn’t give me a lot of time to get myself ready. I mean, I’m thrilled that Wendy recommended me for the position, and I’m sure I could handle it, from what she’s saying, but... it’s been ages since I last interviewed for anything.” 

Jungkook nods, chewing on the inside of his cheek. You glance at the computer screen again, and he’s overcome with the urge to do whatever he can to ease your mind. “I know it’s not the same, but when I was preparing for my audition at Paradise, I had Taehyung helping me out. Maybe I could do the same for you?” He lifts a shoulder. “Ask you some questions? Help you ease back into it.” 

“Like… a fake interview or something?”

He nods. “If that would help.” 

“Really?” Your tone is hopeful, making his heart buoyant again. “You wouldn’t mind?” 

He’d have to search the internet for examples of things to ask you, since he doesn’t know the first thing about financial advising or whatever, but Jungkook feels pretty sure that he can do this for you. If you want him to. “Not at all.” 

“That would… be really great, Kookie. Thank you.” This time when you smile, it’s a shy thing, and before he can think he’s bending down to kiss you gently. You giggle into it, eyelashes fluttering when he pulls away. “What was that for?” 

He shrugs again, painfully aware that the tips of his ears are warming, turning red. “Nothing. How many more emails do you need to answer?” 

“Um…” you stare at your laptop. “Let me just respond to Wendy and then I’m done.”

“Cool.” Jungkook stretches. He doesn’t miss the way your eyes roam over his bare torso as he does so. He smirks, enjoying when you look away, knowing you’ve been caught. Wrapping his arms around your shoulders, he lowers his mouth to your ear. “I’m gonna go home and take off these dirty clothes. Come find me when you’re done. I’ll be waiting.” 

“Fuck,” is your breathy response. He laughs. You’re really too good for his ego. But before you can say or do anything else to inflate his head a little more, your phone rings. 

Be still, my heaaaaart…

“Oh god, I bet that’s my boss, wanting to talk me out of taking off.” You frown as you check the screen. “Shit, it’s Jisoo. I gotta take this.” 

Jungkook carries his bowl back into the kitchen, an excuse to give you a little privacy to talk to your friend. But he can still hear your half of the conversation anyway. 

“Ji! What’s going on? Wait, what’s that sound? Is that Jennie? Is she crying?” A brief pause. “Okay, okay, I’m coming over! No, I’m not working today, I - it’s a long story, I’ll explain when I get there.” 

Jungkook reemerges from the kitchen when he hears you say goodbye. “Is everything okay?” he asks again. 

You shake your head. “I don’t know. Jisoo’s at Jennie’s, I need to get over there.” You move hurriedly down the hallway to your room. “I could hear Jennie crying in the background.”

“Jisoo didn’t say what happened?” Jungkook watches you dress, feeling helpless. You’re radiating with a nervous energy that makes him tap his fingers agitatedly against his thigh.

“No, all she said was that Jennie needs me.” You frown, staring into your closet. “I don’t know how long I’ll be gone. I’m sorry.” 

He doesn’t know what you’re apologizing to him for. “It’s all right. Your friends need you.” He grins when you put on his hoodie. It really does look better on you than him. “Don’t worry about me. Just text me later.” 

“I will.” You give him a playful smile as his fingers grip at your hip, drawing you closer to him. “I’ll try not to keep you waiting too long.” 

“Better not,” Jungkook murmurs, other hand clutching your chin to bring your mouth towards his. 

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

You stay on my mind, I can't regret no times spent with you

And I still wonder if you notice me, yes

Jungkook tips his head, staring at the canvas in front of him. Music blares from his stereo and he sings along to it without thinking. It’s like breathing for him sometimes. 

The portrait he’s working on is nearly finished, finally. It’s taken him a bit longer to do this one than usual. He’d like to blame that on being busy the last few weeks, but the truth is that he was having a hard time with the photo his patron provided. It’s not that he can’t paint from a static shot, but he prefers live models or being out in nature. He needs movement, light, even the sounds his subject makes help him to better capture them. 

But he’s pretty happy with his progress on this one. He dips his brush into the mix of yellows on his palette, a sort of sunny shade that he’s using for highlights in the woman’s hair. The gentle tap-tap of his paintbrush against the canvas triggers a tingling sensation down the back of his scalp. 

He doesn’t realize how long he’s been working until his phone buzzes and he glances at the screen. It’s a spam text, so he ignores it, but he’s shocked to see that it’s already past noon. It’s not completely surprising that he lost track of time - that’s usually what happens when he’s in the zone. Everything around him falls away until there’s nothing left but him and the canvas. He learned a long time ago to set timers for himself on the days he has work or other plans or else he’d never stop. 

But it is a little surprising that he managed to stop thinking about you for a few hours. Not because he’s obsessed with you or anything, but because after he left your apartment this morning, he was too excited at the thought of another full day with you to do anything but think about you. 

And as always, his excitement triggered an avalanche of questions. Just like this morning. What should the two of you do today? There was a new gallery on the east side of town that he’d been meaning to check out - would you want to go with him? He’d love to spend an afternoon just walking around with you, talking about art - or anything, really. Or maybe you’d rather just hang out at your place? 

Or maybe you’d have wedding stuff you’d need to do? He remembered you said that you were the maid of honor. He didn’t quite know what that entailed but figured it was important. Your friend Jennie must really trust you. Made sense to him. You and him had only been doing this… dating… whatever that you had going on only for a short while and yet he felt like he could trust you with anything. 

And speaking of dating, what about Seokjin? Were you still seeing him? You hadn’t mentioned him in a while. Jungkook wasn’t sure if that was because he had won the little competition, or if you just didn’t want to talk about Seokjin with him. He should probably ask. 

Although… there was the other night, in the hallway at Paradise. When you’d asked him for a dance. Fuck, he wished he’d could’ve danced for you. He’d been working on a routine just for you… but that night, you’d pulled him close and confessed that you only wanted him. He wanted to believe it wasn’t the alcohol talking. That you’d meant it. But the thought of asking terrified him a little. What if you didn’t remember your own words? 

His thoughts looped back around to the wedding again. There was this burning desire to impress your friends that was starting to worry him. He already knew which suit he was going to wear tomorrow, wanting to dress to kill. Maybe he’d ask Jimin to do his makeup - Jimin usually did his makeup at Paradise. 

Any time Jungkook’s brain would get overwhelmed, he would slip into what his friends refer to as his “buffering mode.” He’d freeze in place, eyes wide but unseeing as he struggled to sort out his thoughts. This morning, Jungkook realized he’d gone into this mode again when smoke began to sting his nose and he snapped back to reality to discover that he’d burnt the fuck out of his kimchi eggs. Cursing, he threw the ruined second breakfast in the trash, and decided to put on some music and focus on his painting before he burnt down his apartment. 

It worked. All those questions and worries melted away as he’d picked up his brush. But now the day’s half over and he hasn’t heard anything from you. He hopes that doesn’t mean anything bad.

His phone is still in his hand, staring up at him impassively. He debates for a few minutes, the desire to talk to you warring with the fear that he’ll come across as impatient or worse, needy, before finally putting the phone down. 

He can keep waiting. The truth is, he’ll wait as long as it takes. 

So he makes lunch. Checks his mail. Does a load of laundry. The time ticks by.

Until finally, his phone buzzes. He lunges across the pile of boxers he’s folding to grab it.

Jagiya (3:01): Kookie I’m so sorry!

Jagiya (3:01): I completely lost track of time

(3:02): it’s ok jagi

(3:02): everything all right?

It’s a few minutes before the dots on his screen disappear. 

Jagiya (3:04): Yes but no but yes? 

He has no idea what that’s supposed to mean.

Jagiya (3:04): I’ll tell you everything later, but right now, Jennie needs me

Jagiya (3:05): So I’m gonna be here a bit longer. Through dinner, at least

His heart sinks. Those little dots reappear.

Jagiya (3:06): I know we were gonna hang out. Can you forgive me?

(3:06): nothing to forgive

(3:07): do what you gotta do

His reply makes him cringe. It reads back as indifferent. What he meant to say was, you don’t need to apologize for being there for your friends. He understands. He panics a little, thumbs flying, wanting to show that he cares.

(3:07): is there anything i can do?

Jagiya (3:08): You’re so sweet 😘

His heart rebounds a little.

Jagiya (3:08): We’re okay here, thanks

Jagiya (3:09): But I guess I won’t see you before you leave for work 

Jagiya (3:09): 😞

He can picture you wearing the same expression as the emoji you send. A sad little pout. He wants to kiss it away. 

(3:10): it’s ok

(3:10): you’ll have me all day tomorrow

Jagiya (3:10): And all night?

Jagiya (3:11): 😙

(3:11): for as long as you want me, jagi

He hopes you understand just what he means. 

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

Like it is any other Friday, Paradise is packed. The club is always stuffed full on weekend nights with patrons wanting to toss off the stress of a hard week and slip into a world of fantasy. And it’s Jungkook’s job to give that to them. After finishing his second stage performance of the night, he makes his way back to the bar, where Jimin slides him a glass of water. Taehyung joins him.

“Two more Dick Suckers, please, Min.” Taehyung sets his tray on the bar. “Nice job with that last lapdance, Kook. Poor thing asked me what her name was when she got back to her seat.” A boxy smile splits his face. “Not my name, her name.” 

Jungkook grins back. He’d been tapped to dance for a woman celebrating her divorce being finalized. At first, she’d refused to get up, but her friend, who had paid for it, had insisted that she needed to embrace her new freedom. Once on stage, she’d sat silently, slack-jawed, with her hands clasped tightly over her chest, until Jungkook finally took them and placed them on his ass. At which point she’d shrieked so loudly, he thought he’d ruptured an eardrum. After that, she didn’t stop screaming for a second.

“Thanks. Been choreographing that one for a while. Guess it works.” Jungkook tips back the rest of his water, wiping his forehead with his tattooed arm. “Is the air busted again? It’s hotter than fuck in here.” His entire torso is dripping with sweat, from the exertion of his performance, and the room feels stifling around him. 

“It’s probably just Hoseok-hyung trying to save a buck again. I’ll talk to him,” Jimin replies, placing two bright blue drinks on Taehyung’s tray. “So what time do you want to stop by tomorrow?” 

“What are you two doing?” Taehyung inquires.

“Nothing involving you,” Jimin shoots back. Jungkook cocks an eyebrow. “Taehyung’s not invited over to my place any more.”

“I said I was sorry,” the other man drawls. “I mean it.”

“Sure you do.” Jimin runs a hand through his pink hair as he rolls his eyes. 

“Do I want to know?” Jungkook asks. 

Taehyung sighs. “After work last night, Jisoo and the two of us were hanging out at Jimin’s and someone,” he flicks his dark eyes towards the bartender, “didn’t appreciate my commitment to the scene we were playing.” 

“The scene you were… ah, shit, is this some roleplaying stuff?” Jungkook knows his friends are into roleplaying. Mostly because they spend a large amount of time working out the details of said scenes. Usually in the form of very annoying arguments.

“Look, I can’t help it if I get too deep into character, okay? That’s what you’re supposed to do! Make it feel real!” 

“Vampires aren’t real, Tae!” Jimin hisses. “But the bite you left on my ass sure is!” He looks at Jungkook. “I’m going to go find Hoseok. Watch the bar, will you? And just text me tomorrow, I’ll be home all morning.” He glares at Taehyung. “Alone!” 

Taehyung sniffs as Jimin disappears towards the back of the club. “He’s just jealous because my vamp was more believable than his werewolf.” 

Jungkook slips behind the bar, shaking his head. “He seems pretty mad, hyung.” 

“He’ll get over it. He usually likes biting. I think my choice of location caught him by surprise.” 

Taehyung wanders off to deliver the drinks to his waiting patrons. The bar gets a little busy while he’s gone, with Jungkook struggling a bit to keep up with the orders coming in. When Taehyung returns, he heads straight for the other side of the bar, to give Jungkook a hand. 

“So what are you and Jimin doing tomorrow? I thought you were going to the wedding with YN.” 

“I am. He’s just helping me get ready, that’s all.”

Taehyung smiles at a patron as he hands her an Adios Motherfucker. “Careful with that, sweetheart, it’s strong.” He looks at Jungkook. “Hair and makeup?” 

“Yeah.” With the smooth flick of a wrist, Jungkook finishes another drink, handing it off with a wink. The DJ calls Namjoon to the stage and the crowd at the bar disperses as another performance begins. Jungkook grabs a towel and starts mopping the counter. He’s a serviceable bartender but he’s pretty messy. 

“Mmm.” Taehyung leans back, watching Jungkook clean. He folds his arms over his bare chest. “Kook-ah. There’s no reason to be nervous.” 

Jungkook doesn’t even ask how he knows, replacing some bottles on the wall behind the bar. “I just want to make a good impression.” 

“You think you won’t?”

Jungkook gazes at the mirror behind the racks of bottles. Wide eyes stare back. He can’t put his fears into words, struggling as usual to communicate what has him so worried. It’s just a feeling, one that’s been growing all day, the more he thinks about the wedding. That you and your friends are from another world, one where everyone is self-assured and in control of their lives. And he’s just out here, barely floating by.

“I’m just making sure I do.” He pauses, finally looking at Taehyung. He sees Jimin approaching out of the corner of his eye. “I really like her, hyung. I-I think this could be something.” 

“Awww, Jungkook-ah!” Jimin coos, pinching Jungkook’s cheeks. “Our little Jungkookie’s in love!” 

“Hyung, stop.” Jungkook smacks his hands away. As the youngest of his group of friends, Jungkook’s used to being babied by his friends. He hates it.  “I didn’t say - it’s not - “

“Kook-ah.” Taehyung places a hand on both of Jungkook’s shoulders, turning him to face him. “What am I always telling you?”

Jungkook sucks in a deep breath, huffs it back out. “Confidence.” He feels a little ridiculous doing this here, behind the bar where patrons can see him getting a motivational speech from his hyungs. But sometimes he needs it. 

“That’s right.” Taehyung squeezes his shoulders reassuringly. “Just be confident. You know who you are. And who you are is amazing.”

“Hyung….” Jungkook is thankful that the pink lighting of the bar hides the deepening blush of his cheeks. Taehyung has been trying to bolster his confidence since the day they met, all those years ago in art school. He always appreciates it, but sometimes the man can get a little cheesy.

“Hey pretty boy!” 

A loud voice disrupts the moment. All three men turn to find a woman leaning over the bar. She’s clearly drunk, head propped on her hand as she smiles at Jungkook. Her head bobs a little as she sways. 

Jungkook recognizes her. The divorcée from earlier. “Can I help you, ahjumma?” 

She curls her finger, beckoning him closer. He leans towards her, careful to still maintain his distance. Drunken patrons have been known to try to get handsy with the dancers. 

“I wan’ a private dance,” she demands, words slurring a bit. 

Jungkook glances at Taehyung and Jimin. They appear to be on the same page as he is, based on their furrowed brows and pursed lips. She’s too drunk. Where is her friend? 

“I believe all of our private rooms are busy at the moment. Can I get you some water while you wait?” Jimin doesn’t wait for an answer as he places a glass in front of her. She just waves him off. 

“Not talking to you. Talking to him.” She points at Jungkook, grinning. Her smile turns Jungkook’s stomach a little. It’s cold. “I want a private dance. If I can’t have it here, maybe I could have it later? At my place?” 

Jungkook’s own smile feels tight. “I’m sorry, I don’t do private dances outside of the club.” 

She tilts forward, and Jungkook can smell the alcohol wafting off her. “Come on, pretty boy, I’ll pay. I have,” she hiccups, covering her mouth, “I have so much money.”

“It’s not a matter of money.” Jungkook scans the floor behind her. Seriously, where the hell is this woman’s friend? Should they call her a ride? 

The woman scoffs at Jungkook’s response. “Oh, come on, of course it is! That’s why you’re here, right? You dance, I give you money. It’s your job, honey.” 

Jimin and Taehyung are having a hushed conversation next to him, but Jungkook isn’t listening. He knows it’s pointless to try to reason with this customer, and yet he keeps trying. 

“It’s not my job. My job is to dance here. Not in private.” He knows what she wants, but he’s not for sale. He used to give it away for free, but he never took money or gifts. But even if he did sex work, he’s not going home with her. Especially not if she refuses to accept it when he says no. “Why don’t you have a seat, and I’ll call you a ride? We’ll make sure you get home safely.” 

She seems to finally realize that she’s not going to get her way, and her demeanor changes, countenance warping into an ugly sneer. “Don’t you con-condescend to me! You’re just a pretty boy with a hot body. Good for nothing but a quick fuck.” 

Even though it’s obvious that this woman is totally wasted, her words sting anyway, like a slap in the face. Jungkook recoils slightly, drawing back from the bar. 

“Okay, that’s enough,” Taehyung announces, sliding out from under the bar. “Let’s sit down, shall we?” But as he moves towards the woman, they hear another voice calling out.

“Oh my god, there you are!” It’s the woman’s friend, looking frazzled as she runs up to the bar. “I’m sorry, I thought she’d be okay while I ran to the bathroom. I got back to our table and people next to me said she’d stolen some shots from their table and wandered off!” 

“Well, that explains it,” Taehyung frowns. “I think you should take your friend home.” 

“I will. I’m so sorry, I hope she hasn’t been any trouble. She hasn’t been this drunk in years!” She wraps an arm around the divorcée’s shoulders. “Come on, let’s get you home.” 

The three men watch silently as the woman’s friend steers her towards the door, taking a wobbly path due to her friend’s intoxication. After a moment, Jungkook feels his friends’ eyes on him, but he keeps focused on the two women until they reach the entrance. 

“She was drunk, Kook,” Taehyung murmurs. Again, Jungkook doesn’t even need to ask how he knows what he was thinking. 

“I know.” 

“Don’t let her get to you,” Jimin says in a gentle tone. He lightly pats Jungkook’s arm. “I’ve got the bar covered. Why don’t you go take a break?” 

The locker room is empty when Jungkook enters. He pauses in front of a mirror for a moment, taking the time to wipe away where his eye makeup has smudged from the humidity in the club. He knows that woman was drunk. He knows this. And yet, her words have fed directly into his fears. 

What if he’s not enough? What if all he’s good for is, as those words rattling around in his head angrily declare, “a quick fuck?” 

The drunken woman’s expression while he’d danced for her reminded him of the night he’d danced for your friend Jennie. The way you’d looked at him, like you were seeing him for the first time. How he’d liked it. How, when he told his friends that the neighbor he’d been crushing on for months had shown up, he’d been encouraged to try and make a move. Ugh, that clumsy first attempt at flirting, using your shower - the memory makes his ears turn red. He’d stolen that idea from some cheesy movie he’d seen. But it worked, hadn’t it? It led to here. To whatever the two of you were now. 

If only he knew what that was. 

Suddenly, he needs to talk to you. He rummages through his bag until he finds his phone, grinning when he sees there’s a message waiting for him.

Jagiya (11:05): Hope you’re having a good night 😚

(11:53): it’s better now

(11:53): you still up?

He doesn’t have to wait long. 

Jagiya (11:54): I’m here

He presses the call button. 

“Hey Kookie.” Your voice is so warm, equal parts sleepy and surprised. He imagines you’re lying in bed, can picture the way you looked this morning. Wishes he were there. 

“Hey Jagi.” He leans back against his locker, closing his eyes. “Is it okay that I called?”

“Of course,” you laugh. “What’s up?” 

“Not much. I just… wanted to hear your voice.” He didn’t mean to say that. But it’s the truth. 

You hum, this sweet, soft sound that fills his chest with a happy buzzing. “You okay?”

“I’m okay. Just a long night.” He’ll tell you another time about what happened. He’d rather not relive it right now. “Is everything all right for tomorrow?”

“Yeah, Jennie’s good, and everything’s still set for the wedding. I really can’t wait, it’s gonna be amazing.”

“I can’t wait, either,” Jungkook admits. 

There’s nothing but the gentle sound of your breathing on the other end of the line for a few seconds, and then you ask, “Do you, um, want a sneak peek at my outfit for tomorrow? I took a picture earlier when I was trying it on.” 

“Sure.” He’s not going to turn down the chance to see your beautiful smile right now. 

The image that you send him a few seconds later takes his breath away. 

There’s no bridesmaid gown in sight. Instead, sheer white lace covers your body, the delicate fabric flowing from your breasts down your torso to your hips in a tight-fitting strapless one-piece. Around your waist is a snug garter belt, straps extending down your thighs to where they fasten to silk stockings. And the expression on your face nearly makes him whimper. You’ve one of your hands raised to your mouth, pointer finger dragging your bottom lip down as the edge of your pink tongue licks the tip.

All the blood in his body rushes south. As he stares at his phone, unable to blink, Jungkook exhales loudly. 

“Fuck.” 

You laugh again. “Do you like it?” 

“Jagi, I - “ Words fail him. You’re gorgeous, every inch of you. “I love it. Fuck, you’re so sexy.” 

More giggles. “Noooo, I’m not, stop. I wasn’t planning on wearing this under my dress originally, but I remembered I’d bought it months ago when Jisoo and I were out day drinking and shopping and I - I don’t know.” The words come out in a rush, like you’re embarrassed. “I just want to look good for you, Kookie.” 

Fuck. Why’s he gotta be at work right now? He palms over his erection, wondering if he has the time to lock himself in a bathroom stall and take care of it. While telling you exactly what he wants to do to you in that lingerie tomorrow. 

“You always look so good, baby,” he groans, voice a little husky. “I can’t wait to see this in person. Was it expensive?” 

“No, I don’t think so? I don’t really remember. Did I mention the drunkenness?” 

“Good. Then you don’t mind if it gets a little ripped?” Jungkook grins at your tiny inhale at his words. “Because after the wedding, I’m gonna-”

“Hey Kook-ah, you in here?” Hoseok pokes his head into the locker room. “Ah, there you are. Come on, you and Taehyung are up.”

“Be out in a minute, hyung,” Jungkook nods and the other man leaves. He sighs into the phone. “Shit. I’m sorry, jagiya, but I gotta get back out there.” 

“Wait! Aren’t you going to finish your thought? You can’t leave me hanging like this!” There’s a playfulness to your tone that makes his already hard cock ache. He’s going to have to go stand under an ice-cold shower for a minute before getting back into costume for his double routine with Taehyung. 

“Oh, baby, trust me, you don’t have to worry. You’ll be taken care of. When I see you tomorrow.” Jungkook smirks at his reflection when you whine in his ear.

“Fine.” You sound wounded. “Guess I’ll see you.” 

“You will. Night, jagi.” 

“G’night, Kookie.” With a final exasperated sigh, you hang up. 

Before he puts his phone back into his bag, it buzzes again. Another photo of you, this time just your face, wearing the saddest pout. The message makes him laugh. 

Jagiya (12:04): You’re such a tease

He fires off a response, then heads towards the showers, chuckling to himself the whole time 

(12:04): i know

(12:04): sweet dreams

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

There’s not a single cloud in the sky as Jungkook steers his motorcycle down the busy city streets Saturday afternoon. He can see the Black Swan towering over the other highrises as he draws nearer. He tries to ignore the nerves in his stomach, but the swirling is impossible to ignore the closer he gets. 

By the time he’s in the elevator, rising to where the ceremony is being held, the swirling has become a maelstrom. He breathes through his mouth, inhaling and exhaling slowly. It’s gonna be fine. He just needs to walk out there with confidence, like Taehyung said. He can do this. Just pretend like he’s on stage. Too bad there won’t be any actual dancing until the reception. That’s when he feels the most at ease. 

The elevator dings as it arrives at the rooftop. When the doors part, his eyes widen, taking in the gorgeous scenery before him. The elevator opens directly into a lush garden, with flowering bushes and potted maple trees dotting the grounds. To his right, a mirrored wall reflects the greenery, making the open space feel even larger. The reception venue is on the other side of the mirrored wall, but the ceremony will be held in the gardens. 

Chairs have been arranged in rows on either side of a strip of green grass, cut low for the bridal party to walk down. At the end of the green pathway is an arch-shaped trellis covered with flowering vines and tiny string lights. And as his eyes adjust to the brilliant sunlight, he recognizes the group of women talking in front of the arch.

Your dress is identical to the ones worn by the three women standing by you, but he barely acknowledges this fact, too busy focusing on you and you alone. The lavender-colored silk hugs your curves, a small slit cut right at your left knee to reveal the stockings beneath. He tries not to think about what’s holding those stockings up. The straps of the dress rest just off your shoulders, snug against the soft skin there. 

You’ve opted for a fresh-faced natural look, with light makeup just highlighting your features. There’s a pink mugunghwa flower tucked behind your right ear, matching the simple bouquet in your hands. You’re a summer dream, blinding Jungkook with your radiant beauty. 

The tumult in his stomach stills more the longer he admires you. 

He pauses at the edge of the pathway, unsure if he should disturb you and your friends. But Jisoo makes the decision for him, as she turns and catches him watching you. She purses her lips, a loud wolf whistle piercing the air. 

“Holy shit, Bambi’s looking fine!” 

The rest of the group jumps as she grins, pointing to Jungkook. When your gaze meets his, he feels a jolt of electricity. He smirks, emboldened by your eyes on him, and strikes a pose, one hand in the pocket of his charcoal grey suit, cinched tight at his waist with a thick belt. Jimin had swept Jungkook’s hair off his face, showing off his eyebrow piercing, and did an impeccable job with his makeup. Jungkook knows he looks good. 

The expression on your face confirms it. 

As the other girls start whooping in agreement with Jisoo, he takes the opportunity to tease you a little, strutting down the grass pathway like he’s working the stage. He can tell it’s working when you glance away from the heat of his gaze, biting your lip to suppress a grin, before giving in and beaming widely at him. 

“Hey,” you say. 

“Hey,” he replies, matching your smile. “You look beautiful, jagi.” 

There’s some cackling from the other girls, but he ignores it, lost in your eyes. Until Jisoo’s hand appears in front of his face, snapping her fingers. 

“Hi, hello, you two can continue this after the ceremony, okay? Jennie will kill you if we start late because you were too busy eye-fucking at the altar.”

“Ji!” you hiss as the other girls continue to giggle. “Koo- uh, Jungkook, you remember Jisoo, I’m sure.” He nods, shoulders shaking slightly with quiet laughter. “And this is Lisa and Rosé.” 

“Nice to see you again,” Rosé greets him.

“Thanks, you too,” he replies, and then his mind goes blank. Thankfully, you save him from having to make small talk, looping your arm through his. You hand your bouquet to Lisa. 

“Have you seen the setup for the reception? It’s incredible.” And you start to tug him down the pathway, away from your friends.

“Remember, we’re starting in half an hour!” Lisa calls after you. 

Jungkook can’t quite make out what Jisoo says next, but it has the others laughing loudly, and he hears you mumble something about “unhinged freaks,” under your breath. You lead him through the double doors in the mirrored wall, into the rooftop restaurant that’s been converted into a reception space. But before he can get a good look at the room, you’re guiding him out of it and down a hallway. 

“Uh… wasn’t that the room?” 

“Oh, that was just to get you away from my friends before they said or did anything else to humiliate me.” You glance at him, and his heart skips a beat when he sees the heat in your eyes. “I’ve got something else in mind.” 

You stop in front of a door, ushering him inside. The men’s room, he quickly realizes, fingers locked in yours as you pull him into a stall. 

“Jagi? What - “ 

That’s as much as he gets out before you throw your arms around his neck and crush his mouth to yours. There’s an urgent hunger in your kiss that he immediately responds to, sliding his hands along the smooth silk of your dress to hold you close. But just as suddenly as you kissed him, you’re breaking away, dropping to your knees. 

Oh shit. He goes from half-mast and confused to fully erect and excited in a matter of seconds, staring down at you as your fingers make short work of his button and fly. 

“I missed you last night,” you inform him, swiftly yanking his pants down. 

“Jagi,” he breathes, almost lightheaded with want as you nuzzle your face against the outline of his cock through his boxer briefs. It’s strangely sweet and filthy all at once. “Missed you too.” 

“And even though you left me so… unsatisfied… last night,” you continue, fingernails lightly scratching up his thighs, sending a shiver down his spine, “and you are the one who promised me that I’d be taken care of today, seeing you in this suit…” As you trail off, you slide Jungkook’s boxers to the ground. He springs forth, bobbing so close to your mouth that he can feel your hot breath. 

“You like the suit?” he blurts out, earning himself a sweet giggle. Fuck, how are you being so cute right now while you’re this close to his dick? You stare up at him, all innocent doe eyes and angelic smile, and Jungkook thinks that he’d give you the world right now if you asked him to. 

“Can I show you how much I like it?” 

He nods vigorously, and you curl a hand around his cock as you suck the tip into your mouth. 

“Mmmmph,” he moans, pressing his lips together to stifle the sound. Anyone could walk in here at any moment. Even though you’ve hiked your gown up, clutching the hem in one hand to keep it from trailing out of the stall and getting dirty, it’s pretty fucking obvious that there’s someone on their knees in here, sucking the life out of Jungkook’s dick. 

Your mouth is perfect, so warm and wet and tight around his thick length. His hips jerk forward when you hollow your cheeks. He’s going to come embarrassingly fast, he just knows it.

“Baby,” he rasps when you swirl your tongue around the head, coating him in more saliva. His own tongue pokes through his teeth as he tries his best not to whine loudly. “Fuck, you’re making such a mess.” 

You pop off him to inspect his cock. It’s covered in your lipstick. “Oops. Sorry about that.” You swallow him back down, mouth working in tandem with your hand to stroke him off. 

“S’okay,” he murmurs, left hand clutching the top of the stall wall so tightly that his knuckles are turning white. “I-I like it messy.” 

He twitches in your mouth when you hum at his words. Shit, he’s definitely going to come. 

“Jagi, I can’t hold out, ‘m gonna, ah shit!” You take him as deep as you can, choking around him, and he understands what you’re telling him, that it’s okay, that you want him to come down your throat, and with that realization he’s gone, flooding your mouth as he bites down on his tattooed hand to muffle his contented groan. 

You take everything he has to give, gulping it down so lewdly that he grabs your hand, pulling you to your feet so he can kiss you fervently, not caring if he can taste himself on your tongue. 

“You’re amazing,” he whispers against your lips, cupping your face with both hands. You merely sigh, high and sweet, mouth brushing his, laughing as you gently push him away. 

“I better get back out there,” you say, straightening your dress. The flower behind your ear has slipped a little, and Jungkook reaches out to fix it for you. You smile gratefully, pressing one last peck to his cheek. “Give it a few minutes before you come out, okay?”

He nods, but stops you before you can unlock the stall. “I’m still going to take care of you later, you know.”

“I know,” you grin, and then you slip out the door. 

Jungkook takes a minute to clean himself up. It almost seems a shame to wash the lipstick off, but he decides he’ll just ask you to put more on later. God, he can’t wait to get you alone tonight. 

Before he leaves the bathroom, he checks the mirror to make sure he doesn’t look as wrecked as he feels. His earlier jitters have completely disappeared. He feels as confident as he looks. He can do this. 

And then Jungkook emerges from the bathroom, and his world tilts a bit. Because there, standing at the other end, with his arms slung around your back, is Kim Seokjin. 

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

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© 2022-23 by sunshinerainbowsbts/minisugakoobies. Crossposted to AO3. Please do not copy or repost.

[littlemissthunderstorms]

dance as if somebody’s watching, cause they are. (part.1)

a tranquility base hotel and casino alternate universe

———

you sipped your drink at the bar, admiring the music venue so called the information action ratio that you had helped design. soft twinkly lights glittered as they hung from the ceiling, soft chatter filled the venue as people conversed on the plush, warm toned furniture, the jazz band playing in the back only adding to the atmosphere.

working at tranquility base hotel and casino was stressful at times, but also quite luxurious. especially when you could just relax and admire your designs, basking in the jazzy atmosphere.

you fiddled with your straw when someone sliding into the stool next to you stole your attention. “all alone tonight little lady?” you fought the urge to roll your eyes at the blonde rando next to you, his white smile blinding. “umm i guess.” you responded. the man smirked at you, scooting in closer and taking your drink. he sniffed the almost empty glass, trying to guess what you were drinking.

“lets see… tequila soda… with lime?” he guessed and you nodded, slightly annoyed that he got it right. thinking he’d impressed you, the man turned to get the bartender’s attention, ordering another one.

as he was doing this, your gaze wandered across the room, noticing two brown eyes staring you down. you quickly looked away, hoping the lights on the bar didn’t reveal how flustered you were.

“so, i never got your name.” blondie blurted, snapping you out of your little daze. “i- um-“ a voice from behind you called your name, startling you both. you turned around to find alex, his eyes flicking between you and the man. “sorry, need to speak with her privately about some business matters.” alex apologized to the man.

annoyed, blondie muttered something under his breath and walked away as alex took his seat. “what are these business matters that are so important alex?” you took your new drink from the bartender and sipped it, sliding the other one to alex. “i lied. no business matters to discuss here, was just helping ya’ out, he looked creepy.” alex sipped his drink.

“oooh so is that it? he just looked creepy huh?” you replied, unconvinced. “i mean yeah, when you looked at me your eyes were practically screaming alex help me! this man is creepy!” he shrugged. you laughed, almost spitting out your drink. “you’re going insane al.”

“promise you i’m not. least not yet.” he grinned goofily at you, making you roll your eyes. “hmm seems an awful lot like jealousy to me! i mean, you even made up a fake excuse to make him go away.” alex raised an eyebrow at you. “okay i’m definitely not jealous, and if you want to discuss business matters let’s discuss business matters. that way its not necessarily a fake excuse.” you chuckled and nodded. “sure, yeah. let’s discuss.”

alex looked around the venue, admiring it. “okay well, you did a great job with the decor and lights. i mean it, s’ gorgeous.” he muttered sincerely, eyes twinkling. you blushed slightly, the dim lighting making it unnoticeable. “thank you.” you smiled sweetly at him. he returned your smile, turning to watch the band playing.

a few moments later alex spotted the man looking at you from afar, muttering something to his friend, and then making his way over to you. alex quickly got up, grabbing your hand and helping you off the stool. “dance with me?” he held your hand in his, the other resting on your waist as he gently swayed you to the music, leading you farther from the bar.

“why?” you muttered, resting your free hand on alex’s shoulder. alex leaned in, lowering his voice a notch. “blondie was tryna make his way over. didn’t seem too satisfied that he didn’t get the chance to sweep you off your feet yet.” you rolled your eyes. alex’s breath was soft against your cheek as he spoke. “give him a second chance if you’d like though. don’t let me stop you.”

“i’m good. wasn’t my type anyway.” you spoke softly and alex smiled, looking satisfied. you yawned, resting your head against alex’s chest as he slowly swayed you, the dreamy jazz and warm, gentle lighting only making you sleepier.

“tired?” alex’s voice was barely above a whisper. you nodded, feeling your eyelids get heavy. he kept swaying you softly, the feeling of him holding you close to him making you feel warm inside. “want me to walk you back to your room?” you nodded again. “please.”

the boy hummed in response, pulling away from you and resting his hand on the small of your back as he led you across the room

your vision blurred and fizzed for a second as you gazed upon the room, the blonde man from earlier catching your attention. you quickly blinked a few times, shaking your head.

alex turned to you. “you alright?” you looked back across the room to find nothing. the man was gone. you cleared your throat, averting your sleepy gaze back to alex. “um, yeah. i’m fine.” the light fixtures seemed way too bright now as you looked up, the bulbs distorting and melting right before your eyes.

you gripped onto alex’s arm as you walked, feeling as if invisible waves were holding you down and crashing into you. you turned to tell alex something was wrong, panicking when you opened your mouth and nothing came out. tears pricked at your eyes as lights danced across your vision, red and blue and pink and yellow.

vast darkness seemed to swirl around you, threatening to swallow you as the static in your ears grew louder, trying to cling to alex, who you could barely see. you felt his hand cupping your cheek, his arm around you and you could hear him speaking but it was all blending into the static and ringing, fading in and out.

soon, the feel of alex’s touch started fizzing away like static, your vision getting darker and darker, mind getting blurrier and blurrier until everything started to feel far, far away.

and then everything was gone.

———

stay tuned for the next part

[butterflydm]

wot rewatch (book spoilers edition): 2x5

Not only is this one going to have spoilers for all the aired episodes plus any teasers (including the trailer for episode 6), it will also have book spoilers through book 14: A Memory of Light.

An interesting change from the books is Suroth calling Loial a slave -- in the books, the Ogier of the elite guard are very specifically not enslaved (I wonder if they got as badly jacked up by the Longing as the ones in the Westlands but their 'solution' ended up involving the Empress and the Crystal Throne somehow?). Since this exception is never explained in the books, I don't have any issue with it being changed.

2. I also think we are getting some really good set-up here for a potential fracture in the Seanchan once we get deeper into the series -- a fulfillment of the narrative promise that Jordan set up in books 2-9 but then backed away from once we hit Crossroads of Twilight & Knife of Dreams. I'm hopeful that we're actually going to get the Seanchan civil war that the books never gave us but that they desperately needed in order for Mat's characterization to make any damn sense in CoT & KoD.

3. The idea that Ishamael is being something akin to Suroth's Truthspeaker makes a lot of sense (I think only the Imperial family has Truthspeakers in the books? but it makes sense to expand them outward).

4. That Fain plays the game so well with Turak here can serve as a hint that he's playing the subservience game with Ishamael as well (who killed the Fade? in other words).

5. The saa in Lanfear's eyes! I love that we're getting a super-charged look at the True Power this early on. I definitely approve of the change of the Forsaken getting brought back with the True Power rather than being put in new bodies -- that can work in a book, but in a show, you want to keep your actors. Especially when they're so good!

6. The Elyas scene does feel like Elyas is essentially doing triple-duty this season: he's himself (Wolfbrother lore dump); he's Hurin (sniffer who leads them after Fain); he's Noam (completely detached from his previous human life).

7. I do like how Elyas feels... somewhat amoral (not immoral!) -- he cares about his fellow wolves (including Perrin) and only his fellow wolves. Obviously, part of the reason that's there is so that viewers will wonder if Ishamael (the Father of Lies) was telling the truth about Perrin becoming closer to the Shadow the closer he gets to the wolves but that's... a good thing, I think, for Perrin's narrative arc. It gives him a grounded reason to try to avoid embracing the wolves. The show has done a really good job in giving characters believable motivations for their behavior.

Show: has Elyas diss every human that Perrin cares about because he's trying to tell Perrin that he belongs with the wolves and not the humans.

Some Book Readers: Ah-ha! Laila wasn't his pack? Darkfriend!

It was just so clear to me, in watching the episode, that Elyas mentioning Perrin's wife was the last straw that made Perrin push him away. It was not meant as a Darkfriend hint of any kind! Elyas did not know Laila as a person! He does not care about Laila as a person! It's pretty clear that he only cares about Perrin (because he's a fellow Wolfbrother). That's why he only saved Perrin from the caravan; that's why he led Perrin eastward instead of west. He has zero interest in putting himself in danger to help humans; he does not identity with humans.

8. Ooo, I wonder if we're going to see Perrin's wolf name visualized at some point by the wolves -- Young Bull with his axe that is also his horns, strong and protective. Again, the show has done such a good job in showing us the Perrin that I think Jordan wanted us to see but that he didn't quite manage -- pretty much every show-only reactor sees Perrin as genuinely considerate and empathetic and believes that he has a good heart and wouldn't leave people to suffer.

9. Brilliant choice to have Aviendha introduced here and be part of Perrin's storyline. I do really like how Elayne, Aviendha, and Min have all been part of another main character's plotline before anything implied romantic between them and Rand happens. Hopefully, the show does the same thing with Tuon in the season when she gets introduced. I'm going to guess that (rather than going along with Perrin because of Faile) Bain and Chiad are going to help Aviendha meet her toh towards Perrin once she's told that she needs to become a Wise One apprentice and Bain and Chiad will travel with him to the Two Rivers. I suspect that Gaul will be introduced next season as well.

10. I also really like the way they set up Dain and Perrin's future dynamic here as well -- Dain realizes that Perrin is from the Two Rivers, so that gives him a reason to go there after he (mistakenly?) thinks that Perrin has killed his father. I do wonder whether or not Fain will go to the Two Rivers at all. It's kinda... crowded over there, since we know that Slayer was cast (I think). There isn't, imo, any real need for Fain to corrupt the Whitecloaks in the show -- I feel like they can corrupt themselves just fine. (I kinda feel that way about Elaida too) -- and it might be good to tie Fain back into Rand and/or Mat's plotlines.

11. The Seanchan and the Whitecloaks both have a 'evil but not the evil of the Dark One' situation going on, and we kinda get that here, with the (new) innkeeper being even more unhappy with being occupied by Whitecloaks than by the Seanchan. I actually like that they have the new innkeeper here selfishly being okay with the Seanchan -- the issue that I had with various plotlines in CoT & KoD wasn't "it's unrealistic for anyone to be collaborators with the slavers", of course some/many people are selfish enough that it doesn't matter to them that some people get enslaved as long as it isn't them; it was an issue with specific characters turning collaborator without there being anywhere near enough work in the characterization or narrative to justify it. That was the issue that I had.

Especially since this same conversation does illustrate how selfish this man's PoV is, if you pay attention to the dialogue. The old innkeeper's granddaughter was kidnapped by the Seanchan -- SHE would not agree with him that they're totally chill if you only just swear the oaths.

12. Seeing Lady Suroth like this, 'dressed down', as it were, gave me quite a start. She looks almost naked without the super-long nails and the helmet and with me being able to see that she has no eyebrows. Like, it gives her a big 'pathetic and vulnerable' vibe even though she's been just as awful as she was in her introduction.

And it makes me wonder... are people who are sympathetic to Tuon in Crossroads of Twilight and Knife of Dreams also more likely to be good at visualization when they read? Because, personally, I don't see pictures in my head when I read books. I think it's part of the reason why I can so easily accept adaptations in the first place -- there's no prior image that I need to override. I had no firm mental image of how 'Rand' or 'Nynaeve' or anyone looked in the books, so the actors can easily become that person for me. It's all just... words in my head for me. The most that I ever visualize is something akin to black and white abstract sketches.

How this relates to Tuon: one of the deeply frustrating things about CoT+ Mat to me is how he behaves like Tuon is 'not like the other Seanchan' even though her behavior on the page is just as rancid and terrible as any other Blood. But, in her descriptions in CoT & KoD, she doesn't visually resemble other Seanchan anymore -- her hair is growing out, she's in Westlands clothing instead of Seanchan High Blood clothing. But as someone who doesn't visualize characters and scenes when I'm reading a book, the clothes that a character is wearing has little to no impact on my perception of them as a character.

Is it different if you do/can visualize how differently Tuon looks when she's traveling with Mat vs how she looked when she was embedded in the Seanchan power structure? Because it really does genuinely confuse me when I see people repeat what Mat says about her being different from the other Seanchan because her behavior is just... identical to all the other Seanchan Blood from what I've seen in the books -- intensely political and manipulative; firmly supports and believes in slavery; gets off on torture and abuses her slaves even while believing that she's the bestest and kindest slave owner in the world; thinks of herself as inherently better because she's Of The Blood, etc. I remember when Mat places her in the same 'better than other nobles' category as Talmanes in KoD, my brain just bluescreened because he's consistently been shown on the page that she's still just as awful as the others (the chapter where she literally collars and tortures three of his allies is certainly never anything I'm forgetting, even if Mat 'goldfish' Cauthon forgot about it five minutes after it happened). But, yeah, if you visualize characters and scenes when reading books, do those visuals have an impact on how you think of the characters?

(on a character level, I understand why Mat would lie to himself about Tuon if he genuinely believes himself to be trapped in a marriage with her -- the issue with that is two-fold though: a. with Mat's other lies to himself, we are given outside context with other PoVs and behavior from other characters to see that he's lying while in CoT and KoD, we're pretty firmly locked into Mat's warped perspective, and b. Jordan did a shit job of showing why Mat gave up so quickly and just believed that he's doomed to be married to Tuon without him making ANY attempts at fighting the prophecy)

13. Looking forward to the future... I do suspect that we'll still get Semirhage trying to shape and mold Tuon (unless we don't get enough seasons), but I think in the end (exploring @sixth-light's idea about having a split Seanchan Empire instead of having the Sharans), we may end up with Suroth in charge of one half of the Seanchan (who will fight for the Shadow) and one half led by Tuon (who will fight for the Light) and that we will, hopefully, be getting a Tuon who actually has to confront what being a sul'dam means and that the Seanchan will fracture on the issue of slavery (which would make their American accents even more apt) instead of the Westlands characters becoming friends and lovers with gleefully cruel slavers. Having Tuon's 'stubbornness' and pushback against Semirhage actually lead to her questioning the established order would be so much more powerful than her stubbornness being used as an excuse for her dodging and avoiding any character growth for the entire time that she hangs around.

14. I hope that Aviendha's amusement here over Perrin's protectiveness is perhaps going to be more of the vibe we get with Rand & the Maidens once that relationship gets going. Rand really doesn't have the same reasons (so far) to be as unreasoningly overprotective of them as he is in the books, since the Two Rivers in the show aren't Weird about women in danger the way that the books are. It's very much a Perrin hangup because of his wife and we've seen it develop over time. And if Rand feels some protectiveness, I'd like it to be tied more towards him feeling like he doesn't want to lose any of his newfound family.

15. It feels clear that Moiraine is absolutely still bound by the Three Oaths. She obviously WANTS to lie in the scene where she's introducing Rand to Anvaere and Barthanes, but she isn't able to. It's played very much the same way as when she was caught in the Oath last season (one of the funniest moments in S1 is when she wants to tell the Two Rivers' kids that she trusts them now but she absolutely doesn't trust them and can't say the words).

16. So, who in this scene is a Darkfriend. I suspect that Barthanes is and I suspect that Anvaere is not. Anvaere's information session with Moiraine last episode completely destroyed the Shadow's plans for Rand -- it could be the Shadow tripping over itself but I suspect it's just that Anvaere is what she seems to be -- a very political but non-Shadow-aligned person.

17. I wonder if the end of the next episode is going to timeskip us the few weeks to the wedding (thus making it so that Egwene spends several weeks in 'training') -- or maybe we'll timeskip between episodes 6&7. From the preview, it looks like we're going to spend some serious time showing how horrible and dehumanizing the damane 'training' is. What they might do is show us the initial beginning of it -- and then we jump forward and see how things are after several weeks? The mention of the wedding just feels... potentially significant, since it's not from the books. This would give Perrin time to travel to Falme with Aviendha; Mat and Min would have time to get to Cairhien; Elayne and Nynaeve would have time to bond; and Siuan would also have time to get to Cairhien, since we know she goes there at some point. And it might mean that, along with Egwene getting her 'training' from Renna, we might also get Rand getting some training from Logain and potentially Lan as well.

18. I love Verin kickstarting the Black Ajah Hunt so much. I already talked about this a lot in my earlier post about Darkfriends, so I won't get into it here but: fantastic choice. It does imply to me that we don't really need the Wondergirls to go back to the Tower next season to get their Black Ajah Hunting instructions, since there's already a Hunt started by full Sisters. Which I would be fine with -- they literally spend less than a week in the White Tower in book 3. They dip in for Egwene & Elayne's tests, to get more instructions from Siuan, and then dip out again. I feel like the show could easily have them decide to hunt the Black Ajah of their own accord (Nynaeve in particular has a reason to want to go after Liandrin).

19. I do not think that Sheriam knows that Verin is 'Black Ajah' or that Liandrin is (more genuinely) Black Ajah. She and Liandrin were at odds too much earlier in the season over Nynaeve imo. Joiya, otoh, I think might know that Liandrin is also Black Ajah, because she immediately backed Liandrin up in the big group discussion.

20. "We respect the One Power so much that we don't believe that anyone should wield it by accident of birth". I've seen other people (reactors on youtube) wondering if this conversation means that the Seanchan already know that sul'dam are learners, since they talk about training the sul'dam for years and them earning the right to use the One Power, but this line in particular makes me feel like they don't know. Because sul'dam are only sul'dam because of an 'accident of birth' as well. I'm sure that we'll find out, because the realization of the sul'dam secret was a pretty huge moment with Egwene in the books (even if Min & Nynaeve appeared to have completely forgotten the information when they were spending time with Rand later in the series) so it will definitely stand out if it gets played differently and Renna doesn't get that horror of realizing that she, too, is marath'damane.

21. I've also seen people wonder why the damane & sul'dam didn't catch on that Liandrin was channeling to wake the girls and free Nynaeve, but she was channeling that entire time (to hold open the Waygate) so her tiny weave would have been masked by the larger one.

22. Aviendha's attitude towards obligation and honor is going to be such an interesting contrast to how weighed down Rand is by his obligations. Looking forward to them getting some good scenes together in s3.

23. I hope Egwene gets to hit Renna over the head in this version too. And collar her to the wall. I can already tell that this is going to be painful and intense. I did notice that a lot of show-only reactors have NOT picked up on how terrifying and awful the damane slavery is yet, but I feel like the show is going to make it very clear in the next episode. (I don't know how you can look at Egwene in pain here and not already understand but... next week should make things crystal clear).

The preview did show us how... earnest (ugh) Renna is going to be in her 'training' of Egwene. The way she called the damane kennels "your new home" and the (horrifying) sincerity in her voice.

I'm actually wondering if Egwene is going to be freed in episode 7, before Rand gets to Falme, since Perrin and Aviendha are headed in the direction of Falme and it's Perrin who is attached to the Ingtar and Horn storylines and not Rand (who didn't even find out that the Horn is a thing that exists until 2x3). Because Rand isn't actually involved in her rescue in the books iirc -- that was Elayne and Egwene (with Min tagging along). He spots her and seeing her is why he refuses to leave, but since he's going there for his own purposes unrelated to the Horn in this version (I assume), then he doesn't need that extra push to stay. From the preview for episode 6, it kinda sounds like Loial & co are going to try to help her be freed but I'm not sure if it'll work that soon.

Expecting next episode to be extremely rough, emotionally.

Additional spoilers/speculation based on imdb listings (which may not be entirely accurate):

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The actress who played Maigan in S1 is listed as being in the next three episodes (6, 7, 8). She was planning to go west to investigate the rumors. She has not been seen in the White Tower this season. The actress who is playing Ryma is only listed for episodes 5 & 6. Renna is listed for all the remaining episodes; Seta is listed for the final two episodes. That just all seems like interesting information to me, though again, imdb.

Complete side note, episode 7 is the episode that Hayley Mills is listed for. I wonder if she's the Queen of Cairhien that Barthanes is marrying.

[ssahopelessly]

On the Clock Feelings

Synopsis: Reader is the newest employee to Family Video. While Steve has taken a liking to her, the same can not be said for Robin.

Warnings: FamilyVideoSteve x FemReader featuring Robin, new job, defensive/protective Steve, workplace banter, Steve injuring himself, pining / let me know any I missed

Word Count: 2.1K

a/n: Hey, hi, hello! This is my first oneshot in the Strangers Things universe! I had originally wrote this earlier in the year but finally got around to finishing it. I hope you enjoy!

Masterlist

“Where’s Robin?” She had asked from the passenger seat.

“Oh- she’s skipping her lunch.” Steve lied. Robin Buckley was in fact not skipping her lunch. More like Steve had asked Robin to sit in the Family Video breakroom for just one day. Steve was also subsequently $10 more broke than yesterday, the two being completely unrelated. “So,” he tried to change the subject, “how are you liking Family Video?”

“It’s… not terrible.” She mumbled over her milkshake, poking it with the spoon as she tried to break down the oreo bits before they clogged up her straw. “Keith is… a bit much though.” This made Steve laugh. Not as if he wasn’t always laughing in her company, but because on some level it made him feel sorry for her. The fact that Keith was their manager remained to be some lifelong karma lesson that Steve couldn’t quite figure out. At least it was Saturday and Keith happened to have today off. “And… I know she’s your friend… but Robin keeps pushing her work onto me.” Her body had slid lower into the seat, still cradling the cup closer to her chest. “Like I get it, I’m the new guy. But do I have to do all the putbacks- gobacks? Like she does know I can run the desk, right?”

Steve wiped the smile from his face as he brushed the salt from his fingertips over his knee. “No, she knows. Robin just- Robin likes to feel like she’s in control.” This wasn’t incorrect. Steve knew Robin was trying to manipulate their roles so they would have more chances to interact on the clock. So far it was working, though he was now certain to talk to Robin about maybe letting them have desk time. “But I’ll talk to her.” Looking over to her, he noticed she was still jabbing away at the cold cream. “Is there anything else?”

“Steve. I don’t need you to fight my battles for me.” His actions froze, the finger twiddling he had started paused.

“I didn’t- that’s not what-“ he was fumbling for an explanation now. Once he realised how he felt, every action around her became a coordinated step.

“It’s never been like this,” he tried to explain to Robin one night. “I just get around her and start stumbling over everything.”

“Wow, it’s like you have to actually try.” Robin had then mocked him.

“It’s just- Robin is my friend… and you’re also my friend, and I don’t want my friends to fight.” How self preservative, he thought. He watched as his words played through her mind and he hoped that labeling her as a friend didn’t hurt her in any way. It’s not like they weren’t friends… but Steve knew he felt more than a friend to her.

“Well, as your friend, I can handle myself.” Looking up to Steve, she tried not to think of how he had been looking at her. She tried not to think of how Steve Harrington, her coworker, had been almost caught staring at her lips, choosing to believe the stare and everything else in consideration were hopefully unrelated. “What is it?” Shaking his head, the look disappeared and a few strands of hair fell over his face.

“It’s nothing.” Looking at the watch on his wrist, he then reached for the keys, turning the car off. “We have to go anyway.” With a simple nod, that was mostly for herself, she started helping him gather up their trash and whatever else they would need to take back into Family Video. She had almost forgotten about the overcast sky above them, the endless gray cloud that seemed to linger over all of Hawkins.

-

When they reentered Family Video together, Robin’s head naturally perked up in their direction. “Oh thank goodness, you’re back!” She called to them from behind the desk. (Y/N) felt like it was mostly to Steve though, as she had never outrightly been so relieved to see her before. Springing up from her seat, Robin rounded to the cart that had been sitting just in the front corner of the desk, her hand lingering on the metal frame before sharing a smile to Steve. “Now that you’re back, this lovely cart needs to be put away and-“

“Actually Robin, I was hoping we could have the desk.” Robin froze completely in place, hands still grasping the cart as she had started pushing it towards the two.

“What?” There was an incredulous indention to her voice, almost like she couldn’t believe Steve was disagreeing with her.

“It’s just, she wanted to see the protocol for some technical situations. More practice on the computer, you know?” Nodding her head, Robin was cutting them both a glance that (Y/N) couldn’t quite pick up on.

“Right.” She pushed the cart around them now, gently bumping into Steve’s shoulder. “Well, maybe you should time me. I’m sure I can put this away faster than the two of you.” Steve rolled his eyes as Robin took the cart and pushed it away and into the aisles, disappearing for now. The two of them entered the little corral that was the hub inside the desk, the walls being the desk itself as it wrapped around them. From the corner of his eye he could see how she hesitated to even sit down, just standing ever so slightly behind him as she looked around the desk, almost unsure to touch anything.

“Here.” He pulled a stool out from under the counter, motioning for her to sit in front of the computer. When she did so, he tried to then figure out where the best place for him to stand would be. “So- you’ve used a computer before right?” He settled for standing just a bit behind and to the side of her.

“Only a little bit?” She still sounded unsure of herself. He wondered if it were her nerves and whether, had it been anyone else in this situation, would she sound the same? She was practically sitting in front of him as he reached around her for the mouse, careful not to lean onto her or anything.

“Okay, well for starters, you’re going to want to shake the mouse to wake up the computer.” He bumped the piece and waited for the static of the screen to come to life. But there was no static, it remained silent. Pursing his lips to the side, he tried to then look under the desk and he saw it. The computer had been turned off. “Or make sure, it’s turned on.”

“You sure you know what you’re doing?” Her voice called down to him. It brought a smile to his face as her humour started to return to her, meaning she was feeling comfortable again. For Steve though, he was too worried about how close he was to her legs that he almost didn’t notice how close the underside of the desk was. That was all, until he hit his head under the counter on his way back up.

“Shit!” He cursed under his breath as he stood back up to his normal posture. He tried to focus on the giggling she was failing to control, but he couldn’t ignore how badly his head felt, a burning sensation over the spot.

“Are you okay?” Her body had turned to face him now, her knees nearly brushing his legs.

“Sure. Wouldn’t be the first time.” Steve hoped she wouldn’t read too much into his words. He hadn’t wanted to talk about the horrors he had seen in the last four years with her just yet. Honestly, he had hoped it would be something that she would never need to know about.

Too distracted by the pain and his thoughts, he didn’t notice how her hands reached up to hold his head in her hands, palms resting just below his ear near his jawline. Her touch was soft and delicate, and Steve considered how he hadn’t felt anything as pure as her hold. Looking into her eyes felt like a mistake though, like a tar trap that he wouldn’t escape, not that he wanted to. While her eyes were full of concern, he saw the tender affection swimming in her irises and he tried not to drown in it. To be the star athlete he had once been praised for. But his teammates had never swam through tar. And he couldn’t remember the last time he felt so much in just a stare. “Well your eyes don’t look dilated.”

“They’re not?” He asked, his voice a whisper as his hands reached up to hold on to her wrists. “That’s good?”

“Really good.” A smile was pulling at the corner of her lips like a homecoming banner being pulled up a wall. “It means, no concussion.” The smile stayed, and he couldn’t fight the smile growing on him at the idea that he had put hers there.

“Oh.”

“How do you feel?” With his fingers over her soft skin, he could feel the slight muscle tremor as she had tried to withdraw her hold, but he just squeezed her wrists instead, taking comfort in the warmth they were temporarily providing him.

“It still kind of hurts.”

“Maybe you need ice?”

“Yeah,” the last syllable dragged out, “ice.” He had to let go of her then. They couldn’t stay that way, no matter how much his heart was crying to. He couldn’t fathom willingly trading the warmth she had provided him, even in that small moment, for a bag of cold ice to numb the pain at the back of his head. What about the ache in his heart? Was there a reliever for that?

While he was lost in his daydream, she got up from the stool, and with her hand now holding his wrist, tried to pull him to the backroom of Family Video. “Robin, we’ll be in the back!” Steve would’ve winced at the volume which she was talking, but her guiding him to the back seemed to balance out his pain for comfort ratio.

“No funny business!” Robin called to them from somewhere in the shelves. “I mean it Steve Harrington!”

“Got it!” He rolled his eyes as they passed through the door, her hold on his wrist guiding him to the table at the center of the room.

“Sit here. I’ll get the bag of ice.” Somehow she had found a plastic bag in some drawer behind him and the freezer had been miraculously capable of making ice today. With a paper towel wrapped around the bag, she offered it to him to hold to his head, and it was then he felt his first wave of guilt. He’s a former student athlete, he should be taking care of himself. Why was he so resided to letting her take care of him?

“You didn’t have to do this, you know? I’m the one who hit my head on the counter.” He tried to point out to her as she took a seat in the spot next to him. She kept her hands to herself now, watching him as he winced between the pain and the cold temperature of the ice.

“Yeah well.” Her eyes looked around him before settling on him once more. “I just wanted to make sure…” Breaking their gaze, she looked down to her fingers, hands clasped together so neither of them would be tempted to hold the other. “You’re like, the only one looking out for me, here. I just wanted to do the same for you.” She looked back to him now, not sure what to expect from his expression. But there was a smirk on his lips, a smugness she hadn’t seen on him. “What?”

“You just…” Waiting on his words, she wasn’t really sure what he would say. “You care about me?” The smug coating of his words never left his face. Her brain was backpedaling to get out from under that feeling.

“I mean, you're my coworker.” Ouch. “And the only one that’s been checking in on me. So yeah?” Removing the ice pack from his head, he noticed how some of the ice was beginning to melt, a small collection of water at the bottom of the bag.

“Coworker?” He asked, attention still on the water sloshing around the bag.

“Yes?”

“That’s funny.”

“What?”

“That’s just a weird label for someone you care about.” He thought he had this one. That they had danced around each other verbally enough that he could win this one.

“Well that’s what you are, so-” It’s not what I would like to be. Steve let their banter die out.

Let her have this one, he thought to himself, there will be plenty more to come.

-

Thank you for reading!

[upsidedownwithsteve]

Promptober: Day Twenty

Steve Harrington x fem!reader 659 words.

The only reason you were standing in the bleachers of Butler University on a cold, October night, was because Robin met a girl who sold tickets to the college games. 

“But you don’t like football,” you’d told her. 

“But I do like pretty girls,” she had replied. And then, for good measure, “please? I’ll ask Steve too.”

It’s not like Steve coming along sealed the deal, you would’ve done anything for Robin, being the number one wingwoman was part of your job description as her friend. But the night was dark and the temperature had dropped to forty before the three of you had even found some free seats and suddenly, standing next to Steve was the best part of your night. 

“You’re so warm,” you marvelled, leaning into the boy. “S’like my own personal space heater.”

Robin rolled her eyes but Steve grinned, cheeks pink and letting you needle your arm through his own, your face pressed to his bicep as the rest of the crowd cheered and booed. 

You could practically hear Robin’s voice in your head, deadpan and tired of you and the boy’s antics. “Jesus Christ, just date already, you’re both disgusting. It’s pathetic.”

Instead, you got something that was a little less harsh, but the girl's words carried the same intention. She nudged your other shoulder, made a grabbing motion and Steve until he passed her the bucket of popcorn you were all sharing. 

“I didn’t invite you both here to flirt, you know,” Robin huffed. “In fact, you’re supposed to be helping me get a date.”

But Steve wasn’t listening, his eyes on you instead of the game, smile soft as you pushed your cheek into his coat. The floodlights made the world seem brighter than it was, the crowd a blur of blue and white as you pressed yourself further into the boy. 

“S’fine, Rob,” you told her, grinning too wide when Steve took your hand in his own, tucking them into his coat pocket together. “She told you she’d meet you at half time, right? Relax and watch the game.”

“You’re not even watching the game.” 

“Sure we are,” Steve replied but his eyes were still on you. “It’s all really interesting,” he lied. 

Truth be told, it was hard to concentrate on anything but Steve. You were always easily distracted by the boy, a friend who was almost something more, the inbetween stages of flirting and shyly getting closer making your stomach tumble and your beat a little faster than it should. 

You liked the way he held your hand, held you closer when you shivered, ducked his head down to yours to whisper in your ear to be heard over the crowd, even though he could’ve chosen to yell over the din like Robin. 

But then the half time whistle blew and Robin jumped up with a squeak and headed for the food stand, right underneath the flashing lights where he new friend told her to wait. 

And that left you alone with a boy who was really quite happy about it. 

“Still cold?” Steve asked, leaning down to whisper into your ear. His lips brushed the shell of it, made you shiver and nod.

“Freezing,” you said and tried not to smile because the boy was looking at you like he knew you were lying. How could you be cold? You had two sweaters and a jacket on. 

But Steve tilted his chin at you, grinned and opened his arms. “C’mere.”

You let him manhandle you to stand in front of him, your back to his chest as he wrapped his arms around your middle. All the layers between you both were something you were suddenly against, but he felt warm and solid against you, his chin pressed to the crown of your head as he hummed. 

“Better?” Steve asked and you could hear the smile there, warmer than his touch, like the sun on an autumn day.

[mara-tevith-solo]

Learn Something New

Reader One-shot with Hunter

Pairing: Hunter x Jedi!Reader 

Rated: 18+ NSFW 

Warnings: SMUT! This is a Heat fic so be warned. Some angst but not much, established relationship, female reader, not A/B/O sorry

Words: 2.8k+

When you had woken up that morning, you hadn't felt quite right. You had a very slight fever and you were exhausted despite having slept decently well in one of the cockpit seats, but you shrugged it off as a biproduct of working with Mos Eisley locals during the last job. It wasn't like any of the others could get sick, even Omega was engineered with an amazing immune system. So, you'd taken some painkillers and resolved to go about your day as usual. Hunter smiled softly as he handed you a cup of caf soon after you had all entered the parlor, his gaze warm though his pupils were dilated more than normal "Are you alright?" You asked softly before taking a sip, humming at the caffeinated goodness as it warmed you from the inside.

He took a step closer, crowding into your personal space, his nose almost pressed to your forehead as you both looked at each other, mutually surprised by his actions "I'm feelin' alright, cyare." He assured you before taking a moment to press a tender kiss on your forehead "You're just harder to resist today." He pulled away with a teasing wink, laughing softly as you stuck your tongue out at him.  

"Alright, alright!" The grating voice of Cid broke the moment, left it shattered like glass as everyone's attention focused on her "No romance in the bar, yeesh! I've got a job for ya, just a quick delivery to Tatooine."

"Awww! We were just there!" Wrecker complained with a loud groan right as you began feeling very not right, suddenly leaky and sore even though there was no real reason to. It was too early in the month for your period, and the last mission had been extremely smooth, not even a verbal spat was had between Echo and Wrecker.

Hunter seemed to know the very moment the change happened, his warm hand pressing against your lower back, comforting and welcome "Are you alright?" He asked, his brow furrowed low as he studied you worriedly.

"Ya," You nodded with a tight smile, not realizing that you had began leaning against the bar, the cold metal soothing the heat you were beginning to exude. "Perfectly fine." You lied, not wanting to worry him even though there was a decent chance he could tell you were lying.

He frowned and opened his mouth to call you out, but Cid beat him to it "Uh-huh, sure. You look like a wreck, Y/n. You should sit this one out." Even when expressing concern she still sounded so demanding and offended.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Cid," You deadpanned at the Trandoshan who just shrugged back at you "I'm fine, really. Nothing some painkillers and more caf can't fixxxxx... oh kark." A cramp rolled through you as you spoke, bowling you over as you clutched at you lower stomach, trying to relieve the new ache.

"You're not fine, Y/n." Hunter's firm voice was filled with concern as he quickly scooped you up and held you tightly to his chest, the motion triggering another cramp and a soft keening whine that only he could hear. His scent invaded your nose, smelling of musk and sweat with something almost herbal and spicy underneath, making you drunk as you pressed your face into his neck with another soft keen. "Y/n and I will sit this mission out." Hunter's words were strong, but his grip on you increased, holding you almost possessively.

Wrecker groaned again "Missions aren't the same without her!" He complained like a child, though you knew that he meant well.

"Statistically, if a Peléian is falling ill, there are only two causes, and both require rest. Get better soon, Y/n. We'll see you both when we return." Tech rattled off with a concerned frown as he adjusted his goggles, studying Y/n's change in behavior but not voicing his suspicions, Hunter was already on edge with concern and he did not want to make it worse.

Without another word Hunter was leaving the bar behind and going up the stairs to the apartment that all of you shared, bee-lining straight for your shared quarters and depositing you on your bed. His hand felt cool against your forehead as he pulled back enough to check your temperature, frowning as you tried to nuzzle into his hand "You're burning up, cyare." He rumbled with worry, trying to pull back to get you some ice but you clung to his hand like a lifeline, a whine leaving your throat as you looked up at him pleading shining in your eyes.

"Please Hunter, please stay with me. I don't know what's happening." You confessed as your legs pressed together. Your core was quivering with need, gnawing with want that wasn't going to let itself go ignored for very long. It was loud and insistent. A cramp rolled through your lower belly, making you curl into yourself slightly with a keen, your mind swiftly becoming drunk with desire, Hunter's scent filling you again. "Please." You begged, trying to pull him closer.

He could smell the change as soon as it happened, it was sweet and alluring, filling him with desire and need that shot straight to his cock. He knew that he needed to leave you in that moment, knew that if he didn't he'd fuck you senseless, and you were sick. He couldn't do that to you, he couldn't wear your already waning strength like that. You needed to rest, like Tech had said. "I'll be back with some water, mesh'la, just rest." He promised quickly and gently pulled himself from your hold, damn near running out of the room the moment he could, his cock straining painfully under his codpiece. He could hear your wordless begs through the door, could still smell your arousal, but he pulled himself away from the door and retreated to the kitchen on the other side of the apartment, pulling out his comms. He needed Tech's expertise before he karked it all up to hell. "Tech," his voice was rough even to his ears, his breaths sharp as his body strained to keep smelling your delicious scent like a man possessed "Tech, come in." He ordered, trying, and very nearly failing, to keep himself in check.

"Hunter, I wasn't expecting you to contact me this soon. We have not even left yet." Tech's voice filtered from the comm though he wasn't being unkind about it.

"Tech, she's burning up and her scent changed. What medicine does she need?" Your smell became stronger in that moment, permeating the entire apartment and he tried to breath through his mouth to stall his inevitable reaction, but tasting it... oh stars it made it worse. His self control was hanging by a thread as it was, but that thread was getting pretty thin and frail.

He could imagine you on the bed, all laid out and on display just for him, moaning with desire even though he hadn't even touched you yet, just watched your pretty pussy as it drooled for his cock. He wanted a taste. He groaned into his fist, his self control nearly none existent. His next actions were going to hinge solely on whatever Tech told him, and even then he might have to call in a droid to help. "There is only one thing it can be," Tech's voice broke through the lust filled haze in Hunter's mind, bringing him back to clarity even if just for a moment. "She's in Heat."

Hunter's eyes widened at the news "What? Wouldn't she know how to prepare us for that?" There was a touch of aggression to his voice that he tried to reign in, though it wasn't directed towards anyone per say, it was mostly directed towards his need for restraint.

"Well, that would depend on whether or not her mother was able to teach her what to watch for before giving her to the Order. From what I have been able to research, most do not because most that are given do not find their Mates." Tech's words rang through his head as he stared at his own bedroom door, his heart hurting for his Mate at the realization that she was expected to never find him, how close they came to never finding each other. How she was never taught to prepare or manage herself if she ever had.

"How do I help her?" Hunter's voice was ragged with emotion as he spoke, his mind made up that he was going to help her, no matter what it took. She would not weather the storm alone.

"I'm sure you know the answer to that, Hunter. Just remember that this is when she is at her most fertile, and both of you need to stay hydrated. Don't do anything in my room. Signing off." Tech's voice held some amusement at his Sergeant as he spoke, though he kept it purposely brief. He could only imagine how tortured Hunter was as they spoke.

Hunter set the comm on the kitchen table and set about preparing a kit for the both of them, his armor becoming more and more uncomfortable with every minute as he filled canteens and grabbed a packet of nerf jerky before marching straight into your room. He almost dropped everything on the floor at the very sight of you, barely hearing the door close behind him as all the blood rushed straight to his already throbbing cock. You were completely bare on top of the blankets, covered in a soft sheen of sweat as one hand gripped desperately at your thigh, the other was trying to grant you some relief, your fingers furiously rubbing your clit as breathy moans filled the air. The room was saturated with the scent of your arousal and need, blinding him to anything and everything else but you. "Hunter..." You begged breathlessly, your eyes locked on him, your pupils blown as wide as they could be despite the bright overhead light "need you in me. Please Hunter, please baby." Your voice broke him from the spell, calling him to action in a flurry of movement. He was off balance as he practically threw his armor and clothes off, hopping on one foot at one point when his pantleg got stuck over his ankle.  

His skin was hot against yours as he took a spot between your legs, eyes locked on your fingers as they slowed their ministrations to your clit, reveling in his attention as you bit your lip. "So pretty, cyare, such a pretty pussy." He groaned against the sensitive flesh of your inner thigh, so close and yet so far away from where you needed him. He smiled as you moaned under his lips, every cell in his being begging him to taste you, even if it was just one lick, he needed you on his tongue. You smelled so sweet, so ready. So fucking needy for him. "Open your legs for me, mesh'la." He ordered gruffly as he licked his lips in anticipation "Show me where you need my cock."

You had to readjust how you were laying, but you were quick to obey, hands gripping your thighs, holding them up under his hungry gaze. He groaned before diving in, lapping at you like a man starved, his tongue carving broad strokes through your folds in a bid to collect every drop of your sweet nectar. It was almost too good for him as he began to buck into the mattress, his cock needing something while he fucked you with his tongue. He knew he wasn't going to last long if he allowed himself to continue as he was, making himself pull away from your glistening folds and climb up your body like a predator stalking its prey, every movement carefully controlled so that he didn't accidently hurt you in his excitement. You pulled him into a kiss with a hand tangled in his hair, pulling gently as you moaned into his mouth, sharing in your taste on his tongue. He entered you in one swift motion, hilting immediately as you arched your back and screamed his name. His mouth latched onto your neck as he kept thrusting into you at a devastating pace, his tip hitting electrifying places inside of you as his teeth nipped and clung to your pulse point. His name was a chant, a prayer, a hymn of praise as he continued to fuck you. When he pulled out, you wanted to sob at the loss, his warmth leaving you as he sat back onto his knees and grabbed your thighs. He growled as he flipped you over, tempted to just fuck you into the mattress, but primal need won out as he grabbed onto your hips and pulled you up, presenting you to him again.

He was tempted to taste you again as your pussy drooled in anticipation for his cock, glistening slick audibly dropping onto the sheets making his heart skip a beat. His head was barely past your folds before your were rocking back on him with a filthy mewl. It was all he could do but watch you swallow his cock as though he'd starved you of it. It didn't take him long to begin meeting you thrust for thrust, the pleasure making his eyes roll back in his head every time you tightened your walls around him, milking his cock every time he pulled almost completely out. With every thrust in, his balls slapped just hard enough against your poor clit that you squealed, every single time. With every thrust your pussy made the most deliciously filthy squelches that he'd ever heard. Every single one was like a symphony composed just for him, and he loved every single one. He lifted your hips slightly, changing the angle just enough to hit a very special spot inside of you, making you see stars and scream his name, slick gushing around his cock as the squelches became absolutely obscene. "Want me to fill you with my cum, Y/n?" He growled through grit teeth, feeling the end approaching "Want me to fill you full? Make you pregnant?" You moaned loudly as you nodded into the sheets, looking at him from the corner of your eye, trying to communicate how much you needed his cum "Oh you like that don't you?" He laughed breathlessly, his rhythm beginning to falter as the tip of his cock assaulted your cervix, bringing you to a whole new height of pleasure. "Gonna make you so full of my seed you can't, ummfff, can't help but become round with my child! I can just, mmmghh, just see you now..." He continued, the fantasy flashing before his eyes, the idea of you carrying his child awakening something new inside of him, something basal and wanting. "Fuck, Y/n! Gonna... FUCK!" He came with a roar, his hands gripping your hips tightly as you screamed in pleasure with him as he erupted. You clamped around him, not wanting a single drop to escape as he continued to pump you full, holding you tight to him.

It took him a whole minute to finish coming, like the man had been saving up just for you. He coaxed you down on your side, his softening cock slipping out of you as you moved, some of his cum leaking out. You whined at the loss but all he could do was stare as he caught his breath, the sight was something so erotic and intimate, and he was sharing it with you. You instantly cuddled up to him when he laid next to you, his heart thundering in his chest. "I love you." You murmured into his flesh, your ear against his chest as you listened to his heart beat.

"I love you too." He hummed with a broad smile, holding you tighter before he dropped off into an unexpected nap. He woke some time later to you pumping his cock languidly, your movements unhurried as he hummed, the scent of your need in the air again, making his cock throb in your palm "Again?" He chuckled, the sound quickly dropping into a hiss of pleasure as you began paying more attention to his drooling tip.

"Yes, please, Hunter. Please fill me with your cum again. I'm so fucking addicted to it!" You begged as you climbed up onto your knees, the movements wafting the faint scent of his drying cum around you both.

"C'mere." He ordered, a hand already dripping your hip to guide you as you eagerly straddled his hips. As he slipped inside of you with a throaty groan, he was resolved to fuck the Heat out of you, no matter how long it took, no matter how many times he had to cum in your willing pussy. He'd do it happily. It was one addiction he could get behind.          

[herroyalhighnessqueenmomo]

Faded Memories (Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader) |Part 12|

A/N: It's baaaaack!! I know this took literally for fucking ever and I am so sorry to make y'all wait so long. I'm hoping the length of this part makes up for the wait a bit.

You woke up right next to Eddie. You were in his arms as your head rested on his chest. You looked up to see his sleeping face. You kissed his cheek and went to get up but got pulled back into his embrace. "No I want you to stay here." Eddie grumbled out. You giggled. "Eds come on I gotta get up." You struggled against him.

He only grumbled again in protest. "Edddie." You whined. He peaked his head up. His eyes were squint from the harsh light coming into the room. His hair was getting into his face and it honestly looked like a chicken landed on it. You snorted out a laugh from seeing the expression on his face. "Just stay in bed with me. We can sleep in." He said gruffly.

You looked at the digital clock beside the bed. "Eddie its already about to be 12:30, how much more do you wanna sleep in?" You asked. He didn't answer. He only nuzzled his face into your neck. You caressed his hair as he laid practically on top of your chest. "We got a lot to do today. We have to find me a job since I was pretty much forced to quit unexpectedly last night. Then we need to tell our friends that my memory is back officially and-"

"Our friends already know your memory is back." He mumbled out into your neck. "No, only Nancy, Robin, and Steve. The kids don't know and neither does the rest of Hellfire. Plus the guys at your shop would be thrilled to find out my memory is back too." You explained. "I'm not going to the shop on my day off." Eddie deadpanned. "Okay then we can go to the shop tomorrow." You replied.

"Oh and let's not forget we need to talk about how we will go about making our marriage legally official. Personally I think we should just elope and get married at the courthouse." At hearing this Eddie has shot up and looked at you wide eyed. "What? Did you forget that I wanted us to get married?" He shook his head. "No that's not it. I just can't believe you would actually just want to elope and not hold a ceremony." He replied. "Why is that so hard to believe? I mean you already had an actual wedding before. You don't need another one just to marry me."

He still looked at you in disbelief. "You're telling me you don't want a real wedding? Isn't this something you have always dreamt of?" He asked you. "Why? Because I'm a woman? You automatically think I have always dreamt of walking down the isle dressed like a pretty princess in high heels? With a big bouquet of flowers. While everyone I know watches me shine?" You began to rant. Of course you have wanted that but the concept seemed odd to you. Over two months after Eddie's first wedding he will have another one with a completely different bride?

You surely weren't trying to be the topic of conversation going around in Hawkins. If the two of you went along with the idea of an actual wedding the whole damn town would be whispering about the spectacle. "If you're sure you don't want an actual wedding then I would be completely fine with eloping." Eddie stated breaking you out of your thoughts.

You gave him a nod. "Then its a plan. We'll elope."

The two of you ended up calling all of your friends and told them to meet at Nancy's office. You double checked with her before hand and she said it was okay. You were getting ready and Eddie was taking a shower when you heard a knock at the door.

You became a little nervous wondering if it was Kendra. You chucked the idea as you got closer to the door realizing she would just walk in if it was her.

You opened the door and your heart damn near sunk to your ass as you saw your mother. "Y/N M/N L/N. I thought you were in New York to go 'find yourself' but then I heard you were still in Hawkins. You lied to your father and I?! You didn't just lie to me you got married to Eddie Munson? Do you have anything to say for yourself?" She asked as she crossed her arms.

Your mouth was agape as you struggled to come up with words. "Well? I'm waiting." She said seeming impatient and frustrated. "Mom it really wasn't like that. Its much more complicated. I really was supposed to go to New York." You tried to reason. "So what you accidentally missed your flight and married your best friend instead? Did you really think your father and I wouldn't approve or something?"

You shook your head. "No thats not it. I didn't miss my flight to New York. Mom you didn't hear the news about what happened?" You asked her. She shook her head. "No you know damn well that our TV doesn't work that well and your father is too cheap to purchase a new one." She replied.

Your mom had no idea that for this whole time you were gone about what happened to you. You now understood why she was so upset. You forgot about your parents. For all she knew you were in New York and never let her know you were okay. "Mom my plane crashed." All color drained from her face. "It what?! That can't be true. I-I oh my god I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" She asked as she took a moment to examine you.

"I'm fine now mom. I had temporary amnesia and Eddie took care of me. The hospital wouldn't let him visit me until he told them he was my husband. When I woke up he told me the same thing, that he was my husband." You explained. She scrunched up her eyebrows. "I don't understand, why would he do a thing like that?" She asked.

"Because I realized I was actually in love with your daughter." You heard Eddie's voice emerge from behind you. Your mom crossed her arms as she looked at him. "It took you this long to realize that?" You turned your head to look at him. "No. It just took me this long to actually do something about it. I didn't know she had feelings for me too." He replied.

She huffed. "So then you two aren't actually married, just living together? Your father won't be happy about that. He's going to want you to move back home." Eddie wrapped his arms around you. "Well we were planning to actually still get married." He said.

You nodded and gave her a smile. "Well actually I decided we should just elope so that we-"

Your mother put her hand up for you to stop talking. "I'm sorry you want to what?"

"Elope...we don't need to have a big thing out of it bec-" You began to explain. "And you were okay with this idea?" Your mom asked as she looked at Eddie. He shot up his hands in defense. "Hey don't look at me. I tried to tell her we could still have a wedding but she wouldn't listen."

Your mother looked at you again. "Why on Earth would you want to elope? I thought you always wanted a wedding? Hell you even nagged me for eloping with your father myself."

"Thats because you guys deserved an actual wedding." You tried to reason. "And you don't?" She shot back. You remained quiet. "Your father and I eloped because I couldn't leave my parent's house until I was married and they didn't like your dad. Your grandfather refused to help if we had a wedding and we didn't have money at the time." Your mom explained.

You nodded. "I know mom." You looked down at your feet. "Then you know you have a choice to actually do a wedding or elope and regret it the rest of your life." She stated. You gave her another nod. "Y/N you are my only daughter. I want to see you happy. I would love to see you in a beautiful dress and walk down the isle with your father beside you. I know that in the end you will do whatever you want but I think you should take what I said into consideration."

You took a deep breath. "Okay mom." She smiled. "I love you honey bee." She gave you a hug. "I love you too mom." You hugged back. "Now I better receive an invitation to a proper wedding soon or the next time you see me you're going to get another earful." She stated as she pulled away. You let out a laugh. "Okay I get it mom." Your mother was about to head downstairs. "Hey mom?" She looked at you. "Yes Honey Bee?" "Aren't you worried that people are gonna talk about how Eddie is marrying me less than 3 months after marrying someone else?"

"Hon, people are always gonna talk no matter what. They don't directly affect your life so don't let their words prevent you from being happy. Besides, since when did you start caring about what people say to you? I thought I raised you different than how I was raised. I raised you to keep your head held high and to march your feet to the beat of your own drum." She advised.

You knew your mother was right. The woman could be a damn sage if she wanted to. You learned that the best thing you could ever do for yourself in life is always listen to her. "I love you mom." You smiled at her. "Love you too Honey Bee." With that she left.

You shut the door of the apartment and leaned back on it. You looked crossed your arms as you looked at Eddie. "Well I guess we are having a wedding after all." He had a huge smile on his face and went to embrace you. "Have I ever told you how much I loved your mom?" Eddie asked as he hugged you.

"You might've mentioned it once or twice in the past, yeah." You laughed. He pulled away from you. "Now go get ready so we can head out. I'll make us some late breakfast in the meantime." You gave him a nod and went to the bathroom. You brushed your teeth and went to to take a quick shower. Afterwards you walked out the bathroom in a towel and went to your shared bedroom to get dressed.

You searched your drawers and decided to throw on a Fleetwood Mac t-shirt and black jeans with your white All-Stars. You threw your hair up in a side ponytail and walked out of the bedroom. You smiled at the smell of food. "Mmm something smells pretty damn good." You stated as you walked over to see Eddie placing some scrambled eggs next to two slices of bacon on a plate.

He handed the plate to you. "Bone apple squeeze or whatever it is the French say." He said. You burst out into laughter. "It's bon appetit." You corrected him. "Gesundheit" He replied. You laughed again. "No babe I wasn't sneezing I was telling you how the French say it. It's bon appetit." You explained. "Could've fooled me." You rolled your eyes and put your plate down on the table and got yourself a cup of water then took a seat at the table.

You began to eat. Eddie walked over shortly after with his plate of food. "Tastes good Eds." You stated. "Good. I'm not much of a chef." He sat down and began eating too. "Hey babe?" He looked up. "Now that the cat's out of the bag about my memory being back and all, can you tell me what happened between you and Kendra? From what I thought, you guys got married that day of the plane crash. Then I wake up and you decided I was going to be your wife." Your curiosity got the better of you and you just had to know.

He took a deep breath. "Well, after the ceremony when we officially got married, I went to the backroom where I last saw you to look for you since I didn't see you anywhere else." "Okay." You nodded for him to continue. "That's when I found that note you left me about having to leave to catch your flight. By the time I finished reading it and I realized that Nancy, Robin, and Steve helped you to move, I was pissed." You furrowed your eyebrows. "How come?" "Well they did that behind my back and let you leave Hawkins. So I confronted them. The girls were just as pissed too because they blamed me for you leaving, which, to be fair, they were right. They stormed out of the backroom and Steve tried to level with me."

"But what does this have to do with Kendra and you?" You asked. "Let me get there." He replied. "So anyways, that's when Kendra came into the room bitching about me leaving her out there alone when we just got married. I personally didn't give a shit at the time, I just wanted to figure out where you were so I could bring you back. After that I think it was Robin who came rushing in for us to come over to the bar to watch the TV. That's when we saw the news about your crash." He took in a shaky breath and his eyes started watering as he remembered the sinking feeling in his gut when he thought you were gone forever.

He cleared his throat. "Anyways Robin figured you might still be alive but in one of the hospitals in Indianapolis so we frantically looked in the phone book for the name of the hospital. When I called they were too busy to confirm if you were alive so I decided to head there myself to find out for sure. Of course Nancy, Robin, and Steve wanted to come too."

"Wait, and Hellfire club didn't want to come with?" You asked. "Oh, I don't know. They were in the corner away somewhere doing, god knows what at the time." "Oh." "Anyways. By the point that's when Kendra got pissed because she didn't want me to leave the reception. She knew it was a matter of life and death and she didn't even give a shit if you were dead. All she cared about was the stupid wedding. When I realized she didn't care about the most important person in the world to me, I couldn't be with her anymore. I decided to get our marriage annulled and that was pretty much it."

"Wow, I knew Kendra could be a bit of a pretentious bitch, but damn she wasn't even concerned in the slightest if I was okay?" You asked. "Nope." "Damn. Well good fucking riddance. I never liked her anyways." You responded. "Apparently nobody did. I just have a shit judge of character."

"I don't think you have a shit judge of character." He looked up at you with a raised eyebrow. "Okay your judge of character was a little questionable, but I think you're getting better now." His softened as he gave you a small smile. "Thanks."

The two of you finished eating and left the apartment via Eddie's notorious, slightly more questionable than his judge of character's, van. When you got to Nancy and Jonathan's place you noticed you two were actually the last to arrive. "Oh great, we're the ones who made the invite and ended up being the last ones to our own scheduled hangout. Good fucking going, Munson." You half joked.

He snapped his head over to look at you so quickly you could've sworn you heard his neck crack. "How is it my fault?! Last I checked it was your mother who decided to drop by and cause us to be late." He sassed. You blinked a few times not expecting that response. "Well then." Was all you said as you hopped out the van and went inside the ex-diner. Eddie was speeding right behind you.

"Well look who finally decided to grace us with their presence." Dustin said with a very disapproving and sarcastic tone. "Yes, I'm sorry that we were late it was my mother who had stalled us earlier before we left." You said very pointedly and gave Eddie a criminally offensive side eye.

Nancy cleared her throat. "So why did you bring us all to my office for?" She asked. "Right. Um, so as you may all know. I was recently in a very dramatic and tragic plane crash that thankfully didn't kill me. Which by the way some of you," You looked over at the Hellfire Club. "Hadn't come to visit me since then."

"Um excuse me, I call bullshit, we wanted to visit you, Eddie was the one tha-" Eddie made quick big gestures for Dustin to quit talking immediately with his hands. You saw the gestures from the corner of your eye and looked over at Eddie to see him try and play it cool by whistling while looking the other direction. "Eddie what?" You asked Dustin as you furrowed your eyebrows.

It got quiet all of a sudden making the silence awkward. "He told us that you didn't want visitors and that meeting new people would make you hysterical." Will suddenly spoke up. "He what?!" You snapped your head over to look over at Eddie who was avoiding your gaze. "Hysterical? Were you trying to make me sound like a mental health patient?" You asked him.

He gave a small shrug. "Well...technically you were, your mental health had memory loss." He said quietly. "Tha-That's not the same!"

"I feel like we just accidentally opened a can of worms for them." Lucas stated. "Yeah, no, shit Sherlock." Dustin replied. "Okay man, just back off, it's your fault that they're arguing anyways." Lucas snapped back. "I didn't do anything, I was just simply trying to clear my good name. Will here was the one who actually spilled the goddamn beans."

"Me? You clearly started it and just left Y/N hanging without a clear answer I-"Will began but cut off by Steve. "Okay guys knock it off. Y/N, Eddie, for the love of God would you guys just actually tell us what's going on?"

You took a deep breath. "I wanted to announce to everyone that I officially have my memories back." Everyone cheered. "And?" Eddie nudged you lightly. "And we are making our marriage legit." Everyone kind of clapped but some of them were a little slow as they all looked at each other in confusion. "I'm sorry did I miss something? Your marriage? When did you guys get married?" Mike asked. "We didn't" You replied. "That's why we are going to make it legit." You responded.

"I think what Mike is trying to say is that the way that you say it implies that you two are somehow already married." Dustin chimed in. "Oh that. Yes, so since you guys didn't already know, while my memory was out Eddie took me in and had me believing he was actually my husband this whole time. When I got my memory back I just decided to go with it. Last night we agreed we want to be actually married to each other legally." You explained.

"I am somehow more confused then I was before." Jeff said suddenly. "Its a really long story. The important thing is that we are getting married." You replied then looked over at Eddie and gave him a smile. "So....that's it?" Dustin asked. "What do you mean, 'ThAt'S iT'?" You asked him confused. "Were you expecting something else?" He shrugged. "Well I don't know I just would have liked something that was more...I don't know...dramatic?" He tried to find the words. Your mouth was wide open. You looked over at Eddie. In your mind you were hoping he'd handle his child before you blew a gasket.

"Man, what are you talking about? They just announced they were getting married." Lucas tried to reason. "She just woke up from a coma literally two months ago!" He exclaimed. "Sure but did anyone really doubt that they were going to end up together?" Dustin asked as if it was obvious.

"Yes!" Everyone exclaimed.

"He married somebody else." Erica reminded him. "Yeah but for only about a week. That hardly counts." He argued. Eddie huffed. "Well little sheep. If its a touch of drama and shock you look for, then don't you worry." You looked over at him confused. There wasn't anything else to tell. "We're also planning to have a baby."

"What?!" Multiple people exclaimed. "If that's supposed to be an April Fools prank it isn't funny." Robin stated. "Eds we haven't really worked the details out on that." You whispered loudly. "What's there to work out? I mean with what happened last night after I kind of-" You rushed to cover his mouth to spare everyone in the room the trauma. "You then plastered a nervous smile as you looked at the group. "Please tell me you're joking." Nancy stated.

"Dustin you just had to push to hear something dramatic didn't you?" Mike asked. "Well how the hell was I supposed to know they were already planning to start a family? I just wanted them to justify calling all of us over to the same place at once when I was in the middle of creating my very detailed practice diaroma of how I wanted to eventually propose to Suzie next year."

"Dustin you have been making that damned diaorama for over a year. Just put us all out of our misery and just propose to her for the love of Mike!" Jeff exclaimed. Mike had a very serious face and looked unamused. "Sorry." Jeff apologized. "Nonsense, it needs to be perfect." Dustin stated. "Well your need for perfection caused all of us some blissful ignorance." Erica sassed. "Well sorry I was unphased by them wanting to get married. So I wanted some entertainment. Sue me."

"You challenged the Dungeon Master. Why would you challenge him like this?"Gareth asked. "Okay guys seriously we are standing right here. We can hear everything you are saying." You decided to state.

"Well yeah, that's the point." Erica replied. You tried to blink away the shock you felt. "I don't see what's so bad about us starting a family." Eddie finally decided to speak up. "Well typically I've seen couples you know not wake up one morning and decide to get married and then have a baby seconds later." Robin chimed in. "But then again I'm not straight so maybe I can't comment on what's normal."

"I'm not straight either and I'm pretty sure this is definitely not normal." Will stated. "We aren't a normal couple though." Eddie replied. "We are anything but normal. It might not make sense to you guys but to us it does." You added.

"Y/N, I think what we are all trying to say is that we really don't want you guys to accidentally hurt each other...again." Nancy tried to reason.

I nodded. "I get it Nance. I honestly appreciate you wanting to look out for us."

"I'm mostly trying to look out for you. I was the one who was there baawling your eyes out because of him. That really wasn't that long ago. As much as I want to believe this is going to work out for the both of you I have my doubts." Nancy admitted. "Maybe you forgot but he was married to someone else merely a few months ago. He only seemed to really care about you when he knew he couldn't control you anymore."

"Hey whoa, no, hold on. What the hell Nancy? What kinda guy do you take me for? I would never want to control her." Eddie stated trying to shut this shit down.

Nance glared at him. "No? Then what do you call over a month of lying to her and making her believe she was married to you? Looked like manipulation to me."

"Where is this coming from all of a sudden? Do you not want to see us happy?" Eddie asked.

"I don't care if you're happy Munson. I care about Y/N being happy. You weren't there to pick up the pieces of her heart that you broke. I don't trust you and I sure as shit don't trust you to be the father of any child." Nancy spat out.

Eddie was speechless. He knew Nancy wasn't his fan. Especially not after you got hurt but he didn't expect this. He was angry. Not entirely angry at her. It was actually more with himself. He was his own enemy. "You're right." Was all he muttered as he walked out of her small office space.

"You see? He is a God damn coward." Nancy pointed out. "What the hell Nancy?" You shot her the dirtiest look at her. "What?" she seemed confused. "Was that really necessary? I know Eddie isn't perfect. He knows he isn't perfect but he has been busting his ass everyday to make up for the pain he caused me. It's not fair for you to just throw it back in his face like that. He would never something like that to you and neither would I." I felt my face getting red with anger. "Eddie and I will get officially married and start a family together whether either of you like it or not."

I began to head towards the door. Then turned back around. "And another thing, Eddie would be an amazing father. He practically raised the Hellfire club like his kids. How fucking dare you imply he would be a shitty father. He knows what it's like to have a shitty father and he is the type of man to do everything in his power to make sure he won't be like his dad. Nance I love you. You're my best friend but if this is how you plan to treat my husband and future father of my children I can't have you around us." With that I made my exit to look for Eddie.

There was deafening silence after you walked out. "I knew I shouldn't have abandoned my diorama for this." Dustin said finally breaking the silence. "I'm going to kill you." Steve said.

Taglist

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[bolontiku]

I cant... 🤣🤣 baking at a different cafe.

Work things under the cut

I knew people really didn't like me at work. Bahaha I didn't know it was this bad.

My Lil sister has been baking at a Cafe thats been shit to her, my other trainee was there and I got the Lil sis hired to do pan up (prep) work so she wouldn't have a hard time. Fast forward a few months that trainee went to another store (for better pay, a little suggestion to my boss). But this left the Lil sister alone, management promised to get her help.

A year later she is doing triple the work I do by herself with empty promises of help. So I talk to my Cafe GM about getting her transferred over to our Cafe as a retail employee. A step down but she wont be doing a job as stressful alone, it evens out. Everything is in the works and the baker in training decides to quit. They had pushed her transfer date back a month to train the new one. Getting closer to transfer date and the acting GM at her Cafe is coming up with excuses to not transfer her.

He will do it tomorrow. Oh, he's never done one. Doesn't know how to do it. He's busy in meetings. Promise... promise... promise...

My sister has been sick, legit vomiting on account of how stressed she has become.

I talk to my GM again, this time with the proposal of them and us switching for her last week. My GM is as bullhead as I am and literally sat there texting back and forth until the other agreed. He kept coming up with excuses "she's become unreliable" "calls off" "don't want to send you a bad worker-" I tell her that I have to hold my sisters hair back while she pukes out of anxiety. I tell her "imagine your brother coming home everyday vomiting out of stress at a job he hates". My GM is not happy.

We talk cause he is hesitant having me bake at his Cafe "cause he knows I am not the one to mess with, he's afraid cause he knows he's treated her like shit and I won't put up with it" my GM agrees. She has worked that Cafe before and knows how draining and horrible it is. How lazy and u supportive the management is.

She laughing cause he says "he doesn't want you to fuck him over" now. Why would that be the case? If he didn't screw others over he wouldn't project that onto others or expect the same shitty treatment.

I promise to be as professional as I have always been. She knows I am good for it.

Yesterday (saturday) was the first day there. He is literally scrambling to not speak to me. The other manager is asking me about my sister and why she didn't want to be there anymore. Stress from the workload. Everybody knows this. She has been vocal about it and every manager knows that a bake of 2.5k requires two people. Being told her work is crap when she has 1yr of experience and is being compared to veteran bakers of 8+yrs and being lied to about receiving help.

They stutter about not having help themselves. I deadass look at him and let him know that is their failure. You interview people, lie to them about what they will be doing and then in turn treat them like crap when they come in. Nurture and help your employees grow, train them properly, schedule them the hours you promised and be there for them. Both my trainees roughed it out at that store out of loyalty to ME. Because I trained them. How many times did I get calls from them crying because they were stressed?

The manager shook his head and dropped it. Couldn't look me in the eyes. They've fucked up. I managed to get both of them back into my Market and into cafes where they won't be as stressed.

But I get to work. The management ends up scrambling to get me the numbers they need for their catering and add-ons. Once I bake a product I won't go back to re-bake more. The staff that don't know me come over to gossip, how they've tried to help the baker but they don't know what they are doing. If she could just do her job--

I smile, "imagine coming in and having to run the dining area on top of cashiering, oh and there's no help so on top of cashiering you need to run batista and stock, oh and don't forget we need help making sandwiches and salads too."

The woman looks stressed.

"Now after working your ass off you're told what a disappointment you are and you should have done better."

"But I cannot do all of that at once!!!" She stresses.

"But you expect this baby baker to do all of it without help?" I laugh as she stands there flabbergasted and the management team stays quiet. "This store is fucking pathetic, I wouldn't put up with it. MY management team knows how to handle their catering and numbers, not only that they support me and have no problems taking over. If you treat your people good they will return the favor, yes? Fair is fair right?"

She nods and shuts her fucking mouth. Walking away quietly.

One of the boys that already knows me is giggling and I see him, scream his name and we hug. Nobody else speaks to me.

Get my sisters name out your fucking mouth trash.

[good-beanswrites]

Hello hello! It's me again! (That one Anon who requested Lies with Kazui & Yuno, but I've set up my account now so no need to ask anonymously again lol) Thank you for satisfying my previous request, it was such a delight to read. I keep rereading it every now and then and I'm still always left in awe with it like jesus christ you didn't have to go all in on that im sobbing with the 0207 friendship dynamic.

I've also seen your latest post and drabble asks. I'd like to request from the Drabble List#1 - #5 “Idiots. They are all idiots.” with Es themselves!

Let the prisoners have fun and Es just stares at them nonchalantly, silently judging their idiocy from afar, hell, maybe even let Yuno/Mikoto convince them to join. You can do anything as long as you think it'll fit, they're all just a little silly (minus the fact they're in prison lol).

With all that said, take your time and no rush! I can always wait. Thanks a lot! ...now back to rereading my previous request for the nth time,, i love it so much,, thankyouagain

Ah thank you so much, that means so much!! I'm so glad you liked it, that one was really nice to write :'D And yesss thank you for the request -- this was such a blast to do as well! (though I also made myself emotional over Es' lost childhood, that was less fun ;___;) I debated on several activities within the prison but thought this was plausible and fun for some mid-T1 shenanigans

Es had a job to do. They had many eyes watching them. They had several lives in their hands. They had heavy responsibilities. They didn’t have time for something as silly as ‘video game night’, regardless of the laughter that bubbled up from the common room as they passed by. They were not way tempted to join, regardless of how much fun the group seemed to be having when they peered their head in.

Fuuta had whined that Es had replaced all his requests with completely outdated consoles and games, confirming they had been successful in choosing things without any access to the internet or outside world. Plus, they thought, this gave the older prisoners a fighting chance with some of the games.

Not that they cared whether or not the prisoners had a good time. That wasn’t any concern of theirs. Even in these long periods of rest between their more eventful duties, they must remain focused.

The laughter crescendoed into delighted screaming.

Es figured one more look inside wouldn’t hurt. They were supposed to be keeping an eye on everyone, after all. 

The prisoners had gathered various chairs and bedding material, creating makeshift couches. Some piled onto the new seating, some splayed out on the ground, others stood in excitement. The television was so small, the two players needed to lean all the way forward to see. 

Mahiru bounced in her seat as Yuno whipped around her remote. Fuuta was demanding Kazui play better, gesturing wildly at the screen. Shidou chucked to himself as the others grew more intense. Haruka kept asking questions about the game, receiving an answer only about half the time. 

As the match got closer, Yuno leapt to her feet. She tried to shimmy in front of Kazui and block his view. He stood to prod her out of the way. Muu called foul play, though she said it with a thrill rather than accusation. Fuuta repeated it -- with quite a lot of accusation -- and tried to push Yuno out of the way. Mikoto tried to hold him back, voicing his support of Yuno’s methods. 

The others got caught up in the yelling. Amane’s eyes were wide in anticipation. Kotoko pumped her fist as the battle got even closer. The room erupted in movement and shoving and tripping and remote pulling -- until they yanked the tiny television forward. 

The thick cord came free, and the screen went black just before a winner was announced. Ten voices chorused their outrage.

Es shook their head. “Idiots. They are all idiots.”

They turned away as the prisoners hurried to set everything up again. They were just about to turn the corner into the panopticon when Yuno’s voice called from behind.

“Hey!” She ran up, taking advantage of their brief pause. “I saw you passing by. Why don’t you come join us?”

Not for the first time, Es wished they had enough height to look down on all the prisoners. “I’m your warden. I’m not some child here to play games with you all.”

She pursed her lips. “I’m not a kid either. But I’m still down for a night to unwind.”

“You’re lucky to have the luxury to relax. I, on the other hand, am busy right now.”  

Yuno made a show of looking left, then right, across the empty hallway. “And what exactly are you doing right now?”

“I’m working.”

She frowned. “Uh-huh…”

“I am!” They fumbled for more, coming up blank. They should have known the moment she came skipping over to them that it would be impossible to fool her. There was no need for this routine check of the prison; everyone was gathered in the common room except them. Yuno had known this before uttering a single word.

Her hands fluttered in a dismissive gesture. “Too much work is never good for you. It doesn’t matter how mature you are -- if you get too caught up in your job it’ll drive you to some crazy things.” She smirked. “Just look at Shidou. Or Mikoto!”

“I could look at you…”

Though surprise flickered across her face, she kept grinning. “Exactly! So let’s get you in here.” She tugged on their arm. Prisoners couldn’t physically move Es against their will. 

They huffed as they found themselves inching closer and closer to the entryway.

“I suppose I can come and watch,” they muttered, “and still keep an eye on you all.”

“No! No more working!” She managed to get them into the room. “Here, you can take my spot in the next round.”

Kazui looked over. “Who said you were getting the next spot?”

“Oh come on, I was clearly going to win that one.”

“Clearly? I'm pretty sure was seconds away from beating you.”

“Well then, I guess Es can take your spot.”

“Es is playing?” Haruka looked up excitedly. 

“I haven’t agreed to anything yet.”

It was as if they hadn’t said anything at all. The others launched into a discussion of who would give their remote to Es? Who would they’d face off against? Were they resetting the bracket they’d begun? Which game would they return to? The ten argued in circles for a while. For a group of murderers, they were insistent on a fair tournament. After breaking up some bickering that could have become physical, Es once again wondered how they ended up watching over a mess like this. 

At length the game was chosen, and a rematch was slated for Yuno and Kazui later in the night. To save themself time and sanity, Es went ahead and picked their opponent.

“I’ll play Fuuta.” 

He had been the obvious choice: he could supply enough chatter for the both of them, so Es could remain silent. Also, he was guaranteed to win and free them from an obligation to play more than one round. They flashed a look at some of the more observant prisoners, hoping they didn’t tip them off.

However, no one was really watching them too keenly. Mahiru clapped in joy. Yuno beamed. Mikoto shoved a remote into their hands. Haruka started rapidly explaining the rules to them. Shidou directed Es to their seat in the center. Kotoko gave them an encouraging nod. As expected, Fuuta was already deep into trash talk as he sat next to them.

They really were simple-minded people, more focused on this silly game than the fact their warden had just sat amongst them. It was dangerous to let one’s guard down in a place like this, Es reminded themself. 

With a little jingle, the match began. 

Their fingers flew across the controls. Though they had a rocky start, some sort of muscle memory kicked in. Surely this game had come out before they were born, and there was no way they’d played it regularly. None of that mattered much. Their little avatar was obviously gaining the lead.

Their eyes stayed fixed on the screen as they received slaps on the back and nudges. Their guard's cap was knocked off in the shuffling, but they couldn't risk picking it up. Voices called all around them.

“Aw, don’t just let the kid win!” Mikoto said.

“I’m not!” Fuuta was desperate. “They fucking tricked me! They’re a pro!”

Es felt energy run through their entire body. Their original plan already slipping away, they wondered if they could actually beat Fuuta. It would be fun to see… They leaned forward, holding their breath. The audience continued cheering the pair on. Once again, the room was swept up in shouts.

The match ended. A little banner flashed across the screen to name Es victorious. They jumped up, a small whoop escaping them. 

They would’ve melted in shame right then and there, if the sound weren’t already drowned out by the surrounding chaos. The others laughed and shook Es in amazement. Fuuta let out a string of colorful language.

“That was incredible!”

“Holy shit!”

“How’d you do that?”

Es placed the cap back on their head, pulling it over their eyes. “I don’t know. And it doesn’t matter. I’m done for the night.” They tried to pass off the remote, but Mikoto pushed it back into their hands. 

“Nuh-uh. I want to see this for myself.” He grabbed the other one from a dejected Fuuta. “Same game. Same characters. Lemme see what you’ve got.”

Es wasn’t meant to play one round, much less get caught up in their ridiculous tournament.

Don’t be an idiot, they told themself.

“Bring it on,” they told Mikoto.

[alittlebitofeverythingtbh]

Every Breath You Take

Corey Cunningham x fem!reader

Warnings: smut, 18+, stalking, some violence, protective Corey

Authors Note: I will never not take the opportunity to write protective Corey.

Your concussion finally wore off a couple days later, and you returned to work once it did. Turns out everyone at your job was frazzled and busy while you were gone. The office space you worked as a secretary in was never this busy, so you weren’t sure what was going on. “Hey, what’s with all the commotion?” you asked your coworker Jared, who was filing documents on his work computer. The blonde turned to you, “we’ve got some higher ups coming in tomorrow, so everyone’s trying to get everything done before they do.” “Ah, figures,” you said before moving to put your earbuds back in.

“Hey, are you okay?” Jared asked before you could, “you were out for a couple days.” “I slipped and hit my head so bad I got a concussion,” you lied, “I stayed at home until it wore off.” “Ouch,” he commented, “had that happen to me once. Glad to see you’re better at least!” He flashed you a kind smile before turning back to his computer. You put your earbuds in as you turned back to your own filing, eyes darting to the small clock on the taskbar every once in a while. Work wasn’t bad or anything, but it did get boring at times. You just wanted to go home and watch movies with Corey.

You filed various files on your computer until it was finally time to go home. You grabbed your various belongings, shoving them into the book bag you brought with you. Making sure your phone was in your pocket, you got up to leave. Jared was throwing some pens into his briefcase before he ran to catch up with you outside the office. “Hey, are you free tomorrow? I was wondering if you wanted to go get sandwiches at Earl’s Café? It’s a new place downtown,” he asked. You shook your head politely, “nah, can’t I’m afraid. I’ve got to go grocery shopping and what not. Sorry.” “Oh it’s okay, maybe Monday then?” he pushed.

You looked around in the dark, searching for your boyfriend, “can’t, I’ve got plans for most of Monday.” “Oh come on,” Jared said, sounding a bit annoyed now, “you’ve got no free time or something?” “Jared, I just- I get the feeling you’re trying to ask me out.” He looked bewildered, “of course I am. Was that not obvious?”

“I have a boyfriend,” you said, bringing your bag closer to yourself. “Oh, I see,” Jared said, the look on his face unreadable, “well, it doesn’t have to be a romantic date. Could just be two coworkers hanging out.” “And the whole time I’d be thinking about how you tried asking me out,” you grumbled, silently begging for Corey to show up already.

“Sheesh, did that concussion give you an attitude?” Jared asked. You were pissed, but you weren’t gonna show it. Instead you said, “maybe. I should really go home, my head hurts.” “I can drive you home,” he offered, “least I can do since I clearly offended you.”

You didn’t turn to look at him, but you said, “for fucks sake, Jared. When a girl says no, it means no. It doesn’t mean keep pushing until she finally says yes.” You were met with silence as you let out an annoyed sigh. You kept looking at the road, waiting for that distinct motorcycle sound. You glanced at your phone, checking the time. It was almost eleven, where was he?

You turned to Jared, only to be met with an empty sidewalk. He was nowhere to be found, and you felt a chill down your spine. You looked around, but didn’t see anyone. You sighed, deciding to walk home. Maybe Corey got held up by something? Probably that mom of his, you thought bitterly. One day, you’d get him away from her. You felt pretty terrible for Corey all the times you had met her. She disliked you quite a bit, stating you weren’t good enough for Corey. This always made your boyfriend extremely uncomfortable, and the two of you would often leave before dinner was even over.

You walked home, no longer playing music from your earbuds. It wasn’t safe, though you really did have the urge to listen to some Muse on your walk. You instead listened to the crunch of leaves under your shoes, or the distant sounds of TVs in homes. A breeze blew the leaves around you, scattering them everywhere. One was left clinging to your coat, which you brushed off.

You were halfway home when you heard a leaf crunch behind you. You stiffened, wishing you had a pocket knife like Corey did. Instead, you kept walking, pretending as if you hadn’t heard it. Whoever it was either was gone or far better at masking their footsteps. Your hand rested in the pocket of your coat, phone at the ready.

“You really should be careful of leaves,” you said aloud, “they’re pretty noisy.” It was a ballsy move to speak, but you wanted authority in the situation. Unsurprisingly, there was no response. You turned around to find an empty sidewalk behind you. No one was there. You shivered again, continuing your walk home.

It wasn’t until you crossed the street that you saw him. You couldn’t make out any details in the dark, but you immediately assumed it had to be Corey based off of his height. Michael was far too tall and recognizable, at least you thought. Then again, you had only really seen him that one time. You hoped your next meeting wasn’t anytime soon.

You kept an eye on the figure in the corner of your eye as you continued to walk home. Once you neared your house, you pulled out your keys and stepped up to your porch. You turned to see if the figure was still there, but he wasn’t. You had a feeling he was already inside.

You stepped into your dark house, closing the door and locking it. You felt your way in the dark for the light switch before a hand grabbed your arm. You yelped as you were shoved into the wall, a leg in between yours. You felt the man’s breath in your ear and the tenseness dropped. “Corey,” you whispered. He said nothing for a moment, just keeping you against the wall.

“What was that guy saying to you?” Corey asked after a minute. “He-he was trying to ask me out. I rejected him many times,” you replied, reaching out and touching his head soothingly. His hand went and grabbed yours, just holding it, “he was harassing you, wasn’t he?” You nodded before realizing he might not be able to see, “yeah, he was.” Corey growled, “then I don’t need to be beating myself up, huh?” “What do you mean?” you asked. You moved out from underneath him, searching for the light switch. You found it and flicked it on, gasping in horror.

Corey was wearing a recently bloodied mechanic suit, his hands and the knife he held covered in the same blood. He had a dark look in his eyes that told you enough. “Corey-“ you started. He pushed you back against the wall gentler this time, “I had to, baby. I was coming to pick you up, to walk you home, and I heard him talking to you. Didn’t hear all what he said, but I could tell you were uncomfortable. And then he sounded angry, and then you were angry. Which made me angry. And I just-“ He sighed, cutting himself off. “You can’t keep killing people like this Core,” you said softly. “I can’t let you keep getting harassed like that,” he said defensively, “it makes me angry. Makes me feel like I need to protect you all the time. I don’t…I don’t want this town to treat you like they treat me. But it’s worse because…” “Because I’m a girl?” you asked. He nodded, his eyes looking a little sad.

You held his face gently, feeling him lean into your touch. You wanted to tell him to stop killing, to stop all of this. But he wasn’t wrong. You were tired of being harassed, and you had tried standing up for yourself so many times. It was sweet in its own sadistic way to have someone who could make all of it go away, a shadow that protected you wherever you went. Someone who uses one hand to hold yours and the other to hold a knife, threatening anyone who stepped too close.

“Thank you,” you whispered quietly, “thank you for protecting me.” “I’ll always protect you,” Corey promised, “I’ll always be there to make sure that you’re okay. That you’re safe.” You leaned forward and kissed him softly. He kissed you back, the knife clattering to the floor as he moved to pull you closer to him. You made a mental note to wash your clothes later, knowing Corey had already gotten blood onto them.

He pushed you against the wall further, starting to grind against you as the kiss got more intense. Corey let out a growl when he heard the first whimper you let out. He was soon reaching down and pulling down your leggings quickly, slipping past your underwear to start rubbing at your clit. “So good for me,” he whispered into your ear, “so good. So beautiful.” You whined as you felt yourself get wetter, his praise making your head feel fuzzy.

You felt his mouth at your neck, leaving kisses and marks behind that you would have to hide tomorrow. Corey’s two fingers slipped into you, wasting no time to start thrusting in and out of you. You bucked against his hand, “Corey-“ “Such a good girl,” he continued his praise, “so good for me. Wanna make you feel good.” You fingers curled inside you, causing you to moan loudly. He kept his relentless pace for a moment, watching your face contort in pleasure. Corey leaned forward and kissed you again, drowning your moans and whines. You clutched at his curls with one hand while the other laid against his chest.

He pulled away, panting after not having taken a breath in his desperation to kiss you. You could already feel your first orgasm coming, and you clenched around his fingers. “Such a good girl,” he groaned, “you gonna cum for me?” You whined and nodded. “Fuck,” Corey cursed, “that’s it baby, that’s it. Need you to cum for me, okay? Just cum all over my fingers. Wanna make you feel so good. You deserve it, deserve everything good.” His fingers curled one last time before you were sent over the edge, crying out his name as you spasmed underneath him. Once you came down from your high, he pulled his fingers out before sucking at them, letting out a small moan at your taste.

“Can’t wait anymore,” Corey whispered, pulling down the zipper to his bloodied mechanic suit, “need to take care of you so bad.” He lined himself up against you, taking a moment to make sure you were ready before he pushed in. The stretch of his cock inside you would never fail to amaze you at how good it felt, and you whined out his name. Corey cursed under his breath, beginning to thrust into you slowly. He wanted to take his time with you, to show you how good he could make you feel. Tonight was all about you.

Jared was dragged into an alleyway, a hand stifling his screams. “Ever heard of no?” Corey asked, “you’re really pathetic, talking to that girl like that.” Jared whimpered under his hand, shivering in fear. Corey scoffed, “you make me sick.” He dragged his knife along Jared’s side, cutting just enough to hurt. No, not to kill. Not yet. Corey grinned wildly at the shaking man, “I’m gonna show you what happens to men like you, men who think they can harass a girl just cause she’s pretty.”

He moved his hand down, rubbing circles over your clit as he thrusted inside you again. You clenched around him as you felt his fingertips on you, bucking against him in the attempt to make him move faster. Corey growled, picking up the pace at your urging. “You look so good like this,” he said, “so pretty. And all mine. My pretty girl. My good girl.” He was in the mood to praise you until he ran out of things to say. Was it because he was jealous? He knew you would never have accepted the date offered by your coworker, but there was still a need to remind you that it was him that got you like this. Corey had half a mind to fuck you into your bed, folding your legs and using you over and over. Maybe another night, he thought.

Tonight, he would be a bit more gentle. He would show you how much he adored you, and how good you deserved to feel.

“Such a good girl,” he praised again, “my girl. My love. My everything.” You felt like crying at that, “and you’re my everything.” Corey smiled down at you, a genuine smile of the purest joy. He kissed you again, whispering, “I love you so much.” “I love you too,” you whispered back against his mouth. His thumb started rubbing you faster as he sped up his thrusts, knowing he wouldn’t last much longer like this. “Feel so good,” he moaned, “you feel so good around me.” “Corey,” you whined, “I’m close.” “Me too,” he whimpered, “I’m so close, too.” His thumb pressed and rubbed harder, desperate to make you cum before he did. Finally, he hit that spot that sent you over the edge, and you came with a whimper of his name. Corey came just seconds after, panting your name as he spilled inside of you.

The two of you leaned against the wall, holding each other gently. You could already feel the exhaustion of your day at work and your session with Corey finally hitting you. You yawned, signaling Corey that you were tired. He gently picked you up and carried you to your bedroom. He washed his hands in your bathroom after, making sure no blood was left behind. After you changed into one of his shirts you had stolen, he took your bloody clothes and threw them in your washer as well as his mechanic suit. The shirt he wore underneath was clean enough, and he settled down into your bed. You laid beside him, smiling as he pulled you in to cuddle. Corey’s soft breathing lulled you to sleep, and soon yours would cause him to drift off as well.

[artknifeandglue]

as shattered stars shine: DVD Commentary (6/12)

Brand new part, Harry’s half of the story!

Fun fact: this was meant to be two equal parts with an equal number of chapters, but then it got way longer than expected (and really, I don’t know why I’m surprised considering the expected length of this was originally 5k and I crossed that in not-a-lot-of-time) and so the chapter numbers don’t quite line up. So much for symmetry.

Eighteen days before the Perseids and one day after the former Lancelot dies, Harry sits in a dingy pub with a pint of beer and watches the slightly drunk men by the bar. Some of them are far too loud, booming voices echoing off the walls of the pub as other patrons give them dirty looks, and some have spilled beer on their shirts and jeans and the floor of the pub, but it isn’t them that catch his attention. Instead, he sits in quiet observation of a man with green eyes who sits perched on a bar stool, beer in hand, gesturing animatedly with his free hand, watching, assessing.

We open with a flashback chapter because I’m particularly fond of heaping emotional baggage on my characters. Kidding, but only partially so – just as true love isn’t the only reason Eggsy sells his soul to bring Harry back, Harry was always going to pull Eggsy back from the dead, and so he needs more reasons. We see in canon that Harry does appear still affected by Lee’s death, so I wanted to set up and explore that a little more.

Green Eyes shoots him a thumbs-up from the floor. “Nah, I’m okay, don’t worry.” He accepts the hand Harry offers him and stands, dabbing at his trainers with the tissues that his friends press into his hands. “Sorry about your beer. Can I get you another one?”

Harry blinks. “You don’t have to, really, it’s not—”

Either the man doesn’t hear Harry's words or deliberately ignores them, because he turns to the bartender and hollers across the already-crowded bar, “Oi, Paul! Another drink for my friend here!”

“You really don’t need to,” Harry begins, but Green Eyes waves away all his protests.

“Let me buy you just the one drink, yeah? It’s a great day for a beer.” He claps Harry’s shoulder genially and gestures at the men still gathered by the bar. “Join us if you like! If you don’t mind the noise, at least.” He leaves for the bathroom and Harry returns to his table, absorbed in his own thoughts about the young man he’s just met but doesn’t know.

Lee Unwin, just as much of a Kingsman as any of the Round Table. Also a nice guy and well-liked! Have to make his death an absolutely horrifying waste somehow.

“Sure.” Merlin pulls his chair closer to the table and reaches for his keyboard. “You need it for a mission?”

“Not exactly.” In the weighty silence that follows, Harry levels his gaze on the drinking bird, watching as the glass bird lowers its head into the petri dish in front of it and then bobs back up while Merlin pieces together the puzzle and understands why Harry has come to him.

“You do know,” Merlin says slowly, apprehensive and disbelieving, “that Arthur won’t like it?”

The bird dips its beak into the dish again. “That is rather the point of the whole exercise,” Harry answers. Because there is a debate to settle on principle, but also because there is endless satisfaction to be found in watching that arrogant smirk slide off Chester King’s face, and the perfect man for the job is currently somewhere around London, just a few days from a fourteen-month deployment that will take him away from Harry’s one chance to settle a score with the newly promoted bigot that sits at the head of the round table.

Establishing Lee’s role in the story: Harry doesn’t know him personally yet, so Lee at this point is only a pawn in a game larger than him. Harry does grow to like and respect him as a fellow human because Lee is truly good (something that shows up in Eggsy as we know him!), but therein lies the tragedy of his death. Lee throws himself on a grenade to save Harry, and the world loses a good man.

“If you shock yourself with that thing, I’m going to send the footage to Merlin. He’ll never let you live it down.” The source of the interruption continues staring intently at the book in his hand, and Harry rolls his eyes. The façade of calm is quite pointless — neither of them are in any state to concentrate today, nor are the other agents faring any better when the fate of their candidates and several thousand dollars’ worth of bets hang in the balance.

“I wasn’t aware of your burning passion for horticulture. Planning a career change?” Luke doesn’t answer, but he shuts the book with a loud snap and drops it onto the seat of his armchair as he stands. Harry moves a step to his right as Luke approaches the window and looks out at the lawn, at the sky, at the vast expanse of nothing outside. The wind gently shakes the leaves of the trees below, and a bird flaps its wings on the short journey from one

end of the manor to the other before it disappears into the maze of green. “They’re late,” Luke mutters. “What the hell is the holdup?”

“It’s only five past eleven,” Harry points out. “They’d have just finished boarding the plane.”

The frown on Luke’s face deepens. “You don’t suppose anything will have happened?”

“Like what? James trips on a step and concusses himself on the floor?” Harry claps Luke on the shoulder. “He’ll be fine, Luke. Stop fretting.”

The words have no effect whatsoever, but then again the fear of having one’s younger brother dashed across the Kingsman lawn will do that to a person. “He’d better have the sense to check his parachute,” Luke mumbles.

Completely original character because I wanted Harry to have someone to fret over the candidates with, and so James Spencer gets an older brother.

And so they wait.

They run out of tea while waiting, and Harry pulls an unopened bottle of Bowmore scotch out of the liquor cabinet by his desk and pours out a generous measure into a glass that he presses into Luke’s hands. He pours his own drink, caps the bottle, and turns back to the window to find Luke downing half his glass in a single mouthful, a deep crease in his brow. In the distance, engines roar, first imperceptibly and then drawing closer.

They wait.

Professional alcoholism, the Kingsman pastime.

Too slowly. “Oh God,” Harry breathes, watching in dawning horror as the other man plunges feet-first into the collapsing canopy, and then the material seems to fold up around him and swallow him whole. Luke swears under his breath, and then the man is struggling to land, feet and arms caught in the billowing fabric as he careens blindly past his fellow candidate. Harry leans forward, hoping desperately for this man to make it even as he drifts past the centre of the target and towards the other end, because this is so close—

Then, unexpectedly, the other candidate lunges forward, manages to grab hold of something resembling a pair of legs, and bodily hurls himself to the ground, pulling them both downwards onto the target. It doesn’t quite work at first, momentum carrying them both forward, and he ends up being dragged along the grass almost to the other end of the target before they come to a complete stop almost diametrically opposite his own landing point. The lump of canopy struggles and thrashes for a while, and then a helmeted head pops up from the gray fabric shortly before a whole person emerges, kicking his legs free of the parachute. Ahead of them by a hair’s breadth is the large white arc of spray paint on grass, the outer circle of the Kingsman logo looming barely centimetres away.

“He made it,” Harry breathes, full of wonder. “He actually made it.”

Lee Unwin the honourable gentleman! Not pictured here: my desperate attempts to figure out how this might work with the size of the target on the field.

The evening after the train-tracks test, an unexpected insurgency fouls up the neat ending of Harry’s last mission. And, as he tells Merlin, it is an excellent opportunity for the candidates to learn a little something on the job. When else might they get the opportunity? So he uses the twenty-four hours to bring Lee and James both out on an impromptu field mission, inviting them along to witness an interrogation. The two candidates trade jabs and jibes and granola bars the entire plane ride, and Lee snaps an unflattering picture of James fast asleep in his seat, mouth open mid-snore.

Afghanistan in summer is bright and blinding, impossibly sunny and sweltering in ways that England never is. Lee and James joke about suntans as they shadow Harry into dark corners and remote villages and a car chase at one point. The mission goes smoothly, brilliantly with the two capable aides Harry’s found himself with, and all too soon Harry has on his hands a captive insurgent nearly a week ahead of schedule. “Do you think,” James remarks to Lee as he tugs his balaclava over his head, “that waitress back in the hotel bar will go out with me if I ask nicely?”

Lee rolls his eyes. “Do you ever talk about anything that isn’t women or cars?”

“Whisky,” James points out. “Which you should know, since you talk about it just as much as I do.” Lee chucks the mask in his hands at James’ face, and whatever little Harry can hear of the conversation disappears in mild swearing from James and the ensuing laughter.

The world loses a good man, and James loses a friend. The list of things Harry must live with only grows longer.

Then instead of two candidates, there is one Lancelot and one dead body slumped over the grenade that he never noticed. The air is thick with the bitter stench of burned flesh and acrid snap of explosives, so thick he can taste the blood at the back of his throat and feel it clinging to his skin. Buried somewhere in the nausea that hits him is the realisation that, if he had had the chance to take it, Lee would have passed the dog test with flying colours. And yet, now—

Traumatic moment that will continue to haunt him for years to come. It’s a surprise tool that will help us later.

They cremate Lee Unwin’s body that night, at the peak of the Geminids. As the stars rain down overhead, tumbling into abyssal night and disappearing, Harry thinks of the young Marine from the pub, green eyes and sharp mind and good heart, and feels the guilt settle into his soul, lingering, calcifying.

Forgive me, he thinks. Please forgive me.

In the house of a heartbroken widow, Harry holds out a medal to a young boy who has done nothing to earn the new burdens Harry lays on his shoulders, and wonders if he can ever be forgiven.

Seventeen years later, he waits outside Holborn Police Station until a young man with Lee Unwin’s eyes walks past him. Eggsy is rough around the edges and bitter in ways that Lee never was, but in many more ways he is almost exactly like Lee, especially in that fierce loyalty that Harry has done nothing to earn. And later, amidst the sounds of fists on flesh and panicked screaming, Harry listens to the boy shielding him with everything he has, and impulse rather than thought moves him to threaten a stranger he’s never met in his life. When Eggsy Unwin shows up at the tailor shop, Harry takes one look at the boy, only slightly worse for wear but painfully, painfully loyal, and sees a chance for atonement.

Of sorts.

That night, as it has for seventeen years, an old nightmare returns. A young man full of promise dies, only just barely out of reach, and lies unmoving on the floor. Green eyes stare at the roof, unseeing. Harry spends the rest of the night staring at the ceiling of his bedroom through his glasses, waiting for three o’ clock to pass him by. At half past three, a notification pops up on the left of the display. Nine candidates in the running for Lancelot, currently undifferentiated in rank.

The selection process has begun.

The end of the Lee Unwin flashback is a mission statement of sorts, or a summary of what Lee’s death does to Harry: a good man, one of the best people Kingsman could have had, is dead because of Harry’s choices (bringing Lee and James along and not checking the hostage), and now Harry must live with that knowledge. He wouldn’t be new to the business of being a spy, but the Lee Unwin affair must weigh heavy on his shoulders, heavy enough that he would go out of his way to give Eggsy a second chance and mentor him as he does. Importantly, he also never truly lets go – we’ve got Lee appearing in a later chapter, but even if Harry can forgive himself, he can’t forget what’s happened, and then Eggsy dies and history repeats itself as another good man is gone too soon while Harry is helpless to stop it. Until he isn’t, because this time Mephistopheles has an offer for him.

[gemsofthegalaxy]

Hello hi 👋 if you are willing to indulge me I would love to hear any and all of your Canadian Greg thoughts!!

I am also a Canadian Greg truther but I live in America so I can’t imagine the full extent of what it means for him to be a Canadian boy™

Ooooohhhh hell yeah I love to share the Good Word about Canadian Greg at least from my thoughts

while I tend to tweak his background based on the specific fic I am writing here in there, I really truly believe Greg has moved around a lot in his life. I like to think in fact he's got American citizenship/was probably born there but after his dad (presumably) left after he (presumably) cheated on Greg's mother, they moved back to Canada so Marianne could be closer to Ewan (for better or for worse considering Ewan is....... kinda a dick imo) and now he's a dual-citizen, always an interloper, never quite Canadian enough but not quite settled into American culture.

Partially due to my own experience I think he grew up mostly in Ontario, he doesn't come across as, like, Quebecois to me tho neither do Ewan or Logan despite canonically being raised there so uh you know, and I only ever spent 5 weeks in Quebec myself. but, French Canadian peoples tend to be connected to their Francophone identities in my experience with Acadians and other Francophones in other areas of Ontario, so yeah i mean idk. It's not impossible but he feels more Ontarian, I could see some Western hcs but I've never been further West so like........... i stick him in Ontario bc it's what I know better.

On that, I think he speaks passable but not excellent French with an Okay accent, he likes and knows hockey, has a variety of Canadian slang he doesn't pull out around his US folks. He likes colour-coded Canadian money because it's easier, dammit.

I also like to imagine him spending a bit of time in small town Atlantic Canada, that is the epitome of self-indulgence for Me because that's where my own actual experience mostly lies. He has some random factoids about fishing. I like to imagine he did Little Rocks which is a curling program for kids, he was almost definitely a Scout (he might have moved to Canada young enough to be a Beaver Scout🥺) and he knows, how to safely start a fire and camping basics (i think he prefers to stay in a cabin to a tent tho lmfao), and I believe he genuinely likes some outdoorsy activities, such as hiking, but also wants to be able to retreat to a comfortable area and not be left out in the rain or anything like that.

I think he was raised Catholic which could be anywhere lmao and knows how to hunt but doesn't love it (which I think it was said he did in the scripts in Hunting, as well as Tom, but I can't recall?). I think he made friends that always felt temporary, he was often the new kid and always the weird gawky guy, but he got along with some people even if he was sometimes the butt of the joke too. He did stupid shit like putting hairspray on his hands and letting other guys light it on fire, partially to fit in and partially because "What's the worst that could happen". Not necessarily exclusive to Canada but I knew these guys irl. So.

One of the things I've noticed that is a big difference between Canadians and US Americans is we don't mythologize or adore our founders the way they do. Unsure impact that has on Greg, but part of me likes to do a little excusing for him, that he rationalizes meddling with American politics and the landscape of the News using the idea that it's not his "Real home", even though he knows damn well the US impacts Canada in a huge way. It's another one of his many excuses, like, "it's not my fault, i'll get in trouble if I don't, i need a job to survive and this one is as good as any" etc.

Finally. Another one of my Greg headcanons despite having 0 evidence canonically and in fact evidence against it to an extent- he likes a good graphic tee. Most of them are stored at his mother's. Most importantly, he owns this:

which i photographed in a real Canadian walmart.

[fangirlstorycreator]

Could I please ask for a CK Terry trying to help their partner through a rough patch. They're incredibly stressed and overwhelmed, going from furious to sad and then ultimately asking him to "just help them forget everything for awhile" (NSFW if you're comfortable)

Thank you for the ask 😊 I hope you enjoy 💚

Recently, work had been driving you crazy! Your new boss was a real bitch and gave you so much extra work, and you knew it was because she was jealous of you. You had been made to work overtime without getting paid for it, she was rude to you and never let you have a full lunch break. You had discussed the issues you were going through with Terry, and he suggested I hand in my notice and work with him at the dojo. You said you would think about it, but you just hoped that things would improve. The fact that you were in tears most nights when you got home from work just showed how bad it was.

You walked into work one morning, tired and exhausted from working late the night before, and instantly your boss was on your case. "Y/N, your going to have to work overtime this weekend, and I want you to do the paperwork that has been put on your desk. It was mine but I'm about to leave, I have booked a lunch with a few of the other girls" You couldn't cope with this anymore. "No" The whole office is quiet and they watch you as your boss takes a step towards you. "Excuse me? Who do you think you are?" "Someone who has had enough of your bullshit. I'm not going to let you treat me like this anymore, I'm done"

Everyone is loving you talking back to your boss. "What do you mean your done?" "I'm not going to work for a stuck up, arrogant, two faced bitch who treats everyone in this office like dirt on the bottom of her shoe. You can take this job and shove it up your ass! I quit!" Everyone gasps, and your boss looks very angry. "How dare you speak to me like that?! You cant quit!" "Oh go suck a dick Karen!" And with that, you storm out of the office and towards your car, heading home to Terry. Terry had a day off today so you knew he was there, when you arrived back home, you opened the door and headed up to the bedroom where you see Terry sat up against the bed reading a book. He was wearing his black silk dressing gown as he appeared to have just got out of the shower.

"Your back early sweetheart, are you-....Y/N what's wrong?" A tear runs down your cheek as you climb onto bed and Terry holds you in his arms. "Today was the last straw Terry, Karen was treating me like dirt and I couldn't cope anymore. I quit" He gently strokes your hair "You quit? Oh sweetheart I'm so proud of you. That place was toxic and I'm glad your finaly out of there. It will be alright sweetheart, theres no need to cry, I'll take care of you" You turn slightly so you can look at him as he is still holding you. "Terry I'm just so fed up and tired of all this. I just want to forget about all of this, I dont want to think about it anymore. Please Terry, please can you help me forget this all for a while?" He rests his hand against your cheek as he looks into your eyes, wiping away your tears with his thumb.

He didnt have to say a word, he knew what he could do to help you forget. He leans in and slowly kisses you with so much tenderness. At first it's slow, but your so upset and your craving some physical touch you increase the passion in the kiss. Your hand is on the back of his neck, pulling him in closer to you and he holds you closer to his chest. During this makeout session, he pulls you onto his lap as the kiss never breaks and you slowly move your hips back and forth against his groin. You pull at his silk dressing gown and your hand moves over his large muscular chest.

Still not breaking the kiss, he manoeuvres you and lies you down onto you back as he rests inbetween your legs, you were already so wet and just needed to feel him. The kiss deepens more and more as Terry's hand runs up and down your leg, before his hand finds your button and zipper. He leans up on his knees as he pulls your trousers and underwear away, as you pull off your shirt and bra as you watch him undress you. He smiles as he is back inbetween your legs and begins kissing you again, slowly grinding his hips against you. He starts to kiss and suck at the soft skin on your neck as your hand moves down to his rock hard cock and moves him closer to you. Your hands grab his hips and pull him in closer, and that's when he enters you, making you gasp at the feel of him.

He looks back into your eyes as he thrusts into you, slowly at first, but be can see how desperate you are for him. His pace quickens and he goes deeper with each thrust, and your absolutely loving it. You moan in pleasure as he continues to fuck you, your orgasm is increasing more and more and your so close now. Terry kisses you as you moan against his lips, and when he isnt kissing you, he is looking deep into your eyes as you both get closer to climax. Terry thrusts a few more times a lot harder and faster than before, and before you know it, your screaming out his name as you leave scratch marks down his back. Terry is moaning as he cums too, and the noises he makes are like music to your ears.

Once you both come down from your orgasms, he lies down on you with his head resting on your chest, and you wrap your arms around him as you both just enjoy the blissful moment. "Huuhh Terry...that was amazing" "I couldn't agree more sweetheart"

[sophiie2000]

Our Own New Year Celebration

Eek, first fic I'm posting for 2023!!🎇

If you've read any of the other posts on my blog, you may have noticed I got very excited about the Oops I Said Yes stories.♡♡

As such, it only seemed fitting, that the first fic I posted involved one of Voltage's, in my opinion, best LI's!♥︎♥︎

Kuranosuke Kiba x MC

Away on a business trip, MC misses out on sharing her first New Year with Kuranosuke. Yet would the blizzard let the New Year pass without some sort of celebration with his wife?

A whole lot of Fluff, and a little bit of Smut later on!

Disclaimer - Characters belong to Voltage Inc

~ 2615 words

01 January 00:01 am… they had missed seeing the New Year in together. This was the thought that intruded on MC as she gazed out of her hotel room window, watching the display of brightly coloured fireworks explode in the night sky. 

She couldn’t help but feel defeated. Downhearted to have been away from her husband for the New Year. She wasn’t a teenager anymore. It wasn’t the upset of missing out on that midnight kiss. It wasn’t even the missing out on drinking the night away. 

She simply missed him. 

This would have been their first New Year together as a couple. A funny thought, considering this time last year he was no more than her strict supervisor.

The blizzard. Someone she admired, but truthfully had never thought she would converse with outside of work.

Now, they were married. They could have started their own silly New Year tradition together. Like they did for Christmas. The special breakfast before opening their stockings. 

Would they have played a few board games? Shared some drinks? Danced in the comfort of their own home? Or would they have made plans with their friends or families?

These were the thoughts that niggled in the back of MC’s mind. Instead of being home, with her husband, celebrating the New Year… she was staying in a hotel 6 hours away from away. 

What was her husband doing? Had he made plans? Unlikely… he was probably preoccupied with a little someone. MC giggled as she imagined her strict husband turning to mush as he doted on their little kitten.

Expressions as sweet as the desserts he secretly relished so much. Nothing could melt her husband’s strict façade quite like Haru, their beloved kitten. 

There was 2 more days of her business trip. She had a meeting with a client. One, so important, it couldn’t wait until after the holidays nor be conducted over the phone.

MC didn’t mind, of course. She loved her job. But she couldn’t help but wish the meeting had fallen on a different day, been finished sooner, or her husband could have been present too. 

Should she send him a message wishing him a Happy New Year? She had typed various forms of the message out five or six times, only to erase it seconds later. Thinking her blizzard of a husband would be more exasperated in her spending her time daydreaming of him, rather than focusing on the companies very important client. 

This is an important meeting, focus birdbrain! She chuckled, she could easily hear his exasperation as she imagined his reaction.

Sighing, MC chucked her phone down onto the plush sofa, before throwing her weary body down into the thick, velvety soft sheets of the king-sized bed. A bed so big felt cold, and lonely without her husband’s warm body snoozing dreamily beside her. 

So, she built a Kuranosuke size pillow fort to fill the void. Silly, she knew, but it filled the large space beside her. Although nothing could ever compare to the real thing. 

Sighing softly, and nuzzling into the soft pillows, MC tugged the thick duvet over her head and closed her eyes. Welcoming the dreamland that was beckoning her closer so sweetly. Dreaming dreams of the side to her husband only she knew.

**

2 days later, MC’s important meeting had just come to a successful conclusion. 

“Thank you, Ms ___ for taking the time to meet us, especially during the holidays. Your designs envisioned our plans perfectly… in fact they went above what we had expected of someone, well so young! We very much look forward to working with Miyoshi Concepts on this project.” 

The lead client was excitedly shaking MC’s hand as they said their goodbyes. A sense of accomplishment filled her as she smiled brightly. 

“Sir your praise means a great deal. I just hope we can live up to your expectations. And it is no problem, we at Miyoshi Concepts remained open for the holiday period and so I was more than happy to come meet with you. Please, if you have any other questions for us, do not hesitate to contact me and I will endeavour to answer them all.” 

Bowing slightly, MC smiled to the client before heading back to the hotel to collect her belongings. A successful meeting with the client meant she would finally be heading home. A thought that hastened her steps.

It did not take her long to arrive back at the hotel. Having been excited at the prospect of returning home today, MC had packed her bags readily earlier that morning.

She felt like a lovesick teenager, excited to be reunited with her boyfriend. Jeez, it has only been a week… she thought, smiling ruefully to herself. 

Still, no amount of self-exasperation made her delay hurrying to the airport ready to catch her flight. On route to the airport, MC fired off a quick email to the team, which consisted of Kunihiro, Kuranosuke, Ukyo, Shu and Eiji to let them know the meeting had been successful and the client had given her designs the green light. 

And a couple of hours later, MC had settled into her seat, and was finally on a flight home. 

**

It was almost 7pm by the time MC had finally gotten home. She had tried to contact Kuranosuke to let him know she had landed and was on her way home but he hadn’t responded.

MC assumed he must have been busy working overtime. A thought that only intensified upon approach to their home, shrouded in darkness. 

Upon walking through the door to their home, MC was greeted by an excitable kitten. Giggling softly, and placing her bags down on the floor, MC gently petted Haru. 

“Shh, make sure you don’t tell Kuranosuke I left my bags in the entryway for a few minutes just to pet you, otherwise he’ll fine me for breaking the rules!” MC chuckled whispering to the cat conspiratorially. 

“Idiot. If you don’t want a fine, you shouldn’t leave your things around the house” A grumble came from the direction of the bedroom. The grumble of a man who MC had thought not to be here. 

“Kuranosuke!” MC startled. Jumping up from the ground. 

Her shock didn’t matter for too long, however. It was soon forgotten about when she made eye contact with her husband for the first time in a week. A smile immediately finding its way onto her face, before she lunged herself at him. 

“Woah… hey… MC!” Kuranosuke exclaimed in surprise, flustered as he just managed to catch his wife. Yet the surprise look was soon replaced by a gentler expression. A smile full of love. As he tightened his arms around his beloved wife, he nuzzled his face into her neck, inhaling her perfume. “Welcome home”, his whisper ghosted passed MC’s neck, sending a wave of goose bumps over her skin. 

“Heh, it’s good to be home!” MC smiled, slowly releasing Kuranosuke from her embrace. 

She was just about to venture into the bedroom with her bags when a panicked Kuranosuke blocked her path. She raised an inquisitive eyebrow in his direction, even attempting sidestep around him. Yet he only forced his body between her and the bedroom door. 

“Kuranosuke? I need to go into the bedroom now… you know, so I can put my stuff away?” MC chided, still eyeing him suspiciously. 

“No. You… uh… you can’t go in there right now…” 

Interesting… her husband was never this flustered or stumbled over his words.

“And why not?” MC asked, a teasing tone to her voice. She watched a Kuranosuke visibly swallowed. He was nervous… but why?

“You… you just had a long flight, you should go take a bath! Yes, a bath! That’s a good idea. I will put your bags away for you while you relax in the bath!” Kuranosuke exclaimed, gently guiding MC into the bathroom.

When she turned to face him, Kuranosuke placed a quick peck on her lips and closed the bathroom door. MC was utterly bewildered. What had gotten into her husband? Her typically stoic, blizzard of a husband was acting out of character. And MC wanted to know why.

Ok, Kuranosuke… She thought… I’ll play your game.

**

A short while later, MC emerged from the bathroom with a short towel barely covering her assets. 

“Put some clothes on!” Her husband scoffed, a delightful blush teasing his cheeks.

“I would… if you had allowed me to enter the bedroom to fetch them before telling me to go bathe” MC teased. 

She enjoyed how her husband had been left flustered of her in such a state of undress. Still slightly damp from the bath. She watched as Kuranosuke eyed her up and down, deliberately. The tell-tale signs of desire evident in his eyes.

He slowly approached her. His fingertips ghosting her skin. Stroking patterns up and down her arms. It wasn’t just him who was emitting their desire. MC could feel the heat congregating in her cheeks. She could feel how her body responded to his featherlight touch. A week. It had been a week since they could touch each other, and it wasn’t taking much for her fire to begin to burn. 

“I missed you” She blurted the words out in her relaxed state. She wasn’t left with enough time to panic, thinking herself foolish for the vulnerability she had just shown. Kuranosuke tightened his hold on her.

“I missed you, too.” MC’s eyes widened in surprise. Annoyance flittered across her husband’s expression. “What? Why are you so surprised?!” Embarrassment clear in his tone.

“I thought… I thought you would ridicule me… say it was only 7 days…”

“Idiot. It was 7 days, yes. 7 days without the woman I love.” 

His eyes were filled with a fire. Neither had taken their eyes from one another since MC entered the room. The sparks between them were flying. The air was heavily charged with the sexual tension between them. 

As their lips crashed together, there was no denying the want or need in them. Tongues entwined together, hands dancing over each other’s bodies. It was obvious to MC where this was leading.

At least… it should have been.

Suddenly, Kuranosuke pulled away. They were both breathing heavily. Lust evident in their eyes. MC could see how it almost pained Kuranosuke to stop. Which was why there was a ball of concern beginning to coil inside of her. 

“Kuranosuke?” Her whisper etched with concern was barely audible. 

“Do you trust me?” Kuranosuke asked.

MC froze. What a heart rendering question to ask at such a time. Of course she trusted her husband. But his weird behaviour ever since she got home, in addition to his sudden question gave her pause. Nonetheless, she nodded decisively. 

“Good…” Her husband smiled, before slowly turning her around and covering her eyes. “You do not need to worry, I will guide you slowly.” His words breezed by her ear. The sudden loss of sight, heightened her sensitivity to touch. The affect his whisper had on her was evident in the way the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.

True to his words, he slowly guided MC. Even though she was blindfolded, she could tell the direction they headed in was the bedroom.

He had been adamant earlier this evening she could not enter the bedroom. Knowing she would finally be witnessing whatever he had been hiding, caused her heart rate to skyrocket.

The sound of the door handle turning sounded louder to MC’s ears. As they entered the room, MC was engulfed by a nostalgic aroma. Floral in smell. 

“Ok… are you ready?” Her husband’s honeyed whisper coaxed MC’s attention back to him. She nodded, suddenly both excited and nervous. 

Kuranosuke’s warm hands pulled away from her eyes, and for a moment it took her a second to readjust to the change in lighting. 

But when she did… her eyes went wide. Scanning the room in complete, and utter, awe. 

Candles were lit up along the windowsill. Hundreds of orchid petals scattered around the room, and across the bed. And finally, on the table in the corner of the bedroom, a plate of various dessert pastries just calling out to be eaten. 

“It… it’s amazing! But why?” MC turned to face her husband, who smiled sheepishly while scratching his neck.

“We couldn’t be together for the New Year… so I thought we could have our own New Year celebration tonight…” Kuranosuke murmured, suddenly seeming unsure of himself.

“I love it, Kuranosuke. Thank you! What made you scatter all those petals though? You hate mess!” MC asked, curious.

“They’re the petals of the Phalaenopsis to be exact… it symbolises happiness, vitality and longevity…” Kuranosuke explained, desperately avoiding looking into MC’s eyes. The pink blush on his cheeks matched the shade of the petals perfectly.

MC, having become slightly teary eyed at the thoughtfulness of her husband, approached him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pressed her lips to his. Lingering slightly before, pulling back. A slight pout formed on her husband’s lips, as she failed to continue or deepen her kiss. She chuckled at the view. A view only she, his wife, was privy to. 

“I love you, Kuranosuke.” She finally spoke the words, her lips still close to his, sending a shiver coursing through him.

“And, I love you” He replied, before colliding his lips with hers, picking up where they had left off earlier. 

This time, there was no stopping them.

When Kuranosuke ran his tongue along MC’s lips teasingly, she happily opened her lips and welcomed him inside. Their tongues twirling around each other. Enticing. Soft gasps of pleasure escaping.  

MC felt her body begin to float in the air, as Kuranosuke carried her bridle style across to their bed. The way he chucked her onto the bed, was much less elegant, but MC didn’t care. Both of their excitement was increasing, and MC could feel her husband’s desire as he pressed himself to her.

The feel of him inspired MC to roll her hips against him, luring him to her. The act receiving a grunt of gratification from her beloved, delighting her. She was suddenly in the mood to tease him.

“Wait!” She quickly placed her hands on his shoulders. Kuranosuke’s signature frown was on his face, clearly displeased at being stopped at this moment. 

“What is it?” He asked, concern knitting its way into his brows.

“What about those tasty looking desserts you got us? Don’t you think we should eat those?” She smiled at him.

She enjoyed teasing him. She believed she had the upper hand once again. Until she spotted the mischievously, naughty glint in his eyes. 

“Ah yes, those. While they do look absolutely delightful… I think I would much rather devour you first!” 

Kuranosuke began peppering her neck with biting kisses. Soothing each nip with his tongue afterwards. MC began to wonder whether he truly would devour her.

Yet that was all he needed to say for MC to know the games were over. Her husband was in beast mode, and she wasn’t going to deny their desires any longer. Neither did she want to. The truth was, she wanted him just as much as she did. A fact, both of them knew very, very well. 

The rest of the night was spent eliciting sultry moans, while tangled up in one another’s sweat glistened bodies, sharing words of love.

Their first New Year together was celebrated late. But both of them hoped, every New Year would be celebrated in much the same way. Sharing words of love, while wrapped up inside one another’s warm embrace.