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sissylittlefeather · 6 months

Text

This is the Story

Chapter 7

A/N: AHHHH HERE IT IS! The long-awaited moment has finally come! I really hope it was worth the wait 🤞🏽 (special thanks to @elvisfatass and @ccab for their help with ideas for this one!)

ICYMI: This is the series with Elvis in 1973 and the OC Grace Dubois, author and single mom of 6yo Wendy. Need to catch up? Here are the links:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Warnings: 18+ NO MINORS, kissing, cussing, fingering, oral sex (m&f receiving), p in v sex, unprotected sex, creampie

Word count: 6k

Song:

They sleep this way for the next week and a half. And no matter how hard they try, they always wake up in the morning cuddled together in the middle of the bed.

******

On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Elvis wakes up with Grace in his arms. He's back to feeling normal, but he's hesitant to let her know that. He pulls back a bit so that they're both on their sides facing each other and looks at her while she sleeps. Her hair is wild and she has no makeup on, but by now he's used to her like this. Somehow he finds her even more beautiful this way, which is not how he normally feels at all. Still, something about her raw vulnerability in the morning makes him crazy. The last three mornings he's had to roll away from her quickly in an attempt to hide his erection. He wonders if she's noticed at all.

Today, feeling better than he has since before Halloween, he has an overwhelming impulse to touch her in a different way. His eyes wander down to her breasts and he suppresses a moan at the thought of running his thumb over her nipple. He thinks about putting his hand on her hip and pulling her close to him as he kisses her neck, waking her with the feeling of him pressed against her. He wants to make love to her more than he's ever wanted any other woman before.

He settles for brushing her hair out of her face and tucking it behind her ear. He's about to lean in and kiss her forehead when she stirs and opens her eyes.

"Hi." She smiles and he almost melts.

"Good morning. You want some breakfast?"

"Mmm I need a shower first." She turns over on her back and stretches. Elvis is dying to ask if he can join her, but he stops himself. She's been so kind to him while he was sick. The last thing she probably wants is for him to come on to her. He sits up, careful to keep his lap hidden with the covers. Just then she pops up in a panic.

"What day is it?!"

"It's Tuesday."

"Thanksgiving is this week!"

"Yes. It is. Why?"

"I'm supposed to go home tomorrow!" Elvis's heart sinks. He didn't realize she would be leaving.

"Home?"

"Yes. I go to my mom's house for Thanksgiving."

"Oh."

"What are you and Lisa doing?"

"Priscilla has Lisa. It's just me." He gets quiet thinking about spending the holiday alone. The mafia guys all have families to go home to.

"Come with me." He whips his head around to look at Grace. Is she serious?

"Really?" She nods.

"Yes, really. Wendy and I will leave tomorrow around noon. It's only about 6 hours in the car from here, I think." He thinks about what it would mean to meet Grace's family. And he'd have to travel without bodyguards.

"Where exactly are we going?" If it's a small enough place, he might be able to pull it off quietly.

"Tulsa, Oklahoma." He laughs, trying not to think of his character in GI Blues. He's been there before on tour and there's not much to it compared to some of the other places he's been. He could reasonably hide there. And even if he's seen, it's worth it to be with Grace.

"Well, alright then. Let's go home to Tulsa." She scoots closer to him in the bed and throws her arms around him. When she does, it changes the arrangement of the blankets, but Elvis doesn't notice as he's distracted by her pressing herself against him. When she backs up, she catches a glimpse of him and gasps. He quickly pulls the covers back up again.

"It's just because it's the morning..." He knows it's a dumb excuse. Grace starts giggling, which might be the cutest thing he's ever heard.

"I guess someone is feeling all better."

"I had a good nurse." They look at each other for a bit and the energy between them hangs heavy in the air. He's just about to throw caution to the wind and tackle her when there's a knock on the door.

"My boy, I need to speak with you." The door opens slowly revealing the Colonel and Grace launches herself out of the bed and into the bathroom. But she's not fast enough.

"What do you want, Colonel?" Elvis is obviously perturbed.

"Tell me that was not the ghost writer."

"And if it was?"

"My boy. You can have any woman in the world, except that one. Do you think she is interested in you for anything other than a good, juicy story to publish? I can see it now: My Time With Elvis: an Exposé."

Elvis feels his face flush, first in anger and then in embarrassment. Surely, that's not her motivation?

"Not Grace. She wouldn't."

"You are too trusting. You always have been."

"Colonel, just get out. You don't know what you're talking about."

"You will see." The Colonel turns to leave and closes the door loudly behind himself. Elvis looks at the bathroom door. Grace wouldn't do that to him. She opens the door carefully.

"Were you listening to that?"

"Yes. You know I would never-"

"I know, honey." He takes a deep breath. "So we're going to Tulsa tomorrow?"

"We are. I should probably go shower." She moves toward the door of the bedroom. Elvis was hoping to pick up where they left off, but the moment has passed. He sighs as she leaves to start the day.

******

"Daddy is coming with us to Nana's house?!" Grace nods as Wendy does a little happy dance.

"Yes, so we need to hurry and get the car packed. Let's go!" After hearing the news, Wendy picks up the pace of her packing, quickly throwing dresses and shoes into her bag.

Once they get the car packed, with Wendy settled in the back seat, Grace drives to Graceland to pick Elvis up. They decided to take her car because it would be less noticeable than any of his.

Her stomach turns over as they pull up. What was she thinking, inviting him to Tulsa? This is going to be very hard to explain to her family.

When she pulls up, he comes out of the house, suitcase in hand. She thinks about yesterday morning and how there had been a moment between them right before the Colonel came in. They had been in the same bed for so long without him making any kind of move that she was almost convinced again that he wasn't interested. And then yesterday morning, before the Colonel came in, the way he had looked at her...

"Do you want me to drive?" His voice pulls her from her fantasy.

"Oh! Sure, if you want to." She slides over to the passenger seat and he sits in the driver's seat next to her.

"Hi Daddy!" Wendy wraps her arms around his neck from behind.

"Hey, sweetie. Are you excited?"

"Yes! I can't wait for you to meet Nana. She's gonna love you." Grace laughs nervously. What she hadn't thought about is that her mother already loves Elvis. Having him in her home might drive her absolutely nuts. Wendy goes back to her spot on the back seat and Elvis pulls out of the driveway. At the gates, he carefully navigates through the crowd of fans, waving gently as Grace hides her face.

"What if they follow us?"

"They won't. Not that far, at least." He chuckles. "Or I hope they won't. I know my fans can be a little... enthusiastic... but surely they draw the line at a 6 hour road trip."

They drive for a while just chatting about random things. Eventually, Wendy calls from the backseat.

"Can we have some music?" Grace turns the radio on, humming along to whatever song is playing. The next song to come on is Suspicious Minds.

"Oh, no, we're not listening to this." Elvis reaches up to change the station.

"No, Daddy! This is your song! You have to sing it!" Elvis looks at Grace.

"Okay, but this is just for you, Wendy." He proceeds to sing the whole song in a full Vegas-style performance, complete with dance moves and fake microphone. Wendy giggles and cheers from the backseat and Grace does her best to suppress her laughter. The whole scene is so endearing that she wants to kiss him when it's done. Instead, she claps and cheers as he bows as well as he can while he drives.

Another hour passes and Wendy has to go to the bathroom. When they stop at a gas station, Grace goes to get out of the car.

"No, I want Daddy to take me." Elvis laughs and Grace puts her hand on her forehead.

"Sweetie, no, Daddy can't take you. He can't go in the girl's bathroom."

"Ha! You called him Daddy!" Wendy is ecstatic. She happily goes with Grace to the bathroom, leaving Elvis to pump the gas, a big smile spread across his face. When Wendy and Grace get back to the car, Elvis has a bag of sweets that he bought while they were in the bathroom. He hands it to Wendy and she takes it cheerfully. Grace looks at Elvis and shakes her head. He shrugs.

"What? I can't spoil her a little?"

"You're trouble, Daddy." Grace emphasizes the last word and smiles in an almost flirty way. Elvis clears his throat and Grace covers her mouth as blush rises in her cheeks.

"Oh God, that's not... shit." He laughs and speaks under his breath so Wendy won't hear.

"Honey, you can call me daddy any time you want to..." Grace meets his eyes with hers and it takes everything in her power not to jump on him and smash her lips against his. Wendy looks between them and blows a bubble with her bubblegum.

"Are you guys about to kiss?" Her little girl voice pulls them both back down to reality.

"No!" Grace grabs Wendy and puts her back in the car.

"Not yet." Elvis says under his breath again as he slides into the driver's seat.

******

The rest of the trip goes about the same, with everyone singing to the radio, stopping for gas and to go to the bathroom, and Grace and Elvis trying desperately not to flirt obviously in front of Wendy. About an hour before they arrive, Wendy falls asleep.

"So, what is your family like?" Elvis is a little curious about what he's going to be walking into.

"Well, it's just my mom. My dad died when I was young. And then my little sister and her husband and their three kids. It's not a big family, but we love it."

"It sounds perfect. How old were you when your dad died."

"I was 14."

"Oh. That must've been hard."

"It was." He notices that her eyes get glassy and she looks out the car window. He's all too familiar with the pain of losing a parent too soon, so he reaches over and takes her hand in his. She scoots a little closer to him on the seat and leans her head on his shoulder. He kisses the top of her head gently. They ride together like this in silence for a while.

"So is your family... will they know me?" She laughs, but doesn't move her head off of his shoulder.

"Yes. My mother loves you. She always has, since you first started doing things. My sister isn't crazy about you, but she knows who you are. They'll just be more shocked to see me with a man than anything else." She quickly corrects herself. "Well not with you, but you know what I mean." Elvis nods his head and takes a deep breath.

"Would it be so terrible if you were with me?" She lifts her head off his shoulder and looks up at him.

"Elvis, I... we..."

"I know we shouldn't. But what if we did anyway?"

"What about the book?"

"To hell with the book."

"Elvis. You know I can't just not write the book. And if anyone found out..."

"No, you're probably right." He pats her hand and then puts his back on the steering wheel. She scoots over to her side of the car and looks out the window, praying he doesn't notice the tears that slide down her cheeks, but he does. He swallows the lump in his throat and tries to focus on the road.

******

When they get to Grace's mom's house, it's after dinner time. The plan is to drop Wendy off and then head to their hotel. There isn't room for all of them to stay at Nana's, but Wendy always stays there with her cousins. Grace runs in to get Wendy settled.

"Hey, mom! We're here!"

"Come on in! We have leftovers, if you want some."

"No, I can't. There's... someone... in the car."

"In the car? Why don't you bring them in?" Grace looks around the room at her mom and sister.

"I need you to promise you won't freak out. I'm not bringing him in until tomorrow."

"Him? You brought a man home?" Grace's sister asks incredulously.

"Yes. And it's, well, it's Elvis Presley." Grace's mom drops the dish she was drying into the sink.

"I'm sorry; I thought you said Elvis Presley is coming to this house tomorrow."

"I did. You know I've been working with him on his book. He, um, didn't have anywhere to go for Thanksgiving, so I invited him here." Grace's sister laughs.

"Grace. Are you sleeping with Elvis Presley?" Her mother gasps.

"Maryann! That is not appropriate!" She turns to Grace and whispers. "Are you?"

"No! We're just friends! I just didn't want him to be alone for the holiday. So can he come tomorrow?"

"Of course!"

"And you will treat him like an everyday person? He's just a man. No autographs, no questions, nothing. Treat him like any other boyfriend- I mean FRIEND!"

"She's totally sleeping with him."

"MARYANN!" Both Grace and her mom holler at her sister at the same time. Then her mom chimes in.

"We will treat him like a normal person. We promise."

"No songs from GI Blues."

"I promise!" Her mom puts her hand on her heart.

"Okay. We're going to the hotel. TO SEPARATE ROOMS." Grace glares at her sister. "But we will be back tomorrow around noon."

She stomps out of the house and out to the car.

"Everything okay?" Elvis asks as she slides back into the passenger seat.

"Yes. Just my sister. It's fine." She guides him to the hotel, where they check-in and carry their bags up to the rooms. They laugh nervously when they realize they've been given adjoining rooms.

"I'll lock it." Elvis assures her.

"It's okay. It's not like we haven't spent the last week in the same bed."

"Oh. Yeah. I guess that's true. Do you want to...?" Grace shakes her head.

"Probably should try to break that habit, now that you're well again."

"Sure. Well. Goodnight." Elvis goes into his room and closes the door. Grace walks into her room, closing the door gently behind her. She walks to the door that connects the rooms and considers knocking. All she wants in this world is to crawl in bed with Elvis, but she doesn't trust herself anymore. Now that he's healthy, she would kiss him, and probably more. Her mind flashes back to Halloween and the things she thought about as she touched herself.

She wants him. There's no denying it.

******

Elvis stands on his side of the door connecting their rooms and considers knocking. He laid in bed for an hour just thinking about Grace and missing her in his arms. He's not sure he'll be able to sleep without her.

But he knows she's right. If anyone found out they were together and then the book came out, the press would never leave her alone. And maybe there was some truth to what the Colonel said. If they got together, what would the book say about it? He shakes his head trying to get the whole thing out of his mind.

At the end of it, all that remains is Grace and how much he wishes he could knock on her door.

******

Grace's heart is in her throat as she and Elvis stand on the front porch of her mom's house.

"It'll be okay. Whatever happens is fine." She turns to him.

"You say that, but you don't know my sister." She holds her hand up and knocks carefully. Her mom throws the door open.

"Maryann, Grace is here! And she brought company!" Grace leans in and hugs her mom, whispering in her ear.

"He knows you knew he was coming."

"Okay, sweetie, I just wasn't sure how far we were taking this pretending." Her mom holds her hand out to Elvis.

"I'm Ruth. What's your name?" Elvis looks at Grace and stifles a laugh. He takes her hand and kisses it.

"I'm Elvis. Nice to meet you ma'am." His southern accent is stronger than normal and Grace looks at him funny. He shrugs as they walk into the modest living area. The kids are running around playing some kind of cops and robbers game. When Wendy sees Elvis she runs to him and wraps him in a hug.

"Hi Daddy!" Ruth looks at Grace with her eyebrows raised.

"It's not... she just..."

"My daughter, Lisa Marie, said she could borrow me when she needed a daddy and she's called me that ever since. It's fine." Elvis gives Grace a reassuring look and she takes a deep breath.

Seemingly satisfied with that story, Ruth walks back to the kitchen to grab Maryann, whose husband is sitting on the couch watching football. She drags Maryann out to the living room.

"Hi Elvis. It's nice to meet you. I'm Maryann, Grace's prettier sister. I'd shake your hand, but I'm covered in flour. These are my kids Bobby, Chris, and Susanna." She gestures to the kids as they run around her. "That's my husband Ben." He waves without taking his eyes off the TV. Elvis smiles genially.

"It's nice to meet you all. Grace didn't tell me she had a prettier sister." He winks and Grace rolls her eyes.

"Can we borrow Grace in the kitchen?"

"Of course." He makes his way to the couch and sits down to watch football. He asks Ben how long they've been playing and they dive into a conversation about how Detroit just doesn't have it this year. Grace is surprised at how well he's blending in, but she knows she shouldn't be. She follows Maryann into the kitchen.

"Okay, he's way more attractive in person."

"Maryann, really?"

"I'm sorry! It's true! I never believed it but.." she wiggles her eyebrows. Then she leans in so their mom won't hear her. "If you're not sleeping with him, you should be."

"I heard that." Ruth turns back to her girls. "Now, we have a lot of food to cook and not much time. Let's stop ogling Grace's date and get back to work."

"He's not... okay fine." The three women go to work making dinner.

******

As they sit down at the dining room table, Elvis pulls Grace's chair out for her to sit in. He sees Ruth and Maryann both soften and makes a note that he's on the right track. He wants nothing more than to make a good impression on her family. He's not exactly sure why, but he cares deeply about gaining their approval as a man and not a famous person.

Ruth sits at the head of the table and blesses the food before they begin to eat. He's seriously impressed by the quality of the food.

"Ruth, these mashed potatoes are great!"

"I actually made them." Grace says quietly. Ruth laughs.

"I'm so glad you like them! Grace isn't exactly known for her cooking. It's just another reason she's been single for so long." Elvis's eyes widen.

"Mom!"

"Well, I'm sorry, Grace, but surely he knows you haven't exactly made dating a priority." Grace puts her fork down and covers her face with her hands. He watches the impact that her mother's words have on her and gently puts his hand on her leg under the table. Just when he thinks Ruth is finished, she keeps going.

"She's always been very pretty and very smart, she's just never been good with men. Wendy's father-"

"-Mom that's enough." Maryann tries to interrupt her, but she doubles down.

"Wendy's father wasn't the best. And since then she's been too focused on herself to worry much about it. She's not really family-oriented."

"She's been focused on Wendy." He says it without really thinking. "And she's been building a career so she could take care of Wendy. I would say that's pretty damn family-oriented." The room is silent. Ben gives Elvis a look of approval and Maryann looks like she could cry. Ruth sits there with her mouth partially open. Elvis turns to Grace nervously, thinking he's pushed this too far. Instead, she grabs him and kisses his cheek and whispers in his ear.

"Thank you." He smiles at her and gives her a small nod.

"Elvis, how are you liking Vegas?" Ben jumps in to start the conversation again, but Maryann kicks him under the table. He looks at her. "What?"

"It's fine, Maryann." He smiles. "I like it just fine. I'd like to do something more, maybe a show in London or Japan, but Vegas is not a bad place to play."

"A show in Japan would be groovy." Everyone goes back to eating and the conversation continues. Ruth is quiet, for the most part. At least, she doesn't go after Grace anymore.

As everyone finishes eating and Maryann and Grace fetch the pies, the kids go back to playing. The youngest boy, Bobby, comes out with a model train and starts playing in the living room. He hollers to Ruth.

"Nana, come play with me!"

"Oh, buddy, not today." She looks at Elvis nervously. Bobby's little voice breaks out into song.

"This the train the Frankfort special!" He looks at her expectantly, waiting for her to do the next part of the lyrics. As everyone sits awkwardly, Elvis stands up.

"Ain't this outfit something special?" His smooth baritone fills the room as he sits down on the floor with Bobby.

"You sound just like Tulsa!" Bobby looks at him incredulously.

"What if I told you I am Tulsa?" Bobby laughs.

"Nooo Tulsa is young!" Elvis laughs his contagious big-joy laugh and everyone at the table laughs with him.

Wendy rounds the corner.

"Is Daddy singing?! Watch this." She looks at him and sings. "Caught in a trap!" He laughs again and everyone erupts in more laughter. Grace jumps in this time, walking to Elvis and sitting next to him on the floor.

"I can't walk out!" He looks her in the eye and puts his hand under her chin gently.

"Because I love you too much, baby."

Ruth and Maryann make eye contact as Elvis and Grace continue the song.

******

After dinner, the women go into the kitchen to clean the dishes while the men settle on the couch to watch the kids and discuss football again.

"Elvis is nice." Ruth starts the conversation.

"He is." Grace looks out the window over the sink dreamily.

"He sure is in love with you." Maryann says tentatively, pulling Grace out of her dream state.

"No. He's not... we're just friends."

"Okay, sure. You're wrong. But okay."

"Maryann..."

"I wish Ben still looked at me like that." Grace stops her before she can say anything else.

"We can't be." This time Ruth chimes in.

"Why not?"

"Because we have to finish this book and... he's Elvis Presley, mom! I can't be another woman in love with Elvis Presley."

"Well, it looks to me like you are. Difference is he's in love with you, too." Just then, Elvis pokes his head into the kitchen.

"Do y'all need any help? I know how to wash dishes. I wasn't always... me..." Ruth and Maryann look at Grace and then at each other again. Ruth speaks up first.

"Oh, no, honey, but thank you. You're sweet to offer. You just go relax on the couch. We'll take care of Grace." He blushes a little at the suggestion that he only came in to check on Grace, even though it's true. He nods and goes back to the living room. This time it's Maryann who speaks first.

"He's got it bad for you, sis." Grace throws the dish towel at her and rolls her eyes, secretly hoping that her mom and sister are right.

******

Towards the end of the evening, Elvis notices Grace escape to the porch. When he follows her out there, he finds her on the porch swing with a cigarette in her hand. He pulls his cigarillo out of his pocket.

"Can I join you?"

"Oh, of course." She scoots over a little on the swing and he sits down next to her.

"I like your family." She laughs.

"Really?"

"Yes. They're very normal. I miss that."

"You know, I forget you weren't always... this." She gestures to him.

"I actually was normal for more years than I've been this." He laughs. He leans back against the seat and puts his arm on the swing behind her. When she leans back against him, his heart skips a beat.

"Are you about ready to get out of here?" She asks quietly.

"Whenever you are, honey." He checks his watch. Almost 8:30pm. A little early to go to bed, but he figures he can find something to entertain himself back at the hotel if she's ready to leave.

They sit for another ten minutes before she stands up. He stands up with her and puts out his cigarillo.

"Yeah, let's say goodnight to Wendy and then head out." She opens the door and they go inside.

******

Back in the car, Grace slides over to Elvis on the front seat and leans her head on his shoulder again.

"Thank you for being so great today."

"Of course, honey. It was important to you; I could tell."

They pull into the parking lot of the hotel and walk up to their rooms. Outside the door, she stops and looks up at him, thinking of what her mom and sister had said. Does he love her?

"Thank you for defending me... against my mom."

"Oh. I didn't like the way she was talking to you. I hope I didn't go too far."

"No, it was perfect. No one has ever stood up for me like that. I really appreciated it."

"Well I'm glad-" she cuts him off by pressing her lips against his, throwing her arms around his neck. She pulls back quickly.

"Oh God, I'm sorry-"

"Don't be." He puts his arms around her waist and pulls her into a deep and passionate kiss. Her stomach pulls tight and she feels like her heart is about to leap out of her chest. They stay locked like this for a while, tongues moving in tandem as the passion between them builds. He turns and presses her up against the hotel room door, rolling his hips into hers. She whimpers when she feels him against her. Somehow, he pulls back from her, breathing heavily.

"Is this what you want?"

"Yes." He kisses her again. But this time she pulls back. "But we shouldn't. We can't."

"Grace, please." She kisses him again, but pulls away.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She turns to face the door and puts the key in the lock. He stands behind her, still pressed against her with his face in her hair. She slips into the room away from him. Before she closes it, she kisses him one last time, just a quick peck on the lips.

"I'm sorry." Then she closes the door.

******

He hits the door frame with his right hand and then backs away, moving to the door of his room. Once inside, he walks to the door between their rooms. He wants to knock so badly, but she said no. He's trying so hard to respect what she says. But he knows she wants it too and that's what is killing him. He has one hand on either side of the door frame, trying to talk himself out of knocking when the door opens. Grace is standing there with her shirt half unbuttoned and her shoes off.

"Fuck it."

She whispers and they finally come together with the full force of their feelings for each other. His lips crash into hers, his hands moving up to her breasts and down to her ass, pulling her hips into his. She jumps and he catches her with her legs around his waist, and he carries her to the bed in his room, never moving his mouth from hers. Both of their hearts are racing as he lays her on the bed, kissing down her neck to the middle of her chest while she moans desperately. He rips her shirt open the rest of the way, buttons flying across the room. He continues kissing down her stomach, leaving a trail of burning kisses from her neck to the top of her pants. She sits up onto her knees with him on his knees in front of her and pulls her shirt off, frantically unbuttoning his shirt as well, pushing it off his shoulders. He pulls her body in to his pressing their heated skin together. His hands fumble with the clasp of her bra, but he eventually gets it off, freeing her breasts to press against him as well. He moves his mouth back down her chest to her nipple, licking over it and moving across to the other, pulling it gently into his mouth. She leans down and kisses his forehead while he works. He lays her back down and unbuttons her pants, sliding them down her legs and dropping them on the floor. He kisses her right ankle and then moves back up to her dripping core, leaving soft kisses along her leg as he goes. He presses his lips to the inside of her other thigh and she moans and arches her back. Finally, he hooks his finger in the part of her panties that's in between her legs and pulls, dragging them down her thighs and off.

He stands up for a second and looks at her laying there completely naked. No amount of fantasizing could have prepared him for the beauty of her body there waiting for him. She looks like poetry and he wants to press his lips to every inch of her skin. He's never been this attracted to anyone in his life. It almost hurts how much he needs to touch her, to feel her body on his. He wants to give her the most unimaginable pleasure, so he pulls her hips to the side of the bed and gets on his knees between her legs. Leaning forward, he presses his lips to her pussy, letting his tongue explore her slit.

"Oh, fuck, Elvis." Hearing his name come out of her mouth like this just makes him want to give her even more, so he moves his tongue up to her clit, licking over and around it as he feels it harden in his mouth. He slides first one finger and then two into her, moaning when he feels how tight she is. She whimpers and arches her back at the sensation of his mouth on her, feeling the deep coil of her orgasm tighten between her legs. He continues pressing his fingers in and out rhythmically as his tongue works her clit, licking firmly and sucking it gently. He flattens his tongue against her and moves his head back and forth. She cries out as he tightens his tongue again and drags it over her clit, pushing her over the edge into the driving waves of her orgasm. She half-screams as the pleasure slams into her, radiating through her like heat that gathers in her fingertips, races back to her core, and spills out of her into his mouth and hand. He laps at her as she comes, soaking up every bit of her desire. She runs her fingers through his hair and pushes him back off of her.

"Come up here." She says, chest heaving. On his way up, he goes to wipe his face with his hand, but she doesn't seem to care, instead grabbing him and pulling him into a passionate kiss. Her hands go immediately to his pants and she unbuttons them, freeing his aching cock and pushing them down and off of him. She pushes him onto his back and slinks down his body, kissing and nipping him as she goes.

"Mmm." She whimpers as she holds his cock in her hand, finally appreciating the size and shape of it. She rolls his foreskin back and licks a circle around the sensitive head.

"Fuck, yes, baby." He says through gritted teeth as she pulls him into her mouth fully. She opens her throat and moves back and forth slightly to get his full length into her, pressing her nose into the soft patch of hair at the base of him. When she pulls back and bounces her mouth on him, pumping him with her hand, he cries out her name and runs his fingers into her hair. His hips buck up into her and she lets him thrust into her mouth for a while, massaging his balls with her hand.

"If you don't stop, 'm gonna come, baby." She pulls off and laughs.

"I'm not finished with you yet." He smiles and pulls her up to lay next to him. He rolls over on top of her and lines his cock up with her entrance.

"This is what you want?"

"Elvis, I want you more than anything." He presses his lips to hers and thrusts his hips forward, filling her entirely in one move. She throws her head back and moans loudly.

"Oh, God." He starts pumping in and out of her rhythmically. She's so tight and wet and the feeling of her around him exceeds everything he imagined. But something about this is different than any sex he's ever had. He looks into her brown eyes as he fucks her and all he wants is to stay connected to her like this forever. She wraps her arms and legs around him and pulls him in close to her, kissing his neck and shoulder.

Then, she pushes him off and rolls him onto his back. She puts one knee on either side of him and lowers herself onto his cock slowly, reveling in every inch of him. She's been with men before, but something about this is different. No amount of him could ever be enough. He puts his hands on her hips as she grinds him deeper and deeper inside of her, looking into his blue eyes as she does.

"Where should I?"

"Inside. Please." He nods. The last thing he wants is to disconnect from her at the most vital moment. As he gets closer and closer, she leans over onto his chest. He wraps his arms around her and thrusts from underneath.

"Oh, fuck, don't stop." She pleads and he does exactly as she asks. Finally, they both rush over the edge of ecstasy together. She presses her lips to his again as he shudders and pulses, filling her with his release as she feels herself throb around him. They stay connected this way for several minutes before she kisses his cheek and relaxes on his shoulder, with his arms still wrapped around her.

She sits up and he runs his hands in her hair, pushing it back behind her ears.

"I love you, Grace." She opens her mouth to protest, but he stops her.

"I've loved you for months. You know I'm telling you the truth. I'm in love with you."

Her eyes get wet and soft.

"I'm in love with you too." He holds his hand up to her cheek and catches the tear that falls with his thumb.

"I don't care about anything else, honey, I just want you. From now on. Just you and me. And Wendy and Lisa. I want our family." She nods her head as the tears continue to fall. He pulls her to him and kisses the tears on her cheeks. In between each kiss, he whispers.

"I love you."

******

Until Chapter 8...

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Taglist:

@ccab @elvisfatass @elvisalltheway101 @ashtag6887 @aliypop @your-nanas-house @dkayfixates @everythingelvispresley @xanatenshi @returntopresley @p0lksaladannie @deniseinmn @jaqueline19997 @that-hotdog @mykievolturi @18lkpeters @joshuntildawn13 @rjmartin11 @littlehoneyposts

#elvis presley fanfiction #elvis fanfic #elvis smut #elvis #elvis presley fic #elvis presley smut #elvis x oc #elvis presley x oc #elvis fic #elvis fanfiction #elvis presley fanfic #grace dubois #this is the story #Spotify

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overworkedblorbobattle · 9 months

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The full list of characters in the Bracket!

The full list of characters who made it into the tournament are listed under the readmore.

Ada Paige- Rhythm Doctor

Adam Parrish- The Raven Cycle

Adora- She-Ra

Aki Hayakawa- Chainsaw man

Alfred Pennyworth- Batman

Almond Cookie - Cookie Run

Angela- Lobotomy Corporation

Anthy Himemiya- Revolutionary Girl Utena

Arthur Lester- Malevolent

Aymeric De Borel- Final Fantasy

Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce- MASH

Bucky Barnes- Marvel

Buffy Summers- Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Burgerpants- Undertale

Carmen Sandiego- Carmen Sandiego

Carol Hathaway- ER

Charlie Magne Morningstar- Hazbin hotel

Chip Revvington- Toontown: Corporate Clash

Cliopher "Kip" Mdang- The Hands of the Emperor

Commander Peepers- Wander Over Yonder

Dana Scully- The X Files

Danny Fenton- Danny Phantom

David Jacobs- Newsies

DC/GOV- Welcome to the table

Dean Winchester- Supernatural

Dick Gumshoe- Ace attorney

Doppo Kannonzaka- Hypnosis Mic

Dot Campbell- The Wilds

Dr Charlotte Dubois- Falsettos

Emma Perkins- The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals

Five Pebbles- Rain World

Ford Pines- Gravity Falls

Fu Hua- Honkai Impact 3rd

George Karim/Cubbins - Lockwood and Co

Gilgamesh "Gil" Wulfenbach- Girl Genius

Gordon Michael Schwinn- A New Brain

Gregor Samsa- The Metamorphosis

Guillermo de la Cruz- What We Do In The Shadows

Harrowhark Nonagesimus- The Locked Tomb

Hera- Wolf 359

Homura Akemi- Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Hunter- The Owl House

Isabelle - Animal Crossing

Izzy Hands- Our Flag Means Death

Jaehee Kang- Mystic Messenger

Jafar- Twisted

Jamil Viper- Twisted Wonderland

Jean Gunnhildr - Genshin Impact

Jeremie Belpois- Code Lyoko

Jess Jordan- Succession

Jonathan Harker- Dracula

Jonathan Sims- The Magnus Archives

Jotaro Kujo- Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure

Keito Hasumi- Ensemble Stars!

Kento Nanami- Jujutsu Kaisen

Kevin Kandy- Spooky Month

Kim Dokja- Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint

Kim Kitsuragi- Disco Elysium

Kiyotaka Ishimaru- Danganronpa

Kunikida Doppo- Bungo Stray Dogs

Kurapika- Hunter x Hunter

Kusuo Saiki - The disastrous life of saiki k

Laerryn Coramar Seelie- Critical Role

Lamplighter/plight- OneShot

Larry- Pokemon

Larry Needlemeyer - The Amazing World of Gumball

Ling Wen- Tian Guan Ci Fu (Heaven Official’s Blessing)

Link- The Legend of Zelda

Lisa Cuddy- House M.D

Lisa Wilbourn- Worm

Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre- The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Loid Forger/Twilight- Spy x Family

Lucifer- Obey Me!

Lucretia- The Adventure Zone

Luisa Madrigal- Encanto

Maedhros Feanorian- The Silmarillion

Mafuyu Asahina- Project Sekai/Colorful Stage

Marinette Dupain-Cheng- Miraculous Ladybug

Marsh- Mistborn

Matthew Venn- The Long Call

Merlin- BBC Merlin

Miles O’Brien- Star Trek

Miss Pauling- Team Fortress 2

MK- Lego Monkie Kid

Molly Blyndeff- Epithet Erased

Mrs Doyle- Father ted

Munkustrap- Cats 1998

Nicholas Benedict- The Mysterious Benedict Society

Nishida- Yakuza

Obi-Wan Kenobi- Star Wars

Olruggio- Witch Hat Atelier

Pandemonica- Helltaker

Parsley Botch- Smile for Me

Peppino Spaghetti- Pizza Tower

Percy Jackson- Percy Jackson

Peregrine Mendicant- Homestuck

Ponder Stibbons- Discworld

Raphael Walt/Sirius Dieke- My Next Life as a Villainess

Ratchet- Transformers

Reagan Ridley- Inside Job

Reim Lunettes- Pandora Hearts

Retsuko- Aggretsuko

Riza Hawkeye- Fullmetal Alchemist

Robin- Smash Legends

Rory Williams- Doctor Who

Ryotaro Dojima - Persona

Sara Chidouin- Your Turn To Die

SecUnit- The Murderbot Diaries

Shang Qinghua - Scum Villain's Self-Saving System

Shota Aizawa- My Hero Academia

Sips- Fool’s Gold

Squidward Tentacles- Spongebob Squarepants

Stanley- The Stanley Parable

Steven Alen Starphase- Blood Blockade Battlefront/Kekkai Sensen

Steven Universe- Steven Universe

Super Mario Bros.- Mario Series

Susan Taxpayer- Susan Taxpayer

The Cabbage Merchant- Avatar the Last Airbender

The Captain- BBC Ghosts

The Elsen- Off

The Manager- The Hotel Podcast

Touta Matsuda- Death Note

Trafalgar Law- One Piece

Twilight Sparkle- My Little Pony

Vera Oberlin- Monster Prom

Walter Pensive- Hello from the Hallowoods

Will Graham- Hannibal

William T Spears- Black Butler

#round 1 #tournament brackets #tournament bracket #tournament #tournaments #overworked blorbo battle

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sadboytournament · 11 months

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SAD BOY TOURNEY ROUND ONE

Tagging in @character-of-all-time since I couldn't in the intro post! Here's round one of the sad boy tourney! I want a good, clean fight now, and may the saddest, wettest cat of a guy win

Hunter (The Owl House) VS. Ryuunosuke Akutagawa (Bungou Stray dogs)

Nico DiAngelo (Percy Jackson series) vs. Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov (Crime and Punishment)

2D (Gorillaz) VS. Arthur Morgan (Red Dead Redemption 2)

Jackson Jackyll (Monster High) Evan Kelmp (Misfits and Magic: Dimension 20)

Matt Murdock (Daredevil) vs. Marius Pontmercy (Les Miserables)

Albert James Moriarty (Moriarty The Patriot) VS. Miles Edgeworth (Ace Attorney)

Kitsunami the Fennec Fox (Sonic the Hedgehog IDW) VS. Kaladin Stormblessed (Stormlight Archive)

Zappa (Guilty Gear) Vs. Ze’ev “Wolf” Kesley (Lunar Chronicles)

Shadow The Hedgehog (Sonic Franchise) VS. Doppo Kannonzaka (Hypnosis Mic)

Jonathan Sims (The Magnus Archives) VS. Sev AKA 97!Psychic (Friday Night Funkin' Earth-97 AU)

Brad Armstrong (Lisa The Painful) VS. Leon S. Kennedy (Resident Evil 4)

Ivan (Alien Stage) VS. Tsumugi Aoba (Ensemble Stars)

Harrier DuBois (Disco Elysium) VS. Crona (Soul Eater)

Mycroft Canner (Terra Ignota) VS. FitzChivalry Farseer (Realm of the Elderlings)

Sunny (Omori) VS. Achilles (The Illiad)

Prince Zuko (Avatar: The Last Airbender) VS. Fuuta Kajiyama (MILGRAM)

Bonus match up: Harrier DuBois vs Idia Shroud

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battyaboutbooksreviews · 2 months

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💜 Books for Women's Day 2024 💜

🦇 Welcome to March, my beloved bookish bats. It's Women's History Month AND Women's Day! To celebrate, here are a few books that highlight powerful, courageous women -- both throughout history and across our favorite fictional realms. These women have contributed to our history, shaping contemporary society with bold, outspoken, badass moves. Let's celebrate and champion these voices by adding more female-focused stories to our TBRs!

❓QOTD Who is your favorite female fictional character AND real-life heroine?

❤️ Fiction ❤️ 💜 The Power - Naomi Alderman 💜 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood 💜 The Vibrant Years - Sonali Dev 💜 Red Clocks - Leni Zumas 💜 Conjure Women - Afia Atakora 💜 City of Girls - Elizabeth Gilbert 💜 A Woman is No Man - Etaf Rum 💜 Of Women and Salt - Gabriela Garcia 💜 Circe - Madeline Miller 💜 Song of a Captive Bird - Jasmin Darznik 💜 The Women - Kristin Hannah 💜 The Love Songs of W.E.B. Dubois - Honorée Fanonne Jeffers 💜 The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison 💜 Women Talking - Miriam Toews 💜 Hidden Figures - Margot Lee Shetterly 💜 The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

💜 Young/New Adult 💜 ❤️ Loveboat Reunion - Abigail Hing Wen ❤️ Realm Breaker - Victoria Aveyard ❤️ Only a Monster - Vanessa Len ❤️ This Woven Kingdom - Tahereh Mafi ❤️ Serpent & Dove - Shelby Mahurin ❤️ I’ll Be The One - Lyla Lee ❤️ Squad - Maggie Tokuda-Hall and illustrated by Lisa Sterle ❤️ These Violent Delights - Chloe Gong ❤️ The Box in the Woods - Maureen Johnson ❤️ The Wrath & the Dawn - Renee Ahdieh ❤️ You Should See Me in a Crown - Leah Johnson ❤️ A Sky Beyond the Storm - Sabaa Tahir ❤️ Nimona - N.D. Stevenson ❤️ Legendborn - Tracy Deonn ❤️ Blood Scion - Deborah Falaye ❤️ Not Here to Be Liked - Michelle Quach

❤️ Queer ❤️ 💜 Imogen, Obviously - Becky Albertalli 💜 The Fiancée Farce - Alexandria Bellefleur 💜 One Last Stop - Casey McQuiston 💜 The Henna Wars - Adiba Jaigirdar 💜 Girls of Paper and Fire - Natasha Ngan 💜 Delilah Green Doesn't Care - Ashley Herring Blake 💜 A Guide to the Dark - Meriam Metoui 💜 She Who Became the Sun - Shelley Parker-Chan 💜 Written in the Stars- Alexandria Bellefleur 💜 Gideon the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir 💜 Gearbreakers - Zoe Hana Mikuta 💜 You Exist Too Much - Zaina Arafat 💜 Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker 💜 The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon 💜 She Gets the Girl - Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick 💜 The Jasmine Throne - Tasha Suri

💜 Non-Fiction 💜 ❤️ The Secret History of Wonder Woman - Jill Lepore ❤️ Girlhood - Melissa Febos ❤️ Our Bodies, Their Battlefields - Christina Lamb ❤️ The Radium Girls - Kate Moore ❤️ Twice As Hard - Jasmine Brown ❤️ Women of Myth - Jenny Williamson and Genn McMenemy ❤️ Nobody Ever Asked Me About the Girls - Lisa Robinson ❤️ Text Me When You Get Home: The Evolution and Triumph of Modern Female Friendship - Kayleen Schaefer ❤️ The Book of Gutsy Women - Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton ❤️ The Underground Girls of Kabul - Jenny Nordberg ❤️ Feminism Is for Everybody - Bell Hooks ❤️ Invisible Women - Caroline Criado Perez ❤️ The Women of NOW - Katherine Turk ❤️ Eve - Cat Bohannon ❤️ We Should All Be Feminists - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ❤️ Bad Feminist - Roxane Gay

❤️ Memoirs ❤️ 💜 Mom & Me & Mom - Maya Angelou 💜 Crazy Brave - Joy Harjo 💜 Reading Lolita in Theran - Azar Nafisi 💜 I'm Glad My Mom Died - Jennette McCurdy 💜 Crying in H Mart - Michelle Zauner 💜 The Soul of a Woman - Isabel Allende 💜 See No Stranger - Valarie Kaur 💜 They Call Me a Lioness - Ahed Tamimi and Dena Takruri 💜 Becoming - Michelle Obama 💜 Bossypants - Tina Fey 💜 My Own Words - Ruth Bader Ginsburg 💜 I Am Malala Malala Yousafzai 💜 Finding Me - Viola Davis 💜 Return - Ghada Karmi 💜 Good for a Girl - Lauren Fleshman 💜 The Woman in Me - Britney Spears

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blackfemmecharacterdependency · 2 years

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BFCD Black Women in Horror/Monsters & More Masterlist

Black Women in Horror | Final Girls | Slayers | BFCD Monsters & More Masterlists

Izzy Bit |

Old Woman Josie Welcome to Nightvale | Olivia Two Sentence Horror Stories: Teeth

Queenie American Horror Story

Wilhamena Mettle OK Let’s Be Heroes |

Yvonne A Nightmare on Elm Street Series |

Zafrina Twilight | Zoe Head Count |

Children in Horror | BFCD Family Friendly Spooky Season |

*List will be updated throughout October*

#Black Women in Horror #Children in Horror #long post #BFCD Spooky Season #October #BFCD Masterlist #BFCD Black Women in Horror Masterlist #black female characters #monster girls #slayers

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thorraborinn · 2 years

Note

Good day, I was curious:

Is the idea of Odinn being the leader of gods a historical Pagan concept or is it christian influence on later writings?

Any specific sources on this subject that you know of?

It's complicated. The shortest I can make the answer is: the idea of Óðinn as leader of the gods definitely existed before conversion, but it was most likely only one of many ways that people conceived of the gods; and also the conception of the idea of "leader of the gods" itself almost certainly changed over time, beginning before conversion and continuing after it.

There is a very good paper on the subject called "How High was the High One?" by Terry Gunnell. It's a chapter in Theorizing Old Norse Myths edited by Stefan Brink and Lisa Collinson. Gunnell also made an appearance on the Nordic Mythology Podcast discussing the topic although I haven't listened to it. It's Terry Gunnell's opinion that in certain places, Thor and Freyr were each respectively considered the most important of the gods (which does not rule out that there were other contexts in which yet other gods were the most important). That isn't the only paper that goes into this but it is the one that makes the best case for certain specific social contexts in which Óðinn was likely not the primary deity. Some other works that are relevant for this are Nordic Religions in the Viking Age by Thomas DuBois (this is the book that kind of set the new standard for treating "Nordic religion" as "Nordic religions"), and "How Uniform was the Old Norse Religion?" by Stefan Brink (which is only talking about place-names, and might be the paper most responsible for making heathens think that place-names are the only permissible evidence for determining the presence of a cult of a god, but that isn't Brink's fault).

However, that doesn't mean that the idea of Óðinn as the most prominent god doesn't also occur in pre-Christian times. It's rather that the mythology that we have represents only one out of many perspectives. The skáld Glúmr Geirason used the kenning 'ruler of the gods' for Óðinn in the 970's. As always, it should be remembered that one of the primary demographics of Óðinn-worshipers were the same poets who produced most of the content we use for knowing about Old Norse religion. And there might be more to it than just "our god is the best, therefore he's the king." They probably actually did relate to Óðinn as a king-like figure ruling over human subjects including themselves, during life and after (and over life and death itself in some capacity), before people outside of their context would have, and it's less of a leap to extend that set of relations to include the other gods as well from there.

An interesting paper on the reception of the idea of Óðinn is Uses of Wodan: The development of his cult and of medieval literary responses to it by Philip A. Shaw. This is a great paper for understanding how we arrive at the concept of Óðinn~Woden~Wuotan that we have today, even for understanding the influences that Snorri had (note for example that in the Prologue, Snorri calls Óðinn "Voden" (Woden). Note that Shaw makes a rather extreme error in the paper (he proposes that *Wōdanaz and *Wōþanaz were two entirely separate gods who were later conflated and his argument for it is very easily disproven) but it doesn't ruin the paper, and it's only there to try to reinforce other arguments that he's already making separately on firmer ground.

I do want to point something out, that it's easy to make category errors here. I don't know whether the people who settled Iceland who worshiped Thor and the Vanir more than Óðinn also thought of Þórr as an "Allfather" or creator or what. So I'm hesitant to make too many guesses about specifics of mythology that we don't have pieces of, while being confident that there were things that didn't make it into the written record. I think it's a reasonable guess that some Nordic people thought of Þórr as the world-creator, and we can make guesses about that using comparative mythology, but to me that isn't a replacement for myths that we don't have. I also have absolutely no idea whether "Óðinn is creator" and "Þórr is creator" people would have, like, argued about it or if it would have just been seen as two different equally valid explanations (I tend to agree with those who think that inn almáttki áss was a sort of ecumenical gesture that would allow people who disagreed about who that was to still swear oaths together). Anyway we're getting into the weeds now and there's no end to what we could bring into this conversation so I'm gonna wrap it here.

#ask #oberyndracul

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aromantic-character-showdown · 10 months

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BRACKET!

Here’s the line up of how the competition will go down! (If you look at the list of competitors, you’ll see how I organized it)

Side A:

Canada vs Prussia (both hetalia)

Percy (Epithet Erased) vs Yuu Koito (Bloom Into You)

Sherlock Holmes (BBC/ACD) vs Georgia Warr (Loveless)

Tahani Al Jamil (The Good Place) vs Saiki Kusuo (The Disastrous Life of Saiki K)

Enjolras (Les Misérables) vs Lisa Wilbourn/Tattletale (Worm/Ward)

Lilith Clawthorne (The Owl House) vs Kodama Sakuko (Koisenu Futari)

Gwen Poole (Marvel) vs Takahashi Satoru (Koisenu Futari)

Monkey L Duffy (One Piece) vs Jake English (Homestuck)

Dakota Cole (Prime Defenders) vs Jonny D’Ville (The Mechanisms)

Artemis (Greek Mythology) vs Caduceus Clay (Critical Role)

Abel Moreau (Entropic Float) vs Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games)

Peri Dubois (Entropic Float) vs Alix Kubdel (Miraculous Ladybug)

Arthur Lester (Malevolent) vs Daughter Dooley (Old Gods of Appalachia)

The Tin Woodsman (Oz) vs Soundwave (Transformers)

Mina Ashido (My Hero Academia) vs Mikoshiba Mikoto (Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki Kun)

Elsa (Frozen) vs Seiji Maki (Bloom Into You)

Side B:

John Egbert (Homestuck) vs Kaladin (Stormlight Archive)

Merida (Brave) vs Thundercracker (Transformers)

Link (Legend of Zelda) vs Bakura Ryou (Yu-Gi-Oh)

Amber Heart (Magical Warrior Diamond Heart) vs Madelena (Galavant)

Alhaitham (Genshin Impact) vs Bruno Madrigal (Encanto)

Chell (Portal 2) vs Wednesday Addams (Addams Family/Wednesday)

Gilgamesh “Gil” Wulfenbach (Girl Genius) vs Luke Skywalker (Star Wars)

Gyorik “York” Rogdul (Drawtectives) vs Phill Pepperman (Pizza Tower)

Hatake Kakashi (Naruto) vs King Knight (Shovel Knight)

Maito Gai (Naruto) vs Wario (Warioland)

Lydia Martin (Teen Wolf) vs N Harmonia (Pokemon)

Lin Qingge (The Scum Villain’s Self Saving System) vs Ralsei (Deltarune)

Rita [REDACTED] (The Penumbra Podcast) vs Sunny (Wings of Fire)

Soos (Gravity Falls) vs Gwen Stacey (Marvel/Into the Spiderverse)

Doctor Carmilla (Doctor Carmilla [& the Mechanisms]) vs Jess (Loveless)

Touko Nanami (Bloom Into You) vs Jolyne Kujo (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure)

Again, feel free to ask any questions!

#aromantic poll tournament #aromantic #alloaro #aroallo #aroace #poll competition #poll tournament #bracket #poll bracket

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learnthisphrase · 4 months

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Best books of 2023

The best books I read in 2023

Knock Knock, Open Wide by Neil Sharpson (Tor Nightfire, 2023)

Imagine Tana French writing a folklore-infused horror novel, and you have Knock Knock, Open Wide. The always-thrilling plot takes in a life-changing accident, a love affair, and a sinister TV series; the storylines overlap and entwine perfectly, and there’s a lot of beautifully crafted character work. It’s a dark and eerie book, but full of life and love, too.

Black Mountain by Simon Bestwick (Independent Legions, 2021)

A mixed-media horror novel disguised as non-fiction about the many strange incidents surrounding a cursed/haunted mountain. Unputdownable and genuinely unnerving at points – I had the time of my life reading this. I’m amazed it isn’t better-known among horror fans!

The Last Language by Jennifer duBois (Milkweed Editions, 2023)

A riveting, disturbing book about a language therapist’s relationship with the autistic man she’s helping to ‘speak’ using the controversial method of facilitated communication. I read it in one fevered session, completely in the grip of the dizzying, queasy moral maze duBois creates.

Hydra by Adriane Howell (Transit Lounge, 2022)

Just when you think the ‘unhinged woman’ trend has had its day, this excellent Australian debut offers a fresh spin on the whole idea. Anja’s dry, idiosyncratic voice rings out from the page, and the plot is never far away from intimations of something dark and weird. Read if you love Ottessa Moshfegh and Tár.

My Death by Lisa Tuttle (2004, reissued by NYRB Classics 2023)

A perfect novella about a widowed writer who becomes obsessed with her latest project, a biography of a little-known artist’s muse. Astonishingly clever, convincing and absorbing, it’s a revelation and turned me into an instant fan of Tuttle’s writing.

Grasshopper by Barbara Vine (Penguin, 2000)

A beautiful and eloquent coming-of-age tale dressed up as a crime novel. The plot has so many different strands that it’s difficult to describe concisely, but this is essentially a character-focused story about identity, aspiration and love. The rare book that actually made me cry.

How Can I Help You by Laura Sims (Putnam, 2023; UK ebook out in January 2024)

Explores the tense relationship between two women with secrets (some more dangerous than others) who both work at a public library. A sharp, nuanced character study that is also utterly propulsive. If you loved Death of a Bookseller, this should be next on your wishlist.

Novel with Cocaine by M. Ageyev, translated by Michael Henry Heim (Picador, 1985)

1930s cult classic about a dissolute Russian teenager, his friendships, affairs and drug addiction. Think No Longer Human, but (in my opinion) way better. It’s philosophical, funny and stuffed with remarkable descriptive writing.

Where the Dead Wait by Ally Wilkes (Titan, January 2024)

Years after an infamous failed expedition, a captain with a sullied reputation must return to the Arctic in search of his former lieutenant. Immersive and enthralling at every level, this is a blood-soaked, frostbitten treat – I’ve been describing it as The Terror meets Heart of Darkness.

The Devil’s Playground by Craig Russell (Doubleday, 2023)

An elaborately plotted historical mystery about a legendary silent horror movie. Come for the lost film and its ghosts; stay for the well-researched portrait of old Hollywood, the world-weary heroine, and the fascinating detective story.

We Were Never Friends by Margaret Bearman (Brio Books, 2020)

A woman looks back at a strange period of her youth when her family became entangled with Kyla, a hated classmate of hers. Dazzling at the sentence level – Bearman illuminates Lotti and Kyla’s world with startling colour, vividly portraying the emotional landscape of adolescence.

Honour Thy Father by Lesley Glaister (Bloomsbury, 1991)

Four elderly – yet naive – siblings live in self-imposed imprisonment amid the squalid remains of their family home. How did they end up like this? We Have Always Lived in the Castle meets Come Join Our Disease in a dark tale that perfectly balances tender nostalgia, black humour and sinister threat.

Angel by Elizabeth Taylor (Virago, 1957)

We meet Angel as an impetuous 15-year-old convinced she will become a great novelist, and follow throughout her life as she first fails upwards, then eventually loses everything. It’s a tragic story that centres on a pathetic character, yet Taylor writes with a compassion that makes it almost romantic.

The Night Ocean by Paul La Farge (Penguin, 2017)

A labyrinthine series of stories within stories inspired by H.P. Lovecraft – but you definitely don’t need to like (or have read) Lovecraft to enjoy it. Deceptively complex, it excavates the lives of its characters while maintaining a subtle sense that the whole narrative is haunted.

Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward (Viper, 2023)

My favourite of Ward’s books since her debut Rawblood, this is a story about murder that deals with the long shadow it casts. It’s also about writing and witchcraft, unrequited love, and the death of the author, and is unexpectedly heartbreaking.

Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt (Cipher Press, 2023)

This book takes the ‘trauma as horror’ trope and eats it from the inside out. It’s full of fearless writing about fetishes, transness, transphobia, dysphoria, and what – if anything – it means to be virtuous. While often disgusting (be warned), I wanted to reread it straight away.

Where Furnaces Burn by Joel Lane (2012, reissued by Influx Press 2023)

A sprawling map of linked stories; layered, moody and strange. Not the easiest book to recommend – Lane, one of my favourite writers, invariably creates very bleak worlds – but an incredibly rewarding reading experience.

Notable reread: Kiss Me First by Lottie Moggach (Picador, 2013)

A grieving, lonely young woman finds solace on an online debate forum and ends up immersed in someone else’s life. Just as fast-paced, gripping and brilliantly voice-driven as it was when I first read it a decade ago.

Honourable mentions

So many good books came out in 2023 that I have to mention a few more. The Book of Ayn by Lexi Freiman was the funniest, sharpest, most quotable novel I read this year. I loved the intriguing layers of Ben Tufnell’s The North Shore and Viola Di Grado’s poignant Blue Hunger, translated by Jamie Richards. Verity M. Holloway’s romantic, atmospheric The Others of Edenwell deserved way more attention. And this may be an unpopular opinion, but I enjoyed Elizabeth Hand’s A Haunting on the Hill more than The Haunting of Hill House.

For thought-provoking plots: Service by Sarah Gilmartin and Kids Run the Show by Delphine de Vigan, translated by Alison Anderson. For pure thrills: Nicholas Binge’s mind-bending Ascension and Jinwoo Chong’s dazzling Flux. For both, and great suspense: A Flaw in the Design by Nathan Oates.

And not forgetting the brilliant 2023 books I read as review copies last year: Nina Allan’s masterpiece Conquest, Alice Slater’s ultra-compelling Death of a Bookseller, and Maria Dong’s loveable Liar, Dreamer, Thief.

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slytherindisaster · 1 year

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Full Name: Elisabeth Marigold Parker

Nicknames: Lizzie (everyone); Liz; Lisa (by Jacob)

Birthday: July 29, 1973

Zodiac: Leo

Blood Status: half-blood

Gender Identity: who even knows at this point (mostly goes by she/they)

Sexuality: bisexual

Nationality: British

Hometown: Maidstone, Kent, England

PERSONALITY

Myers-Briggs Type: ENFJ (The Protagonist)

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Strengths: intelligent, ambitious, loyal, honest, creative

Weaknesses: competitive, stubborn, hot-headed

Interests/Hobbies: researching, writing, duelling

APPEARANCE

Faceclaim: Lindsay Lohan

Voiceclaim: Ciara Baxendale

Height: 5ft 6in / 167cm

Build: average

Hair: red

Eyes: green

Skin: pale, freckled

Body Modifications: pierced ears, several tattoos

Scars/defects: multiple small scars on her hands, wrists and thighs; chipped left ear

Fashion:

WITCHCRAFT

1st Wand: Aspen, Unicorn Hair, 12 inches, reasonably supple

Wand-quality aspen wood is white and fine-grained, and highly prized by all wand-makers for its stylish resemblance to ivory and its usually outstanding charmwork. The proper owner of the aspen wand is often an accomplished duellist, or destined to be so, for the aspen wand is one of those particularly suited to martial magic. Aspen wand owners are generally strong-minded and determined, more likely than most to be attracted by quests and new orders; this is a wand for revolutionaries.

2nd Wand: Red Oak, Unicorn hair, 11 inches, solid

You will often hear the ignorant say that red oak is an infallible sign of its owner’s hot temper. In fact, the true match for a red oak wand is possessed of unusually fast reactions, making it a perfect duelling wand.

Animagus Form: orange cat/european shorthair

Patronus: kneazle

Boggart: Jacob (later Rowan) saying she is cursed and blaming her for not being able to save their loved ones

Riddikulus: she listens to what they have to say instead of casting the spell

Amortentia

what do they smell like to others?: elderflower, cocoa, pine, hay

what do they smell?: butterbeer, floo powder, broom polish, mowed grass

Favorite Spells: Bombarda, Incendio

Misc. Magical Abilities: Apparition; Nonverbal Magic; Occlumency

HOGWARTS

House: Slytherin

Best Subject: History of Magic, DADA

Worst Subject: Potions

Third Year Options: Care of Magical Creatures, Astronomy, Divination

N.E.W.T.s: History of Magic, DADA, Transfiguration, Charms, Care of Magical Creatures, Herbology, Astronomy

Extracurriculars: Duelling Club (4th to 7th year)

Quidditch Position: Keeper (3rd to 7th year)

AFTER HOGWARTS

more of less tbd as of now

RELATIONSHIPS

Father: Anthony Parker

Mother: Perpetua 'Tilly' Parker (née Brokenshire-Rosier)

Half Brother: Jacob Mallow Parker

Pets: a toad named Roger

Dormmates: Merula Snyde; Ismelda Murk; Liz Tuttle; Jules Farrier @cursebreakerfarrier

Closest Friends: Rowan Khanna, Ben Copper, Bill Weasley, Andre Egwu, Jae Kim

Friends: Nymphadora Tonks, Tulip Karasu, Barnaby Lee, Charlie Weasley, Julian Bennett, Irena Janda; Jules Farrier, Azariah Steele, Margot Dawes, Will Scarborough, Kester Stagg @cursebreakerfarrier; Katriona Cassiopeia, Reid Van de Lune @kc-and-co; Marti Venturi @smarti-at-smogwarts; Ryan O'Donnell, Sara O'Donnell, Cara O'Donnell, Conor O'Donnell @unfortunate-arrow; Isabelle Dubois @endlessly-cursed; Lizzie Jameson @lifeofkaze; Cato Reese @catohphm

Love Interests: Jae Kim, Erika Rath

FAVORITES

Color: emerald green

Food: dark chocolate

Flower: lily of the valley

Drink: butterbeer

Book: Quidditch Through the Ages

Music: anything by Queen

Season: autumn

#hphm #lizzie parker #hogwarts mystery #jacob's sibling #character profile #slytherin #now this is a Christmas miracle if i ever saw one #still missing her career path tho #it only took like what 2 years to get it out there?

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hi-im-greenjunipertree · 1 year

Text

So I decided to do a thing where I sorted all of the original BYS players by birth month...

Here's what I got:

January:

Billy Jean Blackwood (Jan. 26)

Luanne Lui (Jan. 27)

February:

Ricky Johnson (Feb. 14)

Ashley and Sidney Webber (Feb. 18)

March:

Dante Robinson (Mar. 3, changed to Mar. 9 in Hockey)

April:

Kiesha Phillips (Apr. 2)

Ernie Steele (Apr. 21)

May:

Reese Worthington (May 25)

Gretchen hasselhoff (May 31)

June:

Dmitri Petrovich (Jun. 9)

Kimmy Eckman (Jun. 22)

July:

Achmed Khan (Jul. 11)

Tony Delvecchio (Jul. 16)

Maria Luna (Jul. 23)

August:

Ronny Dobbs (Aug. 10, changed to Aug. 1 in Hockey)

Stephanie Morgan (Aug. 15)

Pablo Sanchez (Aug. 18)

September:

Amir Khan (Sep. 1)

Marky Dubois (Sep. 6)

Annie Frazier (Sep. 18)

Jocinda Smith (Sep. 28)

October:

Jorge Garcia (Oct. 7)

Pete Wheeler (Oct. 13)

Mikey Thomas (Oct. 19)

November:

Vicki Kawaguchi (Nov. 5)

Sally Dobbs (Nov. 11)

Kenny Kawaguchi (Nov. 20, changed to Nov. 2 in Hockey)

December:

Angela Delvecchio (Dec. 20, changed to Dec. 2 in Hockey)

Lisa Crocket (Dec. 4)

And that is what I have. If you share a birth month/birthday with any of the characters, good for you /pos (unless you hate that specific character lol).

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sissylittlefeather · 7 months

Text

This is the Story

Chapter 3

A/N: I'm sorry this took so long. I had a hard time getting this one down. Special thanks to my besties @elvisfatass and @ccab for helping me with some ideas! I know this one is a sloooooowwww burn, but I'm enjoying the ~tension~ and I hope you are too!

If you're new to the series, this is about the OC Grace Dubois, an author assigned to ghost write a book for Elvis in the fall of 1973. Read the first two chapters here:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Warnings: none really, smoking and cussing, but that's about it. It'll get spicy eventually!

Song inspo:

******

He swallows the lump in his throat and looks towards the door. He has to find a way to get her to come back.

******

"Frank, I'm not going back. You should've heard the shit he said to me." Grace sits in the little office across the desk from her editor, cigarette in hand. It's been three weeks since she came home from Vegas. She's spent the majority of that time playing with Wendy and trying not to think about Elvis. He's tried to contact her several times, including a few phone calls, cards in the mail, and flowers twice. The message is always the same: "I'm sorry. Please come back."

"He actually asked us to have you return. He wants to continue working on the book." Frank looks at her apologetically.

"I'm not going back to Vegas." She insists. He shakes his head.

"He's asked you to meet him in Memphis when he comes home next week. I recommend you do what he's asking." Grace looks up to the ceiling and curses under her breath. She doesn't want to see Elvis again, but it looks like there's no way around it.

******

Elvis is in the TV room when Jerry comes in.

"She's here."

He tries not to sit up too fast or appear too eager, but his heart races and his breathing picks up. It's been almost a month since he read her notes about him. He hasn't thought about much else, despite the shows and the parties and the girls he's occupied himself with.

He nods his head and walks out to meet her. When he sees her in the foyer, standing awkwardly with her purse under her arm, he has to stop and take a deep breath. She's wearing the brown pencil skirt again with a light blue button-down shirt. Her hair is pulled up in its signature style and her glasses have started to slide down her nose. He also notices a sheen of sweat on her forehead. Despite it being September, the weather is unusually warm. Still, even though she's sweating, he's attracted to her.

She's looking into in the living room and hasn't noticed him standing next to the staircase. He can't believe how seeing her again is impacting him. Why? She is not anything that he's looking for in a girl. First of all, she's not even a girl. She's a woman. That alone makes him nervous. And she's a mother. Normally, that would bother him, but with her? It's the opposite. It feels like she can understand his love for Lisa and he appreciates it.

"You're here." She whips her head around to him.

"Yeah, I was told I didn't have a choice." Her words sting a little, but he can't really blame her considering their last encounter.

"Well, I appreciate that you came, even if it's not your choice." He tries to keep his voice even, matching her chilly demeanor.

"Let's go to my office." He turns and gestures for her to walk up the stairs in front of him. It takes everything in him not to watch the back of her skirt as it moves from side to side with her hips. He clears his throat and tries to gather himself when they reach the landing at the top. He points to the office and she walks in, sitting in the chair across from the desk. Once he's settled in the one behind the desk they make eye contact, each waiting for the other one to speak.

"So-"

"What-"

They start talking at the same time. He chuckles awkwardly.

"Go ahead."

"Thanks. So, you wanted to talk more about the book?"

He swallows hard. Not really, but if it gets her back here then he'll let her write whatever she wants.

"Um, yeah. I figured we had a good start before... well, before."

"Yes, so we had gotten up to just before you were drafted. However, I seem to have misplaced my notebook, so we might have to go back a bit."

"Oh, I-I, well." He opens one of the drawers of his desk and sets the notebook down in front of her. Her eyes widen.

"Did you-"

"I didn't read it." He lies. It's better to let her think he has no idea what she wrote about him. And technically, he didn't really read the notebook. She flips through it and he prays she won't notice that the little notes are probably in the wrong place. She doesn't seem to, though, because she accepts it from him without commenting.

"Thank you."

"I tried to catch you as you were leaving but you left in such a hurry..."

"Yes, well, I was pretty upset." He looks down at his hands, unsure of how to respond. He keeps his head lowered as he speaks.

"I know. I'm sorry. What I said was uncalled for and mean. And I'm sorry." He looks up at her and meets her eyes, searching for a sign of how she's going to take his apology. She's difficult to read, though.

"I appreciate that and I'm sorry too, Mr. Presley." His heart sinks. This might be harder than he thought. But he's not exactly one to back down from a challenge. Especially one as rewarding as this one could be.

"Thank you. So you want me to start with the army?"

"That's what comes next, I believe."

******

As he talks, Grace notices that he's not quite as animated in his storytelling as he was the last time. But she's having a hard time paying attention anyway. What if he read her notes? Would he figure out how much she had liked him before? It doesn't seem like anything is out of place, but it's been so long it's hard to know for sure. But surely he wouldn't have asked her back if he did. This man views her with little more than contempt. She knows she's only here to satisfy the Colonel. If he had read her notes, he would've sent her packing and never wanted to see her again, she's sure of it.

"And then my mother..." His voice catches and he trails off and looks over to the side away from her. She forgot that talking about the army means talking about his mother's death. He sniffs and rearranges himself in his chair, still not looking at her. Inside, her icy demeanor melts. Seeing him so affected has her wishing she could walk around the desk and comfort him. She doesn't. But she wants to.

"Your mother got sick." He looks back at her. The softness in her voice seems to have caught him off guard.

"She did. So I came home. And-" He cuts off again and looks up at the ceiling. She can tell he's trying very hard not to cry. Again, she's overwhelmed with a need to hold him in her arms and let him feel the sadness fully. Instead, she reaches across the wide desk and puts her hand on his. When he looks back down at her, she's just as shocked as he is. This is the first time she's really touched him, aside from the handshake on the first day. The feeling of her hand on his is electric and her heart jumps. His mouth drops open a bit and she pulls her hand back quickly.

"I'm sorry."

"No. It's okay." It seems like he wants to say more, but he doesn't.

"Maybe that's enough for today." She needs to get out of this house before she does something she will regret. She stands to head for the door but he stops her.

"Oh, wait, I have something for you. Or, rather, for your daughter."

"You have something for Wendy?"

"Yes." He pulls a pink envelope out of the desk drawer. "It's from Lisa Marie."

"How does your daughter know about my daughter?"

"Because I told her. She has a hard time making friends because of, well, me. We can't just invite anyone over here."

"Invite? Is this an invitation?"

"She just wants to meet Wendy. I thought she could be a safe friend for Lisa." Grace looks at the envelope in her hand and feels her cheeks flush. It has "Wendy" written in kindergarten scrawl on the outside. How he managed to remember her daughter's name, she will never know.

"Yeah, okay. I'll see if she's interested." The prospect of coming back here for something that isn't work related terrifies her, but Wendy struggles to make friends too, with her mom working so much.

Once she gets out to her car, Grace looks again at her notebook and then at the envelope. This Elvis Presley is far more complicated than she thought.

******

When the door closes behind her, Elvis leans against it and sighs deeply. His mind is reeling from everything that just happened. First, she called him "Mr. Presley." Then, she seemed to melt a little when he talked about his mother. He didn't do it on purpose. That's just how thinking about her makes him feel. But she seemed to be affected by it somehow.

And then she touched him. He's not sure if she felt the electricity too, but based on how quickly she pulled her hand back, she must've noticed something.

He lays his head back against the door and closes his eyes. What kind of hold does this woman have on him? Does she feel anything for him other than disdain?

"You good, boss?"

The sound of Jerry's voice jolts him back to reality.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm alright." He walks back down to the TV room. Hopefully, she will accept the invitation to bring Wendy over.

******

"Mama, pleeeeease. She asked us to come swimming. I love swimming. Can we please go? Pleeeease?" Wendy begs Grace. She had originally intended to say yes, until she realized the invitation, which appeared to be written by Elvis but dictated by Lisa Marie, said "swimming". She also made the mistake of not reading it before she gave it to Grace.

"Wendy, I don't know. We barely know these people. And you've never even met Lisa."

"Mama, her name is Lisa Marie." Wendy has chosen a side. She will be Lisa Marie's friend whether she likes it or not. Grace knew it was no use arguing at this point.

"Alright, we'll go."

******

On the Saturday of the big swimming play date, Lisa Marie is bouncing on the balls of her feet, looking out the window for her new friend. Elvis feels the same kind of nervous excitement, but instead sits on the piano bench with a cigarillo that he's smoking way too fast. He tries to play something to calm himself down, but he can't focus enough. What if she changes her mind? She had called to confirm several days ago, but things happen. Just then, he hears her car coming up the drive.

"Daddy, they're here!" Lisa Marie squeals with excitement. Elvis tries to temper his own excitement and casually walk to the front door. When he opens it, though, Lisa sprints out to the car. Wendy jumps out and they greet each other with a hug like they've been best friends for years. He hears them chattering about the swimming pool as he opens Grace's car door for her.

"Oh, thank you." She seems surprised and he's not really sure why he did it.

"Is it okay if I park here?"

"Of course. Come on in." He wants to offer her his arm like they're in some Victorian novel, but he realizes how strange that would be and instead settles for walking beside her. The girls are already both in their bathing suits, so they move through the house quickly to the yard where the pool is.

"Can Wendy swim?" Elvis asks.

"Yes, she's had lessons."

"Good. Should we sit by the pool?" She nods. They walk through the doors to the outside. The weather is perfect for laying out and for the first time, he's glad for the hot September they're having.

As the girls get in the pool, Elvis and Grace settle on the chairs. He's wearing a robe over his swimming outfit that he takes off before sitting down. He can feel her eyes on him, but he's not sure why she would be looking at him. Once he's comfortable, he tries really hard not to look at her while she slips off her cover up. He was right to want to see her legs on the first day. They're slender and shapely and coppery tan from a summer spent in the sun with Wendy. She slips off her sandals and her feet are just as beautiful as her legs. Her black bathing suit accentuates her curves and he has to actively look away to keep his eyes off of her breasts. Seeing her like this takes his affection for her to a whole new level. He prays she doesn't notice the physical effect she's having, even though his shorts won't conceal much. He pulls his robe across his lap, just in case.

"So, how are you liking Memphis?"

"Oh, aside from the weather, it's fine. Wendy seems to like her new school. Thank you for arranging that, by the way." He had enrolled Wendy in school and set Grace up with an apartment, so she could stay close and finish the book.

"Oh, you're welcome. Thanks for coming today. I really wanted to... keep working on the book." He stopped himself just in time from saying that he really wanted to see her again.

"You want to talk about the book now?" She raises her eyebrows.

"N-no, not really I guess." He looks over to the girls, who are taking turns jumping into the pool and giving each other scores on how big the splash was. "Can you believe how well they're getting along?" He nods his head to the girls. She smiles.

"I'm afraid Wendy is a little friend-deprived too. She was so excited to meet Lisa."

"Lisa was excited to meet her too. We have a hard time finding people who take the time to get to know us for who we really are." He says we but he's talking about himself now. When he looks over at her, she has her head cocked to the side with a soft look on her face.

"What?" He smiles.

"Nothing. You're just... not what I expected." She says with the same soft look.

They continue talking about everything and nothing and he's surprised at how easy it is to talk to her, even outside of the context of talking about the book. He also listens eagerly as she speaks, loving the sound of her voice when she's passionate about something. They connect on topics like books, spirituality, family, and music. When the girls decide it's time to go inside, he's reluctant to let the conversation end.

"Why don't you girls play in Lisa's room for a while?" He says, not breaking eye contact with Grace. She nods.

"Go on Wendy." They run off to play and Elvis takes her on a tour of the house. He lightly touches the small of her back to lead her from one room to another and again the contact sends sparks all through his body. They end the tour at Lisa's room and there really isn't much reason for them to stay, other than he just wants them to.

"Mama, look at this!" Wendy comes running up to Grace with a toy in her hands. It's a little mock movie camera that plays actual short movies when you crank it. "Will you get me one of these? Please?"

"Oh, honey. It's very neat, but I don't think we could afford it at the moment. Now, let's say goodbye to Lisa Marie and Mr. Presley."

"Aw, Mama, do we hafta?"

"Yeah, sweetie, I think it's time." She turns back to Elvis and smiles. "Thank you for having us over."

They all make their way down the stairs and to the front door. When they get there, Elvis searches desperately for a reason they should stay, but can't come up with anything. Wendy and Lisa Marie embrace again with promises to see each other soon.

"Thank you for coming." He wants to hug her or kiss her cheek, or not her cheek. Still, he knows anything more than a handshake is inappropriate. But when she puts her hand in his, he lifts it to his lips and kisses it softly before he even realizes what he's doing. She freezes, her eyes widen, and her cheeks flush.

"Goodbye, Elvis." She practically whispers, her hand still in his. Finally, they break apart and she and Wendy make their way to the car.

******

"Lisa Marie is my best friend." Wendy is chattering in the backseat, full of excitement about the day. Grace can't stop thinking about the day either. The way he looked in his shorts, how easy it was to have a conversation with him, when he touched her back as they toured the house, and the kiss. Every time he touched her, there was some kind of fire, but the feeling of his lips on the back of her hand sent lightning bolts from her fingertips to her toes. She shakes her head, trying to remove the fantasy of what his lips would feel like on other parts of her body. This can't happen.

******

Grace continues going to the house everyday to talk about the book. Nothing of note really happens and she starts to think she imagined everything at the play date. Then, on Friday, she comes home to a large package that's addressed to Wendy.

"Mama, what is it?"

"Well, let's open it and find out!" As Wendy rips the paper off, two cards fall to the ground. The first is for Wendy from Lisa Marie. Grace can tell by the handwriting on the outside. But, the second has her name on it in Elvis's script. She is so distracted by the card that she isn't paying attention to what's in the box.

"Mama LOOK!" Wendy squeals. It's a toy movie camera just like Lisa's. Grace's heart skips a beat and she tears open the card.

Grace,

I hope this is okay. I enjoyed our time together last weekend. I'd like to do it again sometime.

Yours,

Elvis

Grace stares at the way he signed the note: Yours.

If only.

******

Chapter 4 coming (hopefully) soon!

Taglist:

#elvis presley fanfiction #elvis presley #elvis fanfic #elvis x oc #elvis presley x oc #elvis fanfiction #elvis presley fic #elvis fic #Spotify

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