#contract breakers get squeezed

[ladykailitha]

Not All That Glitters Is Gold Part 2

Hello! Welcome to part two of my omegaverse. Just a heads up. This chapter is a bit dark. Trigger warning for sex trafficking. Not Steve. This was a way for me to show how well tuned Steve is too his clients.

Part 1

***

Steve packed his bag and stood up to see Robin waiting for him.

“You ready to go?” she asked, holding out her hand for his bag.

He handed it to her. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

They walked out to the waiting car. Once inside Robin asked, “Here’s your phone. The word for you being in danger is kitten. The word for spontaneous heat is catnip. And the word for bonding talk and contract buying is tower.”

Steve took the small flip phone. He had his own smart phone, but those weren’t allowed anywhere near clients. The last thing a Starcourt omega needed were crazed alphas stalking them. He handed her his. She slipped it into her purse.

“Just go a message from Dillon’s PA,” she said, looking at her phone, “he has just gone into pre-rut. Fever, irritability, and mood swings.”

Steve sighed. He liked to get there before that happened. “Did he start early?”

Robin sent off a message and moments later she growled at the response. “Apparently not. Apparently, he didn’t want you there for pre-rut and lied.”

He growled too. “Put him on the black list and tell his PA if he so much as twitches wrong during this, I’m leaving.”

She nodded. “I’ll also let management know. There’s a reason for omegas to be there during the pre-rut and that’s the safety of the omega. If he can’t follow a simple rule like that, what other rules is he going to break?”

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “You think I should pull out?”

Robin thought about it a moment. “It’s up to you. One lie isn’t a deal breaker per se. Lots of alphas do stupid shit the first time because they think they’re impressing you.”

Steve nodded. “There is something about this lie that makes me itch, though.”

“So pull out,” she said. “If you’re getting the skin crawlies, don’t go into something you can’t get out of.”

He thought about it all the rest of the trip, until they pulled up in front of the building.

“I think I’m going to go in anyway,” he murmured. “It could be as you said before about it just being fragile alpha ego or it could be a clusterfuck. But the only way to find out for sure is if I meet the client.”

Robin patted him on the shoulder. “You’ve got good instincts, Steve. I’ll back you up in whatever way you need.”

“Right,” Steve said, tapping his lip. “Stay with the car until I text you.”

She nodded again. “Roger that!”

Steve smiled at her and gave her hand a squeeze of reassurance. “Alphas are stupid. I’m glad I never have to deal with them outside of work.”

Robin laughed. “I know, right? But we’re here now. Go show that loggerhead who’s boss.”

Steve grabbed his bag and kissed her cheek. When he got out onto the pavement he looked up at the high rise penthouse. Dillon’s wasn’t the top suite, but he wasn’t near the bottom either.

The doorman stopped him at the door with a critical eye on what he was wearing. All of Steve’s clothes were designer, but comfortable and something he didn’t care about being ripped off him. The Victoria’s Secret PINK sweatshirt he’d cut into a croptop was paired with baggy sweatpants that fuck on the ass and power on one leg and bottom on the other.

Steve just cocked his head to the side. “Dillon Forrest is waiting for me, doll.”

The doorman was about bluster something about not letting in the trash when Dillon’s PA came bursting through the door.

“Oh thank god you’re here!” she said. “His pre-rut is progressing faster than usual!”

Steve rolled his eyes. “That’s why the omega needs to be there before any of that shit goes down.”

She sighed. “I know, I tried to tell him, but he said it was fine. He had a meeting this morning that he didn’t want to put off.”

Steve sighed. Ego. Especially alpha ego was the worst.

He looked back over at the doorman who was opening and closing his mouth like a guppy fish.

When Steve raised an eyebrow suddenly he was spewing apologies and stuttering excuses.

“Take me in,” Steve told the PA, completely ignoring the doorman.

She nodded and led him to penthouse. It was bright and sunny. And that was a problem. His client was on the sofa practically shaking from the pre-rut symptoms.

He found the remote to the shades and closed them, casting the room into dim light. Immediately the twitchy actor breathed out a sigh of relief.

The PA’s eyes narrowed at the drastic change in behavior.

“You act like this is your first rut,” Steve snapped, pulling out a bottle of water from his bag.

Dillon and his PA exchanged a glance and Steve’s eyes went wide.

“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” Steve growled. “How long were you on suppressants?”

Dillon blushed, looking away then back up at the PA. “Since I presented when I was sixteen.”

“And you’re twenty-two now?”

Dillon nodded. Again he avoided looking at Steve and kept looking at the PA like she was in charge, not him.

Steve looked around and put his hands on his hips as he pursed his lips.

“This is a completely different situation then the one that was presented to the company,” Steve bit out. “I have to call my handler.”

He pulled out the phone and called Robin. He explained everything to her as he eyed Dillon and his PA. There was something off about the whole situation. The PA kept her eyes on Dillon, her fingers drumming on her arm, both arms crossed in front of her chest.

Steve listened to Robin, tilting his head further and further as he watched the two them.

“Kitten,” he said. “I think I left something in the car, I’ll be down to grab it okay?”

The PA frowned and stepped forward. “What did you forget?”

“It won’t take long,” Steve murmured, not bothering to answer her. There was a knock on the door and he went to answer it.

“Oh good you’re here,” he said with relief and then quickly closed the door behind them.

“Run!” he whispered to Robin.

She grabbed his hand and opened both elevators and got in one and told Steve to get in the other and go to the first floor and then down the stairs.

Steve nodded. Once in the elevator he called her.

“What’s going on?” Robin asked, panic rising her voice.

“I think Dillon was raised in sex trafficking ring,” he explained, “and you need to send someone to get him out of there now.”

Each omega had their own driver. Big, burly fellows for fending off large crowds of fans or very persistent alphas. And like extreme cases like this where they needed two pairs of hands, the handler and driver would work together to keep their omega safe.

Steve driver was a man named Xander Poulson and had been with Steve since the beginning. Robin had hand picked him and they relied on him for everything when Steve was on the job.

Robin opened her mouth to ask for particulars but closed it, messaging the driver to get Dillon out that suite instead. “All right, Xander will meet us at the car in five minutes.”

After that everything just happened so fast. Dillon sat listlessly between Robin and Steve as Xander sped away.

“How did you know he was in danger?” Robin asked as she rapid fire texted Starcourt management.

Steve ran his fingers through Dillon’s hair softly and the alpha sighed. “He was about to experience his first rut with an escort after having been on suppressants for six years.”

Robin looked down at the now almost delirious actor. “Shit. The only reason for an alpha to be on suppressants was if they were a danger to omegas.”

“Or if they being forced to have sex with other alphas,” Steve muttered darkly.

Dillon whimpered.

“Your flat is being set up for a first rut,” Robin said. “Management is okay with him being there because he’s too out of it to know where he is.”

Steve nodded. He wasn’t sure he could trust anything in the dossier considering most of what they now knew was a lie. “Shit Robin, I can’t even scent him! He smells duller than a beta.”

Robin frowned. “I’ll have a doctor sent over as well.”

They arrived back at Steve’s building and were quickly ushered in. The doctor saw to him first and administered medicine and tranquilizer to put him to sleep for a couple of hours to try and equalize the rut.

*

Dr Sam Owens, Robin, and manager, Jim Hopper were standing with Steve in his living room.

“Do you think you would have been harmed?” Hopper asked gruffly.

Steve shook his head. “I think they forced the rut because of what happened with his scent. I think they were hoping to jump start it so that he could be pimped out to omegas. But they couldn’t have it be any omega, they had to have someone who could gently see him through it.”

Dr Owens shook his head. “It wouldn’t have worked. He was too far gone. If you hadn’t acted as quickly as you did, there’s a good chance he would have destroyed his secondary gender when he came out the rut.”

Steve just shook his head.

“I just want to know how long they’ve been controlling him,” Robin hissed.

Hopper shook his head. “Dillon was a child actor, there is no telling how long they’ve had their claws in him.”

“Do we know anything about the ring he was being trafficked in?” Dr Owens asked Hopper.

“I’ve spoken to the FBI and INTERPOL, they have a pretty good idea which one it is,” Hopper growled. “The Upside Down, run by Henry Creel. And if Dillon willing to give them information they can probably take it down for good.”

“That’s a relief,” Robin said.

Hopper turned to Steve. “How did you know he was being trafficked?”

Steve blushed and rocked back on his heels. “No hot shot alpha actor was going to defer to their PA not unless it was a relation. Plus there was the fact she never introduced herself. Add to that all the lying about what it was and how little they both knew about ruts, it just really couldn’t be anything else.”

“You did good, Steve,” Hopper said. “You saved that man’s life and may have just taken down one of the biggest sex rings on the North American continent.”

“I was just doing what I do best,” Steve said, “take care of alphas in need. That’s what rut servicing is at it’s core, after all.”

“Well, I’m going to want to keep this hush hush,” Hopper said. “At least as far as the company is concerned. I don’t want to paint a target on your back.”

“I’ve already begun the scrubbing process regarding their files and contract with us,” Robin said. “The process should be done in two hours.”

“Good.”

“How long until he wakes up?” Steve asked Dr Owens.

Dr Owens looked at his watch. “In about an hour.”

Steve nodded. “That should give me plenty of time to get ready.”

He excused himself and went into the bedroom.

“That was not how wanted to spend my morning,” Hopper growled.

“I feel you, boss,” Robin agreed. “I wanted to pull out of the job when we were in the car, but Steve sensed something else was going on right away.”

Hopper nodded. “He isn’t our highest paid omega by a long shot, but he is the best.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Dr Owens said.

“Well, gentlemen,” Robin said, stowing away her laptop. “You really don’t want to be here when the fucking starts.”

Dr Owens and Hopper made faces and allowed themselves to be ushered out of Steve’s apartment.

Robin went through and made sure that the fridge was stocked to her specifications and then locked the door behind her.

***

Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17

Tag List: @spectrum-spectre @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @artiststarme @swimmingbirdrunningrock @gregre369 @pyrohonk ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @chaoticlovingdreamer @lexirosewrites @goodolefashionedloverboi @messrs-weasley @maya-custodios-dionach @val-from-lawrence @i-must-potato @danili666 @carlyv @rozzieroos @wonderland-girl143-blog @justforthedead89 @emly03 @bookworm0690 @itsall-taken @bookbinderbitch @redfreckledwolf @littlewildflowerkitten @vecnuthy @scheodingers-muppet @mira-jadeamethyst @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @genderless-spoon @yikes-a-bee @anne-bennett-cosplayer @awkwardgravity1 @irregular-child @nburkhardt @apomaro-mellow @yellowdevilkitten @lingeringmirth @rememberthatiloveyou @demolvr @ellietheasexylibrarian @slowandsteddie @mangoinacan13

#my writing #stranger things #steddie #ladykailtiha writes #rockstar eddie munson #alpha eddie munson #omegaverse #a/b/o verse #tw sex trafficking #omega steve harrington

[smokeygrayrabbits]

wolfwood casually bullying vash into accepting love, finally getting vash to come cuddle with him or lay in his lap or something only to realize that fuck, vash is heavy. all metal and muscle under that big soft coat. not to mention he's pointy from all the metal in his skin and his boney ass. now none of this is a deal breaker of course, but it's not exactly the most comfortable right off the bat without a little finagling, but like hell wolfwoods gonna say anything to vash yet. it's already taken so much work just to get this far!

wolfwood and everybody working so hard to get vash to open up and accept their love, and to come to them for affection and attention if he wants it. vash always avoided being touched, so for a while they weren't sure if he was just not a touchy persona or not. they thought maybe he doesn't really want a whole lot of touch and physical affection from them, and that's fine. people have different ways of showing love and they could work with it. only for vash to practically melt into a little puddle of purring goo when Milly drunkenly kidnapped him for some snuggles. turns out vash does want it. a lot.

it took a while to get him there, but once he finally started to realize that, yes, it is ok to ask for a hug or accept a pat on the back or sit close by, he's started doing it all the time. flopping onto wolfwood in the backseat of the car, draping himself around Meryl's shoulders or using her and an armrest, nudging himself up under Millys arm or into her lap, leaning his head on Roberto's shoulder.

turns out, vash really does like physical affection. a lot. so much. hell get all floppy and sleepy at the slightest squeeze, practically and soemtimes literally glowing at a hand in his or a pat on the back, purring and isn't that the sweetest thing whenever one of them touches his hair or rubs circles into his sore muscles. it makes them all a little sad sometimes, thinking about just how deprived vash must have been for so long when he clearly takes so much comfort in just the touch of another person.

he blames it on plant instincts once, when they're all a little past drunk and closer than they'd like to admit to sleep. for vash, touch isn't just love or comfort, it's something he needs to be healthy. apparently plants are highly social creatures, existing in a kind of semi connected hive mind naturally or at least that what they think vash meant, it was kind of hard to make out what he was saying past the drunken slurring and the rumbling purr in his chest distorting his words. and that's absolutely unacceptable. wolfwoods job is to look after vash after all. to make sure he's safe and healthy and happy and alive on his brothers behalf its not just for his boss anymore though. wolfwood may have been contracted to protect vash and look after him, but loving him, burning down the world for him, was never part of their agreement. wolfwood wouldn't have it any other way. and if wolfwood also happens to sleep better wrapped around vash, with that purring vibrating the beads of the rosary around his neck, creating the best lullaby a guy could ask for? well that's nobody's damn business but his own.

#vash the stampede #trigun headcanons #trigun #trigun stampede #trigun wolfwood #nicholas d. wolfwood #meryl stryfe #milly thompson #milly trigun #meryl trigun #vashwood #trimax #vash tristamp #tristamp

[fave-fight]

ROUND 1, MATCH 26

NO MAGIC, POWERS, OR WEAPONS

Dr. Coomer:

“i… don’t think he would win.”

“HELLO, GORDON!”

Floyd Leech:

“If he stays in human form and has no mage stones, he's just Some Guy, so he still qualifies. This mafia motherfucker would FIGHT. One time when faced with a monster, everyone else was like "oh no, we need magic" and he was like "nah, let's punch it" and then he DID. He hasn't used his pointy teeth in canon yet, but he could in theory bite someone if necessary, and it would hurt like a bitch. He'd fight dirty, I just know it. Let him punch everything and then get punched in the face, it'd be so great.”

“This guy is a menace who almost never uses weapons or tools to terrorize people. He's strong and athletic, smart enough to get what he wants on a whim, and squeezes contract-breakers until they faint on a regular basis.”

“NOTE: Floyd is a magic boy, but the “no mage stone” thing is there because it means he won’t be able to use magic, because people in Twisted Wonderland can’t without accumulating deadly magic toxin unless they have the stones. He’s also a merman, but he’d be in his human form. His human form does have pointy teeth (like the anime character kind) but I’m not sure if they have any real effect in game other than to intimidate people. Other people in this game have them too who are allegedly “human.” And again, plenty of “human” anime characters have them. Myfeeling is that they shouldn’t be disqualifying on their own.  This game is about magic boys at a magic school, but don’t worry, they get into traditional fist-fights so often it’s literally a randomly generated event that can happen in your Guest Room space. And Floyd Leech would never use magic in a fist-fight. He’d think that was “no fun” or “totally lame.” His signature magical spell just nullifies other people’s magic that targets him… so he can fight them with his fists. Since no one else here has magic, it’s totally irrelevant.  Also I’m not sure he uses fists so much as he does something to his opponents that he describes as “squeezing” them. I don’t know entirely what he means by that when he’s in his human form, but how much it scares the faceless NPC students indicates to me that he’s found a way to make it work. I do know it’s supposed to have a whole mafia vibe to it. Because his dad (and his childhood friend he lowkey sort-of works for) have real mafia boss energy. And Floyd’s basically decided that if he’s going to do this mafia shtick it’s Capo or bust. Floyd doesn’t always feel like doing stuff, due to his wildly unpredictable mood swings, but it honestly seems like the thing he can most easily be convinced to do is beat the shit out of people. During the “Beanfest” event (which was somewhat analogous to a paintball match), he insisted on throwing his weapon away and beating up aforementioned childhood friend even though the game was over and he’d already lost, just because apparently “once Floyd has decided to fight nothing can be done about it" and you just have to fight him if you want to get on with the rest of your day. He’d started out that event “not really in the mood” but somehow ended up spending the entire day beating the hell out of every person he ran into. In the camping event, when all of the boys were being picked off by a monster in the woods one at a time and were panicking because they didn’t have magestones or cellphones and therefore couldn’t defend themselves with magic or call an adult for help, Floyd was literally just like “why don’t we just beat the shit out of it?” And then he DID. And it was awesome.  But before you think he’s just some sort of dumb thug, let me assure you that Floyd is actually one of Night Raven’s most intelligent students. He has a photographic memory and can create valuable gems in alchemy class with minimal effort. Unfortunately, his mood swings make it impossible for him to maintain a decent GPA. But he’s actually a smart, tactical fighter. He’s just violent and unstable. Oh and if you’re wondering, his personality is generally abrasive and confrontational. He regularly starts arguments with the most volatile people at the school, just to mess with them and see where it goes because he’s bored.  Finally, if it sweetens the deal for anyone, Floyd would wear some killer designer shoes to this fight. Don’t worry, they wouldn’t be dangerous/weaponized. They’d just be expensive and custom made. You know, so he can get upset when someone scuffs them up.  Like for real, is there anyone who deserves to be in a crazy bitch fist-fight more than a moody mafia prince who’s secretly some sort of genius, but seems to only truly love fighting and designer footwear? If there is, I can’t think of them. ”

#fight fight fight #round 1 #poll tournament #tournament poll #polls #poll #dr coomer #hlvrai coomer #hlvrai #half life vr but the ai is self aware #floyd leech #twisted wonderland

[contentment-of-cats]

Harvard and Facebook Boot Disinformation Scholar, Play in Our Faces about Squeezing Academic Freedom. Scholar Files Suit to Show Harvard's Bare Ass

Text taken from the WaPo below. Saying that a USD$500m pledge has nothing to do with Donovan's dismissal is a weasel-worded lie that insults intelligence. This is why support for FB - even having an account there - is support for this kind of influence buying and academic whoredom. Harvard's endowment is over USD$53b and "a dedicated and permanent source of funding that maintains the teaching and research mission of the University" as per their website.

Article below. Use a paywall breaker. like 12ft.io

~

A prominent disinformation scholar has accused Harvard University of dismissing her to curry favor with Facebook and its current and former executives in violation of her right to free speech.

Joan Donovan claimed in a filing with the Education Department and the Massachusetts attorney general that her superiors soured on her as Harvard was getting a record $500 million pledge from Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg’s charitable arm.

As research director of Harvard Kennedy School projects delving into mis- and disinformation on social media platforms, Donovan had raised millions in grants, testified before Congress and been a frequent commentator on television, often faulting internet companies for profiting from the spread of divisive falsehoods.

Last year, the school’s dean told her that he was winding down her main project and that she should stop fundraising for it. This year, the school eliminated her position. The surprise dismissal alarmed fellow researchers elsewhere, who saw Donovan as a pioneer in an increasingly critical area of great sensitivity to the powerful and well-connected tech giants.

Donovan has remained silent about what happened until now, filing a 248-page legal statement obtained by The Washington Post that traces her problems to her acquisition of a trove of explosive documents known as the Facebook Papers and championing their importance before an audience of Harvard donors that included Facebook’sformer top communications executive.

Harvard disputes Donovan’s core claims, telling The Post that she was a staff employee and that it had not been able to find a faculty sponsor to oversee her work, as university policy requires. It also denies that she was fired, saying she “was offered the chance to continue as a part-time adjunct lecturer, and she chose not to do so.”

Donovan obtained the Facebook documents when they and the former Facebook employee who leaked them, Frances Haugen, were the subject of extensive news coverage in October 2021, with The Post writing that the documents showed Facebook “privately and meticulously tracked real-world harms exacerbated by its platforms, ignored warnings from its employees about the risks of their design decisions and exposed vulnerable communities around the world to a cocktail of dangerous content.”

Frances Haugen took thousands of Facebook documents: This is how she did it

As the main attraction at a Zoom meeting for top Kennedy School donors on Oct. 29 that year, Donovan said the papers showed that Meta knew the harms it was causing. Formertop Facebook communications executive Elliot Schrage asked repeated questions during the meeting and said she badly misunderstood the papers, Donovan wrote in a sworn declaration included in the filing.

Ten days after the donors meeting, Kennedy School dean Doug Elmendorf, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office, emailed Donovan with pointed questions about her research goals and methods, launching an increase in oversight that restricted her activities and led to her dismissal before the end of her contract, according to the declaration. Donovan wrote that the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s $500 million gift for a new artificial intelligence institute at the university, announced Dec. 7 that year, had been in the works before the donor meeting.

Leaders at the Kennedy School “were inappropriately influenced by Meta/Facebook,” Donovan claims in her declaration. “A significant conflict of interest arising from funding and personal relationships has created a pervasive culture at HKS of operating in the best interest of Facebook/Meta at the expense of academic freedom and Harvard’s own stated mission.”

The filing raises questions about the potential conflict of interest created by Big Tech’s influence at research institutions that are called upon for their expertise on the industry.

“The document’s allegations of unfair treatment and donor interference are false. The narrative is full of inaccuracies and baseless insinuations, particularly the suggestion that Harvard Kennedy School allowed Facebook to dictate its approach to research,” Kennedy School spokesperson Sofiya Cabalquinto said by email. “By policy and in practice, donors have no influence over this or other work.”

Cabalquinto’s email added: “By long-standing policy to uphold academic standards, all research projects at Harvard Kennedy School need to be led by faculty members. Joan Donovan was hired as a staff member (not a faculty member) to manage a media manipulation project. When the original faculty leader of the project left Harvard, the School tried for some time to identify another faculty member who had time and interest to lead the project. After that effort did not succeed, the project was given more than a year to wind down. Joan Donovan was not fired, and most members of the research team chose to remain at the School in new roles.”

Elmendorf declined to comment.

At one point, Elmendorf told Donovan that she did not have academic freedom because she was staff rather than faculty, she recounts. Officials confirmed that position to The Post.

But Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig said that stance should be limited to traditional staff work, not research papers, other publications and teaching.

“When you’re doing what looks like academic work as one of the most prominent people in an academic field, the university ought to award that person the protections of academic freedom,” said Lessig, an expert on corruption who made inquiries to Harvard’s administration on Donovan’s behalf. “When she was presenting herself to the world, there was no asterisk at the bottom of her name saying, ‘As long as what she says is consistent with the interests of Harvard University.’”

Donovan was recently hired for a tenure-track professorship at Boston University.

The Donovan case comes at a time when researchers who focus on social media platforms find themselves under increasing attack. Trump adviser Stephen Miller’s legal foundation has sued academic and independent researchers, claiming that they conspired with government agencies to suppress speech, and Republican-led congressional committees have subpoenaed their records, adding to the pressure.

In addition, Big Tech companies themselves have sponsored research, made grants to some colleges and universities, and doled out data to professors who agree to specific avenues of inquiry.

The filing asks the federal Education Department’s civil rights division to investigate whether Harvard violated Donovan’s right to free speech and academic freedom. It asks Massachusetts’s charity regulators to examine whether the university deceived donors or misappropriated their funds by retaining millions that Donovan had raised for her research.

A copy sent to Harvard’s new president, Claudine Gay, asks her to determine whether the Kennedy School had breached the university’s own policies.

“All of the efforts taken to undermine Dr. Donovan came at great costs — to the donors who contributed millions of dollars to her work, and to the public more broadly who every day, all day long, are exposed to disinformation and misinformation,” Whistleblower Aid attorneys Andrew Bakaj and Kyle Gardiner wrote in the filing.

“There are a handful of tried and true means to coerce someone or some entity to do something they would not otherwise do, and influence through financial compensation is at or near the top of the list,” the filing says. “Objectively, $500 million is certainly significant financial influence.”

In addition to Donovan, Whistleblower Aid has represented Haugen, the Facebook whistleblower; former Twitter security chief Peiter Zatko; and anonymous whistleblowers from the intelligence community.

In the documents, Donovan contends that Meta’s influence at Harvard goes beyond money and includes deep personal connections. Schrage, for one, earned degrees from Harvard College, the Kennedy School and Harvard’s law school.

Zuckerberg and Facebook’s former longtime chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, were Harvard undergraduates, as was Zuckerberg’s wife, Priscilla Chan.

Elmendorf served as Sandberg’s adviser for a club she started in college. They remained close, and Elmendorf attended Sandberg’s wedding in August 2022. Four days later, he told Donovan he was winding down her research team, she says in the complaint.

Kennedy School officials said Elmendorf and Sandberg never discussed Donovan. Schrage and Sandberg declined to comment.

Meta also declined to comment, while the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative said it contributed money because it cared about the science. “CZI had no involvement in Dr. Donovan’s departure from Harvard,” spokesperson Jeff MacGregor said.

Donovan says in her complaint that Elmendorf emailed her after the October donors’ meeting and asked to discuss her Facebook work and “focus on a few key issues drawn from the questions raised by the Dean’s Council and my own limited reading of current events.”

He wrote that he wanted to hear from her about “How you define the problem of misinformation for both analysis and possible responses (algorithm-adjusting or policymaking) when there is no independent arbiter of truth (in this country or others) and constitutional protections of speech (in some countries)?”

Donovan said in the filing that Elmendorf’s use of the phrase “arbiters of truth” alarmed her because Facebook uses the same words to explain its reluctance to take actions against false content.

She explained to Elmendorf that rather than making moral judgments about politics or proclaiming that a vaccine is good or bad, she looked for provable manipulation of platforms, as with fake accounts.

“We do not generally speak about what is good or bad for a society, but rather what is true or false about a specific public event,” she emailed him.

Donovan then alerted colleagues with whom she was starting to work on the Facebook Archive of leaked documents that she was drawing heat. Both suggested that they take the name of Donovan’s Technology and Social Change Research Project off the archive project’s website.

“Let’s remove the explicit listing of TASC, minimally, or of all three groups, when the website updates later today,” Kennedy School professor Latanya Sweeney wrote in an email included in Donovan’s filing. “No reason to put a target on the project that allows FB to claim bias before we even do anything.”

Donovan’s project remained listed on the page until this year, according to copies preserved by the internet archive.

Sweeney said her role was twisted by the Donovan filing. “The number and nature of inaccuracies and falsehoods in the document are so abundant and self-serving as to be horribly disappointing,” she told The Post. “Meta exerted no influence over the Facebook Archive or any of our/my work.”

Elmendorf met with Donovan again in August 2022 and told her that her project at the Kennedy School would end in the coming year, the filing says.

Though Donovan’s contract was supposed to keep her on the job through the end of 2024, her superiors took away her ability to start new projects, raise money or organize large events, she alleges. They kept the money she had brought in, including more than $1 million from Craigslist founder Craig Newmark that he wanted specifically to go to her research project, according to documents quoted in the declaration. Newmark declined to comment.

The Kennedy School said no money was misused. The Massachusetts attorney general’s office said it is reviewing the filing. The Education Department did not respond to a request for comment.

This September, Elmendorf said that the current academic year would be his last as dean and that he would continue to teach.

The Facebook Archive finally went public in October. Far down a page devoted to the history of the site, it says that Sweeney’s Public Interest Tech Lab “received an anonymous drop of the internal Facebook documents” and that “Dr. Joan Donovan immediately recognized the valuable insight the documents provided.”

It does not say Donovan obtained the documents and launched the project, as she contends.

#harvard #disinformation #facebook #influence buying

[mejia79garrison]

Be Elated!-- For Pleasance Cosmos and Life had been Produced From Difficult Chances

Allow us amaze started our hunting for delight from the quite an starting. That is from the get down of the world. The almost plausible and normally received estimation of the generation of the cosmos is the "Massive Bang" conception of yield. In accord to it, the world is made from an blowup in the identical condensed merchandise and ensuant development of point. Eventide if entirely the situations for the multiplication of the universe had been allow at the lead off, various aspects had to be seize for the succeeding melioration of the universe. : • Our population is expanding corresponding a polka stippled billow which is staying out of breath prohibited. Simply or so every back breaker (representing a virtuoso or a beetleweed) on it is distancing exclusively from exactly near every early. Now, if the bill of blowup of the freshly formulated universe had in reality respective level extremely minutely from specifically what it give been in truth, at that place would sustain been no existence. A low slower and the universe would take in collapsed once more, a small a allot faster and the cosmic products would ingest prolonged in the past times entirely dispersed. • If the concentration of mystifying way feature been a piddling piece extra, thick area would non be expanding only, thanks to the squeeze of holidaymaker attractor of substance particles, contracting, lastly collapsing. The world would be flourishing often chop-chop than now and no stars and no galaxies would at any clock make conceived if the prelude density were a underage lilliputian act less. • For accounting software and the quantity of a proton are uncomparably very much larger than these of an negatron withal outstandingly fair to middling, these deuce particles take same (withal contrary) electric expenses. Owed to the fact that of this realism atoms are electrically impersonal. If the particle was non neutral electrically, simply roughly every atom would button stake once again the other and the terminated existence would debate bump off. • The 4 determinant forces in the sire nature, in reducing buy of vim, are-- Square atomic press, Feeble atomic force back, Magnetic attraction blackjack, and Gravitational great power. The divergence involving the strongest and the weakest has to do with twenty Little Phoebe adopted by 38 nos. Ease deep down that antic extensive chain the case-by-case and the comparative magnitudes of the forces are delicately very wellspring considerably balanced if not the world would non experience existed. If the product of the free burning cosmos was a miracle, the phylogenesis of life on it was also the claim standardized: • Had our sunlight been xxx% greater it would throw been burned tabu in 4 1000000000000 many years, room as well shorter a fourth dimension for levelheaded lifespan to advancement. Had it been littler sized-- ninety quintet% of stars are smaller sized than the sun-- early challenges would receive adopted. Experient the sunshine non been a imagination of frequent vitality for billions of age, experienced the orb of terra firma altogether roughly sunlight been a moment narrower or wider, experient humankind Jupiter been Interahamwe too approach or mode to a fault a great deal to assistance you preserve worldly concern from the rainfall of steroids, experient genuinely moon around non been so unbelievably great to stabilise the argument of the Earth's axis vertebra to about 23 levels, had the solar system's station in the galaxy been to a fault tight to the border or very much to a fault come near to the eye, modern class of living would cause been crafty. • Carbon copy based generally molecules backside good brook in betwixt the limitations of 120 ° and -20 ° C and globe is the merely [world whose normal temperature amounts tumble within just those limitations. When one thinks about the universe as a whole, coming across a wide variety of temperatures as slim as this is relatively a difficult process considering that temperature degrees in deep area vary from the numerous levels of the most well-liked stars to outright zero (-273 ° C). • Virtually all of the radiation released by the sunshine falls into a solitary band that is ten-25 of the full spectrum. Radiations which are favorable and essential for daily life drop in this narrow band. This is furthermore the only radiation underneath which photosynthesis performs and our eye has the capacity to see. • Drinking water also has extraordinary homes conducive for lifestyle-- shown underneath 4 ° C it expands (so that even if ponds and so on are frozen at area beneath h2o is not), best latent warmth, significant thermal ability, significant thermal conductivity though that of ice and snow is very low, large surface area space pressure, and viscosity, and so on . The to start with move to pleasure is to have an understanding of this delighted but tricky odd of creation and life. We are extremely lucky to have a universe a lot extra so to have a universe whole of existence. Considering the fact that lifetime is so unbelievable earth could be the only earth on which there is existence. In residing beings to be born as person is the happiest point which could ever happen to any one! Delight in! Even if all the disorders for the generation of the universe ended up suitable at the start out, tons of variables had to be perfect for the ensuing formation of the universe. • Our universe is broadening like a polka dotted balloon which is remaining blown out. Now, if the amount of development of the freshly developed universe had differed even truly minutely from what it have been seriously, there would have been no universe. Nonetheless in just that fantastic array the personal and the relative magnitudes of the forces are delicately balanced normally the universe would not have existed. We are exceptionally fortunate to have a universe even more so to have a universe finish of lifetime.

#accounting software

[watchingreadingandthinking]

Jill and Brandon part 2

I can’t be in labor she responds to him. Oh my god I have been having contractions! Maybe I am in labor she sobs. I can’t be not today!! Im not ready she panics. He gently rubs her belly you may not be ready but the baby is he says gently. I noticed as soon as you got on the subway that you were laboring… how did you know she asks. I am actually an obgyn he says Dr. Brandon Howard he smiles at her as he feels her belly tightening there it is he says as he gently rubs her tight belly that’s a contraction he says. They are regular he says I have been noticing them. She bursts into tears. Dr Howard pulls her into his arms. I can’t do this today she says my midwife is off! She is on vacation in Barbados until next week! I don’t have anybody I’ll have to do this alone. No you won’t he says as he wipes her tears. I know you don’t really know me but I am a doctor and I practice at Hawlkly General he says. I’ll stay with you the whole time. Dr. Howard I can’t ask you to do that she says as she shifts uncomfortably on her he bench what will your wife think. Oh please he smiles call me Brandon and there is no wife. It’s just me and Brutus my Great Dane. How about that dinner now he says as he offers her his arm you will need the strength for your labor. He helps her up and tucks her arm through his as he leads her to one of his favorite restaurants. They take seats and order. He encourages her to order the pineapple glazed pork to help with her contractions and she willingly accepts his advice. What midwife were you using he asks her curiously. Sarah at the new birth center on 48th street she says shyly. Brandon knows that is the low income center. Ok he smiles how would you feel about just coming home with me and birthing there he asks her. She smiles actually I would like that. Ok then it’s settled he says. After dinner they are walking to his house when she has a strong contraction and asks to stop for a minute and breathe. This is the strongest one she has his ok he says here is what you do he helped her to lean against a tree then he squeezed her hips and deeply rubbed her back. You are having back labor aren’t you he asks her when she straightened up. Yeah she nods how did you know she asks him. Oh aside from the fact that I have been watching you rub your back all afternoon it’s the way you are carrying. I can tell from how low the baby is sitting they he is pressed against your back. You are amazing she comments as they start to walk again this time with his knuckles firmly rubbing her lower back. When they reach his house he helps her settle in and suggests checking her. She is only 4 cm but is contracting consistently and they are getting stronger. We need to try to speed these contractions up he says would you mind if I tried some intimate things out on you he asks her. When she agrees he helps her get positioned in his bed and then starts massaging and sucking on her nipples. She feels her breasts start to leak and then she feels another contraction as the contraction starts to build Brandon moved his attention to her vagina he starts to lick her clit and suck on her swollen opening. Ahhhhh she screams as her contraction peaks and she orgasms all at once. When the pain subsides she asks him do you treat all your patients this way? He laughs no he smiles you are the first but I do encourage my patients partners to pleasure mom during the labor. It generally makes the labor progress faster and mom feels less pain. Oh she smiles I like what I felt just then. Really he smiles we will keep it up then. When the next contraction starts he starts fingering her he finds her spot and rubs it furiously before dropping his head and licking her and sucking on her again. His dick is straining at his pants already. Jill notices his problem and she asks if it would be ok if they had sex and he says they can until her water breakers. He helps position her on her hand and knees and then enters her from behind as he squeezes her hips and applies a firm pressure to her lower back. They cum together as her contraction peaks.

[watchyourbluesturngolden]

our little jellybean

word count: 2.5k

warnings: labor/childbirth, nothing graphic at all, just lots of mentions of pain and contractions and being in the hospital. excessive use of the word “smiled” because I was smiling a lot when I was writing this because dad!harry is literally so cute :)

It had all started very quickly. One minute you were reaching to grab some sheets for the crib, and the next you were gasping and staring at the floor.

"Harry!" You called out for your husband, a little bit in shock. 

"Are you ok?" Harry yelled, his footsteps pounding up the stairs. 

He rushed over to your side, eyes wide as he asked again.

"What? What is it?" 

"I think..." You looked up, face just as shocked as his was. "I think my water just broke." 

Harry's face went through about 10 emotions faster than you could even register them. He grinned, which was quickly replaced by a look of panic, which turned into a smile, which then bounced right back to panicked. 

"It's- you- are you... really?" He could barely even get a full word out. 

"I think so? Yeah, yeah, definitely." You couldn't help but laugh at the shocked look on his face before he bolted back down the stairs. You looked over the banister, confused. "Where are you going?" 

You saw his grab his phone, typing furiously before he held it up to his ear.

  "Yes, hi, my wife's water just broke!" Harry practically yelled into the phone.

  He did not just call 911, you thought. 

"Ok, ok, I'll tell her, thank you," Harry rushed out, looking back up at you from the main floor. 

"The doctor said to wait until the contractions are 6 minutes apart," He said, panic still evident in his voice. 

"I know, Harry, I could have told you that," You said. "Why did you feel the need to call the doctor? And why are you down there when I'm up here?" 

"Right, right, don't abandon your wife when she's about to have your baby!" 

He took the stairs two at a time, pulling you into his arms. 

"I can't believe you're about to have my baby," He said, beaming. Then his face went back to terrified. 

"But wait, it's too early! It wasn't due for another two weeks! We don't even have a car seat, I was going to get one tomorrow!" 

"It will be fine, two weeks isn't even that early. Babies are born way earlier than this little jellybean all the time and they're just fine. And it's my first baby, so I'll probably be in labor for a while. My contractions haven't even started yet, so we have plenty of time to buy a car seat," You said, trying to calm him. 

"Right, we can just go get one right now," Harry said. "How are you so calm right now? Why am I the only one freaking out??" 

You laughed. "Do you forget that I'm a nurse? In a labor and delivery unit? Harry, this is literally my job." 

"Right, yes, I did forget," he smiled sheepishly. "But I'm allowed to forget things, because we're about to meet our little jellybean!" 

His smile was contagious, and you couldn't help grin with him as he pressed his hands to your stomach. 

"Did you feel that?" He gasped as the baby kicked. 

"I did, Harry, it came from inside me," You said, laughing. 

"What are we going to name her?" He wondered, ignoring your words. "Personally, I like jellybean, but I think she might get bullied." 

You laughed, pulling away to look at him. "You're right, we do need to pick something. We don't have to decide right now, but we should probably narrow it down a little." 

"I think Brooke is my favorite from the list," He said, forehead furrowing thoughtfully. "But I also like Amelia." 

"I'm really glad you agreed on Grey's Anatomy names, because that might have been a deal breaker," You said, donning a very serious face. 

He laughed, shaking his head. "What about you? You do get a say, being the baby's mother and all." 

"I'm kind of on the fence between Cristina and Amelia. I like both but I don't want people shortening her name, I don't like Crissy or Amy or something weird like that." 

"Hmm, you're very picky," He observed. 

You pushed his shoulder, smiling. 

"I'm allowed to be picky, it's a child I carried for nine whole months. So it's between Amelia, Brooke, and Cristina. I kind of think we won't know until we see her, you know? Like, we'll look at her, and say "she looks like a Brooke" or whatever." 

Harry smiled, pecking a quick kiss to your cheek. "Sounds like a plan. Now, we really should go get that car seat." 

You had been browsing for nearly an hour, Harry managing to find something wrong with every single option. You found it incredibly amusing that he was the one being picky about all of this. He had been the same with the crib, the dresser, the onesies, the bottles, even the pacifiers. You let him have his way, though. Every time you not-so-politely suggested he just "pick one, for the love of all that is holy" he would turn his puppy eyes on you, saying how he just "wanted everything to be perfect for our little jellybean." How could you say no to that? 

"This one?" You pointed to one of the last car seats in the row. "It looks good, and it's a good brand." 

"Hmm... no. I don't like the color palette."  

"Harry," You said, trying very hard to keep the exasperation out of your voice. "Darling. Sweetheart. My wonderful husband. Please, I am begging you, just pick one. I know you want everything to be perfect, but all of these are good-" You stopped in the middle of your sentence. 

Harry's eyes snapped up from the box he had been inspecting, looking at you with great concern. 

"What happened?" 

"Uh, just, that was a contraction, I think," You said, a rush of nerves washing over you. "Yeah, a contraction. It's... it's starting, but, like, for real," You managed to get the words out. 

"Ok, time to go to the hospital! Let's go meet our baby!!" Harry could hardly contain his excitement. 

"No, Harry, it's not. I'm sorry, but we're waiting until they're 6 minutes apart, just like the doctor said."

"But-" 

"Harry, if we go now, they're just going to send us home until I'm further along. Let's just go home and finish up everything we can, and please just pick a car seat." 

Harry hesitated for less than a second before grabbing one of the boxes he hadn't completely hated. You smirked as you exited the store.

"Maybe I should go into labor more often. I've never seen you make a decision so fast." 

He squinted suspiciously at you.

"Did you actually feel something, or did you just pretend to get me out of there faster?" 

You laughed, rolling your eyes. 

"I did, seriously. This time, at least. I make no promises about next time."

  You had three more contractions in the time it took to drive home and put the finishing touches on the nursery. Harry timed each one precisely, down to the millisecond. 

"Harry, it's really more of a minute thing, you don't have to be that exact," You said, laughing at the concentration on his face. 

"No, I do, because the second you're at six minutes apart, we are going straight to the hospital," He said, still intensely focused on the stopwatch on his phone. "18 minutes, 32 seconds, and 51 milliseconds." 

"Alright then. Why don't we watch a Christmas movie? It'll help the time pass faster," You promised. 

The pain came more and more frequently as the movie played. You tried to mask your face, but Harry could tell each time a new contraction started. He insisted you squeeze his hand every time, watching your face intently.

  By the end of the movie, you had to admit it was getting pretty bad. 

"Harry- I think -ow- I think it's time to go," You said through a particularly nasty contraction.

"Really? For real?" He said, jumping up from the couch. 

"Yes, for real. Let me get my bag-" 

"No, no, I'll get it, you just wait here and I'll be right back!" He said, bounding up the stairs. 

When he came back down, he was wearing the biggest grin you'd seen since you told him you were expecting. 

"I'm so excited to meet our little jellybean!!!" He smiled, hugging you tightly. 

"Me too, Harry, but we have to get to the hospital first," You reminded him. 

"Let's go!!!" He was practically bouncing on his feet as he led you out to the car.

He loaded your bags into the back, next to the car seat he had so carefully installed. 

By the time you were pulling up to the hospital, the pain was almost unbearable. Harry parked in a spot he definitely wasn't supposed to park in, jumping out and running to get a wheelchair. A nurse greeted you at the door, wheeling you inside while Harry sped away to find a parking space. 

"He's an eager one, isn't he?" The nurse laughed. 

"I think he's more excited than I am," you joked. "He's been like a kid all day, asking every five minutes if it's time to meet our little jellybean yet." 

"Well, that's good! Not all fathers are so loving and supportive of their wives." 

"Yeah, I got pretty lucky with him," You smiled. 

"You certainly did," She said, wheeling you into a room just as another contraction hit. 

You clenched your fists, really wishing you had Harry's hand to hold. 

Just in time, he ran into your room carrying your bags. He dropped them by the bed, helping you up from the chair.

"Did- Did you run all the way up here?" You asked, squeezing his hand. 

"Sprinted, actually," He panted. "Did I miss anything?" 

"Oh, no, I've been having a lovely time," you said sarcastically. Then you felt bad for snapping at him. "I'm sorry, that was mean. Thank you for being so supportive."

"You're allowed to be mean to me today, you get a free pass," He laughed.

  "You're going to regret saying that when my next con-" Your words were cut off with a gasp when the pain stabbed through you again. 

"It's ok, it's ok, squeeze my hand, that's it, just like that," He soothed.

  "I don't want to -ow- I don't want to hurt you!" 

"You can hold on as tight as you need, I promise you won't hurt me, love," He said, brushing your hair out of your face. 

"Another thing you're going to regret saying!" you yelled, grasping him as tight as you could. 

As soon as the pain eased, you let go of his hand. "Sorry, sorry, I'm so sorry, are you ok?"  

"Stop worrying about me, I'm not the one having a baby right now! You're not hurting me, and even if you were, I wouldn't say anything because the only thing that matters right now is you and our little bean in there." He leaned towards you, pressing his lips to your belly. "By the way, how are you doing in there, little bean?"  He paused before smiling up at you. “She says she’s doing just fine, and she’s very excited to meet us.”

Your labor continued like this for a few more hours, with you constantly apologizing and him constantly telling you it was fine. 

Your pain only got worse as the hours went on. Eventually, you stopped caring what you said to Harry, instead opting to blurt out whatever came to your mind. You figured it was ok. He had given you a free pass, after all. 

"I hate you so much, you did this to me!" You cried, still not letting go of his hand.

  "I know, I know, I'm sorry, it's my fault," He soothed, handing you a cup of ice chips. 

"I'm sorry again, I don't really hate you, I just-" you cried out again. "Nevermind, I actually really, really do hate you!" 

"I know, but you're doing so well, love, and soon we'll get to see our baby girl. Just keep thinking of her, our precious little jellybean," He said, wiping a tear from your face. 

A midwife came in, explaining that she just needs to examine you quickly. Then she looked up at you, smiling. "It looks like it's time to push. Are you ready to meet your baby?" 

You looked into Harry's eyes, breaking into a smile. 

"We finally get to see our bean."

  It was official. You had never seen anything more precious. You looked down at the tiny pink bundle in your arms, and you smiled so hard it hurt. 

Harry was sitting on the bed next to you, arm around your shoulder. 

"So... do you still hate me?"  

You rolled your eyes, smacking his arm. 

"Just a little bit. My vagina really hurts." 

He laughed, reaching over to stroke the baby's cheek.  "Yeah, that's my bad." He said, smiling. "She's just... so amazing," He beamed. "I'm already in love." 

"Me too," You giggled. 

"Look! She grabbed my finger!" He whispered excitedly. 

"Looks like she loves you just as much," You said, smiling. 

"I know,” He said admiringly. “Now that she's actually here, we should really pick a name," He said, not taking his eyes off her face.

"Yes, right, we have to-" You gasped when she opened her tiny eyes and looked up at you. "Harry! She has your eyes!" 

"Oh, she does, and she's just so adorable," He cooed, beaming. "Wait, no, I keep getting distracted by how cute she is. The name. I don't think she looks like a Cristina. Sorry, but... I think she looks like a Brooke."

"Well, of course you want to go with Brooke, that's the name you already picked."

  "Hey hey, I said I liked Brooke AND Amelia. Since I vetoed Cristina, I... will make the ultimate sacrifice and let you pick from those two." He said, very dramatically. 

"That's very kind of you," You said, smiling. "But... actually..." 

"What is it, love?" 

"Well- I don't know if you... I thought, maybe..." 

"Y/N, what is it? It's fine if you want to pick something different, but just know I'll always hold it over your head how ironic this is, how you got mad at me for being indecisive about car seats and yet here we are-" 

"What if we call her Stevie?" You rushed out, blushing when he stopped abruptly.

For the millionth time today, his smile seemed to light up the entire room. 

"You want to call her Stevie? As in- really?" 

"I mean- only if you're ok with it- if you don't like it we can go back to Brooke-" 

He cut you off, pressing a sweet kiss to your lips. 

"I would love to call her Stevie,” He said, grinning as he pulled away.

"Ok, good," You said, sighing in relief. "Because that would have been really awkward if you said no." 

He laughed, hugging you closer. 

"I have to call Stevie- not the baby, but the other- you know who I mean- she's going to be so excited," He said, smiling. "But maybe not right now- I just need a few more minutes to look at her." 

You beamed, resting your head on his shoulder.

#Harry Styles #harry styles/reader #harry styles/you #harry styles/reader fanfiction #fanfiction #fluff #baby #babies #pregnancy #dad!harry #stevie fics #harry styles x you #harry styles x reader #harry styles x you fanfiction #harry styles x reader fanfiction #harry styles/you fanfiction

[pixie88]

Charlie

Chapter 11 - Together - Adam & Ellie.

A/N: This chapter is from both M!MC & F!MC POV. I cried at this chapter, you would think for someone who’s given birth 4 times I shouldn’t have to Google what labour is like but my only “normal” labour was over 10 years ago now and the other 3 have been very very fast labours. It is a fast forward chapter sorry but I like doing this series like this but this is also why I haven’t added a DOB because of the fast forward timeline haha. I hope you like it! 😘

If you like it let me know or if you don’t still tell me why I won’t be offended!

I am only tagging those who have asked to be tagged in this series from now on as I don’t want to annoying people with tags. So Let me know if you would like to be tagged and if I missed anyone sorry just let  me know! 

Find previous chapters HERE under Together - Adam & Ellie.

Word count: 1803

WARNINGS: ⚠️ Fluffy fluff, Mild NSFW & adult language.

Pairings: Adam x Ellie.

Enjoy!

M!MC POV

15 Weeks later.

"You can do this Ellie"

Tears are streaming down her face "I can't! It hurts..AHHHHHH!"

"Ellie, look at me, you can do this just breathe. You got this beautiful"

She takes deep breaths on the gas and air, "Now Ellie, I just need to check if we are there yet so after this contraction I'll see how we are doing" April the midwife tells her.

(Her water broke at half 7 this morning just as I got up for work. The contractions started lunch time. It's 2 days until Charlie's due date. I wish I could take the pain away)

I move out the way for April "Has that one gone?" she nods.

"Right, let's have a look" the midwife checks Ellie over "Well, good news you've hit 10 centimeters"

"Another one is com.....Ahhhh!"

I take her hand "Right, now Ellie. I need you to put all your energy into pushing. With your next contraction can you give me a small gentle push. Put your chin to your chest as you push"

She pants while she waits for the next contraction, it isn't long before it's here. Instead of screaming Ellie puts all her effort into pushing "Ellie, that is brilliant! Remember to breathe, small, gentle pushes"

Her grip on my hand tightens, she gasps "That one has gone. How much longer until he's here"

"I think with a few more pushes we'll have the head"

I kiss her knuckles "You're doing amazing beautiful"

"What? Even though I'm nearly breaking your hand?" she smiles.

"Break it! Squeeze as hard as you can if that's what you need"

"Here com..."

"That's it! That's it Ellie, small pushes. I can see the head"April tells her.

A few more pushes later "That's the head out Ellie" She started panting "Next contraction and he'll be here!"

"Oh god here it..." she starts pushing again.

"Here he is" April looks up at the clock "8:05 PM"

"Ellie, You did it, he's here!!" I well up.

"Would you like skin to skin contact?" Ellie nods tears streaming down her face as April places him against her chest under her hospital grown.

"Adam, he's here. He's really here!"

I kiss her forehead "He is!! I'm so proud of you beautiful"

"Would Daddy like to cut the cord?"

"Yeah, I'll give it ago" lifting the grown she turns Charlie (He's so tiny! He's sucking his fingers. He's gorgeous)

"Right, just cut here" the scissors cut through the cord.

Ellie's smiling at me, my heart has never felt so full.

A little while later, after Ellie delivers the afterbirth, vitamin K, stitches, April places Charlie on the weighing scales "Lets see how much you weigh you little beaut.....7lbs 7oz. Now let's give you daddy, so he can dress you, then is mummy breast feeding?"

"I think I'm going to do a bit of both?"

"Great while daddy is getting him dressed why don't you grab a shower or bath and I'll grab you a hot drink and some toast"

Later we are taken up to the neonatal unit where, I get up onto the bed with her, I pull her to me, kiss the top of her head "Ellie, Thank you" I whisper.

She looks up at me, she looks absolutely shattered "Thank you? For what?" she whispers back.

"For giving me a baby. Making me a dad"

She lets out small laugh "I think you'll find you gave me him first. So, thank you!"

I laugh, "True, but you grew him and did the hardest part"

"And I couldn't have done it without you! Adam, we're parents!!"

We both drift off.

1:38 AM

I hear Charlie stirring I pick him up out of the cot bed, I look over to Ellie who is still asleep.

"Hey little man, we need to be quiet. Mummy needs her rest" not wanting to wake her, I give Charlie a bottle, burp him and change his nappy.

Luckily April helped me do it downstairs "Right, we need to remember, we wipe what we see. That's what she told us, isn't it?" after I've changed him, place him on my chest he soon asleep again, I place him in his cot again.

~*~*~*~

4:23 AM

"Such a good boy! Well done!" I hear Ellie whisper. I wake to see her breastfeeding Charlie, she spots me "Hey, go back to sleep. We have this don't we!"

"I didn't hear him stir"

She smiles "I got up to use the toilet when I came back, he was just starting to wake. His nappy isn't full. It's weird!"

I laugh, sit up to kiss her cheek "Weird!" I pull out my phone.

*9 New Messages*

The first one is from Mum.

11:47 PM

[Oh, Adam he's beautiful. My first grandchild 😍 Congratulations to you both and well done to that superstar daughter inlaw. We are at the airport our flight leaves in 20 minutes. We'll see you when you all get home. Well done Adam! We are proud of you both. We love you x]

The next is from Mel.

11:48 PM

[Congratulations!! He is absolutely gorgeous! I can't wait for cuddles with my new grandson 🥰 Well done both of you. Saving that photo as my screen saver. I can't believe I'm a nanna. Thank you so much for sending that. Tell Ellie I've been shopping for you guys all packed and put away. See you guys soon 😊]

Tom.

11:49 PM

[Well done El's and well done Adam....do you have an x-ray booked to make sure she hasn't broken any bones in your hand! Haha. Seriously I'm so happy for you two! Congratulations. My nephew is going to be a little heart breaker that's for sure. Can't wait to meet him]

Nan.

11:50 PM

[How much does he look like you as a baby Adam. He's beautiful. Congratulations mummy and daddy and well done mummy! I saw Mel at yours earlier so I popped in a lasagna in the fridge for you both. You just need to heat it in the oven. I've also done a few batch meals and stuck them in the freezer, there is chilli which Mel got a couple of packets of that ping rice for. There is also bolognese in there you will have to cook the spaghetti and there's a few other bits all labelled for you. So no need cook for a while. Xxx]

There is a few more from other friends.

F!MC POV

"Are you ready beautiful?"

I look up at him "This is it! We get to go home"

"As a family of 3" he places a soft kiss on my lips.

I go to pick up my bag "Don't even think about it Ellie," I hear Adam over my shoulder, I roll my eyes.

"OK, hulk but you can't carry Charlie in his car seat and this bag"

He takes it off me "I can! Now let's get you two home"

We walk down to the car Adam clips Charlie's seat onto the Isofix, I get into the passengers seat.

20 Minutes later we pull up to the house once inside Adam ushers me upstairs to have a bath. I hear Charlie and my breast start to leak "Adam! I'll be down in a second" I quickly brush my hair and head down.

In the living room Adam is on the sofa with Charlie, he passes him over, but Charlie doesn't want to latch on. "Here I got one of the formula ready made bottles out for him" Adam hands me a bottle.

I look at the coffee table and spot them, there are flowers and chocolates on the table. "Who's that from?"

I look at him confused "have a look," he smirks.

He picks up the card out of the flowers. The front of the card reads BEAUTIFUL!

"They are from you!" I melt.

"I got Lisa to make them up for me and Nan to bring them round early this morning"

"They are beautiful! Thank you"

He leans in, his lips brush against mine "No! Thank you!" Adam kisses the top of Charlies head "I love his smell"

"New baby smell"

"I had a text from Mum and your mum they wanted to come round today, but I've told them maybe it best to leave it until tomorrow"

"Give us a chance to settle in first" I smile.

"Yeah, that and I wanted my little family to myself a little while longer" he grins.

~*~*~*~

The next day

Mum, Tom, Nina, Al and Elaine are over for lunch.

Elaine made a platter of sandwiches and snacky bits, "He has your nose Ellie" Nina is cuddling Charlie.

"I hope his eyes change to Adams" Adam squeezes my hand.

"They can change up to a year old" mum says.

"How did he sleep last night?" Tom asks.

"He only woke once!"

I hear a low chuckle coming from Adam, I turn, and he's smiling "Twice actually"

"He did? Why didn't you wake me?"

He smiles, "You looked so peace sleeping. Plus that's what I'm here for"

"Adam & Ellie, your dad and I got something for Charlie. Al go and grab it" Al gets up and walks to the hallway before bringing in a big box.

"I know you have a cot and a moses basket but Sophie's daughter had one for her little boy and swears by it"

"What is it?" Adam asks.

"Next to you crib"

"Oh, wow thank you both" I smile.

~*~*~*~

4 Weeks later I've finished Charlies night feed and put him back down.

I slip back into bed Adams arms come around me, pulling me tight against him "Did someone have a naughty dream?" I whisper as I feel his hard member against the curves of my arse.

"Maybe...its torture not doing anything about it"

I laugh "Just because we can't do that doesn't mean I can't do anything!"

I feel his body tease up "What?" he whispers against my neck.

I turn to face him "There are other ways I can help you scratch a certain itch" I start kissing his neck and push him onto his back.

I trail down his chest until I reach his inner thigh "Ellie, you don't have to"

I smile against him "I want to," I pull down his boxer springing him free, he gasps as I wet the tip.

"Fuck!"

"Shhh! You'll wake Charlie!"

~*~*~*~

The next morning "Ellie, your mum is here!" Adam calls up from downstairs.

"OK, I'll be down in a bit" I make my way downstairs, Adam is at the bottom.

"She in the living room cuddling up to Charlie. Are you excited?"

"Aww, bless her! Super excited!" I smile.

"I find it funny you own a bridal shop but you're going to another to get your wedding dress!"

Continue reading this story here - Chapter 12.

@lem-20​ @aussieez​ @khoicesbyk​ @shewillreadyou​ @txemrn​ @irisofpurple​

[capri-ramblings]

Hi! Can I get some hcs about Leech twins, Ruggie and Jack's S/o who have good physical health? They can outrun their lovers or catch up with the boys while running, can do parkour and stuff...

imagining their s/o just going "I'm fast,I'm real fast" 😂 was all that ran into my head while writing this lmao, anyways, I'm slow on asks atm cause some of them are long and specific so I must align my braincells properly, but in the meantime I'll work on the shorter ones! Hope you like these Headcanons! (◕ᴗ◕✿)

Jade Leech

- He's incredibly pleased

- And dare I say extremely aroused by it?

- The fact that his s/o can outrun even the Savanaclaw students means they're capable and not someone he has to look after 24/7 (although he wouldn't mind if he had to)

- With their athletic skill, it also benefits Octavinelle, so Jade sees this as an important asset

- He tends to ask for their help in catching any wayward deal breakers who thought running was a good option and of course his S/O gladly lends a hand

- Jade makes sure they take good care of themselves though, going as far as monitoring their diet and sleeping habits, and if they show signs of being slightly sluggish, he doesn't hesitate to act, which means he sets limitations for them.

- And if they're stubborn about it?

- Well, that won't be a problem. He'll just have Azul trick them into a contract, being one of his slaves is the last thing they want to end up as after all.

- "Don't think you'll be able to run from me just because you're faster,___"

- He'll laugh whenever they try to fight him into submission and often time teases them for being so easily cornered

- However, depending on his moods, Jade will some times let them have their way, pushing their bodies limits, because a little chase from time to time is good sport, isn't it?

Floyd Leech

- He's thrilled and frankly amused.

- An S/O who can outrun him and has no problem jumping over difficult obstacles with ease? Sign him up.

- He just adores how fast they are and it never fails to excite him

- "Nee, Koebi-chan, I'll give you a headstart,okay?"

- Daily games of cat and mouse isn't an odd sight at all from you both since Floyd sees this as a chance to satisfy his slightly sadistic nature and get into good shape

- He also gets a kick of seeing the other Dorm students lose to them in most physical activities

- Although unlike his brother,Floyd doesn't know limitations.

- They're tired? He'll give them a twenty minute headstart then. That's more than enough to rest and run from him, right?

- Eventually,his S/O might have to tell him directly that they're human and need enough rest which results in him getting annoyed

- Because of this, his s/o and him tend to have small episodes of fighting where Jade has to break them up and tend to his brother's partner before they end up passing out from exhaustion

- Floyd doesn't like it when Jade has to care for his s/o but surprisingly enough,when Jade gets involved, he doesn't seem to intervene.

- Afterwards, due to frustration and a hint of jealousy, the next time his s/o reaches their limits again, he'll make sure Jade isn't around to help them when he corners them.

- "Koebi-chan,since you're so tired, why not let me give you a quick squeeze? It's not like you can fight back anyways,so stay still and be a good shrimp for me,okay?"

Ruggie Buchi

- He finds it impressive but also troublesome

- "With naturally coded genes like that and their stubborn attitude,trouble is all they'll be stirring up..."

- He'll teach them a few tricks about running around small places or how to get rid of people in large spaces, since he grew up in a neighborhood where being nimble and agile were key points to survive, he makes sure his s/o has the upper hand too.

- "I'm fine with you being thick headed and all, but at least your body won't get in the way of that talent"

- He has a slight competitive attitude to it as well but it's nothing so serious, he just wished he was born as naturally fit as that since in his case he had to build his body into the same state out of pure survival instinct.

- When he overhears people compliment them for their physique, Ruggie feels a sense of joy and pride, though don't expect him to say so aloud of course.

- "If compliments is all I give you, I'll be unleashing hell on everyone.... especially on myself"

- He gets them to help him with Leona obviously, things like tracking down the second Prince and cleaning or getting the other Dorm students into one place. It helps a lot when he doesn't have to run around all by himself

- Whenever a semester ends and he goes back home and they wanna tag along, Ruggie loves it when he sees them playing around with the other kids and never fails to tease them about always losing to kids when it comes to running through the narrow alleys.

- "Heh,I guess even with your skills you still can't catch up to a bunch of street kids, huh? You keep glaring at me like that and you're gonna end up losing to me too,dummy!"

Jack Howl

- He admires it and doesn't shy away from pointing it out in public

- Especially when they're always working hard to maintain their stamina and endurance.

- With a s/o like this, Jack has them join him in his training regimen and sees it as quality bonding time because physical interaction is better than any other kind isn't it?

- When he says that he doesn't really get why they laugh at him, not really realising how most people would interpret it.

- Surprisingly enough, he isn't as agile as his s/o and whenever he sees them twisting their body and doing all sorts of risky Parkour stunts, he just has this fluttering sensation in his stomach

- Ace teases him about it and says that it's like seeing a small kid admiring some kind of epic hero, and Jack just goes, "Well, they're pretty amazing, aren't they?"

- Cue the blushing wolf boy when Ace tells Cater and Trey about it and the Heartslyabul boys taking advantage to make fun of the usually stiff Jack Howl

- Jack's reaction to this kind of s/o is similar to how he feels towards Leona, admiration minus the frustration of course

- They motivate him to always give it his best and to take care of his health along with theirs as well and whenever he feels like something is impossible his s/o becomes his focus point

- A bit cliché but with a s/o like this the relationship would probably start off with them being close friends with Jack before both confessing their feelings and becoming a couple

#twisted wonderland #twst #twst wonderland #twisted wonderland scenarios #twisted wonderland fanfic #twisted wonderland headcanon #jade leech #twst jade #floyd leech #twst floyd #jack howl #twst jack #twst mc

[the-blind-assassin-12]

See You in New York (part four)

A/N: WOAH ARE WE ALL CURRENTLY IN THE SAME HALLUCINATION OR DID I ACTUALLY UPDATE THIS STORY?! The first might seem more feasible, actually, but strangely enough its the latter. I’m sorry this story went on such a long hiatus and I am very happy to have it back on track...sort of...Anyway. In case you forgot because it’s been eleventy five years, you and Logan are on the ferry on your way to show him the sights from Liberty Island. Oh, yeah...and you have some news to share with him before that part of your day is up. How will he take it? 

Word Count: 5,710 

*parts 1-3 and the intro to this series Services No Longer Required are available on my masterlist under the Logan Delos tab* 

Slow down, Delos. A few months ago, the warning would have come from you, reminding him not to get too drunk or too handsy, not to cause a scene. He would have rolled his eyes and groaned, displaying his distaste for censoring his behavior. But for once in his life, the warning came from himself. For once, Logan refrained from flinging himself headlong into the abyss of whatever new vice had taken hold, tried instead to take his time. For once, Logan resolved to take one step at a time, to be in every moment instead of skipping several steps ahead of himself. It’s worth it, she’s… He turned towards you. She’s different. I’m different because of her. With your hand on his thigh and your shoulder leaning into his, you anchored him in that resolve. He pushed away thoughts of pushing you up against the railing of the ferry and kissing you so indecently that even New Yorkers would stare. There’ll be time for that later, he told himself as you tucked a piece of hair behind your ear before smiling up at him. Plenty of time.

As the ferry cut through the gray blue water of the Hudson leaving white caps in its wake, you promised him the most amazing view of the city skyline. “It’s a good day for this, Logan. The sky is clear, so you’ll be able to see everything.” 

He smiled, nodding. But even if the sky was full of clouds, even if rain fell in sheets to force the two of you to take cover, even if the wind whipped the water into choppy waves, it would still be a good day for him because he was spending it with you. The sun reflecting off the rippling surface made the whole river seem to sparkle and shine. It made the chipped paint and weathered, dated appearance of the ferry feel fresh and new, and Logan couldn’t help but compare himself to the old boat. I bet it’s seen some rocky waters, too. He shifted his eyes to the side, looking down at you from behind his sunglasses as his thumb moved slowly over the skin of your far shoulder. No more rocky waves for me. 

There was still a lot about him and his past that you didn’t know, but the things that he had shared with you hadn’t scared you off, and he had no intention of repeating old mistakes or falling back into bad habits. He knew his limitations and he knew how to keep himself in check. In truth, Logan had been doing just fine before he met you. Finding stability on his own and regaining the control he’d lost over his company had defied nearly everyone’s expectations of him, and while when he was younger he found the lack of confidence from others to be discouraging, he almost welcomed the chance to prove people wrong now. He didn’t need anyone to quantify his happiness or to keep him in line. Getting this chance to have you in his life would simply give him the opportunity to share that happiness with someone else, someone who did believe in him, who saw him and didn’t flinch at the truth. 

But that doesn’t mean I have to rush it. This is… He inhaled a deep breath through his nose as he felt you give a light squeeze on his thigh, calling his attention to the way that the sunlight was hitting the glass panes that made up the flame at the top of Lady Liberty’s torch. He glanced up at where you were pointing, the golden yellow beams refracting to make it look like real fire. But he was quickly drawn back down to you, to the way that that same light was igniting your eyes. To him it was just as stunning as the glass. Letting out the breath he’d held in his chest, he continued stroking his fingertips absently down over your bicep, slipping his pinky beneath the strap of your dress. We have time. 

When Logan first realized that he had developed feelings for you, he tried to push them away. He was in the middle of recovering his public image from scandalous, albeit false, accusations regarding his behavior with female employees and coworkers, and so he knew that starting something with the very woman who had been brought in to clean up that mess was that last thing that he should be doing. For weeks he ignored the fact that every time you passed his office and flashed a smile or a polite wave, it made his pulse quicken. He shook off the fact that your laugh as the two of you ate lunch together was becoming one of his favorite sounds, even as he’d find himself storing up things to say to you in hopes that he’d get to hear it. He overlooked all of the signs that he was falling for the one person who was supposed to be off limits. And it didn’t work. Grinning to himself, he recalled the way it felt to bet high and go all in with you at the end of your contract, taking a chance and asking you to take one on him. Best way I’ve ever closed out a contract.

But even though things had ended almost exactly as he’d wanted them to, he’d felt rushed for time. He’d known that he had exactly one chance to show you that he was interested, and needing to wait for that one chance until the very last day of your contract had only made it feel more desperate and dire. But now there’s no expiration date, no last day. He felt a warmth in his chest that had nothing to do with the sunlight or the statue’s torch and everything to do with your hand on his leg and the chance you’d given him. Now we can...it can be normal. I can take my time. 

Having to wait the two weeks between dropping you off at LAX and seeing you again at LGA had been tough. Logan was used to instant gratification. When there was something he wanted or needed he didn’t wait, he found a way to have it now. In some aspects of his life it had served him well. In business, it made him a harsh negotiator, and in his personal life it gave him a sense of accomplishment to be able to provide for himself at such a high level. It also meant that he dove head first into pools he would have noticed were too shallow had he only been more careful. It was, he knew, a trait that made him more prone than others to fall victim to addiction, and it was something he worked to balance within himself daily. Normally, a two week delay between the moment that he knew he wanted you and the moment that he actually got to have you would have been a deal breaker. Even if he’d looked past the waiting, the fact that this was about as long distance a relationship as two Americans could possibly have would have doomed it from the get go. Different time zones? All those miles? So many closer, more convenient options? Normally, none of this would have made any sense to him. 

But with you, it simply did. Everything with you had been different from the very start. You’d taken the time to get to know him, the real him, not the Logan Delos in the papers, not the one in the boardroom or the ballroom or the bedroom. Him. You knew useless things about him, like which condiments he used on what food items, or that he only used yellow highlighters on paperwork. But you also noticed little details that pointed to parts of him that he wasn’t used to sharing. Like how you could tell from how he undid the top two buttons of his shirt whether or not he was stressed or just trying to get comfortable. If it was the former, he’d slowly trail his pointer finger horizontally under his chin. There wasn’t a scar there because the blade had just barely broken the skin, but when he was stuck on something or upset with an outcome, it was as though he could still feel the cold steel of the knife William had threatened him with in the desert. You’d only seen him do it once or twice when you’d made the correlation between the negligible motion and what he was thinking and feeling, and it took him completely by surprise. No one would notice that. Juliet doesn’t even know that, and she knows everything. 

You didn’t even know the whole story of what had happened on that trip to the park, but you picked up on one of the residual phantoms from it that Logan still carried. I’ll tell her. I’ll… she needs to know. All of it. The ferry began to turn towards the slips at the end of the dock on Liberty Island, and you pulled away from him to sit up straight, gathering your bag and making sure you had all of your belongings. But not… it doesn’t have to be all at once. He let his hand slide down your arm before unwinding it from around your shoulders, bringing it up to comb through his hair. It’s not a rush. I can...we can take things slow. You turned back to him then as you slung your bag over your shoulder, and he had to hold back a throaty groan at the way your lips pressed together before spreading into a grin, cheeks disappearing under the lenses of your glasses. Damn. He was thrilled to be out with you, carefree and relaxed. But I can’t wait to get her back to that hotel room tonight.

“What’s that look for, Delos?” You let your smile curve up one side of your face until it was a smirk. 

Oh you know exactly what it’s for. Logan pulled his sunglasses off and folded the arms to hang them from the neckline of his tee. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, buzzkill.” He shrugged, trying and failing to keep from giving himself away, laughing as you playfully smacked his arm. 

The boat lurched as the captain maneuvered it further to completely dock, and Logan took advantage of the shift and the way it drew your attention elsewhere to wrap his arms around you again, crushing you close and swallowing your laughter with a kiss. Sucking your bottom lip between his teeth, he bit down with gentle pressure as your fingers curled in the material of his shirt. You hummed as he pulled away, and the sound was almost enough to launch him into another, more involved kiss. Slow down, damnit. He brought one hand up to your ear, eyes focused on the earring you wore and the way his sudden attack had caused it to flip around. 

“What are you-” you sucked in a breath as he used his thumb and pointer finger to fix the earring, your eyes falling closed as his touch ran down the side of your neck. 

“There.” He smiled as you blinked up at him, enjoying knowing that he’d just put that look on your face, and that there wasn’t any other face he wanted to see that look on but yours. Damn. Standing, he reached for your hand and pulled you to your feet as well, deciding that if he didn’t get up that second, he wasn’t sure if he could justify moving from that bench on that ferry with you. “C’mon, you promised me some views.” 

You laced your fingers tightly through his and squeezed. “And I always deliver on my promises.” You paused long enough to wink and he was sure you heard the groan in the back of his throat as he wondered what other types of promises you’d make to him. “Let’s go.” Good idea. 

Logan let you lead the way off of the ferry and onto the island, following a crowd of tourists towards the base of the enormous green statue. Shit, it’s a lot bigger in person than you think it is… He felt his eyes widen in genuine appreciation for the massive structure in front of him. People built that. He gave a minute shake of his head, staring at one large sandaled foot where it stood planted on the multi-storied pedestal you were leading him towards. 

“Speechless already, Logan?” You tugged on the hand that you held and he tore his amazed expression away from the statue and looked down at you. “Wait until you see it from the top.” With that, you changed direction and started leading him towards a different entrance. 

“Where are we-” He looked back over his shoulder at the line forming in front of the main entrance. 

“That’s the general admission entrance,” you explained, a hint of mischief coloring your voice that excited him. “But I pulled some strings and called in a favor I had with a friend of mine who...well really he’s a friend of Cynthia’s, but,” you sighed through a smile, reaching up to remove your sunglasses as you stepped into the shade. “Long story short? We’re not waiting in any lines.” 

You shoved your sunglasses into your purse and dug around for your phone, pulling it out and scrolling through your email to find the digital passes you’d been sent that would get you inside and up to the top without having to share the experience with dozens of strangers. You showed it to the guard at the door you’d lead Logan to, and he nodded, saying something into the walkie he had clipped to his shoulder as he opened the door for the two of you. “Wait right inside, Byron will be right down, he knows you’re coming. You two enjoy your visit,” he said as you both stepped inside. 

You both thanked the man as he pulled the door shut again, and Logan’s surprise only grew as he turned to you. “I thought you said you were showin’ me the real New York.” He cocked his head in the direction of the long lines out front. “Doesn’t that mean-” 

“No,” you cut him off holding up one finger and waving it before you pressed it to the middle of his chest to pull a chuckle from him. “First of all, real New Yorkers don’t come here because it’s always full of field trips and family vacations and there are plenty of other places in the city to take pictures. But,” you pulled the finger away from his chest and waved it once more. “If we have to partake in the touristy side of the city, we do it in style. I’m doing this for you here, Delos, not, oh!” 

“I know.” He’d pulled you quickly to his side then, lips landing near your temple. I know you are, and I… no one’s ever done anything like this for me before. “Thank you.” 

“Logan, you’re…” your voice came out as a strained whisper before you cleared your throat. “You’re welcome.” 

The elevator at the end of the small hallway dinged as the doors slid open before he could say anything else, a man in a uniform similar to the one the guard was wearing emerging from the car. He gave you a bright smile and greeted you by name. You introduced the man to Logan, explaining that you’d met him a handful of times through Cynthia, who had known Byron since their college days. 

“Thanks again for doing this for us, Byron, I really do appreciate it.” You followed the man as he headed back towards the elevator he’d come from.

He laughed. “Of course, it’s not every day a woman like Cynthia comes calling for a favor, and once I heard that it was for you, darling?” Byron flashed a large, good-natured grin. “I was happy to do it.” 

“What exactly is goin’ on?” Logan couldn’t help but ask the question as he stepped into the elevator with you and Byron. I thought I knew what today was gonna be like but… this… He glanced over at you to catch your smile widening. 

“She didn’t tell you?” Byron’s eyebrows flew up on his forehead as he pointed to you, and Logan shook his head no. The other man laughed, the sound hearty and genuine. “Oh then you’re in for a surprise, Mr. Delos.” 

Logan was about to press the issue further when you spoke. “Just hang in there a few more seconds, Logan. You said you trusted me to surprise you, right?” I sure do. He nodded, and without missing a beat you reached up to fix a strand of hair that had fallen over his eyes. “Okay, so trust me.” 

He heard Byron’s muffled laugh as the man tried to cover it up with his hand but his eyes were focused on you. Damn. The way she… “Okay,” he nodded. 

“Okay,” Bryon pointed to the lights above the door, the top floor lighting up just as a soft ding sounded. “Here we are. I’ll be just outside here, you’ve got about twenty minutes between tours so,” the elevator door opened to show a small vestibule area, and a set of doors with a small sign over the top that read just one word: crown. “Enjoy.” 

You thanked him again and pulled Logan towards the door, but he paused, pointing up to the sign, one side of his smile pulling his cheek further up his face than the other. “The crown? That mean we’re-”

“No one gets to come up here alone, Logan.” You grinned, your smile changing your voice to make it lighter. “Well, no one but us.” 

Us. The small word sent a big rush through him and he inhaled through his nose as he let you pull him the rest of the way through the doors and into the observation deck of the crown level. He was overwhelmed by the combination of big things and small gestures, special moments and mundane ones all mixed together. And it’s not even...it’s just noon and we’re… 

But his thoughts were completely scattered as he took in the sight before him, mouth dropping open and a breath slipping out. Damn. The inside of the Statue of Liberty’s crown was far less glamorous than the outside, exposed steel beams and grated flooring making the small room feel more like a construction zone than a monument, but it was the arched window panes and the light coming through them that caught and held Logan’s attention. Beyond the glass he could see the river the two of you had just crossed, glittering between the island and the city, and he felt himself drawn towards the view, glancing back once at you before stepping up to the windows. “This is…” He leaned his hand against a beam and looked out. 

“Yeah,” you stepped up next to him, ducking under the arm he had propped against the beam, looking out the window and leaning into him slightly. With a sigh you continued. “It’s pretty beautiful, isn’t it?” Something in the sigh made him snap his attention down to you, but you’d already moved on to the next set of windows before he could bring it up. What was that? “I’m gonna,” you waved your phone and rolled your eyes. “I’m gonna play tourist and take some pictures. You should look out over there,” you pointed to a particular window. “The view facing that direction is-” 

“Alright,” he decided to let it go, figuring that you’d tell him if anything was wrong. What could be wrong, anyway? We’re… this is… she’s amazing. 

He watched you turn back towards the window you’d been walking to, eyes drawn to the way that the skirt of your dress twirled around your knees, and it was difficult to peel them off of you and train his vision back on the skyline and the reason that you’d brought him here. She’s the real reason, though. He felt another warm rush pulse through his chest as he let himself get lost in the view and the woman who had lead him to it. 

After a few minutes had passed, Logan straightened up and took a step back from the window. He turned towards where you stood, still gazing out on the far side of the curved platform. The view that had just stolen his breath, of the sun reflecting in diamonds off of the river and the shrunken city on the other side, had been one of the most impressive things he’d ever seen. And that’s saying a lot. Logan had had no shortage of unique, once in a lifetime experiences- things most people, including you, could only dream of. But this is different. This wasn’t new or cutting edge or high tech. Yet it was something that he hadn’t even thought to dream of- precisely because of what it wasn’t. He could only see half of your face as you continued to soak up your city from above, but he could tell that you were smiling from the slight rise of your cheek. I never would have done this if it weren’t for her. “Hey,” he added your name, loving the way it rolled off his tongue, and you turned, sunlight streaming in from behind you. 

“Hi,” you answered, darkening the screen on your phone and stepping over to where Logan stood. 

“You get some good pictures?” He pointed to the phone you held, but his eyes hadn’t left your face. You nodded. “Good. C’mere.” He reached for you and took the phone from your hand, explaining himself before you had a chance to ask what he was doing. “Need one more.” At that he brought up the camera app and held the phone out in front of the two of you, pulling you close enough to kiss but refraining and snapping the picture in the seconds before his lips met yours. That’s gonna be a good one. He hadn’t checked it but he didn’t need to, and he slipped your phone into your purse where it hung from your shoulder without even breaking the kiss. When he finally did pull away, you hummed and placed both hands on his chest to steady yourself. “Ya know,” he leaned in to run the tip of his nose over yours before pressing his lips against your cheek. “I think I’m really startin’ to like New York.” 

..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..

Shit. You stiffened in his arms and you knew that he felt it, even if he continued to let his hands roam over your waist and shoulder, and his lips claimed every inch of skin between your mouth and your ear. You sucked in a breath as he walked you back slowly until your back touched the cool glass of one of the window panes. The sensation of the glass and his hands on your body was almost too much, but you couldn’t let it eclipse what he’d just said. Or what I have to tell him.  

“Oh?” You managed the one word question between kisses, letting your hands travel up over the plane of his chest to his shoulders. He responded by humming an Mmhmm against your skin, making you shudder. “And…” your breath hitched as you clutched his shirt. “And what makes you say that?” 

“The company,” he answered, moving one hand from the small of your back to the front of your body, letting it climb up the side of your ribcage. “I can see myself comin’ back  to visit,” he nipped at the earring he’d fixed earlier before speaking around it. “Often.” 

Shit. 

Before you could say anything else, he surprised you by continuing to alternate between speaking and dragging his teeth over your skin. “I like that I get to come see you.” 

“Logan…” You knew you couldn’t let the moment go on without telling him about your move, but you weren’t sure that he heard you. You could barely hear yourself from the way that he was leaving you breathless. 

“Leavin’s gonna fuckin’ suck,” he pressed his nose into your hair and inhaled before changing positions to give the same attention to the other side of your neck and your other ear. “But,” he ran his teeth over the outer shell of your ear and you hissed. “It’ll mean I have somethin’ to look forward to, comin’ back here. And it means I’ll have to be patient. And you know what that means-” 

It was time to earn your nickname. 

“Logan, I...I have to tell you something.” You groaned as his thumb found the triangle of exposed skin at the top of your abdomen, his lips roaming the slope of your shoulder before he took the strap of your dress between his teeth. But if you keep doing that I…

“Yeah?” He released the fabric from his mouth and the hand he had on your hip came up to the base of your skull, the thumb of his other hand still pressing lightly into your flesh. Your grip on his shirt tightened as he walked you back another step. “Go ahead’n tell me then.” You could feel him smiling as he said it, lips pressing to the top of your shoulder again as you felt the cool glass behind you. 

Closing your eyes, you tried to quiet the thundering beats of your heart but they only seemed to echo in the empty observation deck. But between his touch and the diminishing space between your body and his you could feel yourself losing that battle, and it was only a matter of time before his chest was pressed to yours, only a matter of time until he could feel it for himself. You let out a sigh as your head tilted to the left, and you felt yourself give up. Can’t… not when he’s… 

“Thought you hadta tell me somethin’.” His beard brushed your cheek as his warm breath tickled your ear. “ What is it?” 

“You’re not-” Your words were cut short as he leaned his hips forward, pinning you in place. Shit. 

“M’not what?” He kissed the skin behind your ear and for a moment you thought about abandoning the confession entirely. But I have to… He needs to know and… 

“You’re not gonna like it, Logan.” Your voice was thin, barely a whisper as you opened your eyes. 

He pulled away then but didn't take his hands from you, palms relaxing but maintaining contact. “Hey,” his dark eyes found yours and locked on, softening. “What is it? You’re...worryin’ me a little here.” 

“I’m sorry, I,” you shook your head and let out a breath. “I don’t… you don’t have to worry, I just… Look.” You sighed and brought both of your hands up to your head, combing your nails back over your scalp as Logan dropped his hands from your body. “I know why you like this… why you like New York, and why you like that I live here and not…” 

He spoke your name and tilted his head. “What are you...what do you-” 

“I know you, Logan.” I do. “I know that you like the distance because it means we can’t… that you can’t rush into something, or that we won’t burn out and spend too much time together too soon or-” 

“Kinda blew that one before he had a shot though, didn’t we? Spent every day together for six months.” He brought one hand up to your face to tilt it back up to his, and you saw questions swimming in his eyes. “So what is it?”

“Logan, I’m…” Just say it for fuck’s sake. “Remember when I told you that Cynthia had me on a new project?” 

“Yeah, of course.” His eyebrows came together as creases formed in his forehead and small crinkles gathered in the corners of his eyes. “But…” 

“She promoted me, Logan. She wants me to run a new office and I’ll have to relocate.” Why are you drawing this out? Just say it. 

“Oh,” He let his expression relax. “That’s... that’s great! Congratulations! Don’t...I can still...it doesn’t have to be New York, you know. I’ll come see you anywhere.” He narrowed his eyes and let a small smile seep into them. “I have a ton of miles, I can use ‘em whenever.” I’m sure you do. “So,” he leaned in and kissed you quickly. “Where are you off to? Miami? Is Cyn finally goin’ International?” His expression changed to one of excitement. “London?” 

“Los Angeles.” You answered, closing your eyes and feeling his hands drop from your body again. Yeah, that’s what I… “She needs me to run the West Coast office, Logan, she…” 

“L.A.? You’re…” his eyes widened. “You’re movin’ to California?” You nodded, eyes still closed as he took a step back. “When?” 

Blowing out a breath you opened your eyes to see him staring at you. “Soon. Next month. But it doesn’t have to-” It doesn’t have to change anything. 

“You didn’t wanna tell me?” His expression was a mixture of serious and confused, and you wanted desperately to make him understand everything. 

“What? No, of course I wanted to tell you, I just… I know that…” Your heart pounded in your chest. This isn’t… I ruined it. The day, the trip, all of it, it’s-

“You thought I...wouldn’t want to hear it?” He shifted his weight and leaned his shoulder into the steel beam to your left. “Thought I’d get…” 

“I thought you’d think it was too soon for me to… even though it isn’t- I’m moving because of my job, not because of…” you gestured at the space between your bodies. “Not because of this, I...this is still...we just...I wouldn’t try to rush anything like that, Logan, it’s just...bad timing.” 

“Bad timing?” He blew out a small breath that was almost a laugh, and then he shocked you further by stepping close again, both hands finding their way back to your waist. “You think it’s bad timing that the woman of my damn dreams is movin’ to my city, and I only have’ta wait a month?” He searched your eyes with his as a smile curved his lips.

What? 

You were sure that Logan would have reacted differently, and you wanted to make sure that he wasn’t holding anything back. Even though I know he always… “You’re not...worried? That it’s…” 

He leaned in then to quiet you with a brief kiss, his fingers squeezing into your waist as your hands came back to his shoulders. “No.” He kissed you again. “I’m not worried, ‘cause I know you’re not gonna… I know you’re not movin’ because you’re tryin’ to…” he laughed then and brought his left hand up to wiggle his empty ring finger. “Look. I get it. It’s a business move, out of your control. I did like the fact that you bein’ here meant that I’d have to… take things slower than normal but... “ He gave a small shake of his head. “I don’t see why we can’t…” 

“Logan,” you nodded enthusiastically. “We can. We can take it as slow as...we don’t have to spend every day together just because…” 

He laughed again and pressed another kiss to your lips. “No, we don’t, that’s right, killjoy.” You rolled your eyes, his lips still against yours so that you could feel his breath on your face. Damn, this wasn’t what I expected but… you laughed. But none of this was expected. “Plus, you’re gonna have your plate full, runnin’ a brand new office. I bet you won’t even have time for me for weeks.” 

“See? You won’t have to see me any more than if I was still living he- oh! Logan!” 

He pulled you into him then, winding his arms around you to speak into your ear. “You think I’ll get sick of seein’ you?” He didn’t wait for you to respond before he answered his own question. “Not gonna happen.” 

Relief flooded your system then as he tightened his hold on you just to let it go. That’s one half of the news down. Now I just have to tell him who my new client is. You knew that part was easier said than done, and though he’d reacted far more favorably than you could have imagined to the news of your move, that luck simply wouldn’t extend to his feelings towards learning that you were to become very involved with his sister’s ex-husband. But… later. That’s I’ll tell him later, not...it’s too much all at once. I’ll… 

As though he hadn’t just confessed to being...excited? Happy? About your impending move and what it meant for your brand new relationship, as though he hadn’t put your mind and heart at ease all at once, he blinked twice and smiled. “You hungry? Think I saw a sign for a cafe downstairs? They had pizza and-” 

Despite the way that your emotions had just gone on a wild ride, you had to laugh. “No way I’m letting your first experience with New York pizza be from a glorified, overpriced snack bar, Logan. You deserve far better than that.” You rose on your toes to kiss the tip of his nose and you traced your fingertips over the line of his beard where it met his cheek. “C’mon,” you grabbed for his hand just as Byron poked his head back inside to let you know that your time in the crown was up. “There’s a hot dog cart down on the island. That’s how real New Yorkers do lunch.” 

He chuckled and let you pull him back towards the elevator where Byron was waiting to see you both out. “Sounds delicious, Ms. West Coast Office,” he whispered into your ear and you thought you heard a sense of pride as he teased you with your new title. “After you.” 

Standing in line at a hot, metal cart, waiting for a vendor to pass you a hotdog with Logan Delos, you couldn’t help but wonder… 

Could it really be this easy?  

.

.

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Thank you for reading! If you would like to be added to or removed from the tags please feel free to let me know! 

General Tags:  @something-tofightfor​ @suchatinyinfinity​ @malionnes @thesumofmychoices​ @gollyderek​ @pheedraws​ @beautifuldesastre​ @alraedesigns @dearmarii​ @fific7 @traeumerinwitzhelden​ @obscurilicious​ @luminex3 @bisexual-space-slut @vetseras

Logan Delos Tags: @valkblue @belladonnarey @ymariejp @drinix @jigsawlover10 @getlostinyourparadise @nananananananananananabatman @qhostboyyy @ofgeneticperfection @delosdoll @blackbirddaredevil23

#see you in new york #SYiNY #see you in new york part four #logan delos #logan delos x reader #logan delos x you #logan delos westworld #logan delos fanfiction #FINALLY ! #this has been eleventy five years in the making #but i needed to post this part before thanksgiving #you'll see #anywho new york logan is a hoot enjoy him

[talkfastromance4]

Til there was You-- (l.h)

It’s finally here! The Luke&Lily origin story! There are little hints from other blurbs and discussions in here and I hope you find them and I hope you enjoy this as much as I loved writing it. Thank you for loving these characters as much as I do.

Feedback is welcome!

Warnings: slight ptsd and smut near the end

Word count: 5,586

donate to my ko-fi here :)

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Masterlist

Luke&Lily Masterlist

• • • •

Luke didn’t really consider himself to be an observant person. He noticed roses on shirts and lipstick stains on coffee mugs but while he was walking the street the world was but a blur. That all changed when he first saw you sitting across the way at his recently new favorite coffee shop, Dream Bean. It’s become his favorite place to write because it’s quaint and is never crowded.

He noticed you always ordered the same thing, a grande white mocha with extra whip and a cranberry orange muffin. He noticed you would only come here on Fridays and Saturdays. He noticed you always brought a book with you while you’d sip your coffee, eyes never leaving the page as you took a drink. He noticed how bright your eyes were and how kind your smile was when you’d speak to Bailey the barista.

He also noticed you didn’t have a ring on your finger.

While he wrote in his lyric book, Luke also noticed how his words would form into your features. Your careful fingers as you turned the page, the soft shadows on your cheeks from your eyelashes, and the way you nibbled your lip as you read.

It’s been a whole month of his quiet observations of you and when he noticed he wrote a whole song for you while he was at home, he figured he should do something about it. Instead of being the silent observer, he’ll actively pursue.

****

You’d just pulled into the parking spot outside the Dream Bean and spotted the handsome golden curled man you’ve been ogling for the past month through the window. Aside from his good looks, he wouldn’t be hard to spot since he towered over so many and his eyes were a pretty robin’s egg blue.

Your stomach flipped at the sight of him as you got out. You could feel his gaze as you walked through the door, the wind chime jingled your presence. You felt his gaze as you walked past him to the front counter.

“Grande white mocha, extra whip and cranberry muffin?” Bailey asks with a smile.

“You got it,” you chuckle pulling out your card.

“It’s already covered,” she shakes her head and points at the good looking guy.

“Oh uhh… wow, okay,” you blanched putting your card back in the slot behind your phone.

As you make your way to your table, you risk a glance and he’s already looking at you. You give him a warm smile which he returns and you look in front of you again at the right time otherwise you’d bump into the table. You set your purse down and pull out your book, placing your phone next to it face up as you begin reading.

After a few moments you sense a presence next to you.

“Thanks Bailey,” you say continuing to read your last paragraph.

“I’m not Bailey,” a low accented voice says, “but you’re welcome.”

You glance up to see pretty blue eyes holding your order in his hands on a tray, his belongings in his other hand.

“Oh, um, I’m sorry,” you laugh awkwardly. “Thank you for buying it.”

“You’re welcome,” he smiles setting your things down and puts the tray on a nearby table. “I’m Luke by the way.”

“Y/N,” you respond then shift your things around, “do you want to join me?”

“Sure, if you don’t mind.”

“You bought my order, the least I can do is offer you a seat.”

When he situates himself in the chair his knees bump yours and the butterflies are back at the simple innocent touch. He takes out his own notebook and pen and gives you a small grin.

“Oh, you don’t want to talk?” you ask in confusion.

“We can talk later for dinner, I know you like to read your book when you’re here,” he shrugs.

“Dinner, huh? What if I’m busy?”

“Are you busy?” he asks leaning forward, his voice teasing.

“No,” you giggle shaking your head. “Is dinner a date, then?”

“Second date actually,” he points his pen at you.

“Oh? How so?” you raise your eyebrows.

“This is our first one, I bought you coffee and now our second date will be dinner. Now, shh,” he presses his finger to his lips, “reading time.”

During your ‘date’ you and Luke would always glance at each other, you in between paragraphs and him in between writing in his notebook. Finally, huffing and closing your book you look up at him.

“I can’t pay attention with you looking at me,” you laugh and take the last sip of your coffee.

“Yeah I’ve been doodling for the last hour,” he laughs. “How about we cut the first date short and start the second?”

“Sounds good to me.”

After gathering all of your stuff together, you both wave at Bailey at the door and then you pause staring at your car. Is he going to drive or you? Does he even have his car here or did he walk?

“My car’s this way,” he motions pointing to a black SUV.  He opens the door for you and gets in on his own side, starts the car but doesn’t pull away. He just sits there and looks at you.

“What? This isn’t the part where you think of the best way to dice up my body and get rid of the evidence is it?”

“I’m—what? No,” he laughs shaking his head, “I’m thinking of where to take you and I’m trying to guess your favorite food.”

“What do you think?”

“Hmm,” he hums and his eyes scan over your face. You feel yourself blush. “You don’t look like a sushi girl so. . . Italian?”

“Good guess,” you smile wryly then notice your outfit is kind of on the simpler side. High waisted jeans with a blouse and a long sweater. “Um, nowhere too fancy though, okay?”

“You look a lot better than me.”

You take in his outfit. Simple black jeans with little rips in the knees and he’s got on a white t-shirt with silver chains hanging down his neck. His hair looks extra fluffy.

“You look pretty great to me,” you murmur then cover your mouth in embarrassment.

“It’s only our second date and you’re already checking me out, huh?” he teases peeling away from the Dream Bean and onto the main street.

You shake your head but Luke is laughing lightly and he turns the music up a little as he drives to your destination. When he parks you take in the restaurant and it’s a semi-casual Italian restaurant that you always go to with your girlfriends.

“No way, this is my favorite place,” you say.

“You’re just being nice.”

“No, I’m serious! I come here a lot with my girlfriends! Are you stalking me?” you give him a side eye and he barks out a laugh and gets out.

He’s still laughing when he opens your door.

“I swear I’m not a stalker. I come here a lot too, maybe we’ve been here at the same time and never knew it,” he offers.

You follow him into the restaurant, he holds the door open, and you’re seated right away in a booth in the corner away from the other guests. You liked that because you could listen to his voice in your own privacy, it was like honey.

You make light conversation over what to order and then when the food arrives that’s when you get into deep topics.

“I’m in a band, 5 Seconds of Summer, and I’m the lead singer,” he tells you even though you already knew but you weren’t going to tell him that. “You knew didn’t you?”

“What? No I didn’t,” you shake your head as you pick apart your breadstick and dip it in your sauce.

“Whatever,” he chuckles, “what do you do?”

“I’m a paralegal, I make sure things are filed for law firms, preparing contracts and things like that.”

Luke lets out a low whistle, “Wow. That’s impressive.”

“Thank you.”

“Must be good hours for you to have Fridays off then?”

“Um . . . yes and no,” you shift uncomfortably in your seat. You know you couldn’t keep your secret, and you wouldn’t. “Luke, I have to be honest with you about something.”

“Okay,” he answers dubiously.

You take a deep breath and set your fork down, folding your hands together. Luke watches your actions and mimics them.

“I normally save this conversation for second dates and since this is our second one according to you, I’ll tell you know now. I have a daughter. She just turned one two months ago and I know that’s baggage for some people but you need to know. If this is going somewhere or it isn’t. I have her to think about and I’m not looking for a fling.”

Luke stares at you for a moment then starts to nod, he unfolds his hands and picks up his fork and starts eating again.

“Okay, can you tell me about her?”

You stare at him dumbfounded. Was he serious?

“You aren’t . . . upset about it?”

“Why would I be upset about that? You having a daughter . . . yeah it’s a big deal but it’s not a deal breaker. What’s her name?”

You’re still taken aback but you try to compose yourself. Talking about your daughter is your favorite thing to do.

“Her name’s Lily,” you smile proudly, “and she’s wonderful.”

“Does she look like you?” Luke grins.

“I think so, yeah,” you nod blushing. You resume eating.

“I like that name, Lily. It’s pretty and sweet. So, how is it you have off on Fridays?”

“That’s a conversation for date number five,” you answer slyly.

“Then I’ll wait until date number five,” he smiles.

• • • •

Date number five has you and Luke at an aquarium. You hold hands as you walk below the glowing blue water, fish and sharks swimming lazily on by all around you.

“Can I ask you something?” he asks suddenly when you stop to examine a little school of fish.

“Of course,” you say.

“Where does Lily go when you’re with me on Fridays and Saturdays? Do your parents watch her or do you have a babysitter?”

You purse your lips and pick at the chipped paint on the railing in front of the glass.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—“

“No, no you aren’t prying,” you turn to face him and squeeze his hand in assurance. “She’s with her dad Fridays and Saturdays.”

--

You and Cory have been friends for a long time. You first met through a job you had during school and would spend late nights studying or closing up the restaurant where you worked. There was always light teasing with a hint of flirting hanging in the air between you two. It was so palpable that everyone in the restaurant couldn’t believe you weren’t already dating.

One late night after closing, he invited you over to his place for a drink and one thing lead to another and you woke up in his bed the next morning. At first it started out as just a fling, flirting at work and then going back to your place or his to have sex.

When that didn’t last and he asked you if you’d want to make it official with him you were more than happy to say yes.

You were in a relationship for about two years and then he got deployed, he was in the National Guard and when they were called to action he had to go. It was a rough six months but you got through it.

When he came back for a weekend before going out again, you never left the bedroom.

“When will you be home again?” you asked playing with his dog chains on his chest.

“Another six months,” he sighed brushing your hair from your face. “But when I come back, I’ll bring a ring for you.”

“Yeah? What kind of ring?” you smiled so bad your cheeks hurt. On the inside you were screaming.

“You know what kind of ring,” he teased your ring finger with the pad of his own. “I’m just doing patrols, so when this six months is up our life will go back to normal. And we’ll get our own apartment—“

“And a dog?”

“We can get a dog,” he laughed. “You can have whatever you want.”

“I like that plan,” you smiled leaning forward to kiss him, sealing his promise.

----

It was 1:36 in the morning when your phone started ringing from an unknown number, 3 months later.

“Hello? Cory?” You asked sitting up quickly. You flicked on your light.

“No, ma’am, this is Alice from Mercy Hospital. You’re listed as Mr. Cory Stone’s emergency contact.”

“Are you sure? He’s not even in the country—“

“He was airlifted here a few hours ago and he’s still in surgery. It took a long time for us to receive your information but, as you are his emergency contact, is there any way you can come here?”

“Yes, yeah absolutely. Um, I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. Thank you.”

Your voice was robotic as were your movements as you got dressed, and placed your hand on your small bump. You felt a tiny flutter under your touch.

“It’s okay, baby, your daddy’s gonna be fine,” you told your baby and dart out the door.

---

When Cory awoke from his surgery he was an entirely different person. He had to have a double bypass on his heart because while he was on patrol, there was a hidden vigilante that opened fire and shot him right in the chest. Vessels in his heart were damaged which caused the double bypass and there was bleeding in his lungs. He went into cardiac arrest twice while he was airlifted and the medics said he was very lucky to have made it to the hospital and again through his surgery.

Cory was more quiet and sullen, he was quick to anger and when you told him you were pregnant he spent a majority of the time thinking you cheated on him. He was discharged for medical reasons due to his heart and that didn’t sit well with him.

Cory became bitter and resentful and angry that his life was basically over. His words, not yours. He wanted nothing to do with you or the baby and finally, after countless fights that ended with you in tears and him holing himself up in his room, you left.

You left him behind and for the first 9 months of Lily’s life, it was just you and her. You’d had a bond formed already from the 9 months you carried her, but now she was your person and you were hers. You’re thankful that your job at the office of Smith Group Law gave you twelve weeks maternity leave with an option of four more weeks if requested.

You still got paid but biweekly and since the law firm was more female based, they were more than happy for you to work from home as well so you could be with your Lily.

Until you got a letter in the mail signifying he wanted visitation rights to his daughter.

That first night you cried nonstop because for longer than a year, you hadn’t heard a word from Cory. And all of a sudden he wants visitation rights to his daughter he thought wasn’t even his?

Lily heard you crying and crawled over to you from her fort of toys.

“Mama,” she cried and you held onto her, kissing her cheeks and her head.

“Mama’s okay, we’re okay,” you hushed to her.

--

Not wanting this situation to go to court, you took it upon yourself to visit Cory yourself. You’d brought Lily along but she was in the car with your best friend waiting for your signal to bring her by.

“Y/N,” Cory stared at you blankly.

You both took each other in. It’s been so long since you last saw him but he looked so much better. His clothes looked new and clean, his hair is buzzed on the sides with it being a little longer up top but it’s styled nicely. He looked really well.

“Can we talk? Just you and me without lawyers?” You asked.

“Um, yeah. Come in,” he nodded stepping aside.

You took in his condo. Everything was pristine and orderly. Like how it was before his accident. It’s brighter just like he is.

“I know what you’re thinking, but this isn’t all just for show. I really picked myself back up over the last year,” he confessed.

“I’m so glad to hear that Cory, really, I am,” you smiled. “I’m just confused why you got lawyers involved to see Lily. You could have always called me.”

“I wanted you to see I was serious, I didn’t mean to scare you with the whole order thing. After how I treated you after my accident I didn’t think you’d want to see me again. Lily? That’s her name?” he smiled.

“Yeah, Lily Jean,” you smiled. “Cory, you know me. We could always talk about anything and this, Lily, is more important than anything else.”

“Shit,” he rubbed his face with his hands. “I’m sorry. I’d rather this be done without lawyers, too. We can do a compromise, right?”

“Absolutely. You look really good, Cory,” you said as tears welled in your eyes.

“C’mere,” he smiled and opened his arms. You wrapped your arms around his waist and you cried into his shirt. He held you tightly, hands rubbing your back.

You thought after so long of not seeing him you’d be right back where you were, in love. But all you felt for him was a solid friendship built on love that has many roots of memories and from those roots you had your own little flower of Lily.

After a long hugging session, he wiped your tears away while you laughed.

“She’s outside if you want to meet her? Then we can talk about a plan.”

“I’d like that,” he nodded then ran off to the living room. When he came back he was holding small fuzzy purple blanket.

 ****

“So, that’s the story of her dad,” you finished just as a sea turtle glided by.

Luke took a step closer to you, his thumb swipes at your cheek.

“I didn’t mean to make you cry, lovie.”

“I’m not crying, am I?” you panic and feel the wetness on your cheeks. “I’m sorry. He’s great with her, it’s just a tough subject sometimes.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” he shakes his head then tilts your chin up so you look at him. “Lily’s lucky to have a strong mother like you.”

Luke places his fingers on your cheeks, pulling you close and pauses when his lips are barely brushing yours. You nudge your nose against his and your lips finally touch in the sweetest kiss. It’s filled with promise and mutual longing.

“I hope that was okay,” he whispers once you both pull away to catch your breath.

“It was perfect,” you smile and give him one more peck.

 ****

It’s been three months that you’ve been seeing Luke every Friday and Saturday while Lily’s at Cory’s place. He’s taking you out to a special dinner at a five star restaurant promising you’ll love their steak.

“Is it smaller than my fist?” you ask taking his hand as he helps you out of the car. You decided to wear a little black dress with some red pumps finished off with a red lip. You wanted to feel sexy tonight, for yourself and for Luke.

“Order two steaks lovie,” he chuckles handing the keys to the valet. You raise your eyebrows at Luke from the luxury. He blushes.

When the hostess seats you and hands you two menus, they offer you the house wine.

“No wine, but the lady will have an amaretto sour and I’ll have a tequila soda, please,” Luke tells her.

“You remembered I don’t like wine,” you praise with a smile. Your stomach flips at the notion.

“I remember a lot of things about you,” he smiles.

You blush and look down at the menu. Your eyes widen and you gasp at the prices of the appetizers alone.

“Luke! This is insanely pricey!” you hiss leaning over the menu.

“Y/N, don’t worry about it, trust me.”

“I don’t have enough to chip in—“

“Y/N,” he says your name more seriously and pulls your hand from the menu so he can hold it. “This is my treat to you, I want tonight to be special, okay? You can buy all my coffee at the Dream Bean for the next year, I promise.”

You sigh through your nose, ignoring the flipping of your stomach at his suggestion of a year of being with him.

Throughout the dinner, you couldn’t keep your eyes off of Luke. His hair was slicked back with his curls under his ears and his white shirt had the top three buttons undone underneath his suit jacket. His chest hair peeked through and you couldn’t believe you were with this angel of a man.

“Are you checking me out over there?” he smirks once you’re both finished eating.

“What if I am?” you tease and then the waitress appears next to the table.

“Would you like dessert? Its chocolate mousse layered with chocolate cake and whipped cream,” she informs.

“We’ll take dessert to go with the check please,” Luke tells her but his gaze is on you. You feel the heat of his gaze between your thighs.

After paying, getting the cake in a to-go box and waiting for the valet to bring Luke’s car around front, you felt how different the air between you and him was. It was static and electric and each brush of his elbow against your arm left a spark.

You both snuck glances at each other on the drive to his house, the golden lights illuminating his face. When he stops at a yellow light just before it turns red, he grabs hold of your bare knee so you don’t lurch forward. When you don’t move his hand, he takes that as a green light and slides it between your thigh, his hand hot and soft against your skin.

For the rest of the drive, his thumb rubs circles on your leg and you’re counting down the minutes until you’re at his place.

He kills the ignition and you both get out of the car, sensing what the other is feeling as you follow him inside. He tosses the cake box onto the counter and presses his lips against yours in a needy way. Your fingers work on shoving his jacket off his broad shoulders and he pushes you against a wall. His arms cage you in and he stops the kiss to watch you undo his shirt, pulling it off him.

His breathing is ragged as you run your palms through his chest hair and down onto his stomach, he inhales when you touch the edge of his dress pants. You lift your eyes to his pretty blue ones, he’s looking at you with such intensity and need it’s almost as if you’re looking at yourself because that’s exactly what you’re feeling.

He steps closer, tugging on your top lip, teeth grazing your skin before his tongue slips inside. Luke’s hands graze down your sides, his fingers grabbing onto your ass and squeezes. You’re pulled away from the wall.

“Jump,” he mumbles.

You spring up on your feet and he catches you easily walking down the hallway to his bedroom. He lets you slide from his arms, his fingers moving the zipper of your dress down its track. You pull your arms from the sleeves letting it fall to your feet. Luke groans when you press your naked chest against his.

His hands cup your cheek, his nose rubs against yours.

“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he breathes before kissing you deeply.

He turns you around so he can get on the bed first, his fingers pull on your arms to follow him. Luke lays down and you straddle his waist, you love the feel of his large hands roaming over your ass, he tugs on the band of your lace panties. You shimmy out of them and then he taps the backs of your thighs.

“What?” you pant moving your lips to his ear, tugging on his lobe and it makes him moan.

“Sit on my face,” he mumbles kissing your neck.

You move back slowly and stare at him. Did you hear him correctly?

“What?”

He swallows harshly as if he’s nervous but his hands say otherwise as he tries to get you to move up his body.

“I asked for my dessert to go,” he smiles then jerks his head upwards. “Hop on.”

“Okay,” you smile against his lips before giving him a quick peck and following his instructions.

Your heart is hammering in your chest as you situate yourself above him, you can feel his breath as he exhales onto you. His fingers are splayed on your thighs, squeezing lightly and you rest your forearms on his headboard. And then you feel his tongue slip through your folds and you can’t even contain the moan from your mouth.

He hums as if in approval then flattens his whole tongue on you before suctioning his mouth on your opening. Your head falls to your arms enjoying the pleasure. Whenever you moan Luke squeezes your thighs and dives in deeper, he pulls your hips down closer. His tongue flicks persistently at you and soon you’re rocking your hips against his mouth, arching your body so his tongue hits the perfect spot.

“So good, Luke,” you sigh and throw your head back when he hums some more.

You feel your orgasm creeping up your body and you move your hips faster letting it take you over. He suctions his mouth on your clit again, moving his head from side to side as you come all over him. His name tumbles from your lips.

“Mm,” you whine as you slow your hips and his hold on your thighs loosen.

“Stay there,” he breathes against your sensitive core. You hear some shuffling as he kicks off his pants. “Okay, get down here lovie.”

You try not to collapse on top of him as you shift down his body. You moan when you feel his dick hit your thigh and his hands are all over your back as you descend. When your faces align you connect your lips with his, tongues rolling over each other and he lifts his hips. His head presses against your entrance and you’ve never wanted anyone more.

“Condom?” you whisper.

“Already on.”

“Mm, you’re fast,” you giggle and he presses into you. You groan at the feeling.

“Wanna feel you, baby,” he mumbles and pushes in a bit more. “You taste like honey.”

You groan at his words and lower yourself onto his dick until he’s inside you fully. You both sigh as he fills you up plentifully. His fingers trace up and down your back and you take that as a cue to start moving. You raise your hips then drop them back down, feeling him glide in and out of you.

You find a comfortable pace, one that feels good and hits just the right spot and it has you close your eyes. You focus on his hands on you, on him sliding in and out so easily, the soft slap of skin on skin.

“Look at me,” he sighs.

You open your eyes slowly to be met with his.

“You’re so perfect . . . look at you.”

You kiss him sloppily and move your hips faster, trying to gather speed and chase your second orgasm. Luke helps you by thrusting up into you and you’re moaning into his mouth. Before you can finish he’s flipped you over and hammers himself in and out of you swiftly.

“You’re . . . perfect,” you pant as he fucks you deeper and faster. You turn your head into his arm next to you, you kiss his wrist and when he hits your special spot you accidentally bite onto his skin as you cry out in pleasure.

“Fuck,” he groans, his hips snap faster and faster. Your bodies jostle one another as he comes as well. His movements become jerky and when he stills, you remove your mouth from his wrist.

He’s panting on your chest trying to gather his breath, and you smile at the tingling sensation left in your body.

“Stay right here,” he murmurs kissing your breast lightly and slips off you.

You watch him move about the room and flick on his bathroom light, it washes you in a bright yellow. He disposes of the condom and gets a washcloth and towel. Your legs jerk when you feel the warm cloth between your legs.

“Sorry,” he hushes and wipes away at you tenderly between your legs and on your stomach. He pats you dry and kisses your tummy.

He joins you in bed and you lay on top of him, frowning.

“No fair, I’m the only one who has sex hair.”

“You left your mark,” he chuckles holding up his wrist.

You move it into the light from the bathroom and gasp. There’s a nasty red mark of your teeth on his left wrist.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t think I bit you that hard!” you bend down and kiss the spot carefully.

“It’s okay, you’re my little vampire,” he laughs squeezing you against him.

You shift your gaze to his and you hold his face in your hands, staring at him in awe. You’ve never felt this way about anyone before. You thought you did with Cory but this was more intense, more raw and real. It scared you and thrilled you all at once.

“Y/N?”

“Yeah?”

“I . . .”

You hear the hesitancy and the following two words hanging off his tongue just as you feel them ready to burst from your chest. Three little words that hold so much weight in them. But it’s too early to say them now, it’s only been three months.

“Me too,” you smile and kiss his nose. Some things can be heard unspoken.

****

It’s the Sunday after you spent the weekend at Luke’s and you’re walking up Cory’s sidewalk. It’s also been five months that you’ve been seeing Luke. You’re going to tell Cory you’ve been dating someone and that you want him to meet Lily, that it’s serious and you want Lily to meet him too.

You’re nervous as you knock on the door before opening it. He always unlocks it when you’re coming and you feel a sense of security and trust in that.

“Mama!” Lily shrieks from the living room.

She hobbles her way over to you with the help of Cory holding onto her whole hand with just one of his fingers.

“Hi my baby!” you smile happily and meet her halfway to scoop her up in your arms. She hugs your neck as you hug her back. “Did you have fun with daddy?”

“We watched Zootopia all day, every day,” Cory sighs with a smile. “She ate all her blueberries, but you have to do it with a fork.”

“Good girl eating all your fruit!” you tickle her tummy and kiss her cheek then look up at Cory. “Can I talk to you about something?”

“Yeah. What’s up?”

“Can we sit?” you chew on your lip nervously and move to his kitchen table. You position Lily in your lap and give her a toy that’s left on the table, it’s a set of keys. Cory sits across from you. “So, we both promised if one of us was serious about someone and wanted to meet Lily, we’d talk to each other first. Well . . . I’ve been dating someone for the last five months and I want him to meet her.”

Cory rubs his chin and chuckles nervously.

“That’s not what I was expecting,” his dark brown eyes shift from Lily to yours. “Who is he?”

“His name is Luke and he’s a really great guy, you’d like him. He’s a lead singer in a band from Australia and they do really well. They’re working on their fifth album right now and he didn’t run when I told him about Lily.”

“He didn’t run when you told him about me?” Cory grins.

“No,” you roll your eyes and hold onto the keys Lily’s playing with as she shakes them around. “If you want to meet him too, I can—“

“I can wait,” he shakes his head. “Thanks for telling me. I’m sure he’s . . . I’m sure he is a great guy to catch your eye. Hopefully Lils likes him.” he tickles the bottom of her foot and she giggles.

“I think she will. He has a dog.”

“Arf! Arf!” Lily chirps and causes you both to laugh.

“Good girl, Lily, that’s what a dog makes,” you praise her and kiss her cheek.

You look up at Cory to see him already staring back at you. He opens his mouth to say something, but closes it and watches you rock Lily from side to side.

“She’s perfect,” Cory says softly.

• • • •

Copyright talkfastromance4 © All works is intellectual property of the author. All rights reserved. Any redistribution or reproduction or any part or all contents in any form is prohibited. You may not, without written expression and consent from the author, distribute works amongst other social media platforms

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#luke&lily #luke & lily #luke hemmings fic #luke hemmings smut #luke hemmings angst #luke hemmings fluff #luke fluff #luke smut #luke angst #luke x reader #luke 5sos #luke x single!mom #luke x single mom!reader #dad!luke

[queenjunoking]

Wolf Taming pt 48

CW: Noncon - Pain - Abuse

Briar

I sighed as I finished cleaning Z’s wounds. Rayne was a brute, she had absolutely no idea what she was doing. The purpose of breaking was to get a slave to obey. For them to see obedience as self preservation over actual self preservation. All Rayne wanted to do was hurt people which didn’t actually accomplish anything in the wrong run. Fear was a powerful motivator, it alone didn’t break people though. Not correctly anyway.

Flora had been easy enough to win over. She realized the scales had already tipped far to Z’s side. Flora was losing and if Z made it through this she got nothing. My contract had been drawn up by Molly late last night. It functioned as an extension to the one Z and Flora had sighed. I’d only get what I wanted if Z lost. Flora sharing a win with me was better than losing, even if Rayne was upset about it. Even if I didn’t managed to fulfill my end of the contract my offer was enough to get Rayne to shut up and let Flora sigh my contract.

I picked Z off the ground and leaned her against the pillar. She hadn’t stirred since I entered. It didn’t surprise me she was so out of it. She ran on energy drinks and didn’t seem to eat much. I’m surprised she could function at all. Part of me was worried it was taking so long for her to wake up. The other part was glad she was still out. Everything would go better if she would stay out until I was done.

The door opened and the maid brought what I requested. There was a spot in the pillar that a bar could fit through. She assisted me in removing the anchor points that Z’s cuffs were attached too, revealing a hollow spot in the pillar. We inserted the bar into the pillar and locked it into place.

I had a lot of criticisms about Rayne, but at least she knew exactly how to set up equipment like this. We replaced the anchor points a bit lower on the pillar then I dismissed the maid. The preparations were finished.

I hoisted Z up and started to lock her in. Each arm went behind the bar and then her wrists were cuffed an anchor point on either side of the pillar. The bar was situated a bit too high to kneel comfortably, but that was the point. I attached cuffs to her ankles and attached those to anchor points on the floor behind the pillar. It would stop her from moving. She couldn’t sit up any higher or adjust herself. She’d be stuck like that.

I sighed as I stroked Z’s face with my thumb. She had a high pain tolerance, but her body was weak. Mentally she could withstand this position, but her body would probably be unable to tolerate it.

Not that she had any choice but to tolerate it.

I reached into my bag and pulled out the final piece. It was a mask. I had considered getting a full on sensory deprivation mask, but it was important that she be able to hear and speak later. She didn’t need to smell or see though.

"Oh, Z. This really was the worst place you could have ended up." I gave her a kiss on the forehead before I slide the hood on. It covered her eyes and nose, but not much else. I could feel her starting to stir as her breathing was disrupted.

I stroked her hair a few times before I stood up and gathered my things. I was done for now. The next part would happen on it’s own, I just had to sit, watch and wait for the right time to move onto the next part of the plan.

I walked over to the door, waving the badge I was given in front of the sensor so it would open. Once I crossed the threshold I looked back. Z was beginning to move. I could see her looking around, realizing she couldn’t see or breathe through her nose.

I smiled to myself as I quietly closed the door.

Flora

“I don’t know why we’re letting her do this.” Rayne was sitting in the chair next to me, glaring at the scene taking place in the room below.

“Raindrop, I know you were having fun. We need a different approach though, if you kept whipping her you’d break the contract.” I squeezed Rayne’s hand and turned to watch the scene as well.

Briar had just finished her activities. I felt my eyes roll as she cleaned up Z, it seemed like a waste to me, but she was free to do what she wanted.

In a way, I was disappointed. Z tolerated pain well, but her body gave out quickly. If she took better care of herself she probably would have lasted longer. It also meant that Rayne would probably kill her if she had continued.

Molly gave a four day estimate to get the ball rolling on getting Z’s mutt back, but things like these are littered by complications. We were only halfway through the first day and all we had accomplished was Z breaking her own breaker and Rayne whipping her a few times. As much as I loved her, I didn’t believe that Rayne could do what she wanted and not break the contract. Unfortunately she found the better methods tedious and boring.

Unlike Rayne, Briar had worked as a professional breaker with her own methods and got great results. The real question I had was whether they’d work on Z with the time we had left.

“I don’t like the terms of the agreement.” Rayne said, crossing her arms. It was adorable when she was pouting.

“The terms are fine. If she breaks her we all win. If she fails… well we get a lovely consolation prize.” I looked inside the small bag that Briar had handed me before I signed her contract. There were ten emblems inside. Two of hers and eight she had collected from others. There were some surprises inside. I wasn’t sure how she got them, but she had gotten favors from some very powerful people.

Lady Lurpeko, one of the most prominent west coast members. Diana LaLuna, a popular member with a rather large social circle. I had my eyes on the new designer slaves she had with her at my party. I might be able to get one of my own with one of these emblems. The last important token that caught my eye was for Fortuna Ormr. A VIP suite in her and her sister’s casino would be a week of fun. All expenses paid while my raindrop and I had some fun gambling.

It was a fairly decent compensation package, assuming Briar failed. If she failed it gave me another source of fun, Z would forever know her last remaining friend had tried to break her. She’d have nowhere left to turn. The thought of leaving her like that was beautiful to me.

“We also had to remove one of your lovely art pieces from it’s stand and dress it in a maid costume. I don’t get the point of the demands.” Rayne kept on grumbling.

“Sweetheart, Briar is a professional. If it works I’m more than happy to let a piece pretend to be a maid for a little bit. We can put it back in it’s case later.” I leaned over, laid my head on Rayne’s shoulder and looked up at her.

“I’m surprised it can even move.” Rayne muttered before turning to me. “Lilac, I did all of this to help you with your collection. Do you really want this?”

“Stormcloud, don’t get me wrong. I appreciate the gift you wanted to get me, but sometimes there are more fun things to enjoy.” I reached over, gently turned Rayne’s face towards me, and kissed her. “I found Z’s stoic act grating. She'd be a rather dull canvas. I want to watch her break, that's my present. But if Briar's intervention causes Z to become a more interesting canvas by the end, its a win for us and I can... fix the contract."

"And if Z isn't a good enough canvas for you by the end?" Rayne asked before kissing me.

I couldn't help but smile as she pulled away. "Then who cares what Briar does with her boring slave?"

[adarlingwrites]

Absolution

Summary:

noun: formal release from guilt, obligation, or punishment

The Capital Wasteland lauded the Lone Wanderer as a hero, a Messiah, a savior who’s willing to give her life for the Good Fight. Beyond the legends, the propaganda, and the mythification that surrounded her legacy, there is only one person who knew her bare soul. She gave him his absolution, and now he will fight for hers.

XXVII

January 13, 2278.

Goddamn, not another killer hangover.

This time, I feel like a dozen brahmin trampled my skull. Never in my centuries of existence did I ever get this wasted. How did I even get home?

Opening my crusty eyes, I see the ceiling of Percy’s home, and looking down, I see Dogmeat lying on my chest, sleeping. I’ve been stripped out of my armor, wearing a clean shirt and pajamas that doesn’t reach my shins, and I feel clean. Damn, did Percy do that? I don’t mind, but I’m not a pretty sight to look at.

Sluggish as hell, I sit up, the dog waking up and giving my face a lick. I can smell something cooking, and damn, it smells good. My stomach grumbles, and I let out an awkward cough.

“Oh hey, Charon. You’re finally awake,” Percy calls out from the kitchenette.

Back turned against me, Percy was stirring something over the stove. I shuffled towards her, and pressed my cheek against the top of her head.

“Mornin’, angel.”

She gives me a soft chuckle. “It’s already the afternoon, big guy.”

Fuck. I slept for that long? “What happened last night?”

“I saw a mountain of a ghoul stumble around drunk in Gob’s Saloon, is what happened,” she replies, a lighthearted tone to her voice.

The events of last night came crashing back to me, and I buried my face in Percy’s hair in embarrassment.

I remember sitting next to Percy in the saloon, nursing my beer as she exchanged ideas with Moira. Half of what they’re talking about sounded out of this world. I can’t make any sense out of it, but it was nice hearing Percy’s voice. It’s good hearing her happy and enthusiastic again.

Then DeLoria’s goddamn voice breaks me out of my focus.

“Yeah? Yeah? I’d like to see you try, old man,” he blurts out from the other side of the bartop. What trouble has he gotten into now? Somehow, my instincts as a bouncer kicks in, and I stand up from my seat to look at what’s going on.

“You’re all bark and no bite, kid. Bet your ass would be on the floor before you can even finish a bottle,” said Jericho, the ex-raider.

Oh, a drinking contest. I thought I had a fight to de-escalate. Grumbling, I was going back to my seat, but DeLoria grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him.

“Well, I bet my buddy Charon and I can outdrink your crusty old ass.”

Boastful idiot. You just had to rope me in, huh?

“How much are you willing to bet, pretty boy?”

“Twenty-five caps,” DeLoria replies, setting it on the table. Laughing, Jericho set his money on the table too. “You’re on, asshole.”

“Hold on a minute, I don’t have caps,” I tell them. “I’m afraid I cannot participate in-”

Before I can even finish, the ex-raider flags Gob over. “Oy, Gob! We’re gonna have a drinking contest ‘ere, bring us more booze.”

Goddammit. I had considered taking a swing at DeLoria, but to my surprise, Percy saunters over with a grin.

A drinking contest huh? I’ve never done one before. Have you ever tried playing, Charon?”

“No. Usually, I’d be the one to break it up when one party’s already slumped on the bar.”

My partner gives me a conspiring grin. “Well, I’d like to try it. C’mon, big guy, let’s show these two how it’s done. We have caps to gain,” Percy replies, taking a seat next to me and tossing in fifty caps in the pile, covering my bet.

Gob set out four shot glasses in front of us, and people were starting to watch. If Percy is here, then I’ll make the most out of it. Maybe I’d end up carrying her tonight again.

Ten shots of vodka later, DeLoria washed out, stumbling off his seat and shaking his head. “Damn, I can’t do this anymore,” he blurts, running to the saloon door and shoving it open. He retches and the crowd bursts into laughter.

“Knew he'd wash out first,” Gob chuckles, refilling our glasses. Percy gently nudges me with her elbow, giggling.

“Hah! And the kid was the one to suggest the challenge too. Asshole,” Jericho mutters. “Just you, me, and the zombie, kid. Can you hold out better?”

“Call Charon a zombie again and I’ll fuck you up so bad, you’ll think getting attacked by a Deathclaw’s a back massage,” Percy slurs, eyes trained on the ex-raider. There was a hint of humor in her voice, but it was sharp; a guarantee that she’d follow through.

“Woooow. The little Vaultie’s finally all grown up, learning to curse like a true waster. First time you showed up in this town you were a pampered baby girl,” Jericho snaps back, snickering.

“And this pampered baby girl just took down the Capital Wasteland’s biggest slaver ring. Don’t try me, gramps. It’s time for the next round.”

That shut him up.

Eleven shots. Twelve. Thirteen. On the fourteenth, Percy raises both arms and shakes her head. “I’m at my limit,” she groans, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

“And our amateur abolitionist is out,” Gob announces, taking Percy’s glass away. She slumps towards the bartop, turns to me, and gives me a thumbs up.

“Give ‘em hell, big guy!”

I found myself grinning at her encouragement.

We counted all the way to twenty shots. At that point, Gob was scratching the little skin he had left on his head.

“You two are gonna drink me out of business. Let’s do a tie-breaker,” he suggests. He turns to the shelf, and produces a bottle with green liquor in it. I vaguely remember serving a contract holder who drank that in Vegas and it smelled like death. He pours it in our glasses.

What the hell, is that absinthe? Isn’t he supposed to light that shit up first or something?

“Whoever can take a shot without puking their guts out later wins,” he announces, sliding us the drinks.

Jericho caught a whiff of the alcohol and his face contorts. Staring at the glass, I once again find myself questioning what went wrong in my life for me to get to this point, but I was having fun.

Three, two, one. The ex-raider and I drank the last shot at the same time, and I slammed the glass against the counter. Now the waiting game starts.

By the time it kicked in, I was seeing double, and Jericho fell out of his seat.

“We have a winner! Charon takes home a hundred caps!”

Everything around me is a colorful, rowdy mess. Nudging my shoulder, Percy grins at me and clings onto my arm. The best I could, I gathered the money and slid it towards my partner.

She gives me a questioning look. “Hey, it’s your caps big guy! Spend it on whatever you like,” Percy tells me, beaming, face flushed from the booze.

“Just… just hold on to it for now. Hell, spend it on something nice. I mean it,” I slur, resting my chin atop her head. At that point, I knew there were people whispering and gossiping about our closeness, and Percy probably knows it too, but I just didn’t give a shit anymore. I wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and she let out a soft grunt from the squeeze. My vision isn’t the best at that moment, but I swear I saw the red spread from her face to her neck.

“Okay. If you say so.”

The events after that were a blur. Vaguely, I remember DeLoria almost crawling back in and getting picked on by wasters before Hannibal Hamlin, pulled him into a corner and chatting with him. Moira was deep in conversation with some random waster, and Gob poured himself and Nova a drink, joining the merriment. I’m not sure if my mind had made it up, but the radio was playing some old Pre-War torch song, and I was holding Percy by the waist, shuffling drunkenly and clumsily in a dim corner.

We had a conversation. I’m still trying to remember what it was about.

“How did we get home last night?” I asked her, delicately brushing down her hair that I ruffled when I leaned into her.

“Believe it or not, Butch and I dragged you back. He’s still asleep upstairs.”

Ah. Well, fuck. What a sight that must’ve been.

Looking over her shoulder, I see some kind of brahmin rib stew in the pot. Behind me, I can hear the patter of Dogmeat’s feet. The dog must’ve caught a whiff of that, too. On the unoccupied part of the stove, there was toasted bread slathered with brahmin butter. I’d never thought I’d be grateful to still have my sense of smell and taste. Even after all that binge drinking from last night, my dry mouth started to water.

“You said that I could spend your winnings on something nice,” Percy quips, shaking me out of the memory of the night before. “So, I made us a nice lunch. Get the bowls out for me, please?”

“How could you even cook while nursing a hangover?” I muttered as I fetched the bowls.

“Good old salt, sugar, and water,” said Percy as she ladled the stew. “Get these to the table and I’ll make some more for you.”

“Thanks, angel.”

I could practically picture Percy rolling her eyes at the nickname as she reached for the green pitcher at the top of the shelf, her laughter soft.

I set the food down on the coffee table, the broken television that once occupied it gone, salvaged for parts months ago. Meanwhile, my partner goes up the stairs to wake our guest up. DeLoria drags his feet, yawning and rubbing his eyes. Then, he sets his eyes on me. His hair is a goddamn mess, unlike the pomaded hairstyle he usually wears, and I couldn’t fight the urge to snicker.

“Oh. Hey. You were a bitch to carry back,” he mumbles, taking a bowl. He carves the meat out of the rib, slaps it on the bread, and eats. Percy joins us soon after, bringing a pitcher of the hangover cure.

I took a bite out of the food and fuck, this might be too luxurious for me.

“You should open a diner after you’re done kicking ass, Perce,” Butch comments offhandedly, using the bread to wipe the sauce off the bowl.

“I’d rather run a clinic, honestly.”

The two chattered idly, and Dogmeat was having his share of food as well, unseasoned scraps of meat and a bone to gnaw on. My focus shifts back to the two when Percy nudges me.

“What do you think, Charon? Should we bring Butch with us to Lamplight?”

“No. There’s no room on the bike.”

“Aw c’mon, you’ll draw attention to yourselves on that bike, plus you’ll need someone to watch your stuff from the kids.”

“Well, we could use a pack mule,” Percy comments, and Butch flips her the bird. “Hey, you said you’d watch our stuff for us.”

“Yeah, watch the stuff, not carry it or somethin’.”

Percy and Butch bickered for the rest of the afternoon as we prepared for our journey. Coupled with my hangover, the more I hear them chatter, the more annoyed I get. But I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t amusing.

DeLoria’s still an obnoxious asshole, and I’m still figuring out what I feel for Percy, but hearing Percy crack jokes and exchange jabs with her childhood friend brings me some reassurance that things will be fine.

Snow was heavier than ever. The clothes Moira gifted us came in handy as we started our trek to our destination. Aside from the odd raider and mole rats loitering about, we faced no real danger on the road, much to my relief. Aside from protecting Percy, I have to look after the dog and Butch too.

I’m not letting what happened in Anacostia repeat itself.

We travelled fairly fast, but it was too deep in the night to continue any further. Making camp in an old power substation. As I cleared the fallen furniture and the debris, Butch unfurls the bedrolls, while Percy looted the place clean, starting with the first aid box, thorough as ever. We didn’t eat dinner. The meal we had this afternoon was more than enough to keep us from going hungry tonight.

Falling asleep swiftly, DeLoria’s back is turned to the wall, snoring. Percy lies in the middle, eyes closed, but I know she’s not asleep yet. I lie facing the door, keeping watch.

Fabric shifts next to me as Percy sits up. “Hey. We never got to finish the first book I was reading you.”

“Which one?”

“White Fang. The one with the wolfdog on the cover.”

Ah. She’s right. I fell asleep at the last chapter of the book as she read to me months ago, and we never picked it back up, moving on to another one.

“I have it with me in my pack. Do you want to finish it?”

“Gladly.”

Leaning against the wall, Percy reads as I nudged her clothed thigh with my head. Voice soft so she wouldn’t wake Butch up, she continued narrating what became of the wolfdog, the main character in the story.

After being ripped away from his mother and caring human, enduring Beauty Smith’s cruelty, and learning to trust his new human companions, White Fang finally lived. He lived an idyllic, carefree life, surrounded by puppies and sleeping under the sun.

In some ways, the wolfdog reminds me of myself. But unlike him, I didn’t have any masters to serve anymore, and got a partner instead.

Now, the only thing that’s missing is the happy ending.

But that doesn’t exist in real life, doesn’t it? Not in this shitsack world. So I’ll take any comfort that I can get, and right now, having Percy beside me is exactly that.

Fine. The dog too. And maybe Butch.

My eyelids growing heavy, I drifted asleep.

This time, the dreams didn’t have pain in it. Maybe it’s because of the book, or just plain stupid wishful thinking in my part, but I dreamt of Percy and I.

I dreamt of the world before it was ravaged by radiation, the waters of the ocean reflecting the blue sky above us. We’re on a beach in California, and a child collects seashells near the shore.

Just like I did when I was a child.

Beside me, Percy plops down a basket of food, hiding under the beach umbrella while I bask in the sun.

“Son! It’s time for lunch! Charon, will you fetch him, please?”

I smiled at my wife and shook the dust off me to get our boy. He laughs and shrieks as I carry him, seashells in his arms.

Looking down at the clear waters, I see myself. Thick red hair. Clear blue eyes.

Untarnished.

If only.

#lone wanderer #female lone wanderer #charon #fallout charon #charon fallout #fallout 3 charon #charon fallout 3 #charon fo3 #fo3 charon #oc: percy zhou #fanfic: absolution #series: through river acheron #fallout 3 #fallout #fallout fanfic #fo3 #writers on tumblr

[fave-fight]

ROUND 2, MATCH 44

NO MAGIC, POWERS, WEAPONS, OR ADDITIONAL HELP FROM OTHERS

Isabelle:

“She's in Smash, also she's best friends with Doom Guy”

“She's probably got some pent up rage about being stuck with mayor duties, especially when the player neglects the games. She's cute and this tournament need more women. I'm so happy someone else thought about her, too.”

“If she can hold her own in Smash she can hold her own here. She deserves the chance let loose too. Let her wreck some people!”

Floyd Leech:

“If he stays in human form and has no mage stones, he's just Some Guy, so he still qualifies. This mafia motherfucker would FIGHT. One time when faced with a monster, everyone else was like "oh no, we need magic" and he was like "nah, let's punch it" and then he DID. He hasn't used his pointy teeth in canon yet, but he could in theory bite someone if necessary, and it would hurt like a bitch. He'd fight dirty, I just know it. Let him punch everything and then get punched in the face, it'd be so great.”

“This guy is a menace who almost never uses weapons or tools to terrorize people. He's strong and athletic, smart enough to get what he wants on a whim, and squeezes contract-breakers until they faint on a regular basis.”

“NOTE: Floyd is a magic boy, but the “no mage stone” thing is there because it means he won’t be able to use magic, because people in Twisted Wonderland can’t without accumulating deadly magic toxin unless they have the stones. He’s also a merman, but he’d be in his human form. His human form does have pointy teeth (like the anime character kind) but I’m not sure if they have any real effect in game other than to intimidate people. Other people in this game have them too who are allegedly “human.” And again, plenty of “human” anime characters have them. Myfeeling is that they shouldn’t be disqualifying on their own.  This game is about magic boys at a magic school, but don’t worry, they get into traditional fist-fights so often it’s literally a randomly generated event that can happen in your Guest Room space. And Floyd Leech would never use magic in a fist-fight. He’d think that was “no fun” or “totally lame.” His signature magical spell just nullifies other people’s magic that targets him… so he can fight them with his fists. Since no one else here has magic, it’s totally irrelevant.  Also I’m not sure he uses fists so much as he does something to his opponents that he describes as “squeezing” them. I don’t know entirely what he means by that when he’s in his human form, but how much it scares the faceless NPC students indicates to me that he’s found a way to make it work. I do know it’s supposed to have a whole mafia vibe to it. Because his dad (and his childhood friend he lowkey sort-of works for) have real mafia boss energy. And Floyd’s basically decided that if he’s going to do this mafia shtick it’s Capo or bust. Floyd doesn’t always feel like doing stuff, due to his wildly unpredictable mood swings, but it honestly seems like the thing he can most easily be convinced to do is beat the shit out of people. During the “Beanfest” event (which was somewhat analogous to a paintball match), he insisted on throwing his weapon away and beating up aforementioned childhood friend even though the game was over and he’d already lost, just because apparently “once Floyd has decided to fight nothing can be done about it" and you just have to fight him if you want to get on with the rest of your day. He’d started out that event “not really in the mood” but somehow ended up spending the entire day beating the hell out of every person he ran into. In the camping event, when all of the boys were being picked off by a monster in the woods one at a time and were panicking because they didn’t have magestones or cellphones and therefore couldn’t defend themselves with magic or call an adult for help, Floyd was literally just like “why don’t we just beat the shit out of it?” And then he DID. And it was awesome.  But before you think he’s just some sort of dumb thug, let me assure you that Floyd is actually one of Night Raven’s most intelligent students. He has a photographic memory and can create valuable gems in alchemy class with minimal effort. Unfortunately, his mood swings make it impossible for him to maintain a decent GPA. But he’s actually a smart, tactical fighter. He’s just violent and unstable. Oh and if you’re wondering, his personality is generally abrasive and confrontational. He regularly starts arguments with the most volatile people at the school, just to mess with them and see where it goes because he’s bored.  Finally, if it sweetens the deal for anyone, Floyd would wear some killer designer shoes to this fight. Don’t worry, they wouldn’t be dangerous/weaponized. They’d just be expensive and custom made. You know, so he can get upset when someone scuffs them up.  Like for real, is there anyone who deserves to be in a crazy bitch fist-fight more than a moody mafia prince who’s secretly some sort of genius, but seems to only truly love fighting and designer footwear? If there is, I can’t think of them. ”

#fight fight fight #round 2 #poll tournament #tournament poll #poll #polls #isabelle #isabelle animal crossing #floyd leech #twisted wonderland

[language-of-love]

with you...

Summary: David and Patrick travel to New York City for business...and pleasure. Honestly, I just wanted to find a way to let David love NYC again, or maybe for the first time, this time with Patrick by his side. (Rated E, 2500 words, AO3, contains S6 spoilers)

...

There’s a sea of patchy clouds making it nearly impossible to see the skyline, but he thinks that maybe that’s for the best, that perhaps it will help tamp down this nervous anticipation that’s making his stomach begin to toss and turn. It’s been a long time since he’s seen this city. A long time since this city’s seen him. Honestly, he’s not entirely sure it ever really had.

His eyes flutter shut as Patrick’s hand covers his, his thumb, slightly calloused from his guitar strings, rough and perfect as it moves back and forth against David’s palm. David lets go of the inside of his lips from where he’d clamped down with his teeth, his tongue peeking out to wet the dryness as he releases a heavy sigh out his nose.

“You okay?” Patrick’s voice is soft, his tone less questioning and more knowing, making David feel a little less nauseous. There was a time in his life where he thought he’d never find someone who truly understands him. Miraculously, he’s found two. More if he counts his family, which he should, because they do. Now they do.

Opening his eyes, he rolls his head towards his husband, his smile coming easy, a good sign, he thinks to himself.

“You’re making it okay.”

Patrick’s eyes go all soft as he leans in, his lips tasting of the airline’s cheap wine as he presses a lingering kiss to David’s mouth. David shivers, not just from the kiss, but from the fact that Patrick has done it in front of a plane full of passengers. Sure, back home, no one ever bats an eye at the affection they show one another, but this isn’t Schitt’s Creek, and they are still two men kissing on a plane. When Patrick pulls back enough to catch David’s gaze, there’s an unexpected glint of mischief there and David can’t hold back a small giggle.

“Happy with yourself, I see.”

“Happy with you.”

David’s eyes go skyward, but he’s dragging Patrick’s hand further into his lap and smiling at the ceiling of the plane.

“I told you to stop saying things like that to me in public.”

“Sorry, David.”

But he’s not. They both know it. Just like how they both know that David absolutely does not want him to stop saying things like that to him in public. Like, ever.

As the plane descends toward the runway, David finds that the nervousness from a few minutes earlier has begun to be eclipsed by the confidence Patrick always manages to conjure up. New York City doesn’t seem so scary now, not with his husband’s fingers woven between his own and his well-loved heart beating steadily in his chest.

...

The showcase with the hotel owners went better than they could have even imagined. They’d been expecting to have a lot of orders placed, but with Stevie and his dad giving each franchise buying power for their own properties, nothing was guaranteed. But David had been charming and Patrick, he’d been...Patrick, crunching numbers and packaging deals, the two of them dancing well practiced steps until the last meeting was over and the contracts were piled high.

If all of them pan out, they’ll actually be able to take a honeymoon this summer. He’d been bookmarking private resorts in the Maldives for months, just dreaming of watching Patrick’s pale skin pink up as they lie naked together in the sun, feet buried in the warm sand and lips swollen from tipsy kisses.

“Okay, you’re right, this is the best pizza I’ve ever had.”

Shifting from wishful thinking to the present, David smiles over at Patrick’s side of their hotel bed. His husband is stripped down to just his boxers, holding a greasy paper plate in one hand and stuffing one last, very big, bite of pizza into his mouth. God, why is that so attractive?

“Told you, so. It’s the water or something.”

“It’s magic,” he mumbles through his mouthful of food.

His husband is adorable, but not when talking with his mouth full, so David looks away, smiling again for maybe the fiftieth time today. Shuffling off the bed, he finds his way to the bathroom, flinching a bit when the row of bulbs above the large mirror flash on overhead. As he washes the pizza grease from his hands, he finds himself spinning his wedding ring around his soapy finger as a warm flush rises up his neck and settles behind his cheeks.

Today was perfect. In one fell swoop, his memories of this city have been forever altered. Beyond the time spent in their investor’s conference room for their meetings, they’d walked hand in hand through Central Park (a small section of it, really just about a quarter mile), window shopped on some random street just a block or two from SoHo, and eventually popped into a pizza place and grabbed a few slices to go. Nothing pretentious. Well, maybe they did stop into Rent the Runway so David could get his hands on some designer clothes, and maybe try a few things on. But is that even really pretentious? Not compared to his old life here it isn’t.

Sure, one good day can’t erase the stark lines left behind from his past, but he always did appreciate how beautiful a splash of white can look atop a wash of black.

“Don’t turn the water off.”

Patrick slides in next to him, lightly hip checking him to make room at the sink. Sucking the corner of his bottom lip between his teeth, David turns and leans against the counter, staring at his husband as he dries his hands off with a hand towel. Patrick’s lips are curled up in a smile as he suds up his hands, his attention shifting from the sink up to his own reflection. David wonders what he sees there, if he only sees his flaws, or if maybe, he sees what David sees.

He really hopes so. He should remind him that in David’s eyes, he doesn’t have any, well, not any that are deal breakers.

“I love you.”

David catches Patrick’s gaze shift from his reflection to David in the mirror, so he looks back, his stomach suddenly swirling with affection, attraction, desire, all the things, all at once.

“Love you, too, baby.”

His fingers grip hard at the countertop when he finds himself suddenly unsteady, Patrick’s endearment making him feel like he’s just taken a shot of very strong whiskey, the sharp burn warming him as it slides down his throat. Dropping the towel, he reaches out for Patrick, quickly curling his fingers around the back of his head as he takes his mouth in a needy kiss. He lets out a soft gasp when Patrick’s wet hands slide up his bare chest, but Patrick just takes that opportunity, sliding his tongue between David’s lips in an obvious move to take control.

David gladly relinquishes it. Patrick doesn’t miss a beat.

Happy to be the one maneuvered against the wall, he’s suddenly breathless as Patrick’s fingers tangle with his and press the backs of his hands against the textured wallpaper. Held captive, he willingly succumbs to Patrick’s need to worship, focusing as hard as he can on staying standing as Patrick ventures down, wet lips barely grazing the skin of his throat until David feels the rough slide of his tongue against his nipple.

“Oh god…”

Patrick responds by closing his teeth around the sensitive peak and David’s hips surge forward on reflex, drawing a chuckle from Patrick’s mouth against his skin. His hands are freed from Patrick’s grip and he immediately moves to grab his head, his fingers sliding into his soft, too short hair as Patrick looks up at him as he maneuvers himself to his knees. In any other relationship, David might say something like “you don’t have to” or “you should let me”, but not with Patrick. Patrick loves this. Patrick loves him.

Patrick loves watching his eyes darken as he slowly lowers his boxer briefs down over his ass, like he’s doing now. And David loves the smile Patrick always presses into the crease of his thigh, like he’s doing now.

“Patrick…” he gasps, his voice breathy and thick with emotion as his husband slowly dips his head to take the tip of him into his mouth. His eyes stay on David, which is a lot, but he doesn’t dare look away.

There’s no urgency in the way Patrick’s lavishing him, alternating from soft drags of his tongue to mind-numbingly slow sucks, and David’s sure his goal is to drive him to the edge of insanity. Just when David’s sure Patrick’s about to get serious, he’s pushing back to his feet, prompting David to grumble with frustration. But his protest is swallowed by Patrick's mouth against his as his hand wraps possessively around David’s aching cock trapped between them.

“Let’s get on the bed.”

“Oh...yes...okay...”

David’s eyes roll back in his head as Patrick gives him a hard squeeze before letting go to step backwards out of the bathroom. Somehow, David manages to remember to quickly grab the lube from his toiletry bag before he’s stumbling after his husband to join him on their king size hotel mattress.

They end up rolling around and groping each other for a few minutes before either of them can really focus, but before too long, David finds himself on his back with Patrick’s mouth tonguing his cock as his fingers lovingly work him open, occasionally sinking deep to lightly tease his prostate.

“I’m good, I’m good, get inside me before I come.”

He can hear the desperation in his own voice, but doesn’t care.

Anticipation has the hair at the back of his neck standing on end as he watches Patrick maneuver himself between his legs and their eyes lock tight as he slowly sinks in, a low curse hissing from David’s lips as his body stretches and welcomes Patrick home. He reaches out blindly for his neck, dragging him down until his body feels almost folded in half, but he needs Patrick’s weight on him, needs his lips and his breath and the taste of his tongue. To his relief, he’s coming almost immediately, making their bodies slick and sticky as Patrick continues to fuck him into the mattress. His orgasm has taken over his whole body, making him tremble and contract the muscles around where Patrick is still buried deep, pulling a groan of pleasure from Patrick’s throat.

“Fuck baby, fuck...so good.”

Patrick’s penchant for swearing during sex is something David luxuriates in, loving his loss of control and complete abandon to their shared moment. So, even though he’s already wrung out, he does his best to make him completely fall apart. He tugs at his hair and drags his mouth back to his lips, quickly sinking his tongue inside and stealing his breath. Patrick’s hips stutter once, twice, but then he’s collapsing into the cradle of David’s open legs, filling him with his heat as he rips his mouth free on a hoarse shout. David’s heart clenches when Patrick’s hands curl around his cheeks to then slide further down to cup the back of his head, holding him still so he can sink into a luxurious, toe-curling kiss. It’s the kind of kiss he’s still not quite used to processing, so full of emotion and unspoken words, silently communicating a deeper love than David ever imagined existed. Even in all the romantic comedies he devours, he’s never seen something in fiction that compares to what he feels with Patrick.

David lets out a soft gasp into Patrick’s mouth when he feels him lift his hips enough to pull out, but he’s kissing him still, soft, sweet presses of lips so distracting David only barely notices the soreness left behind. The cramp in his thighs, however, is hard to ignore.

“Need to stretch,” he mumbles against Patrick’s lips.

“I know. Let me get a washcloth.” Patrick kisses his cheek, and his chin, and his chest above his heart as he shuffles backwards towards the end of the bed.

“If you’re trying to make me cry, it won’t work.”

Except there’s already a tear threatening to escape the corner of his eye. And he’s sure his husband can see it.

“Mmmhhmm…”

His eyes fall to Patrick’s perfect ass as he walks towards the bathroom and he hopes Patrick realizes that their evening is far from over. There’s a favor or two he plans to return. Maybe in the shower. Their shower back home isn’t big enough, but this one is. And it has a built-in bench.

Stretching out his legs, he suddenly realizes he’s laying on top of one of the hotel’s bathrobes.

“Did you put this bathrobe down or was it already here?” he calls out.

Patrick’s smile when he reemerges from the bathroom gives David his answer.

“How was your brain functioning enough to think of that? My fingers could barely hold the lube without dropping it.”

The washcloth is warm against David’s belly where Patrick has begun to clean him from the side of the bed, his fingers pressing just enough to trigger a soft laugh from David’s lips.

“It’s just the way my brain works. I know you don’t like mess. And I knew I wanted to come inside you. So…”

“You know how much I love hearing you talk about sex like a business transaction. It’s really sexy.”

He’s not kidding. It really is.

“I have my laptop if we want to work on a spreadsheet…”

Patrick’s moved the washcloth between David’s legs, too intimate a moment for their current banter, and silence falls between them. David lets his eyes fall shut as the now cool towel runs along his skin, jolting slightly in surprise when soft lips brush the corner of his mouth. Lifting his chin, he smiles as Patrick’s lips find his again, and again, until the towel is abandoned and David’s pulling him back down onto the bed.

When he’s maneuvered Patrick beneath him, he leans his weight over to one elbow so he can reach out and run his fingertip across his husband’s kiss-swollen lower lip. He loves this lip. Has since the first moment they met.

“You know, David,” Patrick whispers up at him, “I think I like New York City.”

David smiles, but doesn’t respond right away, just letting himself get lost in the warm honey depths of Patrick’s eyes as his finger pushes down to just open Patrick’s mouth. Leaning down, he lets their noses brush, smiling when Patrick arches his neck in hopes of receiving a kiss.

“I like New York City with you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. But not as much as I like home.”

As expected, that declaration is met with a kiss, and a groan, and eventually a chance for David put his creative skills to use in that enormous shower.

#david x patrick #david rose #patrick brewer #schitt's creek #schitts creek #my sc fic #with you #this gotta a little steamier than I set out to write #lol

[obviouslyelementary]

It’s about family - Chapter 4

Ao3 link:https://archiveofourown.org/works/24198928/chapters/58289167

Warnings: Remus being rude to everyone, specially Roman.

Ships: Still Demus. Will be for a while.

Tags: @yuna-dan

------------------------------

Chapter 4 - Private Talks

Life truly was a strange little thing.

Most people said life passed too fast, that you had to make the most of it while you had time, and that your entire life passed in front of your eyes before you died. Life could be surprising, and Patton kinda understood where that came from now. But he was sure life didn't just pass before your eyes when you died.

Or else, that would be an unbelievably bad end for a nice party.

The world surrounding him went blurry and slow motion. The party songs seemed to turn into a merely buzzing sound at the back of his brain, and he couldn't look away even if he tried. And Janus stared back at him, his eyes always so... him. Patton couldn't look anywhere else. He took in his form, his sharper jaw line, lifted nose, the way his hair fell over his face, half hiding the mark on his left side, the earrings that fell over his shoulders so long they were, and his slim figure, dressed in the most pretty of golds and blacks, almost in a dress format, so beautiful and extravagant as him.

The volcano of feelings that erupted inside Patton was too intense and strong to stop, making his stomach twist, his heart squeeze, his lungs shrink, his legs tremble, his muscles contract, and it was almost like he was having a complete malfunction of all organs as he just stared at the person he hadn't seen in so long.

It felt so weird.

"...on... Patton..." he heard someone saying in the middle of all the confusion of feelings he was having, but he only really came back to reality when a hand touched his shoulder, and he turned to see Logan, looking at him with the most worried face he had ever seen. "Patton... are you okay?"

"Oh me? Oh I'm fine!" he said, suddenly, a bit too hyper, before turning back and hearing the loud beat of the song again, all the people screaming over the music, and all of the others just stared at him like he was crazy. "Sorry I doze off for a second, it is  a pleasure to meet you, Remus, Janus!"

"He... hadn't said his name" Roman said, and Patton felt a dread in his stomach before he laughed loudly and extensively and waved his hand.

"Oops, I guess I am too good at guessing hehehe... well it is a pleasure nevertheless."

"It surely is..." Janus said, slow and with his usual displeased tone, before he turned back to Remus and smiled at him, holding one of his cheeks with his hand. "Now honey, would you mind not flirting with every single guest? I would truly appreciate if you gave me some attention tonight."

"My little snake, I will give you all the attention tonight! Why don't we all go somewhere more reserved? I would really like to talk to my brother and his friends without, you know, the extreme banging of songs in my ears!" Remus said, his arm wrapped around Janus, sending something very dark and bad into Patton's stomach.

"Oh of course. Follow me" Janus said, waving his hand, and after a quick glance, the four friends followed the couple through the crowd. Roman had to keep begging for Virgil not to leave, while Logan looked at Patton, one hand placed comfortingly on his lower back.

"Pat... do you really want to stay? We can leave at any time" he whispered, and Patton looked at him, giving him a smile.

"I'm fine Lo. Don't worry about it. Also we can't leave Roman and Virgil on their own. They clearly are not very happy where they are" he said, looking at their younger friends, watching as they quietly discussed in front of the group. "We need to be their support!"

"We can't support anyone when we are feeling miserable Patton, we discussed this already" Logan said, firmly, but Patton brushed him off and gave him a confident smile.

"I am not feeling miserable Lo, I swear. Now come on, we have to make sure they won't kill each other. Or kill Remus. Or cry."

"That... we do" Logan sighed, and headed upstairs after Virgil and Roman, looking as the crowd stayed behind them and the music turned faint and far away.

 Janus and Remus guided them to the second floor, into a hallway that had a few people that also wanted some privilege, and took them to a separated room that looked like a lounge area for guests. Janus closed the door once everyone was inside, giving Patton a side glance that didn't pass unnoticed, while Remus turned on the lights and grabbed some whiskey and wine for them.

"Make yourselves at home while I serve you all some drinks" he said, politely, and Patton took a moment to look around. It was magnificent, with three large couches, comfy chairs, fluffy rugs, a TV on top of a very nice fireplace, decorations all over the walls and tables, a full liquor bar on the back, with stools, and even a private bathroom and a few games like chess and darts, everything very bar-like.

They found their ways into the couches, the four of them sitting next to each other, with Roman on one end and Patton on the other, Virgil and Logan in between, while Janus took his already full glass of wine and sat down on one of the single chairs, crossing his legs, sipping his drink, eyes never leaving Patton. He knew that because he barely shifted his own away from him for too long.

There was an awkward and long silence while Remus served them drinks, and when he returned, he handed all of them a wine glass and a whiskey glass, something that internally Patton was grateful for because fuck if he didn't want to get drunk right now.

"Why is everyone so quiet? Come on, this is home!" Remus said, and Virgil shifted uncomfortably. No one seemed to want to make the first move, so Logan, the always perfect ice breaker, rose the wine glass to his nose and hummed.

"This is a cabernet sauvignon, is it not?" he asked, and Remus chuckled, sitting on a chair on the opposite side of Janus, which meant he was the closest to Roman, furthest from Patton.

"Yes it is. Not everyone can smell a wine's grapes" he teased, and Logan raised his eyebrow.

"I saw the bottle when you were serving it."

"Oh yes, I know" Remus smirked, and leaned in closer, eyeing them all in a way that could very easily be considered creepy. "I have to be honest, I never expected my brother and Virgil to become friends of people like... you two."

"What about you don't act honest and just shut up?" Virgil asked, seeming to immediately get defensive, but Remus was not taken back, simply smirking and leaning backwards against the chair.

"Come on Virgil, that is no way of treating your party host. Besides, I let you all come inside with no hesitation, even though I only invited Roman, so I am being nice."

"You can't ever be nice, and believe me, I wouldn’t be here if it was for me. None of us would. And I actually really want to leave" Virgil said, he had no filter when he was feeling cornered.

"You are welcome to leave at any time, I don't want anyone to be forced in here. I wasn't even expecting neither of you to show up, so this is good enough. I thought my brother's hatred and jealousy would never allow him to step inside my mansion" Remus said, in a way that sounded so genuine and honest, but that held so much venom behind it that even Patton flinched.

"I am aware that you and Roman haven’t talked in years, and I also know we don't know each other for so long, but just believe me when I say Roman doesn't allow his feelings to interfere in important subjects such as seeing his brother again" Logan said immediately jumping to defend his friends. Patton was thankful for it, because his brain was not working. "In any way, could you please tell us more about yourself? Roman was surprised when he told us you were moving, do you mind telling us what happened?"

Remus seemed to lose a bit of his character at that, surely not expecting them to say anything back, and huffed softly before drinking a large gulp of whiskey before regaining his balance again and smirking at Logan.

"You are a curious one, I like it. Well, this town is relatively small and it has many business opportunities, and as I am certain Roman has told you, we come from a very wealthy family, so I took my savings and moved here, to be closer to my brother, and to open my new tattoo shop, which has always been my dream." He said, and Patton had to hold back his surprise at finding out that Roman was rich.

He had never heard of that before.

"I-I mean, I didn't-" Roman tried, clearly looking for an excuse, but Logan was quicker than him, smiling at Remus in such a cold way that even Patton was surprised. Logan could be emotionless, but he was never cold.

"Yes, he did tell us, and he also told us he wanted to pursue a more honest way of living, thus why he doesn't use your parents' money. Of course, if that is the real reason or not, it doesn't matter. Roman is a very successful designer now, he surely doesn't need any support. Although I do hope your tattoo shop works out for you, even if I should point out that almost no tattoo artist ever becomes rich enough to endorse in the type of... high society activities you seem to enjoy. So perhaps you should try a broader field, if you wish to remain monetarily successful."

Patton's eyes were wide as he looked at Logan, and so were Virgil's and Roman's. Roman actually looked like he was about to cry, while Virgil had a spark in his face that basically said 'fuck you he's right' in a way that made Patton feel more relieved. And the look in Remus' face... it wasn't good at all. All his proud and loud façade seemed to fall flat, and he was looking so angry that Patton started to see how honest Roman and Virgil's fears were.

Remus did not look like a good person in the slightest.

But he couldn't help but steal a glance at Janus, who seemed both offended and amused by the whole discussion going on, two expressions that Patton had never seen in the same person at the same time. Still, there it was, and Janus was quick to fix himself on his chair and sigh.

"Please, boys, can we stop fighting in between the lines? Remus, behave" he said, firm and classy, and Remus leaned away and drank his whiskey while Patton held Logan's hand and smiled. Virgil and Roman seemed to immediately get more comfortable on their spots, regaining their normal body language, seeming to have won a battle they didn't even participate in. "So. Roman. Remus told me quite a lot about you. We didn't know you were a designer."

"Oh yes I am" Roman said, loud and proud, placing a hand on his own chest. "I design clothes for a company here in the area. It is a very rewarding job in the material way, but I also work with a group of children and teach them theater for free, because that enriches the soul."

"That is lovely, I do enjoy myself some voluntary work sometimes. And what about you... Virgil?" Janus asked, and Virgil sighed, arms crossing over his chest.

"I'm a florist. I like flowers" he said, dryly, and Janus gave hima confused look before nodding slowly and sipping on his wine.

"Interesting... Logan, what do you do in life?" he asked, while Logan rolled his eyes impatiently. Someone really wasn't enjoying their time.

"I teach. Science. To a school" he said, annoyed, and Janus nodded slowly without adding anything before turning his head towards Patton, glance seeming to... soften? No. No, Patton was seeing things.

"And you... Patton?" he said, almost in a whisper, his lips over the glass of wine, his legs crossing again so he could turn his whole body towards Patton, eyes digging into his soul like they always did... they always did...

"What do you want to do, after we graduate?"

"I don't know... start a family?"

"That's for girls, Pat. What do you want to work on?"

"I don't know..."

'I don't know...'

"I..." Patton whispered, and then blinked away the memory, shaking his head and breathing in quickly. "I work at a toy store! And I have a kid!"

'I have a kid!'

'Family'

'Family...'

"You have a kid?" Remus said, interrupting the moment, and Patton snapped his head towards him, seeing his disdained look. "Where's your partner? Not up for parties? Dead?"

"I don't have one" he said, softly, and couldn't help but frown. "Also that is very rude to say, what if I had a deceased partner? What would you say?"

"I would say that they are lucky not to be around an idiot like you anymore. You know because those puns downstairs were-"

"Remus!" Janus said, loudly, and angry, and everyone turned to him surprised, even Remus himself. Janus recomposed himself, noticing he had gone a bit too far, and sighed loudly. "Stop being rude to our guests. I know you hate your brother as much as the next person, but chill for god's sake! Here, go grab me some more wine. Downstairs. And don't come back until you are feeling better."

Janus handed his glass of wine to Remus, who after a loud groan took it and left the room, like a dog being told no. Roman's eyes widened, and Virgil couldn't help but snort, both of them looking at Janus impressed.

"How did you do that?!" Virgil said, excited, and Patton relaxed a bit now that the attention was away from him. Janus chuckled as Roman and Virgil started to bombard him with questions about how he had tamed Remus, answering to their questions with laughs and bows, all while Logan held Patton's hand and looked at him.

They had a short conversation through their glances, and Logan stood up, excusing them to go to the bathroom. Patton followed, because of course he did, knowing very well what Logan wanted to talk about.

Still, he couldn't help the skipping of his heart when he heard Janus' laugh in the background.

#it's about family #it's about family chapter 4 #my fanfic #demus #janus #patton #roman #logan #virgil #remus #rude remus #sanders sides #human au