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jostyriggslover96 · 6 months

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Best Thing In My Life

Summary: Kira (OC) and Jack Hughes met through mutual friends unexpectedly one summer. Sparks fly on their first date as their connection continues full force. Now, as Kira visits Jack at his lake things become more serious in every way possible. Kira's thoughts are in italics. Part of the HEART FIRST Series, check out Summer Rituals and Someone Unexpected if you haven’t already!

Note: Thank you for all the love on my two Jack stories, this series has become one of my favorite things to write. This piece in particular was a labor of love and 2 months of writing, but I am so happy with it and hope you enjoy! Thank you to @hockeyboysimagines and @heavenlyhischier for your encouragement and advice on this story!

Warnings: mentions of drinking, swearing, anxiety, smut (unprotected p in v, oral, praise kink). Minors DNI.

Word Count: 14.3k

Best Thing In My Life

Summer was always my favorite time of the year; between the lake days, bonfires, barbeques, and ice cold drinks…it was the best time of the year. This summer blew every other summer out of the water though, because this is the summer that I met Jack Hughes. I don’t normally believe in things like fate or soulmates, but I do truly believe that Jack and I were meant to meet. After our first date which we spent hiking, swimming, cooking, and laughing, we didn’t look back…we only moved forward.

My first date with Jack was probably the best first date I’ve ever had. Jack somehow made me feel butterflies, calm, and laughter all at the same time. Spending time at the lake with him felt so natural, he fit into my life seamlessly. When we were cooking dinner and he washed all the dishes for me, I could picture so many nights like that with him. As we watched the stars and shared our first kiss, all of the walls I had built around me came tumbling down. I think I will be chasing after his lips for the rest of my life.

Jack and I spent as much time as we could together after our first date. It involved a lot of extending vacations, creating dates out of smaller moments, facetime calls, and long distance dates. The effort was always there though; whether it was offering to run into town together to pick up supplies and get a moment away from our friends, or spending the entire day talking about life out on the boat together, or dates at the airport coffee shop, or spending the entire evening on facetime until we fell asleep just so we could be with each other, or starting movies at the same time so we could experience the same things even from a distance. We texted each other constantly and had a good chain of memes that made the other laugh. Jack even ordered my favorite coffee from Starbucks and had it delivered to my apartment. As hard as the long distance was, we did everything we could to feel close to each other despite just meeting.

Jack constantly surprised me in so many ways, he wasn’t the typical hockey player that I expected. You could tell he was raised right and that he genuinely respects me. He extended his time at the lake with me twice after our first date so we could spend more time together. Once so he could spend more time with me in my favorite place and the second time was because he liked the ‘vibe’ of my apartment so much that he just had to stay.

Beyond grand gestures, it was small things that he did that made me feel special. After our first kiss, we spent far too long talking under the stars about life and all of our favorite parts of it. Every time I saw him after that, he always surprised me with one of my favorite things. The morning after our first date he brought me my coffee just the way I like it. When we went out on the boat together he brought a cooler of all my favorite snacks and drinks. When we went to the little movie theater at the lake, he passed me my favorite chocolate bar just as the previews started. On the ride back to the city, he put together a playlist with some of my favorite artists. After we got back to the city he disappeared while I started the laundry, he came back with my favorite takeout and the next book in the poetry series I was telling him about the day we met.

It became clear from the beginning, that this relationship with Jack was more than just a one time date…it was special. It’s beyond special even, it’s the connection that I’ve been looking for. Jack is such a genuine, caring, and supportive person that it’s led to a trust with someone I never even imagined to be possible. I can be myself with Jack, even if that means being anxious or really struggling with vulnerability because of my last relationship. There has never been a moment with Jack where I haven’t felt reassured or safe being me.

The relationship went beyond sweet dates and special gestures, we were able to really open up to each other too. I felt comfortable telling him about my struggles with anxiety, which worsened after my last relationship. Jack held my hand the entire time, wiping the stray tears that fell and assured me that he would never treat me like my ex. Jack told me about his relationship history, even expressing nerves when he told me that he’s never been in something serious. He told me he didn’t want to screw anything up with me and I assured him that he wouldn’t, we’re in this together.

Jack opened up about how challenging his rookie season was and how much that damaged my confidence. When he told me that he felt like he wasn’t ‘good enough’ I wanted to find each of the reporters that wrote negative things about him and rip them apart. Instead we laid together on the couch, his head resting on my chest as I played with his hair and told him how talented and worthy he is.

Jack told me more about his brothers, it became so clear to me that he loved his family more than anything on this earth. We bonded over our love for our moms, which I never expected. Jack spoke about his mom like she hung the moon and he watched me in admiration as I talked about how my mom was one of my closest friends. I told him that I couldn’t wait to meet his family, especially his mom so I could tell her how amazing her son is. That was the first time he seemed shy to me, his cheeks tinted pink as he rubbed the back of his neck and avoided my gaze.

I quickly started to feel things for Jack that I have never felt before; the butterflies turned into warmth and comfort or a deep longing when he wasn’t around. Jack made me feel validated…special…beautiful. He filled me with a confidence I had long forgotten when he would call me beautiful every day and would praise each of my accomplishments no matter how little. For the first time in my life, I have been able to push past the fear of being vulnerable and just let myself feel with Jack. He allows me to put my heart first.

It’s safe to say that these six weeks spent dating and getting to know Jack Hughes have been incredible. He has proven to me that I can trust another man and that relationships can be healthy. He has broken down my walls and has reminded me what happiness feels like. Summer might be my favorite season, but meeting Jack Hughes without a doubt changed my life.

“Flight 826 to Detroit will be boarding in 10 minutes, please ensure you have your boarding passes and identification ready,” the loud voice of the flight attendant on the overhead system shook me from my pleasant daydream about Jack. Jack meant what he said when he told me that he wanted to show me around his lake. So here we were, 6 weeks after our first date as I’m waiting to board my flight to go see his favorite place. The only reason we waited so long was because he had to get the new lakehouse ready after he purchased it with his brother Quinn.

Bouncing my leg as I grip my phone so tightly that my knuckles turn white, the anticipation is killing me. This is worth it, in a few short hours I’ll be with Jack. I let out a deep breath in an attempt to soothe myself, I just want to be in his arms. As if he sensed my nerves despite the miles between us, my phone lit up with a text from Jack.

J: Babe, I know you hate flying but you’ve got this. I’ll be here waiting for you when you land.

I smiled to myself as my grip on my phone relaxed, it’s like he knows what I’m thinking.

K: So excited to meet Quinn and Luke!

J: What about me?

I could sense the pout in his text even though I couldn’t see his face.

K: Can’t wait to see you Jacky, I miss you so much! Can’t wait to have you back in my arms shorty 😛

J: First of all, I’m 5’11 😛Second of all, I can’t wait for that either.

K:5’11, how dare I! Can’t wait to see that smile when I get off my flight.

“Please make your way to gate 21 for Flight 826 to Detroit as we are now boarding,” the voice chimed in on the overhead once more.

K: Gotta go baby, boarding now. See you soon!

J: Can’t wait babe ❤️

My heart fluttered when I saw his text, maybe it was just the heart emoji or maybe he felt it too. I am falling fast for this man, I thought as I gathered my bag and coffee before making my way to the boarding line.

~~~~~~~~~~~

After a grueling 6-hour flight, the captain finally announced that we were preparing for landing. Flying was never particularly my thing, having very little experience in this department made me very tense. However, this flight seemed to never end as 6-hours felt more like 12-hours as I was getting more and more antsy to see Jack. I spent the whole flight bouncing my leg and picking at my nail beds. I’m shocked the older gentleman sitting next to me didn’t say a single thing about my fidgeting habits that must’ve grown annoying. He simply smiled gently and asked me why I was traveling. I hesitated when I tried to explain who Jack was, he isn’t my boyfriend but he feels like he is. But what if it's way too soon to make declarations like that? Instead of exploring this dilemma with my seatmate I simply stated that I am going to visit my boyfriend. Those words felt nice leaving my mouth.

It felt like an eternity from the time we landed, found a gate, and were ready to deplane. I swear I was squeezing the seatrests so hard, I’m surprised I didn’t crush them. Once it was my turn to leave my seat, I quickly gathered my things and bid my seatmate goodbye. Practically bouncing in place I followed behind the other passengers before setting a pace somewhere between a speed walk and a jog once we were safely off the plane. Somehow I managed to text Jack, navigate the airport, and not run into anyone simultaneously.

After a short adventure through the Detroit airport, I was on the escalator that made its way to the baggage claim and airport exit. My eyes darted around anxiously scanning for Jack, most people were on their phones or scanning the crowd for their loved ones. Suddenly my eyes landed on the blue-eyed brunette whose smile lit up when our eyes locked. I swear I could’ve melted right then and there when he sent me a wink and a wave as I waited to get off the escalator. Once the family in front of me got off the escalator, I quickly zigzagged through the crowd before stopping in front of Jack who was still beaming from ear to ear. Within a split second my carry-on was on the ground and my arms were thrown around Jack’s neck as I pulled him as close as possible.

“Hi Jacky,” I exhaled, finally letting out a sigh of relief that I’ve been holding in since I last saw him. He wrapped his arms tightly around my waist, squeezing so hard that he lifted me off the ground slightly. Inhaling as he held me tightly my nostrils were met with his familiar scent, sandalwood with hints of fresh water, probably the lake.

“Hi babe,” Jack whispered as he pressed his warm lips to my temple. In his arms, I was home. Everything stopped while we were in each other's arms, nothing else existed. We completely tuned out from the hustle and bustle of people around us, the child who was excitedly showing her grandma the paw patrol stuffy she had, and the older couple who commented on how cute we were when they passed us. Anxiety dripped away as Jack ran his hands gently along my back.

“I missed you,” I mumbled in his ear as I squeezed my eyes shut, warding off the tears that were forming. I had really missed him more than I thought I did.

“Missed you more,” Jack replied as he leaned back in my arms to get a good look at me. Smiling warmly, his arms left my waist and wiped the tears that were pooling in my eyes before making their way back to my waist just as fast. I returned his smile as I took him all in; his skin was sun kissed, even more than it was when I last saw him and his hair had fleck of sandy blonde pepper throughout it. “So glad you’re here, I can’t wait to show you around,” excitement filled Jack’s voice as I played with the ends of his hair on the back of his neck.

“Me too,” I echoed his excitement as he gave my waist a tender squeeze. “Before we go, this is important,” before Jack could question what I was referring to I pulled his head down to mine and crashed my lips on his. Our lips connected in passionate bliss that sent warmth shooting through my body, lips entwined in unison for a few heavenly moments before we pulled away.

“Good call, that was important,” Jack whispered, his lips so close to mine that they brushed with every word. Smirking, I pecked his lips again. My heart was pounding so fast I could hear it, not from anxiety though, from pure joy.

“Also you didn’t miss me more, impossible,” I emphasized with another kiss. His nose nuzzled mine as we pulled away, there was something so simple but intimate about this moment. While staring into each other’s eyes, giggling about my competitive insistence that I missed Jack more when we were brought back into reality by a young child screaming a few feet away from us. We pulled away hesitantly to glance at the child, I sent the mother an empathetic smile as she attempted to soothe the child.

“Should we get your bag?” Jack commented as he leaned down to grab my carry-on bag while keeping an arm securely around my waist. I nodded silently as my arms dropped from his neck and one settled at his waist, staying as close as we possibly could when we started walking. “We’ve got a bit of a drive, but not too bad. I figured you’d want to stop at Starbucks before we leave the city since you were up so early,” Jack explained.

“You know me so well,” I smiled warmly while glancing up at him, he responded by squeezing my waist and pulling me closer to his side if that were possible.

“How was the flight?”

“So long, I thought it would never end,” I sighed dramatically as Jack let out a chuckle. “The older man beside me was nice though.”

“Oh yeah,” Jack commented as we stopped at the appropriate baggage claim.

“Yeah, he was asking me about my trip and what brought me to Detroit. He is visiting his grandkids. He told me to have fun with my boyfriend while I was leaving,” nervous butterflies flooded my body at the mention of the word. Silence rang loudly between us as Jack stepped forward to grab my bag of the carousel.

“Huh, I like the sound of that,” he winked at me as he drew the handle on my bag up and replaced his hand on my waist. “Alright Kira, let’s get my babe to the lake,” he exclaimed before turning me around and guiding me to the door. He liked the sound of that. So did I. I loved the sound of that. Jack Hughes…my boyfriend…maybe.

~~~~~~~~~~

Jack and I spent the car ride up to his lake house catching up on every possible detail of our lives that the other had missed since we last saw each other, even though we gave each other very detailed recaps of our day every evening on the phone or Facetime. We remained as intertwined as possible, Jack’s fingers laced with mine where they rested on the center console of his Range Rover.

As promised, we stopped at a Starbucks before we left Detroit, to my surprise Jack remembered my favorite summer beverage. When we pulled up to the drive thru he glanced my way and asked ‘the usual’ before reciting my order perfectly. His attention to detail sets my heart on fire. Small things like this, remembering my coffee order, make me feel so special. Jack makes me feel cared for.

We spent the rest of the ride talking, listening to music, and laughing. I vented to Jack about the annoying new girl at work who seems insistent on calling me Kara instead of Kira. Jack listened attentively the whole time, throwing in his two cents here and there, but never once making me feel ridiculous or like my feelings were invalid. Jack let me choose the music the entire way, even turning the music up when Harry Styles came on.

“I like this one,” Jack commented as he increased the volume.

“You, Jack Hughes, like Watermelon Sugar?” my voice filled with shock at this new revelation.

“Yeah, it’s pretty catchy,” he shot a smile my way.

“You know what this song is about right?” I questioned.

“Other than watermelon, no,” he replied as we drove deeper into the trees. His lake house wasn’t too far outside of Detroit, but you would’ve never guessed it was this close to the city. It felt like another world out here.

“It’s about oral Jack,” I teased as I gave his hand a squeeze. As I glanced at Jack I noticed his face was flush around his neck and ears.

“Well, I don’t hate that either,” he stated very casually before shooting a smirk my way. I couldn’t help but snort as boisterous laughter poured out of me. Jack started laughing too before he decided it was a good time to break out his singing chops as he started singing along to the chorus of the song, sending me even further into my fit of laughter.

The ride didn’t last much longer, time seemed to move more quickly as we started singing along to all the songs and got even goofier with each other if that were possible. Jack pulled onto a winding road full of stunning lake houses that looked more like lake mansions compared to my family cabin. We drove for a minute past the cabins before pulling onto the winding driveway of the house Jack had sent me many pictures of when the purchase became official.

“Well this is home for the summer,” Jack commented as he squeezed my hand before putting his vehicle in park. I was silent for a moment, taking in the beautiful view of the lake house on the water. It was a decent size, not obnoxiously huge, and it still felt down to earth.

“Wow Jack, it’s even better than the pictures,” my voice was full of disbelief as I took in my surroundings.

“Thank you, we love it,” Jack commented as he opened the door and held up his hand, signaling for me to stay in my seat as he jogged around the car to my door. Pulling my door open, he held out his hand to help me out as I undid my seatbelt and took his hand in mine once more. Jack quickly gathered my bags as I grabbed our empty coffee cups from the car before he led the way inside. Somehow he managed to carry my suitcase and carry-on while having an arm securely wrapped around my waist and opened the front door with ease.

“Welcome to the lake house,” Jack’s soft voice filled my ears as I entered the foyer of the spacious lake house. “We don’t have all the finishing touches done, but it looks pretty good so far,” Jack explained as he placed my bags by the front door. I glanced around taking in the living room to my left and the kitchen up ahead.

“It looks like Mama Hughes has been helping you decorate,” I teased Jack gently, while brushing his hip with mine.

“She may have been here to help out,” Jack scoffed as he took the empty coffee cups from me.

“I don’t think your couch would have any accent throw pillows if your mom wasn’t here,” I shot back at him jokingly as I took in more of the room.

“Touché,” Jack replied as I walked around the living room, taking in all the nice details.

“Alright Jacky, I need the grand tour.”

“Well first of all, welcome to my crib,” Jack started off without hesitation as he launched into his tour of the lake house causing me to snicker as I followed along with him. He showed me the den with the pool table, the movie theater den with various gaming consoles, the various guest rooms on the main floor, the bedrooms upstairs that had spacious ensuites which I learned belonged to him and Quinn. When I commented on how clean it was, Jack told me that he may have forced his brothers to help him clean up the place for me. I found that incredibly sweet and endearing, he wanted it to look nice for me. He cared about making a good impression, no guy has ever cared about that with me before.

Jack continued his tour by showing me around the garage that was being turned into a hockey training area where they could wear roller blades and practice their shot. Jack showed me around their kitchen, explaining that he and Quinn did most of the cooking for everyone. Then the tour branched out onto the deck, as we were leaving the house Jack and I heard rustling in the bushes on the edge of the deck.

“What is that?” I questioned as my curiosity peaked.

“No clue,” Jack commented as he walked closer to the edge of the deck, his arm out to keep me behind him.

“Do you get much wildlife up here?”

“Not a ton,” Jack explained as he reached the edge of the deck and peaked over the railing. “Are you serious?” Jack exclaimed in destain as he took in whatever he saw over the edge of the deck. Coming up behind his shoulder, I decided to peek around to see what he seemed unimpressed by and was met with the sight of Quinn and Luke crouched down in the bushes along the edge of the deck. This was quite the interesting introduction, seeing as I have only ever seen them in pictures or heard Jack talk about them.

Instantly I started to giggle at the sight of two grown guys that appeared to be hiding quite badly in the bushes. “Are you guys hiding?” I managed between giggles. Quinn and Luke popped up from their hiding place in the bushes and started brushing the leaves off themselves.

“No, absolutely not,” Quinn scoffed.

“Nah, just hanging in the bushes like normal people?” Jack questioned, his voice dripping with skepticism.

“We weren’t hanging out in the bushes or hiding,” Quinn countered.

“That’s what it looked like,” I commented. Jack nodded in my direction, signaling his agreement with my comment. Jack gently threw his arm around my shoulders as Quinn and Luke stepped out of the bushes and came to join us on the deck. I reciprocated the gesture and wrapped my arm around my waist, snuggling into his side.

“We were actually gardening– um, discussing a garden I mean,” Quinn stuttered as they joined us. Quinn glanced over at Luke, his eyes wide, looking for some kind of validation.

“We were?” Luke questioned. Quinn gently smacked him in the stomach, clearly Luke was blowing this. “I mean, yeah the gardening,” Luke tried to smooth over the conversation but failed miserably.

“Yeah, I don’t buy it,” Jack said flatly, calling out their bullshit. The three brothers stared at each other silently, clearly engaged in some kind of Hughes’ brothers staring contest. After a few moments of silence, I cleared my throat, regaining the attention of the brothers.

“You guys are awful liars, but it’s nice to meet you both. I’m Kira, Jack has told me a lot about you,” I put on my sweetest smile and extended my arm that wasn’t wrapped around Jack to shake their hands. Quinn brushed aside my hand and pulled me in for a side hug.

“I’m Quinn, nice to meet you Kira,” Quinn said as he pulled away. “This is Luke.”

“You talk about us?” Luke stared at Jack before turning to me and smiling, leaning in for a side hug just like Quinn.

“Only the embarrassing stories,” Jack quipped. I scoffed and gave Jack a gentle pat on his stomach for teasing his brother.

“Jack won’t shut up about you,” Luke replied, his eyes were screaming ‘ha ha’ at Jack. They are such typical brothers and I love it so much.

“Oh, is that so,” I look up at Jack with a knowing look as his cheeks begin to flush. His brothers start to snicker at their brother's embarrassment.

“Well you’re pretty great, and there's lots to tell,” Jack trailed off as he began rambling.

“I think it's sweet,” I smiled before standing on my tiptoes to place a soft kiss on Jack’s cheek. As I pulled back I noticed that Jack’s cheeks flush even more while we continued to chat with Quinn and Luke.

Despite the butterflies that were rumbling in my stomach and my sweaty palms, I would say that my first meeting with Jack’s brothers went very well. Luke ended up letting the surprise slip that some of Jack’s friends would be coming for a barbecue. Luke passionately claimed that he didn’t know that was a surprise, as I giggled and he earned a smack from Jack and Quinn.

Jack told me that the plan for our day was to go explore some of his favorite spots at the lake, just like our first date many weeks ago. I noticed Luke’s face drop when Jack mentioned that we should get going soon for lunch, so as I went inside to change I dragged Jack to the side and asked if he would be alright with inviting his brothers along for a little lake tour. I can’t imagine how hard it is for the brothers to be separated for so many months of the year while they are all playing hockey, especially with how Jack describes their closeness. Jack’s eyes lit up at my suggestion before he scurried off to tell his brothers the plan.

After quickly changing out of my travel clothes and into some jean shorts and a band t-shirt, we were ready to go. As we piled in the car Jack suggested going to the country club for lunch, I shot Jack a nervous look while bringing up my casual attire. Jack just smiled and told me things would be alright as Quinn reassured me that the club doesn’t have a dress code. Luke even chimed in saying that Jack always wears band t-shirts to the club. Somehow this didn’t ease my nerves as we drove down the lake roads, my mind started racing as I stared out the window wondering if Jack would think less of me for not dressing like a prim and proper WAG. A moment later Jack’s fingers curled in mine and gave my hand a reassuring squeeze, a sense of relief flooded through my body like the waves crashing on the lake.

The drive to the country club was short, Quinn explained this was part of the appeal of the lake house, they could be that much closer to the water and golf. When we entered the club I was pleasantly surprised to see how casual everyone else was, Jack whispered ‘told you so’ in my ear as the waiter led us to our table. We spent most of lunch with his arm wrapped around me as the brothers told stories of their summertime shenanigans. Quinn and Luke peppered me with questions about school, my family, my plans after graduation, if I would ever be willing to move, and more. I noticed Jack gave them a menacing look or a kick under the table as a warning to go easy on me. Yet I seemed to impress them with my answers, as all the brothers looked pleased to learn more about me.

After lunch, we got into the car and drove to the training facility where Jack described spending most of his days. Jack seemed nervous sharing his favorite places with me, as he rubbed the back of his neck and told me we didn’t need to go inside if I didn’t want to. It was my turn to reassure him, as I wrapped my arm around his waist and insisted he show me around the facility. Jack gave an interesting tour of where they trained and explained to me how he was trying to improve on different aspects of his game throughout the summer. I watched in awe of his passion as he talked about the sport he clearly loved. While Quinn and Luke were busy talking to a trainer, Jack told me more about how his rookie year shook his confidence and made him feel like a failure. My heartbroke hearing him talk about himself in those ways.

Doing the only thing I could think of to reassure him, I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him close while I whispered in his ear all the ways he never fails to impress me on and off the ice. Jack seemed to cheer up as we left the practice facility and drove back towards the lake town. We stopped at a small coffee shop and grabbed an afternoon pick me up. Luke ordered a hot chocolate, which I teased him for as he sipped the hot drink in the sweltering weather while Jack and I enjoyed our iced coffees. After the coffee shop we stopped at a bakery where Jack insisted I try a cinnamon bun that he claims ‘changed his life’. The bakery staff were excited to see Jack, questioning him about his summer and the new lake house. He is clearly a regular here and blushed when I asked him if he cheats on his training diet often.

After the bakery, Jack and I walked hand-in-hand, looking in at some of the cute lake shops in the area. All the boys were patient as I picked out a few souvenirs and fought over who got to carry my bags. The afternoon seemed to fly by, as Quinn, who fits the older brother card to a tee, reminded the boys of the time and what they needed to prepare for the barbecue. We headed back to the lake house to start preparations, when to my surprise Quinn insisted that Jack and I take a ride on the boat so Jack could show me the water. I graciously thanked Quinn as Jack dragged me off in the direction of the dock, clearly eager that we could get some private time together.

As I was helping him untie the ropes, I noticed his face was serious, like his mind was racing about something. When I asked him what was wrong, he told me that Quinn invited more of their friends than he expected. I assured him that I was excited to meet all of his friends, even if it was a big group as he helped me into the boat. Jack’s face dropped once more as he explained that his friends would be taking up all the guest rooms, hesitating before telling me why that was upsetting.

“So I’m guessing we’re sharing a room,” I asked as I put two and two together. Panic flashed across Jack’s face as he stuttered to respond.

“Yeah, well, it looks like we are. If you’re okay with that. I can sleep on the couch if that makes you uncomfortable,” Jack rambled as he paced back and forth on the boat. Standing from the comfortable seat I was planted on, I placed both my arms on Jack’s shoulders to stop him.

“Jack, I’m completely fine with that. It doesn’t bother me at all, but thank you for being so concerned for my comfort,” I offered him a reassuring smile as his eyes finally met mine. His features softened at my soft tone, I could practically feel the tension melting away from him.

“I just know it’s early and I don’t want to rush you,” Jack’s voice was softer and calmer as he spoke.

“Jacky, you aren’t rushing me! Now if you don’t want to cuddle with me, I’ll understand,” I teased him, jokingly poking his side. Finally his signature smile graced his lips once again.

“Oh I don’t think I’ll ever say no to that offer,” he smirked before leaning in and pressing his lips to my forehead. The kiss was soft, gentle…like a thank you for calming him.

“Now let’s get going, I want to see this gorgeous lake you always talk about,” I commented as I gestured towards the driver's seat. Jack simply smiled and took his place behind the wheel, pulling me down into his lap as he started the engine. This was turning out to be the perfect day.

~~~~~~~~~

Once Jack and I returned from the water, preparations for the barbecue were in full swing. Jack and I walked into the kitchen to find Quinn instructing Luke on how to slice the tomatoes for burgers. It was quite comical really, Luke was rolling his eyes behind Quinn’s back and as a result, almost sliced his finger. When Jack and I started snickering, Quinn and Luke were alerted to our presence.

“Ahh if it isn’t the love birds who got out of helping,” Luke smirked at the two of us. His eyes landed on our intertwined hands as we stood in the kitchen. His comments earned him a smack from Quinn as a result.

“This is a barbecue in Kira’s honor, we aren’t going to make her help,” Jack scolded Luke. It was quite cute to see him go into older brother mode.

“Kira, we made sure to get you dairy free cheese for the burgers,” Quinn commented, completely ignoring his bickering brothers.

“Thank you, that’s very sweet,” I smiled gratefully at him.

“Anything for you baby,” Jack replied as he pressed his lips to my temple. Melting in his embrace for a moment before excusing myself to go change my outfit. Jack scurried past me to carry my bag up to his room for me, which earned him a sweet kiss as a thank you.

Once I changed into an outfit that my friends had deemed ‘hot enough for Jack but not too hot for his friends’ I touched up my makeup and made my way back downstairs. I noticed that everything had shifted outside and there were more people with the Hughes boys. Instantly feeling my palms start to sweat, I shook them out and took a deep breath. This is a huge deal; meeting the brothers and the friends on the same day. Jack is worth it though, meeting all these people is worth it because I get to be a part of his life.

“Kira,” Jack’s voice tore me from my thoughts as my eyes refocused and I noticed the handsome brunette standing in front of me. The nerves melted away as Jack wrapped an arm around my waist, he was starting to feel more and more like home. “Ready for this?”

“For you? Absolutely,” I smiled as I wrapped my arm around him and let him guide me outside. My ears were instantly met with loud voices and rambunctious laughter that died down when everyone took in my sudden presence. All the guys were staring at Jack and I, eyes wide like they’ve never seen Jack with a girl before. That honestly seems unlikely to me.

“Guys, this is Kira,” Jack started as I was met with a chorus of hello’s. Waving sheepishly as the large group of hockey players, Jack began his introductions of the guys that I have heard so many stories about. “Kira, this is Alex, Cole, Trevor, Brady, Matty, and Nico who you’ve met before.”

I nodded at each of them, offering a nervous smile as I tried to remember who was who. There was an awkward silence as they all stared at me for a moment, perhaps judging if I was worthy of their friend. Nico broke the silence by pulling me into a hug and suddenly there were the murmurs of talkative boys once again. Some of the guys shook my hand, Alex and Brady simply waved, Matty pulled me in for a surprising hug, and Trevor was…well Trevor. Just as I was settling back into Jack’s embrace, a smirk settled on Trevor’s face. Based on Jack’s stories, I knew what was coming next would be interesting.

“So you’re the cougar that’s preying on our precious Jack,” Trevor deadpanned. I inhaled abruptly and choked on my saliva, causing me to cough for a moment. He was smirking but I couldn’t tell if he was serious. Quinn smacked the back of Trevor’s head and muttered ‘moron’. The rest of the guys looked between Jack and Trevor with uncertainty. However, I felt Jack’s grip tighten around my waist as his body tensed up, this being the only time he’s ever reacted this way in my presence.

I heard Luke whisper to Quinn, “can she be a cougar if they’re like 4 years apart?”

“Dude, what the fuck? Could you just shut the fuck up,” Jack snapped at his friend. Instinctively I leaned in closer to him, placing my hand on his chest in comfort.

“It was a joke man,” Trevor chuckled, throwing his arms up in defense.

“Not a funny one, don’t say shit like that to her,” Jack’s voice was dripping with frustration. A tone I had never heard in him before. Looking between the friends and the other boys, it was easy to figure out that these two didn’t usually fight. Leaning into his ear, I whisper ‘it’s okay’ to try to calm him.

“Okay, man. I’m sorry,” Trevor replied, his tone significantly less cocky than before.

“Don’t say sorry to me,” Jack warned.

“I’m sorry Kira,” Trevor offered. I nodded in return, wracking my brain for something to say.

“It’s okay. Also if I remember correctly, he came onto me first, so I definitely wasn’t preying on him,” I replied sarcastically. Everyone broke out into raucous laughter.

“Jack you dog,” Trevor teased.

“Always liked the older ladies,” Cole chimed in.

“I did not come onto you first,” Jack scoffed, staring down at me in shock.

“Sure you didn’t,” I winked at him. “Agree to disagree,” I offered before standing on my tiptoes and pressing my lips to his gently, which quickly earned whistles from the other guys.

The rest of the evening went off without a hitch. Trevor apologized profusely to Jack and I once everyone broke into separate conversations. Jack clearly wasn’t one to hold a grudge but gave Trevor a look that clearly set him straight. Trevor then went on to ask me about all the crazy stories I had from working in a bar and made the big claim that he’s never embarrassed himself while drinking, all the guys reminded him of the times he has after that.

Cole and Alex seemed genuinely interested in what I was taking in school and why I went for a second degree. Cole declared that he would’ve been a doctor if he hadn’t been a hockey player to which Jack told him he wasn’t smart enough for that. Matty asked me flat out why I wanted to date a 19 year old if I was 23, which earned him an elbow from Brady and Nico. Quinn and Trevor bickered like an old married couple, honestly reminding me of my grandparents at times. Luke tried to sneak a beer once or twice, which no one would allow.

I spent most of the night comfortably seated in Jack’s lap. Normally the open affection in front of others would make me flinch, but with Jack it brought me calm and comfort. Jack continuously asked me if I was enjoying myself or if I needed another drink or if I wanted another burger. He even ate the dairy free cheese on his burger after Trevor said it looked gross.

Jack and I spent the evening telling stories of how we met, how Jack ‘bagged’ me, our first date, and so much more. I never expected his brothers or his friends to care this much about our relationship but they never seemed bored. I was able to learn so much more about Jack and why he is who he is from his brothers and friends. Jack notably cringed when Cole told a story of the time Jack tried to ‘hit on some ladies’ while he was playing for team USA. Trevor excitedly pointed out how badly it went. Jack looked like he wanted to crawl out of his skin when Quinn found a few baby pictures of Jack on his phone for me, they made my heart melt completely. If my heart wasn’t with this man before, it surely was now.

Trevor insisted I play on his team when a beer pong game broke out, excited to find that I had decent skills. Skills so decent in fact, that I beat every guy there. Matty chalked it up to the extra life experience I had, but the rest of the guys gave me ‘mad respect’. Jack told me that he had never been prouder of ‘his girl’, which made me melt even more. Jack was quickly corrected when the party moved inside and I beat Trevor at Halo quite easily; then Jack declared that I was the best girl he ever dated.

All of the guys seemed to accept me with open arms, literally. They all insisted on hugs when Jack and I were heading upstairs. Trevor apologized for being a douche once again, I told him it was water under the bridge and Jack reminded him not to mess with me. Alex reminded us to ‘use protection’ as we headed up the stairs, which earned him an elbow from Nico. Luke let out a horrified gasp and asked Quinn if he would be able to hear us through the walls. That earned Luke the middle finger from Jack and myself.

Jack and I settled into our room quite comfortably. He asked a million questions about my skin care routine, even asking if I brought any of those ‘face mask things’. He sat with me the whole time I was getting ready for bed; asking me what I thought of the day, if I liked the lake, what I thought of his brothers, and if his friends were overwhelming. Jack even turned his back as I changed into my pajamas, thank god I packed cute ones. He let me choose my side of the bed and kept a respectful distance once we got under the covers. He quickly loosened up when I reminded him about the cuddling and we fell asleep peacefully wrapped in each other's arms.

The night was a major success on every front, the more I learned about Jack the more invested in him I became. He spent the whole evening ensuring I was comfortable and content, I’ve never had that before. As hesitant as I was to meet Jack and as much as I ran from relationships, he had convinced me to jump into this full force. He convinced me that I was safe with him, that he would never rush me and that he would always try to understand my feelings. Jack really was the guy I never expected to meet, but he completely changed my life. I wanted him all to myself, to be mine completely, to be my boyfriend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Waking up in Jack’s arms the next morning was like waking up in a dream. It was a dream you never wanted to end as I basked in the comfort of his warm arms. We spent what felt like forever cuddling, pressing soft kisses to each other's lips, and talking about how happy we were in that moment. I was surprised by how much Jack was opening up to me, it made my heart swell every time he shared something personal with me.

This morning he told me that this is the happiest he’s ever been aside from his draft day. We were in the middle of a passionate exchange, it was rudely interrupted by Trevor who barged in and immediately upon noticing we were making out in bed, screamed and covered his eyes. This drew the attention of some of the others and suddenly there was a group of hockey players crowded outside the bedroom door.

“Ew, could you guys make out somewhere private,” Luke groaned as he shielded his eyes with Trevor.

“We were!” Jack shouted as he tossed a pillow at the door and yelled at his friends to get out of the room. As the door was closing Quinn gently reminded us that the boat would be leaving in 45 minutes for the day.

“So much for our peaceful morning,” I muttered as I stretched out, now fully adjusting to being awake. Jack groaned unhappily next to me, I leaned over and pressed my lips to his once more. “We have to get up,” I mumbled against his lips.

“Want to stay here with you,” Jack responded, holding me tightly against his body.

“But the boat day,” I encouraged him.

“Like you more than the boat,” Jack muttered as he chased my lips.

“If we don’t get up they’ll just come back,” I pointed out. Jack sighed in response and threw the covers off both of us. Jack offered me his hand to help me out of bed as we both went about our business getting ready. I changed into a simple and respectable bikini that was a little hot for Jack but not too hot for his friends before throwing on some shorts and a tank top.

When we were both ready, we made our way downstairs, hand-in-hand to grab some breakfast before heading out for the day. Jack had me sit at the island while he got my coffee ready and made me a plate of pancakes. Trevor told Jack how ‘whipped’ he was, which earned Trevor glares from both of us. Quinn smacked Trevor on the back of the head while he walked behind him to bring me an orange juice. I couldn’t help but smile at how sweet the Hughes’ boys were being to me, it’s like I’m part of the family.

After a quick breakfast, Jack and I helped Quinn pack the cooler full of snacks before we made our way down to the boat. The boat was very impressive and could fit all of us with no trouble. Trevor and Luke snickered while Jack helped me with sunscreen, but quickly stopped laughing an hour later when they decided to put some on as well. The Michigan sun was beating down on us and I was absolutely loving lake life with Jack. The water was calm, the sun sparkled as it hit the blue lake. We were surrounded by lake houses, trees, and open water; this is the good life.

We spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon out on the water. Drinking, wake surfing, eating, swimming, laughing, and having a good time. I grew more and more comfortable with Jack’s friends, my nerves had officially faded about getting to know them. To my surprise, Jack was very affectionate in front of his friends, constantly keeping me close throughout the day. We were either sitting together, sharing food, or I was in his lap enjoying myself.

Jack definitely showed off when he was demonstrating wake surfing to me, throwing in a few special tricks. He offered me endless encouragement as I got out there myself to try it and even managed to stay up for a minute or so. While Jack was helping me back in the boat, he whispered ‘good girl’ in my ear, obviously gesturing to my first attempt at wake surfing. Those words made my legs weak as I got all warm and fuzzy inside. Coupled with his killer smile and his gorgeous blue eyes, Jack was really looking good out here in his element.

Later in the day while we were relaxing and drying off in the sun, no longer zooming around on the boat, Quinn brought up the plans for the evening. He explained to the guys that they would be grabbing food at the pub before hitting up a party at a nearby lake house. Jack took the opportunity to tell me about the chicken he was marinating for tonight, which caught the attention of some of the guys.

“Wait, why aren’t you coming to the party?” Cole questioned.

“I’m cooking for Kira,” Jack responded simply.

“Why aren’t you cooking for all of us?” Matty questioned.

“I have a special night planned for us,” Jack explained.

“So we’re not special?” Trevor asked, feigning hurt.

“Kira is special in a different way,” Jack smiled as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder. I couldn’t help but blush as all the guys smirked at this gesture.

“That’s his nice way of saying you aren’t special,” Quinn fired back at Trevor who immediately started bickering with the eldest Hughes brother. The bickering only ended when Quinn pushed Trevor into the lake, which started an all out war between the boys. Jack and I laughed from the sidelines as we took in this perfect day out on the water.

Something about tonight felt different from our other dates. Like Jack was really putting in an effort to make tonight special. He had the meal all preplanned and was even sending his friends out so we could be alone. I was practically beaming in anticipation at the thought of uninterrupted alone time with Jack, we really didn’t have much of that recently. There’s something I definitely want to bring up to him if the time is right tonight…and I hope it is because I want Jack to be mine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The blissful afternoon we shared on the glistening water came and went all too quickly. I wanted to stay wrapped in Jack’s arms on the boat forever as the rippling water rocked us gently. Before I knew it we were docking by the lake house once more and the guys were getting ready for their night out. Trevor was still whining about Jack kicking him out of the house for the evening, but no one else seemed to mind.

I freshened up in Jack’s room after our long day in the sun. Quickly hopping in the shower as Jack got changed, I noticed his eyes lingering on my body as I gathered my clothes. His gaze was hot on my skin, sending tingles throughout my body.

Deciding to tease him just a bit, I pretended that the knot in my bikini top was too hard for me to untie. As Jack’s fingertips fiddled with the knot his fingers touched brushed my skin, sending shivers down my spine. Once the knot was untied Jack held the strings for a moment, giving my hip a playful squeeze before letting me go. Sweetening the deal even more, I let the bikini top drop to the ground as my back was turned to him before grabbing my clothes and strutting to the bathroom. Smirking as I heard Jack let out an exasperated groan as I closed the door behind me, I got down to work, wanting to look fresh for my special evening with Jack. He kept mentioning that tonight was special, even though I didn’t know exactly why, I felt the same way. I could tell something special was going to happen tonight.

After putting a few more soft curls in my hair I took a step back to look in the mirror. It was a simple but cute look, black romper that was a little low cut to give Jack a nice view, simple makeup and wavy hair. Smiling, I was happy with my work as I brushed my fingers on my romper to smooth it, letting out a shaky breath as I did so. Take a deep breath Kira and relax. This is Jack, he’s not going to hurt you like the other guys. Jack is different. I thought to myself as I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment. Letting out another deep breath, I felt the butterflies fade.

Stepping out of Jack’s room I closed the door gently as my feet padded softly on the floor. Gingerly making my way down the stairs I noticed there wasn’t anyone in the living room as I turned into the kitchen. Jack’s back was to me as he focused on something on the stove. He was wearing dark jeans and a black t-shirt, simple but incredibly hot on him.

“Have the boys left?” I interrupted his focus as he glanced over his shoulder, gaze landing on me. A smile formed on Jack’s lips as his eyes flitted up and down my body, taking in my appearance.

“They left 5 minutes ago baby,” Jack smiled through his teeth as he set down the spoon he was using to stir something. Jack strides over to me, wrapping his arms around my waist as his warm lips pressed to my cheek. My eyes fluttered closed as I took in his scent, somehow he always smells of sandalwood. “You look beautiful baby,” Jack complimented as he leaned back taking in my appearance once again.

“Thanks Jacky,” I returned his smile as I gave his biceps a squeeze. My bottom lip pulled in between my teeth as I took in his look once more, his t-shirt accentuated his muscles in all the right way. I was on fire right now. Before I knew it, Jack was spinning me around and steering me towards one of the chairs at the island. Pulling out the chair, he gestured for me to take a seat, I smiled as he helped me into the stool and pushed me closer to the island. “What a gentleman,” I smirked as he made his way to the fridge.

“Wine or beer Kira?” He asked, glancing over his shoulder as he held the door open.

“Do you have Rosè?” I asked softly.

“Do I have Rosè?” Jack snorted. “Of course I do, it’s your favorite,” he replied as he pulled out a bottle and set out for a glass. Jack was quiet as he went to the cabinet for a glass, I watched him intently, noticing that his hand shook as he pulled the glass from the cabinet. Shaking hands seemed out of character for him.

He sweetly placed the glass of wine in front of me and placed a chaste kiss on my forehead before stepping away to return to the meal. He was laser focused on the pot on the stove as silence filled the room around us. Silence was so unusual for Jack, usually it was hard to get him to stop talking. His movements were jerky as he flung the fridge door open, pulling vegetables out left and right. A tomato slid from his fingers and bounced on the floor when he let out a ‘shit’ under his breath. Something was definitely up.

“So what’s on the menu chef Jack?” I asked, trying to ease the tension that had built up quickly in the room. Jack didn’t answer me right away as he was searching the cabinets for a cutting board. Silence droned on, the only thing to be heard was the shutting of cabinets. “Jack?”

“Huh?” He questioned as I regained his attention. This was completely unlike him, he was usually so attentive to me while we were together. Something was up.

“Okay, Jack come here a second,” I held out my hands for him as he dropped the cutting board on the counter for me and came to stand in front of me, his hands shaking as he laced his fingers with mine. “Jacky what’s going on?”

“Nothing, what do you mean?” He deadpanned, eyes darting around as he avoided my gaze.

“Jacky, look at me,” one of my hands dropped his as I took his face in my hand gently, giving him no other option but to look at me. “You seem stressed, what’s going on?” I asked once more. His eyes shut, as he leaned into my touch.

“Kira it’s nothing,” he brushed off again.

“It’s so clearly not nothing Jack, you can tell me anything,” I encouraged as I stroked his cheek gently. His eyes opened and his gaze finally met mine.

“Anything?”

“Anything Jacky.”

He let out a shaky breath before beginning, “I’m nervous I guess because I want tonight to be special.”

Gently yanking him closer to me, his other arm wrapped around my waist. “Jacky, you have gone out of your way to make this whole trip special. Truly, you have been so attentive to everything I need. What is it about tonight?”

“I just has to be special,” he sighed.

“Why? Are you nervous that I won't like the food?”

“No it’s not that, it’s…” he trailed off, seemingly searching his mind for the right words. I continued to stroke his cheek, offering him my silent but gentle reassurance. He has been such a rock for me, and has allowed me to feel safe opening up about so many things. I want him to feel the same way about me. It’s not too often I see a guy showing his emotions or his nerves. This is actually quite refreshing. “I’m nervous that I’m going to screw this up,” he blurted out suddenly. My eyes softened at his confession, love flooding my face as the middle Hughes boy gazed down at me.

“Jacky, why do you think you’re going to screw this up?” I asked gently.

“Kira, this is my first adult relationship. I haven’t ever had a serious girlfriend, you’ve been through so much and I don’t want to mess this up. I don’t want to hurt you,” Jack confessed. My other hand dropped his as both my arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him even closer to me.

“Jack, you are so incredibly caring, sensitive, and affectionate. You make me feel things that no one else ever has. I know you’re worried, and I was too but you make me feel safe.” Jack’s gaze softened as he looked down at me.

“I do?”

“Yes Jack, you make me feel more safe than any relationship I’ve ever had. Just because you haven’t had a serious relationship, doesn’t mean you’re going to screw this up,” I explained as my fingers toyed with the ends of his hair.

“You think so?” He questioned.

“I can’t guarantee everything will be perfect but we’re so good together. You are so mature Jack, who cares that this is your first adult relationship.”

A smile danced across his lips at my words, “can I tell Quinn that you called me mature?” He joked as we both burst out in laughter.

“I’ll tell him myself,” I teased as he wrapped his arms around my waist and held me close. “Do you feel better?”

He nodded silently, “thank you,” he gave me a squeeze.

“Always Jacky,” I smiled as I leaned into his embrace. We stayed like this for a few moments, reveling in each other's touch. “Now can I go back to something you said?” I broke the silence. “You said you’ve never had a serious girlfriend, is that what I am to you?”

Jack leaned back in my arms and studied my face, clearly trying to gauge my reaction. “Girlfriend?” He asked to which I nodded, teeth sinking into my bottom lip as I anticipated his response. “I would like you to be that, my girlfriend.”

I was quiet for a moment before a smile broke out on my lips, “really?” my voice filled with hope.

“Kira, be mine, be my girlfriend,” Jack stated confidently, he definitely has his swagger back. Confident but not cocky.

“Only if you’ll be my boyfriend Jacky,” I giggled. His signature smirk graced his face at my silly response.

“That sounds like a fair deal,” he commented as he chased my lips. As he leaned in and our lips brushed each other’s he asked, “so you’re my girlfriend?”

“Yes,” I giggled as his breath danced against my skin. “And you’re my boyfriend?”

“Damn right,” he chuckled before finally planting his lips on mine. I melted into his warmth as our lips danced on one another’s. The kiss was hungry and passionate as the tension of everything that was unsaid over the past weeks was finally out in the open. Jack Hughes is my boyfriend, I thought as I smiled against his lips. This gave him the perfect opportunity to slip his tongue past my lips as he deepened the kiss.

We broke apart when the kitchen timer started chiming, both so startled we practically jumped. I reluctantly let Jack go tend to the food, though I would be content spending the whole night wrapped in his arms, cuddling, amongst other things.

“So, what’s on the menu boyfriend?,” the words dripped off my lips like velvet. Jack couldn’t hide the smile that was spread across his face.

“Greek chicken, lemon roasted potatoes, and salad,” Jack listed as he checked on the dish in the oven and reset the timer before turning his attention back to the vegetables on the island that needed to be chopped.

“That sounds amazing, my boyfriend is such a chef,” I teased as he tried to focus on the food in front of him.

“No distractions or this will be a failed attempt at being a chef,” he smirked as he started cutting the tomato.

“Need any help?” I asked, ready to rise from my stool.

“No!” Jack practically shouted. “Tonight is all about you and how special you are, so stay relaxing,” his gaze was intense as he mentioned how special I am. I practically combusted right then and there at the intensity in his eyes. They were burning a hole in me, tonight definitely was special.

“Well I am the luckiest girlfriend,” I smiled as I leaned back and sipped my wine. Jack in fact remembered my favorite brand.

“I’d say I’m the lucky one,” he commented as he tossed the chopped tomatoes in a bowl.

I happily enjoyed the show as he literally waited on me for the rest of the evening. My wine glass never emptied, and when I wanted to move on to something else so I wasn’t drunk before the food came, he had sweet tea ready for me. As the evening went on, he lit candles that suddenly appeared on the island. I was surprised there were candles anywhere to be found in this lake house. When dinner was ready, I was beyond impressed at the caliber of his cooking skills. The meal was even better than the one I served him on our first date.

The evening really did remind me of our first date as he cleaned up the meal and insisted I sit and relax. We’ve really come so far from that first date though. We barely knew each other then, but now it feels like I’ve known him forever. He’s my boyfriend and I’m his girlfriend. He’s mine and I’m his. I want tonight to be even more special.

After dinner, we made our way to the couch in the living room as I settled in his arms. “You know, you really did make me feel special tonight,” I commented as I stared up at him. He met my gaze and smiled, giving my shoulder a squeeze as he did so.

“Good, I wanted to. You deserve this all the time, you make me feel special all the time,” his voice dropped a few octaves as he shifted on the couch, pulling me even closer into his side.

“You are special,” I licked my lips as I continued to stare into his eyes. His gaze is so intense, I felt my thighs squeeze together, desperate for some friction. Jack’s hand shifted from my shoulder to my thigh as my breath became so shallow it practically left my body. “Thank you for this whole night Jacky,” my voice shook as I spoke.

“Anything for you pretty girl,” his voice so sweet it practically dripped honey. That was a first with that nickname and set fireworks off in my entire body.

“You know, now that we’re official there is something I’ve been meaning to tell you,” a mischievous smile spread across my lips.

“Oh yeah,” he leaned forward as his hand slid further up my thigh.

“You look hot in that shirt,” I breathed out. The tension in the air was thick, palpable.

“Do I?” He smirked as he leaned over me, his lips were close enough to feel their warmth.

“Jacky,” I let out a whine. Need so deep within my body that I didn’t recognize it, my whole body was tingling. So sensitive that one touch might do me in.

“Kira,” he teased as his tongue ran across his bottom lip. I let out a nervous breath, gathering whatever courage I needed. God, I felt like I was floating.

“I need you,” as soon as the words left my lips Jack leaned into me with the most intense, earth shattering kiss I have ever experienced. He quickly pushed me back on the couch, settling on top of me as my thighs wrapped around his hips. Heat pooled within me as my desire grew even more for Jack. A moan escaped my lips as he nipped at my lip, he was intoxicating.

He settled more of his weight on me as I felt him brush against my core. “Jack!” I gasped as shocks ran through me. His fingers toyed with the strap of my romper, gently sliding it down my shoulder. My skin burned at his touch. I never wanted this to end, I wanted his hands on my skin forever.

Just as Jack started toying with my other strap, causing me to whimper, the back door to the lake house swung open quite aggressively.

“Jack man, I need to use your shower,” Trevor exclaimed as Jack and I scrambled apart. Sitting up on the couch, I fiddled with the strap of my romper, making sure everything was back inside where it should be. Despite our disheveled appearance, none of the boys seemed any the wiser as they barged back into the lake house.

“Why do you need my shower?” Jack questioned, his voice filled with annoyance at his friend's rude interruption. They were so oblivious to what they just barged into.

“Cole spilled his beer on me when some girl puked on Quinn and Luke. So safe to say the showers will be occupied,” he explained as all the guys filed through the kitchen, some settling on the couches and some filing into the respective bathrooms.

“Soo, how was dinner?” excitement filled Cole’s voice as he wiggled his eyebrows at us. Jack and I exchanged a heated look, Alex was turning on the tv as Matty was doling out the gaming controllers. Oh my gosh they’re never going to leave us alone.

“Dinner was good, ya know, I was actually going to take Kira out for a boat ride,” Jack uttered as he reached for my hand and pulled me off the couch as he rose up. Smiling gratefully at him, we both started to scurry out of the living room.

“But the sun is setting, why would you go out on the boat?” Brady questioned as some game was being fired up on the flatscreen.

“Sunset tour,” Jack scrambled as we both stumbled to throw on shoes. Desperate for the touch of one another and nervous that the boys would follow once more.

“Yeah, it’s going to be beautiful,” I proclaimed as I yanked the door open.

“Gotta go, don’t want to miss it,” Jack called as he pulled the door closed behind him and wrapped his arm around me again.

We practically sprinted off the deck and down the grass to the dock, still fearing that the boys would be behind us suddenly. We made it to the dock in no time as Jack and I started untying the ropes, luckily I had experience in this, so we could move things along more quickly. Jack hopped in the boat, reaching out his hand to help me in.

Once I was settled in a seat, Jack got behind the wheel and fired up the engine. Not hesitating as he threw the boat in gear and sped away from the dock. My knee was bouncing as the water whipped past us, both of us clearing eager to resume our activities. “Don’t worry, I know a really secluded spot,” Jack commented as he glanced at me briefly.

“Oh, do this often Hughes?” I teased at his comment, shifting forward in my seat.

“No, god, no I—,” he stammered. My hand went to rest on his knee, squeezing a little.

“Just hurry,” I instructed and hurry he did. It took us a few minutes but we made it to a quiet spot away from the other houses and the prying eyes of others. Jack shut off the boat, turned on the dim lights before coming to sit on the bench next to me. He slid his arm around my shoulder as I leaned into him, my head resting on the shoulder as we enjoyed the quiet nature surrounding us.

“You know, we don’t have to do this,” his voice just above a whisper as we watched a duck swim by.

Turning my head, I glanced up to read his expression. “Jack, I want to!”

“I just don’t want you to feel rushed, or pressured because we made it official tonight,” his gaze met mine as his blue eyes stared deeply into mine. A rush of warmth flooded through me, desire yes, but also a sense of safety and gratitude.

“I don’t feel rushed at all Jack, I want this,” I gestured between us. “I want you.” His eyes darkened as our gaze remained interlocked.

“If you’re sure,” he wondered out loud once more. I nodded eagerly as a smirk danced across his lips. His hand tangled in my hair as he pulled me in for a searing kiss. Lips locked in a heated make out session, only breaking apart as we both fumbled to pull Jack’s shirt over his head.

His tongue quickly won the battle against mine as I moaned against his lips, pulling away for air, both huffing as I reached for the straps of my romper. Pulling the straps against my fingers and sliding them to the edge of my shoulders, I let them drop down. Getting bold, I stood up, letting the romper slide down my body as it pooled at my feet. Jack groaned as he pulled me back to the bench.

“I like this,” he smirked as he ran his fingers along the lacy material of my strapless bra. His fingers brushed my skin as they slid around my back to unclasp the bra. The bra was pulled from my body as Jack let out a sharp breath. “Shit you are beautiful,” he whispered as he leaned forward to nibble on my neck.

Sucking and nipping playful he trailed down my neck to my collar bone before licking my skin and taking his nipple in my mouth. Twirling his tongue around my nipple I threw my head back, a moan escaping me as he continued sucking my breast. His other hand slid up my stomach, before pinching my other nipple in his fingers.

“Oh god Jack,” I whimpered as he continued licking and nipping my sensitive skin. “Don’t tease me,” I whined as my hand knotted in his hair.

“Let me make you feel good baby,” his voice was soft yet full of desire. I nodded my head, wetness pooled in my core as he gently eased me onto my back on the bench, placing kisses on my chest and stomach as he slithered his way down my body. “Can I take these off?” He questioned as his fingers ghosted over my underwear, snapping the lacy strap against my skin.

Nodding my head vigorously, I opened my legs to help him out. He chuckled lowly, “I need your words baby.” He continued to toy with the lace underwear as I squirmed underneath him.

“Yes Jacky,” I whined as he finally hooked his thumbs under the material. Lifting my hips as he pulled the underwear down my legs, he didn’t let me settle after that. Sliding my legs over his shoulders he settled between my thighs, pressing gentle kisses to my sensitive skin.

“Good girl,” his voice filled with pride as his breath ghosted over my sensitive core.

“No teasing,” I warned as I leaned up on my elbows to make eye contact with him.

“Not teasing,” he smirked. Before I could respond he wrapped his perfect lips around my clit and sucked gently. My arms went weak as I fell back and moaned. “That feel good baby?”

“Yes,” I moaned out as he twirled his tongue around my sensitive bud. Wrapping his lips around it once more, he sucked harder as my eyes shut, bliss setting in. My hand laced through his hair as I tugged on his disheveled locks. “More Jack,” I moaned as his tongue dragged through my folds.

“Tell me what you need baby.”

All I could do was whimpered and writhe beneath him as his tongue toyed with my entrance. My grip on his hair tightened as his tongue prodded my sopping entrance, it’s been too long since someone has touched me like this. Every move of his tongue consumed me, I was floating in a haze of pleasure. I was drunk on Jack Hughes.

“Jack,” I cried out. He lifted his head as I whimpered as the loss of his mouth.

“What do you need, baby? Want you to feel good,” he encouraged.

“Your fingers,” I whined, desperate to feel him again.

“My fingers,” he smirked up at me.

“And that amazing tongue,” I breathed out as our eyes met for a second. He stared at me a moment longer before I gave him another tug on his hair. My legs quivered as I anticipated his burning touch on my skin.

“Good girl baby,” he exclaimed before he dove back in, his tongue swirling around my clit again as one of his fingers teased my entrance. By this time I was practically dripping as he slid his finger into me and started thrusting. He moved his finger for a few moments before a second finger teased my hole. He pumped his fingers inside me before curling them in a way that made me see stars.

“Jack,” I cried out as I arched off the bench, my other hand curling into his hair. Jack started pumping his fingers faster as he felt me squeeze around him, I wasn’t going to last much longer. He flattened his tongue against my clit and shook his head back and forth. “I’m close,” I whimpered as he gently nipped at my clit.

“Let go baby,” he encouraged as I gripped his fingers like a vice. Heat was spreading through my whole body as tension built in my stomach like an elastic that was about to snap. All the sucking and the thrusting of his fingers was too much. Jack wrapped his fingers around my clit and sucked hard which sent me over the edge. Crying out his name as I grinded down against his fingers. My whole body was pulsing as I rode out my high, as he pumped his fingers a few more times before pulling them out. This was a state of bliss I have never felt before, no man has ever given me this attention, intent solely upon giving me pleasure.

He licked his fingers clean of my juices as he settled between my thighs again. I whimpered at the sight and the loss of his touch. His forehead pressed to mine, “you taste amazing, good girl.”

“You’re amazing,” I exclaimed as my chest was rising as I caught my breath. Jack pressed his lips to mine, swirling his tongue with mine so I could taste my juices. “My turn,” I mumbled against his lips.

“Baby I’m not going to last, need to be inside you,” as he pressed his lips to mine again. He pulled away to unbutton his jeans, quickly kicking them off with his boxers. His hard cock sprung up as he shed the last of his clothes. Licking my lips I took in his full appearance, he was big, but not aggressively so. Those thighs and his biceps, I was in pure heaven.

“Wait, do you have a condom?” I paused, breaking away from the blissful dream I was living. His movements froze for a moment, his head dropped.

“Shit!” He exclaimed. I groaned in frustration at the thought of this ending.

“I suppose you don’t keep any on here?” I gestured to the boat. He shook his head in disappointment. We were both silent for a moment as he hovered over me. Neither of us moved as the tension stopped time. “Well, are you clean?” I asked, breaking the silence.

“Am I clean?” He repeated, staring down at me. “Yes I am,” he responded hesitantly.

I let out a sigh of relief, “So am I, so screw the condom.”

His eyes widened at my words, “Are you sure?” I nodded in response. “So I’ll have to pull out?” He asked.

“I'm on the pill,” I reassured him. The fear and disappointment that had crept onto his face quickly melted away as a smile formed once more. He reached down and gave himself a few tugs, making sure he was ready.

“Let's do this,” he settled between my thighs, running the tip of his cock through my folds. “Ready?” He paused as he took himself in his hand and prodded my entrance.

“Yes Jacky,” I nodded as he slowly slid inside stretching my walls to their capacity. He went slowly as I gripped him tightly. Squeezing my eyes shut I let out a shaky breath, trying to relax as he bottomed out.

“You okay,” he paused his movements.

“Yeah, just been a while,” I whimpered as he filled me to the core. His movements remained halted as his hand slid between us and his fingers began toying with my clit. Quickly the pain of being so full turned into a searing pleasure as I moaned at his ministrations. “You can move,” I breathed. Jack pulled out before rolling his hips against mine, resuming his movements. His hands rested on my hips as he thrusted into me, fingers pressing crescents into my skin as I gasped.

“Shit Kira,” he groaned as I clenched around him. He snapped his hips harder, sliding me back on the seat. My head was now hanging off the edge of the bench as Jack pounded into me, skin slapping against skin as he moved me further off the bench with each thrust of his hips.

My neck was not enjoying this angle, as my hand found his chest and pushed against him. “Stop!” I said gently. His movements froze instantly.

“Did I hurt you?” Nerves filled his voice as I lifted my head to meet his eyes.

“No Jack! You feel amazing, this isn’t working for my neck though.”

“Oh shit, you’re like half off the bench,” he commented as he finally took in the full extent of the force his thrusts had.

“Why don’t you take a seat,” I suggested as my hand pushed against his chest more firmly. He pulled out as I drew my legs closer to my chest and sat up. He sat back against the bench, thighs splaying open. Grabbing onto his shoulders, nails scraping his skin as I swung my leg over his lap so I was straddling him. Rolling my hips against his, we both let out a moan.

“No teasing,” he whined. Smiling at the effect I had on him, I reached down between us and lined his cock up with my entrance. I finally sink down on him as a moan escapes my parted lips. A groan escapes Jack as I start grinding against his pubic bone. Gently rocking my hips, twisting them in a circle as I envelope him within my velvety walls.

I lift myself up, sliding down as I start to bounce on his cock, he slides into me deeper at this angle. My hands rest on his chest as I rock myself back and forth. My eyes roll back as our skin slaps against each other gasping in pleasure.

“Doing so good,” Jack whispers as his fingers palm at my ass. My pace quickens as I feel myself squeeze around him at the sound of his praise.

“Jack, fuck,” I cry out as I bounce up and down. “I’m not going to last long.” My legs start to ache from my movements as the knot in my stomach grows tighter. Jack plants his feet on the floor, lifting his hips to meet mine.

“So good, fuck,” he breathes out as I squeeze him harder. “Such a good girl.” The pressure grows more intense as I feel him twitch inside me, “you like that don’t you?” He asks as I let out another gasp.

“Jack,” I cried as he plowed into me, my hips rocking harder against his. Leaning my head down I capture his lips in mine as his finger snakes around my waist and starts rubbing circles on my clit. The pressure builds as I squeeze around Jack. I sink my teeth into his lip as I clench harder.

“Come on baby,” Jack encourages as he rocks his hips up to meet mine. My legs start shaking as I stop my movements, my breath hitching as Jack continues to pound into me. My orgasm hits me like a freight train as I drop my head against Jack’s shoulder. He lets out a strangled groan as he rocks against me a few times before I feel his warmth fill me up. Slowly his hips drop as I drop back into his lap, he presses soft kisses against my neck as we both struggle to catch our breath.

“That was—,” I trail off, still blissing out from my high.

“Fucking amazing,” Jack whispers in my ear, giving me a playful nip on my earlobe. We both stay wrapped around each other, as he stays inside me until we fully catch our breath. “Here baby, my good girl,” he helps me off my lap, I whimper as he pulls out and stands up. He walks to the adjacent bench, lifting the seat and rustling around, he pulls out a towel and comes back. Spreading my thighs gently as he runs the towel along our juices that are dripping out of me, cleaning up the mess we made.

Once he’s done cleaning me up he tosses the towel to the side, grabbing a fresh towel. He sits down on the bench and pulls me into his lap, draping the towel over the two of us. “I’m so glad you could come see the lake house,” he whispers before pressing a soft kiss to my temple.

“Me too,” I whispered softly, wrapping my arms around his waist.

“Do you want to head back?”

“No, want to stay like this for a while,” I nuzzled closer to him as I took in the night sky that was enveloping us. Pressing a kiss to my temple, he pulled me in closer as we snuggled and watched the stars. Truly appreciating the calmness of the nature around us as the gentle waves caused the boat to sway ever so slightly.

I truly was glad I could make the trip down here to see Jack’s lake. This was a place he absolutely loved and I was so grateful to share that experience with him. We both clearly loved lake life in the summer, I feel so honored that he shared his favorite place with me as I had shared mine. To think that yesterday I was a nervous wreck in the airport wondering what our relationship was. Now we’re sitting here under the stars, and I can officially say that Jack Hughes is my boyfriend. As hesitant as I was when I first met him, I am so happy that I pushed through those nerves and put my heart first. He may just be the greatest thing to ever happen to me.

#jack hughes #my writing #jack hughes imagine #jack hughes x reader #jack hughes blurb #jack hughes smut #jack hughes fic #nhl imagine #nhl #nhl hockey #hockey #nj devils #new jersey devils #quinn hughes #luke hughes

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reel-fear · 3 months

Text

Bendy And The Power Of Representation

So those graphic novel pages huh? Seems I posted my cover post at just the right time because literally minutes after I was informed the preview pages came out and uh. This is Buddy and Norman!

Oh dear... I'll put the full graphic novel pages down below but I have so much to say on how awful this is it'll need several posts. However, right now I want to mostly talk about representation and briefly touch on why it's so damn important + inform others about the current shit Mike and Meatly are saying about the books n such.

Now note: All the things I'm saying below are based on my personal experience, maybe some people don't care about seeing the representation of their identities in the media they consume. Maybe some will think I'm merely being dramatic and I might be but I'm not lying when I say I personally believe being represented and seen in the media you consume can be one of the most wonderful feelings in the world.

Look I'm not here to argue with people who think that Norman in particular was never meant to be a person of color, I would argue he is very coded but the points I'm making here are not about how Norman particularly had to be black. The point I want to make is the lack of diversity in our cast in general and how Norman's design has heavily dwindled it considering most people [including myself] rightfully assumed he was at least one of three black characters in our cast. Not according to this though and looking at the the rest of the pages our chances of seeing any kind of decent diverse character designs dwindle more.

So firstly... Buddy a character who has been said to experience discrimination for being Jewish, lacks any kind of ethnic features at all. That's... Cool but yeah I think this shows a rather grim future for the character designs as a whole.

Also, Norman... As I mentioned he was largely assumed to be black due to his southern dialect, his voice, and other factors. But nope, he's a generic white guy. With... Gross looking hair tbh...

Sadly this is not the first time the topic of poor representation has come up concerning Bendy either.

[note how he disregarded the other mentioned minorities and specifically cites LGBTQ+ characters]

This sucks as a response but sadly considering Mike's recent behavior it seems to fall in line with the Bendy team's general lack of care towards representing anyone who isn't straight and white.

So how did Mike respond to all of this? Well...

TDLR - "Who cares if the Graphic Novel we're selling to our fans for full price sucks, we now no longer consider the books canon."

This is horrible, I know Mike and Meatly are only really in this for the money, the fact BATIM is in the state that it is proved that, but they really couldn't have been less obvious about it?

So basically when it benefited them, AKA when it meant people would have to buy the books to understand important lore like Boris' identity... [the character you spend all of chapter 4 trying to rescue] They were considered canon... At least the author sure thought so.

Hell even in the tweet Meatly made here he doesn't say the books aren't canon, he just says they're not needed to understand Bendy's world. Now Mike is using that as a shield instead of doing the right thing and saying "You're right, the poc in our fanbase deserve better we'll have it fixed right away!" Like most reasonable people would considering how his studio has literally been accused of bigotry, poor rep, and general lack of diversity before. Why risk making more people avoid this franchise?

Also just... Imagine how insulting it would be to be an author who helps flesh out so much of this world and gives its characters depth like NONE of the games have managed to do, filling in plot holes, creating a timeline for events, etc... Then because they couldn't bother to change the graphic novel for ur story to be better they instead throw out all ur writing and declare it non-canon.

If I were her to put it bluntly I'd feel insulted and horrible. Why make her do all the work of making sure her works align with the timeline and game's canon if they're not part of it?

I can't speak for her obviously but Meatly and Mike know of her account, so speaking out against this could very much risk her being fired or at least not allowed to work on Bendy anymore... So I would take all her tweets on this situation with a grain of salt. She very much is not in a position where she could be honest if she was against this.

So with all that history now, the question I'm sure many are wondering is... Why does this even matter? Who cares how diverse the characters are when it doesn't affect the story?

Well for one thing, if you think like that consider having more empathy for your fellow human beings but also it does affect the story. One of DCTL's themes is about the bigotry of the period it is set in.

Now the Bendy team has managed to make the discussion of this book centering around their bigotry which is ironic in a way I almost find funny... Though this entire thing is just a bit too hurtful and upsetting to find any humor in, at least for me...

But another thing is representation can bring people such joy when it's done with care. It really shouldn't be understated how far it can go to make people feel more comfortable in their own sense of self to have a franchise choose to represent them and their experiences. I know this from personal experience.

Now if you've been following me for a while, you know I'm a big fan of Transformers. I no longer engage with it much due to baggage from the fandom's awful treatment of me, but before I left I remember being able to witness the release of Transformers: Earthspark first few episodes.

These introduced the Maltos the family who meets the Transformers and serve as our protagonists and guess what?

It's a family of Filipinos!

Now look I'm not Filipino, but I am half Mexican and I have a lot of love for that part of me. So seeing the representation of any Spanish culture in this franchise I loved made me so happy! I remember just watching the first episode I was happily telling my partner how fun it was to see people like me and my family in a world I love!!

But it didn't end with the Maltos in fact... There was another character who spoke to me, their name was Nightshade. Their pronouns are They/Them and they spoke about it on the show! Not just mentioning it and moving on but actually sitting down to speak about their experiences...

This clip in particular really turned them into an absolute favorite among fans and well... I'll let you see it for yourself.

This scene... Fills me with a joy I cannot describe. It is the creators of a franchise I love telling me they see people like me and find the stories of people like me important enough to include in this series. There really is nothing like being able to say there are Non-Binary characters in a franchise I have so much love for. I was far from the only one too.

This is amazing, this is wonderful, this clip and character were moving to so so many people and...

This is a joy the Bendy creators have no interest in giving their audience. They don't care how you feel as a queer and/or black person, which... Hurts...

I... Discovered I was trans while in the Bendy community... It was where I learned the word Non-Binary and started using it for myself. To me Bendy will always have that connection... But the devs themselves seem to hate the idea of being forced to actually represent that in their games... And I still haven't really gotten over that pain or betrayal if I'm being honest.

So...

With Norman now being portrayed as white here, we are down to two black characters. Thomas [who Meatly has claimed is white in the past] based on a vague conversation with Sammy in DCTL they could easily ignore... And Jacob.... A book exclusive character which according to Mike means he is non-canon.

If we don't count Thomas' vague talk with Sammy about disrespect as confirmation he's black [which the devs don't seem to think so] then we have one black character in all of Bendy... And he recently got retconned into non-existence. Great.

Look... The Bendy fanbase has always been full of wonderfully diverse designs for the staff and even more diverse people creating them. Bendy's fandom was built with the work of queer people from all kinds of places.

If the Bendy team continues to show how little they care for anyone who isn't straight or white... I wonder who they are counting on to buy this book or in general financially support their franchise?

I know right now, I am furious, I am hurt and I most certainly don't feel like buying a book that's currently just a massive fuck you to the fans and I hope I've expressed why I feel this way in an easy-to-understand way here...

Either way, I will not be forgetting this anytime soon and I hope the fanbase does the same. Maybe just maybe, if there's enough backlash to this series of horrible decisions they'll learn better.

Right now, it's kinda of our only hope for a better future, and if you know any poc who are into Bendy right now... Maybe consider making sure they're feeling okay.

I know from experience how much this sort of thing hurts, to have the creators of a world you love straight up tell you they don't intend to fix the fact no one in their stories represents your identity or life...

What I'm trying to say is...

This is a really low point for Bendy and its fans... Even more for the poc who have to witness such ignorant and careless attitudes from Mike and Meatly towards their feelings.

Please don't forget them when you discuss these tweets or this situation. That's exactly what Mike and Meatly want right now.

For them to be unrepresented and therefore... Unheard.

#batim #batdr #bendy and the ink machine #bendy and the dark revival #seriously though we cannot let this slide #ramblez #please please keep talking about this and why its not okay #Ive already had people saying to not be too mean or disrespectful to mike over this and to put bluntly #if mike is gonna be this blatently disrespectful to his fans he deserves whatever he fucking gets #this is such a horrible situation Im just glad I got the chance to speak positively in this essay #I mean not about bendy but I got to gush about how cool it is that transformers has a nonbinary character in it so that was fun #this is what Bendy could have and refuses to... Oh well more motive to make Showtime ig #but seriously what is the point of supporting these indie devs if theyre gonna be just as horrible abt this shit #as their corporate competitors #at several points bendy just feels like every other horror game out there but worse #its so so so frustrating

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holybibly · 6 months

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Object of Desire | OT8 | Preview

Pairing: otx8 x reader

Genre: sugar daddy au, dark romance, smut, vampire au,

Word Count: ....

Summary: Caught in a web of deceit and forbidden pleasures, Nabi quickly learns that some obsessions can be deadly and love can bite.

WARNING: only!18+ Blood drinking, blood kink, obsessive behavior, voice kink, daddy kink, master/pet game, pet names, explicit sexual content, explicit language, emotional manipulation, possessive behavior, seduction, BDSM, polyamory, mirror sex, marking, voyeurism, power play, and more.

Disclaimer: I do not support themes of violence, obsession, possessiveness, or emotional or psychological manipulation. This book is intended for entertainment purposes only.

A/N: Another vampire ot8 that no one asked for. Someday I will learn to stop being seduced by random ideas.

Feedback is greatly appreciated!

Part 1. Do you want to make a deal with the Devil?

Now going out of town in the middle of the night with Yeonjun seemed like a bad idea.

A very bad one, I thought.

God, what was I thinking when I agreed to do this? Yesterday, this whole venture seemed like a great way to solve my problems, but now the prospect was not so rosy.

Sometimes I feel like a complete idiot, and this is one of those times.

Outside the window the dark landscape was sweeping by at high speed; the bare trees were shrouded in an ominous gloom, and only the dim light of the tall street lamps over the road was the only source of illumination to guide us in the darkness.

It seemed that the darkness around us did not stop Yeonjun from driving. His posture was relaxed and his hand was sure as he turned the wheel in the right direction, the diamond bracelet on his thin wrist sparkling with starlight. One of the many family jewels that Yeonjun treated with special affection.

In contrast to him, I couldn't relax and kept fidgeting on the leather seat made of black Iberian leather, no less.

Every part of my body was begging me to stop and come home before it was too late. Not so, I had imagined that we were going to an elite club. I knew that we would be there late at night, but the fact that the club was way out of town came as an unpleasant surprise.

At the moment it's an hour's drive from Seoul and more than an hour and a half to the destination on the GPS.

The whole thing was strange and made me dizzy, or was it the thick smell of Yeonjun's perfume? It was a dense, smoky scent with a hint of vanilla. Powerful enough to draw the eyes of everyone around to its source, and sexy enough to make you want to kiss the naked skin of the wearer of this tantalising scent.

It would be several days before I was able to wash off the remnants of his perfume after our meeting, so much of it had eaten its way into my skin.

I glanced at Yeonjun; a stray yellowish-white light from the lantern momentarily illuminated his face, and a shadow of long velvet eyelashes fell on his pale cheeks. His black raven hair was streaked with flashes of platinum and gold. He looked otherworldly - I would even say demonic.

I felt a palpable shiver run through my body, as if someone had just dipped my heart into a bucket of icy water.

"Jun." My voice was terribly uncertain. "I don't think I can do this." I said as my fingers pulled down the hem of a short dress. The expensive material looked luxurious in a perfect shade of white and was decorated with a sprinkling of crystals. Yeonjun insisted that I wear it tonight and said that I would be grateful for it as soon as we got to the club. I don't think I'd ever choose something like that for myself, and not just because of its crazy cost; Jun's fashion preferences were so different from mine. He was a fan of overt sexuality and bold lines; I, on the other hand, preferred neutrals and comfort. "I have changed my mind; this proposal does not suit me at all. Maybe we can go back..."

Yeonjun smiled softly as he turned to me, but in the darkness of the drawing room the smile was more ominous than reassuring, his lips the most breathtaking shade of red I had ever seen.

Warning bells began to ring in my head. There are times when you can sense danger even before you are faced with it.

"Nabi, my dear, there is nothing for you to be worried about. We have already discussed this. Remember?" His hand was cold as he laid it on my knee. "I will take care of everything. You're my guest tonight, which means you're under my protection." The long fingers shrank a little, a kind of confirmation of his words. His fingernails were painted glossy black, and his fingers were adorned with several silver rings.

I would like to believe that nothing is going to happen to me, but my insides are tied up in a tight knot of fear.

Miss Kim Seoyun's words echoed in my head like thunder: "Humble yourself and surrender to destiny; you are where you are supposed to be.

When did I start believing all this? This is no time to panic, Nabi.

Everything will be fine.

To be honest, Yeonjun was never my first choice when I needed help, and I always tried to keep a certain distance from him for a number of reasons. There was something so predatory about him, almost animalistic, that lit up the red lights of danger, but I was desperate; student loans, rent, insurance and food were starting to pile up. I was in desperate need of money, and preferably a lot of it, fast.

The threat of being left out on the streets and being thrown out of university has never been as real as it is now.

The only thing that gave me the slightest bit of confidence was Jimin's assurance that I could trust Yeonjun completely and how carefree he was.

Damn, Jun looked like we were going on a spontaneous romantic trip instead of a closed elite club outside the city in the middle of the night.

I asked myself again, "Why did I agree to this?" Oh yes, money. A lot of money.

A few days ago, Yeonjun contacted me and offered to help me with my money problem. Of course, Park Jimin couldn't keep his big mouth shut and told him about my problems. He told me that one of his friends at the private club had a good deal for me. I could make a lot of money out of it.

The income was enough to pay off all my debts and the number of zeros on offer was enough to turn my head.

It was an unequivocal and desperate "YES" and at that moment I did not think at all about the consequences or the characteristics of this proposal.

Jun also promised me a lot of fun but after I signed the NDA and read the multi-page contract with its veiled meaning and rather vague wording of some specific points, doubts blossomed in my chest, and I began to understand what kind of fun was being discussed.

Looks like I made a deal with the Devil.

The dress was delivered on the eve of our trip, a few hours before Yeonjun's chic Ferrari pulled up outside my dorm room. The all-white gown, richly embroidered with blue topaz and opal, was incredible. The plunging neckline of the corsage barely covered the lace bralet of the same colour as the dress.

I have never seen my breasts look so full and so soft. I would even call it seductive. Everything I moved had to be clean and graceful; if I moved too sharply, the soft pink halos of my nipples would start to show. This was beyond the limits of my modesty. At one point, I could even feel Yeonjun's searing gaze resting on my cleavage. It was a carnal look with a shadow of hidden lust in the depths of the dark, shining pupils. It was the first time in the several years of our dubiously friendly communication that he had shown such a desire for me.

The dress and underwear came with four-inch heels. Of course, if my life had been in danger and I had tried to escape, there would have been no chance of success. Incidentally, I'm a terrible runner; I bet I couldn't have run more than ten meters before I collapsed with breathlessness. I should have gone to the gym when Jimin offered it to me.

Oh my God, Nabi, what the hell have you gotten yourself into?

Jun's silky voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

"You have such a tense look on your face, my darling." He purred. "We'll be there soon, Nabi. Try to relax; you're going to love "Crescent", I'm sure."

Why did it have such a sinister ring to it? "Crescent" - the name was sweet enough, I would say poetic, but the way Yeonjun rolled the word over his tongue as if he could feel its taste - thick and viscous - made the name something forbidden and sinful. Well, the idea of the cult was not so absurd to me. And that stupid prophecy never left my mind.

"You're where you should be..."

In the reflection of the small mirror in the car, I met my gaze. My pupils were dilated like those of a hunted prey. And though I tried to calm down, I could feel the cold, predatory touch of Youngjoon's hand all too well. Baby, it looks like you're going to get caught.

I ask myself again. Why did I find myself in this situation?

Dressed in the most luxurious designer clothes, like a real doll. Ready to become an exclusive blood donor for a very wealthy private community whose clients needed this kind of service, accompanied by one of Seoul's wealthiest heirs.

Now I can say: "Hey, Nabi, you really screwed up."

To be continued…

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certifiedgeeker · 4 days

Text

“Freak in you”

preview

starting — choso kamo x black! coded reader

contents: college au, smut of course. some feet kissing, nothing too specific yet since it’s a preview

authors note: ahhhhh ik i was supposed to finish my collection like a year ago but i got y’all. i’m about to start being active because i’m ngl these fanfiction streets desperately need a good writer because some of y’all suck ass and don’t know how to make creative story lines or even congruently make a story flow and i’m sick of reading stories that look as though they were written by a 14 year old so here i go !

word count: 621

“you ever came off head before?” the question lazily mumbled against your ear made your heart race and your pussy throb. you were not supposed to be here in this man’s bed yet here you were.

“no.” you meekly responded to which he let out a chuckle sending another pulse through your core. fuck this man was fine and wanted to eat your pussy, couldn’t have better hit the jackpot.

“don’t do that.” you drawled sucking your teeth, twisting your face up at him.

“don’t be mad princess, i’m not making fun of you promise. just surprised is all—pretty girl like you ? i’d be dying to eat this pussy all the time.” he stated without the slightest bit of shame making you weak in the knees. how could he be so…vulgar.

everything about him was so tantalizing. choso kamo, he’s your lab partner for your forensics class. a quiet guy who didn’t talk much with you but when he did is was always so flirty. you’d told him before you had a man but he’d always respond with “if he was doing his job you would be ignoring me right now sweet girl.” that’d send a wave of heat to your cheeks and somewhere else too because it is was true.

he wasn’t doing his job, he’d been “down on his luck” more than a few times and it’s almost like he enjoyed living off you. while you were raised on nothing but expecting princess treatment from a man here you were taking care of one—which was no problem of course. it was all out of love but it’d be a favor that was constantly never returned.

that’s why when choso got a little flirty the other day after class you took the bait. packing up after a lecture you’d noticed him out the side of your eye staring you down.

“did you need something sir?” you asked, a bit of attitude coated your words.

“yeah for you not bite my head off, im not coming to bother you too much. was just hoping you could give me a bit of help understanding whatever that last bit of shit professor meant.” his words as lax as his stride as he approached you.

you knew choso was by no means unintelligent averaging a’s and b’s constantly on all class assignments. “you don’t need my help you just wanna bother me.” you stated matter of factly placing your hand on you hip as you sucked your teeth

“i’ll beg if that’s what you want.” he shot back way too quickly as if it’d been something he’d thought about before. “sir get the the fuck—.” you started ready to pop off but he’d already beaten you to it “i’m not expecting anything for free, i can pay you in return.” that lazy smirk gracing his face, the same one he sported as he lowered himself between your legs as he kept eye contact with you refusing to break it.

he left kisses in his wake down your stomach, across your thighs, even your ankles and feet making the heat rise to your face and look away though not for long. “make sure you’re watching me while i make you feel good, understand?” he questioned and you ignored.

“i need words, or else we can stop this right here.” no hint of previous playfulness in his tone just lust and the need to fuck your shit up.

“yeah i hear you.” was all you could say trying to not let the tremble of your voice show. “good girl.” he cooed pressing a warm kiss to the bottom of your pedicured feet before resuming where he left off which was studying every part of you.

#choso x black!reader #choso kamo #choso x black y/n #kamo choso #x black fem reader #jjk x reader #jjk x black reader #jjk x black!fem reader #choso x black reader smut #jjk x reader smut #jjk x black reader smut #choso x black female reader smut #choso x black fem reader smut #kamo choso x black reader smut

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lavellenchanted · 5 months

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The Courtship of Peggy Carter (fic coming soon)

When Steve returns to the 1940s, he knows he wants to be with Peggy, but he can't help but worry about how the years they have both lived through have changed them - so he proposes that they start dating and get to know each other again. But Peggy has her own ideas about how their courtship will go, and is a woman determined to get what she wants. Namely Steve. In her bed. Sooner than he seems to be planning to get there.

Happy holidays @margarethcarter! I'm your Secret Santa this year - I'm so sorry your gift is so ridiculously late, but this month has just been incredibly full on. I am hoping to get your gift finished and up soon, but I didn't want to end the year without you getting anything.

You said you prefer post-Endgame time period and mentioned Peggy finding out that Steve's acquired some game since she last saw him, which what inspired this fic, so I hope when it's finally finished you will enjoy it, but in the meantime here is a little preview for you!

***

“And this . . . you being here . . . is it for good? Or do you have to go back?”

Steve held her gaze, serious and steady, the way he always did whenever he wanted her to know that what he was about to say was something he had thought over carefully.

“I’d like it to be. I came back because this place, this time, is where I belong. I wanted to come home, to have the life I never got a chance to have. And I want, very much, for that life to be with you.”

For a moment Peggy felt as if she had forgotten how to breathe, her chest tight and her heart beating painfully hard against her ribs. She opened her mouth to tell him yes, that she wanted a life with him as well, but before the words could form he had brought a finger to her lips to keep her from speaking.

“But,” he continued softly, a tenderness in his expression that made her glow with warmth, “I don’t think that’s a decision either of us should be making right now.”

A faint frown creased Peggy’s forehead. “Why not?”

“Because of how good this feels.”

She couldn’t help quirking an eyebrow, one corner of her mouth curling upwards. “That’s a bad thing, is it?”

Steve chuckled. “No. I just mean . . . I’ve dreamed about being here with you for so long, it would be easy to rush into this. To forget that . . . a lot of time has passed, for both of us. And that we’re probably both different people than we were when I went into the ice.”

Peggy let out a slow breath. Part of her - the part that for the last four years had been filled with grief, sorrow and longing whenever she thought of Steve - was afraid, terrified that this moment of joy in finding him again was going to be cut short, and leave her with nothing but echoing silence of his absence once more. She wanted to cling on to him as tightly as she could, to hold him to her so she didn’t have to face the pain of losing him again.

Another, regrettably more sensible part of her, recognised that what he was saying was true. The four years she had spent being overlooked at the SSR had left their mark as surely as the war had, and now she was reinventing herself again as the Director of SHIELD. She felt very far from the young agent that had worked on Project Rebirth.

And Steve . . . right now she could only guess at the sort of things Steve had lived through, the reasons for the weariness that lurked at the back of his eyes, the sadness that seemed etched into his face, mingling with his joy when he had asked her if he could finally claim his dance.

“So what are you suggesting?” she asked, forcing a calmness she didn’t entirely feel.

But to her surprise - and a little to her relief - Steve smiled.

“I’m suggesting that we date. Like we would have - should have - if things had gone the way we planned. Get to know each other as we are now. And if after we’ve dated for a while, we’re both sure this is still something we want . . . well, then we can talk about what’s next.”

Peggy almost wanted to laugh. “Are you telling me you travelled back nearly a century in time just to ask me on a date?”

His smile widened to a grin. “To start with, anyway.”

#steggy secret santa #steggysecretsanta #steggy #margarethcarter #happy christmas and happy new year!#I WILL get this finished and up for you soon I promise #my fic #otp: the right partner

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ddejavvu · 2 years

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All I’ve Ever Wanted - Spencer Reid x Reader

WC: 2.6K / navi / preview

Contents/Warnings: hurt/comfort, self-doubt, references to child abduction/cm related violence, angst with a fluffy ending

feedback is greatly appreciated! comment, reblog, talk in the tags, send me a message, tell me what you think!

Spencer came home after a case that night, craving the comfort of you in his arms. It was late, past two in the morning, so he knew you’d be asleep. But that wasn’t going to stop him from holding you close, trying to evade the memories of the child abduction case they’d just wrapped up.

He found you bundled up in your shared bed, blanket wrapped around you like a burrito. It was your favorite thing to do when he was gone, it simulated a hug. He set his bag down, not bothering to take off anything but his sweater and tie before he kneeled on the bed, calling your name softly in the hazy silence of the dark room.

He knew something was wrong when you didn't respond. He slid an arm around your waist, rolling you over in your shared bed and tucking you into his side.

He softly cooed your name once more, pressing a soft kiss to your nose, and he noticed the gentle flutter of your eyelashes, your abnormally stiff body alerting him to the fact that you were awake.

Your lack of response unnerved him. His brows furrowed in the darkness of your bedroom, and he repeated himself, only a little more forcefully.

"Y/N?"

Still, nothing. He traced the bridge of your nose with one finger, then down to your cheeks, watching the miniscule shifts in your expression.

"You know," He started, his voice soft and soothing, "Your cheeks feel wet. And your eyelashes look a little damp. If I had to guess, I'd say you were keeping your eyes closed so that I didn't see tears in them."

That did it. You sighed, your breathing shaky as you blinked your eyes open, peering pitifully at your boyfriend through the moonlight.

"I didn't want to be right," He sighed, gently brushing the tears off of your cheeks and out from under your eyes, "What's wrong?"

"I just don't feel good," You whimpered pitifully, "But you're here now. Tell me about your case."

"I don't think that'll make you feel better," Spencer grimaced, keeping his hand on your cheek, brushing his thumb over your skin, "Please sweetheart, just tell me what's wrong."

"I just don't feel good!" You repeated, squirming out of his grip, "I told you already."

"You don't feel good about what?"

You stopped your wriggling, slumping back onto your pillow and avoiding his eyes, "Us."

The single word tore through him faster than any bullet could have, and he swallowed nervously, keeping his hands to himself instead of continuing to pry at you.

"What.. What does that mean?"

"I.." You gathered your thoughts, blinking away fresh tears, "Spencer, I'm not good enough for you."

It was like you had stolen thoughts from the deepest recesses of his brain, and made them your own. Twisted the words so that you were the problem, and not him. He’d lost track of the number of nights you’d fallen asleep in his arms, your angelic face resting on his chest or over his shoulder as you snoozed on the couch. He would peer at your sleeping expression, wondering if there was ever anything he could do to deserve you. You seemed happy with him. He hoped you were. But he felt unworthy of your love. He didn’t think he was bad. He just knew that he could never be good enough for you.

His stomach settled uneasily as he sat up, leaning over you slightly so that he could see your face.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm not- I don't... Spencer, I saw you on tv today. You were standing outside of that house, and the stupid news stations were swarming you, and you had that little girl in your arms, and she was all bloody and beaten, but she was alive, and that was because of you. She was clinging to you, Spencer, because you saved her life. You're a good person, an amazing one. And I sat here today, waiting for you to get home. I can't even remember the last time I did something as brave as you, or- or as selfless as you, if I ever have! I don't run into danger, Spencer, I sit at home, trying to pretend like it doesn't exist. That's not fair to you, you deserve someone who changes the world for the better, just like you do."

The heavy silence that fell after your words only furthered the discomfort lingering in your chest. You wondered if you'd even get another night to sleep in your bed, or if Spencer would kick you out within minutes.

You didn't have much time to consider that, though, because Spencer finally spoke, his voice eerily calm.

"Do you know what my job does to me?"

"What?" You turn to face him, finally looking him in the eyes.

"My job," He repeated, “Do you know how it affects me?”

“We’ve talked about trauma before,” You hauled yourself up onto your elbows, looking cautiously at him, “What does that have to do with-”

“With you? Y/N,” He rubbed an exhausted hand over his face, and you felt a pang of guilt in your chest for bringing up such a heavy topic without letting him sleep first, “I can’t close my eyes without seeing people who won’t ever open theirs again. Every time I relax, I feel like there’s a gun pointed at my head, that I’ve let my guard down by mistake. Every time I turn a corner, I expect either a dead body or a bullet to meet me. I am not okay.”

“I- I’m sorry,” Your words tumbled out hastily, “I shouldn’t have-”

“Sweetheart,” He leveled you with an urgent glance, “Please, stop talking. You told me how you felt, now it’s my turn.”

You shut your mouth, nodding silently as queue for him to continue.

“When I close my eyes next to you, you’re the one that I see. Not- Not dead! Not, that’s not what I meant.” He quickly corrected himself, shaking it off and continuing, “I just.. Now, instead of seeing how I’ve failed, I see how I’ve succeeded. Now when I relax, it’s because you’re braiding my hair, or reading to me, or counting the freckles you swear are on my face, but no one else can ever see. My favorite corners to turn are the ones where you’re on the other side,” He began winding down, his frown twitching lightly, “Like just now. I turned the corner into our bedroom, and found you here. Now, I wish I could have found you without these,” He brushed away another tear that slipped down your cheek, “But I found you, and that’s all that matters to me. My job is terrible. I like the results, and I love the people, but it’s killing me, Y/N. You’re the only one who can keep me alive. I don’t want you to do what I do, I need you to stay out of danger. If you didn’t, if you died, so would I.”

“I-” You began, but his hand shifted from your cheek, his fingers pressing against your lips.

“Still my turn.” At your nod, he started again, his voice wobbling with equal parts exhaustion and devastation, “I- It sounds selfish, but I need you here. You keep me safe, you ground me, you’re all I’ve ever wanted. You are a good person, but you don’t have to save hoards of people to get that title. You’re saving me, and I love you.”

He finally let his mouth close, his lips pursing slightly as he removed his hand from your own lips. You waited for just a few seconds, in case he’d decided that it was still his turn, but when nothing came but stifling silence, you crawled into his lap on the mattress.

“Spencer,” You gushed, tears flowing steadily down your cheeks as well as his own as he let himself break, “Spencer, I love you too, I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?” He cupped the back of your neck, staring into your eyes mere inches away from your face with an adorably confused expression.

“I'm sorry I made it seem like being here wasn’t good enough. I swear, Spencer, I’m happy to be here. I’m happy saving you, I really am,” You brushed a tear away from your eye, “Sometimes it’s just hard to watch you leave.”

“I understand,” He nodded, resting his forehead against yours, “Don’t be sorry. I know my job is hard on you, too. Yeah, I’m the one finding dead bodies, but you worry about turning on the television and seeing mine. That’s scary, Y/N, I know it is. Just because you’re not the one doing the job doesn’t mean you’re not putting in work. You don’t have to pretend like you’re okay, like it doesn’t hurt you, because you don’t want to cause trouble. But please don’t ever tell yourself that you’re not good enough, because it hurts us both.”

You nodded vigorously, sniffling pitifully as you stared at him through the dimly moonlit bedroom, “I won’t, I promise.”

“And- And I’m also sorry for doing this now,” You added, relishing the feeling of his lips pressing softly to your cheek, “I wanted to let you sleep, but apparently i wasn’t as convincing of a fake sleeper as I thought I’d be.”

“You were not.” Spencer’s face broke out into the first smile you’d seen on him all night, and the expression warmed your chest, “Next time, try to act like you’re sleeping and not being held hostage. But I think we both deserve some real sleep.”

“Me too,” You admitted, scooting across the bed to grab your pillow and haul it over to press flush to his own, “Can we please stay close?”

He didn’t answer you directly, but he crooned a sweet, ‘C’mere,’ as he tugged you down onto the mattress, keeping you pressed tightly against him. You registered the slightly coarse, thin material of his dress shirt for the first time, grimacing and pulling yourself away from the embrace.

“Hey, where are you-?”

“Your shirt,” You tugged at the collar, your fingers prying at the buttons, “Get changed.”

“No,” Spencer whined, swatting your hands away, “I just wanna sleep!”

“Do you wanna choke, Spencer? This is gonna strangle you,” You successfully popped open the top button, working on the second, “You can get into some cozy pajamas.”

“I wouldn’t choke.” His voice took up the tone you only heard when he was about to start spewing statistics, and you weren’t sure your groggy brain could handle them.

“It’s really only babies that are in danger of choking to death because of something like a shirt or a necklace around their necks when they sleep. Adults will wake up before they lose their life, and they’ll have enough time to get whatever’s restricting their airflow off before it cuts it off completely. So I’d be fine, all that would happen if it were to choke me was mild discomfort and-”

“Spencer.” You finally stopped his rambling, cupping his cheek tenderly, “Stop talking.”

Spencer’s brow furrowed and his mouth fell open indignantly, “You always care about what I have to say!”

“I do care about what you have to say,” You started, rooting around in his side table with your free hand, hunching over slightly to do so, “But I don’t have time for irrelevant statistics right now. You’re right, but I’m tired, and just want to cuddle.”

“Irrelevant- You said I would choke! How is that irrelevant?”

“It’s irrelevant because I wasn’t actually worried about you choking,” You huffed, unfolding a loose grey t-shirt that he had in his drawer, “I just wanted you in something softer so that we could cuddle.”

His mouth, having been open to throw out another incredulous protest, snapped closed into an adorably dumbfounded expression.

“Oh.”

“Come on,” You slipped the last button out of its place, tugging lightly at the fabric around his shoulders, “Take it off.”

He hastily complied with your requests, fumbling with the fabric slightly before he could wrestle it off of himself. It was tucked into the waistband of his pants and he struggled with his belt, finally stripping his upper half and staring up at you expectantly.

You took his work clothes from him, tossing them haphazardly onto the ground. He grimaced at the untidiness, but was distracted when you slipped the sleep shirt over his head.

The fabric was soft and clung to his hair, static sending the brown strands flying everywhere. You giggled at his frazzled form, ruffling his hair slightly so that it laid neatly once more. It was soft under your fingers, and you had half a mind to keep them there, but your urge to be in his arms was stronger.

“Come here.” He beat you to it. He grabbed you by the waist, pulling you forwards so that you fell on top of him. You squealed at your new position, your hands pressed against his chest as your faces hovered over each other.

“Spencer,” you breathed, the air in your lungs sucked out of you at the sight of his satisfied grin and shining eyes, “This is not comfortable.”

“Oh, fine.” He grumbled teasingly, rolling over so that you laid side-by-side and scooching you both up so that you were able to rest your head on the pillows, “There, is that better?”

“Much,” You grinned, a sort of breathless adoration taking over your brain as you stared at Spencer only inches away from you in the dimly lit bedroom.

The wear of the case he’d just returned from was clear on his face, purple splotches under his eyes and lips chapped from dehydration. You could almost guarantee that the only thing he’d had to drink over the four-day period was heinously sugary coffee, and if you’d been any less cozy you’d have gone to get him a glass of water right then and there.

But it was much more appealing to burrow yourself into his chest, letting him tuck his chin over the crown of your head and brush a hand down your back. He held you close, his legs slowly sliding between yours and tangling under the sheets. The comforting feeling of skin-on-skin was extra special with Spencer, seeing how he avoided it with nearly everyone but you. You had to admit, you’d been flattered to find out that you were his exception.

Your cheek laid flush to his chest, his heartbeat thumping in your ears. The soft fabric of his sleep shirt was just as warm and cozy as the sleepy silence that fell over the room, the only sound being the soft friction between his hand and the back of your shirt. You felt his fingers dance over your back, and you tried biting back the enormous smile that broke over your face when you realized he was doodling hearts onto your skin through the fabric.

You picked your head up out of his chest, scooting up again so that you laid next to him on the pillow. You looked at him when you were settled, but his eyes had already been fixed on you, sappy adoration swimming in his gaze.

“You’re really okay with being here?” His voice was soft and quiet, carefully curated so as not to ruin the hazy atmosphere.

“I’m more than okay with it,” You nodded slightly, bumping your nose against his, “I love you, Spencer.”

“I love you too, Y/N.” He craned his neck forwards, lips brushing over yours in a sweetly intimate, feather-light kiss, “I’m glad I get to come home to you.”

tags: @jazzymariexoxoc @halloween-is-my-nationality @goldentournesol @what-in-the-fruit-flavored-fuck @mrsobrien888 @jhiddles03 @reidsmilf @spencerreid-mgg @nomajdetective @hotchaways

feedback is greatly appreciated! comment, reblog, talk in the tags, send me a message, tell me what you think!

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mairitess · 11 days

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ebbs and flows pt. 2 // jaya

a/n: i wrote this bc i got back into ninjago and i needed to write something for them bc i'm not caught up enough to be able to read the current fics + also on ao3 in caps

words: 1.5k, part one here

tags: angst, fluff, post-skybound, post s10 ninjago: masters of spinjitzu, jaya, no beta we die like kings, they r so traumatized after nadakhan, minor violence mentions from skybound, kiss kiss rated t just in case

preview:

she might’ve missed it, if she weren’t so keyed up already. “you’re my yang, nya.”

the ninjas returned to the temple absolutely beaten. they’d defeated the latest ninjago city menace, but it took more effort than usual. their entire way home, jay was tapping his foot incessantly.

“can you stop that?” cole said, irritated. “you sound like a walking time bomb.”

jay started to apologize. “i’m sorry! i can’t help it. i’m…”

“nervous? anxious? stressed?” the suggestions came in a popcorn chorus from zane, pixal, and kai.

jay put his head in his hands. “yes,” he sighed, defeated.

cole put his hand on his best friend’s shoulder. “what happened…?” to you and nya?

“i have no idea.”

everyone was quiet until they got to the temple. they knew jay was doing his best, and they knew how stubborn and guarded nya could be, too — much like her brother. when they landed, jay filed out last, worry troubling his stomach.

“you got it, jay,” lloyd said, clapping jay on the shoulder. “it’ll be okay.” he turned from jay to look at cole, also unsure. they’d known nya had been different recently, as much as she tried to hide it. but they didn’t know what they could do, especially if jay wasn’t able to fix it.

with heavy heart and steps, jay made his way to nya’s room in the early morning hours. misako and wu were standing just outside her door, making jay even more nervous. he rushed over.

“what happened? is she okay? where is she?” he couldn’t keep his voice down, his lightning energy rushing into his veins again.

“she’s fine,” misako said, placing her hands on his shoulders. “she’s okay. but…” she trailed off, as nya’s door started to open.

it was the first time she’d really looked at him in weeks, and jay’s heart dropped as he saw her bloodshot eyes and dark circles. as much as he was exhausted from their fight in the city, she had been draining for far longer.

“hi, jay.”

—

he followed her into her room, gently closing the door behind them. when she sat on the edge of her bed, he sat a foot away, careful to keep some distance. he didn’t want to make things worse.

“i missed you,” he said, unable to keep it in. “i miss you. i love you. i…” jay suddenly felt too loud, too brash, and worried he’d scare her away again.

“i love you too,” nya replied, tears brimming again. “and i think i’m ready to tell you what happened — or, what’s been happening, and i’ve been so worried to tell you before because i’m scared you’ll hate me and want to leave me but i love you and if that’s how i make you feel then i just want you to be happy and safe and secure and i’m scared when i tell you this you’ll —“ nya cut herself off, too scared to speak into reality one of her biggest fears. “you make me feel more special and confident and myself than anyone i’ve ever known,” she whispered. “and i’m scared you’ll throw me away when i tell you.”

sometimes, even when jay wasn’t talking, nya could still hear the lightning coursing through him. this time, she couldn’t. she was scared to break the silence. she needed to know if he even wanted to hear what she had to say.

and she might’ve missed it, if she weren’t so keyed up already. the quietest he’s ever been, the most hesitant yet gentle and kind.

“you’re my yang, nya. nothing you could say could ever change that.”

jay knew nya well enough to know she was struggling with not feeling like she was doing their relationship “right”. a perfectionist through and through, as soon as things started to dissolve, so did she. but jay needed her the way the moon needs the tides, the skies reaching for the waters beneath. she knew ebbs and flows, but so did he, because he yearned for her throughout.

nya told him of her nightmares, and how she thought she was dying that day. she drew in a deep breath, before she told him that his hold felt the same way. she thought she was angry he wasn’t upset like she was. she wasn’t angry anymore.

he was quiet, processing, until he asked, “do you really think i’m not upset like you?” nya stilled.

“all our friends died. i had just seen you in a wedding dress, and you were about to marry someone else, even if not by choice. and then you started to die in my arms, by a tactical choice i made. it would’ve been all my fault, if you…” he paused. “you’re the love of my life, nya. and i held you as i cried because i don’t know what life there is without you.

“i made my last wish holding you. and everything was good again when we went back and you took my hand. i know that right now my touch feels like… death, but i need you to know that to me, touching you gave us a new chance at life.”

nya was stunned; all she could do was sit there, his words ringing over and over again in her head.

“i love you, nya. i just… need some time to think about it, too. okay?” jay said, standing up. he smiled, but it was small and somber. nya couldn’t help feeling like she’d hurt him, that she’d thought so little of his actions. she nodded, and it wasn’t until her door closed again that she was able to mumble, “i love you.”

—

nya didn’t leave her room all day. she was feeling better, but she didn’t want to step out. kai brought her dinner and they sat side by side as she ate.

“how’s jay?” she asked, and kai shrugged. “he’s been in his room ever since we got back. so i don’t know. but it was a pretty bad fight, so maybe he’s just resting. though normally he’d rest by playing some video games,” kai joked, nudging nya lightly with his shoulder. she quieted again, looking down at her food.

“i think i messed up,” nya said, swirling her spoon in her congee.

“i don’t think you could with jay, sis. he loves you.”

“i know. but that doesn’t mean… that doesn’t mean things will always be okay.”

“sure. but it also doesn’t mean you two can’t be okay, either.” kai paused. “uh, let me say that again. you guys will get through it. that’s what love is. love is about getting through things together, not keeping things perfect all the time.”

nya smiled, genuinely, for the first time in awhile. “when did you get to be wu number two?”

kai laughed. “probably when i realized how much you and jay love each other.”

nya understood it was time to stop fighting the flow. it took the master of water long enough.

—

it was just after 10, and nya needed to see jay. but as soon as she opened her door, there he was, hand poised to knock. he jumped back. “gosh, nya! you’re quiet.”

they stood in her doorway, just looking at each other, not quite sure what to do next. they started speaking over each other in a flurry.

“nya—“

“jay, i—“

nya laughed, and jay could feel everything start to lighten. “come in.”

they lay down on nya’s bed next to each other, closer than they’d been in weeks past.

“i’m sorry, jay,” nya mumbled, drawing circles with her finger into her pillowcase.

“no, i’m sorry, nya. i shouldn’t have left the way i did earlier.”

“it’s okay.” jay raised an eyebrow and nya nodded. “i promise. i’ve… been thinking about it longer than you have. it’s only fair.”

he smiled, and nya kept looking between the freckles across his face and his brilliant blue eyes. how could she have ever been so afraid of what he would say?

“so…” she started. “what now?”

“i don’t want to rush you into anything,” jay said. “i love holding you, and you know how much that means to me, but we don’t have to touch or anything until you’re ready. but i do think it could help,” he offered.

nya shook her head as he talked. “you could never rush me. and i want to fix things. so maybe… we start here?”

she gently grabbed his hand, and placed it on the side of her face, holding him there. nya nudged closer to jay until they were a breath apart. she tilted her head up and gazed at him, waiting.

“i missed you,” nya said, and jay met her halfway, their lips melding into each other where they belonged. softly, first, then as nya grew more incessant, jay matched her, and it was like breathing and drowning in confessions of love all at once.

jay was careful not to move his hand from her cheek, but as they kissed, she moved his hand down to her back, and he pulled her ever closer. nya broke their kiss first to breathe.

“i missed you too,” jay said, one arm behind her back, the other under her neck, cradling the back of her head. they laid there for hours, and just as nya was starting to doze off, jay asked, “nya… what do want me to do if you have another nightmare again?”

she thought about it before, but wasn’t sure what would work until they tried. “just don’t let go,” she mumbled into his chest, and he held her tighter.

#ninjago #ninjago jaya #nya ninjago #jay ninjago #ninjago fanfiction #jaya fanfiction #jaya angst #ninjago angst #jaya fluff #ninjago fluff #nya smith #jay walker #nadakhan #ninjago skybound #ninjago nadakhan #lego ninjago #lego #god i love them

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britcision · 1 year

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I have not slept more than 5 hours together this whole fucking week and not more than 7 hours a day

It is therefore appropriate today to give you TIM! And TUCKER! All aboard the Lore Drop!

Chapter 14’s nearly fucking done I swear I was waylaid but I think I have solved the problem. Now the new second secret much bigger problem is my intense desire to commit Dragon Age crimes

Soooo chapters will probably stay a lil slower here for a bit, but hopefully not this slow again until June, when I will be Busy As Shit

————-

A Good Excuse To Be A Bad Influence V

It was a weird feeling to have his body shaken while his consciousness was so far from it.

Feeling his face pull into a frown not quite mirroring what he felt it should be. Tucker could never have explained precisely what part of him entered his devices; just that it was him.

Quintessential, pure essence of Too Fine. Everything he was without the meat he was born in.

But then he did have to slot back into that meat, and trying to do that without matching positions always left him feeling weirdly off kilter the next day. Like he’d put on a shirt but the shoulders were skewed too short.

So despite not being conscious of a face on his extended form, Tucker tried to form it into a frown anyway, sliding back under his own skin like a teen sneaking back through a window after curfew.

Hadn’t those been heady days?

Eyes slowly opening, it took Tucker a moment to remember how to focus them. That they weren’t cameras. But then Tim Drake-Wayne came into focus, and the frown changed to a grin even before he fully “woke up”.

“Morning,” he mumbled, rolling and stretching, getting used to the feeling of a body again. It was a little weirder each time, which he might have worried about if he didn’t see himself as an extension of his PDA anyway.

“You were singing in your sleep,” Tim told him without preamble, returning the smile.

Tucker hesitated for a moment, suddenly embarrassed. If… well. If he’d been singing along, that…

Look he’d picked songs that’d embarrass Danny, he wasn’t gonna give a fuck about it. The only actual question was, did he tell Tim?

Who else would ever understand better just what it meant to interact with tech the way he could? Could get excited with him about how cool it was?

He wasn’t fucking gushing to Technus. No way. Tuck was easily the one winning that ongoing hackathon, but it was the principle of the thing.

To the zone with it. Tim knew about Amity Park, he knew about the ghosts and the liminal tech. And while they hadn’t exactly discussed liminal people, it’d come up.

Tim could have a sneak preview. As a treat.

Decision made, Tucker gave the younger man another broad smile because yeah, bragging about your super powers to a very cool and impressive person? That felt good.

Tim might be a vigilante too, but Tucker was pretty sure Jason was the only souped up Robin. Most of the bats were famously power free.

“Oh, yeah. I was bullying Danny,” he explained with a light chuckle, glancing up to find his beloved PDA, Ida. She was half under a blanket now, so he tugged her back out.

Tim chuckled softly, leaning back and stretching himself.

“Good dream?” He asked and Tucker snickered, stroking gently across the screen.

“Danny wishes it was a dream.” Tucker paused, frowning a little at the confusion on Tim’s face. “So you remember we kinda talked about the whole liminal thing?”

That seemed to jog Tim’s memory, confusion fading into an analytical frown that Tucker was already becoming familiar with. That good ol’ geek face.

“The humans with budding ghost powers,” he agreed, and Tucker had to wonder if maybe he just hadn’t put the right pieces together yet.

He hadn’t exactly said that most of Amity Park were liminal, but it was a little hard to remember he had to. Like, they lived on a portal to Hell.

Maybe he shoulda.

Well, at least it was a cool way to introduce it to him.

Tucker pulled Ida into his lap, flipped her over, and tapped the plain plastic backing to demonstrate.

“Mine’s a low level technopathy at the moment,” he explained as the PDA hummed and then began playing… well, still Montero, so he flicked it again and changed it immediately to Country Roads.

Tim was watching him with a kind of hungry fascination, and Tucker turned the music off with a thought, then passed her to Tim so he could check for secret touchpads.

“It’s not something I can do with anything,” he explained with a modest shrug, grinning with pride as Tim immediately got to scanning the casing.

All simple plastic, not even biometrics; what would be the point? Even touching the PDA was pretty much a formality at this point. She was a part of him.

“Technopathy? So you can control it with your mind? Why not with anything?” Tim asked eagerly, hands stroking over the plastic, eyes darting between it and Tucker.

Like he wasn’t sure which was more interesting, Tuck or tech, and Tucker absolutely took that as a compliment.

“It has to be a device I’ve really gotten into. Like, down to the source code, or something I’ve cracked before a couple times, and then I can just feel how all of it works.”

Tucker wiggled his fingers demonstratively and the PDA beeped to life under Tim’s hands, making the other man gasp. And yeah, totally envy in those cute blue eyes he turned all balefully on Tucker.

“How many of the functions can you use? Anything the PDA can do, or…” Tim trailed off, clearly thinking of everything he’d already seen the PDA do.

The real question would have been what couldn’t Ida do. And honestly? Yeah, Tucker remembered the trial phase.

He gave another shrug.

“Technically? Yeah, anything it can do, but I still prefer hacking the old fashioned way. Most of the network stuff too, cuz I’m only really “in” the PDA. Or Danny or Sam’s phones.”

Tucker hesitated, wondering how best to really explain the difference. Danny had never been any good at it, Tucker’d had no idea what he was talking about from the video game thing right up until he’d been sucked in himself.

Which… was probably gonna be a next-hangout adventure for Tim and the bats. And Oracle, if he could swing it.

For now he gave up, giving Tim a hopeless grin.

“Honestly it’s something you’ve really gotta feel for yourself. Danny’s great at the transition from real world to code, but he always just punches things, y’know? Turns out knowing how code is actually supposed to work doesn’t translate well to being part of it,” he added with a sigh.

Because frankly? It was bullshit unfair. Tucker could code an entire other galaxy around Danny with his eyes closed, but put them in the same metaphysical layer as a firewall and Danny could just.

Punch it.

Which, theme for the week, was also not how firewalls fucking worked. At some point Tuck figured he’d either gain a new level of understanding through liminality, or give up and ask Technus a couple questions.

Technus was currently Tucker’s subject instead of Danny’s anyway. They’d made a bet.

Which meant Technus shoulda told him about their shenanigans in time, which was probably what Tucker would hold over his head for the whole firewall thing.

It was so nice when things just worked themselves out.

Tim looked a little disappointed, but mostly still intrigued. Tucker could see his fingers just itching for his own tablet to take notes.

“Do you think that’ll change?” He asked, blurting it out like he couldn’t hold back now that Tucker stopped talking, “I mean, if you become more liminal? Or just practice your abilities more?”

And see, this was what Tucker loved about Tim Drake-Wayne. They were on the same wavelength. He grinned back.

“Probably. But I mean, it’s kinda cheating too. For now I kinda like that I have to do things the way I always used to first, before any ghostly powers kick in. It’s more me, y’know?” And like hell he’d let anyone think his code skills were just some meta ability.

He’d worked damn hard for those skills, and he was damn good. One of the best, and he was also good enough to know he still wasn’t actually top of the charts.

That was the Oracle, although knowing they still hadn’t cracked his servers felt really good.

Tim was all but vibrating, clearly full of questions, but they were both interrupted by a loud growl from Tucker’s stomach. Immediately echoed by Tim’s, so at least he wasn’t alone.

The two shared sheepish grins, and then Tucker stretched.

“So, breakfast and then Twenty Questions?” He offered cheerfully, and Tim nodded at once, thrusting the PDA back and rolling off the frankly massive bed.

——————

Tag List: @welcometosasakiworld @kyrianclawraith @someonebored0100 @stealingyourbones @starkcravingmad @frostedthroughghost @akikkobara @rainbowbunny0159 @littlefeather345 @violet-catsarelife @serasvictoria02 @wolfjackle @blacksea21090 @secretdestinywerewolf @anime-hipster-the-amazing @undead-essence @skitscratched @blackroserelina @snoodly-boop @trickerdi @mayoota-blog @xysidhe @idkmrpianoman @little-apricot-the-writer @chaoticmistake @the-legal-shipper @bun-fish @aroranorth-west @demon-cat-goes-woof @perfectwastelandcreation @onyxlightdragon @larks-and-katydids @peachesandcreamfemboy @jesus-camp-the-sequel @may-rbi @mothman-the-mothman87 @viyatrix @stargirl1331 @idfk-man10 @thedepressedrobin @skulld3mort-1fan @rootsmudge @ravenshadow17 @cankoking @phantom-dc @mentalcarebear @magic-pincushion @redamancyardor @lyra689 @itsparadoxlacuna @alcorbearson @asphyxia778 @why-must-i-be-like-this @tkiesai

#danny fenton dead and loving it #dpxdc #dp x dc #dead on main ship #danny x jason #jason x danny #chapter 14 #a good excuse to be a bad influence #TIMKER RISE YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT MORE SLEEP #tim drake x tucker foley #timker #yall imma sleep for a year #i’m so damn tired #wip wednesday

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sgkophie · 8 months

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Hate To Love You - Chapter 6 Preview

And we are bbaaaccckkkkkkkk!

What better way to celebrate the publishing of "A Man's World" with a new Chapter of its (eventual sequal) Hate To Love You.

A Man's World is NOW LIVE on Amazon ebook and Kindle Unlimited ❤️

Paperback coming soon!

eBook & Kindle Unlimited Link is HERE!

Quick moment of self promotion: "A Man's World" was published on Friday and it is NOW LIVE! Thanks to everyone who asked for an advanced reader's copy... Your feedback was amazing!! Due to publishing requirements, those requests are now closed, BUT you can get the eBook on Amazon (and eventually on paperback!)

Follow me on instagram for updates on this story and other F1 stories! @authorgracenewman

Now... without further ado... your preview to Chapter 6!

Find chapter 5 is HERE to get up to date on the story!

“Georgia… I feel like the pre-season debrief can wait until we’re back at the office, hmm?”

“Lily, I need you to come to my room, now. Floor 15, room 1568.” There was urgency in her voice, urgency and something else, something that sounded like panic.

“… Now as in… now now?”

“See you in five.” Before I could protest, Georgia hung up the phone. I looked at the clock - 8:10 a.m., which meant the hallways would be fairly empty. I threw on some clothes and made my way up to Georgia’s floor, which was of course much higher up than mine.

No expense spared when it comes to Ferrari and their drivers, I scoffed to myself. The Mercedes F1 team was known for its cost savings when it came to hotels and drivers. Lewis used to always complain that as a 7x World Champion, he was lucky to get a suite when it came to Toto and Mercedes’ purse strings.

I headed straight to the room that Georgia had texted me and knocked on the door. It was as if Georgia had been standing there waiting for me, because she opened it on the second knock, causing me to fall forward, only catching myself on the coat rack that had been placed right next to the door.

“Jesus, Georgie…” I grunted, shaking off the small moment of shock as I walked into the room. Seated on the couch was her fiance Carlos Sainz, who just nodded my way as he kept his eyes on the TV, glued to the Real Madrid game going on in the background.

Georgia motioned for me to take a seat, which I obliged as Carlos immediately lowered the volume of the television, finally turning to face me and Georgia. As soon as Carlos looked at me, I felt dread take over my entire body. Carlos was always so happy-go-lucky – likened him to a golden retriever, barely anything got him down, but the solemn nature of his face told me exactly why I was here.

“So is someone going to tell me what is goijng on?” I asked, breaking the awkward silence that had settled between the three of us. I could see that Georgia was trying to find her words.

“So… after the pre-season party last night, what did you do?” Georgia finally asked and I frowned, giving her a pointed look to let her know that I wasn’t thrilled with her nosy question.

“Not really any of your business…” I scoffed at my ex-teammate, but I knew my cheeks had gone slightly red. I wasn’t sure what she had heard, but I wasn’t about to admit that I had slept with her brother last night.

“Well it seems like it IS my business now,” Georgia quipped, and I couldn’t hide the shock on my face.

“… just fucking spit it out Georgia.”

“Lily, I don’t care if you and Charles are fucking. I don’t care that you and Pierre are fucking. I don’t care if you sleep with the whole fucking grid…” Georgia’s words started to slice through me.

So she did know that I had slept with her ex-boyfriend Pierre. Guess I wasn’t as discreet as I had hoped.

Before I could get a word in, Georgia continued, “… but what I do care about, is your reputation. As only one of two women on the grid, you know what is at stake. I fucking hate that the entire world looks at us under a microscope. The world shouldn’t care about who a woman sleeps with, and its none of their business… but that just isn’t the case. What we do is and for the forseeable future will be looked at through a looking glass. Am I making any sense to you?”

#charles leclerc x reader #Charles leclerc #f1 x reader #f1 #charles leclerc imagine #Charles Leclerc #Charles Leclerc smut #f1 smut #Charles Leclerc x you #formula 1 #charles leclerc x ofc #f1 fanfic #cl16

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latenightdecaf · 1 month

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There are just so many things that don't sit right with that ep 14. (And I won't be able to do my work today if I don't write it down.)

Honestly, I've been enjoying this drama because of its fast pacing and the way it resolves things fast and as clean as they can. I didn't mind the inconsistencies to be honest, and some gaps in history

like why the fuck was haraboji's gf, so mad in the first place anyway?? like yes she went to prison, had a son, left that son and worked for haraboji and then??

the 1031 baby miscarriage was fine not to be addressed (unfortunately, I can forgive that - given that I have friend who went through the same thing and honestly did not really confront or grieved that with her husband either - they never moved on, but never talked about it either, so fine - we move forward.)

But honestly, this episode is just different than the rest in an unsettling way.

First, the scenes were cut so weirdly... like honestly, what do they want us all to feel here? They had the most beautiful confrontation about life, yes they walked to the hotel without looking at each other. Yes, Hae In stayed true to her character not wanting other girls to look at Hyun Woo. But honestly, that shit felt shallow and her charcter could've been more. They could've walked into a restaurant after fighting, with Hyun Woo just holding her wrist and her noticing the small ways this unbelievable man takes care of her even when he's mad - opening the door, ordering her food, idk, slicing it for her. It could've been slow, it could've been realizing that he had wrinkles now, that he looked tired, that he was having a hard time too - realizing that she wanted to live and be loved by this man no matter what. That if given a chance, even as stranger she'd still surely fall in love all over again. Her as the stranger, NOT those girls who was just prying. They could've twisted that up in a melo way. (But of course, we needed the romcom so of course.)

I could not even begin to point out how weird that car accident was. As viewer, I already know she's not inside... I know that moment was needed but again for Hae In to somehow magically realize she wanted that surgery but that's just torture by now. After everything they've gone through in Yongduri, she already knows how loved she was. Things could've slowed down a bit. And I'm sure Kim Ji Won would've executed that brilliantly (hello, my liberation notes). Idk, Hae In could've had more stronger reasons to live, or that case could've been built differently. Hae In is not shallow but they made her that way and yes, by the time she'd be regaining or building her connection back to Hyun Woo that script will be back again not wanting anyone else to have him. (ugh, Hae In :( I need more!!)

Third of course, Eunseong - so far his character just became so predictable that it totally put me off. Honestly thought (based on the preview without any actual context, that Hae In would be in the car accident with Eun Seong and then he dies to save her so he can finally be someone who actually saved Hae In) but yeah. He came in so conveniently in the hospital that no one even bother to ask why this stranger is now the legal guardian of Hae In like come on. (I know it's kdrama but come on that was WAY TOO CONVENIENT)

And lastly, that fucking surgery. Every single build up, every single suspense gone. She woke up after 5-10 mins inside the drama not even a bandage to her head!! They've could've dragged that a bit, not make her wake up too soon. Mess with us up some more, have the doctors come in, tell them "these things take time". Make Eunseong nervous! But no, she had to wake up immediately. Like come on!! It could've messed with everyone if that was dragged a bit more to the next episode. They could've deported back Hyun Woo to Seoul while Hae In is still unconscious with the devil by her side. We could've been at the edge of our seats if suspense was all they needed and now it just felt too rushed and too much by now. And then, Hae In will be back in Seoul like nothing happened with her (physically) and then she's with Eun Seong now. Ugh.

But despite it all, I'm thankful for this drama. I'm still going to be there next week to see this through. Honestly, what a world-class acting from Kim Soo Hyun and Kim Ji Won.

I'm just wrapping up my thoughts so I can finally go on with my day.

Thank you all for coming to my TED talk.

#kdrama thoughts #queen of tears #kim soo hyun #kim ji won #baekhong #I'm unearthing this blog because of this kdrama i swear gahd

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peachjaem00 · 11 months

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Teaser; The moon to my starts

PAIRING; childhood best friend!jisung x fem reader

SYNOPSIS; jisung has been in love with you forever but kept it a secret because he was too afraid to ruin your friendship. he had to endure watching you make a life without him until one day he could not hold it any longer, he couldn’t let the moon leave his stars. or jisung being a complete and absolute simp for the reader since he was a little boy.

HONORABLE MENTIONS; twin brother! Haechan, jeno, yeji (itzy), jaemin, chenle, renjun

WC; 14.5k

THEMES; fluff, angst, pinning, friends to lovers, non idol! Jisung

WARNINGS; swearing, female reader, mentions of alcohol, mentions of blood, physical fight, mentions of bruises, jealousy

AN; just a little preview for a fic i have been working on since august 2021 based on my jisung’s timelapses [01:10 pm], [12:30 am], [02:00 pm] let me know if anyone wants to be added to the taglist or any questions. you don't have to read the timestamps to understand the fic.

also big shoutout to @cappujeno and @ichorai for beta reading this and for their support, this fic would have not happen if it wasn't for your help!

He was five when he saw you for the first time.

You noticed how shy and nervous he was, so you came closer, grabbing his hand and rubbing your little thumb on his knuckles in an attempt to calm him down.

“Do you want to come and play? I promise we're nice people,” you said in the softest voice. It only took a look into your eyes to make Jisung forget about his shyness, the warmth in them was enough to make him feel safe.

He was 10 years old when he discovered he had a crush on you.

He was on his bed, trying to sleep, but he was wide awake, his chest heavy and his mind was empty, only you in it. He didn't understand why. Why was he thinking so much about his friend? Why did that hug feel so nice? Why did that kiss make him so flustered? Why couldn't he get you out of his mind? Or maybe he knew, maybe he had known for a while but he didn't want to admit it…

“Oh no…”

He was 15 years old when he realized he was in love with you.

“Oh, c'mon dude, calm down.”

“I can't because you were right.”

“About what?”

“I do love her.”

He was 16 years old when he got in a fight.

“You fucking asshole!” And after that he punched Jeno in the face, making his lip bleed. “How fucking dare you!?” And another, he could hear your screaming but he was blinded by rage. “You don't love her enough!? Then you never loved her in the first place!” And another, and another and another.

He was 18 year old when he entered university.

“How did we let this happen?”

“I don't know.”

“We promised nothing was gonna change after me leaving.”

“I know.”

“Then why is everything different?”

“Because…” He wanted to tell you, he wanted to confess but the words got stuck once again. He didn't want to do it like that, during a phone call while you were kilometres away. “We're dumb?” Your laughter made the ambience lighter.

“Yes, we’re very, very dumb.” You wiped a few tears away and cleared your throat. “Let's start being smart again.”

“How?”

He was 19 years old when he confessed his love towards you.

“God, I fucking love you.” It was a whisper. It was innocent and said out of instinct, he didn't even realise what he just said until you left his side.

“What!?”

“Nothing.” He was ready to leave but your hand on his wrist stopped him. You made him face you.

“That was not nothing.” He didn't dare to look at you. “What did you just say Park Jisung?” Your tone was demanding and serious, not in an aggressive way but you wanted an answer.

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foggyfanfic · 6 months

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How Mariano Got Betrothed to the Wrong Madrigal

Oneshot Preview: Thankfully, Isabela was his best friend, and knew him well enough to read the answer on his face, “So why are you going along with this?”

“With…?”

“With this! With our abuelas setting us up?”

Now, nobody had ever accused Mariano of being an intellectual. In fact, he was frequently accused of the exact opposite. Which was fine, kinda hurtful, but he couldn’t be too upset about being called stupid.

Not after this marvelous mess up.

It started on the first day of school, he just happened to be the same age as the two oldest Madrigal kids, and was thus sat at the same table as them. Isabela was fun, but she hogged all of the brightest crayons, except for red.

Red belonged to Dolores.

Dolores was patient, even at the young age of six. It seemed like it didn’t matter how many times he needed help, she always gave it. The three of them played together everyday at recess, Dolores would be the princess, he would be the shining knight, and Isabela took great delight in being the plant breathing dragon.

Then they grew up. Not instantly, of course, little by little.

The first sign of their impending adulthood was when Isabela came to school in a brand new dress and said, “Abuela says I want to be the princess sometimes.”

“Oh, ok,” Mariano agreed, because he knew how important it was to listen to your abuela.

Dolores being the dragon was kind of fun anyways, because she didn��t have plant powers so they had to wrestle for the princess. Unfortunately, Isabela got bored with that game a little while after that and they had to find a new one.

Time marched on, and slowly by slowly, Isabela started wearing more dresses she wasn’t allowed to get dirty. Both Mariano and Dolores missed playing with her, even if she did hog the brightest crayons.

However.

If Mariano could go back in time, he would not have mentioned to his abuela that he missed playing with Isabela.

When they were nine, going on ten, both Isabela and Dolores were promised visions from their Tío for their birthdays. Isabela was all smiles the day after she got her vision. Dolores avoided him for a week after she got hers.

When they were eleven, Mariano realized that his favorite games to play with Dolores all involved wrestling. And really weird, he didn’t mind losing to her when they wrestled. Dolores would huff and pout at him if he tried to wrestle with her when she wore her favorite red skirt, and although he didn’t like to make her upset, he thought she was cute when she pouted.

At thirteen he realized why he liked wrestling with Dolores. His parents raised him to be a gentleman, so he stopped.

At fifteen, he started planning their wedding. It would be wonderful, he would read her a poem for his vows, and she would speak hers so quietly it would sound like a secret just for him. Isabela would make a bouquet of deep red roses for Dolores, and he would pluck one out to put in her hair.

She always looked so beautiful in red.

At sixteen, Romero asked Dolores out, she said yes.

To Mariano’s great relief they only went on two dates. However, he couldn’t ignore what it meant that Dolores had agreed to date Romero in the first place. She didn’t see him the same way he saw her.

Nobody ever accused Mariano of being an intellectual, but he liked to think he was raised right. When a woman demonstrates that she doesn’t have feelings for you, you respect that.

He tried just being her friend, but it seemed as they grew, she just became more and more beautiful. Eventually, he realized if he wanted to get over her, he would need space. Mariano spent a month torturing himself, trying to think of a different way to move on, but then she giggled at a joke her little brother made and it felt like somebody had wrenched his heart out of his chest to give to her.

So, at seventeen, he began hanging out with the other boys his age instead of Dolores. He still spoke to her at parties, and if he happened to run into her at the market, and of course, when their abuelas decided their families should have dinner together.

And he still loved her.

No matter how much time passed, Mariano still loved Dolores more than he could ever say. He tried writing poems about his feelings, but the words paled in comparison, so he gave up and wrote poems about other things.

When he was twenty he noticed Isabela dancing in the square, spreading flowers around. Dolores was just behind her, smiling quietly. Isabela made Dolores a red and orange flower crown and Mariano couldn’t hold back a sigh at how beautiful she was.

“She’s quite graceful, isn’t she?” his abuela asked, seemingly appearing out of thin air by his shoulder.

“Oh, uh, sí. She is,” he glanced nervously between his abuela and Dolores, who stood with her usual poise.

“And quite beautiful.”

“Sí,” Mariano gulped, did she know?

“I remember you two used to play together everyday at school.”

“Sí,” Mariano said, failing to keep all of his longing out of his voice.

“How long have you had these feelings for her?”

He stuttered and babbled for a little, but she just watched him with a knowing grin, so he gave in and admitted, “Since we were children, but she doesn’t feel the same way.”

“Oh? Are you sure?”

“Sí.”

“Have you asked her?”

“Uh.”

“Mariano, mijo, you can not know a woman’s true feelings unless you ask her.”

He blinked at his abuela for a little, then turned to look past Isabela at Dolores. She was very quiet, and usually very good at keeping secrets. Was it wishful thinking driving him to listen to his abuela? Or did he have a chance?

“Perhaps you’re right,” he said.

“Of course I am, now go ask her.”

Mariano nodded, and started to walk away, before he remembered himself. Dutifully, he turned back to press a kiss to his abuela’s cheek, and thank her for her council. When he turned around, Dolores was gone.

He frowned, slowly approaching Isabela as he searched the crowd for a flash of red. She noticed him and waved, he waved back then pushed through the crowd so he could speak to her.

“Where’d Dolores go?”

Isabela paused in her dancing to look over at where Dolores had been standing, finger halfway raised to point. She deflated a little when she noticed her cousin was gone.

“I don’t know,” she frowned a little, then looked quickly at her audience and with a magnanimous smile rained flowers down on them.

“You don’t have to stop on my account,” he said, recognizing the flower confetti as the finale it was.

“No, I wanted to do some shopping with her,” Isabela waved at people as she broke through the crowd, gifting a few of the children with extra flowers, “she’s so good at picking things Abuela likes.”

“Oh, great, then we can look for her together,” he smiled, “been a while since we spent any time together.”

“It has, hasn’t it?” she huffed out a quiet laugh, shaking her head, “When was the last time? New years?”

“Sí, sí, sounds right,” he eyed Dolores’ favorite fruit stand as they passed it, “how’ve you been?”

“Oh, wonderful,” she was also looking at the stand, then turned to peek into the book shop, “I recently learned how to do a new trick on my vines.”

“Oh?” Mariano asked with genuine interest, he remembered how much Isabela enjoyed her acrobatics, “I would love to see it!”

Isabela flashed him a warm smile, then glanced down at her fluttery lavender dress, “You should come by Casita for lunch tomorrow, I can show it to you then.”

It had been forever since he’d gone to Casita for lunch, and he suddenly realized how much he’d missed the sentient house. He had spent many an afternoon playing hide and seek there, but recently he’d only been when he was accompanying his abuela and had to be on his best behavior. Plus, it meant that even if he couldn’t find Dolores today, he could talk to her tomorrow.

“I would love that!”

“Great. I’ll let everybody know.”

They spent the rest of the afternoon looking for Dolores, and when they didn’t find her, he helped Isabela pick out some cloth for a new dress.

“I definitely want something purple,” Isabela said, looking over the bolts of fabric, “Abuela says it compliments my skin tone the best.”

Mariano, used to helping his Mamá with her shopping, hummed thoughtfully and reached for a deep purple linen. Isabela looked at it, and her eyes got all bright, a smile twitched at her lips.

Then she stood up just a little straighter, folded her hands over themselves and said, “It’s lovely, but I prefer pastels.”

Mariano felt his brow wrinkle, because it had looked like Isabela had been really excited about it for a second, but then again, he could be wrong. It had certainly happened before.

He helped her select a different bolt of purple. A pastel purple. The shopkeeper offered her a steep discount in exchange for fresh flowers to fill all of her vases.

Isabela obliged with the same perfect smile she used to use when she was playing the princess.

They parted ways not long after, Mariano reported to his abuela that he would be having lunch at Casita the next day and she’d cheered. He did not realize until later the misunderstanding that had taken place, and by then, it wouldn’t matter.

Dolores didn’t make an appearance at lunch the next day, but Mirabel did.

He watched Isabela and Mirabel snipe at each other, even as they planned what embroidery Mirabel would put on Isabela’s new dress.

“That’s too many colors,” Isabela said.

Mirabel rolled her eyes, “You know, you used to like colors, back when you weren’t boring.”

“I’m not boring, I’m an adult, with a little something called responsibilities,” Isabela hissed.

Mirabel rolled her eyes even harder.

Mariano chuckled, accidentally drawing both their attention. Isabela sat up straight, primly folding her hands in her lap, but Mirabel pushed the sketchbook towards him. Coincidentally, although he didn’t think much of it at the time, Señora Alma walked into the kitchen at that exact moment.

“What do you think, Mariano?” Mirabel asked, voice friendly, but sharp eyes pointed at Isabela.

“Oh, uh,” he might not have been the brightest crayon in the box, but even he knew a trap when he saw one, “I think Isabela looks perfectly lovely in everything.”

He did not notice Señora Alma turning to examine him.

Mirabel gave him an unamused look, not fooled by his hedging, “Great. But what design do you like best?”

Mariano gulped and looked down at the sketch book, then he said, “Oh! How about the one with the little avocado? It’s like that character you and Dolores made up when we were in school, remember?”

“Doctor Avocado?” Isabela blinked into the middle distance, a slow smile growing across her face, she chuckled quietly, “I’m surprised you remember that, it’s been years since I thought about any of that stuff.”

Mariano shrugged a little sheepishly, then admitted, “I still have the drawings you made.”

And here’s where Mariano truly messed up, because personally he felt everything up to this point wasn’t really his fault. Technically, what Mariano meant to say was “I have the drawings you guys made”, which involved using the plural form of “you”; however, his mind was on Dolores and Dolores only, so without thinking he used the singular, familiar, form of “you”. It was a small detail, and even though he heard his own mistake, he didn’t think it important enough to correct it, but it’s one of those mistakes that snowballed into a really big problem. Like when he assumed the dog could be trusted not to jump on the kitchen counter while Mariano ran to the bathroom really quick.

Because what Señora Alma apparently heard was “My dearest Isabela, I have treasured that most fine art of an avocado with a medical practice for all these years simply because it was crafted by your perfect hand.”

Isabela did not end up picking the design with the little avocado, instead she went with a much more understated design. One with little pastel flowers that gracefully tumbled down her pastel skirts. Mariano finished lunch with the two sisters, then lingered in the courtyard with Isabela, hoping Dolores would make an appearance. He finally left in defeat when the sun rested on the tops of the mountains.

Fortunately (at least he thought it was fortunate) Señora Alma started inviting him and his abuela over for dinner more often.

Unfortunately (and he was correct about this being unfortunate) Dolores was always seated at the opposite end of the table from him, and barely looked at him whenever he was around.

Once again, Mariano sat himself down, and forced himself to accept that Dolores just wasn’t interested in him that way. Despite what his abuela had said.

At least he was rekindling his friendship with Isabela. They had a lot in common, both were the eldest grandchildren and carried the weight of their abuelas’ expectations. He had missed her, to a certain extent, and it was nice talking to somebody who understood what it was like to stand in front of a mirror and practice saying “Sí Abuela” in just the right tone of voice. His male friends had apparently never done that, and had in fact teased him for being vain when he’d asked. They hadn’t understood that it wasn’t about vanity, he didn’t need to look good for the sake of aesthetics, he needed to be neat and well groomed in order to set the proper example for his younger siblings and cousins. Isabela understood that, better than anyone else.

One day, his abuela asked him to take Isabela to the market, to get her help picking out gifts for the young girls in the family. Isabela had agreed, but had walked a little slower than usual, and kept getting distracted.

“Is something wrong?” he eventually asked, when he finally realized she was frowning and sighing a lot more than usual.

“I-. Well, I don’t know,” Isabela glanced at him, then at the market as it passed by around them, “Mariano, how do you feel about me?”

“What do you mean? You’re my best friend,” he had answered, because by that point she was.

“That’s it?”

“Uh, sí? Why? Has somebody-.”

“Do you… have feelings for me?”

Mariano’s eyebrows almost jumped off his face, he should have said “No” and would have said “No” but he was a bit busy gaping at her. It had never occurred to him that Isabela was somebody he even could have feelings for.

The silence dragged on without him denying his feelings out loud, forcing anyone who might overhear the exchange to draw her own pessimistic conclusions. The silence dragged on so long, in fact, that if any eavesdropping pessimists had decided she didn’t want to overhear confirmation of what she thought was destined to happen, then that eavesdropping pessimist had plenty of time to escape to the soundproofed portion of her room. Another thing he didn’t realize was a mistake until much later.

Thankfully, Isabela was his best friend, and knew him well enough to read the answer on his face, “So why are you going along with this?”

“With…?”

“With this! With our abuelas setting us up?”

He gaped at her a little more.

She frowned at him.

Silence stretched between them once more.

“Mariano, you do realize that’s what’s been happening? Don’t you?”

He could only shake his head.

She groaned, “What did you think was happening?!”

“I- I don’t know, I just thought… we’re friends,” he shrugged, “that’s-. Aren’t we friends?”

Isabela softened, she smiled a little, “Sí, we’re friends.”

“Bien, that’s uh, that’s good,” he frowned down at his shoes, then looked back up at her and asked, “they’ve been trying to set us up?”

“Sí, for months now, my abuela is starting to hint at marriage,” Isabela said. They had slowed to a standstill as he had processed what she was saying, but now she started walking again. She held her chin high, with all proper poise, and looked straight ahead with a contemplative look on her face.

“Oh,” he walked beside her, feeling comparatively clumsy and oafish, even as his steps passed smoothly over the cobbled road.

“I… am going to go along with it,” Isabela said, quietly, “there’s no other man in the village I think I could-. You’re my best friend, if I’m not going to fall in love, I might as well marry you.”

“Oh.”

They walked in silence for a while.

“What do you think?”

“About marrying each other?”

“Sí.”

“I uh-,” he hesitated, then quietly admitted, “I’ve been in love with one girl my entire life, I can’t imagine being with anyone else, but- but- she doesn’t-.”

He couldn’t continue, it always broke his heart a little to admit that Dolores didn’t love him back, but now, here, when talking about marriage, when seriously thinking about his future, saying it out loud was unbearable. He found himself sniffling a little, his bottom lip trembling.

Isabela put a hand on his shoulder.

He looked at her, and suddenly, he could see a path he’d never considered before. A path in which he married Isabela, moved into Casita, spent his life with his best friend, just down the hall from the woman he loved. He would have kids with Isabela, and raise them with her, and see Dolores every day for the rest of his life. It wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t exactly what he wanted, but it would be cruel to marry somebody who was in love with him, knowing he could never give them his heart. And it would be good for his family, to be so connected to the Madrigals.

And it would mean he would always be close to the love of his life.

“If I can’t be with her,” he said, slowly, “th-then I can’t imagine anyone better than my best friend.”

Isabela nodded, giving him a small smile. It wasn’t one of the ones she’d practiced, it didn’t match his own practiced grin. It was quiet, and warm, and reassured him that he could be happy with her.

Months continued to pass them by, and Mariano found himself thinking more and more of this life spent with his best friend. They would make an excellent team, him and Isabela, and they would have wonderful kids, kids Mariano would get to spend plenty of time with. In most households, the men were expected to go out and work, but not in la familia Madrigal. When you married a Madrigal, it became your job to stay home and take care of the kids so that the Madrigals could share their blessings with the village. He’d once thought he’d be raising Dolores’ children, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he would be just as happy raising Isabela’s kids. The more Mariano thought about his life to come, the more he realized how much he wanted to be a father.

He started spending more time with his youngest cousins, eager to practice for his oncoming life as the primary parent.

There were nights, of course, where Mariano had guilty fantasies in which Dolores would fall in love with him a little later in life, and Isabela would give him permission to be with her. These fantasies sometimes featured him saving Dolores from her horrible husband, or comforting her when her husband died in a very tragic and painful accident. But nobody needed to know about those nights, or those fantasies.

He focused on the thought of his future kids, and tried to ignore all else.

Mariano picked out the ring, he drafted up lists of baby names, he planned what he would say in his proposal with Isabela, and he tried not to think too hard about how close he would be to Dolores once he had moved into Casita.

And then his and Isabela’s plans all fell apart the night of the proposal.

In the scant hours between that disastrous dinner and Casita falling apart, all Mariano could think about was how embarrassing the evening had been for him, and the fact that Dolores had seen the whole thing. He wondered if the miracle had been trying to tell him and Isabela something, if it had been trying to discourage the match.

Then, when he found out that it had nothing to do with him, he felt horrible for being so self pitying while his best friend and the love of his life were dealing with such a crisis.

Mariano was the first to grab a shovel, and rallied the other villagers to do the same. He figured he would worry about his love life later, when Casita was done being built. He thought that neither Isabela nor Dolores had the energy or time to think about him. He thought he would never be a Madrigal, and he would just have to accept that.

Nobody ever accused Mariano of being an intellectual. In fact, they often accused him of the exact opposite, and after hearing Dolores’ side of the story, he couldn’t blame them.

“You’ve had this since we were ten?” he asked, for the fifth time. He was holding an old vision tablet, the magic long since faded from it. In it, he was on his knees, holding a ring out to Isabela as she sat primly at her dinner table.

“Sí, and I’ve looked at it almost every night since,” she shook her head ruefully, “trying to force myself to get over you.”

He stared at her, “Are you sure you don’t want to get married right now?”

Dolores giggled quietly, “I’m sure. I seem to remember you had all these plans for your wedding.”

“Our wedding,” he corrected, “it was always-. I thought you didn’t return my feelings, but I was never able to picture another bride. Not really.”

She smiled down at her lap. They were sitting side by side on a couch in the newly finished first floor of the new Casita. He was vaguely aware of the rest of her family milling around, of her father keeping a close on them, but he couldn’t bring himself to look away from her face.

“You knew? When we were ten? That you love me?” he eventually asked.

“I’ve known since I got my gift.”

Mariano blinked rapidly, trying to hold back tears as a smile took over his face. He leaned over and kissed her check, only to jump back when Señor Félix loudly cleared his throat. Mariano flashed him a sheepish smile, but didn’t want to spend too long not looking at Dolores.

“I-I was a little bit slow,” he admitted, “I didn’t figure it out until we were thirteen.”

“But that was when you started to pull away?” she asked.

“Pull-? Oh! No! No, no, no,” he grabbed her hand, “I was trying to be respectful. I… enjoyed being close to you in a way that uh, I figured I should get permission for before I uh, well, indulged. If that uh, if you get what I'm… getting at.”

“Oh,” Dolores giggled again, “I see.”

“If you’ve loved me all this time, why did you date Romero?”

“My Pá said that’s the best way to get over someone,” she shrugged.

Mariano couldn’t help it, he turned to look at Señor Félix with his hurt and betrayal clear on his face. Señor Félix looked startled, and actually took a step back. For a brief second Mariano was reminded of Camilo, as Señor Félix held his hands up in a questioning shrug and seemed to silently ask, “What did I do?”

“Amor,” Dolores gently pulled Mariano’s face back towards her, “it’s not his fault, I asked him for that advice.”

Mariano still couldn’t help but pout a little, “He could have told you to ask me how I felt before giving up on me.”

“Sí, and I could have asked him for advice on getting your attention,” she shrugged, “I thought this was just another case of people ignoring me in favor of Isabela.”

“I would never,” he breathed, “Dolores, she is my best friend, but you! You’re the sun in my sky, the song every bird sings, the passion too great for words to capture. You’re steady ground in an earthquake, a shelter in a storm, and the burst of laughter that cures a bad day. How could anyone not see your kindness? Your poise? Isabela is all the bright colors in a meadow, but you’re the red in my veins. I have warmth in my heart to share with others, because you keep it beating.”

Dolores was so often quiet, so often silent, but this was the first time Mariano had ever seen her struck dumb. Her lips parted in surprise, and her eyes shined with love.

Mariano knew he wasn’t an intellectual, but he liked to think he was raised right, so even though he wanted to hold her tight and kiss her, pour all the passion and longing he’d stored up into her, he didn’t. Instead he squeezed her hand, then brought it to his lips, so he could leave a gentle kiss on her fingertips.

Dolores gaped at him for another second, then with her free hand she took the old vision out of his lap and threw it like a frisbee across the room.

It hit the ground and shattered.

“So,” she said, “marriage?”

“Sí! I’ll bring my wedding journal tomorrow and you can tell me what ring design you like best,” he said, launching into an explanation of everything he’d planned.

Nobody ever accused Mariano of being a genius, but he’d stumbled his way to marrying the love of his life. So, he figured he was smart enough.

#mariano guzman #isabela madrigal #dolores madrigal #senora guzman #Encanto #Foggy writes #look! I managed to write something that isn't about Bruno!#yay me!

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flam-burr · 2 years

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Mama bear - Yautvember day 4

Content: Yautjas are a very religious species, which leads them to have a high respect for anything that goes beyond the living plane and cannot be hunted the traditional way. Too bad you learned it too late.

Tag: Fluff, gn Yautjaxgn reader

A/N: Hello fellas! Not gonna lie, this prompt was difficult af... I'm just not the best at writing fluff things, but I hope it passes. Thank you for all the feedback from the previews stories and check out @jacklycan for the original prompt list!

You always liked to spend time with children, so when you arrived on Yautja Prime you felt naturally driven towards the pups that roamed the village’s streets.

Of course you never approached any of them without the explicit consent of their mother -your mate had warned you of how protective they could be with their offsprings. Maybe it had been your soft and non threatening body or the submissive and calm nature, but eventually you made your way to the Matriarch’s heart and were trusted with the role of caretaker.

That day the pups were misbehaving while their mothers were out, slowly driving you crazy, and when they almost broke your instruments, you decided you had enough. You screamed you would have called the Boogeyman if they didn’t calm down.

Being pups, the new word attracted their attention like a magnet and stopped their campaign of destruction long enough for you to tell them the same story your grandma used to tell you when you were little.

You expected those little pests to laugh at your silly rhyme: they weren’t sucklings anymore and they were in that particular stage of childhood where there is no ruler outside of their mothers.

Instead, they froze on the spot and after a few seconds of silence they tidied up your instruments with surprising efficiency.

They became angels for the rest of the day and you baked them some cookies, once you calmed yourself, like any other day of babysitting.

Their mothers came to take them home by the evening and you just took a little me-time before your mate came back.

They laid down by your side after a nice and rough “cuddle”, their breath a little heavy in your ear as you slowly drifted away in sleep.

“How was the day with the pups, my star?”, they asked.

“Up and downs.”, you muttered, fighting to stay awake enough to answer. “They made me crazy… and I told them the story of the Boogeyman.”

“The Boogeyman?”

“Yeah.”

You could feel your mate adjusting themself, their attention all for you. They liked to listen to your stories, both because they got to focus on you without you being shy about it and because they were just as curious about your culture as you were of theirs.

You sighed, stirring a bit to focus, but giving up quite fast on the idea of repeating the whole rhyme with the right tone, so you resolved yourself to paraphrasing the legend.

“The Boogeyman is a wraith that is all pitch black and hides under the bed.”, you say with a yawn. “He takes the naughty pups and eats them.”

You felt your mate stiffen to your words and you patted their shoulder.

“Don’t worry, it’s just a kids’ story.”, you said, finally falling asleep.

The next day you found all the pups quietly waiting for you in the common tent you used as a daycare.

It was such a rare sight you almost didn’t see the front of mothers watching you with killer eyes right outside.

You knew better than to keep staring at them and lowered your head, stopping a few steps from them.

The biggest of the females approached you, covering you with her shadow.

“Hi Cithi.”, you said with a feeble voice. “How can I help you?”

The female’s chest rumbled with a growl, low enough to reverberate in your bones and cover you in goosebumps.

“You can start by not threatening the pups while we are not around.”, Cithi snarled.

You blinked, trying to remember when that happened, but kept quiet as the female resumed.

“I don’t care what you think of our pups: if I hear you call your monster, you’ll meet your end before the sun rises again. DId I make myself clear?”

You held your hands together to prevent them from shaking, yet something in her words felt… off.

“I have no… ‘monster’, Cithi. I barely have a hound- “

“Don’t try my patience, ooman.”

You fell silent, crushed under the threat in her voice, and swallowed as she approached another step.

“Your Boojimen won’t touch any of our pups.”

You lifted your gaze on Cithi and the females behind her: you finally noticed they were wearing their hunting gear and watching with careful eyes the trees around the village. They weren’t here just to talk with you, they were moving to hunt a shadow.

“I see…”, you muttered. “I think there’s been a misunderstanding here.”

Explaining what happened hadn’t been easy, Cithi was terribly stubborn when it came to protecting her offspring, but after a few tries you managed to convince the hunting party not to engage a hunt over a non-existing entity. Cithi insisted on a few adults still patrolling the borders that day and night and stayed with you and the pups to keep an eye on you, still suspicious even giving you the benefit of doubt.

After that, you learned an important lesson: Yautjas don’t make light of ghost stories, even the kid’s ones, especially mothers.

#yautja #yautja x human #yautja x reader #yautja x you #predator #predator x human #yautvember #predvember #mama bear #writing prompt

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gurugirl · 2 years

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The Queen's Secret Ch. 11

Summary: The Queen gets confirmation of what she’s known already but it doesn't make her feel as happy as she’d hoped. She and Harry struggle to stay apart - their moments together are far too fleeting as of late. Gertrude and Edgar still suspect something.

Warning: Angst, mentions of depression, lying

The Queen's Secret Masterlist

Chapter 10*

Chapter 11

Gertrude woke early as she normally did. Lately, sometimes, she took the opportunity to check Harry’s phone. She hadn’t been convinced that he was faithful or that he hadn’t been seeing the Queen when he wasn’t supposed to. Looking over her shoulder she quickly brought his phone upward to see that he’d gotten a message at 11:57pm. From John Gabriel. John was a Duke and worked with Harry from time-to-time.

With a sigh she unlocked his phone and went through a few apps and found nothing out of the ordinary. She was hesitant to click on the message from John because once she did that it wouldn’t show up as a new, unread message and Harry might be on to her for going through his phone. Harry’s settings on his phone made it so that there would be no preview to the message and suddenly Gertrude had the idea to quickly change his settings and then change it back before he noticed. So she could at least see the first part of the text in his notifications window. Just to make sure it was actually from John.

Just as she’d changed his settings Harry began to move as he was starting to wake up.

Gertrude quickly placed the phone back down and left the bedroom before Harry woke up fully. She hadn’t gotten what she was looking for and unfortunately she’d updated the message preview settings on his phone, which he might notice. She hoped he didn’t, but it was too late now. She’d have to play dumb if he realized his settings had been tampered with.

Harry did notice. When he looked at his phone after sitting up and stretching in bed, he saw the preview of the message right there.

From John Gabriel: I love you.

He looked around the room and felt himself panic slightly. How had this happened? His wife could have seen. He opened the messages app up and sleepily smiled for a moment at the sweet message. But he wondered what made her text him so late when it was part of their rules to only text during hours they would get the message so that something like this wouldn’t happen. He texted her back quickly,

From Prince Harry: I love you too.

And then he deleted the texts.

Gertrude didn’t seem upset when Harry went into the kitchen with her. She was making coffee and speaking with the nanny about the kid’s schedules for the day.

“Morning.” Harry’s first words of the day came out in a rasp as both Gertrude and Sally turned to see the handsome Prince.

Harry kept a close eye on Gertrude to see if there was the possibility that she saw the text. He was also a bit perplexed by the sudden settings change. He’d need to redo his password in case it was Gertrude who’d done it. He hated that he couldn’t trust her, but why would he trust her when she shouldn’t trust him? He’d lied to Gertrude and fallen in love with another woman. Of course trust would be an issue between them.

“How did you sleep?” Gertrude asked as she sat at the table with Harry.

“Fine. How about you?” He sipped from the mug of coffee that Gertrude handed him and watched her. He noticed her look down at her hands and then flit her eyes back up to his. He couldn’t be sure but it seemed as though she was nervous about something.

“Fine as well. I’m a bit busy today. Sally will be here until 6 this evening with the kids and I’ve given instructions to Luz to make dinner. I have a few appointments at the castle. What are your plans for the day?” Gertrude tapped her fingers on the wood tabletop and watched Harry. Now they were both carefully watching the other for any sign of knowing what the other was up to.

Harry quickly decided to bring up John Gabriel, as a cover in a way, “I have a few appointments as well. A last-minute meeting came up with John. He texted me late last night. Nothing too important, just some decisions about the budget for construction of the new library, last minute changes I guess.”

Gertrude perked up at the name. She hadn’t gotten to look at the text or even see the preview of the message but this could be likely. Though, she still had her doubts, she didn’t have a choice but to accept what he told her. She nodded.

When Gertrude left Harry promptly changed his password and adjusted his settings back to how they had been.

He had a feeling deep down that Gertrude had tampered with his phone. Which meant she would have seen the preview of the text that read I love you from John. He knew she wouldn’t confront him about it because going through his phone would also be a betrayal. And Harry had a response for her made up in his mind if Gertrude were to confront him about it. But he wouldn’t say anything unless she brought it up.

When the Queen saw Harry’s response she sighed in relief. She’d been a little too reckless in sending that text so late like she had. It sat in his phone all night. She regretted it the following morning when she woke up but seeing that Harry texted her back she felt better. She needed to get ahold of her emotions. It was difficult. She just wanted to be with him night and day and at that moment she didn’t know the next time that she’d be able to see him. To touch him. The idea of not seeing his smile crushed her. She brushed her teeth and splayed a hand over her tummy and felt her eyes prick with tears. She was sad. Very sad. Her husband was already gone for the morning, off to visit a nearby merchant to have lunch.

Instead of moping and going back to bed like she wanted, the Queen dressed herself and pulled her hair up and went to the castle library. She walked around amongst the old shelves and looked for something new to read. She had a conference call to attend after lunch, but otherwise her day was empty. She wanted to find a good book to get her mind off of her problems.

It was depressing to her that she’d devolved into a cheater. A liar. A faker. It wasn’t ever meant to be this way. She was supposed to be a good Queen. She was meant to love her husband and support him in everything he did. And even if she never loved Edgar, she should have upheld her oath, her promise to be a good wife. It was true that she never did love him. She enjoyed him. She liked him enough. Until Harry came into the picture. He showed her what it was like to be loved and to be cherished. It came so easily to her to fall for the Prince. Too easily.

“Queen Y/n. How are you?” Gertrude suddenly spoke from behind the Queen. Y/n turned to see the Princess and smiled.

“I’m well. How are you Princess Gertrude?” She clasped a book in her hand, not sure which book she’d grabbed from the shelf and watched Gertrude.

“Very well. Thank you. I have some meetings at the castle today and stopped here at the library. I love this old library. Harry mentioned that a new one is being built in Manon. Do you know where it will be located?” Gertrude was curious about the Queen. She really didn’t know what to think. Part of her thought that she was just imagining that Harry was smitten by Y/n. It was hard not to imagine it. They’d had sex at least a dozen times from their sessions and the Queen was young and pretty and smart. And even with the protocols in place, Gertrude couldn’t help but feel like anything could have happened behind closed doors. But another part of Gertrude felt like she wasn’t imagining it, because of all of those things.

“I don’t know much about it, to be honest. I believe it’s going to be built near the square so anyone in Manon can access it. I could be wrong, though. Is Harry on the board for that construction?” Y/n did know actually. Here she went again, lying through her teeth. This wasn’t a project that the Queen was supposed to be too privy on, but she happened to know very well where it was going to be built and when. She even knew some of the budget details as she and Harry had spoken about it.

“Yes. He is the head of the board for the library. He hasn’t told me much regarding it so I wondered if you did. I do look forward to it being built. It would be wonderful to have a local library to bring the kids. I’d bring them here to the castle but it’s such a different atmosphere in the castle.” Gertrude smiled. She’d arrived to the castle a little early. She enjoyed walking through the library and smelling all the old books. The library was immaculate and ornate. It used to be one of her favorite places to come before she had children.

When Gertrude excused herself the Queen felt herself relax again. She felt awful. Completely ashamed. What a sorry excuse for a Queen she was.

The gala was tomorrow night. The Queen had been fitted for her dress and it looked just lovely on her. But she didn’t feel lovely. She was sad, anxious, lacking sleep, and constantly trying to hide her tears. The week without seeing Harry was torture. She hadn’t realized how hard it would get. She thought it would get easier but it got worse.

She’d had all morning to herself and had been in between tears and laughter when she took another pregnancy test and it was positive. She texted Harry but he’d yet to respond. She knew he was busy today. She already knew she was pregnant, and Harry had no doubts either. But now it was confirmed. Her emotions were all over the place and simply uncontrollable.

She was elated that she knew now, without a doubt, that she was pregnant. But she was sad because she missed the man who’d helped make her that way. It was a confusing morning overall for her. She sat in her tub and cried her eyes out, sobbing at the unfortunate circumstance – loving a man who was married to another. Who already had children. But then she’d begin to laugh when she found that she was being silly and felt she should be happy because she’d soon be a mother. She was happy. But she was sad also.

The new book that she’d picked was old and difficult to follow but it did a good job of keeping her occupied. She needed to reread paragraphs a couple of times to really understand the meaning at times. It was a good distraction for her. Sitting on her balcony, overlooking the courtyard and feeling the cool air around her was sobering. Reading on her balcony seemed to be the only time, as of late, that she could keep her emotions in check. Maybe it was the book. Maybe it was the cold air. Either way, she tried to allow herself time for reading on her balcony every day. For her sanity.

When Harry finally texted her back, nearly three hours later, she felt herself wither again, a slow spiral into depression. The book now long forgotten, as her lover had finally contacted her. It wasn’t healthy. She could recognize that.

From Prince Harry: We will find time tomorrow to see one another at the gala, my love. I need to kiss your pregnant belly once again in greeting to our child-to-be. I miss you more than I can describe.

His words were sweet and hopeful. It should have made her smile but instead his words brought her sorrow as she clenched her chest over her heart. She didn’t know how they’d find time at the gala. It seemed impossible. Everything seemed impossible. Nothing was going to be easy for them. The Queen crawled into bed and cried herself to sleep, not bothering to text Harry back. She had lost her grip on happiness again.

When Gertrude and Harry arrived at the castle for the gala they’d been arguing. Harry had seemed to start it. He hadn’t heard from Y/n since he responded to her after she told him about her pregnancy test. Nothing. He texted her again and it was silence from her end. It had him worried, in a bad mood and so he picked a fight with Gertrude. He was desperate to see the Queen. His sour mood would only be corrected if he could see her.

Nearly the entire kingdom was in attendance. The gala was for the fundraising of Manon infrastructure and to add a new wing to the hospital. Everyone was dressed to the nines. Tables were spread out in the ballroom with the seating arrangements totally up to the guests. There was live entertainment, gourmet food, an open bar, and all for a good cause. It was expensive to buy a seat but it would be worth it. The gala would surely bring in enough money to begin work on the hospital and update the streets surrounding the town center. It was something that had been needed for a few years.

Harry and Gertrude sat with a couple who they considered to be their friends. Harry forced a smile and looked around the room for his lover. He didn’t see her just yet.

“Please go and get me a drink. Red wine, a blend maybe.” Gertrude said to Harry. She was upset with him. He had not been nice to her all morning and had even snapped at Colin when he asked Harry to read to him when the nanny arrived. She barely wanted to look at him in that moment. Having him fetch drinks would give her space to breathe. She was worried that he was on to her for changing the settings in his phone.

Harry happily left the table. He needed air. From Gertrude. His head was on a swivel as he approached the bar. He hoped to see Y/n. He was feeling shaky and nervous that she was going to start shutting him out again. Or maybe something had happened with the King? Or maybe she fell ill? He didn’t know what the reason was for her sudden silence was but his stomach was in knots over it.

He ordered a glass of red wine for his wife and a bourbon on the rocks for himself. Then he sat at an empty table nearby and waited for his drinks, keeping an eye on the bartender as well as looking around the room in search for his love. The drinks didn’t take as long to put together as Harry had hoped. He was up and back at the bar within a few minutes grabbing the drinks.

With both hands occupied he very, very slowly made his way back to Gertrude. He took the long way, going around the perimeter of the room. Gertrude wasn’t looking in his direction at all so she wasn’t aware of the way Harry was clearly stalling to get back to her.

When a small commotion happened behind him he turned. There were a few people clapping and standing suddenly. The King and Queen had entered the room. Harry stopped. She was breathtaking. She always was but something about her in that moment had Harry nearly falling to his knees. He was stuck in motion as he observed her movements and her smile. It was a forced smile. She was not happy. Not really. She looked beautiful and no one would know that the smile she painted on her face was fake. Harry could see it, though.

When the King and Queen took their seats at the head of the room Harry noticed that Edgar seemed to be scolding her. He wondered if the king knew she was pregnant. Wondered if she’d told anyone other than Harry. And then she suddenly lifted her head and it was as if her gaze was drawn to her lover by magnet.

Harry smiled weakly and kept his eyes on hers and he saw her smile back at him before looking down to her lap. He turned finally to make his way back to his seat.

The gala was as expected. The entertainment was a good distraction, the silent auction brought in even more money for the fundraiser. Harry and Gertrude barely spoke to or looked at one another.

When Gertrude got up to use the bathroom Harry got up to make his way near the Queen. He hoped maybe she’d see him and she’d make an excuse to get up from her seat. It worked. When Y/n noticed Harry near the doorway that led to the small hallway for the servers she got up to stretch her legs. Edgar was deep in conversation.

Harry ducked into the hallway when he noticed the Queen was coming and she quickly made her way to him.

There was nowhere for them to hide or to be in private. The hallway was highly trafficked by the kitchen staff coming and going. But they still had their moment together.

“Harry. Hi.” She said when she stood before him. She wanted to put her arms around his neck and pull him down for a kiss but she refrained.

Harry smiled gently, “Hi. How are you feeling?” He didn’t want to immediately bring up how he’d been very upset and in a bad mood after she didn’t respond to him. His nerves settled once the Queen’s eyes were on his and they could speak.

“I’m… okay. I’m just very upset. I hate this.” She looked down and closed her eyes. She felt better standing before Harry. It made her feel whole. It’s like all the small cracks that began to run through her body in the absence of his presence were suddenly filled and pasted back together again. His voice and his gaze were healing.

“I know exactly how you feel. I can’t breathe when you’re not with me. I miss you.” His whispers were low and the Queen looked up at him, holding back any tears that might fall down her face.

She swallowed and nodded. They both knew. They both felt it.

“I’m sorry I didn’t text you back I was so sad. I didn’t know how to respond and I just needed to cry. But it’s because I miss you and I don’t know when we can be together again, and that just will not do. I need more.” She confided.

Harry was taken aback. He hadn’t expected her to pour herself out like that. She tended to be more reserved with her feelings. And especially as they were stood in a public hallway with other people around.

“I know. It does hurt. All I want is to be with you. I’ve been in a very bad mood all day because I’ve missed you so much.” He nodded as he spoke and looked around to make sure that no one was eyeing them.

“It’s terrible. And I haven’t told anyone yet. I just need a little more time to pull myself together and then I’ll tell Edgar. You’re the only one who knows.” She graced him with her beautiful gaze and Harry was close to losing it and just taking her face in his hands and pressing his mouth to hers in a searing kiss that no one would mistake for friendly.

“I love you. So much.” He didn’t know what else to say. They needed to get back before they were caught by the King or Gertrude.

Y/n put her fingers into his for a brief moment, “I love you too, Harry. With everything I am,” and then left him in the hallway, her perfume lingering in the air behind her.

Harry leaned his head back onto the wall behind him and closed his eyes. These small meetings weren’t enough. Nothing was enough. He felt like he could die without her. His heart shriveling the moment she walked away. He needed her near to feel okay. To feel whole. But at least he knew her heart was still his. That notion allowed him to put a smile on his face and walk back to the table to his wife.

The announcement of the Queen’s pregnancy was a big to-do. A gathering of friends and colleagues and important people of the Kingdom was planned for a celebration of sorts.

Everyone congratulated the Queen and King on the pregnancy and Harry felt the sting of insignificance. He was the father, but no one could know it. He was the man that the Queen was in love with, the man who loved her with all of his heart. But no one would ever know. The celebration was modest and jovial. Except that the Queen and the Prince were not able to feel the joy of the celebration the way they had wanted to. They didn’t get to sit together, or hug, or even speak to one another. The King and Gertrude had kept a close watch that their spouses would not wander off with the other.

Harry’s mood had been rotten. Gertrude was not dumb. And the Queen was constantly crying and Edgar noticed. They both felt trapped, suffocated, imprisoned. It should have been a happy occasion but Y/n could barely feign a smile and would not touch her food. Harry wanted to comfort her and make her eat. He watched as she folded inward and kept her head down for most of the celebration.

And others also noticed the Queen’s sadness as well. They wouldn’t speak of it openly, but whispers were bound to start. The usually composed and well-kept Queen was clearly upset and not enjoying the occasion as she should have.

Two weeks of not seeing one another at all was brutally painful. They did continue to text and send the occasional picture. A call a day.

When the Queen went to the doctor for her checkup everything was as it should be. She was healthy and the first person she told about her appointment was Harry. They both felt warm longing whenever they were engaged in a text exchange or on a call with one another. Harry had begun taking quick trips to the market so he could call the Queen at certain times of the day when he knew she was alone. Hearing her voice was becoming mandatory.

Slowly, Harry began resenting Gertrude. It was a slow build up that he hadn’t recognized before but he was sure that she knew something and the phone incident all those weeks ago had him keeping a close eye on her. She never brought it up but he knew she had at least changed the settings on his phone.

He also knew she didn’t deserve his resentment, his coldness, his anger. Had she really done anything so wrong? She was concerned that her husband was stepping out on her and she was not wrong. Her intuition was spot-on. Harry just didn’t like being caught, didn’t like being questioned or doubted. But it was inevitable because he had slowly began to keep himself away from Gertrude more and more.

And Gertrude did blame herself. She knew that he needed more than she wanted to give over the last few years. But now she felt it might be too late to try and allow him in more. Give him more of the things he so desired in a partner. But she’d gotten so comfortable with how they had settled into their routine. And now she feared he was drifting from her for good. She feared it was too late.

It had been weeks since she’d had sex with Harry. Typically he tried to engage her, he’d make the move and Gertrude would give in and wind up enjoying it. But now that Harry wasn’t engaging, wasn’t trying to have sex with her she felt the need in herself to try and make the first move. She’d showered and shaved and talked herself up. She was going to try. Make an effort.

But when she got to her bedroom, Harry was not there. Normally he was already in bed with a book or his cellphone in hand as he waited for her. But the bed was still made and her husband was not in the room.

She went into the hallway and found that little Peter’s door was cracked open and there was a light on. She peeked into the room and saw her husband and her youngest son lying together on the small twin bed, both fast asleep with the small lamp illuminating their faces. Peter would grow up to look just like Harry, she was sure of it.

She backed away and went into the master bedroom where she fell asleep in their large king-sized bed all by herself. This was her penance for keeping her sweet husband at arm’s length for so long. She knew there might be no going back.

Harry woke the following morning in Peter’s bed. His original plan was to sleep in bed with his wife like he normally would but then when he realized Gertrude was taking an extra-long time in the bathroom he wondered if she was gearing up to have sex. He doubted it, because she rarely wanted it, but he also felt disgusted at the idea and so he went to get some water and to get his mind on right. He noticed that Peter’s door was open and his little boy was sitting in bed not asleep still.

It was the perfect excuse and the best way to avoid having sex with Gertrude if that’s what she intended. It also meant he got to cuddle with his youngest boy and fall asleep with him in his arms. That might have been the best night’s sleep Harry had had in over a month. It would soon become a tradition, with Harry switching off from each child to escape his wife and the way he resented her mere presence.

Every morning he texted the Queen that he loved her and every morning she responded by telling him she loved him back. But this morning, the morning he woke up well rested from Peter’s bed the Queen responded differently. It had Harry’s mood soaring and his dimples unable to be hidden.

To Prince Harry: Edgar leaves in three days. I have a plan.

Ch 12*

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