#i finished the main story not too long ago and without a doubt i can say this game is so fucking fun and groovy ive had the ost on repeat

[cocoacake]

one sentence horror story: bel stuck hello kitty stickers on his face and he's been trying for high combos in millenium mall all day........... robo sweats

#turn the colours on max for this one baby we goin ALL CITYYYYYYYY!!!!! #bomb rush cyberfunk #brc #bomb rush cyberfunk red #brc red #team reptile #i finished the main story not too long ago and without a doubt i can say this game is so fucking fun and groovy ive had the ost on repeat #if anyone has played jetset radio and jetset radio future and had a good time pleaseeeeee play bomb rush its straight up a kiss- #on the mouth from team reptile for jsr/jsrf lovers #cocoart

[lovelyyandereaddictionpoint]

(Hey! I hope this ask isn't too nsfwish, if it is, feel free not to answer!)

Anyway, I wanted to request something for some Twisted Wonderland characters (I just got into the game a while ago and I'm almost finished with the main story for Scarabia! It's very addicting, lol)! Oh, and I don't know if you have a character limit, but I'll just request Ace, Trey, Cater, Floyd, Scarabia, and Epel! You can remove some characters if you want if it's too much.

Anyway, the request I wanted to make was, how do you think some of the Twisted Characters would react to, in the middle of class (or just during anytime of the school day), the Prefect/Reader sends them like, a suggestive photo of themselves while there out (which may have not seemed like that on the Perfect/Reader end, but might have been seemed different by the characters). How do you think the characters would react? And how would you think they would feel if another student tried peeping at the photo while they were looking at it?

If you decide to do this request, Thank you and I hope you have a nice day! :)

Thank you, I hope you do too

🖤🖤🖤

Suggestive Selfies | Yandere Twisted Wonderland

As you mentioned most of the material they find to be particularly arousing doesn’t necessarily have anything sexual in nature but a yandere knows no bounds. Oh and for the poor soul that dared to lay their eyes on the photo meant specifically for them will be lucky to keep those:

Ace Trappola

As one of your closest confidants Ace is one of the first to have access to you through text

As such its a given you are constantly going back and forth

About homework, hanging out, what you’re eating, whoyou’rewith

So its a given that you send him pictures 

It isn’t hard for him to ask either 

as long as he words it right

‘Bet. I doubt you actually just woke up’

‘Lol sucks to suck! Now what’d you bet’

He lets a mischevious smile spread across his face as he gets what he wanted

A picture of your minimalist pajama set and messy bedhead

All for his viewing pleasure

It was easiest to imagine waking up beside you this way

Especially after a heated night before

He does take notice to the peaking his roommate is doing

Quick to shove his phone in his pocket

Next day is all it takes for the trail of Riddle’s tart leading to the unsuspecting student

If that isn’t enough he’ll make a big accident potions class

That has the peeping tom feeling like a million fire ants are biting at his skin

“Don’t be looking at others toys, especially when I’m sitting right there. At that point you’re just asking me to defend!”

Trey Clover

He knows you come running for his food

Free and easy its his way to get close to you without your little friends lackeys getting in the way

But he wasn’t expecting you to get so eager to replicate him

But he doesn’t hate the way you start sending him pictures of the things your making

Mostly because you unknowingly end up showing off whatever your wearing in your lonesome

Maybe a thigh in skimpy shorts 

Or the voice messages of you struggling with particularly thick batter 

That always has him excusing himself 

But most recently your picture of a the mini cake you made

Completely unaware of the ample view of your chest that came with it

It leaves nothing to the imagination andhelovesit

But before he can slyly dismiss himself 

He sees the eyes of someone in the reflection of his phone

He doesn’t react pretending to scroll before watching them avert

…so they really were watching…scum

He wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt but now he’s got an unfortunate confirmation

“It’s a shame…that the next time you eat something it’ll be your last. Should know when to mind your business.”

Cater Diamond

He’s one for pictures

If his story being updated every 30 minutes wasn’t enough

His text messages with you would prove him guilty

With nearly every word there's a picture from him

It wouldn’t be long before you followed suit

Mirroring the images he was so keen on sending you 

Eventually one slips through an accidental photo of your body suggestively peaking out 

He saves it in no time at all 

Already planning to post about how deep he’s in it

But instead he might post about him being in a different location

Then where he dumped the peeper’s body+

“Been here all day! Thinking only about gettinginto bae!”

Floyd Leech

It’s an accident

Most of the time you’re just texting Floyd because you think its funny when he types incorrectly somehow virtually whines to you about not being with you

But you accidentally send a picture of yourself from an unreasonablelysexy angle

“I wanna bite! Where you at!” 

Unlike the others he’s not brushing it off or moving on

He’s abruptly leaving class to go find you to dealwithhisfrantichunger

No body’s looking at what made him do that 

Not unless they want to be strangled behind the school

“Oi oi did you like what you see…good for you now when you black out you’ll have pretty dreams of my shrimpy!” 

Jamil Viper

He’s not usually one for texting 

But Kalim is

its more than likely when he has to go somewhere he’s receiving blurry photos of Kalim dragging you around

So he uses this opportunity to ask you for an actually good picture or video evidence

Granted he might’ve played a hand in that

He’s not complaining

Especially when your sending a video of you cheering him on 

A call out to a video Kalim had sent earlier

But the sound of your labored breathing, the close-up of your sweaty body

It leaves him showing through his basketball shorts

And when the nosey player peaks over his shoulder

He’s immediately hypnotizing him to injure himself in front of everybody

He thinks its a worthy punishment for trying to take one of the few things he owns

“Thanks for the cheers (Y/n), no doubt I’ll win the next game.”

Kalim Al Asim

He loves texting you

Its like he’s speaking to you while being far away (duh)

It’s the best except…

He never gets to see your face

But you’re so agreeable all he has to do is ask

And sometimes if he keeps talking to you while you’re busy you’ll make mistakes

Mistakes like sending pictures of you posing in a mirror instead of the one you just took

“Delete this…maybe…no!”

He won’t allow anyone to look and if they do Kalim just stares

It doesn’t exactly click that they might have ill intentions

But theres still that nasty feeling in his chest

“Aren’t they pretty…they’re going to be mine one day. Understand!”

Epel Felmier

He typically texts you when he’s deep in etiquette lessons 

It only motivates him to deviate even more

Won’t you think he’s manlier if you see how sneaky he is to take a picture now

Now you better send back its not fair that way

A selfie of something simple 

Something simple that doesn’t need to incite anything

Say that to the heat overtaking his body

If anyone should look over whether out of curiosity or their own interest

He’s throwin’ hands

“This. Picture. Is. For. My. Eyes. Only!”

#yandere x reader #yandere x you #yandere twst x reader #yandere twst #yandere epel felmier #yandere epel x reader #yandere epel felmier x reader #yandere epel #yandere kalim al asim #yandere kalim x reader #yandere x darling #yandere twisted wonderland #yandere jamil viper #yandere jamil x reader #yandere ace x reader #yandere ace trappola #yandere cater diamond #yandere floyd x reader #yandere floyd leech #yandere floyd #yandere floyd leech x reader #yandere cater x reader #yandere cater #yandere trey clover #yandere trey clover x reader #yandere trey x reader

[minimalist-language-learning]

My advice on Remembering the Kanji (RTK)

Before I share my learning routine and advice for RTK I would like to write about my personal experience first:

When I started to learn Japanese, kanji seemed incredibly difficult. They were just a complicated combination of strokes to me. Then I came across the book Remembering the Kanji (RTK) by James W. Heisig. Volume 1 presents a total of 2.200 kanji (including most of the Jōyō kanji).

I used the german version of Remembering the Kanji

The beginning was promising. I easily learned the first few hundred kanji. This experience was amazing. I never thought that this could be possible. But then I made the mistake of proceeding too fast. I saw forum posts of other RTK users who claimed that they “finished“ RTK in 3 months or even less. This motivated me and I tried to learn 25 kanji a day. Even though it was difficult to create memorable stories for this amount of kanji every day I moved on. After my first try to learn kanji with RTK, I forgot a great part of it after I "finished" the book.

I was not satisfied but I decided to move on and tried to read as much as possible instead. My idea was that I would make faster progress if I don't learn kanji consciously. It's not impossible to learn some kanji by seeing them repeatedly in context but it didn’t worked as well as I expected. 

Kanji seemed not as complicated like before but because of the great number of kanji and a lot of similar looking kanji they were still a great obstacle for me. Then I noticed that I still remembered the meaning of a number of kanji I learned with RTK. When I came across these kanji in context, I was able to understand new words without looking them up. Knowing their (rough) meaning really made a big difference. This made me think.

Around this time, I gave RTK a second chance and learned from my mistakes. I realized that if I really wanted to benefit from RTK I need to think long-term. It's not that you do RTK for only 3 months and you are done. What I needed were sustainable strategies. 

I finished all 2.200 kanji (RTK volume 1) a while ago and I know most of them well now. By reviewing my RTK deck my recognition rate will further improve over time. My RTK knowledge helps me enormously with reading japanese books. I’m really happy that I gave it a second chance. That’s why I want to share my experiences and tips in this blog post. I hope that this post can be helpful for Japanese learners who struggled with RTK.

My learning routine

My usual learning routine looked like this (more detailed tips below):

1. Review

Every day, I used Anki to review my own RTK deck. 

Read the keyword and (if in doubt) the hint

Try to remember the elements of the kanji and their positions and write the kanji in the air

Turn the card and check the kanji

If it was wrong, change the hint and/or improve the story

2. Adding new kanji

After reviewing I usually added around 10 to 15 new kanji a day. My cards contain not only keyword and kanji but also fields for hints, elements of the kanji and the story. Here's an example (my original cards are in German so this is just a rough translation):

Hints: If the keyword was very similar to another kanji I added a hint to reduce the risk of mixing them up.

Elements: I also added the elements of the kanji. This is useful for two reasons: By writing them out I become more aware of the elements which helps to remember new or complex elements correctly. Plus, by putting them on the back side of the card I can refresh my memory during reviews without using the book.

Story: Instead of creating a story only in my head I added the story to my cards. The reasons are the same like for the elements (see above).

. . .

After adding 5 new kanji I made a small break, came back and reviewed the new kanji. Then I repeated this process for another 5 kanji.

I usually added around 10 to 15 kanji a day. This was my sweet spot. Since I work full time and because my main focus was on reading japanese books I hadn't a lot of time for RTK. By not adding more kanji that I can handle I made sure that I remember them well. 

Then I continued reading a book in Japanese and/or listened to something in Japanese. RTK was just a small part of my learning routine. My goal was not to finish it as fast as possible but to make sure that I remember these kanji as well as possible. Slowly but steady I learned more and more kanji. This gave me a noticeable advantage while reading.

RTK is not a race

As I wrote above, I made several mistakes myself but instead of blaming RTK I realized that I need to take the explanations in the book more seriously. It's really important to make sure that the stories are memorable and that you pay attention to the details. 

The most important lesson I learned was that RTK is not a race. During my second attempt, it was not my goal to "finish" RTK as fast as possible but to remember these kanji LONG-TERM because this makes reading and learning new words much easier.

By proceeding too fast, the risk of forgetting a lot of kanji is very high. When it comes to RTK, a high recognition rate is more important than speed, in my opinion. That’s why I created sustainable strategies that helped me to remember most of the 2.200 kanji long-term.

5 Tips on Remembering the Kanji

Tip #1: Don't underestimate the power of writing

In the beginning, I used to write every kanji on paper. Now, I only write them with my finger (either in the air or on the table). This is much faster and easier.

Why writing them at all? Some people say, being able to recognize them is enough. Personally, I remember them much better through writing (even if I just write them in the air; the movement of the hand makes a great difference for me). In my experience, writing works much better than just looking at a kanji because through writing I become aware of every detail. Many kanji look pretty similar. Sometimes only one little detail is different. The risk of mixing them up is much higher. 

I tried the "recognition-only approach" in the past and it didn't work well for me. The ability to recognize and distinguish kanji just by looking at them has its limits. It's not very accurate, that's why I still mixed up similar kanji. 宇 and 字 or 烏 and 鳥 for example look very similar at the first glance. The original RTK method on the other hand helps to avoid that because you pay much more attention to the details.

Plus, writing in Japanese by hand is important to me. I love writing and kanji are very beautiful! That's the reason why I want to be able to write in Japanese. But even if you don't want to be able to write kanji, I recommend to write them in the air during reviews to reduce the risk of mixing them up. It may not seem like this could make a big difference but in my experience it's really helpful. The power of writing should not be underestimated.

Tip #2: Add hints

When I repeatedly mix up kanji or when I can't remember how to write them correctly, it's a sign that the story is weak. I pay attention to the story and try to make it more memorable. Plus, when I confuse a kanji with another I add a hint to the card like "Don't confuse with [similar keyword]".

It's also helpful to copy the definition of the keyword from a dictionary and/or a japanese word written in hiragana that contains this kanji and add it to the card. This way I have more context and this prevents me from confusing a keyword with a similar one (because the definitions are different). 

Using little hints is a great way to make the learning process less frustrating. Over time, I need these hints less and less. Eventually, I remember difficult kanji correctly. 

Tip #3: Take the time you need

It's also very important not to rush. I barely added more than 15 new kanji a day. Most of the time, I only added about 5 or 10 a day. Since I work full time and because my main focus was on reading japanese books I hadn't a lot of time for RTK.

During reviews I pay attention to the things I described above. Do I mix them up? Can I remember them correctly? Whenever I have trouble to remember certain kanji, I improve the story and/or add some hints. Some kanji may be more difficult than others, but over time you can learn every kanji by paying more attention to them. Paying attention to why you didn’t remember some kanji correctly and eliminating sources of error is really important. If a story doesn’t work don’t hesitate to improve it.

However, there's no need to be too strict. You don't need to nail them down to 100% before you move on. But I think it's a good idea to give new kanji time to sink in a bit before continuing. That's why I recommend to slow down the pace instead of rushing through the book.

Tip #4: Be creative

The meaning of some primitives chosen by Heisig are not optimal for everyone. It works much better if you choose something that has a strong meaning to you (like, characters from your favorite series). Just make sure that your personal meaning doesn't conflict with later keywords or elements. Ideally, it's as close to Heisig's word as possible or it's so unique that it's impossible to mix it up with other words.

If a kanji is used as part of another kanji (like 青 in 請 for example) you don't necessarily need to use it in it's combined form if it's difficult to create a good story. You can split or combine the elements of a kanji the way you like if it helps you to remember the kanji.

Tip #5: Combine RTK with reading

Some people recommend beginners to do RTK at the very beginning of their Japanese learning journey. The idea is, to complete RTK as fast as possible so that you can focus 100% on the language itself afterwards. However, I think depending on the person this can be counterproductive. RTK is probably more difficult for people who just started with Japanese because they can’t see the benefits of RTK yet. When you have no use for what you are learning it’s hard to stay motivated over an extended period of time. I think this is one reason, why people who tried RTK gave up.

When I started RTK I wasn’t a complete beginner of Japanese. I did RTK in addition to my other Japanese activities like reading books. This way, I often came across kanji I just learned. I saw them in context and they helped me to understand new words without looking them up. Experiences like these were a strong proof for me that RTK really pays off and this gave me a motivation boost.

So instead of doing RTK at the beginning and doing nothing else, I recommend to wait until you can read at least graded readers or easier novels, for example. Otherwise it’s probably too hard to stay motivated for so long. 

. . .

I hope these tips can be helpful for someone. It's sad when I read that some people gave up because they constantly mix up or forget a lot of kanji. There are also people who rush through RTK without creating memorable stories for each kanji and stop doing their reviews after "finishing" RTK. And then they claim that RTK is a waste of time and doesn't work because they can't remember most of the kanji — which is no surprise in this case. 

While I absolutely understand that RTK may not work for everyone it's not fair that people who didn't take the explanations in the book seriously claim that it doesn't work in general. 

Learning kanji takes time. This is absolutely normal. It's not a shame if you need more than 3 months or a year to complete RTK. In my opinion, if the goal is to remember these kanji long-term 3 months are very unrealistic for most people. Seeing people who "finished" RTK in a short amount of time creates false expectations. RTK is not about breaking records. To me, it’s much more important to make sure that you remember these kanji long-term. Every learned kanji is already a little advantage, that's why speed is not so important anyway.

Without RTK learning kanji would have been much more time consuming and frustrating for me and the risk of forgetting and mixing them up would be much much higher. To me, there's no real alternative to RTK and now that I finished it I'm very happy that I put in the work and time.

Maybe I will also learn the additional 800 kanji from volume 3 in the future. But for now I'll focus on consolidating the 2.200 kanji from volume 1 and on other learning activities.

#langblr #languagelearning #self study #japanese learning #languageblr #learning japanese #language learning tips #remembering the kanji #kanji #learning kanji

[randomnameless]

Some of the stuff that FEH has put out makes me wish Trial Maps were a thing again. It'd let fans use enemy characters without breaking the story.

Eh,

As a concept, I loved the Larva (Epi?) paralogue in Nopes - you are basically playing as Larva, going to help his genocidal "allies" to run away from the Empire and the CoS, to the point where you fight against Cethleann, Cichol and Seiros.

And Larva in this map, is nothing but obnoxious, calling everyone beasts, mocking the Empire for not knowing why they fight, sprouting platitude about "fighting for his fwends" (the same ones he just dissed seconds ago) while deshumanising the Nabateans all along, calling them beasts and such -

Given the backstory between Agarthans and those specific Nabateans - the survivors of a massacre he knows of, hell he calls the main perpetrator an "ally" - there's little to no doubts that Larva here is being a big ball of, uh, prejudice and bias - ergo we're playing as the enemy!

However, because the Fodlan games are, the Fodlan games where only people belonging to factions from the latest feh banner are challenged and contested, there is no payback, no result from this paralogue. No Barney wondering why the eff was a Larva like fighting against Saint Seiros and people familiar but with a different hair color, no reason/justification behind this random battle, where lo, Larva fights/defeats survivors of a massacre he, uh, "didn't agree with" but totes supports given his views, mocks people for not knowing why they fight for but never reveals the audience or even Barney what this dream was about (I was helping Goneril run away from Cichol with Cichol's sister's knee plate, the one he obtained after vivisecting her and eating her liver!).

So, in a nutshell, I think you can make a game where you play as "the enemy" and call it a vilain route or a "bad ending" route and remembers Fates?

Everyone can be a hero in their own eyes, sure!

But with the Fodlan games, especially Nopes, given how hard the AG gang beats themselves for "maybe we're bad for invading the Empire to stop the war after it starts to hunt its randoms for funsies but trufax Randy is very nice and kind he let a random soldier escape while he was busying destroying a village" - you have the feeling that the "everyone" from the earlier maxim is just, the SB and GW and with that paralogue, the Slither gangs.

FE16 gave more "heroic tunnel vision" to each of its factions through each route, even if SS was a bit more nuanced - but you know who doesn't get any "heroic tunnel vision" or pov in those games?

And only gets an infodump at the end of the most superfluous route ?

Ultimately I'm not too keen on the Trial Maps designs (you're talking about the maps where if you finish the game 5 times you get a free unit right?) because I think that if you have a character you should write a plot that can accomodate for that character's presence without breaking it - but again, Trial Maps were the only ways KT found to give us playable Nabateans (Rhea'n'Sothis) and lines, since the main game refuses to do anything with them, like letting them talk in the microphone.

Short story, long story : a good story can fit "enemy characters" and have them follow their own plans (maybe in a gaiden) to give more insight on them, what they think and/or why they are thinking this, but it should be integrated in the game and shouldn't demolish it because "everyone's story is equally valid", or, and worse, shouldn't bank on the game not giving a voice to the last faction that is piled on by every other without even being able to reply.

#anon #replies #it's always the same thing with this verse #nice concept but terrible execution #they could have done so much and refused #at this point if we had to play a WoH DLC I bet we would have had uwu Nemesis'n'Dudes during their last fight drinking or playing games #because some zealots are out for their blood and they might die tomorrow #and of course we will never know or hear from said zaelots's pov like rhea finally bringing justice for Zanado #Cethleann wondering if with the end of the war it means she can finally stop hiding without being afraid of being torn apart bcs pointy ear #the larva paralogue seriously #3 nopes

[seyaryminamoto]

Leap of Faith: Sokkla Saturdays 2022

Day One: Caught off-guard

On FF.net//On AO3

And so, my new Sokkla Saturdays story begins!

I have played somewhat coy about this setting since last year because of reasons but... I sincerely doubt it will be as mysterious for anyone this time as it was last year xD This story is connected to "Happy family", my first entry from last year, but it can be read independently from that one (hence, it's not really a direct sequel to it, just set in the same setting, with the same family). In short... if you're a recurrent reader of mine, up to date with my main story, I hope this particular oneshot is healing and encouraging for you all.

Without further ado, here we go!

Warmth and darkness enveloped her as she nestled underneath the covers. A part of her knew she was supposed to lift her head out of her pillow, to get out of bed now… she was supposed to wake up. The weight in her chest urged her not to, the exhaustion over her eyes almost persuaded her of the same thing…

But there was so much to do today. She had to get out of bed. She had to…

A gentle hand caressed her back smoothly. She groaned in protest against consciousness altogether: his fingers brushed her loose, disorderly hair away from her face, and a gentle kiss fell upon her cheek.

"Hey," his voice, his touch, all of him soothed her. Her eyelids twitched as she turned in bed, burying her face in his strong chest instead. "Azula…"

"It's too early," she said.

"If it were, would I be awake?" he responded. "I'm a much heavier sleeper than you are, love…"

"You're also unpredictable and contradictory," Azula retorted. "Suits you just fine to wake up early and mess with me…"

"Want to stay in bed for a couple more hours, then?"

It was such an innocent question, and if she'd just wanted to, she could have said yes. She really wanted to. Oh, how she wanted to…

She let out a huff, throwing her head back into the pillows of their bed, a grimace of irritation across her face. He sighed audibly, pressing a gentle kiss upon her lips.

"I can call off all your pending work for today if you want… things were really heavy yesterday. I'm not joking, Azula…"

"I wish you were," Azula sighed, forcing herself to open her eyes.

His blue eyes greeted her. The face she wanted to gaze into every day, the handsome features that had charmed her since so long ago…

Yesterday, certainly, had been an unpleasant day. The worst part of it had been barely catching a couple of glimpses of her family before she finally turned in for the night, probably around three in the morning. He, as gallant as ever, had stayed up waiting for her to be finished… he had carried her across his arms back to their room, helped her clean up, even dressed her in her sleeping gown, and she had zero memories of whatever happened after her head hit the pillow. Had she even kissed him good night? Maybe she hadn't… the thought unsettled her at once.

He laid beside her, his body pressed against hers as he supported himself on one arm while watching her from above. Thus, it was easy for Azula's hand to dart out to the back of his neck and reel him in for a kiss.

He responded gladly, winding up atop her as she locked her arms around his neck. He always gave as good as he got, matching her beat by beat… though that didn't mean he was immune to surprises. He laughed softly against her lips as her legs wrapped around him, too: she clung to him fully now, as though refusing to let him go, and also refusing to move an inch from where she lay.

"Well, now… you seem very energetic right now. Not that I'm complaining, but I definitely didn't expect a full body hug just like that," he chuckled, pressing a kiss to the tip of her nose. "You always know just how to start our mornings."

"You could say that, but… I think I owed you that from last night, actually," Azula said. He raised his eyebrows, and his perplex expression brought the first smile of the day to her face. "Now, then…"

She pulled him in, kissing him with even more enthusiasm now. He chuckled happily in the contact between their lips, hands caressing her flanks, humming gratefully at each gentle motion of her mouth against his, of each kiss chaining together, one after the other, as though they might last them an eternity…

Their chests heaved together once their lips parted again – though they hovered close by, as though ready to join in yet another affectionate kiss. Her fingers trailed across his handsome face, the strong cheekbones, the light stubble… and she offered him another smile as she admired him in the dim pale light that drifted from the window.

"Good morning, Sokka."

His smile widened too upon hearing those words, and he dove in for yet another joyful kiss. Suddenly, the weight dragging Azula down as she woke up in the throes of a stressful day, with barely four hours of rest – if even that – appeared to fade away entirely. He had an uncanny ability to inspire her, to strengthen her, to lift her up even when she barely noticed it. Just having him beside her sufficed to make every day, whether light or heavy, far more bearable.

After a few more minutes of indulging in affection and comfort together, their responsibilities demanded for them to get out of bed, as unwilling as they might be to do so. Sokka's playful teasing made matters smoother, dressing up for the day after showing off his muscular body for his amused wife – she made no attempts to hide how appealing she found him, squeezing one of his exposed buttocks just as he leaned down to pull up his trousers. He pulled the trousers up while grinning wickedly and appreciatively at her devious caress, and she shot him a clever smile over her shoulder as she made for her own closet and furniture, fishing out her morning clothes quickly. A morning training session, then she'd clean up, then off to work… her routine was perfectly agreeable until that point, of course. Oh, she had known her role in the world would be no joking matter, but she certainly had hoped the worst of it would have ended at least half a decade ago…

Sokka's hands fell upon her arms gently. She jumped at the contact, glancing over her shoulder to find him smiling in that silly way he often did.

"Want some help dressing up?" he asked. She raised an eyebrow.

"Heh. Every time you say that, what I hear is that you want to help me undress, instead…"

"I mean… I certainly want to do that too. Am I supposed to be ashamed of that?" he smirked deviously at her: yet again, his teasing, his playfulness, his mischief brought a stronger smile to her face than she had thought she'd be ready to show for hours. The miracles he could weave upon her never ceased to amaze her.

"If so… what are you waiting for?" she asked. Sokka snickered, leaning in to kiss her anew, tilting her body backwards as his hand undid her sash deftly, compelling her to laugh at his quick rising to her playful teasing.

Yet as playful as they were, they didn't have the time to indulge in each other's company as thoroughly as they wished to: within fifteen minutes, the couple had washed their faces, dressed up properly, fixed their hair and marched into the Palace's corridors for their first, and perhaps most important, duty of the day:

"Yuuna's yours today," Azula said. Sokka nodded.

"You'll check on Hotaru too on your way out of Shun's room, right? I know she doesn't usually oversleep, but…"

"Best to stay safe," Azula smiled, squeezing his hand gently before the split up, each standing before a different doorway.

Sokka knocked gently on the door, pushing it open slowly and cautiously – there seemed to be no dangerous traps, no bucket over the door, no worrisome pranks the little girl might have set up overnight, something she certainly was capable of…

"Yuuna…?" he called for his daughter, and to his surprise, the little girl hadn't woken up just yet – out of all the siblings, she was the likeliest one to be up, out and about at these hours. But as the youngest and the most spirited of the kids, reeling her in to prepare her for the day tended to be twice the work as it would be with the other children. "Hey, now. It's time to get up, Yuuna. Come on…"

He entered the room, and once his voice was close enough, it seemed the child finally registered it: she jolted upright suddenly, groggy and yet apparently energized enough to push herself up to a sitting position even before Sokka stopped next to her bed. He smiled fondly at her, raising a hand in a failed attempt to tame her wild hair.

"Daddy…?" Yuuna said, eyeing her father with half-lidded eyes.

"You look as sleepy as your mommy was when she woke up," Sokka smiled, sitting beside her. "But it's morning now, Yuuna: it's time for school!"

Yuuna's lips parted as she processed that information: on some days, the clever little girl would be thrilled to go to school… on others, it seemed as though the mere concept of receiving any formal education went utterly forgotten for her young mind. She hummed, as if surprised to hear the news, even if she had been attending school for the better part of a year by now.

"Okay… guess I'll have to wake you up on your terms," Sokka smirked, gathering Yuuna in his arms carefully and walking with her to the bathroom. "Okay, Yuuna, it's time to wash your face…! Ah, and what's the cutest water animal you can think of right now?"

"The… koala-otter," Yuuna blurted out. Sokka lowered her, and the little girl climbed her bathroom's stool to wash her face, instinctively relying on her waterbending to do so.

"That's today's choice, is it? Alright, alright… how about if you tell me which is the animal that can fly the highest, next?"

"The dragon!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands out in the air and splattering water all over the room after doing so.

Sokka chuckled: his daughter's much more enthusiastic response suggested she was finally waking up in full. He supposed the little girl, mischievous as she was, had stayed awake stubbornly for as long as she could last night, waiting for story time… which hadn't happened due to Azula's complicated schedule and duties. Sokka would do his best to ensure that wouldn't be the case that night, too, both for his wife's sake as well as that of all their children.

Within a few more minutes, most kids were ready for breakfast: as ever, the older ones were bound to be much quicker about being ready for the day than Yuuna was. Shun had rushed through his morning routine after being woken up by his mother, thrilled to see her again after she had been nowhere in sight last night. Ever eager to please her, he had washed his face and dressed up at once… whereas he usually was quite lazy and slow-going whenever Sokka was the one to wake him. Azula smiled and praised him for his diligence before marching to the third of the rooms in the corridor… from where Hotaru was already emerging, all dressed up and even carrying her schoolbag on her shoulder already.

"Oh, Mom!" Hotaru grinned brightly, rushing up to her mother for a hug. Azula obliged, pressing a kiss to the top of the girl's head. "Are you okay? Dad said you had a lot of stuff to deal with last night, but…"

"I did, but I sorted it out… I think," Azula said, with a sad smile. "We'll see if it lasts…"

"Morning, Hotaru!" Shun grinned. Hotaru released Azula and smiled kindly at her younger brother, patting him on the head.

"Good morning, Shun."

"I suppose it's not a high-enery day for Yuuna," Azula smiled, glancing over at her youngest's room before turning towards the other two instead. "So… I guess we'll go on ahead and they'll catch up with us once they're ready."

Both Hotaru and Shun nodded, walking with their mother to the dining room of their living quarters: the spacious, bright room could have been decorated by extraordinary paintings and works of art by art masters… but they were decorated, instead, by the many art pieces created by the members of their family. Hotaru had certainly improved vastly as an artist recently, creating beautiful landscapes that had warranted her many top-scores in school. Meanwhile, Shun mainly liked to depict gruesome battlefields and firebending heroes, and Yuuna doodled hybrid animals everywhere – including multiple depictions of each family member as whatever hybrid animal struck her fancy each time. Sokka's art had also improved over the years, but he occasionally indulged in not putting much work into matters just so he could create embarrassing artworks his children might find funny – a depiction of Appa, for instance, utterly devoid of anatomical sense was among the ones he always pointed out as his favorites. Azula had very little time to work on art, therefore, only a handful of the decorations in the grand hall were of her making – some of which Sokka had collaborated with her on.

Their meal was ready, awaiting them at the table: the last member of the family sat there, already dressed and focused fully on the large books she had brought with her to the table. Without losing a beat, Shun grinned wildly and rushed up to her, throwing his arms around her without warning:

"Morning, Rei!"

"Ah! Good morning to you too, Shun. I hope you rested well." Startled as she had been, Rei smiled kindly and caressed Shun's hair before glancing at Hotaru next. "And I hope you did as well, Hotaru."

Hotaru grinned and nodded, lunging in for a hug as well. Rei giggled as the two kids took their seats at the table, and Azula stepped closer to place a hand upon her shoulder.

"I'm one to talk, I know… but be careful not to overwork yourself too," she told Rei, who clasped her hand and smiled sympathetically at her. "Bad enough that me, Song and Sokka were up most the night because of that overdrawn trial…"

"It's over now, though, isn't it?" asked Rei. "It should be, I hope. You've been dealing with that case for so long…"

"He's been a slippery one," Azula acknowledged. "But he couldn't weasel his way out of the consequences for his actions forever. Ugh, but it's better to stop thinking about the bastard anyway. He ruined my day yesterday, I won't let him do it today as well. At any rate, good morning, Rei."

"Good morning," Rei grinned, squeezing Azula's hand before she took off to sit at her place, at the head of the table.

Family meals used to translate, in Azula's mind, into protocols and traditions that she had never thought to question… until their family home grew as crowded as it was. She certainly enjoyed eating with everyone, but the mere notion of waiting for every family member to sit down at the table before anyone could take one bite out of their meal had well and truly faded away across the years. Ultimately, she far too busy on most days to observe a tradition of the sort, and she found the leisurely, casual air of their meals much more agreeable than what she used to experience with her parents and her brother back during her childhood.

Thus, nobody was surprised at all when Sokka marched into the dining hall with Yuuna about five minutes after everyone else had started eating. The proud Water Tribesman made quite a lot of noise as he stomped playfully up to the table, and Azula raised an eyebrow, amused by the sight of Sokka carrying Yuuna under one of his arms, as though she were a package of some sort. The little girl, all dressed in her school uniform, waved her arms and legs wildly in just about every direction, trying to roar as a dangerous creature might.

"Morning, everyone! I've just brought a little dragon-shark here, but it's perfectly harmless, no need to worry…" he said, waving a greeting to everyone by the table. Most of them were amused by the apparently feral Yuuna, who couldn't hold back a smile even as she continued to act the way she believed one such hybrid creature would act.

"And you managed to properly comb the hair of this dragon-shark, too. Now that's remarkable," Azula smiled: Yuuna grinned at her, slowing down her wild motions as Sokka slowed down right beside his wife.

"Hi, Mommy," she said. Azula chuckled, raising her hand to caress her daughter's cheek as Sokka set Yuuna down beside her mother.

"Good morning to you too, Yuuna. A dragon-shark, then?" she asked. Yuuna grinned wildly and nodded.

"She thought about it like two minutes ago. I have a good feeling about that one, though, it's got to be her masterpiece," Sokka smirked, kissing the top of Yuuna's head before marching down the table, greeting each of its members in different ways –a one-armed hug for Rei, a full-blown embrace for Hotaru… and a stern stare-down with the aloof Shun. "Well, now. Were you more agreeable with your mother this morning than you were with me yesterday, Shun?"

"Sure was," Shun said, without losing a beat.

"Why, you…!"

The little boy had no choice but to laugh as Sokka wrapped an arm around him playfully, poking his ribs with a finger so Shun would attempt to squirm out of his hold. The silly banter between father and son was as much fun for them as all their much more cordial and agreeable conversations with everyone else.

It wasn't all that troublesome for Sokka to reach the table after everyone else had: typically, he'd eat quickly enough to clear his plate before the rest of the family was even halfway through their own meals. Today was likely to be no different, though he distracted himself with conversation briefly as he took his seat, at the opposite end of the table as Azula, who smiled warmly in his direction.

"Okay, so… woah. Got one hell of a stack of books there, Rei," Sokka said, eyes widening. She slowed down with eating her rice bowl upon noticing he was addressing her, and she smiled amicably in his direction.

"Got a class to prepare on short notice," she explained. "Nothing I can't handle, but it's a subject I haven't worked on for a couple of years, so I'm just brushing up on it again. I would have gotten up a little later otherwise, I don't have class early in the morning this semester…"

"Class starts too early," Yuuna determined firmly, pouting. Azula hummed.

"On any other day, I might have gone on some roundabout explanation of how it's perfectly reasonable for class to start when it does… but maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to change this. A couple more hours of sleep would do us good…"

"Yeah!" Shun and Yuuna exclaimed happily, as most the others at the table chuckled at their enthusiasm. Azula smirked.

"Well, with that kind of response…"

"Do I smell another educational reform coming up now, just because of this?" Sokka asked, eyeing Azula skeptically. His wife smirked right back at him.

"Well, now, do we have a choice? Shun and Yuuna are agreeing on something for once, how could I possibly waste such a momentous occasion…?"

"Well, well, aren't we giving them too much power, if that's how it is?" Sokka asked. "Sounds like those two would take over the world all on their own if they cooperated more often…"

The two kids in question, predictably, didn't enjoy being lumped together as a team in the slightest. Thus, they glared at each other across the table, sticking out their tongues in childish hostility.

"Though, come to think of it, having a family that could do that was one of your lifegoals back in the day, Azula," Sokka said, tapping his chin. "And as making all your dreams come true is our duty in life, we'd best get to it! It's just a matter of teaching them how to get along, putting their heads together, and then the world will be right in the palm of their…!"

"Shun and Yuuna wouldn't do something like that," Hotaru said, simply, and Sokka froze in the middle of his eager rambling.

"Oh? You're sure they wouldn't?" Sokka said, raising an eyebrow.

"I suppose they know better, is what Hotaru is trying to say. Their greedy father, on the other hand…" Azula smirked, taking a bite of a crab cake as Sokka's typical complaint brought the dining hall to ring with even more laughter:

"Heeeeey!"

A lively breakfast always proved to be a good start for any day – though it was no guarantee that everything would remain as stable and blissful hours later. The playful teasing and friendly banter continued as the staff cleared the table and cleaned up after the large family. The next responsibility for Azula and Sokka would be to see the children off to school, something Sokka typically took care of. The carriage waited right outside the Palace: Azula escorted them there, even if she wouldn't join them on the vehicle. Each child hugged her as she encouraged them to do well in class that day, and they boarded the carriage one by one: as always, Sokka was the very last one to climb aboard.

"I'll be back right away, so try not to miss me too much while I'm out for like… five minutes or however long it will be," Sokka smirked knowingly, gathering his wife in his arms: a dramatic sigh left her lips as she hugged him tightly.

"The worst five minutes of any day," she said. "Well, unless we're apart for longer than that at any other points in time, which means the day altogether is a monumental waste…"

"Well, let's make sure today isn't one of those days, alright?" Sokka smiled, cupping her face and kissing her lips softly. "See you in a bit. Try not to overwork yourself before I come back, okay?"

"I might just sort out all my pending work before you do, for all you know…" Azula said, proudly. Sokka laughed and shrugged.

"Knowing you? Yeah, that's a definite possibility," he smiled, pressing his brow to hers.

"Daaad, you're too clingy with Mom!" Shun's voice drifted out of the carriage, and Sokka rolled his eyes as Azula laughed at his reaction.

"If anything, Shun, I'm not clingy enough!" Sokka retorted, reeling Azula in for an even more passionate kiss that resulted in numerous cries of protest from his son.

To think she had woken up dreading what the day would bring, and now she smiled like a fool as she waved at her husband and children… they sped away on the carriage, waving back at her through the windows, just as they did every time they went to school. She watched them wistfully as they crossed the gates, entered the city and faded from view… and that was her cue to return to the real world. A sigh left her lips as she turned around, gaze raking her family's home: the tall spires of each tower seemed to rise high into the sky, glowing beautifully under the morning sun's glare. Where she had once lived in a dark, foreboding Palace meant to daunt and intimidate any who gazed upon it, now her home was a spacious, welcoming building… still grand, but no longer foreboding and oppressive.

Azula marched through the grand halls and corridors of her home, on her way to the other end of the building. Her training pagoda, one of her most frequented buildings in the Palace, awaited her, for she always ensured to exercise once a day before allowing her heavy duties to consume her – she had chosen an open space for training rather than the dojos Zuko had taken to building in his own home, so her firebending would be less prone to set everything on fire. She anticipated she'd be intercepted by someone while she was on her way to the pagoda in question, someone other than the staff that greeted her respectfully and to whom she responded to either with brief words or with quick nods. Everything was as it was supposed to be… so, as expected, her typical morning encounter with Song was bound to proceed as it ever did, no matter how exhausted her friend might be as she spoke to Rei.

"… You're sure you're okay?" Rei asked, eyeing Song worriedly. "It sounds like you were up really late…"

"I was, I was… I'll just nap while Azula works, no need to worry," Song responded, with a leisurely grin that grew slightly more tense upon hearing the footsteps of the approaching Azula, as well as the clearing of her throat. "Uuuuh…"

"I heard that, of course I did," Azula smirked: Song's guilty grin softened Azula's smile quickly. "I'll hope you got more rest than I did, but I know that's not very likely."

"At this rate, I'm going to need a good vacation again," Song said. "You'd allow that, wouldn't you…?"

"And bear with all my workload without you? I've been known to achieve impossible things, but that challenge sounds like the first one that's truly beyond my possibilities…" Azula said, playfully: Song pouted reproachfully, and Rei only giggled at their exchange.

"Well, I have to get going now, but I hope both of you can get proper rest tonight, if nothing else. Nap through the day if you can, too," she suggested, stepping forward to hug Azula and Song at once. "I'll be off now."

"Have a good day," Azula smiled, rubbing Rei's back gently.

The youngest of the three women took off down the hallway, and a deep sigh escaped Song's lips. She glanced at Azula, and both friends smirked at the sight of bags under each other's eyes.

"Didn't even bother with makeup this morning?" Song asked.

"Neither did you, so…" Azula responded. Song chuckled, shaking her head. "Not to worry, not to worry… I'll try to look more presentable after my morning training's done."

"You're sure about that? The training, I mean. You can take a day off, you know, it sounds like you need it…" Song responded.

"Eh, if I didn't train I'd just get started on work sooner yet, so…" Azula said, shrugging. Song carried the writing board she ever kept handy, and there was but one question Azula had to ask her: "What's on the menu for today, then?"

"Well…" Song grimaced, reading the list she had on her hands. "There's a lot of paperwork and procedures to deal with over yesterday's trial, as well as official announcements to write up… trials of high-profile war criminals are the worst, aren't they? Anyway, there's a few messages from family and friends that you could very well postpone answering for a few days, but I know you don't like doing that, so there's that too, and we do have to organize the impending meeting about the latest educational reforms, there's like twenty different proposals and most of them sound like hogwash to me. I only liked two, I think? But the committee meets tomorrow afternoon already, so we can't put this off. And there were a few other things but I've left them for tomorrow to make sure we won't go insane. So… yeah. I'm afraid it's another busy day."

"When is it not?" Azula sighed, shaking her head. "Anyway, I'll handle that once I'm done with training. Leave the list with all the priorities at my study, go take a break yourself."

"Well, now, I can give you a hand anyway…" Song said. Azula smiled and shook her head.

"I know I'm not as young and spry as I once was, but… huh. Come to think of it, maybe that's why I'm so tired. Four hours of sleep, back in the day? Child's play, but now…?"

"Oh, please. We're not that old," Song smiled, bumping her arm lightly with her elbow. Azula chuckled, shaking her head. "And honestly, the fact that you've put up with all these responsibilities without aging thrice as fast as any normal human being speaks very well of your physical, emotional… even of your mental strength, I'd say."

"Flatterer," Azula concluded. Song rolled her eyes but smiled. "Anyway, I'm off to work out for now. Try to relax and don't go crazy trying to supervise everything everywhere today, alright?"

"Right, right. I suppose I'll try…?" Song said, with an innocent smile. Azula squeezed her shoulder gently before marching off to the pagoda that awaited her.

The tall building, located in the gardens, boasted of non-flammable columns built by the Royal Earthbending guild – this Palace had been their most important project to date. The edges of the circular floor had been made of solid wood, reinforced with flameproof lacquer, and the center was a tatami floor instead, to soften any falls taken during training or in practice duels.

After some warm-up exercises, Azula took to cycling through katas, evoking her azure flames smoothly with each step she took. Perhaps Song wasn't wrong to say she wasn't quite that old, for her body still responded smoothly to her every impulse: she didn't pull muscles over excessive movements, and she landed perfectly after a high jump. She meant to ensure to retain her fitness for as long as possible, no matter if some days tempted her quite powerfully to forsake all discipline and surrender to laziness…

She shook off such thoughts and carried on, the power of her fire strengthening further with each passing moment. Adrenaline started coursing through her system as she took to picturing different foes and threats closing in, adapting her attacks and stances to whatever the visualized threat might be…

She had been flowing from stance to stance, defending and attacking non-existent enemies for about half an hour, when a not-so-imaginary shadow streaked across the gardens. Azula frowned, muffling her fire and raising an eyebrow as she glanced in its direction. Yes, her fire's light was prone to casting shadows that shifted noticeably, but that hadn't been…

"Sneak attack!"

The false war cry startled her, even if she recognized it quickly: any confusion she felt receded into amusement when the strong arms she cherished so deeply wrapped around her waist, hoisting her off the ground.

"Sokka!" she huffed, glancing at him from over her shoulder: his superior height meant that their faces were level, even as her legs kicked pointlessly while he held her in the air.

His devious snicker brought even more amusement to his wife as he spun them in a careless circle until he dropped purposefully on the tatami, still holding her tightly.

"Totally caught you off-guard," he grinned brightly. Azula chuckled as she turned in his arms, hoisting herself above him: she didn't fail to notice her handsome lover wasn't wearing his shirt, and she raised her eyebrows with interest.

"Your change of attire did catch me off-guard, for sure. As for announced sneak attacks, they're part of our routine since about, uh… ten years ago?" she asked, smirking down at him.

"Eh, whenever the pagoda was built, I guess," Sokka smiled, shrugging as his wife eyed him with unmasked desire and interest. "And I know you enjoy it when I launch my clever sneak attacks on you, so…"

"You do know me well, but I have to ask… the shadow I saw? It was your shirt, wasn't it?" she smirked. Sokka grinned guiltily.

"Tossed it to the right, then dashed very quietly to the left while you were distracted and… bam! You'd never see it coming," he concluded, beaming. Azula let out a burst of laughter and Sokka shook his head. "Nope, don't tell me you did see it coming, I won't believe you even if you do…"

His goofiness and eagerness to give her something to smile at, something to be amused by, truly sufficed to dismiss all the unpleasantness she could be feeling. But at times it overwhelmed her well beyond what she could articulate in speech, too… resulting in a wordless response, instead: their pagoda had certainly witnessed far too many bold, deep kisses between them, even if they naturally never took matters any further than that – though the guards by the Palace walls likely knew better than to glance much in their direction when they were acting as carelessly as they did right now.

The refreshing moment, the affectionate exchange, came to an end as Azula broke it off, sitting up and bringing Sokka with her: his groggy, happy grin ensured she would offer him a smile of her own.

"Care to work out with me for now, then?" she asked. Sokka's easygoing smile shifted into a dangerous smirk next, amusing his wife once more.

"I was just waiting for you to say so!" he said. "Couple of rounds of hand-to-hand, and then swords?"

"Sure thing," Azula smiled, kissing his cheek and yanking him up to his feet.

She always started her morning training by herself, and if nothing too urgent required her presence or attention, she'd have chances to spar with Sokka after he returned from seeing the kids safely to school – as long as he wasn't caught up at anything in the school, too, which happened whenever the children's teachers wanted a word, typically a positive one, about their children. Today, it seemed, everything had proceeded well enough for Sokka to join her at the right time, and Azula was thrilled to spar without weapons first, delighted by Sokka's nimbleness and strength, much as hers thrilled him.

After the first rounds of warm-up duels at hand-to-hand combat, Sokka took off to bring over their swords: a black blade clashed with a white one as they successfully kept each other at bay, creating openings and taunting one another recklessly as they sought the perfect opportunity to attain victory. Their longest match was the last one, too: it would have continued for longer still, if only Sokka's eyes, seeking faults and missteps from his rival, hadn't found themselves entranced by her moves instead. What often started as a dance of seduction between them would often take a more dangerous edge, for both were known masters of their battlefields… but it would shift back to a dance of seduction often anyway, such as it did this time, when Azula whipped her hair back, her long ponytail coming loose as she cast a barrier of blue flames through the tip of her sword. Her firm body, the droplets of sweat running down her brow, the utter focus of those narrow, golden eyes…

He couldn't do anything but laugh guiltily once she pinned him to the nearest column, her sword's edge right by his throat – a most hollow threat that still ensured the blood would race faster in both their bodies.

"Come now, stop letting me win. You know it's unbefitting of you," she said, raising her eyebrows. Sokka snickered.

"You won fair and square: I got distracted by how beautiful you are. Which might not be fair and square, but it's on you for being too beautiful…"

"You're even more distracting than I am, damn you: training shirtless…" Azula hissed, her free hand daringly caressing his abdomen. Sokka shot her a devious grin.

"Well, I'd say you got used to my shirtlessness because I've been like this the whole time… whereas your hair came loose just when you were turning around, love. Come on, cut me some slack…"

"I may… so long as you give me your word that you shall take our duels more seriously in the future, husband," Azula said, her voice commanding… and no less teasing for it. Sokka smirked.

"I am yours to command…" he said. Her own lips curled into a smile as she withdrew her sword.

"And I am yours to disobey, because we both know you make a sport of going against me," Azula responded. Sokka chuckled, wrapping an arm around her waist, reeling her in for another heartfelt kiss as they dropped their swords on the pagoda's floor.

They'd find more privacy indoors, an opportunity they exploited right away: it was well-past time by then for Azula to clean up and get to work as soon as possible. Still, she didn't rush through their shared morning shower, indulging in her husband's affections without a care in the world and offering him plenty of her own before they wound up nestled together in the warm tub. They didn't take relaxing bubble baths too often as of late, and Azula's conscience was likely to rear up with alarms soon about how this, technically, wasn't an opportunity to do so, either… but it was quiet enough for now as she rested with eyes closed, her head on Sokka's shoulder.

"Feeling a little less tired yet?" Sokka asked. Azula hummed, burying her face in the hollow of his shoulder.

"I did for a while, but maybe this is too relaxing. I could just go for a nap right here and now… and I shouldn't," she sighed.

"Got a lot of desk work to do?" Sokka asked, biting his lower lip. "Want my help with it?"

"Your help?" Azula asked, opening an eye inquisitively. "No big diplomatic meetings today for you? No fresh guard recruits to instruct, either?"

"Hui Wen can handle the guards for today," Sokka said, with a reassuring smile. "As for the diplomatic stuff, looks like the coast is clear for me for the next couple of days, so unless they send some urgent, last-minute message, I'll be right here to tease you non-stop. You'll have to send word yourself, begging them to save you from my relentless goofing around…"

"Heh, I'd never and you know it," Azula huffed. Sokka chuckled, hugging her closely and pressing a kiss to her brow. "If you have so little sense as to make yourself available for me all day, there's no way I wouldn't make the most of it. Though I do wish we could spend the day doing something other than work… but it'll still be better if we deal with it together."

"So, you're sure I won't make a mess of it, then?" Sokka asked, smiling weakly. "If that's the case, I'll definitely help you out. Though I don't know what you even have to do, but…"

"Song's made a list, as always… but nothing's beyond your prodigious mind, evidently," Azula said, yawning as she wrapped her arms around Sokka's abdomen. "Lots of paperwork about the trial… lots of educational reform proposals to sort through…"

"Hmm…" Sokka caressed Azula's humid hair gently. She groaned, shaking her head against him. "You're really doing everything you can not to fall asleep again, aren't you?"

"It's like I burned out all my energy for the week yesterday, even if I know that's not really the case…" Azula said.

"Might just be more than yesterday, you know? I mean, last night it was four hours of rest, the night before it was about five instead… you've had too much going on lately, Azula."

"Hmm… I hope you're right. Because the only other times I felt so tired was, well…"

"Well?"

"Hotaru. Shun. Yuuna…"

"What? You're not pregnant again!" Sokka squeaked, face flushing as Azula laughed, relaxing as her eyes closed anew.

"Not unless the damn tea malfunctioned, no," she said. "Admittedly… we're not all that blameless for my lack of rest, are we?"

"Uh… okay, well, we did make the most of your not-so-stressful days from last week because we knew this one was going to be a mess, but still…" Sokka pouted slightly. "I suppose we really should've just been responsible, reasonable adults who sleep soundly through the night in preparation for times like these, huh?"

"Well, you say that, but… you seem perfectly fine yourself. In multiple senses, at that," Azula said, smiling as one of her hands trailed shamelessly over his chiseled chest and abdomen. Sokka smirked, enjoying the touch of her palm and fingers under the water.

"I can't be tired if you're tired, Azula. You've had to deal with too much lately, after all. What good would I be if I couldn't be here to help you out when you need me the most?" he said.

Azula blinked blankly, glancing at him with her drowsy eyes. Sokka's affectionate smile saw him hoisting her gently in the water and setting her upon his lap: she sighed happily, finally processing Sokka's confession for what it was.

"You're an antidote to unhappiness, Sokka. You know that, don't you?" she said, softly. He chuckled, shaking his head.

"Now that's a term of endearment for the ages. Got to write that one down as soon as we get out of here," he teased her. Azula smiled.

"We're not going anywhere… not yet. Just a little longer…" Azula said: her body wrapped around his instinctively, with the comfort of countless years of knowing each other as intimately as could be. Sokka's fingers caressed her hair delicately, his lips pressing numerous kisses across her face as she relaxed again, soothed by his gentle affection…

"Just a little longer, then," he whispered, and Azula smiled.

Usually, his heated kisses would have her blood rushing so fast that she would wind up lightheaded… but right now, they were a true balm upon all the stress she was finally shedding thanks to her affectionate husband. Her eyes closed, and everything was gentle warmth, and comfort, and…

… And silken, smooth sheets. A comfortable blanket, too.

Her eyes flew open suddenly, and she found herself in her room once more.

She was dressed in her sleeping gown, her hair was neatly combed and smooth, and the heaviness that had clung to her so far seemed to be gone… but at what cost?

She glanced at the bedroom window in unabashed panic: it certainly wasn't morning anymore. Noon, at best, if not later…

"Oh, fucking hell…!" she growled, kicking the sheets and blanket out of the way.

What an idiot she was: she had relaxed so damn much she had fallen asleep right then and there, in Sokka's arms, hadn't she? She had no memory of anything else, so surely that was what had happened and Sokka… the gallant fool simply couldn't wake her, no, he had to be the perfect husband he ever was, prioritizing her health and wellbeing over duty. Yes, she knew she struggled to balance both things, but forsaking duty just for a nap? A nap of three hours, give or take? Oh, she couldn't believe herself…!

She rushed to prepare herself, dressing up in a whirlwind, barely gathering her hair in a careless ponytail and forsaking all notion of makeup before rushing out the door. She crossed the living quarters of the Palace in a wild sprint, surprising the staff with her nimble running as she progressed at haste towards her study. Song was going to kill her for taking a nap, but curses, she hadn't done it on purpose…

Azula's chest heaved when her hand finally fell on the study's door: she shoved it open hastily, immediately marching through the threshold… and then freezing on the spot at the sight within.

The room before her was the same it ever was, with its rigorous organizing filing system, with numerous bookshelves she relied on for references, maps, any information she might require to fulfill her assignments and duties. The big surprise within it, of course, was that a Water Tribesman sat behind the desk, raising his head for his beautiful blue eyes to meet hers.

"Oh. You're already awake," Sokka blinked blankly: he held an inkbrush perfectly casually, and he returned to work with whatever he was doing an instant afterwards. "I hope you rested well, Azula!"

Azula blinked once, then twice, before her eyes drifted towards the other occupant of the room: standing by Sokka, watching over his progress, Song shrugged in Azula's direction, hands on her hips.

"I got here like ten minutes ago, in case you're wondering. I didn't get him up to this," Song smiled at Azula's flabbergasted expression.

The royal stepped forward, unable to utter a single word as she stopped before the desk, too. Sokka finished writing whatever he had been doing, and he offered Azula a perfectly placid smile after closing the final sentence.

"What… what are you doing?" Azula asked. "You just… dropped me off so I could nap and then… then you came here to finish my work yourself?"

"Uh… well, I can't really finish all of it, lots of things require your specific signature, as you know," Sokka said, with a shrug. "But I did take care of everything that didn't, and I even drafted a few potential responses in the cases where it did? You can just sign those and we can send them if you don't think there's anything wrong with them. Right now, I was just writing up some summaries of the law proposals, not to say that you shouldn't read them in full of course, but this way maybe you'll have a better idea of what you'll find in there, right? As for our personal mail, I thought to answer it too before you were up… but you're back on your feet now so I guess my hopes to surprise you with a perfectly burdenless day have gone up in smoke now, right?"

"W-what are you…?" Azula's voice hitched as she gazed at him in utter astonishment… grateful astonishment. Sokka grinned weakly. "Sokka…"

"I just wanted to do right by you… you've overworked yourself too much lately. You'll still have to go over what I did, I imagine, unless you trust my crazy judgment all that much," Sokka chuckled. "You do know I tend to be a lot more informal than I should be in all this official paperwork… but I hope I didn't mess it up in any significant way. Last thing I want to do is give you more work than you already have on your shoulders, so…"

He shrugged in a perfectly adorable way, and Azula covered her mouth with a hand. Sokka smiled guiltily, sitting somewhat slouched as he waited for her verdict. Song blinked blankly, watching silently between them, arms folded over her chest now – she had left the list of pending work on Azula's desk, just as she had asked her to, before taking off for a nap of her own – after nodding off too many times, she accepted she'd only be functional if she took a short break. She had expected to find Azula overworking herself, as she often did… Sokka certainly offered her his help whenever he had the chance, but he'd never intervened to help Azula this way before.

Azula's reaction remained a mystery, though. Song had wondered if she'd take it well, or if she might be outraged about being allowed to sleep for much longer than she'd meant to, probably much longer than she'd claim she'd needed to…

"Song…" she finally said, and the healer nodded encouragingly in her direction. "Can I… can I ask you to step outside? Probably take a walk? For about… twenty minutes or so?"

She had expected gratitude, relief, perhaps even some of their typical banter… but after Azula said the words she did, Song snorted and shook her head: that was an even more predictable response to Sokka's gesture than any of her other predictions, actually.

"To think you wanted to convince me that you're getting old just a few hours ago, while still being spry and reckless enough to get up to something like this?" she said, rolling her eyes. Azula smiled, gazing at Sokka in utter amazement as he smiled awkwardly. "Don't do your wild desk swipes, though, or all his work will go to waste and I'm absolutely not cleaning up afterwards if you do that…"

"I'm aware, I'm aware. We're not new at this," Azula said, smirking as Sokka chuckled guiltily now.

"Sorry for the awkwardness, Song…" he said, scratching the back of his neck. His friend scoffed in his direction.

"For that matter, you owe me like fifteen years of apologies. Feels like it's a bit late to start now," she smirked, shaking her head. "You two really don't change…"

"And you love us for that," Azula smiled. Song chuckled, shaking her head.

"I suppose I do," she squeezed Azula's shoulder gently on her way out of the study, and Azula cast a glance at her over her shoulder. "But as it seems you have everything under control, I'm off to take my second nap, myself. I assume the two of you can handle whatever's left of work without me in the way…?"

"Well, I'm not sure we're about to be responsible here now, but we'll try?" Sokka said, earning himself a skeptical glare from an amused Song.

"Thank you, Song. Have a nice second nap," Azula said: Song waved in their direction, a knowing grin across her face.

"And you two have a nice… session of tiring yourselves out all over again?" she said, right before closing the door behind herself.

Her roundabout wording brought a laugh out of Azula before she focused on her husband anew. He offered her a toothy grin and a shrug, and she responded to them with an affectionate smile, the kind of heartfelt smiles she had never shown anyone until Sokka had succeeded at coaxing them out of her, without quite meaning to.

She rounded the desk without a word. Sokka pushed himself back, raising his hands to clasp hers at first, then to hold her waist as Azula sat on his lap once more that day, taking his face between her hands: she kissed him warmly, deeply, lips brushing repeatedly against his. Her tongue darted out after a moment, and Sokka welcomed it gladly as their kiss deepened fully. His arms wrapped tightly around her as she wound up straddling him on her own chair – not for the first time, admittedly. Her fingers slid over his ears, towards the short hairs on the back of his head, ensuring that the deep, thorough kiss would last for as long as they could get away with it: they parted breathlessly, brows pressed together, gentle smiles spreading over their faces.

"You're utterly mad. I love you. You're mad," Azula said, between soft laughter. She hugged him tightly, pressing her face to his neck as Sokka chuckled, rubbing her back gently.

"Don't be too grateful, now, maybe I messed everything up and you'll end up being really mad at me for it…" Sokka said, caressing her hair as Azula shook her head. "You really trust me that much?"

"You know I trust you with my very life. How are you still asking me that question?" Azula said, letting out a happy sigh as she propped herself up again, gazing into his kind eyes. "Thank you. I… I don't think you should have done this, we both know you have plenty of work to do of your own on any given day…"

"Well, today wasn't one of those days, so it seemed reasonable that I'd make the most of every chance I get to lighten your load," Sokka smiled, rubbing her arms gently. "I know you'd do the same for me…"

"Oh, would I?" Azula smiled. Sokka huffed.

"Well, then, if you wouldn't, that just means I love you more, and our big debate about that will finally be settled…!"

"Oh, how dare you?" Azula gasped. Sokka snickered proudly. "I didn't say for certain that I wouldn't have…!"

"You should've said so immediately! I would have said it immediately, so see? I win," Sokka grinned deviously. Azula rolled her eyes, shaking her head as she prodded his nose with hers.

"Everything's always a competition here… admittedly, it's how we both like things, but we're idiots for that, aren't we?" she said. Sokka chuckled.

"Now, don't say that so loudly… everyone thinks we're the smartest people around, but our siblings say we're idiots: you don't want to say those two are right, now, do you?"

"They already believe they are, our opinion on the topic isn't going to change that," Azula smiled. "Not like they can hear me while I'm in here with you, anyhow. Goodness, Sokka… I mean, there's the letters, sure, but that's probably the lightest workload altogether, isn't it?"

"That was the plan. All part of my flawless strategy, you see?" Sokka smiled. Azula chuckled, pressing her brow to his.

"Thank you. Damn it, saying you're an antidote to unhappiness really doesn't cut it anymore…"

"Hey, I like it. It cuts it just fine," Sokka laughed. Azula breathed deeply.

"It almost feels surreal, not having lots of things to do for the rest of the day," she said. "But then… I suppose we can finish what's left of today's workload now…"

"And then?" Sokka raised his eyebrows. Azula bit her lip. "Got any funny ideas in mind, Azula?"

"Well… there's one thing I always enjoy doing with you, and I can't believe I'll be able to do it today, but it seems I can now. So…"

"So…?"

His knowing smile brought a delightful grin from her, too. She kissed him willfully, her heart soaring with joy as every lingering frustration faded away, utterly forgotten in the wake of fulfilling one of her greatest aspirations…

The tree's refreshing shade allowed Azula to bask in the smooth breeze that blew through the branches: the elegant building before them was straightforward in its purpose, properly maintained, beautifully decorated… and populated by loud, numerous children who were more than ready to go home after a long day of schooling.

She shouldn't have been quite so excited about being here, it wasn't really the first time she did it… but it almost felt like it. She remembered all too well how Lo and Li would collect her at school, escorting her home afterwards. Her parents, of course, had been much too preoccupied with their own business – be it with Zuko's homeschooling or his swordsmanship lessons in Ursa's case, or enduring and fulfillin Azulon's expectations in Ozai's case, or the many clashes and conflicts between both of Azula's parents – to ever do this themselves. Not every child was picked up by their parents even back in those days, though Azula had certainly felt a pang of envy in her heart at the sight of those who did… she had wondered what it would be like to have parents as doting and utterly embarrassing as those of some of her classmates more often than she had ever admitted aloud.

And now, so many years later, it was her turn to be the doting and embarrassing parent: her heart jolted at the very thought of it.

"It's really cute of you to be so excited about this," Sokka smirked, arms folded across his chest as he watched Azula with amusement.

"Well, do excuse me for enjoying something I barely ever get to do," Azula huffed, shooting him a reproachful glare that he chuckled at. "This is your daily routine, pretty much, whereas I…"

"I know, I know. Still cute, though, whether you like it or not," Sokka grinned proudly. Azula smiled, shaking her head.

"You're just looking for excuses to say I'm cute, as ever. Which, I'll add, makes you far cuter than I am…"

"That trick's not going to work on me and you know it," Sokka remarked, bumping her hip with his and Azula chuckled quietly as she focused on the school's doors again: they'd open very soon, she knew… to think she anticipated the moment quite as much nowadays as she did when she was a child, kept behind similar doors…

"Most people waiting for the children are staff members of their households, aren't they?" Azula asked, glancing about herself. "It's not really surprising, I admit, it's the way it was when I was a child, but…"

"Yeah, well, some parents do show up from time to time," Sokka said, with a shrug. "But in general, that's how it is. Some kids don't even get picked up and just walk home on their own, too. I keep wondering if Hotaru will grow self-aware one day and ask me to stop showing up here because I'll make her look uncool…"

"Heh, not likely. Not only does she adore you, but no child in that school has a more impressive parental unit than our kids," Azula smirked proudly. Sokka chuckled, shaking his head at her boast. "As far as coolness is concerned, I have no doubts she'll be better off if you show up here to pick her up every day…"

"Well, then, if you're so sure, I'll stop worrying," Sokka smiled, loosening his arms and clasping Azula's hand gently.

They weren't as bold and careless in public as they could have been, but gone were the days when they would hide their relationship zealously: they stood together under the shade of one of the trees near the school and numerous people stood nearby, too – including the security detail that ensured there were no hazards nearby that could endanger either Azula or Sokka. It didn't matter if they could be judged, found careless and vulgar in their affectionate gestures, for they had built their place in the world together. Anyone who tried to challenge that fact would be certain to find themselves staring down the blades and fire of two of the most dangerous fighters their world had ever seen.

The bell signaling the end of the school day rang loudly at last, and on cue, a cheerful roar by the youngest children echoed across the building. Shortly afterwards, the front door opened and the preschool teachers saw to sending each child to their respective guardian. Yuuna, ever so forward, was the third to step out of the building's threshold: she looked towards the tree right away, evidently knowing exactly where to find her father on any given day… and her jaw dropped when she noticed he wasn't alone today.

"And there she is! Our little champion, our growing wonder, our waterbending prodigy…!" Sokka exclaimed, hyping up the child as she took off on a full, clumsy and adorable sprint in their direction: Azula had no trouble guessing he always did that to entertain and amuse their daughter.

But where Yuuna typically would respond to Sokka's theatrics, today seemed to be a day that would break the norm in more ways than anticipated:

"Mommy?! Mommy!"

Sokka froze on the spot: he had stepped forward to welcome Yuuna only for the child to run past him and cling to Azula's legs instead. She could only laugh as she leaned down, picking up her utterly confused daughter while her husband stood, paralyzed, right where he'd been when Yuuna raced past him.

"Well, hello there, Yuuna," Azula smiled, brushing her daughter's disorderly hair with her fingers. "Looks like your hairdo didn't last long today, either."

"Mommy, you're here today!" Yuuna exclaimed, gaping at her mother with wonderment. "You came with Daddy!"

"I know this doesn't happen often, but I could come by today. It's all thanks to your father, though…"

"Daddy?" Yuuna blinked blankly, smiling as she glanced back at the still frozen Sokka. Azula gasped dramatically.

"Looks like you may have frozen him by accident! Care to thaw him, Yuuna?" she asked the child, who giggled and shook her head.

"I didn't do that!"

"You didn't? But look! He won't move!" Azula's eyes widened as she approached Sokka, still carrying the amused six-year-old in her arms. She leaned before Sokka, watching as his eyebrow twitched slightly. "Hello? Sokka? Are you still there?"

"Daddy!" Yuuna laughed, stretching her arms towards him as though to be carried by him too.

By then, Sokka's resolve to mess with his daughter by staying petrified on the spot crumbled. He smiled, shaking his head as he collected the little girl in his arms, hoisting her happily in the air: she laughed carelessly, and that was all he could have wanted as he reeled her in for a gentle hug.

"She thawed me with cuteness. No one could possibly hope to stay frozen when she's so powerful," Sokka said, dramatically. Azula chuckled, stepping up to press a kiss to her daughter's brow.

"Your father went out of his way to help me with work today, dear, all so I could be here now," she said. "I know it's a crazy surprise, but we owe it all to him. Just as we owe him about a million things, I'd say…"

"You owe me nothing, silly," Sokka smiled: he wrapped one of his arms around Azula, handing Yuuna over to her again all be it so he could embrace them both at once. Yuuna giggled for it, happily kicking her legs as her parents basked in yet another bright moment for their blissful family.

Preschool's children would be free to go home earlier than the older students in the academy: Shun, in primary school, would be finished in about twenty minutes. In that time, Azula and Sokka took their seats with Yuuna under the shade of Sokka's chosen tree, talking with their youngest daughter about what she'd learned in school that day.

"Ah, you learned new animals today?" Azula asked, surprised. Yuuna giggled and nodded. "And which might they be?"

"Hmmm… guess!" Yuuna giggled. Azula huffed.

"Bees?" she asked. Yuuna shook her head. "Armadillo-bears?"

"No!" Yuuna laughed happily. Azula bit her lip, glancing over at Sokka, who smiled at her.

"Come on. Help me here, she hasn't given me a single hint!" she said, allegedly exasperated. "We need to put our superior intellects together to unravel this mystery, Sokka."

"Still, she should give us some hints," Sokka said, smiling and offering his hand to Yuuna. "Come on, now. You learned to write their names, is it? Try to write them on our hands and we'll guess them, okay?"

"Huh, that will help us confirm her calligraphy is correct, actually. A sound choice. I knew I could count on you," Azula said, smirking proudly. Sokka raised his head in a haughty display that brought actual laughter out of his wife's lips.

Yuuna giggled, taking Sokka's hand in hers: she trailed her index finger over his gloved hand, bringing a smile to Azula's face at the sight of the scar upon her husband's palm. Yuuna didn't pay any attention to the scar, however, simply focused on repeating the symbol she had learned earlier that day.

"Hmmm?" Sokka frowned. Yuuna grinned as she continued trailing lines upon lines over her father's hand. "Gee, that's one animal only?"

"Yes!" Yuuna exclaimed. "It has three ideograms, Daddy."

"Oh, really? Wow. That's complicated," Sokka bit his lip, focusing again. "Let's see… hmm… oh wait, that's fish! So… aha! Tuna!"

"It's tuna? Really?" Azula blinked blankly. Yuuna grinned and nodded at her mother. "Goodness, they actually taught you how to write tuna in preschool? That's… a lot more impressive than I anticipated, actually."

Yuuna grinned wildly and took Azula's hand next: her mother smiled fondly as the excitable child trailed her finger over her mother's palm now. Sokka watched attentively, but it was much easier to interpret words when they were being written on his skin.

"Okay…? Two ideograms this time?" Azula asked, as Yuuna finished writing them the first time. The girl grinned and nodded before starting over. Azula closed her eyes, humming softly as she made sense of each element, little by little… "Goat!"

"Yes!" Yuuna cheered, jumping to her feet and throwing her hands up in the air. Her parents laughed at the sight of her celebration, resisting the urge to embrace their adorably clever daughter. "Tuna-goat!"

Though, of course, the strange directions in which Yuuna's mind steered her could still surprise her parents more often than not.

"Tuna-goat?" Sokka repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Your teacher said that's a real hybrid animal?"

"I don't know," Yuuna chuckled, with a shrug. Azula huffed.

"Well, if it does exist, I can only imagine Yuuna will be the one to discover it," Azula said, caressing her daughter's hair gently, attempting to tame it, though knowing already that she'd fail at it.

"Oh, now, there's no question about that," Sokka smiled as Yuuna grinned happily over her parents' approving words.

She seemed ready to write more animals on their palms when the bell for primary school rang next: both Azula and Sokka glanced towards the door anew, and out came the older students, including two twins who waved shyly in their direction before rushing off to their waiting father.

"Does he always do that? Standing off so far away from you…?" Azula asked. Sokka chuckled, shaking his head.

"We wait together sometimes, but I suppose he figured he wouldn't interrupt our time together for today. You know what he's like," Sokka explained. Azula smiled before glancing at the door again, just in time for Shun to emerge from it.

Much like it had been in Yuuna's case, Shun gasped happily, running towards Azula without even bothering to say goodbye to his friends. Azula smiled, welcoming Shun into her embrace as he leapt happily into her arms.

"Mom! You're here!" he exclaimed.

"You have your father to thank for that," Azula smiled. Shun didn't thank Sokka just yet, though, raising his head happily to look at his mother, as though expecting her to be a mirage of some sort. "Had a good day today?"

"Uh… well, I mean, um…" Shun mumbled shyly, and Azula frowned at once.

"Did something bad happen?" she asked. Shun grimaced, pushing back and scratching the back of his head, cheeks aflame with embarrassment.

"I, uh, well… got called to the blackboard today," he said. Azula blinked blankly. "I thought I had understood the exercise, b-but, well, I really didn't so… I kind of messed up in front of everyone and some of them… some laughed a bit? I guess…"

"They laughed…?" Azula growled in a dangerous tone that set off Sokka's alarms at once.

"Woah, woah, woah…" Sokka smiled reaching out to rub Azula's tense shoulders. "Stay calm, now. No need to defund the school…"

"Defund it? No… reform it, rather. No more blackboard nonsense that humiliates children…" Azula grumbled: her son's eyes lit up as he heard that, and Sokka sighed before glancing at Shun with an awkward smile.

"Hey. You don't have to feel like you're lesser or greater just because of a mistake like that one, okay, kid?" he said, his voice slightly more serious than the one he often used with his son. Shun glanced at him in surprise. "Your classmates are dunderheads, and they would be just as likely to mess up with anything on that blackboard. I bet they'd cry ten rivers if anyone made fun of them for it…"

"Perhaps they should go on the blackboard, then," Azula said, tapping her chin. "I can pull some strings, be the teacher for one day, give Shun's class some lessons on ancient history…"

"Yeah!" Shun grinned wildly as Sokka eyed Azula skeptically.

"And then I'll just humiliate all the wrongdoers by calling them to answer impossible questions," Azula said, with a careless smile. Sokka actually burst out laughing by then. "Hey! It's a perfectly sound plan. I will protect my son's childhood this way, you'll see."

"Your son's childhood is fine, damn it," Sokka chuckled, and even Shun laughed by then, amused by his mother's protectiveness of him. "You've seen to that for years! A mistake isn't the end of the world, okay? Though, Shun, if those kids mess too much with you…"

"I'll just scorch them lightly…" Shun said, with a slight pout. Sokka's eyebrow twitched again as Azula huffed.

"Lightly? Unthinkable: I hereby authorize you to…"

"Azula!"

"What?"

Both Shun and Yuuna reeled with laughter at their parents' argument – one that they were having for their benefit, above all else. They might have a more thorough conversation with Shun about what had happened later, for she suspected Shun had inherited her unhealthy tendency of demanding perfection from herself at all costs. It had taken a long time for her to let go of that dangerous mindset, but she would do her best to ensure Shun wouldn't fall prey to the same pressures she had experienced until her early adulthood.

Their playful banter, however, wouldn't last much longer than it had: another group of primary school children had crossed the school's threshold by then. They were around four years older than Shun, and they approached their tree with reverent admiration and poorly contained excitement: Hotaru smiled awkwardly as she spearheaded the cluster of young girls, all of whom gaped in awe at the perfectly placid family with glowing eyes.

"M-Mom came today, too, huh…?" Hotaru asked, with a small voice. Azula smiled and nodded.

"Well, now, Hotaru! Greet your mother properly or she will think you're not happy to see her," Sokka huffed. The girl blushed, though she smiled at Azula anyway.

"Hi…?" she said: one of the girls behind her let out a squeal of excitement, and Hotaru's exasperated expression brought Azula to conclude that the ones her daughter was embarrassed by weren't, in fact, her doting parents…

"Well, then…" Azula said, pushing herself up to her feet: just the sound of her voice caused many of the eleven-year-olds with Hotaru to gasp happily again, gazing up at the fully-grown woman who smiled upon them. "I hope you had a good day in school, Hotaru."

"It was okay," Hotaru bit her lip, glancing back at one of her friends with a grimace. "Can you calm down…? She's just my mom."

"She's not just your mom, she's…! She's…!" gasped the girl, utterly starstruck as she was.

"I do have to wonder… do you have the same effect on them?" Azula blinked blankly, glancing at Sokka. He huffed, shrugging.

"I suppose I did the first few times they noticed me, but you're the novelty here today, love…"

His very uttering of that last word sent the entire cluster of girls squealing wildly, causing Yuuna to pout as she covered her ears with her little hands while Shun grimaced with distaste at the overly excited girls. Hotaru, standing before them, blushed crimson as she covered her face with a hand.

"And they still wonder why I never invite them home…" Hotaru sighed, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, Mom, Dad, they're just…"

"It's okay, don't feel bad," Sokka chuckled, patting Hotaru's shoulder gently. "I'm not going to say we're used to it, but it's not the first time this sort of thing happens to your mother and I…"

"W-we are…! We are very honored to be your daughter's classmates!" exclaimed one girl, perhaps more outspoken than the others, perhaps more nervous, too: she bowed down by bending her entire torso forward in Azula's direction, and all the others followed. "She is an example for all of us to follow, a-and…! And…! W-well…!"

"We would love your autograph!" exclaimed another one, just for the whole cluster of girls to erupt into an argument, with one side in favor of requesting autographs and the other completely adamant about how unacceptable and inappropriate a request it was.

Of course, Azula merely stood in place, an eyebrow raised: she certainly didn't have much time to mingle with anyone as of late… but it felt like a long time since anyone had reacted so excitedly upon meeting her. She shared a quick smile with Sokka, just before the more shameless girls requested the autographs anew.

Hotaru continued to bury her face in her hands, beyond embarrassed by her friends and their behavior as Azula signed a few school notebooks. After a moment, Shun tugged at his older sister's long sleeve: her brother urged her to lean closer to her, intending to speak in her ear. The older child bit her lip before giving in, only for her brother to say:

"Your friends are so weird that even Yuuna thinks they're crazy."

"Wha-…? Shun!" Hotaru, cheeks still flushed, glared reproachfully at her brother, who giggled deviously at her bashful reaction over his taunt.

Hotaru's embarrassment didn't diminish even after the family finally succeeded at shaking off the crowd of excitable girls who couldn't seem to stop fawning over her parents. The young firebender sat in the carriage right by her father, grimacing with hopelessness while her younger siblings sat across them, flanking a perfectly placid Azula, who held their hands in her own.

"You don't have to keep making those faces, Hotaru," Sokka smiled reassuringly, patting her shoulder gently. "We're already on our way home, alright? They won't embarrass you anymore."

"To think you were worried about us being the embarrassing ones…" Azula smirked, and Sokka chuckled as Hotaru sighed.

"Well… you can be embarrassing sometimes too, but they definitely outdid you today," Hotaru said. Sokka clasped his chest, affronted by her words, and Hotaru shot him a meaningful stare. "Dad, you always go out of your way to embarrass yourself just to make everyone laugh, it's not like I'm saying something you don't know…"

"I… do know that. But still! It just feels different when you say it that way," Sokka huffed, pouting and crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'm sorry I didn't show it, but I'm really glad that you could come today, Mom," Hotaru said, offering Azula a weak smile. "I just wish my friends hadn't been so crazy… it would have been nice to introduce you to them properly."

"Well, if by any miracle I can do this more often, perhaps one day they'll get over their initial excitement," Azula smiled. "I have to make the most of it for as long as the three of you aren't old enough to think your parents are lame, of course…"

"I don't know if we'll ever think that," Hotaru said, smiling weakly, as Shun hugged Azula's arm.

"You should come every day! Dad can do your work and you can pick us up instead…!"

"Well, isn't that nice, you little rascal," Sokka huffed. Azula hummed, shaking her head as she smiled at Shun.

"You know, my parents never picked me up at school. And by never, I very much mean 'never'. It was always Lo and Li instead," she explained. All the kids gaped at her in surprise. "I wasn't the only one who went through that, of course… I think Mai and Ty Lee weren't much better off, picked up by servants rather than by their parents."

"Most the other kids in school are like that, too," Hotaru said, nodding.

"But Daddy always takes us to school and picks us up later!" Yuuna grinned wildly at her father. Sokka smiled and shrugged as Azula nodded sagely.

"He does indeed. And today? Oh, today he went out of his way to do as much of my work as he could for me, all so I could be here to see you all. See how thoughtful he is?"

Shun's face flushed now as he grasped what his mother was going for. While he certainly cherished his father in his own ways, it seemed his favorite ways to exteriorize it were by talking to him about history or warfare, or by making fun of him – which inevitably resulted in Sokka biting back similarly, and so, a back-and-forth would often ensue between them. He eyed Sokka begrudgingly after hearing Azula's question, and Sokka smirked proudly as though waiting for Shun to praise and thank him…

"He's… a goofball," Shun decided, pouting. Sokka's jaw dropped as the girls laughed at Shun's conclusion.

"Well… I can be a thoughtful goofball, mind you," he retorted, stubbornly.

"Well, that's certainly not a questionable statement," Azula chuckled, smiling fondly at her husband. "A thoughtful goofball, but also the smartest man in any room he's in…"

"You're the smartest woman, yourself. Which, of course, just means we're perfectly matched," Sokka beamed brightly, and Azula chuckled at his interjection.

"Doesn't hurt that he's ridiculously handsome, either…"

"Ugh, Mom!" Shun groaned, shaking his head. Sokka snickered deviously.

"The most beautiful woman in the world saying that about me is a true compliment, but well, we all know you're way prettier than me…" he said, shaking his head.

"And he's also such a legendary fight-… wait, I'm prettier than you, you say?"

"You are. And a most legendary fighter yourself, of course…"

"Now, now, don't change the subject: I'm back to talking about your good looks. And also about discussing the fact that you're terribly biased in my favor, so…"

"Biased? Me? As if! Hotaru, tell your mom she's the most beautiful woman in the world!"

"For that matter, Yuuna, tell your dad he's the most handsome man there ever was."

"I'm going to puke," Shun concluded, dropping heavily on his seat as Yuuna took to repeating Azula's words happily and enthusiastically.

"Hey, Hotaru! Come on, you can't let them win!" Sokka whimpered, turning towards his daughter with utmost despair: by now, it seemed that Hotaru's previous embarrassment had finally transferred over from her friends to her parents, and quite rightfully so, even if she chuckled at their ridiculous disagreement.

"Why would you argue about which one of you is prettier?" she asked, amused. "It makes no sense…"

"It makes perfect sense: your mother doesn't have a clue of how great she is, I keep telling her and she never listens to me," Sokka pouted. Hotaru sighed, glancing at Azula with a slight smile: Yuuna's cheerful chanting seemed to be delightful for their mother.

"Daddy is the prettiest man! Daddy is the prettiest!" she declared, and Azula nodded proudly.

"See? How could you possibly deny it if Yuuna says so?" Azula smirked. Sokka huffed.

"Well, then, if Hotaru won't help… Shun! Join me here!"

"No, thank you," Shun retorted immediately, and everyone laughed as Sokka yelped in despair.

"B-but that's… no! This is unacceptable! This is no victory for you, Azula! I won't stand for it! You're prettier, damn it, anyone can tell…!"

"Keep this up and you'll end up dueling each other to settle this fight…" Hotaru said, with a dismissive shake of her head…

The sudden silence that settled in the carriage alarmed the girl a moment later. Yes, perhaps peaceful silence could be nice… but it was the calm that heralded a storm, she knew, and she turned her wide eyes towards her parents to find them eyeing each other in a dangerous way.

"W-wait! I was just…! I didn't mean that! I…!" Hotaru gasped, covering her mouth with her hands as Sokka squinted, leaning forward as Azula smirked in his direction.

"That… is a brilliant solution, actually. Oh, yes, it is," he said, a wild grin spreading over his face.

"I agree. An odd occurrence, us agreeing on something…"

"We agree on things once in a while, don't be silly…"

"Either way… I suppose this is the duel of our lifetimes," Azula said, raising her head haughtily. "For victory has never had a steeper cost than it does today. I challenge you, Sokka…"

"And I challenge you right back, Azula," he smirked. "Let's see who's the prettiest indeed!"

Azula couldn't hold back her laughter as Shun outright joined in with Yuuna's cheers – no one enjoyed watching duels between his parents as much as their son did. Hotaru, of course, gaped at them in astonishment… and shortly afterwards, in surrender. As unnecessary as this new impasse between her parents appeared to be, she couldn't quite deny that they were quite lively whenever their biggest problems were as meaningless as determining which of her parents was the better-looking one…

They returned to the Palace in good spirits: the two parents ensured their children finished their schoolwork first before offering them the wild entertainment of watching an all-out battle between them in their training pagoda. They wouldn't visit it twice on any given day, but they changed into training clothes once more, bringing both their swords with them as they returned to the gardens, their three children in tow.

"Make sure not to do anything too reckless…" Hotaru chimed in. Sokka patted her shoulder gently.

"I won't cut across the columns of the pagoda this time, I promise…"

"We'll fight at the center to avoid that. And I won't set anything on fire either, so you won't have to worry about that either," Azula said, with a careless shrug. "I'd put it out quickly even if I did, and you three could probably take care of any sparks that spill out of the pagoda, if any did, so…"

"Can I fight too?" Yuuna asked happily. Shun huffed.

"I'm older! If someone can join in, it should be me!" he said.

"None one of you is joining in, kiddos," Sokka smirked, eyeing Azula deviously. "This is a battle between husband and wife. We're taking no prisoners here: all-out war for the sake of beauty!"

"Isn't there a chance that you might just hurt each other and, uh, make them not so beautiful anymore?" Hotaru asked, clinging to any potential loophole she could find to make her parents desist on their completely reckless crusade. Both Azula and Sokka, however, laughed off her concerns.

"Oh, please. He's put up with me for years, Hotaru, and he only gets more handsome with time…"

"Same goes for her, aging so damn finely…"

"Fight and don't be mushy! Gross!" Shun huffed, hands on his hips. Both Azula and Sokka rolled their eyes at their son's typical responses, but they prepared to climb the steps up to the pagoda all the same.

"Stay outside the fighting area at all times, okay?" Azula warned the children: her voice, so easygoing, had switched to the stern tone that always ensured the children would know she meant business. Thus, all three of them nodded at her command. "If you want to convey something important to us, you'll tell Hotaru what it is and if she deems it a serious enough matter to interrupt our duel, she can tell us what it is, alright?"

"Yes, Mom," Shun nodded promptly. Yuuna grinned happily and nodded too. Hotaru sighed.

"And what if Hotaru thinks this is silly and you should just accept you're both pretty?" Hotaru asked. Azula couldn't contain a smile.

"I'm afraid you have too much good sense in that head of yours, dear. What fools you've been cursed with as your parents," Azula said, shaking her head as she caressed her daughter's hair gently before entering the pagoda.

"You're not fools, you're just… unconventional?" Hotaru decided, scratching the back of her neck as her golden eyes followed her parents.

They had unsheathed their swords by then and they rounded each other as lion-vultures might. Sokka's training, sleeveless changshan happened to outline his torso's muscles terribly well, and Azula bit her lip as she eyed his exposed arms greedily. He offered her a flirty grin of his own, taking in the light shirt she wore, its neck's fastenings undone and exposing her collarbone. Her hair was up in a casual ponytail: Sokka couldn't seem to stop admiring her, much as she failed to do the same with him.

"Well, then: are you ready for our legendary showdown?" Sokka asked, raising his sword in a defensive position. Azula let out a soft chuckle as she finally slowed to a halt.

"I'm always ready for you, husband," she teased. His grin widened further. "I suppose I won't have to remind you not to go easy on me this time?"

"And I won't have to do it with you either," he said. "Because the stakes of this challenge are much too important to be taken lightly, right?"

"Absolutely," Azula said, deepening her voice in a way that sent shivers down Sokka's spine. "Shall we?"

"Oh, yes, we shall," Sokka agreed, heart racing with anticipation.

Even so, it took a moment before one of them made the first move. One more moment of preparation, of anticipation, of prolonging the inevitable…

Azula stepped forward, her white sword gleaming as her blue flames came to life: Sokka smirked before their blades clashed and their latest sparring duel began.

The afternoon was starting to take on a darker hue when Rei finally made her way back to the Palace. The carriage that transported her dropped her off by the gates – she had no way of knowing at what time she would be returning, therefore, she would take a royal carriage to university and return on a carriage she'd hire upon leaving campus. It had been tricky to juggle all her responsibilities as a substitute teacher and investigator today, but she hadn't made any major mistakes, and that was enough for her on most days…

She smiled immediately upon slowing down by the Palace gates, which swung open for her at once. The guard behind them, clad in his proper uniform, greeted her with a curt bow of his head.

"Welcome back. I hope you had a fruitful day, Rei," he said. Rei grinned and nodded in his direction.

"It went as well as it could have, I'd say," Rei responded. "I hope all was well here too, Gen-…"

A flash of blue from behind the guard startled Rei into leaving her sentence unfinished: she raised an eyebrow, glancing in its direction, a knowing smile spreading over her face.

"Are they… training again?" she asked. The guard sighed, hands on his hips.

"Knowing them? This is probably something far more ridiculous than training," he responded. "Training is usually for mornings after all… but it seems they finished most their work early today."

"Then they're bound to be entertaining the kids now," Rei chuckled, biting her lip. "Guess I should go check if everything's okay, anyhow. Hopefully Hotaru, Shun and Yuuna have finished their homework already…"

"You're far too responsible compared to those two," the guard sighed. "I think I'll join you. Perhaps I can talk sense into them, but I wouldn't be surprised if I failed at it."

"Eh, well… it's not very likely that you'll succeed," Rei admitted, with a shy laugh. The guard shook his head.

"Don't I know it."

After ensuring the other guards would shut the gates safely and keep watch, the guard joined Rei as they marched through the Palace's terrains. The pagoda stood in the gardens deeper inside the Palace: the flashes of blue that bloomed from Azula's attacks grew more intense as they approached, until they finally caught full sight of the battle waged between the two spouses. As predictably as ever, Yuuna cheered for her father while Shun cheered for his mother… and Hotaru stood between them, tense, flinching every time either Azula or Sokka made a dangerous move.

"Sooo… what happened this time?" Rei asked, startling the children once she stopped behind them, offering them a fond smile.

"Rei!" both Yuuna and Shun exclaimed, jumping in to hug her. The woman chuckled, caressing their hair gently as Hotaru gazed at her with a bright smile.

"Ah, you're home?" Azula's voice drifted out of the pagoda – as focused as she was on her sparring bout with Sokka, dodging a stab and responding to it with a fistful of flames that caused her husband to jump back and give her further space, she had still overheard her children's shouts. "Hope you had a good day, Rei!"

"Uh… I did," Rei smiled awkwardly. "I guess you didn't?"

"Oh, mine's been amazing!" Azula laughed: she leapt, spinning in the air and packing a potent firebending kick.

Sokka grimaced: he leaned back, almost enough to lose his footing, and the fire failed to reach him. He let himself fall on the tatami once he knew regaining his footing would be too difficult in that position, bouncing on the soft flooring and taking advantage of that momentum to push himself back by somersaulting away from Azula. She, of course, whistled with delight at her husband's shameless display of physical ability and fitness.

"Well, now…!" she said as Sokka landed safely again, legs spread to support his weight better, body bent slightly forward for balance's sake. "You're basically proving my point here, Sokka, it's so very appealing of you to do that…"

"Oh, no: I've proved nothing. You haven't defeated me yet, not in combat, not in any other regards!" Sokka retorted, dashing in quickly, sword at the ready: Azula laughed carelessly as their blades met in the middle again, though she packed one more fire blast quickly with her free hand to ensure Sokka wouldn't get the upper hand on her.

"Huh… proving a point? They're settling an argument with a duel again?" Rei asked, with an awkward smile.

"Yeah… about who's prettier," Hotaru said, with a deadpan smile. Rei snorted, letting out a careless laugh at the utter ridiculousness of that concept. "I mean… I'm learning a lot from watching them, it's true. So many interesting firebending forms, and ways to respond to sword attacks… but it's so silly."

"I'm afraid that's your parents' specialty, Hotaru," the guard said, bluntly. Hotaru smiled awkwardly in his direction. "Have you at least finished your homework?"

"Yes!" the younger children exclaimed, and Rei smiled proudly.

"Good work, all of you," she said.

"I can only hope Ji-seon and Soo-min did theirs as well… though I have no doubts they'll come here as soon as they notice this ridiculous spectacle," the guard said, shaking his head. "One would think that after a day like yesterday, these two would be entirely out of energy still…"

"I'm afraid they don't know how to stay still and have a simple, casual, boring day," Rei determined, watching the battle fondly.

"Well… let's see if I can try to put a stop to their nonsense anyway," the guard said, breathing deeply. "Not that I've ever succeeded in the past, but still…"

"Good luck," Hotaru sighed.

"Mommy says no one can go up…!" Yuuna exclaimed, grabbing Hotaru and Rei's hands as she eyed the guard warily: he had stepped forward, climbing up to the pagoda.

"Well, he's a grown-up. Way stronger than any of us, too," Shun reasoned, with a shrug. "Guess he's allowed?"

"I wouldn't know if 'allowed' is the right word?" Rei smiled. "But… he's special."

The Princess was the one on the tatami floor now, after having taken a poor stance to parry a dangerous attack: Sokka had exploited the opening immediately, but his wife hadn't simply surrendered. Instead, she attacked him from the floor, taking deep breaths while shooting a spree of flames at him from the soles of her feet. Sokka had no choice but to back down, unable to threaten his wife into a surrender…

"A little firefly has told me you're having a rather childish battle to determine which of you is… prettier?"

The deep voice of their most trusted guard caused both Azula and Sokka to lose focus but briefly: the firebender powered up a fire wheel with her feet just before pushing herself up with a quick jump, displaying flexibility to the extent where her husband almost stood there gawking at her impressive moves rather than jumping out of the way of her latest attack.

"That's correct!" Azula exclaimed, and Sokka huffed, laughing in disbelief.

"And she's hellbent on proving it's her, as you can see," Sokka responded, shaking his head.

"Oh, absolutely not," Azula huffed, flipping her hair away from her face: some of her ponytail had loosened up, much as Sokka's own wolf's tail was no longer as tall as before, causing some strands to fall gracefully, framing his handsome face.

"I must say I do not follow," the guard interrupted them, unconcerned with cutting across their strange flirting. "Does it mean that whoever wins the fight is declared the prettiest?"

His question gave them pause – he couldn't help but smirk as the two finally bothered glancing at him in confusion.

"Say what?" Sokka blinked blankly.

"You should be fighting for yourselves, it's only natural. Therefore, it stands to reason that, if you attain victory, it means you're not only victorious on the battlefield but also in a battle of, uh, ideas? In this case… a battle of beauty, allegedly, if that's truly what guides you."

Sokka glanced at Azula, and she returned the stare: it wasn't difficult for the two of them to infer what their friend was trying to achieve, no matter if he brought up a reasonable question…

But the truth was that answering the question wasn't all that difficult.

"It is a battle of ideas: my idea is that he's prettier, his idea is that I am," Azula responded, with a smirk. "And that means, simply, that my victory will confirm the truth that he's the prettiest. So no, you're not going to confuse us or stop us from seeing this battle through, try as though you might."

"He's always been like this, hasn't he? Always trying to rain on our parade," Sokka huffed, shaking his head before raising his sword again: "But no matter, because here I come!"

"Always ready for you," Azula smirked, summoning fire that she condensed in order to defend against Sokka's newest stab.

The guard sighed: it had been a long shot, but one he had hoped might at least interrupt the bout for longer than half a minute. He turned back towards the onlookers to find the youngest ones were simply cheering on the continued fight while the older two simply smiled sympathetically in his direction. Defeated by the utter recklessness and drive of his employers, he marched back towards the group, head bent.

"I did what I could. As ever, they're beyond reason," he said, shaking his head. Rei and Hotaru laughed, and the latter bowed her head respectfully towards him just as well, offering him a compassionate, understanding smile.

"Thanks for trying anyway, Uncle Rui Shi."

His interruption hadn't cost the sparring partners much of their focus: their blades shone in the afternoon light as they clashed again and again, reflecting the color of Azula's flames whenever she evoked them. It had been years since Sokka had bothered asking her not to firebend during their sparring bouts, instead thrilled by the challenge of defending against the onslaught of her fire… a challenge he could overcome on occasion if Azula slipped up at all, as she did when she landed too close to a column after a firebending attack she launched through her feet once more: her near loss of footing at the wooden area of the floor rather than the tatami made it easy for Sokka to strike her sword out of her hand with one quick blow – Azula was only regaining her center when she found herself staring down the dangerous pointy edge of a black blade.

Sokka smirked wildly. Azula's eyes rose from the tip of the sword to his own blue eyes, chest heaving as the children reacted to their mother's apparent defeat. She breathed deeply, unable and unwilling to mask how utterly appealing she found it to be bested by a warrior as strong and talented as her husband was… and yet her answer to his apparent success wasn't quite what anyone but Sokka would have anticipated:

"Best out of three?"

He snorted. She smirked. Their public gazed at them in utmost confusion… and Sokka stepped back, leaning down to pick up Azula's sword. She smiled as he handed it to her carefully, and she even dared offer him a quick kiss on the cheek before taking up another fighting stance in preparation for a second bout. Sokka did the same, his determination unchanged – she was bound to ask him for more rounds even if he won the next one, so he'd ensure to continue triumphing so she would have no grounds whatsoever to claim she was the one with the right answer for their complicated impasse.

Their public grew in size even beyond Rui Shi and Rei: two young girls started watching from a nearby window, too shy at first to join the others, but encouraged to do so once Shun noticed them and urged them to come to the garden. Ji-Seon and Soo-Min stood by Rui Shi, their father, who had wound up staying to watch the duels, skeptical and entertained by them all the same – the little girls even joined in by cheering either Azula or Sokka, switching between them at random, entirely swept up by the excitement of the battles before them.

The lively atmosphere by the pagoda continued until dusk fell: even under the lanterns that decorated the Palace's gardens, it was far too late for the sparring pair to continue with their countless duels. Dinner would be served soon, and as was tradition, the two families that dwelled in the Palace would enjoy the last meal of the day in a large dining room once everyone was ready – naturally, Azula and Sokka had no choice but to take quick showers before the meal, both enjoying the soreness after indulging in more exercise than they usually subjected their bodies to, these days.

"So… we're eating ten minutes later because you two were up to no good, as usual?" Song asked once they finally arrived at the dining room where the staff was still setting down their meals.

"Why, I wouldn't put it that way. Our spectators seem to have enjoyed the show," Azula said, smiling at the chatty members of both families.

"Yeah, Ji-Seon and Soo-Min had fun too, right?" Sokka grinned at the twin girls, who offered him a shy smile too and a shrug as they stood near Song. "Hey, now: you two were so lively when you were cheering us on like half an hour ago! You can tell your mom you had a great time, can't you?"

"It was… okay," Ji-Seon said, softly. Sokka huffed in disappointment as the two soft-spoken girls giggled at his reaction.

"I bet they don't dare say what they really think because you spook them into silence, Song," Sokka declared, stubbornly. He received a light flick of his shoulder for his remark, and as much as it stung, Sokka snickered deviously afterwards all the same.

"Why do you love picking fights you know you can't win?" Rui Shi asked, shaking his head as his wife smirked proudly at his words. "Leave Song alone, you're beyond outmatched, Sokka."

"I'm aware, I'm aware…" Sokka chuckled, marching to an empty seat in the dining room once the staff was finished setting up the meal.

There were no set, chosen seats in the dining room, for there was no need for strict behavior or protocol when it came to their family dinners and the moments they shared behind closed doors. The children would sometimes sit with their respective parents, though Shun certainly was thrilled to sit with Rui Shi often, ever asking him questions about firebending that the guard answered without fail. Hotaru would choose different seats on occasion, typically choosing to sit with Rei or with Song at times, but most often she would stay near her parents, and she did as much today as they prepared to enjoy a dinner Azula would find very fulfilling, especially after all her exercise from hours before the sun had set.

"So… according to multiple sources, you were sparring to determine which one of you is prettier?" Song blinked blankly, eyeing both Azula and Sokka with skepticism that was answered with guilty laughter. "I mean, as far as silly reasons to argue, that one's not even the weirdest one you've come up with, I'm sure… but can I ask who won?"

"Uh… technically?" Sokka scratched the back of his neck.

"Neither of us did," Azula smiled sadly as she glanced at Song, sitting beside her. "You see, Sokka won the first round. I asked for an amendment of the conditions of our duel, so that it would be the best out of three, right?"

"And she beat me twice in a row after that," Sokka said, with a sad smile.

"Which resulted in him asking for a 'best out of five', instead…"

"And then the same thing happened over and over and over again?" Song guessed. Their broad grins answered the question, and she had nothing left to do but laugh at their ridiculousness: she elbowed Azula gently now, shaking her head as she returned to her meal. "And you seriously wanted to convince me that you're too old… you two are as wild, energetic, reckless and ridiculous as you ever were, say what you will."

"Yes, sure, I'm not that old just yet… still, Sokka and I a lost cause, always have been," Azula shrugged, smiling at her husband again.

"Heh, I mean, that's true… but that has nothing to do with age," Sokka smirked.

"Certainly not, and I don't think anyone's going to deny as much," Azula smiled at Sokka, sitting across her as he was. He grinned brightly, raising his glass in her direction as a toast before downing his nighttime drink.

Their dinner was lively and enjoyable, as the children took to recounting Sokka and Azula's duels – though Shun also made sure to share the leadup of the entire contest between his parents, especially amused by bringing up that Hotaru's friends were weird. The cheerful atmosphere in the room couldn't have been more distant from the somber feeling clinging to the place on the previous day, when many of the grown-ups had been absent due to highly demanding duties they couldn't neglect. Today, it seemed, they were making up for those failings by far, and the children were perfectly happy as they parted ways with Song and Rui Shi's family that night – their quarters were nearby, though distant enough to provide them and their daughters with the same privacy the other family shared in their own wing.

The process at night wasn't all that different from the mornings: the kids cleaned up, and then their parents ensured to help them change for bed, if need be. Yet Shun and Yuuna seemed determined not to tuck in just yet, and neither of their parents had much trouble guessing why, especially once the two kids dashed out of their rooms to find further strength in numbers before their next demand.

"Oh, boy," Sokka smiled a little, as he and Azula converged again in the corridor. "I'm afraid we both know what's coming, don't we?"

"Here I thought we'd put on quite the silly show this afternoon already," Azula smiled, catching his hand in hers. "I'm afraid we spoil our children rotten, Sokka."

"Well, now, they live a way humbler life than you used to, so I have no idea what you mean by that…" Sokka said, looking away from his wife in a guilty manner. Azula chuckled, shaking her head.

"Humbler in some ways, maybe… but the spoiling they get is precisely the kind I didn't get when I was their age."

"And is that a bad thing?" Sokka asked, raising an eyebrow. Azula shook her head again.

"Instinctively, I'd think not. As long as they know they're loved…" she said, softly. Sokka smiled, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and reeling her in for a quick embrace, and a kiss on the top of her head.

"As long as you know you are, too, our family will thrive for sure," Sokka declared. Azula sighed, dropping her head on his shoulder with a gentle smile… just in time to hear Shun groaning at the sight of them in such a tender embrace. "Well, unless Shun decides to protest all happiness ever, that is…"

"It's story time!" Yuuna exclaimed: she dragged both Hotaru and Rei by the hand towards where her parents stood, and Shun followed, though still as reluctant to be near his parents as ever if they were being too cheesy together.

"I suppose I do owe you at least one story after last night, huh?" Azula said, with a deep sigh. "Well, then… which room?"

"Your room!" Yuuna exclaimed: she let go of Hotaru and Rei, racing towards the larger and grander doorway in the corridor and shoving it open happily.

Both her parents watched her with amusement, unsurprised by her choice: the child loved to hear her parents' most extraordinary and ridiculous stories while sitting with all her siblings at the foot of their bed – meanwhile, both Azula and Sokka would enact their stories together theatrically, playing their roles as well as they could, ever aiming towards amusing the younger members of their family.

Shun cheered and rushed after Yuuna, while Hotaru followed with a gentle smile. She clasped Sokka's hand, guiding him to the room as Rei marched next to Azula, quietly inquiring about which story she intended to share that day, and if perhaps she and Sokka might need a third actor for their performance.

Hours later, the impromptu play reached its end: the children's energetic disposition was well and truly spent and, if just for the time being, all of them rested on their parents' bed. It was far from the first time this had happened, hence, both Azula and Sokka had blankets at their disposal to cover all four of them before sitting together by the small balcony of their suite, enjoying their first quiet moment together since the early afternoon. The night sky offered them a blissful spectacle of stars that blinked brightly, shining upon them as their hectic day came to a close.

"It's bound to be midnight soon… we really should just carry them to their rooms and go to bed, too," Azula sighed, relaxing on Sokka's lap. "I have no idea what's going to happen tomorrow… though, unless something's urgent, I do have to answer all that mail. Totally forgot to…"

"No one's going to be upset about not getting instant responses from you, love," Sokka said, kissing her cheek gently. She groaned. "Hey: you can't be unpunctual with letters if no one knows when to expect the answer."

"Says you…"

"Says common sense," he declared, haughtily. Azula snorted, amused.

"Not likely, considering you don't have any," she said. Sokka yelped in horror and his wife laughed at his reaction, hugging him tighter still. "Admittedly, it's one of your fun qualities, so don't try to prove me wrong about that…"

"That's unfair. I have to accept having no common sense now because you find that appealing about me? What vicious pitfalls you set up for me, dear wife…" he smirked, rubbing her back gently with a hand. "Say… want something to drink? I know it wasn't that messed-up a day, but I guess you may have needed some lychee wine after yesterday…"

"It wasn't a messed-up day at all," Azula said, closing her eyes and caressing his chest. "Not that I'll reject the offer anyway, but it was a great day. It outdid all my expectations by far."

"Hmm? Good to know," Sokka grinned deviously, kissing her lips quickly before making to stand up.

He fetched the lychee wine bottle as well as two cups, going about it as quickly and furtively as possible, ensuring not to alert the others of what he was up to. He poured the liquor for Azula first, then his own, and they toasted quietly while smiling at each other.

"To honor a good performance," he said. "Both just now, of course, and earlier with our duels. You keep on getting stronger every day, you know?"

"As do you, hence why neither of us could outdo the other properly today," Azula said, smiling as she sipped the drink slowly. She sighed happily, throwing her head back on the lounge's backrest as she relaxed once more. "Honestly… what you did today defied all my expectations."

"Well, I goofed about a lot, and sure, I did what I could to help you with work, but…" Sokka smiled, shaking his head. "It's hardly like I've never ever done those things before, now, have I?"

"You may have, but you always find ways to surprise me," Azula smiled. "Even with declared sneak attacks that, henceforth, are not sneak attacks whatsoever…"

"That's the way you like them, though. You can't convince me otherwise," Sokka smiled, and his wife chuckled softly.

"It's the way I like you. My silly husband, making every possible choice he can to ensure every single one of us has a reason to smile," Azula said, gazing at him affectionately. "Always keeping me sane… always following up my worst days with the best ones. Doesn't matter how many times you do it… it's like you're always doing everything you can to ensure I'm caught off-guard by overwhelming happiness."

"Ah… she's onto me. Damn it. How do I deflect her accusations now without looking uncool…?" Sokka said, a hand on his chin as he smirked playfully. Azula chuckled, shaking her head as she leaned over towards him.

"If failing to hide that makes you uncool, then fine, we can be uncool fools together," Azula said. "We're well past the point where coolness should be a priority for us, anyhow."

"Heh, true. Besides, going by what Hotaru's friends reacted like, we're probably the coolest parents in the world without even knowing it, huh?" Sokka smiled. Azula chuckled, shaking her head.

"Well, whether we are or aren't… I hope you know I'll return the favor eventually," Azula said. Sokka hummed, puzzled. "You know, what I said earlier…"

"About being caught off-guard by overwhelming happiness?" Sokka smiled. "Heh, sorry to say you can't do that to me, Azula."

"Really, now?" Azula raised her eyebrows. Her husband chuckled, cupping her face and kissing her lips.

"Every single day I get to spend with you is already a day of overwhelming happiness, see?" he said. "Maybe we'll do crazy things, crazier than sparring, if you want us to… but even if we don't, even if we just sit together for hours on end in an empty room, I'd already be so damn happy to be with you that whatever we're up to wouldn't really matter. So… overwhelming happiness is the norm for me with you, love. See?"

"Heh. You're as corny as ever," Azula smiled, pressing her brow to his.

"And you're as bashful about it as ever," Sokka retaliated, with a snicker. "But… I bet you think what I said is some sort of challenge."

"Your claim that I can't catch you off-guard? Oh, yes, it is…"

"It wasn't meant as one… but after I said it, I kind of heard it again in my head and I knew you'd take it that way," Sokka chuckled, pressing a quick kiss to her lips.

"Therefore, that didn't catch you off-guard, either?" Azula asked, smirking. Sokka chuckled, shaking his head. "Damn you. I'll turn the tables on you eventually when you least expect it."

"So… you're going to scheme to make me happy? That's what you're saying?" Sokka laughed quietly.

"Look who's talking: that's what you did with me all day, Sokka," Azula chuckled, prodding his nose with hers. "Waking me up as you did, being the wonderful father you are, sparring with me, giving me every chance to rest I didn't even want to admit I needed… it was an ordinary day, by all standards, and yet you managed to make it extraordinary just by being who you are."

Sokka smiled, raising an eyebrow with mild amusement: if he meant to respond at all, he failed to do so as Azula pressed her lips to his. His arm tightened around her waist as they lost their way in that maze of kisses they shared until they almost spilled the drinks they had been holding. The realization brought them to laugh together again, brows pressed to each other as they smiled brightly.

"Thank you," Azula said, earnestly. "For calming my restless heart every single time I need it… for being my harbor in every storm. For being the greatest partner anyone could have hoped to find, too…"

"It's almost as though you haven't noticed you do the same for me," Sokka smiled. "But that's okay. I can spend the rest of our days trying to get you to accept that… just as I have to try to get you to accept you're the more beautiful one, of course."

"Is there any chance that I might convince you to accept today's result and not try to compete with each other anymore, beauty-wise?" Azula smiled. Sokka snorted, shaking his head promptly.

"Absurd. Preposterous. Unthinkable," he said, raising his head haughtily and draining the rest of his drink. Azula chuckled, following his example and setting the cup aside on the small tea table before them. "We may be equals in as many regards as you please, but I refuse to accept it in that one. Not a chance."

"Well… if I just focus on the positives, I suppose I'll just be grateful that my husband still finds me so desirable after all this time," Azula laughed. Sokka smiled, pressing another kiss to her lips.

"And he always will," he whispered. "My whole world has become so much bigger ever since I started seeing it by your side… but you know what? I like it as simple and small as it was today, too. If I can continue to live, day by day, doing everything in my power to make sure our family is as happy as can be… then I think my life's true purpose will have been fulfilled."

"That was the purpose, then? Not, I don't know, ending the war, saving the world…?"

"Nah. Building this family is the bigger achievement," Sokka said, grinning deviously. Azula laughed, shaking her head.

"And you still expected to convince me that you have common sense," she said.

"You did say you liked that about me, though…" Sokka chuckled, and Azula nodded.

"Gives me plenty of room to poke fun at you… so of course I do," she said. Sokka chuckled as she pressed her lips to his brow. "I said it already, I'll say it a thousand times: thank you for today, and for every single day you brighten up for me. Which, well, is every single day I get to wake up beside you, and to go to bed with you, so…"

"Which we should get to soon, admittedly," Sokka chuckled, glancing over at their slumbering family. "Though I can't help but dread they'll wake up while we carry them off…"

"They might," Azula smiled, glancing at them as well. "Though you did say once, many years ago, that my bed was so big a whole family would fit in it…"

"Oh? Is that what we're doing tonight?" Sokka smirked. Azula winked at him.

"See? Caught you off-guard with that idea. Told you I could do it," she said, with a soft chuckle. Sokka laughed too, reeling her into his arms one more time for a tender, affectionate kiss…

The mattress certainly was large enough for all six of them to fit in it comfortably, especially as Yuuna and Shun were still quite small. Rei woke up briefly, and she was perplexed to find herself in what appeared to be an impromptu slumber party… but she wound up laughing off the surprising situation as she held Yuuna closely, by the foot of the bed, while Hotaru and Shun nestled closer to the middle, near their parents. They wouldn't be likely to do this often, Azula suspected, no matter if the kids were bound to beg for it to happen again once they woke up, but a lighthearted night of simply enjoying the company of their kids seemed to be the perfect way to wrap up the most unexpected day… a day in which their blissful, tight family had been delightfully caught off-guard numerous times by the brightest happiness.

#sokkla #sokka #azula #sokkla saturdays 2022 #sokklasaturdays #writing this may have restored a few of the years I lost from my lifespan caused by Gladiator Part 3 #so if anyone is feeling that way about it... #I really do advise you heal with this one #I have no idea if any of what I wrote this year is that good but #at least it was fun to write #may you all enjoy it too! #these two and their marriage are goals #and their big family #found family and biological alike #*gross sobbing* #hotaru #shun #yuuna #rei #song #rui shi #song shi

[kingedmundsroyalmurder]

Tagged by @batrachised. Thank you!

1-How many works do you have on AO3?

102. We will not discuss the number of fics posted on the ff.net account I maintained in high school.

2-What's your total AO3 word count?

298,956. Lower than I would have expected, actually. My longfic days were primarily, again, in high school, so on AO3 it's mostly shorter one-shots.

3-What fandoms do you write for?

Currently on a Blue Castle kick. Previously my main fandom was Les Mis, mostly bookverse, and prior to that I spent a decade or so as a Harry Potter girl. I have dabbled in other things, but none of them deeply enough for me to consider them actual fandoms that I am in.

4-What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

In the darkest time of year -- Hadestown, post-canon. I believe this is also the fic with the most notes on tumblr.

The Black Sheep and the Mad Muggleborn: a love story -- HP, post-canon. I really liked writing this one and, like all my HP work, now have deeply conflicted feelings about it.

And I could be enough -- Power Rangers 2017, character study. I only wrote 2 fics for this movie and I adore them both so much.

Stormforged -- ASOIAF, alternate ending. This was written for Femslash February and represents the sum total amount of time I have spent thinking about ASOIAF since reading the first four books in a week during standardized testing week back in high school.

We rose with voices ringing -- HP, alternate post-canon. Can you tell I default to song lyric titles a lot and also enjoy musicals?

5-Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I am trying to be better about this! For a long time I didn't because I hated everything I wrote the moment I published it and the only way I could publish at all was to throw a fic out the door and never think of it again.

6-What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

You know, I'm not sure. I haven't done full on angst in a long time. Probably either Waiting for sunrise (LM) or With nothing to remember (also LM). Honorable mention goes to Real in its consequences (still LM) which exists solely to take a ridiculous premise seriously.

7-What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

It's new and still my beautiful child, so this one goes to Ties That Bind, Bonds That Strengthen (TBC).

Oh! Honorable mention to The title of citizen (LM Animates-verse). It's... it just has to be read to be understood, tbh.

8-Do you get hate on fics?

Not since the old aforementioned high school era ffn account, where I once got flamed for writing het. Ah, the good old days. (It wasn't even endgame het, lol.)

9-Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Nope. I've played with some fade to black and a couple, like, sensuous bed scenes, but I find it boring to read so I don't write it.

10-Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I have come to love crossovers, honestly. I like putting characters into Situations. Can't think of any particularly crazy ones though.

11-Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I've ever found or been told about, although realistically with how much I've written and how long I've been doing it I'm sure there are some out there.

12-Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, but I can't off the top of my head remember which ones, unfortunately.

13-Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

No. I am a dreadful co-writer. I will, however, build a world with you at the drop of a hat. Shout out to @steelplatedhearts for the PoTC mermaid worldbuilding we did years and years ago that I still think about fondly.

14-What's your all-time favourite ship?

It varies. Right now unfortunately it's the two leads from the Forbidden Hugs story, which is unfinished original fiction. Fandom wise, I still like me some Logic and Philosophy.

15-What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Anything started earlier than this year, unfortunately.

16-What are your writing strengths?

I like to think I have gotten decent at having an entertaining narrative voice without it being too distracting.

17-What are your writing weaknesses?

Plot? What plot? Plot is when people sit in rooms and have conversations about their feelings, right? What do you mean Events must occur? I'm calling my manager, this doesn't sound right at all.

18-Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Mostly feels needlessly pretentious, honestly. I don't know if I've ever really even considered it.

19-First fandom you wrote for?

HP, starting at age, oh, 14 or so.

20-Favorite fic you've ever written?

Again, Ties That Bind is still my beloved child, but I have a huge soft spot for both Power Rangers (2017) fics. Oh, and underdog fav status to Never go anywhere, never see anyone, the nichest of niche crossovers where Mary Bolkonskaya befriends doesn't-even-get-a-canonical-first-name Aunt Gillenormand.

Tagging @lemeute, @manyswarmsofbees, @amarguerite, @ohhgingersnaps

#audience participation

[mollymarymarie]

I just finished your fic DYH and omg I am so obsessed. I was thinking about how much I wanted to restart it before I even finished it. This is the first one read of your Fics but if all of your Fics have the tension and flow and the one liners and the characterization then I am absolutely, without a doubt completely hooked. I was grinned like a mad man and I swear I’ve never fallen in love with a Remus or Sirius sooner. Oml the way you talk about music and the way you talk about religion and the way you talk about the way their bodies move in everyday movements… there is nothing more I need from this world. Everyone was chefs kiss. I originally, started this fic because my friend sadly couldn’t finish reading it, do to their own personal reason, so I told them I’d read it and tell them everything about it. That was two nights ago. I’ve tried to read it as fast as I can while still savoring every single word. And oh how I honestly just want to dive right back in. I just want more Fics like this. I was raised religious but I’m not anymore and yet the way you wrote it never gave me the ick. It is honestly so wonderful. And I was just wondering, long story short, if maybe you wanted to be friends? If not that totally cool but know I absolutely, admire your work! I hope you’re having a lovely day! And that this isn’t filled with too many grammar or spelling issues to make it a dread to read. Bye!:)

HELLO YES I ABSOLUTELY WANT TO BE FRIENDS

This is so sweet and so wonderful of you to say! I'm sorry your friend had to bow out of the fic (totally understand, not everything is for everyone) but that is ADORABLE that you just offered to read it in their place and give them the main points?? Like, that just makes me so happy. You are obviously a very kind and caring person AND THATS ANOTHER REASON WHY WE SHOULD BE FRIENDS

Really, so glad you liked this fic. It's one of my own personal favorites (strangely, like, a comfort fic to myself?? I wrote it for future me, evidently, because I, myself, need to hear some of the things I wrote in that fic. That probably sounds narcissistic, I know). And I hope you read some of my other works! I hope they're equally as good!

#I got an ask! #DYH ask #Dear Your Holiness #You are so precious #Thank you so much #This is so lovely!!!

[the-blind-geisha]

Questions about OCs and stuff

You can find the original file here! I reblogged it super late at night.

Gonna fill this one out myself, because it looked fun!

OC questions:

* Who was your first ever OC? Do you still “use” them? How have they evolved over time?

Oreana was my first ever OC, and yes I do! She evolved from me wanting to write myself in with my favorite fixations to becoming her own actual character.

I could tell as a character she wanted to have the princess title removed, but I refused since I wanted that to be another obstacle for her. XD

2. Who is your newest OC? Why did you make them?

Asther Thyme, my goat OC was one I bought on toyhouse, but newest one made by me is Demiurge turned into a jackal.

I bought the goat because I am trying to rethink about this old idea of mine I wrote years ago as a kid that had more furries in it than humans. Demiurge turning into a jackal was just originally for fun but he stayed after awhile.

3. Biggest self-insert OC?

Oreana. XD; While she's come a long ass way since then, I still feel the parts of me that are in her.

4.What kind of music do your OCs listen to?

There's too many to list. Oreana just likes anything with a good beat, and Ignatius and Demiurge prefer instrumental.

5. What are some of your OCs biggest fears?

Oreana: being used again Ignatius: enduring loss again Demiurge: the loss of himself

Demona: never returning home

Cheshire: Demiurge ever getting his Creator's love when he feels he doesn't deserve it.

6. Do you have any OCs without stories? Will you ever create one for them?

Yuna, Asther, Elasha, and Haruka. Their Toyhouse bios aren't even filled in yet, because I don't know what to do. XD;

And yes, they will! I just have to get my ideas all together first.

7. What are your favourite relationships between your OCs? (romantic or platonic!)

Romantic, mainly because of the lack of love in my life. XD;

8. Do you have any OC family trees?

Oreana does have parents and 2 brothers—as well as an ancestor I can't get into because that's spoilery, and Ignatius has a twin brother.

9. Favourite OC?

It bounces from Oreana, Ignatius, to Demiurge.

10. OC you most struggled to make?

Ignatius. In fact, he went through a redesign about a year—er two years—ago. He originally was just going to look very much like a guy from YYH I loved but a naga, till I decided to make him more like an amalgamation of characters and ideas I loved. Doing that was so much so for the better. As I don't have to feel fixated on the one canon character to be fixated on him.

Fanfic questions:

11. * Sum up one or more of your wips!

Werewolf professor in a fantasy styled Victorian London looks to try and quell the fear over the werewolf curse. It's a commission so I can't really plop too much of it down.

12. Which story took the most research?

Anything from Assassin's Creed. Especially the Victorian London ones regarding brothels, tuberculosis, opium dens, and factories.

Don't get me started on the sex stuff... since that was considered 'prudish', it feels nearly lost to time.

13. Which story has the most lore?

Uuuh... A Love Most Profound and or The Demon King of the Desert, depending what you mean. Both spoke of their beliefs and even had rough outlines of their worlds.

14. Current word count of all your main wips?

I don't think I have any active yet since I'm on vacation.

15. How many projects do you have going on right now? Are there any that you doubt you’ll ever finish?

I have my private journal

A private personal story

In Another Life, We Could Have Been Lovers

Amnesia: A Dreamer's Requiem

An Empty Heart Full of Memories

The Devil After Midnight

The Devil's Tome

Within the Dream Temptation

The Princess and the Dove

I am not sure. I would like to get through all of these, but it's doubtful.

16. What was you first major project? How far along is it?

I guess The Devil's Contract would be considered that. And it's done now at 50 chapters. I was quite happy to have it finished.

17. What are some tropes and character dynamics found in your wips?

Slow burn, soulmates, and just romantic stuff.

18. Describe the setting of one or more of your wips

Horror fantasy of who is doing what and what is happening under the OC's nose, Victorian werewolf fantasy, and murder fantasy with a bit of reincarnation? I guess we'll say.

19. What are some things that inspired your stories? Real events? Maybe a dream?

Dreams more than anything, and if not those, anything I play or watch. Even The Demon King had elements of LOZ in it.

20. What story are you the proudest of? Why?

The Demon King of the Desert. It helped me come to terms with a bit more online trauma, and it seemed to touch a few folks. So I'm happy with it.

About me questions:

21. * When did you start considering yourself a writer/artist?

Artist, I always felt I was one. In fact, I was quite upset when I got online and people preferred my writing over my art. XD But I came to terms with it after awhile. Heck, I realize when I blend the two, people enjoy both.

Writing started to happen the more I wrote stories on websites, and folks came to love them or use them as a means to shoulder through a tough time in their life.

22. What are all the “kinds” of writing/art you do? (short stories, poetry, screenplays, digital, painting, clay, etc.)

I do short stories, poetry, digital art, traditional art too at some points—and sing as well as (kind of) play the piano.

23. Are you in any writer/artist groups? (Ex: discord server!)

Sadly, not really. I get nervous to spread my works to places I'm not comfortable in. But I've heard joining discord servers is a good idea.

24. Do you have/want a career in your medium? If not, what do you do/want to do instead? I would love to publish a book or do a comic of some sort. How I'll go about that, I have zero clue.

25. What’s your favourite genre to write? Is it also your favourite genre to read?

Fantasy and or romance. I prefer to read fantasy over reading romance. I only write romance because of the trauma in my life.

26. What are your favourite books?

The Maze Runner and The Last Unicorn.

27. What are your favourite movies?

The Last Unicorn,Watership Down, and now The Super Mario Brothers Movie (I've watched it like 4 times since I bought it lol).

28. Favourite songs at the moment?

Moonlight Shadow (original artist Mike Oldfield but any artist will do), The Secret of Monkey Island intro melody, and Tombi from Trigun.

29. What was your first fandom you were in? Did you make any art/fanfic for it?

Ronin Warriors, and yes, I wrote and drew for it but ALL that stuff is now archived and lost to time. Lol Well, only gone from the net, really. I still have it offline.

#questions #mod talks #fanfiction #stories #artwork #about me #answers #i wanted to do them all #b/c i found them interesting #ocs #original characters #mywriting #my characters

[opalesense]

um um hiii! im like literally in l o v e with ur writing, especially the diluc and kaeya stories (im such a simp omg) and was wondering if you could do some more diluc x reader x kaeya nsfw—

ofc you can ignore this but ty if you consider it!! stay hydrated and safe ily <3

over the counter

diluc x f!reader x kaeya (NSFW)

6.5k words • ~40 min. read

summary: after a tense night at the tavern, kaeya accidentally forgets his belongings and comes back to see you and diluc having an intimate moment – or maybe it wasn’t an accident...

warnings: slight degradation, a lot of jealousy!!  drama!!

notes: reader is in a relationship with diluc beforehand just to switch things up a little from my last fic! also this fic favors diluc a lot more so diluc simps come get your juice ;D thanks for waiting anon ily too <3 i’m so sorry this took so long T_T

SPENDING WEEKEND NIGHTS AT THE TAVERN was not uncommon for you. In fact, whether you were in the mood to drink or not, one of the main reasons you frequently visited the bar was to keep Diluc company, who greatly appreciated the effort you put into making sure he didn’t feel alone while he worked. Evenings with the two of you were often spent idly chatting while he served drinks, which surely kept his spirits up throughout the longer and busier nights. Customers usually commented about how Diluc always seemed to have a grin on his face when you were around, unlike some other nights where his deadpan expression often intimidated the people of Mondstadt and subsequently intimidated the customers themselves.

 That didn’t stop business from booming, of course. As long as the alcohol was good and quickly served, customers couldn’t care less about how intimidating Diluc could be. Neither would they care about how he would sneak some free drinks to your seat across the bar if you asked for it, or how he would shyly rest his hand on top of yours if the night was slow and no one was paying attention.

 In the end, on weekend nights when you were sitting in your favorite seat at the bar that was conveniently never taken no matter how busy the night was (or maybe not so convenient, since Diluc always made sure to secretly reserve it when the weekend rolled around), people knew never to bother the two of you. After all, on nights when Diluc was happy, he gave spectacular service to bargoers, who decidedly took advantage of this hospitality and thus visited Angels Share more often knowing the atmosphere was better if you were there.

 But of course, as soon as a certain blue haired customer walked into the establishment to take his long awaited night off of the week, Diluc couldn’t help but shake his head at you and sarcastically remark, “Well, here comes trouble...”

 “What, are you not happy to see me, brother?” After placing his belongings down, Kaeya took his seat next to you and shot you a friendly grin to briefly acknowledge your presence. “I’ve been coming here after work almost every night for so long – have you finally gotten tired of me already?”

 Diluc rolled his eyes and began making a Death After Noon for his brother, already knowing the specific bittersweet flavor he likes without Kaeya needing to ask. “Come to think of it, it’s about time I take off that family discount of yours, I’ve been too nice to you these past months.”

 Kaeya crossed his arms as he leaned forward on the counter with a scoff. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

 “It means I need financial compensation for the headache that you induce whenever you’re in the same vicinity as me,” Diluc joked as he finished making the drink then set it in front of Kaeya, who took the glass with a pout and turned to face you.

 “You hear this guy? Financial compensation... as if he needs it, being the richest jerk in all of Mondstadt to date.”

 “Watch your tone, idiot,” Diluc snapped back as he turned to serve another awaiting customer.

 There was no doubt that the two seemed to get along quite well as of late.  At first it was almost as if they were both trying to impress you by showing you that they could be nice to each other as per your request, but as time passed, competition turned into a slow realization of having genuine concern for each other, and the brothers have been on the road to reconciliation ever since.  Even when Diluc ended up being the one to completely sweep you off your feet and steal your heart, Kaeya never showed any opposition and even encouraged your relationship.  “Despite everything, you truly deserve her, ‘Luc,” you overheard him reassure Diluc months ago after admitting defeat in their competition.

 There was no doubt that you loved Diluc more than anything.  He provided you with everything you could ever ask for, from emotional support and material things to overwhelming satisfaction in the bedroom.  But at the back of your mind, especially on slightly tipsy nights such as this one, lies a certain lingering thought about that certain blue haired brother.  Was it so bad to fantasize about being pressed between the two?  Was it so bad to imagine the feeling of being fondled and manhandled by both of them at the same time?  Was it so bad to be at least curious about being shared between the two?

 You took a sip of your free drink as you stared blankly at the dents on the wooden counter.

 Maybe it is bad, you thought.

 After all, if Diluc mentioned that he wanted a threesome with someone else, you wouldn’t exactly be ecstatic about it.

 That’s why you would never mention these fantasies to either of them, despite trusting them both with all of your secrets after being close with them for so long.  You were scared of how Diluc would react to your curiosity.  You were scared he would get the wrong impression and that your relationship would come tumbling down as a consequence of your little fantasy.

 Maybe it is bad.

 Your thoughts were interrupted by Kaeya snapping his fingers in front of your face.  His head was tilted to the side as if he were trying to meet your downturned gaze.  “Hey.  Did I lose you?  What’s going on in that pretty little head of yours?”

 “I was just lost in thought,” you ignored the subtle compliment and averted your eyes from the counter to look at Kaeya’s face, the shadows of the dimly lit tavern casting on him at the perfect angle to show off his features.  You had to admit he was handsome - hell, all of Mondstadt surely thought so too.  You glanced around nervously looking for Diluc to see a glimpse of his fiery hair heading up the stairs to the second floor, presumably to serve a table.  He was understaffed today, you remember him saying.

 “What were we talking about again?” you asked Kaeya, a little dazed and confused, overwhelmed by the reality of the moment.  The clinking of glasses throughout the tavern, the bard playing the lyre in the corner, and the large group of rowdy men at a nearby table flooded your senses, leaving you a bit dizzy with no help at all from the alcohol.  He simply laughed, gazing down as he swirled his own drink in his glass then met your eyes once more.

 “I was asking how you and Diluc have been,” his sharp stare contrasted with his soft grin as the currently sober man turned his stool to completely face you.  There was intention in his eyes, but you couldn’t exactly pinpoint what those intentions were.  “I know he doesn’t like to catch up with small talk so I don’t like to bother asking him about what’s new.”

 With the heel of your boot you decided to turn your stool to face him as well.  Your knees were less than an inch away from touching his, which made you internally flustered given the fantasy you were just thinking about.  You tried your best to keep your eyes on his face, ignoring his exposed skin just under his neck.  He tilted his head back and took a sip of his drink then continued.  “Besides, I enjoy talking to you more than him anyway.”

 You could see right through him in this moment.  Or at least, you thought you could.  Maybe you were overthinking it, but you swore you could see his sapphire eyes slowly trail from your eyes down your body all the way to your grazing knees then dart back up again.

 Maybe it was bad.  Maybe it was the lighting.

 “We’ve been doing good,” you nodded, studying his face more.  “He’s been a lot happier recently since the two of you have been getting along more.  Don’t tell him I told you that, though,” you leaned in slightly with a wink.

 Kaeya let out a low chuckle at that and looked down at his glass again, taking a moment to form his next words.  With a nod, he let out a sigh of relief.  “That’s great.  You’ve been looking a lot happier too, I can tell.”

 “Oh?  How exactly can you tell?  We haven’t seen each other in a while,” you crossed your legs, feeling defensive, which accidentally brushed his in the process.  You quietly apologized and he slightly lifted his hand up to excuse you.

 “Oh, it’s nothing too crazy.  It’s just the glow in your face and the pep in your step when I see you on the streets while I’m out patrolling.  Seems like Diluc’s got one happy girl,” he tilted his head back for another sip, and for a moment, you saw his genial smile drop as he set his glass back down on the counter.  But as quickly as he let go of his façade , he quickly masked his intentions again with a chuckle.

 He seemed a little jealous, you thought.  But before you could fully form a thought around that idea, Diluc came back with a tray in hand, empty glasses and mugs balancing on top of his palm.  He carefully placed each of them into the sink and got to work on washing then drying them.

 “How have you been, Kaeya?” he said with his back turned towards you both, “You weren’t flirting with my [Y/N] while I was gone, were you?”

 “How could I do such a thing?” Kaeya huffed, seemingly offended.  “Put some more faith in me, brother.”

 Diluc turned around with a glass in hand, drying it with a rag and initially focusing his attention on Kaeya.  You watched as the two stared at each other across the bar for a few moments, the air suddenly getting thicker as they both emanated a strange seriousness, almost as if they were arguing telepathically.  Diluc’s intense stare burned into Kaeya’s cold expression, his arms tensing up so much that you thought he was going to break the glass in his hands.  It was a little scary to witness how quickly the mood could change in only a few minutes, and feeling a little uncomfortable, you decided to stand up and make your way to the second floor balcony for some fresh air, away from the loud atmosphere of the main room and even further away from whatever random feud the brothers sparked up tonight.

 The crisp air was meditative.  It was soothing to stand on the balcony, leaning over the rail and staring into the night sky, letting your mind wander.  Your days were often bustling with work and interacting with people so it was very rare to have a moment like this to yourself.  At first, you figured it would be best to go back downstairs – after all, it had been a week since you’ve talked to Kaeya and it would be nice to catch up with your friend.  But you weren’t sure why the mood was suddenly so tense, especially since nothing had really happened and as much as you knew how Diluc was protective over you, you felt like he was overreacting.

 As you took slow sips of your drink, savoring the taste and gazing upon the night life of Mondstadt below, seconds turned into minutes, then minutes turned into an hours, and soon the moon had settled into the midnight sky and the tavern was nearing its closing time.  You hadn’t realized that so much time had passed until Kaeya, who was usually the last customer to leave the tavern, whistled towards you from below as he was walking home, waving to get your attention then finally turning away and bidding farewell.

 “Darling,” you heard a familiar voice behind you as you were waving back to Kaeya, “Did I do something to upset you?”

 You turned to see a clearly apologetic Diluc standing in the balcony doorway, his arms crossed and hair messily thrown up into a ponytail.  “Why didn’t you come back inside?  We were waiting for you,” he quietly asked as he slowly approached you.

 He placed his hands on your waist and pressed his forehead against yours while rubbing small circles into your sides with his thumbs.  You pressed a soft kiss to his lips which he gladly returned with several more gentle kisses across your face, humming slowly and patiently waiting for your response.

 “You didn’t do anything wrong, Diluc.  I really just needed some fresh air.  I’ve felt a little overwhelmed all night and didn’t notice how much time passed,” you muttered.

 You were telling half the truth.

 You didn’t want to admit that you thought Diluc was being a little overdramatic, and you certainly didn’t want to tell him that you were overwhelmed with the thought of being touched by him and his brother at the same time.  Some things are better left unsaid.

 Maybe that was bad.  Maybe white lies were okay, only for now.

 He pressed one last kiss to your forehead before nodding as he processed your words.  “Let’s get you warmed up back inside, you must have been freezing out here.”

 “I didn’t think this is what you meant by getting warmed up,” you softly giggled in between passionate kisses as his bare, warm hands traveled up your top to eventually pull the entire damned thing off.  He tossed it off to the side mindlessly before unbuttoning his own uniform top and letting it drape next to yours over the bar stool it landed on.

 “I’ve had a long night,” he trailed the kisses down to your neck, gently biting enough to only leave subtle marks and murmuring against your skin.  He lifted you up onto the counter to get better leverage over you, slowly spreading your legs apart then continuing the kisses down your collarbone.  “And you look so beautiful tonight, I can’t help myself.”

 “Just make it quick, okay?” you nervously looked at the window behind him which allowed the moonlight to illuminate the already darkened bar but also allowed anyone who felt like peering in to clearly see the two of you getting touchy in the tavern.  You let him press up against you regardless, feeling his bulge grind against your clothed hips desperately.  “What if someone sees?” you whispered, teasing him with the idea of getting interrupted and caught, which you knew annoyed him to the core.

 “Good,” he paused for a moment to look up at you, his hungry eyes burning into your memory.  “Let them see that you’re clearly mine.”

 Your heart throbbed at this sudden possessiveness and with a naughty smirk, you decided to give up the innocent act.  With a few swift movements, the rest of your clothes were ripped off until you were half naked, the only remaining bit of modesty you had being the underwear that clinged to your skin until Diluc eventually pulled that off too, exposing you fully to him.

 “So beautiful,” he sighed as he kneeled down in front of you, pulling your hips towards him then pinning your knees to the counter as he lowered his head to your aroused cunt.  “And all mine.”

 You couldn’t help but let out quiet, staggered breaths as he immediately wrapped his lips around your clit, gently sucking and nibbling on the sensitive nub as his eyes remained glued to yours.  “All y-yours,” you reaffirmed, which made him hum in appreciation.

 He had never considered fucking you in the tavern before, especially since he rarely had the establishment all to himself for a shift, but just this once, he was happy he was understaffed tonight.  All the frustrations he had endured this evening, from the annoying table on the main floor to bickering with Kaeya about things that didn’t seem to matter anymore led to this very moment where he hungrily licked your wet folds, burying himself into the sound of your hesitant moans and feeling himself harden by the second.

 “P-Please fuck me already,” you breathlessly begged, “Please, Diluc, hurry…”

 “Cum for me first,” his low voice muttered into your aching cunt, making your legs quiver, “Show me how much you really want it.”

 The whine that escaped your throat was suddenly replaced with a gasp as Diluc pushed two fingers into you, immediately setting a quick pace and pressing into your sweet spot.  “Cum for me, darling,” he let go of the grip on your leg to stand up and hover over your torso, leaning closer to your face and snaking his free hand up your back.  “Be a good girl and cum on my fingers.”

 “D-Diluc…!” you whimpered with a pout, which earned a hum of disapproval from him.

 “Master Diluc,” he sternly reminded you, shifting his fingers into you quicker, causing your brain to malfunction as you began to tighten around him.

 “M-Master…!  I’m…!”

 “Go on,” he ran his fingers through your scalp and grabbed a handful of hair, leaning down to kiss you and muffle your moans of pleasure as you finally reached your climax, gushing around his fingers and trembling at his touch.  You whimpered in his mouth, muscles slightly spasming still as you started to calm down from your high and feel his fingers slowly pull out of you.  While keeping his grip on your hair, he let go of the kiss and stuck out his tongue against his fingers, licking your fluids in front of you and smiling in satisfaction.

 “Good girl,” he said as he revelled in his favorite taste.  You watched as he lapped up all the fluids, the mixture of cum and saliva glimmering on his fingers under the light of the moon through the window.

 Speaking of which, you weren’t sure if it was the way you were slightly tipsy or perhaps the heat of the moment deceiving you, but through Diluc’s messy locks and shiny fiingers, you swore you saw a glimpse of a familiar shade of blue through the window.  It was unmoving, sure, but it was there nonetheless, and it wasn’t there the last time you looked through the glass.

 Maybe it was bad.

 Maybe it was Kaeya.

 Horror sunk into your chest for a fleeting moment, but you blamed it on the alcohol, and the way you were thinking about Kaeya and Diluc so much within the past few hours.  Besides, all the thoughts you were having about the strange color in the window were replaced by the way Diluc unbuttoned his pants with one hand, the other still intertwined in your hair, then freed his cock and let it rest on your stomach as he slowly laid you down across the counter.  He pulled you towards him once more so your head could rest on the wood, his hair-tangled hand acting as a cushion while his elbow took its place beside you so he completely caged you in.  “Be quiet for me, okay?  We don’t want to wake all of Mondstadt this late at night…”

 “I’ll be good,” you promised him, letting your hands travel down to feel his length resting on your skin.  It had some weight to it as you lifted it, and as if you two were mentally in perfect sync, he pulled his hips back to let you position the tip at your entrance.

 Excitement boiled in your stomach as he slowly inched his hips forward, pushing his cock into you little by little, stretching your walls apart by the seams.  Your mouth went agape with the sheer stretch alone and fighting the urge to moan had never been more difficult.  Instead, the only sounds that filled the silent room was Diluc’s heavy breath as he closed his eyes from the way you wrapped around him so well, the gentle gasps and whimpers from you as he bottomed out and nearly hit your cervix, then the sudden rhythmic slapping of skin as he began to pound into you with no warning.

 Your eyes rolled back into your head at the rush of pleasure that came with the rolling of his hips into yours.  It was so difficult to keep quiet, so hard not to at least whimper and give tiny moans here and there as he fucked you silly on that bar counter, but he couldn’t care less since he told you to be quiet and expected you to follow suit.  You knew that.  He instead opted to gently wrap his hand on your throat without applying pressure – simply as a warning.

 You couldn’t control your orgasm even if you wanted to.  The way he stared into your eyes so desperately while his cock kissed your cervix repeatedly made you lose control so easily, and he took advantage of the way you tightened around him by fucking into you harder.  Faster.  Deeper.

 “You’re so fucking good, darling,” his hazy eyes glanced down to your lips with the intent to lean down for a kiss.  “You’re–“

 A loud knock on the door startled the two of you enough for Diluc to stop his thrusts and look up towards the source of the noise, a few red strands of hair draping over your face and tickling your cheek.  He stared intensely at the door, pushing into you again at snail speed as he waited for an indicator of who was the culprit of the noise.

 Another knock sent a jolt up your spine – or maybe it was the way Diluc snapped his hips into you once then slowly pulled back to drag out the pleasure.  With a frustrated huff, he decided to tighten the pressure around your neck and pound into you at the relentless speed he set before, quietly shushing you when you initially gasped in surprise.

 After one more knock, Diluc lost his patience.  It was his greatest pet peeve of interruption becoming a reality.  “We’re closed!” his voice boomed loudly so the person on the other side of the door would surely hear him, startling you at the sudden break of silence.  Clearly frustrated, he pounded into you faster, chasing his pleasure, knowing that he would need to deal with whoever was bothering the two of you this late at night and wanting to quickly reach his release before then.

 “It’s me,” both of your eyes widened at the familiar voice, “I forgot my stuff at my seat, could you let me in real quick?”

 Diluc turned his gaze down past your head to see that, as a matter of fact, Kaeya’s belongings were still at his seat from earlier.  His eyebrow twitched as he quickly pulled himself off of you, leaving you quietly gasping for air and clenching around nothing.

 “Get under the counter,” he whispered so quietly that you just barely heard him, “Don’t move a muscle.”

 Following his command, you made you way under the counter, nestling your naked body next to a cabinet of liquor as you watched Diluc button his pants and loosely put his shirt back on, buttoning it while he walked around the bar towards the door.  At that point, all you could do was listen to a set of keys jingle as he unlocked the tavern door and a gust of cold air rushed through the entrance, strong enough that you shivered behind the counter and hugged your knees to retain warmth.

 “Get your things then get out,” Diluc bluntly greeted Kaeya, who chuckled in response.

 “Aw, why the sudden hostility again?” you heard slow footsteps approach the bar, sending your heart racing with anxiety, “And why the disheveled appearance?  Oh, let me guess–“

 “Get your things.  Then get out,” Diluc said more sternly.  You could recognize that tone from anywhere.  He was furious.

 “But let me guess first!  Judging by the way the tavern is still a mess, I know you weren’t cleaning up the place just now.  And by the way your clothes are so messily put together even though they were so neat and tidy earlier, as well as the sweat on your forehead…  Oh, don’t tell me I interrupted something intimate, dear brother!”

 You didn’t need to see him to know that Diluc’s jaw was tensed, unable to form a response out of pure annoyance and frustration.  And still, Kaeya pressed his buttons.

 “You were fucking her real good,” he teased after waiting for a response and getting nothing from Diluc, ”I could hear it from outside the door.”

 “I fucking hate you,” was all Diluc could say in response.  He didn’t actually mean it, you knew this, but he was beyond irritated.

 Kaeya shuffled to grab his belongings by his seat and turned to face the door.  But as if he weren’t being petty enough, he reached into his bag for something and suddenly tossed it behind him – his house keys, which landed behind the bar right next to your feet.  Your eyes widened at this. You swore you stopped breathing even if you didn’t mean to.

 “I think I might have left something behind the counter too, mind if I check?”

 The silence that followed was unbearable, even if it only lasted a few seconds.  All of the sudden, your heart began to pound out of your chest, not only because of sheer fear and anxiety, but also because of the possibility that Kaeya would see you so vulnerable behind that counter, naked and hugging your knees, waiting for someone to hold you and ‘warm you up.’  Maybe he already did see you through that window.  Maybe it wasn’t just your mind playing tricks on you.

 “Okay, I’m sorry, Diluc, maybe I’ve gone too far–“

 “No,” Diluc interrupted him, “Go ahead.  Go get your keys.”

 What?

 “Seriously?” Kaeya scoffed in disbelief.

 What are you doing, Diluc?

 “Go on.”

 What’s happening?

 “‘Luc, I know she’s there, I’m just messing with you–“

 “No, Kaeya,” Diluc turned to close the tavern door and lock it, “I know you’ve been eyeing her since the very beginning, even before I came along.  I’m not even mad, I just feel sorry for you.  I feel sorry that I took away someone you wanted so badly and that you haven’t been able to move on since.”

 Diluc took a few steps towards the speechless brother and lowered his voice, still maintaining the same intensity and dragging out his words.  “So why don’t you go behind the counter and get your fucking keys?  While you’re there, you might as well fuck my girlfriend with me too, since you want her attention so badly.”

 The room froze in time, only for a moment.  Thoughts began to flood your mind – why would Diluc say that, especially since he was usually very protective over you?  Should you refuse to let Kaeya see you, or let it happen?  After all, it’s not like you weren’t at least a little bit curious how this situation would unfold...

 While you sat in the corner naked and trembling, you held back your breath and listened to Kaeya’s footsteps slowly drag across the wooden floor, the creaking getting closer and closer until he was in your peripheral vision.  “Diluc,” he immediately turned away once he saw you sitting there, exposed and cold, then let out a disgruntled sigh.

 “Come now, Kaeya,” Diluc stepped in front of him to enter the bar and suddenly grab your arm, lifting you up with no hesitation and making you gasp in embarassment.  He pinned your arms behind your back and turned to make you face Kaeya, whose eyes were glued to the opposite wall out of a little bit of respect.  “How about we make this a competition, since you seem to love competing so much?”

 “Diluc,” you whimpered as you tried to struggle out of his grasp with no success, which you didn’t complain about because a part of you wanted to unravel this situation even further.  “Please…”

 “Please what, darling?” he muttered into your ear from behind, “Oh, don’t tell me you’ve been pining for him too.”

 “N-No, of course not,” you whined, “I just…”

 Maybe it was bad.

 Maybe it was bad, but you were going to do it anyway.

 You pressed yourself against his hips, gently grinding on his erection and letting out small whimpers.  Just like Diluc, you hated being interrupted and couldn’t exactly think straight. All of this petty arguing didn’t matter to you, especially since you wanted them both from the beginning either way.  In an attempt to admit your secret without explicitly saying it, you mustered up the courage to mutter, “Please, both of you, stop fighting and just…  fuck me…”

 Diluc tightened his grip around you with a grin, letting out a low scoff.  “Slut.  I knew you were a slut,” your eyes widened and stomach burned in excitement at the sudden degrading nickname he called you, “I bet you’ve been thinking about something like this for a while, haven’t you?”

 You sheepishly nodded as he slowly pushed you back onto the counter, this time laying you on your stomach and bending you over.  “I won’t deny that I’ve been thinking about the same thing lately,” he started to unbutton his top again as you raised an eyebrow at this new information.  He huffed with annoyance as he unbuttoned his pants and turned his head to the dumbfounded brother across the bar.  “Kaeya, either grab your keys and go or stay here and keep her mouth occupied.  I’ll let you decide – just make it quick and quit standing there.”

 With your head dangling off the counter, you watched as Kaeya slowly turned around to face the two of you, studying the scene for a moment before letting out a deep sigh.  As if he finally made a decision, he put down his belongings again, took off his vest, and made his way across the counter, his hips only a foot away from your face.  Meanwhile, Diluc had already freed his cock once more, keeping one hand on your restricted arms and using the other to prod your entrance with his tip.  The excitement was overwhelming, coursing through your veins as you watched Kaeya slowly unbutton his pants as well with a bit of reluctance.

 “Please hurry, Kaeya,” you softly begged, hoping to encourage him to quit holding back since it was obvious he was being overly shy, “Please, I want this so bad…”

 “I’m sure you do, darling,” he adopted the pet name from Diluc, “But I like seeing you so needy for me when I’m moving slow like this.”

 Letting out an impatient growl, Diluc grabbed onto your hips as he sheathed his cock with your cunt all at once, making you mewl and sigh at the feeling of being full again.  He began rolling his hips deeply just as he did before he was so rudely interrupted, never failing to maintain his quick rhythm and making your brain short circuit.

 With his slender fingers, Kaeya held your chin in his hand, lifting your face up to look at his and grinning once he saw how your mind was lost as you burned with pleasure.  He stared at your flushed cheeks and panting mouth, comparing it to the usual calm and composed demeanor you always seemed to have.  He smirked, rubbing a small circle into your chin with his thumb.  “So this pretty, helpless face is what Diluc gets to see every single day?  I’m very jealous, brother.”

 That comment only made Diluc pound into you harder, his weight shifting into his arm to pin you down further.  “Cry about it,” he mocked.

 Ignoring the comment, Kaeya only pressed his lips together in a pout to tease you, slowly taking out his cock which made your mind boggle at the sheer size of it.  He was just as deliciously large as Diluc was, and as he began to stroke it in front of your face, secretly admiring the sight of you being fucked senseless by his brother, you couldn’t help but feel like you were melting in the presence of such dominating forces hovering over you.  Without second thought, you left your mouth agape, letting your tongue stick out in a wordless way of telling him you wanted to take him, to satiate your hungry desires that you hid for quite some time now.

 “Eager, are we?” Kaeya didn’t seem to ever shut up his teasing, “I was just going to stand here and enjoy the show, but if you really want it that badly…”

 One hand on your chin turned into one thumb in your mouth, which you received gratefully nonetheless.  He let you suckle sweetly on his finger, cooing at how pathetic you looked drooling all over it when he hadn’t done anything yet.  All the while Diluc let go of your folded arms and instead used both hands to firmly grip your ass and pound into you deeper, the sound of slapping skin filling up the room along with his shaky breaths now and then.

 A whimper escaped your throat as you looked up at Kaeya’s face,  He didn’t need to hear you say the words to know that you were quietly begging for a taste of him by looking at him so innocently, and as such, your wish was his command.  He took a step forward to nestle the head of his cock into your mouth, his thumb still on your tongue to make you open up wider and let you salivate over the taste of his skin until he slowly began pushing himself deeper, watching your gag reflex just to find out you were taking him in quite nicely.  His heart was aching with jealousy that Diluc was so lucky to have you all to himself, but nonetheless, once he fully bottomed out inside of your throat that he had to remove his finger to fit properly, he saw this as an opportunity to enjoy himself and sighed in pleasurable relief.

 Kaeya’s hands found their place on both sides of your head as he slowly fucked your throat, wanting to relish in the feeling of you wrapped so tightly around him, holding back coughs and tears.  It was a painfully delightful contrast to the way Diluc was relentlessly abusing your aching hole from the other side of the counter, letting out his pent up frustrations of the night in the form of deep thrusts and shameless pants.  Kaeya couldn’t help but leave quiet moans here and there as well while he slowly pushed himself in and out of your mouth, filling your throat up with his entire length just to pull back with a sigh then do it again.

 Eventually, Kaeya became more comfortable with picking up the pace, watching as Diluc’s slammed his hips into yours and yearning for a similar feeling.  His hands traveled through your scalp, tangling through your hair messily as he leaned in to fuck into your mouth with more intent.  You hummed sweetly as Kaeya finally stopped holding back, giving into the pleasure and matching Diluc’s rough pace.  The feeling of the two of them ignoring their feud and instead taking out their frustrations on you made your insides twist and knot together knowing that after so long, your fantasies have come to light – or rather, they came to this dimly lit tavern in the middle of the night.

 Diluc was the first to release himself in you, filling your drenched cunt with his seed and controlling his staggering breaths as he fucked you slowly to calm down from his high.  It made you needy to hear his low groans in their fullest volume, but you knew that that had to be saved for different circumstances.  His fingers that dug into your skin so intensely gently lifted off of you has he wiped the slight sweat off his forehead and simultaneously looked up to watch Kaeya fucking your throat.  If he hadn’t been so exhausted from work tonight, he would’ve secretly loved to invite Kaeya for another round, knowing how tightly your cunt wrapped around him the second Kaeya started touching you.

 Shortly after, Kaeya finally reached his own release too, letting your nose nestle in his trimmed blue hair as he dumped his cum into your throat unceremoniously.  His chest slowly rose and fell with each deep breath he took, trying to control himself as he felt you attempt to swallow his seed while he was still inside you.  The feeling drove him crazy and craving for more, but as he averted his gaze from you to look at Diluc on the other side, a wave of regret and jealousy washed over him knowing that this was probably going to leave him off on bad terms with his brother – again.

 But much to his dismay, as he slowly pulled out of you, Diluc only laughed.  He laughed wholeheartedly as he gently caressed your waist, soothing you while you gasped for air.  Kaeya stood there confused on the sudden lightheartedness in the air, tucking himself back into his pants and getting ready to leave as soon as possible, slightly ashamed for indulging in such an impulsive moment of vulnerability for you and Diluc.

 “Not so fast,” Diluc spoke the first words after the long period of silence once Kaeya started to pick up his belongings, “You’re forgetting your keys.”

 With the help of Diluc, you slowly lifted yourself up to lay on your back, keeping your legs spread and incoherently mewling for more.  Diluc only grinned at this, shushing you with a gentle look and caressing your thigh as he briefly saw his cum pooling on the counter.  Kaeya nervously glanced at you before entering the bar and walking towards his keys next to Diluc’s foot, grabbing them, then standing back up with an averted gaze.  The poor boy was so nervous, but you had to admit he tasted so good.

 Diluc placed a reaffirming hand on Kaeya’s shoulder, making Kaeya lift his head and look into his eyes.  The two shared a moment of eye contact, communicating a shared sense of apology to each other.  Maybe it was bad at first, but regardless of how much they seemed to be at each others throats, they always seemed to make amends in the end.

 “Okay, get out,” Diluc bluntly said, which followed with hurried footsteps towards the door and a quick, “Alright, alright, I’m leaving!” from Kaeya.  The exchange made you laugh, but once Kaeya was finally gone and Diluc had locked the door behind him, you were beginning to get antsy.

 “So,” Diluc trailed his eyes up and down your trembling body still splayed out on the counter, “would you, by chance, ever be interested in doing that again?  Just the three of us?”

 “I want to so badly,” you breathlessly admitted, replaying the past half hour in your head and letting the memory brand into your mind.  “Please, Master?”

 He thought about it for a moment then grinned.

 “I’ll think about it.  As long as you know you belong to me in the end, maybe another round with him wouldn’t be so bad.”

#diluc #diluc x reader #diluc smut #kaeya #kaeya x reader #kaeya smut #genshin impact #genshin impact smut #mine #bang #requested

[nev3rfound]

keeping an eye out : h.z

whilst Bucky and Sam are out in Riga looking for any information regarding the flag smashers, you are instructed to watch Zemo. and it's safe to say you definitely kept a close eye on him. (1.8k)

masterlist / permanent taglist / etsy shop - requests open!

requested: not really? i remember someone asked for some kind of zemo smut and this was my best attempt lmao with angst and fluff of course warnings: brief mentions of poorly written smut, mentions of tfatws series so if you've not seen it minor spoilers ahead (I think)

(everything on my blog is my own writing. if it is shared on another page or website without being credited, it has not been approved to be shared by me. all rights reserved.)

Standing in the streets of Riga. Bucky could feel the civilians watching the two of them closely. "She answered yet?" Sam asks whilst Bucky continues to pace around in a circle with his phone to his ear, listening to it continuously ring waiting for you to answer.

"Does it look like she's answered, Sam?" Bucky quickly retorts, glaring over his shoulder causing Sam to huff loudly and take his phone out from his pocket.

"Let me try too." He mutters, dialling your number and listens for himself as it goes straight to voicemail.

"You get through, huh?" Bucky questions, hanging up as your voicemail message plays for the eighth time in a row.

Burying his phone back into his pocket, Sam looks around. "Got any bright ideas?"

Bucky shuffles on the spot. "It's not like she can be busy, she's babysitting Zemo." Bucky reminds Sam who nods along.

"Hardly a handful for her." Sam jokes as he and Bucky carry on through the streets of Riga, hoping to find some answers.

Yet, back at Zemo's apartment, you were technically keeping an eye on Zemo since he was currently above you in his bed.

"Fuck, Zemo, don't stop." You pant heavily against his ear, faintly hearing your phone ringing from the bedside table.

Zemo reaches down and grips your face. "Focus on me, liebling, nothing else." He breathes out, keeping his eyes fixated on yours. "Is that clear, princess?"

Nodding in response, you can feel the coil inside of you tightening as a moan escapes your lips. "Helmut, I," You stutter, only to feel Zemo pick up his pace, slamming his dick in and out of you faster.

"Hold it, just think what would happen if James and Sam walked in, seeing you begging to cum beneath me." Zemo chuckles, feeling your nails claw at his back, begging for your release.

"Helmut, please," You try not to cry, but you can't hold on for much longer as he continues to thrust into you.

"Cum for me, Y/n." Zemo demands. "You can let go, princess." He softly tells you, watching you become undone beneath him, causing a smile to grow on his face as sweat gleams across your forehead.

Slowly pulling out from you, Zemo moans as he pulls off the condom and heads to the bathroom.

When he returns, he can feel his heartbeat accelerating at the sight of you lying in his bed, the sheets around you creased, your legs still parted and your eyes remaining closed.

"Y/n?" Zemo speaks up, watching you slowly opening your eyes only to see him holding a towel for you. "How about a bath, liebling?"

Smiling, you shuffle off of the bed with Zemo's help, his hand remaining in yours as you walk into the lavish bathroom, the tub close to full already.

"You better not try and escape whilst I'm relaxing, Baron." You quickly comment, looking over your shoulder, watching Zemo leaning against the doorframe with a smirk.

"On the contrary," Pushing himself off from the door frame, Zemo reaches out and brushes his fingers along your shoulders, feeling you shudder in response. "I wouldn't dream of leaving you." He whispers into your ear.

You quickly turn around, looking up at those brown eyes intently. "Helmut," You start, but Zemo shushes you before you can object.

"I mean it, Y/n." Zemo tells you, lifting his hand up to cup your cheek softly. "Now, come, the bath might overflow if you don't get in." He chuckles and brushes past you to turn the tap off.

"Thank you, Helmut." You mutter as you climb into the warm water, letting out a sigh of contentment whilst you lower yourself and close your eyes.

"How is it, mi schatz?" Zemo knows it's the perfect temperature, noticing how you're fully relaxed, a rare occurrence since he's known you.

Humming in response, you open one eye, noticing he's still stood there in a robe. "Why don't you join me? There's room for two I'm sure." You tease, bringing your legs close to your chest.

"Are you sure?" You can tell he's hesitant, but once you nod he removes his robe and motions for you to move forward, allowing him to slot in behind you.

The water spills over the edge at the sudden movement, but you lie back against Zemo's chest, your wet hair brushed over your shoulder as his hands settle on your thighs.

"Can you tell me a story?" You speak up after a moment of silence settled between you both.

Smiling down at you, Zemo nods. "What would you like to hear?"

"I, I'd like to know more about Sokovia. I know I wasn't there when," You trail off, knowing you don't have to explain yourself. "but, it was your home, part of who you are Helmut and I'd like, no I, I'd love to know about it."

You can feel your heart begin to hammer in your chest at Zemo's prolonged silence behind you. Yet, you can't bring yourself to glance up to see what he's thinking.

However, Zemo is trying to remain composed. "Of course," He eventually answers, hearing the breath of relief escape your lips. "well, when I was a child, my father had a farm which we used to visit on weekends,"

*

Pulling the soft robe tightly around you, you couldn't help but struggle to keep your eyes open as you wandered around the kitchen.

"Tired?" Zemo can hear you yawn before you're able to reply, listening to you laugh at yourself whilst he leans against the kitchen counter. "Why don't you lie down, you know I'm not going anywhere." He reassures you, seeing your limbs growing heavy as you shuffle around the counter to stand in front of him.

"I'll be fine, the boys won't be much longer." You mumble through another yawn, feeling your body craving sleep after that relaxing bath. "I blame you, Helmut." Pointing to him, you try your best to glare at him, but the sound of Zemo laughing makes it impossible.

Motioning to the sofa, Zemo rests his hand on your lower back in an attempt to guide you to the said sofa before you fall over. "Now, I'll be right back, I promise." He mutters as you pull on a cushion, burying it beneath your head. Leaning down, Zemo gently brushes your damp hair out from your face, taking a moment to admire how truly beautiful you are and kisses your forehead delicately.

"You are joining me, right?" You mumble through thick sleep, not even able to open your eyes to see Zemo nod as his heart melts.

"Of course, liebling. But I must change first." He assures you before retreating upstairs, knowing there's a fair bit of mess to clean up.

Whilst occupied in the bathroom and you in a deep sleep, neither of you hear the doors opening in a panic.

"Oh thank god." Sam sighs in relief to see you curled up on the sofa, not taking into account the robe you're wearing.

"Where's Zemo?" Bucky tenses up as he scours his peripheral where Zemo is nowhere to be seen. "Check on Y/n. Make sure she's not been given anything."

Rushing toward you, Sam pauses at the sound of footsteps approaching the main living space of the apartment.

"Ah, I was wondering where you two might've been." Zemo walks in, wearing a matching robe to yours as his hair is slicked back. "Did you have a pleasant adventure?" He smiles at the pair who only glare back in response.

"What did you do to Y/n." Bucky snarls, encroaching on Zemo's personal space.

"Nothing." Zemo answers, holding his hands up. "She could barely keep her eyes open so I insisted she took a nap." He explains, glancing over to your sleeping form, remembering how mere hours ago you were screaming his name.

"I doubt that." Sam comments, kneeling down in front of you as he shakes you lightly. "Y/n, come on." He mutters, causing you to stir.

"Helmut?" You whisper, unaware of Sam snapping his head around to Bucky and Zemo.

"Did she just?" Bucky doesn't even finish his question before Sam nods. Averting his focus back to Zemo, Bucky can't stop his frustration from rising. "What did you do to Y/n." He asks once again now clenching his fists tightly.

Opening your eyes, you rub them quickly at the sound of commotion. "What's going on?" Sitting upright, you blink a few times to see both Sam and Bucky standing by Zemo with heavy frowns. "Hey guys." You wave, covering your mouth as you yawn again.

"How long has this been going on?" Bucky demands, evidently disappointed as he looks over at you.

"James, please calm-" Zemo starts, but Bucky grabs the empty whiskey glass beside him and throws it against the wall, causing you to jump whilst Zemo remains stoic.

"How long." He asks again, not daring to take his eyes off of Zemo.

"Since Madripoor." You speak up, keeping your eyes trained on the ground as you tug on your robe. "Bucky,"

"I don't wanna hear it." Bucky cuts you off. "We can talk about this tomorrow." He sighs and heads back out of the apartment, slamming the door behind him.

"I'll go talk to him." Sam comments. "I, I don't agree with whatever this is, but I trust you Y/n, and Bucky does too." He nods to you before following after Bucky, leaving you and Zemo alone once more.

"Y/n," Zemo starts, but you can't help but crumble.

Tears start to fall from your eyes without hesitation as you curl up on the ground. Zemo sits beside you, wrapping his arms around you and turns you into his chest. "It's going to be alright, liebling." He hushes you, running his fingers through your hair.

"What if they won't forgive me, Helmut?" You hate to imagine what could happen, but you knew your actions would have eventual consequences.

"Oh, Y/n," Zemo sighs, wiping away your tears. "I know they'll come around. They're your friends after all." He admits, not adding the fact he might not be around for much longer. "Come, let's go to bed, yes?" He suggests and helps you to your feet.

Walking together in silence, you enter his bedroom again only to see the bed made with fresh sheets.

"Did you?" You look up at him to see a light blush crossing his cheeks. "You knew I'd end up back in your bed, huh?" You joke playfully, listening to Zemo chuckle whilst he shakes his head.

"I didn't know, but I'd hoped it would be the case." He shrugs his shoulder before pulling the sheets back and climbs in alongside you. "Now, whatever the morning brings, we'll face it together." He whispers into your lips before kissing you softly, never wanting to forget any of these moments with you.

Pulling away, you sigh. "You promise?" You whisper, just about making out his expression in the moonlight.

"I promise." He smiles at you once more before you bury your face into his chest, falling asleep within minutes whilst he remains wide awake. Zemo knows there are watchful eyes never leaving him and won't until he's back where he belongs, without you by his side.

t a g l i s t (thank you for the support!) link in my bio and at the top of this piece to add yourself☺️(if your user isn’t tagged, it’s because nothing comes up sorry!)@bissstuff @psychicforest@lourightm@mywinterwolf@justsomedreaming @stanlux17 @smokeandnailz @supermoonchildbroski @xrosegoldwolfx@courtneychicken@marvelsangels@supraveng@tommy-lee-81@smilexcaptainx@fandom-princess-forevermore@sarge-barnes-sir@pleasantlysecretdream @decaffeinated-fangirl @howdyherron @kirby-boo @florencxs@eldahae @handmesomecoffee @hi-my-name-is-riley @dev1lbella @thanossexual @alissaginger @sambucky8@notbrooklynsblog @nikkixostan @cosmiccaptian @adoreyou976@sarcasticallywitty15 @multi-fandom-princess07 @16boyfriends-and-me @courtneychicken @mackevanstan80 @torchwoodoctor @pleasantlysecretdream @yougottalovefandoms @magicalxdaydream@soccer-100000 @tenaciousperfectionunkown @talksoprettyjjx @btsonthedaily @jessyballet @katiaw2 @buckyswildflower@lucrea @weenersoldierr @katiaw2 @lucrea @amelia-song-pond @bluelakeee @dottirose @emilytheukuleleplayer @5-seconds-of-mendes @rudystilins  @bookfrog242@wild-rose-35@fleurlovesbucky@iiclarixa @soldierstucky@twinerd14@lieswithoutfairytales@ateliefloresdaprimavera@teenwonder@weenersoldierr@nobody-will @ilikemypolarbear @rottenstyx @original-in-itself @sebby-staan @bbl32 @lyoongx @iilwjbb @siriuslyslytherin @chazubagi @youngmarveltastypersona @iamninaannaisreading @marry-me-calum-hood @original-in-itself @clownerlyluv @emilyprentisslittlewhore @amelia-song-pond

#i hope you liked it! #still a sucker for zemo #helmut zemo #helmut zemo imagine #helmut zemo imagines #helmut zemo x reader #helmut zemo fluff #helmut zemo angst #helmut zemo oneshot #helmut zemo smut #helmut zemo au #zemo imagine #zemo imagines #zemo smut #zemo x reader #zemo oneshot #zemo fluff #zemo angst #zemo x y/n #avengers #avengers oneshot #avengers angst #avengers x reader #avengers fluff #avengers imagine #avengers imagines #marvel #marvel imagine #marvel imagines #marvel fluff

[latte-fairytaekwoon]

𝐖𝐡𝐨'𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐬𝐬? (𝐂𝐄𝐎! 𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐢 𝐉𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐡𝐨) 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝

𝙿𝚊𝚒𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐: 𝙲𝙴𝙾/𝙳𝚊𝚍! 𝙲𝚑𝚘𝚒 𝙹𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚑𝚘 (𝙰𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚣) × 𝚂𝚎𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚢/𝙼𝚘𝚖! 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛 (𝙵𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚎)

𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: 𝚂𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝙰𝚗𝚐𝚜𝚝, 𝙵𝚕𝚞𝚏𝚏, 𝚂𝚖𝚞𝚝, 𝙳𝚊𝚍 𝙰𝚄, 𝙲𝙴𝙾 𝙰𝚄

𝚂𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚢: 𝙲𝚑𝚘𝚒 𝙹𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚑𝚘 𝚒𝚜 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚍𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚘𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚎𝚡𝚒𝚜𝚝. 𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚍𝚘𝚘𝚛𝚜, 𝚑𝚎'𝚜 𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚞𝚜𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍, 𝚠𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕 𝚋𝚘𝚜𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚜 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚘𝚏 𝚒𝚝.

𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝙲𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝: 𝟼𝙺+

𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜: 𝚂𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚜𝚎𝚡𝚞𝚊𝚕 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝, 𝚘𝚛𝚊𝚕 (𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐), 𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚓𝚘𝚋, 𝚐𝚊𝚐𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚔, 𝚜𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚖𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚢/𝚍𝚊𝚍𝚍𝚢 𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚔, 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚞𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗, 𝚍𝚎𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗, 𝚞𝚗𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚡 (𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗), 𝙵𝚎𝚖𝚍𝚘𝚖! 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛 × 𝚂𝚞𝚋! 𝙹𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚑𝚘

𝚃𝚊𝚐𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝: @little-precious-baby @yunhoiseyecandy @yunhofingers @brie02 @galaxteez @deja-vux @multidreams-and-desires @rvse-miingi @couchpotatoaniki

⊱⋅ ──────────── ⋅⊰

"I expect all of your reports in and in perfect order by tomorrow's meeting at 11 a.m. And I want all of you in there on time. I will not accept even 1 minute of tardiness. Are we clear?"

A chorus of 'Yes sir' chanted throughout the room, the occupants in their respective chairs starting to disperse themselves out of the room. The hushed groans and complaining did not go unnoticed by Jongho's ears, but he paid no mind to them, having grown accustomed to them. He was a tough boss, and he preferred to keep it that way. He enjoyed having people fear him and be too scared to even ask him something, and all of his subordinates seemed to fall in that category.

"Sir?"

All of them except the almost cherry red head girl who was batting her eyelashes at him, a strand of her hair being twirled around one of her fingers. Without breaking his poker face, Jongho held out the folder he had and fanned it in front of her face.

"Hyunjoo, make copies of these to put into the filing cabinets and make sure to save them into the computer as well."

In a rather abrupt way, he practically threw the folder in her hands, but the girl didn't seem fazed, she still continued to smile even as he turned his back to her and walked out of the room.

"Right away sir! Anything else I can-"

Her enthusiastic question was shut out by the loud slamming of the door, leaving her speechless once more.

Jongho let out a deep huff as he loosened the tie that was practically suffocating him as it did after a strenuous day of having to deal with the ineptitude of his employees. He said absolutely nothing as he walked to his car, and stayed just as silent during the entire ride home, the soft ballads playing on the radio being his only companion at the moment. He didn't even feel like breaking out his heavenly vocals as per usual, all he wanted at that moment was to get to his haven as soon as possible and see the two faces he loved seeing after spending grueling hours in front of a computer and a stack of papers.

As soon as he stepped foot inside the cozy house, his nose was hit with the delicious scent coming from the kitchen. Making sure to neatly place his shoes by the rack next to the door and hang his coat on one of the hooks on the wall, he practically dragged his feet down the hallway before turning the corner. His gloomy expression quickly faltered and broke out into a smile as he was greeted by loud squealing coming from the tiny individual sitting in the high chair.

"Hey buddy. You missed me?" Jongho couldn't keep the smile off his face as he picked up the 5 month old baby, his cheeks still stained with an orange hue. The baby made some incoherent guttural sounds, no doubt trying to convey his feelings as he outstretched his tiny hands and began touching Jongho's face.

"I know I missed you." He placed a tiny kiss on his head before picking up a wet tissue to start wiping off some of the puree residues.

Right at that moment, his wife came in and wrapped her arms around his waist. Placing a gentle kiss on his cheek, she tilted her head so she could look at his face more clearly.

"How was your day?"

He shook his head, not wanting to recall his day.

"Same as they've been since you went on maternity leave. Unbearable."

Rolling her eyes at that, she carefully took the baby out of his hands since it was time for him to take a bath.

"Here. You go on and eat while I clean junior here."

Although the baby grunted softly at being taken away from his father's arms, he eventually relaxed in his mother's embrace, his face nuzzling into her chest and soon afterwards he began nibbling softly at her shirt.

"Oh for goodness sakes! You just ate not even 10 minutes ago. You can't possibly be hungry again." Y/N half heartedly complained, bouncing the baby slightly in her arms.

"Well I mean.... I don't blame him for wanting to drink some of your milk."

Catching her gaze, Jongho sent a wink her way that had her blushing intensely.

"You're unbelievable!" She exclaimed as she stomped out of the room to go bathe her baby.

"You're the one who offered me your tits in the first place." He snorted, trying to contain his laughter as he sipped the glass of water he had in his hand.

"Keep it up and I'll extend my maternity leave longer." She called out from the bathroom, the sound of water running being heard.

"No way! I've gone far too long without my personal assistant helping me keep order in that building and helping me stay sane. You promised me you'd come back tomorrow and I'm making you keep that promise." He warned her.

"Are you saying that as my husband? Or as my boss?" She questioned him.

"As both if I have to." He sternly said.

"Neither one of you scare me.....but since I love you both, I guess I'll keep my promise and come back tomorrow as we planned."

Jongho let out a relieved sigh at her answer as his fingers rubbed at his temple, fork aggressively digging into the vegetables on his plate. He honestly had missed working with Y/N by his side. He was feeling rather antsy and impatient about having her come back into the company. And he knew the other employees were also eagerly anticipating her return, since they preferred going to her to get messages across to him when they were too scared to face Jongho themselves. Not to mention Y/N livened up the atmosphere with her fresh and energetic nature, one of the main reasons he fell in love with her.

As he ate, Jongho began to reminisce about how their story started. Y/N had been recommended by a friend to be his personal assistant and she was very proud to work for such an important CEO, seeing it as an opportunity of a lifetime. Jongho, however, of course was extremely tough on her from the start, just as he was with all his other assistants. None of them lasted more than 2 weeks because they just couldn't handle either all the unbearable tasks he gave them or got frightened off by his stern and aggresive form of addressing them. Not Y/N. Even after having her run up and down floors on wild goose chases at times, she still kept her bright smile and positive energy, never once flinching either when he scolded her for doing something that he deemed wrong, which it never actually was, he just enjoyed nitpicking at her. She broke the record and lasted not just 2 weeks, but over 2 years, earning her the admiration and respect of not only her coworkers but of Jongho himself. He became fascinated by her and that fascination turned into love for her.

He pursued her for quite some time, Y/N making him really work for it as payback for all the harsh times he put her through during her first months working for him. Eventually his persistence paid off as she agreed to not only date him, but actually accepted to marry him when he asked her to. Of course, it was a secret no one else knew about, both of them agreeing that they'd rather keep their personal lives outside of work, not wanting others to talk or gossip about them. So at the company they were simply the CEO and his personal assistant, but once they got home, they were back to being hopelessly in love and enjoying their married life which now included their son.

Jongho felt that he was extremely lucky. Lucky to have such an amazing and beautiful wife who had recently blessed him with a healthy baby boy, gifting him the family he always wanted. He couldn't contain his happy smile as he watched her rock the baby to sleep and eventually put him inside his crib. Tiptoeing out of the nursery and joining him in their bedroom, Y/N raised an eyebrow when she saw his expression.

"You doing good?" She asked him.

Nodding softly, Jongho let out a hum before wrapping an arm around her waist.

"Oh trust me, I'm doing just splendid." He let out a chuckle as he pecked her lips.

When she began pulling away from his embrace, he pulled her back in, this time pressing his lips against hers more firmly as his hands went to the back of her thighs and effortlessly picked her up, wrapping her legs around his waist. She couldn't help the squeal that came out of her mouth when he pushed her down onto their bed, already feeling breathless as his tongue continued to dominate her mouth. Jongho's hands began to slowly pull her tank top down, exposing her soft and squishy breasts that had grown quite considerably since she started her last months of pregnancy and continued up until then.

"You know it's been so long since I've had you all to myself...." He mused as he nipped across her collarbone.

Taking one breast in each of his hands, he gave them gentle squeeze that had Y/N moaning softly. Giving one of her nipples a few kitten licks, Jongho latched his mouth over it, covering her perky nipple and letting out suckling sounds until he felt her sweet liquid come out of her body.

"And I plan on taking my time with you." He finished his previous sentence as he went back to feeding from her milk.

Y/N's fingers tangled themselves on his hair, back arching to allow him to take more of her succulent breasts into his mouth, which he took advantage of graciously. Just as soon as they were both getting lost in their lust, they were interrupted by the small whimpered cries coming from the room next to theirs. Detaching his mouth from his wife's chest, Jongho groaned in annoyance and rolled over on the other side of the bed.

"Seriously? Can't even enjoy some alone time with my wife because junior over there wants to be a cockblocker."

Slapping his arm, Y/N arranged her shirt and got up to go attend to her baby, leaving Jongho laying there in a fuzzy and whiny mood.

⊱⋅ ──────────── ⋅⊰

Stepping into the floor, Y/N was immediately bombarded by greetings and questions from all of her coworkers. The men were fawning over her and thanking her for coming back on such an eventful day while the women were prying about her baby and other motherly topics. Since it was still early, Y/N thought it wouldn't hurt to show off a few pictures of her little bundle of joy. Taking care there weren't any photos of Jongho, she happily showed off her gallery that was full of images of her baby and herself. All of the people around her began cooing and awing at how adorable he was.

"He's so cute!"

"Simply adorable!"

"Does he look like his dad?"

Before Y/N could even answer that question, the father himself cleared his throat behind the little group. Collective gasps and startled wheezes were heard as the people began to disperse themselves back to their respective cubicles or desks. Donning his usual frown, Jongho side eyed some of the individuals before landing his eyes on Y/N, who per usual remained calmed and collected.

"Miss L/N, although no doubt your coworker are ecstatic to have you back I must remind you that we have an important meeting ahead of us and I don't want any distractions to hinder our plans. I'll let this go just this time but I want no more dilly dallying. Are we clear?"

Breaking out into a soft smile, Y/N put her phone back in her purse.

"Crystal Mr. Choi."

The corner of Jongho's lip twitched at hearing her usual response she'd say to his chastising. Y/N knew it affected him too, but she bit her tongue from bursting out laughing right then and there. Checking his watch, he sighed deeply.

"After you finish setting your space up, please gather up the documents needed for today's meeting and see me promptly at my office so we can look over them."

Just as Y/N was about to open her mouth, she was interrupted by a redhead whom she had never seen before during the time she worked there. The girl pushed herself in between them both rather tactlessly.

"Sir, if you'd like, I could go fetch them for you, I know where they are so it'd be faster given that I sorted them yesterday."

Y/N arched an eyebrow up at the new face, scanning her up and down, taking notice of how tight and short her skirt was, not to mention how snug fitted her blouse was, more than just the tops buttons undone to purposely draw attention to her cleavage. The way she was practically beaming at Jongho did not go unnoticed by her, and it was slightly irritating her.

"No thank you Hyunjoo. I want Y/N to do it. Besides I need to catch her up on what's been going on these past months she was gone."

Before Jongho could take one step, Hyunjoo moved to stand right in front of him, a rather bold move that had everyone bracing themselves for what would happen next.

"Anything else you want to say Hyunjoo?" Although he asked, it was quite obvious Jongho was not amused in the slightest bit. Hyunjoo bit her lip nervously, but decided to speak.

"Sir I just thought since it was an important meeting that perhaps you'd prefer to be assisted by someone who has more knowledge and experience in the matter so that there would be no... hindrances."

Y/N did not like the way she drawled out that last word. She did not hesitate to let out a scoff at the brazen behavior of whoever that newbie was. And she guessed Jongho was not happy by her input either given that he was now crossing his arms over his chest.

"There will be no hindrances. Y/N knows what she's doing and I know she'll do an excellent job. After all, she is and will always be my personal assistant."

Y/N couldn't hide the proud smirk that shone triumphantly on her face, especially after seeing the reddened face of the girl next to her, who gave her a small glare before excusing herself to go to her desk. Jongho brushed past her to go into his office, giving her elbow a light squeeze that went unnoticed by everyone else but that made her feel better about coming back to work. She was practically skipping all the way to the elevator and still skipping about when she came to the room where they kept all the documents. She skimmed through the cabinets, checking the dates to make sure she was looking in the right section when she was startled by a voice piping up behind her.

"Y/N!"

She let out a scream and stumbled back into one of the cabinets, hitting her lower back rather harshly before landing her bum on the floor.

"Oops! Sorry. Not how I wanted my welcome back greeting to go."

She allowed the blonde male to help her get up, scanning her to make sure no real damage was done.

"Yeosang what the hell? Why are you always popping up on people out of nowhere?" She grimaced as she rubbed her butt.

"Gotta have some type of fun while I'm locked up in here organizing, filing and documenting papers here you know." He adjusted the frames on his nose bridge.

"Maybe you could lend me a hand and show me where I can find what I need for today's meeting?"

Clapping his hands, Yeosang reached into his jacket and promptly took out a neat folder out that had several papers inside.

"I figured Mr. Grinch upstairs would have you come get them so I took the liberty of stashing them away just for you."

Y/N smiled as he handed them over to her.

"That and I didn't want that bitch Hyunjoo putting her nasty hands on them as well." Yeosang huffed loudly.

"Who is she anyways? She wasn't here when I was."

Yeosang went cross eyed momentarily, looking like he was losing brain cells as he tried to figure out where to start.

"She started out a week after you went on maternity leave. She's just a secretary, but has offered to do some tasks that were strictly reserved for you as Jongho's assistant, which he rarely lets her do. You know how he is."

Of course she did. More than anyone she knew what her husband was like.

"Well long story short like her dirty rags that she calls skirts, it's quite obvious she's trying to get in the boss' pants and we're all surprised he hasn't fired her yet. It's more than clear he's not interested either, I mean come on. It's Choi Jongho, he only looks at a woman or man to criticize them. I don't think he's capable of feeling romantically inclined towards anyone."

Y/N held her head down, pretending to skim through some of the papers to hide the giggle that was threatening to come out her mouth. She honestly found it hard not to laugh when others talked about Jongho like that. It was funny to her.

"So I take it I should be careful of her trying to take my place?" Y/N snickered amusedly, and Yeosang let out a dry laugh as well.

"Please Y/N. We all know no one will ever take your place. You're indispensable here, especially to the big guy up there."

He pointed a finger towards the ceiling.

"Speaking of which, don't keep him waiting. You know how he hates people wasting his time." He made quotation signals with his fingers while rolling his eyes.

Giving her a hug and proper welcome greeting, Yeosang watched her leave, reminding her to show him pictures of her baby when she got the chance which she happily agreed to share with him.

Coming back up to the main floor, she made sure to smile warmly at all her coworkers, a gesture that would hopefully calm their nerves a little for the upcoming meeting, which seemed to be working. They knew if she was there at least Jongho would be a little less terrifying than what he usually was. As she walked by the cubicles, she paused in her steps when she saw that a certain desk was empty, its occupant missing. Looking at the nametag, her tongue poked against her cheek.

"Mingi?" She turned to the nearest person to her, the tall male looking up from his screen to pay her his full attention.

"Where's Hyunjoo?"

Mingi didn't answer and instead pointed over towards the direction of Jongho's office.

"No doubt trying to suck his dick. That hoe."

Both her and Mingi looked over at the coworker next to him.

"Wooyoung!" Mingi chastised him.

"What? Fire me for speaking the truth." He grumbled as he continued his task of stapling a stack of papers together.

Mingi shot her an apologetic look but Y/N quickly brushed it off. Something told her that she was needed someplace else anyways. Her instincts were never wrong. Peeking into the office, she witnessed in disgust as Hyunjoo ran a finger down Jongho's torso. He looked visibly uncomfortable, swallowing hard as he tried to back away from her slowly.

"Typical of him." She thought to herself. "Acting all high and mighty like he's not afraid of anyone or anything yet when a woman throws herself at him, he cowers like a little baby."

When she saw Hyunjoo press her body against Jongho's, she knew it was time to step in. Slamming the door open, her face had a glaring scowl that was quite the contrast to her usually friendly demeanor. Only few people had ever seen it and it truly shook them to the core, even more than Jongho himself since they grew used to his anger. But Y/N? They desperately avoided incurring her wrath, even if it was such a rare sight to see. And it was producing an instant effect as Hyunjoo immediately backed away from Jongho, the latter already bracing himself for a lecture from her.

"Hyunjoo......I believe your station is right out there." She pointed behind her.

Hyunjoo nodded even though it was a statement not a question.

"So why are you not there?" Her foot tapped impatiently on the floor.

The poor girl apologized and quickly sped out of the office, like a puppy with its tail tucked in between their legs. Once she was out, Y/N shut the door behind her and then looked over at Jongho, piercing daggers into him with her stare as she took slow and careful steps towards him.

"Well.....guess I should probably thank you for getting me out of that-"

Jongho let out a tiny squeak when Y/N grabbed him by his collar and pulled his face close to hers.

"I'm gone for half a year and there's already a skank trying to take my place?" She was fuming, eyes burning a hole into his face and Jongho wasn't going to lie, he was always attracted more to her when she got angry.

"Baby, darling..." He cooed at her, hands going to her hips to rub circles around them in an effort to appease her.

"Don't you 'darling' me Choi Jongho. Tell me, did you enjoy having your little pet rub herself on you?" She demanded as she took his hands off her and slammed her own on the desk behind him, effectively trapping him and keeping him from moving.

"I- No! Of course not!" He exclaimed in indignation.

Y/N scoffed dryly as she reached a hand up and placed it on his chest, mimicking the earlier actions of her rival, except whereas Jongho recoiled from Hyunjoo's touch before, it was now different as he began melting into Y/N's touch.

"I don't really believe you, I think you would have fucked her if given the chance." She didn't really believe that sentence herself but she wanted to spark a reaction out of Jongho.

"Now why would I do that when I have the most perfect woman right in front of me? When she's everything and all I want?" He let out a hum as he ghosted his lips over hers, wanting to desperately kiss her at that moment.

"Oh really now? I'm all you want?" She giggled in a mocking tone as her teeth caught onto his bottom lip and tugged on them slightly.

"Fuck!- yes. You're all I want. You're the love of my life, the object of my desires, the mother of my son..."

Cupping her cheeks, he tenderly kissed her, lips perfectly molding against hers as he tried to convey his adoration for her. When he pulled back, he stayed only a few centimeters away as he nuzzled his nose against hers.

"My wife." He whispered those two words so soft as if they were a solemn prayer not meant to be heard by anyone else.

Although his words brought a sense of warmth and fuzziness inside her, Y/N was not about to let Jongho off the hook so easily. He needed to be reminded of something else.

"You're forgetting something else Mr. CEO...... I'm not just your wife."

Jongho grunted when she suddenly pulled him by his belt loops, her knee coming up to rub against his crotch which was starting to swell up.

"I'm your boss."

He watched with amazement as she dropped down to her knees, her fingers making quick movements to unbuckle his belt. Stiffening when her hands squeezed at his bulge, Jongho heaved out a sigh.

"Don't tease me." He slightly whimpered to her.

Quirking an eyebrow up, she sent him a seductive smirk.

"Wasn't planning on it."

Taking hold of the top of his trousers, she made sure to pull his briefs down with them, freeing his hardened cock that was already leaking at the tip. Running her thumb across his head, she looked up to find her husband flushing a crimson red hue, a soft chortle escaping his throat as he realized what she was doing. Pressing his bulbous tip against her lips, she coated them with a warm gloss before pushing them inside the barrier of her teeth, raking the underside of it. That motion alone already had Jongho's thighs shaking. Her tongue swirled around his shaft, giving the head a subtle suckle. At last, she opened her mouth more widely and drove him deeper into her throat until she was releasing a choking sound, a trail of moisture spilling out from the corner of her mouth. Pulling back, she hummed around his length to further intensify the sensation.

"Oh my god." Jongho moaned as his hands tried to reach towards the back of her head, which were quickly slapped away by her.

"Nuh uh my love, we're playing with my rules right now."

Jongho had to steady himself by gripping the desk behind him, resisting the urge to buck himself up into his wife's throat. He let out sharp gasps and groans when she gave him a particularly long slurp, gurgling melodies practically coming out her mouth. He filled her throat to the brim, his dripping organ stroking against her tongue each time she moved it to and fro. Instinctively parting her knees, she reached beneath her skirt to touch herself, finding herself to be dripping as well. Raising her eyes upwards, she saw Jongho's head thrown back, mouth open and spilling out melodic hums of bliss and lust as his pelvis began to thrust faster against her face, chasing his upcoming release with a determined intensity. Feeling his thighs tighten and his cock twitch, she knew it was only a matter of time before his hot liquid would spurt into her throat. Wanting to please him, her mouth began a mix of lapping, sucking and licking at his length, soaking his flesh until long pools of saliva came trickling down her chin and onto her neck. Her mouth kept moving back and forth, heightening his excitement until he began pumping his climax into her, his seed flowing down her throat which she swallowed generously.

"Oh fuck! Oh God!" Jongho cried out, not caring to keep his voice down as he had just had one of the most exhilarating orgasms after months of only having his hand to keep him company during those needy moments.

Pulling out of his wife's mouth, her lips glistened with a blend of her spit and of his cum. Getting up from the ground, she pulled out her hand that had during this time stayed between her legs, her arousal glowing on the tip of her fingers. Holding them up to her husband's face, she smeared some of it across his lip.

"Suck."

His mouth parted instantly as he graciously accepted her fingers into his wet cavern, licking off the sweet juices from her core. She watched him with utter fascination, always loving how he was always so pliant with her every command. Once sure he had licked her clean of anymore secretions, she pulled her hand out of his mouth and quickly replaced it with her own. Their tongues danced around each other as their arms wrapped around the other's body. Pent up desire and weakened passions were flowing through every touch and caress of their hands. They both realized just how much they had been missing each other's bodies, forgetting about their needs up until that moment. Pulling away with reluctance to catch her breath, Y/N looked up at the already disheveled looking male in front of her and smirked.

"Hop on top of the desk.......Sir." She whispered that last word in his ear, biting down at his earlobe.

His shivering body did not go unnoticed by her and she was more than delighted to watch as he practically cleared the desk, letting papers and other utensils scatter on the floor as he sat up on top of it. Reaching back inside her skirt, Y/N dragged her now soiled panties down her legs and set them off to the side, already knowing what she would do with them later. Climbing on top of Jongho's lap, she took hold of his cock one more time and began to pump him slowly, getting him worked up once more, his soft tender skin becoming erect and hard once again. Noticing the way his eyes peered at her slight cleavage, she used her free hand to unbutton her blouse before pulling her bra cups down enough for her breasts to pop out. Jongho swore he could cum at just the sight of them, nipples poking out and gleaming with the hints of milk oozing out.

"Suck on them. Drink mommy's milk up. After all, they're for daddy too." She encouraged him with a giggle.

His mouth devoured her breasts. He gnawed at the stiff buds of her nipples and suckled against her until her sweet nectar began trickling onto his tongue. Y/N arched her back and began spilling out erotic moans, teeth biting down occasionally at her lip as she couldn't handle the overwhelming pleasure of having her husband feed on her breast milk. Jongho was enjoying himself as well. She was moist to the point of being succulent. His tongue slipped against her fleshy mounds and he could feel himself choking on the rich taste she produced. The more he worked on sampling her flavor, the more she sighed and panted as she pushed her chest more out to him. All throughout this, her hand never stopped pumping at his length.

Jongho whined when she suddenly pushed his face off her chest, a tiny trail of milk being left on his lip. Gripping his base more firmly, she placed him right at her aching entrance and sunk down on him with no warning, causing his breath to hitch.

"I'm gonna fuck you Jongho. Fuck you til you're a crying mess to remind you who this dick belongs to. And you're gonna take it like the good slave you are. Got it?"

He nodded his head furiously, wanting nothing than to feel her take advantage of him, use him as she pleased. With an evil smile, she reached for the discarded panties she had momentarily forgotten about.

"Oh...and I guess we better keep quiet. I know I can keep it down. But you? You need a little help."

Jongho spewed out pornographic sounds as she stuffed his mouth with her panties. He could taste her sex on his tongue but he had no time to fully enjoy it when she suddenly began to bounce herself on his cock. When he tried to grip at her hips, she caught his wrists and slammed them down on the desk, his back hitting against the hard wood, but he didn't care. He was too immersed on the excruciating pleasure of having her tightness press around his cock. The desk underneath them rocked with every one of their sinful movements, no doubt alerting anyone within a few feet near the doorway, perhaps even further down. And that's what Y/N wanted. She wanted to make sure all the people outside finally understood that Choi Jongho was hers, hers only and no one else's. No one could ever take him away from her because she had him wrapped around her finger.

"Look at you, you look so pathetic. My dirty panties in your mouth, my hands keeping you from moving as I bounce myself on your cock."

Once again she felt the familiar twitch of his head warning her he was going to bust at any moment. It only fueled her to grind down on him harder.

"Who would have thought the powerful and mighty CEO would be nothing more than a little slut? Eager to get his dick wet enough to bend down to his assistant. You were so fucking easy my love."

Her mocking and teasing only helped in having him spasm underneath her, his orgasm ripping through his body in such an extreme manner he thought he would go insane. But Y/N didn't let him fully come down from his high when she began rutting herself once more on him, this time with more force and vigor that had Jongho crying out. His eyes began to became filled with tears, muffled pleading incoherent due to being gagged by her underwear. Before he could even comprehend what was happening, another orgasm was being forced out of him, his seed overflowing from inside Y/N's core that it began to cascade down into her inner thighs, droplets even falling onto the furniture underneath them.

"Even with your mouth occupied you still manage to be such a loud brat, I bet this entire floor can hear you. What? Is that what you want? Want all your employees to hear as I fuck you like my personal sex doll?"

Jongho's eyes rolled to the back of his head as he heard her words. He hated admitting it but having her degrade him, talk down to him and reduce him to nothing more than a pleasure toy never failed to make his toes curl.

"Maybe you do and that's fine. I want all of them, especially that little skank to hear as I ruin you. Let them know who's really in charge here."

Y/N's movements became more sloppy as she felt her own climax approaching, her walls squeezing unbearably down on Jongho's dick. Her breasts were jiggling with every move, adding more sensuality to the already wicked image of her riding her husband's body.

"Can you cum once more for mommy? I know you can. Daddy can definitely give mommy his cum one more time right?"

Jongho nodded, grumbling something that was not understandable. With a prideful look, Y/N raked her hands across his chest.

"Fill my pussy up once more love. Knock me up with another one of your kids. Wanna get pregnant once more by you. Fuck!"

She cursed loudly as she began shattering on top of him, chest heaving as she released her juices onto his thick cock, which was also pumping out the last remnants of his seed and coating her walls profusely. Jongho fell into a spiraling oblivion of pleasure, unable to feel anything but his throbbing dick pulsating around her heat as it milked him out of every last drop of his cum. He was in heaven, even if it was a sinful act they just committed.

Y/N let out a hiss as she pulled out of him, a long trail of sticky cum pouring onto the desk and even dropping onto the carpet. Her legs felt wobbly as she tried to walk, the numbness in her feet soon turning into a pins and needles sensation. Taking her panties off his mouth and stuffing them into his pocket, Jongho quickly fixed himself, zipping his pants back up and getting up just in time to catch his darling wife before she tumbled onto the floor

"It's ok my dear. I got you." He sweetly smiled at her and rubbed at her sore lower abdomen.

"I love you." She suddenly said.

Tilting her chin up, he kissed her temple.

"I love you more, so much more." He confessed.

"Enough to let me take the rest of the day off and go back home?" She made puppy eyes at him.

Jongho bursted out laughing at her question, nuzzling his nose against the crook of her neck.

"You're so funny babe.....nice try but no. We still have a meeting today." He reminded her, which earned him a huffing spouse.

"Have I ever mentioned I hate my boss?" She nudged him away, to which he snorted.

"Darling let's be real here. You're the real boss here. And I wouldn't have it any other way."

⊱⋅ ──────────── ⋅⊰

#ateez #ateez jongho #ateez scenarios #ateez imagines #ateez reactions #ateez fanfiction #ateez fanfic #ateez fluff #ateez angst #ateez smut #ateez ceo au #ceo!jongho #ateez dad au #dad!ateez #ateez jongho angst #ateez jongho fluff #ateez jongho fanfic #ateez jongho smut #ateez jongho scenarios #ateez jongho fanfiction #ateez jongho imagines #choi jongho fanfiction #choi jongho imagines #choi jongho fluff #choi jongho angst #choi jongho #choi jongho fanfic #choi jongho smut #choi jongho scenarios #dad!au

[interact-if]

Day 2 of A/PI Heritage Month featured authors interview is here! The lovely Mei, everyone!

Mei, author of God of the Red Mountain

A/PI Heritage Month Featured Author

You are a spirit born of the Red Mountain–though you’ve run away from it long ago. You’d be content to stay away, too, if not for the mountain god who suddenly comes looking for you. But what purpose do they have? And what exactly is your end goal?

Based on East Asian myths and folklore, you play as a powerful, nameless spirit in a shifting world. As a being caught between death and life, you are connected to a stream of limitless power, and the more you are known, the more powerful you become.

However, your journey will not be so smooth. You have been cursed by powerful, malignant beings known as Foxes, and it’s only a matter of time before you fall from sanity yourself.

Author's Ko-fi | Discord

(INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT UNDER THE CUT!)

Q1: First of all, introduce us to your project! What is it about?

God of the Red Mountain is an interactive novel made with ChoiceScript, and is heavily inspired by East-Asian, predominantly Chinese, mythology. Within, the reader plays as a spirit of chi, born within the gentle forests of the Red Mountain. Perhaps they were once meant for greatness, but then they find themselves driven away from their home in an event that leaves them wounded and cursed--leaving them doomed, rather than destined.

Time has since passed. Their wounds have turned into scars, but the curse still remains, and now at the very brink, they are presented with an opportunity to return home at last.

Though it is still very much a work in progress, I’m honored to be doing this interview for it, thank you for having me!

Q2: If it’s not too spoilery, what are you most excited about your project?

Hmm, well, GotRM branches primarily into two plot lines, each with a core secret that the main character is working to uncover. Rather than the reveal though, writing the buildup and fallout is something I’m really excited for, since I’ve planned a ton of branched pathways and unique scenes for the characters.

Aside from that, I’m also really excited to start writing the romance scenes! It has been a bit difficult coming up with a system that will efficiently track character approval and affection, but it will be entirely worth it once I get to the fluff (and angst).

Q3: What inspired the current project you’re working on?

I can’t remember anymore if there was one singular thing that inspired me to write GotRM, but I’ve always been a wuxia/xianxia fan, so I most likely sought to emulate themes that were in my favorite movies, like House of Flying Daggers or Reign of Assassins.

As time went on, I just continued to pull more influences from other types of media, particularly light novels, anime, and other Asian dramas, until I reached the setting and atmosphere that the Red Mountain has now!

Q4: Do you pull from your own identity for inspiration? How has that been reflected in your work?

GotRM is very much a testament to my identity as part of the Chinese diaspora, and everything from the food that the characters eat, to the philosophies that they hold are influenced from my own personal experiences and values. While I do often feel pressured by it, being able to share all of these things is a great source of pride for me, and I can only hope that my writing properly conveys the love and nostalgia that I have for the traditions that shape my life.

Q5: What’s been your experience so far? With writing, with the IF community...

It’s still somewhat surreal to be sharing this story with others, however the community has been nothing but encouraging towards myself and my project, and I am endlessly grateful towards them.

As a writer, feedback is such a precious thing, and the IF community is always so responsive that you really can’t help wanting to push out as many updates as possible. I really feel like my writing has improved tenfold thanks to the help of others, and GotRM would not be at the quality it is now without those comments pushing me in the right direction.

And of course, I have also found really good friends while here--friends who have picked me up when I doubted myself, and who have checked on me when I’ve gone quiet. I don’t think I can overstate how appreciative I am of their support and kindness, truly.

Q6: Do you have any future projects in the works?

Not currently! I am a very distracted writer, and if I were to even think about another project, it will probably take another 100 years before either gets finished. I do want to continue writing interactive fiction after GotRM though, so I suppose, stay tuned?

Q7: Finally, what piece of advice would you give to fellow authors?

I am not very good at coming up with general advice, but the one thing that has always helped me when I’m in a slump is to go back to my story outline and work on it until I’m motivated to start writing seriously again.

It’s a pretty methodical process of breaking down a scene from a very broad standpoint to a play-by-play--no fancy words, no worrying about coherent sentences, it’s just trying to figure out what exactly it is I want to convey in the most straightforward way I can with no embellishments.

More often than not, this will inspire me enough to finish the scene, and even if it doesn’t, at least I’ll have a very detailed explanation of what to do when I find my words!

#if: events #Asian/Pacific Islander Month 2021 #Asian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month 2021 #a/pi month #a/pi month 2021 #aapiheritagemonth #aapi month #interactive fiction #authors of color

[jimlingss]

It's B from @bang-tan-bitches and I would like to request a yandere fic. It can be BTS OT7 x reader or BTS member of your choice x reader. Similar to your amazing isekai story i would like something similar(a long one shot or a multi-chapter, your choice). Whether YN transmigrates to a game or a novel (not as a villain but maybe as a cannon fodder side character that has little importance to the story and just wants to lay low) but YN captures the attention of the love interest(s) and shit starts getting weird, intense, uncomfortable. Maybe it causes the supposed female lead to turn into the villain, maybe it causes the love interest(s) to turn into the villain(s). Maybe YN realizes that something is wrong with the story/game but can't figure it out. Idk. Time period doesn't matter. Modern. Ancient. Fairytale. Fantasy. Whatever.

If you can do this great! If you can't or don't want to, that's okay too. You're an amazing writer with so much talent and I'm really appreciative of all your work. Thank you for taking requests from your fans, I'm sure you've received a lot.

Take care! 😘💜💜💜

at the start of the pandemic, I was getting back into manga and manhwa and then after a few months, I dawdled off but recently, I’ve been getting back into it again haha so this request came at a pretty good time. Hopefully you won’t mind that I’ve taken some creative liberties with this request lol I think it’s more fun if I keep readers on their toes, including the requester.

On another note, I really shouldn’t be writing all my isekai’s with Taehyung as the main lead but he’s just so fitting asdfghjkl

↳ The Fox Bride

2.6k || 99% Light Fluff, 1% Angst || Kim Taehyung || Isekai!AU, Slight Yandere!AU, Nine-Tailed Fox!Taehyung

You are a tutorial character.

But you weren’t always. You still remember being a career woman in the twenty-first century, struggling with overtime and paying bills while trying to keep yourself fed. The success of that ranged from month to month. But more importantly, you still remember that night too.

It was rainy. Your car blew a flat tire. You pulled to the side of the highway and got out.

The last thing that registered was the deafening honk of the semi-truck. 

Then you felt yourself flying upwards.

But when you landed, instead of colliding with the concrete and dying upon impact, you fell back onto your ass in the middle of a market on a dirt road. Transported back a thousand years ago.

Your purpose was fulfilled in the next two minutes. 

“Are you alright?”

The male protagonist had stretched out his hand and helped you up. The hero. The main character. It was obvious with his bright red hair, shining eyes and bronze armour. He was so starkly different from the rest who were gray and drab, including you who was suddenly in a brown shapeless dress. He was practically a neon billboard in the middle of a graveyard.

“Are you Y/N?”

You looked at him, befuddled that he knew your name. But before you could even respond or provide a line of dialogue, he said, “This is a delivery from Baker Jeon. He gives you his thanks.”

The protagonists handed you a loaf of bread. Undoubtedly his first ever quest. 

You looked down, not sure what to do with it.

“Do you know where the blacksmith is?”

You had absolutely no clue. But there was the deafening noise of hammering steel literally ten steps away. You would have to be blind not to see the gruff man shaping a sword at an anvil right on the road and deaf not to hear it. As if that wasn’t enough, the literal sign of the shop read: ‘the blacksmith’.

So you pointed.

“Thanks.” And he trudged off.

You were utterly confused until a background character who said they knew you waved you over. You shared your bread with her, brushed aside when she asked you what was wrong, and you followed her as she walked up to your supposed cottage.

All the while, you saw yourself in the background of the hero’s main quest as he ran through the town.

And that was that.

It wasn’t so hard to figure out where you were or what the hell this was when you put your mind to it. Without much of a job or a family, and no technology but the candle that you had to conserve when night fell, there was ample time.

So you spent it thinking and you eventually solved the mystery.

You were in Beast Boys Harem: A Forbidden Embrace. AKA. a dumb yaoi otome game app that you downloaded on your phone when you were sixteen and bored. You remember because you were too cheap to buy the routes, so you played the tutorial, prologue and read the summaries of the routes online. Now you regret that you didn’t just fork over the goddamn five dollars. 

Even more than that, you regret that you even downloaded the game in the first place.

But at least you’re just a tutorial character. You’re free from the storyline and the plot—

That’s what you thought.

Turns out living a thousand years in the past in a fantasy realm as a woman didn’t bode well. It was probably no different from how it would’ve been like in the medieval ages. You had no trade skills. No one was willing to accept you as an apprentice when you were a woman. You found that you were essentially illiterate with a reading level of a preschooler, no one was willing to teach you, and you had no power or wealth when you were without a father or a husband.

And you’re certain what the landlord and tax-collectors are doing is illegal.

But in this world, in this unjust realm, there is no such thing as the law.

“We know you’re in there!”

You jolt from the heavy pounding on the frail wooden door.

“It’s time to pay up!”

Your hands tremble as you set the candle down that’s still billowing of smoke, the flame smothered out mere seconds ago. As much as you want to hide and pull the blanket over your head, you know that door won’t last. They’ll find you if you’re trapped in here.

“If you can’t, spread those legs of yours!” a low voice spits and there’s chortling from the men.

Someone adds, “Sell your body already!” 

“Open up! Damn whore!”

Without a single possession but the white nightgown clad on your body, you open the latch of the back window. You cringe at the squeak, trying to keep your movements quiet before the door gives way.

You hoist yourself up onto the window ledge. The door bends with the strength of multiple clenched fists against it. Your feet touch the soft grass outside your cottage. The men shout.

And the door finally slams against the wall, hinges broken. 

But by then, you’ve slipped into the shadows.

“Where is she?!”

The blanket is ripped off the bed, curtains are whipped back, every drawer dumped onto the ground and cupboards yanked open. The floor shakes with the weight of their boots and you press your palm to your mouth to silence your panting breaths, slowly stepping away.

“That damn whore slipped through us—!”

But as your shitty luck would have it, a sudden crack has the whole world coming to a standstill.

Shit. You look down at your feet, realizing that the snapping noise came from you stepping on a twig. And it’s exposed your hiding place.

“There she is!” — “Out the back window!”

You grab fistfuls of your dress and bolt. 

“Get her!”

With your cottage on the edge of town, there’s nowhere to run but through the dense woods. It’s shrouded in the darkness, no doubt filled with wild beasts creeping through the thicket. The rustling canopy of the trees doesn’t allow the dim, waning moonlight to illuminate your path.

So you’re left blind. Struggling up the high incline of the forest, feet slipping on dirt and mud. But you keep sprinting with all your might, even when the pointed, coiling branches scrape at your calves until blood sheds and the hem of your dress tears in the underbrush.

“Run, little rabbit!” one of them mocks, “Run!”

The four men continue to give chase, gripping onto their roaring torches, shrieking and howling after you. One of them is manically laughing as if your efforts to flee only adds to the thrill. Their greased hands reach out to snatch you, but the tips of their fingers graze the ends of your hair.

Your teeth are sunk into the bottom of your lip, sobs breaking through your aching chest. Your lungs burn, dying for a break or moment of relief. But you don’t relent and luckily, you manage to build distance between you and the men. Only, that luck comes crashing down by a fucking hole.

A hole in the forest floor that you don’t see. That has your footing all wrong. That makes you scream and fall.

You twist your ankle in a direction it’s definitely not supposed to be in and cry from pain. 

A second later, you force yourself to get up and keep running with tears flooding your eyes and dripping down your cheeks. But it’s more like limping than running, akin to hobbling on one leg and every movement has pain shooting from your swelling ankle.

The effort becomes futile. They surround you within minutes.

“All finished?” The tax-collector’s head cocks with a spreading grin. “You’re not going to keep running?”

Why couldn’t you just fucking die the first time?! Even if it was an awful death where you didn’t have time to prepare yourself or say goodbye to anyone, at least it would’ve been the end. At least you wouldn’t have to suffer.

But there’s no time to grieve. Or hate the new life you’ve been given. This is it. You have to keep going. You have to survive. By any means. You’re about to pick up a branch and uselessly wave it around at them, shout at them to stand back. Anything that you could do to save yourself—

“Who dares come onto my mountain?!”

There’s a deep timbre behind you. A husky voice that quivers the very core of the forest.

As if the wind has swept through, the trees and thicket rustle and it goes silent.

The men fall back onto their asses, some torches clattering to the ground. Their eyes have grown double in size, nearly falling from their sockets and their jaws have dropped to the dirt.

“I-It’s the nine-tailed fox!”

The man scrambles back.

“Demon!” 

Another barely manages to get onto his feet. He turns around and lurches away while shrieking.

They all run. Scattering away as frantically as cockroaches when the light is flickered on.

From your spot on the ground, you turn around with wide eyes. 

Amber irises meet your gawking and they practically glow in the darkness of the forest. He is dressed in a loose, white robe that’s draped over his frame, open to the middle of his chest. And over his honey hair, on the top of his head, his pointed golden ears twitch. By the torch fire still yet to die out, he is illuminated and his shadow is casted on the ground. The blazing flame warms his cold, sharp features. 

He is the most beautiful person you’ve ever seen. In both worlds you’ve lived in.

And you know who he is.

Taehyung. One of the love interests of the hero. A seductive, sly creature that eventually coaxes the hero into selling him his soul to grant one of his wishes. But Taehyung grows to become an obsessed character that wants to do nothing but monopolize and possess the hero for himself.

That same Taehyung approaches you with his lip curled as you teeter to your feet.

“Run away, girl.” He leans close. “Before I eat you.”

“Stop!” 

On sheer instinct and adrenaline, you push him back. Your palm shoves against his firm chest.

Taehyung stumbles back with his eyes becoming rounded. He looks down to where you had made contact against his body. “Did...you just touch me?”

“What?”

Taehyung’s head darts upwards and he captures your wrist in his hand, squeezing tightly. He tugs you in and on your swollen ankle, you stumble into him. Bodies flush against one another. Your face pressed to his warm chest. His arm coming around your waist to break your fall.

He is aghast. 

“You’re not from this world.” Taehyung’s yellow eyes swirl as they gaze into you. “Where did you come from?”

…

It’s been three days.

“Wed me,” he begs for the seventy sixth time. 

You don’t know why you’re keeping a count.

“No.”

You’re hugging your knees for warmth. The rice paper-paneled doors are slid open and letting in the chilly air. He doesn’t seem to be affected by the cold, but you don’t look at him for long. 

You turn into the corner of his home while sitting on the tatami floors as if you’re putting yourself into time out. But you’d like to say it’s your privacy corner. It’s as private as this abode, which was basically one room, could get. 

Taehyung sighs in frustration, placing his hand on his forehead. His teeth grit. “You’re only making this harder for yourself.” Your silence angers him more. “You can never leave.”

You turn over your shoulder to glare. “Even if I married you, you’d never let me leave anyway.”

Taehyung narrows his eyes on you and then smirks. “You’re right. Wed or unwed, I won’t let you out of my sight. You should feel grateful, girl. You’re the best human I’ve ever treated.”

You quietly scoff.

Maybe you should feel scared. Maybe you should tread more lightly. After all, he’s not a character to be trifled with.

But you know he needs you. That alone gives you power. 

As a beast, Taehyung’s been trapped on this mountain by priests for centuries. The only way he can be free is by feeding off of sexual energy and breaking the barrier. But of course, they also cursed him to be unable to touch any woman in this universe. 

You aren’t from this universe.

You jolt when you realize that while you were lost in thought, Taehyung’s crawled closer. He has a foxy smile, amber eyes searching your expression. “Maybe….maybe I’ll grant you a bit of freedom if you would just give into the temptation and let me have a taste of you.”

As cold as he looks, he is beautiful. He is mischievous when he smirks and sly when he speaks. You are utterly spellbound as you look into his irises. And the temptation he speaks of flickers in the warmth of your belly.

But you turn away.

“I already said we only do that kind of thing after marriage. And I will only marry someone I love.”

Taehyung draws back with an unamused scoff. “What a prudish world you’re from.”

He wanted you the moment you were brought to this house. With the intensity of his stare and your captivated state, you had let him pin you to his floor and you liked it. But then clarity came and you blurted that such an act only happens after marriage. A lie just to buy time.

You didn’t expect for the hero to arrive at Taehyung’s house the next day. With his red hair and bronze armour, he had gotten lost in the forest and knocked on the door. Before you could limp over and answer it, Taehyung jumped off the roof and confronted him.

The guy was thrown off the mountain within five minutes.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. They were supposed to have a steamy rendezvous. Taehyung was supposed to get the sexual energy from him! 

The story was going off the rails. And you’re not sure what you’re even buying time for anymore.

The both of you know it’s only a matter of time before you break and succumb to his mesmerizing seduction.

Taehyung is cruel, ruthless, obsessive.

But what’s the most bewitching thing about him is the jarring contrast of when he’s clumsy and nurturing. It’s what he regards as his own weakness. What he hides from others. But you felt your heart waver two nights ago when you were shaken awake in the middle of twilight. When you peeked open your eye to see him gingerly wrapping your swollen ankle with bandages.

He looked beautiful in the pale moonlight, ears, tails, sharp features softened—

“Ow!” You wince as he squeezes your ankle, right on your injury.

“You think too much in your head,” he says and looks at you. “What’s wrong?”

“It hurts.”

A sadistic smile tugs on Taehyung’s lips. He lets go, but only to lift your chin with his fingers. His plush lips are inches away, his breath warm on your skin and he gazes deep into you. “I won’t let you return to your world. I won’t let you run away. I won’t let anyone harm you.”

“You’re mine now.” Taehyung swears, “You’ll fall in love with me eventually.”

You gulp and he smirks.

The two of you know it’s only a matter of time.

#bts fanfic #bts scenario #taehyung fanfic #taehyung scenario #taehyung fluff #bts fluff #taehyung reader insert #taehyung x reader #taehyung fanfiction #LET'S GOOOO

[d-criss-news]

The Glee star and Emmy winner for The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, Darren Criss, 34, will be releasing his first album of Christmas songs, titled A Very Darren Crissmas (October 8). It includes duets with Adam Lambert, Evan Rachel Wood and an original song, “Drunk on Christmas,” featuring Lainey Wilson.

What was your goal with this Christmas album?

To reintroduce familiar songs in a new way. But I also wanted to take lesser-known songs and make those feel more familiar. And, most importantly, I wanted to take songs that people don’t associate with Christmas but I do—like Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”—and try to make them feel like Christmas songs.

What inspired you to write “Drunk on Christmas”?

It’s about the end of Christmas when everything’s been done. There’s wrapping on the floor, you’ve cleaned things, the in-laws have left and there’s nothing else to do. It’s two people having a sit-on-the couch moment, sipping a glass of cocoa with some SoCo [Southern Comfort] in it.

What is it about Christmas music? Why did you want to do the Christmas album?

Christmas or the holiday season is something that, whether we like it or not, we experience every year, and that comes with a litany of wonderful songs and music that again, whether you have been proactive about listening to it or not, it’s pretty hard to avoid. It’s permeated our cultural consciousness for our entire lives. So if you happen to be someone like me who consumes music at a hyperactive level, I’ve always adored Christmas music.

People say this because of the way that it makes them feel and the things that it reminds them of. There are so many layers to why people enjoy Christmas music. It’s nostalgic, it is very romantic, at least in the true dictionary meaning of the word romantic. And to me, I’ve always loved it for a much more anthropological reason, which is for one month or several weeks out of the year we suddenly subscribe to a certain sentiment that the other 11 we don’t really dial into. We want it all, then we want it to just go away.

What makes Christmas songs different?

As a musician I’ve always loved that Christmas music can employ certain musical elements that otherwise aren’t very popular. To me, it’s incredible that without a doubt the estates of many artists are guaranteed placement on the radio even though many of them have been deceased for many years. The pop charts are dominated by whatever contemporary, awesome artists there are nowadays, but in December you can guarantee that Burl Ives and Dean Martin will be on the radio with the best of them. I find that so charming. It’s because people really, really love this music.

And those songs don’t sound like the sounds that we’re hearing on the radio, sonically, harmonically, rhythmically. They employ a lot of “classic” sounds that evoke the feeling of Christmas. I’m a self-proclaimed genrephile—this is a term I use for myself throughout all the stuff that I do. I can’t help but be so enchanted by this idea that artists have license, and by license I mean an excuse to do things that you ordinarily wouldn’t be encouraged to do, or that audiences wouldn’t necessarily be as quick to absorb.

So, when you’re talking about classic Christmas writing, for lack of a better word, you use clichéd Christmas terminology, you use certain chords, and harmonies, and instrumentations that you just wouldn’t do throughout the year. It leans on the slightly more sophisticated, slightly more musical, and that is really exciting for someone like me.

How much does the fact that your last name is Criss play into this?

If you play music and your last name is Criss, every year someone says, “You know what you should do?” as if they’re the first person who’s ever thought of this idea. So I’ve always wanted to do this; it was just a matter of time. And I also didn’t want it to be phoned in, I didn’t want it to seem like, “Oh, here’s some songs that you know already.”

I wrote this in my liner notes that my favorite thing to do with art, but particularly music, is curate, interpolate, create and personalize. That’s my main thing. I’m an OK singer, I’m an OK musician, but what I really think I have a yen for is trying to interpolate something new that people didn’t know before.

If you think about a song like “Jingle Bells,” it was not written for Christmas. It was a song from 200-something years ago that bears no mention of Christmas whatsoever, but we associate it so heavily with Christmas. Lately I hear Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” come up on Christmas playlists. I think it must have something to do with the Christian angle of the song and the reverence of the word “hallelujah,” but there’s no mention of Christmas.

So there’s a lot of different things that can make people feel like Christmas if you arrange it a certain way, and that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted this cocktail of songs that people didn’t know and I might be able to introduce to them in a really new, interesting way.

You duet with Adam Lambert, Evan Rachel Wood and Lainey Wilson. These people couldn’t be more different. How did you select your song partners for this?

Honestly, people are busy, so I leaned on friends of mine. The album is called A Very Darren Crissmas, and I wanted to make it just that. Songs that are very, very me, doing things that are very me, and using the talents of people who are legitimately in my life. Adam has been a pal for a long time. We’ve known each other from just adventures in Hollywood, but he, of course, was on Glee with me. Evan Rachel is a dear pal of mine; we’ve done some things together. She’s played my festival, and I’ve done comedy sketches with her and stuff. These are all extraordinarily talented singers. As I told them when I asked them to be a part of it, “I’d be very lucky to have you on this record.”

I had not met Lainey Wilson before I started this. But when you’re in Nashville, you are in the Olympic tent of USDA certified prime country singers. And that’s a bit of a blind spot for me as far as who’s on the up and up, who’s somebody that can really give a level of authenticity, legitimacy to a more classic ’50s Nashville sound, which is the song that I wrote called “Drunk on Christmas.” My producer Ron Fair, who has been living in Nashville for a while, suggested Lainey and we got on like a house on fire. She’s an extraordinary talent and I was happy to have her. These were all people that were part of this grassroots friend to friend thing. That’s how I got them and I’m very lucky that they’re on the record.

There are hundreds of Christmas songs. How did you choose what to include?

Choosing was extremely hard. I had a list of about 100 songs. I’m not done; this record is only phase one in my mind. There are so many songs that it will make your head spin. If you go, “Did you think about this song?” The answer is yes, and I absolutely had to deliberate which ones I had to triage out of the sequence.

I even said no to “The Christmas Song,” which is on the album. I didn’t want to do it because I was like, “Everybody knows it; it’s perfect by Nat King Cole,” and Mel Tormé [who wrote it] is one of my favorite artists of all time, much less songwriters and musicians. So I was like, “I don’t want to have to do that.” And on the day when we were there, we just had a guitar and said, “Let’s just do it for fun,” because I love singing that song. But I was like, “It’s been done perfectly too many times, I really don’t want to have to put myself up against that.” But we had a nice take, it’s live in the room. And hey, come on, it’s Christmas. So I left it on there.

If we were to come to your house during the holidays, what would you be listening to?

I’d probably sit you down and play you my favorite songs that you’ve never heard that I think are great Christmas songs. But what’s nice is I’ve now put those songs on this album, hopefully, in a perhaps delusional effort to standardize these songs in the Christmas pantheon. There has to be an air of delusion to being an artist in the first place. If one of these songs that no one’s ever heard before catches on with a family or a person and becomes part of their Christmas playlist every year, then I will have succeeded in my efforts.

What did the Emmy you won for The Assassination of Gianni Versace do for your career?

Although the Emmy has just my name on it, the number one thing that I’m most proud of is it’s more symbolic and representative of the work of the whole team. It is a validation and celebration of the really hard work of people that I spent a lot of time and energy with creating this role.

You have a couple voice roles coming up—in Trese and Yasuke—but what are we going to see you in next, not just hear you?

I don’t know. Let me know if there’s any opportunities. A huge reason for why this album was made was because I had the time. Making records takes a lot of time, and I’m envious of people who are just singers. I don’t know how people do that, that’s just not who I am. I’m a producer, I’m a writer, I’m a musician. It takes so much out of me to make a body of music because someone doesn’t say, “OK, here are the songs, show up on a Tuesday, you sing it and then you leave.” Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Some of my favorite artists can do that and are blessed enough to be able to just do that. I can’t.

It takes so much time for me to really get in the weeds, arrange, edit vocals, edit instrumentation, mix tracks, really getting in the jungle of music production. I can’t function any other way and that takes an extraordinary amount of time. Even when there was a global pandemic, I still had deadlines that we could barely make to finish this album because that’s just how my brain works.

So I haven’t been able to act. I haven’t had an acting job in almost two years. That’s not entirely true. I’ve had little bit things during the pandemic, but no big series or films or anything like that. It’s just been mostly working from home and being as proactive as I can be. I started a weekly podcast with a friend of mine, I put out an EP. I’ve been extremely busy with high output and low visibility. I’m waiting for the next thing, but I’m not one to sit still. If you give me time, I’m going to fill all the spaces out. So I did that with music this past two years.

Are you going to go back to Broadway now that it’s opening again?

I don’t want to say anything that is not perhaps confirmed 100 percent, but I will say with full confidence that I have always had the intention of going back exactly where we started. I’ll let them announce what’s happening because every show is in its own unique holding pattern. But, yes, right before the shutdown I was doing American Buffalo in New York, and talk about the actor’s dream, that is right up there. Doing a great American play that I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve had a long history with that show, and I finally get to do it for real with two of my favorite actors—Sam Rockwell and Laurence Fishburne. They are two acting heroes of mine.

So I was in rehearsals for that. We were about to go into tech, and things got shut down. But we’re in a very fortunate position where you’ve got two huge movie stars, you have a very well-known play and you have a fixed set and just three guys. There are musicals that have orchestras, big choruses and huge set pieces, and the overhead and upkeep of these productions is quite complicated. And a lot of them, for that reason, fell by the wayside during the pandemic, and it’s an awful tragedy. But our set and our billboard and our posters are exactly where we left them. It’s kind of a trip. If you go to Circle in the Square, I keep telling people it’s the longest I’ve ever been on Broadway because it’s just sitting there dormant, waiting to be resurrected.

I think all of us are planning on going back. I think the show is scheduled to reopen almost to the day that it was supposed to open in 2020. We’ll see how the schedule ends up, but you have three guys whose heart and soul is the theater. I don’t want to speak for the other two guys, but I’m almost positive that all three of us would rather be doing that play on Broadway than anything else. So when I say I haven’t had an acting gig in two years, it’s been a comfort to know that that was waiting for me on the other end. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we’ll be able to do it. We’ll have to make sure that everything is hunky-dory with theater audiences, et cetera, et cetera, but that’s the idea.

How did Ryan Murphy casting you in Glee change your life?

I said during my Emmy speech that actors are only as good as the moments they get. I used to say actors are only as good as the parts they get. Take that with a huge grain of salt, obviously, it’s not entirely true. But in context of that moment, certainly you can understand what I meant. Acting is a proactive craft, but in many respects it’s a passive career, where you have to hope and wait for a benefactor, a patron, a supporter to say, “OK, all right, kid, you’re up. I think you can do it.”

I think any artist’s life is a constant compromise between knowing what you can do and what you want to do, and having other people, audiences and creative authorities alike, have an idea of what you can do. You have to have that balance of somewhere in the middle, where hopefully you can rise to an occasion that you know you can do, that somebody’s going to give you the opportunity to do. But you’re not in control of that relationship, and so you have to sit and hope and pray that someone is going to give you that moment and that opportunity. That was something that I’m fully indebted to with Ryan.

Because he did say, “All right, kid, you’re up,” and gave me that shot. We talked about the The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story series for years before we did it. I didn’t think he was ever going to do it. By the time we started shooting, he probably mentioned it to me three or four years prior. And I kept asking about it like, “Hey, you still want to do this thing?” I think he was just always obsessed with the fact that I was half Filipino and that I bore a certain resemblance to the guy. Age and everything, it seems pretty spot-on. But he was a man of his word, and he really did end up making it. So I’m incredibly indebted to him and I’ve always been very effusive about that.

Now that you have this modicum of fame, what would you like to use it to accomplish?

For me, there are so many things that I love in this world that I don’t think other people are familiar with. One of the things about having a modicum of a platform is hopefully embracing that to use it as a gateway drug for stuff that people might not be familiar with. I don’t know if they’re going to like it as much as I do, but I’m looking at this track list and there are songs that I guarantee that you don’t know.

These are all things where I go, “OK, I have this moment of people’s attention, hopefully, this is a fun way to have them have eyes on something that I think is deserving of eyes, and not because of me, but because of other people who have made something amazing.” And, hopefully, they have the same proactive curiosity that I had growing up where I look at the liner notes and see who wrote the songs and where they came from. But we’ll see. We’ll see if people have that reaction.

You’ve accomplished so much. What’s the dream going forward?

The dream is to keep doing me, really. I think all you can do is be as true to yourself and try and do as accessible and as valuable work as you can. And, hopefully, in so doing, represent people, giving them visibility and encouragement towards their own place in the cultural conversation.

#darren criss #parade magazine #a very darren crissmas #press #oct 2021

[harryspet]

welcome to eden | steve rogers

[Warnings] dark!steve rogers x reader, stepford wives au, wife!reader, marriage au, institutional misogyny, wealthy!steve, housewives au, stepfordization, mind control/brainwashing, forced gender roles, breeding kink, oral sex (male recieving), vaginal sex (wear a condom, kids!), bad editing :)

A/N: i just love the concept of this! i was told this was done before but I hope you all like my interpretation!

THIS STORY CONTAINS TRIGGERING CONTENT

In which the neighborhood you and your husband Steve move into isn’t like anywhere else on earth. The women are flawless and the men are way too happy. 

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taglist: @lovelynerdytraveler @buckysbunny @hollandsdream @micki-smiles @buckybarnesplumwhore @arts-ismything @saharzek @lovemassivelybeautifulbouquet @what-is-your-wish @marvelslut-musicalnerd @brattypeony @hermayone @buckysugar @cherienymphe @peterztinglez @darkficsyouneveraskedfor @charmed-asylum @fishwaterr @marvelsswansong​ @nsfwsebbie​

word count: 4.8k

“Now that we actually own this place it feels different. You still don’t think this is all a little much?” 

Steve lifted the cardboard box you were holding from your hands, starting to make his way into the house, “It’s perfect, pumpkin.”

Eden. 

You were now homeowners in the most luxurious and exclusive neighborhood in upstate New York. Howard Stark created this safe haven in the sixties and people now knew it as “heaven on earth”. 

You followed him inside the fortress of a house, knowing he was smiling wide. Even in your wildest dreams you never imagined that you would live in a place like this. There were so many rooms that you’d run out of ideas for what to do with them. The massive foyer was twice as big as the home you grew up in. 

Perfect marble floors, a winding staircase that reminded you of a castle, and a ginormous chandelier that was no doubt made of real diamonds. You followed Steve as he made his way into the kitchen which was, again, made for the Gods. You’d never been good at cooking but now you felt you had to start giving it a try just because of how nice it was. 

It had three ovens! Who in the world needs three ovens? “I don’t think we even have enough stuff to fill the house, Steve.”

He set the box onto the counter and you were reminded of the small number of things inside compared to the amount of cabinet space, “We’ll buy more things. Lots of things! You have my card, you can order whatever you want online,” You took a deep breath, feeling overwhelmed even by the thought of decorating this place, “Hey now, c’ mere. This is supposed to be a happy day.”

You walked into his embrace, letting his strong arms wrap around you as you leaned your head against his hard chest, “I am happy,” You made sure to say though you weren’t convinced this house would ever feel normal, “And I’m grateful. I really am, Steve.”

Steve’s big promotion in security at Stark Industries was unexpected but of course, you were happy for him. You just didn’t expect he’d suddenly be making millions and, since the two of you were married now, that you’d have to make the move with him and start looking for new jobs in the city. He’d do the same for you so you felt it was your duty to suck it up and try to make things work. 

You looked up at him and a soft smile was on his kind face. He leaned down to press a comforting kiss to your forehead. You tilted up to kiss him. He deepened it and, like you always liked, the passion you’d felt with him escalated the situation. 

Suddenly, Steven lifted you onto the kitchen counter, his hands on your waist and started to explore beneath your shirt, “This is going to be so good for us,” He spoke huskily against your lips, “What do you say we christen the new place?”

You nodded eagerly as he began to kiss your neck, “One good thing is we’ll probably never run out of places to have sex in a house this big,” Steve chuckled at your words. For a moment, his kisses took away the anxiety you were feeling. Change is only a part of life and it was something you’d just have to get used to. Luckily, you had Steve by your side to get through it all. 

“Plenty of space for kids as well,” He said and you assumed it was an attempt to turn you on. You gripped his muscular arms tightly as he 

“Mhm, put a baby in me, Steve,” You played along, knowing that you were on birth control and that was unlikely to happen anytime soon. Steve was dying to be a father but you agreed before you got married that you would enjoy your marriage to each other before you considered having kids, “Please, Steve.”

You knew that would send him over the edge and only seconds later he was pulling down your bottoms and pushing himself between your legs. Before you two could get really hot and heavy, the doorbell rang and left you both frozen. 

Steve helped you off the counter and you were quickly trying to pull up your yoga pants as Steve zipped up his jeans, “Edith, who’s at the door?” Steve asked which caught you off guard. The mansion was also a smart house, equipped with artificial intelligence that Mr. Stark had developed. 

“James and Natasha Barnes, sir. Would you like me to let them in?” There were small monitors throughout the house including the kitchen. It lit up when the door rang with a picture of the couple standing at the front door. 

“Yes, Edith. Thank you,” Steve turned back to you, not with frustration that their moment had been interrupted, but with a mischievous smile, “We’ll finish what we started later.”

You nodded, forcing a smile as he grabbed your hand. The two of you walked to the foyer which was a trip within itself due to the size of the house. 

Bucky was one of Steve’s friends that you were never quite sure of. He’d known Steve for way longer than you so you never thought it was your place to ask questions about their relationship. Bucky just seemed to bring out Steve’s impulsive side and you preferred Steve when he was cool and level headed. 

Nat, on the other hand, you loved her. 

“Welcome to Eden, Rogers family,” Bucky announced, his voice booming through the foyer as they came into view. Already, something was off and it wasn’t because of the new environment. Bucky was clad in his suburban husband get-up, like he’d been golfing all day and Natasha looked like she was preparing to go to some old-fashioned garden party. You’d never seen her wear a sundress and never seen her smile so wide. 

“Thanks, Buck,” You heard Steve say, going to hug his best friend. 

As you walked up to embrace Natasha, she even felt different. As you pulled back, you searched her face for something missing, “Wow, your eyes are beautiful,” She said, still beaming. Her red hair was now blonde and reached down past her shoulders. Her skin was bright and her makeup, which she didn’t normally wear, was done to perfection. 

“Thank you,” You spoke, unsure of why she was just now noticing. Besides that, you didn’t think they were anything special, “You look great … so new.” You laughed awkwardly as you took a step back. Bucky placed a hand on the small of her back and she gazed back at him lovingly. 

“Honey, you act like you haven’t met Y/N a million times,” Bucky grinned towards you, trying to ease the awkwardness. 

“Of course,” Natasha agreed immediately. You couldn’t help but think her tone was lacking a certain emotion, “I love spending time with Y/N. It’s so nice to have girl friends, isn’t it?”

Suddenly, appearing from basically nowhere, she pulled out a dish. It was a pound cake and she presented it to you with a smile that was now starting to make you uncomfortable, “A house warming gift,” Bucky added as you accepted it, “Natasha has been taking up baking.”

“That’s very sweet,” You said and Steve added a thanks.

“You two should stay. Let us give you a tour!” Steve clapped his hands together in excitement.

“Sure,” You agreed, “Stay for dinner. We can order pizza.”

“Order? Pizza?” Natasha was smiling but her head cocked to the side in confusion. Bucky responded by grabbing her hand and, again, she looked up at him with loving eyes. 

“That sounds delicious, Y/N,” Bucky said, ignoring his wife. 

+

You rubbed moisturizer on your face as you looked back into your bathroom mirror. The room was the size of a regular room and the closet was basically an apartment within itself. Steve came from behind you, his hands on your waist as he pressed himself into you. 

“Should we continue where we left off?” He asked as you grabbed a hold of your toothbrush. 

His hands were still roaming over your body as you began to brush your teeth before bed. You didn’t answer his question, your mind far away, “You don’t think Nat was acting super off today?” You asked after spitting toothpaste into the sink, “I mean, quitting her job. Suddenly wanting to be a stay at home Mom? She just got a promotion a few months ago.”

Through the mirror, Steve gave you a look that told you he was about to play devil’s advocate, “She didn’t seem that different to me. I think she realized what she actually wanted after the move.”

Your eyes narrowed at him as you rinsed off your toothbrush, “Are you being serious, Steve?”

“Hey, don’t get mad at me,” Realizing he was not getting anything tonight, he stepped back with his hands in the air, “You never know about these things. People change. Who knows, maybe our priorities will change too.”

You scoffed, turning off the water, “My only priority right now is landing the Cosmopolitan contract. I can think about priorities once I’m working again,” You walked past Steve, standing on the tip of your toes to kiss his cheek, but he still had a defeated look on his face, “Let’s go to bed, it’s been a long day.” 

+

You barely had time to enjoy your bowl of cereal milk before there was another ring at the doorbell. Without looking up from his bowl, Steve explained that he made plans for you and Natasha to spend the day together. You knew he was working on convincing you that this entire move was a great idea. Of course, you didn’t have time to protest because the new blonde was now impatiently honking the horn of the golf cart in your driveway. 

As soon as you stepped out of the house, you realized you were underdressed once again. Her attire today was a sundress full of blue flowers and beautiful pearls to go around her neck, “Good morning, sunshine!” She beamed as you climbed into the passenger seat. She looked over your regular t-shirt and jeans with a smile but you could tell she didn’t understand the way you were dressing, “It’s such a lovely day, isn’t it?”

“Yeah-”

“I know! I love gardening on days like this,” She suddenly pressed the gas and you were on your way. You were still figuring out what exactly happened to your friend since the last time she saw you but she could only seem to talk about gardening, “Bucky loves the flowers I plant. I put them in this gorgeous vase so he can look at them while he’s eating his favorite breakfast. It’s nice to have nice things to look at.”

Natasha showed you every house in the neighborhood, explaining what nuclear family lived in each house, “How come you know everyone who lives here? You never seemed like the type to ... “

“Oh, we all know each other in Eden. It’s like a family! Isn’t that sweet?”

You couldn’t even bring yourself to nod this time. You were starting to notice that every person we passed seemed … flawless. All the wives were perfectly dressed, wearing heels, and had neatly pinned hair. All the husbands looked way too happy. 

You passed a golf course and soon arrived at the clubhouse where you’d be attending a book club meeting. You were a reader yourself so the idea of that gave you some hope that you wouldn’t feel totally out of place today. 

That hope dissipated quickly when you stepped into the room. On a landing overlooking a pool, a group of flawless looking women sat in a circle like they were having a tea party rather than a book club meeting. 

They were all happy to meet you and Natash introduced you to everyone. Instead of their names, she started with their husband’s. There was Sam’s wife Sharon, Vision’s wife Wanda, Thor’s wife Val, Clint’s wife Laura and most importantly-

“Pepper!” The group of women erupted with cheers as the matriarch entered the room. You’d recognize Tony Wife’s anywhere just from the tabloids. She was pretty much America’s favorite wife, writing self-help books, and posing on the cover of home decor magazines. 

“Good morning, ladies,” She moved like a cloud, floating through the room as she commanded everyone’s attention. She took a second look at you as she made her way to her chair, “Steve’s wife Y/N, it’s lovely to meet you and, wow, you have such beautiful eyes. Welcome to the book club!”

The room erupted in giggles and clapping once again. You felt you were in some sort of simulation, like a social prank and you were waiting for some tv show host to come out and reveal that all these people were paid actors. 

Pepper continued, crossing her ankles as she flattened out the skirt of her purple colored dress, “I hope you are all feeling like I am. My husband is happy, the kids are happy, my friends are happy and that. Makes. Me. Overjoyed,” Her words put them in a trance and they seemed even more robot-like than they already were, “I only want to add to that feeling so today we are discussing a highly anticipated book.”

You weren’t sure what you were expecting but you clearly weren’t on the same page as everyone else. Natasha nudged your side, giddy as ever, “I present to you ladies, Melanie Winkle’s Christmas Baking Book!” Now you were positive that you were in a simulation, “Christmas is a few months away but the season is so busy that I think we should get an early start this year. Who knows how many dance recitals, charity fundraisers, and Christmas parties we will all attend this winter? Too many to count! This book is going to change all of our lives.”

Natasha leaned into your ear, “I love Christmas, don’t you?”

“Nat?” Her eyes widened with curiosity, “Blink twice if someone is holding you hostage.”

She didn’t blink at all, “You’re silly, Y/N. You always make me laugh, don’t you?”

+

The next week passed in a blur. You had no idea how many brain dead women you had met or how many times Steve had told you that you were crazy for stressing over the Natasha situation. Tomorrow, you had an interview and you could finally leave the neighborhood and be around people who didn’t only care about knitting and Christmas decorations. 

Before you could have your sweet escape, your limit was met. 

You were attending a yoga class led by Pepper that Natasha had brought you to. It was an otherwise normal experience despite Pepper chanting about how true peace is reached when your “home is happy”. 

The class was in a cat’s pose when Wanda suddenly fell down to her stomach. The class froze and you rushed to her side. Your heart racing, you placed a hand on her back to check to see what was wrong. You brushed her hair from her facing, seeing that her eyes were wide open and she was saying, “I love my husband. I love my family. I love my husband. I love my family,” She kept repeating those two phrases over and over, her gaze completely empty. 

You felt Natasha’s hand on your arm, trying to guide you away.

“She’s going to be just fine, girls,” Pepper said calmly like the woman wasn’t having a nervous breakdown, “Us women are so delicate, with the yoga and the hot weather outside, she must be overheating. Natasha, will you lead the girls into the other room?”

“I think she needs medical attention,” You interjected, staring around the room to find a like mind. 

“Tony can help her,” Pepper smiled.

“She needs a doctor!” The room went silent before the wives began to whisper. 

“I love my husband. I love my husband. I love- I love- It’s a lovely day outside, isn’t it? Isn’t it?” 

“We will get her the help she needs, do not worry,” Piper continued, folding her arms in front of her. 

Natasha pulled your arm harder this time, “Y/N, let me walk you home. It’s a lovely day for a walk.”

You left the room with a feeling of complete uncertainty and as soon as Natasha was out of your site, you stormed up the spiral stairs to find Steve’s office, “Steve!” You shouted his name as you speedily walked through the long hallway. You pushed open the two, large, oak doors that led into the study and stormed inside, “Steve Rogers, I am done!”

Steve looked up from his desk and Tony turned to face you from his place in the chair in front of his desk. 

“Y/N, what’s wrong?” Steve stood from his chair, concerned. 

You stared at Tony Stark, not with awe because he was the most famous engineer in the world, but with anger, “I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting you, Y/N,” Tony stood next, fixing the buttons on his suit jacket, “Steve tells me you’re a photographer. Quite a talented one.”

You eyed him carefully, somehow knowing that he was the source of all that was wrong here, “I need to talk to my husband, alone, if you don’t mind.”

Steve’s eyes darkened as he looked at you, “Y/N,” He said with a warning, trying to tell you not to be rude, “This is my boss-” “It’s quite alright, I know an angry wife when I see one. I enjoyed our conversation, Mr. Rogers, and I think we’re on the same page now,” Tony approached you, a smug look on his face, “I hope to see you around, sweetheart. Oh, and again, welcome to Eden.”

As he left the room, you became even more frustrated, “You can’t talk to me like that in front of my boss, Y/N.”

“Steve,” You walked closer to his desk, “Listen to me. It’s only been a week and I am losing my mind. The people here are … are robots! They’re old-fashioned and daft, especially the wives. Nat used to be smart and cunning and now all she can talk about are gardening magazines!”

“Gardening is a very relaxing hobby-”

“Oh, please,” You crossed your arms, “That woman was on her way to being a CEO and now she’s … she’s a shell.”

Steve walked around the desk to you, grabbing your hands while they shook with anger. The look in his eyes was sincere, loving, and brought you back to a simpler time. When you were first dating, living in a tiny apartment in the city, the two of you were so in love. 

“I know this move has been hard on you and I don’t want you to see this all as a mistake. I’m trying hard, I really am,” You nodded, trying to let his words soothe you. You pressed your head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat, “Everything here is new to me too. They do things here differently than any other place I’ve been.”

“Yeah, it’s like a cult,” You felt his chest rumble as he chuckled. 

“I’m not sure about that. I do know that things are simpler here,” You felt his heartbeat quicken, “I always wanted the white picket fence, the two kids, a boy and girl, and a doting wife. She wouldn’t be bogged down by the stresses of modern life, I would take care of her … we’d be happy-”

You pushed away from him, tears pricking your eyes, “Steve, you can’t be serious,” You took a few more steps back. 

Steve sighed, “I wasn’t sure before. Bucky made it sound like a crazy fantasy but now that I’ve seen Nat and … now that I’ve talked to Tony…” 

You kept walking backward, your heart was now racing, “You kept saying she and her. Not me … I’m not the wife you want, am I?”

Steve stepped forward now. There was pain in his eyes like he didn’t want to hurt me but he had to keep pushing himself further, “You could be, pumpkin,” He tried to be endearing but his voice was weak. 

As soon as your back touched the door, you turned and yanked it open. You took off down the hallway and you cursed the fact that you let Steve by this crazy house. You looked back to see Steve standing at the top of the stairs as you hurried down them, “Y/N, please don’t make this hard!” Steve tried to plead. 

“Fuck you, Steve!” You shouted back, practically throwing yourself at the door. As you turned the lock, it didn’t budge, “Edith, open the door!”

“Only Mr. Rogers has command of my controls, Mrs. Rogers.”

Your face fell completely as tears streamed down your cheeks.

You felt him behind as you continued to pull at the doorknob, “Steve, I’m begging you …” He placed his hands on your hips, leaning down to whisper into your ear. 

“I promise it won’t hurt one bit, pumpkin.”

+

When Steve awoke a week later, he was dreading the day. It had been a week since Tony started working on you and Steve was nervous to see the final product of the reprogramming. He’d spent the week emailing your friends, family, and associates, making excuses about your whereabouts and your new change of career. 

Whatever problems he ran into, there was nothing that money couldn’t solve. 

As he made his way down the stairs that morning, he smelt something unusual. Steve had never woken to the smell of bacon and he had certainly never heard you humming sweet songs before. He saw the back of you first as he walked into the kitchen, knowing you were whisking away at some mixture in a bowl. 

Steve moved cautiously but you easily picked up on his movements. Part of Steve was surprised to see that you were still you. He hadn’t seen such a happy look on your face since the two of you had been engaged, “Hey, honey bear,” You greeted him and Steve could now see you were whisking pancakes, “Did you sleep well?”

Steve moved closer and you heard yourself say, “Don’t be shy, I’m making those pancakes you like from our favorite brunch spot.” 

“I didn’t think … how did you …”

You guessed what he was thinking easily, “I did a bunch of research and I found the recipe online. I hope I can make them just like you like them,” You set down the bowl, walking over to peck his lips. Your lips still felt the same which comforted Steve, “Why don’t you sit down at the table? I’ll bring them to you!”

“Oh,” Steve perked up, “I can help you. Where’s the recipe?”

“No need. Let me take care of you, please,” You searched his eyes for permission, “It’s the first day of our new life together and I just want to show you how much I love you.”

Steve nodded and you pecked his lips again. You smiled, knowing how much telling him that you loved him had please him. 

In the little breakfast nook, there was already a table full of food, the sunlight streaming in from the tall windows and illuminating the feast. Steve estimated that you had probably been cooking for hours at that point. A glass of orange juice as well, a cup of hot coffee was and today’s newspaper was waiting for him at the head of the table. 

You were completely focused on following the recipe, having measured everything precisely and you were now making perfect circles of batter in the frying pan. 

Steve watched your dress swing from side to side as you moved your hips, humming to some classical song. He had just realized that you’d chosen a blue dress, his favorite color, and you were wearing your hair just like he preferred. When you brought the tray of pancakes over to the table, you had an excited but expectant look on your face. You were probably as nervous as Steve was earlier. 

As you placed them in front of Steve, you stepped back and folded your hands over your apron, 

“You aren’t going to sit down?” Steve asked, grabbing his fork. 

“Would you like me to sit down?” You asked, a pleasant look on your face. 

“Yes, please,” Steve emphasized the seat beside him. He had a look of surprise on his face as if he hadn’t expected you to ask that. You maneuvered into the seat, neatly flattening your dress as you made yourself comfortable. 

You looked back at Steve, still expectant, “You don’t want to eat?”

“Of course, if that’s what you’d like, my love,” You started to fill your plate with scrambled eggs and pieces of fruit from the bowl you prepared. Even as you spooned the food into your mouth, the taste not registering in your mouth, you watched him. You made sure to push the syrup closer to him as you waited. 

When his fork finally picked up the food, your eyes were wide. 

“It takes just like the pancakes at Orla’s,” Steve complimented and you felt your heart race. You touched your chest, your cheeks feeling warm, as happiness flooded you, “They’re delicious, Y/N.”

“I’m so glad,” You beamed, “Eat more, please. Would you like a muffin? Sausage? I can blend you up a fresh smoothie.”

Steve placed a hand over yours, trying to stop you from ranting, “No, everything is perfect.”

And Steve meant it. 

When Steve finished his plate, you brought it to the sink despite his wishes to help you with dishes. When you came back to the table, you leaned in for what Steve thought was another peck on the lips. He was surprised when you deepened the kiss, resting your hands on the armrest as you leaned into him. 

When you pulled away, you weren’t even breathless, “You look very handsome this morning, Steve,” You told him, adoration in your eyes as you memorized every feature of his strong face, “Would you let me have the honor of pleasing you?”

“I’m already feeling pleased,” Steve grinned not expecting your hand to run down his chest and then over his boxers, “.... oh.”

“Please?” You pouted, feeling him through the fabric. He grew harder against your grasp and, by his pupils, you could tell he liked it, “Just let me touch it. Please, Steve?”

Steve cleared his throat awkwardly, nodding as he was left speechless. You reached into his boxers, grabbing his member which made Steve melt back into his chair. You freed it from its confinement, leaning down to let a trail of your spit coat the sensitive tip, “Just like that, Y/N,” You up and down his shaft, twisting and rubbing your thumb over the tip. 

You moved down to kneel in front of him, “I wanna taste it, Steve. I wanna taste you so bad,” You moaned, moving your mouth closer to him. 

“Put my cock in your mouth, baby,” You smiled before tasting the tip with your tongue, “Good girl. Oh, you’re an angel.”

You took him all the way into his mouth, your tongue trailing down his shaft as you went deeper. You bobbed your head up and down, your tongue creating a swirling motion. Despite your eyes watering, you kept perfect eye contact, trying to show him how much you were enjoying the privilege. 

When your mouth tired, you used your hand to continue the work though Steve didn’t seem to mind at all. When you felt he was close, you slowed your motions, “Steve, please cum inside of me?” You begged, your hand still stroking his cock.

He nodded eagerly, knowing you hadn’t taken your birth control for an entire week. You got up from the ground, lifting your dress skirt as you climbed on top of him. Your eyes were locked on each other as you slid your panties to the side, sliding down on his cock. He was already close, you knew that, and you were desperate to feel his warmth. 

“You want me to put a baby in you?” Steve grunted as you began to ride him. He grabbed a hold of the back of your neck, pulling you further into him. Your forehead pressed to his, your moans and pants began to mold together. 

“Please!” You moaned. 

“You want me to make you a Mommy, huh?”

“Please! Yes, please! I want you to make me a Mommy, Steve,” You smiled, the idea only filling your virtually empty mind with happiness. You'd try your best to be a wonderful mother and wife. “Oh, thank you-”

As you felt his warmth fill your insides, it was confirmation that you had pleased your husband properly. He slowly let you go so you could feel every inch that you just took.

“Jesus Christ,” He swore, panting as he leaned back in the chair, “This was the heaven on earth they were talking about.”

Steve could only imagine what came with lunch and dinner.

Suddenly the sun outside caught your attention, “It’s a lovely day, isn’t it?”

+

hope you enjoyed! 

#dark fic #dark!steve x reader #dark!steve rogers #steve rogers x reader #dark steve rogers #dark steve x reader #steve rogers #dark stucky #stepfordization #dark bucky barnes #bucky x natasha #tony x pepper #marvel #steve rogers au #steve rogers smut #captain america #captain america x reader #chris evans #dark chris evans #chris evans x reader

[camslightstories]

Tolerate It - Part 13

Lena Luthor x reader, Kara Danvers x reader, Alex Danvers x reader. Baby Danvers. Female Reader.

Notes: Hey! I hope you guys are doing great and if you are not I promise things get better. I’m sorry I haven't updated but its just work and home are being hectic but I’m trying to get everything in track again. This chapter took an awfully long time write, i hope you guys like it!

My inbox is open for suggestions, recommendations, questions, and more. If any of you need help I will be honor to help you, always! Please fill my inbox with theories, comments and more i wanna hear what you guys think of the story! Hope you have a great day!

Taglist: @multi-images​  @captain-josslett​  @aznblossom​  @venteen​   @coxmicbabygirl​  @lezzzbehonesthere​

The smell of fries and burgers invaded your nose as you sat on the floor, glancing at your sore hand. Your legs extended on the floor as you held your head against the column of the place. The uncomfortable ache on your hand had seemed to increase by the second, as you sat down.

Confusion was the main thing in your head, the confused heavy feeling in your chest when you close your eyes, the twisted and ached void confusing you when reality sets in. It felt like a war between your mind and heart that neither of the two you understand. It felt like the reasons that your brain had were now gone, the reason part of feeling nonexistent.  

“Didn't think I would see you so soon” You claimed when you felt the presence of the brunette behind you. Two bags in her hand as the archer sat beside you. 

Thea replied teasingly, and flirtatiously grabbing fries from her bag, after hitting you softly in the shoulder. “Neither did I, princess”

“Thanks” You whispered as you started to eat, both of you sharing a knowing and somewhat comforting. The Queen woman smiled and kept silent giving you a nod. 

Thea had known you for a long time, but not until three years ago she saw you as her older brother’s best friend. She and Talia had taught every skill, you needed and wanted to learn. She had seen you put all of your anger everywhere you could. You were there subtly with alcohol after every break-up and make-up she had with Roy, showing your care as you sat with her drinking in silence until she couldn't anymore. 

The small creek sound of the door took both of your attention. Your mother stood silently with a white medical kit in her hand and an understanding expression on her face. You glanced at the brunette beside you, meeting her glance. A small spark in her eyes which you had never noticed before, you stopped in your way to comment on it when you heard the knowing clearing throat of your Mother. 

“Can I come in?” The Queen woman smiled reassuringly before leaving the room. Your mother stood at the side of the door, watching curiously and carefully before speaking. 

You looked up and met her eye glance, giving her a small nod as you spoke almost inaudible. “Sure”

Your mother had been making the small notes, and remainders when she saw you. She couldn't lie about the fact that her heart joined in joy and broke in less than 24 hours. It had been difficult to maintain a straight face when your oldest sister called her explaining the situation, letting her know and Jeremiah that after days of trying, they were the last option to bring some feelings to you. 

She saw your father way too comfortable yet nervous when they got the news, the trip had been too questioning and secretive that she suspected something had happened with the two of you. But seeing you with her own eyes as you stood in the room with void eyes, and rage protecting your walls. 

The complete silence from your party told her more than you knew. The isolation, the hidden pain, the calm and silence. It all reflected in one thing and it was you trying to understand your feelings, your world, yourself. It had happened when your dad had supposedly died. The heavy feeling in her chest grew as she sat beside you, while you stared at the wall quietly debating with your thoughts and feelings. 

Flashback - February 2005

You sat in the backyard of the house, dressed in black attire. Your eyes watching over the waves as they ended in the sand. The way the breeze moved the palms and softly touched your face. Your hands gripping the blanket covering you. 

You waited for everything to process in, you waited to wake up, you waited for him as you walked down the stairs that morning, you waited for your sisters to tell you it was a lie, you waited for your mom to serve his favorite lasagna as he came back home, you waited for the sound of cheer when he and your oldest sister finished repairing another part of the old car, you waited for him and Kara coming back from the forest at night after watching the stars, you waited for him to sit on the small bean bag of your bedroom as you played him something new in your instruments, you waited for the loud laughs and scolds that would come after you and your sisters would create an eating contest ending with Kara smiling proudly as you and Alex throw up, you waited for the ‘pizza and tacos night’ where the five of you somehow cooked without burning the kitchen down, ending with a marathon of movies and smiles on everyone faces. But it never came. 

The distinct voices from the house gained your attention as they felt closer. You closed your eyes, trying to focus on the sound of the waves failing in the attempt. Turning around to see both of your sisters standing side by side as one of your family members expressing their condolences to them. Kara seemed to keep it together as she nodded shyly, while Alex clenched her jaw giving a small thanks before walking away, your blonde sister watched the redhead walk away before looking at the floor excusing herself too. 

You looked away back to the beach, before deciding to get up and walk down the small hill entering the beach. Taking off your shoes, you put them at the side of the beach entrance before wrapping the blanket tightly around you. The voices began to zoom out and the sound of the ocean began to fill your ears. The soft sand on your feet as you walked closer to the shore felt grounding. The soft breeze that moved your hair out of control felt comforting as you sat down. 

Burying your feet in the sand as you closed your eyes trying to remember something, to have something to hold on to. It felt weird, out of place, like something was missing. Your mind tried to wrap up with the fact that your father was dead but even if you knew what was happening, you still had questions. Sitting on the sand, you stared blankly at the ocean, as the waves came, as the breeze moved the palms and touched your cheeks, as the soft salty smell invaded your nose, and the coldness of the day began to increase.

It was like a debate between what you wanted to believe and what was happening. There were running thoughts in your head that made you feel exhausted. It was unpleasant and even tiring to think of how this event would change your and your family's life. You avoided the thought as much as you could, wishing and hoping to wake up from the nightmare but it was real and as much as you didn't want to accept it, your father was gone, and he was not coming back.

You didn't even realize when the sun that was high in the sky had come down and reflected in the ocean, you didn't feel the breeze and air get heavier or the way the only thing illuminating the night was the light bulb you dad put at the entrance of the beach. 

It felt like time went in seconds, long seconds that you wished to take back and at the same time to move faster. It wasn't easy, it didn't feel easy, and the hole in your heart was unmistakable. You weren't a person who liked change, nor a person who easily understood what was going on around you. 

Sure when Kara came into the family, it was like the missing piece. It didn't take you long to warm up to the blonde, but she was suffering from the loss of her planet so you stayed behind the doors and waited the right moment to comfort her and make her as welcome as you could. You saw her hesitate when she was doing something that would make her happy, you saw her doubt herself as Superman came into the news, you saw her shed tears when she tried to find where Krypto would be. 

You tried constantly to win her affection, her trust, her intelligence, and more but you couldn't make her happy if she didn't heal. So you stayed awake during the night waiting to comfort her, you played with melodies on the piano so she could have a similar bed song as she had in Krypto, you ran as fast as you could after school to help her with her English or to watch and sing along with Wizard of Oz. You keep trying and trying even though she was legally your sister, you wanted to have a connection with her just like you did with Alex. So when the blonde the morning of your birthday hugged you and in English told you, you were her sister and she could be prouder than to call you that, you shredded in tears hugging her closely. 

But it was different, everything was different, it felt different, it sounded different, it even tastes different. There was a silence between your family, Alex kept her feelings inside and bottle them in trying so hard not to break, mad at the world, mad at dad, at you, at your mom, even Kara. Your mom was understanding but quiet, she tried to be your and your sister's rock during the day but at night you can hear her crying her heart out. Kara kept silent, mad at the world for taking another person from her, holding you close trying to be helpful as much as she could even if she was hurting as much as she was when she first landed. And you, you kept quiet, trying to understand, trying to find the lie, trying to reach and understand your feelings but couldn't. So you waited for the time to pass by and for things to get in order, just like your dad used to say ‘time heals things, everything gets better with time’ but as the words rounded your head you couldn't feel more than the biggest lie of the world.

Flashback ends

The soft wrap with alcohol against your knuckles ached as your mom determinately disinfected your hand. You felt her eyes constantly glancing at you when you kept silent, trying to ignore the slight throb from the small wound in your hand. You glanced from the wall you stared continuously into her eyes, before speaking. “I tried”

“I know sweetie” Eliza looked up while finishing wrapping her hand before speaking in a motherly tone. As soon as she heard you talk she knew, she knew what you meant. Just your silence gave it away, she knew your conflicted feelings weren't going to help now and they didn't before, but what scared her was how long you were going to take to heal, to flash a familiar smile, to laugh until you couldn't anymore, to look at the eyes of your significant other, to sign with your older sisters until either of your throats wouldn't give more. 

Fighting back the tears your eyes had swollen, you claimed again making eye contact with your mother, your mother's eyes redating with comfort and sadness as she looked at you. You clenched your hand into a fist but immediately opened it again when you felt the strong throb in your knuckles. “I tried, and it didn't work out. It didn't do anything”

“Healing isn't about not feeling sad or feeling numb, it's about letting in, letting go, and finding yourself again but you can't do it if you are not ready for it” She answered brushing a strand of your hair behind your ear. 

And the understanding in her eyes and voice made you doubt, as your feelings started to fall in place. Heartache, anger, sadness, disappointment, pain, and more began to feel your chest and your mind as you took the words of your mother in. Your now bloodshot eyes looked away from her as you felt your lip tremble.

You nodded quietly, and before you knew. You threw your arms around your blonde mother, tears furiously leaving your eyes as she soothed you, with comforting and reassuring words. Your head was hidden in her neck as you cried your eyes out. 

The feeling of heartbreak and pain overwhelming you as everything started to come down on you. And you wanted to cry, for minutes, for hours, days, weeks, even years. Because somehow after everything you still didn't feel enough, you felt everything you did was wrong, that you could have been better and you could have changed differently, closing your eyes you wished for it to be gone, but deep down you knew it wasn't.

“Please just make it stop, mom. Please, it hurts so much”

Flashback - February 2005

“Please just make it stop, mom. Please, it hurts so much”

You don't know how it happened or how long you had been furiously crying until you stared at the small seashells in the sand getting wet thanks to your tears. The once beige shell now was white. Grabbing the seashells from the sand, you started to throw them angrily at the water. 

The sound of the rock making contact with the water somewhat comforted you, longing to throw everything away for it, for the broken shells to absorb your problems and leave with it. Soon enough you fell to your knees sobbing out. As the night lighting shot in the ocean, as the ocean tide had gone up, the once breeze became violent air. 

One second you were crying furiously on your own, and the next you sobbed into your mother's arms, as she reassured you that everything was going to be okay. You gripped her shirt hugging her closely before looking up to her, touching your chest as your bloodshot eyes glanced in hers.

Your lip trembling from the cold and your sobs, her heart broke, even more, when you hid in her neck which made her look up as she soothed your back. She was trying so hard to keep it together for you and your sisters but the moment she caught sight of Kara and Alex with blankets around themselves walking straight to where the two of you sat, made her break into tears. 

You looked up from your mother's neck as you felt a hand rubbing your back and others grabbing your hand softly in reassurance. Each one of them by you and your mother's side, your cries had slowed down when your redhead sister asked with a crack in her voice to your mother. “Are we gonna be okay?”

“Yeah, we will be but it will take time to heal, we can't rush it, we have to be ready”

“We are going to be okay” Kara claimed as a statement of reassurance after your mother responded, but her trembling lip, bloodshot eyes, and the high tone she used made her sound more like a prayer than anything.

Your mother reassured, making you three nod slowly before falling into a reassuring silence. “Until then we have each other, and one of the most precious things you girls are going to have in your life is each other, your family.”

Flashback ends

Unknowingly to you, your sisters had been watching from the door the moment Kara heard your heart spike. Tears in their eyes as they watched your mother rocked you slowly as you cried. Silent sobs and bitten lips coming from them as they stopped each other from walking into the room. 

Alex kept her jaw clenched as her hands gripped each other hard as she tried to keep the tears inside. The redhead felt responsible for your crying, the urge to run in and comfort you debating her self-control. Doubts, questions, and more gained in her head as she saw you sob into your mother's arms, rage slowly consuming her emotions as the protectiveness over you began to show up.

Kara let out silent sobs, with her hand on top of her mouth. Her bloodshot eyes and red cheeks had overwhelming tears. The superheroine hated herself, as she felt responsible for your crying. She just wanted to hold you in her arms and tell you everything was going to be just fine, she wanted to see your sunny smile when you saw her or the bad jokes and puns you used all the time, she wanted you, she wanted her little sister but a part of her told her you needed the same space she once received from you. 

The two of them standing next to each other with broken hearts and tears in their eyes, a small sense of hope in their chest as they watched the scene. Sharing a knowing, Alex came closer putting her arm around your blonde sister’s shoulder before speaking. 

“Everything is gonna be okay, we are getting her back, I promise,” She said quietly reassuring Kara even when neither of them fully believe it.

#kara danvers x reader #lena luthor x reader #lena luthor #supergirl imagine #alex danvers x reader #baby danvers