#there's nothing out here for people like me there's no way out no one's comin to save me this is all there is

[lovelettersfromluna]

Hanahaki

summary: Hanahaki Disease (花吐き病 (Japanese); 하나하키병 (Korean); 花吐病 (Chinese)) is a fictional disease in which the victim coughs up flower petals when they suffer from one-sided love.

an: trying something new with this one, I hope you all like it. Love you mwah mwah (thank you to the anon who inspired this!!)

Warnings: MDNI!, 18+, eventual smut in future chapters, ANGST (when I mean angst, I mean angst girl), loser!Ellie if you squint, reader is oblivious, mentions of fictional illness/disease, mentions of alternative love interest, alcohol usage, marijuana usage, mentions of death, mentions of vomiting (it isn’t graphic I promise it’s literally just flowers), let me know if I missed anything!

You can read part 2 here!!

The sound of different voices and loud giggles replaced the music that was once filling up the old jeep with music, the two sounds dominating each other, creating something that could only be recognized as a group of young, dumb people. The car was dark, and Ellie couldn’t really see anything, not when you were settled on her lap, blocking her view from the outside through the car windows.

She wasn’t complaining, of course she wasn’t. Her hands were wrapped around your waist, keeping you close to her, squished between two other people in your friend group in the back of the car. She was drunk, and high, and she could faintly smell the ocean with each passing moment, the sea breeze growing closer and filling up the stuffy car.

The wind filling up the car blew your soft hair into Ellie’s face, giving her a whiff of your floral shampoo. She couldn’t help but lean in, giving your hips a gentle squeeze as she pressed her nose to your neck, relishing in the feeling of your soft skin against her lips.

You were always her favorite feeling.

She couldn’t even feel it entirely, but the car has stopped. The only reason she knew, was because she felt the spaces next to her become vacant, her friends laughing loudly as they tumbled out of the car and booked it for the beach, sand kicking behind them, nearly falling over their own feet.

She felt you shift in her lap, a soft smile on your lips, pretty eyes just as hazy as her own.

“You comin’ El?” You asked softly, your words like honey on your tongue, music to Ellie’s ears.

She was in a trance, not having seen your pretty face since you and your friends had left the party you were at, all of you packing yourselves away in a jeep and heading to the beach. Every time you looked at her, giving her that soft smile, and those kind eyes, it was like it was the first time she was seeing you all over again.

And you never failed to leave her speechless, even on the simplest occasions.

A loud bang on the roof of the car made her jump slightly, earning a giggle from you.

“C’mon love birds! Or else I’ll drag you out myself” Ellie could decipher the voice to be a friend of both you and her who was the one who’d driven you all out to the beach in the first place.

You giggled softly, scooting off her lap, taking her wrist in your hand and tugging her out of the car. Ellie could barely feel her feet carrying her behind you, watching as you dragged her out to the beach.

The moon was so bright, illuminating the white sand, and the dark, calm waters. Ellie remembers hearing the waves crashing against each other, and the sounds of your friends arguing, giggling with each other as they tried setting up a bonfire, which she hoped wouldn’t get you guys in trouble. She remembers the feeling of your soft hands wrapped around her wrist, she image of you in front of her in nothing but a pair of old denim shorts and a faded out band t shirt that was probably hers.

She recalls the way you tugged her away from everyone else, it was always like that. Somehow, no matter the situation or the occasion, you and Ellie ended up strayed away from everyone else. At parties, sleepovers, any general outing, it was you and her, and no one else. It was like everyone simply knew to leave you two, that your disappearance with one another was inevitable. You were the ring leader, always grabbing Ellie and pulling her away from everyone, wanting her all to yourself.

It made Ellie’s heart swell every single time.

Your small hands would interlock with hers, and she’d know that she was done for. She was yours entirely, whether you knew it or not.

The sand was cold beneath Ellie’s body, her hands sinking further into the powdery substance, deep inhales coming in through her nostrils, the spinning she once felt in the world around her slowly stopped. Her eyes were on the ground, and yours were up at the sky as you sat next to her.

“Do you think there’s anyone out there doing the exact same thing as us right now?” You hummed out softly, palms settled behind you on the sand as you stared up at the stars.

Ellie raised her eyebrows at your question, a soft chuckle leaving her as she moved her green eyes up to stare at the stars with you, mimicking your position.

“Probably…none are like us though” she sighed out softly.

She’d never say anything like that sober. You were always the bold one between you and her. Ellie was shy, and quiet and she’d always blush like an idiot whenever you’d say things like that, or compliment her, or when you’d do anything, really. But it was true, no one, no matter how similar their situation was to you and her, would never come close to what you and Ellie had.

What you and Ellie had was special, it was like buried treasure. It was something that was hard to find, and it was a connection like no other that had ever existed, or ever would exist, and you and her both knew that.

You were Ellie’s treasure.

You giggled softly, nodding at her words. “I agree…none like us…” you agree, eyes still trained on the blanket of stars above.

Ellie felt your hands wrap around her arm, and tug her down to lay back on the sand. She didn’t make any attempt to stop you, allowing you to do with her as you pleased.

You were both laid down, staring up at the stars in silence, simply enjoying each others company with one another. There were no thoughts, no worries, no overthinking, it was just you and her.

And Ellie loved that most about being with you.

Ellie could hear your breathing slowly evening out, the sound of sleep overcoming was familiar to her in you. You’d always been the one to fall asleep first, Ellie took note of that very early on in your friendship, remembering the many sleepovers you’d have where you’d fallen asleep in record time, making Ellie envious of you.

A soft, sleepy hum left your lips, and she could feel you scoot closer to her, tucking your body into the side of hers, your hand going down and interlocking your fingers with hers, pressing your cheek against your shoulder before you looked up at her.

Ellie felt like she’d break when you looked up at her, eyes big and glossy, lashes webbed together. You’d always had the pettiest eyes she’d ever seen, making her heart stop every single time you looked up at her.

“El…” you whispered softly, barely loud enough for her to hear.

She swallows thickly, nervous to keep eye contact with you, or to even speak, fearing that her voice should deceive her and crack, letting you know just how much of a hold you had on her.

She took a deep inhale before giving you a nod. “Yeah?” She replied softly, her voice shaky.

You simply gave her a soft smile, one of your hands coming up and gently tracing over her features. You traced over the outline of her lips, her nose, her eyebrows, her freckles. Ellie sighed softly as you did so, eyes fluttering shut as she leaned into your touch.

A moment passed of this, of you gently touching her face, Ellie close to passing out at any moment from the soft, feather-like touches.

“M’gonna marry you someday….know I will…” you hummed out, your voice dripping with that dreamy, sleepy sound that made it clear how far away you were.

Ellie’s eyes opened at this, her breath hitching in her throat at your confession, your promise. She felt her freckled cheeks burn when she looked down at your sleepy face, a lazy smile on your lips as your eyes grew heavier and heavier with each passing moment.

You had a habit of saying anything that had been plaguing your mind whenever you were tired, in between that blissful state of sleep and wake. It got even worse when you were high, Ellie knew that. You’d admitted the most outrageous things when you were like that.

But never anything like this.

She didn’t even have time to respond, because your eyes were already closed, lips parted as soft snores escaped.

She inhaled deeply, turning her head back to stare up at the sky, trying her best to ignore the burning feeling in her stomach, in her chest, in her heart. It was everywhere, eating her up and demanding to be acknowledged.

You, her best friend that she’d been in love with almost her entire life, had promised to marry her someday.

It was something Ellie knew would follow her for the rest of her life, for as long as she lived. She didn’t know whether to hate you for it, or to love you for it.

Ellie had know about her feelings for you for a very long time.

She’d go as far as to say it was something along the lines of love at first sight, but she didn’t want to be dramatic.

It was a classic story of playground love, the two of you meeting at a very young age, practically babies, and becoming inseparable from that point on.

Maybe it was the way you had no problems with tugging on the little girls pigtail that kept bullying her. Looking back at it, the kid probably had a crush on her in all honesty, but you had a zero bullshit tolerance policy, even at the age of six years old.

Or maybe it was the way she didn’t hesitate to punch the kid in the nose that pushed you off the swing during recess. It seemed she too had a zero bullshit tolerance policy.

It was always like that. You protected each other, you from idiot boys that picked on you, and her from dumb little girls who were still navigating their feelings, and in that came the bully’s that they grew to be.

So yeah, you and Ellie were stuck to the hip from the moment she could remember. In all of her earliest memories, you were there, a big smile on your face, always rooting for her.

Ellie was a shy kid. Sure, she had a mouth to tell off an idiot whenever she needed to, but she liked being alone. The only person she really liked spending time with was her dad, and what’s wrong with that? Her dad was fucking cool.

You were the complete opposite. You were bright, and loud and confident. You brought colors to Ellie’s life. You talked, and she listened.

And Ellie didn’t want it any other way.

It was like this all throughout school, and into college. You two followed the same education path of course, refusing to be without one another during the cruelest times of a persons life, the disgusting transfer from the life of a child to the life of an adult.

She figured if she was going to be miserable, she’d be miserable with you by her side.

It was like a dream, having you so often? She has the privilege of keeping you by her side all throughout her childhood, and now she had you by her side through her adulthood.

Ellie wanted you all to to herself. She was selfish, she knew that, but how could she help herself? You’d been hers for so long, there was no chance she’d give you up now.

Ellie recalls a rainy night in her car. It was cold, and it was so miserable out that she had no choice but to wait it out a bit before taking you home.

It was a routine night for you two. She didn’t have class that day, so she’d pick you up from your last one, and you’d sleep over at her apartment for the night since it was the weekend.

She looked over at you, soft hums to the quiet music playing in her car coming from your body, your head resting against the window as you drew little patterns with the condensation that had grown on the window.

“What’s on your mind, babe?” Ellie questioned softly.

You weren’t usually that quiet. You always had so much to tell Ellie when she picked you up, or any case for that matter. You were a little fireball, always beaming with something knew you’d learned that day, the grade you got from your professor, or the latest class gossip that you just had to share with Ellie.

But not that day. You were too quiet, made Ellie feel strange.

You hummed softly in response, turning towards her with raised eyebrows. The hoodie you had on framed your face cutely, a few strands of your hair poking out and laying against it. Your eyeliner had bled out a bit throughout the day, Ellie thought you looked pretty either way, though. Your head was resting against the seat, a soft smile on your face as you shook your head.

“Nothin…I just…” you tried, finding it hard to explain yourself.

You let out a gentle huff before turning your body towards Ellie a bit more. The car was dark, the only thing illuminating your face was the street light in the parking lot that you two were in. She could see that your features were soft, tranquil. You looked so genuinely happy, and that expression alone made Ellie’s heart burst with a warmth that consumed her so much, it was almost too much.

“I’ve met someone, El” you admitted, your bottom lip tugged between your teeth as you bit back and excited smile, eyes twinkling in the dim light of her car, glimmering with a kind of happiness that Ellie had never seen before in you.

She felt her chest heave, pain suddenly blooming throughout her body.

It’s something she’s never felt before. It’s ugly, and nasty, and raw. It feels like when you have a cold, and your lungs are in a constant state of disgust, that gross sore feeling spreading throughout them. She feels exasperated, like you’ve just broken the worst news she could’ve ever received on a rainy Friday night.

You frown softly, a gentle pout on your lips as you reach over, grabbing her arm gently and giving her a shake.

“Ellie? Did you hear what I said?” You ask softly, trying to break your friend away from whatever has a hold on her.

But she’s frozen, and she can feel her eyes burning from a lack of blinking, and from the tears that are prickling at the back of her throat. She could feel the way you grabbed her, shaking her gently, it almost isn’t enough to bring her back from her own personal state of hell that your words have sent her to, a place where you’re gone, taken away by someone else.

Someone that isn’t her.

It does anyways. She blinks her eyes a few times, clearing her throat as her eyes focused on you. She gives you a nod, green eyes big and wide like she’s seen a ghost.

You giggled softly, moving back to rest your head against the seat as you stared at her.

“Been meaning to tell you…she’s…she’s so great, Ellie…she makes me feel…” you let out a dreamy sigh, your eyes drifting down to look at your hand, which is toying with the bracelet around your wrist, a shy smile on your face as you practically beamed down at it.

Ellie’s eyes silently follow, catching eye of the way your sweater pushed up a bit to reveal the little pink rope that’s around your wrist. She’d never seen it, and it’s perched right under the bracelet that Ellie had made you when you two were kids. Hers is blue and purple, and far prettier in her opinion.

Her heart hurts at the sight of someone else’s bracelet on your pretty wrist.

She stared down at it for a while before her eyes drift up to your face. She could see the warmth spread across your face, radiating from your chest, from your fucking soul. It’s like the you’re smiling down at the fucking bracelet is making you so warm, that it’s warming up the car and wafting Ellie in the face.

It’s love. Ellie can see it.

And you deserve it. God, you’ve always fucking deserved it. You deserve a great big house, someone who loves you dearly coming home to you every night, showering you in all of the love and affection that you have ever wanted and needed. You deserve someone who shows you off, someone who’s proud of everything you do, even the small, stupid things that don’t fucking matter. You deserve someone who cherish you every day as if you’re a fucking gem, a one of a kind gem that only appears once every thousand years.

But fuck…Ellie always wished that person would’ve been her.

She knows she can’t dwell on it, because you’re simply doing what any young person looking for love does. You went out and found someone else, you found someone that makes you smile like that, the way you were smiling across from Ellie in her car.

She can’t be selfish, not now.

Ellie inhales deeply before she puts on her best, most believable smile, freckled cheeks rounding out as she gave you a nod.

“She sounds great…you’ve gotta introduce us someday” she sighed out softly, putting on her best cover up to hide the disappointment she felt deep within her soul.

It’s the way your face beamed even further when you looked up at her, eyes twinkling like the brightest star, the most expensive diamond in the fucking world, that makes Ellie weak in the goddam knees. It’s like all you’ve wanted was her approval, like the main thing holding you back from telling her about the lucky girl that has her heart, is fear that she wouldn’t approve of her.

And that look, further cemented Ellie’s decision in swallowing down her stupid feelings, and ignoring the hammering pain in her lungs.

“Yeah…yeah I will” you promised, giving her a nod, that big, beautiful smile still on your lips.

Ellie can barely bring herself to indulge in the pain she feels, because you looked so fucking happy, and that’s all she’d ever wanted, was for you to be fucking happy.

She smiled back at you, giving a nod before she craned her neck down a bit, looking up at the sky and seeing that the rain had gone from a heavy pour, to a subtle drizzle.

Ellie gave soft hum, nodding to herself as she turned the key to her car to turn it on.

“Looks like it’s let up a bit…let’s get you home-“ her words were cut off but a nasty cough ratting through her lungs, worse than any cold or any blunt had every brought to her. She brought her fist up to her lips, covering it up. It brought tears to her eyes, made her cheeks red. You frowned deeply at the sight, bringing your hand up to rub her back gently.

“Shit…you catching a cold, El?” You questioned softly, concern laced in your words.

Ellie cleared her throat, shaking her head as she straightened her back out.

“Nah…all the smoking I’ve done is probably catching up to me” she joked with a soft chuckle before she looked at you, giving you a soft smile.

“Let’s get you home” she hummed out softly before she pulled out of the parking lot and began making her way to your apartment, not hers.

At first, Ellie didn’t really think much of it.

She assumed that she was simply coming down with a cold, or her excuse to you was right. Maybe all the blunts she’d smoked had finally caught up with her. Her father had always told her they would.

She had thought of everything. The flu, pneumonia, bronchitis, everything in the goddamn book, but every time she went to her doctor with the concern of any of them, he simply shrugged, gave her a gentle smile and told her she was as healthy as could be.

But the cough never got better.

It was annoying at first, her throat was scratchy, and most days she’d be able to simply clear her throat to alleviate the discomfort. Cough drops would help, a cup of tea her and there, soothing the ache she felt her and there throughout the day.

But then? Came the flowers.

Ellie almost keeled over and died when one day she was having a particularly violent coughing fit, forcing her to stay in from class. When she looked down into the her tissue and she saw a few pieces of…something? Little pieces of something pink and white, a bit withered. she flinched, throwing the napkin on her coffee table.

At first, it looked like she’d coughed up a peace of her fucking lungs. She wasn’t sure who to call, her dad? 911? Fucking poison control? She wasn’t even sure that it was even possible to cough up an entire piece of her body.

After a few moments, she figured she had to further inspect the foreign objects to figure out just what it was that had exited her body. She reached down with shaky hands, her eyebrows furrowed with concern, picked up the tissue and opened it up.

She squinted her eyes a bit as she looked down at the little things, trying to figure out what the fuck could leave a persons body that looks like it. Her eyes went wide when she touched it, realizing what they were.

Flower petals.

Ellie thought she might’ve been hallucinating at first. Maybe she took an edible and forgot or something, or maybe the cough medicine was making her trip balls, because flower petals? There’s no fucking way, right?

Apparently she was wrong. There was a way, and a quick google search was filled with something that Ellie didn’t want to find.

All she had to do that night, was look up her symptoms, and she was finally faced with why her lingering cough had been so lingering, and what had caused it.

Hanahaki disease.

It was an illness that affected those with a broken heart, those who experienced unrequited love, which resulted in a painful cough that brought up a never ending supply of flower petals. It would explain the constant lingering taste of perfume that Ellie had suddenly found was impossible to get out of her mouth, and it would explain the fact that this so called ‘cold’ of hers that she had wouldn’t go away, and only had a cough with no other symptoms.

It made Ellie realize, that the night that all of this started, was the night that you told her you’d found somebody else, and it suddenly made so much sense.

Ellie was coughing up fucking flowers, because you didn’t love her.

After finding out what it was that she was diagnosed with, the second step was to find a cure, which she found to be much harder than finding the disease itself.

Finding a cure only came with various medical articles of people who had suffered from the same disease that she was suffering from. All people experiencing the same pain and heartache that she’d been carrying for so long.

All of which, had died.

Each and every other person who had this disease, had passed away from the disease, ultimately dying from a lack of love from the person they wanted.

This scared Ellie.

However, recent study had shown a new surgery that was available with those who suffered from the disease. One that would remove the flowers from the lungs and stop the cough entirely.

But it would also remove any and all feelings that the person with the disease had for the person they loved.

So, Ellie had two choices. Either she let the disease linger until she fucking died, or she could get the surgery, live, and never have you in her life again, not like before at least.

She had a big decision to make.

That night, Ellie cried. She curled up in a little ball in her bed, her pillow pressed against her face as she muffled out her noises, and she cried. She was in pain, and she was hurting, and she wanted it all to go away.

She wished you’d love her, she wished you would’ve just noticed how much she wanted you, how she was the right one for you all this time. It made her angry, and confused and annoyed, because what did she do to deserve this? To deserve this godforsaken illness that she had never fucking asked for.

And as she cried, and screamed and groaned out for the pain to go away, she heard her phone go off. She grabbed it, a soft sniffle leaving her nose as her tear filled eyes stared up at the bright screen of her phone.

It was you.

Loser!!! I rlly hope you didn’t forget to come and get me

I’m sleeping over tonight remember???

Come and get me soon hehe :p miss u

And although Ellie was in pain, and her heart was hurting. She’d never, ever say no to you.

She could live with the cough for a little bit longer, as long as it meant she got to be with you.

Ellie was only getting worse.

Months had gone by, and before she knew it, it had almost been a year with this goddamn disease that she had.

Her doctor had put her on some medication, which basically suppressed the cough only slightly. She still experienced handfuls of flower petals hacking up her throat every time she coughed. He urged her to get the surgery, telling her that without it, her condition could become life threatening.

But she couldn’t. She needed more time with you.

That’s the deal she had made with herself. She would get the surgery after she’d had enough time with you, allowing herself to make lasting memories with you when soon, she’d feel nothing for you at all.

But it was never enough time.

She wanted you always. Day, night, morning, evening, whatever the time she wanted you.

And things were fine. She had hoped you didn’t notice her health slowly deteriorating, she’d hoped you didn’t notice the bags under her eyes or the way the color had been sucked from her skin. You never questioned it, so she hoped that was all true.

She ignored the girl you’d met. After that night in her car, you and that girl never separated. You tried telling Ellie about it from time to time, and Ellie had even met her a few times. Her name was Jen, and she was the furthest fucking thing from Ellie, which only further solidified how unrequited her love was.

It hurt, because Jen was great. She was so kind, and beautiful, and she clearly treated you the way Ellie knew you needed to be treated. Ellie wished she could’ve hated her, she wished she was a shit girlfriend so that she could talk you out of being with her.

But she couldn’t, because Jen was perfect for you.

Ellie ignored it all, treating the times that she had with you as if it was only you and her in the world. She always had, but now it was different, now it was pretty crucial that she had these moments with you, even if you didn’t know the half of it.

You never pulled away, or became distant due to the new aspect of your life that was your relationship. You made time for everyone in your family, and you made time for Ellie. It was all too perfect, the way you handled it all. You never abandoned her, or made her feel left out.

Your friendship had never changed with Ellie, it stayed the same throughout everything.

But her condition was getting harder and harder to hide. She had to constantly rush to the bathroom when she felt the burning in her lungs, and the smell of flowers fill her nose and her mouth, muffling her coughs with a towel. She had gone from coughing up a few petals to what could only be described as an entire fucking bouquet.

It was hard, having to hide it from you. She knew that if there was anyone that could help her through this, through one of the hardest and most painful times of her life, it was you. You would’ve been there by her side, staying up every night that she was having coughing fits to help her, nursing her back to health. You always had, whenever she was sick, you were there, playing nurse while Ellie groaned and pouted for you. She became so needy when she was ill.

But she couldn’t, not when you were the one that caused this.

She knew you’d drop everything for her, and abandon everyone else for a lost cause, because no matter how much medicine you gave her, no matter how much you held her in her sleep, the disease that plagued Ellie had no cure that you could bring.

Other than loving her back.

Ellie sighed softly as she walked through the door of her apartment, pushing her headphones off of her head and letting them rest on her neck. The weather was finally warming up, and she could only hope that the warmth would treat her cough a bit kinder than the cold did, which she knew deep down was merely wishful thinking.

She meant to text you that week, having not heard from you in a bit, which was very unlike you.

She bent down, picking up the mail that laid on her entrance way mat, sifting through the bills and various envelopes that had her name on it. She was quick to toss them to the side, perfectly fine with waiting until she had the energy to read them all properly.

But she stopped when she saw a pretty, powder pink envelope with your writing on the front, her name written out so perfectly.

Why the hell were you sending her a letter?

A nasty cough rattled through her chest, and she almost laughed because it had gotten to a point where any mention of, even in the confides of her own mind, brought on a coughing fit these days. Even the sight of your writing made the ugly sound rake through her lungs.

Pathetic.

She sighed softly, moving to her couch and tossing her backpack to the side. She sat down, ring clad fingers turning the envelope around to tear it open.

The paper inside is thick, it feels expensive, like those fancy cards you get for birthdays from old people that don’t know any better but to buy their grandkids the best shit.

It has little embroidery’s on the edges, and it’s lined with the smallest strip of silver. It’s all written in cursive, and her eyes scan over it for a moment, eyebrows furrowed at whatever the fuck it was that you had randomly sent her in the mail.

But her heart is stopping, and her eyes are going wide once they finally focus on the bigger words at the top.

It’s a wedding invitation.

It’s your wedding invitation.

In her hands, Ellie was holding yours and Jen’s wedding invitation.

And she suddenly can’t breathe. There’s a burning in her chest, and she’s faced with the most intense coughing fit she’s experienced in her entire fucking life. It doesn’t stop, and it isn’t even giving her a chance to breath. She can feel her lungs shaking at how violent it is, and she suddenly throws the invitation down and she’s rushing to the bathroom, hunching over the toilet where her coughing turns into vomiting.

Her vision is blurred with tears, but she can make out the image of the familiar petals filling up the bowl, rattling through her body and making it hard to breath. She’s choking, and crying, and heaving, and it’s the worst thing she’s felt in her entire life.

She feels like it won’t end, like she’ll die right then and there, but she doesn’t. It stops, and she’s left sobbing as she falls back, her back hitting the bathroom wall, knees coming up as she holds herself, her sobs and cries bouncing off the bathroom walls, loud enough to surly be heard throughout her entire floor.

It’s that night, the night where she received your wedding invitation, that Ellie scheduled the surgery date, because she can’t do this anymore.

She needs to let you go.

#ellie williams #ellie williams smut #ellie williams x y/n #ellie williams x female reader #ellie williams x you #ellie tlou #ellie x y/n #ellie the last of us #ellie x you

[erwinsvow]

rafe thinks you’re spoiling him.

it doesn’t seem that way to others, maybe, with the obviously pampered way about you—expensive jewelry that floats on your skin and never having to wait more than a few days for something new that’s caught your eye. at first you were awfully shy about it, flushing if he showed up with a new gift before a date and hiding your head in his arm if he offered to buy you the shoes you kept staring at in the store. you’ve grown into it now—which pleases him, a lot—mostly because no one else knows how much you’re spoiling him. 

making sure you have whatever your little heart wants is the least he can do to repay it, he thinks, looking down and into your concerned eyes, your hand resting softly against his chest.

“rafe? did you hear me?” you ask, and he tries to snap out of it, really he does, it’s just getting harder around you. 

“hm?” he murmurs, still a little dazed.

“i think we should stay in tonight,” you repeat, moving your hand so the back of it is flat against his forehead, and then his neck. “you seem warm, i think you’re getting sick.” 

he feels weird, not because of the cold—he already expected that since wheezie and sarah were coughing and sniffling up a storm earlier that week—but from the way you look distraught, just from the idea that he might not be feeling well.

“aren’t your stupid friends comin’ tonight-”

“who cares?” you interrupt, hand coming down to his to guide him upstairs, since you know he won’t budge unless he’s dragged. you get him into bed a little later, running your fingers through his hair until he falls asleep with one hand and canceling your plans with the other. when he wakes up, you’re not there, and he jerks upright, hand reaching for his phone to call you. the door opens and his body relaxes instantly, falling back into the pillows you had arranged carefully for him, bottles of water and gatorade and cough medicine in your hands.

you make him drink it, and you don’t even look grossed out while he’s coughing up green stuff or drooling onto the pillow. he hears your soft laugh and the feel of a damp towel on his skin—and he thinks in his delirium that this must be what getting spoiled feels like.

the next week he’s back in business, at some house party with kelce and topper trying to sell double to make up for being out of commission last week. you float around with your friends, nursing one of those canned seltzers that taste like juice to him but are enough to get you tipsy. when you find him after maybe thirty minutes of being alone you curl up on the couch, your feet settling on his lap and head leaning on the armrest. you are a little drunk—he can tell—but he stares down at you intensely, because he’s a little drunk too. 

he’s thinking some sappy shit, about how pretty you look like this—dolled up and giggly from the alcohol, your short dress showing him lots of soft skin that he wants to kiss. you sit up when his hands move to your knee, focusing on him with that sweet, concerned look. he wishes you wouldn’t—it makes him want to fuck you right here, infront of all these people, because he can’t stand how it makes him feel.

“are you okay?” you ask softly, your own hand resting on his shoulder.

“why wouldn’t i be?” he asks, taking another sip of his drink. you look relieved when he says it.

“nothing. just checking,” and then you lean back again, smiling again. 

you do that again, he notices, a few weeks later—the morning after another party, a longer one. he dropped you at home because he had shit he needed to finish up, but you call him first thing when you wake up. he listens to your calming voice on his phone.

“did you sleep okay?”

“yeah, kid.”

“did you have water yet? and a tylenol?”

“yes, kid.”

“oh-okay. good. i have to check, i worry about you-”

“get your ass ready. takin' you to the store.”

you agree, if not a little tentatively. you worry since you don’t want rafe to think you’re only with him since he spoils you like this, and you tell him as much. 

“y’know, we can just go to the movies. or the beach, i don’t even need more shoes at this point-”

“thought you girls always need more shoes?”

“maybe before i met you, rafe. this is just silly, let’s go get ice cream instead-” he stops your sentence with his hand on your face, fingers squeezing your cheeks together.

“pick out a dress, and let me rip it off later, yeah?” my way of saying thank you. 

“yeah,” you squeak. you pick out the first dress on the rack and wait in anticipation.

#this one is like rafe doesnt know what love feels like and he thinks youre spoiling him with affection #<3 #rafe cameron #rafe cameron x reader

[kadwrites]

the color green | T.S

previous part | next part

or check out the series masterlist

summary ; you've met tommy's secretary , who has a thing for him.

warnings ; mentions of death (no one dies), my bad writing?? probably typos, arranged marriage trope

a/n ; um idk what to think of this part but lmk what you think of it

-

he just looks back at you, his brow raised ,waiting for an explanation

"what?"

"what did ya say to 'er?"

"nothing, why ? what did she tell you?" you can't help the amused expression on your face, you did try to hold it back.

"she said you and polly cornered 'er"

"what" you let out a small laugh "all we did was speak to 'er, and it was mostly polly. she barely acknowledged me."

"really?"

"yes really."

"did ya tell 'er that we're engaged?" his voice was deep and cold. it sent a familiar chill down your spine.

"why ? did ya not want people to know?"

"answer the question"

"i didn't. polly did." you stare at him for a while, eyes tracing his face with a raised brow "are you fucking 'er?"

he blinks slowly, his demeanor doesn't change "i beg your fucking pardon?"

"ya heard me."

"no."

you study his face "we didn't say anything to 'er, polly asked 'er if she knew who i was, she looked me up and down like i was some whore and then almost cried when she found out you and i are engaged. thats it."

"we're not engaged yet."

"we are, according to your aunt. so if ya 'ave any fucking complaints , ya might want to take it up with 'er."

you try to walk past him, deciding that storming off is the best way out of this ,

"and how do ya think youre gettin' back home? polly is gone"

you freeze, stopping in place when you hear that, and he turns, just staring at your back.

"walking exists , ya know?" you turn as well to face him, you try to maintain the most confident expression you could muster

"you're gonna walk back? to your father's house? at this time?"

you just nod,

"no you're not"

"yes i am."

"no."

"why not?"

"what kind if fiancé would i be if i let ya walk home in the dark?." his voice is sarcastic

you just raise your brow again, "i thought we weren't engaged."

"go to my office, i'll drive ya home in a minute."

"ya don't 'ave to, i don't want your charity."

"go to my fucking office, y/n."

you mumble curses under your breath as you stride through and to his office, you open the glass door and plop down on the chair facing his desk. you can see the sectary's silhouette from the corner of your eyes. she's sitting on a desk outside his office and you walked by without sparing her a glance. you can feel her stare burn through you.

the door opens again and he walks in, and sits on his desk

"are we goin' to stay here long? cause i can call oliver to come and get me."

he looked up from the papers he was holding and his stare made you look away. okay maybe you'll let him drive you home.

the secretary knocks and walks in "i just need your signature on this form sir." she walks to his desk and gets as close as appropriately possible.

" y've met my fiancée then, miss carter?" he asks the secretary without looking at her

"i.." she stands straight and glances at you "i did , yes i did."

he looks up at her briefly "she might be comin' here more often now, so please make 'er feel at home whenever im not around."

"of course, sir." she smiles sweetly at him before grabbing the paper and walking out of the office.

you raise your brows, a small smirk on your lips "oh im your fiancée now , aye?"

he doesn't answer you, but you see the corners of his lips curl.

you stifle back a yawn as you sit on the sofa , trying to not to nod off. its the middle of the night and your brother had woken you up. safe to say tonight was not a night you've expected and its yet to end.

"how did ya even know about this?" you nod towards abraham who had a cup of tea in his hand

"mum called" he muttered as he handed you a cup as well

"its just a cold , ya know that? , ya didn't 'ave to leave anna and come all the way here."

"it's dad, i couldn't just sleep after 'earing mum cry about 'im"

"she cries about everything" you say with a sigh as you take a sip of your tea

the living room as dark except for a small lamp that was next to you

"did she call celest and oliver?"

"i think so, but they'll probably come by in the mornin'."

you hear your mothers sniffles as she leaves her and your father's bedroom.

"hes asking for you."

you and abraham look at each other before you put your tea cup down and get up from the sofa.

"come in"

you walk in and close the door behind you gently. your dad is propped up with a pillow behind him, you approach the bed and get on it, laying next to him

"ya better not give me another one of your speeches dad." you feign annoyance but your smile gives you away.

he lets out a laugh then turns to you "i'm an old man ya know, i 'ave to make sure i say everything i need to say before i leave ya."

"y've got a cold dad, its not the plaque " you chuckle as you turn to look at him too.

when you were a child, your father would never sleep if you got sick, he would stay up. sometimes fall asleep beside you, or on the uncomfortable hard wooden chair he'd drag next to your bed.

he would put his head on your heart sometimes late at night anxiously, scared it might've stopped when he accidentally drifted off to sleep.

"listen to me love..." his hands intertwine with yours, his hands calloused from all the days he's spent caring for the soil, or in the war that you never thought would end. "i need to talk about this."

you hum, your hand holding his tightly in yours.

"i'm sorry it had to come to this my love,"

its not another one of his speeches, its a different kind of speech.

"dad..."

"when your mother first told me about this, i thought she was jokin, honest to god" he lets out another laugh "but now..... when i think about it , i cant let ya do that to yerself love..." he shakes his head slightly,

"what?" your eyes look up at him, taking in his features , his dark under eyes, the lines on his face, around his eyes.

"i saved some money yeah? , for when me and your mother might need it. ya can 'ave it." his voice drops to a lower tone

"and do what ?"

"run away."

"run away?" you laugh softly, looking at him with a raised brow "and go where?"

"where ever you want." he smiles softly at you

"you're not serious."

"i am"

you stay silent for a while, processing what he's saying "im not runnin' away dad."

"so you're gonna marry tommy shelby? is that what ya want ? what ya truly want?"

"its what i need to do"

"ya don't"

"so you're gonna go back on your word ,aye? ya gave the man a word after all"

"for you , id break every promise ive ever made."

"dad..." you let out a small smile , his other hand goes to cup your face "i cant do that"

"are ya scared id hate ya? or that id be angry at ya if ya didn't?"

"i cant runaway dad... i cant leave ya" your emotions betray you and they flood through you, your tears start to drop. i cant not be here when you die, when you're buried.

"sometimes i cant believe you're all grown up now,"

"hmm"

"ya were such a lively child"

"you're sayin' im borin' now aye?"

you two share a small laugh, you turn your face and kiss his palm, before closing your eyes "id put myself through anything and everything to keep ya with me for however long i can."

-

@tardisloverz , @optimisticsandwichgladiator , @theshelbyslimited

#tommy shelby x reader #thomas shelby x reader #thomas shelby imagine #tommy shelby imagine #peaky blinders imagine #peaky blinders fanfiction #tommy shelby fanfiction #thomas shelby fanfiction #kadwrites

[kindacreepy-kindaugly]

Startin to think he was right about a lot more things than I was ready to accept

#there's nothing out here for people like me there's no way out no one's comin to save me this is all there is #no matter how i struggle no matter how many times i think i made it out i'm always gonna end up right back where i belong #cause i'm gonna realize it's the best i'm ever gonna have the world out here will eat me alive and he's the only one that can keep it out #or the only one who will anyhow #that's the closest to bein saved there is for someone like me #it's not safety but it's the closest i can get #it's not love but it's the closest i can get #i wanna get high so fucking bad i'm not equipped for a life on just booze and prescribed amounts of prescription meds #it's not enough i need my ears to stop ringing i need my head to be quiet i need to stop thinking #everything's different and still nothing ever changes #i've tried to be responsible i've tried to be the closest to a good person i can and it doesn't mean a thing it's just fucking not enough #i don't even know why i bother it's never gonna be good enough and i'm still gonna hate myself just the same anyway #just rotten to the fucking core there's no coming back from it no matter how pretty i try to make the outside #i know this is not hell but maybe it's the place you go after #spdrvent

[schemmentis]

Like I Can - Pt. 3

Pt. 1 / Pt. 2

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1.7k

You see more of Melissa in the weeks after your one night stand. Not quite as much as the beginning of your friendship, when you saw her without fail every weeknd. Still, more than the near nothing you’d been growing reluctantly used to.

You still spend more time with Barbara than your favorite redhead, but you’re pleasantly surprised on the evenings that she joins both of you. It’s one of those surprise evenings where she surprises you further.

You’re already at a table at one of your favorite restaurants across from Barb when Melissa strides to the table, apologizing for being late. Like every other time she’s suddenly joined you, you only smile and say you’re glad she’s there. You are. It’s been much nicer to see her and know what’s going on from her than through Barbara.

Occasionally, you feel the knife stab you a little deeper beneath your chest. When she’s laughing. When she’s loose and carefree in a way you know she only really is with you and Barb. Still, you’re never upset to see her and you aren’t disappointed by her appearance tonight.

You’re all nearly through your meals when Melissa snaps her fingers like she’s forgotten something. “Barb, the kids mentioned game night next weekend. You think Gerald will forgive you for missing one Saturday night?”

Good-naturedly, Barbara’s eyes are rolling. “It is a Saturday night tonight.” She points out with a look your way that is meant to convey exasperation. Except you know Barb is very rarely actually so fed up with Melissa. You’re the same way. “I assume you’re hosting?”

“Well, I ain’t goin’ to Janine’s, that’s for sure.”

“Oh, the other teachers.” You laugh slightly. “You said kids. I thought you were going to have all your little students running around for a second.”

“Oh god, no. You know I love my little eagles but they ain’t comin’ to my house that’s for sure. Janine is lucky she gets to.”

“Melissa!” Barbara chastises. Or, she tries to. Except you’re laughing and Melissa is smiling at you. It doesn’t really land. 

“Hey, you should come, Y/N.”

“Me?” You scoff, waving Melissa’s invitation off. “Come on, I’m not going to get in the way of your teacher bonding time.”

“You wouldn’t be in the way. ‘Sides they’d like you.”

“You just want me there so you can have me on your team and guarantee you win.”

“Maybe! It ain’t my fault Barb has us on a losing streak!”

“I do not!” Barbara protests from across the table. 

You sigh, pretending to think it over. You are tempted. More time with Melissa is hardly anything you’d say no to. Still, you’re hesitant. These are the people she sees every day. You’ve heard a little when Melissa tells you about her days and what’s gone on but that’s hardly the same as meeting these people. And then spending an evening in Melissa’s living room with them. In competitive mode over games on top.

“Alright, I’ll come but Barb has to be on our team, too. She’s better at trivia than you, Mel.”

Melissa pretends to be offended, a hand to her chest at your trivia comment. “I won trivial pursuit the last game night we had, thank you very much.”

“Did you sneak in extra sports questions?”

“No! I did win on one though…”

“Of course you did, Mel. Just text me when to be there.”

By the time Melissa texts you about game night and what time; you’d nearly forgotten you agreed to go. You don’t panic though. For some reason, knowing both Melissa and Barbara will be there, you aren’t nervous to meet the others. It might help that you know Melissa doesn’t just let people into her house. Not easily at any rate.

Once you’re stepping into Melissa’s living room, Barb has already beaten you there. Not the others. You would guess having those she’s most comfortable around here first makes inviting the others a touch easier. You barely say hello before she’s handing you a cold beer from the fridge.

The others trickle in over the next half hour. You understand now all the little comments Melissa has made about them as you meet them and the small chit chat that ensues as each of them arrive. Janine is sweet but definitely too peppy for Melissa. You suddenly understand each time Melissa said she would keep coffee as far away from the younger teacher as possible.

“Traitor!” Melissa teases when you pair up with Barb one game. You merely roll your eyes at her, it’s a two person team rule and she’d been claimed by Jacob for that game. Otherwise you probably would have picked her yourself.

You find yourself sprawled across Melissa’s couch. Barb had been the first to leave that night, as you expected. She wasn’t one for late nights in the entire time you’d known her. The others had stuck around a bit longer. Now, it’s just you and Melissa.

The two of you had mostly cleaned up her living room, ignoring some of the empty bottles and other drinks. Now, her television is on. It’s playing one of the reality shows Melissa loves that you don’t pay much attention to. Though you’re learning them and the drama in them through osmosis. 

You’re next to Melissa, your legs stretched over her lap. Your thighs rest in her lap more than your legs or feet. One of her hands is idly messing with your hair as she watches the screen. You don’t remember how this is how you two ended up but you aren’t complaining at all. It’s perhaps the most content and safe you’ve felt in a long time. You struggle to remember when you last did.

“Hon?”

Melissa’s soft voice calling to you has you blinking. You’re almost worried you fell asleep. You may be on your way but as your eyes refocus on the television screen you realize it’s still the scene you last remember so you couldn’t have fallen asleep just yet. You likely won’t be awake much longer though.

“Hm?” You wordlessly answer her. Her fingers are gently rubbing a mindless pattern at your temple.

“You gonna see that woman again? The one from a couple weeks ago?”

You blink at the television set, your half awake brain slowly turning over her question. “No.” You finally answer. You’re too tired to be worried about what the right thing to say is. Too tired to be worried about how you sound, or accidentally saying something will tip the redhead off to your feelings.

“You didn’t like her?”

“She was fine.”

Melissa laughs, just a little. “Fine. Yeah, that’s how you said she was in bed, too.”

“Mel…” You groan. You trail off, letting your tone and the following silence convey your plead for her to not get started on that again.

“You just…deserve better is all.” Melissa finally says softly.

“Yeah, and you deserve better than Gary.” You grumble in response.

Her fingers stop their movement against your temple. You feel her freeze beneath your thighs still draped over her lap. You go to sit up but her hand presses lightly to your shoulder to keep you in place.

“What’d you say?”

“Melissa…”

“No, no. Say it again. What you said.” Melissa urges. Her hand is still lightly pressing into your shoulder still. 

“I said you deserve better than Gary.” You repeat quietly.

“You never liked him.” She says. Definitively. Just like she did after you first met him. She knew then. She knows now.

“He’s fine.”

Melissa laughs. Enough that her head throws back against the back of the couch. She tips her head forward again. Her smile touches her eyes when they refocus on you. “Fine is what you say when you’re tryin’ to be polite, ain’t it? Gary is fine. Your girl from a few weeks ago is fine. You really wanna say they kind of suck, don’t you?”

“No! She really was fine. I told you I’m not really interested in the one night stands and all.”

“And Gary?”

“Gary is…you like him.”

“He’s fine.” Melissa says with a small smirk down at you. “How do you feel ‘bout him though? Don’t worry about sparing my feelings, Hon. I wanna know.”

“He’s nice enough. I might like him if he weren’t dating you.”

“What’s him dating me got to do with it?”

You sigh. “Melissa. You could do better than Gary. You could have any guy you wanted, in a heartbeat. I know Joe, bein’ Joe, made you think differently. I watched him hurt you plenty of times while you tried to work things out, and then through the divorce process. You don’t have to settle for just a….nice enough guy.”

“Any guy I wanted, huh?”

“In a heartbeat.” You repeat.

“What if I didn’t want a guy?”

You blink up at Melissa. In the time you’d known her she’d ever spoken about men, gone out with men. You hadn’t even considered her with a woman. Even though that little bit of hope in your heart for it still lived on with your feelings for her. Still, you’d never even entertained it being possible with how much you’d seen her with men. 

“I…wouldn’t have expected you to be into women, I guess.” You finally stammer out. 

“Why not?”

“You never talk about women. I’ve seen you pick up plenty of guys at the bar. Then of course Joe and Gary.”

“I experimented in college. Like a lot of people do.” Melissa shrugs. “I lean toward men, usually heavily, but I wouldn’t call myself straight.”

“You did once tell me if Barb wasn’t with Gerald you’d make her a Schemmenti.”

She laughs again, nodding. “In another life, absolutely.” Melissa doesn’t hesitate in backing up that drunken comment she made to you forever ago. “So, you think I could get a woman?”

“In a heartbeat.” You breathe out the repetition. You know for certain Melissa could land a woman just as easily as she could a man; or anyone for that matter.

“And if I had a specific woman in mind?”

“Do you? Have a specific woman in mind?”

Melissa only looks at you for a long, drawn out moment. You have half a mind she’s memorizing your face for some reason you don’t know. “I think it would take a specific one, for me, personally, y’know? Like you said…no secret I like men but if a certain woman got to my heart and all…”

“What are you saying, Melissa?”

“I’m saying…I’m saying we both deserve better, Y/N. We both deserve better and I…I wanna be the better you deserve.” Her fingers brush at the small hair near your temple tenderly. “You’re the woman I want.”

#melissa schemmenti fanfiction #melissa schemmenti x you #melissa schemmenti x reader #like i can

[justagalwhowrites]

New in Town - Ch. 2: First Date

Joel takes you on an actual date. A continuation of New in Town Ch. 1 found on Tumblr here.

Pairing: Best Friend's Dad!Joel Miller x Female Reader

CW:  Smut. Just... all the smut, OK? They fuck. They're fans of that. It's why we love them. Mild violence. No use of Y/N. Age gap (reader is 35 Joel is 47, not a focus of the fic). Minors DNI, 18+ only

Length: 7.9k

AO3 | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

A/N: Hi all!

So yeah, this was originally intended as a one shot but here's the thing... people really liked it? I got a lot of requests for more on Tumblr so y'all are getting more :)

This will be a relatively short series but a series none the less. I hope you enjoy it!

You didn’t have a great reason to be nervous. You felt pretty stupid for feeling nervous, in all honesty, but your stomach was in knots all the same. 

You were going on a date. A first date. 

A first date with Joel.

Your best friend’s dad. 

Who, it seemed, had done nothing but fuck you senseless in the two weeks since you’d met the man. 

And that’s all it had been. Fucking. Just ridiculous amounts of fucking. Like it was a miracle that you could walk amounts of fucking. 

Not for lack of trying to do other things. Joel had come back the next day with the intent of actually fixing your sink. Which, he did. And then he fucked you on your couch. 

You invited him over for dinner to say thank you for fixing the sink but the steaks sat out on your counter while the two of you ripped each other’s clothes off. You’d gone to his house to watch The Room and you’d made it all of five minutes into the movie before the two of you were naked on his living room floor, his cock stretching you open and making you gasp as he filled you. 

Finally, he came to your apartment to pick you up to go for drinks and to listen to live music. You opened the door in the short, tight dress you’d picked for going to bars and he damn near growled before he grabbed you and kissed you. You pulled him into your apartment and, before you knew it, you were naked and entwined on your bed. 

“Next time, I’m not bein’ a gentleman and comin’ to your door,” he said, panting for breath, your leg still over his hip. “You’re meetin’ me at the damn car. Only way we’re gettin’ out of the damn house is if we make it so I can’t just take your clothes off.” 

He was picking you up in five minutes and you’d realized that, since you’d started fucking Joel, you’d hardly spoken to the man. Your mouth was usually otherwise occupied. And so was his, for that matter. Because fuck, that man could do amazing things with his mouth. 

So you were nervous. Butterflies in your stomach, pacing your living room, checking your phone every 15 seconds nervous. 

Because what if he didn’t like you once he actually talked to you again? Once you were in a place where you couldn’t just get naked and you had to rely on conversation to keep him interested, would he still be interested? 

Sure, the night you’d met had felt… Well, unlike anything you’d ever experienced, really. If you had, you wouldn’t be single that was for damn sure. You’d never been able to just talk with someone the way you could with Joel. It had been electric. He was so smart and funny and kind. 

The thing that stood out to you most was that he noticed things about people. In a way men - especially men who were the strong, physical type - didn’t really seem to. He was worried about one of the guys on his team at work who’d been having problems at home. He’d noticed that the guy wasn’t laughing the same way he usually did at the joker on the crew. 

“I’m so bad at that shit,” he’d taken a sip of beer, shaking his head. “Not like I can talk anyone through marriage troubles. Kid troubles, maybe. But these guys never want to talk about their shit, you know? So busy tryin’ to handle it themselves they fuck their lives up.” 

And you’d had so damn much in common. The love for terrible movies and rock music and spicy food. You could have talked to him all night. 

You just weren’t sure if he felt the same way. 

Your phone dinged in your hand. Because you were so nervous and excited you’d actually taken it off silent for the first time since you’d had the thing. 

“Here,” he texted. He was two minutes early. You smiled.

Another ding. 

“Very weird not coming to your door. Not a fan.” 

You texted back. 

“Me either. See you in a sec!” 

Joel had planned the whole day, only telling you enough that you knew what to wear and what to bring. Which apparently required a change of clothes. 

“Promise you can get changed somewhere I can’t just jump you,” he’d texted. “Going to do my best to keep my hands to myself.” 

“That’s a damn shame,” you’d texted back. “I like when you don’t keep your hands to yourself.” 

“Fine woman,” he’d replied. “I’ll keep them to myself until the end of the date. Would like to actually get you out in the world at some point. Sound fair?” 

“That’s better,” you smiled as you typed it out.

“You drive a hard bargain,” he replied. 

“Not the only hard thing I’m interested in.” You’d added a winking emoji to that one. 

He texted back immediately. 

“Dangerous for me to be distracted by you with hard things while I’m at work so I’m going to stop this before I hurt myself… See you in the morning.” 

He’d told you that you needed good walking shoes and something you’d be comfortable moving in for the morning and something that made you feel good for the afternoon and evening. You tried to be smart about it, picking hiking boots with jeans and a t-shirt for the morning and just changing the shoes and the shirt for the rest of the day. Like maybe if you kept your pants on it would keep you from jumping into bed with Joel. 

At least right away. 

“See, this is why I can’t come get you at your door,” he shook his head as you climbed in the passenger seat of his truck. He was half smiling, his head propped against his hand and you had to fight the urge to kiss his damn dimple. 

“Oh really?” You asked, brows raised, as you buckled up. “Why’s that?” 

“You got no business looking that damn good in jeans,” he said. “Couldn’t risk getting you behind closed doors right now, we wouldn’t get anywhere.” 

You rolled your eyes and smiled, shaking your head. 

“You’re insatiable.” 

“Just with you,” he winked. 

Joel took you to a park in town, grabbing a pack out of the back seat of the truck and leading the way to a trail. 

“Said you liked hiking,” he said. “Figured this way you’d have a place you’d know if you wanted to come back. But only if you want.” 

He was watching you like he was waiting for you to reject the idea but you just smiled. 

“This is perfect hiking weather,” you said, starting on the trail before looking over your shoulder back at him. “You coming?” 

“Lead the way, Beautiful,” he smiled. “I’m just enjoying the view.” 

The trail was a loop that went out to a lake with a nice overlook. On the way out to it, you told Joel about camping with your Girl Scout troop as a child, how you’d found a sense of peace in nature ever since. Joel told you about camping with his brother, Tommy, as a kid and taking Sarah when she was little. 

The trail was quiet - almost shockingly so considering the weather - and the overlook was empty when you got there. Joel picked a spot and sat down, opening his pack and pulling out a few paper bags, bottles of water and bottles of iced coffee. 

“Not sure if you’ve come across these yet,” he handed you a bag. “They’re kolaches, these Czech pastry things. Don’t ask me why they’re popular here, couldn’t fuckin’ tell you, but they’re damn good. I’ll trade you flavors if you want, wasn’t sure what you might like…” 

“I’m not picky and these look incredible,” you bit into one of the sausage ones. You were right, eyes rolling back in pleasure as you chewed. “Fuck, that’s good…” 

Joel smiled, looking a little proud. 

“Yeah, Sarah told me you’d be finding the best restaurants in town real quick so I only have a few weeks to impress you with shit like this,” he said, taking a bite of his own roll before he frowned a little. “Not weird if I talk about her, is it? I’ve never…” 

“Fucked one of your daughter’s friends?” You finished for him, smirking a little, when he went quiet for a moment. 

“I was gonna say dated one but,” he laughed. “Both are true. Generally don’t go for younger women. Believe it or not.” 

“It’s not weird if you talk about Sarah. Well, it kind of is, but it would be weirder if you didn’t. We both love her, just in different ways. Pretending she doesn’t exist is just… not the way to go. And I’m not that much younger,” you elbowed him lightly. “Besides… you’re kind of my exact type.” 

He looked surprised by that. 

“Really?” 

“Yup,” you smiled a little and opened the iced coffee, taking a drink. “If I redownloaded my dating apps I could show you my age range preferences and you are right in the sweet spot there, Miller.” 

He just looked at you for a second, a crooked smile on his lips. The damn dimple. 

“What?” You laughed, taking another drink of coffee. “Why are you looking at me like that?” 

“You deleted your dating apps?” 

You felt your eyes go slightly wide. You hadn’t meant to admit that. 

“OK let’s pretend I didn’t just say that, alright?” You winced. “This was going so well…” 

“Why would I pretend you didn’t say it?” He frowned a little. 

“Because it’s weird,” you looked back out at the lake, needing to look away from him for this conversation. “And I don’t want to put any pressure on you or anything, I really don’t want to make it weird. I just… I’m not trying to get you to be in a relationship or anything, I just didn’t really feel like trying to see anyone else after I met you so I deleted them and…” 

“I like it,” he cut you off. 

“Yeah?” You smiled a little. 

“Yeah.” He leaned in, smiling back. “I like it a lot.” 

He kissed you, soft and almost chaste at first, but that didn’t last long. One hand moved to the back of your neck, pulling you close, the other to your waist, sliding down toward the hem of your shirt, seeking out your skin. You moaned into his mouth, a familiar needy ache settling inside you. His tongue dipped into you and you pressed closer to him, trying to put your body against his when someone cleared their throat from behind you. 

The two of you jumped apart and you looked back over your shoulder to see a man, a woman and two kids standing there, staring at you. You pressed your lips together and tried not to laugh out of the sheer embarrassment of it all, your face getting hot. 

“Morning,” Joel said, clearing his throat a bit. 

“C’mon kids,” the woman said, glaring at you. “Quick look at the water, then we keep moving…” 

You cleared your throat awkwardly and took a drink of your iced coffee while the family spent a minute at the overlook before the parents started herding their children away. 

“Mom, why are leaving so quick?” The little girl asked. 

“Because honey,” the woman glanced your way as they headed back down the trail. 

The second you couldn’t hear their footsteps anymore, the two of you burst out laughing, you grabbing Joel’s thigh to keep from falling over with it. 

“Oh my God!” You gasped for breath, almost crying laughing. “What the actual fuck is our problem? We’re adults! This isn’t what adults do!” 

“This is your fault!” He was trying to stop laughing and failing. Miserably. 

“My fault? How is it my fault!” 

“Those damn jeans,” he kissed the delicate skin behind your ear, making you laugh even harder. “How am I supposed to resist you when you’re lookin’ that good?” 

He kissed you again, making you moan for a moment before you pulled back from him. 

“I thought you were keeping your hands to yourself until the end of the day?” You nipped his lower lip. “It’s not even noon.” 

“Argh,” he groaned, his forehead falling to your shoulder. “You’re right Beautiful, I’ll behave. Or try to, feel like I should get at least some credit for makin’ it this long.” 

Joel made you drink an entire bottle of water before you left the lake (“Can’t have you runnin’ on just iced coffee and kolaches, we got three miles back to the truck…”) and he seemed to be OK letting the dating app comment lie. Which worked for you because you were vaguely horrified to actually have that discussion. 

Because you had deleted the apps. And you were really hoping you wouldn’t need to download them again. At least, not for a while. You were pretty sure that you were crazy about Joel. Like could fall head over heels for the guy in a way you hadn’t since you were 21 and a stupid college girl kind of crazy about Joel. 

But it was so early that it seemed immensely stupid to feel that way about the guy. Even though you felt like you’d known him for years, even though you thought about him all the damn time. You’d still only known him for two weeks. 

And if you wanted a relationship - an actual, honest to God relationship - you’d have to reckon with the fact that you’d met him through your best friend, his daughter. This was a conversation you’d need to wait to have, until you had some sense of certainty that what you were risking was worth that risk. There was no way you could actually be that certain after two weeks. Even if you felt like you might be. 

There was a small hitch in Joel’s plans for the day, though. The bathrooms at the trailhead were closed and he sighed. 

“I promise this ain’t a scheme to get you back to my place and out of your clothes,” he winced a little. 

“I can just change in the car,” you winked and patted his chest. His broad, strong chest. Goddammit. “Just keep your eyes on the road while I do.” 

You climbed in back and waited for Joel to start driving (“Not getting arrested for indecent exposure at the park because you just climb in the back seat to feel me up, Miller. Now drive.”) before you took your t-shirt off. You may have left your shirt off and only been in your black lace bra for longer than you really needed to, letting your hair down from its loose bun and touching up your makeup before pulling the black, deep v-neck silk top you’d grabbed for the evening from your bag. At a stop light, you felt eyes on you and you looked to the rearview mirror, catching a glimpse of Joel watching you before he quickly looked back at the road. You smirked, tugging the shirt over your head and climbing over the center console and into the passenger seat, kissing Joel on the cheek on the way. 

“Told you to keep your eyes on the road, Miller,” you smirked, leaning over the console to wipe your lipstick off his cheek with your thumb. 

“You try focusin’ on the road when there’s somethin’ as pretty as you in the car,” he smirked a little. That fucking dimple. “I’m doin’ a damn good job, all things considered. Seat belt.” 

You smiled and buckled up. 

“Whatever you say, Miller. Whatever you say.” 

***

Joel briefly considered making himself come in the restaurant bathroom. 

There was no way in hell he was making it to the end of this fucking date, he didn’t know what the fuck he’d been thinking, planning something that was a day long with you. A whole day where you’d be right next to him and he couldn’t properly touch you. That was a stupid thing to do. A damn stupid thing to do. 

Because holy shit you were pretty. So fucking pretty. And sexy. So goddamn sexy. So pretty and so sexy that looking at you - knowing just how damn good you felt, knowing he could just have you if you were in his bed or he was in yours - was torture. Fucking torture. 

He knew a whole day was a mistake the second he saw you. He should have known before that, too, but sometimes he was a fucking idiot. 

Like when he decided to fuck his daughter’s best friend to begin with. 

But you looked so damn good just in jeans and a t-shirt - v-neck deep enough that he could see the soft flesh of your breasts as you climbed into the truck - that someone ought to make it illegal. And then walking behind you when the trail narrowed, wanting nothing more than to grab handfuls of your ass and pull you against his aching cock so he could find some damn relief. 

As soon as the concept of a date came up though, Joel knew he’d need to start it in the morning, plan a whole day. He didn’t want to stay away from you all day just to only get you for a few hours in the evening, not if he could help it. 

And it’s not like he only wanted to fuck you. Not that he didn’t love fucking you. God himself could strike Joel down while he was inside you and he’d die a happy man but he wanted to spend some time actually talking with you. He wanted to know you - desperately, longingly wanted to know you - but doing that when you were there, perfect and tempting, was no easy thing. 

Even you changing out of hiking boots and into some cute, girlie shoe was somehow sexy. How was he supposed to keep it in his pants when you looked that damn good doing anything at all? 

“OK we can’t both get the ghost pepper wings,” you looked over the top of the menu. “We need to split one order and get an order of something that isn’t going to potentially melt our tongues off.” 

“You’re no fun,” he smirked a little. 

“No, I’m a great time,” you replied. “I’m just also not insane.” 

The two of you shared the wings - both agreeing that they weren’t nearly as spicy as the menu led you to believe - and Joel took you to the next stop on his plan for the day. 

“Are you kidding me?” You jumped out of the truck looking practically giddy. “An escape room? I’ve always wanted to try one of these!” 

“Yeah, I keep seeing this one, thought I should see what all the fuss was about,” he smiled a little, putting his arm around your shoulders and kissing your temple. 

Joel was a little surprised at how much he liked the escape room thing. He’d googled it when trying to come up with something to do with you besides the cliche dinner and a movie shit and it seemed more like the kind of thing Sarah might try to get him to do. But, as it turned out, you and Joel made a great team. And he loved watching you gleefully shout the answer when you figured out a puzzle. You did a happy little jump when something unlocked or pieces fit together and shrieked and threw your arms around Joel’s neck when the room was solved in less than the two hour time limit. 

“You seriously planned even more than this?” You asked, brows raised, as the two of you got back in the truck. 

“I promised to keep my hands to myself until the end of the day,” he winked. “Can’t expect me to do that without something to distract me.” 

He took you to a winery tasting room in town next, the two of you each sampling a different variety of wines. 

“This one has a nice bouquet,” you said, nose in the glass. “Definitely smelling… um… rich mahogany?” 

Joel choked on the sip of wine that was in his mouth, trying not to shoot it out of his nose. 

“I’m sorry!” You laughed. “I really like drinking wine but I don’t know much about it at all!” 

“That’s OK,” Joel smiled. “I don’t know shit about it either.” 

“But it would sound cool to know about it, right?” You said. “Like, you take a sip and know something about it besides ‘oh yeah, that’s good and it is the color red.’” 

“OK now we just have to learn about wine together,” Joel set his glass down. “So we can sound cool.” 

“Together?” You raised your eyebrows. 

“If you want,” he shrugged, only realizing then that he was getting ahead of himself. “I want to…” 

You smiled a little. 

“I want to, too.” 

At dinner, you excused yourself to the restroom and Joel checked his phone for the first time since he’d picked you up that morning, only to see a text from you come through as he checked his other messages. 

“Need your help,” it said. “Last door in the hall.” 

Joel frowned, pocketing his phone and went to find you, knocking once on the door before you opened it, grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pulled him inside, locking the door behind him. 

“What are…” 

“I figure if our clothes stay on it counts as keeping our hands to ourselves, right?” You pressed yourself against the front of him, kissing him. 

“Definitely,” he said, already breathless. 

He pushed you back into the wall and put his knee between your legs, his cock - at least half hard for the entire goddamn day - against your hip. Your arms went around his neck and you kissed him. His tongue slipped into your mouth and he moaned into you as you started to rock your hips against his thigh. 

“Fuck Beautiful,” he groaned as he kissed down your jaw to your throat. “You been needy all day?” 

“Since you picked me up,” your head went back against the tile wall of the bathroom, voice breathless and wanting. 

“Fuck, me too,” he nipped your throat and pressed his cock into you, grinding against your body like a goddamn teenager. “Think you can come from just riding my leg?” 

He pulled you down on him, making you groan. He could feel the wet heat of you, even through the fabric. Fuck, he wanted to feel you there, wanted to bury himself inside you there. 

“Yes,” you managed. 

Joel’s hands slid down your body to your ass, his fingers sinking into your flesh, pulling your body tight to him as he cursed the fabric between his skin and yours, fucking up against you. You rode his leg, breaths coming in stuttering gasps, working your pussy against him harder and faster, your body pressed flush against his own. 

“Joel, fuck,” you fingers tangled in his hair as he buried his face in your neck. “I’m going to come, I’m going to fucking…” 

“Good,” he groaned, his cock leaking and achy and all but ready to spill into his fucking jeans. “Do it, come for me, come on my fucking leg…” 

You obeyed with a desperate moan and he clutched your body to him as he felt your pussy pulsing against his thigh, the heat of your pleasure, the soft give of your skin pushing him over the edge as he came, his cock throbbing against you. 

“Fuck,” you panted, breathless, your body limp. 

“Not sure it still counts,” he dropped his head to your shoulder. 

“No, it does,” you nodded. “Definitely counts, we’ve been very well behaved all day. We’re basically angels.” 

Joel laughed before he kissed you and the two of you sheepishly made your way back to your table, no one at the restaurant seemingly any the wiser that the pair of you had all but fucked in one of the bathrooms just feet away. 

The not-quite-fucking in the bathroom made it so Joel felt like he could actually survive the rest of the evening, finally taking you to a bar to listen to live music like he’d been wanting to do since the night he met you.

The place was loud when you arrived, the band just getting started, and Joel found an open table toward the back. You held it while he got drinks and he could see a hint of the lace of your bra whenever you leaned over to tell him something over the sound of the band. 

After the two of you made it through a drink, you put your hand in his, tugging him toward the crowd clustered around the stage. 

“C’mon,” you smiled. “I feel like dancing!” 

He followed you - starting to feel like he might just follow you anywhere - and put his hands on your waist as you pressed your body against his, moving in time with the music, the whole crowd pulsing with the same energy. 

When the band slowed it down, you looped your arms around his neck and smiled, your eyes bright with the lights from the stage. 

“Can’t believe you actually planned all this,” you shook your head a little. “I don’t know that a guy has ever put this much effort into… damn, anything at all for me.” 

“You’ve been dating the entirely wrong kind of men then,” he replied, wondering how the fuck someone wouldn’t try to do anything and everything for you, just for an excuse to see you all the time. 

“Probably true,” you laughed a little. “Or you’re just a breed unto yourself, Joel Miller.”

“It’s for the best,” he smiled, trailing his fingers up your arm. You kissed him, all soft and sweet, different from every other kiss he’d shared with you so far. It was the first time it felt like he was kissing you just to kiss you, not because it was leading to your bed. He liked it, the gentle intimacy of it. 

The song ended and the band said they were taking a break but would be back up soon and you pressed your lips a little firmer to his for a second before pulling back from him. 

“Why don’t you go hold down the table for a second?” You smiled. “My turn to get the drinks.” 

“But…” 

“I insist,” you cut him off. “Not letting you into my apartment later any other way.” 

“You drive a hard bargain,” he kissed your cheek. “But I accept.” 

Joel went back to the table and watched you from across the bar, not much different than the night he first met you. Except now he got to go home with you. He smiled to himself and shook his head a little. How the hell had he gotten that lucky? 

Sarah had texted him at some point in the evening, asking what he was up to the next week. He texted her back, still not quite sure how to broach the subject of you with his daughter. He’d have to at some point. He wasn’t about to give you up, he’d have to talk to Sarah about it eventually. The both of you would. He sighed and put his phone back in his pocket, looking up to find you at the bar as you stared down some guy who was almost Joel’s size, the man’s hand on your lower back. Your mouth was drawn low into a frown and Joel was half way across the bar before he fully realized what he was doing. 

He reached you in what felt like a second, pulling you back from the bar and putting himself between the man and you. 

“Hey man…” the guy began but Joel cut him off. 

“You botherin’ my girl?” He snapped. His blood was hot, he could feel it moving through his body. He’d looked away from you for a minute, just a minute, and some guy had decided he could just touch you when you didn’t want it. 

“Sorry, she didn’t say she had a boyfriend…” 

“Don’t matter. She say you could touch her?” Joel shoved him. “‘Cause sure didn’t look like she appreciated that shit.” Joel shoved him again. “You like bein’ touched without permission?” Another shove. “Not so fuckin’ nice when it’s a man doin’ it to you, is it?” 

The guy was either stupid or drunk. Maybe both. Either way, he telegraphed his next move by a fucking mile, pulling his fist back to take a swing at Joel. He dodged it, easily, before punching back, catching the man across the jaw and sending him sprawling to the floor. 

“Joel!” Your voice snapped him out of it. He relaxed his fist and shook some of the stiffness out of his hand, turning to you and realizing for the first time that the whole bar was staring. Shit. The guy on the floor groaned and started sitting up. 

“Why don’t you go on home before we need to call the cops,” the bartender said, his hand balled in a fist on the bar top. 

“Come on, Joel.” 

You looped your arm around his and tugged him along toward the door, the two of you going to his truck in silence. 

“I’m really sorry about that,” he said after he’d been driving in awkward quiet for a few minutes. 

“What happened?” You asked. He glanced over at you. You didn’t look pissed, at least. 

“Saw the look on your face,” he focused on the road, flexing the hand with the sore knuckles. “I just looked down to check my phone, text Sarah back real quick and the next thing I know that fucker’s got his hand on you and it sure as shit didn’t look like somethin’ you wanted…” 

“It wasn’t something I wanted,” you said. 

Joel nodded. 

“Just saw red,” he ground his teeth. “Don’t know why some men think they’re just entitled to… Look, not exactly proud of it, but if something pisses me off in just the right - or wrong, I guess - way, I just…” 

“It’s OK, Joel.” 

“Need you to know that it’s never happened with a woman,” he said, glancing at you again before looking back to the road. “Not someone I was seein’, not Sarah, not anyone else. I’d never react like that to you no matter what you did, never…” 

“I said it’s OK, Joel.” 

The knot in his stomach relaxed just a bit. 

“Didn’t freak you out?” He asked, looking your way just long enough to catch you shaking your head as you answered. 

“Didn’t freak me out.” 

“Because I really don’t want to…” 

“Joel,” you cut him off. “I’m not afraid of you because you lost your temper on an asshole at the bar who deserved it.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah,” he could hear the hint of a smile on your voice. “It was… actually, it was kind of nice. I dated a guy for a bit in Seattle and he literally watched a guy grab my ass when we were at a baseball game and he didn’t do a damn thing, didn’t even back me up when I handled it myself. It… it was kind of nice to not have to handle it myself.” 

“Shouldn’t have to handle it at all,” he said. “Assholes need to learn to keep their hands to themselves. But you definitely won’t need to handle it if I’m there.”

You looked at him for a moment when he didn’t park the truck outside your apartment, instead pulling up to your front walk. 

“Thought the whole point of earlier is that we were leaving our clothes on until this point of the night,” you said. “Makes it a little difficult if you’re in a different house.” 

“You really still want me to come inside?” He raised his eyebrows. 

You rolled your eyes. 

“Get in my house so I can take your pants off, please.” 

He smiled a little. 

“Yes ma’am.” 

Your front door had barely even closed behind you before you were pulling at Joel’s shirt, his mouth on yours, his cock already hard and aching for you. 

His shirt wound up somewhere on the floor of your living room, yours in the hall. He left the bra on for a bit, your nipples firm against the lace. His pants wound up in the doorway to your bedroom, yours next to your bed as he pressed you back against the mattress. You fell onto it before crawling back, putting yourself in the middle of the bed and he followed, his mouth on yours, tasting the cocktail from the bar on your tongue. 

He kissed down your throat to your breasts, his tongue dipping between the gaps in the lace to find your skin, your back arching below him when he licked closer to your nipple before he gave it a sucking kiss. He trailed his lips over your breast bone to your other breast and gave you the same treatment there, your breaths starting to come in gasping little pants. Your bra clasped in the front - thank fuck for that - and he opened it, revealing your soft flesh. He cupped your breasts, the heavy weight of them silk against his calloused hands, before he traced down your body with his mouth and fingers to your hips. He took a second to appreciate just how fucking pretty your pussy looked in your black lace panties before he hooked his fingers around the top of them and tugged them down your body, casting them aside and crawling between your legs. 

He put a thigh over each shoulder and pressed a kiss to your clit and you took a deep, shuddering breath before you spoke, your voice sounding almost strangled. 

“You don’t have to do that,” you were practically squirming below him. 

“I know,” he ran his tongue slowly from your hole to your clit. “But I want to. Been wanting to, shame I haven’t yet, taste so fucking good…” 

You moaned and he smiled a little before dipping his tongue into your wet heat. He moaned too, couldn’t help it. He hadn’t been lying, your pussy tasted good, heady musk with a hint of sweetness to you. He clutched one of your thighs against his head with one hand and teased your clit with the other, making your hips rock into him and your back arch. 

“Sorry,” you panted, going still. “I’m… fuck, sorry…” 

“For what?” He pulled his mouth away from you just enough to look up your body and properly see you. “You think I don’t want your perfect fucking pussy coming all over my mouth? Think I don’t want you riding my fucking face? Want you come all over me, Beautiful, want you to do whatever it takes to make you come all over me.” 

He went back to eating at your pussy, devouring you as you moaned and arched below his touch, your sex getting wetter and wetter as his tongue worked you open. He added a finger to your tight, slick hole and he felt you start to contract around him, your breath picking up, your fingers clutching at your bedspread. He pressed harder against your clit, hooked his fingers into your inner wall, his tongue pushing deep as you came around him with a strangled cry. He smiled against you as he worked you through your orgasm, not easing up on you until you went limp below him, whimpering as you did. 

“You can’t seriously think I didn’t enjoy that,” he panted as he trailed his mouth back up your body, his lips still wet with you. You just laughed, breathless. 

He went to reach for the drawer where you kept the condoms but you grabbed his wrist. 

“Wait,” you said, breath still heavy. He frowned but obeyed, his fingers lacing with yours. He gently guided your hand with his to your breast, holding you gently. You moaned slightly and closed your eyes before you gave your head a small shake. “Sorry, trying to focus…” 

“Want me to stop?” He smirked. 

You glared at him. 

“No. But… I was thinking… I’m not… I haven’t been sleeping with anyone but you and I don’t know if you’re sleeping with anyone else…” 

“I’m not.” 

You smiled a little. 

“You’re the first person I’ve been with since I tested last and everything was clear,” your voice was hesitant. “And I’ve got an IUD…” 

“You asking me to fuck you bare?” He asked, his eyes searching yours. You bit your lip and nodded. “Fuck Beautiful…” 

“Assuming you don’t have anything I should know about,” you said, a little hesitant. “And if you’re OK with it…”

“More than fuckin’ OK with it,” he brushed your hair back with his free hand and held the crown of your head in his palm. “Love the thought of that, of bein’ that close to you.” 

He pulled his hand from yours and slid it between you to your dripping slit, making you gasp. He closed his eyes for a second, trying to focus on something aside from the thought of sinking into your body with nothing between you. 

“Want to feel you that way,” you said softly, reaching up and running your fingers through his hair. “Joel…” 

He kissed you then, sliding a finger into you and making your hips rock against him. He gathered your slick and brought it to his cock, coating himself in you. You already felt good - fucking exquisite - when he brought the head of him to your tight, grasping hole. 

Joel pushed inside you slowly, gently, easing you open as you arched into him and your hands splayed over his back. 

He licked into your mouth softly as he pressed into you, trying desperately to focus on something besides just how incredible it felt to be inside you bare. 

Because it was incredible. Beyond incredible. He hadn’t been inside someone without a condom in years, no relationships lasting long enough for him to trust someone enough to fool around without one. Knock up one woman by accident and you learn your lesson real damn quick. 

But you were different. You were you. It was safe to want you this way, have you this way. He could trust you, he could feel that. More than that, he wanted to feel you this way, feel you from inside, feel the very core of you as you took him into yourself, vulnerable and wanting. 

He sank into you and you were so fucking wet, so fucking soft, so fucking warm. He’d never felt anything as good as this, didn’t think there was something that could feel as good as this. But it made sense that he’d find it within you, perfect fucking sense that something so exquisite would be found inside of someone so fucking exquisite in every other way. Your laugh, your skin, your way of thinking, of course being inside you would be almost painfully incredible. 

“Fuck, Joel,” you panted as he bottomed out in you, his hips flush to yours. He could feel every detail of your muscles stretching around him, the way your body seemed to cradle his own. “Fuck you feel… you feel…” 

“I know baby,” he kissed you, holding himself inside you as he gave your channel a moment to adjust to the size of him. “Fuck, I know…” 

He kissed you again when he started moving in you and you moaned into his mouth, your hips rocking up to meet his own. 

Joel started slowly - he had to or he’d come far before he was ready to, you felt too damn good - savoring at how acutely he could feel every part of you as he thrust into you. 

But he gave in before too long, thrusting into you harder, faster, swallowing the delicious noises you made as you clung to him, your fingers pressing into his back, your legs entwined with his. He could feel you starting to tighten around him, your movements getting faster, sloppy. 

“Not going to last when you come,” he managed, pressing his mouth to your throat before continuing. “Where…” 

“Inside me,” you panted, desperate. “Please, Joel…” 

He nodded into your neck, fucking into you harder and faster and your fingers clung to him as you came, your back arching into him. He looped an arm below you, holding your body tightly to his own as his cock pressed deep inside you. 

“God, fuck, that’s right, come for me,” he said, inches away from coming himself, your walls pulsing around him harder and tighter than they ever had before. “C’mon Beautiful, doing so good, taking me so well…” 

He managed to hold out until your orgasm began to weaken and, with a tortured moan, filled you, pumping rope after rope of come into your desperate, aching core. Your hand flew to as close to his lower back as you could reach and you somehow pushed him deeper into you. He was already leaking out of you, spilling onto his balls and legs before he was even finished coming. 

He collapsed onto you, his head over your shoulder, your hands running in little trails up and down his back as you both panted for breath. The moment he had the energy, he lifted his head enough to kiss you and then rolled you so you were both on your sides, facing each other. He tucked a stray hair behind your ear. 

“Fuck that was incredible,” you smiled a little at him. 

He smiled a little back. 

“You’re stuck with me now,” he said. You laughed. “Can’t recover from sex that damn good, it’s impossible.” 

He held you like that for a long time, the two of you eventually disentangling from each other enough for you to fall asleep on his chest, Joel’s hand splayed wide across the soft skin of your back. 

He woke up before you in the morning, feeling more well rested than he remembered feeling anytime in the last decade, at least. He’d never slept over before and you’d never slept over at his place, always going your separate ways after sex. He didn’t think he could let that keep happening either. 

Joel gently extracted himself from you and you made a groggy little sound but he shushed you, kissing your temple and urging you back to sleep, giving you a pillow to wrap around. He went to your dresser and grabbed a t-shirt from a drawer you’d tossed him a shirt to wear home before. He looked at it and smiled a little, the shirt from a Halloween-themed 5K you’d done with Sarah in Seattle. He remembered her gushing to him about it. He pulled it on, grabbed his jeans and the keys to your place and his truck. 

You’d mentioned a coffee shop down the road, how you liked their skim lattes, a few times and he thought he found it. It was early enough on a Sunday - church still in session - that the place was pretty quiet. He pulled up a picture he had of you on his phone - a selfie you’d sent from the office when he’d asked to see you one afternoon when his job was being particularly shitty - and asked the barista if she knew you and what coffee you usually got. She did know you and smiled a little at Joel before making you an Irish cream latte. He got a cappuccino for himself and breakfast sandwiches before going back to your place and letting himself in. 

You were still in bed, asleep but not deeply. He set your coffee and sandwich on your side of the beg, kissing your forehead as he brushed your hair back. You smiled. 

“Thought you might want coffee,” he said quietly. 

“Mmmm, always want coffee,” you smiled and opened your eyes, looking him over. You smiled wider. “That shirt fits you a whole lot better than it fits me.” 

“Probably looks better on you though,” he smiled, climbing into bed next to you. 

“Did you really go to my favorite coffee place?” You gaped at him as you sat up. He shrugged. “Joel, I swear, you’re going to ruin me for all other men…” 

“Don’t mind that one bit,” he smiled. 

He’d only gotten a bite of his bagel sandwich in when he felt his phone vibrate against his leg. He frowned, pulling it out. Sarah was calling. His frown deepened. 

“I’m so sorry,” he began, showing you the screen. 

“Don’t be, of course pick up, it’s Sarah,” you said, picking up your coffee cup, your eyebrows knitted together. 

“Hey baby girl,” he said after he answered. “Everything OK? Never mind hearin’ from ya but it’s awful early out by you…” 

“Where are you right now?” She asked. 

He frowned. 

“Home,” he said, not thrilled about lying but… 

“No you’re not,” she said. 

He frowned deeper. 

“What d’you mean ‘no I’m not?’” 

“I mean,” he could hear the smile on her voice. “I’m in your living room and neither you nor your truck are here, what the heck Dad?” 

“You’re in Austin?” He looked at you and your eyes went wide. “What are you doin’ here!” 

“There was a cheap last minute flight deal so I figured why not surprise my favorite old man,” she said. “So where the heck are you! I need a Dad hug, it makes getting to the airport at like 4 a.m. worth it.” 

“Shit!” You whispered. Joel winced. 

“I’m on my way back home after runnin’ some errands,” he said quickly. “I’ll be there in just a few, I can’t believe you’re here baby girl! Missed you so much!” 

“I’m going to make coffee,” she said. “And then drink it all before you get here so you can’t have any. See you soon!” 

Your eyes were still wide when he hung up the phone. 

“Have you…” you began. He shook his head. “Yeah, I haven’t said anything to her, either…” 

“We can try and figure it out but I have to go,” he kissed you, deep and desperate, the only thing that could possibly pull him away from your bed right now coincidentally being the person who just showed up in his living room. “I’ll text you, I’m so sorry but…” 

“Go,” you kissed him again, a quick but soft kiss. “Go home, see Sarah, keep me posted?” 

He nodded, grabbing his coffee and his sandwich and going to the door before turning back to you. 

“I had…” 

“Joel, I swear to God if Sarah finds out about us because you were standing here too long I will never fuck you again,” you laughed. “Text me about it when you have a minute. And I had a great time, too.” 

He smiled. 

“OK. See you soon.” 

He half ran to his truck, jumping in the driver’s seat and flooring it back to his place. 

He totally forgot about the shirt. 

Next Chapter

A/N: OH NO NOT SARAH! Even though we love Sarah. But this will be a wrench in things. Wonder what will happen now???

I hope you all enjoyed a cameo by Feral!Joel because I love him.

Thank you so much for being here and for reading! Love you!!!

#joel miller x female reader #joel miller x reader #joel miller x you #fanfic #smut fic #joel miller x reader smut #joel miller smut #joel miller x oc #bfd!joel

[ronwestbreeze]

TO YOU , WORLDS AWAY | PART ONE : CHAPTER ONE

pairing: jake sully x human!fem!reader

summary: in which the story starts and finds you in a place of malevolence. a reluctant return to hell's gate leads you to meeting jake sully

warnings: none!

word count: 3.6k

author's note: finally posting this! there's no schedule for how i'm going to release these but i hope to be at least consistent! just no demanding me to post the next chapter or to finish, that doesn't help much with writing. anyways, hope you guys enjoy!

italics is speaking in na'vi

AO3 | masterlist | next

Powder covered your hands by the time the radio next to you came to life. Last time that radio came on, Dr. Grace Augustine had, very heatedly, called on you to fix one of the link units. Some genius had thought it was a good idea to kick at it in anger, knocking a few wires loose. Didn’t do any real damage but that guy never slipped into another link unit again. He’d have Grace to thank for that. And his temper.

That had been months ago. You hadn’t been back in Hell’s Gate since then.

Surprisingly enough, it was Trudy. “Hey, Doc. Mind comin’ to look at one of the computers in the lab? I think one of those science geeks broke a monitor or somethin’.”

Without looking up from your work, you reply, “Then buy a new one. My job is to fix shit, not consult about some stupid monitor.”

There were muffled voices further away as the radio cut in and out a few times. Seconds later, Trudy finally spoke again, “Uh, my bad, it’s not a monitor. It’s some….uh…power box, I guess. Glitched out on the geeks, now they don’t have power in a few of the computers.”

It took a moment for you to respond. Both because of the weak radio signal in the middle of the forest and because you had to take a few moments to program your newly robotic arm helper to finish off your new invention, which you had been working on for nearly half a year now. Project Pandora is what you called it.

“Trudy,” you finally say, picking up the radio and pushing the chair away from the desk and toward the small window on the other side of the little space, “why are you, a pilot no less, asking me about computers in a lab?”

There is a hesitant silence on the other end. But after listening closely, you realized there was another muffled conversation going on further away, one that the radio couldn’t really pick up.

Eventually, Trudy’s voice reached the radio again. “I told you she’d see right through it.” It sounded as if she was talking to someone and that someone was muttering something further away from the radio. Trudy sighed before continuing, “Look, Doc. I’m gonna be blunt with you. Parker’s too much of a pussy to do it himself so he got me in here to reach you.”

You clicked your tongue, “Why am I not surprised.”

“He’s scared of you.”

“More than Grace?”

There were louder muffles, almost audible if not for the static from the radio. “Parker wants you back at the gate…and to tell you that he’s not scared of you.”

After a while, the radio finally cut off and you sat there. Outside the little window was the forest of Pandora, your view for the past few months. And really, you would like to keep it that way from now on. Being away from Hell’s Gate has brought you a sense of peace and a sense of forgetting. Although, the forgetting was harder said than done.

No matter what you did, there was nothing that could make you forget what these humans were doing to Pandora, what they planned to do, what they already had done. It was a bunch of bullshit really. The RDA complained that they weren’t making any progress with the Na’vi, the people of  Pandora, while at the same time attacking them and threatening to take over the land by wiping out the indigenous.

You had come here to learn about this species and quite possibly one day live among them, not take over. Which is why you separate yourself from Hell’s Gate after the incident. But it seemed no matter what you did to keep away from them, somehow you were always brought back in.

It had to be him behind it. That man was stubborn enough to keep you in his control just as you were stubborn enough to find any way to stay far away from that place.

“Doc?” Trudy’s voice came in through the radio. With a frown, you looked back at your robotic arm and the invention, deep in thought. “You there?”

With a sigh, you replied, “There’s no other engineers up there? Mechanics?”

“Most of them are workin’ on those AMPs. Parker wants you. The best of the best, you know?”

You frown, “Doesn’t sound as great as it did years ago.”

“Don’t think too much about it. You’ll be in and out. Then you’ll get to go back to your little lab in the woods and stay secluded like the hermit that you are.” Trudy teased in an attempt to lighten your mood. And you did try to smile at the joke, just a little bit, but the thought about going back, about stepping your foot back into that place, somehow he’d win.

“I could say no.” You try, even though you were getting up and sliding your boots on. “Tell him to find some other unfortunate engineer to do his shit.”

“You could.” Trudy agreed. “That would definitely make Parker pop a vein. But if we sent in someone else that isn’t you, it sure as hell wouldn’t get done quickly or right. So there’s that.”

“Hmm, I’d say let them rot.” You grumble as you grab your mask and place it on your face.

Trudy laughed on the other end as you stepped out of the lab. The air was fresh on your skin but poisonous to your lungs. Still, it did feel somewhat nice stepping out of your stuffy lab for once. Being surrounded by beautiful forest. The beauty of Pandora still never failed to amaze you despite your grim attitude as of lately. There was something so special about this planet, something you never felt on your home planet, Earth.

You just wished the circumstances were different.

“You’re a genius, Doc.” Parker praised as you closed the power box.

“Is that all?” You asked dryly, rolling your sleeve back down as you began leaving the dark room.

The administrator followed after you as you sauntered through the halls, ready to go back to the forest and your private lab. “Yeah, well, I believe that should be all. I knew you could do it the best too, my guys are useless when it comes to this stuff.”

“Stop kissing ass, Selfridge.” Both you and Parker turned to find Grace waltzing down the hall toward the two of you. A smirk was on her lips when her eyes landed on you. “Tinkers! Never thought I’d see you come out of your little hole. How long has it been? Three? Four months?”

Despite where you were, you gave a small smile, “Hi Grace.”

Parker excused himself immediately much to your relief, going back to his usual spot, which was overseeing all the link units of the Avatar Program. You raised your brows at how quickly he left but you figured it was mostly because he didn’t want to hear Grace go on and on about the beauties of Pandora. Parker was the type of guy who only cared about what profited him the most. And the last thing he wanted to hear was how innocent everything was. Would make him lose track of the most important goal.

And for that, you despised that man. Parker must’ve sensed your dislike for him and found it intimidating, especially when it came to calling on you for favors such as fixing an electric power box.

Behind her were three other men. One of which you knew by Dr. Patel, the other two you guessed were new.

Grace crossed her arms, not bothering to introduce the two other males behind her as she spoke in a lowered voice, “Coming back this time around?”

You shook your head, “No. Just here for a small fixer upper. I should be heading back soon actually.”

“You sure?” Grace then gestured to the two behind her, giving you an exasperated look, “Could really use someone familiar out there. To the land and the people.” You didn’t respond right away which the scientist noticed. “Forget about Quaritch, you know you want to get back out there. Your avatar’s waiting—”

“Who's the newbies?” You addressed Dr. Patel, earning a glare from Grace at your efforts of quickly changing the conversation. It was something you definitely weren’t going to discuss here and especially in front of the new people who were watching the two of you a little too closely for your liking.

Dr. Patel smiled at you in greeting before gesturing to the two other men. “This is Norm Spellman, our new biologist for the team. Fellas, this is Dr. Y/N L/N, our best engineer at RDA.”

The tall lanky one stepped forward and offered his hand, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Doctor, I’ve actually heard a lot about your work here. Well, your mother’s work, I should say.” Grace rolled her eyes as you tried not to wince at the mention of your mother. But of course, Norm didn’t notice and kept going, “Also, very sorry for your loss. Your mother was a brilliant mind, the best of our kind—”

“Alright, Spellman.” Grace gave him a pointed look before nodding over to the man in the wheelchair, “You remember Tom Sully? Well, this is his worse half, Jake Sully. He’s unfortunately replacing Tom in the program.”

“Thank you for that, Gracie.” Jake retorted just as quickly.

“Fuck off.” Grace glared and nudged your side. “Ignore him, I do.”

Yes, you did hear about this. Tom’s unfortunate death led them to scramble for a quick replacement. You never met Tom yourself so you never had much of an attachment to him. Neither did Grace but you could tell that wasn’t the only thing annoying her. If you had to guess, Jake was probably drastically different from his late brother and Grace didn’t have much patience for that.

Still, you offered him a kind smile. “Ma’am.” He nodded to you, offering his own hand which you shook.

“Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Sully.” You glanced from a pensive Grace to Jake. “I imagine you know a lot about the program similar to your brother.”

Jake tilted his head, “I watched a Netflix special once.”

Grace scowled, Dr. Patel coughed to cover a smile, and Norm shifted on his feet awkwardly, watching the two of them.

You found yourself grinning for the first time in a while., “I don’t know, Augustine. I kind of like him. “

Grace rolled her eyes, “Whatever. We’re heading over to the link units. It’s about time the two of you get acquainted with your avatar form.” She then addressed you but in Na’vi surprisingly. “And when will you bring out yours? Don’t try to change the subject this time, Tinkers.”

Feeling Jake’s curious and confused gaze on the two of you, you answer in a quick hiss, “Drop it.” Then you turned to Jake and smiled, “S’ nice to meet you, Mr. Sully—”

“Jake.” He nodded toward you with a little smile of his own. “You can call me Jake.”

Your smile grew, “Alright, Jake. Welcome to Pandora.” She pointed at Grace with her thumb, “Don’t let her ruin the experience, yeah? She can be a little twitchy sometimes.”

“Go back to your hole, Tinkers!” Grace called over her shoulder as she continued down  the hall with Norm and Dr. Patel following after her.

“Right up your ass, Augustine!” You shot back with a smirk before sending Jake a wink.

Jake, despite his previous stoic expression, found himself grinning at you. “Nice to meet you, L/N.”

“Y/N.” You corrected, moving around him to head the opposite direction. “Or Doc, either way, don’t be so formal. Especially with me.”

He nodded, “I’ll make sure to remember that.”

With that, you watched as he rolled away in the direction the others went. Once the company was gone, your shoulders sagged a bit, slightly exhausted from the small interaction and because of the busy environment of Hell’s Gate as you made your way out of it.

Just as you were about to reach outside and grab your mask, one of the soldiers, Wainfleet, blocked your exit while sitting in one of those AMPs.

“Doc! Leaving so soon?” He grinned down at you.

“Move, dipshit.” You say bluntly, gripping the mask in your hands while glaring up at him.

He shrugged, grinning cockily down at her. “Can’t do that, Doc. Colonel heard you crawled out of your little hole you’ve been hiding in the past few months. He wants to see you.”

“Tell him to eat shit, ya know, like in all the messages I replied to.”

When you tried going around him, he stepped in your way, aggravating you more.

“Look, cupcake. We could either do this the easy way or the hard way. Easy way, you go and see Colonel yourself or hard way I drag your tiny ass over there.”

At this point, the more you gripped at the mask, the more it was possible it could break in your grasp. So you hooked your mask back onto your belt, seething eyes never leaving Wainfleet. It was possible to shut down the AMPs in your current height. You’d done it before but it was with someone who lacked experience controlling those things.

Wainfleet on the other hand was often training himself in them, which would lead to a more difficult and quite possible deadly attempt at escape.

Which meant, unfortunately, you didn’t have much of a choice.

With your dignity burying itself into the ground, you followed Wainfleet further into the Armor Bay where multiple more AMPs were lined up along with the ships and planes the pilots controlled.

When you arrived at the small gym room where Quaritch was currently benching, Wainfleet left you alone but you didn’t move to further enter the room. All you did was scowl and stand in the doorway with crossed arms, waiting for him to acknowledge you.

And you knew he knew you were there.

“I was wondering when we’d get the chance to talk again.” Quaritch finally said, putting down the weights as he sat up. He grabbed a towel next to him and began wiping the sweat off his sweat. “Are you finally done with your tantrum?”

He wanted you to snap, rise to the provoking. But you remained silent, your jaw clenching just a bit as your eyes narrowed in on him. Quaritch was watching you closely as well, probably waiting for you to react.

“Ah, the silent treatment. Guess I should’ve expected that too.” He threw the towel to the side before looking up at you with a smirk. “Thought you made a vow never to set foot in here again. Made a whole dramatic scene about it too—”

“What do you want?” You ask simply.

Quaritch now scowled at your indifference or rather rebellion, you couldn’t really tell. “I want you to get your act together. I don’t have time for you throwing fits like a child because you don’t get your way. This is a mission, Doc, and your job is to—”

“My job was to help the people.” You hissed, stepping only a few feet into the room. “To build a connection with them. That was your orders. That’s what you asked me to do. And what does the RDA do? Fuck it all up by shooting a bunch of Na’vi, leaving them for dead!”

Quaritch rolled his eyes, “You’re still on that?”

You seethed, “You don’t even understand what you did! You would think thinking smartly would crossed your thick fucking skull—”

“That’s enough from you!” He barked in his Colonel voice. “Disrespect me like that again and I will boot you right off of this planet as fast as I got you on it, you hear me?”

“Do it then.” You challenged, hands shaking from anger. “You’ve had plenty of times to get rid of me. If you find me so much of a problem, why am I still here?”

You half expected him to keep shouting at you, yell at you into submission like he does his subordinates. But instead, Quaritch chuckled as he stood up. “Moments like this, you remind me of your father. Good man, acted just like you. Which was what made him the best soldier. Which made him a good captain.”

He was changing the conversation, he was trying to have power over you without being forthright about it. He had done this before whenever you tried arguing, it was his way of shutting you down without getting into a fight.

“You’re a smart cookie, Doc. And I know you’re smart enough to realize your value to this team. To the program.” He flashed his white teeth at you. “You and I both know I can’t get rid of you that easily. And I won’t. I made a vow after all.”

You narrowed your eyes at him, wondering just where this conversation was going. Every time he brought up that damned vow it usually was followed by something for her to do. A favor. Something to keep her distracted.

“So let’s put the whole past to rest—”

“I rather not—” Quaritch cut you off just as fast as you did.

“And focus on the current future. Have you met Corporal Sully?”

You frown, suddenly remembering Jake’s charming smile. “What, he’s your new little puppet now?”

Quaritch wasn’t phased by the comment as he sat back down on the bench, “He’s got promise that kid. I tasked him to get to know the Na’vi people and learn their ways, to gain information for me.” You scoffed in disbelief as he continued. “Since you’re so well versed in their culture, I want you to give him some pointers. A tutor if you will.”

“Like hell I will—”

“And yes, you can decline.” Quaritch began lifting the weights again, “And then the RDA can take your little secluded lab away, destroying everything you’ve worked on. I’m sure that would be smart.”

This was where you had to control yourself. Your reaction. Your anger. You remembered a certain project that you were just nearly done with. Something you had been working on dedicatedly ever since the incident. If Quaritch or any of the RDA were to discover it, you were sure you would be exiled back to Earth.

Or quite possibly killed.

“What do you say, kid?” Quaritch noticed your silence.

With a scowl, you gritted out, “Fine.”

From the bench, the Colonel grinned, “Good girl! Now we can really get to work!” He placed the weight back down and stood, “Let’s go tell Sully the good news.”

When arriving in the link room, you lingered behind while Quaritch approached one of the link beds that was just opening. Jake happened to be in that one as he sat up, immediately spotting the Colonel walking toward him.

“Sir.” Jake greeted, briefly glancing your way for a moment longer before turning back to the Colonel.

Quaritch nodded in greeting and gestured to you, “I assume you’ve already met, Dr. L/N, the best of the best in the Avatar Program.”

“What do you want, Quaritch?” Grace cut in as she pushed open her own link bed. She noticed the angered look on your face and raised her brows, silently questioning you.

“She’s going to be showing the ins and outs of the Na’vi, she’ll give you some pointers to better prepare yourself for the program.” Quaritch winked as he clapped his hand on your shoulder. “You do best following her lead, might keep you alive, Corporal.”

Jake nodded, eyes alight, “Will do, sir.”

Quaritch’s grip on your shoulder tightened, “Take care of our boy, will you, Doc.”

Carefully, you reply, “He’s in good hands…sir.”

Grace narrowed her eyes at you while Jake frowned, finally noticing your change in behavior compared to your earlier brighter demeanor.

Satisfied, Quaritch gave you another rough pat on your back before leaving you with Grace, Jake, and as soon as he came out of his link bed, Norm.

“Tinkers.” Grace brought your attention back to her. She gave you a meaningful look before speaking in Na’vi, “What happened?”

Instead of responding to her, you nodded toward the three with an impassive expression, “I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

You needed some time away, to calm down, to reevaluate some things. If only you had left as quickly as you had planned to, none of this would have occurred. You wouldn’t be feeling so helpless right now as you stalked through the halls, practically glaring at everything around you. At this rate, you wished that bastard dropped you back on Earth. At least you would be far away from this shit.

“Hey, Doc!”

A part of you wanted to just keep going and ignore Jake Sully when he called for you. But you stopped anyway despite yourself and turned to find him rolling toward you.  He stopped a few feet away from you, frowning at your guarded behavior. “I know I’m not well informed about all of this the way you’d like but I’m sure I can catch on fast—”

“Let’s get one thing very clear, Sully. I know you’re working with Quaritch. I know you’re planning on lying to them, gaining information for him to use or whatever the hell he’s planning. I don’t want any part of it.” You shoved your hands into your pants pockets glaring at the surprised man. “You’ve aligned yourself with a dangerous man, Sully. I hope you understand what you’re doing here.”

Just as you turned to walk away, Jake called out to you again, “So is that your advice then? As my tutor?”

 “No. Not all of it.” You glanced over your shoulder at him and shrugged, “Try not to die, Jake.”

taglist: @luvvfromme @sully-stick-together @dazedshoon

#to you worlds away #avatar jake sully x reader #avatar jake sully #jake sully #avatar jake #jake sully x reader #avatar fanfiction #avatar way of water #avatar 2 #avatar jake x reader #jake x reader

[ch3rrysuck3r]

Here for you

Fezco had know Y/N since the first grade. They never used to talk, unless they sat next to each other in class, and then they would only talk about school and assignments. Eventually, they grew up and Fez stopped attending school. She thought about reaching out to see if he was okay, but decided against it when she realized that: 1- she did not had any way of contacting him; and 2- it was, quite frankly, none of her business. So that was that, for a while. Until she became best friends with Lexi, who sometimes hanged out with Cassie and her friends. And they knew Fez, so, consequently, her and Lex also did. He recognized Y/N immediately and even went up to hug her. They started hanging out a lot and eventually started dating, which was a surprise to all of us. They were complete fucking opposites who somehow complimented each other. I had seen her around his house sometimes and she was one of the nicest people I'd ever met, and treated me like we'd known each other for ages despite not having had an actual conversation.

Fez and I lay resting on his bed after a long morning of doing absolutely nothing. A blunt hangs from his lips, the smoke creating a bubble around us. My arms are wrapped around his torso and our legs intertwine, yearning for proximity.

As I'm about to kiss him, loud knocks coming from downstairs startle us both. We look at each other worryingly, and I grow afraid that Mouse is popping by for a surprise visit.

He seems to notice my fear, because he sprints out the room before I can even get up. I do so, reluctantly, and follow his path downstairs.

"C'mon man, don't be a dick." I hear a familiar voice coming from outside.

"Rue?" They both turn to look at me standing at the bottom of the stairs. Fez offers me his hand and pulls me closer to him.

"Nah, I'm serious...you can't come in."

"Look man, all I- all I need is just like, a few OC's"

"Sorry, I can't help-"

"Fez, I've had a fucked up day. This is all I'm asking, okay? I just need you to open the door for me, okay?"

"Nah, man..." He nervously runs his hands through his buzz, trying not to glance at her.

"Just open the door, man." Her palms push the metal door, making the sound echo all throughout the house. "Just open the fucking door. C'mon, tell him, Y/N."

She hopefully looks at me, and I look down, gulping.

"I'm sorry, Rue."

"Nah, you both gon' do me like that? Fuck you, man."

"I'm not gon' help you kill yourself, man. I'm sorry, but you can't be comin' here no more."

He starts closing the door and Rue pushes herself against it, in a worthless attempt to break it down.

"Fez, I'm begging you just to open the door." Her fist meets the metal, again. "You're full of shit, man."

Fez's forehead rests on my shoulder, my hand soothingly rubs against his back, trying to comfort him somehow.

"You know you make your living off of selling drugs to teenagers. And know, all of the sudden you wanna have a fucking moral high ground? You're a fucking dropped out drug dealer, you know that?"

I stand on my tip toes and wrap my arms around his neck. His' hug me by the waist, pulling me closer.

"You're a fucking dropped out drug dealer with seven functioning fucking brain cells. Open the door!"

Her scream makes me jump and I feel Fez's breath hitching against my neck.

"Open the door!"

"I can't do it, I-"

"Open the door! Open the door! Open the door!" Rue's voice breaks and my heart clenches.

I hear sobbing before she speaks again. "You did this to me, Fez. You fucking ruined my life so the least you could do is open the goddamn door and fiz it!"

"C'mon, let's go." I tug his hand, leading him back upstairs.

"If you don't open this door right now, I swear to- I swear to God, I will fucking hate you 'till the day I die."

"I'm sorry." He says from halfway up the stairs and she seems to hear because she high-pitchedly screams.

I make him lay on top of me once we reach the bed. His head lays on my chest and my fingers run through his head.

"It's okay, she didn't mean it."

"I know." He says, but I hear him breathe out in relief anyways.

"I love you."

"I love you, too. Thank you for everything."

I smile and kiss his forehead, drifting into relaxation.

———————————

A few days have gone by since the encounter with Rue and Fez dragged me to a Halloween party he wanted to try and sell stuff in.

I had been invited, but didn't plan on coming. However, Lexi had also insisted she wanted someone to be with. Which was a total lie because we'd arrived less than half an hour ago and she'd already disappeared from my side.

Fez and I are sitting on a couch outside, and he is just finishing a deal when I see Rue walking towards us.

"Hey, babe." I motion my head to her direction and Fez's eyes follow.

We watch as she sits down on the other side of the sofa. I start getting up from Fezco's lap but Rue is quick to talk.

"You can stay." She offers me nod and I smile at her.

"It's fine, I think you two should talk." I turn towards Fez.

"I'm going to go find Lex, look for me when you're done." I give him a wink and he sweetly smiles, eyes twinkling.

I start walking away, but decide to stop in front of Rue.

"You look amazing, Rue Rue." She looks up at me and smiles, seemingly still embarrassed after our interaction. Still, I reassure her by gently grabbing her head and placing a kiss against her temple.

As I make my way back to the house, I hear Rue's voice talking to Fezco.

"She's an angel."

"Yeah...she is."

#euphoria #euphoria x reader #fezco #fez #fezco x reader #fez x reader #rue bennett #lexi howard #cassie howard #rue bennet x reader #lexi howard x reader #euphoria x you #euphoria x fem!reader #euphoria x y/n #fez x y/n #fezco x y/n #fezco x you

[ourserendipity]

Shadows beneath dazzling lights

(Aventurine x Memokeeper! fem!reader)

Chatters of customers along with the clanging of champagne glasses were heard all around the casino as people wagered their bets on one another. It is suffice to say that Penacony truly is a place worth dreaming of: having to leisurely spend your time into the ravishing sights brought by the dreamscape, decorated by the illuminating towers of endless entertainment. And this night is no exception to the one and only Aventurine. He hums as he sips the glass full of tequila, relishing on the tingling pain as its aftertaste: maybe being a masochist was his thing after all, he thought. As far as he knows, nothing has yet to steal his full attention amongst the crowd of people all lathered in jewelries of gold and such, the feeling of familiarity and oddity clinging onto his back reminding him of so. Just then, as he takes a last sip on the glass, he felt a stray glance being shot to his position. 'And who might this be?' he thought to himself. Feeling enthralled by the idea of being sought by someone, it sent shivers down his spine as he eagerly gets up from the luxurious couch, ready to strike up a conversation and to hopefully make a deal with a new client friend.

You spun out your fingers at the empty glass, glancing on the blonde's position only to see him gone yet again. Seems like fate had played its tricks on you again, though not in the way you expected. Just when you were about to stand up, you were greeted by a familiar voice sitting right beside you. "Fancy seeing you here, miss memokeeper," Shit, you've been caught. " Silent as ever, huh? You sure do have ways to avoid such conflicts. Not that I would dare stir one in front of many right now," He smirks as he stares at the empty glass in your table.

"Two glasses of Cosmopolitan, please."

"Comin' right up sir!"

You stare at him in disbelief, gosh was he so sly for that one. Coughing, you briefly excuse yourself as you quickly motioned to the bartender. "No thanks, I'll have a French 75 instead"

"Ooh, quite the sharp one miss, I see. How about an icebreaker for that one? Pretty sure you don't want to embarrass this youn-"

"I said what I said," you spat out, glaring at the now smug Aventurine. He shrugs it off, silently telling the bartender to do his thing.

"Simply terrific of you. Why don't you wipe off that irk on your face and let's have a small talk, nothing fishy of course,"

"You can't even see my face, idiot."

"Ah, right. My apologies then, dear friend," he retorts, emphasizing the word 'friend'.

Silence. A long break of silence is heard between the two of you, both relishing in the awkward atmosphere lingering in the air. It may not seem like it, but you find yourself feeling a sense of peace while quietly observing the guy's figure. Sometimes, you do wonder what is up with him and his brain that piqued your interest. Was it the fact that he is a senior executive of the IPC? Maybe it was because he always seemed to win all of his games despite the odds? Or perhaps it was something about that sly and cunning facade of his? The mask he always wears in public, just like you do; in different ways that is. Whatever it is, you despise the fact that you somewhat feel pitiful around him, as if he was someone pretending who he was not meant to be, someone who is but a sheep in wolf's clothing always eager to engage in situations that would bring him thrill and adrenaline rushing through his veins. But sometimes, that pity of yours may just be in the right place at the right time.

"Excuse me ma'am and sir, I believe it's best that both of you leave this place. The bar is nearing its closing hours."

"You can leave the both of us if that's your concern. I'll rent this place for the night if that option's available"

"Sure thing sir! It's just that-"

"Dont worry, we'll make sure that we won't make any ruckus here," he chuckles, sliding some stack of freshly printed cash at the counter. Shocked by his sudden actions, the bartender takes the money and quickly leaves the place, flipping the open sign to close before fully leaving.

"You really had to do that, huh?" you sigh, shaking your head at what he did just now. Unbelievable, truly unbelievable how he could just waste his money just like that. "Why not? Thought that only two could play this kind of game?" he replies, a smirk forming on his lips.

"What kind of game you say?"

"It depends on you, miss memokeeper~"

"I'll pass."

"Aw shucks. And to think that you have something bothering you right now. Tell me, do childish games bore the likes of you? Shall I raise the stakes even higher?" he asks, ever so confident as usual.

"........."

"Ah there you are again, miss memokeeper. You're quite the kill-"

"No thanks. I'd rather have it done my way," you reply. Aventurine was so surprised to hear these words coming out of your mouth: it's usually the other way around, where he is the one always being cocky and bold. And just then as he was processing what had just happened...

"May I invite you for this... dance, Mr. Aventurine?" soft eyes meet his slightly shocked ones as you bow down, slowly placing his fingertips at the palm of your hands, leaving a soft and tender kiss on his gloved skin. There you are, standing in front of him, poised in all of your glory: body adorned with smooth silk cloth, decorated with luscious white pearls that resemble the many stars painted across the starry nights of the galaxy. Your head, crowned with an embroidered veil atop of your porcelain mask.

Oh Aeons, if he isn't already lucky enough this also happened, just when he needed something for a momentary break from his usual scheme. He ought to take this opportunity, for this is something only to be witnessed by one once in a blue moon. 'Thank Aeons I keep on winning my wagers' he muttered to himself, accepting your offer by returning the favor.

"My, my. I can't say that I would fully accept this bet of yours. But that wouldn't mean that I'd fully decline it either ~" he jokingly teases, all while standing up to meet you eye to eye.

"Either way, an offer is an offer. Regardless of its significance to you, just remember that I only take those that truly benefit me. One isn't willing to be on the losing end of every game, no?" he asks, his hands finding its way on your own.

"I'll consider that, mr. Aventurine," you hummed in response, eyes focused on his subtle movements. "However....." you look at his hands, then glance at yours.

"What is it miss memokeeper?"

"Isn't this position... a bit odd?" you question him, slightly disappointed and concerned at the same time. It seems that things are to turn awkward for the both of you yet again. He felt an awkward smile creep up to his smile upon realizing what he just did. He did not just.... Sighing, you gently let go of your hands around his to help him reposition his hands to the right place.

"This one... goes here. And the other goes... there. Perfect. Now it doesn't feel strange anymore," you replied, chuckling softly at his gesture. Repositioning both of your clasped hands on your side, you patiently wait for his response. Strangely enough, he only looked at you with a tender gaze, telling you that he is vulnerable comfortable enough to begin.

"What are you waiting for, miss memokeeper? The night is young and the game has just begun," Aventurine teases. It's not like he gets to see you like this everyday. Especially when you are always successful at avoiding his sights in broad daylight. Slowly but surely you sway your hips with him as you rock your entwined hands with him back and forth. The cold air breeze mixed with the intoxicating scent of his expensive perfume only made you feel more bolder as you tug his hands, telling him to follow your lead. It didn't help that the dim lights were making it hard for the both of you to see, but that didn't matter right now: what matters is the scene that is laid upon your very eyes, an alluring one. One that is worthy of keeping in the garden of recollection. Warm breaths fan over your neck as he brings his head down to you, putting your movement to a halt. It stayed like that for a while: Aventurine playing with the ends of your veil as he inhales your scent. Aeons was he truly dazed by your gracious beauty.

But somehow, just somehow, it would seem that empathy and pity would wash over the thrill of the moment as you unconsciously wander your hands along his back, making his body shriek a little. You let him do his own thing while you try to balance yourself, signaling to you that intoxication is starting to take its toll on your stature. It would look like that you were an emanator sent by an Aeon, and it quite is, giving how your glooming presence had taken him aback; you're going to be the death of him that's for sure.

"Tell me, does it feel suffocating?" you ask, hands lightly grazing all over his neck, looking at him with awe and concern.

"It's not like I have a say on that. I've been living on the edge long enough to blur the lines between breathing and suffocating." Aventurine replies, his breath hitching along his lines. It was obvious he was bottling up all this pent up emotions he could never truly express properly.

"....Is that so? Then.... Why don't you allow me?"

Amused by the sudden request, he chuckles at the idea. "Daring to try, I see. Remember, I don't play games with me on the losing end, friend."

"It is not a mere suggestion, Mr. IPC. It's an order," you retort monotonously, the tone of dominance lingering on your voice ever so slightly. It seems that you've got him trapped at his own game. Shrugging his shoulders, he willingly puts his hands up in the air, as if he's messing with you. "Alright alright, looks like you've caught me on that one. Do whatever you please, miss~" he responds with a sly smirk all over his face.

"............."

There is it again: the abhorrent silence quickly enveloping the dimly lit room. Only the thud of your footsteps were heard as you circle around his fragile figure, hands moving its way on his shoulder without breaking your eye contact with him. making it to his front, you slightly bow down, placing a kiss on his right hand you had just swiftly placed on the palm of your unoccupied hand. Standing up, you set yourselves in a sensual pace as you lead him to dance freely, still making sure that he was on the same tempo as you. Perfect, now's your chance to secretly pry unto his past in hopes of collecting new, unfound memories; all the while he was distracted by your moves.

Distraught by what's happening, Aventurine closes his eyes as you lead him senselessly. He expects you to use him in such ways one could not easily comprehend, but this is far better from what he had anticipated. Had he not let his guard down, this would have end up very differently. Still, he let it all happen at once, waiting for the right time to strike. And that's where it hit him: this was the perfect opportunity to flip you off your table to gain an upper hand. Just as you were about to spin, he swiftly cages you in his hands, giving him the time to clasp your hands with his while the other tightly grips onto your waist. Now it's his turn to dominate this friendly duel. It became harder for you to encapsulate his memories as he leads you in the heat of the battle: the pace turning faster and more intense. You try to break free from his grasp when you look at his eyes, gazing at you oh so tenderly. You can't help but look back at him with awe as your bodies twist and turn around each other.

"That's it, miss memokeeper. Look at me, look at me as if I were weak and pathetic. Gaze into my eyes and tell me what you see. Go ahead and strip me of everything I had, my past even, it's all yours; all yours" he whispers to you, as if he was begging.

Looking into his eyes dread of light, you tap onto the murky abyss that is his whole existence: the fall of his nation, his demise in the hands of the duke, all the constant suffering he had endured just to witness the sunset he had wished to see with his long lost sister. All of it, locked behind his eyes devoid of life. Somehow, it made you feel like you wanted, no, you needed to puke out. Such things should not be experienced by one, let alone at a young age. You feel the presence of IX gazing over you, having you on its chokehold, ready to end your existence simply by its sheer force of nothingness crushing over you; leaving you with no choice but to forcefully close your eyes in hopes of escaping death itself. You successfully escaped your fate of turning into nothing but dust. Doing so however, you also left the blonde man all alone in the dreamscape, isolated in his own world of thoughts processing what had just happened. He was all alone again, just like what he's used to.

It was truly strange how despite being in the path of preservation, the Aeon of nihility lurks over that man. Perhaps now is not the time to know the truth, but there is one thing you're very sure of: that there will be time where you'll meet him again. And whether it is in at the time of uncertainty or his demise even, you were certain that only fate itself would allow you to peek into his hollow eyes for one last time, hopefully keeping all what's left in him in his final moments.

(Totally not inspired by that acheswan animation from mihoyo themselves, no no 🫣🫣 Also aventurine's pov will be posted at some time ig)

#hsr aventurine #aventurine x reader #aventurine x you #aventurine honkai star rail #honkai star rail #hsr x reader

[ghostlyloversworld]

✧○ꊞ○ꊞ○•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙○♡๑•୨୧ 𝙎𝙪𝙣𝙣𝙮 + 𝙂𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙢𝙮 ୨୧•๑♡○•

𝙉𝙞𝙘𝙤 𝙙𝙞 𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙡𝙤 𝙭 𝙁𝙚𝙢! 𝙋𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙥𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙧!

𝙒𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜!- 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙤 𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙘 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙥𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙮 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚! :) 𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙋𝙚𝙧𝙘𝙮 𝙅𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙭 𝙁𝙚𝙢 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙉𝙞𝙘𝙤 𝙙𝙞 𝘼𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙡𝙤 𝙭 𝙒𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚

𝙄𝙙𝙚𝙖- 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙪𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙢𝙮 𝙗𝙤𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙥 𝙨𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚

𝙎𝙤𝙣𝙜- 𝙘𝙖𝙣'𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝙢𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙊𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙖 𝙍𝙤𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙤

There's blood on the side of the mountain There's writing all over the wall Shadows of us are still dancin' In every room and every hall There's snow fallin' over the city You thought that it would wash away The bitter taste of my fury And all of the messes you made Yeah, you think that you got away

Nico watched as the birds chirp like they were trying to speak to him his thoughts were filled of the sunshine boy Will Solace his boyfriend of secret not that he was embarrassed of him. Or the fact that he's dating a boy. It's just he doesn't want people to ask many questions

But I'm in the trees, I'm in the breeze My footsteps on the ground You'll see my face in every place But you can't catch me now Through wading grass, the months will pass You'll feel it all around I'm here, I'm there, I'm everywhere But you can't catch me now No, you can't catch me now.

Y/n goes up to the Hades boy whom seem deep in thought " Hey Nico.. " the dark headed boy snapped out of thought " Y/n....shouldn't you be with Percy?.. " he was quick to question " Oh Percy! He's actual on a another quest.. Sooo I'm left on my own" she grins

Bet you thought I'd never do it Thought it'd go over my head I bet you figured I'd pass with the winter Be somethin' easy to forget Oh, you think I'm gone 'cause I left

The daughter of Persephone sits down beside the son of Hades she hums a song.. Can't catch me now by Olivia Rodrigo "what are you doing? " the boy questions the girl " Oh nothing " she muffled the giggles she moves her hands flowers appear

But I'm in the trees, I'm in the breeze My footsteps on the ground You'll see my face in every place But you can't catch me now Through wading grass, the months will pass You'll feel it all around I'm here, I'm there, I'm everywhere But you can't catch me now No, you can't catch me now Ooh, ooh Ooh, ooh

She made a flower crown Nico took a short look at it the way the pink and white worked so well together she looks over at Nico her eyes shine she had a grin.. Not her normal grin it was one of mischief " don't you dare" the boys eyes widen as the girl grins more

You can't, you can't catch me now I'm comin' like a storm into your town You can't, you can't catch me now I'm higher than the hopes that you brought down You can't, you can't catch me now I'm comin' like a storm into your town You can't, you can't catch me now I'm higher than the hopes that you brought down You can't, you can't catch me now I'm comin' like a storm into your town You can't, you can't catch me now You can't, you can't, you can't

She raised her hands up she placed the flower crown on his head " beautiful " he huffed " get it off my head" he huffed and huffed " hmmm no.. It fits you" he crossed his arms but he couldn't be mad at the sunshine girl.. He let's out a tiny smile

There's blood on the side of the mountain It's turning a new shade of red Yeah, sometimes the fire you founded Don't burn the way you'd expect Yeah, you thought that this was the end

#percy jackson x reader #x fem!reader #pjo #nico di angelo #nico di angelo x will solace

[xtrafluffyteddy]

The boss

Body guard! Ghost x Mafia boss! Fem! reader

A little self indulgent buttttt

Tw: violence, guns, alcohol, blood, sexism (quickly resolved)

Your name was feared around town, no one really knew what you looked like but they heard fearsome tales of a mafia boss who left people who wronged them so busted and broken that even dental records couldn’t tell you who they were before they crossed you, as well as the mafia bosses guard dog who would rip people to shreds just for starting rumors, and you loved it that way it made you feel powerful, untouchable.

“Love” Simon says as he strides into your room holding a new file and your favorite tea “new client comin in today he’ll be here in 20” he leans down to give you a soft kiss through his mask that he kept on during business hours, his face was only for your viewing pleasure no one else’s. “Mmm that you my darling stay with me won’t you?” You look up at him grinning “wouldn’t dream of leavin your side” he grunts.

The man, your client, came in 20 minutes late already getting himself on your shit list, “hey baby where’s the boss I gotta talk to him” the man says as he makes himself comfortable on your pristine black leather couch putting his disgusting feet up on your glass table “and uh get me a whiskey while your at it” you couldn’t help but grit your teeth catching Simon who gave you a look that screamed ‘let me kill this motherfucker’ with a quick wave of your hand you get up putting on a sickly sweet smile “of course sir anything else I can get for you sir”, Simon fought back the urge to tear this man apart for disrespecting you.

When you came back into the room you hand the man the shittiest whiskey you had in house after spitting in it when he wasn’t looking “thanks doll face” he said before slapping your ass as you walked back to Simon causing you to grit your teeth again. “Let me kill ‘em love” Simon whispers in your ear as he glares at the man “not yet darlin but soon” you turn back to the man with a fake smile “can you hurry it up bitch I got more important things to do” the man snarled getting fed up with how long it’s taking “of course of course” you sit down crossing one leg over the other picking up his file.

Reading over his file you were less that impressed a couple of petty crimes and a few drug runs nothing special in your eyes “hey big guy call your fucking boss already since this broad apparently doesn’t know how to fucking listen” your eye twitches as the man puts his cigarette out on your couch. Simon gives you a look and you nod grinning as he picks up his phone and presses call on your number. The look on the man’s face was priceless as your phone rang you relished in the way the color drained from his face and he immediately sat up straight “I-I-I-I” he stuttered “you- you- you- you what” you snarled “didn’t mean to disrespect me? Didn’t mean to come into my office make a mess of my shit? Oh sweetheart we’re way past piss poor apologies” he began shaking his head quickly getting up to come towards you only to be stopped by Simon who puts his hands on the man’s chest and pushed him back down onto the couch “sit down.” Simon growls before looking back at you “what do ya want me to do to him ma’am” you suck your teeth before sighing “maybe I’ll feed you to my dogs, orrrr maybe I’ll cut out your tongue for calling me a bitch, or I’ll let Ghost torture you nice and slow and send pieces of you back to the shit hole you crawled out of” you hum like your thinking “I think I’ll leave that a surprise wouldn’t wanna ruin the fun would we”

The mans body was found 5 blocks from your hideout, the police couldn’t believe the amount of damage that was inflicted. He was missing his eyes, his fingernails, his teeth seemed to have been pulled out one by one and shoved down his throat, and his tongue cut out and found right next to him with the word bitch carved into it.

“Si” you sigh stretching as you look over at the man who was washing the blood off his hands “yes my love” he replies turning his full attention towards you “I’m thinking Chinese tonight? Or maybe Italian” to others your lack of remorse for the carnage you left was terrifying, sickening even, but to Simon he couldn’t help but stare at you heart racing as he fell more in love with you.

#ghost #cod mwii #cod modern warfare #ghost x reader #ghost mw2 #simon ghost riley #simon riley x reader #simon riley cod #simon riley mw2

[081314]

Sunset Savannah’s Tamashina-Mina – Episode 1

Following is my translation of Episode 1 of the Tamashina-Mina event.

Spoilers after the cut!

Episode 1-1

Leona: Life just ain’t fair… Can't believe I got stuck going on this useless trip to this good-for-nothing city.

Vil: Excuse you? You’re the one who invited us here, you know. You’re ruining the nice scenery, so could you maybe try not complaining for like five seconds?

Kalim: This place is totally awesome! The scenery's beautiful everywhere you look, and the city’s absolutely huge. I’m so glad we got to come hang out in Leona’s hometown.

Leona: Oi. Lemme tell you this one more time: we ain’t here for fun and games. Our goal is to…

Lilia: You needn’t be so concerned, Leona. We all understand what we’re here for. No matter who we go up against, they’ll be no match for us. We’ll win this thing lickety-split!

Leona: …..Fine. Long as you get it. Ya’ll better not mess this up, you hear? You guys gotta be the ones who win the title of “Sunset Warrior”.

(A phone rings)

Leona: …Augh. Would ya shut up already? Who the heck would call me this early.… It’s…!! Tsch. If I don’t answer him now, it’ll just come back to bite me in the butt later.

(Leona accepts the call)

Leona: What’s up? Got a morning report for me or something? Huh. A reminder call? That’s new. Guess I shouldn’t expect anythin’ less from the grand chamberlain of the royal family. You sure are somethin’. Listen, you can save your breath. You called just to tell me to come home in time for Tamashina-Mina, right? I get it, it totally slipped my mind last year. Hah, it might just slip my mind this year, too. ….What? You’re comin’ here to get me? At Night Raven College? And you're bringin' all the chamberlains!? I didn’t know you’d take this so seriously… Fine, fine, I get it. I’ll come home the day before the festival.  …Yes, I mean it. Have I ever lied to ya? ….Oh, quit with the blabbering. It was just a joke. But I got one condition for me coming home. You have to make sure to leave a slot free for one team in the “Catch the Tail” tournament.  ….Why? Doesn’t matter. Stop complainin’ and just do it.

(Leona hangs up the phone)

Leona: Give me a break… The hell is he so obsessed with some stupid old event for? What a hard-headed geezer. Ah, now that I think about it, this is a good chance to take care of that little problem I got. ‘Kay, then I’ll need to go assemble the right pieces to win this game.

(After school - Savannah Claw Dorm Lounge)

Everyone: ….

Leona: So ya made it after all, Lilia and Vil. Nice work, Jack.

Jack: No problem!

Vil: And just why have you gathered us here?

Leona: There’s somethin’ I wanna discuss with ya’ll.

Lilia: If it’s really that important, wouldn’t it have made more sense for you to come to us, instead?

Vil: Goodness. If Jack hadn’t come to fetch us, I would have kept on ignoring your summons.

Grim: What he said!

Yuu: G-Good afternoon…

Leona: …Hold it. Why’re Grim and Yuu here?

Jack: I ran into them when I went to get Vil Senpai and Lilia Senpai, and they tagged along on their own.

Grim: Anywhere there’s lots of people gathered together, there’s bound to be lots of tasty food!

Jack: First time I ever heard that.

Leona: You two are just gonna get in the way. Buzz off already.

Vil: Forget them and hurry up and tell us what’s going on, Leona. We’ll go ahead and leave if you don’t start talking.

Leona: Alright, alright. Sounds like you just can’t wait to hear this, huh. Well, it ain’t nothin’ bad or anything. I’d just like to humbly invite my dear school friends to come visit my homeland with me, is all.

Jack: Huh? Your homeland… You mean Sunset Savannah?

Leona: Yup. They’ll be having Tamashina-Mina this weekend in the royal capital, Sunrise City

Grim: Tamashi….Mui…

Leona: Tamashina-Mina. It means “Gift from the Heavens”. Basically, it’s a festival where we all pray for rain. We hold it every year around this time, right before the rainy season starts.

Lilia: Oh, my. I’ve heard of that festival before, but I’ve never seen it for myself. It always sounded like such a fun occasion!

Jack: I’m guessing you’re going back home to take part in the festival, Leona Senpai?

Vil: And you’re inviting us to come along? …I smell something fishy. What’s your end goal here?

Leona: Thanks for makin’ this quick for me. The reason I’m invitin’ ya is because of… Catch the Tail.

Vil: Catch the Tail? I’ve never heard of that before.

Jack: Me neither. The heck is that?

Leona: It’s the name of this competition that takes place during the festival, where you gotta try an' grab some beads off your opponent's head before they nab yours. Magic and weapons are a no-go… It’s a pure test of your physical strength.

Jack: Oh yeah? Sounds pretty interesting.

Leona: There’s three players per team, and 16 teams in all compete together in a tournament. It’s pretty much the highlight of Tamashina-Mina. Even the king of Sunset Savannah and a bunch of guests from all over the world come to watch.

Grim: Then I bet the prize must be somethin’ awesome, right….? Like a year’s supply of tuna cans!?

Leona: Of course, there’s gonna be lots of prizes to go around… Is what I’d like to say, but unfortunately there ain’t any prizes or cash money up for grabs.

Grim: ...Lame.

Leona: Regardless, every year we get tons of people wantin’ to compete. And the reason is… The members of the winning team become Sunset Warriors.

Episode 1-2

Vil: Sunset Warriors…. I hadn’t expected to learn so many new words today.

Leona: It’s ‘cause all this stuff has been around for a long time and the lingo hasn’t changed. Listen, I’m fed up with everything, too, so don’t come complainin’ to me about it. The Sunset Warriors are a team of guardians that protect the country and support the king and queen. 

Lilia: Oh? Something like… an imperial guard?

Leona: Originally, yeah. But now that we’re in times of peace, a job like that really doesn’t matter anymore. Nowadays, it’s more-or-less just an honorary title that’s given to the winning team.

Lilia: Well, that’s good, isn’t it? You could say that the title itself is a symbol of the peaceful times we now live in.

Leona: If you’re tryin' to put it as nicely as you can, sure. The job itself is long gone, but what hasn’t changed is that the title’s got a lot of prestige attached to it. Every year, highly skilled competitors from all over the country come down to take part in the tournament.

Jack: Gotcha… So in order to become a Sunset Warrior, you’re also going to compete in Catch the Tail!?

Leona: Nah, I ain’t gonna compete… Well, more like I ain’t even allowed to.  

Vil: What do you mean?

Leona: It’s tradition for the younger brother of the heir to the throne to become the leader of the Sunset Warriors. And right now, that’s me.

Lilia: I see. So in other words, you’re already the leader of the Sunset Warriors. And since that isn't going to change anytime soon, then it makes sense you wouldn’t be permitted to compete in a game where the rest of the group members are chosen.

Leona: Yeah. And the leader has this friggin’ annoyin’ duty called “The Lessons of the Guardian”. I have to teach the other Warriors the understanding, good sense, and etiquette needed to protect both the monarch and the kingdom.

Vil: Understanding?

Lilia: Good sense?

Jack: Etiquette?

Grim: You have to teach people all that, Leona?

Everyone: ….Pfft. Ahahahhahah!

Grim: Nyahaha! They sure picked the wrong guy for that!

Jack: Ahahaha…. Ah! S-Sorry, Leona Senpai!

Leona: Hmph. Just as ya’ll have kindly pointed out, O Wise Ones, someone as rough around the edges as me just ain’t cut out for a gig like this. That’s why I’m trying to get out of it, no matter what it takes. Last year, I pretended like I accidentally forgot all about the festival and didn’t go home. And that’s what I’d been plannin’ to do this year, too. But this morning…. They called me up to remind me about it. There’s no tellin’ what they’ll do if I don’t agree to come back home now. I was thinkin’ I might as well throw in the towel and stop tryin' to swindle ‘em, but…

Lilia: But you really don’t want to have to go home and do this whole “Lessons of the Guardian” thing, do you?

Vil: Amazing. You can’t even do what’s required of you?

Leona: Hey, you have no idea just how long and annoying those stupid lessons are. So zip it. Anyways, that’s why I singled out you three to take with me.

Jack: Huh? You don’t mean…

Leona: Yup. I’m gonna have ya’ll win Catch the Tail for me. If a bunch of students from Night Raven College end up winning, all we gotta do is get our stories straight and pretend we finished doin’ the “Lessons of the Guardian”.

Everyone: He’s way too cunning!!!!

Yuu: What a sly guy…

Leona: Nah, it’s called bein’ clever. I hate doin’ pointless stuff.

Jack: Are we even allowed to compete? We’re not from Sunset Savannah or anything.

Leona: It ain’t a problem. People from all over can compete. Somethin’ about how anybody has the potential to become a guardian or whatever. It’s actually a pretty respectable policy, not what I’d expect from my country. There’s been plenty of foreigners and sightseers who’ve taken part over the years, so don’t worry about it. If a team of students from the famous Night Raven College compete, I’m sure the spectators will go wild.

Jack: Alright.

Leona: Jack, there’s not many guys at this school who can beat ya when it comes to physical strength. …But ya know, the people that’ll be competin’ are all pros at this stuff. What do ya think? Sounds interesting, right?

Jack: So I’ll get to put my strength to the test, huh. …Yeah, sure sounds like fun. I honestly still don’t get this whole “Sunset Warrior” stuff, but the competition sounds right up my alley. I’d love to see how far my strength will take me, going up against all those seasoned fighters!

Leona: Good. This is an important job, you hear. Next up, we got this old coot who’s always poppin’ up where ya least expect him. The way you can move around, it’s super-human. You’re friggin’ weird, alright? I honestly loathe teamin’ up with ya, but I’ll at least acknowledge your physical skills.

Lilia: Kufufu…. Leona, you really shouldn’t compliment me so unabashedly like that. I’ll get embarrassed, you know.  But I must say, I feel that Malleus would also be a good fit for what you’re looking for. You sure you don’t want to invite him? I have no doubt he’d be delighted if you did. How about I go ask him right now? Shall I?

Leona: Quit it!!! No way in hell I’d ever ask that horned jackass for any favors. I’m invitin' you instead, and I’m damn sure you understand that already!

Lilia: Ah… That’s too bad, but I guess it can’t be helped. This Catch the Tail game sounds like it will be a lot of fun, and I’m sure we’ll all look back on this experience fondly someday. I’ll be delighted to take part.

Leona: Why didn’t ya just say that in the first place then? When we get back, be sure you brag to Malleus all about the amazing trip you had an’ make him nice and jealous.

Episode 1-3

Grim: And the last person you invited is Vil. I bet he’ll be of some use. Not as much as me, of course.

Jack: Vil Senpai always makes sure to keep up with his training regiment. He’s a great choice.

Lilia: And with that wonderful fighting spirit of his, he’d make a splendid combatant.

Leona: I mean, you’re not wrong. But the deciding factor for me was… There’s tons of strong guys at this school, but they’re all stubborn boneheads.

Jack: You’re right.

Lilia: I’m not sure you’ve got room to talk, Jack.

Leona: With that in mind, Vil’s a dorm warden who’s got a good head on his shoulders. Besides, me an’ him have been super close pals ever since we started goin’ to school together.

Vil: Eww…. You said that with absolutely zero emotion. Basically, you picked me because you know I wouldn’t subject you to any meaningless drivel, is that right? Well, I refuse. You won’t get me to play along for such a crude reason like that. If you’d like to take another third year with you, how about Rook?

Leona: Not in a hundred years…. Come on. I’m countin’ on ya, Vil.

Vil: Oh? I wasn’t aware you were a fan of mine, Leona. All you have to do is teach the “Lessons of the Guardian” to the tournament winners, right? I don’t really understand why I need to take part in this Catch the Tail thing? Go ask someone else. I’ll be excusing myself now.

Leona: You sure about that? You’re gonna regret it if you don’t stick around to hear the rest of my proposal.

Vil: And what is it?

Leona: Since you’re into beauty and stuff, I’m sure you know about that place called Elephant Legacy, right?

Vil: …..Of course I do.

Jack: Elephant Legacy? Never heard of it.

Grim: Is it someplace that Vil would be interested in?

Leona: It’s a barren land where the sun don’t ever shine. It’s filled with volcanoes that spew hot air into the sky, and there’s a gorge that cuts through the area. It used to be called the Elephant Graveyard, and it was a lawless land where even the king’s power couldn’t reach. And now it’s a….

Jack / Grim: *Gulp*

Leona: Hot spring resort.

Jack / Grim: Hot spring!? Resort!?

Leona: Yup. With all those gushing geysers and that magnificent scenery, not to mention the specialty goods they make usin’ geothermal energy, it’s become the foremost sightseein' destination in the whole country. …Well, I say “foremost” destination, but it ain’t like there’s really many others you can count.

Lilia: I’ve been there before. I found it a very enjoyable location.  

Vil: Both the mineral water sold at Elephant Legacy, as well as the mud from the hot springs, are reputed to be great for your skin.  …I-I would like to go there, but I’d rather go on my own. It’d be much more enjoyable than going with you.

Leona: That’s only if ya could go without me.

Vil: …What?

Leona: If you’re willin’ to participate in the Catch the Tail competition for me… I’ll personally take ya to this special location at Elephant Legacy that only members of the royal family are allowed to access.

Vil: HUH!?

Leona: If ya went to the hot springs on your own, you’d never be able to get to this location without me. And of course, that spot is guaranteed to be good for your beauty or whatever. If ya pass up on this opportunity, you won’t ever get to go there for the rest of your life.

Jack: Wow. No matter how you look at it, there’s no way Vil Senpai’s gonna be able to turn him down now…!

Lilia: Now I understand. Since he had such a powerful card up his sleeve, that’s why he went ahead and invited Vil.

Vil: You really are a sly man, proposing something like that to me. ...Fine. I'm hereby reserving a spot on Producer Leona’s Sunset Savanna Sight Seeing Tour. In exchange, you need to do your job and show us around properly. Okay, Mr. Tour Guide?

Leona: Uh-huh. I’ll be the best darn escort you ever had.  

Grim: A festival in Sunset Savannah, huh… Sounds like it’s gonna be a lot of fun.

Yuu: I wonder if they’ll be serving lots of good food!

Grim: No doubt about it! Leona! We’ll come along, too!

Leona: And just who do ya think is gonna take ya?

Grim: What!?

Leona: Ain’t no way you guys are up to snuff for Catch the Tail.

Grim: Hey, no worries! The heck would I wanna join in on some annoying competition? All I’m gonna be doing is stuffing my face with tasty grub!

Leona: …And now there’s even less of a reason for me to take ya’ll.

Grim: But why!! TAKE US WITH YOU! TAKE US WITH YOOU! TAKE UUUUSSS!!!

Leona: Shut up, furball!

Lilia: Why not let them come along, Leona? The more traveling buddies, the merrier.

Leona: Bringing along a couple of dead weights is just gonna be a pain in the neck. 

Jack: Grim’s rolling around on the floor making a fuss, but… What about you, Yuu?

Yuu: I’d love to go, if I could…!

Lilia: You see, Leona? I think you should stop being so miserly and let them come. If we go on this trip together with everyone…. Then we’ll be able to create a lot of fun memories together.

Leona: And I’m telling you, we ain’t goin’ there for fun and games.

Lilia: Such a cold-hearted man! Then maybe I’ll stay behind, too, and we can have a party at Ramshackle Dorm.

Leona: Tsch. I know exactly what you’re up do. Okay, fine. They can come be our team support or whatever.

Yuu: We’ll give it our best!

Leona: Oi. I’ll be countin’ on ya, so you better make sure this furball here doesn’t go and cause me any trouble. You got it?

Episode 1-4 (The weekend)

Grim: Ah, it’s Vil. Howdy!

Vil: Good morning, Grim and Yuu. You two are both headed towards the Mirror Chamber, I presume? Let’s go together.

Yuu: We’ll probably get there pretty early, huh.

Vil: Of course. Punctuality is everything in showbiz, you know. People who arrive late on set never get very far in the industry. Oh? You’re bringing the Ghost Camera with you, I see.

Grim: Uh-huh! We’re gonna take lots of pics of all the yummy food we eat there.

Vil: Please do be sure to get a picture of us winning Catch the Tail, alright?

Jack: Good morning, Vil Senpai! Ah, and there’s Grim and Yuu.

Vil: Good morning, Jack. You’re here early.

Jack: Yeah, I didn’t want to keep my Senpai waiting.

Lilia: Oh, is everyone here already? Good morning!

Vil: Morning, Lilia. ….Why are you wearing your PE uniform?

Lilia: I don’t do very well with direct sunlight, so I picked out a comfortable outfit for the trip. Looky here, I also packed a parasol and a handheld fan.

Jack: I figured it would be best to wear something respectable, so that’s why I came wearing my school uniform… I wonder if that was the wrong choice.

Vil: No, you made the right choice based on the time, place, and occasion. We’ll be accompanying a member of the royal family to his homeland, after all.

Lilia: I’m a seasoned traveler, so I’m exercising the utmost caution here. I also made sure to let Malleus know how to reach me in case of an emergency, since he has to stay behind at the dorm.

Vil: Sounds like you’ve got all your bases covered, then.

Lilia: Kufufu. Just who do you take me for? I’m a professional solo traveler, you know. Before I enrolled at the school I went traveling alone all over the world, so this is nothing new for me. But this time, I promised to take plenty of photos while on our trip. I hope you boys will help me out with that.

Yuu: Let’s take lots of pictures together!

Lilia: That’s the spirit. Ah, this is why traveling is so much fun! Is Leona still not here yet? It’s about the time we’d agreed to meet.

Jack: Not yet. When I knocked on his door this morning he answered me, so I thought he was awake. But…

Grim: Knowing that slacker, he probably went right back to sleep.

Vil: Even though we’re all going on this trip because of him…

Leona: *Yaaawn*….

Jack: Good morning, Leona Senpai!

Leona: ‘Sup. Is everyone here?

Jack: Yes! All accounted for.

Vil: Once we get there, will the tournament be starting right away?

Leona: Nah, the festival is starting today, and the tournament will begin tomorrow. Today, you guys are gonna use the tournament arena and get some practice in.

Lilia: So we’ll at least have time to get down the basics, then. That’s a relief.

Vil: And we’ll also have plenty of time to stop by Elephant Legacy, correct?

Leona: You don’t even gotta ask. I made us arrangements and everything. Alright, let’s get goin’.

???: Huh?

Kalim: What’re you guys all doing here?

Leona: Kalim… The heck are you doin’ in the Mirror Chamber?

Lilia: Well, isn’t this a coincidence. Good morning, Kalim.

Kalim: Oh, hey! Good morning, Lilia! And good morning, everyone else!!!

Vil: Since you’re in the Mirror Chamber, I take it you’re planning to go somewhere?

Kalim: Yup! I’m going to Sunset Savannah!

Leona: What…!?

Everyone: !!!

Kalim: Wait a sec! Since Leona’s here, are you guys maybe all going to Tamashina-Mina, too?

Leona: “Too?” So that means… It’s just what I was thinkin’.

Vil (whispering to Leona): Leona, did you also invite Kalim?

Leona (whispering to Vil): Don’t make me laugh. You need brains and brawn if you wanna compete in Catch the Tail. There’s no way a sheltered bub like Kalim would stand a fightin’ chance.

Lilia: Kalim. Who invited you to go to Tamashina-Mina?

Kalim: The royal family of Sunset Savannah.

Jack: The royal family?

Leona: Every year, important folks from all over the world get invited as guests of the state. Figures they would also reach out to the son of a top merchant from Scalding Sands.

Vil: Were you not aware he’d been invited?

Leona: It’s bad enough I have to go back home, no way I’d go waste my time lookin’ through the friggin’ guest list.

Grim: Hm? Hey… I don’t see Jamil anywhere?

Kalim: Jamil went on ahead to Sunset Savannah already. There’s lots of other staff members from back home that are coming along, and he was saying they’d be meeting with the people in charge of the festival. It sounded like they have a lot of stuff to do, like going over what’ll happen during the ceremony, and organizing the security and everything.

Lilia: Oh, my! Even just going to a festival is quite the serious matter for you, it appears.

Jack: We’ll be competing in Catch the Tail.

Kalim: Woah. Catch the Tail is that tournament they have during Tamashina-Mina, right? Good luck, you guys! I’ll be cheering you on from the stands!

Jack: Heh. We’ll be counting on ya!

Leona: Enough with the chit chat. Let’s go.

Episode 2 (Part 1)

Episode 2 (Part 2)

Episode 3 (Part 1)

Episode 3 (Part 2)

Episode 3 (Part 3)

Episode 4 (Part 1)

Episode 4 (Part 2)

Episode 5

#leona kingscholar #lilia vanrouge #vil schoenheit #jack howl #kalim al asim #twst spoilers #twisted wonderland #twst #my tl #tamashina-mina

[synthsamuri]

Happy New Year

Here is a short fluff piece I wrote up! This was my first year writing/posting fanfiction. Thanks to everyone who read and commented on my posts. I am so inspired and motivated by so many of you! Have a fun and safe New Years everybody! Can't wait to write more for you all in 2024~

The music was loud and He Tian was buzzed. The waves of light swept over the crowd at the bar but he only had his eye on one person. A redhead? No, at the moment it was a man with a buzz cut, drunkenly clinging on to his redhead. There was only fifteen minutes to midnight and He Tian was determined to get Mo Guan Shan away from his friends, away from the peering eyes, and into his grasp. He was desperate to share the last moments of this year together and first moments of the new year touching those lips. 

He Tian breathed in, then made his way like an arrow  to a target through the dense crowd of people. It had been Guan Shan’s best friend’s idea to go out and party for New Years. He Tian would have preferred to stay in and have his little Momo all to himself but, Guan Shan was all too eager to abandon his plan and go clubbing. So here he was, squeezing past sweaty drunk idiots all to make it to his sweaty drunk idiot.

When he finally reached him, buzz cut had a strong grip around his waist as he told some story in a way that made no sense to anyone. He Tian liked Guan Shan’s friend but right now, he was enemy number one, and in his way. 

Guan Shan tilted his head back gulping in a generous amount of liquor. He was having fun. He Tian had been back for about a week now, he had friends to support him, and, he was recently engaged. Though, they hadn’t told anyone yet. He felt so swept up in the moment, lost in his overwhelming emotions.

He had leftover anger around He Tian’s absence yes, but in the moment, right now? Nothing mattered but being young, free, and yeah, a little bit in love too. His happiness at having He Tian return to him, overcame his anger at least for now. There would be time to sort out the rest.

He bowed his head back down, swallowing the hard liquor and as he moved his head he saw He Tian walking towards him. With warmth in his heart and liquid courage at his side, his eyes lit up at the sight of his lover, no, his fiancé. 

“He Tian!” Guan Shan called to him.

He Tian could barely contain his overwhelming feelings for this man as he saw Guan Shan’s usual scowl lift when he caught him in his sight. Hearing his Momo call his name must have been the sweetest sound in all the world, and it was his. 

He Tian moved towards him like a magnet until once again intercepted by buzzcut. 

“He Tian! Thanks for comin’ man! You’re the best!” He slurred out.

He Tian peeled his eyes away from Guan Shan’s flushed face. “Yeah man, thanks for having me. Could I steal Mo away for just a moment?”

Buzzcut’s eyes fell to where he had his grip on his best friend. “I’m taking care of him tonight.” He replied stubbornly. “He’s not a good drinker.”

“Ah, well you see I’m an excellent drinker. I promise I will take very good care of him.”

“Hey you two.” Guan Shan butted in. He was tipsy yes, but coherent enough to be present and understand why was happening. “Do I look like a fucker who needs to be escorted?” Guan Shan took his free hand to his friends and began to pry off his fingers. “I’m a better drinker than you idiot. Release me and I’ll come right back.”

Buzzcut squinted his eyes and looked back and forth between Guan Shan and He Tian, finally landing on He Tian. “Don’t listen to him. I’m the best at drinking. Return him to me safely!”

He Tian laughed but didn't hesitate to take his chance. He took Guan Shan’s hand and immediately pulled him away. Guan Shan sloppily followed dropping the bottle he was holding, trying his best to keep up with He Tian.

“Where are we going!”

He Tian briefly looked back then kept pulling him along. “Just trust me!”

He Tian had that spark in his eyes, the one that Guan Shan had seen a million times. It whispered mischief. Just like when they had ditched class together for the first time back in school. He had taken He Tian’s hand willingly then as well. Guan Shan could only squeeze back and let himself be swept away.

The countdown clock above the dance floor rang out ten minutes left. Those still sober enough to care rounded the dance floor with their partners and friends, getting ready to welcome the newest affirmations and goals of change. 

He Tian led them though what should have been a locked door and into a stairwell. 

“Are we supposed to be here?!” Guan Shan said with a hint of worry. 

He Tian laughed, “Don’t worry about that now.” 

Finally, now a bit winded from climbing a flight of stairs, they reached a final door. He Tian looked back at Guan Shan, “are you ready?”

“You tell me chicken dick.” Guan Shan half teased. What the fuck were they doing? They were going to miss the countdown. 

He Tian smiled his devilish grin and opened the door. It was the roof of the club, lit dimly by a string of lights and the glowing night sky of the city. He Tian gingerly led them through the doors where a small table and two glasses of champagne sat out. He Tian had had little time to prepare, likely to Guan Shan’s relief, but it was beautiful.

“I know you might think it’s a but cringy, but, I wanted to impresses you.” He Tian spoke, his eyes glued on the man in front of him. 

Guan Shan felt overwhelmed. Just like that Christmas night. A tear fell from his cheek as he looked back at He Tian, the man he was so angry with, but the man he loved.

“I want to start this year off right little Mo. I want us to do things right. Better than we did before. I want to spend the rest of my life making it up to you, and making you happy.”

They could hear the sounds from the streets below shouting and singing and dancing away. The countdown was beginning. Numbers glowed on buildings around them. 

“I love you Mo Guan Shan.”

10

“I’ll love you for the rest of my days.”

9

Guan Shan stepped forward and put his arms around He Tian’s neck. 

8

“I love you too, idiot. Promise me.”

7

“Anything.”

6

“Never leave me alone again?”

5

“Never.” 

4

“I promise.”

3

The two pulled into each other. 

2

Noses touching. Eyes on each other’s lips. 

1

It was a kiss they had both been waiting for. Passionate and promising. Fireworks lit up the sky, the sounds could be felt in their chest but it felt like nothing compared to the heavy beating of their hearts. 

The cheers down below pulled them back as they slowly broke from the kiss. 

“So when can we tell people we’re engaged?” He Tian said eagerly, still gazing into Guan Shan’s eyes.

Guan Shan just laughed, “I know you want to tell the world but go slowly please, for my sake.”

The two sat on the roof hand in hand, watching the fireworks and sipping on the champagne He Tian had prepared. They felt so at peace, so content in the moment. Problems of the world seemed to slip away between them. They were all they needed at that moment. To be young, free, and very much in love.

#19 days #tianshan #mo guan shan #he tian #19 days fanfiction #fanfiction

[claire-elvisgirl]

WHAT A HOT BIRTHDAY!

Summary: You got a big surprise for Elvis’ birthday, but he’s willing to do anything to find out what it is.

Warnings: 18+, smut, spanking, fingering, sex

Word cunt: 1516

January 8th, 1968

Everything was ready to celebrate Elvis’ birthday and you were fixing the last things. You bought your gift for him and you were about to pack it properly, when suddenly he walked in the room slowly and grabbed you from behind, making you jump: “How’s my lil’ girl?”

You gasped in surprise and you tried to hide what you were holding in your hands: “Oh my God, Elvis…you scared me…wh-what are you doing home already?!”

He smiled leaving a small trace of kisses on your neck: “Hun’ ya know I don’t usually get home this early, but I couldn’t resist comin’ home to see that pretty face of yours…and today ya look prettier than ever! And ya know…it’s my birthday too…so I was thinkin’…”

You smiled keeping your hands behind your back. He noticed it and his smile turned off: “What you’re hidin’ hun’? What ya up to?”

You moved a lock of hair from your face and tucked it behind your ear: “Nothing…just fixin’ a couple of things!” you answered keeping your hands behind your back. His eyebrow raised in doubt: “Now, what’s goin’ on…ya keepin’ somethin’ from me, I just know it!”

“Why…no…why would you think that?”

He got closer and closer, towering you: “I just know…ya actin’ weird…whatcha got behind your back?”

You stepped back smiling nervously as he kept walking around you. You hid what you were holding in your purse and you pulled out your empty hands: “See? Nothing!”

He wasn’t convinced at all and he grabbed you close to him: “No way baby…I know you’re hidin’ somethin’ from me and I’m gonna find out what it is!” he answered moving his hands behind your back. Then he grabbed you by the arm and turned you around: “Ya know…I don’t wanna have to do it like this, but…” he pulled you back to him as he began to run his hands along your shoulders, arms, sides and legs searching for any hidden objects “…ya leave me no choice!”

“What are you doing?” you laughed as he tickled you.

“I’m searchin’ ya hun’…quit wrigglin’ around!” his hands moved faster on your body.

“I…I knew you loved police stuff, but…searching like this is…a bit too much…even for you…stop!” you answered under his tickling.

He laughed and continued: “Ya think I’m gonna give up? I’m just getting’ started…and ya feel so smooth…” he replied putting his hand on your back and searching your waistline. You looked him straight in the eyes to distract him from his search: “Oh forgive me officer…I’ve been a bad girl…”

He stopped and he looked back at you: “So it’s officer now, is it?! Well I guess I’m searchin’ something illegal…maybe I’m gonna have to handcuff ya!” he answered turning you around “Whatcha got back there…besides this nice butt?!” he asked slapping your bottom. Then he stopped again and looked at you with a serious look: “Ya know what? I should put ya over my knees and give ya a good spankin’!”

“A good wha-…” you couldn’t finish. He grabbed you and pulled you on the couch, on his knees. He smiled teasing you: “Oh baby, you’re in trouble…I’m gonna spank that naughty bottom of yours now!”

“Don’t you dare…”

He hushed you pulling down your pants, leaving your panties in sight. “I’m gonna count…just to show ya who’s in charge here!”

You tried to move away, but his grip was too strong.

“Good girl…now let’s see how well ya handle this!”

Feeling the warmth of your body against him, he began to spank your bottom, each smack echoing through the room: “One…two…three…”

Each smack made you gasp in pain and pleasure, making you almost wait for the next hit. He kept spanking, the sting slowly turned into a burning sensation. Then he pulled your panties down revealing your bare bottom: “Eight…nine…and…” the last one made you almost cry “…TEN!”

You bit your lips to hold back the pain: “You officers are used to treat people like this at the police station?” you asked him rubbing your butt.

“He smiled: “Ya have no idea baby…just wait till I get ya upstairs, I think I might be takin’ your keys away for a looong time!” he said picking you up and taking you to the bedroom. “Yep…You’re definitely in trouble…you’re about to find out just how serious I am!”

He took you upstairs and as he reached his bedroom he threw you on his bed, then he moved over you pinning you down: “Now, that’s more like it…are ya gonna be a good slut f’me, aren’t ya?!”

You hated him when he behaved like that, but he knew that this was your weak point, he held you in his power. You looked at him and whispered a soft yes. He pushed you towards the center of the bed and he climbed on top of you, slipping a hand in your panties. As you felt his fingers moving on your clit, you gasped in pleasure: “You’re playing dir-…” but your words died in your throat as he pushed two fingers inside, making a loud moan escape from your lips.

“Whatcha were sayin...?”

You couldn’t talk anymore. The only sounds that came out of your mouth were whimpers and moans.

“Now, don’t ya go talkin’ back again! Understand?”

“I won’t...daddy!” you whispered. He pulled his fingers out: “Good girl! Now, whatcha were hidin’ before?” he asked tickling you.

“Oh my God…you’re impossible!” you laughed. You got up from the bed and you went downstairs and took the thing you hid in your purse. You got back to the bedroom and you threw a little box to him: “I was gonna give it to you after dinner, but…”

He grabbed it and he looked at you: “What is it…ya got me a present?! Oh baby…” he took the little box and smiled “…ya…have ya been hidin’ that the whole time?”

“I wanted it to be a surprise…” you replied. He began to carefully open the box and he revealed the content inside. He took out a beautiful necklace with his initials on it. He gasped and stared at it for a while in silence.

“D’you like it?” you asked him.

“Ya kiddin’? This is just…perfect…I love it!”

“Really? You really like it?” you asked with a smile. He gently leaned to you and gave you a big kiss: “This has to be my favourite birthday ever!”

You sat on the bed and lowered your voice: “And maybe after dinner I…I could give you another present too!”

He looked at you with a teasing expression: “Oh yeah? Whats’ that?”

You let loose the first button of your shirt: “Take a guess…”

He grinned and his eyes widened as he stared at you: “Ya mean…”

“Why not?

“’Cause, ya know…I ain’t gonna be able to concentrate on anything else for the rest of the day if I see that lil’ gift of yours…”

“I know but…” you caressed his cheek “…just think about it as the icing on the cake!”

He got up from the bed making your eyes fall on the bulge in his pants. He took off his clothes and he gently began to undress you too: “Goddamnit baby…I can’t wait…you’re killin’ me!” he kissed you passionately, his fingers trailing up and down your spine. He pulled you in more tightly, wrapping both of his arms around you, softly groaning in pleasure.

“Alright…fuck dinner!”

Your last words made him hungry like a wolf, hungry for your body. He slowly thrusted his hips forward, pushing his rock-hard member into your tight pussy. A loud moan escaped from your lips. With a smirk he began to pound harder into you: “That’s it…” he grunted between each moan, picking up speed.

“Ya like it don’t ya?” he asked, his blue eyes twinkling with satisfaction as he kept moving in and out of you.  

“I…I like it daddy…and…I’m sorry for being a bad girl…” you answered in a huge wave of pleasure.

 “Hush now baby…daddy’s here to take care of ya!” he slows down a bit and caressed your cheek, but soon his hips picked up speed again, slamming into yours with a wet slapping sound that filled the room.

You moaned loudly: “…but if this is the result, I think I’ll probably do it again!”

He pushed deeper into you, reaching a new level of intensity: “You’re mine, aren’t ya? Say it…tell me you’re mine!”

“I…” you tried to catch breath to give him your answer, but as you were about to talk, with a final powerful thrust, he let go, filling you up with his hot seed. His body shuddered as he groaned out your name. At the same time, you felt your wall squeezing his cock and you let out a scream of pleasure as your orgasm hit you. He panted heavily and he fell exhausted on your body. After a while, he gently withdrew from you, rolling off to your side and pulling you into his arms. You both stayed in silence for a while, then you looked sweetly at him: “Happy birthday baby!”

#elvis presley #elvis the king #70s elvis #this man will be the death of me #elvis smut #60s elvis #50s elvis #fiction #elvis fanfiction #elvis fanfic #fanfic #smutty fanfiction #obsessed with elvis #elvis birthday

[withacapitalp]

Tell Him (Nothing) Everything Pt 1

Happy Valentine's @excaliburstark !!!! I was your Valentine so I wrote you a super fun 5+1 fic!! I never expected to do Rockstar Eddie or Modern AU just bc they had never appealed to me before, but then once I started writing this I just couldn't stop! I hope you enjoy it

Read it on ao3

Wayne let Eddie waste away for a record four days, three hours, and fifty two minutes before he finally put his foot down. 

“You need to get outta here,” His uncle said, crossing his arms and standing in front of where Eddie was lying on their lumpy comfy couch. 

Eddie tried to look past him and continue to watch whatever daytime soap opera was on, but Wayne just stepped into his field of vision, continuing to give Eddie the no-nonsense look of total reproach. 

He hated that look. Wayne only ever used it when he was right about something. 

“Kicking me out already?” Eddie said, sitting up and stretching, “I’ve only been here a few days, but if I’m already being a bother, I guess I’ll go crawling back to LA,” 

“You bought the damn house, boy, I’m not kicking you nowhere,” Wayne sighed, completely dodging the silly argument Eddie had tried to tangle them in. 

He sat down next to his nephew and put a big warm hand between Eddie’s shoulder blades, forcing him to be grounded in the moment instead of floating off wherever his mind wanted to go. 

“You can’t sit here all day long. It ain’t healthy,” His uncle whispered, becoming disarmingly gentle in the way only Wayne seemed to be able to accomplish. Eddie felt the open wound in his chest start to bleed again, and he shook Wayne off of him with a harsh tug. 

“Yeah, because I’m so concerned about my health right now,” Eddie snarked, fully intending on disappearing up the stairs and going to lie in his bed instead of on the couch where Wayne could nag him. The exhaustion was pulling on him again, weighing him down like lead. 

Unfortunately for Eddie, Wayne was more agile than he looked, and he got to the stairs before his nephew did. 

“Eddie,” Wayne snapped, cutting himself off with a frustrated sigh, before he could say anything more. He took off his cap and rubbed the top of his head, looking for something to say. 

“At least go take a walk in town or somethin’. You need fresh air and sunlight,” 

It wasn’t what Wayne wanted to say. Eddie knew that they were both fully aware of what Wayne wanted to say, but they were also both aware Eddie wasn’t ready to listen yet. 

“There’s plenty of air in here,” Eddie muttered stubbornly, staring down at the ground between them. He felt like a petulant child and not a twenty seven almost twenty eight year old man, but he didn’t want to budge. The idea of being out in the world made him feel sick to his stomach. Eddie didn’t want to be recognized, didn’t want people to come up to him and ask for autographs, or photos, or-

or ask him to talk about her.  

“This is Hawkins, Indiana, Eds. The only people who would recognize you are currently in school. No one here over the age of eighteen would listen to anythin’ like your music,” Wayne said, somehow already guessing where Eddie’s mind had gone, “‘Sides wasn’t the whole point of you comin’ home to be in a place where you could walk around without bein’ afraid of people seein’ you? What’s the point of bein’ here if you do nothin’ but stay home and mope?”

It wasn’t moping. Moping was what happened when you got dumped, or a pet ran away. Eddie had moped when Corroded Coffin’s second album flopped, and after he got laryngitis and had to miss Gareth’s big 25th birthday blowout bash. 

This wasn’t moping. Eddie was…was…

“I’m just tired, Wayne, that’s all,” Eddie said softly, the lie barely audible, even to himself. 

“We both this ain’t tired, Eddie,” Wayne said, gently but firmly calling his nephew on his bullshit, “You don’t handle grief well. And you never have, but-”

No. No. 

“I’m not talking about this,” Eddie interrupted, looking up with slightly deranged eyes, desperation making his voice rough, “I’m not. You promised we wouldn’t have to talk about Chri-”

Eddie cut himself off with a strangled gasp, hating the way just the first syllable of her name made tears start to prick in his eyes. 

“About it,” Eddie amended, his voice completely flat, “You promised we wouldn’t have to talk.”

Wayne studied him without pity. Empathy, sure, there was floods of it, because Wayne had lost her too, but no pity.

That was the real reason Eddie had come back home, fleeing Los Angeles in the middle of the night with barely a half scribbled note of explanation to the rest of the band, and instructions not to follow him despite all of them knowing where Eddie was going. 

Wayne was the only person in his world who wouldn’t pity him right now. 

Eddie could barely stand pity on his best day. It had always gotten under his skin, but right now it was making him go feral. He could only stand so many of Jeff’s sad little glances, and Archie’s quiet attempts to get him to open up. Even Gareth was too much right now. All of them were suffocating him. It was already hard enough to breathe as it was. 

But at this moment, Wayne’s empathy wasn’t much better. It felt like the entire room was slowly being drained of air. 

“Well. Two options,” Wane finally said, putting his cap back on and fixing Eddie with a determined grimace, “You can go out for at least forty five minutes- get some air, take a drive, maybe even come home with some lunch. Or we can sit here and have a nice long talk about our emotions. Your choice.” 

That wasn’t a choice. There wasn’t any choice in that at all. Both Eddie and Wayne knew that, but they also both knew that Wayne would follow through on that threat. He had done it before, and he would do it again, if necessary. He would do just about anything if it meant helping Eddie, even when Eddie didn’t want help. 

“You’re the worst,” Eddie groaned, stomping over to the front door and grabbing his sneakers. Wayne watched with smug satisfaction as Eddie laced up his shoes and grabbed his phone, tucking it into his back pocket before coming over and wrapping his uncle in a fiercely tight hug. 

“I love you,” Eddie mumbled into Wayne’s shoulder. He couldn't leave without saying what Wayne meant to him. Not anymore. Not after what had happened. 

“I love you too, Eds,” Wayne replied, letting his nephew hang onto him for as long as he needed. 

“Forty five minutes at least,” Wayne reminded him as they parted, standing in the doorway and watching as Eddie began trekking down the sidewalk towards the middle of town. 

It barely took ten minutes to get to the town square, and soon enough Eddie was sloping down a fairly busy sidewalk, getting side eyes and judgemental looks from housewives who couldn’t help staring. 

Good to know that some things would always stay the same. 

Eddie had only lived in Hawkins for five years, from the ages of eight to thirteen, along with sporadic visits from time to time since then, but it felt like nothing had changed. 

And maybe it hadn’t, not really. Hawkins was a timestamp town, the kind of place that looked the same no matter what decade it was. One of the deep tracks on Corroded Coffin’s first album had been about Hawkins. 

Well, not exactly, seeing as his bandmates weren’t from Hawkins, but they all grew up in small towns, so they were all able to come up with a pretty banging condemnation track together. 

Crawling out of the place that tried to take my soul, my heart, my mind. 

Creating a cookie cutter version which took the deal the Devil signed. 

Eddie never gave Hawkins the satisfaction of making him one of their sons. When people asked, he said he was from Indianapolis, which was half true. That was a better backstory anyway- a hardscrabble kid from the bad side of the tracks that had collected a bunch of his friends, a couple of second hand instruments, and a dream to change the world. 

No, Eddie wasn’t a fan of Hawkins. 

But oh, Chrissy had loved it here. 

The only reason Eddie had ever come back had been her. If he had it his way, Wayne would just come visit him whenever he wanted. Eddie could afford the plane tickets. But Chrissy saw some magic in the cul-de-sacs, the long winding corn rows, the people who would clutch their pearls whenever they saw the two of them walking down the street. 

Eddie had never understood it. 

And now he never would.  

There it was. The feeling of a phantom limb. Was it possible to have that if you still had all four? It was a sensation he would never be able to explain, a physical sense of loss that ran through his veins like poison. Eddie’s hand was empty, when it should be clutched onto someone else’s. There should be a sweet little light by his side, skipping along the sidewalk and teasing Eddie for being way too scary looking to survive in Hawkins. 

Eddie’s other half was missing, and he didn’t know how to begin making the world make sense again. 

He was so focused on that feeling that he didn’t see the glass door in front of him until it was way too late. Eddie crashed right into it, face fully smashing against the glass, collapsing on the ground with a loud curse and a stinging pain in his wrist from landing on it wrong. 

See. This is what happened when Eddie tried to go outside. He should’ve just stayed home and put his fingers in his ears, singing nonsense until his uncle gave up on trying to make him acknowledge his emotions. 

Instead here he was lying on the ground in the middle of Hawkins fucking Indiana at what had to be ultimate rock bottom. 

“Oh my gosh!” A deep voice from above him said, a tanned hand invading his vision, “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” Eddie sighed, taking the offered hand and letting himself get pulled up, “I’m o-”

Oh. My. God.  

Eddie lived in the pretty people capital of the country. Not only was he the lead singer of a world renowned band who was an out and proud bisexual, he was known to be somewhat of a slut. Suffice to say Eddie had both gorgeous women and gorgeous men throwing themselves at him almost constantly. 

There was no short supply of people who wanted a night with The Eddie Munson. 

But none of them held a candle to the man in front of him who was still holding onto his hand. 

“Oh, that looks like it hurts,” Small Town Adonis fretted, finally letting go only to lean in close and take Eddie’s chin in his hand. Eddie stiffened as his head was turned from side to side, giving the other man a better view of whatever bruise was starting to bloom on his jaw. It was a perfectly convenient excuse to oogle, so Eddie did. 

The stranger was a couple inches shorter than Eddie, but what he lacked in height, he made up for in muscle. He had broad shoulders and a strong square jaw that was probably deliciously sensitive. His hazel eyes were hidden behind thin wire frame glasses that only added to his charm, and his hair was to die for. Eddie usually prided himself on being the person with the best hair in the room, but this guy might have him beat. 

And, he was wearing a lemon sweater and a bright blue apron that had cat paws printed all over it. 

That shouldn’t have worked for Eddie. 

It was so working for him. 

“No worries,” Eddie said breathlessly, his heart still racing as he let the stranger move his face around as he pleased. All of his exhaustion had vanished at the speed of light, replaced by a warm feeling in his chest and a blush that was beginning to grow on his cheeks. 

“I don’t think anything is broken, thank god,” The man said, relieved. He stepped back and readjusted the sign that had been holding open the door to his shop, “Here, come inside and I’ll get you an ice pack. Maybe a lemon bar on the house? If you like lemons?” 

He seemed pretty nervous, and Eddie internally rolled his eyes, some of his attraction fading. Of course the guy was going over the top. He was probably worried that his little podunk shop was about to go under, all because a rockstar happened to crash into his open front door. 

“You don’t need to do all that. I’m not gonna like sue you or anything,” Eddie said, letting the tiny fluttering crush that had begun to bloom wilt once more. Once again he wasn’t real, just something to be gawked at. 

But the stranger wasn’t gawking. He was almost glaring. 

“Well, I would hope you weren’t thinking about suing me seeing as you walked into my door,” The man said, his voice dripping with derision. He even had his hands on his goddamn hips like some PTA mom. 

Wayne telling Eddie that no one in town would recognize him was one thing, but actually seeing that people wouldn’t know him simply by sight was another thing entirely. 

Since Corroded Coffin went viral in 2012, launching into stardom at the speed of light, Eddie had been forced to live with the fact that everyone knew he was. That was the tradeoff. You get everything you ever wanted, become a rockstar like every kid dreams of being, and the world gets to own you. At seventeen he had naively signed off on that, and now at twenty seven there was no way to go back and throttle that kid into actually thinking about the consequences. 

But the man in front of him had literally no clue who he was. 

It was strange. It was bizarre. It was like watching a dog walk on its hind legs.  

It was… enthralling.  

“You really don’t recognize me?” Eddie pressed, needing to be sure. It wouldn’t be the first time someone had pretended they didn’t know who he was. Lots of people wanted to get close to him for one reason or another. Eddie had to practice constant vigilance, or risk having everything he worked for blown apart. 

“Should I?” Apron Man asked, looking concerned. He raised a brow and looked around the fairly empty street, as if trying to parse out exactly why Eddie would be someone he should know. 

Wonderful. The beautiful man was in fact a rare angel that knew nothing about Eddie, and Eddie was now officially the weirdo who had not only smacked his face into the door, but also maybe threatened to sue and demanded that a total stranger recognize him. Just perfect.

“No um we’ve never- I’m-” Eddie cut off his fumbling with a groan, pulling his long curls in front of his face and wishing he could disappear off the face of the earth, “Sorry I must sound like a lunatic,”

“Or someone with a concussion. Trust me I’ve had plenty of them,” The man said with a kind smile. He put one foot in the doorway of his store and waved his hand behind him, “Come on in! I’ll check you out, and we can see about that lemon bar,” 

Eddie silently followed the man like a lost puppy, marveling at the inside of the store. It was a cafe, the walls painted a soft creamy yellow and decorated with hand drawn paintings of cats in various positions. There were tiny round tables with squashy arm chairs, and a high bar by the counter with comfy looking stools. 

The smell of cinnamon hung in the air, and Eddie’s entire body instantly relaxed. It was like sinking into a warm bath, everything in the room designed to put a person completely at ease. 

Eddie couldn’t remember the last time he felt like this. 

“Here. Welcome to Claudia’s,” The stranger said kindly, handing Eddie a blue freezer pack and gently pushing him towards one of the arm chairs. . 

“Thanks. I’m Eddie…” 

He trailed off, considering his next words. Eddie Munson. Even if the man didn’t know his face, he would probably know his name. Eddie Munson, lead singer of Corroded Coffin. Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll wrapped up into one real life person. He could be honest right now, tell this stranger the truth, and see how he changed once he knew. 

Or he could play a little game, get a little distance from the person he wasn’t sure he wanted to be anymore. 

“I’m Eddie.” He repeated, more firmly and more sure of his decision. 

“Well, Eddie, Eddie,” Apron Man teased, making Eddie’s cheeks heat up in a furious blush, “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Steve Harrington.” 

#Steve harrington #Eddie munson #Wayne munson #Steve and eddie #stranger things au #steddie au #steddie #steddie fic #rockstar eddie munson #baker Steve harrington #modern au #st au #Wayne and eddie #things are going to be interesting #sorry chrissy #I love you but you ded #Liam speaks up #Writing(withacapitalW)

[ablincoln666]

A Light in the Darkness

Part 5

Annabelle and Aziraphale drifted through the crowds of people ending up at “Give me Death or Give me Coffee” before heading over to the bookshop. Annabelle didn’t want to push this in on Aziraphale or Crowley. She opened the door for Aziraphale, “Anything you want?” Annabelle asked politely as she stepped in line to order something for herself. 

“No dear, I’m fine, but go get something for yourself if you want I’ll grab a table.” Aziraphale said as he picked a table near the corner and by the window facing the bookshop. 

Annabelle reached the front of the line meeting Nina there. 

“What would you like, kid?” Nina said grumpily

“One peppermint tea and a big cup with six shots of espresso and nothing else, please. Oh and can you make the big cup to go, thanks.” Annabelle said brightly.

“That’s going to be £7.00.” Nina said as Annabelle slipped her hand in her pocket snapping her fingers for the exact amount before pulling her hand back out holding the money. 

Nina came back from around the counter, took the money and handed the two cups to Annabelle. 

Annabelle walked away towards Aziraphale who was frowning in her direction. 

“Was that necessary dear, to miracle money?” 

“I’m american Aziraphale, my money doesn’t work here and I didn’t have any time to stop at a bank while being kidnapped. So here we are.” Annabelle said smirking. As she sat down, placing both cups on the table and drinking from one of them. 

“Oh, dear, I said you didn’t have to get anything for me.” Aziraphale said, looking at Annabelle. 

“It’s not for you, it’s for my friend. He likes his six shots of espresso.” Annabelle said smiling trying to get Aziraphale to catch on but he didn’t. 

“Oh, that’s nice of you. So who is your friend?” Aziraphale said, looking at the bookshop gloomily. “Someone I might know?” 

“Yes, you’ll know him when you see him, now if you don’t mind let’s take a trip to A. Z. Fell and CO. bookshop now. How’s that sound? There really isn’t a choice.” Annabelle said, grinning as she stood up walking towards the door and holding it open for Aziraphale. Aziraphale stood up walking past Nina and waving hello before leaving with Annabelle behind him. She waved back without acknowledging him. 

“So, what kind of books do you like to read?” Annabelle asked, looking everywhere like she had never been to England before.

“Good question, there are so many I’ve read it’s hard to pick, why? Are you a reader too?” 

“Hell yeah! Me being a reader is an understatement.” Annabelle smiled brightly, showing her dimples. “Here we are. You best wait here for a sec, just to…um to let me settle things first.” Annabelle said.

“Dear I didn’t come all this way to stand outside. Now let’s meet your friend.” Aziraphale said, pushing past Annabelle and into the shop. Annabelle followed and once seeing that no one else was in the store she shut the door behind her and miracled it locked. Aziraphale turned around, frowning. “Dear, why did you lock the door?” 

“Just don’t need any human eyes seeing what I got to show you I guess.” Annabelle said oddly before disappearing behind books. Aziraphale looked around his bookshop, everything was still the same: the books, the smell, and that cozy feeling. 

Annabelle found Muriel around the corner reading a book, “Hi, my name is Annabelle and me and my friend are looking for Crowley. Is he here?” 

“Oh, hi!” Muriel said cheerfully “Crowley is in the back I can go get him for you.” 

“Oh that would be great thanks.” 

Muriel disappeared to the back of the bookshop, later coming around without Crowley, “He’ll be a min he said.” then Muriel disappeared over where Aziraphale was waiting. 

“Oh hello, Aziraphale.” Muriel said brightly before sitting down with a book in a chair near him. 

“Hello dear, long time no see as the humans always say.” He sat down beside her waiting for Annabelle to come back with her friend before it clicked in his head. Aziraphale stood up with a horrid face on, he knew who was coming, he knew him. 

“Crowley….” 

Crowley walked around the shelves with Annabelle beside him, he had his jacket in hand and his sunglasses in hand like he was about to leave. 

Crowley paused and stared at Aziraphale, before charging at him. He threw his glasses on and gripped Aziraphale’s coat collar. Annabelle rushed towards them. “No no no no! This isn’t how it was supposed to go guys!” Annabelle flung herself between them and there was a “poof” before Aziraphale and Crowley were separated by black, white, and golden wings. With a child at the center of it, eyes shown to them, one blue and round, and the other orange and yellow, slit like a snake.

Part 6 coming soon......

#crowley #good omens #aziracrow #aziraphale #fanart #fan comic #creative writing