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savventeen · 9 months

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you say the stupidest (sweetest) things

pairing: seungkwan x gn!reader rating: 16+ (for swearing) wc: 4.5k prompt: seungkwan + "things you said at 1am" summary: you say stupid shit on the best of days, so when seungkwan comes over when you're having a bad bout of insomnia, the last thing he expects to hear from you is an accidental love confession warnings: insomnia, mental health issues, dissociation mention tags: fluff, friends to lovers, first kiss, reader is a little unhinged but who isn't tbh, they're also highkey allergic to genuine expressions of love/affection but they're working on it, banter, stimming, wrestling like children to try and work through emotions, reader is some flavor of lgbt+ (they make an "i've never done anything straight in my life" joke), reader's pov is dramatic bc they're dramatic oops a/n: this is for @dokyeomin as a part of my emergency commissions (check out the post here) and this was only supposed to be 1k but it 100% got away from me... i hope you still enjoy the fluff and all of the attached nonsense <3

From: Y/n 🔪 [11:47pm]

yo kwannie if i impulsively decide to go to the 24h convenience store how harshly do u think they'll jusdge me for buying every flavor of gummy candy available *judge i wanna see if i can melt them down into one Ultimate Gummy u know for Science

Seungkwan pauses brushing his teeth and stares down at your messages.

To be fair, it's probably not the strangest thing you've ever texted him. He's known you since your second year of college, after all, so he has about half a decade of experience with all of your various y/n-isms under his belt now.

Which is how he knows to trust his gut when it tells him that this probably isn't your usual brand of nonsense.

He spits the toothpaste into the sink and dials your number. You answer on the second ring.

“Before you say anything,” you start, “I was only half-serious about the gummies thing. Like, it's a fun idea, you know? In theory. But in actuality? I do not want to deal with the mess that it would create. Or the smells. Well, the smells might actually be pretty good depending on—“

“Uh-huh,” he interrupts dryly. “Y/n, when's the last time you slept?”

The beat of silence that follows is enough to confirm his suspicions, and the hesitant “Um” that follows is just the icing on the cake, really.

He sighs. “The fact that you have to think about it says enough.”

“I don’t need to think about it,” you argue petulantly. “I just… don’t wanna tell you.”

“Y/n...” he groans, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Look, I know, I'm sorry.” And you do sound a little bit sorry, at least. “I'm just. Having an episode. Don't worry about it.”

His shoulders droop as the words sink in. “Episodes” are what you've taken to calling your intermittent bouts of serious insomnia.

Generally speaking, you sleep about as well as the average twenty-something with a caffeine addiction. But every few months or so, it's like your brain completely forgets how to shut off and you end up staying awake for 40+ hours straight.

“Well,” he says, putting his toothbrush away and going back to his bedroom. “You know that ship has sailed, right? You know I'm gonna worry about it.”

Your deep sigh crackles over the line. “Yeah, I know.”

“So. Where're we at this time?”

He mentally braces himself. The two of you have done this enough times now that he knows that you know there's no point in trying to lie or beat around the bush.

“Uhhhhhhh, I'll be hitting the 46-hour mark in about 20 minutes.”

“Aish.”

The fact that you can say that so casually makes his heart hurt. He knows that whenever he doesn't get enough sleep, he makes sure everyone knows it and thus babies him accordingly. But you've always been so intent on hiding anything and everything you struggle with. It's taken years for him to bully himself past the walls you keep hidden behind shit-eating grins and an over-willingness to help.

“Okay,” he says, moving to the dresser to grab an extra set of clothes. “I'll be over in an hour.”

“Wait. What?”

“You heard me.” He tosses the clothes onto his bed before going to grab one of his duffle bags, firmly asserting, “You've got an hour to mentally prepare yourself for my arrival.”

“Honey, you've got a big storm comin',” you quote at him without hesitating.

“You sure do,” he assures with a snort. “Better get ready to feel the wrath of my friendship.”

“Why do you have to love so aggressively?”

He rolls his eyes while he throws his clothes into the duffle bag with one hand. “Because it's the only way you'll accept it, idiot.”

“No, it isn't.”

Your pout is so audible through the phone that Seungkwan has to stop and glance at the screen in disbelief.

“Y/n. Y/n L/n. Do not stand there and lie to my face like that.”

“I'm not lying!”

“Not—” He gesticulates wildly with one hand like he's going Can you believe this shit? to an invisible TV audience. “Okay, tell me this: what did you do the last time I sincerely monologued at you about how much you mean to me as a friend, hmm? No bits, no bullshit, just me telling you how much I love you and how amazing you are.”

A beat. “I'll hang up on you, Kwannie, don't test me.”

He barely resists the urge to shove his face into the bedspread and scream. “You're literally proving my point right now!”

“Kwannieeee,” you whine, because you know he's right.

“Also, because I'm never letting you live it down, I will remind you exactly what you did."

You say his name again, but it's muffled, and he assumes it's because you're hiding your face in shame.

“I gave you a sincere, heartfelt speech about how much your friendship has changed my life for the better and made me become a better person—” he ignores your wordless pterodactyl screech, “—and how do you respond? By staring at me like a deer caught in the headlights, slowly raising your arms to give me double finger guns, winking, and then slowly backing out of the room like an awkward mannequin!”

“...”

“Well?” He puts his free hand on his hip. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

“… I’ve changed a lot since then.”

Seungkwan rolls his eyes before moving to continue packing his overnight bag. “It was literally three months ago.”

“Yeah, and? Doesn't change the fact that I've changed,” you assert.

“Into even more of a nuisance? Yes, you're absolutely right.” He smiles when he hears you scoff playfully.

“Listen here, Boo Seungkwan. You know that well-rested Y/n is ready to throw down with you at a moment's notice. What do you think sleep-deprived, zero-impulse-control Y/n is going to do the second you get to their front door?”

“Stop referring to themself in the third person, hopefully,” he mutters, finally zipping up his bag and heading to the door. “And then after that, they're going to let me bully them into resting.”

“Hmm. The council has heard your proposal, briefly pondered it, and deemed it “unnecessary” on the basis of: they're a bad bitch that can't be stopped by neither time nor physics nor any god of your choosing.”

Seungkwan scoffs as he puts the call on speaker and sits to put on his sneakers. “Well, “the council” can go fuck right off.”

“What if the council would like to fuck right on?”

Pausing in the middle of tying his laces, he blinks down at his phone. “I'm— what?”

“Okay, real talk, what do you think it would mean in this case? Like, would this be like a 'hop on' versus 'hop off' situation? Or more like an 'I'm down for this' versus 'I'm up for this' kinda situation? Because it would have very different outcomes depending.”

Seungkwan decides that this is a debate better left for another time. “I think it means that I'm going to be at your house soon and that if you're not in your pajamas with hot Sleepy Time tea and the series Planet Earth ready to go, there will be consequences.”

“Booooooo, you whore.”

He finishes tying his laces and jabs his finger at the phone. “Consequences, Y/n.”

“Ugh, fine.”

“See you soon, love you, bye.” He hangs up before you can get another word in, but doesn't move from his seated position in the entryway.

Slowly, he takes a deep breath in and lets it out, taking a moment to lean back on his hands while he stares at the back of his front door. Specifically, at the large collage of sticky notes and pictures and doodles that have taken up residence there.

A few of the notes are ones he's gotten from other members of your shared friend group over the years (the one from Chan that reads "if u eat my rice i'll eat ur kneecaps xoxo" hangs proudly in the center, right next to a picture of him sleeping that Seungkwan managed to capture from an extremely unflattering angle). But most of them are from you.

Dumb puns, meme references, bullshit animal facts you made up just to get him to laugh… almost all of them are stupid in that extremely charming way that only you somehow manage to pull off.

But the one he's staring at now is almost completely hidden by other notes and pictures that have been added to the collage. It's a pale blue, the ink starting to fade a bit with time — the first note you ever gave him, back when you two were just people who happened to sit next to each other in an astronomy class.

Even though most of it is hidden, he doesn't need to be able to see all the tiny words you crammed into the small space to already know exactly what it says.

how do u make a space party? u planet :P u looked sad today, hope this makes u feel a little better also if this is 2 forward feel free 2 pretend i don't exist. or punt me in2 the sun idk u'd be doing me a favor tbh

He'd almost skipped class that day because of how bad he'd been feeling, but he'd decided to try and push through. And before that day, neither of you had interacted with more than a polite greeting and the occasional question about the homework.

But then you'd passed him that note, and he'd passed one back that said “that's dumb. but thank you” with a smiley face, and you'd passed another one back that said “do u think lizard people have ever been to space?” and the rest, they say, is history.

Seungkwan shakes his head with a sigh before standing up and grabbing his bag and his keys, striding determinedly out the door. He's got a best friend to take care of.

Seungkwan should be at your place soon, and you're not quite sure what to do in the meantime.

You have your laptop hooked up to the monitor in the living room with Planet Earth queued up, you have the kettle filled with water and ready to go on the stove, and you have mugs and teabags ready on the counter next to it.

The Required Tasks™️ have been completed as much as possible without the arrival of your best friend, and now all that's left to do is wait.

Which, normally, you're not the worst at. You're excellent at entertaining yourself, actually, mostly because there's always something to think about. Whether it be about cute dogs that you've seen over the past week (I wonder if the pomeranian down the street will let me pet him next time), potential plot twists for the new fantasy drama you're a little bit obsessed with (what if Gregothy was cursed the whole time???), or generic ponderings of the human existence as a whole (do souls have the metaphysical equivalent of a fingerprint?), you're pretty much always thinking about something.

Which is totally fine and dandy and cool or whatever when you have the ability to, you know, shut it off. For example, when you need to do something simple and necessary like, oh I don't know, go the fuck to sleep.

You also hate when that manic mental energy somehow translates into kinetic energy as well. It makes you feel like a hamster in a cage, watching yourself running and running and running on that stupid wheel until you exhaust yourself.

Tonight's metaphorical wheel: stimming like wild in the kitchen. Flapping, rocking, (gently) slapping, making weird and fun mouth sounds, the whole shebang.

And again, normally stimming is fun. Stimming is great. But stimming because you feel like if you don't stop moving you're going to literally vibrate out of your skin is, to put it lightly, Not It.

It takes you about ten minutes to work out all of the energy until you no longer feel like your blood was replaced with pop rocks.

With a groan, you lower yourself to the kitchen floor and lay down face first. Because despite how exhausted you feel in every possible way, there's still something like an itch in your conscious, a fucking pea underneath the miles of mattresses that refuse to let you just. Fucking. Sleep.

Your pity party must've lasted longer than you realized (or, more likely, you dissociated for a hot second there) because suddenly someone's knocking at your door at the same time you get a text from Seungkwan.

And you know it's a text from Seungkwan specifically because you got Vernon to help you change your notification settings so that whenever Seungkwan texts you, the "i love you.. bitch" sound clip plays instead of a normal text tone.

For a fraction of a second, you contemplate slowly inching your way to the door like an uncoordinated caterpillar, but you swat the thought aside like you’re swatting a gnat and you awkwardly roll to your feet and make your way to your front door.

Without hesitating, you unlock the door, swinging it open with a flourish and sticking a finger right in Seungkwan's face before he can utter a single syllable, forcing him to cross his eyes.

You open your mouth wide like you're going to say something, pause for a moment, then tap your pointed finger to his nose with a quiet "boop."

He blinks, expression turning deadpan, and sighs. "I should have expected this, honestly."

“Yep!”

You let him into your apartment, and he makes himself right at home, mildly bitching at you as he goes to get the tea ready, and something within you shifts.

The inside of your head is still a bit of a dumpster fire, unfortunately, but inside your chest... something clicks into place that you're not sure that you're ready to name. Whatever it is, though, it's soft and warm and kinda feels like your heart is being hugged.

Smiling to yourself, you follow him into the kitchen.

💤 💤 💤 💤 💤

It was pretty much straight to “business” after that, and it only takes Seungkwan one cup of tea and two episodes listening to David Attenborough's dulcet narrations for him to knock right out, leaning heavily against your shoulder on the couch.

Which means it's now the perfect time to sit there and Admire Your Bro™️.

It's rare to see him so still, you think. He's an active guy, in pretty much every sense of the word, and you always feel a little honored when you get to be witness to his quiet, vulnerable moments like this one.

He looks so serene, face smoothed out and painted in soft twirling shades of blue from the screen of the monitor, though you can't see too much of it from this angle. Mostly you just see his cheeks and stupidly adorable button nose.

And you've seen the same thing a million times before — in all kinds of states and expressions — and despite how much you've tried to ignore it, each and every time you've caught yourself noticing just how cute Seungkwan is, it's caused that thing in your heart to scrunch up, full of the L-word feeling that you've kept unnamed for what feels like forever now.

Except, maybe that thing in your heart is tired of scrunching up. Maybe it's decided that it's tired of forever.

Maybe that thing has finally decided to burrow itself out of the walls you've built up because you find yourself finally allowing yourself to think, Holy shit, I think I'm in love with you.

You don't realize that Seungkwan has completely stilled against you, but you certainly notice when he suddenly throws himself forward so he can turn around and stare at you incredulously. Only he overshoots a little bit and ends up falling off the couch with a squawk and a dramatic flail.

"Oh my god, Kwannie are you okay?!"

He stares at you from where he fell, wide-eyed like you've grown a second head or like the time you'd tried to convince him that birds weren't real and actually just a government conspiracy.

"Am— am I okay? No??"

Now it's your turn to move off of the couch, coming down to his level to see if maybe he hurt himself when he fell. "Fuck, okay, did you hit something? Do you need an icepack?"

Seungkwan being Not Okay is maybe one of the worst things that could ever happen in the entire universe and you're trying not to panic as you reach out to check for injuries.

"No, no, stop—" he bats away at your hands and you stop in your motions, now kneeling in front of him. "I'm not hurt!"

Your brain does the cartoonish screech thing as it comes to a halt, and you furrow your brows. "But.. you just said you're not okay?"

"I'm not!" His eyes are still wide in shock, but he also looks confused and maybe a little bit like he's about to cry?

Oh no. If he cries and it's somehow your fault (because it has to somehow be your fault) you think the world might actually end.

"Okay, uh. I am— confused,” you start, sure you must look as lost as you feel. “But, um, what can I do to help?"

He swallows, and a part of you realizes that he's looking at you with an expression you've never seen before. "Did you mean it?"

Knowing that it's significant but not yet knowing why, you maintain eye contact. "Mean what?"

"What you just said."

You blink. "...that I'm confused?"

He shakes his head. "No, before that."

You have a hard time remembering what you just said when you're not sleep-deprived and worried you've just somehow accidentally caused irreparable emotional damage to your best friend. "Uh... when I asked if you were okay?"

"No, fuck," and it's a shock for some reason, hearing him cuss right now. You hear him say much worse things all the time, but you think it might be the way he said it — with a kind of desperate vulnerability that you're not sure you've ever heard from him before.

That thing in your chest twinges and you think maybe you're the one who's gonna start crying.

He says your name like a plea, and then he's on his knees right in front of where you're kneeling on the floor, reaching forward to cup your face in his palms. "You said— Y/n, you said "holy shit I think I'm in love with you.””

Oh.

You're pretty sure your heart falls right out of your ass and bounces across the rug, judging from the way it comes to a dead stop. You blink at him. Full of new and sinking kind of dread, you whisper, "...I said that out loud?"

He laughs, but it's tinged with incredulity and sounds a little too close to a sob for comfort. "Yes! You did!"

And wait, no, your heart is still stuck in your chest, because you can feel it start pounding against your ribcage in double, triple, quadruple time. He must see the fear in your expression, because suddenly his eyes are narrowed in a determined scowl and he growls, "Oh no you don't."

Then you find yourself going down with a yelp as Seungkwan octopuses himself around you, trapping you within the confines of his surprisingly strong arms and legs as he basically tackles you to the floor.

You try and wiggle away even as you know it's useless, and he grits, "Y/n dammit, answer my question."

"Why were you even awake?” You deflect, getting an arm free and trying to give him a wedgie. “You were supposed to be asleep!"

"I was supposed to be asleep?!” He screeches, easily evading your reach and poking your ribs to get you to reflexively pull back your arm. “You're the one who hasn't slept in literal days! And stop avoiding my question!"

"No!" He has you trapped once again, and you resort to licking his arm.

"Oh my god!"

He muffles his scream into your shoulder, long and frustrated, and then he just... goes limp. He loosens his hold and just lets his full body weight kinda crush the parts of you he's ended up lying on and just... lays there.

This is your chance, you know — to wiggle free and escape and run away from your feelings just like you always have.

But, for some reason, you don't — that scrunched-up thing in your chest holds you back. You stay there, lying beneath Seungkwan on the floor of your living room at one-something in the morning, and the two of you just breathe.

"It's okay, you know," he murmurs after a moment, so quiet you barely hear him over David Attenborough still narrating softly in the background. "If you didn't mean it. It's okay."

Holy shit, I think I'm in love with you.

And you realize how easy it would be to play it off, to blame it on the sleep deprivation, the way you blurted it out like that — to say (to lie) you meant it completely platonically, like the way you propose to Mingyu at least once a month when he cooks you all dinner.

And you also realize, quite shockingly, that despite how a part of you still desperately wants to run away, the larger part of you wants to stay. Doesn't want to run. Doesn't want to lie anymore.

You swallow heavily, briefly close your eyes, and take in a deep breath. "And if I did? Mean it?"

This time, you do notice when Seungkwan goes still. Slowly, he lifts his head so he can look you in the eyes.

When he doesn't say anything, just continues to look at you with an unreadable expression, you try to continue.

"Would you— would that— would it be okay? If I meant it? When I— when I said that I'm in love with you? Is— because um, like you said, it's okay if it's not, and uh—"

Your nervous rambling comes to a stop when he once again cups your face, but it's gentler than before, closer to a caress. The whole time you'd been talking he'd been slowly sitting up, and now he's on his knees next to where you're still lying down on the floor, looking down at you like all the hope in the world is somewhere to be found in your expression.

"Y/n." he says your name like it's something precious, and you feel the absurd urge to burst into tears. "It would be very okay." His thumbs make gentle arcs across your cheeks. "And just to be clear: you mean it in a non-platonic sense, right?” He chews on his lip. “Hopefully, in a very much romantic sense?"

Staring at him staring at you, eyes bright with hope and a little bit of wonder... you can only imagine you must be looking at him the same way. Your chest feels like it's full of helium but also like something warm and gooey is sloshing around in there. And all that hope and wonder and holy shit is this actually happening? is causing your tongue to stick to the roof of your mouth, and all you're able to get past your lips is a breathless, "Hopefully?"

"Oh my god," he groans in frustration, but it's light and airy and makes you think of amusement park rides and fairy lights and how you want to annoy the shit out of this man for the rest of his life, if he'll let you. He's shaking his head, smiling, beaming, and he asks, "Why can you never give me any kind of a straight answer, huh?"

"Because it's my life's purpose to be the bane of your existence until the day we die," you say, reaching up to hold his face too. "Also because I've never done anything straight ever in my life."

And then your body is moving before your brain can think it though, dragging him down until you can press your lips to his and finally, finally know what it's like to kiss Boo Seungkwan.

He makes a little noise of surprise, one that you can feel buzz against your lips before he melts into you. And oh, any thoughts you might have had are forcefully ejected from your brain because all you can focus on are his lips pressed to yours, the way they move slowly, gently, turning this chaste kiss into the most scorching experience of your life. His nose bumps against yours and the heat of his warm breath sends tingles throughout your body, and his hands, fuck, his hands are still holding you gently but also with a firmness that feels like he doesn't want to let you go.

And then he's pulling away, and you whine at him because this may be the cruelest thing he's ever done to you ever in your entire life. "Noooooo, why'd you stop?"

"Because, as much as I'd love to continue to make out with you on your floor while an old British man narrates about life on the Serengeti—” he mercifully ignores the way you choke on your spit at the way he talks about making out with you so nonchalantly "—it's past someone's bedtime."

Your mouth drops open in offended shock. Was he actually going to put you to bed like a child? Like you both hadn't just declared your romantic love for each other? "Are you fucking serious?"

He just stands up and crosses his arms, looking down at you with a single raised eyebrow. You take the part of you that finds it annoyingly attractive and promptly smother it, crossing your own arms from your position on the floor.

"I'm not a baby," you definitely don't pout.

"Hmmm...” And then the bastard fucking pouts at you. “But you're my baby."

You blink at him.

"Welp, that was nice while it lasted,” you grunt, rolling to your feet, “but I suddenly need to relocate to Antarctica and become a penguin herder.”

He pulls you into his arms with a laugh, and you let him, burying your face in the crook of his shoulder.

“You know,” he starts after he's held you for a few moments. “This isn't how I ever imagined how us confessing to each other would go.”

You snort.

“But also,” he continues, “it feels very 'us' doesn't it?”

"Yeah,” you murmur, not bothering to lift your head from his shoulder.

“Mmm, is someone finally sleepy?” he teases, starting to waddle you both towards your bedroom. “Did all the emotions finally wear you out?”

Instead of nodding, you lightly kick him in the shin and the sappy part of your brain that is currently in charge of everything thinks that his indignant squawk is one of your most favorite sounds.

The sappy part of your brain is right, of course, and when you wake up in your bed 15 hours later and accidentally smack him in the face, the urge to run is a little bit smaller than it was before. And the way he flushes bright red after you sleepily kiss him on the cheek is an image you're going to cherish until the day you die.

#svtsource #seungkwan fluff #seungkwan fic #seungkwan x y/n #seungkwan x you #seungkwan x reader #svt fluff #seventeen fluff #savv writes #savv fics #in my queue world

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genericpuff · 6 months

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The Extended Mishandling of LO's S3 Midseason Finale Premiere

Alright, so I had mentioned leading up to the release of the newest LO episode that my feelings regarding LO returning were pretty "meh". Not hyped, but not completely back of mind either. Just sort of a weird calm before the storm type feeling that could go either way.

I'm glad I got to have that moment of calmness because good god, this episode was an absolute shitshow. And honestly, I'm not surprised, for several reasons:

Rachel has never been good at maintaining a buffer, even back at the start of the series she only ever had 2-3 episodes ready ahead of her schedule which is NOT an ideal buffer for an originals series.

Rachel has never been good at writing, she's very "draw first write later" and has stated as such in interviews that when she gets 'stuck' on what she's writing, she'll just start drawing and fit the pieces in later.

Four months is NOT enough time to both rest, attend massive conventions, and work on improving a project while also getting buffer episodes ready.

Because of the FP episodes remaining locked over the hiatus, technically Rachel only needed to have ONE episode ready upon return for the newest FP release, not multiple like she'd usually need like in the past during the S2 midseason hiatus or the season finale episodes which would unlock those FP releases like normal - so for all we know, she could have drawn this episode literally last week, especially when the promo material was so last minute. Frankly I think it was REALLY stupid for whoever it was who decided to keep these FP episodes locked (whether it was her or WT, it was more likely WT) but you can read all I have to say about that in my review of the midseason finale episodes.

All that's to say, no, there was never any guarantee Rachel was going to somehow "turn around" the ride we're currently on. I know that many of the critics were hoping for that to happen, but with the circumstances of the hiatus mixed with Rachel's bad habits of putting her best efforts into the procrastination projects that aren't her actual comic (ex. the few original pieces and LO sketches she put out during the hiatus) it just wasn't in the cards. This is where the comic is at and this is where it will remain until it's over.

I want to also point something out about this episode that was... really glaring to me.

As with all of these hiatus returns, LO got priority advertising in the first two banner slots and push notifications AND a popup ad within the app. This is unsurprising, Webtoons is still trying to milk this thing for what it's worth.

I know a lot of people are gonna focus on the art, or the fact that WT is continuing to shill LO, but I wanna point out the part that WT implemented specifically - "NEW SEASON".

This is literally just false. At best I'd like to think some intern just messed up and thought this was a new season, but it's literally not, the episode designation still says "S3". Note that the creators only design the banner art, the actual labels on top are put there by Webtoons.

But at worst, this feels like blatant lying to continue to hide the fact that LO is ending. Mind you, Rachel and Webtoons have still not put out official posts stating that this is the final arc. There is NOTHING from either of them to communicate to the audience that the comic is ending next year. It feels like they're trying to avoid the topic altogether out of fear of losing the fanbase they still have, rather than hyping up the comic's end for those who have stuck around to see how it all wraps up. And honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if this was the case, considering they're now trying to funnel the fanbase into Penguin/Inklore with new marketing deals and the whole Rachel Smythe Presents thing. They're trying to make this seem like the beginning of something "new" when it's really just a quiet shifting of management (Penguin House).

But all that aside, let's actually get into the episode. It's one episode after 4 months, which is not standard for LO's hiatuses, typically FP episodes release on schedule (meaning free readers start hiatuses 3 weeks after FP readers do), the only time this has been an exception has been with the 2 week breaks because the whole point of those was to build a buffer (which you can't do if you're going ahead and releasing the FP episodes anyways). For extended hiatuses like these, usually free readers still get their FP episodes, but that wasn't the case here. That means Rachel technically only needed one episode ready for the comic's return, and it shows. It really fucking shows.

FROM HERE ON OUT THERE WILL BE FASTPASS SPOILERS REGARDING EPISODE 254. DO NOT CONTINUE IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED !!!

As per tradition, we get a title that means nothing at all. It just says what we already know.

Our collective husband Zeus is dying, no thanks to the poison cupcake fed to him by Apollo. For those who don't remember, Apollo had tricked Zeus into eating the cupcake by making him believe it was from Hebe. We are fully aware that it was Apollo who poisoned him. Remember that for later in this review.

Right off the bat we're off to a hilarious start, both with a cryptid appearance from Apollo in the background (lmao) who is, for some reason, ALREADY returning to the scene of the crime he just committed because... who knows at this point. Apollo and Psyche know it was Apollo at this point, I might add, but I have no clue why Apollo is actually returning to the scene of the crime when he has no idea Eros and Psyche know.

Moving on from that, can we talk about this hilarious dialogue?

"We have to call a doctor! Let's call Asclepius!"

"No, we can't trust him! Gosh darn it, why are we only bothering to think of ONE doctor in this universe where we've seen more than one doctor?? Guess Zeus is just gonna die! What a horribly contrived situation this is!"

And that's literally how I can best describe most of this episode. Contrived. There is a LOT of manufactured drama in this that makes ZERO sense even on a surface level.

And what do you mean exactly, Eros? "What a terrible system!" Is this supposed to be a joke? Lampshading? We've seen Persephone go to the gynecologist. There are non-god doctors who tend to gods all the time here.

Eros just doesn't seem to be that pressed over this, he sounds like Ned Flanders and that's NOT a good way to open up a scene like this... let alone an episode people have been waiting four months for.

Anyways, after a few pointless reaction panels (again remember I have to cut a lot of what I show here for Tumblr image limitations but I promise you, I'm keeping as much important stuff as I can in this, there's just THAT MUCH filler at this point), Eros and Psyche confront Apollo and he is... good god.

There is... so much to unpack here.

First of all, remember those theories about how Rachel was clearly trying to write Apollo as this "secret twist villain" the whole time but it doesn't work because Apollo is simultaneously written as both a 'conniving villain' and a massive dumbass at the same time?

Well, I finally have a more appropriate term for him. He's your average red pill redditor - someone who thinks he's smarter than everyone else when really all he does is sit on reddit all day using big words incorrectly in arguments he gets himself into with a bunch of equally-air-headed dumbasses.

"You can't possibly understand the nuances of the Olympian political system," Apollo said proudly, a man who had, ironically and obliviously, run for president in a monarchy. The union of kettle and pot is eternal.

He's the Slappable Jerk but instead of it being a painfully hilarious impression, it's just painful and hilarious for all the wrong reasons.

this is so stupid because it's 1.) Eros pointing out how obvious Apollo's plan was, despite Apollo acting smart two seconds ago with a goddess who, mind you, has been a goddess for ten years, and 2.) patricide isn't even intrinsically linked to politics, there's nothing 'political' about a guy trying to kill his dad except in, idk, a monarchy, which again, Apollo has spent ten years trying to rise to power in as a president which is a completely different form of government.

If I wanted to be really granular with this, I'd like to think Apollo is making some kind of point about the critics who call out LO's whack as fuck political system (especially in the trial arc) - as if he's saying "well you're just a stupid reader and this is fantasy where you don't understand exactly what political system we're using, so shut the fuck up you stupid twig" - but I don't think it's meant to be that deep. I think it's just Rachel trying to write a smart character and then failing at it because she, herself, is not a smart writer. And I'm really inclined to believe that more than the theory about this being some kind of meta-narrative about the critics because this entire plotline is contrived and stupid down to its core.

I did not cut anything out here, that's the pacing. Leto literally just appears out of nowhere and uh oh spaghettio's, she has Kassandra! Remember Leto? The character we were led to believe was truly "pulling the strings" until she disappeared from the story completely after she realized that Apollo and Persephone weren't a thing, even going so far as to call out her own son for being a fucking dumbass? Well, she's back and once again she's being involved as some kind of "double agent" in this whole thing, even though we literally haven't seen her since halfway through S2.

"Mm yes, you're so stupid, falling into my trap! Even though you had no reason to remember Kassandra anyways because she's literally a mortal woman you just met and you yourself have committed acts of violence against mortals without a shred of care! I'm so smart! My plan is all coming together!"

We've never seen Apollo do anything except cry and poop his pants, the closest he got to being "powerful" was his attempts to murder Daphne (who he seems to have forgotten about in this "master plan" of his) but ultimately he's literally just a piss ant baby and there's no reason to believe that he could somehow outmatch the God of Love who can literally manipulate people's emotions and states of mind with his arrows. But yeah sure go off, you're so powerful and smart.

The worst part is, I can't even buy this as the narrative trying to be like "see how manipulative and conniving he is?" because it's just silly. We've SEEN this man cry with his victim complex, we've seen him say and do the DUMBEST things that don't lend to any amount of "intelligence" he may have, it comes across less as him being "smart the whole time" and more as him trying to sound smart but ultimately sounding incredibly stupid. And I can't even immerse myself into it and buy that maybe that's the point, because it doesn't feel like the point, it just feels like inconsistent writing, he doesn't feel like a 'threat', he's just monologuing.

Bad art and Apollo literally just repeating what Leto already implied so this is a waste of the audience's time.

This is the funniest panel in the whole episode because I can't tell if Apollo is supposed to be in the background (for some reason, despite him literally being in front of Eros and Psyche two seconds ago) or if he's in the foreground and just REALLY small for some reason. This is so off-putting. And of course, it's just Apollo explaining what we're ALREADY SEEING ONSCREEN.

You see, in addition to this episode being contrived, it also talks down to its audience a LOT by explaining exactly what we're seeing onscreen. It's like Rachel saw the criticisms about her not including enough to depict what's actually going on in her head and so she thought the solution was to spoon feed information over pictures that are already doing the job of explaining what's going on. Rachel really doesn't know how to write and even when she tries to implement changes that reflect criticisms that have been made of her writing, she somehow makes things worse because she completely misses the point of what those criticisms are trying to get across.

Anyways, without even trying to resist (for some reason) Eros and Psyche get sentenced to horny jail.

They're now trapped in a basement that Leto somehow has in her home. How do we know that?

HAHAHA FUNNY LAMPSHADING SO FUNNNYYYYYYY

Leto claims that they shouldn't try to escape because the dungeon is "enchanted", but she doesn't even bother to explain what that means. So they literally don't bother trying. They don't try to call her bluff, they don't try to teleport out of there, they literally just go "well shoot", shrug their shoulders, and accept their fate. Just like with the whole "we can't trust the only doctor we bothered to think of" situation, Eros and Psyche are turning out to be some of the stupidest, lowest-effort characters in this comic who literally can't be bothered to try because that would require too much brain power.

Notice how much time we've spent on this and we haven't gotten back to where the cliffhanger of the last episode left off? Well buckle up because there's still more to cover.

So it turns out Hebe was still inside with her dad, in FULL VIEW of what was going on through glass which is somehow COMPLETELY soundproof, and when Apollo steps inside, she just has no idea what happened. She never bothered to even look outside to see what was going on with Eros and Psyche, she's just been sitting on the floor staring at Zeus' dead face for what was likely several minutes, unless Rachel is seriously trying to convince us that conversation and hostage negotiation from earlier only took 2 seconds. The timeline is such a mess at this point that characters basically freeze in place as soon as they're not the focus of the scene.

Apollo rushes inside, acting shocked over the situation, and when Hebe asks where Eros and Psyche are (again, she could have just looked out the window at any time), he's just like "dur idk they just left lol" which Hebe just... buys, I guess.

That's just Persephone but yellow. She's even missing her beauty mark.

See how Apollo put his hand on Zeus' chest/shoulder by the way?

Apparently, despite Mr. Smarter Than Everyone Else trying to pretend it wasn't him, he's able to discern that Zeus is dying from a toxic and rare poison just from touching him. He doesn't even really seem to use his powers, he just touches him and goes "welp he's dead i guess lol don't bother asking me how I know that".

But oh nooo remember that note from before? Well gasp Apollo's gonna use it to frame Hebe! In front of no one else at all!

Hebe of course says she didn't write it, but Apollo continues to try and frame her anyways, even though, again, there's no one else present here, and so it effectively just becomes the most absurd form of gaslighting I've ever seen.

Again, THERE IS NO ONE ELSE HERE IN THE SCENE. He's just trying to claim she did it to absolutely no one at all, in the hopes of... what exactly? That she'll just take the fall for something she knows she didn't do? That she'll somehow be convinced? It's not like Hebe has the same thing going on as Persephone where she has a 'wrathful dark side' he could pin it on, this is just a criminal who just robbed a building pointing at the first person they see and yelling "YOU DID IT!"

All I'm saying is that Apollo would be really bad at Among Us. He'd be the type of player to kill someone, hit the report button, then claim yellow did it which, even if he DID convince the rest of the team, would still get kicked anyways as soon as yellow was proven through the eject to not be the imp and everyone would go "okay cool so yellow wasn't the imp, that means obviously it's purple self-reporting." It's a trick that doesn't even work anymore because of how old it is. Hebe isn't a child here, she's an 18 year old woman who should be fully capable of raising an eyebrow and wondering why Apollo is this quick to accuse her - almost like he's trying to hide the fact that he did it.

But Hebe can't catch onto this, just like Eros and Psyche, she has to act stupid for the sake of the plot.

At first I thought maybe Rachel was trying to do some "whodunit" scenario, but that doesn't work here because we already know who did it. And while there are stories that exist like that that pull it off (ex. Knives Out) the problem with trying to do this the way Rachel did is that the person being framed has to have this thing called motive. The reason why Knives Out and Glass Onion work so well is because the person who was murdered (or conspired against) is someone who is being targeted by multiple people who could all be the murderer. It's quite literally called out in Glass Onion as a form of smart lampshading. "It's like putting a loaded gun on the table, and turning off the lights."

But it doesn't work here because Hebe does not have motive. If you're going to attempt to frame a murder on someone, it has to be someone who would have reasonable motive to commit that murder, even if they didn't actually commit it.

And who among Zeus' children has motive?

What about the war-mongering bloodthirsty god of war who has been regularly sentenced to time in the Mortal Realm to fight in wars in which he's been regularly injured?

What about the chaos-seeking wrathful goddess who would do it to get revenge on the parental figure who cast her aside, or even just for the fun of saying she did it?

Why try and pin it on Hebe, the doting daughter of Zeus who's only had a collective of maybe 20 panels in the entire comic?

But then I realized... it's not Knives Out, it's the fucking Lion King.

Which is just as contrived - if not more - than the assumption this was gonna be some attempt to frame Hebe. It's not. He's literally just trying to keep her from assuming it was him. He could have just as easily played dumb without calling attention to the note but he intentionally went out of his way to try and be Scar from The Lion King , while completely missing the point of why that scene worked in the original movie.

Scar wasn't trying to 'frame' Simba for Mufasa's murder. He was trying to hide the murder, while also attempting to get the only heir to the throne out of the picture, so he passed the guilt of the death onto Simba - a child who, unlike Hebe, wouldn't have the ability to rationalize or realize his uncle his a scumbag - who then ran away from home because he was too terrified to face his family for what happened, assuming that it was all his fault when it wasn't.

That's not how this is panning out here. Hebe is the now 18 year old daughter of Zeus, and not one of his only children. She doesn't even fit into the whole "sons overthrowing their fathers" prophecy like Aries would. Apollo is literally just being a big idiot here by saying "well I'm gonna give you a headstart to run away, because if you stay, I might hurt you" (which btw, should be MORE of a smoking gun that Apollo did it??)

And again, it's all so contrived so that the plot can move forward. "Well I'm going to frame you for this murder, but y'know, you should just leave, I'm not gonna try and press it further lmao"

Again, Apollo is a fucking idiot here, because he just attempted to frame someone who has NO MOTIVE to harm Zeus, to absolutely NO ONE at all who would side with him, only to let her go which would leave her to question why Apollo would try to accuse and harm her in the first place before considering other options. And through ALL this he claims he's the smart one, which I can't even be bothered to "love to hate" because it's written so poorly.

And really it all comes down to how everyone else behaves in relation to Apollo that makes it so stupid and unbelievable. Apollo, you're not smart just because all the characters around you are intentionally being written to be as stupid and non-confrontation as possible. If you can only write a smart villain by making everyone else stupid, you haven't written a smart villain, you've written a dumbass whose victory only happens due to contrived plot convenience. It's not even done well like in Glass Onion, it's just bad writing, full stop.

And who does he call to report this emergency? The satyr police? His son the doctor?

No.

The media. Literally just "hello, the media?? I need your best journalist here stat!"

I need you to understand, even if he were calling a tabloid magazine like The Weekly Nark, you don't just... call a journalist to report a murder. These are not the actions of someone who's trying to absolve himself of guilt, these are the actions of a complete dumbass trying to get news coverage of his trophy kill who would be better off just playing dumb instead of trying to play smart. Even Walter White wasn't this fucking stupid despite all the times he fell on his own sword, Apollo is literally just instigating suspicion towards himself for no reason at all. He's self-reporting so hard and worst of all, you can't even take any of this seriously because of how corny it is. There's no dramatic tension, no stakes, it's just a bunch of characters performing in a really bad stage play and reducing every conflict to "well I guess Zeus is just dead now because no one's bothering to make an effort to stop Apollo or ask questions lmao"

It's truly the epitome of "this plot wouldn't exist if characters would just talk to each other."

But finally, FINALLY we mention the thing this episode is named after, the transition point to Persephone.

Just like with the midseason finale episode, there's a lot to cover here, so I'm gonna get more into it in a part two post.

That said, you can see already this is the messiest, most contrived bullshit to ever wind up in LO. It's trying so hard to be smart and it just comes across as a bunch of toddlers in the world's worst stage play rendition of Clue. None of what was done here was in any way dramatic or tense, it's just a bunch of characters infodumping shit we already know, trying to set up new plot threads that don't make any sense, and allowing one another to get away with what they're doing because they don't bother to even try.

It's completely manufactured, contrived nonsense. It's not "smart", it's not "so dumb it's brilliant", it's just dumb.

youtube

#lore olympus critical #lo critical #anti lore olympus #this is the comic that bought two eisners #uh i mean *won* two eisners #... no wait i had it right the first time lmao

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raining-dreams · 7 months

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Best Underrated Shows

Saving Me

Saving Me is about a lonely old guy who invents a time machine so he can go back to his child self and fix all his past mistakes. I learned about this show from this video titled Watch THIS instead of Hailey's On It by M!n!mal M!ss Art. Despite this video, I was still very excited to watch Hailey's On It. It seemed like a story with a cool premise and cute art style (and ultimately I do really like the show) But Hailey's On It wasn't gonna be out for weeks when I came across this video and this video really sold me on giving Saving Me a try. I never would have even heard of this show without that youtube video which would have been a real shame because Saving Me is fantastic! I hope this show reaches more people and I'm dying for a season 3!!!!!

House of Anubis

Mystery is my favorite genre and House of Anubis is chuck full of it. I used to be obsessed with this show back in high school. I had so much fun coming up with theories and live-blogging my thoughts and opinions about each new episode. Some of the acting & dialogue could be a little cringe sometimes but the story is just so good that it doesn't matter. I've heard that Het Huis Anubis (the Dutch version of the show that House of Anubis is based on) is even better, though I haven't gotten around to watching it yet.

Over the Garden Wall

Those of us who have seen Over the Garden Wall seem to agree that this show is amazing! Which makes it feel a little weird to call it underrated. But it seems like so few people have actually seen it. Maybe because it was a mini series, it couldn't reach the same level of popularity as other shows of similar quality. If you like Gravity Falls, you'll likely enjoy Over the Garden Wall as well. (Wirt is even voiced by the same guy who voiced Dipper!) I would highly recommend anyone that hasn't seen it already.

Dead End: Paranormal Park

I feel like it's pretty rare for animated series to exist in the horror genre for some reason. It truly is an untapped market. But if you love horror and animation, Dead End is the show for you! (Of course it's kid friendly horror since the target audience is children) The two main characters, Barney and Norma get jobs at a haunted park and work together to fight ghosts and demons. Dead End has a super cute animation style, in my opinion, and a very diverse set of characters. I encourage everyone to watch it!

Just Add Magic

Just Add Magic is based on a children's book by the same name. It's a show about three girls who love to cook and basically discover that they can use cooking to do magic. It's a pretty interesting take on how magic works in their universe. It's very fun to watch. All of the actors are also so talented! And one of those actors is Zach Callison (the voice of Steven Universe)!

The friendship between the trio is awe-inspiring! They have so much chemistry. It's a pretty fun watch.

The Last Kids On Earth

Based on a comic of the same name, this show is about a group of kids who have to survive on their own when a zombie apocalypse breaks out. And other various creatures start to threaten them (or even become their allies) It's basically a cute found family story. The premise is pretty simplistic but that's what I love about it. The animation style of The Last Kids On Earth is so beautiful as well!

I'm still waiting for a season 3!!!!!

Code Lyoko

I remember as a kid being aware of this show and thinking it looked kind of interesting (and I always loved the theme song!!) but I never ended up watching it back then because I let peer pressure get the better of me. I remember I met someone who brought up how much they loved the show. When I heard them express that interest, I was at first excited to ask them more but before I had the chance, everyone else started making fun of him for liking Code Lyoko.

I guess it was like the nerd show or something? I don't really know why it was considered cringe to like Code Lyoko but upon seeing my peers act this way, I decided I can't like Code Lyoko if I want to fit in. So, I avoided watching it. But earlier this year, when I was flipping through channels, they were showing old episodes of Code Lyoko! I was intrigued since I remembered it from childhood and thought I'd actually give it a chance this time. And it's actually a pretty good show! It can be slow at times but overall I enjoy it.

If you're like me and avoided watching this back then due to peer pressure, I highly recommend leaving that in the past and just letting yourself enjoy this show!!

Slugterra

Slugterra is honestly pretty similar to Pokemon, except it's slugs! And the entire series takes place underground. Basically, there's a whole underground world called Slugterra, home to slugs, trolls, moles, etc. And all the slugs have cool powers so the people collect & befriend slugs so they can use them as weapons ("slugslinging"). If you like Pokemon, you're sure to like Slugterra!

Detentionaire

I discovered Detentionaire randomly while I was searching through Amazon's library of cartoons. I was looking for a new show to watch and just stumbled upon this one. It looked pretty interesting and I was surprised to see it was a show from 2011. I don't know how I missed this show back then. Idk if maybe it only aired in Canada or something? (cuz it's a Canadian show) But anyways, Detentionaire is such an intriguing show where the main character, Lee, discovers some grand conspiracy and has to try to expose it to prove his innocence so he can get out of detention. It's such an interesting concept. And, as I mentioned earlier, mystery is my favor genre, so I had a lot of fun with this one.

The only problem though is, of course, it ends on a cliffhanger. The show got canceled before they had the chance to conclude the story in a satisfying way (or any type of way) so watch at your own risk.

Catscratch

I honestly don't even remember what this show was about but I do remember enjoying this show and being excited when I saw a new episode was out. I remember thinking it was so funny. I just don't think enough people know about this show.

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outlanderfandomfollies · 8 months

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MIK s2e2: MĀORI CULTURE: Sam recalls some poignant moments when he gets a Māori "moko"

After reading a post about a TV Line recap of MIK episode 202, I decided to watch this episode about Māori culture for myself. I was touched by the scenes where Sam and Graham each tell their stories in the process of getting a nonpermanent version of a "moko" (or tā moko), a deeply meaningful form of tattoo in the Māori culture.

Tā moko artist Hohua Mohi explains that someone who wants a moko will "sit down for a good hour" and start talking about some part of their life that is meaningful, like their family, where they came from, etc. As they are talking, the moko artist is drawing, and consequently, every moko is unique and very personal.

The Story Behind Sam's Moko

SAM: Well my dad left, when I was, uh, very young, three years old, so I didn't--I didn't know him at all. HOHUA: Yeah. SAM: I actually didn't know his name.

SAM: And uh, my mum brought me up with my elder brother in the south of Scotland. She's--she's been very, very strong my whole life. And she struggled, I think, to look after two young boys.

SAM: Um, and it probably wasn't until I was… mid-20s that I finally, uh, met my dad. And, actually, very recently, I got to see him just before he died, which was uh, incredible, just to learn about him and his life.

SAM: And, uh, we spent a few days together. I work a lot, and I'm very fortunate. But I always put it first. So I guess, uh, relationships are difficult.

Sam's Moko Explained and Revealed

HOHUA: So, if you look at it, it talks about your--your father. It talks about your dad and then your brother in here. This manaia here represents your mum. And so it's obviously facing upwards. SAM: Yeah. HOHUA: I've been giving you advice. SAM: Ah, so she's been giving me advice, mm.

HOHUA: And if you look at it, rather than just follow a single line, all of these colors, they branch off, they branch off, they branch off. SAM: Yeah, yeah. HOHUA: And it was-- They came from you talking about how you wanted-- ultimately, you know, you don't know whether or not you're gonna settle down there, but you- you want to go and see the world. SAM: Somewhere else, yeah, yeah. HOHUA: So that's what--that's what this will remind you of. You know? SAM: Different branches.

HOHUA: Yeah, but also, no matter which way you branch off, never forget where... [speaking native language] SAM: Wow. HOHUA: Hmm. SAM: My friend. [shakes hand] So beautiful. GRAHAM: That is really-- SAM: Thank you so much. GRAHAM: It's pretty. SAM: Isn't that awesome?

SAM: A strange experience as well. GRAHAM: A unique experience. SAM: Yeah, just also very personal. It felt like going to therapy a little bit. GRAHAM: Yeah. SAM: But, uh, very, very honored. GRAHAM: Yeah. Yeah. Really, thank you so much.

Being a therapist myself, it seemed to me that the process of getting a moko is very much a therapeutic experience. The person getting a moko focuses inwardly and shares important parts of their past that define who they are. The moko artist appears not to be judgmental and listens at a deep level. Then the artist presents the moko, which is a visual symbol of something very unique about the person. And they also give verbal feedback to the person about what they have understood to be the essence of their story.

Sounds like a "therapeutic" encounter to me!

[edited]

___________ NOTE: Images of Sam's moko were enhanced for clarity and to accentuate the colors. Thanks @thetruthwilloutsworld for making the TV Line Recap post. I'd never watched any episode of MIK before. I'm glad I watched this episode. I enjoyed learning about Māori culture, as well as finding out more about Sam's and Graham's personal backgrounds.

#men in kilts #season 2 #episode 202 #maori culture #sam heughan #graham mctavish #moko #tā moko #hohua mohi #outlander cast #my gifs #my edits

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rhoorl · 18 days

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Delta Landscaping | Chapter 16: The Countdown

Series Masterlist | Chapter 16 A03 Link

Word Count: 8.8k

Previously on As the Mule Falls: Benny and Vanessa went on a date. We learned a bit about a woman from Santiago’s past. Frankie got things prepared for a little weekend trip up to Atlanta to celebrate a big milestone.

In this Episode: Another Benny-heavy episode as the guys get him ready for fight night. Similar to the last episode, we’ll jump through time and will end the Saturday before Benny’s fight. We also have another neighborhood party!

Chapter Warnings: This one is pretty fluffy, just some swearing. Special thot warning - Cousin Joel, Marcus being a sweet brother-in-law, the boys spending time at the gym. Frankie in his menace era. Benny is a flustered, adorable mess. David comes with his own warnings.

*Cue the theme music and roll opening credits*

11 Days to Fight Night

David: Ok since when has Will had a motorcycle?! Katie you have to keep us updated on stuff like this.

Megan: If we had a neighborhood newsletter it'd be the lead story this week 😂

Ty: Don’t give him any ideas…

Katie: Sorry…he just got it

Olivia: Have you taken a ride yet?

Melissa: 💀

Olivia: On the motorcycle

Oliva: Shit! 🫣

Ty: I thought for a second D took your phone

Megan: 😆 aw Liv, we love you never change.

Oliva: Quick someone please change the subject. I am so sorry Katie!

Katie: 😘

David: Anyone up for another party? We haven’t welcomed the new neighbors yet.

Megan: Lulu and I were actually talking about that!

Lucille: Yes! I am happy to host! Maybe this weekend?

David: Theme?

Megan: Do we need one?

David: ….

Megan: The theme is Lucille is going to cook us a bunch of food and play great music. And dancing!

Ty: Ay dios mio. He’s already getting a mood board together.

Lucille: Megan - can you talk with Victoria? See what night works for them.

Megan: Great idea! Katie you’re in charge of the boys!

David: I’m not jealous at all 🙄

Frankie propped his elbow up on the armrest and looked out the window as the plane made its descent. The early morning flight meant there were actually a few open seats, including the one next to him in the exit row, for which he was grateful.

His weekend trip reinvigorated him. It went as perfectly as he could have imagined it, save for the constant rain but even that wasn't a problem since it meant they got to stay in. All the anxiety he felt leading up to the trip about revealing parts of his past to Jo evaporated the second she took his hand, rubbing her thumbs across his knuckles. She appreciated Frankie's openness and willingness to share some of the deepest, darkest parts of his past. But what meant the most was when she said how proud she was of him for reaching his milestone.

The distance was not ideal. All they wanted to do was spend every day, every moment with each other. He wanted to wake up to legs tangled and sheets rumpled. She wanted to surprise him at his job one day with lunch. They wanted to cook dinner together at night and settle in and watch a movie or play a game.

But for now, their physical time together would be relegated to a more sporadic schedule. She was gearing up for a busy time at work, but they made plans for the following weekend for Benny's fight. Frankie was already counting down the days when he could see her and introduce her to everyone. That thought brought a smile across his face; the pride he'd feel about showing off his girl.

He was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't even realize they were landing until the wheels hit the tarmac. He quickly pulled out his phone, knowing exactly who his first text would be to.

Frankie: Just landed. Miss you.

Jo: Good! I miss you too. Got to the office a little bit ago.

Frankie: You weren't late right?

Jo: Nope, all good! Gotta go to this meeting but tell Benny I said hi!

Frankie: Have a good day mi cielo. Talk later

Jo: xoxo

10 Days to Fight Night

“Fish, can you help me with something real quick?” Benny panted as he racked up the bar onto the squat rack.

“With what?”

“Can you…uh…take a picture?” He turned around, offering Frankie his phone.

Frankie furrowed his eyebrows. “A picture? Of what?”

Benny’s eyes looked left and right. “Um…me?”

“Can’t you just do like a selfie or somethin’?” Frankie leaned against the weights.

“No…it’s more of an…action shot. C’mon Fish, it’ll take two seconds.” Benny walked over to an open space, peeling off his shirt so he was left in just his black basketball shorts. He flipped his baseball cap around and got into a plank. “Just take a couple of me doing pushups.”

“Por amor a díos, Benjamin. What the hell?” Frankie shook his head laughing.

“C’mon, Fish,” he grunted through another rep, the pendant of his chain hitting the floor each time.

Frankie tried his best, even bending down on one knee to get a better angle. “Ok…see what you think.”

Benny chewed on the inside of his cheek as he scrolled through the mostly blurry photos. He was about ready to prop up the phone against a dumbbell and try it again but managed to find a clear one that showed off the definition in his shoulders. “Good, thanks, man.”

“Hey…um…think you could… never mind, it’s dumb.” Frankie rubbed the back of his neck, walking back towards his water bottle. “Who’re you taking that for anyway?”

“It’s for uh…my Instagram…damn that sounds really fuckin stupid to say out loud. I'm a grown-ass man,” Benny chuckled.

“Hoping that someone in particular sees it?” Frankie raised an eyebrow, lightly punching Benny in the arm.

“Yeah…kinda,” Benny blushed, eager to change the subject. “What? Like you don't send any pictures to your lady.”

“Uh…that’s actually what I,” Frankie sighed, shaking his head as Benny’s face lit up with the realization of what Frankie was trying to ask about earlier.

“Oh hell yeah, Fish! Tryna show off all that hard work aren't ya,” he winked, slapping Frankie in the stomach.

Despite the focus on Benny and getting him in ring shape, Frankie reaped some benefits from their daily gym trips too. Recently he noticed his shirts fit a bit tighter across his chest and arms, a fact Jo was all too pleased about during his little weekend getaway.

They'd exchanged photos over the past couple of weeks, but they had been pretty tame. Mostly silly selfies as they went about their day. This morning, however, Frankie did manage to send one of himself shirtless, brushing his teeth which seemed to get quite the reaction. He was having fun and feeling playful.

“Can you help me?” He looked over at Benny who sported a lopsided grin.

“Hell yeah!” He led Frankie back to the locker room. They stood in front of the mirror as Benny gave him tips on how to pose and hold the camera, taking a couple of his own to show as an example.

“I dunno man, this feels kinda dumb,” Frankie winced, looking at himself in the mirror.

“Stop it…she’s gonna love it. You’re lookin’ good these days, Fish, show it off!” Benny shook him by the shoulders, making Frankie’s shy smile grow more confident. “I’m tellin’ ya, send her one of those and you’re in for a good night later,” he winked.

Nine Days to Fight Night

Will and Santiago finished the work on Melissa's backyard earlier than expected thanks to some extra help from Connor. It was perfect timing, with a little over a week before Benny’s fight. All the guys rallied around Benny, helping him prepare however they could.

Today started with an early morning jog around the neighborhood. Benny, Will, and Connor ran together, the younger boy pushing the older two to keep a faster pace. Frankie followed on a bike, barking out encouragement. Meanwhile, Santiago sat on the Millers’ front porch drinking a coffee and reading the paper, giving the guys a little wave each time they came around the block.

“Nice, that was your fastest yet,” Frankie stopped the bike and clicked off the stopwatch.

Benny stood bent over trying to catch his breath while Will took off his shirt to wipe the sweat off his brow, tucking it into the waistband of his red gym shorts. Santiago strolled down the driveway with some water bottles as David drove by, giving a polite wave.

“It was all this guy,” Benny panted, patting Connor on the chest. “Your coach is gonna make you run the drills this season man,” he chuckled.

“Happy to help. You feeling good?” Connor asked as he took the cold bottle from Santiago.

“Yeah. Cardio wise I feel great.”

“You testing out that cardio in your free time?” Santiago smirked as Frankie smacked him on the back of the head, cutting his eyes over to Connor.

“He hasn't even kissed her yet,” Will added before dodging out of the way and hiding behind Frankie to avoid a slap from Benny. The guys broke out in a fit of laughter as Benny blushed.

“She’s excited about the fight,” Connor said as he took a long drink of water, eliciting confused looks from the guys. “What? She cut my hair earlier this week so it came up. Thanks for noticing by the way,” he teased as he removed his baseball cap and ruffled the top of his hair.

Santiago assessed Connor’s haircut with a sharp nod, approving Vanessa’s handiwork. “Looks good, kid. Maybe I’ll go and see what those hands can do.” He winked at Benny, getting a sense of glee at seeing his fist ball up and his nostrils flare.

Oblivious, Connor continued, “She gave an awesome scalp massage, she has long nails so it helps to…” He stopped when he saw all the guys looking at him with blank stares. Benny’s mouth twisted while the others tried to hold in their laughter. Finally, Will’s snort made them all bust out laughing.

“Better be careful there C,” Will smirked.

“Oh…ah…sorry Benny, I swear I didn’t mean it like that,” he winced, fearing he’d offended Benny.

Benny clenched his jaw, before taking a deep breath. “All good lil dude,” he patted Connor on the back. “I’m used to these guys being assholes…so…what did you guys talk about?” He raised his eyebrows.

More relaxed now knowing Benny wasn’t mad, Connor told them about how she seemed excited to watch Benny but a bit nervous too. “She mentioned something about how Victoria is going to be there to help too?”

Benny shifted from one foot to another, feeling butterflies in his stomach at the thought of her excited to see him in action. “She…uh…yeah, Vic’s gonna help tape me up before the fight, you’re off the hook, Fish.”

“Ha, I see what you did there!” Connor laughed as they all groaned.

“You've been over there every night this week,” Will observed, taking a long drink of water.

“Vic has been doing some treatments…to help me with recovery. Now that I’m getting older, I'm feeling it a lot more than I used to…now I know how you all must feel,” Benny smirked.

“Vanessa hasn't been helping you with some extra um…treatmen-” Santiago could barely get it out before bursting into another fit of laughter.

“Hey, you boys are having too much fun,” Lucille joked as she wheeled her trash bin to the curb.

“Lulu, qué estás haciendo? Trash comes tomorrow not today,” Frankie knitted his brows taking the bin from her and walking it back up her driveway.

“I thought so, but David told us it was a special day and to take it out to the curb right away and…well never mind,” she shook her head. “You boys are coming over on Saturday, right?”

“Wouldn't miss it for the world, Lulu,” Will regarded her with a soft smile.

“Are you cooking Lulu?” Benny's hopeful look made her laugh.

“Sí mi amor, I am starting today. And I'm making some extra empanadas just for you…although I hear I have some competition,” she winked.

“What? Someone else is making empanadas?” Benny scoffed. “Doesn't matter, I know where the best ones are made darlin’.”

“Ah well, vamos a ver, I think you may like these more…you boys going to the gym?”

“Yeah, one last hard workout today and tomorrow, and then it's all maintenance, right Benjamin?” Frankie clapped a hand on Benny's shoulder.

“You're coming next week to watch right, Lulu?” Benny's puppy dog eyes made the biggest smile come across Lucille's face.

“Por supresto mi vida, I’m looking forward to it.”

Eight Days to Fight Night

Today’s gym session was especially fun because everyone got into it. Connor and Benny started off alternating between jumping rope and running sprints on the treadmill. Of course, they had to make it competitive and see who could jump rope the longest without messing up or who could run for the fastest speed on the treadmill.

Santiago and Frankie spent time lifting, getting a chance to catch up on each other's week. Will went off to a corner to do an ab circuit. When Benny finished his cardio, he and Will faced each other on the ground to do one of their patented Miller Push-Up Contests. They'd started doing this as kids and it became something Benny would do to lift everyone's spirits during missions.

Each time they came up for a pushup, they extended one arm out to slap hands before going down for another push-up. Will rolled his eyes because Benny wanted to push the pace rather than go at the slow and methodical one Will set. Like always, they ended up play fighting, with Benny putting Will in some kind of WWE-style hold.

“Ok, ok you two break it up,” Frankie chuckled. “C'mon Ben, let's get some sparring in so we can all go eat.”

Seven Days to Fight Night

"Bean what the fuck is a 'thirst trap' and why did Sarah say she saw it on your Instagram? Jesus I don't even know what half of that shit even means," Joel muttered to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose as he sat in his truck outside of Steph's house.

“Oh…ah…I dunno man, you know the kids and how they talk, can't keep up,” Benny tried to laugh it off but Joel pressed on until he finally revealed what that phrase meant.

“What kind of picture you posting Ben? My daughter, your niece, is on that app!”

“No, no, it's just a selfie in the mirror at the gym. I had my shirt off, it's what she'd see at the beach, man, nothing worse than that.”

“Hmm…” Joel rolled his eyes, “It's not you I'm worried about…why'd you post that anyway? Not enough havin’ all those stay-at-home moms at the gym goin' crazy for you.”

Benny could practically see the smirk on Joel's face. He knew he could try and bullshit his way around this, but Joel would get the truth out one way or another. “I…shit this sounds so fucking silly, I'm almost 40 for fuck’s sake, but…I was kinda doing it hoping someone would see it.”

“Someone in general or some specific? Is it for Nox?”

“Who the fuck is Nox?”

“Your girl…you said she drove an Equinox, so I’ve been calling her that in my head,” Joel chuckled.

“Nox…” Benny tilted his head. “You never gave Amy a nickname...”

“You didn't answer the question, Bean.” Joel countered.

Benny leaned back in his dining room chair, pausing from the drawing he was absentmindedly shading as he talked with Joel. “Yeah,” he said softly.

“Ha, I knew it. Trying to remind her what she's missing when you're not around?”

“Ahh…well…”

“Y'all’ve done stuff right? Will said you've been at her place like every night this week.”

“No man…I…we almost kissed last weekend but her sister and brother-in-law got home from their date night,” Benny scratched his scalp as he continued, “I dunno…I haven't felt nervous like this around a girl like…ever.”

“Well, she sounds special Bean…I'm looking forward to meeting her.”

Benny sat up straighter in his chair, “when's that gonna be?” He eagerly anticipated Joel's response.

“Well, that's kinda why I called. Dropped Sarah off at Steph's for her two weeks and we got to talkin’…the county is draggin’ its feet on these permits and some of the materials we need for this job are back ordered so I'll have some downtime while Sarah is with Steph…looks like it's going to line up with your fight.”

“Holy shit! You're coming? Fuck yeah!” Benny pumped his fist in the air.

Joel chuckled, “knew that would get you excited. You actually have Steph to thank for this one, she made the decision for me…says I need to take a vacation.”

“I can't remember the last one you went on.”

Joel shook his head, “Hey Tommy, Sarah, and I went tubing last summer…or was that two summers ago…”

“My point exactly J, plus that wasn't a vacation. So is Tommy coming with you too?”

“That's the plan, as long as he doesn't do anything stupid.” Joel rubbed his eye with the heel of his hand.

“Oh shit, it's gonna be a hell of a week with you two down here.”

Joel smiled as he drove, listening to Benny go on and on about the different things he wanted to do while his cousins were in town.

“...and Pope mentioned this cigar shop, we were thinking of getting some to celebrate but I dunno I don't wanna jinx anything and -”

“Ohhhkay Bean, gonna stop you there. I'm about to head in to grab some food. We'll chat later…try and I dunno dance with Nox at the party tomorrow night, put on that Miller charm.”

Six Days to Fight Night

“Mmm, it smells so good in here hermanita,” Victoria walked through the door with Nico and Mariella in tow.

“Thanks, got the last batch going,” Vanessa said over her shoulder, careful not to take her eyes off the hot oil.

“Oooo Tia you made empanadas?” Nico bounded over, getting his hand slapped by his mom for reaching for the tray Vanessa had already neatly assembled.

“It's ok Vic, he can take one. Here mi amor take from this plate, those are the guava y queso ones.”

“My favorite! Gracias, Tia!” He managed to say between bites.

“Cooking up quite the storm huh?” Victoria regarded the counter which included a glass dish full of boiled yucca, a container of citrus-garlic mojo, two types of empanadas, and a tres leches cake.

“We can't show up empty-handed,” Vanessa fished out the last empanada and placed it on the paper towel-lined plate.

“Well you know what they say…fastest way to a man's heart is through his stomach,” Victoria giggled as Vanessa rolled her eyes. “Speaking of his stomach, d’you see his Instagram? Ay Papi! She wiggled her eyebrows.

Vanessa blushed as she started packing up the empanadas into containers. “Um…yeah…I mean, I think I saw it when I was scrolling.” In reality, Vanessa set up notifications for Benny’s posts, so she immediately saw yesterday’s gym selfie. Not wanting to seem too eager, she waited about an hour or so after he posted before she actually liked it.

“Hmm…sure. Anyways, what are you wearing tonight?”

Vanessa sighed, “I don’t know…it’s a casual backyard party so nothing too fancy.”

“C’mon,” Victoria grabbed her sister’s hand and pulled her up the stairs holding Mariella on her hip. “Vamos, Nico…let’s help Tia figure out what to wear tonight.”

Frankie took a deep breath as he looked at himself in the mirror. Benny's words from the other day were in his head encouraging him to show off all of the hard work he'd been putting into the gym. As he contemplated which of his colorful, silky buttoned-downs to wear, a thought popped into his head. Earlier, Jo sent him a picture of her outfit before she headed out for the night with a friend. She looked gorgeous, but of course, she did. That photo would be in his head all evening, so he thought it would be fun to return the favor.

He pushed back from the mirror and pulled the bill of his baseball cap down low so that just his mouth was visible. He checked the angle of his phone making sure he was in the frame before looking down and snapping a couple of photos. He sighed as he scrolled through them. This was so unlike him, but he had to admit, it was kind of fun. He got a little rush of doing this for her, curious what her reaction would be. Having fun like this, being silly and carefree and just being in…love? Is that what he was feeling? It had been so long.

“Alright, let’s see what you think baby…” he muttered to himself as he hit send, immediately putting the phone down on the counter and walking back to his closet to figure out which shirt to wear.

Bucky enthusiastically greeted Katie as she walked into Megan's house. He was excited to see her, sure, but he was more excited about the tray of little Cuban sandwich sliders in her hands.

“Bucky, no no this isn't for you…maybe your mom can give me one of your t-r-e-a-t-s instead,” she winked as Bucky jumped up on her legs. “Ohhh ok, note to self, he knows how to spell,” she laughed, rounding the corner into the kitchen where Megan and Connor were getting their stuff packed up.

“He acts like we never feed him,” Megan laughed. “You've got it good my man,” she looked down at Bucky who gave her big puppy dog eyes. “Don't…ugh dammit it works every time,” she laughed as she grabbed a Milkbone. “Damn you Benny Miller. He got Bucky addicted to these damn things so I had to go to Costco to get more,” Megan gestured to the new treat container as Connor snorted.

“Speaking of Benny, how’s it going with the training, C? Katie leaned against the counter.

Connor sat at the kitchen table, “Oh pretty good. I feel like this week it's all really clicked for Benny. He seems to be having fun. Plus he got some good news, so that put him in an even better mood.”

“News? What news? Ooo something about Vanessa?” Megan asked.

Connor absentmindedly scrolled his phone, “Nah, no it's about his cousins from Texas they're coming to town.”

Megan and Katie looked at each other, a smirk forming across Megan's face. “Cousins from Texas huh?”

“Yeah, Benny was excited about it,” Connor added.

“I guess we'll see if all of Melissa's detective work paid off huh?” Katie tried to sound neutral but she knew Megan was onto her.

“You gonna give David that bit of news or am I?” Megan raised an eyebrow.

“I mean, your kid was the one who had that little tidbit, so it's all yours Meg,” she winked.

With Frankie headed to a party at Lucille's tonight, Jo finally took her neighbor Bea up on her invitation to join her and some friends for a trivia night at a local brewery. They finished the first round and awaited the results, so she had time for a quick trip to the restroom. She checked her phone out of habit, not expecting to see any messages from Frankie. Her stomach did a little flip when she saw she had a message from him – and a photo at that. Intrigued, she leaned against a wall and looked over her shoulder to make sure no one could see her phone.

Frankie. Without a shirt. Wow, he looked good. And the part that made the slick start to pool between her legs was the little smirk she could see from under his baseball cap. It reminded her of a week ago, looking up at him as he was buried inside her, one of her legs wrapped around his waist. She pushed her thighs together for some relief before responding.

Jo: 🫦

Jo: Benny is teaching you well there Morales

Frankie: Thought you might like that

Jo: Call me later

Jo: Actually, we should FaceTime 😈

Giving herself one last look in the mirror, Vanessa fussed with her hair before heading downstairs. She could hear Victoria going over the kid’s nighttime routine with their cousin Maria, who agreed to come over and watch them for the evening. She smiled when she saw Nico lying on the couch playing a game on his tablet, watching him as she turned the corner into the kitchen, she nearly ran into Marcus.

“Vandy!” He narrowly avoided crashing into her and took a step back to take her in. “Wow…you look beautiful,” he leaned down to kiss her cheek. “He’s going to love it.” He whispered in her ear.

She shyly smiled, “It’s not too much?”

“No, you look perfect.” He winked as he walked over to the kitchen island to help pack up the food they were taking to Lucille’s.

“You don’t look too bad yourself Buck, is that the guayabera Tio Gerardo got you?”

Marcus looked down at his black linen dress shirt, “Yeah this is the one. Some of the guys wear these to the office and now I see why, they’re comfortable as hell,” he chuckled.

Lucille hadn’t thrown a party like this in ages. It felt nice to have the house full of people, the music playing, and the aroma of food wafting throughout. She was thankful to the boys for helping her get the backyard in order. Frankie and Benny set up a beautiful display of twinkling string lights among her trees while Will and Santiago and Connor constructed a dance floor and moved furniture out of the way.

A group congregated in the kitchen, David holding court as he took stock of all of the delicious food Lucille had on the menu. He let out a loud whoop as the Delta Force guys arrived. All of the neighbors showered them with hugs and warmth. In their own ways, each of the guys relished this. It was nice to have people genuinely excited to see them.

Everyone decided to take the party outside, helping to carry out various dishes and containers. Once everything was set, Benny reached into a cooler to grab a beer. He heard Lucille excitedly announce that the guests of honor were there. Turning around, he immediately locked eyes with Vanessa, like a magnet that found its other half. He let out a breath as he saw her. Fuck, she looks beautiful, no idiot, she looks gorgeous, he thought to himself. Will patted him on the back, but Benny couldn’t hear what he said. It was like everything was in slow motion.

Vanessa wore a simple forest green wrap dress with a floral pattern that hugged her curves in all of the right places. The straps of the garment were delicate and the neckline formed a modest v, showing just enough cleavage to leave something to the imagination but also enough to make his mouth water. His eyes honed in on her collarbone, wondering what it would be like to pepper kisses along it as he moved his way up her neck to behind her ear and…

“Ben? Earth to Ben?” Santiago chuckled next to him.

Benny shook his head to bring himself back to the present. “Hmm?”

“You’re staring, Bean. Put your tongue back in your mouth and go over there and say hi.” Will added as Frankie smirked.

“Shit. Yeah, ok.” Benny smoothed the front of his short sleeve blue button down, undoing another button because it suddenly felt like it was a thousand degrees outside despite it being a very pleasant evening.

A crowd formed around the new arrivals with everyone eager to welcome them to the party. Benny made a beeline to Vanessa waiting impatiently but respectfully as David chatted with her.

“Girl! Stunning. Tens across the board on this. I didn’t know you had this little figure on you mama!” David winked.

“Aw thanks, you look great too!” Vanessa blushed as she caught Benny’s eyes from over David’s shoulder.

David followed her gaze. “Ah, Benny! Hey, d’you hear we have more empanadas? Vanessa made some too, so now we don’t have to fight over all the ones Lulu made. Although if we did actually fight you’d kick my ass so…” David chuckled.

Benny snorted as David excused himself, taking the opportunity to ask Will about his new motorcycle. “Hi,” Benny looked at her with a soft smile, pushing the hair out of his eyes.

“Hi,” Vanessa replied, a bit shaky.

For as much as he was in awe of her, she was equally as mesmerized by him. He’d been almost exclusively wearing a baseball cap since they met, so she hadn’t noticed that his hair was getting a little bit longer. His shirt fit him perfectly, showing off all of the hard work he’d put in at the gym. She looked down at his chest, appreciating the fact that he had a few buttons undone. His chain glimmered as it sat nestled into some sparse hair on his chest. He looked like a model and Vanessa couldn’t believe he was standing there talking to her.

“Y-you look absolutely beautiful,” he gave her a quick but appreciative up and down, trying his hardest not to let his eyes linger for too long.

“You clean up pretty good yourself Bun,” she smiled back, brushing some lint off his shoulder. Her stomach did a little flip when he chuckled at the mention of his nickname.

Benny looked over his shoulder as Marcus and Will moved dishes and plates to make room for the newest additions to the buffet. “D’you make all of that?”

Vanessa nodded, looking down feeling her face getting hot as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Yeah…spent most of the day doing it.”

“Well, I’m excited to taste you…I mean your um…whatever you brought. What ah, what did you make?” Benny rubbed the back of his neck, thankful it was dark outside and she couldn’t fully see how red he was turning.

“Want me to show you?”

“Absolutely, lead the way boss lady,” Benny winked, letting her walk in front of him so he could check her out, noticing that she put a little extra swish and sway to her hips.

Lucille stopped for a moment as she walked outside with another plate of empanadas and croquettas to refill the trays. She took in the sight of her backyard so full of people, of laughter, of music, it brought a tear to her eyes. She wished her Julio could be there to see how their little neighborhood had grown. With a deep breath, she set down the plate and turned to see everyone starting to hit the makeshift dance floor thanks to David who has commandeered the speakers.

“Vamos bailar Lulu?” Marcus winked, extending his arm out to her which she happily took.

“Habalas español muy bien Marcus,” she complimented as he led her onto the dance floor.

“Well, I had to learn quickly. Had to know what my mother-in-law and her family were saying about me,” he chuckled.

On the other side of the backyard, David dragged Olivia onto the dance floor, to the cheers of everyone including her husband Chris. They didn’t get out much and were so thankful to Aria for coming over to babysit so they could have a night with their neighbors. Santiago twirled Victoria around, the two keeping up with the quick beat of the song.

In a move that surprised most of the neighbors, Will was eager to get out on the dance floor, bringing Katie along. Although she was a bit unsure of how to keep to the beat, she was pleasantly surprised to see Will take the lead.

“Where'd you learn to dance like this?” Katie giggled as she held one of his hands and lightly rested the other on his shoulder.

“Learned a few things from my exes,” he winked as she rolled her eyes.

“Didn't pass along those tricks to your brother?” She nodded towards Benny who was sulking in the corner nursing a beer as he watched everyone.

Will shook his head as he twirled her, “Tried…we finally found something he's actually not good at,” he chuckled before cutting his eyes over to check in on Benny. With a sigh, he added that Benny's ex used to make fun of him when he tried to dance, one of the countless ways she found to tear him down.

“Aww poor Bean,” Katie pouted, sneaking a look at Benny as Will spun her around again. She noticed Benny's eyes were glued to Vanessa who sat twirling her Solo cup and politely chatting with Ty at a table.

“He'll get his big boy pants on soon,” Will smirked.

“So…your motorcycle is the talk of the neighborhood,” she teased.

“Ha yea,” he twirled her before bringing her back in close. “I have to admit, it's been kinda fun, you should go with me sometime.”

“No way,” Katie shook her head. “Couldn't pay me enough money to do that…but I know someone who would,” she arched her eyebrow.

“And who is that?” Will looked skeptical.

“Miranda, my coworker. She's been watching this show about a motorcycle gang and it's kind of a thing for her now,” she chuckled, noticing Will's ears getting red.

Despite the fact that the two of them had moved on from anything romantic, Katie still had love for Will and wanted him to be happy.

“Oh c'mon, I think you'll like her. She's really sweet and super smart.”

“She been helping you with that big presentation for work?’

“Yeah! Poor thing, she's been juggling a lot because of…well, she has a lot of responsibilities at home. But yeah, we both are looking forward to Monday being over with,” she chuckled.

“You gonna dance with her or what?” Frankie leaned against the wall, turning his head to look at Benny who stood chewing on the inside of his cheek and looking down at his feet. He kept missing the occasional hopeful glances Vanessa tossed over her shoulder. Frankie sighed, shaking his head, “Well if you won’t, I will.” He pushed off the wall and strode over to Vanessa.

Vanessa heard someone clear their throat behind her and she felt a lump form in her throat.

“¿Quieres bailar?”

She tried to hide her disappointment that the voice behind her wasn’t the one she was hoping for. Turning around she saw Frankie looking down at her with a soft smile. He looked so much like her ex she had to do a bit of a double take. “You’re sweet. It's ok, Frankie, I don't really like this song anyway,” she forced a tight smile.

“C'mon,” he leaned down and lowered his voice, “show him what he's missing.” He offered her his hand with a wink.

Vanessa chuckled to herself and with Ty’s encouragement took Frankie up on his offer. She stood up from the table, smoothed her dress and placed her hand in Frankie's as he led her to the dance floor. Victoria cheered and Lucille clapped as she welcomed the newest couple to the dance floor.

Benny scratched the back of his head and took a long swig of his beer, wishing he could get past his insecurities. He watched everyone carrying on and having fun, but really he was only watching one person. He couldn't take his eyes off Vanessa. The way her nose scrunched as she giggled at something Frankie said, the way she tossed her hair, the way her hips swayed.

Frankie kept a respectful hand at her mid-to-upper back, but still brushed against some of her exposed skin making Benny’s fingers twitch. As she twirled around again he saw her smile, a smile he swore could light up a pitch-black room. He was so caught up in this trance it didn't even register that Megan had walked up next to him.

“You know, you strike me as the kinda guy who is the first one out on the dance floor no matter what the music. Didn’t peg you as the wallflower.”

“I…ah…I’m not a good dancer,” he pulled his lips into a tight line.

“I don't think she'd care,” she nodded towards the dance floor.

As the song ended and another started, a musical chairs of sorts ensued as everyone switched partners. Marcus kissed Lucille's hand and passed her off to Frankie just as Victoria crashed into her husband's arms in a fit of giggles. Santiago danced with Olivia after Melissa walked away from him, while David whisked Katie around, leaving Will and Vanessa. Even though Will had been nothing but sweet to her, she was still intimidated by him, like she wanted to make a good impression.

“Wanna dance darlin'? I’m not as good as Fish but I can hold my own,” he chuckled, looking down with a shy smile that reminded her of Benny.

“That's ok, as long as you're having fun that's all that matters,” she smiled, taking his hand.

Somewhere between the second verse and the bridge, Will’s eyes clocked Vanessa stealing a glance over at Benny.

“Dancing isn't really his thing, at least not fast songs like these. For as good as his footwork is in the ring, he's not the most coordinated on the dance floor...’specially when there's a pretty girl in his arms distracting him,” he winked, which made Vanessa's cheeks feel hot. “He just doesn't wanna look dumb, it's nothing on you sweetheart.”

“Thanks, Will. Hey, you know for a gringo you dance really well. Took Marcus forever to learn,” she giggled, making Will break out into a huge grin.

As the song neared its end, Will tried to subtly get Benny's attention while also making sure Vanessa was having fun. Finally, he caught his brother's eyes and gave him a stern look that said get your ass over here now and dance with her.

Benny finished his beer and took a deep breath, willing his legs to move even though it felt like he had cement blocks tied to his boots. Thankfully, the tempo slowed down considerably for the next song, easing some of Benny's anxiety.

Vanessa's back was to him as approached, which gave him another chance to admire her even though he could feel Marcus and Victoria's eyes on him. He cleared his throat and tried to muster some of that Miller charm, “S’cuse me miss, this guy bothering you?”

Will smirked, looking down to see Vanessa's face light up at the sound of Benny's voice. He let her go putting up his arms in surrender, “just keepin’ her company waiting for you,” he snorted. “Thanks for the dance darlin’,” Will kissed her hand and made his way over to Olivia since Santiago had bounced to Katie.

“Hi,” Benny smiled, suddenly feeling like a middle schooler who finally worked up the courage to ask the pretty girl to dance.

“Hi,” Vanessa tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

“I…um…” Benny's Adam's apple bobbed up and down, his mind went blank.

“Here, give me your hand, Bun,” Vanessa reached her hand out. She guided his hand to her waist, placing it lower than Frankie or Will's hands had ventured. She rested one hand on his shoulder and with her other she threaded her fingers with his. “There, now rock side to side. See? All good.”

Benny shook his head before a mischievous smile danced across his lips. “Not yet.” His fingers dug firmly into her back as he brought her closer, their bodies flush against each other. She let out a surprised giggle which was music to his ears. “There. Now we're good.”

Vanessa dropped his hand, seeing his brows slightly furrow before relaxing again as she wrapped both of her arms around his neck. They swayed side to side, completely off the beat but it didn't matter, they couldn't hear the music anyway.

Benny willed himself to keep it together but his eyes fluttered closed when Vanessa started lightly scratching the back of his neck with her fingernails. He wanted so badly to feel her fingers through his hair, to feel her tug on it while he….he took a deep breath and tried to think about puppies or baseball, anything that would distract from the fact that his body was pressed up against hers. An abrupt inhale made Vanessa's eyebrow twitch.

“Are you ok?” She recoiled a bit.

Vanessa's words pulled Benny back to the present. “Hmm?”

“Did you just fall asleep on me?” She chuckled.

“No, no…I'm just really relaxed…the way you're scratching the back of my head, it's um…” He trailed off laughing to himself as he shook his head to rid his mind of the dirty thought that flashed through it.

“Sorry, I…didn't mean to…” She moved her hands back to his shoulders.

He shook his head and with a smile gently placed her hands back around his neck as his hands then traced down her sides, before finally resting on her hips. “No, it's ok, I like it,” he licked his bottom lip, deciding to test things just a little bit. “You’re just distractin’ me a bit is all…” he looked down at his feet.

“Oh…well, I think you're doing a good job.”

“You're a sweetheart, but you and I both know I'm shit at dancing,” he said with a lopsided grin.

Vanessa's eyes narrowed as she stopped, bringing her hands down to Benny's biceps. “Don't say that about yourself. I'm having fun. Aren't you?”

The corner of Benny's mouth curled up as he nodded. “Course I'm having fun. I somehow convinced the prettiest girl here to dance with me and my two left feet.”

Vanessa tried to stay calm and coy, but inside she was exploding at not only what he said, but the way he was looking at her.

“Well, you can't get any better unless you practice right?”

Benny smirked, feeling bolder seeing her reaction to his flirting, “You tryna help me then? Help me…practice.”

“Maybe,” she bit her bottom lip, their eyes locked on one another.

Benny took a deep breath through his nose as one of his hands snaked its way to the small of her back, resting at the top of her ass. Hearing her breath hitch gave him an extra boost of confidence to affirm he wasn't misreading this entire exchange. “Well, darlin' I wonder if I may bother you for some um…private lessons…you know, so I can get better,” he winked.

Vanessa could feel her heart pounding in her ear drums and the wet spot in her underwear growing. She gave him an up and down and leaned in, nodding so he'd lower his head toward her, “I tell you what, you win your match and,” she leaned in further and whispered in his ear, “let’s skip the lesson and I’ll give you a little private dance instead.”

“Fuuuuck,” Benny let out a shaky breath and Vanessa swore she felt him instantly get hard. His grip tightened on her. She smiled to herself seeing the effect she had on him. I've still got it.

She giggled and leaned into Benny, resting her head on his chest and they continued to rock back and forth. Her mouth was dangerously close to his chest, thanks to the undone buttons. It took everything in her to remember where she was and who was around because all she wanted to do was grab his chain with her teeth and drag him to the nearest bathroom. She hadn't felt like this about anyone since the early days of dating Luce.

Benny cleared his throat and she looked up to see his Adam’s apple bob up and down as he swallowed, sensing he was a bit flustered. “Y’know, it's gonna be a hell of a long week till Friday knowing that’s what’s waiting for me darlin’, but I'm patient. I can wait,” he winked. “Do I get to pick the song?” He raised his eyebrow which made her giggle.

“Nope.”

They continued to giggle and talk in whispers, as one song bleed into the next and the next. They didn't even realize they were the last two on the dance floor. Looking around Vanessa felt a bit embarrassed, but she saw that everyone else was off talking or eating leaving the two of them in their own little bubble. A yawn escaped, the excitement of the day finally starting to catch up with her.

“Tired?” Benny looked at her with some concern.

“Yeah a little…woke up early so I could start making the food.”

“You um…going to head home?” Benny asked, a little sad that their evening would come to an end.

“I should…we're talking the kids to the aquarium, so I could use the sleep,” she smiled.

Benny cleared his throat before locking eyes on her again, “Mind if I walk you home?”

Her first inclination was to say no, that she could handle walking a few houses down the street by herself. But seeing how earnest Benny looked, she thought she'd take him up on the offer. Plus, she knew Victoria would rip her a new one if she left this hanging. “Yeah, I'd like that.”

Victoria saw Vanessa give her the signal that said she wanted to leave. After 10 years of being in the family too, Marcus picked up and saw it too.

“Should we start packing up since Vandy is leaving?” He asked.

“Not yet mi amor, I think she has an escort home. I still feel bad that we cock blocked them last week. C'mon let's get another drink,” she winked, squealing a bit when Marcus lightly swatted her ass.

Normally a fast walker, Vanessa deliberately slowed down her steps to prolong the walk back to the house. She and Benny walked closely side by side, their hands occasionally brushing against each other until one time where Benny reached for her hand and she took it. They both struggled trying to mask the massive grins on their faces.

“I had fun tonight,” Benny looked over.

“Me too. I really like it here, everyone’s so nice. Feels like it was the right decision to move here.” She whispered to herself.

They walked the rest of the way in silence, just enjoying each other’s company. Occasionally Benny’s thumb would rub up and down her hand.

When they finally reached the Pike residence, Vanessa turned around, still holding Benny’s hand. “Well … this is my stop.”

Benny looked up at the ceiling of the porch with a smile before returning his gaze to her, “Yes this is.” He stepped a little bit closer, hearing her breath hitch. All he wanted to do was cup her cheek and kiss her, but he didn't know if it was too soon…or if he'd be able to control himself because he wanted to do a lot more than just kiss her.

“Y'know I didn't have dancin' on my bingo card for tonight, but I'm glad I was able to check that off.”

“What else did you check off?”

Benny gave a mischievous smile, a playful glimmer in his eye. “Hmm, let's see. David made a comment about Frankie's hair. Check. Delicious food. Check. You played a big role in that last one by the way.”

She blushed at the comment, giddy that he enjoyed the food she made for the party. “I'm happy to cook for you whenever you want.” Her eyes darted back and forth between his as he stepped a little closer. “What…um…what else did you check off tonight?”

Benny snorted, “Melissa avoiding Pope, that counts for two.”

“Sounds like a pretty packed evening.”

“It was…pretty awesome night I'd say. But I am missing one thing I was kinda hoping for.”

“Oh yeah? What's that?”

It was now or never. Benny could hear Joel’s voice in his head telling him to go for it, so he took a deep breath. “A kiss.”

“Well, I'm sure the ladies would line the block if you’re offering,” she smirked.

He shook his head. “No, not just any lady. I had a…uh…very specific one in mind.”

She stepped a little closer as he sucked in a breath. “Tell me about her.”

“Well, she's smokin’ hot,” he said with a lopsided grin which made her giggle. “She's got the most beautiful smile, her laugh instantly makes me feel better, and her eyes…” he trailed off. “Yeah, I can get lost in them. But as beautiful as she is on the outside she's even more stunning on the inside,” he ran his hands down her arms and stopped to take both of her hands in his. “She’s smart and kind. Plus she's an amazing cook. She's kind of a catch.”

Vanessa steadied her breath and smiled, feeling like her heart was going to explode out of her chest. “Well, I didn't think Lucille was your type but I can see it,” she teased.

Benny threw his head back in laughter. She loved seeing the way his entire face lit up when he laughed.

“No way I'm taking Frankie's girl from him,” he chuckled, licking his bottom lip and returning his gaze to Vanessa.

“Well, this…great catch…seems pretty special. I hope you're able to kiss her.”

“Yeah me too.” He looked down, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed and mustered up the courage. “Vanessa, I…” he let out a little chuckle, trying to suppress that nervous feeling he felt in his stomach before doing something that scared him.

Ever since he suggested walking her home he thought about kissing her. But seeing her now, the way the soft light of the porch glowed around her, she looked like an angel. And she was looking at him in a way that made him feel like the most important person in the world – a fact that made him feel both unworthy but also like he could conquer any obstacle.

He brought his hand to cup her cheek, his calloused thumb caressing her soft skin. He willed his mind to not wander to how soft she must feel in other places.

“Vanessa…I really like you. And I…” he closed his eyes, shaking his head with a chuckle. Composing himself, he decided to just take the plunge. “Can I kiss you?”

She enthusiastically nodded, knowing she couldn't trust herself to form a sentence. All she wanted to do was kick her feet and squeal with excitement.

“Yeah?”

“Yes, please,” she whispered.

He slowly lowered his head, wetting his bottom lip with his tongue as he moved his hand from her cheek to her neck. Their lips softly touched, both of them stunned but utterly giddy that they'd gotten to this point.

Benny pulled away, resting his forehead on hers and nuzzling her nose as they both smiled. “That was…wow…can I do that again?”

Vanessa tugged on his shirt, their lips crashing together. Benny walked her backward, his hand extending out behind her so he could catch the wall, guiding her to rest against it. With one hand still cradling her neck, his other trailed down her body.

She opened her mouth a bit wider, giving him permission to test the waters further. He softly licked along her bottom lip as started to explore. A soft moan from her was all he needed to push himself right up against her groaning as her hands found his hair and tugged slightly.

From a distance, they could hear some whooping and cheering from Lucille's house, instantly transporting them back to reality and the fact that they were making out on a porch. Benny pulled away, his thumb caressing her kiss-swollen lips.

“Can't believe we were able to do that without getting interrupted.”

Vanessa let out a soft giggle. “I know…Benny that was…”

“Perfect.”

“Yeah.” She brought her hands down his chest, stopping to play with the pendant at the end of his chain as his hands lightly rested on her waist.

He let out a shaky breath, “I want to kiss you again darlin' but I won't be able to stop,” he smiled as she giggled. “I…um…I want to do this right.” He pulled back, both hands moving to rest on her waist.

“Me too. I don't want to rush this.”

“And what is…this?” He arched an eyebrow.

“Well, I'd like to explore that, if you're up for it.”

“Yeah, I'd like that.” He kissed her again and he'd never felt more invincible like he could take on anything as long as she was by his side. He trailed kisses down her neck, lightly tracing her collarbone with his tongue, in a move that made goosebumps appear on her skin as she mewled. He kissed up the other side of her neck. “I really can't fuckin wait until I win that fight now,” he whispered in her ear as he grabbed a handful of her ass and grinding his hardened length against her.

It was a miracle she was able to remain standing and not dissolve into an instant puddle. Feeling his warm breath against her ear and hearing the need in his voice, it was intoxicating. They made out a little bit longer, neither one wanting it to end but knowing if they continued things would escalate to a place they both wanted to go, but weren't ready for yet.

Benny kept trying to say goodbye but ended up kissing her, both of them giggling as they continued to explore with their hands and mouths.

Vanessa pulled back, cupping his face between her hands. “We are definitely going to get interrupted soon, I'm surprised we haven't yet.”

“You're right. Can I see you tomorrow?”

“I'd like that. You get home safely Bun.”

“Yes ma'am.”

Next Time on As the Mule Falls: Friends. The long-awaited arrival of Cousin Joel is here. He arrives in the next chapter oh my am I excited. We’ll also gear up for fight night.

A/N: Hi! Woof that was a long chapter but we had a lot to get through, didn’t we? I mentioned this after the last chapter, but I’m experimenting with doing a few little side stories/extras for this main series. I’ve written two stories - Strike a Pose (Benny x Vanessa) and Weathered In (Frankie x Jo). You don’t have to read them to keep up with the main story, but they add a little extra to the whole experience. We’re gearing up for a storyline I’ve been tinkering with since the fall and am so excited about it and hope you all love it as much as I do.

On a personal note, I’m headed out for a work trip and then vacation, so I’m hoping to get some writing done but we’ll see. Until next time! Thank you as always for reading, sharing, or sending me a message about this story!

Taglist: @goodwithcheese / @gemmahale / @trulybetty / @noxturnalpascal / @periodtsparadox / @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin / @maggiemayhemnj / @mysterious-moonstruck-musings / @avastrasposts / @meveispunk / @chaoticfestninja / @beboldbebravethings / @casa-boiardi / @katw474 / @laughing-in-th3-purple-rain / @pimosworld / @lynnchun / @anoverwhelmingdin /@lilmizmoz / @pedrit0-pascalit0 / @titlee78 / @noisynightmarepoetry / @inept-the-magnificent / @perennialdoll247 / @for-a-longlongtime / @readingiskeepingmegoing / @harriedandharassed / @musings-of-a-rose / @anavatazes / @sherala007 / @midnightraain / @partyofone3413 / @inthedarkestnight / @millennial-teenybopper / @csarab615 / @darkheartgatita / @southernbe / @weho2kcmo / @itspdameronthings

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#triple frontier #triple frontier fanfiction #triple frontier fic #frankie morales #benny miller #friends thank you for patiently waiting for cousin Joel - he's arriving in the next episode

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sihtricfedaraaahvicius · 11 months

Note

Hi! I hope you’re doing great! I wanted to tell you that I stumbled upon your blog with no idea on what to find. I haven’t even gotten past the third episode of season 1 of TLK, but I’m already obsessed with Sihtric and it’s because of youuuu

I wanted to make a request of Modern boxer!Sihtric x Physiotherapist!Reader. Like, he’s quite serious and rough due to his line of work, but then reader shows up as his new physio and then you can take it from there! With a lot of pining and pent up longing until smut ensues 👀

-💜

Warnings: smut! 18+. Also mention of blood and violence.

pairing: Modern!Sihtric x you (f)

Summary: see the request!

Word count: 6,1k

Note: first of all: WHATTTT, I love how you became obsessed with him already! I did my job well ;) but, okay, onto the fic: I looooved writing this one. I personally really enjoy MMA (which includes boxing techniques) so it was fun to actually write a little about that! But fucking helllllll the line between Sihtric and Arnas was getting awfully thin here for me, which caused me to take quite a while to finish this, because I kept changing things to erase "Arnas" for me. But alas, I gotta leave it as it is at some point. So, thank you for your patience. I hope it's worth the wait.

taglist: @clairacassidy @finanmoghra @uunotheangel @hb8301 @bathedinheat @neonhairspray @anaeve @bubblyabs @travelingmypassion @sylas-the-grim @heimtathurs @bubbles-for-all-of-us

'I see the way you look at me during your sessions.'

********************

Sihtric Kjartansson. Professional boxer, cocky and overall pretty full of himself. Yeah, you've heard of your new client. You knew more of the rumours about him than what he actually looked like. And you lied if you said you weren't nervous. Apparently the boxer had recently fired his last physiotherapist and you were surprised when his agent contacted you, asking if you wanted the job. You usually didn't work with professional sporters, knowing how rude and stubborn they can be, but taking Sihtric as a client meant you'd have your bills covered for, at least, the next ten years. So you accepted, and he was about to come in for his intake.

Sihtric showed up, much to your surprise, in time. You guessed he recently had sparred, as he had a cut lip and a bruised cheek, and upon seeing his toned arms, you knew Sihtric had a good sparring partner if he had managed to throw a few punches back at Sihtric.

'Sihtric, hi,' you smiled and introduced yourself. He gave you a friendly smile but didn't speak. You motioned him to sit down and offered him a drink, which he declined by shaking his head. You felt a little awkward at his quietness and a little taken aback by his looks. You had to admit you were impressed by his appearance, and suddenly understood why your friends texted you the sweaty face and fire emojis, after you had told them about your new client a few days ago.

'So,' you said, trying to keep your cool, 'tell me a little about your physio history. Any previous injuries or reoccurring issues I need to know about?'

'Not really,' he said.

'Not really?'

Sihtric shrugged.

'You're a professional boxer,' you scoffed, 'I'm sure there are things I need to know.'

Sihtric shrugged again and looked down at his feet.

'Well, fine by me. I still get paid even if we just sit here in silence,' you said and crossed your arms, 'hiding your injuries from me will not benefit you. You will ruin yourself if you do.'

Sihtric clicked his tongue in annoyance and sighed. You watched him brush his bruised hand through his long hair while he clenched his jaw. He already irritated you, but you couldn't deny he was hot.

'My neck,' he finally said, 'I have a lot of neck pain.'

'Thank you for your cooperation,' you sneered, noticing a quick, slight smirk on his face. Taunting him is the way it seems.

'When does this pain occur? After a fight? Only after training?'

'Daily,' he scoffed.

'Daily?' you frowned, 'that shouldn't be happening with your line of work. Did your previous therapist know about this?'

'Yeah, I told him. Every fucking time I saw him,' Sihtric said quite heated.

'What did he do to treat it?'

'Fuck if I know, lady. Nothing apparently.'

'Okay,' you sighed, 'well, then I suggest we start with that problem,' you got up and beckoned him to stand up too, 'stand up straight.'

Sihtric listened, but you still had to slightly correct his posture. You placed your hands on his shoulders, pushing them a tad back, causing him to groan as it straightened his muscles further.

'Sorry,' you chuckled lightly.

'Sure, lady,' Sihtric sighed, and again you noticed a hint of his sly smile.

'Okay, I need you to keep your body still now. May I?' you asked and motioned you were to cup his cheeks.

Yeah,' Sihtric said, after which you gently took his face in your hands.

'I am going to slowly tilt your head to the right, you keep still,' you acted on your words and you swore you saw his eyes darken as he kept his eyes locked on you. After 10 seconds you brought his face slowly back up again, knowing the feeling was probably unpleasant, but it had to happen.

'You're hurting me, lady,' Sihtric hissed. He placed his hands on your arms, almost making an attempt to pull your hands off him.

'If you do that again,' you said curtly, 'I will make sure you leave here with another bruised cheek. You will not interfere with my therapy and you will not lay another finger on me either.' You felt his jaw clench underneath your hands, and he oddly aroused you at this point. And to be honest, you could take your hands off his face now, but you wanted to make sure he knew you were not afraid of him and he would not intimidate you. So you actually took a step closer and got up in his face.

'You're a professional boxer, for god's sake,' you scoffed as he looked down at you, 'I'm sure you can handle a little physio from me. But if you don't want my help or if you will constantly bitch about it,' you pulled your hands off his face, 'then don't let the door hit you on the way out, Sihtric Kjartansson.'

'Hm,' Sihtric hummed, still staring down at you, breathing faster than before, confirming you did provoke something in him, and he suddenly leaned his forehead against yours.

You knew this was some stupid intimidation tactic men liked to use, but frankly, you didn't care. If he would hurt you in any way, his career was instantly over, so you knew that would not happen and you felt rather unbothered. Until Sihtric suddenly put some pressure on you, forcing you to step backwards as he continued to lean his face against yours. He forced your back to collide with a wall while he kept using his tactic, and when he had you basically cornered, you were breathing just as fast as he was, and not out of fear.

'Hm,' Sihtric hummed again. You felt his breath on your face as you kept looking straight into his eyes. And after a few seconds he finally pulled away from you and took a few steps back, eyeing you up and down.

'I like you,' he said, his sly smile fully appearing now, 'I'll see you in a few days, lady.'

*********************

A couple of months had passed since your intake with Sihtric. You treated him at least twice a week, and you had grown to like him. He wasn't a rude person at all, he was just very serious about his career, and it turned out that his previous physiotherapist had nearly ruined that, which had caused him to be a bit hostile towards you at first. As you already expected, Sihtric never received the right treatment from his previous therapist, causing him to constantly be in pain and therefore risking his own health and his job. He only really warmed up to you after a few weeks, when he noticed the pain he experienced was getting less, even when training intensely. After that he opened up more to you and a bond was shaping fast when he randomly told you he feels quite lonely often. He said that being who he is, a successful boxer and quite a rich man, also meant that there were barely any people around him for the right reasons apart from his good friends. But you knew he was not talking about that kind of loneliness. You felt sad for him, as you learned he was genuinely a funny and sweet guy, who had an unfortunate past but managed to create a good life for himself. You liked his company and you admit, you also liked his flirting, so without thinking you invited him over for dinner later that week. He was a little surprised, but gladly accepted and gave you his private phone number. That same evening you started texting and it became a quick routine to text each other throughout the day whenever either one of you could. At first your texts were friendly and brief, but it only took a day or two before things got flirty and you'd often send each other risky pictures, just to tease the receiver.

********************

'So, you think you're ready?' you asked as you finished your dinner, looking at Sihtric who sat across from you.

'You're asking me if I'm ready?' Sihtric frowned playfully, 'I've trained for months. Of course I'm ready. I'm always ready to fight.'

'So who are you even fighting?'

'A guy called Sigtryggr,' Sihtric said and pulled out his phone to google him, 'good fighter, only seven loses out of thirtysix fights,' he said before he moved his chair next to yours to show you a picture of his future opponent, 'fifteen wins by knockout, eight by submission, the remaining by decision.'

'Oh, damn,' you said and quickly grinned, 'he's quite good looking. Can you get his number for me?'

Sihtric frowned at you and tilted his head slightly, 'have you forgotten that you belong to me?'

'Sure, in your dreams, Sihtric,' you laughed.

'Oh, I've had dreams,' he chuckled.

'Ew, what the hell,' you snorted and punched his chest. Sihtric grabbed your hand before you could pull back and he pulled you closer.

'You're really telling me you haven't had dreams about me?' he gave you a cocky look.

'What if I had?' you asked, returning the same look.

'I knew it,' he grinned and let go of your arm, 'I see the way you look at me during your sessions.'

'Please, I am only making sure you keep the right posture,' you rolled your eyes.

'Oh, yeah, because you do that by looking at my ass.'

'I've never looked at- okay, maybe once.'

'Hey, it's fine,' Sihtric laughed, 'I look at your ass all the time.'

'My god, I think it's time for you to go home,' you chuckled.

'You want me to stay over, don't lie.'

'You're so full of yourself, it's unbelievable,' you laughed as you got up to bring the plates to the kitchen and Sihtric was quick to follow.

'Yeah, maybe,' you heard him chuckle behind you as he snuck his arm around your waist, 'but you could be full of me as well tonight,' he spoke softly in your ear.

Your knees weakened at his words and you accidentally dropped the plates with a loud bang into the sink.

'Sihtric,' you sighed, grabbing onto the kitchen counter to hold yourself up, 'don't tease with empty promises.'

'Empty promises?' he said, spinning you around to face him, and he lifted you up to sit on the counter, 'let me stay over and you'll see,' he teased as he wrapped your legs around his waist before he settled his hands on your hips.

'Sure,' you rolled your eyes and cupped his cheeks, 'we both know that fighters abstain from sex at least one week before the fight, and you have exactly one week to go today.'

Sihtric clicked his tongue, 'you just had to ruin it, lady,' he smiled and quickly pecked your lips before he let go of you, leaving you flustered and turned on in the kitchen, before he went home.

********************

Sihtric: Just reminding you that you could've had all this tonight. Sweet dreams ;) xx

You opened his text and saw he had sent you a shirtless photo. You giggled and bit down on your lip, hating how good looking he was and how you wish you could've had him tonight. But there was no way you would've let him into your bed, not before the fight, you weren't going to be his downfall.

You: keep it in your pants until after the fight, then we'll see if you got another round in you ;) Sihtric: another round. Ha ha, very funny, so original to say to a boxer, never heard that before… You: someone's a little frustrated he got rejected? :( Sihtric: I'll have my way with you next week, you just wait. You: yeah, if you don't get beat up too much. Sihtric: someone's a little worried about the man she rejected? :( You: ha-ha, very funny… of course I am worried. I don't want to see you get hurt. Sihtric: lady, have I got some news for you… Sihtric: fighting Sihtric: usually gets you hurt You: it's not funny, Siht. You: I've just seen some videos of that guy fighting and you said it yourself, he barely has any loses. His knockouts are brutal… and his submissions… Sihtric: wait Sihtric: you're serious? Sihtric: you're really worried about me? You: are you fucking kidding me? You: you know what You: it doesn't matter, okay, nevermind You: good night xx Sihtric: no, wait Sihtric: hey Sihtric: talk to me, baby Sihtric: don't be like this with me Sihtric: babe! You huffed and threw your head back onto your pillow after you had sent your good night text, not seeing any other message Sihtric had sent you after that. And suddenly your phone rang and you saw Sihtric was calling. A video call to make it worse.

'What?' you sighed when you answered, but upon seeing his shirtless torso you were kinda happy it was a video call.

'What is this? Sihtric frowned, slightly concerned.

'It's nothing.'

'Yes, it is. Are you okay?'

'I'm fine,' you shrugged.

'Baby,' Sihtric suddenly said sternly, which made your head spin, 'I don't want you to worry about me fighting. This is what I do, it's my job.'

'I know.'

'Trust me on this, okay? I will be fine.'

'I know,' you sighed.

'Then don't give me that attitude again, babe,' he said curtly and shook his head, 'I don't like that. I appreciate you caring about me and it's sweet that you're concerned, but don't get snappy with me about my work.'

'Then make sure you step out of that ring in one piece.'

'I will, lady, I'll still have to go for another round with you afterwards,' he smirked.

'Oh, shut up,' you laughed.

'There it is,' Sihtric smiled, 'that laugh is all I wanted to see. I wouldn't be able to sleep knowing you were upset.'

'Well, you can sleep peacefully now,' you mocked lightly.

'And I will. But it would've been even better if you were next to me.'

'Okay,' you shook your head, 'good night, Siht,' you smiled while your cheeks heated up, and you were glad your room was dark, so he couldn't really tell how flustered you were.

'Good night, baby,' he smiled, 'kiss?' he asked, to which you giggled and blew him a quick kiss.

'Thank you, baby,' Sihtric chuckled lightly, and before you hung up he blew you a kiss in return, and once you locked your phone again, you buried your face in your pillow as you were tormented by the butterflies in your stomach.

********************

During the days leading up to the fight you nearly lived at Sihtric's house. In addition to his preparation you did extra physio exercises with him twice a day. In the morning, before he went to train, and in the evening, after his last sparring session. And it was always a struggle. You wanted him and he clearly wanted you too, but it just couldn't happen yet. You said he should abstain from any form of physical contact with you, other than which was needed for the exercises, but he claimed there was nothing wrong with kissing. And there shouldn't be anything wrong with that, the problem was just that Sihtric couldn't keep it to a single kiss. He always wanted more and he knew how to persuade you into more kisses. And today you just had your last pre-fight session with him, as it was the day before the fight.

'You gotta stop this, Sihtric,' you chuckled as you sat on top of him.

'Why? You don't like it?' he grinned and brought his hands up to your waist.

'I didn't say that,' you hissed with a smile while taking his hands, and you quickly pinned them above his head.

'Oh, you're the one teasing now?' Sihtric bit down on his lip, 'I never told you how I like that.'

You rolled your eyes at him. If he wanted to be teased, you would give it to him. You slowly leaned into him, brushing your lips over his neck which made him almost growl as you firmly kept his hands pinned to the floor. You knew he could not use much strength on you now because he might injure himself, and that would be a disaster. You heard, and felt, he was enjoying this more than he's allowed right now. So you decided to rock your hips slowly against his as you softly kissed down his jaw to his neck.

'Lady,' Sihtric hissed lightly, but you only gave him a soft chuckle, letting him know you were enjoying yourself. And you continued your way to his neck, pulling the collar of his shirt down so you could kiss on to his shoulder and down to his collarbone.

'Lady!' he hissed again, heated.

You stopped and trailed your hands from his wrists to his biceps, over his still pinned down arms, enjoying the feeling of his flexed muscles now he's all tensed up. And you slowly trailed your hands back up again, intertwining your fingers with his before you softly peck the skin between his clavicles, causing him to let out a deep sigh.

'Relax, baby,' you hummed against his skin, 'it's only kisses'.

You watched Sihtric rest his head back onto the floor, attempting to keep his self control and calm down. And just when you heard his shaky sigh, breathing out his built up tension, you chuckled lightly and dragged the tip of your tongue up his throat, over his fully exposed Adam's apple, up to his chin. And before you were even done you felt his entire body tensed up already.

'Fuck!' Sihtric groaned loud.

He caught you by surprise when he bucked his hips up, forcing you to let go of his hands and sit up on his waist, where he quickly pulled you down to his chest and wrapped his arms around you. Then he smoothly moved his ankle under yours, pushing your leg to his left as he bucked his left hip up, tipping you over to his right while he held onto you. And before you realised what happened, Sihtric was on top of you, pinning your hands down above your head. You had no idea what just happened, except that you must've really riled him up, so you could only giggle.

'You think you're being funny, lady?' Sihtric said, amused, 'you wish to fight with me?'

'You cheater. That was not a boxer's move, was it?' you chuckled.

'Jiu-Jitsu, lady,' he said with a smug face, 'I can teach you a thing or two.'

'I bet you want to,' you grinned, 'but you forget that I already know a thing or two.' And you bucked your hips up slightly, making him groan when you rolled your hips against his, and you pinned his leg down with yours as you moved up to your side, trying to escape his mount position.

'And you seem to forget I'm much stronger than you,' Sihtric laughed, but his voice was raspy, telling you he was struggling to keep his self control. And as you had managed to fully turn to your side, Sihtric lifted his weight off you which caused you to roll over onto your stomach, facing the floor.

'Shit,' you chuckled, knowing he outsmarted you and had "won". You tried to lift yourself up but Sihtric placed one hand on your lower back, keeping you pressed down to the floor while he positioned himself back on top of you, and you felt his other hand slide up the back of your head, into your hair.

'Gods,' Sihtric hissed, moving his hand from your lower back to grab on to your waist, 'you know this is my favourite position?' he chuckled and tugged your hair lightly, 'Hm, I'd love to fuck you like this right now,' he teased and thrusted his hips lightly, making you feel how hard he was, 'wouldn't you love to be fucked like this right now, baby?'

'Fuck!' you hissed, 'Sihtric, no. I mean, yes! God, I want you like this right now.'

'Yeah?' he chuckled mischievously and tugged your hair again, 'you do, don't you?'

'I do, fuck, I do,' you whined, 'but babe, you can't, you know we can't. You're only torturing us both.'

Sihtric groaned while breathing heavily, and you knew he was considering his options. To give in to his needs, fucking you hard and good on the floor right now and claiming you as his woman, or to control himself and not jeopardize his chances of winning his upcoming fight.

'Sihtric, think about your career,' you said, resting your forehead on your arms, 'you will get your way with me after the fight, but you may not get another shot at the title if you lose this fight.'

'I know,' he said, sounding a little calmer than before, 'I just…,' he paused and got off you, allowing you to sit back up before he cupped your cheeks, 'I just want you as my woman, so bad, baby. I want you to be mine. I really do.'

'Sihtric,' you sighed, blushing as you pulled him closer, 'you don't need to have sex with me to make me your woman. I mean, god, what year is this?' you laughed.

*********************

It was Fight Night. You already planned on being present at the fight, so you could see first-hand what damage would be done to Sihtric and know what you'd have to deal with during your next session. But regardless of that, he had still formally invited you as his woman. You knocked on his door and his face lit up when he saw you. His coach, Uhtred, had just finished wrapping Sihtric's hands as you walked in, and Sihtric quietly ordered everyone to give him 5 minutes alone. As you waited for everyone to leave you gazed at Sihtric's appearance. His black boxing shorts showed off his muscular legs while he was already shirtless, repeatedly clenching his hands into fists, making sure his hand wraps tightened the right way, and you just loved the way his hair was braided. You had never seen him with braids before, and you hoped this wasn't the last time either.

'Here,' Sihtric said softly and beckoned you over, 'come here, baby.'

He wrapped his arms around your waist as he stayed seated and looked up at you before you cupped his cheeks.

'Are you ready?' you whispered.

'Battle ready, love,' Sihtric smiled, his voice soft and low.

'Just be careful out there,' you felt yourself become nervous as your thumb traced over an old scar that graced his cheek, 'don't get distracted. And, please, keep your hands up, honey, even when you're tired,' you said and kissed his forehead.

'I will,' he smiled.

'And fight calmly. Are you calm?'

'Battle calm,' he chuckled lightly, 'feeling much calmer knowing you're here. Kiss?' he asked.

'Only a kiss,' you smiled before you leaned in.

'Only a kiss,' he whispered against your lips before giving you a long, soft and sweet kiss.

You melted into his kiss and for a moment you forgot he was about to either get beat up or beat someone up while getting paid about one million for it, win or lose. But if he won, you'd be the woman of the welterweight world champion. But you weren't thinking about all these things right now. Now you thought about how much you loved him.

'I like your hair,' you smiled after Sihtric broke the kiss, to prevent himself from going too far again.

'Thanks,' he chuckled, 'will you watch near the ring or are you staying here?'

'What do you prefer?'

'Having you there of course,' he said and closed his eyes as he rubbed his cheek against your palm.

'Then I'll be there.'

********************

Round 6. Or 7. Or maybe 5? You didn't know anymore as you desperately covered your ears while you hid your face in Finan's chest. Finan, you only met him an hour ago, but he was Sihtric's best friend and he pulled you in for a hug when he saw you weren't doing well. And he kind of needed that hug too, Finan wasn't doing well either. Sihtric would not last all 12 rounds, he was showing off too much, you knew it, Finan knew it, Uhtred knew it and his opponent, Sigtryggr, knew it. And Sigtryggr tried to understand why, until he noticed Sihtric had glanced towards the same group of people several times, and then he figured it had to be you. And he was a ruthless boxer, taking advantage of any weakness he could find, and now he knew you were Sihtric's weakness. And he waited for that one split second when Sihtric couldn't help but glance towards you again, checking if you were still there, and as he darted his eyes towards you, Sigtryggr threw an uppercut, knocking Sihtric off balance and making him dizzy for a moment. You had seen Sihtric stumble back while taking another jab to the face before he fell down, but he wasn't knocked out. And then a vicious game of simply throwing punches into each other's faces started. And you couldn't stand the sight of the blood anymore, not even being able to tell who was getting hurt more in the process. And it seemed to last forever until Finan suddenly grabbed your shoulders and shook you, yelling at you to look. And you opened your eyes just in time to see Sihtric, who was a bleeding mess, had gotten back up on his feet and had Sigtryggr stuck in a corner, relentlessly beating into him while the crowd roared until you saw Sihtric got dragged away by the referee. Then Sigtryggr collapsed to the floor and was quickly surrounded by medics and his own team.

And you didn't understand it at first, when you saw Sihtric shout at Uhtred. You thought Sihtric was angry and had done something wrong, causing him to be pulled away by the referee. But then you understood he was simply shouting 'I won!' over and over again before he reached his coach. He was a little closer to you now, but the loud crowd made it hard for you to hear him well. Sihtric shouted something at you, but you had no idea what. You did hear him shout, 'Get them off!', several times while Uhtred tried to take off his gloves as fast as he could. Sihtric kept looking impatiently back and forth between you and Uhtred, who struggled with Sihtric's gloves, causing Sihtric to shout, 'Get them off!', again. When Uhtred finally freed his hands, he immediately climbed out of the ring while taking out his mouthguard, which he flung away before he argued with a few security guards, who tried to stop him as he was hoarsely shouting, 'Get me my woman!' repeatedly. When the security didn't understand, he harshly pushed through them and sprinted the last few steps towards you while he kept ecstatically shouting, 'We won, baby!' until he finally reached you and picked you up in his arms, kissing you as if his life depended on it.

******************

After a whirlwind of emotions and hoards of interviewers, Sihtric finally managed to get you alone in his hotelroom. After he was given the world title and received that, quite shiny, champion belt, you found out in the dressing room that most blood on his face came from a busted eyebrow, which was already stitched up by now. Sihtric had pulled you down in bed with him, where you carefully kissed the bruises on his torso and those on his face.

'So, how about that other round?' you grinned to which Sihtric sighed with a smile.

'I'm almost afraid to say it,' Sihtric said, barely a voice left after all his shouting, he chuckled, 'but, forgive me, baby, I don't think I can do it tonight.'

'I thought so,' you smiled and pecked his lips, 'you need to rest, my love. It's already late too, I better get going. It'll take a while before I'll be home-'

'You're not leaving,' Sihtric interrupted you with a light chuckle, desperately trying to make his voice hearable, 'you're my woman. And now the fight's done, you can finally stay the night. Don't think I'll let you leave my side, lady, not tonight, not tomorrow, not ever again,' he smiled and kissed you softly, 'and I might just want that round in the morning.'

*******************

Sihtric had his eyes closed and bit down on his lip, humming with a smile as you were slowly jacking him off.

It was early in the morning, you had slept in Sihtric's arms all night and things got a little heated when you both woke up and couldn't keep your hands off each other. You weren't sure if he could handle you right now, still recovering from the fight, so you started off slow, seeing where it would lead. Sihtric's voice was still raspy and almost gone, which you thought made him sound really attractive, and that didn't make your desire for him any less.

As you worked your hand on his cock you slowly moved up on top of him, and he didn't stop you, he just let his head fall back into the soft pillow and parted his smiling lips as his breathing became heavier.

'Good?' you whispered in his ear when you leaned in.

'Mhm,' he hummed, 'yeah.'

'Do you want more?'

'Mhm.'

'Tell me? How far can I go without hurting you now?'

'Baby,' he spoke hoarsely and softly, 'just do whatever you like with me, I'm all yours.'

You smiled at his response and softly bit his ear. You kissed his cut lips gently while you pulled down your own panties. Having a world champion boxer at your mercy had you soaking wet almost instantly, and you couldn't wait to finally have him inside you.

'Been quite a struggle to get to this moment,' you chuckled, teasing yourself, and Sihtric, by sliding your wet pussy over the tip of his hard cock.

'No more teasing,' Sihtric sighed, 'please, lady, I want to be inside you already.'

'Hmm,' you smiled and you slowly entered his tip, rocking your hips back and forth, not taking in more than just that.

'You've been teasing me for a while, it's only fair if I do the same,' you purred.

'Ah, fuck,' he moaned with a satisfied smile, 'you're only doing this because I can barely move my body today.'

'I won't deny that,' you chuckled and lowered yourself onto him, taking in his full length slowly, 'ah, hm,' you smiled, 'fuck, you're so big, babe, and so fucking thick, feeling really good inside me right now.'

Sihtric couldn't bring out anything and you enjoyed watching him struggle to compose himself, not being able to move properly due to his bruises and simply knowing he had teased you for weeks, and now you might get your revenge. And you would. You knew he liked it rough, so you would take it slow, taking your time, enjoying every inch of his pulsing cock inside you. You intertwined your fingers with his, knowing that if you were to place your hands onto his body, he would most likely be in pain. Which made it all the more torturous for Sihtric, who was dying to touch you and feel your hands all over his body.

'Ahh,' you sighed, riding him ever so slowly, 'oh, babe, I could fuck you for hours like this, hm,' you looked down at him and smiled with half open eyes. And you saw how his eyes had darkened as he watched you with his lips parted, moaning softly while he was desperate to flip you over, but he couldn't.

'I'll get you back for this, hm,' he moaned, 'oh, gods, you feel so tight. I want to slam into you so hard, you have no idea.'

'Yeah?' you teased, keeping your pace slow, 'you want to fuck me hard?'

'Yeah,' Sihtric hissed.

'You'd like to ravage my tight pussy, baby?'

'Fuck,' he groaned, 'yes!'

'Hm,' you chuckled, stroking your thumbs over his hands, 'I can't wait for you to flip me over, face down again, and fuck me the way you like it.'

'Please, please,' Sihtric begged.

'Please?'

'Please, my love, please,' he hissed, 'I fucking beg you to give me a little more.'

'No,' you chuckled, 'I like this. I like to see you struggle, I like to feel you twitch inside me, desperately wanting to fuck me senseless.'

'Ah, fuck,' he moaned, 'fuck, please. Please, lady, you're going to make me pass the fuck out like this,' he chuckled.

'You'll get your way with me,' you hushed him, 'like I have my way with you now. My man,' you sighed, slowly picking up your pace, 'my world champion,' you giggled, 'if only everyone knew how weak you are now for me, Sihtric Kjartansson.'

Sihtric groaned and kept throwing his head back into the pillow while he squeezed your hands, 'Come on, faster, baby. Fuck me, fuck me good.'

'Like this?' you whispered, going just a tad faster again, 'you like that?'

'Yeah, yeah, like that, keep going, ah,' he grunted, 'keep going for me, baby.'

'I might come soon,' you chuckled, 'you hit all the right spots with that massive cock.'

'Oh, fuck,' he laughed, 'yeah? Am I good for you? Am I treating you well?'

'Yeah, so well,' you sighed, 'I hope you recover fast from your fight.'

'Hm, why?'

'Cause I want this cock in me every fucking day,' and you hated how you lost your self control, but you had to have him. You needed to feel him fill you up, now. You were desperate for his warm cum inside you.

'Ah,' Sihtric hissed, 'I love how you tighten it all up, baby, you're going to milk me dry like that.'

'Yeah? You're going to give it to me?' you bounced rapidly up and down his twitching cock, knowing he could spill inside you any second.

'Fuck me a little harder, pretty baby, please,' he tried bucking his hips up lightly, and you groaned when you felt his hips move into yours.

'Cum for me, Sihtric, cum in me, fill me up. I've waited so long,' you almost cried out, 'come on!'

'I will fill you up, I'll give you every fucking drop I got,' he moaned, 'I'm so close, keep going, ah.'

And when he knew he was close, you pulled away from him. Sihtric nearly panicked at the loss and his eyes were wide in confusion.

'Don't bitch about it,' you teased, 'you can handle a little physio from me,' and you turned away from him to lay down on your stomach.

Sihtric groaned lightly out of pain, and frustration, as he quickly moved up to you. He placed one knee on either side of you, keeping your legs close together, and he moaned deeply when he brought his cock back inside you. You felt his hands grab onto your hips, pulling you slightly up so it would deepen his thrusts.

'Hm,' he chuckled as he started to slam into you, 'you were relentless with me from the start.'

'Oh, fuck!' you screamed when he thrusted into you, he felt even bigger in this position.

'Yeah, now I have my way with you, huh?' he quickened his pace, knowing he had to ravage you quick before he would soon finish, 'don't bitch about it,' he laughed softly

'Ah, Sihtric!' you chuckled, loving the way he felt, 'I'm so close!'

'Cum on my cock, baby, only then I'll fill you up with my cum.'

And he kept his promise, you came with a violent scream, probably waking up the entire hotel at 7 in the morning, but you didn't care. You were satisfied, in bed, wrapped in a blanket as Sihtric held you in his arms while you still felt his cum dripping out of you. And you hoped he could go for another round later the day, when he had his physio exercises.

#sihtric x you #sihtric x reader #the last kingdom fic #sihtric fic #sihtric kjartansson #the last kingdom #sihtric #tlk #sihtric kjartanson #modern!sihtric

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egophiliac · 1 year

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This may seem a bit dumb question for someone who's main in en server. But I need to prepare myself before chap 6 is coming. Anyway, is chap/book Ignihyde gonna be THAT hard?? I've seen a lot people kept saying they're not ready for chap 6 or good luck for 'that' battle. Is it that difficult?

some preparation would be a good idea, actually! if you just want advice with absolutely no potential spoilers (even vague ones), then I'll say this:

the best thing you can do for yourself is -- for the later part of episode 6 -- try to have at least one SR or SSR card no lower than level 40 for as many characters as possible (specific ones at the bottom 👇👇👇). I've seen 40 as the minimum recommended level but honestly, go as high as you reasonably can, especially with your SSRs.

I'll try to keep spoilers to a minimum, hopefully it'll still make sense :')

SO! most of the frustration revolves around chapters 6-66 and 6-67, which are both split into subroutes with multiple subchapters/battles that follow three different groups of characters. you have to finish all three routes to get to the next chapter, and they force certain requirements that can make it a lot more difficult if you aren't careful:

you build your teams at the start of the chapter, and can't change them without resetting your progress. (if I remember right, you do get a chance to rebuild for 6-67.)

teams are built by character, instead of by card like they normally are, and each one has 2-3 required characters locked into that team. you can use any cards of that character, but you can't use multiple of the same character, or use them in a different team. also, no guest/friend cards.

they tell you what the element of the bosses are, but the other battles are just...whatever. if you can manage more than one 40+ card for a character, having good type coverage will help out a lot (why yes, I did get stuck for an embarrassing amount of time on a low-level rando because I got unlucky with type matchups, what about it).

there's a couple of points where you have to wait several real-time hours before continuing. this doesn't have anything to do with the team building, it was just annoying. c'mon. >:(

to be fair, I think some of the general frustration comes from how out of nowhere it was, so it's sure to be much easier if you go in with some idea of what it'll be like. (on my first attempt I tried to be cute and put everybody with their friends. it...did not go well.) I also had a particularly hard time of it because 1) F2P = less SSRs to carry me, and 2) I hadn't really focused on any cards outside of my special little garden of favorites, so not being able to use multiples of the same character for everything kinda left me boned. I'd be lying if I said it didn't feel great when I finally got through it though!

more specific info:

in 6-66, the bosses are a 5-turn survival battle; in 6-67, they're infinite battles (reduce their HP to 0 to win) and, subsequently, much harder to get past. personally speaking, the Wood one was the hardest for me because it heals itself between turns (and also I had literally no good Rook cards at the time). your mileage may vary!

Team 1 - required characters are Vil, Epel and Rook, boss element is Wood

Team 2 - required characters are Leona and Jamil, boss element is Water

Team 3 - required characters are Riddle and Azul, boss element is Fire

teams are 5 characters as per the usual, so make sure you have good cards of the required boys and at least six to complement them, plus a few more if you want to be careful. this is ONLY for those two chapters, which are pretty late in the episode (for JP it came out as part of the final episode 6 update) so you've got time to prep!

there's the obligatory overblot battle later on that is technically harder (stronger + more HP and all that), but it felt SO much easier in comparison just because it was back to normal Twst rules. really hoping that episode 7 doesn't pull its own shenanigans 💀

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland episode 6 spoilers #going overboard on the spoiler warnings i know #it really isn't much of anything #i know twst spoilers are SUPER hard to avoid though (especially main story!) so i've been trying to tag appropriately and all #and honestly if anyone's managed to dodge them so far then they are more powerful than i will ever be #who am i to tell them nay

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poledancingdinos · 3 months

Text

Hostile Territory - Chapter 22

Pairing: Captain Syverson x OFC (Leah Coleman)

Word count: 3.2K

Warnings: Past Sexual Harassment, Past Physical Violence, Masturbation (M)

Catch up: Series Masterlist

Taglist: @amberangel112 @utterlyhopeful-fics @marantha @kebabgirl67 @littleone65 @omgkatinka @luclittlepond @athenepromachos @enchantedbytomandhenry @narnianaos @geralts-yenn @peaches1958 @avengersfan25 @sillyrabbit81 @summersong69 @identity2212 @liecastillo @lena-banena @mrsevans90 @confessionbrain-writings @eclecticfashionbookszipper @happydistraction @hannah9921 @valacircareads @toooldforobsessions @kingliam2019

Day 204

Leah filled an entire shopping cart with vegetables, cheese, chips and all the fixings for a massive taco feast. That was, everything except the meat. For that, they stopped at a butcher shop on the way back. Sy hadn’t expected for things to still be so domestic after his conversation with Leah over breakfast but he wouldn’t want it any other way.

Sy was sure he’d misheard Leah when she told the man she needed six flank steaks but, as it turned out, it was no mistake. The small army Leah had referred to was not much of an exaggeration. Apparently, they were expecting up to thirty people which was about half the population of Warhorse.

It was a good thing they had taken Caleb’s car instead of his rental. They wouldn’t have been able to fit the multiple cases of beer, wine, juice and soda in addition to the groceries. It was also simpler to leave anything not perishable in the car rather than hull it in and out of the house.

By lunch time, they had finished their assigned task, the flank steaks had been put in the fridge to marinate and the two of them were back cuddling on the couch after eating a few sandwiches.

To Leah’s surprise, in addition to loving fantasy books, Sy was a bit of a history buff. He found a show about some famous British king and, though Leah had never heard of it, the leading men were pretty to look at so she was willing to give it a shot.

After the first episode, Leah began to feel restless. The show was interesting and, let’s be honest, the money shot twenty minutes in didn’t hurt at all, but she just felt like they should have been doing something… more.

“I guess this wasn’t exactly what you were expecting when you flew out here to see me.”

Sy looked down at Leah over her shoulder but with her back to his chest and her gaze stubbornly fixed forward, he couldn’t read her expression.

“What do you mean?” he asked, tightening the arm he had wrapped around her waist while sliding his other hand over her stomach.

“I don’t know,” she shrugged, resting her head against his shoulder. “It feels like in the movies the people who get two weeks of romance before they have to go their separate ways spend them having all these big adventures or fucking like rabbits and we’re just sitting at home watching the X-rated version of British history.”

“To be fair, if we’d had X-rated history in school I might have actually learned something.”

Sy’s attempt to lighten the mood didn’t do much good. Leah still chewed the inside of her cheek like it was an olympic sport.

He pulled Leah up onto his lap, stroking his thumb over the outside of her abused cheek.

“Babygirl, when our two weeks are over, we don’t go our separate ways, we go back to Warhorse.” Sy pressed a kiss to her temple, threading his fingers through her hair. “We don’t need adventures while we’re home because we get enough life-threatening missions while we’re away.” The tip of his nose brushed the shell of her ear as he moved to kiss the side of her neck. “And you don’t need to compare us to a Nicholas Sparks movie as fitting as it might seem.”

Busted. She hadn’t expected for him to know what she was referring to but clearly he was well versed in cheesy military romances.

“It’s a book too,” she grumbled.

“Oh?” Sy smirked against her skin, lifting his head to meet her gaze. “Well if it’s a book then we should be following it step by step. Although that Dear John letter might not have the same effect if you hand it to me on base.”

Leah shook her head, slipping from his grasp and moving to stand away with her arms crossed over her chest. “We won’t physically be apart but we won’t be together either. We can’t be so what are we supposed to do then? Am I supposed to sneak into your room after lights out and sneak back before anybody wakes up? Do we go back to how things were before we left?”

Sy pulled her back to him, flipping Leah onto her back and slotting himself between her legs so she wouldn’t be tempted to run again. Okay, maybe she hadn’t run so much as pulled away but he wasn’t letting it happen again. “I wish I had an answer to that, darlin’.” He moved a stray piece of hair out of her face, gazing down at her in such a way that she already knew what he would say next. And for once, it didn’t scare her. “I just know that I love you and that I’m not ready to let ya go.”

“Yeah?” she asked, in barely a whisper.

“Yeah…” He’d never said those words to a woman before and he was suddenly worried he’d spoken too soon.

Thankfully, the cutest little shy smile pulled at Leah’s lips. “I love you too.”

“Yeah?” he repeated, leading Leah to playfully slap his shoulder.

“Shut up and kiss me already.”

Leah felt more than heard Sy’s appreciative rumble. “Yes ma’am,” he growled before sealing his lips over hers.

Her hands snuck up his shirt, exploring the vast expanse of his back. Pinned under his comforting weight, there was no space left between them but she still tried to pull him closer by wrapping her legs around his waist.

“Ignore that,” Sy mumbled when his erection pressed against her covered core.

“You don’t have to.”

“I’m gonna anyway.”

By some twisted coincidence, breathless moans coming from the television pulled their attention away from each other and over to the screen where the King was being generously served by a woman on her knees.

Sy broke away from Leah’s hold, reaching for the remote and switching the show off. As he dropped back onto the couch, he took a deep breath, grateful for the moment of reprieve before he blew his load in his pants. Before they could get back to what they were doing, footsteps coming from the upper floor alerted them to the time.

“Shit, I need to get the car loaded. Caleb’s gonna be fussing with his hair until the last possible second so he won’t think to do it himself.”

“I should uh… I should go shower.”

Not wanting to draw attention to the little situation he would obviously be dealing with while he was in there, Leah simply nodded and moved towards the kitchen.

“Oh!” Sy looked up towards where Leah stood in the doorway of the kitchen. “Wear something warm and pull out some stuff for overnight. I’ll put it in a bag for later.”

Intrigued, the Captain made his way upstairs to get his clothes. As he walked by the half-open bathroom door, he saw Caleb bent over the counter as he styled his hair, wearing only a towel. With a smile on his face, Sy riffled through his duffle, tossing some clothes on the bed and taking his nicest jeans and henley to change into after his shower.

As he stepped under the spray in the small first floor shower, Sy was still at half-mast. As soon as he replayed the moment where Leah told him she loved him, he was back to granite. He put a hand on the wall and wrapped the other around the base of his cock, giving it a squeeze. There was no time to draw things out, he just needed a clear head for the rest of the night.

Leah might have thought he shut off the show to avoid making her uncomfortable but the truth was that he shut it off to stop picturing Leah on her knees for him. He would wrap that hair he loved so much around his fist and use it to move her head over his shaft.

The water rolled down his back as his muscle clenched with every stroke up and down his length. Sy released a shaky breath when his thumb slid over his tip just right. He slowly repeated the motion a few more times, causing his ass to clench as his hips bucked forward of their own accord.

“Shit,” he hissed, his head falling forward.

Closing his eyes, Sy envisioned Leah’s tongue darting out to taste the beads of precum dripping from his slit. Then her lips would wrap around the head and she would sink down the length of his dick, going further and further each time. Her small hand would work the bottom half of his shaft and when she would be done making him nice and wet, she would take her hand away and sink down until he hit the back of her throat.

Before he even realized he was close, Sy was shooting his load onto the shower wall. A shiver ran down his entire body as a choked moan escaped his lips.

“Holy shit.”

Though his chest was still heaving, Sy couldn’t afford to waste any more time. He quickly rinsed the shower wall and used the available bottle of body wash to clean himself and his beard.

Sy stepped out of the bathroom just as a voice sounded from the second floor.

“Leah, come on we gotta go!” Caleb ran down the stairs with his hair perfectly styled but his shirt not yet fully buttoned. “Where the hell did I put my wallet?”

“Your wallet is with your keys on the table. The car is loaded and the electric cooler is plugged in for the cold stuff. We’ll meet you there.”

That made Caleb freeze halfway through putting his shoes on. “The fuck you are.” He marched back towards the kitchen where Leah sat at the table. “Look, I know you weren’t legal yet but we made a deal when you got that death machine and we agreed you’d never drive it after drinking ever no matter how little and especially not at night.”

Sy didn’t appreciate the raised voice and was tempted to intervene but he knew better than to get in between fighting siblings or to fight Leah’s battle for her. Leah, however, didn’t at all seem phased by her brother’s outburst, crossing her arms and waiting for him to finish his rant.

“Do you have any idea how many motorcycle accidents we get in the ER and what kind of damage the riders get? Broken bones, concussions, road rash… that’s the injuries the lucky ones get. The unlucky ones go straight to the morgue.”

“Are you done?” she asked, standing and walking around the table.

Caleb looked taken aback by his sister’s calm tone.

“Sy has a rental car which he can use to drive us but I was thinking we could take the long way there with my bike and stay at the cabin tonight.”

“Oh.” Caleb let out a relieved sigh, wiping a hand down his face. He hadn’t automatically assumed she would be staying the night since the cabin only had one bedroom and they normally just made the half hour drive back so they could each sleep in their own beds. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell like that.” He pulled Leah into a hug, muttering an ‘I love you’ into her hair.

If Sy had to venture a guess, he would say that their open affection came from the unexpected loss of their dad. Caleb was obviously terrified something might happen to Leah as well. And who could blame him considering the things he witnessed every day working in a hospital emergency room?

“Do you ride?” Leah asked once she saw Caleb off.

Sy nodded. “I got my bike license before I got my car license.”

“So… What do you think about riding up together?”

With a sigh, he caught Leah by the hips, pulling her closer. She responded by clasping her hands around Sy’s neck.

“Darlin’, I’m willin’ to put my male pride aside for a lot of things ‘cause I know you’re tough as hell and independent to a fault but I draw the line at ridin’ bitch.”

He was expecting some kind of snappy retort at his choice of words but Leah just smirked.

“Who said you’d be the one ridin’ bitch?”

Now that sounded like an amazing idea. Leah’s bike didn’t have anything for a passenger to hold onto so she would be forced to wrap her arms around him if she wanted to stay in her seat.

“Well if you’re offerin’ so nicely.”

After Leah found her spare helmet and set up a GPS on the front of her bike, they packed their change of clothes in a backpack and set off for the evening. It didn’t take long to realize why Leah had suggested the ride. The fall colors were gorgeous along the open road. As a bonus, Leah��s body was pressed flush against his back, her legs framing his and her gloved hands fisted in his old leather jacket.

Sy was almost disappointed when Leah pointed out the dirt path that led off through the trees.

“Finally,” Caleb said as they walked in. He was halfway through the back door, holding a stack of what looked like four by fours in his arms. “L I need you to cut up the vegetables while me and Lachlan finish setting up the yard. Camden will be here soon with the stereo equipment.”

Out in the yard, Caleb’s friend was raking the leaves, while Caleb began attaching what Sy now knew to be legs to a table top.

“There isn’t much room in here so we take the legs off the tables when we store them. It also makes them easier to bring in and out of the cabin.”

Leah had obviously realized what he was looking at while she began pulling the vegetables out of the grocery bags.

“Why not just use folding tables?” he asked, taking everything over to the sink to be washed.

“Folding tables are expensive for what they are. Plus they’re often really narrow so my dad custom built three different tables that were the same size and could be attached together with brackets. With a power drill, it doesn’t take much longer to set up.”

Leah was almost done chopping the peppers and onions when the next person arrived, letting himself in.

The man gave a general greeting to the guys who’d come back inside to wash their hands before dropping his bags and moving to stand behind Leah. He put both hands over Leah’s ears and turned to Caleb.

“Why is Leah in the kitchen?” he stage whispered.

Caleb laughed, waving off the man’s concern. “Relax, she’s getting the vegetables ready. No cooking involved, only her scary knife skills.”

“Oh, well that’s fine.” He removed his hands and set them on her shoulders instead. “Hey Killer, welcome home.” He pressed a chaste kiss to her cheek before unpacking his supplies.

“Fuck you, I’m not that bad a cook,” she said, shooting a glare at the older man.

“Says the girl who managed to make a salad inedible.”

“You mix up the sugar and the salt one time…” she grumbled under her breath, looking back towards the cutting board.

Sy couldn’t help but smile at the adorable way she was pouting.

“Why does everyone call you Killer?” he asked, both genuinely curious and wanting to draw the attention away from Leah’s apparently lacking culinary skills.

A blush crept up Leah’s cheeks as she expertly sliced onions into long, even strips.

“It’s not everyone, just the guys who were around while I was in my freshman year of high school.”

“That doesn’t answer his question though,” Lachlan pointed out.

When Leah remained silent, Camden took over.

“One day, while me and our friend Niki were studying at his house, he got a call from Leah’s school asking him to come in because they couldn’t reach Caleb. When we get there, the principal calls Niki in and starts telling him how Leah was getting suspended because she attacked another student. The guy starts going on about how they will have to involve social workers if we can’t keep Leah in line and says that she needs a strong hand to keep her emotional outbursts in check. So Niki pulls me and Leah in and asks what caused the altercation. Turns out, the principal’s son had been calling Leah ‘doll’ despite her telling him numerous times to stop.”

“That’s when Niki asked if I was the only one being punished for what happened which was a stupid question seeing as they knew exactly who his son was and they knew for a fact that he could get away with murder.”

Camden hummed in agreement. “I was pre-law at the time so I gave him some speech about sexual harassment being a gateway to rape and that by not addressing the harassment he was condoning it and fostering a hostile study environment. It spooked him enough that he agreed to drop her suspension. Anyway once we left the school Niki made a comment about how Leah had every right to go Chucky on his punk ass. Killer kind of stuck after that.”

Never in a million years would Sy have guessed that Leah’s nickname would come from ‘killer doll’. In a way, it was kind of brilliant that they would use it as a way to praise her for sticking up for herself.

He remembered how Leah had said she’d isolated herself after their dad had died and realized it was probably a result of that asshole principal threatening to involve social services instead of admitting his own son had done something wrong.

“I’d never seen Niki so angry before,” Caleb chimed in. “When I got home from my midterm he looked about ready to hunt the kid down himself.”

“Still would have been better than Gage being the one to do it.”

“Fuck,” Caleb shook his head, clearly in agreement with Lachlan’s comment, “dad would have brought him back just to kill him all over again.”

When the three men stepped out to unload the stereo equipment, Sy slipped in behind Leah, putting his hands on her hips. “Is it all pet names that make you go serial killer or just ‘doll’?”

Leah looked outside, making sure Caleb was still out of earshot before she set the knife down and turned to face Sy.

“I lost my shit that day because he told me that if I wanted guys to notice me I should be a good little doll and only open my mouth when I wanted someone to stick something in it. I didn’t want any of them to worry more than necessary so I never told them.”

“Jesus,” he pulled Leah closer as if wanting to shield her from the memory, “I think that just ruined the word doll for me.”

He rested his forehead against Leah’s, taking a deep breath.

“That’s okay, I like ‘darling’ better anyway. Or baby girl, that was nice too.”

Chapter 23

#captain syverson #captain syverson fic #captain syverson fanfiction #captain syverson fanfic #henry cavill #cpt syverson fic #cpt syverson #cpt syverson fanfiction #captain syverson x ofc #cpt syverson x ofc #cpt syverson fanfic

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tzyuki · 5 months

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[ 김규빈 ] ONE & ONLY ꒰ K.GV x F!READER

023. #DittoSzn | smau + written (520 wrds)

IN WHICH ✶ — Rumors about Y/n pursuing a Zerobaseone member backstage at music bank start floating around the media after she and ZB1 member, Kim Gyuvin are seen talking behind in one of the episodes of ‘Eunchaes Star Diary’. Some netizens believe it and some don’t, some hated her for touching his shoulder and some didn’t care. Y/n went live to debunk the rumors, saying she wasn’t interested in a relationship at the time. The thing was, the rumors were true. She secretly was pursing Kim Gyuvin, or at least she wanted to. Ever since she first saw him backstage at M Countdown when ‘Love Killa’ team got to perform she was starstruck. She saw him at the vending machine and wished him luck in ‘Boys Planet’. She actually never had watched an episode of the survival show at all, she said it would be too painful for her, but that was the night she started to watch and most importantly, vote for Kim Gyuvin.

“Y/N WE DIED YOU’RE GONNA HAVE TO WIN FOR US.” Gyuvin and Wonyoung both died in the game. They were playing fortnite and had gotten rushed by a team while the match was almost over, leaving only Y/n alive. “I CAN’T CLUTCH I CAN’T CLUTCH.” Y/n shouted a new English word she had learned from one of her foreign friends.

“I’m so sorry guys.” Y/n groaned as a “YOU PLACED #4” flashed on her screen. “It’s okay, Y/n.” Gyuvin patted the girl's head. Y/n and Gyuvin himself were surprised at this gesture. “Next round, it's okay.” Wonyoung assured the girl.

“Y/n stay next to me, if you stay next to me you won’t die.” Gyuvin said as the three loaded into the game. “Gyuvin-ah, what about Wonyoung?” Y/n asked, Wonyoung nodded her head in agreement.

“Wonyoung can hold her own! She’s actually pretty good!” Gyuvin complimented the girl. “Thank you, Gyuvin-ssi.” Wonyoung said.

—

“CUT! That’s a wrap, good job everyone. Thank you.” The director yelled. “Y/n and Gyuvin, good chemistry today! Thank you for coming to set Wonyoung.” The director and Wonyoung bowed to each other.

Y/n walked over to her dressing room. “Unnie, can I keep this? Or can you get me one?” Y/n held up a tube of lip gloss her stylist has recently started to use on her. “I have an extra package of it in my car, let me go get it for you.” Her stylist walked out of her dressing room.

A few seconds later she heard two knocks on her door. “Unnie, why are you knocking?” Y/n chuckled as she turned her back to the door, surprised to see Kim Gyuvin and not her stylist.

“Oh…Hi, Gyuvin. Do you need something?” Y/n turned back to her mirror, taking her earrings off. “I wanted to ask you if you were busy after. Want to go get food?”

“Oh—Sorry, Gyuvin. I already have plans.” Y/n sighed as she looked at the man through the mirror. “Oh—Okay, well—what are you doing? We haven’t had a good talk in a while!” Gyuvin tried to bring the mood in the atmosphere up.

“I’m getting dinner with Jae—Jiu. I’m getting dinner with Jiu.” Y/n hoped Gyuvin didn’t hear her switch her sentence up. “Oh, fun! Uhm—Listen, about the other day. I’m so sorry about flipping out on you, there’s no excuse for that. I was just truly being really disrespectful and rude to you. I’m really sorry.” Gyuvin said in a pleading tone.

“You’re fine, I don’t care. Stuff happens, I forgive and forget.” Y/n said in a weird tone, Gyuvin was unable to read how she felt. “Ah, okay, okay. I still really am sorry, is there anything I could do to make it up to you?”

“I really don’t care anymore, I’m cool, you’re cool, we’re cool? Okay?” Y/n stood up and grabbed her bag that was resting on the couch. “Have a good day, Gyuvin. Tell the guys I say hi.” Y/n patted his shoulder before walking past him.

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#gyuvin smau #gyuvin drabbles #gyuvin imagines #gyuvin fluff #gyuvin scenarios #boys planet gyuvin #zerobaseone gyuvin #gyuvin x reader #zb1 gyuvin #kim gyuvin #zb1 drabbles #zb1 smau #zb1 scenarios #zb1 x reader #zb1

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measuredingold · 9 months

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safety net: part two

authors note: part two as promised! i hope you all enjoy and feedback is always appreciated. (p.s. please be kind :) don't like it, don't read it!)

pairing: nicholas ruffilo x reader (previous noah sebastian x reader)

cross-posted on ao3

part one

word count: 4.0k

cw/tags: fake dating/pretend relationship, past relationship (with noah), angstish, all around fluff, kissing lol, p in v (protected sex!!!!! always use protection pals), fingering, 18+ minors do not interact

A week later, you’re back at Nicholas’, curled up beside him as another one of his favorite movies play on the screen.

"Oh." You turn your head to look up at Nicholas. "Did I tell you some guy tried to ask me out last weekend?”

Nicholas stills beside you.” …No. What did he say?"

Last weekend was the first time in weeks that you and Nicholas didn’t hang out with each other, both busy in your own respective ways. He had band things to do, and you had promised a few of your friends you’d go out with them, since you had committed a lot of your time to Nicholas and pretending. It had been a good night, a pretty fun one, until a man came up to you.

Your friends gushed, having known about your break-up with Noah but not your current agreement with Nicholas, and it came as a complete shock when you had declined his offer with a smile. Your best-friend stared at you in shock, like you had said no to the fucking lottery, but the second you said you already had plans with a friend of yours she knew. She was the only one besides Nicholas who knew about what the two of you were doing, and she always had her suspicions, but this confirmed it all.

She gave you an ear full the next morning and told you to get the fuck over yourself and tell Nicholas how you felt, in which you called her crazy and never spoke about it again.

You shrug, focusing back on the screen. “Eh, not much. Told me I was beautiful and actually asked if I was busy tonight, which I was, so I told him no.”

Nicholas goes silent next to you, and you feel him sit up. You glance up at him, his eyes already on you, and he’s looking at you like you’ve got two fucking heads. You look around the room, confused, then back at him.

“What?”

“You said no to a date… to hang out with me?”

You pause.

“Well… yeah.” You shrug again, this time weakly. “I promised we’d watch this episode together.”

And he wasn’t you.

“…Okay.”

Silence fills the room. You try to relax back against his bed, but the way Nicholas seemed to be so taken back with your words wouldn’t leave your mind. You shift uncomfortably as the worry fills your mind and try to focus back on the movie, but the silence next to you didn’t help at all. You spare a glance at him and see him staring straight ahead, chewing on his bottom lip and you can’t help but wonder what he’s thinking.

Did he find it weird? Really, it wasn’t that weird. It’s not that far-fetched to decline plans when you already had some made… right?

The movie finishes almost an hour later and the two of you have barely spoken, barely even looked at each other. He’s still sitting on the bed in silence, almost as if he’s fighting with himself mentally when you slowly get up, walking over to where you jacket lied against his desk.

“Hey,” His voice startles you, your jacket slipping from your fingers. You turn to look at him. “I have a question.”

You watch as he finally sits up and swings his legs over the side of the bed. He looks nervous, brows furrowed as he finally looks at you for the first time in an hour.

“What’s up?”

He plays with his hands in his lap, picking at his fingers as he dips his head down. “…What is this?”

“What is… what, Nick?”

“This.” He looks up again and motions with his hands between the two of you, lips pulled down into a frown. “Us.”

“Oh.”

You’re not sure what to say, mouth falling slightly. Your heart pounds against your chest as his words settle into your mind. Us. Was he implying what you thought he was?

“I…” You begin, but no other words follow. How can you even answer that?

You press your lips together as your eyes meet Nicholas’. Something shines in his eyes, something you can’t exactly place but it was the same look he gave you after your kiss, and it’s enough to have your stomach swirling with nerves. Your heart pounds rapidly against your chest.

“This…” Nicholas sucks in a deep breath but his gaze doesn’t waver from yours. “This stopped being… pretend to me a while ago.” He lets out a huff of laughter, cheeks twinging in pink. “Actually, I’m not sure if it ever was pretend.”

Your eyes widen at his words, and you’re stunned into silence, not able to find the right words. I’m not sure if this was ever pretend. What did that mean? Okay, you knew what it meant but he couldn’t be serious, right? There’s no way this entire time he was into you. He would’ve said something.

…Right?

You swallow down your nerves as you catch his gaze again and he reaches out for you, and like some kind of gravitational pull, you’re stepping forward. He pulls you closer to him, fingers circling around your wrists and your body heats up just at the simple touch. Your feet move before you can even think about it, standing in between his legs easily. He looks up at you, eyes bright and so fucking hopeful. He releases your wrists and rests his hands against your hips.

“Please tell me you stopped pretending, too.”

Clear, grey eyes stare up at you and you swallow down the lump that was beginning to form in your throat. You have to take a deep breath to try and calm yourself down, the feeling of being overwhelmed almost taking over your entire body. It wasn’t bad, no, but it was a lot. You had hoped for this, hoping that Nicholas had felt the same, and the fact that he does was enough to make you want to cry.

You give him a tiny nod, scared to use your voice and reach up to brush your fingers through his hair. His eyes immediately flutter shut at the feeling, and you see the ghost of a smile on his lips, and it has your heart feeling like it’s about to soar right out of your chest. You smile down at him, fingers moving through his hair before you scratch at his scalp gently. He had told you once that he liked when people did that, and you stored it into the back of your mind to maybe use another day.

Today seems to be that day.

His eyes open to stare up at you again, fingers gripping around your hips.

“Come here.” He murmurs, gently tugging you to him.

You follow, your legs rising to rest on the bed and on each side of his hips, settling onto his lap easily. He tilts his head up, only slightly, and your lips barely brush together. You gasp, low and quiet but you're sure he's heard, especially with the teasing grin threatening to stretch across his lips. Your arms shake with nerves as they wrap around Nicholas' neck and he notices, his hands sliding up and down your sides reassuringly.

"You're shaking." He mumbles as your foreheads press together. You let out a shaky laugh, eyes fluttering shut.

"Sorry." You say sheepishly, "I'm nervous."

"Why?" He squeezes your hips gently before letting his hands wander up under the hem of your shirt, fingers brushing against your skin. "This wouldn't be the first time we've kissed."

Your cheeks heat up at that and you roll your eyes playfully, pulling back to tilt your head up towards the ceiling as a groan left you.

"Okay, but that was different!" You whine, eyes squeezing shut. "We were pretending then. This time is real."

"I wasn't pretending then." He murmurs, leaning forward to press a chaste kiss against the base of your neck. You freeze in his hold and his thumbs rub soothing circles against the skin of your hips, pressing another kiss. "It was very real to me.”

You blush at his words, shaky hands reaching up to card through Nicholas’ hair as he continued to place open mouthed kisses along your skin.

“It was real to me too.” You whisper, and feel him smile against your neck.

His lips moved tenderly against you before he reaches your chin, pulling away from you. You whine at the loss, eyes finally opening and gazing back down at him. He tilts his head up, eyes hooded, and you feel yourself leaning down as your eyes flutter shut.

His touch felt like electricity, even if it was barely there, and you couldn't stop yourself from shaking in his hold as your lips finally met his in a kiss. You let out a noise, something mixed with a whine and a cry, as your lips finally moved against one another’s, and Nicholas' fingers dug into your skin. It went from gentle to heated in a matter of seconds, soft pants leaving the both of you as your hips rocked down against his own, your lips still working against his.

He hisses, "Fuck", his grip on your hips tightening as you ground your hips into his. You felt his hardening cock underneath your now aching core and the feeling made you dizzy, more noises slipping from you as you pulled away, trailing your lips from his down to his neck.

"Baby," His voice is rough, and the pet name made you clench around nothing, teeth nibbling against the skin of his neck. He groans again. "If we keep going, I don't know if I'll be able to stop."

You feel one of his come up to the back of your head, fingers tangling in your hair to gently tug your head back and it pulls a whimper from you. His eyes were now blown wide, pupils dilated. It made your skin buzz, a shiver running up your spine at the look of pure desperation on his face. He wanted you just as bad as you wanted him. You rolled your hips down to meet his, your gaze never waving, and he pulled his bottom lip in between his teeth to hold in a moan.

"I need to know if this is what you want." He grits out and drops his hand back down to stop your hips from moving again. You whimper at the loss of friction, trying to wiggle in his hold, but his grip only tightens. "You need to tell me yes or no.”

"Nicky," You whine out, dropping your head to rest your forehead against his. "I would not be grinding on your fucking lap if I didn't want this. Yes, a million times fucking yes."

You see his eyes flutter shut and he lets out a huff of air, lips slowly curling up into a teasing smile as his grip loosened on your hips and brings a hand up to rest on the back of your neck.

"That wasn't so hard, now was it?"

He brings your head back down to his as your lips catch in another kiss. There was no gentleness behind it this time, all wet and messy as you continued to work yourself over his lap. Even with the layers between the both of you you could feel just how big he was, and the feeling of his clothed cock had your cunt already soaking through your underwear.

His hands that were on your hips have slid up under your shirt now, touching you everywhere that he could. You moan against his lips, not caring if you were loud.

“Off.” He mumbles against your lips before pulling back, whining softly. “Let me take this off, baby.”

Your brain is mush at this point, and you stare at him with hooded eyes, trying to come back to earth, but he’s already tugging your shirt up. You raise your arms to make it easier and before you know it it’s already tossed to the floor. You hiss when the cold air meets your chest, forgetting you hadn’t put on a bra, and you feel Nicholas’ eyes glued to you. You flush under his gaze.

His hands drop back to your hips and gently raises you up from his lap, and you get the hint, moving off of him and crawling onto the bed. Shirt already forgotten, your back meets the bed and you look up to watch Nicholas find a place in between your thighs, sliding his shirt off and tossing it to the ground beside your own.

He leans down to take one of your nipples into his mouth, while his fingers come up to play with the other. You moan, back arching off the bed and into him, and you feel him smile around you. He pulls off to glance up at you, keeping his eyes on yours as he trails his lips down your middle before reaching the top of your pants.

You bite down roughly on your bottom lip as he starts working them off of you, your hips lifting to help him slide your pants down your legs. He groans when he nestles back in between your legs, cheek pressing against your inner thigh.

“God, you’re already soaking. Aren’t you, sweetheart?” His eyes aren’t on you, but instead on your center, locked on the dampness in between your legs.

You clench around nothing. “Nicky.”

Your whines pull him from his thoughts and his clear eyes flicker towards yours, brows raised in question. You blush.

“Tell me what you want.”

“You.” You whimper, growing impatient. “I want you.”

This makes him smile, all bright and pretty and your chest clenches at the sight. He leans up to press a few kisses against your hip before tucking his fingers into your underwear, tugging them down your legs. Once discarded, he dips his head back between your thighs, and without warning he licks a long stride up your drenched folds. You moan out in surprise, hands immediately darting down to tangle in his hair.

He takes this as motivation and shows no mercy, tongue flicking over your already swollen clit. You feel his pointer finger poke at your entrance before slowly sliding in, curling into the spot immediately. You squeeze your eyes shut as his mouth works against you, his finger slowly pumping in and out of you. It already felt like heaven, the heat in your stomach building up. He adds another finger, stretching you out deliciously, and you tug at his hair when you feel yourself clench around his fingers.

He pulls back from you and rests his cheek back against your thigh, still working two fingers in and out of you. You have to force yourself to open your eyes and stare down at him, a smirk settling on his now slick lips.

“Think you can take another?” He questions softly, turning his head to press a kiss to your thigh before resting his cheek against it again. You nod but whimper halfway through it, his fingers curling inside of you. “Words, baby.”

“Yes.” You moan out, rocking your hips up into his hand. “I can. Fuck. Give it to me.”

He adds a third finger, and you brace yourself for the stretch. It burns more than you’re used to, and he can tell, feeling your cunt spasm around his fingers. He hisses out a moan but pauses his movements, letting you adjust, before you give him the okay. The only sound in the room are your moans, getting louder with each thrust of his fingers. He pulls them out all too soon, the heat in your stomach almost snapping, and you can’t help but whine in protest.

“Sorry, ‘m sorry.” His voice is muffled against your thigh as he presses a few more kisses there. “But the first time I make you cum, I want it to be around my cock.”

His words have you shivering, and you watch as he pushes himself up and off the bed, and you can’t help but follow his fingers as they mess with his belt. He pushes his jeans down in one go, and your thighs clench together at the sight of his hardening cock straining against the fabric of his boxers. Your eyes widen as you watch him push his boxers down, his hard cock springing free from its confines.

You could feel that he was big when you were grinding on his lap earlier but seeing it with your own eyes made your mouth water, eyes following him as he finally crawled back onto the bed. He was definitely the biggest you had been with. You don’t think you’ve ever wanted something more in your life, and at this point you don’t care if it ends up inside you or your mouth. You just need it.

You start to grow impatient as he rolls the condom onto his cock, hips wiggling against the bed. He chuckles but doesn't say a word, a hand running up your thigh before hiking it up against his hip. He hisses as he wraps a hand around the base of his cock and drags his tip up and down your folds, and your breath hitches at the feeling of the tip catching at your entrance. He pauses, eyes locking with yours to silently ask if he can continue, and you nod.

You suck in a breath when he slowly pushes himself in, inch by inch, and your fingers grip around the bedsheets. The stretch burns, but it feels so fucking good.

“Fuck. You feel like fucking heaven, baby.” Nicholas looks down to where the two of you meet, before flicking his gaze back up to yours. “Alright?”

You nod, squeezing your eyes shut as he pushed further in.

“Mhm.” Is all you can manage to say through your ragged breaths, whimpering quietly when he finally bottoms out.

Nicholas leans forward, resting his arm beside your arm to hold himself up while his free hand comes up to cup your cheek. His hips still once he’s fully inside and you hear him take a deep breath, thumb brushing against your cheek. It takes you a few moments as you let yourself get used to feeling of him inside of you, the stretch finally turning from pain into pleasure, and your eyes flutter open to look up into his.

“You can move.” You hum out and he nods, dipping his head down to catch your lips against his own.

He pulls back until only the tip is in before giving a shallow roll of his hips. Even with the condom you were still able to feel everything, his cock sliding in and out of you with ease as his hips continued. Your back arches off the bed at the feeling of his cock pressing deep inside you, mewling his name against his lips. This only spurs him on, a low growl leaving him as his movements sped up.

Flesh slapping against flesh, the mix of heavy pants and high-pitched whines filled the room. You’re not even kissing now, lips parted and brushing together as Nicholas thrusted deep inside of you again, and again, and again.

“Shit.” His forehead presses against your own, eyes dropping down to where the two of you met and he gave a shallow roll of his hips that has you crying out. “Taking me so well, sweetheart. Like you were fucking made for it.”

His hips snap against yours to enunciate each word and your eyes roll back at how deep he was, at how full you felt, and your cunt clenched around his cock. He moans, deep and low from deep within his chest, and the hand that was cupping your cheek fell in between your bodies. Calloused fingers press against your swollen clit and your body jolts, back arching again.

Nicholas leans down, pressing messy open-mouthed kisses against the span of your neck, rubbing quick circles around your sensitive bud. The heat in your belly was building up once again and you knew you were close, the feel of his cock and fingers against your clit was slowly pushing you over the edge.

“C’mon, baby.” He groans out, followed by a moan as his forehead pressed against yours again, fingers pressing harder against your abused clit. “I wanna feel you, please.”

You came with a sob, your cunt spasming around his cock as the warmth of your release flowed throughout your body. You went rigid, back halfway off the bed, vision blurring. Nicholas whimpered above you, your pussy still clenching around him and he gave another deep thrust before going still, his face pressing against the crook of your neck.

The two of you lie there for a moment, chests heaving as you tried to come back to the present. It was hot and sticky, but you found yourself not minding the feel of Nicholas pressed against you, tiredly reaching up to card your fingers through his hair. He makes a noise, the hum of it tickling your neck, and you scratch at his scalp.

“Shit.” He finally says, pulling his head up to look at you.

You can only give him a fucked-out grin in response, the ability to form words having left you awhile ago. He chuckles before leaning in, pressing a much gentler kiss to your swollen lips before pulling away seconds later. He slips out of you carefully, but you still whine at the feeling, and he mutters out a quick “Sorry, baby,” before standing up from the bed and throwing away the condom.

He searches around the room for something to clean you off with before settling for the shirt he had just discarded, running it between your thighs carefully. You let him take care of you, only because you know how much he wants to, and the thought makes your skin buzz. You sit up on the bed and stretch out your now sore limbs while he changes into comfier clothes and watch as he grabs some for you.

“Arms up, sweetheart.”

You blush but follow his directions, arms lifting and letting him dress you. You weren’t used to this, usually having to defend for yourself after a hook up, but having Nicholas do this for you has your heart clenching.

Finally, in much comfier clothes than before you lie back down on the bed, on your side this time, and Nicholas crawls in beside you, tucking his body into yours.

“That was… nice.” You hum quietly as Nicholas pressed his face against your neck again.

“Just nice?” He teases. You let out a sleepy laugh as Nicholas wraps an arm around your waist, pulling you close.

“No, it was absolutely mind-blowing. Best sex I’ve had in a long time.” You say matter-of-factly, turning your head to press a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you.”

His body shakes with laughter now, his hand dipping beneath his your shirt. “… Are you thanking me for rocking your world?”

“I sure am.”

His laughter doesn’t subside until he pulls back to look at you, giving you another smile that you easily return. You share a glance before you’re leaning in, lips brushing against each other. There’s something behind this kiss, much tender than the previous ones shared, and you think you finally understand what he’s trying to convey to you without actually saying a word. It has your stomach turning, heart flipping beneath your chest as he pulls you into him, hand sliding down to your thigh to prop your leg up over his.

A knock at the door breaks your moment with Nicholas, the two of you pulling away to look at each other like a deer caught in a headlight.

“Uh,” You hear Jolly’s muffled voice from the other side. “I was going to ask if you’d like to join us for a movie, but I can uh… hear that you’re pretty busy. So… do you care to at least keep it down this time?”

You and Nicholas can only laugh in response and you press your face against his hair to try and hide your burning cheeks.

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