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hopepetal · 5 months

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Hi! It's been a while, hasn't it?

@applestruda, @periwinklemoonlight, and I have been working on arc three of the boatem knights au for quite a while now. We hope you enjoy it :)

At the moment, the second chapter is not ready for posting, so it won't be out for a while.

Boatem Knights AU fic masterlist

Read on AO3!

Reblogs and comments are much appreciated :)

His nightmares hadn’t gone away.

Feathers rustling in the wind, Grian gazed up toward the night sky. Sighing heavily, he glanced back toward Pearl’s tent. She had offered for him to join her many times– avians were highly sociable after all, and often slept in the same nest– but he’d refused. He wouldn’t want to wake her up as well.

It didn’t make sense.

Dreams of a desert, of cold silver skin, of red eyes and names and flowers and blood. And every day they’d gotten worse. More vivid.

Whatever it was, it wasn’t something Grian had the energy to figure out right now. He needed sleep.

He stood up and walked back to his own tent, and settled down for what would be another restless night.

And he hadn’t woken up the next day.

Or the day after that.

The first day Grian slept through, Pearl hadn’t been too worried. With how bad her brother’s insomnia could get, it wasn’t a rare occurrence for him to not get enough sleep during the night and then make up for it during the day. She’d checked in on him, of course, and smiled softly at the sight of him curled up in his blankets, wings resting on either side of him as he smushed his face into the pillow.

“He probably just had a rough night,” she mentioned to the others during lunch, “I wouldn’t bother him.”

Mumbo looked up, frowning slightly. “Hasn’t he mentioned having nightmares for a while now? Maybe that’s what’s been keeping him up.”

Pearl nodded, wings fluttering anxiously behind her. “Yeah. The last few months have been rough on him.”

“I think it’s from all the building we have to do,” Scar piped up. “Trying to finish the lodge has been a nightmare.”

“We’re almost done!” Pearl argued, optimistic as ever. “Just a little more, then we’re all set!”

Mumbo slumped back in his seat, letting out a soft huff. “Can’t we just leave it as is? I think it’s perfectly well done.”

Scar raised an eyebrow, leaning back with a smirk. “I think you just don’t like building, mister.”

Mumbo rolled his eyes, though he was unable to hold back a grin. “Well, it’s certainly not my favorite activity. I’d much rather be–”

“–working on your redstone, we know.” Impulse chuckled, shaking his head. “Unless you want to be buried in snow by the time winter comes around, we probably shouldn’t be calling the lodge ‘perfectly well done’.”

Mumbo grumbled a little at that, much to the amusement of the others. “Look, I’ll do my tasks and everything, but I’m not happy about it!”

Pearl laughed, leaning against the table. “You gotta weigh your options, mate. Either build the lodge now, or be wet and freezing during the winter. Which one would you prefer?”

“Well, when you put it that way…”

The knights quickly finished lunch after that, making small talk as they cleaned and put away the dishes. The leftovers from lunch were stored away for later, placed in the shed they had built a while back so that the wild animals wouldn’t be able to get into their food.

“Same duties as earlier?” Impulse asked Pearl as they all made their way to the half-finished lodge.

Pearl nodded, pulling her hair back into a ponytail. “I don’t see why we would change them. I’ll take on Grian’s duties on top of mine, though I can’t promise I’ll be as fast.”

“Good thing we’re so ahead of schedule, then!” Scar piped up. “It’s a lot easier to focus on one thing instead of a whole bunch of tiny tasks.”

Pearl laughed, her wings fluttering in amusement. “That, and we’re all insanely fast builders. Who would’ve thought?”

Impulse grinned. “Well, I’m just naturally good at everything I do, so I’m not surprised.”

Laughing and joking, the four went about completing their tasks. The sounds of construction filled the air, conversation occasionally popping up alongside it. As the day progressed, it began to get hotter and hotter, construction slowing down as it did so.

Finally, the sun began to set, and their long day of work was called to an end by Mumbo. It was just routine at this point– the knights would work until the sun began to set and then they’d all gather at the west end of camp to watch the sun go down. Mumbo was always the quickest to put away his tools, and today was no different. Impulse and Scar went to join him, while Pearl slipped off to go check on her brother. Just as she had expected, he had barely moved from his sleeping position, only shifted slightly in a likely effort to get more comfortable. She pulled up one of the ottomans, settling down next to his bed.

Reaching out, Pearl gently brushed some hair out of her brother's warm face, smiling slightly. “Heyyy, Griba,” she murmured, softly so that she wouldn't startle him if he wasn't fully asleep, “you doing alright, mate? You've been asleep all day.” No response. He must've been really out of it. “Well, I brought some food and fresh water. It’ll be on the side table for when you wake up– you must be pretty hungry.” She sighed softly, leaning back. “Well, I’m exhausted. I’ll see you tomorrow, Griba. I love you.”

Standing, Pearl quietly left the tent and joined the other knights to watch the sun finish setting. She settled down next to Scar, leaning against him with a sigh. The grass was soft against her skin as she sat and tried to relax, breathing in the fresh air and exhaling the anxiety that was building in her chest. Her whole body ached from the exertion of a day spent building, and the cool night air that brushed against her skin and wove through her hair was a welcome relief from the end of summer heat.

Scar glanced over at Pearl, giving her his signature crooked smile. “How’s our sleeping friend holding up?” he asked.

Pearl sighed softly, closing her eyes briefly. “Still sleepin’ the day away,” she answered. “I dropped off some food and water in case he wakes up and needs something. I'm glad he’s getting rest, though. I think I’m gonna keep him from helping us work on the lodge for a bit, though. It can’t be good for him to be exhausted and pushing himself like that.”

“Agreed.” Impulse stretched before running a hand through his hair, carefully avoiding his horns. “It’s hard work we’re doing here, man. Kinda wish Skizz could’ve stayed a little longer to help out, but I guess a man’s gotta do his job.”

“And Tango’s been busy,” Scar added, “apparently he's workin’ on a super secret fly-ification project, whatever that means.”

“Sounds terrifying,” Pearl laughed, Impulse nodding along in agreement. Mumbo’s attention seemed to have been caught by that, and he perked up.

“A project? Do you think he’d let me take a look? I know he had mentioned a few things about combining redstone and engineering and really, it was quite fascinating and we had a truly intriguing discussion on…” Mumbo trailed off, noticing how Pearl and Scar were just staring at him. “...well, Impulse gets me!” he flusteredly got out, and the others began to laugh.

Impulse smiled, chuckling. The light from the setting sun reflected off his piercings, causing them to shine when they caught the light. “That I do, buddy. That I do.”

Mumbo blinked. “Well. Alright, then.”

Pearl stood as the sun finally dipped below the horizon, stretching her wings as the shadows began to grow over the land. “I don’t know about you, but I am absolutely exhausted. I’m heading off to bed. Good night!” She spread her wings and took off, flying low over the ground until she reached her tent. She landed softly, ducking into her tent and changing into her night clothes– soft blue pajamas with stars and little crescent moons.

Sleep called her name, and Pearl felt the weight of exhaustion pulling her down. She climbed into bed, settling on her stomach and wrapping her arms around the soft pillow. She’d just barely closed her eyes before sleep descended like a soft blanket, and she drifted into unconsciousness.

Grian didn’t wake up the next day.

When Pearl woke, her limbs still somewhat sore from the day before, she went to check in on Grian before she started her morning chores. He wasn’t up, which meant he hadn’t woken up during the night and stayed up until dawn (again). Pearl was still a little concerned nonetheless, and rushed through her morning chores so that she could go check on Grian.

When she peeked into his tent, her worry increased at the fact that he hadn’t touched his food or water, and had barely moved from the sleeping position she’d last seen him in. “Griba?” she called softly, “Griba, hey. Are you up?” Upon receiving no answer, she carefully crept forward and placed a gentle hand against his head.

Oh, no.

Grian had a fever.

“Griba.” She gently shook him. “Griba. Grian. Grian. Wake up.” Her voice became more frantic as her brother continued to be unresponsive, anxiety spiking in her chest as she tried to wake him. “Please. Don’t do this. Don’t do this, Grian. Please.”

Still, nothing.

Pearl’s gaze went to the side table, and she stumbled over, grabbing the pen and some blank paper that had been sitting there. Quickly, she wrote down a message to Cub, trying to keep her hands from shaking as she did so.

Cub,

I’ve been sending quite a few letters lately and I hate to bother you once more, but Grian is sick. He isn’t waking up, and he slept all through yesterday as well. When I checked on him this morning, he was burning up. I’ve tried waking him up, but he hasn’t even responded.

Please come as soon as you can.

Pearl

She began folding the paper as she ducked out Grian’s tent, almost running into Scar as she did so. “Ah! Oh, mate, careful!”

Scar laughed softly, pressing his hands to his chest. “You scared me, Pearl!” he retorted, taking a moment to calm himself down. He caught sight of the paper in Pearl's hands. “Sending another letter, are we?” he asked. “More moth mail?”

Pearl, despite the anxiety she was currently feeling, had to smile. Rolling her eyes, she responded, “We’re not calling it moth mail, Scar.” She closed her eyes and breathed out, pushing her magic into the paper. It took the form of a moth, glowing with enchantments, and flew off. She was quiet for a moment with Scar as they watched it fly off, before sighing. “Grian’s sick,” she told him, “and he’s not waking up. I was just sending a letter to Cub to ask him to come up and check on him.”

Scar frowned, humming thoughtfully. “And this isn’t just Grian being Grian?” he asked, but Pearl shook her head.

“He’s not waking up, and he’s running a fever. Which, if he was even responding a tiny bit, would be fine, but he’s not even– it’s like he can’t hear me at all. Normally he’d at least have woken up a little and smacked me away or something, but…” Pearl shook her head. “Nothing. He was just… sleeping.”

“Should we let the other two know?” Scar asked, gesturing with his head over to where Impulse and Mumbo were. They were working on the lodge once more– Mumbo, struggling to walk with the heavy materials and Impulse, carrying as much as he could and encouraging Mumbo on with a smile and kind words.

Pearl nodded, already starting to walk toward them. “Absolutely. C’mon, mate!”

Scar jogged over until he was walking by Pearl's side. “Hey! Mister Mumbo Jumbo! Impulse! Hey!” he shouted, waving his arms over his head. “Over here!”

Pearl laughed, shaking her head slightly. “Scar, no need to shout. They’re right there.” Her wings fluttered anxiously behind her as they approached Mumbo and Impulse. “Hey, you two.”

Impulse set down the logs he had been carrying, and Mumbo did the same before collapsing into the grass. “Heya Pearl,” Impulse greeted, “what’s up?”

“Not good news, unfortunately.” The mood sombered up as soon as those words left Pearl's mouth. “Grian’s sick, and he’s not waking up. I sent a message to Cub, but I’m gonna run to the village real quick to grab some general medicine and such. I meant to get some on the next trip, but…” She trailed off. “Clearly, we need them now.”

“Do you want me to come with you?” Impulse offered, to which Pearl shook her head.

“I’ll be flying. It’s faster that way.” Pearl glanced over at Scar, who had joined Mumbo in the grass. “Can you three keep watch over Griba and the camp while I’m gone? Oh, and keep an eye out for a response to the letter I sent to Cub– it’ll be coming back as an enchanted moth, you know what they look like. I don’t think he’ll be sending you a response this quick, but better alert than caught sleeping.” She coughed slightly. “Uh. Excuse the irony of that wording. It’s just a phrase.”

Impulse nodded. “Don’t worry about a thing, Pearl. We’ve got things handled here. Go and get the medicine.”

Scar stood, helping Mumbo up as well. “Yeah! We’ll stop working on the lodge for a bit while this whole thing is goin’ on. Grian’s more important than a building, anyway.”

Pearl heaved a sigh of relief, smiling softly. “Oh, thank you all. This means a lot.” She stretched, spreading her wings and fluttering them slightly before relaxing. “Right. I’ll be off then. Stay out of trouble, ya hear?”

Scar saluted. “Aye aye!”

With that, Pearl took off, flying over the camp and toward the village. Worry settled uneasily in her stomach, squeezing her chest as she tried to not spiral into an anxiety attack. It would not be good to do that while flying, she figured.

Grian would be fine. Grian would be– he was fine, he was just sick and once he got rest everything would go back to normal. They’d continue building the lodge and get it done before winter and then they’d move on to their next adventure.

Yeah.

Everything was going to be fine.

In a house surrounded by much more greenery than the canyon that it sat in, Cub was working on a very dangerous project.

Well, it wasn’t dangerous– as long as he took proper care when he was around it and made sure to wear protective gear, of course. A mask fit snugly over his mouth and nose, and he wore elbow long gloves with his lab coat sleeves tucked into them to make sure there was zero possibility of the subject of his experiment touching his skin.

Holding up the blue-green mold (sculk, the book had called it) up to the light with a pair of tweezers, Cub squinted. It appeared to almost have a sort of heartbeat, he noticed, as it pulsed rhythmically. It might’ve grossed some out, but it made Cub grin. This was so exciting. He had only heard of sculk before, from ancient books and harrowed miners who had narrowly escaped death. To be able to study it like this, up close… it was a dream come true.

Cub jotted down some more notes with one hand, holding up the sculk with his other hand. His attention divided, focus solely locked in on the things he was writing, it was no wonder he got startled by the enchanted paper moth that landed on his desk. He dropped the tweezers with a loud swear, the sculk landing in his lap. No matter– he simply picked it back up with his gloved hands and put it back into its container, sealing it away. He then carefully unfolded the moth, recognizing instantly Pearl's handwriting.

He frowned as he read the letter, before sighing heavily. “I really can’t leave them alone for five minutes, can I?” Glancing back down at his desk, Cub bit his lip, weighing his options in his head. He really had to finish this current experiment in a certain time frame, and Grian was a healthy man (and a Watcher, besides!). He’d be fine if he had to wait for a little while longer.

He went and wrote a response on the back of the letter Pearl had sent, chuckling slightly at how his handwriting compared to Pearl’s.

Pearl,

I’ll be there as soon as I finish up what I was doing. I assume it’ll take me quite some time, so I’ll head out early tomorrow morning. Keep an eye on Grian, give him some medicine and try to get some fluids into him.

Don’t panic. Remember what I’ve been telling you in our letters– take a deep breath, calm yourself, and try not to let your thoughts spiral. You’re doing a great job.

Cub

He carefully folded the paper back up, watching as the magic Pearl imbued into it activated, and the moth sprang to life before fluttering off in the direction it came from. Cub’s sharp eyesight caught the moment it burst into purple sparks of magic and sped off into the distance– “moth mail” always fascinated him. It was clearly a concept Pearl had either made up or been taught, and he’d have to ask her some more questions about it later.

But for now, the sculk called his name.

It took a little longer than expected to finish up the experiment, but Cub always stayed true to his word. The next day, he woke up with the gray light of dawn and gathered his things, taking care to lock his door before leaving.

The sun began to rise as Cub started down the familiar path to the camp.

You know how this story goes, by now.

Grian didn’t wake up the next day.

Pearl did her best to follow the advice in Cub’s letter– give Grian fluids, take deep breaths, try not to spiral, try not to spiral, try not to–

She was fine. She was fine.

…which was why she ended up breaking down into tears when Scar asked her how she was feeling, and felt his arms wrap around her and pull her close. “I’m– I’m sorry, I just–” She gasped for air, squeezing her eyes shut tight as hot tears cooled on her skin. Her hands were trembling as she wrung them together, trying to lean into Scar’s calming presence.

Scar gently shushed her, carefully patting her back between her wings as he tried to soothe her. “It’s a stressful situation, Pearl,” he murmured, his voice quiet and comforting. “It’s okay to be scared. Did you wanna send a letter to Jimmy or something? I’m sure he would be more than willing to come on up for a little bit to help out.” As he spoke, he pulled away from the hug and summoned Jellie, setting the furry blue familiar on Pearl’s lap. “Pet the Jellie. You’ll feel better.”

Pearl smiled weakly through her tears, beginning to gently stroke Jellie’s fur. She felt the tension begin to leave her body as Jellie started purring, her breathing evening out as the cat curled up on her lap. “No… no, Jimmy worries more than I do, I don’t think it would be good to stress him out over this… because it’ll be fine. It’s going to be fine.”

Scar nodded. “Right you are, Pearl. It’s gonna be just fine. G’s just taking a big ol’ nap right now, sleepin’ off that nasty fever of his. Give him a little longer and he’ll be just like new. Cub will help him out and then he’ll get rid of that darn sickness in no time!”

Mumbo, who was sitting nearby, leaned forward. “Scar is right, you know. This isn’t the first time one of us has come down with a nasty illness of some sort. Grian just needs a little care and rest, I’m sure!”

Pearl nodded, taking in deep breaths as she continued to idly pet Jellie, wiping stray tears from her face. “Thanks, Scar. Mumbo. I needed that.”

Scar smiled reassuringly, giving her a thumbs up. “No problem, Pearl.”

Mumbo simply nodded, smiling. “Of course, mate.”

It wasn’t long after that Cub finally walked out of Grian’s tent, his expression kept carefully neutral. “Hey, you three. Pearl, could I speak with you?”

Pearl nodded, anxiety spiking once more as she prepared herself for whatever Cub was about to tell her. “Yeah. Of course. Scar, do you mind…?” She gestured toward Grian’s tent with a slight nod, standing up from where she had been sitting next to Scar in the grass and handing him Jellie.

Scar jumped up as well, brushing off his pants before taking Jellie and quietly dismissing his familiar. “Of course, my dear Pearl! I’ll keep a close eye on G.” Scar ducked into Grian's tent, going to take a seat on the ottoman that had remained pulled up next to Grian’s bed. He settled himself down, letting out a soft sigh and leaning forward.

There was a moment of silence.

“Y’know, G, this isn’t funny anymore.” Scar swallowed dryly, licking his cracked lips. “I’m all for pranks and stuff, but this is going too far. Pearl’s upset, Mumbo is worried, Impulse is trying to keep the other two calm, and I’m…” He shook his head. “C’mon, G. Please.” His voice cracked on the last word. “Please.”

No response. Of course. Grian was asleep, why would he respond?

“I mean, really. It's like you’ve been cursed or something,” he weakly joked, before the thought really hit him. Could Grian have been…?

Scar closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and shifted into his vex form.

The smell of magic, powerful and wrong, was so strong Scar nearly gagged. He stumbled back, eyes widening as he realized that the magic was coming from Grian, wrapping around his body and curling around his throat.

Slowly, hesitantly, Scar approached Grian and knelt by the bed. Reaching out, he carefully opened one of Grian’s eyes with his hand.

Purple.

Grian’s eyes were glowing purple.

Scar felt the magic suddenly recede, drawing into Grian like the water being pulled back into the sea. With a sharp inhale, he stumbled back, shifting out of his vex form as he burst out from the tent. “Guys!” he yelled, “guys, something's wrong with–!”

Grian’s magic exploded outwards.

Pearl screamed, lunging forward as she shifted into her Watcher form, wrapping her arms around the only person close enough for her to protect– Mumbo. The two fell to the ground, surrounded by a translucent magic shield that glowed in blue and silver hues. All around them, purple magic swirled and raged like a storm, and all they were able to do was watch as Impulse and Scar collapsed.

Cub was pushed to his knees, vex form flickering as his own shield began to crack around him. The magic howled in a screeching voice, swirling around Cub’s shield in an attempt to break through and take him as well.

“Pearl–!” Mumbo cried out, clinging to her tightly. He was pressed against the ground and could hardly see past Pearl, but what he could see terrified him. Pearl’s shield was beginning to give under the incessant pushing of Grian’s out of control magic, and there was nothing he could do but watch.

Pearl bit out a sob, holding Mumbo close. The strain of fighting against her brother’s magic had her gasping, grabbing for any and all energy she had to pour into the shield around her and Mumbo. Raising her head, guilt and fear filled her chest as she caught sight of Impulse and Scar, limp on the ground. She could only pray that they were okay. That they were alive.

The magic like raging wind reached a peak, screaming so loud Pearl’s sensitive ears ached. And just like that, it was over.

Pearl, Cub, and Mumbo were the only ones awake when their shields came down.

All across the realm, Grian’s magic reached out and pulled others into a deep sleep. A king and his hand, alongside his best soldier. A huntsman. A time wizard, armorer, and a friend of the nearby innkeep. A man who guided others through the mountains. An avian, netherborn, and a man who sold flowers.

One by one, they were surrounded by purple magic, angry and screaming and wanting. And one by one, they all fell asleep.

Grian woke up to impossibly familiar faces and one objective: survive.

He pushed himself up from the ground, shaking his head slightly to clear the fuzz as he looked around at the gathered group. “Welcome to Third Life,” he greeted in a voice that wasn’t quite his own, with words he wasn’t sure how he knew. “You all have three lives. Once you lose your last life, you are out.”

Confusion and concern echoed from those around him, and Grian raised his voice. “When you are on your last life– your red life– you will become hostile. All previous alliances will be broken.”

A deep breath.

“Good luck.”

#my writing #boatem knights au #impulsesv #pearlescentmoon #grian #goodtimeswithscar #mumbo jumbo #cubfan135 #jellie the cat #hermitcraft fanfic #third life fanfic #third life

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slashbitch2 · 10 months

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blood, betrayal and granola bars PT1

Summary: after a routine takeover of a HYDRA base goes terribly wrong, Natasha Romanoff finds herself stuck with her worst nightmare...you. Natasha Romanoff x Fem!Reader W.C: 5.7k Words part two

An explosion to your left sent shrapnel and debris flying through the air. You quickly tucked your face into the crook of your arm, too distracted by the task at hand to take note of whether anything had pierced your skin. The sound of not-too distant gunshots motivated you onwards as adrenaline pumped throughout your body and numbed the injuries you were sure to have acquired.

Another blast, this time to the right and a lot closer. Shockwaves had you stumbling backwards, falling to the ground and catching your breath. The explosion was intense enough to have penetrated the outer wall of the building, now exposing you to the frigid environment that lurked outside. You felt a gust of wind encircle you, carrying a chill with it. You shivered, watching as the flakes of snow drifted inside now.

An obstructed voice crackled in your earpiece. “ALL REMAINING PERS-NEL TO LAND- BAY ONE.” You rose to your feet, cringing at the pain that shot through your right side. “I REPEAT--- LAST AIRCRAFT CLEARED FOR TAKE OFF—LANDING BAY ONE.”

The aircraft hanger wasn’t too far away, but common sense told you there was no way you would make it in time. Even then, the likelihood of it successfully taking off in these conditions and without being shot down was slim. You leant against the wall, ready to sink back to the ground in defeat.

A distant boom sounded, followed by the very walls around you shaking and groaning as if barely able to hold up the remaining structure. Then a clunk, and suddenly the fluorescent white lighting switched off. You were thrown into an obscurity which matched the darkness outside. It seemed as though the night air was seeping in through the gap in the wall, shadows suffusing across the maze of corridors.

And then, ironically late, a siren rang out. It started quietly elsewhere, then grew louder and louder until the sound was echoing around your end of the base. A second later and the accompanying red emergency lights turned on, drenching the grey walls, ceiling and floor a bloody red.

Your eyes scanned the area, thankfully deserted, head whipping from side to side as you tried to work out where exactly you were in amongst the chaos. Your gaze fell upon a sign engraved into the wall reading NW12, the corridor you were currently in. Despite having spent the last couple months stationed in the base, your mind was blank and muddled. You desperately scoured your mind for if there was anywhere nearby which could possibly help your situation.

The storage room.

It was just at the end of the corridor and to the left, tucked away in a corner hopefully no one would have found yet. With a new motivation pushing you onwards, you set off at a jog, boots clanging against the metal ground at an uneven pace. Muffled gunshots, screams and footsteps continued playing in the background in a horrifying loop. As you turned the corner, you prayed nobody was round the other side, but didn’t dare to spare a glance.

The emergency protocols meant all locks had been disabled, but pure exhaustion and desperation had you all but slamming yourself against the storage room door. It gave way under your body weight, and you rather ungracefully stumbled through the doorway.

Most the shelves were barren, with everyone having grabbed what they could as the invasion began. But hidden away on the bottom corner shelf you caught sight of a First Aid kit. You lunged towards it, willing to take anything you could. To your convenience, someone had abandoned their backpack in the room, so you grabbed hold of that and shoved the kit inside. The backpack contained a jacket, gloves, pencil and an empty water bottle, so you stole those too,

Was it still stealing if the owner was probably already dead?

There wasn’t much left in terms of weapons. You had a gun on you when the conflict begun, but by now most of the bullets had been fired. All that remained in the storage room was a taser, which you opted to take anyway. It was better than nothing.

With replenished supplies, you decided now was as good as any time to leave. There was an underground garage with several vehicles equipped for tough terrain, and so that was probably your best bet if it hadn’t been raided by now.

The base was located quite literally in the middle of nowhere, with only one road in and out: a straight dirt track that was likely covered by a thick layer of snow this time of year. It was never busy as the base was relatively new and unknown amongst most HYDRA agents. To have been stationed here was an honour, and the fact that the base had been discovered by SHIELD was almost unbelievable.

Brandishing your gun in front of you and ready to fire at will, you began the journey to the garage. For a couple minutes, only the alarm and an eerie silence accompanied your passage through the base. With most the building being in ruins now, the conflict appeared to have been taken outside. SHIELD versus Hydra. Both attempting to evacuate while both making a last-ditch attempt at stopping each other from escaping unharmed.

They were as bad as each other…

Opting for a riskier approach, you lowered your weapon in order to start sprinting. Monotonous grey corridors turned into a blur around you, marked only by the occasional splatter of blood and lifeless body left to rot. Or even worse, the ones still conscious that called meekly out for help. You felt sick to your stomach. SHIELD and HYDRA agents lay alongside each other, unintelligible from one another in death.

Onwards you charged into the very core of the base where bullets were still being fired. You ducked around them, miraculously making it through unscathed. Instinct guided your movements; left then right, left again and straight ahead. And then you reached the final stretch, a concrete staircase winding down to the underground level. You halted for barely a moment to listen out for danger and heard nothing but your own heartbeat thundering.

You took a frantic step, ready to descend when something solid crashed against your chest and sent you soaring backwards. Your thudded pathetically against the wall and fell down, watching as a figure swung herself down from the stair rail above.

You fumbled for your gun and aimed it at the woman. She kicked it out of your grip before you had a chance to fire. While she was unbalanced, you shoved yourself forwards and kicked her leg out from under her. She grunted, hitting the hard concrete ground. You scrambled to retrieve the gun, but she was too quick, grabbing you by the shoulders and dragging you back.

In one last attempt, you seized the taser from where it was tucked in the side pocket of the backpack and dug it into her side. There was a buzz, a flash of electricity and sizzle. She cried out in pain, loosening her grip enough for you to escape.

You didn’t bother to get the gun but leapt over her body and down the first set of stairs, then jumped down the next, and the next. A gunshot resonated through the stairway, the bullet bouncing off the wall right where your head had been a second ago. You glanced up to see the redhead catching up now, aiming the gun and about to shoot again.

You dodged another bullet, descended another level. Another shot rung out, this one nowhere near you. There was no time to celebrate the ground you had gained as another ricocheted off the metal handrail right next to your hand. And then, a faint click. She had run out of bullets, and you had almost reached the door to the garage.

Without the gun in hand anymore, the woman leapt over each rail and masterfully swung herself down, skipping the stairs. By the time you were grasping onto the doorhandle, she was kicking you in the stomach. The door swung shut again as you flailed backwards. She had you cornered, your last chance at freedom now gone, yet she didn’t immediately attack.

At the same moment, you both heard it.

From the other side of the wall, a harsh beeping, its pace getting quicker and quicker.

“Shit.” You glanced at your attacker, who’s horrified expression matched your own.

The beeps grew louder, less distance between each as you remained paralysed, waiting for the bomb to implode.

She sprung suddenly at you, throwing both your bodies to the ground.

A shuddering blast.

Overpowering heat.

And then, darkness.

The first thing Natasha became aware of was pain. It started as a dull thudding in her head, then spread to a terrible ache all over. She was exhausted in every sense of the word, and endlessly grateful for the comfort of the mattress beneath her. A high-pitched ringing in her ears drowned out all other thoughts, becoming gradually louder and contributing to the pounding headache she had.

But what was that sound?

She tried desperately to think what could be causing it, or perhaps more importantly, where she currently was, but her mind came up blank.

The mattress shifted beneath her, a spring suddenly poking into her stomach. She tried repositioning herself to avoid the discomfort, and in doing so inhaled a lungful of dust. She coughed and spluttered, untangling herself and trying to sit up. Her body felt as heavy as lead, but something here wasn’t right.

Fighting against the agonising pain behind her eyes, Natasha finally took in her surroundings.

Pale sunlight was filtering in through the broken structure, reflecting blindingly off the snow that had found its way inside the remaining shelter. All around her was piles of shattered concrete, with metal pipes and other indistinguishable objects poking out. Snow had begun to cover everything in a crisp white blanket, as if hiding the damage done, reclaiming the site.

It all came back to her rather abruptly; the HYDRA base, the mission, how everything had gone wrong. The person she was tasked with capturing had escaped, and the mission was taking a turn for the worse. An order had just come in over the intercom for all remaining SHIELD personnel to escape, so she had been attempting to make her own way out when she’d run into-

Natasha realised now that the mattress that had cushioned her fall was in fact not a mattress.

You lay face down underneath her, unconscious where she had knocked you to the ground before the bomb had gone off. Despite how the world around her spun, and how every muscle called out for rest, Natasha was quick to push herself off you, sitting back on her heels to observe your current state. In response, you groaned, slowly but surely coming back to life.

She hadn’t gotten a good look at you previously, only now allowing her eyes to scan over your face, which was littered in small cuts and bruises. Yet underneath it all, she was forced to admit you were rather beautiful. She almost regretted inflicting such injuries on you- like damaging a skilfully sculpted statue. Her gaze continued roaming over your body, taking in the basic protective gear you were wearing and concluding you were at least partly battle trained, and definitely still a threat.

The taser you had used against her was still tightly gripped in your hand, and she shuddered at the memory of how much it had hurt. She decided there was no way she was leaving you with it and leant over you to take the weapon from your grasp.

Suddenly, your elbow flew back, smacking into her face and throwing her off balance.

“Fuck!” Natasha cupped her nose, spluttering through the pain.

You had turned yourself over onto your back and were holding the taser out like a sword. There was recognition in your eyes, but you appeared just as disorientated as she felt- only without a freshly broken nose. You were breathing heavily, eyes darting around the destroyed stairwell and recalling what had happened.

You finally looked back at Natasha, expression softening ever so slightly as you took in the blood pouring from her nose. “Truce?” You suggested apologetically.

Natasha didn’t respond, her mind too busy racing over what was the best course of action in these circumstances.

You pushed yourself up onto your elbows and stared at her. “Did I break your jaw too or do you not speak English?” Then sighed as she continued being silent. “Tregua? Перемирие? Trêve?”

“Yes, I speak English.” She harshly answered at last, putting an end to your rambling.

You watched her curiously as she took a deep breath, bracing her hands on either side of her broken nose. Natasha knew the best thing to do was pop her nose back into place. She closed her eyes, mentally counting down from five and then pushing harshly inwards. There was a load pop as she grimaced, waiting for the agonising feeling to subside.

“You couldn’t have done that, I don’t know, not in front of me?”

“You’re the reason my nose was broken in the first place.” Natasha muttered, shooting you an unimpressed look.

“It was an instinctual response!” You stated, loosening your grip on the taser. All things considered, neither of you were fit to fight one another. “But I’m sorry.” You conceded, eyeing up the current state of her nose.

Out of all the things she expected from you, an apology wasn’t one of them. Natasha reconsidered you for a moment. You were in a more dishevelled state than she was, with dark red stains starting to seep through patches of your uniform, and a nasty gash along your forehead. With every small movement you winced, leading her to conclude that perhaps you didn’t pose as much of a threat to her anymore, apart from the taser which you were reluctant to let go of.

“If that’s your reaction to waking up after a bomb’s just exploded then I don’t want to be near you on a normal day.” She quipped, summoning the resolve to stand up fully.

Despite everything, you smiled and joined in. “Yeah, I did wonder why none of my relationships lasted past one night.”

Natasha didn’t respond, instead scanning herself for injuries. A bullet had nicked her shoulder, but otherwise every other cut was small and inconsequential. The main sufferance was the general ache that encompassed her whole body. From head to toe she felt beaten and bruised and knew it was only going to get worse. The stillness that enveloped the base meant that any chance of rescue was minimal. With SHIELD evacuations likely having finished hours ago, she would have to make her own way back. Somehow.

The wall separating the stairway and underground garage was now nothing but a pile of rubble. She could see that roof had collapsed in on itself and destroyed any remaining vehicles, resigning herself to the fact that the journey would have to be made on foot. Luckily enough, the structure of the building had taken the brute impact of the explosion instead of falling inwards and crushing you both.

Although unlikely that any survivors or supplies remained, Natasha decided to search the remnants of the base. She started to climb up the fragmented chunks of concrete that had once formed the ceiling when you called out after her. “Wait, where are you going?”

She didn’t bother to slow down or face you. If she was to make progress, then there was no time for delay.

“Hey!” You quickly followed the route Natasha had taken, clambering up after her. “Wouldn’t it make sense for us to stick together? For now, at least.” You proposed between breaths. You were already exhausting yourself trying to keep up with her.

“That depends. Do you plan on tasing or elbowing me in the face again?” After hauling herself up one last block, the ground levelled out into a gentle slope. From here she was able to overlook the barren, colourless scenery, broken up only by the demolished structure.

“You attacked me first!” Crunching footsteps in the snow alerted her to the fact you had caught up. She turned back to see you walking over determinedly, occasionally slipping on the icy, uneven surface.

“I attacked a HYDRA agent, don’t make it personal.”

“Yes, and then you saved a HYDRA agent.”

Natasha halted. “What do you mean?”

“You pushed me to the ground before the bomb went off,” You explained with a shrug. “And I highly doubt it was because you wanted a softer landing.”

Natasha nodded. “I did.” She hadn’t really thought of it like that, but in retrospect, she had probably saved you from some life-threatening injuries.

“Why?”

“Force of habit, I guess.” She sniffed, refusing to meet your probing eyes.

“Well, intentional or not, thank you.” You said sincerely. “Let me make it up to you.”

“How, by slowing me down? Turning me in to HYDRA?” She scoffed.

“No. By sharing my supplies,”

Natasha glanced briefly at the backpack hanging from your shoulder. After being stood still for a minute, she had become acutely aware of the snow falling softly all around her. Everywhere she looked was a mix of white and greys, with a line of dark green trees in the distance. The base appeared already devoid of everything, in the process of being reclaimed by the unpredictable wintry weather.

As if reading her mind, you added, “trust me, you won’t find anything useful in the wreckage if that’s what you’re hoping for.”

Natasha didn’t say anything, feeling rather defeated.

“Look, I have a first aid kit. I can treat that gash on your shoulder.” You placed the backpack down to rummage through. “And I have a jacket in here. I can see you shivering.” You held up a sandy coloured jacket. It would hardly provide much warmth, but it was a start.

“Fine.” She surrendered. As much as she didn’t trust you, there was also no point in going separate ways. “But only if you drop the taser.”

You frowned, shaking your head. “What if we run into trouble? This is the middle of the Russian wilderness. You think you’ll be able to take down a bear, or a wild boar with just some showy Karate Kid tricks?”

Natasha smirked. “Karate Kid?”

“You heard me.” You quirked an eyebrow challengingly, shoving the jacket back inside the bag.

“Fine,” She folded her arms. “Then give me the taser.”

You froze for a second, pursing your lips thoughtfully. “You really have trust issues, you know.” With a sigh, you hesitantly placed the taser in her open hand. “Try anything and I’ll hit you with my backpack.”

“I’m sure me and my Karate Kid tricks can handle that.” Natasha examined the small weapon. It wouldn’t do much damage, but you were right, it was better than nothing. She tucked it into her belt where she usually holstered her gun.

“Alright. Truce, Miss…?” You extended a hand, which she shook cautiously.

“Natalie.” She lied. “Natalie Rushman.”

“That’s not your real name, is it?”

“Nope.” Natasha didn’t bother to elaborate.

The location of the HYDRA base you had called home for the last few months was incredibly convenient for running undetected by most major governmental bodies, but as you soon realised, it was possibly the worst for wilderness hikes. You relayed this thought to Natasha, who stubbornly insisted on walking a few paces behind you. “To keep an eye on you,” she had said.

“I’m not sure walkability is usually taken into consideration when deciding that sort of thing.” She said in all seriousness, though you were certain you heard a smile in her voice.

It had been a few hours since you’d formed your impromptu truce and left the destroyed base. The sun was now steadily rising through the pale blue sky, the clouds having parted and snow discontinuing its assault. Still, enough of it crunched under foot that an uncomfortable puddle of water had invaded your boots.

“If I were in charge on designing military bases, I’d have them built in the middle of busy cities.” You stated, thinking out loud.

“Oh yeah?” Natalie prompted, thoroughly uninterested.

“Yeah. Inside of Starbucks’ or something. Somewhere no one would suspect.” You chuckled to yourself. “But I guess that’s why they don’t let me make the decisions.” You lied.

Despite finding Nat’s company to be relatively enjoyable, at the end of the day you were on different sides, and you were reluctant to let her discover your true role or identity within HYDRA.

“Well, that is a pretty stupid idea.”

You put your hand on your heart and turned back to her acting offended. Your gaze lingered on her for a second longer than necessary. Amongst the endless, flat fields of snow, Natalie provided respite for your eyes. The striking red of her hair and inky black suit stood out like artwork on an otherwise blank, white canvas.

After a beat you turned to face forwards again. “You’re the one with the taser. I think I should be making you walk in front.”

You heard her exhale loudly, but otherwise she said nothing.

“Or what if I tried to make a run for it.” You continued. “I know the area better than you do.”

“I thought you were just complaining about how un-walkable it was.” She retaliated.

“Doesn’t mean I haven’t walked around before.”

“Fine. When we make it to those trees, we can walk next to each other.” She pointed towards the approaching forest of evergreens.

“Wow, what an honour.” You said sarcastically. “Or is it because you know I could hide so easily in there?”

“No, I’m more worried you’d try to run and smack straight into a tree. I don’t want to have to carry a concussed agent round with me.”

You chuckled. “Why? Bad for your image?”

“Exactly.”

Upon entering the forest, the snow became a lot deeper and harder to wade through. The green of the evergreens was darkened by the shadows of other trees standing tall, and so all around you was a scene of black and white- like motionless static in which your mind played tricks on you. Every so often, you swore you saw movement out the corner of your eye, as paranoia began to press down on your chest and rendered you silent. With the taller pine trees blocking sunlight from penetrating the layer of foliage, you found yourself feeling a lot colder after only a couple minutes of walking through it.

“Hold on.” You called out to Natalie and placed the backpack down to dig out the jacket and gloves.

“What happened to sharing resources?”

You looked up at her, pulling on the gloves and feeling instantly a lot warmer. “You should have asked earlier.”

She rolled her eyes but didn’t complain.

As you unravelled the jacket fully, a bright green wrapper fell out of the pocket. You almost couldn’t believe your eyes- or luck, as a granola bar fell into your lap.

Unfortunately, Nat saw it too. “I call dibs on the granola bar, then.”

You looked up at her, exasperated and unimpressed. Food hadn’t been on your mind but seeing the snack suddenly brought to light the gnawing hunger in the pit of your stomach.

She simply shrugged and reached down to snatch it out of your lap. “You get the clothes; I get the food. It’s only fair.”

You rolled your eyes and watched as she tore open the wrapper. ““I would argue but I don’t have the energy. I’m too weak from hunger.” You stood up and walked onwards without her, determined to ignore the sound of her crunching behind you.

“Wait.” Nat’s voice was suddenly too serious for your liking, a horrible prickle at the base of your spine convincing you to listen to her.

You stopped in your tracks, allowing the silence of the forest to resonate all around you. There were no birds chirping, no branches snapping or wind rustling leaves. It was eerily still.

Static. The crackling of a radio in the distance. “Hello? Hello? Can anyone hear me.” An unfamiliar person was speaking into an intercom, met only by more static and silence.

The sound was coming from behind you, growing steadily closer.

“Requesting immediate assistance.” It was a different voice this time, but they had no better luck in reaching out for help.

Your mind was racing, your heart beating in your chest yet you didn’t dare to breath. They could be fellow HYDRA agents willing to join you in the search for safety. Or they could be SHIELD agents, left behind like Natalie and ready to kill you.

Should you reveal yourself and pray they would help? Or stay silent assuming they were the latter?

A quick glance at Natalie revealed the same indecision in her expression. You realised she was in the same situation as you, wondering whether to risk it and trust them, or to continue alone in your unstable truce.

Regardless the fact remained that, if you called out to them, one of you wouldn’t survive.

At this realisation, your mind came to an answer: you would not contact the strangers. Although Nat was your enemy, she had unknowingly saved your life earlier, a debt you were willing to repay. Any desire to fight with her had faded, replaced by the desire to cooperate, and to a certain degree ensure her safety.

“Y/N.” Natalie hissed your name, drawing your attention back to the matter at hand. The voices were steadily growing nearer and nearer, your view of them obstructed by the thick row of trees surrounding you. They hadn’t seen you yet but inevitably would.

Nat inclined her head to the right, eyes widening in an attempt to convey her plan. You followed her gaze to a fallen tree a few metres away, quickly assessing what she meant for you both to do. Relief filled your body as you recognised that she had come to the same conclusion not to turn yourselves over to the strangers,

Careful not to make too much noise, you ducked down and tiptoed over to the fallen tree, hearing her softly following behind. Having recently fallen, the leaves were mostly intact, and you were able to lean back into them and hide. Snow balancing on the branches fell onto you while the shark pine needles stuck uncomfortably into your back, but you ignored the discomfort to shift over, allowing Natalie to settle wordlessly down beside you.

Both of you held your breath and listened out, praying they wouldn’t see you as they went past.

The crackling static grew nearer, interrupted only by the same phrase repeated over and over. “Is anyone out there? Hello? Requesting immediate assistance-“

The footsteps stopped where you had been standing barely a minute ago. There was a dull thump of something hitting the snow, then an agitated. “Just give it up! No one is out there, and nobody is listening!”

The man who had previously been speaking into the intercom sighed. “Well what else would you have us do? Continue wandering aimlessly?”

“Better than listening to your stupid, fucking whiny voice over and over.”

“Yeah, and who made you team leader?”

“Can you two just shut up? Please?” A third exasperated voice interrupted the heated conversation between the two men. “Arguing isn’t going to help us. We’re stuck, the base is gone and HYDRA isn’t coming back to safe us so why don’t you just-“

You zoned out from the rest, too caught up on what he had said. They were HYDRA. They could help you. A sinking sort of feeling enveloped your stomach, previous hunger quickly forgotten and replaced by regret. You listened as the group continued onwards, their voices slowly fading, and with it; your regret only grew.

You glanced to the side, seeing how Nat was watching for your reaction with concern in her eyes. She expected you to run after them and leave her alone, or to call them back and have her ambushed. She must have seen the remorse on your face as her expression hardened, her fist clenched ready for a fight.

Without thinking, you placed your hand over hers and shook your head in way of silent communication. At your assurance, she seemed to relax slightly, so you removed your hand to stare straight ahead and wait for an all clear. Nat continued to impassively observe you until the voices had dwindled, and the forest fell into silence once more.

Darkness was descending upon the forest when you decided to stop for the day. You had made a fair bit of progress, but hunger was gnawing away at your patience, tiredness slowing down your limbs and the cold night air sending pain shooting through all your injuries. Yet in spite of all the negatives, you found you were getting on well with Natalie. Apart from the occasional meaningless squabble, you worked well as a team, and the only issue you had so far was the granola bar peaking teasingly out her pocket.

Currently, she was gathering as much dry kindling as she could find in the fading sunlight, while you were tasked with trying to keep the fire going. Under the shelter of particularly thick evergreen tree, you had brushed away the thinner layer of snow and set up a small pile of twigs. Then you had used the lead from the pencil left in the backpack as a fire starter and gotten Nat to spark the taser against it.

You were rather proud to see flames burning tall barely a moment later. Although, the evergreen pines burnt away rather quickly, hence Natalie searching the area for better materials.

Exhaustion caused your eyelids to droop and your vision to blur as you stared at the fire, hypnotised by the orange glow that danced through the still air. The warmth it emanated felt like a luxury, the light it provided was your saving grace. As much as you loathed to admit it, you found the forest ominous at night, preferring to focus on the way the smoke burned your eyes.

“Hey.” Nat reappeared before you, clutching onto armfuls of sticks which she set down just out of reach of the fire.

You simply smiled at her, too tired to think of anything to say.

“I found these as well.” Nat extended a handful of berries toward you. They were dark in colour, and you couldn’t help but be suspicious. Although you were certain you had been cooperating well, perhaps Natalie didn’t feel the same. Perhaps this was some big ploy to have you killed.

She quirked an eyebrow at the obvious suspicion laced in your expression. “They’re buckthorn.” She explained. “I’m not trying to poison you.”

“Wouldn’t put it past you.” You mumbled, though there was no real weight behind your words. You were starving, and at this point, willing to eat anything.

Carefully, she tipped the berries into your cupped hands. Hesitantly, you ate one.

They tasted fine.

You devoured the rest.

“So how come you know so much about Russian-wilderness gastronomy?” You asked eventually, changing the topic from your obvious distrust of her.

She regarded you with curiosity, surprised that you had thought to ask and considering how much to say. “I was born here.” She put simply.

“And what, you were a Russian girl scout?” You smirked, prompting her to say more.

The corners of her lips lifted up in a smile, then fell back into a serious straight line. “Not exactly.”

You could tell she was avoiding saying something, and you decided not to press her for an answer. Seeing the reminiscent sadness in her eyes, you felt the sudden need to apologise for having brought it up in the first place. “Sorry, just I’m trying to work out how you go from Russia to SHIELD.”

“With great difficulty.” She tilted her head amusedly. “What about you? How did you end up with HYDRA?”

You sighed, slumping against your backpack and debating how much to say. From Nat’s honesty, you decided she at least deserved a truthful response. “Accidentally.” You chuckled humourlessly. “Believe it or not, working for a secret organisation founded in a Nazi ideology wasn’t exactly first on my careers list.”

“Did you accidentally stumble across one of their secret bases located in a Starbucks?” She jokingly asked.

You laughed tiredly, pinching the bridge of your nose. “No, that would’ve been too easy.”

Both being equally exhausted as the other, you allowed the conversation to end and settled back to sleep. The ground was freezing beneath your body, the fire only providing so much warmth. You were using the backpack as an impromptu pillow, which made the sleeping situation slightly more bearable, yet it was still impossibly uncomfortable. You could hardly imagine how intolerable the night would be for Natalie.

Right on cue, you heard her hiss in pain from beside you. She was clutching at her shoulder, suddenly jogging your memory that a bullet had nicked her.

Your head lolled to the side as you faced her. “Do you want me to bandage that?” You asked quietly.

“I was waiting for you to offer.” She snarked.

You rolled your eyes and sat up, your muscles already aching from the two minutes you had spent laid down. You thumbed through the mostly empty bag to retrieve the first aid kit from the bottom. Beside you, Nat pulled her suit down enough to reveal the gash. You were unable to stop your eyes from lingering on the exposed skin; pale from the cold and covered in dried blood, yet your gaze still traced the way her collarbone jutted out. Your mouth felt suddenly very dry.

“I don’t mind doing it myself.” She commented, a smirk crossing her lips as though she had read your mind.

“No. Its’ fine, I’ll do it.” You shuffled towards her, examining the wound and preparing the necessary equipment to treat it.

She said nothing more as you set to work, your hands surprisingly warm despite the weather.

Softly, silently, you tended to the cut. Softly, silently, Nat basked in the warmth of the contact.

> PT2

#natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanov x reader

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everythingne · 6 months

Text

marketing ploy - ln4 / ch4

miami leads to the perfect 'date', sibling love, and a problem. Some things slot together too perfectly to be ignored, for better or for worse.

piastri!oc x lando norris / fake dating, brothers best friend

warnings/notes: alcohol, mentions of sex, mentions of hypothetical sexual situations, mentions of past loss of virginity (they're not whores guys it makes sense in context), mentions of past cheating, a singular kiss, this might be the longest chapter so far ! A lot of character growth here babes.

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06 MAY -- MIAMI, FLORIDA↴

“Of all places in Miami, I was not expecting Seaspice.” I laugh as Lando pulls up to the lavish white building. I can hear people laughing, girls in flowy sundresses and guys in their best white button downs loosely hanging by the entrance as soft music pulses from some speakers--or maybe a cars stereo. Lando huffs out of his nose, a small amused grin on his lips as he turns and places a hand behind my seat as he looks through the back window while parking, his head occasionally looking back at the backup camera and mirrors. I never knew watching someone park would be hot. I catch myself staring when he pushes the shifter forward to park and looks over a me, his black tee clinging around his frame, gold chains resting against the thin fabric.

“Max told me it was good.” He shrugs, leaning back against his seat and looking out. We’d agreed that our ‘first date’ dinner had to be good food, and I had tasked him with finding it as long as I could dress him and I got to order the most expensive desert.

“You’re trusting Max Verstappen for good food?” I ask, giving him the most incredulous look as I grab my purse form my lap and my phone from under my thigh--texting Ada that we'd arrived as Lando turns off the car. Once I glance back up, he leans over, tucking a hair behind my ear and minding my piercings as he settles it back into place.

“And Shakira.” He murmurs, eyes looking down at my lips before he clears his throat and leans back, grabbing his waller and getting out of the car. I go to open my door after double checking everything is in my puse, only to have it whacked shut, and then reopened by Lando.

“Lesson one,” he says, offering his hand to me as he places another hand on the edge of the door, “if your boyfriend doesn’t open the door for you, break up.”

I laugh wholeheartedly, taking his hand and letting him hide my body as he pulls me to my feet and makes sure my skirt is covering everything. He takes my hand and lets me step aside so he can close the door, lock his car, and then he starts to bring me along to the main entrance.

“Astrid said she’s not calling paparazzi, but she’s expecting fans to be here. So the good ol’ papas might be lingering too.” He says, sliding his sunglasses up as the Miami sun starts to dip under some of the buildings and illuminates us in a golden glow.

“For the love of everything, Lando, don’t call them papas.” I groan, keeping my hold on his hand tight as we stop at the vacant hostess stand. He turns to me with a loose grin and I wrap myself around his arm as I catch a few lingering eyes, might as well sell this as best I can.

"Papas is better than pap, I think."

"Equally terrible." I hum, lifting a hand to fix one of his necklaces thats coiled as the hostess reappears with a big happy smile on her perfectly white teeth, her long blond hair swept in a runway model-esc fashion in the low breeze.

"Do you have a reservation tonight?" She asks sweetly, "if not, it will be around an hour wait."

"We should have one for Norris? Two." Lando says softly, the woman hums, tapping through an iPad before nodding and grabbing a few things behind the counter.

"Ah, wonderful, you guys will be dining with my favorite server Jett tonight! Come with me!" She guides us to a table in a back corner, right along the water. Lando gets my chair, ever the gentleman, and then sits across from me as the hostess kindly explains the menus and specials, then says our server will be there soon with the complimentary champagne.

"I'm popping the champagne. You don't need to break anything else." I say to Lando as soon as the hostess walks away and he doubles over in laughter. The restaurant is beautiful, candle lit with twinkling fariy lights overhead and I cannot picture Max ever wanting to eat here. Then, I spot some LED panel lights and realize this place is also a club at times and it makes a bit more sense as to why Max might've stopped by.

“Oh hush," he swats at my pointing finger and I laugh, his giggle falls into a gasp as he takes his turn to playfully poke at me, "And rule two, your boyfriend should always pull out your chair."

"Why the rules, may I ask?" I hum, making sure my bag is hooked on the chair as I look out over the water briefly. My hand finding my phone to take a quick picture of the sun on the water, as Lando keeps talking. I set my phone down as he speaks, giving him my full attention in the low lighting.

"Oscar told me you'd never been on a proper date," Jackass, I scowl, of course Oscar dimed me out, but my scowl is covered as Lando waves while he talks, "And that you last dated someone in year nine. So, I made it my personal goal to give you the best date ever. I would've bought you flowers too, if I had the time. Gotta set your standards high."

"You've already bought me flowers." I counter.

"Yeah but, I would buy you flowers everyday if I could. If we weren't traveling so much, you would have fresh flowers every time the old ones started to wilt. That's how it should be. It's like twenty pounds for something so gorgeous that makes anyone happy." He explains, but before I can answer, our waiter is setting down two glasses and wiping condensation off a bottle of champagne.

"Hello, lovebirds!" He smiles, cheerily as he pops the bottle into a towel and pours us our drinks. Him calling us lovebirds make my heart pound and my cheeks flush, I hate how easily it makes me feel giddy to be considered Lando’s girlfriend. Jett recites the menu, the specials, and asks if we want any appetizers. We settle on the steak tartare and the burrata, and as our waiter whisks away to give us time to figure out appetizers, I notice Lando lifting his film camera.

"I was wondering when she was gonna make an appearance." I laugh, and he laughs in turn, holding up the camera and I pose as he snaps a picture.

"I need to learn how to develop them myself." He says as he sets the camera on the edge of the table, and I lean over to pull it further into the table so it won't fall.

"I can teach you, I did a lot of photography in school." I hold up my drink, "cheers, to us, for being Formula 1s hottest not-couple."

Lando raises his drink and grins, "and to us, in general, for making this probably the easiest media stunt ever."

We clink the edges of the glasses together before taking sips. Champagne wasn't my favorite, but I had to admit this went down smooth.

“Do they always do champagne at your table?” I ask as I take another sip, “because this shit is so good I might come back for it.”

“They had some weird package thing?” Lando leans back in his seat as he sets his drink down, “I dunno, Astrid booked it through the owner. I think she told him it was a date or something so they’d bring us special shit. Oh, I meant to ask, how was your birthday?”

Lando settles in his chair, his foot knocking my knee as he leans back and props one leg over the other.

“I was so drunk, I do not remember anything after Oscar and I fell into the pool and after, we had a heart to heart.” I laugh and he laughs in turn, cheeks puffed up in a tiny smile. Fake dating Lando was gonna be easy. The conversation flows through us ordering entrees, for me it was the Lobster Risotto (after much convincing that Lando did not care how much it cost) and then he got Wagyu steak (and I forced him to promise to let me try.)

We were halfway down the bottle of champagne when our server, Jett, came back with waters and our appetizers. The food got absolutely devoured as we talked about the upcoming race, how his season was going, and then I got to the one question I'd been dying to figure out.

"Do you know why they think us dating is going to make people think you and Max hate each other?"

"No clue." He finishes off his glass of water as I pop the last of the tartare in my mouth and hum softly.

"Like, unless they plan for you to like break my heart or something. But then that would make like... Charles, Daniel, Oscar, and Max hate you."

"I don't think I would break your heart, even if they told me to." Lando sighs, running a hand through his front curls, the warm breeze rolling across the now dark marina, "I think I'd rather give them all the money back than do that."

"Me too." I finish off whats probably my ninth glass, feeling the wooze in my arms and my legs.

"This might be a fake relationship..." He says, and I watch his cheeks dust pink as he looks into his champagne, taking the rest of it asif for courage before looking up at me, "I'm gonna treat you how I would treat anyone I've ever loved."

"I'll treat you the same." I say softly, taking his hand over the table, "you've shown me more love than anyone else has."

A smile creeps across his lips, almost like accomplishment, and he squeezes my hand as he leans over to wipe a bit of sauce off the corner of my mouth. I resist the urge to poke my tongue out and lick my lips as he stares at my mouth for a few moments before looking up at me.

"I take it you havent had much expeirence with this? The whole dating thing?"

"I'm not very... open to dating in general. I havent been looking, havent been asked." I pour the rest of the champagne bottle into our glasses, and Lando leans forward.

“Really?” He clearly doesn’t believe me and I laugh.

“Yeah yeah, you probably have girls hanging off your arms in droves. I haven’t had anyone since the guy who took my virginity like…three years ago?”

“There’s years?!” Lando gapes and I feel my cheeks redden as he looks me over, “you’re like—one of the most attractive, most kind and just—one of the best women I’ve ever met! How in the hell have you not had someone try?”

“We’re not all hot Formula one drivers.” I sip my drink, "and I work long hours, I'm always traveling, guys don't want a woman they can't have any hour of the day."

Lando scoffs as if that's the stupidest thing anyone has ever said in their life, "Well, all those men are stupid."

I laugh because I can't agree more.

"Well, I'm too drunk to drive for at least another hour." Lando sets the empty check book on the edge of the table, waiting for Jett to come and whisk it away for his tip. We wave goodbye to the owner, who happily grins as he goes to post the picture of us he'd taken, and Lando stands, offering me his hand as he helps me get organized, "Wanna go sit somewhere and talk?"

"I've run out of things to say, I fear." I laugh as I stand up. He takes my hand with one, and he grins, using his other hand to grab his phone as he walks me to the marina with a tossed thank you over his shoulder I mimic. As we settle on the docks, he pauses and opens his phone.

"One hundred questions to ask your girlfriend." He says, turning to show me the Yahoo page and I laugh in disbelief as he continues to explain, "theres simple ones, deep ones, intimate ones."

"Oh my god, Lando."

"Sexy questions, and ones for 'if you've been dating for like, ever.'" He turns his phone back and a few seconds later the link pops up on my phone, "We should pick a random question from each and ask each other."

When I agree, we find ourselves on the end of one of the docks with a pretty big pontoon boat bobbing besides us. Our legs dangle over the water, making shadows in the dock lights as Lando asks me to pick a random number one to five. I pick four. He asks for a number one to twenty, I pick nine.

"Lights on or off during sex?"

"Wow, starting strong." I burst into drunken giggles and he follows suit, his jacket laying across my shoulders to combat the breeze as we lean into each other for warmth.

"On, usually. Not that I've been fucking that many guys in my life."

"I'm still shocked that a girl as pretty as you doesn't have guys falling at their knees before her." He laments, scrolling through the questions idly as he giggles at a few that we both know are far too inappropriate to ask right now.

"What? You wanna be the first?" I ask and he nods almost too enthusiastically, catching me off guard and making me giggle. I look down at my phone and ask him to pick a number.

His question ends up being from the third section, question fifteen, "Do you like to be complimented?"

"Fuck yeah." He grins as his hand finds mine, fingers interlocking as he looks over at me, "I love compliments. Racing, my looks, my personality, anything. I melt."

I write that down mentally.

My next question is from section two, question eleven, "What would you say to your younger self?"

"I would tell her she's incredible. That... she doesn't have to base her validation off of what other people are doing."

Lando gets section three, question three, "Biggest turn off?"

His answer takes a while, before he murmurs, "My last girlfriend, a fling for only a few days really, only used me for my money."

My last question is section one, question nine, "What ended your last relationship?"

I really don't want to answer it, but I do. For some reason I feel safe enough telling Lando, even if its something I've only admitted to childhood friends

"He cheated on me."

"No way."

"Don't tell Oscar." I sigh, rubbing my thumb along Lando's hand, "I...I've never told Oscar because they're really good friends. But, yeah, he cheated on me for nine months of our twelve month relationship. And... I-I don't know why I was even dating him in the first place."

"Shit, I'm so sorry." Lando says, squeezing my hand and then wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me to his side, "One of the things I've never been able to understand is why people cheat. If you don't like the first person, or you find yourself attracted to someone else, you should just break-up."

"Yeah..." I sigh, leaning into his touch and closing my eyes. Lando sighs heavily, and curls me into his side just letting me stay there for a long while. We say a few more meaningless things, loose jokes, tired attempts at continuing the conversation before we just let the silence hold us in a sort of pause, in that moment, where it's just us.

We end up in his car maybe two hours later, his hand warm on my thigh as he pulls through the Miami streets. I adjust my instagram posts, smiling before setting my phone down as we pull up to a light.

"Oh, by the way, did they tell you about my home race?" Lando asks as one of the songs slowly pulls to a close on the radio and I snort.

"Yeah, we have to kiss on live-fucking-tv." I look over at Lando as he merges into a lane to get in the turn off lane towards the hotel, and he nods, shaking his head with a grin.

"Astrid told me we should 'practice so it's not awkward when you guys kiss for the first time on TV' because god forbid its awkward and their little thing is found out." Lando explains, but halfway through im dying of laughter and hiding my smile behind my hands as I cackle so hard tears are in my eyes.

"I know! I know!" He laughs, pulling to a stop and I look over at him. Theres a moment where our eyes meet, and I want to say something, but my words get caught in my throat. Lando watches me with a soft smile, his hand on my thigh tightening softly as his eyes flicker down to my lips and then back up to my eyes. We fall quiet, and I lean forward in my seat a bit.

"Olivia." He whispers and I bring a hand to his jaw.

"Lando." I mutter back, tracing the edges of his lips with my eyes, before looking back up at his eyes. We both swallow, and I lean in partially, our lips hovering inches away before a truck honks and we snap back into our seats as Lando pulls forward at the light.

It takes maybe thirty seconds for us to fall into awkward laughter. The rest of the car ride is quiet, Lando's hand only moving when he goes to get out of the car. I wait for him to grab my door this time, and he smiles as he opens it, helping me out and handing his keys to the valet.

Lando finally speaks again once he's dropping me off at the hotel room door, "You wanna do a movie cliche?"

"A goodbye kiss?" I say, and he nods, stepping forward to tuck my hair behind my ear before he leans in further and our lips softly meet with a flutter of my eyes shutting. It was delicate, almost like he was afraid to hurt me, and I could feel my heart pounding against my ribs as I step closer and wrap my arms around his neck. My stomach is flipping as his hands find my ribs, then slide lower along my dress to rest on my hip bones as we lean back, lips grazing eachothers before he presses in again. There's an interlock, everything sort of clicking together like it's meant to be, and I feel his fingers dig into my hips and pull me closer.

My back hits the door at one point, his leg between mine as his lips pepper my cheeks, before one final deep, teeth-clashing set of kisses has us finally pull back for space. My breaths are sharp as I slowly lean back from the kiss, him stepping back and fixing my skirt that he'd slightly ruffled up. We stand in silent, eyes met, chests rising sharply as I feel my skin buzzing with excitement. Eventually, my hand bumps the key to the door and I unlock it, pushing it open and turning back to kiss Lando's cheek as I whisper,

"Night, Nori."

I slip into the room, clicking the door shut, leaning back against it and letting out a loud giddy sigh as I bring a hand to my mouth to suppress the sound of the squeal that tries to leave my bursting chest. My skin is alight, my cheeks burning red, my hands shaking and I giggle at the bursting feeling at my chest.

"Had a good date?" Oscar calls and I nearly jump out of my skin, before Oscar laughs hysterically.

"God, fuck you! Give me a warning next time!" I whine, swinging my purse at him, "And yes, I had a very nice date."

"Good." He says softly, looking over at me from the couch before he points to a vase of red roses.

"For you."

I walk over to the bouquet with curiousity, and I'm unsurprised after I read the note attached: 'hope you had as much fun as I, happy belated birthday, my love. - lando'

Another round of giggles makes Oscar smile softly as I hug the bouquet to my chest and close my eyes. Shit. I was so falling for every little thing that Lando was doing.

06 MARCH -- IMESSAGE ↴

06 MARCH -- INSTAGRAM ↴

OLIVIAPIASTRI POSTED A NEW STORY

LANDONORRIS POSTED A NEW STORY

06 MARCH -- TWITTER ↴

f1s.newsoutlet: LANDO AND OLIVIA OUT AT SEASPICE IN MIAMI???

no.rizz4: BRO LANDOS INSTA STORY AND NOW THIS??

mclaritin: SO OLIVIA N LANDO CONFIRMED?

f1reds: norivia or oliss or oliviando or olando?

⤷ horsecarteam: I THOUGHT U WROTE ORLANDOOO LMAOO

oaklynpiastri: AND THIS BITCH DIDNT TELL ME??

⤷ opheliapiastri: girl. get with the program. check the kidastri gc.

06 MARCH -- PHONE CALL BETWEEN OPHELIA AND LANDO ↴

"Hello?"

"Lando."

"Ophelia?"

"Yep."

"Lovely to speak with you."

"Look, I'm drunk, so I'm gonna cut to the chase. I'm sure Ossie's already asked but I need to know what you're doing with my baby sister."

"Hah, uhm. Well, I'm taking her out. All of it's for her. Olivia caught my eye for a while now and I... I don't know. I haven't been able to shake her no matter how hard I've tried. I didn't want to cause an issue with me and Oscar, because I know he's the most important guy in her life and--Oscar's my teammate, so he means a lot to me too."

"Okay..."

"So, I've known her since she started working for Red Bull as head analyst, so what, two years? And ever since the first time I saw her in Red Bull's garage, I just had this pull. I had an opportunity to get closer to her, and I took it, and now we're--kinda dating? Nothing labeled yet. I'm letting her take it at her pace."

"Last question."

"Hit me."

"Promise me you won't break her heart like the last guy?"

"I would rather die than hurt her."

"Good."

#formula one #f1 #formula 1 #ln4 fic #f1 fanfic #lando norris #lando norris x oc #ln4 #lando norris fic

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mr-jack-letterman · 22 days

Text

AAAAAAND WERE BACK with more Subway to Stardew silliness NSNNDD.

Thank you to the folks over at @subwaytostardew for making this wonderful mod and letting me make silly art about it lol.

In any case time for some headcannon nonsense.

(click for better quality because Tumblr makes it crunchy)

If Stardew Valley were to have a box legendary I think it would be Cresselia. It's literally Lunar pokemon and represents the crescent moon so it being the patron legendary of Stardew Valley just makes a lot of sense to me. Also Cresselia is underrated NSNDN.

Maybe there would be a secret special encounter for Darkrai. (the other half of it and Cresselia's duo but is a mythical for some reason?)

Also the Lunar wing would be very neat item to have in-game ANSNDND.

If it were to exist within the mod I imagine the farmer would be like "oooo shiny feather. Maybe it's a pokemon feather? Emmet/Ingo would probably like it :D" so then they make it into a necklace, or maybe just give it to one of them outright without knowing what it is. So Emmet/Ingo sees it and just starts freaking the hell out cause their crush/friend just gave them a piece of a literal legendary pokemon meanwhile the farmer is just....clueless NSNDND.

Now onto some of the other characters.

As basically the resident nurse joy of Pelican Town I think Harvey would have some pokemon common in the medical field. Though, pokemon like Chansey and Audino don't really fit his whole "whiskey neat, coffee black, bed at three"/ref vibes so I thought Indeedee would be best NSNDNND.

I also decided to give some pokemon to the characters mentioned within my ask.

Willy is very fond of water types, clearly NSNS. Specifically fish pokemon like Lanturn, Seaking, Whiscash, Wishiwashi, or Dondozo. (Though his actual team probably has a good chunk of pokemon that are still water type just not fish lmao) The crowning jewel of his collection is a shiny Magikarp he fished up. Maybe one day it will evolve, but for now it just swims around the docks next to his house entertaining anyone that visits.

He also has a Bibarel. (which I imagine is the grown up version of that one Bidoof that snuck into Pelican Town) It acts more like an overgrown housecat than a battle ready pokemon but it is incredibly bulky so ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯.

Morris also has a few pokemon of his own. Most of which he keeps at home. But his main two he's seen with is a Gimmighoul and a Gumshoos. (IDK he just has Gumshoos vibes to me NSNDNND) They run around Joja pickpocketing people's gold cause Morris is just a dick like that.

"It's Wizard time mother fucker, FIREBALL-"/ref

Wizard likes psychic types, but I like to think he also has a fondness for fairy types too. Also, most of em has at least one strong fire type move just so he has an excuse to yell "fireball" and blast something NSND. His Malamar is named Illithid (a wack squid monster guy from DnD lol)

Sandy likes rock types, given that she lives in a desert it's probably the only type of pokemon she sees on the daily lol. She also has a key stone on her earring. With how colorful a keystone is when compared to sand I think she would be the most likely to find one there. Idk exactly if she'd mega evolve an Aerodactyl or a Tyranitar, if any pokemon at all. But I think she'd carry it around regardless. It's pretty :]

Also she has a shiny Rockruff. I don't rly have an explanation for that one I think it just fits the vibe lol.

And now, shenanigans.

Emmet then proceeds to grab the child and just.... speed walk away HSBBDBDJJR.

That's all I have for now, I'll probably throw some other pokemon at the bachelorettes and other bachelors another time but this alone took a solid week due to finals 😭/lh

Time for me to go to bed lol, have a good one 👍

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twisted-king · 5 days

Note

Hello! Since you also write genshin, I've thought about reader or F!S/O being from Teyvat. But that isnt really the main point. How 'bout their F!S/O is from Sumeru and is strictly bestfriends with Cyno and Alhaitham. How would Trey, Azul, Jade, Floyd, and Jamil feel about their F!S/O having boy bestfriends back at her world? Maybe if they're jealous, reader tries to comfort them by saying that Alhaitham is engaged(to Kaveh)XD Lol

You dont have to do this if its to much♡

Oddly specific but I like the cut of your jib!

Also can be read as genter neutral, I don't reall mention gender on this one?

Trey, Azul, Jade, Floyd, and Jamil X F!SO from Teyvat

who is also besties with Cyno and Alhaitham

Trey Clover

Well youre from a whole different world! Magic seems to exist in some capacity at least.

He doesn't know what a Zatyun peach or a Sunsettia is.

But he tries v hard to make you things that remind you of home sometimes!

He actually does a pretty good job at it too!

And thats where the issue arives.

Whenever he asks about your homeland he knows he is going to hear about your best friends

He's trying SO hard to be normal about this

Trey loves you so much but, he gets a little jealous!

You've done so much with these two!!!

"And Cyno's jokes are the absolute WORST! I swear some of the things he says are worse than Ace's!" "Oh that's... nice!"

but they're your best friends! He really shouldn't be jealous.

"I still don't understand why Alhaitham is so jacked, like all he does is read books all day!"

He really shouldn't be jealous

"And I'm kind of glad its never too hot around here! Like I know he works primarily in the desert but like put a shirt on sometimes! You know?"

But damm its hard.

He tries to be subtle (not really)

"So have you ever like... done anything with one of these guys?" "What do you mean?" "Like have you dated one of them..?"

oh.... OH!

You laugh at that, he's embrassed "Oh gosh NEVER! They both have boyfriends anyhow! Alhaitham is engaged!" "Oh."

You nod and give him a little kith

Wow he's relieved!

Azul Ashengrotto

He loves learning about you and your home world! Truly!!!

Azul thinks your mind is briliant, you're so smart and quick on your feet due to years of travel!

With travel comes a lot of experiences

a lot.

without him.

He's playing it cool though! suuuper cool

"Oh I remember Alhaitham would never answer anything that wasnt formatted or completed properly! maybe you could do the same? it would certainly free up some time, no?" "Of course it woudl free up some time, dear... But" "buut?" "Well it wouldn't be fitting of my benevolent nature now would it, my love?"

Azul keeps trying to prove he's a better boyfriend than your old friends

He needs you to know he's the best option for you <3

"And could this 'Cyno' make you a delightful seafood pasta like this?" "No, not really, he was more into rice." "I see..."

Oh hey he made you curry and rice

You know, by the way. He is NOT sneaky

After another bout of showing off, you finally say something.

"They have boyfriends, you know?" "huh?" "Cyno and Alhaitham? they have partners. You don't have to be jealous." "Why would I be jealous, dearest?"

DENIER

Denies his jealous to this day but he gets happier after you reassure him.

Jade Leech

Yeah he's super cool about this!

for the most part...

He's extremely interested in learning about the flora in your world!

and he thinks those vishap creatures you compare him to sound rather interesting.

Jade being rather curious in nature comes in handy! since he doesnt seem to get jealous.

His questions are... odd, though. they kind of make sense?

"Cyno once took out like-- 10 guys in like a MINUTE! it was so cool! "Is he that fast in the depths of the sea?" "No-" "I see..."

Sometimes he's a little less slick though

"OH my gosh Alhaitham is so weird about soup! He hates the stuff because it could get on his books of all things!" "Does he consume beverages as he reads? tea perhaps?" "Yeah, sometimes." *Pleased eel noises*

He's just being careful :)

Jade often prefers to dicuss your best friends while in the kitchen. he likes spending this time with you!

And he has his knives and mushrooms at his disposal.

*chop chop chop* "And so Haitham and I used to skip out on akademiya meetings together-" *chopchopchop-* "But Cyno would ALWAYS 'catch' us just before the meeting would actually ends-" *ChopChopChopChop-* "So then he'd bring us to Kaveh, Alhaitham's fiance to-" "He has a fiance?" "yeah,why?" "no reason." *chop~ chop~ chop~*

He's still keeping the information from his... questioning in mind.

Can't be too careful, after all.

Floyd Leech

He loves his shrimpy's stories!!!

He hates his shrimpy's stories :((

Floyd is reaaal conflicted. He thinks you're so interesting! your world seems like fun!! he wants to go there with you.

But not with those men you keep talking about

"So sometimes there are these HUGE mushrooms that kind of act like a launchpad! they're super springy." "Eh? Jade might like soemthing like that... OOOH! do ya think if I throw someone (Ace) on one of those they'd still bounce?" "Yeah they would! one time while going after a criminal, Cyno had to-" "Eeeeh I'm bored. You coming to my next game?"

Subtlety? not THIS eel

He audibly groans when you bring them up sometimes.

But he still loves hearing you talk! so it really confusing sometimesz

"So genius invocation uses 8 elements, 7 from the nations, one is omni. Usually the cards are based off of vision users like Diluc of mondstadt, Arataki Itto, from Inazuma... OH! there is one of my best friend, Alhaitham, he's dendro and Cyno's is electro, its actually" Oh he's no longer looking at you.

You get an idea... "There is one of Haitham's fiance, Kaveh" "Oh really?"

GOT HIS ASS

You're his girlfriend, you know him best.

He's a little less weird about listening to your stories now, he's way more enaged.

He still tugs you closer to him when you mention other men, but thats kind of normal for him now.

Jamil Viper

A confident king? He's not really jealous. He knows he can be better than them.

Plus they're just friends to you.

But in all honestly he like... doesn't care too much about Teyvat.

You're here now, with him. not them.

Don't get him wrong, Jamil likes hearing about what your world!

There's only oneee little thing he doesnt love hearing.

"Sometimes I miss the food from Teyvat... Cyno always made the best Tahchin." "The best you say?" "Yeah! he shaped it like a pyramid every time he made it!" "Have you ever tried mine?" "You make tahchin!?"

He's smug, you'll love his cooking more than that Cyno's.

He serves you a plate of tahchin, golden brown, perfectly seasoned, barberries topping the rounded rice dish "So, what do you think?" "This is so good! I kind of miss the padisarah petals though.."

The hell is THAT?

"Is it... not up to your expectations, my flower?" "No its delicious! I think I just miss the way my friend would make it.."

He's a little grumpy about it!!

Jamil gets kind of huffy with you next time you're together.

He's not ignoring you but just don't bring up food for a while.

Snake man will just respond with "Why don't you ask Cyno." when it comes to cooking for the next day or two...

#twisted wonderland #twistedwonderland #disney twisted wonderland #twst #disney twst #twst x reader #twisted wonderland x reader #twisted wonderland x yuu #jamil viper x reader #azul ashengrotto x reader #jade leech x reader #floyd leech #trey clover x reader

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where-theres-smoak-2 · 1 month

Text

Paul x Chani Relationship Analysis/Thoughts

If you all thought I was done posting about Dune, I'm not, obsession is still going strong. But this time I want to talk more in depth about Paul and Chani's relationship, and by talk I mean gush and maybe cry a little about it. Their romance is so well written that it really does make you feel a whole spectrum of feelings from fluffy adorableness to heartbreaking devastation.

Right from their very first meeting this relationship is interesting and compelling because of the dreams Paul has of her beforehand, even before he ever sets foot on Arrakis he has visions of her. Because these visions are so intriguing, sometimes being very dreamy and kind of romantic, and sometimes being really disturbing where she is stabbing him and taking his life, just like Paul we ourselves are interested in Chani, in who she is, what these visions are and so it creates an anticipation within the audience for their first meeting long before it happens.

When that first meeting does happen you can see that look of recognition in his eyes. For him this meeting is very different than it is for her. This is the girl he has been dreaming about for a long time now, he tells Mother Mohiam that he has dreamt of her many times, so he's had even more visions than even we have seen. So this moment is one that for him has been long awaited, he already feels a deep connection with her because of those dreams, I would even argue that he already has some romantic feelings for her too, considering the way they look at each other in those dreams and visions. For Chani though, he's a stranger, an outsider and even a threat. I do think that she feels some connection, some intrigue towards him though. She says 'they say you are the Mahdi' so she has heard of him before their meeting and so I think that has piqued her interest, I also suspect, as she isn't a believer herself she felt some negative feelings towards this unknown outsider that people are calling Lisan al gaib. Then she meets Paul and he isn't at all what she was expecting, which I think only makes her more curious about him.

Another really interesting scene between them is right before his duel with Jamis when Chani gives him her crysknife. Despite clearly having no confidence in him, which to be fair to her it did look like a strong desert wind could blow him right over, he was tired and traumatised when they met, she still gave him that blade and I think that is really significant. That blade isn't only sacred to her people but she says that her great-aunt gave it to her, which means it is of personal sentiment to her as well. It's really interesting to me that she chose to give him the blade considering the fact that she doesn't believe in the prophecy and when he is an outsider who she clearly thinks is about to die. I think maybe the reason why is because she has some respect for him because of the way he is protecting his mother and because he stood up as her champion. It's clear that Chani has a lot of respect for fighters, she puts a lot of value in a person based on their skills as a warrior, which makes sense considering her fedaykin background. I think she recognised his bravery in standing up as champion and so she has enough respect for him to want him to die with honour. The best way she can aide him in this is by giving him her own crysknife.

After she gives him the crysknife there is a moment when she turns to leave and he calls her back. You can see that he really wants to say something to her but is struggling to find the words. I love this moment because again it shows how Paul wants to make a connection with her, because of the dreams he had and because he already feels linked to her, but he just doesn't know where to begin to explain it, how do you tell someone that you were dreaming about them before you ever even met them? I also think Paul was maybe looking for a way to ground himself, in most of his visions Chani was acting as a guide for him, she's leading him and showing him the way, so to me it would make sense in this moment when he is confronted with this duel that could end in his death, that he would search for some comfort in her.

Another scene I really love is after he has killed Jamis in the duel, we see him walking through the small crowd of fremen and they are all patting his shoulders showing him honour and respect. There is that really beautiful shot of Chani climbing off the rock, its in slow motion and the wind is blowing causing her clothes and hair to flutter in the wind and it just looks so ethereal. Then it flicks back to Paul continue his walk through the crowd and he's also in slow motion, he looks up at her and their eyes lock on each other. Paul is in a very vulnerable position in this moment, he's still struggling with the death of his father and the massacre of his friends, now he's just killed for the first time and you can see from the look in his eyes that it has effected him deeply, he's devasted. In this moment of vulnerability we are shown him walking towards Chani. In a lot of ways the moment mirrors many of the visions he's had of her, where she is standing some distance away and he approaches her, or follows her. I just love that symbolism of him walking towards her, of her becoming his way. The symbolism is then deepened when Stilgar tells Paul he is one of them now, a life for a life and when the shot switches back to Paul you see Chani at his side. When Jessica then says that Paul has to get off world and Paul tells her no, that his path leads into the desert we are again shown this image of him standing with Chani at his side, this is imagery that continues into the second movie.

The last scene of dune part 1 is Chani showing Paul a fremen riding a sandworm, desert power, before telling him its only the beginning and then continuing to lead him into the desert. I love the little look they exchange and the smile that crosses his face as he looks after her.

One thing I did notice is that throughout part 2 in particular these two are always looking for each other and exchanging these little looks, like they can't help but be drawn to the other. Part 2 is where we really see their romance begin to form and honestly what I love the most about it was how natural it felt.

For Chani the way it grows is through her respect for him as a warrior. I think this is initially what attracts her to him. In the beginning of the movie after he fights the Harkonnens she tells him that he fought well, and you can see that respect begin to grow more. One of my favourite scenes though is the one where they're at Sietch tabr, Paul and his mother are sitting separately from the rest of the fremen and Paul realises there's spice in the food they've been given. When Chani's friend begins to tease Paul, Chani sticks up for him and gives the reasoning that they should give him their respect because he's a good fighter, I just love the look her friend gives her, its so relatable, its that, girl I know what you're about and I know you like this guy, look. I think most of us have had that moment when we realise that our friend has a crush on someone and you can't help but give them that teasing/knowing look. Just 10/10 moment there.

I think another moment when Paul earns Chani's trust and respect is after Jessica drinks the water of life and the two factions of the fremen (believers and non believers) are arguing and Paul pipes up admitting that his mother is trained in poison transmutation. It's clear that Chani doesn't believe that the prophecy is true and that it is something that outsiders use to control her people. So whilst I think it takes her aback when he declares that he is not the Mahdi and that he just wants to fight beside them and learn their ways, it also makes her warm to him even more and begin to trust him. Its why later when Stilgar sends Paul off into the desert and Chani's friend asks her if she cares for him now, she replies that he isn't like the other outsiders, that he's sincere. She had become used to foreigners using her people for their own ends but she sees something different in Paul, which honestly just makes his actions in the end of the movie all the more heartbreaking. This sincerity that she sees in him is what makes her follow him into the desert and help him. This is only a little detail but I do love the little breathy laugh/smile he lets out when he realises its her sitting above him on the sand dune, its cute that he's so happy to see her.

Her teaching him to sandwalk is another really good scene. That moment when she's explaining it to him and then he's like 'well according to my info books' was really hilarious especially the look she gives him, just hush Paul, at least he had the good sense to stop himself. But what is really beautiful about that scene is again that imagery of them being side by side, not only that but seeing them move in sync with each other as he learns from her.

Speaking of beautiful scenes the next one where she is explaining to him how wind traps work and he's just staring at her completely smitten made me melt. Her opening line in this scene is also telling, she says that she is the only one who believes he'll make it to summer. It seems like such a innocent, non descript line but it shows that she now has faith in him, she believes in him, not him as the Mahdi, but him Paul, the person. I also love how it parallels back to part 1 and how she had no faith in him pre his fight with Jamis. The scene is just also so beautifully shot, how her voice fades out as their love theme begins to softly play, we are really shown how Paul is seeing her, how he's just lost in her, and I will never get over the way he looks at her in this scene. I also love that awkward but giddy feeling she clearly gets when she catches him staring at her, like awkward crush feelings where she's feeling a bit shy and overwhelmed but she is also happy that he's looking at her that way because she too is feeling romantic feelings for him. It very much gives early stages of love vibes, when you both have feelings for each other but you haven't acted on them yet, you're still feeling the other out. I could watch this scene a hundred times over and never get tired of it.

However if you told me I could only watch one scene from the movie ever again, it would have to be the scene in the tent after they've attacked the spice harvesters. Everything about this scene is just so perfect. The atmosphere is so jovial and you get such a sense of comradery, you can tell that these people have a deep bond between them and its beautiful to watch Paul find a place among them. When he makes that impassioned speech about how they should strike further north, and if he dies he dies but the others will continue on until the fremen are free, I just love the look on Chani's face, you can literally see her falling deeper in love with him in this moment, she's spellbound by him. I also love how after he has been given his fremen names and everyone gets up to hug him, Chani becomes visibly nervous, you can almost see her thinking in her head, ok girl just stay cool and collected don't let your heart eyes show. It is again playing into that early love stage of a relationship. Then when she does lean in she doesn't fully hug him because she's too nervous too, yet the moment is so charged and full of chemistry, its so obvious that they want to kiss. They also do one of my favourite things a couple can do, I call it the magnet move, when Chani pulls away, Paul instinctively follows her wanting to maintain that closeness, like two magnets on a table, you pull one away and the other follows.

Next comes the big moment, the first kiss. This is another beautifully shot scene, and I know you are probably getting sick of me saying that but I can't help that this film was filled with such artfully done scenes, especially the romance ones, they're just gorgeous to look at, especially with the golden sand lit by the golden sun. But this moment it also very significant because of what happens later in the film, as beautiful as this moment is it sets us up for the devastation that comes later. The scene starts with Paul saying 'I found my way father' which is a call back to the conversation he had with his father in part one where his father tells him its ok to find his own way even if that path isn't as the Duke. We see him remove the ducal ring showing that he is shredding that identity, stepping off that path and instead embracing the fremen way and his fremen identity. What is really interesting is that right before taking the ring off he looks back to see Chani climbing up the sand dune towards him. What follows is basically a conversation about who they each are and where they come from. Chani asks Paul about his own home world and we get a true understanding of just how different their worlds were. They talk about her secret name, Sihaya and how she hates it and its connection to the prophecy, its about claiming your own identity and rejecting the one someone else chose for you. Paul rejects his title of duke and of Madhi and instead chooses to be Paul Maud'dib Usul the fremen. Chani rejects the name that links her to the prophecy and chooses her own path, and at this moment they are both on the same path. They get into a discussion of blood, how he comes from Dukes but that here on Arrakis they are seen as equals. This moment is so important, Paul tells her that he wants to be equal to her and this is the promise that he'll later break. Despite that, in this moment I really do believe that Paul means it and that he is sincere. I also love how sweet their first kiss is, how she is the first to lean in and how she turns to deepen it and how he then wraps his arm around her shoulders to pull her in even closer, its just the perfect first kiss.

Following their first kiss we get a montage of the passing time and again its stunning visually. Just before they kiss Chani tells Paul that maybe she'll show him the way of the fremen/desert and one of the first shots of the montage is literally her showing him the way through the desert. We see them fighting Harkonnens together and we see him growing closer to the fremen. I love the shot where they are standing on the sand dune and Chani leans her head on his shoulder, when it flicks next to the harvesters being brought in, I couldn't help but notice that the balloons carrying the harvesters looked like hearts. Then you have that shot of Paul lowering the telescope and you see his eyes have now turned blue showing that he has fully and truly embraced the fremen and become fremen.

The next scene we see of them after the montage is when Paul wakes from a nightmare on the day he's going to ride a sandworm for the first time. This scene shows us not only that some time has passed but also that their relationship has advanced a lot, they are now sleeping in the same tent and its very domestic. She comforts him as he gains his bearings after the nightmare showing how she has become a source of support for him. Him then telling her about his nightmare also shows the trust they have between them, he feels safe enough to be vulnerable around her, to share his fears with her. When it comes to the moment when he rides the sandworm for the first time its really sweet how worried we see her. She knows that he's just had this nightmare, so naturally when doing something this risky Chani probably would wish he had a good nights rest and was focused. Also I think some of her worry comes from knowing how important this is to Paul and how its the final test for him to become truly fremen. She loves him so she wants him to succeed. I also love that look she gives her friend when she tells Paul to call a big sandworm, but I also love that her friend reassures her and reminds her that Stilgar has taught him well. When Paul succeeds and rides the worm you can see the pure exhilaration on Chani's face, she is so happy for him and so proud of him and you can feel the same sense of triumph she and the other fedaykin feel. But Chani's mood quickly shifts when she sees the other fedaykin go from cheering to praying to Paul, and that worry creeps back in.

Their love scene is one of those scenes that covers a full spectrum of emotions. It's a very tender moment between them and also surprisingly steamy considering the rating. There is this tiny blink and you miss it moment where right after Chani says 'will you always be with me' they both have these little smiles on their faces before Paul replies 'as long as I breathe' honestly its such a tender moment and it really pulls at my heartstrings every time I see it. But then the mood shifts and we can see Chani's fear coming through. It mirrors the tent scene where Paul has his nightmare only this time their roles are reversed, Paul is the one comforting Chani and she is the one that is expressing her fears. Their fears are the same, they both fear the fundamentalists that worship Paul as the Mahdi. Chani recognises the dangers of this blind worship and how its is being spread by Jessica who is fanning the flames. It does kind of feel like Paul is burying his head in the sand a bit here though, he is trying to pretend that he can just ignore this problem but Chani can see that its beginning to grow out of control and that scares her. I think the fact that she asks whether he will always be with her shows that she fears losing him.

The biggest turning point comes though when Paul is reunited with Gurney. For the first half of the film Paul has been adamant and steadfast in rejecting his connections to the house atriedes and instead embracing his new identity as a fremen. But when Gurney shows up he is connection back to his previous life, his previous identity and this clearly worries Chani even though she claims that she trusts Usul. Despite her worry though she still helps Gurney when Paul tells her that he is family. She knows that this new stranger is someone important to Paul and so because she loves Paul and wants what's best for him she swallows down her own concerns and helps Gurney. The situation only gets more tense though when Gurney tells Paul that he knows where the Atreides family atomics are.

Which is when we get the second tent scene where Paul tells Chani about the atomics. Honestly this is another scene that is wrought in tension but where there is a moment or two where there is this tenderness between them too. It's interesting that whilst telling Chani about the atomics Paul is studying the ducal ring, its the first time we see it since he took it off right before their first kiss. It's clear that Chani is becoming more and more scared especially when Paul starts making plans for how he could use the atomics and says the line 'he who can destroy a thing has the real control of it.' She rightly calls him out, reminding him that he promised her that he didn't want power. Then he accuses her of not trusting him and honestly even I found her response a bit harsh, telling him that he's a foreigner just like his friend. I saw some comments, mostly on youtube, complaining that Chani never saw or accepted Paul as fremen, that she always saw him as an outsider, and they use this moment as proof of that. But I don't agree with that view at all, I think Chani's biggest fear is that she will lose Paul to the fundamentalists and that he'll be unable to outrun who he was in the past, the duke of arrakis, the future of house Atreides, he would no longer be her equal, be the man she has come to love, its because she does see him as one of them that she fears him becoming someone else. I do think that this is where Chani starts to put some walls back up, she has that little feeling of doubt creep in, she's feeling unsettled. However her calling him a foreigner really hurts him and he denies it. You can see Chani's facial expression shift when she turns to look at him. At first she looks angry and like she is about to throw off another snipe at him, but then she sees his pain and instead reassures him, telling him he wasn't to her but he is to the desert. I think Gurney showing back up has reminded Chani of how they come from different places, how he was once a duke. But Paul also recognises Chani's fears and tries to reassure her, reminding her that his loyalty is to her and the fremen and its them that's behind his motivations. Chani seems to be convinced but that tension between them still lingers.

Things only get worse when Paul has that dream about Chani dying and awakes to Sietch Tabr under attack. There is that heartstopping moment where Paul can't find Chani and you can see the very real fear when he shouts out her name. His and the audience's fear only increase when we locate Chani but she's standing on a dune exactly as the vision showed and we get that mirroring image of Paul running up the dune towards her and you can't help but panic that this is his vision coming true. The look of complete relief on Paul's face when he reaches Chani and she is ok is only momentary because it quickly turns to horror when they see the artillery hitting the Sietch. But once again it is to each other that they turn for support. I think the attack on Sietch Tabr has a huge effect on Paul's motivations going forward, he says to Gurney that he never saw it coming. Despite all of the nightmares and visions he is plagued with, this was something that he didn't see coming, that he couldn't stop and that is frustrating to him, he thinks if he did see it then maybe he could've stopped it and I think its the same with the vision of Chani's death, his visions have always been murky and unclear and as he is losing more and his fear is growing it makes drinking the water of life more tempting. What is that line that Jessica is always saying, fear is the mind killer. I think the attack on Sietch Tabr and the vision of Chani's death happening simultaneously is what finally causes Paul's fear to take over and that is when he truly becomes lost.

The last scene between Chani and Paul before they leave to go south is one of the most bittersweet and heartbreaking I've seen. Chani's line 'the world has made choices for us' is really heartbreaking because of how true it is, they only have the illusion of making choices, they are being pulled by the actions of others around them, so as much as Paul wants to live happily amongst the fremen and with Chani, outside forces work to pull him off that path and onto one of their own choosing. Jessica's actions, Gurney's, the Harkonnen's, the Bene Gesserit and the Emperor's all work against Paul and force him into a choice that he doesn't want to make. So he 'chooses' to go South and drink the water, but he also doesn't have a choice in it at all in truth. What makes my heart ache is the way he is crying in this scene, his fear that he will lose Chani. She tries to reassure him that he'll never lose her but she doesn't fully understand, she doesn't know what he does, that he's going to have to drink the water. It's that line 'as long as you stay who you are' you can see the resigned nod he gives and the just pain in his eyes because he knows that he can't stay who he is, so this promise she is giving him isn't the comfort he is seeking, its confirmation that he will in fact lose her and its just awful to watch him have that realisation and poor Chani seems to be clueless to it. But something interesting that I caught in this moment is that she calls him Paul Atreides. It's interesting because whilst she has called him Paul on occasion she mostly refers to him by his fremen name Usul, but not only does she recognise him as Paul in this moment she also recognises him as an Atreides which I don't think we've seen her do since the beginning of their relationship. Also when Paul replies he says that he will cross the storms with her and help get her people to safety. Again this is a departure from his view before this when he insisted that he wasn't a foreigner, that the fremen were their people. Already we are seeing this distance begin to form between them, its subtle but the cracks are there.

The last kiss between them in this scene is bittersweet, you can see Paul relishing it, clinging to it because he knows its likely their last kiss, for him this is a goodbye in a way. The head shake he does when they pull apart and the way he keeps his eyes closed because he can't bear to look at her, knowing what he's about to do, it really does just hit you in the gut, its so painful to watch, especially because you know he is doing this because he thinks its the only way to keep her safe, to keep the fremen safe, he has to open his mind so he can see all the dangers that might come their way, so he can guide them to the future where he doesn't lose her or his friends.

One moment where I have seen alot of conflicting opinions over is the scene where Chani comes to Paul after he drinks the water of life. I've seen alot of people say that Chani was going to let Paul die, that she had clearly already fallen out of love with him, which honestly I think I may have watched a different film to them. Personally I didn't see it as her not wanting to save him or her wanting to let him die, Chani was frantic from the moment she showed up there, she is scared and confused, we see her asking over and over what happened. My heart broke for her when she realised that he had drank the water, there is also that devastating moment when she thinks he is dead and you can see her start to tremble and crumble, there's pure pain in her eyes, so I'll never understand those with the view that she had fallen out of love with him at this point. After realising what he has done she then becomes angry at Jessica in particular, she doesn't understand Paul's own actions in drinking the water, we can see this by the way she keeps asking him why he would do it. But she knew that this was what Jessica wanted and that she had been scheming and manipulating to get her way, so Chani's anger is understandable and its why she tells Jessica to fix it because she sees her as the perpetrator in this. I think the point is that Jessica never gives Chani the opportunity to choose for herself, Chani is still trying to process what has happened and still trying to work through all the emotions she is feeling, I mean girl is understandably a mess, she's scared, confused, angry, and there are people there sprouting out nonsense about a prophecy that she doesn't believe in which is only making her angrier, of course she wasn't thinking straight. So no, I personally do not think she was going to let him die, I think she was just going through it. I also think it was terrible that she was forced into playing a part in this prophecy considering how she felt about it, also because when Paul wakes up he's not entirely the same person, so now Chani must feel like she played a part in destroying the man she loves and bringing forth this new person who seems like a stranger to her in many ways. As I said earlier she also doesn't understand his actions, why he drank the waters and I think this is largely something that causes her pain going forward to, every new action he takes hurts her because not only is he betraying her and going back on everything he had previously said to her but she doesn't understand why he is, for her this has come completely out of the blue.

Another opinion I see alot is that from the moment Paul wakes up he is dead in the eyes and that he is completely changed, that from that moment forward he never shows emotion again. This is another one where I don't entirely agree with it. I do think there is a hugely drastic change in Paul post drinking the water, obviously. I also agree that most of the time he looks dead in the eyes, like there's some kind of void there now, he seems very calculating and cold and yes most of the time emotionless. But I do think there are moments, very small moments, but glimpses of the old Paul that come through occasionally and almost every time we see these glimpses its in connection with Chani, the exception being when the Emperor says that Leto was a weak man. I also don't agree with the view that Paul was dead in the eyes the moment he woke up, that it was instant like that. The way I saw it was I thought he actually looked happy to see Chani, it reminded me alot of the few times we saw him have nightmares and he would immediately turn to see Chani, would seek out her comfort, I think its the same here, he wakes up and he's disorientated and the first thing he does is search for her, he sees her there and he hears her tell him she's there. You can see and feel her relief and when she hugs him to her, he wraps his arms around her too. She needs to know that he is ok and so she asks him and its so sad the way her voice shakes when she does because it shows just how scared she was. Once she realises that he is ok and her fear fades that's when her anger comes out full swing, especially when he says he's ok thanks to her because its that reminder of how she was forced into playing a part in the prophecy she hates, he knew how she hated her secret name because of the connection to the prophecy and so again it makes her angrier. So she slaps him and walks away. For me this is the moment when his eyes go dead and he becomes emotionless, as he is watching her walk away. We see him stand as everyone bows down to him and as he turns there is just this chillingly cold look in his eyes.

If Chani was angry after Paul drank the water, its nothing compared to how she feels after the war council. This is another instance when she is forced into doing things she doesn't want to, this time by Gurney, she goes to speak up and Gurney pulls her to the ground and tells her she'll get in trouble, she pulls her blade and goes towards Paul to intervene when the Fremen get upset at him talking without being a tribe leader and pull their weapons and again Gurney stops her. When everyone begins to bow down to Paul Gurney literally pulls her down so that she is bowing to him too. But I do think this is the moment where her heart begins to break, as upset as she was when he drank the water this moment is even more hurtful and even more of a betrayal. Not only is it clear that he is embracing the role of Mahdi in this moment and using her people to meet his own ends, but when he declares himself duke of arrakis he is putting himself above her in rank, he is no longer her equal, he is her duke and she and her people are his servants. This is what is heartbreaking to her and this is what feels like a betrayal because it comes back to that scene before they first kiss where he says he wants to be equal to her. Now he is betraying that.

I said earlier that throughout the first half of the film we saw alot of imagery of Paul and Chani side by side, this imagery of unity, but from the moment he drinks the water, we see the opposite, they are always at a distance from each other, she sees him walking through the crowd from a distance at the war council, when making the plan to attack the Emperor's ship they are sitting on opposite sides instead of next to each other, after the battle when they are gathered in the hall we see Chani look for him and sees him walking at a distance surrounded by his loyal followers. Despite this one thing remains the same and that is that they still seek each other out with their eyes, they still have these little moments where they're eyes meet and they seem to say something without actually talking.

One exception to this new distance we see between them is the very last scene where we see them talk to each other. It was actually only on a rewatch that I realised that these were the last lines they speak to each other and also the last line Chani says at all. When they are gathered in the hall and Paul has ordered for the prisoners to be brought in, we see him look to Chani and approach her. The last words she says to him are 'this isn't over yet.' Now obviously she's talking about the battle here, but I also like to think that she is talking about them too, despite everything she is still clinging to him and to them with a very thin thread at this point. It's very similar to the scene before they go south and its just as heartbreaking because once again Paul knows what he is about to do and knows its going to hurt her. So he tells her he'll love her as long as he breathes, and this line just felt like a knife to the heart, its so romantic and yet even as he says it you can feel that something is coming and like their last kiss it feels like a goodbye. I've seen some say that Paul was lying in this moment but for me I think the thing that makes it so tragic is that its the truth. At this point Paul has broken so many promises that he made to her, has betrayed her in so many ways and he knows he's about to make it worse, so he gives her this one last promise, one that he will not break. She might not believe him but despite that he needs to say it, he needs her to hear it. It's this one last moment of pure honesty and love between them. You can see that it means something to her as well, that despite how angry she is she still feels his words in that moment, we see it in the way she kind of gasps and tries not to let it overwhelm her.

But then comes that moment, the one where everything comes crumbling down as Paul says he'll take the princess' hand. I mean Zendaya's acting in this moment was phenomenal, I really did feel her pain and shock and anger. But I think the part that really hurts her isn't even him marrying another woman its the part where he says that he and the princess will rule over the empire together. Again it comes back to equality, Chani was Paul's equal and that was important to her, but here he is declaring himself a lord and he is making a move for the throne of the known universe, again putting himself in a position above Chani as well as a position of power over her and her people, on top of that by saying that he will rule with the princess he is essentially making another woman his equal in Chani's place, a woman who will also have power and control over Chani's own people. Of course this feels like a betrayal for her and of course this hurts her, I mean Chani looks like she almost wants to throw up in this moment she is so distressed by it, you see her pull her anger back up and at this point I really do think she is using her anger as a shield and as something to hide behind so that she doesn't have to confront the pain she is in.

Which brings me to the duel between Paul and Feyd. I really do think this fight shows just how deeply Paul still loves Chani and vice versa. There is that moment when Feyd knocks Paul down, its a hard enough knock that everyone around gasps and even Paul himself looks frightened, it almost looks like he is beat. But then Paul looks to Chani, I think this is for a couple of reasons, one being that if he is about to die then he wants to have one last look at her, another is because she is his source of strength and right now he needs that in order to continue the fight. But this look draws Feyd's attention and he realises the connection between Paul and Chani. Feyd's biggest mistake is turning his attention to Chani, calling her Paul's pet. You can see the disgust on Chani's face here, I think it still hurts even if its not Paul's view, it's again highlighting their difference in station, Paul's a duke of a great house, she's his pet, its degrading. But this comment makes Paul angry too. This is another reason why I argue against the view that Paul is emotionless post drinking the water because in this moment you can see the emotion in his eyes as he stares Feyd down. Its pure fiery rage and protectiveness. Watching Feyd approach Chani is what gives Paul the strength to get back up and as he moves towards Feyd you can see his anger growing. If Feyd hadn't turned his attention to Chani and taunted Paul then Feyd may have been able to beat him. We see Paul thump his chest twice and you know that he's out for blood now. When Feyd does stab him we see Paul again look to Chani, drawing that strength from her, when Feyd is pushing the emperor's blade towards Paul and he is trying to stop it with his hand, its just such a tense and horrifying scene to watch, but Paul bares the pain of that blade slicing through his hand because he knows what is at stake, because when he looked at her the first time he exposed her to Feyd, who turned his attention to her, if Paul dies now then that means leaving Chani vulnerable to Feyd and there is no telling what Feyd would do to her, the fact that he called her a pet shows that he doesn't see her as human so you know it wouldn't be anything pleasant. Which means for Paul dying is now no longer an option, his main priority is keeping Chani safe, its why he drank the water and became the Mahdi in the first place. Its the threat to Chani that gives Paul the strength to defeat Feyd. There is also something symbolic about the fact that its the same crysknife that Chani gave him before his fight with Jamis that he uses to kill Feyd, a crysknife that was already covered in his own blood.

It's also clear throughout this whole duel that Chani still cares for Paul, we see it in her reaction when he is stabbed, that fear that he will die, that she'll have to watch him die, also she must be thinking, on some level, about the first time she saw him fight, right after they first met, the parallels between the two duels are so clear. The relief she shows when he kills Feyd, the way she lets out the breath she was holding and the way she trembles, its clear that she is still in love with him. There's also a moment where after pulling the knife from his shoulder Paul looks at her and her gaze just softens and she once again looks at him with tenderness. But when the emperor finally kneels to him and everyone (but irulan and jessica) follows suit, Chani refuses to. Her anger is back and she refuses to bow to him, to recognise him as someone who is above her, she will not see him as anything but her equal. She also won't follow him down this path, won't support this action and so she leaves. That last look between them is so loaded, so complex and fill of so many different emotions. Paul is looking at her with such longing and sadness and Chani is staring back at him with defiance and anger. Then he has to watch her leave, she's a part of him, a part of his soul and he has to watch her leave. He doesn't take his eyes off her until she is completely out of sight and then he looks down and closes his eyes as if he's never been in this much pain before. Something else that is so tragic about this scene is how it mirrors but is opposite to the one in part 1 that I talked about above. The one where after his duel with Jamis we see him walking towards Chani, now he has once again become champion in a duel, but this time Chani is walking away from him.

I think the thing that is so tragic about their love story was how hard they tried to cling to each other, from halfway through the film you can feel the end coming for them, they are battling against all these external forces that are bigger than the two of them and yet they still love each other, they really did fight as hard as they could to be together. Even when he makes the grab for power, he loves her, even when she walks away, she loves him. Even at the end they are still deeply in love with each other but they've been forced onto different paths, because the world made choices for them. Honestly thinking about it too hard makes me want to cry. Maybe I am being too optimistic here but I am going to take some hope that their last lines to each other 'its not over yet' and 'I'll love you as long as I breathe' means that they will find their way back to each other somehow.

I don't think I have ever come across a movie couple that has such a well written and heartbreaking story as these two, but as much as I could continue to waffle on about them this post is past ridiculously long, honestly if you have read to the end of this, I am impressed and very grateful, so thank you. But yeah that is my very long thought dump on Paul and Chani, if you can't tell yet they've completely wrecked me.

#paulchani #paul x chani #dune #dune part 1 #dune part 2 #dune part 2 spoilers #dune part two #dune part two spoilers #paul atreides #chani kynes

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thedo0zyslider · 2 months

Text

When Scar hits that Succeed button, two things happen at once. The first is that the game doesn't end. Which is more disappointing than shocking, really, he truly didn't know if it would end or not when he hit the button. The second thing was that he remembered. Scar remembered a lot of things in that moment, four whole lifetimes worth of memories came back when he hit that button. And a lot of emotions came with those memories, like, a lot a lot.

The first is a lot of pain. A lot of pain and grief. So, so much grief, he hadn't even know someone could hold this much pain in them before now. But it's possible, and the choking sob Scar lets out proves that. He lets out more sobs after the first, unable to really stop them from happening. And the river tears that fall from his face, those are uncontrollable as well.

The pain he feels from the memories are for a lot of reasons. One of the first ones is the flower he wears, memories of desert heat and sand and llamas being the first to hit him. Memories of the very first creeper explosion, the war, everything. He remembers handing his one ally a bouquet of flowers, and then lying dead in a cactus ring not even a few weeks later. Heh, talk about whiplash....

The second pain, Scar finds as another sob hits him, is the strong pang of loneliness. One much like the sting he'd been feeling for this whole game. But this time it's different, it's the feeling that comes with experiencing true loneliness for the first time. This time around the lonley feelings had felt almost vaguely familiar, and now he can place why. Now he can remember the mountain and his dumb magic crystals and the sting of being left to fend for himself over and over and over again. And also the familiar sting of anger at everyone for just letting him be left like that. Alone and broken and hopeless.

The third reason is heartbreak. Bitter heartbreak, and also a sense of not really caring anymore. Then sense of being so deeply wronged, but being too jaded and apathetic to even care. Scar curls his fist at the memory, the cloth of his coat being nearly torn from how hard he holds it, and feels the bitterness of pure indifference to almost everyone wash over him once more; if only for a few measly seconds.

The fourth stab of pains, because they seem to be coming in rounds as he remembers each life, is strange. That life is happier. But this is a death game, so there is always pain that comes with it. There is a sense of strange alliances and the fourth death he can remember brings a sense of familiarity with it. A contrast to the very first that leaves something rather bitter in his mouth once again. Something with a slight hint of betrayal in it.

Thats where the memories and the grief stop, because he remembers the fifth life and the pain of it. There is nothing to remember, no pain he hasn't already gone through anymore. It’s real, it's there, and Scar can do nothing but cry and breakdown under the weight of it all. Above him, the Secret Keeper says nothing, just watches on with it's empty gaze, not caring a single bit for its victors breakdown.

Scar starts wiping at his eyes, hoping it would calm the stream now coming from them. It does not. Like how covering his mouth won't stop the sobs that bubble past his lips, and how clawing at his chest won't make the pain leave his heart. He thinks some of the tears are for the man he was, or the one he could've been; had these games not happened and spared all their players the pain.

At a certain point, Scar realizes he'd slid down onto the grass. His back is pressed against a block, the one that dammed Succeed button is on, and it's cool against his back. Cool against the wirthing agnoy inside and memories screaming loudly in his head. Cool and grounding against all the ugly trauma he's having to process all at once.

Eventually though, his crying does cease, and Scar can do nothing but stare down at his own hands. They feel sticky with the blood of many people, maybe versions of his friends long dead and buried; just like the many versions of him now are.

It's a little jarring, honestly, to be able to look at his hands and now know where all those scars came from. To remember. To remember why his arms and legs are coated in old the remnants of old wounds. Why there's an explosion scar covering his whole backside. Why sometimes his joints and certain parts hurt from being injured one too many times over, from taking too many awkward falls and bad landings. Some still aching from never having a chance to properly heal, and the wounds that caused his old deaths closed over and scarred like the rest of him.

After a few minutes, Scar tears his red gaze from his palms. He's tried of sitting here and crying. He's tired of an empty world. He wants to go home, to his friends. He wants to find people who also remember, who can help him; so he won't ever be lonely anymore.

He wants to stay sorry, if he can.

So Scar stands on shaky legs, and reaches out to press the Succeed button again. Just to test if anything else new will happen, or if, maybe, they will finally let him go home.

#ron.writing #goodtimeswithscar #gtws #gtwscar #secret life #sl smp #life series #life series smp #traffic series #trafficblr #traffic smp #slsmp #secret life smp #No shipping on this one me thinks #This isn't my best work but yk what I'll take it #Can u tell I forgot all of scars limited life the second I started writing 💔

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anystalker707 · 1 year

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Promise me

Pairing: Portgas D. Ace x [gender neutral] Reader Words: ~ 2 900 Summary: It almost feels like love at first sight, feelings playing with you while you fall for someone that can't stay Tags: Ace is very soft / Boyfriend content Ace / Fluffy af / Some little angst by the end A/N: he is so gender. if you complain about alabasta ace, you have no soul.

MASTERLIST

Having the humid and fresh weather of the sea replaced by the dry and immensely hot Alabasta’s climate wasn’t something easy to handle, and it was already showing itself while you still crossed the Sandora River. At least the clothes Sanji had fixed wouldn't get you any sunburn, but it still didn’t stop you from wanting to toss them off to stop the heat, so your mood wasn’t the best at the moment. Only that cup of fresh water that Sanji gave you seemed to make things a little more manageable, sitting in the shadow near a few barrels on Merry’s deck.

“Oh, and who are you? What are you doing all curled up like that?” A new voice caught your attention, and it was the first time you looked at his face since Luffy started talking about him. Something shifted in your chest about the way he smiled at you. “You must be (y/n), hm? Luffy told me about you! Thank you for taking care of him!”

You raised your eyebrows with a hum. “It’s no problem! He’s been helping me as well. We got a nice crew.”

“Yeah?” Ace’s lips parted into a grin and he took a seat next to you. “C’mon, tell me more about yourself, and I’ll tell you about me.”

A trade? “And who said I want to know more about you, Fire Fist?” You raised an eyebrow, watching his cheeks slowly grow red as he looked away before you cracked a chuckle. “Sorry, I’m just joking! Go ahead, tell me your adventures!”

Ace was nice and easy to talk to, like a long lost best friend that walked into your life again and you had a lot to catch up with. Staying quiet was difficult when you were near him, even if you were literally making your way through the desert. In comparison, Nami sometimes exchanged words with Vivi, both supervised by an extra-worried Sanji. while Usopp, Luffy, Chopper and Zoro followed along, panting, with dragged steps. Vivi had a resistance to the weather that easily left all of you jealous.

“What happened to (y/n), hm?” Zoro groaned breathlessly. His heavy steps resulted in small mounds in the sand that were later erased by the wooden piece on which Chopper was being dragged down by him. “Won’t shut the hell up! Almost like Sanji when he sees a woman,” he continued grumbling despite how Sanji gasped and decided to get into yet another fight with him, and you couldn’t help but to chuckle, watching Ace’s eyes widen a little.

“It’s just like that.” You shrugged a little. “Sometimes Luffy gets in it too, y’know? They just never stop bickering. Maybe it’s some sort of love language.”

“That would make some sense.” Ace smiled. “Luffy and I wouldn’t stop sparring when we were younger. He would lose to me every single time, of course!”

“So you’re that strong?” You raise an eyebrow.

“That strong!” He grins, bringing up an arm to flex it, even if it’s covered by the heavy clothing to go through the desert; you mirror his grin, about to comment when Luffy’s complaining has both of you turning to watch him.

“I’m tired and hungryyy!” Luffy drags himself after you with a big pout. “Help me convince Sanji that we should eat!” He tugged on your sleeve then at Ace’s, but it wasn’t like he could do much.

Vivi shook her head. “We just took a pause at Erumalu, Luffy! We should save energy for later!”

Luffy frowned, hunching more. “But I’m sooo hungry! And very, very thirsty!”

She raised an eyebrow at him, slowly softening up according to how dramatic he got—she didn’t have the same resistance as the crew, and apparently Ace. “Well, we can stop as soon as the sun sets, so let’s focus on finding some rocks that we can rest nearby when the time comes. Do you think you can keep an eye out for them?”

“Just find rocks?” Luffy’s mood immediately lightened up as he giggled, quickly moving forward and hooking an arm around Usopp’s neck. “C’mon, help me find the next rocks! Then we can rest!”

“That’s not really what she said, Luffy...” Nami tried fruitlessly.

His antics had you chuckling a little, but just hearing about water somehow made your throat feel dry. Your eyes squinted at the horizon; the ground and the sky seemed to tremble under the immense heat, and the fact that sand extended itself for as far as your eyes could reach didn’t help. The heat was like an itch you couldn’t get rid of. Would this ever end?

A water bottle was suddenly shoved in front of you, making you stumble a little. “Here. Drink some of it.”

You furrowed your eyebrows at Ace, unable to hold back a smile. He was so sympathetic. “No, it is fine! I have my own water bottle with me, don’t worry about it! We just started our way, according to Vivi, so it’s best if I save water!”

“Then drink some of mine, I don’t mind!” Ace took a step forward so he could stop right in front of you.

“Ace...” You sighed, trying to take a step aside just for him to follow you. “Saving water counts for you as well!”

Ace rolled his eyes a little. “Your face is too red, but I am fine. Aside from that, I can handle heat well, y’know.” A proud smile adorned his features as he pushed the bottle your way, and you couldn’t help but just accept it, trying to balance how much you drank between feeling satisfied and not using much of his water. “This will help.” Ace placed his hat on top of your head, and you were about to complain when he pulled his shemagh over his head in a hood sort of way; he chuckled at how you scoffed. “Where is the shemagh you had?”

“Flew away back in Erumalu. Come on.” You handed his bottle back, finally allowed to walk past him without being stopped. “Look, they’ve continued walking without us!”

“We can catch up, don’t worry!” Ace took your hand in his, putting his bottle away with his free one. “There’s no need to rush if they are not out of sight. Do you need me to carry your stuff?”

“You’re already doing more than you should!” You squeezed his hand with a smile.

The weather got colder according to how the sun went down, slowly making it more bearable; the weight on your head that clouded your thoughts slowly wore out, only leaving behind a tiredness that would certainly have you out like a light at the moment you rested your head.

"Hah, look at you!" Ace smiled, only letting go of your hand when you had to place your things down so you could camp for the night. "Feeling a lot better, aren't you?"

"Yeah!" You let your things fall to the ground and stretched with a soft groan. "And hungry..."

"Sanjiii..." The way Luffy walked past you almost as if summoned at the mention of food startled you; you sweatdrop while observing him.

Sanji clicked his tongue. "Give me a moment and I'll prepare dinner!"

It took a few minutes to put up the tents you needed for the night and, by the time you were done, it didn’t even feel like the same place that almost made you die of heat now had you almost dying of cold. You clung to the same clothes that you wanted to toss off not even a couple of hours ago.

“Why is it s—so cold at n—night?” Usopp trembled as he took a blanket to wrap it around himself, which he ended up sharing as Luffy took a seat next to him.

Vivi smiled a little as she organized her things before she would also sit down near the bonfire Sanji had made to heat up the food, joining everyone else in a circle around it. “There is nothing to absorb the heat of the day, so the nights can even get below 0 degrees celsius! We are going to be fine, though!”

“H—Hey, Chopper!” Usopp and Luffy called over the reindeer, resulting in another fight you weren’t able to follow; a tugging on your clothes had you looking down to see Ace patting the spot next to him on the blanket he had extended on the ground.

Ace smiled as he observed you, holding out his water bottle once again, making you frown a little whilst pushing it back to him. “Save it for yourself!” He rolled his eyes half heartedly at your words, taking a swig of it himself instead before he could put it away. Your eyes averted to the sky, observing how starry it was tonight. Of course you watched the stars often when on the sea, but they seemed a little different there. Sometimes you went so far that even the stars didn’t seem the same. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Yes, yes!” He leaned back on his hands with a soft sigh, following your gaze to the sky. “Thing’s a little harder than I imagined, but it’s alright. I see you liked it, hm?”

You raised an eyebrow and Ace nodded to your head in response, which had your cheeks burning. “Oh, I’m sorry! I ended up forgetting about it!” The hat had a couple of symbols on the front, a smiling and a frowning face that you almost questioned him about, instead preferring to just let it rest on his lap. “It was of great help!” Despite not seeming to feel cold, his cheek felt cold when you pressed a kiss to it, but it seemed to quickly change given how red it turned, worthy of a chuckle; Ace even grabbed his hat to cover his face.

“Food is ready!” Sanji announced, helped out by Chopper to hand out the bowls of food, as usual. Vivi and Nami were the first ones to be served, of course, followed by you and Ace. “Here it is, dearest (y/n)! And some for you as well, Ace!”

“Thank you!” You grinned. The warmth of the food was well welcomed by your cupped hands that held onto it until they were warm enough, and finally started to eat.

Eating Sanji’s warm and delicious food after a long day was so rewarding, to a point the usual talk that happened during the meals was now replaced by a comfortable silence of content. While you still slowly munched on your food, you quietly observed Ace clean his utensils already since he was by then done with his meal. Now that your body wasn’t even heated up due to the constant moving, the cold felt a lot more intense.

Ace raised an eyebrow when you shuffled around, curling up more. “You’re cold,” he pointed out, finishing to clean his fork. Of course; you just shrugged a little, nodding in response. With the fork put aside, Ace moved closer to you, throwing an arm around you. At first it was normal, but soon a comfortable and nice heat irradiated from him. “Does it feel okay?” He was close. His breath fanned against your ear.

“Yes, of course.” You smiled, leaning into his touch, and the way he grinned triggered a funny feeling in your chest that you wished it would never go away.

The silence, after the meal, was replaced by a calm and soft conversation that reflected how tired all of you were. Even Sanji wasn't as scandalous as he usually was, limited to quiet flirting and already discarding his cigarette. Your attention was pulled away from the others at the moment your bowl was removed from your hands, by Ace, who was cleaning it before you could even mutter a word. You clicked your tongue, making him chuckle.

“Do you want to lie down already?”

“Sounds good.” You helped Ace out with gathering your stuff so you could go into the tent, this time being fast enough to get most of the things before he could bother himself. The shoes and extra clothing were discarded aside and you fell to the makeshift bed with a soft sigh, knowing it wouldn’t feel that comfortable if it weren’t for the tiredness. As simple as it was, the tent gave you a sense of comfort that was intensified when Ace joined you, wrapping his arms around your torso as his head rested on your chest. “What are you doing?”

“We need to heat up,” he whispered, pulling himself closer. “Is it alright?”

“‘Feels good,” you admitted quietly. It was as if you were in certain debt with him given everything he was doing, so you brought a hand to hold onto his upper arm while the other played with his hair, running your fingers along his strands until his breathing became softer and deeper, short before you could feel your thoughts slipping from your grasp.

𓆟

The new day already started quite agitated. First of all, you woke up covered in sand, then managed to get all your stuff stolen those weird Warusagi birds, followed by Luffy returning with a camel while chased by two Great Sandora lizards that easily became your meal after Luffy, Sanji and Zoro joined forces to defeat it.

“Sorry for Luffy,” Ace said again as the two of you sat together in the shadow of the rocks Luffy had spotted earlier, now resting after your meal, a little away from the others. Both of you had your legs crossed, leaning back against the rock wall; he had lent you his hat during the walk again, which rested on your lap at the moment, your fingers playing with its cord.

“No need to apologize so much!” You shook your head. “We’ve been with him long enough to notice how he is, and we’re ready to deal with it. Not to mention that he also helps us out, so...” You shrugged.

“Yes, still...” Ace trailed off as he bit on the skin around his thumb, but soon pushed the thoughts away with a groan, and there he was again, wrapping his arms around your torso to rest his head on your shoulder. You couldn’t help but hug him back, though adjusting your position a little until your cheek was pressed to his; he chuckled with it and so did you, nuzzling Ace a little, and... your eyes met his.

A smile continued lingering on your faces, twisting a little as if thrilled because you were doing something wrong, and the visual contact broke. Instead, it was Ace’s eyes traveling from yours to your lips in a silent question that you answered by leaning in to press your lips together. It was a soft kiss that held nothing but a genuine feeling behind it, at the same time demanding something you couldn’t quite place. The kiss wasn’t over so fast, only deepening with how his arms wrapped around you tighter, sending your heart fluttering, and you could bet he felt the same when you cupped the back of his neck to tilt his head so you could guide the kiss.

Pulling away was hard, also. It almost felt like each other would disappear if you kept your lips apart for too long, so it was followed by soft and longing pecks until all that rested were shy smiles and red faces. Your gaze met again, so you both chuckled; you brushed your nose against Ace’s before giving him another kiss.

“Look at you,” you mumbled adoringly, letting a hand fall to around his waist to hold him close as you nuzzled a spot under his ear; Ace didn’t know how to react, clearly, looking away as his cheeks adorned a bright red tone along with his cute freckles.

“Y’know,” Ace mumbled and gulped, taking a long pause, “I am... going to leave soon once I... find this Scorpion guy, y’know?” Ace’s words had too much space between them, spoken slowly as if he pondered each one of them. He cleaned his throat. “And maybe you could join the Whitebeard crew? I—I am not trying to, um, take you away from your friends, but... It would be nice. Maybe.”

Your heart sank a little with it and you sighed deeply, letting your hand fall from your neck to his, intertwining your fingers. “Ah, Ace, I... I really wish I could.” You observed your finger run along his knuckles, tracing them. “But what I want can only be achieved with this crew.”

“I understand, I’m so sorry for asking—”

“I would go with you if I could,” you mumbled, internally hitting yourself—was it too quick? But your life probably wouldn’t be that long, after all, because you surely wouldn’t be as lucky as someone like the pirates that could even retire in calm places far from the marine’s attention after growing too old to explore the sea or content with what they’d already achieved. It wouldn’t be everyday you’d find someone who clicked that well with you like Ace did, and it seemed like he felt the same about himself and regarding you. “Just like I know you’d come with me if you could, but things aren’t that easy.” You gave his hand a squeeze. “Still, I can go after you whenever I can, and you can come after me whenever you can.”

Ace let out a breath, sounding like he had been holding it for a time now. “Alright... Do you promise?”

“I promise.”

.𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟.

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scourgeblooms · 5 months

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wanted to do a physical timeline for my commander and highlight how he’s changed through the years. this is mostly for my own entertainment BUT I do enjoy seeing the same thing from other folks so I’m posting it here in the hopes that other people share my sentiment.

(I was ALSO totally inspired by @/manasurge’s hair timeline. it kicks ass. go look at it.)

elaboration/rambling below the cut!

Personal Story, LW1-2: Popped out of the pod blunt, solicitous, and already maybe a little too paranoid for someone who was born yesterday, but all those traits made him uniquely qualified for a position in military leadership. Healthy and floral, soft aspen-bark-like skin, delicate petals. black anthers produce pollen. undergoes more fashion changes than physical transformations during this time. gets a little banged up here and there (and maybe has some lasting respiratory effects from the toxic alliance era) but overall feelin a-okay.

Heart of Thorns: it’s all gone to shit. took a spectacular headdive in both a physical and mental sense with breakneck speed. never “officially” answered mordremoth’s call, but anyone who spent time around him would notice a distinct lack of self control and logical thinking. took on a more sickly pallor, stress caused leaves to shrivel, rot, and decay. lost his lil flower top notch and ability to produce pollen. pupils narrowed to take on a more animalistic look, and enamel growth resulted in sharper, larger teeth. fingers also elongated into claws. never fully physically and mentally recovered from the hell jungle.

LW3: chopped off most of his leaves to encourage fresh growth. lots of physical healing during this time, though it takes quite a while for his complexion to fully recover. takes on the role of aurene’s champion with gusto. relatively unaffected by bloodstone, but feels the effects of mordremoth’s loose/uncontrolled magic deeply. continues to hear mordremoth’s “voice” and is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

Path of Fire: still healing from HoT. continues to grow out his leaves. glow returns, as well as some of his eye color. likes the crystal desert, but finds the harsh, dry climate to be particularly challenging; he’s definitely more of a ‘temperate’ sylvari. does not handle dying well. death only adds to his paranoia and psychosis. has an increasingly hard time picking apart what is real and what is…. not.

LW4: let’s get ready to kill an undead lich!!!! absorbs even more magic after the death of joko and kralkatorrik, and it starts to show in a there-and-gone shimmery aura that takes on a similar appearance to ley lines. starts to suffer from migraine auras. flower top notch grows back, but stays closed and dormant. picks up a few nifty necromancy tricks from the elonians, and the tips of his fingers start to show signs of necrotic decay; all that death magic can’t be good for the complexion, can it?

Icebrood Saga: having another dragon in his head does not help his mental health in the slightest. braided leaves (courtesy of braham <3) to protect against frostbite. his ley “aura” gets more intense, hard to miss, and is a near constant. flower topnotch remains closed due to the cold weather conditions. after being shot by bangar, his wound is covered/healed by aurene’s brand. migraines increase in frequency, makes it difficult for him to focus. a bone deep exhaustion starts to set in, and more often than not, he catches himself thinking that a nice long nap underneath a blanket of snow doesn’t sound so terrible….

End of Dragons: back in a more agreeable climate, his topnotch finally blooms, but does not grow anthers or produce pollen. easily physically corrupted by void magic, and he feels soo-won’s pain and struggle deeply. the void corruption eventually shows up in the form of darkening leaves, and seeping out of his eyes/tearducts (it’s fine. don’t worry about it.). starts to incorporate chaos magic into his own necromancy practices. has a fucking terrible time in gyala delve. has a fucking terrible time saying goodbye to aurene.

Secrets of the Obscure: nothing feels entirely real to him anymore. still willing to help, to fight, but it’s done on autopilot at this point. this magical, floating palace in the sky looks and feels like a dream, with the kryptis acting as the encroaching, inevitable turn to a real, living nightmare. still uses a bit of leftover void in his magical practices, but most of the corruption has left his system. that respiratory illness he picked up back in kessex hills comes back to bite him in nayos. finally grows back his anthers, but instead of producing pollen, it's an outlet for void/magic energy.

#gw2 #guild wars 2 #sylvari #mine #scourgescribbles #hey tumblr compression please. please tumblr compression go easy on me. tumblr compression ple-#anyway enjoy my special son I think about a normal amount #art #also just know that I'm going to edit this at least 47 times before I'm one hundred percent happy with it #gw2 spoilers #gw2 soto spoilers #gw2 icebrood saga spoilers #gw2 heart of thorns spoilers #gw2 path of fire spoilers #gw2 end of dragons spoilers #gw2 eod spoilers #azilab

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materassassino · 2 months

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The Old Guard Dæmon AU

Probably done before, but I wanted to write one myself, so I thought I'd make a guide to the Guard and their respective dæmons, to go with the fic I just posted for it.

Andy: Hwehnto (Przewalski's horse)

Yeah, a wolf or some other predator might fit, but let's face it, the supreme horse girl should have a horse for a dæmon. *h₂weh₁n̥to- is Proto-Indo-European for "wind", butchered into a modernly comprehensible Hwehnto/Hwento. He is a very serious and stoic dæmon, much like Andy, but his outbursts of emotion are striking. He is vicious in battle and will not hesitate to attack both human and dæmon, if necessary.

I did also consider a tarpan for Andy, but there is literally one photo in existence of one. I generally assume that actually it would be some European wild horse so old it doesn't exist anymore, and we've lost all modern knowledge of it. So Przewalski's horse will do.

Quynh: Minh Nhat (white-lipped pit viper)

Of course our viper would have a viper! Small, quick and venomous. He doesn't have a name yet because, frankly, I don't speak Vietnamese and I want him to have a cool name like most dæmons have. His name is Minh Nhat, which means "bright sunlight", in contrast with Quynh's name. More outgoing than most dæmons, will talk casually with other humans, and is prone to little acts of thievery (thimbles, small nuts, little trinkets), mostly out of delight with the object than any malice. Very tiny! Likes spending his time tucked up Quynh's sleeve. Will not hesitate to bite a human should the need arise, but tucks himself in Quynh's collar or scarf when in battle.

I was torn between this and a red-headed krait, but ultimately went to an actual viper (well, pit viper, close enough).

Joe: Tayyib (scimitar oryx)

(Oddly difficult to find a photo of one alone, with no radio collar, that hasn't been shot by some bastard trophy hunter).

Tayyib (named that way for obvious reasons and chosen by Joe's mother's dæmon) represents everything poetic and artistic about Joe, and is calm and wise. Dislikes fighting, but will if he must: watch out for those horns! Yes, he is a male dæmon, a rarity, another commonality Joe shares with Nicky. I wonder why? A very good listener who gives good advice.

I don't know why I decided on another ungulate for this hapless team (can they even go anywhere?), but I did. I figured a desert antelope of some kind would be good for Joe, and it was a toss-up between this and an addax. I admit I chose it just for the name.

Nicky: Bonamico (Luzon bleeding-heart dove)

Geographically, it doesn't make sense. Symbolically? I had to. Bonamico is quiet, contemplative and kind, barely speaks except to Nicky, Joe or Tayyib, but is always concerned for those about him. He is far more nervous than Nicky, but stores a lot of knowledge, a trait he does share with Nicky. His favourite place to perch, other than Nicky's shoulder, is between Tayyib's horns (although occasionally he likes to sit on Joe's head). He does the scouting for the group, as the only bird dæmon.

This bird is the entire reason I made this damn AU. It's just too perfect. Look at this Catholic-ass bird!

Booker: Amandine (black rat)

*wheezing* I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'm not sorry.

Now, the problem with dæmons is that we have rat symbolism, which is of rats as dirty and sneaky, but we're also modern human beings that know perfectly well rats are cute, intelligent and affectionate creatures that make amazing pets. Amandine herself is mostly just shy and quiet, although she does like it when she gets the chance to roast Booker, but then again, who doesn't? She is their little reconnaissance expert, being sent in to buildings and small places to chew through wires and spy. She, unlike Booker, is always supremely well-groomed.

I did consider a ferret or stoat, something a little more noble, but I personally do love rats so much and so I wanted a positive rat dæmon, for once.

Nile: Dakarai (red wolf)

I wanted to give Nile something supremely American, but she was in the Marines, and soldiers of most kinds tend to have dog dæmons, so no stereotypical birds. But Nile is also smart and quick-thinking, and family-oriented, so the red wolf made sense to me. Dakarai is loyal and far more serious than his human, a bit more cynical. Having been trained in a modern Armed Force, post-Geneva Convention, he's never touched another human being and has exclusively fought other dæmons. He is, of course, a good tracker.

Someone had to have a canine in this group. Might as well be Nile!

Bonus (under the cut for cockroach reasons):

James Copley: Vindemiatrix (common raven)

The Odin symbolism of the knowledge-seeker raven, honestly. She perches in odd places, watches everything, and reports back. She is a secret-keeper and prone to keeping her own counsel, not interacting much with other dæmons. She, like Copley, misses his wife and her Pallas's cat dæmon something fierce.

Stephen Merrick: Unnamed (American cockroach)

Need I say more? He deserves it.

Dr Meta Kozak: Unnamed (hagfish)

A disgusting dæmon for a disgusting woman, who burrows into people's bodies and eats them from the inside out. She carries the horrid thing in a lightweight tank backpack, one of the many modern accomodations for people with water-dwelling dæmons.

Keane: Unnamed (Eastern black rhino)

A beautifully noble dæmon, unfortunately wasted on a bastard.

Lykon: Unnamed (melanistic leopard)

She was graceful, majestic and courteous, and absolutely breathtaking in battle. She would dispense affection to daemon and human alike, much like Lykon himself.

#the old guard #joenicky #andromache the scythian #yusuf al kaysani #nicolo di genova #nile freeman #sebastien le livre #quynh #daemon au #his dark materials #pixie writes #supplemental material

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picturejasper20 · 2 months

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Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur Molecular Man character analysis

Molecular Man is a main antagonist that is introduced in the Season 2 episode ¨The Great Beyonder¨. While not having much appearances in Season 2 A, his episode debut manages to leave an important impact on Lunella’s character and Beyonder’s in part.

In this post i’m going to analyse his motivations and character in the episodes his appears and how he is tied to the themes from Season 2 A as a whole.

Let’s begin:

On the surface, Molecular Man is someone who seems to be quite reserved, serious and intelligent. He doesn’t play nor joke around, always taking what he is doing seriously. From what it explained by the Beyonder, he used to be once a person who had a lot of power and influence in the galaxy and his planet was a very well known spot before it got destroyed by a meteor shower accidentally by the Beyonder.

Before the meteor shower event, Molecular Man used to be someone who was rejected by others in his own universe. So he looked for a place where he could feel safe and built his own planet that would later become a touristic spot for other alien species to visit. He deeply cared about it and took him a lot of work turned into a place that later became respected by others. Based on flashbacks, he used to be a caring and welcoming man, allowing aliens from all kinds to come to his planet.

In all, he used to be someone who felt like an outcast, wanted a place to be in the universe and posibily for other aliens were in the same situation as he was. He didn’t look to cause any harm to anyone and stayed living on his own corner.

After the meteor shower event, his planet became a deserted wasteland. Almost everything got destroyed, making Molecular Man lose what he built for years if not decades. He was deeply affected by this loss and defined him for the rest of the years that came after that. He was traumatized by this event, as seen how he gets flashbacks of it during a moment in his fight against Lunella in ¨The Molecular Level¨.

He became consumed by rage and a sense of great injustice. He spent many years for Beyonder to return to his planet. He used his wand to desactivate Beyonder’s powers and catch him defenseless, that way he could get his revenge for the great loss he suffered. It seemed it was the only way for him that he would be able to be ¨at peace¨ considering that he rejected Beyonder’s offer return his powers and allow him to rebuild the planet.

In ¨The Great Beyonder¨ Molecular Man attacked Lunella without showing any mercy, probably just because she was associated with Beyonder or he saw her as Beyonder’s friend. Trying to make Beyonder go through the same pain as he did by taking someone he cares about.

Before he was able to finish Lunella, Beyonder stepped in to get the wand and stopped Molecular Man. Beyonder transformed Molecular Man into a baby and escaped from the planet along with Lunella. However, Lunella was traumatized by her encounter against Molecular Man, having almost died. This is something that haunted her for a while until she was able to overcome her fears in ¨Suit Up!¨ episode.

Even having being able to trust in her own abilities again, the battle was one of the reasons Lunella started to question the idea of hiding her superhero identity from her family, as it was becoming too much for her to handle it on her own and to keep lying to her parents and grandfather about it.

The encounter also introduced another theme in Season 2 A, which is about Lunella learning that the world is more complex that it seems and how people who do bad things often have their reasons to do what they do and how they can fall into a bad path and make regrettable choices. Molecular Man acts as a set up for this since he has more than legit reason to feel angry to Beyonder, the issue is how he decided to approach his loss in a very innappropiate way.

Between ¨The Great Beyonder¨ and ¨The Molecular Level¨ Molecular Man became a lot more enraged than he already was. Consumed by hate and anger, his body structure started to mutate and gained the ability to control matter itself. He tried looking for Beyonder in every place he could think, only to not find him anywhere. (Thanks to the events from Wish-Tar leading to Beyonder to ¨disappear¨).

SInce he couldn’t sastify his desire for revenge, he tracked Lunella’s location down using a piece of material from her stealth suit she lost in ¨The Great Beyonder¨. The main reason being because he knows that Beyonder cares about Lunella and he wanted to make him lose something that was important to him, just like he did when he accidentally caused the meteor shower.

In ¨The Molecular Level¨ he shows up at Lafayette’s deparment house and begins to chase both the Lunella and the family down. He explains to Lunella how he was able to find her and why he is after her after not finding the Beyonder. He spends most of the episode trying to hurt the Lafayette and fighting against Devil, destroying a good part of the department complex.

This keeps going until Lunella manages to get her battle suit thanks to Devil. She asks her family to escape and prepares herself to have her rematch against Molecular Man. Molecular Man tells to Lunella that his planet was a place where he finally could be accepted by the multiverse and ¨that meant the world¨ to him. Since he lost everything, he didn’t care if his desire for revenge got him destroyed in the process because ¨he didn’t have anything to lose¨.

Unlike their first encounter, Lunella ends up defeating Molecular Man after a hard fight. However, once he is at her mercy, Lunella stops herself from delivering the finishing blow. Molecular Man doesn’t get why Moon Girl spared him, to which she explains she understands the pain he went through after the loss of his planet as she would have felt in a similar way if wasn’t able to protect her familly and friends. She feels really sorry for what happened to him.

Molecular Man then apologizes to Lunella for having destroyed her home and attacking her, admitting that he let himself be so consumed by his own pain that he wanted others to feel the same he went through. Seeing that he deeply regrets his actions, Lunella gives him a piece of her suit, that is self repairing, and allows Molecular Man to heal himself.

Feeling better with himself, Molecular Man realizes that he could have used his new found powers to rebuild. He uses his powers to quickly repair the damage he caused in Lafayette’s department and to heal Pops’ broken arm as a way to make up for his previous actions. He thanks Lunella for understanding him, stating that not many beings have that ability. He opens a portal back to his home planet and tells to Lunella that he would try his best to rebuild it before going through the portal.

In some ways Molecular Man acts as a foil to Lunella, representing someone she could turned into if she lost someone she cared about and wasn’t able to save them. It could also be what she could have turned into after her first terrifying battle against Molecular Man if she had chosen to be herself be defined by anger and revenge. Molecular Man represents what happens when a person chooses bad ways to cope with their own pain and trauma and how they can hurt others and get themselves destroyed in the process. But, at the same time, what to do when someone makes mistakes like this and realize how you hurt others in the way.

In all, Molecular Man is a character who wanted to belong and be accepted by others, only to have that be taken away in an instant. He assumed that getting revenge and making others ¨feel his pain¨ was the way to deal with his loss when what he really needed was someone else who could understand what he was feeling. This is what leads him to change his ways and to choose to repair the things he lost instead trying to take away things from others.

#moon girl and devil dinosaur #mgadd season 2 #Mgadd molecular man #lunella lafayette #the beyonder #character analysis

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pluto-rainstorm · 10 days

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Little bucktommy / madney ficlet cause I remembered that I'm a fic writer!

After dinner at Maddie and Chim's house, Tommy and Chimney have a heart-to-heart

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The hum of music filled the air, emitting a soft atmosphere in the Buckley-Han house. The low lighting of the lamps made the kitchen-dining area warm and homey.

Plates clacked against each other as the Buckley siblings worked together to clear everything off the table, their quiet conversation was carried all the way to the kitchen sink where they moved in years of practice motion.

Both Tommy and Chimney were left at the table, nursing their drinks in their hands and watching their respective Buckley's. Chim then whipped his head round to look at Tommy, a burning question he's had for weeks now was bubbling up and this was his opportunity to ask away.

"I'm sorry, I just gotta ask, so you've been gay this whole time?" Chimney burst and broke the silence that had previously settled over them.

"Um... yes?" Tommy raised his eyebrows and torn his eyes away from Buck to give Chimney a questioning look.

"What about that girlfriend you had when you were at the 118, the one Gerrard always wanted to come make us dinner?" It's been eating at him ever since he saw that smudged soot all over Buck's face at his and Maddie's wedding.

Tommy laughed, clearly amused by this conversation. He hadn't imagined for a conversation like this one for desert, they just finished dinner.

"I'm guessing you never caught on to the fact that whenever he asked me what day she was coming," he gave him a pointed look "the day would always change."

That's when it hit Chim, all the talk of Tommy having a girlfriend back then but never actually seeing her? Tommy saying single is better? Not understanding the Kristen Stewart hype? It all made sense!

"Oh my god... how did I not notice that we never actually met her!"

Tommy just laughed again, one thing he loved about telling the truth to old friends he knew wouldn't judge him was their reactions to the little details. It made him feel seen in a way.

"Yeah, I made her up," he scratched the back of his neck and scrunched his nose, "well, she was my ex, but we broke up years before and I just didn't tell anyone."

"Why?" Chim said, he just wanted to understand his old colleague turned long time friend.

He shrugged, "It was easier to hide that way, and no one seemed to care when she didn't show up, we were always too busy," he lifted his drink and emptied the last bit before continuing, "that speech that Hen gave really put things into perspective for me, so I put in that complaint about Gerrard, I wanted to do something for others for once instead of just protecting myself from him or anyone else from the boys club we had going on."

Tommy put the glass on the table and looked up to spy on Buck and Maddie animatedly speaking to one another as they leant against the kitchen island, "All of that was also the reason why I was such a douchbag."

Chimney huffed an airy laugh, his eyes followed to where Tommy was looking, "Ay, you weren't that bad." He said sincerely.

"I could've been nicer." He felt ashamed, the guilt form someone he used to be, he turned to smile tightly at Chim.

"You were though," Chim waved his hand around, his eyes met Tommy's, "I mean eventually, and you hung out with me and Hen a lot after too, you're our friend tommy."

They shared a smile.

Tommy had a lot of time to dwell over his past crappy actions for years, and after everything he managed to make a friend for life in Chim, which still baffled him. Chimney just had a heart of gold and he admired that.

"Ya'know, I've known I was gay since I was a kid, I always had that feeling and all I did was push it down and away, far from who I wanted to be," his eyes drift back over to Buck as he laughs at whatever silly thing his sister just said, "and then Hen did her speech and I thought, maybe I just need do except it, it did take me a while though, I mean we're talking about unravelling years upon years of hiding within lies here, moving to Harbour was my fresh start where I didn't have to tell those lies anymore cause no one knew the past me."

He smiled, "It felt really good."

"I'm proud of you, man" Chimney clapped him on his shoulder, his smile contagious.

Maddie and Buck chose that moment to walk back to their seats, more drinks in their hands.

"What are you two talking about?" Buck questioned as he sat in his chair next to Tommy. He passed him a beer.

"Just reminiscing." Tommy reached out and rubbed a hand along Buck's arm.

The smiles didn't leave their faces.

"Aw, how sweet!" Maddie chimed and leant against her husband.

Life was pretty good for Tommy and Chimney, they had their Buckley's and that's what really mattered.

#ao3: plutorainstorm #i stand by the fact that chimney and tommy are good friends and you can't convince me otherwise #i wanna see a madney / bucktommy dinner at least once... please #i just wanted to write tommy and chimney having a heart-to-heart! sue me!#it's literally 2am and i need to sleep but i needed to get this written first #bucktommy #madney #911 abc #911 #evan buckley #tommy kinard #chimney han #maddie buckley #911 ficlet #this was not proof read and i'm going to sleep now... goodnight

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soaps-hoe-141 · 1 year

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Drowning In The Depths

Part 1

Pairing: Price x Male!Reader

WC: 19.6k

Synopsis: Slow night at the bar turns into a little more than the reader bargains for

Warnings: Smut, like a lot of it, NSFW, Minors DNI

You’d been watching the man for months now, captivated by the ocean blue eyes and the dark brunette hair. He showed up like clockwork every week, drank three bourbons, smoked a cigar, and then he’d leave just before the clock struck twelve. Sometimes there were other men who would be with him, other times he was completely alone and just sitting at the bar watching the soccer game, or football as they called it here in the United Kingdom, on the bar’s TV.

But without fail he was always there at the same time and always on the same days, like it was a ritual, it had definitely become one of yours since you had moved over here. It was not often that you spoke to anyone at the bar yourself, you were more of a people watcher, just there to enjoy the feel of the crowd and the false sense of community you got out of it. You didn’t have anyone in the city to speak to really, not many people at work wanted to use their off the clock time to hangout with you. Those that might have wanted to couldn’t be seen with you, especially outside the building where you worked. And your family was overseas, you’d left them to follow what you’d thought was your dream. Turns out dreams weren’t always what they were cracked up to be.

So here you were like you were every Friday, sitting in your corner alone like you always were and watching two men at the pool table. One was a Scotsman and the other was a tall, broad masked man with a thick accent that you honestly couldn’t identify the region of even if you had tried. The darker skinned man was standing beside the big one, smiling as he watched the Scot about to lose yet another game to their friend who was basically stealing his money at this point. It brought a small smile to your own face, watching the interaction between the three and how comfortable and happy they were with one another, a sense of familiarity flowing through you as you watched them all. It had to be around time for him to get here, as you looked down at your phone to check the time in the man walked, a tall brunette Brit with the bluest eyes you’d ever seen.

His facial hair was perfectly trimmed like always, almost meticulously so. His black beanie was affixed snugly to his head, and his thick black coat was around his shoulders, blue jeans that clung to his ass in the best way. He was a sight that could make a drowning man thirsty, and every time you watched him you felt like you’d been walking in the desert for months without even a drop of water. Your mouth went dry as you watched him, too cautious to make yourself known to him but much too interested in him to not show up.

So here you still sat after three solid months of watching from afar, and every other Friday night you were getting your fix of the hottest man you’d ever had the pleasure of seeing. It was an addiction that had you itching to get to the bar, hell sometimes you nearly convinced yourself to mark the days on the calendar just in case you ever forgot. In reality though you couldn’t forget, your mind ran like a finely attuned clock and it was ticking down the seconds every day to when you’d be headed back to the bar to watch him walk by.

Today was just like all the others, sitting quietly and nursing a whiskey. You’d always preferred straight liquor, especially considering where you grew up. Men where you were from didn’t drink fancy slushies with little umbrellas, they suffered through the taste of burning bottom shelf alcohol like real men. It was honestly a bit depressing, you’d realized that a while ago, though you still did nothing to try and change it. What was the point when they’d have you packing up and then ship you on to the next city the second you got comfortable anyway? Part of you knew that you really should have taken that job with your sister, it would have been better than this constant shell game from one city to the next ever could have been. Your job before this one had been your real dream, everything you had lived and breathed for but this was merely what had been leftover for you after a series of unfortunate events had backed you into a corner.

At least the bar was packed tonight though, with so many people to watch it wasn’t likely your mind would get bored. Your finger tapped against the glass before you lifted it to your lips, taking a slow sip as you watched the Brit at the bar talking to the other three men he was always with. You saw his head begin to turn and so your gaze flicked away and to one tipsy face to another. One drunk man at the far end was currently being dragged out by his buddies before he puked all over the floor, and then to a group of young women who seemed to be celebrating someone’s birthday, young men crowding around them and seemingly trying to get lucky. It wasn’t until one of those women sat down on the stool next to you that your eyes stuck to someone other than the brunette for the first time that night.

She was pretty, but you had to be honest, everything that was currently on display beneath her skimpy clothes was not exactly something you were interested in. “Can I help you?” The words themselves were a bit on the rude side but the question coming out the way it did, along with your raised eyebrows and curious look, somehow managed to not make you sound like an asshole although you doubted she would have minded either way. The girl was holding her head up with one hand and staring at you with a drunken smile on her face like she was looking at a puppy in a pet store window or something.

She gave a quiet nod, “Are you here with someone or are you just looking for…anyone?” Your eyebrows furrowed at that obvious proposition and before you could even respond a man joined her, an arm wrapping around her with his hand settling against her hip. You glanced between the two with a near scowl on your face as she asked, “You can come with us if you want. We’ve been looking for a third and you’re pretty handsome.”

The laugh you let out at that belonged in a movie, they would have paid you billions for the genuine way your eyes filled with disbelief at the audacity of these two. You were at a loss for words, blinking with a stunned smile on your face. It didn’t even register that someone had slid into the other chair beside you until there was a glass clattering down beside your hand with amber liquid in it. Your gaze shifted to follow the line from the hand and up the arm until you stopped on those blue eyes, the man beside you having been the one you dreamt about late at night and even in the middle of the day. A deep, gravelly voice, the first time you’d ever even heard it, slid out from between perfectly sculpted lips, “Hey sorry I was late, who’s this?”

The blue eyes flicked from the two on the other side of the table and then up to you, holding you captive in the sea of blue there. Your mouth couldn’t form the words to say you’d never even seen them before and you had no clue, too wrapped up in the fact that the Brit was sitting right next to you. Thankfully the couple answered for you, “Oh, sorry about that. We thought he was alone, you both have a great night.” And then they were gone, surprisingly considerate after having been so shockingly forward initially.

Though to be completely honest they could have screamed at you right then and it wouldn’t have made a difference to your rattled mind. You were too busy staring at the brunette who’d taken a seat next to you, close enough you could feel when his arm moved to bring his glass to his lips. He took a slow sip, turning his gaze back to you as the couple disappeared into the sea of patrons, eyebrows raising at your continued blanching before he asked, “You good mate?”

Your eyes shifted down to his hand as the glass found a resting place on the table once again, finally managing to produce a slow nod and nervous, “Uh yeah, I’m good. Thanks for that, never even considered I’d have to deal with, well whatever the hell that was.” You gave a quiet huff of laughter as your fingers played with the glass of whiskey on the table in front of you, avoiding the intense gaze beside you.

There was surprise in those eyes as the deep voice spoke again, “An American? Didn’t expect that one. Where are you from? You sound like one of those cowboys in the movie.”

You glanced nervously at him, seeing a hint of curiosity in his eyes before quirking up the corner of your mouth and answering, “Um yeah, yeah I’m an American, from the south. I’m from Georgia actually.”

You caught a smile on his lips when the man nodded, continuing to probe, “Oh yeah I could tell by the accent. How’d an American end up on this side of the Atlantic then? Don’t see many of you in places like these, especially not outside London.”

It was weird talking to the man you’d been quietly observing for the past few months, it wasn’t like you were stalking him or anything, you didn’t even know the man’s name. But having him sitting there asking you questions was throwing you off a bit. It had been a while since you’d talked to anyone outside of your forced work interactions, it felt like you’d forgotten how to actually converse.

Finally though you managed an answer, “Chasing a dream, you know how it is. Left everything behind to get that dream job and get outta that small town just like all the songs told me to do.” You cast a small smile down at the glass as you paused for a drink and a shrug, “You don’t realize how much you’ll miss it though until you can’t get it back.” The brunette took a drink from his glass then too, giving a knowing nod before you asked, “What about you? You from around here?”

There was a quick nod from the man at the question, “Yeah, about an hour and half southwest of here. I grew up in Herefordshire. Me and my dream job though, well we’ve been together for a while. Been in the army since I was sixteen, never looked back. More than happy saving lives.”

Your eyebrows rose at the statement though truthfully you shouldn’t have been all that surprised. Everything about him from his clean cut hair and well-kept physique screamed military, “Didn’t realize you were an army man.” He was spinning his glass on the table, blue eyes watching you as you spoke, “I did a few tours myself, enlisted right outta high school.” Before you continued your jaw tensed, considering whether you should tell him the truth of your past or not and deciding against it, wasn’t like he needed to hear the whole truth anyway, “I was a marine though, you know, a jarhead,” you wiggled your brows at that with a small laugh, managing to draw an amused smile from him as well though you knew he saw your slight hesitation. Worry coursed through you as you hurriedly added, “You know now that I’m getting a better look at you I’m surprised I didn’t see the army on you.”

“A better look?” Shit, you hadn’t meant to say that and you really hadn’t expected for him to pick up on it. He could see the panic in your eyes, not knowing how to continue or play it off and that brought out a tilt of his head that had you tensed in the chair. Well fuck you that was it, your face went beet red and you pleaded with any higher power out there to strike you down so you didn’t have to explain what you meant or why you were currently unable to speak or even so much as breathe. It didn’t come though, instead the man beside you leaned forward to put his elbows on the table as he looked you over a bit closer, “So you have been watching me then, huh?” Your eyes stayed glued to the nearly empty whiskey glass before you brought an elbow up on the table and leaned your face into your hand to hide the panic written plainly there, “I’ve been wondering, you know. I couldn’t tell if you were just here all the time by circumstance or if you really were staring a hole in my back.”

The silence was killing you as he waited to hear you say something, anything, “Shit, listen man I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to make you uncomfortable or anything, I just…I don’t really know anyone or anything here and I was just trying to pass the time and I guess y’all,” you gesture with a nod to the three men still over by the pool table before continuing, “Y'all kinda reminded me of me and my old squad. Honest to God though, hand on the bible, I wasn’t trying to weird you out or anything-” you were diving head first into a long ramble that seemed to have no end when you felt a hand on your thigh. Wide eyes jumped up to those ocean hues you’d been avoiding for the past minute and for the second time that night you were at a loss for words. Blanching even when you saw lips move, his words falling on deaf ears at first, unable to hear him over the pounding of your own pulse in your ears.

When the hand gave a gentle squeeze your eyes finally blinked and you glanced down at the hand hidden below the table, away from the prying eyes of the other bar patrons. The deep, gravelly voice beside you finally spoke again, “It’s ok Marine, I’m not weirded out." The smile he gave you calmed your nerves as he continued, "I was going to buy you a drink but every time I get here you already have your own. I couldn’t think of a way to get your attention before now, not until they,” he nodded to the couple on the other side of the bar, “sat down over here. Guess it was a good thing I didn’t try the more forward approach though, I’ve never heard anyone laugh that loud when someone asked them to go home with them before in my life.” The man took a quick sip from his glass, finishing it off before he smiled again, voice lowering to a whisper when he asked, “So, anyway, what’re you doing later tonight?”

And that was how you’d ended up here in the front seat of Army’s old Ford truck with its leather bench seats and the whole truck riding low enough to the ground you were both taller than it was when you stood up. You were watching the buildings pass by as every single red light stopped the two of you on your way back to his house. Your fingers were clenched so hard into your thigh you were sure you were sure you were about to pull your whole damn leg off. Your knee was bouncing nervously, you couldn’t even remember the last time you’d been in another person’s car, and especially not when you were headed back to their house to do the inevitable. It certainly didn’t help that the person you were riding with was the man you’d been quietly pining after months now.

Your eyes were glued to the streetlights outside, trying not to melt into a puddle at the reflection of the man in the driver’s seat. One hand on the wheel and leaned back with the most casual look on his face you’d ever seen on anyone, not at all like your own which was full of nerves and worry. You swallowed hard, staring disrespectfully at the perfect lines of his lips, the veins that popped on his arms, the way his shirt sat so perfectly tight across his chest.

When you felt that same pressure on your thigh from before your bouncing leg froze, turning your gaze from his reflection and back to him. You were stopped at yet another light and he was watching you with a curious gaze, “Marine, you good?” You gave a quick nod to which he responded with an even quicker glance down at your thigh, holding the look which had you shifting in your seat, “You sure?” Army’s gaze shifted back up then holding your eyes captive, even and calm like the open ocean on a sunny day. It shot a sense of calm into your own nerves, somehow settling you rather than pressuring you, the panic that had been sitting just at the back of your mind turning almost immediately into ice. A brunette brow rose, the other man could sense the newfound calm as you slid across the seat away from the window.

A quick glance up at the light to make sure, yeah it was still red, and then your eyes were back on his curious ones with his head tilted endearingly, the man trying to figure out what the actual hell you were doing. Until your hand returned the firm squeeze, thumb grazing over his knee anyway. Army immediately shifted, legs spreading just a bit and hips angling towards you as much as they could. Your hand drifted up, watching his gaze change from curiosity and immediately into fire, eagerly awaiting your hand now. He had forgotten completely about the fact that he was supposed to be driving you back to his house to do this, not sitting at a green light with a hand inching closer and closer to the promised land. That was what finally stopped you though, noticing the green light which made you freeze, turning your gaze up before smiling and nodding towards it, “Eyes on the road Army.”

There was a quiet curse before he hit the gas, his second hand raising to the wheel for a moment before he reached down to cover the back of yours with the rough calluses. He shifted and when he did you could just feel the tip of his semi through his jeans, your eyes traveled down to look at the growing outline of him before you squeezed his thigh again and shook your head. “No can do Army. Have you never played redlight greenlight before? You've gotta wait till we hit another red light or we make it back to your place.” There was a side-eyed glare that you caught when the streetlights illuminated his face for just a moment. Oh yeah, this was definitely going to be fun. You might regret it when he'd had enough of your teasing but that didn't mean you weren't still going to have fun.

Again the light turned red in front of you and the second he came to a full stop your hand was moving again. Rubbing his hardening erection through the thick jeans on your way up before you worked at the button and then the zipper. You were about to delve in for your awaited prize when the light turned green and so you stopped. Hand still held tantalizingly over the zipper and a smirk on your mouth as he growled a quick, “Bloody hell,” and revved up the gas. The next light didn’t stop you and he groaned quietly about it, cursing both you and the lights for this torture, his hips bucking up just slightly as he searched for the friction and heat of your hand again. You kept it just out of reach though, shaking your head when he glanced your way with a desperate and frustrated sigh.

It wasn’t until the truck came to a stop at the next red light that your fingers finally dove below the zipper, just as eager to see him as he was to be touched. His flesh was burning underneath the pads of your fingertips, and when he lifted his hips and slid his jeans down a bit you pulled him free. Your thumb ran over the tip and he took in a sharp breath, eyes dropping down to watch and catching sight of your heavily furrowed brows. “What’s wrong Marine?”

Your own eyes glanced up quickly and then back down to him before you shook your head. “It’s uh…Well it’s bigger than I expected if I'm being honest. Wasn't aware I was going to be dealing with-” You broke off staring at the monster in your hand. He had to be at least eight inches, and good lord the girth? It was too much, how could you deal with something that big? He was bigger than anyone you’d ever been with before and that was a fact. There was a low chuckle, a sound that rang in your ears that you wanted to hear every day, it was unlike anything else you’d ever heard. But fuck if that little chuckle and smug smile you glanced up to find didn’t light a fire under your ass that made you want to turn him into a moaning mess of a man.

So that was your goal as you ran your tongue flat across the tip without so much as a warning, looking up to watch his eyes go wide and his hips jump up at the feeling. And as your hand grabbed the tip and you twisted your wrist the light turned green, freezing you in place much to his annoyance. So you waited, turning to lay across the seat with your mouth poised close enough that he could feel every breath you took.

When the truck stopped next you didn’t waste a second, lips spreading over the red and leaking tip, tongue swirling around it before you sucked him in further. Your tongue ran along the underside, saliva already dripping from your open mouth and down the long shaft that you could just barely get your lips around the sheer size of comfortably. Heat flooded your own body, pooling at the base of your growing erection. You pushed your hips down into the leather seat, grinding into it to find at least some relief while your mouth was being stuffed full of hot flesh and salty precum. And then the red light changed, you could see the light flooding the truck and halfway back up his long shaft you froze. When you glanced up he was watching you with confusion until you glanced up at the light and he groaned, head falling back into the seat before he hit the gas again.

You stayed like that, unmoving unless there was a bump in the road or he had to make a turn. Mouth halfway down his cock, breathing through your nose, and your own hips grinding into the seat every now and then to ease your own ache there. Every time you breathed, every turn he made, every pothole in the road had the man above you moaning out for more, aching for you to keep going despite your refusal to do so. When you felt saliva trying to drip out past your lips you sucked hard for just a moment, swallowing around his length. The man above you jerked, his body going rigid for a moment when the truck swerved hard before he quickly righted himself. It was driving him positively mad and you could see it in the way his eyes burned down at you, he'd had enough of your teasing now. You feared when the truck stopped next and he threw it into park, thankful no one was behind y’all else you both risked getting caught. Large hands grabbed the back of your head and his hips pushed up into your aching jaw. Your mouth would no doubt be sore tomorrow, just as you hoped many other parts of you would be as well.

He shoved you down, refusing to let you pull up and rest your aching jaw even for a quick moment. The tip hit against the back of your throat and you felt your throat tighten before you swallowed trying not to gag around the length. Your body had forgotten how to do this, maybe you shouldn’t have teased. It would have been nice to just be sitting with his hand resting on your thigh while you took a leisurely drive back to his house. But then again, when he had shoved you down until there was no more left to take and the loud groan left his lips, if you hadn’t teased him to the point where he was about to fuck your mouth like a man without thought you wouldn’t be hearing the noises currently escaping his throat. He let you lift your head, pulling off for a moment as you pushed yourself up, strings of saliva keeping the two of you connected while you caught your breath. One of the hands on your head moved down to your jaw, running along the stubble there with his rough fingers as he lifted your chin to meet his eyes. You didn’t expect the words that came out of his mouth though as he made you a promise that had you grinding into the leather seats, “I am going to ruin you, Marine.”

Your eyebrows raised at that, the words going straight to your own aching length that was beginning to throb with need while it was still trapped in your jeans. He pulled your jaw back down with one hand, the other still on the back of your head, running through the short strands of hair. He impaled your throat with his length again, but instead of forcing you down on it, this time his hips rose to meet your mouth. Strong hands held your head still as his cock slammed again and again and again against the back of your throat, soft moans escaping your lips when he growled out, “So fuckin good for me, Marine. Gonna fuck you like this all night, till you can’t think anymore. You won’t even remember your own name when I’m through with you,” his cock buried itself as far down your throat as it would go again before he pulled you down with him so he could sit back on the seat.

You didn’t even notice when the truck slammed back into drive, not until the truck was roaring down the road again, the man with one hand holding you down on his engorged length while the other kept the two of you from careening off the road. You couldn’t even get a breath in, the enormous length of him choking you as he drove. Your throat constricted and he slammed a palm against the steering wheel to keep from pushing you down even further when there was nothing else for you to take. Black spots sparked in your vision, head trying desperately to pull up but he only growled, "Can't move till I stop again Marine. You better hope this light turns red before we get there." If you could have spared the air you would have been moaning, humming, and groaning around his length but you simply didn't have the breath to do so.

Not until the light in front of you turned red and he finally stopped again, thanking the heavens above when his hand relaxed and he let you up. You struggled to catch your breath then, coughing before your hand took the place of your mouth, cheek resting against the clothed thigh as he stared down at you. Red faced and panting and pumping his member in an attempt to satisfy him so he wouldn't impale you before you could catch your breath. His fingers ran along your now tear stained cheeks, wiping the trails away with a hand much gentler than the one that had just been holding you still while you choked on his cock. “Look at you Marine, bloody hell, you’ve got me all kinds of twisted right now. That mouth of yours is so good,” the fingers grazed over your temple, around your ear and stopped at the side of your neck where the muscle flexed and tensed at the warm touch.

Fingers dug in for a few moments, kneading gently as a calloused thumb ran over the cheekbone there. You leaned into the touch, eyes closing for a moment before you lifted up again and your lips stretched over the head of his cock once more. Your lips were sliding down his length, what you couldn’t fit comfortably in your mouth, your hand was working instead. Pumping up to meet your lips before returning to the base and giving it a wicked twist that had Army groaning like a man possessed.

You had forgotten about the rules of the game at that point, wanting only to keep hearing the sounds escaping the man above you so that they could continue sending floods of heat to your own member that you were slowly grinding into the leather. You felt the engine purring, sending quiet vibrations through the truck as he drove, one hand on the wheel and the other rubbing circles on the back of your head. A quiet whimper left your lips as you careened into the seat, pulling off of his length to rest your forehead against his thigh. Your hips pressed into the leather, the thick fabric running against your skin painfully now. It was too much of the wrong thing. Your hands scrambled below you, fumbling with your zipper and button, groaning in frustration at the belt you’d decided to wear tonight refusing to loosen. There was a quiet chuckle from above you as Army said, “Take your time, Marine. Work the problem.”

He was right, obviously he was right but with the fog of need clouding your mind it was near impossible to listen. Not until hands grabbed at your wrists, halting your progress as you looked up from where your forehead had been braced against Army’s thigh to notice the truck had stopped again. It didn’t take five seconds until the Brit pushed you up to slide closer, his hands reaching down for the frustratingly tight belt undoing it with a couple deft movements of his hands. Your pants fell open and he reached inside the waistband of your underwear to free you. A string of groans leaving you when the firm grip pulled your aching cock out, exposing it to the cool night air. He smiled at you, fingers sliding along the shaft with a feather light touch that had your hips bucking forward and your head falling back.

Fingers tightened around your length and then into the collar of your shirt, pulling you forward again before he whispered against your ear, “Get back to work Marine, we were in the middle of a game.” You panted quietly against the crook of his neck, nose pressing against the hard muscle there and taking in a whiff of bourbon and cigar smoke that had you nearly whining, especially when his fingers left your throbbing member to return to the wheel. “Focus up,” his quiet words found your ears and you nodded, swallowing hard before you settled back along the length of the seat. Knees holding your ass in the air while you gathered a bit of spit on one hand and slipped it between your thighs to pump at your throbbing erection, finally getting the attention it had been weeping precum for.

The other hand returned to Army’s now throbbing and needing cock, mouth wrapping back over the tip and listening to him moan at the tight, wet heat of your mouth, feeling as he rocked forward into your depths. You hummed your own satisfaction and that had his eyes widening before he came to a stop again. His freehand which had been kneading the muscles of your neck slid down the length of your spine, fingers trailing over the flesh that had been exposed by your shirt riding up and your jeans slipping down. They squeezed into the toned flesh of your ass, drawing out another moan from the both of you, the vibrations causing Army’s head to tilt back for a moment.

They left as quickly as they had come, leaving cold flesh behind. You were more focused on the cock your mouth was bobbing on and your own pulsing member that you didn’t notice when the man lifted his fingers to his own mouth, drenching them in saliva, before he returned the hand to your well defined glutes. Fingers slid between the two mountain peaks, prodding at the tight puckered hole. Your mouth popped off of him, hand pumping his length before you rested your forehead against his thigh again. Moans left you wildly as he slid a finger in, focusing on the thick digit curling into your walls before he growled, “Bloody hell Marine.” He pumped his finger into you a few times, testing the waters until he added a second, both digits curling into your tight walls and dragging out quiet gasps while your hands worked both your cocks in time with one another.

His fingers were thick, nothing compared to his hard erection in front of you, but it was just what you needed as you fucked your own hand and pressed back against the fingers inside of you as well. Both directions drawing out quiet gasps from your wide open and needy mouth. The truck stopped again, you hadn’t even noticed it starting in your haze of need. The hand on the wheel found your head, pulling you back up by the back of the neck and positioning his long shaft against your lips before he fucked into your mouth again. Holding you still with one hand and filling you with the fingers of his other. “‘M shite Marine, so fuckin tight. Tight and needy and willing, drunk on my cock so much already and we aren’t even at the house yet.” He groaned out when you swallowed around his length, tongue swirling along the underside of his sensitive shaft.

“Can you take another?” His question was rhetorical, he didn’t need you to answer because he’d already lined a third up at the tight ring of muscle and was plunging it inside of you with the other two in the next second. His cock strangled a moan in your throat then, curling his fingers with every thrust as he stretched you out and searched for the spot he knew would make you cry out for more.

Just when you thought he’d never find it his fingers brushed against it and you moaned loud enough that had there been anyone walking by there would have been no doubt what was happening inside right now. Your hips bucked forward into your hand and you pulled off his length just long enough to pant out, “Again, I’m so close.” His fingers curled against the spot again and your eyes rolled back, the edges of your vision beginning to turn white. “Ag-Again, Army,” he nodded quickly before he pulled you back down onto his cock. He hit that blinding spot with every curl of his fingers after that. Hitting that spot until you were writhing into your frantically jerking hand and moaning obscenely around the cock disappearing between your lips.

You came without warning, wrist twisting at the tip and sending you toppling into the white void of pleasure, throat vibrating with strangled cries that sent the other man over the edge right behind you. He pulled your mouth down till there was no more to take again and you swallowed around his length. That was the last straw as he bucked up feverishly into your mouth and his head fell backwards, cumming down your throat in hot ropes that you didn’t question for a moment about swallowing down.

Your body went limp against the leather seat, Army's fingers pulling out of you and leaving you cold and empty. You pulled your own mouth off, taking in quick gasps of air as your cheek settled against his thigh again. Eyes blinked rapidly in a futile attempt to stay open while he drove. How in the hell was he driving right now? You managed to open your eyes for a quick moment, staring at his still hard erection, the man wasn’t even softening whereas you felt completely spent. A weight pressed between your shoulder blades, callused fingers running along your back in soothing motions. When you glanced up again he was forward focused, eyes on the road, hand on the wheel, and good lord he didn’t look even the least bit tired. This was about to be the longest night of your damned life.

A thumb ran over your cheek, quiet words whispering into the air down to you, "Marine, hey, wake up." You let out a questioning hum, you weren't asleep, or at least you didn't remember falling asleep. The hand slid off your cheek, seeming to give up before the thigh you'd been using as a pillow moved out from under you and you heard a truck door shut. That prompted you to open your eyes then, glancing into the black leather with tired eyes. You pushed up on an elbow before you heard the door behind you open and a hand wrapped around your thigh. He rolled you over onto your back and when you looked for him he was leaning into the truck right above you.

Blue eyes stared down at your face, stained with tears and saliva, stomach and shirt covered in your own release, the waistband of your jeans and underwear still shoved down over the swell of your ass, and your softened cock laying against your stomach that seemed to harden with every second he stared down at it. Army's hand ran up your thigh and along your naked hip before he continued up your ribs. When he slipped his hips between your thighs the thought of him taking you again right there pressed into your mind, rolling your hips up to his and feeling the still hard erection he'd stuffed back into his own jeans. You swallowed hard, warmth flooding to the base of your own cock as it hardened steadily against the rough fabric of his jeans. You could see his smile even in the darkness, and heard his chuckle when your legs raised and wrapped around his waist pulling him flush against you as you rocked into him again. "Very eager Marine, I was worried I'd already worn you out."

"Not a damn chance, been waiting on your ass for months and I ain't about to give this chance up now," his mustache moved then as he smiled and leaned down. His lips were gentle, soothing to your own after they'd been wrapped around his length for so long. They moved across your swollen lips with firm yet gentle purpose. His tongue teased at you, tip licking against your sensitive skin before darting back. When his hips rolled down against you, his hard length pressing against your ass, the thought of what he'd said earlier ran through your mind, 'I am going to ruin you, Marine.' And by God did you know it with the way he was grinding against you, already beginning to overstimulate your nerve endings.

Your mouth fell open against his lips when you felt rough calluses run across your length cupping you in his hand as he rocked into you again. Your quiet gasp left you vulnerable, exposed, and he took full advantage when his tongue slipped inside your mouth, tasting your wet depths. His beard was rough against your already chapped skin and with every squeeze of his hand you felt your body reacting the only way it could, begging and pleading with him for more. Teeth sunk into your bottom lip, sucking it between his teeth before he moved on to your jaw. The sensitive skin turned red against the coarse hairs of his beard dragging along your skin before his lips moved to soothe the patches. He received quiet gasps in return, one of your hands wrapping around the back of his head and throwing the beanie on the dash so you could feel the cropped locks there. The other hand had run down his side, wrapping around to the small of his back and holding on for dear life as he ground you down into the leather seat.

A thought crossed your mind then, "W-Where are we?" You managed to ask between gasps. His fingers wrapped around your length clouding your mind and drawing out a quiet moan.

Finally he mumbled an answer against the thin skin of your neck, "My house." He paused to nip at the skin before continuing, "In the garage." His fingers stroked your length with mind-numbing skill. You honestly hadn't thought you'd be able to go another round so soon but here you were, hard as a rock beneath his expert touch in a matter of seconds. And then his hands were gone and damnit you couldn't stop the whine that pulled out of your throat. Hips bucking up in hopes of finding it again but to no avail. He smiled against your collarbone, teeth grazing over it before he whispered, "Don't worry, it'll be worth it in just a second Marine." You forced yourself to nod, not quite believing him but knowing you didn't exactly have a choice about where his fingers went.

Suddenly his hands were both around your hips and he was pulling you towards the door. He unwrapped your legs from his waist and stood up, leaving your neck and mouth unattended just as much as your weeping cock was. You squirmed under the blue gaze, fingers reaching for your member to soothe the ache he had left. Army merely watched as you pumped yourself slowly, his own hands releasing the button of his jeans and pulling down the zipper with frustrating slowness. The smile was gone now, replaced with a burning gaze that had your back arching off the seat with need. "Come on Army hurry up," when a brunette brow rose at the statement you quickly added, "Need you. Wanna feel you."

That had his beard shifting, smile returning to his lips as he pulled himself out. Your gaze immediately shifted down, taking in his erect length again that was bobbing in front of him as he reached to shove the jeans down his legs a bit. Your mouth watered at the sight, tongue flicking out to wet your lips as you groaned, hand twisting at the base of your cock as you did. Your head tipped back as you kept working yourself, nearing your next orgasm already as your hand became erratic, no frantic, with the need to chase your high. A cruel hand wrapped around your wrist stopping you and when you tried to move your other into its place it too was captured. You let out a quiet whine, stomach tensing and flexing as you rocked, trying to find the friction you so desperately needed. "Slow down Marine, bloody hell. What about my fun, huh?"

Your dazed eyes opened to find his smiling features and you managed to reign in your ragged breaths before muttering, " 'M s-sorry. Please," you couldn't verbalize what you were begging him for but it wasn't that hard for him to guess. Between the time it took for him to capture your hands and let them go your own climax had danced out of reach. His hands grabbed the waistband of your jeans and pulled them down, your burning skin exposed finally to the cool air. He didn't pull them off though, merely let them dangle uselessly around your knees while his fingers went for what he was really searching for. The callused digits ran across your tight hole again, dragging a low moan from you as he pressed into you. "Fuck, Army, fuck shit," you were desperate for words, letting anything out that you could manage as he curled a finger inside you. "More now, need more," he happily obliged, a second finger joining the first as your back arched against the leather seats again. A hum that probably would have been another loud moan had you not strangled it behind tightly closed lips resonated from you. The man could do no wrong at this point, every touch, every movement, every word drove you out of your mind with throbbing pleasure.

He slid his fingers out and you pushed closer on the seat, quietly begging for him to return with little gasps. He pulled your legs up, resting both of your clothed calves on one shoulder before you felt the blunt tip grazing over your entrance. You immediately pushed into it, looking up when he asked, "You still okay Marine?" Your head was nodding before he even finished the sentence and you felt the burn as he slowly pushed inside of you. Your mouth fell open in a silent plead, eyes shutting tight as you arched into the touch. His arms wrapped around your thighs, keeping them pressed firmly together which only made your walls clench tighter around him. He wasn't even halfway inside you before your hands shot down, stopping him as the sensation just became too much all at once.

His hips halted and when you finally managed to open your eyes again he was staring down at you, a hint of worry furrowing his dark brows. You swallowed hard before he asked, "You want me to stop?"

The fingers around your thighs were still holding firm, keeping the both of you frozen in that moment. Slowly the tension in your body released and you felt yourself rock slowly, looking for more now that you'd gotten a chance to catch your breath. "Don't you dare stop," you finally managed to get out.

His mustache twitched around that snake-like smile and he gave you a quick dip of his head in a nod, "Wouldn't dream of it, Love." The words went straight down to your throbbing member, clenching around him for a second as he continued to slip inside of you. When you felt his hips come flush against your backside a groan left you both simultaneously. "Shite, so tight, can't keep squeezing me like that, gonna make me cum too soon," you did it again anyway biting your lip when he grinded against your ass in response. "Careful Marine, I'll make you scream so loud you wake the bloody neighbors."

You arched your back at the statement, grinding your own hips against his before smiling up at him, "You can certainly try." And damn was he about to, he pulled out achingly slow before he slammed his hips back against yours so hard he drove the air from your lungs. You could feel every ridge and vein as he throbbed inside of you. There was so much of him, pressing against your walls so hard there was little left for you to give. He filled every inch with ease it seemed, taking pleasure from every little groan and gasp that left your mouth. While he was chasing his own high it seemed that was only his secondary goal, more interested in making you cry out and beg for him.

And by god were you going to beg, you’d do anything for this to never end, for his strong thighs to never stop pressing against you, for that happy trail to never leave your sight, for that dick to never pull out of you. Just as you were gasping out, “Don’t stop, don’t ever stop, please more, I need more,” he provided like it was his one and only purpose in life. Folding you in half as he leaned down towards you, one arm still wrapped around your legs and the fingers digging into your thigh hard enough you knew he was breaking the skin. His mouth found yours, needing to feel the closeness of you, both of you needing that warmth. It was when his lips began to devour you that he hit it, your hips bucking up with a loud cry. “There!” It was more like a pleading yell than anything that clawed up your throat then. He struck deep and true and just fucking right.

He slammed into it again and your fingers that had been holding tight to one shoulder squeezed hard enough you knew it was going to leave a bruise. “There? You like that Marine?” All you could manage was a nod and a moan as he hit it again with pinpoint precision. When you didn’t answer though his hips stilled, seated fully inside you and both of you twitching with need while you squirmed underneath him. “I expect an answer when I ask you a question,” his voice was deeper now, filled with lust and the gravelly way with which he spoke had you clenching around him almost painfully tight. He didn’t even react though, staring hard down at you.

You reached up, a hand pulling his head back down to yours to whisper against the prickly hairs on his cheek, “I fuckin love it.” His face turned into your neck, mouth pressed right below your ear as he nipped at the skin, sucking it between his lips hard enough you were well aware it would be a deep purple hickey by tomorrow morning but in reality you couldn’t have cared less in that moment. His pace started again, faster than before but no less deep. You weren’t sure he knew what shallow thrusts even were. Moans fell out of your mouth almost the second he started again, his beard scratching across your neck and leaving that burning sensation that was becoming almost too familiar now.

White sparked in your vision, he knew exactly how to play you like a fiddle, it was almost unfair how good he was, how amazing he felt burying himself deep inside you. His mouth was sucking the skin of your neck, leaving marks along your flesh with a pleased smile you didn’t need to see to know it was there. Then he slammed into the place that had your body arching off the seat, his quiet whispers telling you how good you were doing, how tight you were, and how close he was falling on deaf ears. He was hitting that blinding spot every time now, your fingers digging into one shoulder and the other hand holding tight to the forearm that was still wrapped around your thighs. You stammered out, “I-I’m so-so close, please.”

He responded almost instantaneously with a hand reaching between your two sweaty bodies before his fingers ran down your length. It barely took any coaxing before you were a moaning mess and your head fell back, crying out with the waves of your climax crashing into you. You painted both of your stomachs and his fist. He pulled up, jerking you flush to his hips again and his thrusts stuttered, one arm still holding your legs tight to his chest, the other braced against the roof of the car. He pulled out after a few more hard thrusts, letting your legs fall back to the ground and you watched his hand pump a few times along his enormous length until he spilled over your now softening member and lower stomach.

You didn’t remember falling into the void, exhaustion flooding your entire body. Every part of you was sore and aching but you couldn’t help but smile at the feeling. Soft fabric ran over your stomach, nudging against your spent member which had your eyes jumping open even as you flinched away from the sensation. The brunette was shirtless now, the black fabric balled up in his hand and wiping over the white ropes that painted your stomach like it was a piece of abstract artwork. Your head fell back again, covering your eyes with the inside of your elbow and your smile widened as his fingers danced over your sensitive skin. When the calluses rubbed up your side you flinched away with a light laugh before looking up at the Brit, “That’s not fair Army,” you feigned annoyance with his attempts at tickling your hypersensitive skin.

The man gave a small shrug and shot a smirk down at him, “All’s fair in love and war, mate.” You rolled your eyes at that, arm returning to covering your eyes. At least until he grabbed it and pulled it off, head tilting as he looked down at you and jerking his head towards the door, “You hungry?”

The question caught you off guard, a confused look on your face before you let out a laugh at the absurdity of asking whether you were hungry while you were laid back on his car’s bench seat with your jeans and underwear gathered around your knees after finishing twice already. It was absurd he was asking the question to begin with, but also absurd that he thought maybe you weren’t hungry. So you answered with a nod, “Hell yeah I’m hungry.” He pulled you up off the seat by the hand, heading to unlock the garage door while you fixed your clothes.

Staring down at the stain on your shirt you glanced across at Army’s shirtless upper half and decided to shed the fabric. He led you inside to the living room, gesturing to the couch, “Take a seat, I’ll be right back.” He disappeared further into the house while you slid onto the couch, wincing at first until you finally relaxed into the soft leather. You were just about to doze off again when the man took a seat at the other end of the couch. “Here Marine, drink,” he tossed you a water bottle, not leaving much room to refuse. Besides you couldn’t deny the fact you were far past thirsty at this point. The second the water wet your tongue you were tipping it all the way back, basically inhaling the entire bottle in a matter of seconds. When you finally dropped the empty bottle to your lap and glanced back at him he was holding another one out.

You took it without a question, watching him grab the remote and turn the TV on, flipping through the channels before there was a ding from somewhere in the house. He handed you the remote before he disappeared back to where he had gone the first time. You silently flicked through the channels, sipping at the water until you stopped on a channel running movies, eyes squinting at the screen. He returned with deadly silence, a plate appearing over your shoulder causing you to jump a bit before you realized who it was. The plate sat in your lap, and he found his seat at the opposite end of the couch again, brows furrowing at the movie on the screen. “Where’d you find a movie?” He sounded genuinely confused as if he’d never owned a movie before in his life.

“Uh, I just started looking through the channels. We can watch something else if you want though,” you held the remote out to him to which he shook his head quickly, mouth full of the fries he’d heated up for the both of you.

The mouthful was swallowed down, your eyes following the bob of his Adam's apple before he picked up a foot, setting it on the coffee table in front of them. He’d taken his boots off at some point so he was left in a pair of white socks. You turned your attention back to the movie playing, eating quietly and relaxing into the soft cushions of the couch. When he finished his plate he leaned forward, setting it on the coffee table and sitting back with his arm raised to drape across the back of the couch.

It was an inviting sight, his bare chest with the dark hairs littering it and the toned side just asking to be laid against. Christ if he didn’t get sexier by the second and he didn’t even have to do anything, he was just sitting there. Blue eyes flicked to your face, catching you staring which had you looking away as fast as possible with burning cheeks and ears. You could feel the smile on his face before he spoke, “You don’t have to stay over there. You can come over here if you want.” When you glanced at him with uncertainty he added, “I’d like it if you did, Love.”

There was that word again, the endearment that had you smirking despite yourself. And the second he said it your nervousness dissipated. You slid across the couch quickly, he moved the foot on the coffee table to the couch instead, arm still draped behind you as you laid back into his chest. Head propped up on a well built pec, his body heat warming you from behind like he was an actual heater.

You would be lying if you said you’d ever expected to be doing this with anyone, especially the brunette you’d watched from a distance for so long. Relationships weren’t actually something you’d ever found yourself in so lazing about on a couch with another person was a new experience. Honestly you had to admit it was nice. Your plate of fries sat on your chest while you ate, his hand coming down after a few minutes to run his fingers along the length of your bicep and making you shiver at the touch. That was when the questions started, “How long have you been in Birmingham?”

A quick glance up at the blue gaze that was watching you before you answered, “About three and a half months now. Work takes me just about everywhere."

His thumb rubbed circles in the muscle of your bicep as he gave a hum of interest. "What exactly do you do for work? You didn't say."

You smiled at the question and leaned your head back to look up at him, "You're right, I didn't." His brunette brows raised, curiosity taking hold now before you said in a whisper, "Let's just say…I don't sit in an office all day." Now he really looked curious but despite it he merely gave you a nod, obviously he understood your secrecy. "What about you Army? What do you do for work? You sit in command all day telling others what to do?"

He let out a low chuckle before you felt his shoulders shrug underneath you. Finally he answered in his quiet rumble, "Something like that I guess." And just as he had respected your privacy, you respected his, just giving a quiet nod at his vague answer. "What about your name then Marine? You haven't even told me that one yet."

There were a few quiet moments and you felt him shift so he could look down at your face a bit better. Finally you shook your head and lifted the plate off your chest to lay it on his and answered, "I'd rather not say if you don't mind." You glanced up to see the dark furrowed brows, now he didn't understand. You gave a nervous cough looking away quickly and you were about to sit up when his hand splayed across your chest, the rough texture catching against your skin. He pressed you back down, watching you with a look that you almost took as concern before you added hurriedly, "It's not anything to do with you. It's just at work I can't really use my name so honestly Marine is probably the closest I've heard to a real name in a long time. I would tell you if I could, but…What about yours though? I uh, I'd love to know yours."

Confusion still wrinkled his brow, the furrows on his forehead visible for a moment until his expression relaxed and he answered simply, "John. You can call me John, Love."

"John," you tested the name in your mouth. Rolling it over your tongue like it was a fine wine and you realized then that it might as well have been. He was a tall glass of the top shelf, a collector's bottle that only got finer with age. John fit him so well you probably could have guessed it without needing to ask. "Nice to meet you John," you reached a hand up to the fingers that had stilled against your chest, lacing your fingers through them and looking up at the blue gaze you wanted to drown in with a smile playing on your lips.

There was a squeeze around your hand from him then, before he returned the easy smile, "Nice to meet you too. Maybe one day I'll get that name out of you, Marine." You shrugged against his chest and felt him rest his elbow along the back of the couch again, fingers still laced together. You both lapsed into easy silence then, watching the movie until the credits began to roll. He reached for the remote then, turning it off and sitting back against the leather again. Finally he spoke, "Can you answer me this Marine?" You tilted your head back, giving him your full attention before he asked, "Why are you so nervous? I mean before I kind of understood but after what we did in the truck it still feels like you're scared to be too close to me. Why?"

It took you a moment to consider the question, a small shrug of your shoulders your only response for a few moments until you lowered your gaze and finally said, "I mean I've never actually done this before so I guess I am kind of nervous."

The man behind you stiffened, and at first you didn't understand why until he asked, "You've never had sex before?"

Your eyes went wide and you sat up turning to look at him with a quick shake of your head, "No, no not that. I've had sex before, that's not what I meant." The tension that had found his shoulders relaxed then before you continued, "Well not exactly I guess. I mean like I've never done this," you gestured vaguely to the plates, then to him, and the TV. "Most people I've ever had sex with they finish and that's it, it doesn't matter to them what you want or need. Especially since I've never actually bottomed for anyone before, so I've gotta admit that was a bit of a surprise at first."

Before you could say anything more he stopped you with a gentle hand on your shoulder, "Why didn't you say that? Bloody hell no wonder you were so fuckin-" He stopped himself and the hand on your shoulder moved up to cup your face. "I'm sorry, I would have been more considerate if I'd known. I should have asked you before, I just assumed and I'm sorry."

There was regret in those blue depths and you were quick to try to put them at ease, "No John, it's fine. It was amazing actually. It's not your fault I honestly didn't even think about it at the time. Hell it was kind of hard to, could barely think about what I was doing in the moment, certainly couldn't think about what I'd done in the past." You laughed a bit then, a hint of nervousness tainting the smile on your face that he could see written plainly.

The hand cupping your face pulled you closer, his eyes staring down at your lips, still swollen from your time in the truck though the redness had faded. "Amazing huh?" The nervous smile fell from your mouth and his gaze followed the movement. You swallowed dryly as you nodded out a yes and found yourself watching his mouth too, "That was nothing, Love, let me show you something though." You melted at his words as he leaned forward to press a gentle kiss to your lips. It was different from the one you'd shared in the truck when he'd been driving into you with reckless abandon. This was softer, more consistent and less urgent. You knew, without a shadow of a doubt, he was going to take his sweet time this time around.

The scrambling hands and teasing tongue from last time were gone. The man in front of you had flipped some kind of switch and was running a marathon now rather than the blinding sprint you'd been at last time. The hand on your face drifted slowly down your side, wrapping around your back along with the other hand and pulling you closer. Urging you into his bare chest until you were lifting a leg to straddle him, taking a seat on his thighs as if he were your throne. Your arms wrapped around his neck, laying behind him on the back of the couch while his mouth worked to send shivers coursing through you. God the man wasn't doing anything but rubbing hands up and down your back and pressing gentle kisses to your lips and you were already more than willing for a third round. Hell if he had asked you right then you'd have told him you would go ten rounds with him if that's what he wanted. You'd have given John the world in that moment, you'd have given him anything if only he would ask.

Please just ask, 'Anything, I'll do anything, whatever you want. Please just-' Your silent prayer was answered as he pulled away from your lips, eyes ablaze as he watched you try to trail after him and only stopping when his forehead pressed against yours. "Let me take care of you tonight? I'll make it right this time."

The answer slipped out of your lips without even thinking about it, "Please, anything you want from me."

His head shook against you and he insisted then, "This isn't about me, Love. I want to take care of you like no one else ever has. Not for me but for you. Will you let me do that?"

This time you paused, forcing your mind to play the words over in your head before you gave him an answering nod. "Yes, John. I want you to take care of me." His eyes closed at your answer, obviously trying to reign some kind of reaction in before he smiled and his lips lifted to find yours again. It was achingly slow still, almost painfully so. When you rocked your hips against him in an attempt to put urgency into his actions he only lowered his hands to your hips and held you still. And when you finally felt his tongue teasing against your lips you nearly came apart then and there.

You felt a smile on his mouth, the prickly hairs of his beard irritating your own shorter stubble. He explored your mouth with care this time. Mapping each section like a cartographer, seemingly intent on memorizing everything. It was, in short terms, the greatest kiss you'd ever had. In longer terms it was the make-out session you dreamed of, the heat of bare skin pressed against each other, hands drifting slowly across scarred skin on both sides of the battlefield, taking careful stock of the way each muscle moved and where exactly it was like if they didn't it would change without them noticing. The world was reduced to just two people, the sounds of the night went silent, the ache that had been present in both of their bodies just minutes before had disappeared. It was only John and you, nothing else mattered and nothing else existed and for a flickering moment you wondered if you'd ever feel this again without him.

Movement barely even registered as his hands ran underneath your thighs, holding tight as he stood up. You pressed closer, refusing to let his mouth leave yours for fear it wouldn't return. You'd calmed your urgency at his silent request but you weren't willing to compromise on this front. You needed contact, you needed to feel him against you otherwise you knew the fire in your limbs would consume you whole. He seemed more than willing to accommodate though, never missing a beat as he headed down a hall. He stopped only for a moment to press your back into the wall, hips grinding into yours, friction you hadn't even realized you'd needed anymore making you moan into his open mouth.

So he held you there for a few minutes, your ankles locked around his waist while he forced you back into the wall, for the first time allowing the urgency back into his actions. Allowing you to feel the need that was mirrored in him too, it wasn't just you who was drunk on the feeling and the sensations coursing through every nerve ending. He was struggling to keep himself under control just as much as he was struggling to keep you at bay as well. Cold air slammed into the skin of your back, making you arc into his chest at the feeling. He hummed against your mouth, teeth grazing over your bottom lip as he turned into a room. A moment later you heard the creaking of wood beneath the weight of two men who were built to serve. John's knee pressed into the bed before he braced himself with a hand and laid your back against a soft comforter. Your legs were still wrapped around his hips, refusing to release him even when he broke away from your lips and trailed a line of gentle pecks down your jaw and neck and then running the length of your collarbone.

When he reached your shoulder he whispered against your burning skin, "Need you to let me go, Love." You shook your head, legs locking tighter around him and pulling his hips flush to yours, the both of you moaning at the friction of your needy rocking. He finally got himself back under control and whispered again, "Only for a moment. Just need to grab something for you, ok? I'm not going anywhere I promise." He pushed himself up then, looking down at you with the most sincere expression you'd ever seen. You relented, loosening your hold on him and watching him slide to the edge of the bed, rustling around in a drawer before finally he returned. Settling himself snugly between your thighs once again and picking up right where he left off, not even affording you the courtesy of seeing what it was he had even gotten.

All was forgotten the moment his mouth returned to the burning fire that was threatening to consume you. His lips were aloe for your need, for your body that was so starved for touch he was pulling you apart at the seams now with barely any effort. Your fingers held fast to his back, wanting him closer despite his chest already covering your own. There was no closer and yet it was all you could hear your drunken mind begging for.

Lips moved further down, pushing your arm up to kiss at a scar he'd found that ran from your bicep through your tricep and down to your lat. You'd thought the nerves dead long ago but the second his mouth worked along it, nipping, licking, and kissing they suddenly came back to life and cried for something more. You were putty in his expert hands and he was remaking you in whatever image he saw fit. His mouth trailing back up your side to kiss along the underside of your pectoral until you felt a warm tongue dragging flat across your nipple. "God!" You pressed closer to his mouth, feeling the smile on his lips and the burn of his beard. No one had ever done that to you before, but damn if that wasn't about to change.

John wouldn't let that stand for a second longer it seemed. His teeth nipped at the sensitive bud dragging another groan out of your open mouth. Sucking it into his mouth with a hum of delight at your quiet gasp. His teeth held it captive, tongue flicking across it till you were squirming beneath his touch. A hand that had been working to keep you from grinding your hips into his slid slowly up your other side, running calluses over your other nipple for a quick moment before continuing its journey up. The feel of it running along the delicate skin of your neck had you biting your lip to keep from begging. His mouth finally released your sensitive, now hardened, nipple from between his teeth and you felt the burning gaze traveling up your skin before he murmured against you, "You didn't tell me you were so sensitive. If I'd known I'd have had you squirming like this a lot sooner."

You glance down to catch sight of that burning gaze before answering back with a quick, "I didn't know. I-I-" You gasp when his mouth returns and cuts off your words. What had once been aloe was now gasoline, stoking the flames and sending burning flecks of ash into the air in great plumes. The hand cupping your neck was sliding up further, running across the stubble of your jaw before his thumb grazed your bottom lip. The rough pad of his finger making you ache for something much further down. You tilt your chin down and suck the thumb into your mouth, tongue swirling over the rough skin just as it had once swirled over the head of his cock. He was obviously remembering that moment cause he groaned into your flesh, mouth pulling off of you to watch your own work. Slowly pumping his thumb in and out of your lips, before he pulled it away and replaced it with two fingers instead. Sliding over the top of your tongue until they could reach no further, almost gagging on the long, thick digits as he slipped them between your wet lips, listening to the obscene sound of your mouth.

When his mouth moved to your other nipple you were blind sided. Chest pressing up into his mouth again as you whined into his fingers that were still pumping into your mouth steadily. His tongue teased and flicked, lips sucked and kissed, his teeth nipped and held you until you were aching for more. One hand no longer able to hold your grinding hips at bay as you rocked both of your hardened members together through your jeans. It wasn't until his mouth left that you realized he had been slowly sliding himself down your body. Kissing along as he went, tongue dipping into the valley of your abdominals before his lips found your navel and pressed a kiss over the top of it. His breath running over your happy trail and driving you insane. "Please John I need you, I-I can't wait anymore."

The man looked up at you, head tilting before he answered, "Yes you can Love. Trust me." And fuckin hell you did, how could you not? This was easily the best night you'd ever had, and undoubtedly it was the best sex you'd ever had. You finally managed a nod to which he smiled, his fingers working on your zipper and the button of your jeans, undoing the both of them while he continued laying soft kisses to your burning skin, once more soothing the fire there. His arms wrapped around to your back, lifting you just enough to slide the rough fabric over the swell of your ass before he slid down, pulling them off as he went. That was the first time you'd been fully unclothed in front of him all night, and he was drinking in the sight, near drowning in it. His finger ran along a scar across the top of your foot, small and barely noticeable among the others that littered your skin. "How'd you get this one Marine?"

You glanced down at it, thinking for a moment before you answered, "Stepped on a nail when I was a kid. Didn't have any shoes on. Thought my dad was gonna beat me to death after he got the bill for the tetanus shot and the emergency room visit." There was a smile on his face at the information before his eyes slid up, stopping at a scar on your knee. Even as he pressed his fingers against it, it stayed numb. You doubted anything would ever bring those nerves back to life. When you saw the question in his eyes you explained it as well, "Me and my brother were playing baseball in the yard. Slid on a patch of, they're called sweet gumballs, tore my knee to shreds. I think I was eight then, maybe nine. Even hit the concrete on the driveway on that one." You stopped and smiled at the memory before you added with a hint of pride in your voice, "Got the ball though." He chuckled a bit and nodded, sliding his hands up your thighs to run fingernails over the puffy scar along your hip. "That was a bullet on my second tour, Afghanistan. Thought it shot my dick off at first, my squad had to assure me it was in fact still there."

There was a genuine laugh then, his shoulders bouncing a bit at the movement as he shook his head and glanced down at the throbbing length in question and nodding slowly, "Looks like it's there to me yeah." His fingers grazed over the hot flesh, watching it jump at the sensation with a smirk. It felt like it took hours for him to finally reach forward and run the rough pads of his fingertips over the sensitive skin. You let out a loud moan at it, bucking up into his hands with desire that for a moment had been quelled but now was returning with a vengeance. Eyes shut tight, head tilted back, and hips arcing up into his touch you were oblivious as he leaned down.

At least until you felt the warm tongue slide up your length, tasting the sweat that was coating your skin and the precum that had been leaking all over your member. Your fingers flew to his head, trying desperately to get a hold of his cropped hair but finding nothing there to actually hold on to. It was infuriating, and the way his tongue teased the head of your weeping cock was almost cruel. Your mouth was opened and begging before you even knew you were going to do it. "God please, John. I'm so close already, I need to cum. Please let me cum. Please let me-" He cut off your strangled pleads as his mouth slipped over the head and down the shaft. Taking all of you in so quickly you nearly came apart there. You felt his throat tightening around you, your hips bucking up into his open mouth before his hands were moving up to your chest. One stopping to play with your still hardened nipples and the other continuing on to slide past your lips. Letting you suck and choke on the digits as you saw fit. He was humming around your length, sending shocks over it that had your hands shaking on top of his head and fingers clawing for purchase.

When his fingers slipped out of your mouth you couldn't stop the moans that clawed up your throat as his head bobbed along your length. His tongue was sliding across every vein it could reach, catching along the ridge every time he was pulling off. It was sinful the way this man could make you feel and you'd only known him for a few hours now. His fingers still flicked across the sensitive buds when you felt him dragging a finger along your entrance. Saliva trailed along the tight ring of muscle. You tensed as his finger tried to slide in, his mouth pulling off as he looked down. Blue eyes glanced up to your pleasure filled face, red and glistening with sweat. "You've gotta relax, Marine, I've got you, let me take care of you." You nodded but even as you did you couldn't relax your body, every nerve ending on fire and almost every muscle twitching in anticipation.

You were far past overstimulated at this point, you were absolutely helpless beneath him and writhing in hopes he'd have mercy on you. His fingers that were tweaking the sensitive bud stopped, your eyes shutting tight and a quiet sob pulling out of your mouth. "Hey," his now free hand reached up, running along the bone of your cheek in an attempt to soothe. "Do you want me to stop, Love?"

Your head shook desperately, "No, no please don't." You pushed yourself up on your elbows, looking down where his fingers were just out of reach, their warmth still radiating against your skin. Sitting up all the way you pulled his face down towards yours, mouths an inch away. "Don't stop now, don't ever stop."

He smiled, baiting you closer before his lips pulled back again and he whispered, "Get on your stomach then, Marine." John held firm then as you pressed closer, stealing a kiss from his perfectly shaped lips. Rocking against the erection you could feel held at bay only by a couple layers of fabric.

When you finally pulled away he was still smiling, watching every move you made and you got the uncanny feeling you were being hunted. A feeling you weren't used to, the predator didn't often become the prey, but John was making you more than willing to step outside your usual comfort zone. Your mouth was dry as you stared down the lion before you, until you slid back along the bed and rolled over. The anxiety of having that burning stare along your back was almost too much as you glanced back over your shoulder. Before you could find him though a hand grabbed the back of your head, stopping you from looking at whatever he was doing. "I'll take care of you, Love, trust me."

There was that request again, trust him. You couldn't help but oblige as you nodded and slowly his fingers released you. Forearms crossing in front of you as you lay your forehead down to rest on them, awaiting whatever he had in store for you. You felt his hands run across the muscles of your back. His hands skimmed over your skin with some kind of oil letting even his calloused fingers glide smoothly over you. He kneaded at the tension in your back, thumbs pressing into the knotted muscles. All the anticipation he'd wound into the fiber of your being was melting away under his fingertips.

At least until you felt the prickly hairs of his beard scratching across the skin of your glutes and then his lips that always followed to soothe the burn. He swapped to the other cheek as he settled between your thighs, chest pressing down into the bed while you felt his elbows on either side of your hips. Oh fuck. Just as you realized what exactly he was doing, his tongue ran over your tight hole. The tension came back in an instant but he was even quicker. His tongue dipped inside as you clenched around him and moaned at the feeling, "Oh God."

You felt him hum before he slipped out, answering quickly, "No Love just me," before he returned to the work you were fairly certain he was born to do. God had given him a talent and he seemed hell bent on showing you just how well he could use it.

In seconds he had you pressing backwards, ass lifting into the air. He followed without complaint, hands holding on to you while you writhed beneath his tongue. Quickly becoming a moaning mess of a man. It didn't take but a few more minutes before you were reaching back, needing something to hold on to with the headboard and sides of the bed out of reach. Something, anything, you needed something solid to keep you sane and grounded in the present so you didn't float away on cloud nine. He answered the silent request, you were too busy moaning into the comforter to verbalize it, as he pulled a hand off your hip and laced his fingers through yours.

A minute later his other hand released your hip, you certainly weren't going anywhere with one hand holding his, the other running through your own hair while your face pressed into the bed to quiet the moans, gasps, and groans you couldn't seem to hold at bay anymore. You didn't feel it again until he had a freshly lubed hand wrapped around your aching cock, giving it a firm squeeze before running the length of it. "John, John, John," it was all you could manage, a mantra you knew you would never forget. He was devouring your very soul, you were convinced. If this man had been the devil incarnate you would have happily strolled into Hell without a second thought.

Your arm shifted, pushing yourself up so you could gaze down the length of your abdomen. Watching the hungry man behind you, his beard was scratching against the expanse of your skin every time you saw his chin move. Spit dripped down to where he was working your length with fervor, adding to the mix of lube and precum along your shaft. You were so close, you could feel all the pressure at the base of your cock just aching to be released, holding back for a reason you didn’t even know. The man positioned behind you though, he could read everything about you without even needing to see your face. His mouth pulled away for only a quick moment before he growled out, “Cum for me Marine. It’s ok, go ahead.”

And you were tipping over the edge for the third time that night, entire body tensing and hips bucking forward into his slick palm. You muffled the moan with the bed, hiding your face in the comforter as you gasped into the plush material. His hand squeezed yours, reminding you that he was there while his other hand continued stroking along your length, milking everything out of you that he could. When you had given everything you could to him his hand finally left your quickly softening member, grabbing at your hip just as your muscles finally went limp. He held you up with one hand until his other hand freed itself from your tight grip to guide you to lay on your side so you didn’t collapse into your own release.

His footsteps were quiet against the hardwood floors, or maybe that was just because your ears were ringing so loud it covered the noise. Truly you couldn’t care less, too exhausted from your third orgasm of the night and wanting only to chase the sleep that was doing its best to elude you. When you felt his warmth nearing again you opened tired eyes to watch him lean over you, wiping at the thick white streaks on the dark comforter and cleaning it off as best he could with a rag. You watched quietly, too tired to speak and it seemed he was content with letting you lay there as well, for now at least. He disappeared from your field of view, moving around behind you. So, you rolled over, body shifting slowly across the sheets until you were on your back, looking at his still half-clothed body as he laid the rag on the nightstand along with the bottle of lube he had used.

Blue eyes found your exhausted face, watching as you put on a lazy smile, grinning like a cat up at him. John smirked at the expression, squatting beside the bed as you rolled over to meet him, “I’m surprised you’re still awake Marine.”

You rolled your shoulders, eyes shutting before you managed to croak out with a dry voice, “Never out of the fight.” You opened your eyes again to see a curious expression on his face, not even realizing what you’d said. He didn’t press though, merely standing up and disappearing from view again. Footsteps echoed down the hall, your eyes shutting again as exhaustion tried to claim you once more. And for a few sweet moments it did, you didn’t even remember the other man coming back into the room, not until you felt the bed shift behind you and strong arms were wrapping around your limp frame.

He pulled you with ease up the bed, until your back was flush with his firm chest. His clothes were stripped off, naked behind you and part of you ached to see him in his full glory standing in front of you. John had other plans though, your unfinished bottle of water from earlier in his hand as he lifted it to your lips. His breath tickled your ear as he whispered, “Drink.” You obeyed, lips pressing to the mouth of the bottle as he tilted it up letting you drink a few sips before he sat it down on the nightstand beside y'all.

As he shifted behind you, your hips rolled back into him, seeking more of the pleasant warmth that radiated off of him. He was still rock hard, for some reason you had just assumed he had found his release as well. Your brows furrowed and your eyes opened, sleep refusing to accept you into its arms now as you turned your head and looked up into the ocean of blue. “You didn’t finish?” The man glanced down the length of your front as if just realizing it himself before he simply shrugged.

“Guess not,” his deep voice answered simply, blue eyes still taking in your form lazily.

You reached for him but a firm grip on your wrist stopped you, his head shaking slowly. “John I’m not gonna just let you sit there like that. Let me help you.”

A hint of a smile had his beard and mustache twitching as he returned your hand to your thigh, covering the back of it with his own and rubbing circles against your skin with his thumb. Again his head shook, “I’m fine right now. I’d rather just look at you to be quite honest.” Your mind went blank, tongue flicking out to wet your dry, chapped lips. It took several seconds before he finally said, “Besides I’m not done with you yet anyway. Just giving you a chance to rest, Love.” He felt you tense in front of him, his lips pressing to the space just behind your ear, “I told you in the truck Marine. I’m gonna fuckin ruin you.”

You didn’t think it possible as heat flooded your veins again, feeling a small twitch in your still soft member. “Fuck John, I don’t think I can go again. I’m so damn tired,” he pressed another kiss behind your ear on the other side. Warmth was radiating into you from him, only adding fire to the flame currently being stoked from the embers of your last climax. You tilted your head, giving him more skin to mark and kiss like a madman. “How in the hell do you even do that? I was going to sleep not even five minutes ago.”

Lips smiled against your skin, his breath licking over your sweat slicked flesh as if he was the wildfire in your limbs, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just making sure you’re satisfied.” Fingers massaged against your thighs, relaxing you back into his chest. “Making sure you’re sated,” his breath ran over a wet patch of your neck where he’d just finish sucking another mark into your skin. His fingers moved up to press into your stomach, pulling you back against his rock hard erection. “Making sure you never forget me,” he whispered against your ear and when you grinded back against him you felt his cock jump against the small of your back. He’d already been inside you once but you honestly weren’t sure if you could fit around him again.

Fingers tweaked your nipple, dragging your attention to where his chin was resting on your shoulder. Your own semi was starting to stand at attention again, and honestly you weren’t sure how but damnit if he thought he could get you to another mind blowing orgasm who were you to disagree. Apparently he knew you better than even you knew yourself so fuck it, you’d let him do whatever the hell he wanted. His eyes watched hungrily as you reacted to every shift of his hips, every touch of his fingers against your overstimulated skin, and every time his beard scraped against your bare shoulder.

He stopped for just a moment, leaning over to the nightstand to grab the bottle of lube he’d set down earlier. You watched as he slicked his fingers with it, glancing at his lust filled eyes before he settled back behind you. He pressed a hand against the inside of your thigh, pushing them apart and watching as his finger teased against your entrance. Lips pressed against your neck as he slid one inside. Your body was so exhausted, you had no idea where the energy to move came from but your heels pressed hard into the bed, lifting your hips so he could press further inside you. His thighs slid beneath yours before you could sit back on the bed, keeping you up as he slowly worked his finger inside of you.

Your teeth sucked in your bottom lip, a hum rumbling in your throat. John’s freehand was running over every inch of skin he could reach, the calluses catching on the short hairs around your stomach. Almost as soon as you were comfortable with one thick finger he pressed another inside of you. “Shite,” the voice behind you rumbled when you clenched down around him. His knees held yours apart, refusing to let you lay back down against the soft sheets. Instead he kept you pressed hard against his chest, rocking back into his engorged erection that you knew had to be aching for attention. His fingers scissored inside you, stretching you, readying you, and had you not already been fucked out three times you knew you would have climaxed already. Especially when he was curling those thick digits into the bundle of nerves that were driving shocks of pleasure through your now hardened and leaking member.

When he pulled out you tilted your face to press your mouth against his neck, whining into the rapid pulse you could feel throbbing just below the skin. “Hold on Love,” he muttered, grabbing the bottle again before he spread the slick liquid over his shaft. You pressed back against the hand working himself, his erection pressing between your ass cheeks and drawing out a needy groan from the other man. “Still so needy and I’ve already had you cumming three times?” He grinded up to meet the roll of your hips drawing out another whine from you against his glistening neck. “This is a marathon Marine, not a sprint.” His hand drug the blunt tip of his cock across your entrance, both slicked by copious amounts of lube. Pressing hard against the tight ring of muscle he growled into your ear, “Gonna make you cum so hard you never stop thinking about me.”

He slid the tip inside, your eyes jumping open to look down at his cock slowly disappearing inside your stretched hole. Inch by inch it filled you, pressing against every dark corner and causing your mouth to fall open in a strangled cry. Quiet gasps escaping your lips. It wasn’t until he was fully seated inside you and grinding his hips into yours that you groaned, feeling his mouth near the back of your neck. He was panting already too, the prickly hairs setting your skin alight. Fuck he felt so good inside you when his hands lifted you off his lap, your own limbs refusing to cooperate anymore.

Your legs were spread, draped over either side of his thighs, head leaning back against his shoulder. He was holding you up, his thrusts slow but every time he bottomed out his hips would grind up against you. You were panting quiet praises into the air that you weren’t sure were actually even English anymore, every word felt foreign in your mouth. This man had broken you down so completely you weren’t even sure you knew which way was up and which was down anymore.

Lips groaned next to your ear, words spilling out that you weren’t sure he could have stopped even if he’d wanted to. “”M Love, so tight. So bloody perfect,” a high moan was driven out of you when he slammed his hips up to meet yours, “‘M sorry, need to hear you. Don’t stop making those sexy little noises.” He finally let you down as his hips returned to the bed, sitting impaled on his cock. You rolled your hips, burning the last of your energy just to hear him moan out the moniker he’d been using for you. "Oh fuck Marine. Never getting tired of this. I'll fuck you like this every night, I'll turn you into a limp little mess whenever you ask me to."

He rolled then, laying you down on your side right in front of him. His hand grabbing your thigh to drape it over his raised knee, one hand holding tight to the muscle there. He slid his other forearm underneath your neck, the fingers wrapping around your throat with a gentle squeeze. His face was just inches above yours, sweat gathering at the tip of his nose before his mouth dove to find yours. Lips glided against your own, tongue re-discovering the corners of your mouth. All the while he was pulling out far enough that only the head of his thick member was left inside of you before pressing hard back into your deepest depths.

It was an achingly slow pace, nothing like the first time when you both had only been chasing a much needed high. This was simply enjoying the feel of one another, the way your bodies fit together so perfectly. Sweat slicked skin having you slipping against one another. There was no urgency though, no desperate slapping of skin on skin. He was driving into you, bottoming out on every thrust and grinding against you to emphasize each and every one.

Neither of you realized it yet but he was rewiring you, just as you were doing the same to him. A one night stand that had developed so far past that already with the time you’d spent together. There was a need that was being seeded in both of your minds, taking root and sprouting with every word of praise, every moan, and every time he hit that bundle of nerves deep inside you.

Tears were threatening to spill down your cheeks, your mind flooding with so much euphoria you weren’t sure how to even deal with it anymore. Both of your mouth’s relented then, John speaking first, “Bloody hell Love, I’m so close. Need you to cum for me. Can you do that?” Your head was nestled in the crook of his elbow now, desperately nodding until you remembered the last time you’d fail to answer with your words. "Cum for me, Love, let me see that gorgeous face you make every," he impaled you with a hard thrust, his cock running over the place that was turning your vision into sparks. Every word now was accentuated with a slide along those desperate and delicate nerves as he continued, "Single. Time. You. Come. Apart."

You panted into the air then, tears spilling from your eyes. One hand was wrapped behind you, fingers digging into the flesh of his ass while the other had tangled into the sheets so hard you were sure you heard it ripping. Your voice was yelling out a desperate answer for him now, “Yes, ‘M- Gonna, I-I’m-'' It hit you like a tidal wave. Not even a hand near your weeping cock as ropes of white painted the dark comforter you were both lying on. Your entire body clenched around him, stiffening as your cock throbbed with the orgasm flooding through you.

His forehead fell down against your exposed neck, quiet moans flitting out across the sensitive skin as he pressed deep inside you and pulled you back with the hand that had been on your thigh. He came hard, and you could feel every single spray of it against your walls. Both of your chests were heaving, John’s forearm pulling you back flush against his body where it had wrapped around your torso. His knee finally fell, your own leg laying draped over his still. Unable to gather the energy to move yourself you were completely at the Brit’s mercy, shocks still rocking through your softening member until you had been milked completely dry of everything you had.

The man behind you didn’t move for a long time, his cock still inside you, plugging his release even though you could feel some of it already dripping out of you. The both of you were well and truly fucked out, nothing left to give and unable to move. At least not for a while anyway. When he finally did move behind you, pulling out slowly and earning a whimper from your mouth, his voice rumbled out, “I’m sorry, Love.” His words were slurred with exhaustion but apparently he was better off than you were. Hell you couldn’t even manage a single word and he was piecing together whole sentences.

He leaned back, his hand knocking something off the nightstand that he didn’t bother to pick up. When he rolled back over his fingers slipped into your hair, running over the locks and smoothing them back and off your forehead. He was trying to distract you and when you felt the damp rag pressing against your sore entrance you immediately knew why. Gentle fingers cleaned you up, his lips pressed against your sweaty hair and shushing your quiet whines until he had finally cleaned up the mess he’d made between your cheeks.

The rag ran over the mess you’d made as well, wiping it up before he tossed it back onto the nightstand, too tired to bother with it anymore. John pulled the comforter and sheets down as far as he could with you still laying on top of them, a boneless form incapable of even pushing yourself up to help him. He didn’t seem to mind though, just quietly arranging your limbs one at a time underneath the warmth of the covers and settling in behind you. An arm wrapped around your torso, the other underneath your head. You were asleep in a matter of seconds after that, every limb suffering under the weight of exhaustion.

You don't know what woke you, no sun filtered in through the windows, the streets outside were quiet, and no animals made so much as a peep and yet somehow your eyes still opened to the moonlit room. Exhaustion still flooded every limb, shoulders sagging, eyelids aching to close again but your internal alarm clock was going off, sunrise was near so it was time to wake up. You always woke up at the same time every day, whether you were technically supposed to be off or not didn't matter, it was a pattern ingrained in you since BUD/S. Well truly it was there well before that but that was when your easy to sleep and easy to rise had benefited you the most, accompanied by an internal clock that was so finely tuned you were rarely ever late for anything. A deep yawn racked your body, muscles tensing in the most subtle stretch you could manage so you didn't wake John.

The man behind you was still out cold, neither of you even having moved in the middle of the night. When you shifted forward you had to cover your mouth with a hand to muffle the whine, an ache from the night before reaching deep inside you. Damn you had felt like a god in the moment when he'd grinded and pulled you back to meet him, it had been unlike anything you'd ever felt. Now though every corner he had reached felt more like a curse, almost like he'd bruised you on every inch of skin he'd touched and when you looked down you noticed several on the outside, it only made sense that they were mirrored inside as well. Maybe it was because of how many times you had reached the finish line, you honestly weren't sure. You'd never had someone fuck you literally all night before. It had probably only been an hour or two since you'd fallen asleep. You had never let anyone inside of you before either, so all of this, all of these feelings and aches, were new territory to you. Maybe this was how it always felt when you bottomed for someone, unable to stifle the ache that sat deep and every muscle seeming to ache from overuse. Something in you doubted it though, convincing you that this feeling was unique to the man who had given it to you. To John.

There was a smile that pulled at your mouth then, mind wanting you to find out and test the waters. He was so warm, pressed flush against your back, his body draped over you with a frame that wasn't much bigger than your own but somehow still made even you feel small. When you moved again you could feel his naked length run across your skin, every inch of him bare and warm and igniting the once dead fire in your limbs. How in the hell did he do that? Making you so ready to go again even when your body and mind both knew that they needed to take a break, to rest after the night before. The man wasn't even awake for godsakes, he wasn't moving, he wasn't talking, hell you couldn’t hear not even the slightest snore from him. A thought crossed your mind, seeing yourself rolling over, waking him with a mouth around his length and a smile on your face. Now that was certainly a thought, and damn if you didn't want to try it. Slowly you pulled his arm off of your torso, glancing back cautiously with every movement and being careful not to wake him until you were ready.

Just as you had extricated yourself from his grasp a buzz came from the floor. A few short beeps and then three longer ones followed by another three short. Fuck. You turned away from the naked man behind you still wrapped in the sheets and scrambled for your jeans. Searching the pockets quickly you pulled out the phone just before the call could end and answered. You pressed the speaker to your ear and slipped out of the room on deadly quiet feet before croaking out a quiet, "Hello?" Damn if your throat wasn't aching too, voice a mess after the night before. He'd certainly used every bit of you.

You leaned against the wall as the distorted caller on the other end answered, "New assignment. Be at the North Tower in thirty minutes for your mission brief."

They went quiet as did you, dread building in your stomach as you asked, "I'm leaving the UK? For good?"

"Affirmative, you're being reassigned. Hope you've got your summer gear Speck, your new post is gonna be hot as Hell." Your head tilted back against the wall, eyes shutting tight at the information. There it was, the second he'd found something worth sticking around for at least for a bit and they were pulling him out of the country to go suffer in a war zone that not even your country was willing to fight for. Typical.

Finally you answered, "I'll be there, sir. Packing up now, be there in thirty." You ended the call, hand lowering with the phone still in it, the other lifting to your brow as you tried to rub away a headache that was just starting. When you finally pushed yourself off the wall and went back to the room John was still dead to the world, body positioned just like you had left it. Part of you wanted to wake him then, tell him you had to leave and offer him your number at least but what was the point? You were never coming back here, serves you fuckin right though. Never should have come here with him in the first place, at least then you wouldn't know what you had and would be missing. You always knew it would happen eventually and you were hitting the three month mark already of your easy post in the UK.

So instead of disturbing his peaceful slumber you grabbed your jeans and underwear off the floor pulling them on quietly. Then you grabbed your socks and boots, heading down the hall to the living room where you pulled them on with a lump in your throat. You grabbed the shirt off the ground near the garage door, flipping it inside out so the tell tale sign of a good night wasn't on display to the world. Calling a cab you stood by the front door quietly, arms crossed and fingers tapping against your bicep nervously. There was a table right beside the door, a bowl of miscellaneous objects sitting on top including a pen and some sticky notes. Your eyes flicked back down the hall, some twisted part of you wishing he had woken up before now but no he still wasn't there. So you grabbed the pen, jotting down a few quick words and left the best night of your life behind forever, knowing you'd never find anything like it again.

------- (Price POV)

Light began to filter into the room from the blinds turning the darkness behind his eyelids into a hue of orange. At first he laid in the content state between sleep and wakefulness. It was the first time he'd been fully satisfied and sated in he wasn't even sure how long. It wasn't until he noticed that the reason for his contentment was no longer there that his eyes finally opened to take in the view.

He expected to see you, laying maybe out of his arms now but still there at least. You were not. Instead he found only an empty space in front of him. Hand running over the space where he'd tucked you in against his chest last night. Well more like a couple hours ago really. The void you'd left in his bed was still warm, so you were still here then. But when he listened everything was strangely quiet. No hint of noise vibrated the air, no creaking floorboards or the voices from the TV.

Brunette brows furrowed before he pushed himself up in the bed. Groaning at the soreness of his muscles, so that had been real then, not just his dreams or imagination like he'd begun to fear. He slid to the side, standing up from the edge of the bed and stepping into the bathroom with a soft and questioning, "Marine?" No answer and no sign of you, and that was what worried him.

John stepped back into the bedroom, eyes looking across the empty floor as he grabbed his jeans and pulled them on, that was when he felt his stomach drop. Your jeans were gone which could have been explained by you just not wanting to wall around his house naked. But when he noticed your boots and socks were gone too he swallowed hard. The front door creaked on its hinges, just barely audible down the hall but it was audible. He turned the corner into the hall when he heard it shut, taking the long dark passageway back to the living room. Blue eyes looked around nervously, "Marine?" His voice was louder this time, almost begging for an answer before his eyes found the front door. A sticky note was pressed onto the door and he pulled it off quickly reading the hastily scrawled out note:

"I hate to do this to you and I'm sorry for it because you deserve better, but duty calls and I've gotta answer. Thank you for the great night John, you've made a lot of things worth it."

That was it? That was all he got? He flipped the post-it over staring at the beginning of the note you'd left him and then to the other side where it ended. He heard the engine of a car outside and fumbled with the door handle, jerking it open to watch a cab cruising off. You didn’t even look up and you certainly didn't look at him. Part of him was glad you didn't so you couldn't see the dismay written on his face, the momentary weakness. The other part wished you could have seen him standing there, silently pleading for you to come back, to change your mind and forget about whatever he had done to scare you off.

What had he done to scare you off though. You'd been content in his arms the night before, asleep the second he'd wrapped himself around you. You had been eager and willing with everything he'd done as you had quite literally begged him to never stop. And yet there you went, riding off in a cab for somewhere he wouldn't be able to follow. If you'd needed a ride why hadn't you just woken him up, he had driven you to his home and he'd done so with every intention of helping you get back to wherever you wanted this morning.

He stood there for a long time, too long in reality. It was a one night stand, or at least it had been for you it seemed, for John it had been a chance at more, a hook to keep you reeled in. He felt used and a little voice in his mind told him he shouldn't have expected much more. John never invited people over to his home, that was his safe place away from everything else, and he certainly didn't have one night stands with strangers. The man rarely managed to open himself up enough to sleep with anyone nowadays even when he was in a relationship though those were few and far between nowadays. Things like that made him vulnerable, and that kind of vulnerability affected his decisions both in the field and out of it. People got killed when he opened himself up, but for just a moment he'd thought he could risk it just for a chance to see your teary eyes roll back in your head as he took you apart piece by piece every night.

Time was lost with how long he stood there in his doorway staring down the empty road after a cab that had already disappeared. It was long enough for his neighbor next door to leave for work, casting him weird looks as he walked out to his car in the driveway. He'd probably heard the two of you in the garage last night, he often complained about the loud echo from the radio he kept on in there when John was working on some kind of project. Apparently his bedroom was close enough that anything happening in there was almost like he was on the other side of a thin apartment wall.

Finally though he shut the door slowly, turning the lock and taking a couple steps back, staring blankly at the door. His eyes cast down to the sticky note in his hand, you hadn't even given him your name. His eyes were a blank stare but his mind ran through countless things, remembering every word you'd said to him the night before. He'd expected to have more time this morning to talk but you hadn't even given him the opportunity. What could he have possibly done to scare you off like that? Had he said something in his sleep? Done something he didn't remember? Oh God what if he'd had a night terror and hurt you and not even remembered it?

His stomach dropped at the thought, at even the mere possibility he could have caused you pain. But then there was the note, he looked back down at it, glaring hard at the words written there. "I hate to do this to you and I'm sorry for it because you deserve better, but duty calls and I've gotta answer. Thank you for the great night John, you've made a lot of things worth it." You had basically said right there that this was your decision, and you'd done it even though you knew it was wrong. What the hell did, "You've made a lot of things worth it," even mean?

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