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beewolfwrites · 3 years

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And When I am Formulated, Sprawling on a Pin - Chapter One: The Edge of a Diving Board

Hello everyone!

So I haven’t used my Tumblr account in years, but I recently binge watched Alice in Borderland not too long ago and like any sane person, I realised that it was pretty darn amazing.. and that Chishiya was hands-down one of the best characters in the show.

So while I'm still riding the AIB wave, I decided to dig out my old Tumblr and write something!

This is just the first chapter, and you can find it here on AO3 too. To be honest, it’s probably better on AO3 because the formatting is a little funny on here.

I’ve written it in first person, but avoided giving the main character a name, so it can either read as a Chishiya x OC or as a reader-insert depending on how you prefer :)

Please let me know what you think, and if you do read it, thank you!

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It was David Foster Wallace who put it best. The world was one big queue leading up to a diving board. You took your place in line, climbed the rankings, and once you got to the top? The end. Process over. Because that’s how life really is: breathe, work, jump off the edge. You fulfil a function and then you’re gone forever.

At least, that’s how I’d always seen it. But the Borderlands changed all of that. Suddenly I was being pushed towards the edge of the diving board when I had thought I was still in the queue.

It happened all at once. I had been in an apartment, laughing over drinks with my brother and his friends. It was our first time in Japan, and we were only visiting for a four-day summer trip. I had only been allowed to go on the premise that he was there. Looking back now, I wish we had chosen Brussels or Amsterdam.

The last time I saw my brother, he was laughing with his friends as I closed the bathroom door behind me. I had turned to the sink, taking a moment to splash cool water on my face.

And that was when the lights went out.

‘Power cut’, I muttered, fumbling around for the door handle and re-entering the living room.

The apartment was dark and cold. I was alone.

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Tokyo almost looked beautiful without electricity at night, like a ghost city paused in time.

‘Hey!‘ I yelled through the empty streets. ‘誰か’ Anyone?

My Japanese was limited at best, but I had to try. I had to find someone. There was no way this could’ve been a prank. A whole population doesn’t just vanish into thin air, it’s simply not possible.

‘Hey, Is anyone there?’ I tried again.

As if on cue, a light cut through the darkness. I couldn’t help but squint at the large white screen projected across a desolate building. I couldn’t read any of the kanji, but there was one word that stood out clear as day.

GAME

What is this? I asked myself.

Suddenly, the screen changed, this time sporting an arrow pointing to the right. I tried to read the hiragana, but it seemed there was no need. Another light appeared in the distance, glowing ominously over the tops of buildings.

I guess I have to go that way, I thought. Perhaps there’s some kind of big event on and everyone’s gone to watch.

I made my way to the source of the light, which turned out to be an old furniture store. In this sea of darkness, it was as if the electricity had pooled entirely into one two-storey building.

There can’t be an event in a place like this. Where is everyone?

On a wall was a smaller sign with an arrow pointing into the store.

GAME – こちらです

Hesitantly, I followed the arrow up the steps leading to the door. Inside, the hallway was fully lit. The walls were decorated with mirrors and printed canvases, their price tags and sale stickers still attached. Passing beneath an arch that led into a large room, I heard a tiny bleep. It was almost inaudible, but I knew I hadn’t imagined it.

As I peered around, looking for the source of the noise, a voice spoke.

‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you.’

I jumped, turning on my heels.

Leaning inconspicuously against a wall, a man was staring at me curiously. He was wearing a sleeveless grey top and looked to be in his thirties. He didn’t look like it, but perhaps he was the shop owner?

I stepped forward, intent on asking for help. However, I must’ve moved too quickly in my excitement, as my arm wavered, knocking a tiny vase with an artificial flower off a table.

It rolled across the ground, but before I could apologise and pick it up a neon red laser cut through the vase, leaving a singed hole in the plastic soil.

‘I told you not to do that,’ the man repeated, huffing.

I stared, wordless, at the destroyed flower. Lasers? What the hell kind of game was this?

‘Newbie, hm? This’ll be easy.’

It was a new voice this time. Another man, slightly younger, was reclining back in an armchair. I hadn’t noticed him until now as his green shirt blended into the furniture fabric.

‘A foreigner, too. How lucky,’ Green Shirt said.

My mind scrambled to piece together what Japanese it could.

‘すみません… 何がこれ？皆んながどこですか’ Excuse me, what is this? Where is everyone?

Green Shirt raised a brow, whereas the first man huffed once more.

‘It’s a game. You’ve just got to follow the rules.’ He gestured his thumb to a small side table where there were a several phones lined up. ‘You need to take one before registration closes.’

On second inspection, I noticed that they were both clasping phones tightly in their hands. Maybe this was part of the game? Approaching the table, I picked up a smart phone, finding that it sprung to life immediately with a face recognition screen.

‘FACE REGISTRATION IN PROCESS.

PLEASE WAIT FOR THE GAME TO COMMENCE’

A timer on the screen began to tick down from two minutes. Around me, I could feel the two men watching my every move. They seemed to be sussing me out, although I couldn’t figure out what for. Surely, since everyone in Tokyo disappeared, we should all band together and find others.

‘REGISTRATION CLOSED. THE GAME WILL NOW COMMENCE.’

This time, the voice came from everywhere and nowhere at once, as if through an invisible sound system. I looked around at the ceiling, trying to find the speakers, when I realised that at the back of the room all of the furniture had been moved aside to make way for a large circular table and four chairs. In the centre of the table was a stack of cards.

‘GAME – RUMMY

DIFFICULTY – FOUR OF DIAMONDS

TIME LIMIT – ONE HOUR’

Four of Diamonds?

I looked at the phone in my hand, where a picture of the aforementioned card flashed up. None of it made sense. And what did playing cards have to do with this?

The first man and Green Shirt both got up and made their way to the table at the back, leaving me no choice but to follow. They seemed to know what was going on better than I did. The three of us each took a seat, only I chose to a sit as far as possible from the other two. Judging from the deck in the middle of the table, we’d be playing a card game, and I didn’t want anybody close enough to see my hand.

The overhead voice continued.

‘RULES –

PLAYERS MUST COMPLETE A SINGLE GAME OF RUMMY.

THE OBJECTIVE IS TO CLEAR ALL CARDS FROM YOUR HAND. THE FIRST PLAYER TO CLEAR THEIR HAND IS THE WINNER.

THE DECK HAS ALREADY BEEN SHUFFLED.

PLAYERS MUST DESIGNATE ONE PERSON TO BE THE DEALER.

TURNS ARE TAKEN COUNTER-CLOCKWISE, FROM THE LEFT OF THE DEALER.

EACH PLAYER STARTS WITH SEVEN CARDS. AFTER THE CARDS HAVE BEEN DEALT, THE FIRST CARD IN THE DECK MUST BE TURNED OVER AND USED TO START A SEPARATE DISCARD PILE.

PLAYERS MUST ALWAYS DRAW ONE CARD FROM THE PILE, AND DISCARD ONE CARD PER TURN.

PLAYERS MAY PICK UP A CARD FROM THE DISCARD PILE, HOWEVER YOU CANNOT DISCARD THE SAME CARD IN THAT TURN.

PLAYERS MUST CREATE SEQUENCES OF THREE TO FOUR CARDS ARRANGED BY EITHER NUMBER OR SUITE. IF A SET OF THREE OR MORE CARDS IS CREATED, THE PLAYER MAY CHOOSE TO LAY IT DOWN IN FRONT OF THEM.

PLAYERS CAN ADD TO OTHERS’ SEQUENCES PROVIDED THEY HAVE BEEN LAID DOWN ON THE TABLE.

ACE MAY ONLY COUNT AS ONE.

JOKERS CAN BE USED IN PLACE OF ANY CARD.

CLEAR CONDITION – BE THE WINNER.’

Okay, I thought, mulling it over. Okay…

I hadn’t understood most of what the voice had said, but I could pick up enough that I figured it was just a game of standard Rummy. I had never played the game before, and I only knew of it through John Steinbeck’s characters. But I had played something similar, a card-melding game that my parents had taught me when I was a small child. I’d played it countless times, and I knew it like the back of my hand. Sure enough, these rules were slightly different, but it was still a card-melding game, all the same.

I looked up at the two men opposite me. They appeared confused, despite their attempts to hide it. Green Shirt gazed at me curiously, then smirked.

Oh…

‘A foreigner, too? How lucky.’

His previous words rang in my memory. Judging by the way the two men were looking at me, they were both counting on my inability to understand the rules. They were assuming I had no idea how to play, or even what rules were just read out. And yet, the brief glimpses of confusion in their expressions told me everything: they had never played a card-melding game before.

So they’ve already decided that they have the advantage?

I tried not to smile.

‘Do you know how to play?’ the first man asked me.

I paused, considering how I should answer. I didn’t know exactly what the stakes were, but judging by the laser I had just seen, losing the game couldn’t be good. In any case, I decided to keep my cards close to my chest.

‘このガームは知らない.’ I’ve never heard of this game before.

I was aware that my Japanese probably sounded like it came straight from a textbook, but in this situation, I couldn’t care less.

The first man nodded. He looked at Green Shirt, and said, ‘I’ll be the dealer then, if that’s okay?’

Green Shirt just shrugged and sat back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest. ‘Hurry up then. The clock’s ticking.’

Sure enough, my phone displayed a timer which read 57 minutes. I didn’t want to find out what happened if we didn’t have a clear winner by the time it hit zero.

The first man picked up the deck, dishing out seven cards each before returning the stack to the centre. He took the first card and turned it over on the table, beginning the discard pile. Picking up a card from the deck, the first man began his turn.

I didn’t pay attention to what he was doing, as I needed to focus on the cards currently in my hand.

King of Spades

Three of Hearts

King of Diamonds

Five of Clubs

Ace of Hearts

Nine of Diamonds

Eight of Clubs

It wasn’t bad. Or at least, it could’ve been a lot worse. The two kings stuck out immediately as a potential meld. I could certainly build around them. However, another thought came to mind. If Rummy was anything like the game I had learned as a child, it meant that players could add to each other’s melds once they were on the table. In that case, I would have to avoid creating sets of consecutive numbers within the same suite, as a three-card combination in this kind of meld would leave two openings for the others to get rid of their cards, rather than just the one.

Glancing up, I noticed it was Green Shirt’s turn, promptly ended as he threw an Ace of Spades into the discard pile.

That meant it was my turn next.

I eyed the Ace he just discarded and remembered hearing the overhead voice say something about Aces. But there was no time to think about it; the other two were watching me closely and waiting for me to pick up a card.

I reached out to the deck.

Seven of Diamonds.

Technically I could’ve used it in conjunction with my nine, but it was too risky. I didn’t have time to wait around in hopes of picking up an Eight of Diamonds. Plus, I’d already decided against consecutive sets.

I tossed it into the discard pile.

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The game continued for longer than I would’ve liked it to. The clock was ticking, ticking, ticking, and now read 17 minutes.

So far, my hand had started to come together.

King of Spades

King of Diamonds

King of Hearts

Nine of Diamonds

Nine of Spades

Five of Clubs

Ace of Hearts

I could’ve laid down my kings on the table. But there was only three cards in the meld, meaning one of the others could add the remaining king from their own hand. Across from me, neither of the other two had laid down any cards, and until they did, I couldn’t add anything to their melds either.

Green Shirt then took his turn and picked up a card. He glanced once at me, then threw a Nine of Diamonds onto the discard pile.

I must’ve regarded it a second too long because Green Shirt then spoke up.

‘You’re collecting Diamonds, aren’t you?’

I tried not to smile.

‘どうして知っているのですか’ I asked, playing along. How did you know that?

‘Because you always stare at the cards whenever I discard a Diamonds one.’

He must’ve gotten the wrong end of the stick, because whenever he discarded a Diamonds card, my heart sank. The last thing I needed was a Diamonds card.

‘I’ll try and keep a poker face from now on,’ I muttered.

Green Shirt frowned in response and checked the timer on his phone.

Nine minutes.

Nine minutes until game over.

That’s 540 seconds I had to land a good card.

Come on, I thought. Please be a nine. Please be a nine.

I picked up a card from the deck. It was a Two of Spades. I discarded it immediately.

In the back of my mind, I was starting to panic. Judging by this whole setup, we were playing for our lives. After all, what kind of game would have an invisible barrier that kills those who try to back out?

The first man threw away a Six of Clubs. Green Shirt stared at it and scowled. He must’ve been looking for extra cards to add to his meld on the table.

By now, the two men were starting to become antsy. The first man kept scratching his eyebrow, whereas Green Shirt kept dragging his nails on the table in impatience.

He picked up a card from the deck, then grinned from ear to ear. He proudly lay down a consecutive suite consisting of the Seven and Six of Clubs and a Joker used to represent a five.

Carelessly, he tossed down a Nine of Clubs.

My heart jumped, and adrenaline shot through me.

He still thinks I’m collecting Diamonds. That’s why he tossed it.

My hand shot out and snatched up the card from the pile before Green Shirt could figure out his mistake. And figure it out, he did, because his eyes widened slightly.

I looked at him squarely.

‘I have something to confess,’ I said in English. ‘I lied. I’m not collecting Diamonds.’

Green Shirt’s smile dropped. He didn’t understand, but he would soon enough. The thing about Jokers is that they’re always a double-edged sword.

Laying down my new trio of nines, I reached over to Green Shirt’s meld and inserted my Five of Clubs, swiping his Joker for myself.

He made a noise of protest, whereas the first man watched on with disbelief, as if hoping that his intuition was wrong.

I added the Joker to my two Kings, creating a new meld which I down on the table.

Their faces told all. They had no idea that Jokers could be swapped. Even though I hadn’t understood the rules outlined at the beginning, it was evident that this was a rule that hadn’t been mentioned.

Watching them shake their heads, wide eyed… it was like watching a penny drop.

‘ごめんなさい,’ I said.

I’m sorry.

I threw the Ace of Hearts onto the discard pile.

The two men shot out of their seats, yelling frantically. I tried to tear my eyes away, but couldn’t, as two lasers pierced through the ceiling and struck them where they stood.

The two bodies crumpled to the ground, and all was still.

‘GAME CLEAR – CONGRATULATIONS!’

I don’t know how long I remained seated in my chair, but I felt that if I moved, I would collapse too. Swallowing, I took two fingers and pressed them to my jugular, feeling for my pulse.

I had won. I was still alive.

I was still here.

The phone on the table beside me flashed with a message. According to this game, I had a four-day visa, whatever that meant.

It didn’t matter though, all I needed right now was to sleep.

Rising unsteadily, I cautiously approached the where the invisible barrier had been. For all I knew it was a one-way system, and I didn’t want to make a stupid mistake after all my effort in the Rummy game. So, as a test, I picked up a tiny vase and threw it across the entrance.

Nothing.

It was like the lasers had just disappeared altogether.

Tentatively reaching my fingers through, I deemed it safe, and made my way back down the hall to the store entrance. I didn’t know where to go, or how to live in a world like this, but if books and movies had taught me anything, I needed to make some kind of camp, perhaps even head to a food store to collect some supplies –

I stopped.

On a small side table near the entrance doors, a card lay facing up. The Four of Diamonds. The same Four of Diamonds that had flashed on the screen on my phone. The game’s difficulty.

But when did it get here? Perhaps someone had come by whilst I was still playing.

Shrugging, I pocketed it and stepped outside into the ghostly darkness of Tokyo. Behind me, the electricity in the furniture store shut off completely.

Whatever kind of games these were, I had a feeling they were only just getting started.

#alice in borderland #chishiya #chishiya shuntaro #chishiya x oc #chishiya x reader #chishiya alice in borderland

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vampiregirl1797 · 4 years

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Moments in Time

Peter Kavinsky x Reader

GIF Not Mine.

Click Here For Masterlist.

Summary: A collection of moments of your relationship with Peter since you started “officially” dating.

Word Count: 9,724– whoops, couldn’t help myself.

Warnings: Smut, oral female receiving, hand jobs female and male receiving, sexual intercourse. If there are anymore I’ve missed let me know and I’ll add them in!

Peter and I had started dating just before Christmas break. Of course we’d been “fake dating” for three months at that point after my five secret love letters had gotten mailed out by my younger sister. He’d wanted to make Genevieve jealous, and I’d wanted to avoid my controlling ex boyfriend who had been badgering me for weeks after I broke up with him. Neither of us had planned on developing feelings, and when I’d realised I was in real danger of falling in love with Peter Kavinsky it had been on the ski trip. It had been on the ride up there when he’d revealed a playlist he’d created, compiled of music he knew I liked, for us to listen to. He’d also bought snacks and drinks he knew I liked. By the time we got there, I’d decided to take him aside and reveal my desire to terminate our fake relationship, because of my blossoming feelings for him. When he’d told me that he didn’t want to because he felt the same for me as I did for him, I’d been shocked and overjoyed. We’d spent the rest of the trip in a state of new relationship bliss, sharing kisses, affectionate touches and even sharing a bed. We hadn’t gone that far, but it had been nice to wake up in his arms, to hear his husky morning voice and see his adorable sleepy face.

We’d been together since that trip and our relationship was unbelievably wonderful. Better than my previous relationship with Frederick Layton, though we’d only been out on two dates he’d been unbearably controlling, and until Peter I’d wondered if that was what all relationships would be like. Thankfully, I’d been wrong, as we had a relationship built on trust, communication, love and passion.

My phone dinged on my dresser and I felt the smile grow on my face as I read the text Peter had just sent to me:

Just leaving my house, beautiful. I’ll be at yours soon, can’t wait to take you out.

It wasn’t our first date, at least I didn’t think it was— I’d say we’d already had a few, though none had been as official as this one— but it always made my heart warm whenever he expressed his happiness to be with me. I slid my phone into the pocket of my deep red skater dress, and slid my maroon high top converse onto my feet. Once I was sure I had my card wallet, along with a little cash in my other pocket I headed downstairs.

‘Hey honey.’ My dad’s voice greeted from the dinner table, where he and Kitty were eating the pizza they’d had delivered.

‘Hey dad.’ I smiled, walking over to ruffle Kitty’s hair and chuckling when she ducked away, ‘hey trouble.’

‘Hey Y/N.’ She replied, playfully slapping my hand away, ‘you look really pretty.’

‘Thanks kiddo.’ I said, making my way to the door as the bell rang.

‘Hey Pete.’ I murmured, reaching out and entwining our fingers together.

‘Hey beautiful.’ He kissed the back of my hand, my face flushing at the soft look in brown eyes, ‘you ready to go?’

‘Yeah.’ We walked out of the door with a quick goodbye to my dad and sister, and my dad making Peter promise to have me home by eleven.

I kissed his cheek as he held the passenger side of his jeep open for me, and I held his hand as he drove us to the restaurant. During the drive he told me about his day so far; he’d been putting in extra work outs in the mornings to prepare for lacrosse season starting up again when we went back to school.

‘I just need to do well, you know? Collages are gonna start sending out scouts soon and I need a scholarship.’ He said, biting his lower lip in a way that indicated how anxious he really was.

I waited until he’d put the car in park and turned off the engine before I spoke, my free hand caressing the side of his face as his hazel eyes stared into mine, ‘you’re going to get seen, Peter. I know it— you’re too good a lacrosse player to not get scouted by multiple collages. All you need to focus on is training and becoming the best player you can be.’

His eyes softened as he leaned forward, his forehead resting against mine, ‘thank you, honey.’ He whispered, his eyes fluttering closed as my hand moved from his cheek to his thick, dark hair, gently moving through the strands.

‘I got you Peter,’ I murmured, ‘I’ll always be in your corner.’

His hands wound around my waist, pulling me as close as he could in his Jeep. We held each other for a while, his face resting in the crook of my neck and my nose buried in his hair, inhaling his fresh, clean scent and something else that was just pure Peter Kavinsky. Eventually though, the sound of his stomach rumbling broke the moment, and we pulled apart with a chuckle and headed into the restaurant.

‘So I have to ask seeing as I’m a complete novice at this,’ I smiled in thanks as the waitress placed our drink orders on the table before leaving, ‘does this count as a first date, even though I’d already say we’ve had loads already?’ We had, but nothing as official as going out to a restaurant like we were now.

He grinned, taking a sip of his drink and leaning forward to hold my hands in his, I turned my hand and entwined our fingers together, enjoying the warmth he was emitting.

‘I’d say that a first date can be anything you want it to be.’ His thumb moved across the back of my hand and he smiled when he saw goose bumps break out across my skin from the smooth touch, ‘for me our first date was at the ski lodge before Christmas break last year.’

I blinked, surprised, ‘we only agreed to officially date on that trip.’

‘Exactly,’ he smiled, his eyes a little unfocused as if he were in a different memory, ‘and that night we shared the hot tub and I got to fall asleep with you in my arms. Best date ever.’

I blushed, but the smile that grew on my lips couldn’t be disputed, ‘it was wonderful. I’d say that was our first date, too. Waking up to you was amazing as well, I miss that.’ We hadn’t been able to share a bed since the ski trip, my father careful to assure we’d never have a reason for a sleepover, though we hadn’t broached the ‘sex’ territory yet, Peter had already done it but I hadn’t, and he promised to wait until I was ready.

‘Me too honey.’ He lifted my hands and kissed them, before lowering them to rest on the table again, ‘but I have an idea about how we can do that again, depending on if Chris is willing to cover for you.’

‘Hmm I’m interested, tell me more,’ I leaned forward, excited at the prospect of spending time with him, completely alone.

‘If you’re up for the idea, I know a great place we can go camping for the weekend. I used to go with my dad and brother before he left.’ His smile turned a little sad and I squeezed his hands in comfort, wishing there was something I could do to ease his pain, ‘I can get someone on the lacrosse team to cover for me, and if Chris will cover for you, we’ll be all set.’

‘That sounds perfect.’ I smiled, knowing my eyes were sparkling with happiness at the idea, ‘I’ll talk to her about it, she’ll probably ask for a few favours in return but it’ll be worth it.’

‘Awesome. Let me know, this weekend is one of the last good ones before the weather gets cold and lacrosse training really kicks in next week.’ He murmured, his thumb subconsciously moving against the back of my hands as he spoke. I think he did it without even thinking because he knew it comforted me; I’d told him a few weeks after we’d started “officially” dating, that his touch comforted me in a way that I couldn’t explain, and since he’d made a point to always be touching me in someway.

Our food came not long after and our conversation settled a little as we ate; I had carbonara and Peter had a pepperoni pizza, which he offered me a slice of in exchange for a taste of my food. After the meal Peter surrendered his keys to me, insisting that he was too full to drive, and I accepted them with a chuckle as I drove us back towards home. When I passed Lake Gaston and noted the empty car park I impulsively decided to drive in, entranced with the way the moonlight reflected off the water. That and the blissful silence, it was easy to pretend we weren’t in Virginia.

‘It’s beautiful here.’ I murmured, not really thinking about the words as they left my mouth.

‘It is.’ He agreed, but he was looking at me, not the scenery. He reached over, entwining our hands together and earning my gaze as I turned, taken away with how gorgeous he looked in the moonlight.

I gasped when his hands fell to my waist and he lifted me up onto his lap before I had time to ask what he was doing. My forehead fell against his and our lips melded together like two magnets that were powerless to resist the pull between them. His lips were soft, and his hands were warm as they trailed down from my shoulders to my waist, were they paused to pull me even closer to him. The friction caused me to gasp and his tongue slid into my open mouth without hesitation, moving against mine with a seductive slowness that made my knees feel weak. I didn’t know when my hands moved to his hair, I was too lost in what he was doing to me to pay attention to my own movements, but I became aware of it when a noise of pleasure emitted from between us. I tugged the strands a little and felt myself shuffle closer to him at the groan that escaped his mouth, attracted to his pleasure. My hips were completely aligned with his at that point; I could feel how much he wanted me, how ready he would have been if I’d reached down and released him from his jeans and asked him to take me. But that wasn’t how I wanted my first time to happen so my hands stayed where they were.

His didn’t.

They slid down my legs until he reached the hem of my dress and skated up to the tops of my thighs. I felt a nervous twinge in my stomach but I ignored it; we’d already spoken about boundaries and I trusted him not to violate my trust. His thumb gently skated over my centre, barely pushing the fabric of my underwear into where I was starting to throb with need. I pulled my lips away from his, my head moving to rest against his shoulder, my breath coming quickly as the pleasure he was giving me grew. His other hand moved to my back, softly stroking up and down the centre of my back in a comforting gesture. I felt myself melt into him and when he moved my underwear to the side and it was suddenly his fingers completely against my clit with nothing in between, my back arched from the shock and the incredible jolt that echoed throughout my body.

He moved back and forth, down to my entrance and back up again, repeating the motion and stopping on the bundle of nerves in between, before doing it all again. It wasn’t long before I was shaking, on the edge of my first ever orgasm inflicted by someone other than myself and my god, all the times I’d masturbated it had never been this good. The build up had never been this intense, and when I finally reached my release my vision flashed white and I stopped breathing, fully surrendering my body to the incredible pleasure that echoed throughout my body.

I didn’t know how long it took me to come back around, but when I did I was still on Peter’s lap. He was stroking my hair, whispering soft praises into my ear, and occasionally pausing to kiss my forehead.

‘Peter that was... amazing.’ I whispered, nuzzling into his neck and enjoying his scent as it invaded my nostrils.

‘I’m glad you enjoyed it honey.’ He kissed my hair this time, and I could hear the soft smile in his voice.

‘Can I return the favour?’ I asked, somewhat timidly.

‘You don’t have to do that, Y/N. I can take care of myself when I get home, and trust me, I’ll need to. Watching you fall apart was the most arousing thing I’ve ever seen.’ His voice dropped to a husky tone that would have me rubbing my thighs together if I weren’t already straddling him.

‘I want to,’ I insisted, shuffling down and kneeling to the floor of the car so I could comfortably settle in between his legs, ‘but I’ve never done this before so tell me if I’m doing something you don’t like.’

‘Okay.’ He murmured, his voice barely loud enough for me to hear as my hands fell to the button on his jeans.

I undid it and unzipped the zipper, shooting him a grateful smile when he lifted his hips so I could pull his jeans and underwear down together. I tried to control my surprise at his size as he sprang up against his stomach without anything holding him in place. He was huge, at least to me he was— was eight inches big? I made a mental note to look it up later as my hand tentatively wrapped around the base of his shaft, encouraged by the noise that fell from his mouth I lifted it higher, all the way to the tip and then back down again. His hips jolted, involuntarily, as he tired to follow the movement of my hand, and I felt myself speed up in response, entranced with him. His hands were tangled in his hair, pulling at the strands at increasing force as I sped up around him, he was biting his lip, his eyes were focused on me and darker than I’d ever seen them, pleasure and arousal swimming in the almost chocolate brown depths. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him, and I held his stare until he fell apart in my hand, his release coating my skin as I reached over for the tissues in my bag, I cleaned myself, as well as him though he didn’t seem to notice; his head was resting against his seat with a blissed out look on his face. Once I was done I tucked him back into his boxers and jeans before curling up on his lap, my hands moving gently though his hair as I patiently waited for him to recover.

‘That was amazing, honey.’ He eventually said, his voice sounding sore as he placed a chaste but lingering kiss on my lips.

‘I’m glad you enjoyed it.’ I replied, my cheeks flushing almost immediately— was that a normal thing to say in these situations?

He chuckled and kissed my forehead but otherwise said nothing. We were both happy to bask in the comfortable silence and our afterglow until we realised the time and knew we needed to get me back home before my dad sent out a search party. He dropped me off five minutes before curfew and left me with an ‘I love you’ and a kiss that left us both breathless.

As I was laying in bed an hour later, I wondered how different school was going to be now Peter and I were officially together. But I knew, no changes mattered as long as Peter Kavinsky was there to hold my hand.

Peter had come in early to do some training with a few other guys on the lacrosse team, so I drove myself and Kitty to school the next day. Which was fine, I mean I didn’t like driving but I didn’t mind doing it when necessary. I actually got caught in traffic and ended up making it to school two minutes before the final bell rang, which left enough time for me to get to class, but meant that I didn’t get the chance to talk to anyone before I was thrown in to English class. I was pleased to see that Chris and I were together for Trigonometry second period, and third I had Lucas. First and fourth I was alone friendship wise and I was kinda grateful for it because English and Chemistry were my weakest subjects so I needed to concentrate.

By the time lunch rolled around I was starving and excited to see Peter— we’d been texting throughout the day but it wasn’t the same. I was walking as fast as possible towards the exit of the Chem room, hoping to get to the cafeteria asap, that I almost walked right past him. If he hadn’t grabbed the belt-loop on the shorts I was wearing, I would have missed him completely.

‘Peter.’ I breathed, my voice soft with surprise and delight.

‘Hey beautiful.’ He grinned, leaning down to rest his forehead against mine, his hands resting on my waist.

‘I don’t mean to sound all clingy or anything, but I missed you.’ I told him, my face flushing at the gently, adoring look that adorned his features following my admission, ‘it feels like I haven’t seen you in forever.’

‘I wouldn’t say that’s clingy.’ He assured me, kissing my forehead and winding his arm around my waist as we started to walk to the cafeteria, ‘but if it is, I’m right there with you honey.’

We shared a smile, full of love, adoration and pure honey-moon phase happiness that I hoped didn’t dissipate completely. We ended up completely bypassing the cafeteria in favour of sitting on what I’d internally deemed as “our picnic table” near the tracks— the same place we’d written down our fake dating rules all those months ago. We both sat on the same side of the bench, his arm alternating between resting on my shoulders, on my thigh, holding my hand when it was free and playing with my hair.

‘I talked to Chris in second period, she said she’d cover for me this weekend.’ I told him, excitement filling my expression.

‘That’s great!’ He shared my enthusiasm, his wide, contagious grin lighting his face.

‘I know, we just need to work out the finer details but otherwise we’re good to go.’ My head rested on his shoulder, my packed lunch finished at that point.

‘If you pack a bag we can store it in my Jeep and we can leave straight from school on Friday.’ He suggested, his hand stroking my hair, his other entwined with my fingers.

‘Sounds perfect.’ And it did. Peter and I had never been truly alone to the point of no possible interruptions. We were alone in that moment, but it was only a matter of time before the bell rang and we were flooded with students headed to their next class. Our bubble never remained un-penetrated for long.

‘I want us to have sex on the trip.’ I said and immediately felt my teeth dig into my lower lip as if to reprimand me for my outburst.

You see, I didn’t have a filter around Peter, which I valued most of the time, it allowed for effective communication and it reflected how comfortable I was around him, to voice my thoughts without worrying about judgement. So despite the initial wave of embarrassment that flooded me following my declaration, I refused to let myself linger on it, knowing with Peter I always had a safe space to talk about anything, including my desire to lose my virginity.

I lifted my head from his shoulder to look at his expression, realising he hadn’t spoken for at least a minute. The surprise and shock on his face was to be expected, but I was a little worried that he seemed to be... frozen.

‘Peter?’ I murmured, my index finger gently tapping his forehead.

He blinked, his hazel eyes moving to mine and he shook his head as if to clear it, most likely realising my concern was due to his lack of an answer.

‘Are you okay?’ I asked, my voice timid. Did he not want to take this step? Had he frozen because he was thinking of a way to let me down easily? ‘Pete, if you don’t think we’re ready for this then tell me, both of our feelings are important here.’

His eyes softened and he placed a kiss on my forehead, ‘I know that, honey. I was just surprised, I guess I wasn’t expecting it. That’s all. The way I reacted wasn’t because I don’t want to be with you that way, because I do. I just want you to be sure you’re not rushing into this because of me.’ His hazel eyes searched mine, and I kept eye contact when I spoke, wanting him to see my complete sincerity.

‘I’ve been thinking about this for weeks, Pete. I love you, you love me, and I trust you to take care of me.’ My hands went to either side of his face, ‘I’m sure.’

His hand gripped my right, lifting it and turning it over so he could kiss my palm.

‘Okay, in that case I’ll make sure we have protection for the weekend.’ He assured me, his thumb tracing over my cheekbone as I flushed, ‘and in the meantime, if you have any second thoughts and you change your mind then let me know. There’s no pressure, I’m happy to spend the weekend with you, with our without sex, okay?’

I was so soft in that moment you could have spread me on bread, ‘okay.’

I knew I wouldn’t change my mind, and the very fact he made sure to assure me that it would be okay that I did, only solidified my choice even further. I loved him, trusted him and he was without a doubt the one I wanted to take this step with.

A few days later after Peter had dropped me off at home, my dad handed me a letter, and as soon as I saw the return name and address, my stomach dropped.

The letters had gotten out months ago, and when I’d not heard anything from John Ambrose, I assumed his had got lost in the mail, or he’d read it been confused and creeped out and thrown it away. But the letter I was holding proved both of those theories wrong.

I took a breath and opened it, hoping to god it was a polite brush off and he wasn’t writing to tell me that I was a creepy weirdo.

Dear Y/N,

I couldn't believe when I opened that letter and it was from you. Wow. It's been, what, five years since we've seen each other? Not that I'm mad or anything. I was so happy to get it. I can't believe how mature you were at 11. God, when I was 11, my mom was still putting out snacks for me after school, but here you were with all these complex thoughts and emotions.

It's crazy.

Reading it reminded me of that time that we both got locked out after school. Remember that? We went to the Robertson's treehouse and read Harry Potter until it got dark. If I'd written you a love letter back then, I'm pretty sure it would've just said something like, um, "I liked reading with you. You're really pretty." But your letter was so much more than that. I just have one question: Why send it now?

Whatever the reason, I'm really glad I got to read it.

Yours, John Ambrose.

Okay, just a polite brush off like I was hoping, nothing to worry about. I headed up to my room, tossed my back pack onto my bed and sat at my desk. He deserved an explanation and maybe then this whole thing could just go away for good. I pulled out some stationary and started writing.

Dear John Ambrose,

I have to say your response surprised me, the letters got out almost six months ago, I’d assumed yours got lost in the mail or that you threw it away. Either way, you’re right and you do deserve an explanation. I went through a stage of writing letters whenever I got a crush so intense I didn’t know what to do about it. In total there were five, one to you, a guy from camp, Lucas from school, Josh from next door and Peter Kavinsky. My sister, Kitty, thought it would be a good idea to send them out and possibly get me out of my shell, which is why you received it now when I wrote it years ago. It actually worked, and Peter and I started dating, we’re still together now and honestly I’m kinda grateful to my sister for sending out the letters, because it never would have happened without it.

It was nice to hear from you, John Ambrose, I wish you all the best for the future.

Y/N.

There. All done, all finished. I placed it into an envelope, wrote the name and address on the front, and added the stamp. I didn’t seal it though. I’d never had a boyfriend, but I was pretty sure if I found out that a guy Peter used to like had written him a letter, I’d want to know about it.

I pulled my phone out of the back pocket of my high-waisted jeans and texted him— I knew he was probably out running like he did every day after school, so I didn’t want to disrupt him with a phone call.

Hey honey, can you come over tonight? There’s something I wanna talk to you about. It’s nothing bad, I promise.

Once that was sent, I headed to the shower and after that kept myself busy with homework. I was so deep in concentration that I jumped when someone knocked on the front door— the headache that my trig homework had given me didn’t help. I looked up from where I was sitting at the dining room table and headed over to answer it— Kitty was at a friends house and my dad was still at work, one of his patients had gone into labour an hour ago.

A bright smile broke across my face when I saw who it was, and I abandoned a verbal greeting in favour of wrapping my arms around his neck and burying my head in his chest. He smelled of peppermint from his body wash, and a hint of vanilla from his shampoo. I could feel that his hair was still wet, so he must have showered after his run and come over straight away.

‘Hey honey,’ he murmured, kissing my hair, ‘everything okay?’

‘Fine, just something I thought you should know about.’ I told him, reluctant to pull away from his hold— I was feeling extra clingy tonight for whatever reason, and he must have realised it too, because he scooped me up. My legs wound around his waist and my face moved to the crook of his neck, inhaling deeply as a contented feeling wrapped around me like a warm blanket on a rainy day.

‘Where to?’ He asked, his voice soft. I vaguely registered the sound of the front door closing as he kicked it shut.

‘My room.’ I replied, trying to keep myself from falling asleep. I loved how safe I felt in his arms.

He carried me up with no problem and paused at my desk so I could grab both letters, and then moved to the centre of my bed, positioning me so I was comfortable curled up on his chest.

‘Now what did you need me to come over for, honey? Not that I’m complaining if you just called me over for some cuddles.’ He chuckled, kissing my forehead.

‘You remember the letters I wrote?’ I mumbled against the fabric of his shirt.

‘Yeah, one to me, some guy from UN, someone from camp, Josh and Lucas.’ His hand trailed up and down my back comfortingly.

‘Well, the guy from UN was John Ambrose McClaren.’ I said, too calm to be worried about his reaction.

‘No shit. McClaren? That was my boy.’ He grinned.

‘Well, he wrote me back.’ I handed him one of the letters in my hand and patiently waited as he read it.

‘He sounds pretty cool about it.’ He said once he was finished, placing it to the side and linking his fingers with my free hand, ‘are you gonna write him back?’

‘I’ve already written the letter, I figured he deserved an explanation as to why he received a love letter I wrote five years ago out of the blue.’ I held up the response in my free hand, ‘that’s why I called you over, I figured if this was the other way around then I’d wanna know about it, right?’

His eyes softened, his free hand gently moving through my hair, ‘right. So do you want me to read your response?’

I nodded, handing him the letter. I knew if I told him no that he would respect that, but I had no problems with him reading it. I had no feelings for John Ambrose anymore, they’d flickered out years ago, and I didn’t want Peter wondering if me keeping the letter from him was because those feelings still lingered. He finished it pretty quickly, kissed my forehead and asked me if I wanted to watch a movie. I didn’t particularly; I was so close to sleep that I didn’t think I’d last five minutes, but if it meant he’d stay and hold me for a few more hours I was all for it. I hummed in agreement and he turned on my TV and selected something, I couldn’t tell you what it was if my life depended on it. I was asleep within minutes.

‘Please chose your volunteer post wisely. You will be representing Adler at your chosen post.’ Principal Stevens reminded everyone in the cafeteria, that had temporarily turned into a volunteer centre with different booths scattered around.

I was looking around for the Bellevue booth when I was startled by warm hands wrapping around my waist.

‘Hey honey.’ He murmured into my neck, his warm breath made me shiver against him, I could feel his smirk before he continued, ‘you found the Bellevue booth yet?’

‘Nah, I just got here.’ I turned, my arms wrapping around his neck, his forehead resting against mine, ‘you and the boys signed up for Oakwood Market?’

‘Um—.’ He was cut off from Trevor appearing behind him and playfully slapping his shoulders.

‘Yo, K! What’s up big boy?’ He exclaimed. Peter shook his head with a chuckle and pulled me closer to him as he turned to give his friend a nod.

‘What’s up, Y/N?’ Trevor smiled.

‘Hey, Trevor.’ I returned his smile, my gaze returning to Peter quickly.

‘Yo, bro, so check it out. We already snagged six spots at Oakwood Market. Everybody's in, done deal.’ Trevor grinned, ruffling Peter’s hair in his excitement.

‘That’s great man.’ Pete smiled, removing a hand from my waist to playfully shove him, ‘sign me up will you? I’m gonna find the Bellevue booth with Y/N.’

He didn’t give him a chance to respond, his hand sliding around my waist and walking us in the direction of the booth I needed.

‘You don’t have to come with me you know,’ I told him a soft, amused smile on my lips, ‘just because we’re dating it doesn’t mean your friends aren’t a priority too.’

‘I know that.’ He held me closer and his next words were so quiet that I had to strain my hearing to catch them, ‘I’m feeling a little clingy today, honey.’

I was a little surprised; usually it was the other way around, but I didn’t comment, I just held him tighter against my side and reached over for his free hand and kissed his palm. If this is what he needed, I was more than happy to help ease him in anyway I could. He kissed the top of my head and when we reached the booth he moved behind me, his hands on my waist and his chin resting on my shoulder so we were cheek to cheek.

I wrote my name on the sheet, noting that I was the only one and turned to kiss Peter’s cheek when I was done. Before we could leave, Gen cornered us.

‘Of course you would do Bellevue.’ She snorted, ‘you’re so predictable, Y/N.’

‘I know right?’ I smiled sweetly, unable to help rolling my eyes. Honestly, how she hadn’t moved on by now and gotten tired of giving us a hard time I didn’t know.

‘I saw your story this weekend, Peter.’ She rolled her eyes and shot me a smug look, ‘Cordona’s? Classic Kavinsky. A little tip, Y/N, if you wanna fit into your jeans come summer, you should start ordering a salad.’

‘Just stop it Gen.’ Peter said, his voice sounded tired and lacking of patience and she must have noticed it too because she started, her expression becoming vulnerable for a split second before the mean facade was back in place, ‘that’s my favourite restaurant, and Y/N loves Italian, of course I took her there. Just because we dated it doesn’t mean that all of those places are off limits for us now. Grow up and stop being so childish.’

She rolled her eyes, but I could tell she was well and truly berated as she left without so much as a ‘whatever’ thrown over her shoulder.

I turned around in his arms, noting the way his shoulders were slumped, and his hazel eyes weren’t as bright as they usually were.

‘Well, we’re officially signed up for our volunteer programmes, you wanna get lunch off campus? My treat for all the running coach’ll make you do later.’ My hands gently moved through his thick brown locks as I talked.

‘I’d love that. I’m craving pizza.’ He squeezed my hand as we headed for his car, I took the keys and drove us to Cordona’s and got us a large half pepperoni and half cheese for us to share.

We stopped at the lake we’d paused at almost a week ago to eat, there were more cars, but no people; they were probably hiking around the water. I shifted onto Pete’s lap, the pizza laying open on the drivers seat, making it easy for us to reach over when we wanted a slice. We didn’t talk much as we ate, occasionally he’d offer me a bite of his pizza and I’d do the same to him, both of us trading gentle smiles and chaste kisses before we continued eating. It was peaceful being encased in our bubble, and I hoped that the atmosphere was as calming for him as it was for me. By the time the pizza was gone, we still had over half an hour before we had to be back to school, and it was only a ten minute drive. I tossed the left over crust into the pizza box and shook my head when Pete offered me some of the last slice.

My hand moved through his hair, noting the way his eyes fluttered shut and he leaned into my touch as he swallowed the last of his pizza.

‘You feeling better, honey?’ It was the first words I’d spoken in a while, and I was pleased that the peaceful bubble around us didn’t pop at the disruption.

‘Loads, thank you for this Y/N.’ He kissed my forehead.

‘You don’t have to thank me, Pete. I told you, I’m here for you, always.’ I kissed his nose, chuckling at the way his nose wrinkled and a grin lit up his face.

My amusement faded abruptly when hands gently rested on either side of my face and bought my lips to his. He tasted of cheese, pepperoni and a hint of mint from the gum he’d been chewing before. His lips were soft and when his tongue slipped into my mouth again, I felt myself melt into him with a shudder. His hands glided down to my waist, pulling me closer to him and I briefly wondered when I’d turned to straddle him, but honestly in that moment I didn’t care. My fingers tugged at his hair and he groaned against my lips to kiss along the column of my throat, to behind my ear, his lips zeroing in on a sensitive spot that I didn’t know existed. I moaned his name, my hips involuntarily moving against his, allowing me to feel that he wanted me just as much as I did him. His hand slid underneath my jumper, and when he felt that I wasn’t wearing a bra underneath he groaned as his hand cupped my breast, his thumb moving back and forth across my nipple and creating little zings of electricity that seemed connected to my core somehow.

I moaned his name again and he bought his lips to mine, his tongue moving in that slowly seductive way again, and I swear I felt myself flush with so much warmth and arousal I wouldn’t have been surprised if I caught on fire. I was so lost in the heat that I didn’t notice his other hand sliding underneath my skirt until his fingers pressed against my core, causing my hips to jolt into his hand. I pulled away from the kiss, needing to breathe and unable to concentrate on anything but the pleasure that was travelling through my body. My head fell to his shoulder and his fingers moved quicker against my clit, seeming to find that spot that made me see stars without even trying. My release came over me so suddenly that I bit down on Peter’s shoulder without thinking, concerned that my volume would be too loud without me tampering down my moans somehow.

By the time I came back around, Peter was stroking my hair, while his other hand gripped my waist gently.

‘I can’t feel my legs.’ I spoke into his neck, smiling at the sound of his chuckle.

‘It’s okay honey, I can drive us back.’ He kissed my hair.

‘What about you?’ I frowned, not liking the idea of leaving him in need of release; and I knew he was, I could feel it against my hip.

‘Don’t worry about that, you can make it up to me when you have the energy.’ He said, his voice rife with amusement and a little pride.

‘Okay,’ I murmured, appeased.

We stayed there for a few more minutes, until we were in danger of being late if we waited any longer. He placed me in the passenger seat where I curled into a ball, having not got my energy back yet, and he closed the pizza box and placed it into the foot space I wasn’t currently using. My hand was entwined with his left as he drove us back, and I was on the precipice of consciousness and unconsciousness when he leaned over to kiss my forehead to tell me we had arrived. My eyes fluttered open and I practically jumped into Peter’s arms when he came around to open my door for me. He chuckled, holding me close for a moment before his arm slid around my waist so we could walk into the school. I idly wondered if I’d get away with taking a nap in history as we parted ways at the doors with a kiss.

The next day passed in a blur and before I knew it, we were heading on our camping trip. I’d tossed my school bag onto the back seat, kicked off my ballet flats and pulled my hair from my hair tie to make myself more comfortable for the drive. Peter and I were both positively beaming with excitement, happily singing along to the road trip playlist he’d made for us. It made my heart warm when he’d bashfully announced that he’d done that, he’d gone out of his way to put together a bunch of songs he knew I liked. It was the little things like that, that made me wonder what I’d done right to deserve someone as wonderful as Peter.

When we arrived, Peter and I wasted no time in putting up the tent. Well, Pete told me what to do and followed his instructions as best as I could— I’d never been camping before so putting a tent together was completely fresh territory for me. But he told me I’d done a good job and I kissed him for saying that, even though we both knew it wasn’t true.

‘I love it out here.’ I told him much later, when the sun had set and we could actually see the stars shining above us now we were out of the city.

‘Me too, I forgot just how much.’ He admitted, his arm around my shoulders as I melted into his side.

‘How come you haven’t been back in so long?’

‘Me and my brother used to come out here with my dad, and for the longest time it was another reminder of the fact he was gone.’ He said, his voice taking on the melancholy that usually followed talking about his father.

‘I get that, it was the same for me after my mom died.’ I offered him a sad smile when he met my eye, ‘but eventually I realised, the memories didn’t have to make me sad, they could be a reminder of the happy times we all shared as a family.’

‘You’re so wise for a sixteen year old, Y/N.’ He smiled softly, his hand caressing the side of my face, his smile grew when I leaned into his touch, ‘thank you for sharing that with me, it helps, more than you know.’

‘I love you, Pete.’

His eyes softened completely, ‘I love you too, Y/N.’

The next few days were complete and utter bliss. Spending time with one of my favourite people, just us, no interruptions was incredible. We hiked, swam, danced in the random rainfall, cuddled at night to keep warm, watched the sunrise and set, and lay for hours under the stars talking about anything and everything. Not once did he bring up my earlier expressed desire to lose my virginity during this trip, and I knew it was because he was giving me the room I needed to change my mind, no questions asked. The truth was, I hadn’t changed my mind, but it took me a few days to work up my nerve to broach the subject again. I knew we’d already been intimate to an extent, but it took me some time to assure myself that Peter loved me, and that he wouldn't be disgusted with my naked appearance. It was Sunday night, we’d be getting up early to drive straight to school in the morning, and I finally gathered my nerve.

‘Pete?’ I murmured to him; we’d eaten some dinner an hour ago and we were currently laying in each others arms underneath the stars.

‘Hmm?’

‘Did you bring any protection?’ I felt him stiffen underneath me before he relaxed.

‘I did.’ He confirmed, ‘but if you’ve changed your mind then that’s completely okay.’

‘I know, but I didn’t,’ I leaned up, resting on my elbow to look him in the eye, ‘I just needed a little time to gather my nerve.’

‘You don’t need to be nervous, honey, if you want to do this I’ll take care of you.’ His hazel eyes shone of nothing but sincerity.

‘I want to do this Peter, please.’ I murmured, my fingers gently trailing over the side of his face.

That was how we found ourselves in the zipped up tent, both of us completely naked and Peter kissing his way down my stomach. My hand tangled in his hair as his mouth latched onto my clit, my hips would have buckled into his face if he didn’t have a hand on my waist, securely holding me down. His other hand had moved lower, his finger moving inside of me and curling to find the spot that had taken me months to find without effort. I moaned, completely overwhelmed with the pleasure he was giving me in that moment. His mouth was sucking on the perfect spot, his tongue moving over that bundle of nerves, while he added another finger inside of me, rubbing—fuck—yes right there— I was going to explode, I was sure of it. As the pure unadulterated continued to build I didn’t recognise my own voice as I alternated between moaning, screaming his name and whimpering. Eventually, and yet all too soon, the knot in my stomach came undone as my release overcame me, my vision whitened and when I came around, I was surprised to see that my body was still in one piece.

Pete was hovering over me, his eyes soft and aroused as he observed me. I felt myself flush and his thumb gently followed the redness as it covered my cheeks.

‘You’re so beautiful, Y/N.’ He whispered, his lips capturing mine in a gentle kiss that made my heart melt inside my chest.

He leaned back after a moment, pulling a condom from his wallet and sliding it down his erection. When he noticed me biting my lip, concerned how he was going to fit inside of me, he kissed my forehead reassuringly and lined himself up with my entrance. He pushed in with one slow, smooth movement, once he was fully encased inside me, he stopped, his face turned into the side of my neck. He kissed me there, and I was grateful for the distraction from the pain, it made waiting for it to pass much easier as his lips found that spot behind my ear again.

‘You’re doing amazingly, honey.’ He murmured against my skin, his warm breath making me shiver in the best way.

When the pain subsided I told Peter to move, and he did, starting with soft, shallow thrusts that became deeper and harder as we progressed. When he lifted my right thigh and wound it around his waist, and managed to find a spot that had me seeing stars with every thrust, I was pretty sure I moaned ridiculously loud but I was far too lost in the moment to know for sure. I was lost in him again, his scent, his breath coming fast and heavy against my neck, his lips and the kisses he was placing where he could reach, his hand where he was gripping my leg while the other rested on the ground behind my head to give him balance, his shaft and the way it moved in and out of me as if he was made to fit inside me. I was overwhelmed by him, just as I was every time we became intimate and I found myself hoping, in the back of my aroused mind that was overrun with pleasure, that it would never be any other way.

When I reached my release, Peter wasn’t very far behind me, shouting my name into my neck. Once we were both finished, his arms wrapped around my waist and he flipped us over so I was laying on top of him. His fingers trailed over my bare back and it was honestly so soothing, I found myself falling asleep right there, peacefully in his arms.

‘This is gonna be wild.’ Peter grinned, his hand entwined with mine, while me other was holding the cupcakes I’d made on my lap, along with the pizzas Pete had picked up on his way over.

‘You think?’ I said, amused, ‘we’re digging up a time capsule and eating pizza with cupcakes, i’m not sure that’s the common definition of “wild.”’

He laughed, ‘I know that, Covey. I mean having the old gang meeting up again, seeing my boy, it’s gonna be crazy.’

It was true, the old gang was me, Peter, John Ambrose, Trevor, Chris and Genevieve. We were all meeting up to dig up the time capsule we’d buried underneath the Robertson’s treehouse because the new owners were going to cut it down. If I was honest I was a little nervous about it; Gen and I didn’t get along, so I could only imagine the snide comments we were going to get, and things between John Ambrose and I since we’d been volunteering together at Bellevue had been awkward. He’d gotten the letter I’d sent back to him, and he was constantly asking how things were between Peter and I. Whenever I told him things were great, he’d get a disappointed look on his face before he forced a smile that fooled no one. I’d told Peter about it, but he assured me that if he had any doubts about our relationship then that was his problem, not ours. And he was right.

‘It’s going to be weird having us all together again.’ I agreed, kissing the back of his hand and returning his smile, though mine wasn’t as big, it was still genuine.

John Ambrose was stood at the foot of the tree house, his hands tucked in his jeans as we approached. Peter had insisted on carrying the pizza and the cupcakes so I had my arm wrapped in his back pocket as we walked, slightly amused at the irony of the move.

‘Well, well, well if it isn’t Johnny McClaren!’ Peter grinned.

‘Peter Kavinsky.’ He returned, a little less enthusiastically.

‘Anyone else here yet?’ I asked, hoping to diffuse the sudden tension, and I was grateful to hear Trevor’s booming voice approaching us.

‘Yo! You guys order some za’?’ He clapped his hands twice, ‘yo, I’m so hungry.’ And when he saw John he grinned walking over to him, clasping his hand and slapping him on the back, ‘John! I can’t believe you came it’s been so long!’

‘I know, I’m glad we could all meet up.’ He smiled, looking towards the boxes in Peter’s hands and asking, ‘What kind did you get?’

‘One pepperoni and one cheese.’ Peter answered, turning to smile at me, ‘and Y/N made us some salted caramel cupcakes for afterwards.’

‘Pizza and cupcakes? We should do this every week.’ Trevor cheered, making us all laugh in amusement.

‘So are we’re just waiting on Peter and Gen.’ I mused, hoping my anxiety dissipated soon.

‘I’m here, it was so generous of you to offer me an invitation, Y/N.’ Gen said, her voice snarky.

‘I know.’ I sighed, honestly not in the mood for her snippiness.

Thankfully before she could retort, Chris joined us, shovel in hand and a smile on her face. I tuned the conversation out and offered to go and set up the food while she and the others located the time capsule. Peter came with me, handing me the boxes up through the hatch before joining me inside.

We placed mats in a circle for everyone to sit on, so it would be more comfortable. I ended up sitting in between Peter’s legs, his back leaning on the wall behind him while we waited for everyone else.

‘Is there a lot of tension between people or is it just me?’ I asked, needing to know if I was imagining it.

‘There was some between me and McClaren, and some between us and Gen.’ he confirmed, his hands entwining with mine.

‘I hate it, it makes me nervous.’ I admitted, turning to meet his eyes.

‘I know, but sometimes it can’t be helped. I mean when another guy is clearly into my girlfriend it paves the way for tension.’ He shrugged.

‘It doesn’t have to, Pete. I love you, any feelings I may have had for him fizzled out years ago.’ I assured him.

‘I know,’ he kissed my forehead, ‘jealousy is an irrational feeling but that doesn’t make banishing it any easier.’

I knew what he meant, I still felt jealous of Gen occasionally, but I reminded myself that Peter wanted me, not her and we were happy together. I turned around again, settling back between his legs, my back against his chest and his arms around my waist. That was how the others found us when they ventured up, and other than a disappointed look from John Ambrose and a disgusted one from Gen, no one else batted an eye. We all ate, the others sharing random conversation, but I was content to sit back and observe rather than participate. Pete and John Ambrose didn’t speak directly and when I didn’t respond to the snide comments she was making, Gen settled into conversation with the others. While he was eating, Pete’s hand remained on my waist, his thumb moving back and forth over my hipbone in a comforting gesture that had me melting even further into him.

Once the food was finished, Chris cracked open the time capsule, pulling out a familiar bracelet that she threw in my direction when I said it was mine.

‘It’s a friendship bracelet that Gen made for me, back when we were friends.’ I admitted, tucking it into the pocket of my jeans with a smile— she may have hated me now, but the bracelet had some good memories of our friendship when we were kids.

Trevor pulled out the next object, ‘baseball!’

‘I’m guessing you put that in?’ John Ambrose laughed.

Peter held up a hand, catching it effortlessly, ‘Yeah, that was me. This is when I hit a home run at Claremont Park.’

‘Wait I remember that! You came running off the field and kissed me in front of your mom, do you remember that?’ Gen asked with a smug smile on her face.

Chris and I shared a look, rolling our eyes simultaneously as Peter said, ‘yeah I remember, it was years ago.’

He pocketed the baseball and entwined his hand with mine. I squeezed his hand once to let him know that I wasn’t mad, if anything at this point I felt bad for Gen— to constantly bring up past moments in a relationship with her ex wasn’t healthy and I didn’t know why she was doing it. Surely it couldn’t have been making her feel good? I’d be heartbroken if Pete and I broke up and bringing up our special moments would only make the pain that much more intense.

‘Alright.’ John reached in and pulled out a piece of paper.

‘Ah, that’s mine!’ Trevor reached over taking it and looking it over with a nostalgic eye, ‘Ah, yes, the Linkin Park concert at the Crystal Ballroom.’

‘Linkin Park?’ Chris scoffed, ‘nerd.’

‘What?’ Trevor sounded outraged, ‘Linkin slaps!’

‘Okay...’ Peter held the time capsule so I could reach in and pull out the next thing, which was a cap.

I held it up and Pete handed it to John Ambrose, clearly knowing it was his, ‘Hey, McClaren, remember this? This is when you hopped on the bandwagon, and wore this hat every single day.’

‘Oh my god,’ John shook his head, clearly remembering giving in to the trend.

‘Wait, Y/N didn't you get a Seahawks T-shirt 'cause you were trying to impress John?’ She smiled, but there was nothing sweet about it.

‘If I did, I don’t remember.’ I answered honestly.

‘If you did, that’s really cute.’ John Ambrose smiled, and it wasn’t creepily but I couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable with the comment anyway.

Peter must have felt it because he lifted the hand he was still holding to his lips and kissed the back of it before our entwined hands settled back on my hip. He reached into the capsule beside us and pulled out an envelope.

‘This says “to the future Chris”’ he handed it to her and we all watched, amused as she pulled out $20 and tucked it into her bra.

‘You okay?’ Pete murmured into my ear, his head resting on my shoulder.

‘I am,’ I smiled, turning to kiss his cheek and settling even further into his arms.

‘Okay, you’re next.’ Chris said, gesturing to Gen.

‘Um well it’s empty.’ She crossed her arms over her chest, as if she were accusing us for being at fault for it.

‘That’s impossible.’ Chris scoffed, ‘you put something in there. We all did.’

Gen rolled her eyes, ‘well I don’t know what to tell you, because there’s nothing in there.’

I sighed, glancing down to the pizza box beside us and noting the last slice, ‘does anyone want the last slice?’

Peter’s hand swooped in and took it and I shook my head in amusement when he offered me a bite before he ate it.

‘Well I never thought I’d see the day— Kavinsky sharing his food, must be true love.’ Trevor teased, ducking to avoid Chris shoving him.

‘Must be.’ Pete agreed, barely loud enough for me to hear. We shared a soft look and he kissed my forehead and finished his slice of pizza.

As I sat there in the arms of the boy I loved, I couldn’t help but once again thank whatever God, whatever deity had blessed me with Peter Kavinsky. Because I honestly didn’t know what I would do without him in my life; he made me whole in a way I didn’t realise I needed before we dated. I’d forever be grateful for him, and I’d never take our relationship for granted, because this was the kind of love they wrote movies about. I was sure of it.

A/N: I’ve had this one gaining traction in my documents for a few weeks. I started writing it a few weeks ago after I watched the sequel to To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before on Netflix, and I only got a thousand words in before I lost motivation for it. I recently picked it back up a few days ago and here we are 9,000+ words later! I hope ya’ll liked it, I’ve added some smut in for the first time in forever, forgive me if it sucks, I’m a bit rusty!

#peter kavinsky x reader #peter kavinsky x you #peter kavinsky #to all the boys 2 #to all the boys ive loved before movie

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little-kat07 · 3 years

Text

Heartbeep

Sanders sides oneshot; No editing, we die like Patton’s relationship with Roman in POF (haha *cries*)

Pairings: Mentioned Logicality, Implied Prinxiety

TW: Peaceful Death, implied hospitalization, mention of a paper cut, Bittersweet ending, Life after death

Roman let another wheezing breath come and go.

Patton held Roman's wrinkled hand with tears behind his eyes. He smiled. "Hey, dad."

Roman took a second to process and then smiled back. "Patton! I haven't seen you since you moved to Georgia with your husband!"

Patton nodded and traced his thumb in a circle motion on Roman's palm. "Yeah. The doctors called me. I'm so sorry I haven't visited more." He choked on the last few words. "Oh, dad. I'm s-so sorry…"

Roman shook his head. "Oh no, starlight… you're all right. I can't blame you for wanting to stay home with that wonderful man of yours."

Patton grinned softly and chuckled. "I was so scared you wouldn't like him. That night I brought him home."

Roman grinned the best he could. The beeping of his heartbeat (was it supposed to be beeping? Doesn't it usually just beat? Where's that sound coming from?) came every couple seconds in the background.

"I didn't like him, to be honest. He was so formal and dense." Roman laughed, although something in the back of his head told him it didn't sound quite like a laugh. "But then you got that papercut and he looked like he was going to call an ambulance!"

Patton chuckled and only more tears spilled from his eyes.

Roman frowned. "Starlight, why are you crying?"

Patton tried to wipe them away furiously, they were hot and sticky on his face and hands. "B-because you're going awa-ay. I don't want you to- Dad, I barely spent any time with you! I was such a horrible son, and I can't be without- y-you-" he found his throat was closing up and he squeezed his eyes shut to block out the breathlessness in his chest.

Roman shook his head again. He wasn't entirely sure what Patton meant, but he was so upset and it was difficult to see his son like this.

"Patton, no. You are such an amazing boy!" Roman squeezed his hand and beamed as best he could without exhausting himself. "Every day I feel so lucky to have raised you, and the fine person you are now. When i'm gone, you'll have your husband and your little boy to keep you going. You're so strong, dearest."

Patton beamed and nodded. The tears didn't stop. He was halfway certain that they never would.

"Now," Roman said haughtily, shifting in his bed and ignoring the sharp pain that went up his side, "Why did you come all the way down here?"

Patton blinked. "The doctors said you knew…"

"Knew what?"

Patton gulped and his voice threatened to stop working. "...Dad, the doctors say that… you're, uh…" Patton shook his head and found difficulty continuing, but thankfully, he didn't have to.

Roman gasped and for a split second, Patton saw wonder spark in his eyes.

Roman was looking at the door of the room (the door was white, why was it white? Didn't he paint it red a couple of years ago?) Where, to him, stood a teenage boy, about 16, with raven hair and a hoodie.

"Virgil?" Roman rasped.

Memories flooded into Roman's normally quiet mind. Memories of drive-in's and 2-am fast food, of sneaking out in the middle of the night and laughing with this boy.

...But that was decades ago. And Roman was old and weak, and Virgil still looked so young. And beautiful.

Roman failed to remember what happened to Virgil back then.

Virgil smiled and nodded. "Hey Ro. Long time no see."

Roman grinned a grin so distinctly joyful that Patton had never seen before. "...dad, what are you looking at?" He asked tentatively, eyes darting to the door, where he saw no one.

Roman saw Virgil walk over and put a hand on his. It started glowing. Roman looked down at it and everything came together in one sharp thought.

"Oh," he realized. He looked up and met Virgil's dark, shining eyes. "Really?"

Virgil nodded. "It's time, buddy." His face flashed with sadness for a moment. "Sorry you didn't get to do all that stuff you wanted to do."

Roman shook his head, still beaming. "No, of course not. I'm as happy as can be."

Virgil raised an eyebrow and smirked. "You'd be happier if you had beat me in that scrabble game that one time."

Roman feigned offense. "You were cheating! I know it!"

Patton stared at his father with such a look of confusion and sadness that it hurt to see. "D-dad. Who are you looking at?"

Roman looked over at him. "You can't see him?"

Patton shook his head sadly as though Roman was lost. "Dad, there's nobody there."

Roman frowned. He looked to Virgil. "Can't you make him see you?"

Virgil shook his head sorrowfully. "Not unless he's about to die." After a moment, he tugged lightly on Roman's hand and Roman watched in wonder as a second form of his hand melded out and back in. "It's time to go."

"Let me talk to him some more?"

Virgil nodded, smiling gently. "As long as you need."

Roman looked to Patton, who looked hopelessly lost. Roman smiled and lifted his hand from Patton's grasp to cup his cheek. "You're so strong, sweetie." With a great effort, he leaned forward and placed a kiss on Patton's forehead. Patton closed his eyes for a moment while more tears streamed down.

They beamed softly at each other for a moment. "I've got to go now," Roman said gently, squeezing Patton's hand. "You'll be okay."

Patton gasped and said in a panic, "Wait!" Before digging in his pocket and pulling out a wrinkled piece of paper.

When he held it up to Roman, Roman gasped. It was a family photo of Patton, his husband Logan and their little boy.

Patton sniffed. "I-i just- I realized you've never seen a picture of Janus before. Me and Logan adopted him a few years back."

Virgil reached over Roman and pulled a spirit copy of the photo out of it. "For you to keep when you go upstairs," he whispered, winking.

Roman felt his heart swell and he beamed. "That's my grandson?"

"Mm-hm."

"He's beautiful."

Patton's smile was something no actor, not even Roman, could attempt to mimic. It was sad and helpless and loving all rolled together and welded with sunlight.

Roman smiled at him and squeezed Virgil's hand, which he could actually feel now. "Bye, Starlight."

Patton let out a shaky breath. “I love you.”

And then Virgil pulled on Roman's hand and Roman sat up, out of his body. younger and stronger and happier and it was beautiful.

Virgil grinned. "It's been a while."

Roman nodded. "Yeah. I missed you, emo."

“‘Emo?’ Is that what kids are saying now?”

Roman laughed and smiled and thought perhaps he would never be sad or frustrated again.

---

Hi, author here! I’d like to say that some people might think it’s Ageist to say that a person becomes younger in their spirit form. In this universe i’ve created, when you die, you embody the age that you loved the most. Whenever you were happiest, or however old you wish you were. So if a person was happiest embodying an older form, they will be an older spirit. I’m not sure if this helps but I’m a very small fanfiction writer, so I really don’t want to offend anyone. Have an amazing and awesome day!!!!!!

#prinxiety #tss #sanders sides #tss fanfic #tss fic #ts prinxiety #roman sanders #creativity sanders #ts roman #ts creativity #sanders sides fic #tw death #tw paper cut #tw implied hospital #did i do okay?#logicality #ts logicality

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kiriluvbot · 3 years

Text

vintage red

hanta looks like he already knows, and shouto wants chases that light in his eyes.

he wants and he wants and he wants.

he settles for this: “can i kiss you?”

or; first kisses in the quiet of sero’s bedroom.

—

it’s a funny thing, to love someone.

it’s tearing down walls and dusting the shelves of your heart to make room for them. it’s gently asking them for the key to their own heart, getting cozy in the cavern of their chest.

in some cases, it happens slowly, over time with stolen glances across a room, fingers brushing under the table. or maybe it happens fast, bumping into a stranger and falling into their arms, catching a glimpse of the light in their eyes and deciding, this is it.

but for us, shouto todoroki thinks to himself, we walked right into it, didn't we, hanta?

walked hand in hand into whatever this was between them, settled down and got comfortable like it was a picnic, like it was always meant to be this way.

maybe someday— shouto turns his head a bit, sneaking a glance at hanta out of the corner of his eye. i could just lean in and—

he sits with his back against hanta sero’s wall, legs criss-crossed as pretends he’s totally not staring. hanta leans into him, possibly without even meaning to, as he flips the page of the manga they're reading with a chuckle.

there was no falling, no stumbling, no getting lost.

something must’ve been funny. shouto isn’t really paying attention anymore, too entranced by hanta thumbing the pages absentmindedly, fingers dipping beneath the black and white, knuckles shifting with the movement. it’s a small thing, a thing shouto had never really noticed until these last few months, never really noticed until they started sitting this close, until shouto started seeing hanta in a new light.

and suddenly this close isn't close enough.

shouto kinda wants to kiss those knuckles. maybe hold his hand, but he stays still, never pushing too far, never pulling too hard, always watching. always listening.

hanta mumbles the dialogue under his breath. his dark hair comes untucked from behind his ear, and he lifts a hand to tuck it again.

shouto kinda wants to kiss that hand.

it’s a funny thing, to care for someone.

it’s checking for a fever when they're not looking so well, it’s watching for the darkness under their eyes to fade, it’s bringing an extra water bottle along with you.

it’s answering a phone call at midnight. it’s leaving your door unlocked. it’s leaving them a space to sleep beside you.

“another nightmare?”

“mhm.”

“come over.”

hanta shifts and their arms brush; shouto can feel his muscles move when he turns the page again. shouto’s knee presses into hanta’s thigh. shouto could just lean down and place his chin on this boy’s shoulder if he wanted.

he kinda wants to do exactly that, but he stays completely still. it’s easier to stare from this distance, anyway.

with hanta’s hair tucked back again, shouto can map the planes of his face with ease. there’s the pointedness of his brows, the roundness of his button nose. there’s his cheekbones spattered with a few freckles, then there’s the cut of his jaw, the sharpness of the bone, the dip underneath.

shouto kinda wants to kiss him there.

there’s a constellation of more freckles on his neck shouto may have seen in the sky before.

shouto kinda wants to kiss him there, too.

there’s the jewelry in his ears. there’s the darkness of his eyes, the way the colors fade from inky black to charcoal gray, and the shadows of his thick lashes. then there’s the smudge of his liner, and it’s this moment shouto realizes it’s not at all fair how beautiful hanta is.

it’s a funny thing, liking anyone at all. as ridiculous as it sounds.

hanta is saying something.

shouto doesn’t really hear it, only watching as his lips move. it’s this moment that shouto realizes he’s not at all content with sitting this close to hanta anymore, and he’d very much like just a little bit more.

a chin on a shoulder, a hand in his own, fingers running through hair.

maybe—maybe a kiss. maybe two. or three. shouto could be content with just one.

maybe.

hanta is saying something.

“we can read something else if you want,” hanta murmurs. he doesn’t turn his head, only nudges shouto with his shoulder. “or—shou, you’re not listening.”

shouto blinks. hanta is looking at him now.

“hm?”

“you’re staring.”

shouto watches as a riot of pink bleeds onto hanta’s cheeks, his shoulders tensing as hanta calls him out on his bullshit. so he was staring, sue him, but maybe it’s not the best idea to openly admit that right here and now.

“was not.”

neither of them lean away, even as hanta comes to realize just how close they really are, which is, like, really close.

“liar.”

shouto purses his lips, begs his eyes to maintain contact with hanta’s. begs his eyes not to betray him, not to fall where they really shouldn’t.

“am not.”

then hanta’s lips morph into a grin, a knowing grin, and shouto can’t help it when he steals a glance at them. one brow raises, and shouto kinda wants to kiss him there, too.

that thought is what blows shouto’s cover completely. heat crawls up the back of his neck, and he purses his lips harder as he’s sure that heat sinks into his face, into his cheeks. then hanta’s eyes flash, and the corner of his mouth quirks higher, and shouto considers hunting hanta’s parents down and personally thanking them for creating someone as breathtaking as the boy before him.

needless to say, his mind is spinning a mile a minute.

“now you're blushing,” hanta giggles—the bastard giggles —and sets the manga to the side.

it’s incredible how quick shouto went from shamelessly staring to wanting to melt into the floor with all this new, focused attention hanta is giving him. maybe he should’ve been sneakier with his staring. maybe he’s basking in the attention. maybe he did this on purpose.

maybe you’ll never know.

the statement makes shouto blush harder, despite his valiant efforts to keep the heat in his face under control. he sputters, “i’m not blushing, i’m not—“

“you totally are.” hanta’s voice is laced with a smirk, but it quivers around the edges as he leans forward just a tiny bit, not even enough for shouto to notice. he’s too busy keeping his eyes away from hanta’s lips, inviting as they are. “did i get the ever so stoic and powerful shouto todoroki to blush ?”

shouto’s mouth falls open with a small, mildly affronted gasp.

he thinks i’m stoic and powerful?

focus!

“don't be ridiculous, i’m not— “

“oh, sure,” hanta laughs at that, and it’s music to shouto’s ears, silky and airy and amazing and intoxicating. out of the corner of his eyes, shouto sees him pick up the manga again, and when he realizes hanta’s about to turn away, he panics.

“you just—“ shouto starts, unsure of what he wants to say. hanta looks at him again, stealing the air right out of shouto’s lungs. “just, um—“

“just what, shou?” he presses, pushing shouto further toward his demise. shouto wants to kiss that stupid smirk right off his stupidly pretty face. hanta’s blushing but it doesn’t even matter, because he’s calm, cool, and collected, making shouto look like a flustered schoolgirl.

the manga gets put to the side again. barely, just barely, hanta readjusts a bit so he’s somehow even closer, planting his hand on the bed beneath him. it’s—it’s too much.

shouto’s never wanted to kiss him so bad in all the years he’s known hanta. in fact, shouto’s never wanted kiss anyone this badly in his entire goddamn life.

it’s a funny thing, to have closeness and to still crave more.

so maybe shouto’s selfish. maybe he’s greedy.

he opens his mouth, the words sitting right at the end of his tongue. “hanta—“

hanta looks like he already knows, and shouto wants chases that light in his eyes.

he wants and he wants and he wants.

he settles for this: “can i kiss you?”

the boy full of stars falters, seemingly frozen in place. shouto watches as his eyes widen, as his chest heaves for a sharp breath.

so he scrambles. “please? it’s proper manners to—“

but he doesn’t get to finish, because hanta is pushing forward to close the short distance between, much less than elegantly. it takes a moment to adjust, to relax, to find a pace that matches that greedy want in shouto’s veins.

a fire burns in shouto’s chest, rages beneath his skin as hanta’s lips meld into his own. those slender, calloused hands find their place on shouto’s warm cheeks, cupping them and bringing him as close as they can possibly get without being on top of one another.

shouto grips hanta’s shirt, dizzy and electrified and out of breath.

holy shit.

it’s a supernova behind his eyelids. he’s pretty sure they both suck at this, but without prior experience, who's to say?

hanta pulls away after a moment, hands faltering and landing on shouto’s own as he tries to steady his breathing. he plants his forehead to shouto’s, then he laughs and the sound makes shouto dizzy all over again.

i just kissed him.

“holy shit,” hanta breathes, his words washing over shouto’s face. he’s so beautiful, so pure and breathtaking and shouto has no idea what to do with himself.

he just kissed me back.

“you—“ shouto starts.

“shou?”

shouto meets his eye, heart ready to crawl out of his throat. “hanta?”

in slow motion, hanta pecks shouto’s nose, and it’s so disgustingly sweet shouto can only smile like an idiot.

“i like you,” hanta murmurs, even though it doesn’t need to be said. “i really, really like you.”

and before either of them can pull away, before shouto can really say anything else, hanta cups his face again, leaning back and tilting shouto’s head up so they can lock eyes again. he can hardly see straight.

this moment is endless, immortal, untouchable.

“kiss me again,” hanta whispers, and goosebumps erupt over shouto’s arms. “please?”

it’s a strange thing, to be in love, but they figure it out together.

—

is this self indulgent? maybe. probably. the world may never know.

check it out here too !!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/30211347

#bnha #mha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #seroroki #todoroki shouto #hanta sero #seroroki brainrot #ao3 seroroki #first kiss #rarepair #friends to lovers #todoroki is completely whipped #sero likes to act like he’s all calm cool and collected but you KNOW this bitch was screaming internally #they are just so goddamn special to me

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elsanna-shenanigans · 3 years

Text

December Contest Submission #12: Candles and Blankets

words: ca. 4,500 setting: mAU, candle shop AU lemon: not really cw: (SPOILER) fire, depression

Have you ever fallen in love with the gorgeous fiber artist across the street but she’s a really kind person and you aren’t sure if she’s into you or just being courteous, so you invite her to a romantic candlelit dinner for your own birthday in the back of your own candle shop?

Hey there.

My name is Anna, and …my life? Is pretty crazy.

I guess you could say the stars aligned for Elsa and I to meet.

It was a Tuesday.

New moon, new beginnings.

The sky was brightening with the dawn as I twisted my key around in the tricky lock. I really needed to call a locksmith soon, but I wasn’t sure if my business insurance covered new locks. Fires and floods, come at me; but an inconvenient lock… I probably wasn’t so lucky.

After a minute I finally heard the heavy click as my ears also noticed the sound of a car pulling up behind me. The hair on the back of my neck prickled, but instead of turning right around, I cautiously used the glass store windows to take a peek.

My shoulders relaxed. A blonde woman my age was behind the wheel.

I pretended to struggle even more with my key until I heard her get out of her vehicle. Then, I spun around with a smile on my face too bright for the hour.

“Good morning!” I greeted her. As she stepped into view to pay the meter, I couldn’t help but raise my eyebrows. You would’ve done the same if the most beautiful woman you’d ever seen just parked in front of your candle shop at 6:30 AM in the middle of October.

“Hi,” she smiled gently. I’d never seen eyes such an icy blue give off so much warmth on a chilly fall morning. She glanced up at my sign, ‘Anna’s Awesome Aromas,’ and her smile brightened. “Oh! Do you sell candles here?”

A little confused how she parked right in front of a shop she didn’t know sold candles, but not one to judge, I answered, “Yes! I make them and sell them. In fact, I’m Anna herself.” I offered my hand out to shake.

She leaned forward to shake with a cold hand and then gestured across the street at the vacant shop building. “I’m here to look at the building for lease. Nice to meet you! My name is Elsa.”

“Elsa! Wow!” This woman was flawless right down to the name. “Wait, you’re looking into Kristoff’s old place? Sweet, what’s your business?”

“Oh,” she nervously reached a hand behind her neck. “I just make blankets.”

“Just? That’s amazing! Do you knit?” I wasn’t about to let this stranger downplay her talents.

“I, um, knit, crochet, quilt, design fleece patterns, and mess with a few other styles every once in a while.”

“Wow, so you can do everything! That is so cool, Elsa. Seriously.”

Her cheeks were turning magenta. “I still have a lot to learn. I’d love to see your candle shop!” She said, deflecting the attention from herself. “Maybe after the realtor and I do our walkthrough I could take a look inside?”

“Absolutely!” I nodded. “In fact, if you’re done around lunch time, come on in and I’ll share my lasagna with you in the back. I brought enough for a small army.”

The way she smiled at me, crinkling her eyes, before she turned and walked across the street had my insides feeling… cozy. Comfortable.

Safe.

——————————

That Christmas was the best I’d had in a long time. Elsa had set up her blanket shop in early November, and we became fast friends. I never ate another lunch alone - we alternated between her office and mine, always able to keep an eye on whichever shop was unattended across the street.

December was a busy sales month for us both, with lots of customers needing candles and blankets to warm themselves and their loved ones in the cold holiday season. For that reason, I cherished our lunches as the only time we had to get to know each other as new friends. We both worked long days keeping our shops running smoothly and churning out new products in our evenings, often late into the night.

Neither of us had any employees, even a business partner, let alone a life partner; so sharing lunch with a like-minded and equally hardworking woman was honestly life changing.

The week leading up to Christmas was so busy with last-minute-gift shoppers, we called off our lunches to keep our shops open every precious minute. In a stroke of luck, Christmas fell on a Sunday, so we both closed up shop for the whole weekend, giving ourselves a true holiday.

Naturally, we spent it together. After convincing her she wouldn’t be intruding, Elsa came over to my apartment on Christmas Eve and we relaxed all day with no talk of businesses. She spent the night on my couch and our Christmas Day was filled with lazy cooking and laughter.

She gifted me a beautiful tree skirt that she knit especially for me with stripes featuring all my favorite blankets she’d made. For Elsa, I made a candle with ten different layers, because she was always saying her favorite scent was my whole shop, with all my aromas melding together.

“I can’t believe we gave each other the same thing!” She had laughed.

“It’s perfect,” I was grinning wider than I had in years. “We’re perfect,” I wanted to add.

—————————————

It’s amazing how something as simple as having a friend can make time fly by. As winter melted into spring, both Elsa and I were entering our “off season,” as people no longer craved the warmth our products provided. Even so, the days didn’t drag on.

I still lunched with Elsa every day and we never ran out of things to talk about, from crazy customer stories, to new products we’ve tried to create, to old childhood memories. There was always more to learn about each other, even after I thought Elsa might know me better than I knew myself.

But then there was the concern: did she know me well enough to figure out I had an enormous, ever-growing crush on her? And did I know her well enough to figure out if she might feel the same?

That was my main source of anguish as the weather turned as warm as my three wick candles.

Every day I sat with Elsa as she ate her chicken caesar salads or Taco Bell (there was no in between), and I ate my peanut butter sandwiches, or Campbell’s soup. And every day I’d stare at her light shining hair and blushed cheeks, as she smiled sweetly and laughed at all my jokes with a sound more gorgeous than fucking wind chimes. And every day I could feel myself falling further.

I used to live and breathe for my candle shop; I woke up with a purpose to create new scents and gorgeous colors, experimenting with different types of wax. It was usually what I dreamed about.

Now… I was dreaming about Elsa. I was waking up excited, not about how many candles I might sell that day, but how many times I might make Elsa laugh during lunch. Will she flash me that look, the one where her eyes sparkle and the corner of her mouth smiles, making it look just for a second that she had glimpsed my soul - and liked what she saw?

I just didn’t know what to make of it, because Elsa was too nice. She seemed to interact with everyone the way she interacted with me. Granted, nobody else got to spend lunch with her everyday, or talk about our small businesses together, or drop by to visit on our rare days off. But how was I supposed to find out if she was romantically into me without risking everything good that had come into both of our lives?

It was June when I had the idea. My birthday was coming up the following month, so why not plan something special? Something …romantic? Then if there was anything to blossom between us, it would have the perfect environment to happen without forcing anything or asking potentially devastating questions.

Perfect!

It wasn’t hard to plan out once I had the idea. I chose the restaurant I’d be ordering out from, and easily convinced Elsa to come over to my shop after we both closed.

I was wearing my favorite green summer dress - the flowy one with pockets - and kept my hair down for a change. At the stroke of 7 I closed up and headed out to pick up the dinner and suddenly it hit me. Was it weird to plan and host my own birthday dinner? A birthday dinner for only me and the girl I was in love with?

Well, it was too fucking late, if so. I came back with the food and spent the next half hour setting up a table with nice place settings and lighting my sexiest scented candles all around my office and store. As the sun set, eight o’clock rolled around and Elsa closed up her shop, too.

As I watched her delicately make her way to my side of the street, I chewed my lip. Here goes… everything.

I came to my shop door to let her in as she approached my dimly lit building, and was stunned by how beautiful she looked. She was wearing a shiny blue sleeveless top and tight white capris, with heels to match her blouse and the kicker - a white bow tie hanging untied around her neck. Her wavy hair was gently bouncing around her shoulders with each step. I opened the door for her and the bell above jingled loudly.

She beamed when she saw me, stepping inside to set down her leather backpack purse and white gift bag to give me a big hug. “Happy birthday, Anna,” she said softly into my shoulder.

“Thanks, Els,” I squeezed back, breathing in her perfume. It was my favorite scent, one I’d never quite been able to replicate at home - something between the ocean breeze and a floral woodland meadow.

As we pulled apart I glanced down her outfit one more time, “You look incredible.”

“So do you! And well, you said to dress nice, so… that’s what I’ve got,” Elsa laughed nervously.

“It’s perfect. So!” I clapped my hands together, “Shall we head to the back?”

“After you, lovely,” Elsa grinned and picked up her two bags again. As we walked she began to notice the candlelit atmosphere. “This is really something, Anna. You went through all this trouble just for the two of us?”

I winced. This was a weird thing to do… Play it cool. “Oh, it wasn’t much trouble at all! I thought we deserved something nice. Something special.”

“We do! Especially you, Anna. You work so hard.”

“Not as hard as you,” I countered, as we stepped into my cozy office. My desk was in the corner by the window-wall facing out to the street, and in the front area by the couch we usually ate our lunches on, I had set up our small dining experience.

The only light was from all the candles I had placed around the room; a few were on the little table itself, which also held our take out dinner that I already plated up.

“Wow!” Elsa was standing wide-eyed behind me, a huge smile creeping onto her face. “This is — it’s incredible. Did you get Romeo’s?” She recognized the food from the local fancy Italian restaurant.

“Bone apple teeth!” I grinned. “Shall we eat, before it gets any colder?” I said, gesturing to a chair.

As we settled in to eat, my racing heart calmed a little. This felt right, it felt like us, sharing a meal like we did every day. Just… fancy.

“I’m thankful you got me Alfredo,” Elsa said a few minutes into our meal. “Or my white pants may never be the same.”

“Oh man!” I said with spaghetti hanging out my mouth, “That was a lucky guess. Imagine if I made you get tomato sauce on your pants!”

Elsa laughed. “I imagine I’ll be taking them off.”

“What?”

“Um, I said I imagine I would be taking them off. If I stained them.” A blush was forming on Elsa’s cheeks.

I felt my face warming too, wondering if Elsa had meant what she had first implied. Then, Elsa set her fork down and took a deep breath.

“No, you know what,” she said, looking me intensely in the eye. “You went out on a limb here with this dinner, and so will I. Anna, I really like you.”

Was I supposed to hear the blood rushing past my eardrums?

“Everything has been better since you came into my life - or since I came into yours, whichever way you want to think of it.” Elsa smiled sincerely, “I didn’t realize what was happening right away, but I’ve known for a while now that I’m just - just helplessly in love with you.” Her gaze shifted down to the table as she kept talking, “It’s hard to pretend that I can keep my cool around you when all I feel is the warmth of friendship, of …love. Of something deeper. Something I’ve never felt before, and I’d never want to feel with anyone who isn’t you.”

She cleared her throat and looked me in the eye once more, “So, if this dinner was your way of saying you might share some of those feelings for me too… first of all, at this point I fuckin hope it was; and secondly… that was it, I can’t remember…”

By the time Elsa had trailed off her words, I was next to her chair, cupping her face with my hands. “Can I kiss you?”

She touched one of my hands, holding it to her cheek as she stood up. Taking a step away from the table, Elsa slid her other hand behind my waist. There was a moment we just looked into each other’s eyes as the pull between us became stronger. “Please,” was all she whispered before our lips came together like the pages of a closing book.

I had never kissed anyone - I had… no idea it could be like this. Her lips were so soft as they moved with mine, and it felt like they were asking permission with each caress. A small tear escaped one of my closed eyes.

I felt so emotional as she ran her fingers through my hair, stroking my scalp. She - Elsa, she wanted me, too. She loved me, too. And I realized I hadn’t actually said that yet — I pulled away suddenly and watched her open her eyes in surprise.

“I love you, Elsa.”

She smiled in relief.

I rested my forehead against hers, standing on my tiptoes to reach. “I just wanted to make that clear.”

***

We did not finish our meal.

The folding chairs sat forgotten as I laid Elsa down on the nearby couch and straddled her hips as we both reached for clothes we no longer wished to wear. I took a second to be grateful for the partial wall that blocked the couch from the view of anyone passing by the shop’s windows.

Elsa tugged on one end of her bow tie and it slipped out from behind her neck in one fluid motion - probably the sexiest move I’ve ever seen.

As I lifted my dress above my head, Elsa was gazing up at me, hypnotized. I let the dress fall to the floor beside us. “You’re falling a bit behind, love.” All she had taken off was her tie, and I already sat in my under garments.

She reached for the bottom of her blouse. “One advantage to dresses I suppose,” Elsa said. “If you’re into that.” She sat up a little to whip the shirt off, exposing a black sports bra.

“God, how are you so hot?” I didn’t let Elsa answer before leaning down to kiss her again. I reverently felt her soft skin as I ran my palms over her sides and found the small of her back. “I’ve, er, never done this before.”

Elsa gave a slight squeeze to my hips. “Me neither. It’s ok. We can figure it out together, but I’m probably gonna need to take my pants off first.”

I laughed, “Alright, I’ll get up.” When I planted a foot on the floor and stood up, I paused. I took another breath through my nose. “What’s that smell…?”

Elsa looked at me. She sniffed the air. “Is something burning?”

I turned to the doorway leading into the hallway to the store. An orange glow far too bright made my heart drop and my stomach fill with dread.

“On second thought, keep your pants on.” I grabbed Elsa’s top, threw it at her, and grabbed my dress, pulling it on haphazardly. I ran to the doorway and stopped when I saw how big the fire was in my shop. It looked like everything was engulfed in flames. Nothing could be saved from there. Oh my god.

Pop!

Pop pop!

Candles on my shelves were exploding. Oh god oh god oh god.

“We gotta get outta here!” I slammed the office door shut to hold off the blazing heat of the main store’s fire, trapping us in my office. I ran to the wall of windows by my desk, grateful there was no second floor.

Elsa met me at the wall with her bags. “Can we send this through the windows?” She pointed at my filing cabinet.

Together we pushed the metal cabinet to the window wall and then heaved our combined body weight into it, sending it crashing through the panes. Shards of glass rained down on us, but only a few pieces were sharp enough to cut. The cabinet toppled over onto the pavement outside.

I pushed out a few extra pieces of glass to make way for us to squeeze through. After I got out I helped Elsa climb in her heels, over the filing cabinet out onto the sidewalk. Together we pulled it farther away from the building.

“You call 911 and stay back from here,” I yelled as I ran back to the broken glass. “I have to get a few more things.”

Elsa looked terrified as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and took more steps backward into the deserted street. Turning toward my shop, my hand shook as I reached forward, crouching through my broken window, back into my smoldering office.

The room was starting to fill with smoke and almost constant candle explosions could be heard through the wall. I decided the most important things to get out first were my computers. I grabbed my laptop and quickly unplugged everything from the desktop computer tower. I didn’t need the keyboard or monitor.

Stifling a cough, I crouched through the glass and carried the computers to the curb. As soon as they were down safely, I turned and ran back in.

I couldn’t help but cough this time. Soon the door holding back the inferno would bust - or maybe the shared wall would be engulfed first. Either way, I was running out of time. The air was so, so hot.

One of the candles across the room burst. A searing hot glass shard lodged itself in my arm, near my elbow. I screamed, brushing it away, and the scream turned quickly to more coughing and sputtering.

Through the attack on my lungs, I grabbed everything I could hold off my desk - my purse included, and made my way out as fast as I could.

As I climbed out onto the sidewalk, I felt the office door behind me blow out. In the split second I had, I hurled everything I was carrying as far out as I could and then threw myself to the side in an attempted barrel roll just as the fireball rolled out and licked at my heels.

I sputtered and coughed on the ground as Elsa sprinted over to me. She grabbed a flat piece of debris and swatted at the edge of my dress that had caught fire. Once it was out, she lifted me over her shoulder and took me over to her building where she had been taking the items I rescued from my office.

Setting me down gently, she kept my hand in hers. “They’re on their way.”

My coughing still wouldn’t let up but I couldn’t actually feel my aching lungs anymore, or even the searing gash in my arm, as I sat on the concrete, numbly watching my store go down in flames.

Watching everything I worked for burn away.

———————————————

I didn’t notice August.

They held me at the hospital for two days for the smoke inhalation, my burn wound, and other minor cuts. Then I was released and I sat in my apartment.

I didn’t have a job to go to. My work was gone.

The insurance claim was going to take 90-120 days to go through but they assured me I would be covered for the total loss. So I wouldn’t go into massive debt, but I still mourned. I had no business, no product, no motivation.

So I sat.

I threw out all the candles in my home.

Maybe it was anger, maybe it was guilt, but it most definitely was fear. I never wanted to see another candle again in my life. The destruction they caused - my own creations did this to me. My own negligence. My own lust.

I had also shut Elsa out.

I knew it wasn’t fair to her but I couldn’t even think about her without reliving the terror of the fire. I just couldn’t handle seeing her… so I said I needed space, I needed time to recover alone.

It’s been over a month though, and while the pain still hasn’t gone away, now loneliness has joined it in my torment.

I missed Elsa so much it hurt. And not even in the we-didn’t-even-get-to-have-sex way; I missed my friend.

A week into September, Elsa begged me to come to her apartment. She said she just needed to see I was ok, just needed to talk.

It wasn’t a hard decision with the way I felt like I was dying without her in my life. But I needed her to initiate it or my guilt never would’ve allowed me the opportunity. So I went.

I couldn’t bring myself to change out of the sweats I’d been wearing for at least a week, but I managed to put on deodorant. My hair was pulled into the cleanest messy bun I could muster. It would probably be the bags under my eyes that she would comment on first. The two main subjects of my dreams were now either nightmare fuel or guilt trips, so I had barely been sleeping.

The biggest surprise to me when I met her outside were the matching bags under Elsa’s eyes.

As I walked to her she met me halfway with a warm hug. I saw the look of mixed relief and concern on her face as she took in my appearance.

“Anna,” she whispered as she held me close.

I drew in a shaky breath. “Els,” my reply was like a reflex and I melted into her embrace. With a little sadness I noticed she wasn’t wearing her perfume, but everything else about the hug was all that I had been craving.

“Come on,” she led me into her apartment.

It wasn’t hard to tell I wasn’t doing ok, and neither was she for that matter, so the question was never brought up. Instead she made me tea and held me on the couch, murmuring soft things like, “I’ll keep you warm.”

When I was calm from the tea, Elsa went to get something from another room. She returned with the white gift bag from my birthday, though it might have been replaced with a new gift bag, given how pristine it still looked.

“I still want you to have this, Anna,” she said softly. “But first let me tell you about an idea I’ve had. I just want you to listen to it, no need to respond right away.”

I nodded.

She sat back down with me. Her voice never raised above a light trickling of a fountain as she spoke, “I can’t begin to imagine what you’ve been going through. But I do know what trauma feels like. So I have a clue about what you may be feeling toward what you used to do; what you used to love doing now feels painful. Maybe even terrifying…”

Elsa took my hand in hers. “I got this idea a couple weeks ago when I accidentally dropped my bottle of perfume into your gift bag.” She chuckled grimly. “It all spilled out and your present soaked it up.”

She reached down into the bag and turned her head to me, “Would you mind closing your eyes?”

I closed them.

With a soft whoosh, a thin, but nicely heavy blanket settled onto me. As I breathed through my nose, suddenly a wave of familiar comfort washed over me. Her perfume was scenting the whole blanket. I wanted to cry. “Elsa,” I whispered, my hands shaking.

She rubbed my leg through the fabric. “I know, sweetheart,” Elsa sat back into the couch, cuddled close to me and I kept my eyes closed as she continued to talk. “After that happened, I thought… nobody really does this. Creating scented oils just for the purpose of dripping onto fabric like blankets for an extra comforting experience. Like I know essential oils exist, but that’s just the beginning of the potential you would have if you, say… wanted to become my business partner, to create scent drops for my blankets…”

She trailed off and let that sit there with me to think about. I felt the same revelation she probably experienced coming up with the plan. “Elsa,” I said with my eyes still closed. “That’s brilliant. When I’m ready… I would love that.”

I felt her sigh with relief. “Can I see the blanket now?” I asked.

She sat upright, “Here let me hold it up for you to see. It might bring up some emotion. I swear I had no idea what was going to happen when I was making it…”

The blanket was lifted off of me. I slowly opened my eyes to see… a perfect image of my shop in all her glory, hand stitched and glowing softly yellow through the windows. Around the edges of the blanket were the words, “Anna’s Awesome Aromas,” repeated in a pattern. I sobbed.

“I’m sorry,” Elsa said, gathering up the blanket. “It’s too soon, I shouldn’t hav—“

“Stop,” I said while tears dripped down my face. “It’s perfect,” I stood up and flung myself into her arms, making the blanket fall to the floor at our feet.

“You’re not upset?” she asked.

“I’m only upset that I shut you out for so long. I’m sorry,” I held her tight. “You are everything I need, how could I not see that?”

“It’s ok,” Elsa kissed my forehead. “Some things aren’t meant to be seen; they have to be felt, or smelled, maybe tasted.”

With a gentle kiss, she began my healing.

#elsanna #submission #december 2020 contest #prompt: warmth #cw: fire #cw: depression

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midnight0stars · 3 years

Text

Ah!! Yes definitely! I’m just so blessed so many of you enjoy this story! Decided to go with two chapters! The next chapter should hopefully be out within the next couple days and we’ll get to explore the star.

Thank you so much for the Ko-fi!! I hope you enjoy!

For anyone that would like to catch up, here is the full story

**Someday~Chapter 7**

Words: 2901

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Warm candlelight and oil lamps illuminated the main foyer of the inn. Aqua’s hand was laced in yours, her head leaned against your arm as you worked on getting a room to rest for the night. You had spent the last couple hours exploring the castle town. Both of you were still unsure which world you had ended up on, all you knew was that it was beautiful.

Live music was played through the cobblestone streets, creating the perfect ambience as you and Aqua wandered between the shops and homes. It seemed as if no time at all had passed between you, spare for your hands clinging tightly together, as if both of you were afraid that the other could be gone at a moment’s notice. Neither of you brought up things that had happened while you were apart, only focusing on pointing out interesting things you passed or places you wanted to eat. It didn’t take long for both of you to feel the exhaustion from the day and decide to find an inn. At least, the exhaustion was the excuse you both used to find a room earlier in the evening than usual.

With a soft smile, the older woman behind the desk handed you a key to your room. Saying your thanks, you grabbed the key and made your way through the homey halls towards your lodgings. Aqua’s hand tightened in yours as she brought your knuckles to her lips, ghosting light kisses to them as you came to a stop at your door.

“It’s seemed like forever since we’ve shared a room.” You noted with a hushed voice as you pushed the key in the lock.

She hummed, kissing your knuckles once again, before replying, “It really has. We’ll have to make the most of it.”

You quirked up an eyebrow, glancing over to her and noticing the slightest smirk, mostly hidden by your clasped hands against her lips. Pulling back your hands, you replaced them with your mouth, finally taking the time to focus on how much you had missed the sensation of her lips against yours. She sighed into your mouth, your hands sliding up to the sides of her face as if you could barely believe she was actually in front of you. Getting inside of your room had completely slipped your mind, all you could focus on was Aqua. Just as your arm began wrapping around her back, the click of the door opening broke through your trance. Breaking the kiss, you looked over, seeing that Aqua had unlocked the door herself.

“Let’s finish this inside,” she told you, chuckling at the embarrassed warmth creeping up your cheeks.

Linking your hands together, she went in, pulling you behind her. The room was quaint and sweet. A queen sized bed sat along the wall with vases filled with flowers on the small tables on either side. Gorgeous paintings were hung along the walls, their details blended together and barely noticeable from the dim glow of the oil lamp that lit the entire room. You walked past Aqua, taking in your room, before you heard her clear her throat. Turning around you saw her leaned against the door, her hands clasped behind her back and the faintest smile on her lips.

Your heart fluttered, and now that you were alone, your body yearned to be against hers, but there was something in her gaze that seemed almost unfamiliar.

“Everything alright?” you asked, walking back towards her. As you neared her, you rested your hand along her cheek.

Her eyes slipped shut as she leaned into your touch, her hand sliding over yours to keep it there. “Yes,” she whispered. “Just, wishing we had more time.”

You chuckled, leaning forward and kissing her forehead. “We still have the entire day ahead of us tomorrow.” You trailed your lips down her cheeks and jawline, before adding, “And all night.”

She sucked in a breath, her hands clinging to your chest. “I-I know,” she stammered softly. “It’s just… not enough.”

You met your lips with hers, gently sucking her bottom lip before you pulled away. “I know…” You admitted, sighing as you looked back at her eyes. “But I’m going to make the most out of every moment.”

Her eyes softened as she nodded, closing the distance between you for another kiss, a whimper slipping out of her. “Please do,” she pleaded, right before kissing you again.

As if she were giving you permission, you pressed her up against the door, taking over the kiss and sliding your tongue against her. Arms wrapped around the other, pulling the other closer until your bodies were pushed together.

“I’ve missed you,” You rasped out when your lips parted for air.

A hum vibrated through your throat, your eyes sliding shut as she closed the distance to speckle kisses along your neck. She was gentle, soft enough that you could barely feel her lips, but just enough that it send the slightest shivers through you. Her hands laced into your hair, pulling you back to her mouth. It was times like this that you knew without a doubt that she wanted you. Her tongue flicked against yours, the gentleness in her touch melding into passion. You moaned into her mouth, your hands trailing up her waist towards her breasts. Before they could make contact, she pushed you back.

“What’s wrong?” You asked, your chest heaving.

“N-Nothing,” she breathed out, catching her breath as a warmth tinted her cheeks. “I… just want to show you something.”

You blinked, stepping back without protest as she moved out of your hold.

“Close your eyes,” she told you, a hint of excitement in her voice.

“What?”

“Just, close your eyes.” She repeated with a soft laugh, grabbing your wrists and turning you around as she walked backwards to be further in the room.

Sighing, your did as she asked, taking in a sharp breath when you felt a surge of magic in the room. Curiosity was swirling through you, but you kept your eyes shut as she had asked.

“Alright,” she let out a nervous breath, “You can look.”

You opened your eyes, your heart leaping to your throat as you saw Aqua standing a few feet in front of you, wearing a sheer lingerie. It was your favorite shade, barely covering her breasts, allowing her hardened nipples to easily show through. It clasped around her neck, cascading to her hips, where she wore laced stockings clasped to thin panties. Your entire body throbbed the longer you took the sight of her in.

“How did you—” You barely managed the words.

“Magic,” she smirked at the simple explanation, giggling when you met your disbelieving eyes with hers. “I’m serious,” she laughed. “I’ve been learning how to change my clothes with my magic.”

“Wow…” You whispered, your eyes going back to look over her gorgeous body.

“Do… you like it?” She asked, a rare self consciousness in her tone as she pushed her hair back behind her ear.

You stepped forward, grabbing her waist and tugging her into your arms. She gasped, her voice being swallowed by your lips crashing against hers. Her hands ran up your arms, lacing into your hair as she fervently kissed you back, meeting your passionate pace in an instant. Your hand slid over her backside, slipping under the silky fabric to feel her soft skin underneath.

“I love it,” you murmured the moment your lips parted, immediately kissing her jaw and neck. “You look…” Your voice melded into a low hum as you suckled the crook of her neck, making her suck in a sharp breath.

Her hand slid down between your bodies, tracing your muscles and chest until she teased your hardened shaft bulging from your pants. You moaned against her skin, rocking your hips into her grasp and making her moan in return.

“Sit on the bed,” she ordered you, voice riddled with lust and desire.

You hummed, complying immediately as you gave one last kiss to her neck before pulling away to sit on the edge of the bed. A smirk tipped your lips as she stepped between your legs, running her hands along them as she kissed your lips, traveling down your chest. She pulled up the fabric of your shirt, sliding her tongue between the indents of your muscles along your bared skin. You laced your hand into her hair, your eyes focused on her and how amazing her body looked in that lingerie as she went lower and lower.

She knelt as she reached your pant’s line, her eyes meeting back with yours as her hands undid your buckle. You smiled lovingly at her, leaning forward to meet your lips together until she grasped your entire freed erection and you broke the lock with a deep groan. Her hand traced your length as she gazed up at you, her lips parted as short breaths escaped her. You bit your lip, your face burning under her stare as she thumbed over your tip, spreading the beading liquid.

It wasn’t often she got like this, wanting to solely focus on you. Her eyes would take in every movement and expression you made, as if she were studying it, memorizing it so she could remember it all once you were apart. It made you melt, just the thought of it could make you moan, but being in the middle of it, you could hardly keep your voice down.

“Did… you think about me while we were apart?” She spoke up, her hand continuing to pump you at a slow, pleasurable pace.

You swallowed hard, nodding, “O-Of course I did…” You cried out as her tongue flicked your tip. “E-every single day.”

She hummed, kissing along your length, before she asked, her breath hot against you. “Did you think about me doing this to you?”

“Ahh,” you slung your head back, your hand tugging at her hair as the warmth on your cheeks burned even hotter. When you didn’t answer right away, she wrapped her lips around your cock, her tongue swirling around the head. She knew exactly what to do to get you to talk. A cry erupted from your throat, “Fuck, yes! God, yes I did. A-almost every night.”

She moaned at your words, putting you deeper in her mouth as her hands ran up your legs and chest. Her tongue swirled around you, her eyes darting up to your before she pulled off completely, just her lips brushing against your tip.

“I did too…” she whispered, averting her gaze when you opened your eyes to look back at her.

Slipping her eyes shut, she darted her tongue out, about to lap your tip, before you grabbed her wrists, pulling her up to your level. She gasped, melting into a moan when you met your lips together. You could taste yourself on her tongue, the sensation sending your mind reeling as your hands reached for her breasts. Her nipples rolled between your fingers, each tweak causing her to moan just a bit louder.

You kissed her jaw, lapping your tongue along her throat and feeling her racing pulse through her neck. “What did you imagine me doing to you?” You muttered against her skin, feeling her shudder.

“Everything…” she sighed, head slinging back and hands clenching your back.

A hum vibrated in your chest as you leaned forward, swirling your tongue around her nipple as she gasped. “I wished–” you took her breast into your mouth, sucking before pulling off with a pop and a sharp gasp from Aqua, “I could kiss every inch of you.” You trailed your lips between her breasts, to her collar bone. “To work you up slowly, show you how much I missed having you in my arms.”

She whimpered, rolling her hips against yours. “…Do it.”

You chuckled deeply, meeting your lips together. “Gladly.”

Standing and pushing her back on the bed, you towered over her, taking a moment to smile at each other before you began speckling kisses over her entire face. Your lips traced over her nose and cheeks, down her jawline and humming against her ears, making her shiver as your voice rumbled through her. You took special care on her neck, sucking and licking, occasionally grazing your teeth against her soft skin.

Her hands trailed up and down your back, occasionally stopping when you’d find the perfect spot on her body that caused her her breath to hitch. Her back arched when your reached her breasts. Your tongue flicked and swirled around her nipples, before you slid your lips between them, her breasts perfectly pressed against your face as your felt her pounding heartbeat against your kiss.

You sat up, straddling her. Keeping your eyes locked, you grabbed her wrist, bringing her hand to your lips and kissing each of her fingers. They were so slender and delicate, perfectly slipping into your mouth as your tongue circled them. You watched her lips part, the simplicity of you merely kissing her hand still sending waves of pleasure through her. Her arm was next, your lips trailing along until you did the same with her other hand.

By the time you were back to her chest, her breath was already heavy and short. Whimpers and whines poured from her lips as you went further down, kissing her toned muscles along her stomach, your tongue dipping into her navel.

Reaching the hem of her undergarments, your fingers toyed with the thin fabric along her hips as you kissed right above them. Her hips rolled involuntarily, making your chuckle as you hooked your fingers in the panties and slid them off her smooth legs. She lay bare before you, her lingerie bunched up around her neck, her hair tousled and lips swollen. Your eyes took a moment to look her over, taking in every inch of her in as she watched you, her chest heaving with anticipation.

You sent her a smirk, kissing along her legs as you leaned down. She whimpered as you came closer to the spot that you could tell was throbbing with need. You flicked your tongue against her entrance, humming at the immediate back arch and cry of pleasure in response. The teasing antics were instantly gone as you pressed your entire mouth against her and slid your tongue around her clit.

“Y-Y/N!” She cried out, her hand clenching in your hair as her eyes helplessly watched you lavish her.

Your gaze locked with hers as you only quickened your movements, sucking and licking her folds. Her taste filled you completely, making you moan. You didn’t realize just how much you had missed it and lapped it up relentlessly. Her legs wrapped around your back, tugging you even closer as her head slung back. Your fingers pumped inside of her, hooking and twisting as she writhed beneath you.

“Ahhhh!” Her back arched completely off the bed, her perfect voice filling the room and ringing in your ears.

You watched her come, seeing every twitch and moan as you pushed her as far as she could go. Even as she ended, her hips still rolled against your mouth, a low moaning hum in her chest. Pulling away, you climbed back on top of her, meeting your eyes with her glazed ones. She grabbed your face, hungrily taking your lips in hers. Her hand reached down, wrapping around your shaft and situating you against her entrance. You groaned into her mouth, pushing inside of her as she wordlessly commanded. Both of you broke the kiss, moans filling the space between you.

Working her up had done its own number on you as every piece of reserve to rock against her slowly had vanished. You delved deep inside of her, pushing in and out of her as fast and as hard as you could. Her legs wrapped around you, her hips barely lifting off the bed so you could push even deeper inside of her. Soft cries and whimpers slipped between her lips, contrasting your grunts and harsh breaths, mixing with her name pouring from your mouth.

“Aqua!!” You cried out her name, your hips snapping forward.

Every inch of you throbbed with inexplicable pleasure, your world spinning as all you could comprehend was the perfect girl beneath you. Her moans mixed with yours in a way you could only assume meant she was climaxing as well, her body rocking against yours as your name in her voice rang around you.

With a groan, you collapsed limply on top of her, taking a moment before realizing that you could easily smother her. You rolled off to your, smirking as she took the opportunity to nuzzle against your chest. A satisfied hum escaped her, as her legs intertwined with yours.

“This is perfect…” She whispered. “Let’s make this moment last forever…”

You pulled her closer, burying your face in her hair, the throb of your climax still tingling through you. “I’d like that…” you whispered back, kissing her head and holding her close as the afterglow covered both of you.

As you came back down to reality, your thoughts began to wander. You opened your mouth to speak your thoughts to Aqua, but noticed her evened breathing as she had fallen asleep. You hummed, kissing her head once again before staring up at the ceiling. This moment really was perfect.

#Aqua #Aqua x M!Reader #Kingdom Hearts Smut

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wordynerdygurl · 5 years

Text

Best Laid Plans

Author's Note: I hope you all enjoy this one! Please post comments and feel free to share!

Summary: You plan a perfectly romantic night in with Loki, but even the best laid plans go awry.

Pairing: Loki x reader

Warnings: SMUT, Masterbation, Denial, dom/sub in a committed relationship

"Ok! Ok... first things first. Music. Yes. Then food, then shower." You ran over your to do list, out loud, to no one but yourself. The plan was to have dinner on its way to ready in thirty minutes so that you could get changed and be gorgeous by the time Loki was expected home. Then, a romantic meal, some wine and if things went well, sexy time.

You felt a hot blush pink your cheeks. Just thinking about Loki in your bed made you flustered. It was distracting you from the pasta water and backing up your time line. "Get it together, girl.", you checked yourself.

Since you'd been planning this little evening for a week now you had already created a playlist for dinner music. Soft, sweet and sensual tunes to inspire hand holding by candlelight made up most of the mix. But for getting ready? No, you needed moving and shaking music. "80's pop. Yup yup!" And with a click The Cars started telling you about thier best friend's girlfriend.

Tomatoes, garlic, onions, herbs and cheese, the sauce was starting to smell amazing. Water was almost boiling, steamy tendrils rising from the surface, telling you that it was getting hot in there. Putting the garlic toast in the oven, you sighed.

"Now, to shower!"

The warm stream felt heavenly and you lingered a little longer than necessary under the calming spray. You were squeaky clean from your head to your shaved legs, smooth with exfoliators and moisturizing body wash, scented with vanilla and lavender by the time you shut off the faucet.

You wrapped your towel around your chest and added some mousse spray to your hair. Makeup and styling would be next to last on the finished list. But you brushed your teeth and gargled with mouthwash, even though it burned like fire.

Dinner is progressing nicely so you run to the bedroom. "Time check!" You sing this outloud, excitement growing at your possibility of actually pulling this plan of yours off. There's still plenty of time before Loki gets here.

Tearing into the paper shopping bag you remove your new emerald green push up bra. It has this edge of black lace and when you saw it all you could picture was Loki licking along the skin that would be exposed by the form fitting cups. You gulped hard and fastened the snaps happily.

The matching panties were, well, almost absurd. Technically it was two black string ties and a very, very narrow strip of green material, again, accented with lace. You could have worn nothing and felt less vulnerable but it was a matched set and you knew your mischief maker was going to enjoy taking it off of you.

There was a knock at your door which had you jumping out of your skin. "What in the world? It's too early to be Loki, right?" You slipped your thin robe over your underwear and moved towards the door. Peeping around the curtain you saw Loki standing on your stoop, bottle of wine in hand, smile on his face.

"You are early!" Swinging open the door, you flash him a frazzled grin as you pull your robe tighter and motion him inside. Before you can say anything else the smoke alarm starts to cry.

"SHIT!" Racing into the kitchen you can tell the garlic bread is cremated just from the smell. You curse again, flick off the oven and open it slowly as black smoke billows out. "Can you crack that window, babe?" Loki lifts the pane as you fan the air, trying desperately to clear the odor of burnt toast from the place.

"At least the pasta and sauce are ok." You're less enthusiastic than earlier. You're also almost shouting over Van Halen since you're 'getting ready' playlist was in full swing. Clicking the music off, your place is plunged into eerily silence.

Leaning on the kitchen island, already set for dinner, you gripe, "You're early. I'm not even dressed yet. And dinner... well. There's no bread now."

Cooly setting down the bottle he's carrying, Loki's been watching you with his side eyed stare. "Not that I mind in the least... but tell me darling, what are you up to?"

"I...I'm trying to seduce you." Throwing your hands in the air you flop into your kitchen chair, suddenly exhausted by all your efforts. Embarrassed and deflated, you hide your eyes, willing the welling tears not to fall.

Loki starts kneading your neck erasing the knots he finds there with firm pressure. His strong hands rub over your shoulders before saying, "Sorry to tell you this dearest, but I don't need you to seduce me." You felt your heart drop to your toes. "I find you so alluring already."

Sitting up, you start to turn towards him, but Loki's fantastic fingers hold you still. Your robe has slipped to puddle around your elbows. Those capable hands of his work the tendons connected to your collarbone from behind you. You sigh with contentment when they slide under the thin straps of your new bra.

"All of this for me? How romantic..." Loki's words are embers, his hands fire, igniting your body's desire. Under the fabric of your push up, his hands cup your breasts, palms pushing against your hardening nipples. Squeezing your full flesh roughly forces a moan out of you.

"Stand up, turn around. I want to see my seductress." You feel his grip leave your skin and do as he asks, rising without questioning his order, keen to have his hands on you once more.

"I think we can lose the robe, don't you?" Numbly you nod in agreement. Loki reaches for the belt knotted at your waist and yanks it free. With only gravity to help, the thin fabric pools on the kitchen floor.

Eyes widening, Loki drinks in your lingerie. You watch him nod, more to himself than anything else, and he husks at you, "Don't move."

"O...ok."

Loki is magic and you feel that truth through your lusty haze since you are now entirely under his spell. Your gaze follows him as he opens a couple of your drawers, looking and digging, until triumphantly brandishing your wine opener. With little work he pops the cork, red wine ready to pour. Next you hear him turning the knobs of your stove, closing the burners, and you start to protest.

"No. Never mind that. Bedroom. Now, please." Loki's orders are polite but firm and you pad to your room, nervous and a little aroused.

"Loki? I..." Shushing you, he commands, "Drink this." Placing a glass of wine to your lips, Loki tips the liquid down your throat, so close to you without touching. You feel a little dribble snake over your chin and drip onto your chest.

Loki licks its track from the crease of your mouth, down over your jaw. The spot above your bra line is where Loki sucks your skin free of the stain, leaving a beautiful merlot colored bruise there for tomorrow. Melding your mouths together, his tongue exploring you deeply, Loki pauses to tease, "Hmmm... a tasty vintage."

Loki's eyes never leave yours as he paces around you endlessly, scrutinizing you, surveying your barely concealed body. He's still fully dressed in that classical casual way of his. A black fitted t-shirt tucked into dark jeans. A jacket, also black, hugging his shoulders. Boots that make every step he takes sound important. Fully clothed, he's long and lethal while you're practically nude and naive.

"This outfit is quite revealing, my dove. What made you choose it?" Standing in front of you finally, he crosses his arms over his chest. His right hand stroking his chin, the way a judgemental professor might, ready to weigh your words.

Loki's dominance of the situation dampens the minuscule fabric running between your legs. Hadn't you wanted tonight to be about seduction, after all? About Loki and you coming undone together. Sure, it's not exactly what you had planned, but damn, is it sexy. There's nothing to be ashamed about here. You lift your eyes to his and square your shoulders.

"At first, the color. Your colors."

Arching an eyebrow, Loki prods, "At first?"

Swallowing roughly, voice soft but strong, you continue, "Yes. But then I thought about you taking it off of me and how happy that would make you. It does, right? Please you, I mean?"

"Sounds like it would be pleasing to you, dear. Be honest now, because I will know if you aren't." Stepping into your space, crowding you against the bed, Loki's voice was barely a whisper but it carried the promise of venom. "You wanted me to see you like this... barely covered by useless under garments, flushed in anticipation of my taking your body, eager to give yourself to me so that you could be pleasured. That was your plan all along, correct?"

You nod, agreeing, hypnotized by Loki's dark words and his deep cadence. Louder now, Loki chides, "I didn't hear you. Wasn't that your plan?"

"Yes... yes, Loki.", you stammer like a repentant child. He smiles that leviathan smile fully aware of the sway he has over you now.

Reaching for the front of your bra, Loki murmurs, "None of this is for me, is it?" And you gasp, scandalized, as he breaks the elasticized straps holding the emerald band in place. His rough hands roam over your silken skin shooting an electric charge through you. It creates liquid heat in the lowest part of your belly and you flex your thighs together to relieve the building tension.

"What a selfish slut you are... so needy, so desperate that you'll do whatever I say, whatever I want, to get your release. I'll bet those tiny knickers of yours are sodden, aren't they pet?"

Knowing now that he wants to hear your voice, you exhale gently and agree, "Yes. Yes, sir."

He's standing as close to you as possible without touching your enflamed skin. You can feel Loki's breath fan over you as he charges, "Give them to me."

You're unable to tear your eyes from Loki's. An out of control heat, cold blue, burns there ready to set your soul on fire. It's exhilarating and still scares the shit out of you.

Without looking away you hook the filmsy strings under your thumbs. You lift one leg, then the other, until the glorified scrap was balled in your fist. Mortified at the moisture you felt on the fabric, you dropped the small bundle into Loki's open hand.

"The top. Lose it." With shaking hands you unhook the ripped and ruined garment freeing your heavy breasts to the cool air. Reflexively your nipples pucker from exposure, something that is not lost on Loki. You watch him lick his bottom lip in hunger.

But he still hasn't put a hand on you yet.

"Look at you now, my would be seducer. Naked, whimpering in lust, wet and ready to do whatever you must in order to climax. If good women think only of their lover's desires then what does that make you?" Loki wraps spun silk words around you, just like a spider might.

"Bad... Selfish." It's an admission you made from guilt. He was right. You were very bad.

"Yes. Selfish. Thoughtless. Wanton and greedy. And you will pay for it." Each word was flung at you ferociously with a stinging bite.

Shoving you, Loki forces you down on top of your freshly made bed. The downy softness caresses your bare back, a comfort, as you aren't sure what Loki has in mind as a form of repayment.

Quietly Loki starts giving you directions. "Lie back all the way. Spread your legs... Wider." He watches you from the foot of your bed, eyes savoring the lewd display of your form, drinking in the details of your debasement.

Swallowing the remaining wine from your glass, Loki orders, "I want to see all of you, my pet." And you want to show Loki your dripping body, aching for his attention. You need him to see how far your knees will part, how open and available you are for him. It's his praise you are keen to earn. To be considered Loki's good girl, worthy of his love, that was what you had to prove.

"Touch yourself." There's no room for debate in his whispered edict. Nervous now, you search his eyes, hopeful of finding some understanding there. You see only Loki's crystalline blue depths as you hear a second command, edged in acid, at your delay. "I told you to touch youself."

"Wh... what?"

"Use your hands. Just like you would do in the deep dark of night, darling." Lowering his tone to a carnal croon, Loki added, "Make yourself cum... for me."

Loki watches you nod gently, chewing on your bottom lip, as your lacquered nails graze over your extended neck. Wishing it was the hands of your lover on you, you palmed your breasts before pinching your tightening nipples. A pleasant sigh floated out of you as you tugged and twisted on your hardened buds.

"Hmmm... tell me, dove, what are you thinking about?"

"You... your mouth, Loki... the way you suck on me until it hurts so good. Ah!" Fluttering closed, you shut your eyes against the rising pressure of pleasure inside you.

"You look so scrumptious. Like a saucy little cake just calling out to be devoured... hmm... keep going." Loki's voice, normally so fluid and formal, is dusky with desire. Uneven breaths punctuate his sentences and somehow that pushes your own flames higher.

Bucking your hips under your open palms, you try to touch every inch of skin available to you. You slow down over the satin of your thighs. Eagerly driven to bring yourself off, you battle internally, knowing full well Loki wants this to drag on as long as possible.

Your hands close in on your succulent center. Cupping over your core, the moan you release is ragged and raw. You drag a finger through your slick slit, gathering the evidence of your excitement and spreading it up over your clit.

Tipping your head back, you inhale sharply when you make contact with your straining bundle of nerves. The firm pad of your finger circles the sensitive skin and you shudder. Into the game of self pleasure now, your right hand continues what you were ordered to start, your left has found its way to your chest and your abandoned nipples.

"Loki... Ah... babe... I... I..." You could hardly form words around the swelling steam of your arousal. Feeling the velvet walls inside of you pulse, desperate for the filling pressure of Loki's body, your orgasm was close. Eyes shut, finger moving over your bud in frantic patterns, you were seconds away from shattering.

Loki, wrapping a capable hand around your ankle and one over your hip, pulled you to the edge of the bed with one jerk. For a moment you panicked, arms lifting off of your blushing body to grip the sheets, trying to hold onto the satisfaction that nearly was yours. Anticipating your movements, Loki lifted your knees to wrap around his waist, his throbbing member teasing at your inflamed entrance.

"Look at me, little dove. You've earned your gratification. Now I am going to take mine as well."

Groaning with the force of his thrust, Loki collapses into you, your well oiled body accepting him greedily. His heavy presence alone is enough to trip your bliss and he sees your eyes widen as pleasure spasms through you. Snapping your head back in a soundless scream, you feel your body gripping Loki's, pulling his release from him as your limbs tug him closer to you.

His left hand tightens around your exposed throat, his power over you complete, as his right clamps onto the swell of your hip. "Where shall I cum, darling? On your magnificent breasts?" He rakes his nails across those bouncing orbs of flesh in ownership. "Or maybe on your soft stomach?" Trailing his fingers over your abdomen and circling your bellybutton for emphasis. "Or shall I cum deep inside of you? Filling you until your body overflows?"

Barely recovered from your first orgasm, Loki's graphic language and savage intent have you moaning. Your body is already gathering the ingredients of another climax from your over sensitized sexual system. "Inside me, please Loki. I want to feel you!" It's desperate and deliciously wicked to admit, but it is also honest.

"My dulcet darling!" Loki snarls as he drops his forehead to yours and drives into you harder than ever. You respond with a delayed groan of pleasure, your peak pulling Loki deeper, as he ruts against your womb. True to his filthy words, Loki's release is long and bottomless. His mouth finds you in a hungry rush, his firm tongue twisting with yours as thoroughly as your bodies were entwined.

Tangling his hands in your hair, Loki kisses your brow then down your flushed cheek and across the bridge of your nose. "You're going to have to let go of me, dearest.", Loki chuckles softly in your ear.

"Oh god, I didn't realize..." Clinging to his hard body like a barnacle post coital, you unwrap your arms first, shaking the feeling back into your limp muscles. Loki continues to kiss down your torso until he's kneeling between your legs. Looking down at the mess he's made of you, Loki hums, "So beautiful... so sinful. So mine."

Smiling ruefully, you tell him, "This isn't how I thought tonight would go...I had it all planned. And I am mortified about dinner. Turns out I am not so good at seduction after all."

Lifting a brow Loki answers, "You are more seductive than your realize. It's what made tonight's... pleasure possible. And dinner is easy enough to manage."

Your doorbell rings, surprising you. Loki raises a hand saying, "Allow me." So smoothly, he slips on his pants, heading towards your front door. You can hear a soft exchange, words of thanks, then the clink of glasses.

"I didn't think I could love you anymore." It tumbles out of your mouth thoughtlessly at the amazing sight before you. Loki is holding the bottle of wine, two goblets and a freshly delivered pizza. You sit up in bed reaching for the box, suddenly famished. Loki pours out two glasses of wine before joining you in bed.

"Tonight has been spectacular!" Loki toasts you as he pulls out a slice for himself. "Thank the Gods you burned the garlic toast!"

#loki x reader #loki x you #loki smut #loki fanfiction #hot loki #loki fanfic #loki odinson #mcu smut #mcu x reader #marvel fanfiction #marvel smut

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celestial-archer · 3 years

Text

A Lady’s Tail Chapter 3

Someday i’ll actually finish a chapter for upload in the evening instead of night, but today is not that day. Anyway enjoy!

AO3

Kelpie chilled on a long branch, her tail coiled tightly around it and her upper body leaning against the tree trunk. Below her, Goren was digging out sections of dirt. He had a pouch in his hand that he’d pull a white crystal from and drop it into the hole to bury. This was the preparations for extending her alarm network. She had already set up anti-scouting enchantments and magic traps, so this was the next step for their security. Each crystal had an alarm spell enchanted on it. The goal was to have their security network extended about a kilometer away from the cave. She didn’t think anything in the forest was strong enough to threaten them since Goren had already defeated any strong creatures, but having it there would make her more comfortable. Goren was taking care of it because of his miner class. It sped up the process considerably and it would probably be done within the next hour or two. She had tried to help but from his vehement refusals, she decided to just sit back and let him do it himself.

She let her eyes drift away from him to the small leather bag in her hand. It had a decent weight to it. She shook it slightly and it jingled as the items inside collided with each other. The drawstrings fell away limply with a light tug. Inside were crudely made coins of different sizes and metals. Their circular shape was bent and misshapen in many places and had no consistency. Almost as if the coins were meant to be a child’s toy instead of currency. But no, it was the real thing. She knew because Goren had stolen it from the insolent man.

They had kidnapped him late last night when he had been locking up his shop. It was very amusing hearing his smug and cocky voice warp with pain and fear when Goren beat him into unconsciousness. The man was currently locked up inside one of the trap rooms. She didn’t really know which one since she left it to Goren in fear of another frenzy. He was given permission to improve the desired room in any way he wanted, with the stipulation that the man be alive at the end of it. It was obvious that Goren had done so because if she listened closely, she could hear the faintest agonizing screams in the wind. Her mouth watered when a particularly pain filled scream echoed. The snake in her wondered what he’d taste like after the torture? Would the flavor be intensified by his terror? Would the meat be more tender?

She ground her teeth together with a shake of her head. No, bad! This was not the time for that!

The coins in the bag clinked together as she moved. She idly grabbed one of the largest. It was very shiny and bright silver. One side had a dragon’s head on it, while the other had two clashing swords and an axe. From the size, it was probably the highest valued coin of the rest. The metal didn’t feel that strong though. If she squeezed hard enough, it’d probably break in half. She knocked the knuckles of her hand on the bark of the tree to get Goren’s attention, then tossed the coin down to him.

“Goren, what metal is that made of? It's different from the other silver colored coins, but I can’t figure it out.”

The coin landed with a twirl on top of his palm. Taking it between his fingers, he examined it closely and scrapped a corner of it.

“It appears to be made of Platinum, My Lady.”

He moved his arm to throw the coin back to her but she waved her hand in a stop motion.

“Keep it. In the future, i’m gonna have you go back to the city to act as a merchant. It’d be better for you to have the money. Here.”

She pulled the drawstrings tight and tied them into a bow before tossing the entire bag down to him.

“The rest of them. Learn what the values of them are the next time you are in the city.”

Goren gave a curt nod, put the pouch on his waist, and went back to digging. She leaned back against the tree and crossed her arms loosely. The repetitive actions of him digging and planting, digging and planting were interesting for her to watch. What made Goren so invested in being ordered around like a servant? She had given it a lot of thought these past few days, but could never get a satisfying answer. He had mentioned her being some kind of “supreme being”. Did he truly think of her as superior? If he did, where had it come from?

It’d barely been three days in this new world and she had learned much more about the world than she had about Goren. Sure, she had created him, but him as an NPC was very different from the being below. How could a single programmed personality account for him as a three dimensional person? Could she for sure say she knew everything about him? What intricacies of him as a living being existed besides the ones she knew? They would be stuck together for who knew how long, she should actually try to learn more about him as a person.

Her hand sunk into the abyss that was her inventory and pulled out a bright purple Amethyst that flickered and glowed. The gem was extremely cold to the touch and sapped the warmth from her fingers. It was aSpectral Amethyst. An extremely rare gem drop that could be added to armor and weapons to give them “soul damaging” attack bonuses. But that was really just an edgy description of the effect. What would really happen was the enemy would get a random curse for a variable amount of time. The rarity and nature of the item were so valuable that it could be sold for an insane amount of in game currency and a decent amount of real money. It was so rare that she had only found it three times in all of her Yggdrasil life. She had sold the first one for a motherlode of gold and kept the other two for future uses. Thinking back to her habits in game, she was never going to use it and would only hoard it.

She played with the gem, bouncing it up and down in her hand, as she addressed Goren.

“I didn’t ask this before, but why do you consider me a supreme being?”

The sudden question caused the shovel to slip from Goren’s grip and fall to the ground. There was a moment of pause as he turned to face her and bow.

“You are the one who created me and brought me to life. Only a supreme being is capable of such a thing.”

She peered off to the side and hummed, still twiddling the gem in her hand.

“I guess I can see that viewpoint. But do you really not feel any doubt? You’ve seen me at my most vulnerable. I’m certainly not the all powerful and all knowing type. If you think about it, we’re not even that different from each other.”

Goren tilted his head to the side as if pondering it.

“If I may be so bold, I have no right to doubt you. How can someone like me, a creation made by your hands, begin to understand someone as lofty as you? As you’ve said before my existence is for you and you alone.”

Kelpie looked into his eyes. They were unwavering and shone with absolute conviction. So that's what it had been about. It wasn't wrong that she had created him, but it still wasn’t as amazing as he thought. With a few lines of code, data crystals, and items, he had been born. But she couldn’t really explain that to him in good conscience. There was really no other option than to roll with being the goddess he thought she was. With a sigh, she straightened her back and held her head high.

“Alright, I understand. You’ve certainly shown your conviction. I’m happy to have you as my bodyguard, so as reward for your loyalty and hard work, I'm giving you this.”

She held out her hand with her palm down and dropped the Spectral Amethyst. His eyes lit up excitedly as he scrambled to catch it. The sight made her smile, so he still liked gems. That was good to know. The gem was tilted towards the sun so he could admire the shine and cut of it when his happy face suddenly contorted into a frown. He lifted his head to say something but her words cut him off.

“Don’t say you are not worthy. I’m giving it to you because I deemed it fitting to give you.”

Goren didn’t have a mouth and therefore couldn’t smile, but if he did, she imagined he’d have a giant grin on his face. He was radiating pure happiness and pride. Popping off one of the amethysts on his side, he slid the spectral amethyst into the slot. Purple light flashed from it and it melded perfectly into his body. He caressed it lightly with one hand.

“Thank you My Lady, I will treasure it!”

She gave a small nod and rested her head against the bark. A tide of drowsiness washed over her so she closed her eyes for a nap and fell asleep to the soothing sounds of Goren resuming his digging .

________________

“Momon-san, may I ask why are we entering into this forest?”

The large imposing figure of a pitch black armor wearing warrior stood in front of the forest entrance with his arms crossed. Next to him was a beautiful black haired woman with a brown cloak covering her body. Both had shiny Adamantite plates hanging from their necks.

“Ah that’s right, you weren't present at the briefing. We were asked to investigate the creature behind the deaths of a whole village. It was a one sided slaughter with several bodies ripped apart, seemingly for no reason except for fun. The guild believes the wise king of the forest has some sort of twin and, since I tamed Hamsuke, has tasked us with taking this one down as well.”

“Understood! Though is that likely? I find it hard to believe there would be a similar creature so close and it not be known.”

Ainz nodded his head and turned to her.

“I have similar thoughts. Hamsuke, being as intent on finding a mate as she is, wouldn’t miss a being like her that is just one forest away. But even if she had, they would have similar fame. We would hear stories of another “Wise King of the Forest”. Plus Hamsuke is just territorial, not blood thirsty. This creature would be the same way due to species behavior. This has to be a different beast that has settled into new territory.”

Nabe nodded her head with an excited expression that said as expected of you.

“So then will Aura-sama be joining us again?”

“Yup Yup! Here I am~”

The cheerful voice of Aura drifted down from a tree. The heterochromia dark elf hung upside down with her legs bent across a branch. She gave a victory sign to an unphased Nabe and smiled cheerfully.

“I didn’t scare you this time Naberal! Hehe.”

Aura lifted her legs and dropped. Moments before she hit the ground, she twisted her body and landed perfectly on her feet.

“No you didn’t, thank you for that Aura-sama.”

Aura beamed and gave a thumbs up. She then twirled to face Ainz, waiting for orders. Reaching out his hand, he ruffled Aura’s hair. An almost unnoticeable look of jealousy crossed Naberal’s face, but vanished quickly. Pulling his hand back, Ainz addressed Aura.

“Thank you for coming. What were you able to find out?”

Aura blushed and giggled.

“Yes! I’ve scanned the forest and found several animals around but none that match what you’re looking for. There’s a section near the mountains where I was unable to see with my skill. I believe that the beast will be there but we’ll need to investigate it in person.”

Ainz rubbed his chin in thought.

“I see. Lead the way, but be cautious and discreet.”

Aura nodded and strolled into the forest with her hands clasped behind her head. Ainz and Naberal trailed closely after her.

Ainz kept his eyes, well non-existent eyes, peeled on his surroundings. Nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. It was just normal trees and foliage, but he couldn’t help but feel the suffocating weight of suspense. He was apprehensive about Aura being unable to investigate the area. As a level 100 NPC, she was vastly more powerful than any creature or person he had encountered so far in this new world. A ranger of her caliber should be able to see past any concealment a common or even above average adventurer could create. Was this a hidden power of the new world or did it have something to do with Yggdrasil? What if the reason she couldn’t see was related to the people who had brainwashed Shalltear?

The thought of retreating quickly entered his mind. Afterall, it’d be hypocritical for him to continue on blind and unprepared after he had lectured Narberal on the same thing previously.

Ainz sighed and slid his swords from their sheathes. He couldn’t really do so though. It was a request from the adventurer’s guild, so he was limited in the actions he could take. If it was possible, he’d prefer to drop Perfect Warrior and proceed as a magic caster, but there he wasn’t prepared to risk having his identity as Momon revealed so soon.

“Aura, what else can you tell me? Even the smallest of details could prove useful.”

“Hmm~ Well, I noticed that all of the animals in the forest seem to largely avoid where we’re headed. It's like a powerful and highly territorial beast lives there. I’ve seen that several of the more powerful animals had severe injuries. I assume that whatever resides where we’re going just recently fought with them and obtained the territory. I couldn’t find any tracks or feeding indicators, so I have no clue about what it is. It’d be interesting if it was an undiscovered beast! Ainz-sama, if it is not necessary for your plans, could I have it afterwards?”

Aura’s eyes shined brightly and resembled puppy eyes. It wasn’t quite a pout but it was close enough to affect Ainz.

“Ahem, If it is not useful, sure.”

Aura grinned and began to hum, internally thinking about what kind of creature she hoped it’d be.

Ainz gazed at her carefree back. Bukubukuchagama had designed her to be very cheerful and laidback. It showed well in her actions. Was it her endearingness as a child or her personality that made him want to spoil her? He viewed all the guardians as his children, but he felt especially protective towards Aura and Mare. But they viewed him as a superior so would him acting as such cause issues in the future? How should one act as a father and a boss anyway? The life of a superior was full of-

Boom

The ground under Aura exploded in fire, dirt and root debri flying in every direction. The force threw her into the air, sending her flying. She reacted quickly, her whip splitting the air and attaching to a tree branch.The forward momentum allowed her to swing around the branch until she had slowed enough to drop down to her feet.

Nabe shifted in front of Ainz, her arm outstretched and glowing blue ready to attack. Ainz felt panic shoot through him as he watched the events unfold in front of him.

“Aura! Are you alright?!”

Aura made a show of brushing the dirt and soot away from her clothes. There were no visible injuries or blood at all. The impact had left her unharmed.

“I’m fine, no damage at all!”

The panic ebbed away into relief then into nothing as Ainz’s emotional suppression kicked in. He took a battle stance, his swords raised and ready to strike, and scanned the area. But only the greenery surrounded them.

“Ainz-sama, we weren’t attacked. I tripped an Explosive Land Mine.”

“What? But how? You should be able to detect these types of traps with ease.”

Aura approached the hole the explosion had left and examined it. Now that the trap had activated, she could feel the magical residue left behind of it.

“I don’t know. I was using my detection skills but wasn’t able to notice it.”

Aura ran her hand along the hole and analyzed the dirt. The casual cheerfulness from before was replaced by a heavy seriousness. Even though Aura did not have trap detection skills, she should still have been able to identify traps of a certain level. There were many things that Ainz was certain of and one of them was that so far they had not directly encountered anyone that was capable of rivaling the guardians. There was something of considerable strength in these woods for sure. Forget the adventurer’s guild for now. He’d come up with an excuse for them later. It was too dangerous for them to stay here with their current attack force.

“Aura! Nabe! We’re falling back! There are too many unknowns here for us to continue.”

Ainz turned to retreat towards the entrance of the forest, but a chain of screaming alarms and the panicked voice of Narberal stopped him.

“Ainz-sama! We’ve tripped an alarm.”

“Shit! Shit! Shit! Prepare for an attack!”

All three of them raised their weapons and waited for the incoming enemy. A beat then two went by with nothing until-

Shriek

An invisible blade scratched against the surface of Ainz’s shoulder, leaving a long gouge on its surface. Ainz slashed down in front of him and only sliced through the air.

Shriek

Boom

The blade cut across his back, a large scratch left in its place. Dirt flew through the air as the area behind Ainz blew up in smoke as a spell hit nothing. Narberal’s arm was outstretched from casting and the blade sliced across her arm, causing blood to well up.

“Use detection magic!”

Ainz screamed to Narberal, tensing his body in preparation for another attack. She nodded and quickly cast it, but nothing changed. The enemy remained undetectable.

“I can’t see it! It’s concealment is more powerful than my detection!”

“Protect Ainz-sama!”

Yelled Aura, rushing to him with her whip in her hand. She slashed horizontally in an arc and felt an impact on the end. The whip swung outward once more, but hit nothing. Slight pain erupted from her back as the blade sliced across her armor, but the dragon scales integrity held, causing no direct damage. A slight breeze brushed against her side and she swung her leg towards it. Her hit connected to something and it flew into a tree, wood chips flying everywhere. The tree groaned and snapped, falling over with a loud impact. Combining their attacks, Aura and Nabe struck but they only hit the fallen tree. The invisible enemy had recovered quickly.

Both focused their hearing on the surroundings, but they could only hear the ambience of the forest. Suddenly, both felt the gash of the blade slicing their respective shoulders. Narberal drew her sword and slashed behind her but missed once again.

“There’s more than one!”

Aura exclaimed, switching out her whip for her bow. She drew the string and, using her targeting skill, let it go. The arrow shot straight out at lightning speed until it suddenly curved, chasing the enemy. It pierced into the air and stayed lodged in the enemy’s body. The arrow bobbed as the enemy tried to pull it out, but it was impaled too deeply in its body.

“There’s one!”

“Good, distract the other one too!!”

Ainz yelled to them, attempting to undo Perfect Warrior. The battle was too disadvantageous for them at the moment. If they just had assassins, Solution or Cz, here the battle would be different. He could hear the voices of Albedo and Demiurge in his head telling him to retreat for now but he ignored them. He couldn’t bear to leave the Aura and Naberal behind. If he could just switch back to being a magic caster and use Arcane Vision, the tides would be turned.

The air with the lodged arrow was barraged with lightning as Narberal focused her attacks. The enemy lit up bright blue as the lightning struck them and coursed through their body. Aura loosed another arrow and it zoomed forward. The two ends stopped and fell limply to the ground as it was sliced cleanly in half. The arrows were continually shot and cut as they got closer and closer to where Ainz was standing. She shot one last arrow and, as she watched it get slashed through, lashed her whip forward, wrapping tightly around the torso of the enemy.

Lightning surged through the body of the arrow impaled being one last time as the invisibility shorted out and its body flashed into view. The silver and gem filled being only stayed visible for a second, then evaporated in black smoke.

Ainz was a second away from dropping Perfect Warrior a strong force slammed into the side of his body. He slid back a few meters, his feet digging into the ground and sending dirt and grass flying as he prevented himself from going airborne.

Instantaneously, a barrage of inky black arrows rained down from the sky. They slammed heavy into all three of them. Aura gripped her whip tightly, not willing to let the enemy free. Blood poured down the side of her head from her injuries. Narberal forced herself through the arrow storm to Ainz and cast Shield Wall above him. The air above them lit up with a cyan wall that was textured like a turtle’s shell. Time seemed to slow for Ainz as he hurried himself to drop perfect warrior.

Tick, the arrows colliding heavily against the shield.

Tock, the blood dripping down both Aura and Narberal’s body.

Tick, the enemy breaking free from its confinement.

Tock, Perfect Warrior finally disappearing and revealing his skeletal form.

Tick, the chaos halting immediately.

Arrows no longer fell from the sky and the invisible being was no longer attacking either. For a moment, he wondered if time had actually stopped, but the sounds of Aura’s and Narberal’s heavy breathing dispelled that thought. What happened? He hadn’t done anything yet.

The enemy dropped his Perfect Unknowable and revealed his silver and gem laden angelic body. Aura and Narberal tightened their grip on their weapons with a grimace as Ainz prepared a spell. For a minute, there was nothing except for the thick tension bearing down on them all. The sudden and unexpected voice of the angel broke the silence.

“Understood, My lady.”

The angel leaned forward to give them a bow.

“I apologize for attacking you. I was unaware of your true identity. If you allow me, I can heal your injuries.”

Aura and Narberal stared at him in confusion before turning to Ainz for guidance. He paused to think, but eventually gave them a small nod. They all watched vigilantly as the angel stepped forward and cast healing on them. Their wounds stitched themselves together instantly and the blood disappeared in a red mist. So the angel hadn’t been lying. What was it thinking? Did it actually know about their identity? Or was it some kind of feint to get their guards down?

“My lady would like to meet you. If you would follow me to meet her, please. She said you are welcome to refuse, but she hopes that you don’t.”

My lady? Could it be? Was it possible that one of his guildmates had made it here as well? His undead heart jolted with happiness. Bukubukuchagama, Yamaiko, Ankoro Mocchi Mochi, Zoba, any of them being here would be amazing.

Ainz smiled internally and nodded to the angel.

“I’d like to meet her as well.”

________________________

Kelpie was jolted awake by the screaming alarm of the crystals. The sudden movement caused her balance to break and she slipped off the tree. Her tail was still firmly wrapped around the branch so she hung pathetically upside down. Looking around, Goren was nowhere in her sight. He had probably already finished up the setup, evidenced by the racket coming from the crystals, and gone to investigate who had tripped the alarms. She forced her upper body up and grabbed the branch. Letting her tail slacken from the branch she dropped to the ground. She landed easily, a small thud resulting from the impact, and brushed her hands off. The alarm didn’t worry her too much since there were still animals roaming around the forest. Any of them could have caused an unexpected triggering. Eventually, she would understand the animals’ habits and routines and would be able to configure the alarms to ignore them.

She rolled her shoulders back and sighed when they gave a satisfying crack. The nap had been a much needed moment of peace and relaxation, but it hadn’t been as comfortable as it could have been. Maybe she should create some kind of tree hammock for herself. She could even experiment with the various materials she had to discover some new interesting effects. Maybe some kind of sleeping enchantment to make napping easier?

She pulled her research book from her inventory and started jotting various ideas down. When Goren got back, she would ask his advice on them. Perhaps some of the animals in the forest would have some good fur to use as well. She turned her back to go to the cave, still brainstorming ideas, when a distant crack and crash gave her pause. It was the sound of a tree being knocked to the ground violently.

She whipped around and stared into the forest. That wasn’t a natural sound for a sunny day. Was something fighting currently? She closed her eyes and listened closely. Faintly, she could hear the clashes of metal on metal.

…

Shit!

Some people were fighting and she had a feeling Goren was one of them. She rushed back to the tree and scaled to the top.

“[ Sky Eye ]”

She closed her eyes and when she opened them, she could see the bird’s eye view of the forest. At first she could only see the green tops of trees, but looking around, she was able to find the fight. Three people fighting against an invisible foe. It didn’t take much for her to realize the foe was Goren fighting against the intruders. The two not in armor seemed slightly familiar to her, but the memory of them danced on the edge of her memory. She did not try too hard to remember though. Right now, they were intruders and needed to be taken care of.

Kelpie watched as Goren fought on. So far, he had the advantage of being undetectable and having his shadow clone. She found it interesting to see him fight since she had never had the chance in Yggdrasil. He had good tactics and was able to avoid attacks and deal damage well, but that was as expected. He was proficient in both the assassin and ninja class. Only high level players could actually see through his invisibility.

She frowned when an arrow impaled one of them. She didn’t know if it was Goren or the clone, but she hoped it was the clone. When the dark elf wrapped its whip around the other, she slid her bow from her inventory. It was a blue and purple gradient longbow with inwardly curving long black spikes with small purples stars on the surface. She readied her shot at the elf, but paused when she noticed the large warrior. He was standing completely still, not even reacting to the sliced through arrows getting closer and closer to him.

What was he up to? Probably not something she wanted him to do. She shifted her aim over and let loose the inky black swirling arrow. It cut through the air and slammed into the warrior, sending him skidding across the ground. Her mouth quirked up into a smile. Good. She pulled the golden string taut, the arrow ready to fly.

“[ Arrow Barrage ]”

Arrow after arrow appeared in front of the bow, lined in rows, until there were around twenty of them. Her arms trembled as she pulled the string back another inch and then let go. The arrows flew forward, whistling through the air, towards the group. Without waiting for the first barrage to hit, she kept shooting.

The mage set up a shield and she clicked her tongue in annoyance. It was a good move, annoying but good. She forced her arm to release the arrows faster and faster. Her heartbeat synced in time with her shots as she was unable to pierce the shield.

“Fuck, [ Comet Blast ]”

The arrow in her string glowed icy blue and emitted a cold mist. She pulled the string back tight, letting the arrow grow larger and larger until the tip formed a sharp icicle tip.

One second, she took a deep breath.

Two seconds, her body tensed, ready to release the arrow.

Three seconds, the warriors armor disappeared, revealing an imposing skeletal mage.

Four seconds, the string slipped from her hand, the arrow barreling into a random tree.

Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at the figure.

It was Momonga…

Momonga!

A laugh escaped her. He was here! He had been transported here as well!

Realizing the current situation and acting quickly, she sent a message to Goren.

“Goren! Stop attacking and reveal yourself! He is a friend of mine.”

“Understood, My Lady.”

The return message came immediately and she could see Goren following her orders and healing the two women. She remembered now. They were Narberal Gamma and Aura Bella Fiora from the guild of Ainz Ooal Gown. Seemed like Momonga had been transported with his base and NPCs too. She smiled widely at the thought. Her and Goren wouldn’t be alone anymore.

“I’d like you to escort them to me, but respect their answer if they say no.”

She waited with bated breath as Goren relayed her request. The moment Momonga nodded, she twirled around in happiness, her tail thumping the branch excitedly. She jumped off the tree and stood by the entrance of the cave for when they would arrive.

#overlord #a lady's tail #chapter 3 #kelpie #kelpie dark #goren #my oc #my writing

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piraticalarchive · 3 years

Note

because you're loyal, and honest, and supportive, and creative, and STRONG, god taylor you're so fucking strong it's unbelievable, and fuck anon. i love you.

WHY’D YOU FOLLOW?

I’m super sad because I just scoured google for giles and john gifs and I couldn’t find one that suited my feelings. And you have a plethora of other lovely muses, but those were the first I knew and saw come to life through your amazing writing talent and they will always hold a special place in my heart. These last few months since my return have been nothing short of amazing. I returned from a hiatus back in december with this love for writing I hadn’t experienced in a year or two - that insane urge to just write my little heart out and explore every aspect of Killian’s character I hadn’t before. I thought that was as lucky as I was going to get, that I shouldn’t ask for more. But here you are. Here Amy is. Here Milla is. Here we all are. It’s truly 2015 all over again and I cry daily when I think about it. Tumblr is full of people - you are constantly forming friends and roleplay partnerships and forging new memories, but there’s just something about reconnecting with those friends and reminiscing. Seeing your writing back on my dash, knowing I can open my drafts and have it be full of replies from my favorite people is like curling up on the couch with a soft blanket and warm cup of hot chocolate.

I found you through Megs I’m pretty sure - people can complain about ‘cliques’ all they want, but damn did our small circle of friends lead me to some good people. Regina and Giles is something I never knew I needed until that moment I read a reply on the dash and ho boy did I become invested. I was just getting into Buffy at the urging of Amy and I was so fond of Giles and you brought him to life in such a realistic and creative way. You captured his nuances and his humor just as you do all of your muses. You have always had that ability to bring two dimension characters until they are flying off the screen in true three dimensional form. They aren’t just muses you write, they are parts of my life and thoughts that have become like comfortable old friends. Your passion and brilliance meld seamlessly into each and every one - to the point where I lost track of you for three years and I still left John as my exclusive because to me there just is no other John Watson. A fact which is true to me no matter the muse you write. No one can bring them to life the way you can, no one can leave that special thumbprint that says Michelle was here.

And you talk about strength - what about you? Look at what you’ve accomplished. You have your own COMPANY. The damn European Union approached you, mate !! What the heck !! I admire the fuck out of you for that entire thing - not because of the fact you’re rocking it (because you are. you’re rocking it), but because you had the courage to go out and do it. The courage to take a dream and follow through with it - possible failure be damned. You threw yourself off of that cliff and day by day you’re flying a little bit higher. We were joking the other day about how old we felt and you said I don’t know if they’d even let me back into Neverland at this point- and I’ve suddenly been struck with the idea that maybe that’s true of all of us. Maybe Neverland for those of us who have known each other so long, is a place where we met so many years ago when we first starting to write together on tumblr. Even though we’ve left that beginning behind now, even though its all but impossible to recapture those moments, those memories - it’s still there. The warmth I feel in my heart when I reconnect with all of you, the little lurch my heart gives when you show up in my ask and on my dash, that moment of realization where its so obvious that my roleplay puzzle is starting to get all of those missing pieces I had long thought lost. So, no. Maybe Neverland wouldn’t welcome us back - but I don’t know if I’d want to go back either. It taught us to fly, to dream - it taught us the tools to escape the chains of routine and the confines of the molds that the world would try to so forcefully push us into. But we made it, we’re here. We’re all still friends, all still creating things together - picking up dynamics and relationships like its been two or three hours instead of three years .. and how beautiful is that ??

Anyways. I’m getting weird because I don’t know how to properly express myself, but I hope you never doubt how much I love you. Your acceptance of me with nary a blink is something I will always cherish and save in my heart of hearts. I hope you keep kicking ass and I hope I get to remain in the audience for the journey. And remember, when things get tough and it feels like we’re all too old to work our dreams into fruition - that lesson from my (obviously) favorite fandom still stands.

All you need is a little faith, trust and pixie dust <3

#save ;#listen i wrote you a novel but its been three years and i have a lot of emotions #I love you #and everytime you call me bubba I cry a little bit inside #just so that you know #valorsworn

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somepinkthing · 4 years

Text

I Choose You!

AO3 LINK

POKEMON AU POKEMON AU!!!

Collaboration with @tissueboxesforseals who pitched the idea and did some amazing art!!! Go check it out!!! So glad we went on this pokemon adventure together :3

Summary: Jiang Cheng meets the most beautiful boy on the planet while trying to fight off a Natu. Which is funny because Wei Ying also has met the most beautiful boy on the planet while mud wrestling a Yungoos.

Huaisang and Wangji just want to know who these two idiots fighting random Pokemon in front of their brothers' gyms are.

---

Blocking Jiang Cheng's path to the gym was a group of the pinkest, roundest Pokemon Jiang Cheng had ever seen. Also… was that a feebas? In a fishbowl?

Well, at least he knew they weren't wild then.

"What little girl left their pokemon laying around? Why do we even let irresponsible children keep pokemon if all they're gonna do is this?" he grumbled to himself as he tried to shoo the pokemon away by nudging them with his feet. The issue was that as soon as he managed to move one, another scrambled to take up the empty spot. Then, when he turned to move that one, the first one slipped right back in. It's like they had an agenda against him. Finally, the Natu decided it was going to take horrible offense to being shifted from its resting spot and pecked harshly at his boot, causing Jiang Cheng to flinch back with a curse and almost lose his footing. Natu looked almost smug about it. God, Jiang Cheng hated birds.

Jiang Cheng clicked his tongue. What a waste of time.

"Hello? Which little girl do these things belong to?! Come collect your Pokemon! Who the hell owns these guys?!"

"That would be me," a gentle voice came up from behind him.

Jiang Cheng whirled around and got an eyeful of the prettiest boy he had ever seen. Large golden eyes framed by thick, silky hair the color of the darkest chocolate. A slim figure covered in an olive green cape, a color that matched his slightly tanned complexion perfectly. A narrow nose, curated eyebrows, long eyelashes, and plush lips all perfectly melded together on his face to create a cute expression that just screamed ... annoyance and disdain.

"My apologies for not being a little girl. Those Pokemon are mine though."

Ah. Right.

"How long have you been standing there?" Jiang Cheng asked sheepishly.

"Not too long," the boy said in a sharp tone that definitely implied that he'd just watched Jiang Cheng insult him under his breath while trying to lightly nudge his Pokemon out of the way (...with his foot) for roughly five minutes.

"Yeah. Um. Sorry about that. I just need to get through to this gym. I'm here to challenge the gym leader, you see, and I really just want to pass."

The boy nodded and made up the stairs, toward Jiang Cheng and his pokemon.

"I thought it'd be okay to leave them here for a minute or two while I grabbed something," he explained politely, but managing to still sounding supremely unimpressed to Jiang Cheng. "The front entrance is all the way around, after all. This one behind me is closed to all but staff so this path is rarely taken by anyone. Evidently, it was irresponsible of me."

Jiang Cheng's eyes widened. "I-I didn't know. I'm new to the area? I mean, I'm not from around here. I mean, I'm from Yunmeng. Do you know the region? Lots of water and beautiful in the warmer seasons--"

Jiang Cheng knew he was babbling uselessly. The other boy did too. Not paying Jiang Cheng any mind, he ordered his Pokemon aside with a wave of his hand. Immediately, Stufful and Togepi clambered onto his slim shoulders and the birds took to the air, landing on the railings at the sides. Steadying them, Pretty Boy leaned down for Hattrem, who climbed into her master's waiting arms after shooting Jiang Cheng a truly nasty look. Wordlessly, the boy then moved past Jiang Cheng and picked up his fishbowl (and that was definitely a Feebas), putting it to the side of the pathway before shifting aside himself.

"Go on then. I'm sorry to have kept you," he said with a sweeping 'after you' gesture.

Jiang Cheng was about to squeak out a thank you and book it but his plans were interrupted with a loud bark.

"Yamper! How'd you get out?!"

Jiang Cheng watched in horror as Yamper threw her fat little body at the beautiful boy, dislodging Hattrem from her comfortable spot in her owner's arms. Hattrem's pigtails rose, entering attack-mode, but a quick hand on her head stopped her mid-hiss.

"And who is this?" The boy asked, suddenly sounding delighted. Like sunlight after a storm, his golden eyes lit up. All traces of anger were immediately flushed out by the laughter Yamper's eager bids for attention drew out of him.

"Yamper," Jiang Cheng replied, unable to bring himself to wrestle the little Pokemon away from the boy and back into her pokeball. "She was the first Pokemon I got."

"She's a bit of a brat," Jiang Cheng admitted apologetically. "I can take her if you want. Sorry about this."

"Don't be," the boy told him, nuzzling his face against Yamper's rotund belly. "I love her."

Jiang Cheng couldn't stop staring as the boy cuddled his Yamper. She loved it, of course, tail wagging furiously at all the attention she was being shown. Her wet tongue on his cheek forced a surprise, loud laugh out of the boy. He really was unfairly pretty for a guy, especially when he smiled.

Finally, the boy turned his attention back at Jiang Cheng, who immediately looked off to the side to avoid being caught staring.

“I’m sorry, I got carried away,” he apologized. Jiang Cheng just shook his head, reassuring the boy that he didn’t mind, Yamper was always like this. So far, only Wei Wuxian was immune to her charms.

“But, um,” the boy said, biting on his plush lower lip in hesitation before continuing, “Actually, do you mind if I ask to see your others?”

“Huh?” Jiang Cheng started. No, he hadn't been staring at Pretty Boy’s lips.

“I-I’m sorry. It’s just that I rarely get out of this region. And when I do, I’m always just accompanying my brother. I love to see all the different types of Pokemon that people bring to the gym,” Pretty Boy admitted, suddenly bashful. “I-If you have some time, I’d love to see yours too...”

“Oh! Yeah, I have time ...” Jiang Cheng managed to snap out of his stupor enough to rummage around in his pack for his Pokeballs and summon the others.

“So I got Eevee, Shinx, Snubbull, Chinchou, Houndour, and you’ve met Yamper. Obviously.”

Pretty Boy’s eyes lit up even brighter than before. “They’re amazing! Oh, they’re so pretty!” he exclaimed, bending over slightly in order to wave hello to the rest of Jiang Cheng's team.

Jiang Cheng glowed with pride. His team was pretty amazing and well-groomed, thank you. His team preened too, immediately taken with this new person (as they are with every person to Jiang Cheng’s dismay). Houndour was already inching over towards Pretty Boy in the hopes that he’d get pet too. He was--the boy leaned down and scratched him right behind the ears.

"But wait… You're going to challenge this gym?" Pretty Boy asked, straightening up. He was still holding Yamper in his arms with the little creature still trying to lick at every single inch of her new friend’s face. The electricity in Yamper's fur was making the boy's hair stand up at odd angles, but he didn't seem to mind it.

It didn't serve to make him any less beautiful.

Well. Objectively, of course. In the same way a Milotic is beautiful. Not Jiang Cheng's opinion, just a matter of fact.

....He was so screwed.

"I am," Jiang Cheng replied with as much pride as his dry tongue would allow him.

The boy quirked an eyebrow up in response. He looked mildly concerned, turning to look at the imposing gym then back at Jiang Cheng and his little gaggle of pokemon.

"They're strong!" Jiang Cheng justified, hackles rising at the thought that he was being looked down upon. Just because they were small, doesn't mean they weren't ready! And what right did this boy have to judge? His largest pokemon was a Stufful!

Jiang Cheng swore he saw plush, pink lips quirk up in amusement at the corners, but, before he could feel properly affronted, the other boy quickly schooled his features and nodded thoughtfully.

"They must be pretty good for you to bring them all the way here. They look well trained too, aren't you?" He could not have more obviously been talking to Yamper when he cooed that last part and started scratching her stomach. Jiang Cheng's face still lit up like he was the one being praised.

He really needed to calm down.

"I can bring you to the front entrance," the boy offered, "I know the area pretty well."

Still trying to control his furious blush, Jiang Cheng nodded stiffly.

"Thanks. That'll be ... swell," Jiang Cheng said, not trusting himself to say any more.

Pretty Boy giggled. "Swell. This way then… um. I'm sorry, never asked for your name?"

"Jiang Cheng. I'm a Pokemon Trainer," he introduced himself.

"I’d gathered as much," the boy replied with a smile that assured Jiang Cheng that he was only teasing. "I'm Huaisang. It's good to meet you, Jiang Cheng"

---

“You could have told me you were the gym leader’s brother,” Jiang Cheng pouted while watching as Huaisang fed Yamper yet another cookie. “And stop that, she’ll get fat.”

“She needs to replenish her energy after the battle she just had,” Huaisang replied.

He then turned back to Yamper and started cooing again. “Don’t you, girl? You worked so hard and you deserve a treat, don’t you?”

Yamper obviously agreed, barking and hopping up and down around Nie Huaisang's feet. Her energy encouraged the others and, soon, Chinchou and Eevee joined their friend. Huaisang didn't at all mind having bundles of energy hopping away underfoot. In fact, he seemed even more taken by them, if possible.

Jiang Cheng forced himself to quit watching the adorable scene happening right next to him. He was mad at this boy, goddammit!

“Don’t change the subject! Your brother is terrifying! Why didn’t you tell me who you were?” Jiang Cheng demanded. He really shouldn’t have had to find out from Gym Leader Nie in the middle of their battle that the guy he’d been ogling just moments before getting to the gym was his younger brother.

“So, you’re the boy who my brother brought back? The one who insulted his Pokemon on the street?”

Jiang Cheng winced at the memory and Huaisang caught the movement out of the corner of his eye.

“Hey, I can guess what you’re thinking and it’s not true. My brother would have beat you into submission whether or not you knew me, that’s just his style. He’s a big dude with big Pokemon--he and his team love to throw their dumb body mass around,” Huaisang said, fondness for his older brother and his team evident in his voice despite his words.

“And there wasn’t any point in telling you I was related to the guy you were hoping to beat,” Huaisang continued, “You’d have gone in no matter what I said. Trust me, I’ve tried to warn people about the brute.”

Before Jiang Cheng could respond, Nie Mingjue’s booming voice grabbed both of their attention.

“HUAISANG!” he roared down the hall, volume unhindered by the long distance and multiple doors between him and the target of his ire, “COME GET YOUR FUCKING BIRDS!”

If Jiang Cheng strained his ears, he could almost swear that he could hear Natu screeching triumphantly.

Huaisang hurried to the door. Sticking his head out, he yelled back in an equally impressive volume, “BROTHER, IF YOU KEEP ON LIKE THAT, HATTREM’S GOING TO--”

“ARGH!” Nie Mingjue’s surprised screech answered. Well, guess Hattrem found him then.

“Too late,” Huaisang groaned.

He turned from the door and produced a whole package of cookies from his bag. Snubbull made a swipe for them, but a stern look from Jiang Cheng reminded her of her manners. She slunk over to Houndour, properly chastised. Huaisang giggled affectionately, seeming very taken by her already. Jiang Cheng couldn’t quite keep the blush off his face looking at Huaisang giggle. He didn’t understand why he felt so embarrassed, it’s not like Huaisang’s Pokemon were any better behaved.

“She’s lucky she’s cute,” Jiang Cheng grumbled. Snubbull trilled out a sad little whine in response. Jiang Cheng ignored it--his Pokemon only thought they were sly. She knew that was no way to act.

“It’s okay,” Huaisang assured him, “I’m pleased they liked my baking so much.”

Then he turned to the Pokemon and wagged a scolding finger at them.

“But these aren’t for you guys," he told them, "You’ve all eaten your share. These are for your trainer.”

Jiang Cheng startled, blinking a few times. He had to have heard that wrong. For him?! But Huaisang held out the cookies towards him, clearly expecting him to take them, and, holy shit, this guy really baked Jiang Cheng cookies? After the first impression he’d left on this boy, he went back home and made him food? And he’d wrapped them in such cute, dog-print snack bag too.

Jiang Cheng was pretty sure his face was actually glowing by the time he found his tongue again. It wasn’t his fault he was so caught off guard though! People did things like this for Wei Wuxian, not him!

“Y-You don’t have to! I haven’t gotten anything for you,” Jiang Cheng squeaked out.

“It’s a gift,” Huaisang explained, “You don’t have to give me anything back. Anyways, you need to replenish your energy too. My brother is way too hard on his opponents.”

“He’s fair,” Jiang Cheng protested, “And he gives excellent advice after. It really shows how much he cares about the trainers that come to him. You should really respect how he takes everyone seriously, no matter who they are.”

Huaisang blinked, surprised that Jiang Cheng would stand up for the man who just handed his ass to him. Jiang Cheng groaned inwardly at the silence that followed his mini-lecture.

There. He’s done it again.

But instead of being upset, Nie Huaisang’s smile stretched wider. Tenderly, he took one of Jiang Cheng's hands and placed the cookies onto a waiting palm.

“You’re overestimating him, he really is just a maniac,” Huaisang said fondly, “But, yeah, he does care a lot about his trainers. He just doesn't always know how to show it. Not everyone always sees that though and a lot of people tend to be upset with him after their battles, so…”

So Huaisang made sure to smooth things over with the trainers before they left, probably all too used to hearing angry insults spat out about his brother. He’d have long since learned to keep a straight face in the face of them, but they still sucked.

Jiang Cheng knew the feeling all too well. How many times has he had to listen to some Pokemon breeder rant on and on after his brother’s infamous curiosity got him into trouble yet again, poking his nose into private property? How often has he had to reassure yet another furious trainer that Wei Wuxian would not be touching their Pokemon again after his brother just had to see the interesting new Pokemon up close and personal? And each time, Jiang Cheng had been unable to even counter the harsh words; they were right to be mad, after all. Wei Wuxian was chaos given human form and he had the tendency to leave destruction in his wake for others to deal with. Jiang Cheng himself has shared more than a few choice words with his older brother about his behavior over the years. Still, knowing that Wei Wuxian probably deserved it never made it any easier for Jiang Cheng to stomach some stranger calling his brother “a filthy reprobate”.

So yeah, Jiang Cheng knew the feeling. He was secretly a little glad that he could ease that tension for Huaisang. He had such a nice smile and he shouldn’t have to be so tense.

Out loud, all Jiang Cheng said was, “Speaking of your brother…”

“Oh! Right! Here, take these cookies. I have to go check on my brother…. Or not.” Huaisang cut off mid-sentence to wave nervously at someone behind Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng turned around to find Nie Mingjue glowering from the doorway.

Damn, the man was humongous. He seemed even bigger when angry.

“Huaisang,” Nie Mingjue ground out through gritted teeth. In one hand, he held Hattrem by her tails. She didn’t seem to mind it one bit, gleefully cheering as she batted at him with her tiny little arms. In his other hand, he held Spritzee by her feet, dangling her like a chicken. Again, the Pokemon hardly seemed alarmed. On his shoulder sat Togepi, which seemed to be Huaisang’s least dastardly team member. Lastly, there was Stufful, who had attached herself to Nie Mingjue's left leg and appeared totally content to be dragged along by the man as he marched into the room with all the rest of her friends in tow.

But wait, there was one missing. Jiang Cheng almost opened his mouth to ask about Natu but a horrid chirping noise cut him off.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

Natu flew in behind Nie Mingjue, free and unbothered, before landing right on Nie Mingjue’s head. She looked disgustingly smug.

“Da-Ge,” Huaisang greeted sheepishly. He hurried to signal all his Pokemon towards him. To their credit, they immediately hopped to it, leaving Nie Mingjue alone with just a wave of Huaisang’s hand. They’d obviously had training, it seemed as if they were simply very finicky about who they obeyed.

“Da-Ge, go easy on them,” Huaisang soothed, “They’re just bored.”

“They could join us for training if their that bored,” Nie Mingjue grumbled, but still deflated a bit.

“Da-Ge, not this again,” Huaisang groaned, exasperated.

Nie Mingjue rolled his eyes but didn’t push the issue. Instead, he turned to acknowledge Jiang Cheng's presence.

"Take your time to recover. Your Pokemon deserve it after a job well done. Your little guys may not have beat me, but taking out Gyrados is no small feat. Be proud."

Jiang Cheng straightened up.

"Yes, sir. I'll work hard on my trip and come back when I'm more ready."

Nie Mingjue nodded his approval, but didn't immediately divert his attention like Jiang Cheng expected him to. Instead, he looked Jiang Cheng up and down, humming to himself as he did. Jiang Cheng puffed up, trying to meet the Gym Leader's scrutiny. The man really reminded him of his mother and Jiang Cheng couldn't help but try and meet his standards.

"You say you're on a journey?" Nie Mingjue asked, a glint in his eye that had Huaisang watching his brother suspiciously from the sidelines. "Am I right to assume that's for the gym challenge?"

Jiang Cheng nodded. "Yes. My mother thought it would be good for me."

"And? Has it been?"

Jiang Cheng didn't understand why he was being interrogated, but he didn't dare leave the man hanging either.

"So far, yes. I've seen many different Pokemon and…" Jiang Cheng found his eyes sliding over to Huaisang, "... and I've met many interesting new people. I'd never have gotten this experience if I had stayed at home."

Nie Mingjue nodded. He appraised Jiang Cheng one last time before turning towards Huaisang, who was busying himself while they talked by fussing over Natu and petting Yamper who, once again, found her way into his arms.

"Huaisang, go with him when he leaves," he ordered his younger brother.

"I always see them out," Huaisang assured his brother.

"No," Nie Mingjie shook his head. "I mean grab that bag you've had packed for ages and go. With my blessing, as long as you stay with this young man."

….. what?

WHAT?!

"Da-Ge?!" Huaisang asked, sounding as confused as Jiang Cheng felt.

Suddenly, a hard slap landed on Jiang Cheng's shoulder. It easily almost pitched him straight off the bed he was sitting in, how strong was this guy?!

"Take care of him and bring him home in one piece, kid. And don't coddle him, he can take care of himself despite the whining."

He had to be joking, right? No way was The Nie Mingjue just casually pitching his notoriously-beloved younger brother at Jiang Cheng. No way. This was definitely some weird joke and any minute now Nie Mingjue would let the two of them in on it.

"Da-Ge, you cannot be serious.” Huaisang spoke for the both of them since Jiang Cheng was finding himself at a loss for words.

"You've wanted to go on an adventure, right? Get out of the house more?" Nie Mingjue asked Huaisang. Huaisang sputtered for a response.

"Not-Not like this! You can't just-just shoehorn me out the door!"

Nie Mingjue merely laughed in the face of his brother's distress.

"I think you'll find I can. Get your bags, Huaisang! Actually, I'll get them for you. You two catch up!"

"Wait! I said wait, you oaf! Hey!"

---

The sun was already setting by the time they made it to the end of the very path Jiang Cheng had met Nie Huaisang on just earlier today.

"... you don't actually have to stay with me the whole way. My brother's just an overprotective idiot, I'll be fine without a babysitter."

Huaisang bit his lower lip and shot Jiang Cheng a self-deprecating smile. Jiang Cheng's heart clenched at seeing so much insecurity and doubt mar the other boy's features. If Jiang Cheng were being honest? He'd found himself really hoping Huaisang would want to come with him ever since Nie Mingjue had returned with a heavy pack and a still-protesting-Huaisang in tow. He got lonely sometimes, he could admit it. He missed having company, and he could do worse than Nie Huaisang for company. A lot worse.

But he couldn't exactly just say that, could he? He'd just met the kid, he'd definitely creep him out if he seemed too eager to have him follow along.

Jiang Cheng put his hands in his pockets, awkwardly trying to find the words. In his pocket he found the small package that Huaisang had gifted him with earlier, still filled with cookies. He'd almost forgotten about that that--he'd carefully tucked them into a pocket in the middle of all the confusion, promising to try one later.

"It's fine," Jiang Cheng finally worked up the courage to reply, "Just think of it as a thank you for the cookies."

Huaisang blinked at him incredulously.

"I'll be in your hands, partner."

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tenpointstoq · 4 years

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Geraskier Designer Jaskier, Builder Geralt

New modern Au wholesome idea because I am trash

Jaskier is an interior designer who is asked to help create an amazing new space for Yen, who has brought her oldest and best friend Geralt in to help with some architecture (mainly just to make sure anything that’s moved isn’t on a load bearing wall ect) and also to restore/build a bunch of stuff for the house.

Geralt sources everything himself, restores it by hand, builds stuff from reclaimed timber and all sorts of weird stuff Jaskier is amazed at him finding.

They drive each other a little nuts, Geralt has such a love for all things old and Jaskier needs at least some new things in the space, some colour, some damn wall paper pleaser. There is only so much exposed brick anyone can take. The quiet man drives him up the wall, but he also has ways about him that Jaskier can’t ignore.

The way he handles everything with such care. How his strong arms shift beneath his shirt as he brushes a gentle hand across a freshly sanded piece of wood, his eyes liquid amber, the sensation of a job well done sitting between them like honey made warm by the sun. Jaskier tongue feels heavy with it, his mind a little muddled. The man for all his silence and stoicism is sort of beautiful.

And sure Jaskier loves a good thrift find, to reclaim when possible, but it’s rare you get to design a home for one of the most extra Sorceresses in the land. Yet Geralt helps him find a balance and perhaps Geralt doesn’t mind the velvet so much when Jaskier has him pressed against some large swatches on his work bench, asking his opinion as a thinly veiled guise to get a little too close. The two men seem to orbit one another, getting so close and then never quite close enough. Geralt doesn’t trust himself and Jaskiers not sure why this one seems to matter so much.

As they construct the home it becomes more and more theirs, as months go by the project melds as the two grow closer. Jaskier laughing as Geralt installs the shower with the wrong tape and they both end up saturated, Jaskiers fingers spread across the Geralt’s sculpted stomach, his eyes tracing scars he doesn’t dare to ask about. Though later, wrapped in blankets in the room Jaskiers taken over to store soft furnishings, sometimes naps in and now uses to make out with Geralt at times. Geralt tells him stories of his past. Of monster hunting, of a world he a Yen fought for save and lost. Of the amazing young woman, their daughter, who saved them both, who helped them hold onto hope.

Geralt’s been working in the business for a long time now. It feels good to work with his hands. To create after so many lifetimes of killing. He’s fucking good too, for someone who doesn’t really care about fashion or washing the saw dust and natural wood oil from himself, he knows colour and tone. He knows how to bring the home to a space, be it large and industrial or small and bare. He can’t remember when he had started looking for a place that felt like home, just that he began to find it as he helped other people create there’s.

He rides a motorbike, who shares a name with his cat, a brown grump named roach. His own home, which Jaskier ends up at somewhat by accident. Worried about Geralt’s health after the Witcher disappeared for a week (ended up being a werewolf outbreak in a city nearby). Yen leave the two idiots to figure it out and Jaskier turns up with chicken soup and heat packs to find Geralt sewing his own stitches and bleeding onto his amazing floorboards. The rugs under his bare feet are worn but comfortbale, the space smells like firewood, old leather and natural wood oils. There’s a hint of camomile and when Jaskier goes to fetch them both a drink he finds Geralt has a pantry stocked with drying herbs and something akin to an apothecary.

As the house begins to come together and their work time wears thin, Jaskier Finds it harder and harder to create excuses to come over to Geralt’s. Geralt has no idea how to just invite him, which should be easy, but part of Geralt isn’t sure why Jaskier would even want to continue their rather casual relationship after the house is done. Yen had filled him in more than once of Jaskiers many affairs, being a rather famous designer he had his fill of companions of all kinds. Geralt was a quiet old grump, he didn’t want to drink champagne and go to fancy parties. He liked nights spent sanding wood and tidying his workshop.

In the end Jaskier commissions as table from Geralt, for a home Jaskier is yet to truly own. Having travelled so much, he lived out of hotel rooms and friends mansions. But Yen’s home made him realise just how much he was missing. Jaskier orders the piece under a fake name, he hadn’t seen Geralt in months at this point and as Jaskier wanders into his studio, pushing his ridiculous sunglasses into his hair, his fingers sliding across the beautiful wood of the table Geralt had begun to build for him he smiled, skidding to sit in the edge.

‘You didn’t need to hire me to have a conversation, I do own a phone.’ Geralt grumbled, eyes flickering away, trying as hard as they could to hide the smile that glittered within them. Jaskier laughed, reaching out to drag Geralt to him by his belt loops.

‘But where’s the fun in that? Plus you promised to show me a good lathe if I recall correctly.’ His thumb pressing against Geralt bottom lip as he moved to scowl at the bad pun, laughter deep within both of their chests. ‘What better place to show me than on the table you’re going to build for us?’

‘Us?’ Geralt asked, his voice strangely small and quiet. The word meant so much, how could something so small command so much power.

Jaskiers eyes are bright as he smiles and nods, leaning in to brush his lips gently across Geralt’s. ‘We’ve been workmates, friends, Friends with rather delightful benefits, something more and for a little too long something less, I think it’s about time we try and see how we work as a proper team.’ He explained, hands flapping around the two of them as he explained himself rather excitedly. Geralt’s calloused fingers threaded through Jaskiers, bringing them down to still between the two of them.

‘All you had to do was ask’ he murmured, taking the final step to close the space between them. Leaning in to press their foreheads together just so. It still seemed odd to him that this beautiful social butterfly would want to settle down with an old wolf like himself. But Yen was, as always right, you could never be sure of what another needed, usually until it fell into you very own lap.

And so it was, that the Witcher and Jaskier settled down together, Jaskier continuing to create beautiful spaces, now always with even the tiniest touch of rustic hand made charm.

#i am so tired what even is this?#is it jusf an excuse fo have shirtless Geralt rubbing oil onto things?#geraskier #he would smell amazing #geraskiedfic #geraskier moder au #geraskier au #geraskier prompt #transboywitcher writes

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cxhnow · 4 years

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Chloe x Halle Talk Police Brutality and Postponing Their Album

“The way our music has evolved is exactly how we're evolving as young women.”

Four days before the release of their sophomore album, Ungodly Hour, Chloe x Halle addressed their fans to let them know they’re postponing it. In a video posted across their social channels, sisters Chloe, 21, and Halle Bailey, 20, sat shoulder to shoulder at their home in Los Angeles, surrounded by hovering green trees, and tried to sum up their range of emotions after witnessing a global uprising against police brutality.“In honor of all of the lives lost in police brutality, we felt like it was right to postpone, and fully shine our attention and our work on them,” Chloe said, with both a shake and clarity in her voice, in the video to the duo's 2.7 million followers. Halle added, “Music has been used for a long time to bring us joy and healing in difficult times like this.” Just weeks before, George Perry Floyd, a Black man living in Minneapolis, died in police custody while a white officer’s knee was pressed on his neck. As video of his killing spread, and after the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, protests sparked around the world demanding accountability and allyship with the Black Lives Matter movement. On the day Chloe, Halle, and I spoke by phone, Tony McDade, a Black trans man in Tallahassee, Florida, was fatally shot by an officer. In Los Angeles, where the sisters live, protesters strung their bodies together to temporarily shut down the 101 freeway. In Atlanta, where they were born, six police officers were charged after being accused of using excessive force on two Black college students who were tased and pulled out of their cars days earlier.During a time when fans are more critical of how celebrities engage in civil rights activism, Grammy-nominated musicians and actors Chloe and Halle Bailey don’t tiptoe. They urge fans to sign petitions, donate, vote, and recognize Black life, early and often. They celebrate Black joy year-round. This is what their followers have grown to expect from them. Chloe and Halle have always had something to say, and it just so happens to be an important time to speak up.

It’s hard to wrap your head around the unbreakable confidence it takes to be a female pop artist if you aren’t one. Thankfully, Chloe and Halle have each other. For decades, the bond among members of Black singing girl groups has given audiences soulful and fun music. In the '90s, groups like SWV, En Vogue, and Zhané made upbeat R&B music that made you want to dance with your homegirls. Now, contemporary duos like KING, Van Jess, and Ibeyi stand out for their rapturous vocals enveloped in dramatic production. Chloe x Halle add to this legacy by singing, writing, and producing ethereal music that resonates with the girl next door.Yet there are distinct differences in the duo’s vocal style; they don’t try to match each other’s voices to create some sort of uniformity. Rather, they play off of rhythm and song pacing to meld their voices. When they do sing choruses and bridges together, their voices, albeit distinct, create layered, otherworldly melodies.The duo’s sound is often described as angelic, giving leeway for some to describe them as two women without sin. Chloe and Halle want to shatter this idea because it’s not realistic. “For Ungodly Hour we were so excited to just flip the narrative of being the perfect angel and show the other side[s] of us.…," says Halle. "The dark side, the naughty side, the things that happen that you don't see behind the scenes.”

The majority of the 13 songs on the album are about navigating messy situations — sometimes ones that you have caused. In the midst of trying to be a better friend or romantic partner, you know that you’ll always be imperfect, and decide to love yourself anyway.“I've always been a jazz head," Halle says. “I don't know why, but there's something about the pain and the love and the heartbreak that you can truly feel through the essence of those songs that are sung by Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald.” As of late, Chloe’s “really, really been inspired by '90s music and early 2000s production,” a vibe you can hear and see in “Do It,” the second single off of Ungodly Hour.“We wanted to show our sensual side because we are growing as young women, but we still kept it classy and cute,” Chloe says. “It was just really fun for us to do that. We also wanted to start dancing this era, and just something really simple. And it makes us so happy to see everyone doing that dance on TikTok.”Chloe expands on how the name of the album and title track came about after working with the U.K. duo Disclosure: “We wrote this song [the title track “Ungodly Hour”] with Disclosure, and we had the best time,” she recalls. “I forgot what I was watching, but I heard the phrase ‘ungodly hour’ and wrote it in my notes. [It] kind of stuck out to all of us, and we were like, ‘What can you say with this?’ We all came up with this sentence: ‘Love me at the ungodly hour,’ which means love me when I'm at my worst; love me when I'm not all dolled up and made up. Love me when all my insecurities are out on the table.”’

“We started writing about when you're in a situationship with a guy and the chemistry is there, and you know the love is there and your connection is so deep, but he's not going all in," she continues. "For some reason he doesn't want to commit. He's entertaining other options, and it's just saying, ‘You know what? I love myself enough to walk away and put the brakes on this and to pause this. So when you decide you like yourself, when you decide you need someone, when you don't have to think about it — love me at the ungodly hour.’”Other emotionally complex tracks on the album include “Forgive Me,” a haunting song inspired by Chloe’s own life, after she discovered a guy she was involved with was going back and forth between her and another young woman. “I Wonder What She Thinks of Me” is a song that tells the story of the new love, the one a man gets with after he’s broken up with his ex.The vocalists are eager to make music that grows with them and becomes more layered as they do. “The way our music has evolved is exactly how we're evolving as young women,” Chloe says. The chromelike wings they turn around and show on their album cover, worn with black, latex dresses, are symbolic of their strength and power.When I ask what they hope for in the future, the Bailey sisters seem at ease. Chloe would love to work with BTS: “They're performing — it's top-notch. I'll sit at my computer and watch all of their music videos and all of their performances.”“Awards would be nice," she adds. "Being at the top of these Hot 100 lists would be beautiful and amazing, but as long as I'm growing and I'm a better version of myself tomorrow than I was today, I am content.”

The duo is used to releasing music during times of political duress. Two years ago, when Chloe x Halle were part of our music issue for the release of their debut album The Kids Are Alright, the world was grappling with an immigration travel ban enacted by President Donald Trump, the #MeToo movement, and pressing climate change legislation. That album was an intonation from the sisters to young activists approaching human rights issues head-on: “Do it while you young. Don't let them turn you numb. Don't let them get you strung. Ooh, let me put you on,” they sing on their first album's title song.“I was 15 through 17, and Chloe was 17 through 19 during the making of the album,” Halle says of their debut project. “We were still very young. We were still trying to figure out what we wanted, and I think that showed in the music.”As artists, the singers say their first album was about proving they could play an active, hands-on role in the production of their own music in an industry dominated by men. As two teenage women, it was about showing the world that, although they didn't have all the answers and weren’t sure what was lurking around every corner, they had the guts to find out. At that point in their careers they had been signed to Beyoncé’s Parkwood for five years and had released one other project, the Sugar Symphony EP, in 2016. But aside from opening tour performances and high-profile appearances, they hadn't become household names.

Now, amid a health pandemic and a country in unrest because of its history of white supremacy, Chloe and Halle are navigating being famous and also having a distinct voice. While finding ways to take care of themselves, the sisters are also promoting an album from their home, in the rooms where they first honed their craft as writers, instrumentalists, and producers. “We've kind of gotten back to our roots and started doing what originally got us started," Halle says, "which is doing YouTube covers, interacting on social media, and connecting with our beautiful fans through there.” A lot has changed in their personal lives as well. They're private about the details, but say they’re learning more about guys and finding themselves in relationships and situationships. They’re experiencing more love, heartbreak, and the misguided antics of boys. "We have to take our power back as women and not allow ourselves to be played,” Chloe riffs.In January, the third season of their Freeform show, grown-ish, dropped. In the college-centered comedy, led by Yara Shahidi, Chloe plays Jazz and Halle plays Sky, ambitious twin sisters who attend the fictional state school Cal U. Jazz is balancing being in love with her boyfriend Doug (played by Diggy Simmons) and schoolwork; Sky is focused on being a track star while navigating her interracial relationship. Like the sisters in real life, their characters are witty, impeccably stylish, and proud of their Blackness. But unlike Chloe and Halle, they’re far more overt about their love lives — often kissing in hallways and openly discussing their sex lives — and unfiltered opinions.Before stay-at-home orders went into place, Chloe and Halle had been expanding farther into Hollywood, and pursuing separate film projects.In July 2019, it was announced that Halle is set to play Ariel in the live-action The Little Mermaid. Many saw Halle’s breakout feature-film role as a huge win for inclusion, but, like clockwork, people on social media found an issue with the revamped iteration of Ariel being played by a Black woman. Halle spoke out on the discourse, telling Variety at the time, “I feel like I’m dreaming, and I’m just grateful. I don’t pay attention to the negativity. I just feel like this role is something bigger than me. It’s going to be beautiful.”

Halle remains grateful, but says of the negative criticism, “We've always learned to just keep our heads up no matter the situation. No matter what anybody has to say about you...just keep pushing.”

Like Halle, Chloe is also expanding her acting chops in feature projects. In December, Chloe wrapped filming for her role in the horror film The Georgetown Project, starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Simpkins. “I'm really protective of my energy, I'm very spiritual, and I love God,” she says about the thriller. “So I was constantly praying when I was on set. But surprisingly, the energy on set was so positive. And I learned so much by being around all of these Oscar-winning actors.”

Humility is a running trait between the sisters. They don’t hide their confidence, but are also God-fearing and incredibly gracious. They’re media-trained and polite, but also find a way to be frank. They say this album is a “whole different world” for them as they reveal more of their personalities, while exploring what it means to be grown women.

“We are learning to embrace who we truly are,” Chloe says about their music evolution. “Our insecurities, our sexuality, owning our power. I'm grateful that we are given a space where we can do that comfortably. And I'm grateful for our parents, because they instilled in us that we need to be strong and independent young women.”

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memoirsofrkxjiyeon · 4 years

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HEARTZ 1/3 DEBUT STAGE

8th October 2020

Performing You&Me Together and Love&Live

Mnet M!Countdown

It’s been long journey to this very moment performing on stage in front of audience to feel actually like a idol, it almost felt surreal. From 6:20 am the girls has been going non-stop as they rehearsal in casual clothes at the broadcast station, warming up her body as she figure out on what little movements she needs to work on. Jiyeon was thrilled to be there as finally felt like a real life idol so she could work on her magic on greeting staffs and other senior artists who were promoting the same time they were. It is important to get on the best side of sunbaes so her little networking mode activated naturally showing off her sweet bubbly personality. There were so many rehearsals which were exhausting yet it was necessary as she did not want to mess up on stage, she would practice certain expressions and movements to see what would work better.

Jiyeon can not just perform like a robot up there, she needed to show herself let her charisma do the talking as she only wish to give a performance for fans to remember even fall in love with her and the rest of the heartz 1/3 so they can start gathering nice fan base. Her mind was twirling around like evil genius on planning on how to take over the industry. Around 7pm the manager told them it was time to go on stage, she gave some hugs to other members knowing that must be just as nervous she was and in truth it been while since she performed live in front of audience who wasn’t fellow trainees or members of staff. Sudden thumps radiate from her chest, she took a deep breath trying to compose herself and gets in position for the show to begin..

First up they performed cheerful number You and Me Together, Jiyeon happily bounced on her toes smiling right at the audience before the all the girls lined up resting one arm on each other showing them their unity before throwing cheeky peace sign then break into song. The idol struts herself looking into the camera for the audience at home singing the first lines, the choreography was simple & cute so she did with simple elegance. The whole sub-unit reminded her of little sister group of shez which she adored so she was living the dream, Jiyeon wanted to make a good impression in the first minutes of their opening number to warm up the crowd. She never felt so happy performing on live broadcast like this, she couldn’t stop smiling exposing her cute bunny smile which suited her spirit animal very well. It felt strange all the nerves and worries just melted away like why was she nervous about something she loved?! The end of opening number, the girls cuddled each other in a big group hug getting completely squished, she wanted to cry but it would have ruin her make-up besides they got another performance to do first.

The buzz from that performance continue onto Love & Live which was little slower tempo compare to the first one yet it is certainly longer. She felt this choreography was much delicate from the last, she felt every little movement was important making extended her fingers along with soft expressions as she was magical fairy. Jiyeon’s sweet honey voice really got show as she sang each word from her heart channeling her own personal experience of falling in love with someone for the first time. It can be so scary yet exciting when start to realizing someone is setting your own heart alight especially when they are good friend like Namjoon. The other thing she loved about the performance she enjoy hearing their voices melded together into something so beautiful along with Seungah high notes even though this song doesn’t really show what she truly capable but personally she believe how everyone get chance to sing little something. There is so many things she generally loved about their first live performance together she is excited on how they will join together, Yuzu & Eunbi looked so cute in their outfits making her feel like a proud mother in a way, like it was their first day at school. There was Luda who seem like the one persons she always lean on support, someone who she seen grown into wonderful woman.

Once the performances were over, Jiyeon formally met the important people she put on her charm showing her respectful dongsaeng who only thrives to do better and humble for this opportunity which is given in to them. The moment when they all went home back to the dorms, the oldest member started to tear up which she holding in all day, so many emotions going through right now, she was terrified, happy, relieved, proud and etc etc. She finally made it, she is actually real life breathing idol and it was time for the real work to begin. Time to make Heartz a group to remember like SHEZ and show that Sphere can create even more amazing groups.

#heartz:oct20 #rksevngah #rkxluda #yuzurk #rkwxnb #[ lovelyz hi era ;u; ]

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ansgar-martinsson · 4 years

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The Best Intentions - Part 27

It was too late.

He had neither meant for it to happen, nor expected it.

Not so soon after his return to Stockholm, not so soon after he came home. Not so soon after first hearing the name Joline Lindberg. Not so soon after the oozing, crusty-black scab from Faye’s rapier slash fell away from his wounded heart.

But it was too late. Too late and in that moment, he knew it. He knew it the moment he reached for her, the moment he drew her in, the moment his body meshed and melded with hers, the moment he took her with a gentle stroke, with a careful slide of his flesh into hers, with a lover’s embrace. He knew.

He knew it just the same way he knew how to breathe life into a Philip Glass sonata, how to create with a CAD program or a hammer. He knew it just the same way he understood his business, the way he could read his customers, the way he knew how to keep his employees happy and productive. He just knew.

But he’d not put words to it. Not yet. Not even in his mind, would he allow himself to admit to it. The ethereal ‘it’. That ‘it’ that meant his stomach would flutter and his heart would pound and his head would feel like a helium balloon in the very presence of her. That ‘it’ that would make his cock twitch with the very idea of her flesh. That ‘it’ that meant he would do anything, say anything, give anything just to keep her with him.

That ‘it’ that was now giving him the warmest, most tender delight in not just fucking, not just sex, but making love… truly and honestly making love to the woman in his arms, the woman in his bed, the woman in his life, the woman named Joline Lindberg.

Making love.

Love.

Love… Joline?

Could he? Did he?

And if that is what it was, would he give over to it? Would he give in to it, again? Better question: would she?

“Mmmm, come here,” he murmured, pulling gently on her opposite side. “I want to see your face. Come on top of me.”

“Are you sure?”

“Please,” his voice was breathy, reedy, nearly a child like beg. “I need to see you. I need to look… to look at you.”

And he shifted and she shifted, and he found himself staring up into her deep, fathomless eyes. Her weight was a comfort around his body, an anchor for his restless spirit, a balm for his battered mind. His hands, nearly of their own accord, for his full attention was on her face, grasped her around the waist and lifted her. “Inside,” he whispered. “Put me back inside.”

Her gaze not leaving his, she reached between her legs and wrapped her fingers around him. He knew she’d taken him in, not so much from the sensation of her warm, soft flesh, but more from the look of pure bliss that melted over her features as she lowered herself down upon him.

His own muscles went slack, his eyes fluttered closed and open again, and his mouth dropped open upon a deep, guttural moan. “Mmmmm,” he hummed. “Just like that. Yes. Yes. Oh. Exactly like that.”

She’d rolled her hips to seat him deeper, and in doing so, bent forward, her hands flat on the mattress, framing his head, her breasts perking down in tempting mounds just in the reach of his mouth, her hair cascading in a thick, dark mass over her face to tickle his beard below. She moved on him, slowly, slowly, oh so slowly….

And Ansgar moved with her, just as languid in his caresses, just as fluid in his pulses, just as fervent in his searching kisses, just as… loving… in his touch. A touch that was amorous and delicate, fluttering and caressing over her heated skin with quiet fingertips. He reached up, palming back the curtain of her hair, parting it away from her face, sculpting a bright, pinkish blue halo of seraphic sunrise and cherubic city light around her head. He held the day-glow back, exposing the window of her very soul, the wings of her emotions, and he watched her. Watched. Watched for those tell-tale signs of her mutual desire, his effects upon her, her knowledge of him. He watched and studied and learned and extolled and revered…

… and, like the pilgrim that he was beneath her altar, he worshiped her.

“Oh, Joline. Beautiful Joline,” he praised, lifting his hips from the bed, pressing himself further, further, even further into her. His fingers curled inward, tightening his grip on her head, his vision fixed firmly upon her, his eyes to hers, grasping onto her gaze with a near preternatural strength until… until….

Until he could hold the heat of it no longer. Until his eyes squeezed shut, until every muscle in his face, every tissue in his body contracted and constricted, pulsated and throbbed in a cascade failure of control, a paroxysm of pleasure. “My… ah… ah… ah… oh! Joline!”

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

Ansgar shoved the gear shift of his Tesla into park at the very moment the clock on the display shifted from 11:59 AM to 12:00 PM. With a knowing smirk, he lit from the car, nearly jogging around the front, up the drive and to the door of the small house.

He found the doorbell with little problem, smiling at the sight of the red and yellow Dala Horse painted upon its cover, the surname “Lindberg” printed in matching Old Germanic lettering along the bottom. A mash of his finger on the cracked and faded button and he was met with an old-fashioned, satisfying “bing bong” from somewhere within the home.

He pressed the button a second time, shorter, then, and stood back, considering his reflection in the plate glass of the outer door. He ran his hands over his clothes - roll-sleeved and breast-pocketed light pink linen shirt, navy blue walking shorts, brown woven belt and tan boat shoes - through his hair - which he left looser, more casual, that day - and across his beard - which he’d trimmed to sharp-lined precision that morning after he’d returned Joline, upon her request, to the Opera House.

Hands shoved deep in his shorts pockets, he rolled up and back on the balls of his feet, waiting. He checked his watch, wiping the immense crystal of it against his shirt, annoyed by the slight smudge upon it, a smudge put there when he’d cleaned up the breakfast dishes that morning.

“You told me you were a hopeless cook,” Joline had teased, leaning on her cupped hands over the edge of the breakfast bar. “What the hell do you call that?” She’d pointed to the oven, where Ansgar had fetched out a cooking tray with two white ramekins, bubbling and baked to perfection - hot scrambled eggs, fresh rosemary and basil, cheese, butter, and ham cooked into a dish omelette and ready to serve. “That looks amazing and smells absolutely delicious.”

“It’s true. I am a hopless cook,” Ansgar had replied, resting the cookie sheet onto the granite counter. “I had nothing to do with it. Rosie made these last night and left them for me in the fridge. Left me specific instructions, step by step, on a sheet of paper, mind you, of how to cook them this morning.”

“How sweet of her,” Joline had drolled. “Handholding you through making my breakfast and all that. Did she tell you how to turn that thing on, and that you shouldn’t touch the inside when it’s hot?”

Ansgar had chuckled. “I know how to work the oven, darling. It’s just all the bits leading up to it that are completely baffling.”

“How brave of you to open up and admit that to me,” Joline had joked.

“I can keep nothing from you,” he’d said, leaning into her. He brushed the warm side of the oven mitt down her nose, smiling. “You should know that by now.”

Ansgar chuckled at the memory of it as he waited on the concrete stoop for her. His flesh stirred inwardly at the thought of her sitting there in his kitchen, her legs spread over the edge of the white leather bar stool, in her pink knickers and flesh coloured brassiere, of her dark hair loose and mussed upon her shoulders, her make up all but smudged off and her lips rather bruised. He smiled at the memory of his own body, wrapped in nothing but a white towel, how he had to sit with his torso tight against the table as he ate, his erection threatening to drop the towel where he sat.

He checked his watch again, and again, he pressed the button.

After Ansgar dropped her at the theatre with a kiss, a tickle and a promise to fetch her again in a few hours for the picnic, Joline put in a few hours work before returning home to change and check in on her mother. Joline had her girls in the marketing department throw together a handful of mailers and fliers for the Martinsson Construction clientele, in case the opportunity presented itself. She fancied the cover story, and if it got her a few more subscribers, it was worth the effort.

“You’re still in your knickers. Are you nervous?” her mother asked when she caught Joline yanking yet another outfit from the depths of her closet.

“Mama, what are you doing? Pacing my hall again?” Despite Joline’s reservations about going to the event in a personal capacity, she still needed to look equal parts House Manager for the theatre and the potential girlfriend of the CEO. Mistress, lover, fuckbuddy, newest toy, all titles that society deemed inappropriate, but that they all practiced. Society always needed a title (even if she and Ansgar both disliked them), so she’d don the girlfriend moniker for the sake of appearances.

“Making sure the varnish is still on the door,” her mother quipped, pointing at the closet door that Joline had opened and closed at least four dozen times.

“Tell your jokes. I think I may go mad.”

Emelie crossed the threshold of her daughter’s room and eased herself into a seated position on the foot of the bed amongst at least half the contents of the closet. Her back played her up, and Joline couldn’t help but notice the favor and attention given to the act of sitting. It worried her more than she’d ever admit or confront her mother with.

Joline often said when anyone asked of her mother’s condition that there were good days and there were bad days. She rarely spoke of the mediocre or stable days, and never in great detail. Save Elias. Elias lived through some of the brutally painful days when their mother could barely stand for the aches in her back and legs. Elias listened to Joline’s tears of terror that their mother might not live till morning for the bouts of vomiting.

Joline couldn’t share that family business with anyone but Elias. She wasn’t embarrassed by the progression of her mother’s disease, and didn’t resent her decision to move back to Sweden to care for her either. She was glad to do it, proud to be there when her best friend needed her. She merely didn’t utter the words because it would make time infinitely smaller, her borrowed time with her mother even shorter. Make the truth of it a reality, even more than the rounds of meds and constant surveillance.

It was a form of denial that Joline lived to keep her going day to day, to continue working at the opera house, to even date. If she let herself think about it, consider the real possibility of her mother’s fate, she’d shrivel like a raisin in the sun or cease to exist herself. Life without her mother wasn’t a life at all.

“Why the neurotic emptying of your closet?”

Joline threw a floral print summer dress into the pile of ‘possibility but not really feeling it.’ She blew out an exasperated breath. “What the fuck do I know about corporate functions?”

Emelie smiled a closed mouth grin. “Do what I did when your father took me, fake it. Fake it till it hurts. Then do something entirely scandalous when you get a minute alone with your… date.”

“Mother!”

“Your partner? Date… whatever he is. You do nothing different than when you do your theatre hoity-toity gigs.”

“That’s business.”

“So is this,” Emilie pointed out sagely, “Just not your business.”

Joline flung her closet door open again, hoping an option would jump out at her and scream, ‘Pick me! Pick me!’ Instead everything hung lifelessly in her closet looking utterly drab and inappropriate. She sighed dejectedly. “I’ve turned into her… one of those girls that fusses about every detail.”

Emelie curled her arms around each other and rested them under breasts. “Jojo, you can be as girly as you need to be… no judgement here. I won’t spill.”

Joline sighed and glanced at the clock on her mobile that rested on the chest of drawers. Too little time…

“Daughter,” her mother intoned cautiously, “I hate to be that mother, but I’m going to be this one time.”

The younger Lindberg woman turned to her mother, drawn in by the concern she heard there. “Is he good to you?”

The question caught her off guard and unprepared for answering. The instant attraction between her and Ansgar and the subsequent time spent in each other’s company felt too new, almost unstable to tell anyone else about. Even her best friend. She needed to sort herself before she could explain to anyone else… at least until her mother confronted her. “By all appearances, we shouldn’t work, mama. I know that. He’s everything I thought I didn’t want. An executive. A celebrity by Stockholm standards. Arrogant, assertive arsehole.”

“I swoon at the thought, dearest.”

“And yet, there’s a generosity to him, a willingness to help, and he’s brilliant.” She shivered as her mind played back another intimate moment she shared with Sgar, when her body sank onto him and bliss of their gentle joining stalled her heart. “He’s good to me. At least he’s trying to be.”

Hardly the typical mother, Emelie stepped into that role with surprising ease when it came to her youngest. She’d read the gossip columns about Ansgar Martinsson, his estranged wife, and suspect incident regarding another former employee of Martinsson Construction. She wasn’t one to believe gossip, but the overwhelming amount of it surrounding the owner and CEO gave her pause.

The love bites she caught sight of on her daughter didn’t help endear him to her either.

*~*~*~*~*~

“Shit!” Joline cursed when she heard the bell ring at the front door. She tucked in her long-sleeved white blouse, leaving the tops buttons undone, into a cream and blue diamond linen skirt. She shoved her feet into pale blue heels and roughly combed her fingers through her loose hair to get it to behave.

“Your chariot is a tesla,” her mother muttered from the hallway where she hovered. “Well, fuck me…” she blew out on a whistle.

“Mama!”

“Don’t blame me! I didn’t think Teslas could run on the working class oxygen that we store out here.”

Joline grabbed her clutch, a pair of earrings, a ring to put on her finger and an extra lipstick before she breezed past her mother to the stairs. She left a peck on her cheek and instructions to take it easy. She sidestepped down the steps as the bell sounded once more. Breathlessly, she got to the door and glanced up the stairs to make sure her mother was out of sight. She opened the door a wedge and squeezed herself out the smallest gap she could, closing the door behind her.

“I kept you waiting, I’m sorry,” she tried to sound carefree, but she didn’t feel it. All six foot two of Ansgar stood tall and proud in front of her house, feet from her mother, and she thought she might faint. Dizzy with nerves, she kissed him quickly and began to lead him towards his car. “Time got away from me.”

“Slow down, darling,” he stated calmly, catching her arm and tugging her back to him. “We’re in no rush,” he purred, petting his hands over her hair. “You look… incredible.”

Joline felt him entwine his fingers with hers and urged her into his embrace. “Sgar, the neighbors will talk.”

“Then let’s give them something to discuss, at length.” He cupped her cheeks between his hands and brought her lips to his for a long engaged kiss. The passion in his kiss was enough to melt the iron of the little mail slots on all the doors of the neighborhood. “I’ve been anxious for that,” he murmured against her lips.

“You look good too,” she said dumbly, a delayed response, her senses melted at her feet on the path between her front door and the street.

Ansgar led her to the car, opened th e door for her and offered her a hand to guide her into soft, soft, silky smooth leather bucket seats. The new car smell assaulted her nose, and nearly knocked her out from sensory overload. Ansgar’s kiss, heady and sensual, his car, sinful and decadent, the leather, sexy and luxurious.

He closed the door when she was safely inside and stepped around to the driver’s side, folding himself into the bucket seat. He took her hand again, once he’d pulled away from the kerb. Traffic moved freely as they inched along to the park entrance.

“So partner….” She began.

“Partner is it?”

“When your tongue isn’t in my mouth, kissing me stupid.”

He laughed, bringing her hand to his lips, his eyes on the road ahead.

“I reviewed all the designs from last season, and I think I found where the plans were changed and the bulbs were all switched around. The lighting designer from last season was asked not to come back… this was before I was brought on. Seems he left a parting gift,” she explained in as few words as possible. She knew the name well enough, as the short-tempered Welch man had left a lot of her crew sour. “But I might still have a sympathizer among my ranks. I may need to borrow your eyes next week, when we start load-in.”

#the best intentions

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