#my heart still wants to believe the first one

[monstersflashlight]

If possible, when you are feeling better and up to it, writing some aquatic monster smut (mermaid-like or octopus-like)??

Ps love your writing I look forward to seeing more 💙

Thank you for your kind words! It means a lot. I chose sea-monster as an octopus-like creature, hope that's okay. I was thinking some kind of half-octopus, half-human. Something like Ursula from The Little Mermaid but like… male and hot? I hope you like this, and I’m very sorry for how long it took me to get to it. 🥰

A good girl at the seaside

Sea-monster x fem!reader || tentacles, praise kink, forced orgasm, overstimulation

You were floating on the beach, still not believing your luck. A weird lady at the inn recommended you the most precious little beach and there was nobody around, it was completely deserted. You spent some time at the shore, basking under the sun with your bikini on, before you said fuck it, and chose to take off your bikini completely. The sun felt marvelous against your naked skin, and not having any tan lines was also a pro. You didn't want to get caught, but deep down you felt a spark of heat at the thought of someone observing your naked form. Someplace inside of you, there was an exhibitionist wanting to come out.

Floating in the water felt like a warm caress against your overheated skin, the sea salt making your body tickle, and your nakedness making you feel naughty. After a while, you felt your fingers pruning. You got back to the sand, laying down flat on your towel, the sun tickling your back and warming your skin. It was wonderful.

"What do we have here? A pretty human gift?" A raspy voice said from behind you. You screamed and tried to turn around.

"What the-?" You didn't finish that thought. A slimy something pressed at your lower back, pushing your body down and stopping you from turning to see who it was. Was that a tentacle? It felt like it. What the fuck. "Let me go!" You tried to scratch the tentacle, push it away from you, but more joined the first one, ascending the back of your thighs, sending shivers up your spine. Some grabbed your arms and pinned them down. Another pair grabbed your ankles and pushed your legs apart. You were completely exposed and trapped under some talkative tentacle monster.

"What a pretty pussy... We are going to have fun, aren't we?" The creature behind you said, a tentacle following a path to your center. You shivered involuntarily.

"What? No!" You tried to break free and turn around, but it was fruitless. The tentacles holding you down were way too heavy, had too much force for you to move.

"Hmm?" He made a sound of utter confusion. "You don't want to? But the lady said she sent me a present. And you are in my beach…"

"What are you talking about?! I don't even know who you are! What you are!" You screamed over your shoulder, still pinned to the ground, your breathing irregular with exertion of trying to get free. You tried really hard to bury the shiver of anticipation under your skin, the wetness pooling at your pussy… The slimy feeling of his tentacles against your heated skin felt wonderful, but you knew you didn’t want it. Right?

"Oh, my bad." His voice sounded completely dejected, like you offended him with your rejection. He sounded sad, and you hated that it made your heart ache for him. He was trying to tentacle-fuck you without even asking first, you shouldn’t be feeling sorry for him… But yet, you felt it. The tentacles holding you down disappeared, and you turned around completely.

He was some kind of sea creature, his upper half looked humanoid, his features flat, but handsome in a weird way. His skin looked wet and shiny, super smooth, like a fish. But his lower body wasn't human, it was a mess of tentacles that looked octopus-like, suckers included. You felt more heat rising inside your body, pooling in your lower abdomen and making your body flush. You wanted to blame the scalding sun, but you knew that it wasn’t the reason. You felt things for tentacles. You were a sucker for them (pun intended). Your heat had nothing to do with the sun, and everything to so with the otherworldly creature in front of you.

He was turning away from you, approaching the water and taking those enticing tentacles with him. Fuck no. "Wait!" You screamed at him before he touched the water.

He turned around, his sad eyes confused again. "You said you didn't want me."

"I- I know." You tried to think of a fast answer. "I- I was wrong." Wrong? What the fuck was wrong with you, that was the real question there. He tried to grope you with his tentacles, he did grope you, and you? You were asking him to come back and do it with intent this time? Dang, you were a pervy human.

"I need to hear it." He told you, his eyes fixated on your face. You felt a spark of comfort knowing he would stop if you asked him to, he already did. And now, with your consent, you wanted him to do all kinds of crazy depraved things to your body. You wanted to experience what a good tentacle-fuck could feel like and not the fake experience you got from your tentacle dildo at home.

You knew you should be more concerned, maybe even more confused about the existence of sea monsters with tentacles and abs of steel… But at that moment you could only feel the heat of his gaze over your body, the still present slimy substance on your skin and the wetness dripping from your pussy. You were horny, as horny as you’d ever felt. And he was there, ready to fuck you if you asked.

"I want you." You whispered, embarrassed.

"Good girl." You moaned at his words, your inner sub melting with his praise. He approached you again, his body undulating and his tentacles rapidly reaching for you. But he didn’t touch you, not yet.

"Aren't you scared, pretty girl?" You shook your head. "You should." He sentenced, making you shiver at the danger in his voice. Dang, that was fucking hot. "You want all of me?" You nodded, lost in a breeze of lust. And then his tentacles touched you, all over. He held you down again, this time on your back. The heat inside of you felt like a raging flame.

He didn’t waste a second. His suckers met your clit and you felt an out of body experience. "You like that, pretty girl? You should see how beautiful you look right now. How pretty my tentacles look against your skin." His words were making you squirm, not used to receive so many compliments. But you couldn’t escape his assault on you, his tentacles holding you down, his suckers taking pleasure out of you without asking.

You came faster than ever, and he hadn’t even had to enter you. He only needed one tentacle and a clever sucker to make you into a mess, and you couldn’t be more grateful. He probed at your entrance, making you moan again as he pushed inside. Two of his tentacles reached your boobs and the suckers latched into your nipples, the sensation so overwhelming that you came again, screaming so loud he shoved a tentacle in your mouth.

“Be quiet, pretty girl. I don’t want others to come see my gift.” He told you as he pushed his tentacles further down your holes. The tentacle in your mouth touched the back of your throat, making you gag as he moaned over you. The on on your pussy touched your G-spot insistently, the sensation to rough and raw that you couldn’t stop the gushing juices you let out, coming again. “You cum so prettily, your pussy looks so pink and puffy around my tentacle… I bet you can do more. Can you do more, pretty girl?” You nodded fervently, wanting so bad to be good for him. To be a good girl.

He fucked your mouth and pussy in tandem, his tentacles touching you all over. After what you thought was the ten orgasms, he lowered his pace. You were panting, your body shivering, and tears running down your face as the assault on your sensitive areas. Your body felt like an exposed nerve.

"This is okay?" A tentacle probed your asshole, pushing inside slowly, breaching your unexplored hole carefully. You wanted to nod, but you weren’t sure you’d be able to move without orgasming again. He kept looking at your face analyzing your reactions, repeating whatever made your body shiver, your pussy quiver, your moans escape around his tentacles.

And suddenly all your holes were full, his figure looming over you as he moved his tentacles all over. Inside and out, he was touching every inch of your body.

"Take me further. Come on." His embrace tightened as he pushed harder and faster into your holes, your moans muffled by the tentacle down your throat. "Good girl." You felt completely controlled, cared and fucked out. All three at the same time. You asked for this, and you were mesmerized by the feel of his skin against yours. “One more.” You shook your head, you couldn’t get more, it hurt so good when he pushed inside, but you didn’t think you could do more. You cried around the tentacle in your mouth and he shushed you, wiping your tears with another tentacle. Gods, he was all over you. “Come on, pretty girl, one more and I’ll stop.” He kept fucking you through your turmoil, the pleasure and pain mixing in the most excruciating sensation you’d ever felt.

“Come on, come for me one more time.” And you came. You felt some fluid leaking out of his tentacles, covering you in a mass of slime, down your throat, up your cervix… You were stuffed full of slimy liquid as he screamed over you.

After all that you just had one clear thought: real-life tentacles were a lot better than silicone dildos.

#sea monster #monster #monster fucker #monster x human #monster imagine #teratophillia #monster boyfriend #monster x reader #terato #sea monster x human #sea monster x reader #fem!reader #monster kink #monster smut #terat0philliac #request

[catherinnn]

I thought of this at work today and I couldn't stop laughing: Imagine Dustin having an older sister who's back from college. So when they need a sub for Hellfire, he asks her because she's the one that taught him how to play in the first place. As soon as she walks in Eddie's brain short-circuits because "Jesus H. Christ Henderson, why didn't you tell me your sister was my dream girl?!?!? I would've at least brushed my hair!"

Que Dustin not sure whether he should be disgusted because his sister keeps flirting with his DM all night or excited because there is now a very strong possibility Eddie could become his brother-in-law now.

Roll for Initiative eddie munson x henderson!reader warnings: nothing much really, just fluff overall. eddie self-doubts for just a second, no use of y/n, cursing. a/n: thank you so much for requesting! I really hope you like it. reblogs and comments are very very appreciated. 2.2k words masterlist

“So,” Mike starts talking, Dustin takes notice of his sarcastic tone. “Who the fuck do we know that secretly plays D&D and would want to sub for Lucas”

“Um, well…” but before Dustin can get a word out Mike interrupts him.

“I mean, we’re fucked! Eddie’s gonna hate us and kick us out of Hellfire!”

“Dude-“

“No Dustin, I’m serious! I’m gonna kill Lucas and all his stupid new friends”

“Mike! Do you remember what I told you earlier? About my sister?”

“Uh… no?” he confesses.

“Honestly! Do you ever listen to me?!” Dustin claims angrily. “What I told you is that she’s coming back home. And she used to play, dude!”

“Are you serious?” Mike exclaims, unable to believe their luck. He asks “When does she get here?”

--

Dustin's heart pounds with anticipation as he waits at the doorstep. It had been months since he last saw you, and he couldn't wait to catch up.

And as your mom’s car pulls into the driveway, Dustin cannot contain his excitement. He rushes to greet you, nearly stumbling over his own feet in his haste. You step out of the car, a weary smile on your face as you spot your little brother.

"Dustin!" you exclaim, opening your arms for a hug. "You've gotten even taller since I last saw you."

“You think so?” he asks with hope.

“Oh right? He’s turning into a whole handsome tall man already!” your mom butted into the conversation and you both cringe at her choice of words.

“Ugh, I missed you!” you hug him again and he laughs.

Once you’re inside the house, Dustin wastes no time in bombarding you with stories of his D&D campaigns. He told you about the epic battles and the incredible DM the club has. You make a mental note to tease Steve as soon as you see him since he’s no longer Dustin’s coolest older friend.

“That club sounds so fun!”

"Do you think... would you want to join our club as a sub?" he asks eagerly. "We're short one person since Lucas joined the dark side”

You frown in confusion and he explains. “He’s in the football team”

“Really?” you ask surprised.

“Yeah…” he sounds disappointed. “Anyway, would you help us? Please”

“You’re sure they won’t mind?”

“They would be so thankful if you help us beat Eddie’s ass”

“Okay, sure then” you agree laughing.

--

“Come on! We’re gonna be late!” Dustin shouts from the living room waiting impatiently for you.

“I’ve been ready for like ten minutes, you’re the one who’s taking so long” you answer calmly, not knowing what all the fuss is about.

Meanwhile in the drama room in Hawking’s High…

“Alright gentlemen, are we ready to start?” Eddie says as he walks in.

“Umm no, Dustin’s not here yet” Mike stops him.

“Well, where is he?”

“He’s probably arriving any time now”

“Wheeler, we don’t have all day-“ Eddie starts complaining but the door opening abruptly interrupts him. An agitated Dustin walks in and starts apologizing, but Eddie’s not listening to him.

The club leader still frozen mid-sentence, his brain seemingly short-circuiting as he laid eyes on you, standing by the door. He stumbled over his words, his thoughts are silent but screaming at the same time. Suddenly, the room seemed smaller, the air thicker, as if a spell had been cast upon him.

However, you’re still oblivious to the effect you had over him.

“Soo, who’s this?” Gareth finally asks after waiting for Eddie to ask that question, but he was not even moving.

“Oh, this is my sister” Dustin starts introducing you. Eddie’s trance is broken when he hears your name, the prettiest name he’s ever heard. “She’ll sub for Lucas”

“She will?” Eddie asks with a hint of hope in his voice. All of the sudden hoping Lucas won’t be able to join Hellfire ever again.

The rest of the boys are waiting expectantly for Eddie to ask you all types of question until he finds an unsatisfying enough answer and he’ll decide you can’t sub. But he never does. So Gareth starts asking if you even know how to play D&D.

“Sure she does, she was the one who taught me how to play in the first place” your brother steps in.

You tell the boys your level in the game and for some reason they all seem surprised. They start murmuring among each other. But you notice how the boy on the big throne leans over to your brother to whisper something. You play dumb and walk closer to them.

"Jesus H. Christ Henderson, why didn't you tell me your sister was my dream girl? I would've at least brushed my hair!" He whispers-shouts and a smile starts forming on your face.

You’d be lying if you said he hadn’t called your attention. His big puppy eyes, all the rings on his hand. You don’t know why he says that about his hair, you thought it looked really good like that.

At any rate, you take a seat next to your brother, which just so happens to also be next to Eddie. Happy coincidence. And you start playing, Eddie sets the scene. He makes you imagine every single little detail so you feel like you’re actually there. He makes different voices for each character which makes you giggle. He even stands up, or leans over on the table, he talks to every single one of you, not forgetting about anyone. It’s mesmerizing to see him like this.

“I love how passionate you get” you comment and it makes him smile so hard.

He noticed before, every time he would change the tone in his voice to imitate a character, you’d laugh, and now he keeps changing voices just to hear it again.

“Give me the gold! He says. Or I’ll set my hungry wolves free, right this second!” Eddie acts and without failing he’s able to hear your snorts. It distracts him in the best way possible. “You have an adorable laugh” he tells you with a smirk.

This obviously makes you giggle once more, this time with a pink blush decorating your cheeks. “Thanks, it’s just- you’re cute making all the voices”

Now it’s Eddie’s turn to blush and smile once more.

Dustin notices this exchange —all of the other boys did— but he can’t decipher how he feels about it. On the one hand, he feels a little jealous and uncomfortable that you two keep flirting. But on the other hand, it would be really cool to have Eddie as his brother in law.

However, the game continues and so does the places Eddie takes you all to in your minds. So much so that at one point you start getting dizzy.

“Wait, where are we again?” you ask.

“In the mountains near the lake” Gareth answers.

“Are we close to the palace?”

“No no, the palace is behind the woods” Mike explains now. They have more of an advantage than you do, they've been playing this campaign for weeks now.

“Wh- Do you have a map?” You finally ask Eddie and he nods passing it to you.

“Here’s the palace” he comes closer and signals on the map, “and here is where you are”

“Oh, okay”

“You know, if you’re still lost I can stick around to guide you” he whispers giving the closeness.

“Well, you’re the bad guy here,” you argue imagining you’re still inside the game. “How do I know you won’t try to kill me?”

“Me?” he gasps acting offended. “I would never!”

“You already killed Jeff!” you accuse him.

“Yeah, but he’s not half as pretty as you are. I’d miss you too much” he makes sure he’s whispering very close to you now, just because if Jeff heard him he’d start acting offended. Just because of that… no other reason.

“Can we keep playing now? My mom will be here in like ten minutes to pick me up” Mike complains.

Those ten minutes fly by. Before you even realize it, Mike’s mom is honking in her car to hurry him up. And so you finish for the day, starting to gather all your things.

“You know, you owe me a pencil” you tell Eddie.

“Oh really? Why’s that?” he asks playfully.

“I only borrowed it to you! I did not gift it!”

“So you’re calling me a thief? First a killer and now a thief? Glad to know you think so badly of little old me”

“I didn't just called you that!” you say in you defence and he makes confused face, signalling you to continue talking. “I also said you’re cute. You’re a really cute thief and killer”

He starts laughing. “Are you always this charming, or is it just when I'm around?"

“I could ask you the same thing”

“Oh only with you, sweetheart” he promises.

“Me too” you admit a little shyly.

“Yeah?-” he tries to keep flirting but Dustin cuts him off.

“Are you ready? Let’s go”

“Wow, since when are you so eager to leave hellfire?” Eddie notices.

“No reason” he lies, he’s still not sure if all this flirting between you two would be something good or not.

“I think he’s a little jealous his sister is taking all of Eddie’s attention” Gareth teases him.

“No, I’m not!”

“Aw Dusty bun!” Eddie joins in the teasing.

“I’m not jealous! Ask her out for all I care!” he says but regrets it as soon as it left his mouth.

“Really?” Eddie checks in but Dustin is a very proud person, he’s not one to bend. So he nods encouraging his friend.

Good thing you know him like the palm of your hand.

“Let’s go dingus, mom’s probably waiting for us”

Eddie feels this as punch right on his chest. Did he read too much into this? Were you not actually interested? Was it just some playful flirting?

As you walk out the school and into the parking lot. You open the car so your brother can get in but tell him to wait a second, and you walk over to Eddie who was about to get in his van.

“Wait! Thief!” you call him and he turns around. “I think you should, you know… ask me out”

He feels the happiness creeping back into his body. “Yeah? I should?” his playful tone back in his voice. “Would you want to go out with a thief and a murderer?”

“If he’s as cute as you are, then I’d think about it” you make him laugh again.

“How about tomorrow night? I’ll pick you up at eight” he proposes.

“I’ll be ready”

“Good”

“Yeah, good” you walk closer to him. “See you tomorrow then” and before leaving, you give him a kiss on his cheek. Hiding your need to kiss him more after seeing his flushed face. You’ll have plenty of time for that tomorrow.

Dustin sees you getting in the car with the biggest smile on your face. “Did you ask him out?”

“Um, yeah… listen-“

“It’s fine, really”

“No, listen. I know that maybe it’s a little uncomfortable to think of one of your best friends going out with me. But I promise I would never do anything to hurt him and make it weird between you two-“

“I know that, and I know he wouldn’t do that either” he interrupts you. “I’m just- I’m worried that I won’t be a priority to you or to him anymore”

“Dustin, are you kidding? You could not be more wrong about that!” you argue. “Imagine this date goes well, we’ll start hanging out at home and watch movies with you, we could go out to eat all together, go to the cinema, anything! You name it!”

And the more he thinks about it that way, the more he loves that idea.

So the next day, he helps you choose your outfit, he tells you which hairstyle will look better and then hurries you up when it’s 7:50 pm and you’re still putting mascara on.

“You look fine already! Amazing even! Grab your jacket cause he’ll be here any minute now!” and as soon as he says that, he recognizes that car outside with the loud metal music, seconds later he hears the door knocking.

“I’ll get it, mom!” he yells so his mother won’t embarrass you.

“No, you won’t. I will” you stop him before he can open the door. “Go back to your comic-book. I’ll be back in a few hours”

And he waits until you get back. 

When you finally do, he’s on the couch watching TV but mutes it as soon as he hears you.

“Hey” he notices the big smile on your face is on again. He also notices your lips are a little puffy and he cringes at that thought.  

“You can go to sleep happily now, the date went amazing” you explain. “God, I think I’m love with him!” you comment as you go up to your room.

“Already?” he judges a little.

But as you promised, the three of you hang out together most of the time. And as long as he looks away when you two kiss or ignores the fact that Eddie’s spending the night in your room after you all catch a movie and order some pizza. He’s really happy that you two found each other.

#eddie munson x reader #eddie munson #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson x henderson!reader

[barcaatthemoon]

steady as she goes || jenni hermoso x reader ||

it was just as easy to remember why you fell for jenni as it had been to fall for her.

minors dni, 18+, smut ahead.

there was something about the way that jenni stared down that made your heart race. the two of you had been together for years, nearly a decade already. even throughout the turbulent times, you wouldn't have traded any of it for a second with someone else. jenni was perfect for you, something that you had known early on in the relationship.

you could remember the night she asked like it was yesterday. at first, you didn't want anything to do with jenni, but she was persistent. jenni kept at you without being overly pushy, something that you really appreciated. she knew that there were some rumors surrounding her from different clubs, but jenni had proven to you that she wasn't like that before the question of sex had really ever come up.

"can i ask you something kind of personal?" jenni sounded nervous. you didn't think that jenni had ever really been nervous in front of you. she was naturally flirtatious, and whenever she wanted you to feel special, she just focused her efforts a little better. "well, it's not kind of personal, it's very personal. and before you ask, i swear on my mother that i didn't ask sandra."

"ask sandra what?" you felt a flash of fear, but you hid it well. there was only really one thing that jenni would learn specifically from sandra that could possibly make her nervous. sandra had let it slip to the woman you had just started dating that you were still a virgin. for a moment, you could have strangled your best friend, who had sworn that she wouldn't tell jenni.

"i didn't ask if you were a virgin, i swear. i wouldn't ask that, not behind your back. she asked me how things were going, and i told her that i wanted you to stay over, and she mentioned it," jenni rambled. you got over your own anger to cup her cheeks and kiss her cheek.

"relax, there was something else you wanted to say or else you wouldn't have brought it up, jenni," you reminded her. jenni mumbled a small thanks towards you before she took a deep breath. jenni seemed to be working hard to regain her composure, something that you had not seen much of yet. jenni didn't get nervous or derailed, she was always seemingly carefree and a little happy-go-lucky.

"will you let me be your first?" jenni meant well with her question. a part of you knew that she meant well, and in hindsight, it had been sweet of her to ask you like that. however, in the moment, you were livid.

each second that jenni watched you try to process her question was hell. it only seemed to get worse for a while after that. you had avoided jenni, seemingly forgetting the fact that she was only a couple days away from going all the way back to madrid. you two didn't get to see each other at all for another month when you both had a break. still, jenni had tried to text and call you each day with a different apology. it had been a bit annoying at first, but within a week you had begun to forgive her.

jenni kept her distance physically with you when she came back again. you hated that she wasn't being her normal clingy self. you missed the kisses and borderline inappropriate touching. that was a huge part of jenni, one that you loved almost more than any other part. she made you feel loved, and had taken away a lot of the fears you had surrounding affection and intimacy.

"jenni, will you be my first?" you asked her as the two of you stood outside of her apartment. jenni had hopped on a plane solely to fly with you back to madrid for the week. you thought it was a bit ridiculous, but jenni had been insistent. she wanted to spend every second that she could with you, even if it had resulted in her being a bit jetlagged your first night there.

"perdon?" jenni's keys fell out of her hand and clattered on the ground. she believed that she had to have heard you wrong. there was no way that you had just asked her to take your virginity, not after the debacle in barcelona. "come again?"

"will you be my first? i want you to take my virginity. tonight, please," you said. jenni swallowed as she turned around to face you. for a moment, you thought she was going to try and do it there, so you stopped her when she came in for a kiss. "not out here."

"never, in my bed. maybe on the couch tomorrow if you're up to it. there's also the shower, the kitchen counter, the dining room table and the railing on the balcony. oh, and we'll have to christen the rooms at your place in barcelona," jenni joked. you rolled your eyes at her, but you were glad for the jokes. they really helped to lighten things up, and suddenly, you weren't as scared about going into jenni's bedroom.

jenni never would have made you do anything while you were scared, she wasn't like that. you don't think that anybody had ever checked in on you as many times as jenni had that night. for all of the joking that jenni liked to do, that night she had been completely serious. nothing was taken lightly by the striker once the two of you entered your bedroom.

you learned the meaning of body worship that night. the time not spent kneeling between your legs had been spent exploring every other part of your body. jenni moved slowly as if she was trying to commit your body to her memory with each of her touches and kisses. it was pleasurable, but also torturous in a way that you had never known before. you loved that jenni was taking her time to get to know your body, but you were also getting desperate for more.

"shh, relax bebe. you're doing so well," jenni cooed from between your legs. she had just managed to work two of her fingers inside of you. despite all of your wetness, you felt impossibly tight. jenni recognized it for your nerves and thoughts getting the better of you. she had tried to stop, but you had refused to let her. you felt like you'd explode with frustration if she stopped.

"jenni, i think that i'm close," you told her. the feeling was somewhat familiar, only a thousand times more intense. you didn't understand how jenni could make you cum better than you could do for yourself. however, you had noted that jenni's touches were far different than your own. there was something special about the things she could do to you with her hands.

"that's it. breathe for me." jenni guided you through the waves of pleasure that threatened to pull you under. she wanted to touch you more, but jenni didn't want to overwhelm you. that night, she held you and waited patiently for you to come to her again. there was a look in your eyes that had scared jenni, but the thought that you wanted her that badly was absolutely enthralling.

ten years later, and that look hadn't faded one bit. there had once been a time that you had cursed your feelings for jenni, unaware that the two of you would ever get through your rough patches. you felt a little silly now for feeling that way then whenever you looked down at your wedding ring. jenni could be a lot of things, but underneath all of it was the woman who had been painstakingly careful with every part of you once you opened up to her.

"i love you," you mumbled as you ran your hand through jenni's hair. for a moment, you thought jenni might have been asleep until you felt her lips press against your sternum. she shifted her body so that she was directly on top of you and began to trail kisses up from your chest.

"i love you. i always will." jenni finally dropped down and pressed a kiss to your lips. you pulled back a little after the first couple to look into her eyes, unsurprised to find them watering just a little. the moments like these, jenni often found herself a little overwhelmed. she rarely actually cried, but you knew that they were always happy tears when you did.

#minors dni #minors do not interact #jenni hermoso smut #jenni hermoso imagine #jenni hermoso x reader #woso fanfics #woso x reader #woso imagine #woso smut

[hollowgears]

SHOWDOWN!

"If you're ever in the desert of the underground you better watch out! In the wild east lies a city full of criminals and outcasts who bow down to no one!"

Their sheriff is just as insane as the rest of them, always itching for a fight, the spotlight hog of the wild east, North star! If there's one person the scoundrels of the city listen to it's him, after all no monster can argue against a gun pointed at their face

Still- rumors say that the cruel sheriff actually has a heart behind his act, the monsters working under him act with a lot of respect, many rebels say that he gave them a home safe from the royal guard when no one else would...maybe there's still a heart of gold behind that rude exterior? Who knows!

Thoughts and extras:

Woah! I can't believe I finally got this done!

Starlo was a challenge to design for sure, his canon look is already so good! It was hard to make it different while still looking like something starlo could wear

My art has definitely improved quite a bit since starting this au (god I already feel like I need to redraw martlet!) and I wanted starlo to feel special as he was the first design that really...clicked y'know? I look at it and go: that's my boy!

Working on the au has also been a blast, and I can't thank you guys enough for the support, every reblog or fanart makes my days so much better

But enough about that! Let's talk of the star boy!

As you can see I struggled quite a bit with his outfit (this is not by far the first attempt I made at him) in the beginning I almost took his poncho away! The blasphemy!

Well I guess even now it doesn't exactly qualify as a poncho...but hey close enough

Starlo uses three guns, although only two of them are seen most of the time, in this au starlo actually gets a proper genocide fight, and that's when he pulls out the big guns! (Haha get it-)

He would also have a special type of attack, yellow bullets that cause bleeding (think like karma damage) however the number of these types of bullets he fires is completely dependent on your LV

I'll answer any questions y'all have about him on asks- trust me I'm always itching to talk about these silly guys...

Perhaps ceroba would be next? Although she will take a while, god my wrist needs a break! (And the pile of studying I have to do keeps growing larger...)

#art #uty au #uty starlo #starlo uty #north star uty #undertale yellow #underfell yellow #undertale au #Hollow's fell au #rambles #character desing #thank you all for listening #tw guns

[sanguineterrain]

your most recent jason fic has me in a bit of a chokehold and its bc you do so well with the dialogue and the banter!!

HONEYLOVE???#?*×& i need to be physically restrained (i appreciate your fics respectfully)

anyways, the fic has me thinking: imagine it's the same reader, but they know Jason's alive and they're back to being friends again (skipping over the drama of "YOU'RE ALIVE?!?" "yea lmao sorry ily tho") but there's this tension now. and since Jason's not working with a mask anymore (and he's slightly more vulnerable with r), it's him who gets flustered and it's r who does the flirting playful banter. maybe it ends with a kiss (˘ ³˘) ?

i'm such a sucker for a flustered Jason and there's something that tells me he gets really weak in the knees for someone he adores >:) anyways, you can always choose to write this or not but a very big, fat thank you if you do

the reaction pics are SO FUNNY i'm glad you enjoy this au <3

jason todd x gn!nocturne!reader. pt 3 of vigilante reader. this is basically reader just being feral over jason :> they speak for all of us, really. love confessions, tension, somewhat flustered jason, more sparring lols.

pt 1 / pt 2

****

Jason Todd is alive. Jason Todd is sitting two feet away, talking about a case.

You can't quite believe it. You went home two days ago and expected to wake up to the whole thing being a dream or the result of a Poison Ivy hallucinogen.

You can't stop staring at him. It's weird. You're being weird. But you can't help it.

Every time you see Jason, you want to look at him for as long as possible. You don't want to forget his face. This new face. Scarred and hardened, but still good. Still loved.

And, well. It's not like Jason's bad looking. Sure, you thought he was cute when you were teenagers. Resurrection makes the heart grow fonder, et cetera.

But now? Now, Jason makes your heart stupid. You can barely contain your desire. It's been two weeks since he revealed himself, and every time you see him, you have to dig your nails into your palms to keep yourself from showing him what he does to you.

Sometimes you think he sees right through you, but if he does, he never acts on it.

"—listening. Yo. Ground control to Major Tom. Are you with me?"

Jason waves a hand in front of you. You blink.

He's unmasked and in a Fleetwood Mac t-shirt and dark jeans—the most comfortable you've seen him, actually. His hair is still wet from his shower.

"Sorry," you say, suddenly zeroed in on the three droplets of water sliding down his neck. "I'm listening. Just looking at you."

"'Cause I'm so pretty?" Jason asks, batting his lashes.

You reach over without thinking. He freezes when you wipe the water off of his neck. Then you tuck a curl behind his ear.

"You should let me blow-dry your hair," you say, taking your time in dropping your hand. "It'll take ages to dry in this humidity."

Jason's eyes have gone wide. Pink splotches bloom on the apples of his cheeks.

"Uh." He swallows. You watch his throat bob. "Thanks. Maybe... next time."

"I'll steal Dick's. He's got the fancy sixteen setting one."

That makes Jason smile. "Hm. Some things never change."

His eyes crinkle at the corners. Fondness swells swiftly in your chest.

You stay like that for a moment, caught in each other's orbit.

Jason breaks it first, leaning away. "Right. You should probably get back to the Manor. Br–the others'll probably think I kidnapped ya."

You shrug. "I quit."

"What?"

"Bruce was getting on my last nerve. I can't work with someone like that."

Jason snorts. "Join the club. Look, I can't say I'm not thrilled that you're stickin' it to the old man. But if this is 'cause of me... I wouldn't be mad if you kept workin' with him. Honest. If that's what you wanna do, don't let me stop you."

"Jason." You rest your hand atop his. "I joined this life because of you. To honor you. You taught me how to help people, not Bruce. You taught me what it meant to be kind, to be a part of something bigger than myself."

To love, you don't say.

"I..." He shakes his head. "You became Nocturne for me?"

You close your eyes, then open them. You've cried so many times. You don't want to stay in your grief any longer. Not when he's right in front of you.

"When you died, I..." You take a deep breath. "Nocturne was something to ground me. I think Bruce recognized that. I think he knew how much you meant to me. He didn't have to take a chance on me, and I appreciate that he did. But I've realized that he doesn't know everything. Can't see what's right in front of him sometimes."

You squeeze Jason's wrist. He sighs.

"God, I'm sorry," he says.

"What're you sorry for, Jay? You came back. That's all I ever wanted."

Jason chews his cheek for a moment. Then he stands, chair scraping the floor.

"C'mon," he says.

You follow him to the living room. He moves the armchair, the couch, and rolls up the rug. He disappears down the hall and returns with two thick mats. He tosses them onto the floor.

"Uh..." you say. "What're you—"

"'M gonna show you what y'did wrong that night on the roof."

"Wow. Can't believe you're still single. Being reminded of my shitty combat skills gets me so hot."

Jason rolls his eyes. "Alright, smartass. Just 'cause you quit the Bats doesn't mean you won't go out there and keep helping people. I know you. The least I can do is pick up where Dickface left off in your training."

"The least you can do, huh? I think you just wanna pin me against the floor again," you say, smirking.

He clears his throat. "That—no."

"No?" You step closer and look at him through your lashes. You're so close, you're touching his chest. "What happened to tying me up 'cause I was out when I shouldn't have been? Isn't that another educational technique?"

Jason's throat bobs. "That wasn't—I was just saying things."

"Hm. That's too bad."

You skip right past him, onto the mat, and hold out your arms.

"Okay. Put the moves on me, J.P."

It takes Jason a moment to craft his usual poker face. When he does, he groans. "'M not an evil Gilded Age financier. Still don't like 'J.P.'"

"But you like me-ee," you sing-song.

He shrugs. "Sometimes. Until you give me a heart attack and run into a burning building."

"Wish I could've seen your face for that one," you say as you steel your shoulders and secure your feet.

"Better you didn't. I'm sure there was a vein or two popping outta my forehead." Jason cracks his neck. "Ready?"

"Lay it on me, big guy."

"You first. Attack me like you normally would."

So you do. You step forward and throw a punch similar to the one from your rooftop spar. Jason catches it, of course. But this time, he locks you in a hold. One leg is between yours, and your arms are twisted behind your back with one hand. Humiliating.

"Dude!" You wiggle. Jason doesn't yield. "Jay, come on. No petty criminal is gonna know how to do all that."

"I know. The point of this is for you to know how to use someone's size against them."

Jason presses his cheek against yours. You tamp down your shiver. You can hear his heartbeat.

"Take a breath," he murmurs.

You close your eyes and breathe. Jason's grip doesn't hurt, but you're frustrated by how predictable you are. How he knows your body. A part of you is missing in not knowing him the way he knows you.

"Alright," he says. "Think. What part of me is exposed?"

"Not the important parts, I hope."

You can feel his eyeroll.

"You're hilarious. C'mon, focus. What can you attack?"

"Um... your legs. You trapped my arms, but my and your legs are free."

"Good." The praise warms you. Being this close to Jason will never get old. "What else?"

"What else? Do you have a tail I don't know about?"

"Sucha wiseass," he says, mouth close to your ear. "Your head. You're still able to move your head, and you're close to my face."

"Yeah, I'm not headbutting you. Out of the kindness of my heart."

"I appreciate that, sweets. Sweep my leg."

So you do. Jason goes down easier than he normally would for your benefit.

"'Kay," he says, once again underneath you. Now you have his hands pinned. "Good. Remember what went wrong last time?"

"You bucked me off like a Clydesdale."

He smiles. "Yeah, okay. So what'll you do different?"

"I'm not in my suit," you say. "I don't have extra weight in my boots."

"No, but you don't need it if you keep my legs apart."

"So that was your plan all along, huh? Perv."

Jason coughs. "Ah-hum... I—c'mon, lock my legs."

You grin and spread Jason's legs, using your knees to keep him immobile.

And then you just stare. This time, it's not because you're thinking about the miracle of resurrection (though what a miracle it is). No, you're just thinking, once again, about how your best friend got really, stupidly pretty.

And how you really, stupidly wanna kiss him.

Jason still looks young, but his jaw is now defined. He's got a five o'clock shadow coming on. His lips are full and pink. Freckles dot his cheeks and nose. The nose that still has a bump from when he broke it during a fight with Riddler.

You remember how he played it off for weeks. Bruce said that didn't even cry. But when you asked if it hurt, Jason had said yes.

You wonder when the last time Jason cried was. You wonder how much pain he's suffered since.

You wonder if he knows he's got your heart in the palm of his hand.

"Hey," Jason says. His voice is soft. Shy. "I lose ya again?"

You shake your head. "No. Never."

"There somethin' on my face?"

"You're a lot to look at," you say. "Pretty, pretty boy."

That gets an undeniable reaction. Jason Todd has never been able to take a compliment. You've been exploiting that all day.

Perhaps you know him better than you thought.

He exhales sharply, like you've sucker-punched him. His eyes dart to you. Waiting.

"Your eyes are green," you say. "Like, mixed. Blue and green."

Jason nods. "I—yeah. The Pit. Changed 'em. Changed me."

You lean in. His gaze flicks to your mouth. You watch his Adam's apple bob in a hard swallow.

"They're still pretty," you say. "Always had pretty eyes, Jaybird."

"Heh, right. Even with this shit?" He points to the scar that crosses over his right eye, stopping at his lip.

You let go of his wrists—not that you were holding them that tightly anyway. If this were a real fight, you would've lost ten times over already. Considering how much of you is touching Jason, you happen to be winning hard.

You trace the puckered white flesh with your thumb. Jason flinches but doesn't pull away.

"Your face could never turn me away," you say. "Never."

He closes his eyes and shudders. "Y'too nice to me. Always so nice t'me. Even when we were fighting. Why're ya so good?"

Your lips are a hair from his now. "I don't know how to make it more obvious, Jaybird. I'm absolutely insane about you."

Jason's eyes fly open. He sees your mouth and his breathing increases. You smile.

"Yeah, want you bad. No place I wouldn't follow you. Do anything for you."

Jason makes a strangled noise in his throat. You grin.

"C'mon, big guy. I'm right here. Come have me, Jay. I'm yours."

Jason soars up and kisses you. Swallows you, really. His hands hold your waist for dear life. You wrap one leg around his.

You nip his lip. Jason whines softly. Delicious.

You grab his face, fingers tangling in his curls. Jason sits up, slotting you against him. One hand supports you on your back, the other on your side.

"God—" He breaks away, just barely. "You're way too good for me. Had sucha... sucha crush on ya when we were kids. Y'so sweet."

You blindly find his throat and bite, hard enough to leave a mark. Jason makes a guh sound. You lick the bite to soothe it.

"Missed you," you say into his skin. "Missed you so goddamn bad, Jason."

"Yeah. Yeah, yeah," he babbles, clinging to you as you kiss up his neck. "Yeah, missed you too."

"Not letting you go," you say, almost snarling. You're angry with want, angry at the world for keeping this from you for so many years. "It's you and me now, Jay, mkay? Gonna be mine?"

"Always been yours," he says, panting. Jason finds your lips again. The kiss is messy, uncoordinated. Full of love. "No one but you."

You haven't fallen behind. You're starting anew.

"Never been anybody but you."

#Jason todd x reader #Jason todd x you #red Hood x reader #red Hood x you #Jason todd fanfiction #red Hood fanfiction #Jason todd imagine #red Hood imagine #red Hood x yn #jason todd x y/n #batman fanfiction #dc fanfiction #inbox #blurb

[daydreaming-nerd]

Young Love and Old Money (Cassian x Female! Reader) Part 13

Young Love and Old Money Masterlist

AN: This is more of a filler chapter before shit gets fucking wild in the next one. I'm telling you I'm so pumped for the next chapter ahhhhh! It's not super exciting but I hope you all enjoy it! If you're new here from The Prophecy... Hi!🥰🖤

Summary: She was the most beautiful woman in Prythian, sister to the High Lord of Night, and now she is the soon-to-be wife of Eris Vanserra. Despite her many titles and her aura of unattainability, Cassian can't help but fall deeply in love with the princess of the Night Court. But will it be enough to stop her impending wedding to a man who is sure to destroy her from the inside out?

Warnings: Mentions of under the mountain and what Eris did

Word Count: 5,338

Rhys POV: 

I had finally allowed myself to hope. 

The circumstances of which I had granted myself that hope was…well… unpleasant. I would never wish Feyre to be under duress for any reason, but it did bring her into my court for good. When Mor came back with her I had never felt so relieved. I wanted to say that I couldn’t believe that Tamlin would lock her up like that, but I would be lying to myself. 

It wasn’t the first time she had been to Velaris. Once I saw the state she was in at the wedding, too thin, too pale, I started calling in the bargain. I saw her improving dramatically since I started doing so, pink lining her cheeks, muscles building on her arms. She had yet to meet anyone but Mor. Y/n had been dying to meet my mate, but I didn’t want to overwhelm Feyre. She was still learning what it meant to be fae, still getting used to her new life, and still learning to trust me. 

“So you are both High Fae and Illyrian?” Feyre asks, messing with the leftover food on her plate. 

“Yes, my mother was Illyrian and my father was High Fae. That is why I can summon Illyrian wings when I want to.” I answered her question truthfully. I knew that no matter what I wanted to be honest with her, let her see every dark part of me and choose to love me anyways, I owed her that. 

“Were they mates?” she inquires further. 

“Yes they were,” I replied, secretly hanging on every word she said. I tried my best to act aloof, but when she was here? In my home? It was hard to keep my cool. 

“How do you know someone is your mate?” she queries and my heart drops. 

I know that she is talking about Tamlin in her own subtle way, wondering if the High Lord of Spring is her mate. 

“You don’t always know right away, take Kallias and Viviane, they didn’t know they were mates until they were married,” I explained to her, I watched her face lighten, no doubt thinking that there was still a chance for her and Tamlin. 

“I’ve never met a set of mates before,” she said with a hint of longing, like if she could just set eyes on a pair it might ease her mind.

“Would you like to?” My words slipped out before I could think of the implications of them. 

Her eyes flitted up in amusement and I swore I melted at her lighthearted gaze, “I would.” she said.

“My younger sister, y/n. She’s mates with my general, Cassian. We can go and see them if you would like.” I say thinking about how excited y/n will be to finally meet the cursebreaker.

“I would like that very much,” Feyre smiled. 

I stood and walked with Feyre to the edge of the property outside the townhouse. It wasn’t the first time I had flown with her, but I could still tell she was apprehensive of the height. I took the fastest route to The House of Wind and made sure to fly like I was holding my mothers china. Feyre was far from breakable, she was strong enough to withstand just about anything. But that didn’t mean I was going to be someone who challenged that strength, not like Tamlin did. When we arrived at the huge mansion I could feel the female's eyes glancing over the exterior in awe. 

“This is another one of my homes, but I tend to stay in the townhouse. My little sister and Cassian live here with Azriel.” I say opening the door for her. 

“It’s beautiful,” she breathed, her eyes taking in every single detail.

I try to pry into y/n and Cassian’s mental shields but I’m met with nothing. They were here though, their scents lingered in the library we passed on the way to Cassian’s room. I knock on the door and I’m met with silence.

“Cassian? Y/n?” I call out hoping for some sort of answer but hear nothing once more. 

As Feyre looks at me expectantly I weigh my options, which would make my sister angrier? Waking her up to meet Feyre or not waking her up to meet Feyre?  I let out a shallow breath and chose the latter, opening the door to reveal a giant heap of limbs. 

“Oh I didn’t know they were asleep,” Feyre said, moving away. 

“Don’t worry about it, y/n will have my head if I don’t introduce you two,” I laugh walking into the dark room, Feyre trailing behind me.

When I approach the bed I can’t even see my little sister, her body covered entirely by Cassian’s wing. The only indication that she’s even there is her small hand peeking out from under it and a tendril of hair on the pillow.   

“I thought you said that Illyrians were protective of their wings?” Feyre whispered, clearly questioning why Cass’ wing was draped over y/n. 

“They are,” I whisper back. “But she’s his mate. He would rather have his wings shredded than have anything happen to her.” I say fondly. I had to admit, while I was still getting used to Cassian and my little sister being together, it was nice to not have to worry about her safety as much. Anyone who dared to harm her would have to face Cassian. Gods spare that poor fool. 

“Even in his sleep?” she asked in a hushed tone. 

“Especially in his sleep,” I laugh, moving to shake my sister's hand, trying to wake her. 

The second I grasp that small hand to shake it awake Cassian’s eyes fly open and the next thing I know there’s a dagger aimed at my throat and a murderous gaze thrown my way. 

“Easy Cass it’s just me,” I chuckle as I hear Feyre gasping and taking a step back. 

“Cauldron Rhys you scared the shit out of me,” Cassian sighed lowering the dagger, beside him my sister stirred. 

“Cass what’s going on?” she asked, her voice laced with sleep. 

“Nothing princess, it's just Rhys,” he answered, smoothing her hair out of her face. It was strange to see my war general so docile and domestic. 

“And Feyre Archeron,” I corrected as Feyre took a step further. “Why don’t you two wake up and meet us outside.” I laugh leading Feyre towards the door. 

Behind me I can hear Cass gently explaining to a very tired y/n what’s going on. 

y/n’s POV: 

“Do you think she saw me?” I ask frantically putting on my dress.

My older brother had just ambushed me with his mate and the first time she saw me might’ve been with a bed head. I was angry with him for waking me, but I would’ve been more pissed if he hadn’t done so, not when I wanted to meet the cursebreaker so badly. 

“I’m sure she did,” Cassian chuckled, strapping his daggers to his side, no doubt going to train when this is over. 

“Ugh,” I sigh, running a brush through my hair. “I probably looked awful.” I sigh, setting down the brush. 

I see Cassian walking up to me through the mirror. He wraps his arms around my waist and places a kiss on my shoulder, sending reassurance and affection down the bond.

“I don’t think you’ve ever looked awful a day in your life, princess.” he smiled into my shoulder. 

“You have to say that you’re my mate,” I laughed, turning in his arms. 

“And your husband don’t forget that title too,” he says, tilting my chin up to meet his warm gaze. 

“How could I ever forget that, husband.” I smile, pecking his lips.

Without another word Cassian and I walk hand in hand down the hallway to where Rhys and Feyre are sitting in the living room. I take a moment to survey their body language. While my brother leans on his knees, seemingly drinking in every breath and movement Feyre has to offer, the cursebreaker sits stiffly on the couch. I make eye contact with my brother and he stands immediately.

“Feyre darling I would like to introduce you to Cassian, the general of my armies and y/n, my little sister,” Rhys says proudly gesturing to the two of us. 

Feyre turns to see us and I swear my heart stops. The last time I saw the female she was prone on the floor underneath the mountain. Every High Lord had sacrificed a bit of power to save her. Becoming high fae seemed to suit her.

“Hello Feyre, it's an honor to meet you,”  I smile. 

“The honor is all mine,” she says timidly, giving a slight bow. “I’ve heard stories of your beauty before. Tamiln and Lucien used to talk about you a lot, I never believed them but now I see they were right.” 

“Oh really?” Cassian inquired brisling at her words and I considered elbowing him in the ribs. 

“You flatter me too much, Feyre.” I say and look to change the subject. “How are you liking Velaris so far?”

“I like it very much, it’s beautiful here.” she says looking around the townhouse. “Rhysand says that you and Cassain are mates?”

“We are, we just had our mating ceremony and our wedding last month,” I say happily. Cauldron, had it already been a month?

“Congratulations to the both of you,” she smiled stiffly.

“I was just about to take a walk through the city, there’s a pastry shop down there that makes croissants stuffed with this delicious chocolate and hazelnut filling. Would you like to join?” I ask, my brother gave me a weary eye, but I shrugged him off. What Feyre needed was a friend, a female friend that is, and I was more than happy to jump at the opportunity. 

“I would like that,” she smiles, the blue in her eyes lighting up ever so slightly. “May I walk with your sister oh so powerful high lord?” Feyre turned to Rhys, sarcasm dripping from her voice. 

Rhys barked out a laugh, one I hadn’t heard in quite some time, “Feyre darling I told you that you are not my prisoner, you may take the air with my sister if it pleases you.” he says gesturing to me.  

“Well then shall we?” the cursebreaker asked me. 

I couldn’t help but let out a small giggle as I looped my arm in hers, I had a feeling she and I were going to be fast friends. 

“You’re right this is incredible,” Feyre’s words were nearly inaudible as flakes of pastry fell from her mouth. 

“I know right? I’ve been going there once a week for years. Well sort of…when I was growing up I wasn’t allowed to leave the house. My parents were weird and feared my beauty would be too tempting for males. So they locked me up tight and threw away the key. Rhys used to bring me these pastries all the time, he was my only real window to the outside world.” I divulge, almost regretting telling her so much until I remember how she came to be here in Velaris. 

“So you haven’t really seen the other courts then have you?” she asks, wiping some chocolate from the corner of her mouth. 

“I actually have,” I smile finishing the last bite of my treat. “When Rhys learned to fly the first thing he did was come and get me and take me to a candy shop. From that day forward he snuck me out whenever he got the chance, that’s how I know Tamlin and Lucien. It never sat right with my brother, what my parents did to me,” I continue, hoping to show a side of Rhys that I knew he would never offer up himself. 

Feyre continued walking beside me, for a moment there was silence, as if she was considering my story, comparing it with hers. If she had something to say about Rhys she didn’t divulge, instead turning the conversation to other matters.

“Can I ask about you and your mate?” she queries. “I’m not sure if it’s a personal subject or not, I’m not well versed in the customs of fae.” 

“Ask anything you like, I assure you I have no problem talking about my mate,” I laugh thinking of Cassian’s smiling face now. 

Feyre gives a subtle laugh, “How did you know he was your mate?” she says, turning her head to read my expression as we further walked down the Sidra, seemingly clinging on my every word just like Rhys had clinged to hers. 

“Well Cassian knew first, I didn’t know until much later,” I start recalling the moment the bond snapped, the joy followed by pure terror. “I was set to marry Eris Vanserra, an arrangement made by our fathers a long time ago. When Rhys and I returned from under the mountain we both grew apart as we were both processing what had happened in our own way. He found the arrangement in my fathers things and thought that we could use the Autumn Court’s armies if Hybern should come to call, and after he saved me under the mountain I didn’t want to say no.” 

“He saved you, yet you were still down there?” Feyre asked, and I paused for a moment. Rhys had not told her the conditions of his servitude. 

“You don’t know?” I ask to make sure. If Rhys didn’t explain to his mate why he took the actions he did, it would be a great disservice to both him and his character, one I would rectify.

“Know what?” she asked clearly not seeing the big deal as she finished off her own croissant. 

“The only reason Rhys was Amarantha’s whore was because of me,” I start, feeling the shame seep in. “When we first arrived under the mountain he was able to keep me hidden, but then Hybern paid a visit and he wanted to take me for his wife. Rhys begged Amarantha not to let him take me, she agreed on the condition that he would come to her bed willingly.”  

“I-I had no idea,” the cursebreaker stuttered as her eyes zoned out on something far away. 

“It’s not something he and I talk about much, but it’s for that reason I chose to marry Eris, to try  and repay his sacrifice. However, Eris was cruel, he hurt me and assaulted me, I was nothing more than a pet to him. Cassian was the one to take me back and forth to the Autumn Court during our courtship and I fell in love with him. One night we couldn’t stay away any longer and I found myself in his bed. I knew I couldn’t end the courtship with Eris without bargaining for armies so I kept our relationship a secret.” 

“That must’ve been torture,” Feyre gasped her eyes finally finding me. 

“It was,” I nodded. “I didn’t know we were mates, and I ended up finding out the day of the wedding, but it was too late. I married Eris to save Velaris and Cassian was banished from Autumn. That night Eris found out I was impure, he dumped me over the Autumn court border and left me to die. If it wasn’t for the bond Cassian never would have found me.” I finished telling the story. 

“I- I’m sorry that you had to go through those things. That you came to be with Cassian under such hard circumstances.” she says, as if she doesn’t trust her own words. “But things are better now right? You’re safe?” 

I let out a light hearted laugh, trying to keep the conversation from veering anywhere dark, “I’ve never been safer. Eris is out of the picture now that my brother and Cassian have chased him out of town. Now it’s just Cassian and I in our newly mated bliss.” I smile. 

“I can see how anyone would run from Rhys,” Feyre rolls her eyes dramatically. 

A warm chuckle rumbles through my chest, one so infectious it finds Feyre’s lips too, “I know my brother can be a bit of an ass sometimes. But give him a chance, he might be the king of sarcasm, but underneath all that he truly cares.” I tell her, bumping into her shoulder playfully. 

“I suppose I can try, at least I know I have you now,” she smiles looking across the way at a nearby vendor. 

My heart smiles at her words. 

At least I have you.

My mission was complete. I was able to get her to trust me, to feel like she had a friend in me. Maybe, just maybe, her knowing that there was someone else on her side would bring her closer to Rhys, maybe I could finally find a way to repay the sacrifice my brother gave for me. 

I swing the wooden sword down at Cassian’s, the hard impact of them meeting causing a grunt to leave my lips. The hot sun beat down on us as we spared as best we could. He could easily beat me if he wanted to, I was still a beginner after all,  but he never made me feel like I was inferior. We had been out here for over an hour, the evidence of it being seen on my sweaty fighting leathers. My second set, to be exact. Once my first set got dirty and sweaty Cassian bought me another so I didn’t have to wash them so often. 

I had no clue where he got them, but somehow these were even more beautiful than the last set. My mate even got me a Illyrian steel corset that would keep me from being lacerated, as well as metal bracers to protect my wrists. At first they took some getting used to, the weight of them a new feeling, but now they were like a second skin. 

“Sword high princess,” Cassian instructed me as I felt the weight of the wooden sword start to bring my arm down. 

“It's heavy!” I protest swinging at him again, this time with both hands on the hilt to hit him harder, even though he told me not to do that.

His sword clashes with mine and in one swoop he uses his wooden blade to raise my own. My hands were high above my head as he stood inches from me. 

“I know it’s heavy just wait until you wield a real sword,” he says, placing a kiss on my nose, taunting me. “And don’t use both hands, in real combat you’ll have a shield as well, you’ll need to be able to use that sword with one hand.” 

I let out a low growl before stepping on his foot, earning a groan from him as he didn’t see it coming. My sword sits heavy in my hands as I swing it, knocking his legs out from under him and using my shoulder as extra force to put him on the ground. He lies on his back below me, wooden sword tumbling from his hand. I see him reach for it and lightly press the toe of my boot into his wrist and lower myself on top of him, placing the pretend blade to his throat.    

Cassian’s hazel eyes look up at me in pure awe and amusement and something I had only ever seen from him, pride. 

“Is it bad that this is turning me on right now?” he barked out a laugh causing me to break my menacing stare. 

I snort at his words, letting up the pressure I had on his arms in the process, “Cass you ruin everything!” I laughed, tossing my sword to the side and shifting my foot off his wrist so that I sat fully on his stomach. 

“You call it ruining the moment, I say I’m making it better,” he smirks as his hands find my hips. 

The Lord of Bloodshed leans up to place a passionate kiss on my lips. My hands find either of his cheeks needing him closer to me than he already is. As his tongue swipes my bottom lip and enters my mouth I let out a small moan that has him shifting beneath me. 

“Really guys on the training mat? Is nowhere sacred anymore?” Azriel’s causes us both to nearly jump out of our skin. 

“Cauldron Az,” Cassian curses, putting a hand over his heart like it might’ve stopped. “Enough with the spymaster shit you scared the piss out of me.” 

A smirk tugged at Azriel’s lips, “You deserved it,” he remarked, going to wrap his hands. 

I shift my weight off Cassian and stand offering him my hand. He takes it, even though he’s twice my size and if he truly used my help I would end up on the ground again.  

“You’re getting better princess,” Azriel praised me. “I’d say it’s time you wield a steel sword instead of a wooden one.” 

“Maybe,” Cass warns, dusting himself off. “The last thing I need is you slicing yourself open.” he said to me.

“What afraid I’ll mar my pretty skin?” I tease rocking back and forth on my toes, remembering how Cassian all but worshiped me last night, claiming that the stories of my rose petal soft skin were true. 

“No I’m afraid that you’ll accidentally bleed out on me,” he replies, flicking my nose. 

Azriel chuckles beside us, “You’re far too protective of your mate brother, she can handle a real sword if she can handle your ass.” he taunts. 

“You forget that if anything were to happen to her Rhys would have my head,” Cassian rolls his eyes, placing our swords back on the rack behind him. 

“I suppose you’re right, but she has to start sometime.” Az shrugs, finishing the wrappings on his hands. “Alright princess who you got today?” he asked me. 

I let out a laugh as our new tradition reared its head again. For weeks now after Cass trained me Azriel would come down and they would spar. I would always gamble on who would win the first match, sometimes I would win, sometimes I would lose, it was all in great fun. But lately the boys had been taking it much more seriously and I couldn’t help but laugh at them and call them “Illyrian babies”. 

“Hmmm,” I said, pretending to think. “Considering I just handed Cassian his ass I think you’ve got this one Azriel.”

“Pfft in his dreams,” Cassian scoffs, ripping off his shirt. Azriel copies the motion and I can’t help but feel my cheeks heat at the sweaty males in front of me.  

“Then let’s raise the stakes then,” Azriel boasts. “I win, y/n trains with steel tomorrow” 

“You’re on,” Cassian taunts as he squares up. “Baby, I hope you aren’t prone to splinters because you’re going to be getting them for a while.”

Azriel took two steps back towards me, “Wanna give me some good luck?” he asked with a cheeky grin.

I laughed and gave the shadow singer a playful kiss on the cheek. 

“Now we’re talking,” Azriel laughed, flipping his swords in his hands. 

“Oh you’re a dead male where you stand,” Cassian smirked.

In an instant they were a storm of steel. If it had been a real fight I’m sure wisps of cobalt and crimson power would be among that twister of metal. But their rule was no siphons when training.  In a weird way it was beautiful the way they fought. During the training sessions with Cass I had come to learn that fighting was much like dancing, it was about anticipating your enemies next movement. Knowing where to step when, how to move your feet. 

They were both evenly matched in every way. Even though I spent every day pretending to think about who might win I never truly knew. It was always a guess, or a gut feeling. So far I had bet mostly on Cassian, for obvious reasons, but whenever I put my money on Azriel he seemed to show up. 

As I watched them deflecting eachothers blows and grunting with the sheer force of striking and blocking, I couldn’t help but wonder if I would ever be as good as them. If I would ever be able to truly fight and win against the warriors. 

My thoughts were interrupted when I saw Azriel’s back hit the ground, his wing being pinned underneath him. Cassian stood above him, chest heaving and pointing his sword at the shadowsingers neck. 

“Do you yield?” Cassian asked out of breath. 

Azriel simply held up his hand to ask his brother for a lift up, silently admitting defeat. Cass took it and hauled the spymaster up in one heave. 

I clapped my hands slowly as Cass walked over to me knowing that this is when I typically took my leave to wash up for dinner.

“It was a good match,” I smiled at my mate trying to hide my disappointment about not being able to train with real swords yet.

Cass slid his fingers under my chin and tilted it up so he could place a goodbye kiss on my lips, “You’ll train with steel tomorrow,” he smiled before returning to his own training. 

I gave an enthusiastic whoop before retreating to The House of Wind to clean up and prepare for dinner with Feyre and Rhys. 

Months Later…

It had finally happened. Feyre had found out that Rhys was her mate and she wasn’t taking it well at all. 

Rhys was distraught when he found me in the library reading. He told me what had happened, from the ambush, to the Suriel telling Feyre about the bond. I honestly spent most of the time being surprised that the cursebreaker had been able to find the Suriel in the first place. My brother told me that his mate sat in the old cabin in the Illyrian mountains and I knew instantly that I needed to see her. 

I had watched the two of them come alive for each other these past few months. Saw Feyre become stronger and more sure of herself. Watched my brother turn back into the male he was when we were just kids. I had befriended the Archeron girl all the while, offering her comfort when I could, as we shared many of the same experiences, being locked up, being in an abusive relationship, being under the mountain…

I ran to Cassian asking him to fly me to the cabin and he did so without a second thought. He saw the panic in my eyes, the need to be there with her, to offer her some sort of comfort. Because as if fate had intertwined us we now shared another experience… being the last to know about our mating bonds. 

As Cassian landed in the snow outside the cabin I wished I had brought more furs. The wind ripped around me, chilling me to the bone. I shook off the memories of being thrown into the Winter Court and marched my way up to the cabin door giving it a knock. 

Feyre opened the cabin door dressed in breeches and a thick sweater, her hands and face covered in paint. 

“I can leave if you would like some privacy, I just wanted to check on you,” I say earnestly trying to keep my teeth from chattering. 

Feyre’s blue eyes look to me and then back to Cassian who stands a few yards away. “Come on in, I could use a friend.” she said quietly and my heart warmed at the word ‘friend’.

I nod to Cassian who takes off into the sky before stepping into the cabin. The warmth of the raging fire immediately heats my cheeks and I discard my furs onto a nearby chair. It had been years since I had been back here. We used to spend solstice here, just the four of us. Of course that was before mother and father died, and I hadn’t been back since. 

I look around and gasped. All over the walls Feyre had painted our eyes, my family's eyes. Each so distinct I could name each one. Amren and Mors, Azriel’s, Rhys’ distinct violet, and at the end, Cassian and I’s painted together. 

“These are beautiful,” I say in awe, looking over each set again. 

“I just needed something to get my mind off things,” she sighed, collecting the paints in a box. 

There was a moment of silence as I tried to let her decide where she wanted the conversation to go. She closed the box with a sigh and then turned to me. 

“Did you know?” she inquired, her eyes flickered with hope and I realized she prayed that I was just as in the dark as she was, that she wasn’t alone in this. 

My heart dropped and her eyes faltered as she heard the answer in my hesitation. “I wanted so badly to tell you, but I knew it wasn’t my place to say anything, it was between you and Rhys.” I say sitting on the floor by the fire. 

“I understand why you didn’t say anything but I wish someone had told me,” she says solemnly before joining me on the rug. 

“Believe me I wanted someone to tell me too,” I chuckle as I lean forward more soaking up the heat of the flames. 

Her eyes shoot to me as she seems to remember how I was in the same situation not too long ago, “When you found out Cassian was your mate, that he had kept the bond a secret from you, were you upset with him?” she asked. 

I cocked my head trying to remember what I felt that day in the Autumn Court, “Honestly it happened so fast that I can’t remember what I was feeling exactly, but I know I wasn’t angry,” I chuckled. “I had loved Cass long before I ever said it. He kept the bond from me because he thought he was taking a weight off my shoulders. He didn’t want me to feel like I had to choose between my mate and my court. I wish I would’ve known, it would’ve saved me a world of trouble because I would’ve chosen him no questions asked. But I understand he had his reasons for keeping it from me.” 

Feyre gave a shallow nod, signaling that she had heard me. “But why didn’t Rhys tell me?” she asked, her words desperate and I wasn’t sure if it was a question I could answer.

“I don’t know for sure.” I said honestly. “But I do know this, Rhys has spent his whole life believing he is a monster because of the front he has to put on for others. I think sometimes he forgets why he puts on that front, to protect his people and his family.” 

I take a deep breath wondering if I should continue but I can’t stop the overflow of words coming from me, “I think he didn’t want you to feel shackled to a monster. All you’ve ever known is the darker parts of him, he wanted to give you a chance to let you know the good parts, then let you decide for yourself,” I place my hand on her arm and her eyes snap to mine. “All I can say is that Rhys wouldn’t keep it from you if he didn’t have a good reason. You don’t have to hear him out today, tomorrow or even next week. But I think you should at some point, if only to give yourself the peace of mind of knowing the full story.” 

Feyre nods again, grabbing my hand and squeezing it tight, “I’m really glad you’re here,” she confessed, her eyes going glassy. 

“Anything for you Archeron,” I smile, feeling my eyes glass over too.

I'm so fucking excited for the next chapter I'm buzzin' guys...

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#cassian angst #cassian smut #cassian acotar #cassian x reader #cassian #cassian x reader smut #rhysand x reader #rhysand acotar #rhysand fluff #rhysand #azriel x you #azriel x reader #azriel shadowsinger #azriel acotar #azriel x reader fluff #feyre cursebreaker #feyre acotar #feyre archeron #rhysand angst #rhys acotar #feysand #acomaf #a court of thorns and roses #eris vanserra smut #eris vanserra x reader #eris vanserra #eris acotar #eris x reader #eris vandaddy #eris vanserra fluff

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

"What about this one?"

Ed tucked his smile against Stede's bare shoulder as he felt Stede's fingers circle around his wrist, and he propped himself up properly, folding his hand beneath his chin. The scar on the side of his wrist was a skinny, fishhook-shaped thing, faded with age. "Must've been about...I dunno, nineteen, maybe? Tried to impress some guy by spinning my knife around my finger and it slipped."

Stede, encouraged by Ed's huff and fond eyeroll at his teenage antics, laughed, the arm around Ed's shoulders pressing down into the small of his back.

This was a game they played, sometimes. Stede picked the smaller scars, most of the time, the ones without too much baggage. He'd never asked about the ugly knotted scar above Ed's hip, or the nasty twisted thing that pushed his kneecap sideways, or the faded X carved over Ed's heart, and definitely not the even, uniform scars on his thighs that had been covered up with shaky tattoos of flowers and hearts and sharks.

There were lots of scars that weren't those, and Ed didn't mind most of them. Past foolishness, past bravery. Stede's favorite scars were the cluster of puncture scars on Ed's tummy and the long, swooping scar under his chest, because they were proof of living, of outsmarting the world. He liked to lick the scar under Ed's chest during intimate moments to make him whimper, knew just how to rest his hand on that sensitive patch of tummy to make Ed gasp.

And, tonight, Ed was halfway towards taking this little game somewhere. He had a very convenient scar from his twenties (didn't fully clear the railing during yardies and landed on a deeply unfortunate section of wood) right along the crease of his hip that Stede could explore -

Stede's voice turned thoughtful, then, his fingers trailing over Ed's shoulder blades. "Don't tell me if you don't want to. But what about...these?"

Ed practically bit his tongue. Those things were faded to hell, only really visible along his shoulders though they'd once stretched down to the small of his back. They were from the first and only time he'd ever gotten flogged.

Ed pushed himself up, resting fully on top of Stede's chest, now, his arms crossed under his chin. "So," he started. "I don't think I'd turned fifteen yet."

"Oh, Ed," Stede whispered, his face crinkling with sympathy.

Yeah, Ed thought, he wanted to get this one out. Pretty often, Stede's reactions to the rough ones felt like cleaning an old wound.

See, if his plan for that day had worked, he probably would've described it as his first fuckery. Because he meant to get caught stealing extra food, and he'd had a plan that seemed perfect.

He'd been sailing on ol' Hornigold's crew for maybe three months. And one of the other cabin boys looked out for the fresh ones. He was a couple years older than Ed, always shared the food he stole and never got caught. Ed had had the biggest crush of his young life on Felix.

Now, Jack had told him one night that floggings weren't shit. Jack was about Ed's age, but he'd been around longer, so Ed had believed him. Jack had said there was nothing to it, you just had to bite your tongue a bit and it'd be over before you knew it.

Ed should've known something was up when he'd winked at Jack and Felix over his shoulder as he was marched to the mast and they'd looked scared out of their heads. He'd stuck his tongue out at them through his smile, cheerfully admitted to his charges, imagining laying in Felix's arms that night as Felix gently patched him up -

The first strike took the breath out of Ed's lungs. He'd screamed himself hoarse by the time it was finally, finally over, laid there on the deck sobbing for much longer as Jack and Felix tried to stand him up.

The worst part was how the older guys laughed, even the ones Ed had thought were pretty cool just that morning. Ed would never look at anyone the same again, for as long as he lived.

He had wound up in Felix's arms that night, but he'd still been too busy crying his eyes out to really appreciate it.

"Pretty fucked up," Ed concluded. Stede's face was all crumpled up, his lip wobbling, and Ed gently cupped his face in his hands. "I'm alright, babe, c'mon. I'm right here."

Stede's voice was steady enough. "Are we sure everyone who laughed at you is already dead?"

"Yeah," Ed snorted, leaning forward to press a kiss to the tip of Stede's nose. "Stede, man, really, it was so long ago -"

"That's the worst part," Stede said. "You were fourteen, Ed! You deserved so, so much better."

Ed paused.

Stede met his eyes, taking Ed's hand and holding it tight between both of his. "You deserved so much better," he said firmly. "You are precious, Ed, and you deserve to be treated like it."

Maybe Ed couldn't fully believe that, not all the way, not just yet. But he wrapped his arms around Stede, tucking himself in sound and safe. "You treat me like I'm precious."

Stede's hand landed on his shoulders, rubbing gently, like he was trying to soothe the pain of decades-old wounds. "Making up for lots of lost time."

#ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd fic #ofmd minific #whump #tw injury #this wasn't enough for a full fic but i thought it was still compelling enough to share!

[vigilskeep]

hi! ive seen you talk about your surana a bunch but i dont know if ive seen her full story. what were some of the pivotal decisions she made? i love hearing you talk about your ocs, theyre always so in depth and thought out!

oh thank you!! :) my surana is my Eldest Daughter from my very first full playthrough of a dragon age game, so i think a lot of people newer to the blog (like... from less than a year and a half ago probably lmao) have less of the context in complete form. so i will attempt to summarise!! it may be... long...

minerva surana is a manipulative, driven elven circle mage, heart-breakingly willing to sacrifice whatever she believes is necessary for her Grand Goals, who is often so busy playing 5d chess she forgets she’s a twenty-one year old with no experience of the world outside the tower

okay it did turn out fucking long the rest is under the cut its like 9 bulky paragraphs enjoy

her family were tevinter liberati, elven slaves who had devoted themselves to buying their way out and very recently succeeded. her parents were desperate to see her and her elder sibling grow up knowing only freedom, and sent their children south with another part of the family while they remained to pay off the last of their debts. the journey was long and difficult, and they had little left when they ended up in the denerim alienage. in a twist of bitter irony, magic that might have made minerva someone of value in the imperium saw her freedom once more revoked in the south. minerva remembers nothing of tevinter, and only a few fragments of what came next: of light through the vhenadahl’s branches glinting on a templar’s blade, of her sibling fighting them and being knocked to the ground, terribly still, with blood in their hair, and of her grandmother saying what she might have said many times on that long journey south: we can survive anything, as long as we never look back. ironically, minerva often took that to heart by denying all memory prior to the circle.

young apprentice minerva was a sullen child, with few friends; karl thekla took an elder brother’s interest, and jowan clung to her talent. she only really flourished when, after her terror of her natural gift for spirit magic saw her self-hatred turn dangerous in her early teens, first enchanter irving took an interest. he was a father figure to her, and he showed her how to channel her power into control, and her distress into ambition. newfound devotion to elemental magic saw her hailed as a prodigy, and surely a future first enchanter with irving’s tutelage. (only irving considered her too headstrong for the role. he never told her, fostering the drive he had cultivated, both fearful for the state she might return to if he didn’t, and curious as to what else she might become.) she grew up arrogant and beautiful and deeply loyal to the circle, learning that it was only the weak and the defiant who would fail to thrive there, and convinced she was neither. many of her peers wanted to be her, and few of them wanted to spend much time in her company. except jowan, still the little brother hiding in her shadow, and halliserre amell, a rebellious rival with a winning smile, who made up for their lack of her discipline and raw power with sheer brilliance, and whose heated arguments eventually developed into... ah, something else heated.

not long before the start of the game, amell told her they were going to accept tranquillity. it didn’t matter how clever they were; with their weak magic, they would die in the harrowing. they’d only been so defiant of the circle before because, having accepted their fate, the risks were nothing to them. furious and unable to admit it was because she was in love, the last thing minerva ever said to them when they were whole was that they were a coward not to try. when jowan told her he feared he too would be made tranquil, minerva was still recovering from the loss, not to mention flushed with even more arrogance than normal from her own successful harrowing. she had been the perfect circle mage all her life, twice as good as everyone else to make up for every rumour about where she was from. surely she had earned one defiance. surely she could save this one thing, her oldest friend. and she is a loyal person, in her way, emotion powering her fierce drive, incapable of abandoning what she has set her heart on. irving, from whom she had learned everything, was ahead of her every step of the way. he arranged for her to be taken in by the grey wardens. she had proved herself as headstrong and unsuitable as he had feared—and she was shocked and bitterly betrayed to finally see that—but he also believed this might bring her to where she would truly belong.

as a grey warden, minerva’s highest concern is perception. when the stakes of the game are revealed, she has enough hubris to see it as a chance to not just save but change the world. defeating the archdemon isn’t enough. she needs to be seen defeating the archdemon, at the forefront, as an elven mage; she has enough idealism to believe it will really matter for her and people like her, and enough shrewd cynicism to consider what she may have to sacrifice to achieve it. mostly she approaches problems with the skill for diplomacy and management that irving taught her, with that good good Master Coercion skill. she gets many of the “better” and certainly more peaceful quest outcomes, not always motivated by altruism, but determined to be remembered well when she leaves each faction behind. her one great sacrifice of this goal to be seen as the perfect mage is when she takes up blood magic, determined after she sees its power that she alone can handle it, to get the job done and keep what’s hers alive fight after fight. but that only makes her more dedicated to her actions elsewhere

the real test and most pivotal moment of her arc is at the landsmeet. she has arranged anora’s marriage to an alistair hardened for the role (once more following irving’s example, learning to teach ambition as he had taught hers. is there love in that, or just selfishness? she doesn’t know). all that matters is that the joint rule neatly fulfils her desire for compromise to please all parties. but then she struggles between two aspects of her goal: she wants to be seen, personally, as the victor; she does not want every noble in ferelden to see her kill the hero of river dane with magic. she knows how that scene will be remembered, in the end. when riordan suggests recruiting him instead, it seems the perfect solution to everything, the salvation of the day. and then she realises she’s broken alistair’s heart, just when he’s breaking hers. she is incapable of backing down in front of them all (it’s only to alistair, her alistair, but she can’t do it—not to a human, and not to someone part of her will always see as a templar—not when everything she wants was so close.) he abandons her for the throne she taught him to want. she goes on with loghain in the party, and eventually—unable to let loghain snatch the final sacrifice from her grasp, and realising she does want to win and live, after it all—convinces him to do the dark ritual.

in terms of her most important relationships with companions: minerva traditionally romances zevran, who is in many ways uniquely her match having learned the same bitter lessons with the crows that she learned from the circle, and who is so dear to her and capable of lightening her heart when no-one else can. i’ve also experimented with the idea of her romancing alistair, to really dramatise the Landsmeet Divorce and capitalise on future political shenanigans where she could one day be his mistress, but more traditionally they are simply an extremely closely trauma-bonded pair of people who are incapable, at least that year, of really understanding each other deep down. it falls into a pattern where she loves someone with all that fierce drive, enough to die for them, but she will always prioritise what she thinks they need over what they are saying and what they want, often with misjudgements and terrible consequences for them both. it was true with amell, it’s true for many others

she has something very intense and homoerotic going on with morrigan, she has a strained relationship with leliana and wynne, and she has respect and comradeship and a fair bit of fundamental disagreement with sten and loghain. the awakening squad are the people she will consider family for life, most notably nathaniel who she started out not liking at all and is now her work wife, her right hand, can finish her sentences, etc.; anders, who remembers her as karl’s annoying teacher’s pet telltale little sister and is still sometimes baffled by who she’s become; velanna, who makes minerva her most genuine self by having regular screaming matches with her as a sign of affection; and oghren who tried to quit drinking at the same time she tried to quit blood magic, leading to many conversations that deeply baffled everyone around them.

the “current” minerva surana is a sharp-tongued leader who was born for the role of warden-commander, who loves her work and that it matters, who has a truer confidence that is less blindly arrogant and more willing to admit to mistakes, who has worked her breathless way up to h*lding h*ands in public with someone she loves, who has finally learned the hard lesson that the world needs more than an heroic example who followed all the rules to truly be bettered... and who, as rebellion brews, has never been one to sit back and watch while others changed the world

#minerva surana #i THINK thats everything major... it must be #minerva enjoyers who im sure remember more of my posts than me tell me if i missed anything crucial writing this in one sitting #shes my babygirl. thats crucial. #i didnt cover the exact details of her quest decisions bc i think abt changing them a lot #def bringing the sides together in nature of the beast. bhelen supporter and she rlly cultivates that alliance she loves orzammar #ive never played it but in retrospect i believe she wouldve killed connor #and. saved the circle. given that the other option is [checks notes] murdering her dad for the crime of [checks notes again] being tortured

[lau219]

Enemies with Benefits

Part 6

Previous part here

…………………………………………………………………………….

“What do you mean you’re quitting? You can’t quit!”

Elise stood in front of Y/N’s desk as she was sitting in her office in the back of the club. After she’d told her what happened, Elise had been at a loss for words, but once Y/N had told her she was quitting, she found her voice.

“There’s no way I’m working for that bastard,” Y/N replied. “I’d rather scrape dead animals off the highway than work for him.”

“But if you quit, who’s going to be the head manager?” Elise asked, panic on her face.

“That’s for Shelby to figure out.”

“But who knows who he’d hire to replace you? It could be some inept moron who has no idea what they’re doing, or a control freak dictator who makes everyone miserable. Either scenario could ruin this place, and that’s if everyone doesn’t quit first.”

“Then he’ll get what he deserves,” Y/N replied.

“But what about all of us?” Elise asked her. “You’re just going to leave us? You’re the reason we all work here, Y/N.”

“I know, but I can’t—” Y/N began, but Elise continued

“And what about all the work you put into this place? You made this place what it is. This is your place.”

“Try telling that to the bank,” Y/N replied bitterly.

“But what about us?!” Elise asked again. “You can’t just leave us!”

Pausing, Y/N looked at her, and it broke her heart to see how upset Elise was. It was also breaking her heart to have to walk away from her club, but she didn’t see any other option. She had no idea what she’d do instead, seeing as how the Shelby’s owned every other place in town now, too, but she just couldn’t work for them, for him. No way.

“I’m sorry, Elise,” Y/N responded. “Really, this is killing me; you know how much I love you guys, and love this place. But it’s the principle of the thing. This guy bought this place out from under me and acted like he was giving me a choice. He’s taken away from me the one thing that was my own, that I worked so hard for. And all because he’s so obsessed with owning everything in sight that he couldn’t leave well enough alone and be satisfied with having his name on every other place around here. He’s an arrogant, selfish bastard.”

“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” came a voice from the door behind them.

As Elise turned around and Y/N looked past her, they found Polly Gray standing in the open doorway to Y/N’s office. A large handbag hanging from the crook of her elbow, she was looking at them with a slightly hesitant smile. As Y/N recognized her and registered that she was standing in her doorway, she defensively glared at the woman.

“Door up front was open,” Polly said by way of explanation as to how she’d gotten inside in the middle of the day. She jerked her head in the direction she’d come from and then offered another smile.

“If you’re here to defend Mr. Shelby, I’m not interested in hearing it,” Y/N said to Polly, still glaring, her guard up. “In fact, I’m not interested in hearing what you or anyone from your family has to say, so you can see yourself out by the same way you came in.”

Polly gave a single shake of her head before answering.

“I’m not here to talk about Tommy, darling. I’m here to talk about you.”

Y/N’s eyes were still narrowed.

“Why would I want to hear anything you have to say?”

“Because, just as we agreed upon when I met you the other day, I, too, think Tommy is a cocky, greedy asshole. And as much as I love that boy, I have no hesitation in knocking him down a peg or two, which is why I’m here.”

Elise slowly turned back towards Y/N, her eyes wide as she registered what Polly had said. After looking at Elise for a moment, Y/N returned her gaze to Polly.

“Why should I believe that you’re not here with some ulterior motive to help your beloved nephew make my life even worse?” she asked her.

Polly reached into her bag and pulled out a short stack of papers secured with a binder clip. She held it up as she spoke.

“Because I’ve taken from Tommy the contract he intends on having you sign when you agree to work for him. When you meet with him again, you’ll see that what I’m showing you today is exactly what he’ll present you with at that time. You’re going to look it over ahead of time and be fully prepared with your own set of requirements from him.”

Y/N shook her head. While she was surprised by the fact that Polly did, in fact, appear to be on her side, she still had no intention of working for Tommy Shelby.

“I appreciate the thought, Ms. Gray, but I have no intention of working for your nephew,” Y/N said to her. “I’m sorry to tell you that you wasted your time coming down here.”

Polly lowered her hand that held the contract and tilted her head slightly.

“Believe me, darling, I’m as pissed as you are at the moment, but before you make any final decisions, I want to make sure you really know what you’re giving up.”

“I’m not giving it up,” Y/N replied, narrowing her eyes. “It’s been taken from me.”

“And I want to help you get it back,” came Polly’s reply.

Assessing her for another moment, Y/N finally shifted her focus from Polly to Elise.

“Can you give us a few minutes, Elise?” she said.

“Yeah, sure,” Elise replied, then gave Y/N a wide-eyed look of uncertainty before she turned and walked through the doorway, passing Polly, who stepped inside after Elise had gone by and closed the door behind her.

“Are you often cleaning up your nephews’ messes, Ms. Gray?” Y/N asked her, realizing she sounded rude, but not caring, regardless of the fact that Polly was apparently here to help her.

“Please, call me Polly,” she replied. “And let’s just say that I should be getting my name embroidered on a custodian jumpsuit for the number of messes I’ve cleaned up.”

Y/N nearly smiled at her remark, and after stepping further into the room, Polly spoke again as she made herself comfortable at the metal chair in front of Y/N’s desk. Definitely not the plush office environment she was used to, Y/N thought as she recalled Tommy’s office.

“You’ve got a great place here,” Polly began as she set her bag down on the floor. “The fact that you got it to this all on your own only makes it all the more impressive. I know how successful you are here.”

“Thank you,” was all Y/N said as Polly’s eyes met hers. There was a brief moment of awkward silence before Polly spoke again.

“Listen, everything about the way Tommy went about this was, in my opinion, wrong. He should have handled it much differently, however, I want to be sure that you understand that what he did may not have actually been the worst thing.”

Y/N raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

“You tell me that you think he’s an asshole for what he did, and then you defend him for it?” Y/N shook her head. “I don’t think we’re as much on the same page as you think we are, Polly.”

“His intention wasn’t to lead you on,” Polly said. “Well, maybe it was at first, but after meeting you, he changed his mind. Rather than buying your place and giving you the boot after the fact, he decided that he wanted to keep you at all costs. That’s because he was so impressed by you. Every other place we’ve bought, he’s fired the previous owner and manager and hired someone new.”

“And I’m supposed to be flattered enough by that fact to overlook that he essentially lied to me about his intentions?”

Polly cocked her head.

“It wasn’t so much that he was lying, as that he wanted to get you to hear him out before you knew about the sale. He figured that if he waited to try to discuss his offer to you after the sale, that you’d be so upset that you wouldn’t even listen to him. He wanted to make sure you knew what he could offer you.”

Y/N shook her head again in disgust.

“The fact that he was so arrogant as to take that approach only makes me more confident that he’s an asshole,” she said.

Polly gave a sympathetic smile.

“Like I said, I don’t agree with how he went about all this, but the fact is, this place still had money owed on it. And it’s true that that was brought to the bank’s attention before he even met you. After the purchase of the last club, Tommy immediately began looking into buying this place, and when he went to the bank to do some research, all the forgotten details about the property’s outstanding balance were unintentionally revealed.”

Y/N’s wary expression softened somewhat as she listened to Polly, who continued when Y/N said nothing.

“After that, it was already too late. The bank then had every intention of collecting the balance, and Tommy assumed it wasn’t anything you could afford.”

At that, Y/N scoffed and rolled her eyes in annoyance at Tommy’s presumptuous attitude, but Polly gave her a knowing look that Y/N had to acknowledge – it was true that the balance was nothing she’d have been able to pay.

“It wouldn’t have ever been an issue if he hadn’t been so hell-bent on owning every club in this city. If he hadn’t gone snooping around, this would have stayed forgotten,” Y/N said.

Polly gave her another knowing look.

“Come on, Y/N, you and I both know that it was damn lucky that this hadn’t been discovered before now. If it hadn’t, it would only have been a matter of time before it was, and then, what? The fact that Tommy found out first instead of the bank is actually in your favor.”

Y/N snickered.

“How do you figure that?” she said to Polly.

“Because he then immediately bought it,” Polly answered. “If the bank had found out before Tommy came around, they would have simply seized the property back from you. Tommy buying the place saved you from being put out on your ass.”

The truth was, Y/N had come to this exact realization after leaving Tommy’s office several days prior. Since she wouldn’t have been able to afford to pay the balance, she knew she would have been at the mercy of whatever the bank decided to do to her. But it was the way he’d handled it and the fact that he was so greedy about owning the club in the first place that had her so upset.

“Look, I understand that this balance would have turned me out on my ass,” Y/N said as she looked at Polly. “But it’s the whole way he handled it. Rather than explaining the situation and being honest with me, he chose to tell me only what he wanted to tell me, bought it out from under me, and then sprung the news on me without any sort of warning. It’s the principle of the thing.”

Polly smiled sympathetically.

“Believe me, darling, I understand. As I said, I don’t agree with how he went about it, either, but Tommy has his own way of doing things. And as hard as I’ve tried over the years, there are some habits you just can’t break. But despite that, you can still have everything you had before.”

Y/N frowned.

“I don’t want to condone his actions by agreeing to work for him,” she said. “And I won’t have everything I had before, because the place won’t be mine.”

“Not as in having your name on the deed, no,” Polly conceded. “But is that so horrible if you still get to function as you were before?”

“Yes, because it was mine,” Y/N replied. “I owned it. I worked hard to pay for it, I made it what it is, and it belonged to me. You just don’t understand.”

At that, Polly leaned forward.

“On the contrary, love, I do understand,” she said. “You’re talking to a woman who’s a member of a family full of greedy men who make every decision without consulting anyone else first. I have hardly a thing to call my own, including a moment’s peace.”

It was Y/N’s turn to give Polly a sympathetic smile.

“What I’m trying to convince you of here is to pick your battles,” Polly continued. “You may not like the way Tommy went about this, but you still have the opportunity to run your business just as you were doing before, as well as now also seizing the other opportunity he offered you. With all that being the case, is it really worth walking away from a place and people that you love?”

As much as she hated to admit it, Y/N knew Polly was right. But there were still plenty of questions.

“How do I know that he’ll let me run the place the same as I was before?” Y/N asked her. “How can I be sure he won’t just take control and overturn every decision I make? And what about any other sneaky shit he may try and pull?”

Polly smiled.

“That’s why I brought this,” she said, lifting the contract out of her bag and setting it in front of Y/N. “You’re going to look at it beforehand so you can review the terms he’s proposing exactly, and make your own demands and counter-offers. This way, you can be sure that you’re not going to be blindsided by anything Tommy does.” Polly then paused for a moment before continuing. “Although, when it comes to you, I think it’s safe to say Tommy will give you just about anything you want.”

Y/N frowned with uncertainty.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“He likes you,” Polly replied. “And he respects you.”

Y/N scoffed.

“He has a strange way of showing it,” she said. “Someone needs to tell him that actions speak a lot louder than empty sweet talk.”

Polly grinned.

“I think you’re the perfect woman to get that point across to him.”

Y/N smiled back. She couldn’t believe she was actually considering working for them, and as she thought more about everything Polly had said to her, she was reminded of something.

“You said when you first got here that you wanted to help me get this place back,” she said. “How do you think that would be possible?”

Polly grinned again.

“I still stand by everything I’ve said so far – you can make this as positive and beneficial of a situation for yourself as you want it to be,” she said, her eyes twinkling with a bit of mischief. “However, no one is more in favor of a woman like you owning a business than me. And there’s also no one more in favor of teaching Tommy a lesson.”

Polly paused before she continued.

“If there’s one thing Tommy finds even more enticing than a business deal, it’s a bet. I think you could get your club back if you propose a little bet of your own.”

“Like what, for instance?” Y/N shook her head in loss for ideas.

Polly’s grin was nearly devilish.

“You bet Tommy that if, within the first six months of working for him, you get at least five of the other clubs turning a fifty percent increase in their current profits, then you get your club back – full ownership, no strings attached. If you’re able to pull it off, then you get what you ultimately want and Tommy has to accept that he can’t own everything. If you don’t pull it off, then you’re no worse off than you were, and you still have your job with Tommy as the owner.”

Y/N smiled momentarily at Polly’s idea, but then she frowned.

“Why would he agree to that when there’s nothing in it for him?” she asked.

Polly gave a smug look of certainty.

“Because for Tommy, the enjoyment comes from watching the bet play out, not the final outcome. Besides, regardless of if you meet the fifty percent on enough places, you’ll have no doubt done enough to at least increase profits, and that’s money in his pocket. So, he’s benefitting either way.”

As Y/N processed all that Polly said, a mischievous smile of her own began to slowly spread across her face. After a moment, she focused on Polly again.

“I’m not going to make any of this easy on him,” she said.

“Good,” Polly replied as she smiled back at her. “I was hoping you wouldn’t.”

Part 7

@nyxxie-pooh @xsweetcatastrophe @febris-amatoria @hannibellector @natalie--rushman

@beastofburdenxo @garrison-girl-08 @meister95 @betty21rose @hudson-bay-girl

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#modern tommy fic #modern tommy shelby smut #modern tommy shelby x reader #modern tommy #modern tommy shelby #modern peaky blinders #18+ only

[jessicaloons]

Chapter 43:

What if your eyes looked up and met mine, one more time?

Masterlist - Previous - Next

"Is it true? Is Sainz senior talking with the team about a seat for Carlos?" I blurted out as soon as I walked into our hospitality, where Felix was talking to John, our head engineer.

"Come with me." he said and lead me to his office.

"He‘s available next season. My contract only runs 'till the end of this season! Valtteri’s until next… so which seat are we talking about?"

Felix ran his hand through his hair, sighing, and my stomach clenched.

"There is not a certain seat in their mind… but yes, there are talks, his father is putting the Audi board under enormous pressure." Felix confirmed.

"We both know for whose seat he’s coming." I said bitterly.

"I think so… he’s out of Ferrari at the end of this season… your contract runs out this season?"

"Does the board want to replace me with him?" I asked, although I was afraid of the answer "I know I didn’t deliver the best results last season, but I still thought we’d continue…"

"No! No, Lizzie! As long as I’m team principal, you’re my driver! I say it how it is, I want you to extend your contract with us. For at least another two years. Our first season together was brilliant. Last season was okay, but it was more on our side than on yours, I have no doubt that this season will be better and I want you to stay with us."

"Yeah but if the board doesn’t want that? If the board is rooting for Sainz?" I said defeated but Felix shook his head.

"If they kick you out for him? After the horrific amount of money he cost us last season? After he endangered you? No. If Sainz is coming, I’m going. And I won’t be the only one…"

"Are you crazy? You can’t do that!" I looked at him shocked but he smiled at me.

"We started this project together, little one, and if we have to, then we‘ll finish it on a high together and that’s final." he smiled and I had to swallow hard, blinking away the tears.

"Okay…" I said quietly and Felix hugged me.

"We all believe in you. You and Valtteri are our drivers! And just because the father of another driver thinks he can tell us what to do? No. Not on my watch."

"Thank you Felix, really." I whispered and he patted my back.

"Not for that. But you know what that means?" Felix asked and I nodded "We have a lot of work to do then…"

"Let’s kick this season off the best way possible!"

P5. Decent. Not too good. But also not too bad. We could work with that. I was happy. But I knew Charles wasn’t. Having this big of an issue in the first race of the season? After being the one driver Ferrari wanted to keep and build a future with? After all the criticism that Ferrari might’ve kept the wrong driver? After his teammate made it onto to podium and he didn’t. I knew he would’ve been devastated, so I waited at the employee parking lot, looking at the gate. When Charles walked out my heart clenched. His head down, shoulders slumped, RayBans hiding his eyes.

"Hey…" I cupped his cheek, making him look at me.

"Let’s just go, please." he sighed and I nodded, unlocking the car.

I started the engine and drove off the parking lot, speeded past the awaiting fans on the main parking lot.

"I already can see the headlines tomorrow… they got rid of the wrong driver…" Charles gritted out after a while and I groaned.

"It’s the first race of the season for fucks sake! You had problems with your brakes and still made it onto P4…" I began.

"No one cares about my brakes! Carlos was on the podium! In a car that was supposed to be harder for him to drive! He made up one position! I lost two! That’s what people will care about!" he interrupted me.

"Since when do we care what fucking other people think and say? First race of the season, Charles! 23 more to go. Stop this nonsense!"

"This year is our year my ass…" Charles grumbled after a while and I rolled my eyes.

"I was honestly hoping that you didn’t win…" I said and he looked at me, taking his RayBans off.

"What?" he sounded hurt.

"Bahrain curse…" I began and he groaned.

"Are you kidding me? I don’t believe in curses!" he said, looking out the window "Besides, Max won Bahrain last year and still won the title…"

"Yeah but he’s Max… no curse out there can stop him… not Bahrain. Not Monza. He’s immune against any curse out there… you on the other hand…"

"Well thanks for believing in me…" he whispered and I grabbed his thigh.

"I believe in you. More than anyone else. That’s why I know that the only one who can stop Max is you. And other than you I believe that this year is your year… YOURS. Not Sainz…" I said and he sighed.

"We’ll see."

"We will and you’ll see that I’m right!"

The media day in Saudi Arabia was the worst and I could see the tension in Charles shoulders, his strained smile. I tried to calm him down as much as I could but when we left the paddock at the evening the exhaustion of the day was still visible.

"How about we let off some steam?" I asked when we arrived at the hotel.

"Yes! I need that." Charles sighed.

"Paddle?"

"You know me all too well…" he chuckled as we got out of the car.

Twenty minutes later we sat down our bags on the bench and stretched a little.

"You know what’s the worst?" Charles said, taking the ball "It was the first race of the season and it already started like this…"

"Come on, it’s better than last year!"

"Maybe, but it’s not good enough… I need to get it out of my head." he shrugged.

"Okay, you listen to me now, Leclerc… you said it yourself, first race of the season. Your brakes were shit. With your car, you shouldn’t even be able to finish the race but you did. In P fucking 4. Get that in your head, okay?" I groaned but he only shook his head and got into position.

"More playing. Less talking." he said and threw the ball up in the air.

It took a while until we both found our rhythm but as soon as we both got it the battles were relentless. I hit the ball as hard as I could, unreachable for Charles, another win for me. The second for tonight.

"Do you like being tortured?" I asked out of breath, lifting my shirt to wipe away the sweat off my forehead.

"You should know the answer to that… I just extended my contract with Ferrari. For multiple years." he chuckled bitterly and took a sip out of his water bottle.

"Ouch?" I laughed putting the paddle down, grabbing his bottle to take a few sips myself.

"Now come one. I want a return match." he took the bottle out of my hand and threw it on his bag "Let’s go!"

"Oh come on… aren’t you exhausted?" I groaned but he shook his head.

"One last match…" he pleaded.

"You just want to make it a draw… you can’t lose…" I smirked and he rolled his eyes.

"Then make me lose… come on…" he was ready for my move and I laughed.

"Alright… let’s settle this."

Thirty minutes later we stood under the hot shower, washing the day away.

"We could’ve let off some steam in a different way…" Charles whispered, kissing up my neck, pulling me closer, my back flush against his chest.

"Yeah? How?" I replied, biting my lips as his hands wandered over my hips, down to my thighs.

"I don’t know… you. Me. Our bed…" he mumbled, littering my shoulder with hot kisses "Or you. Me. The shower…" he whispered in my ear, his hot breath fanning over my skin making me shudder.

His hand slipped between my thighs and I let out a breathy moan, pressing my heat against his hand.

"Shower sounds good!" I breathed out, feeling him press against my back.

"Yeah? I think so too…" Charles hand explored my heat and I moaned, leaning back into him right as he spun me around, pressing my back into the cold tiled wall. His lips crashed down on mine, sealing our mouths shut with an eager kiss full of lust and need. I threw my arms around his neck, my hands carding through his hair, pulling him closer, while our tongues fought for dominance, me on the losing side. But this was a battle I loved to lose.

"There is still some tension in my back… I swear we’re working now for months at it but it’s not getting better!" I groaned and JK stood behind me, putting pressure on my lower back.

"Honestly, it shouldn’t be like this Lizzie… not after the intense training and exercises we made specifically for your back…" he said and I hissed in pain when he applied some pressure on my spine at a certain angle.

"Maybe I have to work out even more. Need to strengthen my spine, my core more?" I gritted out but I heard him sigh.

"Yeah maybe, but honestly? I’d like you to see a doctor, when we’re back in Europe…"

"Oh come on! It’s a little sore back! It will be good in no time!" I smiled at him and bent down, stretching said sore back before I took the resistance band JK held out for me.

"I’m not saying anything else, I just want to make sure! I don’t want to see you out of the car like Sainz today…" he said.

"What do you mean? He’s not racing? He’s out? Like completely?" I leaned back, pulling at the resistance band and JK nodded.

"Bearman will drive his car today and tomorrow."

"Ollie? Are you kidding me?" I stopped, looking up.

"Nope." JK put the band away and grabbed the tennis balls "Come on, focus now."

"He will only have FP3? Damn!" I mumbled, catching the tennis ball.

"I mean, it won’t be easy…"

"Definitely not, but Ollie is a damn good driver, I’m sure he will be able to adapt fast!"

"That’s what I said as well…" Charles hugged me from behind, kissing my cheek.

"Hey! Go away! You’re trying to distract my driver!" Felix joked when he walked by.

"Oh, don’t worry Felix, nothing can distract me, not even this handsome little fella…" I laughed and Charles pinched my side.

"Who are you calling little?" he whispered in my ear.

"Oh come on love birds! Get a room." JK laughed.

"Nope." Charles spun me around and kissed me.

"What’s gotten into you?" I breathed against his lips, feeling the heat rising up my face.

"I just love you? Can’t I show that?" he pouted, looking adorably.

"Yeah but not like in public. Not like that?" I whispered and he sighed.

"Cara mia, no one cares? Why do you?" Charles cupped my cheeks and I shrugged my shoulders.

"I don’t know…" I replied and he pecked my lips.

"Exactly, there is no reason for that. So let me give you one last kiss and then I’ll see you on track." he kissed me gently and I melted into his body "Bye gorgeous girl…"

I looked after him, the sweltering heat of Saudi Arabia burning me up.

"Earth to Lizzie?" JK threw a ball at me and I blinked, rubbing my arm "We’re not done yet."

"Huh?" I looked at him confused and he threw the next ball, this time I caught it though.

"Good reaction… now come on!"

I climbed out of the car when an F1 official walked up to me.

"Lizzie, you’re P3." he smiled and I took off my helmet and balaclava.

"What do you mean?" I was confused.

"Checo got a 5 second penalty, so you’re in P3!"

"Are you kidding me?" I laughed when someone engulfed me from behind.

"First podium of the season, let’s fucking go!" Danny Ric chanted and I squealed a little "Let me take you to your man!"

"Put me down you doofus!" I chuckled but Daniel carried me all the way to the top 3 cars.

"And here we have our third place, Lizzie Doetterer! Lizzie, congrats! P3. First podium of the season. How was the race for you?" Crofty asked and I took the microphone that someone held out to me.

"Umm right now, I’m a little speechless to be honest. We had a good weekend? I mean yeah it could’ve been better in terms of the quali pace, but in the race we were there and yeah now I’m in P3." I answered, smiling at him and waving at the crowd, some Germany flags in the sea of people.

"Well, you were close to Checo the whole race, switching positions every other week, last lap then and it seemed he pushed you wide?"

"We battled hard and then in turn 7 or 8 he might’ve turned a little into me and I had to go wide, but I didn’t think it would result in a penalty." I said honestly.

"Yeah, we didn’t hear you complain on the radio?" Crofty looked at me and I nodded.

"Because I honestly didn’t think it was that bad? Yeah sure, I had to leave the track but I don’t know… I mean I’m happy, I take it. But yeah… it’s like that." I shrugged a little.

"It sure is. Thank you Lizzie! Enjoy your podium!" Crofty nodded and I handed the guy next to him the microphone, jumping into Charles awaiting arms.

"First podium of the season, cara mia." he kissed my cheek and I smiled.

"Same for you! Well done!"

I wanted to say something when we were ushered away, into the cool down room and then onto the podium.

When we were finally done with the media, the press conference long over as well as our team meetings we drove back to our hotel.

"See! Today was a good day! Overall you had an amazing weekend! You just need to believe in yourself. Today P3 and in 2 weeks then P1!" I smiled at him and he took my hand in his, kissing the back of it.

"For me it would be enough to be in front of Carlos…" he sighed and I nodded.

"You will be. I believe in you!"

I sighed and put the phone down, right when it rang again.

"Hi Julie."

"So I guess Netflix called already…" she asked.

"Yeah. They want to film a little private stuff, then they want to be in Australia, Miami, Monaco and they also want to come to Hockenheim, my home race is something they definitely want to film."

"Lizzie, I say it how it is, they wanted to release the show last summer. They postponed it to fall, then to winter. We need to deliver now, you need to deliver now. Or they will release what they have but take away your right of review… just let them film you. Let them come home, maybe how you prepare for a race weekend or something, just give them something… and then let’s move forward." she sighed and I nodded.

"I know, I’ll think about what they could film here and yeah… we’ll see. Let them come to Australia, Miami, Monaco and Hockenheim. The rest I’ll deal with." I replied.

"Alright, I leave you to it. See you in Australia."

"Yup, see you in Australia." I hung up and plopped back down into the pillows, groaning. I switched the TV on and decided shuffled through Netflix until I found what I’ve been looking for. I pressed play and watched a very special episode of DTS.

"There he is… the worst actor the world has seen." I laughed when Charles walked through the door, sitting up.

"What do you mean?" he asked confused and I nodded towards the TV.

" 'Yeah, maybe that was a little bit over-the-top' … I wasn’t aware I was watching an episode of Keeping up with Ferrari…"

"Oh shut it…" Charles rolled his eyes, plopping down next to me "They told me to say it, what was I supposed to do?"

"Is DTS now a scripted show or what?" I said, pressing play again.

"Don’t watch that, please! It’s so cringe…" he sighed and I chuckled.

"Cringe? That’s way above cringe! I can’t believe they made you do this…"

"Me neither but it’s like t-…" he stopped abruptly, smiling sheepishly.

"No it’s like this at home!" I slapped his side and he laughed.

"That’s why I stopped!"

"Good!" I kissed his cheek and snuggled into him "Now let me finish this episode."

"God no…" he groaned but I laughed.

"Just kidding… what do you want to watch?" I asked him and he leaned down, pecking my lips.

"Nothing on the TV…" he wiggled his eyebrows and I laughed.

"I like that…"

"Yeah? Me too…" he got up and pulled me with him down into the kitchen, where he pushed me slightly against the island, grabbing my thighs "Up, pretty girl."

"Not again on there… it was cold and so not comfy!" I grumbled but he just laughed.

"Oh cara mia, you’re a naughty girl? What do you think what I’m about to do?"

"I don’t know… I just thought-…" I began but he interrupted me, putting his finger on my lips.

"Shhh… just trust me…" he grinned and I swallowed hard.

I knew that smirk. All too well. He grabbed my thighs again and I jumped a little, sitting down on the island.

"I trust you, just not that little devil inside of you." I chuckled and he pulled something out of his pocket.

"Close your eyes for me." The grin only getting bigger "Come on."

I closed my eyes and as soon as they were closed I felt how Charles put something over my eyes. Covering them.

"A blindfold? Charles! I told you, not on here!" I pouted, but he pecked my lips, chuckling.

"Don't be so impatient!" he walked away and I heard him rummaging through the drawers "Alright..." he stood in front of me and I felt his hot breath ghosting over my lips "Be a good girl and open that pretty, little mouth of yours for me."

"What? I swear if you start now some kinky shit I'm go-..." I began but he pushed a cold spoon into my mouth, cutting me off. A rich flavour of vanilla engulfed my taste buds, and I swallowed the spoonful of ice cream down.

"And?" Charles asked and I licked my lips.

"Vanilla ice cream?" I said hesitantly.

"Was it good?" he sounded excited and I was confused "You look adorable when you're confused. But come on, did you like it?"

"It's vanilla ice cream? It tastes good. Rich." I said and he kissed my sticky lips.

"Here..." he put a glass against my lips and I drank a sip of water "Open up again!"

The next spoon was chocolate ice cream, silky, chocolatey with the right amount of sweetness and some chocolate chips for some extra crunch. As soon as I swallowed down Charles pecked my lips again.

"And?"

"Very silky. The right amount of sweetness and chocolaty..." I replied before I felt the glass against my lips and I took another sip.

"Open up..." he said as the next spoon was fed to me.

Peanut ice cream. Caramel sauce and something crunchy.

"That's good! I love the peanut flavour! And the caramel sauce and the crispy bits? I love it! But Charles..." I began when he pecked my lips yet again before the glass returned and the next spoon full of ice-cold goodness engulfed my taste buds.

"Salted caramel? And chocolate chips?" I licked my lips before Charles pressed his again against mine.

"Yeah, you like it?" he asked, and I nodded slightly, drinking some water "Alright, next one..."

I opened my mouth and the moment I had the first taste of the spoonful of ice creamed I moaned a little.

"Mhhh Pistachi-ohhhh my god that's good! More!" I said and he chuckled.

"Why did I know that... here." another spoonful of the creamy and delicious ice cream wandered into my mouth "Okay stop making these noises, or it is the kitchen island 2.0!" he lifted the blindfold, and I blinked a few times "Hey pretty girl."

He smiled at me, brushing my hair out of my face when I looked down on the countertop, where he put a white container down. Right next to 4 other similar looking containers.

"Why did you feed me ice cream blindfolded? And why did you feed me ice cream, blindfolded in the middle of the season? I want to eat that whole container of the pistachio and peanut one! Unfair!" I pouted a little and he laughed.

"Go ahead." He held up another spoon of the pistachio ice cream and I groaned "Come on, I know you want it!"

"Of course I want it! It's pistachi-ohhhh..." he shoved the spoon in my mouth, cutting me off "Damn that's good."

"It gets even better... that whole tub? Less then 400 calories." Charles said proudly and I cocked an eyebrow.

"Yeah sure. That creamy and rich ice cream? Less then 400 calories the whole tub? You mean one spoon maybe." I sighed but he scooped up another spoonful.

"Nope. This is Lec ice cream. My own brand, I've been working the past few months on it and it's finally ready. I only need to find names and decide what designs and it's good to go. Each tub has less than 400 calories."

"Are you kidding me? When-... how-... what? When did you do that? And why didn't you tell me?"

"Oh stop pouting! I wanted to surprise you! I know how much you love a good ice cream but we have to resist this craving because of our job! So I wanted to create an ice cream we can enjoy without the guilt!" he cupped my cheeks and I smiled.

"This creamy, rich flavour for this little calories? Seriously? I mean… why resist?" I laughed, scooping up another dollop of the pistachio ice cream, indulging in the flavour.

Charles laughed and kissed me, nipping at my lower lip.

"Mhh... why resist? Sounds like a good slogan... now you just need to help me name them! Although I already have an idea for the pistachio ice cream."

"Yeah? What is it?" I looked at him excitedly.

"Pistachi-OH! the OH in capital letters with an exclamation mark! Because whenever I see a tub of that ice cream I will think of the look on your face, the little sound you made when you tasted it for the very first time."

"Swirly Pistachi-OH! Sounds even better!" I said and he nodded "And you should call the vanilla ice cream vanillalove or something, because its your favourite!" I grabbed the container and fed Charles a big scoop of the vanilla ice cream.

"Vanillove. Even shorter." he smiled.

"Sounds good. The peanut and caramel one? It was almost like the different flavours were dancing on my tongue... Peanut Caramel Tango!" I suggested and Charles nodded.

"Chocolate crunch. Nothing fancy. Just straight what it is?"

"Perfect. And now the salted caramel one." I said and tried the ice dream again.

"Salty carmel- carmamel-... why is this word so difficult?" he groaned and I laughed "Salty caram-mmel!"

"That's it! Salty carammmel with at least 3 m's!"

"Salty carammmel? So everyone knows that I can't speak English properly?" now Charles was the one pouting.

"It's cute! Vanillove. Peanut Caramel Tango. Chocolate Crunch. Salty Carammmel and Swirly Pistachi-OH! The 5 flavours of Lec ice cream. Less than 400 calories per tub. But still tasty as fuck." I concluded and he kissed me, his lips tasting like Vanillove.

"Because, why resist?"

„Nicholas said everything is prepared. We'll start the Instagram account nect Tuesday. And the lauch of the ice cream in Milan will be on the 11" Charles said as he opened the hotel door.

"Already? You guys are fast." I plopped down on the sofa, leaning back

"Not we, Nicolas, Guido and Federico are fast." he chuckled and handed me a cold water out of the fridge, right when my phone rang.

"Ewww that's Elijah... I kinda regret agreeing to Netflix." I groaned and silenced my phone "I know it was a good idea at first... but with everything that happened? He asked me if I would consider talking about the whole Diaz incident... after last year there were so many rumours and he asked me if I wanted to clear things up."

"Just let him film a little bit of our weekend and they'll be happy. I know its tough and you don't want it anymore, but jus think about all the interviews they had? Your whole team, Lewis, Seb, Fred, Toto, his wife, Max, some of the most well-known F1 journalists... it's so amazing what they all have to say about you! How they support you! And then seeing how hard you train? But also see where you come from. That it wasn't as easy as anyone said it was? It will be great! Let them film Hockenheim and then they have enough. They can release their show. It will be great. Everyone is happy. Focus on that, okay? And if you don't want to talk about Diaz? Then don't...

I've seen the rumours, and believe me, I want to say a few words myself, but it's not my place." Charles sat down and I leaned against him.

"I know, I know... right now there is already enough going on with the Sainz dilemma... people still talk about it and now he's after my seat as well... and then Susie asking me to be a little more present in the F1 Academy and I really want to, I told her last year that she can count on my support but here I am, not even doing a single thing for it..."

"Because you're a F1 driver! Lizzie, Susie understands that you would be more present if it would be possible, okay? Just stop for a moment to think about what everyone else wants from you and focus what you want, okay?" Charles squeezed my shoulder and l sighed

"Food. I want food. And a shower. Then a nice little walk at the beach, soaking in the sun and then focus on the weekend ahead."

"Let's take a shower, then head down to the beach and have a nice little treat." He kissed my nose and then got up, pulling me with him "Come on. Today is for us. Tomorrow we think about the rest. One step at the time."

"I should still call Elijah..." I grabbed my phone but Charles took it out of my hand.

"Today is for us. Tomorrow we'll figure out the rest. Can you, for once, listen to me?" he chuckled and I nodded "Good. Thank you. Now come on."

I walked out of the press conference back to the Audi hospitality when a little crowd close to the hospitality caught my attention.

"So it’s true, that you’re talking to the Audi board about a seat for Carlos for next season?" a reporter whose back was turned to me, asked and I stopped dead in my tracks

"I’m convinced that Carlos can bring the team to the next level. They lack a bit of consistency, Valtteri is doing a good job in providing feedback about the car, Carlos could bring some of his consistency and experience to the team. He’s fast. Faster than his teammate over a long course of the last season. I have a good relationship with the Audi board and of course they know how good Carlos is." Sainz Senior smiled into the cameras.

"In theory it sounds all good, but Audi still has two drivers. You’re talking about Valtteri and Carlos. So Lizzie Doetterer would lose her seat to Carlos?"

"Look, I’m not saying she’s not a good driver. But it’s her third season now and she didn’t convince me as the big talent everyone said she is… maybe she can find a seat in the F1 Academy. But I don’t see a future in F1 for her. She also lacks of discipline, I guess you all know what I’m referring to, she’s too emotional, too impulsive. That are not good characteristics for a F1 driver." he smirked, looking directly at me and the reporter followed his look spotting me. Will Buxton.

"Lizzie, do you want to join us?" he asked and I swallowed hard.

"No, thanks. I’m good Will. Seems like Señor Sainz has a lot to say." I grit out and walked away, my heart hammering against my ribs.

"Lizzie, we have some-… what happened?" Julie looked at me and I felt how my mouth went dry. Words leaving me. "Lizzie?" she pushed me down into an armchair, handing me a glass of water and I gulped it down in one go.

"Sainz… he talks to the media…" I pressed out and she patted my arm.

"No one here wants Sainz in our team Lizzie! I hope you know that?" she tried to calm me down.

"What does it matter? If the board says he’s your new driver, you can’t change it…" I said, leaning back "I have to do the talking on track. I need to be better than him."

"And you will be. You show him what you’re made of! Kick his ass!" Julie fired me up and I nodded.

"I’m not backing down that easily. He wants my seat? Then he has to come and pry it out of my dead fingers grasp." I said determined and Julie chuckled.

"Dark, but I like the fighter mentality."

"He will regret ever talking bullshit about me."

"Hell yeah!"

Sainz wasn’t backing down that easily as well. He was ruining my laps at all times, he was always in front, being clever enough to not fully impede me, but at least disturb me that much that I had to abort my laps or had to go wide which costed time. It all peaked in qualifying when Sainz drove in front of me to warm his tyres on his out lap. Too slow for my liking especially considering that I had a real shot at starting on pole tomorrow.

"Charles, Norris, Max all on their flying lap. Max currently P1. Sainz P2. You P4." Pete radioed.

"Last chance now?"

"Last chance."

"Sainz is so fucking slow!"

"Copy."

"He’s in my way!" I was frustrated, seeing Sainz warming his tyres in front of me, not intending going faster at any given moment. Fuck it. I accelerated and pushed the throttle full through, overtaking him, right as I passed him, he accelerated as well leaving me behind him.

"Is he fucking serious?" I was seething, but I had no time to be too pissed, I had to give it one last shot.

"Abort your lap Lizzie."

"What? Why?"

"Your tyres are overheated. You probably wont even make it over the line… come back to the pits. That’s currently P4. Charles P5. Only Norris behind who could snatch away P4."

"Okay…"

I sat in the car. Taking a few deep breaths before I climbed out. Disappointed when I saw Norris lap time on the screen. P5 tomorrow. All because of Sainz.

"I’m sorry, Lizzie." Pete patted my back and I only shook my head.

"No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have overtaken him. I ruined my tyres…" I said quietly, putting my helmet away, taking the bottle from JK "He did his best to fuck up my laps and he succeeded."

"Calm down a bit and then go to the interviews." Felix said, as he came up to us and I nodded, walking in the back.

He got in my head. First his father. Now he himself. I threw my helmet on the table and sat down, head in my hands. Right when I had to be on top of my game, I caved in.

"Lizzie?" Julie asked carefully and I sat up, wiping my face "Do you want to wait for a little while or just go now?"

"Let’s get it over with."

"Li-... woah..." Charles let out when I pulled him into the corner and ducked down "What are we doing?" he whispered but I shushed him.

"Elijah... I need a moment for myself. I feel like the only time there isn't a camera in my face is when I have to go to the bathroom or at night... they even were there when I talked to Susie yesterday." | rolled my eyes.

"So you're hiding now how long exactly? Until the race?"

"No idiot. Until the anthem... we'll go and come back and then they have to back off anyways." | whispered and Charles chuckled.

"Okay, I'll hide with you." He kissed my cheek "You could've found a nicer hiding spot tho... just saying."

"You'll survive..."

We waited until it was time for the anthems and I successfully dodged Elijah and his camera crew and when it was time for me to get into the car he just sighed and retreated. I checked my radio and everything and waited for the go from Pete, preparing for the formation lap.

"Radio check."

"Loud and clear. Let's go, Lizzie."

When I stopped the car in my grid spot I focused on the lights. Taking a deep breath and accelerating as the last light got out. At the start I was overtaking Norris right in the first corner and pushed hard to create a little gap. He gave up chasing me, and I focused already on Perez in front. The next two laps I got closer and closer and finally managed to overtake him, right when the yellow flag was waved.

"Watch out. Max is having trouble. You'll pass him at the next turn." Pete radioed.

"Pass him?" I asked right when Max appeared in front of me not fighting me at all.

"We believe he will be retiring his car."

Lap 4 and Max was out. Only Sainz in front of me and Charles, who had overtaken Perez in the meantime.

"Gap Sainz?"

"4.3 seconds."

Damn. The Ferraris were fast. And Charles was coming closer and closer.

"Charles is really fast." I radioed when I had to let him overtake me, he had too much pace and the way he was chasing me wasn’t good for my tyres.

"He is. 0.5 faster." Pete replied and I sighed.

Ferrari build a fast car this season. Too fast for us for now.

"Sainz?" I asked, curious on his pace.

"0.1 slower."

So it would only be a short matter of time until Charles would knock on Sainz door. Ferrari would swap the cars to let Charles take over the lead, not just in the race, also in the drivers ranking. It was Sainz I would have to battle against for P2.

"Manage your tyres for now. Battling Sainz will cost you…"

"I know."

The gap to Charles got bigger and bigger for the next laps and I knew I had to be quicker to be in a good position. But then I got closer to Charles again and I checked my steering wheel.

"Am I pushing too hard or is Charles getting slower?"

"He was asked to hold position."

"What? Can you repeat that?"

I must’ve heard Pete wrong.

"Charles was asked to hold position. Manage his tyres. Not attacking."

"You’re kidding?"

"Lizzie…"

"No fucking way, why would they do that?" I couldn’t believe my ears. Why would they want Charles to hold positions? He was fast. Faster than Sainz?

"Focus on your race."

Race 3 and it already started again like last season.

"And that’s P3. Good race Lizzie." Pete said and I sighed.

"Thanks guys. Good job from everyone!" I said.

"Sainz P1. Charles P2. Norris P4. Oscar P5…."

"Ferrari doing Ferrari things…"

"Lizzie!" Pete said.

"What? He can’t win a race on his own. He needs his teammate to secure his position." the words were out before I could even react. Oh well. Here we go again.

"Off the radio. Now!" Pete reprimanded, but in his voice I could hear that he thought exactly the same.

"Just stating the truth."

"You’re exhausting." he chuckled.

"I love you too."

I parked my car and got out, hugging Charles. He only shook his head and then pushed me towards my team and I celebrated our second podium of the season, although I still didn’t understand why Ferrari didn’t let Charles overtake Sainz. After the interviews it was time for the obligated photo and I stood next to Charles, Sainz on his right.

"No you have to stand on the right." the FIA photographer said and I rolled my eyes.

"Just take the damn picture." I grumbled. Standing next to Sainz, a gap between us.

"Come on, be the better person." Charles said in French when we walked off towards the cool down room but I shook my head.

"I’ll start being the better person when your team starts making better calls." I replied loudly. In English. In front of said team while the camera was panned on me.

"Cara mia…" Charles sighed but I just shrugged my shoulders walking inside. I wiped my face. Almost emptying a bottle when Sainz walked in, followed by Charles. Again he only shook his head slightly and I sighed, sitting down. There was silence in the room. Only the race highlights that were played in the background could be heard. On the podium I only sprayed Charles a little before I left, not waiting for the picture. I felt Charles gaze on me but I didn’t care.

"Alright. Lizzie, you’re next. Your thoughts?" Clarkson looked at me and I picked up the microphone.

"Good race." was all I said and then I put the microphone down again.

"Maybe a little more detailed?"

"We had a good weekend. Our pit stops weren’t the best, unfortunately for Valtteri, but overall we were good."

"Okay. We open up the floor for some questions…"

"Mike Harris. CBS Sports. Question for Lizzie. You said on the radio that 'He can’t win a race on his own. He needs his teammate to secure his position'. Care to elaborate?"

"What’s there to elaborate? It’s pretty self-explanatory. I said what I said." I answered tight lipped, feeling the gaze of Charles and also Sainz on me.

"Mila Janic. motorsport.com. Carlos, after hearing what Lizzie has said, what do you think about her words?"

"Some people have their emotions clearly better in check than others and so some drivers let out their opinions on the radio and complain. She has her opinion, I have mine. I know which one is right." Sainz answered and I had to fake a cough to cover up my snorting.

"There’s a difference between an opinion and facts." I whispered under my breath.

"What did you say?" Sainz looked at me and I looked up "I didn’t understand it? But you said something."

"I just said that there’s a difference between an opinion and facts." I shrugged my shoulders, looking at him. He was mad, but I didn’t care. Not anymore.

"Alright, do we have another question?" Clarkson said quickly and I put the microphone down again.

"Herbert Stein, BLICK. Charles, what is your opinion on what Lizzie said? You’re the teammate she’s talking about? Do you think you deserved the win today?"

"I’m not commenting on what Lizzie said because I understand where she’s coming from. As for if I deserved the win, no, I didn’t. Carlos was overall better this weekend. I have to push to be better the next." Charles answered and I had to roll my eyes.

"You don’t agree with Charles?" the reporter asked me and Charles looked at me.

I contemplated whether to answer or not.

"No, I don’t agree."

"Why?"

"It doesn’t matter who’s better the whole weekend. The race is what matters. Points are earned in the race. So it doesn’t matter if you were the best the whole weekend, if you don’t deliver on Sunday, you won’t make points. Also the other way around. So no, I think when one driver is faster, has more pace and especially when he would be taking the lead in the championship, I’d say I let this driver give it a go and not tell him to hold position. If he’s not faster then, you can still swap back, but just telling the driver off, for no apparent reason? Yeah no." I answered and there was a murmur going around.

"Alright, thank you everyone. That’s it for today, see you all in Suzuka."

I jumped up and walked back, Julie already waiting for me. The way she looked at me, I knew she wasn’t happy with what I said.

"I told you I won’t lie. Never. When they ask something, I answer honestly." I said and she sighed shaking her head.

"Yeah yeah whatever, let’s go."

"Lizzie! Wait." I heard Charles behind me "Julie, can you give us a moment? Thanks." he grabbed my hand and pulled me with him.

"I’m not apologising and I’m not backing down or stop-…" I began but he silenced me with a kiss.

"I love you." he whispered against my lips and then pulled me with him, following Julie "Here she’s yours again. I’ll pick you up later on." he kissed my cheek, then winked at Julie and walked off.

"Almost two years together and you still blush like on day one." she chuckled and I looked away, my face getting only hotter.

"Let’s go." I just said and we walked back in silence.

Charles POV:

"Charles?" I heard Lizzie walking up the stairs.

"Marianne, I’ll call you later. Lizzie just came home. Au revoir." I hung up right als Lizzie walked around the corner "Hi pretty girl."

"As if…" she snorted, plopping down next to me, taking a deep breath "I swear, I don’t even feel my legs anymore. JK was torturing me today..."

"Oh, my poor girl, you want a massage?" I asked her and she mumbled something inaudible.

"I'm taking a shower first and then I want that massage." she kissed my cheek and then got up, sauntering off when the doorbell rang "It's Joris."

"Alright, you go showering I'll see what he's up to." I followed her downstairs and heard the bedroom door close, wandering off into the kitchen.

"Lizzie? Charles?" Joris called out and I opened the fridge.

"Kitchen." I shouted and a moment later he put a big box on the kitchen island "Is that..." I made big eyes, looking at the box.

"Yeah. They called that it's ready so I said I'll pick it up." Joris replied and I nodded slowly.

"I cant believe it... 10 years already.." I breathed out and he took the water that I handed him.

"You know, he would be so proud of you, would he be here? Seeing how far you've made it?"

"How far I've made it? Some race wins, a vice championship and a ton of mistakes... that's how far I've made it..." I huffed.

"Charles..." Joris began but I shook my head.

"I know, I know." I said and he sighed "Now come on. Show it to me..."

"Alright." he opened the box, pulling the helmet in its bag out and sat it down on the counter, then put the box on the floor and undid the string of the bag "Ready?"

I nodded and Joris pulled the helmet out. It was beautiful. The perfect tribute. I was at a loss of words for a moment and picked the helmet up, looked over the details.

"They did an amazing job. It's perfect." I whispered and he nodded.

"It really is..." he replied, and I sat the helmet down "Are you okay?"

"Yeah... it's just a little overwhelming.." I sat down on a stool, eyes still on the helmet "I want to win this race. For him."

"I'm sure you'll do you your best to honour him!" Joris patted my back "And now I have to leave you, you're little secret with Marianne needs some more preparations."

"Thanks Jo, really." I got up and hugged him "See you tomorrow."

I was so lost in my thoughts that I flinched when Lizzie caressed my cheek gently.

"Hey you." she whispered, sitting down next to me, taking my hand, interlacing our fingers "What's going on in there." she kissed my temple gently.

"It's 10 years this year..." I whispered, nodding to the helmet.

"Its beautiful. Jules would be so proud of you. The man you've become, the driver..." she said quietly and I pulled her into my lap, holding her close.

"I just wish that by now he could be proud of me because I had won a title..." I breathed into the crook of her neck, inhaling the scent of her shampoo and conditioner.

"Charles... it wasn't that you weren't made to be a champion, it was more that you're team wasn't... but this year will be your year. I just know it. I know it didn't start the way you wanted it to. And I also know that with the way your team is handling you and Sainz at the moment it doesn't look like it's going to happen, but I have faith in you. I believe in you. In your abilities. This year is your year. I can feel it... and it will start in Japan. Where you will show everyone why Ferrari kept you. You will wear that helmet and you will honour Jules. You'll continue his legacy." she said softly but determined.

"I'll try my best."

"I know you will. You always do."

"God I love you…" I whispered and she giggled.

"I love you too. And now I want my massage!"

"Charles? We will film some C2 challenges today..." Sylvia said and I rolled my eyes.

"Is that really necessary?" l asked and she glared at me.

"I don't care whatever your problem is all of a sudden with Carlos, but here at Ferrari we are a unit. One family. And he is part of the family until the end of the year, so yes, it's necessary." her voice like venom.

"All of a sudden..." I chuckled bitterly and she cocked an eyebrow, right as Carlos walked in.

"Carlos, here, sit down. We have 3 challenges planned..." Sylvia began but I didn't listen.

I hardly participated and by the end of the second challenge she seemingly had enough

"Charles! Can you at least try to look like you're happy to be here?"

"I'm not a good actor..." I just shrugged and she sighed.

"This is for the sake of Ferrari! Can't you just swallow down whatever it is that gives you this attitude?"

"Nope. That's too much to swallow... Ferrari needs us to be good drivers. They need us to win races. Nothing more."

"Yeah? Then do your part!" she spat out and I looked at her "Win races."

She slammed her clipboard on the table, making everyone flinch, then stormed off and I sighed. Drama queen. The rest of the team looked at each other and then decided to leave and look for Sylvia, leaving only Carlos and me alone in the room.

"You could at least pretend like its all fun and games for the cameras..." Carlos said and looked at me.

"What?"

"It's our last year, we should end it on a high. Together. For the sake of Ferrari." He said and I laughed.

"Are you serious? After everything you pulled over the last season?" I asked and he rolled his eyes.

"Look. I don't care about who you're dating. But it shouldn't interfere with your job.

You're a Ferrari driver. Ferrari is important. Not Audi."

"Oh yeah? Audi is only important if they have a seat for you, no?"

"I don't care for next season. I care for this season. So, get your shit together. And do your job. Which is winning races... something you haven't done for a while... me on the other hand..." he got up and walked towards the door "2 wins in the last 11 races..."

"Singapore wasn't your win." my voice was trembling.

"See? That's what I mean. It was a Ferrari win... that should be your main priority. But no. it's because of your little girlfriend crashing out you're still sour an-..."

"And why was she crashing out?" I interrupted him, almost shouting.

"It was a racing accident, she could've backed down, but didn't so she crashed out... it wasn't even a bad crash, nothing happened..." he left and as soon as the door shut close, I slammed my fist on the table. Nothing happened. Nothing happened? I had to win this race. I had to wipe the grin out of his face. Winning was now more than essential. Not just for Jules. But also for Lizzie. I took a deep breath, calming myself down and then got up, searching for Mia, who didn't look too happy when I spotted her.

"I know, I know... I'll apologise to Sylvia later."

"Thank you. And now come. The media pen is waiting." she replied and I sighed.

"I can't wait."

"You're less grumpy when Lizzie is there as well." Mia chuckled and I pushed her a little

"It's cute so shut it."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." I rolled my eyes playfully and followed her to the first interview, watching the press conference on the screen behind the reporter. Lizzie was chatting with Logan and Oscar, Pierre next to her was joking around with Carlos. His words still in the back of my mind. He sat there. Joking with Pierre, they even took a selfie together. He was talking about the seat in Audi next season like it was already his. I saw how tense Lizzie was, the unsettled look on her face. And as soon as I was done with my interviews, I wanted to pick Lizzie up, reassure her, but I saw Logan and Oscar leaving, then Pierre and Carlos, still talking eagerly, but no Lizzie, she must've left immediately when they were done. I saw how Pierre looked my way and walked off, I had to find Lizzie.

"Charles! Charles? Mate!" Pierre almost shouted but I kept walking "Hey! Didn’t you hear me?" he put his hand on my shoulder, making me stop "Charles?"

"Where’s your new bestie?" I spat out and he made big eyes. I didn’t want to sound this agitated. But the smirk on Carlos look when he talked about the seat in Audi. Lizzie’s seat. What he said earlier. It was all too much.

"What do you mean?" he looked at me confused.

"Didn’t know you and Sainz were this close… laughing together, making jokes, hanging out together, taking selfies…" I said coldly.

"Are you serious? Mate, he’s just a buddy we’re racing with? Come one?" Pierre asked taken aback.

"No. He’s not. He’s not just a buddy we’re racing with! And you know it! He’s… he did things… no. He’s no buddy of mine. Not since…" I began but he rolled his eyes.

"Yes. Singapore was fucked up. He knows it. He even said that after reviewing the videos he knows he was a little too aggressive! It’s water under the bridge! That’s racing, Charles. You know it. Lizzie knows it and also she’s fine. She’s alive and well. You should draw a line and let it got…" Pierre sighed.

"Let it go? Let it go? You have no idea what he did… you no. You don’t know. You know nothing. Just let it-… no fuck this." I was getting beyond mad. The look on Lizzie’s face in the hospital bed in my mind. Her tears. Broken voice. How she sat on the sofa earlier. All tense. I balled my hands into fists.

"Charles? Come on mate. The season is still long, you shouldn’t hold a grudge over nothing."

Nothing? Again that word.

"Fuck you, Gasly." I spat out, walking away.

"Oh hell no, what the fuck is your problem?" he grabbed my arm, pulling me back.

"LIZZIE LOST OUR BABY THAT NIGHT!" I full on screamed. Shocked about the words myself.

Pierre dropped his hand off my arm and looked at me with wide eyes.

"Because of your racing buddies little too aggressive stunt Lizzie lost our baby. That’s what the fuck my problem is… so no. It’s not nothing. It’s not water under the bridge. Because of him I had to hold my girlfriend in my arms, trembling, crying, blaming herself for something that was entirely his fault."

"Charles…" Pierre began, voice almost a whisper.

"No. I don’t want to hear it. I thought we were your friends. Lizzie and I. Just… forget it." I walked away, leaving Pierre behind, not looking back once. Around the next corner I leaned against the wall, taking a deep breath and wiping away the stray tears that had escaped. Focus. I had to find Lizzie.

"He’s a slimy, stupid, hairy, idiot." she punched into the pads on JKs hands and I had to chuckle "He wants my seat? My seat? The fuck he gets my seat. I’m going to destroy him."

"That’s my girl." I said, and she flinched a little "I thought I had to look after you, because you might be down or something… oh how wrong I was."

"Down? Because of that hairy Neanderthal? Fuck no. I’m furious and I want to see him in my mirrors whenever I cross the finish line from now on."

I hugged her and felt immediately relieved. Calm.

"We’ll start this Sunday." I said and she nodded determined.

The practices all went by in a fast blur. But when I prepared for my final attempt of setting the fastest time in Q3 a sense of calm washed over me. I blocked everything else out. Just focused on the task at hand. My car. The track. I took a deep breath and send it. Nothing else in my mind besides the sheer will to start the race tomorrow from the best position possible.

The lap felt like an eternity but also just a short moment at the same time when I crossed the finish line.

"And that's P1. You've done it! Good job!" Xavi said and I began to cheer.

"YEEEEEEES! Come on now! Let's go!" I shouted in the radio. I did it. Pole position "Where's Lizzie?"

"P2 Verstappen. P3 Lizzie. P4 Sainz..." he replied and I cheered even louder.

"Awesome job, Lizzie!" I screamed and I didn't give a single fuck how people would react over the fact that I was cheering on Lizzie, rather than Carlos.

When I parked my car at the P1 spot and got out I waited for Lizzie, hugging her tight as soon as she was out of her car.

"What a lap, mate!" Max said next to us, patting my back and I let out a relieved laugh.

"I'm just glad it all came together and worked out in the end." I said and he hugged Lizzie.

After a short celebration with the team, I took a big swig out of my bottle when I was waved over for the interview wit Martin.

"Now that's a podium I would sign." Martin Brundle said and I nodded "That last lap of yours looked spectacular. We know you're one of the best qualifiers on the grid, almost always flawless. But that today? Wow!"

"Thank you! I honestly just had a tunnel vision the whole lap. My mind was trained on nothing else. I think I was never this focused."

"The Ferrari's do have a lot of pace this season? They are closer to the Red Bulls then they would like, it seems?"

"We have a lot of pace, that's true, but the Red Bulls are still ahead of us." I replied and he nodded.

"Do you think a win is possible?"

"I will try my best."

"Tell us Charles, how does it feel starting this race from pole position, 10 years after that fatal accident of Jules, who you honour with your helmet this weekend." Martin asked and I swallowed hard

"It means a lot. I honestly don't even have the right words for it. But it's special. Now I just have to win tomorrow to make him proud." I said, feeling Lizzie's look on me. I turned a little and she smiled reassuringly at me.

"I'm sure he would be proud anyway." Martin patted my back and I smiled, walking towards Lizzie who hugged me again.

"He's right, it doesn't matter if you win or not, Jules would be proud anyway, just like your dad..." she whispered in my ear and I kissed the side of her head

"Thanks for always reminding me."

I stood next to my car. Looked up in the sky, closing my eyes. Took one last deep breath. I could do it. I had to do it. I felt a warm hand on my arm and looked down. Lizzie.

"Show everyone who you are today, mon cœur. Show them that you are one of the best. If not the best. I believe in you. We all do." she hugged me close, kissing my cheek "I love you, my winner." before I could say anything she sauntered away and I felt my cheek prickling.

"Charles?" Andrea said and I turned a little, a big smile on his face he handed me my balaclava and the my helmet "You’ll win this today." he patted my arm and I nodded, climbing into my car.

After the radio check, the formation lap, I closed my eyes for a moment. It was now or never. Lights out. Full focus. Full throttle. Nothing else mattered anymore. Just me. My car. The track. It was a tough start. I had to battle hard with Max and unfortunately lost. But I stayed at his rear. Attacked all the time, waited for my chance and finally, I overtook him and pushed the throttle harder than ever before. Like in a tunnel I raced through the corners. Only focus point the top step of the podium.

"Last lap, Charles. Bring it home." Xavi radioed and I pushed with everything that I had. The last few metres felt like the longest ride, I could feel Max at my rear wing at all times. But I kept the throttle fully pushed through. My leg began to cramp. My hands trembling. And then I saw it. The checkered flag.

"You’ve done it! That’s P1!" Xavi in my ear but I ignored him for a moment, taking a deep breath.

"This one’s for you, Jules!" I said, feeling the tears soaking my balaclava.

It was like slow motion, the cool down lap, parking the car, taking a moment before I got out. On shaky legs I stood next to the car. Feeling the emotions overcoming me. I kneeled down. Patted the sticker for Jules on my car, taking a deep breath, when I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned a little to see Lizzie standing next to me, the light of one of the headlights illuminating her. Her eyes sparkling. Her most beautiful smile adorning her gorgeous face.

"You did it Charles. For Jules. He’s so proud of you." I heard her faint voice as she was pulling me up into her arms "You proved them all wrong. I’m so proud of you. So, so proud."

"I won…" I mumbled and heard her soft giggling.

"You did. You won." she pulled away, kissing my helmet and gently pushed me toward my team "Go. Celebrate. This is your moment."

I nodded slightly and when I walked to my team I saw Pierre, looking at me, tapping his feet as if he was contemplating what to do. Lizzie nudged his shoulder and he pulled her in a tight hug out of nowhere and she just shook her head, wiping what looked like a tear from his cheek before she pushed him towards me. I turned my back on him for a moment, celebrated with my team, all smiling and chanting. Then I turned back around and Pierre stood in front of me.

"I’m sorry. I had no idea… I swear would I know what happened… I would never-…" he began, his voice trembling. Lizzie behind him nodded at me and I sighed, pulling Pierre into a hug "I’m so, so sorry!"

"It’s okay… you didn’t know and it wasn’t okay from me to react like this…" I said, hearing his sigh of relief.

"No you had all rights! I can’t believe what happened…"

"We’re good. Lizzie is good. But I’ll never forget what he did…" I said and Pierre nodded.

"No. No you shouldn’t…" we went silent for a moment, but then he patted my back "You won. Suzuka. Jules would be so freaking proud of you."

"Yeah… I hope so."

"Go. Celebrate. You deserve it." he pushed me towards Lizzie again and then walked off.

The next moments felt amazing. During the interviews, the podium, Lizzie was smiling at me the whole time. I felt almost invincible when I lifted the trophy up into the sky. On top of the world. And when we walked down the stairs from the podium, trophy in hand, it all overwhelmed me.

"Hey? Come with me…" Lizzie whispered pulling me away from it all "Take a deep breath for me."

I slowly did, closing my eyes for a moment. Feeling my eyes tear up.

"It’s okay. Let it all out."

"I won." I whispered and she smiled, nodding.

"You won." she replied pulling me into her arms "You did it. You drove brilliantly today. You won against Max…"

"I can’t believe it, I swear…"

"I can. I never had any doubt. This year is your year. My world champion to be." she kissed my cheek and pulled away slowly "I know that this year, you’re going to win the title."

"I hope you’re right."

"I am. I believe in it."

The euphoria of the win in Japan carried me over the next days. It was hectic, simulator work in Maranello, marketing shoots for LEC and then finally the launch party for LEC, where everyone from friends to family showed up to support me.

"And as much as I’m a huge vanilla ice cream lover, the Swirly Pistachi-OH! grew on me, as it’s Lizzie’s favourite." I answered one of the many questions, smiling at Lizzie, who talked with Nicholas.

"How did you come up with the names?"

"Lizzie and I named them. It was a very fun process. She also chose the designs with me. I had this whole idea because of her in the first place. When we were in Maranello last season, we were on a run with our coaches and then we saw some kids eating huge ice cream bowls and Lizzie, and me as well, were a little jealous that they could eat ice cream at any time and as much as they want while we… well we can’t. And born was the idea of LEC."

"Thank you Charles. Enjoy the rest of the night."

And we sure did. After the launch we threw a little after party, which was also a surprise birthday party for Joris who was smiling like crazy.

"To Joris, best friend, assistant and personal photographer you could wish for!" I raised my glass and everyone else did the same.

"To Joris!" Lizzie hugged him, kissing his cheek "Thank you for always dealing with not just Charles craziness but also mine."

"Oh stop." Joris blushed a little but Lizzie shook her head.

"No. Without you we would’ve been a lot of times in real trouble." she chuckled and I nodded, agreeing.

"Yeah, on so many occasions you were our voice of reason." I added and he laughed.

"Then let me be your voice of reason today as well… we should call it a day… or rather a night. Your flight is tomorrow quite early." Joris said and Lizzie laughed.

"See!"

We left shortly after, because Joris was right, our flight to China was quiet early on Sunday morning and since it was quite a long time since we raced in Shanghai, we should be fit and well rested. So when it was time to board the plane we felt fresh and ready for our journey ahead.

"What are you thinking?" I asked Lizzie a few hours into our flight, when she looked up from her notebook.

"I never raced in China… I’m a little nervous to be honest." she whispered and I pulled her to my side.

"Let’s do the track walk together and I tell you everything I can remember about the track, how does that sound?" I suggested and she smiled at me.

"Sounds good…" she still sounded worried and I kissed her temple.

"Don’t worry, okay? It will be fine. You’ll manage to adapt, like always." I reassured her and she nodded slowly, looking out of the window.

I knew how nervous she was, how the articles about her future or rather Carlos future at Audi were nagging at her, although she tried to hide it. Didn’t want to show how it all was affecting her. But I could see it. The next days she was tense, the questions about her future were taking their toll on her and it showed in her performance on Friday.

"P14… 14!" Lizzie was pacing back and forth, shoulders tense, head hung low "How am I supposed to make it into the points from there?"

"It’s just the sprint. You’ll be better in the quali tomorrow." I calmed her down but she shook her head.

"Charles, I can’t make any mistakes! I can’t be this bad. The Audi board will monitor every little mistake that I make. I have to make as many points as possible."

I got up from the bed and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her close.

"You didn’t make a mistake! Lance was impeding you. There was nothing you could do!" I put my forehead on her’s and she took a deep breath.

"Yeah but I still need the points…" she sighed and I nodded, making her head move with mine.

"You will make up some positions, okay? And on the real race on Sunday you’ll show what you’ve got, okay?" I kissed her forehead and she nodded slowly.

"Okay…"

"Good. And now, let’s eat and then go to bed."

"Okay…" she said again and I still saw the doubt in her eyes. How unsure she was.

And by the end of Saturday, nothing really changed.

"I don’t know how you kept your cool against Sainz today." she said, cracking her knuckles looking exhausted.

"I mean, what could I have done, you know?" I said and she nodded slightly.

"I want to go home. I swear I hate this track…" she leaned back, closing her eyes.

"It’s okay. You’ll do fine in the race tomorrow! P8 isn’t that bad! You can still make it into the top 5!" I threw my arm around her shoulder, pulling her into my side "Heads up, okay?"

"I don’t know. I feel like our car is just not working around here…" Lizzie groaned and I kissed the side of her head.

"Tomorrow will be a better day. You’ll see. You’ll do good. I’ll do good. It will be fine."

"I hope you’re right."

I got out of my car, shaking my head in disappointment but also a churning in my stomach. A weekend to forget. For me and Lizzie. I congratulated Max, Lando and Checo and went quickly to my weighing. I took my receipt and made my way to the Audi garage.

"She’s not here." Felix said when he saw me approaching and I looked at him "She’s in her room and she’s…"

"How is she?" I asked.

"She’s okay. All clear. Apart from that? Mad? Frustrated? Sad? Furious?"

"Okay… I just saw the replay on the screens… didn’t look too good."

"It looked worse than it was. She said it herself." he replied and I nodded.

"I’m sorry, Felix. Lizzie looked strong out there."

"What do you guys like to say? It’s like this?" he shrugged his shoulders and I chuckled a little.

"Yeah. When you see her, tell her I’ll pick her up after my debrief."

"Sure."

I waved my goodbyes and went to our garage. Trying to be as calm as possible. Another race weekend, another Carlos shit show. Fred patted my back nodding towards Mia and I smiled at her, thanking my mechanics on my way to her. The interviews were done faster as usual. I wasn’t saying anything about Carlos, trying to stay as neutral as possible. I came back to the hospitality and changed out of my racing suit, getting ready for our team debrief. Grabbing my bag and made it back to the garage, waiting for the debrief to start. I sat alone for a while, then Andrea joined me, handing me my water bottle, right as Fred came in with Jock and Enrico.

"You’re here early." Jock said and I nodded.

"I want to leave as fast as I can…"

"Is she okay?"

"I haven’t seen her. But Felix said yes."

"I don’t understand what Norris did there…" Enrico said and I nodded.

"Me neither but what can I say, he’s not the only one who made questionable decisions today, no?" I shrugged my shoulders.

"Charles…" Fred warned but I only held my hands up in defeat.

I leaned back and watched the interviews of the day playing on the tv in the corner, right when Carlos interview started to play. With every second I watched my mood got worse. He was blaming me for his bad result. I was in his way? What the actual fuck.

"Is he for real? It was my fault? My fault?" I looked at Fred.

"We‘ll debrief it…" he began.

"He pushed me off in the sprint yesterday and then what the fuck was he doing at the start today? And now he’s blaming me for it?" I was fuming and Fred tried to calm me down.

"Charles, please.." he began but I sighed when I saw Carlos entering the room "Calm down, okay?"

I scoffed and looked at Fred, waiting for the room to fill up.

"Alright, some positive things, some negative things. First off, we managed to take home as many points as possible this weekend.." Fred began but I didn't even listen, waiting for the moment I could finally leave and check on Lizzie.

"Charles?" Fred looked at me and I blinked.

"What?"

"I said I wanted your opinion on the race start."

"I already gave my opinion on the radio..." was the only thing I said.

"And I gave mine. The racing line you were going in turn 1, turn 2 was weird and…" Carlos began.

"I was in my racing line as I was ahead of you, if you squabble into my racing line, don't blame me. Russell and Hulkenberg only went by because you were in my line, and I had to go wide. Again." I interrupted him.

"Whatever." Carlos rolled his eyes and I scoffed.

"Exactly... whatever when it’s something you did. Let's discuss and put the blame on me every other time. Yeah, yeah I get it." I said and the room fell silent.

"Alright. Umm- let's move forward, Miami. As you might know, we have a special livery and racing suit for Miami..." Fred began but I wasn't listening again.

I wanted to leave. Now. I wanted to go to Lizzie.

"Charles?" Andrea nudged my shoulder and I looked up

"We're ready, we can leave."

"Alright..." I got up and followed him outside, taking my phone out "I'm going to Lizzie..." Andrea patted my back and I left, walking to the Audi hospitality. I watched her get up from the armchair, flinching a little when she walked towards me.

"Hey you..." she said gently, kissing my cheek.

"Hey, are you okay?" I replied, cupping her cheeks ans looking her once over.

"It looked worse than it was… I’m fine."

"I’m sorry that he ruined your race…"

"Yeah, what can I say… it’s like this. We can’t change it now." she sighed and I took her hand, walking outside and thankfully almost no fans were waiting for us.

I had enough of this day, Lizzie looked exhausted and tired and I just wanted to go back to the hotel, make her eat something, go to bed and then go back home.

"You're awfully quiet..." Lizzie said after a while and I sighed "Oh, that bad? What happened?"

"The same shit as always..." I said, stopping at a red light.

"Okay?"

"Carlos does what he wants, blames me, I say my word, no one cares…" I shrugged and Lizzie sighed.

"I had high hopes that it would change, once Fred takes over..." she mumbled and I chuckled bitterly "They signed you. Not him. You're their future, they should listen to you..."

"Yeah maybe, but apparently it’s not like that." I mumbled and she caressed my cheek, turning to look at me.

"Maybe you need to talk to Fred?" she suggested and I nodded.

"Yeah. Maybe. But for now I just want to go home." I smiled a little, thinking about our upcoming anniversary and the little surprise I had planned for Lizzie.

"Me too. Netflix will bother us for a hot minute tho..." she sighed and I grabbed her thigh, squeezing it, I already took care of that as well "I had a talk with Elijah and we will film a little something…"

"It will be fine, don't worry."

"If you say so." she chuckled.

Oh I knew so. I just didn't say anything. Not raising any suspicions. But it was all well thought through. And the moment we arrived back at home, I started to make the final preparations for the big surprise.

"And Lizzie has no idea?" Elijah asked, while the film crew captured everything I was doing.

"Nope. Not a single clue. For once I was able to keep a secret to myself." I laughed as we walked through the garden gate, Marianne already awaiting.

"Salut Charles! Come on in!" she greeted me, and I felt the giddiness overcoming me. Sure, it was a surprise for Lizzie, and I knew how excited she would be, but it was also for me. Something I've always dreamed of myself.

"Ready to bring him home?" Marianne asked when we stepped in the back, three little puppies playing in the play pen, one of them jumped excited up the fence as soon as he spotted me "Seems like he is ready."

"Hey Arlo." I bent down, picking him up and he began licking my face immediately "Ready, little one?" I turned to Elijah and the film crew "Meet Arlo Doetterer-Leclerc, our newest family member."

"Oh my god, he's adorable." Sarah, the sound lady said and I stepped closer to her, so she could pet Arlo.

"You have everything you need?" Marianne asked me and I nodded.

"I bought everything from the list you gave me, I set up his crate and bed. Now it's only him who's missing." I said and she chuckled.

"I guess you are really ready to go then!" she said and I smiled.

"Let's say goodbye to your siblings and mum..." I sat him back down in the play pen, watching how he tolled around with his brother and sister. Marianne then brought out Arlo's mum and I picked him up and sat him down in front of her "Don't' worry, little one, we will come and visit your mum from time to time."

"You can always come by, maybe we can set up some playdates when his siblings are coming over." Marianne bent down, scratching Arlos's head.

"Definitely..." I agreed and Marianne picked him up and handing him over.

"We stay in touch then!" she smiled and I nodded.

"We will. Bye Marianne." I said and Eijah and the rest of the crew waved goodbye.

"Let's go, we have to hurry a little if we want to be at home before Lizzie gets back." I opened the passenger door and sat Arlo down, putting his harness on and then sat him into the transport box, clipping the harness into the security hook

"Alright. Tomorrow then?"

"Yes, just text us when you're ready and we're coming over." Elijah said and I nodded "See you tomorrow."

"See you guys tomorrow then." I got in the car and drove back to Monaco, Arlo next to me barking "We almost made it Arlo. Soon you'll see your new home, you'll gonna love it." I parked the car, glad to see that Lizzie's car wasn't here, and got Arlo out of the transport box when Lizzie called.

"Hey cara mia." I said, hoping Arlo would be quiet.

"Chicken and salmon for tomorrow and Friday?" she asked and I chuckled.

"Yep sounds good, for tonight I reserved a table at Antonios." I lied. I ordered food because I knew Lizzie wouldn’t want to leave once she saw Arlo.

"Sounds good. I'm almost home, you need anything else?"

"Nope just you.." I stepped out of the elevator, unlocking the door.

"Alright, half an hour and you have me." she laughed.

"Perfect. Love you. Bye." I hung up right in time for Arlo to let out a bark for ignoring him too long "Sorry buddy. Your mum is almost home come on now, I have to get you ready!"

I walked upstairs with him and sat him down, getting the bow I had prepared. I sat down and Arlo immediately jumped between my legs, happily barking and huffing. Tying the bow around him was harder than expected and I soon realised it might not go that easy.

"Oh come on, little one! Hold still! No! No! Stop! Arlo!" how could a small fur ball like him exhaust me after not even 30 minutes! I tried again tying the bow around him, but he just jumped out of my lap, following the reflection of my watch, barking his adorable little barks "Okay, come on now! Good boy! Good boy! Yes, come here." I cooed and he looked at me tilting his head a little, looking adorable "Please, you little nugget! Your mum will be here any minute! Pleeeeaseee!" He jumped back in my lap, starting to lick my face "No! Stop! Stay! Arlo, stay! Good boy! Now just let me… no stay! Arrrghh! Arlo!" I gave up. It wasn’t working. I plopped down and Arlo jumped on my chest "Yeah, we definitely need to go to the puppy school with you, you little rascal!" he laid down on my chest, looking at me with his big puppy eyes "You’re the cutest, little, good boy! Your mum is going to freak out! She’s crazy for dogs! You’ll be spoiled and cuddled and kissed and loved all the time!" he barked a little and then attacked my face with more licks and dog kisses. A notification on my phone let me know that Lizzie just entered our home and I scooped the little rascal up, going out on the terrace, waiting for Lizzie to come up.

"Shhh… just a few more minutes little one! Come on! Don’t bark!" I pleaded and Arlo stumbled over his own feet and let out a little bark "Shhh!"

"Charles? I'm home?" I heard Lizzie coming up the stairs "Are you even here?"

I opened the screen door fully and sat Arlo down.

"Go..." I whispered to him right when Lizzie rounded the corner and as if he understood his assignment he trotted towards her, tilting his head adorably, stopping in front of her.

"Cha-…" she began but then stopped abruptly, staring at Arlo "Wha-... who-... Charles? There is a puppy... a beautiful, gorgeous, cute and adorable puppy... in our flat..." she whispered, and I stepped behind Arlo.

"Lizzie, meet Arlo Doetterer-Leclerc, our new fur baby." I smiled and Lizzie had tears in her eyes, falling down on her knees and scooping up Arlo who happily jumped into her arms, licking her face "Happy second anniversary, cara mia."

"He's really ours? Our fur baby?" Lizzie looked at me and I nodded "Our baby boy?"

"Our baby boy." I chuckled and Lizzie got up, Arlo pressed to her chest, storming right into my arms "I mean initially your's as a gif-..." I began but she pressed her lips on mine, and I was melting into her touch.

"I love you, Charles. So much. This... he's the best gift I could ever receive. Our little fur baby." she whispered against my lips, sniffeling "He's so perfect!" she cooed, kissing Arlos head over and over again "My two perfect boys."

I chuckled and pulled her towards the sofa, sitting down with Lizzie snuggled into my side, Arlo in her arms, littering him with kisses. His big eyes on her. I was right, he immediately fell in love with her, like everyone who meets her does.

Chapter 43 - Welcome to the family, Arlo Doetterer-Leclerc, when I started this story last July I wrote so many little blurbs and created Insta posts and was so excited for when I finally could use them! That Charles now has a puppy in real life is just another one of these funny coincidences 🙈 that THE Lewis Hamilton comments and says he’s happy for Roscoe to have a friend in the hospitality (I actually meant paddock but hey) is also and added bonus 🙈👀 and ALSO CONGRATS CHARLES ON P3 TODAY!

Please leave a comment/ like/ reblog/ message and tell me how you liked it! I'm dying to hear your thoughts!

If you want to be added to the taglist, drop a comment!

Last but not least, English is not my first language and although I tried my best: please excuse any mistakes I made!

Taglist:

@silkenthusiasts @eugene-emt-roe @sunny44 @itsjustkhaos @glitterquadricorn @aundercover @kakorrhaphiphobia @alittlebitofbooksandmagic @ru-kru @shimmermotorsport @janeh22 @kahhorri @18754389 @chiliwhore @hellowgoodbye @queensassybitchsworld @harrysdimple05 @skynel09

All the images I’m using are from Google, Pinterest and Instagram (or self made).

#charles leclerc #charles leclerc 16 #charles leclerc f1 #charles leclerc fic #charles leclerc imagine #charles leclerc x female driver #cl16 #cl16 fic #cl16 fanfic #cl16 imagine #cl16 edit #scuderia ferrari #ferrari #formula 1 #formula 1 fanfic #formula 1 fic #formula 1 fandom #formula 1 imagine #formula 1 x female driver #f1 #f1 writing #f1 fanfic #f1 fic #f1 fiction #f1 fandom #f1 imagine #f1 x female driver #formula 1 fluff #female driver #lizzie and charles

[hellosweetart]

Little Employee

(chapter 1 fanfic is already here finally.)

Chapter 1: Infiltration

As Yui is enjoying her conversation with her fellow worker, a sudden commotion is happening in the club.

When the girl got curious to see what it is, she felt the same fear when she sees the very same group who tormented her.

Ayato, the third son of Sakamaki brothers, begins to threaten everyone. Bodyguards were beaten up; one is almost getting choked to death. The violent vampire is getting impatient.

"WHERE IS SHE?!" He roared.

"I'm here!" Yui rushes in. She doesn't want the vampires to cause any more harm because of her.

Remembering the sport that her boss taught her, she pulled out her handgun.

"PUT HIM DOWN, AYATO!"

In a blink of her eyes, she felt strong hands grabbed upwards by the angry vampire, causing the gun to blow up. People screamed and panicked. 

"You think you can fight me, idiot?" He laughed, and pushed her hard to the floor.

Yui looked up, all eyes of Sakamaki brothers are on her. She noticed that Subaru, the youngest one, cannot look at her further, and moves his eyes away.

How stupid of her. She should have listened to her boss.

"Remember dear, your new heart is still under developed. So make sure to avoid any sort of trouble, okay?" 

The rest of the brothers are clearly enjoying the sight of her in pain and humiliation. Though, Ayato scrunched up his nose and told her with irritated voice, "You smell weird, pancake. Did they do something to you?"

"It doesn't matter." The second son, Reiji, intervened. "We have her now. Let's leave this wretched place."

"No, all of you leave this place! I AM NOT GOING!"  Yui told the brothers off in determined tone.

This caused the vampires make various reactions, but she knows they feel insulted.

"You're ordering us now? And who said you can deny us?"

"I DO."

An ominous figure appeared behind the girl, much to the vampires' shock, disgust and awe.

"Gentlemen...Gentlemen. Please let us not cause anymore chaos into my club, shall we?" He greeted the brothers with his polite smile.

Ayato, whose eyes are fixed to the mysterious entity spoke, "W-who are you?"

"Ah, silly me! I am the owner of this nightclub. You may call me Mr. Dealer." He puffed out his smoke for a bit and added, "How about we have a nice little chat at the moment?"

The Sakamakis didn't respond.

"I'll take that as a yes, then." The Dealer made a toothy sharp grin. 

"Except for the humble guests... EVERYONE, OUT." His voice echoed around the club.

People began scrambling away, some goes through the fire exit, some jumps out of the windows, some directly runs to the employee's entrance. The female co worker of Yui took her hand, pulling her to get away from the club. The fifth son, Laito, witness them and begins to go after Yui. 

"WHERE ARE YOU GOING, LITTLE BI--"

His chase got cut off when he felt a huge hand grabbed his body, stopping him to go further. The Dealer is not harsh on him, but giving him a hint to not resist.

"I believe this is a better place to chat." The club owner gently puts down the shocked young man to the floor, and puts the hat to the guest's head in a friendly manner.

"Now then, why don't we start? Would you like me to gather seats for you? Beers? Cigars? A bite to eat?"

"No thank you. We won't be staying here for long..." Reiji said in a polite manner as possible. Shu (the eldest) noticed how the tone of his brother's voice changed a bit. For the first time, he felt worried.

"I see..." Mr. Dealer replied. "So, what exactly brings all of you he--"

"WE WANT HER!" An abrupt, straightforward response from Ayato himself. "GIVE HER BACK TO US!"

The club owner shook his floating head.

"I'm afraid I cannot do that. You see, Ms. Yui has signed a contract with me. She will be working for me for quiet sometime."

The vampires couldn't believe what they've heard. She give herself up to this ball of freak?! Most of the brothers were seething. How dare she left them over this monstrosity? Was she not grateful for living with them in the luxurious mansion? Compared to this garbage of a place, they imagine that she will be used and---

"I understand... Losing someone as important as her can be upsetting. She is a kind and compassionate girl." The Dealer said.

Subaru winced at that comment. He knows that is not the only main reason why he and his brothers are after her.

"But I can guarantee you... She will be well taken care of. And besides, she seem to develop quiet a liking towards this club---"

"THAT'S A LIE!" Another interruption from an angry Ayato. 

"How so?" Mr. Dealer asked, staring blankly at the hot headed boy.

Reiji had to step in before his stupid brother say and do something reckless.

"She is a shy and quiet girl who doesn't know what she wants. That is why we find it unbelievable that she is willing to stay here. We want to escort her back to our home."

"Really?" Reiji felt a chill down his spine when those pair of black hollowed eyes stare at him. "Strange... That is not how she reacted when she sees all of you."

Suddenly, one of the brothers moved forward. Shu cannot handle the small talk anymore.

"You want to know the truth?! We are the Sakamaki brothers, the vampire clan who lives from far from here. We need her as our bride to continue our bloodline." Much to Reiji's noticable a annoyance and anxiety, Shu continued, "Our father planned it all. She is supposedly the Eve of our family. So we beg you, to please give her back to us."

Subaru just frowned. He never seen him show any sort of care towards to anyone but himself; even Yui is just piece of blood to him. He doesn't know if he mean this, or just an act to persuade the strange creature.

"Vampires? Ah...that make sense... No wonder she suffers in constant chest pains. That's why I had to have my doctors get rid of that pesky heart of hers."

"You..did what?" 

 "Some wicked soul is attempting to take over her body, and her heart is the main cause. So in order for her to properly work for me, I've recommended her to undergo heart surgery, which she willingly participated."

The brothers were speechless.

"Oh, you all didn't know? And here I am thinking she gets better treatment back in your town." The Dealer chuckled.

"How is she still alive?" One of the brothers questioned.

"We've replaced her old heart with a new improved one."

"What?!"

Mr. Dealer showed a glass container. Inside is Yui's former heart.  The Sakamaki's sense of smell and desire heightened. So this is why they were so drawn to her blood. 

That heart... It originally belonged to Cordelia, the triplets' mother. (Ayato, Kanato, Laito)

"Here, this is all yours." The club owner handed over the heart to Ayato with care.

"I hope this concludes your chase for the girl, yes?"

Ayato and his brothers are stunned. So this explains everything. They've all been thirsting over her because of this heart. The heart of the so called mother they've despised and killed.

As the heart container is now on Ayato's hands, what will be his reaction?

Will he take it or break it?

Here is the link to the Poll

#buckshot roulette fanfic #buckshot roulette #fanart #illustration #buckshot roulette the dealer #yui komori diabolik lovers #yui komori #diabolik lovers laito #diabolik lovers reiji #diabolik lovers ayato #diabolik lovers kanato #diabolik lovers shu #diabolik lovers #diabolik lovers fanfic #little employee #crossover fanfic #fanfic #buckshot roulette fanart #artist on tumblr #traditional drawing #drawings #drawing #the dealer #the dealer buckshot roulette #the dealer fanfic

[penkura]

At first, Sanji doesn't have nightmares, not when you're around at least. He'll stay up at night to prep for the next day's meals, then come to bed, either slipping into yours in the women's bunks or going to his own hammock. Sometimes you'll stay up to help him if he'll let you, otherwise you'll stay nearby until he's done and then go to he'd with him. It's comfortable and lovely, you wouldn't change a thing.

That is, until you all bring him back from Whole Cake Island, then the nightmares start.

Sanji tries hard to keep from waking you when they happen, he stifles any cries or gasps, covering his mouth as soon as he wakes up wide eyed and looks to you, making sure you're still asleep. Once he's sure you are, he quietly sneaks out from your bed and goes to the kitchen, distracting himself with whatever he can find to cook or bake, anything to keep him from thinking of them and the things he went through.

He never comes back to bed after that, you've noticed more lately. You've tried to ask if he's okay, if he needs anything at all from you, but all Sanji does is give you a smile or a kiss on the forehead.

"Perfectly fine, my love. I just came up with a new recipe I needed to try, that's all."

You don't believe him, and then next time he's gone from your bed in the middle of the night, you finally go after him in the kitchen and just watch quietly for a few minutes. You really wish he'd let you help him, you've been hoping he would come to you for comfort the last few weeks, since you found out he'd been having the nightmares and trying to keep his mind busy.

It breaks your heart more than anything to watch him try and get the thoughts away without disturbing you, he really believes he has to do this alone. Why should you be involved in his own mental struggle? It's not like you're having the same fight after seeing everything he went through, right?

"Sanji, are you okay?"

You've surprised him, he was in the middle of lighting another cigarette (he won't tell you how many he's had that night), when you speak and he looks at you with the same smile he's been giving you lately.

"Hey, love, what're you--"

"Sanji."

Taking a breath, Sanji's smile fades as he shakes his head, letting you come over to take his hand to bring him to the table to sit and relax. You don't make him talk, you won't make him if he doesn't want to, but you just want him to know you're there.

"If you're not ready to talk, that's okay," you wrap your arms around his shoulders and kiss the top of his head, "I love you, and I'm here when you're ready, my love."

He knows, he's known that from the start of the nightmares. He just hasn't wanted to bother you and drop all his trauma on you, even though he knows you want to take care of him like he takes care of you.

"I know, mon amour. Thank you."

You'll both work this one day.

#one piece x reader #reader insert #sanji x reader #black leg sanji x reader #light angst

[melanieph321]

Dominik Szoboszlai x Black Reader - Not Enough Part 3/6

Part 1 Part 2

Dominik is so annoying in this 😫

Summary - Reader is excited to meet Dominik's parents but is shocked to find out that they are very prejudiced and do not approve of her.

Enjoy!

Székesfehérvár. Dominik's hometown. A small community located about a forty minute drive from Budapest. Although Székesfehérvár was far from as vibrant as the city of Budapest. The town looked more like a prehistoric gathering place for Lords and Dukes of the 1800th century. A place where the sun didn't look out from behind the clouds. A place that probably only had one unanimous shopping center where kids would lurk around what they believed to be a modern hang out.

"Uh, Dominik...?" You were skeptically looking out of the car window. A friend of his let you borrow it for as long as you were staying in Hungary.

"Yeah, babe?" Dominik's eyes left the road, turning to you.

"Can you tell me about your family again?"

"My family?"

"Yeah, like your siblings and stuff." It would be your first time meeting them. You wanted to know what kind of people you were dealing with, perhaps they were also as close-minded as Dominik's parents?

"Well, my younger brother plays football just like me."

"Really, in which league, Bundesliga?"

He chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing." He said but did not seize to laugh. "Let's just say my brother is still muturing when it comes to playing professional football."

Whatever that meant, you thought.

"My sister, on the other hand, you'll like her."

"I will?" You perked up.

"Yes, she's very much into fashion and that poet culture shit that you like."

"Wow, you just made me sound like the wokest black girl you've ever been with."

The creases in his eyes widened when he smiled. "Because you are the wokest black girl I've ever been with."

"Dominik, I'm the only black girl you've ever been with."

"True." He nodded and leaned over for a kiss.

You pressed your lips against his. "Idiot."

After a few more minutes in the car, Dominik pulled up to a lovely little home on the outskirts of the town. Your heart pounded in your chest once you realized that this was it. You were meeting his parents.

Dominik walked ahead of you towards the house. You had preferred to hold his hand. Nevertheless, with a knock on the door, he stepped back to stand next to you, waiting in anticipation for...

"Nikki!"

The door flung open, and a child sprung out of the house straight into Dominik's arms.

"You're home, Nikki, you're home!"

"I told you I was coming." Dominik twirled the boy around in his arms. They looked awfully alike, with the same carved cheeks and jet black hair.

"Benedek, who is at the door?"

With all of the commotion a woman appered, eyes wide at the sight of...

"Nikki? Nem tudom elhinni!" (Nikki, I can't believe it!)

"Anya!" (Mom!)

It was a heart-felt reunion. With Dominik putting down his little brother to embrace his mother.

"Mit csinálsz itt?" (What are you doing here?)

It was interesting. You had picked up a few Hungarian words after three years with Dominik. However, compared to his little brother, you understood nothing of what was coming out of his mother's mouth. She had a very thick accent.

"Benedek, is that you bringing cold air into my house?"

A loud thud came from inside the house. It got louder and louder until a large figure took up the door frame. A man, Dominik's father, appeared.

"Nikki?"

He wasted no time, rushing down the steps to greet his son. Dominik's feet left the ground as his father embraced him.

"Nem tudom elhinni!" (I can't believe it.)

His father's accent was also a very thick one, utterly incomprehensible to your ears.

"Hey?" You hissed. You were standing to the side, observing Dominik's heartfelt welcome home when there was a tugg at your skirt. Looking down, a pair of green eyes were staring back at you in wonder. Dominik's little brother.

"Are you my brother's friend?" He asked.

"No." You said in the most disgraceful attempt to speak Hungarian. "I'm not your brothers friend, I'm his...."

"Anya, Apa." (Mom, dad.) Dominik interrupted. With that, all eyes were on you now. "Szeretném, ha találkozna, Y/N, a személyi asszisztensemmel." (I would like for you to meet, Y/N, my personal assistant.)

As oblivious as you were, the mentioning of your name could only mean that this was your queue. "Hello!" You smiled. "It's very nice to meet you all."

Dominik turned to his parents, translating what you just said. They looked at you skeptically but nodded approvingly.

"Egy fekete?" (A black?) His dad scuffed. "Csak illőnek tűnik." (Seems only fitting.)

"Zsolt." His mother frowned, slapping Dominik's father in the arm.

All you could do was keep smiling.

"Cacsorára marad, úgyhogy viselkedjünk." (She's staying for dinner, so let's behave.)

"Yes, yes." His father muttered and gestured for Dominik's little brother to return inside with them.

You turned to Dominik, your only source of security in that moment.

"They like you." He smiled.

"Really?"

"Yes, let's head inside."

A sense of relief washed over you. You and Dominik were invited inside and were quickly ushered into the kitchen. It was obvious that Dominik missed his mother's cooking because he ate more than he does at home, and so did you. His mother was an excellent cook, offering delicious Hungarian dishes.

"Ugh, I think I'm going to explode." You said, having made it to the top of the staircase.

"Me too." Dominik groand. He carried your bags despite his swollen tummy, and for that, he deserved to be rewarded.

"What are you doing?"

You had gone to wrap your arms around his neck. However, Dominik flinched as you did. The first time, he has ever done such a thing.

"I...I just wanted to..." You were taken aback. A heavy lump clogging your throat.

"Baby." Dominik whispered. Why was he whispering? it wasn't late, his family were still downstairs watching TV. "Baby I'm sorry." He saw the hurt in your eyes. I didn't mean to...." There was nothing that could be said, the damage was already done.

"Nikki, is everything alright?"

There was movement at the bottom of the staircase, Dominik's mother, on her way up.

"Megmutattad vendégünknek a szobáját?" (Have you shown our guest her room?)

Dominik scratched the back of his neck. "No Anya, I was just about to."

"Rendben, szólj, ha kell neki valami." (Alright, you tell me if she needs anything.)

"Sure, mom, I will."

His mother gave you a friendly smile before returning downstairs. However, you were still in a bit of a shocked state to return it.

"I'll show you were you'll sleep." Dominik mumbled and made his way down the hall expecting you to follow him. You did, but only because you needed answers.

"Like I said, my parents are a little bit old school...." Dominik stop before a small room. You poked your head in to see that there was only one single sized bed.

"Um, what's this?"

Dominik sighed. "Y/N, let's not make a big deal of it. We're only staying for two nights."

"Yes, but..." You had no words. "You've got to be kidding me, though? We are sleeping together in the same room, right?"

No answer.

"Right, Dominik?"

He grabbed your bags and entered the room, placing them on the bed. You refused to move an inch, waiting for him to return. However, all he said was, "I'm sorry." And kissed your cheek before disappearing down the hall. You were left with more questions than answers, the biggest one being, "What the fuck was wrong with your boyfriend?"

Part 1 Part 2

#fanfiction #football imagine #footballer x reader #footballer imagine #football angst #dominik szoboszlai x reader #dominik szoboszlai x black reader #dominik szoboszlai imagine #dominik szoboszlai #dominik x reader #liverpool fc

[whokilledeve]

my hunger games characters height head-canons (even though nobody asked)

Annie and Finnick:

I’ve seen so many fics where Annie is short and that’s cute of course, but tall Annie oh my goodness. She has my heart!! Also I feel like a lot of the short Annie headcanons is just because they want a cute height difference between her and Finnick (also because her movie actors super short, love stef but this is my book headcanons) but guys, they can still have a cute height difference with them both being tall. So I headcanon Finnick as 6’4 (I had trouble deciding with Finnick because I know 6’4 is like, uncommon? I dont know if it’s THAT uncommon) and Annie is 5’9 because I couldn’t decide between 5’8-5’10 so I picked 5’9 because it’s right in the middle. Also I don’t want ANYBODY saying “oh, 5’9 isn’t that tall” it is for a woman pleaaaseee!!! anyway, it’s still a cute height difference right?

Also I saw somebody that reposted one of my posts that was like “Katniss for the short girlies, Annie for the tall girlies, and the tall girlie gets the tall guy” and yes exactlyyy. Also this is more of a personal preference I am so sick of the extremely short petite girl with the tall, muscular guy it was cute at first (and it still can be cute if played right) but now I feel like it’s all I see and I need more tall girl x tall guy relationships

Also im a firm believer in swimmers body Annie, im a firm believer in most district four people having swimmers body’s actually like fight me if you disagree it makes so much sense.

#odesta #finnick odair my beloved #annie x finnick #thg finnick #finnick x annie #finnick odair #hunger games finnick #annie cresta my beloved #annie cresta #the hunger games katniss #the hunger games #hunger games headcanons #hunger games #thg series #thg #height headcanons #thg headcanons #the hunger games headcanon #Odesta headcanon #finnick odair headcanons #Annie cresta headcanons #everlark #katniss x peeta #mags flanagan #forgot to put tags originally

[k-aay]

💭ˎˊ˗ lie detector - geto suguru

💭ˎˊ˗ an !! - jus a little smth I put together! enjoy <3 (geto's so fine literally my mans)

You were wondering how it ever came down to this. How it came down to you sitting in front of everyone, waiting for a distraction to take all eyes off you. You could feel sweat dripping from your temple as you glance towards different people across the room. 

"Are you going to answer the question or is it time for you to do a dare?" one of them question, you could've sworn that you were about to strangle them with all your force. "Uh... sorry...." you begin as you slowly start to calm down. "What was the question again?" The person sighs and rolls their eyes. 

"Do you like him or not." Lying wouldn't have been a problem if only you weren't strapped to a lie detector. One that was accurate enough to detect even the dirtiest secrets. You didn't have any that were big enough to destroy your entire reputation. But you had one that could ruin-what you thought- was your life. 

Doing the dare was an option, but it would leave everyone to believe that you didin fact have a liking towards him. Geto Suguru. At first, you were dying to do everything in your power to avoid him since you two did not get along in the slightest. But now, you were dying for a way to get out of this lie detector so you didn't have to admit to liking him. 

"No. I don't like him," you bite your tongue after the lie you spit left your mouth. You made eye contact with Geto across the room. To your surprise, he seemed interested in the game he called "stupid" and "immature." Interested enough to have a disappointed look wiped across his face but also a hint of hope in his eyes when the detector loaded a response to your answer. 

LIE! 

You shut your eyes closed at the sound, knowing defeat was just at hand. You glanced at Geto and back at the people behind the screen, viewing the detectors results. "I dunno, y/n, it seems like your heart rate is going up by the second. Are you sure?" You nod your head immediately, "You're really going to believe a stupid machine? This thing can be broken for all we know!" you try to defend yourself. 

"Lies! I say you have to do a dare! Who's with me?" Slowly, the people in the same room as you started chanting "Dare!" You sighed, wanting to just disappear right this second. "What's the dare?" you question, removing the necessities for the lie detector machine. 

"May I be the one to choose the dare?" Geto stepped forward and placed his hand on the shoulder of the man who was running all this nonsense. "Uh, yeah, sure!" Geto's eyes shifted from the man to you with a grin plastered on his face. Oh, that stupid grin. It was the one he always looked at you with when you both knew that he was winning. And you hated it, you hated how you knew you were losing and you hated how good he looked. 

"So, y/n," he begins, walking up to you. You stood up from the chair you were sitting in before with your arms crossed. "Yes, Geto," you respond with an attitude. You put on your best tough-look, but in reality, you were hoping that he wouldn't see past that and realize the fear in your eyes. "I'm not evil or anything so I'll make this simple." He brings his face closer to your ear and whispers, "Just stay in a room with me alone for ten minutes. I want to talk with you." 

You could feel the smile on his face against your ear and it only irritated you further. "That's... fine," you finally say, clenching your fist. He notices, "Great, because I'm sure you don't have a choice anyways." He places his hand on your wrist, relieving the tension you had curling up in your hands within a second. 

He knew the affect he had on you, you loathed him for it. 

Geto pulls you to a seperate room from everyone else. You could still hear the murmurs and the whispers about the two of you yet still being in a different place. "Why waste such a good dare to talk to me when you could've humiliated me in front of everyone with the snap of your fingers?" you question, not wanting to make eye contact with him. "Just because..." he trails off, not bothering to properly answer your question. 

"I'm surprised I even managed to get you here with me all alone." Geto places his hands in his pockets as he walks ever so slowly towards you. "But that's not the point here, angel. We only have ten minutes here so let's spend it wisely." He takes another step towards you. "What's your plan here?" You cross your arms, finally breaking the no eye contact rule. Then he takes another step. "To make you admit you like me." 

You scoff, "What are we in, middle school?" Another step. Only now, you realize how close he is to you yet you don't bother to move back. "I thought you found this game stupid and immature. What's with the change of mind?" 

"You." He reaches out for your hand, you don't stop him. "You always manage to bombard my mind with thoughts that I can't escape," he admits. You could sense the desperation in his eyes, the sincerity in his tone. He couldn't have been more honest. And he couldn't have wanted anything more than you. "I know you feel the same way, angel. Face it, you want me as bad as I do you." 

"What makes you think that?" He places a hand against your hip, "The fact that you're not moving away when I touch you. How you slowly begin to break eye contact with me when all I want to do is look into those pretty eyes of yours." He leans in closer to you. "How much I affect you and rile you up so easily." 

"You're delusional," you spit. Just as he said, you break eye contact with him. "I've already passed that stage when I stopped denying my feelings for you, my angel." You hated how right he was. You wanted him. Badly. 

"You're doing it again. You're not as good at hiding as you think you are. Especially when it comes to how you feel." He places his hand on your chin, redirecting you to face him. 

"Look me in the eyes and say you don't want me as badly as I do. Only then I'll believe you, angel." 

#jjk x reader #fanfic #fluff #jjk fanfic #jjk fluff #jujutsu kaisen #angst #jjk #geto fanfic #geto suguru #jjk geto #geto x reader #jjk imagines #jujutsu kaisen imagines #imagines #geto x you #enemies to lovers #romance

[domainedewinter]

The Price of Fire - Chapter 4.

Summary: Aemond meets a mysterious silver-haired girl on the beach while facing Vhagar. But the more he tries to know her, the deeper her secrets seem.

Warnings: DUBCON, TYPICAL TARGARYEN INCEST, profanity, innuendo, he/him pronouns, she/her pronouns, fingering, oral m receiving, oral f receiving, misogyny, toxic behaviour, Dom!Aemond, begging, underage hotd style, nsfw. 

(coming soon, I will indicate the chapters containing smut with a 🔥) 

Rating: 18+, MDNI

English is not my first language.

⤞⟢⨳⟣⤝ Roxaene ⤞⟢⨳⟣⤝

Fear, or perhaps some other form of excitement that she didn’t have the time to identify at that precise moment, was burning in her veins. She had angered the prince, finally responding to his provocations, as if he had wanted to push her to this point, as if he had wished for her to overstep the bounds and disrespect him. To have a good reason to reprimand her? To hurt her? Or even to kill her? Roxaene didn't know, and now was definitely not the time to ponder such questions. Unable to back away any further, she tilted her head slightly backward, pressing herself a bit more against Vhagar's body, her breath growing shorter, perfectly matching the indecent rhythm of her heart. “Stop playing with me. If you want to take my life, do it, but don’t show yourself to be as cruel as your reputation suggests.”

The prince’s fine silver eyebrows furrowed as he looked straight into her eyes. “Believe it or not, if I had wanted you dead, you wouldn’t still be here talking to me.” He glanced up at Vhagar, his smirk never leaving his face. “How about coming with me to a place a little more... private?”

The mere idea made her stomach tighten, but curiosity got the better of her. “What do you mean? Why... I mean... where do you want to go?” Her sentence was hesitant, stumbling at best and incoherent at worst. This pleased the prince, a sigh of amusement escaping him. “You’re not afraid of much, are you, Roxaene? So surely you wouldn’t be afraid of the idea of accompanying me on my dragon, right?”

She turned her head towards Vhagar before looking back at him. Was it a trap? Would he throw her over the sea when they were flying? Have his dragon devour her as soon as they were away from the beach? Her unspoken questions must have shown on her face because he chuckled softly, a not very reassuring laugh as he brushed his lips against her cheek before pulling his head back. “Well, where did your spirit go? Are you afraid of a little journey away from the ground?”

“Not at all. I’m just afraid of not coming back.”

And it wasn’t completely unreasonable. Aemond nodded, understandingly, and held out his hand. “You have my word that you will be on this beach when the sun rises.”

A prince’s word held value, and although Aemond Targaryen was known for many flaws, lying was not one of them. Roxaene then let him take her hand and help her climb onto the monster’s back, positioning herself behind her. The warmth of his chest against her back was far too pleasant in the young girl’s eyes, and she preferred to hate it.

It took a bit of momentum for Vhagar to take off, but soon they were flying over the sea; the sensation was indescribable, magical, and breathtaking—literally, as she forgot to breathe. Aemond placed a hand on Roxaene’s stomach, making her jump, and spoke near her ear. “Breathe, Roxaene, breathe slowly, the dizziness will pass quickly.” He gently pressed on her stomach to make her exhale, which she did before resuming her breathing, following the rhythm of his hand on her body.

She might die tonight, but if that were the case, she could boast to the Stranger about knowing what it felt like to brush against the Gods.

⤞⟢⨳⟣⤝ Aemond ⤞⟢⨳⟣⤝

The journey was short, with Vhagar bringing them to an island in the middle of the sea. From what could be seen, it was uninhabited and far from any living soul. This suited Aemond, who wanted to spend time with the intriguing young girl. Alone.

When the ground rumbled beneath Vhagar’s feet and they dismounted, Aemond signaled for her to follow. “I come here when I want to be alone; no one knows this place, no one can bother us.”

“... or save us,” concluded Roxaene in a wary tone, still following him on the sand that was still warm from the day. She clenched her fists so tightly that Aemond noticed for the first time how they seemed to glow from within. He tilted his head inquisitively, and when she hid them behind her back, he let out a frustrated growl. “How about we play a game?” he suddenly proposed, causing Roxaene to take a step back, even more wary.

“What kind of game?”

“Well, it’s still light enough, and the moon will soon illuminate the night. You go first, hide. If I find you before the moon is up, I win the confessions I desire about... that.” He said, gesturing with his chin toward Roxaene’s hidden hands. “And I’ll have the right to take something from you.” He added, a strange light born in his single lilac eye.

“And if you fail?” She asked, concentrating as never before to keep her voice from trembling.

Aemond didn’t answer immediately, stepping towards her and placing his hand behind Roxaene’s back to pull her briefly against him. “I never fail. But if, imagining it could happen, I’ll take you back to the beach, and you’ll never hear from me again.”

It was tempting, and he didn't even have a chance to add another word before Roxaene was already running. Aemond watched her disappear into the sparse forest, his eyes wandering over the perfect form of the young girl he was beginning to desire in a new way. 

He set off a few minutes after her, confident he would find her easily; Cole had taught him to track prey, and the pretty Roxaene was nothing more than what made him a hunter. 

His senses were alert, sensitive, and attentive. He wouldn't let her win.

A cracking sound came from his left, but he wasn't foolish enough to rush toward the first possibility. He moved silently through the trees, like a ghost, a silent dragon ready to pounce. He saw through some bushes the pale halo of the moon beginning to form on the horizon and climbed a tree with agility, pausing just a moment to finally see Roxaene's graceful form emerge from a thicket. She looked toward where he had been and then started moving in the direction he had come from. Clever.

But as smart as Roxaene might be, he always had a step ahead. When she passed beneath him, he jumped down delicately, landing on her and taking her down with him. She cried out in surprise and, in her panic, grabbed a stick, swinging it at him, jumping on her feet. Aemond narrowly avoided the blow and burst into laughter, drawing a long dagger. On his feet again, with his other hand, he motioned for her to come closer. And she hated that.

Furiously, she launched herself at him, striking again and again with the stick. The prince was surprised when she managed to hit him twice, once on the shoulder and then on the ribs. He grimaced in pain and, deciding that was enough, became more aggressive, striking the stick so hard with his dagger that it broke in two and Roxaene fell on her back to the ground.

Without giving her a chance to get up, he pounced on her, placing a knee between her legs and grabbing her face with one hand. “I’ve won. Did you really think you could defeat me with a stupid wooden stick?” he mocked, squeezing a bit harder, causing her to groan in pain but not look away.

“Now you’re going to tell me everything I want, and more importantly, I’m going to take something you owe me.”

To emphasize his point, the prince moved his knee just enough to touch Roxaene’s clothed crotch, making her freeze, her eyes widening with realization. Anticipating her reaction, he pinned her wrists above her head with one hand and with the other began to descend, snaking between their bodies to slip into her loose pants.

“What are you doing?!” she exclaimed, wriggling to avoid any contact between the prince’s hand and the intimate place it was headed.

“I told you, pretty thing, I know how to tame every creature, and I think I know exactly what to do with you to make you sweet and docile…”

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