#I knew exactly what meal and dessert I wanted from the restaurant. it's my absolute fave and isn't available at any other local restaurant | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

undyingoracle · 4 months

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hai omg can you do alastor reacting to the person he's courting giving him flowers instead of the other way around

Alastor reacting to you giving him flowers.

warnings: gn!reader. romantic scenario. might be ooc. sorry about that.

A/N: I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS IDEA. At first, I wanted to write something like him just getting flattered by it? but I think he would be more upset and disappointed that he wasn't the one who was giving you flowers. after all, "he's a gentleman and should spoil his beloved with that kind of gifts every time he got the chance to." (that's what he thinks, at least). Hope you can enjoy it anon! ;; thanks for your request. ♡

English is not my first language, so I apologize for any mistakes. feel free to correct me as long as you're polite about it.

⠀⠀⠀⠀ 𝅭ㅤ𝅭ㅤ⎯⎯ㅤㅤִㅤㅤ୨ ♡ ୧ㅤㅤִ ⎯⎯ ㅤ𝅭ㅤ𝅭

February 14th. a date everyone knew the meaning of. a date where everyone did their best to show off to their loved ones, to spoil them or even fall into the deepest of the lustful desires.

however, for the radio demon it was a pretty irrelevant date. he didn't really saw the meaning of it, and therefore, he didn't get as excited as other people did, and it wasn't exactly because he didn't got gifts or attention during it, in fact he did get lots of gift, specially from people of the cannibal town (who seemed to like him quite a lot). however, all those gift were meaningless to him, and he even hate most of them, since they're usually some kind of sweets, and he isn't really a fan of them, so they ended up in the trash or someone else's hands. he just didn't cared about it, nor the people who gave it to him.

nevertheless, this time it was a little different. he had someone in mind he wanted to give a gift to, and since a few weeks ago that thought has been running around his mind. but being quite unused to being on the giving end on this dates, he was conflicted on what to get to his special someone. flowers? he already got them flowers before, a lot of times and a lot of different types and colors. chocolates? he couldn't even stand the sweet smell of them. other kind of desserts had the same effect. and just like that, he keep discarding ideas that wasn't good enough for him. he wanted to blow you mind, he couldn't just do the simplest things!

soon enough, he asked for advice to the best person: Rosie, who, after giving some other ideas that were also discarded, ended up suggesting that he invited you to have dinner together, but instead of going out to a fancy restaurant, both of you just stayed at the hotel and HE cooked the most mind blowing meal himself. that way not only was he able to show off his cooking skills, but he also was able to make sure that everything was perfect. to the decoration, to the lighting, to the ambience music, to the flavors. he was simply in control of everything. he agreed to this, he thought it was a perfect idea!

so the next day, he went to ask Charlie for help at having a space for you and him alone. she agreed excitedly, of course, and promised him that absolutely no one was going to interrupt their perfect date. so, with her help, he got the kitchen, dining room, and a balcony all for himself.

when the day itself arrived, he immediately started decorating the dining room and balcony, with just a little magic it was a quick process. the table had a pretty dark red tablecloth, in the middle of it were some light up candles. it was just what you expect to see at a table on a romantic dinner really, kind of the cliché stuff. the balcony, however, had some lights wrapped around the railing, you could find some flower petals from the table leading the way to the entrance of the balcony. he wanted it to be the most unforgivable night of your life! that way, even if you ever (tried to because hes not letting thay happen) leave him, you would remember him whenever this date came around.

he also cooked some fancy dishes, some simpler meals that he knew you liked, and Rosie got him some sweets (against his will) that she knew you would love. everything was made for you to love.

soon enough, the time for the date came around, and you showed up. as you were standing before him, he tilted his head, confused as to why you kept you arms behind your back.

— Darling, are you perhaps hiding something from me?

he asked as you giggled. then, you pulled a bouquet of flowers from behind you back and extended it to him, holding it with both hands as you said "happy valentine's day!" excitedly. he looked at you in shock. you got him flowers. and he didn't. you prepared such a beautiful bouquet for him, and he didn't? he felt disappointed in himself for not getting you something as basic as a bouquet of flowers. how could he not get something like that for you? how could he even think of not getting such a beautiful gift to you? he could have made it the best and biggest bouquet ever and he didn't! how could he-

— Hey, Al? Are you ok?

he came back to his senses when you spoke to him. he looked at your worried expression and just chuckled.

— You just took me by surprise, my dear! I wasn't expecting to get such a beautiful and heartfelt gift from you. I am truly flattered by such a cute gesture!

— You're sure? You seem a little... down.

— Well, I am a bit disappointed in myself. After all, such a beautiful person gave me such beautiful flowers, but I didn't get them flowers! How could a gentlemen forget to bring flowers to his date? For shame.

he replied in a joking tone, making you laugh. your laugh was absolutely worth everything to him, he adored it and he loved seeing you so happy.

— Don't worry silly! you already planned all this, didn't you? that's more than enough for me.

after you were done talking he extended his hand to you, taking the bouquet in his other hand as he lead your way to the table. he wanted that night to be something that you wouldn't forget, but he didn't planned for it to be a night that he also wouldn't forget because of a little surprise. not that he was complaining though.

#🩻✦🍎˖ ،،̲ request...#hazbin hotel imagine #hazbin hotel x y/n #hazbin hotel x you #hazbin hotel x oc #hazbin hotel x reader #hazbin hotel fanfiction #alastor x reader #alastor x you #alastor x oc #alastor x y/n

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daddy-dins-girl · 8 months

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CAN YOU DO A PEDRO BOYS IDEAL FIRST DATE

Ok well I don't have an alignment chart for this one, but I can provide some headcanons!

And apologies, I didn't get ALL the boys in here, but I got a lot. Feel free to reblog with HC's of any of the boys I missed.

Hope this is somewhat what you had in mind!

PS: My ask box is always open.

Headcanons under the cut!

Joel Miller - Joel takes you to a bar. It’s a little divey, but not without its charm. There’s live music and all the furniture is made of rich mahogany that gleams even under the low lighting. Joel looks amazing, foregoing his usual flannel for a black button-down shirt that’s tucked into dark jeans and a brown leather belt. Once you’ve gotten your drinks from the bar he takes you to a round booth and slides in right next to you, slinging his arm over the back of the bench and over your shoulders so that there’s no question to anyone else in the establishment who exactly you came here with (and who you’re leaving with). The table he picked is close to the stage so that every time you want to talk to each other you need to lean in real close just to hear what the other is saying. You think he did that on purpose, and you think you like Joel. scorcher score:🌶️🌶️🌶️

Marcus Pike - Marcus has planned everything ahead of time. He has a reservation for a restaurant he knows you’d love, based on just the few short conversations you’d had previous to setting up this date. After your meal you take a romantic walk along the pier at his suggestion and you wonder why Marcus keeps checking his watch every few minutes until suddenly fireworks start bursting high in the sky above your heads and you realize he wanted to time your walk perfectly so that you wouldn’t miss the scheduled show. He’s literally so adorable you could melt. You pretend to be cold as you watch the colorful display in the sky so that he’ll maybe put his arm around you. He does, but not until after shrugging out of his suit jacket and laying it across your shoulders first. You have a second date on the books before the first one even ends. scorcher score:🌶️

Dave York - You’re certain it’s no coincidence that Dave picked a restaurant that happened to be inside of a fancy hotel. And to his credit, you’re at the concierge desk before dessert has even been served, pawing all over each other while he hands the clerk his AMEX card and reminds them you do not wish to be disturbed this evening. scorcher score:🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Jack Daniels - Jack takes you to the rodeo. You’ve never been before so it’s actually really fun and exciting as he explains all the events to you and you look around in wonder at everything happening around you. Jack failed to mention, however, that he’s in the fucking rodeo. You don’t mind though because the whole bucking bronco thing? Kinda hot… Later you make sure to tell him that, and to leave the hat on. scorcher score:🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Max Phillips - Max called it a “date” when he’d invited you. You (and literally everyone else including Webster’s Dictionary) would actually refer to what he’s brought you to as an orgy but… tomato/tomahto. Max Phillips is an absolute menace, but you knew that already. scorcher score:🚨 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ 🚨

Javi Gutierrez - He takes you to the movies, of course. You half expect him to have rented out the entire theater for just the two of you, but once the movie starts playing you watch in awe of how into it he gets, eyes lighting up like a kid at Christmas. And it's not just the movie, but the joy he seems to get from sharing the experience with the hundred or so people around you. It’s sweet. He’s sweet. scorcher score: 🌶️

Frankie Morales - He picks you up from your place and drives for a good hour up the coast line until he stops finally for what he tells you is the absolute best taco truck you’ll ever experience (and turns out, he’s not wrong). After dinner and an ice cream cone from another nearby food truck he holds your shoes (and your hand) as you take a walk down the beach on warm sand while soft summer waves lap at your feet. You absolutely let him get to 3rd base in the cab of his truck before he drops you off. scorcher score:🌶️🌶️🌶️

Javier Peña - It’s not exactly a date, but you do get a text to your phone at 2am. “U up?” scorcher score:🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Maxwell Lord - Maxwell wants to show you off. He takes you to a swanky party that is crawling with Washington’s social elites. Politicians, Diplomats and business men and women make up a majority of the guest list and he’s eager to have you on his arm when he makes introductions. The party is a little stuffy, a little boring, so when the entertainment portion of the evening begins and everyone is distracted, you and Maxwell happily sneak off to the back of the coat check room for your own private party instead. Maxwell turns out to be a little spicier than you originally gave him credit for. scorcher score:🌶️🌶️🌶️

Oberyn Martell - see “Max Phillips”. scorcher score:🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Marcus Moreno - Marcus takes you to a carnival that happens to be in town for the weekend. You shove cotton candy in each other’s faces like complete dorks in love, share your first kiss at the top of the ferris wheel, walk the fairgrounds eating snow cones, and before the night is over Marcus wins you a teddy bear with a red ribbon around its neck that is literally so huge you can barely get it through your front door later that night when he drops you off. scorcher score:🌶️🌶️

Dieter Bravo - very similar to Javier Peña, except the text he sends is all in emojis... “🍆 💦 🍑 ❓🥺” scorcher score:🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Choose your first date! It's a tough one but... gun to my head, I think I'm going with Frankie.

#pedro pascal #pedro pascal cinematic universe #pedro pascal characters #joel miller #dieter bravo #max phillips #agent whiskey #dave york #frankie morales #javier peña #javi gutierrez #oberyn martell #marcus moreno #marcus pike #maxwell lord #asks

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lomotiny · 2 years

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Restaurants billings mt

Now, he said, of course, this didn’t happen and they were never rich but it is a fond memory of his childhood. Every New Year’s Eve, they ate this beef as it was supposed to make you rich. She learned to make this bulgogi-style beef from her former Korean roommate in San Francisco. When he was growing up, his mother didn’t have much money. I thoroughly enjoyed the dish, but I might have enjoyed how it was served even more.įor every Korean Beef Bowl ordered, Chef Nick Steen personally serves the dish. I will flat out say that the malt vinegar mayo was the hit of this dish!Īnd my third choice (but not the least) was the Korean Beef Bowl consisting of a bulgogi-style beef, ramen noodles, scallions, radishes, and a gochujang aioli. There were the usual cheese curds with a shiitake mushroom gravy, a malt vinegar mayonnaise, and herb gremolata on top of the perfect fries. Peter V’s was a bit of a different take on traditional poutine and very appealing to my taste buds. I even went so far as to find the best poutine in Quebec City when I was there! I absolutely love this Canadian dish and order it every time I’m in Canada or I find it in the northern US. This burrata also had fresh stone fruits, peach puree, toasted pistachios and was finished off with an aged cherry vinegar. It was a bit different from the previous but equally as good even though it was like comparing apples to oranges. I solved my “problem” by ordering the three things I was eyeing and had them all come out together. When trying new places, this is always a good problem to have in my opinion. I ran into another instance of wanting several things on the menu. I’m telling you, there’s huckleberry EVERYTHING in Montana! Even though I added a sugar rim it was still a little too tart/bitter for me although the flavor was great. I started with the Big Skai to try out the huckleberry vodka. Thankfully, I was able to get a reservation early when they opened. Location: 2601 Minnesota Ave, Billings, MT 59101 WalkersĪlso on the suggestion from Andi, I decided I had to make it to Walkers as well. It gave the perfect balance of sweet to savory. Yep, you read that correctly! This delicious hollandaise topped some shaved ham, my over-medium fried egg, and a fluffy biscuit. A Hawaiian take on the dish, it got me with its caramelized pineapple hollandaise. When I saw The Bennie, I knew I had to order it. I love eggs benedict but the traditional version gets old. Okay, admittedly, I haven’t had very many but again, the creativity here just calls out to me! The vanilla offset the blueberry very well and it was quite possibly the best mimosa I’ve ever had. This is also a big deal because I’m not a fan of blueberries. I started with the Blueberry Vanilla-Mosa, one of the housemade mimosas. I can confidently say The Sassy Biscuit sparked with complete sass…right, Biscuit? 😉 The sophisticated twist to elevate typical breakfast food is what I need to create a spark between this meal and myself. Honestly, this is exactly the type of place I want for breakfast or brunch. prides itself on “comfort food served with a sophisticated twist”. This is kind of a big deal for me since I have never been in love with breakfast and generally skip it at home. I’ve really gotten into breakfast/brunch places lately. As always, don’t miss the map below with the exact locations of all of these yummy Billings, Montana restaurants! Breakfast & Brunch The Sassy Biscuitīreakfast is the first meal of the day so the first restaurant you should head to is The Sassy Biscuit Co. I have categorized these into breakfast/brunch, lunch, dinner, and drinks/dessert for easy finding. Now, I’m sharing my guide to the best Billings, Montana restaurants including what to order! Billings, Montana Restaurants Although I had never been to Billings, I had been to Montana and I would never have guessed I was about to visit a fantastic foodie destination. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear Billings, Montana? I’m going to bet it isn’t food, right? Haha, I didn’t think so! Don’t worry, you aren’t the only one.

#Restaurants billings mt

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dreamilyjake · 3 years

Text

pink silk | sim jake

pairing: jake x fem!reader

genre: almost! arranged marriage au (not really)

warning: quite suggestive

word count: 1.4k

(〃ﾟ3ﾟ〃) enjoy

♡

you stared at the silk slip dress laying on your bed. it was a beautiful shade of pink. it looks a bit short, but it's a stunning dress. you sighed. "i don't want to go to this dinner."

"honey, we've talked about this," your dad heaved.

"you're forcing me to go to dinner with someone i don't even know?" you scoffed and crossed your arms together. you can't believe your parents made dinner plans for you to meet with someone without your own knowledge. no, scratch that. it's not just dinner plans, they're marrying you off. what is this? you're being thrown into an arranged marriage life now?

"would you want to go if it's with someone you know?" riki, your brother cackled slightly, before your mom pinched his arm shutting him up. he rubbed his arm in pain. "riki, shut it!"

your dad pinched his nose bridge, exasperated "y/n, i'm doing this for your own good. i just want you to marry someone well off and a good man."

"i can't believe you're selling off your only daughter!"

you were fumed, though you sighed in defeat. there's nothing you can do but attend the dinner. you figured you might just go and run away if anything goes bad.

｡*♡✧*。

as you arrived at the fancy restaurant, the waitress showed you the way to your table. you saw it was an empty table, thinking your dinner date was running late. tch, you couldn't believe you arrived earlier than whoever-might-show-up.

just as you boringly sat there waiting for your date, sipping your glass of champagne. rolling eyes at literally nothing. you hated this already. you sighed in annoyance, you wished you could go home already. why were you forced to be here? anyone with two eyes can see your grumpy mood.

that was until the corner of your eyes caught someone familiar. extremely familiar. you looked up as he walked near to your table. surprisingly, your frown slowly turned into a smile. a big smile at that.

"jake, it's you," sim jake. you weren't exactly the closest of friends, but you knew him through your mutual friend, park sunghoon, because they were best friends. sim jake and you never really talked that much. bumping with each other at times, you noticed the stares from the man when he didn't know you'd notice. the first time you met jake, you thought he was absolutely attractive. his nice-looking face, and his amazing personality that you only saw part of it. too bad, your talks with him never went past casual conversation and casual flirting. you were excited to see him.

sim jake, the handsome man, clad in a satin black dress shirt, matched with a black suit and pants. his visuals were astonishing. you couldn't really describe it in words of how handsome he was. his beauty just took your breath away. his hands were in his pockets, he looked absolutely stunning.

"you looked gorgeous, angel," he stood in front of you, complimented you with a little grin. he pulled his chair and sat across from you. your heart totally skipped a beat when you made eye contact as he looked at you. you were still smiling in excitement upon seeing him.

"i'd thought that you hated this dinner date."

"why would you say that?" you raised your eyebrow.

"seeing you from afar, you looked mad. but right now you seemed very pleased to see me. do you like me that much, y/n?" he teased and laughed that sounded like the music to your heart. you reddened with his teasing.

"oh, get over yourself." you rolled your eyes but said it with a huge smile on your face.

"do you like it that i'm here?" he smiled, placing his fingers onto his lips.

you scoffed, changing the topic, "don't you think it's a little rude to let the girl wait?"

he turned his head slightly, frowned a little, "well, i don't want to wait here and then find out i got ditched if my date decided to run away."

"now, who would ever ditch you?" you wouldn't ever confess you had planned to run off earlier. that was before you knew it was him. but, come on. it's sim jake. that's one hell of a dumb person could be to ditch him. would you run off if it was someone else? mayhaps.

he laughed again, "and i have ordered our appetizer. you know, because i was actually here first."

then the appetizer came in, the waiter later took your main course and dessert orders. your meal was served and both of you enjoyed your fine cuisine.

"so, angel, what do you think?" he started, wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"i wouldn't actually eat if it wasn't you tonight," you said truthfully, scooping in your delightful dessert.

"careful angel. you're really gonna make me think that you like me." he chuckled and you could've sworn you saw a slight red tint appearing on his cheeks.

"and i'm actually talking about you having to marry me." and then it just dawned on you. this dinner date was a date to meet the man that your dad wanted to marry you off. you barely processed, marrying this fine man? oh god.

"hmm, do you want to marry me?" you turned the question to him, then resting your cheek on your palm against the table.

you saw he bit his lips, "this isn't really an enemies-to-lovers trope, sweetheart."

"then what trope is it?" you asked innocently, batting your eyelashes.

"anything you want, angel."

"oh and maybe, just maybe. when tonight ends, you might just end up on my bed, princess." he said again with a flirty smile on his face.

you gasped in feign innocence, "jake, what do you even mean? how dare you initiating pre-marital s*x on our dinner night?"

"with how fucking stunning you look in that dress? you really think i'm gonna have the patience to wait until we get married?"

when he knew park sunghoon has a girl friend, he was dying to see you and meet you. sunghoon always had these stories of a certain girl that he never knew of. when he finally saw you, it was super easy to develop a crush on you, jake thinks. you were the most beautiful person his eyes has ever laid on. the way you carry yourself with grace, the way you talk. it was just in a blink of an eye that he realised he was attracted to you.

｡*♡✧*。

true to his word. this fine piece of man does not have the patience to wait. when you were both done with your lovely cuisine, he was delighted to offer to bring you home. though, he did not drive you home and rather drove straight to his own apartment after asking you if it was okay to go to his place.

upon arriving at his penthouse, you were roughly pushed against the wall. "i'm sorry, angel, i just want to kiss you so bad. it's all i can think about," with his arm beside your head, he said the words just barely above whisper that sent shivers down your spine.

you bit your lips, "then kiss me jake." with that approval he attacked your lips with his delicious plump lips. you shut your eyes, feeling his warm and soft lips against yours. he smells fucking amazing with his signature cologne. you wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him closer. he kissed you fervently, deepening the kiss like he couldn't get enough of you. he was kissing you like his life depended on it. nose grazed each other, as he tilted his head to kiss you more. when you feel his hands start lazily roaming your body, you gasp. it gave him the access to taste the cavern of your mouth, tasting your warmth. it was also warmth that blossomed in your chest. your heart pounded quicker in your chest, and your knees got weaker. you could only focus on how soft he felt against your mouth, it was only in a slip seconds that you're already addicted to how he made you feel. when he pulled out from the kiss, you were both panting heavily, gasping for air.

he draped his arms around your frame to pull you closer to his body. "we're in for a long night, angel."

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xcrystalzero · 3 years

Text

to understand you

pairing: xiao x gn!reader

summary: as far as you know, xiao hates humans. so why is he offering to come to liyue harbor with you?

note: listen to this, then read plz! warning, these are leaks so don't listen to it or read this fic if you don't want to be spoiled for coming content!

"If you have free time, we can go to Liyue Harbor together."

Never in your life did you think that you would hear those words coming from Xiao. He had been warming up to you in the months that had passed since you had met, enough so that he would actually stick around after the missions you went on together for lunch or just to rest instead of immediately disappearing as he had in the past. He even talked to you now, about things that weren't conquering demons or karmic debt!

Baby steps, you had thought, just happy to able to share his company for some time. So this was a bit out of left field. Of course, that didn't mean that you would treat such a suggestion lightly! The light dusting of pink on his cheeks and the way he wouldn't meet your gaze told you that it must have taken a lot of mustered courage for him to bring this up himself. If you refused him here, you doubted he would ever open himself to you again.

Not that you had plans to refuse him in the first place. No sane person would.

And now, the two of you stood at the edge of one of the many bridges leading into the harbor, you felt a strange giddiness come over you. Xiao was coming with you to Liyue Harbor, he was here because of you!

"So... you're doing this for me?" you had asked.

"Yes, to understand you."

If only he knew exactly how much of an effect those words had had on you.

When you glanced over at the adeptus however, you had to stiffle a giggle. Xiao was standing up stiff as a board, his eyes darting between the people meandering through the pavilion in the distance with a sort of nervous worry. As a man crossed the bridge across from the two of you, Xiao all but leapt out of his way, standing as close to the railing as you were sure was physically possible.

"Are you alright?" you asked, trying to keep the amusement out of your voice, though judging by the glint of annoyance in Xiao's gaze, you hadn't been particularly successful.

"There's... a lot more people than I thought there would be..." he muttered, eyes downcast now as though not looking at said people might somehow make them disappear.

At that, you audibly laughed, drawing the adeptus' gaze back up to you. "Well, it is a harbor! Don't worry, I doubt you'll get recognized or anything like that!"

"That's not what I'm worried about..." For a man pretending to be so cold, his eyes certainly were expressive. Was that, guilt?

"Xiao... you know that you're not going to hurt anyone just by being here right?"

Bingo. Xiao flinched slightly. "... you don't understand my debt... It is supposed to be my burden to handle and yet, with all these people here..."

A soft smile made its way onto your face as you slowly reached out, wrapping your fingers lightly around Xiao's wrist. His initial reaction was to try to pull away immediately, though when your grip remained even then, he relaxed slightly. "Xiao, you're not going to hurt these people. Think of it this way! If the one in a million happens and things do go south, I'm here to take care of things right?"

Xiao was silent and for a moment, you were sure that he was about to drop all of this and make his way immediately back to Wangshu Inn.

"... alright, I trust you."

Oh. You hoped the grin that had spread over your face covered the way your cheeks and ears were heating up like a furnace. "Alright then, let's go!" With the hand still around his wrist, you gently tugged him forward, pulling the two of you across the bridge and into Liyue Harbor.

~~~

As much as you wanted Xiao to try out Liyue Cuisine, you were a bit worried. After all, the only thing you had seen the adeptus eat was Almond Tofu, a steep departure from the spicy seafood cuisine that was served in Liyue Harbor. You brought the issue up to Xiao and his reply was a bit unexpected

"I said I wanted to learn about your world didn't I? If this is the food you are always speaking about, then I must too experience it to be able to relate to you."

As it turned out, you were correct in being worried because for all his strength as a Yaksha, Xiao had the worst spice tolerance you had ever seen. All it took was a single bite of Xiangling's signature Wanmin Restaurant Boiled Fish and he was coughing his lungs out. Were those... tears in the corner of his eyes?

"I'm so sorry Xiao, I had no idea it would be like this!" you sputtered, waving down the nearest waiter with urgency. "Could we please get a plate of Almond Tofu! And some more water!"

"I'm fine-" Xiao hacked out, evidently not okay. "Just... give me a moment..."

"I'm sorry, it's my fault! I should have given more care to your tastes!"

"I told you didn't I! I want to experience what you talk about, and if it ends like this, then that's fine as well," he managed between coughs and if he wasn't currently hacking his lungs out in front of you, you thought you might have tackled him in a hug.

When the Almond Tofu arrived, despite all this protests, Xiao seemed intensely happy and gulped it down within minutes. Eager to put the meal behind you, you paid quickly and pulled Xiao back out onto the street with you.

The next few hours were honestly a blur. There was just so much to show Xiao. Despite his initial reluctance to make conversation with the people wandering about, you found that it was actually rather easy to get him to talk. All it took was a sentence or two on your part to draw him into conversation and he would always grudgingly join in. There was often a scoff involved, or a "humans..." muttered under his breath, but at least he was talking to people!

He also didn't seem to want you two to leave. Every time you thought that you may be running out of places, he would make some innocuous remark about a landmark you had mentioned or a certain stall that you frequented that he hadn't seen so far. If you didn't know better, you'd think that he was looking for excuses for the two of you to remain in the harbor.

Not that you were complaining of course, especially since your special plan for the day hinged on you two remaining there until the sun set. Finally, it seemed as though you two had exhausted your sightseeing list, you look a seat on the steps overlooking the harbor, sitting in comfortable silence.

Despite his apparent lack of love for human food, you had managed to get him to try a certain pulled cotton candy dessert. He must have absolutely loved it because he had gone back for seconds about three times before you managed to pull him away from the stall.

"Such a sweet tooth!" you had teased, bringing a slight blush to his cheeks as he took another bite.

"... shut up it tastes... nice."

The sun had gone down a little while ago and from where you sat, you could see the edge of the wharf, as well as the activity you had been planning the entire day. Hopefully Xiao would like it... You were't sure though if it would be particularly to his taste. After all, he had refused to come to the Lan-

"Are you ready to head back now?" Xiao questioned, drawing you from your thoughts.

You shook your head, perhaps a little to enthusiastically based on the questioning look he aimed at you. "N-No not yet! There's just one more thing I think we should do before we leave!"

Xiao shrugged at that, though the way he was glancing at you out of the corner of his eye was a dead giveaway that he was at least a little interested. "Well, let's get it over with then."

Beaming over at him, you stood, making your way over to the edge of the wharf. There was a woman you had never met before standing there, a pair of glowing lanterns in her hands. As she saw you, she gave you a warm smile before extending the lanterns to you. With them in your possession, she bowed quickly and turned to leave. Xiao's curious gaze followed her as she retreated, though his attention turned back to you and your lanterns quickly.

"What are these for?" he questioned.

"They're lanterns! You weren't here during the Lantern Rite, but people release them with their loved ones! You're supposed to make wishes on them too!" Your tone is a little too peppy, but you can't help it. Not being able to get Xiao to come to the Lantern Rite had felt like a genuine failure to you, mainly because there was nothing you wanted more than to just see him happy. If he left now too...

Xiao aimed a skeptical look at you before examining his lantern. "I don't see how this contraption has the power to grant human wishes..."

You giggled at that. "It's just a tradition! Don't think about it too much, and just make a wish!"

Xiao was still staring at you rather blankly. "How do I?"

"Well, close your eyes. Then think of your wish and when you're done with that, just release the lantern!"

You closed your eyes as though to demonstrate, though they opened quickly once more to glance over at Xiao the moment you knew he was no longer looking at you.

Despite his hesitation, the adeptus went along with your instructions. With a soft sigh, he closed his eyes, holding the lantern between the palms of his hands as he angled his face up to the sky. You weren't sure if it was just you, but there was something different about him right now, but you couldn't pinpoint what it was.

"I just want you to know-" When he started talking, you almost dropped your lantern in shock. Immediately, you closed your own eyes, hoping that he hadn't noticed your staring. "I... I saw part of the Lantern Rite this year."

"Really?"

"You were speaking so highly of it, so I watched from a distance... The lanterns drifting into the sky looked so beautiful, even from far away and... and I wished that I had gone with you."

Your eyes opened on instinct as you turned back to him, mouth agape. Xiao's eyes however, remained closed as he continued to speak softly into the sky.

"Thank you, for this." The words were so soft you may have missed them if you weren't so captivated. It was then that Xiao softly let go of his lantern, finally opening his eyes to watch it drift gently up into the night sky.

You couldn't drag your gaze away from him for a moment, but when you did, you let out a soft sigh before releasing your own lantern.

"These are called Xiao Lanterns you know. They are beauty and hope and a light in the darkness. I wonder who they might be inspired by..."

If you didn't know the man next to you, you might have thought that the small sound he just let out had a hint of a laugh to it.

"Perhaps one day, you'll be able to meet him. Someone worthy of such a legacy."

As the Xiao Lanterns floated up into the heavens, the two of you sat the the edge of the pier, watching them. Eventually, you broke the silence with a soft question.

"So tell me, how did you like my world? Did you enjoy experiencing all that you've heard about?"

Xiao sighed, though the sound lacked the usual grit. "Today was certainly... interesting. I suppose humans and their strange rituals aren't always terrible..."

"You could just say you had fun you know?" you giggled as you nudged him gently, bringing a slight glare to his face as he pulled away first before taking his turn to pointedly nudge you back.

"Well, some humans are quite adept at ruining the mood..."

You laughed at that, turning your face to the sky as you basked in this moment. "That, we are!"

note: he's so precious. i just want him to be happy...

#genshin impact #genshin headcanons #genshin impact fic #genshin fic #xiao #genshin xiao #genshin impact xiao #xiao x reader

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nicoleheichou · 3 years

Text

You're surprised by the choice of date location Suna had taken you to. It was one of the more harder to get into and more expensive date restaurants, definitely not where you'd normally go. "My love? How did you get a reservation for this place?" You question as you're standing in the elevator waiting to reach the top of the building where the restaurant was located. "I may have called in some favors to get a reservation here." He replies as the elevator doors open to reveal the hostess waiting to greet the both of you. "You mean blackmailed?" You tease which gets a chuckle from the male. "Exactly."

"Mr. Suna? We've been expecting you, follow me please." The hostess says before turning on her heel to lead you towards your table. You glance around and notice just how expensive everything looks, you wonder just who owed Suna favors or just what kind of blackmail he had on them. "Here's your table just as you requested, and your server will be with you in just a moment." She says before excusing herself. You were absolutely stunned at the view before you. It was absolutely breathtaking. "What do you think?" He asks while pulling out your seat for you. "I love it. It's amazing Rin."

By the end of the meal you realize that there's no one else in the restaurant besides the two of you and the staff. You were too engrossed with making up for all the lost time that you forgot about the rest of the world, feeling like you were in your own little bubble. That is, until your server comes back with a piece of tiramisu cake that you know you didn't order. You couldn't help but think that it was strange, but who are you to turn down dessert? You also notice that the song the pianist was playing was the same song that was playing when he asked you to be his girlfriend. You look down at the plate and notice something scribbled on it in chocolate. "Will you marry me?" You let out a gasp, looking up at Suna, you find that he isn't in his seat anymore, rather, you find him beside you, down on one knee, a small blue velvet box in his hand with a beautiful ring in the center of it. The exact ring you described to him that you wanted if he were to ever propose.

"I made up my mind that if you chose me that this was what I wanted to do. I want to prove to you that you made the right choice, that I'm serious about us. I knew from the very first day that I laid eyes on you...that you were who I was meant to be with, soulmate bond or not. You were meant for me, and I know you felt it too. When I think of the future, doll, you're all I see. I picture us growing old together, our children and grand children coming to visit us every weekend, traveling the world once we've retired, I see everything with you. When I think about who I want beside me during all the important moments in my life, I can only see you. I want to be by your side forever my love. It might not always be easy, but I promise you that I'll be with you through it all, because there's nothing we can't accomplish when we're together. I love you so much y/n. I promise to do my best to make sure that you always have a smile on your face, to make sure that you live the rest of your days happy. L/n f/n, will you make me the happiest man alive by doing me the honor of marrying me?"

Tears are streaming down your face, you certainly weren't expecting this, he never hinted to wanting to propose. "Yes! A thousand times yes! I will marry you Suna Rintarō! Please make me your wife!" You say as he slips the ring on your finger before standing up to pull you into a hug and planting a kiss on your lips. You can't help but feel over the moon. Everything was finally falling into place.

Now All I See Is Color - chapter 65: knew from the very first day (suna rintarō route)

♡ masterlist ♡ 《 previous | next 》

In a world where soulmates exist, it's uncommon for most people to find theirs. A lot of them going their whole lives never experiencing the world in color because they've never met their soulmate. But that all changes for y/n when she becomes MSBY Jackals player, Miya Atsumu's assistant. They're about to experience the world in color together. But what does that mean for y/n when both her and Atsumu are in committed relationships?

can y'all guess what the next chapter is gonna be about?? lol. but also what did y'all think? i told you suna gets his happy ending!

y/n posted the ring picture when they got home. lol. that's why suna's post has them in pjs.

as usual comment or message me and tell me what you think!

Taglist: @bakugouswh0r3 @youidiot91 @https-sen @kyomihann @szeonn @chantalkate16 @onlyonew @ntimacy @underratedmage @90s-belladonna @simpletype @toshikamo @todomaniac @sumebreaks @sammistry @pansexualproblemchild @kozuelle @roselleviennesstuff @erensnubs @fantasycantasy @choozari @starsabove-me @halesandy @encrytpta @youraggedybitch @pablopascal @qualitygiantshoepsychic @iheartkuroorin @curiouslilbeast @cannibalcuriosity @fandomsgotmefucked @xhyunjinbbyx @grassbutneo @therealpussybangs @angelxsage @tetsuhoes @haikoochi @erinoikawa @starglow-xx @riceballsandanime @nashionalpotatocorner @fucktheworlddude @fo-love @xmyshya @bbyaj @kingggjaay @matsunshine @ashers-playpen @silver-liner @ayeputita

#haikyu smau #haikyuu smau #hq smau #smau #atsumu x reader #suna x reader #haikyuu!!#haikyu #hq #naisic

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wanda-maxipad1989 · 3 years

Note

hiii i loved that fic you wrote for wanda and the reader! i think incorporating wanda's glowy powers would be cool, maybe if she was able to get her girl off while standing far away and really dominating her like that

Pairing: MCU Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch & Female Reader

Summary: Wanda gets a little sick of you not paying her the attention she deserves and decides now is the time to bust out her powers.

Warnings: 18+, smut, fingering, oral sex, use of sex toys, BDSM

A/N: Sorry I took FOREVER to write this I just had to keep re-writing it, this is the draft I hated the least so hopefully you enjoy it. Also "All Work and No Play" has over 100 notes which probably isn't a lot to most of you but I appreciate it so much since it's my first time writing in so long.

You absolutely had it coming tonight. Date night, fancy restaurant, Wanda arriving home from work with flowers before bringing you out. All of that and yet you were still sat at dinner quietly, absent-mindedly pushing your food around your plate, only half listening to the girl in front of you.

You should've known that Wanda was never going to stand for you being quiet like this on your first date night in weeks

The starters had come and gone, and you were just finishing up your main courses when you felt something light graze up your neck and around your ear. Startled, you jolted around to see where it came from, but seeing no one near you, you assumed it had been your hair and turned back around, still not paying enough attention to the girl in front of you to notice the shit-eating grin on her face.

If you were unsure of who was touching you, you were about to know exactly who it was.

The feather-like touch that had grazed you before had now moved to the back of your legs, slowly applying more pressure as they rose upwards until all of sudden, it didn't feel much like a feather anymore. No, it was definitely a hand.

Wanda sat back in her chair, crossing her arms as you looked up from your meal, putting two and two together about the source of the phantom touch. As the hands you were feeling slowly gripped your ass, before one of them sneaked around to the front, dragging nails on the inside of your thigh, you sat forward, now paying her the attention she wanted.

"I thought we said we'd wait and see about you using your powers, I still don't know if I want to", you said sternly, although you couldn't deny that it did feel good to have her touch you, it always did.

"Actually, you said we should wait, I don't remember agreeing", she smirked, knowing that you were enjoying it at least a little bit. Who did you think you were, lying to a telepath.

"Wanda, we're in public, even if I wanted to we can't", you retorted.

"If you wanted to? I don't even need to read your mind to see how turned on you are, sweetheart."

It was with that remark that you became conscious of how heaby your breathing had gotten as the ghostly hand on your thigh had switched from scratching your sensitive skin, to lightly grazing its fingertips along you. You were also starting to regret wearing such a low cut dress, because without even looking you could feel the heat in your chest and you knew it would be bright red, making your arousal clear. Even if you had chastised Wanda for acting like this in public, the idea of her taking you right there in front of everyone as they were none the wiser had definitely turned you on.

You stopped your thoughts in their tracks, knowing exactly who would be listening to them.

"Fine", you huffed, "you can use your powers on me all you want tonight, but can we please just hurry up and leave".

She smirked wide enough that even the Cheshire Cat would be envious, but you would never be so lucky as to just get what you want right off the bat.

"Oh, baby, you know I'd love to take you home right now."

You knew there was a "but" coming that was going to make your night pure torture.

"But"- there it was- "we ordered dessert at the start of the night because you just couldn't keep your eyes off that brownie you saw the girl at the next table with. Since you wanted it so badly we can't leave, kitten, it wouldn't be fair."

Damn you and your stupid brownie.

The subsequent hour of eating and waiting for the bill could've been a lot easier if it weren't for Wanda wanting to find out just how turned on she could get you from the opposite side the of table. Her seemingly normal conversations about art, music and politics were only made to make it seem to others like you were a normal couple, completely masking all the times you nearly choked as she would dip a single finger inside of you, without ever moving a muscle.

The small moans that did manage to escape were explained away to those beside you as your dessert being particularly good, making the brownie a very popular choice for the tables around you.

Despite your little "When Harry Met Sally" moments, you eventually got her out of the restaurant and home without any major incidents, but she was certainly testing you, edging and teasing you the whole way home while never taking her eyes off the road. She had playfully threatened to use her powers on your before and you were really starting to wish you had let it happen sooner, maybe ignoring her and being a brat was actually the way to go.

Whatever calm facade she had put on in the car was gone as soon as you crossed the threshold of your house, as she chased you up the stairs to your bedroom, catching you in the hallway just outside it and pushing you against the wall, her eyes glowing red in a way you had only ever seen when she was angry. She kissed you hard before quickly moving to work on your neck, biting down on the skin, making you hiss. Your reaction only seemed to spur her on further, as she started sucking on the sensitive flesh, claiming you with the marks she was leaving behind.

Had your eyes been open you probably would've noticed the red glow coming from her fingers, before feeling an unfamiliar buzzing sensation in your underwear, making you shriek from the surprise and the pleasure.

"What, you don't like it, princess?", she teases, grinning into your neck as she continues her assault on it, her hands holding you tightly in place, just how she wants you.

The moan you gave in response clearly wasn't a good enough response, as the hand that had been holding your jaw moved to your neck, squeezing tightly as she pulled back from you, eyes still glowing a bright crimson colour.

"Answer me, sweetheart", she said sternly, tilting her head and squinting at you in a way that made your stomach turn.

Wanda had always been the more dominant one in your relationship, but tonight was different, she was cocky and arrogant and you loved every second of it.

"I love it, baby, p-please don't stop", you begged.

"Is this what I have to do to get your attention, are you that much of a little slut? I take you out for dinner, get you flowers and dress up for you and yet it takes me fucking you under the table to get your attention? If that's what it takes then I'll fuck you until you can't walk,", she growled deeply into your ear and all of a sudden you knew you were really in for it tonight, "but I don't think you deserve to actually feel me, baby, so I'm going to have some real fun with you tonight"

Dragging you into your bedroom, she forced you down onto the bed, hovering over you and kissing you while the vibrations continued, getting stronger with each passing minute, making your moans dirtier and louder as she upped the pace. What you couldn't see was her hands summoning what she needed to punish you for the night.

Just as you could feel yourself getting close to your release, she felt it too, stopping the vibrations over your clit, before standing up, pulling you upwards with her to strip you down. She stared right at your naked form while she stripped herself in front of you.

Sick of her just gawking a you, you sat forward and began kissing her stomach and tracing your fingers along her sides and thighs, looking up at her for approval, only to be met with a smirk and her hand in your hair, before she grasped it tightly in her fist, making your gasp again.

"Don't try and be good for me now, baby girl, it's far too late for that", she snarled, getting right in your face, only to push you back onto the bed and rolling you so you were lying on your stomach, almost instinctively smacking your ass as soon as she saw it.

You felt her straddle you as she leaned down and lifted your face off the duvet, wrapping a ball gag around the front of your mouth and tying it tightly behind your head

Moving down your body, she tied your wrists together with hand cuffs, and then did the same to your ankles, looping the cuffs on your feet around those on your wrists to hold your legs and arms in the air behind you. She grabbed the intersection of the cuffs and lifted you by it surprisingly easily, turning you to face the chair in the corner of the bedroom.

You whined against your gag as you saw her walk away towards the chair, swaying her hips as she went, just rubbing it in further that you couldn't touch her, but she clearly felt even more confident than usual.

She lay across the chair so her legs draped over the arm rest, her eyes no longer glowing as she had composed herself again, knowing exactly what she had planned for you.

"Ready, sweetheart?", she said with a smirk, knowing full well you couldn't answer.

You immediately felt a finger dipping inside you and the buzzing you had felt earlier resuming, making you struggle fruitlessly against your restraints, before you felt a second finger enter you roughly. Her pace was relentless inside you, curling the phantom digits just enough to hit your sweet spot every time, making sure you groaned into your gag.

"Look at me, princess", she said softly, as if she wasn't ruining you from across the room. Her hand began to sneak down between her legs as she watched you struggle and heard the filthy sounds she was forcing out of you.

The sight of her only made the feeling more intense, as she stared deep into your eyes with a grin before you felt a third finger enter you. After all the edging you tried to keep quiet, hoping to hide how close you were to cumming as she upped the speed of the vibrations on your clit even further.

Just as you reached the edge, you felt all the sensations stop, making you groan loudly at the feeling of being empty.

"Oh, baby, you don't think I can feel what my fingers are doing? Don't you realise I can feel you getting tighter and wetter for me? You think I wouldn't notice you cumming all over my fingers just because I'm not physically doing it? Even if your thoughts weren't so loud I'd know exactly what you were doing, princess."

She continued touching herself as you felt something new trying to enter you. You knew the feeling as soon as it dipped inside of you, unsure whether you were actually feeling her strap on, or if she had just created it with her powers. You didn't have time to think about it before you felt its full length being forced inside of you, stretching you further even than her fingers had. The feeling on your clit too had been replaced, what was once a vibrating sensation was now the softness of Wanda's tongue, licking small circles on your nerves and sucking it gently between her lips.

You wanted to close your eyes and just feel everything she was giving you, but the sight before you was just too good too miss, Wanda's head now thrown back over the arm of the chair, panting aggressively as her eyes started to glow again.

She picked up the pace of her tongue and the strap on, making you drool onto the ball gag as you got close again, so desperately needing to let go for her. Knowing how much she was enjoying the show, you rocked your hips back onto the strap on as much as you could, and let every moan come out onto the gag, getting louder with every thrust.

"Come on, princess, c-come for me. Come for mommy", she demanded.

Her commands sent you over the edge, forcing your body to convulse in front of her as you shrieked louder into the gag than you thought possible, coating her strap with your cum as it forced itself deep and hard into you, while her tongue suckled desperately at your clit.

She continued long as you had come down, forcing you into another orgasm, despite your protests and trying to wiggle out of your restraints, while she kept touching herself, not allowing herself to cum until she was satisifed with her work.

As your body slumped down hard against the bed, legs and wrists still bound, you looked up through hooded eyes to see Wanda desperate to cum, sweat dripping down her soft skin and her red hair sticking to her forehead as she let out deep, throaty moans. You groaned to get her attention, wanting to badly to be the one that got her off.

"You wanna help mommy cum, baby?", she asked breathlessly.

You nodded enthusiastically, as she stood up and came towards the bed. Too happy with how helpless you were, she decided to leave you all tied up for her as she removed the gag on your mouth, before lifting one leg onto the bed so you could place your head between her legs easily.

Feeling how desperate and swollen her pussy was, you wrapped your lips around her clit quickly as you felt her hand go to your hair, holding your head close to her.

"That's it, sweetheart, such a good little mouth for mommy. Just a little more, baby, make mommy cum nice and hard for you."

You knew she was the one in control, but the desperation in her voice, hearing her nearly beg made you need to feel her cumming even more. You quickened the movements of your tongue, drawing circles on her clit in the way you knew would make her head spin, sucking it between your lips harshly, forcing a scream out of her mouth.

Her grip on your hair tightened as she spewed praises for you, cumming with one final scream, throbbing between your lips as she threw her head back, panting as she felt you kiss her clit softly as she came down, stroking the side of your face as she felt you tasting her cum.

"Good girl, you're my good girl. You made mommy so proud, sweetheart."

You smiled as you looked back up at her, wriggling against your cuffs so she would get the hint, which she did immeditately, leaning down over you to unlock them. She moved your exhausted body up the bed towards the pillows, pulling the lotion from the other side of the room while sitting on the bed beside you.

Wanda smiled down at you as you rolled onto your back, kissing your lips softly as she took your hands and started rubbing lotion into your wrists to soothe them, kissing your hands as she went. She admired the marks on your neck and collarbones as she massaged your wrists, watching you fall asleep quickly after the night's activities.

It was then that she silently hoped you never behaved again.

#marvel #mcu #marvel cinematic universe #wanda maximoff smut #wanda maximoff #scarlet witch #fanfiction #fanfic #wlw smut #marvel smut #smut

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hangovercurse · 3 years

Text

I’ll Be Here

Colson tries to take you out for a nice dinner, but things don’t go exactly as planned.

Request: “hey there !! i absolutely love your work and was wondering if you'd consider writing something where the reader struggles with an ED? and Colson finds out? Just an angsty hurt/comfort-y kind of thing maybe? If you aren't comfortable/don't have the time then no worries !! I hope you have a lovely day ♥️🐇”

Colson x reader

Warnings: Eating disorders (explicit), cursing, vomit

A/N: If you are struggling with an eating disorder, there is help. The National Eating Disorders Association Hotline is 1-800-931-2237 and the national hopeline (for any and all crises) 1-800-442-4673. It gets better, I promise.

A/N part 2: This is really personal to me, as I am currently in treatment for an ED and still very much suffer from those impulses. If you are struggling and need to talk to someone who has been where you are, my dms are always open.

Word Count: 3107

Friday nights were always date nights. They had been since you and Colson had gone out on a Friday for your first date, 3 months ago. And tonight was no exception, but you wanted nothing more than to cancel.

Colson had announced he would be taking you to a very fancy restaurant that would be serving you both a five-course meal. “Babe, I won’t be able to eat all of that.” You told him, being completely serious.

He laughed it off, thinking you were just being overdramatic. “Don’t worry, I’ll eat whatever you don’t.” You pretended to laugh along, but in reality, your stomach was churning with the thought of how much food you’d be eating come Friday.

And now it was here, and you felt no more confident in yourself. You hadn’t eaten in almost two days to prepare for this, even though you’d gone longer for less before. You had been trying to eat more whenever Colson was around so he wouldn’t pick up on anything, but he was starting to be around a lot more, and it was getting harder to fake normalcy.

You were getting ready at your house, your hair and makeup done. You pulled the dress you planned on wearing out of your closet, a loose black dress with gold accents on it. You were hoping that it’s flowing would hide your figure. You caught a glimpse of yourself in your mirror, only a bra and underwear covering you. You scowled in disgust at your figure, sucking in your stomach and straightening your posture to try and flatten yourself out, but it didn’t help.

Before you could get more upset with yourself, you turned away from the mirror and put the dress on. “Tonight is going to be a good night.” You chanted to yourself.

Colson picked you up, looking sexy as ever. He was in a pair of blue pants, a plain white t-shirt, and a blue jacket. “You clean up nicely.” You smiled as he pulled you in for a quick kiss.

“You look fuckin’ incredible, babe.” He told you as he separated your lips. “Like, seriously, how did I get so lucky?”

You rolled your eyes, cringing internally but externally walking to the other side of his car. “If anyone here is lucky it’s me.”

The restaurant was, as he promised, hella fancy. The hostess led you both to a table in the far corner of the restaurant, away from peering eyes. You were handed a menu with five course headings on it and 3 options under each.

You looked at Colson with wide eyes, only to find him grinning at the menu. You decided not to say anything, not wanting to ruin his good night with all of your problems. You knew he would find out eventually, but you determined that tonight would not be that time. So, you gave the waitress your orders. Colson ordered a bottle of white wine for you two to sip on.

Before you know it, the first course had arrived. It was small, thank goodness, as it was only hors d’oeuvres, but you usually only ate that much food in a day, you couldn’t imagine how the next courses would go.

You had to admit, despite your hatred for food, the shallot and pancetta tortilla crisps were good. You figured this could be easy if you just let yourself relax. You let yourself fall into easy conversation with your boyfriend.

Then the appetizer came out, stuffed mushrooms. You struggled your way through, eating very slowly so that Colson would hopefully not notice that you were only eating half the amount that he was.

You got about halfway through your salad before your entire body said “stop.” You physically couldn’t eat anymore, the thought of holding your fork made you want to throw up. You got distracted by trying to calm yourself down that you were completely ignoring Colson.

“Y/N, are you listening?”

You snapped your head up from your plate to meet his eyes, a sorry expression coming onto your face. “Yeah, sorry. I just got distracted. I’m good.”

Colson eyed you wearily before continuing whatever he was talking about. The waitress brought out the fourth course in the meantime; your main meal. You had gotten Chicken Francese, hoping it would be the lightest thing on the menu. You were wrong.

The chicken was huge. You tried to smile at the waitress, but you couldn’t even look her in the face, too focused on how the hell you were going to pretend to eat this chicken. Colson sent a look in your direction before giving the waitress a polite, “thank you.”

Once she had left, he glared at you. You looked up once again, “what?” Your voice was quiet.

Colson grumbled, “nothing.” You gave a small pout when he looked away from you, cutting into his food. You decided it was better not to respond to him.

Instead, you returned your attention to the food in front of you. The tossing and turning of your stomach reminded you how disgusting you already felt. You could hear the faintest whispers of the devil in the back of your mind.

You’re gonna eat all that? Think about everything else you’ve consumed already! No wonder you’re so fat.

He’s never gonna stay with someone who eats as much as you do.

You shooed them away, taking your fork and knife in your hand. You cut the chicken into a few small pieces, taking nibbles at them, and pretending to enjoy it. You and Colson had stopped talking, and you could feel his irritation building.

You looked up to see his plate almost half empty, Jesus how could he eat so fast? He met your gaze, glancing down to your plate and scowling. “Why aren’t you eating?”

You looked down, a small sigh escaping your mouth. “I’m just not that hungry, I guess.” You bit your lip, about to continue when he cut you off “I told y-“

“Do you not like it?”

You shook your head, “No, it’s no th-“

Colson let out a frustrated sigh, “well, sorry Y/N. Tried to do something nice for you but apparently even this isn’t good enough for you.”

You wanted to scream at him, “that’s not what this is about you fucking idiot!” But you were in a very nice restaurant and the patrons would not appreciate that at all.

If you kept pushing, it would end up going in that direction, so you decided not to explain yourself. Instead, you forced the food down, showing Colson that you were eating it. He scoffed every time you made a show of putting the fork into your mouth and chewing the chicken.

Every swallow felt like an anchor dropping into your stomach. Your stomach was bubbling like some kind of witch’s brew.

When dessert arrived, you wanted to get up and walk out, but Colson was already on edge and you didn’t want to make it any worse. You both hadn’t spoken much, but you could tell he was getting frustrated with you. It was the worst feeling in the world.

Your stupid insecurities are ruining his life.

You can’t even stop thinking about yourself for one night to let him have a good time?

Talk about selfish.

You pushed the thoughts down, taking a small bite of the apple crème brûlée. It felt like a tipping point, like if you ate anything else you would throw up right then and there.

You placed your spoon down onto your plate, harsher than you had hoped. You mumbled out a quick, “I’ll be right back.” Before standing up and making your way to the restrooms.

Luckily, there was no one inside, though you knew that could change at any moment. You locked yourself in the stall furthest away from the door, crouching down in your heels.

It only took a few moments before the food you had just eaten came up, your vomit filling the toilet bowl. You tried to keep your gags quiet in case anyone were to walk in.

He tries to take you on a nice date and you’re in the bathroom, puking.

Like I said, selfish.

I don’t even know why he stays with you, honestly

You’re not pretty, you’re not very smart, you’re not much of anything at all, really.

You’re a drama queen!

Maybe you should just stop eating for good

Then this wouldn’t be an issue

You don’t know when the tears started, but they were streaming down your face. You grabbed a handful of toilet paper, softly dabbing your face to hopefully clear your skin of any makeup that may have run off.

You flushed the toilet, piecing yourself together haphazardly. You stood up, stumbling out of the stall, and facing yourself in the mirror. Your eyes were slightly puffy, but none of your makeup had smeared, luckily.

Disgusting

You sighed, glancing up to prevent more tears from falling. You put a fake smile on your face, walking out of the restroom and to your table. When Colson saw you, he stood up abruptly. “I already paid, let’s go.” His voice wasn’t loud, but it was harsh enough for you to know he was angry.

He walked in front of you as you made your way to the car. His hand never found yours like it normally would, there was no warmth coming from him, only a cold distance. The car ride to your house was silent. You wanted to say something, but you couldn’t quite find the words. At one point you’d reached out to place your hand on top of his, but he jerked his hand away, his other hand gripping the wheel tighter.

When he finally pulled into your driveway, you sat there for a few moments, studying his face as he looked straight ahead. “Colson,” You whispered.

“Don’t.”

You sighed, your eyes filling with tears again. You hated almost everything about yourself, but you hated when he was mad at you even more.

You don’t deserve him.

You nodded to yourself, opening the door and stepping out of the car. As much as you wanted to explain yourself and beg him to forgive you, you knew what was best for him. If you let him leave now, he wouldn’t have to bear the burden of your problems. He could be free to find something better. Someone better.

So, you went inside, tears falling down your face the entire way in.

Colson almost didn’t catch the glossy look in your eyes, or the red swelling around them. But he did, and it made him feel all sorts of weird inside.

Why did he have to get so mad?

It was just a stupid dinner.

He knew he was being too hard on you, but he was just trying to do something romantic.

Is that too much to ask for?

Apparently so.

But he shook off his thoughts, turning his car off and making his way to your now closed door. Even if he was upset, he needed to make sure you were alright.

When he walked in, the lights were all off, the house very dark and very quiet. You had only gone in a few moments before him, where were you?

His questions were answered by small gasps coming from your guest bathroom, mixed with sobs. He ran to where you were, throwing the door open and turning on the light.

He found you sitting over the toilet, your bile in the bowl. A look of worry immediately flooded his features, and he kneeled down beside you. He wrapped one of his arms around you loosely, his other rubbing your back. You leaned back into his chest, sobs shaking your entire body. “I’m- sorry.” Your words were very choppy, interrupted by your gasps for air.

“It’s okay, baby.” He sighed, resting his chin on the crown of your forehead.

You shook your head, determinately. “I tried,” a sniffle, “really hard.”

His arm on your back joined the one around your waist, rubbing circles into your stomach. You pulled away from the motion, but he kept you firmly in his grasp. “I couldn’t do it.”

Your whispers sounded so weak, so pathetic. Colson wracked his brain for an explanation. This had to be more than just the food not tasting good. Maybe you were sick?

“Shhh, baby. It’s okay. I’m not upset.” He whispered, leaning down to press a soft kiss to your temple. You both sat like that for a while, your chest heaving and his soft words calming you down.

Eventually you were able to collect yourself enough to form coherent thoughts. “I’m sorry I ruined date night.” You mumbled, your hand moving to stop his from their movement.

“It’s okay, babe. You can’t control this shit.” He whispered.

“You shouldn’t have to deal with this shit though!” You shouted as best as you could, your hoarse voice making it sound more like a whine. “If I weren’t so-“ You cut yourself off, wanting to save him the burden of knowledge. If you told him he would either feel disgusted with you and leave or feel sorry for you and stay. You didn’t know which one you were more scared of.

Colson brought his lips to your temple again, “Babe, it’s okay. You should’ve told me you were sick. We could’ve rescheduled.”

His words made you let out a dry laugh, “I’m sick alright.” You mumbled, tears rolling down your eyes again. “But not that kind of sick.” You whispered.

You looked back at your boyfriend, turning so that your entire body was facing him. You could see the confusion in his features. “I want to help you, but I have no idea what’s going on. I can’t read your mind, babe, you gotta tell me.”

You shook your head, looking to the floor. “Trust me, it’s better if you don’t know. You don’t want to know.”

He took your chin in his hand, guiding you up to look at him again, “I do wanna know, Y/N. I wanna help you.”

Your eyes looked everywhere but his, shutting momentarily as more tears fell. You took a deep breath in through your nose, trying to find where to start.

“I have an eating disorder.” You whispered, trying to get the words out as possible so you couldn’t take them back. Colson’s eyes went wide with realization, “I was diagnosed with a purge disorder when I was like, 16. I think it’s morphed into anorexia since then.” Your entire body was shaking with nerves.

He’s gonna hate you now.

You’re disgusting.

Colson grabbed your face with both hands, cradling it gently. “Baby, I’m so sorry. I never should’ve taken you-“

“You didn’t know.” You shut down his thoughts. He shouldn’t blame himself for your problems. “It’s not your fault. I thought I could just suck it up and get through it but, obviously I couldn’t.” You shrugged, letting out a frustrated sigh.

His hands fell from your face, grabbing your hips and lightly dragging you closer to him. He moved your legs to rest on his outstretched ones as he spoke, “I shouldn’t have gotten so mad about it, though. I was so frustrated because I thought you didn’t like it. I was embarrassed because I just wanted to impress you.”

You reached your arms up to wrap around his neck, holding yourself up. “I was very impressed, and it’s not that I didn’t like it. Food is just really hard for me. I’ve gotten so used to eating next to nothing. I didn’t realize how hard it would be to eat like a regular person.” He nodded, a frown on his face. “I’m sorry.” You whispered.

“You don’t have to be sorry; you didn’t do anything wrong. This is just part of who you are.” He looked into your eyes, deeply.

You sighed, “I- I guess. But I didn’t want to have to burden you with all this shit. You shouldn’t have to put up with all this. You deserve better.”

He scrunched his face, “Woah woah woah. Y/N you are not a burden. I told you, this is just part of who you are, and I love who you are. I’m not putting up with anything, I’m accepting you for every part of who you are. I don’t want anyone else; I just need you.”

His words made your heart race. He sure knew how to string lines together. “You love me?” You asked, softly. He’d never said those words to you before. Sure, you had thought them, but you were scared he’d think it was too soon.

He smiled, leaning to kiss your forehead, “yes, you dummy.” He chuckled against your skin.

“I love you.” You whispered. “I’m sorry.”

“Stop saying that.” He mumbled and you sniffled.

Your first thought was to apologize, but you knew he’d stop you in your tracks. “I just don’t want you to feel sorry for me or think I’m weak. I’ve been dealing with this shit for years now.” You paused, a thought crossing your head. You whispered it to yourself before you even realized he would hear, “maybe I am weak.”

“Hey,” he kept your head in place when you started to drift towards the floor, “you are not weak. This just proves how strong you are. You’ve lived with this for how long now? And you’re still fighting. That’s not weakness, babe. That’s strength.”

“Sor-“ You cut yourself off, “If I was really strong, I’d be over this shit now.”

“It’s a disease, baby. It’s just like a broken bone. It’s not gonna get better unless you treat it. You’ve been trying to hide it for so long now, let me help. We can get you a nutritionist, and a therapist, and we’ll stock up on whatever food you can eat, and we’ll work on it together. Whatever you need.”

“Are you sure? That’s a lot of work, Cols. I’m not sure if I’m wor-“

He cut you off, blue eyes staring deep into your own. “You are worth all of this and more. Don’t think for a second that you’re not. You deserve to be happy and healthy and I am gonna be here to support you for as long as you want me here.”

You paused for a moment, taking in his words. “Thank you.” You whispered, “For tonight and for all this. Just, thank you. For everything.”

“I love you.” He pulled you closer to him, hugging you tightly. “Thank you for telling me. I know it wasn’t easy.”

“I love you too, Colson.”

#mgk #mgk imagine #mgk angst #mgk fluff #machine gun kelly #machine gun kelly imagine #Colson baker #colson x reader #colson baker imagine #colson baker fluff #colson baker angst #colson imagine

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random-imagines-blog · 3 years

Text

Shine {Tom Cruise x Reader One Shot}

Requested by: @beatlebabe1996 Wordcount: 2236 Summary: Great food, great dancing, and a bit of jealousy - what more could a date need?

As early 2000s as this was about the sound - the club was popping. It wasn’t the usual sort of club filled with twenty years grinding on one another with barely distinguishable beats playing in the background. It was a Latin club, with food and dancing and drink. The spice of the food was rivaled by the spice of the band that was playing tonight. This was where you felt the most in your element, this was your place. And that was why you had brought your date here tonight. It was also relatively low-key, where most of the people were focused on the band and the chef rather than the patrons. Something that your date for the night, a Mr. Tom Cruise, appreciated. You recommended a dish for him and that was what he had ordered - a definitely win in your books. You liked a man who was adventurous and yet trusting. He knew that you knew what you were doing.

“So you come here often then?” Tom asked, leaning back in his chair. He had shed his leather jacket to show the red button up shirt that he was wearing. It was tight on the arms, showing off the muscles that his constant work-out routine had produced. The color was great too, it added a little Latin flair to him. Your own outfit matched almost perfectly.

“I’m a regular,” You admitted, leaning in, playing with the straw of your drink. “The staff all know me by name here. It’s how I knew that we would be safe. They don’t care about celebrities so they won’t be posting anything on social media about your visit.”

“Our visit,” Tom laughed, taking a drink of his beer. “You seem more like the celebrity here. Even the band has been looking at you.”

“It’s rare that I sit down this long,” You admitted. Your eyes caught that of the waitress coming around, your food on her platter. You straightened up and licked your lips, more than ready for the meal.

“What do you mean?” Tom asked, straightening himself up as well. There was a smile, and then thank yous to the waitress, and forks were picked up.

“Oh, I hit the dance floor,” You grinned, a sparkle in your eye. “That’s one of the best reasons to come here. The music, the dancing, the atmosphere. You get a good coupe of people on that floor, the whole place will be moving. Are you up for the challenge after we eat?”

“I don’t know if I’m going to be able to stand after all of this,” Tom laughed, digging into the food on his plate. You chuckled along with him, but remained hopeful. Dancing was one of your absolute favorite things to do, and not to toot your own horn, but you were good at it. No matter how handsome or famous this man was, he wasn’t going to be able to get into your heart without taking a few steps.

“Is that so?” He asked. You nodded, and watched as he took his first bite. You were waiting with bated breath to find out if he enjoyed it as much as you hoped that he would. He chewed thoughtfully, swallowed, then took a sip of water. “Spicy,” He explained. You nodded again, and continued to look, waiting for an opinion and not a fact. “It’s really good.”

“I knew you would think so!” You stabbed your fork into your own food, cutting off a piece for your consumption. “The food here is the best too. It’s the most underrated restaurant in the city, but it’s kind of great that way. No lines to get in. Plenty of room for dancing. And the food never takes too long to get to the table.”

“My kinda place,” Tom said with a grin. You two ate in relative silence, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. It was just two people enjoying a meal, and each others company. Every time that his foot bumped against yours under the table, though, you felt like you were going to start blushing. You thought about saying something about it but decided to just let the moment be that - a moment, without you ruining it. “Should we get dessert?” He asked after you two finished eating, picking up the small dessert menu that was on the table. You were about to recommend one of the items when you were interrupted.

“Y/N!” One of the waiters, Antonio said, coming up to your table. “I just noticed you were here. I got assigned to the left section tonight. How are you doing? You look amazing tonight.”

“Oh hey, thank you. I tried my best. Date and all,” You said with a grin, looking over at Tom. He chuckled, and looked back at the dessert menu. “How are you doing, Antonio?”

“Same old, same old. Just got on my break.” He said, looking between you and Tom with a grin. He raised his eyebrow at you as if to say, ‘Really? You bagged Tom Cruise?’ To which you just replied with a confident nod and a smirk in return. “I was going to ask if you wanted to dance, but since you’re busy, I’ll go and find Gabriella-”

“And get your toes trod on?” You asked in horror. You loved the bartender, she was a complete sweetheart and always full of laughs, but she was a horrible dancer. “Do you mind, Tom? At the very least, let me help save this guys feet.”

“Not at all,” Tom said, still perusing the menu, though it was rather short. He must be reading through the ingredients or something. “I’m excited to see your moves.”

“Better watch then,” You winked daringly at him, before allowing yourself to be lead to the dance floor. Normally you wouldn’t let even wild horses drag you from a date, especially from someone as good looking, kind and charming as Tom. But this was also a chance to show off for him.

Dancing had been an outlet for you all of your life. It gave you a sense of control over your body that you could feel good about, especially when you had been a teenager and it felt like you didn’t have control over anything. It brought on a confidence that you needed to get to where you were in life. And that confidence landed you a date with one of the best men that the city, perhaps even the world, had to offer. The fame wasn’t a bonus to you, the attention wasn’t something that you craved. It was just him as a person, and you felt so completely lucky that he even looked at you twice. You didn’t even know that he felt the same way about you.

The band started up a beat with a strong rhythm and a quick tempo. It was perfect for Salsa dancing, which was exactly what you wanted. You and Antonio both knew the moves like the back of your hand, which meant you didn’t have to waste time worrying about getting everything right. You could just relax and have some fun.

Your heels clicked against the hardwood floors of the restaurant as you danced with Antonio. You started apart, and then slowly came together, a familiarity between the two of you because you had been friends for so long. You had been dancing together since you started coming here as a teenager, when he had just been a bus boy. You shimmied your hips as you two spun around one another, under each other’s arms, him dipping you, back and forth. It was a very sexy way of dancing. A very sensual and fiery dance. But you kept things under control, making sure not to get too close. You did have your date watching after all.

Your eyes kept flickering over to him to see that he was watching very intently. In fact, there was a look on his face that was almost jealousy. He couldn’t stop looking at you. Even as you and Antonio separated for a small part of the song, he was following you, and not Antoni, who was probably a better dancer than even you. You shot him a smile, then got right back into it, ending it with a couple more twirls and then the song came to a finish. You were a little breathless but also exhilarated, a high that only exercise could bring.

“Always a pleasure,” Antonio said with a little bow. “And my toes thank you.”

“You’ve really got to get yourself a girlfriend,” You chuckled. You turned to go back to your table, only to find that it was empty because Tom was approaching you on the dance floor.

“Mind if I cut in?” He asked to Antonio, though his voice wasn’t nearly as pleasant as it was when you had been taking earlier. “Considering we’re on a date and all, I would think not.”

Ouch.

“All yours,” Antonio said, bowing his head towards Tom as well. He raised his eyebrows at you as he walked away backwards, holding his hands up in surrender. You just shook your head subtly then looked at Tom. He had his hand out to you, and you took it, feeling the warmth of his body heat against yours. You haven’t been this close to him before. You had to admit, it was pretty nice. He looked even more handsome up close than he did from across the table.

“Were you a little jealous?” You asked, as the next song started. “If you were, that’s actually kind of cute.”

“Maybe a little,” Tom admitted. The song was a slower one, so you tended to stay close. He spun you beneath his arm and you twirled expertly, then ended right back against his chest. “Was it that obvious?”

“Perhaps you’re not the amazing actor that you think you are,” You challenged.

“I don’t think that matters much to you, does it?” He asked. He had a point there, and you lightly shook your head. His arm dropped a little lower below your waist, going towards dangerous territory. He had a bit of a smug face, which was pretty adorable.

You did a quick spin out of his arms on that one, to make his face change. He had to know now that you had the upper hand - and that you had a sense of humor. And that you could throw in a little bit of spice into everything. When you went back into him, his arm was a little higher this time.

“A little handsy for a first date, Mr Cruise,” You said, amused.

“What can I say,” He grinned. “I perform my own stunts.”

You laughed at that, and swayed along with him to the music - up until the band started to heat it up, bringing back in the fun. You stayed on the dance floor, waiting to see what Tom was going to do. He went along with it, rather than drag you off. Slow dancing was easy, but many men were intimidated by the faster steps. Tom wasn’t the same way. He actually managed to keep up with you, his steps quick, his eyes on you, his smile on his face nonstop. Those hips didn’t lie.

“What a daredevil,” You teased. “What other stunts do you intend to do tonight?”

“Well, it all depends,” Tom said, looking into your eyes as you spun side by side.

“On?”

“Where this night is leading. I might dare to kiss you on your doorstep...”

“How bold,” You smirked, dancing around him, looking over your shoulder to keep up the eye contact.

“Or I can show you a couple of moves if you’re feeling this as much as I am.”

“Ballsy,” You laughed. The song came to a close and you and Tom clapped for the band. You leaned against him, back to his chest, and his arms went around you, holding you close. You liked that feeling. You liked him a lot. And you usually weren’t this sort of person but ... but you were interested in what sort of moves that Tom had off of the dance floor. “I like it. I suppose I could let you take me home - if you really think that your moves are that good.”

He seemed a little off-guard that you had agreed with the idea so quickly. But he covered it up by bringing you back to the table and quickly throwing down some money and putting his jacket back on. The dancing, the food - all of this was an amazing aphrodisiac, and you were feeling the mood with Tom right now. You hurried with your own jacket, and finished off your drink which you had left behind when you had gotten up to dance. You left together hand in hand, and he showed off his gentlemanly he could be by opening the passenger door for you, and waiting until you were settled in with your seatbelt on to close it.

If he kept up this perfect combination of sweet and spicy, you were very excited to see what moves he was going to show you in the bedroom tonight.

#Tom Cruise #Tom Cruise x reader #Tom Cruise oneshot #celebrity #celebrity oneshot #x reader #oneshot #one shot #tomc #request

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tanyawritesstories · 3 years

Text

She Bites | Max Phillips x Siren!Reader

I came up with the strange idea of: what if Max was bitten by another creature? And siren was the natural answer for the reader's creature. I imagined their water form as basically the mermaids (sirens) from Pirates of the Caribbean. Enjoy my weirdness!

Word count: 3.5k

Warnings: vampirism (duh), plenty of sexual innuendos, flirting, Max is a bit of a douche, insinuations of murder, blood, biting, fluff, Max and reader are unaware of each other's supernatural identities

•••

Your day at the office started slow but now it was picking up. You had just locked in your fourth sale, and began printing the finalization papers. You signed off on them and stood to walk them to your boss's office. On your way, you passed Andrew, looking the part of a hungover, underpaid college student, like he always did.

"Hey Y/N, you sure you don't want to come out tonight with us?" He asked.

"Um, no thank you, Andrew. I have something planned already," you responded politely.

"Aw, c'mon," he looked you up and down sleazily, "I can make it worth your while."

"Andrew, can't you tell the lady has important plans," the spritely voice from behind you made you tense and turn around. Your boss was standing there with a smug look on his handsome face. "She's been telling me how much she is looking forward to her date tonight."

You looked at the floor sheepishly and you could see Andrew shift awkwardly in place. "You're doing great on that presentation, buddy," Max assured the other man, "Now run along."

Andrew scurried back to his desk and Max leaned against the wall beside you, his arms crossed over his chest. "Are we still on for seven tonight?" He asked with a smirk.

You looked up at him and smiled, nodding. "Absolutely. You're picking me up at my place right?"

He nodded back. "Of course, sweet cheeks. Especially if there's a chance I can come inside after dinner."

You smirked back at him, your tone as flirty as his. "Play your cards right and maybe I'll let you."

He chuckled darkly. "Oh trust me, baby. I've never lost a game."

You took a step closer to him, booping his nose gently with your finger. "Then you should have nothing to worry about." At that, you tucked the papers for him into his crossed arms and walked back to your desk.

Of course you knew what kind of reputation Max Phillips carried. Who didn't. He was the type of person your sisters would call a man-slut. Arrogant, attractive, and brainless. Also the type you thought would make easy food.

Your clan had moved to the city only a few months ago, having come to the conclusion that there wasn't enough food in the ocean. You and several of your mer-sisters had taken to the land, tasked with feeding your family. It was getting increasingly more difficult for sirens to survive, especially out at sea. People didn't travel out on the ocean as much as they did a hundred years ago. Plus, now their boats were made of metal and a lot bigger. Even with super strength and the combined forces of the clan, they were hard to take down. Attacks usually ended with more than a few injuries and only a small reward.

Blending in with the humans was easy. Your tail turned to legs when on land and your slit eyes, fangs, and claws only came out when you attacked.

You had figured out a plan to be able to support the clan for hopefully a long time. If you were able to take control of this company, you could employ the rest of your clan to run the business and any new hires would be dinner. It was easy. Or so you thought. You hadn't exactly anticipated the charming and quick-witted sales manager standing in your way.

You had taken out a few minor employees already, none of them were missed and nothing was suspected. You had used your siren charm to hypnotize them into submitting resignation forms the day before you took them.

You were confused when Mike went missing before you could get him. You thought maybe one of your sisters had gotten to him first, but perhaps he just quit. It was frustrating to think you missed such a good potential meal, but alas you had work to do.

You knew you had to ultimately take down Ted, but Ted was wound around Max's finger. So your current target was Max. You played along with his douchey behavior, falling into the role of the shy, naive new girl that was easy to woo. It had worked thus far, getting you a date with your target victim. You planned on insinuating that you would sleep with him, get him back to your place, and then kill him. It would be easy.

You had managed to conjure up a final sale before you left for the day. You gave Max a wave and flirty wink as you walked by his office. You mouthed the words 'don't be late' before the elevator doors closed.

~~~~

Back at your apartment you had completed putting the finishing touches on your makeup. Minimal, since beauty came naturally to sirens. No matter how they looked, they were always beautiful and always praised for it.

You slipped on the sleek black dress. It was satin with thin straps and a slight V plunge in the middle, exposing a teasing amount of cleavage. You looked good enough to eat. You knew Max would think the same. You grabbed a light jacket and donned it to cover your top half. You heard the doorbell ring and looked at the clock on the wall. Five minutes early, typical punctuality. You grabbed a pair of black heels, quickly throwing them on and grabbing your purse.

You found Max with a surprisingly sincere smile on his face when you opened the door.

"Good evening, doll," he greeted, "Ready for our date?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," you replied cheerfully.

He was wearing a nice suit as usual, but he had foregone the tie and waistcoat. Instead having the first few buttons of his shirt undone. It was a very relaxed look for him, and, shockingly, you didn’t dislike it.

You walked to his car, once again surprised when he opened the door for you. You slid in and thanked him. The drive to the restaurant didn't take as long as you thought it would.

Max offered you his arm as you walked in together. You had made the reservation, not trusting him to do it. You let him pull out your chair for you as you removed your jacket. Max only noticed once he was sitting in his own chair across from you. You snatched the wine list and glanced over it. From the corner of your eye you could see him staring unashamedly at your chest where the dip exposed the tops of your breasts.

“Do you have a preference?” You asked. “Anything red is fine with me,” Max answered, his eyes didn’t leave your body even when he knew you were watching him. You scanned back over the list, picking out something simple. “You look stunning tonight.”

You looked up to find Max with a smirk on his face. Willing a blush to come to your cheeks, you looked down at your plate. “That’s kind of you, Max. But I’m afraid you’re a bit of a liar.” He pouted adorably, leaning his elbows on the table. “Nonsense. You’re the most beautiful woman in the office,” he complimented. He reached over and took your hand in his, rubbing his thumb over the back of your hand.

You knew that was rubbish. Everyone had a crush on either Amanda or Zabeth. If someone had a crush on you it was because of your siren charm, otherwise they hated you because you did your job and got praised for it.

You ordered your food and found it easy to make conversation with Max. He kept up the perfect attitude with snarky and flirty thrown in. You weren’t learning much about him but you were learning his traits. You didn’t expect him to be such a good listener. He hung onto every word you said and asked questions here and there. You almost felt bad for spinning him the entire fake backstory you had made up for yourself. You tried asking him questions but he only answered a few before turning the conversation back to you.

By the time dessert came you had almost run out of fake information and stories to tell him. This was getting tiring, you hadn’t expected him to act like this. Most men couldn’t shut up about themselves, but you hadn’t gotten hardly anything out of him. It was strange, for sure. Max offered to pay and you let him think he was doing you a favor. He stood first and grabbed your coat, helping slide it over your arms and back. His hands stayed on your shoulders and he whispered into your ear.

“So did I play well?” You smirked turning to face him, putting your hands on his chest. “You’ll see, later.”

He placed his hand on the small of your back and led you back out to his car. He drove with one hand, the other was draped over the center console. You figured it was time to answer his question now. You took his hand and rested it on your knee, keeping your eyes out the window. You could hear him turn his head briefly to look at you. You waited until his eyes were back on the road before sliding his hand up your leg a little bit, you let go and allowed him to decide what he wanted to do next.

He took the hint and slid his hand further up your leg, pushing your dress up in the process. He stopped on your inner thigh, slowly rubbing your warm skin. You knew what he was doing, he was teasing you, trying to make you beg. This time you weren’t going to pretend, he would wait until you got home and was inside your room. If you let him live that long.

You made it back home and invited Max in. “Make yourself comfortable, you want anything more to drink?”

You strolled to your drink cabinet, kicking your heels off on the way there, and pulled out scotch for yourself. “I’ll have what you’re having, sweet cheeks,” he said sitting down on your sofa.

You turned, grabbing two glasses from the cabinet. You jumped when you felt his chest press into your back, his nose nuzzling into your neck. How did he get behind you so fast? You probably just didn’t hear him. It was unlikely with your acute senses but who knows.

“Can we skip the drinks?” He whispered huskily into your ear. You reached back and ran your fingers into his hair. “You’re eager, aren’t you?” You replied making sure your tone was as smooth as his.

"I'm hungry," he said, "and I wanna know what you taste like." He ended his sentence with a squeeze to your ass that actually made you gasp. He was good at dirty talk, you were almost starting to feel bad about having to kill such a fine specimen.

You turned around in his grasp and wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling his lips to yours in a passionate kiss. You expected him to try and heat it up right away, yet he surprised you once again. He took the kiss as slow and deep as you, keeping one hand on your ass, massaging it to his liking.

You broke away from his lips after a while of having them locked together, instead trailing kisses over his jaw. He took the break to place kisses and licks up and down your neck. You nuzzled your nose into the flesh of his neck, seeing the perfect moment open up.

You didn't hesitate.

Your pupils became slits, with your fingernails extending into sharp points and anchoring themselves into his suit coat. Your fangs descended into their proper places, now poised for harvesting. You barely registered the feeling of his teeth scraping along your skin before you bit down.

Your fangs pierced his skin with more resistance than you were expecting. However, that wasn’t the strangest thing to occur at that moment. You felt a sharp burning pain in your own neck, right where Max had been licking. Did he...he had just bitten you!

You retracted your fangs and shoved Max away, his teeth having unlodged from your skin. You glanced at your neck where two puncture holes were now steadily exuding blood.

"You fucking bit me!" You shouted.

Max recovered from your shove, his eyes tinged yellow, a smear of blood on his upper lip…and his own fangs.

"Why the hell do you taste like fish!" He yelled back.

You were beyond confused. "What? Doesn't matter, who the hell are you!" You grabbed a towel and quickly placed it over your bite wound.

"Me? Who are you!" He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, "Ugh, and why in fucks name does your blood taste salty."

"Usually when I bite people, they die, not complain about how my blood tastes," you grimaced.

"That's what happens when you bite a vampire, sugar tits," he deadpanned.

Your mouth dropped open. Well that explains a lot, but in addition, it made you angry. How were you supposed to take over the company now?

"I didn't know I had a fellow vamp working in my building," he smiled, "Though, that doesn't explain the fishy taste."

You rolled your eyes, heading towards your bedroom to find a bandage. "I'm not a vampire, I'm a siren. Did you honestly think vampires were the only supernatural beings walking this planet?"

Max followed not far behind you, intrigued by your revelation. "A siren, like a mermaid? Where's your tail?"

"I don't have a tail while I'm on land, and no, sirens are much deadlier than mermaids," you informed gruffly. Max appeared to be thinking over your words while he watched you tend to the two holes in your neck. He was unaffected by your bite, his skin having already healed itself.

"Why were you trying to kill me?" He suddenly inquired. You looked over to see him lying back on your bed. He had removed his suit coat and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, comfortable as could be.

"Because my sister's and I need to eat and I don't like killing just anyone on the street," you answered.

"Are the rest of your sisters as hot as you?" He sat up as you crossed the room, watching your every move. You sneered at him, "I figured killing you was an easy way to take over the company, therefore providing my family with a steady food source, and ridding the world of one less asshole."

Max nodded along to your words. "Great idea, sugar plum, but half the office has already been turned. Tough luck," he mocked.

You swore under your breath, "Then there's no point in working for the company anymore. You can leave now."

No wonder it had been so easy to lure him in, he was playing you too. You both fell right into each other's traps.

Max rose from your bed. He walked to you and gave you a teasing smile, pinching your cheek like an affectionate grandparent. "Don't worry, fish lips. Maybe we can work something out," he winked at you.

You pulled away from him and glared as he swung his jacket over his shoulder. "See you at the office tomorrow!"

~~~~

Max hadn't noticed you came into his office as you entered the same time as Evan was leaving. The loud thud of papers landing harshly on his desk made him look up.

"My resignation form," you said, "since my purpose has been...worn out."

Max looked taken aback despite the fact that you told him you would be quitting last night. "Why is that a reason to leave?" He asked, leaning back in his chair.

"I literally just told you, and you know about me when my existence is supposed to be a secret so…" you trailed off.

Max looked to be thinking again, never a good sign. He took your papers off his desk and promptly threw them in the trash bin. "No."

You raised your eyebrows, "No?" He nodded, "No. You happen to be doing the best work here so I can't let you go."

You put your hands on your hips. The audacity of this man! "Huh, right ok. Then I'll just walk out and never come back and there's nothing you can do to stop me," you said firmly. You turned heading towards the door.

"I could tell."

You looked back at Max, who was now standing, hands in his pockets. "Excuse me?"

"I could tell. I could walk out and announce to everyone that you're part fish and all I'd have to do to prove it, is throw some salt water on you," he threatened. You realized as he talked that he was dead serious, and it scared you. "Yeah, I did my research on sirens, believe it or not. I know how you operate," his smile evil and teasing at the same time as he moved to the front of the desk and sat on the edge. "If you stay, your secret is safe with me."

"That's blackmail," you stated obviously.

"Pfft," Max rolled his eyes, "And? Does it look like I'm giving you much choice here, sweet cheeks? You stay with the company and I'll help you, it's a lot easier for me to obtain blood, and I can do it without killing them. I can help you."

You sighed in frustration. What choice did you have? You hated him for not giving you an alternative, but the company wasn't all bad and pay was decent.

"Fine." Was all you said before walking out and resuming your work.

~~~~

Max had stayed true to his word, you had been listening, and he hadn't even hinted that you might be a dangerous supernatural creature to anyone. Maybe he was due more credit than you gave him

You were currently sitting on your sofa, wearing comfortable leggings and a t-shirt, drinking a beer while watching a movie. You were interrupted by a knock on your door. When you answered it you didn't expect to see Max standing on the other side with a cooler in one hand. He was wearing a button up with a black leather jacket and jeans, it was the most casual you'd ever seen him and he still looked so good.

"I brought dinner," he said simply. He unzipped the cooler bag and showed you its contents; four large plastic bags filled halfway up with blood.

"Max!" You whisper yelled. You ignored his smile and pulled him inside by his arm, quickly closing the door. "You can't just show me that, wait till you're inside," you sighed, "Now what do you want?"

"These are for you," he said, "and your family of fishes." He set the cooler down on the counter and proceeded to take the bags of blood and arrange them nicely in your fridge.

"You got that for me?" You asked, skeptical of his sudden kindness. "Yes, I said I would help you, so I am." He grabbed a beer out of the fridge while he was in there and took your place on the sofa.

This man was making a habit out of shocking you. He noticed as you stood shell-shocked in the middle of the room. "Did you really think I wouldn't keep my word?"

You wanted to be mad at him, you desperately wanted to be mad.

"No, I didn't think you would. I thought you were joking," you admitted. You took a seat next to him and took another sip of your beer.

"You wound me, fish lips," he sassed. You sighed, trying to maintain your current mindset of not being mad at him. “Only one thing,” you looked at him, “Can I see your tail?”

Your eyes practically rolled on their own. “Aw, c’mon,” he pouted, “I brought dinner for your whole family and saved your job, it’s the least you could do.”

“You do know that when I’m in the water the tail is the only thing I’m wearing,” you said. You watched as Max’s lips slowly turned upwards into a smug smirk. “You dickhead, that’s exactly what you want!” You took a pillow from the sofa and chucked it at his head, heading towards your room to shut yourself in.

He burst into laughter and got up to follow you. You attempted to close the door in his face but he caught it. Even with all your strength thrown against it he was able to hold it open like it was nothing.

“No, I’m genuinely curious, sweetheart,” he said once he was able to stop laughing. You stopped fighting him once you heard him. He’d never called you sweetheart before, it was normally irritating nicknames.

“I’ll think about it,” you relented. He smiled. “I did bring some of that blood just for us. You want to have dinner with me again?”

For once you found yourself smiling along with Max Philips.

#pedro pascal #max phillips #max phillips x reader #Bloodsucking Bastards #vampires #sirens

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thadelightfulone · 3 years

Text

All I Want... 25 Days of Christmas Challenge, Day 18

December 18th - Part 3

Erik sat back and observed DeeDee as she finished her gumbo. She wiped her mouth with a napkin. They shared a smile. When it was genuine, it reached to the eyes and lifted their full cheeks. When she looked over at him, he saw the same big bright eyes behind her glasses that he always saw when looking at Miss Carrie.

He could see the familial resemblance between them now. And after seeing Miss Carrie after so many years, he could see exactly what DeeDee would look like in about 50 years. He smiled at the thought of waking up to an aged like fine wine DeeDee.

“What?” DeeDee asked.

“Huh, oh. It’s nothing.” Erik took a sip of his drink.

“Not true. You have been staring at me for the last five minutes.”

“Ok, you caught me. I was just noticing how much you look like Miss Carrie.” He set his drink down. “I don’t think I would have ever put that together.”

“Oh yeah, she’s my twin. Or so I’m told.” DeeDee shrugged, “I just see Mama so I don’t pay it much attention.”

“Girl, you gonna stop downplaying what I passed on to you.” Miss Carrie said as she dropped off two more plates. She looked at Erik. “You still like Red Velvet?”

“Yes ma’am- Miss Carrie. You would swear I still come in here every week? How do you do that?” He pulled the plate with the red velvet cake towards him.

“There are just some people and things you remember, baby.” She collected their bowls, “You need anything else?”

“I think we are good Mama.” DeeDee glanced at Erik who was already shoveling bites of cake into his mouth, “Maybe one to go?”

“Sure thing, suga. I’ll leave it in the kitchen, you can pick it up when you leave.”

Miss Carrie left the table and DeeDee reached for her piece of 7-up pound cake. Her hand met Erik’s as she tugged the plate towards her.

“Excuse me. You have your dessert.” She smacked his hand, “This one is mine.”

“But, I want to try some.”

“Then you could ask politely.”

“May I have a bite?”

DeeDee eyed him.

“Please.”

“Nah, you good with your cake. You don’t need any more.”

“Come on, Dr. DeeDee. Please.” Erik pouted.

“Don’t you dare.”

“You gonna deprive me of some cake?”

DeeDee covered her mouth to try and stifle her giggle. Erik noticed her movements.

“Oh, you are nasty, Miss DeeDee.” He brushed her hand away from the plate, “I was only talking about what is on this table.”

DeeDee grabbed her cup.

Erik took his fork and cut into her piece of cake. He savored the bite, then moaned as he swallowed. “But if you are as sweet as this, then I mean I want a bite of that as well.”

DeeDee choked on her iced tea.

“You good?” Erik patted her on the back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

DeeDee held her hand up as she tried to get her breathing under control. It took a few moments and a short coughing fit, but she was ok. She picked up her fork and jabbed him in the hand.

“Ow, what was that for?”

“You know what that was for?” She lowered her voice, “I can’t believe you said that.”

“Oh, you thought I would only make those statements online or over the phone.” He sat back and laughed, “Nah, this is me, sweetheart.”

“I see why you wouldn’t want anyone to call you Doctor anymore.” She pulled the cake back in front of her. “You are awful.” She tried to hide her smile.

“If you don’t like it, just tell me and I’ll stop.” Erik turned his whole body towards her.

DeeDee picked up her fork and cut a piece, “I never said I didn’t like it.” She popped the bite into her mouth and licked the end of the fork.

Erik’s eyes went wide and he picked up his drink, “You better stop that.”

“Or what?”

He took a sip and put his glass down. “If we were anywhere else, I would make you pay for that.”

“Pay me back? I am only giving you a taste of your own medicine.” She waved the fork at him, “You are a walking tease. Do people know this about you?”

“It is only meant for certain people to see or know.” Erik winked at her.

DeeDee’s cheeks heated up at his comment and she looked away from him.

“Exactly. So, as long as you know where you stand -- you getting all this attention, girl.”

“I see that.” DeeDee closed her eyes.

Erik grabbed her hand in both of his. “DeeDee, look at me.”

She turned towards him.

“If I am coming on too strong, you’ll let me know, right?” He caressed the top of her hand, “I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

DeeDee nodded at him, “We wouldn’t be here, if I was. Trust, I kind of knew you were a handful and much more comfortable being so -” she waved her free hand, “open than me. But I do enjoy that part.” She maneuvered her hand so that she could hold his. “I like the simple, too.”

“I’ll dial it back,” he squeezed her hand, “for now.”

Erik licked his lips at her and DeeDee shook her head at him.

She reached for his fork and cut another piece of her cake and fed it to him.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

---

Erik watched as DeeDee left the table to go to the kitchen.

“So, my great-grandbaby, huh?” Miss Carrie’s smiling voice came from beside him.

“She is wonderful.”

“That she is. But you know what I mean.”

Erik nodded, “She found the note, Miss Carrie.”

“NO. Really?” She slid into the booth beside him.

“It’s actually how we met.”

“I thought you said Quis introduced you two.”

“She went in search of the note writer and it led her to Quis. He told me someone was looking for me for my expertise. Then I get this email from DeeDee telling me she found my note in the textbook.”

“Well, I’ll be. Who would have thought? You finally put into words what you wanted, and she showed up.”

“Yeah, who would have thought.” He wrapped his arm around her, “So, how are you? Are things ok?”

She tapped the hand on her shoulder, “I’m fine baby. Things have picked up again and I have been able to expand a bit.” She sighed, “I never did thank you for helping me out.”

“It’s not necessary. I couldn’t let anything happen to this place. It’s home.”

“Home. But you never come and visit?”

“I deserve that. Quis got on me for that, too.”

“Had you visited,” she looked straight ahead at DeeDee, “You would have found her a lot sooner.”

Erik laughed, “But I don’t think I would have been ready for her. Not like I am now.”

“Good answer.” Miss Carrie stood up, “Hey baby, you get all that I set aside?”

“Mama, I just said some extra cake.” She held up two bags of food. “You gave the man a whole meal including an entire cake.”

“And he will still be back in here before he leaves. What’s your point?”

“Did I , at least, get some slices of cake?”

“Yup, it’s the container on top of his cake.”

“So, what’s the damage?” Erik pulled out his wallet.

“Boy, if you think,” Miss Carrie pulled out her spoon. “You both are asking for it.”

“You heard the lady. Let’s go before we both get beat.” DeeDee leaned over and gave her great grandmother a kiss. “See you soon, Mama.”

“Alright baby. You two, be safe.” She hugged her, “And congratulations, Dr. Chabert.”

DeeDee smiled, “Thank you, Mama.”

Erik grabbed DeeDee’s purse, stood up, and gave Miss Carrie a hug and kiss on the cheek. “Thank you again, Miss Carrie.”

“You know you are always welcome here. Now, don’t be a stranger and come see me before you go back to California.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Erik let DeeDee walk ahead of him as they headed towards the front of the restaurant.

Miss Carrie watched as they left and stuck her hands in the pocket of her apron. She shook her head and pulled the cash out, “That damn boy.”

---

They arrived back at DeeDee’s apartment. Erik carried all the bags inside as DeeDee opened the door.

“Do you want me to keep your food? I know that little mini fridge ain’t gonna cut it.”

“Yeah, you right. But that’s not why I want to keep it here.”

He followed DeeDee into the kitchen.

She looked at him as she removed all the containers from the bags.

“You don’t need a reason to come over, if you just ask.”

Erik stood back as DeeDee laid everything on the counter. “Is that red beans and rice?” He reached for it.

She slapped his hand, “Stop that.” She moved it away from him, “You would eat all this food tonight, if you could.”

“Yeah, I would.” He looked down. “It’s been a long time since I have had some good southern cooking. And your great-grandma’s is the BEST!!!”

“Oh, you can let that shit go now.”

“Oooop, did I hit a nerve Little Miss DeeDee?” He walked around the island to stand beside her.

“Shooo,” DeeDee stood in front of the fridge. “Let me put this all away. I don’t trust you not to do something.”

“Wow, really? I was just gonna help you.”

She pointed to the other side of the island, “You had a perfect view from over there.”

“So, you are gonna shake a lil something for me?”

DeeDee shook her head and picked up some food containers and put them in her fridge. She stood up straight the whole time while reorganizing items inside to make room for the new ones. She turned around and saw Erik posted on the island, just watching her.

“What, man?”

“You, woman.”

DeeDee stopped moving the food to her fridge.

“I’m sorry. I can’t help it. You’re finally in front of me.” He used his hands to outline her, “In all your glory. I just can’t believe you have been hiding from me.”

“Excuse you. But I was not hiding from you. You just happened to see me in my normal everyday attire.”

“Hoodies and yoga pants or sweats?” Erik crossed his arms over his chest, “The lies.”

“Nope, that is my normal clothes around the house. We all don’t run around wearing nothing just because we live alone.”

“One time and you won’t let me live.”

“Absolutely not.” She leaned back on the fridge, “I was minding my little business and made the decision to give you a call. Only for you to visually assault me when you answered.”

“Visual assault? That’s cute. Especially when I could see the flush on your face when you came back on screen.” He dropped his arms, “Tell me I’m lying.”

“Listen, I was not expecting to see all of that. Just your face and shoulders max, ya know.” She moved forward and hip checked him, “Excuse me, I need to put this away.”

Erik barely moved from the bump, but he side-stepped out of her way. “Well, can I at least have another piece of cake before you put it away?”

“Yeah, the desserts are still on the counter.” DeeDee reached up for a plate. “Here you go. The utensils are over there.” She pointed to the other side, near the stove.

Erik took the plate and opened the container with some 7-up cake inside. He grabbed a fork and put a piece on his plate. He closed it up and moved behind the counter.

DeeDee finished up putting away the food and took out a small container. She grabbed another plate and a bowl. She went to the sink, dumped the container and rinsed it off. Then she turned back to the counter, and grabbed a slice of cake.

“Of course, you took some of mine.” DeeDee dumped some raspberries on her plate and set the bowl down.

“I thought what’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine?”

“We aren’t there yet.”

“Yet? So, you see it too?”

DeeDee stuffed her mouth with cake and fruit, then shrugged.

“Alright, you gonna answer that one of these days.” Erik took his plate to the sink and washed it off.

He watched her continue to eat, and popped a few raspberries into his mouth. He looked at his watch.

“So, what time am I picking you up to go to the Christmas Festival tomorrow?”

DeeDee swallowed and set her fork down, “Oh, I always meet Dr. O and his family at his place then we carpool from there.”

“Always, huh?”

“Yeah, it’s been a tradition for the last few years since a lot of my cousins thought they were too old to go. I ran into them one year and joined them.”

“That’s sweet.” He walked over to her. “So, then I guess I will see you tomorrow at Marquis’.”

DeeDee inhaled his scent as he moved in close. “Yeah, tomorrow.” She took his hand and walked him to her door. “Thank you for tonight. I had a great time.”

He swung their hands together, “I’m glad to hear that. I’m here until next Saturday, so maybe we can do it again.”

“Just say you want to see my great-grandma again, next time.” She pouted.

He dragged his thumb against her bottom lip, “What did I tell you about pouting?”

“You don’t like when I do it.”

“No, you don’t have to do that around me.” He lifted her chin so that she looked directly at him. “I can see Miss Carrie at any time. Besides, Dr. Bell’s retirement, I am here for you, DeeDee.”

She closed her eyes.

“I know you know that.” He removed his hand from her chin and grabbed her other hand.

“I do.”

“So, understand that I am trying to spend as much time as I possibly can with you.” He rubbed the backs of her hands, “Okay?”

DeeDee slowly opened her eyes, “Yeah. I understand.”

“I’ll let you know when I get back to my hotel.” He leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. “Good night.”

He released her hands to open the door, and left.

DeeDee walked over to her chair and dropped into it. “Is this what love feels like?”

Taglist: @teakturn @ghostfacekill-monger @shaekingshitup @nahimjustfeelingit-writes @woahitslucyylu @ladymac82 @bugngiz @eyeknowmywrites @ajspencer1892 @arafatih @issimplyaamazinggg @tchallasbabymama @killmonger-fics @beautifullmelodyxx @raysunshine78 @fd-writes @ljstraightnochaser @just-peachee @kaleidoscopeofsoul

#25 days of christmas challenge #erik killmonger x oc #black panther fanfiction #bp christmas #all i want #thadelightfulone

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saylors-universe · 3 years

Text

All Hands on Deck, four

Rowaelin Cruise Vacation AU

Masterlist here

word count: 3275

[This is an interactive story! I will include Authorʻs Notes throughout the chapters to inform you when to start a particular song that you can find here in the All Hands on Deck playlist (Also can be found on the masterlist). For the best experience, listen with headphones, AND FOLLOW ALONG WITH THE STORY. Please try to use your imagination when listening and reading - live through the words. Have fun :) - Saylor]

Day 3 - ANIELLE PORT - “Welcome to Anielle! The Ellywe Voyager will depart tomorrow at noon, so make sure you are back onboard!”

“Wake up you lazy bum,” Aelin straddles atop Manon on her bed, pillow in hand, ready to hit and smother her. She strikes with the soft cotton once, reviving her comatose roommate. Aelin makes a move to strike once more when the aggravated, waken beast catches the pillow mid-swing, much to Aelinʻs surprise.

“Hit me again and Iʻll gut you,” Manon threatens with a deadly tone.

“Good morning to you too, sunshine,” Aelin smirks, gets off of Manon and heads towards their bathroom, “donʻt worry, I wonʻt take it personally. You do get grouchy when you donʻt get enough sleep,” she pokes her head out of the bathroom to look at Manon, “So who, pray tell, kept you out so late last night, a handsome activities director perhaps?”

“I have no idea what youʻre talking about,” Manon refutes drowsily, now sitting up against her bed frame.

“Oh come on,” Aelin pushes back, now sitting at the foot of Manonʻs bed, “you think I havenʻt noticed the little ʻflirty thingʻ going on between you two?”

“Thereʻs nothing ʻgoing onʻ,” Manon shares with air quotes.

“Oh yeah? Well then whereʻd you go last night?”

“Nowhere, I just stayed back to help Dorian clean up from the show,” Manon gets cut off by Aelinʻs burst of laughter.

Aelin, breathless and on the brink of losing it again, “You? You helped him clean up from the show? Manon you have never once offered to be helpful or selflessly volunteered to do something for someone,” she giggles even more, “Oh my god, you are SO into him.”

“Oh shut up,” Manon throws the pillow at Aelin and she falls back in laughter, but because she was at the foot of her bed she ended up tumbling over and falls on the ground. Manon cackles at the sight of Aelin on the ground, getting up and flipping her off.

Eventually they both calm down from their humorous morning and relocate to their patio balcony, looking over the docks and people watch.

“Where are we?” Manon inquires.

“Anielle, Lys and Aedionʻs door says they went out on a hike and I have no clue where Elide and Lorcan went,” Chaol was from Anielle and from what she last heard, he was home visiting family, most likely introducing his new girlfriend to his parents. “You feel like getting off the ship and hitting up the supermarket?”

“Nah,” Manon shares, and Aelin feels a sense of relief, sheʻs not exactly sure why. Although it was highly unlikely she would run into him, she decided not to leave the ship at this particular port, just in case, after all the Gods did hate her and she wouldn't put it past them to somehow place her ex in her path. “Wanna look around the ship more? Iʻm sure thereʻs more to this big floating raft than just the pool and Sky deck.”

“Sounds like fun, letʻs do it,” Aelin was happy to have this time with Manon. It had always been Manon and Elide, the two roommates turned inseparable best friends. She could tell that ever since Lorcan entered the picture, Manon had been getting left out. Now, with them being the two singles in their friend group, they have time to get closer and become great friends.

The two women get ready for the day, leaving their room after organizing their doorʻs magnets into the message “out exploring” and then they stroll off to the food bar before their day plans to grab a quick cup of coffee and say good morning to Emrys and Luca. To begin their adventure, they continue on the Lido deck, already familiar with the pool, they investigate the extensive food buffet bar. They find that Emrys and Lucaʻs station specialize in breakfast foods in the morning and then offer fresh burgers and fries for the rest of the day. A little further down they find the all-you-can-eat salad bar, the ice cream machines, and the dessert bakery. Aelin sets her sights on the most glorious stack of chocolate cakes she has ever seen. Her mouth waters and she begs Manon to stop for her to grab a slice and demolish it.

They move on to the opposite side of the pool, they happen upon the hot tub jacuzzi and the sauna rooms nearby. Traveling a little further down, they find four ping pong tables, three occupied with intense, heated games. They halt for a quick game on the remaining, open table. A game that Manon absolutely destroys Aelin at. Who knew Manon was so speedy and had the most precise hand-eye coordination? Also near the ping pong tables they notice giant chess and checker boards with giant, life-sized pieces.

They make their way to the stairs and travel up to the next deck, the Sports deck. They walk around, taking note of the basketball courts and the mini-golf putt courses. Taking the elevators to the Verandah deck, they find the fancy, dress up, sit down restaurant, The Antica. The two women agree to drag the rest of their friend group there later that night to finally have a family style meal.

Moving to the Promenade level, where they knew the music room was located, they found a library and recreational center on the opposite side of the ship. Aelinʻs passions had always been music and reading so she found her comfort, happy place in the shipʻs library. She dragged Manon through the libraryʻs alcoves and bookcases, finding a brilliant, diverse collection of stories and works.

Coincidentally enough, the two run into Dorian Havilliard, his nose stuck in a book in the deepest shelf in the library.

“My, my,” Aelin spooks Dorian who jerks up from his reading, “heʻs devastatingly handsome, and he reads, how very ostentatious of you Mr. Havilliard.”

He blushes and grins at the realization of being caught, “My preferred method of escape,” he closes his book and returns it to the shelf, “how may I be of assistance today,” his dazzling smile returning.

“Well being an avid reader myself, Iʻd love to share some recommendations with you later but for now could you point us in the direction of some attractions on this massive ship.”

“Absolutely, have you guys seen the dance club or the arcade/casino lounge bar yet?” The two shake their head, “Why donʻt I escort you guys?” They happily accept the tour and Aelin takes the role as wing-woman, nudging Manon closer to Dorian every so often. Aelin doesnʻt miss the murderous glare Manon gives her in warning, she just sticks her tongue out, scrunching her nose, and continues on. Dorian gives them the full tour of the dark, vacant dance club. She made a mental note to visit later and experience the chaotic night life first-hand. Then Dorian shows them through the casino lounge, Aelin sticking close to Manon in fear that sheʻd be tempted and fall victim to the trap of gambling, again.

The three of them return to the main deck when Aelin gets distracted by the sound of soft piano playing.

[A.N.] Play “Pantomime” by Ben Hammersley now, follow along, and let your imagination work. Find playlist here.

Aelin canʻt determine where the music is coming from, which intrigues and sparks her curiosity.

BREAK TIES

BUT STRUGGLE WITH THE CHAINS IN LIFE

YOUʻLL ALWAYS BE THE PUPPET WIRE

STAPLED TO MY HEART

IʻM WASHED OUT

IN SORROW AND IN GLORY

ITʻS ALL THE SAME OLD STORY

BUT THIS WILL BE THE TIME

AND I DONʻT KNOW WHY YOU CALL

WHEN ITʻS ALL GOING WRONG

OH, I DONʻT KNOW

IʻLL TELL YOU WHAT YOU WANT

AND I DONʻT KNOW WHY YOU CALL

WHEN ITʻS ALL GOING WRONG

OH, I DONʻT KNOW

IʻLL TELL YOU WHAT YOU WANT

- Aelin addresses Manon and Dorian, “Do you guys hear that?”

They both nod, looking just as confused and curious. They collectively take on the challenge of the mystery and peruse around the ship trying to find the source of the music. -

FORGIVE ME

FOR ALL THAT I HAVE DONE

AND ALL THAT I WILL DO

ITʻS NOT BECAUSE OF YOU

IʻM DARKER NOW

AND DARKER WITH EACH DAY

AS BOTH OF YOUR FACES

START TO LOOK THE SAME

AND I DONʻT KNOW WHY YOU CALL

WHEN ITʻS ALL GOING WRONG

OH, I DONʻT KNOW

IʻLL TELL YOU WHAT YOU WANT

AND I DONʻT KNOW WHY YOU CALL

WHEN ITʻS ALL GOING WRONG

OH, I DONʻT KNOW

IʻLL TELL YOU WHAT YOU WANT

IʻLL TELL YOU WHAT YOU REALLY WANT

TO HEAR

- They follow the sound, leading them to the elegant ballroom. Aelin spots a small crowd, formed around where she last recalled the grand piano. The three respectively move around people to take part in whatever has captured everyoneʻs attention. -

AND I DONʻT KNOW WHY YOU CALL

WHEN ITʻS ALL GOING WRONG

OH, I DONʻT KNOW

IʻLL TELL YOU WHAT YOU WANT

AND I DONʻT KNOW WHY YOU CALL

WHEN ITʻS ALL GOING WRONG

OH, I DONʻT KNOW

IʻLL TELL YOU WHAT YOU WANT

IʻLL TELL YOU WHAT YOU REALLY WANT

TO HEAR

- Aelin slips in through a crack in the wall of bodies just as the maestro ends and the crowd applauses. She catches Rowanʻs attention, sitting at the piano, a soft smile plastered over his tanned, slightly pink from sunburn, face. He clears his throat, now fully aware of her presence, and then addresses his small audience.

“This one, I wrote recently, itʻs called Rome.”

[A.N.] Start “Rome” by Dermot Kennedy now, follow along, and let your imagination run wild. Find playlist here.

Rowan: SO WHATʻS THE PAST FOR?

IʻLL NEED IT IF LOVE DONʻT LAST LONG

YOU CAN RUN AROUND INFINITE IN MY HEAD

OH YOU CANʻT SEE, OH, IʻD STAY IF YOU ASKED ME

NOW YOU KNOW I CARE,

BUT ITʻS HARD TO TELL WHEN YOUʻRE SCARED

BUT LAST NIGHT

IT HURT ME TO HEAR YOU SAY IT FELT BROKEN

AND EVEN THOUGH I TRIED

ALL THESE MEMORIES RUN MY MIND IN SLOW MOTION

DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN

MIDNIGHT DRIVES WHEN YOUʻD SING

IʻD PLAY YOU SONGS YOU WERE IN?

I JUST WANT TO BE THERE AGAIN

DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN

WITH ROME BELOW US THAT DAY

YOU SAID, “I WISH WE COULD STAY”

I JUST WANT TO BE THERE AGAIN

REMEMBER THAT FIRST LAUGH?

ALL IT CHANGED ONCE I HAD THAT

LIKE A HURRICANE, BUT I DONʻT CARE WHERE I LAND

SO, DANCE CAREFREE, I HOPE ITʻS EASIER KNOWING ME

NOW, YOUR SOUL IS YOURS, BUT IʻLL HELP IT MOVE IF I CAN

BUT LAST NIGHT

IT HURT ME TO HEAR YOU SAY IT FELT BROKEN

AND EVEN THOUGH I TRIED

ALL THESE MEMORIES RUN MY MIND IN SLOW MOTION

DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN

MIDNIGHT DRIVES WHEN YOUʻD SING

IʻD PLAY YOU SONGS YOU WERE IN?

I JUST WANT TO BE THERE AGAIN

DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN

WITH ROME BELOW US THAT DAY

YOU SAID, “I WISH WE COULD STAY”

I JUST WANT TO BE THERE AGAIN

DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN, OH

DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN

I DONʻT EVER WANNA LEAVE WHEN YOU CRY

I KNOW I GIVE YOU REASONS TO HIDE

I NEED YOU TO STAY BY MY SIDE

FIRST SHOOTINʻ STAR THAT YOU EVER SAW

WE WERE RIGHT ON OUR FEET THOUGH, RIGHT?

OPENING THE CAR DOOR FOR LIGHT

I REALLY THOUGHT IʻD LOSE YOU THAT TIME

- Their eyes lock onto each other -

DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN

MIDNIGHT DRIVES WHEN YOUʻD SING

IʻD PLAY YOU SONGS YOU WERE IN?

I JUST WANT TO BE THERE AGAIN

DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN

WITH ROME BELOW US THAT DAY

YOU SAID, “I WISH WE COULD STAY”

I JUST WANT TO BE THERE AGAIN

DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN, OH

DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN

DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN, OH

DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN

OOH, AH

OOH, OOH

- The crowd cheers and applauses, Aelin shortly following them once her heart slowed to a healthy pace. She offers Rowan a shy, sincere smile and then proceeds to grab Manon by the wrist and drag her back to the library where she letʻs out her panicked, disoriented rambling. Manon manages to calm her down by opening up a nearby book and getting Aelin to start reading. She spent the next few hours reading the book, totally oblivious to the real world and her surroundings. Once completed, she returns, finding Manon no where to be found. She probably went off to see Dorian no doubt. Aelin makes it to her empty cabin room and takes a nap, waiting for her friends to return.

Night 3 - ANIELLE PORT - “Movie Night: ʻBeauty and the Beastʻ Tonight on the Lido deck at 8:30pm, Come join us!”

Aelin wakes from her nap right at the peak of the sunset. She enjoys the beautiful display of colors from the comfort of her cabinʻs patio balcony, basking in the silence and alone time.

She leaves her room and notices across the hall on Lys and Aedionʻs door, the magnets reading ʻHomeʻ, so she knocks and to her surprise, Lorcan opens the door. He lets her in and finds all her friends; Lys, Aedion, Manon, and Elide in a heated game of cards.

“Hey sleepyhead,” her cousin greets, looking up from his unfortunately delt hand.

“How was your hike?”

“Oh it was awesome, right Lys?”

“Oh yeah, it was so much fun, you guys should have come, we left really early though, we tried knocking on your door but you two must have still been sleeping,” Lysandra answers.

“Next time. And you guys?,” Aelin gestures to Elide,” what did you and Lorcan do today?”

“The cruise offered us some honeymoon spa sessions, so we got some couple massages today,” Elide grabs for Lorcanʻs hand, their engagement bands clinking.

“Sounds fun”

“We were actually waiting for you, weʻre all going to get ready, dress up all nice and fancy and go to dinner. And then maybe weʻll stop by for the movie tonight?” Manon pitches.

They finish their game and everyone ushers off to prepare for dinner. Manon puts on a one shoulder, black to red ombre dress that falls all the way to the floor. She styles it with thin, black strapped, open-toed high heels and red, ruby earrings. Aelin decides to wear a deep blue, backless, form fitting dress with a deep v-neck, presenting her flattering cleavage, and a front slit reaching to her high-mid thigh. She styles her ensemble with creme colored close-toed heels, and a warm, creme-toned bracelet and pendant necklace.

The two meet back up with the group, everyone styled very fancy and professional. “Wow, you boys clean up nicely, and ladies you look as beautiful as ever,” Aelin exclaims enthusiastically. Aelin and Manon lead the way to The Antica on the Verandah deck. A server meets them at the entrance and informs them that there is assigned seating. He asks for their keycards and they provide them, he looks over their cards indicating their place on the seating chart and then leads the way.

They are shown to a large, round table, able to seat nine maybe ten. They each take a seat, Aelin and Lorcan being the bookends with the other empty seats in between them. The waiter returns, taking the tables order for drinks, they order a bottle of red wine for the table. After about ten minutes, three very attractive men, in formal wear, are guided to the table by another server and they each take their seats. Connal takes the empty seat next to Lorcan, opposite Elide, Fenrys beside his twin, and Rowan next to Aelin.

“Evening everyone,” Rowan greets. His deep, sensuous voice sends a warm tingle down Aelinʻs spine. “Aelin” he says more quietly, and only to her, in greeting. Her eyes graze over his finely-tailored suit and his styled hair. Wow, she thinks to herself. How is it possible for him to look even more fine. Her train of thought gets cut off when the waiter returns with the bottle of wine they ordered, he then goes around taking drink orders for the new patrons.

“Iʻm fine with just a water, thank you,” Rowan informs the waiter. Aelin tries really hard to focus on the menu in front of her, but her eyes continually wander elsewhere. Before she knew it, the waiter confronted the table, jotting down everyoneʻs order for their entree. The waiter gets to Rowan and Aelin monitors his face, not exactly hearing any words. The waiter gets to her and still being undecided she blurts out, “Iʻll have what heʻs having.”

“Escargot?” Rowan questions in disbelief.

“Um, yeah, Iʻll have whatever he said,” she notifies the waiter, having absolutely no clue what escargot is.

For the duration of the wait for their meals, the entire table take part in friendly discussion. They share jokes and laughs and Aelin recognizes feeling comfortable, happy even, with this group of individuals.

Their food arrives and Aelin stares at her plate for a few minutes. Snails. Rowan had ordered cooked snails. In their shells and everything. And like an idiot who couldn't pay attention for five seconds, she ordered them too. Not ready to own up to her idiocy, Aelin takes a few bites of her questionable meal. Not terrible, she thinks to herself, but this is definitely a one time thing, god Iʻm going to have to stuff my face with so much cake after this.

The group finishes their meals and wine, continuing their exciting conversations which everyone contributes in. Manon brings up her idea to catch the showing of ʻBeauty and the Beastʻ on the Lido deck and so the group finishes up their thoughts, cleans up a little and travel together to the Lido deck. Before finding their seats, they all stop by the ice cream machine and help themselves to a creamy, soft-serve cone. Aelin takes the chance to sneak away and head further in the bar and gets to the dessert bakery. She snags a slice of chocolate cake and begins devouring it.

“Still a fan of chocolate, I see,”

Aelin turns, mouth full of cake, “you caught me”

She says it so innocently that Rowan canʻt help but laugh.

“Did you want some?” she offers him a bite. He holds up his hand.

“No, thank you though, I just wanted to check on you, make sure youʻre okay.”

She laughs, “Hm let me see, besides eating snails, Iʻve found the library, read a really fascinating book, taken a nap, and tried the best cake Iʻve ever tasted, Iʻd say Iʻm doing pretty great.”

They share an intimate moment of pure laughter and joy.

“Well we better get back to everybody, Iʻm sure the movieʻs about to start.”

She follows his lead and they find their friends. They lay on deck chairs facing the projector screen, right next to each other. The rest of the night is a dream. Throughout the movie, she shares laughs with her friends, old and new, and she shares a few lingering glances with the man in the chair next to her. Aelin and her friends sing along with the songs of the movie, a little too loudly at times, earning annoying glares from nearby children. When the movie ends, the two groups share hugs and promises to hangout and do something the next day. A tired Manon and Aelin safely make it back to their cabin and Aelin quickly drifts off into a deep slumber, dreaming of being Beauty with a certain, familiar Beast.

All Hands on Deck taglist:

@smalltddygothgf @booksbqueen @underworldboxers @live-the-fangirl-life @booknerdproblems @rowaelinismyotp

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barisiscourtroom · 3 years

Text

@thejuryisout Thanks for the prompt! ♥

Prompt 6 on the prompt list in question is “Doing face masks or other beauty treatments”, and I went with face masks. Kinda. It's mostly just Rafael taking care of a tired Sonny tbh, 2k of fluff. =)

This is also heavily inspired by Sonny's UC at that rapist shelter in 17x19 (Sheltered Outcasts), but I see it as taking place at some vague later time. Sonny is still a detective though, and it all takes place after he’s done.

Not important at all, but I googled “italian restaurants delivery manhattan” for a restaurant name, so that *is* an actual restaurant, but I know absolutely nothing about it more than it's Italian, in Manhattan, and probably delivers.

Big thanks to @novemberhush for the beta and all the help with this ♥

I hope you all like it! ♥

To Be Home ao3

2100 words | Gen characters: Sonny Carisi, Rafael Barba tags: Established Relationship, Fluff, Cuddling & Snuggling, Rafael takes care of Sonny, Tired Sonny, Soft Rafael, Spoiled Sonny, Non-Sexual Nudity

The first thing Rafael did upon seeing Sonny at the precinct after Sonny had been undercover for two weeks was to cup his face between his hands and say, "Oh, baby, you look like shit."

Sonny rolled his eyes and said, "Thanks, I’ve missed you too."

Olivia and the rest of the squad didn’t give them more time than that to catch up before demanding Sonny’s time, and it was nearly four hours before they got home.

Rafael wasn’t wrong, though, Sonny really did look like shit. The bags under his eyes were big and dark, he hadn’t shaved in days, his hair was greasy and messy, his clothes ill-fitting, worn, and had some unpleasant stains. He also had some bruises after getting jumped for being thought to be a rapist a couple of days earlier, but those were all under his clothes.

Thankfully it was Friday, and they both had the weekend off. Sonny would possibly get calls about the case, but Olivia had promised him he wouldn’t have to come in until Monday morning, and even though he wanted to work the case after spending so much time on it, he was looking forward to a nice, relaxing, and most importantly comfortable weekend at home, just him and Rafael and good food and soft sheets and their wonderful shower.

Rafael asked if he wanted to cook when they got home, he knew how much Sonny liked it and how it could be downright therapeutic for him, but he could obviously also see how tired Sonny was.

"Do you want me to order take out tonight, or do you want to cook?" he asked.

Sonny sighed. "Take out," he said regretfully. "I do want to cook, but not today."

"Okay, you can cook tomorrow," Rafael said. "I’ll even help you."

"Oh boy, you have missed me," Sonny teased.

"I have missed you, my Sunshine," Rafael said, squeezing his hand. "It’s been awfully dark around here without you."

"Rafael," Sonny said, a little choked up. Rafael was very good with words when he wanted to be.

But for someone being so good with words, Rafael could sometimes have a hard time admitting things, like that he had missed Sonny, so it meant a lot to Sonny that he said that. He always showed it in other ways though, by being more tactile than usual mostly, but also by taking care of Sonny.

"Let’s go get you cleaned up and into something more comfortable," Rafael said.

"Yeah," Sonny said.

"Shower or bath?" Rafael asked as he led Sonny to their bedroom.

"Shower," Sonny said. He’d just fall asleep in a bath, and their shower really was wonderful, he had missed it.

"Okay, I’ll put out some things for you," Rafael said, opening drawers to get clothes for him.

Sonny slowly stripped his clothes off and put them in the laundry basket, and Rafael went to the bathroom, then Sonny put his phone to charge on his nightstand before joining Rafael. The clothes were in a neat pile on a shelf, a fresh towel hung outside the shower, and Rafael was fiddling with the bottles in the shower.

He turned to Sonny and looked him over when he entered the bathroom, momentarily frowning at his bruises, but then he looked Sonny in the eyes. "Oh my, there’s a naked man in my bathroom, what ever will I do," he said.

"You could kiss him?" Sonny suggested.

Rafael smiled and walked up to him to slide his arms around his waist. "Great idea," he said and tilted his head up for a kiss that Sonny readily gave him. It didn’t last long, but even those few seconds were enough for Sonny to feel some leftover tension in his body dissipate.

"I’ve missed you," he said against Rafael’s lips, and Rafael tightened his grip on him and kissed him again.

When Rafael pulled back, he frowned and gently touched next to one of Sonny’s bruises. "I don’t like this," he muttered quietly.

"It’s not too bad," Sonny said.

Rafael’s face didn’t change as he met Sonny’s eyes. "I still don’t like it," he said.

Sonny smiled. "I know, and I love you for that," he said, and Rafael’s face softened.

He cupped Sonny’s cheek, brushed his thumb over his scruff. "Straight razor tomorrow?" he asked.

"Yes, please," Sonny said, nearly groaning. He had planned on shaving that day, but he loved it when Rafael shaved him with the straight razor, and he could stand being scruffy for another day if it meant he got that.

"Good. Go shower, cariño," Rafael said. "I was going to empty your bag while you do that, is that okay?"

"Yeah, of course, thanks," Sonny said. He pressed a kiss to Rafael’s forehead and stepped into the shower, and Rafael caught his hand on his way to give it a quick squeeze before leaving the bathroom.

The shower was divine, but Sonny didn’t linger. He showered carefully, washed himself meticulously, because he felt filthy and he wanted to get everything from that undercover stint off his body, but while he didn’t hurry, he didn’t stay longer than necessary either.

Once he was done and dry enough, he put on the clothes Rafael had picked for him, underwear, pajama pants, and a soft v-neck, and left the bathroom. His bag was gone from the bedroom, and his phone was still charging, so he left it on the bedside table and went to find Rafael.

"Babe?" he said.

"Yes, cariño?" Rafael said, coming from the kitchen.

Sonny smiled and pulled him in for a hug, nuzzling his face against his neck. "I just missed you," he said.

"I’m right here," Rafael said softly, holding onto him. "I was just preparing for dinner, it’ll be here soon."

"What are we having?" Sonny asked.

"Antonucci," Rafael said, and Sonny groaned, he hadn’t had proper Italian food in two weeks, the closest was mediocre pizza that was only Italian in name. "Figured you’d want some comfort food today."

"You figured right," Sonny said. "Thanks."

Rafael pulled back to cup Sonny’s face between his hands. He smiled and leaned in for a peck on the lips, then he trailed gentle fingers over his face, his forehead and under his eyes. "How about we do some face masks tonight?"

"It’s that bad, huh," Sonny said.

"Well, whatever soap you’ve used hasn’t exactly been kind to your skin. It could use a boost." Rafael said.

"Face masks tonight, a proper bath together tomorrow?" Sonny suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," Rafael said. "I’ll shave you after the bath."

"Great," Sonny said.

More than an hour later, after a slow meal with wine and dessert, Rafael dragged Sonny to the bathroom to get their face masks on. He had a couple of small single-use face packs, and he got one of those for Sonny, and his usual one for himself. Sonny rinsed his face, patted it dry-ish, then Rafael gently spread an immediately soothing gel on his face.

"Oh, that feels good," Sonny said.

"Good, I haven’t tried that one before, but it’s supposed to be good," Rafael said.

"Am I your guinea pig?" Sonny asked, smiling.

"Stop smiling so much, relax your face," Rafael said and rolled his eyes. "And no, my mother swears by it and I trust her, I just haven’t gotten around to trying it myself yet."

"Whatever you say, dear," Sonny said, working hard not to grin.

Rafael huffed, but he was smiling as he finished spreading the gel. "There," he said.

Sonny stayed to watch as Rafael rinsed his own face and applied his usual one, because he liked watching Rafael, then they went to sit in the living room to let their masks do their work for 20 minutes.

"I want to cuddle," Sonny said.

"Okay?" Rafael said.

"Like, put my head on your shoulder and tuck my face against your neck, or put my head on your chest to listen to your heart," Sonny said.

"I think you will survive 20 minutes," Rafael said.

Sonny sighed deeply. "Doubtful," he said, and Rafael laughed quietly. "Stop smiling so much, relax your face."

"Oh, shut up," Rafael said, and Sonny closed his eyes as he leaned back against the couch with a smile on his face. "For being the light of my life, you sure are a nuisance."

"You love me," Sonny said, holding out his hand for Rafael to take, which he did.

"And I have no idea why," he said.

"It’s because I’m tall," Sonny said.

"Or it could be because you’re kind," Rafael said.

"Yeah?" Sonny asked.

"I mean, it doesn’t hurt that you’re tall, but I think there’s something about your face that I like more," Rafael said.

"Really?" Sonny asked. He was probably smiling more than Rafael wanted him to in that mask, but he couldn’t be bothered to try and stifle it.

"It’s a good face, congrats on that, by the way," Rafael said. "I also think it might be because you’re so good and that you make me want to be a better man, that you’re sweet and funny and smart. Or that you’re an SVU detective, that you care so much that you just spent 2 weeks being miserable just to help people."

"Rafael," Sonny said. He turned his head to look at Rafael, found him watching him with a soft smile on his lips. "Come on, don’t make me cry, I have a face mask."

Rafael laughed quietly. "I missed you, Sunshine," he said softly, and Sonny rolled his eyes, which were getting too wet. For Rafael to have said that twice in one day, he must have missed him a lot.

"I said don’t make me cry," Sonny said, but then he squeezed Rafael’s hand. "I missed you too, love."

"I know, and we’ll be clingy and annoying this whole weekend to make up for it," Rafael said.

Sonny sighed happily. "Yeah," he said. "You’ll even help me cook."

"I’ll even help you cook," Rafael agreed. It wasn’t as if he never did, it was more that they were both usually very busy and Rafael wasn’t the biggest fan of cooking, so he tended to take the opportunity to get other things done while Sonny cooked since he didn’t mind doing it on his own.

"Okay, has this been on for 20 minutes yet?" Sonny asked.

"More like five, if even that," Rafael said.

"Oh, come on," Sonny grumbled. "Why did I agree to this today? I’m too cuddly for this."

"We can watch something, take your mind off it for a while?" Rafael suggested.

"Oh, did that Canadian garage guy post anything fun?" Sonny asked, exaggerating the Canadian accent on garage.

"Let’s see," Rafael said, grabbing his laptop from the table.

He had posted, and they watched one of his videos. Sonny would never understand why it was so fun to watch a guy clean a car, but he loved his videos, and while he didn’t think Rafael liked them quite as much as he did, he knew he liked them enough to indulge Sonny and watch some of them with him.

The videos were half an hour long though, and Sonny was far too needy to sit that long without being able to cuddle properly, so twenty minutes into the video he leaned forward to tap the space bar on the laptop, pausing it.

"It’s been 20 minutes," he said.

Rafael laughed quietly and shook his head, but he followed Sonny to the bathroom, where they rinsed their masks off.

"Moisturizer too," Rafael said, taking a pot of moisturizer from the cabinet. Sonny just smiled at him, and Rafael sighed. "You’re milking this."

"Yeah," Sonny said, then closed his eyes as Rafael gently massaged the moisturizer into his skin.

He cupped his chin when he was done and pressed a kiss to Sonny’s lips. "Okay, let’s go see how that filthy car turned out," he said, putting the moisturizer away.

As soon as Rafael sat down, he held his arms out for Sonny, who immediately tucked himself against his side, his head on Rafael’s shoulder, half of his face pressed against his neck. He could barely see the end of the video, but it was worth it, finally getting some proper cuddles.

Rafael held him tight, carding fingers through his hair and touching his face, and once the video was finished, he turned more towards Sonny and wrapped him in his arms.

"It’s good to have you home," he said quietly against Sonny’s hair.

"It’s good to be home," Sonny said.

#Barisi #Barisi fic #Smowkie's fic #for some reason this isn't showing up in the Barisi tag for me #hmm #okay #it's in the tags now after I added those two #that was confusing xD

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baldwinboy5choices · 4 years

Text

The Family Night Out (M! Robin Flores x MC)

Someone who absolutely never, ever writes fics (me) is so in love with Robin that they were actually compelled to write Choices fic for the very first time.

Book and Pairing: The Nanny Affair, M!Robin Flores x MC (Jett Hawthorne)

Words: 2.7k

Rating: I’m so new to writing fics I don’t even know what kind of rating system to use, but this is extremely tame, and, much like a PG-13 movie, contains exactly one very judiciously-placed F-bomb.

Summary: I sort of started with “collision course,” which is the name of one of the Ice Age movies, and then worked my way backwards. So, in a manner of speaking, you could say that this is Based on the Comedy of Ray Romano. (Not really. The first part’s true, though.) No, it’s really more about the start of Robin and Jett’s relationship, with a little bit of inspiration from Sam saying in a diamond scene, “You could do so much better than him.” (me) (also me)

Thank you so much @semiautomaticheart for proofreading, and thank you @yaushie & @brightpinkpeppercorn for first pass feedback! You guys are all really awesome and I appreciate you all so much.

Another day, another experiment for Mickey and Mason. Today’s flavor was taking photographs of deep space, courtesy of the telescope they remembered they got last Christmas, and their father’s old phone that they were allowed to occasionally play games on.

“Do you think that counts as… deep space?” Mickey wondered, as he and his brother peered at the phone screen.

“Well, yeah! And we’re just starting out,” Mason insisted. “We’ll get better!”

“Yeah! Print it out!” Mickey hollered. “Our very first picture of outer space!”

Jett heard the bell of the elevator as she watched the boys signing the printout in colored pencil and running to the refrigerator with it. “Hold on, boys. I think I hear your father,” she said.

Jett never met Sam at the door when he arrived home, with the exception of the time she had to distract him so Mason and Mickey could finish the birthday dinner for him. Today, however, she had a friendly warning for him. It just so happened that when she stepped out into the hallway, she was greeted by not only Sam, but also Sofia and Robin.

Jett’s breath caught in her throat as she and Robin met eyes for a brief moment. The sight of him reminded her that the same night of Sam’s birthday dinner was also the night that brought Robin into her life, right here in that hallway. She quickly composed herself with a neutral demeanor. Addressing all three, she instructed, “Hey, guys. When you get inside, there’ll be a really blurry piece of paper on the fridge. Pretend you love it.”

For once, Sam, Sofia, and Robin were united, sharing the same puzzled look directed at Jett, but before anyone could voice an actual question, Mickey and Mason were bursting out of the apartment door.

“Mort’s! Mort’s!” the boys were chanting.

“That’s right, boys,” Sam said brightly. He then turned to Jett and said, “Jett, we were hoping you could join us.”

“But… it was going to be a night off,” Jett replied. Sam generally preferred dinners at home, but occasionally, he would take the boys out for some family time, and Jett would be off those nights.

“I insist - dinner’s on me,” Sam said firmly, as everyone poured into the apartment and began raving over the hazy photo of a blob on the refrigerator.

“M&M graciously donated one of the unused save files on their video game to me. And I thought tonight was supposed to be family night,” Jett said lamely. “Wouldn’t I be intruding?”

“No, because someone invited you,” Sam said, tossing his head in Robin’s direction. “And even if he hadn’t, you’re welcome to join us on the family night out.”

“Oh… you’re going, too?” Jett said, catching Robin’s eye once again. This news changed things.

Robin gave her a casual grin. “I never pass up Trader Mort’s.”

Sofia chimed in, “It’s literally the only place all of us agree on. Even the kids, and Robin with his crude taste. That in and of itself should be considered a miracle.”

Jett knew of Trader Mort’s, a no-expense-spared tiki bar and restaurant that liked to tout itself as more of an “experience” than a mere dining establishment. She herself had never gone, but she’d heard others sing its praises. The founder, James Mortemer, was supposedly descended from some legendary pirate captain and the restaurant apparently hinged heavily on this gimmick.

“Has something for everyone,” Sam put in. “There’s a cool volcano show for the kids, Sofia and I both adore their menu…”

“Separate bar area where Robin can always find a girl to take home,” Sofia finished.

Jett studiously ignored this comment as she led the boys away to find their coats.

Moments later, Jett was finishing getting ready herself, and wandered back into the boys’ room. Robin then appeared at the boys’ bedroom door. “Kiddos, you want to go tell your dad you’re ready?” Robin said, knocking on the door frame.

“Yep!” they cried in unison, running off.

“You’re coming with me in my car, right?” Robin asked.

Jett shot back his question with another question. “Because you want me to, or because it’ll piss off Sam?”

“Nah, that’s boring now. Because I want you to,” Robin said with a grin.

Jett had to smile. “Okay, you got me, then.”

They spent the drive in comfortable conversation, and Jett’s heart fluttered when they left the car and approached the restaurant entrance, because of who was accompanying her.

“Shall we, beautiful?” Robin said lightly, offering Jett his elbow to hold as they walked through the door.

At dinner, things were generally civil, even as Robin insisted on sitting next to Jett and keeping close to her. The adults made polite small talk, and Mason and Mickey, as children were wont to do, had already long forgotten about “Suck-fia” and had moved on to other things.

As the meal wound down, Robin nudged Jett. “You know, when those two take the kiddos to watch the volcano show, I bet we could sneak a little time to ourselves,” Robin said in a low voice into Jett’s ear.

Though Sofia couldn’t hear the words, it was impossible to miss that Robin had leaned in very close to Jett to whisper to her.

“Jett, tell me you’re not falling for this,” Sofia said with a slight roll of her eyes. “And Robin. Really? Just because you’re in a dating slump doesn’t mean you should be going after her.”

“What, just going to do a drive-by on me like that? I have a great personality,” Jett said with a hollow laugh in between bites of her dinner.

Robin glared, all traces of his earlier good mood gone from his face. “There’s nothing wrong with Jett.” Then, softening his expression, he turned back to Jett and asked, “Split one of these desserts with me?”

Sofia sighed with exasperation and forged ahead. “I meant, you shouldn’t be leading her on, and then subsequently breaking her heart like you so frequently do, and leaving us to deal with the mess. We’ve never had to deal with your dating disasters before; why bring us into this now?”

“Yes. For goodness’ sake, she’s an integral part of this family, now,” Sam piped up. “You can’t do that to her.”

Sam had been admonishing Jett to steer clear of Robin ever since the three of them had met. It felt to her as though, even if Sam couldn’t have her himself, he still wanted to be the one that she longed for.

But could it be that it wasn’t jealousy on Sam’s part, but simply the truth? Jett also remembered back to when she first met Sofia - she, too, had warned Jett that Robin was “a player.” That was the word she had used.

The entire conversation made Jett let out an audible chuckle. It was the type of nervous laugh that one lets out when they know they’re in deep trouble, and so, one can’t help but simply let out a joyless laugh with a hint of melancholic despair.

Sam glowered, and then turned towards Robin. “Don’t make her pay for it just because you’re annoyed you can’t get anyone else to fall for your charms right now.”

“That’s not true,” Robin protested.

“Fine. Then pick up one of the other beautiful women here tonight. Now. I bet you can’t do it.”

Sofia raised her eyebrows in slight interest and amusement. She felt that Sam was more bewildered than upset or hurt by the situation. Things had always been handed to him, and, with the tragic exception of the loss of his wife, he’d had little experience in dealing with anything less than Easy Street. Sure, Jett had started the nanny position with an infatuation for Sam, but that was before she had gotten to know everyone better. Jett now wanting Robin instead of him appeared to have short-circuited Sam’s brain.

“Watch me,” assured Robin belligerently, standing up to begin the search for his quarry.

Sam couldn’t hold it in any longer. With Robin now gone from their table, he demanded, “Jett, what do you see in that guy?”

An eight-hour explanation formed in Jett’s mind. “Nothing,” she ultimately said.

Sam let out another sigh, and pulled out his phone. “Look,” he said. “This was actually an old business partner of Robin’s,” Sam said, scrolling through the phone. He handed the phone over to Jett. It was a multi-part Pictagram post. Swiping through revealed a rant written by an angered woman about how she’d felt “led on” by Robin only to find that their relationship was not what she thought it was.

Jett skimmed the Pictagram post as Sofia and Sam watched Robin continue to walk around all the various sections of Trader Mort’s - the bar, the dining area, the fire pit, the merchandise booth. He was observing all of the other patrons of the restaurant as carefully as if he were shopping for a house or a car.

“This was an old girlfriend,” Sam said, navigating to a different Pictagram post showing a scowling woman, followed by a lengthy diatribe of a caption talking about how truly wronged she’d been during their breakup.

Sam took his phone back, swiped around, and gave it to Jett again, showing another Pictagram post with a different woman. “Girlfriend,” he said.

“Girlfriend.” Another post, equal amounts of rage and spite in the caption.

“Aaaaand, girlfriend.” Another post. More rage.

“Sam, you seem like you’re just looking out for me, which is… nice, but totally unnecessary,” Jett ventured cautiously, before a touch of anger seeped into her voice. “And, I mean, did you just already have these pictures ready, or something, just to show me?! All prepared to disparage him like this? You pulled these all out awfully fast.”

“Oh, no, I just searched by the hashtag. It was really easy to find,” Sam said with pure innocence. He showed the last photo again to Jett. Oh. There it was: #fuckrobinflores

“Oh.”

“To be perfectly fair, sometimes he just has one-night stands and the women aren’t all that bothered by it. You wouldn’t see those on the hashtag, though, I guess,” Sofia said with a chuckle. “But he hasn’t been getting any dates at all lately. I think that’s why he’s targeting you.”

“I wouldn’t call it targeting,” Jett insisted. “We’re not exactly… well, you know we’re not together, but I wouldn’t say any of this is one-sided.”

The conversation was interrupted because Sam noticed that Robin had settled at a standing table. Sam had to hand it to Robin - the girl he picked was absolutely stunning, a tall, slim brunette with a beautiful face.

Robin had ordered the Poseidon’s Revenge Grog, the most expensive drink that Trader Mort’s offered, which was an elaborate, fruit-topped rum drink served in a carved bowl so massive it could comfortably house several tropical fish.

Deftly as a master painter crafts their portraits, as a maestro weaves their notes together in a beautiful melody, and as anyone of extraordinary skill in their art wields their talent, Robin demonstrated to his onlookers his effortless skill in flirting. He simply poked two straws into his monstrous Poseidon’s Revenge Grog, pointed one of them at the girl, lowered his chin an inch, and gave her a sultry smile in invitation without so much as a word.

Sam’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline - he thought he saw the immediate future flashing before his eyes. As the beautiful brunette girl leapt for her straw, and Robin leaned forward for his, Sam saw the inevitable collision course that their respective heads were on and tensed up, bracing himself for two visits to Concussion City. He would have sworn, “There’s nothing anyone could have done.”

Except Jett wasn’t just anyone. In a lightning-quick motion, Jett lunged for the Poseidon’s Revenge Grog too, and her hand shot out between Robin and the girl, preventing the double head injury.

“Jett!” Robin exclaimed.

“Oh my god! Thank you!” cried the girl. “That was almost a disaster!”

Jett shook out her hand and winced, looking everything like a hero who’d just punched out the bad guy. “I was supposed to be off baby-sitting duty tonight,” she said through gritted teeth, though her tone was light. “The universe decided that this would not be the case.”

After a few more rounds of “Thank you,” and “Are you okay?!” the girl introduced herself to Robin as Phaedra, and smiled at him.

Robin mumbled a quick apology to her. “Sorry - keep the Grog, though. I’m headed back to the bar with her, for some ice.”

“No, I get it, totally. But if you want to hang out sometime - give me your phone?” said Phaedra.

“Oh. Sure.” Robin placed his hand on Jett’s back as Phaedra typed away, and as soon as she was done, he gave her a quick thanks.

“See you!” said Phaedra, grabbing the tiki bowl and flouncing away back to her friends.

Robin led Jett to the bar, where he found an empty bar stool. He cleared his throat and gave a charming smile to someone seated on the next bar stool, and asked with all the confidence of a man who could still score the phone number of a girl he’d almost concussed, “Hey, buddy. You mind?”

“Not at all,” said the other man, moving one stool over.

“Thanks,” Jett managed weakly, as the two of them sat side by side and Robin asked the bartender for a bag of ice.

“What do you say you and I share a much more reasonably sized drink?” Robin asked.

Jett laughed. “Yeah. Sure. And dessert, too, since that didn’t happen earlier.”

They sat mostly in silence for a short while, as Jett iced her hand, and awkwardly ate with her non-dominant hand. Jett mumbled an apology as her hand brushed against Robin’s, reaching for their shared drink. They had decided on a Damnation, a mixture of light and dark rums and fruit juices served in a ceramic mug in the shape of a piranha. It was, as Robin had suggested, a much more reasonably sized concoction.

“I’m really uncoordinated with this hand,” she joked.

In response, Robin closed his hand around her uninjured one. “Jett?” he said softly.

“Yeah?”

“You can trust me,” Robin said with an unusual sincerity.

For a moment, Jett debated feigning innocence and asking, “About what?”

She couldn’t decide what to say for several more minutes, but eventually settled on “Yeah. I want to.”

When Robin and Jett returned to the others, they were then standing at the miniature volcano display waiting for the show to start. Sam had a triumphant look on his face. It dawned on Jett that this was a win-win situation for him: either Robin couldn’t pick anyone up and Sam would force him to admit that he only wanted Jett because he’d been in a dating slump, or, he did score some other girl’s number, and well - he would have scored the number of a girl who wasn’t Jett. It was as though Sam wanted to somehow prove that Robin couldn’t ever take her seriously. If Jett were to ask Sam, he would probably tell her that he would treat her like royalty - never mind the fact that he was engaged to someone else - while Robin would treat her like a customer at a delicatessen. “Now serving number five-oh-eight.”

Jett could see herself understanding why Sam would think that. But Robin… Robin had asked her to trust him.

“I hate to say I told you so…” Sam began.

“Then don’t,” Jett snapped.

“Well, it seems this was to be expected. All of us always have a good time when we come to Trader Mort’s,” Sofia said flippantly. “Congratulations are in order, I suppose, Robin. Enjoy your date with what’s-her-name.”

“Mickey, Mason, look above you!” Sam interjected.

As the boys marveled over the animatronics display descending from the ceiling - which Jett had to admit was actually pretty cool - she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see Robin giving her a small smile, and holding up his phone screen for her to see. It showed the name Phaedra, followed by her phone number. Her contact name was accompanied by a bunch of heart emojis, a sort of digital age equivalent of kissing one’s lipstick to a napkin and writing “Call me!”

Wordlessly, Robin made a bit of a show out of displaying the screen to Jett as he pressed “Delete contact.”

He tossed the phone into his pocket.

Lights began to flash and fog filled the room, and the Trader Mort’s crew started chanting. Jett’s hand slipped into Robin’s as the two of them watched the volcano erupt while the crowd cheered.

#playchoices #the nanny affair #robin flores #robin x mc #choices fanfic #bb5 fic #i guess that's a tag now #and i guess i love robin too much to stop myself from writing fic now #but i still can't believe i did this #my FIRST EVER choices fic and believe me I have been kicking around in this fandom for AWHILE #not since that earliest of the early days but... early enough #anyway hope you all enjoy this or...#at least even if you don't enjoy it i hope the robin fans out there appreciate that there's a slight bit more robin content out there now #don't worry edward we will carry on your legacy after that shit ass ending #ah there we go the real summary to this fic

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calm-and-wine · 4 years

Text

(I’ll give you) the best years

part II (masterlist)

Hello hello, sorry it took a while, but here is part 2 and part 3 is already in the works (so is part 4 🙈). I’d love to hear your thoughts, ideas, what you’ll like to see in the future and whatever else is on your minds!

Once again huge thank you to Anna @silverrank for making sure my writing actually makes sense and isn’t complete gibberish. And a big thank you to @booksncoffee for this beautiful banner.

Enjoy!

PART II

September 2023

There was no other word to describe the first days of being married but bliss. Absolute pure bliss. And it wasn’t even because of the stunning scenery of Maui, their luxury little beach house and beautiful turquoise water of the ocean. It was the bliss of being able to spend every minute with the person you were madly in love with, with no worries occupying your mind, nowhere to go and nothing to do, but enjoy each other and celebrate the official new chapter of your lives. In a way, the wedding didn’t change all that much for Lucy and Niall; they already lived together and they had been sure of their relationship being the one for a while now. But somehow it did change their mindsets a bit. They always thought about their future together, but now it was a given, there were no questions, no hesitation when making plans or talking about growing old.

A part of Lucy had used to think of marriage as a piece of paper, and in some cases it probably was like that, but right now she saw it as a bigger union. Like she and Niall were a proper team now. They were a family, after all.

Lucy was never a person who could do nothing. She was used to some kind of practice usually two times a day, meeting with people, doing meal prep, analysing her games and thinking about strategy or possible improvements. However, she was quite surprised to find herself truly enjoying the honeymoon, even though as of now it consisted of spending most of their time in bed (or other places in the house), reading books on the patio, swimming or playing board games in between. There were worse things to preoccupy her time with than enjoying the body of Niall Horan and letting him adore hers.

“I have no idea how I’ll be able to play in a few days.” Lucy sighed between licks of her ice lolly. A lot of the places the tennis tour took place are quite hot, so the weather shouldn’t bother her too much, but she was never actually a big fan of heat. The ten days in Maui were just the start of their honeymoon, which had to be split in two, because she qualified for the WTA finals, where only eight best players of that year had the opportunity to compete. It was the second year she was lucky enough to be a part of that event and she was actually ready to withdraw, but Niall didn’t want her to (truth be told, she did have a chance of ending the year as number one player). So they were coming back to London for a week of training, which she’ll definitely need after not caring about her food or working out (although that might be debatable, as they did work up quite a sweat most of the times), then playing a tournament in Luxembourg to get back into the swing of things before going to China to prepare and compete in the finals. After that however, they would embark on the second part of their marriage celebrations, travelling to Italy and planning a road trip through Spain, Portugal and maybe some other European cities. Also, Niall was joining her on all of her travels in between, so she’d be working, but they’d still be together.

“Is this work talk I’m hearing during our honeymoon?” he asked tilting his head to look at her through the sunglasses perched on his nose. There was a laughing undertone in his voice, because they jokingly made a bet while on the plane who would be the first to mention work. But they always had this understanding about each other’s job, because it was extraordinary and it wasn’t just work, it was passion and a lifestyle. Even though their jobs were very different, they bonded over that from the start.

Lucy reached out and swatted his arm. She was so sure he’ll be the one losing a bet, seeing how excited he always was to get back to writing after touring, that she forgot to watch herself. And Lucy really didn’t like losing.

“Can’t wait for tonight.” Niall smirked, putting his hands behind his head and stretching his body on the lounger. At least the forfeit wasn’t that bad, but it did make Lucy blush.

“Weren’t we supposed to finally go out for dinner tonight?” she asked. They only left their little bubble once, for a little boat trip.

Niall hummed in thought. “We do have a reservation. Will you be okay with settling the bet tomorrow, then?”

Lucy met his eyes and licked her ice lolly quite suggestively, which made him pull his bottom lip between his teeth, before she spoke. “Yeah, I guess that could be arranged.”

Niall held her gaze for a minute before throwing his head back with a groan. His wife was the devil, he was sure about that. She just laughed and finished eating before getting up. She stopped by his lounger, bending down, giving her husband quite a view of her chest and planting a sweet kiss on his lips, her tongue tasting fruity from her lolly. “I’m gonna shower and start getting ready, have to actually dress up for a change”.

~~~~

“There’s actually something I need your opinion on.” Lucy said when there was a slight lull in their conversation after they started eating. They were sitting on the balcony of the restaurant, the vast ocean spread below them and the setting sun creating a beautiful hue. Niall was chewing on his food, so he gestured for her to go on. “Well, I’ve been considering keeping playing under my maiden name. And I want to know if you’d be okay with that.”

A little frown took over his face, but he spoke as soon as he could, shrugging a little. “Yeah, of course.”

“Really?” she asked surprised, not because he was fine with it, but because it seemed like he just shrugged it off, while she’d been turning it over in her head for weeks. “Just like that?”

Niall put down his cutlery and looked at the woman in front of him with a small smile. “Why, were you scared to talk to me about this?”

Lucy shook her head forcefully. “No, I’m never scared to tell you things. But sometimes I am anxious, because I don’t want to hurt you. And I just remember how big your smile was when I said I wanted to take your name.”

He sighed and reached for her hand that was resting on the table, intertwining their fingers. “You know I love the fact that you wanted to share a name with me, not even hyphenate it. That made me feel really proud and worthy. But it’s your career and you have so many achievements under your name already, so I understand why you’d want to continue building that. And.. well.. I kinda wanted to suggest it, but I also didn’t want you to think I’m against you using my name or something. It’s your decision and you have my full support either way,” he chuckled before adding, “but what else is new?”

She looked at him with gratitude, constantly wondering what exactly had she done to deserve such an amazing, supporting man loving her as much as Niall did. “Thank you, baby.”

“No need to thank me, silly. I was so excited that you wanted to take my name, but I would never force it on you, like, I would understand if you wanted to stay with yours, not just for tennis.” In a way it meant more to him that she was only thinking about it now, having already changed her name to his, just that knowledge that she simply wanted to do it, not even considering what it meant for her career or her future legacy.

“I appreciate that.” Some part of her actually wanted to have his name everywhere, be his wife in all aspects of her identity. However, the more rational part of her knew it was best for her, career wise. She hadn’t figured it all out yet, didn’t know what it meant for her future business moves, after she was done playing. But she knew one thing - that they’d cross that bridge together when the time came. “But I always wanted to have the same one with my husband. I did consider hyphenating it, but it’s just not for me. If we’re gonna do it, let’s do it right, yeah?”

“Go big or go home, love,” said Niall, his glass clinking against hers in toast.

She took a sip before looking at him with a devilish glint in her eyes. “Now, what do you say, should we skip dessert and settle that bet tonight instead?”

The words made him almost choke on his beer. “You’re something else, Lulu Horan.”

November 2023

Coming back to training was never as brutal as this. It wasn’t just Lucy’s lack of her usual regime while in Maui, it was lying on the beach next to her husband one day and sweating her ass off in the gym in London two days later. Coming back to reality was hard and part of her was a bit mad they decided to divide their honeymoon. She didn’t want to get out of their lovely bubble.

Lucy thought that during her training week in the city, Niall would use the opportunity to go to the studio and start writing again, usually after the tour he was itching to make new music. But to her surprise, none of that happened. He met with some mates, came along to a few of her trainings or waited at home with dinner ready. If he was going out, it seemed like he made sure to be back by the time she got home. It was nice; Lucy wasn’t going to complain about that, but it did make her worry a bit, because it was out of character.

She wasn’t about to blow it out of proportion, but she did ask him about it.

“Aren’t you excited to get back to the studio? I thought you’d jump at the opportunity this week,” she mentioned one night, when they were in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner.

“Um.. not really, no.” Niall shook his head while rinsing out dishes and handing them to Lucy to load them into the dishwasher.

“Is there a reason why?” she asked, looking at him with furrowed brows and pausing her actions for a second to gauge his reaction.

“Well, I mean…” He didn’t seem bothered by the questions, just a little confused, like he was trying to make sense of his own thoughts before sharing them. “I have ideas, but I’m not sure if I want to jump back in. I’m quite enjoying my honeymoon off time right now.”

He shrugged his shoulders and finally lifted his head to her face. She was looking at him, trying to get a read on his feelings, like she was searching for a sign that everything really was okay.

“Is that alright with you?” Niall asked with the slightest hesitation.

“Of course,” she said, giving him an encouraging smile. “Whatever makes you happy, baby.”

And that was the end of it. Niall flew to Luxembourg with her, coming along to most of her training on court and sometimes working on his own body alongside her in the gym, watching tv or reading books in the hotel rooms and cheering her on during her matches. They also came to China together and Lucy was more than happy to have her husband there, it was a really nice tournament, a special event, but it was also stressful, especially with the pressure to perform as well as possible and fight for the year-end number one spot. There were no easy matches and Niall’s presence and humour were perfect relaxers.

“Are we going out for dinner tonight?” asked Niall when she joined him in their hotel room after taking a cooling bath to recover her tired muscles. Lucy won her second game of the tournament, pretty much bagging herself a spot in the semi-finals, so a little celebratory dinner was more than deserved. (Even though they’d been going out to dinner every night since they got to Shenzhen).

“Yeah, I think so. Jordan was talking about this restaurant that’s supposed to be a mind blowing experience.” Lucy said, referencing her fitness trainer. She was busy unpacking her bag from the match, which made her miss Niall’s expression falling, his brows drawing together in a frown.

“Oh. I didn’t realise they were all going with us. Again.” Niall’s unamused tone made her look up instantly.

“What do you mean?” she asked, confused. Niall was the most friendly person she knew, he never had a problem with being around people, and he got along pretty well with her team. It wasn’t unusual, when playing tournaments, especially the big ones; they had been going out to dinner together as a little break from work, Niall had never complained about it during his visits, always more than happy to tag along, even joking that it made him feel like part of the winning team.

“Well, it is our honeymoon still, kinda.” His eyes were challenging, not leaving hers for even a second, but his next words were gentler, indicating he wasn’t looking for a fight, just wanted her to see his point. “We’ve been surrounded by your coach, trainer, physio, psychologist and manager for the past two weeks. I know you’re basically working right now and it’s your team, I do like them as well, but I’d like to have dinner with just my wife sometimes. Is it that wrong?”

She shook her head, her heart melting right away, seeing his reasons and thinking about any possible signs she might have missed, making a mental note to consider it in the future. “I’m sorry, you know I suck at saying no to people. Especially the ones I like.”

“And it’s your routine, it’s what you do, I know, but I’d like to still celebrate us a bit, you know?” His voice was still a little desperate, but he didn’t seem as frustrated anymore.

“I’d like that too. Thank you for bringing that to my attention, baby. I’m gonna text everyone, let them know we’re doing our own thing tonight.”

She went to grab her charging phone right away. As she was about to walk back to her bag after sending a message, Niall grabbed her by the hand and pulled her to stand between his legs, while he sat on the bed, his hands resting at the bottom of her waist.

He looked up at her and when she leaned down for a kiss, he went for her neck instead, then whispering in her ear, “You’re gonna let me blow your mind tonight, then? Don’t need any fancy restaurant to do that, hm?”

~~~~

Italy was the perfect place to drown your sorrows. That’s what Niall said when they were leaving China, even after Lucy assured him there weren’t really any sorrows to be buried. Sure, she didn’t finish the year at the top of the ranking, losing in the semi finals, but she did hold the number two spot and that was more than enough. Plus she was more than happy to be going back on their honeymoon and enjoying the world with no plan or pressure, just the two of them, before starting her pre-season training in a few weeks.

They flew down to Rome. Both of them had been in the city numerous times before, Niall for tours and Lucy for a tournament, but now they finally had the time to actually explore, see all the main attractions, as well as some more hidden gems. Then they took the train to Florence, which was the city Lucy was most excited about, having seen all the beautiful pictures and talking to some friends who had visited in the past.

Even though they both had seen a lot of places because of their respective jobs, there was something entirely special in travelling like that, together, with no other intent but exploring and enjoying the time and place. Both of them sometimes found it hard to disconnect, let go of stress and worry, not think about what needs to be done soon, what work awaits them. But walking around Florence, basking in the sun which was a nice surprise as it was the beginning of November, holding hands and admiring the beautiful city, they were both simply calm and happy, not a worry in sight.

“Shit, Niall, I’m dripping.” Lucy interrupted the calm with an exclamation, stopping in her tracks.

“Jesus, Lulu, we just left the church not even ten minutes ago, hold your horses, woman.” Niall had the smuggiest grin on his face and didn’t even move to hand her a tissue, her melted ice cream dripping down her hand.

She looked at him very bemused while he gave her an almost childlike grin, before finally digging through his backpack to help her.

“You are so not funny,” Lucy said, taking a tissue from him, a grumpy expression on her face.

“Sorry, I’m pretty sure there is a ‘no returns’ policy on husbands, so you’re stuck with me forever now.” He laughed putting his arm around her waist and squeezing her tightly against his side, before planting a kiss on her cheek.

Lucy kept a snarl on her face for a few seconds more, before letting a smile overcome her features and searching for his lips, letting him know she actually appreciated his ability to joke at everything, his easygoing attitude, which was truly irritating at times when they started dating, but she grew to not only love it, but admire it a bit.

In Milan they decided to rent a car and travel through France to Spain and then Portugal, where they would end their trip. The road tripping took Lucy back in time in a way, because she remembered many travels with her parents to different tennis tournaments, when she was a kid. However, travelling with Niall was immensely better. She barely ever drove, so he did most of it, only switching for an hour or so, when he was really tired, even though they didn’t pull super long distances, making pit stops in smaller places for a night or two. She really enjoyed watching Niall drive though, there was something so sexy about his confidence, one hand on the wheel, while the other usually rested on her thigh or was intertwined with hers, his head bobbing along to the music and singing to most songs, a carefree smile constant on his lips. There was no better word to describe her feelings than content. Just fully content.

“We should travel like this more often,” she said, when he looked at her with an arched brow, after she had been quiet for a while.

His face lit up and he raised their joined hands to press a soft kiss to hers.

“You enjoying yourself, then?”

She hummed happily. “Mmm, very much. First class flights and fancy hotels are always nice, but this is just special, I don’t know, like we’re actually seeing the world together. Maybe it’s because we fly around so much, I’m quite used to it. While I haven’t been on a road trip since I was around fifteen, probably.”

“Yeah, it’s nicely different. And it feels more chilled, I think. Like, if we want to stop, we stop. If we want to see something, we go there. There’s no rush. I’m really liking it too.” He agreed, taking his eyes off the road for a second to offer her a big smile.

“Let’s do this at least once a year,” she proposed. “Maybe not for two weeks, or whatever, it can be a smaller trip, but I’d quite like to make it our thing.”

“Deal,” he said, letting go of her hand just to wrap his pinky around hers. “Although I reckon you’re gonna regret those words once we have kids.”

Somewhere along their relationship, having kids stopped being an ‘if’ and became a ‘when’. They didn’t even talk about it, not really, but it was a natural progression none of them minded. Whenever Lucy heard it, it made her smile at her partner. It was almost like they subconsciously knew they both wanted it, their souls reading each other and wanting the same thing.

After travelling through France and most of Spain, they decided to rent a small house near the coast and rest for a few days. They were enjoying a glass of wine (well, beer for Niall) after dinner on the patio while playing cards. Both of them were snuggled in cozy sweaters (Lucy was wearing her favourite of Niall’s), but the air was so nice, although chilly, they didn’t want to go inside.

“Why don’t we have, like, a holiday house somewhere?” Niall asked after losing yet another game. Lucy was always better at games that required any type of strategic thinking, yet he was still grumpy after losing too many times.

She shrugged while picking up the cards to shuffle them for another round. “I actually don’t know. Properties are usually a good investment. We should look around.” She shrugged while picking up the cards to shuffle them for another round.

“We could spend a month in Spain or wherever,” he suggested looking around, as if trying to picture their future there.

“That sounds nice. But between that and our yearly road trips, I doubt we’d actually have enough time to enjoy it all.”

“Mmm, that’s true,” he hummed, thinking about it all. “But I’d really like a house in Ireland.”

“Why am I not surprised?” She let out a small laugh. Niall was nothing if not patriotic, always speaking about his country with a special spark in his eyes.

“Would you not?” He sounded almost offended, like it was an attack on his person. “I need to show you more of the country, actually. We should take some road trips there.”

“Well, it depends,” she said picking up her wine glass and taking a sip. “I think it’d be nice as a cottage, a get away house, but I don’t think I’d want to live there, not yet at least, maybe once we’re old or something.”

He was silent for a minute, sorting through his own thoughts and feelings. “Well, I always thought I’d move back one day. But you’re right, it wouldn’t be practical to live there now, not with our jobs and plans. You’re not crossing it out though, right? We’ll think about it in a few years?”

“Would you ask for a divorce if I said no?” she teased.

“Oh yeah, it’s a deal breaker for me.” Niall joined with the same joking manner, although his tone and face was serious. “We should have talked about it before, huh?”

“As long as we’d both be able to do the job we’d want to do while living there, I’m pretty open to it,” she said seriously. They’d both learned a long time ago that home was wherever they were together, the actual place didn’t matter that much.

He smiled brightly, leaning over the table between them to give her a happy kiss. “What about now, though? Would it be okay if we looked around? Got a little cottage in the middle of nowhere or something?”

She held to his neck to give him one more kiss before letting go and settling back in her seat. They only had this much space between them, so Niall would look into her cards, but maybe it was time to end the game. “Yeah, of course. That’d be nice, actually, our little escape.”

With both of their lifestyles being so hectic, they probably wouldn’t have too much time to actually spend there, but Ireland was close enough for a quick weekend getaway trip. She liked that perspective. Or both of them flying down from wherever they were and meeting there for a couple of days together, away from the noisy world. Just them and their little bubble. It sounded like heaven. This whole honeymoon made both of them wonder how were they supposed to go back on their separate travels soon, after spending so much time by each other’s side.

They had those bittersweet moments, when they were still together, but already missing the other person, even before they were gone. They’d catch the other looking a bit distant, a sad glint in their eyes and just know, making sure to squeeze the other person’s hand or give a specially tight hug or a reassuring kiss.

Even though none of them said anything, they both wondered how long will their life look like that, constantly apart, missing each other and living from one visit to the other. But in the end, there was never any doubt in their minds whether it was worth it. And that’s all that truly mattered.

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