#This was what I supposed to post on Domestic Day but it wasn't going well

[sunshinebingo]

@gwynrielweeksofficial Day 14 - Free Day

Aaand it's the end of Gwynriel Weeks 2024. Kudos to everyone who has managed this event ❤️. It was amazing to see all this love for my favourite ship and also to be able to participate in it. Thank you!! ❤️

Today's fic is a gift to @avabrynne (my little love letter to you is on Ao3 😉)

Synopsis: Catrin finds a baby in their backyard and tries to convince Azriel and Gwyn to keep it.

Word Count: 1.7k

Read on Ao3 or below the cut

≽^•⩊•^≼

Azriel’s head whipped around so fast his neck almost cracked. If he told his wife that, the only thing she would hear would be the cracking part and make a joke about him getting old.

“Daddy. I found an orphan.”

“What?”

He placed his knife on the kitchen countertop and looked towards the back door, to the little girl walking in with a few leaves in her pigtails and her lavender sweater balled up in her tiny arms. He removed the kitchen towel that was thrown over his left shoulder and wiped his hands before placing it down next to the knife and chopping board.

“I found an orphan in our garden.”

Azriel approached his daughter, mouth opening to ask what on earth she was talking about, when a little noise coming from the sweater made him stop. The little noise sounded a lot like it belonged to something with claws and fur. As if to confirm what it was, the little thing decided to poke its little head – after struggling for a few seconds– out of the sweater.

“Look daddy, look. She’s a baby,” Catrin exclaimed as though he wasn’t seeing the fluffy black kitten too.

The tiny creature looked around with bright yellow, almost gold, eyes. It seemed more curious than afraid despite being in the arms of an excited child. Cat beamed at the kitten in her arms. She jumped on the spot, causing the kitten’s head to move this way and that while its body remained trapped in its prison made of wool.

“Ok honey, calm down,” Azriel said and reached out his hands to take the kitten from his daughter’s arms before its head flew off.

Cat pointed at the door leading to their garden. “She was alone in that bush,” she explained, leaving Azriel to guess in which of the several bushes in their backyard she could be referring to.

Azriel held the sweater in the crook of his arm and extricated the kitten from it with his right hand. He handed the sweater back to Cat when he was done and took a closer look at the black ball of fur. It looked quite thin to him but showed no sign of injuries.

“How do you know it’s an orphan?”

“She told me,” Cat replied with a shrug.

The kitten meowed. Azriel had no idea whether it was to confirm or deny what Cat had said. He looked down at his daughter but decided against questioning her supposed ability to talk to animals.

“She?” he asked instead.

“The baby,” Cat pointed to the kitten that was busy trying to climb on Azriel’s shoulder.

He pulled the little thing away, removing its claws from his t-shirt when it tried to hold on, and turned it around.

“It’s a he.”

“He who?” Cat furrowed her brows.

“The baby,” Azriel explained as he brought the kitten closer to Cat’s face. “It’s a male.”

Cat giggled at the paw that reached out to boop her nose. There was dirt on her knees, on her bare feet and forearms. The blue jumper she wore was in a barely better state than the rest of her. Azriel smiled at her dishevelled state but sighed internally for the fact that he had thought of changing her clothes before letting her play outside. Gwyn would have been pissed if Cat had ruined yet another one of her school clothes.

“You’re my baby brother now,” Cat announced to the kitten while she petted its head.

Azriel laughed. “Hold up honey. What if his mommy comes back for him?”

Cat wrapped her arms around one of her father’s legs. “But he was alone,” she reminded Azriel, looking up at him with her big blue eyes and a pout on her lips. Not for the first time in 4 years, Azriel noticed Cat’s striking resemblance with Gwyn whenever she used the puppy eyes on him in a desperate attempt to get him to agree with something he had said no to. Apart from having her father’s black hair, everyone who knew Gwyn could see that Cat, on the outside, was a pretty good copy of her.

“Mommy can be his mommy too.”

Azriel’s eyes darted from his daughter to the kitten nipping at his finger with his sharp teeth. He knew that it was common for cats to adopt their humans instead of the opposite and this one did not seem to be an exception to this rule. The longer he took to reply, the tighter Cat wrapped her arms around his leg.

“Daddy pleeease.” She threw her head back and dragged the last word until Azriel sighed and stopped her with an, “Ok fine.” Cat gasped and looked at him with hope in her eyes.

Azriel hadn’t had a pet since he was a child. He had always been fond of cats. His daughter had also been asking for a pet for a while now – well, either that or a sibling. Azriel had been on Cat’s side the whole time in trying to convince Gwyn to agree to either of those. With the way this little thing here was purring and scratching at his shirt, he thought perhaps it was a trick of fate that had sent him here.

“OK listen. We will give him back to his mommy if she comes back,” he stated as firmly as he could to Cat as she gripped the fabric of his pants and nodded with a widening smile. “And we’ll have to ask your own mommy if she agrees with this.”

Her messy pigtails moved when she nodded again and started jumping. “If she says yes, then we can keep the baby,” Azriel added.

The squeal that Cat let out was so loud that even the kitten jumped in surprise. She released his legs and started running excitedly around the kitchen while waving her dirty sweater. Azriel lifted the kitten up to his face. “You still got time to run buddy.”

The little thing meowed, and tried again to climb on his shoulder.

ฅ^•⩊•^ฅ 

“Mommy, mommy. I found an orphan. Can we keep it mommy?”

Gwyn stopped at the threshold with one foot still outside. She didn’t have the time to put the other one in before her daughter was hugging her leg. It wasn’t the first time that Cat greeted her at door when she came back home. Though usually Gwyn was greeted with a “hi mommy” before the babbles started.

“Can we keep it mommy please?” Cat asked very loudly while jumping on the spot.

Gwyn placed her bag on the small bench near the front door. She picked Cat up and smooched her cheek. Her daughter smelled like the bubble-gum shower gel she liked so much. Judging by Cat’s clean matching yellow t-shirt and shorts, she guessed that her daughter must have had her bath not long before her arrival. Even her hair was styled in the twin French braids that Azriel was so skilled at doing now.

“Hello to you too, my darling.”

Cat wrapped her arms around Gwyn’s neck and returned her mother’s kiss with another one of her own.

“Now, what was it you were saying?” She asked as she walked them further inside the house.

Cat beamed at her and placed her hands on Gwyn’s cheeks. “Can we keep the little orphan, mommy?”

Gwyn’s brows furrowed. “What orphan?”

“The baby.”

“What baby?”

“The orphan,” Cat said like it should be obvious.

She had had many interesting conversations with her daughter before but this one felt particular strange.

“What on earth are you –”

Gwyn stopped abruptly when she reached the living area.

“Can we keep it mommy pleeease,” Cat kept going, shaking her mother’s face, while Gwyn took in what her eyes were seeing.

Azriel was lying down on his back, shirtless, on the carpet beside the coffee table, with a little black kitten on his chest. The kitten was hitting and biting the finger that Azriel kept waving at it.

“Hello, my love,” he greeted her but didn’t look away from the kitten. There was no doubt his smile was more for the little thing than for Gwyn. Azriel laughed every time the kitten missed his finger when he removed his hand faster than it could hit it.

“What is this?” Gwyn whispered to no one in particular. Her body was still frozen and her eyes glued on the scene before her.

“It’s a baby,” Cat replied.

The kitten attacked Azriel’s hand again, wrapping its tiny paws around his wrist and turned on itself but it only managed to slide off his chest and fall down clumsily on its back. Gwyn gasped and let out a shriek louder than when the enemies in the enemies-to-lovers book she was currently reading finally became lovers. She placed an equally excited Catrin on the ground before she ran towards a stunned Azriel. Gwyn sat on the floor beside him and picked up the kitten.

“Hi little baby,” she cooed while petting it. “Aren’t you the cutest little kitty.”

Cat reached her mother and leaned over her shoulder to watch. Azriel rose from the floor and stretched out his legs before filling Gwyn in on everything that she had missed before she came back. He rested his back against their grey couch and pulled Gwyn by the waist until she sat on one of his legs. Though his wife wasn’t paying him any attention, he still kissed her cheek and lips. It only took a second before Cat felt left out and moved to sit on his other one. The little girl brought her face close to Azriel’s until he kissed her on the cheek too. And another one on the tip of her nose where it always made her smile the most. Azriel wrapped his arms around them both and they all snuggled against him. Meanwhile the kitten between them was only interested in playing with whatever moved in front of its face.

“So, we are keeping it?” Azriel asked unnecessarily.

“Of course we are.”

The kitten stopped and stared at Catrin when she squealed from her mother’s answer. But then it went back to what it was doing, as though the little thing was already used to all this.

#gwynriel #gwyneth berdara #azriel shadowsinger #Gwynriel baby #gwynriel weeks 2024 #gwynrielweeks2024 #fluff #domestic fluff #This was what I supposed to post on Domestic Day but it wasn't going well #Anyway #This is nothing but fun and fluff

[runwayrunway]

A New England Planespotter In...England (And Scotland)

So I've just gotten back from two weeks in London, almost directly beneath one of the arrival paths to Heathrow. One weird thing about being in London was that...my home airport, Logan, is big, sure, lots of international flights, but it's weird in that it's only a hub for three airlines, one of which is domestic. Being sandwiched between NYC and Newark does that to a place. So we get a pretty small selection of airlines here, all things considered.

Heathrow? Literally while taxiing from the runway to the gate I saw us go past an Air Mauritius and a Royal Brunei Airlines plane (and I didn't have my camera out to take a picture!). On the way out on my way home I saw a RwandAir plane (and it was at an angle behind me where I couldn't get a picture of it either!). I saw multiple A380s a day from British Airways and Singapore Airlines, and even a 747 flying for Korean Air Cargo went overhead! (747s never fly to Logan.) I saw THAI, Air India, TAROM, Air Serbia, and the full complement of gulf carriers - which I expected - and China Southern Airlines, which I somehow didn't.

Hey, wait, is that tailfin...

There she is! (I was so happy to see her that I think I startled the person sitting next to me.)

There were of course the usual faces as well - Delta, American Airlines, and even JetBlue now flies to London. I didn't see any full-size FedEx planes, but I did see a FedEx Feeder ATR 72 (at least I think it's a 72) at Edinburgh Airport.

(she was quite far away and the image is inevitably very crunchy)

A few other cargo airlines more typical of Europe were parked nearby her - DHL, Maersk Air Cargo (in the old Star Air livery), West Atlantic, and whoever that is at the end - the livery feels so familiar, actually, but there's no wordmark and half of me thinks it's a wet lease that hasn't been painted. If anyone remembers what's on the tip of my tongue, please do tell me.

While entirely expected, I also enjoyed seeing little Loganair ERJs around in Edinburgh. They're so short! I was arriving in an A320 and even then I had to wait until I was on the ground to take a decent picture that wasn't half cut off by the plane I was actually in.

I don't know enough about Loganair's routes to know what they actually fly to Edinburgh, but a tiny part of me was sad I didn't see any of their littler prop planes. I have a huge soft spot for the Britten-Norman Islander, the first prop plane I ever got to fly on, which Loganair operates two of. Among their uses in the fleet is operating the shortest scheduled route in the world, which lasts around a minute and is about as long as the runway I landed on when I took all those pictures. I won't pretend it's not on my bucket list. (To be fair, I am also legitimately interested in the archaeological sites on Papa Westray...just maybe not interested enough to take a longer flight to see them.)

These aren't all the airlines I saw, but the rest I'm saving for other days and other posts. Still, there is one more type of airplane I saw which I think I have never actually seen in Massachusetts. When I was at Edinburgh I heard this bizarre loud thing that sounded like nothing I'd ever heard before and looked up and saw what I thought was a C-130. Then I realized it was actually an A400M with its weird scimitar propellers. As far as I'm aware this is the first airlift plane I've seen in person that wasn't a static display and it's definitely the first plane I've seen that sounds like that. I also got to see my first ever helicopter that wasn't a tiny little general aviation thing in the form of a Chinook going right over my head at...really not that high, but it didn't have its transponder on so I couldn't tell you more exactly. Is that a thing in London? Airplane-sized military helicopters at low heights over populated areas with their transponders off? I don't remember ever seeing that before but I suppose it has been a while. It was very, very strange.

And that's a non-exhaustive list of the things you just don't get to see in Boston! I will definitely talk about some of these airlines in full someday, but some of them I probably won't. I at least had a lot of fun pointing at airplanes and going "wow...".

#off-duty #runway runway travelogues #polairoids #loganair #fedex #srilankan airlines #dhl #maersk air cargo #west atlantic uk #west atlantic airlines #star air (denmark)

[shayerathals]

in defense of carter hall (hawkman) part 1

important post i'm making on carter hall because i didn't expect to like this insanely problematic mentally insane man as much as i do now. but after digging through interviews with geoff johns, i have a good picture on what he was achieving with carter.

let's start off with the circumstances surrounding carter's death. in the 90s, there was an event called zero hour. katar hol had merged with carter hall, shiera hall, and a hawk god. here is the death of shiera & carter's commentary:

katar ends up dying at the end of hawkman (1993) as he becomes mentally unstable due to the merge and he's forced into limbo. this leads into jsa (1999) where carter is revived.

now before i continue, here's geoff johns saying he intended for carter to come off as 'bipolar', while the meaning itself is questionable when used here, i think anyone with a brain could easily tell that carter was clearly supposed to come off as not being mentally well at all. even in hawkman (2002), kendra begs for carter to go back to 'normal' to which carter tells her 'this is normal'.

here's another panel that was written by geoff johns, where he compares himself to jean loring. if you know who jean loring is & what her mental conditions were (to the point where she got locked up in arkham asylum in a very bad storyline), you would understand why this is significant for carter. he's admitting that he too is not mentally well.

carter is revived and it's canon that he feels shiera's soul (obviously referring to kendra since she is a reincarnation of her).

it's this panel that particularly makes a lot of people angry. and why? because it's realistic. carter has just been revived from the dead after witnessing his wife, shiera, die in front of his eyes. kendra just found out about her being apart of the reincarnation cycle & her suicide attempt. kendra is YOUNG. it's even retconned now that she's actually been apart of the reincarnation since birth in the current hawkgirl run. meaning she won't be the same age as carter regardless BECAUSE shiera died and she's the one who's usually the same age as carter. she's not going to accept this, and he's clearly going delusional, which lets be serious.... you're lying if you're telling me you wouldn't do the same in his exact situation.

honestly, it's just really a bizarre panel to be mad at because at that point, you just want your comics to be fluffy watered down domestic fanfics with no real or interesting emotions. this takes place immediately after he's revived, so he clearly won't be well in this stage at all. it gets taken so out of context because people lack basic media literacy & look for the most problematic thing while ignoring the problematic moments their favs have too. and it's also one of my biggest cons with hawkman 2018 because while i love it lore wise.... he doesn't really have much personality.

anyways, here's kendra admitting that she does find carter attractive but she needs space. now again... the context is that kendra found out the true circumstances regarding her reincarnation of shiera. JUST found out. of course she'd want space which again, gets brushed over a lot. kendra doesn't know who she is. what she's feeling is normal. also carter's way older than her like lmao (now if i were to bring up problematic age gaps in comics, we'd be here all day so don't bother)

another thing to say is that the 'stalker' thing only happened in ONE issue. ONE comic issue. it wasn't an arc and wildcat was even encouraging him to 'chase' kendra. the only specific parts that were an 'arc' were carter seeing kendra kissing sandy and the aftermath of that which again... jealousy is a totally realistic emotion. but it's been taken so out of context due to the dcau making it way worse & completely erasing the actual context that you'd think him being a stalker would be the entire crux of his character or something. in this exact issue, carter says that what he's doing is WRONG and he needs to accept her for who she is.

#carter hall #hawkman #kendra saunders #hawkgirl #shiera hall #shiera sanders #dcu #dcau #justice league unlimited #anti dcau #shayera hol #dc #dc comics

[twoidiotwriters1]

The Curse of Oenone (Leo Valdez xFem!Oc)

A/N: Love is real I invented it -Danny Words: 2,241 Series' Masterlist Previous Chapter // Next Chapter Listen to: 'Crumbs' -by Belaganas

VIII: Somebody Sedate Me!

Ara is looking at her reflection in the mirror with tension. What was that outburst she had with Percy? It's like he and Lily pull a trigger in her that she's yet to find.

She wants them to be proud of what she's accomplished, so why can't they be glad for once? Having a child of Olympus on their side during the war with Kronos would've made all the difference, why are they so pressed about it now?

Learn the difference between concern and distrust, says Lily's voice in her head. 

Though they're not that different from each other. Both come from the same thought: This prophecy is beyond Ara's skills.

She brushes her damp hair (she took a shower to cool off), and puts on a camp half-blood shirt, then she grabs her cosmetic set and stares at it, she wears makeup when she needs to feel better. Now is one of those days.

When she arrives at the meeting, she's the only one who made an effort to look more than just well-rested and that cheers her up, Generals should look neater than their army.

It's the first time the seven gather with no one else around, except Ara and Coach Hedge. She makes her way to the head of the table and pulls back a chair at the same time Percy reaches for it. She looks at him thinking Are you kidding me?, but a second later her brother mumbles an apology and sits next to Annabeth.

Ara looks at the group trying to gather her thoughts. They do seem intimidating, but Ara's interacted with them in such domestic settings that to her they just look like kids. "Anything we should know about the expeditions?"

"Well, maybe the part where we ran into Nemesis," Hazel suggests.

Ara's got so many things in her mind she'd forgotten about Nemesis, but now that Hazel brought it up, she can feel the piece of paper the goddess handed to her burning through her pocket.

Leo and Hazel share their adventure, and Ara uttered no word. What she got out of that encounter is of no use to the others—and then Annabeth, Frank, and Percy talk about their quest, but nothing worth remembering comes out of it.

"So where to now?" Leo takes a bite of his pizza. "Ara and I did a quick repair job to get us out of the lake, but there's still a lot of damage. We should really put down again and fix things right before we head across the Atlantic."

"We need to put some distance between us and Camp Jupiter," Percy replies. "Frank spotted some eagles over Salt Lake City. We figure the Romans aren't far behind us."

"I don't suppose we should go back and try to reason with the Romans?" Piper offers. "Maybe—maybe I didn't try hard enough with the charmspeak."

"That won't cut it," Ara replies, perhaps too harshly. "For charmspeak to work, they have to find you appealing. I don't think they feel like cuddling us at the moment."

Jason tries to lift his girlfriend's spirits. "It wasn't your fault, Pipes. Or Leo's. Whatever happened, it was Gaea's doing, to drive the two camps apart."

"Maybe if we could explain that, though—"

"With no proof?" Annabeth raises a brow. "And no idea what really happened? I appreciate what you're saying, Piper. I don't want the Romans on our bad side, but until we understand what Gaea's up to, going back is suicide."

"She's right," Hazel speaks hoarsely. She's having the worst seasick case ever but tries hard to keep it together. "Reyna might listen, but Octavian won't. The Romans have honor to think about. They've been attacked. They'll shoot first and ask questions post-hac."

Ara plays with the last pieces of veggies on her plate. "Then we stick to our original plan, and we look for Nico."

Hazel's anxiety causes precious stones to gather around her plate. "Nemesis said we have only six days until Nico dies and Rome is destroyed."

"You mean Rome Rome, not New Rome?" Jason asks.

"I think, but if so, that's not much time."

"Why six days?" Percy questions. "And how are they going to destroy Rome?"

"July first," Ara comments like it's obvious.

"What?" Her brother stares at her blankly.

Ara rolls her eyes. "All the stuff that's happened, Gaea's done them on important dates of our calendars. The winter solstice, the feast of fortune... the Kalends of July is a special occasion because," she pushes a piece of broccoli forward. "In Rome, that day's dedicated to Juno. Which is weird, 'cause I feel like that should be during the Kalends of June, but whatever—"

"How do you know all this?" Percy frowns.

Ara eats the piece of broccoli and points at Jason with her fork. "He's been teaching me Roman history for the past six months."

"Okay... so that connects to Nico... in what way?" 

"We are six days away from July first," she frowns. "Nico's literal deadline lands on a big day for annoying people—the Romans—and Gaea likes to taint our big celebrations, so maybe she's using him as bait."

"I've been seeing some things in my knife," Piper blurts out of nowhere.

Frank gulps down his food with difficulty. "Things such as..?"

"They don't really make sense, just garbled images, but I saw two giants, dressed alike. Maybe twins."

"Twins, like in Ella's prophecy," Annabeth points out. "If we could figure out those lines, it might help."

"Wisdom's daughter walks alone," Percy recites. "The Mark of Athena burns through Rome. Annabeth, that's got to mean you. Juno told me... well, she said you had a hard task ahead of you in Rome. She said she doubted you could do it. But I know she's wrong."

"Reyna was about to tell me something right before the ship fired on us. She said there was an old legend among the Roman praetors—something that had to do with Athena. She said it might be the reason Greeks and Romans could never get along."

"Nemesis mentioned something similar," Leo says. "She talked about an old score that had to be settled—"

"The one thing that might bring the gods' two natures into harmony," Hazel quotes. "'An old wrong finally avenged.'"

"I was only a praetor for about two hours," Percy sighs, playing with his food like Ara does. "Jason, you ever heard a legend like that?"

"I... uh, I'm not sure," he says. "I'll give it some thought."

Percy and Ara both look at him with the same scowl. "You're not sure?" Percy repeats.

Ara could've pressured Jason into talking, but before she can, Hazel intervenes. "What about the other lines? Twins snuff out the angel's breath, Who holds the key to endless death."

"Giants' bane stands gold and pale," Frank continues, "Won through pain from a woven jail."

"Giants' bane," Leo hums. "Anything that's a giants' bane is good for us, right? That's probably what we need to find. If it can help the gods get their schizophrenic act together, that's good."

"We can't kill the giants without the help of the gods," Percy muses.

"I thought you guys killed that one giant in Alaska without a god's help, just the two of you," Jason points to Frank and Hazel.

"Alcyoneus was a special case. He was only immortal in the territory where he was reborn—Alaska. But not in Canada. I wish I could kill all the giants by dragging them across the border from Alaska into Canada, but..." Frank sighs. "Percy's right, we'll need the gods."

"Oh!" Ara snaps her fingers, putting two and two together. "They took him!"

Frank frowns. "Come again?"

"Twins snuff out the angel's breath, Who holds the key to endless death," Ara recites again, looking at her sister. "In your vision, were the twins guarding something?"

Piper tries to remember. "I think they were... pulling up a large vase from a pit?"

"Was it large enough to fit a thin person in it?"

"You're not saying..." Hazel starts fearfully.

Ara's gaze darkens. "Your brother was looking for the doors of death, maybe he found them and knows how to close them, but they caught him before he could tell us."

"Di Angelo," Percy groans in realization, running a hand over his face. "Twins snuff out the angel's breath..."

Ara nods. "If Nico's been captured because he found the doors, rescuing him has to be our priority."

"Which is going to take us straight to those twins," Annabeth points out.

"Whom we can't defeat unless we get the giant's bane beforehand," Percy adds. "Whatever that is."

"And we must get all that before the Kalends of July, or everything will go wrong," Ara concludes with a sigh. "I'm not loving the tight scheduling..."

They stay quiet for a moment, trying to think of a different meaning to those lines, but nothing comes to them. In any case, going to Rome is what they were supposed to do since the start.

"So..." Leo drags his chair back once he finishes his food. "First things first, I guess. We'll have to put down in the morning to finish repairs."

"Someplace close to a city," Annabeth says, "in case we need supplies. But somewhere out of the way, so the Romans will have trouble finding us. Any ideas?"

"Well," Piper leans on the table. "How do you guys feel about Kansas?" 

"Lights out! Settle down! Try to sneak out, and I'll smack you back to Long Island!" 

Ara opens her cabin door angrily. "Coach! If you don't stop yelling you'll finish the quest as a potted plant!"

"Who're you calling a potted plant, Jackson? I'm a carnivorous one!"

"Those can be potted too, you jacka—"

"Someone needs a nap!" Leo comes out of his room, which is right in front of Ara's—definitely on purpose—and stops her before she kills the satyr. "It's alright, Coach, we're all tucked in, stop yelling."

"I don't see you tucked in, Valdez."

"Hedge, I swear," Ara says through gritted teeth, but Leo stands between them.

"I'm wearing my finest PJs, man, c'mon, knock it out," he guides the satyr towards his cabin.

Hedge gives in, though he gives out warnings as he goes. He stops before entering his room and points at them squinting. "You two—straight to bed."

"Unbelievable," Ara mutters, re-entering her room and leaving her door open.

As expected, when Coach Hedge leaves, Leo goes to his door and closes it loudly from the outside, then slips into Ara's room as quietly as possible. Ara crawls under the covers of her bed and Leo sits at the foot of it, his right leg hanging from the side.

He's got his crooked smirk that unsettles adults on his face, but he won't do anything unless Ara lets him, and right now all she wants is sleep. She curls up and buries one hand under her pillow.

"Not bad for our first day, huh?" He says.

Ara chuckles. "Not what I had in mind, to be honest."

Leo squeezes her calf over the covers. "You handled it well. I'm proud of you."

"Thank you," she yawns. "You were great too."

"If those lines in Annabeth's prophecy are about Di Angelo..." he starts carefully. "Isn't it a bad idea to play along?"

Ara frowns. "You think we shouldn't save Nico?"

"We don't know for sure he's been taken—"

"Exactly," she interrupts him. "We're going to Kansas first, we could find something there that proves my theory wrong."

Leo nods, he doesn't want to upset her, so he changes the subject. "Well... I don't know about you, but I'm not sleepy yet."

Ara laughs and quickly tries to cover the noise even though it isn't loud. She sits up to face him properly. "Just ask, Leo."

"Can I stay?" He scoots closer. "I'll behave, obviously, I don't want your brother to gut me..."

Ara presses a palm against his chest, and his heart races at her touch. She should tell him about the curse since it concerns him too, but his heartbeat is so fast and he glows golden so brightly... she doesn't want to ruin his happiness, at least not tonight.

"You know, I think I understand Echo," she whispers.

"Hm?" Leo struggles to focus on her words, even though his eyes are on her lips.

"You can love yourself a lot," Ara explains, "but if you're genuinely in love with someone, you'll stay beside them, even if they give you sorrows. Echo sees something worth saving in Narcissus because she loves him, and you can't listen to reason when that happens."

Leo leans his forehead on hers. "But he already died once and it did nothing to make him reconsider."

"He's been cursed," Ara's voice quivers. "He can't change his fate alone. You're right, Echo's very strong and brave for staying by his side, considering she has no powers, no..." she chokes a little. "No answers."

Leo moves to look at her. "You okay?"

Ara wraps her arms around Leo and buries her face on his neck. "I lied. I got scared when you attacked me—and my ribs still hurt, and I don't like Hazel, and Percy's mad at me..."

Leo's guts twist with guilt, and Ara feels it right away. "Crap, I'm so sorry—I should've—"

She pulls the emotion out of him with her empath touch. "I was scared for you, Leo, not me," the girl assures him. "I'm telling you this... because you said we could lean on each other. Please, don't forget it."

"I won't," Leo tilts his head, staring at her with soft, loving eyes. "Wanna lean on me first?"

Her soul-light brightens and she buries her face in his neck again. "Yes."

"Alright," Leo grins and kisses the top of her head. "You know... I wouldn't mind living through a thousand shitty days like this one if it meant I'd hold you like this every night."

Her heart squeezes with unease. "I know."

Next Chapter –>

Taglist.

@siriuslysirius1107 @ask-giggles1303 @asnyox-the-hoarder @im-planning-something-look @bandshirts-andbooks @coolninjapaper @thewaterlily @whenisthefall @1randomcomic @you-bloody-shank @sunflowergraves @owlalex44 @taylordaughter @typicalsolangelolover @writingmia @espressopatronum454 @slytherinnqueen @orbitingpolaris @obxstiles @ellipsisspelled

#twoidiots writing #percy jackson and the olympians #heroes of olympus #leo valdez x oc #leo valdez fanfic #doo

[peachymilkandcream]

Break Me Slowly|Part 13| Yandere Levi x Evelyn

(A/N: I'm trying to get back in the swing of posting these the same day every week but I've been brainrotting about Afton in the movie, everyone's saying hear me out he's hot and I kinda see it-)

WARNINGS: noncon, dubcon, manipulation, domestic abuse, yandere themes, forced marriage, forced pregnancy, stockholm syndrome, violence, mind breaking, misogyny, etc.

===============================================

The whole way back to this new place Evelyn was supposed to be staying she was numb. It was no surprise that she was pregnant, Levi had kept her locked away for so long filled with cum she should have been expecting this. But nothing could have prepared her for this, nothing could have helped her cope with the idea she was carrying his child, the awful, disgusting man's child.

"You doing okay..?" Reiner's voice had come out of nowhere.

"How can I be...I just got told I'm carrying my abuser's child..."

"You could get rid of it..?" He offers weakly.

She shakes her head. "I can't do that, this child didn't commit any crime against me, I couldn't think to do that." She hoped she sounded convincing, the real reason was of course Levi finding her, even if she did it now, he'd know.

"Sorry, stupid idea." Poor sweet Reiner, he was trying his very hardest to be supportive and comforting, she should be a bit nicer to him, after all he was sticking his neck out for her, if only knew how pointless that was.

"Thanks for everything by the way, I know you didn't have to do this."

Now he perks up, since her discovery she had barely said two words to him. "Hey don't sweat it. It's the least I could do after all the shit he put you through." Clearly he was uncomfortable talking about Levi, and she couldn't really blame him, it wasn't exactly a sweet subject.

"Hey Reiner?" She ventured.

"Yeah what's up?"

"We were friends, I know it's awkward, but we're on the same side now, right? Can we go back to how things were before all that?"

"Oh yeah, of course, sorry I'm making this weird."

"No it's okay, I'm the weird one." Her ears were burning from how tense and forced their conversations sounded, silence was better for now.

So they continued on, until they stood outside, staring at each other a moment before he opens the door.

"So you live alone?"

"Not exactly-"

Before Evelyn can ask a clarifying question an older woman is waiting at the door, arms crossed and deeply annoyed.

"Hey mom-"

==============================================

"You look terrible Levi." Erwin broke Levi out of his head of thoughts.

His head raised out of his hands to look up at his Commander, his eyes burning from lack of sleep. "Thanks Erwin you know I value your opinion so highly."

"What happened to you? People are asking questions." He covers his nose. "And you've been drinking."

"No shit." He rakes his hands through his unruly hair. "I didn't think it would be so hard to live without her."

"You can't be serious. This temper tantrum, is because your wife isn't on your beck and call right now?"

"I can't help it, I can'y sleep or function without her."

"If you had upheld your end of the deal and gotten her pregnant this would've never happened. Plus there's Eren, if you had kept him in line he never would've left and we wouldn't have had to send anyone after him."

Levi chooses not to address that one. "Who's asking questions?"

"A few low rank soldiers, but Hange especially."

Levi curses under his breath, that was the last person he needed poking around. Hange knew him, Evelyn, and Erwin better than they knew themselves. While she could be a bit dense sometimes, she'd know if something was wrong.

"What did you say?"

"Well she knows the situation with Eren, but I told her that Evelyn has been gone because she had a nervous breakdown when she found out about Marley's threats. Therefore if Evelyn ever tells Hange the truth she won't believe her. Damage control."

Levi sighs with relief. "Thank you Erwin. I owe you."

"Oh yes you do. I gave you your wife, don't waste it by being a drunken fool. If you're the lonely go find a prostitute or something, I need you back to how you were so when the time comes to go get them you're perky."

"Despite everything I'm a faithful man." He sneers.

"If that continues to affect your work I'll order you to go sleep with someone. What about that Petra Ral? Your assistant? She'd be willing at any moment."

Levi thought of Erwin's suggestion, but Petra wasn't that much to look at, and no one could get him going like his wife could. Ultimately, he rolls his eyes. "Whatever you say Commander."

Erwin points at him. "Get it together, I'm serious. Sleep, get laid, loose the alcohol, whatever it takes. I need you." He leaves before Levi has a chance to stand and salute, almost colliding with Petra.

"Oh C-Commander." She was slightly startled to see him here of all places, sure Levi was his direct subordinate, but he still rarely visited him since the wedding, she hoped it was because he didn't approve of it. Just like he had approved of the idea of Levi having an affair with her, which in and of itself sent goosebumps all over her.

"Petra." He says in greeting, trying to brush past her.

"Wait uhm, sir, could I talk to you a minute." She asks innocently, Levi rarely gave her any information on his marriage, maybe she could squeeze Erwin for the details.

"Of course." He walks a ways with her. "What do you want to talk about?"

"It's...Captain Levi, he's been acting so strange, and usually he opens up to me, but.." She wills tears into her eyes. "He isn't, and I'm worried for him.."

Erwin pauses for a moment. "Levi is just taking it hard that Evelyn is on a mission without him right now. He'll get his act together soon I'm sure, loneliness was something he always had a hard time dealing with."

Warmth fills her, Evelyn was out of the way for who knew how long, perfect for her to swoop up poor lonely, and perhaps drunk Levi. Maybe now she could seduce him and then he'd compare the two and find Evelyn lacking.

"Oh I see, I'll try and lift his spirits Commander." She salutes. "Thank you."

"Of course Soldier." Erwin simply walks away, not giving her large grin a second thought.

Once he was out of sight Petra ran to her barracks, digging out anything remotely sexy to put on. She came across the lingerie she had bought when she made up her mind who the man of her dreams was. She hadn't worn it and wanted Levi to tear it off in a moment of passion.

Over top of that was a lace red dress that made it look like she had cleavage. She cursed Evelyn's larger chest but figured that Levi was to refined to care too much about things like that. Her hair was teased into a small clip on the back of her head, an easy access to hickeys. She wanted everyone to know she had given her virginity to the most perfect man alive.

With a last application of bright red lipstick she pictured the red rim around the base of his dick, she knew Evelyn couldn't deep throat him like she would, in that she'd be better. In her opinion she looked hotter than that whore, and she thought Levi would think so too. Tan high heels completed the outfit, with a final look she blew a kiss at the mirror and headed out.

With a shaking hand she knocked on his office door, most everyone had gone home or to bed by now, but she saw the light at the bottom of his door. Without a wife to go home to right now he was dedicating himself to work, as he always pushed himself too hard when no one stopped him.

"Come in."

Now was the time, now her dreams would come true, everything she had hoped for was finally happening. The door swung open with a tiny squeak, getting his attention. His head was buried in his hands, bottle of liquor open with a shot glass in front of him, and he might have even been crying.

"Petra? Why are you dressed like that?" He seems confused before his eyes widen. "Petra-"

#attack on titan #break me slowly #levi ackerman #levi aot #levi x oc #levi x reader #shingeki no kyojin #yandere levi #yandere levi ackerman #yandere levi x reader

[theopolis]

I'm told BND Harry started patching things up with Liz off-panel and didn't care about Normie for most of his appearances. Would you say that's a fair assessment?

I'll preface this by saying that I may be overlooking something as I am not super well read on the post OMD era (many thanks to my friend @kitausuret for her liveblog of it, which def filled in some gaps for me!)

But overall... yes and no. Patching up things with Liz off-panel definitely rings true to me, I can think of only one storyline where the conflict between them was beginning to be adressed head-on

Which ended with both of them by Normies side, establishing how they are a family regardless of how the relationship between Liz and Harry may evolve from here. Overall, a good start.

However following that this conflict was neglected. Until, at a later point, we were informed that while plot was happening Harry and Liz were basically locked in a room together and whatever happened in there caused them to get romantically involved in some way again which. Hmmm. Is a very lackluster way to revive their relationship, especially considering how little ground it had to begin with. I can buy them being young, impulsive, etc pre OMD and rushing into getting married and having a child. But after the trauma Harry put his family through during his Goblin days, I cannot imagine things resolving so easily. We deserved a deeper exploration of their feelings, especially Liz' side.

Harry's relationship to Normie post OMD wasn't as undercooked, although it still didn't receive its due if you ask me. The main thing that made me go "blegh" was that one quote from Harry about how he went for days at a time without thinking of Normie while he was in hiding. Bad. Very ooc. I do not see it

But ignoring that - Harry was consistently shown around Normie when the narrative didn't whisk him away to somewhere else (a problem of its own) and they definitely got more of a real pay-off to the conflict between them compared to HarryLiz. Normie was wary of his father upon Harrys return and there was this subplot about Harry struggling to raise two sons at a time, and Normie growing jealous of Stanley (as well as being confused by the status of his parents relationship)

In my opinion, Normie's feelings were justified considering how big of an impact Harry's Goblin days and death must have left on his young psyche, and his (one-sided) sibling rivalry with his half brother was a compelling concept. The resolution to that, while rushed, was still quite sweet

The main issue with post OMD Spider-Man comics, as you may have deduced from this summary, is that they more often than not do not want to commit to fleshing out grounded interpersonal conflict. Often, the writers don't give the characters enough time to be around each other, and when they do, we do not get to see enough of it to really paint a picture of the way their dynamics evolve. A problem will be set up, forgotten about for a while, and then we jump-cut to its supposed resolution.

This stands in stark contrast to the root of the complicated feelings between Harry and his family especially - DeMatteis' Goblin Jr arc left more room for the characters inner lives and how they externalize those than perhaps anything else. That's what made it so intense and captivating.

I really wish for another version of the post OMD era where Harry is not only written more in line with his original personality and themes, but he and his family receive more of an opportunity to shine as complex individuals with complex relationships to one another which change at a natural pace and through thoughtfully placed character beats. But regardless, I cannot agree with the assesssment that post OMD Harry didn't care about Normie. If anything, his scenes with Normie are the rare moments where his once character-integral softness and domesticity come through

#harry osborn #liz allan #normie osborn #theopolispost #osborns #canon

[xalygatorx]

A Very Worthy Christmas 2: Untraditional Traditions

Christmassy bonus chapters for Worthy (posted a bit early because we're sneaking up on that time of year)!

All take place after the main story, so if you don't want spoilers, save these for a cozy, snowy day. x

Summary: Cora gives Loki her least favorite job related to sending Christmas cards. After seeing her little fake tree, Loki bullies her out to procure a real pine tree for their apartment decor. Cora calls Thor and Jane and officially invites them over for Christmas.

Pairing: Loki x Fem!OC

Warnings: None

Word Count: ~1.7k

By the time the cookie fiasco had settled and she'd managed to bake, cool, and properly ice the entirety of the fresh treats, then clean up the mess she'd made doing all of that, it was well into the night and she wasn't able to call Jane's cell phone until the following day. By that time, she was situated across the dining table from Loki, who had gone from grumbling and muttering about domestic abuse—a term he'd learned from Tony, who had been less than helpful about all of this as far as giving Loki argument ammunition went—as he licked what was probably the fourth envelope she'd hurled at him. She'd neglected to answer his questions of how many more were still to do because, on some level, she did feel bad for him. She'd given him the job because she hated doing it, herself.

"Just a few more," she sighed, opening another card. Her hand was cramping anyway and she didn't mind the idea of a break—it also wasn't good for either of them if his mouth adopted the weirdly medical flavor of envelope adhesive.

"You've written how many of those so far?" he complained after wrinkling his nose and quickly, minimally sliding his tongue over another edge, making a show of slamming it shut and shoving it to the side. "Ten?"

"That makes five," Cora noted sourly as she penned another note. "You know, this isn't exactly fun for me either."

"You have the better job though," he pointed out.

"Would you like to personalize these?" she demanded before holding up a hand as he started to answer. "I take that back, that wasn't an offer." He looked comically disappointed by being unable to put into motion whatever scheme had popped into his devious mind. She could only imagine, considering all the Christmas cards thus far were addressed to their Avenger allies and a few SHIELD agents, including Fury and Coulson. She was planning on crashing the holiday party Coulson had divulged that they were having at headquarters on the twenty-third to hand them out. His idea, of course.

Loki groaned as she tossed him another card, morosely sliding an envelope from his stack and sliding the card carefully in. His demeanor made Cora smile, but she bit it down to a simple twitch of her lips. Her amusement came from his pouting, but she also took to heart that he would outright refuse to do anything he didn't want to do, so the fact that he was helping her meant he was willing to do so. Just not to admit it.

"I know I'm kind of going overboard," she admitted as she finished writing Tony's card and then cautiously filled it with a pouch of glitter since she knew from having visited Stark Tower a few times that he tended to go through his mail while reclining in a chair or lying down. Steve had given him crap about it, saying he only did it to look cool and that he was a hipster, one of the many modern slang words Natasha had taught him and he now used proudly and whenever possible. "Careful with that one."

Loki gave her a look of smug approval and slid it gently into the envelope, not uttering a complaint this time around. "Indeed. Is this another Yuletide tradition?"

"I suppose it is. But I haven't done anything like this any other year."

"Just punishing me, hm?" he murmured with a disgruntled tone at last when he had to seal Tony's card.

Cora paused in doodling a bird resembling Robin Hood in Clint's card before continuing and replying, "I didn't really have anyone to write them to until this year, apart from my grandma. So this is kind of fun…for me." She looked up and found Loki staring at her, mid-lick on the envelope. When her eyes moved in a quick glance between him and the envelope, he realized he'd stopped to stare and started to pull away from it, but the top point of the flap tore off, stuck to his tongue like a normal tongue stuck to a frozen pole. He grimaced a little as he pulled the paper from his mouth. Her expression warred between a smirk and a sympathetic frown as she passed him some more envelopes. "Only a few more."

"You said that three cards ago…," he murmured before his eyes caught on a box at the corner of the room. "What is that?"

"The Christmas tree."

"…In a box?" he wondered, getting up and going to pull back the lid.

"It's a decorative tree," she said, watching him investigate.

He looked up just enough to squint at her. "A what?"

"It's fake," she simplified, growing weirdly protective of her shitty little tree.

"It smells," he grumbled as he leaned closer to the box.

"Um, like pine needles." She'd Febreezed it with pine scent for years to make herself feel better.

"Like dust and disappointment. Do all Midgardians have such awful trees?"

"Leave my tree alone," she asserted, wrinkling her nose as she was forced to start licking the envelopes herself. At least she only had three more cards. "A lot of people have fake trees!"

"And the ones who don't?"

"Have real ones, but they're a lot more work."

Loki nodded to himself and shoved the box closed. "Where does one go to procure a 'real' Christmas tree?" he asked seriously, finding the concept of a "fake tree" absurd in every proportion.

"You're not serious, that tree is fine!"

"That is not a tree. Lead," he ordered, nodding toward the door.

Cora's jaw dropped slightly and they stared each other down once again before she sighed heavily and got up from the table. This time, he'd won.

Cora wedged her phone between her ear and shoulder, her ungloved hands tucked under her coat sleeves as she trudged through a snowy yard of Christmas trees, the plastic orange fencing flapping with the winter wind. She sniffed from the cold, listening to the dial tone until an uncertain, burly tone answered Jane's cell. "Erm, greetings, who calls?"

It took everything in her not to laugh. "Thor, you're giving the iPhone a try finally? It's Cora."

"Sister mine!" he boomed through the speaker, sounding exponentially more jovial that the phone was working in his favor. The last time she'd seen them, Jane had been trying to teach him at least the basics of smartphone use in case he ever needed to use one and he'd been quite opposed to the idea. "Are you well? How fares my brother, is he available to use the iPhone?"

She cracked a smile. "I am well and so is he. He's…occupied at the moment, but I'll try to snag him in a minute. How is everyone?"

"Jane is well, as is our boy," he said with pride. He paused when Erik started crying in the background. "He is distressed over his lack of cookies, I think."

Cora laughed. "I won't keep you long then. Listen, would you all like to come over for a couple days, on Christmas Eve and Day? We'd love to have you."

"My…" Thor paused and there was weight in the silence. "My brother has agreed to this?"

Cora watched Loki as he inspected the trees, measuring them up and gauging which one he wanted as snow drifted down, heavier than earlier. She had a feeling it was because of him—his Jotun abilities had become more and more active as winter progressed. "He has."

"Truly?" Thor asked in a hushed tone.

"He may be harsh with you still, but he didn't bite my head off about it like last year." They'd traveled to Norway around this time last year, so in transit, no other holiday traditions had been exercised; this was his first year of it on her home turf. However, she'd asked if Thor and Jane could accompany them and she'd received an uncomfortable refusal which had risen into a bit of an argument. She had a feeling Loki still thought Thor should hate him and instead of accepting the truth of his brother's generous forgiveness, he liked to fester in his own guilt.

For the next moment or so, Cora grinned, listening to Thor excitedly take off to find Jane and ask her what she thought of celebrating all together and after she'd discussed Loki and all that with Jane as well, they hung up with the plan of the family coming to stay over on Christmas Eve and have gifts and food together the next day. She hung up just as Loki called over to her and she made her way through the flurries to see what he'd found.

"What about this one?" he asked her as she joined him and she craned her head back to take it in, nibbling her lip thoughtfully. "No?"

"Actually…," she murmured, taking a step back to get a better look at it. "…I like it."

"Oh?"

"I mean, my tree's the best tree, but this… This is a close second," she rephrased purely as a jab, which he recognized as such. In truth, it was a lovely tree, vibrant and alive. It was the color of his eyes.

He rolled his eyes and nodded. "So… Do we take it?"

"Like everything else, we have to buy it," Cora smirked, wondering what the grand old city of New York would make of Christmas tree thieves. "I'll go find someone."

She was a few steps away when he asked to her back, "So, you asked him?" Cora looked over her shoulder as the wind whispered by. "Thor, I mean. You asked him."

"I did," she said simply, knowing he heard her even though the passing breeze stole her sound.

Loki nodded and when he didn't speak again, she continued to walk through the multitude of trees to find the caretaker. He listened to her go as he glanced over the tree, feeling odd about contributing to her traditions. He often felt as though he fit in with her, but not with the world she hailed from and this was almost admitting that he had truly become a part of her Midgardian life officially.

He supposed he had and long before this little admittance to himself, and smiled faintly as he leaned in to smell the delicate fragrance radiating from the evergreen needles, a vague carol dancing from a weathered speaker nearby. New traditions, indeed.

Next chapter: A Very Worthy Christmas 3, Stalemates in Macy's

#loki laufeyson #loki x fem!oc #loki x oc #loki fanfic #loki fanfiction #loki fluff #thor odinson #thor movies #thor the dark world #avengers #marvel cinematic universe

[bippot]

Summary: After a long day at work, Jake just wants to go home and be pampered by his girlfriend because he's been working so hard and they've got a busy day tomorrow.

Looking after his sister's little ones and a Halloween party is easier to deal with if his lovely girlfriend shares the responsibilities.

Tags: Established Relationship, First Meetings, Fluff and Smut, Domestic Fluff, Massage, Halloween Costumes, Family Fluff

Song Recommendation: Monster Mash by Bobby Pickett

The Crew, Jake Martin Masterlist - here

(Ps. I know The Crew fandom is mostly dead but I had written this ages ago and thought, 'huh, why not post it?')

└─────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───────┘

That's what Jake was. Overworked. For the past couple of weeks, Catherine had him doing non stop interviews, fan meetings, and television appearances. Non-fucking stop. It was driving him crazy, and he knew it. He was exhausted. He hadn't had a day off in ages. He didn't think he could physically be able to take much more.

All he wanted to do was hurry home to his lovely girlfriend and become one with his indent on the couch for the next couple of hours. He could just turn his brain off and let Y/N give him as many smooches as she was willing to give him. That was how he got through most days.

Well, that's how he got through the days that she was home. Y/N was a comedian. A good one. Or at least that's what Jake thought. And that was what her legion of fans (who had a tendency to pry too much into her life) also believed.

To Jake, she was the funniest woman, no, person in the world. Not only that, she was the most beautiful human he'd ever come across, inside and out. This woman who brought joy to millions was his. He got to go home to the beautiful Y/N L/N. It was actually something that he couldn't even fathom. How did he get so lucky?

It wasn't luck. It was all thanks to one of his sponsors, 'Sweet Victory', which was a vodka brand that Y/N was fond of. So fond of that she managed to weasel herself a contract with them. In exchange for a lifetime supply of booze, Y/N had to star in a few adverts for the company. That was easy. She could do that in her sleep.

She had been the face of Sweet Victory for a while when the company decided to sponsor Bobby Spencer Racing. Y/N never understood why an alcohol supplier sponsored a sport that focused on driving. Intoxication and cars? Yeah, that is a great thing to endorse.

But, she got free shit and the chance to hang out with an incredibly cute pro athlete man? Fucking sign Y/N up. Apparently, someone's PR person thought it would make for a great chance to pair the two together. Comedy's rising starlet and the dashing playboy of NASCAR? It was a match made in advertising heaven.

Catherine had been a little hesitant at first. Jake's first commercial hadn't gone as well as she'd expected it to go. But he was on his own for that one. Y/N was seasoned when it came to being in front of a camera since that was her literal job. She was known to be easy to work with, so Catherine gave it the go ahead.

What she didn't know was that Jake had the biggest crush on his scene partner. It was weird. Jake never got nervous, but on the day he was supposed to meet Y/N, he couldn't help but get slightly ramble-y with nerves. He paced around Kevin's office, declaring with every step, "I’m not nervous. Not at all. But, what if I, like, look at her and just accidently recite her last comedy special. Word for word. Cause I know it. I do. I always watch it after a race to help calm me down. Should I tell her that? Or would that be weird?"

Kevin and Beth just stared at him. Their eyes followed every move he made. Jake was actually going to be starstruck. It had happened before when he heard that Ashton Kutcher placed bets on him coming in second (with Blaney in first, but he didn't like to think about that part), and he almost got so dazed that Kevin thought it would be unsafe for him to drive. In the end, Jake came twelfth and felt an intense shame that he let the presenter of Punk'd down. He couldn't let Y/N down that way. Oh fuck, that would be, honestly, the most awful thing in the entire world.

"She's, like, the funniest person ever," Jake sputtered.

"I thought you said I was the funniest person ever?"

"I lied, Kev!"

He stopped in place and tried to calm himself down, taking a couple of deep breaths before speaking again, "I'm good. I'm calm." He then remembered that he wasn't just going to see her, he was going to have to talk to her too. "Oh fuck, I lied. I fucking lied. I keep on lying. I don't know what to say to her. Maybe I can wing it, I don't know. What does she like? Movies? Books? What do I talk to her about? Is she a big reader? I'm dyslexic. Is that going to be a problem? What if I say something stupid?"

Of course, of course he was going to say something stupid. That's what he did. Every time. But, he didn't want to let Y/N down. He didn't want to become a segment in her act where she told an audience full of people how he fainted when he first saw her. Or vomited on her shoes. Or something equally as stupid, but also equally as embarrassing.

His little heart was racing, and not the kind of racing he loved. The adrenaline of the chase was second nature to Jake. This? This was hell. It was worse than the Kutcher situation. Jake was actually going to meet and spend an extended period of time with Y/N. He was going to stand in front of her and say, "Hi, Y/N. Love your work. I'm Jake, by the way. Just in case you wanted to know. Oh? You knew that. Right, right, right, because we have to shoot this thing and my name is on the call sheet. Of course." And then he was sure that his heart would just fucking stop. Maybe even explode.

Because Kutcher may be cool and handsome, but Y/N, however, was Jake's absolute dream girl. Pretty. Smart. Her job literally was to be hilarious. Yet, everything he heard about her was that she was incredibly kind - always volunteering at children's hospitals, paying off people's university debt, and that time that she called Piers Morgan out for being a twat on live television.

Yeah, to Jake, she was beyond perfect. Additionally, she had a great ass, which is always a plus.

"Take it easy, Jakey," Kevin reassured, but then got straight to the point. "We're going to need you to be on your best behaviour today. That means no trying it on with the nice comedian lady."

"I don't think I could if I tried," Jake said, feeling a little sick. Talking to her was enough. Flirting with her? Jesus, that would take some serious balls. Jake was great at flirting. He knew that. Women always loved him for it. But, he wasn't going to a word out with Y/N, let alone anything that was even mildly suggestive.

"You know what I mean," Kevin said, although it was obvious he was just humouring Jake. "Just be yourself today, alright? Yourself without all the pick-up lines."

What was he without his pick-up lines? Just some regular guy? Just another fun of the mill, totally jacked elite athlete? Just some dude who was getting paid a lot of money to stand in front of the camera with the girl he likes? It's a hard life. But, hey, someone has to endure it.

Beth got up from her seat, quickly making it to Jake's side to rub comforting circles on his back like his mother used to when he was young. She could feel how inconsistent his breathing was and started doing breathing exercises with him, telling him, "Breathe in. That's it. You've got it. Now out," over and over again until he was doing it normally. It worked for a moment.

Then he saw her.

As soon as he saw Y/N, his heart stopped. It was beating so fast that he felt like he was about to pass out. It took all of his discipline to not rush over to her and totally make a fool of himself. Catherine had just strutted past the window with Y/N right next to her, the pair idly chatting like they were old friends. She had a casual, open, happy expression on her face as he watched them through the window.

There was Y/N. There she was. Right on the other side of the wall, about five metres away. She was wearing a grey sweater and blue jeans. It was simple. Casual. Easy-going. But somehow it looked classy, even perfect. She looked so freaking cool. She was smoking hot. And to think, he was about to talk to her. What the hell was he thinking?

She saw him looking at her and gave him a small wave, sweetly smiling. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! "Oh my God," he mouthed, his eyes growing wide. He felt his mouth fill with saliva and his hands got much sweatier than they had to be. He was going to be sick. Or pass out. Or both.

"Alright, alright, settle down, Romeo," Kevin said. He put his hand on Jake's shoulder, giving it a slight squeeze. Kevin couldn't help but be amused by the way that he couldn't tear his eyes off of her, yet he still offered, "Maybe I should get Jake some water or something. You know, to calm his nerves."

While Kevin headed to the kitchen, Beth tried her best to reassure him, "It'll be alright, honey. You'll see. Once you talk to her, you'll be alright. She's just a person. Nothing more."

It wasn't working. He still looked terrified.

Kevin returned with a bottle of water and handed it to Jake, saying, "Here, drink this, alright? It'll help."

"Thanks," he said, his voice wavering.

Thinking she was helping, Beth offered the age old advice, "Just imagine her in her underwear."

Normally Beth wouldn't say anything that would cause anyone to picture a half naked woman, but they needed this sponsorship. They needed it. And a mess up on Jake's part might:

a) make the backers, well, back out.

b) get Jake into Catherine's bad books again - a place where he just managed to crawl out of.

c) make an influential celebrity have a bad experience with Bobby Spencer Racing and tell their audience about it, which definitely would mean that Jake would be replaced by Jessie in a millisecond.

d) all of the above.

Y/N in nothing but her panties? Oh, he'd already imagined that. He'd done that a lot. And now, he couldn't stop. His heart was pounding so hard that he thought it might explode out of his chest. His brain went into overdrive as he desperately tried to picture every single part of her in her underwear.

"Not helping, Beth!" he blurted out, unable to stop himself. He basically tore the cap off the water bottle and made it his mission to chug the entire thing.

Now the thing about glugging down water like a man who has been stuck in the Sahara Desert for a millenia is that it is really easy to spill it everywhere. Especially if something distracts you.

Say, if the door to the office opened and the very person you were freaking out about entered and smiled at you first because their eyes were immediately drawn to the fact that you looked like a complete idiot standing with one hand against the desk for stability - because if you didn't do that, you might fall - and the other furiously tipping all of contents of the water bottle down your shirt, would you manage to keep your chill?

Probably not.

Strangely, Jake did. As soon as he saw that grin of hers without the blinds of Kevin's office in the way and that goofy grin that was aimed at him, something happened. He wasn't nervous anymore. Not a single ounce of fear remained. In fact, he felt great. The best he'd ever felt. There were no butterflies or attempts to say anything, only to stutter out an incoherent mess.

Only the feeling of 'oh, this just feels right' and he didn't quite know how to explain it. It was like the feeling you get when you finally finish a jigsaw puzzle. It was cliché and soppy, but that's the only way he could think to describe it as. So yeah, he could do this. No, he was good to go. So good to go.

"Oh shit," he exclaimed looking down at the mess he made. Yeah, it had to come off. Without warning, Jake's fingers found the bottom of his shirt and he lifted it over his head, throwing it in Kevin's face when it was off.

"Jesus Christ, Jake," Kevin exclaimed, pushing the shirt from his face and shaking his head. Beth's mouth dropped open as she covered her face with her hands, while Catherine stared at Jake with utter confusion on her face. They'd hoped he'd at least say hello to her before popping his top off.

Jake, on the other hand, was surprisingly calm. Being shirtless was easy for him. If anything, wearing a shirt was the difficult part. He just beamed at Y/N as she made no attempt to hide that she was ogling him.

She couldn't help it. Y/N let none of them mistake where she was looking. Her gaze started at his right bicep then moved to his chest, then further down to his hips then up to his other bicep, only to finish at his face. He liked being the centre of her attention. He liked it a lot.

A light shade of pink coloured her cheeks as she looked at him in awe, and he felt his entire body grow hot and tingly. There was no denying that she was checking him out. And he was soaking it all in with a smug, wide shit-eating grin.

"I like your shirt," she joked with a small smile, and he felt as if he'd just won the lottery. "It's almost skin-like."

"Thanks. I made it myself," he retorted, then added with a cheeky grin, "I bet it would look good on you too."

Cutting the tension, Kevin cleared his throat awkwardly. "Why don't we show you around the garage while Jake finds something to cover his modesty?" he suggested, and Jake could practically hear Catherine's teeth grinding.

"If I have to," Jake said, then he shot Y/N a wink as he brushed past her, making his way out to grab a spare shirt from his locker in the gym changing room.

Calling after him, she flirted, "You don't have to."

And that's how it started.

He managed to keep flirting with her throughout the shoot. So much that she actually said, "Jake, you're going to have to stop. My face is too red already. Poor Laura has had to add more concealer four times already."

The entire time that she was in the garage, they had a back and forth. Every time he made a mistake, she laughed. Never in a mean way. She just thought he was funny. And cute. And charming.

"Really? I didn't even realise you had makeup on. I've been too busy getting lost in your eyes, just can't seem to help myself."

Leaning forward, she brushed some hair from his forehead and coquetted, "That's so weird because I swear I caught you looking down my shirt a minute ago. Do I have eyes down there too?"

"I'm not too sure. But you can always give me a better look later, if you want. I'm more than happy to get lost in any part of you."

Her cheeks were a bright red by now and she was trying so hard to look away, but his eyes were like magnets and she couldn't, she had to keep looking into them.

"Get a drink with me at the weekend?"

The weekend wasn't close enough.

"What are you doing after this?" she whispered in his ear, and he felt a shiver run up through his body, it was so erotic. He wanted to grab her and kiss her so badly. He could spend the entire day just kissing her.

What was he doing after the shoot? Knocking back a few drinks at his house with his ultimate dream girl? Yeah, exactly that. The moment he unlocked his front door and let her in before him, letting his eyes wander down her form as she surveyed his home, she turned around to ask, "So, what's your poison?"

She had a way of taking his breath away, of making him forget everything around him, even his own name. He didn't answer her question. He gripped her hips and tugged her so she was flush against him, claiming that, "We could always skip the drinks."

Seductively, she placed her hand on his jaw and brushed her thumb across his lips, her voice low and sensual as she faked innocence to inquire, "Well, what do you want to do instead?"

"I'm sure we can think of something," he replied, then kissed her deeply to prove his point. Her eyes fluttered shut as she melted into him. It took all of his willpower not to move his hands up and down her back and to simply take her right there in the foyer. No. He wanted their first time to be right.

He wanted it to be perfect. He wanted it to be so good, she'd immediately want more. And he'd give it to her. He broke the kiss and cupped her cheek, his thumb ghosting against her cheekbone. She stared at him for a moment, a thoughtful expression on her face, before she reached up and ran her fingers through his hair.

No words were said, but they knew. As soon as they did this, there was no going back for either one of them. They'd be stuck on each other for eternity. And you know what, they were completely fine with that. If anything, they were overjoyed at the prospect.

Jake stepped away and gestured for her to lead the way to his bedroom. She let out a chuckle and reminded him, "Darling, I don't know where we're going."

"Oh fuck, I forgot that." He took her hand and led her to his room, smushing her against the wall outside and attacking her with smooches because he got too eager and couldn't wait any longer.

"I'll have to teach you how to be all gentlemanly," she teased.

"Oh, I already know how to be gentlemanly. It's just I'm not very good at it when it comes to you."

Hooking his hands under her thighs, he lifted her and began to make his way towards his bed. She quickly found the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head, throwing it behind them. She didn't need words to communicate her desires. Everything was already obvious in her eyes. With her mind. With her body. He could spend hours just looking at her, worshipping her body.

Unable to stop himself, he instinctively muttered, "Boobies," when he saw hers. She just laughed at him, delighted that he had a tendency to say whatever was on his mind.

"Jake, are you going to put me down or are you going to keep staring at my boobs?"

They'd reached the bed and he'd been too preoccupied with her chest to even think about placing her against the pillows and sinking into her. She was staring down at him expectantly, waiting for him to start what he'd been dying to do for hours now.

"I'm going to put you down, but I'm not going to stop staring at your boobs," he replied, grinning from ear to ear. He did so, whipping his shirt off and playfully swinging it around before he moved on top of her. He made a big deal of kissing down her neck as his hands moved across her chest, a little disappointed that she still had her bra on.

She reached down and found his belt, undoing it as she moved him so that he was lying on his back and she was straddling his thighs. Before she tossed the belt to the side, she noticed the car emblem on the buckle and lightly dragged her finger over the metal and complimented, "This is very cute."

"Thanks," he replied, his eyes on her mouth as she pulled the fabric of his trousers down, revealing his underwear. He was rock hard. She slid her hand under the waistband and took him in her hand, using the precum that had already started to form to slide up and down his length. He gave a low groan of pleasure as she continued to use her hand to drive him crazy.

"God. Oh God," he murmured, his voice hoarse as his head rolled back into the pillow. He closed his eyes as his fingertips danced over the skin of her thighs, then moved across and grasped her ass through her jeans

"Tell me how good you feel," she whispered as she dropped down and lowered his underwear so she could take him into her mouth, licking the entirety of his shaft before she placed her lips over his tip. She sucked him gently at first, loving how it felt to feel him so deep inside her throat. Then, she changed it up and started sucking him with a bit more force, using her free hand to cup his balls as she did.

"Oh, so good. Fuck!" he answered, his hips bucking up into her. "Fucking yeah, so... you're going to have to stop or else I'm.... I'm, fucking hell, I'm going to come on your face, Y/N."

She pulled him out of her mouth and chuckled up at him as he squirmed. Reassuringly, she asked him to confirm, "I'm happy for that to happen. Or do you want me to stop, sweetheart?" He nodded frantically, his face reddening as he panted, eyes squeezed shut, body rigid with the effort of keeping his orgasm at bay.

Moving back up so she could check if he was okay, she brushed some sweaty hair from his forehead and slowly trailed her fingertips across his abs and chest, enjoying his heavy breathing.

"You're way too good at that."

"I'm just trying to impress you."

"Yeah. Consider me impressed," he laughed, bringing his hand to her neck to pull her lips onto his.

As they kissed, he took over the hand that was unconsciously playing with her boob and walked it down to her jeans, undoing them and shifting his hand into her underwear in no time.

"I'm going to take these off of you," he said, smiling when she bit down on his bottom lip.

"That sounds like a good plan."

Jeans and panties removed, he couldn't help but gaze at her body, drinking in the sight of her. He had every intention of savouring every moment of this, every detail of this magnificent woman, every bit of her.

Still, her bra was on. She noticed him looking at it with a little pout and leant on one elbow, using the other to fiddle with the clasp on her back. The moment it was undone, she slipped out of it and threw it at him, and he caught it with a grin.

Together, they said, "Boobies," as she knew that was just about to come out of his mouth. He knelt between her thighs and gripped onto her breast, kneading upwards so that he could rub his thumb over her nipple, making sure to keep his eyes open, drinking in her beauty and how she looked in his arms.

Honestly, she was everything he could have ever wanted and more. So, he did something he didn't usually do.

Going down on a girl to Jake is something that couples do. He doesn't know why that idea got in his head. Maybe it's because if he did it to one one-night stand, they might get the wrong idea and think he was super super into them and that would make it ultimately more difficult for them when he never spoke to them again.

Usually, he wasn't super super into them. Today, he was. And he was going to try his absolute hardest to make sure this wasn't just a one time thing.

So, he scooted back a little and started at her ankle, peppering sloppy smooches up her leg, taking his time to pay attention to every little part of her, loving the way it felt under his lips and his hands. The moment he got to her thighs, he licked a slow strip then slung her knees over his shoulders and got to work.

With his hands firmly driving her hips down so she couldn't squirm away from everything he gave her, he swirled his tongue around her clit, lapping at her wetness until she was rocking against his face and begging him for more. He added two fingers and gradually pushed them into her, loving the way she moaned and arched her back as he fucked her with his fingers while flicking her clit with his tongue.

As he drove her closer and closer to the edge, she started making loud, needy noises and desperately grabbed handfuls of the bedsheets, her movements getting faster and more desperate until she was thrashing about and couldn't help but cry out his name as she came.

"JAKE!" His name. Oh my god, she said his name. Well, he was the one who made her come, so...it was expected. He just thought he'd never get the delight before today.

He continued to lick her until her orgasm had slowed, before slowly pulling away and looking at her, eyes bright with a feverish lust. "Good?" he asked, smiling crookedly. She just nodded, too out of breath to speak.

With a grunt of satisfaction, he opened the top draw of his bedside table and asked, "Are you allergic to Latex?"

"Oh my god, you're such a whore," she joked and peered at his collection of condoms. He had every type under the sun. She saw a brightly coloured box and snatched it. "Woah, you've got Spiderman condoms? We're using these. I'm on the pill so I was going to tell you that you didn't have to, but oh boy, we have to now."

She shook one out of the box and tossed it to him. He didn't waste any time. He didn't even refute her claim that he was a whore, because, well, he had been. He'd been a right slut and that's fine. But maybe he'd have to change his ways.

"You don't mind that I've, you know, been around?"

"There's nothing wrong with experience."

Once he was wrapped up, he leant down and smushed their lips together so he could feel her moan on his mouth as he pressed his cock into her welcoming heat.

"I've been dying for you all day," he confessed and meant it. He'd never wanted anyone like this. He hadn't thought it was possible, but he wanted her. God, he wanted her so much his body was going to explode if he didn't slow the fuck down already.

So, he started slowly, taking his time to feel every part of her, to make sure she felt his every reaction. Slow, steady, agonisingly sweet, like he had the whole world to lose in her and he was taking it all in. It was the most amazing feeling in the world to feel her wrap her legs around him, to feel her start to move on him, to feel him pick up the pace and get more desperate with every thrust.

It was so much better than he thought it was going to be, having her wrapped around him like that, her body moving in perfect rhythm with his, the pounding of his heart keeping time with her own. It was a beat. It was a song. It was everything.

The intensity increased when she locked her arm around his neck and began to rock herself onto him, gazing deeply into his eyes as she moved. Her free hand came up to cradle his cheek, her touch light but firm and possessive. It sent such a delicious jolt through him that he wasn't sure how he didn't come right then and there.

Y/N moans were getting louder and louder until he felt her begin to contract around him, drawing him deep into her as she shook and came hard. He was right there with her, his whole body tensing and his own orgasm hitting him in a wave of pure, unadulterated joy.

Fully spent, he unceremoniously slumped on top of her with a loud groan and buried his head in her collarbone, breathing deeply as he fought to slow his heart rate and regain control of his senses. He usually wasn't much of a hugger after sex, but today was different. He felt a need to keep her close to him, to feel her pressed up against him for as long as he could.

"Stop it," she laughed as he nipped at the skin of her neck.

"Stop what?" he asked innocently, then kissed her neck again with more force, causing her to let out a moan and clutch the back of his head to pull him by the hair off her.

Ignoring how obviously turned on that made him, she warned, "We are on camera tomorrow; don't leave a mark."

Playfully, he surveyed her neck and grimaced, admitting, "You could've reminded me maybe...one, two, three..." He counted as many as he could see. "Seven, no, eight. Eight hickeys ago."

Eight love bites? That would be a task to cover up. She could get revenge and give him some but that would make it painfully obvious what had happened. If Laura the makeup artist thought it was difficult to cover Y/N's blushing cheeks, well, she was in for a real treat with the mess Jake had made on her neck.

"Can I make it ten? You know, who wants eight, when you can have ten?" he chuckled. Two more wouldn't make that much difference, would it? So, when she nodded, he proceeded to kiss her neck again. With a playful nip when he was done, he whispered, "That's more like it."

Comfortable silence filled the room for a moment as Y/N raked her hand through Jake's hair and stared at the ceiling, lost in her own world. She was so preoccupied with her thoughts, she didn't notice him gazing lovingly at her, watching her, waiting for her to look back at him.

When she finally did, he slowly leaned in to kiss her, a kiss so soft she doubted anyone had ever kissed her like that before. It was sweet and tender and completely different from the other ones. Those had been filled with lust, but this one had been different. This one had felt more like something. This one felt more like…well, like the sort that couples do. She felt him smile against her lips when she opened her mouth to deepen the kiss. Her fingers wrapped around the back of his head as she pulled him even closer.

Then it hit him. Those others were out of need. In those moments, there was nothing else on his mind except from his need for her. This was because he wanted to. He wanted to kiss her like this, he wanted to hold her like this, he wanted to be with her like this, because he wanted her. Not just her body.

With a little bite on her bottom lip, he moved to press a chaste peck on her cheek and murmured against her, "Want to repeat this again tomorrow? I'll actually get you a drink next time."

"Throw in dinner and you've got yourself a deal."

"Deal."

They weren't surprised when one date turned into two, three, four... Before they knew it, bam, they were living together. A year had gone and Jake was still as hooked as the day he met her.

Recently, they'd both been very busy. Y/N had a couple of gigs across the country and had been travelling for the last few months, facetiming her man whenever they had the chance. When Catherine let him take some time off, Jake was with her, driving to wherever she was and sneaking into her shows. He'd seen her set so many times before, but it never failed to make him laugh.

Fans and media outlets had pieced together the relationship, but the couple hadn't outright confirmed it. There were always pictures of Y/N at Jake's races or Jake at Y/N's shows that people pointed to in an effort to prove their relationship. And, they weren't wrong.

But, she was home now. She had a couple of weeks free for a break, and he couldn't have been happier. He'd almost forgotten what it felt like to get home from work to find her there. He'd almost forgotten how good it felt to just be in the same room as her.

Searching for her the moment he got inside, he found her taking off her makeup in the bathroom. She looked up from the mirror and they locked gazes as he immediately wrapped his arms around her from behind. When he felt her place her free hand on top of his as she continued to wipe at her face, it felt like the most natural thing in the world.

"Hey, baby."

Every time she called him that - and she did it often - he couldn't help the small smile that appeared on his face.

"I see you've lost the shirt already."

Of course he had. The minute he got home, the shirt was off.

"Did you miss me?" He leaned in and whispered in her ear, "I missed you," giving her a peck on the cheek between each word.

Teasingly, she deadpanned, "Oh God, no," and was rewarded with a few annoying squidges to her waist, which caused her to squirm and jovially admit, "Okay, okay, I missed you too."

For some reason, he took the makeup wipe from her hand and teasingly rubbed it across her face, making her giggle. He couldn't help himself. The way her face scrunched up and her expression went as if she'd eaten something sour.

"Hey! Get off me, weirdo," she cheered, fidgeting in his arms and turning to face him in the hopes he'd stop his playful attack. The attack didn't stop, but it did get softer and slower, then she realised he was getting her makeup off for her. So, she relaxed her face and just let him do it.

Normally, Jake's touch was gentle. This was rushed. A little haphazard. That's what made her inquire, "How many cups of coffee have you had today?"

His answer was a mumbled, "Five or six..."

That was a lot for anyone, let alone someone as excitable as Jake, which is why she exclaimed, "Five!"

"Or six, yeah." He paid particularly close attention to her lips as he cleared away the last few remnants of the red lipstick she'd been wearing as he confessed, "Yeah, I had - what was it? - four in person interviews and five online ones. They kept asking and asking. I swear I could feel myself dozing off by the third question."

"So, you're about twenty minutes from crashing?"

"Probably twenty five," he corrected as he threw the wipe into the bin and placed her arms around his shoulders, bringing her closer to him with a swift tug. She gave a little sigh as she leaned in to pepper his cheeks with as many kisses as he'd let her with the final one landing on his lips.

With a smack to his ass, she ordered, "Come on, I don't want to have to carry you to bed," and walked into their bedroom, pulling him along with her. He remembered one night where they got drunk and she tried to pick him up. It went okay for a moment. She was holding his weight then, all of sudden, she sneezed and let go, causing him to plummet ass first into the ground. The pair had giggled about it, but now Y/N refused to even try just in case she dropped him again.

└─────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───────┘

At first, Y/N attempted to put their laundry away but Jake brought her onto his lap from where he was sitting on the edge of the bed, claiming, "The laundry can wait, I can't." So, she climbed onto his lap, straddling his thighs as she settled in and wrapped her arms around his neck. His hands landed on her ass, as they usually did, and patted along to whatever song was going around in his head at the time.

"Did you wear such a thin shirt and no bra on purpose?" he asked with a smirk.

"Maybe," she teased back, and leaned down to give him a kiss, "Or, maybe it's laundry day."

"I'm going to believe the first option."

"So, you're going to believe the lie?"

Now he had noticed, he couldn't tear his eyes away, mumbling a small, "Uh huh," before tenderly touching his lips to her cleavage. As he shifted his hands up her body, he must've moved too fast and the ache in his shoulder reappeared.

Earlier in the week he'd managed to injure himself a little. Not a lot. A smidge. Jessie had made him jump when he was focused on the simulation and he'd twisted in a weird way. Every now and again, he'd get this dull ache in his shoulder. His trapezius, if he wanted to be specific. It didn't hurt exactly, just a tight, uncomfortable feeling that he couldn't get rid of.

The moment he let out a little groan and jiggled his shoulder around to relieve some of the pain, she noticed, got off him and ordered, "Face down on the bed, big guy."

"Y/N, my love, I'm fine," he objected, but complied with her order anyway, getting down into his underwear and flopping onto the pillows. They'd been through this routine before. Many times before.

After finding the oil that she always used, she undressed, straddled his butt and leant down to give the back of his shoulder a comforting kiss before she began to rub the oil all over his back. She warmed her hands up then began to give him a thorough massage, starting at his shoulders and working her way down. As she worked the oil into his skin, he could feel his stress melt away, leaving him feeling more relaxed than he had in days.

Jake was barely awake, but every once in a while, he'd mumble something about how much he loved her while she worked on relaxing his tired muscles, always checking if she was pressing too hard or too light. Anything that he wanted, she'd do.

When she was finally done, she let out a sigh of contentment. "There," she said as she straightened up, "How does that feel?"

"Much better," he sleepily answered, lying there as she wiped the oil off his back with a towel, then waited for her to hover a little so he could flip himself over to face her.

She let her fingers dance across his abs as she inquired, "Coffee's worn off?" He answered with a yawn. "That's a yes."

"Okay, smartass. Can you order food and wake me up when it gets here?"

"That's also a yes."

Without answering, he fell asleep with a smug grin, his body finally surrendering to the exhaustion weighing him down. She got off him and let him get some well needed rest as she dealt with everything she needed to do. (Then eventually procrastinated and sat watching tik toks until the delivery came.)

With a groan, Jake opened his eyes to find that he'd woken up and was surrounded by the smell of food. Y/N was perched beside him, slowly unloading all their wrapped food onto the duvet, being incredibly careful if anything was leaking.

"Hey," he murmured, lifting a hand to stroke her cheek. "You're pretty."

"I know," she said with a smile. "But, you're prettier."

"That's im-" He let out a yawn. "Impossible."

He stretched and sat up, still not fully awake as he surveyed the array of Mexican food she'd bought. After rubbing the sleep from his eyes, they tucked in.

Halfway through a bite, she held out her phone to him and pointed out, "Look, someone made one of those fancam things of you." She pressed play on the tik tok and added, "It's very sexy. I bookmarked it."

"How did they even find this footage? This is from years ago," he mumbled through a mouthful of burrito. "My hair looks small."

"Your hair looks great. What the hell are you talking about, my love?"

The pair continued arguing about how nice his hair used to be until they'd both finished eating. The wrappers and containers were thrown on the ground as neither of them could be bothered at that very moment, and instead, they cuddled up and watched a movie.

Neither of them moved for a while. Well, until Y/N decided to do her skincare on herself and Jake since she'd come to the conclusion that he needed even more R&R.

"I love you, but you are not plucking my eyebrows again. That hurt so bad last time."

Rolling her eyes, she subtly placed the tweezers back into her bag and pouted, "Aw, you big baby."

Jake chuckled as he watched her rub he had no idea what onto his face. And then there was more. And more. And then it was the face mask. He knew what that was because she'd left one out once when they first moved in together and she'd managed to convince him that women shed their skin like snakes once a month. He had to Google if it was true or not.

So, the couple sat there, scrolling through the #JakeMartin tag on tik tok, enjoying all the little videos that people had made of him. On a few occasions, Y/N had said, "I'll save that one to gaze at when I'm missing you."

"Just facetime me, stupid."

"That's a good point actually."

Soon, she could tell he was getting sleepy again, so she made sure that all the lotions and shit that had been on his face was properly rubbed in and he was absolutely ready for bed. With the final kiss of the day, he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her onto his chest, feeling as she said, "Go back to sleep, my love. We've got a big day tomorrow."

"Mm-hmm. Big day," he agreed, and let his eyes close. He was out in seconds. His soft snores were the cutest sound in the world. Y/N sighed and smiled, enjoying the moment until she joined him in the land of Nod.

They had a big day tomorrow, indeed. Tomorrow was Halloween. Catherine wanted to make it a big deal. She wanted Bobby Spencer Racing's Halloween Spectacular something that people tweeted about. Every member of the crew had to dress up (even Chuck).

No actual work was going to be done. None. That was mostly because children were allowed to roam around. Catherine said it was to "help inspire the next generation of kids to get involved with NASCAR", but it was actually a marketing strategy: children are a great way to make your brand seem authentic and family-friendly. All of the dangerous equipment had been tucked away and the place had been decorated like a candy world - Catherine clearly had just watched Wreck It Ralph.

Jake was in charge of entertaining the children, which he was great at. They'd ask him every dumb, childish question on their minds and he'd respond then ask one back that was just as immature. It was the perfect dynamic. Beth did keep watch just in case he said something that wasn't appropriate and would give him a disapproving look so he'd know to change course.

Then, in the evening to celebrate, the crew and their family members had a little get together. The crew was a family, after all. And, it was time to celebrate that together.

Waking up with a soft moan, Y/N immediately noticed how her hips were slowly grinding. Then she felt Jake's hands clutching at her thighs and his tongue gently moving against her clit. She ran her hands through his hair and gripped it, urging him on as he continued his lazy pace.

Sleepily, Jake lifted his head and met her gaze, smiling as he greeted, "Morning," then got back at it, sucking her clit into his mouth and swirling his tongue around it. "You taste so good."

"You say that every morning."

"It must be true then." She arched her back and let out a small yell of pleasure as he increased the speed of his ministrations.

Carefully, he added a finger into her tight, wet channel and slid it in and out with deliberate motions, not going too fast as she'd just woken up and was still a little tender. His own hips began to move against the mattress, eliciting a loud groan from him as he increased the pace.

Glancing at the clock for a moment, Y/N pointed out, "Jake, baby, we haven't got enough time for two rounds. Either I come on your face and you in your underwear, or you fuck me. Your choice," and tugged on his hair so he'd stop to listen to what she'd said.

With a huff, he raised his head and got to his knees in between her thighs, pulling his boxers down to line them up and enter her, his hands cupping her breasts while his hips surged forward and pushed into her slick folds.

She tilted her head back and let out a long moan as he continued to work slowly in and out of her. Jake dropped his forehead to chest and began to frantically thrust into her, slamming his hips into hers in a series of slow, hard thrusts.

Her hand came up to trap his chin between her fingers as she stared deeply into his eyes, holding him in place, focusing on nothing but the heavy, perfect rhythm of his thrusts. Their moans and groans filled the space, reverberating around and awakening other parts of their bodies. It was a symphony of lust.

Pulling his lips to hers, she let out a moan against his mouth as pleasure overtook her with a quaking fury, and he fucked her harder, his length driving into her over and over. His orgasm hit him hard, and he buried his face into her neck, holding onto her as he came down from his high.

The final staggered, hard thrust made sure that he emptied into her, and they held each other tightly until they were both fully spent. They didn't move for a few short minutes, just enjoying the afterglow of their exertions.

"What do you want for breakfast?" He asked as he brushed some sweaty hair behind her ear.

"Hmm, I feel like a waffle."

"Waffles it is."

Y/N didn't bother opening her eyes when she heard Jake leave the room. She knew exactly where he'd gone. It was clear when he returned with two plates full of waffles and syrup. "Let's eat," he said, smiling as he placed hers on her lap and pecked her on the lips before sitting beside her.

"Let's."

Both of them tucked into the food, the conversation flowed easily as it always did when the two of them were together. No topic was too mundane, and no issue too serious. Jake was the most amazing company because he always had the answers. Hardly ever the right ones, but an answer nonetheless.

After they'd finished eating, Jake decided that he wanted to be difficult. He got back under the covers and tried to go back to sleep, but he could tell by Y/N's expression that that was not going to happen. "Jake. Baby," she cooed, her voice slightly patronising. "Catherine will murder you if you're late."

He rubbed his eyes and groaned, "I'd like to see her try."

Fine. She could amp it up. She trailed her finger down his bicep, claiming that "Jessie will probably get your spot when you're dead."

"No, she won't," he replied, his voice deep and sleepy. "I'll make sure of that."

Okay, the Jessie rivalry wasn't working today. It usually did. She would have to go further. "I guess without you around, I'd have to go back out on the market. But now that I've got a taste for NASCAR drivers, I can't go back. I wonder if Blaney is married?"

Just the mention of Blaney caused him to shoot back up and grumpily pull the duvet off, whining, "Fine. Okay. I can't have Blaney taking my woman," as he leant in for one more smooch before he got ready for work.

"Good boy," she praised, patting his reddening cheek once they had broken apart and beaming as he got dressed into his costume. "I love you."

"Love you too, Cara Mia," he retorted, waiting for her to get up so he could tug her into a passionate parting kiss. She didn't get up. She just got to her knees on the bed and craned her head up so he'd close the gap between their faces. Jake obliged, and she closed her eyes as his lips pressed to hers then 'accidently' lost his balance and fell on top of her.

Toppling backwards, Y/N had milliseconds of peace before Jake crashed onto her chest, pinning her down and smothering her with a deep, fervent kiss, acting as if he hadn't fallen at all. It was if he just wanted an excuse to kiss her more. She wrapped her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss and returning it with equal fervour. His tongue slipped into her mouth, and Y/N let out a small moan of pleasure then realised what he'd done.

"I see what you did there, Bubeleh. Very smart."

"Five more minutes," he replied, his voice husky and thick. "Please?"

"No, baby." She tried to ignore how he was now kissing up her arm. "Jake, you're going to be la-" He moved to her neck and managed to briefly stop her train of thought. She looked over at the clock. "Fine. Fine, five minutes. Just don't speed too much on the drive over."

He groaned in satisfaction. He'd won. She always gave in. She could never say no to him and they both knew it.

"Me? Speed? I wouldn't dream of it," he joked against her lips, fully taking advantage of the next five minutes while he had them, while he had her in his arms. He took his time, lingering over every part of her mouth, every sensitive spot he could reach until she was writhing and gasping and begging him for more, so he'd stay for longer, so he'd go further.

But no, as soon as the five minutes were up, she pulled away, her lips puffy as she slapped him on the ass and ordered, "Okay, now get out."

"One more?"

"No."

"Please, baby."

She got out from under him and pulled him to his feet, giving him one last peck before she pushed him towards the door. "Go. Now."

"Okay, okay," he replied, finally getting to the door and preparing himself to actually leave. "I love you," he called over his shoulder.

"I love you too. Now fuck off."

And fuck off he did. He got an ear full from Catherine for being late, to which he responded, "You try leaving your incredibly hot girlfriend every morning. It's difficult, okay?"

"So you're blaming Y/N?"

"Yes. Yes I am."

Whilst Jake was answering a litany of questions about what Disney movie was his favourite (Cars 2, duh), or was he older than twelve ("mentally, that's debatable," Kevin muttered under his breath), or where was his Morticia?

Yes, that is correct. Jake Martin came up with the idea to go as the wife-man himself, Gomez Addams. It could've just so he got to see Y/N in a sexy, goth look - it totally was - but as a woman-lover himself, he found a certain kinship between himself and the Spaniard. They both loved to get the ladies. Or rather, one lady in particular.

Where was his Morticia? Well, Y/N had the task of driving to Jake's sister's house to collect his niece and nephew as Jake had 'accidentally' offered to look after the little shits on Halloween, so Y/N was preparing for a lively ride to the garage. And as she had expected, the children had been given sweets before she arrived so they were experiencing a sugar rush.

Perfect.

All of her apprehension melted when she saw Toby, Jake's little five year old nephew. He opened the front door and ran out as soon as he saw her car pull up on the drive. "Y/N! Y/N! Look, I'm uncle Jake!" he basically yelled at her as she got out the door, immediately running into her legs and wrapping his arms around her thighs, squishing her into stopping her from continuing to walk.

"Hi, little man. Let me see your costume," she replied, crouching down to inspect his suit. It was practically perfect. It even had the huge 'Fake Steak' logo across the front. Mostly to herself, Y/N whispered, "Oh, Catherine is going to love this."

Picking him up so she could regain movement in her legs, Y/N lifted him up and placed him on her hip. He wrapped his arms around her neck as she carried him into the house, saying, "I asked mom if I'm allowed to drive like uncle does but she said no. I'm old enough. I think."

"You definitely aren't," Y/N cooed, making it through the front door to deposit Toby on the lounge room floor. He ran over to the toybox and began grabbing random toys, putting them in his backpack for the day. "Ah, Spiderman! Nice choice, Tobes."

Anne, Jake's sister, hurried in with a toddler in her arms, holding her out for Y/N to take. "I'm actually going to go crazy if I don't get ten minutes to myself," Anna huffed out, handing Y/N little Rosie. "They woke up at six this morning and somehow haven't stopped."

Rosie grabbed onto a handful of Y/N's hair and lightly tugged on it. Y/N made a dramatic shocked face as she looked at the kid, causing her to giggle. The two year old was in a onesie that looked like a knockoff of a very recognisable Dreamworks dragon.

"We'll be out of your hair in five, don't worry," Y/N reassured her, setting Rosie on her hip like she had done with Toby, which allowed her to reach into the tote she had on her other shoulder and pull out a bottle of wine. "You'll have so much time to enjoy it. You won't know what to do with yourself."

Taking the bottle from Y/N's hand, Anne kissed her on the cheek, exclaiming, "I have one idea now. You're a lifesaver. First you take my annoying little brother off my hands and now you've got full custody of my children."

"Only for today!"

"It's sealed forever. I'm changing the locks."

The pair continued to lightheartedly squabble for a few more minutes before Toby pulled on Y/N's sleeve and announced, "I've packed my bag and I want to show Uncle Jake my Lightning Mcqueen car because I know he'll like it."

"That's a great idea."

Y/N walked out of the house with the two children, getting them all buckled in before setting off and spending the whole ride back listening to a broad spectrum of Disney music. If she had to listen to the Frozen soundtrack one more fucking time, she'd put a bullet in her head.

Bobby Spencer Racing was a happy sight as they made their way in. Even Y/N was entranced by the new makeover. Everything was pastel, candy-like colours and Jake's car had been swapped out for a go-cart kind of thing that seemed to have large oreo looking wheels and a chocolate body. The way it was all decked out reminded Y/N of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

So, she declared to the kids, "Don't try and eat anything. I can assure you that most of it is plastic. Not nice."

With one hand she was carrying Rosie and the other was firmly attached to Toby's. Her grip on Toby vanished the moment he saw Jake, who was now standing in the doorway of the garage, a big, goofy grin on his face. When he saw the boy coming towards him, Jake crouched down and opened his arms. Toby ran straight into them, hugging him tight.

"Hey, buddy," Jake greeted, squeezing Toby back for a moment before letting him go to check out his outfit. Leaning his hands on the kid's shoulders to figure out what his costume was, the hugest grin appeared as Jake realised and excitedly exclaimed, "Me? You're dressed as me? Oh, man! That's the best Halloween costume ever!"

Seeing Jake and his nephew right next to each other made Y/N notice how similar they looked. Both had the same, wide, happy smile. They had the same hair. Nose. Cheekbones. The only difference was the eyes. Toby got those from his father. When they had a kid would their little tyke get Jake's eyes? Or Y/N's?

Woah. It had changed from if they had a kid to when.

"Which one of you is the real Jake Martin? I can't tell," Y/N joked as she got closer and whipped her phone out to take a photo. Jake turned Toby to face the camera and tickled him so he'd smile, his whole face glowing.

"Hey, babe." Jake gave Y/N a smooch on the lips, just a quick peck since there were children around. Toby shielded his eyes and let out a disgusted 'ew' at the display. "Where's your costume?"

Rosie was desperately trying to get into Jake's arms, so Y/N handed her over as she reminded him, "The plan always was that I was going to drop the kids off then get ready, or did you forget that?"

"Oh, yeah. I forgot that."

From behind them, Kevin slapped his hands down on Jake's shoulders and teased, "Ol' Jakey has never been good at plans, have you, bud?"

Y/N could see that Kevin had managed to get his full costume on, a Captain America suit. He had the helmet on now, which apparently had been a struggle due to his huge head. But it was clearly recently bought at Party City.

As soon as Kevin saw Toby, he had to do a double take. No. Jake hadn't shrunk. His eyes widened and he cheered, "Oh, Beth is going to freak."

And since seemingly everyone had decided to congregate at the entrance, Beth gave a high pitched squeal as she reached out to touch the little boy's cheek, exclaiming, "You're a little Jake! You're so little. You're so cute. Let me show Amir." She took the boy's hand and led him inside to show him off to the rest of the crew.

Rosie looked up at her uncle and sneezed right on his cheek, causing Jake to scrunch up his face (an expression that looked very similar to the one Toby made when he saw the smooch) and proclaim, "Uhhh, thanks Rose."

Kevin took Rosie from his hands and brought her inside so Y/N could use a tissue to clean him up, softly tittering as she gently swiped the snot from his face. She took his chin between her fingers and tilted his head around, claiming, "All that skincare did so much good. You're looking so handsome, handsome."

Now there were no children around, Jake yanked Y/N closer to his chest and gave her a proper kiss, stealing her breath away and making her toes curl in excitement. He pulled back, grinning like a fool, and declared, "I can't wait to see you in that sexy, sexy dress."

"I thought you'd be more excited for the moment when you get to take it off me," she flirted, hooking her fingers in his belt loop and looking up at him with a cheeky grin.

He lowered his head and seductively whispered, "Oh, I booked tomorrow off just so I can take care of you all night," as he placed a kiss under her jaw, slowly working his way down to her collarbone.

She swatted his chest, playfully chastising, "Stop! You're going to give me a heart attack." She lightly pushed him away and walked back to her car, only turning around when he slapped her on the ass and called back, "I'll be back soon."

"You better."

Honestly, getting into her costume took longer than she expected. The zip at the back took the most time. It took some serious flexibility to get it all the way up. Then the makeup, which she'd been practising for a while, needed to be just perfect. It came to the point where it had taken so much energy that Y/N thought, 'Fuck it, I'm just going to wear trainers instead of heels,' because you wouldn't be able to see them under the dress, so who would know?

Arriving back at the garage a little later than planned, Y/N had managed to walk in the moment that the cameraman that Catherine hired to get some sweeping, corporate style shots had the lens pointed at Jake. He stopped listening to whatever Kevin said and completely forgot to breathe. Or at least that's what it looked like.

The moment he saw Y/N, he forgot everything else. Including, it seemed, his dignity as he spilled the drink he was holding out to Kevin all down his star spangled front. "Come on!" Kevin complained, wacking the driver around the head to wake him up. "What is it with you and spilling stuff when you see Y/N?"

"Oh, it's the love, I think," Jake explained, his eyes glued on Y/N the entire time as she saw Rosie toddling towards her and wrapped her up in her arms.

"Are you going to stand there drooling?" Kevin asked, giving the cameraman a huge grin as he realised that they were in frame. "Go get her, Romeo!"

Rosie was so happy to see Y/N that she let out a squeal and wrapped her arms even tighter around her neck. "Mwah!" Y/N bent down and planted a kiss on the top of her head, making her giggle. "How you doing Toothless?"

Nodding, the little girl started babbling nonsense as Y/N made her way towards where she thought she saw Jake on the way in, but was intercepted by Beth and Tobey on the makeshift dance floor.

"Woah, I've never seen shinier red slippers in my whole life, Beth."

"I added the glitter myself," she beamed back. No Dorothy was complete with a pair of ruby heels.

"Ah, that's why there's a trail coming from your office then."

Gently swaying Rosie to the beat, Y/N smiled and hummed along to the tune. She didn't seem to be the only one enjoying herself, judging by the happy faces and the slow, steady increase of foot-tapping and shoulder shimmying from everyone, even from a Frankenstein monster-looking Chuck who was lurking in the corner.

Amir was helplessly trying to wrangle his kids. One of them was trying to pull off the red bow tie he was wearing and the other was tugging on his sweater vest.

"What's Amir's costume?"

"Fear."

Chuckling because she thought Beth was joking, Y/N repeated, "No. I mean, what's he come as?"

"Fear from Inside Out."

Oh. That's fitting.

Jake made it to his girlfriend and couldn't help but wolf whistle as he took in the sight of her. Her dress hugged every inch of her curves perfectly and accentuated them. As expected, there was also enough cleavage to satisfy any guy's desire but, as much as Jake tried not to stare at it, he still couldn't control the urge and reached out to honk her boob.

"Children, Jake," she reminded him as she playfully slapped his hand away and continued dancing with a smile. "How long has the camera guy been filming?"

"Not a clue."

"Long enough to catch Jake drooling over you," Beth pointed out teasingly and nudged Y/N's arm.

It was at that moment that Rosie wanted to join her brother on the floor and wiggled until Y/N placed her down. Beth managed to deal with both of them and gave the couple time to themselves. As soon as they were childless, Jake gripped onto her hips and took his time to really absorb how hot she looked in her dress as it hugged her every curve. He ran his thumb along the material of the dress, feeling the silky smoothness of the fabric against his calloused fingertips.

"You like my costume?" She leaned forward slightly and gave him an exaggerated wink, causing him to chuckle and continue his exploration of her body. She tilted his chin up so he'd look into her eyes as she teased, "Better stop that before you get noticeably aroused."

His response was to pull her closer and gently sway them to whatever song was playing. She slung her arms over his shoulders, one hand beginning to play with the hair at the back of his head. And Jake, who seemed to be struggling to focus on anything but her, simply smiled and leaned his forehead on hers.

"Bet one hundred dollars that they'll have a little one by next Halloween."

"It would be stupid to bet against that, Kev," Beth scoffed as she ushered the children towards the buffet where Kevin was perched.

The pair had their moment then got back to their childcare duties and were happily helping to keep an eye on the kids. Rosie eventually got sleepy and almost dozed off standing up. Y/N managed to scoop her up before that happened and settled the girl against her chest, slowly rocking side to side with a slight smile on her lips.

"Jake, baby, I think it's time we get this one to bed."

Jake was sitting on the floor and incredibly busy sat playing with the toys Toby had brought, making various sound effects to go along with each item. Hearing her voice, however, he stopped immediately and glanced over his shoulder, his eyes widening upon seeing Rosie in Y/Ns' arms.

"Tobes, time to go, bud," Jake told his nephew as he gathered up the toys and placed them in Tobey's bag. He got to his feet and held out his hand, offering to lift the boy up into his arms, who accepted with a huge yawn and a tired pout.

They said their goodbyes and began the journey back to Jake's sister's place when the sibling in question called them.

"Me and Simon are..." Anna hiccuped. "We're fuckin wasted, man."

Luckily, both children were firmly asleep in their car seats and didn't hear their mother's profanity.

"Do you want us to take care of them tonight?" Y/N offered, knowing full well that's where the conversation was heading and it would be easier if they just skipped right to that bit.

"Jake...Jakey....baby brother, you've got to marry her," Anna slurred into the phone, her speech becoming slower as she went on. "She's so nice and smart and makes... Y/N makes you happy. Do something about it, shithead. Not tonight...no, you're looking after my kids tonight."

The line disconnected abruptly after that, leaving Jake staring at his phone.

"She's going to have an awful hangover tomorrow," Y/N joked before the atmosphere got awkward. Obviously, Jake had offered to drive and that left Y/N twiddling her thumbs in the passenger seat, waiting for him to say something.

"Anna's right, you know, I should do something about it." His voice was quiet and gentle as he gazed across at her. Jake took his hand off the gearstick and reached for her hand, taking it between his own, giving it a gentle squeeze which she returned. "You make me really happy, Y/N. You always have. You know that, right?"

Her heart did a little skip as she felt the heat rising to the skin on her cheeks. She didn't quite know how to react, or even how to respond to something like that. But, she tried as she replied, "You make me really happy too, my love."

She didn't miss the way his lips turned up into a small smile and how he squeezed her hand again, his thumb gently stroking the back of her hand in a soothing motion. The two stayed like this for a while, smiling and gazing into each other's eyes with fond smiles on their faces. The only sound was the faintly music coming through the radio, making everything feel calm and peaceful.

Eventually, Y/N broke out of her daze and the silence, "My office has that sofa bed. It's low and that's best for Rosie if she wants to get out of bed for any reason. Tobes can take the spare room."

"Sounds perfect. Honestly, I'm exhausted," he admitted, rubbing his eyes and leaning his head back against the headrest as he sighed contently. "Just wanna sleep in my comfy bed and watch some TV."

"Then that's what we'll do," she promised, kissing his cheek and then another then another. After several more kisses were planted on his face, all while he let out groans from happiness and contentment.

"Baby, you're making it real hard to drive," he chuckled softly as he put both hands on the wheel. Y/N didn't reply, merely continuing to pepper his face with kisses, which caused his laughter to intensify. They arrived home in record time.

After unloading the car of the sleeping toddler, they carried her inside and laid her down on one of the many pillows scattered on the couch. Jake was quick to follow with Toby in his arms, settling the boy down beside his sister. Y/N was about to start setting up the sofa bed when Jake quickly grabbed onto her waist.

"Wait," he mumbled sleepily before pecking her lips softly. He had one of those big, fancy L couches and the idea, "Why don't we just let them sleep here? They can have that part." He pointed to the normal couch bit. "And we'll have that part." The chaise lounge bit.

"You are a genius, anyone ever told you that?"

"Nobody."

With one swift tug, Jake pulled Y/N close to his body and wrapped one of his arms around her waist as he rested the other against her cheek to brush strands of hair away from her face, his thumb caressing her soft skin. They gazed deeply into each other's eyes and basked in each others' presence without saying a word. It was Jake who spoke first, voicing the thoughts that were running rampant through his head.

"Marry me?"

A bright grin formed on Y/N's lips as she leaned forward, pressing her lips to his once more in a loving kiss which made his knees weak. A moment later, Jake finally managed to break apart and looked at her expectantly with an adoring gaze. Her smile softened as her heart soared, unable to believe he actually asked her something like that.

"Yes," she breathed out. "I will gladly marry you."

"Really?!"

"Yes, you idiot."

As usual, her arms snaked around his neck and he pressed their foreheads together as they shared a tender kiss, filled with affection and passion and so much love. Y/N felt herself getting lost within this moment of joyous love and warmth and found herself being consumed by the purest kind of ecstasy as she allowed herself to drown in the euphoria he gave her with every single touch of his lips, every word spoken between them.

"Oh shit, I really am a wife-man now."

He finally let her go and get some blankets for the children. She was sure to hurry back to the couch once she had taken off her makeup and had the blankets in her grasp, and settled down next to Jake so they could cuddle. She wrapped her arms tightly around his torso, and pressed her body against him, listening to his heartbeat. His fingers traced lightly up and down her spine as they held each other, revelling in the feeling of being together in this simple act of love.

"Sorry I didn't do a whole big, dramatic proposal thing. I just had to know. Was I supposed to wait? Should I have bought you flowers, or something? Is that what people usually do?" he rambled on as he buried his nose in the crook of her neck. He knew there wasn't a doubt in his mind she loved him too. Just like she loved every part of him - his flaws, his strengths, his feelings.

Y/N kissed the top of his head and squeezed him tightly, letting out an amused laugh. "You're not changing your mind already, are you, baby?" She teased with raised eyebrows, grinning as his eyes widened and he shook his head fervently.

"Fuck no, never."

He leaned down to capture her mouth once more, pulling her closer as she responded in kind. She moved her hands to his cheeks and deepened the kiss, wanting to keep touching him forever. Eventually they reluctantly parted for air, but they remained within the same bubble of bliss, unable to think of anything else but each other. As though it were all that mattered in the world.

"Gross."

The pair whipped their heads around to find Tobey awake and sitting up on the couch, with a disgusted frown on his features. They laughed together as he scrunched up his tiny face and stuck out his tongue.

"You wanna watch some TV, Tob?" Jake suggested.

"Hell yes!" He exclaimed - waking his sister up - as he swung his legs over the side of the couch and jumped to the floor to waddle over to sit on Jake's chest, hugging him tight. "Can we watch Scooby Doo?"

"Great choice."

Rosie crawled next to Y/N and rested her little head against her auntie's shoulder, curling up like a ball and drifting back to sleep. Jake smiled as he watched them, feeling like he'd finally found someone whom he belonged to and who belonged to him too. Someone who cared about him. And he couldn't ask for anything more.

#the crew #jake martin x reader #jake martin #Youtube

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

Hi.

It's okay if you don't want to answer the questions that i have send. But i have another one for you ( thats not about toxic armys and their shenanigans ofc) but there's that has been stuck in my mind lately.

I watched two Jackson Wang interviews and he pretty much talks about feeling lonely in life. For example, he confessed that he hasnt found any love connection and never had a serious relationship with someone, even though he really wants to. He even turn the ligths on in his house everytime he goes abroad. Because he wants to feel like somebody is waiting for him at home and is waiting to welcom him. Just the domestic normal stuff that normal couples in a serious relationship do.

Its definetly possible that most of the bangtan members are feeling this way too. The loneliness, longing for someone to their real personnality and not just the celebrity status. I'm curious to know who's longing for it the most.

There is no denying that being a public figure, especially some big star, can have an effect on the private life and interpersonal relationships. But also, difficulties are there, regardless of someone's position in society, except they can be of a different nature and some of the issues can be all the same because we're all just complicated people at the end of the day.

I know about those Jackson Wang interviews. I also saw recently how he invited some fans back to his place post-concert. Whatever he's going through, he's doing it all publicly and as much as it's a friendly get-together and Jackson wanting some chill time with the fans, he's still not some average person. So, things might get complicated or not. If this is one method of his of not feeling that lonely, then what else can I say?

But going back to how it relates to the BTS members and how they might find themselves in a similar situation, about feeling lonely, about wanting some connection with a partner and so on, that's something that we don't know. We might speculate based on their music and lyrics perhaps, or what they say in interviews and all that. But it would be nothing but this glimpse in someone's life that is pretty much private. None of them are as open publicly about the idol life in terms of romantic relationship as Jackson is. And as much as there could be commonality because they've all been working in the same industry and living similar lifestyles, it doesn't mean they all end up having the same trajectories and difficulties along the road. Maybe they're in happy relationships, maybe some of them don't want commitment and are into more casual situationships. Maybe some are currently dating, while others are not. This is really a topic on which there's barely anything there to talk about because it's simply a topic they don't acknowledge. And they're keeping that part pretty much to themselves. Who's to say that one member hasn't gone through a difficult breakup at some point, while being really cheerful on camera? In the 10 years that they've been active, I'm sure life wasn't all perfect.

Fans like to speculate and believe they know when something is wrong, especially in the case of those focusing on a supposed inter-band relationship, when something is going on, if they're going through something, or what's the period in a relationship when everything is going well, but somehow, they can't also tell when a member who is not majorly shipped with another, might be having love troubles with a partner who is outside the band (cause they're not all in a poly relationship, as much as fans like to joke about). That's something to think about because I believe it shows that theories are just theories and outsiders don't really have access to much and a lot of things can be deceiving. It's one reason why, when I used to read about ship timelines, I always thought about how could a fan/shipper be able to do one? Because it's like taking a step further from enjoying the interactions and the moments. It has a sort of fictional element to it. But I went too much of a tangent here, a bit unrelated to your ask.

The point is, I don't necessarily disagree with you because there are factors that can have similar effects on those who lead a certain lifestyle, but then again, generalizations don't always help and we have to look at the individuals as well. Who they are are, their temperament and personality and how much they are willing to share. If they want to or have any desire to do so.

#bmt asks #bts #bts dating #kpop

[sansblues2]

Hello! I'm back with another drawing, and this time I actually like it. 

There's quite a lot to talk about this drawing, so I'm going to separate it into sections, beginning with two curiosities:

1° This was the first drawing I completed after the end of my art block, which means he has been ready for a long time.

2° This is the drawing responsible for the post I did yesterday. Apparently, I end up forgetting the most important trait of Rasticore: his cybernetic arm.

Also, I forgot about the spines on his shoulders and the spots on Toffee's hands.

I also added the purple shade on Rasticore's cheeks.

What was this drawing supposed to be: 

In the beginning, this drawing was motivated by how much I loved the fact that those two are in a relationship, and right away I wanted to draw them in a kind of domestic situation.

Basically, Star would go to their house( for reasons ), and they would receive her, and Rasticore would make some cookies and tea for his partner while Toffee talked with Star. That's why Toffee is with that confused/ question mark expression, and why he is holding a cup of tea and Rasticore is holding a plate of cookies( don't worry, it is not chocolate chips, I almost made this mistake ).

I know this situation doesn't make any sense, but clearly, I just wanted to draw them and I needed an excuse to do so.

But you might be asking, why are they in a green background with flowing keys? For only one reason.

I don't like doing backgrounds. They take too much time and I'm never happy with the results. So at the time I finished the characters, I wasn't into doing the background anymore. But at least I tried to do something different with the keys, and I like it. To be honest, it came out of nowhere, I was just drawing a single key and then I started putting different shades of color here and there, and I liked the results, so I just multiplied around the background and called it a day.

And to finish this section about the drawings ( see that it is just about the drawings, I still have other things to talk about ), why is their style so different from Sage's? Well, is not just because my style is already different from the author, but because of an idea, I had the moment I read the first chapter of their amazing fanfic and noticed that the characters were different from the original ones.

The idea was: I would do all the different characters( including the ones who are basically like the originals but had some different details) in the Star vs the Forces of Evil style. That's why things like their claws are different from the ones seen in Sage's drawings, having more to do with the ones the lizards have in the original series. Still, I tried my best to make them look as similar to the ones made by Sage.

And just so you know, I already have the drawings of the other 4 characters. They are done. I only need to make the text of the post, which I hope will take less time than this one, but no promises.

This is it for the drawings, I still wanna talk about the characters but this has more to do with me explaining how much I love them than something to do with the drawing itself. So if you wanna skip this I won't mind at all. I hope you liked the drawing, and I see you in the next one. Have a good day.

Now about the characters:

Toffee: My beloved. I already liked the original one, and I felt very sad when he died, and like many other people, I was expecting his return. Only to have a quick reminder in the last episode and an acknowledgment that he was right all along. 

But Sage’s Toffee, I just love them. I've never thought I could care so much about a character. I always liked villains more than heroes, but I never liked one so much to the point of not caring at all if the hero will succeed or not. I like your Star ( much more than the original ), but I would watch her being defeated with a smile if that meant Toffee would win, sorry Star. I don't know what it is, if it is their personality, how calm and composed they look, but we still have some moments of weakness where they show fear, anger, or stress. I especially love the addition of the little twitch in their eyes after their famous smile on the " Storm in the castle ", or when they are watching Bullfrog running between Star's friends on " Mewnipendance Day " and they don't just close their hand in a fist, but they give a deep breath like they were trying to calm themselves down, I don't know if it is because of the reenactment of the " The Great Monster Massacre "  or because they were so close to getting rid of Bullfrog so they could continue their plains. Or the explanation you gave to their sudden change of expression when Marcie said they were boring, is something that was never explained in the original, and that not only gives a reason, but gives more information about their character, showing how much he cares about their people, how they don't like when somebody says something bad about them, but adds to their personality as they say a" you will see "like they just can't accept somebody would think less about their people, even if that person is just a girl from earth who doesn't have the slightest knowledge about their race. Or if it is how mysterious their past is, the original one had a mysterious past too, but it was because the authors gave us such little amount of information about him that even shifts from his personality, like the " You are boring " line, were never explained. But yours have actually many information about their past, and the people they were connected to, and yet, we still don't have a clear answer, which is good, that was how it was supposed to be, so we could theorize about them and get even more attached to the story as we try to solve their past. 

I actually had more to say about them, but this post is getting quite big, so I'll leave it to other posts.

Rasticore: Oh rasticore~ His character wasn't very important in the original. Yeah, he attacked Marco and Star once, and he had a relationship with Miss Heinous or at least knew her. I feel kind of ashamed to say that I used to ship them. Only when the series ended and I rewatched some of the episodes I saw how their relationship was weird and even abusive, how Heinous wouldn't accept a “ no“ from him, and literally destroyed his body only so he couldn't run away from her, and now that I think about it, his line of " look for me in ten years and maybe we can stay together"  could be him trying to distance himself from her, without hurting her, and if you say " Well, that was kind of obvious ", then I'm sorry. I'm a little slow. For you to see, I was only able to identify how many things were wrong in the final because I watched a video about it. Before it I was fine with it, I didn't like some things here and there, but overall I was okay and missed many of the mistakes.

But anyway, he was a good character, a nice guy, appear sometimes beside Toffee, in the battle when Toffee loses his finger, and in that flashback with the teen version of Toffee, that ruined Toffee, since it showed that he didn't have actually any motive to hate magic, and just liked to feel superior to other monsters and didn't care for the monsters out of his race, but that was it.

Sage’s Rasticore is a great improvement. He is still the nice guy, who cares about his race, his partner, and his friends, and is prompt to help others even if he doesn’t have a very good relationship with the person, like when he saves Heinous. And yet, just because he is nice, that doesn’t mean he can’t be scary, like when he warns Star to not do again what she did to Toffee, or when he is talking to Meteora, and I just love this line of thought “ He could talk her down, she did seem to listen to him, but the thing was... he didn't want to. This was too perfect to stop. “ I just like it a lot, it shows that he isn’t above destroying and consequently killing if it will help the monster’s cause and it is confirmed by the flashback of him and Toffee, and I like that apparently it was him the one who convinced Toffee of taking a more illegal approach in the “ queens “ situation, it gives do much more important to his character.

To finish it, I really like their relationship, and I am always happy to see the interactions between them, and, just as a curiosity the first thing I said when I discovered they were partners was “ Awww so cute “, which it is strange considering I never shipped them before, but I don’t take it back.

And that is it, I know this was a very long post, and I wish I could say I won’t do it again, but I will. People who came from my other blog knows how I like to explain my drawings, the thought behind them, and the details on them. And I won’t waste the chance to talk about how much I like some characters.

So yeah, all I can give is that the next post will probably be shorter, but no promises. Thank you to anyone who read until the end, if you didn’t, that you at least liked the drawing, go check @sageoftheuniverse awesome SvTfoE Au, and I see you in the next post. Bye~. 

#this was a very long post #i'm sorry #star vs the forces of evil #samatfoe #fanart #drawing #svtfoe

[blookmallow]

ok i REALLY gotta start going through my fallout 4 backlog. lets get this going

i have been having a delightful time

----

my girl ruby before Everything Happened

i love fallout giving me the ability to alter my character's face over time so i can gradually add more scars and stuff. i love it. its weird to me looking at this screenshot now bc she's changed so much

though it occurs to me i think i took this before i had completely finished with her face bc shes supposed to have freckles and for some reason doesn't but w/e

i LOVE that fallout 4 shows us Before the war. i love the intro a lot

i didn't know about codsworth's massive name database and happened to pick a name he had programmed and let me tell you hearing him say my character name threw me for a loop sfjg

i cannot believe how many names they accounted for this is excellent

oh look i have a baby

i don't love the assigned backstory though it took me a while to be able to define my character and it still doesn't really vibe very well for ruby. i think she was dating (nate? literally i dont even remember my tragic backstory husband's name sdgfjh) because he was a nice guy and she had no Reason not to. he proposed and she said yes because there was no Reason to say no. getting married is just what people do. they weren't Planning for a baby, but she got pregnant, and well, that's what's happening now. she wasn't opposed to the idea. she loves children. but the domestic life was never what she Wanted, not really. the truth is she loves the post apocalyptic life. she misses the world before but she loves fighting for justice and going out to rebuild the commonwealth with her own hands. she loves urban exploring and scavenging. and it tears her apart because she feels like she shouldn't. she lost her family. she lost her husband. she lost her whole life and is surrounded in human tragedy every day. but in her heart she feels she was made for this

i don't know if it's the writing or if it's me or what it is but i just didn't really feel anything about this. maybe just because i was given no time to know this man or my relationship with him but im channeling it into my character as "she doesn't feel as hurt as she knows she should and doesn't know how to process any of this"

why are the names written in like this. this makes no sense everyone else is listed by surnames except my family. i know it's probably so that you have no established last name but it's weird

loving the fact that i can just x-ray vision all the containers and see what's in everything without even opening them. extremely convenient

YOU'RE STILL HERE

MY BOY

i felt so bad for leaving him behind i m so fucking glad he's okay but also, he has been stuck here alone for like 200 years. the trauma he's coping with is genuinely horrific

my GOD everything looks so beautiful!! i had such a weird clashing emotional experience with this intro bc like. i love new vegas but it is very beige. and there's so much color here despite the destruction. i love the retro futurism aesthetic. the radio music is so jazzy and bouncy. so im having a great time and super excited to explore this new world but also, this is the worst day of my character's life,

PUMPKIN

THERES PUMPKINS

not food

ew

BLUE!!!!!! LOOK AT THAT BLUE i love these i love them

fsadjgh thanks

war never changes

how did this even happen what caused these skeletons to stay like this

sweet rolls....

who did this

shout out to this fucking mannequin for scaring the shit out of me when i looked over here

just. 200 years overdue. it's fine

i keep finding these and i pick them up every time im on a personal mission to find a library to put them in sfjkdg

BLOOD CAN???????

#i dont think i ever found an explanation for the blood can. i dont remember #lucy plays fallout 4

[sweater-daddiesdumbdork]

Gingerbread Delights, Ransom's New Favorite Cookies

Summary- 2.7k Ransom x Kitten. The Christmas season is upon them and one of your favorite times of the year. Ransom though... not so much. But your baked goods might just change his mind.

Warnings- Smut. This is an 18+ Only blog.

A/N- So I wrote this last year before I decided to make Ransom x Kitten a thing. It will be set further in their future. I wasn't going to originally post, but I really wanted to post something for the holiday season. This is also my entry for @what-is-your-plan-today 25 Days of CHRIS-mas. Divider made by @firefly-graphics Thank you so much for reading, Happy Holidays.

Masterlist

Ransom could only begin to guess what he would be walking into while he made his way up the steps to his front door. It was Christmas after all and you were in full holiday mode. With one of the holidays he hated the most. He tolerated Halloween because of the parties you loved dragging him to, dressing up in some outfit and halfway through the night you would both be drunk, peeling each other out of it.

Thanksgiving was a joke, one he tolerated for Harlan but you would be right at his side the whole time while with his family, effectively distracting him from the shit show that usually happened with naughty whispers in his ear and teasing him with your hand under the table till he couldn't stand it and announced you two were leaving early.

But Christmas you took to heart, the whole thing. The tree and decorations, watching the ridiculous feel good movies till his brain felt numb from the whole bullshit Christmas cheer, you would play the songs over and over till he would have to escape to his home office to get away from them, and after all of it, he didn't have it in him to completely say no to you about it. It was just a month after all, he could tolerate a month of nonsense to keep his Kitten happy, right? Fuck was it hard, probably the most selfless thing hes ever had to do.

But you were worth it, so what was he gonna do but grin and bear it.

Going inside, Ransom shrugged off his tan jacket and unwrapped his scarf once stepping inside the house, stomping his boots off for a moment while calling out. “Y/N? Are you here yet?” Tilting his head to listen while taking his boots off and sure to put them on the racks you had placed in the entrance way, he tossed his jacket into the nearby closet while following the sound of Christmas music towards his kitchen. Arching a brow, he folded his arms across his chest while leaning against the entrance frame, smirking at the little domestic scene before him.

You had the island scattered with ingredients, rolling pin diligently rolling back and forth before you tossed a spattering of flour against the dough to keep it from sticking. “Well look at this, when did you become a sweet little housewife for me?” He snickered as he pushed from the woodwork and went towards the other side of the kitchen to make himself a drink now that he was home for the evening.

“In your dreams Hugh.” You said cheerily that rewarded you with a warning over his glass of scotch.

“Watch it Kitten. It would be easy enough to change that tune of yours.”

You weren’t too worried as you picked up your cookie cutter and started to cut out the shapes to slide onto a cookie sheet, taking a peek at Ransom. The tops of his cheeks were still a bright pink cause of the cold outside, his hair damp where the falling snow had melted since he came inside. The gold of his pinkie ring glimmered from the bright overhead lights as his hand twirled the glass in his hand. You softened a bit towards him, considering he had yet to make a remark about the state you had his kitchen in. “Thought I would do something nice, it is the holiday after all.” You hummed at him playfully, reshaping the dough together to roll it back out.

Ransom glanced down at the shapes and snorted with a smirk. “Kitten, what are they supposed to be?” He reached to grasp one of the oddly shaped cutters, trying to make some sense of the shape.

“Gingerbread people Ransom.” You slid another cookie on the tray while reaching over to grasp your cookie cutter from him before he could study it to closely. Ransom folded his arms across his chest, watching you ever so diligent knead the dough back together.

“I know this is more your thing, cause you like all this crafty crap.” He leaned forward to dip a finger in one of the bowls of frosting you had pre made. “I will be fucking damned if this is a person shaped.” Smirking at you as you moved the bowl of frosting out of his reach, flashing your own knowing grin at him with a stick out of your tongue.

“Trust me, they are.” You spin with the tray of dough to stick into the oven while Ransom circled the island where you had your decorations spread out. The audacity of the man, he dipped his finger back in your frosting to lick his fingertip.

“Mmh, nice and sweet.” he sucks off the tip while you set the timer on the oven.

“You better not be eating my frosting, it's important for the cookies.” You threaten while he bluntly does it again without hesitation, and you twist to push him away before he can get another swipe and you would have to make another batch.

“But its fucking good and I can think of a better way to use it.” He grinned as you continued to push him backwards towards the exit of the kitchen. His hands danced at your apron, going to pluck the tie loose but you thwarted his wandering hands.

“Don’t you have a zoom meeting now?” you caught his hands from behind you and he easily turned it around to wrap his hands around your wrists and backed you into the wall, sweet sugared lips pressed to yours. Darts of his tongue slid against yours and you fought against it teasing for a moment, knowing that he wanted you to open to him. Nips of teeth and a pull at your mouth finally had you giving into him, curling your fingers in his soft sweater that hid the hard planes of his chest from sight but you could feel them under your palm.

Just as you were getting into the moment, your tongue pressing against his in that addictive taste mixing with your frosting, feeling your heart start to pick up and the heavy warmth blossoming in your lower belly, he yanked away.

“Yup, you're right Kitten. I do.” One final grind against you just to be a pain in the ass, he let you go and walked out the kitchen, laughing as you flipped him off while straightening your apron he had managed to wrinkle up around your hips.

“He’s such a pain in the ass.” You muttered to yourself while going back into the kitchen to check on your cookies, hearing the click of his office door where he shut himself in.

After the cookies baked and cooled, you were careful to follow a picture you had found on pintrest to recreate the gingerbread people. The crispy gingerbread had come out even better than you expected. You slid some onto a Christmas plate, and sang “Santa Baby hurry down my chimney tonight” to yourself while untying the apron. Now to the last part of your little cookie surprise.

Ransom had been half paying attention to his zoom call. He had been focused at the beginning on how enthusiastic the editor had been with Harlan's new book and release date. But he was over it now, he knew it would be a success, that they had to start pumping out copies in the new year. Yada Yada Yada, these fuckers sure knew how to drone on and on. “Listen, I assure you that we're all on the same page with this sh- stuff. Is there anything else we need to cover?” He barely caught himself, trying to be respectful for Harlan’s sake. Walt, who was on one of the screens, gave him a warning look, which Ransom promptly smirked back at him.

“Of course Mr. Drysdale, we are almost finished.” one of the women assured Ransom, which he had to admit being called Mr.Drysdale in a business setting made him feel a bit smug. Especially since Walt has basically been ignored the entire time.

A soft rap on his door drew his attention away from the screen and Ransom hit the mute button on his laptop.

“I got it on mute Kitten, come on in.” He leaned back in his chair to look around the laptop to see you let yourself into the office, his cream-white sweater pooling around your bare thighs and Ransom gave a knowing look while dragging his fingers over his lips. Red and white Christmas stockings adorned your feet and in your hands was a tray he was assuming was your cookies from before. “Got something for me Kitten?”

You paused while on the other side of his desk, keeping the tray slightly out of sight for a moment. “Are you able to step away from your meeting?” You question in a manner that you knew would make Ransom curious. True to your suspicions, Ransom held up a finger for just a moment before he turned back to his laptop to hit the unmute button. You stepped away while the drone of voices filled the room.

“Alright, I think we covered everything” Ransom raised his voice slightly, cutting Walt effectively off, which made this even more satisfying for the both of you. From across the desk, you could see the way Ransom’s eyes flashed and a tug at the corner of his mouth, that he was pleased with the way his uncle must have reacted. You readjusted your cookies for a moment before picking the one you knew Ransom would enjoy.

After their business contacts disconnected, you could hear Walt's voice get high-pitched at Ransom, obviously angry at your boyfriend. Grinning you made your way over back towards the desk, Ransom beckoning you to join him on the other side.

“I have other important matters to attend to right now Walt. So… Eat Shit.” Ransom told Walt off while pulling you into his lap, Walt's gaze darkening when he saw you.

“Ranso-” and that is when Ransom effectively snapped his laptop shut with a cocky laugh, his hands sliding along the inside of your bare thighs.

“That never gets old… Now, what do you have?” He questioned your cookie in your hand and you held it up to see now what you actually were making earlier.

You held up the gingerbread cookie, depicting two gingerbread people in a naughty act that had Ransom tipping his head back with a laugh now that you had the frosting all edged out, showing him the deed they were locked into.

“These were what the fucking cookie cutters were?” He plucked the cookie from your hand and bit off one of the heads.

You gave your own giggles with a nod. “I saw them online and had them shipped overnight because fuck I just wanted them.” You snapped off a leg and slipped it between your lips to chew slowly. Ransom seemed to enjoy it, the darts of his tongue clearing cookie crumbles from his bottom lip. He tossed the remaining part of the cookie on his desk, moving suddenly to a stand while making you go with him.

“They are good Kitten. But I see something I want more.” His hands dug into your hips under his shirt, grinding your ass against him. “Your cookie put that image in my mind. You just bent right over my desk.” His hand pressed against your back between your shoulder blades and you sprawled forward against the clutter of papers and pens.

“It’s been on my mind the whole time I was icing them. Which I barely had enough after you ate part of it.” You purred out now, getting the exact reaction you wanted from him. You could feel Ransom push the sweater to bunch around your hip, your bare ass on display for him which he slid a hand over the curve, and then dipped between your thighs to trace those soft petals while he kissed on your neck with precise knowledge of how to turn you on.

“I still stand on what I said earlier about using that frosting on something other than cookies.” He kept stroking you till you were withering under him, pushing back slightly to rock your hips when his fingers stretched you open. “Baking cookies and then coming in here looking all like a fucking snack yourself.” Your eyes rolled up as he curled his fingers, knowing where that sweet spot was and you started flexing around him,

“Ransom, you are going to make me cum if you keep that up.” you pressed your forehead against the desk, clutching your fingers around the edge to go white-knuckled.

“Do what you want to, but I'm still fucking this pussy afterward.” He informed you while speeding his fingers in you, making you arch your back further and wail softly against the cherry wood top desk when his thumb started to press and circle your clit. The rush was tingling racing up your spine and warmth spread through you to make you sigh in satisfaction. “We’re not done yet, Kitten.”

And you felt him grind in behind you, the telltale zip of his pants and the clank of his buckle. He leaned over against your back, his hand picking up the cookie and stuffing it in your mouth.

“This is to keep you quiet, Kitten.”

Keep you quiet indeed. You would forever think of Ransom pounding into you from behind with the future gingerbread cookies you would let grace your tongue in the future. The sweet spiciness would mimic the flare of arousal blossoming in your stomach while your hips were slammed into the desk, slaps of skin and Ransom grasping his hand around your neck to pull your head back, so he could watch you when you started to come undone. When you did, those flutters in your stomach broke to flood your system with bliss, your eyes rolled back and your jaw dropped. Ransom smirked as he dragged out your orgasm with twists of his fingers against your clit and taunting praises. “Ahh no Kitten, you gave it to me so fucking easy. Just aching for this pussy to be filled with cock, weren't you.”

You couldn't do anything other than mewl your agreement that in fact, that was exactly what you had wanted. Ransom turned sloppy behind you, trying to reach his own ending and when he did, he leaned himself over your back, hot breaths from behind clenched teeth had him hissing when he ground against your ass once more, pumping his seed into you till you were dripping with him.

“Let's go see what other cookies you have for us Kitten.”

It was late into the night when you finally fell into bed exhausted only for you to wake up later to find Ransom missing from bed. Curious as to why how he wasn't as tired as you were made you unwrap the tangled sheet from around you and seek out a piece of clothing to cover you while you went wandering out of the bedroom to go seek Ransom out. Down the stairs, you went to find the kitchen light on. Peeking your head in, you bit your lip to suppress a giggle. Before you Ransom had his hand in the cookie jar, already chewing what looked to be the last bite of one gingerbread couple and going for a second one.

“I just caught someone with their hand in the cookie jar.” You teased and he looked up first in surprise, the flop of his hair out of place bouncing in front of his eyes. But you weren't fooled, not the way they glinted behind his bangs and his smile turned upright almost smirking at being caught.

“Going for the next cookie I'm using on you.” He started and your eyes widened as he pulled out another, this time legs wrapped around the other's waist.

“You are not at all tired?” You accused, starting to count on your fingers the different cookies you two tried out today.

Ransom grinned wickedly as he bit off the head of one gingerbread man. “Not in the slightest.” He started stalking towards you and you gave a squeal, turning to race back up the stairs, Ransom following right behind you, stuffing the rest of your cookie in his mouth.

#ransom and kitten #ransom x kitten #ransom drysdale fic #ransom drysdale x reader #wiypt25daysofchrismas #knives out fic #knives out fanfiction #amber writes #sweater writes #chris evans characters

[wanna-be-bold]

Realization

When Kensi thinks about Deeks interactions with kids she comes to a realization. Inspired by this post.

I really have no idea what this is but here you go:

It wasn't unusual, seeing him interact with kids during a case. In fact it was a pretty common part of the job.

She should have known he was good with kids, hell he was practically an overgrown child himself some days, but it always surprised her how much he wanted to connect with kids they met on the job.

It became clear however when she found out about his childhood. More specifically his dad. Officers had been to his house many times as a kid for noise complaints and suspicions of domestic violence but his dad was always able to cover it up. When he shot his dad though the detective that talked to him was kind and paid attention to him, something none of the others ever had. When he graduated from the police academy he promised himself that he would always give kids that same treatment any time one was involved in a case and it was clear that he would always keep that promise.

Since that day Kensi saw each interaction he had with a child in a new light. He wasn't just her childish partner Deeks he was her kind partner Deeks who cared about every kid they came across.

It wasn't until seeing him talk with Tomás that something clicked with her. Before Deeks she never wanted kids. She grew up without a mom for so long, how was she supposed to be a good one? But, after watching Deeks comfort Tomás despite everything he had gone through growing up she knew she was being ridiculous.

Coming in the door, Deeks immediately laid down on the couch, being careful to avoid any more injury to his ass. Putting their bags down, Kensi grabbed beers from the fridge and joined him, sitting at his hip.

"How're you feeling?" She ran a hand soothingly over his hair, looking him over.

"Oh you know, like I got stuck in the ass with a cactus then faced death in a drug tunnel then worried a kid was gonna get sent back to cartel country. Just a normal day at work."

"Yeah, that was a rough day." She bit her lip, thinking carefully about her next words. "Listen um, I've been thinking, about today and what you said in the tunnel and…" Deeks' eyes widened as he replayed his words from earlier.

"Kens I uh, I'm sorry I shouldn't have said those words then I just-"

"No Babe no thats, that's not what I'm talking about. Well it is but…" she huffed, turning to face him fully. "I am, so happy that you feel that way but I just, I'm not ready to say it back yet."

"And I don't need you to. I mean I of course I want you to. Eventually."

"Deeks, Deeks." He stopped rambling and looked up at her. "Watching you today with Tomás got me thinking. About you and, and us. You've always been so great with kids Deeks. Any time we've had a case and had to talk to or distract a kid you've just jumped right in, no hesitation. You're gonna be such a great dad one day." Deeks could feel tears welling up in his eyes as she talked and braced himself for the worst.

"Kens, where are you going with this?"

"I've never wanted kids Deeks. At least, not until today. When I saw you talking with Tomás I realized that… that I want kids one day Deeks, with you."

"You, what?" Taking his hands in hers she interlaced their fingers together, squeezing his hands.

"I want to have kids with you Deeks." Not caring about his injury he sat up quickly, cupping her cheeks and kissing her hard. Neither pulled away until they were both breathless. "What was that for?"

"Because I love you. And that was as good as you saying it back to me." Smiling, she leaned forward, pushing him back against the couch.

"Well then, what do you say we get some practice?" With a smirk Deeks leaned up, kissing her again as he slid her shorts off slowly.

Kensi Marie Blye just said she wanted to have kids with him and he'd never been happier.

#densi #ts fanfic #marty deeks #kensi blye

[stormblessed95]

I was the anon talking about Jikook and kids and not finding the question homophobic. (And I was not the same anon that you referred to in your answer to my ask. I know exactly which anon on which blog you’re talking about tough and I kind of agree with them) Not going to delve into that but hmm, after that last anon, I understand your annoyance regarding certain asks… I was personally referring to people who ask genuine questions about Jikook and may comes off as ignorant, not the passive agressive ones, but I get that your patience must run out sometimes.

That being said, regarding last anon, it’s not the first time that I see people asking about a shift in Jikook these last months and I also genuinely can’t notice any shift so concerning that issue maybe it’s not that Jikookers aren’t willing to talk about it but just that it’s a topic that comes back every now and then and it has been the same circle for years now and well… we just can’t see what you’re talking about… sorry, I see no change in Jikook except them being more and more domestic so what do you except Jikook blogs to tell you exactly…

Hello thanks for coming back and taking my response in stride. Although I don't know which anon on which blog you think i was referring to.... but moving on.... lol

That last anon that demonstrated the annoyance at the type of asks I, and others, get all the time... yeah, that wasn't even a bad one. I literally deleted one this morning that was defaming Yoongi as a horrible person. I've gotten some that were horrible about RM for "forcing" KM apart. I've gotten some that say things like JK or JM (depending on whose solo it is) is a horrible boyfriend for doing xyz with another member. I've gotten some insisting I'm delusional and all the boys are straight. I've gotten ones just like the last one who are adamant KM have changed and calling me all kinds of horrible names for misleading the public and refusing to see what's right in front of me. I've gotten ones that basically try to dare me to disprove moments between other members that are supposed to somehow invalidate what I see in KM. Ive gotten some that are just links to threads of badly gotten proof that is easily disputed that is supposed to prove to me that JK or JM is dating some woman. And more...

And none of them are ever worth posting. And I promise I do very often take the time to explain things to people in a way that I hope makes sense and helps them understand more when they truly don't seem like they mean anything bad by it and just don't know. When they seem like they are asking because they want to know or truly do not understand something. Literally just the other day I broke down how liking more than one gender and/or being young and in love does not correlate to how committed you are in a relationship. You can find that post here:

Or this post where someone asked me why do people talk about homophobia in South Korea when it doesn't really exist, and I took the time to write practically an essay out trying to educate them about the systemic homophobia that is very very real there and plenty of other places still. Just for them to pop back into my ask box and basically just call me names (which I again, didn't post):

So we do (at least I know I do) what you are talking about often, I promise. But sometimes it's a lot and sometimes if the ask doesn't feel as geniune or it raises eyebrows, it's not worth the mental and emotional energy expended to be as nice. There are other examples of me taking the time out to explain sensitive topics very nicely to people who seemed geniune in their questions under important posts on my masterlist.

Literally as I'm writing this, just as another example, I received 2 more anon messages. One shaming Yoongi for not reading the room and making Jimin uncomfortable during the vlive (again). This will be the 7th ask I have gotten over this topic, where I said everything I needed to say already on my one post about that and I have deleted all 7 that have since come in. And another shaming Jikook for queer bating everyone if they aren't real and saying that if it ever comes out that TK are dating they would never support bts or JM/JK ever again, in response to I think the NY trip and airport photos. Which I also won't be responding to and just deleting. Anon gives the option for great conversations and wonderful asks like this one and plenty others that I post and some rants that I don't post but do enjoy reading. And it also gives people a chance to be toxic without repercussions. And they take advantage of that.

Thanks again for coming back and being understanding. Hope you have a wonderful day, anon 💜💜

[sunseteyes]

FLUFFVEMBER DAY 30: KENMA KOZUME

prompt: random questions at 1am (prompts are by @jojosmilktea)

word count: 1,414 words | themes: gen!reader. comfort fluff? domestic! pre-established relationship

tags: @kacchanori @chickynn @todominica @sparkleswritings @brinthie @patricia-ceballos @giyuus-wife @bitchtrynafck @astrxrism @animatedarchives @deephasoceanmagic @strawberrysalwa @kawaiinishii @moonlightaangel @mrs-kuroojinguji @meliorist-midoriya @pandabobachan

rv: entirely self-indulgent. this is my routine at nightㄟ(￣▽￣ㄟ) plus, i first wrote this at 1am hehehe. also, if you guys want a song inspo listen to dreamy night by lilypichu it fits this fic so well!! also, thank you so much for supporting me all throughout my fluffvember! aaa i’m never doing anything like this again but instead maybe an event that posts every atleast 2 days?? heheh. i may have grew exhausted at least more than once but this was fun! please do look forward to my future events~ i love you all~ although speaking of kenma i’ll have an smau for him comin up!

✒︎ unspoken rule

kenma was sleeping when he heard the muffled noises that eventually became the cause of his consciousness, pulling him into the wake world with his eyes landing on you, your phone held up to your face as the light from the gadget reflected on your irises; eyes wide open, indicating that you have been focusing on whatever you were doing on the screen.

obviously from the sounds though, kenma could rule out that you were playing your favorite game—mobile legends, probably. he wasn't much of a fan of that game since he knows and likes the others more, but since it was the only game you and him mutually could play, he frequently lets you indulge him to play with you. he also knows that the only reason you might be playing as of the moment is because you couldn't sleep, just like usual.

however, his eyes were already giving up and he let the sounds from your game lull him again to sleep, pulling him in the dream world where his unconsciousness settles him in and tucks him in a fantasy that he might not even remember the moment he opens his eyes.

it was 1AM when he was awoken again, which was unlikely of him since he usually wakes up an hour after, and he'll play games from then on. despite that, he forced himself to stay awake when he sees your form, this time in front of your laptop, clearly working on something—probably a schoolwork or a tumblr post you would schedule to be published by tomorrow evening.

he sits up from the bed and he immediately wanted to lay back down again, his body urging him to. still, he raises up a hand to rub on his eyes, hoping to scratch away the sleepiness in his system.

he was half-asleep when he pulls himself to stand and sit on the empty chair next to you—the one he usually occupies whenever he's gaming or doing his livestreams. your chair will only rarely be occupied by you since you do your work outside, where you set-up your laptop and things to do on fresh air, also as a way to not be interrupted by the sounds his switch or keyboard produces whenever he plays.

every night though, is a different story.

kenma knows you are not much of a procastinator and usually does your schoolworks or stuff to do as early as possible—and he actually admires you for that. for him, you were one of the most responsible person he has ever met. however, you have a tendency to pressure yourself to do things as fast as possible, and kenma is here to support you, even if he has to sacrifice one hour of his sleep just to accompany you in your work.

he didn't have to peak on your laptop screen and just pushed his chair next to you, presumably a natural move of his—which it is, anyway. he then raises both of your hand rests so that he can settle himself beside you and lean his head on your shoulder, letting his eyelids close as you merely continued typing away from your laptop.

this is not actually the first time you've attempted to stay up late while doing your schoolworks or other things that could only keep you busy. that's why this is also not the first time he has done this for you and these moments just comes by, as if it was part of your daily routine.

"what are you working on again?" came out kenma's voice, soft and slurred from the drowsiness, but still clear enough for you, who was only inches away from him. he feels you halt your movements, and probably looks at him sideways for a second before continues on with your work.

"i have this event that i'm working on. i was supposed to do this last week but i got piled up by my schoolworks. you should sleep on the bed, ken. aren't you uncomfortable in this position?"

"i'm not," he says almost instantly, situating his head further onto your shoulder. "are you?"

"no, it's fine." there was a pleasantry in your voice that even when his eyes were closed, he knew you were smiling. "this actually feels nice. thanks for accompanying me again."

kenma on the other hand, barely had energy left to form a reaction, but he was still able to speak and mutter out words, nonetheless.

"ask me questions, (y/n). i might fall asleep if you don't."

"hm? isn't it better if you sleep instead? it's alright, y’know. i know you're tired."

"i'm not,” his brows curl and furrow in the slightest, "-just keep me from falling asleep."

"okay, alright, alright." you chuckle lowly, your energy depleted all the same, but seemingly still in a fair mood. he notices you stop your typing and you were humming, as if thinking and pondering deeply.

"what's your moon sign?"

"what's that?" kenma's eyes flufter and he sees you typing away again.

"like-your sun sign in the zodiac is libra right? the moon sign is the sign that you truly are deep inside of you." you say, despite being preoccupied. you're good at multi-tasking like that.

"i don't know what you're talking about." his eyelids closes again as he says the word "next"

"okay, uh-if me and kuroo are drowning, who would you save?"

"you," he says, not even thinking about it. "kuroo knows how to swim and you don't. besides, i'm sure kuroo would be the one saving you before he could even drown."

you let out a chuckle, probably grinning wide despite the straight-up insult he just gave.

"yeah, i think so too. your lazy ass would be ordering kuroo to save me instead, that's what."

he removes himself from your shoulder and opens his eyes to weakly glare at you, a pout on his lips that you had to laugh when you glanced at him sideways.

“what? it’s true.” you giggled and he eventually makes his way back to your shoulder, his silky hair tickling the sides of your face.

"how long are you going to stay up anyway? i'd have to play a game in a few later." he mumbles under his breath, his eyelids probably sliding shut with its desire to sleep.

your typing stops and your head turns his way once again, a hand along its way to reach for his hand, squeezing it ever so gently, "i told you, you could take a nap now. i'd just wake you up later when it's 2 AM."

your reassurance seems to have proven its worth when he lets out a breath that resembles one of a scoff, snuggling a little more on your shoulder, making himself more comfortable.

"head on to the bed, ken. you'll have a stiff neck if you sleep like that."

"i won't."

"hm?" you resumed typing, your focus divided upon kenma and what you were doing previously. you're so used in multitasking, but since you were far more concerned with his well-being, your fingers couldn't even find a way to work out anything with how your mind seemingly can’t form the thoughts you wanted it to do so.

"i won't, i'll stay here. just wake me up on time." he mutters as he drifts off, his breathing stabilizes and his form going slump next to you.

without noticing yourself, a corner of your lip curling up as the words to your work began to come back on your mind, your fingers working its way to type on your computer. you found a little bit of comfort in defiance of the stiffness and exhaustion of your muscles, trying your best not wake the other.

with him there, it was enough. with him beside you, it’s more than just enough.

thus you continued to work, with thoughts of how you’d sleep on kenma’s lap while he’s gaming a little bit later the moment he wakes up. just like usual, even in the difference of your waking states, you two still kept each other company.

despite having no conversation or obligation to do so, it became like an unspoken rule to keep the other from feeling lonely. because even in the darkest of nights and the brightest of days, you're there for him, and he's there for you.

and that alone was enough to go through the day, even at 1AM, where everyone else was sound asleep. at least, you have kenma here, right beside you.

#kenma kozume #kenma x reader #kenma x you #haikyuu x reader #kenma oneshots #fluffvember 2020 #fluffvember

[bringingglory]

@eerna oh my god acshdgagaahhdvsahsv I never expected you to see my post, so I won't lie, I feel like super embarrassed acsgsga

anyway! not gonna lie, this wip has been sitting in my drafts for months now because I wanted to see if I could plan stuff but then I got stuck because Details are hard to figure out BUT I did write out a few scenes, so I'll put them below the cut because they're kind of long. the first one is the "opening" of the fic and the second one is a sort of reimagining of the Silent Princess memory. i have a few other scenes sort of scribbled out, but these are the most "polished" of the stuff i've written alsdkfjasdfk

the opening lol

Link wakes to a faint buzzing in his ear that sends little darts of pain shooting through his skull. He waits for it to end, and when it doesn’t he groans and rolls over, smacking the space around him to find whatever was making that noise and make it shut up. He can’t fathom why his brain is rolling through his skull like that and why there’s an intense pressure behind his eyes, but when he rolls onto his side, he has to press a hand to his abdomen to settle whatever was sloshing around inside his stomach.

Ah. He’s hungover.

Link peels open his eyes and the light sends a fresh wave of pain ricocheting through his skull. He blinks once, twice, and then forces his eyes open to find a phone the size vibrating against the ground a few inches away from his hand.

Link groans and pushes himself up to a sitting position before grabbing the phone and dismissing the alarm. When the phone falls silent in his hands, he finally looks around and tries to assess the situation.

He’s sitting in a bathtub, the porcelain slightly damp from what he hopes is just water. His shirt smells vaguely of cheap vodka and he still can barely look at the sunlight streaming through the window without wincing.

A moment later, he realizes the phone in his hands isn’t his.

Link holds the phone up to his face and rubs the grogginess from his eyes. He swipes up on the screen, surprised that it isn’t protected by a password.

The phone is open on note in the notes app, and it reads:

link, if you’re reading this right now, im so sorry for leaving you in the tub like that!!! my dad’s supposed to come home from the office today and the document case i was telling you about is missing and he cant know i lost it. i know we just started getting along, and im so sorry to ask you this, but could you find the document case? impa’s in my contacts and she can help you. also you have permission to dig through my phone, just dont judge me if i have anything embarrassing on there. can you find the file by midnight? his flight leaves at 3 and i can stall him until then.

it’s 6:11 right now so i have to run before he gets back, but please hurry! i’ll be waiting for you

-zelda

Link blinks and turns the phone off.

Last night? What happened last night? Why can’t he remember anything?

Well, if his raging headache tells him anything, it’s that he had probably blacked out last night.

Link isn’t usually a drinker or a partier. He isn’t really one to go to big social events. So he’s really confused as to why he woke up passed out in a tub with zero memories.

And also, why Zelda left her phone with him.

a version of the Silent Princess memory but they're at a party and its modern

Zelda laughs. “I think I got a little too sober from the Yiga incident to enjoy the party now.”

Link isn’t sure if he’s supposed to laugh with her, but nods anyway. “Do you want to get some air?”

Zelda gives him an odd look, then sighs. “Yeah. Yes. That would be a good idea.”

Surprisingly, she grabs his forearm and leads him through all the bodies pressed against each other. He can feel the heat of her hand wrapping entirely around his arm like a hot glove, even above the heat of the late summer air and the heat from other people in close proximity.

Somehow, they make it to the other side of the house. Zelda pushes the back door open and pulls him past the other stragglers outside before they find a nice tree with a patch of grass that seems generally clear of alcohol and vomit.

Zelda releases his arm as soon as she finds the tree and she sits down, dropping her head against the trunk.

“Are you okay?” He asks.

Zelda waves her hand vaguely.

Link pauses. “Do you need water?”

“If you get me any more water, I’m probably gonna piss myself,” says Zelda. “Sit down.”

He sits down.

The crickets hum vaguely around them, mingling with the distant buzzing and thumping bass of the music from the party. But without people pressing in from all sides and an open field in front of them, it finally feels like he can take a full breath.

The silence settles over them like a blanket. It feels comfortable to him, but he isn’t sure if it’s supposed to be.

“Oh, Link, look.”

Link cranes his head to see Zelda twist around and point out a blue flower glowing vaguely in the dark. It was beautiful with blue petals so light they looked almost white, and a sky blue bleeding out from the center before fading out.

He wants to give her a questioning look, but she’s transfixed on the flower. He can see the smallest of smiles creeping up onto the corners of her mouth.

“It’s a Silent Princess,” she says. “It was my mom’s favorite flower.”

He can tell something important is happening, so he keeps his mouth shut.

“She said that we can’t grow them domestically yet, despite our best efforts.” Zelda breaks into a full smile and it’s radiant. “The Princess can only thrive out here. In the wild.”

They both turn to look back at the house as another loud WHOOP cuts through the air, followed by the sound of a can being crushed against a head.

“Nature is beautiful,” says Link.

Zelda swats him and he has to bite back a laugh.

She turns and runs a gentle finger along one of the petals before sighing and leaning back against the tree.

“Thank you,” she says suddenly. “For being there with the Yiga. And for being there the whole party.” He can hear her swallow. “I’m sorry for being a bitch.”

“You weren’t being a bitch,” says Link.

“I was, though.” Zelda inhales beside him. “I mean, just because I’m under a lot of stress from my dad doesn’t mean I’m allowed to take it out on other people. I was acting like a kid.”

“To be fair, your dad sounds like an asshole sometimes.”

Zelda snorts. “Yeah. He can be.” He turns his head to see her lean forward to fiddle with the grass. “But he’s got a lot on his plate. And it probably doesn’t help that his daughter doesn’t want anything to do with his ‘legacy.’”

“Just because your dad’s under a lot of pressure doesn’t mean he’s allowed to be an asshole,” Link points out.

Zelda finally looks up at him and offers him a small grin. “Fair enough.”

“And besides, you’re your own person. You don’t need to follow in his footsteps.”

“That’s what I said,” huffs Zelda. “But of course it’s, ‘blah blah you have a responsibility. I didn’t raise you like this so you could waste your time researching pointless things.’” She sighs. “It’s fine. It’s whatever. I came to this stupid party to blow off steam, I guess. But Goddess, I did not eat enough today to drink that many cans of shitty beer.”

Link sits upright, alert. “Do you need to get food or—”

“No, no, that’s fine.” And that smile returns and Link wonders what else he can say to make it stay. “You’re sweet. But I’ve probably gotten drunk enough tonight.” Her eyes slide up to him and the mischief in them stops his heart for a moment. “You still have to try the Hot Frog.”

Link blinked. “...what is that?”

--

the endings are abrupt on both of them just bc i wasn't entirely sure how to end them akldjfasd. also the "Hot Frog" is gonna be some kind of mixed drink that gets link really drunk -- me trying to allude more to the original memory from the game haha

anyway, thank you so much for the ask! and thank u for coming up with the shitpost because it made me laugh the first time i read it hasdklfj hopefully i'll continue this one day and do ur shitpost au justice!

#lmao i just realized i titled the fic 'the lelda of zelda: breath of the weath' bc of a meme i saw at the time of making the google doc #also this is completely unimportant but im normally a past tense kind of gal #so it was a bit of an experiment writing in present tense for this #i might end up switching to past tense again later anyway aksjdfhasd #anyway thank you again for the ask <3 #eerna #asks