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#after 20+ years of marriage this is what works for me
bi-buckrights · 22 hours
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20 Questions for Fic Writers
Tagged by the lovely @hippolotamus thank you my friend 💕
How many works do you have on ao3?
Just 12! I started writing almost a year and a half ago and I am very slow lmao
What's your total ao3 word count?
204,888
What fandoms do you write for?
Just 9-1-1! Honestly haven't felt the urge to write for any others.
Top five fics by kudos:
Bottled Poetry
Pick a Star on the Dark Horizon (Follow the Light)
You and Me Here (underneath the mistletoe)
Home is Just Another Word for You
Kiss Me Before it's Over (If Only for a Minute)
Do you respond to comments?
Yes!! Comments make my day so I love responding to them! Although I am very far behind...
What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
I have to have write happy endings so I can't really answer this 😂
What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
Also difficult to answer since they are all happy endings... but I think that Pick a Star on the Dark Horizon (Follow the Light) has the most rewarding happy ending after all the angst I put them through 😅
Do you get hate on fics?
Mehh I've gotten a few somewhat rude comments but thankfully nothing notable
Do you write smut?
I dabble... particularly in my FWB baseball au 😏 and my upcoming pirate au 😌
Craziest crossover:
I don't foresee myself writing any crossovers asdkfjh
Have you ever had a fic stolen?
Not that I know of...
Have you ever had a fic translated?
I don't think so, but I would be honored if someone wanted to translate one of my fics!
Have you ever cowritten a fic before?
No, my writing schedule is too unpredictable and I feel so bad if someone is relying on me 😭
All time favourite ship?
Buddie!! Obviously. But I have been loving Bucktommy, and Destiel will always have my heart.
What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?
I don't know if my beloved wedding fic will ever return to from the war... Different first meeting, Buck and Eddie reunite at Madney's wedding.
What are your writing strengths?
Umm. uh. pass? I honestly dont know adsfkjh but I like writing multichapter fics and weaving the different parts of the story together (idk if I'm any good at it though lmaooo)
What are your writing weaknesses?
Actually writing... asdfkjlh
Thoughts on dialogue in another language?
I've never added it but I know if I ever needed to include it for any reason I know I could consult my lovely spanish speaking friends <333
First fandom you wrote in?
9-1-1!
Favorite fic you've written?
ohhh not to be repetitive about this fic but probably Pick a Star on the Dark Horizon (Follow the Light), my army marriage of convenience au which is very personal and special to me ❤️
Tagging @monsterrae1 @prettyboybuckley @rogerzsteven @loserdiaz @saybiwithme
@spotsandsocks @eddiebabygirldiaz @hoodie-buck @exhuastedpigeon @bidisasterevankinard
@bekkachaos @loveyouanyway @elvensorceress @spaceprincessem
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lianabrooks · 8 months
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How To Keep Your (Found) Family Happy
A friend posted a cartoon about weaponized incompetence on another website and talked about how every family has this. In fact, most groups of humans have run into this at some point, it's pretty normal for humans to try to find a way to take the easiest route (even if it means more work for others).
Despite all that, I've been with the same person since 2001. We've been married most of that time, had four kids together, and moved countless times as we restarted jobs, hunted promotions, and switched career fields. And we've managed to avoid most of the pitfalls. Here's how my spouse and I have avoid fights, weaponized incompetence, bitter feelings, and feeling neglected in our relationship for over 20 years (Hint: there's a lot of communication going on)... P.S. These are all very family/relationship-centric but you can absolutely adapt them for the workplace, school, or anything else.
MAKING CHOICES AHEAD OF TIME ... the menu is made at the start of the month, money is allocated before major events, we plan trips sometimes years in advance. All of that reduces the choice making later and is one less stress to handle. This is purely a decision making fatigue thing, if you have to make a decision, it requires brain power, and after a long day you'll have none. So why not sit down on a quiet day and make all the decisions you need to make for the next week? Poof! Brain power is freed up and there is less stress!
MONTHLY & WEEKLY CALENDAR SCRUBS... we sit down and make the menu around the first of the month, and we fill in the calendar with schedules so we know which days someone will be too busy to do things like cook, wash up, or something else.
DAILY CHECK-INS... whoever is home together in the morning does a morning devotional (yoga, dance time, scriptures, motivational quote, prayers, whatever works for you) and review what's happening so everyone is tracking major tests, work meetings, stressors, ect. Then we try to have dinner together if possible (even if it means eating at 5) and then a bedtime check-in before light's out (usually scriptures, prayers, and chatting, then bedtime stories for the littles). If people are working from home, we might have lunch together too. That means we have 2-4 planned meetings a day so we can course correct. -> If you're not religious, don't stress it. Pull out some Terry Pratchett quotes, favorite poems, pick a theme song for the week and dance to it. Just give you and your people five minutes to do something happy together. -> If this is at work this might mean a team meeting at the start of the day or a 12 minute check-in at 1:30 when everyone is back from lunch. The goal is to make sure everyone is on schedule for what they need, haven't run into an emergencies, and no one has questions. A supported work team gets more done.
SPENDING LIMITS... we got married in college when we lived off college stipends of $400/m. And we had a kid. Our rule was never to spend $20 without consulting the other person. We never changed that. We discuss everything from birthday presents to grocery lists and when we're getting gas in the cars even though we're much more financially stable. It means everyone spending out of the main accounts is tracking where the money is going so we don't over-splurge.
CHORE SCHEDULES... when we were first married we'd set aside an hour or so to clean the house together. It worked. As the kids got older this got more complicated (they needed to learn how to clean). But now we're at a point where everyone has assigned chores and we put bounties on chores that need to get done and are unassigned. And then we have one cleaning day (usually Friday or Saturday) where we take an hour and all clean the shared spaces. It takes 30-60 minutes to clean the entire house if you have six people working together. Laundry has assigned days for every load. The dishwasher and cooking have assigned days. It works. Everyone helps to the best of their abilities. -> With this is a lot of Adjusted Expectations. My house is not color coordinated with everything in a bin. My family is all neurodivergent. Most our dishes live on the counters because putting them away makes them vanish. This works great for us but might be overwhelming for other people. Who cares? It's our house, we're doing what works for us and the person mad about messes on Instagram can suck a lemon. -> If you really cannot do chores, cosplay it. Roll the dice and make it a game. Set a timer. Bribe yourself. Make it work for you.
ONE-ON-ONE TIME... not just for me and hubby, but for parents and kids. We try to make sure everyone gets some alone time where they are the focus of attention and we can check-in and make sure their emotional needs are met. Kids need a space to vent. Adults to a space to not be parents. -> This is super important for friendships too. Make time for people in your life! -> At work, this means managers need to make time to talk with their employees, check-in, and assess who needs things (and consider the people's needs first, not the CEO's bonus)
SCHEDULED DOWNTIME... usually this is Sunday for us (the Sabbath day for our religion), but it can be whenever, and we might have more downtime scheduled on a stressful week than in an easy one. The goal here is to make sure everyone gets time to not work, not lead, not think, and just chill. They can play, listen to music, nap, whatever their brain needs, and they can do it without upsetting anyone or feeling guilty because it's part of the schedule. -> In an office this would mean not lean staffing, maybe having an early release day once a week (or a late start) or long lunches. Give your people space to zone out and chill so they can come back refreshed. -> Quiet Quitting only exists because management is trying to exploit their staff. Don't be that boss. (P.S. Join Your Union)
SOME THINGS DON'T HAPPEN... our kids are limited to one after-school activity a year and one AP class for high schoolers. We've tried other ways and found it generates too much stress. I limit projects I take on because I have a set quitting time, even though I work from home. My husband passes up on some away-from-home events with friends because we prioritize family time. Figuring out that balance is something you have to decide as a family. What works for one person won't work for all. -> In business this means doing sustainable, slow growth over rapid booms that overextend and hurt the system. Stop looking for the short term boost when long term is better.
ADAPT TO WHAT YOUR GROUP NEEDS!... this is the most important one, because what we've done over the years has changed in reaction to the needs of people around us. My kids in college need something different than the one starting middle school. My team at the lab needed something than my team at a newspaper. If you have a bunch of introverts, they probably don't want a dance party, they want a three minute meeting with a heads up about any major disturbances and then ten minutes of silence to prepare their souls for any human interaction. Do what works.
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therealbeachfox · 2 months
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Twenty years ago, February 15th, 2004, I got married for the first time.
It was twenty years earlier than I ever expected to.
To celebrate/comemorate the date, I'm sitting down to write out everything I remember as I remember it. No checking all the pictures I took or all the times I've written about this before. I'm not going to turn to my husband (of twenty years, how the f'ing hell) to remember a detail for me.
This is not a 100% accurate recounting of that first wild weekend in San Francisco. But it -is- a 100% accurate recounting of how I remember it today, twenty years after the fact.
Join me below, if you would.
2004 was an election year, and much like conservatives are whipping up anti-trans hysteria and anti-trans bills and propositions to drive out the vote today, in 2004 it was all anti-gay stuff. Specifically, preventing the evil scourge of same-sex marriage from destroying everything good and decent in the world.
Enter Gavin Newstrom. At the time, he was the newly elected mayor of San Francisco. Despite living next door to the city all my life, I hadn’t even heard of the man until Valentines Day 2004 when he announced that gay marriage was legal in San Francisco and started marrying people at city hall.
It was a political stunt. It was very obviously a political stunt. That shit was illegal, after all. But it was a very sweet political stunt. I still remember the front page photo of two ancient women hugging each other forehead to forehead and crying happy tears.
But it was only going to last for as long as it took for the California legal system to come in and make them knock it off.
The next day, we’re on the phone with an acquaintance, and she casually mentions that she’s surprised the two of us aren’t up at San Francisco getting married with everyone else.
“Everyone else?” Goes I, “I thought they would’ve shut that down already?”
“Oh no!” goes she, “The courts aren’t open until Tuesday. Presidents Day on Monday and all. They’re doing them all weekend long!”
We didn’t know because social media wasn’t a thing yet. I only knew as much about it as I’d read on CNN, and most of the blogs I was following were more focused on what bullshit President George W Bush was up to that day.
"Well shit", me and my man go, "do you wanna?" I mean, it’s a political stunt, it wont really mean anything, but we’re not going to get another chance like this for at least 20 years. Why not?
The next day, Sunday, we get up early. We drive north to the southern-most BART station. We load onto Bay Area Rapid Transit, and rattle back and forth all the way to the San Francisco City Hall stop.
We had slightly miscalculated.
Apparently, demand for marriages was far outstripping the staff they had on hand to process them. Who knew. Everyone who’d gotten turned away Saturday had been given tickets with times to show up Sunday to get their marriages done. My babe and I, we could either wait to see if there was a space that opened up, or come back the next day, Monday.
“Isn’t City Hall closed on Monday?” I asked. “It’s a holiday”
“Oh sure,” they reply, “but people are allowed to volunteer their time to come in and work on stuff anyways. And we have a lot of people who want to volunteer their time to have the marriage licensing offices open tomorrow.”
“Oh cool,” we go, “Backup.”
“Make sure you’re here if you do,” they say, “because the California Supreme Court is back in session Tuesday, and will be reviewing the motion that got filed to shut us down.”
And all this shit is super not-legal, so they’ll totally be shutting us down goes unsaid.
00000
We don’t get in Saturday. We wind up hanging out most of the day, though.
It’s… incredible. I can say, without hyperbole, that I have never experienced so much concentrated joy and happiness and celebration of others’ joy and happiness in all my life before or since. My face literally ached from grinning. Every other minute, a new couple was coming out of City Hall, waving their paperwork to the crowd and cheering and leaping and skipping. Two glorious Latina women in full Mariachi band outfits came out, one in the arms of another. A pair of Jewish boys with their families and Rabbi. One couple managed to get a Just Married convertible arranged complete with tin-cans tied to the bumper to drive off in. More than once I was giving some rice to throw at whoever was coming out next.
At some point in the mid-afternoon, there was a sudden wave of extra cheering from the several hundred of us gathered at the steps, even though no one was coming out. There was a group going up the steps to head inside, with some generic black-haired shiny guy at the front. My not-yet-husband nudged me, “That’s Newsom.” He said, because he knew I was hopeless about matching names and people.
Ooooooh, I go. That explains it. Then I joined in the cheers. He waved and ducked inside.
So dusk is starting to fall. It’s February, so it’s only six or so, but it’s getting dark.
“Should we just try getting in line for tomorrow -now-?” we ask.
“Yeah, I’m afraid that’s not going to be possible.” One of the volunteers tells us. “We’re not allowed to have people hang out overnight like this unless there are facilities for them and security. We’d need Porta-Poties for a thousand people and police patrols and the whole lot, and no one had time to get all that organized. Your best bet is to get home, sleep, and then catch the first BART train up at 5am and keep your fingers crossed.
Monday is the last day to do this, after all.
00000
So we go home. We crash out early. We wake up at 4:00. We drive an hour to hit the BART station. We get the first train up. We arrive at City Hall at 6:30AM.
The line stretches around the entirety of San Francisco City Hall. You could toss a can of Coke from the end of the line to the people who’re up to be first through the doors and not have to worry about cracking it open after.
“Uh.” We go. “What the fuck is -this-?”
So.
Remember why they weren’t going to be able to have people hang out overnight?
Turns out, enough SF cops were willing to volunteer unpaid time to do patrols to cover security. And some anonymous person delivered over a dozen Porta-Poties that’d gotten dropped off around 8 the night before.
It’s 6:30 am, there are almost a thousand people in front of us in line to get this literal once in a lifetime marriage, the last chance we expect to have for at least 15 more years (it was 2004, gay rights were getting shoved back on every front. It was not looking good. We were just happy we lived in California were we at least weren’t likely to loose job protections any time soon.).
Then it starts to rain.
We had not dressed for rain.
00000
Here is how the next six hours go.
We’re in line. Once the doors open at 7am, it will creep forward at a slow crawl. It’s around 7 when someone shows up with garbage bags for everyone. Cut holes for the head and arms and you’ve got a makeshift raincoat! So you’ve got hundreds of gays and lesbians decked out in the nicest shit they could get on short notice wearing trashbags over it.
Everyone is so happy.
Everyone is so nervous/scared/frantic that we wont be able to get through the doors before they close for the day.
People online start making delivery orders.
Coffee and bagels are ordered in bulk and delivered to City Hall for whoever needs it. We get pizza. We get roses. Random people come by who just want to give hugs to people in line because they’re just so happy for us. The tour busses make detours to go past the lines. Chinese tourists lean out with their cameras and shout GOOD LUCK while car horns honk.
A single sad man holding a Bible tries to talk people out of doing this, tells us all we’re sinning and to please don’t. He gives up after an hour. A nun replaces him with a small sign about how this is against God’s will. She leaves after it disintegrates in the rain.
The day before, when it was sunny, there had been a lot of protestors. Including a large Muslim group with their signs about how “Not even DOGS do such things!” Which… Yes they do.
A lot of snide words are said (by me) about how the fact that we’re willing to come out in the rain to do this while they’re not willing to come out in the rain to protest it proves who actually gives an actual shit about the topic.
Time passes. I measure it based on which side of City Hall we’re on. The doors face East. We start on Northside. Coffee and trashbags are delivered when we’re on the North Side. Pizza first starts showing up when we’re on Westside, which is also where I see Bible Man and Nun. Roses are delivered on Southside. And so forth.
00000
We have Line Neighbors.
Ahead of us are a gay couple a decade or two older than us. They’ve been together for eight years. The older one is a school teacher. He has his coat collar up and turns away from any news cameras that come near while we reposition ourselves between the lenses and him. He’s worried about the parents of one of his students seeing him on the news and getting him fired. The younger one will step away to get interviewed on his own later on. They drove down for the weekend once they heard what was going on. They’d started around the same time we did, coming from the Northeast, and are parked in a nearby garage.
The most perky energetic joyful woman I’ve ever met shows up right after we turned the corner to Southside to tackle the younger of the two into a hug. She’s their local friend who’d just gotten their message about what they’re doing and she will NOT be missing this. She is -so- happy for them. Her friends cry on her shoulders at her unconditional joy.
Behind us are a lesbian couple who’d been up in San Francisco to celebrate their 12th anniversary together. “We met here Valentines Day weekend! We live down in San Diego, now, but we like to come up for the weekend because it’s our first love city.”
“Then they announced -this-,” the other one says, “and we can’t leave until we get married. I called work Sunday and told them I calling in sick until Wednesday.”
“I told them why,” her partner says, “I don’t care if they want to give me trouble for it. This is worth it. Fuck them.”
My husband-to-be and I look at each other. We’ve been together for not even two years at this point. Less than two years. Is it right for us to be here? We’re potentially taking a spot from another couple that’d been together longer, who needed it more, who deserved it more.”
“Don’t you fucking dare.” Says the 40-something gay couple in front of us.
“This is as much for you as it is for us!” says the lesbian couple who’ve been together for over a decade behind us.
“You kids are too cute together,” says the gay couple’s friend. “you -have- to. Someday -you’re- going to be the old gay couple that’s been together for years and years, and you deserve to have been married by then.”
We stay in line.
It’s while we’re on the Southside of City Hall, just about to turn the corner to Eastside at long last that we pick up our own companions. A white woman who reminds me an awful lot of my aunt with a four year old black boy riding on her shoulders. “Can we say we’re with you? His uncles are already inside and they’re not letting anyone in who isn’t with a couple right there.” “Of course!” we say.
The kid is so very confused about what all the big deal is, but there’s free pizza and the busses keep driving by and honking, so he’s having a great time.
We pass by a statue of Lincoln with ‘Marriage for All!’ and "Gay Rights are Human Rights!" flags tucked in the crooks of his arms and hanging off his hat.
It’s about noon, noon-thirty when we finally make it through the doors and out of the rain.
They’ve promised that anyone who’s inside when the doors shut will get married. We made it. We’re safe.
We still have a -long- way to go.
00000
They’re trying to fit as many people into City Hall as possible. Partially to get people out of the rain, mostly to get as many people indoors as possible. The line now stretches down into the basement and up side stairs and through hallways I’m not entirely sure the public should ever be given access to. We crawl along slowly but surely.
It’s after we’ve gone through the low-ceiling basement hallways past offices and storage and back up another set of staircases and are going through a back hallway of low-ranked functionary offices that someone comes along handing out the paperwork. “It’s an hour or so until you hit the office, but take the time to fill these out so you don’t have to do it there!”
We spend our time filling out the paperwork against walls, against backs, on stone floors, on books.
We enter one of the public areas, filled with displays and photos of City Hall Demonstrations of years past.
I take pictures of the big black and white photo of the Abraham Lincoln statue holding banners and signs against segregation and for civil rights.
The four year old boy we helped get inside runs past us around this time, chased by a blond haired girl about his own age, both perused by an exhausted looking teenager helplessly begging them to stop running.
Everyone is wet and exhausted and vibrating with anticipation and the building-wide aura of happiness that infuses everything.
The line goes into the marriage office. A dozen people are at the desk, shoulder to shoulder, far more than it was built to have working it at once.
A Sister of Perpetual Indulgence is directing people to city officials the moment they open up. She’s done up in her nun getup with all her makeup on and her beard is fluffed and be-glittered and on point. “Oh, I was here yesterday getting married myself, but today I’m acting as your guide. Number 4 sweeties, and -Congradulatiooooons!-“
The guy behind the counter has been there since six. It’s now 1:30. He’s still giddy with joy. He counts our money. He takes our paperwork, reviews it, stamps it, sends off the parts he needs to, and hands the rest back to us. “Alright, go to the Rotunda, they’ll direct you to someone who’ll do the ceremony. Then, if you want the certificate, they’ll direct you to -that- line.” “Can’t you just mail it to us?” “Normally, yeah, but the moment the courts shut us down, we’re not going to be allowed to.”
We take our paperwork and join the line to the Rotunda.
If you’ve seen James Bond: A View to a Kill, you’ve seen the San Francisco City Hall Rotunda. There are literally a dozen spots set up along the balconies that overlook the open area where marriage officials and witnesses are gathered and are just processing people through as fast as they can.
That’s for the people who didn’t bring their own wedding officials.
There’s a Catholic-adjacent couple there who seem to have brought their entire families -and- the priest on the main steps. They’re doing the whole damn thing. There’s at least one more Rabbi at work, I can’t remember what else. Just that there was a -lot-.
We get directed to the second story, northside. The San Francisco City Treasurer is one of our two witnesses. Our marriage officient is some other elected official I cannot remember for the life of me (and I'm only writing down what I can actively remember, so I can't turn to my husband next to me and ask, but he'll have remembered because that's what he does.)
I have a wilting lily flower tucked into my shirt pocket. My pants have water stains up to the knees. My hair is still wet from the rain, I am blubbering, and I can’t get the ring on my husband’s finger. The picture is a treat, I tell you.
There really isn’t a word for the mix of emotions I had at that time. Complete disbelief that this was reality and was happening. Relief that we’d made it. Awe at how many dozens of people had personally cheered for us along the way and the hundreds to thousands who’d cheered for us generally.
Then we're married.
Then we get in line to get our license.
It’s another hour. This time, the line goes through the higher stories. Then snakes around and goes past the doorway to the mayor’s office.
Mayor Newsom is not in today. And will be having trouble getting into his office on Tuesday because of the absolute barricade of letters and flowers and folded up notes and stuffed animals and City Hall maps with black marked “THANK YOU!”s that have been piled up against it.
We make it to the marriage records office.
I take a picture of my now husband standing in front of a case of the marriage records for 1902-1912. Numerous kids are curled up in corners sleeping. My own memory is spotty. I just know we got the papers, and then we’re done with lines. We get out, we head to the front entrance, and we walk out onto the City Hall steps.
It's almost 3PM.
00000
There are cheers, there’s rice thrown at us, there are hundreds of people celebrating us with unconditional love and joy and I had never before felt the goodness that exists in humanity to such an extent. It’s no longer raining, just a light sprinkle, but there are still no protestors. There’s barely even any news vans.
We make our way through the gauntlet, we get hands shaked, people with signs reading ”Congratulations!” jump up and down for us. We hit the sidewalks, and we begin to limp our way back to the BART station.
I’m at the BART station, we’re waiting for our train back south, and I’m sitting on the ground leaning against a pillar and in danger of falling asleep when a nondescript young man stops in front of me and shuffles his feet nervously. “Hey. I just- I saw you guys, down at City Hall, and I just… I’m so happy for you. I’m so proud of what you could do. I’m- I’m just really glad, glad you could get to do this.”
He shakes my hand, clasps it with both of his and shakes it. I thank him and he smiles and then hurries away as fast as he can without running.
Our train arrives and the trip south passes in a semilucid blur.
We get back to our car and climb in.
It’s 4:30 and we are starving.
There’s a Carls Jr near the station that we stop off at and have our first official meal as a married couple. We sit by the window and watch people walking past and pick out others who are returning from San Francisco. We're all easy to pick out, what with the combination of giddiness and water damage.
We get home about 6-7. We take the dog out for a good long walk after being left alone for two days in a row. We shower. We bundle ourselves up. We bury ourselves in blankets and curl up and just sort of sit adrift in the surrealness of what we’d just done.
We wake up the next day, Tuesday, to read that the California State Supreme Court has rejected the petition to shut down the San Francisco weddings because the paperwork had a misplaced comma that made the meaning of one phrase unclear.
The State Supreme Court would proceed to play similar bureaucratic tricks to drag the process out for nearly a full month before they have nothing left and finally shut down Mayor Newsom’s marriages.
My parents had been out of state at the time at a convention. They were flying into SFO about the same moment we were walking out of City Hall. I apologized to them later for not waiting and my mom all but shook me by the shoulders. “No! No one knew that they’d go on for so long! You did what you needed to do! I’ll just be there for the next one!”
00000
It was just a piece of paper. Legally, it didn’t even hold any weight thirty days later. My philosophy at the time was “marriage really isn’t that important, aside from the legal benefits. It’s just confirming what you already have.”
But maybe it’s just societal weight, or ingrained culture, or something, but it was different after. The way I described it at the time, and I’ve never really come up with a better metaphor is, “It’s like we were both holding onto each other in the middle of the ocean in the middle of a storm. We were keeping each other above water, we were each other’s support. But then we got this piece of paper. And it was like the ground rose up to meet our feet. We were still in an ocean, still in the middle of a storm, but there was a solid foundation beneath our feet. We still supported each other, but there was this other thing that was also keeping our heads above the water.
It was different. It was better. It made things more solid and real.
I am forever grateful for all the forces and all the people who came together to make it possible. It’s been twenty years and we’re still together and still married.
We did a domestic partnership a year later to get the legal paperwork. We’d done a private ceremony with proper rings (not just ones grabbed out of the husband’s collection hours before) before then. And in 2008, we did a legal marriage again.
Rushed. In a hurry. Because there was Proposition 13 to be voted on which would make them all illegal again if it passed.
It did, but we were already married at that point, and they couldn’t negate it that time.
Another few years after that, the Supreme Court finally threw up their hands and said "Fine! It's been legal in places and nothing's caught on fire or been devoured by locusts. It's legal everywhere. Shut up about it!"
And that was that.
00000
When I was in highschool, in the late 90s, I didn’t expect to see legal gay marriage until I was in my 50s. I just couldn’t see how the American public as it was would ever be okay with it.
I never expected to be getting married within five years. I never expected it to be legal nationwide before I’d barely started by 30s. I never thought I’d be in my 40s and it’d be such a non-issue that the conservative rabble rousers would’ve had to move onto other wedge issues altogether.
I never thought that I could introduce another man as my husband and absolutely no one involved would so much as blink.
I never thought I’d live in this world.
And it’s twenty years later today. I wonder how our line buddies are doing. Those babies who were running around the wide open rooms playing tag will have graduated college by now. The kids whose parents the one line-buddy was worried would see him are probably married too now. Some of them to others of the same gender.
I don’t have some greater message to make with all this. Other then, culture can shift suddenly in ways you can’t predict. For good or ill. Mainly this is just me remembering the craziest fucking 36 hours of my life twenty years after the fact and sharing them with all of you.
The future we’re resigned to doesn’t have to be the one we live in. Society can shift faster than you think. The unimaginable of twenty years ago is the baseline reality of today.
And always remember that the people who want to get married will show up by the thousands in rain that none of those who’re against it will brave.
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rafeandonlyrafe · 3 months
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good boy
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words: 1.5k
warnings: established relationship, marriage, protective!rafe, (guard??) dog, fluffy
“rafe, it's literally two weeks. ill be fine!” you say, folding his clothes, having dumped out his suitcase onto the bed to reorganize it when you saw how he packed it, just chucking things in.
“two weeks where im a hours away from you by plane.” rafe sighs, watching you carefully repack his suitcase as he pouts on the bed, not wanting to leave you.
“you know, cameron, i lived a whole 20 years before meeting you.” you point out, knowing while rafes concern comes from his love for you, it will completely overwhelm what is supposed to be an enjoyable family vacation and leave him miserable the whole time.
“i don't see why you can't just come with me.” rafe groans, flopping back against the bed. you smile and round the bed to where his head is resting against the pillows. you press a smooch to his forehead, rubbing your hand over his head, petting at his soft hair.
“baby, it's just for your family. you know that.” it's not like you don't want to accompany rafe to a tropical paradise, but you would feel way too awkward intruding.
“what if something happens to you? and im not here to protect you? id be the worst fiancee ever.” rafe grabs your head from rubbing his head, holding up the ring on your finger for him to admire.
“nothing will happen. nothing ever happens here.” you laugh. you're not sure what crime is like on the other side of the island, but your neighborhood is incredibly safe.
“im still worried.” rafe sighs. “you in that big house all alone.”
“im gonna spend 99% of the time wedding planning.” you hum, thinking about the tabs pulled open on your laptop of different venues, dresses, and color palettes.
that finally gets rafe to crack a smile. “can't wait to marry you.” rafe says earnestly. he only proposed a month ago, some people would say that you were too young to get married, but rafe knew when you came into his life and turned everything around for him that he had to put a ring on your finger.
“i can't wait either.” you bend down to press a kiss to rafes lips. “but seriously we need to talk about your packing before we tie the knot, why do you only have one pair of shorts packed for an island?”
-- two years later --
“remember those two weeks you left before we were engaged? it's not really much longer. you should go, baby. it's a good opportunity.” you are sat on rafes lap, back pressed against his chest as he scrolls through his email.
“it's just work, and it's a whole lot longer than two weeks. i don't want to leave you here alone for over a month.” rafe closes out of the email, making you sigh.
“i was fine for those two weeks, ill be fine now. promise. i think you should go! it's a big conference.” you turn sideways on his lap so you can look rafe in the eye. “besides, it's still six months away. plenty of time to prepare.”
“prepare?” rafe raises his eyebrows. “so you'd be good with security cams around the whole house and personal security?”
“cameras on the outside and hell no. you don't want some random guys watching after me do you?”
you can see the gears turning in rafes head as he frowns. “yeah, you're right. no men.”
“so you'll go?” you smile. rafe closes his eyes for a brief moment before nodding.
“yay!” you squeal. you're not excited to be left alone, and you love being around your husband more than anything, but the work trip is a big deal, and you know he'll be kicking himself if he misses out on such a good opportunity.
--
“rafey?” you call, eyes sweeping across the living room as you enter your shared home, a head full of fresh highlights.
“hubby?” you call out, continuing deeper into the house until you see movement through the glass door leading towards the backyard, but it's not the typical roll of the ocean against the shore.
“rafe?” you question as you open the door. you expected to find him in his office, where he was before you left for the beauty salon.
rafe smiles, waiting for your eyes to look down, and when you finally see what is sitting at rafes feet, you let out a gasp.
“oh my gosh!” you squeal. 
“wifey, meet max. our new australian shepherd.” rafe gives a command with his hand, that has max running towards you.
you sink to your knees as the young dog excitedly greets you, licking at your hands as you pet him.
“hi maxey.” you coo at the dog, you're guessing around two years old, with max being full size but still having some young features.
“rafe, you didn't tell me you were getting us a dog!” you stand up, max following close behind as you rush to give your husband a hug.
“i have a confession.” rafe says, his hands looped around your waist. you frown, worried that max was just a foster and you'd have to give him back, or that something went wrong with the adoption. you often talked about getting pets before getting married, but wanted to wait a little bit, and then time just slipped away and before you knew it, you were over a year into your marriage. 
“what?” you whine out.
“ive been working with a trainer behind your back. i wanted to make sure max was ready before we chose him for sure. he knows commands, me, your scent, our house. everything. he knows his primary responsibility is to protect you and our property.”
“oh my gosh!” you slap rafe in the chest, surprised that he was able to keep such a secret from you. “how could you do all that without telling me?” you laugh, not angry, but surprised that he was able to orchestrate everything.
you don't wait for rafe to explain how he was able to find so much time, stepping out of his hold to kneel down and continue petting max.
“we have some more training sessions so he can learn with you as well.” rafe further explains, also leaning down to pet max behind the ears as he pants excitedly at his new owners.
--
“what is it maxy?” you ask as he lifts his head up, looking around the living room. “you miss your daddy?”
you sigh as max lets out a sad sounding huff, petting your hand over his head, scratching at his neck which you know is his favorite. rafe has been gone on his business trip for a month now, with only a week and a half left until he returns home.
max suddenly jumps off the couch, eyes on the backyard. he lets out a bark, claws clicking on the hardwood floor as he moves to the glass door. he lets out another bark, making you stand.
“what is it boy?” you ask, looking out the window.
max lets out another bark, this one the familiar territorial bark that he’s practiced in his training with you and rafe. you know the only reason that rafe feels safe enough leaving you home is that max is a great guard dog.
you get closer to the window, squinting your eyes to try and see in the darkness when you sudden jump back with a scream as a squirrel runs across your patio, causing max to bark and run along the glass door until it scatters into the yard.
“holy shit, maxy, you scared the shit out of me.” you press your hand to your chest before kneeling down, scratching behind his ears. “it was just a squirrel.” you reassure him with a pat.
your heart rate is just starting to calm down from the fright when you hear the front door open. max instantly takes off with you following after him, letting out a sigh of relief when you see rafe standing in the foyer.
“baby.” he sighs happily, setting his suitcase down as you run into his arms, pressing your lips together. “i missed you so much.”
“i missed you too, what are you doing home though?” you ask, giving him another kiss before he can answer.
“they didn’t need me for the rest of the week, decided to get home to my lady.” max barks, making rafe lean down to pet him, still holding you up. “and my good boy too, of course.”
“so happy to have you home.” you nuzzle your nose into rafes neck, inhaling the familiar scent that you missed so much. 
“happy to be back with you, wifey.” rafe says, carrying you further into the house.
“oh, and you will be very happy to know maxy did a great job protecting me while you were gone.” you tell rafe. it mostly involved max barking in warning at any delivery guy or car turning around in your driveway, but his presence did help making you feel safer and less loney.
“hopefully not too good.” rafe huffs as he looks at your pet. “can’t have him replacing me now.”
you giggle, surprised rafe can manage to be jealous of your dog. “never.” you swear, pressing another kiss to his lips.
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holybibly · 4 months
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IT'S YOU |Woosan x reader| Part I Part 2
Genre: smut, from friends to lovers!au, college!au
Word Count: 6,6k
Summary: Sometimes drunken decisions lead to the most unexpected results and the most shocking confessions. Or, after your boyfriend cheats on you, you propose a threesome to your best friends and it might just be what they have always wanted.
WARNING: only!18+ pet names, explicit sexual content, explicit language, unprotected sex, pussy eating, size kink, oral giving and receiving, double penetration, threesomes, dirty talk and more.
A/N: Here they are, our winners. I'm a little overjoyed because I'm about to try out a new style for myself (BTW, which of my styles of my work do you love most? Answer in the comments, it will help me much). One of the things I have to learn is the writing of shorter chapters. This one was so long that I had to split it into two parts. The second part won't take too long either.I'm still trying my best to write smut. So please be gentle with me.
There will be an update in a separate post about the rest of the work. As always, feedback is greatly appreciated.
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One year ago.
It was a feeling of sweet euphoria coursing through your veins. Pure, scalding ecstasy that frothed your blood and clouded your mind. Multicolored neon lights licked greedily at your wet, naked skin, leaving acid green and poisonous pink burns on it. All your senses were overloaded, and every touch felt like a liquid flame. The throbbing bass of the deafening music echoed through your body like the beating of your own heart and completely consumed all of your other senses, except for absolute pleasure.
You lost track of the amount of alcohol you had consumed that day, shot after shot, until a pleasant fog began to form in your head, blocking out all other thoughts. The tequila flowed down your throat like water, and you were sure you'd remember how it tasted in the morning, but you didn't care what you'd done tonight or how you knew you'd feel tomorrow. You didn't care about that. Your aim was to forget yourself, to disappear into the crowd, to merge with the music until any connection to the outside world was nothing more than the beginning of the next day.
Dance, baby, dance!
The atmosphere in the club grew fuzzier and fainter, sweaty, hot bodies pressed closer together merging, the hot touches of forbidden pleasures caressing the skin with the fingertips of strangers, wet lips touching the bare, sticky skin on you shoulders, pressing rough impatient kisses into it. Too many people and too many strangers are here for nothing but fuck.
You weren't a stupid little girl who believed in virginal marriage and pink ponies; to be honest, you were far from that gentle picture. God, Wooyoung, and San had been your best friends since high school, and now you were at university, and if after all that time you couldn't repeat every position in the Kama Sutra by heart, it really surprised you. Innocence and modesty were the last words in your vocabulary, and with Wooyoung's big mouth, you were well aware of the whole of theirs sex life. And when you say everything, you mean every fucking detail, and to Wooyoung's credit, he has a great memory and meticulous storytelling.
How long has it been since you started dancing? 20 minutes—or was it two hours? You could swear that Sang and Ueyoung were at your side a minute ago. Or did they leave you alone on the dance floor hours ago?
You can't remember at all.
Your mind is buzzing, your fingertips are tingling, and your heart is pounding against your ribs from the adrenaline rush of matching the beat of some new-fangled track and creating a world of your own inside your body. This sound will vibrate more and more strongly under your skin until your brain ceases to function, allowing you to let go of all the worries in the world and give yourself over completely to the music. Alcohol really does work wonders.
Man, you felt so good.
In the back of your drunken mind, you can't help but wonder if tonight could have gone differently. Probably, but here you are, drunk as hell, huddled with a stranger on a neon dance floor instead of a soft bed in your favorite man's arms. Where the hell did you take the wrong turn? It would seem that something in the universe hasn't gone quite according to plan. Did you have any idea this morning that your sweet, perfect boyfriend would be cheating on you? Correction: he's been cheating on you for a long time. You probably never would have found out if you hadn't come home from couples earlier than usual and continued to be his "convenient girlfriend." Hell, it wasn't nice, and maybe not as hurtful, if he'd been fucking someone else instead of your best friend. Were you that bad? Weren't you good enough? Either way, you've still got time to destroy yourself—maybe tomorrow, maybe never.
Maybe you'll even think about it when you visit the bastard in the hospital. He should have known better than to even think about cheating, and the clotted blood on San's knuckles proved that. Everyone at the university knew that you were Ateez's golden girl, and to mess with you was to mess with them. And since you, Wooyoung, and San were literally glued to each other, it was tantamount to suicide. 
At the moment, the only thing that was more upsetting than the image of your ex-boyfriend driving his dick all the way up to his balls into your ex-friend's skinny body was the fact that your beautiful vintage sofa would have to be thrown away. Semen doesn't wash off. You checked.
Hongjoong is going to be absolutely devastated. That sofa was the absolute love of his life.
It's all nothing more than a vague memory of the day gone by, mixed into an indecipherable cacophony of shrill screams and blurred images. To be honest, you don't remember much of the chaos, as Wooyoung pressed your face against his chest with such force that you wouldn't be surprised to see your make-up imprinted on the light fabric of his shirt. All you could hear was loud cursing and the sound of a punch in the face. You hoped that San's punch was strong enough to break the asshole's jaw. And after that, there were a few hours of tears and emotional crisis until they'd had enough and pulled you into this club with a gentle and accepting hand: "Come on, baby, you could use a break and a change of scenery" from San, and "Fuck that scumbag, go show him what he's lost, baby" from Wooyoung. It was an absolute mystery how the two of them synchronized perfectly.
You have no idea what you would do without these two.
A few more minutes go by in this way, until you feel hot hands on your hips, pulling you closer to the hard body on your back. You don't have to turn around to see that it's San; the scent of his perfume, mixed with the sweat and the smoke of a freshly smoked cigarette, makes you dizzy, and you rest your head on his shoulder, taking a deep breath of the intoxicating mixture. Suddenly you want to get as close to him as possible, turn around and press your face against his hard, structured chest, breathing in deeply and sinking into him completely. Your arms reach out behind you and wrap around San's neck, tangling your fingers in the scarlet strands of hair at the nape of his neck. You feel it on your back as the action makes him purr like a cat. You wonder what other sounds you might be able to catch him making.
You shake yourself. The thought of it sends shivers down your arms and makes all the muscles in your lower abdomen tingle.
You should stop. These are bad thoughts. Very bad thoughts.
"Damn, baby girl, how much did you drink while we were away?" Wooyoung's voice is rough and husky, but his touch is gentle and careful as his fingers intertwine with yours. He has always touched you in a way that no other man in the world, with the exception of him and San, has ever been able to touch you. There was no comparison with your ex's touch. Wooyoung's touch is a promise. A promise to protect, to care, and perhaps to love? You could swear you saved the planet in your past life because you have such great friends in this one, or maybe a little more than friends, but you're not sure what to call this feeling. 
You had been friends for so long that it wasn't weird not have a crush on Wooyoung or to dream of being married to San. The guy was literally a walking husband; he was second only to Songhwa in that respect, but please, Hwa was the epitome of husband material. You might even have wanted to be in the middle of it, sandwiched between hot bodies while they literally fucked the life out of you. But it was all just thoughts. Fleeting dreams that clung to the edges of your consciousness. You were the type to date, and they were the type to fuck. You were different when it came to loving. In any case, it was all a long time ago. You had a boyfriend, and Wooyoung and San collected girls like Pokémon. Somehow, you were sure that if you slept together, your friendship would end.
You weren't ready for that. With a strength that only Jongho could match, you ignored any romantic feelings for them
"Mmm… Woo, I have no recollection, but I had fun." You licked your lips as if you were trying to taste the lingering taste of the tequila and opened your eyes to stare straight into Wooyoung's face, full of worry. He could have been the biggest bitch if he wanted to be. But for you, that 'maternal' instinct of overprotection has kicked in. You stare at him unblinkingly in that moody light, he looks beautiful, to the point of being stupidly handsome, so damn handsome that you want to pull him to you and kiss him without explanation or reason. And you can do that because you know he's never, ever going to say no to you but kiss you? Wooyoung's tongue will be the first to enter your mouth. He will suck on it like a drunk, and he will hold on to you until there is almost no air left in your lungs.
"We leave you alone, gongjunim, for five minutes, and you're already in trouble. Shall I give you a lesson in obedience?" San is speaking into your ear, loud enough for you to hear him clearly, each word coming through the loud electric bass. His voice is too sultry to be sober enough. Woo probably talked him into a few shots, although he always got drunk pretty easily. The two were threatening each other. And to you as well.
The evil voice inside your head grinned: You know you want it. He's going to punish you for being such a bad, naughty girl. He will teach you to be the best little girl for him and for them and to follow all his rules. He'll make you beg and make you cry…
Fuck, girl, come to your senses. Since when did you start to think with your pussy instead of using your brain? Or do you automatically turn into a horny, over-excited idiot after a break-up? Turn on your brains; they are your best friends.
Completely ignoring San's words, you whimpered:
"I'm thirsty." Your tongue is dry in your mouth, and your lips feel unpleasantly rough as you say the words. It looks like the fun's over for today.
San can't help but laugh at your capricious behavior, and you wriggle restlessly in his arms, trying to free yourself from his firm grip, but he only manages to hold you even tighter. You sigh in annoyance and decide to try your luck with Wooyoung.
"Woo, help me." You whine again, reaching out and pulling Wooyoung closer so that your forehead rests against his collarbone.
He smells good, like sandalwood and vanilla, like home.
Wooyoung lifts your face with his fingertips. The touch is soft and comforting, despite the roar of the music and the crowd of strangers around you. He stares intently into your eyes, almost too serious for your drunken haze. He hopes to find something more than alcohol-induced excitement.
"Come on, baby. It's time to go home." He releases your hand and carefully wipes the sweat from your forehead and cheeks with the sleeve of his shirt, his fingers lingering on your lips for a moment, and you playfully stick out your tongue and lick the pads of his fingers. God, may you not remember this tomorrow.
"But I don't want to…" You purse your lips again. You turn your head towards San, looking for his support. "Sanni, let's stay a bit more." Your big, shining eyes are not making it easy for him, but you were already quite drunk, and judging by the way your body was leaning against him, you could hardly stand properly.
"Wooyoung's right, gongjunim, it's over for you today."
Something wild in you just wants to be a brat and start arguing, but the rational part of your brain wins out. You sigh tiredly and try to wriggle out of his grip, and of course you stumble, grabbing Wooyoung's biceps with your hands in an attempt to stay on your feet and not break your high-heeled leg, which would be a great way to end the night.
A strong arm immediately wraps around your waist. It digs lightly into the exposed skin between your top and your jeans. You can feel the coldness of the thin band of his ring. It actually burns from how sensitive you were now.
"I got you, chagi." San whispers softly and hoarsely into your ear, and you cling even more tightly to Wooyoung's arm as your legs begins to shake, but no longer from the alcohol you've drunk and the tiredness, but from his sultry tone. Damn, was that a saturi, or was it just your imagination?
"We'll be on our way now, for sure." Wooyoung takes your hand once more, pulling it away from his bicep, and quickly leads you through the crowd of sweaty bodies, completely ignoring your feeble protests until you see the flashing exit sign. The red neon sign brings you ominously close to the point where you are left alone with them. And you feel San's heavy presence at your back like never before. 
The sounds of the city swallow you up and make you dizzy as Wooyoung opens the heavy metal door. Couples are kissing all over the place. Noisy groups of people are huddled together waiting for a taxi or sharing a single joint, leaving a faint smell of weed in the air. You can still hear the vibrating bass of the music that is pouring out of the club; it echoes in your head in an unpleasant way, with a slight throbbing pain. All of a sudden, all you want to do is find yourself in a warm bed, snuggled up against San or Wooyoung, or even better, against both of them.
San's hand on your waist tenses as you bend over to hail a taxi. Wooyoung's hands come down on your hips, hot and strong, and just like that, you find yourself sandwiched between them, their bodies shielding you safely from the searing cold and dirty stares. You could swear that you can hear Wooyoung swears to himself while a drunk guy is moving his tongue between two spread fingers and looking in your direction. San's body tenses instinctively. What's with all this protection? We're not in some kind of alpha-character romance; you can take care of yourself.
But in spite of that, your body still relaxes, your head leans back against Wooyoung's shoulder, and you rub your face against his like a cat.
"You're so drunk, baby." Woo chuckles and gives you a light kiss on the top of your head. "That's my girl."
My girl, just the sound of that one sentence makes a little fire start in your belly. What the hell is wrong with you today? A week ago, you were rinsing his mouth after Woo drank too much, and now you're ready to lick his mouth from the inside. 
Fuck.
All these thoughts make you lose track of what's happening until you feel the smooth leather of the car seat beneath you and the soft touch of San's lips on your bare shoulder. You moan, either from annoyance or excitement. San just smiles and presses his lips harder against you. Finally, you are going home.
You faintly hear Wooyoung giving the Uber driver the coordinates of your apartment complex, your hands intertwining again, relaxing further as Wooyoung's head rests on your shoulder. His long hair tickles the back of your neck.
Sobriety slowly begins to clear your head as the ride continues. You're still drunk, but you're much more aware than before.
"Will you stay with me tonight?" Your voice is low, barely above a whisper, but in the confined space of the car's backseat, they can hear it well. It sets them in motion again, hands clasped around you with renewed confidence. You play mindlessly with the silver rings that adorn Wooyoung's long fingers, and you don't go unnoticed by San's light strokes on the outside of your thigh.
"All for you, chagiya." San whispers back and gives Wooyoung a meaningful look. There's something special between the two of them—a dialogue that is spoken without words but in which they both know exactly what is meant. If only you knew what was going on inside their heads…
You let your hand drop to Wooyoung's muscular thigh and ran the palm of your hand over it a couple of times, feeling the tight muscles under the skin of his trousers. He covers the palm of your hand with his own and squeezes it in a silent, gentle gesture of affection.
"I love you guys…" You whisper, sticking out your tongue to lick your suddenly dry lips. You hear them giggling together before you feel San press his nose against the soft skin of your collarbone, rubbing against it like a cat. He's the ultimate cinnamon bun; how he can be someone who's had sex with half the university is still a mystery to you.
"I love you too, gongjunim." And he means it, like he really loves you—much more than a friend should.
"Mmm, I love you more. You know that, baby." Wooyoung bites the skin on the back of your neck in a playful way, and you feel his wet tongue pressing against the site of the bite for a few seconds. 
"You're not sleeping in my bed. Woo, stop it; that tactic won't work on me anymore."
He whimpers back with a puff of his swollen lips, turning his face away from you with an irritated roll of his eyes as you and San laugh, his arms naturally wrapped around your waist, pulling you closer to his body so that you're practically sitting on his lap. A faint melody, from some kind of soft track, pours out of the speakers and lulls you into a state of serenity. You find it harder and harder to keep your eyes open. Your body relaxes even more in San's arms.
The next twenty minutes fly by, and you only begin to wake up when the cab door slams behind you and Wooyoung drags you into her flat. The fobs on your keys jingle loudly in the silence of the corridor as San fiddles with them to unlock the door. You sway in Woo's arms as you wait for the door to your apartment to open. The soothing scent of neroli and orchids greets you as you enter, your body automatically relaxing into the safety of your personal space, and you fall wearily into the armchair opposite sofa.
As the door closes, you hear the sound of the boys hurrying down the corridor, taking off their shoes and jackets. You can imagine San carefully placing his shoes next to yours and Wooyoung's one shoe being kicked further down the corridor. So damn different.
Woo sprints into the kitchen, slams the door of the fridge shut, and there is a bottle of cold water in front of your face.
"Here you go, starlight." He sinks to the floor at your feet and leans back against them, resting his head in your lap as he does so. You run your fingers through his long black hair, brushing it away from his face, and meet his gaze with your own. It's familiar; away from the deafening music and the sweaty crowd, you feel much better now, despite the fact that a few hours ago your ex was fucking your friend on the couch across the hall. This is still your home, and you're sure that in a few days your entire apartment will be taken apart and put back together by the caring hands of Seonghwa and Yeosang, when there won't be a trace of your failed past relationships left.   "Are you okay?" San asks, leaning against the doorjamb.
"I'm… fine, yeah. Probably not as good as I'd like to be, but I'll be fine; it'll just take some time. At the moment, I'm just tired of it all."
"Go take a shower, sweetie; San and I will take care of the rest." Wooyoung says as he gets up from the floor and pulls the leather jacket off of his shoulders. The wide collar of his black t-shirt shows the tattoo on his back. You always found that part of him extremely sexy.
You rise from your chair, grimacing at the pain in your legs after so many hours in high heels. Your top falls to the floor as you take it off, the lace of your black lingerie clinging to your body like a second skin. They've seen you naked more than once or twice, and in any case, you're not one of those cute girls who blushes at every opportunity. You have to struggle to pull your jeans down your legs because they are so tight around your arse. The next thing to come off is your underwear, which you leaves halfway to the toilet somewhere. You let them take care of that too.
The level of intimacy that you have with San and Wooyoung is so high that it virtually erases any barrier to acceptable standards of friendship. Years of shared memories, from when you started high school to when you practically star graduates of Seoul National University. God, the things you've done and the situations you've been in—it's been a hectic time. The three of you literally know each other to your bones—sharing habits, feelings, clothes, and even some sexual practices under the influence of alcohol and chance. You've seen them fuck; they've held your hair when you've puked, helped with periods, you've seen them jerking off in the morning or heard them moaning loudly in the bathroom, you all watched porn together—it's all been part of your friendship. In a way, the three of you have been completely and utterly shameless.
You close the bathroom door and stare wearily at your reflection in the large mirror. Your hair is disheveled from those beautiful waves there's not a trace, your skin is glistening with sweat, your make-up looks messy—a bit of smudged eyeliner, smeared lipstick—and in general, you look like you've been beaten up. The pupils of your eyes are dilated, even though you're still feeling sleepy, and there's a bit of puffiness under your eyes from previous tantrum.
Wow, you look like a real mess. You turn away from the mirror, turn on the tap of water, and sink back into your usual daily routine. The water cleanses not only your body but also your mind, spectacularly washing away all the memories and regrets of the day.
It seems to be at least a minute before you hear the sound of a heavy knock on the door. San's voice is muffled over the sound of water and steam, rough, husky, and incredibly sexy, sending electric shocks through your body and unexpected heat building between your thighs. Your fingers turn the handle, stopping the water from flowing, and you take a few long breaths, trying to get rid of this strange feeling. What's wrong with you today?
"Chagi, are you okay?"
You mooed in response, stepped out of the shower, and wrapped the towel around your body before opening the door to face him. He's standing across the bathtub, slumped against the wall, so soft and fluffy, when you open the door. San has changed into a pair of loose pajamas, which are very cute, according to your taste. He has washed off his make-up and generally looks more like an adorable bun than the voluptuous demon he is supposed to be at the university.
"What the hell took you so long? Wooyoung's already starting to climb the wall from here." He whimpers with a pucker on his lips.
"I needed some time to myself, Sanni."
He bites his bottom lip before nodding. His burning gaze travels over you from head to toe, lingering a little longer than usual on your thighs and breasts, and your body heats up at the sensation. When your eyes meet, there is an emotion that you are unfamiliar with that hovers just above the surface of his gleaming dark irises. Something predatory flashes across his face, just for a second, but it's enough to make your skin tingle with an unknown sense of anticipation.
"Just a few more minutes, and then I'll be on my way, all right? Tell Wooyoung to be a little more patient."
"Alright."
You step back into the tub, close the door behind you, and press your back against the wall. You bite your lips, trying to hold back a groan of disappointment. It's not that after all these years of friendship you've never felt sexually aroused in their presence; after all, Wooyoung and San were so damn attractive and even flirtatious to the point of insanity, they fit the cliché of lusty, popular boys at university so well.
Perhaps you had once or twice wondered what it would be like to be close to one of them, or even better, both of them—what their bodies would feel like and what their tastes would be like. Yet, consciously ignoring any romantic urges in their direction, you buried those thoughts deep in the back of your mind. You didn't want to think about how beautiful San's smile was, with those sweet dimples, or how your skin burned under Woo's playful, incessant kisses. But those were only fragmentary thoughts, a dangerous feeling creeping into your heart.
For a while your hunger for them was satisfied by a succession of boy toys until you found yourself a steady boyfriend, well until you caught him with one of your girlfriends tonight. Either way, the sex was hardly satisfying enough to get too upset about, but still, the ache in your heart and your bottom-punched self-esteem stung like a bitch.
But today there was something different between the three of you; on a day like any other, there was a different feeling. It wasn't anything special; San's tearful face had been tucked between your breasts more than once or twice after another romantic fiasco, and Wooyoung had been a complete fool in love, getting burned so many times because he wore his heart on his sleeve. You have been friends long enough to know how to comfort each other after breaking up. You have never experienced such a tension between the three of you before.
There was a barely perceptible change in the air; there was an electric tension in the chemistry between you; a crackle in the air like a thunderstorm was about to break. The storm was coming at a furious pace, and you weren't sure if you were going to be able to handle it. To end up between them was like voluntarily stepping into a hurricane rated at twelve. Was that what you wanted? You probably did. Did they want it? There was no way of knowing. Would things have changed if you'd fucked, yes, of course, but would you have had a 'happily ever after', you weren't so sure.
You brush your hair with your fingertips, hissing in pain when you can't untangle the tangled locks, and continue this compulsive action as you step out of the suddenly claustrophobic space of the bathroom. The corridor is cold, and the change in temperature causes goose bumps to run down the length of your skin. Cold air climbs under the towel's edges, clinging uncomfortably to your tender inner thighs.
"I left some fresh clothes for you on the dresser next to the bathtub. Didn't you notice?" San asks. His pronunciation is as simple as if he hadn't been the one who just a few minutes ago ate you alive with his eyes. He is sitting on the arm of the chair Wooyoung is comfortably ensconced in, mindlessly scrolling through social media.
The couch, which was once your favorite place to be, is clearly in disuse. You're already anticipating Hongjoong's endless complaints about it. That couch was the love of his life.
Wooyoung has changed his clothes too; there's no trace of the seductive college hottie left; the stretchy top of the oversized shirt slipping off his shoulders to expose his collarbones made him look so tiny and cuddly; and the soft disheveled hair falling over his face gave his features something adorably puppyish. They both looked homely and terribly comfortable, as if this was legitimately their home and not yours, as if their place had always been here, the space they belonged to.
"It's stuffy. I don't want to get dressed." You reply, pulling the towel tighter around your chest. You actually contradict yourself by wrapping your arms around yourself, but you don't want to explain anything to them either.
"Personally, I like it all; you can keep going, baby."
"Of course you like it, Woo; we all know about your love for exhibitionism." You say this nonchalantly and let your body fall into Wooyoung's lap, not caring that you're actually naked under the towel or that his shirt is getting wet as the water from your wet hair drips onto it. You're trapped between their bodies again, and you'd be lying if you said you didn't like the feeling. You savor his scent and the feel of his smooth skin as your face sinks into the curve of Woo's neck.
You all sink into a nice, relaxing silence as the boys scroll through endless social media feeds, your eyes grow heavier, and the need for sleep becomes more palpable. But you love it so much—just being around them, not thinking about anything else, feeling the way San's fingers play with your hair while you twirl the rings on Woo's fingers—that you probably have a fetish for his hands. Anyway, you don't mind.
Minutes go by like this, slowly approaching an hour. You feel content and warm as you sit on Wooyoung's gorgeous muscular thighs. He is humming something to himself, drawing scattered patterns with his fingertips on your bare thigh. Your lips press against Woo's neck, leaving a sweet kiss on his skin. He squirms beneath you, his fingers clenching tighter and tighter on your thigh. God, he's so hot.
"You're so needy, kitten," San says with laughter before you feel his lips on your shoulder. It's not a chaste, friendly kiss; no, his lips are wet with saliva, open so you can feel the scorching breath and his tongue tip gliding across your skin in slow motion. San is licking you like a cat, damn it.
"Is this a side effect of the break-up or something like that? Look at you, Peach. You're a horny mess." Wooyoung raises an eyebrow in curiosity and pulls you closer to his chest. You slide down his thighs, and the towel scratches a little higher, a little more, and they can easily see your pussy. At that thought, the familiar throbbing between your legs reminds you just how wet you are, the viscous, clear liquid threatening to run down the inside of your thighs and stain Woo's clothes.
Praying that neither of them will notice how flushed and horny you feel at this moment, you squeeze your legs together and slide your hand down to pull the towel further down your legs, as far down as possible in this position.
You're so thirsty; the lust is bubbling just beneath the surface of your skin, and the heady mix of their scent and the residual alcohol in your blood is making you feel like such a needy slut.
The rational part of your brain tells you that you should be in a completely different state right now—a mess of tears and snot, probably on the verge of a complete nervous breakdown. Somewhere between the self-destruction of your own self-esteem and a crisis of identity, But here you are, practically naked in Woo's arms, with an obscenely wet pussy and no shame whatsoever.
In contrast to the'real' half of you, something small and evil urged you to go further, to spread your legs, to expose yourself shamelessly, to ride Wu's thigh and have a hot rodeo until you couldn't cum any more, and then let San use you however he wanted; you don't mind at all being a chew toy for him. Hell, boy, all you want to do is let him fuck your brains out.
You sink your teeth into your lower lip with force; the taste of blood is almost in your mouth.
"Fuck me. I want to sleep, baby. You can use me. Let's go to bed."You whine, puffing up your cheeks.
"Okay, okay, baby, let's put the princess to bed." San lifts you from your place on Woo's lap and pulls you tightly against his chest, and you can clearly feel every ripple of muscle on that perfect body. When did he have time to get that big?
He carries you into the bedroom like a princess. Wooyoung's shuffling footsteps can be heard behind you, and you throw your head back to meet his gaze.
"We had a change of sheets. Personally, I'm in favor of burning all his stuff."
"Have I told you I love you?"
"Mmm, let me think. Maybe just a few thousand times." He gives you a cheeky smile, and you laugh.
"Love, love, love, love, I love you so much. You're the best boys in the world. You sing with a big smile on your face, and the sound of their laughter fills the bedroom. 
"We love you too; we love you so much."
If you weren't so drunk and tired, your brain might have been able to process Wooyoung's changed intonation, but you completely ignored any possible hint of how they felt about you.
San gently laid you down on the bed, and Woo's lithe body crawled beside you, snuggling against your side, hugging you like his personal teddy bear.
"Woo, let her go; she has to put on some clothes." He pulls off his T-shirt and holds the soft fabric out in front of you. Your hands lazily crumple it up in an attempt to decide whether or not to put it on, but the boys decide for you. 
Wooyoung sits you down and holds you tightly by the waist while San pulls the T-shirt over your head and pulls off the towel at the same time. You are still naked, but you are a bit more decent now.
"You're such good friends. I wish I could date someone like you." You lie back down, and Woo's hands paddle you again, as if it's his natural reflex. You're not aware of the exchange of glances between the two of them. The silent conversation that goes on between them is completely ignored.
"Hmm, someone like us?" San sits down on the bed in front of you, and in an instant, your fingers cling to his naked chest. You want so badly to sink your teeth into the smooth, bulging muscles of his chest. "Baby, aren't you afraid we're going to be jealous?"
"You and jealousy, come on. I went out with Suho, and none of you minded."
"It's because the idiot has a tiny dick." With an evil giggle, Woo whispers in your ear.
"Wooyoung!"
"He's right, chagia. When was the last time you had an orgasm?"
"San, not you too." You whine and give him a light tap on the shoulder.
"Well, if you were with someone like us, you'd know what it means to have a good fuck. We'd fuck your brains out, baby."
"Jung Wooyoung, wash your filthy mouth. San, tell him." You call out to your more rational friend in a resentful tone to calm Woo down.
"Well, I can't say that he's wrong. You won't be on foot for days after we are." The grin on San's face is so predatory that you can't tell that it's your sweet himbo friend. It's making the muscles at the bottom of your stomach clench in anticipation of this promise.
"You do know that I used to sleep with Yunho before I started dating Suho, right? You can hardly come as a surprise to me; he's very good."
"We know." Woo hissed in annoyance, and his arms tightened around you, planting his foot on your thigh and completely cutting off any attempt you might have made to pull away from him, even if you wanted to.
"But we're so much better." A hot palm slides just over your waist near to Wooyoung's hand, practically covering your breasts. You feel the full weight of it on your body.
"In your dreams."
For a few moments, you close your eyes and fall silent. The comforting silence lulls you to sleep, but there is one thought that keeps you from falling completely into a deep slumber. With a groan, you come back to reality, blinking slowly as your brain forms the words that seem to be too heavy on the tip of your tongue—heavy, but so damned sweet.
"I wanna… I mean, let's have threesome." 
"Sorry, what!" Wooyoung almost yells, sitting up in bed in an instant and staring at you with his eyes wide open. If the situation wasn't so serious, you could laugh at his shocked expression. "Is it an offer for sex? Right now?"
"Jesus, Wooyoung, just let me finish." You sit down as well and take each one of them by the hand. "We graduate next year, and if… if we are all free and you don't mind, maybe we can have threesomes."
"I'm ready. Why wait?" Woo clings to you like a leech. He presses every inch of his body against you so tightly that you practically melt into each other. His skin is hot, and you can feel his breath brushing against your ear and his lips touching it as he speaks. "Come, Y/N, we can do this now. I'm going to take you to heaven."
"Wooyoung, I'm serious."
You have to look at San, who's been silent the whole time. The look in his eyes is so dark, full of lust and hunger. It doesn't leave you for a second.
"San…"
"I'll do anything for you, Y/N."
"I'll be ready for you in a year if you're still willing. Now get out of the room, the both of you. Tonight I'll be alone in bed."
You push them off the bed, San rolls over on the floor with a clatter, and Wooyoung jumps up like a man who has been scalded.
"But chagi…" He whines, loud and nasty, as San drags him out of the room.
"Sweet dreams, gongjunim." That's the last thing you hear before the door slams shut behind them and you're left alone in the bedroom.
You can hear their muffled voices coming from the hallway, trying so hard to keep quiet. Wooyoung's incessant complaining, mixed with San's low muttering, effectively lulls you to sleep. You probably won't even remember tonight, let alone this stupid proposal, but little do you know that neither San nor Wooyoung have any intention of letting you forget.
You are going to have a very funny year in front of you.
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biboomerangboi · 8 days
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My friend was watching the show for the first time and they brought up a misconception that I think we see a lot in fandom. So I want to talk about The Gamblers Den and specifically this scene in particular:
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My friend genuinely wondered what Hua Cheng would do and then when they heard his explanation they were even more confused:
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They basically messaged me saying, wait Hua Cheng would have made the bet. He bets people’s lives and some how Xie Lian is okay with that. How???
And to anyone else who’s thinking the same thing or falling for the Demon King vibe Hua Cheng is trying to sell here I am here to tell you, you have all been duped.
What’s import to understand is that Ghost City actually came from making one of Xie Lian’s ideas work:
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Xie Lian is talking about a specialised market here, a place where the common people couldn’t just stumble into without reason and that’s what Ghost City is and The Gambers Den is the foundation of it. While Xie Lian didn’t say hey go gamble, Hua Cheng is taking a risk and playing into his greatest strength and then showing of for his crush is the most dramatic way possible when talking about it.
For Hua Cheng the house always wins! Literally. Or at least what he wants the bet to be will always happen. His luck is just that good. If the gambler wins it’s genuinely because Hua Cheng let him.
In the Den he is acting as Judge and Jury with Xie Lian as his moral code but he can’t just turn down the deals. If he does then these people could go to less safe options (looking at you Qi Rong) to get what they desire which negates the reason he built Ghost City in the first place.
Hua Cheng has to let these people play by his rules if he wants to follow his Gods wishes. So he has to be creative and look at loop holes, phrasing and Xie Lians most important teaching finding the third path.
For this moment specifically giving the options I think Hua Cheng would have taken the 20 years of his daughter’s life. Why you may ask? Well the phrasing is easier to manipulate. While the eradication of his competitors is pretty well laid 20 years of his daughters life is pretty vague.
Option 1) Hua Cheng could take her away from her shit father and put her in an apprenticeship and marry a man of her choosing since her hand is now her own to decide since Hua Cheng doesn’t want it.
Option 2) She has to work in Ghost City for 20 years and is married to Yin Yu in name only (because Hua Cheng can’t have a wife at all or he won’t win Gege) then gets pleasantly divorced and giving a severance payment after 20 years.
Option 3) He could decide life is a vague term and after she dies she has to spend 20 years in Ghost City and matchmake a future marriage between her and another ghost.
Option 4) He could decide what she has to do with the next twenty years of her life which could include an actual good marriage and education. Where she has to worship his shrine and be only his devotee for 20 years.
Option 5) He can literally say I’ll collect when I decide and never cash in.
He can do anything because the wording is so fluent and for Hua Cheng debater and Civil God Killer it’s probably easy. He’s not a demon king, he’s a crafty trickster spirit basically a fae lord.
He’s playing the system and he’s winning that’s what Xie Lian figured out and why he supports it. He knows Hua Cheng well enough even back then to trust that he would make the right decision because he believes in Hua Cheng and he’s right too.
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xhoneygirlxx · 8 months
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Love To See Me From Your POV
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rockstar! Eddie Munson x wife! reader
summary: Seeing Eddie on the road for the first time should be an exciting moment but when your insecurities rise, you wonder if this is the life you were cut out for.
warnings: angst. reader is insecure: mentions of self hatred and low self-esteem. Eddie and Reader are both in their twenties! Rockstar Eddie. Eddie does call groupies gross. mentions of rough marriage. Eddie and reader fight! slight cheating accusations. fluff. Eddie is the sweetest husband, reader and Eddie being in love and cute. Smut 18+ Only, Minors DNI!! : mentions of sex with groupies, p in v (unprotected), cream pie, slight breeding kink, slight dom/sub, body worship/praise, oral receiving (reader), fingering, squirting. shit writing and bad grammar. Not proofread!!!!
If I missed any please let me know! *
a/n: Hello my loves, I got a request from @kellyxo1 for this little thingy right here! I hope this is okay and I hope you enjoy! Thank you all again for being so wonderful and lovely to me :) And remember if you ever want to request something, you're more than welcome!
There isn't a booklet on what to do and what not to do when you get married, and there's definitely not a booklet on how to be a rockstar's wife. Married life in itself is a difficult task, but learning the ropes of being married while also dealing with the life of fame was something you or Eddie was prepared for.
Getting married right after Eddie's third senior year was always the plan, two young and dumb freshmen solidifying it with hooked pinkies. Obviously you loved one another more than life itself, but going through the motions of being married at the ripe age of 20 is harder than any fairytale make it out to seem.
It was hard that first year, constantly worried about bills, overtired from working long shifts to pay said bills, and just learning how to live with one another. But in between all the hardships, there were small moments where both of you remembered what it was all about. Eating thirty cent noodles, decorating for holidays, the quiet Sunday mornings where you'd get tangled under bed sheets. The love that both of you hold for one another drowning out every other shitty thing around you.
The second and third year, your whole world flipped upside down. After getting lucky and getting picked up by a big record label, Corroded Coffin was now the hottest new band on the market. You remember the day the boys got signed, how most of them shed a tear of happiness, and how happy your husband looked. A moment in time that was now frozen in a picture that hung on your fridge.
You were so proud of the boys, watching them go from a crowd of seven drunks to recording their own album. There was something so special about being there with your husband for every step, cheering him on from the sidelines every time. When the album finally dropped and the number of sales went up, Eddie surprised you with the keys to the little house on Deer Run Road, the same one that the two of you always fantasied about owning.
Although he worked mostly in LA, he told you he planned on staying in Hawkins where he could still get privacy while being close to the people he loved. You also loved it because you wouldn't have to leave your job at the daycare and your husband would always come home to you.
Now on year four, you were the loneliest you've ever been. Between touring, recording, and everything that comes with being in a band, Eddie has barely home. You can't be mad at him though, he's following his dream all while providing a wonderful life for you. Of course there are nights you'd rather have him in bed with you, reading that old torn copy of Lord of The Rings rather than a phone call, but you're just glad he even has the time and energy to do so.
It was hard for the both of you, many times the two of you cried together, confessing the horrible ache that nestled itself in your hearts. You felt terrible, never being able to visit him because your schedule didn't line up with his. That's when you decided you were going to take a week off, fly to whatever city he was in, and surprise him.
With the help of Steve, who pretty much taught you the in's and out's of flying, and the band's personal assistant, you were able to buy a ticket to New York where CC would be performing their final show. That night when Eddie called you, you were buzzing with excitement and it killed you not being able to tell him.
On the way to Eddie's hotel was nerve racking. What would he think of you? Will he like how you changed your hair? Will he be shocked with how much I changed? You wondered how different he looked since the last time he saw you, the only way you got to see him was through your tv or on a cover of a magazine, and you never know how accurate those things can be.
__
Standing in front of his hotel room was daunting, blood rushing to your ears as your anxiety reached a whole new level. It felt like you never met him before, like he hasn't seen every single part of you or known you since he was a young man. The shakiness of your hands were only getting worse the longer you sat there, you decide it was now or never.
Raising one hand to the peephole, blocking it with your finger so he wouldn't be able to see, you use the other hand to knock on the heavy door.
"Housekeeping!" You disguise your voice the best way you can, making it high pitched and nasally.
Knocking once more, you cringe when you do it harder than before, remembering that he's probably tired from all the travel he's been through.
"Housekeeping!!" Still using the fake voice, trying to soften the blow of your heavy hand you sing the last little bit of the word.
From behind the door you can hear shuffling, yet there was no footsteps heard.
Raising your fist once more, you knock again and this time you can hear him shout something back.
"GO AWAY!" It comes muffled through the door that separates the two of you.
"Good morning, it's housekeeping!!" you cover your mouth with you hand trying to stifle the giggle that fall from your lips, knowing your husband is probably cursing to himself in anger.
Eddie's heavy footsteps and huffing are the only things coming from the room, then the door is being swung open causing the land that was leaning on it to fall dramatically.
In front of you is the man you married, hair messy from sleep, plaid pj pants hanging low on his hips, and bare chest on display. He looked so pretty, rubbing his closed eyes with the palm of his hands, pink lips jutting out in a pout, and puffy cheeks.
"I already told you to go the f-" Cracking one of his eyes open to adjust to the harsh light of the hallway, he finally sees you.
"Baby?" His raspy voice in a whisper, like he's questioning if you're real or not. Tired eyes that were once too heavy to open are now bulging out of his head, cartoonish and wild.
"Hi, Teddy." You whisper back, a saccharine smile breaking out on your face.
The air that once lived in your lungs are quickly punched out the moment he lunges towards you, gripping you up and twirling you around. In the middle of a swanky New York hotel, the two of you hold on each other, squeezing tightly to make sure that neither of you will float away in the clouds of a realistic dream.
"My baby, my beautiful girl," You hear it before you see it, the thickness of his sleepy voice does nothing to hide the shakiness. The tears of mourning you, fall from his eyes hitting the exposed part of your neck where he finds solace.
"I'm here, Teddy. I'm here." The dam you've built to hold back your own tears, has finally busted open. The tears of long nights and a cold bed fall onto his warm skin, the one thing you wished to feel once more.
Moving apart slightly, big brown eyes finally meet your own, taking in the imagine of the people they love the most. Teary eyes and stuffy noses, wobbling lips and heavy breathing, two souls reuniting after too much time away from each other.
Planting his forehead to yours, you bask in the feeling of being close. Eddie's warm lips touch yours, a sweet and tear soaked kiss makes you melt.
"I missed you so much, angel." He confesses, the warmth of his breath mixing with your own.
"I know the feeling." You joke and the both of your share a laugh.
"You know," he whispers, forehead still touching your own, "I want to be mad that I'm up at the ass crack of dawn, but you're such a beautiful sight to be woken up to." A gooey smile spreads on his lips and like a yawn, you mimic his actions.
"So you're not interested in housecleaning services this early in the morning?" You question and he snorts at your bad attempt of a joke.
"Angel, you know me better than that." He says and you roll your eyes.
"Now," Eddie lets you down gently, your feet returning to the carpeted floor. "If you don't mind, I would love nothing more than to fall asleep with the sexiest woman in the world."
Leading you into his room, he proves his point by slapping your ass hard. When you turn around to chastise him, you're met with him biting his bottom lip and his gaze still on your ass.
"Oh yeah, I'm gonna have so much fun with you." The morning rasp in his voice is replaced with a husky, lust soaked hunger.
Tossing you, lovingly, on the bed, Eddie pounces on you like a tiger. Attacking you with kisses, you try to push him off as best as you can, weak from all your laughter.
"Teddy, I still have to shower!" You shout causing him to pause over you. Catching your breath, you run your hand up and down his arm softly. "I still have yucky airport on me."
Eddie leans down and licks your cheek and you wrinkle your nose in disgust. "Oh yeah, that's my favorite flavor."
"You're such a dork." You tell him and he only smiles bigger down at you.
"Yeah but I'm your dork, Mrs. Munson."
__
The morning was spent with discovering each other again, not just physically but emotionally. You update him on the kids at your daycare and new Hawkins drama, while he tells you about the antics the boys have gotten into and all the cool stories from this tour.
You missed it, the simplicity of marriage. Even through all the time spent apart is torture, you still find the beauty in the small moments. Like the thirty cent noodles, you enjoy the peace and comfort of whispers passed back and forth a room that isn't your own.
All the bliss you felt from this morning has now been flushed out, now replaced with the roaring waters of doubt. You watch your husband on stage, singing songs he wrote, like you did way back when. This time the crowd isn't just drunk bar patrons, it's beautiful woman screaming his name.
They're all perfect, tiny bodies and big breasts, full hair and flawless makeup. They're everything you're not, everything you never will be. This was the one part of the job you never read about in your how to guide. This was the one thing you forgot to teach yourself about, how to handle millions of woman fawning over your man.
You weren't naïve of course, you knew that the guys had groupies, but you liked to push that into the back of your mind. You trusted Eddie more than anything, you knew he would never do anything to ruin your marriage, but that wasn't the part that had you so upset.
It was the idea of not being good enough that was eating away at you. Like everyone else in the world, you had insecurities. You went through stages with your self consciousness, earning a few battle wounds to your confidence along the way, but over time you became comfortable in your own skin.
This wasn't Hawkins though, this was the big city, and your "small town pretty" is no good here. All of the woman here could chew you up and spit you out, beating you out by miles in a beauty contest.
Your self hatred starts to write over the happy memory of watching Eddie on the biggest stage you've ever seen. Embarrassment fills your body, numbing you from head to toe. You feel so stupid, the clothes you wear are nothing compared to what they wear, you probably look like a clown in the makeup on your face, and your hair is probably flat and dull now.
This wasn't what you signed up for, this isn't in the job description when you sign on to be a rockstar’s wife. You already have to worry about the safety of not only your husband but the rest of the boys too. You worry about Eddie and if he's eating enough, if he's getting enough sleep, and if he's taking care of himself. There is already so much on your plate and you don't think you can handle worrying about the fact that you're not good enough.
The wave of guilt hits you when you look back over to your husband. His beauty is powerful, sometimes it makes you want to cry how pretty he is, and you know deep down he deserves better. Rockstar Eddie Munson deserves a girl that looks like one of them, not someone like you. It makes bile rise in your throat when you think about how he has to watch his friends pick up women from different cities and he has to sit by himself because his old ball and chain is all the way back in nowhereville.
Having a front row seat of your own demise is too much, deciding it would be better to watch on the monitor in the green room. When you're finally alone, it doesn't get any better. The large mirror that hangs on the wall captures your attention, calling to you like a siren to a fisherman.
Taking a seat, you begin to pick apart every single detail of your face. You criticize the shape of your eyes and where they sit, the length of your nose and how the shape sits weird, and how the pores that sit on your skin are way bigger than you remember.
The loud voice in your head pleads with you, begging you to stop before it's too late. "DON'T RUIN THIS" it screams and the demons that have overtaken your mind push it away, not wanting reason to ruin their demolishing.
When the guys enter the room, you realize you've been staring in the mirror for longer than you intended, almost like you were hypnotized.
"What a great fucking show!" Gareth announces as he grabs a beer from the mini fridge in the corner of the room.
"I agree." Grant says as he plops down on one of the leather sofas, exhaling loudly as the adrenaline crashes through him.
"This crowd was definitely the loudest one we've had." Jeff's voice is louder than he thinks. Clapping his hands together, he signals at Gareth to throw him a beer.
"So, what do you two lovebirds plan on doing now that touring is over?" Grant asks, leaning up from his slumped position to look over at you.
Eddie wipes his neck and face off with a towel, stalking over to you with a blissed out look on his face. Leaning down to you, he places a sloppy kiss on your forehead, removing with a loud 'mwah' sound when he does.
"I planned on taking my girl around the city before we head back home." Eddie is still looking down at you, almost like he's questioning you if it's fine with you.
Returning a fake smile, hoping he doesn't notice it doesn't reach your eyes, you nod your head to let him know you approve. A guttural moan pulls your attention to the brown haired boy over who's now sitting on the opposite couch of Grant and Jeff.
"You two are grossly in love, it actually makes me sick." Gareth rolls his eyes and the roar of chuckles ring out in the room.
"You act like we don't have a line of hot ass babes waiting for us." Jeff laughs and Gareth hums as he swallows the sip of alcohol.
"Very true, Jeff. Very fucking true." The boy laughs in agreement.
You know that their comments hold no malice to you but it stings all the same. All you heard was, "Too bad for Eddie, we get to fuck hot girls while he's left with that." It loops through your head, digging a deeper hole, bringing up every bad thought you've ever thought about yourself in the twenty something years you've been alive.
Everyone continues to talk, laughing and joking like they always do and the only thing you can do is get lost inside the storm that tears through your body. The feeling of Eddie's fingers dragging along the skin on the back of your neck has long been forgotten. The voices have all gone muffled, your own demons speaking loudly over them to even try to understand what they're talking about.
"Angel?" Eddie calls and it brings you out of the darkness of your brain.
You hum, craning your neck up to look at him. He's breathtaking, you think, even in the horrible lighting of this dressing room he looks perfect and it crushes you even more.
"You 'kay? Haven't really said much." He says, only loud enough for you to hear, not wanting to bring unwanted attention.
"M'fine, just kind of tired." You shrug. Flashing those pretty teeth at you, he smiles and it makes you sick with love.
"I'm sorry, Angel. I know I didn't give you much time to recover from the flight... and other things." He jokes, wiggling his eyebrows, earning him a light shove from you.
Leaning down once more, he captures your lips in a loving kiss and a small portion of the tension in your body fades.
"See, I told you! Sickening!" Gareth shouts, his arm stretched out and hand face up, directing everyone's eyes to the two of you.
Bashfully, you shove your face into Eddie's stomach to hide. Draping his one arm on your back, he twists his body slightly to look at the others.
"Gareth, you're clearly jealous I get to kiss my smokin' hot wife." Eddie shouts, and a collection of groans fill the room.
If only you could believe the nice words your husband said.
__
That night in the hotel room, you tell Eddie you're simply too tired to partake in any sexual acts, which he doesn't protest. Laying in the comfort of his strong arms arms, the thoughts are too loud to melt away to sleep. You wonder what Eddie dreams of as you lay awake, if he ever regrets marrying you, and if he wishes he could partake in the same things as the guys. You cry softly, tears pooling on the fabric of your pillow, praying to whoever to is listening to make it better.
The next morning, Eddie is like the energizer bunny when he wakes you up from your four hour sleep. Going to the local diner down the street, Eddie talks about how fun the show was, moving his hands dramatically as he retells you every detail. You try to look interested, smiling and laughing when needed but truthfully you aren't paying attention, you don't even chastise him when he speaks with a mouth full of food.
Afterwards, he shows you around the city and all the sights it offers. It pains you that you can't even enjoy it, too focused on everyone else around you, comparing yourself to every woman that walks past.
Eddie notices, he's noticed since last night but he didn't say anything. At first he genuinely thought you were tired since you never really traveled before, but when you sat across from him at the diner and poked at the food on your plate, he knew. Despite what a lot of people thought, Eddie wasn't stupid. There are many things he had knowledge on and his best subject was you.
He didn't know what was particularly bothering you but he knew all too well. You were in your head about something, beating yourself up about something that wasn't worth the fight, but he knew you could make it out. You always did.
The problem was you didn't fight out of this one. You stayed locked away in the torture chamber that was your mind and let the problem eat you alive. Eddie did everything you always talked about doing, showing you the places you dreamed about and you still didn't crack.
When you returned back to the hotel room, it was oddly quiet. Even Eddie who never stopped talking, was scarily silent. Sitting down on the bed, you started to talk off your shoes, working at the laces slowly.
Eddie stands in the doorway, leaning his body weight on the wall for support. His gaze burns into you, uncomfortably so and you're terrified to even look back at him.
"So are you going to tell me what's wrong?" His tone is serious and it terrifies you.
Swallowing the lump in your throat, you meet his gaze. His arms are crossed over his chest and his features are harsh, waiting for an answer.
"I told you, I'm tired." You lie right through your teeth and like a metal detector he catches it, scoffing loudly and shaking his head.
"I need you to cut the shit, Angel. What is wrong?" He questions again and it ignites a fire within you.
"I told you, I'm fucking tired Eddie. Sorry I'm not you, I don't travel the world for a living." You snap at him.
"Are you- What the fuck did I do?" He argues back and you sigh heavily. This isn't how you wanted it to go but all the emotion from the past four years are coming out in knife like jabs.
"What the fuck did I do," You mock him. "What did you do? I'll tell you what the fuck you did. You left me, you fucking left me. Don't worry Eds, I'm happy for you, trust me. I love knowing that I'm the old ball and chain back home that keeps you from fucking groupies. But it's fine if you look, just not touch, right?"
When you're done you feel worse than before. Eddie stares at you, frown pulling on his lips and big glossy eyes that stare back at you. God, you want to kick yourself for making him feel like shit. This all could've been prevented if you just talked to him, let him in on what was happening but no, the demons won and they shot Eddie down while doing it. The worst part is, you pulled the trigger.
"Is that what you think?" His voice is small, something you've never heard from him and it breaks your heart.
"Fuck- I didn't mean that. I just-" Closing your eyes, you try to compose yourself but it doesn't work. "I just miss you so fucking much. Last night I couldn't even enjoy the show because all the tits that were on display in the front row distracted me. All I could think was 'how could he want me when all of these beautiful woman are better than me?'"
"So instead of watching the end of the show, I sat in front of the mirror and made a list of every ugly thing about me. My body, my face, my voice, every fucking thing about me is horrendous. Then when the guys mentioned fucking groupies, I felt so guilty 'cause while they're out havin fun, you have to sit there all alone because I'm all the way in Hawkins."
It all comes out like word vomit, laying on the floor of the hotel room, filling the room with the stench. Your ugly truths are now out there, you're so fucking vulnerable and all you want to do is hide.
"Are you dumb?" Eddie's voice brings you out of your pity party. Staring at him in shock, you can see his own tears staining his face.
"Do you realize that it kills me not being with you? Every city we go to, all I can think about is you and how much I want to take you there. Those girls you're talking about, the ones the guys screw around with? Yeah, I've seen them and let me tell you, they're gross." Stalking the short distance, he takes a seat right next to you on the bed.
"Do I get jealous because they get to have sex? Absolutely. It's not 'cause of the girls they bring home, it's cause I wish it were you. So many nights I laid awake, jerking off to the thought of you and it was way better than any fucking groupie could do for me." You snort at his admission, rolling your eyes still not believing. Grabbing your chin, he pulls your attention up to him.
"I'm so fucking serious, Angel. I'm so in love with you, it's maddening. Sometimes when I call you, I can't help but blush like I'm back in the ninth grade again. It blows my mind every single day that I got to marry the gorgeous girl from Click's class." His words are like warm butter, melting over you and seeping into your skin.
"Do you really mean that?" It's meek and unsure, like you're scared of what the answer could be.
"Cross my heart." He simply says, marking an 'X' over his heart with the tip of his finger.
Sniffling loudly, you wipe away the tears that roll down your cheeks. "I'm sorry, Teddy." You say and he hums, resting his forehead on your just like he did twenty four hours before.
"It's okay, baby. Trust me, I feel the same way sometimes." Furrowing your eyebrows at him, he laughs at the scowl on your face.
"Not like that, baby. I just mean, I get scared one of those hot dads are gonna try to pull a move on you when they drop their kid off." Between the serious look on his face and the honesty in his voice, you can't help but cackle.
"Eddie, who exactly would pull a move? Mr. Gardner? He's like forty and wears a very bad toupee." Eddie tries to cover the snort that comes out with a fake a cough.
"Hey, maybe you're into that kind of thing." He simply shrugs and you roll your eyes.
Settling into a comfortable silence, Eddie kisses you lightly and you pout when he pulls away.
"Can I show you how much I love you?" Your eyes scan his face for a moment before nodding.
"Please." That's all he needs to hear before he's placing you on your back, your head being cradled by the soft cotton pillows.
Eddie starts by kissing you, sweet and slow, reminiscent to the time you and him lost your virginities. The only difference about this time is he knows what he’s doing, confident in the way he glides his tongue against yours.
Moving his attention along your jawline, he places small lingering pecks down your neck. His hand moves down the sides of your body, finding purchase on the bottom of your shirt where he tugs softly on the material. Getting the hint, you sit up and help him pull the garment over your head, your bra is quick to follow.
Laying you back down on the soft cotton of the pillows, he continues his journey down your body. Soft lips leaving prints of love along your collarbones and down your sternum, invisible prints of love collect on your skin where they burn bright and settle into your bones.
“My sweet girl.” He trails more kisses around the doughy flesh of your breast.
Finding the hardened nipple, he swirls his tongue around it before pulling it into his mouth, lightly sucking on it before pulling off with a pop.
“My beautiful girl.” Moving his attention to the other breast, he repeats the same motions from before.
Moving down your tummy, he continues to map out his journey, leaving lingering tattoos onto your skin. Finally making it to his destination, he toys with the waistband of your jeans, popping the button open and pulling the zipper down.
Lifting your hips, you assist him in taking of the restrictive clothing. In one swift action, he rips off the jeans and panties that once covered you. Feeling exposed and shy, you whimper up at him to get his attention.
“What’s wrong, princess?” His tone is concerned and it makes you pout even more.
Wordlessly, you reach your hand down to grab the hem of his shirt where you yank gently. Catching your drift, Eddie pulls it over his head and let’s it fall to the ground where the rest of your close reside.
“You were feelin’ shy, huh?” You nod at his question and he leans up to press his lips to the tip of your nose. “Gotta make sure my girl is comfy.”
Shuffling himself onto his tummy, he places your legs over his shoulders so he can be face to face with your glistening sex.
Kissing the inside of both of your thighs, you squirm trying to move him to the one place you need him most. Tsking loudly, he looks up at you with a correcting gaze.
“Be patient,” he scolds and you listen, biting back your fussing and fidgeting.
A deft finger runs up your slit, moving your slick around as it does. “This pretty cunt is so miserable, huh? She’s sad without me there to make her feel better.”
Taking two of his fingers, Eddie spreads you open to exposing your core causing you to hiss when the cold air hits you.
A swift lick of his tongue hits you like a bullet train, all at once it’s too much but not enough. A sob leaves your throat when he stops, glassy eyes meeting the dark one of your husbands, pleading with him for more.
“You know,” While the pad of his thumb over your aching clit, he continues to keep eye contact with you, “I don’t like when you talk badly about my wife.”
“The strong, smart, loving, and breathtaking woman I married,” He continues his ministrations, not using his other hand to trace around your hole, “Doesn’t deserve to be talked badly about.”
He continues teasing you, not inserting his fingers into your clenching hole and not giving your bundle of nerves enough pressure. He’s making you sweat it out and you think you might die.
He coos sweetly at you, faux pity on his features as he does. “I know, honey. S’it hurt? Want me to make you feel better?”
“Please, Teddy. Please please please.” Your begging falls on deaf ears though, Eddie just continues his evil plan of torture.
“I’ll make it better,” Putting his mouth close to your cunt, you can feel his warm breath and you shy in relief. Moving away quickly, he looks back up at you and you fight the urge to yell at him. “But first, I want you to say you’re beautiful.”
“Wha- Eddie, no! Just fucking- God, just eat me out already!” You yell and he mocks you by laughing.
“Baby, I can leave you high and dry and be perfectly fine. So unless you want to get yourself off, I suggest you do what I say.” Although you know Eddie would never make you take care of yourself, his threat hits you like a lightning strike. His cool demeanor and stoic tone makes you believe every word he said.
“I’m beautiful.” It comes out in a whisper, so low he barely catches it.
“Nuh-uh, say it louder.” Eddie corrects you and the buzzing feeling over embarrassment burns your cheeks.
“I’m beautiful.” This time it’s louder but you don’t sound convincing.
“I want you to believe it. Want you to be nice to my wife.”
Something about the words being said to you makes your heart beam. All of Eddie’s statements to you have been chipping away at the guarded walls of your mind, casting light on the darkness that overshadows it. You start to believe him, you start to let the positive and loving words bring you out of the insecurities that plague your thoughts.
“I’m beautiful.”
You say it at the same volume but this time something in your eyes let’s Eddie know you believe the words you say. The glimmer of light that disappeared 24 hours ago, has finally returned to its rightful spot.
“There’s my girl.” Dimples flash at you before he dives right into you.
Eddie’s tongue replaces his thumb, adding more pressure to the pulsating spot. The finger that once teased you, is not fully seated in you, curled just right while it pumps in and out of you.
He’s not doing much, basically just warming you up for what’s to come, but something about it lights you on fire. The adoration Eddie has for you is being poured into your heart, lighting your body in a glow that he only manages to bring out of you.
Your moans grow louder when Eddie starts sucking on your clit, another finger shoved inside of you moving in and out in a faster speed than before.
You arch off of the bed like you’ve been possessed, whimpering and withering around making Eddie use his unoccupied hand to push you back down.
“Shit, you’re s’tight.” Eddie’s voice comes out slurred, drunk off of the taste of you.
“You gettin’ close? You gonna cum for me, Angel?” You don’t have the energy to answer, too lost in the feeling of your stomach tightening.
Slowing down the speed of his fingers, you huff in aggravation. Eddie’s voice pulls you back down to reality, your bliss slowly starting to fade away.
“I’ll let you cum if you say you’re perfect.” Lifting up on your elbows, you look down to see him already staring at you.
“Eddie I’m not-“ You’re immediately cut off by him, his tone more commanding than before.
“Say it, or you won’t cum at all. I just want to hear you say it.” He begs, his pace starting to quicken and his thumb now going in figure 8’s on your clit.
You’re quickly hurdled back to the euphoria you were just pulled out of. Eyes rolling around in your head, whining as the string in your stomach pulls tighter.
“I’m, shit- M’perfect. Your perfect wife.” You’re a blabbering mess, head thrashing back and forth in ecstasy.
“I’m gonna cum. Teddy, please!” You beg and he gives you exactly what you want.
“Go ‘head, Angel, let go f’me.” With one last stroke on that sweet spot, you’re catapulted into the paradise of your release.
It feels like you’re floating above the clouds, weightless and free. You don’t feel the gush that splashes your thighs or the sheets, and the voice of your husband is nothing but an angelic voice ringing out.
You return back down to the soft mattress, boneless and melting into the bed. When your breathing calms and you finally have the strength to open your eyes, you’re met with a Cheshire Cat like smile and the soaking face of your husband.
“You did such a good job for me baby,” Kissing you sweetly, you can taste yourself on his lips. Pulling away slowly, you bring your arm to his pants, rubbing your palm along the outline of his hard cock.
Shaking his head, he gently grabs your wrist and puts it above your head. “This is about you, Angel. Wanna make you feel good.”
A quiet okay leaves your lips and he continues to work himself out of his pants, letting his dick bounce out of its confides. Saliva pools in your mouth, the desire to taste him takes over and you whimper.
Chuckling at your pouty face, he moves back between your legs that you parted for him. When he runs the tip of his aching cock through your folds, you both hiss on contact.
Lining himself up, Eddie brings his hand to your hip where he rubs his thumb in soothing circles. Both of you moan in unison when he finally breaches your entrance, a feeling neither of you have gotten used to.
Pushing himself further into you, he takes his time to let you adjust to his size, something you still haven’t gotten used to. He stretches you out so nicely, filling you up like nothing else you’ve ever felt. Nothing can compare to him, every bump and ridge of his cock making it even better.
Lacing his fingers into yours, he hovers over you as he starts thrusting slowly into you. A choir of moans are made between the two of you, singing a song better than anything Eddie’s ever written.
With the way your legs are wrapped around his waist, you try to push him in deeper, wanting to stay this close with him forever. This isn’t just about fucking or getting off, this is about the man you fell in love with all those years ago and how he’s appreciating you. He’s trying to show you just how much his heart yearns for you.
“So good, so fuckin’ good for me.” Eddie pants heavily as he thrusts the tip of his cock ramming into your cervix just right.
“Always so good f’me, Angel. You take such good care of me, such a good wife for me.” He’s babbling at this point, reaching the tipping point faster than he thought.
Tears prick the corners of your eyes, all you can think about is how much love you love each other, how good he’s making you feel, and how he was able to pull you out of the darkness of your horrible thought.
Removing his hand from yours, he snakes it down your body to find you abandoned clit. With the added pleasure, you clench harder around him and the air in your lungs seeps out in a high pitched gasp.
“I can’t wait to fuck my load into you, baby. Gonna get you nice n’ round, show everyone you’re mine. You want that? Want me to fuck a baby in you?” His voice echoes in your ears and travels down into the pit of your belly, getting you closer to the edge.
“I wan’ it, s-so bad, Teddy. Wanna feel it.” You’re babbling, toes curling at you tippy toe over the line of your orgasm.
“F-fuck you sound so pretty when you beg. Come on, Angel, cum for me.”
And just like that, both of you unravel together. Him painting your walls in his release, while you guys around him. Eddie works both of you through your highs, thrusting sloppy and lazily into you until he can’t anymore.
Eddie doesn’t pull out of you right away, not wanting to let go of the feeling so soon. He lays on your chest, trying to settle his breathing as best as he can. Bringing a hand to the top of his head, you rake your nails softly into his hair.
Humming in delight, Eddie kisses your chest as a thank you. A small blip of time in a long year, the kind that makes the bad days all worth it. The secrets whispered in hotels and lingering trail that still burns on your skin, invisible kiss marks left for reminders.
It’s worth it, all the hardships and long months, when you know he’ll always find his way back to you. The sweet boy from 9th grade that promised his heart to you, now sings his undying love to you for thousands of crowds to hear.
More tears leave your eyes, not in sadness but in pure happiness. You’re so fucking in love with him and sickeningly so, just like Gareth said.
Swiveling his head up to you, Eddie rests his chin lightly on your chest.
“Hi.” He says meekly.
Eddie doesn’t question your tears because he has tears of his own and he knows they’re for the same reason.
“Hi.” You parrot back to him, a wet smile adorning your lips.
“Do you believe me now?” Sweet brown eyes pulls you in, sucking you in as they stare at you.
“Yeah, I do.” You reassure and he smiles.
Using his free hand, Eddie takes his finger to trace shapes over your heart. You melt when you feel him draw a heart with your initials and his on the inside.
“I wanted to tell you,” He flits his eyes down to his finger where it doodles on your skin, “the guys and I have a break now that tours over. So I was thinking..”
A pregnant pause settles between his statement and he makes no moves to finish it. It reminds you of the first time he asked you on a date, nervous and fidgety.
“What is it, Teddy?” Lifting his chin with your fingers, you raise an eyebrow to coax him into answering.
“I was thinkin’ maybe we could try, ya know, for a family or somethin’. “ Eddie’s cheeks and the tips of his ears are coated in a pink blush.
Your heart picks up and you know that Eddie can feel it under his finger. Smiling with all your teeth, you cheeks ache from the stretch.
“You wanna have kids with me?” Your voice is only a whisper and he giggles at you.
“Well I don’t know if you noticed but, I just blew my whole load inside of you.” The bluntness of his statement makes your cheeks burn. Slapping your hands over your face, you cover yourself from the embarrassment
“Hey, don’t need to get all shy on me now,” Pulling your hands away from your face, he smiles smugly at you. “If I recall correctly you were the one all like “yes Teddy ugh please!!”.” Eddie mocks you and you roll your eyes.
“Bye the way, I’ve been counting every eye roll since you got here and I promise your in trouble when we get home.” He points and accusatory finger at you causing you to clench around him.
“I love you, Teddy. Thank you.” You place a kiss to his lips and he smiles brightly at you.
“Don’t need to thank me, baby. I’m glad I’m here to remind you.” Pecking your lips once more, he pulls a way with an even bigger smile.
“Also, I love you too, Mrs. Munson.”
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laughing-with-god · 6 months
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Unsaid Vow I
(This is the first 1.7k of the 10k chapter that is available right now on my Patreon. Please join for early access plus beta content!)
Synopsis: You always knew when you weren't wanted. And the way things are going in your marriage with Jungkook, a divorce is looking more and more likely. While he's getting closer to a woman at work that you're certain he's having an affair with, you're planning your escape with your four-year-old son. However, five years of marriage did not expose you to a certain side of your husband. A side of Jungkook that only gets triggered when you try to leave and break apart your perfect 'family'.
Warnings: Yandere behavior, graphic language, violence/murder, women bashing on other women, heavily implied infidelity, bad parenting, absent father, broken family vibes, very slow buildup bc Jungkook doesn't really snap until you leave him so just give him a min lol, inexperienced author writing for a five-year-old.
Also looking for new fic art for this if anyone's interested!!
Read first: Prologue
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“I’m a grown man.”
These were the words that greeted you and effectively pulled you out of your weary slumber.  
You drowsily rubbed your eyes and rolled over, yawning as you took in the sight of your son staring at you bemusedly from beside your bed.  
If you weren’t used to this behavior from Hugo already, you perhaps would've screamed at the sudden creepy sight of a child with a solemn expression saying odd things to you before the sun has even risen.  Yet, you have grown accustomed to the old man your toddler was.  
“Good morning to you too, bud.”  You groaned tiredly, already searching your thick bedding for your phone in order to check the time.  Your alarm hadn’t even gone off yet, which told you it was earlier than you had originally planned to wake up.  But what was the point of having plans when you had a child?  They had a talent for ruining them.  
“I’m five today.”  Hugo ignored your greeting, getting right into the point with furrowed brows as he held up all five fingers, each one representing a year of his life.  
“Yup, I know dumpling.”  You chuckled, finally pulling out your phone and opening it to see  ‘6:03 am” staring back at you.  “Believe it or not, the day you were born was quite memorable for me too.”  
You cringed as you thought of the 20 hour labor that preceded Hugo’s birth.   How could you ever forget that hellish day?  
“Mom, it’s my birthday.”  Hugo told you, tone serious as a heart attack.  
“Yes, happy birthday love.”  You smiled at your son, trying not to let him see the exhaustion you secretly felt.  “I suppose there’s no way I can talk you into going back to bed for another hour or so?”  
“No. You always say ‘the day starts when I first open my eyes in the morning”.  Your son parroted the saying back to you with a proud grin.  
Hugo once went through a phase where he wouldn’t want to leave the bed after waking up, simply wanting to stay in pj’s all day long and watch cartoons amongst his stuffies. 
It took a while to get your little homebody to actually stop this habit and begin getting up to ready himself for the day whenever he woke up.  You used to tell him that the day starts whenever he opens his eyes in the morning, however on days like these where he wakes up super early, he now does not see the point in lying in.  
“Right, that is a good point.”  You softly relented, mentally scolding yourself for yet another parenting tactic backfired.  “How does some breakfast sound?”
“Mom, I have a prop-pre-preposaa-”  
“Proposal?”  You offered, swinging your legs off the side of your bed.  
“Yeah, that.”  Hugo nodded to himself, most likely taking note of the proper pronunciation of the word so he can use it again in conversation.  “I think it’s time we talk about coffee.”
“Coffee?”  
“You and daddy are always saying that coffee is for grownups.  Today I’m five, which means I’m older, which means I should be able to have coffee.”  Hugo reasoned this to you while twiddling his thumbs, a nervous habit he does when he wants you to say yes to something he knows is unrealistic.  
“Mmm...”  You hummed, pretending to think hard about the offer.  “What if I gave you a very light coffee?  A beginner version to get you ready for the real thing when you’re older?”  
Hugo looked conflicted, but after reading your face and correctly assuming that’s the best he was going to get, he nodded solemnly in reluctant agreement.  
With one final huff you shoved yourself off the king sized bed, standing to your full height and throwing your arms up in a stretch.  “Why don’t you wait in the living room for me bud?  I’ll be right out.”  
The freshly turned five year old happily nodded up at you before exiting your bedroom, leaving you alone once again.  
You turned your attention back to the bed in which you just rose out of.  More particularly, you stared at the other side of the bed, the side in which your husband was supposed to sleep on. 
It was a direct opposite of your messy side, crisp and neatly made; the fluffy pillows, pressed sheets and silk duvet being perfectly in place.  Yet, this wasn’t an ode to Jungkook’s neatness and attention to detail.  
No.  
Jungkook hasn’t been sleeping in the same bed as you for a while now.  
Your husband always preferred to rise early, given he was a man who liked to follow a strict morning regime which could easily be thrown off if he slept in even a minute later.  Up at 5:30. teeth brushed and face shaved by 5:40.  Breakfast, coffee and newspaper consumed by 6:00.  
Then right before taking his leave, Jungkook would pack himself a bag of work clothes and make a quick protein shake, given he would then head to the gym where he would get his morning workout and shower from.  Then from the gym, he would head straight to work.  
A few months ago, he suggested sleeping in the guest room.
You had asked why, bewildered at the request.  
Sure, you two didn’t really cuddle anymore. Sex was also rare. But you figured that the least you could do as husband and wife was sleep in the same bed amicably. Had you started kicking him in your sleep or something?
“I’d notice you begin to kinda stir when I first get up and go about my routine.  I don’t want to wake you up or be a bother.”  He had said.  
That didn’t really make sense to you.  
You have always been a deep sleeper. And even if you did wake up for a second, you’d clearly see your husband getting ready for the day, roll over and go back to sleep.  
It was such a lame excuse, you just shrugged and bitterly told him that he hogged the blankets anyway.  
It wasn’t true, but Jungkook didn’t comment.  
You trudged over to the ensuite bathroom and quickly did your morning routine.  
When you came out of your room and into the living space, you saw Hugo glued to the giant flat screen in a trance-like state as he watched his usual morning cartoons.  The sight tugged a small smile out of you, although the mother in you didn’t like how close he was.
“Hugo, back up from the screen! Bluey isn’t going anywhere. Your eyes will go bad.”  Your son wordlessly obliged and scooted back, not breaking eye contact with his favorite family of puppies.  “What would you like for breakfast ‘Mr. grown man’?”  
“Blueberry pancakes…and don’t forget my coffee!”  
“You got it, birthday boy.” 
The kitchen, dining and living room were open concept, so you multi-tasked watching Hugo while whipping up his breakfast.  You never were much of a cook and you still aren’t even after motherhood, but you did commit to learning your son’s favorite dishes.
The process was over quickly, you having made this recipe countless times and knowing it like the back of your hand.  
You set a plate on the island table, calling Hugo over while you secretly mixed some instant hot chocolate in a mug.  
The five year old jumped up and grinned at the meal, saying a quick “thank you” before digging in with all the grace a five year old could possibly have.  
“And of course, your coffee.”  You tried not to smile as you handed him the cup.
“Thanks mama.”  
The mini-Jungkook took a gulp, then stared seriously at the contents of the mug, swishing it around in some faux detective work.  
“Something wrong, dumpling?”
“It tastes…fa-fam-”
“Familiar?”  
“Yes. Is coffee always this sweet?”  
You laughed, now moving to the real coffee maker to make your own cup.  “No, this is the kid version.  It might taste like chocolate because chocolate has caffeine in it too.”  
Your little old man huffed to himself but nodded in agreement, simply not knowing enough to dispute your logic.  
Your old coffeemaker grumbled awake, croaking and hissing as you pressed the worn-out buttons for your usual morning brew.  Jungkook always made fun of you for the ancient machine, but even after he had bought a much more expensive and up-to-date one, you stubbornly remained loyal to yours.  
“So buddy, what do you want to do today?  We can go get new books, hit up the toy store, maybe even visit the aquarium?”  
“I wanna help set up for my party, mommy.” 
Well, “party” wasn’t quite the right word for it.  
Hugo had no friends.  It was tough for a kid like him to make any.  At this age and as a boy, most of his peers would meet and form relationships in little league or rough housing at the local park. 
Your son was different.  He preferred reading to sports, hated the outdoors and was generally a shy kid who tended to tear up when anyone other than his family tried speaking to him.  
So this year, his birthday party was an intimate circle of family and family friends.  You hoped that by next year you could host an actual kid birthday party, as Hugo would be in school and have classmates by then. 
“That’s very sweet of you, but there’s time to do both.”  The boy looked at you skeptically.  “We can go to the bookstore across the street after breakfast and I’ll let you pick out some new bedtime stories.  Then we can go to the aquarium and have lunch there. And on our way home I’ll stop by the store to get some stuff for the party, and you can get a toy.  Sounds good?”  
Hugo frowned, then peeled back his pajama sleeve to look at his submarine-themed watch.  The act seemed a little pretentious to you, given he didn’t yet know how to read clocks.  
“Fine mommy, but we should be quick.  Also you need to ask our guests if they have any food aler-alergeez-”
“Allergies?  Yes bud, I’ll be sure to send them a text.”  You rolled your eyes.
With that, Hugo quietly finished his breakfast as you sipped your coffee.  
When you two were done, you both got dressed and ready for the day’s activities. 
Before leaving the apartment, you were sure to send a text to your husband.  
‘Be home by 6 please.  Hugo’s birthday party starts at 6:30 and he needs you there.’
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gojoidyll · 2 months
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There is No Law that Emperors Must be Fair
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Emperor ! Jing Yuan x Princess ! Reader
Chapter 1 | All Must Begin and End
Summary | You are set to marry the Emperor, Jing Yuan. In order to break the engagement, you stage an accident and fake having amnesia. But now, you own cruel, cold, and distant fiancé, who seemed to not want anything to do with you, is now acting all lovey dovey!
Warnings | age gap (y/n is around 20 - 22 yrs old), y/n stages an accident, y/n gets hurt, jing yuan is mean in the beginning, y/n is referred to as princess and with she/her pronouns, implied that jing yuan messes around with maids, grammatical errors, etc.
Fic Masterlist
 
“The only thing granted to all is an unfair reality, and I promise, by surrendering to me, you can guarantee a long prosperous life.”
The emperor held his weapon to your father’s throat with a steady hand. Your father, in his weakened state, could only kneel to the ground. All the while, you, dressed in your frilly dress, could only peek around the corner of the door and into the thrown room as the scene unfolded. You see, your kingdom was originally at war with the Emperor and his grand nation. However, five years later and your nation was nothing but dirt and corpses as the Emperor let lightning rain down and scorch the ground.
There was nothing your nation could do to annex yourselves out of the Emperor’s tyranny, and any little freedom you did have was now squashed underfoot.
“A long and prosperous life,” your father muttered out, “let’s face it dear Emperor, the only thing left for me and my people is death now that you have laid out your judgement.”
Jing Yuan let his blade fall from your father’s neck, “then how about we come to an agreement?”
Your father finally looked up and Jing Yuan continued, “your nation’s land, trade, commerce, and wealth all belong to the Xianzhou, and all you and your people have to do is live peacefully and quietly under my rule.”
Your father scoffed, “that is basically the same deal as before this war was started!”
Jing Yuan glanced over to where you were hiding behind the corner, the moment your eyes met, you made a small, surprised yelp before hiding fully behind the wall. Jing Yuan looked back down to your father, “then how about a marriage proposal. You have a daughter, don’t you? With a marriage between the Xianzhou and your nation, you can guarantee that you and your people won’t fall to despair and resort to another war. And I can promise you, if you decide to rise up and rally your forces against me again, then this nation truly will be no more.”
“You- you really expect me to give away my only daughter?”
“The choice is yours.”
Your father bowed his head, his lips quivering, “Alright, but what type of life will my daughter be living?”
“As of today, your land, your wealth, and even your daughter is no longer yours to concern yourself with. The moment you agreed was the moment you let everything go.”
Everything after that was a blur. A complete and utter haze that has left you wondering how it all came to be this way. When the war started five years ago you truly thought everything was going to work out as your father has promised, but now? Five months after the war and you find yourself preparing for a wedding with a man who doesn’t even want to speak to you or acknowledge your existence.
“Princess?”
You glanced away from your window, the room you were staying is was vast. Your bed was filled with fuzzy, warm blankets with pillows as fluffy as can be. The carpet was soft and expensive looking. The dresses in your closet smooth as silk and. Your dresser filled with various jewelry that you didn’t even know existed. It was a luxurious room.
“Yes?”
The one who had entered your room was your own personal guard. His “name” was Blade. You knew that that wasn’t his real name, and when you asked about it, well, he didn’t seem too keen on sharing anything with you. So, you were forced with calling him that tacky name.
“Do you plan on staying here all day again?”
“I do.”
“Fine, then I will be off training. If you want to go somewhere, call on me to escort you.”
“I will.”
He left without another word.
And you did feel a little sad when he left, but only because he was one of the few people in this country that ever talked to you. Everyone else always kept their lips shut anytime you would pass them by in the halls.
It was a luxurious life, but you couldn’t help but to miss everyone back home.
“Maybe it’s time I try to break out of this engagement…”
In the past five months, you learned that Jing Yuan was as cold, distant, and cruel as the rumors made him out to be. He didn’t care for you at all. Not to mention that anytime you did run into him or speak to him he always had a beautiful and busty maid by his side who was all handsy with him. Your mother, of course, warned you of this. She warned you how men would prefer the excitement of being with someone they couldn’t have. So, it was no surprise to you when you would catch a maid being too close and familiar with him.
Not that it mattered.
Because you had a plan.
It was dangerous, and it would hurt, but it would be worth it.
Calming your nerves, you stood up from your windowsill, the gardens below becoming too boring to look at any longer.
Your plan consisted of accidentally running into one of the maids and falling down the long flight of stairs and that led into the main hall. There was no doubt in your mind that you will get hurt. But you were counting on it. In fact, what you really wanted was to either get amnesia or fake getting amnesia. Which is exactly why you were thankful Blade was already gone. Because before, the silent man would always be by your side, if you so much as trip he would already have an arm around your waist in order to steady you. It was annoying. So when it became apparent that you would stay in your room all day for the past two months, Blade gradually started to leave you alone which was exactly what you had wanted.
“Now, if I remember correctly, today is laundry day and the maids will be rushing around with big baskets around this time. If I time it perfectly, then…”
You smiled, it took a lot of time to get the schedules down, but you were sure this was going to work. Getting injured, faking amnesia, it was the only way you could think of breaking the engagement off. Well, it was that or running away. However, Jing Yuan made it clear that you would be executed if you ran away…
Steadying your heart, you opened your door. Blade was nowhere in sight and the maids could be heard down the hall.
“Perfect!”
You put your plan into effect.
The moment you hiked up your dress and started running down the hall, you were glad to see the maids already rushing about. But you couldn’t run into one of them right now. No, your goal was the stairs. Running a bit further, you could already see the railing making you smile.
This is really going to hurt, but I would rather be hurt than being married to that man!
“Excuse me Princess!”
“Watch out!”
“Ahh! Princess!”
And soon everything went dark. Your vision, your mind, you could feel the first fall and the way your head slammed into the first set of stairs, but other than that – you were swiftly knocked out. Though, before you fully lost consciousness, you could only hope that you wouldn’t have to fake amnesia when you woke up. Because you knew Jing Yuan was sharp. And acting wasn't your specialty at all.
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There is No Law that Emperors Must be Fair taglist | @danae-misfortune @frogsasfrogs @openthenyoor01 @zuhaine @ughlostmyotherac @joyfulnightprincess @howtiring @thechibifoxcub @n1ghtmare-2 @fabi23zuni @ceaether @satanisasofties @thetwinkims @yanrandom @honeybunbunn @superdonkeypatroleggs @ohmyfinggod @baboon-milk333 @zareri @kclremin @rains-mae @vash-yuu @yccoffeesimp @bloomiesty @gilbertisbestboi @moon-taffy @sylockk-m0ndsch3in @leaf1224 @butt44rr @superdark-soul @pinkismyfavcolor @kuraichycoochie @isa-l0v3r @rymrum @its-astrotea-love @unstable-kuro @toki-mekii @angelofdarkness2 @reapersan @junephantom21 @erisfayred @hanabanananana
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thisisnotthenerd · 8 months
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god what a fantastic finale of mentopolis. phenomenal work from everyone.
a list of my favorite things about this episode:
concocting a plan to both get money from don avaricci while not killing conrad. the character arc that dan fucks went through in mentopolis was slow but my god was it funny
imelda flashing her boobs and getting four gangsters on her side
dan flashing his dick and getting it shot immediately. on sight.
the diamond hard balls coming back to deflect the bullets
the mechanical changes that came from the key-pressure combination
ivana rolling a 59. truly what the fuck. two nat 20s and a 19 in front of the board. they watched that happen in real time. and trapp rolling a one sturdy. getting punched a quarter mile out of the station.
dan's heroic sacrifice for conrad fully made me tear up. the fact that he was distracted by the glorious revolution of pleasure does not detract from this
the adrenaline injection moment and curios moxie intake
all of the effort that went into medical attention for dan. fucking wilton. the hand spit guy is dan fucks' dad?!?!?!
the fix taking that key from madam loathing! he did it! he put it in his craw!
conrad talking madam loathing down with a d100 spirit roll! sometimes the mechanics really do tell stories in a way you just can't get in standard media
the 11 sturdy. the 57 spirit. (alex's favorite number because it's the number of Heinz varieties)
elias taking the initiative and getting going
the fix menacing don avaricci with dinoflagellates and punching the shit out of him
the birthday cake!
elias getting an ice skating date with the coffee shop girl!!!!!!!!
i owe my sister a call!!!!!!!
the entire epilogue was great: elias becoming a whistleblower and getting the mind control shut down, anastasia & fawn's relationship, conrad & dan fucks' business partnership, curio finding foot stuff
the fix and pasha get their own bullet point. half of that was hank and brennan just fully flirting. going to madam loathing's to: find ichabod, who had been running nostalgia's, stuck in the past for so long, propose (after 20 years of marriage? Hank what is happening?), find out madam loathing, now guilta is going on a self-discovery trip, fully just get her house, and custody of all of elias' repressed childhood interests!
anastasia running for public office alongside frank freeze (pay attention!) after getting the DA arrested in court
and of course, imelda capping it off with chattanooga choo choo
truly what a fantastic season. while both of the kids on bikes/brooms seasons i.e. mismag and mentopolis were fantastic, i think mentopolis had just enough time to really get a little more crunchy mechanically, and that resulted in some great moments in this finale specifically. this is a sidequest i will be coming back to for rewatching. i loved it.
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uyuforu · 2 months
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Uyu's Astro Observations IV
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Some observations are +18
ᯓ★ Do I have playlists for every mood ever or do I just have Leo placements?
ᯓ★ Boda conjunct Boda in Solar Return Synastry... you are either getting proposed or getting married lol.
ᯓ★ Vertex is so important in any chart, look at it always please!
ᯓ★ I was wondering why people found Jack Harlow so attractive with the way he talks, and I found out he has 3H Leo lol! True rizz placement.
ᯓ★ Erda (894) is an asteroid that tells you about your past life. So Erda conjunct Erda in synastry means you were def in each other's past life and played an important role towards each other.
ᯓ★ I'm studying Transits these days, and the day I met my FS, I had North Node in 7H, he had Sun, Mercury and Venus in his 5H. His Groom was also conjuncting his DSC. My Moon was also exactly conjuncting my IC.
ᯓ★ Boda in 7H synastry: Boda person could want to marry 7H person and is most likely to propose in the future.
ᯓ★ Also, Jack Harlow has Ceres conjunct Mercury, this could explain also why he is so smooth with the way he speaks to people.
ᯓ★ Sun in 7H in Solar Return Synastry means this person wants to marry 7H person, and may realize it this year, or propose. If Saturn is also there, something is blocking this union, and this person may see obstacles.
ᯓ★ Your Neptune & Venus falling in another person's 11H in Solar Return Synastry means you are stalking their social medias a lot this year because you have crush lol.
ᯓ★ If your Neptune & Venus fall in your person's 8H, you are obsessed with them, you can't stop thinking about them and fantasizing about them either. Might also stalk.
ᯓ★ Mars in 1H synastry... Mars person wants to do 1H person so bad.
ᯓ★ If you have Boda falling in another person's 3H in Solar Return Synastry, you might propose to them this year. Or you will want to.
ᯓ★ Vertex conjuncts Vertex in Solar Return Synastry means something will happen this year between you two that will change your life forever. The themes are the houses where the Vertex are. For ex: 5H for both means you can enter in a relationship, or get engaged, or have a baby...
ᯓ★ The year I wasn't working, I had Saturn 10H in Solar Return.
ᯓ★ In the same Solar Return, I had Moon Scorpio 20°, I was depressed, I did tons of tattoos and dressed in black every time. I was looking very cold and detached too.
ᯓ★ This Solar Return I met my FS, Groom conjuncted Vertex this year.
ᯓ★ Also, Groom conjuncted Vertex in the 6H, and this meeting forced me to realize my toxic patterns and heal myself. It was the start of a healing journey.
ᯓ★ Any years I had a toxic relationship, I always had Venus 8H in my SRC.
ᯓ★ Gemini Moon in 8H is an insane placement, people like that can really get in dark places when they overthink or are depressed. Their mind can be scary for other people. But those people need the most help in the end.
ᯓ★ While Vertex 5H means you want and will have children, Chiron in 5H means you are scared to have children, some traumas will prevent you from having some.
ᯓ★ Juno/ Groom/ Briede conjunct Jupiter means your FS will make you very happy, and cheer you up. They will bring you sunshine. You will feel more lucky after marriage.
ᯓ★ Juno/ Groom/ Briede conjunct Pluto means they will totally transform your life. If it is in the 6H, it means this person will heal you, despite that it can be scary for you.
ᯓ★ Vertex PC will tell you way more about your destiny. Check it to see the whole ride.
ᯓ★ Asteroid Kreusa (488) can mean where you escape in life, how you escape, and what you abandoned, what abandoned you. It's a theory of mine since the asteroid never had an observation before. I checked it for me and my friends and it is in fact a verified theory! Give credits for @uyuforu on this one please!
ᯓ★ I noticed my MC PC and Briede PC looks very much the same, and I have Sun & Mercury Capricorn in my Briede PC, I'm gonna be the leader in that marriage lmao.
ᯓ★ In my Boda PC, Part of Fortune conjunct Union, meaning a lucky marriage that will make both of us happy.
ᯓ★ I also have DNA asteroid (55555) in my 7H in my Boda PC, there are high chance to be pregnant when I marry...
ᯓ★ Moreover, my FS has Vertex 5H in his Boda PC, so the child theory for the wedding can be very true lol...
ᯓ★ In the Child PC, my FS has a stellium in 7H and Boda is inside of it ;-;
ᯓ★ If we continue on the child theory, my FS has DNA asteroid in his 7H of Groom PC, he also has Juno and Vertex there, so it's reassuring lol!
ᯓ★ Juno 7H in Groom/ or Briede PC means you marry your destined person. My FS has Juno 7H in his Groom PC, and I have Juno 7H in my Briede PC. We will both think we married "the one".
ᯓ★ Saturn in 10H transits is a hard time to find a job... or to get a promotion.
ᯓ★ Last thing about Jack Harlow: he kept saying he wants 8 children, so I checked his chart. Vertex 5H lmao, am I shocked?
ᯓ★ I lied, it wasn't the last thing about Jack. He also said he was into sweet girls. I am not shocked, he has Briede Cancer. He will def marry a sweet girl.
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dramioneasks · 4 months
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Top 10 Most “Kudos-ed” (Completed) Fics on AO3 of 2023:
Damaged Goods by slytherin_after_dark - E, 50 chapters, Words: 150,499 - Hermione, now in her mid-20s, is back at Hogwarts to pursue higher education. Trying to forget the trauma carved into her by the war, she spends one lust-filled night with a certain pureblood. But that night will have consequences. While her personal life unravels, a string of mysterious murders forces her to work together with Draco Malfoy, who himself seems to carry many secrets. "He scared her. Not because he wielded killing curses like they were nothing, but because he seemed to understand her in a way that even she didn’t. The more she let him in, the more power he had to destroy her." Come for the smut, stay for the plot. Read if you like: - Murder mystery - Dark Arts - Hurt/ Comfort - Hermione and Draco both deal with PTSD - Angst, so much angst
In These Silent Days by HeyJude19 - E, 14 chapters, Words: 67,209 -Hermione is familiar with fighting: for respect, for attention, for justice. She’s even made a career of it; working on behalf of creatures and beings. But her battle against the Ministry’s marriage law is one she loses. Badly. And now, she has to contend with not only public derision and patriarchal politics, but her growing feelings for her government-mandated spouse.
The Silver Envelope by sinflower81 - E, 70 chapters, Words: 192,647 - “Tell me again to release you, Granger. Tell me again that you just want to be friends.” It’s been five years since Draco last spoke to Granger. Things are different now, and though earning her trust will be a challenge, he can’t seem to keep himself away. Hermione has been busy advocating for elves around the world, but when her breakup with Ron turns her life upside-down, she knows there’s only one person who can help her. Alternating POVs between Hermione and Draco. Slow burn, eventual smut, light dom/sub. Diverges from canon after Voldemort's defeat.
In Silence & Submission by gillianeliza - E, 29 chapters, Words: 69,694 - 10 years after the war everything has changed. Enemies turned into friends and lovers. Fear turned into hope. Pain into joy. Everyone has moved on except for Hermione Granger. Nestled within her friend group, now made up of not just Harry and Ginny, but also Theodore Nott, Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zabini and of course Draco Malfoy, she was content to allow the trauma of her past to haunt her. More than just content - it was what she felt she deserved - until one evening Draco Malfoy decided enough was enough. This is a low stakes, split POV fic that deals heavily with life AFTER the Battle of Hogwarts. You will find the POV of either Hermione or Draco stated in bold italics, in the middle whenever it shifts. Please read all tags as this work deals with BDSM, kink, trauma recovery, & suicidal ideation.
A Game of High Stakes by In_Dreams - E, 51 chapters, Words: 263,110 - In theory, the task is simple: kill Draco Malfoy. In practice, putting a curse through the Dark Lord's favoured lieutenant will take everything Hermione has―especially since he's trying to kill her, too. Even more so when the lines between them start to blur. Sometimes, the only way out is through.
Hogwarts: A History (Hermione's Version) by Lizzie_carlile - M, 38 chapters, Words: 141,828 - Lord Voldemort has been defeated, and the children of the Wizarding War are thriving. When the heir to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black is adopted and takes her place in the family with her loving fathers, a new trio is formed. With her best friend and her brother by her side, Hermione Black is thrust into a world that she never knew existed. Will whispers from the past threaten to destroy the world she knows? Or will love once again conquer all? Another take of the Nice Things AU. What would happen if Draco asked Hermione to the Yule Ball before Ron Weasley had a chance to?
Teach Me How to Forget by scullymurphy - E, 20 chapters, Words: 109,646 - Hermione Granger is 27 years old when her life falls apart. Cheated-on, flatless, fed up with her job, she decides to change one thing she can--take a class and try for some career advancement. But change is never easy, especially when an old enemy is the catalyst. And the class instructor. "Just as the minute hand clicked over to the hour, the doorknob twisted and a figure slipped into the room. He was tall, a bit windblown. Hermione had a general impression of crisp cuffs and polished leather, and then a more specific one of the most beautiful grey coat—highlighting his shoulders and eyes, skimming to just the right place on his knife creased trousers. His movements were precise and confident. He was wearing the softest-looking gloves. He was not Professor Belinda Rowle. He was Draco bloody Malfoy."
The Order of Serpents by bl_crtz - E, 44 chapters, Words: 193,506 - During the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry Potter walked into the forbidden forest, died, and walked out with crimson eyes as the new vessel of the Dark Lord. Since then, Hermione Granger served as an elite member of the True Order, isolating herself from other Order members and going on missions alone, not only haunted by the loss of her best friend, Harry, but Ron who had run away after the battle. Three and a half years later, Draco Malfoy shows up with his two year old son on the Order’s doorstep seeking to switch sides. Together, Draco and Hermione are forced to deal with not only each other, but their own past and confront who they’ve become because of the war.
The Contender by rubykrishna - E, 9 chapters, Words: 58,875 - Hermione stopped walking. Her eyes scanned back up the roster until they found the name that she initially mistook for a typo. Draco Malfoy….Beater. She could comprehend the words, the name and the meaning. She understood that his name being on the roster meant he was the starting Beater for England’s national team, but for whatever reason, when her eyes ran over the black ink, her brain could not articulate any emotions or reaction. 
Sincerely Yours by LovesBitca8 - E, 10 chapters, Words: 40,759 - A smile tickled the corners of Hermione’s mouth as she clicked Send. She listened to the whoosh of the message and then turned off her computer. When the ping! had come in, she’d had one foot half-out the door of her flat. She’d dropped her coat and darted for her computer desk, a wide grin blossoming at her inbox. You’ve Got Mail.
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f10werfae · 1 year
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Sugar Sweet Thong
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pairing: Lumberjack!Henry Cavill x Wife!Reader
warning: After Y/n gets a new thong, away up in his cabin where no one can touch her but him, her wild man of a husband can’t keep his hands off her (Major Dom Henry)
Disclaimer: This story is fiction and should not be taken literally, the behaviour is simply imaginative and the content may be inappropriate
requests are open/likes, comments and reblogs are appreciated♥️
Henry Masterlist, Full Masterlist, Taglist Form
︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵
“Baby, how did your little gift exchange thing go today? n’ what’s behind your beautiful body?”Henry asked watching his girl creep in through the front door, a clearly visible Victoria Secret bag in her hands. “It went well” She said shortly, her act falling once Henry patted his knees, beckoning her to sit on his beefy thighs; a strong arm curling around her waist. “Well what’d ya get sugar? C’mon n’ let me see, even brought more firewood in so we can snuggle in close tonight”
He growled nuzzling his nose against her cheek, his lips pressing a sloppy kiss onto her jaw. “We actually did something a little different this year, w-we did a thong exchange, so we all-“
“So you all bought each other thongs huh? Go on baby, show me your pretty new lace on for me to play with” Henry leant back in the arm chair, Y/n easily cuddling back with him, instantly missing his body heat. Henry’s arm around her waist softly stroked her stomach, his fingers teasing the rim of her underwear
“But that’s embarrassing! I can just hold it up for youu” Y/n whined shoving her face in his neck, the smell of pinewood and cologne filling her nose, his chequered over-shirt unbuttoned to reveal a tight white shirt.
A year ago Henry took a trip to the closest town for new tools, his eyes immediately caught onto the sweet little thing working in her grandparent’s candy shop. Dressed in a lavender dress she always greeted him with a smile, clinging onto his burly arms every time they walked about town, gaining a few stares as people thought ‘How could such a grumpy thing get that light?’
Of course once Henry convinced her to elope, it only made sense that she moved out with him to his isolated luxurious cabin out on the slopes. Their wedding consisted of just her family, Henry’s being nowhere in site but that didn’t bother any of them, frankly Y/n’s parents were just glad she was finally married despite her still being in her early 20s; for a man in his 30s like Henry to want their daughter’s hand in marriage, that was a gift.
“You’re my wife, if anythin the lace is the frame for my pretty picture. Now go get the damn thong on” Henry said more dominantly slapping Y/n’s ass causing her to squeal and giggle to their shared bedroom.
Pulling the thong up her thighs, Y/n couldn’t help but feel confident at the sight of the new lace on her body, when her friend’s words came back to her. “Come on Y/n, think of it as a present for both you and your grumpy ol’ man” Lucy giggled handing Y/n the bag.
Putting on one of Henry’s plaid shirts over her, she walked back out to the armchair in front of the log fire, wearing nothing underneath but her new thong. “Well?” Henry asked taking another swig of beer, throwing his cap onto the floor.
Y/n shyly pulled up the shirt revealing it to her husband, causing him to sit up and lean forward, his nose hitting her mound. “Sugar, you decorated my flower with another pretty flower, how thoughtful of you” He said looking up at her before taking his tongue and striping a lick up her thinly covered pussy.
“W-what are you doing Hen?” Y/n asked threading her fingers through his messy curls, his, “Kissing my pretty pussy” Henry growled placing kisses all over, finally setting one on her clit, causing his woman to slightly jolt in his hold. Henry leant back, unbuckling the belt she had recently gotten him for Christmas, his jeans falling to just his knees.
“Sit on my lap baby, get comfortable with your man, tell me about your day, wan’ hear all about it” Nodding Y/n sat back on his lap, the only thing between her pussy and his thick cock, being her lace thong. He wrapped one arm around her waist, the other starting to slowly rub her clit through the lace as she talked.
“W-we went to starbucks, oh fuck, and- and then”
“Language baby” Henry growled slapping her pussy out of nowhere, before going back to slowly playing with her nub, his other arm making sure she doesn’t wiggle away from him.
“T-then we went back to Grace’s and we did the thong- thong exchange” Y/n gasped feeling Henry’s cock slide between her thighs, his red head bumping her clit every single time, just like he wanted. “That’s it baby, keep talking to me” Henry urged, his fingers going into his mouth and going back onto her clit, his other hand groping onto her right breast as she clawed onto his arms.
“Can’t do it, feels too good bear” Y/n breathed out leaning her head back onto his shoulder, his lips instantly landing onto her cheek, her head turning to give him a small kiss on the lips. “Got you all dumbed up on my cock, right honey? Can’t think when i’m all up on you, you drive me crazy” He growled fixing her up tighter against him, both his hands now going to her waist for his next move.
“Can’t imagine what woulda happened if I didn’t marry ya and bring you up here with me, you ever going to keep my pussy away from me?” Henry taunted pushing her body up and down, his cock sliding up and down her pussy lips which were now visible with the soaked lace.
“N-no. is’ your pussy baby, can have it whenever you want” Y/n moaned, her eyes going to the back of her head, knowing damn well that his words were enough to make her cum then and there. “Want you inside me Hen”
“Nuh-uh honey, maybe tomorrow, m’tired tonight. You understand right? Was busy working for us day n’ night” Henry said smirking knowing damn well his bank accounts were big enough to supply them another 10 lifetimes, but his baby didn’t need to know that, and she wouldn’t.
“Y-you’re right Hen, m’sorry, love you so much” Y/n whimpered feeling tears prick her eyes, her head turning coaxing out Henry’s tongue with her own, their rapid movements causing their kiss to turn wet and messy real quick. Filthy just like they both liked it. “I love you too baby. I’m going to cum on top of your pussy, that okay sugar?” He asked in her ear, her voice now rasped and broken as she screamed for him to do so. His cock painting the lilac lace white with his cum, Y/n’s eyes starting to lid close from exhaustion
“Can I at least keep this pair?” Y/n shuddered feeling her husband peel the sticky fabric down her thighs, watching as he threw it to somewhere in the living room, her eyes basically love hearts as she watched him attend to her. Kissing her nose, giving her a massive drink of water, bringing her back onto his lap this time with a soft blanket.
“You know the rules sugar, no underwear indoors” Henry whispered watching their log fire, his arms clasped around her waist as she resumed her story of her day, her nails softly playing with the wedding bands on their fingers. “Then I saw Stephanie’s new baby, n’ I was thinking can we have one?”
Henry woke up from his daydream to see Y/n looking up at him cutely, a sweet sugar like smile on her face, “Course baby, i’ll give you anything you want”
———
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acriminalmind · 6 months
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Songs From the Wood
Forest Dweller Wanda Maximoff x GN Reader
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Summary: For years tourists who enter the mysterious woods around the town you grew up in are never to be seen again. What happened to them remains a mystery. 
After years you return to the place you rather forget if it wasn’t for your parents still living there. 
A party thrown by your former classmates ends up with you fighting for your life and getting a new one you can’t return from. 
Warnings: ⚠️ 18+, minors DNI, dark themes, shitty and immature people, consequences of alcohol, spiked drink, use of weapons like knives, swords, and axes, very graphic images (blood, horrible injuries, torture, violent and gruesome deaths), use of strong language, allusions to cannibalism, kidnapping (taking someone without their permission), manipulation (kinda gaslighting), Stockholm Syndrome (rational thinking has gone out the window), smut (later in the story) (mention of penetration, but not specified with what), human sacrifices, loyalty tests, marriage, fluff, angst, some deja vu moments, slighty dark Wanda at times. 
Please don’t report. You’ve been warned
AN: Sorry for the long wait. My new job takes me a lot of time and energy. I hope to find time to write during my vacations and weekends. I’m not out of ideas yet. 
AN: In this story, Wanda is the 20-year-old sister of Pietro, who is a 10-year-old boy.
Word count: 14213 (Damn)
Enjoy! And let me know what you think. 
On a warm summer evening, you received an invitation to a party organized by some former high school classmates. Initially, you had not planned on going because your high school days were not the most fun period in your life and you certainly would not be mourning never having to see your former classmates, who pretended you were invisible most of the time and only talked to you when they needed something from you, ever again. You had left the village where you had grown up shortly after the last day of high school. A university on the other side of the country had offered you a scholarship, which of course you had accepted. Five years later, you had graduated with flying colors and had been offered a well-paying job at the company where you had been an intern for the last two years of your education. 
Despite having no reason or desire to go to a party so far from what you now considered home you still replied that you would attend. Your parents still live in that village and you hadn't visited them in too long, so you would visit them before you went to the party. You opened your digital calendar and put in the date of the party. Fortunately, you had just gotten a raise so the plane ticket was easily paid for. You had even granted yourself a seat in first class.
Turning off your phone you put it face down on your desk and refocused on what you were doing, writing a smutty fanfic about your favorite female heroine.
"She dropped to her knees and took their hard member in her hands. In her small hands, their cock seemed even bigger than it already was. Opening her mouth she leaned forward and took..."
-
Two weeks had passed and you were about to leave for the airport. A suitcase and backpack stood neatly packed next to you on the pavement as you locked your front door. You had asked your neighbor to watch your house during the time you were gone, which would not be more than 3 days if everything went right. The cab you had ordered pulled up into the driveway. After the driver had helped you with your luggage the both of you took your seats and drove off. The ride took no longer than half an hour due to the lack of traffic. After you paid the driver and tipped, you walked into the large building in front of you. The check-in went as it always did. You were happy to finally get on the plane and be seated. Next to you sat an older man who had fallen asleep not soon after takeoff. After it was announced that passengers could unbuckle their seat belts you grabbed your laptop from your bag and started working on an assignment for work. The hours flew by, no pun intended.
-
Once off the plane you stretched and walked to the waiting area where your parents were already waiting for you with welcoming smiles on their faces. You gave them both a big hug before your father grabbed your stuff from you and started walking with them to the car even though you told him he didn't have to do that for you and that you could do it yourself, but he was stubborn and ignored you. Your mother talked to you during the car ride about what was happening in the village. Pretty little happened in the small community where almost everyone knew each other. Except for one thing. Over the past few years, several people went missing in the woods surrounding the village and were never found. Those who went missing were mostly tourists who had probably wandered off the marked hiking trails, but it was still strange and slightly worrisome. It also wasn’t good for business as word about the woods spread fast and as a consequence, the village was being avoided by many tourists who would normally fill up the streets and spend a good amount of money in the local shops. Quite an amount of shops had to close their doors due to a lack of customers and lack of income. The shopping district was now filled with lots of empty buildings holding a gloomy atmosphere.
Your mother mentioned that someone had been reported missing again, but it was a villager this time. She mentioned the name and you recognized it immediately. It was the name of a former classmate of yours from high school. Apparently, someone had dared him to go into the woods and go off the path to see if the stories were true and that there was indeed a monster in the woods that kidnaps and eats anyone who goes off the path. It was funny until he hadn't returned after an hour and he didn't answer his cell phone either. Authorities were called in to search, but all they found was a large pool of blood with his phone lying in it. To this day, he has not been found adding another name to the growing list of missing people who fell victim to the woods.
The date of his disappearance was a week before you got the invitation to the party. You thought it was odd that they were throwing a party right now when a fellow villager was missing, but your mother said they were already planning the party before the man went missing and his parents insisted that the party should just be held as planned.
-
When you arrived at your parent’s house, you made sure to get your luggage out of the car before your father could. You followed your mother to the front door which she unlocked to let you in. Everything looked exactly the same as the last time you visited your parents. The house was spacious but still gave off a cozy feeling. Several pictures of you and your parents hung on the walls. It was like a timeline of your life. It puts a small smile on your face. Your mother told you to take your things to the guest room, which was your old bedroom, while she would prepare dinner. As confirmation that you had heard her, you nodded to her before walking upstairs. The second room on the right side of the hall was yours. It had its own mini bathroom and walk-in closet. You put your things in the corner of the room and plopped down on the bed to rest your eyes for a while.
-
Stepping out of your father's car you had borrowed to drive to the party you could already hear the loud music and people singing along from the parking lot. The party was fully going. Calmly you walked toward the entrance, breathing in the fresh air one last time before entering the smelly and crowded space. You made your way towards the bar where you ordered a diet coke, not wanting to get too drunk this early in the evening, especially while being surrounded by people you hadn't seen for years and wouldn’t fully trust with your well-being if you were drunk. 
Looking around you, you took in the different faces of the people dancing on the dancefloor. You recognized most of them, they were just a bit more mature since you last saw them, but looking more mature didn't stop them from acting immature as you saw a group of men, who were part of the football team back in the day, act like monkeys on speed. Rolling your eyes at the sight you moved your eyesight to a couple of young women standing in the corner giggling about something. The blonde woman standing in the middle of the group took your breath away. It was your secret school crush and she looked even more beautiful than you remembered. The ring on her finger stopped you from approaching, not that you knew what you would have said to her if you would have. You didn't want to embarrass yourself more than you had already done in school. 
For a while, you sat in silence sipping on your drink at the bar, watching the people around you like you also did as a teenager when you sat alone at lunch. When you were done with the one coke you had ordered that night you headed towards the exit, wanting to call it a night, but on your way, you were pulled onto the dancefloor by an unknown woman who started to dance around you. "Danzz with meeee!" she yelled barely hearable due to the loud music. Her slurred words and strong smell told you that she was highly intoxicated, but like the decent person you are you started awkwardly dancing with her. You didn't want anyone with bad intentions to get their hands on her as long as she was under the influence of alcohol and could be easily manipulated into doing regrettable things. After what felt like an hour of dancing with the woman you felt yourself getting tired. The woman had in the meantime sobered up a little and had found the people she came with. She gave you a quick peck on your cheek and thanked you for keeping her company after apologizing for bothering you in her drunken state. The action made you blush. This didn't go unnoticed as a small group of people made their way to you while cheering at you and making kissing sounds. One of the broad men threw his arm over your shoulder while ruffling your hair with his free hand. "Look at our favorite nerd getting some action!" Laughter filled your ears. One of the others yelled that it was probably the furthest you've ever gotten with a girl. The people now surrounding you were all people who had made your life in school unnecessarily difficult and less enjoyable. You awkwardly laughed at the stupid jokes that were being made about you in the hope that soon they would get bored of themselves and would leave you alone so you could leave this place as fast as you could to never see anyone of them again.
-
Half an hour later you were still at the party you had badly wanted to leave a while ago, but the strong arm on your shoulder and your shyness preventing you from speaking up had made you stay where you were. One of the women pushed a drink into your hand after you had declined the offer, guess no isn't an answer she takes. The jokes about you had stopped and the topic of conversation had changed to the missing people cases that held a tight grip on the local community. One of the women, who you remembered to be the daughter of the sheriff told about what she had heard from a whispered conversation between her father and the mayor that she had eavesdropped on four days ago. Apparently, investigators had found evidence that points to a new-found theory of mystery people inhabiting the woods. Silently sipping on your drink you listened to the woman and all the things she had heard. Even though the whole matter wasn't of interest to you, the thought of possibly dangerous people living in the woods close to your parent's house, made you more than uncomfortable. The thought of convincing your parents to temporarily live with you while searching for a new place for them far away from where they lived now crossed your mind. You were pulled out of your thoughts by someone patting your shoulder to get your attention. "Come on, let's see for ourselves," you heard someone say. You wanted to pull yourself away from the group who were now walking you to the back exit leading to the mysterious woods, but you failed. It felt like you had lost control over your body. Looking down at the empty red cup in your hand you cursed to yourself. You hadn't even noticed you had drunk the whole thing. The girl who gave it to you held your hand, pulling you with her toward the edge where the trees met the main road. You wanted to say no, but no sound came out of your mouth. Before you could register it you had been pulled into the darkness, the only sound you could hear was the drunken laughter of the people around you and the breaking of the twigs underneath your stumbling feet. While you were pulled further into the woods, even getting off the designated hiking trails, multiple pairs of eyes were watching your every move from behind the trees waiting to strike. 
At hearing a weird sound behind you you turned your head to see where it came from. You could have sworn you saw a silhouette standing next to one of the many trees surrounding you, but before you could get a closer look the girl still holding your hand pulled your attention to her. She pulled you into a deep and unwanted kiss. After she had ended the kiss she complimented you for how good of a kisser you were, saying she hadn't expected that from you. Before you could react to her insulting expectation she had passed out on the floor from the combination of alcohol, drugs, and tiredness with you following her not close behind.
The woods became now completely silent.
-
You woke up when the first rays of the sun showed through the trees. Your head was pounding as a result of last night's activities. Looking around you noticed that you were the only one there. There was no sign of anybody else. Those fuckers had abandoned you in the middle of god knows where. Curse words left your mouth as you tried to stand up from the cold ground while having to deal with a major hangover. Once on your feet, you took another look around hoping to spot an indication as to where in the woods you were exactly, but as far as you could see you only saw trees and bushes. Looking at the place of the sun in the greyish-colored sky you decided to head east where the sun had come up some time ago. It was cold and damp and the thin shirt you had on did nothing to keep you warm. Hugging yourself you tried to keep the little body warmth you had left with you. Every time you exhaled a cloud of fog left your mouth. Without you realizing it you had started to chatter your teeth.
After what felt like hours of walking you collapsed to the ground. Your feet were dying beneath you as you weren't used to walking for so long and underneath these conditions. Leaning against a huge tree you tried to catch your breath and talk yourself into getting up again and continuing walking. You didn't even know whether you were going in the right direction, but you couldn't just stay in one place with these cold temperatures and not knowing whether someone was looking for you. Just now you realized how far you were dragged into the woods. The night before it had felt like just a few meters. 
When you had found the strength you needed to get back up you took a deep breath and continued your journey toward your hopeful escape from the dense woods and to not be another name on the missing persons list who fell victim to it. 
Every step you set hurts. It felt like your feet were about to fall off any second now. The frightening thought of never being able to see your parents again and leaving them in uncertainty about your well-being made you pull through.
To distract yourself from the pain you were in and keep up the spirit you started silently singing one of your favorite songs.
"Never gonna give you up. Never gonna let you down. Never gonna run around and desert you ..."
-
As you started to sing the song you were singing for the past half an hour for the ninth time you were disrupted by a high-pitched scream coming not far away from you. Holding your breath while standing deadly still, you looked around searching for the source of the scream while wondering if it came from someone who needed your help and in exchange could help you or if it came from someone who you should run from. Out of nowhere one of the guys who were with you last night came storming out of the bushes on the right of you while screaming for his life. He was covered in blood and you were sure that you saw the bone of his right arm sticking out.
You stared wide-eyed at the panicked man en wondered what had happened to him to put him in a state like he was. Another noise coming from the bushes grabbed your attention. As fast as you could you dove behind a tree to hide from whatever was gonna come out of it. Carefully you peeked your head around the edge to see what was gonna happen next. Not even five seconds after you had taken your hiding spot behind the tree two big figures with deer fur as clothes and animal skulls covering their faces appeared from the bushes. They both had a handmade axe in their hand which was dripping with blood. One of them let out some sort of battle cry before the both of them sprinted behind the wounded man. You watched fearfully as they rapidly reduced the distance between themselves and their prey. One of the figures threw his axe toward the man which ended up drilled in between his shoulder blades and throwing him face first on the ground. He let out cries of pain while trying to crawl away, but his suffering came to an abrupt end when the other figure who still had his axe harshly brought it down into his skull splitting it open and ending his life. Blood and brain tissue was splattered around the lifeless body. You slapped your hand over your mouth to prevent any sound from coming out and ducked back behind the wood. You wanted to scream, but you couldn't do that because they would hear you. You wanted to run, but you couldn't do that because they would come after you and do god knows what to you.
Never in your life had you felt this kind of fear.
You sat quiet and motionless behind the tree in the hope the two figures wouldn't see or hear you and would soon walk away so you could make a run for it. The only thing you could hear was the sound of flesh being cut. It was horrific and made your stomach turn.
When you thought it couldn't get any worse a man and a woman who you recognized as people from the group you were with last night appeared to the left of you, both of them also covered in blood. The man held a little silver-haired boy who looked to be around the age of 10 in his arms while keeping a dull knife to his throat. While the two hadn't noticed your presence, the boy did and he looked you right in the eyes with his tear-filled ones. His small body was trembling in fear. You noticed that just like the two large creatures he was wearing deer fur. He is probably part of the same group as them. He sniffled as a lonely tear dripped down his cheek. Suddenly the man who held the boy hostage started to scream at the two people to not move or else he would kill the kid. Your eyes widened at hearing that threat. The knife was pushed closer against his skin, now drawing blood. Cries of pain and fear left his mouth. The devastating sound pulled on your heartstrings. You wanted to help the boy. You couldn't leave him to his own devices even if the chances of you getting hurt in the process of saving him were high. The girl wasn't an obstacle as she was standing on the other side of the man watching it all go down with fear in her eyes. When the two people started to scream back in some unknown language the man pulled his knife away from the boy's neck, pointing it in front of him in defense. This was your chance. Taking a deep breath to calm yourself down a little you got into a running position before sprinting from behind your hiding place toward the boy. 
A red-headed woman was watching it all unfold from behind a tree. No one had noticed her presence yet and she wished it to stay that way.
It felt like everything went into slow motion the moment you had a grip on his arm. Your unexpected appearance surprised the man holding him captive, resulting in him losing the tight grip he had on the boy. This gave you the chance to pull him away and motion for him to make a run for it. He looked at you with a grateful look before running off as fast as he could on his short legs. As you watched him run with a satisfied smile on your face you felt a sharp pain pierce through your skin. Looking at your waist you saw a knife being pulled out of it. The same knife that was against the boy's neck just a minute ago. Blood started to sipe through your shirt. While grabbing at the wound you looked with a panicked look behind you, locking eyes on the man who just brutally stabbed you. He looked down at the in your blood-covered knife in his trembling hand and then looked back at you. His eyes held a gaze of confusion but it soon turned into anger. “You fucking asshole,” he whispered angrily. As you fell to the ground you could hear the young boy scream in anguish. Your eyes became heavy as more blood started to gush out of your body. As you stared up into the sky waiting for the inevitable the man and woman who had captured the boy were being slaughtered at your feet by the forest people. Their screams didn't reach your ears as they could only focus on the slow beats of your own heart. Before your eyes closed you were met with a pair of beautiful emerald-colored eyes that held a soft gaze in them as they looked down at you. 
-
Every morning before sunrise Wanda would take a walk through the woods surrounding her home. On bare feet, she wandered through the area she had come to know like the back of her hand. Her hands gracefully moved through the high grass, like birds in the sky. She would close her eyes to take in the sounds of nature better. It was like the woods sang a song just for her. It brought a smile to her face.
When she arrived at the heart of the woods she was met with a sight she hadn't seen before. A group of strangers lay sleeping on the ground. She remembered her father's warning words about strangers and that she was not to be near them by herself, but curiosity got the best of her, so she hid behind a tree at a safe distance from the group and observed the scene with curious eyes. 
Before the sun started to come up all but one started to stir awake. Instead of waking them up, they whispered something to each other before running off laughing, but what they didn't know was that they were heading to a place where strangers from the outside world weren't wanted and would probably be their demise.
When the group had left her sight she averted it back to the lone stranger who was still sleeping peacefully. She wanted to take a closer look, but she stopped herself from doing so instead she stayed safely hidden behind the big tree and kept watching the stranger making sure nothing bad happened to them. Wanda always had a caring nature, always wanting to make sure the people in her community were okay. However, the person laying on the ground wasn't someone from her community. She didn’t know them. They were a stranger. Someone her father warned her about numerous times, telling her they were bad people who destroyed good things for selfish reasons and had no respect for nature, something that is very important for her people. She had seen the damage these strangers left behind with her own eyes. Still, she didn't want to leave this one all alone. She always tended to see the good in people and the person who was left behind hadn't given her any reason yet to think otherwise, unlike the people who had left them behind showing the rotten side of humanity. 
As the sun started to appear from behind the trees she saw that the person started to stir awake. She watched every move they made. From them looking with utter confusion around them after waking up all alone in the middle of the woods, to them standing up while muttering unfamiliar words. As Wanda took in their appearance now that she was able to see them better from where she was standing she felt a fluttering feeling in her stomach. They were good-looking. The clothes they were wearing were strange though. Not practical for a life in the woods at all. She couldn't admire them long though as the stranger started to make their departure.
When the stranger had left she decided to head back home herself before her father would start worrying about her and sent out a search team. She also didn't want to make her little brother wait as she had agreed to spend some time with him. The last time she had made him wait he decided to go look for her all by himself in the big and treacherous forest, ending up with a gash on his knee from falling down a rocky path. And with these strangers wandering around she didn't want him to leave home by himself. Who knows what they would do to him if they got their hands on him? The single thought of something happening to him frightened her. She would never forgive herself. 
-
Wanda held her little brother tight against her body, afraid that if she let go something bad would happen to him. Tears streamed down her face, dripping on top of Pietro's little head. She had watched the whole scene go down, from the moment those two evil outsiders grabbed her brother, who was innocently wandering around the woods while picking flowers, till the moment that the lone stranger she had been watching that morning saved him and as a result got stabbed themselves.
She felt Pietro calm down in her arms, which made her calm down a little too. He is alive and safe in her arms. She looked up and saw how her brother's captors were slaughtered by two of her father's hunting men. They screamed in agony as their bodies were mutilated until their lives had left their bodies. She had watched with zero remorse. Her sight was soon pulled to the lone stranger's motionless body that lay in a small pool of their blood. The person that saved her little brother from their people. She felt warm and grateful. When the hunters moved away from the two piles of flesh and made their way toward the unconscious stranger with their axes in their hands, ready to butcher them too, Wanda abruptly ordered them to a halt. As the daughter of their leader, she had some kind of power. They halted their movements, lowered their weapons, and looked at her through their masks, waiting for their next orders. Wanda looked down at her brother who was now looking up at her with his big friendly eyes which both still held some unshed tears, then returned her sight back to the lone stranger. She thought it over for a second before looking up at the hunters and saying in their language, "Strangers from outside the woods are not welcome in our home because of their evil natures and disrespectful behavior towards our woods, but I believe this one is different. I witnessed early this morning how the people who were with them mercilessly abandoned them in the middle of these dangerous woods. We just saw how they saved Pietro, son of Django Maximoff our celebrated leader, and my father, from their own kind and in return got stabbed. They need help, which our healers can give. We owe that to them." The two hunters grumbled something while shaking their heads. "Don't worry about my father. This is my decision. All consequences are on me. I give you my word." The two hunters looked at each other before nodding at Wanda. One of them ripped off a piece of their fur clothing and used it to tie off your open wound before he carefully pulled you off the cold ground and started walking in the direction of their home, followed directly by the other hunter, Wanda, and Pietro. 
-
Upon their arrival at the gates of the hidden village, one of the gatekeepers blew on a horn to announce their return before letting them in. They were greeted by Django, his wife Marya, his right-hand man Erik and a handful of guards. Pietro ran like a speedster to his mother who brought him in a loving hug. Wanda made her way over to her father who was already waiting for her with open arms. She almost forgot about what happened just a while ago until she hears her father say, "Who's the stranger you brought with you?" Wanda pulled away from the hug to look her father in the eyes before she would answer him. "You know how I think about outsiders, Wanda. What is one of them doing in our home?" Wanda took a deep breath before she calmly tried to explain the situation to her father and those around them who were also listening. "This morning when I was on my morning walk and arrived at the open spot in the middle of our woods I walked upon a group of them sleeping on the ground." She noticed her father's eyes widen and mouth open ready to tell her once again that she isn't allowed to come near outsiders alone, but before he could Wanda continued, "Don't worry, Dad. I stayed at a safe distance and blended in with nature so they wouldn't notice me. Like you taught me as a kid." Her dad smiled a little at the memories of him and his daughter spending time in the woods while he taught her the ways of nature and how to take good care of it. "I watched them for a while until all of the group but one woke up. They then left, leaving the one still asleep all alone in the middle of the woods. Sometime later they woke up looking confused, scared, and angry. Not long after they had left I decided to walk back home. I had promised Pietro to spend some time with him and I didn't want him to wander alone through the woods with outsiders lurking around..." Wanda stopped to take a breath, knowing what she was about to say next would upset her parents. "Next thing I knew I heard Pietro scream. I ran as fast as I could towards the direction it came from. When I arrived I saw how two of the outsiders I saw that morning held Pietro hostage while holding a knife to his throat. They were yelling at two of your hunters. I was so afraid they were gonna hurt Pietro, but out of nowhere the lone stranger who got left behind sprinted from behind a tree and rescued Pietro. They got stabbed after. I know our rules and how our people think about outsiders, but I think this one is different. They at least deserve to be helped by our healer as a thank-you for saving Pietro. My little brother. Your son and successor." It became quiet. For a few minutes, no one said a word. Django stared at his daughter with an unknown look. He then looked to Pietro, who was still being held by his mother. "Is it true, little warrior? Did the lone stranger save you from those barbarians from the outside world?" Pietro nodded his head. One of the two hunters then spoke up and confirmed the part about the lone stranger saving Pietro. Django walked up to the hunter who still held your motionless body in his arms. He looked at your face, then at your wound, which was in high need of treatment. He looked back at his wife who nodded at him, he then looked to his daughter who was already looking at him with hopeful eyes. "If we treat them we can't just let them go back to the outside world. They will know too much about our civilization. It will bring our community at risk. I can't let that happen, Princess." Wanda understood her father's reasoning. The outsiders had hurt her community more than enough. One of her uncles fell victim to them. He died three years ago in a one-sided fight he got into with a group of outsiders he came across at the edge of the woods when he was taking an evening walk. Her father was never the same after finding his brother's beaten and lifeless body. Later he found out that a  member of their community, who secretly had started seeing an outsider, had told her about the village in the woods. Her brother and his friends went to the woods that fatal night to look for these so-called forest people and bumped into Clint, her uncle. He refused to lead them to the village and ended up choking in his own blood after a severe beating. The villager who had given up their secret existence had been sentenced to death a day later after they had tracked him down. Wanda could still recall like it was yesterday how he begged for mercy as he was about to be beheaded by her father. The sound of his sword cutting through his neck had given her the chills. His head was after that placed on a stake outside the gates as a warning, so no one would ever make the same mistake as him. In the years after that, the people of the woods secluded themselves even more from the outside world. No trips to the edge of the woods were made again. 
"They won't tell anyone about us, Dad," Wanda says confidentially. "Not when we keep them here." Django looks at his daughter with confusion, "What do you mean by keeping them here? You mean like a prisoner in the caves or that we keep their body here after ending their life?" Wanda shakes her head at that. "No. I mean that they become one of us. It may take some time for them to adjust to their new home, but I will personally guide them into accepting their new life if you give them the chance. It happened before, remember? We've accepted an outsider before and that went positively. I know that was a long time ago and it happened before that horrendous evening, but I have fate this lone stranger will be a good addition to our community." Django shakes his head with a sigh, but before he can speak up one of his most trusted huntingmen steps forward, Buchanan, who was the former outsider Wanda spoke of. He was now happily married to his wife Natalie and has two beautiful children, a boy and a girl. Ten years ago he had ended up lost in the woods after his car broke down on the road that went through it. Due to no service on his phone, he started walking, hoping to find a nearby gas station of some kind of civilization that could help him fix his car. He ended up walking further into the woods. After seven days of wandering around the woods without food or drinkable water, he passed out. Django and two of his men had found him on a hunting trip. They brought him back to their home and the rest was history. "With all due respect, sir. I stand with your daughter, Wanda, on this matter. I understand your worries about the possible consequences and dangers it could bring us and our loved ones" he said while looking back at his wife Natalie, "but not every outsider is like those who ended your brother's life. I am an example of that. The lone stranger can also be an example. In my eyes, they have already proven they are different by saving your son's life while risking their own. I volunteer to help them, together with Wanda, with adjusting themselves to their new life. If you agree at letting them stay, of course." "I volunteer too, sir," Natalie says while stepping forward to stand next to her husband. Wanda smiled at hearing her best friends supporting her. Marya then steps forward and places a hand on her husband's shoulders. He looks at her. She doesn't even have to say anything for him to know what she thinks. He thinks everything through before giving her a small smile while nodding his head. He turns back to look at his daughter with his mind made up. “Okay”, He says. “I will give them a month to adjust. If by then they have, they can stay with us. If not...” He doesn’t need to finish his sentence for Wanda to know what will happen then. She nods her head in acceptance. “Thank you, Father.” 
Django orders the man who is still holding you in his arms to bring you to the healer so she can patch you up. Wanda follows them together with Natalie and Buchanan. 
You are placed on a wooden bed with animal fur covering it. The village healer, Stephany Strange, walks towards you with a serious face. She tells Wanda, Natalie, and Buchanan to step back and give her space to do what she does best. She removes all the clothing that is covering your knife wound and starts her treatment.
After thoroughly cleaning your wound she grabs a jar from the shelf behind her. The content of it she smears on your irritated wound. You flinch in your unconscious state, but soon your body relaxes as the cream is doing its magic. Wanda watches everything with careful eyes. Stephany mumbles some ancient spells while moving her hands in patterns above your wound. When she's done she wipes the remnants of the cream off of your waist and as if a miracle just happened the wound had magically disappeared. The only indicator of you ever being stabbed there was a decent-sized scar where the knife had been.
Stephany looks up at Wanda and says, "They're healed and should wake up within the day. Make sure they rest well and drink enough water," before turning around and elegantly walking out of the room. Wanda takes a seat next to the bed. She inspects the scar and amazes herself with the healer's work. No one knows how she does it. Every time someone asks her about it they get a different answer. According to rumors, Stephany Strange is an ancient sorceress with great magical power. Whether it's true, no one knows. Whoever she is, she is well respected and beloved in the village. From the moment she arrived at the gates casually asking for a place to shelter from the rain all those years ago, she made herself useful in the community. Before her arrival, many villagers had severe health problems, causing a lot of them to die. Stephany changed that. Instead of staying only temporarily until the storm had passed she never left and became their official healer.
Wanda looked outside the window at the darkening sky. Nighttime had come. The full moon was placed in the middle of the darkness, surrounded by thousands of stars. Her mind went to her father's words. If you hadn't accepted your new life by the next full moon, you would end up as a sacrificial meal. She grabbed one of your hands in her own. She barely knew you, but she felt a certain way about you. Maybe it was because you saved her little brother. Maybe it was because you had a certain aura around you. An aura different from the other outsiders she came across from. Natalie placed a reassuring hand on top of Wanda's shoulder, knowing exactly how she felt. She had felt the exact same way when she first laid eyes on Buchanan. She was gonna support her friend in every way possible like she did with her. 
-
While unconscious, you were haunted by terrible nightmares. You were running for your life through the dark woods while clutching your stomach trying to keep your intestines from falling out. How you were able to keep on your feet in this state was beyond you. You could faintly hear the rushed footsteps of your attackers running after you. They were screaming in an unknown language. It sounded like battle cries. You did not dare look back or reduce speed. This was a life and death situation and you weren't gonna die because you were tired of running or were curious as to how far those savages were. You were not gonna end up like one of those dumb characters in a horror movie, even though it felt like you were in one yourself. In the state you were in you didn't notice the branch sticking out of the ground until your tripped over it and fell face-first on the harsh ground. You grunted in pain as your whole body was shaking. Your vision became more blurred as you desperately tried to crawl forward with the tiny bit of energy you had still left due to adrenaline rushing through your body. You didn't get far. When two big hands grabbed you by your shoulders you knew that this meant your demise. You were roughly turned onto your back. Three large creatures stood bowed over you. They had animal skulls covering their faces and wore animal fur as clothes. You wanted to scream, but no sound came out of your mouth. One of them suddenly moved their hands to your stomach and pulled your intestines out you had desperately tried to keep inside. The other two then raised their axes and started slashing into you. At first, you were in the most horrendous pain you could imagine until you didn't feel anything anymore. You stared at the birds flying in the sky above you as your body shook with each slash. The sound of flesh being cut and breaking bones didn’t reach your ears anymore. Soon your eyes closed.
Suddenly you jolt awake. Your breathing was irregular and your body was covered in sweat. You felt two soft hands on each side of your face and heard an unfamiliar but soothing voice say something. It took you a while to calm down and get out of your disorientated state. It was only when you were calm you fully registered the other person in the room. It was a beautiful-looking woman with long wavy red hair and emerald eyes you could drown in if you looked into them for too long. They looked familiar as if you had looked into them before, you just couldn't remember when. Her thumbs were brushing in circles over your cheeks, calming you down even more. Both of you looked at each other for some time in comfortable silence until it dawned upon you that you had no idea who this woman sitting in front of you was. Then you remembered what had happened in the woods. You pushed the woman's hands off of your face and jumped up from the bed. You grabbed an unknown object and held it in front of you as a defense weapon while you backed up until you hit what you think is a wall. The woman calmly stood up and walked in your direction while saying something in a language you don't recognize. Suddenly two other people burst through the door. The woman in front of you looked at them while speaking to them with the same calm voice as she did with you, only they seemed to understand what she was saying. At that moment while the woman with red hair was too distracted by her conversation you made an unfortunate decision as panic had taken over your mindset. You grabbed her and pulled her into a headlock while you started yelling at the two people who just entered for answers. "Who are you? Where am I, What are you going to do to me?" If you had paid better attention to your surroundings you could have noticed that the ‘wall’ you had backed yourself against wasn't a wall, but a door. Before you could register the person standing behind you, you were hit on the back of your head with a blunt object. The force made you lose your grip on the woman as you fell to the floor in a hazy state. You didn't register what happened to you after that until you regained your clearness again in a poorly lit cell.
-
After an unknown amount of time had passed the door to your cell opened, showing an unfamiliar woman with short red hair. She held something in her hands, but due to the darkness, you couldn't make up what it was. She stepped closer to you until she was in the middle of the room. Crouching down she placed the object on the ground. It was an earthenware bowl with fresh fruits in it. The bowl contained strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, apples, and pears. You hesitantly looked at the bowl, you were hungry but too afraid and unsure to make any sudden, unwanted moves that could lead you to be punished or brutally killed. You had seen with your own eyes what these people were capable of. The woman's voice snapped you out of your thoughts. She pointed at the food and then toward you. She didn't sound angry or dangerous. Carefully you moved towards the bowl. Picking it up with your hands you studied the colorful fruits before bringing them piece for piece to your mouth. It was delicious. They were sweet and juicy. With each piece, you let out a moan from delight. This was far better than the fruit you bought at the grocery store. While you were busy eating, the woman standing in front of you was watching you, studying you. She didn't see anything dangerous in you. She saw the fear in your eyes when she walked in. Fear can do a lot to people. You woke up in a strange place with a stranger after witnessing something traumatic. At least, for you. Natalie had witnessed multiple deaths in her life and even though it still did something to her, it wasn't traumatizing to her. Your fear drove you to the stupid action that led you to be put into the cell you were in. She understood that. It reminded her of Buchanan. He did something similar in the first week here. With her right hand, she touched the small scar on the side of her neck where Buchanan had held a knife to. They had come so far. A small smile plastered her face. When you were finished with eating you placed the bowl back on the floor close by the woman's feet and slid back towards the wall. The woman grabbed the bowl and walked back towards the door. The whole time it had been wide open while calling your name. You could have tried to escape through it, but you didn't. Progress. Natalie thought. It was small and to some meaningless, but to her and most definitely to Wanda, it wasn't. She closed the door behind her and made her way to Wanda's cabin, who was already anticipatingly waiting for her to give her an update about you.
-
Soon the second morning of your stay in the woods dawns. While you're still secured in your cell, your parents were seated at their kitchen table with the sheriff seated across from them. Your mother could barely hold it together as your father worriedly told the sheriff about you not coming home after the party. It got even worse when the sheriff told them you weren't the only one who was reported missing. He told them that partygoers had seen you and a few others walking towards the woods. While your father was trying to console your mother he asked the sheriff if they had found any trace of you and the others. The sheriff nodded and placed your phone on the table. The screen was broken and there was something that looked like blood on one of the corners. The only thing the sheriff could bring out was "I'm so sorry. We will try everything in our power to bring them back home..." If we ever find them... He doesn't say that last part out loud, but with all the people who went missing without as much of a trace, he fears the worst. His thoughts go to his daughter who was also part of the group that was seen walking to those damn woods. He prayed to god that his daughter was okay, not knowing the horrid ending she had gotten. Her body lay almost unrecognizable in one of the death traps the people from the woods had places to keep outsiders far away from their home. Her screams of pain still echoed through the air as a crow was picking flesh from her split open head.
-
The early sunlight shining on your face woke you up. The door to your cell stood wide open. With care in your movements, you stood up and walked towards the light. As you walked out of the darkness from your cell you moved your hand up to block the bright sunlight from shining in your eyes and blinding you. When you were adjusted to it you looked around, taking in your surroundings. No one seemed to pay attention to you. Maybe this was your chance to escape from wherever you were. Taking another look around you to make sure the coast was clear, you started to walk in the direction of a seemingly unguarded piece of the high wall surrounding the village, not aware of the watchful pair of eyes that lay upon you. At the wall, you placed your hands on the wooden beams looking for any weak spots you could take advantage of, but you found none. Looking up you calculated whether climbing over it was an option. Before you could make a decision a firm hand was placed on your shoulder. Your eyes widened and you were sure this was the moment you were gonna die. Slowly turning around you stood face to face with a scary-looking man with brown hair that was tied in a bun and had only one arm on his body. He looked at you with an unknown look in his eyes. Suddenly he threw his arm over your shoulder and walked you towards a large cabin in the middle of the village. When you entered you were met with a room full of people who were eating and talking together. The man led you towards a table with a small group of people sitting around it in the middle of the room. Both the woman who you tried to hold hostage the other day and who gave you food last night were seated there. There was also a man and a woman who looked like to be around your parent’s age seated at the end of the table. The silver-haired boy was also there, seated next to two red-headed children who seemed to be enjoying some sort of meat. The man who still had his arm thrown over your shoulder pushed you down on a chair next to the emerald-eyed woman before taking a seat himself next to the other redhead. He kisses her on her cheek before he grabs some food off his plate and starts to eat it. You look down at the plate filled with food in front of you. Your stomach was rumbling as it was begging to be filled with food. Everyone around you was already enjoying their breakfast while moaning at the apparently delicious taste. You hesitantly reached for the reddish-looking meat before bringing it to your mouth. Taking a small bite you chew on it a couple of times, enjoying the taste of it. It wasn’t something you had eaten before as you didn’t recognize the flavor high-jacking your taste buds. The structure of the meat was a little tougher than you were used to, but it wasn’t bad. Before you knew it you had finished your breakfast and so had everyone around you. You see people clean up their things before walking out of the room to start their day. You feel a hand on your shoulder. It was the emerald-eyed woman. She looked down at you with a sweet smile and motioned for you to stand up and come with her. You could feel the stares of the others linger on you as you stood up from the table and walked after the woman. You did not know where she was taking you but you were not in a position to question things as it could cost you your life. If you wanted to live, you were obligated to live by their rules, even though you didn’t know them yet. Maybe if you showed them you meant no harm, they would let you go. It sounded like a good plan but you knew, in the back of your mind, that you were probably never gonna be let go and that this place was where you were gonna spend the rest of your life, but for now you ignored that thought. You ended up at the cabin where your stay in this village started. The woman opened the door for you and you walked in with her following not close behind you. When you heard the door lock behind you you feared the worst. 
As you stood with your back to her you felt her hands being placed on your shoulders. You felt yourself tens up and she felt it too. She wanted to comfort you, but she knew that you weren’t there yet. She retracted from you and walked towards a closet in the corner of the room. She grabbed some clean clothes, clothes made of deer fur, and gave them to you. She turned around to give you some privacy. When you’re ready you scrape your throat to get her attention. She turns around and looks at you, taking in your appearance. You look a little bit more like them now. She smiles. You don’t understand why. She holds out her hand for you to take, which you reluctantly do, and pulls you outside. 
-
Fourteen days went by. Every day you were woken up by the scary man and led to breakfast with his strong arm thrown over your shoulder while he hummed a happy tune, which had given you the chills the first half of the week, but by now you were at a point of almost joining him. You would sit next to the emerald-eyed woman, whose name, you learned, is Wanda. Slowly but certainly you started to understand what they were saying. Sometimes you even joined in on the conversation even though it wasn't much. You felt yourself getting comfortable. Your fear of them had lessened but hadn't gone away completely. There was still that small voice in the back of your mind that kept you on your toes. While the urge of wanting to leave this place wasn't as strong, you still were thinking of ways to do so when you were alone at night in your cell before sleep overtook you. Sometimes you feel guilty for still thinking of escaping plans. Most of those times were when Wanda was with you. You didn't want to admit it, but she made you feel a certain way. A feeling you were a little scared of. Her contagious laugh, her soft touch, the need to help others, you being one of them, made you fall more and more for her each day. 
It was on the eighteenth day that instead of the scary man, Wanda woke you up. She had this sparkle in her eyes as she looked at you. She walked with a skip in her step to you and crouched down. Her hands were placed on both sides of your face as she smiled at you. "Today me and my friends will take you on a walk outside the wall. My father just gave me the green light." She brought you in a tight hug before standing back up again and walking towards the open door. When she didn't hear you move she looked back and nudged her head for you to follow, "Come on, handsome." You didn't understand the last part but you hurriedly stood up to follow her to the gates where the Buchanan and Natalie, whose names you just learned from Wanda, stood waiting for you both. Wanda's parents and leaders of the community were also there. He hugged his daughter, "Be safe out there, sweetheart. I trust you and your friends to behave yourselves out there and stay inside the safe area." Wanda nodded, "Yes father. And if anything somehow goes wrong, Buchanan is with us to protect us." Django looks at him as he nods in confirmation. He then looks at you. "Don't disappoint my daughter. See this as a test. If you fail..." He doesn't finish his sentence, but you know what he's alluding to and he knows you know by the slight fear in your eyes. He has seen the progress you've made in the past weeks. He has also seen how happy you make his daughter, even though you don't seem to notice it yet. But he knows from experience that some people, under certain circumstances, can do disappointing things. He hopes that you're not one of them. Time will tell. He watches as Wanda takes your hand and leads you through the open gates into the woods with Buchanan and Natalie walking not far behind.
-
Wanda let's go of your hand to go take a closer look at some beautiful flowers. You watch her as she does so. A small smile is plastered on your face as you watch this goddess of a woman as she gracefully touches nature's decorations. Buchanan and Natalie are watching you while having a whispered conversation.  "This sight reminds me of our story, my love," Natalie says as she hugs her husband. "Who do you think will make the first move? Them of Wanda?" Buchanan shrugs his shoulders at his wife's question. "It doesn't matter, doll. What matters is what comes after the first move. Once they discover how the other feels about them not many other things will be on their mind. Like with us. You're my everything, Natalie." He looks down at his wife and brings her in a loving kiss. "I love you." "I love you too."
Soon Wanda returns, taking your hand back in hers again. The four of you walk further while taking in the beauty that is nature that surrounds you. It's quiet, only the sound of leaves rustling in the wind and the chirping of birds that fly in the blue sky can be heard. Now you have a slightly bigger chance of escaping the people who brought you to their home the thought has not come up in your mind once. You enjoy walking with Wanda, Natalie, and even Buchanan. You feel at peace. The stress that had you in its grip back home has let you go. There is no worrying about work deadlines or bills that need to be paid. While you had trouble socializing with the people outside the woods, in the woods, with its inhabitants, it felt so much easier. It didn't feel forced and you didn't feel like throwing up when you had to speak to someone you didn't know yet. The small acts of affection from Wanda, like her holding your hand, felt like something you had craved for all your life without you even knowing. Not once you had experienced the feeling she gave you before. You did have flings before that made you feel something, but that was nothing like this. This felt more intense. Her presence made you feel like butterflies had made your stomach their home. You wanted to express your feelings towards her, but you didn't know how, and even if you did, you didn't know if she felt the same about you. Sure she was affectionate with you, but that didn't mean automatically that she had some sort of romantic feelings for you. You hoped she did though.
It doesn't take long however for your peaceful and slightly romantic walk through the woods to be disturbed. Unknown voices in the distance alert Buchanan as he leads Natalie, Wanda, and you to hide in the bushes. He grabs hold of a large knife that he always carries with him, as he waits for the outsiders to appear. Your eyes widen when you see who they are. Remembering that his daughter was with you the night you entered these woods you looked at the sheriff who, together with a few of his men, was walking from behind some trees with their guns in their hands, ready to fire whoever dared attack them. Suddenly the voice in your head that you hadn't heard in a while and had forgotten about spoke again, telling you that this was your chance to escape. The chance of Buchanan taking out all these armed men was present, but not high. The sheriff knows you and would probably not shoot you. You thought the idea over. If you waited for them to come a little closer Buchanan had less of a chance of grabbing you as he sat furthest away from you. They could help you find your way back to civilization. Back to your loving parents, to your good but stressful job, paying bills that got higher each year, and forced social gatherings. You were pulled from your thoughts by Wanda who hugged your arm tightly as she watched the men with worry and slight fear. She knew that if they were discovered it would probably mean their end. It was at that moment that you made your choice. You squeezed Wanda's hand tightly to reassure her. You weren't gonna leave her. She means too much to you. You love her too much to betray her and her people like this.
Natalie had seen the internal struggle when she looked at you. She could see it from your body language and the look in your eyes when you shifted your gaze from the armed group of outsiders who, from Natalie's perspective, you seemed to know, to Wanda who hugged herself close to your side. She knew you could have made a run for it. You didn't. You had de perfect opportunity and you didn't take it because of her. Wanda. She knew at that moment that you had fallen head over heels for her best friend. Even under the current circumstances, you all were in, a small smile was plastered on Natalie's face.
Luckily for you, the sheriff and his men walked past the bushes you were hiding in and back towards the edge of the woods, far away from the hidden village. When they were out of sight and ear range it felt like all of you could breathe again. Buchanan made sure that the coast was clear before you all got out of the bushes in silence. Wanda hadn't let go of your arm the entire time. You didn't mind.
The four of you decided to walk back home. Natalie and Buchanan are in front with you and Wanda walking close behind. It didn't take long for you to arrive. The gates were opened for you to come in. You thought that Wanda would want to go see her parents after what happened, but instead, she bid her silent goodbyes to Natalie and Buchanan before she made her way to her cabin pulling you with her without saying a word. When the both of you are inside Wanda locks the door so no one can interrupt the both of you. You turn to look at her, wanting to make sure she is okay... "Wanda...I" But before you can say anything else, Wanda steps forward and closes the gap between you. She cups your face in her soft hands as she kisses you with passion. You’re surprised at her action and it takes you a moment to snap out of it. But when you do, you kiss her back with just as much passion.
A whine leaves your mouth as Wanda pulls away from you and takes a step back. The woman in front of you stares at you with desire as she starts undressing. Slowly. It takes everything in you to stay patient and calm and not just rip her clothes off of her body, but you manage. As her dress lowers to the ground you can feel yourself getting aroused at the godly sight of her nude body. Her breasts are perky with hardened rosy nipples calling for your mouth to suck them. Her tighs a canvas for you to place marks on. The forbidden fruit between her legs you can't wait to eat from. While admiring her you start to undress. She watches you with a slightly opened mouth and reddened cheeks. When you're both completely naked she walks backward towards her bed and takes her place on it, not taking her eyes off of you. Her hands move to her breasts to kneed them, something you'd like to do yourself. One of her hands soon moves south. She spreads her legs for you to see her dripping core, where soon two of her fingers disappear in. It's hard for her to not close her eyes at the pleasure, but she wants to watch you. She wants to see the lust in your eyes as you watch her pleasure herself. She wants to see you struggle to prevent yourself from taking action. It turns her on even more. You clench your fists when a loud moan leaves her mouth. When your name escapes her lips you can't stop yourself anymore. You urge towards her and before she can reach her orgasm you pull her fingers out of her, replacing them with your own. Her back arches off the bed as you hit the perfect spot inside her. You take one of her nipples in your mouth and start to suck. Her hand moves to your head to keep you in place. She bucks her hips into your hand, getting close to her orgasm again. A simple plea leaves her mouth, "P-please..." You look up at her. Her mouth hangs slightly ajar as sweat beads cover her head. Her eyes are closed tight shut as she feels herself coming closer and closer to her release as your fingers keep a steady pace. "Look at me, my sweet flower. Look at me while you cum. I want to see how beautiful you look when you do." It isn't easy, but she manages to open them and look you in the eyes. Your beautiful eyes hold love and care in them, but also desire and lust. "Cum for me." You say one more time as you watch the woman beneath you cums undone. You can feel her walls clench around your fingers before her wetness covers them, together with your hand and the sheets underneath her. You help her ride out her high before you carefully retract your fingers to lick them clean. You moan at her delicious taste. She can't help herself from staring at you licking yourself clean from her juices. Before you can start with your hand she sits up and takes a hold of it, bringing it to her own mouth to lick her juices off of it while keeping strong eye contact with you. When you're all clean she brings you into a loving kiss as your tongues battle for dominance, which you eventually get. You push her back onto the bed and start slowly kissing down her body, leaving multiple marks on your way down. You open her legs to make space for you. With her legs placed over your shoulders, you start licking and sucking until she sees stars.
-
As the days went by you and Wanda grew closer together. She had taught you about her people's way of living and the language they spoke. Each day you became more like one of them, each day you forgot more about your previous life. Django and Marya could see how happy their daughter was with you. They too started to think of you as one of their own. You earned more freedom as you earned their trust. Your favorite occupation was taking long walks with Wanda through the woods while listening to her endless stories. You'd even admit that sometimes her stories wouldn't reach your ears as her beauty was too distracting for you. You loved everything about her. You loved her so much that you couldn't imagine a life without her anymore. Life before her became meaningless to you. Each night you declared your love over and over again to her. Every morning you would tell her you loved her in her language, which had become yours too.
  Soon it was the day of the full moon. The judgment day. But everyone knew what the outcome would be as you were now almost fully a forest person. You were one of them. It would be official after the ceremonial party that was being thrown that night. Everyone was gathered outside celebrating their new neighbor with self made beverages and food in their hands. As Django held a speech everyone raised their cups to toast on you. While everyone cheered after Django finished, Wanda pulled you away from the crowd to congratulate you in peace and quiet. Wanda pulled you into a loving kiss as she held both your hands in her own. "I love you so much, Y/n. I'm so proud of you for becoming one of us. Now you and I can be together forever." She said before bringing you into another kiss. Your mind was taken hostage by your love for Wanda. "I love you too, my love. With every fiber of my body. Every thought holds you in it." Without further thought you pick Wanda up and take her to your shared cabin. Placing her on the soft bed with care you undress her while kissing every inch of her skin. When she's fully bare you take one of her rosy nipples in your mouth while you pinch and roll the other in between your fingers. You push your muscled thigh in between her parted legs, making her moan at the sudden pressure against her dripping cunt. She rolls her hips to get more friction. "Baby, I-I need you. I need you down there. P-please." Wanda begs beneath you. "If you want my mouth you need to cum on my thigh first. I know you can do it. Be a good girl and cum for me. Ruin my pants." You move your mouth to her other nipple, making her cry beneath you. She fastens her pace, chasing her high. She needs to cum, she wants you in between her legs so bad. She is so close. You tense your muscles for her. "Oh yes, baby!" She moans as she can feel a wave of pleasure flood over her. Her juices cover your thigh as you help her ride out your orgasm. "Good girl. Such a good girl." You whisper in her ear before you make your way down. 
-
After another terrific orgasm, you decide to give her a break. You lay beside her and bring her into a tight hug. "You did so good for me, love. I'm so proud." Wanda snuggles further against you with a satisfied smile as she throws her arm over your stomach, not wanting you to move. "Thank you, darling. Thank you for loving me and making me feel so good." The two of you lay there in silence for a few minutes, listening to the people partying outside.
"Marry me"
"What?"
"Marry me" You repeat.
Wanda looks up at you and sees the seriousness and love in your eyes. Last night I talked to your parents about me. You. Us. I love you, Wanda. So much. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, but before I ask you if you want the same I asked your parents for permission out of respect. I mean it, Wanda. I've never felt this way. I know we only know each other for about a month, but I've never been so sure about something before. Marry me. Make me the happiest person in the world. I will treat you like the queen you are and make you the happiest woman. I want you to be my wife." You look at her in full expectation. Her eyes start to get watery. For a second you panick and think the worst, until she cups your face and places a gentle kiss on your lips. "Yes, my darling. A 100 times yes. Of course, I want to marry you and become your wife. I want nothing more." You smile at hearing her answer. The both of you stay in bed for another hour before both of you dress and return to your party to share your big news, receiving nothing but positive reactions from your new family and friends. 
-
The next few days were all about planning your and Wanda's wedding. Wanda's mother, Marya assigned herself the task of sewing her daughter the perfect wedding dress and you, her daughter's fiance, the perfect suit. Django and his men made it their mission to build an altar in the middle of the village. Buchanan had gotten the task of collecting everything for the wedding ceremony. To do this he had to go to your parent's house. Together with two others, he left the village two days before your big day, promising Natalia a safe return. Natalia spends her days with Wanda, helping her get ready. Wanda felt nervous. She wanted everything to go right. She couldn't wait for her wedding night which she would spend against your hot sweaty body. She felt herself getting aroused by the thoughts of every sinful thing she wanted to do with you. She knew you loved her with all your being, but she also knew something you didn't. The wedding ceremony contained a sacrifice that was to be made by the one who had asked the question of marriage. You. Her worry of you maybe leaving her left as soon as she looked outside to see you playing some made-up game with her little brother. With a smile, she watched on as the two of you competitively battled for the win. It ended up in you giving the win to Pietro, making him smile with joy. Soon she would be your wife and the two of you would be bonded till death parted you. She wasn't gonna let you ever leave her. She loved you too much to let that happen. You loved her too much to do that anyway.
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It was the night of your and Wanda's wedding. You were standing in your earth-colored suit at the altar waiting for your almost wife to walk down the aisle, together with the rest of the forest people. The open field where the wedding was taking place was beautifully decorated with decorations from nature and various small bonfires. The clear night sky was lit up by thousands of stars. It was the perfect night. You made eye contact with Marya, who gave you an approving nod. Behind you stood Buchanan, who became your best friend in the past weeks. On the other side of the altar stood Natalie, who looked at you with a pleased smile. Her best friend was getting married to her husband's new best friend. Life was good. The four of you could go on double dates. She already had so many fun activities in her head you could do together. As you looked around to look at all the people attending your special day, something nagged at you. Something was missing but you couldn't put your finger on it. Before you could think further of it, you spotted Wanda. Wanda who wore a stunning dress matching your suit, was being walked to the altar by her father. Tears threatened to leave your eyes at the sight. A true goddess she was. Soon Wanda stood before you. Her father gave her hand to you. The both of you looked at each other with love until the person who was gonna bond you two spoke up, drawing all attention to them.
When he was done Django spoke up. "Tonight is special to me. My eldest child and only daughter is marrying her forever love, Y/n. A person who comes from the horrid we call the outside world who found their way to us after being abandoned by those whom they once saw as their people. A person we welcomed into our home who eventually made it theirs too. They proved themselves to us and became one of us, something we celebrated in harmony as a community. Tonight I want to welcome them into my family." He said with a cheerful expression, but that soon changed into a serious one. "But before that can happen, Y/n has to perform our traditional wedding ritual to prove their undying love and loyalty towards their future wife, Wanda." You felt Wanda's grip on your hands tighten at his words. Django turned to you, "Will you y/n, accept doing the ritual to prove your undying love and loyalty towards Wanda?" You look at Wanda who nods at you, then back at him. "I will." You say with determination in your voice. Django calls for two of his men to go grab something from the cabin you remember vaguely being held in the first nights of your stay here. They return with two other people who have jute bags covering their heads and rope bound around their wrists. The two unknown people are pushed onto their knees in front of you. You can hear Wanda whisper in your ear as you look down at the strangers, "You will do this for me because you love me. Remember that, baby. Remember how much you love me and how much I love you. After you do this, we can be together forever." She pecks your cheek before she lets go of your hands. In replacement, you feel the handle of a hunting knife being placed in your hand. "Think of me when you finish them. Think of how good I will make you feel after this is over. You've seen what a good girl I can be, but imagine me being your bad girl..." With one last kiss, she nudges you closer toward the kneeled people. Django grabs both jute bags and pulls them off of the people's heads. Seated in front of you, covered in dirt, blood, and bruised were your parents. As they looked up at you you could see some relief, but a lot of fear. As you looked at them all sounds around you faded away. You could see their mouths move as they seemingly pleaded for their lives, but no sound reached your ears. Everyone else looked at you in expectation, waiting for you to immortalize your wedding in blood. Before you can think about all of this too much, you feel Wanda's soft hands on your shoulders. You remember why you needed to do this. You needed to do this for her. For your love. Your happy ending. So without further thought and doubt, you step forward, closing the gap between you and your begging parents and in one swift motion slash both their throats. Blood splatters all over you as it leaves their body. It doesn't take long for two lifeless bodies to drop onto the ground. Everybody starts to cheer you on and celebrate the official making of your and Wanda's wedding. You turn around to face Wanda who smiles at you with love. She lunges forward and kisses you with might, getting blood all over her dress. As the ceremony finishes you take Wanda to your cabin for your wedding night. Seeing you sacrifice your parents for her made Wanda go feral. The door is barely closed when Wanda rips your suit off of your body en pushes you onto the bed. She jumps on top of you and starts to place kisses on your skin, leaving hickeys everywhere. She rips a piece off of her dress and ties your hands to the headboard with it. You can only look at her with pure hunger as she devours you. Teasingly she riddens herself off of her dress, throwing it on the floor. She straddles your thigh as she kneads her breasts, pinching her nipples. while humping your thigh one of her hands moves between your legs. You moan loudly as she slowly pleasures you, building up to your first orgasm. No words are being spoken, only grunts and moans are leaving both your mouths. You can feel her wetness drip down your leg and it makes you reach your orgasm faster. Some crazy boost of strength enters your body as you free yourself with a strong tug from your restraints. Before she can register what you've done you flip her over, onto her stomach, spanking her a few times as she has been a bad girl. Her eyes roll back at the burning feeling of your hand hitting her ass, probably leaving a handprint. You take hold of her hair, making a makeshift ponytail to pull on. You align yourself with her dripping cunt en slowly thrust inside. A deep moan leaves Wanda's mouth at each inch you move further inside her until you're fully inside her. Not giving her a lot of time to adjust you start pounding into her like a wild animal. Wanda's face is being pushed into the pillow beneath her as she drools from pleasure. You don't care about the noises you make. Everyone is allowed to hear how good you fuck Wanda. Your wife. Wanda murmurs something inaudible, but you know what she wants, and you're gonna give it to her. You're gonna give her as much as she wants. "Cum, my queen. Make a mess. Show me how good I make you feel." You pull her up against your chest and move one hand towards her clit. Everything becomes too much for her and soon her dam breaks. Her juices spill from her pleasured pussy. You help her ride out her second orgasm. You pull out and lay onto your back on the bed, helping Wanda straddle your lap again. "I want you to ride me, my queen. Fuck yourself on me." Due to her sensitivity, she slowly sinks down. She places her hands on your chest as she rides you, leaving scratches all over your skin. Her breasts bounce with each roll of her hips and you love it. Your mouth drools at the sight of them. Wanda's eyes close as she feels another orgasm approach. She sits up and moves her hands to play with her breasts again as you place your hands on her hips, guiding her. "Go on, baby. Cum." You sweetly order her. Watching her orgasm is beautiful. The sound she makes while doing it is like music to your ears. Tiredly she drops on top of you. You stroke her hair while she calms down. "Tired baby? Do you need a break?" You ask her. A slightly dark laugh leaves her mouth as she sits back up and wraps one of her hands around your throat, slightly choking you. "Break? Oh, baby. I'm not tired yet and I'm far from done with you. We're just getting started. You're mine now as I am yours and I will keep reminding you of that till death do us part. Now open your mouth and eat my pussy..." 
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Onto the Next!
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Masterlist
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bethanydelleman · 6 months
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Hello!
I rewatched Pride and Prejudice and it's surprising how my thoughts on it changed over the years 😃
When I was a teenager, Elizabeth Bennet was the plucky heroine that I wanted to be (lol) , now I'm older with a mortgage and responsibilities/bills, I'm like what was her plan in life?
Because she wasn't really educated per se (im thinking about how she answered lady Catherine about what she has to recommend her re:drawing, playing the piano etc) so I guess a 'career'(no matter how little it would be available at that time) was out of the question, but accepting marraige to the (admittedly obsequious) Mr Collins was also out of the question as well as Mr Darcys first proposal (which I get why sge turned it down!) ...I guess I'm asking what Elizabeth's plan for her future.
I've heard this from a lot of people upon re-read, "Why isn't Elizabeth more worried about her future?" I think there are a few things to note.
Early 1800s or not, Elizabeth is 20 years old when the novel begins (the average age of first marriage for women was 23). 27 year old Charlotte is in more of a future panic, but Elizabeth is still young. She has done practical thing like learn to play piano, but like most young people, she's probably just hoping for the best. And it's not like there is much she can actually do, Elizabeth is putting herself out there, she's dancing, she's playing piano, but otherwise she can just hurry up and wait. Her mother's marriage schemes are seen as vulgar and mostly backfire, and we would hardly want Elizabeth to act like Caroline. We read across Austen's novel's that women are largely stationary and it is the men who move in and out of their lives.
Also, I think a big part of Austen's point is that women are in a position where they feel the need to accept any and every proposal, because as Mr. Collins says, they may never receive another, but that this leads to misery (just look at the older couples and how many of them are unhappy!). While somewhat foolish from a financial perspective, Elizabeth is thinking about her long term happiness. She has watched her father turn bitter in an unequal relationship, she does not want that for herself. Elizabeth is choosing possible spinsterhood over being married to a person she knows she could not respect. Marrying for love, or at least on a basis of respect, is a big theme in Austen's novels. Let me add this quote from Mansfield Park to illustrate this point:
“I should have thought,” said Fanny, after a pause of recollection and exertion, “that every woman must have felt the possibility of a man’s not being approved, not being loved by some one of her sex at least, let him be ever so generally agreeable. Let him have all the perfections in the world, I think it ought not to be set down as certain that a man must be acceptable to every woman he may happen to like himself.... And, and—we think very differently of the nature of women, if they can imagine a woman so very soon capable of returning an affection as this seems to imply.”
So yes, Elizabeth Bennet isn't being financially prudent but she is being sensible in preserving her happiness. And for realism, we know Austen made this decision herself! She turned down an eligible offer.
Next, Mrs. Bennet is somewhat exaggerating: they are very unlikely to starve or be destitute. While it is never explicitly stated, Mr. Gardiner seems to be doing very well, and would probably very happily take at least Jane and Elizabeth if Mr. Bennet died. Mr. Philips is also doing well for a country attorney, he could take in his sister-in-law and nieces. It is going to suck, the Bennets should have planned better, but it's not the end of the world. We also do not know Mr. Bennet's age, but he may well only be in his late forties. He's no Mr. Woodhouse who may die tomorrow in a stiff breeze.
So what is Elizabeth's plan? She doesn't have one, she's 20. She's hoping life will throw her a man with a decent income that she doesn't hate. It works out in the end, but I don't think she would live to regret either turned down proposal if she had never met Darcy again.
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starsandhughes · 8 months
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Didn't Know What Love Was— Quinn Hughes
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summary: you were somewhat of a cynic when it came to love. you didn't believe in it, and if it was real, you didn't want it. that is, until your best friend sets you up with a certain hockey player named quinn.
warnings: swearing, fade to black smut (like extremely fade to black), fluff
word count: 3.9k+
MASTERLIST
this is inspired by the song 'didn't know what love was' by kane brown!
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You weren’t expecting to feel this way. 
You didn’t think this feeling was real. 
Love.
You’ve said it, you’ve been told it, but all of those instances weren’t real to you. You get to a certain point in a relationship and someone says it first and you think, yeah, I guess that’s what this is. It was nothing like how it was portrayed in the movies, because they were just movies. Movies are fake, so you thought love was, too. It always ended. It always included drama. And then you’d find someone new.
You’ve never been more wrong. 
February 20, 2021
“Mack, have you ever thought of the fact that I’m just not meant for a relationship? It’s all bullshit anyways,” you grumbled. You were laying on your back horizontally on bed with your feet hanging off the edge, settled on the floor. Your best friend, Mackenzie, was once again setting you up on a date. “You’re single now! Find yourself a date!” 
Mackenzie rolled her eyes and sat next to you, “I’m not ready to get back out there! It’s only been two weeks since Jason and I broke up and we dated for seven months. You, however, have been single for almost a year!” 
“You’re only proving my point, Mack!” you said, sitting up. “Relationships end. They’re messy and leave us heartbroken. And maybe the magic blinds you for a while and you get married, but I’ve met more people with divorced parents than married ones. And I’ve seen so many loveless marriages that the couple only sticks together because they wouldn’t know what else to do. I’ve seen couples break up in restaurants. I’ve seen couples fight and scream at a public park.  Love isn’t real. And if it is, I can live without it.” 
Mackenzie looked at you with the most pity filled expression you’ve ever seen. She believes in love. She believes in the shitty romance novels and shitty movies. But you’ve picked up her pieces too many times to even contemplate believing in it. 
“Love is real!” she exclaimed. “How else could people have written sonnets and movies and books and songs about it?”
“People write stuff about monsters, too, but you don’t see any people bursting into flames in the sunlight,” you said. 
“In Twilight they sparkled!”
“I don’t give a shit what they did, they’re still made up,” you laughed. “It’s called fiction for a reason.” 
“You can’t make up a feeling. You can’t make up being so enamored by someone that you miss them so bad it hurts when they’re not with you!” 
“You’re just repeating things you’ve heard in movies about love!” you argued. “You haven’t even been in love. Not truly. You told me so when you broke up with Jason.” 
“So go on this date, and if it all works out, you can tell me what love is. They even call oxytocin the love chemical! You believe in science! And I believe that this guy is the perfect match for you,” your best friend continued to beg. “Think of it as a science experiment.” 
You ended up caving, more so to get Mackenzie to stop begging. It’s not like you were against dating, you’ve had plenty of relationships, but after so many failed ones you stop seeing the point. You could get your needs met without being tied down and risking becoming attached. That’s all that “love” really was. Attachment. Sure, it’s nice to have one person that’s somewhat of a best friend to spend your life with. But adding all of that “girlfriend and boyfriend” stuff to it is destined for failure. And you were done with it. 
When you found him at the restaurant, you were taken back. You’d seen pictures of him so that you’d know who to look for, but he looked so much better in person. His hair looked unbelievably soft, and he somehow made the locks seemingly out of place look perfect. His soft eyes were to die for, and the sleeves of his black shirt rolled up made the veins in his arm visible. All you wanted to do was trace them. 
“Y/N?” the boy asked when he noticed you staring. He stood up to greet you, helping you slip off your jacket to hang on the back of the chair as he pulled it out for you. He waited for you to sit down before taking a seat himself. “I’m Quinn.”
“So I’ve heard,” you chuckled. “I’ve been told that you’re the sweetest guy Mackenzie knows and are bound to change my mind about my stance on relationships.”
“I’ve heard you don’t believe in love,” Quinn countered. 
Your eyes widened, and if you were taking a drink, you would’ve choked on it.
“Wow,” you said amused. “Mack jumped to the nitty gritty then? I take it this means that you do believe in love?”
“I do,” Quinn confirmed. 
“Have you ever been in love?”
“Not yet. But I’ve seen it. My parents have the purest love I’ve ever seen. They spread it to everyone they know and everyone my brothers and I know. They make it hard to not believe in it.”
You couldn’t help but feel soft at his statement. You’ve never heard anyone tell you that they believe in love because of their parents. Hell, you haven’t really had a guy firmly tell you that he believes in love. It was always your girl friends swearing up and down that “the one” is out there. 
“Are you going to teach me how to love, Quinn Hughes?” you said flirtily, placing your hand under your chin.
Quinn reached across the table and grabbed your other hand, “I’m going to show you what a romantic date is supposed to be like. And if you like it, I’ll take you on another. And another. And if we get there, I’ll show you how a real man acts as a boyfriend. And hopefully, along the way, we’ll fall in love. And I won’t say it until I know it’s there.”
“How will you know it’s love?” you asked. He already had you melting at his advances. 
“I’ll know when it’s a feeling I’ve never felt before. I’ll know when it’s a feeling that can’t be described as anything but love. Are you in?”
You bit the inside of your cheek. Quinn was serious. He didn’t want a fling. He wasn’t here to get sex at the end of the night. He was here to see if he can find the real thing with you. He was here for a challenge. 
“I’m in.”
Over dinner you two did the usual small chat about yourselves, but that quickly developed into telling full out stories. It wasn’t awkward with him like it had been on some other first dates. You were strangely very comfortable with him. 
He told you about his summer at his lake house with his family and friends, you told him about your trip to London with your cousins. He told you about how he first met Mack when she was drunk off her ass at a party back when she was still dating Brock, the only ex she ended on good terms with and is still friends with, and you told him about how she was not her drunkest at that party, and that one time you two snuck out of a party to have a lightsaber fight but didn’t have lightsabers so you used traffic cones. 
“You did not!” Quinn laughed. 
“We did!” you shouted over your laughs. You were definitely getting stares, but you didn’t care. “I beat her ass, too.”
“Oh yeah?” he asked, quirking his eyebrow. 
“Oh yeah. I totally had the high ground.” 
Quinn walked you to your car at the end of the night. You two shut down the restaurant, neither one of you desired to leave. You boldly grabbed his hand as you started walking and were relieved when he looped your fingers together in response. 
“Did you have a good time?” Quinn asked you when you arrived at your car. 
“I really did. I’m not sure I want it to end,” you admitted. 
You wanted so badly to ask him to come over. But he told you that he wanted to give you a romantic date, not a pre-sex affair. He’s looking for something real. Something that isn’t just sex. 
“Me either,” he smiled. 
As you two looked at each other, your eyes started flickering from his to his lips. He noticed, but you knew that he was doing the same. 
Your hunger ended when Quinn finally leaned in. His hands slid down your waist and settled on your hips, pulling you closer to him. Yours went up and around his neck, happily content feeling the ends of his hair.
Quinn kissed you in a way that you’ve never been kissed before. It was soft. Sensual. It had you aching for more. The feeling that people describe as “sparks flying?” You were pretty sure this was it. 
The kiss wasn’t rough; it wasn’t filled with primal need. 
It left you breathless. Lightheaded. Warm. 
It was the type of kiss that told you there was more to him. And all you wanted to do was learn. 
“That was—“
“Don’t describe it,” Quinn cut you off in a whisper. He reached his hand out to cup your face, “Just feel it.” 
All you could do was nod your head. You felt your entire body quivering at his touch. 
Quinn smiled and opened up your car door for you, “Tell me when you get home?”
“Y-yeah. I will,” you stammered. You couldn’t stop looking at him. 
“Goodnight, Y/N. Drive safe!”
“Goodnight, Quinn,” you smiled. 
You watched him walk away in your rear view mirror, smiling madly. Quinn left you feeling like a giddy little girl. It was something that no one else has ever done. 
March 16, 2021
You were going on your fifth date with Quinn tonight, and Mack was swearing up and down that Quinn was going to make things official. 
“Y/N/N, trust me!” she said while dramatically shaking you by the shoulders. 
“I want to!” you laughed, shoving her off of you. “I just don’t want to get any hopes up. We’re going out to have a good time and that’s it!” 
“Hopes up you say?” Mack asked as she wiggled her eyebrows. “Does that mean you want Quinn to ask you? Do you, Y/N Y/L/N, WANT a boyfriend just mere weeks after saying you were done with dating forever?”
“I didn’t say forever!” 
“Alright!” she surrendered. “I’m keeping my mouth shut because I don’t want to jinx anything, but just know that I am a very happy girl right now!”
You shook your head at your best friend’s nonsense. Okay, maybe you were hoping what she was saying will turn out to be true tonight, and maybe you were liking the goodnight calls and good morning texts and mid day updates. And maybe you relish in the smile Quinn gives you when you stand at the glass during warm ups at his games while you wear his jersey. And maybe you’ve never felt like this before, and it was making you the happiest you’ve ever been. But you weren’t sure if it was love. Love was still a weary and scary concept for you at this point. But maybe… maybe this is pre-love? Maybe this is the build up. Maybe this is the jump before the fall. 
You weren’t scared of jumping.
Whatever it is, you’re pretty positive it’s too early for love. You’re just now open to the idea of love because of Quinn, so you certainly were skeptical at the notion of “love at first sight.” Although, it’s been a little too long to count as “first sight.” Love at fifth date? Love at hundredth facetime? Call it what you want, but it still felt way too soon. 
You were still doing your makeup when there was a knock at the door, signaling that Quinn was here. 
“Mack, could you—“
“I’m already on it!” she cut you off, rushing down the stairs to open the door. 
You tried to finish up your mascara really quickly, but that only resulted in your dropping it and smearing some across your cheek. 
“Shit!” 
“Shit?” you heard Quinn ask. You gasped in surprise, and he just laughed as he approached you. He placed his hands on your cheeks and kissed the top of your head before taking a look at you, “Ahh. I see the source of the shit.”
“It’ll wipe off, it’s fine,” you shrugged. “I’ll just need five more minutes?” 
Quinn smiled, “Take all the time you need to feel happy.” 
If you were alone and that was a text, you’d probably be kicking your feet at Quinn’s comment. He didn’t say anything teasing that you take forever, he didn’t use the cliché “you look pretty without makeup” or whatever, he said that he wants you to feel happy with your appearance. You didn’t know why that felt more romantic than a compliment; it just did. He was focusing on your emotions and confidence. He was validating you. Validation and understanding feels a lot more intimate than a compliment about your appearance. 
“I’m ready!” you sing-songed as you climbed down the stairs. 
Quinn was standing at the bottom of the stairs with his hands behind his back and a soft smile on his face. 
You jumped from the fourth step down to the second step. You reached out gently to tilt Quinn’s face towards yours and leaned down to crash your lips against his. You stepped down to the final step to become level with when he deepened the kiss. He released one of his hands to place it at the small of your back in order to draw you in, but the other remained. 
“Whatcha hidin’, handsome?” you asked cheekily. 
Quinn’s other hand quickly whipped around in front of his center and revealed a bouquet of daisies and lavender. You gasped and kissed him quick, taking the bouquet from him and inhaling its sweet scent with a smile after your lips parted.
“They’re beautiful,” you told him. 
“They’re not the only thing,” he whispered. 
“You flirt,” you blushed. 
You both bid your goodbyes to Mackenzie and walked out the door. Quinn rushed slightly ahead of you to open up the passenger door for you before making his way to the driver's seat. It was a quick drive to the mini golf place, and it was filled with you two goofily singing along to the radio. 
When you got there, you were surprised at how many people and families there were. It was a Saturday night, but still. You didn’t know this many people went mini golfing at any given moment. 
You picked out a pink club, and Quinn grabbed a green one. He held out his hand for you to take, and for once, you didn’t feel weird holding somebody’s hand in public. It was a small act, but it was still a big deal for you. You used to do it with previous boyfriends, but that was because you felt like you had to in order to try and feel like you were in a normal relationship. You want to hold Quinn’s hand. You love the way your hand fits in his and how warm his hands are. You love how rough they feel compared to your soft ones. Just this simple action made you feel safe and less overwhelmed by the amount of people. It made you feel like it was just you and him. 
“Ready to lose, Y/L/N?” Quinn taunted you.
“Don’t be so cocky,” you teased back. “I’m a pro at this.”
“You said you haven’t been mini golfing in years!” he pointed out with a laugh. 
“I’m trying to speak me winning into the universe, Quintin!” 
Needless to say, you were terrible, but Quinn gave you two extra puts each round to try and get you more points. It didn’t make much of a difference for how badly he was beating you, but it made you feel good.
“What ever happened to letting the girl win?” you groaned. “Some gentleman you are.”
Quinn softly smiled and walked over to you. Placing his hands on the small of your back, he kissed you gently, “I’m sorry, baby. I just can’t fake sucking.”
You dramatically threw your head back, groaned, then gave him a pout when you looked back at him. Quinn laughed and kissed you again, effectively wiping the pout off your face.
This was also something big for you– kissing in public. PDA. You’ve never done that. You always pulled away or forced the kiss to be a quick peck instead. You were worried about people staring and judging. But not with Quinn. You didn’t care who was around, you wanted them to know that you were happy. 
Unsurprisingly, Quinn won. He cheered with his club in both hands being held above his head, sending you into a fit of giggles. 
“Stop parading around like you just won the Stanley Cup!” you shouted. 
Quinn whipped his head towards you in mock offense. He walked towards you and kissed you again, much more firmly this time, “I’m sorry you sucked.”
“It’s okay,” you chuckled. 
“I do believe me winning deserves a prize!”
“Oh yeah? And what did you have in mind?” you smirked. 
You were expecting his answer to be something along the lines of another kiss or going out for ice cream, but what he said proved your best friend to be correct.
“Will you be my girlfriend?” he asked you softly. He was confident in his question. He had the biggest smile on his face that was filled with so much hope and admiration. 
“I’d love to,” you answered. 
Now Quinn really looked like he won the Stanley Cup. His eyes lit up brighter than you’ve ever seen them, and his smile looked like it hurt. You should know, because your smile was so big that it did hurt. Quinn hugged you so tightly that your feet kicked off the ground and he spun you in a circle. When he put you back down, he kissed you passionately. It was different than every other kiss you two have shared, given that is a small number since this was only your fifth date. This one meant more. This one said more. 
When he walked you to your door and kissed you goodbye, you reached out and grabbed his arm to stop him. He turned around slowly, and you knew that the look in your eyes said all that you wanted to say.
“Are you sure?” he whispered.
“Positive.”
Mackenzie was already in her room for the night, much to your relief. You and Quinn kissed all the way up the stairs and into your bedroom. The second your bedroom door closed; clothes began to be thrown off. He threw you on your back onto your bed like it was nothing, then he climbed on top of you and began to pepper kissed up your stomach, through your neck, across your jaw, until he finally reached your lips again. 
“Just tell me if you want me to stop,” he said low.
“Don’t stop,” you panted. “Please don’t stop.”
April 14, 2021
You were pretty sure you were feeling it. No, you knew you were feeling it. 
Love. 
You were feeling just like the movies and love songs and poems said– you were enamored by Quinn. You missed him so bad that it hurt when you weren’t with him, especially when he was on roadies during the season (you were selfishly glad that it’s over for the time being). You felt like the best version of yourself when he was around. But you were also learning that your definition of love was so much more than that.
“OH MY GOD! I KNEW IT WOULD HAPPEN! I KNEW IT!” Mackenzie screamed when you told her. 
“Alright!” you giggled. “You knew it, you did it, congratulations! Now how do I tell him? Do I wait for him to tell me? What if it goes away and I don’t–”
“Are you sure it’s love?” she cut you off.
“I am. It’s new, and it’s freeing, and it’s–agh! It’s perfect. It has to be,” you said, covering your hands over your face so that she couldn’t see how wildly you were blushing and grinning. 
Mack grabbed your wrists and yanked your hands off your face, “I don’t think that’s going away, babe! Now tell me! The deal was that you’d tell me what love is! Spill it! And don’t quote the movies!”
“I think love is different for everybody. I’m feeling the stuff that they say in the movies and the sonnets and the songs, but it’s so much more than that. Love is… wild. Love is like a never-ending joy ride with the windows down and your favorite songs blaring on the stereo. Love is like that feeling you get in your body when you hear a new song, and it absolutely consumes you to where you heat up and feel like you're vibrating. Love is feeling like you could do the impossible as long as your person is right there beside you. Love can feel like you’re flying.
“But love can also make you feel safe. Love is feeling at home with your person, no matter where you are. You could be in the backseat of a car, but if you were with your person? That could be home for the time being. Love is like that feeling of pride and relief when you deep clean your house for the first time in forever. Love is like sitting by the ocean and watching the waves crash against the sand, and none of the sand ends up in your shoes. 
“Loving Quinn feels like a breath of fresh air. Loving Quinn makes me feel like I finally know who I am and who I could be. Loving Quinn makes me feel alive for the very first time. It’s everything.”
Mack looked like she could burst into tears then and there. You were about to hug her when an all too familiar voice ceased your movements.
“Did you mean that?” 
You turned around so quickly that your head spun. There, standing at the edge of your living room, was Quinn.
“Yeah,” you whispered with a nod. “Every word.”
Quinn rushed towards you and cupped your face, slamming his lips onto yours. You heard Mack clap with glee, but you didn’t care. She was slipping away, and only you and Quinn existed in the world at this very moment.
“I love you,” you breathed when you two had to come up for air.
“I love you,” Quinn echoed. “You described it perfectly. I felt every word. I am helplessly, irrevocably, completely, and utterly in love with you. I’ll never stop saying it. Not now that I know what it means.”
“I didn’t believe in love before you. I didn’t know what love was. It’s you, Quinn. My love is yours, and only yours.”
The smile on Quinn’s face was contagious, but your face was already painted with one. You didn’t expect to fall in love, and you certainly didn’t expect to say it first. Maybe it was fate, maybe it was a god, maybe it was the stars aligning. You didn’t know why, but you did know that you were made to love Quinn Hughes alongside all of the other things you were made for. 
Love was real. And you can’t live without it. And you’re so glad that you learned that. 
———
reblogs appreciated! it helps spread the fic <3
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