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vbecker10 · 2 months

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Loki's Silent Sentry (Part 1)

Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 ( Part 6 in progress)

Pairing: Loki x female reader (y/n)

Summary: You are not just a soldier in Asgard's Royal Army, you are Lieutenant Y/L/N, Prince Loki's personal guard, his sentry and you are not supposed to fall in love with him. If you followed your training properly, you should never have even spoken to him. As a sentry, you are expected to remain silent and invisible as you shadow your appointed member of the royal family or member of the court protectively throughout their daily tasks.

Rumors (that happen to be true) begin to circulate through the palace that you serve the younger prince of Asgard both outside and inside his chambers. There is little you can do once word of your off duty activities spread through every maid, cook, gardener and seamstress in the palace. You soon find even the soldiers in your own company are now questioning how exactly you had come to earn your seemingly quick rise to lieutenant.

As the annual Winter Solstice Ball approaches, you come to the heartbreaking realization that your relationship with Loki must come to an end if you are both to fulfill your duties.

Warnings: Angst, arguing, Thor being an absolute ass, Odin being a terrible father

A/N: I did some googling quickly for military terms and ranks (since I have no previous knowledge of them) as well as some basic information about the royal guards in England. I took some of what I found interesting and then made up most of the rest to fit what I needed for my story so there will be some similarities. Also... I haven't written anything in like a year (maybe longer) so be nice please 💚💚

You stand at constant attention in silence outside of Prince Loki's private office. You listen to the birds singing through the open window across the hall from where you are posted and wonder how long you could go without making a sound. You have been trained by the Royal Army for years to remain silent, vigilant, always listening and watching your surroundings for anything dangerous or out of the ordinary. You are always on guard, ready to protect Prince Loki should the need arise. Not that someone with his fighting skills or magic would need protection from a simple soldier like you. You were assigned this post purely because it was customary for each member of the royal family to have a sentry, whether they actually need one or not.

Your attention is drawn to the sound of footsteps approaching from your left. You are unable to determine how many people are coming but judging by their pace and heavy boots, they are most likely all soldiers. Commandant Thorn, the soldier in charge of your company, makes his way down the hall at a steady pace. He is followed by your captain, Captain Skye who is holding a leather bound book containing the names of all the sentries and their current posts. Trailing the two older men, are four low ranking soldiers you can't remember the names of.

The group of soldiers comes to a stop in front of you and your fellow guard and you both salute your commanding officers. "Lieutenant Y/L/N," Captain Skye says, opening his book for a moment. He closes it and looks up at you, "Prince Loki will of course be attending the Winter Solstice Ball. You will be required to escort him to the ballroom and remain on guard there until he dismisses you for the evening."

You nod in response, carefully hiding the heavy emotions you have surrounding the upcoming ball. The soldiers move on and you are left alone with the other guard again. She says nothing to you and even if you were allowed to speak, you know Sergeant Sands wouldn't talk to you. She is not your friend, none of the members of the Royal Guard are your friends. It wasn't always this way though, it is only since you were promoted to the rank of lieutenant that the guards you work with began to distance themselves from you.

You had been assigned to Prince Loki for three months when you were promoted from sergeant to lieutenant. Your fellow soldiers immediately assumed the young prince had a hand in it as he did little to hide how he favored you over the other guards who were previously assigned to him. The rumors about you spending the night in Loki's chamber instead of guarding it flowed through the palace soon after. You adamantly denied these rumors and any favoritism from the prince but it was a wasted effort. It also happened that the rumors were true to a point.

The door to Loki's office opens and you stand at attention as the court accountant exits, holding several rolls of paper and mumbling to himself. Sargeant Sands follows him without any orders needed, she is his sentry and will go where he goes. As she walks past by, she glances at you with what can only be described as a look of disgust. You look down at your boots, fully aware of what she is thinking.

You wait quietly for Loki to open the door again but you know him, he will want to read through all of his notes from today before he finalizes his meeting schedule for tomorrow. You have roughly half an hour until he will be done, half an hour to stand here and think about the dreaded Winter Solstice Ball.

Another half an hour later, as expected, Loki opens the door and walks out. Waving his hand towards the door, he uses his magic to seal the room. He smiles warmly at you and you smile back at him for the first time today. This was your favorite part, the part where the sun goes down and Loki frees you from your constant silence.

He touches your cheek softly and leans in to kiss you. You kiss him back but pull away quickly as you hear footsteps approaching. You step away from Loki and stand at attention as Prince Thor comes around a corner. You keep your eyes straight ahead but you can feel Loki stiffening next to you, he and his brother get along much better when they are at court than they do in private.

The brothers greet each other politely and you silently wish the older prince would simply continue on his way but it doesn't seem likely. Your attention shifts to the window across the hall from you again, you can just barely glimpse the sunset over the tall evergreen trees in the distance. You know Loki will tell you if he and Thor discuss anything interesting so there is no need for you to listen to their conversation. The two of them continue for several long minutes before you realize Thor has said something to you.

"Lieutenant Y/L/N?" Thor says and you shake your head as you shift your focus.

"I'm sorry your highness, I was unaware you were speaking to me," you apologize. He had never spoken to you before and you were unsure why he would start now. Loki folds his arms across his chest and you feel uneasy at how annoyed he seems.

Thor laughs which does nothing to make you feel better. "I was wondering what it was about you that made you my brother's favorite," he says. "You must truly be special, a sentry's post typically only lasts three months, perhaps six at the most. You have been with Loki for how long now?"

You think for a moment before replying. You had been assigned to Loki for only a month before he first spoke to you and you had quickly become close friends. Three months after becoming friends with the prince, you slowly became more until you were completely in love with him.

"Fourteen months," you answer him in as few words as possible.

Thor looks at his younger brother with a smirk, "Fourteen?" Loki remains silent and you can tell his older brother is not even close to letting you leave soon. He turns his attention to you again, "So is it true then?"

"Is what true your highness?" you ask quietly.

"That you follow my brother's orders when you are wearing your armor and when you are not?" he laughs and his sentry smiles then looks towards the ground. "I could use a sentry like that, I grow tired of being followed by these shadows."

Loki's fist clenches but he answers Thor calmly. "Maybe if you learned your sentries name and weren't so insufferable to be around, they would remain at your service for longer than a month at a time," Loki says. "And you are the last person I would expect to listen to palace rumors. According to the most recent ones I've heard, you've slept with nearly half of the kitchen staff this month alone."

Thor smiles, proud of himself. You and Loki realize the stories you had overheard were true, if not understated. He explains, "That is why I assume the rumors of you and your little pet are true as well."

You find yourself in that brief moment wishing Loki would confirm everyone's suspensions. Not necessarily that you were sleeping together, that you were in love and wanted to be together. You know wishing for this is as useful as wishing it would rain gold. Once again you remind yourself that this is the way it will always be, until he marries a woman of high status and you are forgotten.

Instead of responding, Loki turns from his brother and walks down the hall towards the stairwell that leads to the royal family's chambers. You follow him silently, staying a few steps behind as always.

"Come now brother, I was merely joking," Thor calls from behind you but neither of you stop walking.

The two of you continue on in silence until you reach the top of the stairs and Loki's pace slows so he is walking next to you. His hand finds yours, his thumb gently stroking your knuckles. As soon as you feel his touch, you begin to relax.

"I'm sorry about my brother," he says quietly.

"His behavior isn't your fault," you reply. "And he is far from the first person to corner me about our relationship. I am used to denying the truth."

He stops, causing you to turn back towards him, your hand still holding his. He then takes a few small steps, closing the distance between you. Loki touches your cheek gently with his other hand. "I'm sorry Y/N," he tells you again. "I wish we didn't have to hide but you know there are some rules even I cannot break so openly. Maybe I should have hid my favoritism towards you better but I couldn't bear to have you reassigned. You mean too much to me."

You smile, "So I am your favorite sentry?"

He lets out a laugh, "You are my favorite person in the nine realms." You giggle at his answer and his fingers trail down your cheek until his thumb gently runs across your lips. He leans down to kiss you but just as his lips touch yours, you feel your heart jumps in your chest.

You hear several sets of footsteps and separate yourself from Loki in an instant. He looks down the hall as his mother, two of her maids and one guard come into view. She smiles brightly at both of you as she comes closer and you bow to the queen in respect. You find it hard to miss the side eye from her sentry or the whispers shared between her maids. Loki gives his mother a hug and wishes her a goodnight. She tells him to have a goodnight as well and continues on her way.

You and Loki walk off in the opposite direction towards his chambers and once you are alone again, Loki moves to take your hand but you flinch away. He looks hurt by your momentary rejection but he doesn't say anything. He knows how nervous you are about being seen touching him or speaking to him. You round the next corner and are flooded with relief as Loki's door finally comes into view. You fight the urge to smile, holding onto your composure as you've been trained.

Loki opens the door and steps inside, you follow him as you always do and he closes the door. He flicks his wrists towards you without a word and the heavy armor you wear over your clothing instantly settles itself neatly into a large chest. You take a few deep breaths, feeling as if most of the weight you have been carrying leaves you, but not all.

"Thank you your highness," you say out of habit.

"Please, never call me that in here," he reminds you gently. "In here I'm not a prince, I'm just Loki." He walks towards you and you don't realize you are moving away from him until your back hits the door and his body comes flush to yours. One hand settles on your hip while his other hand lifts your chin, causing you to look up at him. He continues, "And you are not Lieutenant Y/L/N, you are Y/N. The woman I am so deeply in love with." He smiles and you can't help but smile back at his words. All your worries vanish the instant his lips meet yours.

You lay in Loki's arms watching the sunlight fill his room through the sheer curtains. You try to memorize the sound of his slow, steady breathing and the feel of his heart beat against your back as he holds you even in his sleep. You inhale deeply and focus on deciphering every herb and oil Loki uses to keep his hair soft. Closing your eyes, you use your senses to bring an image of Loki's face into your mind and try to hold it there.

"What are you thinking about my love?" he asks in a sleepy voice. You open your eyes and shift closer to him, pulling his arms tighter around your body. "Y/N, what's wrong?" he asks, now much more awake.

You swallow hard, trying to find the words. You had been thinking about what you needed to do most of the night but now that it was time, you weren't sure you would be able to do it.

"I've told you, you can speak freely here," he says softly, urging you gently as always to speak your mind when you were with him. His fingers move slowly up and down your arm as he tries to comfort you without knowing what is causing your distress.

"I need to transfer to a new post," you tell him. You hear him inhale sharply as his fingers suddenly go still.

You stand outside Loki's office with Thor's new guard and two others in silence waiting for a very long meeting to conclude. You stifle a yawn and shift uncomfortably on your feet before regaining your composure. The tall guard standing across from you rolls his eyes while the woman next to him mumbles something that can only be about you.

It has been two days since you told Loki you wanted to transfer and you hadn't heard anything from your commanding officer. In the meantime, you decided to go back to sleeping in your assigned room at the soldiers quarters. You had forgotten how much you hated it there. The common areas are loud and there is little privacy, everyone is in everyone else's business. You barely leave your room, which is a surprise to no one. They wouldn't speak to you even if you did. You live in a world of utter silence surrounded by never ending noise.

You feel as if you are shattering from the inside out and you try to remind yourself that it needs to be this way. The two of you hid in his chambers as if it protected your relationship but it could never be real. How could it be when he could barely acknowledge your presence when in public. He is a prince and you are a soldier as were your parents, you were not high born. Loki is destined to marry the daughter of a council member and you will guard them and their children.

The door to Loki's office opens, you and the three guards stand at attention. Prince Thor walks out first, followed by two council members. They walk off in different directions, shadowed closely by their sentries but you remain, as always, at Loki's door.

You stare at the wall in front of you for what feels like eternity. Your mind wanders between your favorite memories from your brief time with Loki and the crushing weight of your current reality. You stand up straighter when you hear the door swing open and Loki steps out.

"Lieutenant Y/L/N," he says, "I need to speak with you."

You nod and follow him into his office, closing the door behind you. You stand motionless, taking in his office and how much it feels like him. The dark wood bookshelves crowded with leather bound books, the chair pulled close to the window so he can see the garden below when drinking his afternoon tea, the green and gold accents on various pieces of furniture.

You sigh to yourself as you follow him to his desk. He takes a seat and you stand across from him with your arms behind your back, waiting for him to speak first.

"Y/N," he says informally but you don't relax. "Your transfer to a new post was not approved."

"Can I ask why your highness?" you keep the formalities as you've been trained.

"The Winter Solstice Ball is in less then a week," he answers as if you could forget. "The Royal Guard seems to be too busy tightening security and preparing for everyone's arrival to complete your paper work at this time."

"Understood, your highness," you say. "I should return to my post." You turn to head back outside of his office.

"Wait," he calls and you freeze just before you reach the door. You hear him get up from his seat and walk around the desk. "Please stay, talk to me Y/N. I miss you so much it hurts."

"I can't," you say almost in a whisper

He touches your arm and you turn to face him, seeing the pain in his eyes. "I miss the way your laughter filled my chambers. I miss hearing you hum to yourself when you think I can't hear you. I miss the sound of your voice and how easy it is to talk to you," he says and you force down a smile and the urge to hold him tightly.

"I can't bear to be without you," he tells you and you want to tell him you can't be apart from him either but you remain silent for fear you'll lose your resolve completely. He strokes your cheek gently and you close your eyes as you lean into his touch. "I love you," he says.

"I love you too," you tell him, seeing a spark of hope light his eyes. You shake your head and take a step away from him, "But I can't do this. I'm sorry." Before he can say anything else you tell him, "It will only hurt more the longer we wait to end this."

"We don't have to end this, now or ever," he insists as he steps towards you. "I promise I will find a way for you to be mine, not just when we are hidden away, but always. You believe me, don't you?"

"I want to," you tell him truthfully. Loki had promised several times to find a way to marry you but you thought it was false hope. "But this isn't a fairytale my prince, we don't always get a happy ending."

You want to disappear into the marble floor, to be sucked into the wall behind you or simply vanish into thin air but you can't. Instead, you must stand perfectly still and silent as you watch the dancing and merriment around you. You momentarily wish you would go back to a time when you didn't feel an ache in your chest at the mere thought of another woman being in Prince Loki's arms. Shaking your head just slightly, you chase away the thought. As much as this hurts, you will always cherish the limited time you shared with him.

The music changes tempo as the first of seven courses comes to an end. Couples begin to take to the open floor in the center of the ballroom. Prince Thor and Prince Loki make their way to the group of single, eligible women awaiting them, each at a different pace. The older prince seems to now exactly which woman he would like to spend time with first. He offers his arm to her and declares her the most beautiful woman at the ball, causing her to blush and giggle. The younger prince takes his time walking to the crowd and simply takes the hand of the closest woman without so much as glancing at her. His lack of interest does little to dampen her excitement however.

The dozen or so women who were not chosen move away from the dance area and you have to hold back a groan as they gather directly in front of you to wait for a chance with one of the princes. You can't help but listen to them discuss which prince they think is better looking or who they would prefer picked them. The first song ends and the two princes each select another dance partner. Again, Prince Thor takes little time deciding who he wants while Prince Loki simply offers his hand to the first woman he sees. You can practically hear him sigh as she holds his arm and walks quickly to the dance floor.

As the second song begins, one of the women briefly looks at you over her shoulder before motioning towards you to her friends. Your ears go red with embarrassment as she tells them the rumors of your past relationship with Loki just loud enough that she knows you will hear. Of course she gets the ending wrong. She assumes, like everyone else, that the prince grew tired of you and banished you from his bed chambers. You had to admit, it seemed a far more likely story than the truth.

You shift your attention to the ceiling for a moment, hoping that counting the candles in the chandeliers will distract you from their stares and comments. You only count to twenty seven before the sound of a glass shattering draws your gaze back to the guests. A council member laughs loudly, clearly drunk already, as a servant cleans the wine glass from the dance floor.

Your eyes scan the room and easily find Loki at the center of the crowd, a third woman in his arms. Your drawn to his face, studying his features. He smiles at the woman as he twirls her and she giggles but she doesn't know him like you do. She doesn't know that's the smile he uses at court, not the smile he shows you. Showed you, you correct yourself. He glances away, not holding eye contact with her as they move effortlessly across the dance floor.

After the final course is served, the dance floor fills for the last time and you sigh with relief that the night is almost over. You shift on your feet, looking down for a moment when the chatter of the women in front of you begins again. Why must they stand here to wait, you think to yourself.

The princes once again make their way to their potential dance partners and Thor makes his pick quickly. Loki stands in front of the women for a moment and your eyes lock with his as he looks between them.

"Pardon me," he says politely to the crowd as he moves forward, slipping past the confused women. He makes his way towards you and your breath catches in your throat. He stands in front of you and holds out his hand. You look at him, stunned by his actions. He smiles when you don't move, "Will you dance with me, my love?" Still you remain silent, looking past Loki to see how much attention his actions have drawn. "Don't look at them," he says, touching your cheek softly as you look at him again.

You steady your nerves and place your hand in his. The moment his fingers close around yours, you are surrounded by a light cloud of green, shimmery smoke. When Loki's magic fades, you are wearing a flowing emerald green gown with golden trim, perfectly matching his dress uniform. Your hair has been restyled to hold a small gold tiara with short horns, mirroring the helmet he had worn during his entrance.

"Gods, you look gorgeous in my colors," he says with a wide smile, causing you to blush. "To be fair, you are always beautiful but now it is clear to everyone here that you are mine." You feel as if your heart might burst when he calls you his, he had said it before but only when you were hidden away.

Loki keeps his fingers interlaced with yours as he leads you to the dance floor, straight through the group of now very angry women. Some cross their arms, others give you dirty looks and several make rude comments as you pass. You pause before stepping onto the dance floor, the chatter and stares coming from the guests near you holding you back. He senses your hesitation and leans down to place a kiss gently on your cheek.

Your mind can barely begin to process what is happening as he takes you straight to the middle of the dance floor. He places one hand on your hip and you place your hand on his shoulder as you had done so many times over the last few months. You and Loki shared several secret dances in his chambers and his office, he found it difficult to listen to music sitting still.

He holds you close, his eyes never leaving yours while you dance between the other guests. You focus on how amazing it feels to be back in his arms, ignoring the strange looks and whispers that surround you. He twirls you gracefully and you spin back into him, giggling as you final feel at ease. As the song draws to a close, Loki spins you one final time. When he pulls you back to him, he leans down slightly and your lips meet his.

You smile up at him, hoping this isn't a dream when you see his mother approaching you. You take a step away from Loki but he keeps his hand on your waist, not letting you go too far. You bow to the queen and she says, "I think it is my turn to dance with my son."

You nod quickly in agreement and Loki let's go of you, his magic fading instantly as your armor reappears. You walk through the crowd with your head down and return to your post, once again wishing you were invisible. The women watch you, gossiping wildly as you pass again. You can only imagine what they are saying but they are not your biggest concern at the moment.

Anxiously, you watch Queen Frigga and her son move across the dance floor. You can't hear what they are saying of course, but you can tell by her expression that there will be consequences for his actions. As the song ends you see your captain approach you and your stomach drops. Loki will not be the only one to be punished for choosing you.

"The king had summoned you to the throne room," he says in a stern voice. You nod in acknowledgement and when you look back towards the dance floor, Loki and his mother are gone.

I'm almost done with the second part so please let me know if you would like to be tagged! I hope you liked it and if you did, please like, share and comment 💚💚

@soubi001 @michelleleewise @harlequin-hangout @ace-of-gay @xorpsbane @mochie85 @sheris532 @lokiswife-dark-fox-queen @kkdvkyya @animnerd @peaches1958 @peachyjinx @theaudacitytowrite @lokiandbuckysdoll @winterfrostlovetriangle @high-functioning-lokipath @winniewings @pics-and-fanfics @cabingrlandrandomcrap @icytrickster17 @lokisgoodgirl @mischief2sarawr @stupidthoughtsinwriting @mjsthrillernp @holdmytesseract @holymultiplefandomsbatman @lulubelle814 @crimson25 @goblingirlsarah @janineb86 @chantsdemarins

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ladykailitha · 8 months

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Fake Boyfriend Part 1

This was going to be an AO3 exclusive until I found out I couldn't do the strikethrough coding for the titles over there and until I think of one that works as well as this one does, it goes here first. There is a second part that will be posted on Tuesday as it got a tad too long for Tumblr (clocking out at over 3k).

Summary: After most of the older teens have gone off to college, Eddie goes over to Steve's to hang out. When he finds Steve on the phone with one of his co-workers, he tells Steve to pretend Eddie is his boyfriend to get the guy to back off via notes on his notebook. It works better than he could possibly dream as the more Steve describes his "boyfriend" the more it sounds real.

***

Eddie let himself into the Harrington mansion like he always did, backpack slung over his shoulder. Steve and he was long since past caring about knocking on each others’ houses’ doors. Bedrooms on the other hand were sacrosanct and closed doors were to be respected at all times, but their houses? Open invitation. Always.

He went straight to the kitchen because if Steve was going to be anywhere in that labyrinthine house of his, it was going to be the kitchen. He entered through the open doorway just as Steve snapped.

“Fuck you!” he growled.

Eddie frowned. “Hey!”

Steve turned and he could see that Steve was on the phone with someone. The other man mouthed, ‘Sorry!’ when he spotted Eddie in the doorway.

“I gave you this number for work purposes only,” Steve continued with a sigh. “I’m just not interested in you, Caleb. How many times do I have to tell you?”

Understanding slowly dawned over Eddie. He knew who Steve was talking to now. Caleb worked at the same hair salon Steve did and was constant thorn in Steve’s side. Always flirting with him and just generally making Steve uncomfortable.

He ripped the backpack off of his shoulder and started digging around. He pulled out a notebook and a pen. He turned to a blank page and wrote: TELL HIM YOU HAVE A BOYFRIEND

Steve looked at the sign with a frown of confusion. ‘But I don’t’ he mouthed back.

Eddie pointed at himself.

Steve chewed on his thumb for a moment before he nodded. “Caleb!” he said interrupting the other man’s stream of consciousness that he was just spewing at Steve on the end of the line. “Look. I didn’t want to have to pull this card because ‘no’ is a complete sentence, but I have a boyfriend.”

Eddie gave him a thumbs up.

“I haven’t brought him up before because he’s not out–”

Eddie scoffed, smirking with a raised eyebrow.

“I mean we’re not out as a couple to our friends and family,” Steve amended, sticking his tongue out at him. “Of course they know I’m bisexual and he’s gay, they just don’t know that we’ve been dating.”

That was certainly true, especially considering that they weren’t actually dating.

Eddie scribbled another note: WAYNE

“Well,” Steve said with a huff of laughter, “his uncle knows, but my parents don’t.”

Eddie started on another note, but Steve beat him to it. “It’s a small house and thin walls, the dude was going to find out sooner or later.”

Eddie nearly choked on his own tongue. His eyes nearly bulged out of his head in shock.

Steve laughed. “And have my parents walk in on us? Fuck that. I trust his Uncle Wayne way more than I do my parents.”

Eddie looked down at the half-written message that would have spelled out TRUST with a fond smile on his face.

Steve rolled his eyes. “What do you mean you want me to prove he exists? Like describe him or something?”

Eddie jotted down another note: PERSISTANT BASTARD

Steve slammed a hand over his mouth to cover the laugh that bubbled to his lips.

He cleared his throat. “So are we talking looks or personality?” he asked. “Because I could go on about both.”

Eddie raised an eyebrow, causing Steve’s cheeks flush.

“Looks?” Steve asked, his voice a little high at the absurdity of it all. “Oh. Wow. Yeah. He’s got the most amazingly soulful brown eyes I’ve ever seen outside of the movies. I’ve heard people describe them as doe-eyed or puppy-dog eyes. They aren’t bad descriptions, just... not close enough. I don’t think there is a word or phrase that matches their glory.”

Eddie shoved his hair in front of mouth to hide his embarrassment. Steve took a step toward him.

“He has long hair in soft curly locks that frame his face,” Steve continued and Eddie dropped the aforementioned lock, choosing to duck his head, and look away, rocking back on his heels.

Steve took another step forward. “He has these dimples that just light up his whole countenance when he smiles. They are the single most kissable part of his face, if you don’t include his lips.”

Eddie’s mind was spinning out of control, because there was no way Steve was making this up on the spot. These had to be things Steve had actually thought about.

But Steve wasn’t done talking. “He’s whipcord thin, but don’t let that fool you. He is strong, so strong.”

Eddie head jerked up and stared at Steve in amazement.

The other boy ducked his head, twirling his fingers around the phone cord. “I told you could go on and on about his looks, man. I could tell you about how long his eyelashes are or his legs that give him this causal sensuality that should be fucking illegal.”

Eddie didn’t think he could get any redder. He was so, so wrong.

“You want me to wax poetic about his personality now?” Steve asked incredulously. “No, I’m not describing Jon Bon Jovi. He’d be offended at the comparison. Eddie Van Halen is closer to the mark, or maybe Kirk Hemmett if you really make him blush.”

Cue Eddie’s blush burning his ears and flushing his throat; a part of his body that was refusing to do what it was supposed to and fucking allow breath to enter his lungs.

“What’s he like?” Steve breathed and Eddie was instantly jealous of his ability to do so. “He is so smart.”

Eddie snorted divisively.

“The school system may have failed him more times then I care to count,” Steve insisted, “but god, he is so clever, coming up with stories on fly. He has all this knowledge of so many things. He learned elvish and is learning dwarfish.” He snorted. “Because he can.”

Eddie blushed. Even his friends from Hellfire and Corroded Coffin thought he was a little insane trying to learn those languages. Not Steve, apparently.

“He uses it for his D&D games–campaigns, sorry,” Steve said, more to Eddie then to Caleb. Eddie mouthed ‘It’s okay.’ And Steve lit up with the brightest smile.

He took another step forward. “You know those kids that come into the store all the time?” Steve burst out laughing. “Yes, my kids. He loves them as much as I do. Maybe even more.”

Eddie scrambled to write another note: NOT POSSIBLE

Steve blushed this time. “Understands them better, certainly.”

Eddie cocked his head to the side and half shrugged. That was fair.

“He DMs for them every week,” Steve continued. “DM? Oh that stands for dungeon master. It’s like the storyteller or master of the story. He sets the path for the characters to follow or blatantly ignore.”

Eddie huffed out a laugh.

“He does the voices for each person the party meets and it always makes me laugh,” Steve said. “My favorite is the voice he did for the princess. I don’t think there was a dry eye from all the laughing everyone was doing.”

Eddie grinned. That was his favorite, too. He had done it to make Steve laugh, the fact that it had made everyone else laugh too was just icing on the cake.

“Which, of course, impressed Dustin,” Steve said. He paused. “Oh Dustin is the one with curly hair and those hats.”

Eddie rolled his eyes. That’s another strike against this Caleb dude, not knowing the names of Steve’s kids. Like they came as a packaged deal. Everyone knew that.

Steve cleared his throat and looked down as he too felt Caleb’s disinterest keenly as well. “Anyway, anyone who can impress that little butthead is number one in my book.”

Eddie smiled tenderly at Steve before he jotted down a note again. YOU IMPRESS HIM TOO.

Steve blushed. “He can take his talent for story telling into song writing as well. He might not be the singer of his band–” There was another pause. “Yeah, an honest to god, plays at The Hideout every Tuesday metal band. He plays guitar. Lead, not rhythm. His best friend Jeff is rhythm guitar and their lead singer. He can read music and learn a song by ear. Do you know how fucking rare that is? To be able to do both? Trust me, it’s rare, okay?”

“Look, Caleb,” Steve growled, “don’t get pissy with me. You asked me describe my boyfriend. I warned you that I could go on and on.”

Eddie could barely breathe. This was starting to feel less like an excuse to get this asshole to stop harassing Steve and more and more real with every compliment that came out of his friend’s mouth.

Steve’s own breath caught in his chest. He looked directly at Eddie, so full of adoration, Eddie was sure his heart full on stopped.

“Yeah, of course I do,” Steve murmured, “of course I love him. God, how could I not. He means everything to me.” He tried to step forward but the cord got caught in his fingers, so he unwrapped it and took a final step toward Eddie. The cord was now taut, stretched as far as it could go.

Eddie could tell that the scant two feet between them was too far for Steve, but he was tethered to phone. He knew that that ache and longing in Steve’s face mirrored his own expression.

“And I am so grateful I get to call him mine...” Steve finished, his breath shallow as he fought to get his heart rate under control.

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***

Part 2

#my writing #stranger things #steddie #ladykailtiha writes #fake relationship #for all of ten minutes #because they dorks are that far gone for each other

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infoglitch · 3 months

Text

JAUNE IS A WHORE! Pt WHORE (get it?)

(Lancaster/Whiteknight edition.. plus corporate fraud I guess?)

(and before anyone asks why this ain't tagged whiterose as well? I don't feel like having my head being put on like yet by the thorns.)

Jaune found himself in a rather.. interesting predicament as he sat in front of yang and winter. The two women he previously slept with.

Jaune: so... Your not mad.. about when we uh... You know-

Winter: No Mr. Arc we- or more specifically I- am not about our copulation

Jaune: copu-what?

Yang: she ain't mad that you fucked her stupid

Winter: ... That aside we actually came to discuss a recent event.

Jaune: oh.. that being?

Both: you sleeping with Weiss and Ruby.

Jaune: oh... Look before you assume, I will say that Weiss dragged both me AND Ruby to the bedroom.

Winter: well that's obvious, Weiss May be able to stay pristine in public but give her an opportunity to let off steam she'll go full throttle.

Yang: damn weiss-queen is THAT repressed?

Winter and jaune both as jaune winced and massaged his hips.

Jaune: definitely... Gods she practically crushed my hips, though I was better of than ruby, I think her jaw still aches from-

Yang: OK! i don't feel like hearing that.

Jaune: ah sorry forgot you still her as innocent.

Winter: back to the main point I have one question for you Mr. Arc.

Jaune: uh sure fire away.

Winter: do you offer sessions.

Jaune & Yang:

WINTER WTF?!

Winter: I'm being honest here, your practically serving the entire schnee family with your uh... "Arc" all your missing is Whitley and you'd be boning the entire family.

Jaune: well...

Yang: no fuckin way.. you actually-

Jaune: i uh... I fucked Whitley while he dressed up as Weiss.

Winter:... Correction your fucking my entire family!

Jaune:...yeah.

Winter: jaune... Your a whore.

#rwby #jaune arc #rwby lancaster #rwby whiteknight #rwby corporate fraud #winter schnee #yang xiao long #rwby shitpost #jaune is a whore.

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justkending · 5 days

Text

Mr. & Mrs. Hunt (Chapter 2)

Series Summary: Two of the most stubborn people in the group partnered together for an undercover mission are also the two people with the most hatred for each other, so what could go wrong? Or is it, what COULDN’T go wrong?…

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Avenger Reader

Word Count: 3900+

A/N Note: You guys... Thank you for the overwhelming support on this series. You guys are the sweetest :) I've loved reading your series and promise I love them; just haven't had the chance to respond! Again, thank you for the love, as it's all turned back to you!

As for the chapter... Let's make it more fun (otherwise known as interesting) ;)

_________________

Bucky’s POV

Hidden bugs weren’t new business to us, so after disposing of the picture frame, they gifted us with a note saying, “For your new home, and your first picture in it! ;)”... It was an easy ‘accidental’ drop.

However, quickly after that, wouldn’t you know it? A new basket showed up on our porch with another set of welcome-to-the-neighborhood gifts from the whole neighborhood this time…

Y/N had ‘accidentally’ placed the newly potted plant, that they had somehow added a very impressively hidden camera on, too close to the edge of the entryway table, so when she came through the door quickly with her arms full of more boxes, the pot was no longer usable. Shame… We did buy our own pot for said plant, so we still got a new piece of greenery without the bugs.

After those two failed attempts, we hoped our show of clumsiness warded off the assholes and made us less intimidating. And yes, I use that word because I could read easily from our first meeting that they were sizing us up. Analyzing our act and manipulating themselves into our lives in a careful yet planned manner.

For extra measure on the clumsy showcase, Y/N drove into the trashcans I had forgotten to pull to the curb, making a public display of her character’s clumsiness. Though I later learned she was actually just pissed that I forgot to put them out and found a way for me to pay the consequences in our squabble on the lawn.

A squabble that started out a hundred percent authentic and then turned into a fake makeup season when the neighbors peaked their heads out.

“This jughead would forget his head if it weren’t on his shoulders,” Y/N slapped my chest before patting it harshly and smiling at the seventy-year-old next-door neighbor, Gertrude, who always happened to find her rose bushes interesting, only when people were outside.

She smiled and laughed at Y/N’s wide grin before waving her on as she snipped a few thorns.

“God, I hate it here,” Y/N said through her teeth, holding her fake smile as she walked past me into the house.

A few more preplanned acts happened while we were outside to show the community that our accidental breaking of their bugs was just that—accidental. It was not planned and discovered at all.

It had been two weeks so far, and we’d already been invited to a food truck social, a street parade for a family leaving the neighborhood, and an outdoor movie night. All events you would have thought had the same planning committee as the MET Gala with how thorough they were… At least, that's what Y/N said, and I choose to believe that it holds some form of significance.

Tonight, we went over to another couple's house that was high up in the HOA group for a neighborhood barbeque, one where Y/N’s damn lilac tennis dress she had worn to workout with a neighbor, made more than half the dads and men too old and married to be staring, struggle to keep their eyes off her.

I had told her that keeping a hand on her during most of the party was for the act, but genuinely, I didn’t care for how the men of the group gawked at her. Something gave me a bad feeling about it. And I didn’t understand why Y/N wasn’t phased at all or even slightly uneasy, considering she was just as trained as me to assess and sense all that attention.

As soon as we were behind closed doors back in our secure home, my first question was, “Did you really not feel their eyes on you?”

She was in the middle of taking off her shoes, talking about some information she had gotten from a group of stay-at-home wives, something related to our mission, but I couldn’t seem to wrap my head around how unphased she was with the unnerving type of attention she was getting there.

“What?” She paused as she bent to take off a tennis shoe.

“All those guys, the husbands, and pervs at the cookout. You didn’t notice them staring at you?” I asked again, rolling my sleeves of button-down I had on up to my elbow.

She stared at me for a moment and then rolled her eyes as if she had figured out where I was going with this. Spoiler: she was far off the mark.

“Listen, if you’re saying that thanks to this dress, which, yes, is a little short, but who the hell cares, is the reason why men were,” she straightened, kicking off both her shoes fluently, now only in socks. “Gawking at me, as you put it-.”

“I didn’t say that,” I straightened, furrowing my eyebrows.

“Oh, but you did,” she sassed with a shrug, continuing. “Under your breath when you came up, and you staked your claim by never taking your arm away from my waist for the night.”

“I didn’t say that,” I shook my head. I said it in my head, but I hadn’t said that out loud… Had I?

“Ugh, whether you did or didn’t, I could tell you were judging,” she huffed, rolled her shoulders, and walked past me to the kitchen, going straight to the fridge.

It took me a minute, but I figured out where her mind had gone. “I was judging them, Y/N,” I shook my head. “I was judging the horny, married, and dusty-ass men that couldn’t keep their damn tongue from falling to the floor with you in the vicinity. Like their wives had deprived them of any kind of physical touch for the last decade, and they couldn’t keep it in their pants any longer.”

I realized I may have explained more of my thought process than I intended, but she shut the fridge door she had hidden behind and turned to me, scanning, assessing.

“You were jealous.” The corner of her lip raised at her statement.

“What?” I scoffed. “No, loser,” I scoffed again, and clearly, I wasn’t selling my answer because she didn’t lose her growing grin. “I just took notice of how much attention you got, and it concerned me that the ideas most of those men were having were far from civil ones.”

She stared at me for a minute, and I felt uncomfortable in my own skin as she weighed her options regarding how she wanted to react. We still had plenty of fights, but they have been somewhat decreasing lately, and I was hoping we could keep that streak going.

Her assessing stopped, and her grin grew again. “Awe, the Tinman does have a heart.”

And she ruined it. Surprise, surprise.

“It’s sweet that you care, old man,” she twisted the lid to the drink she had pulled out of the fridge and took a swig before looking at me. “But that’s just a day in the life of a woman. Nothing new to me or anyone with the double X chromosomes.” She shrugged nonchalantly.

“I mean, obviously, people look at you,” I started, and she balanced her elbows on the counter before resting her chin on her fist. I continued before I realized my wording. “Before you-”

“Obviously?” She emphasized my word choice. “Keeping notes on an awful lot of things lately, huh, Buck?” she whispered my name like it was a secret, and I knew it was for the odd case someone could hear us, but something about her tone made my chest freeze. “Tell me, what else do you notice…?” She tilted her head one way as she stared at me.

I wasn’t going to lie and say her words didn’t flustered me, but as a reflex, I jumped back into the normal banter.

“You’re not funny, jackass,” I deadpanned and turned on my heel to walk away.

“Oh, stop being such a baby,” she shouted after me, and I heard her sock-clad feet slide on the hardwoods to catch up with me. “Listen, I think it’s nice you’re taking notice of stuff like this. Most men never pay attention to those kinds of things because they don’t have to. It’s not really a normal day-to-day experience for them, so they don’t get it. They don’t HAVE to get it.”

I stopped and turned in my march, and she slid into me from just two steps behind me. I caught her easily, bracing my hands on her biceps to steady her. She let out a huff of air as our chests flushed to each other and then looked up at me.

“You’re murder strut is too fast for me to keep up with,” she mumbled, scrunching her nose in a relaxed way.

I closed my eyes for a minute but didn’t let go of her before I channeled back my seriousness.

“I’ve learned men are assholes, trust me. In this field, we come across some of the worst misogynistic weasels to exist. Wear whatever you want. You have scary dog privileges now. The attire issue isn't what I was getting at,” I replied, thinking of the reference the Parker kid had explained to me recently.

Her smile was unlike any I had the pleasure to be on the receiving end of, and I immediately mentally captured it, worried that I’d never experience the genuineness she was sharing with me in this moment again.

“Scary dog privileges, huh? Someone’s been brushing up on their TikTok trends.” She laughed, scanning my face as I scanned hers. “Peter finally invested in his version of Duolingo? This one labeled new-age-slang-for-100-years-and-older?”

“Actually called, Born-in-1910’s-and-on-the-comeback-of-a-70-year-coma-new-age-lingo. Very helpful,” I retorted, and the surprise on her face as she laughed at me made my grip on her soften, my thumb unconsciously running over the bone on her wrist.

The action brought both of our eyes to the feeling, and in the next second, we had three feet between us.

“I’m going to go take a shower.” Her rush to get around me in the narrow hall caused her to brush along my arm, and it was like the sparks that ignited when I held her tried to reach out for each other again in the brief contact.

“I’ll be in the kitchen,” I grumbled, walking quickly in the opposite direction.

____________________

Y/N’s POV

The last two weeks have been frustrating, but somehow, Bucky and I have learned we work together surprisingly well. We still had our bickering fights and annoying quarrels, but stick us in a house for a few weeks, and we realized we did well at balancing each other out.

Where I hated doing the dishes, he made sure they were done every night. Where he hated doing laundry, I folded and sorted the linens and clothes. I hated cooking, and he somehow was really good at it. I loved to bake when we had free time, and he loved to taste test. I sucked at most things gardening-wise, and he had shown me how to prune overgrown flowers in our gardening bed. Bucky sucked at interior decorating, so I was in charge of making our fake abode look like a real one.

Overall, we do pretty well, considering we hate each other's guts. Ok, well… I don’t necessarily hate his guts, even if I act it. I just have a very low tolerance for his bullshit and don’t mask my frustrations when they hit their limits. As for being a fake wife to him where he has to treat me well… He’s been a picture-perfect husband from a suburban wife’s perspective.

The only thing we’ve successfully avoided that I was worried about is sharing the same bed.

After confirming with the higher-ups that our house was bug-free, we claimed our own rooms (me in the master, of course) and set up our own space. Keeping the facade of a happy married couple outside of those rooms and the house was easy, but I dreaded the day we would have to show more affection and closeness than what we already had.

So far, a kiss on the cheek, holding hands, a hug from behind, and a normal amount of PDA that showed we were in our honeymoon phase yet did not want to make others fully uncomfortable did the job enough. But after Bethanne commented about when we planned on having kids, I figured we might need to bump up our act since she gave a passive comment about us being ‘rather tamed for a newlywed couple.’

Before I could bring up the comment to Bucky once we got home, he seemed more bothered by the men at the party than anything.

I didn’t expect him to notice such a minute thing, but if there was one thing I had learned about Bucky these last few weeks, it’s that he’s very attentive to details I wouldn’t expect him to be on.

Then, to further my confusion about the situation, something seemed different in our intimate hallway space run-in, and both of us scurried away as if the touch of each other burned.

After my shower, I got dressed in my pajamas and heard the TV still on in the living room, where Bucky tended to station himself for a few hours before bed. Well, his bedtime. Another thing about us was that I wasn’t much of a night owl, but I did appreciate knowing someone was on alert while I slept. And even if he didn’t do it for that reason, I’m sure, I liked hearing the TV still on when I tended to wake up in the middle of the night. I felt safer…

“Hey,” I leaned against the wall coming into the living room and saw that he had Brooklyn Nine-Nine on with a computer sat in his lap.

He looked up and gave me a quick head nod before going back to the screen in front of him. “What’s up?”

“Just needed to fill you in on some of the things I learned at the cookout,” I let out a yawn as the day caught up with me and moved to the single chair across from him on the couch.

“Hit me,” he rolled his shoulders back, never looking away from the blue light.

“Don’t ask for things you don’t really want,” I teased, and he looked above the screen at me with a glance that seemed to be holding back a smile before rolling his eyes.

“What’d you learn?” he followed up with.

I went on to tell him about the neighborhood drama. All things that may or may not have any major plays to our mission, but information nonetheless.

“Did you ask any of them about work?” Bucky asked once I had covered most everything.

Our undercover jobs were simple. I worked from home as a data entry clerk. Something boring that Charolette Hunt has been hoping to get out of and find her passion. All this led to me asking around about job connections and if there was anything I could swap over to for a ‘more exciting work life,’ otherwise known as drug trafficking jobs if they were available.

As for Beau Hunt, Bucky’s cover, he was the owner of a transportation company. Considering how well he was doing, he took the last two weeks off to move into his first home with his new wife before having to get back into the work ethic he had been thriving in the last ten years.

All perfect pieces to get the answers and resources from our sketchy neighbors we came here for.

“I asked Katrina, one of the wives of a guy who works closely alongside Reggie. I figured that was a good seed to plant,” I answered, pulling my legs up to my chest and resting my chin on my knees as I watched Jake Peralta chase a bad guy down the streets of New York. I missed the homeland. “She said she’d ask around, which is what I needed. What about you? Any of the 'dusty-ass husbands' have fun details to share?”

“Nothing more than statistics of sports teams and rookie starters for the state college basketball team,” he sighed, and I turned over to see him staring at me before turning back to his computer quickly. “Reggie was giving me a hard time, though.”

“Oh yeah?” I hummed, angling myself to him. “Bethanne was giving me a hard time, too.”

“Think it’s related to the same thing?” Bucky chuckled, looking back at me, but whatever was in his eyes just seconds ago was gone now.

“Say on the count of three?” I smirked.

“One,” he nodded.

“Two.”

“Three.”

“When we’re going to consider joining parenthood,” Bucky said.

“When we’re having kids,” I said at the same time. “Almost a jinx if you didn’t word it so damn robotically. Did fucking Vision channel into your damn cyborg brain?” I laughed, and I heard a slight scoff from his direction before I rolled my head back and looked up at the ceiling. I stayed quiet until Bucky broke me out of my thoughts twenty seconds later.

“What are you thinking?” I heard the computer shut and then be placed on the cushion next to him. “I can hear the gears working past their limit.” His weak version of a retort.

I lulled my stare at him and deadpanned a bitchface at him. “You talking to yourself again?” He rolled his eyes at my comeback, and I decided to bypass the banter. “I think we need to step our game up. Ms. Bethanne thinks we’re ‘tamed’ for a newlywed couple. In other words, she thinks we’re prudes.”

“We’ve hit the PDA marks we need to,” Bucky stiffened just enough for a trained eye to see, but he tried to brush it off as getting comfortable in his spot.

“Hmm, so maybe one of us is a prude,” I shrugged, moving my legs under me and leaning on one side of the chair.

We hadn't kissed, although I would peck one on his cheek, and he would place one on top of my head. But that's as far as either of us had been willing to go.

I know our job may require us to go beyond that, and I was willing to keep it strictly professional even if necessary, but Bucky seemed to want to avoid it by all means. Message received.

“I’m not a prude. I just don’t understand why people have to be so touchy in public. It makes everyone uncomfortable,” he argued.

“Not everyone finds discomfort in those acts. A lot of people think it’s cute.”

“I’m not one of those fucking people.”

“Well, you better figure out pretty fucking quick how to become one of those people because this operation kinda depends on it.” I sighed, standing up and stretching. “Listen, I know you hate me and all, but if we’re going to get this done and over with, we need to-”

“I’ve never said I hate you,” Bucky interrupted. I looked down and saw him staring at me with stern eyes.

“Actions have convinced me otherwise.”

“The same could be said for you.”

“I don’t hate you,” I clarified after carefully studying him for lies.

It was an intense stare-off, but not one where I felt like I had to win it. One where I felt we were both taking a step into new territory, and neither of us knew what to expect.

Bucky’s burner phone rang right before I could follow up with my peace offering, and we saw it was the fake caller ID Steve was under. He picked it up and put it on speaker.

“What’s up, punk?” he answered, and Steve scoffed on the other end.

“Just your biweekly check-in. Anything interesting enough to make this phone call longer than 5 minutes?” he asked.

“Don’t think so,” Bucky sighed and filled him in on the steps we had taken to further the investigation. Planting our gossip seeds where necessary and waiting for the garden to grow.

The call ended with Steve informing Bucky that he ‘started back at work’ tomorrow and would need to go to a specific meeting spot for updates. A way for us to get news that couldn’t be tracked with phone calls and messages. And after two weeks of gathering information and only four check-ins in that time, things were meant to pick up now.

I had decided to head back to my room when a normal conversation between the two started up and strayed from the mission talk. Then, about 10 minutes later, Bucky was in my doorway as I got ready for bed.

“Sorry, Steve wanted to know if we had torn each other’s heads off yet. Nat and him have a bet going,” he said, leaning on the doorway and crossing his arms over his chest.

I shrugged, pulling the comforter back on the bed. “No need to apologize. And who’s winning?”

“Steve gave it 3 weeks, so he’s still in the running.”

“He’s being generous,” I laughed, fluffing a pillow before sitting on the edge and looking at him.

“I don’t know. I think we’ve managed to stay surprisingly civil given our relationship,” he smiled softly as if the conversation wasn’t dangerous grounds and could easily go one way or the other.

“Helps that we have to act for most of it,” I fiddled with my nails.

“Would you rather we didn’t get along?” he asked, and I could see the start of our normal frustration with each other trickle back into his tone.

I stared at him for a minute. Not sure what my goal was here, but it definitely had flipped from wanting to make every minute with him, his own personal hell.

“Fighting has become tiresome. I’m content tolerating the situation.” A bit of a hypocritical response, sounding robotic, but there was no lie behind it.

He stared at me like I had to him.

“Right. Tolerating,” he nodded with pursed lips, pushing off the door frame and walking down the hall to his room.

Something about his attitude made it hard for me to brush off the change in tension. I stood up and walked down the hall. When he was already in his room, I was taking up as much space as I could in his doorway now.

“What’s with the annoyance?” I asked, looking at him as he arranged some things on his nightstand. He turned around, body lax and almost defeated looking.

“I’m not annoyed. Why would I be annoyed with you ‘tolerating me’?” he said nonchalantly with a shrug of his shoulders.

“I don’t know, but you clearly are,” I gestured to him and crossed my arms. “Would you rather I treat you how I have before this? I mean, we can go back to-”

“Obviously not, Y/N,” he cut me off with a scoff, and I was shocked at the sheer anger that I would suggest such a thing. His use of obviously made my brain scramble as well… The second time, that word had messed with me tonight.

“You’re confusing as hell, Barnes,” I squinted my eyes at him and decided I wasn’t in the mood to handle a bipolar 100-year-old man tonight. Maybe it was best if I just called it a night.

Turning in my spot four steps away, I didn’t expect the hand around my bicep to stop me in the middle of the hall, leading to a pensive look on his face as he stared at me.

“What?” I furrowed my eyes at him and looked at the contact unwavering on my elbow.

“I—” he started and then stopped. An internal war played out with surprising clarity on his face. I raised my eyebrows and waited.

We stared for an hour—okay, nine seconds—but it’s all the same with that level of intensity.

“Never mind.” He dropped my arm and took a step back.

“Seriously?”

“I don’t want to start something.”

“There’s something to start?”

“No, but I’ll wait until you’re in a better mood to,” he debated on his wording. “Discuss it,” he settled on, turning on his heel.

“I’m not in a bad mood,” I huffed, and yeah… That didn’t help proving my point.

“Sure thing,” he shook his head before walking into his room, carrying on as if he hadn’t dropped a strange and confusing bomb on me that I now needed answers to.

“Goodnight to you, too,” I grumbled as I walked to my room and shut the door behind me.

Marvel Tags:

@thejourneyneverendsx @death-unbecomes-you @mythos-writes @srrymydood @xa-dia @redhairedfeistynerd @morganclaire4 @connie326 @captain-asguard @mollygetssherlockcoffee @teenagedreams-bucky @shower-me-with-roses @livstilinski @basicallylool @starryeyeseunbyul

My Lovelies forever:

@natura1phenomenon @lauravicente @kakakatey @traceyaudette @notyourtypicalrose @awesome-badass-cafeteria-sauce @sandlee44 @thorne93 @thefaithfulwriter1 @essie1876 @greyeyedsmile14 @capsiclehan @xostephanie @averyrogers83 @awesomenursingstudent @gh0stgurl @cs-please @jjlevin @rainbowkisses31 @deannotmoose @their-bibliophile @kitkatd7 @willowbleedsonpaper @mariaenchanted @snffbeebee @couldabeenamermaid @rebekahdawkins @alyispunk @billyseye @hallecarey1

Bucky Barnes Tags:

@chloe-skywalker @charmedbysarge @jbarness @bellamy-barnes @katiaw2 @aikeia @stopjustlovethemcu @enchantedbarnes

Mr. & Mrs. Hunt Series:

@jackiehollanderr @mrs-bucky-barnes-73 @theroyalmanatee @wintrsoldrluvr @alexakeyloveloki

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes #justkending #marvel series #marvel #bucky barnes series #reader insert #marvel fanfiction #bucky barnes x reader insert #bucky barnes x avenger reader #bucky barnes mini series

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rayroseu · 6 months

Text

THE MAJESTIC EXCELLENCY HERSELF 😍😍😍😍💚💚💚💚 also maybe its just me but is it a reach to hope that an ACTUAL Disney villain can cameo in TWST?? 😆 You know like how Mickey randomly appears before us akjdkss

Also i find it interesting how Yuu immediately got up to go to the Maleficent Statue after concluding the dream as "Maleficent is being left out..." She reminded him of One Guy lol 😭 Also Yuu lore crumbs that theyre finally catching up that their dreams is related to the next overblot lol

ALSO AAAAAHHH SEBEKKKK 💚💚💚✨✨✨ I missed hearing his "human!!" FULLY VOICED✨✨✨ Haruki Ishiya san... thank you 😭💚💚💚

I love his attitude change LMFAO and Silver being the polite person he is insisting Sebek to apologize and Sebek just doesnt lol... SOBS... Also agree with Grim lol Diasomnia literally the most dramatic dorm lol

Also I find it so funny that "Malleus evil smile" expression is his Happiest Expression LMFOAOAOA He's thoroughly AMUSED by Yuu calling him Hornton in front of Sebek (of all people) without hesitance 😭😭

Ohhh Malleus loves chaos alright ✅✅✅💥💥 and his family and friends getting along...😭😭💕💕💕

Also the part where the npcs talked about him broke my heart aughh...

He's just talking with his classmates and everyone is already whispering how "he shouldn't be in this school he's going to curse everyone" (OKAY maybe theyre going to be right about that in a few more updates butksjdjs) But aaa knowing the fact he has superb hearing skills.... I like to imagine he's hearing these rumors while talking to Yuu and the knights but he's just ignoring the rumors since there's a few peopke who are treating him like a normal person right now 😭😭

I LOVE HOW THIS IMPLIES LILIA RELIES ON SILVER THE MOST TOO!!! He couldve asked Sebek or Malleus since theyre the people with no sleep problems... but nooo he insisted on Silver waking him up!! AUDGAUHS I thought he's a general who focuses on efficiency... 😭😭 He just wants Silver to wake him up... i know you lilia 🔍🔍🔍🤨🤨

I am in good pain... considering!! in Book 7!! Lilia repeatedly appears to be a reliance for Silver whenever he feels hopeless... I CANT. Lilia is just like more lowkey about how much he actually relies on his son 😭😭💚💚

ROOK BEING IN THE RUINS TOO IS SO FUNNY LFMAOOO THATS ONE OF MALLEUS' TOP INTERSHIP LIST??? ITS LILIA'S P.E VIGNETTE ALL OVER AGAIN LMFOAOAA HE'S GONNA HARASS MALLEUS DOWN IF THEYRE COWORKERS AHFHAHDHA

Imagine them in the ruins and finally Malleus has someone who is enthusiastic about ""boring facts about Gargoyles and Abandoned Ruins"" but its just... got to be THIS GUY Rook Hunt... who once tried to playfully harm Lilia lol

Malleus and Rook Duo is actually so funny though 😂😂 It still cracks me up that Malleus was once invited on Rooks Bday but he didnt attend cuz he's annoying to him and most notably Rook is not even hostile to him??? He just didnt attend bcs he hates his guts omg😭😭💥💥

This fact is so weird to me... What do you mean that some teeth just becomes an automatic RADIO under the right conditions????😭 Is this a foreshadow to Zigvolts Dentistry??? 😳⚡💚✨✨✨

Can a fae teeth play Elvis Presley just by opening their mouths...?? You know like Stitch acting as a phonograph... 😂

But I doubt??? They have radio towers at Briar Valley so it probably doesnt happen????? But It'd be pretty funny if Briar Valley radio just play bardcore music and one poor fae was "cursed" to have "magical radio teeth" playing bardcore everytime lol

My first thought was "Sebek!!!!✨✨✨" here actually 😭💚 Since he's the only freshman we're missing rn...

But I was surprised Yuu thought of Malleus??? That just further implies Yuu recognizes him as a friend that'll help them too 😭😭😭

Its just precious to think that someone finds Malleus reliable, he'll be so happy to assist Yuu if they're having trouble with anything just like how he enthusiastically offered to explain more about the Thorn Fairy since Yuu is curious about it...😭💖💞💖💗💕 I love them to BITS OMFG...

(I'm sad that Yuu is going home too but I'm ignoring that lol🚶‍♀️🚶‍♀️ Yuu is a self insert theyre supposed to speak MY language of staying with Mal-)

Its devastating that the freshmen are so hyped up to be working together THEY ARE NOT PROCESSING THE IMPLICATIONS OF YUU GOING HOME... 💔😂 if Yuu truly goes home, theres no reason for them to be gathering like this on the cafeteria anymore... 😭😭💔💔 Making myself sad that they'll buy an extra plate for them during lunch break and not even Grim touches that food... just to honor their friend😭😭😭

Wait so we know that the first night in "sleepover to discover Mickey" consists of Deuce and Ace as Grim and Yuu's companion...

Maybe the next nights (without Malleus' overblot interupption) consisted of Epel and Jack, and then possibly Ortho and Malleus??? (since Ortho is the one who suggested that therell be a fae)

Oh but Im going to cry if at Book 7's ending consisted of Yuu inviting Malleus for a sleepover at Ramshackle despite what happened... 😭😭😭 and and like the stars aligning appears once again but this time he's not at ruined Ramshackle missing his friend... He's at a peaceful sleepover with a friend group auGh... 😭😭😭💖💕💞💗💞💗

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dreamwritesimagines · 1 year

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Garden of Secrets [1] - Thorns

A.N: Let’s start my loves!❤ I hope you’ll like this chapter and please don’t forget to tell me what you think, thank you! ❤ And thanks to @theskytraveler for helping me with the story! ❤

Summary: First impressions can go either way.

Warnings: Mentions of unhappy family life and fighting, Regency era society and social rules.

Word Count: 3400

Series Masterlist

You had never been to a circus before, but as much as you’d heard, you were quite certain it was similar to being introduced to the high society of London.

Extravagant clothes, announcements and performing tricks with a dash of danger.

If endless chatter and gossip and constant criticism fell under the category of danger, at least.

“Oh how I’m glad it’s over,” you murmured as the carriage slowed down, then came to a stop in front of your house. “It’s almost a blessing one only debuts once if you ask me.”

“My dearest, come on now,” your aunt said with a small smile. “It wasn’t that bad, was it?”

“Not for me, no,” you admitted. “If anything it was dull, but I saw multiple ladies with tears in their eyes.”

The door of the carriage opened and you stepped out of it, then looked behind you to see the coachman helping your aunt out of the carriage as well. She linked her arm with yours before you both started walking towards the house down the stone road.

“Tears in their eyes?” she repeated. “Surely not. Who?”

“One of the Featherington sisters.”

“The one who tripped and fell in front of the queen?” she asked. “You could hardly blame her.”

“And um…what’s the name of the girl with those huge earrings?”

“Miss Grant?”

You snapped your fingers, “Yes, her,” you said as you slowly climbed up the stairs with her and entered the house. “You’d think being named the diamond is a matter of life or death, with the way people are acting.”

“I’m glad you brought it up actually,” she said as she gave her coat to the maid by the door. “Because I’ve heard—”

“Oh the glorious warriors are back from the battlefield it seems!” your uncle’s voice boomed through the hallway and you couldn’t help but smile slightly at his theatrics. Your aunt shook her head fondly, and looked up at the mezzanine where your uncle was leaning to the stair rails. He gave you a big smile and you and your aunt went up the marble stairs to reach him.

“My Clover,” he hugged you. “Was it terrible?”

You heaved a dramatic sigh. “More than you could imagine, uncle.”

He hummed, that playful glimmer shining in his eyes. “Was there blood?”

Your aunt gasped. “Howard!”

“What? I know how vicious ladies can be when they want to have more suitors than others dear,” he kissed your aunt’s cheek and she patted his arm.

“There wasn’t any blood but some tears,” you pointed out. “Much to my disappointment. I’d love to see people claw each other’s eyes out.”

“Oh you two…” your aunt said and entered the drawing room with you two following her. You took out the multiple feathers from your hair and tossed them on the coffee table.

“Where’s Teddy?”

“With his tutor,” your uncle said. “So? Am I in the presence of the diamond of the season?”

You scoffed. “Thankfully no.”

“That’s what I was saying though!” your aunt said. “I’ve heard some ladies say they were convinced you would be the diamond when they saw you. And her majesty took her time inspecting you, did she not? Y/N, if only you smiled a little in the ballroom …”

You made a face and shook your head.

“No no,” you said. “It wouldn’t have changed anything, Daphne Bridgerton being the diamond makes sense. She’s more beautiful and talented and educated and all that, she was basically born and raised to be the diamond. I learned how to play the piano about two years ago, and the only time I would do it willingly is if I ever wanted to torment somebody. Besides, I’m not—” you paused for a moment, then cleared your throat.

“I’m really not interested in being the diamond,” you managed to say. “More trouble than it’s worth.”

They exchanged glances and your uncle nodded.

“We’re happy if you’re happy, Clover.”

You offered him a tiny smile and stood up.

“Well I’ll change and go to the garden,” you said. “Send for me if you need anything?”

“Will do!”

You made your way upstairs to quickly change your gown and went downstairs again. Grabbing your gardening apron and tools from the small closet by the door, you stepped out of the house and made your way to the flower gardens. You put on the apron and put down the basket, then got on your knees to inspect a rose, frowning slightly before grabbing the pruning shears and getting to work.

You had always loved tending to gardens. Ever since you were a child, it had given you more joy than anything else, planting flowers and watching them grow, it was in fact the only happy memory you had of your childhood. Perhaps it was because it gave you an excuse to stay out of the house, but whatever the reason was, you had always stayed outside, spending hours in the tiny garden you could call your own back home.

More often than not, your older sister would join you. It wasn’t as if she was interested in gardening, at least not like you were, but perhaps she too sought for some peace and quiet, and it was impossible to find it in the house where your parents were. Almost every moment consisted of a fight, things thrown around, and sooner or later either you or her would get involved in it, and be subjected to the fury of your mother or your father, whoever was the closest.

So, staying outside was safer.

In a way, you and your sister had both found a way to stay safe later on in life. She had eloped three years ago with your help, and only a couple of months later your aunt and uncle had visited your parents’ house and had a long talk with your father about letting you and your little brother Teddy stay with them. They had no kids, and since it would mean that your mother and father would have two less mouths to feed, they had agreed quite fast.

Especially when your uncle had mentioned money.

You were quite certain you would always be in your uncle and aunt’s debt. Even though both of them claimed otherwise, it would have made more sense for them to take Teddy, since he was a boy and could be their heir and easily leave you behind in that hell, but they had done no such a thing and made sure to treat you and Teddy like their own.

They were the only parents Teddy could remember.

And you?

As far as you were concerned, your birth parents were dead.

“Y/N!” A gleeful scream made you turn your head and you dropped the shears before Teddy threw himself at you, wrapping his arms around your neck, and thankfully you’d had enough practice at catching him mid-air in the last couple of years so even though your whole body tilted back for a moment, you quickly regained your balance.

“Hello there!” you said, a big smile warming your face as you hugged him back. “What did we talk about sudden movements and sharp objects little man?”

He pulled back, giving you a huge grin.

“Did you trip in front of the Queen?”

You let out a small laugh. “Who told you that? Uncle?”

“He said someone always trips,” he said, excitement laced in his tone. “Did you?”

You shook your head and dropped your voice as if giving him a secret.

“Not me but someone tripped and fell down.”

He gasped. “Really?”

“Mm hm.”

“Then what happened?” he asked. “Is she in prison now?”

You bit back a smile. “No Teddy, no one goes to prison for that.”

“Even if it happened in front of the Queen?”

“Even then,” you said and wrapped your arms around him as he sat down to look at the flowers better.

“How was your day?”

“Boring,” he pouted. “Mr. Langdon says I must study harder.”

You hummed. “You know the rules,” you told him. “You want to be the smartest boy in Eton, do you not? When it’s time for you to go there—”

“I don’t want to go to Eton,” he cut you off and you pulled back to look at him better.

“Why not?”

“I’d miss you,” he mumbled, reaching you to touch the flowers and you felt your heart drop to your stomach at the idea of him going away all on his own. You heaved a sigh and opened your mouth to disagree, but then a tiny four leaf clover caught your sight, making you tilt your head.

This was also one of the reasons why your sister used to call you her lucky clover. Somehow, you managed to find those more than any other gardener.

You reached out to rip it, then held it up for Teddy to see, making him gasp.

“It has four leaves!”

“It does,” you said and put the tiny clover into the pocket on the lapel of his jacket. “See? It’ll bring you luck, in here or in Eton.”

He grinned at you and looked down at the clover.

“And,” you said, making him lift his head. “I’ll always be here for you, no matter where you are. Nothing could ever change that, alright?”

He paused for a moment and nodded fervently.

“Wonderful,” you said and reached inside the basket to pull out another pair of gloves. “Now, what do you say you help me with this?”

Of course everything that had happened in the Queen’s presence had found its way to Whistledown’s gossip columns, and the whole ton was buzzing with the expectation of the balls and social gatherings to come. You would be lying if you said you shared the sentiment, you’d much rather stay at home and deal with your garden, but this was the issue with having debuted, considering how your uncle and aunt were prominent members of the ton, you now had to join any and every social outing within the season, formal or not so formal.

Hence where you were now.

Lady Bridgerton had invited some of the new debutantes and their families for tea, probably to celebrate Daphne’s new status but to socialize as well.

In your opinion, this was nothing but an attempt to make horses become familiar with each other before putting them on the race tracks but your aunt was very excited about it, so of course you said you would go but now that you were here, you couldn’t wait to go back home. The Bridgerton house was beautiful, and Lady Bridgerton was quite nice but the rest of the guests?

Dear God, this was almost as much of a torment as listening to your own tune on the piano.

You made your way to the huge table to grab a glass of lemonade, ignoring the whispers coming from the circle of ladies on the other side of table but when one of them giggled, you turned your head to look at them. The girl stopped whispering with her friends and shot you a slight grin.

“So which one of them are you here for?”

You furrowed your brows and looked down at the lemonade in your hand.

“There are different types?”

“No, silly!” she said. “Which of the Bridgerton brothers are you here for?”

Your frown deepened. “What?”

“Oh none of them of course!” the other girl said. “Irene, stop getting her hopes up.”

You tilted your head. “I’m sorry?”

“I’m Kitty,” the girl introduced herself. “You’ve probably heard about me. Anyway, don’t get me wrong of course but I’ve heard some things about you, that you grew up quite poor until your uncle took you and your brother in so it’s better not to get your hopes up.”

You arched a brow, keeping your gaze on her.

“They say the Viscount won’t get married so if you’re hoping to get him, I’d forget about that plan right now.”

The Vis—

Ah.

Right, you had seen him talking to Daphne when you were leaving the court and quite frankly, you weren’t impressed.

Not that you thought you could be impressed by anyone’s looks.

“Not to worry, you can have him,” you said. “I’m not interested.”

Kitty and Irene exchanged glances and Kitty let out a scoff.

“Oh you’re after Benedict Bridgerton?” she asked. “The second son? That’s hopeless as well. Don’t even make any plans for it, the competition is too high and some say his attention has already been claimed.”

“Devastating,” you said with a completely straight face but it seemed to have gone over her head.

“And if you want to get Colin—”

“Are you planning on listing their whole family tree?” you cut her off. “Did you memorize it in your free time?”

Her jaw dropped and you shrugged your shoulders.

“I’m not jesting by the way, everyone needs a past time activity, yours just happens to be a strange one.”

A small chuckle reached your ears and you turned your glances to the two other girls standing close to you, one with red hair and one brunette.

“Eloise,” Kitty said. “And Penelope. How are you on this fine day?”

The brunette grinned.

“I’ve been better,” she said. “So have you, I suppose.”

Kitty gritted her teeth and Irene turned to you.

“Is it true you’re unable to smile?” she asked and you frowned.

“What?”

“Everyone says so,” she said. “That you have an illness of the sort. You can’t smile even if you want to.”

You stared at her for a moment, then took a deep breath and nodded.

“Yes,” you said. “It’s true.”

She pulled back slightly. “Really?”

“I don’t like to talk about it,” you said. “It was so unexpected. The tragedy struck when I was six years old, the doctors haven’t been able to find a cure or a cause since then. I don’t even remember how it feels to be able to smile to be honest with you.”

Her mouth opened agape in shock.

“And the worst part is,” you said. “The doctors fear it might be contagious.”

Irene gasped and grabbed Kitty’s arm, then pulled her to walk away from you to the other side of the room. You rolled your eyes and one of the girls let out a small chuckle.

“That was good,” she commented and the redhead repressed a laugh.

“She will tell everyone you were not nice to her though, just so you know.”

“I’m not interested in being nice,” you muttered and the brunette smiled.

“I respect that,” she said. “I’m Eloise Bridgerton and this is Penelope Featherington.”

“Lovely to meet you,” you said after introducing yourself and out of the corner of your eye you saw Daphne approaching the table.

“Hello,” she smiled at you brightly before turning to Eloise. “Eloise, where is Benedict?”

“With Lottie I’m guessing. They both disappeared.”

“How shocking,” Daphne said. “Mama wants to see you.”

Eloise heaved a sigh and nodded at you, then she and Penelope walked away. Daphne turned to you.

“Welcome to our home.”

“Thank you for inviting me,” you said. “And congratulations by the way, for being the diamond of the season.”

“Thank you!” she said, that bright smile lighting up her face again. “Some people say the Queen also considered you, I hope you do not resent me.”

You waved a hand in the air.

“Ah no I could never be the diamond, there’s nothing to resent,” you said. “Besides that’s just a rumor. The Queen was probably thinking about something else, I just happened to be there. You deserve that title much more than me.”

“I’m sure that’s not true.”

“Oh it is,” you said. “I assure you.”

She tilted her head.

“We’re all going to take turns to play tunes on the piano in a moment,” she said. “Would you like to play as well?”

“Depends,” you deadpanned. “Do you want to make sure everyone leaves in a hurry? Because that’s my musical talent.”

Daphne stared at you, then covered her mouth to hide her laugh.

“It is a talent nonetheless.”

“One that would prove to be useful against unwanted guests if you have any in here.”

“You have no idea,” she whispered but before she could say anything else, you both heard her name being called. She heaved a sigh.

“I must go,” she said. “But thank you for the conversation.”

“Anytime,” you said and watched her leave, then downed your lemonade. You had to leave before somehow your aunt came up with the bright idea of you sitting in front of that piano, and in your humble opinion this was enough socializing to last you for a day. You made your way to your aunt and touched her arm.

“I’m going back home auntie.”

“Oh?” she asked. “Already?”

“I drank too much lemonade I think, my stomach feels strange.”

“Oh I can—”

“You don’t have to come with me, Paula can chaperone me back home,” you cut her off. “She was with the other maids in the garden the last I saw her.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely,” you said, “I will see you home?”

“Yes my dear,” she said and you kissed her cheek, then thanked Lady Bridgerton on your way out of the drawing room and stepped out to the hallway. You let out a relieved breath and stretched out, all your muscles sore from you being so tense since the moment you had arrived. You rubbed at your eyes, wondering whether your maid was still in the garden but before you could lower your hands a door opened and you crashed into a hard body with a gasp and the person grabbed you by the arm, making your head snapped up.

The man in front of you was tall, much taller than you. His waistcoat fit him perfectly, and you had a chance to glimpse at his muscular arms as he pulled you upright to help you regain your balance allowing you to see his face better. He was very handsome, there was no denying that, with bright blue eyes and black hair, along with a faint smile adorning his lips—

Alright.

Perhaps you could be impressed by someone’s looks then.

You paused only for a moment before you snapped out of your haze and your anger at yourself burned through you for even letting such a nonsense thought catch you off guard. He stared at you, his mouth slightly agape as if he was in the same haze as you were but you narrowed your eyes, glaring at him.

“Watch your step,” you nearly growled and a look of confusion crossed his handsome face, making him blink in silence a couple of times.

“…It’s—it’s my house?” he said slowly as if trying to see whether you were jesting. “I live here.”

You shrugged your shoulders, still glaring at him and he took a deep breath as if deciding to clear out any misunderstanding.

“I’m Benedict Bridgerton.”

Ah.

Well, that made sense. No wonder the competition was high—

From an objective stance, that was.

“Congratulations,” you deadpanned and a small giggle reached your ears, making Benedict turn to glare at the closed door behind him.

And that was probably the girl who had ‘claimed his attention’ as they put it. Not that you would be troubling yourself with it.

“Um— what about you?” he asked as he turned to you again. “What’s your name?”

You raised your brows. “Why?”

“To repeat, because you are in my house.”

“So are a lot of other ladies,” you said and pointed back with your thumb. “They are waiting for you in the drawing room.”

He grimaced as if the mere thought caused him pain. “Are they really?”

“My heartfelt sorrows for the hardships waiting for you, may you find a solace of some sort.”

“You don’t sound to be in sorrow.”

“This is how I sound in sorrow,” you pointed out drily and he seemed almost amused as he tilted his head.

“Will you really refuse to tell me your name?”

“That’s not important information,” you said and walked past him, the faint scent of his cologne mixing into your breath and you bit down on your lip, then started making your way downstairs.

“Why not?” he called out and you scoffed.

“I doubt we will ever talk to each other again Mr. Bridgerton,” you called back, your heels echoing on the marble of the foyer before you walked out of the house, not even looking back.

Chapter 2

#benedict bridgerton #benedict bridgerton x reader #bridgerton #bridgerton x reader #regency fic

1K notes · View notes

mirrormazeworld · 9 months

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Twst Analysis and Findings Why Crowley isn't Malleus's Dad, Unpopular Chapter 5 Diasomnia Twst Theory

While 99.9% of people seem to be convinced that Crowley is Levan, I'm that 0.01% who is still not convinced yet because there are some things that I found really odd if Crowley is Malleus's dad. So odd that this post itself has become a long post.

If you search for something and want to read where Crowley isn't Levan/Malleus's dad, then this theory and analysis is for you because here I'll explain some points for your considerations before jumping to conclusions, though I'm not sure if anyone will care about what I write and hear this small opinion at this point.

1. Heavily implied "another dragon from another country"

In Diasomnia chapter 4, it's said from Lilia's dialogue that "Draconia clan are the descendants of the dragons". All this time we might think that "Draconia are the only dragon in Twisted Wonderland" but in chapter 5 it's revealed that Draconia aren't the only dragon in Twisted Wonderland because there are other dragon clans from faraway country.

Malleus's dad, Levan's title is 竜眼公 in Japanese and it can be translated literally as "Dragon Eye Lord" or "Longan Lord". (More about his title, you can see it in my previous post)

If we see it the way like how longan fruit is named, (龍眼) either 龍眼 or 竜眼 still have the same meaning, but the only difference is 龍眼 is from Cantonese while 竜眼 is from Japanese.

But the main points in common are : They are both "Dragon Eye" and "Eastern Countries"

Which means there's a high possibility that Levan is a dragon from the longan clan/eastern dragon clan.

What's more interesting is that Lilia seems to be very fond of this "Long/Eastern Dragon" that he wants to spend the rest of his life there in their homeland. Out of all the countries he can and had ever visited, why did he choose "Red Dragon Country" in particular?

In first Halloween event Diasomnia also went with the theme of Long and it's revealed that it was Malleus's idea himself with Lilia providing more information about the Eastern Dragon Country culture and the Longs. And then there's that one dialogue said by Lilia himself in the Halloween Event :

"In fact, one such Long became a family's guardian spirit"

It is somehow similar to Levan who has been like a guardian to Meleanor and his draconia family, as her husband, her Left General alongside Lilia (Right General), and her most trusted person (Meleanor's Eyes and Limbs)

If it's not a subtle information but also kind of important that it's heavily implied many times just like Malleus who froze the time in Endless Halloween then I don't know what it is.....

2. Discarded Character Concept (?)

In twst exhibition there's an initial concept art of Crowley where he seems to have a similar theme and is somehow grouped with Diasomnia. It's because he had the same color as that of Diasomnia, even you can see the thorns on his leg and arm which as we know, is the symbol of Diasomnia/related to Draconia family (Sleeping Beauty Squad)

However, if we compare Crowley's old design and his original, usual one, in the design of the Crowley that we know now, twst seems to actually change every Diasomnia/Sleeping Beauty concept out of him and replace it all, from "thorns" to "mirrors" and "golden keys", and leave only the "corvid" part of him.

The question is, Why did Yana and twst team go into such trouble to change him all the way?

In Diasomnia Chapter 4 it's revealed that "Briar Kingdom has two castles : Black Scale Castle (Briar Valley's Main/Capital Castle) and Wild Rose Castle (Meleanor's Castle)

Diasomnia chapter is heavily tied with Wild Rose Castle rather than Black Scale Castle and places the main casts of Diasomnia chapter in Wild Rose Castle rather than Black Scale Castle and wrote Meleanor as Princess rather than a Queen. I know Diasomnia chapter was written with Sleeping Beauty as its story frame, and Meleanor is supposed to take the role of Maleficent in that story, but the question is why they created two castles and used Wild Rose Castle as the main background of the story rather than just create and use one castle, and give the title "Princess" to Meleanor and not a "Queen" since Maleficia, Malleus's grandma is the Queen? In the original and older version of sleeping beauty by Brothers Grimm, "Maleficent" is depicted as a Queen who is jealous of Talia (Sleeping Beauty) and not a Princess. It's as if they want to separate what is "exclusively Diasomnia chapter" from Briar Valley/Briar Kingdom itself.

This is honestly only my personal opinion, but based on these facts, the only logical, possible explanation I can think of is because they want to give this Diablo/Diaval's role to this Lord Longan so that Crowley can play a more bigger role rather than just a diplomat/messenger, and thus, discarded the old Crowley concept and made it invalid.

Thinking the old design as the valid source of information means that you want to tell people that "Epel with skirt and Idia as the little brother are canon" but are they now? Do twst used that concept in the end? Does Epel wear skirt in game and Idia is Ortho's little brother? Of course not, and you already saw it yourself that Yana already discarded that idea completely.

3. A seemingly Disastrous Chronology if Levan is Crowley

With the given information from in game, I want you to think with logic here :

Lilia is 700 years old. NRC gave him a letter of acceptance 500 years ago, but then he ripped it, and then Levan taped it back and stored it in royal archives. Silver said they are in Lilia's dream from 400 years ago and as we know this is when the war between faes and Silver Owl occurred, and at that time it's said that Levan was missing.

Now what I find odd is : if Levan is Crowley, then who sent the NRC acceptance letter to Lilia? We all know the Headmaster is in charge of student admission just like how he permitted Yuu and Grim to become NRC students, sending letters to people acknowledged by dark mirror, persuading Kalim's family, letting Ortho enroll even though he is an android and so on. And if Crowley is Levan, he wouldn't be able to do his job as Headmaster in Land of Dawning because he would need to be present in Briar Valley by Lilia's side to tape back the letter Lilia had torn to shreds.

Keep in mind that there are no official exact years and number from twst itself how long Crowley had been headmaster of NRC yet but from Diasomnia chapter it's clear that NRC already existed back then far before the war between humans and fae.

This one is just my personal opinion, but I'm more convinced that Crowley was the one who cast complex, ancient spell on Grim and therefore, know something about the extremely rare overblot incident that seems to always happen in NRC (and so we heard his voice summoning Yuu and said "we are all running out of time" in the prologue") and so he is tied more heavily to book 8 (Ramshackle/NRC) after Diasomnia if it does exist in the future than book Diasomnia.

Both The Watcher from Island of Woe (Idia's family) and the primeval spell that casted on Grim which seems to be similar to Shroud family's curse were from when the nature of overblot was not known yet and was considered as natural disaster, dated back to the "Age of Gods" which is approximately 1000 years ago.

But then you might think "Oh maybe Crowley had lived that long and pretended to be Levan to play his role." This is impossible because Lilia, Meleanor and Levan are childhood friends and well, Lilia said it himself that they were still children, besides Lilia is 700 years old and not 1000 years old.

Therefore I don't think Crowley is Malleus's Dad, Levan. But if someone said "Crowley was Maleficia's (Malleus's grandma) subordinate, then I can believe them because that way it will be possible for him to exist since the Age of Gods.

And perhaps this is also the reason why Yana and twst teams purposely wrote Diasomnia story with two castles and used Wild Rose Castle as the main background scene in the story rather than just created and used one castle, because they do wanted to separate it and created a place exclusively to tell Diasomnia story so it wont disturb the other plot of the other story and create a plot hole as a whole.

And so that's all the many reasons why I don't think Crowley is Malleus's Dad. Unless someone can answer the questions that had been swirling around my head because of how absurd Crowley is Malleus's Dad theory is which I had been marked with red color in this post and explained it logically or the official told it themselves then I won't be convinced.

#twisted wonderland #twst theory #dire crowley #twst crowley #twst thoughts #malleus draconia #twst malleus #twst lilia #lilia vanrouge #twst levan #personally I think Crowley is Malleus's Dad theory is so absurd #unpopular opinion #twst spoilers #twst chapter 7 spoilers #twst chapter 7

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garden-of-omegas · 6 months

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⚜ FIRST MEETING [SPYXFAMILY - THE FAMILY] ⚜

┌── ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ••✎•• ──────────

characters: loid forger | yor forger/briar | yuri briar summary: the details of your first meeting with your future mate. warnings: spies, contract killers, references to assassination, references to torture, adopted families, references to war, yuri rating: sfw a/n: guess who finished the spy x family anime? i did! i love yuri so much, and i love the forgers so much, and i love so many characters so much! honestly, haven't felt this motivated to finish something in ages. i'm back bitches! hopefully i'll start getting faster at writing these too.

~🎕

└── ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ••✎•• ──────────

≿━━━━༺❀ loid forger ❀༻━━━━≾

✿ you were a hitman. you'd never really been anything else. you were infamously known as "dawn", though no one had ever actually been able to pin anything on you specifically, mostly because you could control minds.

✿ both your and loid's ages are... nebulous at best, though loid had been working as a spy for about a decade, while you'd been in the business for at least two of those.

✿ you'd recently come to ostania under an alias to work as a teacher at the eden academy. loid was looking for an alpha to play a part in his pretend family, and just happened to meet you while shopping for anya. the moment she realized you were a spy too, your fate was sealed. anya insisted on you becoming her new appa, and once loid realized where you worked he saw an opportunity. you on the other hand, thought that a marriage could be beneficial to blending in while on your mission.

✿ before neither of you got to the point of actually proposing (a fake marriage) you received a mission to retrieve some valuables, a mission loid had also gotten. after several shenanigans, the two of you run into each other out of disguise, get chased by a bunch of smugglers, and loid proposes to you to the sound of explosions. you say yes. obviously.

✿ loid found you inconspicuous, a bit odd but sweet. admittedly, anya's love for you might've made him a lot less suspicious than he might've been if he actually paid any attention to literally anything about you. loid was handsome, and that was about the extend of your initial thoughts. a decent man, with a good job, and an adorable daughter. the perfect cover for any spy, which you should've probably thought about a little harder.

≿━━━━༺❀ yor briar ❀༻━━━━≾

✿ you were an... "interrogator", let's put it that way. but also the heir of a mysterious earl, who'd been kind enough to take you in when you were a child and taught you to be the person you are today, to be "the bloody prince".

✿ yor was 26, while you were 25. your father had recently started insisting that you find yourself a spouse, as you were soon to start training a child of your own.

✿ you actually met while working. you were having a "conversation" with a target, trying to get the names of some traitors out of him when the thorn princess showed up to kill your target. you fought about it, you even tried using your powers against her but they didn't work. she pretty much kicked your ass, and you barely got away. after finding a place to catch your breath, you realized that you found your almost killer to be heart-poundingly beautiful.

✿ you met yor a few days later, having met your new protege (a cute little girl by the name of nel) just the same day. she noticed yor and complimented her looks, which got you interested in her as well. while you were still a bit hung up on the mysterious beauty who almost killed you, yor seemed sweet and the type to not ask too many questions. thus, you asked her out on a date, and became a bit infatuated when she got flustered by the whole thing. she still said yes of course.

✿ yor found your secret identity to be impressive, if a little cruel. not that she could really speak on it. but meeting the real you, she thought that you were the most handsome alpha she'd ever met. if only you didn't fluster her so much. you enjoyed both sides of her, not that you knew they were the same person. she was strong, she was beautiful, she was everything you could possibly want in an omega. but you weren't actually looking for love, as you claimed to yourself.

≿━━━━༺❀ yuri briar ❀༻━━━━≾

✿ you were the leader of an anti-government organization, still in it's starting stages. but for the most part you were simply going to school, trying to quickly get yourself through schooling to start truly working towards your goals with your comrades.

✿ you were 17, on your second year of college, while yuri was 14 and already on his first year of college. it'd been three years since you started your group.

✿ to put it simply, you and him were put together as roommates. you'd been impossible to find a roommate for, and yuri didn't get along with any of his classmates, so the administration thought that the two of you could just bother each other. and bother each other did you, both of your personalities clashing together the moment you met. especially about your views, even though you didn't dare to actually talk about your true beliefs. but it was hard, yuri was far too talented at riling you up.

✿ you remained roommates for the last two years of your schooling, and it was a disaster up until that point. but there were moments of peace, where yuri would help you with your school work and you'd look after him to make sure none of the older students bothered him. but most of your relationship was full of bickering and disagreements.

✿ yuri thought that you were the most annoying roommate one could possibly have, not for your habits or anything (you were actually pretty strict about keeping the place clean) but your personality. he admittedly did get a bit of a crush on you already, but would never admit to it. yuri was a kid. an annoying one, but an understandable one too. you didn't actually hold anything he said too seriously, and mostly just enjoyed riling him up because he'd act all huffy and cute about it. if he wasn't so stubborn about his beliefs, you might've asked him to join your cause.

#⚜ garden walks #omegaverse #a/b/o #alpha!reader #x reader #spy x family #loid forger #omega!loid #yor forger #omega!yor #yuri briar #omega!yuri #spyxfamily - the family

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cassandraclare · 1 year

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Original versions/Matthew

pagesofmoonlight asked:

was matthew ever going to ....

die/turn into a vampire in your original outline for chain of thorns?

poesflowercrown asked:

Based on the original epilogue you talked about, was matthew originally gonna die in edom ??

No.

I think we kinda need to dispense with the idea that there was some “original idea” for the Last Hours, start to finish, and the current version is different. There isn’t and there wasn’t. When I talk about old ideas I’m usually talking about concepts I rolled around in my head before discarding them in coming up with the final concept; it would be rare that I’d even have gotten far enough at that stage to write down a note. Thinking “maybe everyone James knew is dead” at some point is not detailed enough for me even to have known anyone was going to Edom, or how anyone died, or anything else that happened.

This is the way anything is created. Every book involves the writer having had a thought in the past like “Maybe this would be interesting if it happened” and then tossing the idea: it does not mean that idea has any bearing or influence on the final product. While I think the past thoughts writers had while engaged in the process of coming up with a book are interesting, I think they’re irrelevant to the book. I see people twisting themselves into pretzels trying to figure out if some past “version” of TLH determined how the eventual TLH was plotted, or coming up with long conspiracy theories about how someone or other had to die because of the family tree.*

None of these things are true. There’s no “original” TLH, just a series of evolving thoughts that eventually become a final story, which is the version we consider to also be the actual story. I’m sure I considered every character’s death at one point or another. I probably considered blowing up London and having Oscar become prime minister. That’s how plotting works; it doesn’t mean any of that stuff is important, or — more significantly — that there is one “original version” rather than thousands, none of which have any more bearing on the final book than any other.

I will say I never thought of Matthew being a vampire even once! I did enjoy the theory though.

*I made no decisions about anything based on the family tree. I decided it had to be inaccurate in order to free myself up to make whatever decisions I wanted — whether those decisions made the tree more or less inaccurate was irrelevant because it had to be. At the end of the day, the family tree is just extra content, and 90% of my readers have never heard of it or seen it.

#famly tree #chot #spoilers #matthew fairchild

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naughtyneganjdm · 1 year

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On the Run - Chapter 1

Story Summary: Being the daughter of wealthy socialite Philip Blake, the man running for governor, has its advantages but when someone tries killing Y/N in order to get to her father, Y/N finds herself on the run and entangled in a web of mystery and romance with her professor Joel Miller and her bodyguard Negan Smith.

Characters: Joel Miller (The Last of Us), Negan (The Walking Dead), the reader (OC, third person), etc.

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/47007172/chapters/118420453

Warnings: Swearing, angst, smut, abuse of power between a professor and a student, etc.

Notes: I'm doing another crossover with Joel Miller and Negan Smith. This is very alternate universe and will feature characters from both The Last of Us and The Walking Dead. I already have a lot of the story written so I will try to update it as frequently as possible.

As always Y/N ='s your name or whatever name you want to use for this story. Thanks for checking it out.

Silence. It was something that so many people longed for and enjoyed, but for Y/N it was miserable. Sitting alone in the large dining room waiting for her father to make his presence was something she did frequently. And every time she did, she never felt more alone in her whole life. It was so quiet that the ticking sounds from the grandfather clock in the other room was heard and it was driving her crazy. This was how it always was. So many of her friends told her that she was lucky to have a rich father. A father who gave her access to whatever money she wanted and allowed her to do anything she pleased. While it sounded nice on the outside it was actually a very lonely life.

When Y/N was a child, her mother had abandoned her and her father. At the time Y/N didn’t understand it but as she grew older, she didn’t blame her. She just wished sometimes that her mother would have taken her along. Y/N’s father was Philp Blake. A powerful man with a whole lot of money to control whatever the hell he wanted, but it was clear most of her life that being a father was never something he wanted. The lack of presence from her father was always very evident in her life. He was always busy at work or away on trips leaving her alone with a lot of the workers that he hired to watch over her. If anything she was more of an annoyance to her father. A thorn in his side. For a while he wanted her to follow in his footsteps and take over the family business, but her interest was in other things. It was her final year in college and her father made it exceedingly clear that he hated the direction her life was going in. Threatened her that once she was done with school if she didn’t do what he wanted with the family business he would cut her off completely, but truthfully? She didn’t give a shit. So because of that, she was living it up now while she could. She had complete access to his money and could do anything she wanted so she was. Her father was too busy with running for the position of governor in the state that they were living in to even notice anyways. It was almost a fuck you to him.

Shifting in her seat, she reached for her phone to pull it out and look at it. If her father was going to take any longer, she would have to be rushing to class and she hated that. She liked getting to everything early, but her father was the type to make others wait for everything. What was worse about today was that it was her birthday and she knew that he wouldn’t be doing anything special for it. In fact, that’s probably why he was making her wait longer than normal.

When the sound of footsteps finally started to fill the air, she set her phone down on the table and lifted her eyes to see her father entering the room with an arrogant smug over his features. He definitely knew it was her birthday and that’s why he made her wait.

“Y/N,” her father sat, his eyes gazing out at her when he got comfortable in the seat across from her at the large dining room table. “I’ve had them start breakfast for us.”

“I’m not going to be able to have it. I have classes to get to,” she informed him with a smirk, looking to her phone to see that she didn’t have much time left until she had to leave. “So what’s the plan for tonight?”

“I have a fundraiser tonight,” he remarked with a huff, his eyes surveying her over closely. “You can be late to your classes. I should be having breakfast with my daughter on her birthday.”

“Oh, so you do remember my birthday?” she feigned being shocked placing her hand over the center of her chest. Of course he would want her late for her classes because he hated what she was doing to begin with. “Here I was thinking you forgot.”

“Would you ever let me forget?” his southern drawl rumbled making her roll her eyes and shake her head. “I heard you had a party planned for tonight.”

“Oh yeah. Huge one. Everyone is coming here and we are going to celebrate out back. Lots of people, lots of noise and lots of alcohol,” she emphasized her words, her eyes narrowing out at her father when he let out an amused breath. “So you don’t have to worry about me embarrassing you at that fundraiser. I’ll be home embarrassing you in other ways.”

“I don’t care what you do as long as you stay out of the media. Enjoy it now while you can because this is your last year to do so before I cut you off. You’re twenty-three now. I think it’s about time you started taking care of yourself, don’t you? Since you’re so hell bent on not being part of the family business,” he almost mocked her seeing the way that she shook her head with his response. “Architecture? I can’t believe my own daughter is that boring.”

“Sorry to let you down pops,” she threw her hands up in the air and shrugged her shoulders. “I’m very much aware that I’ve been a constant embarrassment to you since I was born. We all know you wanted a boy.”

“I did,” he agreed with her nodding his head slowly. “Yet here you are. I’m sure if I had a son, he wouldn’t be turning his back on me going into something as useless as architecture. What a waste of a life and job.”

“Well I do like to waste time, just like I did this morning here waiting for you,” she gave him back the attitude making him let out a muted laugh that made her throat tense. “I’m glad I got to share my morning with you for my birthday. It was actually surprising to see you on this birthday compared to the last…how many birthdays have you missed again?”

“Always with the attitude,” he shook his head and sighed loudly, reaching out to place his hand over the center of the table. “When was the last time your mother contacted you again for your birthday? In fact when was the last time your mother contacted you at all?”

His arrogant, smug smirk made her curl her fist up and she could feel her heart hammering in her chest, “Your silence tells me everything. I imagine you at least bought yourself a fine gift for your birthday with the money I freely let you use.”

“Absolutely,” she snorted hating that his comment about her mother was able to actually upset her as much as it did. He wasn’t wrong. Her mother wanted nothing to do with her father and that’s why she ran off. But in running off, she wrote off Y/N too and that left Y/N parentless in a fashion. “You still keeping an eye on mom?”

“Are you asking me if I know where your mother is?” he questioned watching her nod and he threw his hands up in the air. It pissed her off that her father constantly threw it in her face that he knew where her mother was, but he’d never let her know. It had been so long since she had seen her mother that she felt like seeing her mother again would do nothing for her. At this point she was angry with her mother for leaving her all alone with her father. “I do.”

“And you won’t tell me, right?” she confirmed with her father hearing him chuckle under his breath and slide in closer to the table when one of the workers he had hired to work around the house came in with a tray of food for him.

“Why would I do that?” he blurt out with a tip of his head. “Your mother wants nothing to do with you. Why would you even be interested in finding out where she is? It’s not like she’s going to accept you back with open arms. You’re as good as dead when it comes to your mother.”

“Right,” she stood up from the table and stopped before leaving standing in the doorway. “Since I’m as old as I am and you’re ready to write me off completely as soon as I’m out of college, can I finally be allowed to leave without having your men tailing me?”

“Come on,” her father scoffed grabbing a berry from his plate and taking a big bite of it. “You know why I have you followed.”

“So I don’t embarrass you?” she saw her father’s head of security walking into the dining room with them, pulling up a seat beside her father at the table. “Good morning, Simon. I’m sure I’ll be seeing plenty of you and your men tonight, huh?”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” Simon winked, stroking his fingers over his graying mustache that looked like that of a villain in a cartoon.

“I’m going,” she announced pointing toward the door and Simon dramatically waved at her making her feel furious when she turned on her heel to leave. It was a useless meeting with her father and she didn’t understand why she waited for him anyways.

Instead of focusing on it though, she went to her classes and concentrated solely on those. None of her friends were in the same program as her so it made it easy to focus on what needed to be done with her schooling during the day. She knew that some of her friends would make a big deal about it being her birthday so avoiding them until later was a good idea.

The day went by quickly and by the time she got to her last class, she had her phone sitting on top of the desk before her. It was buzzing relentlessly and she knew that it was people getting excited about the big party for tonight. Instead of giving it attention, she just let it go until the professor standing at the front of the room turned to face her.

“Could you silence that damn thing?” he requested, his chocolate brown eyes locking with hers when she looked to her phone that was on top of her desk. With a smirk, she nodded and reached to turn her phone on silent when he shook his head. “You know in most cases I would have no problem throwing someone out of my class for interrupting it.”

“It won’t happen again Mr. Miller. It was an accident,” she assured him with a wicked smirk seeing the way that his eyebrows furrowed while he stared out at her and tugged at his plaid, button down shirt he was wearing in a nervous motion. “You know how much I love this class. You have my full attention. It was an accident.”

“I’ll let you off this time, but the next time I’m throwing you out,” he threatened, stroking his hand down over the facial hair that was over his jawline. With a shake of his head, he went back to teaching leaving her somewhat amused over their interaction. By the end of class her professor was seated at the edge of his desk with his arms folded out in front of his chest. “Ms. Y/N, please come to my office after class. We need to discuss something about your last project.”

“What about it?” she reached for her bag and threw it over her shoulder seeing him tip his head to the side. “Was it bad?”

“We need to discuss some things about your work,” he reiterated and moved out of the class leaving her standing at her desk with a smirk. Heading out of the lecture hall, she let out a gasp when she saw her best friend standing and waiting outside of the room for her.

“Poppy. What are you doing here?” Y/N clung tightly to her bag watching her best friend grip to her books and bounce in the position that she was in. Poppy’s blonde hair that was tied up wiggled with the movements and her green eyes glistened with excitement. “I have to go talk to my professor about something.”

“Oh! Come on! It’s your birthday and we have a party to plan!” Poppy’s squeaky voice boasted making Y/N smile.

“It is my birthday, but the party is already planned all out. All you have to do is meet me there tonight,” she reminded her friend making a frown expand over her features. “I have to deal with classes first. I will call you when I’m out of the meeting.”

“You should just ditch your professor Y/N, he works you too hard,” Poppy declared with a shrug of her shoulders. “I’ll be waiting for you babe.”

“Looking forward to it,” Y/N winked heading through the hallways to the office where she knew she would find Professor Miller. Standing in the doorway, she knocked on it when she saw that he was sitting at his desk looking at something with his laptop. When he heard her knock, she watched his brown eyes lift to stare out at her and she smiled. “You wanted to see me?”

“Close the door,” he instructed waving her into the office when he pushed his seat back and away from the desk. Listening to his order, she did what he asked and pulled her bag in closer to her body. “You left your phone out on your desk to annoy me today and I know you did.”

“Why would I ever do something like that Joel?” she placed her hand in over the center of her chest and feigned being innocent in the moment. “I’m your best student. Why would I purposely go out of my way to upset you? I don’t want you to punish me and give me a bad grade…”

With a rumble, Joel stood up from his seat and started to make his way around the table and she dropped her bag at her side, “Well, I may want you to punish me. I just don’t want you to give me that bad grade.”

“You’re a bad girl,” he rumbled reaching out to hook his arm around her waist to pull her in flush against him making her smile when she braced her hand in over the center of his chest. “You’re lucky it’s your birthday because I would spank you if it wasn’t.”

“Please do Professor Miller,” she purred biting at her bottom lip in a seductive manner seeing his eyelids heavy with want and lust while she stroked her fingers up and over the side of his neck. “It is my birthday after all.”

“You are going to be the death of me,” Joel slurred lowering down to claim her lips with his in a forceful sweep that left her melting in against his chest with his strong arms wrapped around her. With a growl, he bit at her bottom lip giving it a small tug before staring down at her. “You’re lucky I like you so much because I could have thrown you out of class today and avoided your birthday completely. I can’t play favorites you know.”

“Oh, I’m your favorite?” she teased him, pulling him down by the collar of his shirt to get him to kiss her again. Her lips parted allowing the warmth of his tongue to brush out against hers making her purr when they separated.

“You know you are,” Joel whispered, his thumb dragging out over her bottom lip and the warmth of his breath over her skin drew chills down her spine. “You are so beautiful. You know that?”

“Aw, Joel. Winning me over with your words. Just like you always do,” she muttered sliding her hand up to pluck open the top button of his plaid button down. “I do kind of want you to punish me for my birthday though. Remind me not to be a bad girl.”

“Well, if you insist,” Joel smirked grabbing a firm hold of her and leading her over toward his desk. Forcing her down over the top of it, he placed his hand firmly over the back of her neck and squeezed at it before dragging it down between her shoulder blades and over her spine. It made her let out a shuddering breath and he smiled. “You need to be more careful in my classes. Obviously, I’m going to like you because you’re my best student, but you make things too obvious and that is risky.”

“No one is going to know that we are fucking,” she looked back over her shoulder at him, wincing when he used his other hand to force her to put her head back down over his desk. “I wouldn’t want anyone to know about our relationship because I don’t want to ruin your job for you. You know I like our relationship. I don’t want to lose it.”

“Then you need to be a good girl and do as I say,” he responded sliding his palm in over her full bottom, squeezing it firmly before giving her bottom a firm smack. Arching forward, she purred out only to feel him reaching for the back of her pants. Pulling them down, Joel took her panties with the movement getting the material to her thighs. “You want to be a bad girl for your birthday?”

“I want to be your bad girl,” she slurred feeling the warmth of his palm caressing over her flesh making her bite down on her bottom lip. Purposely she added emphasis to the word your, knowing that she just wanted to be this way for him. After his soothing caress she felt him smack down over her ass making her whimper out. “Harder.”

“Harder?” Joel repeated her request, his southern drawl getting her hotter with the way he continued to caress over her tender flesh. Arching her back, she felt a stronger smack over her bottom making her cry out with the burning sensation it left over her flesh. Another firm spank followed and then another making her coo out and she felt a damp heat at her core. Joel’s hand caressed over the fleshy part of her ass before sliding between her thighs to trace his rough fingertips over the length of her sex. Teasing her with the idea of his fingers, he traced them over her sensitive lips before circling his index finger over her entrance. It made her hips arch up and a tsking sound fell deep from within his throat. “Sit still.”

“Joel,” she mewled out his name when he sank his fingers inside of her taking his time to thrust his finger in gradual strokes having the movements slowly grow stronger in strength. It made her close her eyes tightly, her head tipping back when he growled in response.

“You are so fucking wet. The spanks really did you in, didn’t they?” Joel teased her, inserting another one of his thick fingers into her warmth making her shudder beneath him. The plunges of his fingers inside of her made her heart hammer inside of her chest and she felt her pulse jumping in her throat. Before she could begin to enjoy the pleasure he was drawing out inside of her, he was pulling his fingers from her body and she whined. Looking over her shoulder she watched Joel bringing his fingers to his mouth to take them between his lips. Sucking at the taste of her over his flesh, Joel smirked when he saw the lust in her eyes while she stared out at him. “Head down.”

“Joel,” she pouted seeing him snap his fingers and she did as he ordered of her. Lowering her head, she stretched her hands out and curled her fingers around the edge of the desk. Joel stepped in behind her and she felt the denim of his pants rubbing up against her making her hum out with the friction it caused. Beneath his jeans she could feel him hard while he rubbed himself against her bottom. “Was your cock hard in class?”

“With you sitting in front row, my cock is always so hard,” Joel responded, biting down on his bottom lip while he rubbed himself up against her bottom. “Moving you to the back so I don’t have to sit down all the time would probably be a good idea. Don’t you think?”

“But I want to be able to look at you. We don’t have much time left with me in your class,” she whined when he pulled his hips and moved away. Going to lift up, she felt him pressing into the center of her back to keep her in place.

“Remember, you do as I say,” Joel demanded stepping in front of her at the other side of the desk. Joel started to pull open the belt in his jeans making her lift her head up to look up at him with big eyes. Licking her lips, she saw his dark eyes locked on her. Getting his jeans open, he pushed the material to the side and reached to pull down the front of his boxers making his cock spring out before her. Her throat went dry from the position she was in watching Joel’s thick fingers curl around his cock to stroke it firmly in his grasp. It drew attention to the swollen tip making her wet her lips. Stepping as close as he could to the edge of the desk, Joel hooked his fingers into her hair to get her to lift her head a bit further while his other hand led his cock toward her mouth. Teasing the tip of it across her bottom lip made Joel smirk when she whined knowing that he wasn’t allowing her to take him into her mouth yet. “You would do just about anything for me, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes,” she slurred against his flesh, parting her lips just enough for her to kiss at the tip making Joel’s jaw flex in response. “Anything you want…it’s yours.”

“Good girl,” Joel pressed his hips forward watching her kiss further at the tip before dragging her tongue out across the top collecting the taste of him at the slit. “Go ahead…”

Taking his cock into the warmth of her mouth made Joel tip his head back and moan, his fingers hooking tighter into her hair while she lapped at the head of his cock with her tongue before lowering her head over his length. It made Joel bite into his bottom lip and he dropped his head to make sure to watch her while she gave him a blowjob. Her eyes were closed for a short amount of time, so entirely focused on giving him what he wanted.

“Open your eyes,” Joel ordered with a scoff watching her do what he asked of her, fluttering her eyelashes when she looked up at him. Starting to thrust his hips, Joel sank his length further down her throat time and time again. The wet slurping sounds filled the office surrounding them while he had his way with her. Doing her best to relax her throat, she was allowing him to use her in any way he wanted making his quiet moans fill the air. Yanking back on her hair, Joel pulled her mouth from his length enjoying the way she stared up at him when he wrapped his fingers back around his saliva covered length. “I’m going to fuck you so hard that you’ll be thinking of me all the way throughout your party tonight. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Professor Miller,” she swallowed down hard, her wet lips shining when he smirked down at her. “I’m yours to do whatever you want with me.”

“Good girl,” Joel moved around the desk, reaching for her pants to roughly tug them further down her legs. Kicking her feet apart, he moved in behind her and stroked over his body noticing the way that she shook at his closeness. “Do you think you deserve a nice present before I get what I want from you?”

“Please,” she begged, her fingers curling tighter around the edge of the desk feeling Joel kneeling down behind her. Dragging his fingers across her bottom led her to pant before he firmly smacked over the lower part of her ass again making her cry out.

“You’re my bad girl, aren’t you?” Joel hummed caressing his hands down over her thighs squeezing at her flesh before caressing back up over them again. “Say it.”

“I’m your bad girl,” she whispered whimpering out when she felt Joel’s warm breath hovering over the most intimate parts of her. “I’m yours…”

“Yes, you are,” he growled out, pressing a wet kiss over her core making her tense up. Closing her eyes, she felt Joel’s mouth kissing over her heated flesh before dragging his tongue out through her folds. Gasping, she enjoyed Joel’s tongue teasing long lines from her clitoris to her entrance and it made her rock back against his movements. The sounds Joel made while he ate her out were like music to her ears and it turned her on all the more. When his tongue focused at her entrance it made her whimper out and the sensation of his hot tongue pushing inside of her made her coo. The movements of his tongue along with the suction of his lips over her body had her shaking against him and he chuckled against her flesh. “You’re not being quiet.”

“You don’t want me to be quiet,” she gasped when his tongue started to lap at her body again knowing that he was proud of what he was able to work out of her. Her breaths were uneven when she felt her thighs shaking. “Joel.”

A warmth rushed throughout her body, her eyes slamming shut when Joel got her to an orgasm making her whole body tremor. Without giving her time to come down from her high, Joel swiftly got up to his feet and grabbed a firm hold of her hips. Bringing her back against him, he reached between them and led his cock to her entrance thrusting his hips forward filling her completely making her arch up and away from him with a cry.

A moan fell from Joel’s throat while his thrusts started off immediately fast and hard making her cling tightly to the desk. His fingertips were digging hard into her hips undoubtedly going to leave a mark with how strongly he was holding onto her. Taking a moment to adjust, Joel pushed his pants and boxers down to his knees before he started smacking up against her harder. She was on her tiptoes, her body eagerly rocking back against him while he fucked her.

“You feel so good,” she cried out, her gasps filling the air with every powerful thrust that Joel made inside of her from behind. His grunts followed his thrusts and he already had her a shaking mess beneath him. With a huff, Joel adjusted her body to his liking and he leaned in over her. His fingers wrapped around the edge of the desk to give him leverage to help pound himself into her again and again. The desk was shaking with how hard he was fucking her and he wasn’t kidding when he told her that he was going to fuck her so hard that she would be feeling him later. “Joel.”

“Shhh…” Joel hummed biting at her earlobe enjoying the wet sounds their bodies made together. Releasing the desk with his left hand, he sank his fingers into her hair and put a bit of pressure at the beck of her neck while he continued to pound into her with unrelenting movements. Joel’s moan drew a liquid fire to flood her veins and she could feel a dampness sliding down her thighs. “You’re tight little pussy belongs to me, doesn’t it?”

“It’s only yours,” she declared, her whines following his movements. His fast fucking turned to slow, powerful thrusts that had her bouncing forward with every smack his hips made up against her bottom. Joel was using her like his own personal sex doll, but she didn’t care because she liked being made to be his. Winces fell from her throat with the meticulously powerful thrusts. His cock was throbbing inside of her and by the sounds he was making she knew that he was close to coming. Soon he was back at pounding away inside of her, his moans warm against her ear when his movements slowed down. Joel held her in place with his cock twitching inside of her, while he pumped her full of his cum. Joel pulled back and away from her, falling back onto the leather chair that was behind him where students would come to sit if they were really coming to his office to talk to him. Closing her eyes, she felt like the room was spinning around her. The warmth of Joel’s cum trailing down her thigh was felt when she looked back at him over her shoulder. Standing up on wobbly legs, she kicked out of the material of her pants and moved in over Joel in the chair. Grabbing a hold of his cock, she led it back inside of her, bouncing her hips over his length making him grunt. “Make me come…”

“Who says you deserve it?” Joel growled out, lifting his head up enough to meet her in a sloppy kiss, but instead of fighting her on it, his rough fingertips found her clitoris caressing over the sensitive bundle of nerves in strong, circular motions while she bounced her hips over his length. It didn’t take long before she tossed her head back letting out a cry. It allowed him to kiss down over the side of her neck and leave tiny bites over her flesh along the way. Y/N fell in against his chest and rest her head against Joel’s shoulders while his hand braced in over her lower back. “You’re wild darlin’.”

“I just had to get a ride in on my cowboy before we ended this,” she felt his cock softening inside of her and she pulled her hips up and away, but still remained over him enjoying the way it felt being this close to him. “You’re right, I’m going to feel you tonight still. That’s one of the hardest fucks you’ve ever given me.”

“Did you dislike it?” Joel tipped his head back to stare out at her seeing her smirk and shake her head.

“I loved it,” she assured him, stroking her thumb over his bottom lip allowing him to take it between his lips to nibble at her flesh. “Are you coming to my party tonight?”

“Y/N,” Joel slurred, pulling his lips away from her thumb with a huff. “You know I can’t do that. You’re going to have friends from the school there.”

“None of them are in this program, they won’t know who you are,” she maintained, her eyes full of awe for the man beneath her. “I’ve told my friends I’m in a relationship with an older man and they support it. They think it’s hot that I’m dating an older man.”

“Dating?” Joel repeated her words, his eyebrows bouncing up when she said that word.

“Well yeah, you’re my boyfriend,” she pointed out making Joel straighten up underneath her and she saw something change in his face while he stared out at her. “I mean that’s what you would call this, right? Dating? We spend a lot of time together. Go on trips together. Buy each other things. Spend nights together…”

“I mean…” Joel’s lips parted, his brown eyes searching hers and it was clear that he was uneasy with the conversation that they were having. “Why would you tell your friends about me? If the college found out that we were sleeping together I would be fired, Y/N.”

“I don’t tell them that you’re my professor. How we met doesn’t matter,” she stroked her fingers over the center of his chest making Joel scoff in response. “They don’t need to know that you were impressed with my work and when you called me in here to talk about my skills our chemistry just skyrocketed. The only thing they know is that you flirted with me and swept me off my feet with your quiet, southern charm.”

“I can’t go to your party tonight Y/N. I have a daughter, remember?” Joel reminded her making her lick her lips and he adjusted her over him so that way they had some distance. “Sarah is fourteen and I can’t just leave her alone to go to some college party.”

“What about your brother?” Y/N pushed making Joel snort, his brow line creasing when she was visibly desperate to have him in her life tonight. “I think Tommy can handle Sarah for one night, don’t you think?”

“No, we have a movie night tonight,” Joel reflected her suggestion, reaching down to grab his pants to pull them back over his hips and she suddenly felt uncomfortable seeing his reaction to things. “Every Friday we spend together since her mother left us.”

“Well,” she thought about what he was telling her and she reached out to palm in over the side of Joel’s face, teasing her fingers through his facial hair. “Maybe I can blow off the party tonight and I can meet Sarah for the first time? I can bring over a pizza and maybe some ice cream.”

“You don’t have to give up your party to meet my daughter,” Joel stammered getting his pants back together while she worked to pull her pants up and over her hips. “It’s not that important.”

“Of course it is. I love you Joel, I want to meet your daughter,” she repeated what she had told him in the past hearing Joel inhale sharply and tip his head to the side. Joel moved her from over him and stood up heading over toward his desk to sit down on the edge of it folding his arms in front of his chest. “Why is it you respond like that every time I tell you I love you?”

“Because it’s too fast,” Joel answered with a stressed sound, reaching back to stroke his fingers in over the back of his neck.

“But we’ve been doing this for over a year and a half now,” she pointed out making Joel tense up and he shrugged his shoulders. “It’s not like we’re just fucking Joel. We’ve been out on dates, we’ve traveled together…I’ve given you a significant amount of money for your company.”

“And I appreciate that,” Joel threw his hand up in the air making her chest ache while she sat in the chair before him. Joel’s breathing was heavy and she could feel a lump developing in her throat. “I know it was a lot to ask you for that loan and I appreciate you doing it for me. I appreciate all the gifts and the money you’ve given me. It means a lot to me.”

“But not enough for you to tell me you love me?” she stammered seeing him grimace when she mentioned him loving her. “Listen, you can just keep whatever present you got me for my birthday and replace it with an I love you. Just once.”

“I didn’t get you a gift for your birthday,” Joel confessed, his brown eyes full of a certain emotion she couldn’t read when she felt her chest ache. “The sex was your gift.”

“I just…” she felt her breath getting taken from her lungs and she immediately nodded her head. When it was Joel’s birthday, she went out of her way to give him the best birthday possible. Showering him with gifts, taking him out somewhere nice and even giving him a trip to the beach after he talked about longing to go one day. “Okay.”

“You’re disappointed,” Joel commented seeing that her face was turning a shade of red when she looked down at the ground before her.

“No, I just…” she lied to him looking up at him with a dampness in her eyes making Joel drastically bob his head about and look over toward the time. “Am I keeping you?”

“You know that I can’t keep you in here for too long. People would get suspicious,” Joel explained looking to the watch that she knew his daughter had given to him on his birthday. “Why don’t you just text me later and let me know how your party was.”

“Maybe we can go out to dinner before the party?” she stood from the seat feeling a chill flooding her spine hoping for more from Joel. “Maybe that little diner that you like? We can get a couple of shakes, burgers and fries. Then after we can share some of that pie that…”

“I have to pick Sarah up and take her to soccer practice,” Joel interjected before she could make a further suggestion. Joel stood up and moved around the desk to reach for something in the top drawer and she saw it was his keys.

“Maybe I can come and…” she started to mutter but Joel put his hand up in the air to cut her off and shake his head. “Is there something wrong with me? Am I not good enough to meet your daughter? I thought you liked me…”

“I do like you, but it would just be…weird,” Joel answered with a shake of his head making her let out a shuddering breath. “Hey Sarah, here is this girl that is my student. We hang out sometimes…just thought you would like to meet her.”

“So I’m good enough to have a pussy full of your cum and I’m good enough to give you nice things and go on trips with, but I’m not good enough to meet your daughter or brother? Or have any part of your life?” she inquired knowing that for a while she realized she wasn’t getting back in the relationship with Joel what she was giving him, but she just thought it was because of his ex-wife hurting him like she did in the past and he was just genuinely a shyer guy.

“Watch what you say,” Joel hushed her looking toward the door making her roll her eyes and shake her head.

“Do you really only see our relationship as us just hanging out?” she thought back on what he said making Joel grumble under his breath. “Am I just your student to you? The last time we spent the night together you spent all night holding me and the things that you said…”

“You are my student,” Joel reminded her making her chest tighten when he shrugged his shoulders. “I’m sorry it’s not the answer you want, but everything you want is too complicated for me right now. I need relaxed in my life. I have so much going on and what you’re asking for is just too much.”

“We’ve almost been together two years Joel. I get if this was the first few months, but I think we started doing this a year and nine months ago,” she educated him on the amount of time they had been fooling around with one another. “It would be one thing if it was less than a year, but you’ve asked me to be loyal to you. To only be with you. And as far as I knew, I was the only person you were sleeping with too.”

“You are, but it’s more of a case if I’m having unprotected sex with you, I didn’t want to be fucking all the boys on campus too,” Joel noted making her let out an offended breath and he threw his hands up in the air. “I just think sex feels better without a condom and you were willing to do it, so I thought we just had an agreement with that.”

“You know if you dedicate yourself to one person with sex, that usually means you’re dating them,” she commented making Joel’s nose wrinkle. Lowering his head into his palm, he was very uneasy with this discussion and she let out an offended breath. “Are you breaking up with me?”

“I can’t break up with someone that I was never dating to begin with,” Joel snorted making her heart sink hearing him pronounce the words with a firmness to his tone. “I just don’t want to introduce you to my family. I also don’t want to tell you I love you because what we have, it’s just not…”

“Wow,” she felt her body shaking and she headed over toward her bag that she dropped at the corner of his office. Instead of listening to this any longer, she knew that she couldn’t take it and had to leave. “Thanks for the sex. It’s exactly what I wanted for my birthday.”

“Listen,” Joel began, standing up straight reaching out in attempts to touch her, but she pulled back and away from him. “You have to understand…”

“No, I get it,” she held her hand up in the air making Joel’s eyes narrow and he gave her a glare that made his chiseled jawline flex. “God, I’m stupid. This is already off to a great birthday. Enjoy your day with Sarah, I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable.”

“Would you just,” Joel stammered only for her to pull open the door to storm out of his office. Heading for the front of the building that she was in, she felt like the world was spinning around her and she didn’t know how to handle the information she was just delivered.

“Slow down tiger,” a familiar deep, raspy voice rumbled from behind her when she shoved open the front door. Looking back over her shoulder she saw that her personal bodyguard that her father had on her for the last few years was resting back against the school smoking a cigarette. His dark sunglasses were over his eyes, his dimples sinking in when he stared out at her. “Where are you going in a rush?”

“Fucking hell Negan,” she snapped watching his head tip to the side and his eyebrow arched up over his sunglasses. His dimples sank in when he released a long line of smoke from his lungs making her look down toward the ground. At the moment she wanted to cry and have a meltdown but she was doing her best to keep it together. “I forgot they have you follow me every-fucking-where.”

“Kind of my job,” he clarified pulling the sunglasses from his face, hooking them at the top of his shirt while he stared out at her with his hazel eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she lied feeling like her heart was going to explode from how upset she was with what Joel had just said to her.

“We both fucking know that’s not true,” Negan took another puff of his cigarette before tossing it aside making her shrug her shoulders. “Did the professor fucking do something?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she disputed watching Negan push himself forward from the school to approach her and stare out at her with is expressive eyes. Negan reached out to grasp her jaw between his thumb and index finger noticing that she was quite upset.

“How much money did he ask for this time?” Negan queried making her roll her eyes when she pulled away from Negan and shook her head. “Do I need to go fucking kick his ass? Did he do something that…”

“Stop,” she reached for Negan, grabbing a hold of his arm and pulling him back to her. “I just made the mistake of thinking my relationship with him was something more than it actually was.”

“What do you mean?” Negan’s face scrunched up, visible confusion flooding his features while he stared out at her. “Pretty sure you’re fucking dating him.”

“Apparently not,” she snorted thinking about all the things she had done with Joel over the last year and a half. After all they had done together, she just assumed they were a couple and even though he hadn’t told her he loved her, she thought she was working Joel up to it. “You never told my father about him, right?”

“Of course not. You asked me to keep it as our secret and it is. Your father never asks where you go or where the money you spend is going. Even if he did ask me about your potential lovers, my loyalty lies with you. Not your father,” Negan promised making her sigh loudly when he placed his hand in over the center of his chest. “He just pays me to keep you safe.”

“He pays you to follow me around like a stalker,” she reminded him waving him on to follow her so they could walk through campus together.

“You know there was a point in time where you actually enjoyed the idea of it,” Negan teased her, nudging her playfully with his shoulder while they walked side by side. “If I remember correctly, you were head over heels for me.”

“And you were married,” she frowned making Negan stop walking and his Adam’s apple bounced in his throat. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have mentioned her. I know it’s still sensitive with her passing and…”

“It’s fine,” Negan held his hand up in the air and it made her eyes fall to the wedding rings that he still wore on a necklace around his neck. Growing up, she had the biggest crush on Negan having him be her bodyguard. Anyone who was around him as much as she was would have fallen in love with him too. With his wildly naughty, cocky attitude and one of the most stunning smiles she had ever seen in her life, it made it hard for her not to fall for him. Physically, Negan was the man of her dreams. Tall dark and handsome defined him completely and she was in love with him for a significant part of her life, but the number one problem was that he was already taken by his childhood sweetheart. Lucille. So any attempts she made on Negan in the past were quickly shut down because he was head over heels in love with his wife. And it was only recently that he had ended up losing her to pancreatic cancer. Just talking about her sometimes would make Negan very emotional and since her passing the two of them had gotten a lot closer as friends. In fact, Negan was probably her best friend and her bodyguard. He was there all the time so he knew everything. More than anyone knew. And in a way she liked it because she knew she had someone she could be completely honest with. It just so happened that she used to have the biggest crush on him for a long time. Negan reached up to brush his fingers against his wedding ring that was there along with his late wife’s ring. “I’m going to have to get used to talking about her at some point.”

“Give me your hand,” she held her hand up seeing the way that Negan’s nose wrinkled and he tipped his head to the side. “Just give me your damn hand.”

“Yes ma’am,” Negan allowed her to take his hand and she hooked her fingers with his leading them to hold hands while they walked through the campus together. “I feel like a teenage boy again holding hands with a pretty girl.”

“Listen, I need someone to hold my fucking hand so I don’t have a complete and total meltdown,” she informed Negan feeling him stop when she stated that and she shrugged her shoulders when she gazed over at him. “And I’m pretty sure you need someone to hold your hand sometimes too.”

“Is this guy still in his office?” Negan questioned, pulling her forward to stare down at her seeing the way that her eyes were tearing over. “That’s it, I’m going to go fucking kick his ass…”

“No,” she begged, pulling him back to her so that way he was staring down at her with his big hazel eyes. Negan’s palm pressed in over the side of her face and he swallowed down hard when she leaned into his touch. “I was just stupid Negan. It was my own fault. I wanted a relationship so bad that I was reading everything…wrong. I’m just so used to no one wanting me that it felt good having something with Joel.”

“I could have told you fucking your professor wasn’t going to go anywhere. It was an abuse of power on his end and…” Negan started to vent but was cut off by the feeling of Y/N pressing her fingers in over his lips to silence him. When he stopped talking, he felt her dragging her fingers through his short beard and he sighed. Hooking his arms around her, he pulled her into a tight hug and stroked his fingers over the back of her neck. Squeezing her tightly in his arms, he leaned down and pressed a quick kiss over her forehead. “Come to the Mustang. I have something for you.”

With a simple nod, she followed Negan to his black classic Mustang that he owned. Negan held his finger up and motioned her to wait a minute when he opened the passenger’s side door. Leaning down he reached for something from the back and she let out an amused sound when he brought out some balloons and he was holding a six-pack of cupcakes in his hands.

“Happy birthday,” Negan offered up a weak smile holding out the things in his hands making her smile when he did it.

“You remembered,” she breathed out seeing his dimples sink in and he gave her a small nod. “I didn’t think you remembered when I didn’t see you this morning.”

“I was too busy driving out to that special little bakery you like to get you these,” Negan informed her making her touched to know that he went out of his way today to get her something that she liked. “I know how much you love the cupcakes from there and I just, I wanted to do something nice for your fucking birthday.”

“Well, you’re going to have to share them with me,” she reached out to accept the balloons and the cupcakes finding herself amused with the whole balloon aspect of things. Negan so far was the only person to make some kind of positive impact for her on her birthday and she appreciated it. “You know I can’t eat six of them by myself.”

“I can do that,” Negan muttered and she took a minute to think about things before stepping up on her toes to press a quick kiss at Negan’s cheek. “Get in…”

“Yes sir,” she nodded her head allowing Negan to help her into the passenger seat of his Mustang and she knew if this was how things were when she was younger, she would be swooning over Negan doing something nice for her on her birthday. Unfortunately she was still upset with the way things went down with Joel and that was heavy in her heart, but she was doing her best not to have a meltdown. When he got back into the car, he pulled his sunglasses back in over his face and looked over at her. “You taking me home?”

“No, I’m taking you out to dinner on the water. Give you some time to relax before you are surrounded by a shitload of people tonight,” Negan answered her with a big smile making her throat tense up knowing that it was something that she wanted Joel to do with her. Negan must have caught the expression over her face and he frowned. “What?”

“You don’t have to do this just because you are my bodyguard and have to be around me,” she claimed making him frown, pushing his sunglasses down his face to allow his hazel eyes to connect with hers. “I’m sure there is something else you would rather be doing with your time.”

“No, I want to spend my evening with you, doing something nice for your birthday,” Negan winked starting up the car noticing the way that she was staring out at him. “So stop worrying. Everything is as I want it.”

Instead of fighting with him she allowed him to take her where he wanted. It surprised her when they got to the restaurant and they led them outside to the table that had more balloons there along with a bouquet of flowers. It made her stop in her footsteps and Negan moved in behind her to place his hand in over her shoulder, “What?”

“What would you have done if I would have went with Joel somewhere?” she asked knowing that this was something that Negan obviously had planned for her long before just deciding to randomly take her here for her birthday.

“Then I would have called and cancelled,” Negan led her over toward the table and held the chair out for her. After she sat Negan took the seat across from her and she felt bad knowing that this is what she wanted to be doing with the man she thought was her boyfriend. Taking his sunglasses off, Negan noticed the way she was staring out at him and he threw his hands up in the air. “You talk about having shitty birthdays all the time and I just wanted to make sure that you had a semi-decent one.”

“I don’t deserve you after all the shit I’ve put you through,” she lifted up from her seat to lean across the table to press a lingering kiss over the side of his face. Negan smirked when she sat back down in her seat. “I bet you would have never thought you would still be here years ago.”

“Years ago I was just thankful to have a job. Going from having a promising career in baseball to hurting myself and needing a job was rough,” Negan explained thinking back on his life working with Y/N. “You may have given me a run for my money, but I enjoy my job.”

“I’m sure the money you make isn’t all that bad,” she thought about the people that worked for her father and she heard Negan scoff. “You know, you never told me how you ended up with this job. Being stuck with me.”

“I don’t view it that way,” Negan shook his head, rolling his eyes when he reached for the glass of water that was before him. “I got the job because Simon owed me. We knew each other previously, I was in the minor leagues for baseball and I looked to have a promising career ahead of me, but I got injured. Lucille and I just got married, I needed money and he hooked me up with this job taking care of a wild and unruly teenager of some rich hotshot. And I thought, how hard could it be?”

“And then you met me,” she joked looking down at the menu that was before her knowing that this was a place she had come many times before and Negan obviously knew that she liked it. “I probably drove you crazy.”

“Sometimes,” Negan tipped his head to the side and gave her a wink. Reaching for something beside him, Negan grabbed a hold of the bag that he brought with him into the restaurant. “I know this is kind of goofy considering the circumstances, but this is your last present from me today…”

“What?” her eyebrows bounced up seeing that he was handing something across the table to her. Accepting the bag, she pulled it into her lap and reached inside to reveal the leather-bound sketchbook that Negan had gotten for her.

“I know you have people that are going to give you incredible gifts tonight that are going to make that feel stupid, but I always see you sketching on things and since this is going to be your profession I thought you might like having one that looked…fuck, I don’t know…nice,” Negan waved his hand around seeing the way that she smiled while she opened it and flipped through the pages. “I saw it and it made me think of you so I got it for you.”

“Thank you, Negan,” she found herself in awe of the man before her knowing that with their history together she was so surprised that Negan still liked her as much as he did. She really did give him hell when she was a teenager and in her early twenties so she was thankful for his kindness toward her. “Can I ask you a personal question?”

“Go for it,” Negan got comfortable in his seat, tipping his head to the side when he gave her his full attention.

“You and Joel are around the same age,” she began seeing the expression over his face change when she brought up Joel to him and she knew that Negan was never a fan of the guy to begin with. “Do you find me to be overbearing? Am I wrong for thinking that we were dating after a year and a half? I wanted to meet his daughter and he had a meltdown about it. Called me just some student.”

“Y/N, I don’t like him,” Negan explained with a loud rumble of a groan, reaching to pinch at the bridge of his nose when he leaned forward in his seat. “I think the problem in the whole relationship was him and not you.”

“Just answer the question Negan,” she pleaded knowing that she probably sounded pathetic and desperate, but in a sense she was.

“Your relationship started because he took advantage of you. He called you to his office and told you that he wanted to talk about how well you were exceeding in his classes and then seduced you into sleeping with him. Because you’re attracted to older men you were eager to get the attention from an older man…” Negan reasoned with her making her face flush over when he reminded her of how her relationship with Joel started. “You know how uncomfortable you were when he asked you for money the first time, but you’re too goddamn nice and you liked him so much that you were willing to do whatever it took to keep him happy. To answer your question, most people who are dating a year would have no problem introducing their daughter to the person they were with. People who go on trips together are often considered dating too. So no, I don’t think you’re overbearing for wanting to get closer to Joel. I think it’s fucked up he’s your professor and I think there is something incredibly shady about him, but…”

“I know how you feel about Joel. You tell me all the time,” she reminded him with a shake of her head hating that she let Joel get to her so much but she really liked him and she put a lot of effort into their relationship over the last year. “I just wonder if there is a problem with me. My mother left me. My father can’t stand me. I’ve had boyfriends, but never anything super serious. The one time I think I’ve fallen in love with someone…”

“You’re surrounded by shitty people Y/N,” Negan reasoned with her hating that she was going to these thoughts because of Joel upsetting her like he did. “It’s a hard pill to swallow, but a lot of the world fucking sucks. You’re a good person in a shady fucking family. Of course you are going to feel lonely in that environment. You don’t have the attitude of a rich person. You’re humble, caring, kind…”

“After I graduate, I’m going to be poor as hell,” she chuckled seeing Negan scoff at the thing that her father told her. “Will you still like me then?”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Negan reached out across the table for her hand and gave it a firm squeeze. “It’s not the money that kept me here and you know that. I care about you. I always have and no matter what your father does, I will always be in your life.”

Squeezing her fingers around Negan’s, she appreciated the sentiment and felt good knowing that no matter what happened in her life, there would always be someone she knew that she could count on. It made her happy to know that Negan was that person.

“I feel like I was just being a pathetic, clingy child with Joel and I feel pitiful,” she admitted to Negan focusing on the way that his thumb stroked over the back of her hand. “Is this what all men are like when they get in serious relationships? I’ve told him that I love him multiple times at this point and every time he turns pale and starts sweating. Why do the things he’s doing with me if he doesn’t want a relationship of some kind?”

“Y/N…” Negan slurred, his eyebrows bouncing up with his fingers curling tighter around hers. “Are you sure you’re the only student that he is doing this with? For all you know, this could just be something that he does. Takes advantage of the power he holds over people as their professor and...”

“That’s not what this was Negan. I was just doing really good in his classes and he wanted to pull me aside. Told me that he knew people that would be interested in my work if I kept up doing what I was. It was just when the two of us were together there was this chemistry,” Y/N informed Negan feeling his fingers slowly slipping from hers and he leaned back in his chair visibly uncomfortable. “Negan, while he may have seduced me, I could tell he hadn’t been with someone in a very long time. He tried to pretend to be confident, but he was still nervous. I think after his wife abandoned him and his daughter, he shut himself down. Joel is complicated.”

“Men aren’t as complicated as you think they are,” Negan retorted with a snort, tapping his fingers at the top of the table while they waited for someone to come and take their order. “Listen, you are a good catch, but some people see you and they get the wrong idea. You’re beautiful, sweet, passionate, talented…but sometimes people are going to see your last name and they are going to take advantage of how good you are.”

“Joel isn’t like that,” she combated making Negan throw his hands up in the air in a defensive movement. “Joel isn’t the type that cares about politics or money.”

“He asked you for money, he knows you have the money Y/N. How did he know that?” Negan pushed, leaning forward in his seat trying to keep quiet since there were other people near them.

“I talked to him about my life quite a bit Negan. He knew what my life was like and he knew that I had an endless supply of money because of my dad. You know my dad. He allows me to do whatever I want without asking. I love Joel and I would do whatever it takes…” she rambled on watching Negan’s thick eyebrows arch up and she felt her chest tightening. “It’s not about the money Negan.”

“You’re not pathetic for falling in love with someone Y/N. You’re a hopeless romantic and I can’t fault you for that. I fucking get it,” Negan placed his hand in over the center of his chest and cleared his throat when he could see they were getting prepared to come get their orders. “Plus, Joel has been playing with your feelings and emotions. Dragging you along so you do what he wants. Whether it’s sex or money…”

“It’s not about the money Negan,” she stressed thinking back on the moments that she shared with Joel previously. “I think his ex-wife just really hurt him. He has a lot going on in his head. There are moments where he is really cold, but then there are those moments where he is holding me in bed some nights where it just feels special. Unlike anything I’ve felt before. I think he really combats his thoughts a lot. He wants to be loved and to have a relationship, but at the same time he’s scared to.”

“I think you think too fucking highly of him,” Negan declared making her frown and they both went silent when the waitress came to their table to take their orders. After the waitress left Negan noticed that Y/N was deep in her thoughts and he shook his head. “Y/N, I’m not trying to be mean here. You know I support whatever decisions you make. I just want you fucking happy, but there has been some rather big fucking red flags. I would know because for a big part of my life I was a walking red flag. I was a fucker in my younger years. So I just want you to be careful.”

With a simple nod, she looked to her phone and sighed when she saw that Joel hadn’t texted her or anything after she left his office. If there was something more between the two of them, she thought maybe he would have contacted her, but he didn’t.

“Everything you’ve done here is everything I wanted Joel to do today,” she silently muttered making Negan frown, nodding his head slowly. “I’m starting to think you’re the only person that truly sees me for me Negan. Maybe the world forced it to be that way, but you see me.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Negan gave her a wink sliding closer to the table, tipping his head down in attempts to get her eyes to connect with his. “While you’re with me, try to forget him and enjoy yourself. If you need to still talk about him, I won’t shut you the fuck down, but I want you happy and I think the more you think about Joel the sadder you are going to be.”

“I’ll do my best,” she gave him a weak smile knowing that Negan was trying harder than anyone in her life right now to make her happy and she appreciated the gesture. So she was going to give him the best of her right now. It’s what he deserved for trying to make her happy. It wasn’t normal for people to go out of their way for her to make her happy so she was very thankful for that. So that’s what she did. Did her best to ignore her feelings on Joel and it was nice to actually have a few moments of downtime with Negan. It really did feel like at this point that Negan was the only person that she could be herself with and not have to worry about impressing him. Hopefully that feeling never changed with him because he was way too important to her for her to lose now.

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